Though in the true vein of Slashdot I would have used a car analogy thusly:
If your buddy say commits a crime, like stealing a car. Then you, knowing it is stolen drive it around. Guess what you are an accessory. You will be charged with a crime if found out, particularly if you publicize the fact of exactly what you are doing. Say you don't even know the guy who stole the car, or that the car was even stolen, and it is found out, you are going to lose the car, and too bad for you that you didn't know it was stolen.
So no the guy didn't murder and chop up someone and film it (which presumably is many serious crimes). He just posted the film online for all to see. I would see this also as a crime (abet a lesser one of course), and punishable. Yes I am Canadian.
Yes I would agree that this is a slippery slope that needs be carefully applied, but in this case I think personally I would agree.
That said I have never even heard of the law "Corrupting Morals" which does sound rather dubious and perhaps arbitrary. Hopefully it is a well defined and strictly applied law. You would think there would be other more pertinent laws he could have been charged with, so I am not sure why they may have picked this obscure one (or perhaps it is just obscure as it is hardly ever used, as it is very defined and limited use)?
Sounds very similar to the telemarketing Do Not Call List.
Same problems likely. Too many loopholes. No enforcement.
However it is a step in the right direction. Seems every now and again they might try and make an example of the very worst to make it look like they are actually doing anything about it.
Anyway got to start somewhere I suppose, even if useless and toothless. Typically this kind of legislation is setup to get at the worst offenders, while allowing a lot a pass for economic reasons mostly. Even if it isn't initially enforced, the law is in place that will allow it to be should the public make a big enough fuss about it politically.
Just like a minicomputer, wasn't really all that "mini" but in comparison to normal room sized computers they were.
Just like the Microcomputer, isn't all that micro considering things like ultrabooks, or ITX, or even things like tablets or phones.
Heck I have seen some "portable" computers that were more like a full ATX case, with a handle and a low resolution 6" screen tacked on the end with a full sized keyboard attacked. "Luggable" maybe.
I would deduce that currently it is "Very Large" compared to most of its compatriots hence the moniker.
I guess I mean, I get like 100, 500 being a round number or 1000. But 700? Just seems odd to me.
To my mind someone did a very useless statistical calculation, got a number like every 723.7654358 years, said 700, and called it a day.
The point being if it really was a round number say 1000 years, one could make a reasonable interpretation of accuracy (which would be very little). By saying 700 they seem to be trying to give it more credibility than it is worth, which I call BS.
A lot of time particularly statistics, data is all about how you present it (or frame it), which makes this smell pretty fishy to me. As in intentionally misleading. That said, half the time somebody did the calculation and reporting correctly, and some journalist, policy peon, or management spin doctor, who either doesn't know, or is willfully ignorant due to some agenda or another just puts whatever they like.
700 years seems oddly specific. I wonder how that was worked out. It isn't like we have any real reliable date past say 100 years for example. How are they extrapolating 700 years statistically?
My Dad simply used a small tree with about a 2-2.5 inch diameter as we walked along a forest path. 12 Gauge cut it half at close range. Certainly put the correct amount of fear in me about pointing the thing at anything but the ground and never loaded without cause.
I am sorry, but why are we using terms like this here? Unless this is just an ad... Saying something has a plastic case probably doesn't sound as good as a "durable polycarbonate body"... Obvious and stupid.
Anyway, the only problem I see with a 6.3 inch smart phone is this:
The only problem with the S3 and it's 4.7 inch screen, or likely the S4 and it's 5 inch screen is the battery. No matter how you slice it, back lighting and running a screen that big chows down on battery life. One of the only gripes I have with my S3, is that if you actually use it, the battery life is pretty terrible as that screen sucks down all the battery energy in no time flat. Unless they have come up with some super low powered screen, or some transcending battery technology that somehow solves this issue (which I truly doubt they have), you are inherently building a flawed device from day 1. Enjoy your 6 inch cellphone that has a battery life of 2 hours.
