My money's on MS + AOL. I've been saying they'll merge for years. Despite their hatred for each other, they're quite similar. (Maybe that's WHY they've been such fierce competitors?) They both appeal to technologically-illiterate end-users. They both employ nasty business tactics (AOL's usually lean more towards "annoying" on one hand and "shady" on the other; MS's can better be described as "illegal" and "brutal"; all different shades of evil but all evil!). Neither wants to educate their customers. Both want to build 'walled gardens' around the Internet to some degree. And so on.
'Pentium' derives from 'penta'-- i.e. FIVE, as in "five-eighty-six", as in 80586-- the successor to the four-eighty-six.
That made sense. Kinda.
But then Intel designed the six-eighty-six, and instead of "Hexium" (or, Allah/Yahweh/Zeus/Vishnu/InvisiblePinkUnicorn/Flyi ngSpaghettiMonster-forbid, "Sexium"!), they called it the "Pentium Pro". So, evidently, the number six was then redefined as "Five Pro".
Then Intel kept improving (well, or at least adding to) the 686 design, but not only did they never label any of these newer-gen chips the 80786, 80886, 80986, etc., but they kept the goddamned 'Pentium' brand.
This makes perfect sense from a marketing (read: "a suit's") perspective, but absolutely no mathematical or logical sense.
If Intel invented counting, we'd all count something like this:
"Zero, zero, one, two, three, four, five, five pro, five II, five II point xeon, five III, five III point xeon, five IV, five IV point xeon, five IV extreme edition, five M..."
Of course, this isn't all that different from the convoluted way the French count...;)
No. Because then, applications like Photoshop would NOT be fast in Rosetta, and they are.
My reasoning for saying this is that CPU-intensive, [presumably] tightly optimized things like Photoshop would not (at least, for the filters and other image operations) use API calls, they'd use hand-optimized raw C/C++ code, or even raw PPC assembly.
The fact that Photoshop performs quickly under Rosetta, to me, indicates that it's not primarily API reimplementation under the hood, but is some advanced form of cacheing JIT.
'Processor - x86 or x86-64; anything under 2GHz or so will be slow to the point of being unusable.'
OK, so what they're saying is "it's slow to emulate a PPC variant on an x86 variant". Duh.
But Apple seems to have cooked up something wonderful (or at least licensed something wonderful) in this vein in the form of Rosetta, the tech that lets Mac OS X for x86 run Mac OS X for PPC binaries very fast.
Sony has several metric fucktons of money. Can't they license the Rosetta technology, or pay for it to be basically "ported" from its current state of PPC-on-x86 to Cell-on-x86? Cell is PPC-based, so it shouldn't be so hard, no?
This is a great recipe for a successful trojan: Appeal to the vanity of ignorant, Windows-using suits (of which there are countless millions). It's sort of a cousin to the standard 419 scam: By appealing to greed, you convince the person to do something stupid (in the case of 419 scams, giving information to someone who promises something "too good to be true"; in this case, opening an attachment to an email that promises something "too good to be true").
Also noteworthy is the fact that the Windows-using suits are too stupid to realize that major business magazines (like other suit-run organizations) are hopelessly corporate, and thus are used to using phones first... not email first. So they wouldn't think to call and verify before blindly opening the attachment. (Of course, the fact that "opening attachments can hurt you" has not yet penetrated the thick fog in which most computer users perpetually wander. They can grasp the idea that "opening your door when someone knocks can hurt you", yet somehow the equivalent concept in computers evades them, since computers to them are magical fairy boxes that don't operate by the regluar laws of logic.)
Ah, but there is a flaw in the use of such a scheme in a trojan. The stupid Windows-using suits have money and power. Thus, I expect the person who wrote this trojan to be found, probably after a massive manhunt. Meanwhile, Jerome Brown from the ghetto, who raped LaQuaandah White from the ghetto, remains on the loose, since it's more important to attend to the needs of corporate America.
