The only people who consider mormons Christians are mormons. As my favorite History of Christianity prof used to say - (my paraphrase) - 'Take a look at all the Christians through the history of Christianity. Find what they have in common, discard what they don't. Then you will have what defines Christianity.' Using such an approach one finds that mormonism does not fit the definition.
Interestingly enough it bothers many mormons when someone challenges their attempt to redefine the term Christian-- it also bothers them if you call the polygamist mormons, mormons. Go figure.
The entire crux of his argument is that people liked Star Trek because they had never read any sci-fi and they just didn't know there was better. What a load of crap.
I'm no expert on it either-- but I am uncomfortable with some company holding a lot of information about my habits. These concerns are based on what I think might happen or could be possible with rfid.
I am not a hard core personal liberties type person. I am pretty mellow. It's like that with the gun thing that spun off this same thread. I enjoy living where I can own a gun but I don't get carried away with it all. Anyway- that's my little disclaimer.
What I worry about is that companies, agencies, whatever you want to think about, already have all this information. Then they start adding the places that I go, when I go there, what I buy. It becomes more and more difficult for there to be things about me that only I know. Identity theft is already trivial. To me this just makes it worse.
Here's another little scenario. I have a friend who wears an insulin pump. Lets say at some point those pumps have a chip that can be read and he goes into interviews and they are reading that chipping and he isn't getting jobs because he is a diabetic with the associated costs?
Often RFID is presented with the picture of a person walking into a store-- picking up some items and walking out. The store automatically detects what they have picked up, who they are, and charges them for it. Of course if the store can remotely scan who you are - so can someone else. And then they can go buy a bunch of stuff as you.
I don't know how it will all pan out. I'm not against it all. What started this whole thread for me was the idea that it's o.k. if you track stuff and not people. But really - unless you walk around naked all the time, that is just not a realistic approach in my eyes. When you are tracking stuff, you are tracking people.
I'm not against tracking criminals - I'm all for it. But I don't like my personal stuff being tracked by a whole host of different identities. My concerns are with the government but even more so corporations. And I am just as concerned about their inability to protect what they collect as what they may do with it themselves.
The volume of data on everyone is too much but when it gets split up into manageable chunks amongst all these entities I believe there is real cause for concern. And I'm not just talking about freedom. I am talking about personal security.
The tools are available to make your own bullets. I'd say this is less common but is done. It makes more sense for folks who use black powder (not a favorite of the criminal type) but the overall point is - circumvention of this kind of thing is trivial to the point of being pointless.
Jacketed rounds also expand. Through and through is not a desirable outcome. Much of the stopping power of a firearm comes from the damage done when a bullet imparts its energy to the target. A bullet passing right through does much less damage.
Primarily all ammunition is designed to mushroom on contact with flesh except for the stuff not designed for civilian use. Armor piercing.
But I would be willing to wager that most guns used in crimes are not purchased legally. This is the root problem of most gun control legislation. It is an attempt to stop certain activities which are already illegal by making them more illegal. It doesn't make a lot of sense to me.
The bullet thing has a lot of problems. As has been mentioned above a lot of people reload. It is a huge hobby. You would have to make the practice illegal to ensure all bullets were tagged.
There would also be the question of why RFID? I'm assuming they don't work well when encased in lead. So I would think just sticking some identifying 'thing' in the lead would work.
And whatever you add to bullets had best not interfere with them functioning properly. And not all bullets are big so that is another issue. Not to mention things like buck shot.
I'm a gun owner. (concealed weapons permit, hunter all that stuff) I personally don't have a problem with having a way to track ownership of bullets. It would be as much a tool to track innocence as guilt. And I think way too many people are not responsible gun owners. So if someone can come up to solutions to the hurdles I wouldn't be against it-- but the hurdles are not trivial.
Has latin roots-- maybe that's why the similarity.
On an unrelated note: All my ancestors were dutch. If you see any of them around tell them I said 'Hi' and the whole move to U.S. thing seems to have worked out o.k. Where I grew up the saying was 'If you're not dutch, you're not much'.
Tagging items in bulk to facilitate inventory and shipping makes sense. Tagging individual items and keeping such items active after procurement by individuals is essentially the same as tagging the individual.
What you are saying is-- people need not worry about being tracked if they just don't own anything.
I don't like the idea of my tires containing RFID chips and the government being able to record where I go. I most certainly don't like the idea of tags in my clothes- and retailers building huge stores of data about where I am, when I am there and what I do.
Shouldn't let it bug me but it is. Over half the highly modded comments in this thread are like this one. The article says nothing about doing this to 'sex offenders' in general.
The article states that this law applies to '...people convicted of certain sex crimes against children 11 and younger...'
