In regards to this situation, I will be interested to see the official report and both sides. It could be that the border agents acted completely inappropriately, and it could be that Doctorow's interpretation of events is completely rose-colored.
However, beyond this case, you say so long as he wasn't impeding the search process "I'm not aware of any requirement that he submit to questioning or follow orders."
I guess what exactly does "impeding the search process" mean then? If a border agent asks you ANY question, are you required to answer? Should you answer? What if you don't want to fill out a customs form?
In situations like this, I think it ultimately boils down to the following: cops, soldiers, LEOs of all stripes, border agents, etc are all human. They get scared and nervous just like everybody else does. Yes, they are supposed to be trained to act properly in high stress situations which is exactly why stories like this (or other police shootings, etc) are so rare and so shocking. When people do unexpected things or act unpredictably (for instance, not following orders in a controlled zone) things can rapidly escalate as the officers become nervous. This is not an excuse by any means, but I think it help explains why when things go wrong they tend to rapidly escalate.
I don't understand the point of your post? You DON'T think border agents (or any LEO for that matter) have to deal with a lot of crap? You DON'T think they deal with abuse, or people deliberately trying to break the law, or people who want to make a political statement about fascists etc? You think the loathing on slashdot towards authority figures is unusual?
Americans are citizens, not subjects, and unless there is an investigation of a crime going on, then we are not required to "obey" law enforcement.
This was a border crossing, not a park, a public sidewalk etc. Do you really fail to see the difference? I thought it was pretty simple, but I'd be glad to explain if you really want.
Democrats have had complete control of congress for over 3 years, and now the presidency and a complete majority as well. Why do they not make any changes? Could it be they don't want to?
I fail to see how preventing "you" from getting universal health care or tougher immigration policies have anything to do with the discussion at hand...it's just a straw man you set up!
A time and a place for what? To be a dick to menial employees who have to deal with hundreds or thousands of often self-right and self-centered assholes everyday? To try to make a political statement to GRUNTS who don't make policy and just want the line to move? (Note: don't know for sure dude was an asshole)
Think about it this way--have you ever worked retail? Do you have any idea how many assholes there are out there who just treat you like shit because you are just the person behind the counter? Hint: a lot. Just think of what the border agents have to put up with. This of course doesn't excuse abuses of power, but it does help explain why when some asshole comes through with a superiority complex because he thinks he should get special privileges, the TSA, border agents, whoever don't have a whole lot of patience. I wouldn't either.
I think you really hit the nail on the head (people not necessarily being self-analytical about why they didn't get jobs). After all, it's in the business's best interest to get the best employee!
Employers turn down applicants because of photos showing the applicant drinking beer in college.
Really? I don't doubt you have an example, but what's the example?
At some point employers are going to realize they're hiring -people- and that all of their employees have had lapses in judgement, and maybe then they'll have reasonable standards.
Way to pigeonhole and stereotype people all to hell! You talk about the insensitivity of "employers" and you make it pretty clear you think they're all the same and all unreasonable. I find your opinion pretty unreasonable here!
Sure, maybe there are some corporate stooges who are as you describe. I can tell you, at the small business I currently work (20 employers), nobody regularly googles applicants.
Now, for a different perspective, what is a "reasonable perspective." If you have two people who both interview well, both have the same skill set, similar credentials, etc, yet one of them did some unsavory stuff in the past while the other did not. Who would you PERSONALLY hire. Forget the context of a big impersonal business or what not, think about how you would approach the situation in real life. You're hiring a contractor to fix your house. This person will be in your house for hours at a time for days if not weeks. You google two contractors who both come highly recommended. When you google one contractor, you find positive reviews. When you google the other contractor, you find positive reviews, and some bad deed in the past (fill in the blank).
Which contractor do you personally choose? Can you honestly tell me that past deed XYZ doesn't have the slightest importance to you?
Is this a WHQL certified driver or a bleeding edge driver? Might try a WHQL.
IRQ conflicts? Are those even possible on modern hardware and OS--what version of Windows are you running? Anyway, you could always slipstream drivers onto a Windows CD, it's really not bad to do.
