I'm pretty sure you have lost control of your Government.
It amazes me that a country the size of the US has only 2 serious political parties.
Even the UK (which has first past the post electorates as well) managed to elect 9 different parties in the 2017 election.
I understand the argument that the two US parties are "Big Tent" parties, I'm just not buying it.
...will be interesting if they actually attempt this when they're in power...
I'm going to guess not, as when the Democrats have the whip hand, they will be a better target for all those campaign contributions the telcos seem to offer.
The basic problem here is that the US Government sells itself off every year, it's just the buyers and the sellers that change.
Well, the head of the NSA refused to pledge loyalty to our current President, so...
Which is a good thing, in the US no-one ever pledges loyalty to any individual. They might make a pledge to uphold the Constitution, but as far as I can tell the current President is the first to need personal loyalty from his officeholders.
I'm not comparing. I'm refusing to spend the thick end of a grand on something that might be of no use to me until I have done a bit of research.
I have tried the HTC Vive in a store and it was fine, but that's a 10 minute mess about.
Spending $18 to see if the general idea of VR is worth getting into seemed like the best bet.
People still don't want to pay $400 for a gimmicky motion sickness simulator?...
It's worse where I live. It looks like the Oculus costs something like $900 of my local money, plus an import duty, so something like $1200 I would think.
What I have done is spent $18 on a Google Cardboard type VR box I can put my phone in. It is actually made out of a sort of padded material that is comfortable to wear, and better quality than an actual cardboard box, but based on that design.
The reason for only spending that much money is that I have no real idea what VR is good for, but wanted to have a play to see if I might be missing out.
Turns out I'm not really.
Yes, the US has signed a Space Treaty.
Of course the whole point of this is not to actually put any airmen into space to protect the US or anything like that.
The point is to get a budget and some power for someone.
Feed lots are the real problem there. The major reason US beef is raised on feed lots is because corn is subsidised so it is super cheap.
Some countries raise beef on grass, which is better for the cows and better for the environment.
It's also better for taxpayers who are not funding the massively profitable corn industry through subsidies.
Nobody buying shares in a hundred year old public company is providing additional capital to the company, they are paying money to the previous shareholder.
You are right about not needing any more capital anyway, I think the company has about $17 billion cash on hand at the moment. The shareholders demand increased profits every year regardless.
We get these at home fairly regularly. Usually during the day when my wife is the only one home.
She is technically clueless, but knows enough to tell them "my husband looks after all that stuff" then hangs up.
I have been able to speak to the scammer a couple of times, and I ask them "Does your mother know what you do for a living"?
They try to argue that they're calling from "Tech Support" or "Microsoft" (or sometimes even "Windows" for some reason) but not with much conviction.
I have had a couple swear at me in Hindi lately, like some of the other commenters.
there just aren't enough people to create the endless growth that the greedy corporate overlords demand. In the "social media" area,
This is absolutely correct, but not just limited to Social Media companies.
I work for a massive manufacturing company, it owns more than 50% of the market we sell to (in this country anyway) and the only way to get the growth the shareholders demand is to cut costs.
So, now there are more people doing more work for the same or less money. I suspect this company is far from unique.
Of course you're confused by Kangaroos. They're 6-foot tall mice that are not even proper mammals, and they keep stuff in a pouch on the front of their fur coat.
I believe they're also keen boxing fans, so keep away from them, especially on Friday nights after the pubs close, they're Australian, so are probably heavy drinkers.
I am scrolling through a bunch of posts about the different types of ammunition available, and what people can buy in subsonic loads and the whole time I'm wondering what it's like to live in a place where people shoot each other often enough that it is worthwhile even contemplating a system like this.
The Americans here seem to take it as normal that people shoot each other in the street.
It's been a while since I read PJ's piece, but I think the conclusion was that the drivers were, as you say, blithering idiots, but the NTSB didn't feel they could be quite that blunt in their conclusions.
It usually is. PJ O'Rourke wrote a great piece about the NTSB in (I think) "Parliament of Whores".
They were investigating unexplained crashes of Volvos. It turns out the type of person who was buying Volvos at the time (in the US anyway) were often a poor driver who stamped on the gas instead of the brake.
The current investors are losing $2 billion or so per year, so there needs to be an IPO so they can offload their shares to some suckers and get their money back.
I'm not saying you're wrong, I'm sure they are miserable and worthless, but in my view their problem is funding.
The TSA seems to have a budget of something like $7.5 billion. What are they providing for that money?
It sounds like a awful lot of money if it's just security guards at airports and air marshals, so they need to keep coming up with new ideas regularly so the money keeps flowing.
Not a bad comment A/C, except for the middle bit about North Korea and Palestine.
The fact that you think a military solution might be the answer in North Korea says a lot about the US attitude towards the rest of the world. There is no way China would allow any of that.
You are completely right about how Trump got himself elected. The rest of the world is still wondering how that could have happened.
Slashdot Mirror
I'm pretty sure you have lost control of your Government.
It amazes me that a country the size of the US has only 2 serious political parties.
Even the UK (which has first past the post electorates as well) managed to elect 9 different parties in the 2017 election.
