I think SPAM is best defined as any email you receive that you don't want and was sent without your specific permission. The intent of the email is irrelevant.
I've sent SPAM on behalf of a government agency before (coerced by management after weeks of resistance) and all they wanted to do was give people information they didn't want about lead paint poisoning. AOL blacklisted us as SPAMmers and they were right to do so, even tho their actual motive was just to charge us money to deliver email.
Another good example is that band's mailing list you signed up for at a bar 4 years ago that refuses to stop telling you how some guy you don't know's new band's fucking Alaskan tour is going. I hate that guy.
these are all very fair criticisms. i'm starting to think my initial generalization is indefensible. the broad rule that would make most sense is that only men who have a child in the troop can participate. this would prevent unrelated single men and allow gay men with children in the troop.
what i was trying to get at is that the population who is allowed to be a scoutmaster has to be controlled somehow, and generalizing gays as one of these groups is, while crude and unfair, one simple way of notching out part of the risky population.
i like your argument in terms of why aren't single men kept out as well. THAT i think could be a clever and effective counterpunch to BSA's policy.
i agree, and i was an eagle scout too, but look at it from the perspective of a jury, or a plaintiff. i agree that it is an unfair, crude, even criminalizing generalization they are making, but i don't think the world is ready to fairly interpret it as such in any situation after the fact.
I think BSA probably made its policy based in its conservative god-fearing lunacy. the question is can they justify this decision by claiming they are reducing risk to children, and i think that angle, however flawed by not including single men and/or a careful background check of some sort, will float with much of America.
furthermore, with a loose-knit, national, volunteer organization clear rules with broad strokes are often the only way to set policy. BSA can't afford the time, money, or get requisite expertise to run background checks etc...
hey man, i agree with you on all points but that doesn't address the amount of legal exposure which is conveniently avoided by refusing the very few men who can't find a better hobby than scouting. a big brother program isn't good enuf for them?
and i bet the girl scouts informally screen single AND married male relatives very carefully without resistance, if they are allowed at all.
Morally and ethically you are absolutely right, but as a management decision it is unnecessarily risky. Besides, everyone already knows they are religious militarist bigots, so its not like they are really losing face here. after the priest scandals they should be afraid of being immediately bankrupted by a single incident and this unfair policy offers some measure of protection from that.
Can't you just despise the Scouts for being an obviously para-military organization pushing a religious agenda with its origins in competing with similar fascist programs in Europe prior to WWII?
As much as I am pro-gay rights, is a single man who wants to be a scoutmaster (which is obviously kind of weird and fishy to start with)worth the legal liability associated with making it that easy to go camping with young boys? Although the Scouts may largely discriminate against gay men in the name of God and Country, operationally it is a sound, if unpleasant decision. Are single men allowed to lead Girl Scout Troops?
agreed, but i think we can all agree that invoking the reputation and usual applications of 'book burning' is in terribly bad taste due to how horrible the connotations are.
furthermore i doubt he was thinking of this in terms of a clever free speech statement, rather he made a poorly thought out statement using unnecessarily loaded words.
After sorting thru blackboxvoting.org and.com and otherwise trying to stay abreast of this stuff for years, I have to admit that the HBO documentary I saw last year blew the doors off any other analysis I have ever seen. Also, it makes sense to people who don't understand hardware, network security, or statistics, only sparse attention span required.
I play music too (bass and a little drums) and I love to hate on Guitar Hero on principal, but I have to admit this interface has far more potential to work like a real instrument than the silly guitar doohickey. Could have a lot of value for training a real student without the noise and with fewer lessons.
Since it appears to track velocity, it probably has a midi output, which means someone will hack it to be a synth controller, which would be really cool and make me, a musician who loves to mock guitar hero, have to stop mocking guitar hero, if the hero is playing drums, thru a synth. Might make for an interesting and cheap electronic instrument even if its not geared for normal kit use.
You could set a learning workstation like that up right now with midi drums to "play with albums", maybe a sequencer and a giant screen but the cost and level of knowledge required make it untenable for a student. I'm sure some wealthy folks have this set up so that they don't have to hear how bad of a drummer their spoiled kid is.
