The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread. Anatole France (16 April 1844 – 12 October 1924), born Jacques Anatole François Thibault, was a French poet, journalist, and novelist.
I am a cord cutter and have minimal contact with the cable and telco monopolies. What that means is that I get my internet and VOIP over VDSL through a 3rd party but still pay a regulated lease rate of about $10/mo via the third party for the "dry loop" copper wire that passes signals over Bell's network. There is no competing copper in the neighbourhood, so that's about as low as I can go. Cable is an option, but same story there -- Rogers owns the wire.
Spooks and Cops have tried and failed a couple of times to pass "lawful access" provisions into law in Canada. Strong push-back on what has been euphemistically rebranded "awful access" has so far succeeded in shutting this down.
See: http://www.michaelgeist.ca/tag...
That says more about the limitations of your memory than the reality of climate change --
Katherine Hayhoe - one of the recent climate report authors (who was paid $zero for her contribution) writes:
"...the president then said that he “didn’t believe” the report. But climate science isn’t a religion: it’s real, whether we believe in it or not. If our decisions are not based in reality, we are the ones who will suffer the consequences." See her pushback here -> https://t.co/OufAyRWY1Z
Maybe. Almost certainly if they were using viruses -- see: Frank Ryan's "Virolution" ISBN-13: 978-0007315123
IIRC 43% of our DNA has viral origins.
One reviewer writes: viruses have played a significant role in evolution. Large segments of viral genes have been found in human (and other) genome code fragments; viruses will co-evolve with their host under certain situations rather than destroy them. This co-evolution symbiosis has historically contributed to the selection process and enhanced the survival of both the host and viruses and added creative variation to the gene pool of all life forms. Part of our gene structure is due to viruses intrusion and subsequent symbiosis and are inheritable.
This wikipedia article covers the ground reasonably well, but might need to be updated with info on this new proposed legislation.
I had the opportunity while attending a meeting of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police Crime Prevention Committee to hear Lt. Col. David Grossman make a rather compelling case for how first person shooters are the same technology used to both desensitize and improve the kill rates of cops and soldiers. The difference being that the cops and soldiers are also drilled in appropriate use of force and work in a context that demands discipline and self-control.
I tend to agree that uber-violent video games, and particularly first person shooters have no redeeming artistic value and that the world would generally be better off if they didn't exist. Also, turn off your T.V.s -- they are a social cancer as well.
Whether they "cause" actual violence or merely facilitate and promote it is a symantic distinction.
While there is little hope that a penal law will be 100% effective in restricting access to kids, it seems likely that it would serve 2 worthy goals: 1. Increased Parental awareness and 2. Delegitimization.
I am against prohibition of BAD THINGS since it just doesn't work. However the regulation of this social toxin is completely appropriate.
I have a friend who lived and worked in the U.S. for seven years and just returned to Canada shaking his head over the hysterical lunacy that is going on in the name of security down there.
An elected prosecutor refused to use common sense to mitigate a Columbine-inspired prosecution of his son for a school-yard verbal threat.
While that was the proximate cause of his decision, he reported that the entire place is, according to plan, running scared. Fear is of-course very helpful in getting the sheeple to accept otherwise completely insane policies that conflict with their interests.
Russia and the United States are the world leaders in incarceration, with imprisonment rates 6-10 times that of most industrialized nations. So much for the land of the free.
I have already decided that travel to the Hysterical States of America under the current situation is unattractive, so this Florida spy-cam scam won't effect me at all.
I never understand how negatively so many people view unions. This is exactly why individuals have to join together to protect themselves. If one worker objects to unfair labour practices the boss can choose to ingnore him or fire him. If the IT workers of America refuse to work under unfair conditions then...
1. Their jobs go offshore more quickly (maybe);
or,
2. The PHBs relocate to right-to-bugger-workers states (perhaps);
or,
3. The PHB negotiates, a compromise is reached and, while nobody gets to declare victory, a truce can be arranged (sadly less likely than ever before due to workers neglect of the need to protect their own).
