The phrase that I keep hearing is some variation of "but if these psychos didn't have guns, they would use something else!" followed by "what are you going to do? start outlawing box cutters and gasoline?"
That's disingenuous. It makes me sick. It completely ignores that fact that killing with a firearm is more "efficient" than killing with a knife or stick or some other personal weapon. It ignore the fact that, unlike a car, or other vehicle, or fuel, some chemical with toxic properties, the sole reason for a firearm's design is to kill.
Where the importance of this sits in the larger scheme of things is something else entirely.
I'm not picking on you, but you mention empathy. Sometimes empathy only comes when something happens to *you* personally. I think a lot of people are not connecting with the fact several children died recently from gun violence. It is very easy to lose perspective in statistics -- it seems to work with large numbers and comparatively small numbers, again when the emotional distance is great.
On one hand, you say "oh *only* a few dozen children were murdered. How does that compare to the number of drunk drivers that kill every year?" That's pretty disgusting as well, to have tragic events like the Sandy Hook shooting trivialized. Again, I am not pointing to you.
I'm also disgusted by the people posting here with these self-defense fantasies. Sorry dudes, but no one is going to pull a gun on you in your lifetime. Sorry buddy, but there isn't going to be a violent rebellion in the US where, "Red Dawn"-style, you will rise up again the tyrannical US government with your freedom loving brothers. Drop the fantasy, grow up.
Yes, and this "smart gun" idea is a joke. Nice try, though.
...So, Manning's rationalization for exposing many more people and putting them in a much graver situation must be worse, right?
Yea, about that...
It's been what, 2 years since Manning dumped those files, right? So, if there was any chance that said data would literally endanger the lives of agents in the field, as the government insists, surely said mortal danger would have occurred by now, or the agents would have been pulled, right?
OK, so where's the evidence that Manning's actions really did cause all this personal danger that the prosecution insists occurred? 'Cuz I haven't seen it, and as the months of nothing happening continue, I'm more and more inclined to call bullshit on the claims.
So you're saying that agents' lives haven't been endangered? How do you know? What would you look for?
That made my day. Thanks for words. It's great to hear something uplifting, non-cynical, inspirational.
I met Howard Chaykin this year at Comicpalooza in Houston. I think I felt the same way. I could stand and listen to him talk forever. He was super cool, not a douche, and seemed almost hurt when I didn't want to intrude and have my photo taken with him. That was a great day.
that there was no correlate between video game violence and real world violence with kids.
I used myself as a model; I don't care how much Halo or Mass Effect or Fallout (3) I play, I just am not going to go on a shooting spree. Correct. No ****, I win a prize.
The reason that we -- me, and *probably* (ha ha) everyone else here won't either is, because while there may be some measurable desensitization to violence, most of just aren't wired to do go off. We have impulse control.
Teenagers on the other hand, not so much. I finished this this year On Killing.
Intriguing multi-decade study primarily on WWII era to Viet Nam era soldiers' propensity for killing. A later chapter in the book talks about violence, kids, and video games. Up until that time, I thought the connection was bull****. Now I have/am seriously rethinking this.
I think it is disingenuous to think that on one hand, video games are used to train soldiers eg but there is no overlap/carry over with unintentional civilian applications. Is this a simplification? Maybe, but look at the commonalities.
All I am saying is that, yes, it can be a problem, but really it is only the tip of the iceberg -- to focus on this and not the larger issues (as so many have already stated) is maddening.
TL;DR video game violence is a (small) problem, there are larger problems out there.
the "guy before me" left a lot of undocumented Perl code. Some short scripts, some that are pretty involved.
I wonder how much easier it would be to understand the code were had the scripts been written in something else? Python?
On one hand, this is cool -- this is just the excuse I needed to learn Perl -- it is my job. On the other, it pisses me off that there are virtually no comments.
From an outsider perspective (not a Perl master at this time), Perl seems to me to be a distillation of Unix, albeit filtered through the idiosyncrasies of Larry Wall; the gift of Perl is brevity (and not having the declare the size of an array is pretty sweet, too).
