5th amendment doesn't hold here; everyone knew he was withholding the password, the password is not incriminating -> not protected under 5th amendment.
My defense of him has nothing to do with whether or not I think he is innocent (I do not; I think he is fully guilty of a crime). My defense is that he was given a four year conviction for something that really should have gone to civil court.
Try translating your argument into a different context. What if he wasn't employed by the government - should the punishment carry the same weight? What if he worked in a different field? It seems to me that if either of those conditions were different, he would have just been fired. After all, if a major company gives one person the password to their corporate bank account, and they won't tell it, did they really just steal hundreds of millions of dollars?
What it all comes down to is intention. If he intended something malicious, the sentence is entirely appropriate. If he did not, he should not serve any prison at all. There's really not a lot of room for gray areas here.
Incorrect. You are talking about two separate crimes here: a crime that occurred, and a crime that may or may not have been intended to occur, but did not. The former he should be tried for, and convicted of, and punished appropriately. The latter is conspiracy to commit a different crime - conspiracy is a criminal charge, which he could be tried and punished for. This is what keeps punishments appropriate for crimes; if I try to burn down your house but only succeed in breaking into your garage, I deserve to be punished for 1) damage to property, 2) breaking and entering, and 3) conspiracy to commit arson. NOT 1) 2) and 3) arson. You are implying the latter is what should take place, and that is incorrect.
My problem is how one minute the government claims the Constitution as absolute, unchangeable law, and then the next says "Oh, but it didn't take this into consideration."
Agreed. But does he deserve four years in prison? In most other professions, this would lead to a civil lawsuit and a fine, not a prison term on par with that of a violent offender.
In my opinion, the judges aren't the problem, it's the system in general. Prosecutors are pressured into going for maximums, and having a 100% conviction rate. In order to put together a successful defense, one must spend thousands of dollars. The laws themselves frequently do not take into account the severity of the crimes (see convicted song pirates).
This isn't even taking into account the police, who will also do everything they can to guarantee a conviction. It seems that we have moved from a legal system that would prefer letting a guilty man go free rather than imprisoning an innocent to one where we would gladly imprison 10 people, despite 9 of them being innocent to catch a single guilty.
Every time I read something positive pertaining to the American justice system I seem to be two years older than the last time. How does he possibly deserve four years in prison for this?
Apple's attitude is that "it's not enough to be good, you have to look good doing it." MS's attitude is "it's like your old comfy jeans. You're never going to throw them away." *nix's attitude is "BIKE SHORTS MOTHERFUCKER RTFM".
Let's be fabulous and make 2011 the year of the Linux desktop -- while we're still using desktops, FFS.
Its probably a lot more than that, actually... I just threw out a number. 2 Building shops @ ~12 each, lady/dwarf at 12 each, for 48, special shop for ~60 + 6 recipe shops at average of 10 is probably total of more like 120.
It's really just rock paper scissors on a large scale, but with the wins depending heavily on the how, not the what, with regards to heroes chosen and played. Some lineups will innately beat others, but if you give me a "perfect" winning strategy, no matter what it is, I can find a way to counter it.
As a fairly avid gamer who has played well over 2000 games of dota (TDA gamecount is in the 1200s), and someone who plays dota as his main game, let me be the first to say: DotA is NOT a good game to get in to. While I love it and think its a terrific game, it is extraordinarily difficult to get into. There are over 90 heroes, each of whom possess 4 skills. There are also probably 60 something (guessing off the top of my head) items. In order to be able to play and enjoy the game, you need to know 1) skills for every hero, and 2) item builds for the heroes you play.
I have tried to get my friends to try dota- the ones that used to play have largely quit for HoN or sc2. The only people I can recommend dota to are the ones that a) are skilled strategy game players, b) enjoy playing wc3, and c) are willing to dedicate the roughly 50+ hours necessary to simply UNDERSTAND dota.
Dota is a competitive, balanced, and rewarding game, but it takes a tremendous time investment before one can enjoy it. In my opinion, for beginners, dota will not be truly fun until you are able to understand the other team/players' strategies and counter them. Most low level dota consists of farming up items and then trying to kill things. While this might be fun for a while, this is like playing l4d2 with computers: it's fun, but you're missing out on the most crucial part of the game
Lastly, most dota players are terrible people. They feign ignorance, love to blame others, and can singlehandedly ruin a game. This is something you need to understand - just one player can make an otherwise great game miserable. Especially in low level league play (like TDA or THR) where there are penalties for leaving a game early, having one of these people on your team can make for 45 minutes of hell. Also, most players won't really progress beyond these leagues, so if you're trying to get in to dota, this is what you have to look forward to.
