In which case things have proably got about as ass-backward as they can possibly get.
I always think about Capitalism like that old proverb about fire: 'it makes a good servant but a bad master', and the latter seems to be where the US (and UK) are forever heading.
See also housing policy (housing as investment over housing as shelter), manufacturing policy (service industry, particularly banking is all the Tories care about), health policy (privatise the NHS piece by piece, selling it off to their party donors).
This almost always seems to be the case: the security services don't need more mass surveillance, they need to act on the intelligence they already have; they don't need a bigger haystack to find the needles they already have in front of them.
The proposals by the British government (the civil servants behind the scenes, that is, impressing it upon the clueless "here today, gone tomorrow" politicians, who propose it to every bunch that comes along until they get what they want) are ludicrous and will be abused.
Having Mike from Bromford's internet history stored for a whole year won't help them catch a single fucking terrorist, but it will help they shut him the fuck up if he starts campaigning against Fracking in his neighbourhood once the party's donors (the Frackers) start complaining about how effective his campign is.
The UK is becoming an ever greater, scary, over-arching surveillance state. The other shoe just hasn't dropped yet for the vast majority of people.
>Some might have their voting rights revoked for felonies (to stop them from supporting the legalization of their crime, which was a serious problem in the distant past)
You mean like how large corporations lobby (ans outright bribe) politicians to do the same. They have a cute word for it - they call it "deregulation"; maybe that's where those darn (imaginary) enfranchised criminals were going wrong - not enough euphemism!
>bringing the judiciary into the issuing of warrants for digital searches and interception is a good thing
It doesn't do that though.
The warrant is issued by the politician, the judge merely assesses whether it's all been done according to the offical proceedures in place; the judge doesn't determine whether it's a legit target or is proportionate or anything.
The politicians and their corporate sponsors are still fully in charge.
What happens when a GMO is released into the wild is irreversible genetic pollution of non-modified organisms.
The fact of the matter is there is NO science about how these GMOs interact in nature when left to their own devices, free to cross-pollinate other organisms. That kind of wilfull blindness is engaged in by companies whose goals are not science, but which are solely the pursuit of profit ( via omonopolistic wnership of genetic material).
As for your reductio ad absurdum argument about the non-dangers of "foreign" DNA: how does such an argument stack up against "foreign DNA" when it's wrapped up inside "invasive species"?
Not very well I would assert.
We've barely got our heads around the problems of plastic bags: from bags to the sea, where it's broken down, which is then eaten by microscopic organisms, which is eaten by larger ones which, quelle surprise! ends up inside us. Did we forsee that when we wrecklessly cast these plastic bags about the place? Did we hell.
Such wanton disregard and ignorance for the consequences of our actions seesm to be the human way. Wrapping up the persuit of profits with the guise of LIMITED science and subjecting the genetic material of the entire ecosystem to a vast experiment is not a sound, rational or wise thing to do.
Well, a "charge back" is not the same as a refund request.
A 'charge back' means calling your Credit Card company and telling them to refuse the payment, cutting out any dialogue with the store you bought goods from. This is entirely different to going to that store and requesting a refund and you can't conflate the two things.
One of the major criticisms the OP left out is the way the latest OS updtae effectively broke the device.
When I unlock my N7, the thing frequently grinds to a halt with ungodly lag, that can last anywhere from a couple to several minutes making the device unusable in a casual and thoughtless manner - the very purpose of the device.
This is not due to the hardware's "age", this is due to the poorly written Android Lollipop OS. This problem didn't exist in the previous version. In fact, if it wasn't for this tablet-trashing update, I would be using my N7 as much as the day I got it (usually for simple web browsing, email and the occasional game).
My experiance of the N7 has been one of *forced* obsolescence, not ageing. And the lesson I took from it is, never spend more than £100 on these pieces of shit, because the companies behind them will want you to upgrade (buy another one) as soon as possible and will engineer the necessity by not giving a damn about their un-optimised code for 'old' devices.
If you ignore the ASA or tell them to fuck off, they will do bad things, like... um... post on their website that you have told them to fuck off.
