The point of the article is that no matter why it exists murder follows the same pattern in space and time as a disease. So an outbreak of murder and an outbreak of cholera look the same when mapped. A pebble and a raindrop are very different things, but the ripples they leave look the same in a pond.

I need to point out that the order of events in the OP may be backwards. Consider: since they (as noted in the OP) are all using the same basic technologies to achieve the same basic results (wealth, power, etc,) they will tend to come to the same sort of solutions. After that they will simply copy or steal the more successful of the detailed solutions. No central authority yet, same result, we are pushed into the Cloud. Once enough serfs are in the cloud then the Central Authority will arise.

This would tend to lead to the conclusion that control of the Cloud is very important. Hence the idea of regulation seems to make sense again.

This begs the question of who The Cloud belongs to. If it belongs to them, then we shouldn't trust it. If it belongs to us, then they shouldn't be able to control it.

ROTFLOL

You're kidding, right? I hope this is sarcasm and irony. It is the techie answer referred to in: The problem is techies don't want to, and can't think of how to make their software easy and safe for non techies to use.

And yes, the engineers who made Dropbox may not be techies, if techies are the ones who whine on /. instead of solving the problem.

I agree with the concerns that Apple is getting Big Brotherish, but, to me this looks like a case of Apple getting used as much as anyone else. If someone else owns a Copyright then Apple is required to enforce it. So complaints should be focused on Ravensburger and the German IP laws.

This is just another version of screaming "NAZI".

The differences between secure booting a computer and stoping the Axis powers should be perfectly clear. The Axis didn't need to "Listen", they needed to be stopped regardless of the sacrifice.

What is confusing is what if the troll did build the bridge. The term, as I read it in Wikipedia, has a more nefarious meaning then just being a landlord. A 'Rent-Seeking" troll would bribe people to block other bridges rather then try to make his better.

If you think I've misread this let me know.

Many thanks

There is a Post Hoc Fallacy error in your reasoning. As just one example, that was also when the social and political effects of WWII in Asia were finally being swamped by other factors. Japan was rising as a world, not just regional, power. Singling out Monetary Policy out of all of that noise doesn't have the explanatory power that is needed.

Mocking Rep. Paul and his beliefs reminds me of history. Just because an idea isn't popular doesn't mean it is wrong.

Hey circletimessquare & John Jorsett, Are you guys using the term "Rent Seeking" the same way? Since a lot of us are not economists and pay rent to keep a roof over our heads this is a confusing terminology. I know you guys didn't invent it, but could you link to a definition?

Capitalists don't want a pure fair marketplace, they want *Wealth* and to *Win*. Winning fairly isn't important, Winning is. Look at people from Lance Armstrong to Pete Rose to Joe Paterno for the relative importance of fairness to *Winning* and *Wealth*.

I'll cop to berating the obvious, though I felt that the obvious being short changed. No matter the extent of anyone's Napolian Complex, an Army or a Battle Ship is not something that can be operated by one man, a nuke is. Politically a nuke and the British Grand Fleet are similar, the thing in itself is very different. The difference in power between WWII nukes and modern ones is irrelavent. The difference in sizes is not.

Nukes as a threat *might* promote peace, but that ignores the fact that they are also huge vey expensive displays of status. If someone tries to join the big boys club who doesn't belong there that can cause instability. It is just as easy to argue against Waltz's conclusions using the same data.

Waltz fails to show that it was the nukes that caused the stability between the US and the USSR, not the stability causing the nukes to be not used. Until that can be shown, not assumed, speculating on India and Pakistan is dangerous.

I have to admit, after years of being an Apple fanboy the last few years have worn me down. I really don't like mountain lion. There is huge vender lock in. The prices!!

Mobile Me was the beginning of the end. What a crappy service. I used Yahoo! mail. It was, and still is, insanely better then Mobile Me. It's better then iCloud too. The hardware is nice, but it isn't nicer then any other quality hardware.

As for the best desktop OS, Mac hasn't been that since Windows '95. They're different. Neither has had a real advantage in years.

Sigh. Everyone disappoints.

I am horrified that the smart people of slashdot are simply accepting the premise that nukes have exclusively created peace in the world. Misunderstanding this point can cause that it is trying to avoid. Mr Waltz's thesis is that since the end of WWII there hasn't been a major war between Nuclear powers. He asserts that the major change has been the existence of nukes, therefore nukes are what are keeping the peace. That logic is flawed horribly. This is confusing correlation with causation. Other things have changed also. For example:

I can assert that since 1945 the United Nations has existed. Therefor the UN has prevented a major war;

World War II is the most heavily documented event in human history. Since we cannot ignore the mountains of history we are able to avoid repeating it. Santayana is proved, not Waltz;

After WWII education and communications have boomed. Since smart people anywhere on Earth who can commentate in written English can exchange ideas freely on Slashdot the conditions for war are ameliorated. Therefor Slashdot and the internet and mass communication have prevented war.

As a corollary: To be correct Waltz would have to rephrase his comments to: Nukes can't keep the peace, they are objects. It is knowledge of what will happen if the Nukes are used that keeps the peace. The confounding of Nukes and knowledge is troubling.

This also ignores two facts: First, that except for a tiny part all of the damage of WWII was done with conventional weapons. When we look at image after image of different blasted cities, only two were nuked. If we hid the few important landmarks could anyone here tell the difference. Horror and death are horror and death -- how they are achieved may not be important. Second, India and Pakistan are still well within the average, 17.3 years, between wars. We have no proof that Nukes have done anything to maintain peace between them.

It is most important to realize that none of these are exclusive. It can easily be argued that it is some combination of the factors I have laid out that keeps the peace.

I use Little Snitch to watch for such things. Unfortunately, with modern software bits and pieces are always calling home. I spend a few hours a week looking up stuff to find out who is doing what.

I have to agree, three pages of Google and not one definition.

No, I don't think you're the only one. In fact yours in one of the few reasonable and sane posts. I think the worry is that the Linux Desktop will fade away unless it keeps up.

What is sad is that I really don't care anymore. I used to keep up with Linux and FOSS using Fink on OSX. And, sitting there, with them side by side, made is so clear how I didn't want to keep using FOSS. I could go on about how this or that sucked. Maybe they did or maybe they didn't. The point is, when I wanted to do something, I didn't choose FOSS.

Yes, but, what did you upgrade too??