When you had in the range of a 133mhz chip (say 66x2) and you cold overclock it to 150 (75x2) -- that led to an immediate and noticeable improvement in everyday usage. Faster boot time, faster windows, faster games.
With your i7, you might get slightly higher game performance, benchmark a bit faster, etc, but I would bet you would be hard pressed to tell a difference in everyday usage. Sure in your case (and in mine) where the overclock is "free" -- go for it, no problem.
Not sure why you posted anonymous--seems a fairly common viewpoint--but I'll respond anyway.
I would absolutely not argue that there's no difference between a super high-end custom built computer a ~$400 Dell. I would say that for the vast majority of users there is effectively no difference. Heck, even for me, I'm running a 2 year old dell (q6600) that all I modified was popping in a Geforce 8800gt and it runs most games I play just fine. So for your average gamer out there, is a (say) $150 video card really that much worse than an SLI/crossfire rig with the latest cards? Probably not a big deal for most people.
I don't at all believe in an end to software or hardware advancement. I merely believe that the difference between the "average" computer and the highend computers right now is not especially impressive.
Thousands of dollars? The most expensive imac -- with a 27" screen is $2000. The average model (with 4gb memory btw) is $1200.
The nice thing about apple "exclusives" (iphoto, iweb, etc) is that they make stuff very accessible to non-power users.
Perhaps there will even be a time in your life when you will be more interested in less wires than in a few mhz, or perhaps than in a case with a window on the side and glowing wires?
I think the point is not that building a PC *can* be fun, but rather, it's usually not anymore. ie, the time+cost to reward ratio is off!
Building a computer even 10 years ago was a lot different than it is today. Even minute amounts of overclocking could make a huge difference, small differences in ram timings were noticeable. Getting a Cyrix, an Intel or AMD cpu gave very different performance profiles. Individual steppings were sought out by overclockers. Certain soundcards could greatly lighten CPU load, etc.
Now, as the GP said, most motherboards have decent sound and network integrated in (not fantastic usually, but more than good enough), the main RAM decisions is between 2gb or 4gb (etc). I'm well aware that there are still hardcore overclockers, who know which processor stepping is the best, etc, but IMHO (and many others!), it's just not worth it anymore. The difference between a moderately priced OTS Dell and a highend souped up homebuilt computer just really isn't that great anymore. Unless you care about things like stupid glowing tubes in your case, fire decals, etc.
This is imho only a partial solution. You can enable larger font and icons, yet not everything scales properly. You will quickly run into applications that don't look right. Same goes (more so) for the DPI scaling--in Windows 7 display scaling operates differently from 149% to 150%, so >= 150% many programs don't look right. (additionally many 3d games lose their cursor when dpi scaling is >= 150%, at least with my nvidia card)
Zooming works well for many websites, but many pages just crap out and become garbled when you zoom in.
My best solution is to use a fairly small level of dpi scaling, manually pick some bigger fonts for menus, window titles, etc, and then a nice firefox extension I found that can remember a default zoom level, as well as different zoom levels for different domains. It's by no means perfect, but it's useable.
Are you sure you're just not describing your own perceptions?
Let me put it this way. There are linux fanboys, Microsoft fanboys, Apple fanboys, etc. The fanboys are the minority, but will pretty much toe the party line and defend everything their faction does, while attacking the others. Fanboys are the ones who tend to talk about M$, iMasses, how evil they are, etc. Fanboys are a tiny yet vocal minority.
Why don't people look at Apple as negatively as they do Microsoft? A number of reasons. For maybe 1-2 decades Microsoft was the undisputed king. Apple going out of business was a possibility in the 90s! Meanwhile everyone in the world (not literally) knows bill gates, has heard of monopolistic microsoft, and has had a bsod!
Now to the "shiny" factor. Yeah, Apple is cooler than Microsoft (and Dell, Gateway, Compaq, etc). Apple puts a lot of focus on making interfaces easy to use (I almost wrote intuitive, but as the quote goes "the only intuitive interface is the nipple, after that it's all learned") and this makes a big difference to most people. MOST people, imho of course, would say they spend less time bashing their heads against the desk with a mac than for instance Windows or Linux.
