One aspect of politeness is voluntarily refraining from an act which disturbs others, even if you don't agree that it should disturb them.
Okay, so someone somewhere gets upset anytime someone else pees standing up. I guess I should stop peeing standing up, right? If someone gets bent out of shape from someone else's actions, and those actions do not cause any harm, then that's the upset person's problem. People can't control other people's feelings, therefore no one should be responsible for other people's feelings. We can argue over "harm" if you like, but I'm assuming since you've already jumped to "politeness" (a subjective word if there ever was one), you can't prove any harm in this case. I certainly see no harm here.
There's a staggering lack of respect for other people's wishes being shown in the comments here.
Okay, I wish I would get a blowjob every day. I also wish I would get a million dollar a year salary. Why aren't people respecting my wishes?
These people's wishes are unreasonable. I'm all for privacy, but the fact of the matter is that the taxes that go to construct and maintain those roads and sidewalks are paid for by *everyone* (unless I'm missing something here, and they are fully funded by the people in this so-called "respectable" community). If they don't like people driving around taking pictures, they can fence off their private property, pay for their own roads and sidewalks, and *then* we can have a discussion about their "wishes". There does need to be a balance between public and private; for example, if someone were coming up to their houses and taking photographs through their windows, that would be a true invasion of privacy. Taking photographs from public roads is not an "invasion of privacy", unless it involves a high powered lens.
I hope the Streisand effect goes into overdrive on these selfish idiots (and yes, they are idiots) and they see a sharp rise in burglaries.
(why, however, the ACLU generally pretends the second amendment doesn't exist perplexes me).
The ACLU doesn't pretend the second amendment doesn't exist; they are neutral in regard to it, and take the interpretation that it's a collective right and not an individual one (more details). I also think they stay off second amendment cases because other groups (I can think of two of the top of my head) are much more well funded and hyper focused on it.
The ACLU will generally help those who ask for it when they think the person has had their civil rights violated, and has even been on the same side as the ACLJ when defending the right of students to pray in school. The ACLU is about as non-partisan as you can get.
Another point the ACLU makes is that they don't think that the possession of guns raises a civil liberties issue. As much as the gun nuts like to say that "the second amendment guarantees the others", we've seen that obviously isn't true. And who would want to live in a country where you would have to kill to exercise your freedom of speech? If all we have left to protect is the second amendment, we've got bigger problems on our hands.
Offtopic but, am I the only one who finds it ironic, and funny, that a person with the username "Defeat_Globalism" is using the World Wide Web?
Yes. Yes you are the only one:)
Being serious, though, the anti-globalism people suffer from a framing problem. Much as I hate the goals of the ID crowd, I have to admire their tactics. "Framing" a situation properly can give you significant advantages, whether you're right or wrong. For instance, "anti-globalism" isn't really against "globalizing" things; what they are against is inequalities or imbalances of power between different classes of people. For instance, if a company can outsource my job to another country, but I can't move to that country to compete for that job, that is an imbalance of power and is really what the problem is. There needs to be a re-balancing where the pay in the outsourcing country is comparable to the pay in the outsourced country. While globalism might accomplish this (eventually), the process will be long and painful and the situation shouldn't have existed in the first place.
In other words, people should stop calling themselves "anti-globalism" and instead say they are in favor of "fair and equitable employment opportunities" or in favor of "free trade and freedom of movement."
Just to back up your assertion, here's a real world example: I am a member of a search and rescue group. Sometimes that means I will be calling in for leave at the last possible moment (to go search for someone). Sure, that might mean the schedule will slip a few days. But I'm also willing to come in for "emergency" overtime to get things finished (or even just to compensate for time I was gone, so I won't burn up all my leave). If I were not in SAR, I don't think I'd be willing to work overtime. Not to mention that in training for SAR, I am better able to perform my job (better physical shape, more emotionally balanced, more cognitively focused, etc; it's amazing what exercise can do). And here's the ultimate kicker: often times, the searches I go on will be for someone in our community, maybe even someone who works for the company. Now, we don't always find them, but when we do, that's a net gain right there. Even if you look at it from a purely heartless financial point of view, we've just saved the company the cost of hiring a replacement. I know of at least one case where this is literally true (I wasn't on the search; but the guy is an acquaintance of mine, and he works at the same place I do). If I was working for a place that decided "all these SAR folks are using too much of their leave; let's fire them!" then they not only would lost us SAR folks, but the employee who got lost as well.
