6) Don't do recreational drugs during the workweek. The odd beer is okay. Stay off the weed, it makes you stupid. Save it for the weekend.
Speak for yourself. I can usually out-think and outperform anybody around me, even WHILE stoned. But waking up the next morning? I'm 100% sober. It doesn't affect me the next day.
The biggest problem pot causes for me is that I sometimes forget (short term memory loss) certain words which cause me to occassionally pause mid-sentence WHILE STONED.
Things like illegal search and seizure and free speech protect you from the government, NOT from private citizens. Corporations are considered to be private citizens
See what the US Code says about this question:
"...We are of the opinion that there is a clear distinction in this particular between an individual and a corporation, and that the latter has no right to refuse to submit its books and papers for examination on the suit of the State. The individual may stand upon his Constitutional Rights as a Citizen. He is entitled to carry on his private business in his own way. His power to contract is unlimited. He owes no duty to the State or to his neighbors to divulge his business, or to open his doors to investigation, so far as it may tend to incriminate him. He owes no such duty to the State, since he receives nothing therefrom, beyond the protection of his life, liberty, and property. His Rights are such as the law of the land long antecedent to the organization of the state, and can only be taken from him by due process of law, and in accordance with the Constitution. Among his Rights are the refusal to incriminate himself, and the immunity of himself and his property from arrest or seizure except under warrant of law. He owes nothing to the public so long as he does not trespass upon their rights."
"Upon the other hand, the corporation is a creature of the state. It is presumed to be incorporated for the benefit of the public. It receives certain special privileges and franchises, and holds them subject to the laws of the state and the limitations of its charter. Its rights to act as a corporation are only preserved to it so long as it obeys the laws of its creation. There is a reserved right in the legislature to investigate its contracts and find out whether it has exceeded its powers. It would be a strange anomaly to hold that the State, having chartered a corporation to make use of certain franchises, could not in exercise of its sovereignty inquire how those franchises had been employed, and whether they had been abused, and demand the production of corporate books and papers for that purpose." [emphasis added]
--Hale vs. Hinkel, 201 US 43, 74-75.
The above was taken from this page which also has lots of interesting legal briefs & correspondence between private citizens and the US Gov't.
Basically, it says that a corporation is a private citizen in some respects, but is also legally a PART OF THE GOVERNMENT. I wonder if this means that illegal search & seizure laws would apply if Walmart employees attempted to search you without your consent? (since the corporation is legally a government entity....) -The Reverend (I am not a Nazi nor a Troll)
That's why I build my own systems from parts. Sure, it's not any cheaper anymore, but I know what's in it.
Back in the early 90's my Amiga got stolen (along with my clothes, bed and cat) and I decided to go ahead and switch over to PC since that was the direction everything was heading. At that time, I bought a "barebones" system out of a catalog and installed the video & sound & etc. cards that I wanted for that particular reason. It's now almost 10 years later and I have yet to buy a pre-assembled computer. In fact, the computer I'm using now is, in a way, just an upgrade of that original that I bought. I mean, at this point, all the parts have been replaced over and over, including the powersupply & case, but all in the form of small (two hundred dollar or so) increments over that time period.
I don't see myself ever buying a Gateway or Dell or etc because they cut corners (generic sound/video, cheasy HDs, etc.) in a way that would make upgrading pointless for me. I need a high end computer for high end application in video & music production.
(That being said, I'm still running the "last" version of Win 95, because I don't have any desire to pay MS for Win 98 or etc. unless they make some radical changes in their business model, and stuff like Cakewalk & Adobe Premiere don't run under Linux.)
Ok wtf, how do these types of comments get "+4 informative"? First of all, it's a damn FAQ, anyone can point to it. Second, you don't frigging need to post the whole thing, JUST LINK TO IT. You mod's are just begging to get it up the ass in metamoderation.
It's pretty easy to figure out, especially if you bother to read the first sentence of his post. The writer specifically says "Yo, things are really slow on this site, close to being totally slashdotted, so I'm posting this here."
