Before I can teach a robot, it must be able to feel basic emotions: pain, joy, disgust, etc. Until it is capable of associating environmental interactions into at least positive and negative stimuli, it cannot be taught anything... at least not in the same fashion we learn.
All our basic learning functions are derived from emotional responses; And much of our learning is by observing others engaging in certain behaviors/tasks/activities and noting their emotional display (positive or negative). A robot that cannot understand and express emotions in response to environmental and social stimulus is not capable of learning in a human fashion.
I'm sure I'll have a bunch of people waving their AI degrees at me and telling me their bogodynamical model of humanolinguistic interdynamics says it can be done, and I won't argue with them on it... but it won't be as efficient, and it won't be as natural to interact with.
In China, human beings are largely regarded as disposable cattle
The United States was booted off the UN human rights committee and replaced by China out of its unwillingness to address fundamental problems like having the highest incarceration rate of any UN member nation, no journalist shield laws, carrying out a forced sterilization program on its citizens, and for numerous actions that are against the Geneva convention such as the torture of political prisoners and secret courts where people are indefinately detained or even executed.
I'll much happier put up with my government instituting silly policies like not allowing ripping of a DVD,
Under current legislation, downloading a song by Michael Jackson will earn you two more years in jail than the doctor who killed him. It's not a "silly" policy: It is a policy which is being selectively enforced, very often against scientifically and technically literate individuals who, as a community, generally have a more critical opinion of the government and maintain a more "liberal" mindset. In short: The laws is being used as a political weapon.
So don't give me that shit about how I need more training, you condescending jerk.
Well, no, not in your crappy backwater country, and not with some locked down hardware like an ipad. But in more sensible and advanced societies like, er, China, these kinds of things are readily available, and cheaper too.
Am I the only one that read the title and thought to themselves, "Not him again." This guy isn't as much about real science as he is about using science to grab headlines and then not sticking around to follow through. Remember how he was going to single-handedly fix the Horizon oil disaster off the coast of Louisiana? Never happened. Actually, not a single thing this guy has made headlines for has actually panned out.
Yeah, me too. To date, I have yet to see a video game character with a realistic-looking male crotch. Those poor, poor bastards. And yet, so many guys look at those video game characters as heroes in spite of their status as eunichs. I hope that with this latest advancement in technology, men will finally get some anatomical upgrades so they can be, you know... men.
When the article's authors have shoehorned a word so obviously not related to the subject matter into the subject line, and then go on to repeat it over and over again, only one of two things can be true:
1. There were no better words in the dictionary, and rather than taking the sensible approach of creating a new one, they opened to a page at random, stuck their finger on it, and started using whatever their finger touched.
2. Author was trying to sound trendy and interesting.
As a footnote, salahamada is a made-up word waiting patiently for its debut. Give it a little love?
I can just see it now. Taking home the new ipad3, turning it on for the first time, excited for the fast download speed and massive processor, and the first message that appears:
You have exceeded your bandwidth quota for the month. All network apps disabled
First, you're being exceeding and entirely unnessarily rude
This isn't acadamia. This..... IS... SLAAAAASHDOT!
Rather then appear superior,
Than.
this sort of behavior makes you appear childish.
Yes, but I'm in good company.
Second, obviously people get paid.
Not to everyone.
There is an expense to issuing mail coupons. There is an expense to having check out baggers in the store. There is an expense to having the managers. there is an expense to send trucks to the store and unload goods.
You're complaining about me being obvious so... you're being obvious back to make a point about being obvious?
I am hoping that by eliminating all of that there is enough savings to pay for the cost of having a truck deliver to the door directly.
I've found hope to not be an effective business strategy. Better to look at the current examples of that type of business and then note their success rate: Very low. That tells me the margins are very small. Smaller, even, than those grocery stores you believe are antiquidated.
Had you bothered to think about it a bit before acting like a spoiled child...
Oh, I thought about it: I thought you were a prick and I wanted to have some fun at your expense while making a solid point about economics and how many people on slashdot think they've got an idea for the Next Big Thing. To date, nobody on has posted a comment on slashdot and then later went on to make a million dollars off of the plan outlined therein.
I suspect you're too interested in protecting your ego at this point...
