Let me get this straight. Did you really just say that, because you believe that "most people" lead a one-country/one-language existence, I'm obliged to give up the global life I've led for most of the last 30 years?
Translation: "At first I was just making shit up, and then I found a blog post from someone who says Slashdot is no longer cool, but since it's a link, we can ignore the fact that he, too, is making shit up."
The boring reality is that Murdoch wants us to pay him for any content we don't create ourselves. And he doesn't really want us creating any ourselves.
You do realise that in Australia, "liberal" means "the type of folks that Murdoch usually aligns himself with", don't you?
ProTip: In any other country but the US, you'd be a socialist. Go ahead--say it: "I'm a socialist". I promise you that the earth will not open up and swallow you whole if you do, nor will lightning strike you down where you stand.
Making people afraid to state what they really are is one of the best ways that the right wing has come up with to stack the deck in political discourse. It's why, in the US, the "Left" are really centrists at best, and the real Left is practically non-existent.
(For some odd reason, I'm reminded of Microsoft's use of the backwards slash where nearly every other OS on the planet uses a forward one.)
As for me, anyone trying to game the discussion by pinning fucked-up labels on me or my beliefs gets beaned with my copy of Quotations From Chairman Mao.
Under US law, high treason is possible only in wartime. Nobody around here (Beijing) is treating me as an enemy national, so if we're at war with China, somebody needs to tell the Chinese.
Many scoff at government regulation of the taxicab industry, but our reporter suggests that there may well be circumstances in which this is actually desirable...
Ride-sharing to and from airports using random websites to connect riders and divers is all the rage, but this doesn't seem likely to happen in China, where there are stringent regulations on this industry in most if not all major cities. While some may think this heavy-handed, this reporter rather liked the fact that, when we got in the cab yesterday morning after a long flight from Stockholm, it was somewhat reassuring to see that the gentleman behind the wheel was Mr Hua and that his taxicab licence number was #xxxxxxx, which, in the event of misunderstanding or even malfeasance, is in this reporter's opinion much more helpful to the local public safety officials when seeking redress than "um... some Chinese guy".
Whether or not the anti-regulationists change their minds after a few out-of-towners get rolled by Joe Blow From The Internet remains to be seen.
In Beijing, I'm Zontar The Mindless, reporting for Slashdot.
Sears Payment Systems did this back in the 80s. I eventually got canned by them for excessive tardiness due to a certain manager taking a dislike to me, making a point of holding me up for pointless "discussions" every 2 or 3 days, and then refusing to acknowledge any connection to the string of late logins she'd thus engineered for me.
Try staying at a hotel for a week or two someplace where you don't speak the local language and you can't even read signs written in the local alphabet.
Slashdot Mirror
Let me get this straight. Did you really just say that, because you believe that "most people" lead a one-country/one-language existence, I'm obliged to give up the global life I've led for most of the last 30 years?
Just who the hell do you think you are?
Okay, so you're rich and/or naïve. Thanks for sharing.
Guess what? People who get off on abuse, get off on abuse.
Why are you trying to make excuses for them?
It's local to the US, my friend.
Get out of there for a few years, and you'll discover you've been peering through the wrong side of the looking-glass.
I have a ten-year-old daughter who uses the Internet regularly, so I sure as hell care.
Translation: "At first I was just making shit up, and then I found a blog post from someone who says Slashdot is no longer cool, but since it's a link, we can ignore the fact that he, too, is making shit up."
There's also the fact that Australia's fish & chips industry would collapse without newspapers to wrap them in.
"+5 Insightful" WTF?? Obvious troll is obvious.
The boring reality is that Murdoch wants us to pay him for any content we don't create ourselves. And he doesn't really want us creating any ourselves.
The difference is that now the cost of the books is being shifted to exactly the people that use them. The school children and their parents.
Or, in plain English, "If little Johnny wants to have schoolbooks, let him get a paper route and save up the money to buy them", eh?
You apparently assume that those with the greatest need are the same as those with the greatest resources.
That's "anarchy"? You have obviously never worked for a major corporation.
... it's the reason why I'm a liberal ...
You do realise that in Australia, "liberal" means "the type of folks that Murdoch usually aligns himself with", don't you?
ProTip: In any other country but the US, you'd be a socialist. Go ahead--say it: "I'm a socialist". I promise you that the earth will not open up and swallow you whole if you do, nor will lightning strike you down where you stand.
Making people afraid to state what they really are is one of the best ways that the right wing has come up with to stack the deck in political discourse. It's why, in the US, the "Left" are really centrists at best, and the real Left is practically non-existent.
(For some odd reason, I'm reminded of Microsoft's use of the backwards slash where nearly every other OS on the planet uses a forward one.)
As for me, anyone trying to game the discussion by pinning fucked-up labels on me or my beliefs gets beaned with my copy of Quotations From Chairman Mao.
Since it's not obvious to Your Snarkiness, I suggest you look at anyone making a living in politics (or anywhere else in the entertainment industry).
Hong Kong has a multi-party democracy.
Fun fact: Mainland China also has multiple legal parties, including a branch of the Kuomintang.
But facts aren't nearly as much fun as Red-baiting, I suppose, even if the rest of us gave that up a generation ago.
Under US law, high treason is possible only in wartime. Nobody around here (Beijing) is treating me as an enemy national, so if we're at war with China, somebody needs to tell the Chinese.
Wifi in my Beijing hotel is fast, free, and slightly filtered. Company VPN takes care of #3.
Thank you!
I hereby invoke the Fifth Meme of Slashdot.
("You must be great fun at parties.")
!!!YES!!
Nonsense. An individual is never a product.
Huh?
I can come up with a dozen counterexamples without even trying.
Many scoff at government regulation of the taxicab industry, but our reporter suggests that there may well be circumstances in which this is actually desirable...
Ride-sharing to and from airports using random websites to connect riders and divers is all the rage, but this doesn't seem likely to happen in China, where there are stringent regulations on this industry in most if not all major cities. While some may think this heavy-handed, this reporter rather liked the fact that, when we got in the cab yesterday morning after a long flight from Stockholm, it was somewhat reassuring to see that the gentleman behind the wheel was Mr Hua and that his taxicab licence number was #xxxxxxx, which, in the event of misunderstanding or even malfeasance, is in this reporter's opinion much more helpful to the local public safety officials when seeking redress than "um... some Chinese guy".
Whether or not the anti-regulationists change their minds after a few out-of-towners get rolled by Joe Blow From The Internet remains to be seen.
In Beijing, I'm Zontar The Mindless, reporting for Slashdot.
Sears Payment Systems did this back in the 80s. I eventually got canned by them for excessive tardiness due to a certain manager taking a dislike to me, making a point of holding me up for pointless "discussions" every 2 or 3 days, and then refusing to acknowledge any connection to the string of late logins she'd thus engineered for me.
Try staying at a hotel for a week or two someplace where you don't speak the local language and you can't even read signs written in the local alphabet.
There are other use cases than "crash and dash".
Some knothead has sunk the parent with an Overrated mod despite that fact that it's pretty much on target.
Zing.
Begging your pardon, but you appear to have confused "discussion of social issues" with "dissemination of propaganda".