If someone is prosecuted for child pornography related charges where this is the only image involved then a court will rule on it, but to censor the image requires only that the censoring body designates it as indecent.
Nonetheless, if the child is in a sexually provocative pose then the image does qualify as 'child pornography' and it would be illegal to copy or distribute it in the UK.
Disclaimer: I'm in the UK, and I haven't viewed the image, and I have no intent of even trying. An image the Internet Watch Foundation has designated as Child Pornography would be unfeasibly incredibly fantastically stupid for me to try and view as it would leave me vulnerable to losing my computers, my livelihood and quite possibly my freedom. Whether I agree that this is an appropriate response to viewing an album cover online is not relevant to the real world impacts of attempting to do so.
Published papers (by Computer Scientists) all recommend algorithm X above Y and Z. Default libraries implement X and Y. Journal articles state "use X here and Y there".
Do I need to do original research to compare X, Y and Z or do I just need to pick the right fucking one?
Programmers need many skills. Software engineers need critical thinking skills and people skills. They do not need heavy mathematical backgrounds.
It's fucking elitist and wrong to require a computer science background for programming, let alone software engineering. Most top programmers and software engineers do not have a compsci degree, and it hasn't held them back at all.
Knowing compiler theory, understanding memory allocation optimisation mechanisms, being able to reverse engineer public key encryption mechanisms.. sure, this is all good fun. I'd far rather give a job to someone that knows how to talk to people from a non-computing background and translate their needs into working software.
Software engineers need to know how to pick a good enough algorithm and use it. They don't need to know how to compare such algorithms, devise new ones, mathematically prove their accuracy or optimise their implementation. Fortunately computer scientists are happy doing such things.
Computer scientists on the other hand haven't got a clue how to write software in a real world setting. Dijkstra mentioned formally proving the program meets the formal functional specification? Nobody ever writes a formal functional specification! How can you possibly prove your program meets it when it doesn't exist.
Despite this, or possibly because of it, software engineers have automated most businesses on the planet.
Software engineering is a serious discipline, and is about writing software. Computer science is also a serious discipline, but in a curious twist on your statement, it's got nothing to do with writing software.
Generally speaking, they're releasing the crews unharmed.
Murdering them would be bad for business - why seek peaceful return of a vessel and its crew if the crew will be dead anyway? You may as well drop a squad of well trained professional troops onto it and prevent the next capture.
Ransoms are being paid because the crews are alive, not murdered.
being molested by a male authority figure is statistically a very present danger.
Exclude family members and statistically speaking it never happens.
It is so fucking rare that the few cases that occur make headline news.
Men are completely demonised, under constant suspicion and are abandoning all care/child-related professions in massive numbers because of it.
I personally refuse to become a coach at my sports club because I'd have to go through a criminal record check because they're worried about pedophiles. The irony is that club members are happy to leave their kids under my control as a friend, I'm just not allowed to actually teach them anything. Why should men be treated as criminals for trying to help, and why should men enter a career that can be ended by a malicious lying child?
Yes, there are nasty people out there, and yes some people are abused by male authority figures. Some people are abused by female authority figures too, and societally men are disproportionately picked on.
Shit, to give you another example of the gender imbalance, why are rape victims given anonymity and not the person that they accuse? I know who is more likely to lose their job before a trial even occurs, and the guilt of the accused has absolutely no fucking relevance on this. Either reveal the names of both parties or neither, until the point at which someone is found guilty.
Your definition of self-defence against the state as "cop killing" is misleading.
The 2nd Amendment is explicitly about giving "the people" the right to self-defence against the state.
Of course the law isn't worded as "you can kill the police", and naturally the elected Government never thinks the exercise of that right is specifically required. Nonetheless, the right is built into your constitution.
I believe the US constitution is not confined either to the US or to US citizens.
Outside the US it may not be feasible or within the laws of other countries to apply it. Inside the US non-US citizens should be granted the rights and protections it provides.
If your laws do not grant equal rights to others, they have no obligation to obey them. Isn't that a founding principle of the US anyway?