Obviously the demonization of unions by owners that has somehow been sold to credulous workers makes #3 unlikely in most of the Unscupulous States of America.
Until electors figure out which side their shrinking bread is buttered on (repeat after me: my interests are not the same as those of the rich) and that they actually have the power to change things (though picking a Dem over a Rep doesn't change much) then you can all just bend over (unless you are rich, in which case -- fsck at will).
Plans are to make a Liquid Mirror Telescope (different tech: spinning Mercury) bigger than the Mt. Palomar.
I think that the electronic wetting tech will probably show up in hihg-end consumer telescope eyepieces. Current variable eyepieces use mechanical components to vary the gap between multiple elements. This should be easier to manufacture.
R.
Once the Congressional Budget Office Starts publishing the avoidable costs of MS software (on a true cost accounting basis) that the government will....[insert scenario here]
[A] dig in their heels and ban Linux as unamerican; [B] ignore it [C] make excuses and FUD [D] launch an underfunded pilot project staffed by rejects from the foreign officer entrance exam [scenario yours]....
With blinders on, IT folk delude themselves into thinking that they are producing an end product. For the most part, IT is an input to a final productive outcome. Anything that lowers the cost of IT increases the productivity of those for whom IT is an input.
If a company can get its IT cheaper, then it can improve its bottom-line or lower the cost of its products.
I have a non-lawyer colleague in government that used to work in the Justice department as a policy analyst. He was seen as essentially support staff in this "if your not a lawyer you're little people" environment.
After leaving for another department, he would welcome his Justice counsel (basically a service bureau) with a friendly taunt, "how does it feel to be support staff."
Slashdot Mirror
The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread. Anatole France (16 April 1844 – 12 October 1924), born Jacques Anatole François Thibault, was a French poet, journalist, and novelist.
I am a cord cutter and have minimal contact with the cable and telco monopolies. What that means is that I get my internet and VOIP over VDSL through a 3rd party but still pay a regulated lease rate of about $10/mo via the third party for the "dry loop" copper wire that passes signals over Bell's network. There is no competing copper in the neighbourhood, so that's about as low as I can go. Cable is an option, but same story there -- Rogers owns the wire.
Spooks and Cops have tried and failed a couple of times to pass "lawful access" provisions into law in Canada. Strong push-back on what has been euphemistically rebranded "awful access" has so far succeeded in shutting this down. See: http://www.michaelgeist.ca/tag...
That says more about the limitations of your memory than the reality of climate change -- Katherine Hayhoe - one of the recent climate report authors (who was paid $zero for her contribution) writes: "...the president then said that he “didn’t believe” the report. But climate science isn’t a religion: it’s real, whether we believe in it or not. If our decisions are not based in reality, we are the ones who will suffer the consequences." See her pushback here -> https://t.co/OufAyRWY1Z
Maybe. Almost certainly if they were using viruses -- see: Frank Ryan's "Virolution" ISBN-13: 978-0007315123 IIRC 43% of our DNA has viral origins. One reviewer writes: viruses have played a significant role in evolution. Large segments of viral genes have been found in human (and other) genome code fragments; viruses will co-evolve with their host under certain situations rather than destroy them. This co-evolution symbiosis has historically contributed to the selection process and enhanced the survival of both the host and viruses and added creative variation to the gene pool of all life forms. Part of our gene structure is due to viruses intrusion and subsequent symbiosis and are inheritable.
Indymedia is the only journalism outlet that covered what was happening outside the RNC in New York last fall.
Citizen Journalism with a left of centre twist.
I had the opportunity while attending a meeting of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police Crime Prevention Committee to hear Lt. Col. David Grossman make a rather compelling case for how first person shooters are the same technology used to both desensitize and improve the kill rates of cops and soldiers. The difference being that the cops and soldiers are also drilled in appropriate use of force and work in a context that demands discipline and self-control.
