They might see Internet Explorer as "The Internet", but this is behavior that can easily be changed. My company actually had to block Google Chrome (not a decision I agree with, mind you) because too many people were installing it (somehow without knowing what they were doing) and then reporting problems with our Intranet*. When we asked what browser they were using, they wouldn't know but when pressed they would say "I'm using The Google Internet." Their view of IE as "The Internet" was easily changed to Google Chrome being "The Internet" (albeit one by Google).
* As a note, I wrote our Intranet to work in all versions of IE and FireFox. I'm unsure why it doesn't work with Google Chrome but as Chrome consists of less than 1% of our Intranet traffic, it is not worth my time to debug it.
You see, people only live so long, but Intellectual Property lives forever! (Ok, forever minus one day so as to sneak in as "limited time.") Killing a person merely means a small shortening of their lifespan, but pirating Intellectual Property means destroying the forever-lifespan of a very valuable work. On a side note, that RIAA/MPAA sponsored lobotomy wasn't too painful.
To be honest, I'd be concerned also if the data given to marketers could be mined enough. However, if properly aggregated, I don't think most people would have a problem. For example, Tivo could tell an ad agency that 15% of users who were fast-forwarding when their ad came on stopped and hit play and that 52% who were watching TV at normal speed hit fast forward when the ad came on. Reporting information like that wouldn't tell the ad agency what you did or what I did, but would provide valuable information to them to improve their ads. Of course, I would also want Tivo to give an opt-out capability and to be clear as to what data is reported to whom. I don't think that all data mining situations are bad. They can be tricky to navigate properly, of course, but taking a little care and keeping the consumer in mind (and not just the ad agencies) and it should be able to be done to the benefit of all.
I'm thinking that DVRs could actually help ad agencies come up with more effective ads. Before DVRs, they put ads out there and really couldn't tell whether people watched them or not. With DVRs, they could get information from the DVR makers (TiVo, cable companies, etc) about how many people fast forwarded through their commercials and how many watched them. They might even get information on how many people rewound just to watch the commercial again. Once you have that information, it's not hard to figure out which ads to cut (say those Geico "money with eyes" ads) and which ones to expand upon (say the Apple/PC ads).
Going a level up, the product marketing guys could look at the data and say Ad Agency A gave us a commercial that 15% of viewers watched and Ad Agency B gave us one 30% of viewers watched. Let's go with B for our next ad.
I get this mental image of a decent sized pile of sticks on fire. The RIAA tries to put out the fire by stomping on it, jumping up and down on it and kicking it. They successfully put out the main fire, but in the process sticks get scattered all about and ignite other brush. So the RIAA repeats their "put out the fire" procedure on those, continually winding up with burnt feet and more fires than they started out with.
(This isn't to say that I agree with the copyright infringement websites either. However, the RIAA's approach to defending copyright leaves little room for sympathy and turns many who would support sensible copyrights into pirates.)
Even if the contents of your inbox were revealed during the ordinary course of business, that doesn't mean they aren't private. During the ordinary course of business at the hospital I work in, people's medical information is "revealed" (to staff that have valid need of it). This doesn't mean that those staff members go into the local McDonald's and whisper to their friends: "You see Jim Smith there ordering the Egg McMuffin with extra sausage and bacon? He had a heart attack and a triple bypass just six months ago and his cholesterol was through the roof!" (And if they do say that, they'll be risking their jobs to do so.)
The information is revealed during the normal course of "business" and yet it is still considered private information. Why can't inbox contents be thought of the same way? Sure, the contents of your inbox might be revealed during a normal course of business (not sure what this normal business would be, but let's let that slide for the moment), but that doesn't make the contents any less private.
That's a good idea! Linux For Libraries. You could extend it to other open source/freeware programs as well (for Windows as well as Linux). Since libraries can't be expected to know which programs are copyable and which aren't (their staff might not be up to speed on this), perhaps the Free Software Foundation or some similar group could come up with a Library DVD Set. Each DVD would have the latest versions of the programs available for libraries to distribute. People checking the DVDs out would be allowed to copy the programs to their hearts' content so long as they returned the original disc to the library so that others could check it out. Imagine if an OpenOffice.org install CD, a FireFox install CD, etc were available at every library!
