Firstly, it's a private property matter. The Mall can say "no guns" and post that and then the firearm owner is doing something wrong on the mall's property. If there is no mall policy, and there is an open-carry law in the state in question, nothing is wrong with the assault rifle. Sure, it's gaudy. It's like someone in a mohawk and 30000 piercings. Tasteless? Yes... could either be part of something more sinister? Yes... but until there's more proof than the gun (or the mohawk) itself, you're just projecting your irrational fears onto others because you have a problem with guns (or mohawks.)
Secondly, unless it's being pointed at you and you are in a state with open-carry laws, ignore it until you need to dial 911. Being "proactive" and "reacting" to seeing a gun on someone's person is being a fucking busybody. The 2nd Amendment, and the right of freedom on one's own property, while currently under assault (no pun intended) are two of the cornerstones of personal liberty. The Founders spoke of the freedom to bear arms as much as they did about property rights. It's not a veiled interpretation looking back into the misty past. They were keen on what it meant to be free from tyranny.
Oh, I forgot, people who hate firearms are just well-intentioned busybodies.
I'd be inclined to believe you if we even had the slightest inkling of actual free market capitalism in the history of this country. We haven't. The world hasn't. The word you're looking for is corporatism . The idea that the government (any government on the planet) is the "referee" in the marketplace is laughably absurd. The government is bought and paid for by the corporate interests that are not interested in competition but are interested in keeping new faces out of the market. That's why we see SOPA. "Capitalism" isn't the cause of SOPA/PIPA, corporatism is. Crony capitalism if you prefer to use capitalism in a negative context.
The government's job is to be the will of the People (at least here in the US.) It hasn't been that since before the Civil War. We are just reaping the crops of our "hybrid model" of a free market. People are evil... so we pass laws to keep them from being evil. They are still evil, but they pay politicians to grease the skids of regulation that prevents anyone from being evil with them. Once they have that sewn up, they buy more legislation to silence critics, lock up the Public Domain, and sue into oblivion anyone who so much as hums a tune. All in the name of "copyright." Once they do this, copyright has become a property right (something it was never intended to be). Once it becomes this intangible "property" right, evil people claim they lose money when they are infringed. They get the public and the politicians to equate "copyright infringement" with "theft." It poisons the debate, makes anyone who doesn't agree with the evil people dirty "pirates" and "anti-American" or just plain-old commies. They also make themselves villains who are considered "evil capitalists" and indoctrinate an entire generation that "capitalism is evil" without anyone knowing what capitalism and the free market truly mean.
Once we've surrendered our freedom and liberty to faceless corporations who are only interested in cementing their power, there's nothing left. SOPA and PIPA are the logical conclusions to the bastardization and raping of copyright (and liberty in general). Why we're surprised I have no idea.
America wants to export their brand of corporatism to the world, and on that, we can both agree. However, the only disease here is the government puppeteered by its corporate masters.
I'd love to see the free market tried. But I don't think it'll ever happen.
Not until we quit electing lawyers and former lawyers, it won't.:) (Speaking from a US perspective.) They're all crooks, but we've managed to elect the entire club of crooks who spend all their time thinking up new ways to stick it to the average citizen.
Microsoft must REALLY hate Nokia.:) This is pretty low even for them... It's rather harsh that the "Beta test is over" for smartphones, only if you don't buy a WP7 phone. (yes, "some" or "most" of the Win 8 features are in store for WP7.8, but let's be realistic, how much of that is hype and how much is it technically correct... not to mention, how long before WP8 is required for phone apps?)
Still, Microsoft really hasn't had a clue since the internet took off (they had leveraged power in existing markets to fend off oblivion, but let's face it, Bill Gates even thought the internet was a "fad".) Some divisions get it, but it appears that the "Duke of Stupid" Steve Ballmer is sabotaging the company for his ADHD riddled ideas. He's not Bill Gates, as we plainly see. He isn't even pretending he can be Bill, so unless a miracle happens, Microsoft will continue to spiral downward trying to grasp at markets they spent too long ignoring. All with that sweaty cheese-eating surrender monkey claiming how great it is to work for Microsoft. (Yeah, monkeyboy... when you've got those kinds of stock options, is SURE is...)
I have often wished for the fiery, explosive death of all things Microsoft, but now, it's just not fun anymore. It's like smacking a retarded kid with a shoe. It just rings hollow off the helmet.
