I don't remember the statistics portion of this but... Someone should point out possible inherent biases in the polls conducted as well as the confidence interval. This post should be modded up for all to read. I don't want to let the master scheming Bush administration slip one by me.
On a different note, have you noticed that in the end of a CNN segment about this NSA spying story, more often than not the reporter finishes with something like "The Bush administration believes that the American people will side with the President on this issue." It's interesting that it's the last thing that's said because anyone with psychology training will tell you that the first and last parts of any story are the most vivid and are most likely to be remembered. Furthermore, people in general like to side with the mainstream on issues and by saying that most people will agree with George W. Bush then it becomes a powerful method of persuading people to side with George W. Bush! Let's keep our eyes peeled.
The President's response to this issue was an attack on whistle blowing. George W. Bush said "anytime sensitive intelligence is leaked, it hurts our fight against the enemy". You don't say Mr. President! Let's examine this statement a bit. So Mr. President, you're claiming that since Americans and terrorists now know there is a record of every phone number I've dialed then obviously the terrorists now will be a lot more careful when when using phones to communicate or stop using them altogether. This is obviously not good. We don't have any love for terrorists so this should've been kept secret.
Uhm,.., wait a second. How did I arrive at this conclusion? Wait..., I feel a thought coming..., it almost hurts. Here it is!
How can we trust this information will be used appropriately with no independent oversight and furthermore, is managed by human beings who are imperfect as a whole? This information can be used 1) Against political opponents 2) Dissenters 3) To make profitable business decisions
Given the power this information confers on whoever holds it, can we get anything more than a personal promise that this information will only be looked at to fight terrorism? The answer is not because this information will be managed and used by human beings. We shouldn't trust anybody with this power, not George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, republicans, democrats, not even the Pope. We need leadership that believes it is possible to effectively fight terrorism while protecting the rights of Americans.
I'll leave you with a few words from Republican Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions' response to this exploding story "We're in a war with terrorism. We're dealing with people that want to kill us."
Don't you almost feel dumber for being exposed to such trite statements?
Here are a few more... George W. Bush said today "This program strictly targets al qaeda and their known affiliates. Al qaeda is our enemy and we want to know their plans." Comments ---- Pay careful attention to his choice of words. Spefically when he says "This program strictly TARGETS al qaeda". I wonder why he didn't say "This program strictly AFFECTS al qaeda." Forgive us for ever doubting you George. If history has taught anything it's to always trust a government wants more power solely to help its citizens.
Republican Senator Jon Kyler said, "This is nuts, we are in a war and we've got to collect information on the enemy and you can't tell the enemy how you're going to do it." -- Again, pay attention to the choice of words. He's technically correct. While collecting information on power brokers, CEOs, democratic politicians, and every day average citizens like you, I'm sure there is some possibility that information on a terrorist or two might be collected.
To get people interested in cyborgs or androids we must make them look human. We should start by making furry versions of the Aibot dog or whatever it's called.
Wake me up when a game world isn't a static 3D environment. Wake me up when I can walk up to any tree, pick off a branch, chop the tree down, squish some ants living on the tree, and can rip a moist leaf on the tree like a sheet of paper. Wake me up when I can knock down a building, wall, and can permanently remove bricks from a house. I want to be able to drive a car through a wall, have grass that actually grows, and can cause wildfires (just like in real life). I want to be able to take some sand from the beach with a bucket and pour it all over the nearest NPC and see all the little grains of sand stick to his shirt. Wake me up when it's time because I can't wait to play. Imagine MMORPGs where you can actually DIG A SECRET TUNNEL underground to invade your enemie's territory. Imagine being able to dig holes to hide in and cover them up with leaves. Well, you get the idea. Possibilities are endless.
Seriously, how long do you guys think it'll take for some crude implementation of what I listed above comes to fruition?
I thought that everyone was too busy playing WoW to care about any other mmorpgs? Don't they have like millions of subscribers while other mmorpgs are struggling to keep thousands of even hundreds?
