Think about what you just said: "Freedom of speech is at least as sacred to me as the prophet is to a muslim person... There can be no compromise on this issue... murderous trash who are willing to violently burn/kill/vandalise/hack/destroy etc. for some cartoons."
The reverse of that is that the prophet is at least as important to a Muslim as freedom of speech is to you. So, to them, there can be no compromise on this issue. It is not just "some cartoons" to them. This is something sacred. Just like freedom of speech is to you. So how can you fault them for reacting just as strongly as you are?
As a side note, while I consider freedom of speech to be absolutely sacred, I also recognize that with freedom comes responsibility. Therefore, while I agree that people have the right to publish these cartoons, I also feel that to do so, given how thoroughly insulting it is to Muslim people, is completely irresponsible and stupid.
"Pedophelia is a legal concept. It doesn't necessarily exist as a moral one. For instance, if you're 19 and you have consensual sex with a 16 year old, in most states that makes you a sex offender."
Not quite. Pedophilia is a psychological concept, not a legal concept. And the example you gave is, by legal definition (in some states), statutory rape, but is most definitely not pedophilia.
Pedophilia is a psychological condition where an adult is sexually attracted to prepubescent children.
Pedophilia is not illegal. Child abuse is illegal, and so is statutory rape. Most acts of pedophilia fall into one or both of these categories, and that makes the act illegal.
"...has Microsoft succeeded in changing its culture so that every developer now considers security first, features second?"
Alternate question: Is it really a "developer" issue? What has Microsoft done to change its culture so that management now considers security first, features second?
In my experience, as a developer, it's usually (although not always) management that pushes for more and more new features, not developers. Developers are still trying to finish up the old features (ie. clean out the bugs, make sure it's secure, etc) when along comes the demand from "on high" that you hurry up and finish what you're working on and get to these new features that need to be out the door by this marketing-determined unrealistic date.
I've never worked at Microsoft, so maybe it isn't like that there. But I'd be surprised.
"They're not going to go around installing an independent patch willy-nilly on dozens of computers if it takes another day to get it from Microsoft."
Actually, it's going to take another week to get it. Microsoft has scheduled a release of the patch for next Tuesday (the 10th).
In the meantime, many companies will be looking for a workaround. Those companies will be quite upset at the fact that they couldn't rely on Microsoft and had to turn to a third-party for help.
And those companies that wait for the "official" fix will be at risk for another week, and many of them, as you said, will get burned.
"I don't know if there's a silent majority of atheists, but on Slashdot there's several who don't merely disbelief in the existence of supernatural, but disbelief it with conviction and passion and feel the need to preach their views and try to offend and/or ridicule every theist at every opportunity."
People post comments on Slashdot for the purpose of discussing and debating. Therefore, by definition, you will not hear from the majority of folks out there who aren't interested in getting their point of view across and trying to convince those with alternate points of view that they're wrong.
The vast majority of atheists don't give a flying fuck what you or anyone else believes. Just like the vast majority of computer users don't give a flying fuck what operating system (web browser, programming language, whatever) you or anyone else uses, and yet Slashdot is filled with evangelical preaching about this one over that one.
"Simply put, any sort of belief related to supernatural beings, for or against, is religious."
I do not believe in God. I do not believe in Santa Claus. I do not believe in the Easter Bunny. I do not believe in the Flying Spaghetti Monster. I do not believe in ghosts. I do not believe in leprachauns. I do not believe in (etc etc etc)...
How many freaking religions can one person have at a time?
The GP's quote, in addition to being humourous, was quite accurate. I do not have faith in the lack of a god, I lack a faith in a god. I believe there is no god in the same way that I believe there is no tooth fairy, and in the same way that I believe that aliens were not involved in JFK's assassination. I simply don't buy it. To me, it's a ridiculous idea. This does not make a religion.
In my experience, what you just described is actually the minority of cases in professional IT. The guys who fit that description are largely the basement-dwelling 1337 h4x0rz, whereas the guys who actually find employment in industry tend to (have to) have social skills.
Don't forget that thanks to the dot-com boom, working in IT became fashionable, so that everyone from all walks of life wanted to get in on it. As a result, the old school computer nerds now work side by side with the jocks who beat them up in high school.
It is not splitting hairs. Who collects the levy is relevant. Who pays the levy is relevant. The punishment for non-payment (ie. civil suit by the recording industry) is relevant. A tax works differently than a levy. Yes, it sucks either way, but calling it a tax just muddies the issue.
The Canadian Government, specifically the Copyright Board, authorized this levy (not tax) through ammendments to the Canadian Copyright Act.