I would be happy to hate Travis from Blink 182 for you. Seriously.
But seriously, this interface has far more potential to work like a real instrument than the silly guitar doohickey. Could have a lot of value for training a real drummer without the noise and with fewer lessons.
Even more seriously, since it appears to track velocity, it probably has a midi output, which means someone will hack it to be a synth controller, which would be really cool and make me, a musician who loves to mock guitar hero, have to stop mocking guitar hero, if the hero is playing drums, thru a synth.
One final for serious: You could set a learning workstation like that up right now with midi drums, a sequencer and a giant screen but the cost and level of knowledge required make it untenable for a student, but I'm sure some wealthy folks have this set up so that they don't have to hear how bad of a drummer their spoiled kid is. Seriously.
i don't think you understood my post. The only way in which you addressed my muse was saying "for whatever reason" which fails to even speculate upon what you replied to.
I fully understand what Gnutella is and how it works. My question is why the RIAA/MediaSentry chose to script on top of the worst Guntella client rather than A)building their own custom gnutella client optimized to mine the information they are interested in or B) script on top of a faster, more effective gnutella client.
1) Why does ANYONE even use Limewire? Its been a lame client for more than a few years.
2) I understand the RIAA doesn't "get" the internet etc but still, this seems like an approach so primitive and poorly devised that unless it is specifically to comply with some byzantine legal requirements the RIAA is being robbed by incompetent consultants at best. I guess Media Sentry could be sabotaging, but thats just wishful thinking.
the logic behind someone modding this post a troll is beyond me. i think it is articulate and accurate:
Look.
These machines are intended and designed to prop-up the parlour-game of democratic basis for American government. They are not meant to "work". They are meant to reduce the definition of "democracy" to merely "voting" for the general public - and then to manage that vote. If they decrease the confidence of a certain segment of the public in the whole process, then they are also serving their secondary purpose: The devolution of the US to Banana Republic status.
The coup was completed in 2000. The dramatic operations began 40 years earlier, but it took awhile.
You don't see this. You think you still live in the same country that you were born in, that you attended Elementary School in, that you call the same name.
But it just isn't true. Visitors to your country get it in a very short time - but most of them clamp their mouths shut - it is quickly apparent that Americans are uncomprehending.
This isn't just Republicans. Sure - the Republican leaders are the sharp and shiny spear-tip, slicing the American side. The Democrats are just as on board - the solid wooden shaft, following this through the body. The elite of these - Cheney's and Pelosi's - will keep their mansions and their millions, their holidays in Vail and Sun Valley.
They will never join the people who "voted". That would be to join Dr. King, or Mel Carnahan.
rolling out a custom handheld system to a nationwide field operation on behalf of a federal bureaucracy? i would say thats a near impossible project before you even get involved in palace intrigue, government contracting issues, legacy systems/analytics requirements, and unions.
canning this plan will probably save money, not burn it. the savings estimate is probably a lie from the vendor's "forecast" when quoting their risk-free, cost-plus pricing bid. remember how much trouble the FBI has been having upgrading their system?
The hubris of the lone programmer that believes they have a full understanding of an enormous progress is one of the many obstacles which cause projects of this scale to fail.
is premature. what do you think scalia and thomas would think about this? the legal system is a red tape delay at best. legislation has to come from the states, because the fed level, both dem and repub, are complicit in letting these machines be shady in an uncountable number of ways. im sure the manufacturer would love to go to court to make this seem even more complicated and unnecessary to the layman, and they also wouldn't mind getting to a federal level bush appointee a la gonzo.
i wish i was an optimist, instead i am merely self-righteous.
you know, economically speaking it is inevitable these things will be researched, like chemical weapons (some of which turn you gay in the foxhole), pentagon contingency plans for aliens showing up and cheating with electronic voting. too much upside to ignore the possibility, or too ominous to not aggressively understand.
it does sound like an interesting line of research, no?
Listen guys, if the throngs of evil, seedy music thieves are not stopped immediately Bono might no longer be able to afford to fly to Africa periodically to personally bathe doomed, starving children, and where would the planet be then.
I mean, if the royalties slow down he might get kicked out of his ritzy Manhattan co-op and would surely be so shattered as to be unable to accurately and legitimately speak on behalf of the underprivileged. Oh....wait, excuse me.
