This type of teacher-mockery should stay in the classroom (and occasionally in the principal's office) where it belongs. In my day there was no YouTube. I remember having to write an apology for my disruptive conduct. I wrote it out in a scroll, and unfurled it on bended knee to the offended teacher while my friend, as my squire, made tooting "hear ye" noises with her hands. I wanted the scroll back, but the teacher was amused enough that he wanted to keep it.
Incomplete trilogy with a strong first movie and a sucky sequel vs. a full trilogy that should have been one movie and whose sequels are largely regarded as plain old bad. This goes in the "must-miss" category for me. I'd buy either of the first movies, but not the collections. This will probably happen with a six-movie Star Wars Hi-Def set that cannot be purchased separately as well.
For some reason that reminded me of Temple of Doom:
Mola Ram: The British in India will be slaughtered. Then we will overrun the Moslems. Then the Hebrew god will fall. Then the Christian god will be cast down and forgotten. Soon Kali Ma will rule the world.
Random little break from the debate. Smirk, even smile a little bit... aaaand back to the flamewar.
Just wish they'd used a little foresight. ISPs, **AA, Record Companies--it just sucks that so much of what we depend on for legitimate digital content as consumers is run by people with no concept of where the business is now, let alone where it's going.
AC, your hostility took me a little by surprise. I wasn't really stringently arguing a knee-jerk thinkofthechildren response. I was ambivalent, remember? More importantly though, while it's true that the group in question has a lower incidence of crimes of any kind, they are 4 times as likely to commit another sex crime than any other group--given the number of sexual offenders out there, that's the troubling issue. Personally though, I think that many of the laws should be rethought, as they actually prevent the reformed offenders from really reentering society in any meaningful way.
This case has me ambivalent. On the one hand, what about having a Myspace account is worthy of automatic surveillance? On the other, the recidivism rates for many sex offenders are incredibly high. Also, there are often many other embarrassing restrictions already placed on their lives much closer to home where people know them. I know, it's a touchy issue, but the more you think about it, the less clean-cut it seems.
Yes, that was a bit of my point as well. The public surveillance is not necessarily evil and freedom-limiting in and of itself, but it encourages behavior that will (and I mean 'will,' not 'may') ultimately erode freedom and abuse free and good citizens.
Perhaps poor wording on my part. My statement was a whimsical "what-if" which was inspired by a mental image of mostly older, mostly white guys in Washington mopping their brows and having private moments of nostalgia for the cold war days (especially the later ones). Sure, people died in the 80s (google Maj Nicholson), and Vietnam was a disaster, but we largely felt good about ourselves as the champions of freedom, democracy and capitalism. Now, while still ostensibly standing for those things, we're having PR problems abroad and at home, and are unable to wage an effective war with our opponents.
You know, there are probably a lot of frustrated Washington bureaucrats and military types that would love to see a re-emergence of a Soviet Russian state--we'd be fighting real commies again, and not elusive and often invisible terrorists. And the wiretapping infrastructure is there to catch the red sympathizers at home now! Ah, Russia, how your people are always out of one pan and into another fire.
"...to control its populace," I should have said, not "of its populace." Here's the other quotation I was looking for, from MIB, about how humans behave in packs:
Kay: A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals and you know it.
The obvious Ben Franklin quotation comes to mind:
"Anyone who trades liberty for security deserves neither liberty nor security"
That really sums up what's happening on both sides of the ocean. While I disagree that this is (solely) a sinister plot of an overweening government to control of its populace, this seems as often as not to be the end effect in scenarios like this. People are smart individually, but in scared groups they often make terrible decisions, which is why there's a lot of sheepish head-scratching on Capitol Hill here in the States about the fervent support that was given on both sides of the aisle for the Iraq debacle. The scariest thing about the current group of leaders is that they don't seem to have read their history properly.
Sometimes when cleaning out a relative's totally infested PC, I think that most average computer users are so bovine in their approach to spyware, that they really don't mind all the automatic installation that goes on, as long as it doesn't interfere with the "just works" experience. In my experience, there's very little of the outrage that we feel about this stuff. It's frustrating really.
It would be nice to live there. Here it's a choice between Comcast and Embarq, formerly Sprint, which in and of itself, is a big "no thanks" for me. Plus, by simply using Comcast for Internet, I get the analog channels and some HD network channels for free. I guess I shouldn't complain since I'm only paying $25, but it still sucks. Good thing I'm hooked on my Ubuntu install--I haven't had to download an ISO since I downgraded my plan, but even downloading music (and worse, uploading to my web site), is painful.
Being a cheapskate of Scottish descent, I opted for a non-advertised but offered "Broadband" account with Adelphia that was 25 bucks a month for 256k down. I usually clock it at about 384 or so, but still it's painfully slow. When Comcast took over, they stopped offering the plan, but existing subscribers are allowed to keep it. 2Mbps would be an amazing change for me, but I don't expect Comcast to honor that anytime soon. Given that the standard plan in my area is 6 Mbps, it's kind of a shame that they can't give me more, but oh well.
At that price, it reminds me of a classic Fallon line, to the effect of: "Yeah, I've got an idea for a car that runs on bald eagle heads and Faberge eggs."
Slashdot Mirror
This type of teacher-mockery should stay in the classroom (and occasionally in the principal's office) where it belongs. In my day there was no YouTube. I remember having to write an apology for my disruptive conduct. I wrote it out in a scroll, and unfurled it on bended knee to the offended teacher while my friend, as my squire, made tooting "hear ye" noises with her hands. I wanted the scroll back, but the teacher was amused enough that he wanted to keep it.