I'm an American and I realized long ago that there is no longer a two-party system. We are ruled by corporatists and rich folks who want to keep things as they are, with the notable exception of things that cost money... If they can monetize it, they'll do it. Otherwise it's not worth it (which is why I think we're still on fossil fuels...) The People are sheep to them. And we keep perpetuating the stereotype by going into debt to buy a $500 handbag or $6000 TV because someone famous said so. *consume* *obey*.... bleh. I'm guilty too. I buy things... It's a vicious cycle.
I'm all for a free market, but not one that plays favorites. We've not had a free market here in well, never. It's built upon the presumption that established interests make the rules, which we all know is code for "freeze out the new guy."
I'm shocked that people in my country still think there is an actual choice between democrat and republican. (Besides the mascot I mean.) I am tired of paying for wars that no one wants to win, and more importantly no one wants to begin with. I'm tired of hearing my hard work is not enough and my property isn't mine because of the "good of the community." I'm tired of my phone records and emails being kept by a faceless organization that for no other reason than killing dissent, categorizes my personality as "terrorist" because I believe in Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and the Constitution. Not Barak "little brown god" Obama or Mitt "Mormonism is cool!" Romney.
I don't have an answer to what will make the sleeping masses wake up, and I fear they've been asleep so long, they don't WANT to see the truth. I believe in the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, a desert nomadic God who isn't white, and my own ability to live my life correctly without someone telling me what to do and how to do it. If that makes me a terrorist... oh well... where's my bomb vest?
I have an Android phone and I am completely satisfied with it. Windows phone may very well be the bees-knees, but it came out too late for me to care. And now that I'm familiar with Android, I don't care to switch. (Not to mention the aversion to Microsoft's OS that I've had for about 15 years.... it wouldn't keep me from trying a windows phone, but it might keep me from actually purchasing one.)
The commentators (mostly iOS zealots) believe everyone who has an android phone was suckered into buying one (daringfireball.net) and the only thing that all the Android users are waiting for is their 2 year stint to be up so they can buy iPhones. I've not heard that level of hubris from the Windows Phone aficionados, but some have drunk the Redmond Kool-Aid and believe Windows Phone is the one true messiah.
I don't care for the iPhone for a myriad of reasons. But that's another story.
These are the ones I bought a while back because I heard good things about the company itself (and my hearing is so shot, I don't think a pair of $500 headphones will do me much good.) Someone also gave me some Skullcandy G.I. over the ear headphones (they look horrid, but they are comfortable and sound great, with the "one cord", it doesn't tangle quite as much...) I did notice the mix of the latest Candlemass CD sounded a bit better to me on the Skullcandy phones, but that's personal preference (and you can gather from my taste in music why my hearing's shot to hell.)
I didn't pay for these, so I figure they're great because well, they were free.:) But they sound pretty good. Both headsets are comfortable for long listening sessions. I'd give the edge to the Sennheiser ones.
And who paid for them before Bill Gates? The WHO would beg to differ about who's got the big nuts combating malaria, since they started an eradication program in 1955. Before you get to replying about successes before and after Gates, let me point out that the WHO's malaria plan all but wiped out malaria in the South Pacific, the Caribbean and Taiwan. For instance, in Sri Lanka, there were 2.8 million cases of malaria in 1946. In 1963 there were 17. India saw its death rates from malaria go from 800,000 a year to almost none. Of course once all that happened, funding slowed and local instability prevented efforts, so the program was halted in 1969. But it did make a great deal of inroads in otherwise doomed populations. (There was a great article in National Geographic about this very topic...) And as we've seen with AIDs and practically every other disease known to man, when it comes to Africa... it's an uphill battle. There are no magic bullets.
The locals aren't going to know who paid for them now any more than they did in the past. Sorry, that doesn't hold water... or repel mosquitoes. But they are going to see the Red Crescent/Red Cross/UN/UNICEF/Peace Corps/WHO logos on all the medicines and doctor tents and think... "hey, I bet Bill Gates bought these... cool!"
My guess is, Steve Jobs didn't spend all his time covering up his asinine behavior like most famously rich and powerful people do. He, unlike Bill Gates, didn't give a shit if you liked him or not. That's why he operated without a filter. That doesn't make it right, or make him less of a flaming asshat, but it does shed some light on the lengths other rich and "better than you" people go to in order to avoid looking like the douches they really are in public.
Steve used the money he would otherwise normally use to pay a PR firm to clean up his messes to buy more turtlenecks.
I don't know Gates, so I can't defend him, it's just that most people here seem to instinctively hate him.