Nah, I'm just bored. You're the one writing a lengthy 10 paragraph rant which you spell-checked, previewed 10 times, and then smiled before clicking send.. unlike your initial post which was riddled with spelling and logic errors. As for me... ah well... *click*
That would depend entirely on the area of the brain that is affected.
Stop trying to use logic on people. That never gets modded up on slashdot. Sweeping generalizations and attacking the person's sexuality are way better. I mean look at the people replying to my posts lately.:)
And this is why you're a girl in training and not a banker in training.
And we start with an attack on the person, not the argument. Always an indicator of intellectual superiority.
All sophisticated crimes are confidence tricks
So those submarines they're building to get drugs into the country... that's... not.... sophisticated? That word, I do not think it means what you think it means.
How you dress is a significant indicator of potential.
Warren Buffet doesn't carry a cell phone, doesn't have meetings, and doesn't talk to his CEOs except to send a single letter to them once a year laying out goals. He lives in a suburban house, not a mansion, and spends most of his time wearing jeans and a t-shirt. For fun, he watches TV after making some popcorn. He is the second richest man in the world. Bill gates wears blue jeans. Steve Jobs... well, he's a little goth, but definately still isn't about the shiny shoes.
Your argument sucks: All the people who are filthy stinking rich don't give a shit about that, and they keep giving others beneath them the same advice (which they ignore, and thus never move up).
"Meritocracy" rarely has substantive meaning:
It has a very specific meaning you are intentionally ignoring: That is, people are judged on the basis of their performance, not on how they dress, look, what hangs between their legs, etc.
: it is usually applied when someone without full understanding of a hierarchy fails to appreciate the full set of qualities required of an individual.
Quick! To the Ad Hominid Attack-Mobile. Begging to differ, but no, it's usually applies when someone wants to say being a pompous prick won't get you as far as working hard and knowing shit.
For example, loyalty in business to an "Old Boys' Club", guaranteeing that personal friends will further each others' interests, is far more important than
Ethics, competiveness with other businesses, or legality. FTFY.
e.g. who got the highest grade in some stupid aptitude test or who managed to increase profitability most at their previous job.
Yeah... hard to imagine how a criminal organization (or a legitimate one) could function by hiring people who score the highest on tests designed to determine their potential, and instead rely on things like the shininess of their shoes.
But it's fortunate that we don't have meritocracy, because it's a euphemism for "might makes right".
Yes, as opposed to cronyism, which is much more enlightened than anything based on objective measurements.
Does this company also act surprised that the US government could access any US-based bank accounts it has?
I suppose it would be. By taking this aggressively authoritarian stance on global commerce, the United States is threatening its own interests: The financial power of the US is tied directly to its financial markets. The US signed treaties with many countries that, even if war were declared, their assets would be left alone. For this reason, many countries use the dollar as their only form of currency, store their assets in US-controlled financial systems, etc. As a result, the US government is the largest bank in the world, by far. The internet is fast becoming the major driver of economic power worldwide, and the fact that the US is not putting its internet connections on the same level threatens its status as a superpower.
Countries are moving away from the dollar. The Chinese is divesting itself of dollars every day, growing larger economically while we grow weaker. Corporations based in this country are outsourcing at a record pace, even during the longest recession in history. Everyone is jumping ship because the public policy the US government has instituted is no longer beneficial to them economically, politically, or even morally. In ten years, the United States will no longer be the dominant superpower. They won't be able to maintain a vast military, their infrastructure will have finally reached a point of decrepitation that requires such enormous capital investment versus the (now substantially reduced) economic benefit, that large sections of infrastructure will be abandoned or scaled back.
In short, America is dying. And it didn't die because of a lack of natural resources, or because it was attacked by terrorists, or got hit with a natural disaster. It died because a select few people, perhaps less than 20,000, opted to raid the treasury, and then pass a bunch of laws to ensure the country never recovered.
So yes, to see the US killing its last viable resource that could be used to keep it in the game is a bit surprising. Without a free internet, there's no reason to choose US labor, good, or services, over that of its competitors who, while they may have a restricted communication network, offer better economic opportunities (read: China).
Do you have an instance where you experienced the positive (or negative) effects of a cell phone jammer?"
