Well, if in the end we get option 3, we're no worse than where we started.
P.S. And a small correction: In option 2 I should have said "vote-minded", not "voter-minded". Politicians worry about votes before anything else. They try to please contributers because they bring money that can help them get votes. They don't really care one way or the other about voters or contributers, only votes.
I also am a little bit annoyed that we complain about the RIAA and MPAA as clinging to an old business model and then as book publishers and retailers try something new (or are even rumored to try something new) we hop all over it and denounce it as a crime against humanity.
Well, usually we know that no matter what anyone does (even if he does nothing) there will be people opposing him. Some of those oppose one action, and we hear their comments and some oppose the opposite action and we hear their comments when appropriate.
The problem is when we get someone who opposes both actions with no third option available. These are the really annoying people "We don't want the government to make rules that affect the market but we want the government to stop evil corporations". "We want businesses to evolve but we don't want them to change".
You know what would be funny? Suppose Google wanted the congress to finally enact laws to help protect Net Neutrality (NN, from now on). They knew the government isn't doing anything and after the Comcast case, NN was in jeopardy. So what to do? They team up with one of the big wireless carriers (AKA Verizon) and make up a not-so-bad-but-also-not-so-great deal and that way they have a force major backing up NN. Now there are two options: 1) People will like the deal and it will be pushed forward -> A good option. 2) People will be enraged by the compromises and demand the congress enact stronger NN rules (ones that will include wireless traffic)! The congress, being voter-minded will jump on the bandwagon (and having a big company like Verizon supporting NN doesn't hurt also) and push to enact said laws -> A great option!
So now you have Google, which (for the sake of this post) really does want complete NN as it always said, making a move that is a win-win situation for the NN group. Brilliant!
I know, to convoluted, but a nice scenario neverthelss.
Your calculation is correct, but I have to make one small correction: 4.5% is the positive predictive value, not the true positive rate. The true positive rate is 90% (out of all those that are autistic) or 0.9% (out of all the children).
I know this is/., but people need to understand that ADHD (and most diseases) are not binary - you either have them or you don't; There are degrees of severity. Most children are completely fine, some have mild ADHD and can succeed with self control, will power and no drugs, while others have severe ADHD and without the medications cannot achieve their full potential or worse. I am sure there is overdiagnosis of ADHD as well as children with mild ADHD that their parents and teachers are taking the easy path and use medications without trying to treat the condition with education and discipline, but that does not mean ADHD is a "made up" condition or that doctors are just "drugging up our kids!". Feel free to chip in with a relevant car analogy.
I don't think you are entirely correct in your interpertation. They have to use the word 'lawful' in the document, or else the first comment against will be: "What?!? CNN and childporn.com both get equal access? I vote against Net Neutrality!". By adding the word 'lawful' they assure the legistators that child porn and other illegal content will be blocked, while CNN, Playboy and Disney all get the same terms. I don't think they meant that they will implement a 'policing layer', just that if the service provider is notified of an illegal site, it will be blocked (just as they do now). About 'doing harm'? I think they were talking about spammers and botnets, not about bandwidth hogs (just my conclusion from the rest of the sentence). But, maybe they should be more precise in their wording.
It's great that you manage to keep a Gluten-free diet so easily. I have a friend that also manages quite well. Sadly, many people with Celiac do not manage so easily, especially those with less severe symptoms (Pavlov's dog at work).
Did you even read what I wrote? I didn't say that what the article says they're doing is ok. I'm not justifing RIM. I'm just saying that prior experience thought us that sometimes the first headline is alarming and sensational and later, when more details are revealed, you see that things are not that bad. Again, I agree that if RIM decided to throw their encryption out for those regimes it is very, very (very xn) bad. I'm just suggesting we exercise some caution with our responses until all the details come out. P.S. I used the word 'suggest'. So don't go all "If I want to bitch about RIM right now, I have the right to". You do. Do whatever you want. I just stated my opinion.