Legally, the prosecution did not commit any error in law and, if they had discretion to prosecute or decline prosecution, it's hard to make a case that they made an error in judgment.
Parliament, representing the people, did their job as the law reflected social norms of the time and it did not violate any "basic rights" of Englishmen as they were understood at the time.
What is needed in this an any other situation where a government, representing the people and acting in good faith, acts in a way that a future generation realizes is just plain wrong, is an apology from the current government "on behalf of" is predecessor and the people it represented.
Parliament can and should come out and say "Many years ago, our country adopted laws and policies which we now know were morally wrong. We apologize for those acts. We cannot undo all of the wrong that was done, but this is what we are doing...." followed by specific details such as nullifying criminal convictions, etc.
By the way, the text from the pardon refusal (taken from here) says
looking at many responses so far, they could be interpreted as:
1) students now are immature, undisciplined 2) study should not be fun, study/learning should be hard work
why? because it was for you?
Rote memorization, an un-engaging speaker, dry material, are things that don't help learning.
why not leverage the brain's natural inclination to seize on the interesting thing? Maybe these kids, young adults, whatever go in with the best intentions, they are serious-minded, and this is a way to learn even faster? No one said that the curriculum itself will be dumbed down.
I've always found Dog Crap in a Box(TM) to be both economical AND effective at communicate feelings of loathing and hatred. It's really easy to get book rates on the postage, too.
"Hello, is Nancy at home? Hi Nancy, this is TV's Wilford Brimley, just checking to see if you're enjoying your oatmeal. Yes, yes, its a pleasure to meet you too. Listen, Nancy, do you have a credit or debit card or bank routing number handy? You do? Good..."
CIA: [sounding official] Uh, everything's under control. Situation normal. Pentagon: What happened? CIA: [getting nervous] Uh, we had a slight weapons malfunction, but uh... everything's perfectly all right now. We're fine. We're all fine here now, thank you. How are you? Pentagon: We're sending a squad up. CIA: Uh, uh... negative, negative. We had a reactor leak here now. Give us a few minutes to lock it down. Large leak, very dangerous. Pentagon: Who is this? What's your operating number? CIA: Uh...
Yes, and dinosaurs coexisted with man c. 5000 B.C. Stone tablets were found recently found near the La Brea tar pits, in Los Angeles, California. Exposure to the elements all but eradicated the writing carved into the 8" x 12" x 2" rectangular blocks of limestone. As carbon dating is a work of Satan, no verifiable age for the tablets could be established (though logically they sure as hell aren't older then 5000 B.C.).
Of the five tablets discovered, the writing of only one could be partially deciphered. The characters are thought to be derived from an early Aramaic script, though Bible scholars have not arrived at a consensus. The writing is reproduced* below:
YAB-A DAB-A DOO!!!
No word yet on the actual meaning of the characters.
*the "-" represents a missing or unintelligible character
This is Camille Paglia, BTW, so there shouldn't be any surprise that stance is controversial.
interviewer:
Well, what about Revenge of the Sith? You say it's the greatest work of art, in any medium, created in the last 30 years. It’s better than... uh, Matthew Barney or Rachel Whiteread or Chris Ware or Peter Doig?
Paglia
Yes, the long finale of Revenge of the Sith has more inherent artistic value, emotional power, and global impact than anything by the artists you name. It's because the art world has flat-lined and become an echo chamber of received opinion and toxic over-praise. It's like the emperor's new clothes—people are too intimidated to admit what they secretly think or what they might think with their blinders off.
So what is the purpose of art? Look at any definition, and most explanations will include something about "being aesthetically pleasing" (which covers a lot of ground) or "experiencing one's self [in relation to the world that is reflected in that work]". Add to this Star Wars' massive, world wide influence. She makes a good case.
George Lucas is kind of {a|the) Nickleback of film. A lot of people love to hate them, but for all of the hate, they seem to continue to make millions of dollars from their creative work.
