ethics, science and morals (Score:4, Interesting) by rjamestaylor (117847) Alter Relationship on Thursday January 31, @02:46PM (#22250730) Homepage What do the candidates say about these subjects?
US citizens... do you know?
Know what?
I know Obama's sexy and Romney's pretty easy on the eyes? Think they'll run together?
This has probably been said before but it seems to me that one fact is becoming more and more clear: Anything the U.S. Government cannot control directly or indirectly through a foreign government or ally, must be, by default, illegal.
It's worrying to hear about people in other countries being indicted under American law for things that weren't committed here and weren't illegal in their own countries. It's worrying to hear about a lady making money off Ebay, targeted, not for not paying her taxes, but for not paying the right sort of fee for her type of business to some government agency. I can't quite get over the fact that the U.S. Government and large corporations of the U.S. feel that they are entitled to some special sovereignty over the remainder of the planet. That they are entitled to enforce rules, but not play by them if it suits their own interests.
Still, playing tit for tat, doesn't necessarily wash with me either.
I typically follow the RIAA/ MPAA discussions here on Slashdot pretty thoroughly, despite the fact, or maybe because of the fact, that they turn up so frequently.
I'm starting to see this argument through a different lens. I know there have been many analogies and maybe this one is flawed but I picture a newspaper vending machine.
It's full to the brim and I actually have the money to put in. But a stranger comes along and although he has the money, he asks me just to hand him a paper. I've already got the machine open and the papers are there for the taking. Do I hand him one, or do I shut the door and make him get his own with his own money. Should I take an extra one for my mother or my sister? We could share one but why should we when we can each have our own.
It's really a matter of honesty, unless a policeman comes along and sees me take an extra paper and guesses what is happening. But the truth is, unless I close the door, someone will have gotten something that they didn't pay for.
Now we can say it's the fault of the newspaper people. They should know better than to trust people not to take more than one paper. And in truth, I happen to know that they instruct their delivery people to take extras from a paper machine if they run out or if part of their shipment is damaged. Despite the fact that those papers are going to paying customers, am I really hurting the newspaper by taking an extra copy or two for myself.
What if go the extra mile? Let's say I have a store...and I decide to give out complimentary papers to my customers. But the way I do it is by taking extra copies from the newspaper vending machines after only paying for one. I'm not making any money off of it. I'm giving it away. How does this hurt the newspaper companies.
I don't know. Despite the fact that I love the idea of getting free music - I can't help but realize that any time I would happen to get a song for free from the internet, it's something I did not pay for and therefore, should not belong to me. I also feel that it is something that the creator of the materials did expect to get compensated for.
This was not my original position on downloading music. I felt that if the creators couldn't protect it, then tough shit. But laws are meant to protect people, and yes things, that people can't protect themselves.
So, until such time as I can reconcile this with myself, I have decided to simply not support any RIAA/ MPAA materials. I don't buy them and I certainly don't download them.
I will simply do without. I don't think they can pass a law that forces me to buy from them, now can they?
From the video: We are cognizant of the many who may decry our methods as parallel to the Church of Scientology. Those who espouse the obvious truth that your organization will use the actions of Anonymous as an example of the persecution of which you have for so long forewarned your followers. This is acceptable to Anonymous. In fact,it is encouraged.
Damn. Kind of wraps the Borg's "Resistance is Futile" and Bush Jr.'s "Bring It On" in an ominious, yet tidy little anti-scientology message doesn't it?
I've had a couple of friends who "converted" to scientology and they completely shun anyone and everyone they were ever associated with including their parents now. It's very sad to see how isolated and fearful they've become.
I for one hope that this isn't a hoax. I'd never participate in something like this, but when I think of what my friends used to be and what they are now - and how Scientology seems to be this insidious organization that has used and abused so many - I can't help but hope that Anonymous, if serious, will succeed.
Duke Energy in my area (Cincinnati, OH) is asking customers to voluntarily sign up for this with the incentive being saving money off their astronomically high service bill. They call it Power Manager.
A local city blog, The Cincinnati Beacon covered it from a Big Brother standpoint but I can't think of a piece of information they don't have about me already. A commenter on the site said the same thing.
