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User: GumphMaster

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  1. Re:Why do we bother with the barbarians? on Saudi Justice: 10 Years and 2,000 Lashes For Internet Video of Naked Dancing · · Score: 1

    In response to the assertion:

    The criminal justice system in the West is formed entirely from norms formed from its Judeo-Christian history.

    came the challenge:

    Show me a Western country that has a criminal justice system remotely resembling Leviticus.

    My point is that even a casual reading of Leviticus shows that laws in effect in the majority of Western countries derive directly from norms represented by the "laws" in Leviticus (and by extension elsewhere in Judeo-Christian literature such as Exodus 20). Heinous "crimes" in Leviticus were met with a death penalty, just some western countries do today. Lesser "crimes" in Leviticus attract lesser punishments, just as in western criminal justice systems. Even the nature of some of the crimes is preserved in modern western criminal justice systems.

  2. Re:Liars, liars, pants on fire on Guardian Ignores MI5 Warnings, Vows To 'Publish More Snowden Leaks' · · Score: 1

    McCarthyism is synonymous with hypocrisy in my mind. You have individuals (McCarthy, Hoover and others) abusing their position to stifle opposing political ideologies (or sexual inclinations) by fear, threat and intimidation, all the while professing to be upholding the US Constitution and its attendant freedoms of speech and assemblage. Sharing political leanings with the far left is not a crime, so the State Department being rife with communist sympathizers should be a non-issue. Espionage is a crime and fair game for investigation of those you have reasonable grounds to investigate. However, investigating homosexuals looking for commie spies is classic witch-hunt.

    Fast forward to 2013, substitute "terrorist" for "communist"...

  3. Re:Proof on Some Bing Ads Redirecting To Malware · · Score: 1

    From my Slashdot page:

    Disable Advertising [X]
    As our way of thanking you for your positive contributions to Slashdot, you are eligible to disable advertising.

    So, being "gramps" has its advantages you Johnny-come-lately ageist git.

  4. Re:Why do we bother with the barbarians? on Saudi Justice: 10 Years and 2,000 Lashes For Internet Video of Naked Dancing · · Score: 1

    Since you have chosen to cherry-pick a single book from the pre-Christian era, conveniently excluding the ten commandments, I feel quite entitled to cherry-pick a response. I will even voluntarily exclude the State of Israel as "Western."

    All from Levtiticus:

    • 18:6. No one is to approach any close relative to have sexual relations. Most of Ch18 deals with topics around this. Prohibitions against incest exist in most Western societies.
    • 19:11. Do not steal, lie, or deceive one another. The basis of theft, perjury and fraud offences present in almost every nation on Earth.
    • 19:13. Do not hold back the wages of a hired worker overnight. A fair day's pay for a fair day's work is part of Western nation's laws and has been for a long time.
    • 19:15. Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly. This expresses impartiallity in the justice system, a big part of Western law.
    • 19:16. Do not go about spreading slander among your people. Libel and slander laws in Western countries.
    • 19:16. Do not do anything that endangers your neighbor’s life. Reckless endangerment and similar laws in Western countries.
    • 19:29 Do not degrade your daughter by making her a prostitute. Child prostitution laws in Western countries.
    • 19:30. Observe my Sabbaths and have reverence for my sanctuary. Different trading laws for Sundays in most Western countries. The basis of protection for churches, temples, synagogues, mosques and the like in the Geneva Conventions Protocol 1 Article 53. See also Lev 23:3.
    • 19:35. Do not use dishonest standards when measuring length, weight or quantity. The basis of trading laws the world over.
    • 20:10 If a man commits adultery with another man’s wife—with the wife of his neighbor—both the adulterer and the adulteress are to be put to death. The penalty has changed (life imprisonment in Michigan!) but adultery is still illegal in about half of US States.
    • 20:13. If a man has sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. Sodomy has only relatively recently dropped off criminal law in many Western countries but remains illegal in good few Caribbean countries.
    • 24:17. Anyone who takes the life of a human being is to be put to death. This is universally a crime and some Western states even have the same penalty.
    • There are many offences in Leviticus that attract a death penalty. Granted, few of these are offences in Western nations any longer, and certainly not under penalty of death. Most of Leviticus is over-the-top or superseded in modern Western societies but that does not discount it entirely.

