Well this is definately a late entry so probably won't get seen, but I thought I would try to point out a few details of Megan's situation that many seem to be missing.
There has been alot of talk that the only one to blame is Megan herself for taking her life, her parent's should have gotten her help since she was obviously unstable, etc, etc, etc. What many are missing is the fact that not only were her parent's getting her help, but the woman who perpetrated the hoax knew exactly what state Megan was in. Megan had vacationed with them while still friends with the Drew girl. Lori Drew knew exactly what state Megan was in and used it to her advantage.
There is also the fact that not only did Lori pretend to be a 16y/o boy, but by her own admission let things travel into sexual areas. In her own statement when she tried laying charges for the destruction of a foose ball table by Megan's family it is stated:
Drew went on to say, the communication became "sexual for a thirteen year old." Drew stated she continued the fake male profile despite this development. http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2007/1120072megan1.html Here is the full report.
That is a totally sick development and frankly falls in line with online luring. If a 30 year old guy had pretended to be 16, even for the same reasons Lori Drew did, he would have been slammed hard.
Not only did she take advantage of a known condition, did it in some of the most disgusting manner, but she also feels no remorse for what her actions caused. Also from the report she filed:
Drew felt this incident contributed to Megan's suicide, but she did not feel "as guilty" because at the funeral because she found out "Megan had tried to commit suicide before."
Now like most of the frequenters of/. I was also a tormented nerd through school. The big difference was that I like many of you, did not have to deal with a situation invovling my age-group that was actually masterminded by an adult. While I do feel all kids need to learn to deal with hostile situations within their own age groups and so laws should not try to cotrol those situations, this was not a standard case of bullying. This was an adult stalker using a sockpuppet, with intimate knowledge of the child's flaws, with an adult's understanding of those flaws, using sexuality to create a strong false bond, working with at least one other adult (her temporary hired assistant), to try to emotionally damage a child, and have no remorse of the consequences of those actions. How can there not be a crime in there?
I do not believe that this case warrants stronger anti-bullying laws, but I do believe the FBI, the local police and anyone else that believes no charges are possible should pull their heads out of their collective asses. Would not a simple charge of criminal negligence causing death fit?
Plain and simple, the woman is a cunt (a word I never use) and public shunning should just be the beginning (meaning serious legal consequences, not vigilantiism).
I wonder if they'd like a side of Debtors Prison with that. You know, just a nice way to ensure they can collect for each cd by enslaving you and your family for generations.
I would:
a) Use my new-found international connections to get a Canadian Passport.
or
b) Spend the next 8 years doing everything possible to drive up the value of my oil investments.
"Business units and even individual employees will be able to control the processing of information directly, without the need for legions of technical people."
Sure, Users are really likely to be picking up those skills themselves real soon. It will happen the same day they all remember ctrl-c is copy, and ctrl-v is paste. I won't hang up my pocket protector anytime soon.
As much as I like to see people go after spammers, this seems a little stupid to me. Looks like a personal email, the guy was just confused about who to contact for Slashdot. If I send an email to someone I think is the webmaster of a site concerning something on said site, but choose the wrong person by honest mistake, am I automatically a spammer?
I can't believe this is being marked as insightful. "Nicer"? Well let's hope any aliens do not have any of those "humanistic" values involving christianity. If they do we will soon find ourselves in the middle of a Alpha Centauri Inquisition or being slaughtered en mass in a search for the Holy Chamberpot of the Galactic Saviour Mitzlefritz.
Christianity was/is a heavy limiter of original thought since it requires everything to fall within it's own doctrine; then insists on the destruction of anything that does not.
We know its a miss-mash of regional beliefs and already existing philosophies. The ethics are poorly implemented, borrowed concepts, and so is the concept of the removal of strata in the afterlife. Follow a Lamb and expect to be treated like sheep.
Our only hope is that any alien race have developed past the point of a central overpowering religion and on to true critical thought. Then we at least have a chance of being patted on the head and treated like children and not wiped out like bacteria. My only hope is that the first humans any alien race have contact with are students of philosophy rather than religion.
