Like in the US, Australian protests are surrounded by clean faced people in strange clothing with cameras
I think you meant "clean shaven" and in any event you don't see much of that here in the U.S., not anymore. Generally the Feds don't give much of a damn about protests, because We the People no longer give a damn about protests. Besides, don't you know that it's terrorists that are the big threat here now, not protesters, and we're on the path towards a UK-style camera-State anyway. They'll have us all on camera, all the time, so no point in sending agents around to make home movies of us.
It was different back in the fifties during the Red Scare, when everyone was afraid that their neighbor was a Commie. Or should I say, was induced to believe that their neighbor could be a Commie... the government did a pretty thorough job of creating an atmosphere of fear, just like they're doing now with terrorism, and for the same damn reason. Civil liberties are so gosh-darned inconvenient, after all. Hell, back in the old days the FBI and even local cops were infiltrating all kinds of (ahem) "subversive" groups, even though for the most part the people being investigated were just exercising their Constitutional right to be stupid and misguided. There really was a sort of governmental paranoia going on at the time: pretty bizarre by current standards... I guess insanity changes over time. I can't say we're any better off today, really.
So far as Australia goes, though... I'll take your word for it since I've never been there. Maybe you guys need to come up with some appropriate legal protections at some point.
We have had this sickening pattern of pandering to groups who take the most offense to things.
We pander because those same groups have a habit of hiring lawyers and having laws passed to "protect" them.
My girlfriend is black, I'm not... and we both feel precisely the way you do. Granted, she wasn't born here, she's African by birth. In spite of that (or, more likely, because of that, she grew up in some damn tough environments) she believes that a lot of people in this country just need to deal with the fact that life can be harsh. Fact is, some people are assholes. Period, end-of-statement. Wasting more than a millisecond of neuron time over that is a complete waste.
Yes, indeed, until proven guilty in court by a preponderance of evidence. Nobody's claiming that file sharing is right or wrong here: what's wrong is the way the RIAA has chosen to combat their perceived enemy. The reality is that current communications technology does not really offer them a way to gain reliable evidence of wrongdoing, at least not without resorting to old-fashioned, expensive and non-automated investigative techniques. You know, the kind that involve licensed private investigators and so forth. Instead, they lie to everyone involved, they manufacture evidence, and they abuse the court system to a degree that is probably unprecedented in U.S. history. Unless you're one of those people who believe that two wrongs make a right, you ought to be able to see that the RIAA is, well... full of it.
good. as a mathematician, i have to say that every single movie about math sucks.
I have news for you: practitioners of every technical or scientific discipline of which aspects are portrayed in popular media feel exactly the same way. I'm a software engineer, spent the past thirty years of my life developing software... how do you think I feel about just about every movie that comes out that in any way involves a computer, software, an AI or anything remotely related to those? I have a background in electronics as well, and they screw that up regularly too. I mean, for crying out loud there are plenty of technical people who would be more than happy to give you some good advice on the basics! It's really hard to invoke a willing sense of disbelief when all you can think is "good GOD, how could they not get that right?" Not just math or computers either: I have friends in the medical field who cringe when they are forced to watch fake doctors doing incredibly wrong things to fake patients. Gagh!
Really, if producers would invest a little more in a smidgen of verisimilitude their products would be much more interesting to the technically knowledgeable. Here's a question for you: as a mathematician, how do you feel about the TV series Numbers? I understand that a couple of math professors are advisors on the production, both to keep the math right and to keep the portrayal of academics from descending into the stereotypical "all scientists wear white lab coats and have no human emotions" mythos.
So when did Tom Cruise do something creative? I must have missed that patch, perhaps it was between Mission Impossible 2 and 3?
Nobody ever said he's creative... however, he is a particularly cracked example of a Scientologist on an anti-psychiatry, anti-antidepressant crusade. According to him, clinical depression can be cured by exercise and eating fruit. I sincerely hope he gets diagnosed with some condition that can only be treated with medication (clinical depression would do, and maybe if we're lucky he'll off himself.) Maybe then he'll change his tune and stop trying to convince people with real problems to avoid seeking the treatment they need.