I think you got some of the terms confused. Let me sort it out. Autoimmune disease - a disease in which the body's immune system attacks its own tissues. Most autoimmune disease are cause/triggered by a variety of factors including genetic disposition and environmental factors (e.g. exposure to substances and viruses). Autoimmune disease are classified according to the basic Hypersensitivity reaction underlying them. You can read the Wikipedia article, but to summarize, there are 4 types (the article talks about a 5th, but it is a subtype of no. 2). What we call allergy is type 1 hypersensitivity. Serum sickness is type 3. Celiac disease is type 4.
If it were only so simple. There are a few problems. The first is that not everyone presents with the typical symptoms of stomach aches and diarrhea. Some are found to have iron-deficiency anemia as the only presenting symptom. This type of anemia can be due to many causes - from celiac, to excessive menstrual bleeding to colon cancer (and many other reasons). You want to be sure before you tell someone they cannot eat Gluten for the rest of their life (including not eating pizza and beer). The second thing is that many people want a sure diagnosis before making such a big change in their life. I gather you do not have Celiac, so you do not understand how prevalent Gluten is. It's not only in bread et al. Most of the foods in your refrigerator contain Gluten, and even if they don't, the factory where they were made also makes stuff with Gluten, so they cannot be certified Gluten-free. And yes, even tiny amounts of Gluten can cause symptoms. The last thing is that someone may say "Ok, I think I've got Celiac, so I'll keep a Gluten-free diet except for a beer once in a while - I can manage the stomach aches. It's worth it for me". Well, continued exposure to Gluten can cause lymphoma of the gut. You want a definitive diagnosis before "forcing" him to give up beer. (I know, as a doctor I don't force anyone to do anything).
Actually, in the link I gave above, it says that the antibodies are present for only 6-12 month. I personally think that this does not come under the definition of "a very long time", but you may think otherwise.
Well, according to the text books and updated sites, biopsy of the gut is still a criterion standard for diagnosis of Gluten and thus needs to be performed so the presence of the disease is confirmed. I suspect that many times biopsy is not performed because of non-medical reasons - either financial ones or because the patient is unsuitable/unwilling to undergo a biopsy.
Although you are right that prolonged breast-feeding is associated with a lower incidence of Celiac, it is important to note that most infant formulas do not contain Gluten.
It's like what is discussed later on - arsenic kills you because of direct effect of arsenic on the body. OTOH, gluten does nothing to the body, It is the body's reaction to the substance (AKA hypersensitivity reaction; AKA autoimmune disease) that causes the disease. So arsenic directly causes damage -> poison. The body reacts aberrantly to a substance and cause an immune reaction against it -> disease.
That was exactly my point, that there were rumors and everyone here was up in arms over them and later we heard that it was not true, that there was no such deal. I did not mean to imply that our rallying against supposed-deal made Google change its mind. If you re-read my post, you will understand that what I am saying is that we need to wait a bit, and maybe we will find out that here we have the same thing - someone jumped on a rumor and actually RIM did not cave-in or that the agreement was somewhat different. For me it's strange to think that a company that had security and privacy as major selling points for its platform would change everything in less than a week. I am not saying this is definitely the case, only that it's possible and that we should keep that in mind while writing stuff like "RIM is just empowering these pre-enlightenment horrible theocracies and deserves our criticism".
Upon further reflection, I think you would agree that many, if not most, news stories sound much more shocking and sensational in the first headline than they do after a few days.
Ok, I stand corrected. When I joke about prison rape it is a way to bring up a painful (no pun intended) subject. Yes, I joke about it, but for me it not in the same league as a "Ha, ha, yo' mama" joke. I admit, it's not always a conscious motive, but upon reflection (which this post makes me perform), this is the basis for those jokes.
Just a word of caution before everyone here denounces RIM: We all remember the news a few days ago that Google made an agreement with Verizon for preferential access to their network. Everyone here was raising hell about how Google threw their "open Internet" stance out the window for profit. And then, after a few hours, we got an update: No such deal! So, people, wait a few hours and let's see what's the real deal between RIM and the Saudi government. If this is the real deal - then shame on them!
