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No. The anti-vax movement has been largely driven by greed, stupidity, and the parents need to "blame" someone.

No. The anti-vax movement has been entirely driven by unethical pharmaceutical behemoths killing/maiming thousands of children in third world countries, unloading worthless crap on ignorant asshats and raking in massive unearned profits on the misery of millions.
  Glaxo Smith Kline was fined a paltry amount after performing unethical "experiments" on children and killing fourteen of them. Would you trust these jackasses to inject your kids? Hell, their own scientists had to be bribed to cover that shit up. Faked vaccine data lessens confidence in Merck products.
  Merck has lied for years about the efficacy of their vaccines. Why would anybody trust them?
Other countries ban defective vaccines, it's not rocket science to shun poisonous garbage that makes your populace sick and decreases productivity for potentially years. MMR vaccine, lookin' at you.
And that's not even counting poor vaccine quality control, a persistent issue for these massive corporations. In that one case Merck got caught before they could offload those 1,000,000 deadly doses on some unfortunates in Africa and collect tax credits for their philanthropy from the IRS.
FFS even the Nigerians are skeptical by now. Looking at the preponderance of shady practices, outright lies and poor quality of your average vaccine peddler it's no wonder the anti-vax movement is gaining momentum. But don't take my word for anything, go get your annual flu vaccine and risk paralysis or worse, and forget about that "immune system" crap the hippies are trying to foist on everybody. Nutrition isn't that important and you have a basement to live in and keyboard crumbs to make.

Prank calls to emergency services have been going on long before 911, but I'm sure that burner phones, which seems to be the category of device we're dealing with here, would be ideal for calling in those false emergency reports designed to send SWAT teams to the home of someone you don't like.

Not really.

Most of the swatting incidents involving spoofing the call so that it appears to be made from the residence from someone who lives there.

When a cell phone calls 911, they get the approximate phone location (at least what tower it is talking to). If I call 911 and I'm 10 miles away from the reported location, hopefully the cops will be a bit more skeptical before they come in with guns blazing.

Who am I kidding, the cops will probably still toss in stun grenades based on no reasonable suspicion at all:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new...

It will never pass in the Senate.

I am the Senate!

Idiot or malicious person. Honestly I don't think that's even thinking far enough outside the box. Unmanned drones could be used to wreak all kinds of havoc with low risk of getting caught, especially as lifting capacity increases. They're already being used for smuggling operations, but I suspect they will be used for offensive capabilities in the near future, targeted or otherwise. Hell, they could use the devices themselves as a weapon, or drop heavy objects on unsuspecting persons below, where "heavy" is basically anything over a few ounces. Small meteorites still manage to crash through houses, and that's just at terminal velocity. IEDs would make them even deadlier.

I doubt we'll do anything until something actually happens, though, at which point we'll promptly freak the fuck out and probably invade some third world country.

18 years is not long enough. Also, it only works when you start in 1998 because it was a very hot year. But 2014 was even hotter, so it is wrong to say there has been no warming during those 18 years.

It wasn't started in 1997, it was started at the present and worked back as far as you could go without showing additional warming.
1. The basic premise of Global Warming is adding CO2 increases Earth surface air temperatures,
  2. Ben Santer said it takes 30 years to show an anthropogenic climatic signal,
each year that passes without additional warming casts increasing doubt on the GCMs future predictions; it will be difficult for the temperatures to increase fast enough to get bach on track for the predictions.

The Nasa climate scientists who claimed 2014 set a new record for global warmth last night admitted they were only 38 per cent sure this was true. Nasa climate scientists: We said 2014 was the warmest year on record... but we're only 38% sure we were right

Some people would consider saying something that they were only 38% sure of to be lying.

Or the inverse, where the manager is a computer and the workers are all just "robot arms" for it.. already happening in fulfilment warehouses.

Look you could reduce the pollution from cars to 0 tomorrow and the CO2 emmissions to nothing and you would not put a dent in the CO2 and pollution we produce as humans. Look we can all SEE cars , and diesel trucks and think look at all that stuff it just put in the air. The fact of the matter is one large tanker ship is equal in pollution output as 1 million cars. 1 ship : 1 million cars

the 80's got us looking at the wrong thing and our heads are still stuck looking at the things we can see.

http://www.gizmag.com/shipping...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sci...

Well mostly all the time. April 11th 1954 was noted for it's absence of this kind of shit.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sci...

A similar story local to me:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new...

