Posts by Trevor Pott o_O

Let me poke some "holes" in this theory...

First, you seem to assume that all galaxies are a) moving at the same speed (they're not) and b) moving away from each other. Galactic collisions happen all the time. A short Google can show you several galactic collisions astronomers are currently tracking. (Including some interesting issues they cause when the supermassives at the center of these galaxies once more become active; not to mention the issue of the two supermassives eventually merging.)

Furthermore, we wouldn't really be able to (depending on how long ago the hypermassive consumed its host galaxy) a hypermassive black hole. With the exception of the gravitational lensing phenomenon, it would be perfect invisible. We would notice gravitational disturbances, sure. We'd have no idea what was causing those disturbances, and astronomers would spend absolutely ages arguing everything from dark mother to the aforementioned hypermassives. (For that matter, it's entirely possible that a reasonable percentage of the "dark matter" in the universe actually is a set of hypermassive black holes.)

Now, humorous "you should fear this so the government can take away more tf your rights" aside, I am perfectly aware that a hypermassive black hole is not going to come barrelling through our galaxy unannounced, particularly within our lifetimes. We would detect the gravitational disturbance of a hypermassive black hole headed our way at the latest as soon as it started pulling the edge systems off of our galaxy. This would give us, what, a quarter million years to ponder our fate?

Still, the idea of rogue hypermassive black holes slaloming around the universe periodically intersecting with (and subsequently either consuming or gravitationally disturbing to the point of partial if not total collapse) other galaxies is kind of cool. I even read somewhere (gods know if I can remember where,) that certain categories of globular cluster are probably the result of galactic collisions. (They were ejected from their host galaxy.) Others are likely the result of “near misses.’ Some astroboffin or other figured out how to tell them apart and much fun was had. In theory, since a hypermassive black hole would have the same gravity as an entire galaxy, it would be more than capable of causing the same phenomena.

While I certainly don’t think we should all run around freaking out that an unseen rogue hypermassive black hole will rampage through our galaxy in our lifetimes...knowledge that in 4.5ish billion years we are (by some calculations) scheduled to crash into the Andromeda galaxy should very well have us all freaked out.* Think of the children!

*Please disregard the part where this is far after the point where Sol wipes us all out anyways.

Fanboi alert!

Why not sell it? Well first off, it's not mine. It belongs to the company I work for. Secondly; we support a java application that we license from a third party for our customers to use. Long story short; Mac users are /constantly/ having trouble with it. (90% of the time it is simply user error; they can't find what button to push, or how to navigate thier own file system hierarchy to find the files they saved.)

If it were up to me, the support guy who has to use it, the programmers or even the CEO we wouldn't sell it; we'd go completely unbelievably office space on the damned thing. There would be a large amount of catharsis in reducing it to sparkling shards. (In an environmentally appropriate container of course; the back light contains Hg.)

As to what does my comment have to do with the article? Exactly as much as the comment I responded to: nothing. The comment I responded to was griping about how trash a Nexus One was. Personally, I’m even less (is that possible?) a fan of Google than I am of Apple, but as his Googlebashing was in response to some Apple bashing I thought one pointless anecdote deserved another.

In all honesty, the best mobile device I’ve encountered so far is the HTC hero. I can’t speak to the Nexus One/Desire or even the Milestone. I can speak to the Hero; I’m impressed.

That then goes into the realm of “dilemma.” It’s easy for me to dislike Apple; their product are non-interoperable shite that make my life as a sysadmin a living hell. It’s much harder to dislike Google; they are invasive privacy ignoring corporatists that hide behind a thin veil of “do no evil.” They make fantastic products though.

And in case you are wondering, I’m not a fan of Microsoft or Linux either. Microsoft are evil vicious greedy fascists…but at least they are the devil I know. Ballmer’s really not all that bright, and so he’s predictable. Terrible, but predictable. Linux needs to grow the heck up if it wants to play in more than appliance servers of the embedded space. I use RHEL all over the place (I run mixed MS/RHEL networks,) but seriously it needs some work in the usability department. Webmin, in case you are wondering, is an absolute godsend.

So what does all this have to do with the price of grain on the prairie?

