The argument that everyone else seems to be making is like saying that TV news helps people who can't read the news papers or the internet. Is it better than nothing? I'm not sure that many people here would argue that it is. I don't read the newspaper, but I do watch The Daily Show, which makes me vastly more aware of current events and national politics than a lot of people I know. Seriously.
I'd rather let them vote with technological assistance to help them understand what they're voting for, than let them vote by marking a ballot completely at random. If you're going to suggest that illiterate people shouldn't be permitted to vote, fine, go ahead and argue for that, but as long as they are legally permitted to vote, we should help them make an informed choice.
That's probably a really good idea, although you know who I'd ask for help in this area?
The Technology Division of the Nevada Gaming Commission. Can you think of any organization with more experience working with precisely this sort of thing?
I'm quite certain that the bulk of this money will be spent lining somebody's pockets, without anything substantial to show for it. After that's taken care of, they might go after pornographers, but mostly they'll go after teenagers who exercise poor judgment, and ruin their lives permanently.
Whoa there. Photoshopping up child porn is going to be a crime, even if no child abuse occurs? What if the original was adult porn, and the photo was altered to make one of the participants appear younger?
What if there was no original photograph used, and a picture of a child having sex was created entirely from scratch?
What if the artist insists the person depicted in the picture is at least 18? Since there was no actual child involved, how old they appear to be is entirely subjective; who gets to decide whether a nonexistent person appears to be of legal age or not?
If Linux weren't somebody's plaything, it wouldn't exist at all. Just because you don't see it as a plaything, try not to lose sight of the fact that you owe a lot to those who do.
I hate to say it, but I think you're right. So many of the great ideas from the original OLPC project have been thrown out the window that what's left is no longer worthwhile.
Let's say you put together five teams, with ten people on each team, all working on this. Make one person from each team a manager and pay them $200k/year salaries; pay everyone else $100k/year. Whoops, that's your budget!
Note that this study fails to consider whether the shiny side goes on the outside or the inside, and also does not explore the use of true tin foil as opposed to aluminum foil.
While Iraq had no connection to the attacks on 9/11/01, such a connection was fabricated later. The Bush administration could never have persuaded the American people to support invading Iraq if the 9/11 attacks hadn't occurred.
While I think this is a valid philosophical question, if God created the entire universe (and therefore God exists outside our universe), then we have absolutely no scientific way to explore that area, and since we only know what God has chosen to reveal to us about Himself, no religious way to explore it either. I don't view this as a problem. Presumably, once we've reached Heaven and will have unfettered access to God, we'll be able to ask Him ourselves.
It should also be noted that God exists outside of our linear time, therefore there is no concept of "before" creation. God wasn't created in the same sense that we were; we have a beginning, because we exist within linear time. God has no beginning in that sense, because God exists outside of time, so our usual concept of "beginning" doesn't apply.
As a non-Catholic, I'm surprised at how well you've described Hell. I would simply add that as for what constitutes acceptance of God, Romans 10:9 says "if you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved."
A lot of people overlook Ephesians 2:8-9, which says "it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast." You can't earn your salvation; nothing you can do is good enough to erase your sins (and nothing in the Bible says a priest can erase them for you).
Catholicism is different enough from most other branches of Christianity that most non-Catholic Christians think of Catholicism as not just being another Christian denomination like Baptist or Lutheran or Methodist, but a separate religion. Same goes for Mormons, only more so.
Different denominations of Christianity have different interpretations of the Bible, but generally they all hold the Bible to be the ultimate authority, God's message to mankind. The Catholic Church's ultimate authority is the Pope, who can freely contradict and overrule parts of the Bible he doesn't like. Mormons believe Jesus visited North America after His Resurrection, according to some golden plates written in "reformed Egyptian" and buried in New York until the 1820s at which time they were translated into King James English. Anyway, they don't hold the Bible to be the ultimate authority either.
You seem to be under the mistaken impression that there is significant competition in the marketplace. If there were, then what you describe would almost certainly happen, but many people have few options. As far as I'm aware, only dialup and usually (but not always) DSL let you choose among multiple ISPs; for any other residential connection technology, you're locked in to a single ISP unless you switch to different technology (e.g. FIOS, cable modem, satellite, microwave) which requires new hardware and often requires an installation technician to come to your house. That's expensive, and ISPs know people won't pay for it outright, so they lock you into a contract and subsidize it that way.
Depending on your phone company, you may be able to change DSL ISPs, but you'll still have to deal with downtime while your phone company reprovisions the circuit.
Exactly so. If Microsoft really wants to improve the software... then commit your own programmers to the project and put your improvements back into the community.
So let's say Microsoft committed its own programmers to the project. What would be the best use of those programmers' time? Don't you suppose the best way to find the answer to that question would be to ASK?
Also, improving the application isn't the only thing Microsoft is asking about here. They're also asking, how can we improve our OS to make it easier for you guys to get your application to work the way you want?
