You people sicken me. You, the people who are posting and patting yourselves on the back for being so intelligent for pointing out a possible conflict of interests on Slashdot's part or a question of copyright law... as if any of the sound and fury you pour into these posts signifies anything at all.
A book has been compiled to reflect your opinions regarding Columbine and its aftermath. It'll be something in hard copy. Something at a bookstore that your average Joe can pick up and think about. Maybe Joe is an alcoholic who beats his kid, and the book will make him think twice about the consequences. Or maybe Joe is the leader of a local PTA who thinks that her son's school "would be just fine if it weren't for those few creepy kids who dress in black all the time and spend all their time on that Internet-thing."
Being in print legitimizes what you have to say--far more than many of you realize. The countless posts you've poured your hearts and souls into here don't amount to a hill of dingo's kidneys while they're just sitting on Slashdot's servers, because 99.999% of the world is *never* going to hear what you have to say. But getting it in print, getting those words an ISBN and a place on a bookstore shelf--*that* act can drop that percentage of people who aren't hearing you.
BUT... what is the overwhelming response to this chance for the message to be heard? A great Wave of whining idiots who are more concerned with looking out for number one. "What about crediting ME for MY words?" "How could Slashdot have the gall to snip a couple dozen words from MY post and violate MY rights guaranteed by God and the Internet and the message at the bottom of this page?" "Exactly who is getting rich off of the sweat of MY brow?"
Andover is *actually doing something* about the bad rap that geeks and others have been receiving from the mainstream media for years--they're doing something more than just typing little words into a little box on a little website--and you want to jump all over their backs because your little words might actually have an impact beyond the Slashdot community, and you don't have full creative control over it.
"And, for Pete's sake, make sure they don't sell it on Amazon.com!" Sure... God forbid that the book be sold somewhere prominent where people who *aren't* geeks might find out about it. Let's make sure we're only preaching to the choir, here.
The message in the book is a powerful one, and it *has* power because so many individuals have something to say. Not one person--thousands of people--make this book important. Your one little post didn't mean anything until there were another hundred posts just like it, so quit puffing yourself up with self-importance and righteous indignation.
Will some people make money from this book? Yes. UPS will probably make a killing on shipping charges, if it turns out this book is a success. Andover will make money--but then, it's their money that they're putting on the line to get this thing published and out to everyone. Booksellers will make some money, too. But the money that CmdrTaco and Hemos and company make--the only money that they really have control over--will go to causes that they hope this community believes in.
The message is bigger than you are. Have the decency to be big enough, yourselves, to let it be heard. -----------------------------------------------
I'm no genetic engineer, but I'm pretty sure that cloning and genetic manipulation are two distinctly different matters. With Dolly, the scientists were striving for a way to duplicate a mammal without using sperm and egg--very dicey, that.
Genetic manipulation as it is being discussed in this context--human children--is not the great gamble that cloning is. We're talking about altering a gene or two, not synthesizing a whole human. There are risks, to be sure, but I would guess that they aren't much greater than the risks associated with any other medical procedure currently being performed on human embryos.
When will people realize that words only have the power that we give them? No word is inherently offensive until someone makes the conscious decision to be offended. Words are a way of communicating, and it's silly to be afraid to use the word "nigger" in your speaking for fear of being declared a racist. The use of euphemisms like "the N-word" only perpetuates the power that the word already has... and what's worse, this fear of words does absolutely nothing to advance the real issue--in this case, fighting racism.
The NAACP's buying up of these domains is a reactionary measure that won't change the prejudice of one single person. It's a waste of that organization's resources: an act "full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."
Honestly, does anyone believe that a bigot's inability to reach a hate-group website will somehow change that bigot's opinion?
(Upon reading my sig, which follows, it would appear that I'm trying to make an additional statement about bigotry or about the NAACP or something. Don't read too much into the sig.)
