Sure, I'm interested. And for some crimes, yes, it might make a difference in sentancing. But we're not talking about stealing a loaf of bread to feed a starving handicapped orphan, we're talking about murder. A convicted murdered should get life in prison with no parole in my book. If you feel different, please explain.
Nobody's hitting the key good point of nuclear weapons: with the help of a rag-tag drilling team, they can save the world from the killer asteroid!!!!!!11one
On the other hand, tying a random innocent black person to the back of your pickup truck and dragging him until he is decapitated is far more heinous than your average crime of passion.
Just playing devil's advocate here: let's say instead of it being a black guy you didn't like because you're racist, it was a white guy you didn't like because he looked at you wrong. Is the first worse than the second?
In my head, murder is murder. Motive doesn't really factor into it. Except for things like self-defense, obviously.
So what you're saying is, Asimo can now keep up with the elderly and infirm?
To be fair, while that's a pretty sad running speed, it is good enough to keep up with an average person walking at a typical pace. That's a good start, in my book.
Yes, but saying that hurts the ones who don't, so we keep it quiet. Also, if the rest of the world realized we're smarter, better paid, AND get girls, well...they'd rise up against their nerdy overlords.
I'll agree with your general premise, but some of the specifics make me cringe.
Welfare is not just for people who don't feel like working. It is also for single mothers who can either look after their children or work, people who are faced with illness and disability and can't work, and the mentally and physically handicapped.
Social security is also good for those folks who've been working hand to mouth for 50 years and have never been able to save for retirement. I doubt you could manage to put together a nice nest egg on $6/hour.
Leaving New Orleans when you don't have a car and everything you own is in your house/apartment might not be the easiest thing in the world. Maybe you need a couple bucks to buy some food and clothes for your family.
There's a lot of waste in the system, I'll grant you that. But what would you do instead, let people starve to death? Let the elderly die because they can't afford their rent? Personally, I don't mind contributing a little bit of my paycheck to people who don't have what I do. I recognize it's for the common good. Yes, there are pork projects, yes, the war in Iraq is a gigantic waste of life and money, yes, people in NO should have gotten the hell out. In a perfect world, everybody would have a job, have enough to pay for their basic needs and save for retirement, and taxes would be nice and low. Until then, I'll stick with taxes, thanks.
Yup, the Canadian system works beautifully. Results are in the next morning at the absolute latest, or midnight or so if you're in the west. However, we only have to count one thing. No votes for multiple things at once, just a choice of whoever's in the riding. So while it works well for that, simple paper and pencil gets more complicated the more things on the ballot - and the US has a bunch, if I'm not mistaken.
You always have to trust someone. The employees you let into the building, the janitor who cleans it, the guy who installs the door, etc, etc, etc. Sure, you can keep everyone out...but then why have a door at all? These things are locks, nothing more. And you've got to give someone the key. A marine is a pretty good bet, generally.
In regards to your ambulance point: actually, on the way to accident scenes, those things do go well over the speed limit. So do police cars and fire trucks. Once the person is in the ambulance, yes, they slow down - the person is already getting medical attention. But shaving 30 seconds off a 5 minute trip to get to the guy having a heart attack can easily be the difference between life and death.
Also, there are times (rare, yes) when speeding to the hospital is not the worst idea. The hospital where I live is slightly out of town, and to get there you have to go on a highway of sorts. The limit is 60km/h for part of it. Oh a straight road, no lights, no fast turns or merging traffic, if it was 4 in the morning and someone was dying in my backseat, going up to 100 would not be an issue.
People have wanted music to be free for much longer. Music itself doesn't want a damn thing, since it's not sentient. Look, you want music to be free, fair enough. Just don't go spouting this crap that "music" wants anything.
I know I'm ranting, but this pisses me off. Don't give something inanimate feelings, opinions, and desires. People have those. Would you take me seriously if I said "guns want to kill", "matches want to set fires", "food wants to get eaten", or "cars want to drive"? No? Then don't say music (or information) wants to be free.
Jury nullification notwithstanding, the jury must decide for the plaintiff or defense based on the evidence presented in court, not the ideology, for or against, pertaining to downloading music on the Internet.
You're right, that's how it's supposed to work. That would be how I would serve on a jury, how you would serve on a jury, how a great many people who believe in the justice system would serve on a jury. However, there are a lot of people (like the gp, I assume) who would decide based on their own personal feelings about the crime committed, the defendant, and the plantiff. It's why people with obvious bias are removed from the jury pool in selection; juries are made of ordinary people, people with prejudices and biases and ways of thinking. Race, gender, age, it all plays a role. I wish it didn't, but that's the way the system works.
