Your story reminded me of an experience I had back around that same time period ('96 or '97), when ICQ was fairly new and I was in my last year of college.
My sister spent a lot of time on ICQ and made a few friends. Apparently some guy on there used what little information she had shared with him (I don't know exactly what that was) and was able to put together enough information on her to figure out exactly where she lived. Soon after, he made some some thinly veiled threats to show up at her home and possibly cause her and her son harm. She was concerned, so she came to me.
I took little information that she could provide me with about him (along with his IP), and managed to determine not only what his real name, but also his place of employment, names and e-mail addresses of members of management at his company, and determined that he had sent these threats to my sister from his work computer during work hours.
He was in another country (Canada), so I doubted he was a real threat to her, but management at that company still was not happy to hear about this guy's behavior when I reported it to them.
I was reading as much about astronomy and physics as my little 8 year old mind could comprehend at the time. I even remember arguing with my 3rd grade science teacher when she corrected me on a matter of astronomy, when it was in fact her that was wrong. That was also the age where I wrote my very first programs in BASIC on a Tandy TRS-80 Color Computer.
I probably still had my finger up my nose, but that's ok. I wasn't a touch typist yet anyway.
However, calling these things suicide, when they lack the actual intent to kill one's self, but calling any of those things suicide is just dumbing down the meaning of the word.
Damnit, I saw the redundant phrasing 1 second after I hit submit. I might as well point it out myself before some grammar Nazi jumps in on it...
Many human lifestyle choices may be "suicidal". Smoking tobacco causes heart attack, strokes, and many cancers. This is slow suicide, but it's still suicide.
"the act or an instance of taking one's own life voluntarily and intentionally especially by a person of years of discretion and of sound mind"
Smoking, watching too much TV, drinking and texting (while driving), having an unhealthy diet, and being an Alaskan Fisherman might all be choices that may considerably increase your chances of meeting an early demise.
However, calling these things suicide, when they lack the actual intent to kill one's self, but calling any of those things suicide is just dumbing down the meaning of the word.
Even deliberate acts that lead to one being killed are not suicide, unless it was with the intent of ending one's life. For example, driving with your headlights off at midnight while high on drugs on a dare is not suicide, even if such a stupid act kills them.
Suicide requires: 1) An act or an instance. 2) A voluntary intent to kill one's self.
As for the original article, unless the antidepressants also gave them sentience so that they would realize, "Holy Bejeesus! I'm a freaking shrimp! Why didn't anyone tell me!?", then I doubt they have intent.
When I saw the headline, I wondered just how a shrimp becomes "suicidal".
Suicide is one intentionally taking their own life, not making behavioral or life-style choices that may increase the chance of an early demise. Unless their intent is to swim toward the light so that they can be killed, "suicidal" is quite sensationalist.
Otherwise, we could start describing all kinds of poor decision making and unhealthy lifestyle choices of humans as "suicidal."
Yeah, just like anyone who doesn't take the time to learn self-defense courses deserves to get beat up!
Listen, some of us may know what kind of deceitful manipulative wankers these guys are, but the general public is woefully unaware at just how underhanded the entertainment industries can be. We're talking about industries that know how to manipulate audiences and manufacture appeal among the masses... They know a thing or two about promoting images, including their own.
While I do wish more artists were better informed about what type of deal with the Devil they were making, but it's no excuse for how they get screwed over.
This whole scene is a mess. Big Labels have way too much control of what music people actually get exposed to, and the chances of making it anywhere without them are pretty slim. Even with the knowledge of how badly they treat the artists, some will still succumb because they feel it's their only real choice.
It's easy to say "just start an indie band", but what matters is not how many indie bands there are out there, but how many indie music customers there are out there. It's the buyers that make the difference, not the artists, and unfortunately I have little faith in the mass of sheep.
You beat me to that link! I was about to post that link myself! It's definitely worth a read and very enlightening. I'd mod you up if I could, just so more people would see it.
If we had Flying Cars, Hanna Barbara would be pursuing legal action in order to protect someone from profiting from flying cars that are obviously a ripoff from the Jetsons!
When I ask if WoW will be the new Facebook, I don't mean in regards to meaningless drivel (they are both great at that already).
What I mean is will WoW forums become the new source for posts that provide embarrassment, cause divorces, give ammo to employers to fire someone (or deny employment), and other social and work related blunders?
Sure, this will be likely be effective in making the game forums less of a cesspool, but I personally wouldn't ever post to the wow forums if my real name was attached. I might if I were named John Smith, but there aren't that many people that share my name. I don't want video game forum posts showing up on Google searches on my real name.
