And, is our world really that much better, societally, than the late 1800s? Back then, cocaine was in Coca-Cola, pot was legal, heroin was used medically, and nobody was in jail for altering their own mind.
Sure, you could say that today is much more dangerous because we have cars all over the place, but that doesn't mean that I am any more a danger sitting in my apartment getting stoned and watching the Matrix (or just sufferring from glaucoma). Sure, if I get behind the wheel and am impaired in any shape or form, stop me from killing someone (this includes being sleepy, distracted thinking about a fight with the spouse, talking on the cell phone (for that matter, talking to other passengers!), reading billboards, singing along with the radio, etc.).
The key is that there is a scale of impairment, and it should be testable; there exist video games that test impairment which should be used in dangerous work environments, because "drug testing" just shows that I had a great weekend, 3 weeks ago; it doesn't show whether I am currently able to perform the tasks I am responsible for. Pilots and drivers (bus/taxi, etc.) should be impairment tested every time they show up to work.
But even this is going to end fairly soon: I remember reading an article on here a week or so ago which said that self-driving cars are about 10 years off.
As you said, eliminate the penalties and the bulk of the problem goes away. The tax money that was being spent on apprehension and incarceration can be much better spent on treatment and medical attention. And it will certainly help the economy, because a multi-billion dollar industry will spring up literally overnight, and start paying taxes.
I can see Frito-Lay giving out pot coupons: "buy 2 bags of chips, get a mariajuana cigarette for free!"
I agree completely. Some progress is being made: I live in MA, and the government just recently embraced the open source philosophy, so hopefully we've got many pot-smoking hippies elected to office. 1/2;-)
Only 1/2, because a recent article in the Boston Globe gave the statistic that 17% of Boston residents responding to the survey were pot smokers. I would imagine that the actual figure is at least twice that, both based on the stigma of self-incrimination (especially for those with a lot to lose, like good jobs/houses/cars/etc.), and also based on my experiences with my peers in the industry (software development).
And also there are at least two billboards on route 90 (the Mass Pike) promoting the legalization of pot: I believe one of them said $155 million in additional tax revenue if we were to legalize, and the other discussed other social and economic benefits (we would drastically reduce the prison population, and not send non-violent "criminals" into a violent prison environment, which ends up making the pot smokers worse for society than just leaving them alone would have been).
And, while I have high hopes that those of us with brains might have some beneficial effect on the "throw everyone in jail and let God sort 'em out" crowd, I will not hold my breath (so... they blew my hit?): as you said, it is extremely difficult for authority to admit that it made a mistake (look at Iraq); and also, having inappropriate laws on the books just makes it easier for them to pick you up at any time for any reason, which makes law enforcement's job much, much easier -- when they "know" the bad guy has done something but they don't have the proof.
In other words, laws like that make for a great police state, and try reforming one of those without a revolution!
The other scary fact is that making something simple into a felony is a great way of disenfranchising a segment of the voting public that you disagree with: smoke pot, get sent to jail a felon, and you lose the right to vote so you can't support those who would make the behavior not a crime. (I realize that not all marijuana infractions are felonies.)
No, but neither are your requirements binary: you can have both, and in fact AbiWord is modular and thus supports your ideal.
Two big areas where spelling and grammar checkers can help are with non-native speakers, and management.
Seriously, the former just don't know the proper rules and tend to use shorter sentences which are easier for the grammar checker to understand and give proper feedback. And the latter... well, the same applies, actually;-) but also they tend to have so much more to do that communication, although it should receive the proper care and attention to detail that I believe it deserves, tends to be one of the first things to go. (Good management does not write long emails; they tend to write one-sentence emails. Subordinates need longer emails to defend/explain their decisions and suggestions, but management have "the power" to just make a decision, so they tend to communicate with fewer words.)
As to cruise control, I wouldn't seek out a car simply because it had it, but I would consider not purchasing a car if it lacked it. I don't use it every day, but when I do use it I really appreciate it. As another responder said, it sucks to be behind someone who floats between 50 and 70 MPH, randomly.
Cruise control helps make driving more deterministic, and similarly, grammar checking helps make communication more deterministic. What's not to like?;-)
Your tone seems demeaning. Mine wasn't, it was amused. You're highlighting a typing error (these things just happen); I'm pointing out a thinking issue (acknowledging/understanding it can make the speaker/writer better).
