Were the victims of the Salem witch trials burned at the stake?
With the exception of Giles Corey--who was crushed to death for refusing to enter a plea of guilty or not guilty, the executed were hanged, not burned. In Colonial America, witchcraft was a felony punishable by death by hanging. However, in Europe witchcraft was considered heresy and punishable by burning at the stake.
Each semester, Meremac Community College in St. Louis, Mo., charged Crystal Lewis for a service called "MOPIRG." "I hadn't the slightest idea what it was," she says. The fine print on her bill read: "If you opt not to support MOPIRG, please deduct this amount from your payment." So she did. But she still wasn't sure what she was no longer paying for.
She was paying for a myriad of causes and advocacy efforts sponsored, endorsed and overseen by Ralph Nader. And if you're in college or have kids in college, the odds are pretty good that you're supporting Ralph Nader too. You probably didn't know that, did you? And that's just the way Nader and his nationwide network of Public Interest Research Groups (PIRGS) would like to keep it.
The PIRG idea was born in the late 1960s, but really caught on through the 1970s and 1980s. It has again picked up momentum in the last few years, due mainly to the publicity that accompanied Nader's presidential campaign. The scam varies from campus to campus, but it basically works like this:
Each time a college student registers for classes, he or she is automatically billed somewhere between three and eight dollars, all of which goes directly to the local PIRG chapter. There, it's funneled directly to the state chapter, where it's used to lobby state legislatures on issues like tougher emissions standards, campaign finance reform and a bevy of other environmental and anti-corporate causes. Very little if any of the money actually stays at the campus where it's generated.
It's also used as "seed money" for more fund-raising campaigns. And about 10 percent of the money goes to USPIRG, the national chapter, where it's used to lobby on the federal level.
The standard procedure for start-up campus PIRGs works like this:
First, they attempt to institute mandatory, nonrefundable "contributions" from the student body either through a student referendum, a petition drive or by going through school administrators. The University of Wisconsin requires all of its students to donate to the local PIRG chapter, as does the University of Oregon, and about a third of the state colleges in New York's SUNY system.
If that doesn't work, PIRG chapters attempt to institute a "reverse check" system, where each student automatically donates to PIRG each time he registers for classes, unless he specifically knows to look for an already checked box asking for his support -- and "unchecks" it.
If they can't win support there, PIRG groups will attempt a "refundable fee" system, where each student is automatically billed, but can request a refund by taking the bill to the university registrar or bursar's office, filling out some paperwork, then taking the form to the local PIRG's campus office to get the money back.
Such systems rake in millions for PIRGs because they put the burden on college students to educate themselves about each line item on their tuition bill, or to go to great effort for a comparatively small refund, particularly unlikely when mom and dad or Mr. Perkins and Mr. Stafford are paying for college anyway.
Craig Rucker is executive director for the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow, an organization that's been fighting the PIRG scams for years. Rucker estimates that Nader's causes take in somewhere between $10 and $20 million annually from college students, most all of it unwittingly.
our view has never been that civil liberties are necessarily coextensive with constitutional rights. Conversely, I guess the fact that something is mentioned in the Constitution doesn't necessarily mean that it is a fundamental civil liberty.
What about those who are morally or religiously opposed to abortion?
Our tax dollars fund many programs that individual people oppose. For example, those who oppose war on moral or religious grounds pay taxes that are applied to military programs. The congressional bans on abortion funding impose a particular religious or moral viewpoint on those women who rely on government-funded health care. Providing funding for abortion does not encourage or compel women to have abortions, but denying funding compels many women to carry their pregnancies to term. Nondiscriminatory funding would simply place the profoundly personal decision about how to treat a pregnancy back where it belongs -- in the hands of the woman who must live with the consequences of that decision.
This is all well and nice. And if you believe in abortion and publicly funded health care, it's a logical argument. But when it comes to school vouchers, their reasoning to oppose them makes a complete 180:
School voucher schemes would force all taxpayers to support religious beliefs and practices with which they may strongly disagree.
One can be opposed to the religious teachings of some private schools, and still be "pro-choice" in letting parents decide where the tax money allocated to educate their child will be spent. There might even be some good reasons to be opposed to school vouchers (such as standards and accountability). But the anti-voucher position is definitely not the "pro-choice" position.
Yes, guns do cause more crime. The rest of the world learnt (sic) to read a bar chart years ago.. do they teach them in your schools yet?