I hate what has been happening with DRM also, really I have. I'm also annoyed by the fact that Steam purchases will forever hinge on whether or not Steam continues to stay in business. I dislike not being able to sell, loan, or give away my games. I dislike that *some* publishers decide to tack on yet even more middleware DRM on top of Steam's as well. There are even some that you missed, such as that whether your source is Retail, Steam, or some other service, you often will suffer vendor lock-down if you want to purchase DLC or expansions, as many are only compatible if from the same source.
I do understand your criticisms. I would not pay the full retail price of any game on Steam.
However, that said, Steam does offer some advantages as well. There are some truly outstanding sales and specials available on Steam. Most of the games I've purchased have been for 50% to 75% off the retail. Steam offers many titles with less DRM hassle than the retail versions have (for some titles, Steam is the only way to get the game without SecuROM). It allows for playing games without your DVD drive getting thrashed by disk checking protection. Steam doesn't limit your installs to a certain number of computers (except in the minority of cases where the publisher tacks on more DRM than Steam's), but rather simply based on your account. You don't have to worry about lost or damage disks. Some games even allow you to send invitations to friends to allow them to play trial versions of the game temporarily.
One of the more recent advantages added is that when you buy a game that is available on both PC and Mac, it entitles you to being able to play the game on both platforms with one purchase.
So yes, there are many disadvantages to using Steam, but it's not as bad as most. Also, many of these disadvantages are balanced by quite a number of advantages as well. Steam isn't the perfect DRM, but it does enough things right that I at least have hope that maybe there's at least a chance we might someday see reasonable DRM that actually works for the consumer, rather than against them.
In fact, there are only 3 things I would even want more from Steam: 1) Transferable ownership, 2) A guarantee that ownership continues in the event something happens to the company, 3) install activation/checking only
The job of science is to seek, explore, and prove truths. It's not their job to be spin-doctors and make it palatable to hicks, politicians, corporations, and Bible-thumpers.
We don't need scientists to become more PR savvy, what we need is less sensationalist journalism, less politicizing of science, and less junk science originating from entities (corporate, political, social, or religious) invested in getting certain results that are all result in a woefully misinformed public, often stirred into a frenzy, with a mixture of half-truths or outright lies.
Maybe the scientists could promote ideas better with more social skill, and maybe the public could understand the science better with more science education, but none of that matters when there's a machine in the middle drowning out the communication with it's own noise.
Heroes wasn't the only show, but you're right that it's not common.
I started watching Legend of the Seeker several months ago. I watched the older shows on Netflix, and was surprised to discover that Netflix was even getting the current episodes *BEFORE* Hulu did. I think Netflix was ahead of Hulu by nearly a week. I haven't found many shows like that, but it's something that I wish they'd advertise.
I prefer to watch on Netflix, whenever I can, just because I don't like ads. To be honest, I barely even use their DVD service... I've had the same DVD at home for almost a year now (and need to get around to finishing it), but I view their streaming content several times a week.
Criminals are already on Facebook... haven't you heard of Zynga? Though, I suppose that you meant criminals communicating to each other as peers, not looking for marks...
At fist such a system would be opt-in. Then it would gradually become mandatory in the name of fighting pedophilia (think of the children!) Then you can kiss online anonymity goodbye.
who is "they"? And how would they force you to log into 4chan?
Indeed, who is this "they"? The post you are responding to never said "they".
However, the *FIST* is not imaginary. I can only assume that "at fist such a system would be opt-in" means they punch you until you agree to opt-in.
Do realize that 2,000 sq ft is less even a 45 x 45 feet? The company I work for has a warehouse that big, which is about half our total size. We're a pretty small business, with usually about a dozen employees (or less). And 6 speaker? That's not hard to reach... Some PCs have more than that these days.
I'm not sure if it's your understanding of the word "only" or the measure of "2,000 sq ft" that is faulty here.
Interesting. I haven't heard of Campbell's Law, but I have observed similar phenomenon in other metrics in other businesses and institutions (in both the public and private sector).
So many metrics are designed to gauge performance of employees, but yet are often gamed by employees in order to make them look good on paper while in reality they may range from average to bad. It gets worse when low level management is involved. Often those guys know the metrics are bull, but yet they keep pushing them, and encouraging employees to modify their work behaviors in order to help boost those numbers. This happens even when in reality, those metric boosting behaviors are a detriment to the company, but yet it keeps upper management happy.
I could definitely see the same type of relationships developing (even if not 100% consciously in all cases) in education. Just substitute employees with students, lower management with teachers and with administrators, and upper management with school boards, local government, and state government.
Slashdot Mirror
Best Pickup Line... Ever!
Your story reminded me of an experience I had back around that same time period ('96 or '97), when ICQ was fairly new and I was in my last year of college.
My sister spent a lot of time on ICQ and made a few friends. Apparently some guy on there used what little information she had shared with him (I don't know exactly what that was) and was able to put together enough information on her to figure out exactly where she lived. Soon after, he made some some thinly veiled threats to show up at her home and possibly cause her and her son harm. She was concerned, so she came to me.
