I'm sure USA has missiles pointing at several countries. Do you know for sure they're not? And even if they're not pointing missiles at anyone (which I doubt), how long would it take them to do so.
actually, i do know for a fact that the missles are aimed into the sea right now, but it also takes seconds to re-aim them.
The US has killed its own people as well. I won't even mention slavery or the deportation of Japanese in WWII. What about Kent University. What about the (white) anti-war protesters that got shot at in the 60s. I'm not American so I won't profess to know your history, but maybe an American can enlighten us on this. How are those protesters any different than the protesters at Tianamen. You call China evil for shooting at student protesters but what about when the US shoots at their students?
ummm... you did mention slavery, et al. slavery was a horrible practice that lasted much longer than it should have. but it was a different time, different leaders, different policies. the internment of american citizens of japanese decent during the second world war was a terrible thing for the government to do to it's own people, no excuses offered. as far as kent state is concerned, did you know that some of the students attached knives to the bottoms of their boots/shoes and kicked the national guardsmen who were there to attempt to control the situation? the difference between the tianamen(sp?) square massacre and the instance(s) you cite in the u.s., is that the students were peaceful in the china situation. in america, the students attacked the police in many instances (though many were also quite peaceful). you're comparing different situations entirely.
First, everyone notice number 3? "Classified" location, owned by the "Government". I bet my left nut that it's sitting in a bunker at Fort Mead working on a way to violate our privacy.
well, i can't specifically comment on the machine that holds third place, but i work for a sometimes defense contractor, and we have some very fast machines here that the government owns (ie the government paid for them, so they belong to the government) that are used for simulations, like another poster said. the nature of the simulations is classified, so i won't go into that (though it's hardly as nefarious as you might think). i can tell you, however, that these computers do not spend their time trying to crack encryption keys or other things to "violate our privacy".
I was under the impression that uswest charged around $50 for a 256kbps line. Are you getting some kind of special deal, or does the price vary by location?
They have a calculator part and a no-calculator part to the test. The caclulator part has problems where you MUST have a TI-85 at least to get anything right
not true! i did quite well on the BC ap calc exam, and i only had a very simple casio graphing calc. it doesn't do much beyond what a very cheap scientific calc does (not counting the graphing function, which is *slow*). actually, i wrote my own newton-method root finder, and it takes a good 5 minutes if you don't make a guess very close to the root. the bottom line, though, is that given enough time, you could do almost all of the calculator section by hand. though i don't remember exactly, i think that aside from drawing graphs, there wasn't much on the test that needed a calculator at all; and if you know what you're doing, you should be ables to make a good guess at the shape of a graph from the function.
so, after a long-winded... something... a calculator is a tool, but it's not the only tool you can use. 90% of the time, your mind is the one to use, and when you need an answer fast the other 10%, then you should use your calculator.
the problem is that it's a little too late to decide that everyone can only have one domain name. that being the case, then i think bush should be able to do whatever he wants along those lines, at least as far as others have been allowed to.
off-topic: is keyes running again? i didn't get to vote in the last election, but he would definately be my choice for president. he's a good, honest man with whom i tend to agree on almost every issue.
I guess I was an idiot for spending all of my time pursuing my true passion of computing rather than reading yet another book by a long dead writer
you can learn quite a bit about people and the human spirit and condition by reading books by "long dead writers". and while you can learn a lot from computers too, that's not what life's about. the point of computers and all technology is to make the lives of people easier or more enjoyable. how can you accomplish this if you don't know what makes people tick, what their passions are, what drives them? this you get from books; books about people and their lives and dreams and fears, not about computers.
don't get me wrong, i enjoy computers as much as anyone else. but I'd get rid of all computers in a heartbeat. life would be so much simpler and laid back without them, and personally, i think i would prefer that.
and started rambling right from the start, sorry. the point is not to make the assumption that all that is not tech is not good. an understanding and appreciation of literature should not ever be construed as bad.
"protect your kids so much"
on
Why Kids Kill
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· Score: 1
you've taken my comments out of context, and misinterpreted them. you sort of missed the point.
Where were their mothers, huh?
on
Why Kids Kill
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· Score: 1
first, i don't think it's ever too late to try to help someone.
second, who said the kid made the bombs in his garage? it's easy enough to find a place out in the woods to do that stuff. cover it up with trash bags to keep it dry, and no one is the wiser.
third, they were semi automatic weapons, which are _not_ illegal. buying ammo is _not_ illegal. and who said they were purchased anyway. (also, it's easy enough to convert many a semi-auto to full auto with off the shelf parts)
bottom line, some people are just determined to do some screwed up things, and no one can stop them. but you shouldn't abandon the prospect of helping them. it's too easy to blame the parents. but it's also the fault (to some extent) of the bullies, the teachers, the friends, and ultimately, it is the fault of those two kids. pointing fingers isn't going to solve anything.
