joeshevland

Unfortunately I agree with you.

I think increasing public awareness and loosening the old media hegemony will change things. In time.

Terry Pratchett

Its almost Terry Pratcher'esque. I'm seriously depressed about how shit our system is.

Punch drunk from the abuse, how much worse can it get?

As an Australian (US by birth unfort, I actually hate my country of birth at this stage because of their governance), I'm actually looking to China and non-partisan countries to fix this mess. The solution isn't going to come from a country so entrenched in corruption.

Anyone else starting to feel worn down and disgusted by the behavior of your government? I don't see a lot of change, just a lot of dissection of how bad it is. If the mechanism to change the problem is broken, how do you change the problem?

> In terms of funding science, both of us agree that we need to do more. [...] The US should do more, but relative to others we’ve done more in the basic sciences [...] The US pays more for drugs, and therefore funds more R&D, than any other country.

I'm of mixed minds about anything Bill Gates says. I applaud the fact he's putting 40b+ or whatever it is to charity, but I can't help but think "Did the ends justify the means?" I guess that's my personal opinion of Microsoft's track record. If I'd made X billion, to the point I couldn't possibly spend or splurge any more, I'd give the rest away too. After all, it means nothing at that point.

Is it OK to have huge pharma companies pushing up prices and manipulating prices? Is 'paying more for drugs, and therefore fund[ing] more R&D' sensible, in that light? Maybe I'm just bitter that he tried to charge a learning student $2k for Visual Studio back when I wanted to learn :)

I hope quelling malaria and other initiatives goes well though.

The other problem I've had is around the joints or the volume control, very fine wires that seem to snap easily.

I wasn't sure if its just a matter of them being made with an expiry date or if there's better ones out there, but I'll check those out, cheers.

Brings back memories of getting magazines like inCider [1] and Windfall and attempting to type out the assembler or machine code for little apps or (monochrome ;) graphics stuff. Was much the same as magic to me then.

Then realizing there's a typo in there, somewhere... check digits helped a bit I think if whatever you used supported that.

1. http://apple2history.org/history/ah21/#03

Having read Alastair Reynold's stuff, I thought the idea of replicators was awesome. My current thinking is that 3d printers, if they master multiple materials, will kill off mundane manufacturing. I can't see it being a bad thing, albeit an industrial revolution style shift.

Moving the marker from apathy to critical thought, in the masses, is the thing I think. That, and fixing the central banking cartel and the military industrial complex, I suppose.

To me its bloody frustrating to look at a problem, and see it wallow around in all its greedy and obese glory. Its really frustrating to think the mechanisms for changing the problem are co-opted. Makes you feel a bit impotent. This overreach, and the general military-industrial complex, to me, are sickening. I don't understand how it survives the light of day.

But really? It'll get pretty onerous to check every checksum and guard every entry point. I think we should fix the real problem.

Tend to agree. There is still the trust relationship downloading source and using it, although I guess with a source bundle you can at least verify the hash and have the same (potential malware) as everyone else.

I think a more sensible use of the money would be to 'fix' the ability to buy whatever legislation you want. Its really not a democracy any more when those wealthy enough can buy whatever legislation they want.