By linking to the FAQ, he would've only contributed to the site's being slashdotted that much faster, for that much longer. By posting the relevant info there, it saves all sorts of "what-the-hell-is-this-thing?" clicks.
I agree that in most cases it's redundant and annoying for people to do nothing other than quote from the source, but in this instance (considering the weight that file-sharing technologies have around here) I think it was justified. Hopefully the meta-mods will be able to see that too.
I've seen it just as nice, in colour, in my own telescope, without paying $92M
Still a pretty awesome site, I must say. I mean, yeah, nobody (including me) would be much impressed with that picture, especially for the money. And yes, color might've been nice... but I have to say that it's interesting to finally see a photo of jupiter where the "Big Red Spot" isn't in the upper right hand corner... a nice little reminder that in space, there are no compass points.
Whenever I look at images of planetary bodies, I'm once again awestruck by the incredible vastness of our universe, and my own insignificant actions as a part of it.
Nothing I said can be construed as implying that I did not get the aforementioned highlander reference.
Perhaps nothing you said should be construed as implying... etc. but it OBVIOUSLY DOES imply it to at least some of the readership. You ought to be more verbose if you're so concerned about being misunderstood.
Yet another reason to MAKE YOUR OWN system using an ATI All-in-Wonder on your PC.
Ya know, that's not a half-bad idea! I have an All-in-Wonder Pro but the software that comes with it from ATI is buggy as hell. IF someone wanted to write some code that would have Tivo-like features and didn't crash when capturing large streams (longer than 1 minute at a time) it would definately find a market.
(If anybody knows of any existing tech to do this, please let me know.)
Swords? You're confronted with two beautiful women, and all you can think of is to play with swords? How juvenile is this place?
Hmm. I must've missed the IMAGE links in those posts, because I have been given absolutely no data that would cause me to infer that either of the "geek" women who posted here were "beautiful." In fact, it could be argued that most if not all of the women who fit the description of "Geek Girl" are anything BUT beautiful...
on the other hand, the fact that they didn't understand the highlander reference might help to disqualify them from "geek" status.
It's always stricken me as amusing that all the pinball machines in coffee shops here in Amsterdam display the "Winners don't use drugs" message:)
Heh. I think you got those just because it's a legal requirement nowadays for American video games to include "war on drugs' propoganda. They don't bother to reprogram it when they ship it out to you....
But seriously, if you're so afraid that drug usage is going to hurt your pinball game that you're willing to heed their advice then I'd suggest you have a MUCH bigger problem than drug usage.
:D
(Pinball & most video games are simply MORE fun when you're stoned. And even better when you're tripping.) -The Reverend (I am not a Nazi)
And its not coffee. Banks take this kind of thing very seriously. If you object to the cup, they'll take it out of your arm! Or they'll show you the door.
I don't work in a bank, but the company I work for is owned by Mellon Bank, so I did have to take a urine test before I was officially hired....
I continued to smoke marijuana up til about 23 hours before my test... then I drank a 20 dollar bottle of "hydro-cleanse" (available at your local head shops) and went and passed my test.
Depends on your goals, I suppose. Also on your definition of "drug" since I'm quite sure you've probably had a candy bar at some point in your life, might even be drinking a Pepsi at this moment.... Aspirin? Ibuprofen? Prozac?
Also depends on your definition of "weak" since many drugs *ARE* used to treat illness.
But let's assume that when you say that drugs are for the weak, you're really saying that "ILLEGAL DRUGS" are for the weak.
Fine.
I didn't drink alcohol, smoke cigarettes or use any recreational drugs until I was 19 years old. At that point, I was a very frustrated, angry, high-stress, individual. I couldn't interact well with my peers (and I honestly didn't believe any of my peers WERE even close to being my equal.) I had trouble in some social situations (I believed I was better than they were, or that they were weak) and was generally either bored or lonely or both most of my waking hours. But I felt a smug superiority that, unlike my peers, *I* was not weak. (Interesting that anyone would base their estimation of their own strengths & weaknesses based on such a piddling criteria.)