But yeah, thanks for your attempt at irony which is every more ironful because of your typo.
(My mentioning "native speaker" was only because I've seen said poster discussing not being a native speaker, and appreciating any help.)
This is OT to the space elevator, but wouldn't it make sense to invest in "hurricane disrupters?"
The (extremely low-tech) idea I have is a giant bank of fans, attached to batteries. Giant, that is, like 1 mile cubed. It would be best made with nanomaterials, but could conceivably be started immediately with current tech and made stronger/lighter/more efficient later.
We'd move this construct into the path of hurricanes, and it would reduce the speed of the winds by converting the wind energy into rotational energy for the fans, and then use those to turn alternators to generate electricity.
So, not only would we avoid $200 billion cleanup jobs, we'd also be generating additional electricity for the nation!
And, somewhat similar to the space elevator, after creating the first one, the second will be quite less expensive and faster to produce. And the more we have on our southeastern coastline, we'd be producing even more electricity, and further reducing potential damage to our cities.
If we're going to have to spend $200 billion on cleaup jobs every 15 years or so, then spending (rough guess) $10 billion today to develop (or at least investigate) this idea might be worth it. (Some whackos have been calling in to Howard Stern, stating that the Russians have "hurricane production science" and are using it against the USA. Not very believable given the current political climate, but possible? Developing this then would fall under DoD, since it would be defending the country against foreign agression.)
And before anyone starts in on the "oh they've already deleted stuff off of people's TIVO's" bit -- Tivo has admitted it, said it was a mistake and said it's part of a future change that isn't ready for roll-out and it only "escaped" to regular users by accident.
Why isn't it plausible that TiVo created the feature, then decided to "test" it on King of the Hill and the Simpsons, to see if people really cared?
They saw that people do care, and quickly entered plan B, "We didn't mean it!"
I have a TiVo, and am actively researching MythTV so I can stop paying the $13/month fee for program listings (TV Guide doesn't even charge that much!). And I would have GLADLY continued to pay if they hadn't decided to cripple the features of the box that I paid good money for.
This is so crass, so ridiculous, so asinine. It's definitely not in the consumer's best interest. No consumer I've spoken to has wanted the "feature" of not being able to record shows. So, thanks for the fun, TiVo, but our relationship is just about over.
Who knows what the future holds for us? of course, assumming we don't destroy ourselves before we get there.
I know you're not a native speaker, but this is a common turn of phrase which always amuses me when I see or hear it.
It really should be, "assuming we don't destroy ourselves instead of getting there." The way it's worded, I get a "Monkey's Paw" feeling where the mangled corpse of the son is coming home (in the above, its our mangled corpses reaching "the future" (cue Zappa noise)).
I used to have a Corvette with a similar feature, but one problem was when I parked too close to the house, walking around inside would make the Vette flash its lights constantly.;-)
I turned it off after that. However, it was a neat feature at a parking lot -- just walk up to your car, open the door and hop in. Now, if the RFID would also activate the ingition, and there was just a button instead of a keyhole, it would have been even nicer since you would never have to take your keys out of your pocket to drive.
And if that became the case, then "keys" might transform into something easier to carry, like a credit card that you could just put in your wallet (like we used to have at work, a proximity badge for security access).
Second, it would spur the desires for the younger generation to dive into math, science, and engineering in hopes to one day discover meathods for FTL travel.
Slashdot won't accept pictures, but I envision it as something similar to the "skyhook" concept, where there'll be a whirling mass of pasta with the meatballs at the center connected via gears and levers so that it rotates. As His Noodly Appendages reach towards the earth, they can grab spaceships waiting to be lofted into space, and once the ship reaches the top of the arc, it is let go.
This won't get us faster than light, but it will get us there in full pirate regalia while thumbing our noses at the Kansas School Board.
Well, if it's a violation of the DMCA, then perhaps one of us should call them up, listen to the voice that says "this call may be recorded for quality purposes" (which means "this call IS being recorded to cover our asses"). At that point you have permission to push record on your recording device, without notifying them (although this varies from state to state).
So then get a recording of a support rep stating the web site, and then post it here for all to hear. One of us is an attorney, and will start a DMCA action.
