You'll never see a good selection process as long as the vast majority of the public is somewhere between generally uninformed and utterly ignorant. Politicians respond to whatever gets them votes. Right now, the best ways to get votes are by surfing from one "wedge" issue to the next, running lots of negative TV ads, and trying to convince people that your opponent is either socialist or extremist and doesn't care about you. Why do these work? Because most of the population isn't willing to think for themselves. I don't blame politicians for the current state of government. Most honestly believe they are doing what is best for the people. I blame the political apathy of the population.
I'll have to agree with that. The biggest problem is that the us people keep asking the government to bend them over and fuck them senseless.... We're gluttons for punishment it seems.
I believe that: 1. By nature, people are "good". 2. The more people in power, the less power in the hands of the "bad" people.
1. This is not to say that people do not do bad things or have bad goals, but I think that people are not essentially bad by nature, they are bad by conditioning. (ie. they have become bad) This gives me hope that good government is possible. (yep, I'm a bit of an idealist)
2. I think that the number of people around who are bad is going to stay fairly constant, but less than the number of good people (see 1). However, if power is spread through many hands, the likelihood is that most power will be in the hands of good people.
Without really judging whether or not this picture db will be abused or not, I refer to the original post we are replying to here and again ask, "what exactly is so bad about this?". If we assume that people are good, then mightn't this db HELP the gov't be MORE effective ?
-The Devil's Advocate
Ok, you are hopelessly deluded. People are inherintly interested in what is best for themselves at any particular moment. Without any kind of training or conditioning to the contrary they will ALWAYS do what is best for themselves without regard to others.
When we elect someone to a position in our government we HOPE we are electing someone GOOD. However there are in existence more 'Bad' people than 'Good' people. So the more people we have in our government the higher the chance that we have 'Bad' people in it.
Also, you can never 'Assume' people are good. In fact, if we are assuming people are good then why do we need this DB? None of us are criminals, people are Good!
Good government is Possible, but not BIG good government. A Good government is inherently small and efficient, unlike our current government.
The Government has in place a adequate infrastructure for performing its duties, it is not using that infrastructure properly. The government wastes resources in massive amounts on all kinds of useless things. If perhaps some of that were stopped and redirected towards useful programs that are already in existence we wouldn't be looking at some new and expensive program designed to take up the slack every few months.
Oh, I don't know - you might get away with a decent out-of-court settlement from a lawsuit, provided you agree not to scream to the nationals about their breaching agreed privacy contracts....
Or you might quietly disappear one dark evening and they wouldn't have to worry about it anymore... Our government has entirely too much power over its citzens. The PEOPLE are supposed to BE the government, not be ruled by the government!! I call for OPEN ARMED REVOLT!! Storm Washington! We have a constitutional right, nay a DUTY to overthrow corrupt government!
There's something I don't get here. I know its a long standing conviction of Anglo-American civil libertarians that this kind of thing is Bad News. I am more or less in agreement with that, but thinking about it a bit more, what exactly is wrong with it ?
It seems to me that measures like this increase the ability of the government to enforce the law, regardless of what that law actually is. That makes the assertion that this will help to catch drug smugglers/terrorists/child molersters/people with green hair/tomorrow's public enemy number one, reallistic. It also, of course, means it can be used to implement arbitary and stupid laws, such as, for instance drug prohibition (just to pick a nice uncontroversial example).
However the problem is not the databases and so on themselves, but the laws they are being used to implement. If the US had the sort of utterly minimal libertarian code of laws that many people here probably favour, would measures like this still be a problem ?
I'm concerned about this, because I do believe that if we stop relatively (note thats relatively) well-behaved governments from doing their jobs effectively, we may well be increasing our chances of getting larger, more unwieldly, more tyranical and more expensive governments in their place.
Oh, and please don't reply with some stupid platitude and privacy and freedom. I know that's what is believed, I want to know why it is necessarily true.
