Actually, you appear to have his argument somewhat reversed. His argument was, in fact, "People who respond to nonviolent offenses with extreme violence lack the reasoning facilities for diplomacy, thus diplomacy is not an option for dealing with them. In the absence of diplomacy, violent response is the only option that remains."
Whether this is a valid argument remains to be seen - but it seems *reasonable* to me at first shake. I would add this to the mix: When humans respond to nonviolent offenses with unnecessary violence, they reduce themselves to the level of animals. When animals attack humans, the normal response is to put said animal down, whether by gun (necessary violence - self defense) or lethal injection (nonviolent euthanasia). Humans that behave like animals should receive no better treatment.
You've got it pretty much right. The wiring for any given phone line in a house is set up in a ring, such that any jack can become the input. Once you've got the Telco disconnected from your box and plug in your TA to any wall jack, your TA becomes the input for the ring. Metering shouldn't be necessary - just use a handset to make sure there's no dialtone or white noise on the line. It should be completely dead.
A major suggestion I would have for you, however, is to wrap the Telco plug with electrical tape, and hang a tag on it with a note to the effect of "Do NOT reconnect this system to POTS! It may damage inside VoIP equipment."
Also remember, your TA will likely only give you enough ringing voltage to power 4-6 handsets. Any more than that, you run the risk of drawing too much power from the system and not having enough juice left to ring the phones when a call comes in.
I just have to bow before the guy who can read a 44 page pdf and post an intelligible, coherent comment on it in less than two minutes. I just have to ask - where do you get that kind of caffeine?
There is the Xbox 360, which brags about it's HDD support but does not make the HDD a standard option. How many 3rd party devs are going to support a peripheral that maybe a third or less of the market has? Obviously some will, but most won't bother. Plus, it's Microsoft, and they just piss me off.
Then there's the Playstation 3. Made by Sony, a company who installs rootkits on people's PC's, settles for poorly manufactured digicam CCD's, and has generally been riding their name for the past 3 years or so (Hey, we're Sony! People will buy our crap regardless of how craptastic it is!). Sony pisses me off.
Last but not least, we have the Nintendo Revolution, which is not only the least expensive of the three, but is likely to bring about a wave of excellent new gameplay styles with their innovative new controller format (btw, for those who still complain and want their old-style controllers, Nintendo is making one). Most importantly, Nintendo hasn't done anything to piss me off lately.
Disclaimer: If a really good new Ratchet and Clank game comes out for it...I might end up with a PS3 anyway. Damn that addictive Lombax!
As we've seen by comparing NASA to companies like SpaceX, we can obviously do better with a commercial entity running interplanetary exploration and scientific endeavors. I would like to formally announce my new company dedicated to aerospace and biological research, Union Aerospace Corporation.
You have this one backwards - the judge has the power to overturn a wrongful conviction, in cases where there is no evidence that could convince any reasonable jury beyond a reasonable doubt. The judge does not ever have the power to overturn a jury nullification acquittal. We're protected from something called 'Double Jeopardy' in these here states.
If you're still so positive that jury nullification is an abuse of power, consider this tidbit from The Juror's Handbook, info correlated in the aforementioned Wikipedia article:
In fact, the power of jury nullification predates our Constitution. In November of 1734, a printer named John Peter Zenger was arrested for seditious libel against his Majesty's government. At that time, a law of the Colony of New York forbid any publication without prior government approval. Freedom of the press was not enjoyed by the early colonialists! Zenger, however, defied this censorship and published articles strongly critical of New York colonial rule.
When brought to trial in August of 1735, Zenger admitted publishing the offending articles, but argued that the truth of the facts stated justified their publication. The judge instructed the jury that truth is not justification for libel. Rather, truth makes the libel more vicious, for public unrest is more likely to follow true, rather than false claims of bad governance. And since the defendant had admitted to the "fact" of publication, only a question of "law" remained.
Then, as now, the judge said the "issue of law" was for the court to determine, and he instructed the jury to find the defendant guilty. It took only ten minutes for the jury to disregard the judge's instructions on the law and find Zenger NOT GUILTY.
That is the power of the jury at work; the power to decide the issues of law under which the defendant is charged, as well as the facts. In our system of checks and balances, the jury is our final check, the people's last safegard against unjust law and tyranny.
A further note from Chief Justice John Jay, to the jury in the first jury trial held before the Supreme Court.
