There are much better ways to prevent children from being harmed by guns. Being a responsible parent is right up at the top of that list. Keep the gun securely stored and/or teach the kids about firearms safety. Kids have been taught by their parents to properly use and respect guns for a couple centuries now. I don't see why it should be so tough.
If guns were outlawed, wouldn't your society be less violent?
Not likely. Just look at Britain for example. They outlaw guns and crime goes up. In the US, you can see the reverse happen. When a city or state allows concealed carry, crime goes down. Seems easy enough. But those are just the surface and there are so many other factors to consider when you compare one country to another that the violence numbers are meaningless on their own. If you can come up with a good way to compare one country to another while managing to take into consideration and properly weigh all the contributing factors, then I'm sure a LOT of organizations would like to hire you:)
With law enforcement it is sometimes unavoidable, but home users have few excuses.
The police aren't required to defend me, why shouldn't I have the same protection that they have? Many gun owners are very well trained in the safe use and storage of their weapons. Just as well trained as the average police officer. I don't currently own a gun. I am learning how to use one though. My dad bought one a while back and spent a good deal of time at the firing range learning how to use it. He learned how to safely load, unload, fire, clean and store the weapon. If the military can teach complete idiots to use a gun safely, I don't see why the average person can't learn to do it just as well. There are over 40 million guns in the US. Only a very tiny fraction of them are misused. How does that fit with your claim that they introduce more risk than their benefits make up for? No matter who's numbers you look at (ranging anywhere from just under 100,000 to over 2 million depending on the source), guns are used for defense many times more often than they are used offensively. And in the vast majority of those cases, the gun isn't even fired.
You were lucky. Maybe you'll continue to be lucky. But a lot of people won't be. I'll not be the one to make them defenseless. It's hard enough to defend yourself as it is. Intentionally taking away the one thing that can even the odds for a woman or anyone who is not as big/strong or well-armed as a criminal is not going to help the situation.
Actually, if a criminal knows you're armed, he's more likely to find another target. That's why the US doesn't have nearly as high a proportion of breakins in occupied homes as Britain or some other countries that have banned guns. Criminals don't like taking that risk.
Maybe some royalties, but usually they just buy companies outright if they have something they want. Of course anything they have to pay will just get passed on to the customer anyway, since if Microsoft has to pay, EVERYONE has to pay.
Subspace is a kickass game.... I can't even begin to count how many hours I spent on that game. Until I ended up with a vid card that it didn't like:( Would run horribly on it. The new client is called "Continuum". It's an updated, free version of Subspace. Try here to get it.
But Your Honor, it makes no difference that I was convicted of raping that other woman! This is a completely different woman! I've never been convicted of raping this particular woman! Don't you see that you should give me the benefit of the doubt?
In case anyone still doesn't understand, what I'm saying is that a company convicted of monopolizing one market should not simply be reprimanded for that one market while being allowed to monopolize another area. The judicial system is incredibly inadequate when it comes to dealing with problems like Microsoft. By the time anything gets done, it simply doesn't matter anymore and MS has found some other way to monopolize the market. Then the whole thing starts over again. We've been playing that stupid game with MS for nearly 10 years now. It's ridiculous that they continue to get away with it and have never gotten more than a slap on the wrist.
Being able to validate it is pretty much worthless if you don't also know how to interpret it. That's the key to the whole thing. Including a schema doesn't fix the problem. It needs documentation on just what the hell all of it means.
That's the problem. Microsoft is not obligated to release the info on their format. As a convicted monopolist, they should be. This is yet another example of just how poorly our judicial system handles this kind of case. By the time you can prove something and get through all the appeals, it doesn't fucking matter anymore!
Re:Masturbatory reading (warning.. way off topic)
on
Deadly Perversions
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· Score: 1
First of all, I just wanted to say thanks for doing what you do. I have a lot of respect for those in the military. I'm glad you feel the way you do about it. I may not always like how the government uses the military, but that doesn't diminish your service and dedication at all.
Second, you shouldn't have that guy on your friends list. He lives only to troll on Slashdot.
I can't help myself. I'm just vastly more intelligent than everyone else here. It's really not easy being me. Do you understand the kind of ignorance and stupidity I have to deal with? No! Of course you don't! Consider yourself privileged. I actually bothered to relieve you of some of your ignorance. You should thank me!
* Tell him you will speaking with the Better Business Buereau in your area.
Wait til he's taking a drink of soda to tell him that one. Then you can watch him shoot it out his nose before he doubles over laughing. The BBB is practically worthless usually. Unless it a very serious case of fraud (the kind that might involve the cops or the FBI), they won't help at all.
Bah... if he knows what he's doing in that class, it shouldn't be too tough. Take a nap the evening before the movie. Sleep after. Get up. Chug coffee. Take final. No big deal.