Slashdot Mirror
I'd rather let them vote with technological assistance to help them understand what they're voting for, than let them vote by marking a ballot completely at random. If you're going to suggest that illiterate people shouldn't be permitted to vote, fine, go ahead and argue for that, but as long as they are legally permitted to vote, we should help them make an informed choice.
That's probably a really good idea, although you know who I'd ask for help in this area?
The Technology Division of the Nevada Gaming Commission. Can you think of any organization with more experience working with precisely this sort of thing?
That's "shape-shifting malwear"; note the spelling distinction.
I'm quite certain that the bulk of this money will be spent lining somebody's pockets, without anything substantial to show for it. After that's taken care of, they might go after pornographers, but mostly they'll go after teenagers who exercise poor judgment, and ruin their lives permanently.
So it's not necessarily the legislators that are being given too much credit, but rather the news media?
What if there was no original photograph used, and a picture of a child having sex was created entirely from scratch?
What if the artist insists the person depicted in the picture is at least 18? Since there was no actual child involved, how old they appear to be is entirely subjective; who gets to decide whether a nonexistent person appears to be of legal age or not?
If Linux weren't somebody's plaything, it wouldn't exist at all. Just because you don't see it as a plaything, try not to lose sight of the fact that you owe a lot to those who do.
I hate to say it, but I think you're right. So many of the great ideas from the original OLPC project have been thrown out the window that what's left is no longer worthwhile.
You should send an impolite message too.
My old college roommate still has some of the chairs we stole from behind the school in the middle of the night. Good times.
Yes, and tomorrow looks like it'll be even worse. Damn it.
To put this figure in perspective:
Let's say you put together five teams, with ten people on each team, all working on this. Make one person from each team a manager and pay them $200k/year salaries; pay everyone else $100k/year. Whoops, that's your budget!
To put that $11 million in perspective: it cost about $100 million to develop GTA4.
I never said 9/11 caused the Iraq war, I said without 9/11 the Iraq war wouldn't have happened. Not the same thing.
Reference
Note that this study fails to consider whether the shiny side goes on the outside or the inside, and also does not explore the use of true tin foil as opposed to aluminum foil.
These guys might disagree with you.
While Iraq had no connection to the attacks on 9/11/01, such a connection was fabricated later. The Bush administration could never have persuaded the American people to support invading Iraq if the 9/11 attacks hadn't occurred.
Good call.
While I think this is a valid philosophical question, if God created the entire universe (and therefore God exists outside our universe), then we have absolutely no scientific way to explore that area, and since we only know what God has chosen to reveal to us about Himself, no religious way to explore it either. I don't view this as a problem. Presumably, once we've reached Heaven and will have unfettered access to God, we'll be able to ask Him ourselves.
It should also be noted that God exists outside of our linear time, therefore there is no concept of "before" creation. God wasn't created in the same sense that we were; we have a beginning, because we exist within linear time. God has no beginning in that sense, because God exists outside of time, so our usual concept of "beginning" doesn't apply.
As a non-Catholic, I'm surprised at how well you've described Hell. I would simply add that as for what constitutes acceptance of God, Romans 10:9 says "if you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved."
A lot of people overlook Ephesians 2:8-9, which says "it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast." You can't earn your salvation; nothing you can do is good enough to erase your sins (and nothing in the Bible says a priest can erase them for you).
You, sir, win.
Catholicism is different enough from most other branches of Christianity that most non-Catholic Christians think of Catholicism as not just being another Christian denomination like Baptist or Lutheran or Methodist, but a separate religion. Same goes for Mormons, only more so.
Different denominations of Christianity have different interpretations of the Bible, but generally they all hold the Bible to be the ultimate authority, God's message to mankind. The Catholic Church's ultimate authority is the Pope, who can freely contradict and overrule parts of the Bible he doesn't like. Mormons believe Jesus visited North America after His Resurrection, according to some golden plates written in "reformed Egyptian" and buried in New York until the 1820s at which time they were translated into King James English. Anyway, they don't hold the Bible to be the ultimate authority either.
You seem to be under the mistaken impression that there is significant competition in the marketplace. If there were, then what you describe would almost certainly happen, but many people have few options. As far as I'm aware, only dialup and usually (but not always) DSL let you choose among multiple ISPs; for any other residential connection technology, you're locked in to a single ISP unless you switch to different technology (e.g. FIOS, cable modem, satellite, microwave) which requires new hardware and often requires an installation technician to come to your house. That's expensive, and ISPs know people won't pay for it outright, so they lock you into a contract and subsidize it that way.
Depending on your phone company, you may be able to change DSL ISPs, but you'll still have to deal with downtime while your phone company reprovisions the circuit.
Exactly so. If Microsoft really wants to improve the software... then commit your own programmers to the project and put your improvements back into the community.
So let's say Microsoft committed its own programmers to the project. What would be the best use of those programmers' time? Don't you suppose the best way to find the answer to that question would be to ASK?Also, improving the application isn't the only thing Microsoft is asking about here. They're also asking, how can we improve our OS to make it easier for you guys to get your application to work the way you want?