The Canadian Private Copying Collective, a non-profit organization representing the music industry, collects the the levy from manufacturers (moderately important to note here is that it's not the government collecting it, nor is it actually being imposed on consumers; the recording industry collects it from manufacturers of recordable media).
Apple, not wanting to let the levy cut into their profits, pads the price of iPods in Canada to offset the levy paid to the CPCC.
The CPCC has been holding the money pending the final ruling from the courts on whether this levy should stand. Now that the court has ruled that it should not stand, they will be paying the money back to Apple.
Apple, in turn, refunds consumers as well (at least those who apply for the refund, which will likely not be everyone, so ultimately Apple can expect to make a small profit off of this, as will the recording industry, which collected interest off the money while holding it).
By the way, you have a similar levy in the United States as well, although it isn't quite as pervasive (ie. it doesn't apply to quite as many types of recordable media as it does in Canada). Many other countries have this levy, too.
The truth is, despite all the whining and complaining about the first two prequels, if Lucas had decided after AOTC to say "fuck it, that's it, I'm sick of trying to please these people, I'm simply not making the last movie, ever," there would be an absolute revolt from Star Wars fans -- the same fans whining and complaining about the first two prequals.
And, yes, I count myself among those. Personally, I complain because I know he could do better. But I still see them because, despite the glaring flaws, they're still Star Wars movies, and I love Star Wars.
I abandoned my post-secondary education in my younger years to pursue other interests (playing in a band), and returned to school a bit later in life. My goal at that point was one thing: get enough of an education to get a job.
Why? Simple. Everything I've ever learned in my life that has been truly useful, I've learned on my own. I'm an inquisitive type who just wants to know and understand things, so I constantly educate myself. So, I wanted to get a job so that I could earn a decent living and have time to pursue my real education, which doesn't happen in a classroom.
Ya, it's interesting to see all the Java tools being ported to the.NET world. I just read about log4Net today.
I also haven't tried the C# plugin for Eclipse, but I really like the idea of Eclipse becoming the platform of choice for development in other languages besides Java. Of course, I'm a Java guy, so I'll keep using Eclipse primarily for that.
"Ironically, the image on that page leads me to believe this keyboard is made for small children..."
That's probably quite intentional. They're not going to convince you or me to switch from our trusty QWERTY, but what about a whole new generation of computer users?
Buying a computer for your kids? Get this Fisher Price-esque keyboard that's not only probably easier for them to learn to use, due to it having less keys and all, but could also help them to learn their alphabet as well, since the keys are laid out alphabetically.
I could see elementary schools picking these up. And once kids start growing up with these keyboards, QWERTY will go the way of the DVORAK.
Anybody can (and does) make that claim about any news source. Every news source has a bias, since there are people involved and those people, no matter how objective they may try to be, will allow a certain amount of bias through. I'd guess that, assuming you read national news in Canada, you're a National Post reader. You probably don't see them as being particularly biased, because they probably represent your worldview, whereas the G&M does not. That's fine. But the G&M does, for the most part, represent my worldview, whereas a newspaper that thinks an editorial on the merits of creationism is outstanding journalism (just to take a single example from recent memory) does not really represent my worldview, so I tend to consider NP as being "biased".
It's suggested to not rely on any single news source as the only news source.
"The whole idea of prequels is just stupid because we know exactly what the situation is going to be at the end."
I disagree. Prequels give a talented writer an opportunity to do incredible things with the story, like actually changing the meaning of what you've already seen. For example, if Lucas (who, sadly, is not a talented writer) had done something like what David Brin suggested, the prequels could have been spectacular, completely changing the storyline of the existing movies. The movie Memento is an excellent example of doing the same idea within a single movie. The movie shows the ending first, then works its way back to the beginning, slowly revealing to the viewers that what they've already seen isn't quite what they thought it was.
Prequels give talented writers this kind of power. Lucas is just not that talented.
"Why not have a computer that you don't sit down to interact with but one you interact with transparently throughout the day, much in the same way I interact with the computer in my car without necessarily being aware of it."
Primarily because your car is a single-function computer. It drives you from point A to point B. That's it. It's 3D interface is fairly simple -- two pedals, three if manual transmission, steering wheel, gear shifter. Pretty straight-forward.
However, think of what your computer's use is. Essentially, it can be used for anything. So what would it's 3D interface look like? It would have to include everything imaginable for every conceivable purpose. Not particularly feasible.
Seriously, the most flexible interface I can think of is language. So, in my opinion, the user interface of the future will be... an expanded CLI, with natural language ability, and possibly the option to speak rather than type.
