I've never understood how Congress can get away with attaching riders and amendments to a bill that have absolutely nothing to do with the base bill.
The Constitution only states that Congress makes laws. It doesn't say that Congress determines whether laws are good, or even Constitutional. That's the domain of the Judicial Branch. It's part of the system of "checks and balances" written in to the Constitution.
So even Amendment I, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof...." doesn't prevent Congress from actually going ahead and doing it. It's up to the Judicial Branch to knock the law down.
And even then, in cases like this gem from Article I Section 8, the Judicial Branch can fall down: "[The Congress shall have the power] To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;"
The sad thing is that unconstitutional laws are full laws until they are ruled to be unconstitutional.
Without a major rewrite of the Constitution, we're stuck with it. I would like to see this:
Amendment XXVIII:
Any Member of Congress who shall have voted in favor of a Bill subsequently determined to violate the Constitution shall be removed from Office with no Right to be re-elected to that or any other Office.
... and Firefox (which Gates himself has used: "I played around with it a bit, but it's just another browser, and IE [Microsoft's Internet Explorer] is better,")...
Newsflash! J. Random Person announces, "I went into other people's bathrooms shortly after they've used them, but it's just another odor, and mine [flatulence] smells better."
Sure, it represents a new way to create software, but the actual process looks a lot like how enterprise software has been made for decades.
Except that enterprises don't put out a call to say, "Hey! Anyone interested in hacking a device driver for X? We can't pay you, but your name will be up there in lights!" Enterprise coders are commodities. They are not expected to be evangelists, and are not expected to be excited about the work. That's left up to senior management.
Linux creator Torvalds has also turned to a much more experienced community of developers to help him, many of whom already work for the world's largest I.T. companies.
When it's completed, the map will have numerous uses, 'including plotting worldwide land use trends, studying natural and managed ecosystems and modelling climate change extent and impacts, and allowing more people than ever possible to say "I can see my house from here."
and how are they able to contain that energy in a rod-like column of glowing power?
New Jedi: (nerdy voice) Hey, ladies! Check out my new light saber! I can barely contain its energy in its rod-like column of glowing power! (snort, snort) Ladies: Creep!
US Air Force: Okay, now all we have to do is put our spy satellite in the SpaceX vehicle, like so... (clicky, clicky) SpaceX: You have exceeded the limit on spy satellites deployed per month. Your account has been suspended. If you wish to deploy more satellites, you may upgrade to our Super SpaceX service. US Air Force: What the...? Okay, I'll bite. What's the Super SpaceX service? (clicky, clicky) SpaceX: Fee per month: $1.1M. Fee per satellite deployed: 0.04 of a satellite. US Air Force: Well, I can't have my spy satellite sitting around doing nothing. (clicky, clicky, upgrade) SpaceX: Welcome, Super SpaceX user! US Air Force: Finally. Now, put the satellite in the SpaceX vehicle... (clicky, clicky) SpaceX: We have confiscated your spy satellite. Payment has been submitted by an unverified government. US Air Force: (view of planet Earth) DAMN YOU ELON MUSK!!!
They are trying to produce an open source graphics board.Everything , every last little bit will be open to us to tweak and examin
Developer: Tweak, tweak. Okay, now lets see how many triangles per second I get. Monitor: Kablooey!!! Developer: (visual: planet Earth) DAMN YOU, OPEN GRAPHICS PROJECT!!!!
Michael Knight: KITT, get ready for Turbo Boost! KITT: It sounds like you're trying to jump over a construction site. Would you like help? Michael: Yes! Turbo Boost now! KITT: There's a grammatical error in that -- Michael: You bastard!
*crash*
A few hours later, in the Knight Travelling Truck...
Michael: Bonnie, KITT has something wrong with him. When I asked him to Turbo Boost, he kept asking for confirmation, and then said that I talked funny. Bonnie: No problem, let me look under the hood. (pulls vainly on hood) KITT, open up. KITT: No, Bonnie, you are not authorized to look at my internals. Bonnie: Devon, what is this crap?! What's going on? Devon: Oh, we signed a contract with Microsoft for them to provide us with software updates. After all, the Knight Foundation can't afford as many programmers as Microsoft can. Bonnie: But Devon, I'm the only programmer who ever worked on KITT! Devon: But look, Bonnie, KITT can now play all these MP3's. Watch. KITT, play "Knight Rider TV Theme Song." KITT: No, Devon. "Knight Rider TV Theme Song" is owned by Universal Studios. You do not have the right to play that song. Devon: Bloody hell. KITT, play "Knight Rider 2010 Theme Song". KITT: No, Devon. "Knight Rider 2010" sucked. Devon: What cheek! You little wanker! KITT: It sounds like you're trying to view pr0n. Would you like help? Michael: See? See?