Once Mike Huckabee is elected president and amends the Constitution to "be with GOD" it will be my sworn duty to hunt each of you down and have you burned at the stake for your heretical treason.
i think the argument here is probably more so that paid databases are superior to google searches (even scholar.google.com) and the method of consuming said information is fundamentally different in a way we do not fully understand yet. like the difference between nytimes.com and a hardcopy. you read different parts, retain different information, and spend a different amount of time. try it. its interesting, and i doubt any relevant data is out on it yet. hell several years of qualitative sociology research is probably necessary before anyone will be willing to write greek around such a nebulous concept.
i find it easier to believe this article refers to installed gnutella clients, not specifically limewire. i cant be alone in thinking limewire is horrible software and that the 3rd party alternative of the week is generally superior.
and why isn't there a cadre of slashdotters screeching against limewire as bloat/spy/lameware? or preening about how they wrote a gnutella client in 9 lines that runs on their dreamcast? my how times have changed.
handles are like email addresses/url's: 1 for self, 1 for boostin', 1 for dating, 1 for craigslist, one for each login, and whatever you use for your ssn etc. blahhhhhhhh i am an anon cow this time yo.
i think you are applying a commonsense argument to a state level bureaucracy, which is fairly absurd, but your optimism that most school districts are not overrun with destructive, unionized incompetent lunatics is reassuring.
but seriously, addressing the vast variety of schools, school districts, funding, egos, elections, unions, etc by any qualitative measure is futile. there is no fed standard, probably no state standard, and often i'm sure no local standard.
ehhh, i've worked in government as well and i would expect extreme variance in policy between one school/district/county/state and the next... its definitely not a 'seen one seen 'em all' situation. you talk as if they are standardized, qualified professionals! get thee to a union shop! err, i mean, stop communism OSS or whatever.
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I think SPAM is best defined as any email you receive that you don't want and was sent without your specific permission. The intent of the email is irrelevant.
I've sent SPAM on behalf of a government agency before (coerced by management after weeks of resistance) and all they wanted to do was give people information they didn't want about lead paint poisoning. AOL blacklisted us as SPAMmers and they were right to do so, even tho their actual motive was just to charge us money to deliver email.
Another good example is that band's mailing list you signed up for at a bar 4 years ago that refuses to stop telling you how some guy you don't know's new band's fucking Alaskan tour is going. I hate that guy.
these are all very fair criticisms. i'm starting to think my initial generalization is indefensible. the broad rule that would make most sense is that only men who have a child in the troop can participate. this would prevent unrelated single men and allow gay men with children in the troop.
what i was trying to get at is that the population who is allowed to be a scoutmaster has to be controlled somehow, and generalizing gays as one of these groups is, while crude and unfair, one simple way of notching out part of the risky population.
i like your argument in terms of why aren't single men kept out as well. THAT i think could be a clever and effective counterpunch to BSA's policy.
i agree, and i was an eagle scout too, but look at it from the perspective of a jury, or a plaintiff.
i agree that it is an unfair, crude, even criminalizing generalization they are making, but i don't think the world is ready to fairly interpret it as such in any situation after the fact.
I think BSA probably made its policy based in its conservative god-fearing lunacy. the question is can they justify this decision by claiming they are reducing risk to children, and i think that angle, however flawed by not including single men and/or a careful background check of some sort, will float with much of America.
furthermore, with a loose-knit, national, volunteer organization clear rules with broad strokes are often the only way to set policy. BSA can't afford the time, money, or get requisite expertise to run background checks etc...
hey man, i agree with you on all points but that doesn't address the amount of legal exposure which is conveniently avoided by refusing the very few men who can't find a better hobby than scouting. a big brother program isn't good enuf for them?
and i bet the girl scouts informally screen single AND married male relatives very carefully without resistance, if they are allowed at all.
Morally and ethically you are absolutely right, but as a management decision it is unnecessarily risky. Besides, everyone already knows they are religious militarist bigots, so its not like they are really losing face here. after the priest scandals they should be afraid of being immediately bankrupted by a single incident and this unfair policy offers some measure of protection from that.
