I mean, if women actually attracted more men when they look attractive, then we wouldn't have had a surge of babies 9 months after the northeast power blackout, quite the contrary.
I mean really, if you're going to do something that is universally both illegal and reviled, why in the hell would you use a credit card?!?!
An even better question is why if you were someone offerring something illegal and reviled would you accept payment from something as traceable as a credit card transaction?
The conspiracy theorist in me suspects all may not be as it seems here, but the realist in me understands that both buyers and sellers are mercifully stupid.
The aircraft is private property run by a private company,
Horseshit.
The mistaken belief that airlines and aircraft are somehow private companies is a laughable facade which only the most naive laisse faire devotee could believe. Get real.
Jumbo jet aircraft (the ones most pertinent to this discussion) are multi million dollar pieces of engineering and no private company in the world could ever manufacture them at a reasonable price and still make a profit. Both Boeing and Airbus, the world's primary manufacturers of large aircraft, recieve massive government subsidies in the form of contracts, tax exemptions, and in some cases outright handouts. Practically every transatlantic airliners owes its existance to taxpayers money.
Don't bother stopping at the aircraft. Air traffic control is a monsterous international affair which no private company could ever be relied upon to manage or control. Radar, communications, instructions, flight plans. All government planned, managed, supervised. Planes fly because the governemnt says they can. Company does not comply, planes do not fly.
Airports?! Don't even try to pass off those paper cost cutters running them as evidence of private ownership. Security, regulation, customs, passport supervision. Everything is government mandated. Airport management is a glorified private cleaners outfit. Government calls all the shots.
Major airlines are semi-state companies. Every one. When a small carrier gets big enough, it too enters the fold. They might not be shareholders anymore, but make no mistake that government representatives still make and break board decisions.
Those are all standard questions for people coming into the country to work whether you are a citizen or not. I can't imagine any country that wouldn't ask when you will be going back -
I've been to Holland recently. They asked me nothing of the kind. I went to France once. No such question was asked. While in France, I went to Geneva in Switzerland for the day. The border guards squinted into the car and waved us on.
I have to go to the States shortly. I'm not expectant of amywhere close to the same level of professionalism.
So, what if we made them unsentient first. You know drug them up or make them brain dead?
For almost all brain dead people on life support, no one set out to "make them brain dead". Something happended, wither an accident or other event, the result of which is that person is now a vegetable on life support.
The only reason this person is alive is that in this case modern medicine is too efficient and in addition to being able to keep a person alive, it is now able to keep a dead persons body animated. Truely brain dead people are not alive anymore. They are little above an animated corpse, with breathing machines instead of puppet strings. I for one wouldn't want my corpse to be treated in this way.
The ethic issues remain: can a foetus be taken in consideration separately from his/her amiotic fluid and umbilical cord?
If someone from the hospital where you were born arrived at your doorstep tomorrow and handed you your aminotic fluid, umbiical cord and placenta, would you
a) Thank them for their considerable trouble b) Have them arrested c) Bin the items as quickly as possible
Or any combination of the above?
There are people who eat placentas. They mince it and cook it in a lasange. Should we convict them of cannibalism?
This is an incredible blessing because in less than a minute the skin on their back has ruptured and all the blood and bile and lymph is being flung out of their bodies and pumped away by the washer.
When I was about 4 or 5, my older brother and sister (about 10 years older) used to take turns hiding me someplace in the house while the other would look for me.
FYI, they were actually hosting a bong party instead of looking for you.
The computer illiterate are quickly becoming an oddity, a special niche in usability design. There's really no need to consider them anymore unless you have a special reason to.
Considering most Slashdotter are related to at least one such person in their immediate and extended families, your point is summarily rejected by the collective Slashmind.
I guess it's a double standard to say that reliving WW2 in so many FPS games is the same idea, but to me being a kid going through a school killing your peers is something nobody should WANT to do...
Yes, it is a double standard because the reality is, being a kid going through a school killing your peers is something quite a lot of people would like to do.
There's a lot of posts in this thread about how this game is tasteless, has no merit, has only shock value. That no one would want to play it. Is that really tue? Think about it. There are people who think about doing this kind of thing everyday. So how is this game any more wrong than street racing simulations or computer generated pornography? What's the essential difference?
I tell you exactly what the difference is. Debate on Columbine is taboo.
Stray outside the accepted interpretation and you are "dishonoring the memories of The Children(TM) who died". Just ignore the fact that the average second level school is closer to The Lord of the Flies than normal society. Just ignore the millions of young people who waste their time day in day out in an institution they loathe. Just ignore the fact that the institution most closely resembling secondary schools is public prison. If you dare to highlight such things, you're "no better than the killers".