At 19 I tried LSD for the first time. It changed my entire perspective on life, and I have reaped many benefits from the experiences I've had on my "trips."
Call it weakness if it helps you feel better about yourself, but I can genuinely state that "drugs" helped to improve my outlook on life, my respect for other people (not to mention plants & animals) and my ability to function as a productive member of society.
It also chilled me the fuck out.
(FYI - I'm 25 now. I still occasionally use LSD [2-3 times a year], and I smoke marijuana. I don't smoke tobacco or drink alcohol. I never "graduated" into so-called hard drugs like Cocaine & Heroin.)
Huh? I don't see the parallel here at all. A hypothetical reaction against forced installation of a particular piece of technology is just not the same as a fundamental resistance to technology in general.
Clearly, you didn't read any of the article before posting, hence your confusion. This article (for the rest of you who are reading down here without bothering to read the Katz-rant) is discussing the origins of Luddites. In the sense they're being discussed, a
Luddite is someone who is in resistance to societal changes based on technology or innovation.
We are not speaking of the current definition of Luddite which means someone who is afraid of computers.
I took a course in philosophy of science where some of the arguments against the idea is that consciousness is the product of purely biological mechanisms where :
This discounts free will
Trivializes love
Doesn't leave room for the "soul"
Free Will doesn't exist. It's merely a word device created by religious philosophers to make sure you continue to feel guilty enough for your wrong doing to either choose "right" behavior or pay the church for an indulgence.
We are a product of not only our genes but also our environment and experience. When it comes time for you to make a choice - any choice - you make it based on your past experience, the way you were raised, and the environment you were raised in. You can argue that a person is "free" to choose the other alternative, but this is clearly not true. We make the only choice we could possibly make given the circumstances at the time of the decision.
Once we have made a decision and experienced the outcome of that decision, we can look back in our minds and say "In retrospect, I should've taken the other path." but if you were to somehow rewind time, and put yourself right back into the situation again, with the same experiential data you'd make the same choice over again, because it was the choice that your experience and environment designated as the correct one.
You can only commit treason if you are a government employee.
I don't know enough about the laws governing treason in the United States, but I can tell you this much:
If you work for a corporation, you're an employee of the US Government. Apparently, because a corporation has special rights granted to it by the Federal Gov, anyone who works for a corporation is considered to be an employee of the Federal Gov't.
So if you're working in the drive thru at your local McD's.... you're a government employee, and thus, according to the logic of your post, capable of being charged with Treason.
(unless you're an independant contractor)
-The Reverend
Re:The technology should be sexy, not the wearers.
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Wearable Computers
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· Score: 1
How many people do you know that bought a device based purly on looks?
I tend to spend my OWN money on things like amplifiers, new sets of strings, recording gear, incense & pot, but of the people I know who *DID* go out and buy a cellphone, I'd have to say that if looks weren't the #1 criteria in their decision, it was at least #2.
I don't own a cell or a pager myself. If you are someone I'd want getting ahold of me, you already know my home & work numbers. If I'm not at one of those places, I'm either hanging out with you, or you aren't one of those people.
I think Radiohead's "OK Computer" is an album that will stand the test of time.
I totally agree with you. Perhaps it will be the kind of album that in 20 years, everyone will talk about having owned, instead of the current state of things, where most of the world goes "isn't that that 'creep' band?"
OK COMPUTER was a revolutionary album. It's really worth buying, it's really worth listening to. From beginning to end.
I like albums where the whole thing from beginning to end is a satisfying journey, rather than albums that are just a bunch of songs.
(Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon)
(Sting - Soul Cages)
(Beastie Boys - Paul's Boutique)
(Jane's Addiction - Ritual De Lo Habitual)
(Red Hot Chili Peppers - Blood Sugar Sex Magik)
-The Reverend
Re:Is he talking about introverts?
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Disconnected
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You can have a rich social life without playing softball on the company team.
Corporate culture doesn't WANT you to have a rich social life. Corporate culture wants you to "hive-in" to the company "family." If the only people you regularly associate with are also your coworkers, it helps to blur the lines between job/home until you suddenly don't mind working 10+ hours of overtime a week, because you're still just hanging out with your buddies.
