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Comment Re:Is this an ad ? (Score 0) 304

Do you realize that there was a young man with hearing so good that he could use echolocation to play basketball despite being blind?

Can you do that?

Does this suggest to you that, perhaps when people claim to be able to discern sounds you can't, it's because your hearing isn't particularly good?

I'm nearsighted with superior human hearing. At least, that's what the medical tests they gave me said. I can't see that well, but I can hear electronics in the room when no one else can and do other things that are unusual. Not nearly good enough to use echolocation, but statistically speaking, probably much, much better than you. If you're going to talk about me behind my back, you might want to walk another 50 meters away before you start. Not really much of an art buff, though.

Dated a woman for years who was both a tetrachromat and a synesthete. Her capacity to discern things visually was spectacular. Brilliant painter. Didn't hear that well though. Unless you're a woman, I can say with a high degree of certainty that her vision is far superior to yours. Her mutation is known to cause color blindness in men. Her taste in music was rather simplistic compared to mine, a reflection of my own failure to appreciate what it is in visual art that gets people so excited.

Are you a child, perhaps? You come across that way. Most people learn that other people have vastly different experiences of the world by the time they reach adulthood, and learn not to project their own capabilities and limitations onto everyone else.

You know that when we play peekaboo, just because you can't see me, that doesn't mean I've disappeared, right?

Comment Re:Not if they just repudiate the debt. (Score 5, Insightful) 193

There's always the rest of the world(read: countries within the NATO-defined First World) that doesn't want the US's head on a plate.

Dude, I hate to disillusion you, but we ALL want your head on a plate. If you meet someone and they lead you to believe otherwise, you should try to recognize that he's talking out of both corners of his mouth in an effort to get something out of you. None of us like you. I was half tempted to say that, maybe, the Israeli's, but honestly, I'm confident they think of you as a self-absorbed pack of idiots whose only role is to be exploited.

This is not a troll. At least, it's not intended to be a troll. I genuinely am trying to set you straight, help bring your perspective a little closer to the realities that exist outside your borders.

The shit you guys are responsible for as a nation is not a joke. No one is laughing along with you.

Inside your country, you can divide things up into "The CIA did this, the NSA did that, I didn't do shit, I was just here minding my own business and paying my taxes.", and that flies with the people you meet on the street.

But then when Chinese hackers do something, you say "China did it."

That's how it is for the rest of us too. Without open warfare, you can't intrude into the inner workings of China and hold individual citizens accountable, you need to deal with the entire state, hold them accountable, and leave it to them to hold the individual citizens accountable, or not.

We can't intrude into the inner workings of America and hold individual citizens accountable, we need to deal with your entire state, hold you accountable, and leave it to you to hold the NSA accountable.

So, basically, everything your government does to the rest of us, you have done to the rest of us. You can argue about fairness and prejudice till you're blue in the face, but these are the power dynamics, and that's just how it is.

You seriously need to clean your house before the rest of the world is forced to come do it for you. If you don't realize just how precarious a position your government has put you in, you really need to wake up.

Comment Re:New version, same problem (Score 2) 136

Let's just get this out of the way:

QUOTE

It's Microsoft, it suxers. It jus sux. in every way it suxxx. it's microsoft, right? it sux right? it sux. Suxxxxeeeerrrr. Sux, right?

OK.

It looks like a nice piece of hardware. I'd be tempted to get one. But, like you say, it's Microsoft. Once trust is gone, no argument can bring it back.

Comment Re:Vs the NSA (Score 1, Flamebait) 225

Yes, embargos and trade sanctions would hurt the US, but they would hurt China more. After all, the US is the consumer. It can turn to other vendors, even if they are pricier, and it can reduce consumption if absolutely necessary. China is the seller. It needs those dollars coming into its economy, and there is no other potential customer that has nearly as much money to spend as the US does.

What planet are you from? Is it nice there?

America has no leverage. They don't make anything anymore, so they can't trade anything anymore. Just their funny money, and China is in the middle of an effort, coordinated with Russia, to topple the US dollar. But it's not like Chinese people are going to be cold and starving if the US cuts off the supply. Chinese people could dump their manufactured goods in the ocean and it wouldn't really impact them that much as long as their population had somewhere to go and something to do on Monday morning so they don't get bored and cause trouble.

You guys are like a big, fat, fat, lead albatross around the neck of the planet. Did I mention fat. Yeah, your technology is obvious, your music is poisonous, your cuisine is disgusting and yet, somehow, you're all fat. And liars and spies and war criminals.

Seriously, why are we reading an article about the Chinese when the entire US government is full of war criminals? Is this a joke? Is it April Fools day? Am I being punked?

