I understand what you mean, and on that point you're correct. But regarding the hardware and it's capacity, having hand-held PCs on us all the time, is a double-edged sword, no matter what. Once you cross that barrier (to have one on you at all times or not) then it's up to you to use it 'correctly'. These devices are capable of storing a lot of different information, and that fact can be taken advantage of, depending on the information that we choose to store on said device.

That being said, those that choose to enjoy someone being taken advantage of, and snickering about it... that's the definition of sociopath.

Yup, you can see how effective a camera mounted on a police officer is here.

A tree can absorb as much as 48 pounds of carbon dioxide per year and can sequester 1 ton of carbon dioxide by the time it reaches 40 years old.

Not sure if you were trying to say "nothing" to mean that "...in light of the needs, trees cannot keep up...", but saying "trees do nothing" is just crazy.

I'm with you, so what? At the very most, we'll see a Matrix4 with a new take on how/why they fight so much. But seriously, would it then appeal to more to look at the universe inside themselves, or from an internal perspective? Because it seems to me that there has existed, for a very long time now, a philosophy that all this (physical world) is maya (illusion) anyway.

I don't think that is correct. We can see the same attitude toward workers today, and the type of work that comes of it is mediocre. It's one thing to imagine some asshole slinging whips and yelling at everyone, but it's another to imagine a group of people working together only inspired by (their own individual?) reasoning.

Pixar and Google have wonderful working environments, I'm told, and they also have a superior product. I think those two things are directly related.

I'd say that whatever they used to build the pyramids, it was either some high level of technology that we cannot fathom, or there was some high level of inspiration that we cannot fathom.

SO the FBI, CIA, NSA, IRS, and DHS all work together to stop drug trafficers. There's a conspiracy theory if I ever saw one...

...Like this idea. Let the immigrants come and do the work. Hell they can have the nightmare that has become the technical industry. I quit my job over a year ago, just because of how ridiculous doing work for a technical job has become.

Inherently built into the supporting factor(s) of the tech industry, is the eventual collapse of workers that want to work. Using the same business practices that are practiced today, the overseas folks that are going to be taking these jobs will eventually need to be replaced as well. And then what? The problem's not the workers, it's the work and those that design the work. By the way, those folks will not be replaced.

I think that if we had to fix this, as though it's a problem, we could just create a way that the phone could have the ability to not be bricked for... what an hour or so (perhaps this feature could have it's own timer set by the user), with the same password or whatever they come up with to unbrick it later. So if you're at the place that you're using your phone and the $government wants to brick the phone, you could enter the code and the phone can then not be bricked for so long.

If your phone is bricked, but it's in your hand, is that such a bad thing, as long as there's a way to unbrick it, rather fast, and then disable it from being bricked (for a certain time period)? If the $government wants the phones to be bricked, and their reasoning is for the good of the general public, then I cannot see why it wouldn't be done in this way, in order to please everyone.

Or am I overlooking something?

Not paying for the internet is always an alternative. A friend told me that most of these internet users that do like to be sold to, also like for their equipment to be setup in default mode, whereby there is no wireless security. If my calculations are correct (everyone that's stuck with a shitty ISP, has neighbors that are also stuck), then there should be enough suckers for the mad people to steal service from.

It is sad. As an American, I have to admit defeat in a war that I did not know was being fought, despite endless, constant mention of it.

I guess we could start practicing things like forgiveness and piety any time we want though.

Same here, Slackware (14.0 now) at that, running KDE (installed by default). I work with many clients using this as well. I can connect to their windows servers via remote desktop (KRDC) (installed by default) if need be. I haven't had any issue conversing with, and/or sharing notes with any microsoft office users, (calligra suite) (installed by default). I'm browsing with firefox (installed by default), run my own email server (sendmail) (installed by default) and view mail with thunderbird (installed by default). Sometimes if I leave k3b (DVD burning software installed by default) open for to long, it causes KDE to go full-on rahtard, and has been known to require a reboot. Other than that, once you get used to it, and learn a way to do things that produce the results that you're looking for, it's quite nice.

Every time I upgrade to the latest version of slackware, I'm able to simply copy data and I'm right back in business. This matter of having the same data for 10+ years is extremely important to so many people. I wonder how many windows users can say that they have data (and I'm talking about personal files as well as other files, like config files for programs to run as you like them to run - not music, movies etc...) that's 10+ years old. I ran windows for 15+ years prior switching completely to slackware. I ran slackware for more than 6 years before I ever typed 'startx' at a prompt.

I'd also like to point out that fixes for security issues and/or any other update that's required, are almost always released prior to any microsoft fix. Pretty important stuff, especially if you're running any type of server out of your home.

I point all of this out, not out of egoism, but to really say that even running slackware, probably the clunkiest way to run the linux kernel, the X environment is pretty damn stable, and very adapted to the rest of the world. Of course, slackware IS known for it's stability...

If it weren't for bribes, and all the other luxuries that come with being 'in office', I don't think anyone would apply (run for) for those positions. Anyone that works for the general public knows that it's not as nice as working for a private company. Working in the government is 'working for the general public' - on crack (no pun Canada).

It's quite common for those that work in the government to see the public as a bunch of losers that aren't willing to do anything, but want you to give them stuff, mostly money. They see how broken the system is, and are satisfied with taking what they can and getting out as soon as they can. Also, it's not that this happens more or less in any part of the country, but that in the south, it appears that they're more divided and against each other, resulting in more tattling.

Until lobbying is put to rest, how does anyone expect that this won't be a constant issue?

Dunno man, I feel what you're saying, and agree. However, a quick look at the site will prove that there's more than just milking a cash-cow going on here. If you check out this page for instance, you'll find that there isn't any information regarding anything at all, just a bunch of random Latin.

Google translate thinks it's English, but it's Latin. Here's what I found it to mean:

So it looks like this page, a page that many would go to looking for advice on what to do since no doctors take medicaid now (Many are no longer accepting obamacare at all), is left blank (feeling that perhaps what's there is some default junk included with whatever web-hosting software they use). Seems like someone would have done something to fix this by now.

I never said "bitcoins don't exist".

Can you cite where anywhere is saying that they're going to auction the bitcoins off? The article that we're commenting on simply doesn't say that, it only says that they're going to convert (they literally used the word "convert") them to US dollars. maybe it's shitty of them to write it like that, and maybe it's shitty that I don't assume as you do. But your argument is based on your own theory, and nothing that I see fit to recognize as correct. Cite me something other than your rude comment, or fuck off.

Yeah, I think perhaps the article left out valuable info, like that it was going to auction the bitcoins. All it says is that it's going to convert them into US dollars. Anytime the government sells things, then they do so in order to get money which already exists. Here, it appears to me (and I could be wrong) that they're just converting them. So in the end, the US government is buying the bitcoins, as a means to create US dollars. Dunno, it just struck me as odd.