The issue is that [rats are] well adapted to living around human habitations,which provide them with excellent protection from predation.
So, don't reflexively kill all the cats, then?
By mid July of 1665 over 1,000 deaths per week were reported in the city. It was rumored that dogs and cats spread the disease, so the Lord Mayor ordered all the dogs and cats destroyed. Author Daniel Defoe (1660 – 24 April 1731) in his Journal of the Plague Years estimated that 40,000 dogs and 200,000 cats were killed.
Granted; but on Slashdot, the current moderation mechanism isn't a reasonable way to skip them, as you also end up skipping decent to excellent content. As it is my habit to read at -1, I can assure you that the AC posts here are often the gems, and that quite often posts that should at least be at 1 are knocked down, sometimes severely, for "moderator disagrees" and no other reason. Since being knocked down equates to being made invisible, this is a serious problem.
Furthermore, I don't know about you, but I can tell a junk post within a line or two of the content, and so generally waste no significant time with them. The only penalty I experience is a higher scroll rate, and I can't say that bothers me in any significant way. The thing that *does* bother me is when moderators kick people around for the wrong reasons, it truncates otherwise interesting conversation and it may discourage the victim from further posting, and frankly, I resent both of those. Of all the fora I've sampled on the Intertubes, I've found slashdot to be the strongest collection of intellects, insights and interests; it's achilles heel has always been the severely broken moderation system.
As it stands, one of the most common reasons for a hidden post is that it represents a minority view. From my perspective, hiding those is the direct mental equivalent of shooting yourself in the foot. We all know that any forum has its share of assnecks; the outright junk posts are direct evidence of that. ok, but I can deal with them. What Slashdot's moderation system does is gives power to assnecks to actually hide *good* posts, and that I have found to be a far more serious problem than GNAA posts, etc. And remember: I see all the posts, all the time.
It seems extremely clear to me: Better to allow the junk than allow the hiding of good posts. Right now, the only way to do that is to surf at -1.
I do have a suggestion. If the *reader* had the ability to hide a post, say with a "collapse" or "hide" button, and that button collapsed that specific post but not the replies, I think you'd have done as much good as you can. One click and posts *you* don't want to see are hidden, which would bring more content into view. You hiding posts *you* are not interested is a good thing. Random others deciding for you -- clearly, that's not good.
Something even more sophisticated would be to allow moderation as it is, but initially, in order for a post to be hidden, you'd have to click "agree." The system would track the moderators you consistently agree with for downmods, and after a significant number of those with consistent "agrees" and no disagrees, it'd automatically start to hide posts from moderators you've shown that you trust. Because that's the root of the problem: moderators who don't deserve our trust. The current system does not effectively cull them out, nor does it typically repair the damage they do.
It was relevant to the thread. My point was it's a little ridiculous to worry about these complex electronic paths to stealing a car. Any thug can steal your car with little to no effort; practically speaking, all they need is the desire to do it and the opportunity.
I'll grant you that criminals are generally not the brightest people, but I don't think that predisposes them to do something via a significantly more complex method. The focus is on the wrong thing here.
Ah, someone who doesn't understand the USA. Steal a car (and particularly a Tesla), you've *already* committed a felony; having done so and gotten caught as you suggest, you're going to jail and then most likely prison, not one, but *two* varieties of "assrape-land" as you put it, and when you get out, you will be unemployable, consequently if you want any of the supposedly "good" things in life, significantly profitable enterprises will be limited to things like, you guessed it: stealing cars, burglary, dealing, mugging, sharking and so on. With very few exceptions, in the USA, one felony turns you into a lifetime criminal. Commit your first felony; virtually guarantee more thereafter. Because, again with extremely rare exceptions, one thing you *won't* ever have again is a decent job, because they all interpose a background check between you and that paycheck. Once a felon, always a felon. It's the American way!
Except this'll get the police searching for you within minutes.
Why would the police search until the driver is reported missing? Which might not happen for days, depending on the driver's social connections, but certainly won't happen for hours, by which time the car has either been disassembled or packed into a shipping container anyway.
Isn't it great that when asked a question, in answering that question honestly, you can be modded down?...this is why I surf slashdot at -1. Junk moderation is rampant.
What if I have 1000 threads trying different passwords? 10,000? 100,000?
Then, in a well designed system, you'd have 1000, 10000 or 100000 responses that all say "It has not yet been one minute since the last failed login to this account. Your login attempt was not accepted."
...trusted sources reported today that if a Tesla vehicle is dropped from orbit, the impact would be devastating. The NTSB is looking into this, and Fox News reports that Obama is responsible. Scientists confirm using actual math that the outcome is all but inevitable.
