I meant in terms of her Objectivist philosophy and politics, which is actually worse than than her "literature." What I often find amazing is that Rand's philosophy was destroyed by thinkers more rigorous than she (Kant, Hume, Kierkegaard) long before she came up with it.
Libertarianism in general, and Objectivism in particular, is incompatible with my religious and moral beliefs. As a Christian I find it to be an ethical lapse and, as a citizen and taxpayer, I find it to be an illogical and unsustainable economic system.
I'm with you. I would happily vote for, contribute to, and volunteer time to any non-Ayn Randian candidate who campaigns on some/all of the following:
1. Ending this ridiculous and wasteful "war on drugs".
2. Changing farm policy from welfare to big agribusiness (current policy) and doing something that actually benefits our country.
3. Reforming campaign laws.
4. Doing something about Social Security.
5. Either doing what is necessary to win the war in Iraq or getting out.
You're obsfucating. By stating that there is no "moral right to profit from anything", you made a statement that overarches the context of the discussion, and it is to that statement that I replied. You simply cannot introduce an element as a basic principle to buttress your argument and then simply retreat back to the shelter of the original context of the discussion. You asserted something as a principle, so the onus is on you to defend it.
But--for the record--I don't necessarily think that either of the two distinct groups are necessarily wrong, especially those distributing it. Given my own ethical framework, I personally wouldn't use it without paying, but to say that someone can't pass on the URL is ridiculous.
There is no such thing as a direct moral right to profit from anything; commerce is a construct of law. Really? I wonder if you would feel the same way if your employer or customers refused to pay what they owe you for labor. You're not out anything more than MobiTV is, meaning your time and effort. But hey, at least those scurrilous deadbeats "gained value."
Personally, I don't care a whit for being in management (been there, done that), but I do like to have a lot of variety in my day-to-day assignments as well as to earn a good income. The fact that my customers, my employers and everyone else knows that I will show up with my face shaved and wearing appropriate clothing goes a long way towards accomplishing those goals. Being personable and keeping my ego in check also works wonders.
Like many here at slashdot, I have a wide range of marketable skills, but what's the use of having those skills if you can't get them into play due to your clothes or demeanor? I find it interesting that the argument so often is something like "it's shallow to have clothes be so important." To those people I ask (rhetorically) why they're letting something that is so unimportant to them get in the way of accomplishing their goals?
That's awful nice of you but I'm afraid that it doesn't actually work. I checked some domain names (including a couple of big name ones such as www.msn.com) and your site indicated that all three were available. However, all three were actually taken.
Not a criticism mind you--it's a great idea--just thought that you would want to know.
Saying Bush is "anti-science" by painting him as a member of the far, far right is like saying Obama is "anti-humanity" by painting him in the far, far left. Of course, we'll do both.... but neither is inaccurate.
Straw man. The AC, while inflammatory, made no assertion of Christianity's superiority, nor any mention of other religions. Pointing out Christianity's history does not legitimately shut down his argument. On slashdot it does. Just as any criticism of gWb is shut down by saying that the Democrats did bad things too. Just as any criticism of Linux is shut down by bringing up a bad point about Windows. Just as any criticism of Afghanistan's government is invalidated by a criticism of the U.S.
Here we only wish to appear correct, not be correct.
We read a story about a religious court issuing a secret death sentence to a journalist for reading and distributing ideas about women's rights... yet the majority of the posts regarding this issue are critical of the United States? Welcome to Slashdot.
Have you ever considered it's all the other shitware that came pre-installed on the laptop? My mother's HP laptop runs like crap, but at this point it probably has better specs than my once-top-end desktop which I built. When both running Vista, mine runs immeasurably faster. Nope. The first thing that I do when I buy a laptop is format the hard drive and install the OS from scratch. Since I'm a VAR and have a Microsoft Action Pack, I have all of the software, and it still runs like a pig.
And as far as all of the "install ubuntu" recommendations, I tried Feisty Fawn on the old Toshiba and I could never connect to wireless with WPA. That's one thing that I've never had trouble with in Windows.
At any rate, Vista's bad image isn't due to perception, I have Vista Ultimate, running on a machine that can definitely handle it, it runs HORRIBLY... I agree. After the old Toshiba died recently, I bought a new dual-core notebook. Unfortunately, it was not offered with XP and I could not find all of the drivers, so I guess that I'm stuck with Vista. I will admit that Vista has a pleasing interface and now my XP machine's graphics look so old-timey, but damn is this Vista machine SLOW.