I play music. I have for more than half my life. (I'm 25) When 5pm hits, I'm out the door. I go practice or I go record something, or I go to a club. I'm not interested in going to a bar with the guys from work, or bowling or anything. I'm not interested in standing around in the lobby gossipping about who got breast implants and who got fired and who got caught with so-and-so's wife.
If all of that makes me a "Isolate" so be it. I always have been. Work is job. Work is not life. Work is a means to provide me with the cashflow I need to do what *I* want to do with life. If I could figure out a way to cut out the work and still have the cash, I'd walk away and never look back.
I'd rather spend my days reading, playing my songs, exercising, meditating.
It'd sure be a bitch to use a mouse; gotta keep a grip on it at all times....
I'm not sure what, if anything, would forbid you from using a trackball, but it seems like a trackball (with a "velcro-modified" base:D) might be a better solution for Zero G pointer manipulation. Anybody care to point out how wrong I am?
Quoting from the article:
The PGSC, and everything else inside the Shuttle, needs to be able to be attached to a stable surface to keep it from floating away. Next to duct tape (also known as "gray tape" at NASA), one of the standard means of attaching one thing to another in space is the use of Velcro.
Heh. Duct tape and velcro are holding our space program together? Seems somehow appropriate. Maybe they can swing over to MIR and patch up some of THEIR problems. Apparently, those stupid russians have been using ordinary masking tape.
As far as I know, the last really devastating[1] asteroid hit was some 60 million years ago, so I'd suggest that the next one might still be a while off.
Roll a 6 sided die. What are the odds you'll roll a 6? 1 in 6. Roll that die 800,000,000 more times. On your 800,000,001st try, what are your odds of rolling a 6? Yup. STILL 1 in 6!
Back in the day, this was a great site.
If karma were removed, Katz slaughtered and the sellout editors replaced with people who cared, this could be a great site again.
The whores are just part of the problem.
Ok. I may not have been a slashdotter "back in the day" (you didn't specify, but since slashdot doesn't seem to have changed much at all since I first started paying attention....) but I used to run a pretty successful local BBS back in the days when a 14.4k was GODSPEED (and I was logging into Color 64 boards back when 2400 was unheard of) and the problem of lamers has always been present, even from the beginning.
True, with a worldwide internet system that allows joe-anybody access, the levels of insipid, ridiculous, lamer posts is going to increase, but I'd have to say that no matter who is moderating, no matter who is editing the submissions, the quality of slashdot (or any other public forum) rests in the hands of each and every person who takes the time to read and post in it.
If you want to improve things, quit spending your time posting "back in the day..." and start using your time to add some actual CONTENT to the site. True, you can't guarantee that your submissions will make it as stories, but nobody's stopping you from coming in and participating.
Sometimes I find it quite amazing that driving is an earned privledge (NOT right), and parenting (which can cause just as much damage to the human race) is somehow a right.
Actually, utilizing a motor vehicle to travel is NOT an earned privilidge. It's an inherent right of a free citizen to use public roadways to exercise his freedom of movement. You can choose to give up your "right" to drive in order to gain the "privilidge" of having a state issued driver license, but you cannot be compelled to by law, since your freedom to move about the country (if you're a US citizen) is protected by the Supreme Court.
(For more detailed info, click this link to a legal brief on the subject.)
Slashdot Mirror
6) Don't do recreational drugs during the workweek. The odd beer is okay. Stay off the weed, it makes you stupid. Save it for the weekend.
Speak for yourself. I can usually out-think and outperform anybody around me, even WHILE stoned. But waking up the next morning? I'm 100% sober. It doesn't affect me the next day.
The biggest problem pot causes for me is that I sometimes forget (short term memory loss) certain words which cause me to occassionally pause mid-sentence WHILE STONED.