They might also take out an advertisement on Google so someone sees a message when they do a search for your blog/business/youtube channel indicating that you've told them to fuck off.
I think people should be clear when they show sponsored products, that's about basic integrity and ethics, but the ASA can make bad decisions. They aren't a government body. You can tell them to fuck off if you want to. The worst thing they'll do in many cases is tell people that you've told them to fuck off.
On the other hand I can't believe some people actually think the US government wouldn't stoop to the level of getting someone who had a contact in the CIA to set up one of the greatest thorns in their side with a character-ruining false accusation. The US government would never do something like that!
Assange may have done what he is accused of AND the CIA may have been involved in engaging in character assasination to dicredit a particularly effective critic.
Any rational-minded observer can discount neither possibility.
The UK government, as do many others around the world, is just playing to a particular enclave of their supporters to gain political capital at the expense of others.
All this will do is kill a certain proportion of UK porn websites and enthusiasts (ahem) will look elsewhere; abroad.
That pesky international internet, eh?
Never mind, though, some dopey true-blue grannies will tell the bridge club what a good job the Tories are doing protecting their grand children. Even though they're not.
Slashdot Mirror
In which case things have proably got about as ass-backward as they can possibly get.
I always think about Capitalism like that old proverb about fire: 'it makes a good servant but a bad master', and the latter seems to be where the US (and UK) are forever heading.
posting to remove an erroneous mod.
See also housing policy (housing as investment over housing as shelter), manufacturing policy (service industry, particularly banking is all the Tories care about), health policy (privatise the NHS piece by piece, selling it off to their party donors).
The terrorists in the Paris attack were known to the security services.
This almost always seems to be the case: the security services don't need more mass surveillance, they need to act on the intelligence they already have; they don't need a bigger haystack to find the needles they already have in front of them.
The proposals by the British government (the civil servants behind the scenes, that is, impressing it upon the clueless "here today, gone tomorrow" politicians, who propose it to every bunch that comes along until they get what they want) are ludicrous and will be abused.
Having Mike from Bromford's internet history stored for a whole year won't help them catch a single fucking terrorist, but it will help they shut him the fuck up if he starts campaigning against Fracking in his neighbourhood once the party's donors (the Frackers) start complaining about how effective his campign is.
The UK is becoming an ever greater, scary, over-arching surveillance state. The other shoe just hasn't dropped yet for the vast majority of people.
>Some might have their voting rights revoked for felonies (to stop them from supporting the legalization of their crime, which was a serious problem in the distant past)
You mean like how large corporations lobby (ans outright bribe) politicians to do the same. They have a cute word for it - they call it "deregulation"; maybe that's where those darn (imaginary) enfranchised criminals were going wrong - not enough euphemism!
>bringing the judiciary into the issuing of warrants for digital searches and interception is a good thing
It doesn't do that though.
The warrant is issued by the politician, the judge merely assesses whether it's all been done according to the offical proceedures in place; the judge doesn't determine whether it's a legit target or is proportionate or anything.
The politicians and their corporate sponsors are still fully in charge.
One dollar, one vote.
The dollar of a billionaire is equal to the dollar of the homeless person!
That's the way the 'democracies' of the USA (and UK, increasingly) operate.
Some might say it was a coup by the oligarchy. Some might say our supposed democratic representatives are traitors to the people.
I would find it hard to disagree.
What happens when a GMO is released into the wild is irreversible genetic pollution of non-modified organisms.
The fact of the matter is there is NO science about how these GMOs interact in nature when left to their own devices, free to cross-pollinate other organisms. That kind of wilfull blindness is engaged in by companies whose goals are not science, but which are solely the pursuit of profit ( via omonopolistic wnership of genetic material).
As for your reductio ad absurdum argument about the non-dangers of "foreign" DNA: how does such an argument stack up against "foreign DNA" when it's wrapped up inside "invasive species"?
Not very well I would assert.
We've barely got our heads around the problems of plastic bags: from bags to the sea, where it's broken down, which is then eaten by microscopic organisms, which is eaten by larger ones which, quelle surprise! ends up inside us. Did we forsee that when we wrecklessly cast these plastic bags about the place? Did we hell.