Have you ever been diagnosed for a mental disorder and prescribed medication? I have, and it makes a world of difference. I know other people who have, and they concur. The meds can mean the difference between being able to live a productive life and being locked down in a padded cell. You don't know what you're talking about.
Honestly, the GP sounds like Tom Cruise. Now, it's true the term "mental disorder" encompasses a huge pasture, some treatable by meds or psychotherapy, some not... but when someone makes a sweeping statement that drugs don't help he's plain wrong. I've never suffered from a serious mental disorder (no matter what my girlfriend might say) but I've had severe clinical depression in my family. This was back in the seventies, when antidepressants were just coming out. Initially it was a drug called Elevil, if I remember correctly: it's been a long time. My point is that we were dealing with abject misery and a potential suicide, until the drug came on the scene.
It was like the difference between night and day. Seriously. When I think of the thousands of years of human existence and the suffering those drugs could have alleviated... well. Regardless, are antidepressants and other psychoactive drugs sometimes improperly prescribed? Sure... but that's a failure of the physician and not the medication.
To be fair, schizophrenia does come from the Greek for "split mind". The fact that it's used to label a disorder characterized by a distorted perception of reality rather than dissociative identity disorder (which may or may not be a real disorder anyway), is rather unhelpful in trying to emphasize the difference.
That may very well be true, but as a highly creative person myself, I can state categorically that my best ideas come from the voices in my head.
Let me put it this way...his English is way better than your German, French, Italian or any of the hybrids spoken in his country.
An impressive and wholly unnecessary rant. Not that I'm saying I disagree with you, but I haven't sufficient time or interest to reply in kind. So I'll make this short:
A. You don't know enough about me to make that claim, consequently you're just as presumptive as you presumed that I was being, and
B. It's time for a little soul-searching on your part. I'm sure that, somewhere deep in the bowels of your psyche, one might find that which vaguely resembles a sense of humor.
But those are citizens who happen to be employed by the government, not government divisions. All citizens get taxed on the same set of rules, no matter who they work for (with odd exceptions for clergy and a few other things).
I know. I was just trying to be funny. Oddly enough, I got modded insightful, which makes perfect sense because any time I'm trying to be insightful I get a +5 Funny.
I'd be willing to make the (not entirely unfounded) assumption that although China has a much larger population than the USA, the USA's postal system is indeed the largest in the world. It is even the third largest employer in the USA...
It's hard to say without having some hard numbers, and China is a pretty big place. Conversely, much of it is still comparatively primitive. Still, it is true that America's economic success has had as much to do with infrastructure (of which the Postal Service is a part) as it does our socio-political system. And by infrastructure I mean everything that supports an industrial economy: reliable power, water and communications, roads, etc. China and other rapidly-industrializing nations will either make sure they have the same, or they will ultimately fail in their efforts.
I don't mean to strawman your argument, but: Do you really want your government taxing itself? Because that's a layer of absurdity that I, for one, am completely unwilling to pay for the administration of.
Well, presumably all those millions of government employees file income tax returns.
There's seldom a benefit to be found in taking millions of lines of code that are working exactly as needed and re-writing them from then ground up simply because the language isn't snazzy enough.
In other words, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.. Programmers often like to "fix" things (i.e., rewrite them) and you're absolutely right: the best management decision is often to leave it alone.
Slashdot Mirror
Sad but true. A small crowd of religious fundamentalists pushing their narrow-minded views on society.
Narrow-minded view you mean. Fundamentalists aren't particularly flexible, and don't really have anything else to offer.
Read this for more info: http://www.efa.org.au/Issues/Censor/cens1.html
I have no idea what either of you are talking about.
Like in the US, Australian protests are surrounded by clean faced people in strange clothing with cameras
I think you meant "clean shaven" and in any event you don't see much of that here in the U.S., not anymore. Generally the Feds don't give much of a damn about protests, because We the People no longer give a damn about protests. Besides, don't you know that it's terrorists that are the big threat here now, not protesters, and we're on the path towards a UK-style camera-State anyway. They'll have us all on camera, all the time, so no point in sending agents around to make home movies of us.
