As I avoid try - not completely successfully, but better than most people, I believe - Youtube like the plague of idiocy that, by and large, it is, I'm not aware of them using anything other than Flash. And given my recent research into how to build home-made tattoo guns (not the cheap "get an electric toothbrush and..." crap, but actual hand-crafted professional-grade tattoo guns, as my recently departed roommate is a tattoo artist) as well as videos linked to from certain (non-technical, more sociopolitical) websites, I am fairly certain that Youtube does not use anything other than Flash.
I meant my comment more as a biting bit of commentary on the predominantly lame content on Youtube. While I am sure that there is some useful content, I haven't had to use it as a resource in 10 years of IT work and various related home projects, and hope that I don't have to, ever.
And the non-sarcastic point of my comment was that Youtube is a website. It would have been far more accurate to say that the hardware and software now supported full-screen video due to the support for the new codec.
I still think that giving young, poor kids better access to Youtube is a lot less useful than loading actual learning materials (such as offering downloads for whatever course the kid is interested in, complete with full texts and a learning plan). Let them play games or what-have-you with the upgraded system, but design the UI so that it's primary function is learning. The ones who can and desire to do so will prosper, whereas the ones who just want to will become civil engineers. The ones who don't want to do anything to better their person...well, they can trade it for crack and set off down that path.
Question : you said "a function the device has, not a technological spec of the hardware/software". How can a computer offer a function if it is not present in the capabilities of the hardware or software? Even if Youtube takes advantage of the tag, the browser still needs to interpret it and the video card still needs to render it. That's how computers work, no?
Take most of what I said with a grain of salt, as I neither keep up with Youtube nor this charity project (I don't, in general, believe in charity; right now I'm having to do manual labor because the IT industry in my home town is so fucked that there's a glut of people who will work for next to nothing, and in turn, a lot scuzzy contracting firms that would rather hire a cheaper candidate that can't perform as well but enables them to make more money...I've been a victim of this myself, being told that company X wanted to hire me as contractor under company Y, and company Y in turn telling X, as I later found out, that I was no longer available, while not responding t my repeated inquiries...so pardon me if I don't much give a shit whether some kind of EastButfukistan has the tools to have my job outsourced to him one day - and I think - while this project is a great idea in theory, most of these laptops will end up in the hands of those they're not intended for).
Then why doesn't someone shoot the submitter who said "full-screen YouTube videos" instead of "full-screen Flash"?
I mean, firstly, most people in developing countries need YouTube like your average insane asylum needs flower wallpaper - it just doesn't fucking matter, and it's stupid to boot. Secondly, we're geeks. We're supposed to be accurate. Of course, I would say that someone need full-screen Flash about as much as I need another night in the drunk tank. It might be interesting for a little while, but it gets boring real fucking quick.
I live in Houston, home of a few tens of thousands of cops who will haul you in for Public Intoxication if they don't like the way you look and you've had one beer. Or any other excuse that they can dredge up. Hell, I've had my car towed and myself charged w/ Drug Paraphernalia for rolling papers in my wallet (which matched up with the tobacco pouch in my pocket), just because I refused to let the police search my vehicle (on general principle). So they hauled me in at 10PM, got a judge out of bed (since they were a small city w/in the greater Houston city limits, without an actual jail), charged me, and released me.
Meanwhile, my truck was towed, torn apart (to the point where I had to reassemble some of the seats with duct tape), and I had to pay 200 USD to get it out the next day. Of course, after I was released, I grabbed a few six-packs of Mickey's Big Mouth malt liquor bottles (aka grenades) and went right back to the punk rock show they'd arrested me at - which happened to be next to the local civic center and fire department - and smashed out every single window in said buildings after I finished each beer.
Not crappy trucks. Just a short temper and bad luck.
I beg to differ. I lease the bandwidth, I own the original recording (in the form of the CD case, if nothing else), and I could give a fuck what you or a RIAA lawyer thinks.
Plain and simple. If I own something, I can do what the fuck I want with it. I can copy it, I can jack off to if, I can stick it up your ass sideways if I feel like it (though that would most likely net me an aggravated assault charge). Since I am not altering the original recording (which I do not own any rights to distribute or do anything else with) nor passing it on to others, I am in the legal right.
You are not a lawyer, nor do you seem to be cognizant of the legal issues involved.
The problem with that is that everyone has a reason. For me, it's because while I recognize the system sucks and it's corrupt, I go around it. And I'd love to see the RIAA drag me into court. I do actually own most of the music that I download (or I did before one enterprising tow truck driver or another helped their self to my CD wallet - this has happened to me at least 6-7 times in my life, so I've lost upwards of 500+ CDs just to tow truck drivers). As for protesting this, I don't have the time or energy. If it mattered more to me, I'd do it. I've never been scared to take a stand.
As it stands, I have real-world, meat-space issues that matter a whole hell of a lot more to me. And, speaking as someone who has had a SWAT team and the FBI batter down my door twice in one day (the first time they came in with an arrest warrant for me, but I wasn't there...but of course the case was ridiculous, it was a pretense to get inside my house so they could then turn around and tell a judge "yes, your honor, he had guns and all kinds of illegal stuff laying around, please give us a search warrant!"). The second time when they came back, my ex-wife had already left (with the one item they had a legitimate reason to be looking for, a pistol that I'd used on someone in their bullshit case that ended up getting tossed like a frisbee by the grand jury), so they took every single gun and computer in my house (which amounted to about 200K worth of stuff at the value of the time...and this time they took down the back door, just to add insult to injury). The only humorous part about it is that you can tell which stuff was packed up by the local police and which by the Feebs - the local cops took my monitors and thought that was the computer, the FBI took the cases and disk arrays. So I ended up with at least a few complete computers left.
Never saw that stuff again. And I'm now considered a confirmed STG (Security Threat Group - also known to the layman as "organized crime") member (despite having no felony convictions - I won't argue that I know and associate with a lot of people that are confirmed for a reason, but like I always say "what exactly have you found me guilty of?"). So I have scarily legitimate reasons why I'm not about to take a stand over P2P issues when I can just route around the idiots (hell, my ISP doesn't just throttle my bandwidth, they occasionally shut me down for downloading too many torrents or MP3s/OGGs at once, and I just dig in the closet, find an old NIC, spoof the MAC address, and get an IP again immediately, ad nauseum).
He will be featured in either "Dead In A Seedy Hollywood Motel : Hookers And Blow" or "Dead In Detroit : I Met The Ethnic Equality Paradigm And Didn't Survive".
Well, what's that quote from Blade Runner? "More human than human", I believe. I couldn't even begin to guess what a truly evolved AI would think about, but I imagine that no matter how different the mode that it thought in was, nor how fast or slow it could reach conclusions compared to a human being, it would probably ask a lot of the same questions that humans do. Why? Because let's face it - almost every question that an intelligent being can ask has been asked. With the end result being that we have further questions to ask, more mysteries to unravel. So proceeds the logic of discovery. I doubt it would be much different with an AI, at least in the general process of inquiry, discovery, and further inquiry.
