In a Libertarian world . . . you would only be limited by how much the banks were willing to give you. Since, in this world, the banks would see you as an investment, they would be willing to loan money sufficient to get through school to those they deemed the most likely to repay it (eg--those who were going into the highes paying jobs).
. . . which then would cause a dramatic drop in the number of people who are able to attend college and better themselves. Which is why the student loan program was developed in the first place.
So the poor would still be able to go to college, and they would have to earn it (grades would matter!).
What grades? From what school?
In an ideal Libertarian world, there are no free public schools for the poor. There are then no scholarships to earn, no magical loans from banks to take out, and -- in short -- no future in higher education.
For the rest: how many people would realistically qualify for full books/tuitions/room/board loans to private universities?
The world you've described is just a description of the US before public schools, public universities, public libraries, public roads, public anything, where there were fewer opportunities for the lower classes.
I'm not saying private investment is a bad thing, just that in a country of 265 million people, there need to be systems with the sole purposes of serving the greater good, not making profit. Otherwise, the US will turn into South America.
. . . I'm scared to death of getting my girlfriend pregnant
1. Condoms are at least 98% effective. Combine that with another form of contraception, and you stand a very good chance of avoiding pregnancy.
2. The morning-after pill is available throughout the US for emergency situations.
3. Abortions are not "easy" -- I've had relationships with women who've had them, and it's almost always been a harrowing experience. But, it was always the right choice for them, and they would do it all over again.
4. Only have sex with people you trust.
5. Either lighten-up about sex, or practice abstinence. There's no reason to be scared to death about sex if you're properly educated about it (and I don't mean the Right-wing Christian Fundamentalist "sex-ed" so popular in high schools these days).
Too bad it's tax money being spent on giving the commercials yet *another* showing.
About 10% of PBS/NPR funding comes from tax dollars. Let's not compare their paltry slice to the amount of corporate welfare that funds AOL-Time-Warner, NBC, CNN, et al, as you might poop your pants.
I really hate the way stations turn up the volume during the commercials as a form of forced attention grabbing.
Stations don't turn the volume up - the audio is compressed during production so the commmercials will play back louder. It's been done for years in pop music, which explains why your typical modern-rock station is completely unlistenable (from an audio standpoint).
...opium exports from Afghanistan have increased since the Taliban was ousted, namely because the Taliban had (at our request) banned farmers from growing opium.
It wasn't as much a request, as it was a $48 million check from the U.S. Treasury.
The Offspring tried to release their entire new album (I forget the title) on their website. For free. What happened? Their record company shut them down.
Yes, because The Offspring signed away their ownership to the copyright. They don't own their record,Capitol does, and as any good capitalist would tell you, the owners have a right to do whatever they please with their property. That's why a lot of bands have their records shelved, and are never able to get them released.
Is this ridiculous? Sure, but The Offspring signed it, and they're not ignorant folk; one of them is a PhD, right? This is the way the mainstream music industry works.
Many smaller artists were/are finding that their music is NO LONGER available for download over Napster. This is exposure they *depend* on.
An entire underground music community existed before Napster and will exist afterwards, sport. Just because some jarhead's Big Internet Cash-in got shut down doesn't stop thousands of indepedent musicians from recording, touring, and releasing records.
Not all copyright holders are the RIAA. I've said this before and so have many others, but I will say it again. The RIAA represent themselves, and their own bottom line. They do not represent the artists.
No, they don't represent artists, and they've never claimed to.
They think they represent all of music,
No, they don't. They only claim to represent the labels affiliated with the RIAA.
You would do yourself a lot of good to actually educate yourself about the music industry. All of the whining Napster-heads do about their warez being taken away could be put to much better use protesting major labels' business practices.
But that would take some foresight and empathy for the greater social welfare, which is counter to the Libertarian feelings of most Slashdot readers. Decide what you want: a perpetuation of private property law, or your free music.
Right, they could have signed with some tiny label and thrown their career down the tubes. See, choices are good!
Hmm, that's funny: their first multi-platinum record ("Smash") was on an indie label (Epitaph), before they jumped ship to Capitol, where they have yet to match their initial success.
I have many friends on independent labels that make a decent living playing music. They tour all over the world, have a dedicated fan base, and best of all, they don't have to deal with the corporate music industry. Just because you're ignorant of it, and they don't drive BMWs and make asses of themselves on MTV, doesn't mean they don't exist.
Now that we have an effective means of distribution, we can cut out *all* the middlemen, and get stuff directly from the creator to the consumer.
As a musician, recording engineer, and record label owner, I can say that it has been possible since the mid-1950's for musicians to make and sell their own records, even internationally. Thanks to computer magic, it's even easier for lazy "musi-cans" to make crappy records on their Pee Cees and beam with pride at their bitchin' MP3s (which are an abomination before truly great audio).
Musicians voluntarily sign away their rights to large record labels; despite what she implied, no one held a shotgun to Courtney Love's head to persuade her to sign a crappy contract. Suddenly, she's a victim? Gimmie a break, she's only a victim of her own delusions of grandeur.
