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I believe I posted something about AD(H)D not being a disease in one of the earlier Ask Slashdots. I firmly believe that it is not a disease. The fact is that AD(H)D is simply not the normal way people think or act, and as such has been labeled a disease; which prompts people to look for "cures" to the behaviors.

Now I wouldn't be at all suprised if neural feedback therapy would work, but I agree with the parent comment that it's not needed. I suggest you look into the parent post and think about whether you think your kid really is a problem, or it's just a "doesn't fit into the current education model".

First, I'd like to refer you to my pervious comment in the origional discussion. That said, I have one other thing. I would like you to read "The War Against Boys". Buy it ($14 I think), check it out at your library, whatever. Now I realize that your child isn't a boy, but one of the things that the book talks about is how public schools are becoming designed for "girls". By this I mean the classic little girl who always sits quietly and pays attention and such. Kids who do not fit this mold often have problems or are labeled troublemakers or as AD(H)D kids or other such things. I think an alternative schooling environment may be the best thing for your child. A perokial school, a private school, maybe there is even a school that specializes in AD(H)D kids in your area; because as you know they often just learn differently. I think reading this book might help you realize what I suspect is going on: you child doesn't fit the mold and so other people (school administrators/teachers for example) are trying to "help" you make her fit that mold. A quick look at the table of contents shows that I think chapter 7 is for you, but I could be wrong about that.

PS: If something above is unclear, just reply and I'll be glad to answer you. And if you /.ers out there if you disagree with me or think I'm an idiot, I'd really appriciate it if you'd just reply and tell me. I'll read it.

PPS: I said this in my last comment and I think I might have gotten modded down for it, but I'll say it again. I would suggest you call Dr. Laura and ask her about your situation. She's VERY good at helping you figure out where to go on issues like this. And I can garuntee she only has your child's best interests at heart when she gives you advice. She is a licenced Clinical and Family Therapist (I think that's the term), so she knows what she is talking about.

Now I'm not a father, I'm only 18. But I know for a fact that I wouldn't want my kids to be able to go into libraries and look up porn on the internet. I don't think that libraries should let adults do that either, but oh well. Do libraries carry adult books and videos? If they don't, then why should they provide access to pornography? If they do, oh well. Also, are we all forgetting that IT IS ILLEGAL FOR ANYONE UNDER THE AGE OF 18 IN MOST STATES TO VIEW PORNOGRAPHY? Do you realize that you're happy that someone's right to break a law is being upheald? Where is the comstock act when we need it?

In summary, remember that this is just another step in sexualizeing kids. Have fun when your 12 year old daughter is screwing every guy in sight and it's normal for older men to have sex with young boys. Even if you don't agree with points of view, you must realize this: NOT ALL CENSORSHIP IS BAD.

I am MBCook, and my Karma is 50, showing that I'm a good member of this community. But I am posting anon because I am almost positive that this will be moderated down. Thank you liberals.

• technical discussions like Dr. Dobb's Technetcast
• Geeks in Space
• Financial planning programs like MoneyTalk
• Non-computer technical support programs like Car Talk

Dave Aiello

For example, I'll focus on pornography because it's everywhere and has been a hot issue. Porn has always been around. When the camera was invented, people whined about porn there. When the VCR was invented, people whined about people having or buying porn tapes. (Ironically, porn is one of the reasons that VCRs got so much market penetration so fast...pardon the pun.) When the camcorder was invented, there was complaining that people were using it to tape their sex romps.

For some reason when it gets to computers, people freak out more than usual. When BBSes became popular, people were being jailed (e.g. Amateur Action BBS). When the Internet became popular, the news media, public, and political scum went nuts, passed laws like the Communications Decency Act, made hit-and-run attacks on the Internet such as the "computer pedophile" episode of NBC's "Crusaders" back around 1995.

But look at the change in culture between, say, the mid-80s and the year 2000 in America. Sex is nowhere near as taboo as it was. "Alternative sexualities" (sexual orientiations as well as things like bondage) are tolerated and practiced far more mainstream. It's discussed more openly. It's more prevalent in movies and on TV. This is a pretty massive change. (As a side note, you can tell how tolerated sex has become by observing how readily people like Dr. Laura freak out.

Of course, banning pornography was hard already. Banning it in the future will be nearly impossible with file sharing networks like Freenet. For better or worse, I expect that technology will have some of these effects over the next few years:

Restricting things like child pornography will rapidly become very difficult, if not impossible. (The legality and ethics of this is a completely separate issue, which is more complicated than most people think, involving things like different ages of consent in different countries.)

Intellectual property, in the form of software, music, and video, will rapidly become obsolete. New market models will have to be developed.

Strong cryptography will become more commonplace.

Many "undernets" will spring up across the Internet which use strong cryptography, tunnelling, and have their own email, news, and other systems. I know for a fact that this has already happened, and they have restricted access and fairly complex entrance systems. An infinitely more mainstream but very watered-down version of this is Gnutella.

In these cases, the law could try, but they can't readily enforce, just like they can't readily enforce laws against having sex in positions other than the missionary position. They can't regulate what they can't see. In the latter case, it's your house, curtains, or whatever. In the case of the Internet and technology, it's cryptography, systems like Freenet, and plain old practicality.

But we all have needs/wants/desires.
I think you're looking for this page. :)

I don't _want_ to carry 5 devices, either. Just like I'd rather only have 1 appliance in my kitchen (combination fridge, oven, and dishwasher), but I realize that these devices serve very different purposes, and wouldn't really integrate all that well.
Personally, I think that the Qualcomm PDA phone's lack of overall success speaks volumes on just how much people "want" these sorts of things. Don't forget that Nokia phone from a few years back that never really went anywhere.

I can see the PalmVII, or variants, offering a GPS, or pseudo-GPS option in the future utilizing current antennas to triangulate your position (more akin to Loran-C rather than true GPS).

Your moral delimma can be solved by visiting the Dr. Laura web site. She is the expert in moral delimmas. (Having had many herself. {grin})

If it were me, I'd document everything out the wazoo and then offer myself as an expert witness to the author. Depending on how much the author thinks he can make through legal action, you might even get paid for your testimony.

Of course, while negotiations are still ongoing, don't worry about it. Only after the deal has been made and your company is still in violation would I blow the whistle.

I can't imagine you really know what's going on in the back room of negotiations.

For example, let's set 'mode_conspiracy = 1' for a moment.

Your company has used this guy's code illegally. Your company can't afford to pay this guy what he is asking. That is a lose-lose situation.

But, your company has a business insurance policy that covers stuff like this (many do). Your company goes to the programmer and says, off the record, 'we can't afford to pay you but if you sue us after "reasonable negotiations", we can get our insurance company to settle out of court; you get paid, nothing comes out of our pocket and we get to use your code as part of the settlement'. This ranks a win-win. (Sure, the insurance company does lose but who cares about them, right?)

You can never really know what's going on in the background of stuff like this. Before you go and shoot yourself in the foot, make sure you have a total understanding of the situation.

InitZero

(I can't leave this topic, I'm afraid, without a obligatory stab at the hypocrisy of Slashdot's visitors. Stealing music is good. Stealing code is bad. {shakes head})

Yeah, I was going to bring that up. The scary thing is finding myself actually agreeing with Dr. Laura on something. :)