Posts by First Light 117 posts • joined 13 Jul 2019
Being non-technical, I managed to prevent Google accessing the mic on my android phone (a friend's preteen kid was training it to accept her voice every time she came near me as I couldn't be bothered using it) with the help of a web page which claimed that to do so was a "nuclear option." Drama queen.
Thankfully, I read the articles and comments on The Reg and sort of understand some things, so I knew that was a bunch of BS. Thanks, all!
The problem is not that MS will go out of business, but that it will buy/eat up/push aside/strangle/destroy all competition. MS was found guilty of monopoly practices in the case brought by the US Dept of Justice. So I'm not making that up. You can make profit, but it should be done legally. MS broke the law and in consequence is the behemoth that it has become today. Ditto most of the other tech companies and the Congressional hearings last week showed it.
Please remember as you celebrate BG, that the foundation was a response to the DOJ suing MS in 1998 for monopoly, and the terrible PR that went along with publicity around MS business practices and Gates' bitchy trial testimony. 70% of his total contributions to the foundation were during the 18 months from the start of the trial to its conclusion (MS lost, by the way). It was a PR offensive. BG *may* be doing good things now (and questions have been raised about the foundations' philanthropic practices), but the motivation is selfish, the wealth he has accrued is obscene and the product he created is still causing heartburn around the world.
WordPerfect was the assistant/secretary/word processors' dream product. I used Wordperfect in the 90's, and was shocked when I changed jobs and had to use MS Word. It was SUCH an inferior product, especially unstable with large docs and did weird things with margins and tables. WordPerfect was way more stable.
I seem to remember that, back then, even though you could easily open a MS Word doc in WP, you could NOT NO NEVER open a WP doc in MS Word.
I remember filing a large and important legal report in court in the early 2000s that at the last minute got a ton of errors exactly because of stupid MS Word incapacity to handle large-size docs. Had to file an errata sheet because of the software. Pffffh!
I don't get all the downvotes. It's always been confusing to me why evidence of settlements predating Clovis were so fiercely disregarded or invalidated. It comes across as dogma. I associate it with a white male approach to archaeology. Especially the disbelief that people could have arrived prehistorically by sea instead of land.
Actually when I read their post here I assumed it was sarcasm. It is the leavers who have never been able to justify leaving, to give one good argument for it. If Lucrelout is serious, then it's a case of projection, since Brexit supporters have always been short on facts, logic, common sense, decent arguments for their cause, expertise, etc.
Alcohol reduces people's inhibitions. This guy has probably thought those thoughts for a long time, it only came out because he's drunk. I'm not sorry for this guy, because for every guy or woman who gets in trouble for this behavior these days, millions of minorities have been discriminated against for decades, if not centuries. So the fact that it's going public is a good thing. It is a consciousness-raising exercise and apparently lots of people need their consciousnesses raised.
I don't see what this has to do with the Harper's letter, which is about preserving open reasoned debate. I don't believe the Reg should have shoehorned it into this article. The two issues do not go together, as the racist guy is just being a duck. The Harper's letter is about people expressing rational opinions and being destroyed for them because those opinions do not meet some kind of cultural litmus test. Yes, the method of trashing people's lives may be the same in both cases, but drunk racists and rational thinkers are not in the same category at all.
In response to various comments on this topic:
Caste was originally an organization of society by profession, with the priestly Brahmin caste at the top. Therefore, Brahmins consider themselves perfect for, and entitled to, executive positions.
Caste (and region) can be given away by name, for example Iyer or Iyengar = Tamil Brahmin, Nair is a kshatriya (warrior or ruler) caste of Kerala,and so on. Again in Kerala, the Parayas and Pulayas were slave caste names. (Hence the incentive for lower castes to convert and leave caste behind, something that drives Brahmins nuts. The lower castes should stay poor and Hindu.)
Although in the metropolitan areas of India people may socialize with each other across caste, when it comes to arranged marriages (still the norm), caste is generally a factor and people are still murdered/ostracized by their own families for marrying out of caste. Caste has been maintained through centuries by significant violence between caste groups and individuals and distribution of economic resources along caste lines.
The Indian community in the US enjoys a status as the wealthiest of immigrant groups. I blame national origin discrimination practiced by the same community. It's not just the problem of nepotism, it is discrimination in favor of Indians and against non-Indians. I have been waiting for some enterprising plaintiff's-side employment lawyers to make that argument.
Indian culture is also misogynistic, so when Satya Nadella talked about women waiting for a raise rather than asking for it, I was unsurprised.
HR departments should be highly culturally aware and conduct cross-cultural training. But after all the training is done, you will still get the Nadella-type comments and conduct because the basic prejudice is so deeply ingrained.
The Hong Kong Bar Association has expressed many concerns about the new law and its consequences for judicial independence and the continuation of common law standards, as well as the specter of extradition to the Mainland. It is CLEARLY a departure of great significance for HK. You can read their press releases at hkba.org.
Chairman Xi is going to the time-honoured practice of stirring up an external enemy when your internal support is suffering. What with the HK protestors continuing to stick it to the mainland, and the massive disaster that was COVID-19 which has damaged China's reputation not to mention killed untold thousands of its people, he needs a foreign adventure to wipe it all away.
I hate to say it but I do believe some elderly with moderate or severe Alzheimer's/dementia need microchips. I once had to call Berkeley police because some well-dressed older man got off the last bus at the last stop and sat there as if waiting for the next one. I knew he hadn't a clue what was happening.
I once interviewed a Japanese manufacturer who was applying for US visas. I can't remember what he was making. He had a factory in Taiwan, but then got many offers from China to switch manufacturing there. He did so, but ended up getting ripped off so badly with faulty products and other shenanigans that he switched back to Taiwan.
Sadly, I believe the DNC is organized and successful - their boy Biden got the nom. IMO he's a terrible candidate, and I will struggle to vote for him in November, although knowing I MUST. I resent being put in this position by Establishment Dems who don't get what's going on. Bernie or Warren were my choices, preferably together on the ticket.
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