PERCENTAGE OF VIOLENT CRIMES COMMITTED BY:
PERSONS USING A GUN: 8%
There are 45 million to 90 million gun owners in the United States (15% to 30% of the U.S. Population), with over 200 million privately owned firearms.
AFRICAN-AMERICANS: 25%
There are 35 million African-Americans in the United States (12% of the U.S. population).
source for crime statistics:
U.S. Department of Justice. National Crime Victimization Survey. Criminal Victimization in the United States. (1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, and 2001 Statistical Tables).
Table 40: "Percent distribution of single-offender victimizations, by type of crime and perceived race of offender"
Table 46: "Percent distribution of multiple-offender victimizations, by type of crime and perceived race of offenders"
Table 66: "Percent of incidents, by victim-offender relationship, type of crime and weapons use"
Violent crime figures exclude homicide. The NCVS does not measure homicide (because homicide victims don't answer survey questions). While homicide figures are different (65% gun : 50% African-American), their relatively small number ( 17,000 total homicides compared to 7 million total violent crimes per year) does not change the overall violent crime rate figures.
So by the "bar chart" logic of the more sophisticated non-Americans, one must conclude that black people cause crime. If so, what is the public policy solution?
Posted by CmdrTaco on Wednesday October 15, @04:28PM
from the stopgap-on-the-way-to-wireless-networking dept.
An anonymous reader writes "According to the EETimes, Bluetooth is dead. From the article: "In a few short years, many will look back on Bluetooth as a lesson on marketing gone awry". So what do ya'll think? Does he have a point, or is Bluetooth not quite dead yet?"
The Union agrees with the Supreme Court's longstanding interpretation of the Second Amendment that the individual's right to keep and bear arms applies only to the preservation or efficiency of a 'well-regulated militia'. Except for lawful police and military purposes, the possession of weapons by individuals is not constitutionally protected.
NAMBLA may extol conduct which is currently illegal, its materials fall far short of speech that may be prohibited. If that rule were to be changed to allow a suit like this one, it would introduce a regime of conformity to majority rule that would threaten the very right to dissent."
In self-serving fashion, the ACLU notes that the father of the murdered boy -- who is suing NAMBLA -- praises the ACLU for defending NAMBLA
While intent on pressing their suit against NAMBLA, the Curley family has acknowledged ACLU's concerns. In a Boston Globe article which appeared shortly after the ACLU entered the case, Jeffrey Curley's father, Bob Curley, is quoted as saying that he harbors no ill feelings toward the ACLU for defending the case. "I really do have respect for them (ACLU)", said Curley. "They are very consistent in whom they defend. It takes a lot of nerve to defend the groups they have over the years. They have a lot of courage."
Attorney Lawrence Frisoli, who represents the Curleys, said he is glad the ACLU is defending NAMBLA, because he has had trouble locating the group's members.
Harvey Silverglate, an ACLU board member, said Wednesday that the group's attorneys will try to block any attempt by the Curleys to get NAMBLA's membership lists, or other materials identifying members.
The ACLU interprets Roe v. Wade as meaning that minorsmust be allowed to get an abortion, without having to even notify their parents (much less get their permission), and that taxpayers must subsidize abortions.
But "the people" in the Second Amendment means "the government," because a 30 year old woman is apparently too stupid to weight the risks vs. benefits of owning and/or carrying a firearm for self-protection, and can be denied the right to make that choice.
If the ACLU supported the Second Amendment in the same fashion that they do abortion, then they woudl be demanding taxpayer subsidies for poor children to buy guns, without having to notify their parents, so they can shoot the child molestors who prey on them.
Constitutional scholars who have bothered to write about the issue in various law review journals do not agree with the ACLU's position. You can read the law review articles for yourself at the Second Amendment Law Library. Much better than stuff put out by any pro- or anti-gun special interest group.
Check out the
Daily Howler for details. And no, it's not a liberal website, but rather one that highlights ANYONE who is not shooting straight.
I first started reading The Daily Howler on a regular basis back in 1999, when I saw Bob Somerby (the editor) several times on The O'Reilly Factor. Back then, the site seemed to be a whine-fest about how Al Gore was being unfairly treated by the press.
A year later, I found out that Somerby was Al Gore's roomate at Harvard, a fact he does not disclose in the "About the Editor" section. I even complained to him about it, and he replied to me that it was not important.
