This happens all the time with Star Trek for some reason; they never start out well. The first season of TNG was particularly terrible. The most infamous example being "The Naked Now", where the crew (with their standard Star Fleet issue miniskirts) became 'drunk' from an anomaly and Data had sex with Tasha Yar.
Conflicts with the Romulans and the Borg didn't heat up until about season 2 or 3, although Q did have his fair share in the beginning.
DS9 had a more successful start, but didn't get really interesting until Season 3 when The Dominion were introduced.
In every Star Trek series there seems to be a counter-evil they perpetual battle, ie.
Star Trek TOS - Klingons
Star Trek TNG - Romulans
Star Trek DS9 - The Dominion
Star Trek Voyager - The Borg
And with Enterprise it's the Xindi, but you start to feel the redundancy. Trying to out-evil Cardassians or the Borg is going to prove challenging.
Flooding a network with bogus files is nothing new, if anyone remembers Madonna's attempt to distribute a fake single. Fasttrack (the network Kazaa uses) is loaded with fake files and viruses already, and it's decline is already evident in its dropping from the number 1 most downladed software on cnet.
The next generation of file sharing software is already here. For movies, apps, and games, BitTorrent and eDonkey provide a realiable means to transfer the file. Unless they've found a way to get through MD5 fingerprinting of files, 'flooding' BitTorrent with fakes will do absolutely nothing.
As for music/mp3s, fingerprinting files is not common simply because there are way too many mp3s to catalogue, except for the odd pop-album. What is becoming successful are private hubs and chatrooms you find on DirectConnect and IRC. Spread fakes there and you'll be banned very quickly.
Even conventional search-download p2p apps have security features which block IP addresses like Overnet from spreading fakes.
I don't know what the solution to file sharing is, but bogus files are simply not it unless you're dealing with antiquated networks like Fast Track.
[blockquote]This is going to be very confusing indeed for a migrating user.[/blockquote]
When I attempted migration from XP, icons were not a problem at all. Seriously, a trash can is a trashcan whether it's silver or translucent, either way it's function is obvious.
What is distinctly LESS obvious is how to install programs simply and easily. Attempting such a sisyphean ordeal will no doubt end in scouring the net for dependencies that are dependent on other dependencies that conflict with the dependencies you already have. I had to delete Mandrake after 2 weeks of headaches.
This is exactly why I uninstalled Mandrake after a week. That, and my mouse was uncontrollable despite tinkering with the KDE mouse settings for at least an hour.
Companies are outsourcing employees because it is cheaper. If they don't outsource, other foreign companies will. Now all these cheap techies are producing software at half the price of their American counterparts. End result? A weak IT sector in America, followed by (you guessed it) rampant jobloss by uncompetetive American IT professionals.
Increasing corporate taxes hurts business and makes Americans less competetive. How is that supposed to increase job growth?
Actually, they are. At least the chronically unemployed. Very few people stay unemployed for longer than 6 months.
But he wasn't referring to those ones. He was referring to chronically unemployed individuals who are by and large unemployed because they are substance abusers. Now who's fault is that? "Society's"? Sorry, but I make it a point not to read Michael Moore.
Sam and Max 2 and Full Throttle 2 were both canned by Lucas Arts. Although the details are sketchy, I have long suspected it's because pirating single player games is stupidly easy.
Grim Fandango is largely heralded as the greatest adventure game of all time, and yet it's sales were weak. Incidentally, the 2-disc set is avaiable at suprnova.org as of this moment for your pirating pleasure.
Multiplayer games are harder to pirate simply because you need a unique CD-key to get on the networks. Blizzard and Valve are experts at this.
Not to say that piracy is killing the single player genre (Knights of the Old Republic for example), but multiplayer games are a safer bet if you're trying to avoid piracy.
"Tough" is obviously not something I can quantify. What I can tell you is certain faculties, such as Science, Arts, and even Business are simply too easy to pass. Well over 90% of class participants pass. Not because they actually know a lot, but because that is the quota given to them by the dean or whoever.
