I call bullshit. the quote "Don't forget, for every Bill Gates, there have to be many "less fortunate" to be exploited^W marketed to" just bleeds ignorance. 1. Almost all of the people he is trying to help via the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation wouldn't be helped by American tax dollars anyway. And before you say "foreign aid", remember that the money we give to other countries goes to the/governments/ not the people. At least the Foundation can give it to independent organizations/people.
2. I'm not going to defend goods/money laundering, but do you really live in such a fantasy world that you think that if the US Government had a bunch more money that anything would be better? They would waste it on more earmarks and pork barrel crap and we would still have the same problems. The amount of funding going to important areas is basically kept to as high as it can be without cutting into the politicians pet projects (read, pork for their state) but they won't put it low enough to piss people off, because they might then catch on to the scam.
For every bill gates there are LESS, less fortunate people. New industries are created (example, a huge section of the IT market), and tons of new jobs are created. Just because there arent as many people as wealthy as him does not mean he has done something bad. Also, maybe you should get into your head just what "less fortunate means". We are so pampered in the US and don't understand that "less fortunate" here basically means "not living comfortably". "Less fortunate" in say, Africa, parts of Asia, parts of the middle east, etc means at risk of death a lot of the time.
Quite frankly, I am glad that the money is going someplace other than the Government, just about anywhere else would be better.
Actually, predicting that you'll be modded down or complaining about how the moderation system is going to screw you is one of the surefire ways to make sure you get mod points on slashdot. The mods don't want to look like assholes and don't want to prove you right. Why do you think posts that say "expecting the mod down in 3...2...1..." almost always end up with +4 or +5? The simple fact is that doing that sort of thing is basically asking to be martyred, and people refuse to martyr you.
Warning: The following is impassioned, most probably improbable and I can only hope a bunch of people might be able to read it and think, maybe some of those who don't see any of this as a threat, maybe some of the "I have nothing to fear" crowd.
When are people going to start caring about their freedom again? I don't mean "freedom" in the way the Bush/Blair have hijacked it, I don't mean "freedom to do as we say". Real. Freedom. The kind they taught you about in schools, the kind that's become a joke.
Isn't it sad that a country that was founded on the ideas of individual liberation and privacy (fourth amendment) and has a great history (albiet with its own strifes on mistakes) is now straight on the path to being what it detests, what it fought against? To paraphrase another/.er "Consider all of those who fought in WWII against this type of totalitarianism, gave their lives for our freedoms, and perhaps for others' freedoms. We are telling them 'Thanks for the sacrifice, now shove it' ".
A country that was founded on the idea that government cannot be trusted, that had protections to keep the government from abusing the individual written into its most basic document has become lazy, complacent...and quite frankly stupid. Of course the response I get to this from so many is "Americans have it too easy! They're unwilling to sacrifice some of their so called 'privacy' so that our fellow Americans can stay alive!" I would like to counter that argument and show it faulty. First of all, I would say that the laziness and unwillingness to sacrifice runs both ways, if Americans are too "lazy" to give up an essential right, they are also too lazy to fight for it. This thought of "I could do something about my constitutional rights being violated...but...American Idol is on...and...I really want to see if Joey wins..." Also, I counter that there is absolutely no point to electronic surveillance against a terrorist. A) The smart ones (IE the head honchos) will use encryption. Good luck breaking that...really...good luck. Hope that goes well for you. B) Look at Israel. They CANNOT stop terrorist attacks no matter what they do. This is because all it takes is a particularly "motivated" individual, a txt file explaining how to make C4 with RDX (which is easily attainable online and all the required ingredients easily obtainable) and the ability to walk into a building and press a button. This country can never be, and WILL NEVER BE SAFE FROM TERRORIST ATTACK. THIS NEEDS TO BE BEATEN INTO PEOPLE'S HEADS.
ALL IT TAKES IS A PISSED OFF PERSON AND BOMBS THEY CAN BUILD FROM ONLINE SOURCES, THE GOVERNMENT CAN NOT KEEP YOU SAFE GOD CANNOT KEEP YOU SAFE
SAFETY IS AN ILLUSION
And in this case it is an illusion that is being used to dupe several countries of otherwise intelligent people.
For those who simply spout out "but I'm not doing anything wrong! I shouldn't be afraid!", consider that you're not doing anything wrong/now/ and in/their interpretation/. When a government can declare, without oversight, that something is illegal simply by fiat, and without accountability to the public, then you should very well be afraid, you should be downright terrified.
"When the Nazis came for the communists, I remained silent; I was not a communist.