-The Reverend (I am not a Nazi nor a Troll)
Things like illegal search and seizure and free speech protect you from the government, NOT from private citizens. Corporations are considered to be private citizens
See what the US Code says about this question:
"...We are of the opinion that there is a clear distinction in this particular between an individual and a corporation, and that the latter has no right to refuse to submit its books and papers for examination on the suit of the State. The individual may stand upon his Constitutional Rights as a Citizen. He is entitled to carry on his private business in his own way. His power to contract is unlimited. He owes no duty to the State or to his neighbors to divulge his business, or to open his doors to investigation, so far as it may tend to incriminate him. He owes no such duty to the State, since he receives nothing therefrom, beyond the protection of his life, liberty, and property. His Rights are such as the law of the land long antecedent to the organization of the state, and can only be taken from him by due process of law, and in accordance with the Constitution. Among his Rights are the refusal to incriminate himself, and the immunity of himself and his property from arrest or seizure except under warrant of law. He owes nothing to the public so long as he does not trespass upon their rights."
"Upon the other hand, the corporation is a creature of the state. It is presumed to be incorporated for the benefit of the public. It receives certain special privileges and franchises, and holds them subject to the laws of the state and the limitations of its charter. Its rights to act as a corporation are only preserved to it so long as it obeys the laws of its creation. There is a reserved right in the legislature to investigate its contracts and find out whether it has exceeded its powers. It would be a strange anomaly to hold that the State, having chartered a corporation to make use of certain franchises, could not in exercise of its sovereignty inquire how those franchises had been employed, and whether they had been abused, and demand the production of corporate books and papers for that purpose." [emphasis added]
--Hale vs. Hinkel, 201 US 43, 74-75.
The above was taken from this page which also has lots of interesting legal briefs & correspondence between private citizens and the US Gov't.
Basically, it says that a corporation is a private citizen in some respects, but is also legally a PART OF THE GOVERNMENT. I wonder if this means that illegal search & seizure laws would apply if Walmart employees attempted to search you without your consent? (since the corporation is legally a government entity....)
-The Reverend (I am not a Nazi nor a Troll)
That's why I build my own systems from parts. Sure, it's not any cheaper anymore, but I know what's in it.
Back in the early 90's my Amiga got stolen (along with my clothes, bed and cat) and I decided to go ahead and switch over to PC since that was the direction everything was heading. At that time, I bought a "barebones" system out of a catalog and installed the video & sound & etc. cards that I wanted for that particular reason. It's now almost 10 years later and I have yet to buy a pre-assembled computer. In fact, the computer I'm using now is, in a way, just an upgrade of that original that I bought. I mean, at this point, all the parts have been replaced over and over, including the powersupply & case, but all in the form of small (two hundred dollar or so) increments over that time period.
I don't see myself ever buying a Gateway or Dell or etc because they cut corners (generic sound/video, cheasy HDs, etc.) in a way that would make upgrading pointless for me. I need a high end computer for high end application in video & music production.
(That being said, I'm still running the "last" version of Win 95, because I don't have any desire to pay MS for Win 98 or etc. unless they make some radical changes in their business model, and stuff like Cakewalk & Adobe Premiere don't run under Linux.)
-The Reverend (I am not a Nazi nor a Troll)
Ok wtf, how do these types of comments get "+4 informative"? First of all, it's a damn FAQ, anyone can point to it. Second, you don't frigging need to post the whole thing, JUST LINK TO IT. You mod's are just begging to get it up the ass in metamoderation.
It's pretty easy to figure out, especially if you bother to read the first sentence of his post. The writer specifically says "Yo, things are really slow on this site, close to being totally slashdotted, so I'm posting this here."
By linking to the FAQ, he would've only contributed to the site's being slashdotted that much faster, for that much longer. By posting the relevant info there, it saves all sorts of "what-the-hell-is-this-thing?" clicks.
I agree that in most cases it's redundant and annoying for people to do nothing other than quote from the source, but in this instance (considering the weight that file-sharing technologies have around here) I think it was justified. Hopefully the meta-mods will be able to see that too.