Can't you just despise the Scouts for being an obviously para-military organization pushing a religious agenda with its origins in competing with similar fascist programs in Europe prior to WWII?
As much as I am pro-gay rights, is a single man who wants to be a scoutmaster (which is obviously kind of weird and fishy to start with)worth the legal liability associated with making it that easy to go camping with young boys? Although the Scouts may largely discriminate against gay men in the name of God and Country, operationally it is a sound, if unpleasant decision. Are single men allowed to lead Girl Scout Troops?
agreed, but i think we can all agree that invoking the reputation and usual applications of 'book burning' is in terribly bad taste due to how horrible the connotations are.
furthermore i doubt he was thinking of this in terms of a clever free speech statement, rather he made a poorly thought out statement using unnecessarily loaded words.
After sorting thru blackboxvoting.org and .com and otherwise trying to stay abreast of this stuff for years, I have to admit that the HBO documentary I saw last year blew the doors off any other analysis I have ever seen. Also, it makes sense to people who don't understand hardware, network security, or statistics, only sparse attention span required.
Check it out: http://www.hbo.com/docs/programs/hackingdemocracy/synopsis.html
I play music too (bass and a little drums) and I love to hate on Guitar Hero on principal, but I have to admit this interface has far more potential to work like a real instrument than the silly guitar doohickey. Could have a lot of value for training a real student without the noise and with fewer lessons.
Since it appears to track velocity, it probably has a midi output, which means someone will hack it to be a synth controller, which would be really cool and make me, a musician who loves to mock guitar hero, have to stop mocking guitar hero, if the hero is playing drums, thru a synth. Might make for an interesting and cheap electronic instrument even if its not geared for normal kit use.
You could set a learning workstation like that up right now with midi drums to "play with albums", maybe a sequencer and a giant screen but the cost and level of knowledge required make it untenable for a student. I'm sure some wealthy folks have this set up so that they don't have to hear how bad of a drummer their spoiled kid is.
I would be happy to hate Travis from Blink 182 for you. Seriously.
But seriously, this interface has far more potential to work like a real instrument than the silly guitar doohickey. Could have a lot of value for training a real drummer without the noise and with fewer lessons.
Even more seriously, since it appears to track velocity, it probably has a midi output, which means someone will hack it to be a synth controller, which would be really cool and make me, a musician who loves to mock guitar hero, have to stop mocking guitar hero, if the hero is playing drums, thru a synth.
One final for serious: You could set a learning workstation like that up right now with midi drums, a sequencer and a giant screen but the cost and level of knowledge required make it untenable for a student, but I'm sure some wealthy folks have this set up so that they don't have to hear how bad of a drummer their spoiled kid is. Seriously.
i don't think you understood my post. The only way in which you addressed my muse was saying "for whatever reason" which fails to even speculate upon what you replied to.
I fully understand what Gnutella is and how it works. My question is why the RIAA/MediaSentry chose to script on top of the worst Guntella client rather than A)building their own custom gnutella client optimized to mine the information they are interested in or B) script on top of a faster, more effective gnutella client.
Thinks-he's-leet doesn't escape my wrath.
1) Why does ANYONE even use Limewire? Its been a lame client for more than a few years.
2) I understand the RIAA doesn't "get" the internet etc but still, this seems like an approach so primitive and poorly devised that unless it is specifically to comply with some byzantine legal requirements the RIAA is being robbed by incompetent consultants at best. I guess Media Sentry could be sabotaging, but thats just wishful thinking.
because everyone who bought "property" on the moon will need to sue their real estate agent.
dont forget air/sea travel, airports, bus stations, cabins, e-mail-less vacations.
I need my games most when I CAN'T get to the network...
These machines are intended and designed to prop-up the parlour-game of democratic basis for American government. They are not meant to "work". They are meant to reduce the definition of "democracy" to merely "voting" for the general public - and then to manage that vote. If they decrease the confidence of a certain segment of the public in the whole process, then they are also serving their secondary purpose: The devolution of the US to Banana Republic status.
The coup was completed in 2000. The dramatic operations began 40 years earlier, but it took awhile.
You don't see this. You think you still live in the same country that you were born in, that you attended Elementary School in, that you call the same name.
