Are there any folks who refer to themselves as American? (apart from "Native American Indians" (is this the right term?)) - mostly folks seem in press to refer to themselves as Irish-American, African-American, German-American etc. Is this just for folks who've settled one or two generations back or do the folk who immigrated 100 years or more back still refer to themselves as Something-Americans?
Wondering how that works generally. Personal preference on how strong you feel your roots?
Earth is a finite size so surely we run out of everything eventually? Or at least, we get to the situation where accessing valuable resources costs so much that the vast majority of humanity has to do without them?
Maybe we get lucky and all have limitless wealth and live in great big houses with personal rockets and acres of lush gardens once we've discovered pocket nuclear power stations or whatever but alas I worry it's more like a lesser developed country global model ahead - a few very wealthy people living well, maintained by security who get some benefits from keeping them in that state, and many, many people in a dirt poor marginal existence.
Here's hoping for that glorious space civilisation a lot of us dreamed of rather than the polluted dystyopian "Make Room, Make Room" future we fear...
It's ironic the person who says bullying doesn't exist and you should learn to deal with it hasn't got the courage to post with even a slashdot identity, but as anonymous coward.
Suggests they are too scared to stand by their posting, are frightened of being bullied?
Making friends with neighbours= more secure
on
D.I.Y. Home Security
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· Score: 1
I go for the "Making friends with the neighbours" option. The occasional small bag of local goodies from where ever I've been on holiday means I've got good friends and people who look out for my place when I am away, including watering the house plants.
Doesn't rate on the insurance but really good on the peace of mind front and getting to have neighbours as friends is nice too;-)
"I'm not sure that those referencing that incident have the religious aspect in mind, but rather the film's general gist of regaining a country from fascists."
Depends where they are from I guess. I'm from the UK and most people will think of the traditional rhyme that's chanted on the 5th November - we all learnt it at school.
Fair call though that this is slashdot so geeks from other countries will probably have seen the film (must admit I haven't). Freeing your country from fascists? hmm well some might argue there's some pretty right wing governments in power in some of the developed 'democratic' countries right now.
Hopefully we got over that blowing up people from another religious viewpoint so our people from the "true religion" can run the country stuff years ago.
Actually, not that long ago in Northern Ireland but thankfully it seems to be stopping.
That was after all the reason Guy Fawkes and his friends went to blow up Parliament and the King - not because they wanted an anarchist freestate, or a republic, but because they wanted the protestant king and parliament out and replaced with their chosen catholic king and parliament.
"Company offering a service"... "incentive to competition"? Oh please, get real....
It's a commercial company that wants to make money and has come up with a business model to make lots out of daft gamers. Does this company have charitable organisation or non-profit cooperative status? I'd guess not. I don't see "service" or "public good" as part of their agenda.
It's just a straight-down the line business model. People pay to compete, the company pays out a percentage of the entrance fees and keeps the rest. Some of the money covers their operating costs and they make a healthy profit on the rest.
Is there likely to be a cultural problem in the USA with electric cars being smaller than most internal combustion engine cars? Will there be a low take up in the USA due to the vehicles not being macho enough? Wondering if anybody can tell me what sort of take up there is in the US for other small (gasoline powered) cars that we have lots of in Europe, like the Smart car, or other small hatchbacks. In Europe the US is seen as loving really big vehicles, sometimes more powerful than people actually need (e.g. 4x4 SUVs for just taking children to school and soccer). It's a trend that's happening in Europe as well, but limited due to a lot of our older towns not just being able to cope with such big vehicles: it makes sense in big old cities to have a small car because it's easier to park and manouevre, maybe not such an issue in the US car-planned cities.
Really curious if this cultural tendency towards big cars will slow down the take up of small electric cars in the US, any thoughts?
"Also, a Scottish company cannot expect to successfully market a "McBurger" regardless of how common the "Mc" is in Scottish names"
On the other hand, I seem to remember about ten years ago that McDonalds tried to sue a local butcher in Scotland (by the name of McDonald) from making his own burgers and selling them. Seem to remember this was in The Scotsman newspaper. As I recall the judges threw the case out, told McDonalds the US company to leave Mr. McDonald the local butcher alone.
