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Comment Re:And your Pro-NRA social programs are? (Score 1) 2987

If I look at the cross section of my friends who are NRA members, most are Republicans. Of those, most are for limiting all government programs, but especially those which treat "fake" illnesses like mental instability. They post about how the government shouldn't be providing social services because it raises the taxes which chip away at the money they work for every day in their jobs.

Nobody in the NRA ever seems to be asking Congress to fund programs to evaluate and assist the mentally unstable. Quite the opposite, they're more likely to call them weirdos or outcasts or cheats, living off the government dole and asking for service after service for nothing. These are the same people who made fun of the little kid in high school, or hurled epithets from their truck window at the way they dress or called them godless fags as they walked by in the street.

Nice anecdote you've got there. +5 Objective if you ask me. I support the NRA yet also support social health programmes. I also believe these shootings are merely a symptom of a larger, more complex societal problem. I am not, nor ever was, a bully. I am not alone.

Comment Re:Pussies (Score 1) 286

Am I the only one who thinks management teams that bring in consultants to do mass layoffs are pussies? If you fuck up a company so badly 30% of the employees have to go, the very least you can do is not hide in the proverbial closet until it's over.

One could argue that senior management doesn't have enough time in their day to organize and manage a mass layoff process at a company of this size.

Comment Re:Oh, FFS (Score 1) 813

The Gods envy us. They envy us because we’re mortal, because any moment might be our last. Everything is more beautiful because we’re doomed. You will never be lovelier than you are now. We will never be here again.

- Homer, The Iliad

Comment The real power of IPv6 (Score 5, Insightful) 155

The real power of IPv6 is that it allows us to eliminate NAT. Because of the size of the IPv6 address pool, every mobile device can have a publicly routable address and thus function as a server.

Facebook was originally developed and hosted in a college dorm room. With IPv6, the next "big thing" could be developed and hosted in someone's pocket.

Comment Moron (Score 5, Insightful) 279

Chris Dodd said that there were

conversations going on now

but that he was

not going to go into more detail because obviously if I do, it becomes counterproductive.

It becomes counterproductive because nobody fucking wants this, and the people you're "having discussions" with are probably corrupt.

Comment ISPs become drug dealers (Score 1) 249

Over time, as the information it provides genuinely proves itself useful, the brain would become increasingly dependent on the additional information being provided by it to convey an accurate presentation of things. Unless they were accustomed to dealing with periodic system disruptions, removing it for even a short period would result in the same sort of disorientation and confusion that arises if a person suddenly lost one of their senses.

This is when mobile ISPs become drug-dealers.

Comment In Uganda... (Score 1) 236

I've worked and lived in several African countries for almost ten years now.

Africa is a big place. I live in Uganda and our situation is quite different from what you describe.

There is no shortage of old computer parts, they are shipped in by the cargo container.

Not here. We have no import duty on complete units while parts and accessories are heavily taxed. Furthermore, nobody is sneaking in containers filled with useless garbage. Pro-ban advocates in Uganda (and other places) commonly use emotional rallying cries like "We refuse to be the dumping ground for the rest of the world!" International dumping may be an issue for coastal countries, but nobody in their right mind is going to /pay/ to ship something (especially valuable materials) to Mombasa then /pay more/ to truck it overland through Kenya just to dump it on an inland country like Uganda.

I am well aware of charities out there who like to package up used computers and sent them off to Africa, the truth is, the computers are old and mostly useless.

Hardly. Prior to the Finance Amendment Bill of 2009 which banned /all/ second-hand imports, the most commonly imported units were Pentium 4s with 512MB RAM, a 40GB HD, keyboard, monitor, and mouse. That's more than enough power to run a modern OS, Photoshop/Gimp, AutoCAD, office software, and a web browser.

It's actually much cheaper just to source a brand new dell laptop from a local supplier than to ship in in from half way around the world.

Prior to the ban, a working second-hand computer (as described above) cost $100 from retailers selling /at a profit/. It's now two years since the ban took effect and the cheapest new computer (desktop/laptop/netbook) costs $300. Essentially, computers are now far less affordable than they already were.

but realistically, setting up a refurbished CPU, monitor, keyboard, powersupply, stabilizer, ect... it takes a lot of work. It also takes maintenance and training. It takes a lot of money to do all this.

So we should increase costs further by by eliminating a source of inexpensive computers? Just so you know, many organizations which were building school labs and training thousands of teachers in Uganda (like Camara) were funded by profits from second-hand sales. Since the ban, they've halted these operations and/or left the country.

I'm rambling now, but back to the e-waste, it's a huge problem, but on the other hand, if someone were to set up a properly functioning e-waste recycling business and properly employ the young men, give them training, and safety equipment, they could do a lot better for themselves.

Here's a fun story: An organization in Uganda (Second Life) had been promised land by the government to set up a commercial e-waste recycling facility. When the Finance ministry decided to ban second-hand imports (see above) they also wrongly assumed they had solved the e-waste problem and took the recycling facility land back. Here's a quote by Dr. Aryamanya, Director of Uganda's National Environment Management Authority, on why the government decided to pull out of the project (source):

it would encourage the continuous importation of second hand computers and other electronic waste and would therefore negate the objectives of the ban.

Who the hell gave this guy a PHD? Tell me, doc, what are we going to do with all of our new and used electronic devices when they reach end-of-life? Have witch-doctors banish them to another dimension?

Comment Re:Can't help but think (Score 1) 649

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montgomery_Bus_Boycott was the direct effect of Parks' protest and caused major finacial loses for the transportation system. Now, tell me how it is different from DDOSing the living shit out of **AA and friends?

YES, exactly this.

DDOS attacks like this are no different than the civil rights era sit-ins that took place during the 1950's and 60's. This holds especially true if the attack was carried out via a voluntary LOIC botnet.

Comment Re:Can't help but think (Score 1) 649

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montgomery_Bus_Boycott was the direct effect of Parks' protest and caused major finacial loses for the transportation system. Now, tell me how it is different from DDOSing the living shit out of **AA and friends?

YES, exactly this.

DDOS attacks like this are no different than the civil rights era sit-ins which took place in the 1950's and 60's. This holds especially true if the attack was carried out via voluntary LOIC botnets.

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