Wine is never a symbol of blood in Judaism. It is always a symbol of joy and happiness. We spill drops of wine while reading the names of the ten plagues, not because blood was spilled during them, but because our happiness is diminished knowing that people had to die for us to get our freedom. The "blood sprinkled on the doorposts" is partially represented by the shank bone on the Sedar plate (lamb sacrifice which we no longer do) and partially by the mezuzahs on our doorposts.
The idea that wine = blood in Judaism comes from Christian groups (to whom wine did represent the blood of Christ) and from the blood libels where Jews were accused of kidnapping kids, slaughtering them, and turning their blood into their (the Jews') wine. Of course, this is an outright lie. The truth of the matter is that Judaism forbids consuming blood. That is why kosher meat is salted and soaked (to remove any blood in it).
Why is my first thought the dad from My Big Fat Greek Wedding? The one who thought Windex cured everything. Got a sore elbow? Dip it in Windex. Feet ache? Soak them in Windex. Got a sore throat? Well, I'd rather not see that cure applied. Moral compass on the fritz? Apply a little Windex and you're good to go!
Additionally, I want additional credits for the conversion of said otherwise-useless offal and meat byproducts into environmentally useful high-grade fertilizer.
Wait, isn't fertilizer one of the components that terrorists use to make bombs? So you're saying that your dog is a terrorist?
uh oh... Now I've just united the Right and Left in the goal of banning pets. The Left will do it to save the environment and the Right will do it to fight the terrorists!
I guess the United States in early 1900's was a "socialist welfare state with nationalized health care" then. After all, Mary Mallon (aka Typhoid Mary) was forced into quarantine for 3 years for being a typhoid carrier. In 1910 she was released but when she secretly returned to her former occupation (cook) and infected 25 people with typhoid (one of whom died) she was put back into quarantine until her death in 1938. (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Mallon#Quarantine )
Exactly, it's not like 36,000 people every year die of the flu. Or that medical workers would be near the very young, very old, or very sick - the exact population of people likely to have complications from influenza.
Oh wait... YES, THEY ARE!
I work in a hospital and the only reason that I hesitate to get my H1N1 vaccine is to make sure that there's enough for the workers who directly see patients every day. I'm in an office by myself all day so I'm not likely to see a patient to pass it to. However, I do want to get the vaccine once my turn comes. If not for me, then for my children. If I don't get the flu, I can't pass it on to them. (They will get the vaccine too when the supplies come in.)
Whenever our son gets a fever, we put him on alternating Tylenol/Motrin doses until his fever goes away. Unfortunately, his fever isn't always apparent until it starts getting high.
His last seizure was earlier this year. He was playing and suddenly slumped over. We first thought he was choking on something. My wife couldn't pry open his mouth and my older son was right there witnessing his brother "choking" and his parents freaking out because he wasn't responsive. In hindsight, all of the seizure signs were there, but we didn't see them at the time because he seemed fine right up until it happened.
We've been through 4 seizures already between my two boys (and one fall which lead to a concussion) - I think my hair's going to turn white before I hit 40 thanks to them!
My youngest son turned gray last year. He was running a fever, so as per doctor's orders, we put him in a bath of room temperature water. He started to seize so we pulled him out. Then he stopped breathing and turned gray. We had gone through a previous febrile seizure with my older son so we pretty much knew what to expect. The older son turned blue, stopped breathing then started up on his own. Unfortunately, our youngest didn't start breathing again. Luckily, my mother-in-law was there and did rescue breaths on him until he began breathing again. To this day, we're convinced that she saved his life. We never quite found out why his fever went up, but we did find out that a mucus plug kept him from restarting breathing. He spent a few days in the hospital to make sure he was alright. Given that story, you can probably understand why our son possibly getting the flu scares us so much.
When we went to Vegas a few years back, we mainly went for the various shows and stuff. We did gamble a very little bit on a few of the slot machines, but didn't care that we lost all of our money. We viewed the $20-40 that we gambled away as an hour or so's entertainment for the two of us, not a serious attempt to make more money. If you go to Vegas with the hopes of winning it big, you'll leave disappointed. If you go to Vegas to have a good time (on a set gambling budget), you're guaranteed to have fun. Maybe you'll leave with some extra cash, maybe not, but you will definitely have a good time.
