OMG, how hate such teen angst "But Bush is worse than Putin posts!" You have no fucking clue what you are talking about. You've most probably never been to Russia or anywhere in the former USSR.
America at least has some sort of system of checks and balances, Gonzales might have been fired yet, but there at least people criticizing him and exerting pressure for him to resign. In Russia, Gonzales' behavior is the norm. There are no independent institutions in Russia, everything works via system of contacts/relationships. Putin decides that he wants to lower the chance of particular successor (elections are internalized in Russia, a small group of people decide who gets to be in power, sometimes there is conflict inside this group), he just moves him to a less influential position.
There is no parliament in Russia, we have micromanagement of parties. There essentially two parties, a pro-government party and an "opposition party", they both will do what the government will tell them to but at the same time they pretend to be fighting against each other. The real opposition is completely marginalized, they are not allowed to stage demonstrations in the central locations (the governments excuse being that the pro-government organization needed that particular time slot for their own demonstrations). The choice between Democrats and Republicans isn't too good, but better than having no choice at all, at least it keep the ruling group under pressure.
Your statement about freedom of the press in the USA further underlines that you don't know what you are talking about. For Russia, FOX news would be one of the most pro-opposition channels on TV. In Russia the government virtually controls all forms of mass media. And they all just report what the government tells them to. FOX news pro-conservative shit is a walk in the park compared to Russian TV. Russian engages in racism, it promotes the idea of democracy as simple PR exercise, for all it's work Russian TV is simply a capitalist version of Soviet era TV. It's all propaganda, just now instead of documentary on the glory of communism, they show the Russian version of American Idol.
Seriously, don't ever compare Russia to the US! By doing so you are severely undermining the contribution of the few people in Russia who are doing something to oppose Putin and his fascists. You really don't much about politics or current events judging from your statement about Russia not invading, if anything it just shows how much you watch FOX news/CNN. Just because American TV don't report about certain things, doesn't mean they don't happen. Read up on South Ossetia, Abhazia and Transnistria and how Russian troops are in these regions without a UN peace keeping mandate. And even ignoring these areas, until recently Russia was in no state to battle the Chechens (arguably, they are still in trouble with Chechnya - no way to evaluate that however due to the government's media blockade), let alone invading other countries.
And just because I don't like Russia and it's government, doesn't mean I am a fan of the US. Both the Dems and the Republicans are full of shit, America primitive social laws (you can't drink until your 21, but it's okay to buy a semi-automatic weapons for your own protection) are an embarrassment. And America's foreign policy is just a joke. What you guys need is a test on international events and foreign cultures for everyone who wants to vote. Can't find Somalia on the map? The only Georgia you know of is an American state? Sorry can't vote! That would also have a good side effect of eliminating the fascist (bible) belt as a political force.
As a Ukrainian citizen, I would have to question your thoughts about Poland and the Czech Republic being coerced into joining the missile shield. Significant sections of former USSR (excluding Russia of course) can't stand the Russians (try speaking in Lviv). I don't know about the Czech Republic, but the Poles can't stand the Russians and their imperialist policy. Just look at the whole depute over Polish meat exports. If anything, the Polish leaders are happy to have military sites just to show the Russians that the USSR/Warsaw pact is as dead as ever.
P.S. I am biased against Russia, but so what? I proud to be biased against a nation of nationalist xenophobes.
This is not the same thing as Cuba. The missile interceptor facilities are not capable of protecting against Russian missiles. It's obvious that this whole issue involves domestic Russian problems. Putin with his whole "Russia is back!" cannot stand to have former Soviet satellites housing NATO missile facilities.
The West really needs to start taking Russia more seriously. They need to diversify energy supplies, help Georgia and Ukraine enter NATO and the EU. Maybe even support Chechen separatists, I am not a big fan of their tactics, but it looks like they are better choice than Khadirov Jr.
P.S. I am quarter Russian, so don't take this as ignorant American BS.
It's funny to see all these "Mozilla is Evil!" posts. So what if Mozilla made corporate subsidy? It's been a year know that Moz Co has been in operation, so where is the fallout? Did Mozilla the organization do anything shaddy? The whole Iceweasel thing is a lot of bullshit, if Mozilla wants to engage in marketing they have to protect their trademark, there are no exceptions. Mozilla's policy on trademarks is very sane, they don't act in an aggressive manner, they get in contact with the right people and sort things out.
Mozilla succeeded exactly because they are able to make a product that can be used by average users (while at the same time allowing geeks to customize Firefox to any degree we want). Mozilla should continue with their policy of ignoring OSS populism and innovating . The idiots who are too stupid to understand why Mozilla makes certain decision should use Iceweasel.
You're deluding yourself if you think that America isn't involved in colonialism? Initially, America simply didn't have enough resources to pursue an imperialist policy, so they tried to gain an advantage over Europe by opposing colonialism. Once America got sufficiently developed, it started an imperialist policy of its own. Just read up on the histories of Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines. If that's not imperialism then I don't know what it is.