Because Slashdotters are unwilling to accept criticism. I'm sure someone reading my comments is thinking "You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar", but the time for "honey" is long past. Every goddamned day, the same bunch of geeks make the same old stupid mistakes, every goddamned day, some "Nazis" like myself point out the mistakes, and every goddamned day the "Nazis" gee modded down as "trolls" or "flamebaiters".
After the first few thousand times, you get sick and tired of "playing nice".
In this case, the fact that it was a religious school was almost irrelevant.
Although they won't admit it-- even to themselves-- the reasons why many "adults" like to make rules draconically and unnecessarily restricting "minors" are very ugly. First, there's simple spite-- "Well, we couldn't [do X, Y, or Z] as kids, so why should our kids be able to?" Second, there's the effect of making one feel "better", "higher" or more "special" by hurting others.
In the case of the latter, it's the same logic that causes people to bully others. If you call a scrawny nerdy kid horrible things, it will make you feel better, since you're [presumably] not those horrible things. And if you ban kids from blogging, it will make you feel better, since you-- the "adult"-- are allowed to blog. You're "higher" than the kid, "better" than the kid, more "special" than the kid.
It's the same old tired refrain. People take rights away from kids, then claim that it's for their own good. Kids can't work, even if they want to... "to prevent them from being exploited." (Never mind the kid who wants a part-time job because their parents won't buy them some trivial thing they want to buy, such as computer parts). Kids can't blog, "to protect them from online predators" (bullshit!). Kids can't drive, even if they're Mario Andretti's son and can drive better at 10 than most people at 40, because... well, because EVERYONE KNOWS KIDS CAN'T DO THAT. There are exceptions to every rule, but the sorts of assholes who set rules like this blogging ban either don't know or (more likely) simply don't give a shit.
I weep for the geeks of tomorrow.
To any student or anyone under 18 who is reading this: Just because you're a student, or just because you're under 18 and society labels you a "minor" (a hideous word meaning "unimportant"!) doesn't change who you are as a person. It doesn't make you any less smart, any less capable, any less worthy of basic human rights, including (but not limited to) the right of self-determination or the right to free speech.
People who like setting rules like this love saying things about how kids need such horrific rules to "protect" them, since they don't have as much "life experience". Let me tell you this: "Life experience" doesn't mean shit. There are countless millions of drunken, stupid, ignorant, arrogant 40-somethings out there. And there are countless millions of precocious, intelligent, kindly kids and teens-- kids and teens who rightfully deserve the preferential treatment unfairly given to anyone who just so happens to have been breathing for at least the wholly arbitrary count of 6,570 days. I'm 26, and I don't consider myself superior to you. These rules are a load of bullshit, completely unfair and immoral, and it pains me greatly to know that you are being subjected to such shit (as I was).
I trust Microsoft to be responsible in their use of advertisements around as much as I trust, say, AOL to.
For that matter, why the Mickey Mouse fuck should a company primarily involved in operating systems, office suites, database systems, and video game systems be investigating advertisement?
I paid (sucker that I am) for Windows. Many times. I paid for Office too. I paid for my Xbox (Well, actually, I traded an old computer for it. I suppose I paid by proxy.). I paid for Microsoft Virtual PC.
Once I paid for these things, I have every reason in the world to expect that these things should not be used to feed me ads.
Then again, look at what happened with cable TV. The whole fucking IDEA of cable TV was that you pay for it and it's not broadcast, so therefore [A] people can say "fuck", "shit", "cock" and "motherfucker" on cable and [B] YOU DON'T HAVE TO SEE ADS ON CABLE.
Well, [B] fell by the wayside pretty damned quick, and from what I've heard, the FCC's been trying very hard to destroy [A].
And people put up with this shit.
Prediction: Microsoft will experiment with offering a low-cost, ad-supported version of Windows. They may opt to make the 'Home' version of their software ad-supported. At first, it may be ridiculously cheap, or maybe even free (perhaps as a limited-time promotion); after a while, though, they'll find sneaky ways to work ads into all but the 'Corporate' editions of their products.
WHY, despite Microsoft's best marketing efforts, does virtually everyone get this wrong?
It's "Xbox". It's not "X-Box", "X-box", "X Box" or anything else.
