Your phone land line in an unencrypted, insecure wire. With some parts from Radioshack I could easily listen in to everything you have to say. But it's still protected by law.
Your cell phone is even easier to listen in to. But again, your conversations are protected by law.
Paper mail is incredibly insecure. Open the envelope. But we prosecute the hell out of anyone who dares to do such a thing.
I could bug your home with a little effort and a bit of technical know-how without ever having to walk through the front door. Just need some windows, is all. How much time do you think I'll spend in jail if I do it?
And yet, for some strange reason (or perhaps not-so-strange reason) email is considered to be a free-for-all. The hypocrisy of the exception is rather funny, if you ask me.
Good thing I use encryption on all of my important emails.
Max
Re:It all seemed so clear the first time through..
on
Brian West Update
·
· Score: 1
There was a city I once lived in where local government officials, contrary to public meetings laws, secretly exchanged emails on how they would "block-vote" on certain issues and set their standard responses in advance of actual meetings in order to present a united front to the press and embarrass the minority on the council. They also used this behind-the-scenes and *illegal* way of communicating to plan the firing of staff that didn't see things their way (and in one case, simply because the guy was Hispanic and they didn't like Hispanics).
Weeelll, now. A certain nameless employee caught wind of a rumor of a rumor of a rumor and surreptitiously obtained the admin password list, which just coincidentally gave a person access to all archived email passing back and forth between the councilors. This password list was provided to a semi-savvy press member who downloaded and printed off all of these emails which violated public meetings laws (and in that last case, laws against discrimination). All of this was illegal, of course, but what the councilors were doing was rather a step up - at least in my view. If you're one of Ashcrofts boys then the employee and press member should no doubt be shot.
Without this bit of hacking the councilors would've gotten away scot-free. Because of it two resigned and the rest were soundly defeated six months later in elections. The employee managed to conceal his identity and no sane person would try to convict the press member of a crime.
Sometimes, just sometimes, there really *are* good guys who hack (or crack, if you're anal about it) systems....
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
Please note that the first clause guarrantees the security of all people in their property and effects. This has been interpreted by the Supreme Court as an undeniable right to privacy.
The record companies are doing a lot more than protecting their investment. They are intentionally crippling their product in a way that infringes on your fair use rights. They have no right to do that. They are trying to control how you use their product. They have no right to do that. Heh.. not yet anyway, but watch them buy a few more laws.
Microsoft is doing alot more than protecting its investment...it's trying to control how you use its product. It has no right to do that. Surely it doesn't.
If money buys laws and the RIAA has more money than MS (which it does), aren't we actually renting cds in much the same way as we rent software from MS? Isn't that the whole idea of IP? That you don't actually buy anything anymore, but that you rent it on the terms of the company that provides the product, terms that can be altered at any time?
A little correction is in order. First of all, if you're attending a state school you *do* pay for your education; it's called 'student loans' and you tend to rack up quite a bill at the end of four or five years, even if you're in-state. On top of that comes 'taxes' after you become a productive citizen, and these taxes over time will amount to *several times* what your college education actually cost (gotta pay for all that 'overhead', after all).
Doesn't matter if you move to a different state. You pay for that college system, the guy who moved from that state to yours foots your bill. The only way you get out of this is by becoming a citizen in another country. It has to be this way, else the state university system would collapse within the first generation from bankruptcy (Economics 101, people - think about where the money is coming from).
There is no 'gift' involved unless you get a scholarship of some sort.
And you pay for whatever the fuck you want to pay for. To be taught, to sleep in the back row, to piss away the day at a pool hall drinking brews instead of listening to an incredible dull exam in some required course. You're 18, you make that decision - not some yahoo on/.
And no, no professor has the *right* to hold your hand. Don't be a goddamned idiot. If you think otherwise, please point out the law that gives that professor the 'right'. Or how about the contract you signed upon becoming a student at that school (that's right, there is no contract).
Regardless, everyone who attends college is 18 or over, making them legal adults. If you think chatting or doing email in class is rude, displaying those private messages on the screen before the class warrants a five-fingered sandwich to that professor's mouth. That in and of itself dwarfs any amount of rudeness caused by students who tap away at keyboards.