From my experience I would rather have more material. 4 years is a long time in school and I want to use every ounce of that time to make myself valuable to a future employer. This is not happening.
So "tough" for me would mean, say, curriculum that requires at least 3 hours of studying a day, plus 5-6 hours for each weekend, which would net you about a B or B+ average overall. This curriculum should ideally reflect what employers desire in an employee, and not 'knowledge for the sake of knowledge'.
People that are book smart are merely people who can take multiple choice tests really well, or can memorize stuff really well. For the most part, both are useless. Once again, this is a problem with Univerisities that aren't asking IT and business professionals what they want from an employee. Gettings As should really mean something about that person and what he's capable of. I don't see that in today's graduates either.
That said I'm willing to bet that people with As and Bs and no work experience are probably better employees than people with Cs and Ds and also no work experience.
Your other points all reflect what I've just mentioned: High marks don't equal a good employee. Again I consider this a failure of the University. Marks should mean more than they do, and at this point they don't.
I know this was meant to be a joke but it really is a problem with a lot of school programs. The curriculums aren't as tough as they should be, and Universities start becoming degree-mills. It's at least part of the reason why degrees have become so devalued.
Linux installation was somewhat difficult, but I managed. Configuring and installing programs was nightmare, and my mouse was uncontrollable despite tweaking the Xfree86 settings for an hour.
I've installed Windows XP around 5-6 times with little difficulty. And most importantly installing and configuring programs is a breeze.
And what exactly does THAT mean? I can vote for all kinds of stuff, it doesn't mean jobs will all of a sudden start being created here.
I know I know, we need to vote on principles and policies, but what principles and policies are going to intice companies to hire more-expensive labor? If you think Kerry is on the right track with protectionism you are dead wrong.
I know. Nothing annoys me more than when companies give stuff away for free. Costco was giving out these "free samples" but really it was a ploy to suck me into their monopoly. Needless to say they're on my boycott list, as well as every other company in the universe.
If this guy, being a 'dumbass', can't get his soundcard to work, how do you think all the general popular of the world is going to manage? I gave up on Linux after a week of frustration and hair pulling that I've never experienced on Windows. Am I a 'dumbass' too?
Actually Greenpeace does some of their own 'science' and 'statistics' as well as picking and choosing (read: manipulating) studies that fit their credo.
My favorite example is how pesticides and GM food are destroying the planet when the exact opposite is true. They will never tell you both of these agricultural advancements allow the production of more food on less land, thereby saving the land for the animals that need it.
If you have an internet connection, by far the easiest way to identify a song is to google one of the lyrics, example: And when I touch you..."
From my first time use of KDE:
on
GNOME for Grandma
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
I would say Linux is great for programmers and geeks, but also for complete neophytes who need to do very little with their computer; email, browsing, word processor, etc.
However I felt deeply alienated trying to use it myself. It had all this great bundled stuff, but I struggled to customize anything, save the wallpaper. Installing programs lead to aggravating dependency-something-or-others and it would take hours to do something that would take seconds in Windows.
However once it's all setup I'm sure it would be great, especially for grandma. I just don't have that kind of patience for headaches.
1. My Mouseman Logitech cordless optical mouse was virtually uncontrollable on Mandrake, despite tweaking the settings for about half an hour to no avail.
2. Installing programs lead to conflicts and dependancies and almost invariably it took me up to an hour to install one program, if I got it to install at all.
So: Has driver support increased and has a nice simplistic installation add/remove method been created? That's what I need.
For the majority of people these vulnerabilities are never capitalized on and their computers remain unaffected. People will switch when Windows because so burdensome to use that they won't mind tearing their hair out trying to install a program with Linux.
1. What do you mean 'get a clue'? Isn't it more likely they don't want to outsource all their labor because 3rd world countries lack infrastructure, contain language barriers, and are less productive than developed countries?