The XP desktop boots in half the time and the applications crack right open. On the Vista machine, Opera and Firefox crash regularly and even Outlook hangs up too often. The overall experience is frustrating although I'm hoping that it will get better with a service pack or two.
If all else fails, take it to a bank and ask them to run it through their MICR reader before depositing it.
This is a good idea and will help catch most frauds, but many people have access to a MICR check encoder. I worked for a Fortune 100 retailer and they had one in every store, and they were hardly kept under lock and key. Also, if one were an enterprising criminal, one might just buy one.
Obviously, the ultimate (and very elegant) coup de grâce would be to buy it with a fraudulent check.
There seems to be some evidence growing that civilisation was a step backwards caused by climate change because, even with intensive farming, humans have to work much harder to get sufficient food.
While your statement about civilization being a step backwards may actually turn out to be true, the assertion that "humans have to work much harder to get sufficient food" is hard for me to agree with. In the US, we now spend a smaller percentage of our incomes on food than at any point in history. 2006 figures show that percentage to be 9.5%.
If we were still living in a cave, we would definitely be spending more than 9.5% of our waking hours in the pursuit of our meals. I produce quite a bit of what our family eats as a part-time organic farmer, but I can attest that it is impossible for me to compete on a cost basis with agribusiness.
Now whether the food these megafarms produce is as high quality or is as safe to produce, I have my doubts.
Like IBM, MS isn't going away... but they'll be one option among many in a few years, not the single dominant giant.
As much as I'd like to believe this, I see no indication that it will actually happen.
In my mind, it is software, not hardware, that locks people into Windows. I am a VAR who mostly services businesses too small to have an IT staff, and it seems that every sector has an industry-specific software that only runs on Windows. Examples from my customers include:
-Collision Repair Estimating Software
-Accountant Software
-Manufacturer's Representative Software
-Dental Practice Software
-Church Administrative Software
It's kind of a chicken-or-the-egg dilema; developers would port to other platforms if those OSes's had more marketshare, and platforms would have more marketshare if applications were ported to to the OSes. I just can't see a short-term road out of that conundrum.
Yes, you're right--they're interchangeable among the members of the Spears family and other poorly educated people. It doesn't have anything to do with how I feel about myself. But hey, whatever makes you feel better about yourself.
That would be clever if it 'were/was not' the case that "was" has actually become an acceptable substitute for the subjunctive form "were".
You're right, it's quite acceptable among those who live in the trailer parks around here. I often hear these people say things like "if I wuz you..." However, educated people use the subjunctive mood because it more accurately conveys information and it's better form. Plus they like not sounding like a dumbass.
Slashdot Mirror
I meant in terms of her Objectivist philosophy and politics, which is actually worse than than her "literature." What I often find amazing is that Rand's philosophy was destroyed by thinkers more rigorous than she (Kant, Hume, Kierkegaard) long before she came up with it.
Libertarianism in general, and Objectivism in particular, is incompatible with my religious and moral beliefs. As a Christian I find it to be an ethical lapse and, as a citizen and taxpayer, I find it to be an illogical and unsustainable economic system.
I'm with you. I would happily vote for, contribute to, and volunteer time to any non-Ayn Randian candidate who campaigns on some/all of the following:
1. Ending this ridiculous and wasteful "war on drugs".
2. Changing farm policy from welfare to big agribusiness (current policy) and doing something that actually benefits our country.
3. Reforming campaign laws.
4. Doing something about Social Security.
5. Either doing what is necessary to win the war in Iraq or getting out.
Cover your ass.
I suggest checking out the documentary "King Corn."
The problem is mostly farm policy, which--like Social Security--seems to be too complicated a problem for our legislators to do anything about.
You're obsfucating. By stating that there is no "moral right to profit from anything", you made a statement that overarches the context of the discussion, and it is to that statement that I replied. You simply cannot introduce an element as a basic principle to buttress your argument and then simply retreat back to the shelter of the original context of the discussion. You asserted something as a principle, so the onus is on you to defend it.
But--for the record--I don't necessarily think that either of the two distinct groups are necessarily wrong, especially those distributing it. Given my own ethical framework, I personally wouldn't use it without paying, but to say that someone can't pass on the URL is ridiculous.
How many PII 350-800 or better pc's are sitting in Amurincan basements collecting dust?