And if a professor finds a student disruptive, he has the right (if he has the balls) to tell them to leave. Simple as that. Problem solved, no money required. Perhaps if professors started growing backbones and exerting a bit of authority, making a few examples, this wimpout solution wouldn't be required.
I do know about it since it happened to me. And I've seen more than one company hire some half-assed idiot to 'program' because, it turns out, just about everyone else was also a half-assed idiot.
When I was doing the independent programmer shtick for large corporations I was astounded at the amount of sheer stupidity present on most programming teams. Most of these guys could talk the talk but just couldn't walk the walk. Funny thing is, this was *not* true in any of the game companies I came to know (all of those guys, without exception, were truly excellent at their jobs).
Scott Bakula...a real command figure if there ever was one. Yessiree, I can't wait for the ol' half-baked Quantum Leap dude to show us just what a cutting, decisive figure he makes sitting in the captains chair.
Somehow, I get the feeling that this series is going to be even worse than Voyager was. And that, geek-heads, is a hard thing to do.
Why should such a movement be inclusive? What good is a movement that attempts moderation to the point of diluted non-focus?
Put together an organization with views that fit roughly 70% of those expressed by the slashdotters here. Tell the other 30% to screw themselves or to start their own organization. Now you have a political force that's actually political, rather than one that wastes all of its time on internal flamage or mediation.
Here's some 'starter' positions for those of you who can't seem to adopt any of your own:
- Microsoft is tangible evidence of evil and must be destroyed, in the name of Linux and our reluctant messiah Linus Torvalds; or
- Windows is the holy writ of the Great Bill, who deserves our undying devotion and worshipful admiration. All hail the Great Bill! Down with anti-trust legistlation!
Another position:
- the DCMA and it's ilk are sure signs that America is devolving into a dictatorship and that the Constitution is on it's death-bed. Information must be free! Except for our own, of course.
- the DCMA and similar legislation make investors huge chunks of money on the flimsiest of claims. But since I have stock in some company that's filed a ludicrous IP patent, all those free software folks should be put up against the wall and shot! Hoowah!
Or perhaps this:
- Encryption is only used by criminals. What *real* American has secrets? What are YOU afraid of the government finding out? Got porn of teenage girls on your computer. Huh? Huh? Do ya? Do ya feel lucky, punk?
- Encryption is an outgrowth of the First Amendment right to privacy. People have a claim to this right without the need to justify this claim. Hell, I only use cash, am completely 'off the grid', wear a diguise when I buy my groceries, and shoot anyone who trespasses on my property. And I'll shoot anyone who tries to take my rights, too!
You get the idea. Plenty of flaky extremists here. It'd be easy to find some common button-pushing denominators for 70% of this crowd.
I used to write Perl programs for web sites. During that time I freely posted my programs to various Perl sites for others to use, hack, or modify.
Some time after I started doing this I learned that a chap who works for a large, nameless company had been stealing my work and misrepresenting it as his own. Why when he had my permission to use it anyway? Because apparently he wasn't as good as he thought he was and was trying to convince management that he could actually code by submitting my work as his own.
LACK OF ABILITY was this guy's reason for taking code and removing the header containing my copyright. Perhaps the same bug bit some Redhatter in the ass at crunch time.