Similar mistakes people make that drive me batty:
1) "Apple" is a company. "Mac" is a product-- specifically, a computer architecture. "Mac OS X" is an operating system. It is not called "Macintosh OS", "Apple OS X", "Apple Mac OS", "OS-X", "OSX", "Macintosh OS-X", "OS Ten", "Apple Max OS", "Max Unix OS", or any of the other mangled renderings I've seen online.
Nobody works for "Mac". It's not a company. Saying "my cousin works for Mac" or "I've considered investing in Mac" or "Mac should introduce a new product" is like saying "my cousin works for Explorer" or "I've considered investing in Explorer" or "Explorer should introduce a new product" (where you mean "Ford", maker of the Explorer).
Nobody's computer runs "Mac". It's not an operating system.
2) Say "Windows" when you mean "Windows". Don't say "This game is available for the PC" if it will not run on my Debian-running "PCs".
3) Likewise, nobody ports games "to the Mac". They port the games "to Mac OS X". (In the olden days, they ported the games "to Mac OS", and before then, they ported games "to the Macintosh System".)
4) It's "Windows XP", not "XP OS", "WindowsXP", "Microsoft XP", "Windows-XP", or any other such rubbish.
5) "Microsoft" is a company, not an office suite or an operating system. "This computer runs Microsoft" is a nonsensical statement.
I'm sure I'll get modded down for this. I'm willing to. This is Slashdot; we're supposed to be geeks. We're supposed to know the meanings and correct uses of computer terms, including proper nouns. Writing properly isn't just something you're supposed to do in school.
I could excuse this sort of stuff from Taiwanese manufacturers of bargain-basement computer parts. (And even they should have the basic self-respect to hire a native English speaker to edit their goddamned manuals.) However, I cannot excuse this from any geeky, high-IQ, native-born American, British, Canadian (excluding the Quebecois), Australian (excluding the Aborigines), or New Zealander (excluding the Maori). (Exceptions granted to the dyslexic, the blind, etc. The rest of you should fucking know better.)
The free version can be downloaded directly from Microsoft.
So nice that Microsoft is embracing free software. Where's the SourceForge repository?
Re:I'd like to see this in a free and open society
on
Chinese Eco-Cities
·
· Score: 1
The solution's staring you in the face. It's just that Americans are too afraid of losing their precious "freedoms" (including the "freedom" to FUCK UP THE AIR EVERYONE BREATHES AND THE WATER EVERYONE DRINKS) to care.
Solution:
1) Move people into cities.
2) Ban cars.
3) Make efficiency and lack of pollution a government priority. Enforce this with strict penalties (as in "time in a Federal Pound-Me-In-The-Ass Prison") for corrupt officials who want to keep up the bureaucratic, plutocratic status quo of today.
Re:I'd like to see this in a free and open society
on
Chinese Eco-Cities
·
· Score: 1
1) "Attention all citizens: Cars will be allowed only by special license as of 5 years from now. MOVE TO THE CITIES. Construction of lots of new subways and efficient commuter rail systems is underway as we speak. Repeat, MOVE TO THE CITIES. If you cannot afford to do so, we will give you a stipend, pulled from funds that otherwise would have gone to government bureaucrats and/or fighting foreign wars."
2) Follow through on that.
Re:I'd like to see this in a free and open society
on
Chinese Eco-Cities
·
· Score: 4, Insightful
Are they free to choose to buy a car that burns gasoline?
Spoken like a true American.
Do you even realize how silly (and stereotypically American) this sounds? As if the greatest human freedom is the freedom to choose to drive a big, ugly, polluting monstrosity?
You forgot to throw in "Are they free to choose to eat a Super-Sized McFatty Deluxe meal from McDonald's?"
Cars are stupid anyways. They should not be allowed, except for where they are actually necessary: In remote areas. People should live in dense cities; they're more efficient and, most importantly of all, LESS POLLUTING.
We only have one atmosphere. Once we mess it up, it's all over. You libertarian types with your "FREEDOM TO POLLUTE!!1111" rubbish are going to be the death of the human species.
