Amazing little quote you have there. Taken almost verbatim from one of the UltraSonics conspiracy sites. This is the exact description of the weapon the "UltraSonics" Secret Police group uses to harras its "Targets" Here is one of many copies of this drivel.
Maybe he is just smart enough to not show himself to be a fanboy all the time so people defend him saying he isn't a Microsoft shill. I have known TONS of Microsofties to openly complain about MS product XYZ not performing to their expectations...the trick I usually use to expose them is mention a linux/unix project that does what they are after in the typically simpler fashion than a MS product does it. Just add water instant fanboy is what you get. MS products have their place (yes yes, in the trashcan I know) and some of them are decent products or decent ideas...but when you couple their wholly unethical business pracices, their theivery, their FUD, and their apprent lack of desire or ability to compete with anything on a truely technical level rather than pure marketing FUD...well you start to lose faith in them being able to offer anything worthwhile that someone else can't do better with less hastle. I may change my opinion when I have to have a product key to install linux, and then have to 'activate' my linux install, and then have to have to upgrade to a more expensive linux to run server services, and then have to pay more again to add another processor, oh and then have a product key for my mail server...etc etc etc.
Other senator were calling it the bridge to nowhere before the media took off with it. I actually read about the "bridge to nowhere" in an article written by a Republican senator from Nebraska quite some time ago. I didn't read that he was involved in that Katrina relief fiasco until relatively recently, my original encounter with "bridge to nowhere" like I said was by another senator writing a blasting article about pork barrel spending (and that wasn't the only project blasted).
As far as takign the bullet for the poor people of Alaska. I'm not a resident of alaska, but I have known plenty (never talked to them about this guy though as my awareness of him has only recently come up with the Katrina nonsense and his support of the telcos in the raping of the customer). You know that you get paid to be a resident of Alaska? They get a cut of the oil money from the state...you just gotta live there for I believe 2 years. They also have a very nice state sponsored tuition assistance program last I checked. So I would hardly call Alaska a poor state, they make big bucks from the oil and have relatively few people to split it amongst with incentives to go live there to keep their population up.
My description of his behavior may be a tad colorful but his politics remain the same. My statements accurately reflect what I feel about him because I hold these leaders to a higher standard and am getting quite tired of their nonsense, uneducated, or purchased votes. Give me line item veto, give me meaningful term limits, true blind personal investment, campaign finance reform, etc...any offical who doesn't support these sorts of basic power checks really is in it for personal gain, not American good.
The Senator of Alaska did not agree. By proxy the people, but we don't have a direct democracy so you can't really say the people did not accurately. As far as dispersement of the money and so on, we are operating so far from what the constitution says anyways it hardly is relevent any more. States rights is a joke because of the way federal money is handled. However, that being said, I'm pretty sure I could dig up references here as far as the welfare of the people and whatnot from the Charters of Freedom on why it should go to disaster relief instead, albiet a bit sketchy interpretation, but hey that hasn't stopped much lately. But unless the spin was outright lies, he threatened to resign if he didn't get the money...pretty pathetic.
As a network engineer and system admin with a decade of experience I would counter that its networks that get clogged with stupid rather than pipes clogged with data. Users are a limitless supply of stupid and if we could only harness that as a energy source the world would be a better place. While I certainly understand the humor in your statement, he was using it to defend the telco plan of double shafting everyone on that thar intarweb thingamajig...saying his staffer sent him an internet and it took it 5 days to get to him because of clogged pipes. So...my counters to that are as follows
1. An Internet in 5 days?! That has got to be the fastest connection on the planet...downloading the internet in 5 days is a NSA wet dream.
2. If that really is to slow...Instead of allowing telcos to double charge connections, the federal government should create a Department of Intarweb and hire tons of pipe scrubbers to travel down the pipes and scrub the data off the sides to prevent buildup. Thus in true modern American government fashion we can tax the hell out of the people, pass on the profits to the corporations (someone has to build intarweb pipe scrubber equipment), all for a nonsensical solution to a problem that doesn't really exist.
Giving up or not giving up isn't really the point. Its stomping around acting like a child demanding your state get that money. Is this how we should expect senators to act? I bet it would have been a tad different if he had family down there...ok well maybe not seeing his track record with money. But I bet it would have been different if he owned investment property down there. Now yes growth is important...but I think rebuilding Katrina damage should take a bit more priority over "connects a growing town with its airport".
Besides that...this is the same fool that described the internet as a system of pipes that get clogged with data. Either he is clueless or he is bought and paid for by various special interests. I suspect the latter.
That is almost the system we have now. However, regardless of who you vote for, the money comes out of your account and into theirs. When our government didn't send that Alaskan piece of crap republican straight to jail for threatening to quit if his state didn't get Katrina relief funds so he could build the famous bridge to nowhere...it pretty much put it right out in the open. Some very simple changes to how federal dollars can be allocated would fix a great deal of our issues, allowing the states to have rights again. Unfortunately...all the Fed has to do is say "well...we will take money out of your state through federal taxes on your residents...but if you don't set the laws WE want you to set (speed limit, drinking age, etc) then we won't give you any of the money back!"