Wasn't the kid's father a marine? No amount of gun control would have kept the guns out of that house. Where the gun control is necessary is in the house, not at the store.
wow, that's a generalization if i ever saw one. come on, i know plenty of people in the military who don't have guns in their homes.
Where were their mothers, huh?
on
Why Kids Kill
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· Score: 1
i read an article just the other day (on the msnbc site, i think) that said one of the kid's fathers actually tried to intervene. supposedly, when the news of the shooting first broke, he called police thinking his son might be involved. he offered to help try to calm his son down; the cops refused.
this makes me think that at least this boy's parents were well aware of his problems, and were probably trying to help him. but you can only guide and protect your kids so much. and for the times when you can't watch over and protect and guide them, you have to hope that they've been listening. when you turn your back, just for that one moment, you have to hope that they don't fall back down.
unfortunately, from personal experience, you can't tell whether or not they'll be able stand in those times that you can't hold them up.
(that was rather abstract and perhaps too metaphorical, but what can you do)
As for those here who claim that M$ should bear some of the burden for this Melissa fiasco, just because their cheesy software was used to make it happen.. BOLLOCKS! If I go and shoot somone, who in their right mind would blame Smith and Wesson?? What a brilliant defense for Dahmer that would have been: "Your honor, it wasn't really all MY fault, if Ginsu didn't make such sharp knives I would have never been able to eat that Thai boy."
your post is right on the money. in regard to the above, though: i recall some big american city (i want to say dc, but really don't remember) was planning to sue a gun manufacturer (colt, i believe) for this very thing not too long ago. i don't know how far the issue has moved since then. it's absolutely absurd to blame the maker of a tool for the tool users' actions. what's more absurd, though, is that people think that's a good idea.
The way children are treated in this society... well, if any other group were treated in similar fashion, no one would be surprised when they rose up in armed revolution to fight for their rights.
this is almost funny. you're essentially arguing that children should have the same rights as adults. well, i agree... and they should have the same responsibilities too: work, pay taxes, etc.
please, the only one who would argue that children should be allowed to choose everything for themselves (as 'individuals') is a 14-year old whose mommy makes him go to bed at 10:00.
...how do you know if you are a moderator? Does it show up in your user prefs, or something?
since posts have been moderated, i think it's safe to assume you know if you are, and should be able to figure out if you're not... (and if you can't, you probably shouldn't be one anyway)
What if instead of the moderators being able to arbitrarily add or subtract x points from a post up to a limit of so many points, what if they can only change the score of a particular post by 1 point (up or down). So if you think a post sucks then you can drop its score by one and if other moderators agree with you then fine (democracy in action) but there would be no possibility of abuse.
i think that's essentially how it works, and i think in theory it should work pretty well. the problem is, again, if moderators drift from being impartial. other moderators should be able to catch this though, provided they: 1. happen to read that particular post 2. think the post was unfairly moderated (this obviously loops back to the impartiality issue) 3. think balancing out the moderation of the post is worth spending points on 4. have moderation points left to spend
enough moderators with respect for the responsibilty and power given to them should, hopefully, make the system work. and if you don't like the idea, lower your threshold. constructive criticism is better than whining about how it's unfair/censorship/whatver.
Besides, you don't have to pay for it, you can use it for as long as you wish, and nothing will happen it won't criple like most mp3 players I've seen.
it's shareware, so you technically do have to pay for it if you intend to continue using it beyond the trial period. the fact that they don't hassle you about it is just them being overly nice to all the cheap bastards...
while certainly edited and presented in a manner consistant with their goals and agenda (like any other documentary, really), and while arguably one-sided, those films depict things that are anything but fake. no special effects, just reality.
it is also an inappropriately ignorant statement that likens all members of a group to those on its fringes. these are the kind of comments and beliefs that cause us so many problems .
free speech -- infer what you will from the site, i think their 1st amendment right to say what they like should not be infringed upon (barring explicitly advocating illegal activities). also, aside from scale and subject, this isn't much different from decrying the poor service of the local barber (ok, damn poor analogy, but you get the point).
privacy -- it should not be that easy to gather all that information about people. to this end some laws obviously need to be changed, or at least reevaluated
actually, as far as the keeper of the list is concerned, no. people are responsible for their own actions. and the book burners are not neccessarily the list keepers. and that is an important distinction.
i think it would have been better to have the flyers read 'support linux', rather than 'oppose microsoft'. one should not be touting linux simply because it's not microsoft, which is the impression people could get from their singling out microsoft like that. if you want to support linux, great, but do it based on its own merits and not who did or did not create it.
yes, i realize the purpose was to create a little controversy, but i think i more subtle approach would have been more effective.
Slashdot Mirror
**
(redundant? yes. appropriate? i think so.)