CD's are platform-locked; you have to have a CD player. Generic mp3's are platform-locked; you have to have a computer or dedicated mp3 player.
CD-ROM drives and MP3 software are *NOT* platform locked. You can use them on any platform with sufficient hardware. You don't have to run a closed source proprietary operating system to use a CD-ROM drive or play MP3s; this is not the case with iTunes.
Then why hasn't music piracy disappeared since iTunes went DRM free?
Because a) iTunes is not open source, b) it doesn't run on Linux or other free platforms such as FreeBSD, and c) they don't offer FLAC or OGG. At least those are my reasons. Back when AllOfMP3 was still operating, I spent a pretty penny buying FLACs and high bitrate OGGs from them. Ever since they were shut down, and I haven't been able to find a non-flash, non-PayPal, Linux friendly, FLAC/OGG offering digital music service, I haven't bought digital music. I'm not paying for low bitrate MP3/AAC/WMA crap. Especially when I can download it for free.
Supply and demand, bitches. You don't supply what I want, therefore my demand for it is zilch, zero, nada.
You make maintenance sound a bit negative. I actually like it -- provided I have the power to do more than apply band-aids. It's rewarding to start with a complete mess, apply one of a handful of techniques, and end up with code which does the same thing, but which is obviously correct.
I've had some bad experiences maintaining other people's code. Sifting through things like the idea of version control as "copy a subdir and start the new work in that with no indication of which is newer" left me a little bitter. Lately, I have come to appreciate that while from scratch programming can be exciting and seems to have limitless possibilities, it's nice to sit down to something where you can just hammer away at it until it's better. It can even be a nice change from that feeling you get at the beginning of a new project where you have a blank file and no idea what to start typing.
The suggestion that 'online slander' is an 'epidemic' is pure hype.
So in other words, whoever is making the claim that "online slander is an epidemic" has just slandered the Internet. Who's up for a class action slander lawsuit?:)
Mostly what I am is a janitor, a very very well paid one, but a janitor never the less, cleaning up messes left by kids.
Don't take offense because one of these days you (if you are any good) will be doing the same thing in 30 years
Heh. Nice stereotyping there. I was already cleaning up after other people's messes when I started my second job (in my early twenties) practically straight out of college. It's called maintenance programming, everyone (of every age and skill level) has to do it sooner or later, even if it's to their own code.
As for your other points, I won't take contention with those. Anyone who can't hack it shouldn't get the job; if they are happier to be interviewing than coding, then by definition they aren't the person you want working on the code. If they hire nincompoops, then you need a better interview process, or possibly to fire the person that hired them.
As for the "quiet, well lit office that doesn't stink of BO", I thought those were basic conditions conducive to productive work? Sure, we can all say "well, you should be able to hack out a real-time system in assembly while in combat!" but the truth is that asking for decent working environment isn't whininess; it's better for long term retention (including health) of employees, and helps them be more productive.
While many here will certainly applaud this decision, I find the double-standard amazing. If we can ban sales of pictures of people having sex to minors and impose other draconian punishment, then why is obscene violence any different?
Get your facts straight: the "groupthink" you malign is actually in favor of uncensoring just about everything, including pornography. I have yet to see someone who said otherwise here get very far (no high mods and no high karma).
I certainly am not happy about my freedom to criticize politicians being considered on the same level as some spotty fifteen year old kid's "right" to buy GTA.
Get used to it. It's called living in a free society. You have to give people a good reason to consider your opinion more worthy than artistic expression such as video games.
Why the fuck is this comment modded troll? Fucking mods on crack again. Of all the days they DON'T offer me mod points, why did today have to be one. This is exactly why I have certain people friended and set to +6 modifier. Looks like it's time to go do some meta-modding . . .
"eventually starts" working right? Buddy, in my experience, Debian is rock fucking stable and works damn near perfectly out of the box, day one. That's why it takes them so long to do releases. That's just one of the (many) reasons I have the sig I do. Ubuntu is only slightly less good in this respect, and that's mostly because they are relying on binary closed source drivers to support the latest hardware.
To me, a sport is something you do, not watch. I don't watch ESPN. Charging my ISP, which they will no doubt pass on to me, is outright fraud, plain and simple. I can not more strenuously object to this plan without resorting to vulgarity.
No, it's all about control. It's about preventing you from using stuff you legitimately bought in new and interesting ways, so they can sell it to you again in those new and interesting ways. Or it's about preventing you from doing something that damages them in a completely unrelated way, if they can.
