I don't know if people want to completely ban tasers, but it's very clear that they're being misused, and overused. If that overuse can't be moderated, then -- yes I'd be inclined to ban them because it seems like (at least in Canada) that overuse is resulting in a good number of deaths in situations where guns would never have been considered, but it also seens rather rare that they're being used in situations where a gun would have been considered appropriate.
About a week ago, a taser apologist was on the CBC, iterating all of the cases where a police officer was unexpectedly killed on duty where pre-emptively tasering the subject might have saved his life. The list of such examples included a couple of cases where the cop was gunned down on what appeared to be a standard traffic stop.
In other words, if he gets his way, the next time you get pulled over for speeding, prepare to be 'preventively tasered' before the cop asks you for your license and registration.
He was hit by two tasers, but he took multiple jolts from the tasers. (at least four, as far as people can tell, possibly more).
Also, if you watch the video of the killing, you'll notice that he had his hands in the air in the international 'surrender' pose for a couple of seconds before he got tasered.
It's not likely to be that much of an impairment, as you're looking at the probability of a low-flying plane flying over what is essentially a moving mathematical point on the map. On the other hand, one such impact (especially by a small commuter plane on take-off/landing) could be very tragic.
Otherwise, sooner or later, some unlucky pilot is going to suddenly find his left wing clipped off while flying at 900ft. (possibly damaging the kite control lines, in the process).
Wreck beach is a popular clothing optional ("nude") beach near Vancouver (and almost within sight of the airport where Dziekanski was tasered to death. It's also a beach where the RCMP tend to be very pedantic about the law -- one of which is that the beach closes at sunset...
So, as they're often want to do, they started clearing the beach mere minutes after the sun had set.
One of the people they came across was someone who had fallen asleep. When they woke him up and told him to leave the beach, he was a bit groggy, and slow to gather his stuff, get dressed and leave.... so they tasered him.
Now, I don't think that a groggy (nearly) naked guy is the kind of situation where use of a baton would be considered reasonable force. I don't even think it would be considered reasonable to use a half-nelson on the guy. Hell, the only thing that they could do for him being too late on the beach was to give him a ticket.
|
But he was tasered.
My only explanation is that they intended the tasering exactly as torture -- and an exemplary action to other beach users that you quickly comply with orders to get off the beach at the stroke of sunset or else!
No, Ubuntu is the exception to the rule that (parallel) forks come from unhappy users.
One thing I do disagree with, however is your contention that an ideal fork would be 50/50. In my world, the best split would be most of the developers in one fork (usually the original) while the ones for whom the new fork is compelling and who do development for the critical elements of the (new) fork go there. That way, you'd end up with maximum cohesiveness for the whole project, and enough people in the new project to keep it 'alive'.
From Ubuntu's case, I'd also add a friendly cooperation between the two camps.
This is the time to start lobbying your presidental and congressional candidates and worker groups. If you get a handful of IT specialists and shop them around to the candidate who's attitude is most friendly to consumer issues in copyright, you'll really get their attention.
Candidates don't just need money (that's good too). They also need volunteers, and -- if they see people lobbying for volunteers to support pro-consumer candidates, they'll react to that.
This is where "Vote Early, Vote Often" actually applies.
The only real reason for successful forks is that you're not listening to the users and the developer community. If you're listening to the developers' comments, providing wanted changes and accepting good quality patches, then you're not going to face much in terms of parellel forks.
Ubuntu is an exception that proves the point. It went off in a very different direction than Debian. -- as such, I don't consider it as much a parallel fork as a symbiotic tangent.
If it's a lunch for you and your entire family, on the French Riviera, at a 5 star hotel, and you 'had to wait' 2 weeks for your dinner host to show up, and they hinted at 'looking forward to' another such 'friendly dinner' if... 'certain things happen',
then -- yeah. I think I would. Granted you have a bit more freedom in terms of what you do with $400K in cash, but some people would fall for the, uhnm, "dinner" too.
It really is all thinly veiled bribery -- it's just that you want to generate a certain plausible deniability should 'someone with an axe to grind' (e.g. the fraud squad) should come looking for evidence of illegal actoin.