Growing up under the giant shadow of Microsoft and its bullshit market-strangling practices... it's hard not to (as a non-Windows fan) be pissed even a little bit about Bill Gates and his band of thugs from Redmond. His ruthless pursuit of market share (which was finally documented in the Antitrust case) did more to retard progress than the next two or three "tech" companies combined.
That's why I hate the bastard. I don't care if he tries to kill Malaria. He's already left the tech world in a mess with his shit-tacular operating system. That's why I instinctively hate him. He's nothing but a sanctioned mobster strangling one group of people while giving $50 away to kids in his old neighborhood to silence them in case Johnny Law comes a-callin'
I don't know him personally, but as a public figure, he's nearly tops on the short list of famous super mondo cock-smoking assholes.
..But you still bought a copy of windows and made Bill Gates money. He didn't give a shit if you used it. He gave a shit that you bought a copy and filled his coffers. The point, more succinctly, is Bill Gates made it impossible NOT to buy Windows when you bought a computer. You had to build your own to avoid giving Bill cash.
Criteria #1 and #2 are important to everyone because of the very thing you mentioned in the statement. People wrongly suspected of ties to terrorist groups or what the US government considers terrorist groups. I for one am appalled that the government can keep a blanket request for data secret (without a warrant... thanks PATRIOT Act!) and not only that, keep what you're being investigated of secret... They can demand your papers and documents but not tell you why? How is that not a violation of the Constitution? This isn't a Democrat/Republican problem... this is a GOVERNMENT problem. Our problem is the morons want the government to coddle them and keep them from going hungry on one end, yet turn a blind eye when the government invades their privacy and tells them what they can and cannot drink or eat.. (Bloomberg... you cheese-eating fuck-monkey, I'm looking at you.) And god forbid you criticize the government or president. You're a dirty terrorist if you think the government sucks. Yeah, right. Call me a terrorist then, you cocksucking asshats.
I'm getting increasingly frustrated with the entire process. Fuck 'em.
What we can garner from this is the "few excellent lawyers" aren't lawyers at all, and to be a lawyer, you have to apparently go through some sort of head trauma.
What in the flaming nacho pants is that shit? I feel like I've lost something just reading some of it. Why is scorched earth (a great game) used as a metaphor for retards? (Yes, I know some of them aren't retarded, but it's just easier to type "retard" as a blanket description.)
It isn't... yet. It'll be a race to the bottom with these two companies... and they're taking the x86 platform with them for the bumpy ride.
Apple does it on their own hardware (Apple is going to turn their Mac platform into an iPad sooner rather than later), Microsoft wants to do it on all hardware. Apple has an App Store... Microsoft wants an App Store. (Metro Apps only available through their App store... go figure.) Apple is closing their open OS. Microsoft is plugging leaks in their old OS and attempting to sidestep the openness of x86 to get a boatload of otherwise nice people (but clueless) to buy into their schtick. Letting their colossal foot in the door is a huge mistake. People harping about the "but you can turn it off" forget the tenacity and vast cash reserves of Apple AND Microsoft. They don't have to win on merits.. they'll starve competition out. Why? Because they can....
Does your grandma know how to get to the BIOS? All we need are millions of technophobes to create an ecosystem of "enabled" secureboot platforms for MS to take things to the next level. Hell, it isn't a problem for./ users... but this isn't about us... this is about the Great Unwashed and their ability to accept every pile of filth coming from Redmond or Cupertino. Fear the average... it makes things demonstrably more difficult for us in the long run.
I don't want Microsoft nosing in any point of the "security" chain. What I find astounding is the amount of denial and flippancy on the part of most people here. I wouldn't expect less of the astroturfers... but the real./ crowd should be rightly remembering why Bill Gates looked like a Borg for so long on this site.
It's not that it won't be easy to turn off (or add one's own keys to) Secureboot, it's that we're starting this journey and giving Microsoft the keys to the gate. x86 is not immune from some nefarious company totally screwing it up if they wanted to (it's an open architecture after all), and there's no evidence Microsoft has the user's best interest in mind with anything they do. Given their track record, anything Microsoft tries to mandate on a platform-specific level should be viewed with not only skepticism but a sense of dread at their future plans and motives.
I am not against Secureboot and signing. I don't think most people complaining are. But what we all are complaining about is a corporation known for actively trying to destroy anything that isn't Windows is becoming a node on the path to "security".
I don't trust that sweating monkey-boy ballmer any farther than I could throw him.
