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User: GodfatherofSoul

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  1. Don't trust Wikis for that info anyway on Statisticians Investigate Political Bias On Wikipedia · · Score: 1

    I've seen far too many contemporaneous and historical political pages being modified for political purposes, usually to water down or outright whitewash a scandal. Heck, even some scientific content I wouldn't bother reading on Wikipedia if there was a strong enough political angle; e.g. climate change or the nuclear industry.

  2. Pure democracies do no work; that's there hasn't been one in in 2000 years (if even that counts). The average person simply isn't informed enough about every issue to make valid decisions. Plus, you have to guarantee near total participation for even the theory to work. In our society of imbalanced access to resources, you're invariably going to end up with a daily voting class (probably wildly slanted to retirees) disenfranchising the working/busy/disconnected members of society who won't be able to log in every day to pick which street gets new curbs. Yes, representative democracies are flawed, but do you really want every schmoe in the country voting up or down on minutia?

  3. Re:Maybe you should READ more on Another Afghan School Poisoned — 160 Girls Hospitalized · · Score: 1

    I was citing the doctors number as one example of how much their society has changed post-Soviet invasion. Now, how do you reconcile women not even being able to learn to read with your assumptions that Muslim societies must have female doctors because of gender separation?

  4. The strange irony of Afghanistan circa 2012 on Another Afghan School Poisoned — 160 Girls Hospitalized · · Score: 1

    It used to be a rather progressive nation in terms of women's rights. I recall a figure that about 60% of doctors there were women at one time. Now, we can directly and indirectly blame the mess that country has become on 30 years of foreign intervention.

  5. Re:I think the Taliban are anti-girl. on Another Afghan School Poisoned — 160 Girls Hospitalized · · Score: 4, Informative

    They're not anti-girl, they're anti-empowered girls.

  6. Sound familiar? on Audio Surveillance, Intended to Detect Gunshots, Can Pick Up Much More · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The TSA scanners didn't store images until we found out they stored images. Then we were told they only stored images for testing until we found out they stored images all the time. Then we found out the images were easily accessible to anyone after being reassured that there were ample security measures to prevent any yahoo from distributing humiliating or enticing images of some people.

  7. Re:I only download free books on Apple Fires Back At DoJ Over eBook Price Fixing · · Score: 2

    Heaven forbid artists and authors get rewarded for their creativity.

  8. Two Words: Window Shop on Ask Slashdot: How To Shop For a Laptop? · · Score: 2

    Younger, less tech savvy buyers are going to base more of their critique of a laptop on form factor since they won't be stressing the hardware. Let her look at the aesthetics of laptops, keyboard feel, color, screen size, and weight. You should then *secondarily* back up her decision if the hardware and vendor are suitable.

    Really, hardware is so beyond what laymen users need nowadays that I wouldn't trust making a laptop decision based on a list of components.

  9. Re:Don't buy a Dell on Ask Slashdot: How To Shop For a Laptop? · · Score: 1

    I loved my old Dell Inspiron. I played WoW on that thing until the texture on the WASD keys wore down smooth. Great laptop as have been all the towers I've had.

  10. Re:Business only! on Ask Slashdot: How To Shop For a Laptop? · · Score: 1

    Kudos for doing the work to correct yourself.

  11. Not good news from my perspective on HP's Core WebOS Enyo Team Going To Google · · Score: 2

    I was hoping a non-Google/Apple machine would get behind WebOS to push it as a 3rd option to those gorillas. Assimilation of the tech team probably eliminates that possibility.

  12. Re:It makes me proud on Obama To Agencies: Optimize Web Content For Mobile · · Score: 1

    Ah the refrain of the uninformed. Here's your homework assignment. Watch 1 hour of CSPAN. You'll notice that Congress and the Executive are dealing with more issues than the new scycle headliner of the day. Just because your attention span doesn't hold more than 3 storylines doesn't mean that our government is only dealing with 3 topics at once.

  13. Why was this made public? on US State Department Hacks Al-Qaeda Websites In Yemen · · Score: 3, Interesting

    These folk are usually extremely careful about the comments they make, so I wonder what the angle is here?