wrong, wrong, and wrong. Left paranoia and the lies of anti-gun freaks deliberately mislead where handguns are concerned. Here are some statistics from the FBI in the U.S. on deaths in 1995 (my apologies for the dated material, I can't seem to find the later sets - but as I recall the numbers were roughly the same):
*Firearm Safety In The U.S., 1995*
The fatal firearms accident rate is now at an all-time low, down 82% since the all-time high recorded in 1904. The fatal firearms accident rate -- 0.6 fatal accidents per 100,000 persons in the U.S. population -- pales in comparison to rates for motorve hicle accidents (16.3), home accidents (8.7), other public accidents (7.8), and work-related accidents (3.5). ("Accident Facts: 1994 Edition," National Safety Council)
The annual number of fatal firearm accidents is at an all-time low, 1,409 in 1992, the most recent year for which exact data are available. (National Center for Health Statistics)
Since 1930, the number of annual fatal firearms accidents has decreased 56% while the number of privately owned guns has quadrupled and the U.S. population has doubled. (National Center for Health Statistics; National Safety Council; Bureau of the Census; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms; and firearms industry reports)
Firearms accidents account for a small percentage of the 86,777 fatal accidents among the U.S. population in 1992: (National Center for Health Statistics, latest data)
Since 1975, fatal firearms accidents among children have decreased 60%. (National Safety Council)
Firearm accidents accounted for a small percentage of the 6,674 fatal accidents among children 0-14 years of age in 1992: (National Center for Health Statistics, latest data)
The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which uses taxpayers' money to fund anti-gun "studies," claims that registration and licensing of cars and drivers caused fatal motor vehicle accidents to decline between 1968-1991, and that re gistration and licensing of guns and gun owners would reduce firearms accidents. The truth is, however, between 1968-1991, the fatal firearms accident rate dropped 50%, the greatest decline among major accident types. By comparison, the fatal motor vehicle rate dropped the least, only 37%. The work-related accident rate dropped 49%, the home accident rate dropped 41%, and the public non-motor vehicle rate dropped 38%. Vehicle registration and driver licensing were imposed before World War II, to gener ate revenue, not reduce accidents. Motor vehicle fatal accident rates didn't begin to decline until 1970. (National Safety Council)
Of further interest was an FBI study in 1995 which claimed that at least 800,000, and possibly as many as 1.6 million, crimes were prevented each year because the intended victim was armed with a handgun or rifle. In all of these cases the gun was only discharged approximately 2% of the time, and generally as a method to warn off or scare off criminals (e.g., into the air or wall to encourage a mugger or burglar that the victim can and will use the firearm, thus motivating them to leave the scene posthaste). Fewer than one-tenth of one percent of these incidents actually involved an intended victim wounding or killing the criminal, *even if the criminal himself were armed with a gun*.
The handgun is indeed a protective measure, as evidenced by data collected by the FBI (an agency not known for it's pro-2nd Amendment stance). Furthermore, the statistics above clearly show that motor vehicles, drownings, and even falls kill more people than guns do.
Should we therefore ban cars and ladders? Or how about backyard pools, which have no useful or necessary purpose whatsoever?
It's never that straightforward. You also have to factor in the cost of constant upgrades associated with Windows, especially if you go the XP route and are virtually forced into it on a semi-regular basis. These upgrades *always* decrease productivity for the first few months and tech support isn't fully up to speed for at least six months, perhaps a year (e.g., the Win 3.1 to Win 95 shift).
Don't even get me started on all those 'upgrade' training sessions where you try to explain to employees that keystroke A or menu B will no longer do the thing/have the option that they're used to; now it's keystroke C or menu D. Why? Hell if we know; MS has never been a fan of logic or continuity.
With Linux none of this is true. Switch over once, change software if and when you see fit, with said software costing nothing.
That isn't just Joe Sixpack. That's also Marvin the Hacker with 25 years of programming under his belt. Hey, not all of us want to learn the trivia of our operating systems; we just want the goddamn things to install and work as they should with minimal effort so we can get onto the things that make us money and buy us toys.
I don't play with Linux because I *like* screwing around with bad installation procedures or hacking config files; I do so because if the shit hits the fan I can generally fix the problem and get on with life, which isn't true with Windows. The more I can ignore the details and do serious, money-making things (or not-so-serious, game-playing things) the happier I am. And the first person who makes a brain-dead install for Linux on the order of Windows will be the one who truly starts Linux spreading across the desktop.
There's no reason why we can't have it both ways, especially not under Linux.
Jesus H. Christ - an "assault designed to change the purpose of government"??? With government defining the meaning of "assault"? Doesn't anyone else have a problem with this?
I often speak out against my government, primarily because I think it's violated the Constitution, and continues to violate the Constitution, on a regular basis. I think my politicians are assholes and sellouts and I'm not afraid to advocate kicking their sorry asses out on the street and replacing them. I believe the Constitution needs to be amended and that our government needs to be *radically* restructured.
With government deciding what constitutes assault, will I be hauled off to jail for life for strongly advocating acts "designed to change the purpose of government"? After all, digital expression is often seen as a crime these days, and according to Congress my expression doesn't deserve the same protections online that it does in real life.