Of course, the victim is Sony, so the attorney will have a difficult time getting their client's agreement to pursue. But if the caller asked, "So, does this work for this other CD I have?" And Sony's rep answers in the positive, then the manufacturer of "this other CD" might have grounds to sue. And if the caller worked for the (other) manufacturer, it'd be even easier to turn this into a DMCA-killer event.
Happiness is overrated. Work on being happy being content, and you'll find you're much happier. (You sound a lot like my brother, but he's been out of college for a few years now, and is hoping for twice that.)
I watched the mayoral debates tonight. Some stupid bitch (candidate) said "people should turn off their TVs." (She had many other negative things to say which formed my opinion of her.)
Now, I'm all for constructive criticism. If I'm doing something wrong, tell me how to do right! But her comment, and yours as well, was completely negative -- it said what not to do, but it didn't say what to do.
As I was reading this thread, I went to Project Gutenberg and downloaded all the human-spoken audio books. There are currently 32. There are a lot more computer-spoken, which I'll sample, but this is enough for several weeks of commuting. Thanks!
It should be fairly simple to add a regex text field with a modifier of your choice.
Like for Friends, Foes, Fans, and Freaks, you can choose different modifiers; this would open it up so you could, say, mod to -5 any post with "dupe" in it.
Several of those could be added: subject, comment, signature, and even name. Actually, do it the way Google does attachments, and have the type be a drop-down as well. Then you could have as many as you like, and the default view doesn't take a lot of screen real estate.
Me, I'd +5 any mention of Discworld or Douglas Adams.;-)
Giving me the idea that, like your relationships, it might be nice to have the regexs be public. (It should be optional though.)
The "last refreshed" time is basically already there: look at the time of the story at the top of the page. If it's more than a couple hours ago then likely it... was last refreshed a couple hours ago.
(Or perhaps you meant within the story; you're right, that would be a feature request.)
The idea seems to be that the courts should be able to authorize wiretapping of any media regardless of whether it is a traditional phone system or a VOIP connection over a public network.
That's asinine (not you, their idea).
I believe I've heard it compared to the old law, "every horse-less carriage must be preceded by a person on foot holding a lantern to light the way." Yes, it worked in its time and aided society and our growth as a country. But if we tried to enforce that law today (if it's even still on the books), it would grind commerce to a halt.
Wiretaps seem to be about the same: it was trivially easy to add them to the POTS telephone network, but it is very difficult to securely add this "feature" to an end-to-end encrypted session.
I like your Belize solution and will invest in it.;-)
That sounds like possibly conspiracy and collusion.
But, what company wouldn't do this? It's similar to billing the medical insurance companies: if procedure X has maximum covered payout $Y, then if the doctor charges the patient $Y - 1, the doctor is not maximizing his profitability.
On the other hand, the doctor can charge $Y * 5, and will only be paid for $Y and can then "write off the rest as a favor to his patients." So not only does the second scenario maximize his potential income, it's also giving him a nice charity donation to offset his taxes.
Similarly, collection agents will lie to you on the phone. They'll pressure you, lean on you, "forcing" you to pay in full *this month* even when you've already got an existing contract to repay a certain amount per month. They do this because there's a percentage of the population that does not have adequate legal representation, and have nowhere to turn so they scrounge the money from family, friends, and other credit sources.
This is completely wrong; companies should not have the right to lie to citizens in order to remove money from the citizens' wallets (even if the citizens broke their credit contact by not repaying--take them to court for that, don't lie!).
So by the same token, I can see a "business model" for "2% of all bills must contain errors in the phone company's favor, 25% of which must be greater than $200" (or something similar). You might not ever see it written down, but the developer surely knows because s/he was directed to write the software that way.
Or it could be more insidious and not be in software; it could be management that's "updating" the bills by hand. Either way, though, one would think enough people would be in on the secret to cause problems for the company(ies).
Like that old saying, "Two people can keep a secret -- if one of them is dead."
Everyone who is a citizen of the required age is allowed to vote, even if they're incarcerated.
It always bugs me when I see mention of this. It's something that I learned by distant example while reading Atlas Shrugged (choice quote below); all the US government needs to do is make a felony out of something innocuous and enjoyed predominantly by a certain class/race/lifestyle (like smoking pot), and BANG! All of a sudden, there's nobody left who smokes pot who isn't a felon, and therefore the inefficient, ineffective, society-destroying laws like the War on (some) Drugs are allowed to continue because nobody can legally vote for their removal.