And like we've said before (or at least I have check my posting history if you don't believe me)... there is no two party system. If you think there is a two party system, I point you to the last 3.5 years of the Obama administration. He had two years with a Democratic majority, as well... Seems like the last 4 years have been like the previous 8, and the up times of the Clinton years were going into the toilet before he left office... but it doesn't matter, because the same big government, liberty-destroying idiots carried the flag of the apocalypse right along in lock-step. I don't see how people can't see the obvious.
Republicans run up deficits. Yep, they do. So do Democrats. The only difference between the two parties is the mascot. They are all fucking assholes who are doing nothing but getting rich off the American People. They hate the Constitution. They hate the truth. And they keep getting elected, because well... it's "our fault".
The only way it could be our fault (as a nation) is that we keep electing the same idiots. In that regard, we are all guilty. Those of us who woke up have lots of work to do. You keep yourself in slumberland, because it may get ugly, and we may be blaming people in charge for fucking us all in the ass... so I don't want any of that to get you in a tizzy.
Uh, check your facts. If you think the Clinton White House had nothing to do with repealing the act, I've got some shoreline property in Nebraska just waiting for a beach home with your name on it. 30 years? You do realize a great chunk of the last 30 years (hell, go back 50), is a bipartisan fuck-up of mamoth proportions.
Let's be realistic.
1. He pulled the troops out of Iraq based on the previous administration's timeline (not "6 months" like he campaigned.) 2. His cabinet and staff are full of lobbyists and the Justice Department is chock full of ex *AA lawyers ("No lobbyists in my cabinet.") 3. He has not only given the big finger to repealing the PATRIOT Act (and has expanded it), he has used drones to kill American Citizens (as shitty as he was, he was still a citizen.) 4. He has not repealed any executive order giving his office more power (in spite of claiming otherwise in many speeches.)
I think the parent poster was confusing marginal with effective tax rates again. It's a common tactic when people want to talk about the past as it compares to the present (and they want to distort reality to serve their particular agenda...)
I would go one step further in explaining the current malaise. Crony "capitalism", and the meddling of otherwise socially minded politicians (affordable housing for all, sure... sounds great on paper... but artificially backing risky loans for homes with tax dollars was a huge bubble that began its life back when Clinton repealed Glass-Steagall.) That, coupled with fun accounting and transferring of debt created from these artificially induced markets onto others, allowing banks to grow, provided they were part of the "plan"... freezing out smaller banks, etc. created this mess and we'll be paying for it for decades because we didn't allow the market to correct itself, and the root of the problem still exists, in spite of "Hope and Change..."
Life is complicated, but corrupt government and banking is a pretty simple scam. (Warren Buffett, champion of "taxing the rich" made a killing off the bailouts... and in fact, through Berkshire Hathaway, actively lobbied for the "stimulus" packages so he could make an obscene amount of bank off the misfortune of others.)
What really makes me wonder what these idiots are smoking is if average Joe gets up and looks for snacks , grabs his wife's boobs, accidentally sharts and has to hit the bathroom, is he violating the contract that makes TV possible?
Why aren't people who pay for cable TV being taxed (so to speak) twice? Once for the subscription and once again for the fucking ads? One of cable TVs big "draws" in the early days was "no commercials..." That didn't last.
Basically we have a bunch of suits who have no idea how stupid they sound... I don't know what's more sad, the idea itself or the actual spreading of the idea... I have this sneaking suspicion no one at Fox (Hey Rupert, suck my crank!) has a voice in their head that tells them "that's a bad idea... keep it to yourself." I imagine they learned about electricity by sticking a fork in a light socket too.
Explains a great many things, I think.. Suffice to say, is there anyone sane left in the entertainment industry? My decision to skip the theater and rental counter is becoming a better and better idea.
I think Joe Sixpack slapped with a lawsuit for getting beer might wake the sheeple up enough to say "what the fuck?" instead of "ooooh. I gotta drop mad bank on a 3D tv so I can experience movies how they were MEANT to be seen! To the Best Buy!"
First, I hate feeding the trolls. Second, no one is stealing shit. It's infringement... not theft. Get a grip. Stop using the word "steal" as a way to describe infringement. You are either an astroturfing ballsack from the *AA's, or you actually believe their propaganda. I don't know which is more sad.
Slashdot Mirror
Firstly, it's a private property matter. The Mall can say "no guns" and post that and then the firearm owner is doing something wrong on the mall's property. If there is no mall policy, and there is an open-carry law in the state in question, nothing is wrong with the assault rifle. Sure, it's gaudy. It's like someone in a mohawk and 30000 piercings. Tasteless? Yes... could either be part of something more sinister? Yes... but until there's more proof than the gun (or the mohawk) itself, you're just projecting your irrational fears onto others because you have a problem with guns (or mohawks.)