Hell, they're in control of our households anyhow. They know when you're there, when you watch tv, curl your hair, surf the internet, pretty much all by your usuage. If you have service with them, they have your name, ss# and personal info, credit report and all the details of your financial life at their disposal. If you work for them, they also get your pee on demand, guilty of drug use or not, an extra special background check and your solemn promise to barely mention that you work there, let alone anything you might actually see or do. I don't like it but the few dollars in savings is tempting. A few minutes of turning off the air conditioner seems trivial in comparison to what they already have on us.
Word, since Office 2000 will not let you type in "toggle case", meaning typing with the caps lock key on. After one sentence it turns off your caps lock.
Yes, but what if you don't like the "new" version because it is hideously, horribly, sadly, terrbily sloooowwww? Not to mention, ugly, clunky an the ads are more intrusive, even using Firefox and Adblock. I really, really hate that Outlook clone and I don't find it fun to use at all.
If I wanted Outlook, I would use Outlook. I don't. I want simple mail and if they can put the little paper clip thing in the "new" version, it makes no sense that they can't do it with "old" version. That and too much spam are my only detractors for the "old" version.
Insert - I've never had a use for "write over mode." Has anyone?
Yes. There are times where "Change Case" won't do. Like when I was doing Christmas labels last month. Some of the labels were in all caps but I didn't want to send them out that way.
Example: Roger Smith ACME Corpation 12345 Business Lane, Ste. C PNRC 1234-567890 New York, NY 10111
When using word, these are my "Change Case" options: Sentence case. lowercase UPPERCASE Title Case tOGGLE cASE
As you can see, none of these options will do. And instead of retyping the labels from a list, it's easier just to type over because the information is right there, just not in the format I wanted.
Now tOGGLE cASE, to me, is a worse than useless option. I simply cannot fathom why someone would want to use that.
The other night, I dreamed that I misjudged a car exit and drove through a rail, over an embankment and into a river. As the river got closer, the water turned the color and consistency of Google Earth water when you get too close and just as I submerged, my car bounced back out again and onto the road (just like Neo in the jump program). I was soaking wet, but otherwise unharmed.
I don't think my brain was trying to prepare me for this type of emergency. I think it's more likely that I've seen the Matrix one time too many, that I just started a new gig where part of my job is to find aerial views of properties on Google Earth and that I'm from Ohio where 6 people from my home state died in an accident where a bus went over an overpass? And I kept watching Bourne 2 before Bourne 3 came out, a movie where a car dives into water.
I think dreams are made of the total of our experiences. Our "weirder" dreams are our experiences combined with our imagination's flights of fancy, our experiences and our more subtle observations - things that may not register when we see them, but are still lodged in our memories - like people only remembering a license plate number through hypnosis.
Makes me a tiny bit sad because the first URL I ever sneaked to from work was star trek.com. I didn't know anything else to type in. I remember keeping a URL notebook and every time I saw one, I'd write it down and go to that site...imagine trying to do something like that now....
My how my life has changed since then....
The again, maybe not...it's 5 pm EST and I'm sneaking a last peak at Slashdot before heading home.
I don't think they have much to worry about. There isn't a store in my area that can keep them in stock. I wanted to buy two for Christmas and still haven't been able to locally.
It's kind of a pain. For once I have the cash, but there are none to be had. At least market rate cash, I refuse to pay $800 bucks on Ebay - my "kid" is a teen - she can wait until after Christmas if need be.
But it would be nice to be able to give her one on Christmas Day. If I was the kind of person who did my Christmas Shopping in October, I could have, but the Wii has been MIA around these parts (Greater Cincinnati) except for random odd shipments since well before Black Friday. Unless you're sending out teams at 5 am to every big box store, you're not getting one.
Does anyone still go to Gamestop caring what one of their reviewers think of a game? Or IGN or Gamespy or any of those places? What do I care what one guy who is trying to play through a game on a deadline thinks about it?
I am a mother and an aunt. When shopping for Chrismas and birthday gifts, I rely heavily on online reviews. FYI, when typing "Halo 3, review" into Google, IGN's review is the first return and GameSpy is further down the page.
This fiasco reminds me of when I was shopping for a low end color laser printer. I found each "professional" review to be a shade too neutral. Any "cons" were always minor in comparison to the "pros" and I quickly learned to not only check more than one site, but also to check consumer reviews, not just professional ones.