This in and of itself is not a bad thing. It is a bad thing however, because we have an increasingly inefficient government which collectively knows that there are a lot of people who believe it is unneccesary. If the government were small and efficient, and performed its tasks well then we may perhaps be more lenient with them, but until they get their current programs in order and operational the last thing they need to do is create more things to consume resources with. This database will be abused by petty government underlings for their own ends, even though it isn't intended for that purpose. The bottom line is that our government is NO Well-Behaved, nor even realtively well behaved. We in the US have a bloated, inefficient, abusive government that doesn't respond to the will of the people for anything more than minor things that don't inconvenience them. Our government is made up of PEOPLE, by nature people are not good. So the fewer people that you have in power the fewer bad people you will have. And given a good selection process there will be more good people in office. Sorry for the rambling post, but I think it mostly sums up our government.
1 in 200 is at least as effective as the traditional cloning process, aka copulation. Just think about all the people having sex every day, if they all got it right 1 in 200 times we'd be swamped with little babies... Anyone know the actual statistics for that? 1 in 1000? more? less?
B. You are the author but you happen to have 2 e-mail addresses at globe.com
I'm inclined to believe the first as the actual e-mail address of the author is h_bray@globe.com this is actually the 4th time I've posted it in this forum.
I sent a letter to the author of the article, these were my 2 main points:
1. It was stated by the microsoft representitive that Linux does not support Multi Processor systems, this is not true. Linux has been succesfully run on systems containing up to 64 processors, where as Windows NT has as yet not been run on anything containing more than 16 processors.
2. The articles premise is that Java and Linux are very similar and will follow similar paths. Java and Linux are not even remotely the same. Linux is an Operating system with over ten thousand active developers, Java is a programming language that is tightly controlled by Sun, the two have nothing in common other than that they compete with microsoft, as do Apple, Be, and countless other companies.
Here is the response I recieved within 45 minutes:
On point one...you have a point. Multiprocessor Linux does exist, but even most Linux buffs concede that it's not yet good enough for mission-critical use. Still, it does exist and I should have mentioned this fact. A correction may be in order...
On point two...I think you're reading in something I didn't say. Indeed, I make the very point you make in your reply. Java was still a newborn when the hype began, while Linux was already a tried and proven operating system.
So, the author was not meaning to imply that Java and Linux were similar, only that Microsoft thought that Linux would get shoved aside by its engine of Marketing just like Java.
I don't know whether the point about multiproc Linux systems not being ready for mission critical systems is valid or not, anyone care to comment?
Would Q2 be an acceptable game to benchmark the systems on? With equivelant 3D cards the G3's whooped the PIIIs by 10-15 fps. The link to the benchmarks are on www.planetquake.com somewhere, but I spent 20 minutes digging through the archives and couldn't find them again. They haven't done anything with the G4 yet, but I imagine it will make the Athlon look sad, and slaughter the PIIIs... I love the Mac hardware... I just wish the GUI didn't blow chunks...
Hmmm...Apple gets a chip, working at a paltry 400Mhz. Small Memory. No AGP. No possibility of a real video card. No T&L on the chip.
My new Dell cost $1700. It goes 600Mhz. It has a Diamond Viper 770. It is faster than a snake on ice. The Athlon, which I do not have, but have developed on, goes 700Mhz (800 by X-mas), and has T&L instructions on the chip. Intel is promising GIGAGHERZ next spring.
Straight megahertz isn't the only deciding factor in speed. The G4 400 is about 3 times faster than your Intel 600. It performs more operations per cycle for one thing... Perhaps you should look into what those numbers you are spouting really mean...
Anyone who has a problem with the factual content of this article should e-mail h_bray@globe.com. That is the authors e-mail address. Please only send WELL WRITTEN factual criticism, not flames and trollish garbage. If we want to influence journalists then we need to go right to them. Start sending corrections to the people who write this stuff. I sent an e-mail both to Hiawatha (Male or Female?) and to the Globe itself demonstrating a couple of glaring errors. If a few hundred people also point out problems them it will likely be corrected, or changed, or at least not happen again. We can watch dog any industry we please, there are enough of us.
Don't you just LOVE the smell of blatant falsification in the morning? I wonder if the microFlunky truly has no idea what Linux can do or if he was really trying to make the clueless execs who read this sort of thing seriously think that Linux can't run MultiProc....
