Most of us read Slashdot when we should be doing our real job, while apparently they don't read it and it is their job.
Which makes one wonder what they are doing instead of their real jobs. Tediously maintaining databases and web sites, as those of us posting slashdot are supposed to be doing at the time?
On my Mac, the fifth button on my mouse is mapped to 'Back.' When viewing a page that's just media interpreted by QuickTime (i.e. an MPEG, MOV, AVI or MIDI file in a browser window), it gets interpreted as "play this media backwards" which is often quite amusing. But in this case, it sounds approximately the same.
While we're at it, why not go to the extreme of banning all religious material on TV?
I can say in jest that I'd be all for that, but in reality I'd have to fight on the side of the wackjobs on that issue. Of course, that's hard to say without the raising of bile since I'm currently watching a documentary about America's recent flareup of evangelical christianity entitled "On God's Right." Man, those people are creepy. But regardless of how I personally feel about them and their twisted mythos, they have the right to speak their minds just as much as the rest of us.
PS: You can have morality without religion, so that angle is covered as well.
PPS: Morality is much easier to arrive at without the muddle superstition.
Divide all the fines levied against nuclear sites over the years by the number of nuclear sites in operation. That will give you a clearer idea of the deterrent power the fines exert against any single plant.
I love how people are so worried about the FCC slapping big fines on Media companies for breaking the rules. I mean these are the same media companies behind the RIAA and MPAA.
While that is a somewhat ironic things consider the overall politics of the Slashdot Collective, I think there are two main reasons for it:
First, *most* of us are inherently good and fair. I like to think that if given a vote, most of us who wave our fists at Microsoft's misdeeds would not support a movement to slaughter all Microsoft employees in their cubicles.
Secondly, many people realize, even if only below the surface, that while the media companies might be the ones writing the checks to the FCC, our free and open society is the actual victim of these laws.
That makes perfect sense, except that we don't live in a country where things work that way. Bill Gates and myself would still be fined just as much (in theory anyway) for driving thirty miles over the speed limit.
I think most legislation of morality could be seen as misguided efforts to legislate toward the public good, i.e. safety in general. One could make a case that we proscribe murder not because it's immoral to kill, but because such laws enhance the security of those of us who walk around sans kevlar. The same can be said of laws proscribing DUI, speeding, child molestation, the wearing of unlicensed nuclear accelerators, rape, carrying weapons aboard an aircraft, etc.
Some people of questionable thinking abilities either believe or find it useful to feign belief that if a nine year old hears a certain word that rhymes with 'duck' then that child will be harmed. To such a person, forbidding the utterance of that word falls under the heading of protecting the public from harm. <VOICE="logician">This is of course utter bullshit,</VOICE> but hey, people believe (or find it useful to pretend to believe) some pretty wacked out things.
There's also the question of badness. I think we can all agree that glowing groundwater is unquestionably bad. A nine year old hearing a word that rhymes with 'duck' on the other hand...
To me, religion serves two purposes... it gives someone meaning to life, and it is a source of basic morals.
I can't imagine feeling that a mythology is my only sense of morality. That to me is right up there with consulting a a Superman comic book for guidance whenever you are given the opportunity to do evil. I can't help thinking that most people would find the guy with the well worn Superman comic to be a bit less than sane-n-stable.
Well, that's just a matter of proportion as well. See, just as the Entertainment Industry can afford gargantuan fines that the poor, beleagured nuclear power industry cannot, well, somebody tripping on acid experiences the passage of time much more slowly than your average homicidal maniac, and therefore has, in effect, much more time available to him over the course of his life, so a much longer sentence is justified to serve as an equal deterrent.
If you've sat through that many installs and kept going back for more, perhaps a professional should be giving you free copies of XP as a component of your aversion therapy.
Slashdot Mirror
Most of us read Slashdot when we should be doing our real job, while apparently they don't read it and it is their job.
Which makes one wonder what they are doing instead of their real jobs. Tediously maintaining databases and web sites, as those of us posting slashdot are supposed to be doing at the time?
No, that can't be it.
On my Mac, the fifth button on my mouse is mapped to 'Back.' When viewing a page that's just media interpreted by QuickTime (i.e. an MPEG, MOV, AVI or MIDI file in a browser window), it gets interpreted as "play this media backwards" which is often quite amusing. But in this case, it sounds approximately the same.
And thanks for braving asshole mods to point it out to me. May real karma balance out the hit you took to your bullshit karma.