... the government did a pretty thorough job of creating an atmosphere of fear, just like they're doing now with terrorism, and for the same damn reason. Civil liberties are so gosh-darned inconvenient, after all. Hell, back in the old days the FBI and even local cops were infiltrating all kinds of (ahem) "subversive" groups, even though for the most part the people being investigated were just exercising their Constitutional right to be stupid and misguided. There really was a sort of governmental paranoia going on at the time: pretty bizarre by current standards ... I guess insanity changes over time. I can't say we're any better off today, really.
... I'll take your word for it since I've never been there. Maybe you guys need to come up with some appropriate legal protections at some point.
It was different back in the fifties during the Red Scare, when everyone was afraid that their neighbor was a Commie. Or should I say, was induced to believe that their neighbor could be a Commie
So far as Australia goes, though
Some day, someone will figure out how to store data in *actual* clouds, and this whole thing is gonna get *really* confusing. -Taylor
That gets expensive, when you factor in the cost of the silver lining.
New Balance shoes are made in the US and UK,
False. The four pairs of New Balance shoes currently in my house were all made in China.
Which, actually, says something about both you and the GP.
I browse porn at work because it is part of my job description.
Interesting. Would that be in the porn industry ... or law enforcement?
Just curious.
A truly remarkable (and, as it turned out, prophetic) analysis.
We have had this sickening pattern of pandering to groups who take the most offense to things.
We pander because those same groups have a habit of hiring lawyers and having laws passed to "protect" them.
... and we both feel precisely the way you do. Granted, she wasn't born here, she's African by birth. In spite of that (or, more likely, because of that, she grew up in some damn tough environments) she believes that a lot of people in this country just need to deal with the fact that life can be harsh. Fact is, some people are assholes. Period, end-of-statement. Wasting more than a millisecond of neuron time over that is a complete waste.
My girlfriend is black, I'm not
You may be pro Bono and that is your choice. I, however, think he is a meddlesome turd.
Well. He is dead you know. Something about skiing and a tree. Not that he was greatly missed.
Because EVERYONE is innocent, aren't they?
Yes, indeed, until proven guilty in court by a preponderance of evidence. Nobody's claiming that file sharing is right or wrong here: what's wrong is the way the RIAA has chosen to combat their perceived enemy. The reality is that current communications technology does not really offer them a way to gain reliable evidence of wrongdoing, at least not without resorting to old-fashioned, expensive and non-automated investigative techniques. You know, the kind that involve licensed private investigators and so forth. Instead, they lie to everyone involved, they manufacture evidence, and they abuse the court system to a degree that is probably unprecedented in U.S. history. Unless you're one of those people who believe that two wrongs make a right, you ought to be able to see that the RIAA is, well ... full of it.
good. as a mathematician, i have to say that every single movie about math sucks.
I have news for you: practitioners of every technical or scientific discipline of which aspects are portrayed in popular media feel exactly the same way. I'm a software engineer, spent the past thirty years of my life developing software ... how do you think I feel about just about every movie that comes out that in any way involves a computer, software, an AI or anything remotely related to those? I have a background in electronics as well, and they screw that up regularly too. I mean, for crying out loud there are plenty of technical people who would be more than happy to give you some good advice on the basics! It's really hard to invoke a willing sense of disbelief when all you can think is "good GOD, how could they not get that right?" Not just math or computers either: I have friends in the medical field who cringe when they are forced to watch fake doctors doing incredibly wrong things to fake patients. Gagh!
Really, if producers would invest a little more in a smidgen of verisimilitude their products would be much more interesting to the technically knowledgeable. Here's a question for you: as a mathematician, how do you feel about the TV series Numbers? I understand that a couple of math professors are advisors on the production, both to keep the math right and to keep the portrayal of academics from descending into the stereotypical "all scientists wear white lab coats and have no human emotions" mythos.
I say two out of ten may be crazy; the smart ones are real good at faking sanity. Tim S
They're still crazy, all right ... we call them sociopaths.
So when did Tom Cruise do something creative? I must have missed that patch, perhaps it was between Mission Impossible 2 and 3?
Nobody ever said he's creative ... however, he is a particularly cracked example of a Scientologist on an anti-psychiatry, anti-antidepressant crusade. According to him, clinical depression can be cured by exercise and eating fruit. I sincerely hope he gets diagnosed with some condition that can only be treated with medication (clinical depression would do, and maybe if we're lucky he'll off himself.) Maybe then he'll change his tune and stop trying to convince people with real problems to avoid seeking the treatment they need.