And there would be other fundamental questions for an AI to ask, such as "why do people pick their navel lint?". Things that have no real answer other than in the realm of physical experience. I imagine that physical sensation such as human beings experience it would be attractive to an AI simply to better understand those who gave birth (as a matter of speaking) to it.
Note that I have been phrasing my previous posts less in terms in general AI and more specifically in terms of what this story is about, which is mapping a human brain onto a microchip. Such an AI would be inherently more human than an AI that was created upon a different pattern.
I was more referring to it's ability to process multiple input/output streams in a manner that a human brain might not consciously be able to (hence the chip would outclass an equivalent human in almost all multitasking cases, since it would be able to handle multiple tasks in a far more coherent manner than an equivalent human without necessarily being better at any one of those tasks).
Whether or not the microchip actually appreciates the music is a function of whether it is truly AI (something that is heavily implied by "building a human brain into a microchip"...if it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, and looks like a duck, then for all intents and purposes it is a duck).
I personally think that mapping a complete human brain (including such things as the various glands and hormones in the human brain) onto a microchip presupposes that the end result will be an autonomous, reasoning being. AI.
How would we account for the fact that most humans only actively use something like 10 percent of their brain at any given time (not the same thing as the old bit about only using 10% aggregate)? If this microchip was capable of using all of it's capacity at any given time (or even just switching contexts quickly enough that the difference would be minute), and presuming that it was a relative one-to-one mapping of the human brain (bear with me, I know it's not likely), how much faster would it be compared to a regular human? Imagine someone who could listen to Mozart, paint, compose a letter or write code, control motor functions, and the rest of the things that a human being can do a couple of (but not all) at once?
That, to me, is more interesting than the next step that everyone is envisioning/worrying about - that the system (or would we call it a person, at this point?) would then be improved through a hardware upgrade process. The possibility of that high of a level of multitasking would make this microchip appear much more intelligent and capable than an equivalent human, even though it wouldn't be better than it's equivalent at any one given task. Of course, isn't multi-tasking a measure of a human being's overall intelligence and competence anyways? The ability to write code, listen to music, and mull over various other background ideas/tasks at the same time is something that only more intelligent people are capable of anyways.
Hmm...need to go think this over some. It almost seems to me like the human brain is basically a bandwidth-limited parallel processor (in the case of people that actually use said brain). I know that when I'm tired, drunk, or in a lot of pain, it becomes increasingly difficult to focus on more than one task at a time, whereas if I'm in optimal shape it is much easier to juggle more tasks at once (perhaps because it is then easier to handle/complete each individual task, freeing up bandwidth to be applied to other tasks).
I am everything that's wrong with society today? A working, tax-paying citizen who happens to disagree with you? Who points out that morons like you and your ilk are being consistently modded up or not modded, while dissenting voices are modded down?
Yep, I'm the cause of unemployment, corrupt and bloated government, human rights abuses, a pointless war in Iraq, millions of illegal immigrants sponging off an already flawed system, and a host of other problems that I could go on about all day. Okay, following that logic, if I'm the cause of all those problems, I'll fix them. ASAP. Of course, you might not like the way that I solve them, but you've now given the responsibility over to me. Thanks, I've been wanting to do something for a while now.
Seriously, you are a venomous moron. And Texas is the laughing stock of the U.S.? Get real. Bush is not from Texas, for one. Texas has some of the largest non-government technical industries in the country (think petroleum and medical). I believe the butt of most jokes about a particular state are either West Virginia or California. Hell, California can't even pay their welfare recipients, yet they're passing video game legislation.
And I'm going to hell, as you have emphatically stated twice now. That one's going to keep me up at nights. Are you one of those guys or gals that stands around outside concerts and passes out literature about how listening to Marilyn Manson or whomever is going to send us straight to hell? What is it with you and hell? As a Christian, I personally find people that run around telling whomever they don't agree with that they're "going to hell" or "good luck in hell shithead" pretty goddamn offensive. I think God has better things to do than send people to hell for defending their property or having a certain opinion or musical taste.
I suppose it does change the story a bit, but not much. Most people have a "shoot first, ask questions later" mentality about intruders on their property at night. I've almost been shot when I was younger by my own family for trying to come in through a window after I'd lost my keys.
As for the racial bit, it's a proven fact that Blacks commit crimes at a much higher rate than any other race in the US, especially against White females. So it's entirely relevant in the context. As for my commentary about interracial relationships, there's a big difference between friendship and respect, and diluting one's bloodline. My Black friends understand that, and wouldn't date a White woman. And they respect the fact that I am neither attracted to nor would I date anyone but a White woman. So on and so forth for other races. Simply because one has pride in one's heritage does not preclude respect for others.
Hey, dickhead, way to jump to conclusions! I did not say anything about lying. I actually meant how much or how little you choose to disclose (though I did not make that as clear as I should have, so a little turd like you can misconstrue it however you want). In one event where I used lethal force to defend myself and my ex-wife on my property, I merely told the police that the guy threatened us, started to physically assault me (by grabbing me, but I didn't say that detail as it was irrelevant as to how he put his hands on me), and I took appropriate measures to defend myself and my wife (without going into any details whatsoever, as that's where the DA gets their justification to hang your ass). Anything else they wanted to discuss they could do so with my lawyer. That's the smartest route in any case where you are dealing with the police, no matter what's going on. Say nothing, or as little as possible, and let your lawyer handle the rest. Because in this incident they did attempt to prosecute me (interestingly enough, not until 6 months or so down the road when the FBI was trying to put pressure on me to pursue a racketeering - RICO act - case against some friends and possibly myself as well). The grand jury threw the case out after reviewing the scanty evidence, but I didn't hear one word back from the police until they later had a use for the incident.
If I'm on my own property and shoot someone, I don't need to lie about it. If someone even so much as threatens you or trespasses on your property, you are justified in killing them (just make sure you do kill them, so they don't try to sue you later on, as some people have found out). And, for the record, I have never killed anyone unless it was (a) in a combat situation, (b) self-defense, or (c) defending or avenging a friend or family member. I try to live as peacefully as possible in a not-so-peaceful world, but I also don't take shit from people that mistake kindness for weakness. So I don't think I'll be burning in hell for that. And I don't have any problems sleeping over those things either, thanks for asking!
And I generally don't get modded down for most of my comments (technical or not). I was making the point about the other comments getting modded down in a pattern that indicated a bias based upon personal opinions rather than the actual content of the posts. As for my attitude towards police, it's based entirely upon my personal experience and observations. If you'll look up the history of my comments in a recent/. argument about police, their mentality, and my experiences with their incompetence, arrogance, cruelty, unwarranted aggression, and flagrant violation of simple, common-sense human rights and the laws they are supposed to be upholding), you'll note that none of my posts were modded down and some were modded up.
