You are being subsidized by people like me who pay income and property taxes to support the roads but then bike to work.
Hm. Those roads make civilization more efficient than not having roads at all. You participate in that civilization and benefit greatly from the lifestyle that it affords you. Sure, the driver probably puts more miles and abuse on the roads than you... but really, trying to escape your tax burden entirely is not very sporting of you.
Not everyone has the same values as you. Perhaps he just does not care about doing it in real life. Or maybe his interest in minecraft spurred his interest in creating the calculator. Maybe his next step is indeed doing FPGA design? Just enjoy the creation for what it is.:)
Or... the computer could keep the jobs going and allow you to reconnect to them when you are finally able to reconnect to the computer... I am unsure why that is not a part of job control already. Unix sure can be weird sometimes.
In the case of Nokia, it is Microsoft who has the money they want.
Yes and no. They want Microsoft's money. Yes. Microsoft will stop giving them money as soon as sales stop. So no. This means Nokia's ultimate source of revenue is the people who buy the phones. Wanting Microsoft's money in addition to the phone buyer's money is the "serving two masters" situation.
Thank you for helping me understand the situation better. It is a true poverty. I wonder how it can be solved. Providing real-world resources only postpones the inevitable unless there is a plan to change the dynamics of the situation.
Blow me away. I logged in to see if I had mod points to give you, but sadly I do not.:/
I have had great success not worrying about the bottom line but instead, focusing on what I was delivering. Yes, accounting must be done. Checking to see if you are nosediving or not is very useful, but the focus needs to be on the needs and wants of the person who has the money that you want (the customer).
Actually, my thoughts just wandered off a bit...
Nokia is serving two masters, the person who buys the phone and Microsoft. Both masters provide money to Nokia. Both masters have diverging interests. Ultimately, Nokia has become poorer with two sources of income rather than one.
The whole reason I wanted to mod you insightful is because so many companies fall into this trap. This "serving two masters" thing applies to the company itself, not just external partners: Should the company put its desire for profit ahead of the customer's needs?
I guess Nokia should be asking themselves if they should be serving multiple masters or serving the person who is buying the phone.
In order to mitigate the symptoms we have agreed never to play longer than 30 minutes per day in our family. This has helped a bit, but only quantitatively. The outbursts of aggression have become rarer but not less harsh.
Hm. Perhaps there is something else going on in their lives that cause such a reaction to video games. My two children (one is no longer a child actually) never acted differently after playing video games. The eldest never really was deep into them and the youngest is pretty deep in to them. Really, video games have been a non-event (other than being entertainment for a while) in the life of my family.
I bought one of the very first GPS devices that also acted like a phone (back in 2005?). I do not recall the brand name now. It cost me about $650. It was running Windows Mobile 5 or 5.5 or something. I loved the phone but HATED the software. Why? Lots of little hiccups and such, one which angered me so badly that I resold the phone immediately. I was talking with my wife (through my phone) after we had argued about something about an hour previously... and the phone hung up on her. I called her back and asked her not to get mad, I did not hang up purposefully and the damned phone hung up again!
TL;DR, perhaps it was the software that stopped your phones from becoming popular.
I do not mean to be disrespectful here. I am curious. Why is it that the pioneers of early America lived more "comfortable" lives than the Ugandans of today do?
In early America, I would build my log cabin. Is there no wood in Uganda?
In early America, I would make my own clothes and shoes out of animal skins. Are there no animals in Uganda?
In early America, I would grow my own food either by growing stuff in the ground or herding livestock. Is there no fertile land or livestock?
In early America, there was no electricity. A very long time ago, humans discovered electricity. It is stupidly easy to generate small amounts of electricity to use for light or other non-industrial uses. Wind power being the most obvious.
I guess what I am asking is why is there so much suffering and misery? Where are all of the resources going?
I agree that an all-digital economy makes electronic robbery of various forms much easier and much more invisible. But that's where regulations and laws can help. The question is: are we willing to support the laws necessary to have a smoothly running digital economy, or are we going to throw our hands up, say "government is evil" , and have the worst of both worlds?