As a question to you, in the trials where you were an expert witness, did you never see a verdict you were puzzled by? One where, having looked at all the facts yourself, you were surprised they decided what they did?
of course, no researcher worth any amount of salt would start with ana encyclopedia
I have a relative that researches for a living, and I can tell you, she often starts with an encyclopedia. Why? Because the good ones give actual sources for the information in them. Some (not all, true) wikipedia articles have a list of references, or even proper in-text citations to primary sources or other published work. And that kind of information is very valuable to a researcher.
I understand the point you're making as to what wikipedia is. However, I think it's importent to realize that it has valuable uses too, even for a serious researcher. No, the information might not be correct, but it's often a good place to get the names of a few good books on the subject.
Because you'd likely become an immediate social outcast. When someone has HIV, there's a belief by a lot of people that they deserve whatever they get, because they're probably a drug user or homosexual, and therefore deserve to die. HIV and AIDS carries a stigma in a lot of places. People are scared of it, and rightly so, but that fear can become somewhat of a witch hunt.
So set up a free webmail account, they're not hard to get. Use something that won't identify you. You get to be anonymous, and still be contacted in case of an emergency. My email shows up in this comment, but it doesn't identify me. Sure, if someone big and powerful enough wanted to, they could try to find out from google which IP accesses the account. They might even get it. But I'm not that paranoid, and if I was, I'd only check it (and post on/.) using Tor or at a public terminal, or both.
Anonymity is possible, just inconvienient.
And I too would like to know if I had a deadly disese. And if it was something like SARS or birdflu, I probably wouldn't care who else knew. But what if it was HIV? Wouldn't you want that kept with some degree of secrecy?
Teens have rights too, you can't discriminate on the basis of age.
You must be new here. And by here, I mean society. It's one of the few things that not only are people still discriminated against for, it's one that no one complains about, or really even thinks about.
While street-level drug dealers might make minimum wage, the higher ups do very well. Besides, a lot of the guys selling stuff on the street are doing it to support their own habit and have a real job on the side. Note: my experience with drug dealers is mostly limited to Canada and marijuana, so make of that what you will.
Slashdot Mirror
Sure, I'm interested. And for some crimes, yes, it might make a difference in sentancing. But we're not talking about stealing a loaf of bread to feed a starving handicapped orphan, we're talking about murder. A convicted murdered should get life in prison with no parole in my book. If you feel different, please explain.
Nobody's hitting the key good point of nuclear weapons: with the help of a rag-tag drilling team, they can save the world from the killer asteroid!!!!!!11one
On the other hand, tying a random innocent black person to the back of your pickup truck and dragging him until he is decapitated is far more heinous than your average crime of passion.
Just playing devil's advocate here: let's say instead of it being a black guy you didn't like because you're racist, it was a white guy you didn't like because he looked at you wrong. Is the first worse than the second?
In my head, murder is murder. Motive doesn't really factor into it. Except for things like self-defense, obviously.
The mission if you accept is to find this woman and stop her.
Well, I'm in China - that's a start.
So what you're saying is, Asimo can now keep up with the elderly and infirm?
To be fair, while that's a pretty sad running speed, it is good enough to keep up with an average person walking at a typical pace. That's a good start, in my book.
Yes, but saying that hurts the ones who don't, so we keep it quiet. Also, if the rest of the world realized we're smarter, better paid, AND get girls, well...they'd rise up against their nerdy overlords.
I'll agree with your general premise, but some of the specifics make me cringe.
Welfare is not just for people who don't feel like working. It is also for single mothers who can either look after their children or work, people who are faced with illness and disability and can't work, and the mentally and physically handicapped.
Social security is also good for those folks who've been working hand to mouth for 50 years and have never been able to save for retirement. I doubt you could manage to put together a nice nest egg on $6/hour.
Leaving New Orleans when you don't have a car and everything you own is in your house/apartment might not be the easiest thing in the world. Maybe you need a couple bucks to buy some food and clothes for your family.
There's a lot of waste in the system, I'll grant you that. But what would you do instead, let people starve to death? Let the elderly die because they can't afford their rent? Personally, I don't mind contributing a little bit of my paycheck to people who don't have what I do. I recognize it's for the common good. Yes, there are pork projects, yes, the war in Iraq is a gigantic waste of life and money, yes, people in NO should have gotten the hell out. In a perfect world, everybody would have a job, have enough to pay for their basic needs and save for retirement, and taxes would be nice and low. Until then, I'll stick with taxes, thanks.
Yup, the Canadian system works beautifully. Results are in the next morning at the absolute latest, or midnight or so if you're in the west. However, we only have to count one thing. No votes for multiple things at once, just a choice of whoever's in the riding. So while it works well for that, simple paper and pencil gets more complicated the more things on the ballot - and the US has a bunch, if I'm not mistaken.
private websites you read in your underwear
I'm naked, you insensitive clod!
