That seems to have a ring of truth about it, though I've never been crazy about the idea of labeling roads "North/South" or "EastWest", etc.. because few roads actually maintain any consistent kind of vector, or, they often run diagonally. When it's 6pm, and the setting sun is right in your eyes and in front of you as you're driving down a road that claims to run North/South, it's a little disconcerting..
I think this might find applicability for amputees, and/or other disabled persons. Could be a boon for wounded vets, for example. ..though the tricky thing might be the initial setup, which seems to require a standard mouse at the very least.
I'm sure that's true, but there are also Brits who detest the quality of the NHS. My in-laws have good friends who live just outside London, and they voluntarily pay for their own health care, eschewing the NHS. They're not rich, they just feel the quality of the care is subpar, and they've said they hope America doesn't make the same mistake.
Really though, I don't think the real problem for US health care insurance is how it's paid for (private or gov't) it's simply that's its too damn expensive. There's no such thing as "free" health care, it's paid for somehow or other. There's far too much bloat and graft in the system, and having the US government -so well known for it's fiscal efficiency(sarc)- pay for it isn't likely to fix that, if anything, it'll exacerbate it.
Meh.. few countries, if any, have more "process" than America (the US). It's probably far more common that a guilty person gets off on a technicality than an innocent person gets sentenced, though it does happen.
-OTOH, most cases don't involve the CIA...
Because in the US, we have a choice between people who will ignore the constitution to build their utopian socialist welfare state, and people who will ignore the constitution to build their Christian-Industrial heaven-on-Earth.
Bingo! Well put, sir. We're between a rock and a hard place.
I don't think the GP ever implied that, his point was only that NATO/US doesn't kill "indiscriminately as they please", the allegation made by the GGP. Despite best intentions and planning, sadly, innocent casualties are bound to happen in war, the point being that the west generally does try to minimize them; the use of "smart" bombs over old fashioned carpet bombing tactics underscores that, and they cost a lot more money to use, too. I don't think anyone is deluding themselves into thinking only the bad guys are getting killed though. We like to use the term "surgical strike" these days, but even in surgery, often some healthy cells are killed along with the diseased ones.
But I agree with the GGP in that our current US pres swung into office by, among other things, badmouthing his predecessor's actions and decisions, but then essentially went and repeated a lot of those actions he found so objectionable while on the campaign trail; he not only escalated some of those preexisting things but also engaged the US in yet another mideast war.
Meant to add: I'm not convinced that native American Indians were ever really the environmentalists they're frequently made out to be in the modern day sense, I think that's a romanticized version; they were survivalists first and foremost; they had to make the most of the natural resources they found else starvation and exposure could set in - waste was not an option. They didn't have a lot of technology at their disposal to help either; they were essentially stone age peoples, they didn't smelt iron nor even bronze. They didn't even have horses until the Europeans brought them over; horses are/were not native to the Americas.
The main reason being, as I often assert, is that human nature is human nature. Doesn't matter if you're "green", or black, white, or red; or for that matter, republican, democrat, libertarian, labor, tory, communist, or socialist; doesn't matter if your heritage hails from the "noble savage" or the "evil white man", or any other race; human beings are intrinsically flawed and fallible, with both good and bad traits, no matter the culture, as of course are the systems they invent, but the real problem lies with the former (being human), not the latter. Not to say that we can't improve and socially evolve, but I think we're a long way off.
This is interesting because it creates a clash between the "greens" and the noble savage theorists. Lisa Simpson's head would explode.
I have to wonder, did this loon consider the consequences if he does disturb OBL's "grave"? I'm pretty sure there's a lot of muslims who wouldn't like kindly on that, avoidance of such being of the reasons the US claimed to have buried him that way in the first place. He'll wind up with a Fatwa on his ass so fast it'll make his head spin.