TECHNOLOGY COMPANIES DON’T GIVE A FLAMING **** ABOUT YOU. Not a single one of them. Some are marginally less terrible than others. Some are predictable enough to be dealt with. All of them think of you as nothing more than a walking wallet; to be slavishly devoted to them, to defend their indefensible actions and/or to buy their product without due, rational consideration is a sign that you are completely and utterly incapable of thinking for yourself.

Every single one of these tech companies will sell you, your family and their own grandmothers for a bent copper. That being the case the only winning points that any tech company has with me is “do they make my life easier, or more difficult?”

Apple happens to be one that causes me nothing but grief; and has for two decades now. It was a nice counterbalance <troll> to the nexus one gripe.

Also: you should one of these days take a look at your post history. Bashing people who bash Apple, defending Apple, more bashing people who bash Apple…really dude? I mean, really? Are you so insecure and lacking of personal identity that the only way you have to feel good about yourself is to bond yourself to a tech company that doesn’t even know you exist? Either you are the worst astroturfer in the world, or you have some serious self-confidence issues.

In any case, please note that in my previous post I used a troll Icon. Note that I am using one now.

I love it when, despite this...there is always someone who takes things way too seriously. Well, since my large rant to offend <everyone> done, I’m going back under my bridge now.

@rhoderickj

Ever paid much attention to the fans of either Apple or Google? "Cult" applies. Now admittedly that "cult-like fanaticism" probably only applies to some but not all fans of these companies. The sad reality of it though is that it's the cult-like-folks who make all the noise.

Both Google and Apple managed to do what few other companies, certainly few other technology companies have ever done: get people to believe in them. The fans of these companies believe in them so much that in many cases they view the corporations as being unable to "do no wrong." It's right up there with belief in the divine goodness of the pope.

Also: it's not "googleplex cult;" it's the chocolate factory. Thus is has been spoken by the high priest Cade Metz of the Cult Of The Vulture. Get it right, will ya?

@jake

Sadly, I don't belong to a union. I can answer all of your questions based on several friends who managed to join a good union here. What car does my buddy drive? Why a rather nice Camry, with all the fixings. What car does his boss drive? Actually...a rather nice Camry, with all the fixings. What does the head of his union drive? A Sebring convertible; missing some of the fixings.

Of course, here in Alberta there are a few categories of Union. Some, (such as the TWU,) are complete piles of ass and failure and simply need to be purged from the earth in a firey cataclysm. Some, (like AUPE and CUPE) still serve a valid purpose and aren't out to "skim money from their members."

The difference seems to be public versus private unions. Unions of individuals employed by the private sector (with one or two exceptions) seem to do little anymore. AS you pointed out, workplace regulations took care of their needs moons ago. Some are still needed, especially in our mining and oilfield industries...but for the "average joe" they serve no purpose.

Unions for publicly employed individuals however seem to be very good and necessary. I don't know how things work where you are from but here we have public health, education and many other services. Were it not for our unions those teachers, doctors, nurses, policemen, firemen and many more besides would be working for minimum wage. Instead of the absolutely top notch services we receive from these individuals today, we’d have collections of poor, bitter, disenfranchised workers. Instead of our public services employing the best of the best, they would merely employ those who could not find work elsewhere.

I’d rather our police not become bitter and secretive like in the UK; jealous of the little they have, constantly afraid of losing it. Our firemen are chronically understaffed; to ask them to work at the poverty line would be beyond lunacy and so I am glad their union kicks our government in the ass periodically. Most of our teachers are overstretched, and it’s good that our unions work hard not only to ensure what id best for their union members...but the results are better for our children as well. (Mandatory maximum class sizes, as an example.)

I don’t know if a union is necessary in say, Sweden. They’ve got most things sewn up tight there. Alberta however is as American as a Canadian province gets. My provincial government was bought and paid for ages ago; they are constantly trying to privatise our education, health care and other social services. They are constantly trying to remove regulation on our resource industries. The only thing that prevents the decline of our civilisation into something resembling the US seems to be our unions.

For that reason alone; I hope they last forever. In most of Canada, we don’t seem to need unions. Alberta and Ontario seem to be the two places where they simply must exist. Many EU countries don’t have much need for unions, though some of the more recent joiners certainly do. Most of the second and third world nations however really require them. If you live in the US well...you’re already boned. That country is such a mess that unions aren’t going to help. It’ll take them fifty years for their social programs to catch up to even the recent joiners of the EU, and another fifty before they can weed out greed-based inefficiency. (Seriously, per capital health care spending is higher in the US than anywhere else in the western world, with significantly worse service and only partial coverage!)

