I'm more interested in how many times the taser was deployed (i.e. how repeatedly the subject was shocked) before the subject died. I doubt that the majority of deaths were caused by just a single shock, but I'm prepared to be surprised. Some people have been tased over a dozen times during the single incident.
What does the subject being armed have to do with anything? And why do you want to compare taser deaths with the use of police firearms? They're completely different categories.
I'm against tasers in general, but I would have no problem with police shooting an unarmed and escaping shoplifter with a taser in order to stop him -- I doubt they would hit him though, with the taser's short range and all. I think it would be a justifiable use of force, akin to crash tackling.
What I object to is the repeated deployment (i.e. abuse) of tasers against subjects who are already down. It's unconscionable and fucking disgusting, and it's torture. I'm pretty sure that this repeated tasing is what usually causes the deaths that Taser Corp denies have taken place.
Nobody is denying that police officers have an extremely difficult job to do.
I have no objection to police using force (whether lethal or less-than-lethal) to take down an assailant who is threatening them or the public.
What reasonable people are objecting to is the common trend that tasers are abused in order to unnecessarily inflict suffering or even death on people, some of them who are entirely innocent.
Most people who are against tasers are not against the police.
As a hypothetical scenario, kidnap the CEO of Taser Corp, then repeatedly tase him dozens of times at random intervals over a serious of hours. Then see whether he still thinks it's not torture or at all dangerous to his health. The results are enlightening when the tables are turned.
But would you tolerate being tased 19 times, against your will? That's the question.
Police officers tolerate one short shock, and they're supported by instructors and colleagues during the process. When an attacker is using a taser against you repeatedly, that's a hell of a different scenario.
The strange thing to me is... if they're worried about the kid being a threat, wouldn't they have him lie down on the ground anyway so they can handcuff him?
What's wrong with the iPhone being a niche market, or Macs being a niche market for that matter? It's overall profits that matter to Apple, not having a majority marketshare.
Licensing Mac OS or iPhone OS X to others would spell the death of the company -- not to mention, it would create crappy, low-quality clones. Apple is a hardware and systems integration company, and that's where they make the majority of their money.
And why on earth should Apple have to try to beat RIM, Nokia, Motorola, HTC, Samsung and Sony together?
You're thinking with the Microsoft/Walmart business mindset. Quantity trumps quality. That's not how Apple thinks. Now, one can argue which is more effective, but nowadays Apple is doing very well by any standards.
As a web developer and Mac user I've always found the evolution of the Apple website interesting. Not surprisingly, they keep use of Flash to a minimum (actually, I'm not sure that they use Flash at all on their site) and things are fairly neat and tidy.
You can tell who understands usability and web architecture by looking at the comments in this story. Apple gets it, Microsoft doesn't, despite people's efforts to defend them.
Making a great product is difficult and requires lots and lots of hard work. Sweating the little details. That's what makes Apple products so successful -- they sweat the little details that others gloss over and ignore.
Your argument is ludicrous and doesn't work in practice. The death penalty is already here, and clearly the legal system still fails people who are really innocent. The gravity of capital punishment in no way motivates people in power to be more rigorous in their methods. Why would it? They *want* the defendant to be put to death. They're not motivated to examine evidence to clear the defendant.
Yeah it's a shocker. Aren't these guys supposed to adhere to web and accessibility standards? If my agency did shoddy work like this, we'd be in a lot of trouble.
This is why Android, Pre and especially the iPhone will really dominate the market in the coming years. Most of the phones coming out every year at the moment are just plain crap. Manufacturers should take a cue from Apple and stick to 2-3 models, and concentrate on making them the absolute best they can be (and that means not adding dozens of pointless features)
There's no way you can create a great user experience when all your resources are just spent shoveling out new and varied crap by the truckload.
It all comes down to the "no-reaction headshot" zone. if I can remember right, it's the part of the brain behind the optic nerve, i.e. roughly between the eyes. People tend to shoot themselves in the side of the head, but I'm not sure how effective that is versus a frontal shot.
Trying to off yourself with a.22 sounds like a recipe for pain. Probably doesn't have the mass and the penetration to do the job.
Then that former foreign minister of Denmark is an ignorant dumbass.
An apology from the government is a symbolic act, acknowledging that past governments did wrong and heinous things to individuals. It's a recognition that evil was committed against individuals, and that we will strive to remember it always.
Religion in China is allowed as long as it's "approved" by the dictatorship.
Falun Gong = Branch Davidians? That's a rich one. So the FG are stockpiling small arms, explosives and.50 caliber machineguns, and it's an anti-China conspiracy that the Western media and public ignores... right.
You can delude yourself all you want, but the fact of the matter is, in Western countries you have a whole lot more freedom than you do in China. Oh, and you don't fucking get tortured and executed for your religious beliefs.
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Unlike baseball bats, kitchen knives and crow bars, I can't buy tasers to use as a civilian. Can you?
I'm more interested in how many times the taser was deployed (i.e. how repeatedly the subject was shocked) before the subject died. I doubt that the majority of deaths were caused by just a single shock, but I'm prepared to be surprised. Some people have been tased over a dozen times during the single incident.
What does the subject being armed have to do with anything? And why do you want to compare taser deaths with the use of police firearms? They're completely different categories.