And to comment on the actual story here, what I see is a case of two parties that aren't really using the DNS system as it's intended (a cracker stealing from a squatter...the guilty party has technical knowledge, at least to some degree, whereas the victim has no technical abilities and is merely taking advantage of "business trends" - I don't think this is what the spirit of the Internet is about, even if the framework and laws allow it). One party (the accuser) buys domain names that he does not use in hopes of making money off selling them to people who actually would use them down the road. Not exactly a technology pioneer. The other guy takes advantage of the lack of technical savvy of this other parasite (an AOL user putting himself forth as a networking businessman...laughable) and steals his domain. Not justified, but definitely ironic. I say put them in a room, let them go after each other with crowbars, and then shoot whoever walks out alive. The world will be a better place.
Well, I didn't want to drag the rest of the story into it and make the off-topic post as complicated as the original scenario was, but the guy was (a) Black, (b) tripping on acid, and (c) stark naked. The girl was okay with him getting shot, because she was the girlfriend of a good friend of mine (my best friend actually, to the point where we call each other "brother by a different mother") and he'd already beat the fuck out of the guy for hitting on his girl. While the Black guy had been a friend of hers (and my brother as well), that had ended when he started hitting on her. As a White man, if I found a Black teenager naked outside my daughter's window in the wee hours, I'd blow his ass away too (I'd do the same for am unknown, naked White guy as well, but being of a different race only compounds the idiocy of his actions...I know the politically correct and socially/scientifically ignorant crowd can't accept this, but for many reasons - especially genetic and social ones - I do not condone miscegenation; before everyone starts screaming "racist!", I have friends and colleagues of all races, but they share my opinion of interracial "romance" - it leads to nothing but problems, often violent or fatal ones...recent example : http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/2539094/Model-Amy-Leigh-Barnes-chilling-999-call.html). Besides, this wasn't even romance. She didn't want him there, and he had the misfortune of waking her father. Though it might be a good thing, considering the fact that no one really knew whether his intentions were just to visit her or if they were more sinister than just being wasted and annoying.
I felt somewhat bad for the guy, because I don't think he meant any real harm and it's been my experience that Black people don't do well on acid (every single Black person I've ever known that took acid wigged out and dig dumb shit to one degree or another on LSD-25). But what he did was very stupid (not to mention creepy), high or not, and he paid the price for it. I didn't shed any tears (about a year later) for some guys that my brother and I sold acid to that tried to rob a Burger King while tripping and ended up a in a shoot-out with the law that killed several of them, either, so why would I have a problem with it?
Do stupid things and pay the price for the it. Pretty simple concept.
From both sides. Every pro-gun or anti-police statement is modded down. Yet this kind of crap (about getting arrested for manslaughter for defending one's home) gets modded up. I can personally tell you in Texas, if they're on your property and you shoot them, you can tell the cops whatever you want. It's your property, so you're in the right. End of story. And I've seen both sides of it (had an acquaintance when I was a teenager killed by an irate father when he snuck up to a girl's window to visit her, and also have used lethal force to defend my own property).
And yes, most cops are assholes. But even they can't make an unreasonable charge stick. So I stand with Mr. Buckshot. My 12-gauge combat shotgun lies within easy reach of my bed. Period.
I've been to South Africa. And I follow the news (and I make sure to get my news from a variety of disparate sources, not just mainstream spoon-fed crap, and not just off-the-wall bloggers). And I've studied the history of various parts of the world that I find interesting for one reason or another. In this case, I find Africa interesting for the simple fact that it's a perfect example of differences between various cultures and races in post-imperialism. Also, the whole "we was slaves, poor us" bit in America gets old...at an early age, I got tired of all the politically correct crap about how the big, bad White people enslaved the poor, helpless Black people and dragged them over to pick cotton. I wasn't terribly surprised to discover that almost all slaves acquired by international slave traders were sold to said traders by Africans themselves! While I despise the concept of slavery regardless of who practices it, this historical fact is largely ignored by the PC crowd in the US, who either (a) don't mention it or (b) actively lie and say that slave traders predominantly raided Africa for slaves. It's easy to lie about things which lie (no pun intended) far enough in the past that most people don't consider it worthwhile to investigate, simply taking at face value whatever they are told.
As far as ancestry, this is a hotly debated topic in palaeoanthropology. Firstly, one needs to consider that modern man (homo sapiens sapiens) is very different from homo erectus, homo habilis, and other branches of the homo taxonomy. It is believed by almost all anthropologists that the origin of the homo genus (no jokes, please) is indeed from Africa. However, evidence suggests that neither of the current dominant theories (the "Out Of Africa", or recent - well, if one considers something like 50,000 years or so in the past to be recent, which it is in terms of the history of the planet - evolution of homo sapiens sapiens - modern man - directly from the African continent, nor the MRE - Multi-Regional Evolution - theory which suggests that after the homo genus spread across the world, speciation - which is the evolution of various subspecies - of the homo genus took place) is entirely accurate. So, as far as I know, regardless of what one believes, the origins of mankind lie in Africa. However, the evolution of culture and civilization seem to be a world-wide phenomenon, based upon fossil and other hard records (such as buildings and tools) that contradict the theory that civilization originated in Africa and Egypt. Remember that homo sapiens were spread across the world already by the time that the disputed transition to "modern man" occurred (something like 200,000 years ago).
So, speaking in terms of evolution, "modern man" (homo sapiens sapiens) evolved either beginning around 200K years ago (the MRE theory) or around 50K years ago (the "Out Of Africa" theory) from Africa/Egypt/Middle East. Regardless of which, let's consider more recent developments (such as agriculture and other advances that facilitated the transition from hunter-gatherer organizational units to agrarian society). These definitely favor the MRE theory (or some variation thereof, since I don't believe it's entirely accurate), as hard evidence shows that organized human society definitely did not evolve solely in the African region. There are Celtic ruins that date as far back as Sumerian ruins, yet it is highly unlikely that these civilizations had much, if any, contact at all. So it's most likely that the dawn of "modern" human civilization did not occur in one specific region and then spread to the rest of the world.
Okay, that taxed my knowledge of ancient anthropology and I did have to reference Wikipedia and other resources several times. Apologies for any minor errors, but the basic ideas are correct as far as I know. Now, fast-forwarding about 9K years, let's look at African society as it existed prior to colonization by Europeans. The kingdom
Are you smoking crack? Africa was a pestilent shithole before White people colonized the place, and is now even worse afterwards. The only time that Africa's natural resources (it's by-and-large one of the most fertile continents in the world) were efficiently farmed and distributed were when those evil White folks were running the government and farming the land. Africa went from a savage wilderness populated by sub-normal tribes (I'll give you a clue - look at the average IQ of Blacks outside of America, it's almost always below the level that is considered mentally retarded) to a productive continent (okay, there were some issues, but nothing compared to the rampant disease and warfare now) to a war-ravaged disease-infested shithole that can't even feed itself. All the Black governments in Africa condone, at least by omission, genocide against the remaining White farmers, yet cannot farm the land themselves. Then they blame White people and aliens (no shit, this claim was made by S. Africa's Minister of Health about 5 years ago) for their health and social problems. They can use AK-47s, yet simple agrarian farming tools are beyond them. Uh-huh. If you can load an assault rifle, you can fuel and run a tractor.