I'm not a lawyerly type, but as far as I've seen, it isn't because the credit agencies are big. Very big. As such, they have many lobbyists making sure that laws are written in their favor and many lawyers making sure that lawsuits directed at them go nowhere fast.
Besides all that, there's already a perfectly valid term to use to describe a spider that eats only plants (ignoring that "occasional ant attacker or ant larvae" thing for a second): an Herbivore. That's an animal that eats only plants. A vegetarian, as you said, is an animal (such as a human) that *can* eat meat but makes a conscious decision to only eat plants.
Sheldon: "British libel laws are the worst! A fat-head can sue you for callin' him a fat-head, even when it's demonstrable in court that he's a total and complete fat-head... even to OTHER fat-heads!"
Arthur: "What? No way. Then how do they call out fat-heads in Britain?"
As a victim of Identity Theft, I can tell you that banks and credit agencies just don't care. The bank writes off the loss due to fraud. The credit agency shrugs their shoulders at bad information in your credit file and tells *you* to fix it (while they happily go on reporting the bad information). In the case of stolen credit card numbers, the credit card company simply issues a new card and reverses the fraudulent charges. Meanwhile, the thief has their new television and the store is out a few thousand dollars.
In my case, the credit card company opened a line of credit for "me" even though the online application contained the wrong Mother's Maiden Name. I only found out about it because the thieves put in for a rush delivery of the card and *then* changed the address on the account. The card wound up at my house instead of their house/drop box/whatever. The incorrect maiden name and quick address change didn't set off any fraud alerts. Neither did "me" trying to get a $5,000 cash advance on the card prior to activating it. And when I called them about it, they refused to give me any information because "I might run out and kill the thief and then they're liable." They even gave the police department the runaround.
As I said, they just don't care. They'll do everything in their power to protect themselves. Even if protecting themselves in the short term means the identity thief gets away and commits more fraud against their business in the long term. In the end, you are only important to them insofar as how much green they can make off of you.
Just to correct one fact of yours about live virus vaccines. The H1N1 flu shot does not use a live virus. The live virus version is in the nasal spray version. So if you get the shot (like my family and I will be getting), you aren't exposed to any live viruses and won't come down with the flu from the shot.
I'm not on Facebook, but my understanding is that you can poke people who you aren't friends with. So it's likely that the person found the victim's profile, sent a poke and the restraining order was violated. No "friending" needed.
In fact, if you search Google for "h1n1 no underlying problems" (no quotes), you'll come up with a series of articles about deaths from H1N1 from otherwise healthy individuals.
As for keeping away from the sick, did you read my story? We had to go to the ER because my son hit his head on concrete. He had a huge lump right above his eye and we weren't sure if he was having trouble staying awake. If you were in that situation, would you opt not to go to the ER because you might run into someone who is sick? Or would you go to the ER to get your son looked at and treated if necessary? We went to the ER and were exposed to H1N1 while there.
As for the "evidence" that the flu vaccine makes you more likely to get a flu, that's from one Canadian study that hasn't been peer reviewed yet. (As far as I know, it hasn't even been released yet, but I could have missed it being released.)
What I meant by "keeps you from transmitting the flu to others" is that, when you have the flu (even before you show symptoms or after your fever goes away), you can spread it to others. Let's say you go to the store and somehow come in contact with H1N1. Your symptoms might not start for 2 days. However, 24 hours later, when you go to work, you might be spreading H1N1 around to everyone in your office. With the vaccine, though, your chances of spreading the virus diminish as your immune system fights off the flu virus much quicker.
The flu vaccine in general has been administered for years without any major ill effects. The H1N1 vaccine is just a normal flu vaccine except that it is targeted to a particular strain. I see no reason not to get it.
Could be worse. These could be mini-Wile E Coyotebots. Then they'll light their lighters and find, for some reason, that your colon is packed with Acme brand TNT... and that their light has just lit the fuses.... The good news is that you won't need to worry about colon cancer.
