Polio was not wiped out by enhanced sanitary conditions. People who weren't alive at the time (me included) have no idea how relieved our nation was by the development of the vaccine. Both my mother and mother-in-law cannot swim to this day as a result of the polio epidemic. Slashdotters should like that Salk was open source: "Who owns this patent? No one. Could you patent the sun?" -- Salk
But what's worse than the armchair biologist arguing against vaccines? Vaccines only work when a certain number of the population stays vaccinated. It's the reason why here in Pennsylvania, it was never a threat that the amish community didn't vaccinate. But now with people arguing against them because they "know better," a portion of the non-amish community is refusing to vaccinate.
Why should i care? Because vaccination is not about saving one person, ten people, etc. Vaccination is for preventing an outbreak, which if one occurred, could contain a mutated form of the disease which could kill those who ARE vaccinated. Think in terms of second hand smoke, and you'll understand why this outrages me.
The fraudulent link between autism and vaccination is null and void, retracted by the medical community and the paper that published it. But my kids are in danger, still, as a result of people getting spooked by the vaccination boogie man.
Before yesterday, you could choose to live "off the grid". You could grab some stuff, head out for the mountains, build a shack, and provide for yourself.
Whose mountain land would you be building that shack on? Scavenging and/or farming on? fishing/hunting on?
Choplifter... remember accidentally dropping the people?
Another favorite of mine that I haven't seen mentioned yet was Taipan. Trading Opium, Silk, Arms and General to try to make a million dollars. Oh the memories.
Bad enough getting a biological virus. Bad enough getting a computer virus. Never going to put myself in a situation where a computer virus can act like a biological virus and impacts my mind. Seriously, no tin foil hat here. Just common sense.
Zz
$1,000,000 divided by 121 people = 8264.46 per person. I'm convinced taking people's money through legitimate avenues is easier than through crime.
Zzesers
Actually, quieting the conspiracy nuts is only cursory to what we really need to learn from this. And that is...
If the human race is ever going to be wiped out in a non-solar-system-destroying catastrophe, we better NOT build a monument that looks like a face because psychologists of the future will say a face is too engrained in the psyche. What huge monument should we leave to prove we existed that might survive millions of years of erosion and wouldn't be scoffed at by future races?
Right now, there is no such thing as legal online gambling in the US. Because of that, all online gambling businesses are breaking the law.
wait one minute there.... the absence of a law legalizing online gambling does not, in fact, make the activity illegal. There's no law legalizing mowing your yard (oh God, at least I hope there's not!), but it is legal to do so. IMO, gambling is something should remain regulated at the state level regardless.
On the other hand, I'm not a lawyer. Maybe the Federal government has a law criminalizing online gambling. But it seems like these guys are (like most of the "gambling bad guys" from yesteryear) getting hit with TAX law. That doesn't make online gambling illegal, the Feds have just make it impossible to run an online casino AND pay federal wager taxes on the income. Who's the real crook? Note they're dragging years of non-online gambling into this story as well, trying to make a case against online gambling by throwing traditional bookmaking in the mix.
For me, if they get these guys for not paying US wager taxes on gambling wages placed by US citizens, then any online retailer who only collects Sales Tax for the state their entity exists in should be charged with racketeering too.
Am I the only one who feels like the fool when I'm PAYING twice for content? Once to download, and a second time to upload that same data to the next fool?
I'm not an "info should be free" wacko by any means. But I'm also not going to sacrifice my precious bandwidth to make WB money. If you want to charge me for content, you pay for the fat pipes so that the consumer (us all) are satisfied.
religion tends to be more concerned with the (permanent) afterlife than the (curiously impermanent) mortal coil
I am not a religious scholar, just wildly interested in the subject and as far as I can tell Hinduism, Buddhism and to a large extent Judaism seem to be to be a lot less concerned with afterlife than what we do with our time on earth. I'm not that familiar with Islam, anyone else care to comment on that?
Wow, the Australia government does something facists and you actually managed to make an anti-American dig as a result! I'm impressed.
America has problems, yes, but when another country demonstrates their similar inperfections to the world, can't we hold them accountable without trashing the US in the same breath?
How about just a "Boo Australia" in this case?
Re:Same as last time we discussed it: a CPA
on
Best Tax Programs?
·
· Score: 1
Keep modding parent up. I used to do my taxes myself spending upwards of $70.00 for the software and hours of agony and misery. I do independent consulting every year on top of my job.
For anywhere between $100 and $150, my tax professional always saves me way more than I could have with software because he knows the tax laws. It's definately win-win. Look at it like this... Would you rather have your advanced website coded by knowledgable programmers, or (assuming you're not a programmer) do it yourself using Microsoft FrontPage?
