Slashdot Mirror


User: nosferat

nosferat's activity in the archive.

Stories
0
Comments
6
First seen
Last seen
Profile
(view on slashdot.org)

Comments · 6

  1. Re:Am I missing something? on Windows Vista - Still Fresh After 19 Months? · · Score: 1

    GUI: I still can't find a person that can point out why XP was so much better than 2000. If you can convince me, please do.
    ClearType font rendering if you are using LCD display.
  2. Re:And yet... on University Professor Chastised For Using Tor · · Score: 1

    When public utilites are privatized, disaster follows. Look at Bechtel's privatization of water utlities in South America.

    It is OK to make money by selling water. But it is not OK to disallow the others from doing the same and that is what government during Bechtel's privatization did - the state enforced a monopoly for Bechtel's company. This is definitely a failure of the government by restricting the free market.

    When industry in the Czech Republic was being privatized in nineties, it was very often sold by corrupt politicians to former communists for a price that was far below the market price. For many Czechs this proves that free market is unjust and criminal in essence. However again this is not failure of free market, but failure of government that refused to sell industry in a transparent way at a stock exchange.

    I have another example of public service. In the Czech Republic there is huge postal service company that has privileged position by law. They screw up half of the deliveries (they damage packages, delay deliveries, fail to notify about incoming mail waiting at post office) and you have to queue absolutely every time you go to post office. These issues would be solved by privatization according to my experience with past privatizations.

    People do indeed have to work to eat. But billions world-wide are forced to accept the unpleasant compromise of giving up freedoms in order to survive.

    While majority of the world population live in a poverty, again I do not think it is a failure of a free market. Moreover I believe it is free market that can elevate these people to better standard of living.

    Russian revolutionists in 1917 were convicted that the poverty of Russian people was the consequence of capitalism. They replaced capitalism with communism and the result was disastrous. Millions died of famine and those who survived were forced to face even worse poverty, oppression and lack of freedom.

    The free market is not magical, it is not divine, and it is not the ultimate or only solution.

    Definitely. The most problematic area of free market is IMHO how it handles negative externalities.

  3. Re:And yet... on University Professor Chastised For Using Tor · · Score: 1

    Everyone says the free market leads to freedom. It seems to lead to people having to shut the hell up or not eat, to me. Wage slavery is still slavery. No matter that you are free to pick your master, if you can't speak your mind or do what you want with your time and resources, you are a slave.

    Nowhere in the world have ordinary people more freedom than in countries with free market. This is empirical observation.

    People have to work. It is not fault of free market. It is what makes it possible for people to survive. If nobody worked humankind would die of hunger. Free market is the most efficient known way to determine what sort of work should one do for the biggest profit for himself and for society.

    I live in a country that has been transforming its economy from socialism to free market for almost two decades now and indeed every step away from socialism towards free market is also a great step for a freedom of ordinary people.

  4. Re:WHy any? on The Best Graphing Calculator on the Market? · · Score: 1

    I agree.

    At high school it is much better investment in long term to actually learn to differentiate and integrate in such a way that you do not need a calculator to check your answers.

    Now I am Computer Science student and I expect the math professors and PhD students to teach me how to think. I want them to show me how they analyze functions so I can imagine them visually, what tricks they use to solve mathematics problems and how to make a correct mathematics proofs. The more math I can visualize in my mind the better for me I suppose. I do not want the teachers to show me how to use the calculator though. Anyone can learn how to type a function to a calculator and watch the graph himself within few minutes. Moreover if I revise all the knowledge I have learned at math lessons so far I also cannot think of a single aspect I would understand better if I had a calculator. But maybe I am just lucky for having excellent teachers.

    (Sorry for my English, it is not my native language.)

  5. Re:Hydrogen a white elephant on Hydrogen Won't Save Our Economy · · Score: 1

    The other and much bigger problem with electric cars is that the energy they charge batteries with has to be produced first. Considering that most electricity demand is met by burning fossil fuels and effectivity of energy production, transmission, battery charging and discharging process you end up with creating more pollution by driving electring cars than by burning fossil fuel in the car.

  6. Re:It better. on Windows Vista and XP Head To Head · · Score: 1

    If I change theme to classic, will I still be able to use virtual desktop manager?