I've grown weary of people pretending that it's not happening
First: Read the article.
Second: Read my post.
The article states that the reason it is difficult to find Patriot Act abuses is because the new reports were not of actual abuses. They were of allegations of abuse. When it came down to the facts, the allegations didn't always hold up. Basically, just because a defense lawyer uses the 'Patriot Act abuse' defense does not mean that there has been a Patriot Act abuse.
In my post, I pointed out that Patriot Act abuses must, by definition, be against American Citizens. It is very hard for some people to realize that the Patriot Act only covers the rights of American Citizens. An abuse of the Patriot Act is not a physical abuse of the person. Rodney King was abused. He was not the victim of Patriot Act abuse. Now, if the police randomly decided to raid his house and tap all his phone calls without any evidence that he had any ties to any terrorism - then there would be a Patriot Act abuse.
Finally, most people do not ignore the problems of the world because thay are cold and evil. They are average middle-class people just trying to pay the bills and put food on the table. Helping out some abused guy in some other country doesn't really fit into the daily grind. Then, you get kids, more debt, more work load, and there isn't even time to worry about abuse in our own country. If you honestly want people to care about other people's problems, you have to take care of their problems first - even if you don't think they warrant real concern.
I think the spin you put on news reporters looking to find a juicy story disengenuous.
...
Maybe the prisoners are being treated well...maybe not, but the story itself is worthy of merit.
Excuse me while I get out my extra-cynical keyboard...
Do you honestly believe a reporter would go there and come back with a story about good and proper treatment of prisoners? The only reason for a reporter to go there is to get a prisoner abuse story. I'm not saying that there is no abuse. I'm only saying that the reporters go there specifically to get evidence of the prisoner abuse stories that they already have prepared. Modern news is far less about reporting the good and bad. It is about creating a bad story and then searching for anything to back it up. Some don't even go get evidence. They just make up stories and then other reporters use their stories as evidence. It is all a bunch of crap based on crap designed to keep us interested enought to sit through 3-4 minutes of commercials. Maybe I should turn off CNN and start paying for Naked News.
The American Citizens in Guantanamo Bay are having their civil rights abused by the Patriot Act!? I thought the only American Citizens there were military - which have a whole different set of rights as specified by military law - so the Patriot Act doesn't really apply. Unless, you are referring to the news reporters that run down there every now and then to try and get a juicy 'prisoner abuse' story to promote and further their career.
There is really nothing to prevent me from going into those submissions and editting my view of the facts. There is nothing preventing someone from taking the other viewpoint.
Nothing? Nothing? Nothing? How about the hundreds of other people watching the article? Ever wonder why the history of some articles say "revert...revert...revert..."? It is a large number of people keeping idiots from vandalizing articles.
As for your comment that the everyone wants to write history from their viewpoint, it is true. That is why the controversial articles are so large. They include everyone's viewpoint. It is up to the reader to decide what they want to keep and digest or ignore completely.
I know it sounds weird, but... I did some work at the nuclear reactor on campus.
Yeah. Weird, man. You working at a nuclear reactor?;)
Well, I figured if Homer can do it...
Is there more radiation emanating from my cellphone or from the rest of the city ?
I know it sounds weird, but when I was at University of Missouri-Rolla, I did some work at the nuclear reactor on campus. There is far less radiation inside the reactor building (not inside the reactor core itself) than there is outside on the hockey puck (a big concrete circle in the middle of campus). So, if you are worried about radiation, just move into a nuclear reactor building.
Then how about making those enhancments into additional modules/tests for SpamAssassin?
I never claimed to have written modules/tests for SpamAssassin. I wrote a completely separate filtering program. Also, it is available for anyone to use if they really want to. I put it in the 'projects' section of my website shaunwagner.com
The SURBL can be found here: http://www.surbl.org. It's a very good thing,
I cannot agree with this enough. I wrote my own SURBL-like spam filter before SURBL was available. I mentioned it twice on Slashdot before SURBL and everyone said it wouldn't work, but it was great. The only way you can get a false-positive is if someone sends you a link to a spammer's website in an email that you actually want. Really, how often does that happen?
I have since expanded my own filter to handle the "copy the following link" craze, as well as all the forms of encoding emails. I also used the same technology to block phone numbers because I get a hell of a lot of "call us for refinancing" spams. Like SURBL, it works great.
Who has noticed a decrease in the effectiveness of Spam Assasin. I have! Anyone else?
