Can someone with an understanding of the US laws and legal system explain what exactly the crime was? Is producing and distributing porn really a crime for which you can get jail time in the USA?
You might want to start with a read through of Wikipedia's page on Larry Flynt. I think it's still the case that adult material isn't sold in certain states.
Note that the term obscene has a legal definition. IIRC, bestiality and golden showers, for example, are considered "obscene", whereas Janet Jackson's nipple is considered "indecedent".
My problem is the raw nausea induced... That is solely a side effect of the acetaminophen.
If that's true, then it's likely that folks who take (chew, inhale, inject, etc.) these drugs recreationally would benefit from the proposed changes. Not trying to funny, just making an observation.
We actually need a court precedent for deciding if adding a feature to your program is legal?
Like everything else, that would depend on what your program does and what laws apply, wouldn't it?
Say you're a convicted monopolist, and your program does... see where I'm going?
As regards this case, if a claim of tortious interference with contractual rights, violation of the Washington Consumer Protection Act, trade libel, and unjust enrichment can be made, then yes, you may need a court precedent.
That's not to say, however, that reasonable-sounding but legally-meaningless statements won't get you mod points on Slashdot.
Normally, I dismiss the idea of dieting or coerced exercise (gymns) as the wrong answers to what are fundamentally very simple questions, but the concepts behind a calorie restricted diet may be rooted in our physiological makeup.
At the very least, it might encourage the submitter to question and possibly re-evaluate how and what he eats.
If he needs to improve on a sedentary lifestyle (and job), then he'll have to take advantage of what time he does have. Becoming more active while at work and doing such things as walking, running up and down stairs, or even Yoga might work, but I wouldn't rely on those approaches as anything more than brief respites as most workplace environments aren't conducive to anything but work.
By contrast, walking or biking all or a portion of the way to work would be a no-brainer.
------------ 1. I have an excuse (honest!). Note that reading the article will spare you the estrogren-overloaded environment I experienced.
I just can't wrap my head around all this frivolous suing.
It's not that hard.
The underlying fact that has changed from the days of cassette tapes is that today we live in a mostly digital world. The ability to make perfect copies and distribute them on a scale unimagined just a few years ago changes all the rules. That's not to say, however, that cassettes or other analogue recordings weren't an issue way back when (recall the diatribes of Jack Valenti predicting the death of the movie industry and comparing VCRs to the Boston Strangler), just that those issues for the content industry have been upgraded from problematic to critical.
What hasn't changed, and what represents the ultimate challenge for the industry, is basic human nature. The behaviour you described (making copies and sharing them) is very much alive and well. Any effort to change that makes as much as sense as trying teach preschoolers, for example, that "sharing is good unless local laws state otherwise", and is doomed to fail. That's not to say we won't write even more laws and create even more "criminals" in the process.
The "fashion industry" (or rather what a bunch of homosexual men and weird women) promotes a form of female beauty that's largely at odds with the ideal as found throughout most of human history.
I think that's a reasonable assumption, but it wouldn't be correct. The fashion industry's main focus is the marketing of clothing, not people. If you consider a pleasantly cuvy woman with large breasts, for example, to represent an ideal in attractiveness, what is it you're paying attention to when you see an ad or a runway show? Is it the dress the model's wearing, or the model? You can't have Marilyn Monroe modelling anything but Marilyn Monroe.
Granted, ad campaigns frequently use "life style" marketing, so it's easy to come to the conclusion that what an ideal fashion model looks is the same as what their idea of what an ideal woman looks like (and hence, what they're promoting), but it's not the case. In fact, if you've ever met any professional models, you'd be shocked to see how much taller and thinner (and younger-looking) they are in person than what you see in a photograph. The fashion industry needs the equivalent of an exotic looking clothes hanger to market their wares, not ordinary people.
If being bomarded by images of women who appear "unnaturally thin" is affecting someone's self image, I'd suggest they put down the magazines and stop looking at them.