Can anybody find a reference to this case? Did it actually happen or am I imagining it?:-)
Totally a guess but I'd estimate something like 2/3 to 3/4 cars in the UK are petrol rather than diesel.
I guess "stinky" is a pretty subjective personal opinion. I think they both stink pretty bad myself. Can't say I've ever thought of burnt petrol (gasoline) as having a pleasant smell that I'd like to be around too much.
How much is gasoline in Germany by the way, is it about the same as UK or significantly different?
Currently in the UK we're paying approx $9 / US gallon. One of the main reasons we like small cars and you guys drive huge SUVs, I should imagine. Gasoline will never go below $9 / gallon here, it will only go up. I guess it will be closer to $10 in a year's time.
Diesel is not so much considered "underpowered and stinky" here in the UK these days, maybe 30 or 40 years ago. As much seen as a fuel source for middle class big family cars as farmers' off road vehicles. Diesel is perceived as the economical option if you're doing regular long distance driving, most salesmans' mid range saloons have diesel versions.
...is another man's freedom fighter. The speed that politics moves, I wouldn't want to have to be the guy who chooses what's allowed and what's not. Who knows which groups the next president of the USA considers to be "evil terrorists" or "democracy loving freedom fighters".
The plane was made and flown by QinetiQ, the semi-commercial part of the UK's military R&D. They are building the plane for the US military.
They were probably quite happy to let the world know their plane is sort of the best you can get, because they are expected to make money these days and are looking for business.
On the other hand it's military, they are hoping to sell it to the US military, so they probably didn't want to give all the secrets away. I can't see them letting some "sports federation" official onto Area 51 or wherever just to confirm how high it went. Not til they've sold a few and worked out the next version any way.
Vinyl never went away but it's been nearly dead for a long time surely?
When I was a teenager in the 80s every small town had an independent record shop for niche tastes, major department stores stocked mainstream pop and classical records, and larger towns had a whole host of larger music stores with floors of records. These days you only find the niche record stores and the really big music shops have a "DJ corner" with vinyl. To be brutal, measure the floor space given over to vinyl in shops compared to other products. The retailers are only going to stock what sells. I think it's sweet and lovely you can still buy vinyl and some bands still release on it but I think it is nostalgia or for specialists. Speaking as somebody who can't give up his punk 7" singles! But could I be bothered to buy a new record? hmmm...
I mean you can buy new wax cylinder recordings but I am sure they aren't coming back...
Forget worrying about the police, how about local street kids? You're probably ok wheeling it around the university campus and in the nice middle class streets nearby but a trolley full of expensive very disposable electronics in some neighbourhoods is going to get you some unwanted attention from people looking to make a quick buck.
yes yes I know it's just a bit of college student fun and not to be taken seriously... just somebody warn the kid eh?
>>read up on alternative treatment methods, as the barbaric, for-profit US "healthcare system"
>Alternative treatment methods? Like what?
How about European style publicly funded healthcare? I guess this is what the parent is hinting at? healthcare for the people rather than healthcare for profit. It's definitely got its problems (I live in the UK so speak from experience) but I'd suggest its underlying philosophy is valid. I like the idea of "we provide healthcare in order to cure people" rather than "we provide healthcare in order to make profit". In principle it feels like a better ambition.
Democracy as the ancient Greeks understood it meant rule by a certain group of people, not all people. In ancient Athens (5th century BC? please correct me) this meant men over a certain age who owned land. Not women, not slaves (it was fine to have slaves in this democracy) and not free men who didn't own land. Thus "democratic" can have a wide range of meanings. I think it would be fair to say that several of the founders of the US constitution wouldn't be too happy to have women and certain ethnic groups having the vote but still feel they were being true to the statement "of the people, by the people and for the people".