1) 655 is a small statistical sample for the claims they are making. Perhaps they should have taken some statistics prior to their Journalism degree. 2) See #1 3) Prerequisites. I can go take a 300 level English literature course if I like. I cannot take an advanced mathematics course without the foundation. 4) Many Universities require a broad spectrum of 1st year courses to be taken, including math and science as sometimes mandatory. 5) Many non-math or non-science degrees may have math or science requirements that need (or wish) to be taken (2). 6) Many students may have noticed that other degrees might have better job prospects. I know many hard science grads not employed in their field of study for one reason or another. 7) Teachers. Required to take so many teachable credits, however actual degree in field may not be required to graduate.
I could probably go on. Suffice it to say that much depends on the data, how it was collected, how they defined "Math" and "Science" etc...
Anyway explaining away everything as simple "MATH HARD, SCIENCE HURT HEAD. HERP DERP!" is seemingly about as intelligent as that sounds.
I think many might argue that many of those achievements might be made a bit easier having a governor/president/ex-president as a father, and having access to political connections from day one, and having oodles and oodles of money, and privilege .
Anyway I am not saying for sure that this is the case, only that it is a real possibility.
His resume also says he was into the booze and coke a bit, and ran a couple oil companies he was put in change into the ground prior to running for political office.
Whatever you say you cannot say he wasn't born with a silver spoon in his mouth and afforded every possible opportunity and advantage provided for him.
If very well could be that he did everything he did on his own with nothing but his maverick gumption and grit of personality, worked hard and achieved, and had to live with the stigma of getting everything being handed to him on a silver platter, despite winning his own battles. I would just it just isn't very likely.
Lev Andropov: It's stuck, yes? Watts: Back off! You don't know the components! Lev Andropov: [annoyed] Components. American components, Russian Components, ALL MADE IN TAIWAN!
I had to set my parents up on Windows 8 a few weeks back when we bought my dad a new ultrabook (and your OS choices are pretty much, Windows 8).
Anyway It required registration to a MS account using an email address. So I enter my parents ISP email address as that is their primary.
Windows 8 doesn't like it. Refuses to register. Stuck. Had to use a Gmail webmail account that they had, which they don't really use, nor do they even remember the password to. Windows 8 took that. A webmail account over an ISP dedicated...
Anyway if I had the time, I am sure I could probably fined the issue online or something, but seriously. You buy a 1000$ computer with a new Windows 8 operating system and the first thing it does is prohibit you from actually using it.
Agreed. As someone who had to pay $5K to get a dental implant because I a) didn't want dentures when I was in my twenties, or b) destroy two perfectly good teeth to make a bridge.
I mean literally Canada has "Please not in the face!" as a thing. Considering Hockey, insane. I know a ton of people who have lost teeth in hockey. Anyway, I think it is *kinda* insane where someone could take a baseball bat to your knee, and you can get it fixed, no problem for free, but if you take it in the gob you're fucked.
Also if you are not going to pay for my prescriptions, don't fuck around with what ones I am *allowed* to buy from one province to another... As there are cases where because one might live in one VS another, a cheaper generic is available, or one with less side effects, etc...
Anyway in short, Canada's healthcare is far from perfect, however it is about 1000% better than what the US has (not level of care, but how it is offered, and certainly how expensive it is).
I am quite surprised I haven't seen anyone mention microfiche/microfilm yet.
It is still a currently accepted archival "technology" used to store countless hard copy records, by institutions that have to A) store tons of records, and B) store them for a very long time.
I wouldn't call it inexpensive, but it isn't all that expensive either considering alternatives. However you usually do large batch jobs, so you might only want to do a run every year or every 3, or 5 years.
The added bonus to being somewhat reasonable to catalog and search, being reasonably inexpensive, and having a long lifespan is the fact that as my air quote indicated earlier, the technology has been around for a very long time. The formats are mature, the readers are easy to come by and mature. Also if you are looking at OCR and keeping digital copies, it is much much easier to either hire out to a firm, or buy a scanner, that takes fiche in a hopper, or even easier film on a spool, and can quickly and automatedly go through your collection and record them into digital format. Depending on volume and document, however that is where you may run into some costs surprisingly, the storage and organization of the digital files.... (particularly if you want to host them someplace).