There's a scene in Pulp Fiction in which Bruce Willis' girlfriend is pondering the idea of a "pot belly" that I think sums up the issue here: "It's unfortunate what we find pleasing to the touch and pleasing to the eye are seldom the same." Why that isn't the case for black men is anyone's guess.;-)
There's also the well-publicised Fourth Category consisting of Windows shops that transitioned for entirely practical reasons.
When Munich is successful they will provide a wonderful example that it is possible and how to do it. Right now they provide a caution of the complexities.
I'd go farther and suggest they've been successful at every stage, and if there's any caution involved it's the careful analysis of the cost of "past sins".;-)
Whatever the conclusions thus far, it's probably one of the most important IT stories of our time.
The summary states "Windows has, until now, only been distributed on DVDs or via download" Calling BS , raise your hand if you remember windows on CD's, 3.5, or floppy... Windows has been distributed ion many methods.
this self-obsessed child molester with a surgery fetish
Well, that's one interpretation.
I prefer to think of him as someone who wants to be Dianna Ross (and to the extent possible, a whiter version of her).
As for the "child molester" epithet, don't think that's a bit over the top considering its inflammatory nature? Seems to me that invoking the power of the mass hysteria of children being sexually abused is disingenuous when applied to somone who with a prediliction to living his private life like a ten year boy while forming relationships with other ten year boys. That he lost his childhood somewhere along the way is obvious to everyone. The armchair version of Dr. Phil in me suggests that his relationships with children, which may seem grossly inappropriate to most rational adults, is innocent at best, and non-abusive at worst. Or do you have first hand knowledge that wasn't available to the courts?
Linux is bad because it contains all development tools which ordinary users don't need
I'd suggest that there's plenty of ordinary (as in "non administrators and non developers") users who use LaTeX and would marvel at discovering how easy it is to craft a simple makefile to automate building PDFs, for example, or how "make install" can be used to upload their hobby website to a webserver.
Come to think of it, that would be great subject for Ask Slashdot.
To offer a counter-example (or to rub it in), I have ATT residential DSL with 5 static IPs, free backup or primary DNS (with control over reverse), no PPPoE, and no caps or restrictions, all for about $70 per month.
Not being able to have any of the above, or worse, paying someone to provide some part of it, would seem absurd to me. Shelling out $200 (I assume that figure wasn't a typo on your part) for a similar setup I would characterise as a scam.
Just so that I'm not completely off-topic, yes I do use Spamhaus' DNSRBLs. No way I'll consider accepting email from people on residential connections.;-)
In my case, it made me comfortable with the command line, so I didn't have a conniption when I was presented with an MS-DOS prompt. This fact was quite useful when I started playing with djgpp and then actual Linux.
LOL.
If I was to make a generalised comment on the technical abilities of a young and bright individual asserting that "tech saviness" is the birthright of his generation, or someone who lived through the DOS years, I'd say that in my experience, it's that the latter who is typically more competent and adept.
The former, regrettably, often resembles a mime stuck in a make believe box. Instead of a box, it's usually a web browser.
Do you know how many species of trees are native to the more arid parts of California? The problem with most of Los Angeles, is exactly what you propose. A decades-long successful but misguided effort to cut down trees in order to save a few dollars in maintenance costs. Dunno about you, but the endless miles sun-bleached concrete and asphalt is hardly a hospitable environment, to say nothing of the problem with everyone needing an airconditioner to get through the summer because no one's thought to actually plant a frigging tree.
Seriously, you have a problem with trees? I'd suggest that if everyone started planting new ones and did so for the next decade, we (and our planet) would be better off.
Intel assets should not be used to spy on our own country.
What? And ruin the premises of many popular television programs? If we had nothing to watch but Dancing with the Stars, lame-assed pseudo reality shows, and similarly lame comedy, we'd have nothing to do. And what about films? Or white guys who like guns^H^H^H^H^H^H^H...conspiracy theory buffs?