I'm in the UK. I've not heard of a judge declaring any Sharia law. I call your bluff. Prove your claim by providing references. I am pretty sure you're misleading the slashdot audience here with false information.
I've heard of UK Christian leaders talking about whether Muslims should be allowed to use Sharia law in family disputes, but not any judges setting legal precedence (either in England or elsewhere).
The government in the UK is also playing the "terrorist card" at any opportunity. CCTV cameras all over the place because we're supposed to be overrun with secret terrorists, new laws being brought in giving carte blanche to reduce rights on the grounds that there are terrorists in every tree or something.
Doesn't make what the USA is doing any better though. I think both our governments are operating in very morally ambiguous territory.
haha. Can't remember when gas (petrol) was that cheap here in the UK. Currently its 1.19 pounds a litre, that's approx 8.86 dollars per US gallon. Going up as well...
"Side note, the article is being just rabble-rousing by comparing waistlines considering that Americans are so much taller on average than Japanese it makes sense that they would be proportionally larger in waist size."
So how does that account for Scandinavians/Dutch/etc who are as tall as Americans but have smaller waist sizes?;-)/rabble-rouse
It's all a bit fuzzy. Your government appears to be reserving the right to pick up and intern anybody they fancy of any nationality in any country and declare they don't have to tell us why, and don't have to let the interned people go at any time.
That's one of the thing that really worries a lot of us. We don't trust your government, so we generalise and say "we don't trust the USA or its people". That's sad and not very healthy.
Even the top people on the losing side of World War 2 got trials and lawyers. You are saying that the people in Guantanamo Bay have carried out significantly worse acts than the people who stood in the Nuremburg trials?
Slashdot Mirror
Are there any folks who refer to themselves as American? (apart from "Native American Indians" (is this the right term?)) - mostly folks seem in press to refer to themselves as Irish-American, African-American, German-American etc. Is this just for folks who've settled one or two generations back or do the folk who immigrated 100 years or more back still refer to themselves as Something-Americans?
Wondering how that works generally. Personal preference on how strong you feel your roots?
cheers.
Earth is a finite size so surely we run out of everything eventually? Or at least, we get to the situation where accessing valuable resources costs so much that the vast majority of humanity has to do without them?
Maybe we get lucky and all have limitless wealth and live in great big houses with personal rockets and acres of lush gardens once we've discovered pocket nuclear power stations or whatever but alas I worry it's more like a lesser developed country global model ahead - a few very wealthy people living well, maintained by security who get some benefits from keeping them in that state, and many, many people in a dirt poor marginal existence.
Here's hoping for that glorious space civilisation a lot of us dreamed of rather than the polluted dystyopian "Make Room, Make Room" future we fear...
It's ironic the person who says bullying doesn't exist and you should learn to deal with it hasn't got the courage to post with even a slashdot identity, but as anonymous coward.
Suggests they are too scared to stand by their posting, are frightened of being bullied?
I go for the "Making friends with the neighbours" option. The occasional small bag of local goodies from where ever I've been on holiday means I've got good friends and people who look out for my place when I am away, including watering the house plants.
Doesn't rate on the insurance but really good on the peace of mind front and getting to have neighbours as friends is nice too ;-)
"I'm not sure that those referencing that incident have the religious aspect in mind, but rather the film's general gist of regaining a country from fascists."
Depends where they are from I guess. I'm from the UK and most people will think of the traditional rhyme that's chanted on the 5th November - we all learnt it at school.
Fair call though that this is slashdot so geeks from other countries will probably have seen the film (must admit I haven't). Freeing your country from fascists? hmm well some might argue there's some pretty right wing governments in power in some of the developed 'democratic' countries right now.
Mod parent up! and where did "super-realistic" go, it should be in there between "realistic" and "hyper-realistic" surely? ;-)
Hopefully we got over that blowing up people from another religious viewpoint so our people from the "true religion" can run the country stuff years ago.
Actually, not that long ago in Northern Ireland but thankfully it seems to be stopping.