Star Wars (even episodes 1 - III) is one of the better realized visions of an alien, fantasy universe (to make it to film). To spit on it is kind of spoiled and certainly immature. It is a monumental work, and with crazy massive appeal. I think that what people fail to realize in themselves is a desire to tear down and destroy that which is elevated. It happens with other celebrities, politicians, athletes.
One last thing: Neal Stephenson made this point: the portrayal of Anakin Skywalker was an impossible job. What we see in The Clone Wars is Anakin as "the poster child for PTSD". There is this significant back story that doesn't make it to the movies because it is assumed that the fans have already watched Clone Wars. In that context, Anakin Skywalker's portrayal in the movie makes sense.
Right. I was slumming at Rotten Tomatoes, and ran across a post a few years back stating that the Scott Pilgrim movie was "best movie ever". My tricorder didn't detect even a hint of sarcasm. No disrespect intended, but I'd place that person's age at somewhere between 13 and 17. I really wish there was someway to verify the age of the poster.
At any rate, I can guarantee you that when they grown up (emotionally, mentally), that film may still touch their heart, but it will have dropped down a few notches or more in their top ten.
Slashdot Mirror
The phrase that I keep hearing is some variation of "but if these psychos didn't have guns, they would use something else!" followed by "what are you going to do? start outlawing box cutters and gasoline?"
That's disingenuous. It makes me sick. It completely ignores that fact that killing with a firearm is more "efficient" than killing with a knife or stick or some other personal weapon. It ignore the fact that, unlike a car, or other vehicle, or fuel, some chemical with toxic properties, the sole reason for a firearm's design is to kill.
Where the importance of this sits in the larger scheme of things is something else entirely.
I'm not picking on you, but you mention empathy. Sometimes empathy only comes when something happens to *you* personally. I think a lot of people are not connecting with the fact several children died recently from gun violence. It is very easy to lose perspective in statistics -- it seems to work with large numbers and comparatively small numbers, again when the emotional distance is great.
On one hand, you say "oh *only* a few dozen children were murdered. How does that compare to the number of drunk drivers that kill every year?" That's pretty disgusting as well, to have tragic events like the Sandy Hook shooting trivialized. Again, I am not pointing to you.
I'm also disgusted by the people posting here with these self-defense fantasies. Sorry dudes, but no one is going to pull a gun on you in your lifetime. Sorry buddy, but there isn't going to be a violent rebellion in the US where, "Red Dawn"-style, you will rise up again the tyrannical US government with your freedom loving brothers. Drop the fantasy, grow up.
Yes, and this "smart gun" idea is a joke. Nice try, though.
...So, Manning's rationalization for exposing many more people and putting them in a much graver situation must be worse, right?
Yea, about that...
It's been what, 2 years since Manning dumped those files, right? So, if there was any chance that said data would literally endanger the lives of agents in the field, as the government insists, surely said mortal danger would have occurred by now, or the agents would have been pulled, right?
OK, so where's the evidence that Manning's actions really did cause all this personal danger that the prosecution insists occurred? 'Cuz I haven't seen it, and as the months of nothing happening continue, I'm more and more inclined to call bullshit on the claims.
So you're saying that agents' lives haven't been endangered? How do you know? What would you look for?
Dialing up Oprah right now. You are so so in trouble!
That made my day. Thanks for words. It's great to hear something uplifting, non-cynical, inspirational.
I met Howard Chaykin this year at Comicpalooza in Houston. I think I felt the same way. I could stand and listen to him talk forever. He was super cool, not a douche, and seemed almost hurt when I didn't want to intrude and have my photo taken with him. That was a great day.
falcon punch/TCP/IP!
I think the trick will be getting that special person to wear the harness...
that there was no correlate between video game violence and real world violence with kids.
I used myself as a model; I don't care how much Halo or Mass Effect or Fallout (3) I play, I just am not going to go on a shooting spree. Correct. No ****, I win a prize.
The reason that we -- me, and *probably* (ha ha) everyone else here won't either is, because while there may be some measurable desensitization to violence, most of just aren't wired to do go off. We have impulse control.
