Bit Torrent is nothing more, and nothing less, than a protocol. It shouldn't have a legal status, or an illegal status, any more than verbally enunciating ideas should have a legal status.
Agreed. However, unfortunately, there are specific verbal communications channels that are legally forbidden: alerting people to an imaginary fire, inside a theatre, for instance.
That said, I wonder what the law would think of a cop suspense movie where the cop had drawn, but was reluctant to fire (on his rogue partner who he was romantically involved with, perhaps), and everyone in the audience starts shouting "fire, fire, dammit, just fire!" whether that would panic people, and if so would be a violation of free speech laws. (I love edge cases, it's like debugging!)
What you are describing is what I mean when I refer to Libertarians as "neo-feudalists." An uncontrolled market leads to serfdom.
I completely agree with you, much to my younger self's chagrin.:)
As both a libertarian (small-L) and now also a futurist, taxation is difficult. We should be paying a lot less than we are now; the farmers generally do not need the subsidies that we once paid due to a drought.
I'm in favor of smaller government; that's the libertarian talking. The futurist in me sees that the singularity is going to happen in my lifetime, so it makes sense to plan for it. Part of this planning is "knowing what's on the other side." That's difficult, by the definition of singularity; however, one aspect is that we will all be able to enhance our bodies such that they will never break down (as long as energy comes in -- the last star burning out is the end). So we will have the ability to "live forever" (or at least until the heat death of the universe -- for which I hope to be involved in the project to wrap Matrioshka Brains around all the stars, with batteries on the outside, so that we can in effect make the universe live longer; and when they go nova or supernova we'll detect it, and expand enough to capture energy without damage; and the best outcome would be to figure out how to turn them off, so that we can ration the fuel at the rate we want to burn it, rather than the incredibly faster nuclear burn rate).
Anyway, I'm a far thinker.
But the problem at hand is significant: there are people dying. So the futurist in me says the worst thing we can do is let them die. The singularity is probably no less than 10, but no more than 30 years away. Most of us will live to see it. So, I am all for universal health care.
If by paying 50% more taxes than I currently pay, which is used to help more of us live longer so that there is more consciousness post-singularity, then I am all for raising my taxes. Which is something my strongly libertarian younger self would have had trouble with. Guess I'm growing up.
But if they're so blatant as to say "YOU CANT EVER SUE us," the courts may be prone to simply ignore it and throw the whole thing out.
Heh. I'm tempted to sue them, and include in the suit my unilateral changes to the contract, those being "AT&T, if sued, cannot defend itself in court, and furthermore, owes me one beeeelion dollars."</pinky>
What you say makes sense. However, the therapist was stating that this was an ongoing behavior, and thus the child's life was being placed in danger -- in the future, as well as in the past.
Why he actually invaded Iraq is something probably only his therapist (were he wise enough to have had one) would know.
Therapists may have a confidentiality agreement, but there are limits. My therapist told me about having to alert the authorities when a patient mentioned fighting in the car with the spouse, being distracted from the road, with their young kid in the car.
I'm not sure Bush wants to share a whole lot of his inner thoughts with someone who can have him jailed for them...
The so-called cash-for-clunkers program raised overall sales to the highest level this year and slowed Toyota's decline to 11 percent, compared with June's 32 percent drop.
Loved the write-up, with one nit: please always use "all other things being equal"; the "other" is very important, because otherwise it's a nonsense statement -- everyone can plainly see that all things are not equal. The term stems from the good science technique: "we change this one variable, and leave all other things equal, and see what result we get." Debugging, basically.:)
Nice. I was reading at 3, my parents have informed me.:) Like you, it's difficult to remember a time that I didn't read (I think when I had stitches in my big toe, I might have been 2, the earliest trauma I remember). I like that you can recall how you started reading; for me, that's all blurry. I know it was Seuss because of the story my mom likes to tell about my not wanting to go to school, and she used PET (Parent Effectiveness Training; the specific skill was "active listening") to determine the real reason why, and it was because I loved the Cat in the Hat book I had borrowed so much, I did not want to give it back. She agreed to buy the book after school, and fixed the issue without yelling or hitting. I love that anecdote.
Yeah, I agree that wordplay is one of the most satisfying games of all. Especially now that I know multiple languages, and can practice it across them!
Hope you enjoy the book, let me know how it turns out for you.
Yeah, regarding whoopsies: the researchers who originally discovered uses for X-rays spent so much time playing in them, that they all gave themselves cancer. Ouch.
Major part of The White Plague was the disease targeted women, and the resulting social upheaval as the ratio began changing to what I experienced back in engineering college ("main squeeze", "secondary squeeze", "tertiary squeeze",... "last chance squeeze").:)
This ignoring the fact that there has never been an accidental detonation of a nuclear device, in ANY of the nuclear powers.
Ah, but you do remember the accidental deployment, for which that top officer was fired over? When they flew nuclear weapons across the country without "knowing" about it?
I have absolutely no idea (and I expect no one else does, either) how you would cause a bug report to be responded to in a timely fashion and get it resolved to the satisfaction of the person who filed it, in an Open Source project [...]
I've found that sending the developer some money helps quite a bit with their responsiveness.
when Joe the consumer goes to the local big box store and wants to buy software...
Heh, what a quaint notion! Reminds me of people taking their horse and buggy to the local ice shop, to purchase a refill for their ice boxes so the food doesn't spoil.:)
Slashdot Mirror
Agreed. However, unfortunately, there are specific verbal communications channels that are legally forbidden: alerting people to an imaginary fire, inside a theatre, for instance.