Ashcroft and King George - Christ, but what a lousy time to be an American.
Imagine if business did dump all of it's IIS servers and replaced them with Apache - how many 'point and click' admins would suddenly be unemployed?
I mean christ, I hear people complaining about how complicated Apache is in comparison to IIS and I think to myself "if you can't figure this shit out, you have no business being a network admin because YOU'RE TOO STUPID TO DO THE JOB!".
Seriously, any network admin that bitches about Apache (which is bloody easy to use, in comparison to most previous tools) is too fucking braindead to be let anywhere near a server. Switching to Apache would at least show an organization where some of its dead weight is in the IS department.
three components, four components, ten components - regardless almost it's beyond belief that people will put up with shit like this. Almost. But I read/. so I know just how many people dream of a good porkin' by Bill.
If you weren't aware that you don't own Windows but rather rent it, and on lousy terms, before XP, you'll sure as hell figure it out now.
Oh yes, the fact that you can install a GUI somehow makes it a Windows wannabe? Since when is a GUI a Windows innovation? Or have you forgotten where MS stole the idea from?
It's only (possibly) a good thing if it isn't the default.
But luckily for me I use Linux and don't have to worry about some future version of Windows making these decisions for me. And if the Linux folks start snorting the same crack that the MS folks seem to have a taste for, I can just rewrite the code to suit myself.
Born and bred an American I'm getting more and more cynical about my fellow citizens inclinations to actually uphold the Constitution (assuming that anything more than a small percentage of them even know the basics of the Bill of Rights).
Does anyone know of a nation that truly allows and fanatically supports:
- freedom of speech
- freedom of assembly
- a right to privacy
- freedom of religion and freedom *from* religion
- freedom to own firearms
and opposes all measures which attempts to strip away these rights? Someday soon I'm going to have a child and I'm becoming less and less sure I want that child growing up in America.
Democrats, Republicans - they're all politicians, the same sort of scumbags with trivial differences.
I'd go for electronic democracy any day of the week; at least that way I'd know I'm being screwed over by a majority of my fellow citizens, rather than a few bought-and-paid-for lackeys.
Next you're going to tell me that MS employs geniuses in its OS department. Or that Windows is actually more robust than Linux.
Please, explain to me how the few hundred programmers at Redmond are in any way capable of equalling the thousands, even tens of thousands, of folks who work on Linux.
And personally I haven't seen that much open source software that "just sucks fucking dick". However, I can name quite a few programs written for Windows - and that people charge money for - that reallly blow. No small number of these were written by MS itself.
Finally, you imply that "none of the people know what they're doing" who work on Linux. Why don't you explain that for the benefit of the audience?
School - straw man. Apparently you missed a necessary Debate class or two.
What fucking world do you live in? Have you ever *worked* in the corporate world? Regardless of your ludicrous claims concerning margins and the need to make a profit, many of the people in *any* large corporation, programmer or not, are dead weight. Worse, they're intellectually restrained by the corporation itself which insists that things be done a certain way regardless of whether or not they make economic sense. The larger the cash cushion of a corporation, the more idiotic demands it can enforce prior to going bankrupt.
As for a larger pool of programmers producing better product, that's a statistical likelihood in any activity. The more brains on the ball, on average the more improved the end product will be. Don't be a fucking moron by insisting otherwise.
Finally, learn how to spell. Or at least use a spell-checker, for gods sake.
Yeah, it's also pretty amusing when some trolling MS clone just dying to give ol' Bill the blowjob of his life posts his own anecdotal contrived bullshit.
Why don't you just bend over and let the Big Boy ream you good and hard? Seems it's what you're begging for.
Slashdot Mirror
Your phone land line in an unencrypted, insecure wire. With some parts from Radioshack I could easily listen in to everything you have to say. But it's still protected by law.
Your cell phone is even easier to listen in to. But again, your conversations are protected by law.
Paper mail is incredibly insecure. Open the envelope. But we prosecute the hell out of anyone who dares to do such a thing.
I could bug your home with a little effort and a bit of technical know-how without ever having to walk through the front door. Just need some windows, is all. How much time do you think I'll spend in jail if I do it?
And yet, for some strange reason (or perhaps not-so-strange reason) email is considered to be a free-for-all. The hypocrisy of the exception is rather funny, if you ask me.