Anyway if you want a permanent hard copy, doing a microfiche/microfilm run every say 5 years and getting rid of your paper is a good idea.
Consider Zynga's business strategy is essentially:
1) Ripoff another companies's game 2) ??? 3) PROFIT!!!
I can't see how Don't views on DRM will be widely embraced in a place that respects IP even less than your typical pirate. At least a pirate is usually just using personally, and not for financial gain!
When the employer plays Unions against one another.
Recently had a couple of instances where I thought the hiring practices weren't exactly fair.
Problem: Positions were with a different union. Your union doesn't care, won't help as they don't want to lose a member to another union, the position union doesn't care as you are not a member. Result: Employer does whatever they want with no recourse (short of just ditching career and looking for employment elsewhere, or just sucking it up bitterly).
I am pretty sure that had little to do with Unions. It had to do with US healthcare and an aging population. When over half your workers are retired, and the healthcare benefits are more than half of all your salary costs, well you get the picture.
It has little to do with Unions, and more to do with the inflated cost of health care in the US along with the insurance companies that feed off of it.
When you cannot literally buy anything else but Windows 8, it isn't much of a metric of growth in relation to OS strength.
Helped the folks pick out a new laptop about a week ago at Futureshop.
Options (Approx): About 100+ featuring Windows 8. About 6 featuring OSX (all north of 1000$) 1 lonely Chromebook.
Ya ya, you can get computers elsewhere, etc... However this is probably typical, particularly for laptops.
So I got to introduce my parents (and myself) to Windows 8, Metro interface and all ("Chimes" Menu, really?). I feel like there is a piece of my brain I need to scrub. Of course the first thing we did was download and install a 3rd party Start Menu.
Slashdot Mirror
Though in the true vein of Slashdot I would have used a car analogy thusly:
If your buddy say commits a crime, like stealing a car. Then you, knowing it is stolen drive it around. Guess what you are an accessory. You will be charged with a crime if found out, particularly if you publicize the fact of exactly what you are doing.
Say you don't even know the guy who stole the car, or that the car was even stolen, and it is found out, you are going to lose the car, and too bad for you that you didn't know it was stolen.
So no the guy didn't murder and chop up someone and film it (which presumably is many serious crimes). He just posted the film online for all to see. I would see this also as a crime (abet a lesser one of course), and punishable. Yes I am Canadian.
Yes I would agree that this is a slippery slope that needs be carefully applied, but in this case I think personally I would agree.
That said I have never even heard of the law "Corrupting Morals" which does sound rather dubious and perhaps arbitrary. Hopefully it is a well defined and strictly applied law. You would think there would be other more pertinent laws he could have been charged with, so I am not sure why they may have picked this obscure one (or perhaps it is just obscure as it is hardly ever used, as it is very defined and limited use)?
Sounds very similar to the telemarketing Do Not Call List.
Same problems likely. Too many loopholes. No enforcement.
However it is a step in the right direction. Seems every now and again they might try and make an example of the very worst to make it look like they are actually doing anything about it.
Anyway got to start somewhere I suppose, even if useless and toothless. Typically this kind of legislation is setup to get at the worst offenders, while allowing a lot a pass for economic reasons mostly. Even if it isn't initially enforced, the law is in place that will allow it to be should the public make a big enough fuss about it politically.
Reminds me of SCSI. I guess it is all relative.
Just like a minicomputer, wasn't really all that "mini" but in comparison to normal room sized computers they were.
Just like the Microcomputer, isn't all that micro considering things like ultrabooks, or ITX, or even things like tablets or phones.
Heck I have seen some "portable" computers that were more like a full ATX case, with a handle and a low resolution 6" screen tacked on the end with a full sized keyboard attacked. "Luggable" maybe.
I would deduce that currently it is "Very Large" compared to most of its compatriots hence the moniker.
I guess I mean, I get like 100, 500 being a round number or 1000. But 700? Just seems odd to me.
To my mind someone did a very useless statistical calculation, got a number like every 723.7654358 years, said 700, and called it a day.
The point being if it really was a round number say 1000 years, one could make a reasonable interpretation of accuracy (which would be very little). By saying 700 they seem to be trying to give it more credibility than it is worth, which I call BS.