I still have SpamAssassin running, but I wrote my own spam filter to run before it because SpamAssassin was letting through so much spam. I found that my own filter is far more effective. Perhaps it is only because I can customize it easily (as I wrote the code) to handle what I receive. SpamAssassin has to be generalized for everyone else. Also, SpamAssassin didn't do an IP Address lookup on all links the emails, which is what I wanted and has continued to be the most effective blocking tool I have.
OK. I'll bite. I went to congress.gov and listed all the laws our current Congress (109th) has passed since they are passing plenty of laws. Man, it is a huge list - a whole 2 laws!
Law 109-1: To accelerate the income tax benefits for charitable cash contributions for the relief of victims of the Indian Ocean tsunami.
Law 109-2: A bill to amend the procedures that apply to consideration of interstate class actions to assure fairer outcomes for class members and defendants, and for other purposes.
I agree that Congress votes all the time. It seems that every time I buzz past CSpan, there's a vote going on. But, those votes are not for laws. They are for all kinds of other things that Congress likes to do.
Is Slashdot planning on ever fixing the flag? It's been missing a red stripe forever.
It is missing. It is purposely removed. Hadn't you noticed now anti-Delaware Slashdot is? They add a little anti-Delaware touch to all the logos so we, the faithful readers, get a little "Where's Waldo" search with every article.
I'm having a crappy day, so I'm being very cynical. Things like this are getting on my nerves. This bill in introduced. How many bills are introduced each day - about 50? How many get passed on average - about 0? How many phishers are going "Oh my God! There's a bill introduced to Congress that could punish me if it were ever passed but it won't be so it won't ever have any effect on me, therefore I should stop phishing!"
Call me when Congress actually passes a law that isn't immediately overturned by the Supreme Court.
This is the same guy who did the first trip around the world in a balloon. He didn't land or refuel that time. So, isn't this his second trip around the world without refuelling?
And even when companies like Samsung try to copy the Apple look
Before going neon to match the trendy VW Bugs, did you notice that Apple went thin and silver/white to mimic the Sony Vaio? All good ideas have been done. What's next, a lava-lamp computer case?
...our understanding of gravity, which has worked extremely well for us for hundreds of years...
Keep in mind that our understanding of gravity is that we have no clue what it is. However, our understanding of the effect of gravity has been working fine. The effect of gravity and gravity are two different things. It could very well be that there is absolutely no such thing as gravity and the effect of gravity is actually a side-effect multi-dimensional distortion, or subatomic radiation, or pure heavenly magic. That is why there is a 'theory of gravity' and a set of 'laws of the force of gravity'.
Arrgghh!!! I was, hum, misinformed... My cube farm is less interesting again... Please accept my apologies.
If it makes you feel any better... Nobody here has a Swingline at all. We have one communal Aceliner that never works. It is probably a hand-me-down from an important section (like human resources). But, how can I complain. Most of the buttons on the telephones work. The computers we've built from scavanged parts run at least faster than my old Commodore 64. And, my desk is just big enough to have a picture of my hedgehog on it. Is she leaning? Oh, no. It's me. I forgot that my chair leans about 20 degrees to the right.
Speaking of the red swingline stapler, yes, the one from the movie
It is the actual one from the movie? So it is blue again? While filming, the red paint kept coming off, so if it is in any actual use at all, I'd be suprised if there's much red left on it.
And it is vitally important to distinguish between these classes of phenomena for the purposes of... of.... ummm, why exactly?
Actions of humans that directly cause global warming are easy to see and easy to change. Actions of humans that indirectly cause global warming are harder to see and harder to change. You mention a reduction in the number of trees.
In the United States, most people have been trained to respond that it isn't their fault for the tree reduction, it is the evil paper companies.
Every study I've read on tree reduction involves Africa and South America. The cause is a high demand for livestock. So, if I listen to my American media and stop using paper in hopes of stopping off the paper companies, I'd still be indirectly causing tree reduction and indirectly causing global warming every time I got a Big Mac. The indirect cause is not obvious, so it is harder to stop.
If about scientists, i think the majority of scientists claim global warming is happening and it's likely to be caused by humans.
The phrase "caused by humans" is dangerous to use in this topic. It implies that global warming is directly caused by humans. However, many scientists believe that global warming is indirectly caused by humans. For instance, we eat a lof beef, so we raise a lot of cows. The cows fart and burp a lot - creating greenhouse gasses. Then we get global warming.