In his case, they were what he asked for. So he wouldn't have had a problem with them, even if he'd bought them from a human. The problem is that the theater screwed up and didn't have a show at the time that is stated on the tickets. Entirely their fault and they should compensate him, and probably even offer him some free tickets as well since it's probably too late for him to get any other tickets for the same day. They wasted his time.
Not being worried about the final is one thing, not showing up for it is something else altogether. I've had a lot of finals that were quite easy and I didn't worry about them at all, but I still had to be there to take them.
You're comparing a single example with his example of many millions of clocks by hundreds of different manufacturers. Somehow I don't think your example holds up very well. Hell, I'm looking at a clock right now that has AM/PM notation and 12 noon shows "PM".
And if you can't see it, you've been sucked into it too.
Ahh, the ever popular, "If you don't agree with me, then you're obviously brainwashed/stupid/blind/etc", defense. Sorry, but that doesn't fly. Some people are taught to do as they're told without question, others are not. Otherwise there would be no people in power. There would be no leaders. Obviously there are leaders and powerful people, so what you say cannot be true. Some people believe only what they can perceive or demonstrate. Some people don't take what they're told for granted. I think it's far more likely that you're the one that is blind to this if you believe that you can't think for yourself and that nobody else can either.
First of all,/. has done absolutely nothing to incite or encourage murder. They would be blameless as far as I'm concerned if some nutjob took it upon himself to kill the guy. If they ran a positive story about it afterwards, I would consider that to be in extremely poor taste, but I don't believe it would make them even somewhat guilty of the murder.
Actually it's the fact that the various religions seem more intent on teaching people to do as they're told than teaching them to think for themselves. That's why religious people are so easy to manipulate. Even though most people will tell you that their religion encourages questions, there are nine million ways to twist the answers, all of which can be backed up with some choice quotes from the whichever religious text is applicable. Most people can't fight the peer pressure and stand up to someone with authority in the church and tell them that they're wrong. So you end up with a mass of people that believe what they're told. That makes it quite easy for the people in power to use them as they please. So it's not just greed/politics that's the problem, it's greed/politics combined with religion.
Slashdot Mirror
There are much better ways to prevent children from being harmed by guns. Being a responsible parent is right up at the top of that list. Keep the gun securely stored and/or teach the kids about firearms safety. Kids have been taught by their parents to properly use and respect guns for a couple centuries now. I don't see why it should be so tough.
If guns were outlawed, wouldn't your society be less violent?
:)
Not likely. Just look at Britain for example. They outlaw guns and crime goes up. In the US, you can see the reverse happen. When a city or state allows concealed carry, crime goes down. Seems easy enough. But those are just the surface and there are so many other factors to consider when you compare one country to another that the violence numbers are meaningless on their own. If you can come up with a good way to compare one country to another while managing to take into consideration and properly weigh all the contributing factors, then I'm sure a LOT of organizations would like to hire you
With law enforcement it is sometimes unavoidable, but home users have few excuses.
The police aren't required to defend me, why shouldn't I have the same protection that they have? Many gun owners are very well trained in the safe use and storage of their weapons. Just as well trained as the average police officer. I don't currently own a gun. I am learning how to use one though. My dad bought one a while back and spent a good deal of time at the firing range learning how to use it. He learned how to safely load, unload, fire, clean and store the weapon. If the military can teach complete idiots to use a gun safely, I don't see why the average person can't learn to do it just as well. There are over 40 million guns in the US. Only a very tiny fraction of them are misused. How does that fit with your claim that they introduce more risk than their benefits make up for? No matter who's numbers you look at (ranging anywhere from just under 100,000 to over 2 million depending on the source), guns are used for defense many times more often than they are used offensively. And in the vast majority of those cases, the gun isn't even fired.
You were lucky. Maybe you'll continue to be lucky. But a lot of people won't be. I'll not be the one to make them defenseless. It's hard enough to defend yourself as it is. Intentionally taking away the one thing that can even the odds for a woman or anyone who is not as big/strong or well-armed as a criminal is not going to help the situation.
Actually, if a criminal knows you're armed, he's more likely to find another target. That's why the US doesn't have nearly as high a proportion of breakins in occupied homes as Britain or some other countries that have banned guns. Criminals don't like taking that risk.
Maybe some royalties, but usually they just buy companies outright if they have something they want. Of course anything they have to pay will just get passed on to the customer anyway, since if Microsoft has to pay, EVERYONE has to pay.
Subspace is a kickass game.... I can't even begin to count how many hours I spent on that game. Until I ended up with a vid card that it didn't like :( Would run horribly on it. The new client is called "Continuum". It's an updated, free version of Subspace. Try here to get it.