Sounds to me like you want to weaken our government. If that happens, the terrorists win.
Thanks for the extra info. I think I will be buying a Kindle. That's not to say, of course, that I expect it to be a perfect solution for me, or for the newspaper industry.
Geez. The first time I've read anything informative on the subject. Between the promotions by Amazon and the trolls proclaiming that newspapers are dead, it's a refreshing change to see your post.
That said, I'm curious. The articles in the Washington Post (or any other newspaper you've seen on the Kindle), are they formatted in single or multi-columns? And the "front page" (if there is one), is it laid out similar to the respective web edition, or does the Kindle edition offer something unique?
Don't you know anything about IT? "Deny" automatically overrules "Allow"
LOL. Do you?
If so, maybe you can explain how the rules relevant to Windows' ACLs (which I assume you're referring to) define IT, generally, how those those rules are relevant to say, packet filtering, and then, how they apply to the Swedish legal system.
So that you don't feel like a complete ass, I'll offer the comment that in the context of women (specifically, the behaviour of the ones I've known), it would be correct to suggest that an inherited deny overrides an inherited allow permission unless overridden by an explicit allow, but if you asked her, she'd insist that it's always the last matching rule that wins.
Interesting reading. I'm rather surprised at the reaction you got given that what you were doing is little different than what any responsible breeder would do with respect to other traits. Breeding (horses, cats, dogs, pigs, plants or whatever) is by definition "playing with nature", isn't it?
Also, as a practical matter while Iranian leadership seems to be oppressive and such, they aren't insane. I'm sure they full and well understand what the US response to a nuclear attack would be, and nobody wants to be the ruler of a glass parking lot.
As a practical matter, if there's a confrontation over Iran possessing nuclear capabilities (of any sort), it'll probably be the Israelis who will feel compelled to act. The rest of us will get to sit back and feign a lack of responsibility until, of course we have to deal with the mess.
As a side note, I'd suggest quoting Thomas Jefferson in a post about Iran is somewhere between inappropriate and offensive. Recall that we had the CIA overthrow their democratically elected government. Their take on those words would be that it is we who are the tyrant, and they're still fighting for liberty from us, and by extension, patriotism requires not only resistance against us, but resistance against a nuclear armed Israel.
Before Iran had an Islamic theocracy, Iran had a brutal (but pro-US) right-wing dictator, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. Iran had 2,500 years of monarchy before the Islamic revolution in 1979. Iran has never had anything like a democracy.
Allow to me to fix that.
Prior to having an Islamic theocracy, Iran had a democratically elected government.
Semantics, or a matter of opinion? Perhaps, but I'd think it's undeniable that a history changing event like a CIA organised coup would have long lasting effects. Even for the side with the short attention span.
What they type all day is English. What you're trying to get them to do is type in some weird computer-ese language that they don't understand.
Sigh.
Yes, what they type all day is indeed English (or their native language), but what they use their mouse for (the point of my post) is to click on menus, toolbars and radio buttons in configuration screens that are written in exactly that "weird computer-ese language" you're referring to.
Now that we both know what we're talking about, how about addressing the actual points I made, namely that interpreting instructions for the mouse are typically more difficult than "text mode" instructions, an exclusive reliance on the mouse-only method yields few (if any) benefits in the long term, and that the objections for using "text mode" are rarely valid, but the product of conditioning.
For anyone with similar knee-jerk reactions to my comments, allow me to remind you that middle-aged secretaries in the DOS era (and elsewhere then and today) had zero problems with... wait for it... typing.
Imagine that. Those secretaries were no less intellectually disinterested, technologically averse or lazy than anyone today. The difference is that there existed a general expectation you had at least the basic skills to use a computer. If that's too much too ask of anyone today, then by all means, ignore everything I wrote and continuing championing computer illiteracy. Hell, I'll start for you.