If you are filling out a 1040EZ, do it by hand. Otherwise, hire a professional. YMMV.
If you never attended church as a child, and started going on your own as an adult, then you can make the claim that you made a choice.
Yet.... How many of the religion bashers on Slashdot were taken to church as kids? The choice gets made either way. It's ridiculous to think that a parent who is trying to lay down some moral fabric for their child to grow up in is "engraining" anything into the child that they will not be able to then decide on once they are adults.
Another often heard bitch session on slashdot is parents neglecting their children (e.g., why aren't the parents sitting with their kid every second of every day to make sure they're not playing video games that the parents object to?)
Which should it be? Give the kids the tools they need to be moral by spending time with them (and, if you so believe, taking them to worship?), or leave the kids at home and let them play video games while you go to church, since they're not old enough to balance spirituality verse indoctrination?
I am a registered Libertarian, though I don't always vote for LP candidates if there is more than 3 choices on a ballot.
The problem I have with the LP is the people who latch onto its ideals and pervert them. Case in point, I was at the York County Fair in York, PA a few years ago. I went up to a guy who was passing out LP pamphlets and told him I was also Libertarian. He proceeded to spew racist bullshit about China and the people who come from there, hiding behind the LP platform regarding UN and international politics. I turned to my then girlfriend (now wife) and said, "is this the kind of ignorant redneck I'm affiliated with by being a Libertarian?"
<soapbox>Regardless, vote third party. Vote Green, Libertarian, Independence, Reform... any of them. America will never belong to the people until we break the duopoly that favors Corporate America. The quickest way to do so is to vote in local and state elections, where there's a chance to win and send a message to "career politicians" (a term that still makes me shutter)</soapbox>
Re:Have you ever missed meals or been hungry?
on
The Year in Ideas
·
· Score: 1
Leaving it up to a mythical being to save yourself is leading your life to ruin through inaction.
Most people who are religious despise inaction as well (heard of sloth?) Get over the need to actually put a face with 'god' and you'll find most religions are actually about leading your life in a manner that will bring you the most happiness and fullfillment.
Don't get me wrong, extremist in any relgion will probably disagree with that statement. But if someone can find a philosophy that makes them happy and lead your life in a good direction, whether it's through Christ's teachings, Buddism, Islam, Judaism, why are you intent on trying to convince them that their rules to live by are not valid?
More importantly, your religion, I would argue, is either Agnosticism or Aetheism. This is the philosphy you've chosen to guide your life in a positive manner. Good for you. I applaud you for giving the matter some thought and finding a settling position on the wonders and miracles of this universe.
Well, except Oklahoma and Central Pennsylvania. I have no hope for either of them anytime this century.
As a central PA'er I will point out that this, like all stereotypes, is unfounded. Smack dab in the center of the State of PA is Penn State University, which brings a ton of culture, awareness and thinking to the area. Is there bigotry? Of course. Is there bigotry in Manhattan, San Fran, LA? Of course.
On topic... I've been working out of my home as a full time employed programmer for 6 years.
people who are gay or have abortions are consenting adults
Please, abortion is not between consenting adults, it's between a woman and the child that she could bring into this world. Ignoring how difficult a decision this is makes people like me worried that other "fully aware adults" could be using abortion as an irresponsible form of birth control.
My point being, abortion is controversial BECAUSE it does affect someone who is not participating in the decision.
the kids over at Microsoft who decided to implement an anti-piracy measure utilizing javascript without any input validation.
In a cost comparison, they probably figured a cheap, easy means to get people who otherwise did not know they had a pirated version to purchase outweighed trying to lock out people who knowingly run a pirated copy (i.e., people who will use this hack).
But I think that's what the parent poster was saying, and what I was trying to get at... call that grain of dust God.
Religion tries to spoonfeed images of God to the masses by watering it down into ideas that most people can wrap their minds around. God may not be a "being" in any sense of the word that we can understand. It's not the guy pumping your gas at the local BP. Whatever started this, and science does tend indicate from our understanding that there was a "start" to our universe because most scientist today believe there is an age to our universe, is God. Whatever changed, is God.
As for eternity, if it started in a singularity, it's generally accepted that all laws of physics (including time) break down at the singularity, so, in essense, there was no eternity before the singularity changed.
Anyway, I love thinking about this stuff. Hope you all do to.
and... just because science can explain something does not preclude God, ever, period.