A lot of time particularly statistics, data is all about how you present it (or frame it), which makes this smell pretty fishy to me. As in intentionally misleading. That said, half the time somebody did the calculation and reporting correctly, and some journalist, policy peon, or management spin doctor, who either doesn't know, or is willfully ignorant due to some agenda or another just puts whatever they like.
If only Humans had some method for consuming and then excreting water...
See Homer Simpson for details.
Of course I am assuming it is water and not some non-drinkable coolant liquid.
http://xkcd.com/605/
700 years seems oddly specific. I wonder how that was worked out. It isn't like we have any real reliable date past say 100 years for example. How are they extrapolating 700 years statistically?
My Dad simply used a small tree with about a 2-2.5 inch diameter as we walked along a forest path. 12 Gauge cut it half at close range. Certainly put the correct amount of fear in me about pointing the thing at anything but the ground and never loaded without cause.
"...durable polycarbonate body..."
I am sorry, but why are we using terms like this here? Unless this is just an ad...
Saying something has a plastic case probably doesn't sound as good as a "durable polycarbonate body"... Obvious and stupid.
Anyway, the only problem I see with a 6.3 inch smart phone is this:
The only problem with the S3 and it's 4.7 inch screen, or likely the S4 and it's 5 inch screen is the battery.
No matter how you slice it, back lighting and running a screen that big chows down on battery life. One of the only gripes I have with my S3, is that if you actually use it, the battery life is pretty terrible as that screen sucks down all the battery energy in no time flat. Unless they have come up with some super low powered screen, or some transcending battery technology that somehow solves this issue (which I truly doubt they have), you are inherently building a flawed device from day 1. Enjoy your 6 inch cellphone that has a battery life of 2 hours.
I would have to see the data, however:
1) 655 is a small statistical sample for the claims they are making. Perhaps they should have taken some statistics prior to their Journalism degree.
2) See #1
3) Prerequisites. I can go take a 300 level English literature course if I like. I cannot take an advanced mathematics course without the foundation.
4) Many Universities require a broad spectrum of 1st year courses to be taken, including math and science as sometimes mandatory.
5) Many non-math or non-science degrees may have math or science requirements that need (or wish) to be taken (2).
6) Many students may have noticed that other degrees might have better job prospects. I know many hard science grads not employed in their field of study for one reason or another.
7) Teachers. Required to take so many teachable credits, however actual degree in field may not be required to graduate.
I could probably go on. Suffice it to say that much depends on the data, how it was collected, how they defined "Math" and "Science" etc...
Anyway explaining away everything as simple "MATH HARD, SCIENCE HURT HEAD. HERP DERP!" is seemingly about as intelligent as that sounds.
I think many might argue that many of those achievements might be made a bit easier having a governor/president/ex-president as a father, and having access to political connections from day one, and having oodles and oodles of money, and privilege .
Anyway I am not saying for sure that this is the case, only that it is a real possibility.
His resume also says he was into the booze and coke a bit, and ran a couple oil companies he was put in change into the ground prior to running for political office.
Whatever you say you cannot say he wasn't born with a silver spoon in his mouth and afforded every possible opportunity and advantage provided for him.
If very well could be that he did everything he did on his own with nothing but his maverick gumption and grit of personality, worked hard and achieved, and had to live with the stigma of getting everything being handed to him on a silver platter, despite winning his own battles. I would just it just isn't very likely.
Lev Andropov: It's stuck, yes?
Watts: Back off! You don't know the components!
Lev Andropov: [annoyed] Components. American components, Russian Components, ALL MADE IN TAIWAN!
I had to set my parents up on Windows 8 a few weeks back when we bought my dad a new ultrabook (and your OS choices are pretty much, Windows 8).
Anyway It required registration to a MS account using an email address. So I enter my parents ISP email address as that is their primary.
Windows 8 doesn't like it. Refuses to register. Stuck. Had to use a Gmail webmail account that they had, which they don't really use, nor do they even remember the password to. Windows 8 took that. A webmail account over an ISP dedicated...