[camera shows stock shots of meteor crater in Arizona]
Tesla has not responded to our requests to comment, except to say that SpaceX cargo capacity is a privileged corporate information.
You mean, when he loses to Hilary? Yeah, he will.:)
After the republican congress's abject fuckery, and the round table of clowns the repubs fielded last time around, you really think the swing voters will go republican? Really?
Remember: all the red states go red. All the blue states go blue. Nothing changes that.
So it's down to the swing voters. Every time. And unlike the party faithful, they can, and will, change allegiance when something good happens (like people getting health insurance, credit protections, civil rights) and they also notice when, for instance, republicans try fifty-plus times to knock out a law they have literally zero chance of knocking out, instead of taking care of the business of the nation.
Yeah, say hello to president Hillary, my friend.:)
Doesn't even have to be that way. A charging station could easily be designed that stores charge from solar during the day, and transfers it to the vehicle whenever it's parked at the charger, day *or* night.
What I'm really waiting for is ultracaps. When and if they replace batteries, the entire landscape will shift. If they don't, electrics will continue to have a horribly expensive wear-out-and-replace component, and that's going to keep the effective cost very high.
For one thing, until US networks get a LOT better, the quality of a physical Blueray absolutely annihilates streaming here.
Neither DVDs or Bluerays suffer from your local ISP suddenly going offline, or a nearby hospital deciding to have a hires video conference between many points. No stuttering, no crashing (hello, Roku... you ever going to fix that crashing bug in your players?)
And, if we can talk about ownership here, each DVD/Blueray is a physical object which isolates risk of damage to one title at a time (as compared to a library on HD or in the cloud), and eliminates a third party who has decisive control over what you (think you) own, and how you can use it, in the "cloud."
And, like LPs before them, CDs, DVDs, Bluerays... the packaging often contains much interesting and collectable goodness. Or is such goodness in and of itself.
And, you can loan out a CD/DVD/Blueray, Swap them. Treat them as if, you know, you owned them. What an amazing idea, eh?
Just as a fer-instance, we've been watching Vikings, streamed from the History channel. We really enjoy the show. It starts in lowres; jerks into hires. Stutters and goes back to lores. Breaks for commercials. Swaps into hires without, apparently, properly telling the system it's changing, judging by the spattering of random looking mpeggy squares on screen when it's changing res. And the commercials appear to have been shot in CDV or something... "lores" hardly suffices to describe them. Basically, other than the content itself, the whole "streaming experience" there is totally bottom feeder. This is pretty much a worst case, but it's not all *that* uncommon, and many audio streams are also extremely low quality.
The CD/DVD/Blueray collection, however... impeccable. Just as good today as each title was when we bought the stuff. Given the new upscalers, perhaps even better.
CDs, same thing, really. There are a few good streams on Internet radio, but generally... not so much. 128k streams... meh. 192 is tolerable, 320 is more like it. OTOH, a good CD (for example, one from Telarc) always sounds *X*awesome*X*, and will for decades, perhaps longer.
Maybe my standards are just head and shoulders too high, but that's why *I* am still not all hepped up on streaming.
Your incorrect dictionary definition aside, the problem is the anecdote often is of this form:
"I was taken by the aliens, and the anal probing was profound"
"We prayed, and it cured her!"
"...and the Chupacabra brought the baby back in its teeth -- that's how I knew it was Jebus!"
Anecdotes are often *presented* as true, but in fact are not. If your dictionary definition accounted for this, it would be accurate. As it is, it is misleading.
Information about religion, spirituality, and so on is usually also well-researched.
Wikipedia's information about atheism sure isn't. It's a hip-deep morass of misconception, finger-pointing, and utter nonsense. Even the etymology is incorrect. Doesn't inspire much confidence in how it treats superstition such as Christianity, Islam or Judaism, I'll tell you that.
Since the first human hefted the first stone tool machines and man have helped each other prosper. Long has it been established that ones who forbid others wield technologies are quick to render themselves irrelevant.
Yes. This is why everyone should be able to cook up bio-warfare weapons in their basement, right next to the family fission devices, the latest in torture racks, and the fully automated slave quarters.
Oh, wait. Your starry-eyed blathering completely ignores the fact that some technologies are harmful. Some are even extremely harmful. Never mind.
Slashdot Mirror
lol. And yet, that post was modded up. See how that works? Ya just can't trust anyone. :)
So, don't reflexively kill all the cats, then?
I'm beginning to agree. Clearly, they are indeed often, psychotic, evil people. From whom we should remove the means to exist in our society.