I took little information that she could provide me with about him (along with his IP), and managed to determine not only what his real name, but also his place of employment, names and e-mail addresses of members of management at his company, and determined that he had sent these threats to my sister from his work computer during work hours.
He was in another country (Canada), so I doubted he was a real threat to her, but management at that company still was not happy to hear about this guy's behavior when I reported it to them.
I was reading as much about astronomy and physics as my little 8 year old mind could comprehend at the time. I even remember arguing with my 3rd grade science teacher when she corrected me on a matter of astronomy, when it was in fact her that was wrong. That was also the age where I wrote my very first programs in BASIC on a Tandy TRS-80 Color Computer.
I probably still had my finger up my nose, but that's ok. I wasn't a touch typist yet anyway.
However, calling these things suicide, when they lack the actual intent to kill one's self, but calling any of those things suicide is just dumbing down the meaning of the word.
Damnit, I saw the redundant phrasing 1 second after I hit submit. I might as well point it out myself before some grammar Nazi jumps in on it...
Many human lifestyle choices may be "suicidal". Smoking tobacco causes heart attack, strokes, and many cancers. This is slow suicide, but it's still suicide.
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/suicide
The usage that pertains to this discussion is:
"the act or an instance of taking one's own life voluntarily and intentionally especially by a person of years of discretion and of sound mind"
Smoking, watching too much TV, drinking and texting (while driving), having an unhealthy diet, and being an Alaskan Fisherman might all be choices that may considerably increase your chances of meeting an early demise.
However, calling these things suicide, when they lack the actual intent to kill one's self, but calling any of those things suicide is just dumbing down the meaning of the word.
Even deliberate acts that lead to one being killed are not suicide, unless it was with the intent of ending one's life. For example, driving with your headlights off at midnight while high on drugs on a dare is not suicide, even if such a stupid act kills them.
Suicide requires:
1) An act or an instance.
2) A voluntary intent to kill one's self.
As for the original article, unless the antidepressants also gave them sentience so that they would realize, "Holy Bejeesus! I'm a freaking shrimp! Why didn't anyone tell me!?", then I doubt they have intent.
Since you can't really put a shrimp on a shrink-couch and ask it about its feelings...
Of course you can put them on the couch and ask! Now, if you expect a response, then the wrong one might be on the couch
When I saw the headline, I wondered just how a shrimp becomes "suicidal".
Suicide is one intentionally taking their own life, not making behavioral or life-style choices that may increase the chance of an early demise. Unless their intent is to swim toward the light so that they can be killed, "suicidal" is quite sensationalist.
Otherwise, we could start describing all kinds of poor decision making and unhealthy lifestyle choices of humans as "suicidal."
Yeah, just like anyone who doesn't take the time to learn self-defense courses deserves to get beat up!
Listen, some of us may know what kind of deceitful manipulative wankers these guys are, but the general public is woefully unaware at just how underhanded the entertainment industries can be. We're talking about industries that know how to manipulate audiences and manufacture appeal among the masses... They know a thing or two about promoting images, including their own.
While I do wish more artists were better informed about what type of deal with the Devil they were making, but it's no excuse for how they get screwed over.
This whole scene is a mess. Big Labels have way too much control of what music people actually get exposed to, and the chances of making it anywhere without them are pretty slim. Even with the knowledge of how badly they treat the artists, some will still succumb because they feel it's their only real choice.
It's easy to say "just start an indie band", but what matters is not how many indie bands there are out there, but how many indie music customers there are out there. It's the buyers that make the difference, not the artists, and unfortunately I have little faith in the mass of sheep.
You beat me to that link! I was about to post that link myself! It's definitely worth a read and very enlightening. I'd mod you up if I could, just so more people would see it.
I felt the same way when I read this.
I guess it's "Don't Be Evil... just invest in someone else to be Evil for you."
Quick Robin! The Batfish Repellent!
If we had Flying Cars, Hanna Barbara would be pursuing legal action in order to protect someone from profiting from flying cars that are obviously a ripoff from the Jetsons!
When I ask if WoW will be the new Facebook, I don't mean in regards to meaningless drivel (they are both great at that already).
What I mean is will WoW forums become the new source for posts that provide embarrassment, cause divorces, give ammo to employers to fire someone (or deny employment), and other social and work related blunders?
Sure, this will be likely be effective in making the game forums less of a cesspool, but I personally wouldn't ever post to the wow forums if my real name was attached. I might if I were named John Smith, but there aren't that many people that share my name. I don't want video game forum posts showing up on Google searches on my real name.