Although, you do have a point that European colonialism did fuck the world up pretty bad. Although I wouldn't simply the Gulf/Middle East saga as a simple product of imperialism. There is a lot more to it, from global phenomena like the rise of fundamentalism to local phenomena such as Israel.
Who gives a flying fuck what George Washington said. Americans need to stop caring about the 'founding fathers'. Their thoughts are irrelevant in today's world.
WTF? Are you just making all this shit up? Do you have any evidence to prove your point? Corporate accounts showing how unprofitable Europe/Canada is? Anything at all?
"Thats like saying that because the war on drugs is corrupt its ok to smoke weed. "because its right". Its still illegal, regardless of how anyone feels."
So what if it's illegal? You're not doing anything morally wrong by smoking weed, you not bothering anyone, at worst you are harming your own lungs (if you don't have a vaporizer or you don't like to cook). So how is it not okay to smoke weed? Maybe we have different definition for the word okay.
The point isn't about whether it subverts the educational process or not (I would agree with you that in this particular case, the students (the ones that don't cheat) have nothing to benefit from by shutting down turnitin), it's about how you apply copyrights. If a government implements a copyright system it should work for everyone, not just RIAA and the corporations. This means that the same rules apply to "pot-smoking communist students" as they do our corporate overlords.
If you are willing to make the benefits of copyright applicable only to one set of people/organizations, then there is nothing morally wrong with pillaging the seas for mp3s.
Your statement about value is even more stupid. I could argue that Britney Spears' shit (that corporations try to present as music) has no inherent value and it no way satisfies the requirement that copyrights were created for. To function (both in a legal and moral sense) copyrights have to be universal, it doesn't matter if I write a poem about how great pot is or compose a piece of music that changes the world, both these products have the exact same rights when it comes to getting copyrights.
If anything, you're just underlining how artificial and pointless copyrights (especially in their current form and with the development of digital technologies) are. They are not real, like corporations they are an artificial construct that were initiated in hope that it would benefit society overall.
You statements about inspiration from discussions is also lame. You would not be able to copyright the vast majority of mainstream music. After all, most of "gangsta rap" is represented by identical carbon copies. Add "bitches/bentlies" to the videos and "cash, money" and " Ima G" lyrics. What about the black cop/white cop formula used by many cop movies?
Copyright is not sustainable in it's current form and the fact that there is an issue around turnitin underlines this fact.
Quit propagating the myth that PCP makes you go on a rampage. Yeah some people have gone crazy and done stupid shit on PCP, but this kind of behavior is not universal!
"(for those that continue along the fallacy of them being more expensive, I priced out identical systems from HP, Dell, and Apple by feature. Apple was cheaper, not even accounting for the better software)"
Let's have a look at your price comparison. Apple fans always talk about how their products are identically prices to their competitors, BS. Especially in the desktop arena, paying $600 for Mac mini is beyond insane. In the laptop arena, Apple s slightly more competitive, but that's about it.
Hunting is not an integral part of the human experience. Arguably, humans and their primate ancestor were never designed to go after large game. I think eating berries and stuff like that is much closer to the natural experience.
You wana to be closer to nature and feel bonding with your buddies? Go out camping and eat some shrooms/LSD with your buddies. The 'experience' of hunting (a.k.a. getting wasted and shooting some animal) will seem like a lame joke after that.
You seem to not understand the difference between killing animals for food and for fun. What you are advocating is just sports hunting. Bunch of old white duded getting drunk and shooting stuff. The main point isn't the food. I don't see a problem with native people hunting for food, but I think that old drunk fucks should find a better way to entertain themselves than kill animals for fun.
Blind people should have as many rights as normal people as possible. However the nature of their disability means that they will not be able to take part in some activities. If 'normal' people like Dick Dick Cheney fucked up while hunting (and he is supposed to be like on the most successful member of American society), whats gonna happen when blind people start hunting? Just think about it, when all those fucks get drunk - you think anyone is going to bother checking the blind person's scope.
Hunting isn't a sport. It's an exercise in stupidity (for most people). Stop making random excuses about being 'closer to nature' and 'human experience'. If you want human experience, get a knife and hiking clothes (nothing else), go into the forest and have a one on one with bear. No rescue systems, no mobile phone. Just you and the bear, if you get him good for you, if he gets you - tough luck.
There tends to be a vocal, if not small, roup on slashdot that tends to promote idea's such as "Hit 'em rough! Take control!" when it comes to parental lack of control. If find these sort of views quite ridiculus? What sort of parent are you if you have to constantly revert to using force and pressure to keep your child in line. Isn't it better to show the child the error of his ways and try and communicate with them? What's all this talk about boot camps? Is that a really effective solution?
When will people realize that wanting no one to tell you what you should and shouldn't do is the same as telling others what they should or shouldn't do?