Secondly, unless it's being pointed at you and you are in a state with open-carry laws, ignore it until you need to dial 911. Being "proactive" and "reacting" to seeing a gun on someone's person is being a fucking busybody. The 2nd Amendment, and the right of freedom on one's own property, while currently under assault (no pun intended) are two of the cornerstones of personal liberty. The Founders spoke of the freedom to bear arms as much as they did about property rights. It's not a veiled interpretation looking back into the misty past. They were keen on what it meant to be free from tyranny.
Oh, I forgot, people who hate firearms are just well-intentioned busybodies.
I'd be inclined to believe you if we even had the slightest inkling of actual free market capitalism in the history of this country. We haven't. The world hasn't. The word you're looking for is corporatism . The idea that the government (any government on the planet) is the "referee" in the marketplace is laughably absurd. The government is bought and paid for by the corporate interests that are not interested in competition but are interested in keeping new faces out of the market. That's why we see SOPA. "Capitalism" isn't the cause of SOPA/PIPA, corporatism is. Crony capitalism if you prefer to use capitalism in a negative context.
The government's job is to be the will of the People (at least here in the US.) It hasn't been that since before the Civil War. We are just reaping the crops of our "hybrid model" of a free market. People are evil... so we pass laws to keep them from being evil. They are still evil, but they pay politicians to grease the skids of regulation that prevents anyone from being evil with them. Once they have that sewn up, they buy more legislation to silence critics, lock up the Public Domain, and sue into oblivion anyone who so much as hums a tune. All in the name of "copyright." Once they do this, copyright has become a property right (something it was never intended to be). Once it becomes this intangible "property" right, evil people claim they lose money when they are infringed. They get the public and the politicians to equate "copyright infringement" with "theft." It poisons the debate, makes anyone who doesn't agree with the evil people dirty "pirates" and "anti-American" or just plain-old commies. They also make themselves villains who are considered "evil capitalists" and indoctrinate an entire generation that "capitalism is evil" without anyone knowing what capitalism and the free market truly mean.
Once we've surrendered our freedom and liberty to faceless corporations who are only interested in cementing their power, there's nothing left. SOPA and PIPA are the logical conclusions to the bastardization and raping of copyright (and liberty in general). Why we're surprised I have no idea.
America wants to export their brand of corporatism to the world, and on that, we can both agree. However, the only disease here is the government puppeteered by its corporate masters.
I'd love to see the free market tried. But I don't think it'll ever happen.
Not until we quit electing lawyers and former lawyers, it won't. :) (Speaking from a US perspective.)
They're all crooks, but we've managed to elect the entire club of crooks who spend all their time thinking up new ways to stick it to the average citizen.
Microsoft must REALLY hate Nokia. :) This is pretty low even for them... It's rather harsh that the "Beta test is over" for smartphones, only if you don't buy a WP7 phone. (yes, "some" or "most" of the Win 8 features are in store for WP7.8, but let's be realistic, how much of that is hype and how much is it technically correct... not to mention, how long before WP8 is required for phone apps?)
Still, Microsoft really hasn't had a clue since the internet took off (they had leveraged power in existing markets to fend off oblivion, but let's face it, Bill Gates even thought the internet was a "fad".) Some divisions get it, but it appears that the "Duke of Stupid" Steve Ballmer is sabotaging the company for his ADHD riddled ideas. He's not Bill Gates, as we plainly see. He isn't even pretending he can be Bill, so unless a miracle happens, Microsoft will continue to spiral downward trying to grasp at markets they spent too long ignoring. All with that sweaty cheese-eating surrender monkey claiming how great it is to work for Microsoft. (Yeah, monkeyboy... when you've got those kinds of stock options, is SURE is...)
I have often wished for the fiery, explosive death of all things Microsoft, but now, it's just not fun anymore. It's like smacking a retarded kid with a shoe. It just rings hollow off the helmet.
I'm an American and I realized long ago that there is no longer a two-party system. We are ruled by corporatists and rich folks who want to keep things as they are, with the notable exception of things that cost money... If they can monetize it, they'll do it. Otherwise it's not worth it (which is why I think we're still on fossil fuels...) The People are sheep to them. And we keep perpetuating the stereotype by going into debt to buy a $500 handbag or $6000 TV because someone famous said so. *consume* *obey*.... bleh. I'm guilty too. I buy things... It's a vicious cycle.