You are correct. As with most/. posts, I was being overly brief. Content is different for different businesses. A health club needs to make it quickly obvious what services they have and how to get to their club. Online sales need to get the products to the forefront. I used that in my last website design. I put the cart and products right up front and all the other 'useful but not necessary' stuff behind links.
The most important thing you need to realize about a website is the color scheme.
I think this should, at most, be second most important. The most important part of any website is the content. With a long history of web design, the most troubling issue is trying to get content out of the clients. They worry about color, logos, font size, on and on. After a year, all I can get is a pretty page that says "Content will go here when the client pulls their heads out of their asses."
Another problem is having print-advertisers involved in the design. In print advertising, it is very important to catch the browser's eye. Be it a bulletin board or magazine ad, you want to get attention. On the web, people don't walk or drive past random websites. They do some sort of action that makes a website appear. Once they type in a URL or click on a google link, they want content. They don't want a 15 minute flash intro that makes the advertising department all hot and wet. So, again, the top priority is content.
There is room for confusion on this topic. There is one scene that is well known to cause a stir in the purist's camp. It is commonly called the "Malkovich scene". It is not in any of the books, radio scripts, BBC shows... But, it was written by Douglas Adams. It was not written by some Hollywood hack to add another star in the movie. So, it is possible for someone to read an article where a producer claims "how can they complain when Douglas wrote that himself" and then think that the producer is referring to the whole movie.
I was being brief: the full game title is "Lemmings Revolution" by Take 2 Interactive. It has cure 3-D pictures on the back of the box, but you can't make the cute pointer move over to the 'start game' button when you start the game.
I bought one game from Take Two - Lemmings. It didn't work. After hours talking to support, they realized it was because I had a wheel-mouse. They said wheel-mice weren't popular in their offices, so they never tested them. After an exhausing Alta-Vista (pre-Google) search, I found that the game failed to work with many PS2 input devices and would also crash if a USB device was plugged into the computer. Since they refused to give a refund for an unplayable game (remember, in-store policy is if it is opened it can only be exchanged for THE SAME game), I won't buy anything from Take Two again.
Slashdot Mirror
I've grown weary of people pretending that it's not happening
First: Read the article.
Second: Read my post.
The article states that the reason it is difficult to find Patriot Act abuses is because the new reports were not of actual abuses. They were of allegations of abuse. When it came down to the facts, the allegations didn't always hold up. Basically, just because a defense lawyer uses the 'Patriot Act abuse' defense does not mean that there has been a Patriot Act abuse.
In my post, I pointed out that Patriot Act abuses must, by definition, be against American Citizens. It is very hard for some people to realize that the Patriot Act only covers the rights of American Citizens. An abuse of the Patriot Act is not a physical abuse of the person. Rodney King was abused. He was not the victim of Patriot Act abuse. Now, if the police randomly decided to raid his house and tap all his phone calls without any evidence that he had any ties to any terrorism - then there would be a Patriot Act abuse.
Finally, most people do not ignore the problems of the world because thay are cold and evil. They are average middle-class people just trying to pay the bills and put food on the table. Helping out some abused guy in some other country doesn't really fit into the daily grind. Then, you get kids, more debt, more work load, and there isn't even time to worry about abuse in our own country. If you honestly want people to care about other people's problems, you have to take care of their problems first - even if you don't think they warrant real concern.
I think the spin you put on news reporters looking to find a juicy story disengenuous.
...
Maybe the prisoners are being treated well...maybe not, but the story itself is worthy of merit.
Excuse me while I get out my extra-cynical keyboard...
Do you honestly believe a reporter would go there and come back with a story about good and proper treatment of prisoners? The only reason for a reporter to go there is to get a prisoner abuse story. I'm not saying that there is no abuse. I'm only saying that the reporters go there specifically to get evidence of the prisoner abuse stories that they already have prepared. Modern news is far less about reporting the good and bad. It is about creating a bad story and then searching for anything to back it up. Some don't even go get evidence. They just make up stories and then other reporters use their stories as evidence. It is all a bunch of crap based on crap designed to keep us interested enought to sit through 3-4 minutes of commercials. Maybe I should turn off CNN and start paying for Naked News.
How about Guantanamo Bay
The American Citizens in Guantanamo Bay are having their civil rights abused by the Patriot Act!? I thought the only American Citizens there were military - which have a whole different set of rights as specified by military law - so the Patriot Act doesn't really apply. Unless, you are referring to the news reporters that run down there every now and then to try and get a juicy 'prisoner abuse' story to promote and further their career.