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They might see Internet Explorer as "The Internet", but this is behavior that can easily be changed. My company actually had to block Google Chrome (not a decision I agree with, mind you) because too many people were installing it (somehow without knowing what they were doing) and then reporting problems with our Intranet*. When we asked what browser they were using, they wouldn't know but when pressed they would say "I'm using The Google Internet." Their view of IE as "The Internet" was easily changed to Google Chrome being "The Internet" (albeit one by Google).
* As a note, I wrote our Intranet to work in all versions of IE and FireFox. I'm unsure why it doesn't work with Google Chrome but as Chrome consists of less than 1% of our Intranet traffic, it is not worth my time to debug it.
Something tells me he'd be fine giving up the copyright after 14 billion years. After all, that's a limited amount of time, right?
You see, people only live so long, but Intellectual Property lives forever! (Ok, forever minus one day so as to sneak in as "limited time.") Killing a person merely means a small shortening of their lifespan, but pirating Intellectual Property means destroying the forever-lifespan of a very valuable work. On a side note, that RIAA/MPAA sponsored lobotomy wasn't too painful.
To be honest, I'd be concerned also if the data given to marketers could be mined enough. However, if properly aggregated, I don't think most people would have a problem. For example, Tivo could tell an ad agency that 15% of users who were fast-forwarding when their ad came on stopped and hit play and that 52% who were watching TV at normal speed hit fast forward when the ad came on. Reporting information like that wouldn't tell the ad agency what you did or what I did, but would provide valuable information to them to improve their ads. Of course, I would also want Tivo to give an opt-out capability and to be clear as to what data is reported to whom. I don't think that all data mining situations are bad. They can be tricky to navigate properly, of course, but taking a little care and keeping the consumer in mind (and not just the ad agencies) and it should be able to be done to the benefit of all.
I'm thinking that DVRs could actually help ad agencies come up with more effective ads. Before DVRs, they put ads out there and really couldn't tell whether people watched them or not. With DVRs, they could get information from the DVR makers (TiVo, cable companies, etc) about how many people fast forwarded through their commercials and how many watched them. They might even get information on how many people rewound just to watch the commercial again. Once you have that information, it's not hard to figure out which ads to cut (say those Geico "money with eyes" ads) and which ones to expand upon (say the Apple/PC ads).
Going a level up, the product marketing guys could look at the data and say Ad Agency A gave us a commercial that 15% of viewers watched and Ad Agency B gave us one 30% of viewers watched. Let's go with B for our next ad.
I get this mental image of a decent sized pile of sticks on fire. The RIAA tries to put out the fire by stomping on it, jumping up and down on it and kicking it. They successfully put out the main fire, but in the process sticks get scattered all about and ignite other brush. So the RIAA repeats their "put out the fire" procedure on those, continually winding up with burnt feet and more fires than they started out with.
(This isn't to say that I agree with the copyright infringement websites either. However, the RIAA's approach to defending copyright leaves little room for sympathy and turns many who would support sensible copyrights into pirates.)
Even if the contents of your inbox were revealed during the ordinary course of business, that doesn't mean they aren't private. During the ordinary course of business at the hospital I work in, people's medical information is "revealed" (to staff that have valid need of it). This doesn't mean that those staff members go into the local McDonald's and whisper to their friends: "You see Jim Smith there ordering the Egg McMuffin with extra sausage and bacon? He had a heart attack and a triple bypass just six months ago and his cholesterol was through the roof!" (And if they do say that, they'll be risking their jobs to do so.)
The information is revealed during the normal course of "business" and yet it is still considered private information. Why can't inbox contents be thought of the same way? Sure, the contents of your inbox might be revealed during a normal course of business (not sure what this normal business would be, but let's let that slide for the moment), but that doesn't make the contents any less private.
That's a good idea! Linux For Libraries. You could extend it to other open source/freeware programs as well (for Windows as well as Linux). Since libraries can't be expected to know which programs are copyable and which aren't (their staff might not be up to speed on this), perhaps the Free Software Foundation or some similar group could come up with a Library DVD Set. Each DVD would have the latest versions of the programs available for libraries to distribute. People checking the DVDs out would be allowed to copy the programs to their hearts' content so long as they returned the original disc to the library so that others could check it out. Imagine if an OpenOffice.org install CD, a FireFox install CD, etc were available at every library!
