>"Good points but if someone is consistently braking hard or traveling too fast it points to the driver."
I agree that it points to the driver, but it doesn't necessarily make the driver a "bad" driver. Perhaps he/she is just spirited.
The reverse situation is true also- old grandpa going 5 under the speed limit all the time and braking three times too soon doesn't make him a "good" driver. His reaction times might be slow, with poor vision too, and he might be causing lots of accidents around him.
>"specifically if drivers are traveling too fast or braking too harshly."
Here we go again. As if some desk jockey can know or predict how "good" someone is driving based on braking, acceleration, speed, or other factors WITHOUT KNOWING ANYTHING ABOUT WHAT IS OR WAS HAPPENING WITH TRAFFIC AT THE TIME. Brake hard = avoid hitting something that wasn't your fault. Serve= avoiding collision with some idiot going into your lane while looking at their damn phone. Accelerate hard= not wasting time or trying to merge smoothly and safely. Speed = keeping up with the flow of traffic so you don't piss off everyone and become a hazard.
And yet they WON'T and CAN'T monitor if you have good following distance, if you are sharp and unaltered, if you use proper turn signals and look over your shoulders, if you have your mirrors adjusted correctly, if your car is in excellent condition (brakes, steering, suspension. tires), if you are courteous, if you are able to converse or use controls without them being a distraction, if you don't have loose items all over the place or handing from mirrors.
It is the same crap the insurance companies are trying to push with their spyware "dongles" attached to our cars. NO THANKS. Keep your blindfolded, remote, uninformed, statistics-only, past-tense, backseat driving out of my car.
>"Anyone have any anecdotal experiences that back this up?"
Yes. I find over multitasking exhausting in every way... mentally and physically. Often it can't be avoided, but usually it is due to artificial deadlines and unrealistic expectations by others. It makes a job so less rewarding- it seems like nothing really ever gets done and you can't be proud of the results. Sometimes it is better to just block things and get some stuff done from start to finish and move to the next task. And there is an inherent reward for having finished something and done it right than juggling 6 things for 10+ times as long.
>"What's wrong with a desktop program being written in a general programming language?"
1) Java is huge- really huge 2) We don't use it for anything else, so it takes forever to load 3) We don't use it for anything else, so it consumes tons and tons of RAM. Plus it tries to reserve tons more RAM just based on how much you have. On large systems like ours (48GB+) this takes a long time and ends up wasting tons and tons of RAM. 4) It tries to gobble multiple CPUs on a multiuser system, especially at startup- a big no-no. During startup it can peg half a dozen cores or more FOR SEVERAL SECONDS! 6) Java is full of bugs and security problems and I don't have time to constantly fix it 7) It should be totally unnecessary. Evince didn't need Java. Okular doesn't use Java. Adobe reader doesn't use Java. Why should Atril? (Will Xreader??)
>"and are working on the "X-Apps" project to "produce generic applications for traditional GTK desktop environments...to replace applications which no longer integrate properly outside of a particular environment." "
I don't use Mint (use Mageia, Fedora, and CentOS) nor Gnome but THANK GOD for Pluma. I loved gedit and they totally RUINED it. Now if they could fix Atril to be a proper replacement for the now ruined Evince so it DOESN'T USE FREAKING JAVA, that would be super-great too!
>" The researcher also said Qualcomm or OEMs can comply with government or law enforcement agencies to break the FDE: "Since the key is available to TrustZone, Qualcomm and OEMs could simply create and sign a TrustZone image which extracts the KeyMaster keys and flash it to the target device," Beniamini wrote. "This would allow law enforcement to easily brute force the FDE password off the device using the leaked keys." "
Which also means ANYONE it was leaked to can do the same thing- criminals, spies, malware, other governments, etc. Which is why having backdoors is always bad.
>"54 mbps is only the raw link speed of 802.11g. The actual data transfer rate maxes out at just over 20 mbps."
That is true. And when you start getting further away in distance, the rate drops more and more. But the key is that it is FAST ENOUGH for most applications- like POS, regular web browsing, simple file transfer, etc. And lots of people don't have Internet speeds higher than 20Mbps, anyway. Just depends on what you need.
I would rather buy a new one for 6 times the price than deal with getting some old, battered one that MIGHT work and MIGHT be the exact model I asked for...
>"Because people have these setup in commercial/industrial settings due the popularity of DD-WRT."