There is really nothing to prevent me from going into those submissions and editting my view of the facts. There is nothing preventing someone from taking the other viewpoint.
Nothing? Nothing? Nothing? How about the hundreds of other people watching the article? Ever wonder why the history of some articles say "revert...revert...revert..."? It is a large number of people keeping idiots from vandalizing articles.
As for your comment that the everyone wants to write history from their viewpoint, it is true. That is why the controversial articles are so large. They include everyone's viewpoint. It is up to the reader to decide what they want to keep and digest or ignore completely.
I know it sounds weird, but ... I did some work at the nuclear reactor on campus.
;)
Yeah. Weird, man. You working at a nuclear reactor?
Well, I figured if Homer can do it...
Is there more radiation emanating from my cellphone or from the rest of the city ?
I know it sounds weird, but when I was at University of Missouri-Rolla, I did some work at the nuclear reactor on campus. There is far less radiation inside the reactor building (not inside the reactor core itself) than there is outside on the hockey puck (a big concrete circle in the middle of campus). So, if you are worried about radiation, just move into a nuclear reactor building.
Then how about making those enhancments into additional modules/tests for SpamAssassin?
I never claimed to have written modules/tests for SpamAssassin. I wrote a completely separate filtering program. Also, it is available for anyone to use if they really want to. I put it in the 'projects' section of my website shaunwagner.com
The SURBL can be found here: http://www.surbl.org. It's a very good thing,
I cannot agree with this enough. I wrote my own SURBL-like spam filter before SURBL was available. I mentioned it twice on Slashdot before SURBL and everyone said it wouldn't work, but it was great. The only way you can get a false-positive is if someone sends you a link to a spammer's website in an email that you actually want. Really, how often does that happen?
I have since expanded my own filter to handle the "copy the following link" craze, as well as all the forms of encoding emails. I also used the same technology to block phone numbers because I get a hell of a lot of "call us for refinancing" spams. Like SURBL, it works great.
Who has noticed a decrease in the effectiveness of Spam Assasin. I have! Anyone else?
I still have SpamAssassin running, but I wrote my own spam filter to run before it because SpamAssassin was letting through so much spam. I found that my own filter is far more effective. Perhaps it is only because I can customize it easily (as I wrote the code) to handle what I receive. SpamAssassin has to be generalized for everyone else. Also, SpamAssassin didn't do an IP Address lookup on all links the emails, which is what I wanted and has continued to be the most effective blocking tool I have.
Congress passes plenty of laws.
OK. I'll bite. I went to congress.gov and listed all the laws our current Congress (109th) has passed since they are passing plenty of laws. Man, it is a huge list - a whole 2 laws!
Law 109-1: To accelerate the income tax benefits for charitable cash contributions for the relief of victims of the Indian Ocean tsunami.
Law 109-2: A bill to amend the procedures that apply to consideration of interstate class actions to assure fairer outcomes for class members and defendants, and for other purposes.
I agree that Congress votes all the time. It seems that every time I buzz past CSpan, there's a vote going on. But, those votes are not for laws. They are for all kinds of other things that Congress likes to do.
Is Slashdot planning on ever fixing the flag? It's been missing a red stripe forever.
It is missing. It is purposely removed. Hadn't you noticed now anti-Delaware Slashdot is? They add a little anti-Delaware touch to all the logos so we, the faithful readers, get a little "Where's Waldo" search with every article.
I'm having a crappy day, so I'm being very cynical. Things like this are getting on my nerves. This bill in introduced. How many bills are introduced each day - about 50? How many get passed on average - about 0? How many phishers are going "Oh my God! There's a bill introduced to Congress that could punish me if it were ever passed but it won't be so it won't ever have any effect on me, therefore I should stop phishing!"
Call me when Congress actually passes a law that isn't immediately overturned by the Supreme Court.
This is the same guy who did the first trip around the world in a balloon. He didn't land or refuel that time. So, isn't this his second trip around the world without refuelling?
And even when companies like Samsung try to copy the Apple look
Before going neon to match the trendy VW Bugs, did you notice that Apple went thin and silver/white to mimic the Sony Vaio? All good ideas have been done. What's next, a lava-lamp computer case?
...our understanding of gravity, which has worked extremely well for us for hundreds of years...
