Some scenes of Rollerball were actually filmed at the BMW headquarters in Munich. This is appropriate. Germany's Government and economic policies are just as, if not more so, as favoring German corporations as the US ones. Cartels exist in Germany and are protected by Government policy. They don't actually call them cartels of course - cos that's illegal - but they are pretty much nonetheless.
And since Germany is the powerhouse (read: bully) of EU policy. Germany's Corporations do rather well here - to the detriment of many more capable ones. Lots of German firms would have gone to the wall long ago if it were not for Government intervention. German micoreconomics is horrifically inefficient and high maintenance, German firms simply cannot compete on a level playing field in many cases.
It's worse under the currently ruling CDU, but the other parties aren't much better, they are all pretty much pwned by corporations.
It is interesting that when 1984 came by, we thought at the time we lived in such a happier world than that of Orwell's vision. Had, however, Orwell set the book in the US in 2004, I think we would all be praising his vision for its accuracy.
Utterly terrifying really, and we all sat back and watched it happen - that's the worst part.
I wholeheartedly agree. I think the balance has been tipped on Google some time ago. I find it very difficult to search for anything on Google without including a whole bunch of qualifiers like -amazon, -ebay, -checkout, -shopping, etc...
Having said that, in principle I do like the idea of Google promoting Base. This World desperately and urgently needs a strong eBay competitor, and a Cragslist competitor too for that matter. (Craigslist being the nouveau chic site de jour for spammers and scammers - and that's one org that's letting them all win hands down. Since their staff don't review listings, Craigslist even has a neat way of spammers find out their marketing penetration using the report spam button on the listings - you can figure out how many folk saw your ad by how long it stays up - yay! a free gift to all spammers! Seriously, why wouldn't you want to spam on Craigslist!!!?).
What would be great though is if Google could allow users to choose to avoid Base if they wished - in the way they could with Froogle. If I want information from the web, I rarely want to buy it. If I want to buy something from the web, I know where to look. There's rarely any overlap. I doubt I am alone in that.
Or, if any smart person would happen to know of, or would like to develop a Firefox extension to filter out shopping sites in search, I for one would be eternally grateful.
Actually, IKEA is Dutch. It used to be Swedish though.
Volvo is actually owned by Ford, and although you didn't mention them, SAAB is owned by GM - or at least the car company is - I guess the aircraft are still Swedish.
The woman are however, as previously mentioned, indeed hot. And that is all one needs to know...sigh...
How about expanding that, so we can specify specific submitters, such as Roland Piquepaille for example, who's articles don't show up?
I second that! Or better yet, let Pigpail fans (either of them) bookmark his blog so they can read in peace without him needing to submit his trite tabloid pseudoscience ramblings here.
I think the reason may be in part to do with the perceived strength of the press. Although the Daily Mail is exactly the kind of rag that get cameras put up, and The Sun and Times are nothing more than News Corp owned right wing propaganda tools, there does remain newspapers like The Guardian, The Observer and of course also the BBC, where there are some people with integrity (certainly not all, but some nonetheless). I guess people feel that when there is a privacy problem that they can rely on the press to deal with it. I'm not saying they are necessarily correct - we do trust the BBC far far too much.
Certainly there is very little news of cameras being abused. Again, I'm not saying this is not happening, but we do not hear of it much. People in inner cities of the UK - especially London, Manchester, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool etc. are certainly painfully aware of mindless drunken/drugged chavs* roaming the streets, and not just from the Daily Mail - these people are a bona fide problem. One that, despite cameras being in place for around fifteen years now, is still a problem. Probably this is because there are a lot of chavs, little is done to tackle the causes of chavness, and although chavs are dumb, they can actually see the cameras, so no great surprise there.
I guess people happy to see anything done to control these people, even if it is not working. Mail and Sun FUD, of course, does help them to be compliant.
*chavs = council housed and violent - not easy to explain to a non UK audience but this video. helps. Or watch the movie Trainspotting.
Why on Earth mod this insightful? This intolerant pedantic racist piece of Irish nationalism is simply factually just plain wrong.
