The founding fathers were perfectly aware of the concept of the popular vote. They rejected it for excellent reasons.
See, I'm always a bit suspicious when people quote "the founding fathers" as exemplars of infallible judgment. They were pretty clever fellows, but they were not immune from error, and they were certainly not without their own agendas.
The founding fathers rejected the popular vote because they were more affraid of the People than of the King. Yes, George Washington opposed permanent political parties, but this was hardly consensus opinion. And even so, the FFs weren't about to let just anybody sit in the White House.
An example, flawed but illustrative: Let's say that, after losing the Democratic primary, Al Sharpton decided to run as an independent. Let's put aside issues of race for the moment, because I'm choosing Sharpton more for his willingness to say what he thinks and hold forth on an absurdity for long periods of time rather than for the fact that the US has never had an African-American president. Let's say Al put together an amazing campaign, and ended up winning the popular vote. The electoral college is a measure to prevent this from happening. It divides his vote by state, which depending on distribution may alter the results. Or, more likely, it would allow the electors to choose one of the major-party candidates, essentially telling voters "Oh, you didn't mean to vote for him. You probably meant [second place candidate]."
Well, perhaps the example is extreme. But it works just as well on a smaller scale, giving a push based on elector favor on a state-by-state basis. And the troubling thing is, it works just as well without a third-party candidate in the equation.
One of the most consistent and valid criticisms of the Bush administration right now is that it had no plan for peace in Iraq once the invasion had begun. While I and many left-leaning citizens opposed the war from the beginning, the fact is that we overthrew Saddam Hussein's government and are currently overseeing its replacement
Your web site states that you advocate an "immediate withdrawal" of troops from Iraq. How would you propose to clean up the mess we've made in the region without a military presence? What do you see as the chances of survival of the current Iraqi government without America's support? And what do you believe would become of Iraq if this new government is overthrown or rendered irrelevant by popular uprising?
As someone falling into the "other" category, I can confirm that, yes, I received my $.39/hour raise this year, my first with this particular institution.
Not that I'm complaining, mind you; in fact I'm the only one out of my friends with a steady job. Let's hear it for economic recovery!
Will a top-loading system make it easier to load imports and "back ups" with the Swap Magic Fix? Of course, it's still cheaper to get a flip top cover.
There was FF: Tactics Advance for Game Boy Advance. Not really a sequel, but it's not a port of the original either. It's a fun game, suck up a whole lot of your time if you let it.
Not that I'm a fan of spam, but it's always blown my mind that it gets people so riled. I know there are issues of taking up server space, bandwidth, etc., but most people just complain about the enduser aspect, i.e. having a mailbox full of vi.agraaah!!! advertisements. Just delete it! End of story!
IMHO, printed junk mail is much more agravating, because it is wasteful. It costs money to print, money to send, and a vast majority of the time winds up in the bin without much of a look. And it wastes materials, paper if nothing else but will now often go up to an eye-catching (?) CD in a shiny package (hi AOL!). Now we're tossing out aluminum, shrinkwrap, and a small disc of plastic. That's the kind of thing that should have a bounty attached to it.
I was going to make a wiseass statement about more movies for UMD, but since that format is already being discussed I'll instead make a sensible comment/comparison.
IMHO, UMD movies will be very few due to their limited audience, PSP owners. Movies released for this format will likely be only those that would specifically appeal to this audience, such as Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. UMD is absolutely not primed to replace the current DVD technology, because it holds considerably less information (1.8 GB).
For all the "early adopters," I would be willing to bet there are 100 "never adopters," people who accept technology the way it is packaged and if it doesn't work well, too bad, that's just how computers are.
As IE is packaged with (and an integral part of) Windows, and Windows machines make up somewhere around 90% of consumer machines, I don't see IE's market share dipping much below 90% for the general public, regardless of better (free) options.
Most people simply won't take the time to download IE alternatives when they've already got a web browser.
I was not allowed to buy a postal money order with a Visa/MC (in Michigan), which almost makes sense to me though I couldn't say why. Buying an MO at Walgreen's, though, was no hassle.
Also, I couldn't get anybody to sell me plane tickets to Cuba...
At any rate, this Paypal thing seems more pragmatic than moralistic. Others have mentioned the various legal issues and likely disputes, but the fines are still a bit interesting. There are plenty of private businesses that charge fines for misuse (the most common being late fees for assorted rental items), but $500 is a bit drastic. Still, if you want to keep somebody from doing something, it sounds pretty effective. Somebody gets his Paypal account closed, that's one thing, he can open another; getting $500 sucked directly from his bank account is a bit heavier deterrent.