Here's how I like to think of God, personally. Whatever changed and resulted in the singularity expanding is God. It's not some santa clause human-looking white man with a big white beard throwing lightning bolts from the sky. It is what made this glorious universe possible, whatever that was, however explained. That is God. And I'm very happy it happened.
Slashdot Mirror
Polio was not wiped out by enhanced sanitary conditions. People who weren't alive at the time (me included) have no idea how relieved our nation was by the development of the vaccine. Both my mother and mother-in-law cannot swim to this day as a result of the polio epidemic. Slashdotters should like that Salk was open source: "Who owns this patent? No one. Could you patent the sun?" -- Salk
But what's worse than the armchair biologist arguing against vaccines? Vaccines only work when a certain number of the population stays vaccinated. It's the reason why here in Pennsylvania, it was never a threat that the amish community didn't vaccinate. But now with people arguing against them because they "know better," a portion of the non-amish community is refusing to vaccinate.
Why should i care? Because vaccination is not about saving one person, ten people, etc. Vaccination is for preventing an outbreak, which if one occurred, could contain a mutated form of the disease which could kill those who ARE vaccinated. Think in terms of second hand smoke, and you'll understand why this outrages me.
The fraudulent link between autism and vaccination is null and void, retracted by the medical community and the paper that published it. But my kids are in danger, still, as a result of people getting spooked by the vaccination boogie man.
Before yesterday, you could choose to live "off the grid". You could grab some stuff, head out for the mountains, build a shack, and provide for yourself.
Whose mountain land would you be building that shack on? Scavenging and/or farming on? fishing/hunting on?
Two happiest days in a boat owners life... the day he buys a boat and the day he sells it.
The point is that it sucks that the government that we've got isn't as concerned with the citizens as it should be
I firmly believe that these two statements are extremely correlated. Why should your government care about your neighbor if you do not?Choplifter... remember accidentally dropping the people? Another favorite of mine that I haven't seen mentioned yet was Taipan. Trading Opium, Silk, Arms and General to try to make a million dollars. Oh the memories.
Bad enough getting a biological virus. Bad enough getting a computer virus. Never going to put myself in a situation where a computer virus can act like a biological virus and impacts my mind. Seriously, no tin foil hat here. Just common sense. Zz
$1,000,000 divided by 121 people = 8264.46 per person. I'm convinced taking people's money through legitimate avenues is easier than through crime. Zzesers
Actually, quieting the conspiracy nuts is only cursory to what we really need to learn from this. And that is...
If the human race is ever going to be wiped out in a non-solar-system-destroying catastrophe, we better NOT build a monument that looks like a face because psychologists of the future will say a face is too engrained in the psyche. What huge monument should we leave to prove we existed that might survive millions of years of erosion and wouldn't be scoffed at by future races?
Zzrs
Right now, there is no such thing as legal online gambling in the US. Because of that, all online gambling businesses are breaking the law.
wait one minute there.... the absence of a law legalizing online gambling does not, in fact, make the activity illegal. There's no law legalizing mowing your yard (oh God, at least I hope there's not!), but it is legal to do so. IMO, gambling is something should remain regulated at the state level regardless.
On the other hand, I'm not a lawyer. Maybe the Federal government has a law criminalizing online gambling. But it seems like these guys are (like most of the "gambling bad guys" from yesteryear) getting hit with TAX law. That doesn't make online gambling illegal, the Feds have just make it impossible to run an online casino AND pay federal wager taxes on the income. Who's the real crook? Note they're dragging years of non-online gambling into this story as well, trying to make a case against online gambling by throwing traditional bookmaking in the mix.
For me, if they get these guys for not paying US wager taxes on gambling wages placed by US citizens, then any online retailer who only collects Sales Tax for the state their entity exists in should be charged with racketeering too.
Am I the only one who feels like the fool when I'm PAYING twice for content? Once to download, and a second time to upload that same data to the next fool?
I'm not an "info should be free" wacko by any means. But I'm also not going to sacrifice my precious bandwidth to make WB money. If you want to charge me for content, you pay for the fat pipes so that the consumer (us all) are satisfied.Actually Steve "coming from a rough area" was only part of the schtick he used to sell all those subscriptions to Vibe.
For the two people on slashdot who don't get this, it's an Office Space reference.
His name was Andy Kaufman [IMDB], probably best known for his roles on SNL and Taxi.
I am not a religious scholar, just wildly interested in the subject and as far as I can tell Hinduism, Buddhism and to a large extent Judaism seem to be to be a lot less concerned with afterlife than what we do with our time on earth. I'm not that familiar with Islam, anyone else care to comment on that?