What? I don't get you here, what are you talking about? Secondly, what's with this 'no one should tell me what to do'? Most liberals think that you should be free to do what you like as long you don't hurt anyone and society around you (this includes the environment). No one is suggesting that we should have absolute anarchy. I mean you are christian and all, and you probably forgot that people don't a diety to act in a moral manner, but come on what sort of bullshit is this? I brake the law by smoking pot, that doesn't mean I think every law should be broken and that I have no respect for other people's rights.
How is skipping the commercials any different than skipping the sex scenes via an automated service?
I find it strange that you don't see the difference, but you are christian. When you skip commercials, all you are doing is skipping all the extra shit the networks try force you to watch, it's not much different from switching the channel when the commercial break starts. You wouldn't call that a crime, would you? Skipping sex scenes on the hand is another matter. You are essentially making a custom version of someone copyright work, that's technicaly copyright infringement (not that I care, but you seem to be bothered about following the law (that's not the same thing as acting in a moral/ethical manner). In principle I don't think there is anything wrong with that (as long as people don't profit on the custom copies) even if you do infringe on copyrights (it would be like me deleting the Universal Pictures logo at the start of movie), but you are the one who says skipping commercials is wrong. I think you need some consistency. I mean you sound a bit stupid saying that skipping ads is morally wrong (while at most, it is unethical), while making custom version of movies is okay (when in reality that's breaking the law). I see your point regarding Slashdot not being too supportive of skipping sex scenes and such (I think that liberty should be absolute and it should be applied even to people who harm individual liberty like christians), but you only have yourself to blame for that. It's not slashdot's fault that christianity is the organization most responsible for slowing progress and limiting individual freedom in the last 2000 years.
Do we all agree that it is fair use to rip an audio cd that we own into mp3 format? But hey, that is loss of information!
Do you work for the RIAA? If you bought a music CD, whats wrong with switching formats, why should you be forced to pay for something that you already paid for?
But get some damn consistancy. I get tired of the bashing against anyone who even hints that there should be legislated morality.
Ignoring the fact that you yourself aren't consistent, I don't see how the idea of legislating morality comes into this. People on slashdot oppose legislating morality for the same reasons that you want to skip sex scenes. They don't like being how to live by some inbred christian. Why should you tell me what's right and wrong. The idea of me having a toke from a bong has nothing to do with yeah and it shouldn't matter whether you (or the people in power) think about smoking weed. You are contradicting yourself. On one hand you want people to not interfere with you skipping sex scenes, but at the same time you are not willing to let other people enjoy the same freedom. Do you see why there is such a backlash against christianity on slashdot? Because people are sick of your stupid morality, you got them so sick that they are willing to move away from the principles of liberalism just because christians are such unreliable fucks when it comes to issues of liberty. To an extenet I agree with them...
Shit, cold blooded murder is wrong. Its ok to create laws that will remove those murderers from causing more hurt.
The Shuttle is probably statistically safer then your car.
You have no clue what you are talking about. Out of 114 launches, there have been 2 disasters. That's like a 2% fatality rate. That is very high. I don't think these sort of figures would be exceptable for a car. (chech wikipedia and other source if you don't believe me).
Do you even know what you are talking about? What security? Feeling secure in your right to be sent to a slave labour camp where you would be able to help complete Stalin's industrialization plan (such as building a huge network of canals that were barely used).
What about the rape and butchery of all those Russian children in Beslan?
The rape and butchery of the children can blamed on the incompetence of the Russian government as much as the terrorists. If you saw footage from the area, you would have understood that the government was nowhere close to handling situations. Civilians had clear away the roads from parked cars in order their children (on their own cars) to the hospital. Why the fuck weren't there enough ambulances on the spot. Why wasn't the whole place locked down and fast lane sort of thing setup between the closest hospitals and the school ? Hell, why wasn't a field hospital setup nearby to provide immediate medical aid?
This is not the first time the Russian government fucked up in this way. During the Nord Ost hostage crisis, they had inexperienced out of town drivers driving the local public buses whihc where used to transport the victims to the local hospitals. Why the fuck weren't there enough ambulances at the spot? Wtf where those assholes thinking about? And to make it worse they didn't immediately describe the nature of the sedative that they used in the theatre to the hospital workers.
Makes you think who are the real terrorists.
Btw, dont confuse the conflict in Chechnya with global terrorism. This conflict is centuries old and it started before America even came out of isolationism. While I don't support terrorism, I can see why many Chechens do support such methods (you want more info/references on how Russians act in Chechnya just ask).
LOL, Your arguement is quite fun, but you made a small mistake! I am not Russian! I am Ukranian you asshole! And I have nothing to do with Putin and Russia's slide to Totalitarianism. I want Ukraine to disassociate with all Russian institutions in economic, cultural and political spheres of activity.
For your information I support free markets and partial deregulation (I don't support things like COPE and the whole hands off the internet thing), but at the same time I believe that state should sponsor a welfare system that would not allow anyone to slide bellow a certain level of poverty.
