Since 1963 the country has been governed by the Baath Party; the head of state since 1970 has been a member of the Assad family. Syria's current president is Bashar al-Assad, son of Hafez al-Assad, who held office from 1970 until his death in 2000.[1]
...Upon assuming power, Hafez al-Assad moved quickly to create an organizational infrastructure for his government and to consolidate control.
Since when have any citizens of any dictatorship ever had freedom of speech? If he were Chinese his family would be paying for a bullet.
There's a lesson there, but I suspect you can't recite it on the Internet without invoking Godwin's Law.
You can't mention Godwin without invoking Godwin's Law either. I looked it up.
Approved by the Kansas State Board of Education. This page meets all criteria and requirements for use as teaching material within the State of Kansas public school system. It consists of facts, not of theories, and students are encouraged to believe it uncritically, and to approach alternatives critically.
"Godwin's Law is precisely like Hitler. The similarities between Godwin's law and the Nazis are uncanny. People who start screaming that the fascist law of Godwin has been invoked are no better then the guards at the Nazi death camps." ~ Godwin's Law on Godwin's Law
Godwin's Law (also known as Godwin's Rule of Nazi Apparition) is a scientific law. It is not a theory!
The law states:
As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of Nazis or Hitler spontaneously materialising and enacting systematic genocide against the poster approaches one. Godwin's Law does not question whether the genocide enacted by Hitler or the Nazis might be appropriate or justified, but only asserts that the enactment of one is increasingly probable.
The most frequent invocation of the law today is found on Wikipedia, where discussion threads for the most trivial of topics cover pages and pages. This explains the origin of the WikiNazis who roam the site, permitting only their warped "NOPV" version of the facts. See also slashdot
See, the thing is, everyone thinks money=intelligence. "If you're so damned smart, why ain't you rich?"
But there is no real correlation between intelligence and wealth. The wealthy can afford better schools, but education != intelligence.
These people are used to getting their own way, they're used to the law ALWAYS working for THEM and can't imagine that there's the slightest possibililty that they, spoiled brats that they are, can't have things exactly as they want them to be.
The blog post calls for feedback on what features of VBA and Windows interoperability are most important to people.
One of the things I dislike about MS products is bloat. Features I don't need only serve to get in my way and waste memory and drive space. Getting rid of unneeded bloat is a good thing.
OTOH another thing I dislike about MS is its seeming inability to work and play well with others. If they're going to remove interoperability thay've already accomplished (by accident?), that's not a good thing.
Race has nothing to do with it. Look at yourself; dumb as a box of rocks.
Put any kid of any race (say, your kid) in a third world country with little food, no medical care, and have unlearned people raise him, and don't send him to school, and he'll be just like the native Africans.
Take one of those African kids and raise him in an enlightened industrial society and he'll excel as much as anyone. It isn't about self esteem, it's about quality of life.
As to your own stupidity, racism is a tool of the rich to keep everyone else at each others' throats so they won't notice who's really using and abusing them, tool.
That was the first useful use for Flash I've seen. I liked how when your cursor went over the "close" icon it says "Think before you close this window. This may be the last life sized blue whale you will ever see".
Kudos to the presenter, and thanks to the submitter. When is Google Earth gong to be life sized?;)
Microsoft have been guilty of shafting their customers for years, now the rest of the galaxy is going to pay as Microsoft extends it's malfeasance outwards into the cosmos. What have the aliens ever done to deserve this... anal probing? Has Ballmer discussed his vengence with shareholders?
"God damned motherfucking piece of fucked up shit!!!" ~ Mother Theresa on Microsoft (Excised from Uncyclopedia's entry on Microsoft, probably by some humorless astroturfer)
The McDonald's Corporation has begun sending letters to its customers informing them that, in the name of an "enhanced user experience," it will begin using cat poo on their hamburgers as condiments and inserting...
I don't see why anyone would make that assumption. The larger the group, the more intelligent people will be in that group, and the higher the likelyhood that some of them will be exceptionally intelligent.
But by the same token, the larger the group, the more idiots will be in that group, and the higher the likelyhood that some of them will be exceptionally stupid.
That also follows for competence.
The larger the group, the greater the need for organization. Above a certain critical limit, the bureaucracy bogs the effectiveness down.
"Continuing its strategy to fight against FOSS application on the Windows platform, Microsoft mailed the Blender developers asking how they could help improve the user experience on Windows so they could laugh at it. Groklaw puts it in perspective using Steve Ballmer's own words."
There, fixed it for you. Microsoft doesn't want "open sores" (as microsoft shills used to call it), which Ballmer once likened to cancer, on their operating system.