People also joke for other reasons, one of them is to cope with things. Example: I'm from Israel. During the late 90's we had a period of many suicide attacks on buses and other public places. People were afraid to ride the bus, to go out with friends, etc. How did we cope with it? In many ways: Denial, psychological help, getting involved in philantropic activities to help those harmed and also with humor. In Israel it is very common to joke about something bad that happens (i.e. black humor/comedy). It is not out of disrespect for those harmed, on the contrary, it is a way to cope with bad things. When we joke about something we acknowledge its existence. When people joke about prison rape it's not because they think that rape is funny, but because they know that rape is horrible and it is a way to cope with it. By coping with it you can progress to the next step and do something about it (e.g. try to raise awareness to help abolish this practice). The other option is burying your head in the sand claiming it is not happening; Yes, some people can cope with such stuff in other ways, but for some the choice is between joking and denial - I think joking is healthier.
I am a doctor - I see many annoying patients each day and to each of them I am very nice, and helpful, and patient. And when I go to my room I sometimes make jokes about them, not because of disrespect, but in order to vent and to allow me to keep seeing more annoying patients in the same respectful manner. So to summarize, joking is not only about premise and surprise, it's also about coping with horrors or venting built up feelings. And no, I don't think my original comment was flamebait, just a different opinion, but... oh, well!
Because it's funny! That's what makes it a joke. Not every joke has to be totally PC. I agree, it's not fine to wish someone to be raped, but as a joke that does not affect what will happen to him in jail... I don't see the problem. I somehow don't think his cell mates will read/. and get the idea "Hey, maybe we should rape him!"*
* And if they will, that will give a new meaning to "being slashdotted":)
Slashdot Mirror
Well, if in the end we get option 3, we're no worse than where we started.
P.S.
And a small correction: In option 2 I should have said "vote-minded", not "voter-minded". Politicians worry about votes before anything else. They try to please contributers because they bring money that can help them get votes. They don't really care one way or the other about voters or contributers, only votes.
Clearly, Myers did not RTFA (or Watch the featured talk - whatever)! Shame on him. He must be old here.
I also am a little bit annoyed that we complain about the RIAA and MPAA as clinging to an old business model and then as book publishers and retailers try something new (or are even rumored to try something new) we hop all over it and denounce it as a crime against humanity.
Well, usually we know that no matter what anyone does (even if he does nothing) there will be people opposing him. Some of those oppose one action, and we hear their comments and some oppose the opposite action and we hear their comments when appropriate.
The problem is when we get someone who opposes both actions with no third option available. These are the really annoying people "We don't want the government to make rules that affect the market but we want the government to stop evil corporations". "We want businesses to evolve but we don't want them to change".
You know what would be funny? Suppose Google wanted the congress to finally enact laws to help protect Net Neutrality (NN, from now on). They knew the government isn't doing anything and after the Comcast case, NN was in jeopardy.
So what to do? They team up with one of the big wireless carriers (AKA Verizon) and make up a not-so-bad-but-also-not-so-great deal and that way they have a force major backing up NN. Now there are two options:
1) People will like the deal and it will be pushed forward -> A good option.
2) People will be enraged by the compromises and demand the congress enact stronger NN rules (ones that will include wireless traffic)! The congress, being voter-minded will jump on the bandwagon (and having a big company like Verizon supporting NN doesn't hurt also) and push to enact said laws -> A great option!
So now you have Google, which (for the sake of this post) really does want complete NN as it always said, making a move that is a win-win situation for the NN group. Brilliant!
I know, to convoluted, but a nice scenario neverthelss.
Rotting is not sexy? Do you want a look at my two weeks old pizza? I assure you, it's still sexy as hell!
Damn this post is making me hungry... gotta go.
Your calculation is correct, but I have to make one small correction: 4.5% is the positive predictive value, not the true positive rate. The true positive rate is 90% (out of all those that are autistic) or 0.9% (out of all the children).
