Ok harl. Thank you for replying to me. Let me see if I can be more specific.
I take offense to concepts you seem to espouse with comments like, "He appears to be a luddite or paranoid that is afraid of his name appearing in a database."
Now, don't get me wrong. Your comments were thoughtful and pretty much, true, as far as I can tell. It just seemed to me that you were expressing a view that we should all accept our recently imposed lack of privacy because of things like grocery store cards, traffic cameras, spy satellites, wiretapping, etc... I don't like the fact that you are pointing out all these erosions of our privacy, while insuating that they are "normal" or "acceptable" and painting people who value the ideal of privacy as "paranoid" and have nothing to worry about unless they "stand out".
I do not appreciate you taking such a complacent tone with loss of privacy/freedom/rights that is happening to America. You should be outraged.
But, fundamentally I think we agree. You are smart enough not to put your real name on the Safeway card. But I take privacy a bit more seriously. I personally think that it should be against the law for that company to make available information on your buying habits. Or even better, for it to be illegal for them to even store information relating your buying habits to your name. And, even if it's not made illegal, I think companies that do that stuff should be exposed and scorned. We should not just accept the fact that we are losing many privacys that we had 20 years ago. We should teach people to fanatically guard their freedoms/privacy/rights.
When you work for a company you understand that all your emails may be read by your employer. In the case of a government worker, the people are the employers.
ArcherB, are you suggesting that government employees deserve more privacy then private citizens?
Privacy is an ideal. It's a concept that exists which can't be discounted because of your petty little "insights".
So what if your Grocery Store Discount card shows that you bought some frozen pizzas. So what if the toll road shows that you drive to work. When you do stuff, people can see you. This is not insightful, it is obvious.
The point that you are missing is that privacy is a lifestyle choice that is beneficial. You should maintain your privacy. You should not give out your personal information. And, you should be weary of services that do not protect your privacy. These truths are self evident.
"Absence of proof is not proof of absence. He goes on to ignore this simple fact of logic throughout the rest of his article"
It may be a fact of logic, but it is a rather useless one.
The article says, "We are not due a magnetic flip as we cannot predict [...] the next one."
Then you say, "Well you know what. Back at'cha bub. There is no evidence to support your theories ether."
Although, in this case, his evidence that we cannot predict the next one is in fact "the absence of evidence." So, I guess in this case, your fact of logic is wrong, and the fact that we have no method of predicting something does in fact mean that we cannot predict it.
Speedtux, what manufacturers release an unfinished product like that? Please expose them... maybe public ridicule will force them to get their act together.
"Wouldn't like anything to happen to you kids, would you? Bring along the slip that shows you voted for Capone and everything should be ok"
Whenever someone produces this example they always use the "mafia". Well, guess what? It's not the 1930's anymore. This could already be done these days... just force the person to bring a video camera with them into the voting booth. So, you argument against print-outs doesn't hold water.
In order to influence an election like that you would have to influence a lot of votes. So, if you are a single mom with kids, you don't report the extortionist, but the single guy next door will.
Another way to mitigate voter extortion is to make it a very serious crime.
To re-iterate, extortion is not a valid reason not to have a verifiable paper printout, in an age where practically every single voter is walking around with a video camera.
You have to move your arms in a circle while moving your feet up and down, with about 240 chances to trip on a rope every minute. (120rpms * 2 feet) Plus, she's 9.
"the best thing going for me is some people respect be because of my moderately low slashdot uid"
I had nothing going for me until I realized that all future slashdotters must bow before me. This is a cromulent way to embiggen my Self Actualization.
"Democracy just gives everyone proportional say, which is flawed. We should not have proportional say, but letting everyone have equal say means that no progress is ever made, as everyone is always at odds with each other. I do not know how to solve this, but that does not mean that the current system is worth continuing."
Slashdot Mirror
"Outlook not so good."
Hey, what's with all the Microsoft bashing?
ok, sorry... I guess you weren't condoning data mining.
Good thing Disney didn't patent the wheel, or we'd all be riding the "It's a Small World After All" boat to work.
Personally, I don't think that icons on a computer that change their appearance when you mouse-over them is very innovative.
What, is their little algorithm of determining the size so innovative? How about this algorithm:
size = size * 2;
Well looky there. I deserve a patent.
What about my "just jealous at our futuristic grammar"?
Ok harl. Thank you for replying to me. Let me see if I can be more specific.
I take offense to concepts you seem to espouse with comments like, "He appears to be a luddite or paranoid that is afraid of his name appearing in a database."