You are missing the elephant in the room: If the government can track ALL of your expenditures, then they can legally LIMIT those expenditures. Not a problem? Consider these situations:
You want to give to a charity. Your religion forbids telling anyone about the amounts of your charity. What do you do? Not give money...
Let's do the charity thing again: You are part of a religion. You donate weekly to your church. Your religion becomes associated with terrorism (Islam). Your church (mosque in this example) has never sent any of the money it received to higher up the chain (or has been sending standard amounts for decades). Will you still be able to fly on an airplane? Will you be put on a terrorist watch list? You checked and to the best of your knowledge, you are not financing terrorism...
Here is my favorite: Black markets and grey markets. What if I want to buy an item that is prohibited by my local community? Change the laws? ROFLMAO. Let's throw out a few examples of things that I might want to buy that might be illegal: Censored books Sex toys Drugs (not necessarily narcotics, could be some patented drug that would cost a thousand times more on the normal market)
etc. I am bored of thinking of examples. Surely you can see how an all digital economy will cause problems (unless you are one of the 1% lol).
You know, it might be a completely alien thought to some (most?) Americans but some countries have citizens / subjects that trust their government to represent and protect their interests.
Seriously? Which citizens trust their government to represent and protect their interest? Sweden? Explain the Pirate Bay server seizures a few years ago. Obviously instigated by outside influences (copyright cartel) and definitely illegal. What about the Julian Assange mess? Yeah, those in power in Sweden are totally trustworthy and not able to swayed by external forces.
Anyone who knows anything about power knows that trusting someone with power is a very very bad idea. Meh, maybe you were just swiping at Americans but your assertion that some citizens of some countries trust their government is absurd.
Want to know what I hate most about Samsung phones? Especially after buying a Gnex? The damn battery cover! Such a flimsy piece of plastic holding the battery in and threatening to break if you pop it on or off a bit too often. Sorry, but for a premium smartphone I demand something more than a flimsy piece of plastic cheaply clicked in.
When I bought my Samsung Galaxy S (a year and half? two years ago?) I thought the same thing you did... but after all of this time, the cover still holds nicely and has not broken or anything. *shrug* The battery cover actually works just fine.
In case you are curious, I was deep into custom ROMs and such until I finally stuck Cyanogen Mod on it. What that means is that I had to remove the battery hundreds if not thousands of times to reboot my phone when I screwed up installing a ROM.
So, if a friend of mine murders your , robs your house, kills your dog, trashes your car, or other such things, and then tells me about it, I should just keep my mouth shut. Got it.
You misunderstand the concept. If you and your friend do those things to me TOGETHER, then yes, you are expected to keep your mouth shut from my point of view (as the victim). If you were not part of it then there are no such expectations.
ROFLMAO, captcha is "aiding". how beautifully appropriate.
Now the US has total control and the US has shown to be far worse at it then the countries you list, none of them have tried to censor outside their own borders.
lol dude, you are hilarious. none of them CAN censor outside their own borders because they do not control any important services outside of their borders. if they did, they would... and they would be FAR more aggressive about it than the USA. not trying to excuse what happened here. it is absolutely terrible and a disgrace to America as a whole.
In short, the story we are commenting on is not enough to convince me to hand control to the UN (unless I could be absolutely certain that it would end up remaining neutral through cumulative inaction).
Is it any wonder why mass transit is mostly a big fail in the US? In Europe, we pay for it with taxes. You need to get over the idea that you have to drive your big SUV everywhere and use taxes to build the infrastructure to support a working mass transit system.
Yes, everyone in America (yes, everyone) would rather sit in traffic (in a SUV) two hours a day instead of hopping on a nice clean and convenient train and/or bus. I sincerely think you nailed the problem exactly on the head there. I still might suggest digging a little deeper though.
Not a disclaimer: I am an American and I have lived overseas for years (Middle East) and traveled quite a bit through Europe. While Europe has some awesomeness to it, I think you have gulped too much of the Kool-Aid. No place is perfect (including America and the European countries).
