I don't think the structure of our democracy has changed greatly in the last 100 years
Wow. What a statement.
The Sixteenth Amendment, giving Congress the power to tax individual citizens was adopted in 1913. The Federal Reserve Act passed the same year.
I highly recommend that you do some research into the History of American politics, as your perception of what the system was like 100 years ago is clearly out of line with reality.
-Peter
PS: The topic of slavery was more or less drug into the Civil War by Lincoln.
"Yeah, I'm not sure why, but I have a strange feeling the guy outside in the beige '87 sedan, wearing a topcoat and no pants has something to do with it."
A closer one would be if I watch the mechanic fix my car, then fix other people's cars with that information, depriving the mechanic of the opportunity to fix their cars for a fee.
This one fails as well, but it illustrates that the problem is in the fact that digital music can be copied without incurring manufacturing costs, which wrecks the music industry's business model.
I don't know what the answer is, but draconian copy controls seem to be failing. (Witness; I watch my DVDs on my GNU/Linux system without a "legal" CSS key.)
I am sorry to have to break this to you, but "martial arts guys" are like the Comic Book guy, only with pecs instead of tits.
Two very dear friends of mine are pretty heavily into martial arts. Great guys. When they get together they make everyone else nuts. And they don't even know they are doing it. That would be the opposite of charisma.
This seems to be a new edition of the book I used to prime myself on Calculus.
I'm not so sure it is a matter of sucks/doesn't suck, as much as strengths and weaknesses, or applicablity to one audience or another.
I.e. no text could serve equally well for a University Math course, a High School survey course and someone who wants to teach himself the rudiments of the topic.
That said, I think that the book I linked above is a good (i.e. doesn't suck) book for self-instruction, given that the student has a strong Algebra and Trig background AND is willing to work HARD to grasp the topics.
-Peter
Re:Great picture of Bill?!?
on
Gates on Spam
·
· Score: 5, Funny
I seem to be in a contrary mood today. Forgive me.
Perhaps because we never knew the benefits of these species around?
We never knew the drawbacks. In that 99.whatever percent there is probably something that finds people tasty. And some bacterium that could wipe us all out.
Neither of us know either way. It is all arm-waving.
More to the point; do I benefit from the continued existence of some obscure language spoken by a handful of people in some remote part of the world? Is that benefit enough to justify some action on my part to preserve it?
Don't get me wrong, I'm all for the preservation of unique cultures and languages on principle. But given that we all posses finite resources we must prioritize our efforts. Preserving a language that gives me no benefit that I can perceive doesn't even make the list of things to do "if I get a chance."
As someone currently living in the ROK, I can safely say that in Seoul at least, you will have no problem getting around without knowing any Korean whatsoever[. ..].
Seoul is NOT representative of the country. Not by a country mile.
Seoul is far more cosmopolitan than the other major cities. For example, Pusan seemed to be just as "urban" as Seoul, but much more "Korean." I found this surprising being that Pusan is a port city.
Beyond that, a significant portion of the South Korean people live a rural existence. English isn't even on their radar.
I also submit that "getting around" is a much lower standard than "spoken by the majority.
1. The phrase "'Lone Asteroid'" in the title of the story is a reference to the JFK "lone gunman" theory.
2. The grand parent is an acknowledgment of same.
3. My post above is a quote from the film "J.F.K." (with some topical modifications).
I respectfully request that if you simply don't understand a post in the future that you not assume that it is a troll. This sort of idiotic moderation is exactly what a large faction of slashdot trolls use as an excuse for their behavior.
Be part of the solution, not part of the fucking problem.
Slashdot Mirror
Hmm, where might we have heard that name before?
-Peter
It may seem that it is happening more and more, but that is just your perception.
Congratulations on becoming more skeptical!
-Peter
Could you do us all a favor and take Alec Baldwin with you?
-Peter
Ah, Douglas Adams. He left us too soon.
-Peter
I have a nickel that says you compose your posts in a word processor.
Am I right?
-Peter
But that's a 7.5MB RLL drive! That's HUGE!
-Peter
Wow. What a statement.
The Sixteenth Amendment, giving Congress the power to tax individual citizens was adopted in 1913. The Federal Reserve Act passed the same year.
I highly recommend that you do some research into the History of American politics, as your perception of what the system was like 100 years ago is clearly out of line with reality.
-Peter
PS: The topic of slavery was more or less drug into the Civil War by Lincoln.
-P
In other news, X is dying stories are dying.
After a seemingly endless run, stories about an industry, trend, or style dying are dying.