Not in desktop machines... You'd have to buy something seriously expensive, topping 10 Thou probably. The G4 is a beastly processor, badass enough to be restricted from overseas distribution. Linux PPC on a G4 would be sweet.... If MacOS didn't blow shit I'd be using a Mac.
, but I don't know of a single computer literate member of my church who agrees with this.
This just proves that Computer are the DEVIL!! REPENT My CHILD! And thou shalt be REDEEEEEMED! Cast aside thy evil ways of the Internet and return to the fold! Do it for the CHILDREN!
>:) Don't you just love the way some 'Religous' leaders pander to the politicians and endorse whatever they are doing at the moment? Organized Religion and Government has almost always been in bed together. Church is not about Religion, too bad more people don't realize this.
We are required to wear helmets when riding bycicles or motorcycles. We are required to take out 3rd party compulsory insurance with any vehicle we purchase. We are required to invest in a super fund through our entire career. And now we are required to prevent ourselves from seeing material that some "authority" might label "inapprorpriate".
How much of this happens in the US?
All of it. We are required to wear helmets, Social Security sucks out a bunch of our cash, and almost ANYONE can tell you what you can and can not look at if they have a couple of lawyers with them. Government blows goats, it's obsolete, irrelevant, and usually arbitrary as well. Why don't we form a technocracy? Let people into the government based on skill and intelligence? Sounds like a good idea to me. Hrmmm... then again, anyone remember what happened to the 'Learn'ed Council' in the Simpsons? They couldn't agree on anything.
(c) any other user who has advised their ISP that he or she already has installed and has operational a Content filtering or other control measure listed in Schedule 1 of this Code.
Also, notice that this does not say WHERE you have to have it installed.
Gov Guy: 'You told your Isp you had filtering software installed and operational. How come we don't see it here?'
Me: *Points to headless box in corner, plugged into cheapo power strip* 'It's installed on that box there, and operates perfectly. In fact, no one has ever accessed an offensive website from that PC'
WARNING! This is a FLAME Moderate it down for your protection.
Learn to read you dumbshit. A very few people have said, 'Yes, we understand why they are doing this and can see the point, but we still don't like it.' Almost everyone else is screaming about Red Hat becoming microsoft like. WE DON'T FUCKING LIKE the way Red Hat is handling this IF the story is reliable. I imagine most of us can also understand why Microsoft does what it does, they want insane amounts of money. Well, they got insane amounts of money so looks like it worked. To reiterate, go get hooked on on phonics so you can read the other posts before you spout useless drivel.
. Porn is a perfectly reasonable place to draw that line, it can be sexual harassment, and it can invade the privacy of people who accidentally see it.
So does this mean I can call my lawyers and start sewing the makers of ICQ because some idiot keeps sending me porn pages? Can I sue all of the porn sites that spam my hotmail account? They invaded my privacy right? They harassed me right? Geez, what a bunch of bullshit....
but what if a co-worker walks up behind you without you knowing? He or she could allege harrasment, which would cost at least in the tens of thousands of dollars just to defend if it went to court. The problem with the current harrasment laws is that the victim defines what is harrasment. Whatever I say is offensive in my own mind is harrasment.
I think the biggest problems is that someone went and redefined 'Harassed' to mean 'Offended'. Harrasment is when you continually irritate, molest, annoy, pester, or otherwise interfere with someone. Offending is when someone takes a moral objection to something you have done. If you are Harassing someone it would mean you were: A. E-mailing them pornography against their will, constantly. B. Physically molesting them in some fashion. C. Verbally molesting them in some fashion.
Offeding someone can be done by: A. Performing any kind of bodily function in public, nose picking, butt scratching, farting, belching, etc... B. Having a religious symbol placed somewhere in your area. C. Having a risque poster somewhere in your area. D. An endless list of stupid things depending on who you are talking about.
Someone can be fired for Harassing someone else, they can be prosectued for it too. Someone can NOT be fired for Offending someone else unless it can be shown that the offended person was impaired in their ability to perform their job. And even then it's difficult to prove something like that.