You don't need to understand anything. Computers are simple things. Consider your computer as you would a toaster or any other appliance. Just click the button that says "Yes". Grandma can't type 'patch' unless she's writing a Word document about sewing.
I had a chuckle at the "manually edit" part, as well.
The fact is, editing by its vary nature is manual, so the modifier is redundant. The shopping list or letter to grandma in Word, or the one-liner email in Gmail are all manually written and manually edited. The only way the process could be automated is if you designed a mechanical robot to press keys on the keyboard for you.
But if you can build, assemble and program a robot, why not just write a program that can find differences between files, and then write another program to apply those differences? Oh, wait...
Which brings me to the instructions on the blog. Reading those, like reading most all Microsoft documentation, is an exercise in frustration, both for the novice user and the expert. The novice user has to faithfully execute a large number of steps and if successful, won't understand what was done. The expert has trouble understanding what needs to be done because of the verbiage describing all the steps.
So if "manually edit" is taken to mean "You can't do this with a mouse alone", then I guess the only conclusion is that editing is indeed Hard(TM). However, I'd suggest that for those jobs where a mouse is appropriate, the mouse may seem easy, but trying to interpret a few hundred words of detailed instructions (or, alternatively, multiple pages of screenshots) never is. And to the extent it is, you've learned nothing.
At least windows is starting to be a real OS with the typing and such.
To which the Windows user responds:
I use Windows because I need Microsoft Office. Never mind that I type and edit all day, editing a configuration file or typing
patch < patchfile
is impossible for me, and contradicts everything I've learned.
Slashdot Mirror
Can someone with an understanding of the US laws and legal system explain what exactly the crime was? Is producing and distributing porn really a crime for which you can get jail time in the USA?
You might want to start with a read through of Wikipedia's page on Larry Flynt. I think it's still the case that adult material isn't sold in certain states.
Note that the term obscene has a legal definition. IIRC, bestiality and golden showers, for example, are considered "obscene", whereas Janet Jackson's nipple is considered "indecedent".
My problem is the raw nausea induced ... That is solely a side effect of the acetaminophen.
If that's true, then it's likely that folks who take (chew, inhale, inject, etc.) these drugs recreationally would benefit from the proposed changes. Not trying to funny, just making an observation.
We actually need a court precedent for deciding if adding a feature to your program is legal?
Like everything else, that would depend on what your program does and what laws apply, wouldn't it?
Say you're a convicted monopolist, and your program does ... see where I'm going?
As regards this case, if a claim of tortious interference with contractual rights, violation of the Washington Consumer Protection Act, trade libel, and unjust enrichment can be made, then yes, you may need a court precedent.
That's not to say, however, that reasonable-sounding but legally-meaningless statements won't get you mod points on Slashdot.
This is going to be a first[1] ...
Calorie Restriction Diet
Normally, I dismiss the idea of dieting or coerced exercise (gymns) as the wrong answers to what are fundamentally very simple questions, but the concepts behind a calorie restricted diet may be rooted in our physiological makeup.
At the very least, it might encourage the submitter to question and possibly re-evaluate how and what he eats.
If he needs to improve on a sedentary lifestyle (and job), then he'll have to take advantage of what time he does have. Becoming more active while at work and doing such things as walking, running up and down stairs, or even Yoga might work, but I wouldn't rely on those approaches as anything more than brief respites as most workplace environments aren't conducive to anything but work.
By contrast, walking or biking all or a portion of the way to work would be a no-brainer.
------------
1. I have an excuse (honest!). Note that reading the article will spare you the estrogren-overloaded environment I experienced.
I just can't wrap my head around all this frivolous suing.
It's not that hard.