I'm all for a free market, but not one that plays favorites. We've not had a free market here in well, never. It's built upon the presumption that established interests make the rules, which we all know is code for "freeze out the new guy."
I'm shocked that people in my country still think there is an actual choice between democrat and republican. (Besides the mascot I mean.) I am tired of paying for wars that no one wants to win, and more importantly no one wants to begin with. I'm tired of hearing my hard work is not enough and my property isn't mine because of the "good of the community." I'm tired of my phone records and emails being kept by a faceless organization that for no other reason than killing dissent, categorizes my personality as "terrorist" because I believe in Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and the Constitution. Not Barak "little brown god" Obama or Mitt "Mormonism is cool!" Romney.
I don't have an answer to what will make the sleeping masses wake up, and I fear they've been asleep so long, they don't WANT to see the truth. I believe in the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, a desert nomadic God who isn't white, and my own ability to live my life correctly without someone telling me what to do and how to do it. If that makes me a terrorist... oh well... where's my bomb vest?
That's because Windows 7 is Vista... with a few annoyances tweaked.
I have an Android phone and I am completely satisfied with it. Windows phone may very well be the bees-knees, but it came out too late for me to care. And now that I'm familiar with Android, I don't care to switch. (Not to mention the aversion to Microsoft's OS that I've had for about 15 years.... it wouldn't keep me from trying a windows phone, but it might keep me from actually purchasing one.)
The commentators (mostly iOS zealots) believe everyone who has an android phone was suckered into buying one (daringfireball.net) and the only thing that all the Android users are waiting for is their 2 year stint to be up so they can buy iPhones. I've not heard that level of hubris from the Windows Phone aficionados, but some have drunk the Redmond Kool-Aid and believe Windows Phone is the one true messiah.
I don't care for the iPhone for a myriad of reasons. But that's another story.
http://www.amazon.com/Sennheiser-HD-202-Professional-Headphones/dp/B003LPTAYI/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1339557323&sr=1-2
These are the ones I bought a while back because I heard good things about the company itself (and my hearing is so shot, I don't think a pair of $500 headphones will do me much good.) Someone also gave me some Skullcandy G.I. over the ear headphones (they look horrid, but they are comfortable and sound great, with the "one cord", it doesn't tangle quite as much...) I did notice the mix of the latest Candlemass CD sounded a bit better to me on the Skullcandy phones, but that's personal preference (and you can gather from my taste in music why my hearing's shot to hell.)
http://www.amazon.com/Skullcandy-G-I-Micd-11-Headphones/dp/B0044U5FHK/ref=sr_1_7?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1339557489&sr=1-7&keywords=skullcandy+g.i.+over+ear+headphones
I didn't pay for these, so I figure they're great because well, they were free. :) But they sound pretty good. Both headsets are comfortable for long listening sessions. I'd give the edge to the Sennheiser ones.
And who paid for them before Bill Gates? The WHO would beg to differ about who's got the big nuts combating malaria, since they started an eradication program in 1955. Before you get to replying about successes before and after Gates, let me point out that the WHO's malaria plan all but wiped out malaria in the South Pacific, the Caribbean and Taiwan. For instance, in Sri Lanka, there were 2.8 million cases of malaria in 1946. In 1963 there were 17. India saw its death rates from malaria go from 800,000 a year to almost none. Of course once all that happened, funding slowed and local instability prevented efforts, so the program was halted in 1969. But it did make a great deal of inroads in otherwise doomed populations. (There was a great article in National Geographic about this very topic...) And as we've seen with AIDs and practically every other disease known to man, when it comes to Africa... it's an uphill battle. There are no magic bullets.
The locals aren't going to know who paid for them now any more than they did in the past. Sorry, that doesn't hold water... or repel mosquitoes. But they are going to see the Red Crescent/Red Cross/UN/UNICEF/Peace Corps/WHO logos on all the medicines and doctor tents and think... "hey, I bet Bill Gates bought these... cool!"
Or not.
My guess is, Steve Jobs didn't spend all his time covering up his asinine behavior like most famously rich and powerful people do. He, unlike Bill Gates, didn't give a shit if you liked him or not. That's why he operated without a filter. That doesn't make it right, or make him less of a flaming asshat, but it does shed some light on the lengths other rich and "better than you" people go to in order to avoid looking like the douches they really are in public.
Steve used the money he would otherwise normally use to pay a PR firm to clean up his messes to buy more turtlenecks.
