But fifteen months is not a huge amount of time. I'm sure at the first hint of jail overcrowding, this is the guy that will get the early release.
I dunno, it seems like a long time to me... especially since they it's not the safest environment (though maybe I've just been watching too much tv? Are prisons safer than we think?)
And it's too many people being locked up that causes the overcrowding in the first place. Alternatives to jail could include home detention (something I certainly don't like for violent crims, but makes sense for others), or weekend detention.
In this case, I'd say the fine is a fair cop - though the jail term is a bit steep... it wasn't a minor copyright infringement - and it certainly wasn't for personal use.
As for the jail term - I'm generally uncomfortable with jailing people for anything but violent crimes (though I acknowledge it might sometimes be necessary in other cases too).
We use instant runoff elections in Australia (though we call it "preferential voting"). It basically works like a process of elimination - no candidate wins until they have more than 50% of the vote.
IMO, it is a lot better at letting people vote their true intentions. However, there are two problems with its implementation in Australia, which seem to counter its advantages:
1) We have compulsory voting. We all have to turn up to the voting booth and get our name crossed off, or we get fined!
2) You have to number all the boxes on the electoral sheet - you can't just vote for say, your top 3 candidates, and then have your vote extinguish (admittedly, this would the instant runoff calculations more complex, but there's no reason for this requirement).
I applaud his forward thinking in trying to get rid of stupid people, but I really don't think jail is an option. We're just gonna have to put up with them. Sorry man.
Forward thinking? Those stupid people are the backbone of the Nigerian community!
No, it lets records be consistent with the theory.
You even quoted that part of his statement.
Yeah - and what records would they actually be?
It seems the word "record" gets used rather loosely... even this "coldest year in 21st century" is over-hyped (why not say this millennium? - sounds even more significant, even if it is still only 8 years)
So - the coldest year in 8 years is a "record" consistent with climate change? The warmest year in 20 is no doubt a significant record as well... worst storm in 50 years? Another record.
The whole "denial" tag for skeptics is a bit silly... I think it was initially used to evoke imagery of holocaust deniers - suggesting skeptics were in the same class - but it's become something of a mantra to automatically dismiss skeptical opinion. When that happens, it starts to sounds more like religion.
Mod parent up.. The earth's climate is a control system. As it becomes unstable, you will start seeing more records: cold, hot, rain, drought, record single day temperature differentials, etc.
Which, conveniently, lets just about any type of weather be attributed to global warming (or is that climate change?)
I work at (and partly own) a domain registrar... even my latest address gets lots of spam. In fact, my latest address, which ISN'T harvestable (the others appear as tech contacts in whois) has been getting increasing amounts of spam, despite being relatively secret.
It's annoying, because it's a "private" domain name. As much as I hate spam, I can deal with it... but I'd rather not explain to my 70yo parents why they are receiving email about people having sex with animals:(
PS: This is a serious problem - please don't mod this funny.
So they are sending out a constant stream of weather balloons that may or may not cause concerns with air traffic
There's an idea... why not just fit planes with transmitters. There's enough of them criss-crossing at any one time to provide adequate coverage, isn't there?
The problem is the large amount of energy used in creating synthetic diamonds. That's almost certainly enough to release more carbon than one would be storing. Oh, I certainly don't disagree with this (at least based on current technology). Fact is, releasing the CO2 is what produced the energy in the first place. Chances are, bottling it up (or reducing it to come other form) will cost more energy than produced in it's creation.
Perhaps it's my libertarian outlook, but personally, I'm optimistic that technology will produce viable alternatives in the free market to make "clean energy" the better (cheaper) option, and that government intervention is not necessary.
First, diamonds are *not* a rare commodity... [snip]
Second, we already have the technology to create diamonds in a lab. The parent wasn't suggesting we create diamonds for profit (at least, I didn't read it that way). He seemed to be suggesting using diamonds as a carbon-sink.
"...but from a practical "human nature" point of view it's one of those things that's beyond horrible even though I'm sure it's a hassle to get these very expensive dogs the old-fashioned way"
Are you kidding? It doesn't go far enough. Training dogs is expensive... lets uplift them (to use a David Brin term). Let's see if we can't improve their intelligence and life expectancy. Far from being unethical, don't we have a moral obligation to help other species reach their potential?
Truth is always a defense to slander, just that in the US
This is not entirely correct... it varies from state to state, and though all require it to be truth, I believe one or two states also require it be "in the public interest".
"I experience migraines after consumption of as little as a soda's worth..."
Headaches from aspartame aren't necessarily caused by toxicity. Normally, when you eat sugar, it's turned into glucose, and the body produces insulin as a response. It's been suggested that the body starts producing insulin as soon as you start eating something sweet - in anticipation of a glucose spike. Of course, with artificial sweeteners, the glucose spike won't come and your body ends up with excess of insulin - causing headaches.
Disclaimer: I have no training/education in this field, and the above info was read on some low-carb diet website a year ago... in other words, the above could be total BS. I would normally never help propogate such unfounded data - I submit it here now, not as revealed truth, but as plausible example of how toxic-like effects could be realised without toxicity.
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But fifteen months is not a huge amount of time. I'm sure at the first hint of jail overcrowding, this is the guy that will get the early release.
I dunno, it seems like a long time to me... especially since they it's not the safest environment (though maybe I've just been watching too much tv? Are prisons safer than we think?)
And it's too many people being locked up that causes the overcrowding in the first place. Alternatives to jail could include home detention (something I certainly don't like for violent crims, but makes sense for others), or weekend detention.
