"a big stretch between a serial killer and some guy writing malicious code"
I sometimes wonder if there is a way to estimate aggregate "harm" caused by a widely distributed crime. Is it the same to steal 1 minute of time from 1 million people with an automated telemarketing robocall as it is to lock 1 guy in your basement for 2 years (1 million minutes)?
Without disrespecting your personal experiences I would say 2 things.
1. There are a number of studies (science, evidence based) that show that exercise will help depression, especially the mild to moderate forms of depression about as well as the standard SSRI drugs.
2. A whole lot of people come to a doctor wanting a pill that will "fix" them. They have no desire to change their unhealthy lifestyle or start exercising, they just want a quick fix; as if the doctor were a mechanic.
Never put down to malice what may be sufficiently explained by math.
Women produce 1 egg per month, men produce something like 2 million sperm per day. If you block 95% of the eggs a women is basically infertile. If you block 95% of the sperm a man is still mostly fertile.
One of my favorite old detective stories described a cop's 6 cell mag lite like this "except for the fact that it lit up when you pressed a button, it would not have been out of place at the battle of Agincourt"
You work for cheap. Ask for $225/hr and then offer a "preferred services provider" agreement where they can get you for $195 if they guarantee a minimum of 1000 hours.
Sounds like my high school days. I got slammed into lockers, book bag kicked out of my hand and books notes and papers scattered down a flight of steps. Ongoing daily verbal abuse, interspersed with the odd burst of violence. Teachers and administrators did essentially nothing and when they did finally talk to one of the jerks that were beating on me, he just beat me twice as hard the next time.
I wasn't actively trying to be different, I wasn't working at conforming either. Some people are offended and angered by "other-ness"; they probably couldn't tell you why.
Fighting back was not an option when you are 6 inches shorter and 50 lbs lighter than your tormentors. Aside from two or three incidents of truly heinous anonymous geek revenge I just mostly tried to avoid and endure.
Quoted from memory, from a Keith Laumer "Retief" story
Alien - "I propose saturation thermonuclear bombardment from orbit followed by mop-up squads armed with nerve gas and flamethrowers. No population, no popular unrest"
Human Ambassador - "I must say Retief, there is a certain admirable, um, directness to his methods"
Re:Harry Potter and Ann Rice got wordy too
on
Anathem
·
· Score: 1
This is called "Tom Clancy Syndrome" after the most famous case. Authors get so "big" that editors don't want to / don't dare to edit them. See also : Robert Jordan (his last 7 or 8 in the Wheel of Time series)
You are an edge case. For every person like you who has (benefit of the doubt, for arguments sake) a genuine need to be reachable by cell phone at all times, there are 10 people who's inflated sense of self importance leads them to think they need to be reachable at all times, when in truth they don't. And for every one of them, there are ten assholes who who think it's their god-given right to talk on a cell phone any time, any where. And for every one of them are a hundred people (all under 25) who have never even considered the possibility that talking on a cell phone might in some way annoy another person, and if you were to try to explain this concept to them would have dificulty grasping that other people might not feel the same way as they do about anything, never mind something as normal to them as talking on a phone.
The Republicans wan't to bail out their Corporate Overlords, the Democrats want to bail out Union voters. They both want to do it with your money. Choose wisely.
The ever more potent weapons of Doc Smith's Lensmen. First the Sunbeam, where the entire solar system is turned into a vacuum tube and the suns output is focused into a single beam. Then we have the Negasphere, a planetary sized chunk of anti-matter you toss at an enemy planet (with a tractor beam, because it's antimatter, see). The Nutcracker, two planets from another dimension, travelling in opposite directions, both exceeding the speed of light and then collided with the enemy planet in between. His ultimate weapon is so cool, I won't give it away, just in case you haven't read the books. You should read the books, if only to see who was playing with these ideas about 50 years before Lucas did Star Wars.
In my poor benighted country we lack the technological sophistication of the mighty US of A, so we are forced to mark our votes on small pieces of paper called ballots. The poll clerk checks your ID, crosses your name off a list and hands you a ballot. On this ballot are printed in no particular order the name and party affiliation of the candidates. Next to each name is a circle. You place an x in the circle for the candidate of your choice. Then you go back to the poll clerk who places your ballot in the ballot box. If you mess up your ballot he will give you a new one.
Each candidate is allowed to have an observer at each polling place, and at the counting of the ballots. This system is fairly simple, fairly transparent, and all the votes get counted. It also scales well (more voters = more polling places). Why do you need electronic voting or voting machines or anything else besides a paper ballot and a pencil. I'm honestly curious why this wouldn't work in the US.
Slashdot Mirror
I sometimes wonder if there is a way to estimate aggregate "harm" caused by a widely distributed crime. Is it the same to steal 1 minute of time from 1 million people with an automated telemarketing robocall as it is to lock 1 guy in your basement for 2 years (1 million minutes)?
Here's the thing. Chris Rock is a comedian. He was making a joke. Just thought you'd want to know that.