That said, I wonder what the law would think of a cop suspense movie where the cop had drawn, but was reluctant to fire (on his rogue partner who he was romantically involved with, perhaps), and everyone in the audience starts shouting "fire, fire, dammit, just fire!" whether that would panic people, and if so would be a violation of free speech laws. (I love edge cases, it's like debugging!)
[citation not necessary]
They really go 242 miles per hour, that's quite amazing! (But only the doubly-verdant falcons.)
Yeah, the Xbox 360 is the same; I had to buy an HDTV just so I could read the GTA4 menus without changing my glasses prescription.
Yes. And five of those hours will be spent hitting the wrong button, and making long lines even longer.
There is a point of diminishing returns, even in menial labor jobs.
Yeah, sure, but not if you use letters!
My SSN is ABC-DE-FGHI. Or, for more fun, FUK-DS-SHIT; or for the children's hospital, WHY-DO-UASK?
Sounds a lot like double jeopardy to me.
I completely agree with you, much to my younger self's chagrin. :)
As both a libertarian (small-L) and now also a futurist, taxation is difficult. We should be paying a lot less than we are now; the farmers generally do not need the subsidies that we once paid due to a drought.
I'm in favor of smaller government; that's the libertarian talking. The futurist in me sees that the singularity is going to happen in my lifetime, so it makes sense to plan for it. Part of this planning is "knowing what's on the other side." That's difficult, by the definition of singularity; however, one aspect is that we will all be able to enhance our bodies such that they will never break down (as long as energy comes in -- the last star burning out is the end). So we will have the ability to "live forever" (or at least until the heat death of the universe -- for which I hope to be involved in the project to wrap Matrioshka Brains around all the stars, with batteries on the outside, so that we can in effect make the universe live longer; and when they go nova or supernova we'll detect it, and expand enough to capture energy without damage; and the best outcome would be to figure out how to turn them off, so that we can ration the fuel at the rate we want to burn it, rather than the incredibly faster nuclear burn rate).
Anyway, I'm a far thinker.
But the problem at hand is significant: there are people dying. So the futurist in me says the worst thing we can do is let them die. The singularity is probably no less than 10, but no more than 30 years away. Most of us will live to see it. So, I am all for universal health care.
If by paying 50% more taxes than I currently pay, which is used to help more of us live longer so that there is more consciousness post-singularity, then I am all for raising my taxes. Which is something my strongly libertarian younger self would have had trouble with. Guess I'm growing up.
Heh. I'm tempted to sue them, and include in the suit my unilateral changes to the contract, those being "AT&T, if sued, cannot defend itself in court, and furthermore, owes me one beeeelion dollars."</pinky>
What you say makes sense. However, the therapist was stating that this was an ongoing behavior, and thus the child's life was being placed in danger -- in the future, as well as in the past.
Therapists may have a confidentiality agreement, but there are limits. My therapist told me about having to alert the authorities when a patient mentioned fighting in the car with the spouse, being distracted from the road, with their young kid in the car.
I'm not sure Bush wants to share a whole lot of his inner thoughts with someone who can have him jailed for them...
Not only are the bread and cirsuses bad for the citizens, they also serve to drive money into foreign hands: see http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601080&sid=aEwSvegJFgsw
Loved the write-up, with one nit: please always use "all other things being equal"; the "other" is very important, because otherwise it's a nonsense statement -- everyone can plainly see that all things are not equal. The term stems from the good science technique: "we change this one variable, and leave all other things equal, and see what result we get." Debugging, basically. :)
Mod parent Insightful, please?
Nice. I was reading at 3, my parents have informed me. :) Like you, it's difficult to remember a time that I didn't read (I think when I had stitches in my big toe, I might have been 2, the earliest trauma I remember). I like that you can recall how you started reading; for me, that's all blurry. I know it was Seuss because of the story my mom likes to tell about my not wanting to go to school, and she used PET (Parent Effectiveness Training; the specific skill was "active listening") to determine the real reason why, and it was because I loved the Cat in the Hat book I had borrowed so much, I did not want to give it back. She agreed to buy the book after school, and fixed the issue without yelling or hitting. I love that anecdote.
Yeah, I agree that wordplay is one of the most satisfying games of all. Especially now that I know multiple languages, and can practice it across them!
Hope you enjoy the book, let me know how it turns out for you.
I for one welcome our blind overlords.
Wikipedia has a write-up, so you can see if you've read it without going to the library: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_White_Plague
Yeah, regarding whoopsies: the researchers who originally discovered uses for X-rays spent so much time playing in them, that they all gave themselves cancer. Ouch.
Major part of The White Plague was the disease targeted women, and the resulting social upheaval as the ratio began changing to what I experienced back in engineering college ("main squeeze", "secondary squeeze", "tertiary squeeze", ... "last chance squeeze"). :)
Don't be bitter.
For reference, see Frank Herbert's "The White Plague".
Damn book has about three times as many words as it needs, but was a great chilling read.
Ah, but you do remember the accidental deployment, for which that top officer was fired over? When they flew nuclear weapons across the country without "knowing" about it?
So I just got this mental image of crazy-eyed, lab-coat-wearing, wrench-wielding physicists, flying around the universe breaking stuff.
No he likes fishsticks. Loves 'em, really.
Well, at least they didn't send in the grues.
Don't worry, it's just pining for the fjords.
Sounds like somebody has a case of the Thursdays.
I've found that sending the developer some money helps quite a bit with their responsiveness.
Heh, what a quaint notion! Reminds me of people taking their horse and buggy to the local ice shop, to purchase a refill for their ice boxes so the food doesn't spoil. :)