  5. Re:Technology at its finest on Azerbaijan Election Results Released Before Voting Had Even Started · · Score: 2

    Australia already has electronic voting in ACT elections (http://www.elections.act.gov.au/elections_and_voting/electronic_voting_and_counting) and it has been trialled elsewhere. The source for ACT elections is available for those so inclined.

  6. Re:Faraday Cage on In Room With No Cell Service, Verizon Works On Future of Mobile · · Score: 1

    I studied your pix and was intrigued by one that seemed out of place... In six months, when Verizon shuts down the innovation centre after if fails to return 1 bajillion dollars for every thousand poured in, they could rent the room to this lady: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2236215/Woman-51-spends-15-hours-day-a-Faraday-cage-claims-intolerant-modern-technology.html At least then she'll have what is likely to be a real Faraday cage.

  7. Re:I'm ready to replace Make on GNU Make 4.0 Released · · Score: 1

    Baroque: "extravagantly ornate, florid, and convoluted in character or style," not unlike the architectural style of the same name. Seems fitting for at least some Makefile instances I have seen.

  8. Re:payroll cards on The Ridiculous Tech Fees You're Still Paying · · Score: 1

    These cards are issued to minimum-wage employees that can't get bank accounts (because they have a history of overdrawing them.)

    Huh? All the bank has to do is refuse withdrawals beyond a zero balance. There is no risk to the bank here. The only people in US I would expect to be unable to open a bank account would be "illegal" residents... and employers should not be employing them, should they ;)

    The more I read about what is "normal" and accepted in the United States the more I understand why US-ians cannot fathom the so-called "socialism" of Canada, Europe and the rest of the world.

  9. Re:Man i hate this game on Red Cross Wants Consequences For Video-Game Mayhem · · Score: 1

    Using the symbol of the Red Cross, Red Crescent or other variants in the game would likely be a violation of local laws prohibiting the use of these symbols for other than the purposes prescribed in the relevant Geneva Convention. For example under Section 15 of the Geneva Conventions Act 1957 in Australia or Title 18 USC 706 in the USA. The use of the symbol is tightly controlled to prevent dilution of its protective meaning in actual conflict zones.

    Médecins Sans Frontières are likely to be equally protective of the impartiality implied by their symbols and marks. They don't however have the same protection in international law.

  10. Re:payroll cards on The Ridiculous Tech Fees You're Still Paying · · Score: 2

    This sounds perilously close to 19th century England where workers were routinely paid in tokens that could only be spent in company run stores (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truck_system)... and was frequently rorted. Are employers getting a kickback from the debit card providers? Why do people afflicted with this simply stand there and demand that the debt, i.e. their pay in arrears, is settled in US (I assume) legal tender or direct deposit to a bank account?

  11. Re:easy to avoid; differential pricing on The Ridiculous Tech Fees You're Still Paying · · Score: 2

    And you have a landline ... because?

    Try and get an ADSL service without a copper cable. In Australia the majority of ADSL services are bundled with a plain old telephone service (POTS, pricing is fixed so that a naked wire is just as expensive but with fewer service guarantees). That, of course, does not make using the POTS mandatory. VOIP works just fine at fixed cost-per-call nationally and far-cheaper-than-traditional rates internationally.

  12. Re:payroll cards on The Ridiculous Tech Fees You're Still Paying · · Score: 1

    I live in a civilised country. I have no idea what a payroll card is.

  13. Re:Here's the real story on Fusion Reactor Breaks Even · · Score: 1

    I guarantee you will not find natural forests of maple trees in Australia. Just a smidge more habitable than Antarctica. You will, however, suffer a similar problem with soil surfaces routinely displaying nuclear blast shield qualities.