I'm actually very curious to see how this goes. Looking at comments so far (and in previous, less overtly-political threads), I would have to say that the/. community leans significantly to the right...... yet loves complaining about the site's liberal bias.
So, by show of hands, who here has read the best-selling "Unfit for Command," and who hasn't been able to find a copy because of the Vast Left-Wing Conspiracy?
Slashdot Mirror
Still a step up from other MS products, which have to get *better* to become useless.
See, I'm always a bit suspicious when people quote "the founding fathers" as exemplars of infallible judgment. They were pretty clever fellows, but they were not immune from error, and they were certainly not without their own agendas.
The founding fathers rejected the popular vote because they were more affraid of the People than of the King. Yes, George Washington opposed permanent political parties, but this was hardly consensus opinion. And even so, the FFs weren't about to let just anybody sit in the White House.
An example, flawed but illustrative: Let's say that, after losing the Democratic primary, Al Sharpton decided to run as an independent. Let's put aside issues of race for the moment, because I'm choosing Sharpton more for his willingness to say what he thinks and hold forth on an absurdity for long periods of time rather than for the fact that the US has never had an African-American president. Let's say Al put together an amazing campaign, and ended up winning the popular vote. The electoral college is a measure to prevent this from happening. It divides his vote by state, which depending on distribution may alter the results. Or, more likely, it would allow the electors to choose one of the major-party candidates, essentially telling voters "Oh, you didn't mean to vote for him. You probably meant [second place candidate]."
Well, perhaps the example is extreme. But it works just as well on a smaller scale, giving a push based on elector favor on a state-by-state basis. And the troubling thing is, it works just as well without a third-party candidate in the equation.
Your web site states that you advocate an "immediate withdrawal" of troops from Iraq. How would you propose to clean up the mess we've made in the region without a military presence? What do you see as the chances of survival of the current Iraqi government without America's support? And what do you believe would become of Iraq if this new government is overthrown or rendered irrelevant by popular uprising?
Thank you very much for your time.
Not that I'm complaining, mind you; in fact I'm the only one out of my friends with a steady job. Let's hear it for economic recovery!
Will a top-loading system make it easier to load imports and "back ups" with the Swap Magic Fix? Of course, it's still cheaper to get a flip top cover.
Don't think Cloud's in it tho.
IMHO, printed junk mail is much more agravating, because it is wasteful. It costs money to print, money to send, and a vast majority of the time winds up in the bin without much of a look. And it wastes materials, paper if nothing else but will now often go up to an eye-catching (?) CD in a shiny package (hi AOL!). Now we're tossing out aluminum, shrinkwrap, and a small disc of plastic. That's the kind of thing that should have a bounty attached to it.
... and restore the cut storyline featuring Aeris's resurrection...
Crud, I was hoping this was Dirge of Cerebus, featuring Dave Sim's cranky aardvark fighting Sephiroth and Shin-ra.
IMHO, UMD movies will be very few due to their limited audience, PSP owners. Movies released for this format will likely be only those that would specifically appeal to this audience, such as Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. UMD is absolutely not primed to replace the current DVD technology, because it holds considerably less information (1.8 GB).
For all the "early adopters," I would be willing to bet there are 100 "never adopters," people who accept technology the way it is packaged and if it doesn't work well, too bad, that's just how computers are. As IE is packaged with (and an integral part of) Windows, and Windows machines make up somewhere around 90% of consumer machines, I don't see IE's market share dipping much below 90% for the general public, regardless of better (free) options. Most people simply won't take the time to download IE alternatives when they've already got a web browser.
I was not allowed to buy a postal money order with a Visa/MC (in Michigan), which almost makes sense to me though I couldn't say why. Buying an MO at Walgreen's, though, was no hassle.
Also, I couldn't get anybody to sell me plane tickets to Cuba...
At any rate, this Paypal thing seems more pragmatic than moralistic. Others have mentioned the various legal issues and likely disputes, but the fines are still a bit interesting. There are plenty of private businesses that charge fines for misuse (the most common being late fees for assorted rental items), but $500 is a bit drastic. Still, if you want to keep somebody from doing something, it sounds pretty effective. Somebody gets his Paypal account closed, that's one thing, he can open another; getting $500 sucked directly from his bank account is a bit heavier deterrent.
I'm actually very curious to see how this goes. Looking at comments so far (and in previous, less overtly-political threads), I would have to say that the /. community leans significantly to the right... ... yet loves complaining about the site's liberal bias.
So, by show of hands, who here has read the best-selling "Unfit for Command," and who hasn't been able to find a copy because of the Vast Left-Wing Conspiracy?
Wait... why haven't they posted any news since May? ...
What law did you break in the Ukraine?