However, it does mention that he is also a stand-up comedian. After seeing him do a comedy routine on C-SPAN back in Janaury 2001, I'd have to disagree.
Maybe the Daily Howler has gotten better since then, but life is too short. I don't mind partisans, but I'm not going to waste my time on somebody who won't admit that he is one.
"After all, a car is a lethal weapon just like a gun and guns have serial numbers."
Actually a car is a TOOL which is used for TRANSPORTATION and occasionally has SIDE-EFFECTS which may be harmful, but usually just have the intended effect.
Guns, by contrast, are TOOLS which are used for KILLING and commonly have the intended effect.
By your logic, a whole damn lot of things are lethal weapons just because they cause death. Your mistake is in calling a car a weapon. Weapons are DESIGNED to cause harm. Cars are designed to MOVE.
There are roughly twice as many deaths per car as there are per gun.
In the first half of the 1990s, there were about 43,000 deaths per year for 142 million vehicles, or 30 vehicle fatalities for every 100,000 autos.
In the same time period, there were about 35,000 gun deaths per year for 223 million guns, or about 16 gun related deaths for every 100,000 guns.
Moreover, the design argument underscores how dangerous automobiles really are. Almost all firearm deaths come from intentional shootings - homicides or suicides. Only four percent of firearm deaths are accidental. Cars are thus twice as likely to kill as guns are, even though the killer behind the wheel does not intend to take a life. Significantly, about half of the people who die from guns are suicide victims who chose to die, whereas few people who die in automobile accidents chose to die.
It seems odd that something that is only "designed to MOVE" causes twice as many per-unit deaths (mostly unintentional) as something that is supposedly "DESIGNED to cause harm." (mostly intentional, either to self or others).
FYI: Guns are also used for target and recreational shooting, which is not killing, nor even harmful. Shooting happens to be an Olympic sport.
How many people remember the pre-school playground killings that took place two weeks after the Columbine High School shooting in 1999?
On May 3, Steven Abrams drove past the Southcoast Early Childhood Learning Center in Costa Mesa, Calif., where 40 small children were frolicking noisily in the playground. Deciding, as he later told police, ''to execute those children,'' he pulled a U-turn, headed back toward the playground, and floored the accelerator. The car - a 1967 Cadillac sedan - tore through the chain-link fence, sent the jungle-gym flying, and plowed into the crowd of children. It stopped only when it ran into a tree.
Abrams was unhurt. But Sierra Soto, a 4-year-old who loved to dance ballet and play with her pet bunny Butterscotch, was dead, her body so mangled that the paramedics wouldn't let her mother see her. Brandon Wiener, a 3-year-old whose first word had been ''vacuum'' and who was never without his favorite teddy bear, was still alive when they got the car off him, but died that night in the hospital. Five-year-old Victoria Sherman suffered a fractured skull and a shattered pelvis. Nicholas McHardy, 2, was also badly injured. Two other children were hurt, and a teacher's aide was treated for multip
If I recall correctly, the book Trillian described as having dark skin, being either from the Middle East or India. She also had advanced degrees in mathematics and astrophysics.
The TV series portrayed her as a ditzy blonde, probably because some marketroid thought it was good idea.
Think about it this way - if I worked for Fox News and I wrote a scathing book about GWB on my own my own time then I shouldn't be surprised if I was fired the next day.
Posted by timothy on Wednesday September 17, @04:23AM
from the starting-big dept.
cdneng2 writes "The New York Times has this article on a revolutionary new billboard. It uses digital ink, versus the typical CRT, LCD, Neon, or Plasma displays that are so prominent on the newer billboards that wastes electricity. From the article: 'By creating a paste made of tiny helix-shaped particles that can be minutely manipulated with electric charges to reflect light in highly specific ways, Magink can produce surfaces that look like paper but behave like electronic screens, rendering high-resolution, full-color images without ink - or, as Magink executives like to refer to the process, with digital ink.' The billboard can display images at 70 frames per second." You can find more articles on the billboard technology on the Magink website.
Slashdot Mirror
Actually, no "witches" were burned in America. From http://www.salemwitchtrials.com/faqs.html
"Ripoff 101" could also describe Public Interest Research Groups.