So, no; running through the corridors of Columbine High School killing your fellow students is not really much more morally repugnant than killing American or Chinese soldiers in BattleField 2, or launching nukes on cities in Civ 4. It's just more politically incorrect, because that is how the media have decided to treat it.
If Slamdance wants to follow the media/party line, that's their business. But they should stay off the moral highground when they do. That's for people with actual beliefs and integrity.
There's no strictly rational reason why a person born without a functioning higher brain should have more rights than a German Shepherd; that they do is mostly a testament to our emotional attachment to members of our own species.
This is actually a product of modern living standards too.
In past times, a great many infants simply died in the first year of life. Some societies did not even name children until they were a year or so old so they did not become overly attached to something that could be here one day and gone the next. And of course there's always the lovely practice of infant exposure if you're weren't feeling up to looking after the new arrival. In the days of children, children by the pound and not a bite to feed them, infants were not so precious as you might think.
However, with increased living standards and lower birth rates, children are fewer and farther between. Their overall worth in their parent's eyes is increased (yes it really is). Accordingly, western societies begin to fret and grumble over things like infant mortality and late terms abortions, where previously those same strata were shunning medical care for mothers and children and calling for sterilisation programs to "decrease the surplus population".
So no. You are not some monster for voicing your opinion. You are simply representative of the natural human condition; to not really give a shit.
Advertising inherently trivialises its surroundings.
Bill Hicks was right. Eventually they will use pictures of naked women in ecstasy to sell coke. Hell, Yves Saint-Laurent already did it to sell perfume. It's just a more obvious example of how advertising cheapens even the most intimate human actions in a frantic effort to grasp our attentions.
Are we expected to endure assault on our senses from the marketing legions while trying to actually learn something? Are we suppoed to be insulted by banner after banner of plastic smiles and carefully chosen headlines. Why don't they just shove up some flashing hit the monkey ads and have done with it.
Actually, despite his foreign policy schemings, Kissinger was in all probability the only living soul in Nixons administration uninvolved in the political and monetary corruption.
One thing that I'll never forget is that for dessert, we were served a "grasshopper pie", which was a mint ice cream and chocolate pie. Interestingly, they served him a bowl of three simple scoops of vanilla ice cream. When I asked him about it, he said that he loved vanilla ice cream, and didn't like the other fancy stuff.
Loved vanilla my ass! Mint and chocloate at a Boy Scouts meeting!? Talk about political suicide. The smart man sticks with the vanilla for the cameras. The wiser one never goes within 200 meters of the place.
In the South, that joke is told. The difference is that "lawyer" is replace with "'black person" or some other word that refers to a black person. No, I'm not kidding. I've heard it with my own ears.
A lot of old racist jokes get recycled into more PC ribalds once $ETHIC_MEMBER is replace by $PROFESSIONAL_OCCUPATION. It's true that the joke had darker origins, but hey, that's never stopped most from having their morning coffee.
Also, perhaps a law to fine idiots who buy from these spammers.
Of course. This should have been done by default. We fine people for possession of illegal drugs or stolen goods. Why shouldn't we fine people who buy from spammers? They're feeding a beast that is crippling out internet society!! Think of the digital children!!!!
To my naive way of thinking, it seems incredible that 5 (3-2) people can veto the decision making process / power of entire cities or possibly even states, throughout the entire country.
Look pal, a modern economy needs efficient, lean companies squeezing every last drop out of their emloyees and resources so CEOs can be amply rewarded for growth at any cost. How are our companies supposed to remain lean if they have to go chasing 30, 40 500 or 5000 or whatever other communistic amount of regulartory board members so they can be given their brown paper envelopes containing unmarked used dollar bills?
No, I say. No. What we need is a small manageable amount of bribable individuals so companies can spend less resources on bribery, and more on running their business more efficiently.... into the ground. The current number is great. Sometimes you don't even have to pay them. You can just bombard them with marketers, PR guys, dime a dozen scientists and regatta parties and they mostly just end up actually believing what you say. Great stuff.
My local video store demanded my actual physical SSN card before they would rent me a video. (I almost refused but I really really wanted to see Weekend At Bernie's II.)
Slashdot Mirror
The conspiracy theorist in me suspects all may not be as it seems here, but the realist in me understands that both buyers and sellers are mercifully stupid.
The mistaken belief that airlines and aircraft are somehow private companies is a laughable facade which only the most naive laisse faire devotee could believe. Get real.