Yeah. I was having a stroke and nobody could understand why I was flopping about with half my face looking like it was ready to melt off. I reached for my phone, dialed 911... and nothing happened. Then I died. I had to submit this as a ghost because nobody thinks about what blocking a communications medium does to innocent people, they just want to get at the one asshole amongst the dozens or so in the area abusing it.
...but the antivirus business was plagued forevermore by accusations of fear-mongering."
Symantec's whole business model goes something like this: "Hey, that's a nice computer you have there. A shame if something were to... happen... to it." It's not an accusation, they're quite forward about it... try unsubscribing from their service once you have it. It's easier to just call the bank and say "cancel my card, close the account, burn the evidence." --- though you still have to figure out how to remove said leech software and disable all the damn warnings. Modern antivirus does not go quietly: It threatens to kill you while you're disabling it, like some sick scifi computer.... "Noooo... daaaaaavee.... I loooovvve yooooouu.. *bzzzrrrrt*"
Criminal activity is criminal activity whether you dress it up as some boo hoo sob story of some poor ickle struggling hacker trying to improve his sk177s and get noticed or not.
"Hello? RIAA? Yes, I'd like to report a man with a lot of stolen music and videos on his harddrive. Yes, I can hold." You're over-simplifying complex social issues for which many, many books have been dedicated. Also... if you truly feel that all law-breakers should carry the title "criminal" and face the full punishment outlined, might I suggest you start by turning yourself in? Few people can get through a day without committing at least one felony. The laws are exceedingly complex.
As to the rest of your drivel, I'm surprised anyone marked it 'insightful' as you're gay bashing, telling the author that they just need sex, they're delusional, etc. Frankly, I'm seriously disappointed in the moderators on this.... you're an illiterate moron that seems to be completely lacking in any kind of compassion whatsoever. You should be ashamed.
If they want to impress me, then find a way to let me order groceries from home to be delivered at my home at no additional charge.
You want someone else to pay for the fuel and the manpower to individually ship your groceries to you... and this is the only way to impress you? I suspect you are going to have a very unimpressive life.
Look at Amazon with their no shipping charges on anything over 25 dollars rule.
You are failing so hard at economics right now it's hard for me to type this right now. Let's be clear on something: The shipping company gets paid. The delivery driver gets paid. The warehouse owner gets paid. And they're all making a profit. And you get whatever you ordered. Amazon is allowed to do stuff like that because they don't pay sales tax, which if you did the math you'd notice sales tax costs more than the "delivery tax" as it were. So basically, you're getting that "free" shipping because you're not paying taxes on what you ordered. But it's not free. And other companes offer "free shipping too". It works like this $price = $price + $shipping cost...now the shipping is 'magically' free.
My point here is that nobody's going to perform a service for you for free. Nothing is 'free'. Stop using the word 'free' in reference to a business transaction. There. Is. No. Such. Thing.
Maybe this is a stupid idea... But I'd use it exclusively.
There will come a time before long when NO-ONE will be laughing, as the terror which has been wrought upon us by our government and the banks is revealed for what it really is.
They won't care as long as they're offered a 15% discount on their car insurance. You overestimate humanity's desire for freedom. Civil liberties are a historical anomaly. Invariably, cultures that have them are conquered by those that do not, usually because cultures that have them are affluent and wealthy and cultures that don't have a whole lot of bodies they can throw at the problem until said culture is overrun.
"Anonymous is believed to have caused billions of dollars in damage to governments, international banks and corporations"
That's totally true, and if you disagree, it's because you're a liberal who can't handle the facts! In other (fox) news my harddrives are currently worth more than the GDP of the entire continent of Africa.
but their news reporting is no less accurate than WaPo.
Yeah... I remember how they accurately reported the space shuttle re-entering the atmosphere at 17 times the speed of light too. Anyway... since you couldn't be bothered to google for some non-editorial examples of Fox News 'facts', here's what I found just punching in "fox news facts" into _google image search_.
I could do this all day, but I hope you get my point. There's plenty of websites out there about how skewed their productions are. Even Colbert had a good laugh at their expense, dedicating not one, but six shows to showing off how shoddy their reporting is. But I mean, hey... if you want to say that they're being unfairly targeted for being 'conservative', hey, that's okay I guess. Everyone's entitled to their opinions. I just draw the line at people passing opinions off as facts, that's all.