Something feels "funny" about that link. I am unsure that factoring exchange rates for a countries currencies is valid when trying to determine GDP per capita. It might show how much wealth moved in or out over a given time frame but that would assume everything is sold immediately... but how does it become coherent when you consider... never mind.
I am assuming that the link is a manipulation of numbers to show or "prove" something but I am unsure what it is really showing. It actually looks more like a "standard of living" chart rather than a productivity chart.
Now STFU and pay like everyone else -- WITHOUT government subsidies!
Your prices are higher because your taxes on gasoline are higher. Americans do not have taxes as high as yours.
I am going to guess that you are being programmed to believe that gas prices are lower in America due to subsidies so that you are not encouraged to complain about fuel taxes that are likely 50% of the total price you pay at the pump.
Long story short, stop yelling and being rude. It sucks.
Why is it that such an ignorant, pointless, and obnoxious rant was modded up? It seems to be the mood of all the threads on this story to be vile, spiteful attacks on other humans. Meh, I should not have wandered in here today.
Here's what actually happened, according to the Obama administration: 1. Intelligence officials presented a case for killing Al-Awlaki to the Obama appointees. 2. The Obama press office gives out a bunch of information to the public about how Al-Awlaki is a Bad Person. 3. Obama orders a missile strike on Al-Awlaki. Notice that Al-Awlaki never has a chance to confront or refute the evidence against him, and the only story the public has is the story the Obama administration wanted them to have.
Hm. Citation needed.
Is there a step by step non-partisan account of exactly what happened? A leaked video would be very useful.
Are you absolutely certain they were targeting Al-Awlaki personally or could he have been part of a group that was being targeted?
Ultimately, where can I find the facts that you are referencing? I have read some not-very-useful news reports but I am unsure if the facts are as you present them.
I am guessing that what he is trying to say is that Rules are merely a convenient fiction, so you can (should?) not extrapolate Rules logically if there are any politics/power struggles involved.
(Rules being any agreement between two or more parties, up to and including laws)
It's because mainstream America generally doesn't give a shit about international events unless it involves your list of exceptions (whether we should or shouldn't give a shit is another debate).
"Don't worry, Daddy will take care of all of your problems. All you have to do is go to work, make babies, and die at the end of it all."
This is how society is structured. Do not blame the masses for being led there. If society is fucked up, it is because our leaders are fucked up.
Another way of stating it is that it is not the fault of the sheep that the shepherd led them to danger. (Should the sheep rise up and overthrow the shepherd? Do sheep have the knowledge required to make intelligent decisions on where they should go?) meh, I am rambling now. Have a nice day.:)
Then you send a *description* of their body, atom for atom via powerful laser. At the destination, a nanotech assembler builds a copy atom for atom.
Which one is the real one? The one you just copied or the one you just built from that copy? What do you do with the "other" person? Do they still live life as if they had never been copied? Which one is the "legal" copy?
The problem is we have conflicting beliefs as to what behavior is okay and what behavior isn't.
Actually, this is all really simple: Do not force or coerce someone into doing something they do not want to do unless you are stopping them from doing something clearly harmful to a person.
70% tax seems mighty repressive even if it is easily affordable. Seriously, the wealthy SHOULD pay more (total and as a percentage) in taxes than the peons do but 70% is obscene. Government services are NOT worth that much. People who are that wealthy can just buy a private army and be totally safe from anything short of a full fledged revolution or a government.
Yes, taxes desperately need to be raised. 70% is not what it should be raised to. Top tax bracket currently is what, 35%? Perhaps 45% could be considered reasonable... but even then, I think that is on the extreme side.
Let's stop teeter-tottering in this class warfare thing and just get along. Don't allow the balance to swing too wildly (70%vs15%) and things should go smoothly.
strike (roflmao, CAPTCHA is harmony. these CAPTCHAs are poetic fairly frequently)
Slashdot Mirror
You are being subsidized by people like me who pay income and property taxes to support the roads but then bike to work.