Bingo.
We have 26 of them in use for several years and I just bought several more a few months ago. I was shocked I could still buy them. We load Tomato Toastman Linux firmware on them and they are solid as a rock! It took a lot of testing and experimentation to get what we wanted (placement, range, mountings, wiring, firmware, settings, testing) and that was a good investment, but also significant in time and effort. It doesn't matter that they are not "N" or "AC" or dual band- we don't need any of that for basic WiFi. These work.
>"And do they have a right to know that they're on said list? What are the due process protections for these people?"
Then what is the due process for the USA's "terrorist watchlist"?? Thinking there is any due process for ANY of these types of list is a fantasy. And yet there is now even a movement we should start denying citizens their Constitutional rights for being on the secret list without even being told they are on a list, must less having any due process to challenge it.
>Unless we go full dystopian, there's no way to prevent people from gathering, nor should we attempt to do so. What actually needs to happen is an understanding and acceptance of the risks
Bingo. Did you know that more people die in the USA every year from BEE STINGS than from what recently happened in Orlando? HUNDREDS of times that die in car accidents. As horrible as terrorism is, statistically it is just a tiny drop in a huge ocean of how people die and risk. It is like the media obsessing over a plane going down. Again, it is horrible, but the deaths from plane crashes are another tiny drop in a huge ocean.
Living has risks. Living in any society with other people has more risks. Living in a supposedly FREE society has even more risks. Safety comes at the cost of freedom- always.
Why was this article categorized as "iOS"? It is much less about iOS than it is about Linux, Android or even MacOS. The story is about something revealed at the Red Hat Summit- clearly Linux-centric.
>"One of the purposes of.NET Core was to make Linux and OS X into first-class supported platforms,"
Based on my [very long] experience watching people deal with this in the real word....
The #1 reason passwords are written down is because of stupid, backwards, unnecessary expiration rules. It is in insane practice that somehow became "best practices" when it should have been declared "WORST practices" decades ago. When your perfectly good and memorized password expires every X days, you are going to either start writing it down, or make it insanely weak (or duplicated with other systems) so it can be remembered.
The #2 reason passwords are written down is because of stupid, backwards, unnecessary complexity rules. Yes, there have to be some minimum requirements (length, numbers) but some stuff is WAY overkill (I saw one that was it had to be 10 characters, with at least TWO of each- number, symbol, and caps).
>"Netflix will soon let users download and store videos locally"
Maybe by using some proprietary, DRM-laden, MS-Windows-Only binary. Or perhaps just for the clients on which they feel the client OS is under their full control. So don't hold your breath for Linux support.
Interestingly, this is not a new concept. TiVo has been doing this for a while now with anything it records (allowing you to upload it to an Android/iOS device for off-line viewing). And the even older concept was Amazon Video with TiVo- the TiVo would download the video in the background, you could watch it later or immediately. All the advantages of streaming but also with all the advantages of having it local (play over and over, super-fast cue/review and jumping, never any stuttering, controlled bandwidth, etc).
>"We commend Wickr for its strong stance regarding user rights, transparency, and privacy [eff.org]"
And, yet, the product is still completely coded-source. You are downloading and running an unknown binary and have no idea what they or are not doing with your data. There could be backdoors in that code either by Wickr or by some three-letter government agency and nobody will ever know.
You really can't assure security/privacy of anything if you are using closed-source software. Period.
>It's all very confusing. Isn't Jesus and God the same thing?
No
>Didn't this god command those things in the old testament?
If you believe it, yes. But most was replaced by the new covenant, which is Christ's teachings.
> This god is not supposed to change it's mind on things. It's all very schizophrenic.
Hey, if we can, he can:)
>I take the more reasoned approach: none of it is real. it's all poppycock. It needs to go the way of alchemy and phrenology. In the meantime I maintain the opinion that Christianity is an immortal belief system.
You can believe whatever you want, but Christianity, as taught by Jesus is nothing but goodness, love, forgiveness, etc. It isn't poppycock, nor mysterious. Christianity, as taught by many organized churches, it quite something different... it is some mixture of Judaism mixed in with Jesus' teachings, and other stuff thrown in for good measure. And as such, can be pretty preposterous.
To some (me included) being Christian is accepting and following the teachings of Christ (Jesus)... it is just that simple. The old testament SHOULD be mostly irrelevant to Christians.