I like your idea that such people be incarcerated until cured - of course what that means in the vast majority of these cases is a life sentence with no parole. How economically feasible is that?
of morally differentiating between various crimes? Do you not find that the difference in the damage done between say a thief and a child molester warrants different treatment? Do the objective studies showing an incredibly high recidivism rate for sex offenders not impact how you view this?
Based on your side not and making guesses about your opinions -- are you also as opposed to euthanasia due to the same types of concerns in regards to where it will stop?
You have to be kidding. People in the modern world tend to use and need a lot of things. Saying 'Don't tag people - tag things' is meaningless in reality. Using guns and bullets as an example probably appeals to a certain segment but change it to automobiles, books, clothes, etc. Now that is a slippery slope. Whereas monitoring people who are extremely likely to offend again in a likewhile manner makes all kinds of sense.
Recidivism is the word you are looking for. For some interesting info. on recidivism amongst sex offenders you can read many things. I found this to be interesting.
I can only hope its more than that and they'll try to buy off every blogger. Man I could use some more cash. I mean come on.
Unfortunately this will be just for the big boys. Gonna have to start watching Wheaton's site. With all the vet bills and mac troubles lately I expect his next release from O'Reilly will now be "Lovin' Longhorn" or something like that. Don't blame him a bit.
Yesterday I ran the little 'check for updates now' deal and apparently there were some for firefox itself as it downloaded the whole installer, ran through the whole thing and reset my home page.
Do these downloads count? If so-- then every time there is an update you are really ramping up your numbers due to current users getting it.
That's my point. I mean-- I can just imagine the swath of destruction I'd be responsible for if my mindstorm creations were made out of something other than legos and allowed to roam outdoors.
I picture the one that was supposed to push the loose bricks outside the black lines, without leaving the lines itself. Now- as a real snow plow, well I guess I'd have had to work the defense in a fight to get life as opposed to the death penalty.
I can't imagine the submitter did not intentionally choose examples of robots roaming about with blades and lots of power. The safety issues are tremendous. I don't mind when some new OS program dives on my laptop, but I'd rather not have a couple tons of snow-plow do so in my neighborhood.
Then again-- the platform may be open, but not everybody can afford that kind of hardware. Snowplows anyway-- lawn mowers are a whole different matter. How many geeks will be trying to get just a little more mileage out of that old 286 and end up killing the neighbor's cat?
You are right -- if it were to be open and if the cost of the shells drops below the cost of a fully functioning thing that it emulates. Otherwise it will never go anyhere. I'm leaning in that direction. I think this would have been killer around 10 years ago.
I'm trying too-- but the only way I can see it making a lot of sense is if the shells get to be a lot cheaper than what they replace. If the PDA shell costs more than a full-on PDA it just doesn't make sense. If the laptop shell costs more than a laptop.... you get the idea.
A laptop with a docking station covers 90% of what this would do without all that cost. In fact you can get a more powerful laptop for less than the core alone.
The idea seems to have grown from a need that just doesn't exist anymore. Especially as wireless becomes more and more common. Why carry around a 'core' when I can sync by walking in the room where my base station lives? Oh and I mixed words with numbers in my orginal post and it is 4,000 for all the parts, not 3. So it's just crazy.
The cost is not prohibitive in that many wont be able to afford it but prohibitive in that it just does not make sense. You don't gain anything but you pay a lot more. The core is around $2000. Then the docking station is another $200. The laptop shell is $800. The tablet shell is another grand. So you are paying 3 grand for a laptop, tablet and a docking station. (and you've still got to pay for a monitor and input devices for the desktop part) For that I can buy a laptop, a tablet and probably a touch more for a desktop.
Portable storage is dirt cheap and convenient. So I'm not sure what I would gain. If it were difficult to move data between those types of devices I could really see the appeal. But it's not hard to do anymore. I'd rather just buy the full blown version of each component for quite a bit less (if you got the same processor, etc.).
I'm not aware of a solution to your exact problem. But based on previous experience if someone wants a submission accepted, wait a couple months and ask this question again.
Sad-- seemed like it was just yesterday when that went up. (and by sad, I mean on my part) And all sarcasm aside-- there's more info. there should someone want to look.
It's like shooting fish in a barrel-- though this +5 wont last long because some dolt will mod me down as overrated since the whole frigging thing is so freaking obvious. As evidenced by all the poor slobs who posted the exact same thing but hit submit milliseconds after me.
I do think the article is interesting-- but the summary at the top of the thread looks like it was trying to hit the right buttons to get the green-light. Shoot, it worked.