It's about taking control away from the consumer, and putting it back in the hands of the publisher.
It's funny, but there was a guy who predicted this, two and a half decades ago. Not only did he predict it, but he set out to start a project to sidestep the whole problem!
That's right, I'm talking about RMS, Richard Stallman. I hear a lot of people make fun of his personal grooming habits, but until I see them not only predict something this accurately decades in advance and do a whole bunch of work to solve the problem, I have no respect for them. Maybe RMS is just too busy coding to shave. At least he's producing something of value. The same can't be said of those who criticize him. If I was paranoid, I would think they were the enemy because they are trying to distract from the real issues by making personal attacks.
I for one am still using Emacs on GNU/Linux to develop software and I find RMS's insights more and more cogent as time goes on.
There's no way he was looking for a land speed record location near there. It's one of the most mountainous areas in the country.
I was going to say this, as I was on another search in the same area earlier this year, and I'm part of a MOUNTAIN rescue group. Sadly, I couldn't go on the Fossett search as I had other pressing duties (work sucks).
If you find it to be a good filesystem, I say keep using it. If it is a good filesystem, someone will maintain it. If not, then it dies because it deserves to and not because of FUD.
Exactly my thoughts. Of course, the first thing I would do if maintaining it is to rename it (and not to "murderfs"). Even if you ignore the negative connotations of the Reiser name, no piece of software should have someone's ego attached to it. I don't care how good a programmer Hans is, humility is vastly underrated.
(and yes, I know that Linus named his OS after himself, but: 1) he didn't murder his wife and lie about it; 2) it's not named "LinusOS"; 3) most everyone calls it by its distribution name anyway (and yes, I know about how Debian was named, but the same arguments apply) and 4) Linus is very humble.)
Now, as to what to name it to . . . how about New Paradigm Super filesystem (NPSFS)? I like the sound of that!
Right. And no network would dare cancel a show that people around here like. That's why shows like Firefly, Emeril Live and Stargate SG-1, to say nothing of Jericho, Babylon 5, Futurama, Family Guy, and The Office, have been airing non-stop on their original networks for years.
Wait, "Emeril Live" is a geek show? Are you sure you aren't getting it mixed up with "Good Eats"? And what is this "Jericho" you speak of? Sounds awfully religious to me . . .
And let's not even mention how Star Trek is still on the air fourty years later.
Is this supposed to buttress your argument? Because last I checked, they are *still* airing reruns of ST:TOS. It may not have lasted forty years, but no TV show I've ever heard of has. It did last three years and spawned four "sequel" series and what, eleven movies? I (and I'm sure many others) wish I could get a creation of mine "cancelled" like that.
Personally, the two shows that make TV worth watching for me are "Mythbusters" and "Good Eats"; the only reason I watch anything else are because my wife does, and I mostly ignore it while working on software on the sofa. She pays the bill for cable, because if I had to, I would have cancelled it long ago and just buy the DVDs for stuff I like (which I have anyway). If they cancelled "Mythbusters", there wouldn't be anything worth watching on Discovery.
I hate gyms. Stinky, cold air, artificial light, boring non-well-rounded exercises; what's to like? I had a friend who tried to convince me (like others here) that weightlifting was the answer because it increased overall metabolism. I was willing to go to the gym for a while, but not for the rest of my life, and that's what you should really be asking yourself: what life change(s) are you willing to make? Because only things that you like will you keep doing, and that's what it takes to become fit and stay that way.
I bike to work, and no I don't mean "ride a motorcycle". Sure, I don't ride my bicycle every day, but I figure some days is better than none. You can ride your bike in snow and ice (with the right equipment) and in extreme heat (with enough water). The only valid excuse is illness, in which case, if you are that sick, you should stay home. It's good for you, it's good for your pocketbook and it's good for the environment. Win-win-win!
I also recently started hiking again. Hiking is an excellent, well-rounded exercise. You get tons of aerobic/cardiovascular, lots of stamina, a decent amount of "weight training" (which, let's face it, who needs to bench press 250lb everday? weightlifting is for bodybuilding nerds), some flexibility, and one that many people miss, balance. Show me a machine in a gym that can do that, and give you gorgeous sights, fresh air and sunlight.
The climbing, well, that's just fun. But it does give more focus on "weight training" and flexibility than hiking. It all depends on what you like to do. Find something strenous that you enjoy, and you will get into shape.
If you don't wear a seat belt an get thrown from your car I should not have to pay for the extra medical costs if it was my fault.