This video along with John Stewart's appearance on "Crossfire" should go into textbooks. As much as I like Colbert and John Stewart, how I wish they were not needed. How I wish the press were half as dedicated to the American people as they are to keeping their jobs. How I wish that fake news organizations that push the Government's agenda only existed in dystopian futurstic worlds in sci-fi novels. Fox news uses logical fallacies to justify Republican led efforts and demonize Democrats in general. Fox news is unofficially the Republican news channel. I stress that this wouldn't be as big an issue if they weren't dishonest in the way that they present their arguments. There is nothing wrong with having a different opinion, but convincing others of such opinions via malicious distortions of the truth is insidious. It should be called out with the full ferocity and scandal the press is capable of. This is dangerous for a "news channel" to do because some people don't even know what a logical fallacy is (maybe like 32% of people?).
The thing is that if linux doesn't include proprietary drivers then its goal isn't to be the best operating system it can be. The goal is to balance being the best operating system while not letting goals of open source ideals. I feel that while this is an honorable goal that it should not come at the expense of turning people off to the operating system. If proprietary drivers were used then performance would increase, there would be less crashes, and developers would spend their much needed time working on something that will make a better operating system. This would in turn make linux a much more attractive operating system and increase the number of users (and thereby influence) it has. This is why I suggest using proprietary drivers for the most important cases for the time being and as linux becomes a more formidable force to reckon with, it can go completely open source. Once the users are there, ATI and nVidia will care. I don't think they want to release the source code because they do all sorts of "tricks" to increase performance on their cards that they do not want to admit to since they take some quality out of the graphics.
1) Allow MAC OS X to be installed on standard non-apple PCs.
2) Let it simmer for 2-5 years
3) Get ready for a release of top-notch new apple PCs AND a new version of MAC OS
4) Announce that that the new version of MAC OS would only work with apple PCs
5) Sit back and watch the 90% windows market share dwindle to like 70%
AT&T is going to pay the proper price for this. How is the proper price measured? In courts where judges with certain biases decide what's right for all of us? Perhaps in some peoples' minds but not mine. The way AT&T will pay the price is by experiencing a consumer backlash that is proportional to the number of poeple outraged by this incident. Their punishment will be decided by how many people are willing to boycott their services. This is a self-regulating and just punishment. Money is all they care about, hit them where it hurts. If in the long run the company's stocks take a negligible hit then that is all that they deserve because if the average American is disinterested in his/her privacy then perhaps he or she does not deserve it.
How is this Spin? Like it's some sort of concoction of the press that recently republicans have been play ng ball with the law when it comes to business interests?
Blizzard has been making some moves that make it look like one of those big ugly soul-less corporations that we all hate so much. I will be much more hesitant to buy any of their products. A company doesn't have to be open source for me to support it but Blizzard has become arrogant and unapologetic when it comes to its customers and the little poeple in general.
Let us remember that this government is under the control of the people. All we do is complain and complain and leave it at that. We have the power to change the law. No lobbying effort, MPAA, or RIAA is stronger than the will of the majority of the people. I've never studied law but I know there is a way for us to do something about all these issues WITHOUT risking arrest. The ultimate check and oversight on the government is not a group of judges on a superior court but the people (us). We MUST aim to introduce new laws that extend our freedom instead of eroding it for once. There are people who are punished more for downloading pirated music than for battery on another human being! We have let politicians run the show for far too long. If our representatives do not back us up on our issues then we can fire them and hire someone who will. If we want more privacy, freedom online, and if we prefer to cut into the RIAA's profits by eliminating some of the more ridiculous copyright fines/laws in order to better serve the majority then we can and we should.
There was once a great company named Blizzard
They made many a great game
Blizzard started unfairly banning orcs and wizards
It started acting very lame
The begining of the end is when great fans quit
They should've known better, we won't put up with that s**t
I've always liked Google and their products. I was very disappointed when I saw that Google started ignoring linux, so they lost a few brownie points with me. Don't you guys feel the same way? I mean, I'm a fairly recent linux convert. What do you hardcore linux advocates say?
So say there are organisms that live on Saturn's moon. My fear is that they are extremely efficient at utilizing resources since they probably don't have many resources there. If we all of a sudden bring them back to earth where the resources for are that much higher then how do we know they won't spread unstopably and destroy us all?
If you purchase gold from say eBay, then you have to pay first. What's keeping the other person from keeping the gold AND your money? Please tell me it's more than just a negative point on their eBay account.