Hm. Those roads make civilization more efficient than not having roads at all. You participate in that civilization and benefit greatly from the lifestyle that it affords you. Sure, the driver probably puts more miles and abuse on the roads than you... but really, trying to escape your tax burden entirely is not very sporting of you.
(captcha is "ominous". weird.)
Not everyone has the same values as you. Perhaps he just does not care about doing it in real life. Or maybe his interest in minecraft spurred his interest in creating the calculator. Maybe his next step is indeed doing FPGA design? Just enjoy the creation for what it is. :)
Or... the computer could keep the jobs going and allow you to reconnect to them when you are finally able to reconnect to the computer... I am unsure why that is not a part of job control already. Unix sure can be weird sometimes.
In the case of Nokia, it is Microsoft who has the money they want.
Yes and no. They want Microsoft's money. Yes. Microsoft will stop giving them money as soon as sales stop. So no. This means Nokia's ultimate source of revenue is the people who buy the phones. Wanting Microsoft's money in addition to the phone buyer's money is the "serving two masters" situation.
Thank you for helping me understand the situation better. It is a true poverty. I wonder how it can be solved. Providing real-world resources only postpones the inevitable unless there is a plan to change the dynamics of the situation.
Blow me away. I logged in to see if I had mod points to give you, but sadly I do not. :/
I have had great success not worrying about the bottom line but instead, focusing on what I was delivering. Yes, accounting must be done. Checking to see if you are nosediving or not is very useful, but the focus needs to be on the needs and wants of the person who has the money that you want (the customer).
Actually, my thoughts just wandered off a bit...
Nokia is serving two masters, the person who buys the phone and Microsoft. Both masters provide money to Nokia. Both masters have diverging interests. Ultimately, Nokia has become poorer with two sources of income rather than one.
The whole reason I wanted to mod you insightful is because so many companies fall into this trap. This "serving two masters" thing applies to the company itself, not just external partners: Should the company put its desire for profit ahead of the customer's needs?
I guess Nokia should be asking themselves if they should be serving multiple masters or serving the person who is buying the phone.
strike
In order to mitigate the symptoms we have agreed never to play longer than 30 minutes per day in our family. This has helped a bit, but only quantitatively. The outbursts of aggression have become rarer but not less harsh.
Hm. Perhaps there is something else going on in their lives that cause such a reaction to video games. My two children (one is no longer a child actually) never acted differently after playing video games. The eldest never really was deep into them and the youngest is pretty deep in to them. Really, video games have been a non-event (other than being entertainment for a while) in the life of my family.
YMMV of course. :)
I bought one of the very first GPS devices that also acted like a phone (back in 2005?). I do not recall the brand name now. It cost me about $650. It was running Windows Mobile 5 or 5.5 or something. I loved the phone but HATED the software. Why? Lots of little hiccups and such, one which angered me so badly that I resold the phone immediately. I was talking with my wife (through my phone) after we had argued about something about an hour previously... and the phone hung up on her. I called her back and asked her not to get mad, I did not hang up purposefully and the damned phone hung up again!
TL;DR, perhaps it was the software that stopped your phones from becoming popular.
I do not mean to be disrespectful here. I am curious. Why is it that the pioneers of early America lived more "comfortable" lives than the Ugandans of today do?
In early America, I would build my log cabin. Is there no wood in Uganda?
In early America, I would make my own clothes and shoes out of animal skins. Are there no animals in Uganda?
In early America, I would grow my own food either by growing stuff in the ground or herding livestock. Is there no fertile land or livestock?
In early America, there was no electricity. A very long time ago, humans discovered electricity. It is stupidly easy to generate small amounts of electricity to use for light or other non-industrial uses. Wind power being the most obvious.
I guess what I am asking is why is there so much suffering and misery? Where are all of the resources going?
strike
I agree that an all-digital economy makes electronic robbery of various forms much easier and much more invisible. But that's where regulations and laws can help. The question is: are we willing to support the laws necessary to have a smoothly running digital economy, or are we going to throw our hands up, say "government is evil" , and have the worst of both worlds?