Is Apple beyond reproach? I would never claim that, and I don't think beyond fanboys, people would claim that either. People are willing to forgive companies and products they like. While people really like their iphones and ipods, people just don't feel as attached to Windows or Zunes.
That's pretty much all it boils down to. Believe it or not, you can use a product and not love the company. I don't like the fact that Apple now only has glossy screens on their laptops and enclosed batteries. I hate that in fact! Yet I still like my iphone and think that as a whole Apple creates good products.
When you say "Their fans are loyal no matter what is done to them, time and time again." In your opinion, what is an example of something apple has done that is worthy of alienating users and fans?
And in the note of disclosure, I'm typing this note on a MBP, my home computer runs Windows 7 (which I like!) and I manage a FreeBSD server at work.
You expect to get "flaimed" / modded down -- well duh, it's because you ask a reasonable question and then talk about "iMasses" and "iJob [sic]" making everyone realize you're not really interested in a conversation!
People like Apple because they make usable and functional products that are accessible to wide swaths of the population. That's it. It's not the fact that many of their products are "shiny" or "simple," though I don't think anybody would deny that design plays a factor in sales for any company. Apple is just better at it than, eg, Dell.
I do actually agree with most of your post, but...
Most people who use the iTunes store don't care about the DRM because it lets them do everything that they want.
To clarify -- itunes songs no longer have DRM. iphone/ipod applications do. Sing you only mentioned multimedia in your post, I wasn't sure if you were aware of this?
Slashdot Mirror
In regards to this situation, I will be interested to see the official report and both sides. It could be that the border agents acted completely inappropriately, and it could be that Doctorow's interpretation of events is completely rose-colored.
However, beyond this case, you say so long as he wasn't impeding the search process "I'm not aware of any requirement that he submit to questioning or follow orders."
I guess what exactly does "impeding the search process" mean then? If a border agent asks you ANY question, are you required to answer? Should you answer? What if you don't want to fill out a customs form?
In situations like this, I think it ultimately boils down to the following: cops, soldiers, LEOs of all stripes, border agents, etc are all human. They get scared and nervous just like everybody else does. Yes, they are supposed to be trained to act properly in high stress situations which is exactly why stories like this (or other police shootings, etc) are so rare and so shocking. When people do unexpected things or act unpredictably (for instance, not following orders in a controlled zone) things can rapidly escalate as the officers become nervous. This is not an excuse by any means, but I think it help explains why when things go wrong they tend to rapidly escalate.
I don't understand the point of your post? You DON'T think border agents (or any LEO for that matter) have to deal with a lot of crap? You DON'T think they deal with abuse, or people deliberately trying to break the law, or people who want to make a political statement about fascists etc? You think the loathing on slashdot towards authority figures is unusual?
And what about guns--what's the point?
Americans are citizens, not subjects, and unless there is an investigation of a crime going on, then we are not required to "obey" law enforcement.
This was a border crossing, not a park, a public sidewalk etc. Do you really fail to see the difference? I thought it was pretty simple, but I'd be glad to explain if you really want.
Democrats have had complete control of congress for over 3 years, and now the presidency and a complete majority as well. Why do they not make any changes? Could it be they don't want to?
I fail to see how preventing "you" from getting universal health care or tougher immigration policies have anything to do with the discussion at hand...it's just a straw man you set up!
Honestly, how is it acceptable for the police to lock someone in jail simply for refusing to obey a command?
What should the proper response be?
A border crossing is not your personal space. It is not a sidewalk or a park. There is an essential and obvious difference. (agreed?)
What should the penalty for not following police orders be?
A time and a place for what? To be a dick to menial employees who have to deal with hundreds or thousands of often self-right and self-centered assholes everyday? To try to make a political statement to GRUNTS who don't make policy and just want the line to move? (Note: don't know for sure dude was an asshole)
Think about it this way--have you ever worked retail? Do you have any idea how many assholes there are out there who just treat you like shit because you are just the person behind the counter? Hint: a lot. Just think of what the border agents have to put up with. This of course doesn't excuse abuses of power, but it does help explain why when some asshole comes through with a superiority complex because he thinks he should get special privileges, the TSA, border agents, whoever don't have a whole lot of patience. I wouldn't either.
