But here, it is nothing other than an exercise of free speech. The ones the current administration calls "bleeding heart liberals" (anyone have an actual quote?) still move about, operate, and speak with absolute freedom. In fact, so many of them prosper greatly.
Ad supported? It was the ads that made me quit AOL a few years ago. I got 60 spams per day in my AOL inbox, and there was no way to filter than other than to add a complete individual URL to the spam filter.
"because the masses have been so brainwashed to see anything is worth changing"
Translation: a lot of people happen to have different opinions than you do. You'll have to do better than dismiss different of opinion as "brainwashing".
"yeah, I say time for a revolution"
That's a kind of risky roll of the dice. The track record is not the best, with more revolutions making things much worse than there are revolutions really improving things.
"And then there is the fact the vote is always bought by companies and the rich"
I have yet to have either pay for any of my votes, and I don't know anyone else who has either. I suppose I could write a letter to Donald Trump and tell him that, for every one of my votes he gives me $150 for, I will vote the way he wants.
I've got a pretty nasty old toilet-seat I'd like to have replaced. I suppose I could send it to Apple and say it is one of those clamshell Macbooks and ask for a replacement.
I wonder what ever happened to them. They just weren't the same after the lead singer and the drummer left in 2003. I hope Amazon re-release their entire catalogue.
"Granted, there are areas that have horrible unemployment and very little economic opportunity"
The highest unemployment rate in the US is in the state of Mississippi, with 7.1 percent. This compares to an unemployment rate in actual third-world countries that ranges from 40 to 70 percent, or even higher. Describing the US situation as "Better than third world" sounds like an accurate summary.
In comparison, we can look at other first-world countries. France has a rate of 9 percent unemployment: worse than the worst US state.
"and suddenly I turned into Grandpa Simpson overnight"
Thanks. The editors at "Nintendo History" magazine have been searching for the one guy who actually purchased the lone copy sold of the "Matlock" game cart back in '89.
Sometime, visit the Huffington Post, www.michaelmoore.com, the Daily Kos, or Bartcop.com, or even www.prisonplanet.com. Just to see how much they cower in an "atmosphere of fear".
The other person who responded amply addressed the point that good fantasy has to be well thought out too.
I'm pointing out that it is just not true that you are more limited in science fiction than in fantasy. In science-fiction, you can still use alternate realities and you can also make up any kind of alien you want, have holodecks, etc. In fact, you are probably more limited in the fantasy genre at this time because the "premise" of fantasy tends to stick with wand magic, elves, spells, dragons, the medieval setting, and related elements. Not so with science fiction.
Look at books: In recent years, the Narnia, Harry Potter LOTR, Robert Jordan, D&D adaptation novels (Dragonlance, etc) have ripped up and down the bestseller lists. I'm having trouble even thinking of recent science-fiction bestsellers.
Look at movies: A lot of those names repeat, don't they? Add in the fantasy-heavy pirate blockbuster movies. I'm having trouble thinking of outright huge science fiction movies. Yes, we can count the last "Star Wars" movies.
There are other genres where fantasy is trumping science-fiction.
"How is someone who is democratically elected through that process you so encourage a dictator?"
The process is sometimes called "one man, one vote, one election.". Someone gets elected and then they dismantle the democratic process and become president-for-life. Chavez is indeed a dictator. The same sort of thing happened in Chile, with the dictator Salvador Allende. What else can you call it when he has made it an imprisonable crime to run a campaign against him?
"For example from 2000-2003 you couldn't find negative information on the president in most American papers."
I read those newspapers. Did you? There was massive amounts of negative information, both in the news sections and editorially. Didn't happen in war reporting, either: I've been able to read up on everything.
Statements like this are almost like a challenge. Remember Bill Gates with "640K ought to be enough for anybody."? I wonder if the market will decide it doesn't need Intel.
"I'm not sure it works like that, because by that definition China enjoys Free speech. There's no written list of forbidden topics...."
Check again. From "http://www.efa.org.au/Issues/Censor/cens3.html"
"Since 1996, the Chinese government has enacted a number of highly restrictive laws prohibiting publishing political commentary the government considers undesirable and so on, and there have been continuing reports of various foreign media and human rights Web sites being blocked.....The new rules include a long list of banned content prohibiting writings that reveal state secrets, hurt China's reputation or advocate the overthrow of communism, ethnic separatism or 'evil cults."....Pornography and violence are also prohibited"
Only toward the end does it mention any issues in common with US Internet censorship issues. Also see discussion of China getting Yahoo and Google to censor web content based on its "written list of forbidden topics". There are many Slashdot news items about this. I mention this mainly because it would seem likely that letting guys like this "lay down the law" for the global Internet would likely mean much more censorship.
Slashdot Mirror
Well they sell me boxes of instant grits to go with that Natalie Portman-shaped computer?
But here, it is nothing other than an exercise of free speech. The ones the current administration calls "bleeding heart liberals" (anyone have an actual quote?) still move about, operate, and speak with absolute freedom. In fact, so many of them prosper greatly.
Ever owned a cow? I mean, come on!
Ad supported? It was the ads that made me quit AOL a few years ago. I got 60 spams per day in my AOL inbox, and there was no way to filter than other than to add a complete individual URL to the spam filter.
Dell? Are they still around?
Does anyone talk about the Intel monopoly anymore? Or has the problem solved itself?