We have too many laws. I want to do something about that--but what can I, an individual, do?
"Did you really think that we want those laws to be observed?" said Dr. Ferris. "We want them broken. You'd better get it straight that it's not a bunch of boy scouts you're up against - then you'll know that this is not the age for beautiful gestures. We're after power and we mean it. You fellows were pikers, but we know the real trick, and you'd better get wise to it. There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens? What's there in that for anyone? But just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced nor objectively interpreted - and you create a nation of law-breakers - and then you cash in on guilt. Now, that's the system, Mr. Rearden, that's the game, and once you understand it, you'll be much easier to deal with."
Slashdot Mirror
And, is our world really that much better, societally, than the late 1800s? Back then, cocaine was in Coca-Cola, pot was legal, heroin was used medically, and nobody was in jail for altering their own mind.
Sure, you could say that today is much more dangerous because we have cars all over the place, but that doesn't mean that I am any more a danger sitting in my apartment getting stoned and watching the Matrix (or just sufferring from glaucoma). Sure, if I get behind the wheel and am impaired in any shape or form, stop me from killing someone (this includes being sleepy, distracted thinking about a fight with the spouse, talking on the cell phone (for that matter, talking to other passengers!), reading billboards, singing along with the radio, etc.).
The key is that there is a scale of impairment, and it should be testable; there exist video games that test impairment which should be used in dangerous work environments, because "drug testing" just shows that I had a great weekend, 3 weeks ago; it doesn't show whether I am currently able to perform the tasks I am responsible for. Pilots and drivers (bus/taxi, etc.) should be impairment tested every time they show up to work.
But even this is going to end fairly soon: I remember reading an article on here a week or so ago which said that self-driving cars are about 10 years off.
As you said, eliminate the penalties and the bulk of the problem goes away. The tax money that was being spent on apprehension and incarceration can be much better spent on treatment and medical attention. And it will certainly help the economy, because a multi-billion dollar industry will spring up literally overnight, and start paying taxes.
I can see Frito-Lay giving out pot coupons: "buy 2 bags of chips, get a mariajuana cigarette for free!"
Only 1/2, because a recent article in the Boston Globe gave the statistic that 17% of Boston residents responding to the survey were pot smokers. I would imagine that the actual figure is at least twice that, both based on the stigma of self-incrimination (especially for those with a lot to lose, like good jobs/houses/cars/etc.), and also based on my experiences with my peers in the industry (software development).
And also there are at least two billboards on route 90 (the Mass Pike) promoting the legalization of pot: I believe one of them said $155 million in additional tax revenue if we were to legalize, and the other discussed other social and economic benefits (we would drastically reduce the prison population, and not send non-violent "criminals" into a violent prison environment, which ends up making the pot smokers worse for society than just leaving them alone would have been).
And, while I have high hopes that those of us with brains might have some beneficial effect on the "throw everyone in jail and let God sort 'em out" crowd, I will not hold my breath (so ... they blew my hit?): as you said, it is extremely difficult for authority to admit that it made a mistake (look at Iraq); and also, having inappropriate laws on the books just makes it easier for them to pick you up at any time for any reason, which makes law enforcement's job much, much easier -- when they "know" the bad guy has done something but they don't have the proof.
In other words, laws like that make for a great police state, and try reforming one of those without a revolution!
The other scary fact is that making something simple into a felony is a great way of disenfranchising a segment of the voting public that you disagree with: smoke pot, get sent to jail a felon, and you lose the right to vote so you can't support those who would make the behavior not a crime. (I realize that not all marijuana infractions are felonies.)
start at n pole
My keyboard takes PC100 you insensitive clod!
No, but neither are your requirements binary: you can have both, and in fact AbiWord is modular and thus supports your ideal.
Two big areas where spelling and grammar checkers can help are with non-native speakers, and management.