2. Poor people are poor because their labor is not worth a lot. That is the only reason they are poor. Only through education, whether on-the-job on formal, can break them out of this cycle. For your information, the bottom 20% of people statistically end up being to richest 20% of people. It just takes time.
3. Does it?
4. This is some claim. Rich people, that is doctors, lawyers, managers, entrepreneurs, etc. are for the most part talented. Exiling them will do nothing to help our society. In fact, we call that a "brain drain".
Unions are bad for everyone except the workers that have their over-paid jobs protected. Unions prevent workers from being fired for doing a bad job, and more importantly they make it too costly for legitimately poor people to get hired. This is all outside of standard union corruption and beauracracy.
Poor people are usually poor because their labor is not worth that much.
And yes, people that work hard can become rich over the course of their life. The bottom 20% of wage earners statistically rise up to be the top 20% of wage earners. Very few people at the bottom stay at the bottom.
If there's on class of people that is still heavily discriminated against, it's the rich. Let's look at your points:
1. America invests more in European nations and Canada than third world nations. So they aren't discriminately trying to destroy the 'working class', but trying to see who is willing to do the best job at the lowest price.
Finally aren't all those Indians 'working class' as well? What about their life? Or is geocentrism clouding that obvious reality?
2. Don't the poor have this same ideal, they just suck it? This is simply idiotic bigotry against rich people. Some people are rich because they earned it, and some people aren't. Similarly, some poor people are poor because they deserve it, and some aren't. Get over it.
3. Capitalism is good for all of us in the sense that every other economic system has been terrible. Capitalism is not perfect, it's simply better than the alternatives.
4. WRONG. If you were to exile all 'rich' people in American to other countries we'd all be much worse off. People aren't poor because rich people are 'exploiting' them.
Stop foisting blame upon others and take responsibility, and maybe a few economics classes while you're at it.
Slashdot Mirror
This happens all the time with Star Trek for some reason; they never start out well. The first season of TNG was particularly terrible. The most infamous example being "The Naked Now", where the crew (with their standard Star Fleet issue miniskirts) became 'drunk' from an anomaly and Data had sex with Tasha Yar.
Conflicts with the Romulans and the Borg didn't heat up until about season 2 or 3, although Q did have his fair share in the beginning.
DS9 had a more successful start, but didn't get really interesting until Season 3 when The Dominion were introduced.
In every Star Trek series there seems to be a counter-evil they perpetual battle, ie.
Star Trek TOS - Klingons
Star Trek TNG - Romulans
Star Trek DS9 - The Dominion
Star Trek Voyager - The Borg
And with Enterprise it's the Xindi, but you start to feel the redundancy. Trying to out-evil Cardassians or the Borg is going to prove challenging.
Flooding a network with bogus files is nothing new, if anyone remembers Madonna's attempt to distribute a fake single. Fasttrack (the network Kazaa uses) is loaded with fake files and viruses already, and it's decline is already evident in its dropping from the number 1 most downladed software on cnet.
The next generation of file sharing software is already here. For movies, apps, and games, BitTorrent and eDonkey provide a realiable means to transfer the file. Unless they've found a way to get through MD5 fingerprinting of files, 'flooding' BitTorrent with fakes will do absolutely nothing.
As for music/mp3s, fingerprinting files is not common simply because there are way too many mp3s to catalogue, except for the odd pop-album. What is becoming successful are private hubs and chatrooms you find on DirectConnect and IRC. Spread fakes there and you'll be banned very quickly.
Even conventional search-download p2p apps have security features which block IP addresses like Overnet from spreading fakes.
I don't know what the solution to file sharing is, but bogus files are simply not it unless you're dealing with antiquated networks like Fast Track.
[blockquote]This is going to be very confusing indeed for a migrating user.[/blockquote] When I attempted migration from XP, icons were not a problem at all. Seriously, a trash can is a trashcan whether it's silver or translucent, either way it's function is obvious.
