Frankly, I give a damn if it's a crime or not. In the same way that unpopular speech needs to be protected (because otherwise what's the point of freedom of speech? Popular speech doesn't *need* protecting) unpopular activities that harm no one need to be protected.
So wait, if you come across a picture of a half-naked pre-teen girl that was taken 20 years ago and hurt nobody, and you don't immediately turn into a stool pigeon tattle tale and rat out the website you saw it on, you give up your presumption of innocence and can now legally have your life ruined by the FBI?
The very first word in your "+5 Informative" diatribe is a derogatory term blanketing all administrators of Windows systems. Anything else you have to say should now be taken as extremely biased, if not plain ignorant. I've been an administrator of Unix systems for over 20 years, and an administrator of Linux and Windows servers since their early days. Being a Windows admin does not mean that one is uniformed or technically inept, any more than being a *nix admin makes one smarter.
Stereotypes exist for a reason. If it wasn't true for at least a statistically relevant number of samples, then the stereotype would not exist.
Yeah, those damn lazy black people, always raping our precious white women.
"decent speech recognition software" is an oxymoron. No such thing exists.
An aside to anybody reading this who is thinking about implementing a voice reco menu system for their phones: Don't. Just don't. There is nothing in the world more frustrating than getting lost in a menu because either you couldn't guess the right words to say to the computer, or the computer just couldn't understand your words.
If you do implement a system, make damn sure that the keywords "operator" or "human" and pretty much every swear word get you passed on to a live operator. I'm willing to give your menu a try, but if I get lost or mis-routed or told over and over "I'm sorry, I didn't understand what you said" I want an escape valve.
So you have a right to insist that someone keep you employed when they no longer wish to employ you? Awesome! I'm gonna use that to my advantage from now on. I'll never be out of work again!
Why is it within the government's power to say "you can't make money unless you pay for a license to make money first"? Taxes are one thing--you pay a portion of what you make. Business license fees are just a naked cash grab, and you have to pay them whether you make a dime of income or not on your "business".
All licensing fees like this do is help the big guy and punish the little guy. Erecting barriers to entry makes it so the little guy can't get into the market and compete with the established players. That just encourage the established players to sit on their hands and stop innovating or pleasing their customers, because hey--nobody is going to come along and take their market share away, because the government has helpfully erected barriers to prevent that.
Helium is lighter than all the other gasses in our atmosphere. So it floats to the top and is eventually lost. The Earth isn't big enough to gravitationally keep any atmospheric helium, so it all eventually disappears into space.
Slashdot Mirror
Why do we want to minimize addict populations again? If people want to wreck themselves with drugs, why shouldn't they be able to?
Frankly, I give a damn if it's a crime or not. In the same way that unpopular speech needs to be protected (because otherwise what's the point of freedom of speech? Popular speech doesn't *need* protecting) unpopular activities that harm no one need to be protected.
So wait, if you come across a picture of a half-naked pre-teen girl that was taken 20 years ago and hurt nobody, and you don't immediately turn into a stool pigeon tattle tale and rat out the website you saw it on, you give up your presumption of innocence and can now legally have your life ruined by the FBI?
Good system!
You've seen the man, right? Do you think he even knows what a razor is?
So where did that inherent right to a free internet come from, anyway? Who made that up?
Why are you even reading fiction if you want everything to be true? Just go read scientific journals.
There's a reason people call hard SF "gadget porn".
Windoze admins...
The very first word in your "+5 Informative" diatribe is a derogatory term blanketing all administrators of Windows systems. Anything else you have to say should now be taken as extremely biased, if not plain ignorant. I've been an administrator of Unix systems for over 20 years, and an administrator of Linux and Windows servers since their early days. Being a Windows admin does not mean that one is uniformed or technically inept, any more than being a *nix admin makes one smarter.
Stereotypes exist for a reason. If it wasn't true for at least a statistically relevant number of samples, then the stereotype would not exist.
Yeah, those damn lazy black people, always raping our precious white women.
Forget "officious". Just call him a pompous douchebag. That way he knows what you're saying without having to bother looking anything up!
Watson is still just following a fixed set of rules
So are you. We call it physics.
That's right, there is no such thing as free will or consciousness.
Correct!
"decent speech recognition software" is an oxymoron. No such thing exists.
An aside to anybody reading this who is thinking about implementing a voice reco menu system for their phones: Don't. Just don't. There is nothing in the world more frustrating than getting lost in a menu because either you couldn't guess the right words to say to the computer, or the computer just couldn't understand your words.
If you do implement a system, make damn sure that the keywords "operator" or "human" and pretty much every swear word get you passed on to a live operator. I'm willing to give your menu a try, but if I get lost or mis-routed or told over and over "I'm sorry, I didn't understand what you said" I want an escape valve.
So you have a right to insist that someone keep you employed when they no longer wish to employ you? Awesome! I'm gonna use that to my advantage from now on. I'll never be out of work again!
No, but I sure can show you an infinite number of points that lie outside the circle.
We could have electric cars too, but the patents on many batteries are owned by petroleum industry corporations.
[citation needed]
This is mainly because Wine is notoriously bad at running anything.
A thing is worth what at least one person is willing to pay for it. That's the only definition of "value" that matters.
Money is finite. Wealth is not. Wealth != Money.
Wealth creation is not zero sum.
Whoever it was who told you life was fair was lying.
What's magic about a command line that gives you super powers, anyway? Maybe it's just what you're used to?
Anyhow, Windows has a command line interface. What's the problem?
Why do you need to configure it using the command line only?
That sounds to me like showing someone a car with an automatic transmission, then having them ask "Nice. But how do you shift from third to fourth?"
That's a much better idea. Plus, all intelligent races call their planet something that translates literally to "dirt" anyhow.
I'm all for anything that involves asteroids and nuclear weapons.
Why is it within the government's power to say "you can't make money unless you pay for a license to make money first"? Taxes are one thing--you pay a portion of what you make. Business license fees are just a naked cash grab, and you have to pay them whether you make a dime of income or not on your "business".
All licensing fees like this do is help the big guy and punish the little guy. Erecting barriers to entry makes it so the little guy can't get into the market and compete with the established players. That just encourage the established players to sit on their hands and stop innovating or pleasing their customers, because hey--nobody is going to come along and take their market share away, because the government has helpfully erected barriers to prevent that.
That was SO not one of the better X-Files episodes. Although Dr. Bambi was hot.
Helium is lighter than all the other gasses in our atmosphere. So it floats to the top and is eventually lost. The Earth isn't big enough to gravitationally keep any atmospheric helium, so it all eventually disappears into space.
I don't think he even played Civ IV. He crows about how units have hit points in Civ V. Civ IV had unit hit points too.