I mean, yeah, I'm not American, so yeah, in the "We're all being punked by the Americans" sense, I know I'm being punked... but there aren't any hidden cameras here, are there?

I mean, yeah, I know there's a hidden camera in my laptop and two in my phone, and your criminal operatives have probably hacked it because I spout inflammatory rhetoric in public forums all the time and they probably have quotas like a traffic cop... but, this isn't a reality TV show intended to entertain the masses with a big silly joke, is it?

Please don't put me on one of those shows. I'm not a politician...

PS: Those nukes don't hide the fact that YOU'RE ALL FAT!!! Have another cheeseburger, fatty!

Comment Re: I wanna know 1 thing (Score 2) 293

I will be so happy when this crap leads to the end of anonymous posting.

I suspect that is the reason we see so much more bad behavior veiled by anonymity these days... to destroy platforms that allow anonymous discourse, just as the big media companies pay people to pollute torrent sites with garbage. This feels coordinated, and it makes me happy.

Some day, we'll be able to go looking for trolls and physically assault them.

That will be a good day.

Comment Re:That's the REAL reason Google bought Moto (Score 0) 46

Moto's 3G and radio patents had real teeth.

But these patents were also licensed to the public under a uniform-royalty arrangement (sometimes called "FRAND") as a condition of being included in cellular standards. Apple never agreed to any such uniform-royalty arrangement.

Yeah, just because YOU agreed not to be a dick, doesn't mean WE surrender OUR right to be dicks! Think Different! Bend Over!

Comment Re:Lol... (Score 3, Insightful) 329

I make a concerted effort to:
- consume no music that wasn't published freely by it's creators
- amuse myself instead by jamming with my friends, or hanging out with my friends who are jamming and aspire to nothing more
- read books that are published free of any copyright, or are no longer governed by copyright, or are available at the library
- publish my writings free of any restriction
- build software only for hire, and only on platforms that are not restricted to those who pay for a license, never for those who would profit through copyright
- avoid playing video games
- avoid television and movies that were created for profit
- purchase used clothing from boutique stores, or have clothes made for me by someone I know
- avoid purchasing anything that I've seen an advertisement for
- eat only at owner-run restaurants where I can introduce myself to the owner and the cook and get to know them
- volunteer my time to creating abundance by involving myself in urban gardens, distributing parts for RepRap's, etc
- avoid working for companies whose profits come from advertising or copyright enforcement
- never loan money at it interest, but give it away to freely to those who need and deserve it if I can afford it
- give away my material possessions when I have no further need of them, rather than selling them

Have I held to these principles like a rock? No. I'm a human trying to get by in a culture whose values are diametrically opposed to my own, and it's proving very difficult to leave, though I am trying my best to get the hell out of North America. When every scrap of material and every square foot of land is someone's private property, you have to make compromises in order to survive. But these are my principles, and I do try to live by them.

At the end of the day, I am opposed to profit, and to private property. I consider both to be crimes against mankind. Which basically puts me in opposition to every signatory to the United Nations, because private property is one of their core shared values.

I've brought a lot of good to a lot of people with my deeds and my creations, and I am not a greedy person, so even though I've made some compromises that I'm ashamed of, I feel pretty good about it all at the end of the day. I'm not God's gift to mankind, but I know I am one of the men who carries other men on his shoulders.

The point of this isn't to toot my own horn. You wouldn't recognize me on the street, what would be the point. It's to assure you that, while you may or may not agree with my views, they are GENUINE. I have been described as inspiring by people who didn't think I was within earshot, and that's all the reward I need to carry on.

Comment Re:Lol... (Score -1) 329

You can't steal an intangible, you fucking idiot.

So, you'd be cool if some hacker broke into your doctor's office's server, stole all your medical files, and posted them online? I guess not, since those are "intangible" too, and neither you nor your doctor's office really lost anything, right?

After all, it's all just bytes of data. It's not like anyone out at those game companies depend on those bytes to earn a fucking living, feed their kids, pay their rent, or anything like that, right? Share and share alike, that's what you're all about.

Yes, I would be just fine with that. And, as I've said before, I oppose the very idea of "professional entertainment", be it musicians, athletes, actors or games programmers. So, if you can break their industries and force them to do something productive for a living... PLEASE DO!

Comment Re:Lol... (Score 4, Insightful) 329

the only reason why MMO games DONT let players run their own servers is that they make no money from them. im sure blizzard wouldnt mind letting people have private servers as long as they still paid for the content and the subscription... but generally speaking, they are stealing.

You can't steal an intangible, you fucking idiot. I know that's not very diplomatic, but for fucks sakes, this is "News for Nerds", not the bloody short bus.

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