Good thing I use encryption on all of my important emails.
Max
There was a city I once lived in where local government officials, contrary to public meetings laws, secretly exchanged emails on how they would "block-vote" on certain issues and set their standard responses in advance of actual meetings in order to present a united front to the press and embarrass the minority on the council. They also used this behind-the-scenes and *illegal* way of communicating to plan the firing of staff that didn't see things their way (and in one case, simply because the guy was Hispanic and they didn't like Hispanics).
Weeelll, now. A certain nameless employee caught wind of a rumor of a rumor of a rumor and surreptitiously obtained the admin password list, which just coincidentally gave a person access to all archived email passing back and forth between the councilors. This password list was provided to a semi-savvy press member who downloaded and printed off all of these emails which violated public meetings laws (and in that last case, laws against discrimination). All of this was illegal, of course, but what the councilors were doing was rather a step up - at least in my view. If you're one of Ashcrofts boys then the employee and press member should no doubt be shot.
Without this bit of hacking the councilors would've gotten away scot-free. Because of it two resigned and the rest were soundly defeated six months later in elections. The employee managed to conceal his identity and no sane person would try to convict the press member of a crime.
Sometimes, just sometimes, there really *are* good guys who hack (or crack, if you're anal about it) systems....
Max
The full text of the Fourth Amendment:
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
Please note that the first clause guarrantees the security of all people in their property and effects. This has been interpreted by the Supreme Court as an undeniable right to privacy.
Max
The record companies are doing a lot more than protecting their investment. They are intentionally crippling their product in a way that infringes on your fair use rights. They have no right to do that. They are trying to control how you use their product. They have no right to do that. Heh.. not yet anyway, but watch them buy a few more laws.
Microsoft is doing alot more than protecting its investment...it's trying to control how you use its product. It has no right to do that. Surely it doesn't.
If money buys laws and the RIAA has more money than MS (which it does), aren't we actually renting cds in much the same way as we rent software from MS? Isn't that the whole idea of IP? That you don't actually buy anything anymore, but that you rent it on the terms of the company that provides the product, terms that can be altered at any time?
Max
A little correction is in order. First of all, if you're attending a state school you *do* pay for your education; it's called 'student loans' and you tend to rack up quite a bill at the end of four or five years, even if you're in-state. On top of that comes 'taxes' after you become a productive citizen, and these taxes over time will amount to *several times* what your college education actually cost (gotta pay for all that 'overhead', after all).
/.
Doesn't matter if you move to a different state. You pay for that college system, the guy who moved from that state to yours foots your bill. The only way you get out of this is by becoming a citizen in another country. It has to be this way, else the state university system would collapse within the first generation from bankruptcy (Economics 101, people - think about where the money is coming from).
There is no 'gift' involved unless you get a scholarship of some sort.
And you pay for whatever the fuck you want to pay for. To be taught, to sleep in the back row, to piss away the day at a pool hall drinking brews instead of listening to an incredible dull exam in some required course. You're 18, you make that decision - not some yahoo on
And no, no professor has the *right* to hold your hand. Don't be a goddamned idiot. If you think otherwise, please point out the law that gives that professor the 'right'. Or how about the contract you signed upon becoming a student at that school (that's right, there is no contract).
Max
Regardless, everyone who attends college is 18 or over, making them legal adults. If you think chatting or doing email in class is rude, displaying those private messages on the screen before the class warrants a five-fingered sandwich to that professor's mouth. That in and of itself dwarfs any amount of rudeness caused by students who tap away at keyboards.
And if a professor finds a student disruptive, he has the right (if he has the balls) to tell them to leave. Simple as that. Problem solved, no money required. Perhaps if professors started growing backbones and exerting a bit of authority, making a few examples, this wimpout solution wouldn't be required.
Max
I do know about it since it happened to me. And I've seen more than one company hire some half-assed idiot to 'program' because, it turns out, just about everyone else was also a half-assed idiot.
When I was doing the independent programmer shtick for large corporations I was astounded at the amount of sheer stupidity present on most programming teams. Most of these guys could talk the talk but just couldn't walk the walk. Funny thing is, this was *not* true in any of the game companies I came to know (all of those guys, without exception, were truly excellent at their jobs).