When they locked up the social democrats, I remained silent; I was not a social democrat.
When they came for the trade unionists, I did not speak out; I was not a trade unionist.
When they came for the Jews, I did not speak out; I was not a Jew.
When they came for me, there was no one left to speak out."
We all know the Ben Franklin quote, it doesn't even need to be repeated. But here's another lesser known one
""The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." - Thomas Jefferson
The meaning of this is so abundantly clear. There will
Well, the fact that the government is trying to restrict a technology to make people feel euphoric reminds me of a great dilbert quote from a general sent to destroy dilbert's happiness formula.
"You're just allowed to/pursue/ happiness, you're not actually allowed to/be/ happy"
IANAL but it seems like that would be something quite akin to price fixing or trusts. The big guys teaming up to keep the little guy out I mean. Don't we have laws for that?...oh...campaign contributions...right Sorry forgot where I was for a moment.
they say "computer" with scorn?... That's rather unfortunate. It would be rather fun to see if they would also check a box labled "remove all connections to computers in oklahoma"
I would laugh as none of their utilities or anything else worked and the state went into general chaos.
For that you just use an OEM Disc. I'm not talking about a manuf's OEM disc, there are universal OEM discs that ask for an OEM key. Either that or what I've been using are just mislabled Corp discs that take any key....and I find that unlikely, heh. Maybe the market has changed a great deal since I was working at a BB but I never can think of a time when an OEM windows disc (not a restore disc) wouldn't boot... Eh...perhaps it's all just becoming a bit too insane. My apologies for the animosity.
I have a corporate copy of XP. (less than legit)(I don't care who reads this) It has never ONCE bothered me about genuine anything. And I've been able to get any updates I need or want. Anybody who pirates windows using a non-corporate ISO (which are all over by the way) is an idiot. That's like having the choice between an impala and a mustang and choosing the imapala (when you should be choosing the TANK that is a *nix btw....) For anyone not getting the tank reference, read Neal Stephenson's "In The Beginning, There Was The Command Line"
Seriously, it's fucking scary. The idea dates back to admiralty law in England. Basically if you violated law with your boat they would put your/boat/ on trial, and not allow the boat to defend itself (this sounds insane, but I'm totally serious) And then when the boat was found guilty of a crime it would be turned over to the admiral (nutsy isn't it?)
This seems quaint, antiquated and entirely absurd right? IT IS STILL LAW IN THE US. I think we can all collectively saw, wtf?!
Excuse me...I'm going to go put my neighbors Porsche on trial
That's complete bullshit. There is nothing illegal or wrong with using an OEM Windows Disc and using the key on the side of the computer. The key is your license per se, not your actual media. Please shut up.
From TFA "The Justice Department is also seeking in its proposal greater latitude for prosecutors. Right now it's only possible to enforce against copyrights that are registered with the government. The new proposal would make that true only in civil cases, allowing prosecutors to go after pirates regardless of whether the copyright is registered.
"The burden of checking whether each work was registered would substantially slow down investigations and hinder the government's ability to prosecute these violations, especially infringement of works owned by small businesses that have not had the time or resources to register," the department wrote in a document explaining its proposal."
Oh god, please tell me that's a joke. So now they're not even going to check if the copyright EXISTS, only if someone claims it does?
I know its been said before, but come on. When will the think of the children bullshit stop? It's obvious why they want all this data retention, and it AINT child porn. dataveilance... oh, and btw FIRST POST!
But you see, that would go against the whole point of this thing. To, without our knowledge (come on, how many people even know about this outside of/., digg folk and techies like us) turn us into a watched society. If we're not easy to track...they don't/like/ that. And we wouldn't want them to get angry would we? We wouldn't want them to get/drunk/ again would we? (obligatory Dane Cook reference)
Why the hell is this modded troll? The poster makes an excellent point. Do you want the government/cartel/whomever to be able to spy on you so perfectly? In a system where they know the second you try to mess with it? I'm really suprised for what passes as a troll around here. Do you want to be watched? I sure as hell don't.
*deliberately reminding people of this* If by sane justice system you mean the US Courts I ask that you please google and read up on "Ruby Ridge" and its resolution.
Yes yes mod me troll/flamebait whatever, too many people I know never have heard of ruby ridge and that means a hell of a lot more than moderator points
Sept 2005?
Well that would do it
I left in January 2005, the new PC/HO Area manager was tearing apart the tech bench to make room for his people from the store he used to work at.