Uh, look for a piece by recording engineer Steve Albini, entitled "The Problem With Music," and revel in your newfound understanding of the recording industry.
Courtney Love tried to rip it off a few months ago with a speech republished in Salon, but like everything else she's done, it was a joke.
Okay folks, I'm going to jump on this yarf-fest right here and now. Just because a person, let's say me, wants a tax cut, it doesn't mean that I'm:
a) Against a clean environment
b) Ready to oppress the masses because I'm cruel and completely eeeeeeeeeee-vil.
c) Gleefully rubbing my hands together because I'm going to create dirty air and water and stupid people because I'll be taking all the school money.
I want a tax cut. Want to know why? Because I'm working two jobs right now just to pay my bills and because we've had almost eight years of "targeted tax cuts" that never have managed to target me. I'm working nearly 70 hours every week trying to keep a roof over my head, to pay my bills, and to be a responsible father and the only reply I've ever seen from Al gore is that a tax cut is only for the rich and that his tax cut is good because he'll be able to tell me just where I should spend the money in order to get my taxes cut. I don't have a "beemer" in the driveway, and I'm hardly wealthy, but right now, GWB's tax cut is the only one that will affect me much at all.
Uh, it sounds to me like Ralph Nader is your guy. If any candidate has a true interest in the lives of working people, it's him, not GW (who has never had to work a real job, got into Yale via the world's oldest form of "Affirmative Action," and wants to put more tax burden on the people who can afford it the least.) Gore has had 8 years to show some sort of cahones in the environmental arena, but he's been at the forefront of lowering EPA standards and giving the auto industry free reign over lowered fuel efficiency standards. He's been bought and sold so many times, he doesn't know who he owes what to.
Remember, GW is the guy who put $600,000 of his dad's money into the Texas Rangers, then coerced the "working men and women of Arlington" to cough up $125 million to build a new stadium, so his share's value could go up to $14 million, after which he sold out.
No wonder he "believes in the hard-working people of America"; their taxes made him $13.4 million richer.
If you honestly believe either of these two bozos will help you out, I've got a bridge I'd like to sell you.
Damn, when the Alpha Clone Project came through I wish I had asked Coco The Electronic Monkey Wizard to come by Washington University (where I worked at the time) and actually get a sequence of Astroman DNA.
The highest-quality consumer format for most any music is an 180 gram virgin vinyl LP (preferably manufactured by RTI) with direct metal mastering, played back on a quality turntable, amplifier, and loudspeakers. There is is no consumer digital audio format that can top the dynamic range and frequency response you can acheive from a well-produced LP.
Granted, this is audiophile-level quality; some Joe Schmoe listening to Nine Inch Nails wouldn't necessarily be able to tell the difference.
Slashdot Mirror
I'm not sure when it became available, but it's there in my 4.10 system. I use to to write DVD-Rs.
In a Libertarian world . . . you would only be limited by how much the banks were willing to give you. Since, in this world, the banks would see you as an investment, they would be willing to loan money sufficient to get through school to those they deemed the most likely to repay it (eg--those who were going into the highes paying jobs).
. . . which then would cause a dramatic drop in the number of people who are able to attend college and better themselves. Which is why the student loan program was developed in the first place.
So the poor would still be able to go to college, and they would have to earn it (grades would matter!).
What grades? From what school?
In an ideal Libertarian world, there are no free public schools for the poor. There are then no scholarships to earn, no magical loans from banks to take out, and -- in short -- no future in higher education.
For the rest: how many people would realistically qualify for full books/tuitions/room/board loans to private universities?
The world you've described is just a description of the US before public schools, public universities, public libraries, public roads, public anything, where there were fewer opportunities for the lower classes.
I'm not saying private investment is a bad thing, just that in a country of 265 million people, there need to be systems with the sole purposes of serving the greater good, not making profit. Otherwise, the US will turn into South America.
You can use apple-tilde (cmd-~) to switch between individual windows in an application.
mb
. . . I'm scared to death of getting my girlfriend pregnant
1. Condoms are at least 98% effective. Combine that with another form of contraception, and you stand a very good chance of avoiding pregnancy.
2. The morning-after pill is available throughout the US for emergency situations.
3. Abortions are not "easy" -- I've had relationships with women who've had them, and it's almost always been a harrowing experience. But, it was always the right choice for them, and they would do it all over again.
4. Only have sex with people you trust.
5. Either lighten-up about sex, or practice abstinence. There's no reason to be scared to death about sex if you're properly educated about it (and I don't mean the Right-wing Christian Fundamentalist "sex-ed" so popular in high schools these days).
About 10% of PBS/NPR funding comes from tax dollars. Let's not compare their paltry slice to the amount of corporate welfare that funds AOL-Time-Warner, NBC, CNN, et al, as you might poop your pants.
Stations don't turn the volume up - the audio is compressed during production so the commmercials will play back louder. It's been done for years in pop music, which explains why your typical modern-rock station is completely unlistenable (from an audio standpoint).
mb
mb
The Offspring tried to release their entire new album (I forget the title) on their website. For free. What happened? Their record company shut them down.