"It is presumed, that juries are the best judges of facts; it is, on the other hand, presumed that courts are the best judges of law. But still both objects are within your power of decision....you have a right to take it upon yourselves to judge of both, and to determine the law as well as the fact in controversy."
See, we used to have judges who didn't lie to their juries.
Jury nullification is a jury's refusal to render a verdict according to the law, as instructed by the court, regardless of the weight of evidence presented. Instead, a jury bases its judgment on other grounds. Historically, examples include the unjustness of the law, injustice of its application, the race of a party, or the jury's own common sense.
Jury nullification is a de facto power of the jury, and is not ordinarily described as a right. The power of jury nullification derives from an inherent quality of most modern common law systems--a general unwillingness to inquire into jurors' motivations during or after deliberations. A jury's ability to nullify the law is further supported by two common law precedents: the prohibition on punishing jury members for their verdict, and the prohibition on retrying criminal defendants after an acquittal (see related topic Double jeopardy).
Jury nullification is the source of much debate. Some maintain that it is an important safeguard of last-resort against wrongful imprisonment and government tyranny. Others view it as an abuse of the right to a trial by jury that undermines the law and violates the oath sworn to by jurors.
--------
Juries in the United States have always had the power to ignore laws they feel are unjust. It's just another of the multitude of checks and balances put into place by the founding fathers of the country, and fortunately one of the few of those that haven't been taken away from us.
Whomever modded this 'offtopic' obviously wasn't paying attention - how is a Hulk joke in a thread about a Gamma ray burst offtopic? I found this comment by specifically looking for Hulk references. I had been planning on saying something along the lines of:
"The scientist who spotted this phenomenon has developed strange mutations recently, and sold the movie rights to his story, on the condition that the movie suck as hard as possible."
Slashdot Mirror
Actually, you appear to have his argument somewhat reversed. His argument was, in fact, "People who respond to nonviolent offenses with extreme violence lack the reasoning facilities for diplomacy, thus diplomacy is not an option for dealing with them. In the absence of diplomacy, violent response is the only option that remains."
Whether this is a valid argument remains to be seen - but it seems *reasonable* to me at first shake. I would add this to the mix: When humans respond to nonviolent offenses with unnecessary violence, they reduce themselves to the level of animals. When animals attack humans, the normal response is to put said animal down, whether by gun (necessary violence - self defense) or lethal injection (nonviolent euthanasia). Humans that behave like animals should receive no better treatment.
You've got it pretty much right. The wiring for any given phone line in a house is set up in a ring, such that any jack can become the input. Once you've got the Telco disconnected from your box and plug in your TA to any wall jack, your TA becomes the input for the ring. Metering shouldn't be necessary - just use a handset to make sure there's no dialtone or white noise on the line. It should be completely dead.
A major suggestion I would have for you, however, is to wrap the Telco plug with electrical tape, and hang a tag on it with a note to the effect of "Do NOT reconnect this system to POTS! It may damage inside VoIP equipment."
Also remember, your TA will likely only give you enough ringing voltage to power 4-6 handsets. Any more than that, you run the risk of drawing too much power from the system and not having enough juice left to ring the phones when a call comes in.
That is too bad, but... in Uranium Sulfur Strontium, elements spell Yttrium Oxygen Uranium!
They could name it after the leading biologist on the team, Stephen Wulffraat - "Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you - the Wolf-Rat!"
A "hybrid" face?
What kind of gas mileage will she get on it?
I just have to bow before the guy who can read a 44 page pdf and post an intelligible, coherent comment on it in less than two minutes. I just have to ask - where do you get that kind of caffeine?
Amazing.
Isn't it telling that the idea of Microsoft telling the truth is considered front page news on /.?
This is what it really breaks down to for me:
There is the Xbox 360, which brags about it's HDD support but does not make the HDD a standard option. How many 3rd party devs are going to support a peripheral that maybe a third or less of the market has? Obviously some will, but most won't bother. Plus, it's Microsoft, and they just piss me off.
Then there's the Playstation 3. Made by Sony, a company who installs rootkits on people's PC's, settles for poorly manufactured digicam CCD's, and has generally been riding their name for the past 3 years or so (Hey, we're Sony! People will buy our crap regardless of how craptastic it is!). Sony pisses me off.