My knowledge of American culture seems to be a lot better than your knowledge of Ukraine or Russia for that matter. I perfectly well know the difference between freebase and crack, it's your problem that you didn't get what I was implying.
And how are Libertarians pro-people? I don't see how dismantling the public educational system would benefit the people... And the charitable approach to public education doesn't work as well, you know not everyone would enjoy being taught in some 'Christian school of the Retards' where evolution is considered pseudo-science and creationism is considered law (oppose that view and you get kicked out of school).
I also don't see how this private ownership of environmental property will work. How do you expect Greenpeace to outbid logging companies?
But those issues are nothing compared to Libertarians stance on welfare. You call that pro-people??? And don't give this bullshit about more opportunity and shit. What opportunity do you have when the only school you can go to teaches you that cells, DNA and evolution is all bullshit and that god created the Earth and no more questions. How do you expect people to get degrees? Do you know how much going to a good college wihtout any funding costs (I should know I am an international and I am going to University of Michigan without any aid)? Okay, so business will have more money to sponser the top 15% of the students cause because taxes will be banned, so? What's going to happen to the rest the other 85%, working for 2$ per hour and being exploited but some business?
I am sorry but Libertarians are not pro-people and a Libertarian would not defend my rights. Granted on paper you would have rights that the Republican Fascists (and Dems) are taking away from you. but would you be able to enjoy these rights? I think not, you would simply be a working machine for your local business....
Louis XVI, Tsar Nicholas II, and Mikhail Gorbachev were all weak rulers who lacked the conviction to stop their governments from crumbling, unlike the unchallenged despots who preceeded them.
As someone who is studying modern European history for the IB, I have to say that your statement regarding Nicholas II is incorrect. Consider the fact that he was quite capable of using force against and political manipulation against protestors during the 1905 revolution. The crucial difference in 1917 was that by that point he had no coercive powers and he alienated the upper classes. If Nicky could, he would do everything to keep the monarchy going, he couldn't, it wasn't a matter of having the guts or whatever you were trying to imply.
and that they can be easily circumvented by self-publishing on the internet
What makes you think that this isn't limited by corporations in one form or another? Think about the COPE act... Evil commies trying to enforce network neutrality and not allowing poor cable companies to make money. Isn't that censorship? What about all the family values bullshit that is enforced onto media? Isn't that censorship? Why should the the makers of GTA be resposible for a 3rd party patch that adds some stupid pixels characters having sex? Of course, I am not saying that the amount of censorship in the USA is anywhere close to China, but don't be deluded by America's freedom of speech, it is resticted. You could probably ban non white people from TV under the pretext of 'It's for the children!'
While I agree the Adobe reader is a piece of crap, I can't agree that it doesn't do anything different in the new versions. With every new version, the PDF format is expanded. Like recently, they added the option to embed flash. If you want to see an exact list of addition just compare plugins between different versions.
I think this is more than a small sacrifice that American college students should make for our security and protecting our freedom.
I didn't know conservatives where into crack, I thought they only approved of coke. Security? Freedom? From what? How is wiretrapping going to help against terrorist? Yout think you will be safe with wiretrapping? You do understand that with something like terrorism you defence is only as good as your weakest link? It's not going to help.
I hear many short sighted lefties talk about "protecting" our freedoms. What they are really talking about is squandering our precious liberty by using it up. Our liberty must be protected, not merely by intrusive government abuse into our privacy, but by refraining from its exercise. Freedom must be cherished. You don't cherish something by using it all up and wearing it out.
That's the stupidest think I ever heard. No compromises should be made when it comes to freedom. Pardon the cliche, but those willing to give up a little liberty for a little security deserve neither security nor liberty. That's right! We are talking about and your conservative pathogens.
Other Americans in the same age group are over in Iraq, putting their lives on the line and in some cases making the ultimate sacrifice so that we might have comprehensive government oversight of every aspect of our lives here at home.
Ultimate sacrifice? What's that making more money for Cheyney? Damn I didn't know haliburton was into religion and stuff. The government shouldn't have any oversight over your life, it's not their business to know what you are doing and the government shouldn't have any right to spy on you.
But they don't belong in college anyway; if we don't fight them in Iraq, surely we'll have to fight them on the beaches of American universities, which would put a severe crimp in spring break.
I understand that you're a conservative and all, but you do understand that by invading Iraq you guys gave a boost to the islamofacsist movement. You essentially turned Iraq into a breeding ground for terrorists.
I know you're most probably American and knowing world geography (let alone understanding foriegn cultures and ideals) is a complex feat, but you might want to know that Ukraine isn't part of the USSR anymore and has nothing to do with Russia. (It's a seperate country).
So the correct way to call your wolfzilla would be Ukranian Wolfzilla.
Well here in Moscow, Russia where we have a well established pirate market that rivals the kremlin in popularity among expats. Vast majority of the DVD are region free. This people are pros, so they almost always author the DVD and add regional extras.