The truth is that we don't know what the people over there in Mozilla were thinking when they decided to report the numbers. It may not be what you think. I feel that reporting the numbers excites people and makes people happy that such a good product is getting recognition. It doesn't necessarily have to be a statement like "Our product is better than yours because we have millions of downloads".
Evolution is a proven fact. What the Pat Robertsons of the world challenge when they say they don't believe in religion is the belief that humans evolved from single-celled organisms. They challenge the belief that the human race is a product of evolution and not placed here by some god. When scientists claim they believe in evolution they are making REASONABLE assumptions. Like you said, we can't verifiable prove that we evolved from single-celled organisms. So I am counting you as someone who believes that the human race is a product of evolution but like any true scientist you are always willing to be corrected if some new evidence to the contrary presents itself.
I thought the title "Minnesota GOP's CD Raises Privacy Concerns" meant that the Republican Party was distributing a CD to inform people about privacy laws being thrown out the window... I should've known better.
It might not be that the Bush administration was just being arrogant when it decided that it would break the law and ignore the FISA court. This is admittedly speculation and might turn out to be untrue but I for one wouldn't be too shocked to learn that they used the NSA to spy on ALL SORTS of people and corporations for political and monetary purposes. It's obvious that they NEVER thought this information would be leaked so who knows on who they've spied on for what reason. Rememeber the story of the humble farmer who found a ring that makes him invisible? Unchecked power can corrupt anyone, ANYONE! Politicians are not particularly honest people to begin with.
I was watching TV and as I flipped from channel to channel I stop when I saw the infamous Pat Robertson saying "people who believe in evolution are part of a cult and that by teaching evolution in schools the state is endorsing a religious belief". He then went on to say "over 500 scientists signed a petition stating that they do not believe in evolution in response to a KPBS special that claimed virtually all scientists believe in evolution". I used to believe that that ability to put someone in jail or worse was the only thing keeping people in past centuries so ignorant. Pat Roberton's Fox show "700 club" is not being forced down anyone's throat, we won't go to jail if we disagree with their religious claims, knowledge about science is there for the taking. Why hasn't a new age of enlightenment kicked in?
Slashdot Mirror
I don't remember the statistics portion of this but... Someone should point out possible inherent biases in the polls conducted as well as the confidence interval. This post should be modded up for all to read. I don't want to let the master scheming Bush administration slip one by me.
On a different note, have you noticed that in the end of a CNN segment about this NSA spying story, more often than not the reporter finishes with something like "The Bush administration believes that the American people will side with the President on this issue." It's interesting that it's the last thing that's said because anyone with psychology training will tell you that the first and last parts of any story are the most vivid and are most likely to be remembered. Furthermore, people in general like to side with the mainstream on issues and by saying that most people will agree with George W. Bush then it becomes a powerful method of persuading people to side with George W. Bush! Let's keep our eyes peeled.
The President's response to this issue was an attack on whistle blowing. George W. Bush said "anytime sensitive intelligence is leaked, it hurts our fight against the enemy". You don't say Mr. President! Let's examine this statement a bit. So Mr. President, you're claiming that since Americans and terrorists now know there is a record of every phone number I've dialed then obviously the terrorists now will be a lot more careful when when using phones to communicate or stop using them altogether. This is obviously not good. We don't have any love for terrorists so this should've been kept secret.
Uhm,.., wait a second. How did I arrive at this conclusion? Wait..., I feel a thought coming..., it almost hurts. Here it is!
How can we trust this information will be used appropriately with no independent oversight and furthermore, is managed by human beings who are imperfect as a whole? This information can be used
1) Against political opponents
2) Dissenters
3) To make profitable business decisions
Given the power this information confers on whoever holds it, can we get anything more than a personal promise that this information will only be looked at to fight terrorism? The answer is not because this information will be managed and used by human beings. We shouldn't trust anybody with this power, not George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, republicans, democrats, not even the Pope. We need leadership that believes it is possible to effectively fight terrorism while protecting the rights of Americans.
I'll leave you with a few words from Republican Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions' response to this exploding story "We're in a war with terrorism. We're dealing with people that want to kill us."
Don't you almost feel dumber for being exposed to such trite statements?
Here are a few more...
George W. Bush said today "This program strictly targets al qaeda and their known affiliates. Al qaeda is our enemy and we want to know their plans."
