The racist angle is something TripMaster just threw in for kicks I think. An assertion like that would fail the wikipedia NPOV test, but the disarmament won't.
Actually, no I didn't toss it in just for kicks, although the sarcasm was fairly thick. I think it's an important point that people need to keep in their heads and they parse the news and reports of what went down in NOLA. Somehow racism was an extremely popular scenario tossed around to explain why the Bush cabinet was unable to perform some kind of miracle and turn a cat 5 hurricane into free cheese. So when the locals start confiscating firearms from the very people we've been told for two weeks are universally poor and black, how can racism NOT be a consideration?
Unless the previous allegations of racism were typical political sniping without basis in fact, this must by extension be racism as well.
Honestly, I challenge anyone to come up with a legitimate educational application for this piece of idiocy that doesn't have a simpler and more effective solution.
I can't get over this kind of nonsense actually showing up in classrooms. Sounds like someone needs a venue to sell $2 remote controls for a 1000% markup, and is falling back on the oldie-but-goodie "think of the children".
Do you have any sort of link to a credible source to back up this claim?
Well, I suppose I could post some links to articles on New York Times, CNN, The Times-Picayune, or dozens of online discussions about the subject, but instead I think I'll "teach you to fish" and provide just one link:
This is the reason I like the gunshow loophole. If they come by with a list, I habd over the ones on the list. I have a couple of others that I paid cash for. BTW, if government officials come by grabbing guns, demand a receipt that has the weapons serial number and condition on it. They are responsible for storage and/or just compensation for damage.
There is no such thing as a "gunshow loophole", the laws regarding firearms sales and ownership transfer are exactly the same at a gunshow that they are anywhere else. If you're referring to buying from a private party as opposed to a licensed dealer, then I get the point of the no paperwork transfer. I'm forced by my sense of accuracy to call BS everytime the term "gunshow loophole" is used though. It's simply a term coined by the anti-gun groups to try to make gunshows sound "dangerous", and has no basis in fact.
I'd also not put too much faith in the idea that the government is going to take good care of your guns are return them in same condition, or return them ever, after the emergency is over. A government that is going to ignore things like the constitution and human rights to self preservation isn't going to be big on property rights.
I hope as well that you would never need it, but you just don't know these days. For me, it was a bit of money and time that was well worth the investment.
and all of that preparation will be wasted when the authorities make the rounds confiscating all registered firearms "for the good of the community" exactly when you need it most.
So as good advice as you've given, you'd better be prepared to hide your shotgun should they show up to collect it, and have a good excuse where it went (i.e. I sold it to a redneck last year).
It disturbs me that during natural disasters, a few people go nuts and start robbing, raping, killing, etc..
It should disturb you that the mayor of NOLA sent the police and national guard door to door confiscating all the legally owned firearms in an extremely misguided and probably illegal effort to quell the violent outbreak of anarchy.
Private citizens were stripped of their ability to protect themselves by the very people who admitted they were unable to protect anyone. And since it's been very popular to blame racism for everything else that's gone poorly in NOLA, it appears that the local government doesn't think poor black folk can be trusted with guns.
back in the day Apple was one of the first to actively market computers to individuals (as opposed to businesses). if there were others that tried the same push, i don't remember them.
you are very correct, Apple was ONE of the first, but not THE first. I'd hesitate to say what first "home computer" was, since inevitably someone will say "what about the Transmungifier 3000", but I do know the Altair was available a couple of years before Apple.
competition makes better products. Nintendo Sony were not making game systems back in the day, but they outlasted the founders of that world. do you get my point? probably not.
Ironically, it turns out you and I were making the same point. My original post was intended as a sarcastic jab at the slobbering Apple fanboys here who think Apple invented everything and every other tech company just steals their ideas, then they give Apple a total pass when they blatantly rip off the ideas of others.
Personally, I think the entire reason the PC industry has grown so fast and successfully is due to unprecedented levels of open architecture and competition.