I sometimes borrow legal DVD from my friends, they seem so horibble compared to the pirated once which are easy to use and contain no additional blocks/locks. But it's pretty easy to rip a DVD and rebuild, just usedoom9.org forums.
And I think patched firmwares isn't as hard as some of the people in this thread make it seem. For instance, I have a NEC drive and I found a perfect page for patched NEC firmware.
http://liggydee.cdfreaks.com/page/
I am sure that similar collections exist for other producers/brands. They might even be on cdfreaks.com itself.
Slashdot Mirror
OMG, how hate such teen angst "But Bush is worse than Putin posts!" You have no fucking clue what you are talking about. You've most probably never been to Russia or anywhere in the former USSR.
America at least has some sort of system of checks and balances, Gonzales might have been fired yet, but there at least people criticizing him and exerting pressure for him to resign. In Russia, Gonzales' behavior is the norm. There are no independent institutions in Russia, everything works via system of contacts/relationships. Putin decides that he wants to lower the chance of particular successor (elections are internalized in Russia, a small group of people decide who gets to be in power, sometimes there is conflict inside this group), he just moves him to a less influential position.
There is no parliament in Russia, we have micromanagement of parties. There essentially two parties, a pro-government party and an "opposition party", they both will do what the government will tell them to but at the same time they pretend to be fighting against each other. The real opposition is completely marginalized, they are not allowed to stage demonstrations in the central locations (the governments excuse being that the pro-government organization needed that particular time slot for their own demonstrations). The choice between Democrats and Republicans isn't too good, but better than having no choice at all, at least it keep the ruling group under pressure.
Your statement about freedom of the press in the USA further underlines that you don't know what you are talking about. For Russia, FOX news would be one of the most pro-opposition channels on TV. In Russia the government virtually controls all forms of mass media. And they all just report what the government tells them to. FOX news pro-conservative shit is a walk in the park compared to Russian TV. Russian engages in racism, it promotes the idea of democracy as simple PR exercise, for all it's work Russian TV is simply a capitalist version of Soviet era TV. It's all propaganda, just now instead of documentary on the glory of communism, they show the Russian version of American Idol.
Seriously, don't ever compare Russia to the US! By doing so you are severely undermining the contribution of the few people in Russia who are doing something to oppose Putin and his fascists. You really don't much about politics or current events judging from your statement about Russia not invading, if anything it just shows how much you watch FOX news/CNN. Just because American TV don't report about certain things, doesn't mean they don't happen. Read up on South Ossetia, Abhazia and Transnistria and how Russian troops are in these regions without a UN peace keeping mandate. And even ignoring these areas, until recently Russia was in no state to battle the Chechens (arguably, they are still in trouble with Chechnya - no way to evaluate that however due to the government's media blockade), let alone invading other countries.
And just because I don't like Russia and it's government, doesn't mean I am a fan of the US. Both the Dems and the Republicans are full of shit, America primitive social laws (you can't drink until your 21, but it's okay to buy a semi-automatic weapons for your own protection) are an embarrassment. And America's foreign policy is just a joke. What you guys need is a test on international events and foreign cultures for everyone who wants to vote. Can't find Somalia on the map? The only Georgia you know of is an American state? Sorry can't vote! That would also have a good side effect of eliminating the fascist (bible) belt as a political force.
As a Ukrainian citizen, I would have to question your thoughts about Poland and the Czech Republic being coerced into joining the missile shield. Significant sections of former USSR (excluding Russia of course) can't stand the Russians (try speaking in Lviv). I don't know about the Czech Republic, but the Poles can't stand the Russians and their imperialist policy. Just look at the whole depute over Polish meat exports. If anything, the Polish leaders are happy to have military sites just to show the Russians that the USSR/Warsaw pact is as dead as ever.
P.S. I am biased against Russia, but so what? I proud to be biased against a nation of nationalist xenophobes.
This is not the same thing as Cuba. The missile interceptor facilities are not capable of protecting against Russian missiles. It's obvious that this whole issue involves domestic Russian problems. Putin with his whole "Russia is back!" cannot stand to have former Soviet satellites housing NATO missile facilities.
The West really needs to start taking Russia more seriously. They need to diversify energy supplies, help Georgia and Ukraine enter NATO and the EU. Maybe even support Chechen separatists, I am not a big fan of their tactics, but it looks like they are better choice than Khadirov Jr.
P.S. I am quarter Russian, so don't take this as ignorant American BS.
It's funny to see all these "Mozilla is Evil!" posts. So what if Mozilla made corporate subsidy? It's been a year know that Moz Co has been in operation, so where is the fallout? Did Mozilla the organization do anything shaddy? The whole Iceweasel thing is a lot of bullshit, if Mozilla wants to engage in marketing they have to protect their trademark, there are no exceptions. Mozilla's policy on trademarks is very sane, they don't act in an aggressive manner, they get in contact with the right people and sort things out.