I don't think the bible was written by God (and I suspect most Christians agree), it was written by men, often not even eyewitnesses. And the old testament is tainted by many, many hundreds of years of writing, rewriting, translation, memory, prose, inclusions of secular tales, politics, editing, etc. This doesn't mean that it doesn't contain something inspired or something good (at least in the new testament, for sure).
Your questions are good, but not for me to answer:)
I couldn't agree more. It is another example of "Christian" not being based on the teachings of Jesus, but of the old testament (which he replaced). Being Christian has little to do with the old testament. And Catholicism is one of the most old-testament "Christian" sects out there.
>"Don't paint Christianity as being a benign and loving belief system. It isn't, and it never was.
I said the teachings of Jesus. I am no theologian, but I can read and understand what he was reported to have said and done. And benign and loving is exactly what he preached.
>"So you have to add in there the bits about not eating shellfish, wearing mixed thread garments and homosexuality."
Old testament, not Jesus' teachings.
>"It's only in the New Testament that the idea of an eternity of hell for not believing is introduced. Is this moral? NO! It it not. "Love me or burn forever" is not a moral teaching."
Nope. Jesus never said anything about hell- that is an invention of others.
>"The teachings of Christianity as evidenced in the Bible *are* barbaric. Slavery. Torture. Stonings. The subjugation of women [...] You are commanded to kill your neighbour for working on the sabbath?"
Nope again- Jesus never taught any of that. I think you are still stuck on the old testament.
>"If you think it is then it shows you have not read the Bible or you are so selective in the parts you follow as to make you guilty of not doing the things it commands you to do."
I have read it, and I, like many others, I define Christian as following the teachings of Christ (Jesus), not the rules of the old testament (of which he replaced, AKA Judaism).
You are certainly correct that there are those out there who have greatly distorted his message and confused what he taught with the old ways (perhaps most). But to lump all religion into a single bucket is just as crazy as declaring one view or one religion is the only "right" thing.
>It really does. The Abrahamic religions are barbaric. Let's stop passing these dangerous superstitions onto successive generations."
Sorry, but this is just wrong. There are quite a few religions that do a lot of good for people and society. It is just that some people are radical and/or even use the name of the religion without even really understanding it.
Let's take Christianity for example. Please tell me what is so poisonous, barbaric, and dangerous about Jesus' teachings. You do realize that being a Christian means believing in and following Jesus' teachings, which means the *NEW* testament? Let's examine some of his many messages, as I understand them:
* Non-violence * Love your neighbor as yourself * Love your enemies * Peace * Sacrifice * Tolerance * "Turning the other cheek" * Forgiveness * Empathy * Introspection * Charity * Piety * Mercy * Anti-judgementalism * Selflessness
Nowhere is there any message of revenge, retribution, hate, killing, separatism, torture, aggression, anti-science, retribution, oppression, racism, etc. Sounds a lot like the same messages in Buddhism doesn't it?
You don't have to be religious or spiritual to follow and cherish such teachings. But, conversely, it doesn't hurt either. And in no way does it have to conflict with rational thought or scientific work. I find it amazing how many people on Slashdot are so anti-religion, probably based on stereotypes or bad experiences, or as you put it, perhaps even "superstitions.".
>"Apple at WWDC 2016 announced that its desktop operating system will now be called macOS "
Really, it has always been MacOS. The big change happened when it went from MacOS version 9 to MacOS version 10... they just used a roman numeral "X" for the major version of 10 and added a cutesy cat name as an alternative for the minor version number. So really, they have just dropped the "X" nonsense so perhaps now it is possible to actually have a MacOS 11 at some point.
We can finally stop hearing the incorrect "MacOS Eckes" or people saying the redundant "MacOS ten version ten point four" or whatever. Yay!:)
>" A Huffington Post article notes that this behavior has contributed significantly in "generating heaps of e-waste." Citing many advocates, the publication claims that Apple has "opposed legislation that could help curb it." "
It is a free market (or it is supposed to be, anyway, mostly). Yes, Apple prices suck. Yes, they do things to lock people in and charge an arm and a leg to keep people from fixing things.
AND YOU ARE FREE TO NOT BUY APPLE PRODUCTS. We don't need "legislation", we need INFORMATION. Want to stop Apple from doing this? STOP BUYING THEIR PRODUCTS. Inform your friends and family what it REALLY costs (total cost ownership) when you buy something you can't get fixed. Post articles about it online. Write reviews. Send a letter to Apple. Do something productive, other than complaining to legislators.