One last question: was there really ever an Old Man Kellog?
but why won't anyone discuss the direct inverse relationship between the number of pirates and global temperature?? In the last 100 years the number of pirates has decreased DRAMATICALLY, while global temperature has increased!
Wake up people!!! it's right in front of your face!!! Repent now and accept the Flying Spaghetti Monster before it's too late!
this article reads almost word for word like an urban myth email chain letter that went around a while back, it sounds like this guy is just repeating it and putting himself in the story.
Sure it's possible to put any kind of data you want on a magnetic strip, but you might as well worry the hotel is printing your PII data on sheets of paper and tossing them out the back windows. What possibly reason would they have to put info like that on the keycard??
Jeez, read the summary why don't you? and that goes for the bozo who modded this insightful... Hell, read your own posting with comprehension in mind:
The IR is used to detect the presence of a digital camera. It doesn't wash out the picture. That's why you need the visible light beam. You could just flood it with more visible light, but then the camera could adjust for that.
Reading comprehension. It's not just for school.
You might have benefitted from reading all of the above yourself, since you just restated what I said in different words.
I didn't say the article was claiming that it used IR in that way, I said it was POSSIBLE to do so, and eliminate the visible light.
Great, now all I've done is restate my original post AGAIN for someone who didn't bother to read it before he started acting like an asshat.
I realize that flaming people is the entertainment du jour on Slashdot, but you should at least try to not look like a clown when you do it. Maybe they should teach THAT in school...
This would probably cost more however. The typical installation I'm imagining would have a 1/2 disco ball mounted above or below the screen, throwing a bath of IR all over the place.
that's not a bad idea actually. It could be very effective for concerns about videotaping new movie releases for piracy. set up a disco ball and a high powered IR spotlight. The crowd couldn't see anything, but cameras would get that moving starfield pattern across everthing making the recording unusable. It wouldn't prevent taping, but the result would be horrible to try to watch.
not necessarily, if you simply ringed the area you wanted to "protect" with high output IR LED's you could wash out the photographic opportunity for no more than one quarter metric butt tons of juice by my calculations.
This seems to be seriously overengineered, as you could do the same thing with a passive IR system.
They're using an IR emitter to generate a reflection that is sensed with the camera to trigger an ambient light source to overwhelm the offending camera. Not to mention the modulated light attack that would launch on the eyeballs of anyone happening to be looking in that direction.
seems like since CCD's are IR responsive in the first place (which is how they are detecting them), why not just continuously bathe the area in an overdose of IR and skip the detection and visible light altogether?
the vast majority are domesticated, but that's not exactly the same thing as "extinct". Wild bison (buffalo is a misnomer, there have never been american buffalo) are considered a nuisance species through many parts of the plains states, and populations are kept under strict control.
It's just a bad example that perpetuates this odd myth that buffalo are extinct.
That's a complete lie. If you disagree, find me your nearest buffalo
Buffalo? Currect estimates place American Bison populations somewhere between half and a full million head. Hell, I can buy buffalo meat at "Trader Joe's" for lunch today.
For someone calling "lie", you've picked an extremely poor example.
1. I know where "I" am, and since I am inclusive in "we", we are not someplace I am not. You may be, and likely are, someplace I am not, since I am alone at the moment, but you are not "we".
2. correction noted.
3. Arguing over the minutia of definitions instead of the actual issue is not a direction I'm willing to take further.
4. thank you, I shall tweak as the mood hits me.
5. I agree, you might have missed that my original post was intended to contain extreme sarcasm. The point being that when the situation is reversed, the slobbering fanboys here claim everyone is copying apple, nobody but apple innovates, blah blah blah. But when apple engages in the exact same behavior, they're given a total pass. I've got nothing against apple or their products (I own several), but the sycophants make it very difficult to be on "their side".
6. true.
Apple was also the first to market a personal computer and that idea has been stolen by everyone else. i think you need to rethink your thought on intellectual property rights and how far they actually go.
Thank you for making my point so succinctly that people will suspect you are a shill that I created just for this purpose.
You might want to bone up on the history of microcomputers a bit.