Unfortunately, when they cart you into the ER, one of their first questions is not "were you wearing a seatbelt." Not to mention the hippocratic oath. Ergo, seatbelt laws (and motorcycle helmet laws).
Well, yeah, but it's entertaining to a lot of tech geeks.;-)
Eh, I must not be geeky enough anymore; I don't find it amusing, rather annoying actually, and I'm in favor of the metric system.
So how do I get the units in/. articles like this automagically translated to what I'd like? Seriously, if there's a way to do it, I'd like to know. I can conceive of ways to do it, but it'd either require me giving appropriate locale-type info to/. (which I don't see in the preferences stuff), or using javascript on my local browser (which I have disabled via NoScripts in firefox). And, to my knowledge, the HTML sent by/. doesn't do this sort of unit translation.
I could write the code to do the translation, of course, but I don't know how (or if it's even possible) to tell FF to run my code as a filter on every/. message. Is there a way to do this?
You could try posting a patch to slashcode instead. Could be interesting. Fixing humans to make their posts compatible with such a scheme is not my department, though, as I'm only a computer scientist:) But I was talking more along the lines of, say, a recipe database where internally units should be in Celsius, grams and milliliters, then just convert in the end user software.
Slashdot Mirror
Okay, so someone somewhere gets upset anytime someone else pees standing up. I guess I should stop peeing standing up, right? If someone gets bent out of shape from someone else's actions, and those actions do not cause any harm, then that's the upset person's problem. People can't control other people's feelings, therefore no one should be responsible for other people's feelings. We can argue over "harm" if you like, but I'm assuming since you've already jumped to "politeness" (a subjective word if there ever was one), you can't prove any harm in this case. I certainly see no harm here.
Okay, I wish I would get a blowjob every day. I also wish I would get a million dollar a year salary. Why aren't people respecting my wishes?
These people's wishes are unreasonable. I'm all for privacy, but the fact of the matter is that the taxes that go to construct and maintain those roads and sidewalks are paid for by *everyone* (unless I'm missing something here, and they are fully funded by the people in this so-called "respectable" community). If they don't like people driving around taking pictures, they can fence off their private property, pay for their own roads and sidewalks, and *then* we can have a discussion about their "wishes". There does need to be a balance between public and private; for example, if someone were coming up to their houses and taking photographs through their windows, that would be a true invasion of privacy. Taking photographs from public roads is not an "invasion of privacy", unless it involves a high powered lens.
I hope the Streisand effect goes into overdrive on these selfish idiots (and yes, they are idiots) and they see a sharp rise in burglaries.
The ACLU doesn't pretend the second amendment doesn't exist; they are neutral in regard to it, and take the interpretation that it's a collective right and not an individual one (more details). I also think they stay off second amendment cases because other groups (I can think of two of the top of my head) are much more well funded and hyper focused on it.
The ACLU will generally help those who ask for it when they think the person has had their civil rights violated, and has even been on the same side as the ACLJ when defending the right of students to pray in school. The ACLU is about as non-partisan as you can get.
Another point the ACLU makes is that they don't think that the possession of guns raises a civil liberties issue. As much as the gun nuts like to say that "the second amendment guarantees the others", we've seen that obviously isn't true. And who would want to live in a country where you would have to kill to exercise your freedom of speech? If all we have left to protect is the second amendment, we've got bigger problems on our hands.
Yes. Yes you are the only one :)
Being serious, though, the anti-globalism people suffer from a framing problem. Much as I hate the goals of the ID crowd, I have to admire their tactics. "Framing" a situation properly can give you significant advantages, whether you're right or wrong. For instance, "anti-globalism" isn't really against "globalizing" things; what they are against is inequalities or imbalances of power between different classes of people. For instance, if a company can outsource my job to another country, but I can't move to that country to compete for that job, that is an imbalance of power and is really what the problem is. There needs to be a re-balancing where the pay in the outsourcing country is comparable to the pay in the outsourced country. While globalism might accomplish this (eventually), the process will be long and painful and the situation shouldn't have existed in the first place.
In other words, people should stop calling themselves "anti-globalism" and instead say they are in favor of "fair and equitable employment opportunities" or in favor of "free trade and freedom of movement."