I see nothing that White people should feel guilty about what-so-fucking-ever.
...when you're talking about anything to do with Black and White people!
After all, if you're Black, you're poor and taken advantage of (OMFG, think of the slaves! Slavery! Evil white people!...despite the fact the majority of slaves were sold to various European trading and investment groups, not necessarily ones run by Whites, by Black Africans! Whoops! Hate to burst that bubble...), and that free welfare check that you never have to do a damn thing for is some sort of sop. Gee, it must be so difficult to get paid to do nothing! Wow, what a hard job!
And the White oppressors get free health care! Yeah, I'm pretty sure that race was specifically listed on the Demoncrats health care bill...almost positive...uh, hang on, I don't see it mentioned anywhere, especially not favoring White people. Shit, another bubble pops!
Get in touch with reality, Junior. There's poor people and rich people of all races and nationalities, and everyone in between. The only people I give a shit about are the ones who are trying to actually get somewhere and do something useful with their lives. Everyone else can starve and die. Of course, with our current socialist political agenda, I believe everyone will soon be starving and dying. Who is John Galt?
I could make a similar extrapolation based upon my life :
July 1999 : number of wives = 0.5 (fiancee)
July 2000 : number of wives = 0
July 2003 : number of wives = 0.5 (another fiancee)
July 2005 : number of wives = 0.75 (common-law marriage)
July 2007 : number of wives = 1
July 2008 : number of wives = 0 (thank God!)
July 2009 : number of wives = 0
July 2024 : number of wives = 0 (bet your ass on that)
On the plus side, I think the trends for SSDs will show consistent growth. Actually, on the plus side as well, the number of chicks I've been with has shown consistent yearly growth at a fixed rate of 8-24 since 1992, and based upon factors (a) I'm not monogamous nor have ever been or ever will be and (b) if it's female and has a hole and a heartbeat, it's getting nailed like cheap siding, I don't see this trend changing in the least. So let's hear it for SSDs (both Solid State Disks and Sluts Summarily Dicked)!
I much prefer bloodletting and wild sex with a tattooed gorgeous punk/goth chick who is also a highly intelligent and creative companion outside of bed.
Might I suggest that investigate your fetish about handcuffs and batons, and then take it somewhere else, likes alt.sex.rough_arrest?
While I'm not going to dignify the comments about irrational hatred of "the man" or what-have-you with a response (I think I've provided enough real life examples to justify my opinions), I will provide you with one, since you've made some points.
Firstly, I have dealt with these situations with employment. It's called a phone call and a bond. You are familiar with the term "habeas corpus", as it's used in the US Constitution? It means that you have the constitutional right to have a reasonable bond set unless it can be proven that you are a flight risk or a danger to the community. And since I don't go around committing crimes (I've only once been denied bail, and that was for four felonies and one class A misdemeanor; I was guilty of none of the felonies, but I'm not a snitch either...the grand jury tossed the felonies out the door within a couple of weeks and I received time served for the misdemeanor...luckily I was between jobs at the time, but that still wouldn't have changed a thing - some times you have to lose something in order to stand your ground), the only thing I have to worry about is the occasional public intoxication or a BS minor charge (like getting arrested for my prescription medicine, when I had the prescription information in my wallet). So you call your girlfriend, wife, or a family member and have them post your bond and call you in sick at work. You'll be out in a day or two. Problem solved.
Mortgage company? Friend, I've lost two houses in my life (and I'm between 25 and 35, that's all the info I'll give). The first one I had to sell because of the above-mentioned felony cases in order to pay my lawyer to kick up enough fuss to get the case reviewed. I have retained the same lawyer, an excellent and highly intelligent woman, since I was 20. The second one I had to let the bank repossess when I got hit with the triple shot of a divorce, the economy going to crap, and I was laid off from my job. Not a good thing, but that's life.
As for your bit about legal advice, such as sitting down and shutting up, I'm not an idiot. I know the law better than anyone who has commented on a single thing I've said. I don't say a single thing about whatever I'm accused of until I talk to my lawyer. I've goaded police into beating me black and blue just to get out of an interrogation room before so I could call my lawyer. But I never say shit about any accusation. I don't talk my way out of anything. I just stone-face them until they cave in, or apply the above-mentioned goading (but I was already under arrest at that point anyways, they were just holding me somewhere to unlawfully try to intimidate me...I laughed the whole time they were beating me while I was cuffed to a chair). That is part of my principles as well. I'm perfectly capable of sitting in a room for 12 hours without saying a word, with cops screaming in my face and yanking my cuffs up behind my back until my arms are vertical with my shoulders.
As for screaming blue murder, I did not say that. But if you put your hands on me without having anything to arrest me for, I will resist. There is nothing they can do to me that will break me. And trust me, it's been tried. And I know all the mind games, like a cop that has a can of dip out when he knows you're having nicotine withdrawals. The last one that tried that game on me made the mistake of doing it in a locked room with no other officers present. I didn't even need to directly threaten him. Just wiggled the stool I was cuffed to, indicating the loose bolts holding it to the floor, and speculated on whether the door could be unlocked before I could rip the stool loose. Can of dip disappeared quickly, soon to be followed by officer in question.
As for having nothing to lose, you're both wrong and right. The only thing I care whether I lose is my honor, and they can't take that away even if they kill me. So while I don't create trouble for myself, I do not betray my principles by being a silent participant in this circus.
I have been tasered three times, you subnormal troll. Slows me down for about 2 seconds.
As for big and scary, no, not really. I'm a pretty nice guy, all around. I'm 5'10" and 180 lbs. with maybe a pound of fat on me. I'm covered in tattoos, and my pain threshold is well above what you could even imagine. I used to be a body piercer, and I've pierced my own dick. Five times. Think you can do that? I have three metal plates in my face, about a dozen prominent scars on my face (two of them from fighting with cops, one from a bareknuckle match against a Navy SEAL...he lost all his front teeth and I got a broken jaw and nose). I've been stabbed enough times that I lost count around 10. One of those was with a machete across my back, another was with a piece of sharpened rebar. Each of those stabbings I handled with my bare hands or a knife. My knuckles look like they've been through a meat-grinder. I was a soldier for 3 years, trained under a USMC Force Recon cat who'd done three tours in Vietnam. We used to trade punches for 30+ minutes until we got bored or broke ribs. I've been under fire in at least 50 engagements. Never been shot once.
Still want to play the "who's a badass" game? Let me tell you something - all the bad motherfuckers are dead. But I'll indulge your whim. Post your e-mail address and I'll send you some pictures. You'll know it's me because I'll make sure to include my hands in some of them, and I have part of my/. username tattooed across the knuckles of each hand, plus a flaming shamrock across the back of one hand.
On the lighter side of things, I do open doors for ladies, say "please" and "thank you", and am generally well-mannered and pleasant to deal with. Unless you're a cop.
