Well yes,
but on the other hand I do share many of my great insights on slashdot for free. Well, to be precise, I did so far. Because, since you find me so insightful, funny, and interesting to still read on, you hopefully do understand that you owe me $4 for reading this comment.
If terrorists in Muslim garb try to attack the US of A on the Internets, should there be an Internet Kill Switch that prevents them from taking over our homeland and controlling your electricity and water supply?
In the unlikely case that you and your militia buddies try to stop government from establishing total control, should the Central government have a very easy way of cutting all lines of communication?
Whether something is down to incompetence, evil or conspiracy is a question of motive. Whether something is discriminatory is a question of result. Someone can discriminate because they are prejudiced, but they can also discriminate through a mistake if they don't realise that something will indirectly create a barrier to entry for a certain group. Equally, in this case the UI error could be a mistake or it could be a matter of evil or conspiracy, but the result of an action can't affect the motive for it.
Agree, if you look at individuals. One can't assign an evil motive to mistakes or plain sloppiness.
I don't agree if you look at it on a system level. There you can assign a motive.
Example: TV news censorship. There might not be an individual reporter deciding to suppress certain news, but the system is setup, so certain news "sell" and certain news don't make it. If this benefits a group that doesn't want some of the news reported (and finances TV stations), than I don't think one should simply describe this as "lucky coincidence".
Basically, a group can act as if there were a single person with a motive behind it, even if all of the group members just act without their intentions being clear to themselves. In these cases I would say that the group has a motive. The motive is an (emerging) property of the group.
Wasn't he behind the creation of the VW Beelte, though?
To some degree. They advertised kind of a layaway system where poor people could save up for the "people's car" (Volkswagen) but then used the money to build other vehicles...
Not evil or a conspiracy or anything but a UI error that really isn't that terrible
If incompetence and sloppy design work in your favor it is exactly that: "evil or a conspiracy".
That's how most gender or minority discrimination usually works.
Incompetence and a attitude of not-thinking/ not-caring is what protects the status quo. I've seen it in job applications - and also your defense "just a mistake".
Come on!
Your slippery slope argument does't work. HItler never owned a minivan.
(Sure he wanted to, but he was afraid it would make him look gay, so he invaded Poland instead.)
And it is frustrating from the user's point of view as well.
Just imagine getting a cab to the airport. Once you're in, the driver tells you that the road to the train depot is much faster and nicer. Sure. you didn't get what you wanted, you got something much better instead, and if you learn about train schedule you might be thankful later.
I don't buy Kiss merchandise because I'm concerned he's so far over the edge he'll use the money to try and get draconian revenge,
Following that argument it would be really unethical to buy a Kiss CD. Good thing you never liked Kiss to begin with. Otherwise, if you really wanted to listen to Kiss, you would have very few options:
Surpress your passion for music and suffer.
-But you know it's for a good cause. Great, the suffering will be a sign that you're doing the right thing. (As long as you're Catholic or Jewish.)
Copy the music illegally. Great, you break the law for a reason, fight the system. (And also save some money while doing it.)
Buy only used CDs on yard sales and flea markets. Great, you beat the system, you crafty anti-capitalist. (And support pop-culture addicted teens so they can buy more stuff)
It's not necessarily the lack of education that makes people dumb, it's not questioning one's own stand on things.
In my experience people with some college education but no brain are much worse than someone without college who goes through life with their eyes open instead.
Some people outside college I talked to would preface their opinion with "not that I know much about it" and also question my assumptions. Some students on the other hand -especially those who'd never seen anything else but school and college- just know everything.
My ideal politician of course would be someone well educated who also experienced what she is talking about.
Enough people are worried already about Google knowing to much. For Google, it really wouldn't help to get tainted by a cooperation with Zuckerberg, the poster-child of give-a-damn about privacy.
Microsoft's business strategy "be evil" seems a much better fit for Facebook.
Sorry I forgot, Slashdot only likes individual rights when the individual is an underdog. Fuck the right to choose not to do business with someone you don't approve of, am I right Slashdot?
Corporations aren't people. No matter what your supreme court tells you.
Oh yes, it absolutely did. Sun proved to be a major hinderance to the development process
Sun and the "clique"-culture around it.
I had to edit an article for a book project and one requirement was to have the per-article footnotes at the end of the book (but numbered and separated per article). Word can do that, StarOffice/OpenOffice can't.
On the StarOffice forum I got attacked for claiming, that there is something StarOffice can't do, and then ridiculed as someone, who apparently can't use footnotes the correct way. -Needless to say, we switched back to Word.
And that is at a university. - The place where OpenOffice could easily gain popularity.
Hopefully this changes with the wider base in LibreOffice. More support for their slow Bibliography group and some emphases on optional "expert"-things (irony-quotes), and they could become the standard Office suite at universities.
Slashdot Mirror
Well yes,
but on the other hand I do share many of my great insights on slashdot for free. Well, to be precise, I did so far. Because, since you find me so insightful, funny, and interesting to still read on, you hopefully do understand that you owe me $4 for reading this comment.