Never mind that. How many are in my garage?
Really?
FTA: Wozniak, who has moved on to new ventures since Apple but is still an employee and shareholder...
I would say that he is earning off of these products.
it seems that the only redeeming feature is the integrated, slot-loading DVD burner.
My cheapie Gateway has that. I'm just sayin'...
Personally, I don't care a whit for being in management (been there, done that), but I do like to have a lot of variety in my day-to-day assignments as well as to earn a good income. The fact that my customers, my employers and everyone else knows that I will show up with my face shaved and wearing appropriate clothing goes a long way towards accomplishing those goals. Being personable and keeping my ego in check also works wonders.
Like many here at slashdot, I have a wide range of marketable skills, but what's the use of having those skills if you can't get them into play due to your clothes or demeanor? I find it interesting that the argument so often is something like "it's shallow to have clothes be so important." To those people I ask (rhetorically) why they're letting something that is so unimportant to them get in the way of accomplishing their goals?
Okay, so I'm a dumbass. I tried it without the "www" and it worked fine. My apologies for my error and my thanks for your selfless actions.
That's awful nice of you but I'm afraid that it doesn't actually work. I checked some domain names (including a couple of big name ones such as www.msn.com) and your site indicated that all three were available. However, all three were actually taken.
Not a criticism mind you--it's a great idea--just thought that you would want to know.
On the other hand, many/most eBay sales are auctions. Many physical auctions require that bidders be pre-qualified to bid.
Saying Bush is "anti-science" by painting him as a member of the far, far right is like saying Obama is "anti-humanity" by painting him in the far, far left. Of course, we'll do both.... but neither is inaccurate.
Oh we'll do both alright--I swear that 80-90% of the people who post here have Borderline Personality Disorder.
Here we only wish to appear correct, not be correct.
And as far as all of the "install ubuntu" recommendations, I tried Feisty Fawn on the old Toshiba and I could never connect to wireless with WPA. That's one thing that I've never had trouble with in Windows.
The XP desktop boots in half the time and the applications crack right open. On the Vista machine, Opera and Firefox crash regularly and even Outlook hangs up too often. The overall experience is frustrating although I'm hoping that it will get better with a service pack or two.
This is a good idea and will help catch most frauds, but many people have access to a MICR check encoder. I worked for a Fortune 100 retailer and they had one in every store, and they were hardly kept under lock and key. Also, if one were an enterprising criminal, one might just buy one.
Obviously, the ultimate (and very elegant) coup de grâce would be to buy it with a fraudulent check.
While your statement about civilization being a step backwards may actually turn out to be true, the assertion that "humans have to work much harder to get sufficient food" is hard for me to agree with. In the US, we now spend a smaller percentage of our incomes on food than at any point in history. 2006 figures show that percentage to be 9.5%.
If we were still living in a cave, we would definitely be spending more than 9.5% of our waking hours in the pursuit of our meals. I produce quite a bit of what our family eats as a part-time organic farmer, but I can attest that it is impossible for me to compete on a cost basis with agribusiness.
Now whether the food these megafarms produce is as high quality or is as safe to produce, I have my doubts.
Like IBM, MS isn't going away... but they'll be one option among many in a few years, not the single dominant giant.
As much as I'd like to believe this, I see no indication that it will actually happen.
In my mind, it is software, not hardware, that locks people into Windows. I am a VAR who mostly services businesses too small to have an IT staff, and it seems that every sector has an industry-specific software that only runs on Windows. Examples from my customers include:
-Collision Repair Estimating Software
-Accountant Software
-Manufacturer's Representative Software
-Dental Practice Software
-Church Administrative Software
It's kind of a chicken-or-the-egg dilema; developers would port to other platforms if those OSes's had more marketshare, and platforms would have more marketshare if applications were ported to to the OSes. I just can't see a short-term road out of that conundrum.
Yes, you're right--they're interchangeable among the members of the Spears family and other poorly educated people. It doesn't have anything to do with how I feel about myself. But hey, whatever makes you feel better about yourself.
You don't correct the grammar of a quote, douchebag.
You do if the quote is quoted incorrectly with poor grammar, douchebag.
You're right, it's quite acceptable among those who live in the trailer parks around here. I often hear these people say things like "if I wuz you..." However, educated people use the subjunctive mood because it more accurately conveys information and it's better form. Plus they like not sounding like a dumbass.