Comments ---- Pay careful attention to his choice of words. Spefically when he says "This program strictly TARGETS al qaeda". I wonder why he didn't say "This program strictly AFFECTS al qaeda." Forgive us for ever doubting you George. If history has taught anything it's to always trust a government wants more power solely to help its citizens.
Republican Senator Jon Kyler said, "This is nuts, we are in a war and we've got to collect information on the enemy and you can't tell the enemy how you're going to do it."
-- Again, pay attention to the choice of words. He's technically correct. While collecting information on power brokers, CEOs, democratic politicians, and every day average citizens like you, I'm sure there is some possibility that information on a terrorist or two might be collected.
To get people interested in cyborgs or androids we must make them look human. We should start by making furry versions of the Aibot dog or whatever it's called.
Wake me up when a game world isn't a static 3D environment. Wake me up when I can walk up to any tree, pick off a branch, chop the tree down, squish some ants living on the tree, and can rip a moist leaf on the tree like a sheet of paper. Wake me up when I can knock down a building, wall, and can permanently remove bricks from a house. I want to be able to drive a car through a wall, have grass that actually grows, and can cause wildfires (just like in real life). I want to be able to take some sand from the beach with a bucket and pour it all over the nearest NPC and see all the little grains of sand stick to his shirt. Wake me up when it's time because I can't wait to play. Imagine MMORPGs where you can actually DIG A SECRET TUNNEL underground to invade your enemie's territory. Imagine being able to dig holes to hide in and cover them up with leaves. Well, you get the idea. Possibilities are endless. Seriously, how long do you guys think it'll take for some crude implementation of what I listed above comes to fruition?
I thought that everyone was too busy playing WoW to care about any other mmorpgs? Don't they have like millions of subscribers while other mmorpgs are struggling to keep thousands of even hundreds?
You know, the way things are going, some window manager for linux accomplish this much sooner?
This video along with John Stewart's appearance on "Crossfire" should go into textbooks. As much as I like Colbert and John Stewart, how I wish they were not needed. How I wish the press were half as dedicated to the American people as they are to keeping their jobs. How I wish that fake news organizations that push the Government's agenda only existed in dystopian futurstic worlds in sci-fi novels. Fox news uses logical fallacies to justify Republican led efforts and demonize Democrats in general. Fox news is unofficially the Republican news channel. I stress that this wouldn't be as big an issue if they weren't dishonest in the way that they present their arguments. There is nothing wrong with having a different opinion, but convincing others of such opinions via malicious distortions of the truth is insidious. It should be called out with the full ferocity and scandal the press is capable of. This is dangerous for a "news channel" to do because some people don't even know what a logical fallacy is (maybe like 32% of people?).
The thing is that if linux doesn't include proprietary drivers then its goal isn't to be the best operating system it can be. The goal is to balance being the best operating system while not letting goals of open source ideals. I feel that while this is an honorable goal that it should not come at the expense of turning people off to the operating system. If proprietary drivers were used then performance would increase, there would be less crashes, and developers would spend their much needed time working on something that will make a better operating system. This would in turn make linux a much more attractive operating system and increase the number of users (and thereby influence) it has. This is why I suggest using proprietary drivers for the most important cases for the time being and as linux becomes a more formidable force to reckon with, it can go completely open source. Once the users are there, ATI and nVidia will care. I don't think they want to release the source code because they do all sorts of "tricks" to increase performance on their cards that they do not want to admit to since they take some quality out of the graphics.
1) Allow MAC OS X to be installed on standard non-apple PCs. 2) Let it simmer for 2-5 years 3) Get ready for a release of top-notch new apple PCs AND a new version of MAC OS 4) Announce that that the new version of MAC OS would only work with apple PCs 5) Sit back and watch the 90% windows market share dwindle to like 70%
AT&T is going to pay the proper price for this. How is the proper price measured? In courts where judges with certain biases decide what's right for all of us? Perhaps in some peoples' minds but not mine. The way AT&T will pay the price is by experiencing a consumer backlash that is proportional to the number of poeple outraged by this incident. Their punishment will be decided by how many people are willing to boycott their services. This is a self-regulating and just punishment. Money is all they care about, hit them where it hurts. If in the long run the company's stocks take a negligible hit then that is all that they deserve because if the average American is disinterested in his/her privacy then perhaps he or she does not deserve it.