I suppose, I would apply what I learned from printer shopping to game shopping, but I still think it's a shame that anyone should be fired for simply doing their job - giving their honest rating.
Even so, I don't see why I should expect the reviewer integrity of any such gaming magazine, online or in print, to be any less credible than my sewing or desktop publishing mags. Regardless of who they are or what they are reviewing, they are purporting their opinions and reviews to be accurate and honest. As a matter of fact, considering that I am less knowledgeable regarding gamer culture, I would be more apt to believe a review than someone who frequents the site regularly, is aware of all the back story and that the results of review may be skewed based on advertising revenue.
It's not just regular readers and gamers who are affected. People should expect, and get, honesty in reporting (reviewing) whether it's the latest game review or the NYT.
Seems like people are being shortchanged everywhere.
The only flaw I see in this plan is the quotient of people who will "Suffer in Relative Silence".
The silence is relative because while they may not lodge a complaint with Amazon, they will inevitably complain to everyone from their hairdresser to their dog about how awful the service was and how long it took for them to get this book back they really wanted online. The loss of sales through word of mouth can be exponential.
Also, I fear that Amazon will never be able to predict, reliably, how important a particular purchase may be to a customer, even based on past history. Out of my last 100 orders where I didn't care, this may be the one time I really want an item quickly. And if they have it somewhere filed that even though I may pay for overnight, two days is actually ok...well it only takes one incident like this before I stop being their customer.
I haven't ordered from Amazon in a long time but I have several reviews there priding them on their stellar service. I only hope it continues long into the future.
Not long ago, in another thread someone asked the question: What is the threshold where people should start to take-up arms?
My reply: We passed that threshold long ago.
I do not obsess about what I am modded however when I was looking over some past journal entries I noticed that this comment had been marked neither up nor down, neither troll nor interesting, neither wheat nor chaff.
It was merely left alone.
We are already living in tyranny. We are cowed by our government and we are afraid. They should be afraid of the people but they are not. And there are so may questions...
Is anyone really considering the unthinkable? Have a we reached the point where diplomacy between the American people and the government is nonexistent? Has our government really reached the point of no return where a revisit to 1776 is inevitable? Will we be thrown into Gitmo or some other secret prison for even publicly typing such a thought as considering revolution against the current government?
Will it take an armed citizenry? Are we even an armed citizenry anymore? What about out all those gun laws? I suspect that among the Slashdot crowd, more of us own iPhones than weapons. Oh, I'm sure there will be a few us who posture to the contrary about the weapons we've owned and the training we've had, but even I, who was once in the army, own not a single firearm.
If the revolution began today, I would not be ready. Would you?
What revolution? The real revolution. Not just of thoughts and ideas and industrialism and technology. The one that protects our rights to those things; and our right to have our lives bettered by them, not controlled by them. Rights that have been encroached on for far too long by every institution we've trusted from Government to Google.
I say again that it is long past time. The only thing to do now, is take it underground and get ready. Soon. And if I never post again, then the NSA got me and it's really past time.
Come help.
'Eventually, Shirky theorizes, society will have to create a space that's implicitly private even though it's technically public, not unlike a personal conversation held on a public street.
Reminds of a sitcom episode - I think Boy Meets World or Growing Pains. No it was Blossom.
Joey, Blossom's goofy brother, gets caught cheating on a test. So he spends all this time trying to find undetectable ways to cheat. He finally decides to hide the answers in the one place only he can look and that the teachers can't see - in his mind.
We are perfectly capable of keeping things private if we choose to do so. The problem I have is when other people give up their privacy, or maybe even a piece of their privacy - and that is used as an argument for that person to surrender their remaining privacy or for everyone else to surrender their privacy as well.
We all have the right to determine what is private for ourselves.
From the article:
Being a bunch of fucking pussies who are to scared to even remotely appear that we condone her behavior, lest we lose our spot at the next White House Correspondence dinner, we must note that Comcast pressed charges against her anyway completely their trifecta fuck over of their lost customer. Big Business and Law Enforcement are never wrong and must always prevail.
Heil Cheney.
What is the threshold where people should start to take-up arms?
We passed that threshold long ago.
France rioted because their government wanted to make it easier to fire people and give less vacation time. Americans have allowed the very foundations of our Constitution to be distorted and so very much else to pass and we still have yet to do anything more than march or carry and a sign. And why is that?