Slashdot Mirror
post, after post, after post of people who managed to miss sarcasm slightly more subtle than a kick in the nuts.
Unless the previous allegations of racism were typical political sniping without basis in fact, this must by extension be racism as well.
Honestly, I challenge anyone to come up with a legitimate educational application for this piece of idiocy that doesn't have a simpler and more effective solution.
I can't get over this kind of nonsense actually showing up in classrooms. Sounds like someone needs a venue to sell $2 remote controls for a 1000% markup, and is falling back on the oldie-but-goodie "think of the children".
http://www.google.com/
This is provided as an alternative to simply paying attention to the news.
I agree. I'm thinking maybe something involving flubber...
I'd also not put too much faith in the idea that the government is going to take good care of your guns are return them in same condition, or return them ever, after the emergency is over. A government that is going to ignore things like the constitution and human rights to self preservation isn't going to be big on property rights.
So as good advice as you've given, you'd better be prepared to hide your shotgun should they show up to collect it, and have a good excuse where it went (i.e. I sold it to a redneck last year).
Private citizens were stripped of their ability to protect themselves by the very people who admitted they were unable to protect anyone. And since it's been very popular to blame racism for everything else that's gone poorly in NOLA, it appears that the local government doesn't think poor black folk can be trusted with guns.
I didn't want to let this go by without acknowledging that someoen DID get the joke, and found it both topical and amusing.
Personally, I think the entire reason the PC industry has grown so fast and successfully is due to unprecedented levels of open architecture and competition.
One last question: was there really ever an Old Man Kellog?
Wake up people!!! it's right in front of your face!!! Repent now and accept the Flying Spaghetti Monster before it's too late!
I suspect this guy was trying to impress the author with his technical skills by repeating some story that showed up in his inbox.
Sure it's possible to put any kind of data you want on a magnetic strip, but you might as well worry the hotel is printing your PII data on sheets of paper and tossing them out the back windows. What possibly reason would they have to put info like that on the keycard??
I'm not buying this story, not even a little.
I didn't say the article was claiming that it used IR in that way, I said it was POSSIBLE to do so, and eliminate the visible light.
Great, now all I've done is restate my original post AGAIN for someone who didn't bother to read it before he started acting like an asshat.
I realize that flaming people is the entertainment du jour on Slashdot, but you should at least try to not look like a clown when you do it. Maybe they should teach THAT in school...
you better patent that quick...
not necessarily, if you simply ringed the area you wanted to "protect" with high output IR LED's you could wash out the photographic opportunity for no more than one quarter metric butt tons of juice by my calculations.
They're using an IR emitter to generate a reflection that is sensed with the camera to trigger an ambient light source to overwhelm the offending camera. Not to mention the modulated light attack that would launch on the eyeballs of anyone happening to be looking in that direction.
seems like since CCD's are IR responsive in the first place (which is how they are detecting them), why not just continuously bathe the area in an overdose of IR and skip the detection and visible light altogether?
it was YOU, you killed all the buffalo!
It's just a bad example that perpetuates this odd myth that buffalo are extinct.
(disclosure: my uncle raises bison commercially)
For someone calling "lie", you've picked an extremely poor example.
1. I know where "I" am, and since I am inclusive in "we", we are not someplace I am not. You may be, and likely are, someplace I am not, since I am alone at the moment, but you are not "we".
2. correction noted.
3. Arguing over the minutia of definitions instead of the actual issue is not a direction I'm willing to take further.
4. thank you, I shall tweak as the mood hits me.
5. I agree, you might have missed that my original post was intended to contain extreme sarcasm. The point being that when the situation is reversed, the slobbering fanboys here claim everyone is copying apple, nobody but apple innovates, blah blah blah. But when apple engages in the exact same behavior, they're given a total pass. I've got nothing against apple or their products (I own several), but the sycophants make it very difficult to be on "their side".
6. true.
But snappy comeback though. well said, you've totally disarmed my argument. I and my family are shamed for generations to come.
You might want to bone up on the history of microcomputers a bit.