After all, the cable company doesn't actually have to share Internet revenue with any of the content creators

Yet. In some countries, ISPs pay a tax to "compensate for piracy", which they pass on to users. (Source)

Besides, even now, ISPs have to pay Disney for access to ESPN3, which is sold to ISPs, not to end users.

I guess you're right about all that, this is exactly why I've always been a console gamer. Even today I don't quite feel like PC gaming is comfortable in its own environment.

Still, resizing a game image in such a way that every pixel becomes a different size from the one next to it, is a step above and beyond any of the problems you mentioned. It's every pixel artist's worst nightmare, and frankly it's about as good for representing the original artwork as that Spanish fresco restoration was.

An expression of caution following a quake "predicts" many more quakes than will really occur, as the probability is still less than 50%. Knowing of increased probability merely opens considerations of what to do during a "cautionary" period - minor adjustments such as lowering speed on the Transbay tunnel, or postponing crane lifts or tower climbs might be the kinds of things to do, but people may well tire of making these adjustments when nothing happens repeatedly. Bringing all life to a screaming halt or evacuating the cities isn't an appropriate response, but expressing relief at small shocks is what got those Italian scientists/bureaucrats convicted (all but one overturned on appeal). http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new...

I earned some ridicule today because a 4.0 quake wasn't followed by a larger quake - was even adjusted to a 3.6 magnitude. I was surprised when it posted to the front page - I thought it was just a note that might get combined into some other posting - slow news day, I guess. A few thousand people posted to the "I felt it" links on the USGS and similar sites, and enough people pressed "+" on the firehose to outweigh my own personal "-".

Your flatulence is destroying our climate. To the dinosaurs with you, stinkers!

As for the great lakes, they froze early, thawed late and had 100 year record levels of ice; some froze completely which is nearly unprecedented and niagara falls froze twice in 2 years.

All signs of a warming world no doubt.

But please drag out the weasel words and explain this. Extra points or quoting "Skeptical science".

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
https://www.facebook.com/video...
http://chicago.cbslocal.com/20...
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new...

1) Depends on the thickness.
2) Probably not. Neither is this the case with normal bullet proof glas

Maybe there were too many women involved in building the craft compared to the number of men; they should ban that too. Or to "prevent sexual tension", perhaps they should just get it over with and ban women from approaching within several kilometers of all facilities at all related to rocketry. Then they'll finally fix Soyuz's reliability problems!

You later get divorced, presently childless. She decides to try again and the implantation is successful. Can she come back for child support?

Yes, she can and she will. At least, you produced the sperm while still her husband and would-be father of her children.

If a sperm-donor can be hit for child-support, you would have not a chance. And not just in Kansas, Illinois too only makes exceptions for sperm donated "through medical channels involving a doctor".

It may work the other way too — a donor may get parental rights after an artificial insemination.

Presumably, with the rights comes a child support obligation as well — the two better be inseparable.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new...

Reporting on the trial - testimony establishes pretty clearly that NoW did indeed hack into the telephone.

So - the phone automagically deletes messages that have been listened to, after 72 hours. NoW hacker listens to messages - 72 hours later, they are erased. Yeah - that would definitely screw up the police investigation, now wouldn't it? Intentionally or not, NoW was helping the deletion schedule to move along, and delete mails, giving every appearance that Milly might be alive.

Sorry. Forgot the reference.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new...

have a look at the ash fall at the recent eruption down in Chile... http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new...

I am so tired of the knee jerk leftish bias that has infected the slashdot community moding up the most trivial of comments ---because it espouses some ill-defended agenda.

The status of the prisoners at Guantanamo bay IS a matter for serious debate. They are not being held for tax evasion, parking violations, or theft. So, please have the intellectual honesty to stop treating them in the same category as those in the local penitentiary. Being irregular troops (not using uniform or operating under the flag of a nation) , they are not strictly covered under the Geneva conventions. The honest truth is that they sit somewhere in-between.

Troops that are captured on the battle field do not receive a trial. They never have. It is part of war. Are these POWs? They problem then becomes, how do you release them if the war never ends? Historically, most wars do end, so the problem takes care of itself. This is an area of law and philosophy that needs to be worked out. This is done best not by twisting existing laws to comport to your own (often arbitrary) personal beliefs. It is done through a society large discussion about values and beliefs and logistics. None of that is going on in the above post.

