Attempting to judge someone by physical appearance or a quick observation of behavior is completely ineffective.
This book is the biggest load of cruft I've had the displeasure of pursuing in a long, long time.
Nearly a complete, waste of time and money and is more than likely bound to spark more than a few more uber-paranoid people locking themselves up in their trailer with a shotgun pointing out the window.
The only perks about this farce was the netural informational aspects such as how individual terrorists as well as terrorist groups and cells form, operate and work as well as the mind-set, cultural and historical information presented.
As a "guide" it's practically useless, as a source of information about the how and why terrorists operate and think, it IS fairly interesting.
Too bad that information is often available (in bits and pieces) via other sources on the net.
I did not believe I had made a counterpoint to that, I am aware that abuse investigations are occurring in Brazil, HOWEVER, they seem to be using a "shotgun" approach to solving the problem.
The article does lack the information as to how may accounts they turned over. If they had turned over 200 accounts with probable cause and they find 195 abusers, great!
When they turn over 200 accounts with NO probable cause and no evidence and they turn up 195 abusers........ I'm glad that they were taken down but I really cannot agree or approve of the method.
As I stated before, if they showed Google evidence and/or a warrant and they complied, all my concerns go away.
It just sounds like there was neither... I hate poorly detailed articles... I hope you can prove me wrong!
First you need to get your terms straightened out.
Pedophilia is the love of children, like a foster parent who loves the children he/she is caring for as their own.
Child Abuse is the physical, mental or SEXUAL abuse of a minor.
Just an FYI!
Now, while I agree that those that abuse children SHOULD be caught and punished for their crimes.
I AM going to play devils advocate for a while because, in my mind, if you can't see both sides of an argument, then you shouldn't be arguing.
I'm not so certain that these people are the, to paraphrase from your statement, "useless, mentally disturbed" individuals that you seem convinced that are.
Here's a thought, people used to consider "radical" things such as homosexuality a "mental illness" yet science has proven that to be incorrect. Now, here's my logic. Humans are still driven by "basic" instincts such as hunger, thirst and the want to pass of their genetics via reproduction.
On that note, a male is fertile for the vast majority of his life span while a female has a comparatively "narrow" span where she is able to reproduce.
Therefore, logic suggests that a male will always attempt to find the youngest fertile female possible because she will be able to produce more of his offspring than if he had chosen an older female.
As for females, they will always want the best possibly genetics from the male and it's ALSO been proven that sperm quality decreases with age. Therefore, again, logically she would seek out younger mates who would be able to best impregnate her.
Who says that this instinct or genetically influenced "drive" for a "prime" age to reproduce has not "drifted" to younger or older ages for some individuals?
I believe it has in some cases and we only hear about cases of child abuse because an 18 year old finding a 30 or 40 year old is not such a big deal.
Again, this was me playing devils advocate, however, my stance about people who abuse children is one of such disturbing cruelty that I would probably banned for sharing it...
The problem with the whole scenario is there was no probable cause. They simply stuck the words "suspected pedo" in front of the request and Google folded like a wet blanket.
For the record "Allegations" means accusations with no hard proof or evidence.
I'm not protecting anyone here, I'm simply saying, show me the evidence and I won't have a problem with Google turning over their info.
Funny how many people lose all good sense when the term "pedophilia" is brought up...
They just fly off the handle and start foaming at the mouth and attacking anyone who looks like they are even remotely concerned about anything but "the children".
I will agree with you that Google has an excellent track record for individuals privacy, however without probable cause or any evidence to justify turning over this data, it's still a black mark on their nose.
It's just as unreasonable to say that government should have no access to information about suspected terrorists and pedophiles, as it is to say that the government should have access to *everyones* information. The problem with your statement is that pesky little word "suspected".
ANYONE can be a "suspect" in the eyes of the government if they want information about you. Granted, your logic is all fine and dandy IF the ruling bodies of this country could be trusted any further than I could throw the White House. (Just a FYI, I CAN'T)
It plays like this:
Gov't: "We want information on the online activities Mr. John Doe of 333 West Burbank Ave., WTF, TX 11123"
Web Service: "Sorry, that information is private to the individual."