Only people on the dole and school kids have time to do this shit, the rest of us have to earn an honest living.
A little bitter and prejudiced are we? No, it's not just kids that do this kind of thing. All that malware leeching away your personal data was not designed by teenagers or unemployed people. Software like that is often designed and used by people who are well-educated, often have jobs, and are otherwise just like you except for one minor detail: They think your working class ethos means dick, and they want to actually get ahead in the world rather than working for The Man forever and ever for crap health insurance and a shot at that extra $0.30 raise at the end of the year after using up their "generous" 11 days of vacation for the year... which also counts as their sick days... which means the average person spends their "vacation" being sick, and then gets written up and denied that $0.30 raise for taking too many days off. You might have heard of the most successful malware currently in use: It's called Facebook, and it's a scam that's become so popular that it has been incorporated and now has its own laison with the government (you know how much they hate competition in these kinds of things...)
I know Slashdot is in love with the idea of some lone samurai learning to hack in some temple somewhere, then bravely venturing forth fully versed in the art of code-fu, but it's just as fictional as those samurai movies: The overwhelming majority of people these days learn their trade on the job, or in school, and then they do this kind of stuff on the side. You just hear about the unemployed and school kids a lot more because (a) they're more likely to have deficits in their understanding of how to do this without getting caught and (b) if caught they're not going to be able to put up money for any kind of a legal defense.
No sane employer will want him within a mile of their systems.
You do realize that by denying people access to employment after their jail term has ended, you're leaving them only one option: Criminal activity, correct? The world of crime is a lot more amiable to a meritocracy than the corporate one; They don't try to hold onto weird beliefs like thinking how a person dresses is an indicator of potential, for example. It's just food for thought... not that I expect much thinking from you... you seem to be very narrow minded and prejudiced against the disadvantaged in general, so why would you ever stop and consider that maybe the problem is as much how we're treating them as their lack of ethics? Remember: You can't eat ethics. A very small number of people will be dicks just to be dicks, but the vast majority of people engage in unethical behavior because it has a benefit to them. That benefit is usually pretty basic too: Food, shelter, clothing, sex, etc. Of course, once they've gotten into the criminal world, it's hard to turn back because it's so goddamned profitable. So people wind up sticking a toe in the water and wind up getting pulled in deep. That's how it usually goes... no tricks, no arguments, no politics... just people who had some hard times, reached for the closest life preserver, and got sucked in.
We create the criminals when we allow social injustice.
More likely he was arrested by accident and the government has the wrong guy or group. It's not like the arresting agency here has a track record of getting it right: They're routinely manufacturing terrorists by coercing people who would otherwise be disillusioned citizens from minority groups that just grump about without ever doing anything. Instead they pump these mentally unstable types up with false propaganda and then give them a fake bomb, then arrest them in front of fifty cameras and say "TA-DA! See, we're totally justified in abusing your civil liberties because heeeeeere's a terrorist!" This same agency has kicked in the doors of people suspected to be in possession of child porn (or, worse... downloads...) and then realizing the poor bastard they just made piss his pants and have a heart attack has an open wifi router he bought at the store and his grandson set it up so he could search for work... and the guy they're really looking for is presently sitting outside a Starbucks masturbating.
I doubt they did it for the lulz as much as for the "Let's give some poor bastard a fake trial and then ship him to one of our secret prisons all the while assuring the american public that this is a 'freedom enhancement' arrest."
WAIT! It's a story from Fox News. Wait until a more reputable news source reports the details. All every other reputable source is saying is that some dude got arrested and the feds think he's part of lulzsec. The rest is probably exaggeration if not complete fabrication and speculation on the part of that news organization. Do not assume anything in the article is true.
Is a meaningless indicator of how much money a company can afford to throw away on legal fees before their shareholders start asking questions like, "Where's my goddamned dividends?"
Slashdot Mirror
I think Microsoft Operating Systems follow the trek movie rule: Every other release sucks.
These labels are a total joke here - seems like every building and half the brands of cars have these stupid warning labels.
Yeah, including canisters of pure oxygen. True story.
Before I can teach a robot, it must be able to feel basic emotions: pain, joy, disgust, etc. Until it is capable of associating environmental interactions into at least positive and negative stimuli, it cannot be taught anything... at least not in the same fashion we learn.