You see, it's one thing to have a mysterious $300K deposit to your savings account just before you took an unusual action. It's something else to prove that 'a 1-hour dinner meeting' (after that 'impolite' 1 week wait on the Riviera) was bribery connected to that same unusual action... Similarly with that $400K 'marketing deal' that was 'entered into on it's own merits' (and only cost you $100K to fulfill on).
Yeah, the smoke and mirrors costs something, but it's alot cheaper than being involved in an messy bribery trial.
The only entities that are benefitting from this Iraq shitstorm are Al Qaeda (it's a fucking recruiting wet dream) and the guys like Halliburton, Blackwater, and all the other Military-Industrial Complex hangers-on. In other words, the radicals on either side -- 'people' who are completely willing to kill innocent civilians for their god (allah vs moola) and independent of any annoying morals.
(
Maralyn Monroe, considered by many to be the sexiest woman of the 20th century, wouldn't even make it past the receptionist of most of today's modeling agencies. )
Just because you're used to it, doesn't mean that it's been (and will remain) the standard for all time.
None of the countries has any problems with dual citizenship that is acquired by birth but none of them have any explicit rules about triple citizenship, so she checked on the parings....
US<->British == OK
US<->Canada == OK
Canada<->British =OK
So, it seems, that there's no problem with triple citizenship. (she did, however, have to do a good bit of other work to meet the full requirements of all the citizenships)
The simple fact is that all else being equal, the fatter a population is, the shorter its average lifespan. That was the myth -- the fact (or, rather, the theory that seems to fall out of this study) is that the longevity seems to be more like a bell curve -- If you're intensely underweight, you're more likely to die, and if you're intensely overweight, you're more likely to die.
The other proposal that seems to fall out of these stats is that the proper 'healthy' weight appears to be higher than what's being suggested right now.
I'm willing to bet that the 'correct' weights were promulgated based upon an (incredibly unscientific) eyeballing of what looked good... If you had a nice, esthetic, flat body and no 'spare' fat anywhere, then you were declared 'healthy'. I don't remember hearing any stories anywhere about studies that led to the determination of what was the 'correct' weight for people, so this seems like a reasonable expectation).
It's incredible what we'll accept as truth based on some authoritative-looking yahoo's say-so.
I have an ex-girlfriend with triple citizenship -- Us and Britain (which her parents were citizens of when she was born) and Canada (where she was born).
I had hoped that astronauts would be above this, but,... I've got two words for you: "Diaper driving".
Astronauts are, like the rest of us, very human with human foibles. They're no less likely to mess up than we are -- it's just that the results of such errors are multiplied by (if nothing else) the intense publicity (and, now, a legal limbo).
If this arguments works, then --
If renters sign a form that says that the landord can enter in the case of emergency, etc. to inspect the suite, fix a major problem, etc., then the police can piggy-back on that and simply 'ask' the landlord to 'do an inspection' and let them in.. There goes your 4th amendment rights. QED.
It would also imply that phone calls are no longer sacrosant, and necessary to get a subpoena, because all you have to do is (similarly) piggy-back on the repair crew's occasional need to listen in to (sometimes) semi-random lines to either find a given line or ensure that quality is up to snuff.
You don't have any proof that MS gave money for them to ditch Mandriva, do you? Well if, tomorrow morning you head outside to find your cat squashed flat, with tire tracks on it's head and back, and it's tail stuck under the rear tail of Steve Balmer's car, you don't have any proof of what happened, but -- absent another really good explanation for the available evidence, you're likely to be one of a very small and select group of people who wouldn't have a working theory that that your cat died as a result of being run over by Balmer.
I would also expect that you're one of a small, select group of people who are expecting a Christmas card and cheque (or some other 'token of our appreciation' ) from Balmer and company.
One of the comments notes that at least one drive had the same problem with Windows -- The difference is that, lacking ubiquitous SMART tools, Windows users would be much less likely to get to the source of the problem.
So, it comes down to: Ubuntu users were able to diagnose the problem, and have the tools to implement a workaround. Nix to either for Windows users -- they just need to remember to replace their drive once a year.