While we're at it, why not go to the extreme of banning all religious material on TV?
I can say in jest that I'd be all for that, but in reality I'd have to fight on the side of the wackjobs on that issue. Of course, that's hard to say without the raising of bile since I'm currently watching a documentary about America's recent flareup of evangelical christianity entitled "On God's Right." Man, those people are creepy. But regardless of how I personally feel about them and their twisted mythos, they have the right to speak their minds just as much as the rest of us.
PS: You can have morality without religion, so that angle is covered as well.
PPS: Morality is much easier to arrive at without the muddle superstition.
Divide all the fines levied against nuclear sites over the years by the number of nuclear sites in operation. That will give you a clearer idea of the deterrent power the fines exert against any single plant.
I love how people are so worried about the FCC slapping big fines on Media companies for breaking the rules. I mean these are the same media companies behind the RIAA and MPAA.
While that is a somewhat ironic things consider the overall politics of the Slashdot Collective, I think there are two main reasons for it:
First, *most* of us are inherently good and fair. I like to think that if given a vote, most of us who wave our fists at Microsoft's misdeeds would not support a movement to slaughter all Microsoft employees in their cubicles.
Secondly, many people realize, even if only below the surface, that while the media companies might be the ones writing the checks to the FCC, our free and open society is the actual victim of these laws.
That makes perfect sense, except that we don't live in a country where things work that way. Bill Gates and myself would still be fined just as much (in theory anyway) for driving thirty miles over the speed limit.
I think most legislation of morality could be seen as misguided efforts to legislate toward the public good, i.e. safety in general. One could make a case that we proscribe murder not because it's immoral to kill, but because such laws enhance the security of those of us who walk around sans kevlar. The same can be said of laws proscribing DUI, speeding, child molestation, the wearing of unlicensed nuclear accelerators, rape, carrying weapons aboard an aircraft, etc.
Some people of questionable thinking abilities either believe or find it useful to feign belief that if a nine year old hears a certain word that rhymes with 'duck' then that child will be harmed. To such a person, forbidding the utterance of that word falls under the heading of protecting the public from harm. <VOICE="logician">This is of course utter bullshit,</VOICE> but hey, people believe (or find it useful to pretend to believe) some pretty wacked out things.
There's also the question of badness. I think we can all agree that glowing groundwater is unquestionably bad. A nine year old hearing a word that rhymes with 'duck' on the other hand...
No, that's rule 14. Rule 13 is "No poofters!"
To me, religion serves two purposes... it gives someone meaning to life, and it is a source of basic morals.
I can't imagine feeling that a mythology is my only sense of morality. That to me is right up there with consulting a a Superman comic book for guidance whenever you are given the opportunity to do evil. I can't help thinking that most people would find the guy with the well worn Superman comic to be a bit less than sane-n-stable.
Well, that's just a matter of proportion as well. See, just as the Entertainment Industry can afford gargantuan fines that the poor, beleagured nuclear power industry cannot, well, somebody tripping on acid experiences the passage of time much more slowly than your average homicidal maniac, and therefore has, in effect, much more time available to him over the course of his life, so a much longer sentence is justified to serve as an equal deterrent.
Really, a hundred and a half K is enough to tell a reactor manager, "wow, a couple of those and we won't have a reactor to run".
A couple of those and they won't have quite so many customers eager to soak up that energy, either.
The sad thing is that I know that. Damn. Changed the sig last night after a very long day.
Thanks.
If you've sat through that many installs and kept going back for more, perhaps a professional should be giving you free copies of XP as a component of your aversion therapy.
No, not anymore.
Can't we just say that Micro$hit sucks and get on with our lives?
Oh, you must have missed the memo; we all agreed to say that Dubya is the antichrist and this, well, this is us getting on with our lives.
Do you have $5 in change in your couch for every time Windows has borked something?
I'm sure we can all name someone who does, though.
If you can train eleven of your fellow citizens to recite a phrase like that on command, then I want you on *my* jury.
I can only pray that Monsanto doesn't prove you wrong some day.
You are dead wrong. I'm a literacy tutor, and the overwhelming majority of students our council works with are high school graduates.
That's oldthink.
Huh?
Toke toke pass, man, toke toke pass.
Which would be a very vivid demonstration of natural selection at work... how utterly tidy of them!
Well, maybe if that whole CSS thing ever catches on, he and his will some day be searchable.