In the October 1994 issue of Reason , ACLU president Nadine Strossen said:
On their Q&A web page about public funding for abortion, they say:
This is all well and nice. And if you believe in abortion and publicly funded health care, it's a logical argument. But when it comes to school vouchers, their reasoning to oppose them makes a complete 180:
One can be opposed to the religious teachings of some private schools, and still be "pro-choice" in letting parents decide where the tax money allocated to educate their child will be spent. There might even be some good reasons to be opposed to school vouchers (such as standards and accountability). But the anti-voucher position is definitely not the "pro-choice" position.
FYI: Although it does not do so now, the ACLU at one time endorse a ban on handgun ownership (Gary Kleck. "Absolutist Politics in a Moderate Package: Prohibitionist Intentions of the Gun Control Movement")
was Demographics of Crime in the United States
i d=7601602, not http://books.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=87689&ci d=7601686
1. Learnt is a correct past-tense form of learn. I implied that it was not.
2. I should have linked to the parent post at http://books.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=87689&c
My apologies for those errors.
PERCENTAGE OF VIOLENT CRIMES COMMITTED BY:
PERSONS USING A GUN: 8%
There are 45 million to 90 million gun owners in the United States (15% to 30% of the U.S. Population), with over 200 million privately owned firearms.
AFRICAN-AMERICANS: 25%
There are 35 million African-Americans in the United States (12% of the U.S. population).
source for crime statistics:
U.S. Department of Justice. National Crime Victimization Survey.
Criminal Victimization in the United States. (1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, and 2001 Statistical Tables).
Table 40: "Percent distribution of single-offender victimizations, by type of crime and perceived race of offender"
Table 46: "Percent distribution of multiple-offender victimizations, by type of crime and perceived race of offenders"
Table 66: "Percent of incidents, by victim-offender relationship, type of crime and weapons use"
Available on the internet at http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/abstract/cvusst.htm
Violent crime figures exclude homicide. The NCVS does not measure homicide (because homicide victims don't answer survey questions). While homicide figures are different (65% gun : 50% African-American), their relatively small number ( 17,000 total homicides compared to 7 million total violent crimes per year) does not change the overall violent crime rate figures.
Some activists compare crime in the United States (290 million people) to countries such as Canada (30 million people) and Great Britain (60 million people), but they ignore the demographic differences. Only 2% of Canada's population and 4% of Britain's population are black.
Source: http://www.statcan.ca/english/Pgdb/demo41.htm and http://www.statistics.gov.uk/lib/viewerChart305.h
So by the "bar chart" logic of the more sophisticated non-Americans, one must conclude that black people cause crime. If so, what is the public policy solution?
Dumb Ass Bass
Sound transmitted disease?
Clap on, clap off.
was Re: Military: good jobs, good training
There was a thread about technical job training in the military here on Slashdot a few days ago.
was Re: Military
Well, there's always the Navy. They're always looking for skilled people willing to server.
Join the Navy, see the world. Just remember that it's 75% water.
Once it is loaded, save the web page (from the top menu, select FILE --> Save as, or however it is done with your web browser).
Be sure to save it as a "Complete Web Page", not "HTML Only"
A 3.3 MB file called "030811-hubble.swf" will be saved to your computer (along with some other files than you can discard).
Use your web browser to open "030811-hubble.swf".
Or, instead of the web browser, use QuickTime to open it, since it has the forward and reverse controls.
Cool slide show of Hubble photographs at http://wires.news.com.au/special/mm/030811-hubble. htm
Is Bluetooth Dead?
Posted by CmdrTaco on Wednesday October 15, @04:28PM
from the stopgap-on-the-way-to-wireless-networking dept.
An anonymous reader writes "According to the EETimes, Bluetooth is dead. From the article: "In a few short years, many will look back on Bluetooth as a lesson on marketing gone awry". So what do ya'll think? Does he have a point, or is Bluetooth not quite dead yet?"
Every time you masturbate, God smittens a kitten. Please, think of the kittens.
"I for one, welcome our new solar flare overlords."
"In Soviet Russia, flare suns you."
Am I missing any?
The ACLU is too busy defending the right to promote child molesting.
In self-serving fashion, the ACLU notes that the father of the murdered boy -- who is suing NAMBLA -- praises the ACLU for defending NAMBLA
Wired puts a different spin on it:
The ACLU interprets Roe v. Wade as meaning that minors must be allowed to get an abortion, without having to even notify their parents (much less get their permission), and that taxpayers must subsidize abortions.
But "the people" in the Second Amendment means "the government," because a 30 year old woman is apparently too stupid to weight the risks vs. benefits of owning and/or carrying a firearm for self-protection, and can be denied the right to make that choice.