I really can't stand that man.
Have you ever been diagnosed for a mental disorder and prescribed medication? I have, and it makes a world of difference. I know other people who have, and they concur. The meds can mean the difference between being able to live a productive life and being locked down in a padded cell. You don't know what you're talking about.
Honestly, the GP sounds like Tom Cruise. Now, it's true the term "mental disorder" encompasses a huge pasture, some treatable by meds or psychotherapy, some not ... but when someone makes a sweeping statement that drugs don't help he's plain wrong. I've never suffered from a serious mental disorder (no matter what my girlfriend might say) but I've had severe clinical depression in my family. This was back in the seventies, when antidepressants were just coming out. Initially it was a drug called Elevil, if I remember correctly: it's been a long time. My point is that we were dealing with abject misery and a potential suicide, until the drug came on the scene.
... well. Regardless, are antidepressants and other psychoactive drugs sometimes improperly prescribed? Sure ... but that's a failure of the physician and not the medication.
It was like the difference between night and day. Seriously. When I think of the thousands of years of human existence and the suffering those drugs could have alleviated
To be fair, schizophrenia does come from the Greek for "split mind". The fact that it's used to label a disorder characterized by a distorted perception of reality rather than dissociative identity disorder (which may or may not be a real disorder anyway), is rather unhelpful in trying to emphasize the difference.
That may very well be true, but as a highly creative person myself, I can state categorically that my best ideas come from the voices in my head.
Let me put it this way...his English is way better than your German, French, Italian or any of the hybrids spoken in his country.
An impressive and wholly unnecessary rant. Not that I'm saying I disagree with you, but I haven't sufficient time or interest to reply in kind. So I'll make this short:
A. You don't know enough about me to make that claim, consequently you're just as presumptive as you presumed that I was being, and
B. It's time for a little soul-searching on your part. I'm sure that, somewhere deep in the bowels of your psyche, one might find that which vaguely resembles a sense of humor.
Still, you get points for effort.
There's nearly always some reason they feel that justifies it, or at least makes it not so bad.
As The Bishop once pontificated to Slippery Jim: "Man is a rationalizing animal, and requires training to become a rational one."
... you know, that wouldn't be a bad sig.
Huh
People laugh at the rediculous hi-junks in the US,
That may be, but we can spell "ridiculous." And as for "hijinx" ... well.
But those are citizens who happen to be employed by the government, not government divisions. All citizens get taxed on the same set of rules, no matter who they work for (with odd exceptions for clergy and a few other things).
I know. I was just trying to be funny. Oddly enough, I got modded insightful, which makes perfect sense because any time I'm trying to be insightful I get a +5 Funny.
I'd be willing to make the (not entirely unfounded) assumption that although China has a much larger population than the USA, the USA's postal system is indeed the largest in the world. It is even the third largest employer in the USA...
It's hard to say without having some hard numbers, and China is a pretty big place. Conversely, much of it is still comparatively primitive. Still, it is true that America's economic success has had as much to do with infrastructure (of which the Postal Service is a part) as it does our socio-political system. And by infrastructure I mean everything that supports an industrial economy: reliable power, water and communications, roads, etc. China and other rapidly-industrializing nations will either make sure they have the same, or they will ultimately fail in their efforts.
As long as my mail doesn't come covered in hot grits...
Would you object if it came wrapped in Natalie Portman's panties?
I don't mean to strawman your argument, but: Do you really want your government taxing itself? Because that's a layer of absurdity that I, for one, am completely unwilling to pay for the administration of.
Well, presumably all those millions of government employees file income tax returns.
There's seldom a benefit to be found in taking millions of lines of code that are working exactly as needed and re-writing them from then ground up simply because the language isn't snazzy enough.
In other words, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.. Programmers often like to "fix" things (i.e., rewrite them) and you're absolutely right: the best management decision is often to leave it alone.
Has that *ever* stopped anyone before?
No, and I'm sure there will be some people wanting to know if their mail is going to be delivered by Beowulf Cluster.
we don't have to ask if it runs Linux.