ALmost by definition -- if it can fit in your hand, it's not a supercomputer.
supercomputer
n : a mainframe computer that is one of the most powerful
available at a given time
If you can make a 100Gigaflop handheld computer, then the supercomputers will probably be in the petaflop range. Anything that can fit in the palm of your hand will almost certainly be scaled up or clustered to make the day's supercomputer. (unless you manage to build a 2-4 magnitude breakthrough in performance that sits in the palm of your hand before similar scale computing is stuffed into a real supercomputer).
Otherwise, by the scale of what was available in the mid '80s, we've already got handheld supercomputers in the guise of the PalmPilot and various Windows and Linux handhelds.
"Supercomputer" is a moving target which will likely never wait for your hand to catch up to it.
The TSA estimates that 90 to 93 per cent of all travel reservations are final by then. That last 7-10% is the first-class and business class travelers who provide 90% of the airlines' profit margin. Being unable to create (or change) your travel arrangements less than 3 days out is going to kill the airlines' profit. (if you'll excuse the pun).
___
Agent: I need a seat on your next flight to Seattle.
clerk: I'm sorry sir, I can't clear you for a flight less than 3 days out
Agent: But there's a possible terror attack planned for today and I need to get there to investigate.
clerk: Sorry sir. TSA rules.....
Agent: But I work for the TSA!
clerk: <grins from ear to ear> Nothing I can do. Excuse me, I have another customer to take care of....
It'll be even better if Ms. Clinton (or whomever runs for the Democrats) gets into power and it's Bush and the current TSA cronies who get their travel plans royally messed up by this proposed rule.
Slashdot Mirror
About a week ago, a taser apologist was on the CBC, iterating all of the cases where a police officer was unexpectedly killed on duty where pre-emptively tasering the subject might have saved his life. The list of such examples included a couple of cases where the cop was gunned down on what appeared to be a standard traffic stop.
In other words, if he gets his way, the next time you get pulled over for speeding, prepare to be 'preventively tasered' before the cop asks you for your license and registration.
Also, if you watch the video of the killing, you'll notice that he had his hands in the air in the international 'surrender' pose for a couple of seconds before he got tasered.
It's not likely to be that much of an impairment, as you're looking at the probability of a low-flying plane flying over what is essentially a moving mathematical point on the map. On the other hand, one such impact (especially by a small commuter plane on take-off/landing) could be very tragic.
Otherwise, sooner or later, some unlucky pilot is going to suddenly find his left wing clipped off while flying at 900ft. (possibly damaging the kite control lines, in the process).
One of the people they came across was someone who had fallen asleep. When they woke him up and told him to leave the beach, he was a bit groggy, and slow to gather his stuff, get dressed and leave. ... so they tasered him.
Now, I don't think that a groggy (nearly) naked guy is the kind of situation where use of a baton would be considered reasonable force. I don't even think it would be considered reasonable to use a half-nelson on the guy. Hell, the only thing that they could do for him being too late on the beach was to give him a ticket.
| But he was tasered.
My only explanation is that they intended the tasering exactly as torture -- and an exemplary action to other beach users that you quickly comply with orders to get off the beach at the stroke of sunset or else!
One thing I do disagree with, however is your contention that an ideal fork would be 50/50. In my world, the best split would be most of the developers in one fork (usually the original) while the ones for whom the new fork is compelling and who do development for the critical elements of the (new) fork go there. That way, you'd end up with maximum cohesiveness for the whole project, and enough people in the new project to keep it 'alive'.
From Ubuntu's case, I'd also add a friendly cooperation between the two camps.
Actually, if I had moderation points today, I would have moderated Minwee's comment 'funny', not 'interesting'.
Candidates don't just need money (that's good too). They also need volunteers, and -- if they see people lobbying for volunteers to support pro-consumer candidates, they'll react to that.
This is where "Vote Early, Vote Often" actually applies.
Ubuntu is an exception that proves the point. It went off in a very different direction than Debian. -- as such, I don't consider it as much a parallel fork as a symbiotic tangent.
on the French Riviera,
at a 5 star hotel, and
you 'had to wait' 2 weeks for your dinner host to show up, and
they hinted at 'looking forward to' another such 'friendly dinner' if
then -- yeah. I think I would. Granted you have a bit more freedom in terms of what you do with $400K in cash, but some people would fall for the, uhnm, "dinner" too.