Just as people shouldn't have the "freedom" to shoot each other over petty squabbles, people also shouldn't have the "right" to pollute the atmosphere. You want to talk about "the tragedy of the commons"? By allowing anyone to spew pollutants willy-nilly into the atmosphere with privately-owned cars, ironically, we've created a "tragedy of the commons"-like situation... WITH OUR AIR..
We may be okay for a century or two, or three, or maybe even more. But we can't keep it up forever. Either the air will become unbreathable, the oceans will end up flooding out coastal cities (read: Manhattan, San Francisco, etc. etc. etc...) or both.
And if it happens, you can thank Americans like yourself who think owning a car is their God-given right.
I hate how Mac OS X handles symlinks. Symlinks work perfectly, both within the shell and within the Finder, but the Finder doesn't create symlinks... it creates Aliases (think "Shortcuts").
"Aliases" don't work in the shell. They're files. Trying to "cd" to one of them is like trying to "cd" to a.lnk file in Windows.
I wish the Finder created symlinks (or, at least, that you can make it do so) instead of Aliases.
And I hope that, if and when Windows starts to support symlinks, explorer.exe will create symlinks instead of Shortcuts.
...I wouldn't be surprised if these "454 Life Sciences" guys have patents on pieces of the human genome, a growing evil practice among corporations. (The WSJ wouldn't care about niggling little ethical issues like that.)
Do they?
Is there a site that shows who "owns" what pieces of the human genome?
Slashdot Mirror
My money's on MS + AOL. I've been saying they'll merge for years. Despite their hatred for each other, they're quite similar. (Maybe that's WHY they've been such fierce competitors?) They both appeal to technologically-illiterate end-users. They both employ nasty business tactics (AOL's usually lean more towards "annoying" on one hand and "shady" on the other; MS's can better be described as "illegal" and "brutal"; all different shades of evil but all evil!). Neither wants to educate their customers. Both want to build 'walled gardens' around the Internet to some degree. And so on.
Because a gigahertz is a BILLION hertz, not a MILLION.
Ah, I see why I said quatre-vingt dix-huit. I was translating "four twenties ten eight" from the parent.
Err. Right. Sleep deprivatioin is an awful thing.
Yep. Quatre-vingt dix-huit. Clear as mud.
...the "Pentium Pro".
i ngSpaghettiMonster-forbid, "Sexium"!), they called it the "Pentium Pro". So, evidently, the number six was then redefined as "Five Pro".
;)
'Pentium' derives from 'penta'-- i.e. FIVE, as in "five-eighty-six", as in 80586-- the successor to the four-eighty-six.
That made sense. Kinda.
But then Intel designed the six-eighty-six, and instead of "Hexium" (or, Allah/Yahweh/Zeus/Vishnu/InvisiblePinkUnicorn/Fly
Then Intel kept improving (well, or at least adding to) the 686 design, but not only did they never label any of these newer-gen chips the 80786, 80886, 80986, etc., but they kept the goddamned 'Pentium' brand.
This makes perfect sense from a marketing (read: "a suit's") perspective, but absolutely no mathematical or logical sense.
If Intel invented counting, we'd all count something like this:
"Zero, zero, one, two, three, four, five, five pro, five II, five II point xeon, five III, five III point xeon, five IV, five IV point xeon, five IV extreme edition, five M..."
Of course, this isn't all that different from the convoluted way the French count...
No. Because then, applications like Photoshop would NOT be fast in Rosetta, and they are.
My reasoning for saying this is that CPU-intensive, [presumably] tightly optimized things like Photoshop would not (at least, for the filters and other image operations) use API calls, they'd use hand-optimized raw C/C++ code, or even raw PPC assembly.
The fact that Photoshop performs quickly under Rosetta, to me, indicates that it's not primarily API reimplementation under the hood, but is some advanced form of cacheing JIT.
OK, so what they're saying is "it's slow to emulate a PPC variant on an x86 variant". Duh.