Just to back up your assertion, here's a real world example: I am a member of a search and rescue group. Sometimes that means I will be calling in for leave at the last possible moment (to go search for someone). Sure, that might mean the schedule will slip a few days. But I'm also willing to come in for "emergency" overtime to get things finished (or even just to compensate for time I was gone, so I won't burn up all my leave). If I were not in SAR, I don't think I'd be willing to work overtime. Not to mention that in training for SAR, I am better able to perform my job (better physical shape, more emotionally balanced, more cognitively focused, etc; it's amazing what exercise can do). And here's the ultimate kicker: often times, the searches I go on will be for someone in our community, maybe even someone who works for the company . Now, we don't always find them, but when we do, that's a net gain right there. Even if you look at it from a purely heartless financial point of view, we've just saved the company the cost of hiring a replacement. I know of at least one case where this is literally true (I wasn't on the search; but the guy is an acquaintance of mine, and he works at the same place I do). If I was working for a place that decided "all these SAR folks are using too much of their leave; let's fire them!" then they not only would lost us SAR folks, but the employee who got lost as well.
CD-ROM drives and MP3 software are *NOT* platform locked. You can use them on any platform with sufficient hardware. You don't have to run a closed source proprietary operating system to use a CD-ROM drive or play MP3s; this is not the case with iTunes.
Are you sure? What evidence do you have to back this assertion?
Because a) iTunes is not open source, b) it doesn't run on Linux or other free platforms such as FreeBSD, and c) they don't offer FLAC or OGG. At least those are my reasons. Back when AllOfMP3 was still operating, I spent a pretty penny buying FLACs and high bitrate OGGs from them. Ever since they were shut down, and I haven't been able to find a non-flash, non-PayPal, Linux friendly, FLAC/OGG offering digital music service, I haven't bought digital music. I'm not paying for low bitrate MP3/AAC/WMA crap. Especially when I can download it for free.
Supply and demand, bitches. You don't supply what I want, therefore my demand for it is zilch, zero, nada.
I've had some bad experiences maintaining other people's code. Sifting through things like the idea of version control as "copy a subdir and start the new work in that with no indication of which is newer" left me a little bitter. Lately, I have come to appreciate that while from scratch programming can be exciting and seems to have limitless possibilities, it's nice to sit down to something where you can just hammer away at it until it's better. It can even be a nice change from that feeling you get at the beginning of a new project where you have a blank file and no idea what to start typing.
So in other words, whoever is making the claim that "online slander is an epidemic" has just slandered the Internet. Who's up for a class action slander lawsuit? :)
So capitalism isn't really being used in America today. Got it.
Ah, I see: capitalism has never really existed, except maybe on a small scale, say between two individuals in a tribal community.
Heh. Nice stereotyping there. I was already cleaning up after other people's messes when I started my second job (in my early twenties) practically straight out of college. It's called maintenance programming, everyone (of every age and skill level) has to do it sooner or later, even if it's to their own code.
As for your other points, I won't take contention with those. Anyone who can't hack it shouldn't get the job; if they are happier to be interviewing than coding, then by definition they aren't the person you want working on the code. If they hire nincompoops, then you need a better interview process, or possibly to fire the person that hired them.
As for the "quiet, well lit office that doesn't stink of BO", I thought those were basic conditions conducive to productive work? Sure, we can all say "well, you should be able to hack out a real-time system in assembly while in combat!" but the truth is that asking for decent working environment isn't whininess; it's better for long term retention (including health) of employees, and helps them be more productive.
Get your facts straight: the "groupthink" you malign is actually in favor of uncensoring just about everything, including pornography. I have yet to see someone who said otherwise here get very far (no high mods and no high karma).
Oh, you mean like this perfectly reasonable comment that attacks false reasoning and bigotry? Oh wait, look at that your comment is still at +5, while more informed opinions are getting modded to oblivion.
Get used to it. It's called living in a free society. You have to give people a good reason to consider your opinion more worthy than artistic expression such as video games.
Why the fuck is this comment modded troll? Fucking mods on crack again. Of all the days they DON'T offer me mod points, why did today have to be one. This is exactly why I have certain people friended and set to +6 modifier. Looks like it's time to go do some meta-modding . . .
Then they just do stupid things as adults.
"eventually starts" working right? Buddy, in my experience, Debian is rock fucking stable and works damn near perfectly out of the box, day one. That's why it takes them so long to do releases. That's just one of the (many) reasons I have the sig I do. Ubuntu is only slightly less good in this respect, and that's mostly because they are relying on binary closed source drivers to support the latest hardware.
To me, a sport is something you do, not watch. I don't watch ESPN. Charging my ISP, which they will no doubt pass on to me, is outright fraud, plain and simple. I can not more strenuously object to this plan without resorting to vulgarity.