Unions are not the answer to everything...but they have their place. Some, (like the TWU,) have overstayed their welcome and should be disbanded.

YMMV, depending on political beliefs, level of selfishness/greed/amount you buy into the dream the plutonomists feed us to try to keep us quiescent. YMMV also depending on geographical region and the social development of the populace/corruption of government.

Er...

Dude, I have told people this before and apparently I have to say it again: amanfromMars is not to be smoked! Seriously, gateway drug to insanity...

"Enlightened self-interest"

You'll have to go a long way to convince me there's much enlightened about self-interest. A lot of the problems our world faces today wouldn't be if people were capable of thinking beyond themselves. The "me and mine, and to hell with everyone else" attitude is [static].

Suffice it to say, regardless of the "rights" that content owners would have to hand over as part of something like a statutory licence, it may well be the only path forward. That isn't a freetard viewpoint, it's someone looking for balance in copyright.

Hey, I'm a content creator too. (Writer, not recording artist.) I have a day job as a sysadmin, but only because I don’t yet make enough writing to support myself full time. I have a vested interest in making sure that the “rights” of content creators trump those of everyone else’s.

That said, I still think that we can’t go backwards; the internet’s power of distribution simply changes the game. We need to sit down and rethink intellectual property from top to bottom; the rights of content creators and of regular citizens need to be considered. What needs to occur to encourage more content to be created? What needs to occur to allow regular citizens convenient (but not necessarily ‘free’) access to the content that makes up their culture? What about educational, or satirical uses?

Once all these questions have been answered then you set the laws, and let the business interests involved adapt or die. The interests of content /owners/ is not relevant anymore because they all too often simply aren’t the content creators. People don’t exist to serve business. Business adapts to fill available niches in the economy or they die.

As a content creator, I feel that those who put their hard work into the creation of content need to be compensated for this time and effort. Without it, there is little incentive to continue creating content. By the same token, as a content consumer the current marketplace for content consumption is absolutely poisonous. Because of “enlightened self-interest” everyone involved wants an ever-increasing share of a diminishing pie. The folks at the top of the economy have been pulling money out of the system (with little if any reinvestment back into it) for decades. The folks who produce a widget, chunk of software or piece of content are under constant pressure to increase their profit more and more every year so that their stock values soar and yet more money can be pulled out of service.

The consumers simply don’t have any more money to give, which results in lower sales. This in turn is used to create a huge scare around “piracy is costing elevnteen squillion dollars!” (Not every download is a lost sale.) All of this is in turn used as a lovely excuse to grant more “rights” to content owners, and fewer to content creators and consumers.

I understand that you likely don’t agree with the above, Andrew. You will likely call me a freetard and be done with it; but I simply can’t let your comment about “enlightened self-interest” pass unchallenged. It is exactly this attitude which completely screwed up everything for everyone in content creation and distribution. What we need as a level-headed rethink, not all sides coming at this with nothing but their own self-interest in mind.

Both the putonomists and the freetards are completely, utterly and terminally wrong. Nothing that has existed prior will work. Forcing something on either side won’t work. It’s time for mediated negotiations between all interested parties, with a view to what’s best for the greatest number; and to hell with “me, me, me.”

You can all of you downvote the crap out of this post if you wish; I’ll just hold onto the faint hope that my ranting and raving has at least caused a few of you to think about your entrenched beliefs in this regard.

Thank you to anyone who bothered to read it this far, and have a good day.

@heyrick

Once you get used to his style, he makes a lot of sense. I've had the fortune of a couple of e-mail exchanges with him, and while I can't say I agree with him on everything, he argues his points well and asks some very thought-provoking questions. It should also be said that as much as I like to think of myself as fairly well versed in a number of different scientific disciplines and various versions of history; he's much better read and a far smarter man than I.

Personally, I think he'd be fantastic to have a pint with; to bad there's that whole ocean in the way. (IIRC, he's from blighty.) So, emulating you, a pint icon for amfM. May he continue to post for many moons to come.