Our United States are no longer United States...We are very little more than Federally owned and operated States of America.
Stupid people are not an ARTIFICIAL LIMITATION. Generally I can get through the automatic checkout faster than a normal line anyways, regardless of how many cashiers are there. I generally prefer the autocheckouts because they are typically faster for me. I also tend to believe in the long run they will save more money than paying the workers. (Oh dear, think of the workers...well an unfortunate fact of modern life is that more and more jobs are being replaced by machines...so it would behoove you to actively seek employment skills not likely to be replaced by machines). So in theory (yes companies are evil...I don't trust most, but this is/. so must amplifiy that a bit) I should be getting lower prices due to lower costs. That and I'm not so full of myself that I am somehow offended by scanning and bagging my own groceries. I carry them to the car myself, and unbag them at home myself. It also lets me make sure I bag my stuff the way I want it to make it easier to unbag later. So...the time savings are well in the positive for me on an auto checkout.
Honestly, I have only had a few issues with these things. I have been using these things since they first started hitting stores and very rarely do they give me headache. (Not that they don't ever...kinda like using Windows...never quite sure when its going to blow up, but you can bet your ass its going to be at the worst possible time). My biggest problem is PEOPLE! I have sat in line at Walmart for 40 minutes while the woman in front of me argued with the Cashier about buying 50 freaking towels at 10 cents cheaper each...and then proceded to argue about how Food Lion has some stupid buy 1 get 1 free deal on the chips she was buying, and how they let her only buy one at half price instead of buying two...and then proceded to send her husband back for price checks on a dozen other items in her cart she wanted to pay 10-50 cents less on.
So even assuming that my time is only worth $6/hr...the 10 minutes it would have taken me to run my FULL cart through a self checkout instead of standing behind that loon would have been $3 worth of time. I make considerably more than $6/hr, so realistically it would have been more than $3.
These things have their issues...but people have FAR MORE and MORE COMPLEX issues than one of these electronic talking monstrosities could ever have. "Place item in bag...Scan next item...Place item in bag...Scan next item...Place item in bag...Laugh at the fool behind you that can't find bagging area full button....laugh at cashier that can't figure out how to make it stop complaining either...Leave store...Have a nice day."
So...lets all discuss these singularities and the limits of human achievement. After all...in the grand scheme of things...it wasn't that long ago that we were pointing to parts of maps that said 'Here there be monsters' and declaring if you went any farther you would sail off the edge of the earth. We can point out the advent of electricity...and of flight...and of the internal combustion engine...and advanced magnetics...and computers...and radar...
Things that have not been discovered are not known about and thus cannot be accurately predicted about. Go ask King Richard about the computer...Or Atilla the Hun about RF radiation and antennas.
Tommorow can't be 'accurately predicted' because some 17yr old kid in his dad's basement may find a way to warp time. One of our supercolliders may trigger the sudden generation of a black hole, or whatever the fear theory of the day is. This whole piece just seems like a way for a bunch of folks to get names for themselves, or otherwise continue marketing their names, with stuff that really doesn't require any solid thought other than a few hours of hitting a bong and discussing theoretical outcomes of nothing.
One of my friends was offered hand grenades...by 'not so easy' I mean not obtainable inside of a day or two. Probably still pretty easy to find within a week. My point is there are vast cultural differences and histories between us and the places that have gun laws. You can't just point at them as examples and say that its simply the gun laws. Our nation was formed by militia and such...that sort of pattern has been ingrained into us for a long while. Making booze illegal made it hard to get...also made the mafia...certainly didn't do much to stop booze consumtion...just made it a tad more profitable.
As far as not serving their purpose...not quite true. "The Man" doesn't own the military. I have often wondered what would happen in civil war, or really what would happen if a state suddenly decided its NG units won't be going to Iraq. The National Guard is not a federally owned thing, its nothing more than a heavily armed state militias. Which is actually one of the problems facing congress right now, is how to treat the National Guard now that they are using them as federal troops. Really NG units wind up in Iraq basically the same way the drinking age was enforced...the federal government (who isn't supposed to have this kind of power over states) said if you DON'T do what we want...we won't give you the federal taxes you paid back to improve your state!
One last point...If guns didn't serve their purpose anymore because "The Man" is armed with artillery, helicopters, machine gunes, etc...uhm...you might want to check the news again...that whole Iraq thing we are in right now...these folks aren't exactly heavily armed. Or check the history channel...Vietnam...same story...and for the ultimate proof of the validity and superiority of guerilla warfare that the US can't figure out for some stupid reason...go back and look at the Revolutionary War. Bunch a ragtag folks with little more than rifles (in the beginning) ultimatly repelling one of the worlds laragest military forces on the planet at the time to create their own nation. Beats me why everyone seems to think the super giant mega techno force (as amazingly powerful as it is) cannot be defeated...it has...over and over and over throughout history.
