Pretending there's an assault on freedom when there isn't don't count as vigilance -- rather it provides cover so the real anti-freedom measures get lost in the noise. Of course, there are those -- perhaps you are among them -- for whom any assault on freedom is going to be dismissable as FUD, or as something that only affects other people, or as something that we ought not fear if we're "not doing anything wrong".
I've heard it said that most subjects of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy had no idea that they weren't "free", mainly because they had no interest in participating politically in their societies anyway and knew how to stay out of trouble. So I have to ask, how do you know you're free, and what would the evidence look like that maybe you aren't so much anymore?
I'm waiting to see how the racists respond to this. By their usual logic, it will now be appropriate for employers and others to discriminate against people of low birth order. At least the first-born among them will be happy with that, anyway.
The bigger issue is that such a significant difference in IQ was found where (a) there is no systematic genetic difference between the populations being compared and (b) the environmental difference between them is so subtle. I say "subtle" because even though the first-born and their younger siblings have somewhat different relationships with their parents and each other, they still live under the same roof, have the same parents, go to the same schools, etc. It certainly shines new light on what kind of effect to expect when the differences are night-and-day, like wealth vs. poverty or responsible, educated parents vs. "not so much"...
I see that as roughly equivalent to this where they thought they had made a wimpy free version available and it turned out to have a hole that could make it a competitor for the retail versions. The notion of "crippleware" doesn't really map to FOSS, though. You can take your open source project and come out with proprietary enhancements, but you can't stop others from enhancing it themselves (and possibly better than you).
Don't like microsoft but the same issues apply to any other license like creative commons and gnu. Except that those licenses have to do almost exclusively with redistribution, and even then aim to preserve rights, not take them away. They don't restrict the use of software, or anybody's right to extend or interoperate with it.
If you don't agree with the license terms of the software/artwork/music then don't use/extend it. No argument with you there. When I see all the ridiculous crap that my friends committed to proprietary software put up with almost daily, I'm happy to say "no thanks".
I have an open source project, and I would get mighty pissed if someone broke my terms. Of course, those wouldn't include prohibiting people from improving it, interoperating with it, adapting it, or using it however they like. That's what "open source" means!
It doesn't in any way matter what the machine-to-machine protocol is! Excuse me while I slap my forehead in disbelief at what I've been reading here. Extending permission to use the network is the whole point of those protocols. That is what they (e.g., DHCP) do, and that is the only reason you'd be running them on a machine connected to a wireless router.
This guy was charged with a felony because the owner of the network (who didn't press charges, as I understand) might not have realized that he was giving permission to others to use his network, which in fact he was. Pretty flimsy reason to ruin someone's life, no? That's pretty much the only reason that coffee shops even have wireless access points.
You know, this may be being implemented with the best of intentions So they'll claim. I'm quite certain that the intentions are anything but good.
This isn't just a "don't fly" list, and I suspect that in its initial incarnation it wouldn't have the same.... due process that the local police arresting someone would. There's one of your "intentions" right there. The Bush administration has never regarded due process as anything but a bothersome obstacle in its quest for unfettered power.
If not this government what about the one that is elected five years from now? Nine? Elected?
By giving nice canned answers to these unsolvable problems, you free people up to focus on things that are more directly relevant to their survival. Supplying canned answers to problems (origins, etc.) is only a very secondary function of religion. Most people have no idea how their toaster works, let alone the origins of life and the universe, and they're quite happy in that state of ignorant bliss. Most of us don't need or even care about "explanations" of natural phenomena, whether scientific or supernatural.
Religion is really about hierarchy, legitimizing authority, and filling our need for ultimate justice. We don't worship God because he is great and requires it of us (like a petulant child); we invented him because we need someone/something to worship. Like canines, we are pack animals, and as such we have a fundamental need to submit to a dominant master. God - and secondarily anyone who claims control over him, like priests and republicans - is simply the ultimate Alpha Dog.
As the U.S. bleeds itself deeper and deeper into debt to the rest of the world (e.g., China), you have to wonder how long it will be able to keep the arm-twisting going. It's sure to be a Big Surprise to us when other countries start to notice that the bully isn't as big as he used to be. They never do see it coming.
oh deary me... someone hasn't taken many higher english/philosophy courses Heh heh... My bad. I should have excluded "the Humanities" (where it's not so much what you say as how you say it) from that comment. Reminds me of the Sokol pseudo-article in Social Text a few years back...