Yes, because The Offspring signed away their ownership to the copyright. They don't own their record,Capitol does, and as any good capitalist would tell you, the owners have a right to do whatever they please with their property. That's why a lot of bands have their records shelved, and are never able to get them released.
Is this ridiculous? Sure, but The Offspring signed it, and they're not ignorant folk; one of them is a PhD, right? This is the way the mainstream music industry works.
Many smaller artists were/are finding that their music is NO LONGER available for download over Napster. This is exposure they *depend* on.
An entire underground music community existed before Napster and will exist afterwards, sport. Just because some jarhead's Big Internet Cash-in got shut down doesn't stop thousands of indepedent musicians from recording, touring, and releasing records.
Not all copyright holders are the RIAA. I've said this before and so have many others, but I will say it again. The RIAA represent themselves, and their own bottom line. They do not represent the artists.
No, they don't represent artists, and they've never claimed to.
They think they represent all of music,
No, they don't. They only claim to represent the labels affiliated with the RIAA.
You would do yourself a lot of good to actually educate yourself about the music industry. All of the whining Napster-heads do about their warez being taken away could be put to much better use protesting major labels' business practices.
But that would take some foresight and empathy for the greater social welfare, which is counter to the Libertarian feelings of most Slashdot readers. Decide what you want: a perpetuation of private property law, or your free music.
I withdraw in disgust.
mb
Right, they could have signed with some tiny label and thrown their career down the tubes. See, choices are good!
Hmm, that's funny: their first multi-platinum record ("Smash") was on an indie label (Epitaph), before they jumped ship to Capitol, where they have yet to match their initial success.
I have many friends on independent labels that make a decent living playing music. They tour all over the world, have a dedicated fan base, and best of all, they don't have to deal with the corporate music industry. Just because you're ignorant of it, and they don't drive BMWs and make asses of themselves on MTV, doesn't mean they don't exist.
mb
Now that we have an effective means of distribution, we can cut out *all* the middlemen, and get stuff directly from the creator to the consumer.
As a musician, recording engineer, and record label owner, I can say that it has been possible since the mid-1950's for musicians to make and sell their own records, even internationally. Thanks to computer magic, it's even easier for lazy "musi-cans" to make crappy records on their Pee Cees and beam with pride at their bitchin' MP3s (which are an abomination before truly great audio).
Musicians voluntarily sign away their rights to large record labels; despite what she implied, no one held a shotgun to Courtney Love's head to persuade her to sign a crappy contract. Suddenly, she's a victim? Gimmie a break, she's only a victim of her own delusions of grandeur.
mb
Uh, look for a piece by recording engineer Steve Albini, entitled "The Problem With Music," and revel in your newfound understanding of the recording industry. Courtney Love tried to rip it off a few months ago with a speech republished in Salon, but like everything else she's done, it was a joke.
a) Against a clean environment b) Ready to oppress the masses because I'm cruel and completely eeeeeeeeeee-vil. c) Gleefully rubbing my hands together because I'm going to create dirty air and water and stupid people because I'll be taking all the school money.
I want a tax cut. Want to know why? Because I'm working two jobs right now just to pay my bills and because we've had almost eight years of "targeted tax cuts" that never have managed to target me. I'm working nearly 70 hours every week trying to keep a roof over my head, to pay my bills, and to be a responsible father and the only reply I've ever seen from Al gore is that a tax cut is only for the rich and that his tax cut is good because he'll be able to tell me just where I should spend the money in order to get my taxes cut. I don't have a "beemer" in the driveway, and I'm hardly wealthy, but right now, GWB's tax cut is the only one that will affect me much at all.
Uh, it sounds to me like Ralph Nader is your guy. If any candidate has a true interest in the lives of working people, it's him, not GW (who has never had to work a real job, got into Yale via the world's oldest form of "Affirmative Action," and wants to put more tax burden on the people who can afford it the least.) Gore has had 8 years to show some sort of cahones in the environmental arena, but he's been at the forefront of lowering EPA standards and giving the auto industry free reign over lowered fuel efficiency standards. He's been bought and sold so many times, he doesn't know who he owes what to.
Remember, GW is the guy who put $600,000 of his dad's money into the Texas Rangers, then coerced the "working men and women of Arlington" to cough up $125 million to build a new stadium, so his share's value could go up to $14 million, after which he sold out.
No wonder he "believes in the hard-working people of America"; their taxes made him $13.4 million richer.
If you honestly believe either of these two bozos will help you out, I've got a bridge I'd like to sell you.
Damn, when the Alpha Clone Project came through I wish I had asked Coco The Electronic Monkey Wizard to come by Washington University (where I worked at the time) and actually get a sequence of Astroman DNA.
The highest-quality consumer format for most any music is an 180 gram virgin vinyl LP (preferably manufactured by RTI) with direct metal mastering, played back on a quality turntable, amplifier, and loudspeakers. There is is no consumer digital audio format that can top the dynamic range and frequency response you can acheive from a well-produced LP.
Granted, this is audiophile-level quality; some Joe Schmoe listening to Nine Inch Nails wouldn't necessarily be able to tell the difference.