In this case, I'd say the fine is a fair cop - though the jail term is a bit steep... it wasn't a minor copyright infringement - and it certainly wasn't for personal use.
As for the jail term - I'm generally uncomfortable with jailing people for anything but violent crimes (though I acknowledge it might sometimes be necessary in other cases too).
We use instant runoff elections in Australia (though we call it "preferential voting"). It basically works like a process of elimination - no candidate wins until they have more than 50% of the vote.
IMO, it is a lot better at letting people vote their true intentions. However, there are two problems with its implementation in Australia, which seem to counter its advantages:
1) We have compulsory voting. We all have to turn up to the voting booth and get our name crossed off, or we get fined!
2) You have to number all the boxes on the electoral sheet - you can't just vote for say, your top 3 candidates, and then have your vote extinguish (admittedly, this would the instant runoff calculations more complex, but there's no reason for this requirement).
Data guardians? Who guards the guardians?
Sadly, it's almost impossible for leaks not to happen - it's almost like a law of database entropy.
Perhaps this is an argument against centralisation of such vast amounts of data in the first place?
Uhm... I just re-read that. I meant economy - not community. Doh!
I'm pretty sure that Nigerian scams [and its variants] existed before 1992.
The internet just made it a lot more visible.
This is true. In fact, it was a pretty common fax-scam in the 80's - and probably came in many other forms too.
"It's hard to con an honest man."
In the words of Terry Pratchett:
There is a saying - "You can't fool an honest man" - which is much quoted by people who make a profitable living by fooling honest men.
If all the stupid people are put in jail, then it's gonna be very lonely out here.
What makes you think you'd be out here?
I applaud his forward thinking in trying to get rid of stupid people, but I really don't think jail is an option. We're just gonna have to put up with them. Sorry man.
Forward thinking? Those stupid people are the backbone of the Nigerian community!
A fool and his money are soon parted...
That'd make a good slogan:
"Nigeria... parting fools from their money since 1992"
No, it lets records be consistent with the theory.
You even quoted that part of his statement.
Yeah - and what records would they actually be?
It seems the word "record" gets used rather loosely... even this "coldest year in 21st century" is over-hyped (why not say this millennium? - sounds even more significant, even if it is still only 8 years)
So - the coldest year in 8 years is a "record" consistent with climate change? The warmest year in 20 is no doubt a significant record as well... worst storm in 50 years? Another record.
Crap!
I'm still busy with the emacs vs vi debate.
Well, that's just crazy - everybody knows that vi is better. Anyone saying otherwise is just a vi-denialist.
The whole "denial" tag for skeptics is a bit silly... I think it was initially used to evoke imagery of holocaust deniers - suggesting skeptics were in the same class - but it's become something of a mantra to automatically dismiss skeptical opinion. When that happens, it starts to sounds more like religion.
Mod parent up.. The earth's climate is a control system. As it becomes unstable, you will start seeing more records: cold, hot, rain, drought, record single day temperature differentials, etc.
Which, conveniently, lets just about any type of weather be attributed to global warming (or is that climate change?)
I work at (and partly own) a domain registrar... even my latest address gets lots of spam. In fact, my latest address, which ISN'T harvestable (the others appear as tech contacts in whois) has been getting increasing amounts of spam, despite being relatively secret.
It's annoying, because it's a "private" domain name. As much as I hate spam, I can deal with it... but I'd rather not explain to my 70yo parents why they are receiving email about people having sex with animals :(
PS: This is a serious problem - please don't mod this funny.
President Bush check his watch during the parade?
He did?!
Keep up the good work vandelais - President Bush can't be allowed to get away with this!
Seriously people, get some perspective.
lol... if the "IT" hype prior to release of segway really had you expecting jetpacks or teleporters, then frankly, you deserved to be disappointed.
6. I'm sure someone will profit.
They won't be able to profit at step 6 - they hit an infinite loop at step 5!
So they are sending out a constant stream of weather balloons that may or may not cause concerns with air traffic
There's an idea... why not just fit planes with transmitters. There's enough of them criss-crossing at any one time to provide adequate coverage, isn't there?Second, we already have the technology to create diamonds in a lab. The parent wasn't suggesting we create diamonds for profit (at least, I didn't read it that way). He seemed to be suggesting using diamonds as a carbon-sink.
Are you kidding? It doesn't go far enough. Training dogs is expensive... lets uplift them (to use a David Brin term). Let's see if we can't improve their intelligence and life expectancy. Far from being unethical, don't we have a moral obligation to help other species reach their potential?
Truth is always a defense to slander, just that in the US This is not entirely correct... it varies from state to state, and though all require it to be truth, I believe one or two states also require it be "in the public interest".
"I experience migraines after consumption of as little as a soda's worth..."
Headaches from aspartame aren't necessarily caused by toxicity. Normally, when you eat sugar, it's turned into glucose, and the body produces insulin as a response. It's been suggested that the body starts producing insulin as soon as you start eating something sweet - in anticipation of a glucose spike. Of course, with artificial sweeteners, the glucose spike won't come and your body ends up with excess of insulin - causing headaches.
Disclaimer: I have no training/education in this field, and the above info was read on some low-carb diet website a year ago... in other words, the above could be total BS. I would normally never help propogate such unfounded data - I submit it here now, not as revealed truth, but as plausible example of how toxic-like effects could be realised without toxicity.
Maybe I'm missing some reference to (former) Governer Owens, but why is this modded funny? It's quite insightful, IMO.