"folks whining for help before even attempting to solve their own problem"
In my experience, the more they try to solve the problem on their own before calling me, the worse they make it and the more work I end up having to do to fix it.
My philosophy is this: either try to figure it out yourself, or call me. Do not do both.
"...in which there were more registered Democrats that Republicans, but the county went for Bush. However, that county has voted Republican for the past 6 presidential elections..."
Does that discount the possibility of fraud in this election, or suggest fraud in the last 6 as well?
Slashdot Mirror
"...a clear trend to move away from EJBs, favoring instead something like a Tomcat/Spring approach..."
...using ORM persistence tools like Hibernate, which is owned by....... JBoss.
The reverse of that is that the prophet is at least as important to a Muslim as freedom of speech is to you. So, to them, there can be no compromise on this issue. It is not just "some cartoons" to them. This is something sacred. Just like freedom of speech is to you. So how can you fault them for reacting just as strongly as you are?
As a side note, while I consider freedom of speech to be absolutely sacred, I also recognize that with freedom comes responsibility. Therefore, while I agree that people have the right to publish these cartoons, I also feel that to do so, given how thoroughly insulting it is to Muslim people, is completely irresponsible and stupid.
"Pedophelia is a legal concept. It doesn't necessarily exist as a moral one. For instance, if you're 19 and you have consensual sex with a 16 year old, in most states that makes you a sex offender."
Not quite. Pedophilia is a psychological concept, not a legal concept. And the example you gave is, by legal definition (in some states), statutory rape, but is most definitely not pedophilia.
Pedophilia is a psychological condition where an adult is sexually attracted to prepubescent children.
Pedophilia is not illegal. Child abuse is illegal, and so is statutory rape. Most acts of pedophilia fall into one or both of these categories, and that makes the act illegal.
Business loss != business expense.
Don't let the music and film industries hear this sinful, twisted, and likely unpatriotic talk!!!
Alternate question: Is it really a "developer" issue? What has Microsoft done to change its culture so that management now considers security first, features second?
In my experience, as a developer, it's usually (although not always) management that pushes for more and more new features, not developers. Developers are still trying to finish up the old features (ie. clean out the bugs, make sure it's secure, etc) when along comes the demand from "on high" that you hurry up and finish what you're working on and get to these new features that need to be out the door by this marketing-determined unrealistic date.
I've never worked at Microsoft, so maybe it isn't like that there. But I'd be surprised.
Actually, it's going to take another week to get it. Microsoft has scheduled a release of the patch for next Tuesday (the 10th).
In the meantime, many companies will be looking for a workaround. Those companies will be quite upset at the fact that they couldn't rely on Microsoft and had to turn to a third-party for help.
And those companies that wait for the "official" fix will be at risk for another week, and many of them, as you said, will get burned.
This does not bode well for Microsoft.
People post comments on Slashdot for the purpose of discussing and debating. Therefore, by definition, you will not hear from the majority of folks out there who aren't interested in getting their point of view across and trying to convince those with alternate points of view that they're wrong.
The vast majority of atheists don't give a flying fuck what you or anyone else believes. Just like the vast majority of computer users don't give a flying fuck what operating system (web browser, programming language, whatever) you or anyone else uses, and yet Slashdot is filled with evangelical preaching about this one over that one.
I do not believe in God.
I do not believe in Santa Claus.
I do not believe in the Easter Bunny.
I do not believe in the Flying Spaghetti Monster.
I do not believe in ghosts.
I do not believe in leprachauns.
I do not believe in (etc etc etc)...
How many freaking religions can one person have at a time?
The GP's quote, in addition to being humourous, was quite accurate. I do not have faith in the lack of a god, I lack a faith in a god. I believe there is no god in the same way that I believe there is no tooth fairy, and in the same way that I believe that aliens were not involved in JFK's assassination. I simply don't buy it. To me, it's a ridiculous idea. This does not make a religion.
Don't forget that thanks to the dot-com boom, working in IT became fashionable, so that everyone from all walks of life wanted to get in on it. As a result, the old school computer nerds now work side by side with the jocks who beat them up in high school.
An Egress would kick both their asses easily.
What the link says is that the domain was registered in 1995, and that Google currently owns it.
This does not mean that Google registered it in 1995, just that somebody registered it in 1995, and at some point since then, Google acquired it.
It is not splitting hairs. Who collects the levy is relevant. Who pays the levy is relevant. The punishment for non-payment (ie. civil suit by the recording industry) is relevant. A tax works differently than a levy. Yes, it sucks either way, but calling it a tax just muddies the issue.