Teenagers on the other hand, not so much. I finished this this year On Killing.
Intriguing multi-decade study primarily on WWII era to Viet Nam era soldiers' propensity for killing. A later chapter in the book talks about violence, kids, and video games. Up until that time, I thought the connection was bull****. Now I have/am seriously rethinking this.
I think it is disingenuous to think that on one hand, video games are used to train soldiers eg but there is no overlap/carry over with unintentional civilian applications. Is this a simplification? Maybe, but look at the commonalities.
All I am saying is that, yes, it can be a problem, but really it is only the tip of the iceberg -- to focus on this and not the larger issues (as so many have already stated) is maddening.
TL;DR video game violence is a (small) problem, there are larger problems out there.
the "guy before me" left a lot of undocumented Perl code. Some short scripts, some that are pretty involved.
I wonder how much easier it would be to understand the code were had the scripts been written in something else? Python?
On one hand, this is cool -- this is just the excuse I needed to learn Perl -- it is my job. On the other, it pisses me off that there are virtually no comments.
From an outsider perspective (not a Perl master at this time), Perl seems to me to be a distillation of Unix, albeit filtered through the idiosyncrasies of Larry Wall; the gift of Perl is brevity (and not having the declare the size of an array is pretty sweet, too).
Legally, the prosecution did not commit any error in law and, if they had discretion to prosecute or decline prosecution, it's hard to make a case that they made an error in judgment.
Parliament, representing the people, did their job as the law reflected social norms of the time and it did not violate any "basic rights" of Englishmen as they were understood at the time.
What is needed in this an any other situation where a government, representing the people and acting in good faith, acts in a way that a future generation realizes is just plain wrong, is an apology from the current government "on behalf of" is predecessor and the people it represented.
Parliament can and should come out and say "Many years ago, our country adopted laws and policies which we now know were morally wrong. We apologize for those acts. We cannot undo all of the wrong that was done, but this is what we are doing...." followed by specific details such as nullifying criminal convictions, etc.
By the way, the text from the pardon refusal (taken from here) says
Vee vere juust follow-enk oorders!
Do you understand the acronym "PEBKAC"?
Connery or Moore?
Episodes IV-VI or I-III?
Shirt or skins?
Can I have a raise?
I said "CAN I HAVE A RAISE?"
is that this isn't such a bad thing.
looking at many responses so far, they could be interpreted as:
1) students now are immature, undisciplined
2) study should not be fun, study/learning should be hard work
why? because it was for you?
Rote memorization, an un-engaging speaker, dry material, are things that don't help learning.
why not leverage the brain's natural inclination to seize on the interesting thing? Maybe these kids, young adults, whatever go in with the best intentions, they are serious-minded, and this is a way to learn even faster? No one said that the curriculum itself will be dumbed down.
Nerves of Steel
- Didn't crap pants first time out in field
Freewheeling
- Finished patrol with one tireless rim
Auto Gourmet
- Cooked felafel on engine
Summer Breeze
- Installed Little Tree (tm) car freshener
Hey screw you, Jason! I'll bathe and get some sunlight when I'm good and ready. Jeez.
way of expressing said sentiment?
I've always found Dog Crap in a Box(TM) to be both economical AND effective at communicate feelings of loathing and hatred. It's really easy to get book rates on the postage, too.
to do with Wilford Brimley bias?
"Hello, is Nancy at home? Hi Nancy, this is TV's Wilford Brimley, just checking to see if you're enjoying your oatmeal. Yes, yes, its a pleasure to meet you too. Listen, Nancy, do you have a credit or debit card or bank routing number handy? You do? Good..."
over the previous version of the printer which only printed a 2D version of an AR-15.
One of the main problems with the earlier version is that, when trying to load the printed rifle, the bullets just seems to roll right off.
Also, paper cuts were a problem.
CIA: [sounding official] Uh, everything's under control. Situation normal.
Pentagon: What happened?