I'm sure USA has missiles pointing at several countries. Do you know for sure they're not? And even if they're not pointing missiles at anyone (which I doubt), how long would it take them to do so.
actually, i do know for a fact that the missles are aimed into the sea right now, but it also takes seconds to re-aim them.
The US has killed its own people as well. I won't even mention slavery or the deportation of Japanese in WWII. What about Kent University. What about the (white) anti-war protesters that got shot at in the 60s. I'm not American so I won't profess to know your history, but maybe an American can enlighten us on this. How are those protesters any different than the protesters at Tianamen. You call China evil for shooting at student protesters but what about when the US shoots at their students?
ummm... you did mention slavery, et al. slavery was a horrible practice that lasted much longer than it should have. but it was a different time, different leaders, different policies. the internment of american citizens of japanese decent during the second world war was a terrible thing for the government to do to it's own people, no excuses offered. as far as kent state is concerned, did you know that some of the students attached knives to the bottoms of their boots/shoes and kicked the national guardsmen who were there to attempt to control the situation? the difference between the tianamen(sp?) square massacre and the instance(s) you cite in the u.s., is that the students were peaceful in the china situation. in america, the students attacked the police in many instances (though many were also quite peaceful). you're comparing different situations entirely.
First, everyone notice number 3? "Classified" location, owned by the "Government". I bet my left nut that it's sitting in a bunker at Fort Mead working on a way to violate our privacy.
well, i can't specifically comment on the machine that holds third place, but i work for a sometimes defense contractor, and we have some very fast machines here that the government owns (ie the government paid for them, so they belong to the government) that are used for simulations, like another poster said. the nature of the simulations is classified, so i won't go into that (though it's hardly as nefarious as you might think). i can tell you, however, that these computers do not spend their time trying to crack encryption keys or other things to "violate our privacy".
I was under the impression that uswest charged around $50 for a 256kbps line. Are you getting some kind of special deal, or does the price vary by location?
when you say $40/month to uswest, is that in addition to the normal $20 or so phone service fee?
...was Spok's father.
wow, that's off-topic.
They have a calculator part and a no-calculator part to the test. The caclulator part has problems where you MUST have a TI-85 at least to get anything right
not true! i did quite well on the BC ap calc exam, and i only had a very simple casio graphing calc. it doesn't do much beyond what a very cheap scientific calc does (not counting the graphing function, which is *slow*). actually, i wrote my own newton-method root finder, and it takes a good 5 minutes if you don't make a guess very close to the root. the bottom line, though, is that given enough time, you could do almost all of the calculator section by hand. though i don't remember exactly, i think that aside from drawing graphs, there wasn't much on the test that needed a calculator at all; and if you know what you're doing, you should be ables to make a good guess at the shape of a graph from the function.
so, after a long-winded... something... a calculator is a tool, but it's not the only tool you can use. 90% of the time, your mind is the one to use, and when you need an answer fast the other 10%, then you should use your calculator.
the problem is that it's a little too late to decide that everyone can only have one domain name. that being the case, then i think bush should be able to do whatever he wants along those lines, at least as far as others have been allowed to.
off-topic: is keyes running again? i didn't get to vote in the last election, but he would definately be my choice for president. he's a good, honest man with whom i tend to agree on almost every issue.
I guess I was an idiot for spending all of my time pursuing my true passion of computing rather than reading yet another book by a long dead writer
you can learn quite a bit about people and the human spirit and condition by reading books by "long dead writers". and while you can learn a lot from computers too, that's not what life's about. the point of computers and all technology is to make the lives of people easier or more enjoyable. how can you accomplish this if you don't know what makes people tick, what their passions are, what drives them? this you get from books; books about people and their lives and dreams and fears, not about computers.
don't get me wrong, i enjoy computers as much as anyone else. but I'd get rid of all computers in a heartbeat. life would be so much simpler and laid back without them, and personally, i think i would prefer that.
and started rambling right from the start, sorry. the point is not to make the assumption that all that is not tech is not good. an understanding and appreciation of literature should not ever be construed as bad.
hert is not the singular form of hertz.
you've taken my comments out of context, and misinterpreted them. you sort of missed the point.
first, i don't think it's ever too late to try to help someone.
second, who said the kid made the bombs in his garage? it's easy enough to find a place out in the woods to do that stuff. cover it up with trash bags to keep it dry, and no one is the wiser.
third, they were semi automatic weapons, which are _not_ illegal. buying ammo is _not_ illegal. and who said they were purchased anyway.
(also, it's easy enough to convert many a semi-auto to full auto with off the shelf parts)
bottom line, some people are just determined to do some screwed up things, and no one can stop them. but you shouldn't abandon the prospect of helping them. it's too easy to blame the parents. but it's also the fault (to some extent) of the bullies, the teachers, the friends, and ultimately, it is the fault of those two kids. pointing fingers isn't going to solve anything.