If I'm looking at porn in my cube and some female employee happens to see it, I might get fired for wasting company resources, but there can't be a lawsuit for harassment as nothing was ever directed against said female employee. If I was e-mailing porn around the office, this would be harassment, if I was putting up pornographic posters in public places, this would be harassment. But my work area is just that, MY work area. It is difficult to sue a company for the actions of one of its employees if that employee was acting on his/her own initiative and the employees actions did not target you specifically.
In short, any idiot who tries to sue a company for harassment by one of their employees because he/she saw some porn on the employees monitor should be slapped upside the head and told to get a life.
While this guy may be a troll, he is right. Aparently segfault couldn't handle the load after you posted that South Park story. They have been toast ever since then. Sigh...
You misinterpret the situation. This is more akin to 50 people in a housing development, unbeknownst to them the builder who built all of the houses built a secret passage into their bedroom. Someone else finds that passage, walks into their bedroom, then starts calling up the builder, and telling them about it. And calls up all of his friends who live in the subdivision and tells them about it, and pretty soon everyone knows that the builder put all of these secret passages into the houses. That's a closer analogy.
A few questions: 1. How expensive are these things? 2. What kind of performance do they get compared to something like the Athlon? 3. Are the available to the general public? 4. Is there a Linux distro that is optimized for use with these? 6. Is there a multi-processor motherboard that supports these? 7. What kind of performance does it get if it exists? 8. Where can I get one?
Kintanon I hope I don't get first post, I hate that.
Slashdot Mirror
You'll never see a good selection process as long as the vast majority of the public is somewhere between generally uninformed and utterly ignorant. Politicians respond to whatever gets them votes. Right now, the best ways to get votes are by surfing from one "wedge" issue to the next, running lots of negative TV ads, and trying to convince people that your opponent is either socialist or extremist and doesn't care about you. Why do these work? Because most of the population isn't willing to think for themselves. I don't blame politicians for the current state of government. Most honestly believe they are doing what is best for the people. I blame the political apathy of the population.
I'll have to agree with that. The biggest problem is that the us people keep asking the government to bend them over and fuck them senseless.... We're gluttons for punishment it seems.
Kintanon
I have to disagree on this point.
I believe that:
1. By nature, people are "good".
2. The more people in power, the less power in the hands of the "bad" people.
1. This is not to say that people do not do bad things or have bad goals, but I think that people are not essentially bad by nature, they are bad by conditioning. (ie. they have become bad) This gives me hope that good government is possible. (yep, I'm a bit of an idealist)
2. I think that the number of people around who are bad is going to stay fairly constant, but less than the number of good people (see 1). However, if power is spread through many hands, the likelihood is that most power will be in the hands of good people.
Without really judging whether or not this picture db will be abused or not, I refer to the original post we are replying to here and again ask, "what exactly is so bad about this?". If we assume that people are good, then mightn't this db HELP the gov't be MORE effective ?
-The Devil's Advocate
Ok, you are hopelessly deluded. People are inherintly interested in what is best for themselves at any particular moment. Without any kind of training or conditioning to the contrary they will ALWAYS do what is best for themselves without regard to others.
When we elect someone to a position in our government we HOPE we are electing someone GOOD. However there are in existence more 'Bad' people than 'Good' people. So the more people we have in our government the higher the chance that we have 'Bad' people in it.
Also, you can never 'Assume' people are good. In fact, if we are assuming people are good then why do we need this DB? None of us are criminals, people are Good!
Good government is Possible, but not BIG good government. A Good government is inherently small and efficient, unlike our current government.
The Government has in place a adequate infrastructure for performing its duties, it is not using that infrastructure properly. The government wastes resources in massive amounts on all kinds of useless things. If perhaps some of that were stopped and redirected towards useful programs that are already in existence we wouldn't be looking at some new and expensive program designed to take up the slack every few months.
Kintanon
Oh, I don't know - you might get away with a decent out-of-court settlement from a lawsuit, provided you agree not to scream to the nationals about their breaching agreed privacy contracts....
Or you might quietly disappear one dark evening and they wouldn't have to worry about it anymore... Our government has entirely too much power over its citzens. The PEOPLE are supposed to BE the government, not be ruled by the government!! I call for OPEN ARMED REVOLT!! Storm Washington! We have a constitutional right, nay a DUTY to overthrow corrupt government!