That's just disgusting, no matter how much processing is involved. Ugh. However, when you really think about it, it it all that terribly different from water treatment? The same water you drank today, brushed your teeth with, washed your dishes and clothes with, and showered in, is the essentially the same toilet water someone had diarrhea in two weeks ago. Still, I'll pass.
What would worry me though, is if 25 years from now the process is not only approved and being used in Japan but also underway in other countries such as mine as well, and that the FDA (and other organizations) allow it's use as "byproduct" to pad normal meat such as hamburger, where it could be mixed in; you might not even know it, or even have a choice, unless you got all your hamburger right from a butcher, which could get kinda pricey.
From what I've seen (and I could be wrong or have missed something because I looked this up quickly) this seems to be the key part:
A) the offense consists of 10 or more public
performances by electronic means, during any 180-day
period, of 1 or more copyrighted works; and
(B)(i) the total retail value of the
performances, or the total economic value of such
public performances to the infringer or to the
copyright owner, would exceed $2,500; or
(ii) the total fair market value of licenses to
offer performances of those works would exceed
$5,000;;
"Electronic means" seems fairly vague. Also, there seems to be both a minimum occurrence threshold, and a requirement for some monetary gain here.
Still, this has only been introduced to a committee, the majority of bills never make it past that stage. But it made me wonder, if at some point, congress will ever attempt to crack down on your average local cover band. For years I played in bands doing top 40 tunes, and never paid a penny royalties to the artists. It's a good way for aspiring musicians to get their feet wet.
Also, I didn't see this mentioned, the Bill was introduced by Senator Amy Klobuchar (D), and co-sponsored by Senator Christopher A. Coons (D) and Senator John Cornyn (R), if anyone feels like writing to them.
In a world where 'suicide' is legal, the government decides who has a 'right' to die, and adopts laws to hurry you along and out of the way.
I find your argument to be non sequitur. The idea isn't that the government gets to decide who dies, the idea of assisted/legal suicide is that YOU and you alone get to make that decision, no one else. That's kinda the difference between suicide, and murder. I don't see the slippery slope that's implied here. The individual should get to make the choice. As it is however, the government decides who *isn't allowed* to die, in a manner of speaking.. at least, with dignity.
Certain inalienable rights are granted to citizens and people, and control of your own fate should be one more of them, where "of your own fate" is key.
Best slashdot post I've read in a long while. The full name of advertising is, "Psychological manipulation and exploitation of insecurities to make a buck" (I'm not bothering to make an acronym outta that)
TFA may have a (very) small point in that the Internet, by bringing news from all around the world faster, has a large scale homogenous effect tending towards more global type stories with less localized focus; but much more significant, I think, is that the net also gives a voice to everyone, whether they're "qualified" -for lack of a better term- to make an accurate, objective news report or not.
It may not be what was meant by the article, but rumors, lies, urban legends, misunderstandings, and misquotes -as well as good information- are also spread around the world via the Internet at lightning speed and in record numbers, via social networking and email, and many people fail to question the "information" splashed across their monitor or withhold judgement until other perspectives are presented. There is no accountability, yet a lot of people will take a friend's email as gospel, particularly if their political or religious inclinations are aligned. It's unfortunate that too often, "news" that simply arrives first manages to establish an exclusive foothold against better, more thoroughly researched information.
So I'm not sure that Internet based, official news sources are a problem, but typical social networking presents issues of it's own - no matter which side of the aisle you prefer.
And yet, taking away the common people's voice is certainly unacceptable; but a simple willingness to evaluate or question information and it's source will go a long way towards better clarity.
I also have to disagree with TFA a bit on the grounds that a local TV station of mine is always looking into (and finding lots of) local corruption, such as the DRPA mess (Delaware River Port Authority). They're always doing investigative reporting.
