I'm sorry, I'm confused, are you actually trying to imply that the United States government hasn't heavily regulated and/or meddled in telecom/broadband? "Oh what? Crap" The telecoms have been given a virtual duopoly and massive billion dollar tax incentives for doing virtually nothing. There has been legislation or attempted legislation to remove smaller competitive companies from the market in many cases. There has been rampant subsidation. This is EXACTLY what happens when you don't let the free market run its course.
There is no free market in telecom, the business simply goes to whichever company agrees to pay the local government the highest bid for unrestricted monopoly rights to the infrastructure. Regardless of your views on free market economics, calling the internet industry in America a free market and then saying "look at how poorly your free markets function" is one of the worst straw men I have seen on Slashdot in ages. Next you're going to point to the airline industry as the ideal Adam Smith model. +5 insightful
How is global climate changes a dumbed down version of global warming? If anything the former is more descriptive. politics aside, those who do believe in global warming understand that it will result in massive climate changes on both ends of the spectrum rather than just warmth. Is this just meant to be somehow inflamatory and I don't see it? Same goes for "war with the middle east" I wasn't aware that we were at war with the middle east. I think that to say we were would be at best grossly misrepresenting the current unfortunate situation. It's certainly not synonymous or replaceable with "war on terror" (at least not yet). I can see that you are frothing at the mouth with your "ideals" but I'm just not sure I follow your examples.
you have to understand that most people don't go to gaming cafes for the games perse, they go for the social interaction, they go to play with their friends and be able to yell at them, they go to hang out with people with similar intrests. I have a better PC than the local place I go to game at and so do most of my friends, but it's easier to spend a few bucks and just go to the gaming place down the street than drag a bunch of computers around and fool with networking them and making sure everyone has the same version of what we want to play and working cd keys and ect.
the gaming place I go to is open 24/7 and after 5 hours is free, (5 an hour) So it's pretty common for us to just go and set up shop and do an overnight there playing till the wee hours of the morning. When I was on break from college one summer about 6 of us litterally lived up there for almost a week straight sleeping on the couches and ordering pizza. I mean we probably didn't smell very good by the end of the week but it still ranks as one of the most fun times i've ever had.
The key to a good gaming place is to make it somewhere that people just want to go to hang out and escape and not be bugged. I don't know how long this place will last but it's been open for over 5 years now and it's just a small 10 computer place in a small town. the key is that the owner is a cool guy, he lets people play sometimes if they are a little short or he'll let them owe him and ect. people like him people like the others who play there, people keep coming back and the place stays full all the time.
yes agree, I've yet to find a wireless mouse or keyboard that was precise enough to keep up with any face paced first person shooter. They are terrible for gaming.
In many (read almost all) jurisdictions only one party has to know they are being recorded not both. Also, pretty much everything in public is considered fair game for pictures video ect, in fact i've heard of "upskirt" video lawsuits that have used this and won. and I could be wrong here but I'm pretty sure you can tape whatever you want on private property that you own.
yeah, because the market of billionaire kids who are clued in enough to even know that this exists much less that they want it has got to be at least a dozen.
ok so they can write data that small, maybe I am confused but I thought the advances to dvd and now to "blu-ray" had primarily to do with the laser being able to focus on an increaseingly smaller area to both read and write to the disc. So I'm thinking there will have to be some major major advances before anyone can read or manipulate that data.
This whole concept seems pretty far out there and maybe just someone trying to get some hype and funding. but who knows.
Not true, The penn and teller "bullshit" series box cover just says "BS" on it if you buy the copy at walmart. (however all of the content on the actual disc is uncensored and way worse than most of the stuff walmart sells (naked people))
Come on now, you said in a nutshell, "you don't agree with me so you must be ignorant", and I said no in fact i've read a bit about it and come to my own conclusions. I'm not claiming to be the worlds greatest authority just not completely ignorant of the subject. but I guess name calling is what gets you modded up around here.
actually, global warming was a topic one year on my college debate circuit, and in prepareing i had to read hundreds if not thousands of papers books and articles on virtually every aspect of the subject. So Im certainly not ignorant, I must just be deeply stupid. BTW, before doing the research I was scared of it too, now I think its probably just about the biggest scam out there.
so uh let me get this straight, the earth is as hot it is was 400 years ago, before the whole industrial revolution, back before we knew how to screw stuff up, the earth was naturally as hot as it is now without us humans doing anything at all? QUICK EVERYONE PANIC!