No, because the government has never even seen this money. See here.
The Canadian Government, specifically the Copyright Board, authorized this levy (not tax) through ammendments to the Canadian Copyright Act.
The Canadian Private Copying Collective, a non-profit organization representing the music industry, collects the the levy from manufacturers (moderately important to note here is that it's not the government collecting it, nor is it actually being imposed on consumers; the recording industry collects it from manufacturers of recordable media).
Apple, not wanting to let the levy cut into their profits, pads the price of iPods in Canada to offset the levy paid to the CPCC.
The CPCC has been holding the money pending the final ruling from the courts on whether this levy should stand. Now that the court has ruled that it should not stand, they will be paying the money back to Apple.
Apple, in turn, refunds consumers as well (at least those who apply for the refund, which will likely not be everyone, so ultimately Apple can expect to make a small profit off of this, as will the recording industry, which collected interest off the money while holding it).
By the way, you have a similar levy in the United States as well, although it isn't quite as pervasive (ie. it doesn't apply to quite as many types of recordable media as it does in Canada). Many other countries have this levy, too.
The truth is, despite all the whining and complaining about the first two prequels, if Lucas had decided after AOTC to say "fuck it, that's it, I'm sick of trying to please these people, I'm simply not making the last movie, ever," there would be an absolute revolt from Star Wars fans -- the same fans whining and complaining about the first two prequals.
And, yes, I count myself among those. Personally, I complain because I know he could do better. But I still see them because, despite the glaring flaws, they're still Star Wars movies, and I love Star Wars.
Why? Simple. Everything I've ever learned in my life that has been truly useful, I've learned on my own. I'm an inquisitive type who just wants to know and understand things, so I constantly educate myself. So, I wanted to get a job so that I could earn a decent living and have time to pursue my real education, which doesn't happen in a classroom.
I also haven't tried the C# plugin for Eclipse, but I really like the idea of Eclipse becoming the platform of choice for development in other languages besides Java. Of course, I'm a Java guy, so I'll keep using Eclipse primarily for that.
There is.
That's probably quite intentional. They're not going to convince you or me to switch from our trusty QWERTY, but what about a whole new generation of computer users?
Buying a computer for your kids? Get this Fisher Price-esque keyboard that's not only probably easier for them to learn to use, due to it having less keys and all, but could also help them to learn their alphabet as well, since the keys are laid out alphabetically.
I could see elementary schools picking these up. And once kids start growing up with these keyboards, QWERTY will go the way of the DVORAK.
Just a theory.
Anybody can (and does) make that claim about any news source. Every news source has a bias, since there are people involved and those people, no matter how objective they may try to be, will allow a certain amount of bias through. I'd guess that, assuming you read national news in Canada, you're a National Post reader. You probably don't see them as being particularly biased, because they probably represent your worldview, whereas the G&M does not. That's fine. But the G&M does, for the most part, represent my worldview, whereas a newspaper that thinks an editorial on the merits of creationism is outstanding journalism (just to take a single example from recent memory) does not really represent my worldview, so I tend to consider NP as being "biased".
It's suggested to not rely on any single news source as the only news source.
I disagree. Prequels give a talented writer an opportunity to do incredible things with the story, like actually changing the meaning of what you've already seen. For example, if Lucas (who, sadly, is not a talented writer) had done something like what David Brin suggested, the prequels could have been spectacular, completely changing the storyline of the existing movies. The movie Memento is an excellent example of doing the same idea within a single movie. The movie shows the ending first, then works its way back to the beginning, slowly revealing to the viewers that what they've already seen isn't quite what they thought it was.
Prequels give talented writers this kind of power. Lucas is just not that talented.
Primarily because your car is a single-function computer. It drives you from point A to point B. That's it. It's 3D interface is fairly simple -- two pedals, three if manual transmission, steering wheel, gear shifter. Pretty straight-forward.
However, think of what your computer's use is. Essentially, it can be used for anything. So what would it's 3D interface look like? It would have to include everything imaginable for every conceivable purpose. Not particularly feasible.
Seriously, the most flexible interface I can think of is language. So, in my opinion, the user interface of the future will be... an expanded CLI, with natural language ability, and possibly the option to speak rather than type.
"folks whining for help before even attempting to solve their own problem"
In my experience, the more they try to solve the problem on their own before calling me, the worse they make it and the more work I end up having to do to fix it.
My philosophy is this: either try to figure it out yourself, or call me. Do not do both.
Does that discount the possibility of fraud in this election, or suggest fraud in the last 6 as well?
Just a thought.