JoyofTech had a convincing list of reasons the last time: http://www.geekculture.com/joyoftech/joyarchives/1422.html
and their privacy to be invaded.
So someone can read my profile and find out that I'am a 12yo girl, who really, really likes Ponies??
Whether something is down to incompetence, evil or conspiracy is a question of motive. Whether something is discriminatory is a question of result. Someone can discriminate because they are prejudiced, but they can also discriminate through a mistake if they don't realise that something will indirectly create a barrier to entry for a certain group. Equally, in this case the UI error could be a mistake or it could be a matter of evil or conspiracy, but the result of an action can't affect the motive for it.
Agree, if you look at individuals. One can't assign an evil motive to mistakes or plain sloppiness.
I don't agree if you look at it on a system level. There you can assign a motive.
Example: TV news censorship. There might not be an individual reporter deciding to suppress certain news, but the system is setup, so certain news "sell" and certain news don't make it. If this benefits a group that doesn't want some of the news reported (and finances TV stations), than I don't think one should simply describe this as "lucky coincidence".
Basically, a group can act as if there were a single person with a motive behind it, even if all of the group members just act without their intentions being clear to themselves. In these cases I would say that the group has a motive. The motive is an (emerging) property of the group.
Wasn't he behind the creation of the VW Beelte, though?
To some degree. They advertised kind of a layaway system where poor people could save up for the "people's car" (Volkswagen) but then used the money to build other vehicles ...
And Eastern Germany had five parties to choose from.
Not evil or a conspiracy or anything but a UI error that really isn't that terrible
If incompetence and sloppy design work in your favor it is exactly that: "evil or a conspiracy".
That's how most gender or minority discrimination usually works. Incompetence and a attitude of not-thinking/ not-caring is what protects the status quo. I've seen it in job applications - and also your defense "just a mistake".
Someone, who obviously must have sniffed out my wireless cookies. -Shame on them.
CmdrTaco has managed to pass for Human for several years now.
Come on! Your slippery slope argument does't work. HItler never owned a minivan. (Sure he wanted to, but he was afraid it would make him look gay, so he invaded Poland instead.)
Long haired Blondes coming out of the pool have a similar method of drying their hair.
They could have just studied this.
-But then again, for physicists wet dogs are probably easier to acquire.
Never mind then.
materials found in the wilderness of New Jersey
The keyword here is New Jersey
You could probably build a nuclear reactor out of "materials found in the wilderness of New Jersey".
Just imagine getting a cab to the airport. Once you're in, the driver tells you that the road to the train depot is much faster and nicer.
Sure. you didn't get what you wanted, you got something much better instead, and if you learn about train schedule you might be thankful later.
But now it turns out the date was off! Great news! Finally news anchors have a real story to report.
I don't buy Kiss merchandise because I'm concerned he's so far over the edge he'll use the money to try and get draconian revenge,
Following that argument it would be really unethical to buy a Kiss CD. Good thing you never liked Kiss to begin with. Otherwise, if you really wanted to listen to Kiss, you would have very few options:
Great, the suffering will be a sign that you're doing the right thing. (As long as you're Catholic or Jewish.)
Great, you break the law for a reason, fight the system. (And also save some money while doing it.)
Great, you beat the system, you crafty anti-capitalist. (And support pop-culture addicted teens so they can buy more stuff)
The bullshit artists are the ones that want you to believe all ailments are cured by chiropractic practice, which the parent seems to be.
Gosh, you are tense. You should come in for a treatment.
It's not necessarily the lack of education that makes people dumb, it's not questioning one's own stand on things.
In my experience people with some college education but no brain are much worse than someone without college who goes through life with their eyes open instead.
Some people outside college I talked to would preface their opinion with "not that I know much about it" and also question my assumptions. Some students on the other hand -especially those who'd never seen anything else but school and college- just know everything.
My ideal politician of course would be someone well educated who also experienced what she is talking about.
We're going to declare Justin Bieber a toxic substance.
Don't encourage him. - Or he'll drive 11year old girls even more crazy.
larger tunnels are all woman made
Linda recommends Powermax personal massager
Thanks Bing, but no thanks.
Microsoft's business strategy "be evil" seems a much better fit for Facebook.
Sorry I forgot, Slashdot only likes individual rights when the individual is an underdog. Fuck the right to choose not to do business with someone you don't approve of, am I right Slashdot?
Corporations aren't people. No matter what your supreme court tells you.
Me too, but I really like seeing things around me in 3d.
Oh yes, it absolutely did. Sun proved to be a major hinderance to the development process
Sun and the "clique"-culture around it.
I had to edit an article for a book project and one requirement was to have the per-article footnotes at the end of the book (but numbered and separated per article). Word can do that, StarOffice/OpenOffice can't.
On the StarOffice forum I got attacked for claiming, that there is something StarOffice can't do, and then ridiculed as someone, who apparently can't use footnotes the correct way. -Needless to say, we switched back to Word.
And that is at a university. - The place where OpenOffice could easily gain popularity.
Hopefully this changes with the wider base in LibreOffice. More support for their slow Bibliography group and some emphases on optional "expert"-things (irony-quotes), and they could become the standard Office suite at universities.