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As I avoid try - not completely successfully, but better than most people, I believe - Youtube like the plague of idiocy that, by and large, it is, I'm not aware of them using anything other than Flash. And given my recent research into how to build home-made tattoo guns (not the cheap "get an electric toothbrush and..." crap, but actual hand-crafted professional-grade tattoo guns, as my recently departed roommate is a tattoo artist) as well as videos linked to from certain (non-technical, more sociopolitical) websites, I am fairly certain that Youtube does not use anything other than Flash.
I meant my comment more as a biting bit of commentary on the predominantly lame content on Youtube. While I am sure that there is some useful content, I haven't had to use it as a resource in 10 years of IT work and various related home projects, and hope that I don't have to, ever.
And the non-sarcastic point of my comment was that Youtube is a website. It would have been far more accurate to say that the hardware and software now supported full-screen video due to the support for the new codec.
I still think that giving young, poor kids better access to Youtube is a lot less useful than loading actual learning materials (such as offering downloads for whatever course the kid is interested in, complete with full texts and a learning plan). Let them play games or what-have-you with the upgraded system, but design the UI so that it's primary function is learning. The ones who can and desire to do so will prosper, whereas the ones who just want to will become civil engineers. The ones who don't want to do anything to better their person...well, they can trade it for crack and set off down that path.
Question : you said "a function the device has, not a technological spec of the hardware/software". How can a computer offer a function if it is not present in the capabilities of the hardware or software? Even if Youtube takes advantage of the tag, the browser still needs to interpret it and the video card still needs to render it. That's how computers work, no?
Take most of what I said with a grain of salt, as I neither keep up with Youtube nor this charity project (I don't, in general, believe in charity; right now I'm having to do manual labor because the IT industry in my home town is so fucked that there's a glut of people who will work for next to nothing, and in turn, a lot scuzzy contracting firms that would rather hire a cheaper candidate that can't perform as well but enables them to make more money...I've been a victim of this myself, being told that company X wanted to hire me as contractor under company Y, and company Y in turn telling X, as I later found out, that I was no longer available, while not responding t my repeated inquiries...so pardon me if I don't much give a shit whether some kind of EastButfukistan has the tools to have my job outsourced to him one day - and I think - while this project is a great idea in theory, most of these laptops will end up in the hands of those they're not intended for).
Then why doesn't someone shoot the submitter who said "full-screen YouTube videos" instead of "full-screen Flash"?
I mean, firstly, most people in developing countries need YouTube like your average insane asylum needs flower wallpaper - it just doesn't fucking matter, and it's stupid to boot. Secondly, we're geeks. We're supposed to be accurate. Of course, I would say that someone need full-screen Flash about as much as I need another night in the drunk tank. It might be interesting for a little while, but it gets boring real fucking quick.
That's ten points off your geek card, buddy.
I live in Houston, home of a few tens of thousands of cops who will haul you in for Public Intoxication if they don't like the way you look and you've had one beer. Or any other excuse that they can dredge up. Hell, I've had my car towed and myself charged w/ Drug Paraphernalia for rolling papers in my wallet (which matched up with the tobacco pouch in my pocket), just because I refused to let the police search my vehicle (on general principle). So they hauled me in at 10PM, got a judge out of bed (since they were a small city w/in the greater Houston city limits, without an actual jail), charged me, and released me.
Meanwhile, my truck was towed, torn apart (to the point where I had to reassemble some of the seats with duct tape), and I had to pay 200 USD to get it out the next day. Of course, after I was released, I grabbed a few six-packs of Mickey's Big Mouth malt liquor bottles (aka grenades) and went right back to the punk rock show they'd arrested me at - which happened to be next to the local civic center and fire department - and smashed out every single window in said buildings after I finished each beer.
Not crappy trucks. Just a short temper and bad luck.
I beg to differ. I lease the bandwidth, I own the original recording (in the form of the CD case, if nothing else), and I could give a fuck what you or a RIAA lawyer thinks.
Plain and simple. If I own something, I can do what the fuck I want with it. I can copy it, I can jack off to if, I can stick it up your ass sideways if I feel like it (though that would most likely net me an aggravated assault charge). Since I am not altering the original recording (which I do not own any rights to distribute or do anything else with) nor passing it on to others, I am in the legal right.
You are not a lawyer, nor do you seem to be cognizant of the legal issues involved.
The problem with that is that everyone has a reason. For me, it's because while I recognize the system sucks and it's corrupt, I go around it. And I'd love to see the RIAA drag me into court. I do actually own most of the music that I download (or I did before one enterprising tow truck driver or another helped their self to my CD wallet - this has happened to me at least 6-7 times in my life, so I've lost upwards of 500+ CDs just to tow truck drivers). As for protesting this, I don't have the time or energy. If it mattered more to me, I'd do it. I've never been scared to take a stand.
As it stands, I have real-world, meat-space issues that matter a whole hell of a lot more to me. And, speaking as someone who has had a SWAT team and the FBI batter down my door twice in one day (the first time they came in with an arrest warrant for me, but I wasn't there...but of course the case was ridiculous, it was a pretense to get inside my house so they could then turn around and tell a judge "yes, your honor, he had guns and all kinds of illegal stuff laying around, please give us a search warrant!"). The second time when they came back, my ex-wife had already left (with the one item they had a legitimate reason to be looking for, a pistol that I'd used on someone in their bullshit case that ended up getting tossed like a frisbee by the grand jury), so they took every single gun and computer in my house (which amounted to about 200K worth of stuff at the value of the time...and this time they took down the back door, just to add insult to injury). The only humorous part about it is that you can tell which stuff was packed up by the local police and which by the Feebs - the local cops took my monitors and thought that was the computer, the FBI took the cases and disk arrays. So I ended up with at least a few complete computers left.
Never saw that stuff again. And I'm now considered a confirmed STG (Security Threat Group - also known to the layman as "organized crime") member (despite having no felony convictions - I won't argue that I know and associate with a lot of people that are confirmed for a reason, but like I always say "what exactly have you found me guilty of?"). So I have scarily legitimate reasons why I'm not about to take a stand over P2P issues when I can just route around the idiots (hell, my ISP doesn't just throttle my bandwidth, they occasionally shut me down for downloading too many torrents or MP3s/OGGs at once, and I just dig in the closet, find an old NIC, spoof the MAC address, and get an IP again immediately, ad nauseum).
He will be featured in either "Dead In A Seedy Hollywood Motel : Hookers And Blow" or "Dead In Detroit : I Met The Ethnic Equality Paradigm And Didn't Survive".
Well, what's that quote from Blade Runner? "More human than human", I believe. I couldn't even begin to guess what a truly evolved AI would think about, but I imagine that no matter how different the mode that it thought in was, nor how fast or slow it could reach conclusions compared to a human being, it would probably ask a lot of the same questions that humans do. Why? Because let's face it - almost every question that an intelligent being can ask has been asked. With the end result being that we have further questions to ask, more mysteries to unravel. So proceeds the logic of discovery. I doubt it would be much different with an AI, at least in the general process of inquiry, discovery, and further inquiry.
And there would be other fundamental questions for an AI to ask, such as "why do people pick their navel lint?". Things that have no real answer other than in the realm of physical experience. I imagine that physical sensation such as human beings experience it would be attractive to an AI simply to better understand those who gave birth (as a matter of speaking) to it.