The underlying fact that has changed from the days of cassette tapes is that today we live in a mostly digital world. The ability to make perfect copies and distribute them on a scale unimagined just a few years ago changes all the rules. That's not to say, however, that cassettes or other analogue recordings weren't an issue way back when (recall the diatribes of Jack Valenti predicting the death of the movie industry and comparing VCRs to the Boston Strangler), just that those issues for the content industry have been upgraded from problematic to critical.
What hasn't changed, and what represents the ultimate challenge for the industry, is basic human nature. The behaviour you described (making copies and sharing them) is very much alive and well. Any effort to change that makes as much as sense as trying teach preschoolers, for example, that "sharing is good unless local laws state otherwise", and is doomed to fail. That's not to say we won't write even more laws and create even more "criminals" in the process.
The "fashion industry" (or rather what a bunch of homosexual men and weird women) promotes a form of female beauty that's largely at odds with the ideal as found throughout most of human history.
I think that's a reasonable assumption, but it wouldn't be correct. The fashion industry's main focus is the marketing of clothing, not people. If you consider a pleasantly cuvy woman with large breasts, for example, to represent an ideal in attractiveness, what is it you're paying attention to when you see an ad or a runway show? Is it the dress the model's wearing, or the model? You can't have Marilyn Monroe modelling anything but Marilyn Monroe.
Granted, ad campaigns frequently use "life style" marketing, so it's easy to come to the conclusion that what an ideal fashion model looks is the same as what their idea of what an ideal woman looks like (and hence, what they're promoting), but it's not the case. In fact, if you've ever met any professional models, you'd be shocked to see how much taller and thinner (and younger-looking) they are in person than what you see in a photograph. The fashion industry needs the equivalent of an exotic looking clothes hanger to market their wares, not ordinary people.
If being bomarded by images of women who appear "unnaturally thin" is affecting someone's self image, I'd suggest they put down the magazines and stop looking at them.
There's a scene in Pulp Fiction in which Bruce Willis' girlfriend is pondering the idea of a "pot belly" that I think sums up the issue here: "It's unfortunate what we find pleasing to the touch and pleasing to the eye are seldom the same." Why that isn't the case for black men is anyone's guess. ;-)
There's also the well-publicised Fourth Category consisting of Windows shops that transitioned for entirely practical reasons.
When Munich is successful they will provide a wonderful example that it is possible and how to do it. Right now they provide a caution of the complexities.
I'd go farther and suggest they've been successful at every stage, and if there's any caution involved it's the careful analysis of the cost of "past sins". ;-)
Whatever the conclusions thus far, it's probably one of the most important IT stories of our time.
The summary states "Windows has, until now, only been distributed on DVDs or via download" Calling BS , raise your hand if you remember windows on CD's, 3.5, or floppy... Windows has been distributed ion many methods.
IIRC, MS Office was offered on floppies as well.
this self-obsessed child molester with a surgery fetish
Well, that's one interpretation.
I prefer to think of him as someone who wants to be Dianna Ross (and to the extent possible, a whiter version of her).
As for the "child molester" epithet, don't think that's a bit over the top considering its inflammatory nature? Seems to me that invoking the power of the mass hysteria of children being sexually abused is disingenuous when applied to somone who with a prediliction to living his private life like a ten year boy while forming relationships with other ten year boys. That he lost his childhood somewhere along the way is obvious to everyone. The armchair version of Dr. Phil in me suggests that his relationships with children, which may seem grossly inappropriate to most rational adults, is innocent at best, and non-abusive at worst. Or do you have first hand knowledge that wasn't available to the courts?
[... gallons ...quarts ... pints ... cups ... ounces ...] Bonus points if you learn to cook... chicks dig guys who can cook, right?
By the looks of your measurements, I'd guess you were brewing beer. ;-)
But yes, chicks dig guys who can cook. That benefit, however, is nullified when you meet a girl that can't.
Linux is bad because it contains all development tools which ordinary users don't need
I'd suggest that there's plenty of ordinary (as in "non administrators and non developers") users who use LaTeX and would marvel at discovering how easy it is to craft a simple makefile to automate building PDFs, for example, or how "make install" can be used to upload their hobby website to a webserver.