If the ACLU supported the Second Amendment in the same fashion that they do abortion, then they woudl be demanding taxpayer subsidies for poor children to buy guns, without having to notify their parents, so they can shoot the child molestors who prey on them.
Constitutional scholars who have bothered to write about the issue in various law review journals do not agree with the ACLU's position. You can read the law review articles for yourself at the Second Amendment Law Library. Much better than stuff put out by any pro- or anti-gun special interest group.
In justifying the ACLU's position on gun control, ACLU President Nadine Strossen said that
I first started reading The Daily Howler on a regular basis back in 1999, when I saw Bob Somerby (the editor) several times on The O'Reilly Factor. Back then, the site seemed to be a whine-fest about how Al Gore was being unfairly treated by the press.
A year later, I found out that Somerby was Al Gore's roomate at Harvard, a fact he does not disclose in the "About the Editor" section. I even complained to him about it, and he replied to me that it was not important.
However, it does mention that he is also a stand-up comedian. After seeing him do a comedy routine on C-SPAN back in Janaury 2001, I'd have to disagree.
Maybe the Daily Howler has gotten better since then, but life is too short. I don't mind partisans, but I'm not going to waste my time on somebody who won't admit that he is one.
Lieutenant Don Walsh (US Navy) and Swiss scientist Jacques Piccard descended to the bottom of Challenger Deep in the bathyscape Trieste back in 1960.
This is 9 years before Apollo 11.
There are roughly twice as many deaths per car as there are per gun.
In the first half of the 1990s, there were about 43,000 deaths per year for 142 million vehicles, or 30 vehicle fatalities for every 100,000 autos.
In the same time period, there were about 35,000 gun deaths per year for 223 million guns, or about 16 gun related deaths for every 100,000 guns.
See Table 1 and Table 2 of "Treating Guns Like Consumer Products" (David Kopel. University of Pennsylvania Law Review. April 2000).
As the author noted
It seems odd that something that is only "designed to MOVE" causes twice as many per-unit deaths (mostly unintentional) as something that is supposedly "DESIGNED to cause harm." (mostly intentional, either to self or others).
FYI: Guns are also used for target and recreational shooting, which is not killing, nor even harmful. Shooting happens to be an Olympic sport.
Despite their design, guns are not more dangerous than cars in the real world. Perhaps people's beliefs are influenced by the dispraportionate amount of coverage that murders with guns receive in the mass media.
How many people remember the pre-school playground killings that took place two weeks after the Columbine High School shooting in 1999?
Vote Algernon in 2004!
The problem is that some Algorenon voters are too stupid to correctly use a ballot.
Oh wait, you said Algernon. Never mind...
Big Bang It Like Beckham
I've read several recommendations for firewall software, such as Zone Alarm and Sygate.
Since the original poster stated that this would be a Windows XP/Mandrake PC, the firewall built into Windows XP should be fine.
The obvious choice would be Parminder Nagra, the star of Bend it Like Beckham
If I recall correctly, the book Trillian described as having dark skin, being either from the Middle East or India. She also had advanced degrees in mathematics and astrophysics.
The TV series portrayed her as a ditzy blonde, probably because some marketroid thought it was good idea.
re: star wars kid...
How long do you think before some kid films himself acting out his Matrix fantasy, and his classmates releast that video onto the internet?
Why use Fox News has a hypothetical example, when that did happen... to Bob Zelnick of ABC News, for writing a book about (then) Vice President Al Gore.
FYI: Rupert Murdoch, who owns Fox News Channel, also owns Harper Collins, which publishes books by authors like Michael Moore.
Digital Ink On Billboards
Posted by timothy on Wednesday September 17, @04:23AM
from the starting-big dept.
cdneng2 writes "The New York Times has this article on a revolutionary new billboard. It uses digital ink, versus the typical CRT, LCD, Neon, or Plasma displays that are so prominent on the newer billboards that wastes electricity. From the article: 'By creating a paste made of tiny helix-shaped particles that can be minutely manipulated with electric charges to reflect light in highly specific ways, Magink can produce surfaces that look like paper but behave like electronic screens, rendering high-resolution, full-color images without ink - or, as Magink executives like to refer to the process, with digital ink.' The billboard can display images at 70 frames per second." You can find more articles on the billboard technology on the Magink website.