You are missing the elephant in the room: If the government can track ALL of your expenditures, then they can legally LIMIT those expenditures. Not a problem? Consider these situations:
You want to give to a charity. Your religion forbids telling anyone about the amounts of your charity. What do you do? Not give money...
Let's do the charity thing again: You are part of a religion. You donate weekly to your church. Your religion becomes associated with terrorism (Islam). Your church (mosque in this example) has never sent any of the money it received to higher up the chain (or has been sending standard amounts for decades). Will you still be able to fly on an airplane? Will you be put on a terrorist watch list? You checked and to the best of your knowledge, you are not financing terrorism...
Here is my favorite: Black markets and grey markets. What if I want to buy an item that is prohibited by my local community? Change the laws? ROFLMAO. Let's throw out a few examples of things that I might want to buy that might be illegal:
Censored books
Sex toys
Drugs (not necessarily narcotics, could be some patented drug that would cost a thousand times more on the normal market)
etc. I am bored of thinking of examples. Surely you can see how an all digital economy will cause problems (unless you are one of the 1% lol).
strike
You know, it might be a completely alien thought to some (most?) Americans but some countries have citizens / subjects that trust their government to represent and protect their interests.
Seriously? Which citizens trust their government to represent and protect their interest? Sweden? Explain the Pirate Bay server seizures a few years ago. Obviously instigated by outside influences (copyright cartel) and definitely illegal. What about the Julian Assange mess? Yeah, those in power in Sweden are totally trustworthy and not able to swayed by external forces.
Anyone who knows anything about power knows that trusting someone with power is a very very bad idea. Meh, maybe you were just swiping at Americans but your assertion that some citizens of some countries trust their government is absurd.
strike
Want to know what I hate most about Samsung phones? Especially after buying a Gnex? The damn battery cover! Such a flimsy piece of plastic holding the battery in and threatening to break if you pop it on or off a bit too often. Sorry, but for a premium smartphone I demand something more than a flimsy piece of plastic cheaply clicked in.
When I bought my Samsung Galaxy S (a year and half? two years ago?) I thought the same thing you did... but after all of this time, the cover still holds nicely and has not broken or anything. *shrug* The battery cover actually works just fine.
In case you are curious, I was deep into custom ROMs and such until I finally stuck Cyanogen Mod on it. What that means is that I had to remove the battery hundreds if not thousands of times to reboot my phone when I screwed up installing a ROM.
So, if a friend of mine murders your , robs your house, kills your dog, trashes your car, or other such things, and then tells me about it, I should just keep my mouth shut. Got it.
You misunderstand the concept. If you and your friend do those things to me TOGETHER, then yes, you are expected to keep your mouth shut from my point of view (as the victim). If you were not part of it then there are no such expectations.
ROFLMAO, captcha is "aiding". how beautifully appropriate.
That is why you can't get cellular voice service on a tablet
Actually, I have a Samsung Galaxy Tablet that is designed to make phone calls. See this forum for more details: http://forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=752
Now the US has total control and the US has shown to be far worse at it then the countries you list, none of them have tried to censor outside their own borders.
lol dude, you are hilarious. none of them CAN censor outside their own borders because they do not control any important services outside of their borders. if they did, they would... and they would be FAR more aggressive about it than the USA. not trying to excuse what happened here. it is absolutely terrible and a disgrace to America as a whole.
In short, the story we are commenting on is not enough to convince me to hand control to the UN (unless I could be absolutely certain that it would end up remaining neutral through cumulative inaction).
Is it any wonder why mass transit is mostly a big fail in the US? In Europe, we pay for it with taxes. You need to get over the idea that you have to drive your big SUV everywhere and use taxes to build the infrastructure to support a working mass transit system.
Yes, everyone in America (yes, everyone) would rather sit in traffic (in a SUV) two hours a day instead of hopping on a nice clean and convenient train and/or bus. I sincerely think you nailed the problem exactly on the head there. I still might suggest digging a little deeper though.
Not a disclaimer: I am an American and I have lived overseas for years (Middle East) and traveled quite a bit through Europe. While Europe has some awesomeness to it, I think you have gulped too much of the Kool-Aid. No place is perfect (including America and the European countries).