Come to think of it, that would be great subject for Ask Slashdot.
Seems like you've got a bum deal.
To offer a counter-example (or to rub it in), I have ATT residential DSL with 5 static IPs, free backup or primary DNS (with control over reverse), no PPPoE, and no caps or restrictions, all for about $70 per month.
Not being able to have any of the above, or worse, paying someone to provide some part of it, would seem absurd to me. Shelling out $200 (I assume that figure wasn't a typo on your part) for a similar setup I would characterise as a scam.
Just so that I'm not completely off-topic, yes I do use Spamhaus' DNSRBLs. No way I'll consider accepting email from people on residential connections. ;-)
In my case, it made me comfortable with the command line, so I didn't have a conniption when I was presented with an MS-DOS prompt. This fact was quite useful when I started playing with djgpp and then actual Linux.
LOL.
If I was to make a generalised comment on the technical abilities of a young and bright individual asserting that "tech saviness" is the birthright of his generation, or someone who lived through the DOS years, I'd say that in my experience, it's that the latter who is typically more competent and adept.
The former, regrettably, often resembles a mime stuck in a make believe box. Instead of a box, it's usually a web browser.
I don't know where to begin.
Do you know how many species of trees are native to the more arid parts of California? The problem with most of Los Angeles, is exactly what you propose. A decades-long successful but misguided effort to cut down trees in order to save a few dollars in maintenance costs. Dunno about you, but the endless miles sun-bleached concrete and asphalt is hardly a hospitable environment, to say nothing of the problem with everyone needing an airconditioner to get through the summer because no one's thought to actually plant a frigging tree.
Seriously, you have a problem with trees? I'd suggest that if everyone started planting new ones and did so for the next decade, we (and our planet) would be better off.
Intel assets should not be used to spy on our own country.
What? And ruin the premises of many popular television programs? If we had nothing to watch but Dancing with the Stars, lame-assed pseudo reality shows, and similarly lame comedy, we'd have nothing to do. And what about films? Or white guys who like guns^H^H^H^H^H^H^H...conspiracy theory buffs?
Sounds to me like you want to weaken our government. If that happens, the terrorists win.
Thanks for the extra info. I think I will be buying a Kindle. That's not to say, of course, that I expect it to be a perfect solution for me, or for the newspaper industry.
Some information for informed discussion: ...
Geez. The first time I've read anything informative on the subject. Between the promotions by Amazon and the trolls proclaiming that newspapers are dead, it's a refreshing change to see your post.
That said, I'm curious. The articles in the Washington Post (or any other newspaper you've seen on the Kindle), are they formatted in single or multi-columns? And the "front page" (if there is one), is it laid out similar to the respective web edition, or does the Kindle edition offer something unique?
Don't you know anything about IT? "Deny" automatically overrules "Allow"
LOL. Do you?
If so, maybe you can explain how the rules relevant to Windows' ACLs (which I assume you're referring to) define IT, generally, how those those rules are relevant to say, packet filtering, and then, how they apply to the Swedish legal system.
So that you don't feel like a complete ass, I'll offer the comment that in the context of women (specifically, the behaviour of the ones I've known), it would be correct to suggest that an inherited deny overrides an inherited allow permission unless overridden by an explicit allow, but if you asked her, she'd insist that it's always the last matching rule that wins.
Interesting reading. I'm rather surprised at the reaction you got given that what you were doing is little different than what any responsible breeder would do with respect to other traits. Breeding (horses, cats, dogs, pigs, plants or whatever) is by definition "playing with nature", isn't it?
My guess it's a horse thing.
Also, as a practical matter while Iranian leadership seems to be oppressive and such, they aren't insane. I'm sure they full and well understand what the US response to a nuclear attack would be, and nobody wants to be the ruler of a glass parking lot.