That said, best of luck... It would be great to have new dota players, or a standalone REAL dota game (that exactly mirrors the wc3 variant - my problem with HoN is it's too different).
Most sites that have forums for potentially illegal topics usually have people use SWIM - Someone Who Isn't Me - to describe themselves. For exactly this reason.
That happened in a recent court case (I don't think it was US though) and as soon as the judge saw the girl presented fake ID and was in a bar that required said ID to enter, the guy was no longer at fault because he had very good reason to believe she was 21. Citation needed.
Green light: foot on gas.
Green AND yellow light: foot off gas.
Yellow light: foot on brake.
Yellow AND red light: time to stop.
Red light: foot all the way down.
Put 5 seconds on each intermediary, and make it ILLEGAL to increase speed during a yellow or yellow/red light. People who saw the green/yellow know yellow is coming, so if you need to speed up, you'd better do it.
It's not that games have gotten too easy, its that the defaults have gotten too easy. I usually play games on the "Hard" setting initially, just because the normal is usually too easy. I want to have to find every ammo crate, have to kill every pink lion in the level to get all 5 of some item. The thing is, many "noob" games that are easy enough initially become difficult on harder settings
Of course, some just don't get that hard. So impose limits on yourself. Play Final Fantasy with no phoenix down. Don't let yourself buy ammo in games where you can find it too. The game can be as hard as you want to make it.
Or, play multiplayer games. Right now, I play DotA, which honestly is the most competitive, in depth combination of strategy and tactics in a video game that I have ever seen. I have played probably 2500 games of dota, and it's still my favorite. I also play valve multiplayer shooters, which can be difficult depending on whom you play with. If you want competition, play against people. If you want difficulty + story, set limits for yourself.
Slashdot Mirror
"equate" typo more like
5th amendment doesn't hold here; everyone knew he was withholding the password, the password is not incriminating -> not protected under 5th amendment.
My defense of him has nothing to do with whether or not I think he is innocent (I do not; I think he is fully guilty of a crime). My defense is that he was given a four year conviction for something that really should have gone to civil court.
Try translating your argument into a different context. What if he wasn't employed by the government - should the punishment carry the same weight? What if he worked in a different field? It seems to me that if either of those conditions were different, he would have just been fired. After all, if a major company gives one person the password to their corporate bank account, and they won't tell it, did they really just steal hundreds of millions of dollars?
What it all comes down to is intention. If he intended something malicious, the sentence is entirely appropriate. If he did not, he should not serve any prison at all. There's really not a lot of room for gray areas here.
Incorrect. You are talking about two separate crimes here: a crime that occurred, and a crime that may or may not have been intended to occur, but did not. The former he should be tried for, and convicted of, and punished appropriately. The latter is conspiracy to commit a different crime - conspiracy is a criminal charge, which he could be tried and punished for. This is what keeps punishments appropriate for crimes; if I try to burn down your house but only succeed in breaking into your garage, I deserve to be punished for 1) damage to property, 2) breaking and entering, and 3) conspiracy to commit arson. NOT 1) 2) and 3) arson. You are implying the latter is what should take place, and that is incorrect.
My problem is how one minute the government claims the Constitution as absolute, unchangeable law, and then the next says "Oh, but it didn't take this into consideration."
Agreed. But does he deserve four years in prison? In most other professions, this would lead to a civil lawsuit and a fine, not a prison term on par with that of a violent offender.
In my opinion, the judges aren't the problem, it's the system in general. Prosecutors are pressured into going for maximums, and having a 100% conviction rate. In order to put together a successful defense, one must spend thousands of dollars. The laws themselves frequently do not take into account the severity of the crimes (see convicted song pirates).
This isn't even taking into account the police, who will also do everything they can to guarantee a conviction. It seems that we have moved from a legal system that would prefer letting a guilty man go free rather than imprisoning an innocent to one where we would gladly imprison 10 people, despite 9 of them being innocent to catch a single guilty.
I think the best observation I have seen regarding this case was made in the last discussion thread: Link
Every time I read something positive pertaining to the American justice system I seem to be two years older than the last time. How does he possibly deserve four years in prison for this?