-The Reverend (I am not a Nazi nor a Troll)
I've seen it just as nice, in colour, in my own telescope, without paying $92M
Still a pretty awesome site, I must say. I mean, yeah, nobody (including me) would be much impressed with that picture, especially for the money. And yes, color might've been nice... but I have to say that it's interesting to finally see a photo of jupiter where the "Big Red Spot" isn't in the upper right hand corner... a nice little reminder that in space, there are no compass points.
Whenever I look at images of planetary bodies, I'm once again awestruck by the incredible vastness of our universe, and my own insignificant actions as a part of it.
-The Reverend (I am not a Nazi nor a Troll)
Nothing I said can be construed as implying that I did not get the aforementioned highlander reference.
Perhaps nothing you said should be construed as implying... etc. but it OBVIOUSLY DOES imply it to at least some of the readership. You ought to be more verbose if you're so concerned about being misunderstood.
-The Reverend (I am not a Nazi nor a Troll)
TSIA (title says it all)
-The Reverend (I am not a Nazi nor a Troll)
Yet another reason to MAKE YOUR OWN system using an ATI All-in-Wonder on your PC.
Ya know, that's not a half-bad idea! I have an All-in-Wonder Pro but the software that comes with it from ATI is buggy as hell. IF someone wanted to write some code that would have Tivo-like features and didn't crash when capturing large streams (longer than 1 minute at a time) it would definately find a market.
(If anybody knows of any existing tech to do this, please let me know.)
-The Reverend (I am not a Nazi nor a Troll)
Swords? You're confronted with two beautiful women, and all you can think of is to play with swords? How juvenile is this place?
Hmm. I must've missed the IMAGE links in those posts, because I have been given absolutely no data that would cause me to infer that either of the "geek" women who posted here were "beautiful." In fact, it could be argued that most if not all of the women who fit the description of "Geek Girl" are anything BUT beautiful...
on the other hand, the fact that they didn't understand the highlander reference might help to disqualify them from "geek" status.
-The Reverend (I am not a Nazi nor a Troll)
I see your point though... I wouldn't work 100 hr. weeks either! Fuck that! If you get past 70 hrs a week it's time to go job hunting...
Get past 70? Hell, if I get past 45, I'm on my way out the door.
-The Reverend (I am not a Nazi)
It's always stricken me as amusing that all the pinball machines in coffee shops here in Amsterdam display the "Winners don't use drugs" message :)
Heh. I think you got those just because it's a legal requirement nowadays for American video games to include "war on drugs' propoganda. They don't bother to reprogram it when they ship it out to you....
But seriously, if you're so afraid that drug usage is going to hurt your pinball game that you're willing to heed their advice then I'd suggest you have a MUCH bigger problem than drug usage.
:D
(Pinball & most video games are simply MORE fun when you're stoned. And even better when you're tripping.)
-The Reverend (I am not a Nazi)
And its not coffee. Banks take this kind of thing very seriously. If you object to the cup, they'll take it out of your arm! Or they'll show you the door.
I don't work in a bank, but the company I work for is owned by Mellon Bank, so I did have to take a urine test before I was officially hired....
I continued to smoke marijuana up til about 23 hours before my test... then I drank a 20 dollar bottle of "hydro-cleanse" (available at your local head shops) and went and passed my test.
-The Reverend (I am not a Nazi)
Drugs are for the weak.
Depends on your goals, I suppose. Also on your definition of "drug" since I'm quite sure you've probably had a candy bar at some point in your life, might even be drinking a Pepsi at this moment.... Aspirin? Ibuprofen? Prozac?
Also depends on your definition of "weak" since many drugs *ARE* used to treat illness.
But let's assume that when you say that drugs are for the weak, you're really saying that "ILLEGAL DRUGS" are for the weak.
Fine.
I didn't drink alcohol, smoke cigarettes or use any recreational drugs until I was 19 years old. At that point, I was a very frustrated, angry, high-stress, individual. I couldn't interact well with my peers (and I honestly didn't believe any of my peers WERE even close to being my equal.) I had trouble in some social situations (I believed I was better than they were, or that they were weak) and was generally either bored or lonely or both most of my waking hours. But I felt a smug superiority that, unlike my peers, *I* was not weak. (Interesting that anyone would base their estimation of their own strengths & weaknesses based on such a piddling criteria.)