  14. That's the police for you on Ten Cops Can't Recover Police Chief's Son's iPhone · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Unless you're related or f**king one of them, you can forget about timely justice. And, unless there's a chance they'll get to whip out a gun and play cops/robbers, you might as well fire up a pot of coffee because you're going to be waiting a while. My girlfriend is an asst. manager at a major chain store and they have a revolving door of the usual suspects and it's very low on law enforcement's priority.

    But, some of the blame also falls on the court system which has found that chasing potheads is more lucrative than going after petty thieves.

  15. Hello, credibility? on Little Health Risk Seen From Fukushima's Radioactivity · · Score: 1

    Japanese officials have been lying through their Orwellian teeth since day one. When I see these guys pulling some stunts like guzzling a pint of well water, having their kids play in the local playground, and building sandcastles on the beach I'll believe them.

  16. Re:Which shareholders? on Facebook, Zuckerberg Sued Over IPO · · Score: 3, Insightful

    It's worse than that. It's not some innocuous omission of information. It's information that made them a lot of money at the expense of other investors. I don't know how strong regulations still are, but this sounds like a strong case.

  17. Why is it so smooth? on Moon Methone Meets Cassini · · Score: 3, Interesting

    How can such a small object with a weak gravitational field, have such a smooth surface?

  18. Re:36,000 employees? Why? on Foxconn Invests $210 Million To Build New Production Line For Apple · · Score: 1

    Who needs safety nets for cheap, unregulated, 3rd world labor?

  19. Re:I was surprised he was convicted on hate charge on Rutger's Student Dharun Ravi Sentenced To 30-Day Jail Time · · Score: 5, Informative

    Hate crimes have a very real distinction. They're intended to intimidate a subset of your community, that's why they're elevated. If that doesn't make sense to you, consider that we have at least 4 standards for the fundamentally same crime of taking a life; accidental death(?), manslaughter, 2nd degree murder, and 1st degree murder.

    And, contrary to popular belief, a hate crime doesn't mean killing a minority. It's a very difficult legal bar to reach.

  20. I was surprised he was convicted on hate charges on Rutger's Student Dharun Ravi Sentenced To 30-Day Jail Time · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The invasion of privacy angle I can see. How many times have we had stories of guys taping unwilling sex partners or roommates taping roommates? I just didn't think there was enough meat to the story to push it into the realm of hate crimes.

  21. Really pissed I didn't know about this earlier on Rare 'Annular Solar Eclipse' Tonight · · Score: 1

    The full eclipse line I found showed it to be about 10 hours drive from me. I would've gone had I been able to plan for it.

  22. Re:So This is the Free Market System.. on U.S. Imposes Tariffs On Chinese Solar Cells · · Score: 2

    The "free market" doesn't work for anyone except the nebulous ether filled will global corporations who can flutter about from nation to nation as conditions change.

  23. Re:Translation on U.S. Imposes Tariffs On Chinese Solar Cells · · Score: 1

    Are you in China? It's not about subsidizes in general. China is propping up a new industry in their country at the expense of our own. China's practices are bad FOR THE U.S. Now, if you're some Flat Worlder who thinks running U.S. industries out of business is good for us in the long run because you can buy a $3 t-shirt that lasts 2 seasons, then party on, Wayne.

  24. Re:Yes, it will raise prices on U.S. Imposes Tariffs On Chinese Solar Cells · · Score: 4, Insightful

    You're not considering history and what we should already know. When you've allowed polluting, authoritarian, near-slave driving industries in some other country to drive your industries (with human, worker, and environmental safeguards in place) out of business, what are you left with? Either no industry, or you now have to abandon human, worker, and environmental safeguards to compete. We don't want to play that game.

  25. Logic and Social Policy aren't compatible on From MIT Inventor To Tea Party Leader · · Score: 2

    And, I say that in all seriousness. The logical or obvious "Occam's Razor" solution to problems often don't apply to us illogical human beings. We do lots of stupid things, not out of anything more sinister than our overwhelming biological drives. That includes reproducing before we might be financially stable, getting fat, our drive to socialize and find mates, etc. When you start assuming that humans will be logical, you start assuming wrong. Ask a sociologist how well some "obvious" solution to a social ailment that's been public policy (and failing) for decades is working out.