If they could make Windows so it only ran Microsoft programs without losing any Windows sales, they would.
I just can't wait until all artists start their own publishing
That's the real reason behind these suits. They can't possibly be afraid you'll hear top 40 crap, because if they did they wouldn't let the radio (easily sampled to better than iTunes or MP3 quality) play them.
It isn't Britney they want to keep out of your ears, it's the indies. Note they don't say "illegal downloads" except when the context infers that all downloads are illegal? Their aim, mostly met, it to make you think they do indeed have a monopoly (or rather, cartel) and that all music is RIAA music. it worked on you, didn't it?
"Piracy" isn't hurting their sales and they know it. The indies (and the gasoline and food companies) are eating their lunch. Most of us have only so many dollars to spend. If I buy four $5 CDs from the band that plays at the bar (professionally recorded and duplicated, with art and packaging) that's twenty dollars I don't have to buy an RIAA CD.
Their only hope for survival is to kill the internet. Good luck with that.
Judging from the number of elderly, children, blind people, dead people, etc. that the RIAA labels have targeted, I'd say most likely they do it with a random number generator.
Related Links Compare prices on YRO Products Compare prices on Internet Products Compare prices on Legal Related Items Compare prices on Privacy Software filed a complaint with Canada's Privacy Commissioner More The Internet stories More Privacy stories More The Courts stories More Your Rights Online stories
Damn, in a YRO article there's advertising that pretends to be on-topic. Seems ironic to me, although I'm sure the mods will disagree.
The last century--even the last decade--have seen a more explosive growth of technology (and software) than could have been imagined. Even while under the constraints of the patent system. Maybe, BECAUSE of the patent system.
I am not against patents, and in fact think that mostly (with exceptions; patent trolls, software patents, patents on the obvious) the patent system works well.
But a patent does not conefer ownership. In twenty years your invention goes into the public domain. You own the patent but NOT the invention itself.
If I buy a house, it's mine. I can leave it to my heirs. If I rent a house, I have a monopoly on its use until the lease runs out.
If I own a patent on an invention, I have a monopoly on its manufacture until the patent runs out. It is more akin to rental than ownership; it is temporary. It's not even like a carton of milk that can go bad; you still own the spoiled milk.
Copyrights were originally 14 years in the US. How can you call a limited time monopoly "ownership"?
More things have indeed been invented because of patents, and especially the fact that patents run out after 20 years and the invention enters the public domain. Were patents to last 175 years like copyrights, you would have seen very little invention during the last century.
how can you claim America is artless when we have piss christ and students pretending to abort fetuses as art?
One of my art instructors was fond of saying "I know what art is, but I don't know what I like".
It's good to be passionate--it's also good to have civil conversations!
I live in Illinois, where citizens are so patriotic that even being dead doesn't keep us from voting! As they say in Chicago, "vote early, vote often".
Slashdot Mirror
You can't mention Godwin without invoking Godwin's Law either. I looked it up.
See, the thing is, everyone thinks money=intelligence. "If you're so damned smart, why ain't you rich?"
But there is no real correlation between intelligence and wealth. The wealthy can afford better schools, but education != intelligence.
These people are used to getting their own way, they're used to the law ALWAYS working for THEM and can't imagine that there's the slightest possibililty that they, spoiled brats that they are, can't have things exactly as they want them to be.
To quote Mr. T: "I pity the foo's".
That would be as easy as pushing water uphill with a sharp stick :-)
John Lennon said it:
Like trying to shovel smoke
with a pitchfork
in the wind
The blog post calls for feedback on what features of VBA and Windows interoperability are most important to people.
One of the things I dislike about MS products is bloat. Features I don't need only serve to get in my way and waste memory and drive space. Getting rid of unneeded bloat is a good thing.
OTOH another thing I dislike about MS is its seeming inability to work and play well with others. If they're going to remove interoperability thay've already accomplished (by accident?), that's not a good thing.
Race has nothing to do with it. Look at yourself; dumb as a box of rocks.
Put any kid of any race (say, your kid) in a third world country with little food, no medical care, and have unlearned people raise him, and don't send him to school, and he'll be just like the native Africans.
Take one of those African kids and raise him in an enlightened industrial society and he'll excel as much as anyone. It isn't about self esteem, it's about quality of life.
As to your own stupidity, racism is a tool of the rich to keep everyone else at each others' throats so they won't notice who's really using and abusing them, tool.
Some of us prize knowledgs and wisdom far more than money. Not everyone worships at the alter af mammon.