Wine is never a symbol of blood in Judaism. It is always a symbol of joy and happiness. We spill drops of wine while reading the names of the ten plagues, not because blood was spilled during them, but because our happiness is diminished knowing that people had to die for us to get our freedom. The "blood sprinkled on the doorposts" is partially represented by the shank bone on the Sedar plate (lamb sacrifice which we no longer do) and partially by the mezuzahs on our doorposts.
The idea that wine = blood in Judaism comes from Christian groups (to whom wine did represent the blood of Christ) and from the blood libels where Jews were accused of kidnapping kids, slaughtering them, and turning their blood into their (the Jews') wine. Of course, this is an outright lie. The truth of the matter is that Judaism forbids consuming blood. That is why kosher meat is salted and soaked (to remove any blood in it).
Why is my first thought the dad from My Big Fat Greek Wedding? The one who thought Windex cured everything. Got a sore elbow? Dip it in Windex. Feet ache? Soak them in Windex. Got a sore throat? Well, I'd rather not see that cure applied. Moral compass on the fritz? Apply a little Windex and you're good to go!
Wait, isn't fertilizer one of the components that terrorists use to make bombs? So you're saying that your dog is a terrorist?
uh oh... Now I've just united the Right and Left in the goal of banning pets. The Left will do it to save the environment and the Right will do it to fight the terrorists!
I guess the United States in early 1900's was a "socialist welfare state with nationalized health care" then. After all, Mary Mallon (aka Typhoid Mary) was forced into quarantine for 3 years for being a typhoid carrier. In 1910 she was released but when she secretly returned to her former occupation (cook) and infected 25 people with typhoid (one of whom died) she was put back into quarantine until her death in 1938. (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Mallon#Quarantine )
"the flu is not an emergency case."
Exactly, it's not like 36,000 people every year die of the flu. Or that medical workers would be near the very young, very old, or very sick - the exact population of people likely to have complications from influenza.
Oh wait... YES, THEY ARE!
I work in a hospital and the only reason that I hesitate to get my H1N1 vaccine is to make sure that there's enough for the workers who directly see patients every day. I'm in an office by myself all day so I'm not likely to see a patient to pass it to. However, I do want to get the vaccine once my turn comes. If not for me, then for my children. If I don't get the flu, I can't pass it on to them. (They will get the vaccine too when the supplies come in.)
Whenever our son gets a fever, we put him on alternating Tylenol/Motrin doses until his fever goes away. Unfortunately, his fever isn't always apparent until it starts getting high.
His last seizure was earlier this year. He was playing and suddenly slumped over. We first thought he was choking on something. My wife couldn't pry open his mouth and my older son was right there witnessing his brother "choking" and his parents freaking out because he wasn't responsive. In hindsight, all of the seizure signs were there, but we didn't see them at the time because he seemed fine right up until it happened.
We've been through 4 seizures already between my two boys (and one fall which lead to a concussion) - I think my hair's going to turn white before I hit 40 thanks to them!
My youngest son turned gray last year. He was running a fever, so as per doctor's orders, we put him in a bath of room temperature water. He started to seize so we pulled him out. Then he stopped breathing and turned gray. We had gone through a previous febrile seizure with my older son so we pretty much knew what to expect. The older son turned blue, stopped breathing then started up on his own. Unfortunately, our youngest didn't start breathing again. Luckily, my mother-in-law was there and did rescue breaths on him until he began breathing again. To this day, we're convinced that she saved his life. We never quite found out why his fever went up, but we did find out that a mucus plug kept him from restarting breathing. He spent a few days in the hospital to make sure he was alright. Given that story, you can probably understand why our son possibly getting the flu scares us so much.
When we went to Vegas a few years back, we mainly went for the various shows and stuff. We did gamble a very little bit on a few of the slot machines, but didn't care that we lost all of our money. We viewed the $20-40 that we gambled away as an hour or so's entertainment for the two of us, not a serious attempt to make more money. If you go to Vegas with the hopes of winning it big, you'll leave disappointed. If you go to Vegas to have a good time (on a set gambling budget), you're guaranteed to have fun. Maybe you'll leave with some extra cash, maybe not, but you will definitely have a good time.
I'm not a lawyerly type, but as far as I've seen, it isn't because the credit agencies are big. Very big. As such, they have many lobbyists making sure that laws are written in their favor and many lawyers making sure that lawsuits directed at them go nowhere fast.