Mozilla succeeded exactly because they are able to make a product that can be used by average users (while at the same time allowing geeks to customize Firefox to any degree we want). Mozilla should continue with their policy of ignoring OSS populism and innovating . The idiots who are too stupid to understand why Mozilla makes certain decision should use Iceweasel.
You're deluding yourself if you think that America isn't involved in colonialism? Initially, America simply didn't have enough resources to pursue an imperialist policy, so they tried to gain an advantage over Europe by opposing colonialism. Once America got sufficiently developed, it started an imperialist policy of its own. Just read up on the histories of Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines. If that's not imperialism then I don't know what it is.
Although, you do have a point that European colonialism did fuck the world up pretty bad. Although I wouldn't simply the Gulf/Middle East saga as a simple product of imperialism. There is a lot more to it, from global phenomena like the rise of fundamentalism to local phenomena such as Israel.
Who gives a flying fuck what George Washington said. Americans need to stop caring about the 'founding fathers'. Their thoughts are irrelevant in today's world.
WTF? Are you just making all this shit up? Do you have any evidence to prove your point? Corporate accounts showing how unprofitable Europe/Canada is? Anything at all?
"Thats like saying that because the war on drugs is corrupt its ok to smoke weed. "because its right". Its still illegal, regardless of how anyone feels."
So what if it's illegal? You're not doing anything morally wrong by smoking weed, you not bothering anyone, at worst you are harming your own lungs (if you don't have a vaporizer or you don't like to cook). So how is it not okay to smoke weed? Maybe we have different definition for the word okay.
Your taking a slightly one sided view, no?
The point isn't about whether it subverts the educational process or not (I would agree with you that in this particular case, the students (the ones that don't cheat) have nothing to benefit from by shutting down turnitin), it's about how you apply copyrights. If a government implements a copyright system it should work for everyone, not just RIAA and the corporations. This means that the same rules apply to "pot-smoking communist students" as they do our corporate overlords.
If you are willing to make the benefits of copyright applicable only to one set of people/organizations, then there is nothing morally wrong with pillaging the seas for mp3s.
Your statement about value is even more stupid. I could argue that Britney Spears' shit (that corporations try to present as music) has no inherent value and it no way satisfies the requirement that copyrights were created for. To function (both in a legal and moral sense) copyrights have to be universal, it doesn't matter if I write a poem about how great pot is or compose a piece of music that changes the world, both these products have the exact same rights when it comes to getting copyrights.
If anything, you're just underlining how artificial and pointless copyrights (especially in their current form and with the development of digital technologies) are. They are not real, like corporations they are an artificial construct that were initiated in hope that it would benefit society overall.
You statements about inspiration from discussions is also lame. You would not be able to copyright the vast majority of mainstream music. After all, most of "gangsta rap" is represented by identical carbon copies. Add "bitches/bentlies" to the videos and "cash, money" and " Ima G" lyrics. What about the black cop/white cop formula used by many cop movies?
Copyright is not sustainable in it's current form and the fact that there is an issue around turnitin underlines this fact.
Quit propagating the myth that PCP makes you go on a rampage. Yeah some people have gone crazy and done stupid shit on PCP, but this kind of behavior is not universal!
"(for those that continue along the fallacy of them being more expensive, I priced out identical systems from HP, Dell, and Apple by feature. Apple was cheaper, not even accounting for the better software)"
Let's have a look at your price comparison. Apple fans always talk about how their products are identically prices to their competitors, BS. Especially in the desktop arena, paying $600 for Mac mini is beyond insane. In the laptop arena, Apple s slightly more competitive, but that's about it.
Hunting is not an integral part of the human experience. Arguably, humans and their primate ancestor were never designed to go after large game. I think eating berries and stuff like that is much closer to the natural experience.
You wana to be closer to nature and feel bonding with your buddies? Go out camping and eat some shrooms/LSD with your buddies. The 'experience' of hunting (a.k.a. getting wasted and shooting some animal) will seem like a lame joke after that.
You seem to not understand the difference between killing animals for food and for fun. What you are advocating is just sports hunting. Bunch of old white duded getting drunk and shooting stuff. The main point isn't the food. I don't see a problem with native people hunting for food, but I think that old drunk fucks should find a better way to entertain themselves than kill animals for fun.
Blind people should have as many rights as normal people as possible. However the nature of their disability means that they will not be able to take part in some activities. If 'normal' people like Dick Dick Cheney fucked up while hunting (and he is supposed to be like on the most successful member of American society), whats gonna happen when blind people start hunting? Just think about it, when all those fucks get drunk - you think anyone is going to bother checking the blind person's scope.
Hunting isn't a sport. It's an exercise in stupidity (for most people). Stop making random excuses about being 'closer to nature' and 'human experience'. If you want human experience, get a knife and hiking clothes (nothing else), go into the forest and have a one on one with bear. No rescue systems, no mobile phone. Just you and the bear, if you get him good for you, if he gets you - tough luck.
People who hunt with guns are cowards.