Kintanon
There's something I don't get here. I know its a long standing conviction of Anglo-American civil libertarians that this kind of thing is Bad News. I am more or less in agreement with that, but thinking about it a bit more, what exactly is wrong with it ?
It seems to me that measures like this increase the ability of the government to enforce the law, regardless of what that law actually is. That makes the assertion that this will help to catch drug smugglers/terrorists/child molersters/people with green hair/tomorrow's public enemy number one, reallistic. It also, of course, means it can be used to implement arbitary and stupid laws, such as, for instance drug prohibition (just to pick a nice uncontroversial example).
However the problem is not the databases and so on themselves, but the laws they are being used to implement. If the US had the sort of utterly minimal libertarian code of laws that many people here probably favour, would measures like this still be a problem ?
I'm concerned about this, because I do believe that if we stop relatively (note thats relatively) well-behaved governments from doing their jobs effectively, we may well be increasing our chances of getting larger, more unwieldly, more tyranical and more expensive governments in their place.
Oh, and please don't reply with some stupid platitude and privacy and freedom. I know that's what is believed, I want to know why it is necessarily true.
This in and of itself is not a bad thing. It is a bad thing however, because we have an increasingly inefficient government which collectively knows that there are a lot of people who believe it is unneccesary. If the government were small and efficient, and performed its tasks well then we may perhaps be more lenient with them, but until they get their current programs in order and operational the last thing they need to do is create more things to consume resources with. This database will be abused by petty government underlings for their own ends, even though it isn't intended for that purpose.
The bottom line is that our government is NO Well-Behaved, nor even realtively well behaved. We in the US have a bloated, inefficient, abusive government that doesn't respond to the will of the people for anything more than minor things that don't inconvenience them. Our government is made up of PEOPLE, by nature people are not good. So the fewer people that you have in power the fewer bad people you will have. And given a good selection process there will be more good people in office. Sorry for the rambling post, but I think it mostly sums up our government.
Kintanon
1 in 200 is at least as effective as the traditional cloning process, aka copulation.
Just think about all the people having sex every day, if they all got it right 1 in 200 times we'd be swamped with little babies... Anyone know the actual statistics for that? 1 in 1000? more? less?
Kintanon
Metachlorians.
Kintanon
How the hell do you pronounce yogh??? WTF is with all of the extra letters? Let's clean the language up if we are going to mess with it anymore!
Hu neds al uv dos axtra ledrs ine wa.
>:)
Kintanon
Ok, one of two things is true here,
A. You are NOT the author of the article
B. You are the author but you happen to have 2 e-mail addresses at globe.com
I'm inclined to believe the first as the actual e-mail address of the author is h_bray@globe.com this is actually the 4th time I've posted it in this forum.
Kintanon
It's h_bray@globe.com
I posted it earlier. Pay attention next time.
I sent a letter to the author of the article, these were my 2 main points:
1. It was stated by the microsoft representitive that Linux does not
support Multi Processor systems, this is not true. Linux has been
succesfully run on systems containing up to 64 processors, where as
Windows NT has as yet not been run on anything containing more than 16
processors.
2. The articles premise is that Java and Linux are very similar and will
follow similar paths. Java and Linux are not even remotely the same.
Linux is an Operating system with over ten thousand active developers,
Java is a programming language that is tightly controlled by Sun, the
two
have nothing in common other than that they compete with microsoft, as
do Apple, Be, and countless other companies.
Here is the response I recieved within 45 minutes:
On point one...you have a point. Multiprocessor Linux does exist, but even
most Linux buffs concede that it's not yet good enough for mission-critical
use. Still, it does exist and I should have mentioned this fact. A
correction may be in order...
On point two...I think you're reading in something I didn't say. Indeed, I
make the very point you make in your reply. Java was still a newborn when
the hype began, while Linux was already a tried and proven operating
system.
So, the author was not meaning to imply that Java and Linux were similar, only that Microsoft thought that Linux would get shoved aside by its engine of Marketing just like Java.