Furthermore, the gaping whole in the "logic" of the original post needs to be pointed out. By most standards, the conditions in Guantanamo are far from horrible. I know the average brain-addles leftist has some perverse fantasy of a stark Gulag where prisoners are routinely shot for looking the wrong way. Reality is far from it. Most reports indicate that conditions are better than most federal prisons. There is ample opportunity for communal activity and even access to the internet. There is a soccer pitch where games are often held. Gulag my ass.Don't believe me, challenge yourself with a quick google search, and you find articles such as this.

In fact, the most serious human rights abused, from Amnesty International stem from the fact that prisoners are being held in the first place (silly), or more seriously, from the fact that there status is not well worked out, as discussed above. While I would certainly agree with most of slashdot that the current status is unacceptable and not a terribly good solution. I wish the Bush era drama-queens could come down to earth and help solve the problem in a sane, realistic manner, instead of just bashing authority figures for the sake of looking cool.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new...

If you meet anybody from India ask him "What Is Your Caste?" If he answers it, then he has already injected Cancer into your society;
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new...

Just like chicago's under ground mail and package delivery system. Also used to cool buildings.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new...

this is what inspired the Royal Mail company to build theirs.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C...

The "ruggedized version" segway mayhap was more sensitive? (from the comments of your link...) : sue greenough, weymouth, dorset, 4 years ago we have just got back from Barbados where we went on the Segway machines. It was tremendous fun, but i can see the danger of getting too close to the cliff edge and falling over. the machines can go quite fast and are very sensitive to turning left, right forward and backwards with the the slightest touch on the steering column. Very sad news. Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new...

Anybody who tells the truth that the scum in power don't want you to hear, apparently...

In days when someone can be attested for quoting from a published book by Winston Churchill I have to agree.

He wasn't arrested for his speech. He was arrested for failure to disperse after multiple complaints.

Anybody who tells the truth that the scum in power don't want you to hear, apparently...

In days when someone can be attested for quoting from a published book by Winston Churchill I have to agree.

As a Greek, i.e., from a country with 10 millions citizens and 20 millions tourists yearly, i just want to clarify to our non-Europeans friend: Thank God, in Greece (and in Europe) you can still ask for the extermination of Jews, homosexuals, etc - you just need to be a Muslim! So, things are not so bad as many claim...

I can see, how this may defeat (ab)users trolling for fun and not suspecting automated detection before it hits them (though, with only 80% accuracy, I dread the thought of the methods expanding out of the virtual realm).

But what about people "trolling" professionally — paid and/or otherwise compelled into it by a state or corporate actor pretending there to exist some kind of "grass-roots" movement? How would it deal with thousands of fake accounts mounting a coordinated assault, posting (while "liking" and "following" each other)?

Some times you may be able to catch accounts posting identical things at the same exact time (and ban them all in bulk), but Russians seem to have fixed that bug in their bots now...

This is turning into another battle like that, in which spammers have fought the best Information Technology minds into a standstill. I doubt, progress against forum-spammers will be much better than that — not when mere technology, however clever, is up against interests of a reasonably powerful state.

In days when someone can be attested for quoting from a published book by Winston Churchill I have to agree.

Arrested

Anybody who tells the truth that the scum in power don't want you to hear, apparently...

In days when someone can be attested for quoting from a published book by Winston Churchill I have to agree.

Why US is importing most racist people on Earth?
Hinduism is nothing but Casteism, a covert mask for Racism;
Google "map shows most racist people on earth";
You'll be SURPRISED;
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new...

"Ooh! Can I use potentially lethal force to torture you because you wont obey my every command too?"

Well you can, but if your cruiser's dashboard cam records you doing it there's every chance that your department will find itself making an extremely large payment to the man you arrested and you find yourself in jail.

Most such cases have been white cop white victim.

UK http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new...

US https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

To add fuel to your fire, RC helicopters smaller and less powerful than the ones proposed by amazon are very deadly and clearly do kill people.

Yes, in case of a man who's above 2 meter, it does matter. But not in a positive way. Women feel embarassed going around with a utility pole. Unless you're talking about another kind of "length"..

Anyways, this is the ranking of the countries with the sexiest men according to a poll among the female users of a well-known international dating website:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tra...

1) Australia

2) Italy

3) England

4) Scotland

5) Spain

Not exactly countries that are famous for the height of their men

Really? The one who shot the video was Feidin Santana. It was all over the news yesterday evening.

e.g.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new...