Well two reasons.
First is divide and conquer. Racism and bigotry. Rich versus poor. Geek versus Joe Six Pack. Working Mom versus Stay at Home Mom.
We allow all these idiotic labels to come between who we are. We are so busy cataloging the enemy that we forget we are all in this together.
We must never forget the stupidity that got us into this mess. Bush promised that Americans would be the overlords with all our smarts and tech and the natural inclination to rule (Whiteness). All the other countries would have to bow to our superiority and if they didn't, well we always had military superiority and could "shock and awe" them into doing what we wanted.
And we found out that people in other countries are just as smart as we are and smarter. And that military superiority doesn't mean an automatic win. And that you can only bomb people for so long before the "shock and awe" wears off and they fight back. And they are pissed.
Secondly, Because we are afraid. I am afraid.
We know that our phones are being tapped, our email is being read, that our homes can be 'sneak-and-peek' searched and we would never know. That anything we read at the library or search on Google, Yahoo or MSN will most definitely be held against us in a court of law. We can't even drive without our tags being randomly searched and anyone with OnStar can be heard or traced. Our homes and the homes of our family and friends are easily found with a simple search so even if we strike out on our on, our nearest and dearest can easily suffer.
And once we are detained, we can be held for as long as the government says we must be held and we can be tortured and we simply have no rights to be treated anywhere near human anymore. We see the war against "them" and we know that it really wouldn't be that hard for us to be put in the same situation...that our government might not have a problem turning on it's own people.
We are afraid. We live in fear. And the fact that we go to work every day and come home and maybe go to the movies or post on slashdot or watch "reality" TV - some this keeps us believing that there we are still free - that Democracy, truth, justice and the American way have prevailed.
But those ideals have not prevailed. We have failed them and the result is that we are now living under the tyranny of the White House.
No amount of voting or peaceful demonstration will stop them now. Nothing short of full scale revolution will allow us to take our country back and undo the damage we have done to others.
We must admit our mistakes. We must hold our government accountable.
It is long past time that we take up arms and defend the true American way from those who would rob us of our dignity, cower us in fear and divide us against each other.
Problem is, only the gang bangers and the government have guns.
The guy and his friends, as a group, have been almost unbelievable. What is even worse, is that on the rebound, a lot of people might actually think that voting for Hillary is a good idea. (shudder)
My mother, unfortunately is one of those people. She simply cannot see how Hillary has changed from her days as first lady to the Cheney Lite drone she is today. There are many people who don't see this and it is indeed frightening.
As for giving GWB a blowjob....*sigh* I suppose I've given blowjobs for a lot less than the end of tyranny so I guess if you get him alone and hold him down, I'll take one for the geek world team, but damn, I expect a lifetime of free mp3's in return. I'd be an mp3 gazillionaire at MPAA rates.
I have this whole life I live, it seems, only in my head.
From my soundless, infrequent posts on Slashdot to my muted cheers of victory while playing Yahoo Graffiti, I never realize that there are somethings I never say out loud. Words like Slashdot, Wikipedia, Voldemort, even my own blog name, have virtually no place IRL for me.
To hear others speak those words aloud (the only one to do so regularly is Stephen Colbert) is always a jarring experience but there is always a small, silent feeling of hope that one day my life online and my RL world will be bridged.
So, money or no, I think I may throw a Slashdot party of my own. To speak aloud and be brave enough to share, finally, what the last five years of near-lurking here have taught me.
1. Censorship is always wrong and useless.
2. There's always more than one way to do something - explore the possibilities - and they are endless - preferably with as many of your geek friends as possible. Bring beer.
3. Posting your cell phone number on Slashdot, surprisingly, will only get you replies for your furniture and nothing more.
4. Know when the simplest solution is the best solution - and know how to convince your clueless boss when you're right.
5. Cowboy Neal is always the best answer to any poll.
6. Microsoft is not always wrong but mostly they are.
7. Google used to be cool but now they are scary.
8. Linux and other open source resources should never be dismissed out of hand but bring their own brand of headaches.
9. Never leave home without at towel.
10. Information is a powerful tool. Use it often, well and wisely.
Slashdot Mirror
ethics, science and morals (Score:4, Interesting)
... do you know?
by rjamestaylor (117847) Alter Relationship on Thursday January 31, @02:46PM (#22250730) Homepage
What do the candidates say about these subjects?