So you are saying you'd rather them do nothing? look, in fairytale dreamland where everyone is moral and gives things away for free you might be right, but in the real world, where I live, Where I have to spend half my year traveling around BEGGING for funds to help these people buy even basic things like asprin, I will take any help I can get. And if that help comes from some large faceless company that only wants to make a quick buck then I'll take that too. Because practically speaking it's more than what the rest of you are doing. The factories coming in improve the quality of life for these people and thats a fact. Yes they work long hours but almost all of them want to work those hours, they want to work as much as you'll let them. It's ridiculous what their work ethic is.
You can sit on your white throne thumping your moral superiority bandwagon all you want but all you are really doing is hurting the people you are trying to help.
If you want to protest something protest their polution controls, because if anything is harmful it's that.
I do missions work in third world countries. I see a lot of these "sweatshops" myself, and have to say that it upsets me how backwards americans have it in their bubble little rich world. These so called "sweatshops" that all the americans protest are fantastic for the communities they usually go into. These people have nothing, they make nothing, they barely survive and in often cases they don't. Their lives are extremely hard and sweatshop or not they do backbreaking work from sunup to sundown in order to survive. The "sweatshop" jobs are highly prized with often thousands of people competeing for the most menial jobs. as someone can make litterally 100 times what they were making before. These "sweatshops" allow people to buy basic necessities for their families. It allows them to send their daughters to school instead of selling them into prostitution. And they bring (relative)wealth into the communitites. I'm not saying they are perfect, i'm not saying that it doesn't suck to work in these places, but it is SO MUCH BETTER than what they had before. I'm sure everyone means well, and they have these ideas of 5 year olds being chained to conveyor belts but thats just simply not how it is.
I must protest, I probably am on the phone with dell tech support once a week for my clients who have dell machines. All in All I'd say that they are usually extremely helpful and generally knowledgable. Most of the time I get through with no wait on hold at all also. I would say 4/5ths of the time i'm speaking to an american and the few times i'm not I haven't had any trouble understanding them and they've still been helpful.
The last 5 things I've bought from sony have been junk that have either not worked right or broken within a year. Sony once may have produced quality products but today they produce cheap junk that sells on the sony name.
[quote]It's not *just* that people are dumb. They are. But they also don't *want* to know what they do to animals (or causes others to do to animals on their behalf).
For example, offer to show someone a short video of what goes on in an abattoir. Almost guaranteed they will refuse. Tell them you don't think eating meat is wrong -- you just want them to see what goes on for them to be able to eat that McBurger. See if they'd be willing (not even "curious", just *willing*) to see how the fowl are slaughtered. They won't do it -- they will almost always prefer ignorance, and they'll probably also get mad at you for "trying to ruin their day".[/quote]
How did this get modded up?
Ask people to watch a short video about what goes on in a hospital surgery room. most won't want to watch that either. I guess hospitals must be evil too huh? Ever stopped to think that maybe it's just gross? By the way, just because you saw some propoganda video of three guys beating a pig, doesn't mean thats what normally happens. Think about it for 5 seconds. They kill the animals swiftly and efficently to process them. Chances are those guys in the video you saw if nothing else would get in trouble for wasteing time and making a mess.
I wouldn't really worry about the kids learning to use the software. Chances are by the time they actually graduate and really need to use it, there will be a(6) new version(s) of windows and 700 new versions of linux. The most important thing kids can learn at that age is "copy" and "paste". The basics of useing a word processor, a little bit about how spreadsheets work goes a long way too. The operating system doesn't matter much and neither does whether it's Office or Open Office, all that matters is the concepts. Trying to teach anything else on a computer, like "core material", is a fad and at best laziness on the part of the teacher. Even the best teaching programs are garbage compared to a semi decent teacher. Use the computers to teach about how to use a computer, and don't worry about the operating system because it will change by the time they graduate.