Max
Scott Bakula...a real command figure if there ever was one. Yessiree, I can't wait for the ol' half-baked Quantum Leap dude to show us just what a cutting, decisive figure he makes sitting in the captains chair.
Somehow, I get the feeling that this series is going to be even worse than Voyager was. And that, geek-heads, is a hard thing to do.
Max
Why should such a movement be inclusive? What good is a movement that attempts moderation to the point of diluted non-focus?
Put together an organization with views that fit roughly 70% of those expressed by the slashdotters here. Tell the other 30% to screw themselves or to start their own organization. Now you have a political force that's actually political, rather than one that wastes all of its time on internal flamage or mediation.
Here's some 'starter' positions for those of you who can't seem to adopt any of your own:
- Microsoft is tangible evidence of evil and must be destroyed, in the name of Linux and our reluctant messiah Linus Torvalds; or
- Windows is the holy writ of the Great Bill, who deserves our undying devotion and worshipful admiration. All hail the Great Bill! Down with anti-trust legistlation!
Another position:
- the DCMA and it's ilk are sure signs that America is devolving into a dictatorship and that the Constitution is on it's death-bed. Information must be free! Except for our own, of course.
- the DCMA and similar legislation make investors huge chunks of money on the flimsiest of claims. But since I have stock in some company that's filed a ludicrous IP patent, all those free software folks should be put up against the wall and shot! Hoowah!
Or perhaps this:
- Encryption is only used by criminals. What *real* American has secrets? What are YOU afraid of the government finding out? Got porn of teenage girls on your computer. Huh? Huh? Do ya? Do ya feel lucky, punk?
- Encryption is an outgrowth of the First Amendment right to privacy. People have a claim to this right without the need to justify this claim. Hell, I only use cash, am completely 'off the grid', wear a diguise when I buy my groceries, and shoot anyone who trespasses on my property. And I'll shoot anyone who tries to take my rights, too!
You get the idea. Plenty of flaky extremists here. It'd be easy to find some common button-pushing denominators for 70% of this crowd.
Max
I used to write Perl programs for web sites. During that time I freely posted my programs to various Perl sites for others to use, hack, or modify.
Some time after I started doing this I learned that a chap who works for a large, nameless company had been stealing my work and misrepresenting it as his own. Why when he had my permission to use it anyway? Because apparently he wasn't as good as he thought he was and was trying to convince management that he could actually code by submitting my work as his own.
LACK OF ABILITY was this guy's reason for taking code and removing the header containing my copyright. Perhaps the same bug bit some Redhatter in the ass at crunch time.
Max
wrong, wrong, and wrong. Left paranoia and the lies of anti-gun freaks deliberately mislead where handguns are concerned. Here are some statistics from the FBI in the U.S. on deaths in 1995 (my apologies for the dated material, I can't seem to find the later sets - but as I recall the numbers were roughly the same):
*Firearm Safety In The U.S., 1995*
The fatal firearms accident rate is now at an all-time low, down 82% since the all-time high recorded in 1904. The fatal firearms accident rate -- 0.6 fatal accidents per 100,000 persons in the U.S. population -- pales in comparison to rates for motorve hicle accidents (16.3), home accidents (8.7), other public accidents (7.8), and work-related accidents (3.5). ("Accident Facts: 1994 Edition," National Safety Council)
The annual number of fatal firearm accidents is at an all-time low, 1,409 in 1992, the most recent year for which exact data are available. (National Center for Health Statistics)
Since 1930, the number of annual fatal firearms accidents has decreased 56% while the number of privately owned guns has quadrupled and the U.S. population has doubled. (National Center for Health Statistics; National Safety Council; Bureau of the Census; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms; and firearms industry reports)
Firearms accidents account for a small percentage of the 86,777 fatal accidents among the U.S. population in 1992: (National Center for Health Statistics, latest data)
* Motor Vehicles -- 40,982 (47%)
* Falls -- 12,646 (15%)
* Poisoning -- 7,082 (8%)
* Fires -- 3,958 (5%)
* Drowning -- 3,524 (4%)
* Suffocation, ingested object, -- 3,128,(4%)
* Medical Mistakes -- 2,669 (3%)
* Firearms -- 1,409 (1.6%)
* Other -- 11,379 (13%)