Not to mention "Lucifer" is/was not Satan but a fallen Babylonian King; the mixup is accredited to a mistranslation or, rather, misinterpretation of St. Jerome.
http://www.lds-mormon.com/lucifer.shtml
All in all, none of the patents or applications discussed in TFA actually covers the gesture itself. Instead, they cover the technology used to recognize the gestures
You're raining on everyone's parade, you know that? Ssshhh... this is/., and want something we can be angry about
..if a standard, common practice like Pasteurization easily kills it off? Or maybe I just don't really understand the definition of a super bug. I understand once you're infected, it's damn hard to get rid of, but when it's so straightforward to kill off before ingestion, it doesn't sound so invulnerable.
Not one quip 'til now about a Flux Capacitor, or electric/hybrid cars that will be able to travel back in time?
It's a terrible pun, but they could rename the Prius to "Pre-us"....
Government, and religion. This is slashdot, where we blame religion for everything, but this time that is where the blame belongs. There's a lot of superstitious thought around - people who think human life is something magical and supernatural, which must be sustained by any means until the very last moment.
Very true -and rather ironic, considering most major religions adherents (Xtianity and Islam, at any rate) claim to believe in a wonderful afterlife, and often treat physical reality like it's some kind of toilet where everyone should suffer and practice loads of self-denial; then you get rewarded at the end. They want everyone to endure this as long as possible. Then there's the whole Catholic anti-suicide thing that automatically lands you in purgatory. Nice. It's tantamount to sado-masochism.
If we can't even own our own lives, then that would make us, essentially, slaves of the worst, most pathetic and helpless kind, and I'm not about to drop and worship what amounts to a sadistic slave-master god. People suffer enough already.
Who says that people with programming skills necessarily represent the "best" and most idealistic of their young men? Isn't that a tad biased?
Oh right, this is Slashdot.
Repeating short term, yes- El Nino/La Nina is a cyclic phenomena, and has been attributed to the outbreak of tornadoes this year. No such disaster should be "discarded from the mind" however.
Do you expect to see the same sort of tornado outbreak year after year from here on out?
Slashdot Mirror
That seems to have a ring of truth about it, though I've never been crazy about the idea of labeling roads "North/South" or "EastWest", etc.. because few roads actually maintain any consistent kind of vector, or, they often run diagonally. When it's 6pm, and the setting sun is right in your eyes and in front of you as you're driving down a road that claims to run North/South, it's a little disconcerting..
I think this might find applicability for amputees, and/or other disabled persons. Could be a boon for wounded vets, for example.
..though the tricky thing might be the initial setup, which seems to require a standard mouse at the very least.
I'm sure that's true, but there are also Brits who detest the quality of the NHS. My in-laws have good friends who live just outside London, and they voluntarily pay for their own health care, eschewing the NHS. They're not rich, they just feel the quality of the care is subpar, and they've said they hope America doesn't make the same mistake.
Really though, I don't think the real problem for US health care insurance is how it's paid for (private or gov't) it's simply that's its too damn expensive. There's no such thing as "free" health care, it's paid for somehow or other. There's far too much bloat and graft in the system, and having the US government -so well known for it's fiscal efficiency(sarc)- pay for it isn't likely to fix that, if anything, it'll exacerbate it.
Meh.. few countries, if any, have more "process" than America (the US). It's probably far more common that a guilty person gets off on a technicality than an innocent person gets sentenced, though it does happen.
-OTOH, most cases don't involve the CIA...
Because in the US, we have a choice between people who will ignore the constitution to build their utopian socialist welfare state, and people who will ignore the constitution to build their Christian-Industrial heaven-on-Earth.
Bingo! Well put, sir. We're between a rock and a hard place.
I don't think the GP ever implied that, his point was only that NATO/US doesn't kill "indiscriminately as they please", the allegation made by the GGP. Despite best intentions and planning, sadly, innocent casualties are bound to happen in war, the point being that the west generally does try to minimize them; the use of "smart" bombs over old fashioned carpet bombing tactics underscores that, and they cost a lot more money to use, too. I don't think anyone is deluding themselves into thinking only the bad guys are getting killed though. We like to use the term "surgical strike" these days, but even in surgery, often some healthy cells are killed along with the diseased ones.