No intelligent designer or engineer would put a waste pipe across a recreation area.
There was an SF book about an alien race visiting Earth. They had some kind of religion, and one of them murders one of the scientists studying them, and removes several pieces of the body: the throat, the appendix, and the eyes (but not the urethra).
In the end it is revealed that one "sect" of the aliens did it because they liked humans so much -- and if the other "sect" ever found out that humans had such flawed design such as a throat that allows choking, a useless appendix, and eyes with blood vessels in the way of the retina, that the human race would be exterminated for alien colonization because humans weren't perfect enough to be Godly.
I guess the author didn't bother with the urethra, but he probably should have included that as well!
For example, you can play a game where you can look around and hold a gun like device and point it at people. But once you try to walk, duck, roll, etc, you run into the limits of the system quite quickly.
Yeah, like walking, ducking, rolling, etc, into the walls of your parents' basement!
If we can ever manage to figure out a way to connect a computer to all human sensory input, it won't really get much further.
Yeah, because once you figure out how to install your... erm... "package" package, you... uh... y'know, won't want to go outside, is all I'm saying.
Guess what, when you click the button on the camera, the image you take is yours, not Nikons.
Uhhh... you realize that many large cities prohibit the sale of photos of their buildings without buying the rights? Or that selling photos of photos, ads, sculptures, paintings, artwork, etc can get you sued if you don't acquire the rights to the original? It's called "photography clearance".
You think it's OK for someone to be fired just because of their personal views?
No, but it happensallthetime anyway. Since 1886 when corporations were de facto granted virtual personhood, corporations have become the most powerful citizens. So what can you do?
Slashdot Mirror
See you in Guantanamo, "Bram".
I just had this weird image of astronauts on the ISS running through a greenhouse, throwing lettuce at each other and giggling hysterically.
--Rob
--Rob
The Constitution only states that Congress makes laws. It doesn't say that Congress determines whether laws are good, or even Constitutional. That's the domain of the Judicial Branch. It's part of the system of "checks and balances" written in to the Constitution.
So even Amendment I, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof...." doesn't prevent Congress from actually going ahead and doing it. It's up to the Judicial Branch to knock the law down.
And even then, in cases like this gem from Article I Section 8, the Judicial Branch can fall down: "[The Congress shall have the power] To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;"
The sad thing is that unconstitutional laws are full laws until they are ruled to be unconstitutional.
Without a major rewrite of the Constitution, we're stuck with it. I would like to see this:
Amendment XXVIII:
Any Member of Congress who shall have voted in favor of a Bill subsequently determined to violate the Constitution shall be removed from Office with no Right to be re-elected to that or any other Office.
--Rob
(sigh) After the post, the Nerd slashdot dogs were programmed to flex their keyboard fingers and kill the servers.
--Rob
I used to laugh every time I heard the word "appliance" used in a high-tech context. But no more. Now there's a washing machine with a back button.
--Rob
Newsflash! J. Random Person announces, "I went into other people's bathrooms shortly after they've used them, but it's just another odor, and mine [flatulence] smells better."
--Rob
drope, tr. v. [Scatterhead English, from drop]:
1. To refuse to accept, as in packets.
2. To apply for a mortgage
3. To host a web page but only in German.
4. To aspire to contribute to Wikipedia but only in French.
--Rob
I don't think this could be funnier if you tried.
--Rob
--Rob
Today these unfortunates are knows as wage slaves.
Ba-dup-dup.
--Rob
Except that enterprises don't put out a call to say, "Hey! Anyone interested in hacking a device driver for X? We can't pay you, but your name will be up there in lights!" Enterprise coders are commodities. They are not expected to be evangelists, and are not expected to be excited about the work. That's left up to senior management.
Well, I assume that programmers have to eat, too.