But Your Honor, it makes no difference that I was convicted of raping that other woman! This is a completely different woman! I've never been convicted of raping this particular woman! Don't you see that you should give me the benefit of the doubt?
In case anyone still doesn't understand, what I'm saying is that a company convicted of monopolizing one market should not simply be reprimanded for that one market while being allowed to monopolize another area. The judicial system is incredibly inadequate when it comes to dealing with problems like Microsoft. By the time anything gets done, it simply doesn't matter anymore and MS has found some other way to monopolize the market. Then the whole thing starts over again. We've been playing that stupid game with MS for nearly 10 years now. It's ridiculous that they continue to get away with it and have never gotten more than a slap on the wrist.
Being able to validate it is pretty much worthless if you don't also know how to interpret it. That's the key to the whole thing. Including a schema doesn't fix the problem. It needs documentation on just what the hell all of it means.
That's the problem. Microsoft is not obligated to release the info on their format. As a convicted monopolist, they should be. This is yet another example of just how poorly our judicial system handles this kind of case. By the time you can prove something and get through all the appeals, it doesn't fucking matter anymore!
First of all, I just wanted to say thanks for doing what you do. I have a lot of respect for those in the military. I'm glad you feel the way you do about it. I may not always like how the government uses the military, but that doesn't diminish your service and dedication at all.
Second, you shouldn't have that guy on your friends list. He lives only to troll on Slashdot.
TRANSLATION: The lawyers are getting paid bigtime. The rest of you are out of luck.
I can't help myself. I'm just vastly more intelligent than everyone else here. It's really not easy being me. Do you understand the kind of ignorance and stupidity I have to deal with? No! Of course you don't! Consider yourself privileged. I actually bothered to relieve you of some of your ignorance. You should thank me!
* Tell him you will speaking with the Better Business Buereau in your area.
Wait til he's taking a drink of soda to tell him that one. Then you can watch him shoot it out his nose before he doubles over laughing. The BBB is practically worthless usually. Unless it a very serious case of fraud (the kind that might involve the cops or the FBI), they won't help at all.
Bah... if he knows what he's doing in that class, it shouldn't be too tough. Take a nap the evening before the movie. Sleep after. Get up. Chug coffee. Take final. No big deal.
In his case, they were what he asked for. So he wouldn't have had a problem with them, even if he'd bought them from a human. The problem is that the theater screwed up and didn't have a show at the time that is stated on the tickets. Entirely their fault and they should compensate him, and probably even offer him some free tickets as well since it's probably too late for him to get any other tickets for the same day. They wasted his time.
Read it again genius. It was NOT $3.25 per ticket.
Not being worried about the final is one thing, not showing up for it is something else altogether. I've had a lot of finals that were quite easy and I didn't worry about them at all, but I still had to be there to take them.
Something we should have done long ago.
You're comparing a single example with his example of many millions of clocks by hundreds of different manufacturers. Somehow I don't think your example holds up very well. Hell, I'm looking at a clock right now that has AM/PM notation and 12 noon shows "PM".
Exactly. Getting them to switch to DRM-hobbled A/V equipment should be like convincing them to buy a Geo instead of their Ford Excursion.
And if you can't see it, you've been sucked into it too.
Ahh, the ever popular, "If you don't agree with me, then you're obviously brainwashed/stupid/blind/etc", defense. Sorry, but that doesn't fly. Some people are taught to do as they're told without question, others are not. Otherwise there would be no people in power. There would be no leaders. Obviously there are leaders and powerful people, so what you say cannot be true. Some people believe only what they can perceive or demonstrate. Some people don't take what they're told for granted. I think it's far more likely that you're the one that is blind to this if you believe that you can't think for yourself and that nobody else can either.
First of all, /. has done absolutely nothing to incite or encourage murder. They would be blameless as far as I'm concerned if some nutjob took it upon himself to kill the guy. If they ran a positive story about it afterwards, I would consider that to be in extremely poor taste, but I don't believe it would make them even somewhat guilty of the murder.
Actually it's the fact that the various religions seem more intent on teaching people to do as they're told than teaching them to think for themselves. That's why religious people are so easy to manipulate. Even though most people will tell you that their religion encourages questions, there are nine million ways to twist the answers, all of which can be backed up with some choice quotes from the whichever religious text is applicable. Most people can't fight the peer pressure and stand up to someone with authority in the church and tell them that they're wrong. So you end up with a mass of people that believe what they're told. That makes it quite easy for the people in power to use them as they please. So it's not just greed/politics that's the problem, it's greed/politics combined with religion.
Yeah, except nobody is encouraging murder here. Just junk mail. The anti-abortion sites were actually encouraging people to kill doctors.