Optical Time Domain Reflectometer. You just ping the broken end and get a distance measurement.
1. There are a number of studies (science, evidence based) that show that exercise will help depression, especially the mild to moderate forms of depression about as well as the standard SSRI drugs.
2. A whole lot of people come to a doctor wanting a pill that will "fix" them. They have no desire to change their unhealthy lifestyle or start exercising, they just want a quick fix; as if the doctor were a mechanic.
Women produce 1 egg per month, men produce something like 2 million sperm per day. If you block 95% of the eggs a women is basically infertile. If you block 95% of the sperm a man is still mostly fertile.
No lubricant. Other than that, you are on the right track.
One of my favorite old detective stories described a cop's 6 cell mag lite like this "except for the fact that it lit up when you pressed a button, it would not have been out of place at the battle of Agincourt"
After they get the music tax, you know they're going to go after a movie tax, a tv series tax, a game tax and an ebook tax.
"they both rely on people in your region being interested in the same torrents you are"
No Problem. I mean, come on, who doesn't like midget llama spanking pr0n?
So should we call this the "First 4,999 Mile Problem"?
You work for cheap. Ask for $225/hr and then offer a "preferred services provider" agreement where they can get you for $195 if they guarantee a minimum of 1000 hours.
A whole new meaning to "We're big in Japan"
? So far out of his reach you might just as well be on the far side of the moon??
Well, in Texas, don't they have enshrined in their legal system the doctrine of "He done needed killin"
Sounds like my high school days. I got slammed into lockers, book bag kicked out of my hand and books notes and papers scattered down a flight of steps. Ongoing daily verbal abuse, interspersed with the odd burst of violence. Teachers and administrators did essentially nothing and when they did finally talk to one of the jerks that were beating on me, he just beat me twice as hard the next time.
I wasn't actively trying to be different, I wasn't working at conforming either. Some people are offended and angered by "other-ness"; they probably couldn't tell you why.
Fighting back was not an option when you are 6 inches shorter and 50 lbs lighter than your tormentors. Aside from two or three incidents of truly heinous anonymous geek revenge I just mostly tried to avoid and endure.
If Lemmy and God shot a game of pool who would win?
Trick Question. Lemmy is God.
Quoted from memory, from a Keith Laumer "Retief" story
Alien - "I propose saturation thermonuclear bombardment from orbit followed by mop-up squads armed with nerve gas and flamethrowers. No population, no popular unrest"
Human Ambassador - "I must say Retief, there is a certain admirable, um, directness to his methods"
This is called "Tom Clancy Syndrome" after the most famous case. Authors get so "big" that editors don't want to / don't dare to edit them. See also : Robert Jordan (his last 7 or 8 in the Wheel of Time series)
You are an edge case. For every person like you who has (benefit of the doubt, for arguments sake) a genuine need to be reachable by cell phone at all times, there are 10 people who's inflated sense of self importance leads them to think they need to be reachable at all times, when in truth they don't. And for every one of them, there are ten assholes who who think it's their god-given right to talk on a cell phone any time, any where. And for every one of them are a hundred people (all under 25) who have never even considered the possibility that talking on a cell phone might in some way annoy another person, and if you were to try to explain this concept to them would have dificulty grasping that other people might not feel the same way as they do about anything, never mind something as normal to them as talking on a phone.
The Republicans wan't to bail out their Corporate Overlords, the Democrats want to bail out Union voters. They both want to do it with your money. Choose wisely.
Got it. Its extra good if you can work in words like "trenchant" or "coruscating"
The ever more potent weapons of Doc Smith's Lensmen. First the Sunbeam, where the entire solar system is turned into a vacuum tube and the suns output is focused into a single beam. Then we have the Negasphere, a planetary sized chunk of anti-matter you toss at an enemy planet (with a tractor beam, because it's antimatter, see). The Nutcracker, two planets from another dimension, travelling in opposite directions, both exceeding the speed of light and then collided with the enemy planet in between. His ultimate weapon is so cool, I won't give it away, just in case you haven't read the books. You should read the books, if only to see who was playing with these ideas about 50 years before Lucas did Star Wars.
In my poor benighted country we lack the technological sophistication of the mighty US of A, so we are forced to mark our votes on small pieces of paper called ballots. The poll clerk checks your ID, crosses your name off a list and hands you a ballot. On this ballot are printed in no particular order the name and party affiliation of the candidates. Next to each name is a circle. You place an x in the circle for the candidate of your choice. Then you go back to the poll clerk who places your ballot in the ballot box. If you mess up your ballot he will give you a new one.
Each candidate is allowed to have an observer at each polling place, and at the counting of the ballots. This system is fairly simple, fairly transparent, and all the votes get counted. It also scales well (more voters = more polling places). Why do you need electronic voting or voting machines or anything else besides a paper ballot and a pencil. I'm honestly curious why this wouldn't work in the US.
So the Australians won the coin toss and got to pick?
Some animals sleep.