Or maybe the subjects really are that difficult (without the stupid quotes). We live in an era of instant gratification. To understand pretty much anything (to the point where you're capable of generating original insight) is hard work and takes a great deal of time and devotion. The same is true in athletics, the arts, skilled trades, pretty much whatever. Nobody thinks they'll be playing in the NBA without practicing their brains out for years and years, and yet many seem to believe that they could master subjects like quantum theory on the quick if only someone would explain it to them in "plain english". If the subject seems incomprehensible, it must be that the snobs that write about it are deliberately obfuscating to pump themselves up and keep the noobs out.
Sure, there is a bit of a one-size-fits-all problem going on, but that's going to be the case for any single resource. As it continues to develop, maybe it could accommodate articles on the same subject written at different levels of sophistication. All it takes is for someone out there to write them.
I'd hate to see everything reduced to a common denominator, though. Most people know a thing or two about something, and when they're reading articles in their own special domains they don't need to be condescended to. People learn in different ways; as for myself, I prefer to shoot quite a bit over my head when I'm approaching a subject I know little about. Makes me work a little bit to fill in the gaps, and gives that heady "aha" rush when stuff that's been kicking around in my head starts making sense all at once. Kind of like raising the roof before the foundation's in sometimes, but it works.
Unfortunately, you usually can't "dumb-down" a subject without misleading people. You could, e.g., equate chemical bonding with atoms "holding hands" and such, but that doesn't do anyone any good. The advanced reader gets no useful information, and the naive ones don't get anything meaningful that they can build on, either.
People get turned on to science when they realize they understand something for the first time; I don't think that reducing everything to cartoon characters quite does the trick for anybody.
You missed my point. I wasn't criticizing SUV owners so much as questioning the assumptions and motivations behind our (yes, mine too) conspicuous consumption. Just as easily could have used jewelry or oversized houses as examples. The point is that we don't attract nearly as much favorable attention when we buy stuff like that as we think we do, so maybe we're wasting our money in addition to whatever other harm we may be causing.
Diminutive genitalia aside, we need to examine this whole idea that anybody even cares how big the car is that you're driving. Once we meet certain minimal standards of daily hygiene, behavior, and attire, there's very little we can achieve by buying stuff that really enhances what people think of us all that much (regardless of marketers' attempts to convince us otherwise).
Every guy who buys a land barge drives it around feeling like the Big Man About Town, but to everyone else on the street he's either invisible or just a dickhead who doesn't give a rat's ass about the environmental cost of what he's doing. Seriously, do you ever see someone driving past in a new Hummer and say to yourself, "Wow, I really admire whoever's driving that beast. I'd like to be his friend!". If he was a slob or an idiot before, he's now a slob or an idiot with an SUV.
Nobody cares. It took most of my life and a fair amount of wasted money to finally learn that.
I think China is also our #1 creditor, covering our big budget deficits and the cost of the Iraq War. If they're not already laughing at our threats of sanctions, they soon will be...
It's not unusual at all for government officials - or corporate executives too for that matter - to try to cover stupidity and incompetence with even more stupidity and incompetence. To do anything else would mean having to admit that you made a mistake. It's a long, descending spiral.
Here's a solution you socialist lover, you. Who's the socialist? Patents are government-granted monopolies; they have nothing to do with free-market capitalism.
I really hope that this turns into something I was about to say that this will depend on the pharmcos being able to patent it (or modify it into something they can patent) and then charge $20,000 per treatment, but someone below beat me to the punch...
Slashdot Mirror
I've heard it said that most subjects of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy had no idea that they weren't "free", mainly because they had no interest in participating politically in their societies anyway and knew how to stay out of trouble. So I have to ask, how do you know you're free, and what would the evidence look like that maybe you aren't so much anymore?
I'm waiting to see how the racists respond to this. By their usual logic, it will now be appropriate for employers and others to discriminate against people of low birth order. At least the first-born among them will be happy with that, anyway.