Gov't: "Ok then, we want information on the online activities of the SUSPECTED TERRORIST/PEDOPHILE/CURRENT 'EVIL' PERSON OF THE MINUTE Mr. John Doe of 333 West Burbank Ave., WTF, TX 11123, but, we don't have a warrant so we'll just invoke the 'Patriot Act'"
Web Service: "Oh! Ok then!
The sad part is, Mr. Doe has never done anything more wrong in his meager life than cross against the light.
What's that do for your "warm fuzzies" for helping rid the world of "suspected evil"?
The word "suspect(ed)" is used faaaaar too liberally by the government in order to get what they want. If they had our best intentions at heart and only used "suspect" when it was GENUINELY APPROPRIATE, I'd have far less of a reason to complain or worry.
But they don't, so I do.
Frankly, I'm disappointed in Google. Yes, the whole "stop the pedo's" has a strong pull, but there are so many ways to track/monitor/obtain evidence against "wrong-doers" today that there is practically no circumstances where a corporation turning over a individual's private information should be acceptable.
Ignorance causes people to hide behind the falsity "If you have nothing to hide then why do you need privacy?". The sad fact is, everyone, and I really DO mean EVERYONE, has SOMETHING that they don't want to be made public knowledge, period.
The all mighty governing body of this or other countries does NOT need to know everything about everyone and nor should they.
Our society has regressed several hundred years and we're all the way back to the Salem Witch Trials where we are all going around accusing each other of being hepatics when now many of the REAL criminals and wrong-doers are RUNNING THE COURTS while the rest of the ones that should be being caught are still running around doing what they will because we're all too busy hurling accusations at innocent people.
Just to wrap up here, allowing the government access to private factors of an individual by simply slapping the term "suspect" in front of their name is an extremely slippery slope that will only lead to tears as yet more of the principals this country was originally founded on crumble to dust.
Ahh, the good old college days!
I have a formula for a recipe for instant humiliation that myself and a group of lounge slackers made during my college years.
17 bored & tired college students in a lounge + 1:36am + 1 sleeping student in a chair + 1 roll of Duct Tape == Lawlz
Basically, we were all tired and bored on a weekend when one of our friends fell asleep in a chair. One of us (not me sadly) pointed at the sleeping student and then pointed to a roll of duct tape on a desk...
After we taped our victim's hands and feet together and then taped him to the chair and he STILL remained asleep.
Not to be bested by his exhaustion, I helped carry him outside where we proceeded to tape him to a lamp post.
Still no sign of consciousness from our drowsy comrade.
..........
The laughs and flashes from the cameras managed to rouse our hapless victim to his rude awakening.
Duct taped to a chair, which was duct taped 3 feet in the air on a lamp post, with liberal application of make-up and a sign that said "Man Whore -$5"
atual Duct Tape.. not the Duck Tape people think of as the gray tape.. is extreamly good on Duct's..
And of course Duck Tape is extremely good on ducks!
It's waterproof and shiny, so that covers functional and stylish... now if only they could do something about all the feathers stuck to it and the quacking... oh the endless quacking!
And also being a WD drive, as far as reliability goes you'd probably be better off just keeping your important documents in RAM.
I fail to see why people get their pants in a knot if a single drive fails on them. "Oh god! Oh God! I has a single bad drive! Now I must spurn all products from an otherwise good company instead of attempting to notice a trend of defects in that manufacturer!"
As a Tech for a large corporation, there is a roughly equal distribution of Hitachi, Maxtor, Western Digital and Seagate drives on site.
I have dealt with countless thousands of drives good and failed and by far in my experience the single most reliable drives are the Western Digitals, followed by Seagate, then trailing behind is Maxtor and, finally, losing by a landslide is Hitachi.
This is the data that I have acquired over several years. Take it as you will.
I'm not placing WD on a pedestal, but I will say that Western Digital, as a company, has earned my loyalty for personal use for a darn good reason.
Either way, I'm not going to stop you from using whichever drive you believe is most reliable.
You are quite correct in the fact that widescreen TV salesmen did/do use that sales pitch with annoying frequency.
Now, I do need to add my two bits here as someone who used to (glad for the past-tense too!)work in the newspaper industry, I must comment that the only reason newspapers and books and other printed media are taller than they are wide has less to do with ease of reading than the fact it makes the media easier to hold.