It's funny, but there was a guy who predicted this, two and a half decades ago. Not only did he predict it, but he set out to start a project to sidestep the whole problem!
That's right, I'm talking about RMS, Richard Stallman. I hear a lot of people make fun of his personal grooming habits, but until I see them not only predict something this accurately decades in advance and do a whole bunch of work to solve the problem, I have no respect for them. Maybe RMS is just too busy coding to shave. At least he's producing something of value. The same can't be said of those who criticize him. If I was paranoid, I would think they were the enemy because they are trying to distract from the real issues by making personal attacks.
I for one am still using Emacs on GNU/Linux to develop software and I find RMS's insights more and more cogent as time goes on.
I was going to say this, as I was on another search in the same area earlier this year, and I'm part of a MOUNTAIN rescue group. Sadly, I couldn't go on the Fossett search as I had other pressing duties (work sucks).
That's one theory. The flipside to that coin is that all medical progress depends on rude patients.
Exactly my thoughts. Of course, the first thing I would do if maintaining it is to rename it (and not to "murderfs"). Even if you ignore the negative connotations of the Reiser name, no piece of software should have someone's ego attached to it. I don't care how good a programmer Hans is, humility is vastly underrated.
(and yes, I know that Linus named his OS after himself, but: 1) he didn't murder his wife and lie about it; 2) it's not named "LinusOS"; 3) most everyone calls it by its distribution name anyway (and yes, I know about how Debian was named, but the same arguments apply) and 4) Linus is very humble.)
Now, as to what to name it to . . . how about New Paradigm Super filesystem (NPSFS)? I like the sound of that!
Wait, "Emeril Live" is a geek show? Are you sure you aren't getting it mixed up with "Good Eats"? And what is this "Jericho" you speak of? Sounds awfully religious to me . . .
Is this supposed to buttress your argument? Because last I checked, they are *still* airing reruns of ST:TOS. It may not have lasted forty years, but no TV show I've ever heard of has. It did last three years and spawned four "sequel" series and what, eleven movies? I (and I'm sure many others) wish I could get a creation of mine "cancelled" like that.
Personally, the two shows that make TV worth watching for me are "Mythbusters" and "Good Eats"; the only reason I watch anything else are because my wife does, and I mostly ignore it while working on software on the sofa. She pays the bill for cable, because if I had to, I would have cancelled it long ago and just buy the DVDs for stuff I like (which I have anyway). If they cancelled "Mythbusters", there wouldn't be anything worth watching on Discovery.
I hate gyms. Stinky, cold air, artificial light, boring non-well-rounded exercises; what's to like? I had a friend who tried to convince me (like others here) that weightlifting was the answer because it increased overall metabolism. I was willing to go to the gym for a while, but not for the rest of my life, and that's what you should really be asking yourself: what life change(s) are you willing to make? Because only things that you like will you keep doing, and that's what it takes to become fit and stay that way.
I bike to work, and no I don't mean "ride a motorcycle". Sure, I don't ride my bicycle every day, but I figure some days is better than none. You can ride your bike in snow and ice (with the right equipment) and in extreme heat (with enough water). The only valid excuse is illness, in which case, if you are that sick, you should stay home. It's good for you, it's good for your pocketbook and it's good for the environment. Win-win-win!
I also recently started hiking again. Hiking is an excellent, well-rounded exercise. You get tons of aerobic/cardiovascular, lots of stamina, a decent amount of "weight training" (which, let's face it, who needs to bench press 250lb everday? weightlifting is for bodybuilding nerds), some flexibility, and one that many people miss, balance. Show me a machine in a gym that can do that, and give you gorgeous sights, fresh air and sunlight.
The climbing, well, that's just fun. But it does give more focus on "weight training" and flexibility than hiking. It all depends on what you like to do. Find something strenous that you enjoy, and you will get into shape.
Unfortunately, when they cart you into the ER, one of their first questions is not "were you wearing a seatbelt." Not to mention the hippocratic oath. Ergo, seatbelt laws (and motorcycle helmet laws).
Eh, I must not be geeky enough anymore; I don't find it amusing, rather annoying actually, and I'm in favor of the metric system.
You could try posting a patch to slashcode instead. Could be interesting. Fixing humans to make their posts compatible with such a scheme is not my department, though, as I'm only a computer scientist :) But I was talking more along the lines of, say, a recipe database where internally units should be in Celsius, grams and milliliters, then just convert in the end user software.