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From the book More Fables in Slang by George Ade 1902
Quote
THE FABLE OF THE CORPORATION DIRECTOR AND THE MISLAID AMBITION
One of the Most Promising Boys in a Graded School had a Burning Ambition to be a Congressman. He loved Politics and Oratory. When there was a Rally in Town he would carry a Torch and listen to the Spellbinder with his Mouth open.
The Boy wanted to grow up and wear a Black String Tie and a Bill Cody Hat and walk stiff-legged, with his Vest unbuttoned at the Top, and be Distinguished.
On Friday Afternoons he would go to School with his Face scrubbed to a shiny pink and his Hair roached up on one side, and he would Recite the Speeches of Patrick Henry and Daniel Webster and make Gestures.
When he Graduated from the High School he delivered an Oration on "The Duty of the Hour," calling on all young Patriots to leap into the Arena and with the Shield of Virtue quench the rising Flood of Corruption. He said that the Curse of Our Times was the Greed for Wealth, and he pleaded for Unselfish Patriotism among those in High Places.
He boarded at Home for a while without seeing a chance to jump into the Arena, and finally his Father worked a Pull and got him a Job with a Steel Company. He proved to be a Handy Young Man, and the Manager sent Him out to make Contracts. He stopped roaching his Hair, and he didn't give the Arena of Politics any serious Consideration except when the Tariff on Steel was in Danger.
In a little while he owned a few Shares, and after that he became a Director. He joined several Clubs and began to enjoy his Food. He drank a Small Bottle with his Luncheon each Day, and he couldn't talk Business unless he held a Scotch High Ball in his Right Hand.
With the return of Prosperity and the Formation of the Trust and the Whoop in all Stocks he made so much Money that he was afraid to tell the Amount.
His Girth increased—he became puffy under the Eyes—you could see the little blue Veins on his Nose.
He kept his Name out of the Papers as much as possible, and he never gave Congress a Thought except when he talked to his Lawyer of the Probable Manner in which they would Evade any Legislation against Trusts. He took two Turkish Baths every week and wore Silk Underwear. When an Eminent Politician would come to his Office to shake him down he would send out Word by the Boy in Buttons that he had gone to Europe. That's what he thought of Politics.
One day while rummaging in a lower Drawer in his Library, looking for a Box of Poker Chips, he came upon a Roll of Manuscript and wondered what it was. He opened it and read how it was the Duty of all True Americans to hop into the Arena and struggle unselfishly for the General Good. It came to him in a Flash—this was his High School Oration!
Then suddenly he remembered that for several Years of his Life his consuming Ambition had been—to go to Congress!
With a demoniacal Shriek he threw himself at full length on a Leather Couch and began to Laugh.
He rolled off the Sofa and tossed about on a $1,200 Rug in a Paroxysm of Merriment.
His Man came running into the Library and saw the Master in Convulsions. The poor Trust Magnate was purple in the Face.
They sent for a Great Specialist, who said that his Dear Friend had ruptured one of the smaller Arteries, and also narrowly escaped Death by Apoplexy.
He advised Rest and Quiet and the avoidance of any Great Shock.
So they took the High School Oration and put it on the Ice, and the Magnate slowly recovered and returned to his nine-course Dinners.
MORAL: Of all Sad Words of Tongue or Pen, the Saddest are these, "It Might Have Been."
By the way only people who can keep wikileaks alive are Pirates. Shut down one server and they'll start with another, do it till either party gives up or when new pirate steps up to serve-mahesh2k (December 23, 2010, 02:59 PM)
Hadn't seen that 2Rs before. (And here I thought I'd seen them all!)from Wikipedia-
The classification of a country or regime as an electronic police state may be debated. Because of the pejorative connotation of the term, no country has ever identified itself as an electronic police state. The classification is often established by one or more external critics.