Anyway if I had the time, I am sure I could probably fined the issue online or something, but seriously. You buy a 1000$ computer with a new Windows 8 operating system and the first thing it does is prohibit you from actually using it.
OK people lets try this *again*
It is probably hard to go cold turkey politically due to the massive integration of insurance companies and big pharma.
To use in old medical terms, at some point you are supposed to remove the leeches...
Which probably doesn't even factoring in the 1/5th of the population that has zero coverage.
Agreed. As someone who had to pay $5K to get a dental implant because I a) didn't want dentures when I was in my twenties, or b) destroy two perfectly good teeth to make a bridge.
I mean literally Canada has "Please not in the face!" as a thing. Considering Hockey, insane. I know a ton of people who have lost teeth in hockey. Anyway, I think it is *kinda* insane where someone could take a baseball bat to your knee, and you can get it fixed, no problem for free, but if you take it in the gob you're fucked.
Also if you are not going to pay for my prescriptions, don't fuck around with what ones I am *allowed* to buy from one province to another... As there are cases where because one might live in one VS another, a cheaper generic is available, or one with less side effects, etc...
Anyway in short, Canada's healthcare is far from perfect, however it is about 1000% better than what the US has (not level of care, but how it is offered, and certainly how expensive it is).
I am quite surprised I haven't seen anyone mention microfiche/microfilm yet.
It is still a currently accepted archival "technology" used to store countless hard copy records, by institutions that have to A) store tons of records, and B) store them for a very long time.
I wouldn't call it inexpensive, but it isn't all that expensive either considering alternatives. However you usually do large batch jobs, so you might only want to do a run every year or every 3, or 5 years.
The added bonus to being somewhat reasonable to catalog and search, being reasonably inexpensive, and having a long lifespan is the fact that as my air quote indicated earlier, the technology has been around for a very long time. The formats are mature, the readers are easy to come by and mature. Also if you are looking at OCR and keeping digital copies, it is much much easier to either hire out to a firm, or buy a scanner, that takes fiche in a hopper, or even easier film on a spool, and can quickly and automatedly go through your collection and record them into digital format. Depending on volume and document, however that is where you may run into some costs surprisingly, the storage and organization of the digital files.... (particularly if you want to host them someplace).
Anyway if you want a permanent hard copy, doing a microfiche/microfilm run every say 5 years and getting rid of your paper is a good idea.
Have him hold out til the next election...
Consider Zynga's business strategy is essentially:
1) Ripoff another companies's game
2) ???
3) PROFIT!!!
I can't see how Don't views on DRM will be widely embraced in a place that respects IP even less than your typical pirate. At least a pirate is usually just using personally, and not for financial gain!
So long as all the batteries are made in China!
Ohhhh you mean the ENTIRE environment not just ours... Shut up stupid hippy and go back to woodstock!
Maybe he just got tired of ducking chairs then...
*ducks*
When the employer plays Unions against one another.
Recently had a couple of instances where I thought the hiring practices weren't exactly fair.
Problem: Positions were with a different union. Your union doesn't care, won't help as they don't want to lose a member to another union, the position union doesn't care as you are not a member. Result: Employer does whatever they want with no recourse (short of just ditching career and looking for employment elsewhere, or just sucking it up bitterly).
I am pretty sure that had little to do with Unions. It had to do with US healthcare and an aging population. When over half your workers are retired, and the healthcare benefits are more than half of all your salary costs, well you get the picture.
It has little to do with Unions, and more to do with the inflated cost of health care in the US along with the insurance companies that feed off of it.
When you cannot literally buy anything else but Windows 8, it isn't much of a metric of growth in relation to OS strength.
Helped the folks pick out a new laptop about a week ago at Futureshop.
Options (Approx):
About 100+ featuring Windows 8.
About 6 featuring OSX (all north of 1000$)
1 lonely Chromebook.
Ya ya, you can get computers elsewhere, etc... However this is probably typical, particularly for laptops.
So I got to introduce my parents (and myself) to Windows 8, Metro interface and all ("Chimes" Menu, really?). I feel like there is a piece of my brain I need to scrub. Of course the first thing we did was download and install a 3rd party Start Menu.