But Apple seems to have cooked up something wonderful (or at least licensed something wonderful) in this vein in the form of Rosetta, the tech that lets Mac OS X for x86 run Mac OS X for PPC binaries very fast.
Sony has several metric fucktons of money. Can't they license the Rosetta technology, or pay for it to be basically "ported" from its current state of PPC-on-x86 to Cell-on-x86? Cell is PPC-based, so it shouldn't be so hard, no?
Well, almost perfect.
This is a great recipe for a successful trojan: Appeal to the vanity of ignorant, Windows-using suits (of which there are countless millions). It's sort of a cousin to the standard 419 scam: By appealing to greed, you convince the person to do something stupid (in the case of 419 scams, giving information to someone who promises something "too good to be true"; in this case, opening an attachment to an email that promises something "too good to be true").
Also noteworthy is the fact that the Windows-using suits are too stupid to realize that major business magazines (like other suit-run organizations) are hopelessly corporate, and thus are used to using phones first... not email first. So they wouldn't think to call and verify before blindly opening the attachment. (Of course, the fact that "opening attachments can hurt you" has not yet penetrated the thick fog in which most computer users perpetually wander. They can grasp the idea that "opening your door when someone knocks can hurt you", yet somehow the equivalent concept in computers evades them, since computers to them are magical fairy boxes that don't operate by the regluar laws of logic.)
Ah, but there is a flaw in the use of such a scheme in a trojan. The stupid Windows-using suits have money and power. Thus, I expect the person who wrote this trojan to be found, probably after a massive manhunt. Meanwhile, Jerome Brown from the ghetto, who raped LaQuaandah White from the ghetto, remains on the loose, since it's more important to attend to the needs of corporate America.
Just another day in American "justice"...
Because Slashdotters are unwilling to accept criticism. I'm sure someone reading my comments is thinking "You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar", but the time for "honey" is long past. Every goddamned day, the same bunch of geeks make the same old stupid mistakes, every goddamned day, some "Nazis" like myself point out the mistakes, and every goddamned day the "Nazis" gee modded down as "trolls" or "flamebaiters".
After the first few thousand times, you get sick and tired of "playing nice".
PEOPLE NEED TO LEARN TO FUCKING WRITE.
In this case, the fact that it was a religious school was almost irrelevant.
Although they won't admit it-- even to themselves-- the reasons why many "adults" like to make rules draconically and unnecessarily restricting "minors" are very ugly. First, there's simple spite-- "Well, we couldn't [do X, Y, or Z] as kids, so why should our kids be able to?" Second, there's the effect of making one feel "better", "higher" or more "special" by hurting others.
In the case of the latter, it's the same logic that causes people to bully others. If you call a scrawny nerdy kid horrible things, it will make you feel better, since you're [presumably] not those horrible things. And if you ban kids from blogging, it will make you feel better, since you-- the "adult"-- are allowed to blog. You're "higher" than the kid, "better" than the kid, more "special" than the kid.
It's the same old tired refrain. People take rights away from kids, then claim that it's for their own good. Kids can't work, even if they want to... "to prevent them from being exploited." (Never mind the kid who wants a part-time job because their parents won't buy them some trivial thing they want to buy, such as computer parts). Kids can't blog, "to protect them from online predators" (bullshit!). Kids can't drive, even if they're Mario Andretti's son and can drive better at 10 than most people at 40, because... well, because EVERYONE KNOWS KIDS CAN'T DO THAT. There are exceptions to every rule, but the sorts of assholes who set rules like this blogging ban either don't know or (more likely) simply don't give a shit.
I weep for the geeks of tomorrow.
To any student or anyone under 18 who is reading this: Just because you're a student, or just because you're under 18 and society labels you a "minor" (a hideous word meaning "unimportant"!) doesn't change who you are as a person. It doesn't make you any less smart, any less capable, any less worthy of basic human rights, including (but not limited to) the right of self-determination or the right to free speech.