--Rob
--Rob
Ladies: Creep!
--Rob
What is slashdot coming to?!
--Rob
US Air Force: Okay, now all we have to do is put our spy satellite in the SpaceX vehicle, like so... (clicky, clicky)
SpaceX: You have exceeded the limit on spy satellites deployed per month. Your account has been suspended. If you wish to deploy more satellites, you may upgrade to our Super SpaceX service.
US Air Force: What the...? Okay, I'll bite. What's the Super SpaceX service? (clicky, clicky)
SpaceX: Fee per month: $1.1M. Fee per satellite deployed: 0.04 of a satellite.
US Air Force: Well, I can't have my spy satellite sitting around doing nothing. (clicky, clicky, upgrade)
SpaceX: Welcome, Super SpaceX user!
US Air Force: Finally. Now, put the satellite in the SpaceX vehicle... (clicky, clicky)
SpaceX: We have confiscated your spy satellite. Payment has been submitted by an unverified government.
US Air Force: (view of planet Earth) DAMN YOU ELON MUSK!!!
--Rob
Then you better not sign up for anything, anywhere, because all Terms and Conditions have that phrase.
--Rob
Developer: Tweak, tweak. Okay, now lets see how many triangles per second I get.
Monitor: Kablooey!!!
Developer: (visual: planet Earth) DAMN YOU, OPEN GRAPHICS PROJECT!!!!
--Rob
KITT: It sounds like you're trying to jump over a construction site. Would you like help?
Michael: Yes! Turbo Boost now!
KITT: There's a grammatical error in that --
Michael: You bastard!
*crash*
A few hours later, in the Knight Travelling Truck...
Michael: Bonnie, KITT has something wrong with him. When I asked him to Turbo Boost, he kept asking for confirmation, and then said that I talked funny.
Bonnie: No problem, let me look under the hood. (pulls vainly on hood) KITT, open up.
KITT: No, Bonnie, you are not authorized to look at my internals.
Bonnie: Devon, what is this crap?! What's going on?
Devon: Oh, we signed a contract with Microsoft for them to provide us with software updates. After all, the Knight Foundation can't afford as many programmers as Microsoft can.
Bonnie: But Devon, I'm the only programmer who ever worked on KITT!
Devon: But look, Bonnie, KITT can now play all these MP3's. Watch. KITT, play "Knight Rider TV Theme Song."
KITT: No, Devon. "Knight Rider TV Theme Song" is owned by Universal Studios. You do not have the right to play that song.
Devon: Bloody hell. KITT, play "Knight Rider 2010 Theme Song".
KITT: No, Devon. "Knight Rider 2010" sucked.
Devon: What cheek! You little wanker!
KITT: It sounds like you're trying to view pr0n. Would you like help?
Michael: See? See?
--Rob
There was an SF book about an alien race visiting Earth. They had some kind of religion, and one of them murders one of the scientists studying them, and removes several pieces of the body: the throat, the appendix, and the eyes (but not the urethra).
In the end it is revealed that one "sect" of the aliens did it because they liked humans so much -- and if the other "sect" ever found out that humans had such flawed design such as a throat that allows choking, a useless appendix, and eyes with blood vessels in the way of the retina, that the human race would be exterminated for alien colonization because humans weren't perfect enough to be Godly.
I guess the author didn't bother with the urethra, but he probably should have included that as well!
--Rob
Yeah, like walking, ducking, rolling, etc, into the walls of your parents' basement!
Yeah, because once you figure out how to install your... erm... "package" package, you... uh... y'know, won't want to go outside, is all I'm saying.
--Rob
Uhhh... you realize that many large cities prohibit the sale of photos of their buildings without buying the rights? Or that selling photos of photos, ads, sculptures, paintings, artwork, etc can get you sued if you don't acquire the rights to the original? It's called "photography clearance".
--Rob
But if they're flushing themselves down the lighted toilet, then they'll be hoist on their own petard!
--Rob
No, but it happens all the time anyway. Since 1886 when corporations were de facto granted virtual personhood, corporations have become the most powerful citizens. So what can you do?
--Rob
BTW, all the comments I've seen on the crapulousness of ALICE are based on the free version of ALICE, which truly has teh suckitude.
I'd try the "real" version, but there's a toll.
--Rob