Dahm moved from...god I wanna say its 847(not sure of number), the Clark and Diversey store in Chicago. He was the GM there for a while and they moved him to #323.
Thanks for the info that Kevin isn't there anymore.
but what happens when the employees start blackmailing managers? "We all want a raise of $AMOUNT or several of us will make tickets about you" I know blackmail like this always existed, but not its a lot easier.
you don't think that if the state found out one was running an email server outside the country without their permission that they wouldn't have you arrested/beaten/worse? They don't care about the technical aspects of it. The letter of the law doesn't matter to party officials, to their gulag. what matters is the intent. And the intent of the law is 1. Control 2. Obedience 3. Fear (not neccessarily in that order)
Hell, do you notice how vague it is? Kind of like the various anti-terror acts are here. Except imagine all of a country's laws being like that... *shiver*
God, I am so sick of hearing this argument. What if they were killing people because they disagreed with the government? What if they have dragged people away in the night? What if they said how many children a couple could have, forced abortions on families and otherwise made it a nightmare to disagree with them? OH WAIT, THEY ALREADY HAVE!! These things are just/wrong/ no matter how you cut it. Would you be apologizing for nazi Germany the same way? For fascist Italy? Or are you just trying to appear "tolerant"? I particularly take issue with the following statement "It has the right to determine it's own destiny" A government that is not chosen by it's people, that it's own people do not have control over, is entirely illegitimate, and should have no sovreign power over the people. As shitty as the United States is, at least if enough of us got pissed off we could vote the bastards out of office, hell, if it came down to it at least some of our populace is armed. The Chinese don't have this option. They live at the whim of dictators and party officials. This is NOT ok. I could care less if they're communist, capitalist, socialist or a hunter gatherer tribe; a dictatorship is wrong and an affront to basic human rights and dignity. So please, for the love of god Stop making this argument. People like you make me sick
Because they have beautiful women, a great government, healthcare, good income, and happy lives. Why try and take over the world and risk fucking up a good thing?
Slashdot Mirror
Control?
God, that's a tad bit cynical. Maybe she just cheered the poor bastard up.
I call bullshit. /governments/ not the people. At least the Foundation can give it to independent organizations/people.
the quote "Don't forget, for every Bill Gates, there have to be many "less fortunate" to be exploited^W marketed to" just bleeds ignorance.
1. Almost all of the people he is trying to help via the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation wouldn't be helped by American tax dollars anyway. And before you say "foreign aid", remember that the money we give to other countries goes to the
2. I'm not going to defend goods/money laundering, but do you really live in such a fantasy world that you think that if the US Government had a bunch more money that anything would be better? They would waste it on more earmarks and pork barrel crap and we would still have the same problems. The amount of funding going to important areas is basically kept to as high as it can be without cutting into the politicians pet projects (read, pork for their state) but they won't put it low enough to piss people off, because they might then catch on to the scam.
For every bill gates there are LESS, less fortunate people. New industries are created (example, a huge section of the IT market), and tons of new jobs are created. Just because there arent as many people as wealthy as him does not mean he has done something bad.
Also, maybe you should get into your head just what "less fortunate means".
We are so pampered in the US and don't understand that "less fortunate" here basically means "not living comfortably". "Less fortunate" in say, Africa, parts of Asia, parts of the middle east, etc means at risk of death a lot of the time.
Quite frankly, I am glad that the money is going someplace other than the Government, just about anywhere else would be better.
Constant Pie econonics is FUD
Actually, predicting that you'll be modded down or complaining about how the moderation system is going to screw you is one of the surefire ways to make sure you get mod points on slashdot. The mods don't want to look like assholes and don't want to prove you right. Why do you think posts that say "expecting the mod down in 3...2...1..." almost always end up with +4 or +5? The simple fact is that doing that sort of thing is basically asking to be martyred, and people refuse to martyr you.
Warning: The following is impassioned, most probably improbable and I can only hope a bunch of people might be able to read it and think, maybe some of those who don't see any of this as a threat, maybe some of the "I have nothing to fear" crowd.
/.er
/now/ and in /their interpretation/. When a government can declare, without oversight, that something is illegal simply by fiat, and without accountability to the public, then you should very well be afraid, you should be downright terrified.
When are people going to start caring about their freedom again? I don't mean "freedom" in the way the Bush/Blair have hijacked it, I don't mean "freedom to do as we say". Real. Freedom. The kind they taught you about in schools, the kind that's become a joke.
Isn't it sad that a country that was founded on the ideas of individual liberation and privacy (fourth amendment) and has a great history (albiet with its own strifes on mistakes) is now straight on the path to being what it detests, what it fought against?