Most of those who call themselves "Free Thinkers" (tm) are just as constrained by ideology and preconceptions as those they oppose.
"because the masses have been so brainwashed to see anything is worth changing"
Translation: a lot of people happen to have different opinions than you do. You'll have to do better than dismiss different of opinion as "brainwashing".
"yeah, I say time for a revolution"
That's a kind of risky roll of the dice. The track record is not the best, with more revolutions making things much worse than there are revolutions really improving things.
"And then there is the fact the vote is always bought by companies and the rich"
I have yet to have either pay for any of my votes, and I don't know anyone else who has either. I suppose I could write a letter to Donald Trump and tell him that, for every one of my votes he gives me $150 for, I will vote the way he wants.
"buying CD and getting punched in the face at random by the cashier and there is NOTHING you can do about it"
Sure there is. After a couple of black eyes and a chipped tooth, I learned to get my music entirely from Grokster.
I've got a pretty nasty old toilet-seat I'd like to have replaced. I suppose I could send it to Apple and say it is one of those clamshell Macbooks and ask for a replacement.
I read his lengthy message, and it sounds like he has much more than a clue. I think you turned your own clue grape into whine.
"wild amazonians purchase rights to stolen boy!"
I wonder what ever happened to them. They just weren't the same after the lead singer and the drummer left in 2003. I hope Amazon re-release their entire catalogue.
I thought it was OK to stub out my ciggies on the CPU.
"Maybe our real new motto should be: "The USA: maybe it's time we started learning some crap from everyone else""
The best lesson learned from elsewhere is how NOT to do something. (West Virginia has a much lower unemployment rate than France....).
"Granted, there are areas that have horrible unemployment and very little economic opportunity"
The highest unemployment rate in the US is in the state of Mississippi, with 7.1 percent. This compares to an unemployment rate in actual third-world countries that ranges from 40 to 70 percent, or even higher. Describing the US situation as "Better than third world" sounds like an accurate summary.
In comparison, we can look at other first-world countries. France has a rate of 9 percent unemployment: worse than the worst US state.
"and suddenly I turned into Grandpa Simpson overnight"
Thanks. The editors at "Nintendo History" magazine have been searching for the one guy who actually purchased the lone copy sold of the "Matlock" game cart back in '89.
"Really? From reading Slashdot I thought it was 85% Sony bashing, 13% Wii adulation and 2% Atari/Colecovision"
Don't knock Colecovision. It was one of the finest products of the Connecticut Leather Company.
Sometime, visit the Huffington Post, www.michaelmoore.com, the Daily Kos, or Bartcop.com, or even www.prisonplanet.com. Just to see how much they cower in an "atmosphere of fear".
The other person who responded amply addressed the point that good fantasy has to be well thought out too.
I'm pointing out that it is just not true that you are more limited in science fiction than in fantasy. In science-fiction, you can still use alternate realities and you can also make up any kind of alien you want, have holodecks, etc. In fact, you are probably more limited in the fantasy genre at this time because the "premise" of fantasy tends to stick with wand magic, elves, spells, dragons, the medieval setting, and related elements. Not so with science fiction.
Look at books: In recent years, the Narnia, Harry Potter LOTR, Robert Jordan, D&D adaptation novels (Dragonlance, etc) have ripped up and down the bestseller lists. I'm having trouble even thinking of recent science-fiction bestsellers. Look at movies: A lot of those names repeat, don't they? Add in the fantasy-heavy pirate blockbuster movies. I'm having trouble thinking of outright huge science fiction movies. Yes, we can count the last "Star Wars" movies. There are other genres where fantasy is trumping science-fiction.
"How is someone who is democratically elected through that process you so encourage a dictator?"
The process is sometimes called "one man, one vote, one election.". Someone gets elected and then they dismantle the democratic process and become president-for-life. Chavez is indeed a dictator. The same sort of thing happened in Chile, with the dictator Salvador Allende. What else can you call it when he has made it an imprisonable crime to run a campaign against him?
Mod you up. I actually didn't know it was a fake quote. Now I do.
"For example from 2000-2003 you couldn't find negative information on the president in most American papers."
I read those newspapers. Did you? There was massive amounts of negative information, both in the news sections and editorially. Didn't happen in war reporting, either: I've been able to read up on everything.
Statements like this are almost like a challenge. Remember Bill Gates with "640K ought to be enough for anybody."? I wonder if the market will decide it doesn't need Intel.
"I'm not sure it works like that, because by that definition China enjoys Free speech. There's no written list of forbidden topics...."
Check again. From "http://www.efa.org.au/Issues/Censor/cens3.html"
"Since 1996, the Chinese government has enacted a number of highly restrictive laws prohibiting publishing political commentary the government considers undesirable and so on, and there have been continuing reports of various foreign media and human rights Web sites being blocked.....The new rules include a long list of banned content prohibiting writings that reveal state secrets, hurt China's reputation or advocate the overthrow of communism, ethnic separatism or 'evil cults."....Pornography and violence are also prohibited"
Only toward the end does it mention any issues in common with US Internet censorship issues. Also see discussion of China getting Yahoo and Google to censor web content based on its "written list of forbidden topics". There are many Slashdot news items about this. I mention this mainly because it would seem likely that letting guys like this "lay down the law" for the global Internet would likely mean much more censorship.