+1
I think you really hit the nail on the head (people not necessarily being self-analytical about why they didn't get jobs). After all, it's in the business's best interest to get the best employee!
Employers turn down applicants because of photos showing the applicant drinking beer in college.
Really? I don't doubt you have an example, but what's the example?
At some point employers are going to realize they're hiring -people- and that all of their employees have had lapses in judgement, and maybe then they'll have reasonable standards.
Way to pigeonhole and stereotype people all to hell! You talk about the insensitivity of "employers" and you make it pretty clear you think they're all the same and all unreasonable. I find your opinion pretty unreasonable here!
Sure, maybe there are some corporate stooges who are as you describe. I can tell you, at the small business I currently work (20 employers), nobody regularly googles applicants.
Now, for a different perspective, what is a "reasonable perspective." If you have two people who both interview well, both have the same skill set, similar credentials, etc, yet one of them did some unsavory stuff in the past while the other did not. Who would you PERSONALLY hire. Forget the context of a big impersonal business or what not, think about how you would approach the situation in real life. You're hiring a contractor to fix your house. This person will be in your house for hours at a time for days if not weeks. You google two contractors who both come highly recommended.
When you google one contractor, you find positive reviews. When you google the other contractor, you find positive reviews, and some bad deed in the past (fill in the blank).
Which contractor do you personally choose? Can you honestly tell me that past deed XYZ doesn't have the slightest importance to you?
I think what you're looking for is covered under this article?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GPL_linking_exception
Fat middle aged housewives using a $1500 iphone to occasionally call starbucks to see if they left their purse there where the $$ is at.
Wow... Just... wow!
Is this a WHQL certified driver or a bleeding edge driver? Might try a WHQL.
IRQ conflicts? Are those even possible on modern hardware and OS--what version of Windows are you running? Anyway, you could always slipstream drivers onto a Windows CD, it's really not bad to do.
That's not at all the point. The point is this:
When you had in the range of a 133mhz chip (say 66x2) and you cold overclock it to 150 (75x2) -- that led to an immediate and noticeable improvement in everyday usage. Faster boot time, faster windows, faster games.
With your i7, you might get slightly higher game performance, benchmark a bit faster, etc, but I would bet you would be hard pressed to tell a difference in everyday usage. Sure in your case (and in mine) where the overclock is "free" -- go for it, no problem.
Not sure why you posted anonymous--seems a fairly common viewpoint--but I'll respond anyway.
I would absolutely not argue that there's no difference between a super high-end custom built computer a ~$400 Dell. I would say that for the vast majority of users there is effectively no difference. Heck, even for me, I'm running a 2 year old dell (q6600) that all I modified was popping in a Geforce 8800gt and it runs most games I play just fine. So for your average gamer out there, is a (say) $150 video card really that much worse than an SLI/crossfire rig with the latest cards? Probably not a big deal for most people.
I don't at all believe in an end to software or hardware advancement. I merely believe that the difference between the "average" computer and the highend computers right now is not especially impressive.
Thousands of dollars? The most expensive imac -- with a 27" screen is $2000. The average model (with 4gb memory btw) is $1200.
The nice thing about apple "exclusives" (iphoto, iweb, etc) is that they make stuff very accessible to non-power users.
Perhaps there will even be a time in your life when you will be more interested in less wires than in a few mhz, or perhaps than in a case with a window on the side and glowing wires?
I think the point is not that building a PC *can* be fun, but rather, it's usually not anymore. ie, the time+cost to reward ratio is off!
Building a computer even 10 years ago was a lot different than it is today. Even minute amounts of overclocking could make a huge difference, small differences in ram timings were noticeable. Getting a Cyrix, an Intel or AMD cpu gave very different performance profiles. Individual steppings were sought out by overclockers. Certain soundcards could greatly lighten CPU load, etc.
Now, as the GP said, most motherboards have decent sound and network integrated in (not fantastic usually, but more than good enough), the main RAM decisions is between 2gb or 4gb (etc). I'm well aware that there are still hardcore overclockers, who know which processor stepping is the best, etc, but IMHO (and many others!), it's just not worth it anymore. The difference between a moderately priced OTS Dell and a highend souped up homebuilt computer just really isn't that great anymore. Unless you care about things like stupid glowing tubes in your case, fire decals, etc.