Such wanton disregard and ignorance for the consequences of our actions seesm to be the human way. Wrapping up the persuit of profits with the guise of LIMITED science and subjecting the genetic material of the entire ecosystem to a vast experiment is not a sound, rational or wise thing to do.
Well, a "charge back" is not the same as a refund request.
A 'charge back' means calling your Credit Card company and telling them to refuse the payment, cutting out any dialogue with the store you bought goods from. This is entirely different to going to that store and requesting a refund and you can't conflate the two things.
It was only ever guaranteed 3 major point upgrades, which it got. Marshmallow would be the forth, so, no real surprises there.
In this case, perhaps "liberationware".
I agree.
I much prefer the Youtube commenter who suggested she was trying to protect the interests of the "pussy cartel".
They threw people out of the country who wanted to carve the country up and take a slice for themselves? The nerve!
Let us call this story a shit post. As likely to be generated by a bot as an idiot.
The only confusing thing is how it got picked.
Slashdot's decline continues.
One of the major criticisms the OP left out is the way the latest OS updtae effectively broke the device.
When I unlock my N7, the thing frequently grinds to a halt with ungodly lag, that can last anywhere from a couple to several minutes making the device unusable in a casual and thoughtless manner - the very purpose of the device.
This is not due to the hardware's "age", this is due to the poorly written Android Lollipop OS. This problem didn't exist in the previous version. In fact, if it wasn't for this tablet-trashing update, I would be using my N7 as much as the day I got it (usually for simple web browsing, email and the occasional game).
My experiance of the N7 has been one of *forced* obsolescence, not ageing. And the lesson I took from it is, never spend more than £100 on these pieces of shit, because the companies behind them will want you to upgrade (buy another one) as soon as possible and will engineer the necessity by not giving a damn about their un-optimised code for 'old' devices.
If you ignore the ASA or tell them to fuck off, they will do bad things, like ... um ... post on their website that you have told them to fuck off.
They might also take out an advertisement on Google so someone sees a message when they do a search for your blog/business/youtube channel indicating that you've told them to fuck off.
I think people should be clear when they show sponsored products, that's about basic integrity and ethics, but the ASA can make bad decisions. They aren't a government body. You can tell them to fuck off if you want to. The worst thing they'll do in many cases is tell people that you've told them to fuck off.
That's a feature!
Windows 8 was a fuck up because of the UI.
It looks like Microsoft said, with 10, let's just go deeper and fuck up the user's privacy instead.
The more I hear about 10, the less it looks like a saviour to Windows woes and the more it looks like an even bigger disaster.
On the other hand I can't believe some people actually think the US government wouldn't stoop to the level of getting someone who had a contact in the CIA to set up one of the greatest thorns in their side with a character-ruining false accusation. The US government would never do something like that!
Assange may have done what he is accused of AND the CIA may have been involved in engaging in character assasination to dicredit a particularly effective critic.
Any rational-minded observer can discount neither possibility.
The UK government, as do many others around the world, is just playing to a particular enclave of their supporters to gain political capital at the expense of others.
All this will do is kill a certain proportion of UK porn websites and enthusiasts (ahem) will look elsewhere; abroad.
That pesky international internet, eh?
Never mind, though, some dopey true-blue grannies will tell the bridge club what a good job the Tories are doing protecting their grand children. Even though they're not.
All comments displayed as embedded PDFs.
>Doesn't H.264 (aka MPEG4) which has much wider client support (browsers, hardware decoding, mobile etc) do a good enough job?
I dunno. I've seen x265 encodes of video which come out at under 150MB where the x264 encode is ~1.5GB for the same quality.
That's a huge saving in bandwidth.
As someone who ran a Tor exit node for years, I'm surprised you're not wearing a bright orange t-shirt to prove it.
Nvidia is really starting to piss me off with their proprietary shit like this, Gsync and their 'nVidia hair' bollocks for games.
It's OK, there'll be a fix for that.
The Windows 10 mandatory updates that you won't be able to deny permission for, will take care of it.