Slashdot Mirror
I'm sorry, I'm confused, are you actually trying to imply that the United States government hasn't heavily regulated and/or meddled in telecom/broadband? "Oh what? Crap" The telecoms have been given a virtual duopoly and massive billion dollar tax incentives for doing virtually nothing. There has been legislation or attempted legislation to remove smaller competitive companies from the market in many cases. There has been rampant subsidation. This is EXACTLY what happens when you don't let the free market run its course. There is no free market in telecom, the business simply goes to whichever company agrees to pay the local government the highest bid for unrestricted monopoly rights to the infrastructure. Regardless of your views on free market economics, calling the internet industry in America a free market and then saying "look at how poorly your free markets function" is one of the worst straw men I have seen on Slashdot in ages. Next you're going to point to the airline industry as the ideal Adam Smith model. +5 insightful
I TWA SAJ OKE
When he loses the hotdog and flips his dick out on the table I'll be impressed.
How is global climate changes a dumbed down version of global warming? If anything the former is more descriptive. politics aside, those who do believe in global warming understand that it will result in massive climate changes on both ends of the spectrum rather than just warmth. Is this just meant to be somehow inflamatory and I don't see it? Same goes for "war with the middle east" I wasn't aware that we were at war with the middle east. I think that to say we were would be at best grossly misrepresenting the current unfortunate situation. It's certainly not synonymous or replaceable with "war on terror" (at least not yet). I can see that you are frothing at the mouth with your "ideals" but I'm just not sure I follow your examples.
you have to understand that most people don't go to gaming cafes for the games perse, they go for the social interaction, they go to play with their friends and be able to yell at them, they go to hang out with people with similar intrests. I have a better PC than the local place I go to game at and so do most of my friends, but it's easier to spend a few bucks and just go to the gaming place down the street than drag a bunch of computers around and fool with networking them and making sure everyone has the same version of what we want to play and working cd keys and ect. the gaming place I go to is open 24/7 and after 5 hours is free, (5 an hour) So it's pretty common for us to just go and set up shop and do an overnight there playing till the wee hours of the morning. When I was on break from college one summer about 6 of us litterally lived up there for almost a week straight sleeping on the couches and ordering pizza. I mean we probably didn't smell very good by the end of the week but it still ranks as one of the most fun times i've ever had. The key to a good gaming place is to make it somewhere that people just want to go to hang out and escape and not be bugged. I don't know how long this place will last but it's been open for over 5 years now and it's just a small 10 computer place in a small town. the key is that the owner is a cool guy, he lets people play sometimes if they are a little short or he'll let them owe him and ect. people like him people like the others who play there, people keep coming back and the place stays full all the time.
yes agree, I've yet to find a wireless mouse or keyboard that was precise enough to keep up with any face paced first person shooter. They are terrible for gaming.
In many (read almost all) jurisdictions only one party has to know they are being recorded not both. Also, pretty much everything in public is considered fair game for pictures video ect, in fact i've heard of "upskirt" video lawsuits that have used this and won. and I could be wrong here but I'm pretty sure you can tape whatever you want on private property that you own.
Wow, Pretty bold statement about Windows stability for Slashdot. I'm suprised this one slipped by.
yeah, because the market of billionaire kids who are clued in enough to even know that this exists much less that they want it has got to be at least a dozen.
so ok, the groceries you buy in the country just magically apear on the shelves then i guess.
ok so they can write data that small, maybe I am confused but I thought the advances to dvd and now to "blu-ray" had primarily to do with the laser being able to focus on an increaseingly smaller area to both read and write to the disc. So I'm thinking there will have to be some major major advances before anyone can read or manipulate that data. This whole concept seems pretty far out there and maybe just someone trying to get some hype and funding. but who knows.
Not true, The penn and teller "bullshit" series box cover just says "BS" on it if you buy the copy at walmart. (however all of the content on the actual disc is uncensored and way worse than most of the stuff walmart sells (naked people))
This isn't a debate, it's a stage where you demonize people who disagree with your worldview.
Come on now, you said in a nutshell, "you don't agree with me so you must be ignorant", and I said no in fact i've read a bit about it and come to my own conclusions. I'm not claiming to be the worlds greatest authority just not completely ignorant of the subject. but I guess name calling is what gets you modded up around here.
actually, global warming was a topic one year on my college debate circuit, and in prepareing i had to read hundreds if not thousands of papers books and articles on virtually every aspect of the subject. So Im certainly not ignorant, I must just be deeply stupid. BTW, before doing the research I was scared of it too, now I think its probably just about the biggest scam out there.
so uh let me get this straight, the earth is as hot it is was 400 years ago, before the whole industrial revolution, back before we knew how to screw stuff up, the earth was naturally as hot as it is now without us humans doing anything at all? QUICK EVERYONE PANIC!
not to be pedantic, but he said the car would fare better not the passenger.