Except that my response is to stop using Ebay. I refuse to use Paypal, businesses lose my custom if they don't accept secure and reliable payment options.
I game on a laptop for the simple reason that I have two homes (due to work). So I bought a decent spec laptop and stick it in the car when I switch houses.
(I don't have that model. Google for 'laptop cooler' and see what comes up).
It's a little noisier, but it means I can use a laptop for gaming while lying on a bed (with the laptop on the base on the bed) and the laptop's own fans rarely need to kick in (for WoW - STALKER needed rather more cooling).
So it will greatly improve the likely lifespan of the laptop.
If you're using the laptop in 1-2 main locations (so don't have to worry about carrying them) then I'd definitely recommend grabbing a cooler. They're cheap and effective.
It's kind of depressing when someone describes 2.4 as "as old as the fucking hills". I mean, ffs, we had articles on Slashdot about it being released...
(I also remember the article about the drywalled server)
The multiple unions active at my company suck, I chose not to join any of them.
I'm sure I am eligible to join one - it would surely be discriminatory to exclude me purely because I have a staff.
The law prevents my company laying people off and hiring 20 year olds at half the price to do the same job. I would say that if it's possible to get the job done at half the price then it would be wrong of the company not to explore that option - this is why many companies outsource their IT.
(Obviously the illusion of saving half the price is seldom reflected in the reality after they've outsourced. That's a whole other argument..)
I'm counting employers because the sheer weight of numbers negates your arguments.
You aren't restricted to joining a company you already know someone at. I said I know a lot of people that get jobs through networking. I know many more that get jobs by looking at the jobs available and choosing one that meets their needs.
As for SMEs, they are even less likely to collude than the major employers. They are the most likely to benefit from attracting the better people because the impact and influence of a good employee will be better.
If the market isn't functioning then the 'market rate' at which the job is offered will be below what a functioning market would settle on. They don't have to lower the salary after seeing a CV, because it was below what a functioning market would settle on to start with!
This is entirely true. Where we disagree is whether the market is functioning. I think it is.
If salaries are falling then it's due to many factors, including the oversupply of many skillsets, a correction from the.com bubble, the competition from offshore companies (and individuals, through immigration), the current financial climate and other factors.
To answer your other point, there is a shortage of competent employees. It takes months to recruit highly skilled, highly motivated people for certain roles. It takes days to bring in some random muppet.
Employers are not going to pay some random muppet the same as a competent employee. Muppets sadly dominate the labour pool and so salaries reflect this.
I'd say a Real Estate Attorney has a higher level of education to a contract Java programmer. The contract Java programmer will bring in $140k/year (I just checked current pay offers on a job site). If there was a glut of good Java programmers wouldn't the latter value be lower?
There are definitely issues with the IT industry. You have to be constantly learning, constantly updating your skills, and usually broadening your role to maintain a career. It can be difficult to reach higher salary levels as a permanent employee, especially if you want to keep programming or doing system admin. It is also definitely possible to make very good money, choose jobs you like and find employers that will reward you for the contribution you make.
Slashdot Mirror
There doesn't need to be a court ruling.
If someone is prosecuted for child pornography related charges where this is the only image involved then a court will rule on it, but to censor the image requires only that the censoring body designates it as indecent.
Quite possibly. Write to the Internet Watch Foundation and demand that they treat that image in an identical manner to the one on Wikipedia.
Does the Amazon UK site also have that album with that cover? (I wont check myself; see my other post for why)
Nonetheless, if the child is in a sexually provocative pose then the image does qualify as 'child pornography' and it would be illegal to copy or distribute it in the UK.
Disclaimer: I'm in the UK, and I haven't viewed the image, and I have no intent of even trying. An image the Internet Watch Foundation has designated as Child Pornography would be unfeasibly incredibly fantastically stupid for me to try and view as it would leave me vulnerable to losing my computers, my livelihood and quite possibly my freedom. Whether I agree that this is an appropriate response to viewing an album cover online is not relevant to the real world impacts of attempting to do so.
How can I pick an algorithm? Hmm. Lets see.