Taken to its extreme limit: Catfights over handbags and tears in the toilets. When this producer launched a women-only TV company she thought she'd kissed goodbye to conflict... Also, Queen bee syndrome

play again

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sci...

Dark energy is an observed physical phenomenon.

Just because it's observed, doesn't mean it's real. See Heliocentrism and epicycles.

The idea of Dark Matter was invented when astronomers observed objects on the outer edges of galaxies traveling too fast relative to objects in the center. However, this could also be explained by variances in the passage of time. In the center of the galaxy where mass is greater, time would pass more slowly relative to the outer edges. No magic, invisible Dark Matter required.

Dark Energy was invented when astronomers observed that the "expansion of the universe" was accelerating. However, this could also be explained by a natural shift in light as it travels over distances through time.

Gavin Wince details these alternatives in The Dark Side of Time. It always urks me when scientists assume a model is true because it happens to fit the facts. There may be multiple, different explanations that all fit those same facts. Science is about proving, not assuming or making stuff up. I'm not saying Gavin Wince is right, but we need to keep our minds open to new ideas. Otherwise, we would still be on Newton's gravity instead of Einstein's relativity.

P.S. I put "expansion of the universe" in quotes because that might be another example of jumping to conclusions too. See: Did the Big Bang ever happen? Quantum model predicts universe has NO beginning - and it could even explain dark energy

Astounding that you didn't know about this. If they had been Muslims, it would have been world news.
And, I win.
I correct myself: I am ABSOLUTELY astounded how little coverage this gets. ASTOUNDED. And this is me we're talking about.

http://www.christianpost.com/n...
http://www.azcentral.com/story...
http://boingboing.net/2015/03/...
http://www.usatoday.com/story/...
http://www.charismanews.com/us...
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new...

Flying cars are easy.

Securing airplane cabin doors is the only rational lesson we (the US, collectively) learned after Sep 11, and it doesn't require anything even vaguely like the "security" apparatus that is the TSA.

It's been a while, but I definitely remember what it was like pre-TSA. The security checkpoints were pretty much as they are now, except the lines were shorter and you went through a metal detector instead of a scanner that third parties aren't allowed to examine. You didn't need a boarding pass until you got to the terminal itself, but you definitely did there; you could not, in theory, just wander out onto the tarmac or down the jetway (the airports I've flown through mostly use jetways, so you can't get into the passenger cabin from the ground anyhow) and onto the plane.

On the other hand, it's hardly as if "some asshole can't walk in straight off of the street and get on the plane without some form of identification and property checks" today, either. Even if he's drunk. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new...
OK, he banged on the engine instead of getting on the plane, but he could have done whatever he felt like. The TSA is bloody incompetent. In addition to that news article (which mentions two incidents on the SAME DAY) from just over a year ago, there are plenty of other examples (the first page of search results, alone, also mentions incidents in San Jose, Tampa, Dallas, and New York).

Considering they have had it in developers hands for 2 years with a consumer version no where in sight I'd say it was a pretty spectacular failure. Not only did the product go nowhere, it gave Google a PR black eye especially with some of their "ambassadors".

Here's a young man getting his STEM education:

Shocking moment 'bloods gang member' gets up in class and forces teacher to stop writing on board in blue - because it is the color of their arch rivals Crips

You can tell what's really important to him.

I'd say the last five years of Mozilla, GNOME, et al have pretty well popped that particular fantasy already.

Right. So how much can it hurt to clear out some of the deadwood brogrammers spending their time on dick jokes and let a few budding Grace Hoppers have a go? It's not like there isn't precedent for fresh perspectives having a positive effect on an industry.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/fem...

The tattoo thing is interesting. There are actually a *lot* of tasteful tattoos out there, and I've seen them on everyone from McD's workers to upper-managers. In most cases, they're not in a "look at me" location but rather somewhere that isn't overtly visible when wearing normal clothing.

Then there are the people who are trying to be "unique", which often translates to "look at me." Those same people bitch about being "discriminated against" when they don't get the job etc that they want, somehow thinking that tattoos put on in a protected class for discriminations like race or sexual orientation, etc. Except, guess what, you don't get to choose whether you're gay, or black, you *DO* get to choose whether put prison tats on your face using printer ink. That's pretty much a public badge of stupidity right there, especially when your "art" is a style commonly used by prison inmates.