Granted, I don't know if the preference between reading wide columns of text vs. narrow columns of text may be personal preference, natural inclination or even learned behavior.
However, I can say that, I, personally, have developed a preference for reading nice wide columns of text with minimal scrolling/page turning.
Could this have something to do with me being a lazy bastard? Perhaps!
I can also say I initially missed the additional space at the top and bottom of the screen until I realized how much more I used the additional horizontal space. Again, possible personal preference.
The only solution I have found to avoiding those "missing pixels" is to buy a larger widescreen. So, now I am adoring my 24" 1920x1200 LCD that was a radical upgrade from my clunky old 17" 1280x1024 LCD.
Working on getting a second one to replace a 21" 4:3 secondary now!
At the company I work at, there is extreme contempt for hooking widescreen laptops up to projectors and smartboards as the user on the laptop cannot view what they are doing on the laptop's screen (if they do it is super distorted to fit on the other viewing device).
Just a thought here, but have you ever considered... oh, I dunno... changing the resolution of your laptops video out to, perhaps, a "standard" ratio such as 1024x768?
I know, I know, this is just as "extreme" as actually connecting the laptop to the projector in the first place, but really, despite the monumentous stretch of technical wizardry it requires to to actually find and then change the resolution settings to something more appropriate for a projector, it does work wonders for solving that whole distortion problem.
Cheers!
I'm not a coder, but as someone who regularly works in graphics design, Photoshop, Web Design, Page Layout, etc... a wide aspect ratio screen is completely invaluable and I have found it frustrating to use the "old" 4:3 style screens for some time now.
Your natural tendency is to look left and right, not up and down. I have been informed repeatedly of this by people who have "switched" and now favor the wider screen ratio.
Of course another reason general users probably prefer the widescreen is for viewing movies also, but that's another point all together.
I, for one, will waste no tears in the death knell of the standard aspect ratio.
Well, I'm CERTAIN, and apparently so are the RIAA's attack lawyers, that this utter criminal had heard or worse yet, OVERHEARD (double infringement!) illegally downloaded music files.
At sometime in the past... maybe... possibly... almost...
Anyway, there is just no excuse for such unconscionable behavior! I mean really, even living as a homeless person the man MUST have some money that he is needlessly wasting by buying things like food when he could be throwing it at the RIAA with abandon!
I shall gladly offer my assistance to explain the somewhat subtle differences to you my foreign friend.
It's actually quite simple when you look at it the same way that I do.
They're both horribly corrupt and attempting to run the governing body of this country into the ground. While taxing one class or another into the ground instead of attempting to be conservative financially.
The major difference between these two parties is, of course, the Democrats wish to give the illusion you are "free" and "uncensored" while they take over your existence, while the Republicans simply convince you that giving up your rights and liberties is a good thing.
The sad fact is the American people are far too lazy and/or ignorant of the laws and processes that affect their daily lives to care about passing laws individually.
So that is why "We, the people" continue choosing one corrupt jerk after another, who's interests extend so far as lining their own pockets, from one party or the other to completely screw us all in one manner of governing body or another until we submit and obey like good little sheep and consume whatever fodder is placed in front of us.
I do ponder how much and how difficult it would be to vacate my life here in this ever deepening muddy pit of dispair and travel toward the lands of Europe...
If you are implying that everyone is wealthy therefore everyone is Republican... I'd gladly claim to be a Republican if it automatically meant that $100 bills just start floating out of the sky and into my pocket.
No, I'm not a republican OR a democrat because I enjoy the process of THINKING too much to give it up.
Both parties of this bi-partisan country are corrupt, lazy, money grubbing, fear mongers and I refuse to vote for another piece of deadwood until there are people put up for election that are WORTH VOTING FOR and not one minute sooner.
Yes.
It is wrong to merely hope and not, instead, work diligently on developing your here-to-for latent psychokinetic abilities and start pulling rocks in from deep space and hitting them in the face!
Get cracking and all will be forgiven!
Slashdot Mirror
Attempting to judge someone by physical appearance or a quick observation of behavior is completely ineffective.
This book is the biggest load of cruft I've had the displeasure of pursuing in a long, long time.
Nearly a complete, waste of time and money and is more than likely bound to spark more than a few more uber-paranoid people locking themselves up in their trailer with a shotgun pointing out the window.