All our basic learning functions are derived from emotional responses; And much of our learning is by observing others engaging in certain behaviors/tasks/activities and noting their emotional display (positive or negative). A robot that cannot understand and express emotions in response to environmental and social stimulus is not capable of learning in a human fashion.
I'm sure I'll have a bunch of people waving their AI degrees at me and telling me their bogodynamical model of humanolinguistic interdynamics says it can be done, and I won't argue with them on it... but it won't be as efficient, and it won't be as natural to interact with.
Emotions are the key to human learning.
As messed up as our copyright and patent laws are
Stop. End of line. Thanks.
In China, human beings are largely regarded as disposable cattle
The United States was booted off the UN human rights committee and replaced by China out of its unwillingness to address fundamental problems like having the highest incarceration rate of any UN member nation, no journalist shield laws, carrying out a forced sterilization program on its citizens, and for numerous actions that are against the Geneva convention such as the torture of political prisoners and secret courts where people are indefinately detained or even executed.
I'll much happier put up with my government instituting silly policies like not allowing ripping of a DVD,
Under current legislation, downloading a song by Michael Jackson will earn you two more years in jail than the doctor who killed him. It's not a "silly" policy: It is a policy which is being selectively enforced, very often against scientifically and technically literate individuals who, as a community, generally have a more critical opinion of the government and maintain a more "liberal" mindset. In short: The laws is being used as a political weapon.
So don't give me that shit about how I need more training, you condescending jerk.
, the ugly truth may be that they can't.
Well, no, not in your crappy backwater country, and not with some locked down hardware like an ipad. But in more sensible and advanced societies like, er, China, these kinds of things are readily available, and cheaper too.
Am I the only one that read the title and thought to themselves, "Not him again." This guy isn't as much about real science as he is about using science to grab headlines and then not sticking around to follow through. Remember how he was going to single-handedly fix the Horizon oil disaster off the coast of Louisiana? Never happened. Actually, not a single thing this guy has made headlines for has actually panned out.
better looking "anatomical peaks"!
Yeah, me too. To date, I have yet to see a video game character with a realistic-looking male crotch. Those poor, poor bastards. And yet, so many guys look at those video game characters as heroes in spite of their status as eunichs. I hope that with this latest advancement in technology, men will finally get some anatomical upgrades so they can be, you know... men.
When the article's authors have shoehorned a word so obviously not related to the subject matter into the subject line, and then go on to repeat it over and over again, only one of two things can be true:
1. There were no better words in the dictionary, and rather than taking the sensible approach of creating a new one, they opened to a page at random, stuck their finger on it, and started using whatever their finger touched.
2. Author was trying to sound trendy and interesting.
As a footnote, salahamada is a made-up word waiting patiently for its debut. Give it a little love?
I can just see it now. Taking home the new ipad3, turning it on for the first time, excited for the fast download speed and massive processor, and the first message that appears:
You have exceeded your bandwidth quota for the month. All network apps disabled
First, you're being exceeding and entirely unnessarily rude
This isn't acadamia. This..... IS... SLAAAAASHDOT!
Rather then appear superior,
Than.
this sort of behavior makes you appear childish.
Yes, but I'm in good company.
Second, obviously people get paid.
Not to everyone.
There is an expense to issuing mail coupons. There is an expense to having check out baggers in the store. There is an expense to having the managers. there is an expense to send trucks to the store and unload goods.
You're complaining about me being obvious so... you're being obvious back to make a point about being obvious?
I am hoping that by eliminating all of that there is enough savings to pay for the cost of having a truck deliver to the door directly.
I've found hope to not be an effective business strategy. Better to look at the current examples of that type of business and then note their success rate: Very low. That tells me the margins are very small. Smaller, even, than those grocery stores you believe are antiquidated.
Had you bothered to think about it a bit before acting like a spoiled child...
Oh, I thought about it: I thought you were a prick and I wanted to have some fun at your expense while making a solid point about economics and how many people on slashdot think they've got an idea for the Next Big Thing. To date, nobody on has posted a comment on slashdot and then later went on to make a million dollars off of the plan outlined therein.
I suspect you're too interested in protecting your ego at this point...