Just after I post a reply, I see that you posted almost the exact same thing. I really need to read replies before I reply!
Besides all that, there's already a perfectly valid term to use to describe a spider that eats only plants (ignoring that "occasional ant attacker or ant larvae" thing for a second): an Herbivore. That's an animal that eats only plants. A vegetarian, as you said, is an animal (such as a human) that *can* eat meat but makes a conscious decision to only eat plants.
I like how a recent Sheldon comic described British libel laws:
Sheldon: "British libel laws are the worst! A fat-head can sue you for callin' him a fat-head, even when it's demonstrable in court that he's a total and complete fat-head... even to OTHER fat-heads!"
Arthur: "What? No way. Then how do they call out fat-heads in Britain?"
Sheldon: "The nation suffers in silence."
As a victim of Identity Theft, I can tell you that banks and credit agencies just don't care. The bank writes off the loss due to fraud. The credit agency shrugs their shoulders at bad information in your credit file and tells *you* to fix it (while they happily go on reporting the bad information). In the case of stolen credit card numbers, the credit card company simply issues a new card and reverses the fraudulent charges. Meanwhile, the thief has their new television and the store is out a few thousand dollars.
In my case, the credit card company opened a line of credit for "me" even though the online application contained the wrong Mother's Maiden Name. I only found out about it because the thieves put in for a rush delivery of the card and *then* changed the address on the account. The card wound up at my house instead of their house/drop box/whatever. The incorrect maiden name and quick address change didn't set off any fraud alerts. Neither did "me" trying to get a $5,000 cash advance on the card prior to activating it. And when I called them about it, they refused to give me any information because "I might run out and kill the thief and then they're liable." They even gave the police department the runaround.
As I said, they just don't care. They'll do everything in their power to protect themselves. Even if protecting themselves in the short term means the identity thief gets away and commits more fraud against their business in the long term. In the end, you are only important to them insofar as how much green they can make off of you.
Just to correct one fact of yours about live virus vaccines. The H1N1 flu shot does not use a live virus. The live virus version is in the nasal spray version. So if you get the shot (like my family and I will be getting), you aren't exposed to any live viruses and won't come down with the flu from the shot.
I'm not on Facebook, but my understanding is that you can poke people who you aren't friends with. So it's likely that the person found the victim's profile, sent a poke and the restraining order was violated. No "friending" needed.
Nobody's died from H1N1 without underlying conditions? Tell that the the family of the Los Alamos woman who died from H1N1 without any underlying conditions: http://dailyme.com/story/2009091700002759/state-los-alamos-h1n1-victim-underlying.html
In fact, if you search Google for "h1n1 no underlying problems" (no quotes), you'll come up with a series of articles about deaths from H1N1 from otherwise healthy individuals.
As for keeping away from the sick, did you read my story? We had to go to the ER because my son hit his head on concrete. He had a huge lump right above his eye and we weren't sure if he was having trouble staying awake. If you were in that situation, would you opt not to go to the ER because you might run into someone who is sick? Or would you go to the ER to get your son looked at and treated if necessary? We went to the ER and were exposed to H1N1 while there.
As for the "evidence" that the flu vaccine makes you more likely to get a flu, that's from one Canadian study that hasn't been peer reviewed yet. (As far as I know, it hasn't even been released yet, but I could have missed it being released.)
What I meant by "keeps you from transmitting the flu to others" is that, when you have the flu (even before you show symptoms or after your fever goes away), you can spread it to others. Let's say you go to the store and somehow come in contact with H1N1. Your symptoms might not start for 2 days. However, 24 hours later, when you go to work, you might be spreading H1N1 around to everyone in your office. With the vaccine, though, your chances of spreading the virus diminish as your immune system fights off the flu virus much quicker.
The flu vaccine in general has been administered for years without any major ill effects. The H1N1 vaccine is just a normal flu vaccine except that it is targeted to a particular strain. I see no reason not to get it.
Could be worse. These could be mini-Wile E Coyotebots. Then they'll light their lighters and find, for some reason, that your colon is packed with Acme brand TNT... and that their light has just lit the fuses.... The good news is that you won't need to worry about colon cancer.