Dr Who wants to go to far-flung places, but the evil Lawyers ground him reminding him that it's been 60 years since his TARDIS' last MOT.
Then, just as that's getting sorted out one of the lawyers points out that an old man enticing a series of (usually skimpily clad) young girls into a secluded telephone booth with promises of of wild adventures is not neccesarily the sort of role model they want to be promoting...
Fuck it. I'm going to the cinema with my SO tomorrow, time to get round to buy a laser pointer.
The next minimum-wage spotty cinema attendant who tries to spy on us with night vision goggles is gonna find out what a life with smoking holes where his retinas were is like.
And yes, I know that decent night vision goggles have a signal damper system to prevent flash overload, but I'm betting that the film industry aren't gonna spring the extra that those cost...
The new millenium's fastest growing profit machine -
1) buy small company that has a few loosely worded patents
2) begin campaign of lawsuits and harrasment against legitimate businesses that didn't think they needed to patent a process used by everybody
3) Profit!!!
you can't tell which side of the argument I'm on can you..?
Because this whole precedent violates the principle of Innocent until Proven Guilty.
True, nowadays it's more Innocent until a media hack decides it'll make a good story and then Guilty no matter what the outcome of the case, but the original principle is still there.
Guilty until Proven Innocent is called Inquisitorial law, and for a very good reason.
You walk _that_ path friend, you walk it without me.
Sad isn't it - the parent poster felt compelled to write that he's not unpatriotic just because (s)he was airing facts that don't support the government line.
Reminds me of when the story about BT blocking child pr0n sites was up and everyone who was raising concerns about the ramifications of that felt compelled to state they didn't condone child pr0n. It's a dangerous path we're treading - where to raise a question immediatley pus you under suspicion of guilt...
Oh, evolutionary selection relies very heavily on brute force - just ask any species that's fallen behind.
Oh wait, you can't. All the other species have brute forced them out of the environment...
Unfortunately, you're all too accurate there.
I still stand by my statement of the root cause, but I agree that these things usually get taken over by people who aren't really there for a cause, are only there for rebellion's sake.
Oh, a government has lots of options for stopping riots.
It's just that throwing large amounts of money into weapons research is more popoular than using that money to deal with the social inequalities that cause people to riot in the first place.
This is a massive growth area for all sorts of companies - usually ones who have been in the traditional defense markets for years until it became unpopular. Basically they carry on doing the same sort of thing as normal, just point to the non-lethal weapon line and say "Hey, at least these don't kill people"
Yeay, right. Cos' a jolt that'll put you down and twitching isn't going to stop a weak heart, or mess up a pacemaker.
It's like the pulsed "non-lethal" laser - the first shop vapourises a small section of the target's surface , and the next ignites the cloud of gases. On low power it knocks people down with mild burns(hope it didn't hit your face), on high it chews through brick walls.
Why are these so bad? Simple - by the simple act of labelling these as non-lethal the authorities greatly increase their ability to use them in all sorts of situations.
After all, a "democratic" government that authorised use of automatic weapons on a rioting crowd would have a few questions to answer - But hey, CS gas, Rubber bullets, tasers are all fine...
Would it not make sense to make these 2-layer and fill them with an expanding foam - like the stuff they do cavity wall insulation with. That way the structure would be both rigid, and have good impact absorbtion qualities.
Hell, if a rubberized foam could be used there's a chance an impacting item wouldn't actually do so much damage. Of course if it's counter-orbiting even battleship plate's gonna seem fairly flimsy...
Just think on this - Peter Gabriel is now a voice of sanity in the music biz.
And you listen to the stuff these people put out. They could be sneaking _anything_ into your subconscious in their music...
I'd say that the human genome is fairly open source.
Tho I can see Darl McShyster trying to claim that since everyone's DNA is 99.99% similar to his it must have been copied and we all need to buy $399 Life Licences...
George Orwell had it right - he just thought that we'd get to this point 20 years earlier.
"We are at war with terrorists. We have always been at war with terrorists. We were never at war with Russia. That is all, citizens"
How long is it going to be before we see the first lawsuits from this.
In the back row of a darkened movie theatre "things" happen. People disturbed in the middle of an essential part of the human mating ritual by drooling minimum-wage usher-boy aren't going to be too happy.
And that's not counting the dangers from one person armed with a pocket flash/laser pointer and a malicious sense of humor
Cue 200 posts about how terrible this is. It's not atually very different to what the law-enforcement community's been doing all along, just the tools are better.
It's like the argument about ID cards - there's nothing inherently wrong with being able to conclusively prove that you are who you say you are, but it's another thing entirely for people to be able to demand you prove the same.
Slashdot Mirror
Next episode:
Dr Who vs. the Lawyers
Dr Who wants to go to far-flung places, but the evil Lawyers ground him reminding him that it's been 60 years since his TARDIS' last MOT.
Then, just as that's getting sorted out one of the lawyers points out that an old man enticing a series of (usually skimpily clad) young girls into a secluded telephone booth with promises of of wild adventures is not neccesarily the sort of role model they want to be promoting...
"Riding to heaven on Satan's mighty thruster..."