Magically, most consumers are not total idiots.... if they know the information before a purchase, it is likely to shape their decisions. The market will respond. Competitors will shape products to address the demands. Apple will be forced to deal with the backlash or lose sales.
And if you think Apple is a monopoly and there are no other excellent products in every category in which they sell, you have your head in the sand and are buying Apple products as a fashion statement. If that is what you want to do, fine, but stop complaining about it. Yeesh.
>"The difference is lost to the Obama Administration, which argues that "since the records have already been submitted to a third party."
Of course... that pesky Constitution just gets in the way so much. Due process is overrated and the Fed should be able to do whatever they want, I mean, anything can be "interstate commerce", right? That the records are held by the States shouldn't matter, since the interpretation of the Constitution is now that the Federal Government has any rights DENIED to the States, not the other way around.
Think this is just a Democrat problem? Think again. It seems all politicians- from the President, through Congress and elsewhere think the government, especially the Fed, should grow and grow, spend and spend, make law after law taking away more and more rights from Citizens. What is the next "war"? We haven't yet "won" of the "war on drugs" which stripped countless rights... followed by the unwinnable "war on piracy", and then the "war on terror", in which everyone is a terrorist and if you are a good Patriot, you should surrender all your rights in the name of "patriotism". If you have nothing to hide...
It seems we continue to allow the evolution of the "Federal Fascist Socialist State of America" everyone loses. Where does it end?
OK, rant over... gotta go mow the stupid lawn now. Unless there is some Federal law against that I don't know about.
Slashdot Mirror
>"No grandpa is just driving like you should be.... courtsey first not FU you asshole"
So holding other people up is courteous? I think not.
>"You folks need to stop with the "Get the Hell out of my way" attitude."
You certainly presume to know me without knowing me.
>"Grandpa has the right to use the road...even more than you do...He paid for it."
I guarantee I have already paid more in taxes than most grandpa's out there...
>"Good points but if someone is consistently braking hard or traveling too fast it points to the driver."
I agree that it points to the driver, but it doesn't necessarily make the driver a "bad" driver. Perhaps he/she is just spirited.
The reverse situation is true also- old grandpa going 5 under the speed limit all the time and braking three times too soon doesn't make him a "good" driver. His reaction times might be slow, with poor vision too, and he might be causing lots of accidents around him.
>"specifically if drivers are traveling too fast or braking too harshly."
Here we go again. As if some desk jockey can know or predict how "good" someone is driving based on braking, acceleration, speed, or other factors WITHOUT KNOWING ANYTHING ABOUT WHAT IS OR WAS HAPPENING WITH TRAFFIC AT THE TIME. Brake hard = avoid hitting something that wasn't your fault. Serve= avoiding collision with some idiot going into your lane while looking at their damn phone. Accelerate hard= not wasting time or trying to merge smoothly and safely. Speed = keeping up with the flow of traffic so you don't piss off everyone and become a hazard.
And yet they WON'T and CAN'T monitor if you have good following distance, if you are sharp and unaltered, if you use proper turn signals and look over your shoulders, if you have your mirrors adjusted correctly, if your car is in excellent condition (brakes, steering, suspension. tires), if you are courteous, if you are able to converse or use controls without them being a distraction, if you don't have loose items all over the place or handing from mirrors.
It is the same crap the insurance companies are trying to push with their spyware "dongles" attached to our cars. NO THANKS. Keep your blindfolded, remote, uninformed, statistics-only, past-tense, backseat driving out of my car.
>"Anyone have any anecdotal experiences that back this up?"
Yes. I find over multitasking exhausting in every way... mentally and physically. Often it can't be avoided, but usually it is due to artificial deadlines and unrealistic expectations by others. It makes a job so less rewarding- it seems like nothing really ever gets done and you can't be proud of the results. Sometimes it is better to just block things and get some stuff done from start to finish and move to the next task. And there is an inherent reward for having finished something and done it right than juggling 6 things for 10+ times as long.
>"What's wrong with a desktop program being written in a general programming language?"
1) Java is huge- really huge
2) We don't use it for anything else, so it takes forever to load
3) We don't use it for anything else, so it consumes tons and tons of RAM. Plus it tries to reserve tons more RAM just based on how much you have. On large systems like ours (48GB+) this takes a long time and ends up wasting tons and tons of RAM.