I don't know Gates, so I can't defend him, it's just that most people here seem to instinctively hate him.
Growing up under the giant shadow of Microsoft and its bullshit market-strangling practices... it's hard not to (as a non-Windows fan) be pissed even a little bit about Bill Gates and his band of thugs from Redmond. His ruthless pursuit of market share (which was finally documented in the Antitrust case) did more to retard progress than the next two or three "tech" companies combined.
That's why I hate the bastard. I don't care if he tries to kill Malaria. He's already left the tech world in a mess with his shit-tacular operating system. That's why I instinctively hate him. He's nothing but a sanctioned mobster strangling one group of people while giving $50 away to kids in his old neighborhood to silence them in case Johnny Law comes a-callin'
I don't know him personally, but as a public figure, he's nearly tops on the short list of famous super mondo cock-smoking assholes.
..But you still bought a copy of windows and made Bill Gates money. He didn't give a shit if you used it. He gave a shit that you bought a copy and filled his coffers. The point, more succinctly, is Bill Gates made it impossible NOT to buy Windows when you bought a computer. You had to build your own to avoid giving Bill cash.
Criteria #1 and #2 are important to everyone because of the very thing you mentioned in the statement. People wrongly suspected of ties to terrorist groups or what the US government considers terrorist groups. I for one am appalled that the government can keep a blanket request for data secret (without a warrant... thanks PATRIOT Act!) and not only that, keep what you're being investigated of secret... They can demand your papers and documents but not tell you why? How is that not a violation of the Constitution? This isn't a Democrat/Republican problem... this is a GOVERNMENT problem. Our problem is the morons want the government to coddle them and keep them from going hungry on one end, yet turn a blind eye when the government invades their privacy and tells them what they can and cannot drink or eat.. (Bloomberg... you cheese-eating fuck-monkey, I'm looking at you.) And god forbid you criticize the government or president. You're a dirty terrorist if you think the government sucks. Yeah, right. Call me a terrorist then, you cocksucking asshats.
I'm getting increasingly frustrated with the entire process. Fuck 'em.
Wait, I like that. I'll use that one next time. But flaming nacho pants is a little less abrasive, though.
What we can garner from this is the "few excellent lawyers" aren't lawyers at all, and to be a lawyer, you have to apparently go through some sort of head trauma.
That's the only way to explain Congress.
What in the flaming nacho pants is that shit? I feel like I've lost something just reading some of it. Why is scorched earth (a great game) used as a metaphor for retards? (Yes, I know some of them aren't retarded, but it's just easier to type "retard" as a blanket description.)
It isn't... yet. It'll be a race to the bottom with these two companies... and they're taking the x86 platform with them for the bumpy ride.
Apple does it on their own hardware (Apple is going to turn their Mac platform into an iPad sooner rather than later), Microsoft wants to do it on all hardware. Apple has an App Store... Microsoft wants an App Store. (Metro Apps only available through their App store... go figure.) Apple is closing their open OS. Microsoft is plugging leaks in their old OS and attempting to sidestep the openness of x86 to get a boatload of otherwise nice people (but clueless) to buy into their schtick. Letting their colossal foot in the door is a huge mistake. People harping about the "but you can turn it off" forget the tenacity and vast cash reserves of Apple AND Microsoft. They don't have to win on merits.. they'll starve competition out. Why? Because they can....
Does your grandma know how to get to the BIOS? All we need are millions of technophobes to create an ecosystem of "enabled" secureboot platforms for MS to take things to the next level. Hell, it isn't a problem for ./ users... but this isn't about us... this is about the Great Unwashed and their ability to accept every pile of filth coming from Redmond or Cupertino. Fear the average... it makes things demonstrably more difficult for us in the long run.
I don't want Microsoft nosing in any point of the "security" chain. What I find astounding is the amount of denial and flippancy on the part of most people here. I wouldn't expect less of the astroturfers... but the real ./ crowd should be rightly remembering why Bill Gates looked like a Borg for so long on this site.
It's not that it won't be easy to turn off (or add one's own keys to) Secureboot, it's that we're starting this journey and giving Microsoft the keys to the gate. x86 is not immune from some nefarious company totally screwing it up if they wanted to (it's an open architecture after all), and there's no evidence Microsoft has the user's best interest in mind with anything they do. Given their track record, anything Microsoft tries to mandate on a platform-specific level should be viewed with not only skepticism but a sense of dread at their future plans and motives.
I am not against Secureboot and signing. I don't think most people complaining are. But what we all are complaining about is a corporation known for actively trying to destroy anything that isn't Windows is becoming a node on the path to "security".