Since 1975, fatal firearms accidents among children have decreased 60%. (National Safety Council)
Firearm accidents accounted for a small percentage of the 6,674 fatal accidents among children 0-14 years of age in 1992: (National Center for Health Statistics, latest data)
* Motor Vehicles -- 2,924 (44%)
* Drowning -- 992 (15%)
* Fire -- 984 (15%)
* Suffocation, ingested object -- 237 (4%)
* Firearm -- 216 (3%)
* Falls -- 140 (2%)
* Medical -- 101 (2%)
* Poison -- 89 (1%)
* Other -- 991 (15%)
The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which uses taxpayers' money to fund anti-gun "studies," claims that registration and licensing of cars and drivers caused fatal motor vehicle accidents to decline between 1968-1991, and that re gistration and licensing of guns and gun owners would reduce firearms accidents. The truth is, however, between 1968-1991, the fatal firearms accident rate dropped 50%, the greatest decline among major accident types. By comparison, the fatal motor vehicle rate dropped the least, only 37%. The work-related accident rate dropped 49%, the home accident rate dropped 41%, and the public non-motor vehicle rate dropped 38%. Vehicle registration and driver licensing were imposed before World War II, to gener ate revenue, not reduce accidents. Motor vehicle fatal accident rates didn't begin to decline until 1970. (National Safety Council)
Of further interest was an FBI study in 1995 which claimed that at least 800,000, and possibly as many as 1.6 million, crimes were prevented each year because the intended victim was armed with a handgun or rifle. In all of these cases the gun was only discharged approximately 2% of the time, and generally as a method to warn off or scare off criminals (e.g., into the air or wall to encourage a mugger or burglar that the victim can and will use the firearm, thus motivating them to leave the scene posthaste). Fewer than one-tenth of one percent of these incidents actually involved an intended victim wounding or killing the criminal, *even if the criminal himself were armed with a gun*.
The handgun is indeed a protective measure, as evidenced by data collected by the FBI (an agency not known for it's pro-2nd Amendment stance). Furthermore, the statistics above clearly show that motor vehicles, drownings, and even falls kill more people than guns do.
Should we therefore ban cars and ladders? Or how about backyard pools, which have no useful or necessary purpose whatsoever?
Max
It's never that straightforward. You also have to factor in the cost of constant upgrades associated with Windows, especially if you go the XP route and are virtually forced into it on a semi-regular basis. These upgrades *always* decrease productivity for the first few months and tech support isn't fully up to speed for at least six months, perhaps a year (e.g., the Win 3.1 to Win 95 shift).
Don't even get me started on all those 'upgrade' training sessions where you try to explain to employees that keystroke A or menu B will no longer do the thing/have the option that they're used to; now it's keystroke C or menu D. Why? Hell if we know; MS has never been a fan of logic or continuity.
With Linux none of this is true. Switch over once, change software if and when you see fit, with said software costing nothing.
Max
That isn't just Joe Sixpack. That's also Marvin the Hacker with 25 years of programming under his belt. Hey, not all of us want to learn the trivia of our operating systems; we just want the goddamn things to install and work as they should with minimal effort so we can get onto the things that make us money and buy us toys.
I don't play with Linux because I *like* screwing around with bad installation procedures or hacking config files; I do so because if the shit hits the fan I can generally fix the problem and get on with life, which isn't true with Windows. The more I can ignore the details and do serious, money-making things (or not-so-serious, game-playing things) the happier I am. And the first person who makes a brain-dead install for Linux on the order of Windows will be the one who truly starts Linux spreading across the desktop.
There's no reason why we can't have it both ways, especially not under Linux.
Max
Jesus H. Christ - an "assault designed to change the purpose of government"??? With government defining the meaning of "assault"? Doesn't anyone else have a problem with this?
I often speak out against my government, primarily because I think it's violated the Constitution, and continues to violate the Constitution, on a regular basis. I think my politicians are assholes and sellouts and I'm not afraid to advocate kicking their sorry asses out on the street and replacing them. I believe the Constitution needs to be amended and that our government needs to be *radically* restructured.