The Republic of Ireland is contained within the geographic area of the British Isles. That's not politics, it's geography. Which obviously neither those of you who modded this insightful, nor the original poster have ever studied.
um, yes.. but aren't you just replacing the non-renewable liquid hydrocarbon fuel with a new non-renewable solid hydrocarbon fuel. Sure, marginally less air pollution (though the other pollutive aspects of car/truck/bus travel remain: noise, heat, visual, congestion etc.), but isn't this still just yet another failing to see the wood for the trees alternative automotive solution?
Yes, you are right! The strength of wikipedia is in its anarchy. Stephen was not simply making fun, he was warning that moderators choose to become thus because they have an axe to grind, and because there are factions in society that seek to control information, and that both things are dangerous; much more so together.
Anarchy and lack of moderation is the way to ensure that ultimately the truth can win. It also ensures that visitors have to continue to think, and not blindly trust. We need MUCH MUCH more of that in society.
And I must also say that when launching a closed, controlled site where only an elite can edit information, Berlin is NOT a good place to do that from for obvious historical reasons, and for obvious contemporary neo-nazi ones.
I for one, do NOT welcome a new world order of information.
If it is locked - and I don't really know what the overall conclusion from this article is either - then it's certainly bad news for the UK gamers. Seems that the announced prices for the Wii will make it most expensive in the UK - for reasons that aren't clear to me for one.
I suspect the reason is the same one as used by every other company - "you're British, if we shaft you on price you won't do anything about it. It's just cos we can charge more that we do."
and actually, someone should test to see if the Louis Vitton one is also bullet and bomb proof. It probably isn't, but I really think we should know to be sure.
In fact judging by the design, there's probably a few more Louis Vitton things out there we could test to see if bullet proof.
So, when we find a stable wormhole nest to Eris - will it be called the Erishole?
Was Pluto not enough, was there a problem with Uranus too? Did you astronomers feel that perhaps there were not enough double entendres already that you had to add potentially many, many more by using Eris?
Sigh, I thnk we should really consider not allowing astronomers to name things anymore. Eris - arse... seriously people!!!
I am progressively more and more disturbed by the wikipedophile focus on finding a solution to "vandalism". Liken it if you will to an right wing politicans campaign to rid the world of "terrorism".
I would concur that mindless destruction of someone's work is annoying and should be dealt with, however, I think it is important to understand that not all acts of destruction are in fact mindless - some are legitimate protests. Much as wikipedia likes to harp on about vandalism, I don't yet see a valid definition of what constitutes vandalism.
Also, what I feel is potentially the most dangerous aspect of Wikipedia is the ability of a moderator to deliberately manipulate information to promote agendae. Wiki's editors are self-appointed and not accountable to anyone. For as long as wikipedia remains in the form it is in; by small changes, small spins and offering seemingly plausible facts you could potentially alter the course of history. The ability to alter the perception of history and facts is right there on a wikipedia page. I am astounded that people are not already doing this - I'm sure they must be. It is incredible power.
While the mindless vandalism is annoying, removing moderation and removing protection is much safer in the long run. Since, in this way, people will know not to take Wikipedia seriously as the single source of any fact, and also because it will be much harder for extremists to push agendas. We as a community can contribute to keeping the site tidy, rather than have a secret police force doing it for us.
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? We actually need an answer to this question before wikipedia does anything else.
Far more than 1/6 of the World's population has unelected governments. In fact right now, "democracy" is probably at it's highest rate ever in human history.
Bear in mind also that even in countries where the populace can vote, usually less than 70% ever does.
The funny thing, speaking of China, is that when Hong Kong was returned to the Chinese Government, there was much hue and cry in the UK that they would be losing democracy. Sounds fair - except for the fact that previously they were ruled by an appointed Governor, the choice of whom they had no say in whatsoever.
Democracy is for the most part merely an illusion of accountability. As an individual you have very little say in how your country is run. In the west our lives are mostly controlled by Corporations, which you tacitly elect by purchasing their goods.
Slashdot Mirror
I wish that were true.