I know this is /., but people need to understand that ADHD (and most diseases) are not binary - you either have them or you don't; There are degrees of severity. Most children are completely fine, some have mild ADHD and can succeed with self control, will power and no drugs, while others have severe ADHD and without the medications cannot achieve their full potential or worse.
I am sure there is overdiagnosis of ADHD as well as children with mild ADHD that their parents and teachers are taking the easy path and use medications without trying to treat the condition with education and discipline, but that does not mean ADHD is a "made up" condition or that doctors are just "drugging up our kids!". Feel free to chip in with a relevant car analogy.
I posted the same joke a few days ago. Maybe I should issue a DMCA notice :)
I thought ??? was "sell bra" -> Profit! Am I missing something?
I don't think you are entirely correct in your interpertation. They have to use the word 'lawful' in the document, or else the first comment against will be: "What?!? CNN and childporn.com both get equal access? I vote against Net Neutrality!". By adding the word 'lawful' they assure the legistators that child porn and other illegal content will be blocked, while CNN, Playboy and Disney all get the same terms.
I don't think they meant that they will implement a 'policing layer', just that if the service provider is notified of an illegal site, it will be blocked (just as they do now).
About 'doing harm'? I think they were talking about spammers and botnets, not about bandwidth hogs (just my conclusion from the rest of the sentence). But, maybe they should be more precise in their wording.
I don't understand:
Step 1 - Unhook bra.
Step 2 - ???
Step 3 - Profit...?
I seem to be missing something. Anyone?
It's great that you manage to keep a Gluten-free diet so easily. I have a friend that also manages quite well. Sadly, many people with Celiac do not manage so easily, especially those with less severe symptoms (Pavlov's dog at work).
Did you even read what I wrote? I didn't say that what the article says they're doing is ok. I'm not justifing RIM. I'm just saying that prior experience thought us that sometimes the first headline is alarming and sensational and later, when more details are revealed, you see that things are not that bad.
Again, I agree that if RIM decided to throw their encryption out for those regimes it is very, very (very xn) bad. I'm just suggesting we exercise some caution with our responses until all the details come out.
P.S. I used the word 'suggest'. So don't go all "If I want to bitch about RIM right now, I have the right to". You do. Do whatever you want. I just stated my opinion.
I think you got some of the terms confused. Let me sort it out.
Autoimmune disease - a disease in which the body's immune system attacks its own tissues. Most autoimmune disease are cause/triggered by a variety of factors including genetic disposition and environmental factors (e.g. exposure to substances and viruses).
Autoimmune disease are classified according to the basic Hypersensitivity reaction underlying them. You can read the Wikipedia article, but to summarize, there are 4 types (the article talks about a 5th, but it is a subtype of no. 2). What we call allergy is type 1 hypersensitivity. Serum sickness is type 3. Celiac disease is type 4.
If it were only so simple. There are a few problems. The first is that not everyone presents with the typical symptoms of stomach aches and diarrhea. Some are found to have iron-deficiency anemia as the only presenting symptom. This type of anemia can be due to many causes - from celiac, to excessive menstrual bleeding to colon cancer (and many other reasons). You want to be sure before you tell someone they cannot eat Gluten for the rest of their life (including not eating pizza and beer).
The second thing is that many people want a sure diagnosis before making such a big change in their life. I gather you do not have Celiac, so you do not understand how prevalent Gluten is. It's not only in bread et al. Most of the foods in your refrigerator contain Gluten, and even if they don't, the factory where they were made also makes stuff with Gluten, so they cannot be certified Gluten-free. And yes, even tiny amounts of Gluten can cause symptoms.
The last thing is that someone may say "Ok, I think I've got Celiac, so I'll keep a Gluten-free diet except for a beer once in a while - I can manage the stomach aches. It's worth it for me". Well, continued exposure to Gluten can cause lymphoma of the gut. You want a definitive diagnosis before "forcing" him to give up beer. (I know, as a doctor I don't force anyone to do anything).
I would check out this comment regarding the benefits and unique characteristics of Gluten.
Actually, in the link I gave above, it says that the antibodies are present for only 6-12 month. I personally think that this does not come under the definition of "a very long time", but you may think otherwise.