I'm against tasers in general, but I would have no problem with police shooting an unarmed and escaping shoplifter with a taser in order to stop him -- I doubt they would hit him though, with the taser's short range and all. I think it would be a justifiable use of force, akin to crash tackling.
What I object to is the repeated deployment (i.e. abuse) of tasers against subjects who are already down. It's unconscionable and fucking disgusting, and it's torture. I'm pretty sure that this repeated tasing is what usually causes the deaths that Taser Corp denies have taken place.
Nobody is denying that police officers have an extremely difficult job to do.
I have no objection to police using force (whether lethal or less-than-lethal) to take down an assailant who is threatening them or the public.
What reasonable people are objecting to is the common trend that tasers are abused in order to unnecessarily inflict suffering or even death on people, some of them who are entirely innocent.
Most people who are against tasers are not against the police.
Thanks for posting this. I think the mindset that is apparent in the designers/inventors is quite sickening.
As a hypothetical scenario, kidnap the CEO of Taser Corp, then repeatedly tase him dozens of times at random intervals over a serious of hours. Then see whether he still thinks it's not torture or at all dangerous to his health. The results are enlightening when the tables are turned.
But would you tolerate being tased 19 times, against your will? That's the question.
Police officers tolerate one short shock, and they're supported by instructors and colleagues during the process. When an attacker is using a taser against you repeatedly, that's a hell of a different scenario.
The strange thing to me is... if they're worried about the kid being a threat, wouldn't they have him lie down on the ground anyway so they can handcuff him?
It's mostly a lie that tasers are to be used in place of guns. The areas of tactical effectiveness where tasers and guns overlap is very small.
Tasers are just a more effective form of baton, something that dishes out an application of force with greater ease.
You can't expect people to listen to what you're saying when you use the terms "cult" and "steve fanboys".
Wow, how did you get modded insightful?
What's wrong with the iPhone being a niche market, or Macs being a niche market for that matter? It's overall profits that matter to Apple, not having a majority marketshare.
Licensing Mac OS or iPhone OS X to others would spell the death of the company -- not to mention, it would create crappy, low-quality clones. Apple is a hardware and systems integration company, and that's where they make the majority of their money.
And why on earth should Apple have to try to beat RIM, Nokia, Motorola, HTC, Samsung and Sony together?
You're thinking with the Microsoft/Walmart business mindset. Quantity trumps quality.
That's not how Apple thinks. Now, one can argue which is more effective, but nowadays Apple is doing very well by any standards.
The slim form factor was key to its success, but looking at the big picture, the Razr was nothing like the iPhone.
Elaborate?
As a web developer and Mac user I've always found the evolution of the Apple website interesting. Not surprisingly, they keep use of Flash to a minimum (actually, I'm not sure that they use Flash at all on their site) and things are fairly neat and tidy.
You can tell who understands usability and web architecture by looking at the comments in this story. Apple gets it, Microsoft doesn't, despite people's efforts to defend them.
Well said.
Making a great product is difficult and requires lots and lots of hard work. Sweating the little details. That's what makes Apple products so successful -- they sweat the little details that others gloss over and ignore.
iPhone is nowhere near dominant in the mobile phone space! Nor is it in a monopoly position by any stretch of the imagination.
Your argument is ludicrous and doesn't work in practice. The death penalty is already here, and clearly the legal system still fails people who are really innocent. The gravity of capital punishment in no way motivates people in power to be more rigorous in their methods. Why would it? They *want* the defendant to be put to death. They're not motivated to examine evidence to clear the defendant.
Thanks for posting that. I read the New Yorker article and now can't think about anything but this case.
Yeah it's a shocker. Aren't these guys supposed to adhere to web and accessibility standards? If my agency did shoddy work like this, we'd be in a lot of trouble.
This is why Android, Pre and especially the iPhone will really dominate the market in the coming years. Most of the phones coming out every year at the moment are just plain crap. Manufacturers should take a cue from Apple and stick to 2-3 models, and concentrate on making them the absolute best they can be (and that means not adding dozens of pointless features)
There's no way you can create a great user experience when all your resources are just spent shoveling out new and varied crap by the truckload.
Yep, firearms suicides is the domain of the male.
It all comes down to the "no-reaction headshot" zone. if I can remember right, it's the part of the brain behind the optic nerve, i.e. roughly between the eyes. People tend to shoot themselves in the side of the head, but I'm not sure how effective that is versus a frontal shot.
Trying to off yourself with a .22 sounds like a recipe for pain. Probably doesn't have the mass and the penetration to do the job.
Funny how you tried to turn the discussion onto Islam there. Very clever.
Then that former foreign minister of Denmark is an ignorant dumbass.
An apology from the government is a symbolic act, acknowledging that past governments did wrong and heinous things to individuals. It's a recognition that evil was committed against individuals, and that we will strive to remember it always.
Religion in China is allowed as long as it's "approved" by the dictatorship.
Falun Gong = Branch Davidians? That's a rich one. So the FG are stockpiling small arms, explosives and .50 caliber machineguns, and it's an anti-China conspiracy that the Western media and public ignores... right.
You can delude yourself all you want, but the fact of the matter is, in Western countries you have a whole lot more freedom than you do in China. Oh, and you don't fucking get tortured and executed for your religious beliefs.