Driving requires a license, that has a test associated with it. Also, criminal penalties are very easy to inflict on those who misbehave.
2 Birthday posts from Slashdot within a few hours... Is today really that slow?
(IANAL) Involuntary vehicular manslaughter, likely either not taken to court, dismissed, or guilty conviction with no sentence.
Apple's attitude is that "it's not enough to be good, you have to look good doing it." MS's attitude is "it's like your old comfy jeans. You're never going to throw them away." *nix's attitude is "BIKE SHORTS MOTHERFUCKER RTFM".
Let's be fabulous and make 2011 the year of the Linux desktop -- while we're still using desktops, FFS.
Perfect! Best description I've seen recently...
Its probably a lot more than that, actually... I just threw out a number. 2 Building shops @ ~12 each, lady/dwarf at 12 each, for 48, special shop for ~60 + 6 recipe shops at average of 10 is probably total of more like 120.
tl;dr, my above number was not well thought out.
Tremendous Triumph: Textured Tactile Touchscreens Touted To Totally Transform Technology
It's really just rock paper scissors on a large scale, but with the wins depending heavily on the how, not the what, with regards to heroes chosen and played. Some lineups will innately beat others, but if you give me a "perfect" winning strategy, no matter what it is, I can find a way to counter it.
As a fairly avid gamer who has played well over 2000 games of dota (TDA gamecount is in the 1200s), and someone who plays dota as his main game, let me be the first to say: DotA is NOT a good game to get in to. While I love it and think its a terrific game, it is extraordinarily difficult to get into. There are over 90 heroes, each of whom possess 4 skills. There are also probably 60 something (guessing off the top of my head) items. In order to be able to play and enjoy the game, you need to know 1) skills for every hero, and 2) item builds for the heroes you play.
I have tried to get my friends to try dota- the ones that used to play have largely quit for HoN or sc2. The only people I can recommend dota to are the ones that a) are skilled strategy game players, b) enjoy playing wc3, and c) are willing to dedicate the roughly 50+ hours necessary to simply UNDERSTAND dota.
Dota is a competitive, balanced, and rewarding game, but it takes a tremendous time investment before one can enjoy it. In my opinion, for beginners, dota will not be truly fun until you are able to understand the other team/players' strategies and counter them. Most low level dota consists of farming up items and then trying to kill things. While this might be fun for a while, this is like playing l4d2 with computers: it's fun, but you're missing out on the most crucial part of the game
Lastly, most dota players are terrible people. They feign ignorance, love to blame others, and can singlehandedly ruin a game. This is something you need to understand - just one player can make an otherwise great game miserable. Especially in low level league play (like TDA or THR) where there are penalties for leaving a game early, having one of these people on your team can make for 45 minutes of hell. Also, most players won't really progress beyond these leagues, so if you're trying to get in to dota, this is what you have to look forward to.
That said, best of luck... It would be great to have new dota players, or a standalone REAL dota game (that exactly mirrors the wc3 variant - my problem with HoN is it's too different).
Most sites that have forums for potentially illegal topics usually have people use SWIM - Someone Who Isn't Me - to describe themselves. For exactly this reason.
US Government 101: The Senate does not write checks. They just approve them.
How about hitchhiking?.
Untimely demise by chainsaw
fuel costs of 16 hybrids over five years
Really? 5 Years? Is that really the lifetime of a car?
That happened in a recent court case (I don't think it was US though) and as soon as the judge saw the girl presented fake ID and was in a bar that required said ID to enter, the guy was no longer at fault because he had very good reason to believe she was 21. Citation needed.
Even easier method:
Green light: foot on gas. Green AND yellow light: foot off gas. Yellow light: foot on brake. Yellow AND red light: time to stop. Red light: foot all the way down. Put 5 seconds on each intermediary, and make it ILLEGAL to increase speed during a yellow or yellow/red light. People who saw the green/yellow know yellow is coming, so if you need to speed up, you'd better do it.
Of course, some just don't get that hard. So impose limits on yourself. Play Final Fantasy with no phoenix down. Don't let yourself buy ammo in games where you can find it too. The game can be as hard as you want to make it.
Or, play multiplayer games. Right now, I play DotA, which honestly is the most competitive, in depth combination of strategy and tactics in a video game that I have ever seen. I have played probably 2500 games of dota, and it's still my favorite. I also play valve multiplayer shooters, which can be difficult depending on whom you play with. If you want competition, play against people. If you want difficulty + story, set limits for yourself.