You're forgetting the backdoor between the two: bribery. Whether it's in the direct traditional form of a wad of cash under the table or the more 'official' form of 'campaign donations' and the like if you have money someone is probably willing to sell you a slice of their power. Certainly, the politicians accepting that sort of thing aren't as rich as the mega-rich people and companies that pay them off and the people making these sorts of bribes rarely have 100% access to the power wielded by the people they pay off, but well, it's close enough for these purposes.
Now, it's certainly possible to minimize these sorts of things* but once that sort of shit gets embedded into the legislative process it's rather hard to dig out**. In any event, if you look at a given congresscritter's money trail (well, the ones that are still actually public atleast) and compare it to their voting record it's pretty easy to see when their strings are being pulled. Which is all the fucking time. Democrat or Republican, it doesn't matter, as long as it costs millions of dollars to run for any significant office and hopefuls are just expected to 'come up with the money some how' there will always be a way for the rich to gain undue influence*** over the legislative process.
As to the original topic, google isn't necessarily doing anything wrong per se, because they've always been a corporation and the goal of a corporation is to make money. If we (as in, the internet using public) think that a non-corporate, non-biased and 100% open search provider/internet index is a good idea (which I personally do) then it might be prudent to start looking into how such a beast might be created, governed, operated and funded. If those questions can be satisfactorily answered and and index can be created using said answers that produces useful results than people will naturally start using it, google will go the way of dogpile or lycos (which, if you consider their constant attempts at diversification it's pretty clear that google expects to happen some day any way) and the problem will be solved (and no doubt a bunch of refreshingly new and interesting problems will crop up in short order, that's life:D).
*100% publicly financed campaigns would be a good start
**After all, when >95% of the legislature is using private/corporate financing to fund their re-election and some sub-percentage of that group is on the take in a more personal level it's pretty hard to get public finance passed. If it fails any supporters can be sure they're not getting any corporate sponsorship in the next election and considering the number of legislators benefiting personally from a cozy relationship with megacorps and the ultra-rich failure is always an option for such(public finance) schemes.
***Don't misunderstand me, I don't have a problem with rich people, I just think that they shouldn't have any more influence over the government than any other citizen.
Wah, Wah, I'm happy being a buggy whip manufacturer. I know cars benefit the end user, but I don't want to have to learn how to make tires or something. I hope they don't catch on...
And if you complained about the tetanus (from the barbed wire) you know what your parents would say? "Walk it off, pussy!" And we were glad to get that much!
Firstly, 16% of the world operates on Jus Soli (right of the soil) so just because you don't know about those countries (and didn't care to spend 15 seconds googling it) doesn't mean they don't exist.
Secondly, why do you think it's such a big problem? A lot of people who harp on this issue froth at the mouth about 'terror babies' and other inanity of that nature, but really most of the people who have children this law applies to just over here trying to make a better life for themselves, and usually do the jobs that none of the locals want to do anyway (and often get exploited and held in virtual slavery while doing so). Why shouldn't their children have a chance at all the benefits anyone else would have?
Lastly, we're a nation of immigrants. We built our strength on the backs of successive waves of immigration and we're hardly low on space or food. Why should we make it so difficult for new people to have a shot at success in the land of the free? And don't go pulling any 'we were here first' bullshit on me, I'm a member of the Cherokee nation bitch!
I don't pay much attention to sports news but I think the MLB not only beat you to it but got called in front of congress over the whole thing. I think it ended up with Barry Bonds screaming about 'the spiders' or something...
Exactly. 90% of the negative consequences of drugs come about because of their illegality and the remaining 10% mostly just effect the person doing the drugs (and thus it should be their choice). As something of a musician myself I'd be thrilled if someone was pirating my work (in fact, I've put it all up online for free). After all, if they're downloading it it means that they like it.
Last.fm: it logs everything you listen to (plugins available for every major music player, think it has iphone support too). Get all you the stuff you own and like already digital (if you haven't already) and after a while it'll start churning out really good recommendations based on what you already like.
Festivals: There's a number of good music festivals in the every summer (almost any time of year in warm places). Stuff to suit any taste and in varying degrees of family friendliness and other such attributes. Use a bit of google-fu and you can probably find something local. Take a bit of vacation time and have a couple days of music and fun. Buy cds from the people you like, everyone sells them at these things.
Social Networking: Look at pages on facebook and myspace(about the only thing still there), lots of bands have pages on there and you can find plenty of interesting stuff that way. One good strategy is too look at a friend's (one who you know has good taste) likes and check out any bands you find there.
In a big enough city you should be able to find places catering to a slightly older crowd that should be more active a bit earlier. As a bonus such a place is more likely to be putting on shows you like.
Lastly, you might consider expanding your musical horizons a bit. I like bluesy rock myself (Prefer the Doors to Zeppelin in that vein, but both are really good) but there's so much more out there. Don't be afraid to listen to something just because it's not in your genre and try to give new stuff an honest chance (There are album's I really didn't care much for on the first listen but eventually grew to love. Sometimes it takes a while to 'get' an artist or album or genre, I mean, you probably didn't like coffee the first time you drank it, but if you're like me you wouldn't want to start the day without it now right?).
