Posts by Fink-Nottle 794 publicly visible posts • joined 5 Apr 2012
I ripped my CD and LP collection which I started the early 70's, but I barely listen to it - my tastes have changed. No doubt, part of the reason is I'm no longer a teenager. However, in this post Napster world, I think that the ease with which one can be exposed to new music is more of a contributing factor in evolving musical tastes.
In an interview with The Guardian, he said: "I'm obsessed with things that are distinctly analogue. We have a letterpress in our office. There's an absolute wonderful imperfection that you get when you do a letterpress, and that is the beauty of it."
Talk about preaching to the converted!
The Grauniad's was using letterpress years before analog typographical errors were a hip.
An API is in beta, and function is broken after an update.
Reason #1 : somewhere a subroutine has been renamed, the parameters passed to a subroutine have been rearranged, or something of that ilk - and the changes have not been reflected in the broken function. The error will likely be corrected in a future beta release.
Reason #2 : the API has been intentionally 'crippled' to screw with paying customers and to adhere with an unwritten company policy of Evil that rivals the plot of Da Vinci Code.
Which do you think more likely?
> However, can anyone please explain how being anonymous is a part of being sociable?
There's a world of difference between a sociable network and a social network.
A sociable network is the online equivalent of a few mates who meet up in a pub and I agree that anonymity is not needed in this context.
However, a network that is used by politicians to further their careers, used by employers to vet future employees and used by commercial interests to market their products may be social, but it is definitely not sociable.
> Can't remember the last time I voted for a General
Last time there was a General in the White House, he issued a stern warning that is as relevant now as it was in 1961 ...
This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence — economic, political, even spiritual — is felt in every city, every statehouse, every office of the federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society. In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists, and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes.
Apparently it's all down to capillary action and the Washburn equation, according to Dr Len Fisher.
> our empire will still be somewhat relevant for the next hundred years
The British Empire had trade and political rivals throughout all of it's existence. By contrast, the fall of communism presented the US with a unique window of opportunity. As the only Superpower they had a chance to transform geopolitics.
Instead, America squandered it's political capital. The State was unable to relinquish it's cold war mindset, and simply refocused the industrial military apparatus on a convenient new target. While these tactics are increasingly irrelevant, Snowden's revelations show how embedded the mindset is in the US administration.
However, the brief period of US as a lone superpower is ending (partly as a result the greedy decisions of American property speculators). The economies of the world are increasingly intertwined and no longer dominated by one country.
Whatever the changes of the future holds, it is never a good idea to antagonise potential rivals or partners. The relevance of the 'American empire' over the next hundred years is very much dependant on how much the cold war cowboys have managed to damage US credibility.
As the old saying goes: 'Be careful who you step on the way up, because you may have to lean on them on the way down.'
I couldn't help making a sly (and perhaps too obtuse) comment on the rapacious American and his attitude the UK and the rest of the world. Your response, detailing which countries were important to the US, how and where you could gain an advantage, and the status of the UK as the 51st state simply enforces the stereotype.
The OP's comment hinted that US unilateralism doesn't work any more, and I agree; geopolitics isn't a zero sum game and countries have more gain by co-operation rather than competition.
Snowden's revelations have tested the patience of the rest of the world. Now might be good time for the US to wave the big stick a bit less, and to talk softly a bit more.
> So kindly blow it out your hole.
I've been blowing CO2 out my many orifices all my life, and it hasn't harmed me yet ...
You, like the OP, seem to have conflated two separate issues - CO2 emission with hydrocarbon pollution. The OP stated that capping CO2 emissions will impact quality of life by reducing allergies and illness:
However, there are more benefits to capping CO2 emissions than greenhouse gases, quality of life for one. So many people being born with allergies and illness who have to live in what could be considered dense fogs of carbon compared to how we used to live.
To suggest that CO2, the natural product of cellular respiration, is somehow harmful to humans is utter bollox. And if you cannot accurately state simple facts - such as the health risk of CO2 - then your opinions on more complex issues are of very little value to me.
So many people being born with allergies and illness who have to live in what could be considered dense fogs of carbon compared to how we used to live. Additionally much of this carbon is produced through energy production and will eventually run out.
Rising CO2 levels are causing allergies and illness? Really?
So if these folks stopped breathing for a while, they'd have a better quality of life?
Nice try ... but, like a lot of the comments here, hardly credible.
> I should've known the Linux comment would've got me downvotes though ...
You made a stupid, ill considered comment and were corrected. While I understand it's human nature to be defensive in such situations, I believe you were down voted for resorting to childish and unwarranted name-calling (c.f. house rules). I would remind you that incivility and personal remarks are seldom productive, and suggest you move on.
> And that will stop the US patent office from issuing a new patent how exactly?!
Ah yes ... the 'merkin fondness for riding roughshod over the rights, laws and IP of the rest of the world.
Unfortunately, Europe's eCall system (E112 protocol) has it's counterpart in the E911 standard described in the U.S. Wireless Communications and Public Safety Act of 1999.
I'm sure the FCC would have something to say about OP's claim that Nobody can use their voice to inform emergency services that they were in a car crash, injured or give out their location without paying me royalties..
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