dragonbyte at dragonspyre dot net. We can continue through email if ya want, may be easier:) Incidentally I hope you are having fun, I am. Screw congress and all their nonsense...THIS is what our nation was supposed to be. Common folk discussing the problems...without financial incentives...and without massive kneejerk campaigns, foot stomping, and stupid signs with various out of context quotes. (I love how the gay marriage bashing crowd uses quotes from Matthew talking about why divorce should not be allowed as proof of gay hate in the bible). If everyone agrees on something it is RARELY the right course of action...usually its because noone is really thinking things through. Real solutions to real problems take time to hammer out kinks and solve the problem right the first time without introducing new issues.:)
I was in the midwest (one of those mostly rural states that usually has more sense)...so I imagine the situation is only worse in the high population density areas. Guns aren't cheap in a store...there is the overhead of background checks and all of that that has to be accounted for...and then there is always quality. Guns on the street don't exactly tend to be the highest of quality or maintained worth a damn...but really, not explode in your hand, and being able to kill something at 10ft away is easy to come by. But you are often dealing with stolen guns...which have serial numbers...which need to be moved frequently else tracked. If I sell you a $500 gun (retail) for $200 when I paid 0 I still come out way ahead. I also now have $200 cash instead of a hot item with a serial number likely to be trackable. You are looking to go shoot someone...or at least give the appearance you will shoot someone (gangs)...so we are back to if you are going to use a gun to commit a crime, do you really give a rats ass where the gun came from? Now...automatic weapons...not exactly easy to come by...handguns and rifles...dirt cheap.
Coarse as previously stated..."right to bear arms" has little to do with being able to protect yourself from your fellow citizens..."right to bear arms" is about being able to protect yourself from the government...making some dumb punk on the street wonder if you are going to shoot him in the face with a.45 if he tries to stick you up with a 9mm is just a nice benefit. Incidentally...another one of those glossed over things...with the exception of things like hollow points...you can get shot with various calibers below.45 and have a pretty high chance of survival (albiet in much pain for a while). Its the critical organs that you have to worry about...and the human body has alot of random squishy stuff that can survive (again painfully, and not without consequence) quite a bit of damage. Couple that with that sideways aiming nonsense that is so popular, and other various 'thug' things that look intimidating but are utterly counterproductive and lethality goes farther down. I saw statistics (they lie i know) somewhere that said if you are more than 25-30ft away you are safer running from the thug with a gun than sticking around because the odds of him being able to hit you (a moving target) with his training/methods (piss poor) are lower than the odds of him getting close and hurting you.
I don't mean to sound like I'm really arguing...just debating a bit cuz its fun.
It's hard to point at other countries as an example because its not just the laws, its the culture and history affecting things too. You can point at Japan's gun control laws and say that those laws make the difference, just remember Japan is also frequently voted the most polite nation on the planet as well. Shooting you in the face is rather impolite, so it may not really be the gun laws so much as culture. Causation vs Correlation.
I believe in gun registration...because it does make tracking things a tad easier...from tracking stolen guns to solving violent crimes. Parts of it make me uneasy, but ultimately its one of those compromises...in return for me being allowed to own a gun, I have to tell you that I have one. No biggie.
Fewer of them are able to obtain guns is an argument that works for people who have never actually been exposed to that part of the world. Sounds nice and peachy and plausible in rooms full of people with white collared shirts and ties. In reality, on the street (and no, I didn't live on the streets as some hardcore thug or anything, just an average middle class kid hanging out with friends on the lower end of the income scale) its EASY to find guns...there is no shortage of guns...illegal guns...easy to aquire guns...and at a fraction of the cost you have to pay for in a gun store. Harder to obtain really is little more than a comfort to those who have never actually been around "low income" areas.
I think the group of voters he represents aren't standard dems. Most Dems and Reps are large groups of kneejerk reactionary wingnuts (I think our current administration, and the corresponding 'Dem'onstrations should be proof enough). I wanted Dean vs McCain just to see an interesting election because both of them seem very middle of the road and very capable of thinking for themselves.
As far as the places with "gun issues" needing them, as per the standard Dem response. No...I think they don't have gun problems, they have people problems...and having a much higher population density than the rural areas that seem to behave much more sensibly...they have a much larger group of afformentioned kneejerk reactionary wingnuts. Tell me...what about gun control laws make sense? If you are going to use a gun to murder someone...do you really think you would give a rats ass on how you aquired said gun? There is an good chance you probably killed someone else in the aquisition of said gun. Owning a gun doesn't suddenly make you more likely to commit a crime...its not like there is 'essense of crime' built into every gun that oozes into your blood through contact. So...you pretty much have the same number of criminals willing to use a gun to kill. Believing gun control laws work is like beleiving making the drinking age 21 stops people from drinking. It doesn't...it really only enhances the problem...because we rely on the law and fear of punishment to protect us, rather than sound education on said issues.