Because he has documented statistical analysis backing his points up and if you want to verify them you just have to read his studies, look up all the studies he cites and then run statistical analysis on them yourself. That's the beauty of the scientific method (when it's implemented correctly at-least...).
Religion has been betraying our trust for thousands of years. For recent examples, look at all the catholic priests fucking little boys, faith healers 'curing' diseases and televangelists taking people's money (well a lot more of it that churches normally do in any event).
Yes but that's mounted on a warship, that mode can be turned off (by manually disconnecting the weapons if necessary, there are people on board after all) and that mode would only be turned on if a shooting war broke out and they needed to make sure that the ship wasn't going to get blown up before they could hit the "shoot down that motherfucking missile screaming in at us" button.
It all adds up to something a bit different than an autonomous weapons platform that can choose to engage targets at will, which is what other people were talking about.
Because we have a bunch of tea-baggers and other retards of that nature running around who like to ignore the consequences of their actions and bitch and moan about 'communists', 'socialists' and 'nazis' (because they're all to dumb to realize that those words aren't interchangeable) whenever someone tries to fix that sort of thing. Of-course we might actually be able to implement real solutions even with their dead weight dragging us down except most of the environmentalists in this country are pretty dumb as well. Basically, I blame the fact that America is full of idiots.
You're full of shit. A properly designed electric motor will out torque any ICE on the market and needs no transmission because electric motors have a more or less flat torque curve. Maybe if you had some of that thar book larnin' you'd know things like that...
So what? Conservatives always talk a big game on cutting pork but all they ever do is fuck over social programs and send all the money on different kinds of pork (read: the military industrial complex).
Government Official: Guys, guys, stop right now! I know you're pretty cheesed off, I mean it's kinda obvious what with the revolution and all, but you can't do this!
Revolutionary: I'm almost afraid to ask, but why?
Government Official: It's totally illegal to execute someone this way! We abolished this method of execution in 1981. You'll have to find some other way to kill me...
Slashdot Mirror
Note for any visiting Europeans: A sink is not an acceptable substitute for a bidet and should not be used as such.
Didn't they buy TechCrunch recently?
Of course make sure not to be breaking when you actually get into the corner, good way to slide off the road...
You're forgetting the backdoor between the two: bribery. Whether it's in the direct traditional form of a wad of cash under the table or the more 'official' form of 'campaign donations' and the like if you have money someone is probably willing to sell you a slice of their power. Certainly, the politicians accepting that sort of thing aren't as rich as the mega-rich people and companies that pay them off and the people making these sorts of bribes rarely have 100% access to the power wielded by the people they pay off, but well, it's close enough for these purposes.
Now, it's certainly possible to minimize these sorts of things* but once that sort of shit gets embedded into the legislative process it's rather hard to dig out**. In any event, if you look at a given congresscritter's money trail (well, the ones that are still actually public atleast) and compare it to their voting record it's pretty easy to see when their strings are being pulled. Which is all the fucking time. Democrat or Republican, it doesn't matter, as long as it costs millions of dollars to run for any significant office and hopefuls are just expected to 'come up with the money some how' there will always be a way for the rich to gain undue influence*** over the legislative process.
As to the original topic, google isn't necessarily doing anything wrong per se, because they've always been a corporation and the goal of a corporation is to make money. If we (as in, the internet using public) think that a non-corporate, non-biased and 100% open search provider/internet index is a good idea (which I personally do) then it might be prudent to start looking into how such a beast might be created, governed, operated and funded. If those questions can be satisfactorily answered and and index can be created using said answers that produces useful results than people will naturally start using it, google will go the way of dogpile or lycos (which, if you consider their constant attempts at diversification it's pretty clear that google expects to happen some day any way) and the problem will be solved (and no doubt a bunch of refreshingly new and interesting problems will crop up in short order, that's life :D).
*100% publicly financed campaigns would be a good start
**After all, when >95% of the legislature is using private/corporate financing to fund their re-election and some sub-percentage of that group is on the take in a more personal level it's pretty hard to get public finance passed. If it fails any supporters can be sure they're not getting any corporate sponsorship in the next election and considering the number of legislators benefiting personally from a cozy relationship with megacorps and the ultra-rich failure is always an option for such(public finance) schemes.
***Don't misunderstand me, I don't have a problem with rich people, I just think that they shouldn't have any more influence over the government than any other citizen.
You do know that's basically textbook sociopathy, right?
Wah, Wah, I'm happy being a buggy whip manufacturer. I know cars benefit the end user, but I don't want to have to learn how to make tires or something. I hope they don't catch on...
And if you complained about the tetanus (from the barbed wire) you know what your parents would say? "Walk it off, pussy!" And we were glad to get that much!
Firstly, 16% of the world operates on Jus Soli (right of the soil) so just because you don't know about those countries (and didn't care to spend 15 seconds googling it) doesn't mean they don't exist.