4) It tries to gobble multiple CPUs on a multiuser system, especially at startup- a big no-no. During startup it can peg half a dozen cores or more FOR SEVERAL SECONDS!
6) Java is full of bugs and security problems and I don't have time to constantly fix it
7) It should be totally unnecessary. Evince didn't need Java. Okular doesn't use Java. Adobe reader doesn't use Java. Why should Atril? (Will Xreader??)
>"and are working on the "X-Apps" project to "produce generic applications for traditional GTK desktop environments...to replace applications which no longer integrate properly outside of a particular environment." "
I don't use Mint (use Mageia, Fedora, and CentOS) nor Gnome but THANK GOD for Pluma. I loved gedit and they totally RUINED it. Now if they could fix Atril to be a proper replacement for the now ruined Evince so it DOESN'T USE FREAKING JAVA, that would be super-great too!
>" The researcher also said Qualcomm or OEMs can comply with government or law enforcement agencies to break the FDE: "Since the key is available to TrustZone, Qualcomm and OEMs could simply create and sign a TrustZone image which extracts the KeyMaster keys and flash it to the target device," Beniamini wrote. "This would allow law enforcement to easily brute force the FDE password off the device using the leaked keys." "
Which also means ANYONE it was leaked to can do the same thing- criminals, spies, malware, other governments, etc. Which is why having backdoors is always bad.
>"54 mbps is only the raw link speed of 802.11g. The actual data transfer rate maxes out at just over 20 mbps."
That is true. And when you start getting further away in distance, the rate drops more and more. But the key is that it is FAST ENOUGH for most applications- like POS, regular web browsing, simple file transfer, etc. And lots of people don't have Internet speeds higher than 20Mbps, anyway. Just depends on what you need.
>I'm surprised to see it lauded since they don't sell all that well on ebay
What you have are probably not WRT54GL, by the way.... The "L" is the one most coveted.
You can still buy them NEW for a reasonable price.
https://www.cdw.com/shop/produ...
I would rather buy a new one for 6 times the price than deal with getting some old, battered one that MIGHT work and MIGHT be the exact model I asked for...
>"Because people have these setup in commercial/industrial settings due the popularity of DD-WRT."
Bingo.
We have 26 of them in use for several years and I just bought several more a few months ago. I was shocked I could still buy them. We load Tomato Toastman Linux firmware on them and they are solid as a rock! It took a lot of testing and experimentation to get what we wanted (placement, range, mountings, wiring, firmware, settings, testing) and that was a good investment, but also significant in time and effort. It doesn't matter that they are not "N" or "AC" or dual band- we don't need any of that for basic WiFi. These work.
>"And do they have a right to know that they're on said list? What are the due process protections for these people?"
Then what is the due process for the USA's "terrorist watchlist"?? Thinking there is any due process for ANY of these types of list is a fantasy. And yet there is now even a movement we should start denying citizens their Constitutional rights for being on the secret list without even being told they are on a list, must less having any due process to challenge it.
>Unless we go full dystopian, there's no way to prevent people from gathering, nor should we attempt to do so. What actually needs to happen is an understanding and acceptance of the risks
Bingo. Did you know that more people die in the USA every year from BEE STINGS than from what recently happened in Orlando? HUNDREDS of times that die in car accidents. As horrible as terrorism is, statistically it is just a tiny drop in a huge ocean of how people die and risk. It is like the media obsessing over a plane going down. Again, it is horrible, but the deaths from plane crashes are another tiny drop in a huge ocean.
Living has risks. Living in any society with other people has more risks. Living in a supposedly FREE society has even more risks. Safety comes at the cost of freedom- always.
Why was this article categorized as "iOS"? It is much less about iOS than it is about Linux, Android or even MacOS. The story is about something revealed at the Red Hat Summit- clearly Linux-centric.
>"One of the purposes of .NET Core was to make Linux and OS X into first-class supported platforms,"
Linux and MacOS
Based on my [very long] experience watching people deal with this in the real word....
The #1 reason passwords are written down is because of stupid, backwards, unnecessary expiration rules. It is in insane practice that somehow became "best practices" when it should have been declared "WORST practices" decades ago. When your perfectly good and memorized password expires every X days, you are going to either start writing it down, or make it insanely weak (or duplicated with other systems) so it can be remembered.