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The only people who consider mormons Christians are mormons. As my favorite History of Christianity prof used to say - (my paraphrase) - 'Take a look at all the Christians through the history of Christianity. Find what they have in common, discard what they don't. Then you will have what defines Christianity.' Using such an approach one finds that mormonism does not fit the definition.
Interestingly enough it bothers many mormons when someone challenges their attempt to redefine the term Christian-- it also bothers them if you call the polygamist mormons, mormons. Go figure.
He's not a Christian - he is a Mormon.
The entire crux of his argument is that people liked Star Trek because they had never read any sci-fi and they just didn't know there was better. What a load of crap.
It's like a train wreck-- I wont want to look but later I'll be back to see the poor windows/crash jokes.
I'm no expert on it either-- but I am uncomfortable with some company holding a lot of information about my habits. These concerns are based on what I think might happen or could be possible with rfid.
I am not a hard core personal liberties type person. I am pretty mellow. It's like that with the gun thing that spun off this same thread. I enjoy living where I can own a gun but I don't get carried away with it all. Anyway- that's my little disclaimer.
What I worry about is that companies, agencies, whatever you want to think about, already have all this information. Then they start adding the places that I go, when I go there, what I buy. It becomes more and more difficult for there to be things about me that only I know. Identity theft is already trivial. To me this just makes it worse.
Here's another little scenario. I have a friend who wears an insulin pump. Lets say at some point those pumps have a chip that can be read and he goes into interviews and they are reading that chipping and he isn't getting jobs because he is a diabetic with the associated costs?
Often RFID is presented with the picture of a person walking into a store-- picking up some items and walking out. The store automatically detects what they have picked up, who they are, and charges them for it. Of course if the store can remotely scan who you are - so can someone else. And then they can go buy a bunch of stuff as you.
I don't know how it will all pan out. I'm not against it all. What started this whole thread for me was the idea that it's o.k. if you track stuff and not people. But really - unless you walk around naked all the time, that is just not a realistic approach in my eyes. When you are tracking stuff, you are tracking people.
I'm not against tracking criminals - I'm all for it. But I don't like my personal stuff being tracked by a whole host of different identities. My concerns are with the government but even more so corporations. And I am just as concerned about their inability to protect what they collect as what they may do with it themselves.
The volume of data on everyone is too much but when it gets split up into manageable chunks amongst all these entities I believe there is real cause for concern. And I'm not just talking about freedom. I am talking about personal security.
The tools are available to make your own bullets. I'd say this is less common but is done. It makes more sense for folks who use black powder (not a favorite of the criminal type) but the overall point is - circumvention of this kind of thing is trivial to the point of being pointless.
Jacketed rounds also expand. Through and through is not a desirable outcome. Much of the stopping power of a firearm comes from the damage done when a bullet imparts its energy to the target. A bullet passing right through does much less damage.
Primarily all ammunition is designed to mushroom on contact with flesh except for the stuff not designed for civilian use. Armor piercing.
But I would be willing to wager that most guns used in crimes are not purchased legally. This is the root problem of most gun control legislation. It is an attempt to stop certain activities which are already illegal by making them more illegal. It doesn't make a lot of sense to me.
The bullet thing has a lot of problems. As has been mentioned above a lot of people reload. It is a huge hobby. You would have to make the practice illegal to ensure all bullets were tagged.
There would also be the question of why RFID? I'm assuming they don't work well when encased in lead. So I would think just sticking some identifying 'thing' in the lead would work.
And whatever you add to bullets had best not interfere with them functioning properly. And not all bullets are big so that is another issue. Not to mention things like buck shot.
I'm a gun owner. (concealed weapons permit, hunter all that stuff) I personally don't have a problem with having a way to track ownership of bullets. It would be as much a tool to track innocence as guilt. And I think way too many people are not responsible gun owners. So if someone can come up to solutions to the hurdles I wouldn't be against it-- but the hurdles are not trivial.
Has latin roots-- maybe that's why the similarity.
On an unrelated note: All my ancestors were dutch. If you see any of them around tell them I said 'Hi' and the whole move to U.S. thing seems to have worked out o.k. Where I grew up the saying was 'If you're not dutch, you're not much'.
The article states that this law is specifically talking about tracking adults convicted of molesting children under 11 years old.
Tagging items in bulk to facilitate inventory and shipping makes sense. Tagging individual items and keeping such items active after procurement by individuals is essentially the same as tagging the individual.
What you are saying is-- people need not worry about being tracked if they just don't own anything.
I don't like the idea of my tires containing RFID chips and the government being able to record where I go. I most certainly don't like the idea of tags in my clothes- and retailers building huge stores of data about where I am, when I am there and what I do.
Shouldn't let it bug me but it is. Over half the highly modded comments in this thread are like this one. The article says nothing about doing this to 'sex offenders' in general.