But it just isn't true. Visitors to your country get it in a very short time - but most of them clamp their mouths shut - it is quickly apparent that Americans are uncomprehending.
This isn't just Republicans. Sure - the Republican leaders are the sharp and shiny spear-tip, slicing the American side. The Democrats are just as on board - the solid wooden shaft, following this through the body. The elite of these - Cheney's and Pelosi's - will keep their mansions and their millions, their holidays in Vail and Sun Valley.
They will never join the people who "voted". That would be to join Dr. King, or Mel Carnahan.
rolling out a custom handheld system to a nationwide field operation on behalf of a federal bureaucracy? i would say thats a near impossible project before you even get involved in palace intrigue, government contracting issues, legacy systems/analytics requirements, and unions.
canning this plan will probably save money, not burn it. the savings estimate is probably a lie from the vendor's "forecast" when quoting their risk-free, cost-plus pricing bid. remember how much trouble the FBI has been having upgrading their system?
The hubris of the lone programmer that believes they have a full understanding of an enormous progress is one of the many obstacles which cause projects of this scale to fail.
is premature. what do you think scalia and thomas would think about this? the legal system is a red tape delay at best. legislation has to come from the states, because the fed level, both dem and repub, are complicit in letting these machines be shady in an uncountable number of ways. im sure the manufacturer would love to go to court to make this seem even more complicated and unnecessary to the layman, and they also wouldn't mind getting to a federal level bush appointee a la gonzo.
i wish i was an optimist, instead i am merely self-righteous.
see http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/10/AR2007011001399.html
you know, economically speaking it is inevitable these things will be researched, like chemical weapons (some of which turn you gay in the foxhole), pentagon contingency plans for aliens showing up and cheating with electronic voting. too much upside to ignore the possibility, or too ominous to not aggressively understand.
it does sound like an interesting line of research, no?
Listen guys, if the throngs of evil, seedy music thieves are not stopped immediately Bono might no longer be able to afford to fly to Africa periodically to personally bathe doomed, starving children, and where would the planet be then.
I mean, if the royalties slow down he might get kicked out of his ritzy Manhattan co-op and would surely be so shattered as to be unable to accurately and legitimately speak on behalf of the underprivileged. Oh....wait, excuse me.
Once Mike Huckabee is elected president and amends the Constitution to "be with GOD" it will be my sworn duty to hunt each of you down and have you burned at the stake for your heretical treason.
i think the argument here is probably more so that paid databases are superior to google searches (even scholar.google.com) and the method of consuming said information is fundamentally different in a way we do not fully understand yet. like the difference between nytimes.com and a hardcopy. you read different parts, retain different information, and spend a different amount of time. try it. its interesting, and i doubt any relevant data is out on it yet. hell several years of qualitative sociology research is probably necessary before anyone will be willing to write greek around such a nebulous concept.
i find it easier to believe this article refers to installed gnutella clients, not specifically limewire. i cant be alone in thinking limewire is horrible software and that the 3rd party alternative of the week is generally superior.
and why isn't there a cadre of slashdotters screeching against limewire as bloat/spy/lameware? or preening about how they wrote a gnutella client in 9 lines that runs on their dreamcast? my how times have changed.
hrm. sigh. wish i WAS an anon cow, in stead im a doomaahs missing checkboxes. drag.
handles are like email addresses/url's: 1 for self, 1 for boostin', 1 for dating, 1 for craigslist, one for each login, and whatever you use for your ssn etc. blahhhhhhhh i am an anon cow this time yo.
i think you are applying a commonsense argument to a state level bureaucracy, which is fairly absurd, but your optimism that most school districts are not overrun with destructive, unionized incompetent lunatics is reassuring.
but seriously, addressing the vast variety of schools, school districts, funding, egos, elections, unions, etc by any qualitative measure is futile. there is no fed standard, probably no state standard, and often i'm sure no local standard.
ehhh, i've worked in government as well and i would expect extreme variance in policy between one school/district/county/state and the next... its definitely not a 'seen one seen 'em all' situation. you talk as if they are standardized, qualified professionals! get thee to a union shop! err, i mean, stop communism OSS or whatever.