People who like setting rules like this love saying things about how kids need such horrific rules to "protect" them, since they don't have as much "life experience". Let me tell you this: "Life experience" doesn't mean shit. There are countless millions of drunken, stupid, ignorant, arrogant 40-somethings out there. And there are countless millions of precocious, intelligent, kindly kids and teens-- kids and teens who rightfully deserve the preferential treatment unfairly given to anyone who just so happens to have been breathing for at least the wholly arbitrary count of 6,570 days. I'm 26, and I don't consider myself superior to you. These rules are a load of bullshit, completely unfair and immoral, and it pains me greatly to know that you are being subjected to such shit (as I was).
That's nice.
How does it work with (for instance) Mac OS X, Linux 2.4, Linux 2.6, or the current versions of NetBSD, OpenBSD, and FreeBSD?
It's fucking sick that EVEN ON SLASHDOT, it's usually safe (and considered, by the majority, to be inoffensive) to assume that Everyone Runs Windows.
(I guess that's why it's "News for Nerds". "Nerds" run Windows; "Geeks" run Unix, eh?)
Is this why they want to buy Claria?
I trust Microsoft to be responsible in their use of advertisements around as much as I trust, say, AOL to.
For that matter, why the Mickey Mouse fuck should a company primarily involved in operating systems, office suites, database systems, and video game systems be investigating advertisement?
I paid (sucker that I am) for Windows. Many times. I paid for Office too. I paid for my Xbox (Well, actually, I traded an old computer for it. I suppose I paid by proxy.). I paid for Microsoft Virtual PC.
Once I paid for these things, I have every reason in the world to expect that these things should not be used to feed me ads.
Then again, look at what happened with cable TV. The whole fucking IDEA of cable TV was that you pay for it and it's not broadcast, so therefore [A] people can say "fuck", "shit", "cock" and "motherfucker" on cable and [B] YOU DON'T HAVE TO SEE ADS ON CABLE.
Well, [B] fell by the wayside pretty damned quick, and from what I've heard, the FCC's been trying very hard to destroy [A].
And people put up with this shit.
Prediction: Microsoft will experiment with offering a low-cost, ad-supported version of Windows. They may opt to make the 'Home' version of their software ad-supported. At first, it may be ridiculously cheap, or maybe even free (perhaps as a limited-time promotion); after a while, though, they'll find sneaky ways to work ads into all but the 'Corporate' editions of their products.
And people will just put up with it.
I wouldn't put that past them, would you?
It's " Xbox ".
WHY, despite Microsoft's best marketing efforts, does virtually everyone get this wrong?
It's "Xbox". It's not "X-Box", "X-box", "X Box" or anything else.
Similar mistakes people make that drive me batty:
1) "Apple" is a company. "Mac" is a product-- specifically, a computer architecture. "Mac OS X" is an operating system. It is not called "Macintosh OS", "Apple OS X", "Apple Mac OS", "OS-X", "OSX", "Macintosh OS-X", "OS Ten", "Apple Max OS", "Max Unix OS", or any of the other mangled renderings I've seen online.
Nobody works for "Mac". It's not a company. Saying "my cousin works for Mac" or "I've considered investing in Mac" or "Mac should introduce a new product" is like saying "my cousin works for Explorer" or "I've considered investing in Explorer" or "Explorer should introduce a new product" (where you mean "Ford", maker of the Explorer).
Nobody's computer runs "Mac". It's not an operating system.
2) Say "Windows" when you mean "Windows". Don't say "This game is available for the PC" if it will not run on my Debian-running "PCs".
3) Likewise, nobody ports games "to the Mac". They port the games "to Mac OS X". (In the olden days, they ported the games "to Mac OS", and before then, they ported games "to the Macintosh System".)
4) It's "Windows XP", not "XP OS", "WindowsXP", "Microsoft XP", "Windows-XP", or any other such rubbish.
5) "Microsoft" is a company, not an office suite or an operating system. "This computer runs Microsoft" is a nonsensical statement.
I'm sure I'll get modded down for this. I'm willing to. This is Slashdot; we're supposed to be geeks. We're supposed to know the meanings and correct uses of computer terms, including proper nouns. Writing properly isn't just something you're supposed to do in school.