That was after all the reason Guy Fawkes and his friends went to blow up Parliament and the King - not because they wanted an anarchist freestate, or a republic, but because they wanted the protestant king and parliament out and replaced with their chosen catholic king and parliament.
"Company offering a service" ... "incentive to competition"? Oh please, get real....
It's a commercial company that wants to make money and has come up with a business model to make lots out of daft gamers. Does this company have charitable organisation or non-profit cooperative status? I'd guess not. I don't see "service" or "public good" as part of their agenda.
It's just a straight-down the line business model. People pay to compete, the company pays out a percentage of the entrance fees and keeps the rest. Some of the money covers their operating costs and they make a healthy profit on the rest.
Public service? give me a break....
Is there likely to be a cultural problem in the USA with electric cars being smaller than most internal combustion engine cars? Will there be a low take up in the USA due to the vehicles not being macho enough? Wondering if anybody can tell me what sort of take up there is in the US for other small (gasoline powered) cars that we have lots of in Europe, like the Smart car, or other small hatchbacks. In Europe the US is seen as loving really big vehicles, sometimes more powerful than people actually need (e.g. 4x4 SUVs for just taking children to school and soccer). It's a trend that's happening in Europe as well, but limited due to a lot of our older towns not just being able to cope with such big vehicles: it makes sense in big old cities to have a small car because it's easier to park and manouevre, maybe not such an issue in the US car-planned cities.
Really curious if this cultural tendency towards big cars will slow down the take up of small electric cars in the US, any thoughts?
"Also, a Scottish company cannot expect to successfully market a "McBurger" regardless of how common the "Mc" is in Scottish names"
On the other hand, I seem to remember about ten years ago that McDonalds tried to sue a local butcher in Scotland (by the name of McDonald) from making his own burgers and selling them. Seem to remember this was in The Scotsman newspaper. As I recall the judges threw the case out, told McDonalds the US company to leave Mr. McDonald the local butcher alone.
Can anybody find a reference to this case? Did it actually happen or am I imagining it? :-)
Totally a guess but I'd estimate something like 2/3 to 3/4 cars in the UK are petrol rather than diesel.
I guess "stinky" is a pretty subjective personal opinion. I think they both stink pretty bad myself. Can't say I've ever thought of burnt petrol (gasoline) as having a pleasant smell that I'd like to be around too much.
How much is gasoline in Germany by the way, is it about the same as UK or significantly different?
cheers!
Currently in the UK we're paying approx $9 / US gallon. One of the main reasons we like small cars and you guys drive huge SUVs, I should imagine. Gasoline will never go below $9 / gallon here, it will only go up. I guess it will be closer to $10 in a year's time.
Diesel is not so much considered "underpowered and stinky" here in the UK these days, maybe 30 or 40 years ago. As much seen as a fuel source for middle class big family cars as farmers' off road vehicles. Diesel is perceived as the economical option if you're doing regular long distance driving, most salesmans' mid range saloons have diesel versions.
...is another man's freedom fighter. The speed that politics moves, I wouldn't want to have to be the guy who chooses what's allowed and what's not. Who knows which groups the next president of the USA considers to be "evil terrorists" or "democracy loving freedom fighters".
"We can ... be on the road in about 10 minutes. ....I *expect* exactly zero assistance from the government."
I guess you're expecting the government to have maintained "the road" so you can drive away on it? ;-)
The plane was made and flown by QinetiQ, the semi-commercial part of the UK's military R&D. They are building the plane for the US military.
They were probably quite happy to let the world know their plane is sort of the best you can get, because they are expected to make money these days and are looking for business.
On the other hand it's military, they are hoping to sell it to the US military, so they probably didn't want to give all the secrets away. I can't see them letting some "sports federation" official onto Area 51 or wherever just to confirm how high it went. Not til they've sold a few and worked out the next version any way.
Vinyl never went away but it's been nearly dead for a long time surely?