Published papers (by Computer Scientists) all recommend algorithm X above Y and Z. Default libraries implement X and Y. Journal articles state "use X here and Y there".
Do I need to do original research to compare X, Y and Z or do I just need to pick the right fucking one?
Programmers need many skills. Software engineers need critical thinking skills and people skills. They do not need heavy mathematical backgrounds.
It's fucking elitist and wrong to require a computer science background for programming, let alone software engineering. Most top programmers and software engineers do not have a compsci degree, and it hasn't held them back at all.
Knowing compiler theory, understanding memory allocation optimisation mechanisms, being able to reverse engineer public key encryption mechanisms.. sure, this is all good fun. I'd far rather give a job to someone that knows how to talk to people from a non-computing background and translate their needs into working software.
Software engineers need to know how to pick a good enough algorithm and use it. They don't need to know how to compare such algorithms, devise new ones, mathematically prove their accuracy or optimise their implementation. Fortunately computer scientists are happy doing such things.
Computer scientists on the other hand haven't got a clue how to write software in a real world setting. Dijkstra mentioned formally proving the program meets the formal functional specification? Nobody ever writes a formal functional specification! How can you possibly prove your program meets it when it doesn't exist.
Despite this, or possibly because of it, software engineers have automated most businesses on the planet.
Software engineering is a serious discipline, and is about writing software. Computer science is also a serious discipline, but in a curious twist on your statement, it's got nothing to do with writing software.
And also easy for pirates to acquire and use against the larger, slower, easier to hit and rather more valuable merchant vessel.
You're suggesting an arms race. You'll need to race a little higher than that to beat the pirates..
Generally speaking, they're releasing the crews unharmed.
Murdering them would be bad for business - why seek peaceful return of a vessel and its crew if the crew will be dead anyway? You may as well drop a squad of well trained professional troops onto it and prevent the next capture.
Ransoms are being paid because the crews are alive, not murdered.
They have automatic weapons and RPGs. I'm not sure a tazer will really cut it.
Under international law I'm fairly sure the US navy are quite free to attack, sink and otherwise interfere with pirates.
This isn't even law enforcement, it's self defense (and defense of those unable to defend themselves).
Ironically law enforcement is only relevant if the pirates are just criminals. Oh well.
It's worse than that. 8 out of 10 of the spaghetti coders _are_ computer science grads.
Give me physicists, they know how to program and can be taught how to engineer.
being molested by a male authority figure is statistically a very present danger.
Exclude family members and statistically speaking it never happens.
It is so fucking rare that the few cases that occur make headline news.
Men are completely demonised, under constant suspicion and are abandoning all care/child-related professions in massive numbers because of it.
I personally refuse to become a coach at my sports club because I'd have to go through a criminal record check because they're worried about pedophiles. The irony is that club members are happy to leave their kids under my control as a friend, I'm just not allowed to actually teach them anything. Why should men be treated as criminals for trying to help, and why should men enter a career that can be ended by a malicious lying child?
Yes, there are nasty people out there, and yes some people are abused by male authority figures. Some people are abused by female authority figures too, and societally men are disproportionately picked on.
Shit, to give you another example of the gender imbalance, why are rape victims given anonymity and not the person that they accuse? I know who is more likely to lose their job before a trial even occurs, and the guilt of the accused has absolutely no fucking relevance on this. Either reveal the names of both parties or neither, until the point at which someone is found guilty.
If that's your criteria, suicide is the only logical answer.
Actually, I lie. Mass murder and/or genocide is more logical. But I was restricting scope to the individual.
Good to see you living up to your name.
Your definition of self-defence against the state as "cop killing" is misleading.
The 2nd Amendment is explicitly about giving "the people" the right to self-defence against the state.
Of course the law isn't worded as "you can kill the police", and naturally the elected Government never thinks the exercise of that right is specifically required. Nonetheless, the right is built into your constitution.
What they have done is bullied, abused, and murdered the Iraqi people.
This is why the militia are trying to kick them out.
Why not? Or do you just never talk to anyone anyway?
You also need to understand the social zeitgeist, live on the internet and have experience of good and bad sexual relationships.