Now, don't get me wrong. Your comments were thoughtful and pretty much, true, as far as I can tell. It just seemed to me that you were expressing a view that we should all accept our recently imposed lack of privacy because of things like grocery store cards, traffic cameras, spy satellites, wiretapping, etc... I don't like the fact that you are pointing out all these erosions of our privacy, while insuating that they are "normal" or "acceptable" and painting people who value the ideal of privacy as "paranoid" and have nothing to worry about unless they "stand out".
I do not appreciate you taking such a complacent tone with loss of privacy/freedom/rights that is happening to America. You should be outraged.
But, fundamentally I think we agree. You are smart enough not to put your real name on the Safeway card. But I take privacy a bit more seriously. I personally think that it should be against the law for that company to make available information on your buying habits. Or even better, for it to be illegal for them to even store information relating your buying habits to your name. And, even if it's not made illegal, I think companies that do that stuff should be exposed and scorned. We should not just accept the fact that we are losing many privacys that we had 20 years ago. We should teach people to fanatically guard their freedoms/privacy/rights.
When you work for a company you understand that all your emails may be read by your employer. In the case of a government worker, the people are the employers.
ArcherB, are you suggesting that government employees deserve more privacy then private citizens?
Thank you. Now, please explain how I can use this to make my cat glow in the dark.
Privacy is an ideal. It's a concept that exists which can't be discounted because of your petty little "insights".
So what if your Grocery Store Discount card shows that you bought some frozen pizzas. So what if the toll road shows that you drive to work. When you do stuff, people can see you. This is not insightful, it is obvious.
The point that you are missing is that privacy is a lifestyle choice that is beneficial. You should maintain your privacy. You should not give out your personal information. And, you should be weary of services that do not protect your privacy. These truths are self evident.
Communication is fine. Just never type your personal information into any website.
"Absence of proof is not proof of absence. He goes on to ignore this simple fact of logic throughout the rest of his article"
It may be a fact of logic, but it is a rather useless one.
The article says, "We are not due a magnetic flip as we cannot predict [...] the next one."
Then you say, "Well you know what. Back at'cha bub. There is no evidence to support your theories ether."
Although, in this case, his evidence that we cannot predict the next one is in fact "the absence of evidence." So, I guess in this case, your fact of logic is wrong, and the fact that we have no method of predicting something does in fact mean that we cannot predict it.
"So I think it's fair to say that it's still a concern for some election authorities."
But, is it a valid concern? What is the difference between, "Show me your printout," and "Show me your cellfone-cam"?
I'm just saying, that the argument against having a printout, isn't valid these days.
I have heard from a firefighter friend that the plane has been found.
Speedtux, what manufacturers release an unfinished product like that? Please expose them... maybe public ridicule will force them to get their act together.
Make the free, ad-less, download-able games, aspect of Linux, a more prominent part of the desktop and I suspect there will be fewer returns.
Well, duh.
"Wouldn't like anything to happen to you kids, would you? Bring along the slip that shows you voted for Capone and everything should be ok"
Whenever someone produces this example they always use the "mafia". Well, guess what? It's not the 1930's anymore. This could already be done these days... just force the person to bring a video camera with them into the voting booth. So, you argument against print-outs doesn't hold water.
In order to influence an election like that you would have to influence a lot of votes. So, if you are a single mom with kids, you don't report the extortionist, but the single guy next door will.
Another way to mitigate voter extortion is to make it a very serious crime.
To re-iterate, extortion is not a valid reason not to have a verifiable paper printout, in an age where practically every single voter is walking around with a video camera.
It's the giant tissue that the sneeze which is our universe, is headed towards.
You are assuming the magical terrorist sensor would flag every single person, to get your 46,000/day figure.
"How does one trip forward over a jump rope?"
You have to move your arms in a circle while moving your feet up and down, with about 240 chances to trip on a rope every minute. (120rpms * 2 feet)
Plus, she's 9.
Runs in the family, you say?
"the best thing going for me is some people respect be because of my moderately low slashdot uid"
I had nothing going for me until I realized that all future slashdotters must bow before me. This is a cromulent way to embiggen my Self Actualization.
"It isn't illegal to approve of it"
California state law says if you have prior knowledge of a felony, you must take steps to prevent it. It is in fact, illegal to "approve" of felonies.
We bombed a restaurant because we thought Saddam was inside? I Laughed-Out-Loud at that.
Too bad Saddam is dead now, because we could have used that excuse for all the civilian casualties!
"Democracy just gives everyone proportional say, which is flawed. We should not have proportional say, but letting everyone have equal say means that no progress is ever made, as everyone is always at odds with each other. I do not know how to solve this, but that does not mean that the current system is worth continuing."
The solution is states and states' rights.
Do you ever drop her?