Incomplete trilogy with a strong first movie and a sucky sequel vs. a full trilogy that should have been one movie and whose sequels are largely regarded as plain old bad. This goes in the "must-miss" category for me. I'd buy either of the first movies, but not the collections. This will probably happen with a six-movie Star Wars Hi-Def set that cannot be purchased separately as well.
900 million, that is. Loving the sleep dep.
Glad to be of service. That movie is great camp fun. Probably has 900K Hindus shaking their heads to this day.
I dunno, doesn't call after the first date, doesn't stick up for you in a debate, cheats on you, and lies about it.
For some reason that reminded me of Temple of Doom:
Mola Ram: The British in India will be slaughtered. Then we will overrun the Moslems. Then the Hebrew god will fall. Then the Christian god will be cast down and forgotten. Soon Kali Ma will rule the world.
Random little break from the debate. Smirk, even smile a little bit... aaaand back to the flamewar.
Just wish they'd used a little foresight. ISPs, **AA, Record Companies--it just sucks that so much of what we depend on for legitimate digital content as consumers is run by people with no concept of where the business is now, let alone where it's going.
PAIN!!!!
AC, your hostility took me a little by surprise. I wasn't really stringently arguing a knee-jerk thinkofthechildren response. I was ambivalent, remember? More importantly though, while it's true that the group in question has a lower incidence of crimes of any kind, they are 4 times as likely to commit another sex crime than any other group--given the number of sexual offenders out there, that's the troubling issue. Personally though, I think that many of the laws should be rethought, as they actually prevent the reformed offenders from really reentering society in any meaningful way.
This case has me ambivalent. On the one hand, what about having a Myspace account is worthy of automatic surveillance? On the other, the recidivism rates for many sex offenders are incredibly high. Also, there are often many other embarrassing restrictions already placed on their lives much closer to home where people know them. I know, it's a touchy issue, but the more you think about it, the less clean-cut it seems.
Well, at least it's not another elaborate way for anyone to spy upon us... or is it?
:)
This moment of rampant paranoia brought to you by... me!
Yes, that was a bit of my point as well. The public surveillance is not necessarily evil and freedom-limiting in and of itself, but it encourages behavior that will (and I mean 'will,' not 'may') ultimately erode freedom and abuse free and good citizens.
Perhaps poor wording on my part. My statement was a whimsical "what-if" which was inspired by a mental image of mostly older, mostly white guys in Washington mopping their brows and having private moments of nostalgia for the cold war days (especially the later ones). Sure, people died in the 80s (google Maj Nicholson), and Vietnam was a disaster, but we largely felt good about ourselves as the champions of freedom, democracy and capitalism. Now, while still ostensibly standing for those things, we're having PR problems abroad and at home, and are unable to wage an effective war with our opponents.
I stand (partially) corrected. Goes to show I need to double-check my quotation sources :)
You know, there are probably a lot of frustrated Washington bureaucrats and military types that would love to see a re-emergence of a Soviet Russian state--we'd be fighting real commies again, and not elusive and often invisible terrorists. And the wiretapping infrastructure is there to catch the red sympathizers at home now! Ah, Russia, how your people are always out of one pan and into another fire.
"...to control its populace," I should have said, not "of its populace." Here's the other quotation I was looking for, from MIB, about how humans behave in packs:
Kay: A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals and you know it.
The obvious Ben Franklin quotation comes to mind:
"Anyone who trades liberty for security deserves neither liberty nor security"
That really sums up what's happening on both sides of the ocean. While I disagree that this is (solely) a sinister plot of an overweening government to control of its populace, this seems as often as not to be the end effect in scenarios like this. People are smart individually, but in scared groups they often make terrible decisions, which is why there's a lot of sheepish head-scratching on Capitol Hill here in the States about the fervent support that was given on both sides of the aisle for the Iraq debacle. The scariest thing about the current group of leaders is that they don't seem to have read their history properly.
...and now the seasoned veterans of sarcasm and IT acrimony at ./ will rip him back! Enjoy the rest of the thread!
:)
Sometimes when cleaning out a relative's totally infested PC, I think that most average computer users are so bovine in their approach to spyware, that they really don't mind all the automatic installation that goes on, as long as it doesn't interfere with the "just works" experience. In my experience, there's very little of the outrage that we feel about this stuff. It's frustrating really.
> if the world's first center for trauma victims could have improved the outcome had Lincoln's assassination occurred in 2007.
Funny thing to attempt. Sounds like a great mafia tagline: "Improving the outcome of assassinations since 1865!"
OMG!!! Pink pony life forms?! In Soviet Russia, new extra-solar dupe life form overlords welcome you!
It would be nice to live there. Here it's a choice between Comcast and Embarq, formerly Sprint, which in and of itself, is a big "no thanks" for me. Plus, by simply using Comcast for Internet, I get the analog channels and some HD network channels for free. I guess I shouldn't complain since I'm only paying $25, but it still sucks. Good thing I'm hooked on my Ubuntu install--I haven't had to download an ISO since I downgraded my plan, but even downloading music (and worse, uploading to my web site), is painful.
Being a cheapskate of Scottish descent, I opted for a non-advertised but offered "Broadband" account with Adelphia that was 25 bucks a month for 256k down. I usually clock it at about 384 or so, but still it's painfully slow. When Comcast took over, they stopped offering the plan, but existing subscribers are allowed to keep it. 2Mbps would be an amazing change for me, but I don't expect Comcast to honor that anytime soon. Given that the standard plan in my area is 6 Mbps, it's kind of a shame that they can't give me more, but oh well.
Talk about niche pr0n. Horses are common enough, but dead ones? Whew, my world just got a little bigger.
At that price, it reminds me of a classic Fallon line, to the effect of:
"Yeah, I've got an idea for a car that runs on bald eagle heads and Faberge eggs."