A have a buddy with a facial tattoo. He's had it a long time now. It's actually pretty cool looking, but it's an obvious impediment to certain types of employment (a more recent one being a senior's home). He recognises such as says "yeah they wouldn't hire me there because it would scare the sh** out of some of the little old ladies. It sucks but it was my choice to get the ink". It's a pretty refreshing viewpoint IMHO, because it seems to be getting increasingly rare for people to accept the consequences of their actions.

Such people are often enabled by parents in this article. I'm sure there were plenty of warning signs that he son is a prick and probably a bit of a nutbar, but she's shrugged it off with "at least he isn't getting drunk and tattooed" (a.k.a at least it's not visible).

So, you wish to move to the UK...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2985202/Scotland-Yard-chief-Hogan-Howe-calls-DIY-surveillance-help-police.html

Licensed cab drivers have comprehensive record checks.

In places where the regulators aren't simply an extension of the taxi unions and want to see innovation and an improved service they work with Uber and Uber drivers have comprehensive checks too. If Uber are using unlicensed drivers in your city you've got the regulators to thank for not licensing them as much as Uber for employing them.

Licensed cab drivers have adequate insurance.

See above, although AFAIK Uber drivers are required to have appropriate liability insurance everywhere.

Licensed cab drivers (in any decent place) drive very identifiable cars, and anyone else trying to drive in a similar car will stand out like a sore thumb.

I can't speak for other cities but, in London, anyone can drive a black cab as a private car, you just can't use it as a taxi. The reason people don't is that they're designed to be practical as taxis, not private vehicles. (Interestingly a number of celebrities drive them precisely because it means they don't stick out like a sore thumb.) And unlicensed taxi drivers certainly exist and do drive black cabs (although they're a much smaller problem than minicab drivers operating a hail and ride service outside their license... but the passenger has made a conscious choice in those cases so I don't have a problem with that).

Licensed cab drivers (in the best places) have to take some of the toughest exams in the world for spatial awareness (i.e. London's "The Knowledge" exam).

If this is so great then taxi drivers don't need to fear competition from Uber, the markets will choose their superior knowledge. Oh wait, it turns out this feted exam utilises obsolete technology (the human memory) to create an excessively high barrier of entry to protect the jobs of taxi drivers who don't want to face true commercial competition.

An Uber driver need give so little evidence to become a contractor that he could easily have faked his identity.

That depends heavily on jurisdiction. Again, if the regulators would work with Uber this could easily be overcome. It also ignore the fact that it's much easier to know I got the driver I ordered with Uber while if I hail a random cab I have no idea if the driver's license is genuine, even if it is a really rigorous process to get a genuine license.

An Uber driver has much less invested in his job, so does not stand to lose so much if he drives the long way (any decent place regularly tests its taxi drivers for honesty) or otherwise abuses his passenger.

Yet again Uber wins. They can review the route and arbitrate appropriately. With the traditional taxi even if you know the drivers details and file a claim it's basically he said, she said. But hey, the current system works so well why change it?

An Uber driver (who already has false id) wanting to cause great harm will switch off the GPS and/or report that the fare is no longer in the car.

Yet he's still the last known point of contact with that person. If I were a psychopath that puts me a darn sight nearer the centre of the police's radar than I'd like. So yes, it's an effective deterrent.

Many genuine taxi services have cameras in the cabs, which is a much safer prospect if you think a technical solution to a social problem is the way to go.

Oh sure. Once you know which cab they hailed off the street you can review the footage. These solutions (trip logging/camera) are neither solving the same problem nor mutually exclusive.

They can sell off their jet and get rid of the entourage of SUVs.

The cut off for the top 1% is an income of $34k.

Or did you mean the top 1% of just the rich people that live in the first world, because that conveniently excludes yourself from the definition?

In general Americans have problems with moderation.

If you say you went out to drink, then you will drink until you're drunk. While in many other countries a drink is just a drink, not even enough to get legally buzzed.

Really... really? You're gonna pull the "America is the only place without moderation" card?

How about we throw some facts into the deck:

Smoking problems? 51st place.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

Drinking problems? 22nd place.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

Notice those are the consumption RATES, meaning people in those countries smoke and drink more.

So unless I see you also make the same argument against the 71 cases of countries with higher rates than the USA, I'm going to tell you to sit down and shut up. Because you're talking like an idiot.

Stop misappropriating the fact that people care enough to change things in the USA, with actual rates of those things occurring. Because if that's all you do, you'd think the USA was a racist hellhole. But you'd be wrong: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new...