The article states that this law applies to '...people convicted of certain sex crimes against children 11 and younger...'
I like your idea that such people be incarcerated until cured - of course what that means in the vast majority of these cases is a life sentence with no parole. How economically feasible is that?
of morally differentiating between various crimes? Do you not find that the difference in the damage done between say a thief and a child molester warrants different treatment? Do the objective studies showing an incredibly high recidivism rate for sex offenders not impact how you view this?
Based on your side not and making guesses about your opinions -- are you also as opposed to euthanasia due to the same types of concerns in regards to where it will stop?
You have to be kidding. People in the modern world tend to use and need a lot of things. Saying 'Don't tag people - tag things' is meaningless in reality. Using guns and bullets as an example probably appeals to a certain segment but change it to automobiles, books, clothes, etc. Now that is a slippery slope. Whereas monitoring people who are extremely likely to offend again in a likewhile manner makes all kinds of sense.
Recidivism is the word you are looking for. For some interesting info. on recidivism amongst sex offenders you can read many things. I found this to be interesting.
I can only hope its more than that and they'll try to buy off every blogger. Man I could use some more cash. I mean come on.
Unfortunately this will be just for the big boys. Gonna have to start watching Wheaton's site. With all the vet bills and mac troubles lately I expect his next release from O'Reilly will now be "Lovin' Longhorn" or something like that. Don't blame him a bit.
that's good. thanks for the info.
Yesterday I ran the little 'check for updates now' deal and apparently there were some for firefox itself as it downloaded the whole installer, ran through the whole thing and reset my home page.
Do these downloads count? If so-- then every time there is an update you are really ramping up your numbers due to current users getting it.
That's my point. I mean-- I can just imagine the swath of destruction I'd be responsible for if my mindstorm creations were made out of something other than legos and allowed to roam outdoors.
I picture the one that was supposed to push the loose bricks outside the black lines, without leaving the lines itself. Now- as a real snow plow, well I guess I'd have had to work the defense in a fight to get life as opposed to the death penalty.
I can't imagine the submitter did not intentionally choose examples of robots roaming about with blades and lots of power. The safety issues are tremendous. I don't mind when some new OS program dives on my laptop, but I'd rather not have a couple tons of snow-plow do so in my neighborhood.
Then again-- the platform may be open, but not everybody can afford that kind of hardware. Snowplows anyway-- lawn mowers are a whole different matter. How many geeks will be trying to get just a little more mileage out of that old 286 and end up killing the neighbor's cat?
You are right -- if it were to be open and if the cost of the shells drops below the cost of a fully functioning thing that it emulates. Otherwise it will never go anyhere. I'm leaning in that direction. I think this would have been killer around 10 years ago.
I'm trying too-- but the only way I can see it making a lot of sense is if the shells get to be a lot cheaper than what they replace. If the PDA shell costs more than a full-on PDA it just doesn't make sense. If the laptop shell costs more than a laptop.... you get the idea.
A laptop with a docking station covers 90% of what this would do without all that cost. In fact you can get a more powerful laptop for less than the core alone.
The idea seems to have grown from a need that just doesn't exist anymore. Especially as wireless becomes more and more common. Why carry around a 'core' when I can sync by walking in the room where my base station lives? Oh and I mixed words with numbers in my orginal post and it is 4,000 for all the parts, not 3. So it's just crazy.
The cost is not prohibitive in that many wont be able to afford it but prohibitive in that it just does not make sense. You don't gain anything but you pay a lot more. The core is around $2000. Then the docking station is another $200. The laptop shell is $800. The tablet shell is another grand. So you are paying 3 grand for a laptop, tablet and a docking station. (and you've still got to pay for a monitor and input devices for the desktop part) For that I can buy a laptop, a tablet and probably a touch more for a desktop.
Portable storage is dirt cheap and convenient. So I'm not sure what I would gain. If it were difficult to move data between those types of devices I could really see the appeal. But it's not hard to do anymore. I'd rather just buy the full blown version of each component for quite a bit less (if you got the same processor, etc.).
I'm not aware of a solution to your exact problem. But based on previous experience if someone wants a submission accepted, wait a couple months and ask this question again.
Sad-- seemed like it was just yesterday when that went up. (and by sad, I mean on my part) And all sarcasm aside-- there's more info. there should someone want to look.
It's like shooting fish in a barrel-- though this +5 wont last long because some dolt will mod me down as overrated since the whole frigging thing is so freaking obvious. As evidenced by all the poor slobs who posted the exact same thing but hit submit milliseconds after me.
I do think the article is interesting-- but the summary at the top of the thread looks like it was trying to hit the right buttons to get the green-light. Shoot, it worked.