The only perks about this farce was the netural informational aspects such as how individual terrorists as well as terrorist groups and cells form, operate and work as well as the mind-set, cultural and historical information presented.
As a "guide" it's practically useless, as a source of information about the how and why terrorists operate and think, it IS fairly interesting.
Too bad that information is often available (in bits and pieces) via other sources on the net.
Not when there is a Towelie-ban!
*Ducks, runs for cover and watches his karma go up in smoke!*
Just Borg and Terminator jokes?
What about our self-assembling robotic overlords? I'm certain they will be displeased about being excluded!
I did not believe I had made a counterpoint to that, I am aware that abuse investigations are occurring in Brazil, HOWEVER, they seem to be using a "shotgun" approach to solving the problem.
The article does lack the information as to how may accounts they turned over. If they had turned over 200 accounts with probable cause and they find 195 abusers, great!
When they turn over 200 accounts with NO probable cause and no evidence and they turn up 195 abusers........ I'm glad that they were taken down but I really cannot agree or approve of the method.
As I stated before, if they showed Google evidence and/or a warrant and they complied, all my concerns go away.
It just sounds like there was neither... I hate poorly detailed articles... I hope you can prove me wrong!
Whoa now buck-a-roo, Pedophiles != Child Abusers
First you need to get your terms straightened out.
Pedophilia is the love of children, like a foster parent who loves the children he/she is caring for as their own.
Child Abuse is the physical, mental or SEXUAL abuse of a minor.
Just an FYI!
Now, while I agree that those that abuse children SHOULD be caught and punished for their crimes.
I AM going to play devils advocate for a while because, in my mind, if you can't see both sides of an argument, then you shouldn't be arguing.
I'm not so certain that these people are the, to paraphrase from your statement, "useless, mentally disturbed" individuals that you seem convinced that are.
Here's a thought, people used to consider "radical" things such as homosexuality a "mental illness" yet science has proven that to be incorrect. Now, here's my logic. Humans are still driven by "basic" instincts such as hunger, thirst and the want to pass of their genetics via reproduction.
On that note, a male is fertile for the vast majority of his life span while a female has a comparatively "narrow" span where she is able to reproduce.
Therefore, logic suggests that a male will always attempt to find the youngest fertile female possible because she will be able to produce more of his offspring than if he had chosen an older female.
As for females, they will always want the best possibly genetics from the male and it's ALSO been proven that sperm quality decreases with age. Therefore, again, logically she would seek out younger mates who would be able to best impregnate her.
Who says that this instinct or genetically influenced "drive" for a "prime" age to reproduce has not "drifted" to younger or older ages for some individuals?
I believe it has in some cases and we only hear about cases of child abuse because an 18 year old finding a 30 or 40 year old is not such a big deal.
Again, this was me playing devils advocate, however, my stance about people who abuse children is one of such disturbing cruelty that I would probably banned for sharing it...
Cheers!
Oy!!! Sorry man! I heard what you said but I'm WAAAY to busy falling down this slippery slope to reply right now!
The problem with the whole scenario is there was no probable cause. They simply stuck the words "suspected pedo" in front of the request and Google folded like a wet blanket.
For the record "Allegations" means accusations with no hard proof or evidence.
I'm not protecting anyone here, I'm simply saying, show me the evidence and I won't have a problem with Google turning over their info.
Funny how many people lose all good sense when the term "pedophilia" is brought up... They just fly off the handle and start foaming at the mouth and attacking anyone who looks like they are even remotely concerned about anything but "the children".
I will agree with you that Google has an excellent track record for individuals privacy, however without probable cause or any evidence to justify turning over this data, it's still a black mark on their nose.
ANYONE can be a "suspect" in the eyes of the government if they want information about you. Granted, your logic is all fine and dandy IF the ruling bodies of this country could be trusted any further than I could throw the White House. (Just a FYI, I CAN'T)
It plays like this:
Gov't: "We want information on the online activities Mr. John Doe of 333 West Burbank Ave., WTF, TX 11123"
Web Service: "Sorry, that information is private to the individual."