Nah, I'm just bored. You're the one writing a lengthy 10 paragraph rant which you spell-checked, previewed 10 times, and then smiled before clicking send.. unlike your initial post which was riddled with spelling and logic errors. As for me... ah well... *click*
That would depend entirely on the area of the brain that is affected.
Stop trying to use logic on people. That never gets modded up on slashdot. Sweeping generalizations and attacking the person's sexuality are way better. I mean look at the people replying to my posts lately. :)
And this is why you're a girl in training and not a banker in training.
And we start with an attack on the person, not the argument. Always an indicator of intellectual superiority.
All sophisticated crimes are confidence tricks
So those submarines they're building to get drugs into the country... that's... not.... sophisticated? That word, I do not think it means what you think it means.
How you dress is a significant indicator of potential.
Warren Buffet doesn't carry a cell phone, doesn't have meetings, and doesn't talk to his CEOs except to send a single letter to them once a year laying out goals. He lives in a suburban house, not a mansion, and spends most of his time wearing jeans and a t-shirt. For fun, he watches TV after making some popcorn. He is the second richest man in the world. Bill gates wears blue jeans. Steve Jobs... well, he's a little goth, but definately still isn't about the shiny shoes.
Your argument sucks: All the people who are filthy stinking rich don't give a shit about that, and they keep giving others beneath them the same advice (which they ignore, and thus never move up).
"Meritocracy" rarely has substantive meaning:
It has a very specific meaning you are intentionally ignoring: That is, people are judged on the basis of their performance, not on how they dress, look, what hangs between their legs, etc.
: it is usually applied when someone without full understanding of a hierarchy fails to appreciate the full set of qualities required of an individual.
Quick! To the Ad Hominid Attack-Mobile. Begging to differ, but no, it's usually applies when someone wants to say being a pompous prick won't get you as far as working hard and knowing shit.
For example, loyalty in business to an "Old Boys' Club", guaranteeing that personal friends will further each others' interests, is far more important than
Ethics, competiveness with other businesses, or legality. FTFY.
e.g. who got the highest grade in some stupid aptitude test or who managed to increase profitability most at their previous job.
Yeah... hard to imagine how a criminal organization (or a legitimate one) could function by hiring people who score the highest on tests designed to determine their potential, and instead rely on things like the shininess of their shoes.
But it's fortunate that we don't have meritocracy, because it's a euphemism for "might makes right".
Yes, as opposed to cronyism, which is much more enlightened than anything based on objective measurements.
Does this company also act surprised that the US government could access any US-based bank accounts it has?
I suppose it would be. By taking this aggressively authoritarian stance on global commerce, the United States is threatening its own interests: The financial power of the US is tied directly to its financial markets. The US signed treaties with many countries that, even if war were declared, their assets would be left alone. For this reason, many countries use the dollar as their only form of currency, store their assets in US-controlled financial systems, etc. As a result, the US government is the largest bank in the world, by far. The internet is fast becoming the major driver of economic power worldwide, and the fact that the US is not putting its internet connections on the same level threatens its status as a superpower.
Countries are moving away from the dollar. The Chinese is divesting itself of dollars every day, growing larger economically while we grow weaker. Corporations based in this country are outsourcing at a record pace, even during the longest recession in history. Everyone is jumping ship because the public policy the US government has instituted is no longer beneficial to them economically, politically, or even morally. In ten years, the United States will no longer be the dominant superpower. They won't be able to maintain a vast military, their infrastructure will have finally reached a point of decrepitation that requires such enormous capital investment versus the (now substantially reduced) economic benefit, that large sections of infrastructure will be abandoned or scaled back.
In short, America is dying. And it didn't die because of a lack of natural resources, or because it was attacked by terrorists, or got hit with a natural disaster. It died because a select few people, perhaps less than 20,000, opted to raid the treasury, and then pass a bunch of laws to ensure the country never recovered.
So yes, to see the US killing its last viable resource that could be used to keep it in the game is a bit surprising. Without a free internet, there's no reason to choose US labor, good, or services, over that of its competitors who, while they may have a restricted communication network, offer better economic opportunities (read: China).
Do you have an instance where you experienced the positive (or negative) effects of a cell phone jammer?"