Keep in mind that our understanding of gravity is that we have no clue what it is. However, our understanding of the effect of gravity has been working fine. The effect of gravity and gravity are two different things. It could very well be that there is absolutely no such thing as gravity and the effect of gravity is actually a side-effect multi-dimensional distortion, or subatomic radiation, or pure heavenly magic. That is why there is a 'theory of gravity' and a set of 'laws of the force of gravity'.
Arrgghh!!! I was, hum, misinformed... My cube farm is less interesting again... Please accept my apologies.
If it makes you feel any better... Nobody here has a Swingline at all. We have one communal Aceliner that never works. It is probably a hand-me-down from an important section (like human resources). But, how can I complain. Most of the buttons on the telephones work. The computers we've built from scavanged parts run at least faster than my old Commodore 64. And, my desk is just big enough to have a picture of my hedgehog on it. Is she leaning? Oh, no. It's me. I forgot that my chair leans about 20 degrees to the right.
Speaking of the red swingline stapler, yes, the one from the movie
It is the actual one from the movie? So it is blue again? While filming, the red paint kept coming off, so if it is in any actual use at all, I'd be suprised if there's much red left on it.
And it is vitally important to distinguish between these classes of phenomena for the purposes of... of.... ummm, why exactly?
Actions of humans that directly cause global warming are easy to see and easy to change. Actions of humans that indirectly cause global warming are harder to see and harder to change. You mention a reduction in the number of trees.
In the United States, most people have been trained to respond that it isn't their fault for the tree reduction, it is the evil paper companies.
Every study I've read on tree reduction involves Africa and South America. The cause is a high demand for livestock. So, if I listen to my American media and stop using paper in hopes of stopping off the paper companies, I'd still be indirectly causing tree reduction and indirectly causing global warming every time I got a Big Mac. The indirect cause is not obvious, so it is harder to stop.
If about scientists, i think the majority of scientists claim global warming is happening and it's likely to be caused by humans.
The phrase "caused by humans" is dangerous to use in this topic. It implies that global warming is directly caused by humans. However, many scientists believe that global warming is indirectly caused by humans. For instance, we eat a lof beef, so we raise a lot of cows. The cows fart and burp a lot - creating greenhouse gasses. Then we get global warming.
You are correct. As with most /. posts, I was being overly brief. Content is different for different businesses. A health club needs to make it quickly obvious what services they have and how to get to their club. Online sales need to get the products to the forefront. I used that in my last website design. I put the cart and products right up front and all the other 'useful but not necessary' stuff behind links.
The most important thing you need to realize about a website is the color scheme.
I think this should, at most, be second most important. The most important part of any website is the content. With a long history of web design, the most troubling issue is trying to get content out of the clients. They worry about color, logos, font size, on and on. After a year, all I can get is a pretty page that says "Content will go here when the client pulls their heads out of their asses."
Another problem is having print-advertisers involved in the design. In print advertising, it is very important to catch the browser's eye. Be it a bulletin board or magazine ad, you want to get attention. On the web, people don't walk or drive past random websites. They do some sort of action that makes a website appear. Once they type in a URL or click on a google link, they want content. They don't want a 15 minute flash intro that makes the advertising department all hot and wet. So, again, the top priority is content.
There is room for confusion on this topic. There is one scene that is well known to cause a stir in the purist's camp. It is commonly called the "Malkovich scene". It is not in any of the books, radio scripts, BBC shows... But, it was written by Douglas Adams. It was not written by some Hollywood hack to add another star in the movie. So, it is possible for someone to read an article where a producer claims "how can they complain when Douglas wrote that himself" and then think that the producer is referring to the whole movie.
I was being brief: the full game title is "Lemmings Revolution" by Take 2 Interactive. It has cure 3-D pictures on the back of the box, but you can't make the cute pointer move over to the 'start game' button when you start the game.
I bought one game from Take Two - Lemmings. It didn't work. After hours talking to support, they realized it was because I had a wheel-mouse. They said wheel-mice weren't popular in their offices, so they never tested them. After an exhausing Alta-Vista (pre-Google) search, I found that the game failed to work with many PS2 input devices and would also crash if a USB device was plugged into the computer. Since they refused to give a refund for an unplayable game (remember, in-store policy is if it is opened it can only be exchanged for THE SAME game), I won't buy anything from Take Two again.
Why not look at developing a fleet of Hubbles, each with perhaps a 2 year lifespan, and just keep launching them as the others break down?
If my USB cable were a tad longer, I'd be happy to send my webcam into orbit!