Slashdot Mirror
You people sicken me. You, the people who are posting and patting yourselves on the back for being so intelligent for pointing out a possible conflict of interests on Slashdot's part or a question of copyright law... as if any of the sound and fury you pour into these posts signifies anything at all.
A book has been compiled to reflect your opinions regarding Columbine and its aftermath. It'll be something in hard copy. Something at a bookstore that your average Joe can pick up and think about. Maybe Joe is an alcoholic who beats his kid, and the book will make him think twice about the consequences. Or maybe Joe is the leader of a local PTA who thinks that her son's school "would be just fine if it weren't for those few creepy kids who dress in black all the time and spend all their time on that Internet-thing."
Being in print legitimizes what you have to say--far more than many of you realize. The countless posts you've poured your hearts and souls into here don't amount to a hill of dingo's kidneys while they're just sitting on Slashdot's servers, because 99.999% of the world is *never* going to hear what you have to say. But getting it in print, getting those words an ISBN and a place on a bookstore shelf--*that* act can drop that percentage of people who aren't hearing you.
BUT... what is the overwhelming response to this chance for the message to be heard? A great Wave of whining idiots who are more concerned with looking out for number one. "What about crediting ME for MY words?" "How could Slashdot have the gall to snip a couple dozen words from MY post and violate MY rights guaranteed by God and the Internet and the message at the bottom of this page?" "Exactly who is getting rich off of the sweat of MY brow?"
Andover is *actually doing something* about the bad rap that geeks and others have been receiving from the mainstream media for years--they're doing something more than just typing little words into a little box on a little website--and you want to jump all over their backs because your little words might actually have an impact beyond the Slashdot community, and you don't have full creative control over it.
"And, for Pete's sake, make sure they don't sell it on Amazon.com!" Sure... God forbid that the book be sold somewhere prominent where people who *aren't* geeks might find out about it. Let's make sure we're only preaching to the choir, here.
The message in the book is a powerful one, and it *has* power because so many individuals have something to say. Not one person--thousands of people--make this book important. Your one little post didn't mean anything until there were another hundred posts just like it, so quit puffing yourself up with self-importance and righteous indignation.
Will some people make money from this book? Yes. UPS will probably make a killing on shipping charges, if it turns out this book is a success. Andover will make money--but then, it's their money that they're putting on the line to get this thing published and out to everyone. Booksellers will make some money, too. But the money that CmdrTaco and Hemos and company make--the only money that they really have control over--will go to causes that they hope this community believes in.
The message is bigger than you are. Have the decency to be big enough, yourselves, to let it be heard.
-----------------------------------------------
Manga also divides among "boys" and "girls" styles (although the respective names escape me at the moment)
The words you're looking for would be "shojo" and "shonen."
I'm no genetic engineer, but I'm pretty sure that cloning and genetic manipulation are two distinctly different matters. With Dolly, the scientists were striving for a way to duplicate a mammal without using sperm and egg--very dicey, that.
Genetic manipulation as it is being discussed in this context--human children--is not the great gamble that cloning is. We're talking about altering a gene or two, not synthesizing a whole human. There are risks, to be sure, but I would guess that they aren't much greater than the risks associated with any other medical procedure currently being performed on human embryos.
When will people realize that words only have the power that we give them? No word is inherently offensive until someone makes the conscious decision to be offended. Words are a way of communicating, and it's silly to be afraid to use the word "nigger" in your speaking for fear of being declared a racist. The use of euphemisms like "the N-word" only perpetuates the power that the word already has... and what's worse, this fear of words does absolutely nothing to advance the real issue--in this case, fighting racism.
The NAACP's buying up of these domains is a reactionary measure that won't change the prejudice of one single person. It's a waste of that organization's resources: an act "full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."
Honestly, does anyone believe that a bigot's inability to reach a hate-group website will somehow change that bigot's opinion?
(Upon reading my sig, which follows, it would appear that I'm trying to make an additional statement about bigotry or about the NAACP or something. Don't read too much into the sig.)