What is distinctly LESS obvious is how to install programs simply and easily. Attempting such a sisyphean ordeal will no doubt end in scouring the net for dependencies that are dependent on other dependencies that conflict with the dependencies you already have. I had to delete Mandrake after 2 weeks of headaches.
This is exactly why I uninstalled Mandrake after a week. That, and my mouse was uncontrollable despite tinkering with the KDE mouse settings for at least an hour.
Companies are outsourcing employees because it is cheaper. If they don't outsource, other foreign companies will. Now all these cheap techies are producing software at half the price of their American counterparts. End result? A weak IT sector in America, followed by (you guessed it) rampant jobloss by uncompetetive American IT professionals.
Increasing corporate taxes hurts business and makes Americans less competetive. How is that supposed to increase job growth?
Actually, they are. At least the chronically unemployed. Very few people stay unemployed for longer than 6 months.
But he wasn't referring to those ones. He was referring to chronically unemployed individuals who are by and large unemployed because they are substance abusers. Now who's fault is that? "Society's"? Sorry, but I make it a point not to read Michael Moore.
Sam and Max 2 and Full Throttle 2 were both canned by Lucas Arts. Although the details are sketchy, I have long suspected it's because pirating single player games is stupidly easy.
Grim Fandango is largely heralded as the greatest adventure game of all time, and yet it's sales were weak. Incidentally, the 2-disc set is avaiable at suprnova.org as of this moment for your pirating pleasure.
Multiplayer games are harder to pirate simply because you need a unique CD-key to get on the networks. Blizzard and Valve are experts at this.
Not to say that piracy is killing the single player genre (Knights of the Old Republic for example), but multiplayer games are a safer bet if you're trying to avoid piracy.
"Tough" is obviously not something I can quantify. What I can tell you is certain faculties, such as Science, Arts, and even Business are simply too easy to pass. Well over 90% of class participants pass. Not because they actually know a lot, but because that is the quota given to them by the dean or whoever.
From my experience I would rather have more material. 4 years is a long time in school and I want to use every ounce of that time to make myself valuable to a future employer. This is not happening.
So "tough" for me would mean, say, curriculum that requires at least 3 hours of studying a day, plus 5-6 hours for each weekend, which would net you about a B or B+ average overall. This curriculum should ideally reflect what employers desire in an employee, and not 'knowledge for the sake of knowledge'.
People that are book smart are merely people who can take multiple choice tests really well, or can memorize stuff really well. For the most part, both are useless. Once again, this is a problem with Univerisities that aren't asking IT and business professionals what they want from an employee. Gettings As should really mean something about that person and what he's capable of. I don't see that in today's graduates either.
That said I'm willing to bet that people with As and Bs and no work experience are probably better employees than people with Cs and Ds and also no work experience.
Your other points all reflect what I've just mentioned: High marks don't equal a good employee. Again I consider this a failure of the University. Marks should mean more than they do, and at this point they don't.
haha, being an engineer, not really :)
I know this was meant to be a joke but it really is a problem with a lot of school programs. The curriculums aren't as tough as they should be, and Universities start becoming degree-mills. It's at least part of the reason why degrees have become so devalued.
Linux installation was somewhat difficult, but I managed. Configuring and installing programs was nightmare, and my mouse was uncontrollable despite tweaking the Xfree86 settings for an hour.
I've installed Windows XP around 5-6 times with little difficulty. And most importantly installing and configuring programs is a breeze.
And what exactly does THAT mean? I can vote for all kinds of stuff, it doesn't mean jobs will all of a sudden start being created here.
I know I know, we need to vote on principles and policies, but what principles and policies are going to intice companies to hire more-expensive labor? If you think Kerry is on the right track with protectionism you are dead wrong.
I know. Nothing annoys me more than when companies give stuff away for free. Costco was giving out these "free samples" but really it was a ploy to suck me into their monopoly. Needless to say they're on my boycott list, as well as every other company in the universe.