I tend to agree that uber-violent video games, and particularly first person shooters have no redeeming artistic value and that the world would generally be better off if they didn't exist. Also, turn off your T.V.s -- they are a social cancer as well.
Whether they "cause" actual violence or merely facilitate and promote it is a symantic distinction.
While there is little hope that a penal law will be 100% effective in restricting access to kids, it seems likely that it would serve 2 worthy goals: 1. Increased Parental awareness and 2. Delegitimization.
I am against prohibition of BAD THINGS since it just doesn't work. However the regulation of this social toxin is completely appropriate.
I have a friend who lived and worked in the U.S. for seven years and just returned to Canada shaking his head over the hysterical lunacy that is going on in the name of security down there. An elected prosecutor refused to use common sense to mitigate a Columbine-inspired prosecution of his son for a school-yard verbal threat.
While that was the proximate cause of his decision, he reported that the entire place is, according to plan, running scared. Fear is of-course very helpful in getting the sheeple to accept otherwise completely insane policies that conflict with their interests.
Russia and the United States are the world leaders in incarceration, with imprisonment rates 6-10 times that of most industrialized nations. So much for the land of the free.
I have already decided that travel to the Hysterical States of America under the current situation is unattractive, so this Florida spy-cam scam won't effect me at all.
Rand.
Unions help you avoid the divide and conquer strategies that fuel the race to the bottom.
So just how abused and (overworked or) underpaid do you need to be to start marshalling your collective power to protect your interests?
I never understand how negatively so many people view unions. This is exactly why individuals have to join together to protect themselves. If one worker objects to unfair labour practices the boss can choose to ingnore him or fire him. If the IT workers of America refuse to work under unfair conditions then ...
1. Their jobs go offshore more quickly (maybe);
or,
2. The PHBs relocate to right-to-bugger-workers states (perhaps);
or,
3. The PHB negotiates, a compromise is reached and, while nobody gets to declare victory, a truce can be arranged (sadly less likely than ever before due to workers neglect of the need to protect their own).
Obviously the demonization of unions by owners that has somehow been sold to credulous workers makes #3 unlikely in most of the Unscupulous States of America.
Until electors figure out which side their shrinking bread is buttered on (repeat after me: my interests are not the same as those of the rich) and that they actually have the power to change things (though picking a Dem over a Rep doesn't change much) then you can all just bend over (unless you are rich, in which case -- fsck at will).
I downloaded some GnuTools compiled for Windows and used them yesterday when I couldn't figure out how to do the equivalent of: du -hS ./
in Windows.
Plans are to make a Liquid Mirror Telescope (different tech: spinning Mercury) bigger than the Mt. Palomar. I think that the electronic wetting tech will probably show up in hihg-end consumer telescope eyepieces. Current variable eyepieces use mechanical components to vary the gap between multiple elements. This should be easier to manufacture. R.
Give it a look at:
Canada's Pandemic Flu Plan
Once the Congressional Budget Office Starts publishing the avoidable costs of MS software (on a true cost accounting basis) that the government will ....[insert scenario here]
....
[A] dig in their heels and ban Linux as unamerican;
[B] ignore it
[C] make excuses and FUD
[D] launch an underfunded pilot project staffed by rejects from the foreign officer entrance exam
[scenario yours]
With blinders on, IT folk delude themselves into thinking that they are producing an end product. For the most part, IT is an input to a final productive outcome. Anything that lowers the cost of IT increases the productivity of those for whom IT is an input. If a company can get its IT cheaper, then it can improve its bottom-line or lower the cost of its products. I have a non-lawyer colleague in government that used to work in the Justice department as a policy analyst. He was seen as essentially support staff in this "if your not a lawyer you're little people" environment. After leaving for another department, he would welcome his Justice counsel (basically a service bureau) with a friendly taunt, "how does it feel to be support staff."