As a practical matter, if there's a confrontation over Iran possessing nuclear capabilities (of any sort), it'll probably be the Israelis who will feel compelled to act. The rest of us will get to sit back and feign a lack of responsibility until, of course we have to deal with the mess.
As a side note, I'd suggest quoting Thomas Jefferson in a post about Iran is somewhere between inappropriate and offensive. Recall that we had the CIA overthrow their democratically elected government. Their take on those words would be that it is we who are the tyrant, and they're still fighting for liberty from us, and by extension, patriotism requires not only resistance against us, but resistance against a nuclear armed Israel.
Before Iran had an Islamic theocracy, Iran had a brutal (but pro-US) right-wing dictator, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. Iran had 2,500 years of monarchy before the Islamic revolution in 1979. Iran has never had anything like a democracy.
Allow to me to fix that.
Prior to having an Islamic theocracy, Iran had a democratically elected government.
Semantics, or a matter of opinion? Perhaps, but I'd think it's undeniable that a history changing event like a CIA organised coup would have long lasting effects. Even for the side with the short attention span.
What they type all day is English. What you're trying to get them to do is type in some weird computer-ese language that they don't understand.
Sigh.
Yes, what they type all day is indeed English (or their native language), but what they use their mouse for (the point of my post) is to click on menus, toolbars and radio buttons in configuration screens that are written in exactly that "weird computer-ese language" you're referring to.
Now that we both know what we're talking about, how about addressing the actual points I made, namely that interpreting instructions for the mouse are typically more difficult than "text mode" instructions, an exclusive reliance on the mouse-only method yields few (if any) benefits in the long term, and that the objections for using "text mode" are rarely valid, but the product of conditioning.
For anyone with similar knee-jerk reactions to my comments, allow me to remind you that middle-aged secretaries in the DOS era (and elsewhere then and today) had zero problems with ... wait for it ... typing.
Imagine that. Those secretaries were no less intellectually disinterested, technologically averse or lazy than anyone today. The difference is that there existed a general expectation you had at least the basic skills to use a computer. If that's too much too ask of anyone today, then by all means, ignore everything I wrote and continuing championing computer illiteracy. Hell, I'll start for you.
You don't need to understand anything.
Computers are simple things.
Consider your computer as you would a toaster or any other appliance.
Just click the button that says "Yes".
Grandma can't type 'patch' unless she's writing a Word document about sewing.
I had a chuckle at the "manually edit" part, as well.
The fact is, editing by its vary nature is manual, so the modifier is redundant. The shopping list or letter to grandma in Word, or the one-liner email in Gmail are all manually written and manually edited. The only way the process could be automated is if you designed a mechanical robot to press keys on the keyboard for you.
But if you can build, assemble and program a robot, why not just write a program that can find differences between files, and then write another program to apply those differences? Oh, wait ...
Which brings me to the instructions on the blog. Reading those, like reading most all Microsoft documentation, is an exercise in frustration, both for the novice user and the expert. The novice user has to faithfully execute a large number of steps and if successful, won't understand what was done. The expert has trouble understanding what needs to be done because of the verbiage describing all the steps.
So if "manually edit" is taken to mean "You can't do this with a mouse alone", then I guess the only conclusion is that editing is indeed Hard(TM). However, I'd suggest that for those jobs where a mouse is appropriate, the mouse may seem easy, but trying to interpret a few hundred words of detailed instructions (or, alternatively, multiple pages of screenshots) never is. And to the extent it is, you've learned nothing.
At least windows is starting to be a real OS with the typing and such.
To which the Windows user responds:
I use Windows because I need Microsoft Office. Never mind that I type and edit all day, editing a configuration file or typing
is impossible for me, and contradicts everything I've learned.
Or possibly the sound of someone mumbling something about lotion.
Is it any wonder the general public doesn't take science seriously nowadays?
They will as soon as someone makes the movie.