Something feels "funny" about that link. I am unsure that factoring exchange rates for a countries currencies is valid when trying to determine GDP per capita. It might show how much wealth moved in or out over a given time frame but that would assume everything is sold immediately... but how does it become coherent when you consider ... never mind.
I am assuming that the link is a manipulation of numbers to show or "prove" something but I am unsure what it is really showing. It actually looks more like a "standard of living" chart rather than a productivity chart.
strike
Now STFU and pay like everyone else -- WITHOUT government subsidies!
Your prices are higher because your taxes on gasoline are higher. Americans do not have taxes as high as yours.
I am going to guess that you are being programmed to believe that gas prices are lower in America due to subsidies so that you are not encouraged to complain about fuel taxes that are likely 50% of the total price you pay at the pump.
Long story short, stop yelling and being rude. It sucks.
Why is it that such an ignorant, pointless, and obnoxious rant was modded up? It seems to be the mood of all the threads on this story to be vile, spiteful attacks on other humans. Meh, I should not have wandered in here today.
(lol, captcha is: virgins)
Here's what actually happened, according to the Obama administration:
1. Intelligence officials presented a case for killing Al-Awlaki to the Obama appointees.
2. The Obama press office gives out a bunch of information to the public about how Al-Awlaki is a Bad Person.
3. Obama orders a missile strike on Al-Awlaki.
Notice that Al-Awlaki never has a chance to confront or refute the evidence against him, and the only story the public has is the story the Obama administration wanted them to have.
Hm. Citation needed.
Is there a step by step non-partisan account of exactly what happened? A leaked video would be very useful.
Are you absolutely certain they were targeting Al-Awlaki personally or could he have been part of a group that was being targeted?
Ultimately, where can I find the facts that you are referencing? I have read some not-very-useful news reports but I am unsure if the facts are as you present them.
You still don't make sense.
I am guessing that what he is trying to say is that Rules are merely a convenient fiction, so you can (should?) not extrapolate Rules logically if there are any politics/power struggles involved.
(Rules being any agreement between two or more parties, up to and including laws)
I could be misunderstanding it all though.
It's because mainstream America generally doesn't give a shit about international events unless it involves your list of exceptions (whether we should or shouldn't give a shit is another debate).
"Don't worry, Daddy will take care of all of your problems. All you have to do is go to work, make babies, and die at the end of it all."
This is how society is structured. Do not blame the masses for being led there. If society is fucked up, it is because our leaders are fucked up.
Another way of stating it is that it is not the fault of the sheep that the shepherd led them to danger. (Should the sheep rise up and overthrow the shepherd? Do sheep have the knowledge required to make intelligent decisions on where they should go?) meh, I am rambling now. Have a nice day. :)
Then you send a *description* of their body, atom for atom via powerful laser. At the destination, a nanotech assembler builds a copy atom for atom.
Which one is the real one? The one you just copied or the one you just built from that copy? What do you do with the "other" person? Do they still live life as if they had never been copied? Which one is the "legal" copy?
The problem is we have conflicting beliefs as to what behavior is okay and what behavior isn't.
Actually, this is all really simple: Do not force or coerce someone into doing something they do not want to do unless you are stopping them from doing something clearly harmful to a person.
This is called Freedom. Respect it.
70% tax seems mighty repressive even if it is easily affordable. Seriously, the wealthy SHOULD pay more (total and as a percentage) in taxes than the peons do but 70% is obscene. Government services are NOT worth that much. People who are that wealthy can just buy a private army and be totally safe from anything short of a full fledged revolution or a government.
Yes, taxes desperately need to be raised. 70% is not what it should be raised to. Top tax bracket currently is what, 35%? Perhaps 45% could be considered reasonable... but even then, I think that is on the extreme side.
Let's stop teeter-tottering in this class warfare thing and just get along. Don't allow the balance to swing too wildly (70%vs15%) and things should go smoothly.
strike
(roflmao, CAPTCHA is harmony. these CAPTCHAs are poetic fairly frequently)