With government deciding what constitutes assault, will I be hauled off to jail for life for strongly advocating acts "designed to change the purpose of government"? After all, digital expression is often seen as a crime these days, and according to Congress my expression doesn't deserve the same protections online that it does in real life.
Ashcroft and King George - Christ, but what a lousy time to be an American.
Max
Imagine if business did dump all of it's IIS servers and replaced them with Apache - how many 'point and click' admins would suddenly be unemployed?
I mean christ, I hear people complaining about how complicated Apache is in comparison to IIS and I think to myself "if you can't figure this shit out, you have no business being a network admin because YOU'RE TOO STUPID TO DO THE JOB!".
Seriously, any network admin that bitches about Apache (which is bloody easy to use, in comparison to most previous tools) is too fucking braindead to be let anywhere near a server. Switching to Apache would at least show an organization where some of its dead weight is in the IS department.
Max
three components, four components, ten components - regardless almost it's beyond belief that people will put up with shit like this. Almost. But I read /. so I know just how many people dream of a good porkin' by Bill.
If you weren't aware that you don't own Windows but rather rent it, and on lousy terms, before XP, you'll sure as hell figure it out now.
Max
Do you honestly think the Mormons, the most bigoted, uptight, hateful group of Christians in existence, wouldn honestly allow this?
Max
- I used to watch 'The Jetsons' all the time, but I knew that we were not going to have flying cars in my lifetime. -
www.moller.com/skycar/
Max
Oh yes, the fact that you can install a GUI somehow makes it a Windows wannabe? Since when is a GUI a Windows innovation? Or have you forgotten where MS stole the idea from?
Max
It's only (possibly) a good thing if it isn't the default.
But luckily for me I use Linux and don't have to worry about some future version of Windows making these decisions for me. And if the Linux folks start snorting the same crack that the MS folks seem to have a taste for, I can just rewrite the code to suit myself.
Max
Born and bred an American I'm getting more and more cynical about my fellow citizens inclinations to actually uphold the Constitution (assuming that anything more than a small percentage of them even know the basics of the Bill of Rights).
Does anyone know of a nation that truly allows and fanatically supports:
- freedom of speech
- freedom of assembly
- a right to privacy
- freedom of religion and freedom *from* religion
- freedom to own firearms
and opposes all measures which attempts to strip away these rights? Someday soon I'm going to have a child and I'm becoming less and less sure I want that child growing up in America.
Max
Democrats, Republicans - they're all politicians, the same sort of scumbags with trivial differences.
I'd go for electronic democracy any day of the week; at least that way I'd know I'm being screwed over by a majority of my fellow citizens, rather than a few bought-and-paid-for lackeys.
Max
Next you're going to tell me that MS employs geniuses in its OS department. Or that Windows is actually more robust than Linux.
Please, explain to me how the few hundred programmers at Redmond are in any way capable of equalling the thousands, even tens of thousands, of folks who work on Linux.
And personally I haven't seen that much open source software that "just sucks fucking dick". However, I can name quite a few programs written for Windows - and that people charge money for - that reallly blow. No small number of these were written by MS itself.
Finally, you imply that "none of the people know what they're doing" who work on Linux. Why don't you explain that for the benefit of the audience?
School - straw man. Apparently you missed a necessary Debate class or two.
Max
What fucking world do you live in? Have you ever *worked* in the corporate world? Regardless of your ludicrous claims concerning margins and the need to make a profit, many of the people in *any* large corporation, programmer or not, are dead weight. Worse, they're intellectually restrained by the corporation itself which insists that things be done a certain way regardless of whether or not they make economic sense. The larger the cash cushion of a corporation, the more idiotic demands it can enforce prior to going bankrupt.
As for a larger pool of programmers producing better product, that's a statistical likelihood in any activity. The more brains on the ball, on average the more improved the end product will be. Don't be a fucking moron by insisting otherwise.
Finally, learn how to spell. Or at least use a spell-checker, for gods sake.
Tom
Yeah, it's also pretty amusing when some trolling MS clone just dying to give ol' Bill the blowjob of his life posts his own anecdotal contrived bullshit.
Why don't you just bend over and let the Big Boy ream you good and hard? Seems it's what you're begging for.
Max