Jumbo jet aircraft (the ones most pertinent to this discussion) are multi million dollar pieces of engineering and no private company in the world could ever manufacture them at a reasonable price and still make a profit. Both Boeing and Airbus, the world's primary manufacturers of large aircraft, recieve massive government subsidies in the form of contracts, tax exemptions, and in some cases outright handouts. Practically every transatlantic airliners owes its existance to taxpayers money.
Don't bother stopping at the aircraft. Air traffic control is a monsterous international affair which no private company could ever be relied upon to manage or control. Radar, communications, instructions, flight plans. All government planned, managed, supervised. Planes fly because the governemnt says they can. Company does not comply, planes do not fly.
Airports?! Don't even try to pass off those paper cost cutters running them as evidence of private ownership. Security, regulation, customs, passport supervision. Everything is government mandated. Airport management is a glorified private cleaners outfit. Government calls all the shots.
Major airlines are semi-state companies. Every one. When a small carrier gets big enough, it too enters the fold. They might not be shareholders anymore, but make no mistake that government representatives still make and break board decisions.
I have to go to the States shortly. I'm not expectant of amywhere close to the same level of professionalism.
The only reason this person is alive is that in this case modern medicine is too efficient and in addition to being able to keep a person alive, it is now able to keep a dead persons body animated. Truely brain dead people are not alive anymore. They are little above an animated corpse, with breathing machines instead of puppet strings. I for one wouldn't want my corpse to be treated in this way.
a) Thank them for their considerable trouble
b) Have them arrested
c) Bin the items as quickly as possible
Or any combination of the above?
There are people who eat placentas. They mince it and cook it in a lasange. Should we convict them of cannibalism?
There's a lot of posts in this thread about how this game is tasteless, has no merit, has only shock value. That no one would want to play it. Is that really tue? Think about it. There are people who think about doing this kind of thing everyday. So how is this game any more wrong than street racing simulations or computer generated pornography? What's the essential difference?
I tell you exactly what the difference is. Debate on Columbine is taboo.
Stray outside the accepted interpretation and you are "dishonoring the memories of The Children(TM) who died". Just ignore the fact that the average second level school is closer to The Lord of the Flies than normal society. Just ignore the millions of young people who waste their time day in day out in an institution they loathe. Just ignore the fact that the institution most closely resembling secondary schools is public prison. If you dare to highlight such things, you're "no better than the killers".
So, no; running through the corridors of Columbine High School killing your fellow students is not really much more morally repugnant than killing American or Chinese soldiers in BattleField 2, or launching nukes on cities in Civ 4. It's just more politically incorrect, because that is how the media have decided to treat it.
If Slamdance wants to follow the media/party line, that's their business. But they should stay off the moral highground when they do. That's for people with actual beliefs and integrity.
In past times, a great many infants simply died in the first year of life. Some societies did not even name children until they were a year or so old so they did not become overly attached to something that could be here one day and gone the next. And of course there's always the lovely practice of infant exposure if you're weren't feeling up to looking after the new arrival. In the days of children, children by the pound and not a bite to feed them, infants were not so precious as you might think.
However, with increased living standards and lower birth rates, children are fewer and farther between. Their overall worth in their parent's eyes is increased (yes it really is). Accordingly, western societies begin to fret and grumble over things like infant mortality and late terms abortions, where previously those same strata were shunning medical care for mothers and children and calling for sterilisation programs to "decrease the surplus population".
So no. You are not some monster for voicing your opinion. You are simply representative of the natural human condition; to not really give a shit.
Bill Hicks was right. Eventually they will use pictures of naked women in ecstasy to sell coke. Hell, Yves Saint-Laurent already did it to sell perfume. It's just a more obvious example of how advertising cheapens even the most intimate human actions in a frantic effort to grasp our attentions.
Are we expected to endure assault on our senses from the marketing legions while trying to actually learn something? Are we suppoed to be insulted by banner after banner of plastic smiles and carefully chosen headlines. Why don't they just shove up some flashing hit the monkey ads and have done with it.
Wikipedia advertises, Wikipedia dies.
s/killer/whistleblower/g
You know, those of us who have never played World of Warcraft always find these headlines rather amusing. Beneath our stolid contempt that is.
Loved vanilla my ass! Mint and chocloate at a Boy Scouts meeting!? Talk about political suicide. The smart man sticks with the vanilla for the cameras. The wiser one never goes within 200 meters of the place.
I say it was CmdrTaco, in the Server Room, with the broken hard drive.
No, I say. No. What we need is a small manageable amount of bribable individuals so companies can spend less resources on bribery, and more on running their business more efficiently.... into the ground. The current number is great. Sometimes you don't even have to pay them. You can just bombard them with marketers, PR guys, dime a dozen scientists and regatta parties and they mostly just end up actually believing what you say. Great stuff.