I don't know whether the point about multiproc Linux systems not being ready for mission critical systems is valid or not, anyone care to comment?
Kintanon
Would Q2 be an acceptable game to benchmark the systems on? With equivelant 3D cards the G3's whooped the PIIIs by 10-15 fps. The link to the benchmarks are on www.planetquake.com somewhere, but I spent 20 minutes digging through the archives and couldn't find them again.
They haven't done anything with the G4 yet, but I imagine it will make the Athlon look sad, and slaughter the PIIIs...
I love the Mac hardware... I just wish the GUI didn't blow chunks...
Kintanon
Damnit, I know I closed that html tag... Oh well... It's a BIG link, sue me.>:)
Kintanon
Hmmm...Apple gets a chip, working at a paltry 400Mhz. Small Memory. No AGP. No possibility of a real video card. No T&L on the chip.
My new Dell cost $1700. It goes 600Mhz. It has a Diamond Viper 770. It is faster than a snake on ice. The Athlon, which I do not have, but have developed on, goes 700Mhz (800 by X-mas), and has T&L instructions on the chip. Intel is promising GIGAGHERZ next spring.
Straight megahertz isn't the only deciding factor in speed. The G4 400 is about 3 times faster than your Intel 600. It performs more operations per cycle for one thing... Perhaps you should look into what those numbers you are spouting really mean...
Megahertz is just the number of cycles per second,
400 million vs 600 million.
the G4 performs something like 28 operations per cycle, for exact numbers you can check The Daily iMac, the P3 performs something like 8 operations per cycle. Now, that's 400x28 vs 600x8, or 11200 vs 4800 operations per second. The G4 is quite obviously faster.
Please point out any glaring factual innacuracies in my statements, leave the spelling and grammar to God.
Kintanon
Anyone who has a problem with the factual content of this article should e-mail h_bray@globe.com.
That is the authors e-mail address. Please only send WELL WRITTEN factual criticism, not flames and trollish garbage. If we want to influence journalists then we need to go right to them. Start sending corrections to the people who write this stuff. I sent an e-mail both to Hiawatha (Male or Female?) and to the Globe itself demonstrating a couple of glaring errors. If a few hundred people also point out problems them it will likely be corrected, or changed, or at least not happen again. We can watch dog any industry we please, there are enough of us.
Kintanon
Don't you just LOVE the smell of blatant falsification in the morning? I wonder if the microFlunky truly has no idea what Linux can do or if he was really trying to make the clueless execs who read this sort of thing seriously think that Linux can't run MultiProc....
Kintanon
Not in desktop machines... You'd have to buy something seriously expensive, topping 10 Thou probably. The G4 is a beastly processor, badass enough to be restricted from overseas distribution. Linux PPC on a G4 would be sweet....
If MacOS didn't blow shit I'd be using a Mac.
Kintanon
, but I don't know of a single computer literate member of my church who agrees with this.
This just proves that Computer are the DEVIL!! REPENT My CHILD! And thou shalt be REDEEEEEMED!
Cast aside thy evil ways of the Internet and return to the fold! Do it for the CHILDREN!
>:) Don't you just love the way some 'Religous' leaders pander to the politicians and endorse whatever they are doing at the moment? Organized Religion and Government has almost always been in bed together. Church is not about Religion, too bad more people don't realize this.
Kintanon
We are required to wear helmets when riding bycicles or motorcycles. We are required to take out 3rd party compulsory insurance with any vehicle we purchase. We are required to invest in a super fund through our entire career. And now we are required to prevent ourselves from seeing material that some "authority" might label "inapprorpriate".
How much of this happens in the US?
All of it. We are required to wear helmets, Social Security sucks out a bunch of our cash, and almost ANYONE can tell you what you can and can not look at if they have a couple of lawyers with them. Government blows goats, it's obsolete, irrelevant, and usually arbitrary as well. Why don't we form a technocracy? Let people into the government based on skill and intelligence? Sounds like a good idea to me. Hrmmm... then again, anyone remember what happened to the 'Learn'ed Council' in the Simpsons? They couldn't agree on anything.