I understand the argument that the two US parties are "Big Tent" parties, I'm just not buying it.
...will be interesting if they actually attempt this when they're in power...
I'm going to guess not, as when the Democrats have the whip hand, they will be a better target for all those campaign contributions the telcos seem to offer.
The basic problem here is that the US Government sells itself off every year, it's just the buyers and the sellers that change.
Oh, sorry. A cheque is on it's way.
...it's only recently become an alleged issue...
Not a huge surprise though.
Well, the head of the NSA refused to pledge loyalty to our current President, so...
Which is a good thing, in the US no-one ever pledges loyalty to any individual. They might make a pledge to uphold the Constitution, but as far as I can tell the current President is the first to need personal loyalty from his officeholders.
I'm not comparing. I'm refusing to spend the thick end of a grand on something that might be of no use to me until I have done a bit of research.
I have tried the HTC Vive in a store and it was fine, but that's a 10 minute mess about.
Spending $18 to see if the general idea of VR is worth getting into seemed like the best bet.
People still don't want to pay $400 for a gimmicky motion sickness simulator?...
It's worse where I live. It looks like the Oculus costs something like $900 of my local money, plus an import duty, so something like $1200 I would think.
What I have done is spent $18 on a Google Cardboard type VR box I can put my phone in. It is actually made out of a sort of padded material that is comfortable to wear, and better quality than an actual cardboard box, but based on that design.
The reason for only spending that much money is that I have no real idea what VR is good for, but wanted to have a play to see if I might be missing out.
Turns out I'm not really.
Yes, the US has signed a Space Treaty.
Of course the whole point of this is not to actually put any airmen into space to protect the US or anything like that.
The point is to get a budget and some power for someone.
Feed lots are the real problem there. The major reason US beef is raised on feed lots is because corn is subsidised so it is super cheap.
Some countries raise beef on grass, which is better for the cows and better for the environment.
It's also better for taxpayers who are not funding the massively profitable corn industry through subsidies.
Who the fuck are System76 ?
If you don't know, you should go back to Reddit.
Nobody buying shares in a hundred year old public company is providing additional capital to the company, they are paying money to the previous shareholder.
You are right about not needing any more capital anyway, I think the company has about $17 billion cash on hand at the moment. The shareholders demand increased profits every year regardless.
We get these at home fairly regularly. Usually during the day when my wife is the only one home.
She is technically clueless, but knows enough to tell them "my husband looks after all that stuff" then hangs up.
I have been able to speak to the scammer a couple of times, and I ask them "Does your mother know what you do for a living"?
They try to argue that they're calling from "Tech Support" or "Microsoft" (or sometimes even "Windows" for some reason) but not with much conviction.
I have had a couple swear at me in Hindi lately, like some of the other commenters.
there just aren't enough people to create the endless growth that the greedy corporate overlords demand. In the "social media" area,
This is absolutely correct, but not just limited to Social Media companies.
I work for a massive manufacturing company, it owns more than 50% of the market we sell to (in this country anyway) and the only way to get the growth the shareholders demand is to cut costs.
So, now there are more people doing more work for the same or less money. I suspect this company is far from unique.
I'm confused by Kangaroos too.
Of course you're confused by Kangaroos. They're 6-foot tall mice that are not even proper mammals, and they keep stuff in a pouch on the front of their fur coat.
I believe they're also keen boxing fans, so keep away from them, especially on Friday nights after the pubs close, they're Australian, so are probably heavy drinkers.
The Americans here seem to take it as normal that people shoot each other in the street.
Weird.
World War II was caused by World War I.
I suspect this is just another example of someone who knows how to do one thing thinking his views on everything are correct.
That is the job of the phone manufacturer, so the only saving Virgin will be making is a tiny one in managing their stock of iPhones.
It's been a while since I read PJ's piece, but I think the conclusion was that the drivers were, as you say, blithering idiots, but the NTSB didn't feel they could be quite that blunt in their conclusions.
I think this is a big case of user error.
It usually is. PJ O'Rourke wrote a great piece about the NTSB in (I think) "Parliament of Whores".
They were investigating unexplained crashes of Volvos. It turns out the type of person who was buying Volvos at the time (in the US anyway) were often a poor driver who stamped on the gas instead of the brake.
Give it time, they will implode
The current investors are losing $2 billion or so per year, so there needs to be an IPO so they can offload their shares to some suckers and get their money back.
Then it will implode.
The TSA seems to have a budget of something like $7.5 billion. What are they providing for that money?
It sounds like a awful lot of money if it's just security guards at airports and air marshals, so they need to keep coming up with new ideas regularly so the money keeps flowing.
I'm pretty sure her name is Metallica
Man he had a long career.
The fact that you think a military solution might be the answer in North Korea says a lot about the US attitude towards the rest of the world. There is no way China would allow any of that.
You are completely right about how Trump got himself elected. The rest of the world is still wondering how that could have happened.
Anytime Americans have taken a stance that conflicts with the status quo, there has been violence:
The Haymarket Riot is just one of many occasions the US Government in it's many forms has used violence against workers.