So the daughter wanted a copy of Vista for the "Gadgets" and Ballmer feels this is proof that the 13 year old daughter saw value in it?
Perhaps the mother should have just put Yahoo Widgets on it and kept it at XP?
Maybe the people buying the advertising space are just catching on to the fact that people don't read yahoo ads? What average person is really going to see an ad on the corner of their screen and say "Damn, that little text ad is so rocking that I think I need to go buy a car from them right now"?
I keep seeing all the comments about how easy the conversion is, talk about all the multiple systems other readers have at home running old versions of windows, how corportations care more about the operation cost, etc.
Unfortunately 99% of the people here are way too overqualified to even discuss or follow the thought process of what the average person running an old system with win98 really is thinking.
These people want easy, familiarity, and the ability to keep going without having to invest time or mental power to keep doing what they already do and know how to do. They know where the "buttons" are, they know how to do what they already do right now. If it works fine for them, why do they need to spend time and/or money to change? Most have never heard of Linux and won't because they have no sources to tell them about it. There are no TV commercials, no slick salesmen pushing it in Futureshaft, and alot won't have a techie family member to take them by the hand. A good number would rather have someone wipe their system and re-install their old version of windows since they "don't really do anything important on it" (or do it themselves). Some that are finally convinced they need to get a new system are looking at Macs, because they are being pushed as the new easy to use systems that can use familiar things like office, don't have to worry about viruses, and all the other things the annoying and often misleading commercials are telling them. People want easy to buy, install, and that everyone else is using. They really don't want to have to hunt the net for a package, figure out how to install it for their kernel, and hope its what they want.
Alot of old time users of 98 aren't even going to be aware that it isn't supported anymore, or be aware of any way that is going to affect them. They will go on as they have been.
As far as companies worrying about the operating cost, the person that made that comment is still looking from a tchie point of view. What about the manhours involved in training the staff. A majority of staff are technophobes, even in large corps. Lost time while they learn it, lost time for all the mistakes made because something is unfamiliar. This list goes on and there's no CFO that is going to miss all those details.
Until a version of Linux comes in a pretty package, with easy to purchase software, and its stuck in their face, its not going to catch those users.
Slashdot Mirror
There has been alot of talk that the only one to blame is Megan herself for taking her life, her parent's should have gotten her help since she was obviously unstable, etc, etc, etc. What many are missing is the fact that not only were her parent's getting her help, but the woman who perpetrated the hoax knew exactly what state Megan was in. Megan had vacationed with them while still friends with the Drew girl. Lori Drew knew exactly what state Megan was in and used it to her advantage.
There is also the fact that not only did Lori pretend to be a 16y/o boy, but by her own admission let things travel into sexual areas. In her own statement when she tried laying charges for the destruction of a foose ball table by Megan's family it is stated:
Drew went on to say, the communication became "sexual for a thirteen year old." Drew stated she continued the fake male profile despite this development. http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2007/1120072megan1.html Here is the full report.
That is a totally sick development and frankly falls in line with online luring. If a 30 year old guy had pretended to be 16, even for the same reasons Lori Drew did, he would have been slammed hard.
Not only did she take advantage of a known condition, did it in some of the most disgusting manner, but she also feels no remorse for what her actions caused. Also from the report she filed: Drew felt this incident contributed to Megan's suicide, but she did not feel "as guilty" because at the funeral because she found out "Megan had tried to commit suicide before."
Now like most of the frequenters of
I do not believe that this case warrants stronger anti-bullying laws, but I do believe the FBI, the local police and anyone else that believes no charges are possible should pull their heads out of their collective asses. Would not a simple charge of criminal negligence causing death fit?
Plain and simple, the woman is a cunt (a word I never use) and public shunning should just be the beginning (meaning serious legal consequences, not vigilantiism).
It means 2 people were arrested on a day other than Wednesday. Not that complicated. 16 arrested, 14 on Wednesday.