To paraphrase another
"Consider all of those who fought in WWII against this type of totalitarianism, gave their lives for our freedoms, and perhaps for others' freedoms. We are telling them 'Thanks for the sacrifice, now shove it' ".
A country that was founded on the idea that government cannot be trusted, that had protections to keep the government from abusing the individual written into its most basic document has become lazy, complacent...and quite frankly stupid.
Of course the response I get to this from so many is
"Americans have it too easy! They're unwilling to sacrifice some of their so called 'privacy' so that our fellow Americans can stay alive!"
I would like to counter that argument and show it faulty. First of all, I would say that the laziness and unwillingness to sacrifice runs both ways, if Americans are too "lazy" to give up an essential right, they are also too lazy to fight for it. This thought of
"I could do something about my constitutional rights being violated...but...American Idol is on...and...I really want to see if Joey wins..."
Also, I counter that there is absolutely no point to electronic surveillance against a terrorist.
A) The smart ones (IE the head honchos) will use encryption. Good luck breaking that...really...good luck. Hope that goes well for you.
B) Look at Israel. They CANNOT stop terrorist attacks no matter what they do. This is because all it takes is a particularly "motivated" individual, a txt file explaining how to make C4 with RDX (which is easily attainable online and all the required ingredients easily obtainable) and the ability to walk into a building and press a button. This country can never be, and WILL NEVER BE SAFE FROM TERRORIST ATTACK.
THIS NEEDS TO BE BEATEN INTO PEOPLE'S HEADS.
ALL IT TAKES IS A PISSED OFF PERSON AND BOMBS THEY CAN BUILD FROM ONLINE SOURCES,
THE GOVERNMENT CAN NOT KEEP YOU SAFE
GOD CANNOT KEEP YOU SAFE
SAFETY IS AN ILLUSION
And in this case it is an illusion that is being used to dupe several countries of otherwise intelligent people.
For those who simply spout out "but I'm not doing anything wrong! I shouldn't be afraid!", consider that you're not doing anything wrong
"When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.
When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.
When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.
When they came for the Jews,
I did not speak out;
I was not a Jew.
When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out."
We all know the Ben Franklin quote, it doesn't even need to be repeated.
But here's another lesser known one
""The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants."
- Thomas Jefferson
The meaning of this is so abundantly clear. There will
Well, that's because a free market can only work; IMHO, when there is no government.
Centralized planning or not. You can't half ass it either way
Well, the fact that the government is trying to restrict a technology to make people feel euphoric reminds me of a great dilbert quote from a general sent to destroy dilbert's happiness formula.
/pursue/ happiness, you're not actually allowed to /be/ happy"
"You're just allowed to
IANAL but it seems like that would be something quite akin to price fixing or trusts.
The big guys teaming up to keep the little guy out I mean.
Don't we have laws for that?...oh...campaign contributions...right
Sorry forgot where I was for a moment.
they say "computer" with scorn?...
That's rather unfortunate.
It would be rather fun to see if they would also check a box labled
"remove all connections to computers in oklahoma"
I would laugh as none of their utilities or anything else worked and the state went into general chaos.
Luddites...
*rolls eyes*
For that you just use an OEM Disc. I'm not talking about a manuf's OEM disc, there are universal OEM discs that ask for an OEM key. Either that or what I've been using are just mislabled Corp discs that take any key....and I find that unlikely, heh. Maybe the market has changed a great deal since I was working at a BB but I never can think of a time when an OEM windows disc (not a restore disc) wouldn't boot...
Eh...perhaps it's all just becoming a bit too insane. My apologies for the animosity.
I have a corporate copy of XP. (less than legit)(I don't care who reads this)
It has never ONCE bothered me about genuine anything. And I've been able to get any updates I need or want.
Anybody who pirates windows using a non-corporate ISO (which are all over by the way)
is an idiot.
That's like having the choice between an impala and a mustang and choosing the imapala
(when you should be choosing the TANK that is a *nix btw....)
For anyone not getting the tank reference, read Neal Stephenson's "In The Beginning, There Was The Command Line"
Seriously, it's fucking scary. /boat/ on trial, and not allow the boat to defend itself (this sounds insane, but I'm totally serious) And then when the boat was found guilty of a crime it would be turned over to the admiral (nutsy isn't it?)
The idea dates back to admiralty law in England. Basically if you violated law with your boat they would put your
This seems quaint, antiquated and entirely absurd right?
IT IS STILL LAW IN THE US.