That was the first useful use for Flash I've seen. I liked how when your cursor went over the "close" icon it says "Think before you close this window. This may be the last life sized blue whale you will ever see".
;)
Kudos to the presenter, and thanks to the submitter. When is Google Earth gong to be life sized?
Servers got knees? What's a server need knees for?
Oh, you mean server. I thought you were talking about the computer. Silly me.
"Where do you want to go today?" ~ Microsoft
The McDonald's Corporation has begun sending letters to its customers informing them that, in the name of an "enhanced user experience," it will begin using cat poo on their hamburgers as condiments and inserting...
By "Technically" they probably mean "because of a legal technicality".
I don't see why anyone would make that assumption. The larger the group, the more intelligent people will be in that group, and the higher the likelyhood that some of them will be exceptionally intelligent.
But by the same token, the larger the group, the more idiots will be in that group, and the higher the likelyhood that some of them will be exceptionally stupid.
That also follows for competence.
The larger the group, the greater the need for organization. Above a certain critical limit, the bureaucracy bogs the effectiveness down.
But I don't see how this applies to evolution.
"Continuing its strategy to fight against FOSS application on the Windows platform, Microsoft mailed the Blender developers asking how they could help improve the user experience on Windows so they could laugh at it. Groklaw puts it in perspective using Steve Ballmer's own words."
There, fixed it for you. Microsoft doesn't want "open sores" (as microsoft shills used to call it), which Ballmer once likened to cancer, on their operating system.
If they could make Windows so it only ran Microsoft programs without losing any Windows sales, they would.
-mcgrew
The hate mail would read:
"You're fired"
I just can't wait until all artists start their own publishing
That's the real reason behind these suits. They can't possibly be afraid you'll hear top 40 crap, because if they did they wouldn't let the radio (easily sampled to better than iTunes or MP3 quality) play them.
It isn't Britney they want to keep out of your ears, it's the indies. Note they don't say "illegal downloads" except when the context infers that all downloads are illegal? Their aim, mostly met, it to make you think they do indeed have a monopoly (or rather, cartel) and that all music is RIAA music. it worked on you, didn't it?
"Piracy" isn't hurting their sales and they know it. The indies (and the gasoline and food companies) are eating their lunch. Most of us have only so many dollars to spend. If I buy four $5 CDs from the band that plays at the bar (professionally recorded and duplicated, with art and packaging) that's twenty dollars I don't have to buy an RIAA CD.
Their only hope for survival is to kill the internet. Good luck with that.
Judging from the number of elderly, children, blind people, dead people, etc. that the RIAA labels have targeted, I'd say most likely they do it with a random number generator.
The last century--even the last decade--have seen a more explosive growth of technology (and software) than could have been imagined. Even while under the constraints of the patent system. Maybe, BECAUSE of the patent system.
I am not against patents, and in fact think that mostly (with exceptions; patent trolls, software patents, patents on the obvious) the patent system works well.
But a patent does not conefer ownership. In twenty years your invention goes into the public domain. You own the patent but NOT the invention itself.
If I buy a house, it's mine. I can leave it to my heirs. If I rent a house, I have a monopoly on its use until the lease runs out.
If I own a patent on an invention, I have a monopoly on its manufacture until the patent runs out. It is more akin to rental than ownership; it is temporary. It's not even like a carton of milk that can go bad; you still own the spoiled milk.
Copyrights were originally 14 years in the US. How can you call a limited time monopoly "ownership"?
More things have indeed been invented because of patents, and especially the fact that patents run out after 20 years and the invention enters the public domain. Were patents to last 175 years like copyrights, you would have seen very little invention during the last century.
how can you claim America is artless when we have piss christ and students pretending to abort fetuses as art?
One of my art instructors was fond of saying "I know what art is, but I don't know what I like".
It's good to be passionate--it's also good to have civil conversations!
Agreed!
I use security through obsolescence. Nobody's going to crack my ENIAC clone!
"Trinity" from The Matrix hardened my system!
Oh, you're talking about computer security? Never mind, then.
/. seemed pretty slow the day before yesterday, maybe that's their way of avoiding new servers?
At any rate, it's especially annoying when you have ten, twenty, or thirty "messages" to respond to, and you have to wait so long between each one.
I live in Illinois, where citizens are so patriotic that even being dead doesn't keep us from voting! As they say in Chicago, "vote early, vote often".
(are you the guy that made the hilarious joke about "intellectual pooperty"? if so, congrats!)
Yeah, that's me, and thank you.
Keep trying, maybe you'll get the hang of it there, son.