I wonder if they'd like a side of Debtors Prison with that. You know, just a nice way to ensure they can collect for each cd by enslaving you and your family for generations.
I wonder which one is Cosmos?
I would:
a) Use my new-found international connections to get a Canadian Passport.
or
b) Spend the next 8 years doing everything possible to drive up the value of my oil investments.
"Business units and even individual employees will be able to control the processing of information directly, without the need for legions of technical people." Sure, Users are really likely to be picking up those skills themselves real soon. It will happen the same day they all remember ctrl-c is copy, and ctrl-v is paste. I won't hang up my pocket protector anytime soon.
You are correct, I did mis-read it badly. I jumped to a conclusion within the first part and did not give it the proper attention after that.
As much as I like to see people go after spammers, this seems a little stupid to me. Looks like a personal email, the guy was just confused about who to contact for Slashdot. If I send an email to someone I think is the webmaster of a site concerning something on said site, but choose the wrong person by honest mistake, am I automatically a spammer?
I can't believe this is being marked as insightful. "Nicer"? Well let's hope any aliens do not have any of those "humanistic" values involving christianity. If they do we will soon find ourselves in the middle of a Alpha Centauri Inquisition or being slaughtered en mass in a search for the Holy Chamberpot of the Galactic Saviour Mitzlefritz. Christianity was/is a heavy limiter of original thought since it requires everything to fall within it's own doctrine; then insists on the destruction of anything that does not. We know its a miss-mash of regional beliefs and already existing philosophies. The ethics are poorly implemented, borrowed concepts, and so is the concept of the removal of strata in the afterlife. Follow a Lamb and expect to be treated like sheep. Our only hope is that any alien race have developed past the point of a central overpowering religion and on to true critical thought. Then we at least have a chance of being patted on the head and treated like children and not wiped out like bacteria. My only hope is that the first humans any alien race have contact with are students of philosophy rather than religion.
So the daughter wanted a copy of Vista for the "Gadgets" and Ballmer feels this is proof that the 13 year old daughter saw value in it? Perhaps the mother should have just put Yahoo Widgets on it and kept it at XP?
Maybe the people buying the advertising space are just catching on to the fact that people don't read yahoo ads? What average person is really going to see an ad on the corner of their screen and say "Damn, that little text ad is so rocking that I think I need to go buy a car from them right now"?
I keep seeing all the comments about how easy the conversion is, talk about all the multiple systems other readers have at home running old versions of windows, how corportations care more about the operation cost, etc. Unfortunately 99% of the people here are way too overqualified to even discuss or follow the thought process of what the average person running an old system with win98 really is thinking. These people want easy, familiarity, and the ability to keep going without having to invest time or mental power to keep doing what they already do and know how to do. They know where the "buttons" are, they know how to do what they already do right now. If it works fine for them, why do they need to spend time and/or money to change? Most have never heard of Linux and won't because they have no sources to tell them about it. There are no TV commercials, no slick salesmen pushing it in Futureshaft, and alot won't have a techie family member to take them by the hand. A good number would rather have someone wipe their system and re-install their old version of windows since they "don't really do anything important on it" (or do it themselves). Some that are finally convinced they need to get a new system are looking at Macs, because they are being pushed as the new easy to use systems that can use familiar things like office, don't have to worry about viruses, and all the other things the annoying and often misleading commercials are telling them. People want easy to buy, install, and that everyone else is using. They really don't want to have to hunt the net for a package, figure out how to install it for their kernel, and hope its what they want. Alot of old time users of 98 aren't even going to be aware that it isn't supported anymore, or be aware of any way that is going to affect them. They will go on as they have been. As far as companies worrying about the operating cost, the person that made that comment is still looking from a tchie point of view. What about the manhours involved in training the staff. A majority of staff are technophobes, even in large corps. Lost time while they learn it, lost time for all the mistakes made because something is unfamiliar. This list goes on and there's no CFO that is going to miss all those details. Until a version of Linux comes in a pretty package, with easy to purchase software, and its stuck in their face, its not going to catch those users.