Gov't: "Ok then, we want information on the online activities of the SUSPECTED TERRORIST/PEDOPHILE/CURRENT 'EVIL' PERSON OF THE MINUTE Mr. John Doe of 333 West Burbank Ave., WTF, TX 11123, but, we don't have a warrant so we'll just invoke the 'Patriot Act'"
Web Service: "Oh! Ok then!
The sad part is, Mr. Doe has never done anything more wrong in his meager life than cross against the light.
What's that do for your "warm fuzzies" for helping rid the world of "suspected evil"?
The word "suspect(ed)" is used faaaaar too liberally by the government in order to get what they want. If they had our best intentions at heart and only used "suspect" when it was GENUINELY APPROPRIATE, I'd have far less of a reason to complain or worry.
But they don't, so I do.
Frankly, I'm disappointed in Google. Yes, the whole "stop the pedo's" has a strong pull, but there are so many ways to track/monitor/obtain evidence against "wrong-doers" today that there is practically no circumstances where a corporation turning over a individual's private information should be acceptable.
Ignorance causes people to hide behind the falsity "If you have nothing to hide then why do you need privacy?". The sad fact is, everyone, and I really DO mean EVERYONE, has SOMETHING that they don't want to be made public knowledge, period.
The all mighty governing body of this or other countries does NOT need to know everything about everyone and nor should they.
Our society has regressed several hundred years and we're all the way back to the Salem Witch Trials where we are all going around accusing each other of being hepatics when now many of the REAL criminals and wrong-doers are RUNNING THE COURTS while the rest of the ones that should be being caught are still running around doing what they will because we're all too busy hurling accusations at innocent people.
Just to wrap up here, allowing the government access to private factors of an individual by simply slapping the term "suspect" in front of their name is an extremely slippery slope that will only lead to tears as yet more of the principals this country was originally founded on crumble to dust.
This was NOT a good thing.
Ahh, the good old college days! I have a formula for a recipe for instant humiliation that myself and a group of lounge slackers made during my college years. 17 bored & tired college students in a lounge + 1:36am + 1 sleeping student in a chair + 1 roll of Duct Tape == Lawlz Basically, we were all tired and bored on a weekend when one of our friends fell asleep in a chair. One of us (not me sadly) pointed at the sleeping student and then pointed to a roll of duct tape on a desk... After we taped our victim's hands and feet together and then taped him to the chair and he STILL remained asleep.
Not to be bested by his exhaustion, I helped carry him outside where we proceeded to tape him to a lamp post.
Still no sign of consciousness from our drowsy comrade.
..........
The laughs and flashes from the cameras managed to rouse our hapless victim to his rude awakening.
Duct taped to a chair, which was duct taped 3 feet in the air on a lamp post, with liberal application of make-up and a sign that said "Man Whore -$5"
Personally, I'm amazed he ever forgave us.
And of course Duck Tape is extremely good on ducks!
It's waterproof and shiny, so that covers functional and stylish... now if only they could do something about all the feathers stuck to it and the quacking... oh the endless quacking!
I mean, it's TAPE people! Tape does not quack!
I fail to see why people get their pants in a knot if a single drive fails on them. "Oh god! Oh God! I has a single bad drive! Now I must spurn all products from an otherwise good company instead of attempting to notice a trend of defects in that manufacturer!"
As a Tech for a large corporation, there is a roughly equal distribution of Hitachi, Maxtor, Western Digital and Seagate drives on site.
I have dealt with countless thousands of drives good and failed and by far in my experience the single most reliable drives are the Western Digitals, followed by Seagate, then trailing behind is Maxtor and, finally, losing by a landslide is Hitachi.
This is the data that I have acquired over several years. Take it as you will.
I'm not placing WD on a pedestal, but I will say that Western Digital, as a company, has earned my loyalty for personal use for a darn good reason.
Either way, I'm not going to stop you from using whichever drive you believe is most reliable.
Excellent points there really!
You are quite correct in the fact that widescreen TV salesmen did/do use that sales pitch with annoying frequency.
Now, I do need to add my two bits here as someone who used to (glad for the past-tense too!)work in the newspaper industry, I must comment that the only reason newspapers and books and other printed media are taller than they are wide has less to do with ease of reading than the fact it makes the media easier to hold.
Granted, I don't know if the preference between reading wide columns of text vs. narrow columns of text may be personal preference, natural inclination or even learned behavior.