What about those of who use Adblock+?
There tends to be a vocal, if not small, roup on slashdot that tends to promote idea's such as "Hit 'em rough! Take control!" when it comes to parental lack of control. If find these sort of views quite ridiculus? What sort of parent are you if you have to constantly revert to using force and pressure to keep your child in line. Isn't it better to show the child the error of his ways and try and communicate with them? What's all this talk about boot camps? Is that a really effective solution?
What? I don't get you here, what are you talking about? Secondly, what's with this 'no one should tell me what to do'? Most liberals think that you should be free to do what you like as long you don't hurt anyone and society around you (this includes the environment). No one is suggesting that we should have absolute anarchy. I mean you are christian and all, and you probably forgot that people don't a diety to act in a moral manner, but come on what sort of bullshit is this? I brake the law by smoking pot, that doesn't mean I think every law should be broken and that I have no respect for other people's rights.
How is skipping the commercials any different than skipping the sex scenes via an automated service?
I find it strange that you don't see the difference, but you are christian. When you skip commercials, all you are doing is skipping all the extra shit the networks try force you to watch, it's not much different from switching the channel when the commercial break starts. You wouldn't call that a crime, would you? Skipping sex scenes on the hand is another matter. You are essentially making a custom version of someone copyright work, that's technicaly copyright infringement (not that I care, but you seem to be bothered about following the law (that's not the same thing as acting in a moral/ethical manner). In principle I don't think there is anything wrong with that (as long as people don't profit on the custom copies) even if you do infringe on copyrights (it would be like me deleting the Universal Pictures logo at the start of movie), but you are the one who says skipping commercials is wrong. I think you need some consistency. I mean you sound a bit stupid saying that skipping ads is morally wrong (while at most, it is unethical), while making custom version of movies is okay (when in reality that's breaking the law). I see your point regarding Slashdot not being too supportive of skipping sex scenes and such (I think that liberty should be absolute and it should be applied even to people who harm individual liberty like christians), but you only have yourself to blame for that. It's not slashdot's fault that christianity is the organization most responsible for slowing progress and limiting individual freedom in the last 2000 years.
Do we all agree that it is fair use to rip an audio cd that we own into mp3 format? But hey, that is loss of information!
Do you work for the RIAA? If you bought a music CD, whats wrong with switching formats, why should you be forced to pay for something that you already paid for?
But get some damn consistancy. I get tired of the bashing against anyone who even hints that there should be legislated morality.
Ignoring the fact that you yourself aren't consistent, I don't see how the idea of legislating morality comes into this. People on slashdot oppose legislating morality for the same reasons that you want to skip sex scenes. They don't like being how to live by some inbred christian. Why should you tell me what's right and wrong. The idea of me having a toke from a bong has nothing to do with yeah and it shouldn't matter whether you (or the people in power) think about smoking weed. You are contradicting yourself. On one hand you want people to not interfere with you skipping sex scenes, but at the same time you are not willing to let other people enjoy the same freedom. Do you see why there is such a backlash against christianity on slashdot? Because people are sick of your stupid morality, you got them so sick that they are willing to move away from the principles of liberalism just because christians are such unreliable fucks when it comes to issues of liberty. To an extenet I agree with them...
Shit, cold blooded murder is wrong. Its ok to create laws that will remove those murderers from causing more hurt.
What laws are
You have no clue what you are talking about. Out of 114 launches, there have been 2 disasters. That's like a 2% fatality rate. That is very high. I don't think these sort of figures would be exceptable for a car. (chech wikipedia and other source if you don't believe me).
Russia before the Cold War
Do you even know what you are talking about? What security? Feeling secure in your right to be sent to a slave labour camp where you would be able to help complete Stalin's industrialization plan (such as building a huge network of canals that were barely used).
The rape and butchery of the children can blamed on the incompetence of the Russian government as much as the terrorists. If you saw footage from the area, you would have understood that the government was nowhere close to handling situations. Civilians had clear away the roads from parked cars in order their children (on their own cars) to the hospital. Why the fuck weren't there enough ambulances on the spot. Why wasn't the whole place locked down and fast lane sort of thing setup between the closest hospitals and the school ? Hell, why wasn't a field hospital setup nearby to provide immediate medical aid?
This is not the first time the Russian government fucked up in this way. During the Nord Ost hostage crisis, they had inexperienced out of town drivers driving the local public buses whihc where used to transport the victims to the local hospitals. Why the fuck weren't there enough ambulances at the spot? Wtf where those assholes thinking about? And to make it worse they didn't immediately describe the nature of the sedative that they used in the theatre to the hospital workers.
Makes you think who are the real terrorists.
Btw, dont confuse the conflict in Chechnya with global terrorism. This conflict is centuries old and it started before America even came out of isolationism. While I don't support terrorism, I can see why many Chechens do support such methods (you want more info/references on how Russians act in Chechnya just ask).