It really is all thinly veiled bribery -- it's just that you want to generate a certain plausible deniability should 'someone with an axe to grind' (e.g. the fraud squad) should come looking for evidence of illegal actoin.
You see, it's one thing to have a mysterious $300K deposit to your savings account just before you took an unusual action. It's something else to prove that 'a 1-hour dinner meeting' (after that 'impolite' 1 week wait on the Riviera) was bribery connected to that same unusual action. .. Similarly with that $400K 'marketing deal' that was 'entered into on it's own merits' (and only cost you $100K to fulfill on).
Yeah, the smoke and mirrors costs something, but it's alot cheaper than being involved in an messy bribery trial.
Depending on time and culture, most attractive looks can vary from
- rail-thin (today's model standard) to
- pleasantly curvatious (20s-60's model standard) to
- juicy plump ("Rubenesque") to
- downright obese (some arab cultures)
( Maralyn Monroe, considered by many to be the sexiest woman of the 20th century, wouldn't even make it past the receptionist of most of today's modeling agencies. )Just because you're used to it, doesn't mean that it's been (and will remain) the standard for all time.
None of the countries has any problems with dual citizenship that is acquired by birth but none of them have any explicit rules about triple citizenship, so she checked on the parings ....
- US<->British == OK
- US<->Canada == OK
- Canada<->British =OK
So, it seems, that there's no problem with triple citizenship. (she did, however, have to do a good bit of other work to meet the full requirements of all the citizenships)The other proposal that seems to fall out of these stats is that the proper 'healthy' weight appears to be higher than what's being suggested right now.
I'm willing to bet that the 'correct' weights were promulgated based upon an (incredibly unscientific) eyeballing of what looked good ... If you had a nice, esthetic, flat body and no 'spare' fat anywhere, then you were declared 'healthy'. I don't remember hearing any stories anywhere about studies that led to the determination of what was the 'correct' weight for people, so this seems like a reasonable expectation).
It's incredible what we'll accept as truth based on some authoritative-looking yahoo's say-so.
I have an ex-girlfriend with triple citizenship -- Us and Britain (which her parents were citizens of when she was born) and Canada (where she was born).
Astronauts are, like the rest of us, very human with human foibles. They're no less likely to mess up than we are -- it's just that the results of such errors are multiplied by (if nothing else) the intense publicity (and, now, a legal limbo).
If renters sign a form that says that the landord can enter in the case of emergency, etc. to inspect the suite, fix a major problem, etc., then the police can piggy-back on that and simply 'ask' the landlord to 'do an inspection' and let them in
It would also imply that phone calls are no longer sacrosant, and necessary to get a subpoena, because all you have to do is (similarly) piggy-back on the repair crew's occasional need to listen in to (sometimes) semi-random lines to either find a given line or ensure that quality is up to snuff.
I would also expect that you're one of a small, select group of people who are expecting a Christmas card and cheque (or some other 'token of our appreciation' ) from Balmer and company.
Imagine having your password be a graffiti-laden alteration of your favorite politician[']s campaign photo..."
So, it comes down to: Ubuntu users were able to diagnose the problem, and have the tools to implement a workaround. Nix to either for Windows users -- they just need to remember to replace their drive once a year.
Otherwise, by the scale of what was available in the mid '80s, we've already got handheld supercomputers in the guise of the PalmPilot and various Windows and Linux handhelds.
"Supercomputer" is a moving target which will likely never wait for your hand to catch up to it.
___ ...
Agent: I need a seat on your next flight to Seattle.
clerk: I'm sorry sir, I can't clear you for a flight less than 3 days out
Agent: But there's a possible terror attack planned for today and I need to get there to investigate.
clerk: Sorry sir. TSA rules.....
Agent: But I work for the TSA!
clerk: <grins from ear to ear> Nothing I can do. Excuse me, I have another customer to take care of.
It'll be even better if Ms. Clinton (or whomever runs for the Democrats) gets into power and it's Bush and the current TSA cronies who get their travel plans royally messed up by this proposed rule.
OK -- well, at least they shouldn't say that I put them up to it.