This isn't an attack on Dems or Reps...its an attack on stupid...and I view the VAST majority of both parties as largely stupid. So the handful that aren't (and they do exist, no doubt about it) really need to find a new name to separate themselves from their stupid brethren:)
I will say this. I view politicians like I view christians. They all make alot of damned noise, and generally about stuff that either doesn't make sense or is otherwise pointless and usually its to rally a crowd near them. However, every so often there is a REAL one...a politician that is actually in it to do right...or a christian that actually understands the real point of the J man's teachings and has more faith than a bumpersticker. But...generally speaking...its the Democrat side of the house that is always so keen on anti gun laws. Not that most gun laws make alot of sense anyways, locks only keep honest people out as the saying goes. It is pretty rare for the Republican side of the house to be anti-gun. Now...again a big part of this involves winning votes from hordes of kneejerk uneducated voters, and not from doing anything that makes sense, without the votes...there is no gravy train.
And remember you are talking about Dean...who isn't exactly the normal Democrat...as he himself has explained, he is from a rural state that doesn't really have the same gun issues as elsewhere. Also, don't forget Kerry blasted Dean for not being totally anti-gun, and went on about how the NRA supporting him is totally evil, and oh think of the children! Dean is what I like to call...a person who can think...which is rare these days.
It disturbs me how few people realize that. It got put in there because the first step in becoming a good oppresive state is to disarm the populace. It has happened throughout history over and over and over. I find it freaking histarical that the Democrats are so keen on disarming the populace and the Republicans are so close to creating their perfect terror filled "protective" state. This I suppose only makes sense if you don't still view Republicans and Democrats as opposing parties. I mean after all they all pretty much come from the same class ($$$), pretty much have the same interests (more $$$), pretty much do the same work (take our $$$)...They may bicker about things, but when it comes to things mutually beneficial (to them, not us) like any good businessmen they will work together.
Incidentally...there is that line in our founding documents..."Right of the People to alter or abolish it, and to institute a new Government, laying its Foundation on such Principles, and organizing its Powers in such Form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness"
Ok...I will bite this once
Enemy...as in because through your close minded hate for America you forget that China's treatment of their people is an order of magnitude worse. Here we worry bout the government trying to make spying legal...there they worry about watching their family murdered in front of them if they even mutter a word against the government spying on them. Lets be realistic please. Unless you are Chinese and part of the in group...you are pretty much china's enemy. Enemy also doesn't mean open warfare either...but again...close minded hate of America about how we kill everyone.
"Probably they'd do it alot better actually" Oh my god...that has got to be one of the funniest things I have heard. PLEASE wake up and pay attention. American prison system, cable tv, gym, library, access to lawyers, minimum standards of living...go look at the chinese prison system...pretty sure you won't be getting cable TV anytime soon. Might wanna crack the history books again on who china has supported throughout various wars. Unless you happen to think N. Korea is run by a mild mannered peace loving kind of stable guy. But hey...you are exactly like Bush right? "You are either with us or against us" You can't be middle of the road anymore and use common sense. So either we hate America and talk trash about how we only do evil, or we talk trash about how we only do good. Its impossible to accept that a country that is run by people who change places every few years will have changing agendas *GASP!*. I for one am rather glad we don't have the stable predictable motives of a dictatorship...(although we are getting dangerously close...no thanks to screaming brats like you making anyone who opposes Bush look like a raving moron)
1. You are lucky. When I called them about my wifes computer they basically told me "Go away you theif". When I explained that I have at least 3 valid XP licenses (I hate being forced to buy MS garbage on computers), she told me I would have to reinstall/reactivate. So...their only solution was "Sucks to be you...reinstall everything, haha!" Now this is also the same goon squad that I have called countless times, read off the CD number and they read me a working key over the phone...I wonder how many of their own product keys they have ruined with that?
2. "as long as they let me know about it before I buy it" Well lets look at the release dates. Oct 2001 for Windows XP, Mar 2006 for WGA. I think that pretty much covers the fact that they didn't let anyone know before they bought it. Most people were irritated enough with the stupid activation crap they pulled.
Step 5 doesn't exist for the voter. Step 4 certainly does...but Step 5 is reserved for the campaign contributors and the politicians themselves. I suppose by proxy if an employee of a fine dining establishment, or a call girl voted then maybe you could say voters had Step 5, but that is only becaue the lobbyists give them so much money in the process of purchasing a politician:)
Well if it wasn't enough to worry about already. Social securty numbers...addresses...birthdays...Now that hooker you were with anonymously can use your DNA to steal your identity! At least if you were dumb enough to leave the wallet on the counter while you were rinsing off hooker spit you could change your credit cards and such...can't really change your DNA...at least not without some radiation and rather dire consequences.
Step 1. Repeat that exchange for every other person you know that has said the same as you were saying.
Step 2. Have each of them who start to stand up like you do the same.
Step 3. Wait for this to generate enough people standing up to be taken seriously.
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Amazing little quote you have there. Taken almost verbatim from one of the UltraSonics conspiracy sites. This is the exact description of the weapon the "UltraSonics" Secret Police group uses to harras its "Targets"
Here is one of many copies of this drivel.