US citizens
Know what?
I know Obama's sexy and Romney's pretty easy on the eyes? Think they'll run together?
And how much have we spent on the war?
Everything we need to fix seems small in comparison to that.
Bloody hell - why is html formatted now the default when it used to be plain old text! Sorry for the monstrously huge one paragraph post.
This has probably been said before but it seems to me that one fact is becoming more and more clear: Anything the U.S. Government cannot control directly or indirectly through a foreign government or ally, must be, by default, illegal. It's worrying to hear about people in other countries being indicted under American law for things that weren't committed here and weren't illegal in their own countries. It's worrying to hear about a lady making money off Ebay, targeted, not for not paying her taxes, but for not paying the right sort of fee for her type of business to some government agency. I can't quite get over the fact that the U.S. Government and large corporations of the U.S. feel that they are entitled to some special sovereignty over the remainder of the planet. That they are entitled to enforce rules, but not play by them if it suits their own interests. Still, playing tit for tat, doesn't necessarily wash with me either. I typically follow the RIAA/ MPAA discussions here on Slashdot pretty thoroughly, despite the fact, or maybe because of the fact, that they turn up so frequently. I'm starting to see this argument through a different lens. I know there have been many analogies and maybe this one is flawed but I picture a newspaper vending machine. It's full to the brim and I actually have the money to put in. But a stranger comes along and although he has the money, he asks me just to hand him a paper. I've already got the machine open and the papers are there for the taking. Do I hand him one, or do I shut the door and make him get his own with his own money. Should I take an extra one for my mother or my sister? We could share one but why should we when we can each have our own. It's really a matter of honesty, unless a policeman comes along and sees me take an extra paper and guesses what is happening. But the truth is, unless I close the door, someone will have gotten something that they didn't pay for. Now we can say it's the fault of the newspaper people. They should know better than to trust people not to take more than one paper. And in truth, I happen to know that they instruct their delivery people to take extras from a paper machine if they run out or if part of their shipment is damaged. Despite the fact that those papers are going to paying customers, am I really hurting the newspaper by taking an extra copy or two for myself. What if go the extra mile? Let's say I have a store...and I decide to give out complimentary papers to my customers. But the way I do it is by taking extra copies from the newspaper vending machines after only paying for one. I'm not making any money off of it. I'm giving it away. How does this hurt the newspaper companies. I don't know. Despite the fact that I love the idea of getting free music - I can't help but realize that any time I would happen to get a song for free from the internet, it's something I did not pay for and therefore, should not belong to me. I also feel that it is something that the creator of the materials did expect to get compensated for. This was not my original position on downloading music. I felt that if the creators couldn't protect it, then tough shit. But laws are meant to protect people, and yes things, that people can't protect themselves. So, until such time as I can reconcile this with myself, I have decided to simply not support any RIAA/ MPAA materials. I don't buy them and I certainly don't download them. I will simply do without. I don't think they can pass a law that forces me to buy from them, now can they?
Tell that to the people building the Jedi Church.
From the video:
We are cognizant of the many who may decry our methods as parallel to the Church of Scientology. Those who espouse the obvious truth that your organization will use the actions of Anonymous as an example of the persecution of which you have for so long forewarned your followers. This is acceptable to Anonymous. In fact,it is encouraged.
Damn. Kind of wraps the Borg's "Resistance is Futile" and Bush Jr.'s "Bring It On" in an ominious, yet tidy little anti-scientology message doesn't it?
I've had a couple of friends who "converted" to scientology and they completely shun anyone and everyone they were ever associated with including their parents now. It's very sad to see how isolated and fearful they've become.
I for one hope that this isn't a hoax. I'd never participate in something like this, but when I think of what my friends used to be and what they are now - and how Scientology seems to be this insidious organization that has used and abused so many - I can't help but hope that Anonymous, if serious, will succeed.
...I would free the slaves.
A local city blog, The Cincinnati Beacon covered it from a Big Brother standpoint but I can't think of a piece of information they don't have about me already. A commenter on the site said the same thing.
