So you're saying that Windows is a better OS than Linux, and since you use the inferior Linux, you have a better social life? Eh, I don't think this argument holds water.

Please explain what the **** you just said. Who uses the term "algos"? Do you mean "algorithms"? And exactly how do you open up "HTML" to do spreadsheet work? How do I just write data in HTML? What do you mean that Windows isn't needed because OSX is around, does that mean you can pay for other proprietary software?

You've written a lot of stats. But none of that makes Microsoft Office not the best productivity software that exists. No, I don't work for MS, but I do work on a Mac at work and trust me, all of the free and even Mac MS stuff SUCKS compared to Office on a PC.

I can attest to this. I HATE MACS. I love Windows (fuck you /.! :) And I and every engineer at my work use Macs.

Americans for the last 20 years haven't drunk Budweiser or Fosters. We have the best beer in the world here now. Anyone who thinks we all drink Budweiser is either an American over 40, not an American, or poor (college students, like me when I was in college 10 years ago, included).

He didn't do anything illegal.

Even if he did knowingly and intentionally contribute to illegal drug trade, do you think he should be put in jail for 24 fucking years? Murderers servoe on average 12 years.

Fuck that system.

According to the Slashdot FAQ, this is an American forum. American English is used. This is not a tribal issue of we're better than you. It's just a question of language, which has many different dialects. The dialect used here is that America refers to the USA.

There's no such thing as the "US definition of America" because America has no official language or governmental entity to define such things (unlike other countries, such as how the government of France defines the language of French). But there is such a thing as American English (a dialect of English), and in American English, America refers to the USA.

According to the Slashdot FAQ, this is an American forum. This is not a tribal issue of we're better than you. It's just language, which has many different dialects. The dialect here is that America refers to the USA.

Ugh I just read that diatribe from the URL you posted. It was exactly the worst example you could possibly have chosen - the copyright of 4 minutes and 33 seconds of 0's and the idea of someone else having a "copy" of those 0's.

In a society without intellectual property, the painting/songs/bits you created and physically held are not yours and they are not protected from copying by someone else. In a society with intellectual property, the paintings/songs/bits you created and physically held by someone else are not yours but they ARE protected from copying by someone else without your permission. If someone held the copyright of 0101 and there was the intellectual copyright of 0101 in that society's laws, then by those laws someone else cannot copy 0101 illegally without the permission/payment of the copyright holder.

You are trying to conflate your world views and the reality of laws. Listen, I'm not disagreeing with your world views. But I'm telling you the reality of the laws of the U.S. are factually not what you are saying. You say it's a illogical disagreement with reality. Well, it's not a disagreement with reality - Lady Gaga can create the song which can be represented by millions of certain bits, and those millions of bits can be copyrighted by Lady Gaga. You simply disagree that the copy on someone's harddrive without permission should be illegal, but the law says otherwise. The reality of the copy of those bits is real - but the reality of the law is also real.

How the fuck is pay-before-consume an entirely unnatural model for entertainment? I can't imagine the act of purchasing a prostitute an entertainment service which is unnatural to pay beforehand. I can't imagine how going to see a movie and deciding "meh, that was a 2/5 or 1/5" and deciding not to pay for it.

The only thing that makes sense in your model is walking down a street and seeing a street performer, where I decide to pay if I liked it enough. The thing is, I didn't intend to be entertained by that street performer just by walking down the street. Sure, if I like it enough, I will pay after the fact. But for fuck's sake, if I download a movie (pirate it), I expected to be entertained, whether or not I liked the movie after I watched it.

Even 2000 years ago, you paid the ticket price before seeing the play.

Incorrect. This may indeed be your perception, but it is factually untrue.

The problem is not doctor's pay. You have no fucking clue how hard it is to become a doctor.

The problem is the uninsured, which the law requires hospitals to care for regardless of their ability to pay, so the people who actually can pay must pay more to make up for the people who can't.

I didn't like it, but there were other much better ways to spend one trillion dollars of the U.S.'s money and over 4000 lives.

I'm a little shocked... you seem to be telling a true story! I work in a startup in San Francisco with a bunch of computer nerds and I don't see any adderall at all.

In college, I once took some Ritalin to study for a test. I swear to god, I inadvertently wandered onto some porn before it kicked in... and then I ended up masturbating for THREE FUCKING HOURS STRAIGHT. I shit you not.