The "omg we're gonna die" sex is evem more interesting when everyone can see you.
So you are saying you'd rather them do nothing? look, in fairytale dreamland where everyone is moral and gives things away for free you might be right, but in the real world, where I live, Where I have to spend half my year traveling around BEGGING for funds to help these people buy even basic things like asprin, I will take any help I can get. And if that help comes from some large faceless company that only wants to make a quick buck then I'll take that too. Because practically speaking it's more than what the rest of you are doing. The factories coming in improve the quality of life for these people and thats a fact. Yes they work long hours but almost all of them want to work those hours, they want to work as much as you'll let them. It's ridiculous what their work ethic is. You can sit on your white throne thumping your moral superiority bandwagon all you want but all you are really doing is hurting the people you are trying to help. If you want to protest something protest their polution controls, because if anything is harmful it's that.
I do missions work in third world countries. I see a lot of these "sweatshops" myself, and have to say that it upsets me how backwards americans have it in their bubble little rich world. These so called "sweatshops" that all the americans protest are fantastic for the communities they usually go into. These people have nothing, they make nothing, they barely survive and in often cases they don't. Their lives are extremely hard and sweatshop or not they do backbreaking work from sunup to sundown in order to survive. The "sweatshop" jobs are highly prized with often thousands of people competeing for the most menial jobs. as someone can make litterally 100 times what they were making before. These "sweatshops" allow people to buy basic necessities for their families. It allows them to send their daughters to school instead of selling them into prostitution. And they bring (relative)wealth into the communitites. I'm not saying they are perfect, i'm not saying that it doesn't suck to work in these places, but it is SO MUCH BETTER than what they had before. I'm sure everyone means well, and they have these ideas of 5 year olds being chained to conveyor belts but thats just simply not how it is.
I must protest, I probably am on the phone with dell tech support once a week for my clients who have dell machines. All in All I'd say that they are usually extremely helpful and generally knowledgable. Most of the time I get through with no wait on hold at all also. I would say 4/5ths of the time i'm speaking to an american and the few times i'm not I haven't had any trouble understanding them and they've still been helpful.
The last 5 things I've bought from sony have been junk that have either not worked right or broken within a year. Sony once may have produced quality products but today they produce cheap junk that sells on the sony name.
I thought starship troppers was supposed to be some sort of cheesy parody of something?
[quote]It's not *just* that people are dumb. They are. But they also don't *want* to know what they do to animals (or causes others to do to animals on their behalf). For example, offer to show someone a short video of what goes on in an abattoir. Almost guaranteed they will refuse. Tell them you don't think eating meat is wrong -- you just want them to see what goes on for them to be able to eat that McBurger. See if they'd be willing (not even "curious", just *willing*) to see how the fowl are slaughtered. They won't do it -- they will almost always prefer ignorance, and they'll probably also get mad at you for "trying to ruin their day".[/quote] How did this get modded up? Ask people to watch a short video about what goes on in a hospital surgery room. most won't want to watch that either. I guess hospitals must be evil too huh? Ever stopped to think that maybe it's just gross? By the way, just because you saw some propoganda video of three guys beating a pig, doesn't mean thats what normally happens. Think about it for 5 seconds. They kill the animals swiftly and efficently to process them. Chances are those guys in the video you saw if nothing else would get in trouble for wasteing time and making a mess.
I wouldn't really worry about the kids learning to use the software. Chances are by the time they actually graduate and really need to use it, there will be a(6) new version(s) of windows and 700 new versions of linux. The most important thing kids can learn at that age is "copy" and "paste". The basics of useing a word processor, a little bit about how spreadsheets work goes a long way too. The operating system doesn't matter much and neither does whether it's Office or Open Office, all that matters is the concepts. Trying to teach anything else on a computer, like "core material", is a fad and at best laziness on the part of the teacher. Even the best teaching programs are garbage compared to a semi decent teacher. Use the computers to teach about how to use a computer, and don't worry about the operating system because it will change by the time they graduate.