Some attribute this to the cyclic nature of punditry, others claim that, in fact, everything will stay exactly the way it is now forevermore.
-Peter
"You keep cutting out."
"Yeah, I'm not sure why, but I have a strange feeling the guy outside in the beige '87 sedan, wearing a topcoat and no pants has something to do with it."
-Peter
Are you asking me?
The whole thing seems like a racket to me. I think that Internet-based distribution of digital music will break the record industry's back.
I'm not going to shed any tears for them.
-Peter
It is true that it is fair use issue.
It is also true that it illustrates that DCMA+CSS utterly fails. Which was, after all, my point.
-Peter
There is a failure in your analogy.
A closer one would be if I watch the mechanic fix my car, then fix other people's cars with that information, depriving the mechanic of the opportunity to fix their cars for a fee.
This one fails as well, but it illustrates that the problem is in the fact that digital music can be copied without incurring manufacturing costs, which wrecks the music industry's business model.
I don't know what the answer is, but draconian copy controls seem to be failing. (Witness; I watch my DVDs on my GNU/Linux system without a "legal" CSS key.)
-Peter
I can't take any language with GOTOs seriously.
-Peter
Texas has quite strict gun laws.
I hope you aren't bothered too much by facts.
-Peter
I am sorry to have to break this to you, but "martial arts guys" are like the Comic Book guy, only with pecs instead of tits.
Two very dear friends of mine are pretty heavily into martial arts. Great guys. When they get together they make everyone else nuts. And they don't even know they are doing it. That would be the opposite of charisma.
-Peter
This seems to be a new edition of the book I used to prime myself on Calculus.
I'm not so sure it is a matter of sucks/doesn't suck, as much as strengths and weaknesses, or applicablity to one audience or another.
I.e. no text could serve equally well for a University Math course, a High School survey course and someone who wants to teach himself the rudiments of the topic.
That said, I think that the book I linked above is a good (i.e. doesn't suck) book for self-instruction, given that the student has a strong Algebra and Trig background AND is willing to work HARD to grasp the topics.
-Peter
False, there is also this one.
-Peter
We never knew the drawbacks. In that 99.whatever percent there is probably something that finds people tasty. And some bacterium that could wipe us all out.
Neither of us know either way. It is all arm-waving.
More to the point; do I benefit from the continued existence of some obscure language spoken by a handful of people in some remote part of the world? Is that benefit enough to justify some action on my part to preserve it?
Don't get me wrong, I'm all for the preservation of unique cultures and languages on principle. But given that we all posses finite resources we must prioritize our efforts. Preserving a language that gives me no benefit that I can perceive doesn't even make the list of things to do "if I get a chance."
Seoul is NOT representative of the country. Not by a country mile.
Seoul is far more cosmopolitan than the other major cities. For example, Pusan seemed to be just as "urban" as Seoul, but much more "Korean." I found this surprising being that Pusan is a port city.
Beyond that, a significant portion of the South Korean people live a rural existence. English isn't even on their radar.
I also submit that "getting around" is a much lower standard than "spoken by the majority.
-Peter
To play the devil's advocate. . .
Imagine, if language barriers were broken down all over the world; it could lead to universal communication.
God, understanding could even follow. The horror.
Most of the plants, animals, and languages that have ever existed are extinct. Frankly, I don't feel the worse off for it.
-Peter
PS: Having lived in the R.O.K. I can testify that English is not spoken by the majority.
-P
Sharky says to call it "sharing and gathering."
-Peter
I hope you're adaptable, sorehands. I know that Tenfish is . . .
-Peter
PS: Eh, does that make me Frank-N-Peter? *Shudder*
-P
Damn it, damn it, damn it!
/. submit button!
Is there a spellchecker plugin for Mozilla that will check a textarea? Extra points if it will intercept the
I'm looking for a "usage checker" too. I used illicit when I meant elicit the other day.
-Peter
Isn't this argument perfectly semetrical with "The SCO Linux Kernel Personality (LKP) works so good it must contain GPLed code." argument?
-Peter
So much for "on the Internet no one knows you're a dog." :-(
-Peter
To the idiot who moderated this as a troll.
1. The phrase "'Lone Asteroid'" in the title of the story is a reference to the JFK "lone gunman" theory.
2. The grand parent is an acknowledgment of same.
3. My post above is a quote from the film "J.F.K." (with some topical modifications).
I respectfully request that if you simply don't understand a post in the future that you not assume that it is a troll. This sort of idiotic moderation is exactly what a large faction of slashdot trolls use as an excuse for their behavior.
Be part of the solution, not part of the fucking problem.
-Peter