Note that I have been phrasing my previous posts less in terms in general AI and more specifically in terms of what this story is about, which is mapping a human brain onto a microchip. Such an AI would be inherently more human than an AI that was created upon a different pattern.
I was more referring to it's ability to process multiple input/output streams in a manner that a human brain might not consciously be able to (hence the chip would outclass an equivalent human in almost all multitasking cases, since it would be able to handle multiple tasks in a far more coherent manner than an equivalent human without necessarily being better at any one of those tasks).
Whether or not the microchip actually appreciates the music is a function of whether it is truly AI (something that is heavily implied by "building a human brain into a microchip"...if it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, and looks like a duck, then for all intents and purposes it is a duck).
I personally think that mapping a complete human brain (including such things as the various glands and hormones in the human brain) onto a microchip presupposes that the end result will be an autonomous, reasoning being. AI.
How would we account for the fact that most humans only actively use something like 10 percent of their brain at any given time (not the same thing as the old bit about only using 10% aggregate)? If this microchip was capable of using all of it's capacity at any given time (or even just switching contexts quickly enough that the difference would be minute), and presuming that it was a relative one-to-one mapping of the human brain (bear with me, I know it's not likely), how much faster would it be compared to a regular human? Imagine someone who could listen to Mozart, paint, compose a letter or write code, control motor functions, and the rest of the things that a human being can do a couple of (but not all) at once?
That, to me, is more interesting than the next step that everyone is envisioning/worrying about - that the system (or would we call it a person, at this point?) would then be improved through a hardware upgrade process. The possibility of that high of a level of multitasking would make this microchip appear much more intelligent and capable than an equivalent human, even though it wouldn't be better than it's equivalent at any one given task. Of course, isn't multi-tasking a measure of a human being's overall intelligence and competence anyways? The ability to write code, listen to music, and mull over various other background ideas/tasks at the same time is something that only more intelligent people are capable of anyways.
Hmm...need to go think this over some. It almost seems to me like the human brain is basically a bandwidth-limited parallel processor (in the case of people that actually use said brain). I know that when I'm tired, drunk, or in a lot of pain, it becomes increasingly difficult to focus on more than one task at a time, whereas if I'm in optimal shape it is much easier to juggle more tasks at once (perhaps because it is then easier to handle/complete each individual task, freeing up bandwidth to be applied to other tasks).
Yes, and most of them aren't even being used!
Of course, we know what happens to a muscle that isn't exercised...
I am everything that's wrong with society today? A working, tax-paying citizen who happens to disagree with you? Who points out that morons like you and your ilk are being consistently modded up or not modded, while dissenting voices are modded down?
Yep, I'm the cause of unemployment, corrupt and bloated government, human rights abuses, a pointless war in Iraq, millions of illegal immigrants sponging off an already flawed system, and a host of other problems that I could go on about all day. Okay, following that logic, if I'm the cause of all those problems, I'll fix them. ASAP. Of course, you might not like the way that I solve them, but you've now given the responsibility over to me. Thanks, I've been wanting to do something for a while now.
Seriously, you are a venomous moron. And Texas is the laughing stock of the U.S.? Get real. Bush is not from Texas, for one. Texas has some of the largest non-government technical industries in the country (think petroleum and medical). I believe the butt of most jokes about a particular state are either West Virginia or California. Hell, California can't even pay their welfare recipients, yet they're passing video game legislation.
And I'm going to hell, as you have emphatically stated twice now. That one's going to keep me up at nights. Are you one of those guys or gals that stands around outside concerts and passes out literature about how listening to Marilyn Manson or whomever is going to send us straight to hell? What is it with you and hell? As a Christian, I personally find people that run around telling whomever they don't agree with that they're "going to hell" or "good luck in hell shithead" pretty goddamn offensive. I think God has better things to do than send people to hell for defending their property or having a certain opinion or musical taste.
I suppose it does change the story a bit, but not much. Most people have a "shoot first, ask questions later" mentality about intruders on their property at night. I've almost been shot when I was younger by my own family for trying to come in through a window after I'd lost my keys.
As for the racial bit, it's a proven fact that Blacks commit crimes at a much higher rate than any other race in the US, especially against White females. So it's entirely relevant in the context. As for my commentary about interracial relationships, there's a big difference between friendship and respect, and diluting one's bloodline. My Black friends understand that, and wouldn't date a White woman. And they respect the fact that I am neither attracted to nor would I date anyone but a White woman. So on and so forth for other races. Simply because one has pride in one's heritage does not preclude respect for others.
Hey, dickhead, way to jump to conclusions! I did not say anything about lying. I actually meant how much or how little you choose to disclose (though I did not make that as clear as I should have, so a little turd like you can misconstrue it however you want). In one event where I used lethal force to defend myself and my ex-wife on my property, I merely told the police that the guy threatened us, started to physically assault me (by grabbing me, but I didn't say that detail as it was irrelevant as to how he put his hands on me), and I took appropriate measures to defend myself and my wife (without going into any details whatsoever, as that's where the DA gets their justification to hang your ass). Anything else they wanted to discuss they could do so with my lawyer. That's the smartest route in any case where you are dealing with the police, no matter what's going on. Say nothing, or as little as possible, and let your lawyer handle the rest. Because in this incident they did attempt to prosecute me (interestingly enough, not until 6 months or so down the road when the FBI was trying to put pressure on me to pursue a racketeering - RICO act - case against some friends and possibly myself as well). The grand jury threw the case out after reviewing the scanty evidence, but I didn't hear one word back from the police until they later had a use for the incident.
If I'm on my own property and shoot someone, I don't need to lie about it. If someone even so much as threatens you or trespasses on your property, you are justified in killing them (just make sure you do kill them, so they don't try to sue you later on, as some people have found out). And, for the record, I have never killed anyone unless it was (a) in a combat situation, (b) self-defense, or (c) defending or avenging a friend or family member. I try to live as peacefully as possible in a not-so-peaceful world, but I also don't take shit from people that mistake kindness for weakness. So I don't think I'll be burning in hell for that. And I don't have any problems sleeping over those things either, thanks for asking!
And I generally don't get modded down for most of my comments (technical or not). I was making the point about the other comments getting modded down in a pattern that indicated a bias based upon personal opinions rather than the actual content of the posts. As for my attitude towards police, it's based entirely upon my personal experience and observations. If you'll look up the history of my comments in a recent /. argument about police, their mentality, and my experiences with their incompetence, arrogance, cruelty, unwarranted aggression, and flagrant violation of simple, common-sense human rights and the laws they are supposed to be upholding), you'll note that none of my posts were modded down and some were modded up.