Secondly, why do you think it's such a big problem? A lot of people who harp on this issue froth at the mouth about 'terror babies' and other inanity of that nature, but really most of the people who have children this law applies to just over here trying to make a better life for themselves, and usually do the jobs that none of the locals want to do anyway (and often get exploited and held in virtual slavery while doing so). Why shouldn't their children have a chance at all the benefits anyone else would have?
Lastly, we're a nation of immigrants. We built our strength on the backs of successive waves of immigration and we're hardly low on space or food. Why should we make it so difficult for new people to have a shot at success in the land of the free? And don't go pulling any 'we were here first' bullshit on me, I'm a member of the Cherokee nation bitch!
I don't pay much attention to sports news but I think the MLB not only beat you to it but got called in front of congress over the whole thing. I think it ended up with Barry Bonds screaming about 'the spiders' or something...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4m37JkkGjAY&feature=related
Exactly. 90% of the negative consequences of drugs come about because of their illegality and the remaining 10% mostly just effect the person doing the drugs (and thus it should be their choice). As something of a musician myself I'd be thrilled if someone was pirating my work (in fact, I've put it all up online for free). After all, if they're downloading it it means that they like it.
Here's some ideas:
Last.fm: it logs everything you listen to (plugins available for every major music player, think it has iphone support too). Get all you the stuff you own and like already digital (if you haven't already) and after a while it'll start churning out really good recommendations based on what you already like.
Festivals: There's a number of good music festivals in the every summer (almost any time of year in warm places). Stuff to suit any taste and in varying degrees of family friendliness and other such attributes. Use a bit of google-fu and you can probably find something local. Take a bit of vacation time and have a couple days of music and fun. Buy cds from the people you like, everyone sells them at these things.
Social Networking: Look at pages on facebook and myspace(about the only thing still there), lots of bands have pages on there and you can find plenty of interesting stuff that way. One good strategy is too look at a friend's (one who you know has good taste) likes and check out any bands you find there.
In a big enough city you should be able to find places catering to a slightly older crowd that should be more active a bit earlier. As a bonus such a place is more likely to be putting on shows you like.
Lastly, you might consider expanding your musical horizons a bit. I like bluesy rock myself (Prefer the Doors to Zeppelin in that vein, but both are really good) but there's so much more out there. Don't be afraid to listen to something just because it's not in your genre and try to give new stuff an honest chance (There are album's I really didn't care much for on the first listen but eventually grew to love. Sometimes it takes a while to 'get' an artist or album or genre, I mean, you probably didn't like coffee the first time you drank it, but if you're like me you wouldn't want to start the day without it now right?).
Because he has documented statistical analysis backing his points up and if you want to verify them you just have to read his studies, look up all the studies he cites and then run statistical analysis on them yourself. That's the beauty of the scientific method (when it's implemented correctly at-least...).
Religion has been betraying our trust for thousands of years. For recent examples, look at all the catholic priests fucking little boys, faith healers 'curing' diseases and televangelists taking people's money (well a lot more of it that churches normally do in any event).
Yes but that's mounted on a warship, that mode can be turned off (by manually disconnecting the weapons if necessary, there are people on board after all) and that mode would only be turned on if a shooting war broke out and they needed to make sure that the ship wasn't going to get blown up before they could hit the "shoot down that motherfucking missile screaming in at us" button.
It all adds up to something a bit different than an autonomous weapons platform that can choose to engage targets at will, which is what other people were talking about.
Never seen anything more gaudy or tasteless in my life! They should have used an android phone instead ;).
If you're going to lug around a bluetooth keyboard anyway why not just get a netbook?
No wonder people always look at me funny when I talk about the cold war between u-saw and usser...
Well he did say it was experimental. You have to start small lol...
Because we have a bunch of tea-baggers and other retards of that nature running around who like to ignore the consequences of their actions and bitch and moan about 'communists', 'socialists' and 'nazis' (because they're all to dumb to realize that those words aren't interchangeable) whenever someone tries to fix that sort of thing. Of-course we might actually be able to implement real solutions even with their dead weight dragging us down except most of the environmentalists in this country are pretty dumb as well. Basically, I blame the fact that America is full of idiots.
You're full of shit. A properly designed electric motor will out torque any ICE on the market and needs no transmission because electric motors have a more or less flat torque curve. Maybe if you had some of that thar book larnin' you'd know things like that...
I masturbate left-handed you insensitive clod!
So what? Conservatives always talk a big game on cutting pork but all they ever do is fuck over social programs and send all the money on different kinds of pork (read: the military industrial complex).
Government Official: Guys, guys, stop right now! I know you're pretty cheesed off, I mean it's kinda obvious what with the revolution and all, but you can't do this!
Revolutionary: I'm almost afraid to ask, but why?
Government Official: It's totally illegal to execute someone this way! We abolished this method of execution in 1981. You'll have to find some other way to kill me...
Dah-di-dah-dah Dah-dah-dah Di-di-dah, Di-dit Dah-dit Di-di-dit Dit Dah-dit Di-di-dit Di-dit Dah Di-dit Di-di-di-dah Dit, Dah-di-dah-dit Di-dah-di-dit Dah-dah-dah Dah-di-dit