Granted; but on Slashdot, the current moderation mechanism isn't a reasonable way to skip them, as you also end up skipping decent to excellent content. As it is my habit to read at -1, I can assure you that the AC posts here are often the gems, and that quite often posts that should at least be at 1 are knocked down, sometimes severely, for "moderator disagrees" and no other reason. Since being knocked down equates to being made invisible, this is a serious problem.
Furthermore, I don't know about you, but I can tell a junk post within a line or two of the content, and so generally waste no significant time with them. The only penalty I experience is a higher scroll rate, and I can't say that bothers me in any significant way. The thing that *does* bother me is when moderators kick people around for the wrong reasons, it truncates otherwise interesting conversation and it may discourage the victim from further posting, and frankly, I resent both of those. Of all the fora I've sampled on the Intertubes, I've found slashdot to be the strongest collection of intellects, insights and interests; it's achilles heel has always been the severely broken moderation system.
As it stands, one of the most common reasons for a hidden post is that it represents a minority view. From my perspective, hiding those is the direct mental equivalent of shooting yourself in the foot. We all know that any forum has its share of assnecks; the outright junk posts are direct evidence of that. ok, but I can deal with them. What Slashdot's moderation system does is gives power to assnecks to actually hide *good* posts, and that I have found to be a far more serious problem than GNAA posts, etc. And remember: I see all the posts, all the time.
It seems extremely clear to me: Better to allow the junk than allow the hiding of good posts. Right now, the only way to do that is to surf at -1.
I do have a suggestion. If the *reader* had the ability to hide a post, say with a "collapse" or "hide" button, and that button collapsed that specific post but not the replies, I think you'd have done as much good as you can. One click and posts *you* don't want to see are hidden, which would bring more content into view. You hiding posts *you* are not interested is a good thing. Random others deciding for you -- clearly, that's not good.
Something even more sophisticated would be to allow moderation as it is, but initially, in order for a post to be hidden, you'd have to click "agree." The system would track the moderators you consistently agree with for downmods, and after a significant number of those with consistent "agrees" and no disagrees, it'd automatically start to hide posts from moderators you've shown that you trust. Because that's the root of the problem: moderators who don't deserve our trust. The current system does not effectively cull them out, nor does it typically repair the damage they do.
It was relevant to the thread. My point was it's a little ridiculous to worry about these complex electronic paths to stealing a car. Any thug can steal your car with little to no effort; practically speaking, all they need is the desire to do it and the opportunity.
I'll grant you that criminals are generally not the brightest people, but I don't think that predisposes them to do something via a significantly more complex method. The focus is on the wrong thing here.
Ah, someone who doesn't understand the USA. Steal a car (and particularly a Tesla), you've *already* committed a felony; having done so and gotten caught as you suggest, you're going to jail and then most likely prison, not one, but *two* varieties of "assrape-land" as you put it, and when you get out, you will be unemployable, consequently if you want any of the supposedly "good" things in life, significantly profitable enterprises will be limited to things like, you guessed it: stealing cars, burglary, dealing, mugging, sharking and so on. With very few exceptions, in the USA, one felony turns you into a lifetime criminal. Commit your first felony; virtually guarantee more thereafter. Because, again with extremely rare exceptions, one thing you *won't* ever have again is a decent job, because they all interpose a background check between you and that paycheck. Once a felon, always a felon. It's the American way!
No question, the optimum time is just as they approach the car. Once inside, or in motion, things become much more difficult.
Why would the police search until the driver is reported missing? Which might not happen for days, depending on the driver's social connections, but certainly won't happen for hours, by which time the car has either been disassembled or packed into a shipping container anyway.
Isn't it great that when asked a question, in answering that question honestly, you can be modded down? ...this is why I surf slashdot at -1. Junk moderation is rampant.
Then, in a well designed system, you'd have 1000, 10000 or 100000 responses that all say "It has not yet been one minute since the last failed login to this account. Your login attempt was not accepted."
1: Hold gun, knife or pipewrench in "I'm going to use it" position, threaten owner, drive away with car, possibly with the owner as well.
Tools required: One. (may substitute inexpensive gun replica if low budget operation)
Number of attempts required for success: One
Technical knowhow required: Zero.
Additional opportunities inherent in operation: Ransom money, rape subject, opportunistic beatings, petty theft, direct access to bank accounts.
...trusted sources reported today that if a Tesla vehicle is dropped from orbit, the impact would be devastating. The NTSB is looking into this, and Fox News reports that Obama is responsible. Scientists confirm using actual math that the outcome is all but inevitable.
[camera shows stock shots of meteor crater in Arizona]
Tesla has not responded to our requests to comment, except to say that SpaceX cargo capacity is a privileged corporate information.
In financial news, Aluminium foil prices are up.
Hey, the post I was replying to assumed Christie would too; seems perfectly fair.