Hell, they're in control of our households anyhow. They know when you're there, when you watch tv, curl your hair, surf the internet, pretty much all by your usuage. If you have service with them, they have your name, ss# and personal info, credit report and all the details of your financial life at their disposal. If you work for them, they also get your pee on demand, guilty of drug use or not, an extra special background check and your solemn promise to barely mention that you work there, let alone anything you might actually see or do. I don't like it but the few dollars in savings is tempting. A few minutes of turning off the air conditioner seems trivial in comparison to what they already have on us.
Word, since Office 2000 will not let you type in "toggle case", meaning typing with the caps lock key on. After one sentence it turns off your caps lock.
If you have 2000 or later, try it.
Yes, but what if you don't like the "new" version because it is hideously, horribly, sadly, terrbily sloooowwww? Not to mention, ugly, clunky an the ads are more intrusive, even using Firefox and Adblock. I really, really hate that Outlook clone and I don't find it fun to use at all.
If I wanted Outlook, I would use Outlook. I don't. I want simple mail and if they can put the little paper clip thing in the "new" version, it makes no sense that they can't do it with "old" version. That and too much spam are my only detractors for the "old" version.
Insert - I've never had a use for "write over mode." Has anyone?
Yes. There are times where "Change Case" won't do. Like when I was doing Christmas labels last month. Some of the labels were in all caps but I didn't want to send them out that way.
Example:
Roger Smith
ACME Corpation
12345 Business Lane, Ste. C
PNRC 1234-567890
New York, NY 10111
When using word, these are my "Change Case" options:
Sentence case.
lowercase
UPPERCASE
Title Case
tOGGLE cASE
As you can see, none of these options will do. And instead of retyping the labels from a list, it's easier just to type over because the information is right there, just not in the format I wanted.
Now tOGGLE cASE, to me, is a worse than useless option. I simply cannot fathom why someone would want to use that.
They could start by letting your sort by which emails have attachments and which ones don't without doing a search first.
The other night, I dreamed that I misjudged a car exit and drove through a rail, over an embankment and into a river. As the river got closer, the water turned the color and consistency of Google Earth water when you get too close and just as I submerged, my car bounced back out again and onto the road (just like Neo in the jump program). I was soaking wet, but otherwise unharmed. I don't think my brain was trying to prepare me for this type of emergency. I think it's more likely that I've seen the Matrix one time too many, that I just started a new gig where part of my job is to find aerial views of properties on Google Earth and that I'm from Ohio where 6 people from my home state died in an accident where a bus went over an overpass? And I kept watching Bourne 2 before Bourne 3 came out, a movie where a car dives into water. I think dreams are made of the total of our experiences. Our "weirder" dreams are our experiences combined with our imagination's flights of fancy, our experiences and our more subtle observations - things that may not register when we see them, but are still lodged in our memories - like people only remembering a license plate number through hypnosis.
Makes me a tiny bit sad because the first URL I ever sneaked to from work was star trek.com. I didn't know anything else to type in. I remember keeping a URL notebook and every time I saw one, I'd write it down and go to that site...imagine trying to do something like that now....
My how my life has changed since then....
The again, maybe not...it's 5 pm EST and I'm sneaking a last peak at Slashdot before heading home.
I don't think they have much to worry about. There isn't a store in my area that can keep them in stock. I wanted to buy two for Christmas and still haven't been able to locally. It's kind of a pain. For once I have the cash, but there are none to be had. At least market rate cash, I refuse to pay $800 bucks on Ebay - my "kid" is a teen - she can wait until after Christmas if need be. But it would be nice to be able to give her one on Christmas Day. If I was the kind of person who did my Christmas Shopping in October, I could have, but the Wii has been MIA around these parts (Greater Cincinnati) except for random odd shipments since well before Black Friday. Unless you're sending out teams at 5 am to every big box store, you're not getting one.
Does anyone still go to Gamestop caring what one of their reviewers think of a game? Or IGN or Gamespy or any of those places? What do I care what one guy who is trying to play through a game on a deadline thinks about it?
I am a mother and an aunt. When shopping for Chrismas and birthday gifts, I rely heavily on online reviews. FYI, when typing "Halo 3, review" into Google, IGN's review is the first return and GameSpy is further down the page.
This fiasco reminds me of when I was shopping for a low end color laser printer. I found each "professional" review to be a shade too neutral. Any "cons" were always minor in comparison to the "pros" and I quickly learned to not only check more than one site, but also to check consumer reviews, not just professional ones.