I could excuse this sort of stuff from Taiwanese manufacturers of bargain-basement computer parts. (And even they should have the basic self-respect to hire a native English speaker to edit their goddamned manuals.) However, I cannot excuse this from any geeky, high-IQ, native-born American, British, Canadian (excluding the Quebecois), Australian (excluding the Aborigines), or New Zealander (excluding the Maori). (Exceptions granted to the dyslexic, the blind, etc. The rest of you should fucking know better.)
Ah, Lieutenant-Commander Data, so good to see you here. I see you've recently gained the use of contractions. This is quite impressive!
You're probably still getting used to that emotions chip. I'm sure, in time, you'll be able to comprehend when someone is joking.
So nice that Microsoft is embracing free software. Where's the SourceForge repository?
The solution's staring you in the face. It's just that Americans are too afraid of losing their precious "freedoms" (including the "freedom" to FUCK UP THE AIR EVERYONE BREATHES AND THE WATER EVERYONE DRINKS) to care.
Solution:
1) Move people into cities.
2) Ban cars.
3) Make efficiency and lack of pollution a government priority. Enforce this with strict penalties (as in "time in a Federal Pound-Me-In-The-Ass Prison") for corrupt officials who want to keep up the bureaucratic, plutocratic status quo of today.
1) "Attention all citizens: Cars will be allowed only by special license as of 5 years from now. MOVE TO THE CITIES. Construction of lots of new subways and efficient commuter rail systems is underway as we speak. Repeat, MOVE TO THE CITIES. If you cannot afford to do so, we will give you a stipend, pulled from funds that otherwise would have gone to government bureaucrats and/or fighting foreign wars."
2) Follow through on that.
Spoken like a true American.
Do you even realize how silly (and stereotypically American) this sounds? As if the greatest human freedom is the freedom to choose to drive a big, ugly, polluting monstrosity?
You forgot to throw in "Are they free to choose to eat a Super-Sized McFatty Deluxe meal from McDonald's?"
Cars are stupid anyways. They should not be allowed, except for where they are actually necessary: In remote areas. People should live in dense cities; they're more efficient and, most importantly of all, LESS POLLUTING.
We only have one atmosphere. Once we mess it up, it's all over. You libertarian types with your "FREEDOM TO POLLUTE!!1111" rubbish are going to be the death of the human species.
Just as people shouldn't have the "freedom" to shoot each other over petty squabbles, people also shouldn't have the "right" to pollute the atmosphere. You want to talk about "the tragedy of the commons"? By allowing anyone to spew pollutants willy-nilly into the atmosphere with privately-owned cars, ironically, we've created a "tragedy of the commons"-like situation... WITH OUR AIR..
We may be okay for a century or two, or three, or maybe even more. But we can't keep it up forever. Either the air will become unbreathable, the oceans will end up flooding out coastal cities (read: Manhattan, San Francisco, etc. etc. etc...) or both.
And if it happens, you can thank Americans like yourself who think owning a car is their God-given right.
I hate how Mac OS X handles symlinks. Symlinks work perfectly, both within the shell and within the Finder, but the Finder doesn't create symlinks... it creates Aliases (think "Shortcuts").
.lnk file in Windows.
"Aliases" don't work in the shell. They're files. Trying to "cd" to one of them is like trying to "cd" to a
I wish the Finder created symlinks (or, at least, that you can make it do so) instead of Aliases.
And I hope that, if and when Windows starts to support symlinks, explorer.exe will create symlinks instead of Shortcuts.
It's 2005. Users aren't allowed to out-innovate Big Corporations! It's ... it's ... it's positively communist!
(NOTE FOR THE HUMOR-IMPAIRED: THE ABOVE IS SARCASM)
Yes.
Yes.
"In fact" is two words, and it's "THEIR". Not "there".
...I wouldn't be surprised if these "454 Life Sciences" guys have patents on pieces of the human genome, a growing evil practice among corporations. (The WSJ wouldn't care about niggling little ethical issues like that.)
Do they?
Is there a site that shows who "owns" what pieces of the human genome?