Seriously, the former just don't know the proper rules and tend to use shorter sentences which are easier for the grammar checker to understand and give proper feedback. And the latter ... well, the same applies, actually ;-) but also they tend to have so much more to do that communication, although it should receive the proper care and attention to detail that I believe it deserves, tends to be one of the first things to go. (Good management does not write long emails; they tend to write one-sentence emails. Subordinates need longer emails to defend/explain their decisions and suggestions, but management have "the power" to just make a decision, so they tend to communicate with fewer words.)
As to cruise control, I wouldn't seek out a car simply because it had it, but I would consider not purchasing a car if it lacked it. I don't use it every day, but when I do use it I really appreciate it. As another responder said, it sucks to be behind someone who floats between 50 and 70 MPH, randomly.
Cruise control helps make driving more deterministic, and similarly, grammar checking helps make communication more deterministic. What's not to like? ;-)
Your tone seems demeaning. Mine wasn't, it was amused. You're highlighting a typing error (these things just happen); I'm pointing out a thinking issue (acknowledging/understanding it can make the speaker/writer better).
But yeah, thanks for your attempt at irony which is every more ironful because of your typo.
(My mentioning "native speaker" was only because I've seen said poster discussing not being a native speaker, and appreciating any help.)
The (extremely low-tech) idea I have is a giant bank of fans, attached to batteries. Giant, that is, like 1 mile cubed. It would be best made with nanomaterials, but could conceivably be started immediately with current tech and made stronger/lighter/more efficient later.
We'd move this construct into the path of hurricanes, and it would reduce the speed of the winds by converting the wind energy into rotational energy for the fans, and then use those to turn alternators to generate electricity.
So, not only would we avoid $200 billion cleanup jobs, we'd also be generating additional electricity for the nation!
And, somewhat similar to the space elevator, after creating the first one, the second will be quite less expensive and faster to produce. And the more we have on our southeastern coastline, we'd be producing even more electricity, and further reducing potential damage to our cities.
If we're going to have to spend $200 billion on cleaup jobs every 15 years or so, then spending (rough guess) $10 billion today to develop (or at least investigate) this idea might be worth it. (Some whackos have been calling in to Howard Stern, stating that the Russians have "hurricane production science" and are using it against the USA. Not very believable given the current political climate, but possible? Developing this then would fall under DoD, since it would be defending the country against foreign agression.)
My brain highlighted the two boldfaced words above, and I got this horrific image of Bush attending the ribbon-cutting for the space elevator...
Why isn't it plausible that TiVo created the feature, then decided to "test" it on King of the Hill and the Simpsons, to see if people really cared?
They saw that people do care, and quickly entered plan B, "We didn't mean it!"
I have a TiVo, and am actively researching MythTV so I can stop paying the $13/month fee for program listings (TV Guide doesn't even charge that much!). And I would have GLADLY continued to pay if they hadn't decided to cripple the features of the box that I paid good money for.
This is so crass, so ridiculous, so asinine. It's definitely not in the consumer's best interest. No consumer I've spoken to has wanted the "feature" of not being able to record shows. So, thanks for the fun, TiVo, but our relationship is just about over.
I know you're not a native speaker, but this is a common turn of phrase which always amuses me when I see or hear it.
It really should be, "assuming we don't destroy ourselves instead of getting there." The way it's worded, I get a "Monkey's Paw" feeling where the mangled corpse of the son is coming home (in the above, its our mangled corpses reaching "the future" (cue Zappa noise)).
I turned it off after that. However, it was a neat feature at a parking lot -- just walk up to your car, open the door and hop in. Now, if the RFID would also activate the ingition, and there was just a button instead of a keyhole, it would have been even nicer since you would never have to take your keys out of your pocket to drive.
And if that became the case, then "keys" might transform into something easier to carry, like a credit card that you could just put in your wallet (like we used to have at work, a proximity badge for security access).
I'm more interested in methods of FSM travel.
Slashdot won't accept pictures, but I envision it as something similar to the "skyhook" concept, where there'll be a whirling mass of pasta with the meatballs at the center connected via gears and levers so that it rotates. As His Noodly Appendages reach towards the earth, they can grab spaceships waiting to be lofted into space, and once the ship reaches the top of the arc, it is let go.
This won't get us faster than light, but it will get us there in full pirate regalia while thumbing our noses at the Kansas School Board.
So then get a recording of a support rep stating the web site, and then post it here for all to hear. One of us is an attorney, and will start a DMCA action.