Some scenes of Rollerball were actually filmed at the BMW headquarters in Munich. This is appropriate. Germany's Government and economic policies are just as, if not more so, as favoring German corporations as the US ones. Cartels exist in Germany and are protected by Government policy. They don't actually call them cartels of course - cos that's illegal - but they are pretty much nonetheless.
And since Germany is the powerhouse (read: bully) of EU policy. Germany's Corporations do rather well here - to the detriment of many more capable ones. Lots of German firms would have gone to the wall long ago if it were not for Government intervention. German micoreconomics is horrifically inefficient and high maintenance, German firms simply cannot compete on a level playing field in many cases.
It's worse under the currently ruling CDU, but the other parties aren't much better, they are all pretty much pwned by corporations.
Um, what about Terminator?
Hands up everyone who knows a corporation like Cyberdyne...
Anyone...?
anyone...?
Bueller..?
anyone...?
You forgot Newspeak. Anyone watched Fox recently?
It is interesting that when 1984 came by, we thought at the time we lived in such a happier world than that of Orwell's vision. Had, however, Orwell set the book in the US in 2004, I think we would all be praising his vision for its accuracy.
Utterly terrifying really, and we all sat back and watched it happen - that's the worst part.
Fortunately you wrote "hmmmm" and not "mmmmm". That "h" makes all the difference...
I wholeheartedly agree. I think the balance has been tipped on Google some time ago. I find it very difficult to search for anything on Google without including a whole bunch of qualifiers like -amazon, -ebay, -checkout, -shopping, etc...
Having said that, in principle I do like the idea of Google promoting Base. This World desperately and urgently needs a strong eBay competitor, and a Cragslist competitor too for that matter. (Craigslist being the nouveau chic site de jour for spammers and scammers - and that's one org that's letting them all win hands down. Since their staff don't review listings, Craigslist even has a neat way of spammers find out their marketing penetration using the report spam button on the listings - you can figure out how many folk saw your ad by how long it stays up - yay! a free gift to all spammers! Seriously, why wouldn't you want to spam on Craigslist!!!?).
What would be great though is if Google could allow users to choose to avoid Base if they wished - in the way they could with Froogle. If I want information from the web, I rarely want to buy it. If I want to buy something from the web, I know where to look. There's rarely any overlap. I doubt I am alone in that.
Or, if any smart person would happen to know of, or would like to develop a Firefox extension to filter out shopping sites in search, I for one would be eternally grateful.
also...
e) it will serve graphic based ads, not text based ones - vis a vis hotmail...
No thank you.
Actually, IKEA is Dutch. It used to be Swedish though.
Volvo is actually owned by Ford, and although you didn't mention them, SAAB is owned by GM - or at least the car company is - I guess the aircraft are still Swedish.
The woman are however, as previously mentioned, indeed hot. And that is all one needs to know...sigh...
Perfect time for the Swiss Navy Knife. It must have a sail attachment, you know for all those times they get becalmed on Lac Léman...
It's a Roland Pigpail article. It's delusional. No need to worry.
Certainly there is very little news of cameras being abused. Again, I'm not saying this is not happening, but we do not hear of it much. People in inner cities of the UK - especially London, Manchester, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool etc. are certainly painfully aware of mindless drunken/drugged chavs* roaming the streets, and not just from the Daily Mail - these people are a bona fide problem. One that, despite cameras being in place for around fifteen years now, is still a problem. Probably this is because there are a lot of chavs, little is done to tackle the causes of chavness, and although chavs are dumb, they can actually see the cameras, so no great surprise there.
I guess people happy to see anything done to control these people, even if it is not working. Mail and Sun FUD, of course, does help them to be compliant.
*chavs = council housed and violent - not easy to explain to a non UK audience but this video. helps. Or watch the movie Trainspotting.
Absolutely, and good luck explaining the legality of your actions to Ron the Bouncer's fist.
Why on Earth mod this insightful? This intolerant pedantic racist piece of Irish nationalism is simply factually just plain wrong.