Yeah. I was having a stroke and nobody could understand why I was flopping about with half my face looking like it was ready to melt off. I reached for my phone, dialed 911... and nothing happened. Then I died. I had to submit this as a ghost because nobody thinks about what blocking a communications medium does to innocent people, they just want to get at the one asshole amongst the dozens or so in the area abusing it.
Remember the 90's?
I try not to.
...but the antivirus business was plagued forevermore by accusations of fear-mongering."
Symantec's whole business model goes something like this: "Hey, that's a nice computer you have there. A shame if something were to... happen... to it." It's not an accusation, they're quite forward about it... try unsubscribing from their service once you have it. It's easier to just call the bank and say "cancel my card, close the account, burn the evidence." --- though you still have to figure out how to remove said leech software and disable all the damn warnings. Modern antivirus does not go quietly: It threatens to kill you while you're disabling it, like some sick scifi computer.... "Noooo... daaaaaavee.... I loooovvve yooooouu.. *bzzzrrrrt*"
Criminal activity is criminal activity whether you dress it up as some boo hoo sob story of some poor ickle struggling hacker trying to improve his sk177s and get noticed or not.
"Hello? RIAA? Yes, I'd like to report a man with a lot of stolen music and videos on his harddrive. Yes, I can hold." You're over-simplifying complex social issues for which many, many books have been dedicated. Also... if you truly feel that all law-breakers should carry the title "criminal" and face the full punishment outlined, might I suggest you start by turning yourself in? Few people can get through a day without committing at least one felony. The laws are exceedingly complex.
As to the rest of your drivel, I'm surprised anyone marked it 'insightful' as you're gay bashing, telling the author that they just need sex, they're delusional, etc. Frankly, I'm seriously disappointed in the moderators on this.... you're an illiterate moron that seems to be completely lacking in any kind of compassion whatsoever. You should be ashamed.
If they want to impress me, then find a way to let me order groceries from home to be delivered at my home at no additional charge.
You want someone else to pay for the fuel and the manpower to individually ship your groceries to you... and this is the only way to impress you? I suspect you are going to have a very unimpressive life.
Look at Amazon with their no shipping charges on anything over 25 dollars rule.
You are failing so hard at economics right now it's hard for me to type this right now. Let's be clear on something: The shipping company gets paid. The delivery driver gets paid. The warehouse owner gets paid. And they're all making a profit. And you get whatever you ordered. Amazon is allowed to do stuff like that because they don't pay sales tax, which if you did the math you'd notice sales tax costs more than the "delivery tax" as it were. So basically, you're getting that "free" shipping because you're not paying taxes on what you ordered. But it's not free. And other companes offer "free shipping too". It works like this $price = $price + $shipping cost ...now the shipping is 'magically' free.
My point here is that nobody's going to perform a service for you for free. Nothing is 'free'. Stop using the word 'free' in reference to a business transaction. There. Is. No. Such. Thing.
Maybe this is a stupid idea... But I'd use it exclusively.
*cough*
There will come a time before long when NO-ONE will be laughing, as the terror which has been wrought upon us by our government and the banks is revealed for what it really is.
They won't care as long as they're offered a 15% discount on their car insurance. You overestimate humanity's desire for freedom. Civil liberties are a historical anomaly. Invariably, cultures that have them are conquered by those that do not, usually because cultures that have them are affluent and wealthy and cultures that don't have a whole lot of bodies they can throw at the problem until said culture is overrun.
"Anonymous is believed to have caused billions of dollars in damage to governments, international banks and corporations"
That's totally true, and if you disagree, it's because you're a liberal who can't handle the facts! In other (fox) news my harddrives are currently worth more than the GDP of the entire continent of Africa.
but their news reporting is no less accurate than WaPo.
Yeah... I remember how they accurately reported the space shuttle re-entering the atmosphere at 17 times the speed of light too. Anyway... since you couldn't be bothered to google for some non-editorial examples of Fox News 'facts', here's what I found just punching in "fox news facts" into _google image search_.
http://cloudfront.mediamatters.org/static/images/item/fnc-an-20110725-ss-facts.jpg
http://isviral.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Fox-News-Chuck-Norris-facts.jpg
http://cloudfront.mediamatters.org/static/images/item/cowboy3.jpg
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=A3BD2524FE99BD4D ...