I don't trust that sweating monkey-boy ballmer any farther than I could throw him.
And like we've said before (or at least I have check my posting history if you don't believe me)... there is no two party system. If you think there is a two party system, I point you to the last 3.5 years of the Obama administration. He had two years with a Democratic majority, as well... Seems like the last 4 years have been like the previous 8, and the up times of the Clinton years were going into the toilet before he left office... but it doesn't matter, because the same big government, liberty-destroying idiots carried the flag of the apocalypse right along in lock-step. I don't see how people can't see the obvious.
Republicans run up deficits. Yep, they do. So do Democrats. The only difference between the two parties is the mascot. They are all fucking assholes who are doing nothing but getting rich off the American People. They hate the Constitution. They hate the truth. And they keep getting elected, because well... it's "our fault".
The only way it could be our fault (as a nation) is that we keep electing the same idiots. In that regard, we are all guilty. Those of us who woke up have lots of work to do. You keep yourself in slumberland, because it may get ugly, and we may be blaming people in charge for fucking us all in the ass... so I don't want any of that to get you in a tizzy.
Uh, check your facts. If you think the Clinton White House had nothing to do with repealing the act, I've got some shoreline property in Nebraska just waiting for a beach home with your name on it. 30 years? You do realize a great chunk of the last 30 years (hell, go back 50), is a bipartisan fuck-up of mamoth proportions.
Let's be realistic.
1. He pulled the troops out of Iraq based on the previous administration's timeline (not "6 months" like he campaigned.)
2. His cabinet and staff are full of lobbyists and the Justice Department is chock full of ex *AA lawyers ("No lobbyists in my cabinet.")
3. He has not only given the big finger to repealing the PATRIOT Act (and has expanded it), he has used drones to kill American Citizens (as shitty as he was, he was still a citizen.)
4. He has not repealed any executive order giving his office more power (in spite of claiming otherwise in many speeches.)
So, let's be realistic.
I think the parent poster was confusing marginal with effective tax rates again. It's a common tactic when people want to talk about the past as it compares to the present (and they want to distort reality to serve their particular agenda...)
I would go one step further in explaining the current malaise. Crony "capitalism", and the meddling of otherwise socially minded politicians (affordable housing for all, sure... sounds great on paper... but artificially backing risky loans for homes with tax dollars was a huge bubble that began its life back when Clinton repealed Glass-Steagall.) That, coupled with fun accounting and transferring of debt created from these artificially induced markets onto others, allowing banks to grow, provided they were part of the "plan"... freezing out smaller banks, etc. created this mess and we'll be paying for it for decades because we didn't allow the market to correct itself, and the root of the problem still exists, in spite of "Hope and Change..."
Life is complicated, but corrupt government and banking is a pretty simple scam. (Warren Buffett, champion of "taxing the rich" made a killing off the bailouts... and in fact, through Berkshire Hathaway, actively lobbied for the "stimulus" packages so he could make an obscene amount of bank off the misfortune of others.)
What really makes me wonder what these idiots are smoking is if average Joe gets up and looks for snacks , grabs his wife's boobs, accidentally sharts and has to hit the bathroom, is he violating the contract that makes TV possible?
Why aren't people who pay for cable TV being taxed (so to speak) twice? Once for the subscription and once again for the fucking ads? One of cable TVs big "draws" in the early days was "no commercials..." That didn't last.
Basically we have a bunch of suits who have no idea how stupid they sound... I don't know what's more sad, the idea itself or the actual spreading of the idea... I have this sneaking suspicion no one at Fox (Hey Rupert, suck my crank!) has a voice in their head that tells them "that's a bad idea... keep it to yourself." I imagine they learned about electricity by sticking a fork in a light socket too.
Explains a great many things, I think.. Suffice to say, is there anyone sane left in the entertainment industry? My decision to skip the theater and rental counter is becoming a better and better idea.
I think Joe Sixpack slapped with a lawsuit for getting beer might wake the sheeple up enough to say "what the fuck?" instead of "ooooh. I gotta drop mad bank on a 3D tv so I can experience movies how they were MEANT to be seen! To the Best Buy!"
This horse shit is not new, unfortunately.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamie_Kellner
First, I hate feeding the trolls.
Second, no one is stealing shit. It's infringement... not theft. Get a grip. Stop using the word "steal" as a way to describe infringement. You are either an astroturfing ballsack from the *AA's, or you actually believe their propaganda. I don't know which is more sad.