Maybe he is just smart enough to not show himself to be a fanboy all the time so people defend him saying he isn't a Microsoft shill. I have known TONS of Microsofties to openly complain about MS product XYZ not performing to their expectations...the trick I usually use to expose them is mention a linux/unix project that does what they are after in the typically simpler fashion than a MS product does it. Just add water instant fanboy is what you get. MS products have their place (yes yes, in the trashcan I know) and some of them are decent products or decent ideas...but when you couple their wholly unethical business pracices, their theivery, their FUD, and their apprent lack of desire or ability to compete with anything on a truely technical level rather than pure marketing FUD...well you start to lose faith in them being able to offer anything worthwhile that someone else can't do better with less hastle. I may change my opinion when I have to have a product key to install linux, and then have to 'activate' my linux install, and then have to have to upgrade to a more expensive linux to run server services, and then have to pay more again to add another processor, oh and then have a product key for my mail server...etc etc etc.
I wonder how many people even get that reference....
SPOOOOOoooooooooooon!
Other senator were calling it the bridge to nowhere before the media took off with it. I actually read about the "bridge to nowhere" in an article written by a Republican senator from Nebraska quite some time ago. I didn't read that he was involved in that Katrina relief fiasco until relatively recently, my original encounter with "bridge to nowhere" like I said was by another senator writing a blasting article about pork barrel spending (and that wasn't the only project blasted).
As far as takign the bullet for the poor people of Alaska. I'm not a resident of alaska, but I have known plenty (never talked to them about this guy though as my awareness of him has only recently come up with the Katrina nonsense and his support of the telcos in the raping of the customer). You know that you get paid to be a resident of Alaska? They get a cut of the oil money from the state...you just gotta live there for I believe 2 years. They also have a very nice state sponsored tuition assistance program last I checked. So I would hardly call Alaska a poor state, they make big bucks from the oil and have relatively few people to split it amongst with incentives to go live there to keep their population up.
My description of his behavior may be a tad colorful but his politics remain the same. My statements accurately reflect what I feel about him because I hold these leaders to a higher standard and am getting quite tired of their nonsense, uneducated, or purchased votes. Give me line item veto, give me meaningful term limits, true blind personal investment, campaign finance reform, etc...any offical who doesn't support these sorts of basic power checks really is in it for personal gain, not American good.
The Senator of Alaska did not agree. By proxy the people, but we don't have a direct democracy so you can't really say the people did not accurately. As far as dispersement of the money and so on, we are operating so far from what the constitution says anyways it hardly is relevent any more. States rights is a joke because of the way federal money is handled. However, that being said, I'm pretty sure I could dig up references here as far as the welfare of the people and whatnot from the Charters of Freedom on why it should go to disaster relief instead, albiet a bit sketchy interpretation, but hey that hasn't stopped much lately. But unless the spin was outright lies, he threatened to resign if he didn't get the money...pretty pathetic.
As a network engineer and system admin with a decade of experience I would counter that its networks that get clogged with stupid rather than pipes clogged with data. Users are a limitless supply of stupid and if we could only harness that as a energy source the world would be a better place. While I certainly understand the humor in your statement, he was using it to defend the telco plan of double shafting everyone on that thar intarweb thingamajig...saying his staffer sent him an internet and it took it 5 days to get to him because of clogged pipes. So...my counters to that are as follows
1. An Internet in 5 days?! That has got to be the fastest connection on the planet...downloading the internet in 5 days is a NSA wet dream.
2. If that really is to slow...Instead of allowing telcos to double charge connections, the federal government should create a Department of Intarweb and hire tons of pipe scrubbers to travel down the pipes and scrub the data off the sides to prevent buildup. Thus in true modern American government fashion we can tax the hell out of the people, pass on the profits to the corporations (someone has to build intarweb pipe scrubber equipment), all for a nonsensical solution to a problem that doesn't really exist.
Giving up or not giving up isn't really the point. Its stomping around acting like a child demanding your state get that money. Is this how we should expect senators to act? I bet it would have been a tad different if he had family down there...ok well maybe not seeing his track record with money. But I bet it would have been different if he owned investment property down there. Now yes growth is important...but I think rebuilding Katrina damage should take a bit more priority over "connects a growing town with its airport".
Besides that...this is the same fool that described the internet as a system of pipes that get clogged with data. Either he is clueless or he is bought and paid for by various special interests. I suspect the latter.
That is almost the system we have now. However, regardless of who you vote for, the money comes out of your account and into theirs. When our government didn't send that Alaskan piece of crap republican straight to jail for threatening to quit if his state didn't get Katrina relief funds so he could build the famous bridge to nowhere...it pretty much put it right out in the open. Some very simple changes to how federal dollars can be allocated would fix a great deal of our issues, allowing the states to have rights again. Unfortunately...all the Fed has to do is say "well...we will take money out of your state through federal taxes on your residents...but if you don't set the laws WE want you to set (speed limit, drinking age, etc) then we won't give you any of the money back!"
Our United States are no longer United States...We are very little more than Federally owned and operated States of America.