I could do this all day, but I hope you get my point. There's plenty of websites out there about how skewed their productions are. Even Colbert had a good laugh at their expense, dedicating not one, but six shows to showing off how shoddy their reporting is. But I mean, hey... if you want to say that they're being unfairly targeted for being 'conservative', hey, that's okay I guess. Everyone's entitled to their opinions. I just draw the line at people passing opinions off as facts, that's all.
Only people on the dole and school kids have time to do this shit, the rest of us have to earn an honest living.
A little bitter and prejudiced are we? No, it's not just kids that do this kind of thing. All that malware leeching away your personal data was not designed by teenagers or unemployed people. Software like that is often designed and used by people who are well-educated, often have jobs, and are otherwise just like you except for one minor detail: They think your working class ethos means dick, and they want to actually get ahead in the world rather than working for The Man forever and ever for crap health insurance and a shot at that extra $0.30 raise at the end of the year after using up their "generous" 11 days of vacation for the year... which also counts as their sick days... which means the average person spends their "vacation" being sick, and then gets written up and denied that $0.30 raise for taking too many days off. You might have heard of the most successful malware currently in use: It's called Facebook, and it's a scam that's become so popular that it has been incorporated and now has its own laison with the government (you know how much they hate competition in these kinds of things...)
I know Slashdot is in love with the idea of some lone samurai learning to hack in some temple somewhere, then bravely venturing forth fully versed in the art of code-fu, but it's just as fictional as those samurai movies: The overwhelming majority of people these days learn their trade on the job, or in school, and then they do this kind of stuff on the side. You just hear about the unemployed and school kids a lot more because (a) they're more likely to have deficits in their understanding of how to do this without getting caught and (b) if caught they're not going to be able to put up money for any kind of a legal defense.
No sane employer will want him within a mile of their systems.
You do realize that by denying people access to employment after their jail term has ended, you're leaving them only one option: Criminal activity, correct? The world of crime is a lot more amiable to a meritocracy than the corporate one; They don't try to hold onto weird beliefs like thinking how a person dresses is an indicator of potential, for example. It's just food for thought... not that I expect much thinking from you... you seem to be very narrow minded and prejudiced against the disadvantaged in general, so why would you ever stop and consider that maybe the problem is as much how we're treating them as their lack of ethics? Remember: You can't eat ethics. A very small number of people will be dicks just to be dicks, but the vast majority of people engage in unethical behavior because it has a benefit to them. That benefit is usually pretty basic too: Food, shelter, clothing, sex, etc. Of course, once they've gotten into the criminal world, it's hard to turn back because it's so goddamned profitable. So people wind up sticking a toe in the water and wind up getting pulled in deep. That's how it usually goes... no tricks, no arguments, no politics... just people who had some hard times, reached for the closest life preserver, and got sucked in.
We create the criminals when we allow social injustice.
More likely he was arrested by accident and the government has the wrong guy or group. It's not like the arresting agency here has a track record of getting it right: They're routinely manufacturing terrorists by coercing people who would otherwise be disillusioned citizens from minority groups that just grump about without ever doing anything. Instead they pump these mentally unstable types up with false propaganda and then give them a fake bomb, then arrest them in front of fifty cameras and say "TA-DA! See, we're totally justified in abusing your civil liberties because heeeeeere's a terrorist!" This same agency has kicked in the doors of people suspected to be in possession of child porn (or, worse... downloads...) and then realizing the poor bastard they just made piss his pants and have a heart attack has an open wifi router he bought at the store and his grandson set it up so he could search for work... and the guy they're really looking for is presently sitting outside a Starbucks masturbating.
I doubt they did it for the lulz as much as for the "Let's give some poor bastard a fake trial and then ship him to one of our secret prisons all the while assuring the american public that this is a 'freedom enhancement' arrest."
WAIT! It's a story from Fox News. Wait until a more reputable news source reports the details. All every other reputable source is saying is that some dude got arrested and the feds think he's part of lulzsec. The rest is probably exaggeration if not complete fabrication and speculation on the part of that news organization. Do not assume anything in the article is true.
I think having a market cap of 17.75B
Is a meaningless indicator of how much money a company can afford to throw away on legal fees before their shareholders start asking questions like, "Where's my goddamned dividends?"