Best:
Lower Decks
Worst:
First on the list: Anything with Wil Wheaton doing anything more than staying off the set.
Second on the list: Anything that required Jonathan Frakes's character, Riker, to do anything other than say "Yes, sir"
Third on the list: Anything that required Marina Sirtis' character, Troi, to act like she was an empath
Fourth on the list: Anything with Q in it. Anything at all.
Try this solution on for size (also something that will never be implemented, but...):
You mean, when he loses to Hilary? Yeah, he will. :)
After the republican congress's abject fuckery, and the round table of clowns the repubs fielded last time around, you really think the swing voters will go republican? Really?
Remember: all the red states go red. All the blue states go blue. Nothing changes that.
So it's down to the swing voters. Every time. And unlike the party faithful, they can, and will, change allegiance when something good happens (like people getting health insurance, credit protections, civil rights) and they also notice when, for instance, republicans try fifty-plus times to knock out a law they have literally zero chance of knocking out, instead of taking care of the business of the nation.
Yeah, say hello to president Hillary, my friend. :)
[StrangeGlove]not having to import our cars' precious body fluids from desert tribes which hate us[/StrangeGlove]
Doesn't even have to be that way. A charging station could easily be designed that stores charge from solar during the day, and transfers it to the vehicle whenever it's parked at the charger, day *or* night.
What I'm really waiting for is ultracaps. When and if they replace batteries, the entire landscape will shift. If they don't, electrics will continue to have a horribly expensive wear-out-and-replace component, and that's going to keep the effective cost very high.
It's "per se", not "per say."
For one thing, until US networks get a LOT better, the quality of a physical Blueray absolutely annihilates streaming here.
Neither DVDs or Bluerays suffer from your local ISP suddenly going offline, or a nearby hospital deciding to have a hires video conference between many points. No stuttering, no crashing (hello, Roku... you ever going to fix that crashing bug in your players?)
And, if we can talk about ownership here, each DVD/Blueray is a physical object which isolates risk of damage to one title at a time (as compared to a library on HD or in the cloud), and eliminates a third party who has decisive control over what you (think you) own, and how you can use it, in the "cloud."
And, like LPs before them, CDs, DVDs, Bluerays... the packaging often contains much interesting and collectable goodness. Or is such goodness in and of itself.
And, you can loan out a CD/DVD/Blueray, Swap them. Treat them as if, you know, you owned them. What an amazing idea, eh?
Just as a fer-instance, we've been watching Vikings, streamed from the History channel. We really enjoy the show. It starts in lowres; jerks into hires. Stutters and goes back to lores. Breaks for commercials. Swaps into hires without, apparently, properly telling the system it's changing, judging by the spattering of random looking mpeggy squares on screen when it's changing res. And the commercials appear to have been shot in CDV or something... "lores" hardly suffices to describe them. Basically, other than the content itself, the whole "streaming experience" there is totally bottom feeder. This is pretty much a worst case, but it's not all *that* uncommon, and many audio streams are also extremely low quality.
The CD/DVD/Blueray collection, however... impeccable. Just as good today as each title was when we bought the stuff. Given the new upscalers, perhaps even better.
CDs, same thing, really. There are a few good streams on Internet radio, but generally... not so much. 128k streams... meh. 192 is tolerable, 320 is more like it. OTOH, a good CD (for example, one from Telarc) always sounds *X*awesome*X*, and will for decades, perhaps longer.
Maybe my standards are just head and shoulders too high, but that's why *I* am still not all hepped up on streaming.
Your incorrect dictionary definition aside, the problem is the anecdote often is of this form:
"I was taken by the aliens, and the anal probing was profound"
"We prayed, and it cured her!"
"...and the Chupacabra brought the baby back in its teeth -- that's how I knew it was Jebus!"
Anecdotes are often *presented* as true, but in fact are not. If your dictionary definition accounted for this, it would be accurate. As it is, it is misleading.
Wikipedia's information about atheism sure isn't. It's a hip-deep morass of misconception, finger-pointing, and utter nonsense. Even the etymology is incorrect. Doesn't inspire much confidence in how it treats superstition such as Christianity, Islam or Judaism, I'll tell you that.
Perhaps they needed sugar. :)
So, your point was to disarm, defuse, smear and blur not-a-myth?
No wonder you wrote:
"Smearing and blurring a myth does not do any good. You want to disarm or defuse it."
Yes. This is why everyone should be able to cook up bio-warfare weapons in their basement, right next to the family fission devices, the latest in torture racks, and the fully automated slave quarters.
Oh, wait. Your starry-eyed blathering completely ignores the fact that some technologies are harmful. Some are even extremely harmful. Never mind.