The bigger issue is that such a significant difference in IQ was found where (a) there is no systematic genetic difference between the populations being compared and (b) the environmental difference between them is so subtle. I say "subtle" because even though the first-born and their younger siblings have somewhat different relationships with their parents and each other, they still live under the same roof, have the same parents, go to the same schools, etc. It certainly shines new light on what kind of effect to expect when the differences are night-and-day, like wealth vs. poverty or responsible, educated parents vs. "not so much"...
Oh, that's just great... Now The Terrorists will know where to put their Martian bombz.
This guy was charged with a felony because the owner of the network (who didn't press charges, as I understand) might not have realized that he was giving permission to others to use his network, which in fact he was. Pretty flimsy reason to ruin someone's life, no? That's pretty much the only reason that coffee shops even have wireless access points.
...that's what they called it back in the 50s, during the McCarthy era. I suppose if we just change the name, it'll be OK.
Religion is really about hierarchy, legitimizing authority, and filling our need for ultimate justice. We don't worship God because he is great and requires it of us (like a petulant child); we invented him because we need someone/something to worship. Like canines, we are pack animals, and as such we have a fundamental need to submit to a dominant master. God - and secondarily anyone who claims control over him, like priests and republicans - is simply the ultimate Alpha Dog.
As the U.S. bleeds itself deeper and deeper into debt to the rest of the world (e.g., China), you have to wonder how long it will be able to keep the arm-twisting going. It's sure to be a Big Surprise to us when other countries start to notice that the bully isn't as big as he used to be. They never do see it coming.
...this is undeniably domestic terrorism. Absolutely it is. The children were terrorized, and that was exactly the intent of the people who did this.Sure, there is a bit of a one-size-fits-all problem going on, but that's going to be the case for any single resource. As it continues to develop, maybe it could accommodate articles on the same subject written at different levels of sophistication. All it takes is for someone out there to write them.
I'd hate to see everything reduced to a common denominator, though. Most people know a thing or two about something, and when they're reading articles in their own special domains they don't need to be condescended to. People learn in different ways; as for myself, I prefer to shoot quite a bit over my head when I'm approaching a subject I know little about. Makes me work a little bit to fill in the gaps, and gives that heady "aha" rush when stuff that's been kicking around in my head starts making sense all at once. Kind of like raising the roof before the foundation's in sometimes, but it works.
Unfortunately, you usually can't "dumb-down" a subject without misleading people. You could, e.g., equate chemical bonding with atoms "holding hands" and such, but that doesn't do anyone any good. The advanced reader gets no useful information, and the naive ones don't get anything meaningful that they can build on, either.
People get turned on to science when they realize they understand something for the first time; I don't think that reducing everything to cartoon characters quite does the trick for anybody.
Heh heh... You get "troll" for "Spock is make believe".
That'll teach you to stay away from controversy...
You missed my point. I wasn't criticizing SUV owners so much as questioning the assumptions and motivations behind our (yes, mine too) conspicuous consumption. Just as easily could have used jewelry or oversized houses as examples. The point is that we don't attract nearly as much favorable attention when we buy stuff like that as we think we do, so maybe we're wasting our money in addition to whatever other harm we may be causing.
Kudos on the bike anyway, though...
Diminutive genitalia aside, we need to examine this whole idea that anybody even cares how big the car is that you're driving. Once we meet certain minimal standards of daily hygiene, behavior, and attire, there's very little we can achieve by buying stuff that really enhances what people think of us all that much (regardless of marketers' attempts to convince us otherwise).
Every guy who buys a land barge drives it around feeling like the Big Man About Town, but to everyone else on the street he's either invisible or just a dickhead who doesn't give a rat's ass about the environmental cost of what he's doing. Seriously, do you ever see someone driving past in a new Hummer and say to yourself, "Wow, I really admire whoever's driving that beast. I'd like to be his friend!". If he was a slob or an idiot before, he's now a slob or an idiot with an SUV.
Nobody cares. It took most of my life and a fair amount of wasted money to finally learn that.
I think China is also our #1 creditor, covering our big budget deficits and the cost of the Iraq War. If they're not already laughing at our threats of sanctions, they soon will be...
It's not unusual at all for government officials - or corporate executives too for that matter - to try to cover stupidity and incompetence with even more stupidity and incompetence. To do anything else would mean having to admit that you made a mistake. It's a long, descending spiral.