Well, according to the text books and updated sites, biopsy of the gut is still a criterion standard for diagnosis of Gluten and thus needs to be performed so the presence of the disease is confirmed. I suspect that many times biopsy is not performed because of non-medical reasons - either financial ones or because the patient is unsuitable/unwilling to undergo a biopsy.
Although you are right that prolonged breast-feeding is associated with a lower incidence of Celiac, it is important to note that most infant formulas do not contain Gluten.
It's like what is discussed later on - arsenic kills you because of direct effect of arsenic on the body. OTOH, gluten does nothing to the body, It is the body's reaction to the substance (AKA hypersensitivity reaction; AKA autoimmune disease) that causes the disease. So arsenic directly causes damage -> poison. The body reacts aberrantly to a substance and cause an immune reaction against it -> disease.
That was exactly my point, that there were rumors and everyone here was up in arms over them and later we heard that it was not true, that there was no such deal. I did not mean to imply that our rallying against supposed-deal made Google change its mind.
If you re-read my post, you will understand that what I am saying is that we need to wait a bit, and maybe we will find out that here we have the same thing - someone jumped on a rumor and actually RIM did not cave-in or that the agreement was somewhat different. For me it's strange to think that a company that had security and privacy as major selling points for its platform would change everything in less than a week. I am not saying this is definitely the case, only that it's possible and that we should keep that in mind while writing stuff like "RIM is just empowering these pre-enlightenment horrible theocracies and deserves our criticism".
Upon further reflection, I think you would agree that many, if not most, news stories sound much more shocking and sensational in the first headline than they do after a few days.
Ok, I stand corrected. When I joke about prison rape it is a way to bring up a painful (no pun intended) subject. Yes, I joke about it, but for me it not in the same league as a "Ha, ha, yo' mama" joke. I admit, it's not always a conscious motive, but upon reflection (which this post makes me perform), this is the basis for those jokes.
Just a word of caution before everyone here denounces RIM: We all remember the news a few days ago that Google made an agreement with Verizon for preferential access to their network. Everyone here was raising hell about how Google threw their "open Internet" stance out the window for profit. And then, after a few hours, we got an update: No such deal!
So, people, wait a few hours and let's see what's the real deal between RIM and the Saudi government. If this is the real deal - then shame on them!
People also joke for other reasons, one of them is to cope with things. Example: I'm from Israel. During the late 90's we had a period of many suicide attacks on buses and other public places. People were afraid to ride the bus, to go out with friends, etc.
How did we cope with it? In many ways: Denial, psychological help, getting involved in philantropic activities to help those harmed and also with humor. In Israel it is very common to joke about something bad that happens (i.e. black humor/comedy). It is not out of disrespect for those harmed, on the contrary, it is a way to cope with bad things.
When we joke about something we acknowledge its existence.
When people joke about prison rape it's not because they think that rape is funny, but because they know that rape is horrible and it is a way to cope with it. By coping with it you can progress to the next step and do something about it (e.g. try to raise awareness to help abolish this practice). The other option is burying your head in the sand claiming it is not happening; Yes, some people can cope with such stuff in other ways, but for some the choice is between joking and denial - I think joking is healthier.
I am a doctor - I see many annoying patients each day and to each of them I am very nice, and helpful, and patient. And when I go to my room I sometimes make jokes about them, not because of disrespect, but in order to vent and to allow me to keep seeing more annoying patients in the same respectful manner.
So to summarize, joking is not only about premise and surprise, it's also about coping with horrors or venting built up feelings.
And no, I don't think my original comment was flamebait, just a different opinion, but... oh, well!
Because it's funny! That's what makes it a joke. Not every joke has to be totally PC. /. and get the idea "Hey, maybe we should rape him!"*
I agree, it's not fine to wish someone to be raped, but as a joke that does not affect what will happen to him in jail... I don't see the problem. I somehow don't think his cell mates will read
* And if they will, that will give a new meaning to "being slashdotted" :)