For your information I support free markets and partial deregulation (I don't support things like COPE and the whole hands off the internet thing), but at the same time I believe that state should sponsor a welfare system that would not allow anyone to slide bellow a certain level of poverty.
My knowledge of American culture seems to be a lot better than your knowledge of Ukraine or Russia for that matter. I perfectly well know the difference between freebase and crack, it's your problem that you didn't get what I was implying.
Anything else?
I also don't see how this private ownership of environmental property will work. How do you expect Greenpeace to outbid logging companies?
But those issues are nothing compared to Libertarians stance on welfare. You call that pro-people??? And don't give this bullshit about more opportunity and shit. What opportunity do you have when the only school you can go to teaches you that cells, DNA and evolution is all bullshit and that god created the Earth and no more questions. How do you expect people to get degrees? Do you know how much going to a good college wihtout any funding costs (I should know I am an international and I am going to University of Michigan without any aid)? Okay, so business will have more money to sponser the top 15% of the students cause because taxes will be banned, so? What's going to happen to the rest the other 85%, working for 2$ per hour and being exploited but some business?
I am sorry but Libertarians are not pro-people and a Libertarian would not defend my rights. Granted on paper you would have rights that the Republican Fascists (and Dems) are taking away from you. but would you be able to enjoy these rights? I think not, you would simply be a working machine for your local business....
As someone who is studying modern European history for the IB, I have to say that your statement regarding Nicholas II is incorrect. Consider the fact that he was quite capable of using force against and political manipulation against protestors during the 1905 revolution. The crucial difference in 1917 was that by that point he had no coercive powers and he alienated the upper classes. If Nicky could, he would do everything to keep the monarchy going, he couldn't, it wasn't a matter of having the guts or whatever you were trying to imply.
What makes you think that this isn't limited by corporations in one form or another? Think about the COPE act... Evil commies trying to enforce network neutrality and not allowing poor cable companies to make money. Isn't that censorship? What about all the family values bullshit that is enforced onto media? Isn't that censorship? Why should the the makers of GTA be resposible for a 3rd party patch that adds some stupid pixels characters having sex? Of course, I am not saying that the amount of censorship in the USA is anywhere close to China, but don't be deluded by America's freedom of speech, it is resticted. You could probably ban non white people from TV under the pretext of 'It's for the children!'
Some food for thought:
http://www.savetheinternet.com/
http://www.handsofftheinternet.com/
While I agree the Adobe reader is a piece of crap, I can't agree that it doesn't do anything different in the new versions. With every new version, the PDF format is expanded. Like recently, they added the option to embed flash. If you want to see an exact list of addition just compare plugins between different versions.
I think this is more than a small sacrifice that American college students should make for our security and protecting our freedom.
I didn't know conservatives where into crack, I thought they only approved of coke. Security? Freedom? From what? How is wiretrapping going to help against terrorist? Yout think you will be safe with wiretrapping? You do understand that with something like terrorism you defence is only as good as your weakest link? It's not going to help.
I hear many short sighted lefties talk about "protecting" our freedoms. What they are really talking about is squandering our precious liberty by using it up. Our liberty must be protected, not merely by intrusive government abuse into our privacy, but by refraining from its exercise. Freedom must be cherished. You don't cherish something by using it all up and wearing it out.
That's the stupidest think I ever heard. No compromises should be made when it comes to freedom. Pardon the cliche, but those willing to give up a little liberty for a little security deserve neither security nor liberty. That's right! We are talking about and your conservative pathogens.
Other Americans in the same age group are over in Iraq, putting their lives on the line and in some cases making the ultimate sacrifice so that we might have comprehensive government oversight of every aspect of our lives here at home.
Ultimate sacrifice? What's that making more money for Cheyney? Damn I didn't know haliburton was into religion and stuff. The government shouldn't have any oversight over your life, it's not their business to know what you are doing and the government shouldn't have any right to spy on you.
But they don't belong in college anyway; if we don't fight them in Iraq, surely we'll have to fight them on the beaches of American universities, which would put a severe crimp in spring break.
I understand that you're a conservative and all, but you do understand that by invading Iraq you guys gave a boost to the islamofacsist movement. You essentially turned Iraq into a breeding ground for terrorists.
So the correct way to call your wolfzilla would be Ukranian Wolfzilla.
Well here in Moscow, Russia where we have a well established pirate market that rivals the kremlin in popularity among expats. Vast majority of the DVD are region free. This people are pros, so they almost always author the DVD and add regional extras. I sometimes borrow legal DVD from my friends, they seem so horibble compared to the pirated once which are easy to use and contain no additional blocks/locks. But it's pretty easy to rip a DVD and rebuild, just usedoom9.org forums. And I think patched firmwares isn't as hard as some of the people in this thread make it seem. For instance, I have a NEC drive and I found a perfect page for patched NEC firmware. http://liggydee.cdfreaks.com/page/ I am sure that similar collections exist for other producers/brands. They might even be on cdfreaks.com itself.