Wasn't the kid's father a marine? No amount of gun control would have kept the guns out of that house. Where the gun control is necessary is in the house, not at the store.
wow, that's a generalization if i ever saw one. come on, i know plenty of people in the military who don't have guns in their homes.
i read an article just the other day (on the msnbc site, i think) that said one of the kid's fathers actually tried to intervene. supposedly, when the news of the shooting first broke, he called police thinking his son might be involved. he offered to help try to calm his son down; the cops refused.
this makes me think that at least this boy's parents were well aware of his problems, and were probably trying to help him. but you can only guide and protect your kids so much. and for the times when you can't watch over and protect and guide them, you have to hope that they've been listening. when you turn your back, just for that one moment, you have to hope that they don't fall back down.
unfortunately, from personal experience, you can't tell whether or not they'll be able stand in those times that you can't hold them up.
(that was rather abstract and perhaps too metaphorical, but what can you do)
... neoplanet IS internet explorer (with a different looking interface, just like aol's browser).
As for those here who claim that M$ should bear some of the burden for this Melissa fiasco, just because their cheesy software was used to make it happen.. BOLLOCKS! If I go and shoot somone, who in their right mind would blame Smith and Wesson?? What a brilliant defense for Dahmer that would have been: "Your honor, it wasn't really all MY fault, if Ginsu didn't make such sharp knives I would have never been able to eat that Thai boy."
your post is right on the money. in regard to the above, though: i recall some big american city (i want to say dc, but really don't remember) was planning to sue a gun manufacturer (colt, i believe) for this very thing not too long ago. i don't know how far the issue has moved since then. it's absolutely absurd to blame the maker of a tool for the tool users' actions. what's more absurd, though, is that people think that's a good idea.
The way children are treated in this society... well, if any other group were treated in similar fashion, no one would be surprised when they rose up in armed revolution to fight for their rights.
this is almost funny. you're essentially arguing that children should have the same rights as adults. well, i agree... and they should have the same responsibilities too: work, pay taxes, etc.
please, the only one who would argue that children should be allowed to choose everything for themselves (as 'individuals') is a 14-year old whose mommy makes him go to bed at 10:00.
...how do you know if you are a moderator? Does it show up in your user prefs, or something?
since posts have been moderated, i think it's safe to assume you know if you are, and should be able to figure out if you're not... (and if you can't, you probably shouldn't be one anyway)
What if instead of the moderators being able to arbitrarily add or subtract x points from a post up to a limit of so many points, what if they can only change the score of a particular post by 1 point (up or down). So if you think a post sucks then you can drop its score by one and if other moderators agree with you then fine (democracy in action) but there would be no possibility of abuse.
i think that's essentially how it works, and i think in theory it should work pretty well. the problem is, again, if moderators drift from being impartial. other moderators should be able to catch this though, provided they:
1. happen to read that particular post
2. think the post was unfairly moderated (this obviously loops back to the impartiality issue)
3. think balancing out the moderation of the post is worth spending points on
4. have moderation points left to spend
enough moderators with respect for the responsibilty and power given to them should, hopefully, make the system work. and if you don't like the idea, lower your threshold. constructive criticism is better than whining about how it's unfair/censorship/whatver.
Besides, you don't have to pay for it, you can use it for as long as you wish, and nothing will happen it won't criple like most mp3 players I've seen.
it's shareware, so you technically do have to pay for it if you intend to continue using it beyond the trial period. the fact that they don't hassle you about it is just them being overly nice to all the cheap bastards...
... They already have fake abortion films...
while certainly edited and presented in a manner consistant with their goals and agenda (like any other documentary, really), and while arguably one-sided, those films depict things that are anything but fake. no special effects, just reality.
it is also an inappropriately ignorant statement that likens all members of a group to those on its fringes. these are the kind of comments and beliefs that cause us so many problems .
i think this issue is two-fold:
free speech -- infer what you will from the site, i think their 1st amendment right to say what they like should not be infringed upon (barring explicitly advocating illegal activities). also, aside from scale and subject, this isn't much different from decrying the poor service of the local barber (ok, damn poor analogy, but you get the point).
privacy -- it should not be that easy to gather all that information about people. to this end some laws obviously need to be changed, or at least reevaluated
actually, as far as the keeper of the list is concerned, no. people are responsible for their own actions. and the book burners are not neccessarily the list keepers. and that is an important distinction.
i think it would have been better to have the flyers read 'support linux', rather than 'oppose microsoft'. one should not be touting linux simply because it's not microsoft, which is the impression people could get from their singling out microsoft like that. if you want to support linux, great, but do it based on its own merits and not who did or did not create it.
yes, i realize the purpose was to create a little controversy, but i think i more subtle approach would have been more effective.