However, I can say that, I, personally, have developed a preference for reading nice wide columns of text with minimal scrolling/page turning.
Could this have something to do with me being a lazy bastard? Perhaps!
I can also say I initially missed the additional space at the top and bottom of the screen until I realized how much more I used the additional horizontal space. Again, possible personal preference.
The only solution I have found to avoiding those "missing pixels" is to buy a larger widescreen. So, now I am adoring my 24" 1920x1200 LCD that was a radical upgrade from my clunky old 17" 1280x1024 LCD.
Working on getting a second one to replace a 21" 4:3 secondary now!
Just a thought here, but have you ever considered... oh, I dunno... changing the resolution of your laptops video out to, perhaps, a "standard" ratio such as 1024x768?
I know, I know, this is just as "extreme" as actually connecting the laptop to the projector in the first place, but really, despite the monumentous stretch of technical wizardry it requires to to actually find and then change the resolution settings to something more appropriate for a projector, it does work wonders for solving that whole distortion problem. Cheers!
I'm not a coder, but as someone who regularly works in graphics design, Photoshop, Web Design, Page Layout, etc... a wide aspect ratio screen is completely invaluable and I have found it frustrating to use the "old" 4:3 style screens for some time now.
Your natural tendency is to look left and right, not up and down. I have been informed repeatedly of this by people who have "switched" and now favor the wider screen ratio.
Of course another reason general users probably prefer the widescreen is for viewing movies also, but that's another point all together.
I, for one, will waste no tears in the death knell of the standard aspect ratio.
Well, I'm CERTAIN, and apparently so are the RIAA's attack lawyers, that this utter criminal had heard or worse yet, OVERHEARD (double infringement!) illegally downloaded music files.
At sometime in the past... maybe... possibly... almost...
Anyway, there is just no excuse for such unconscionable behavior! I mean really, even living as a homeless person the man MUST have some money that he is needlessly wasting by buying things like food when he could be throwing it at the RIAA with abandon!
Fish Tape
I don't know about getting additional viable parties into the mix but I'd join the Beer and Cartoon Party!
...bosnian snipersSince when are Bosnian snipers a distraction issursjzsysrtjrtfhtrajtydjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjj[Connection Lost]
I shall gladly offer my assistance to explain the somewhat subtle differences to you my foreign friend.
It's actually quite simple when you look at it the same way that I do.
They're both horribly corrupt and attempting to run the governing body of this country into the ground. While taxing one class or another into the ground instead of attempting to be conservative financially.
The major difference between these two parties is, of course, the Democrats wish to give the illusion you are "free" and "uncensored" while they take over your existence, while the Republicans simply convince you that giving up your rights and liberties is a good thing.
The sad fact is the American people are far too lazy and/or ignorant of the laws and processes that affect their daily lives to care about passing laws individually.
So that is why "We, the people" continue choosing one corrupt jerk after another, who's interests extend so far as lining their own pockets, from one party or the other to completely screw us all in one manner of governing body or another until we submit and obey like good little sheep and consume whatever fodder is placed in front of us.
I do ponder how much and how difficult it would be to vacate my life here in this ever deepening muddy pit of dispair and travel toward the lands of Europe...
I voted for a [Heavy Leather Ball]
If you are implying that everyone is wealthy therefore everyone is Republican... I'd gladly claim to be a Republican if it automatically meant that $100 bills just start floating out of the sky and into my pocket.
No, I'm not a republican OR a democrat because I enjoy the process of THINKING too much to give it up.
Both parties of this bi-partisan country are corrupt, lazy, money grubbing, fear mongers and I refuse to vote for another piece of deadwood until there are people put up for election that are WORTH VOTING FOR and not one minute sooner.
This not the moon you are looking for...
Yes. It is wrong to merely hope and not, instead, work diligently on developing your here-to-for latent psychokinetic abilities and start pulling rocks in from deep space and hitting them in the face! Get cracking and all will be forgiven!
You sir, are the reason there needs to be a "Score:6, Funny."
Well done! You made me crack up at work and get everyone staring at me for laughing like a maniac for no apparent reason. Keep up the good work!
But... but... my CAFFEINE!!!
You tricksies us!
You can no have my preciousssss...