America has problems, yes, but when another country demonstrates their similar inperfections to the world, can't we hold them accountable without trashing the US in the same breath?
How about just a "Boo Australia" in this case?
For anywhere between $100 and $150, my tax professional always saves me way more than I could have with software because he knows the tax laws. It's definately win-win. Look at it like this... Would you rather have your advanced website coded by knowledgable programmers, or (assuming you're not a programmer) do it yourself using Microsoft FrontPage?
If you are filling out a 1040EZ, do it by hand. Otherwise, hire a professional. YMMV.
No, this proves that the tree in the forest has both fallen and not fallen.
Yet.... How many of the religion bashers on Slashdot were taken to church as kids? The choice gets made either way. It's ridiculous to think that a parent who is trying to lay down some moral fabric for their child to grow up in is "engraining" anything into the child that they will not be able to then decide on once they are adults.
Another often heard bitch session on slashdot is parents neglecting their children (e.g., why aren't the parents sitting with their kid every second of every day to make sure they're not playing video games that the parents object to?)
Which should it be? Give the kids the tools they need to be moral by spending time with them (and, if you so believe, taking them to worship?), or leave the kids at home and let them play video games while you go to church, since they're not old enough to balance spirituality verse indoctrination?
The problem I have with the LP is the people who latch onto its ideals and pervert them. Case in point, I was at the York County Fair in York, PA a few years ago. I went up to a guy who was passing out LP pamphlets and told him I was also Libertarian. He proceeded to spew racist bullshit about China and the people who come from there, hiding behind the LP platform regarding UN and international politics. I turned to my then girlfriend (now wife) and said, "is this the kind of ignorant redneck I'm affiliated with by being a Libertarian?"
<soapbox>Regardless, vote third party. Vote Green, Libertarian, Independence, Reform... any of them. America will never belong to the people until we break the duopoly that favors Corporate America. The quickest way to do so is to vote in local and state elections, where there's a chance to win and send a message to "career politicians" (a term that still makes me shutter)</soapbox>
Most people who are religious despise inaction as well (heard of sloth?) Get over the need to actually put a face with 'god' and you'll find most religions are actually about leading your life in a manner that will bring you the most happiness and fullfillment.
Don't get me wrong, extremist in any relgion will probably disagree with that statement. But if someone can find a philosophy that makes them happy and lead your life in a good direction, whether it's through Christ's teachings, Buddism, Islam, Judaism, why are you intent on trying to convince them that their rules to live by are not valid?
More importantly, your religion, I would argue, is either Agnosticism or Aetheism. This is the philosphy you've chosen to guide your life in a positive manner. Good for you. I applaud you for giving the matter some thought and finding a settling position on the wonders and miracles of this universe.
Well, except Oklahoma and Central Pennsylvania. I have no hope for either of them anytime this century. As a central PA'er I will point out that this, like all stereotypes, is unfounded. Smack dab in the center of the State of PA is Penn State University, which brings a ton of culture, awareness and thinking to the area. Is there bigotry? Of course. Is there bigotry in Manhattan, San Fran, LA? Of course. On topic... I've been working out of my home as a full time employed programmer for 6 years.
Then play at the brick and mortar casinos. Most poker rooms have gone non-smoking
Please, abortion is not between consenting adults, it's between a woman and the child that she could bring into this world. Ignoring how difficult a decision this is makes people like me worried that other "fully aware adults" could be using abortion as an irresponsible form of birth control.
My point being, abortion is controversial BECAUSE it does affect someone who is not participating in the decision.
Gay marriage you're spot on about.
Zz
In a cost comparison, they probably figured a cheap, easy means to get people who otherwise did not know they had a pirated version to purchase outweighed trying to lock out people who knowingly run a pirated copy (i.e., people who will use this hack).
Religion tries to spoonfeed images of God to the masses by watering it down into ideas that most people can wrap their minds around. God may not be a "being" in any sense of the word that we can understand. It's not the guy pumping your gas at the local BP. Whatever started this, and science does tend indicate from our understanding that there was a "start" to our universe because most scientist today believe there is an age to our universe, is God. Whatever changed, is God.
As for eternity, if it started in a singularity, it's generally accepted that all laws of physics (including time) break down at the singularity, so, in essense, there was no eternity before the singularity changed.
Anyway, I love thinking about this stuff. Hope you all do to.
Here's how I like to think of God, personally. Whatever changed and resulted in the singularity expanding is God. It's not some santa clause human-looking white man with a big white beard throwing lightning bolts from the sky. It is what made this glorious universe possible, whatever that was, however explained. That is God. And I'm very happy it happened.