When I was a teenager in the 80s every small town had an independent record shop for niche tastes, major department stores stocked mainstream pop and classical records, and larger towns had a whole host of larger music stores with floors of records. These days you only find the niche record stores and the really big music shops have a "DJ corner" with vinyl. To be brutal, measure the floor space given over to vinyl in shops compared to other products. The retailers are only going to stock what sells. I think it's sweet and lovely you can still buy vinyl and some bands still release on it but I think it is nostalgia or for specialists. Speaking as somebody who can't give up his punk 7" singles! But could I be bothered to buy a new record? hmmm...
I mean you can buy new wax cylinder recordings but I am sure they aren't coming back...
Forget worrying about the police, how about local street kids? You're probably ok wheeling it around the university campus and in the nice middle class streets nearby but a trolley full of expensive very disposable electronics in some neighbourhoods is going to get you some unwanted attention from people looking to make a quick buck.
yes yes I know it's just a bit of college student fun and not to be taken seriously... just somebody warn the kid eh?
>>read up on alternative treatment methods, as the barbaric, for-profit US "healthcare system"
>Alternative treatment methods? Like what?
How about European style publicly funded healthcare? I guess this is what the parent is hinting at? healthcare for the people rather than healthcare for profit. It's definitely got its problems (I live in the UK so speak from experience) but I'd suggest its underlying philosophy is valid. I like the idea of "we provide healthcare in order to cure people" rather than "we provide healthcare in order to make profit". In principle it feels like a better ambition.
Democracy as the ancient Greeks understood it meant rule by a certain group of people, not all people. In ancient Athens (5th century BC? please correct me) this meant men over a certain age who owned land. Not women, not slaves (it was fine to have slaves in this democracy) and not free men who didn't own land. Thus "democratic" can have a wide range of meanings. I think it would be fair to say that several of the founders of the US constitution wouldn't be too happy to have women and certain ethnic groups having the vote but still feel they were being true to the statement "of the people, by the people and for the people".
I'm in the UK. I've not heard of a judge declaring any Sharia law. I call your bluff. Prove your claim by providing references. I am pretty sure you're misleading the slashdot audience here with false information.
I've heard of UK Christian leaders talking about whether Muslims should be allowed to use Sharia law in family disputes, but not any judges setting legal precedence (either in England or elsewhere).
Looking forward to reading your references.
Petrol (gas) station down the road from me is charging 1.20 sterling a litre (in the UK).
1.20 x 1.98 (sterling to dollars) x 3.79 (litres to US gallons) = 9.00 dollar / gallon.
Yup, we're paying 9 dollars a gallon today in the UK. It will only go up from here...
I completely agree.
The government in the UK is also playing the "terrorist card" at any opportunity. CCTV cameras all over the place because we're supposed to be overrun with secret terrorists, new laws being brought in giving carte blanche to reduce rights on the grounds that there are terrorists in every tree or something.
Doesn't make what the USA is doing any better though. I think both our governments are operating in very morally ambiguous territory.
"$5/gallon gas would be .."
haha. Can't remember when gas (petrol) was that cheap here in the UK. Currently its 1.19 pounds a litre, that's approx 8.86 dollars per US gallon. Going up as well...
"Side note, the article is being just rabble-rousing by comparing waistlines considering that Americans are so much taller on average than Japanese it makes sense that they would be proportionally larger in waist size."
So how does that account for Scandinavians/Dutch/etc who are as tall as Americans but have smaller waist sizes? ;-) /rabble-rouse
It's all a bit fuzzy. Your government appears to be reserving the right to pick up and intern anybody they fancy of any nationality in any country and declare they don't have to tell us why, and don't have to let the interned people go at any time.
That's one of the thing that really worries a lot of us. We don't trust your government, so we generalise and say "we don't trust the USA or its people". That's sad and not very healthy.
Even the top people on the losing side of World War 2 got trials and lawyers. You are saying that the people in Guantanamo Bay have carried out significantly worse acts than the people who stood in the Nuremburg trials?