Seventeen key factors for judging the development of an electronic police state have been suggested:
1. Daily Documents: Requirement of state-issued identity documents and registration.
2. Border Issues: Inspections at borders, searching computers, demanding decryption of data.
3. Financial Tracking: State’s ability to search and record all financial transactions: Checks, credit card use, wires, etc.
4. Gag Orders: Criminal penalties if you tell someone the state is searching their records.
5. Anti-Crypto Laws: Outlawing or restricting cryptography and/or privacy enhancing technologies (anonymity networks).
6. Constitutional Protection: A lack of constitutional protections for the individual, or the overriding of such protections.
7. Data Storage Ability: The ability of the state to store the data they gather.
8. Data Search Ability: The ability to search the data they gather.
9. ISP Data Retention: States forcing Internet Service Providers to save detailed records of all their customers’ Internet usage.
10. Telephone Data Retention: States forcing telephone companies to record and save records of all their customers’ telephone usage.
11. Cell Phone Records: States forcing cellular telephone companies to record and save records of all their customers’ usage.
12. Medical records: States demanding records from all medical service providers and retaining the same
13. Enforcement Ability: The state’s ability to use overwhelming force (exemplified by SWAT Teams) to seize anyone they want, whenever they want.
14. Habeas Corpus: Lack of habeas corpus – the right not to be held in jail without prompt due process. Or, the overriding of such protections.
15. Police-Intel Barrier: The lack of a barrier between police organizations and intelligence organizations. Or, the overriding of such barriers.
16. Covert Hacking: State operatives removing – or adding! – digital evidence to/from private computers covertly. Covert hacking can make anyone appear as any kind of criminal desired. One example of covert hacking software is Magic Lantern
17. Loose Warrants: Warrants issued without careful examination of police statements and other justifications by a truly independent judge.
This list does include factors that also apply to other forms of police states, such as the use of identity documents and police enforcement, but go considerably beyond them.
Electronic police states may outwardly be either dictatorial or democratic. The crucial elements are not politically-based. So long as the regime can afford the technology, and the populace will permit it to be used, an electronic police state can form.
Along with our friends at the ACLU, "We're deeply skeptical that prosecuting WikiLeaks would be constitutional, or a good idea."
I had clearly forgotten why I don't use FFmpeg: authors, offering their applications packed in "bzip2 tarball" or "gzip tarball" only, are doomed to be neards writing nerdish programs for neards. One can never trust such people to deliver userfriendly solutions.-Curt (July 22, 2010, 04:53 AM)
This is how it could/should be done:
(see attachment in previous post)
Tracker Pdf-Xchange-Curt (December 22, 2010, 08:03 AM)
That you comment here is very poor sign!-cranioscopical (December 20, 2010, 11:22 PM)
strange as it might seem you're not the first one to make that observationIs that some kind of a rind up?
All in all, I think it's time for you to trotter long.
and who made you lard of the manor?-Target (December 21, 2010, 12:16 AM)
Just someone who went hog-wild…-cranioscopical (December 21, 2010, 12:55 AM)
Trust you to ham it up!Some acts are rash and some are rasher.-cranioscopical (December 20, 2010, 08:46 AM)
sounds like a porky...-Target (December 20, 2010, 04:33 PM)-cranioscopical (December 20, 2010, 07:16 PM)
) And the inital font setting is pretty awful until you change to something like Segoe. But after that, it's pretty sweet. Very fast and light feeling. And it handles YouTube and Vimeo hosted videos beautifully.
...imported just over 1000 RoboForm logins - all imported with issue BUT it doesn't always match fields correctly when filling a form which is a PITA (ie. it imports complete roboform logins but doesn't always configure them correctly for use).[/li][/list]-Carol Haynes (December 20, 2010, 03:39 PM)
I like the tabs on the left MUCH better. Makes much more sense for screen real estate.-Renegade (December 20, 2010, 09:04 AM)
Some acts are rash and some are rasher.-cranioscopical (December 20, 2010, 08:46 AM)