How is this Spin? Like it's some sort of concoction of the press that recently republicans have been play ng ball with the law when it comes to business interests?
Blizzard has been making some moves that make it look like one of those big ugly soul-less corporations that we all hate so much. I will be much more hesitant to buy any of their products. A company doesn't have to be open source for me to support it but Blizzard has become arrogant and unapologetic when it comes to its customers and the little poeple in general.
Let us remember that this government is under the control of the people. All we do is complain and complain and leave it at that. We have the power to change the law. No lobbying effort, MPAA, or RIAA is stronger than the will of the majority of the people. I've never studied law but I know there is a way for us to do something about all these issues WITHOUT risking arrest. The ultimate check and oversight on the government is not a group of judges on a superior court but the people (us). We MUST aim to introduce new laws that extend our freedom instead of eroding it for once. There are people who are punished more for downloading pirated music than for battery on another human being! We have let politicians run the show for far too long. If our representatives do not back us up on our issues then we can fire them and hire someone who will. If we want more privacy, freedom online, and if we prefer to cut into the RIAA's profits by eliminating some of the more ridiculous copyright fines/laws in order to better serve the majority then we can and we should.
There was once a great company named Blizzard They made many a great game Blizzard started unfairly banning orcs and wizards It started acting very lame The begining of the end is when great fans quit They should've known better, we won't put up with that s**t
Anyone else think that the article's title meant an Oracle SQL developer was released... from prison?
I've always liked Google and their products. I was very disappointed when I saw that Google started ignoring linux, so they lost a few brownie points with me. Don't you guys feel the same way? I mean, I'm a fairly recent linux convert. What do you hardcore linux advocates say?
So say there are organisms that live on Saturn's moon. My fear is that they are extremely efficient at utilizing resources since they probably don't have many resources there. If we all of a sudden bring them back to earth where the resources for are that much higher then how do we know they won't spread unstopably and destroy us all?
If you purchase gold from say eBay, then you have to pay first. What's keeping the other person from keeping the gold AND your money? Please tell me it's more than just a negative point on their eBay account.
The truth is that we don't know what the people over there in Mozilla were thinking when they decided to report the numbers. It may not be what you think. I feel that reporting the numbers excites people and makes people happy that such a good product is getting recognition. It doesn't necessarily have to be a statement like "Our product is better than yours because we have millions of downloads".
But do they have freakin' lasers on mounted on their heads?
Evolution is a proven fact. What the Pat Robertsons of the world challenge when they say they don't believe in religion is the belief that humans evolved from single-celled organisms. They challenge the belief that the human race is a product of evolution and not placed here by some god. When scientists claim they believe in evolution they are making REASONABLE assumptions. Like you said, we can't verifiable prove that we evolved from single-celled organisms. So I am counting you as someone who believes that the human race is a product of evolution but like any true scientist you are always willing to be corrected if some new evidence to the contrary presents itself.
And You Sir should back up what you say. It's too easy to just accuse someone without providing any reasons or justification.
I thought the title "Minnesota GOP's CD Raises Privacy Concerns" meant that the Republican Party was distributing a CD to inform people about privacy laws being thrown out the window... I should've known better.
It might not be that the Bush administration was just being arrogant when it decided that it would break the law and ignore the FISA court. This is admittedly speculation and might turn out to be untrue but I for one wouldn't be too shocked to learn that they used the NSA to spy on ALL SORTS of people and corporations for political and monetary purposes. It's obvious that they NEVER thought this information would be leaked so who knows on who they've spied on for what reason. Rememeber the story of the humble farmer who found a ring that makes him invisible? Unchecked power can corrupt anyone, ANYONE! Politicians are not particularly honest people to begin with.
I was watching TV and as I flipped from channel to channel I stop when I saw the infamous Pat Robertson saying "people who believe in evolution are part of a cult and that by teaching evolution in schools the state is endorsing a religious belief". He then went on to say "over 500 scientists signed a petition stating that they do not believe in evolution in response to a KPBS special that claimed virtually all scientists believe in evolution". I used to believe that that ability to put someone in jail or worse was the only thing keeping people in past centuries so ignorant. Pat Roberton's Fox show "700 club" is not being forced down anyone's throat, we won't go to jail if we disagree with their religious claims, knowledge about science is there for the taking. Why hasn't a new age of enlightenment kicked in?