  14. Re:In other news... on Yahoo To Offer Bug Bounty Rewards Up To $15,000 · · Score: 1

    Nope, didgeridoo players and even Kenny G beat them hands down on this: Circular breathing

  15. Re:Where's the Samsung fanboys now? on Apple and Nokia Outraged That Samsung Lawyers Leaked Patent License Terms · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Makes perfect sense. If the details of the terms and conditions obtained from Apple by one party become known to other parties then Apple's ability to extract "better" terms from those other parties is diminished. All royalty seeking behaviour is cloaked in non-disclosure conditions to avoid the situation where the consumers could possibly bargain from a position of knowledge. This is not unique to patent licensing or Apple.

  16. Re:How Australia handles this on U.S. Government: Sorry, We're Closed · · Score: 5, Interesting

    We also have section 54 in our constitution, which prohibits bills for appropriation of funds to run the annual business of government from dealing with any other matter. This seems to be the weak point in US law that is repeatedly exploited; holding funds for normal running to ransom over unrelated items.

  17. Over-generalisation? on How Your Smartphone Can Spy On What You Type · · Score: 5, Insightful

    We all do it — place our phones down on the desk next to the keyboard.

    I love a good over-generalisation.

  18. "Monetization" strategy on Twitter Launches Emergency Alerts · · Score: 1

    How better to determine which of the Twits are in the disaster zone and therefore going to be needing health care adverts, insurance company adverts, builder adverts, new car adverts, funeral service adverts, and (if in the United States) lawyer adverts etc...

  19. Re:Facebook and Paypal on Facebook Autofill Wants To Store Users' Credit Card Info · · Score: 1

    In my "over here" you can get a pre-paid Visa from Australia Post but you must provide a working mobile phone number that does not block caller id and a (fake) DOB. Hardly anonymous. Too bad if you don't have a mobile phone. AFAICT none of the other options require less identifying information but I'd be happily corrected.

  20. Re:Text based adventure as a boot option? on Boot To Zork · · Score: 1

    Ah, the memories... and time wasted on the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology's CDC Cyber. Sometimes I wish I could just "xyzzy" back there ;)

  21. Re:Priorities on Former FBI Agent Pleads Guilty To Leaking Secrets to the Associated Press · · Score: 2

    Does anyone besides me think it's ridiculous that a person can get 10 years in prison for possession of a JPEG image on his computer?

    Probably. However, that is the upper bound of sentencing available to the judge; tempered by the facts of the case and offender, not a mandatory sentence, and probably not even a typical sentence.

    It is, however, not just a JPEG ( I would be surprised if cases before the courts hinged on a single JPEG). The image is evidence of of crime and pattern of behaviour that few societies, including prison societies, will tolerate. Sure, the possessor might not have perpetrated the original child-abuse crime but at the very best they are ignoring it and allowing it to continue.

  22. Re:Good intentions but potentially harmful on Group Attacks Bad Software Patents Before They're Approved · · Score: 1

    So your solution is to stockpile ammunition so that the patent still issues, the lawyers involved in its authoring are still paid, and when the patent is used another set of lawyers is paid to fight in court to invalidate something that should never have been issued in the first place. Pardon my cynicism, but you are just perpetuating the status quo: innovation suffers for fear of litigation and lawyers win coming and going.

  23. A cynical person might think that BountySource exists to make the owners a 10% non-refundable commission on top of every amount of money that changes hands and whatever they can make selling accumulated data to Twitter, Facebook and GitHub and others. They do not give a tinker's cuss whether it is an effective way to do anything except that.

    This cynical person might think that if he could see anything at all on their web site.

  24. No, there is no "Minister for Science" but there wasn't under the previous mob either... "Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research." The new mob have the wholly expected stance on science; science that does not turn a short-term profit for "Industry" is not science worth having. So, science for educational purposes, pure science research, environmental science, any climate change related science, etc. don't get special (any) attention.

  25. Re:"taking industrial action" on London Tube Cleaners Don't Want Fingerprint Clock-in · · Score: 5, Insightful

    No, not necessarily. They might adopt a strict work-to-rule regime where workers do absolutely nothing that is not by-the-book, no staying 10 minutes over time to finish a job, no doing a job without that is not covered explicitly in their work agreements, taking every minute of meal breaks, reporting every little maintenance task they find in glorious detail, etc.