Real Men move the accuator on the hard drive by hand.
You always have to trust someone. The employees you let into the building, the janitor who cleans it, the guy who installs the door, etc, etc, etc. Sure, you can keep everyone out...but then why have a door at all? These things are locks, nothing more. And you've got to give someone the key. A marine is a pretty good bet, generally.
Easy. You have an infinite number of monkeys reading it.
Oddly, a goatse link would be informative in response to this parent.
Or call someone with caller id.
Breaking a promise is a hell of a lot more evil then not making one, in my book.
In regards to your ambulance point: actually, on the way to accident scenes, those things do go well over the speed limit. So do police cars and fire trucks. Once the person is in the ambulance, yes, they slow down - the person is already getting medical attention. But shaving 30 seconds off a 5 minute trip to get to the guy having a heart attack can easily be the difference between life and death.
Also, there are times (rare, yes) when speeding to the hospital is not the worst idea. The hospital where I live is slightly out of town, and to get there you have to go on a highway of sorts. The limit is 60km/h for part of it. Oh a straight road, no lights, no fast turns or merging traffic, if it was 4 in the morning and someone was dying in my backseat, going up to 100 would not be an issue.
music has wanted to be free for much longer...
People have wanted music to be free for much longer. Music itself doesn't want a damn thing, since it's not sentient. Look, you want music to be free, fair enough. Just don't go spouting this crap that "music" wants anything.
I know I'm ranting, but this pisses me off. Don't give something inanimate feelings, opinions, and desires. People have those. Would you take me seriously if I said "guns want to kill", "matches want to set fires", "food wants to get eaten", or "cars want to drive"? No? Then don't say music (or information) wants to be free.
Jury nullification notwithstanding, the jury must decide for the plaintiff or defense based on the evidence presented in court, not the ideology, for or against, pertaining to downloading music on the Internet.
You're right, that's how it's supposed to work. That would be how I would serve on a jury, how you would serve on a jury, how a great many people who believe in the justice system would serve on a jury. However, there are a lot of people (like the gp, I assume) who would decide based on their own personal feelings about the crime committed, the defendant, and the plantiff. It's why people with obvious bias are removed from the jury pool in selection; juries are made of ordinary people, people with prejudices and biases and ways of thinking. Race, gender, age, it all plays a role. I wish it didn't, but that's the way the system works.
As a question to you, in the trials where you were an expert witness, did you never see a verdict you were puzzled by? One where, having looked at all the facts yourself, you were surprised they decided what they did?
of course, no researcher worth any amount of salt would start with ana encyclopedia
I have a relative that researches for a living, and I can tell you, she often starts with an encyclopedia. Why? Because the good ones give actual sources for the information in them. Some (not all, true) wikipedia articles have a list of references, or even proper in-text citations to primary sources or other published work. And that kind of information is very valuable to a researcher.
I understand the point you're making as to what wikipedia is. However, I think it's importent to realize that it has valuable uses too, even for a serious researcher. No, the information might not be correct, but it's often a good place to get the names of a few good books on the subject.
Because you'd likely become an immediate social outcast. When someone has HIV, there's a belief by a lot of people that they deserve whatever they get, because they're probably a drug user or homosexual, and therefore deserve to die. HIV and AIDS carries a stigma in a lot of places. People are scared of it, and rightly so, but that fear can become somewhat of a witch hunt.
So set up a free webmail account, they're not hard to get. Use something that won't identify you. You get to be anonymous, and still be contacted in case of an emergency. My email shows up in this comment, but it doesn't identify me. Sure, if someone big and powerful enough wanted to, they could try to find out from google which IP accesses the account. They might even get it. But I'm not that paranoid, and if I was, I'd only check it (and post on /.) using Tor or at a public terminal, or both.
Anonymity is possible, just inconvienient.
And I too would like to know if I had a deadly disese. And if it was something like SARS or birdflu, I probably wouldn't care who else knew. But what if it was HIV? Wouldn't you want that kept with some degree of secrecy?
Teens have rights too, you can't discriminate on the basis of age.
You must be new here. And by here, I mean society. It's one of the few things that not only are people still discriminated against for, it's one that no one complains about, or really even thinks about.
If they've intercepted some of your mail from the bank, I suspect they could do most of what they would like to already.
While street-level drug dealers might make minimum wage, the higher ups do very well. Besides, a lot of the guys selling stuff on the street are doing it to support their own habit and have a real job on the side. Note: my experience with drug dealers is mostly limited to Canada and marijuana, so make of that what you will.
Well, personally...
10 middle click any links in firefox
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30 giggle with girlish glee
40 goto 10