Please, please, please God I don't care which fundie says it but please let the world have that soundbyte to cherish foever.
Fuck it. I'm going to the cinema with my SO tomorrow, time to get round to buy a laser pointer.
The next minimum-wage spotty cinema attendant who tries to spy on us with night vision goggles is gonna find out what a life with smoking holes where his retinas were is like.
And yes, I know that decent night vision goggles have a signal damper system to prevent flash overload, but I'm betting that the film industry aren't gonna spring the extra that those cost...
The new millenium's fastest growing profit machine -
1) buy small company that has a few loosely worded patents
2) begin campaign of lawsuits and harrasment against legitimate businesses that didn't think they needed to patent a process used by everybody
3) Profit!!!
you can't tell which side of the argument I'm on can you..?
Because this whole precedent violates the principle of Innocent until Proven Guilty.
True, nowadays it's more Innocent until a media hack decides it'll make a good story and then Guilty no matter what the outcome of the case, but the original principle is still there.
Guilty until Proven Innocent is called Inquisitorial law, and for a very good reason.
You walk _that_ path friend, you walk it without me.
Sad isn't it - the parent poster felt compelled to write that he's not unpatriotic just because (s)he was airing facts that don't support the government line.
Reminds me of when the story about BT blocking child pr0n sites was up and everyone who was raising concerns about the ramifications of that felt compelled to state they didn't condone child pr0n.
It's a dangerous path we're treading - where to raise a question immediatley pus you under suspicion of guilt...
Riiiight.
That's what they'd like you to believe...
Build...test...improve...retest...etc
It's how aeronautical design's been done for decades. I very much doubt this'll be a major setback for them.
Oh, evolutionary selection relies very heavily on brute force - just ask any species that's fallen behind.
Oh wait, you can't. All the other species have brute forced them out of the environment...
WMA's
Windows of Mass Aggravation?
Unfortunately, you're all too accurate there.
I still stand by my statement of the root cause, but I agree that these things usually get taken over by people who aren't really there for a cause, are only there for rebellion's sake.
Oh, a government has lots of options for stopping riots.
It's just that throwing large amounts of money into weapons research is more popoular than using that money to deal with the social inequalities that cause people to riot in the first place.
This is a massive growth area for all sorts of companies - usually ones who have been in the traditional defense markets for years until it became unpopular. Basically they carry on doing the same sort of thing as normal, just point to the non-lethal weapon line and say "Hey, at least these don't kill people"
Yeay, right. Cos' a jolt that'll put you down and twitching isn't going to stop a weak heart, or mess up a pacemaker.
It's like the pulsed "non-lethal" laser - the first shop vapourises a small section of the target's surface , and the next ignites the cloud of gases. On low power it knocks people down with mild burns(hope it didn't hit your face), on high it chews through brick walls.
Why are these so bad? Simple - by the simple act of labelling these as non-lethal the authorities greatly increase their ability to use them in all sorts of situations.
After all, a "democratic" government that authorised use of automatic weapons on a rioting crowd would have a few questions to answer - But hey, CS gas, Rubber bullets, tasers are all fine...
Would it not make sense to make these 2-layer and fill them with an expanding foam - like the stuff they do cavity wall insulation with. That way the structure would be both rigid, and have good impact absorbtion qualities.
Hell, if a rubberized foam could be used there's a chance an impacting item wouldn't actually do so much damage. Of course if it's counter-orbiting even battleship plate's gonna seem fairly flimsy...
Or SCO...
Just think on this - Peter Gabriel is now a voice of sanity in the music biz.
And you listen to the stuff these people put out. They could be sneaking _anything_ into your subconscious in their music...
I'd say that the human genome is fairly open source.
Tho I can see Darl McShyster trying to claim that since everyone's DNA is 99.99% similar to his it must have been copied and we all need to buy $399 Life Licences...
George Orwell had it right - he just thought that we'd get to this point 20 years earlier.
"We are at war with terrorists. We have always been at war with terrorists. We were never at war with Russia. That is all, citizens"
Well, I hope _somebody_ remembered to pack the snow chains...?
You know it doesn't sound half as funny as it did 20 years ago, stuck in an overladen Volvo estate halfway up a French mountain with night closing in.
Glad to see somebody else has the same opinion of Acrobat's bloatware system as I do.
Can someone post the OP's text please?
How long is it going to be before we see the first lawsuits from this.
In the back row of a darkened movie theatre "things" happen. People disturbed in the middle of an essential part of the human mating ritual by drooling minimum-wage usher-boy aren't going to be too happy.
And that's not counting the dangers from one person armed with a pocket flash/laser pointer and a malicious sense of humor
We investigate -
Claims that fire is hot,
Reports of wet water, and later, Is it dark at Night?
Jeez - talk about stating the obvious.
Cue 200 posts about how terrible this is. It's not atually very different to what the law-enforcement community's been doing all along, just the tools are better.
It's like the argument about ID cards - there's nothing inherently wrong with being able to conclusively prove that you are who you say you are, but it's another thing entirely for people to be able to demand you prove the same.
Of course the Stop-Start kind of driving that these vehicles will be doing is perfect for hybrids.