But I agree with the GGP in that our current US pres swung into office by, among other things, badmouthing his predecessor's actions and decisions, but then essentially went and repeated a lot of those actions he found so objectionable while on the campaign trail; he not only escalated some of those preexisting things but also engaged the US in yet another mideast war.
Meant to add: I'm not convinced that native American Indians were ever really the environmentalists they're frequently made out to be in the modern day sense, I think that's a romanticized version; they were survivalists first and foremost; they had to make the most of the natural resources they found else starvation and exposure could set in - waste was not an option. They didn't have a lot of technology at their disposal to help either; they were essentially stone age peoples, they didn't smelt iron nor even bronze. They didn't even have horses until the Europeans brought them over; horses are/were not native to the Americas.
The main reason being, as I often assert, is that human nature is human nature. Doesn't matter if you're "green", or black, white, or red; or for that matter, republican, democrat, libertarian, labor, tory, communist, or socialist; doesn't matter if your heritage hails from the "noble savage" or the "evil white man", or any other race; human beings are intrinsically flawed and fallible, with both good and bad traits, no matter the culture, as of course are the systems they invent, but the real problem lies with the former (being human), not the latter. Not to say that we can't improve and socially evolve, but I think we're a long way off.
This is interesting because it creates a clash between the "greens" and the noble savage theorists. Lisa Simpson's head would explode.
Yes, living in a pineapple no less!
I have to wonder, did this loon consider the consequences if he does disturb OBL's "grave"? I'm pretty sure there's a lot of muslims who wouldn't like kindly on that, avoidance of such being of the reasons the US claimed to have buried him that way in the first place. He'll wind up with a Fatwa on his ass so fast it'll make his head spin.
That's just disgusting, no matter how much processing is involved. Ugh. However, when you really think about it, it it all that terribly different from water treatment? The same water you drank today, brushed your teeth with, washed your dishes and clothes with, and showered in, is the essentially the same toilet water someone had diarrhea in two weeks ago. Still, I'll pass.
What would worry me though, is if 25 years from now the process is not only approved and being used in Japan but also underway in other countries such as mine as well, and that the FDA (and other organizations) allow it's use as "byproduct" to pad normal meat such as hamburger, where it could be mixed in; you might not even know it, or even have a choice, unless you got all your hamburger right from a butcher, which could get kinda pricey.
A) the offense consists of 10 or more public performances by electronic means, during any 180-day period, of 1 or more copyrighted works; and
(B)(i) the total retail value of the performances, or the total economic value of such public performances to the infringer or to the copyright owner, would exceed $2,500; or
(ii) the total fair market value of licenses to offer performances of those works would exceed $5,000;;
"Electronic means" seems fairly vague. Also, there seems to be both a minimum occurrence threshold, and a requirement for some monetary gain here.
Still, this has only been introduced to a committee, the majority of bills never make it past that stage. But it made me wonder, if at some point, congress will ever attempt to crack down on your average local cover band. For years I played in bands doing top 40 tunes, and never paid a penny royalties to the artists. It's a good way for aspiring musicians to get their feet wet.
Also, I didn't see this mentioned, the Bill was introduced by Senator Amy Klobuchar (D), and co-sponsored by Senator Christopher A. Coons (D) and Senator John Cornyn (R), if anyone feels like writing to them.
Gesundheit!
They fart in your general direction.
Win-win. Nuclear energy AND natural gas!
In a world where 'suicide' is legal, the government decides who has a 'right' to die, and adopts laws to hurry you along and out of the way.
I find your argument to be non sequitur. The idea isn't that the government gets to decide who dies, the idea of assisted/legal suicide is that YOU and you alone get to make that decision, no one else. That's kinda the difference between suicide, and murder. I don't see the slippery slope that's implied here. The individual should get to make the choice. As it is however, the government decides who *isn't allowed* to die, in a manner of speaking.. at least, with dignity.