All in all, a fun life ;)
I believe the US constitution is not confined either to the US or to US citizens.
Outside the US it may not be feasible or within the laws of other countries to apply it. Inside the US non-US citizens should be granted the rights and protections it provides.
If your laws do not grant equal rights to others, they have no obligation to obey them. Isn't that a founding principle of the US anyway?
Or he'll offer to reprogram your engine management system. I know it's possible to reprogram mine to give me another 40-50hp.
Of course, that'll reduce fuel economy and possibly confuse the automatic gearbox and invalidate the warranty, but it's possible.
Hmm, no. The Matrix was the first major film to throw a lot of extras onto the disc and show demonstrable additional content above the video release.
The quality of the visuals just didn't come into it for anybody I know.
Plus The Matrix was a groundbreaking and fantastic film with some serious PVC wearing going on. Transformers just can't compete..
Except that my response is to stop using Ebay. I refuse to use Paypal, businesses lose my custom if they don't accept secure and reliable payment options.
Disclaimer: I work for a real bank.
I game on a laptop for the simple reason that I have two homes (due to work). So I bought a decent spec laptop and stick it in the car when I switch houses.
I have a power supply, mouse, headset at each house. I also have a USB powered laptop cooler at each house. Something akin to http://www.misco.co.uk/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=280872&sourceid=2459&CAWELAID=84125196
(I don't have that model. Google for 'laptop cooler' and see what comes up).
It's a little noisier, but it means I can use a laptop for gaming while lying on a bed (with the laptop on the base on the bed) and the laptop's own fans rarely need to kick in (for WoW - STALKER needed rather more cooling).
So it will greatly improve the likely lifespan of the laptop.
If you're using the laptop in 1-2 main locations (so don't have to worry about carrying them) then I'd definitely recommend grabbing a cooler. They're cheap and effective.
It's kind of depressing when someone describes 2.4 as "as old as the fucking hills". I mean, ffs, we had articles on Slashdot about it being released...
(I also remember the article about the drywalled server)
The multiple unions active at my company suck, I chose not to join any of them.
I'm sure I am eligible to join one - it would surely be discriminatory to exclude me purely because I have a staff.
The law prevents my company laying people off and hiring 20 year olds at half the price to do the same job. I would say that if it's possible to get the job done at half the price then it would be wrong of the company not to explore that option - this is why many companies outsource their IT.
(Obviously the illusion of saving half the price is seldom reflected in the reality after they've outsourced. That's a whole other argument..)
I'm counting employers because the sheer weight of numbers negates your arguments.
You aren't restricted to joining a company you already know someone at. I said I know a lot of people that get jobs through networking. I know many more that get jobs by looking at the jobs available and choosing one that meets their needs.
As for SMEs, they are even less likely to collude than the major employers. They are the most likely to benefit from attracting the better people because the impact and influence of a good employee will be better.
If the market isn't functioning then the 'market rate' at which the job is offered will be below what a functioning market would settle on. They don't have to lower the salary after seeing a CV, because it was below what a functioning market would settle on to start with!
This is entirely true. Where we disagree is whether the market is functioning. I think it is.
If salaries are falling then it's due to many factors, including the oversupply of many skillsets, a correction from the .com bubble, the competition from offshore companies (and individuals, through immigration), the current financial climate and other factors.
To answer your other point, there is a shortage of competent employees. It takes months to recruit highly skilled, highly motivated people for certain roles. It takes days to bring in some random muppet.
Employers are not going to pay some random muppet the same as a competent employee. Muppets sadly dominate the labour pool and so salaries reflect this.
I'd say a Real Estate Attorney has a higher level of education to a contract Java programmer. The contract Java programmer will bring in $140k/year (I just checked current pay offers on a job site). If there was a glut of good Java programmers wouldn't the latter value be lower?
There are definitely issues with the IT industry. You have to be constantly learning, constantly updating your skills, and usually broadening your role to maintain a career. It can be difficult to reach higher salary levels as a permanent employee, especially if you want to keep programming or doing system admin. It is also definitely possible to make very good money, choose jobs you like and find employers that will reward you for the contribution you make.