I suppose, I would apply what I learned from printer shopping to game shopping, but I still think it's a shame that anyone should be fired for simply doing their job - giving their honest rating.
Even so, I don't see why I should expect the reviewer integrity of any such gaming magazine, online or in print, to be any less credible than my sewing or desktop publishing mags. Regardless of who they are or what they are reviewing, they are purporting their opinions and reviews to be accurate and honest. As a matter of fact, considering that I am less knowledgeable regarding gamer culture, I would be more apt to believe a review than someone who frequents the site regularly, is aware of all the back story and that the results of review may be skewed based on advertising revenue.
It's not just regular readers and gamers who are affected. People should expect, and get, honesty in reporting (reviewing) whether it's the latest game review or the NYT.
Seems like people are being shortchanged everywhere.
The only flaw I see in this plan is the quotient of people who will "Suffer in Relative Silence". The silence is relative because while they may not lodge a complaint with Amazon, they will inevitably complain to everyone from their hairdresser to their dog about how awful the service was and how long it took for them to get this book back they really wanted online. The loss of sales through word of mouth can be exponential. Also, I fear that Amazon will never be able to predict, reliably, how important a particular purchase may be to a customer, even based on past history. Out of my last 100 orders where I didn't care, this may be the one time I really want an item quickly. And if they have it somewhere filed that even though I may pay for overnight, two days is actually ok...well it only takes one incident like this before I stop being their customer. I haven't ordered from Amazon in a long time but I have several reviews there priding them on their stellar service. I only hope it continues long into the future.
The Naked Man Story (from my friend's blog).
Not long ago, in another thread someone asked the question: What is the threshold where people should start to take-up arms? My reply: We passed that threshold long ago. I do not obsess about what I am modded however when I was looking over some past journal entries I noticed that this comment had been marked neither up nor down, neither troll nor interesting, neither wheat nor chaff. It was merely left alone. We are already living in tyranny. We are cowed by our government and we are afraid. They should be afraid of the people but they are not. And there are so may questions... Is anyone really considering the unthinkable? Have a we reached the point where diplomacy between the American people and the government is nonexistent? Has our government really reached the point of no return where a revisit to 1776 is inevitable? Will we be thrown into Gitmo or some other secret prison for even publicly typing such a thought as considering revolution against the current government? Will it take an armed citizenry? Are we even an armed citizenry anymore? What about out all those gun laws? I suspect that among the Slashdot crowd, more of us own iPhones than weapons. Oh, I'm sure there will be a few us who posture to the contrary about the weapons we've owned and the training we've had, but even I, who was once in the army, own not a single firearm. If the revolution began today, I would not be ready. Would you? What revolution? The real revolution. Not just of thoughts and ideas and industrialism and technology. The one that protects our rights to those things; and our right to have our lives bettered by them, not controlled by them. Rights that have been encroached on for far too long by every institution we've trusted from Government to Google. I say again that it is long past time. The only thing to do now, is take it underground and get ready. Soon. And if I never post again, then the NSA got me and it's really past time. Come help.
'Eventually, Shirky theorizes, society will have to create a space that's implicitly private even though it's technically public, not unlike a personal conversation held on a public street. Reminds of a sitcom episode - I think Boy Meets World or Growing Pains. No it was Blossom. Joey, Blossom's goofy brother, gets caught cheating on a test. So he spends all this time trying to find undetectable ways to cheat. He finally decides to hide the answers in the one place only he can look and that the teachers can't see - in his mind. We are perfectly capable of keeping things private if we choose to do so. The problem I have is when other people give up their privacy, or maybe even a piece of their privacy - and that is used as an argument for that person to surrender their remaining privacy or for everyone else to surrender their privacy as well. We all have the right to determine what is private for ourselves.
From the article: Being a bunch of fucking pussies who are to scared to even remotely appear that we condone her behavior, lest we lose our spot at the next White House Correspondence dinner, we must note that Comcast pressed charges against her anyway completely their trifecta fuck over of their lost customer. Big Business and Law Enforcement are never wrong and must always prevail. Heil Cheney.
What is the threshold where people should start to take-up arms?
We passed that threshold long ago.
France rioted because their government wanted to make it easier to fire people and give less vacation time. Americans have allowed the very foundations of our Constitution to be distorted and so very much else to pass and we still have yet to do anything more than march or carry and a sign. And why is that?