At 19 I tried LSD for the first time. It changed my entire perspective on life, and I have reaped many benefits from the experiences I've had on my "trips."
Call it weakness if it helps you feel better about yourself, but I can genuinely state that "drugs" helped to improve my outlook on life, my respect for other people (not to mention plants & animals) and my ability to function as a productive member of society.
It also chilled me the fuck out.
(FYI - I'm 25 now. I still occasionally use LSD [2-3 times a year], and I smoke marijuana. I don't smoke tobacco or drink alcohol. I never "graduated" into so-called hard drugs like Cocaine & Heroin.)
-The Reverend (I am not a Nazi)
And let's face it, nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition.
NOBODY expects the Spanish Inquisition!
Our chief weapon is surprise!
Surprise and fear! Fear and surprise!
... Um... Our TWO weapons are surprise and fear and an almost fanatical devotion to the Pope.
Um... our THREE, THREE weapons...
-The Reverend (I am not a Nazi)
Huh? I don't see the parallel here at all. A hypothetical reaction against forced installation of a particular piece of technology is just not the same as a fundamental resistance to technology in general.
Clearly, you didn't read any of the article before posting, hence your confusion. This article (for the rest of you who are reading down here without bothering to read the Katz-rant) is discussing the origins of Luddites. In the sense they're being discussed, a
Luddite is someone who is in resistance to societal changes based on technology or innovation.
We are not speaking of the current definition of Luddite which means someone who is afraid of computers.
-The Reverend (I am not a Nazi)
I took a course in philosophy of science where some of the arguments against the idea is that consciousness is the product of purely biological mechanisms where :
This discounts free will
Trivializes love
Doesn't leave room for the "soul"
Free Will doesn't exist. It's merely a word device created by religious philosophers to make sure you continue to feel guilty enough for your wrong doing to either choose "right" behavior or pay the church for an indulgence.
We are a product of not only our genes but also our environment and experience. When it comes time for you to make a choice - any choice - you make it based on your past experience, the way you were raised, and the environment you were raised in. You can argue that a person is "free" to choose the other alternative, but this is clearly not true. We make the only choice we could possibly make given the circumstances at the time of the decision.
Once we have made a decision and experienced the outcome of that decision, we can look back in our minds and say "In retrospect, I should've taken the other path." but if you were to somehow rewind time, and put yourself right back into the situation again, with the same experiential data you'd make the same choice over again, because it was the choice that your experience and environment designated as the correct one.
-The Reverend (I am not a Nazi)
You can only commit treason if you are a government employee.
I don't know enough about the laws governing treason in the United States, but I can tell you this much:
If you work for a corporation, you're an employee of the US Government. Apparently, because a corporation has special rights granted to it by the Federal Gov, anyone who works for a corporation is considered to be an employee of the Federal Gov't.
So if you're working in the drive thru at your local McD's.... you're a government employee, and thus, according to the logic of your post, capable of being charged with Treason.
(unless you're an independant contractor)
-The Reverend
How many people do you know that bought a device based purly on looks?
I tend to spend my OWN money on things like amplifiers, new sets of strings, recording gear, incense & pot, but of the people I know who *DID* go out and buy a cellphone, I'd have to say that if looks weren't the #1 criteria in their decision, it was at least #2.
I don't own a cell or a pager myself. If you are someone I'd want getting ahold of me, you already know my home & work numbers. If I'm not at one of those places, I'm either hanging out with you, or you aren't one of those people.
-The Reverend
I think Radiohead's "OK Computer" is an album that will stand the test of time.
I totally agree with you. Perhaps it will be the kind of album that in 20 years, everyone will talk about having owned, instead of the current state of things, where most of the world goes "isn't that that 'creep' band?"
OK COMPUTER was a revolutionary album. It's really worth buying, it's really worth listening to. From beginning to end.
I like albums where the whole thing from beginning to end is a satisfying journey, rather than albums that are just a bunch of songs.
(Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon)
(Sting - Soul Cages)
(Beastie Boys - Paul's Boutique)
(Jane's Addiction - Ritual De Lo Habitual)
(Red Hot Chili Peppers - Blood Sugar Sex Magik)
-The Reverend
You can have a rich social life without playing softball on the company team.
Corporate culture doesn't WANT you to have a rich social life. Corporate culture wants you to "hive-in" to the company "family." If the only people you regularly associate with are also your coworkers, it helps to blur the lines between job/home until you suddenly don't mind working 10+ hours of overtime a week, because you're still just hanging out with your buddies.
I play music. I have for more than half my life. (I'm 25) When 5pm hits, I'm out the door. I go practice or I go record something, or I go to a club. I'm not interested in going to a bar with the guys from work, or bowling or anything. I'm not interested in standing around in the lobby gossipping about who got breast implants and who got fired and who got caught with so-and-so's wife.
If all of that makes me a "Isolate" so be it. I always have been. Work is job. Work is not life. Work is a means to provide me with the cashflow I need to do what *I* want to do with life. If I could figure out a way to cut out the work and still have the cash, I'd walk away and never look back.
I'd rather spend my days reading, playing my songs, exercising, meditating.
(anybody wanna sponsor me?)
-The Reverend
It'd sure be a bitch to use a mouse; gotta keep a grip on it at all times....
:D) might be a better solution for Zero G pointer manipulation. Anybody care to point out how wrong I am?
I'm not sure what, if anything, would forbid you from using a trackball, but it seems like a trackball (with a "velcro-modified" base
-The Reverend
Quoting from the article:
The PGSC, and everything else inside the Shuttle, needs to be able to be attached to a stable surface to keep it from floating away. Next to duct tape (also known as "gray tape" at NASA), one of the standard means of attaching one thing to another in space is the use of Velcro.
Heh. Duct tape and velcro are holding our space program together? Seems somehow appropriate. Maybe they can swing over to MIR and patch up some of THEIR problems. Apparently, those stupid russians have been using ordinary masking tape.
-The Reverend
As far as I know, the last really devastating[1] asteroid hit was some 60 million years ago, so I'd suggest that the next one might still be a while off.
Roll a 6 sided die. What are the odds you'll roll a 6? 1 in 6. Roll that die 800,000,000 more times. On your 800,000,001st try, what are your odds of rolling a 6? Yup. STILL 1 in 6!
-The Reverend
Back in the day, this was a great site.
If karma were removed, Katz slaughtered and the sellout editors replaced with people who cared, this could be a great site again.
The whores are just part of the problem.
Ok. I may not have been a slashdotter "back in the day" (you didn't specify, but since slashdot doesn't seem to have changed much at all since I first started paying attention....) but I used to run a pretty successful local BBS back in the days when a 14.4k was GODSPEED (and I was logging into Color 64 boards back when 2400 was unheard of) and the problem of lamers has always been present, even from the beginning.
True, with a worldwide internet system that allows joe-anybody access, the levels of insipid, ridiculous, lamer posts is going to increase, but I'd have to say that no matter who is moderating, no matter who is editing the submissions, the quality of slashdot (or any other public forum) rests in the hands of each and every person who takes the time to read and post in it.
If you want to improve things, quit spending your time posting "back in the day..." and start using your time to add some actual CONTENT to the site. True, you can't guarantee that your submissions will make it as stories, but nobody's stopping you from coming in and participating.
-The Reverend
Sometimes I find it quite amazing that driving is an earned privledge (NOT right), and parenting (which can cause just as much damage to the human race) is somehow a right.
Actually, utilizing a motor vehicle to travel is NOT an earned privilidge. It's an inherent right of a free citizen to use public roadways to exercise his freedom of movement. You can choose to give up your "right" to drive in order to gain the "privilidge" of having a state issued driver license, but you cannot be compelled to by law, since your freedom to move about the country (if you're a US citizen) is protected by the Supreme Court.
(For more detailed info, click this link to a legal brief on the subject.)
(I promise it's not goat sex.)
-The Reverend