Last but not least, we have the Nintendo Revolution, which is not only the least expensive of the three, but is likely to bring about a wave of excellent new gameplay styles with their innovative new controller format (btw, for those who still complain and want their old-style controllers, Nintendo is making one). Most importantly, Nintendo hasn't done anything to piss me off lately.
Disclaimer: If a really good new Ratchet and Clank game comes out for it...I might end up with a PS3 anyway. Damn that addictive Lombax!
Umm...redundant how?
Thanks, dude...you just made me piss my pants at work.
As we've seen by comparing NASA to companies like SpaceX, we can obviously do better with a commercial entity running interplanetary exploration and scientific endeavors. I would like to formally announce my new company dedicated to aerospace and biological research, Union Aerospace Corporation.
Now hiring scientists and Space Marines.
If you're still so positive that jury nullification is an abuse of power, consider this tidbit from The Juror's Handbook, info correlated in the aforementioned Wikipedia article:
In fact, the power of jury nullification predates our Constitution. In November of 1734, a printer named John Peter Zenger was arrested for seditious libel against his Majesty's government. At that time, a law of the Colony of New York forbid any publication without prior government approval. Freedom of the press was not enjoyed by the early colonialists! Zenger, however, defied this censorship and published articles strongly critical of New York colonial rule.
When brought to trial in August of 1735, Zenger admitted publishing the offending articles, but argued that the truth of the facts stated justified their publication. The judge instructed the jury that truth is not justification for libel. Rather, truth makes the libel more vicious, for public unrest is more likely to follow true, rather than false claims of bad governance. And since the defendant had admitted to the "fact" of publication, only a question of "law" remained.
Then, as now, the judge said the "issue of law" was for the court to determine, and he instructed the jury to find the defendant guilty. It took only ten minutes for the jury to disregard the judge's instructions on the law and find Zenger NOT GUILTY.
That is the power of the jury at work; the power to decide the issues of law under which the defendant is charged, as well as the facts. In our system of checks and balances, the jury is our final check, the people's last safegard against unjust law and tyranny.
A further note from Chief Justice John Jay, to the jury in the first jury trial held before the Supreme Court.
"It is presumed, that juries are the best judges of facts; it is, on the other hand, presumed that courts are the best judges of law. But still both objects are within your power of decision....you have a right to take it upon yourselves to judge of both, and to determine the law as well as the fact in controversy."
See, we used to have judges who didn't lie to their juries.
From Wikipedia:
Jury nullification is a jury's refusal to render a verdict according to the law, as instructed by the court, regardless of the weight of evidence presented. Instead, a jury bases its judgment on other grounds. Historically, examples include the unjustness of the law, injustice of its application, the race of a party, or the jury's own common sense.
Jury nullification is a de facto power of the jury, and is not ordinarily described as a right. The power of jury nullification derives from an inherent quality of most modern common law systems--a general unwillingness to inquire into jurors' motivations during or after deliberations. A jury's ability to nullify the law is further supported by two common law precedents: the prohibition on punishing jury members for their verdict, and the prohibition on retrying criminal defendants after an acquittal (see related topic Double jeopardy).
Jury nullification is the source of much debate. Some maintain that it is an important safeguard of last-resort against wrongful imprisonment and government tyranny. Others view it as an abuse of the right to a trial by jury that undermines the law and violates the oath sworn to by jurors.
--------
Juries in the United States have always had the power to ignore laws they feel are unjust. It's just another of the multitude of checks and balances put into place by the founding fathers of the country, and fortunately one of the few of those that haven't been taken away from us.
In Soviet Russia, your phone recognizes YOU!!!
Hehehe... the *Wang* vector pair... attack vectors by *Wang*
That's just great. >:)
How much suck can they fit in one box? Next we'll hear Microsoft is buying SCO...
Meat Lover's is from Pizza Hut, not Domino's, you insensitive clod!
Whomever modded this 'offtopic' obviously wasn't paying attention - how is a Hulk joke in a thread about a Gamma ray burst offtopic? I found this comment by specifically looking for Hulk references. I had been planning on saying something along the lines of :
"The scientist who spotted this phenomenon has developed strange mutations recently, and sold the movie rights to his story, on the condition that the movie suck as hard as possible."
Thanks for ruining it for me.
And here I thought a 640k flash card ought to be enough for anybody.
...ought to be enough for anybody.
the fact remains that, on average, smart people make more money than poor people.
Wow, this is so true! In fact, everybody but other poor people and dead people make more money than poor people.
Smart people also tend to have more children than sterile people.