Kintanon
(c) any other user who has advised their ISP that he or she already has installed and has operational a Content filtering or other control measure listed in Schedule 1 of this Code.
Also, notice that this does not say WHERE you have to have it installed.
Gov Guy: 'You told your Isp you had filtering software installed and operational. How come we don't see it here?'
Me: *Points to headless box in corner, plugged into cheapo power strip* 'It's installed on that box there, and operates perfectly. In fact, no one has ever accessed an offensive website from that PC'
Heheheh. All Hail SEMANTICS!
Kintanon
WARNING! This is a FLAME Moderate it down for your protection.
Learn to read you dumbshit. A very few people have said, 'Yes, we understand why they are doing this and can see the point, but we still don't like it.' Almost everyone else is screaming about Red Hat becoming microsoft like. WE DON'T FUCKING LIKE the way Red Hat is handling this IF the story is reliable.
I imagine most of us can also understand why Microsoft does what it does, they want insane amounts of money. Well, they got insane amounts of money so looks like it worked.
To reiterate, go get hooked on on phonics so you can read the other posts before you spout useless drivel.
. Porn is a perfectly reasonable place to draw that line, it can be sexual harassment, and it can invade the privacy of people who accidentally see it.
So does this mean I can call my lawyers and start sewing the makers of ICQ because some idiot keeps sending me porn pages? Can I sue all of the porn sites that spam my hotmail account? They invaded my privacy right? They harassed me right?
Geez, what a bunch of bullshit....
Kintanon
but what if a co-worker walks up behind you without you knowing? He or she could allege harrasment, which would cost at least in the tens of thousands of dollars just to defend if it went to court. The problem with the current harrasment laws is that the victim defines what is harrasment. Whatever I say is offensive in my own mind is harrasment.
I think the biggest problems is that someone went and redefined 'Harassed' to mean 'Offended'. Harrasment is when you continually irritate, molest, annoy, pester, or otherwise interfere with someone. Offending is when someone takes a moral objection to something you have done.
If you are Harassing someone it would mean you were:
A. E-mailing them pornography against their will, constantly.
B. Physically molesting them in some fashion.
C. Verbally molesting them in some fashion.
Offeding someone can be done by:
A. Performing any kind of bodily function in public, nose picking, butt scratching, farting, belching, etc...
B. Having a religious symbol placed somewhere in your area.
C. Having a risque poster somewhere in your area.
D. An endless list of stupid things depending on who you are talking about.
Someone can be fired for Harassing someone else, they can be prosectued for it too.
Someone can NOT be fired for Offending someone else unless it can be shown that the offended person was impaired in their ability to perform their job. And even then it's difficult to prove something like that.
If I'm looking at porn in my cube and some female employee happens to see it, I might get fired for wasting company resources, but there can't be a lawsuit for harassment as nothing was ever directed against said female employee.
If I was e-mailing porn around the office, this would be harassment, if I was putting up pornographic posters in public places, this would be harassment. But my work area is just that, MY work area. It is difficult to sue a company for the actions of one of its employees if that employee was acting on his/her own initiative and the employees actions did not target you specifically.
In short, any idiot who tries to sue a company for harassment by one of their employees because he/she saw some porn on the employees monitor should be slapped upside the head and told to get a life.
Kintanon
While this guy may be a troll, he is right. Aparently segfault couldn't handle the load after you posted that South Park story. They have been toast ever since then. Sigh...
Kintanon
You misinterpret the situation. This is more akin to 50 people in a housing development, unbeknownst to them the builder who built all of the houses built a secret passage into their bedroom. Someone else finds that passage, walks into their bedroom, then starts calling up the builder, and telling them about it. And calls up all of his friends who live in the subdivision and tells them about it, and pretty soon everyone knows that the builder put all of these secret passages into the houses. That's a closer analogy.
Kintanon
A few questions:
1. How expensive are these things?
2. What kind of performance do they get compared to something like the Athlon?
3. Are the available to the general public?
4. Is there a Linux distro that is optimized for use with these?
6. Is there a multi-processor motherboard that supports these?
7. What kind of performance does it get if it exists?
8. Where can I get one?
Kintanon
I hope I don't get first post, I hate that.