I think we can all collectively saw, wtf?!
Excuse me...I'm going to go put my neighbors Porsche on trial
That's complete bullshit. There is nothing illegal or wrong with using an OEM Windows Disc and using the key on the side of the computer. The key is your license per se, not your actual media.
Please shut up.
From TFA
"The Justice Department is also seeking in its proposal greater latitude for prosecutors. Right now it's only possible to enforce against copyrights that are registered with the government. The new proposal would make that true only in civil cases, allowing prosecutors to go after pirates regardless of whether the copyright is registered.
"The burden of checking whether each work was registered would substantially slow down investigations and hinder the government's ability to prosecute these violations, especially infringement of works owned by small businesses that have not had the time or resources to register," the department wrote in a document explaining its proposal."
Oh god, please tell me that's a joke. So now they're not even going to check if the copyright EXISTS, only if someone claims it does?
Sounds kind of like the reign of terror to me.
That's it, that's fucking it.
I plead the second
I know its been said before,
but come on.
When will the think of the children bullshit stop?
It's obvious why they want all this data retention, and it AINT child porn.
dataveilance...
oh, and btw
FIRST POST!
But you see, that would go against the whole point of this thing. /., digg folk and techies like us) turn us into a watched society. /like/ that. /drunk/ again would we? (obligatory Dane Cook reference)
To, without our knowledge (come on, how many people even know about this outside of
If we're not easy to track...they don't
And we wouldn't want them to get angry would we?
We wouldn't want them to get
You think it matters whether you say no to the idea?.... ...
*scratches head*
You must be new here!
Welcome to America Comrade!
Why the hell is this modded troll? The poster makes an excellent point. Do you want the government/cartel/whomever to be able to spy on you so perfectly? In a system where they know the second you try to mess with it? I'm really suprised for what passes as a troll around here. Do you want to be watched?
I sure as hell don't.
*deliberately reminding people of this*
If by sane justice system you mean the US Courts I ask that you please google and read up on "Ruby Ridge" and its resolution.
Yes yes mod me troll/flamebait whatever,
too many people I know never have heard of ruby ridge
and that means a hell of a lot more than moderator points
It comes to mind because that's what taxes are.
Money
Taken
By
Force
For
Things
You
Wouldn't
Have
Spent
It
On
Clear enough?
Sept 2005? Well that would do it I left in January 2005, the new PC/HO Area manager was tearing apart the tech bench to make room for his people from the store he used to work at. Dahm moved from...god I wanna say its 847(not sure of number), the Clark and Diversey store in Chicago. He was the GM there for a while and they moved him to #323. Thanks for the info that Kevin isn't there anymore.
These days it seems the only difference between a layman and an expert is the title...
but what happens when the employees start blackmailing managers?
"We all want a raise of $AMOUNT or several of us will make tickets about you"
I know blackmail like this always existed, but not its a lot easier.
you don't think that if the state found out one was running an email server outside the country without their permission that they wouldn't have you arrested/beaten/worse?
They don't care about the technical aspects of it.
The letter of the law doesn't matter to party officials, to their gulag.
what matters is the intent. And the intent of the law is
1. Control
2. Obedience
3. Fear
(not neccessarily in that order)
Hell, do you notice how vague it is? Kind of like the various anti-terror acts are here. Except imagine all of a country's laws being like that...
*shiver*
God, I am so sick of hearing this argument. /wrong/ no matter how you cut it. Would you be apologizing for nazi Germany the same way? For fascist Italy? Or are you just trying to appear "tolerant"?
What if they were killing people because they disagreed with the government?
What if they have dragged people away in the night?
What if they said how many children a couple could have, forced abortions on families and otherwise made it a nightmare to disagree with them?
OH WAIT, THEY ALREADY HAVE!!
These things are just
I particularly take issue with the following statement "It has the right to determine it's own destiny"
A government that is not chosen by it's people, that it's own people do not have control over, is entirely illegitimate, and should have no sovreign power over the people.
As shitty as the United States is, at least if enough of us got pissed off we could vote the bastards out of office, hell, if it came down to it at least some of our populace is armed.
The Chinese don't have this option. They live at the whim of dictators and party officials. This is NOT ok. I could care less if they're communist, capitalist, socialist or a hunter gatherer tribe; a dictatorship is wrong and an affront to basic human rights and dignity.
So please, for the love of god
Stop making this argument.
People like you make me sick
Because they have beautiful women, a great government, healthcare, good income, and happy lives. Why try and take over the world and risk fucking up a good thing?