And to comment on the actual story here, what I see is a case of two parties that aren't really using the DNS system as it's intended (a cracker stealing from a squatter...the guilty party has technical knowledge, at least to some degree, whereas the victim has no technical abilities and is merely taking advantage of "business trends" - I don't think this is what the spirit of the Internet is about, even if the framework and laws allow it). One party (the accuser) buys domain names that he does not use in hopes of making money off selling them to people who actually would use them down the road. Not exactly a technology pioneer. The other guy takes advantage of the lack of technical savvy of this other parasite (an AOL user putting himself forth as a networking businessman...laughable) and steals his domain. Not justified, but definitely ironic. I say put them in a room, let them go after each other with crowbars, and then shoot whoever walks out alive. The world will be a better place.
Well, I didn't want to drag the rest of the story into it and make the off-topic post as complicated as the original scenario was, but the guy was (a) Black, (b) tripping on acid, and (c) stark naked. The girl was okay with him getting shot, because she was the girlfriend of a good friend of mine (my best friend actually, to the point where we call each other "brother by a different mother") and he'd already beat the fuck out of the guy for hitting on his girl. While the Black guy had been a friend of hers (and my brother as well), that had ended when he started hitting on her. As a White man, if I found a Black teenager naked outside my daughter's window in the wee hours, I'd blow his ass away too (I'd do the same for am unknown, naked White guy as well, but being of a different race only compounds the idiocy of his actions...I know the politically correct and socially/scientifically ignorant crowd can't accept this, but for many reasons - especially genetic and social ones - I do not condone miscegenation; before everyone starts screaming "racist!", I have friends and colleagues of all races, but they share my opinion of interracial "romance" - it leads to nothing but problems, often violent or fatal ones...recent example : http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/2539094/Model-Amy-Leigh-Barnes-chilling-999-call.html). Besides, this wasn't even romance. She didn't want him there, and he had the misfortune of waking her father. Though it might be a good thing, considering the fact that no one really knew whether his intentions were just to visit her or if they were more sinister than just being wasted and annoying.
I felt somewhat bad for the guy, because I don't think he meant any real harm and it's been my experience that Black people don't do well on acid (every single Black person I've ever known that took acid wigged out and dig dumb shit to one degree or another on LSD-25). But what he did was very stupid (not to mention creepy), high or not, and he paid the price for it. I didn't shed any tears (about a year later) for some guys that my brother and I sold acid to that tried to rob a Burger King while tripping and ended up a in a shoot-out with the law that killed several of them, either, so why would I have a problem with it?
Do stupid things and pay the price for the it. Pretty simple concept.
From both sides. Every pro-gun or anti-police statement is modded down. Yet this kind of crap (about getting arrested for manslaughter for defending one's home) gets modded up. I can personally tell you in Texas, if they're on your property and you shoot them, you can tell the cops whatever you want. It's your property, so you're in the right. End of story. And I've seen both sides of it (had an acquaintance when I was a teenager killed by an irate father when he snuck up to a girl's window to visit her, and also have used lethal force to defend my own property).
And yes, most cops are assholes. But even they can't make an unreasonable charge stick. So I stand with Mr. Buckshot. My 12-gauge combat shotgun lies within easy reach of my bed. Period.
I've been to South Africa. And I follow the news (and I make sure to get my news from a variety of disparate sources, not just mainstream spoon-fed crap, and not just off-the-wall bloggers). And I've studied the history of various parts of the world that I find interesting for one reason or another. In this case, I find Africa interesting for the simple fact that it's a perfect example of differences between various cultures and races in post-imperialism. Also, the whole "we was slaves, poor us" bit in America gets old...at an early age, I got tired of all the politically correct crap about how the big, bad White people enslaved the poor, helpless Black people and dragged them over to pick cotton. I wasn't terribly surprised to discover that almost all slaves acquired by international slave traders were sold to said traders by Africans themselves! While I despise the concept of slavery regardless of who practices it, this historical fact is largely ignored by the PC crowd in the US, who either (a) don't mention it or (b) actively lie and say that slave traders predominantly raided Africa for slaves. It's easy to lie about things which lie (no pun intended) far enough in the past that most people don't consider it worthwhile to investigate, simply taking at face value whatever they are told.
As far as ancestry, this is a hotly debated topic in palaeoanthropology. Firstly, one needs to consider that modern man (homo sapiens sapiens) is very different from homo erectus, homo habilis, and other branches of the homo taxonomy. It is believed by almost all anthropologists that the origin of the homo genus (no jokes, please) is indeed from Africa. However, evidence suggests that neither of the current dominant theories (the "Out Of Africa", or recent - well, if one considers something like 50,000 years or so in the past to be recent, which it is in terms of the history of the planet - evolution of homo sapiens sapiens - modern man - directly from the African continent, nor the MRE - Multi-Regional Evolution - theory which suggests that after the homo genus spread across the world, speciation - which is the evolution of various subspecies - of the homo genus took place) is entirely accurate. So, as far as I know, regardless of what one believes, the origins of mankind lie in Africa. However, the evolution of culture and civilization seem to be a world-wide phenomenon, based upon fossil and other hard records (such as buildings and tools) that contradict the theory that civilization originated in Africa and Egypt. Remember that homo sapiens were spread across the world already by the time that the disputed transition to "modern man" occurred (something like 200,000 years ago).
So, speaking in terms of evolution, "modern man" (homo sapiens sapiens) evolved either beginning around 200K years ago (the MRE theory) or around 50K years ago (the "Out Of Africa" theory) from Africa/Egypt/Middle East. Regardless of which, let's consider more recent developments (such as agriculture and other advances that facilitated the transition from hunter-gatherer organizational units to agrarian society). These definitely favor the MRE theory (or some variation thereof, since I don't believe it's entirely accurate), as hard evidence shows that organized human society definitely did not evolve solely in the African region. There are Celtic ruins that date as far back as Sumerian ruins, yet it is highly unlikely that these civilizations had much, if any, contact at all. So it's most likely that the dawn of "modern" human civilization did not occur in one specific region and then spread to the rest of the world.
Okay, that taxed my knowledge of ancient anthropology and I did have to reference Wikipedia and other resources several times. Apologies for any minor errors, but the basic ideas are correct as far as I know. Now, fast-forwarding about 9K years, let's look at African society as it existed prior to colonization by Europeans. The kingdom
Call it White-guilt or whatever
Are you smoking crack? Africa was a pestilent shithole before White people colonized the place, and is now even worse afterwards. The only time that Africa's natural resources (it's by-and-large one of the most fertile continents in the world) were efficiently farmed and distributed were when those evil White folks were running the government and farming the land. Africa went from a savage wilderness populated by sub-normal tribes (I'll give you a clue - look at the average IQ of Blacks outside of America, it's almost always below the level that is considered mentally retarded) to a productive continent (okay, there were some issues, but nothing compared to the rampant disease and warfare now) to a war-ravaged disease-infested shithole that can't even feed itself. All the Black governments in Africa condone, at least by omission, genocide against the remaining White farmers, yet cannot farm the land themselves. Then they blame White people and aliens (no shit, this claim was made by S. Africa's Minister of Health about 5 years ago) for their health and social problems. They can use AK-47s, yet simple agrarian farming tools are beyond them. Uh-huh. If you can load an assault rifle, you can fuel and run a tractor.