Of course, the victim is Sony, so the attorney will have a difficult time getting their client's agreement to pursue. But if the caller asked, "So, does this work for this other CD I have?" And Sony's rep answers in the positive, then the manufacturer of "this other CD" might have grounds to sue. And if the caller worked for the (other) manufacturer, it'd be even easier to turn this into a DMCA-killer event.
Happiness is overrated. Work on being happy being content, and you'll find you're much happier. (You sound a lot like my brother, but he's been out of college for a few years now, and is hoping for twice that.)
Now, I'm all for constructive criticism. If I'm doing something wrong, tell me how to do right! But her comment, and yours as well, was completely negative -- it said what not to do, but it didn't say what to do.
It's easy to say "Don't drink arsenic!"
And you're so right: the meek shall inherit the Earth. The rest of us are going to the stars.
As I was reading this thread, I went to Project Gutenberg and downloaded all the human-spoken audio books. There are currently 32. There are a lot more computer-spoken, which I'll sample, but this is enough for several weeks of commuting. Thanks!
It should be fairly simple to add a regex text field with a modifier of your choice.
Like for Friends, Foes, Fans, and Freaks, you can choose different modifiers; this would open it up so you could, say, mod to -5 any post with "dupe" in it.
Several of those could be added: subject, comment, signature, and even name. Actually, do it the way Google does attachments, and have the type be a drop-down as well. Then you could have as many as you like, and the default view doesn't take a lot of screen real estate.
Me, I'd +5 any mention of Discworld or Douglas Adams. ;-)
Giving me the idea that, like your relationships, it might be nice to have the regexs be public. (It should be optional though.)
(Or perhaps you meant within the story; you're right, that would be a feature request.)
That's asinine (not you, their idea).
I believe I've heard it compared to the old law, "every horse-less carriage must be preceded by a person on foot holding a lantern to light the way." Yes, it worked in its time and aided society and our growth as a country. But if we tried to enforce that law today (if it's even still on the books), it would grind commerce to a halt.
Wiretaps seem to be about the same: it was trivially easy to add them to the POTS telephone network, but it is very difficult to securely add this "feature" to an end-to-end encrypted session.
I like your Belize solution and will invest in it. ;-)
But, what company wouldn't do this? It's similar to billing the medical insurance companies: if procedure X has maximum covered payout $Y, then if the doctor charges the patient $Y - 1, the doctor is not maximizing his profitability.
On the other hand, the doctor can charge $Y * 5, and will only be paid for $Y and can then "write off the rest as a favor to his patients." So not only does the second scenario maximize his potential income, it's also giving him a nice charity donation to offset his taxes.
Similarly, collection agents will lie to you on the phone. They'll pressure you, lean on you, "forcing" you to pay in full *this month* even when you've already got an existing contract to repay a certain amount per month. They do this because there's a percentage of the population that does not have adequate legal representation, and have nowhere to turn so they scrounge the money from family, friends, and other credit sources.
This is completely wrong; companies should not have the right to lie to citizens in order to remove money from the citizens' wallets (even if the citizens broke their credit contact by not repaying--take them to court for that, don't lie!).
So by the same token, I can see a "business model" for "2% of all bills must contain errors in the phone company's favor, 25% of which must be greater than $200" (or something similar). You might not ever see it written down, but the developer surely knows because s/he was directed to write the software that way.
Or it could be more insidious and not be in software; it could be management that's "updating" the bills by hand. Either way, though, one would think enough people would be in on the secret to cause problems for the company(ies).
Like that old saying, "Two people can keep a secret -- if one of them is dead."
It always bugs me when I see mention of this. It's something that I learned by distant example while reading Atlas Shrugged (choice quote below); all the US government needs to do is make a felony out of something innocuous and enjoyed predominantly by a certain class/race/lifestyle (like smoking pot), and BANG! All of a sudden, there's nobody left who smokes pot who isn't a felon, and therefore the inefficient, ineffective, society-destroying laws like the War on (some) Drugs are allowed to continue because nobody can legally vote for their removal.
We have too many laws. I want to do something about that--but what can I, an individual, do?
Atlas Shrugged quote from here:
Linky, please?
Look on CPAN for Tie::Hash::Cannabinol -- a Perl module that dutifully forgets all the data you give it.