The #2 reason passwords are written down is because of stupid, backwards, unnecessary complexity rules. Yes, there have to be some minimum requirements (length, numbers) but some stuff is WAY overkill (I saw one that was it had to be 10 characters, with at least TWO of each- number, symbol, and caps).
>"Netflix will soon let users download and store videos locally"
Maybe by using some proprietary, DRM-laden, MS-Windows-Only binary. Or perhaps just for the clients on which they feel the client OS is under their full control. So don't hold your breath for Linux support.
Interestingly, this is not a new concept. TiVo has been doing this for a while now with anything it records (allowing you to upload it to an Android/iOS device for off-line viewing). And the even older concept was Amazon Video with TiVo- the TiVo would download the video in the background, you could watch it later or immediately. All the advantages of streaming but also with all the advantages of having it local (play over and over, super-fast cue/review and jumping, never any stuttering, controlled bandwidth, etc).
>"We commend Wickr for its strong stance regarding user rights, transparency, and privacy [eff.org]"
And, yet, the product is still completely coded-source. You are downloading and running an unknown binary and have no idea what they or are not doing with your data. There could be backdoors in that code either by Wickr or by some three-letter government agency and nobody will ever know.
You really can't assure security/privacy of anything if you are using closed-source software. Period.
>"While Local Motors has developed the system to control the driving, IBM's Watson system is used to provide the user interface"
So it is NOT powered by Watson. Drat, and all this time, I thought my computer was powered by the firmware in my monitor or mouse...
>It's all very confusing. Isn't Jesus and God the same thing?
No
>Didn't this god command those things in the old testament?
If you believe it, yes. But most was replaced by the new covenant, which is Christ's teachings.
> This god is not supposed to change it's mind on things. It's all very schizophrenic.
Hey, if we can, he can :)
>I take the more reasoned approach: none of it is real. it's all poppycock. It needs to go the way of alchemy and phrenology. In the meantime I maintain the opinion that Christianity is an immortal belief system.
You can believe whatever you want, but Christianity, as taught by Jesus is nothing but goodness, love, forgiveness, etc. It isn't poppycock, nor mysterious. Christianity, as taught by many organized churches, it quite something different... it is some mixture of Judaism mixed in with Jesus' teachings, and other stuff thrown in for good measure. And as such, can be pretty preposterous.
To some (me included) being Christian is accepting and following the teachings of Christ (Jesus)... it is just that simple. The old testament SHOULD be mostly irrelevant to Christians.
I don't think the bible was written by God (and I suspect most Christians agree), it was written by men, often not even eyewitnesses. And the old testament is tainted by many, many hundreds of years of writing, rewriting, translation, memory, prose, inclusions of secular tales, politics, editing, etc. This doesn't mean that it doesn't contain something inspired or something good (at least in the new testament, for sure).
Your questions are good, but not for me to answer :)
I couldn't agree more. It is another example of "Christian" not being based on the teachings of Jesus, but of the old testament (which he replaced). Being Christian has little to do with the old testament. And Catholicism is one of the most old-testament "Christian" sects out there.
>"Jesus specifically said he was not replacing the old laws. Not a jot or a tiddle".
Oh really, so his sacrifice didn't replace the old sacrifices? I am afraid it is not that simple.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
>"Don't paint Christianity as being a benign and loving belief system. It isn't, and it never was.
I said the teachings of Jesus. I am no theologian, but I can read and understand what he was reported to have said and done. And benign and loving is exactly what he preached.
>"So you have to add in there the bits about not eating shellfish, wearing mixed thread garments and homosexuality."
Old testament, not Jesus' teachings.
>"It's only in the New Testament that the idea of an eternity of hell for not believing is introduced. Is this moral? NO! It it not. "Love me or burn forever" is not a moral teaching."
Nope. Jesus never said anything about hell- that is an invention of others.
http://www.godsplanforall.com/...
>"The teachings of Christianity as evidenced in the Bible *are* barbaric. Slavery. Torture. Stonings. The subjugation of women [...] You are commanded to kill your neighbour for working on the sabbath?"
Nope again- Jesus never taught any of that. I think you are still stuck on the old testament.
>"If you think it is then it shows you have not read the Bible or you are so selective in the parts you follow as to make you guilty of not doing the things it commands you to do."
I have read it, and I, like many others, I define Christian as following the teachings of Christ (Jesus), not the rules of the old testament (of which he replaced, AKA Judaism).