This is imho only a partial solution. You can enable larger font and icons, yet not everything scales properly. You will quickly run into applications that don't look right. Same goes (more so) for the DPI scaling--in Windows 7 display scaling operates differently from 149% to 150%, so >= 150% many programs don't look right. (additionally many 3d games lose their cursor when dpi scaling is >= 150%, at least with my nvidia card)
Zooming works well for many websites, but many pages just crap out and become garbled when you zoom in.
My best solution is to use a fairly small level of dpi scaling, manually pick some bigger fonts for menus, window titles, etc, and then a nice firefox extension I found that can remember a default zoom level, as well as different zoom levels for different domains. It's by no means perfect, but it's useable.
This is for a htpc/game box hooked up to an hdtv.
Are you sure you're just not describing your own perceptions?
Let me put it this way. There are linux fanboys, Microsoft fanboys, Apple fanboys, etc. The fanboys are the minority, but will pretty much toe the party line and defend everything their faction does, while attacking the others. Fanboys are the ones who tend to talk about M$, iMasses, how evil they are, etc. Fanboys are a tiny yet vocal minority.
Why don't people look at Apple as negatively as they do Microsoft? A number of reasons. For maybe 1-2 decades Microsoft was the undisputed king. Apple going out of business was a possibility in the 90s! Meanwhile everyone in the world (not literally) knows bill gates, has heard of monopolistic microsoft, and has had a bsod!
Now to the "shiny" factor. Yeah, Apple is cooler than Microsoft (and Dell, Gateway, Compaq, etc). Apple puts a lot of focus on making interfaces easy to use (I almost wrote intuitive, but as the quote goes "the only intuitive interface is the nipple, after that it's all learned") and this makes a big difference to most people. MOST people, imho of course, would say they spend less time bashing their heads against the desk with a mac than for instance Windows or Linux.
Is Apple beyond reproach? I would never claim that, and I don't think beyond fanboys, people would claim that either. People are willing to forgive companies and products they like. While people really like their iphones and ipods, people just don't feel as attached to Windows or Zunes.
That's pretty much all it boils down to. Believe it or not, you can use a product and not love the company. I don't like the fact that Apple now only has glossy screens on their laptops and enclosed batteries. I hate that in fact! Yet I still like my iphone and think that as a whole Apple creates good products.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=36099539665548298# - for a humorous take on Microsoft vs Apple branding. I believe created by MS employees.
When you say "Their fans are loyal no matter what is done to them, time and time again." In your opinion, what is an example of something apple has done that is worthy of alienating users and fans?
And in the note of disclosure, I'm typing this note on a MBP, my home computer runs Windows 7 (which I like!) and I manage a FreeBSD server at work.
The iTunes Store is DRM-free for music in the USA. In the rest of the world, it still has DRM on a number of tracks
Oh really? I was under the impression that most of the world was DRM-free now? Seems Japan still has DRM, but not Europe? Do you know the details?
Additionally, you're correct that some videos in the US itunes store do still have DRM.
Worth noting that Jobs has--from the beginning--pushed for more and more lenient DRM, until it was ultimately removed from music.
You expect to get "flaimed" / modded down -- well duh, it's because you ask a reasonable question and then talk about "iMasses" and "iJob [sic]" making everyone realize you're not really interested in a conversation!
People like Apple because they make usable and functional products that are accessible to wide swaths of the population. That's it. It's not the fact that many of their products are "shiny" or "simple," though I don't think anybody would deny that design plays a factor in sales for any company. Apple is just better at it than, eg, Dell.
Out of curiosity, how do you define "progressive?"
I do actually agree with most of your post, but...
Most people who use the iTunes store don't care about the DRM because it lets them do everything that they want.
To clarify -- itunes songs no longer have DRM. iphone/ipod applications do. Sing you only mentioned multimedia in your post, I wasn't sure if you were aware of this?
Really? In what service areas exactly do you find that Verizon's EVDO is "barely better" than any competing network--especially EDGE?
Really? Did you even read what you linked to?
Any link for this information?
I primarily use FreeBSD, but the last time I messed around with multiple linux distros, I enjoyed Gentoo.