I see nothing that White people should feel guilty about what-so-fucking-ever.
With what guns exactly?
I'm from Texas. I can kill someone from California just by looking at them. Thanks for amusing me, though.
After all, if you're Black, you're poor and taken advantage of (OMFG, think of the slaves! Slavery! Evil white people! ...despite the fact the majority of slaves were sold to various European trading and investment groups, not necessarily ones run by Whites, by Black Africans! Whoops! Hate to burst that bubble...), and that free welfare check that you never have to do a damn thing for is some sort of sop. Gee, it must be so difficult to get paid to do nothing! Wow, what a hard job!
And the White oppressors get free health care! Yeah, I'm pretty sure that race was specifically listed on the Demoncrats health care bill...almost positive...uh, hang on, I don't see it mentioned anywhere, especially not favoring White people. Shit, another bubble pops!
Get in touch with reality, Junior. There's poor people and rich people of all races and nationalities, and everyone in between. The only people I give a shit about are the ones who are trying to actually get somewhere and do something useful with their lives. Everyone else can starve and die. Of course, with our current socialist political agenda, I believe everyone will soon be starving and dying. Who is John Galt?
You mean like East Texas and Louisiana?
I could make a similar extrapolation based upon my life :
July 1999 : number of wives = 0.5 (fiancee)
July 2000 : number of wives = 0
July 2003 : number of wives = 0.5 (another fiancee)
July 2005 : number of wives = 0.75 (common-law marriage)
July 2007 : number of wives = 1
July 2008 : number of wives = 0 (thank God!)
July 2009 : number of wives = 0
July 2024 : number of wives = 0 (bet your ass on that)
On the plus side, I think the trends for SSDs will show consistent growth. Actually, on the plus side as well, the number of chicks I've been with has shown consistent yearly growth at a fixed rate of 8-24 since 1992, and based upon factors (a) I'm not monogamous nor have ever been or ever will be and (b) if it's female and has a hole and a heartbeat, it's getting nailed like cheap siding, I don't see this trend changing in the least. So let's hear it for SSDs (both Solid State Disks and Sluts Summarily Dicked)!
I much prefer bloodletting and wild sex with a tattooed gorgeous punk/goth chick who is also a highly intelligent and creative companion outside of bed.
Might I suggest that investigate your fetish about handcuffs and batons, and then take it somewhere else, likes alt.sex.rough_arrest?
While I'm not going to dignify the comments about irrational hatred of "the man" or what-have-you with a response (I think I've provided enough real life examples to justify my opinions), I will provide you with one, since you've made some points.
Firstly, I have dealt with these situations with employment. It's called a phone call and a bond. You are familiar with the term "habeas corpus", as it's used in the US Constitution? It means that you have the constitutional right to have a reasonable bond set unless it can be proven that you are a flight risk or a danger to the community. And since I don't go around committing crimes (I've only once been denied bail, and that was for four felonies and one class A misdemeanor; I was guilty of none of the felonies, but I'm not a snitch either...the grand jury tossed the felonies out the door within a couple of weeks and I received time served for the misdemeanor...luckily I was between jobs at the time, but that still wouldn't have changed a thing - some times you have to lose something in order to stand your ground), the only thing I have to worry about is the occasional public intoxication or a BS minor charge (like getting arrested for my prescription medicine, when I had the prescription information in my wallet). So you call your girlfriend, wife, or a family member and have them post your bond and call you in sick at work. You'll be out in a day or two. Problem solved.
Mortgage company? Friend, I've lost two houses in my life (and I'm between 25 and 35, that's all the info I'll give). The first one I had to sell because of the above-mentioned felony cases in order to pay my lawyer to kick up enough fuss to get the case reviewed. I have retained the same lawyer, an excellent and highly intelligent woman, since I was 20. The second one I had to let the bank repossess when I got hit with the triple shot of a divorce, the economy going to crap, and I was laid off from my job. Not a good thing, but that's life.
As for your bit about legal advice, such as sitting down and shutting up, I'm not an idiot. I know the law better than anyone who has commented on a single thing I've said. I don't say a single thing about whatever I'm accused of until I talk to my lawyer. I've goaded police into beating me black and blue just to get out of an interrogation room before so I could call my lawyer. But I never say shit about any accusation. I don't talk my way out of anything. I just stone-face them until they cave in, or apply the above-mentioned goading (but I was already under arrest at that point anyways, they were just holding me somewhere to unlawfully try to intimidate me...I laughed the whole time they were beating me while I was cuffed to a chair). That is part of my principles as well. I'm perfectly capable of sitting in a room for 12 hours without saying a word, with cops screaming in my face and yanking my cuffs up behind my back until my arms are vertical with my shoulders.
As for screaming blue murder, I did not say that. But if you put your hands on me without having anything to arrest me for, I will resist. There is nothing they can do to me that will break me. And trust me, it's been tried. And I know all the mind games, like a cop that has a can of dip out when he knows you're having nicotine withdrawals. The last one that tried that game on me made the mistake of doing it in a locked room with no other officers present. I didn't even need to directly threaten him. Just wiggled the stool I was cuffed to, indicating the loose bolts holding it to the floor, and speculated on whether the door could be unlocked before I could rip the stool loose. Can of dip disappeared quickly, soon to be followed by officer in question.
As for having nothing to lose, you're both wrong and right. The only thing I care whether I lose is my honor, and they can't take that away even if they kill me. So while I don't create trouble for myself, I do not betray my principles by being a silent participant in this circus.
You can give the popcorn to my lawyer. She'll eat it up as a snack as soon as she's done with the DA.
I have been tasered three times, you subnormal troll. Slows me down for about 2 seconds.
As for big and scary, no, not really. I'm a pretty nice guy, all around. I'm 5'10" and 180 lbs. with maybe a pound of fat on me. I'm covered in tattoos, and my pain threshold is well above what you could even imagine. I used to be a body piercer, and I've pierced my own dick. Five times. Think you can do that? I have three metal plates in my face, about a dozen prominent scars on my face (two of them from fighting with cops, one from a bareknuckle match against a Navy SEAL...he lost all his front teeth and I got a broken jaw and nose). I've been stabbed enough times that I lost count around 10. One of those was with a machete across my back, another was with a piece of sharpened rebar. Each of those stabbings I handled with my bare hands or a knife. My knuckles look like they've been through a meat-grinder. I was a soldier for 3 years, trained under a USMC Force Recon cat who'd done three tours in Vietnam. We used to trade punches for 30+ minutes until we got bored or broke ribs. I've been under fire in at least 50 engagements. Never been shot once.
Still want to play the "who's a badass" game? Let me tell you something - all the bad motherfuckers are dead. But I'll indulge your whim. Post your e-mail address and I'll send you some pictures. You'll know it's me because I'll make sure to include my hands in some of them, and I have part of my /. username tattooed across the knuckles of each hand, plus a flaming shamrock across the back of one hand.
On the lighter side of things, I do open doors for ladies, say "please" and "thank you", and am generally well-mannered and pleasant to deal with. Unless you're a cop.