Yeah, I couldn't remember the other guys name. I read the House: Atreides one and cried myself to sleep and vowed never to read the rest. It was sad :(
I liked the others in the series for the most part. Its the ones his son wrote that make me want to cry.
Stupid people are not an ARTIFICIAL LIMITATION. Generally I can get through the automatic checkout faster than a normal line anyways, regardless of how many cashiers are there. I generally prefer the autocheckouts because they are typically faster for me. I also tend to believe in the long run they will save more money than paying the workers. (Oh dear, think of the workers...well an unfortunate fact of modern life is that more and more jobs are being replaced by machines...so it would behoove you to actively seek employment skills not likely to be replaced by machines). So in theory (yes companies are evil...I don't trust most, but this is /. so must amplifiy that a bit) I should be getting lower prices due to lower costs. That and I'm not so full of myself that I am somehow offended by scanning and bagging my own groceries. I carry them to the car myself, and unbag them at home myself. It also lets me make sure I bag my stuff the way I want it to make it easier to unbag later. So...the time savings are well in the positive for me on an auto checkout.
Honestly, I have only had a few issues with these things. I have been using these things since they first started hitting stores and very rarely do they give me headache. (Not that they don't ever...kinda like using Windows...never quite sure when its going to blow up, but you can bet your ass its going to be at the worst possible time). My biggest problem is PEOPLE! I have sat in line at Walmart for 40 minutes while the woman in front of me argued with the Cashier about buying 50 freaking towels at 10 cents cheaper each...and then proceded to argue about how Food Lion has some stupid buy 1 get 1 free deal on the chips she was buying, and how they let her only buy one at half price instead of buying two...and then proceded to send her husband back for price checks on a dozen other items in her cart she wanted to pay 10-50 cents less on.
So even assuming that my time is only worth $6/hr...the 10 minutes it would have taken me to run my FULL cart through a self checkout instead of standing behind that loon would have been $3 worth of time. I make considerably more than $6/hr, so realistically it would have been more than $3.
These things have their issues...but people have FAR MORE and MORE COMPLEX issues than one of these electronic talking monstrosities could ever have. "Place item in bag...Scan next item...Place item in bag...Scan next item...Place item in bag...Laugh at the fool behind you that can't find bagging area full button....laugh at cashier that can't figure out how to make it stop complaining either...Leave store...Have a nice day."
So...lets all discuss these singularities and the limits of human achievement. After all...in the grand scheme of things...it wasn't that long ago that we were pointing to parts of maps that said 'Here there be monsters' and declaring if you went any farther you would sail off the edge of the earth. We can point out the advent of electricity...and of flight...and of the internal combustion engine...and advanced magnetics...and computers...and radar...
Things that have not been discovered are not known about and thus cannot be accurately predicted about. Go ask King Richard about the computer...Or Atilla the Hun about RF radiation and antennas.
Tommorow can't be 'accurately predicted' because some 17yr old kid in his dad's basement may find a way to warp time. One of our supercolliders may trigger the sudden generation of a black hole, or whatever the fear theory of the day is. This whole piece just seems like a way for a bunch of folks to get names for themselves, or otherwise continue marketing their names, with stuff that really doesn't require any solid thought other than a few hours of hitting a bong and discussing theoretical outcomes of nothing.
One of my friends was offered hand grenades...by 'not so easy' I mean not obtainable inside of a day or two. Probably still pretty easy to find within a week. My point is there are vast cultural differences and histories between us and the places that have gun laws. You can't just point at them as examples and say that its simply the gun laws. Our nation was formed by militia and such...that sort of pattern has been ingrained into us for a long while. Making booze illegal made it hard to get...also made the mafia...certainly didn't do much to stop booze consumtion...just made it a tad more profitable.
:) Incidentally I hope you are having fun, I am. Screw congress and all their nonsense...THIS is what our nation was supposed to be. Common folk discussing the problems...without financial incentives...and without massive kneejerk campaigns, foot stomping, and stupid signs with various out of context quotes. (I love how the gay marriage bashing crowd uses quotes from Matthew talking about why divorce should not be allowed as proof of gay hate in the bible). If everyone agrees on something it is RARELY the right course of action...usually its because noone is really thinking things through. Real solutions to real problems take time to hammer out kinks and solve the problem right the first time without introducing new issues. :)
As far as not serving their purpose...not quite true. "The Man" doesn't own the military. I have often wondered what would happen in civil war, or really what would happen if a state suddenly decided its NG units won't be going to Iraq. The National Guard is not a federally owned thing, its nothing more than a heavily armed state militias. Which is actually one of the problems facing congress right now, is how to treat the National Guard now that they are using them as federal troops. Really NG units wind up in Iraq basically the same way the drinking age was enforced...the federal government (who isn't supposed to have this kind of power over states) said if you DON'T do what we want...we won't give you the federal taxes you paid back to improve your state!