You are certainly correct that there are those out there who have greatly distorted his message and confused what he taught with the old ways (perhaps most). But to lump all religion into a single bucket is just as crazy as declaring one view or one religion is the only "right" thing.
>It really does. The Abrahamic religions are barbaric. Let's stop passing these dangerous superstitions onto successive generations."
Sorry, but this is just wrong. There are quite a few religions that do a lot of good for people and society. It is just that some people are radical and/or even use the name of the religion without even really understanding it.
Let's take Christianity for example. Please tell me what is so poisonous, barbaric, and dangerous about Jesus' teachings. You do realize that being a Christian means believing in and following Jesus' teachings, which means the *NEW* testament? Let's examine some of his many messages, as I understand them:
* Non-violence
* Love your neighbor as yourself
* Love your enemies
* Peace
* Sacrifice
* Tolerance
* "Turning the other cheek"
* Forgiveness
* Empathy
* Introspection
* Charity
* Piety
* Mercy
* Anti-judgementalism
* Selflessness
Nowhere is there any message of revenge, retribution, hate, killing, separatism, torture, aggression, anti-science, retribution, oppression, racism, etc. Sounds a lot like the same messages in Buddhism doesn't it?
You don't have to be religious or spiritual to follow and cherish such teachings. But, conversely, it doesn't hurt either. And in no way does it have to conflict with rational thought or scientific work. I find it amazing how many people on Slashdot are so anti-religion, probably based on stereotypes or bad experiences, or as you put it, perhaps even "superstitions.".
>"Apple at WWDC 2016 announced that its desktop operating system will now be called macOS "
Really, it has always been MacOS. The big change happened when it went from MacOS version 9 to MacOS version 10... they just used a roman numeral "X" for the major version of 10 and added a cutesy cat name as an alternative for the minor version number. So really, they have just dropped the "X" nonsense so perhaps now it is possible to actually have a MacOS 11 at some point.
We can finally stop hearing the incorrect "MacOS Eckes" or people saying the redundant "MacOS ten version ten point four" or whatever. Yay! :)
>" A Huffington Post article notes that this behavior has contributed significantly in "generating heaps of e-waste." Citing many advocates, the publication claims that Apple has "opposed legislation that could help curb it." "
It is a free market (or it is supposed to be, anyway, mostly). Yes, Apple prices suck. Yes, they do things to lock people in and charge an arm and a leg to keep people from fixing things.
AND YOU ARE FREE TO NOT BUY APPLE PRODUCTS. We don't need "legislation", we need INFORMATION. Want to stop Apple from doing this? STOP BUYING THEIR PRODUCTS. Inform your friends and family what it REALLY costs (total cost ownership) when you buy something you can't get fixed. Post articles about it online. Write reviews. Send a letter to Apple. Do something productive, other than complaining to legislators.
Magically, most consumers are not total idiots.... if they know the information before a purchase, it is likely to shape their decisions. The market will respond. Competitors will shape products to address the demands. Apple will be forced to deal with the backlash or lose sales.
And if you think Apple is a monopoly and there are no other excellent products in every category in which they sell, you have your head in the sand and are buying Apple products as a fashion statement. If that is what you want to do, fine, but stop complaining about it. Yeesh.
>"The difference is lost to the Obama Administration, which argues that "since the records have already been submitted to a third party."
Of course... that pesky Constitution just gets in the way so much. Due process is overrated and the Fed should be able to do whatever they want, I mean, anything can be "interstate commerce", right? That the records are held by the States shouldn't matter, since the interpretation of the Constitution is now that the Federal Government has any rights DENIED to the States, not the other way around.
Think this is just a Democrat problem? Think again. It seems all politicians- from the President, through Congress and elsewhere think the government, especially the Fed, should grow and grow, spend and spend, make law after law taking away more and more rights from Citizens. What is the next "war"? We haven't yet "won" of the "war on drugs" which stripped countless rights... followed by the unwinnable "war on piracy", and then the "war on terror", in which everyone is a terrorist and if you are a good Patriot, you should surrender all your rights in the name of "patriotism". If you have nothing to hide...
It seems we continue to allow the evolution of the "Federal Fascist Socialist State of America" everyone loses. Where does it end?
OK, rant over... gotta go mow the stupid lawn now. Unless there is some Federal law against that I don't know about.