The Republic of Ireland is contained within the geographic area of the British Isles. That's not politics, it's geography. Which obviously neither those of you who modded this insightful, nor the original poster have ever studied.
um, yes.. but aren't you just replacing the non-renewable liquid hydrocarbon fuel with a new non-renewable solid hydrocarbon fuel. Sure, marginally less air pollution (though the other pollutive aspects of car/truck/bus travel remain: noise, heat, visual, congestion etc.), but isn't this still just yet another failing to see the wood for the trees alternative automotive solution?
...or did I miss something?
GrammatikNazi?
Sie mussen neu hier sein, oder?
Anarchy and lack of moderation is the way to ensure that ultimately the truth can win. It also ensures that visitors have to continue to think, and not blindly trust. We need MUCH MUCH more of that in society.
And I must also say that when launching a closed, controlled site where only an elite can edit information, Berlin is NOT a good place to do that from for obvious historical reasons, and for obvious contemporary neo-nazi ones.
I for one, do NOT welcome a new world order of information.
aber für WikiGrammarNazis, Perfekt!
If it is locked - and I don't really know what the overall conclusion from this article is either - then it's certainly bad news for the UK gamers. Seems that the announced prices for the Wii will make it most expensive in the UK - for reasons that aren't clear to me for one.
I suspect the reason is the same one as used by every other company - "you're British, if we shaft you on price you won't do anything about it. It's just cos we can charge more that we do."
and actually, someone should test to see if the Louis Vitton one is also bullet and bomb proof. It probably isn't, but I really think we should know to be sure.
In fact judging by the design, there's probably a few more Louis Vitton things out there we could test to see if bullet proof.
I feel that someone should test this. I think we need proof. I await the Youtube videodemo.
But if they did it would add an extra air of mystery for new viewers...
I for one welcome our new bouncy overlords.
...British English...
So, when we find a stable wormhole nest to Eris - will it be called the Erishole?
Was Pluto not enough, was there a problem with Uranus too? Did you astronomers feel that perhaps there were not enough double entendres already that you had to add potentially many, many more by using Eris?
Sigh, I thnk we should really consider not allowing astronomers to name things anymore. Eris - arse... seriously people!!!
Yes, absolutely, I couldn't agree more.
I am progressively more and more disturbed by the wikipedophile focus on finding a solution to "vandalism". Liken it if you will to an right wing politicans campaign to rid the world of "terrorism".
I would concur that mindless destruction of someone's work is annoying and should be dealt with, however, I think it is important to understand that not all acts of destruction are in fact mindless - some are legitimate protests. Much as wikipedia likes to harp on about vandalism, I don't yet see a valid definition of what constitutes vandalism.
Also, what I feel is potentially the most dangerous aspect of Wikipedia is the ability of a moderator to deliberately manipulate information to promote agendae. Wiki's editors are self-appointed and not accountable to anyone. For as long as wikipedia remains in the form it is in; by small changes, small spins and offering seemingly plausible facts you could potentially alter the course of history. The ability to alter the perception of history and facts is right there on a wikipedia page. I am astounded that people are not already doing this - I'm sure they must be. It is incredible power.
While the mindless vandalism is annoying, removing moderation and removing protection is much safer in the long run. Since, in this way, people will know not to take Wikipedia seriously as the single source of any fact, and also because it will be much harder for extremists to push agendas. We as a community can contribute to keeping the site tidy, rather than have a secret police force doing it for us.
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? We actually need an answer to this question before wikipedia does anything else.
Welcome to Earth.
Far more than 1/6 of the World's population has unelected governments. In fact right now, "democracy" is probably at it's highest rate ever in human history.
Bear in mind also that even in countries where the populace can vote, usually less than 70% ever does.
The funny thing, speaking of China, is that when Hong Kong was returned to the Chinese Government, there was much hue and cry in the UK that they would be losing democracy. Sounds fair - except for the fact that previously they were ruled by an appointed Governor, the choice of whom they had no say in whatsoever.
Democracy is for the most part merely an illusion of accountability. As an individual you have very little say in how your country is run. In the west our lives are mostly controlled by Corporations, which you tacitly elect by purchasing their goods.