One last point...If guns didn't serve their purpose anymore because "The Man" is armed with artillery, helicopters, machine gunes, etc...uhm...you might want to check the news again...that whole Iraq thing we are in right now...these folks aren't exactly heavily armed. Or check the history channel...Vietnam...same story...and for the ultimate proof of the validity and superiority of guerilla warfare that the US can't figure out for some stupid reason...go back and look at the Revolutionary War. Bunch a ragtag folks with little more than rifles (in the beginning) ultimatly repelling one of the worlds laragest military forces on the planet at the time to create their own nation. Beats me why everyone seems to think the super giant mega techno force (as amazingly powerful as it is) cannot be defeated...it has...over and over and over throughout history.
dragonbyte at dragonspyre dot net. We can continue through email if ya want, may be easier
I was in the midwest (one of those mostly rural states that usually has more sense)...so I imagine the situation is only worse in the high population density areas. Guns aren't cheap in a store...there is the overhead of background checks and all of that that has to be accounted for...and then there is always quality. Guns on the street don't exactly tend to be the highest of quality or maintained worth a damn...but really, not explode in your hand, and being able to kill something at 10ft away is easy to come by. But you are often dealing with stolen guns...which have serial numbers...which need to be moved frequently else tracked. If I sell you a $500 gun (retail) for $200 when I paid 0 I still come out way ahead. I also now have $200 cash instead of a hot item with a serial number likely to be trackable. You are looking to go shoot someone...or at least give the appearance you will shoot someone (gangs)...so we are back to if you are going to use a gun to commit a crime, do you really give a rats ass where the gun came from? Now...automatic weapons...not exactly easy to come by...handguns and rifles...dirt cheap.
.45 if he tries to stick you up with a 9mm is just a nice benefit. Incidentally...another one of those glossed over things...with the exception of things like hollow points...you can get shot with various calibers below .45 and have a pretty high chance of survival (albiet in much pain for a while). Its the critical organs that you have to worry about...and the human body has alot of random squishy stuff that can survive (again painfully, and not without consequence) quite a bit of damage. Couple that with that sideways aiming nonsense that is so popular, and other various 'thug' things that look intimidating but are utterly counterproductive and lethality goes farther down. I saw statistics (they lie i know) somewhere that said if you are more than 25-30ft away you are safer running from the thug with a gun than sticking around because the odds of him being able to hit you (a moving target) with his training/methods (piss poor) are lower than the odds of him getting close and hurting you.
Coarse as previously stated..."right to bear arms" has little to do with being able to protect yourself from your fellow citizens..."right to bear arms" is about being able to protect yourself from the government...making some dumb punk on the street wonder if you are going to shoot him in the face with a
I don't mean to sound like I'm really arguing...just debating a bit cuz its fun.
It's hard to point at other countries as an example because its not just the laws, its the culture and history affecting things too. You can point at Japan's gun control laws and say that those laws make the difference, just remember Japan is also frequently voted the most polite nation on the planet as well. Shooting you in the face is rather impolite, so it may not really be the gun laws so much as culture. Causation vs Correlation.
I believe in gun registration...because it does make tracking things a tad easier...from tracking stolen guns to solving violent crimes. Parts of it make me uneasy, but ultimately its one of those compromises...in return for me being allowed to own a gun, I have to tell you that I have one. No biggie.
Fewer of them are able to obtain guns is an argument that works for people who have never actually been exposed to that part of the world. Sounds nice and peachy and plausible in rooms full of people with white collared shirts and ties. In reality, on the street (and no, I didn't live on the streets as some hardcore thug or anything, just an average middle class kid hanging out with friends on the lower end of the income scale) its EASY to find guns...there is no shortage of guns...illegal guns...easy to aquire guns...and at a fraction of the cost you have to pay for in a gun store. Harder to obtain really is little more than a comfort to those who have never actually been around "low income" areas.
I think the group of voters he represents aren't standard dems. Most Dems and Reps are large groups of kneejerk reactionary wingnuts (I think our current administration, and the corresponding 'Dem'onstrations should be proof enough). I wanted Dean vs McCain just to see an interesting election because both of them seem very middle of the road and very capable of thinking for themselves.
:)
As far as the places with "gun issues" needing them, as per the standard Dem response. No...I think they don't have gun problems, they have people problems...and having a much higher population density than the rural areas that seem to behave much more sensibly...they have a much larger group of afformentioned kneejerk reactionary wingnuts. Tell me...what about gun control laws make sense? If you are going to use a gun to murder someone...do you really think you would give a rats ass on how you aquired said gun? There is an good chance you probably killed someone else in the aquisition of said gun. Owning a gun doesn't suddenly make you more likely to commit a crime...its not like there is 'essense of crime' built into every gun that oozes into your blood through contact. So...you pretty much have the same number of criminals willing to use a gun to kill. Believing gun control laws work is like beleiving making the drinking age 21 stops people from drinking. It doesn't...it really only enhances the problem...because we rely on the law and fear of punishment to protect us, rather than sound education on said issues.