I hate what has been happening with DRM also, really I have. I'm also annoyed by the fact that Steam purchases will forever hinge on whether or not Steam continues to stay in business. I dislike not being able to sell, loan, or give away my games. I dislike that *some* publishers decide to tack on yet even more middleware DRM on top of Steam's as well. There are even some that you missed, such as that whether your source is Retail, Steam, or some other service, you often will suffer vendor lock-down if you want to purchase DLC or expansions, as many are only compatible if from the same source.
I do understand your criticisms. I would not pay the full retail price of any game on Steam.
However, that said, Steam does offer some advantages as well. There are some truly outstanding sales and specials available on Steam. Most of the games I've purchased have been for 50% to 75% off the retail. Steam offers many titles with less DRM hassle than the retail versions have (for some titles, Steam is the only way to get the game without SecuROM). It allows for playing games without your DVD drive getting thrashed by disk checking protection. Steam doesn't limit your installs to a certain number of computers (except in the minority of cases where the publisher tacks on more DRM than Steam's), but rather simply based on your account. You don't have to worry about lost or damage disks. Some games even allow you to send invitations to friends to allow them to play trial versions of the game temporarily.
One of the more recent advantages added is that when you buy a game that is available on both PC and Mac, it entitles you to being able to play the game on both platforms with one purchase.
So yes, there are many disadvantages to using Steam, but it's not as bad as most. Also, many of these disadvantages are balanced by quite a number of advantages as well. Steam isn't the perfect DRM, but it does enough things right that I at least have hope that maybe there's at least a chance we might someday see reasonable DRM that actually works for the consumer, rather than against them.
In fact, there are only 3 things I would even want more from Steam: 1) Transferable ownership, 2) A guarantee that ownership continues in the event something happens to the company, 3) install activation/checking only
The job of science is to seek, explore, and prove truths. It's not their job to be spin-doctors and make it palatable to hicks, politicians, corporations, and Bible-thumpers.
We don't need scientists to become more PR savvy, what we need is less sensationalist journalism, less politicizing of science, and less junk science originating from entities (corporate, political, social, or religious) invested in getting certain results that are all result in a woefully misinformed public, often stirred into a frenzy, with a mixture of half-truths or outright lies.
Maybe the scientists could promote ideas better with more social skill, and maybe the public could understand the science better with more science education, but none of that matters when there's a machine in the middle drowning out the communication with it's own noise.
Does, "Dell Selling Faulty PCs," fall into the realm of 'News' or 'History'?
Heroes wasn't the only show, but you're right that it's not common.
I started watching Legend of the Seeker several months ago. I watched the older shows on Netflix, and was surprised to discover that Netflix was even getting the current episodes *BEFORE* Hulu did. I think Netflix was ahead of Hulu by nearly a week. I haven't found many shows like that, but it's something that I wish they'd advertise.
I prefer to watch on Netflix, whenever I can, just because I don't like ads. To be honest, I barely even use their DVD service... I've had the same DVD at home for almost a year now (and need to get around to finishing it), but I view their streaming content several times a week.
I've heard of the captain going down with the ship, but in this case, the ship is going down with the captain!
Criminals are already on Facebook... haven't you heard of Zynga? Though, I suppose that you meant criminals communicating to each other as peers, not looking for marks...
Indeed, I was hoping of a campaign slogan, "a shotgun in every pot!"
At fist such a system would be opt-in. Then it would gradually become mandatory in the name of fighting pedophilia (think of the children!) Then you can kiss online anonymity goodbye.
who is "they"? And how would they force you to log into 4chan?
Indeed, who is this "they"? The post you are responding to never said "they".
However, the *FIST* is not imaginary. I can only assume that "at fist such a system would be opt-in" means they punch you until you agree to opt-in.
Do realize that 2,000 sq ft is less even a 45 x 45 feet? The company I work for has a warehouse that big, which is about half our total size. We're a pretty small business, with usually about a dozen employees (or less). And 6 speaker? That's not hard to reach... Some PCs have more than that these days.
I'm not sure if it's your understanding of the word "only" or the measure of "2,000 sq ft" that is faulty here.
That is cynical... I wholeheartedly approve! If I had mod points, I'd drop one on that.
I remember Mr. Wizard using a potato to generate small amounts of electricity when the show aired on Nickelodeon in the 80's when I was a kid.
Interesting. I haven't heard of Campbell's Law, but I have observed similar phenomenon in other metrics in other businesses and institutions (in both the public and private sector).
So many metrics are designed to gauge performance of employees, but yet are often gamed by employees in order to make them look good on paper while in reality they may range from average to bad. It gets worse when low level management is involved. Often those guys know the metrics are bull, but yet they keep pushing them, and encouraging employees to modify their work behaviors in order to help boost those numbers. This happens even when in reality, those metric boosting behaviors are a detriment to the company, but yet it keeps upper management happy.
I could definitely see the same type of relationships developing (even if not 100% consciously in all cases) in education. Just substitute employees with students, lower management with teachers and with administrators, and upper management with school boards, local government, and state government.