Certain inalienable rights are granted to citizens and people, and control of your own fate should be one more of them, where "of your own fate" is key.
Best slashdot post I've read in a long while. The full name of advertising is, "Psychological manipulation and exploitation of insecurities to make a buck" (I'm not bothering to make an acronym outta that)
TFA may have a (very) small point in that the Internet, by bringing news from all around the world faster, has a large scale homogenous effect tending towards more global type stories with less localized focus; but much more significant, I think, is that the net also gives a voice to everyone, whether they're "qualified" -for lack of a better term- to make an accurate, objective news report or not. It may not be what was meant by the article, but rumors, lies, urban legends, misunderstandings, and misquotes -as well as good information- are also spread around the world via the Internet at lightning speed and in record numbers, via social networking and email, and many people fail to question the "information" splashed across their monitor or withhold judgement until other perspectives are presented. There is no accountability, yet a lot of people will take a friend's email as gospel, particularly if their political or religious inclinations are aligned. It's unfortunate that too often, "news" that simply arrives first manages to establish an exclusive foothold against better, more thoroughly researched information.
So I'm not sure that Internet based, official news sources are a problem, but typical social networking presents issues of it's own - no matter which side of the aisle you prefer.
And yet, taking away the common people's voice is certainly unacceptable; but a simple willingness to evaluate or question information and it's source will go a long way towards better clarity.
I also have to disagree with TFA a bit on the grounds that a local TV station of mine is always looking into (and finding lots of) local corruption, such as the DRPA mess (Delaware River Port Authority). They're always doing investigative reporting.
Not to mention "Lucifer" is/was not Satan but a fallen Babylonian King; the mixup is accredited to a mistranslation or, rather, misinterpretation of St. Jerome. http://www.lds-mormon.com/lucifer.shtml
Neo-nerd
All in all, none of the patents or applications discussed in TFA actually covers the gesture itself. Instead, they cover the technology used to recognize the gestures
You're raining on everyone's parade, you know that? Ssshhh... this is /., and want something we can be angry about
..if a standard, common practice like Pasteurization easily kills it off? Or maybe I just don't really understand the definition of a super bug. I understand once you're infected, it's damn hard to get rid of, but when it's so straightforward to kill off before ingestion, it doesn't sound so invulnerable.
Not one quip 'til now about a Flux Capacitor, or electric/hybrid cars that will be able to travel back in time?
It's a terrible pun, but they could rename the Prius to "Pre-us"....
Government, and religion. This is slashdot, where we blame religion for everything, but this time that is where the blame belongs. There's a lot of superstitious thought around - people who think human life is something magical and supernatural, which must be sustained by any means until the very last moment.
Very true -and rather ironic, considering most major religions adherents (Xtianity and Islam, at any rate) claim to believe in a wonderful afterlife, and often treat physical reality like it's some kind of toilet where everyone should suffer and practice loads of self-denial; then you get rewarded at the end. They want everyone to endure this as long as possible. Then there's the whole Catholic anti-suicide thing that automatically lands you in purgatory. Nice. It's tantamount to sado-masochism.
If we can't even own our own lives, then that would make us, essentially, slaves of the worst, most pathetic and helpless kind, and I'm not about to drop and worship what amounts to a sadistic slave-master god. People suffer enough already.
Who says that people with programming skills necessarily represent the "best" and most idealistic of their young men? Isn't that a tad biased?
Oh right, this is Slashdot.
..or just pronounce it as it might have originally been:
Urr'-ahnoos, rather than "Your-anus" or even Urine-iss.
'sides, I think that sounds cooler.
That Daleks and Sonic Screwdrivers may cause cancer
..which could lead to re-tardis-ation ..
*groan*
Repeating short term, yes- El Nino/La Nina is a cyclic phenomena, and has been attributed to the outbreak of tornadoes this year. No such disaster should be "discarded from the mind" however.
Do you expect to see the same sort of tornado outbreak year after year from here on out?