This isn't an attack on Dems or Reps...its an attack on stupid...and I view the VAST majority of both parties as largely stupid. So the handful that aren't (and they do exist, no doubt about it) really need to find a new name to separate themselves from their stupid brethren
I will say this. I view politicians like I view christians. They all make alot of damned noise, and generally about stuff that either doesn't make sense or is otherwise pointless and usually its to rally a crowd near them. However, every so often there is a REAL one...a politician that is actually in it to do right...or a christian that actually understands the real point of the J man's teachings and has more faith than a bumpersticker. But...generally speaking...its the Democrat side of the house that is always so keen on anti gun laws. Not that most gun laws make alot of sense anyways, locks only keep honest people out as the saying goes. It is pretty rare for the Republican side of the house to be anti-gun. Now...again a big part of this involves winning votes from hordes of kneejerk uneducated voters, and not from doing anything that makes sense, without the votes...there is no gravy train.
And remember you are talking about Dean...who isn't exactly the normal Democrat...as he himself has explained, he is from a rural state that doesn't really have the same gun issues as elsewhere. Also, don't forget Kerry blasted Dean for not being totally anti-gun, and went on about how the NRA supporting him is totally evil, and oh think of the children! Dean is what I like to call...a person who can think...which is rare these days.
It disturbs me how few people realize that. It got put in there because the first step in becoming a good oppresive state is to disarm the populace. It has happened throughout history over and over and over. I find it freaking histarical that the Democrats are so keen on disarming the populace and the Republicans are so close to creating their perfect terror filled "protective" state. This I suppose only makes sense if you don't still view Republicans and Democrats as opposing parties. I mean after all they all pretty much come from the same class ($$$), pretty much have the same interests (more $$$), pretty much do the same work (take our $$$)...They may bicker about things, but when it comes to things mutually beneficial (to them, not us) like any good businessmen they will work together.
Incidentally...there is that line in our founding documents..."Right of the People to alter or abolish it, and to institute a new Government, laying its Foundation on such Principles, and organizing its Powers in such Form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness"
Ok...I will bite this once
Enemy...as in because through your close minded hate for America you forget that China's treatment of their people is an order of magnitude worse. Here we worry bout the government trying to make spying legal...there they worry about watching their family murdered in front of them if they even mutter a word against the government spying on them. Lets be realistic please. Unless you are Chinese and part of the in group...you are pretty much china's enemy. Enemy also doesn't mean open warfare either...but again...close minded hate of America about how we kill everyone.
"Probably they'd do it alot better actually" Oh my god...that has got to be one of the funniest things I have heard. PLEASE wake up and pay attention. American prison system, cable tv, gym, library, access to lawyers, minimum standards of living...go look at the chinese prison system...pretty sure you won't be getting cable TV anytime soon. Might wanna crack the history books again on who china has supported throughout various wars. Unless you happen to think N. Korea is run by a mild mannered peace loving kind of stable guy. But hey...you are exactly like Bush right? "You are either with us or against us" You can't be middle of the road anymore and use common sense. So either we hate America and talk trash about how we only do evil, or we talk trash about how we only do good. Its impossible to accept that a country that is run by people who change places every few years will have changing agendas *GASP!*. I for one am rather glad we don't have the stable predictable motives of a dictatorship...(although we are getting dangerously close...no thanks to screaming brats like you making anyone who opposes Bush look like a raving moron)
Is this really considered a 0 day anymore? I mean...its a 0 day exploit on day 0. We are kind of past that now aren't we?
1. You are lucky. When I called them about my wifes computer they basically told me "Go away you theif". When I explained that I have at least 3 valid XP licenses (I hate being forced to buy MS garbage on computers), she told me I would have to reinstall/reactivate. So...their only solution was "Sucks to be you...reinstall everything, haha!" Now this is also the same goon squad that I have called countless times, read off the CD number and they read me a working key over the phone...I wonder how many of their own product keys they have ruined with that? 2. "as long as they let me know about it before I buy it" Well lets look at the release dates. Oct 2001 for Windows XP, Mar 2006 for WGA. I think that pretty much covers the fact that they didn't let anyone know before they bought it. Most people were irritated enough with the stupid activation crap they pulled.
Try again...you are asking the wrong question.
Won't may be more appropriate. Why would our 'enemy' and largest competitor want to stop themselves from stealing our secrets?
Step 5 doesn't exist for the voter. Step 4 certainly does...but Step 5 is reserved for the campaign contributors and the politicians themselves. I suppose by proxy if an employee of a fine dining establishment, or a call girl voted then maybe you could say voters had Step 5, but that is only becaue the lobbyists give them so much money in the process of purchasing a politician :)
Well if it wasn't enough to worry about already. Social securty numbers...addresses...birthdays...Now that hooker you were with anonymously can use your DNA to steal your identity! At least if you were dumb enough to leave the wallet on the counter while you were rinsing off hooker spit you could change your credit cards and such...can't really change your DNA...at least not without some radiation and rather dire consequences.
Step 1. Repeat that exchange for every other person you know that has said the same as you were saying. Step 2. Have each of them who start to stand up like you do the same. Step 3. Wait for this to generate enough people standing up to be taken seriously.