CIA: [getting nervous] Uh, we had a slight weapons malfunction, but uh... everything's perfectly all right now. We're fine. We're all fine here now, thank you. How are you?
Pentagon: We're sending a squad up.
CIA: Uh, uh... negative, negative. We had a reactor leak here now. Give us a few minutes to lock it down. Large leak, very dangerous.
Pentagon: Who is this? What's your operating number?
CIA: Uh...
curiously absent from list of "serious" contingency plans.
I'd like an order of Day-Age with a side of Omphalos.
Mmm... Greek food.
Yes, and dinosaurs coexisted with man c. 5000 B.C. Stone tablets were found recently found near the La Brea tar pits, in Los Angeles, California. Exposure to the elements all but eradicated the writing carved into the 8" x 12" x 2" rectangular blocks of limestone. As carbon dating is a work of Satan, no verifiable age for the tablets could be established (though logically they sure as hell aren't older then 5000 B.C.).
Of the five tablets discovered, the writing of only one could be partially deciphered. The characters are thought to be derived from an early Aramaic script, though Bible scholars have not arrived at a consensus. The writing is reproduced* below:
YAB-A DAB-A DOO!!!
No word yet on the actual meaning of the characters.
*the "-" represents a missing or unintelligible character
of my favorite (most hated) phrase: "The [I]nternet is down(1!1!)".
I usually think to myself "yes, the entire Internet. Gone. The bastards finally did it".
Right, because all artists, especially the classical ones, are well-regarded in their lifetime. Their work automatically becomes cultural canon. Not.
This is Camille Paglia, BTW, so there shouldn't be any surprise that stance is controversial.
interviewer:
Well, what about Revenge of the Sith? You say it's the greatest work of art, in any medium, created in the last 30 years. It’s better than... uh, Matthew Barney or Rachel Whiteread or Chris Ware or Peter Doig?
Paglia
Yes, the long finale of Revenge of the Sith has more inherent artistic value, emotional power, and global impact than anything by the artists you name. It's because the art world has flat-lined and become an echo chamber of received opinion and toxic over-praise. It's like the emperor's new clothes—people are too intimidated to admit what they secretly think or what they might think with their blinders off.
So what is the purpose of art? Look at any definition, and most explanations will include something about "being aesthetically pleasing" (which covers a lot of ground) or "experiencing one's self [in relation to the world that is reflected in that work]". Add to this Star Wars' massive, world wide influence. She makes a good case.
George Lucas is kind of {a|the) Nickleback of film. A lot of people love to hate them, but for all of the hate, they seem to continue to make millions of dollars from their creative work.
Star Wars (even episodes 1 - III) is one of the better realized visions of an alien, fantasy universe (to make it to film). To spit on it is kind of spoiled and certainly immature. It is a monumental work, and with crazy massive appeal. I think that what people fail to realize in themselves is a desire to tear down and destroy that which is elevated. It happens with other celebrities, politicians, athletes.
One last thing: Neal Stephenson made this point: the portrayal of Anakin Skywalker was an impossible job. What we see in The Clone Wars is Anakin as "the poster child for PTSD". There is this significant back story that doesn't make it to the movies because it is assumed that the fans have already watched Clone Wars. In that context, Anakin Skywalker's portrayal in the movie makes sense.
Right. I was slumming at Rotten Tomatoes, and ran across a post a few years back stating that the Scott Pilgrim movie was "best movie ever". My tricorder didn't detect even a hint of sarcasm. No disrespect intended, but I'd place that person's age at somewhere between 13 and 17. I really wish there was someway to verify the age of the poster.
At any rate, I can guarantee you that when they grown up (emotionally, mentally), that film may still touch their heart, but it will have dropped down a few notches or more in their top ten.
angry driver yells at autonomous car: "! ! Come one! Did you learn to drive yesterday?!"
autonomous car considers possible replies:
yes/no
or what?
go away
please come back later
f&ck you, a55hole
f&ck you
you think you got problems? What's the return policy for ocelot cubs?