If this guy, being a 'dumbass', can't get his soundcard to work, how do you think all the general popular of the world is going to manage?
I gave up on Linux after a week of frustration and hair pulling that I've never experienced on Windows. Am I a 'dumbass' too?
Actually Greenpeace does some of their own 'science' and 'statistics' as well as picking and choosing (read: manipulating) studies that fit their credo.
My favorite example is how pesticides and GM food are destroying the planet when the exact opposite is true. They will never tell you both of these agricultural advancements allow the production of more food on less land, thereby saving the land for the animals that need it.
Actually ardent capitalist supporters also support insider trading.
But everything else you wrote is pretty swell.
If you have an internet connection, by far the easiest way to identify a song is to google one of the lyrics, example:
And when I touch you..."
I would say Linux is great for programmers and geeks, but also for complete neophytes who need to do very little with their computer; email, browsing, word processor, etc.
However I felt deeply alienated trying to use it myself. It had all this great bundled stuff, but I struggled to customize anything, save the wallpaper. Installing programs lead to aggravating dependency-something-or-others and it would take hours to do something that would take seconds in Windows.
However once it's all setup I'm sure it would be great, especially for grandma. I just don't have that kind of patience for headaches.
That's what I'm doing. I struggled with 9.* for too long. It's not worth the aggravation.
1. My Mouseman Logitech cordless optical mouse was virtually uncontrollable on Mandrake, despite tweaking the settings for about half an hour to no avail.
2. Installing programs lead to conflicts and dependancies and almost invariably it took me up to an hour to install one program, if I got it to install at all.
So: Has driver support increased and has a nice simplistic installation add/remove method been created? That's what I need.
That's a great idea. Phoenix-- err Firebird has been desparate for a name change. Oh wait, I mean Firefox.
For the majority of people these vulnerabilities are never capitalized on and their computers remain unaffected. People will switch when Windows because so burdensome to use that they won't mind tearing their hair out trying to install a program with Linux.
1. What do you mean 'get a clue'? Isn't it more likely they don't want to outsource all their labor because 3rd world countries lack infrastructure, contain language barriers, and are less productive than developed countries?
2. Poor people are poor because their labor is not worth a lot. That is the only reason they are poor. Only through education, whether on-the-job on formal, can break them out of this cycle. For your information, the bottom 20% of people statistically end up being to richest 20% of people. It just takes time.
3. Does it?
4. This is some claim. Rich people, that is doctors, lawyers, managers, entrepreneurs, etc. are for the most part talented. Exiling them will do nothing to help our society. In fact, we call that a "brain drain".
Unions are bad for everyone except the workers that have their over-paid jobs protected. Unions prevent workers from being fired for doing a bad job, and more importantly they make it too costly for legitimately poor people to get hired. This is all outside of standard union corruption and beauracracy.
Poor people are usually poor because their labor is not worth that much.
And yes, people that work hard can become rich over the course of their life. The bottom 20% of wage earners statistically rise up to be the top 20% of wage earners. Very few people at the bottom stay at the bottom.
If there's on class of people that is still heavily discriminated against, it's the rich. Let's look at your points:
1. America invests more in European nations and Canada than third world nations. So they aren't discriminately trying to destroy the 'working class', but trying to see who is willing to do the best job at the lowest price.
Finally aren't all those Indians 'working class' as well? What about their life? Or is geocentrism clouding that obvious reality?
2. Don't the poor have this same ideal, they just suck it? This is simply idiotic bigotry against rich people. Some people are rich because they earned it, and some people aren't. Similarly, some poor people are poor because they deserve it, and some aren't. Get over it.
3. Capitalism is good for all of us in the sense that every other economic system has been terrible. Capitalism is not perfect, it's simply better than the alternatives.
4. WRONG. If you were to exile all 'rich' people in American to other countries we'd all be much worse off. People aren't poor because rich people are 'exploiting' them.
Stop foisting blame upon others and take responsibility, and maybe a few economics classes while you're at it.