Well two reasons.
First is divide and conquer. Racism and bigotry. Rich versus poor. Geek versus Joe Six Pack. Working Mom versus Stay at Home Mom.
We allow all these idiotic labels to come between who we are. We are so busy cataloging the enemy that we forget we are all in this together.
We must never forget the stupidity that got us into this mess. Bush promised that Americans would be the overlords with all our smarts and tech and the natural inclination to rule (Whiteness). All the other countries would have to bow to our superiority and if they didn't, well we always had military superiority and could "shock and awe" them into doing what we wanted.
And we found out that people in other countries are just as smart as we are and smarter. And that military superiority doesn't mean an automatic win. And that you can only bomb people for so long before the "shock and awe" wears off and they fight back. And they are pissed.
Secondly, Because we are afraid. I am afraid.
We know that our phones are being tapped, our email is being read, that our homes can be 'sneak-and-peek' searched and we would never know. That anything we read at the library or search on Google, Yahoo or MSN will most definitely be held against us in a court of law. We can't even drive without our tags being randomly searched and anyone with OnStar can be heard or traced. Our homes and the homes of our family and friends are easily found with a simple search so even if we strike out on our on, our nearest and dearest can easily suffer.
And once we are detained, we can be held for as long as the government says we must be held and we can be tortured and we simply have no rights to be treated anywhere near human anymore. We see the war against "them" and we know that it really wouldn't be that hard for us to be put in the same situation...that our government might not have a problem turning on it's own people.
We are afraid. We live in fear. And the fact that we go to work every day and come home and maybe go to the movies or post on slashdot or watch "reality" TV - some this keeps us believing that there we are still free - that Democracy, truth, justice and the American way have prevailed.
But those ideals have not prevailed. We have failed them and the result is that we are now living under the tyranny of the White House.
No amount of voting or peaceful demonstration will stop them now. Nothing short of full scale revolution will allow us to take our country back and undo the damage we have done to others.
We must admit our mistakes. We must hold our government accountable.
It is long past time that we take up arms and defend the true American way from those who would rob us of our dignity, cower us in fear and divide us against each other.
Problem is, only the gang bangers and the government have guns.
The guy and his friends, as a group, have been almost unbelievable. What is even worse, is that on the rebound, a lot of people might actually think that voting for Hillary is a good idea. (shudder)
....*sigh* I suppose I've given blowjobs for a lot less than the end of tyranny so I guess if you get him alone and hold him down, I'll take one for the geek world team, but damn, I expect a lifetime of free mp3's in return. I'd be an mp3 gazillionaire at MPAA rates.
My mother, unfortunately is one of those people. She simply cannot see how Hillary has changed from her days as first lady to the Cheney Lite drone she is today. There are many people who don't see this and it is indeed frightening.
As for giving GWB a blowjob
I have this whole life I live, it seems, only in my head.
From my soundless, infrequent posts on Slashdot to my muted cheers of victory while playing Yahoo Graffiti, I never realize that there are somethings I never say out loud. Words like Slashdot, Wikipedia, Voldemort, even my own blog name, have virtually no place IRL for me.
To hear others speak those words aloud (the only one to do so regularly is Stephen Colbert) is always a jarring experience but there is always a small, silent feeling of hope that one day my life online and my RL world will be bridged.
So, money or no, I think I may throw a Slashdot party of my own. To speak aloud and be brave enough to share, finally, what the last five years of near-lurking here have taught me.
1. Censorship is always wrong and useless.
2. There's always more than one way to do something - explore the possibilities - and they are endless - preferably with as many of your geek friends as possible. Bring beer.
3. Posting your cell phone number on Slashdot, surprisingly, will only get you replies for your furniture and nothing more.
4. Know when the simplest solution is the best solution - and know how to convince your clueless boss when you're right.
5. Cowboy Neal is always the best answer to any poll.
6. Microsoft is not always wrong but mostly they are.
7. Google used to be cool but now they are scary.
8. Linux and other open source resources should never be dismissed out of hand but bring their own brand of headaches.
9. Never leave home without at towel.
10. Information is a powerful tool. Use it often, well and wisely.
Live long and prosper Slashdot.
I find this common highly underrated, especially step 4, and do not have the mod points to say so.