I'm still not seeing a cogent argument for mines. Yes, they have utility, but giving them up does not mean that North Korea can just roll into Seoul. We can make up for their functionality in other ways.
In a similar vein, we don't stock biological weapons, and yet somehow dictatorships haven't taken over the globe yet.
Finally:
It's a tragedy whenever someone is injured or killed by a no longer needed munition, but those munitions have helped to protect an even greater number of people from harm.
Go to Cambodia and tell people that, see how far you get.
Yes. I also concede that tanks, machine guns, mandatory military service for all South Korean men, nuclear bombs, Delta Force, Chuck Norris, and the prayers of innocent children have helped to keep North Korea from invading South Korea. That's the 'dichotomy' part of 'false dichotomy'. You can actually have no mines as well as not being invaded.
Civilians have no business wandering around a war zone. And you're supposed to clean up the minefield after you're done with it.
This ranks in the top ten dumbest comments I've ever seen on slashdot.
That the US wouldn't sign the landmine ban is a travesty.
I hope the guy who posted above who said he worked on the software is right and that these help eliminate civvie casualties, but like many here, I am justifiably suspicious when I hear about new weapons that help make war cleaner. Then again, smart bombs work pretty well at reducing the need for carpet bombing, so there's some precedent there too.
I switched from Linux to OSX (for the desktop boxes) around 10.1. I don't really know why you'd put up with the warts of Linux as a desktop machine when OSX exists.
You don't want a backlight, you want a traditional light that shines onto the page, like you do with traditional books. Backlit screens are harder to read over long periods. This is pretty much the whole point of e-ink.
1024x768? If I'm not mislead about the resolution of e-ink, the screen on that is likely to support 4-8 times that resolution.
Where'd you read the part about 2-4 seconds for a page refresh? If true, that would really suck.
Unless I missed something big, all that's happening is that S/E released an email asking reviewers not to talk about some features. I'm surprised anyone actually cared enough to spend the 20 minutes that typing that thing took. Who cares? It's a simple request from S/E, grant their request or don't.
How is this dreck even worth posting in the first place, much less being an item on slashdot?
It's the Return of the Question Nobody Wants Answered!
on topic: fuck that kid, he should get suspension, and instead of trying to weasel out of a perfectly legitimate suspension, those parents should be asking themselves why their boy is such a little shithead.
but ours (the German ones, that is) *do* cover the government just as much as companies.
Nice. But what the grandparent was referring to (I think) was spy agencies spying on their own citizens, much like the NSA is doing in the US right now. These data privacy laws wouldn't really help us there because, hell, apparently NO laws apply to them as long as they're fighting terrists!!! Still, some data privacy laws sure would be nice.
exactly. Accounting software is neither sexy nor ubergeeky, so you're never gonna see people jumping at the chance to write it for free. Plus it's large and complex, so you're not likely to see a single obsessive genius crank it out, either.
"Well, I'm really interested in starting an open-source project. A game? Naaah... maybe some cool drawing software? Or security tools to keep out hax0rz? No, no... wait, I've got it! Accounting!"
I always thought it was one of the acknowledged shortcomings of open source stuff that it concentrated all the work in the high-profile, high-geek-factor areas?
Clearly they do... that's why they're using resources to wardrive.
It's a public service for people who don't realize (a) that they have an open network at all or (b) the possible dangers of having one. I realize living in Bush's America has made us all a little paranoid about this, but come on, let's not immediately jump to the worst possible case.
I doubt the training that individual patrol officers got was technical or detailed enough to explain the difference between intentional and unintentional open networks.
It's not like it's difficult to explain. "Thanks for the warning, officer, but I'm keeping it open deliberately as kind of a public service for my neighbors. I've spent a long time making sure my own data is secure. Thanks for stopping by."
Re:Yeah - laws that let the gov't have all access
on
Stolen VA Laptop Recovered
·
· Score: 4, Insightful
Data privacy laws aren't there to keep the gov't from snooping into your stuff, it's to keep companies from trading your private data, or even keeping it on file in many instances.
I still see a lot of open networks that are set to the default values with no WEP enabled. I don't know if they ship from the factory like this, or if they're old APs that have been there forever or if people just disable the WEP because it's too much of a hassle or what, but there's a lot of them. Way more than you could explain away with "oh, those must be egalatarian technophiles sharing their bandwidth with their fellow man." No, those are just people who are either ignorant or lazy.
Slashdot Mirror
In a similar vein, we don't stock biological weapons, and yet somehow dictatorships haven't taken over the globe yet.
Finally:
Go to Cambodia and tell people that, see how far you get.
Yes. I also concede that tanks, machine guns, mandatory military service for all South Korean men, nuclear bombs, Delta Force, Chuck Norris, and the prayers of innocent children have helped to keep North Korea from invading South Korea. That's the 'dichotomy' part of 'false dichotomy'. You can actually have no mines as well as not being invaded.
you know what else suck? false dichotomies.
This ranks in the top ten dumbest comments I've ever seen on slashdot.
That the US wouldn't sign the landmine ban is a travesty.
I hope the guy who posted above who said he worked on the software is right and that these help eliminate civvie casualties, but like many here, I am justifiably suspicious when I hear about new weapons that help make war cleaner. Then again, smart bombs work pretty well at reducing the need for carpet bombing, so there's some precedent there too.
Damn. That's awful. I thought the e-ink pixels were measured in microns?
Hrm. People seem to be saying that the physical screen refresh is a lot faster, but that the software is just sluggish, which makes me happier.
I don't really care what happens to this particular product, I'm just really excited about e-ink stuff.
I wouldn't say Ubuntu is really what changed this. If your last linux laptop experience was anything like mine, this part:
Is really where the change is.
hey hi how you doin'?
I switched from Linux to OSX (for the desktop boxes) around 10.1. I don't really know why you'd put up with the warts of Linux as a desktop machine when OSX exists.
So Smith isn't really angry at S/E, he's mad at being part of a media outlet that lets themselves be pushed around by advertisers. Gotcha.
You don't want a backlight, you want a traditional light that shines onto the page, like you do with traditional books. Backlit screens are harder to read over long periods. This is pretty much the whole point of e-ink.
1024x768? If I'm not mislead about the resolution of e-ink, the screen on that is likely to support 4-8 times that resolution.
Where'd you read the part about 2-4 seconds for a page refresh? If true, that would really suck.
Unless I missed something big, all that's happening is that S/E released an email asking reviewers not to talk about some features. I'm surprised anyone actually cared enough to spend the 20 minutes that typing that thing took. Who cares? It's a simple request from S/E, grant their request or don't.
How is this dreck even worth posting in the first place, much less being an item on slashdot?
uh, I mean "unAble to eResist iBuying"
now we just need to combine it with one of those Nokia 770s and you'd have a device I would be completely unable to resist purchasing.
By a strange coincidence, that's also the only reason people make assertions like this.
OCaml and Haskell you say? Excellent. I was looking around for a magical silver bullet the other day, and these look like just the ticket!
and that's sayin' something.
HAHAHAHAHAHAAAA
oh, John Katz.
I guess it all makes sense. If I was John Katz, I wouldn't want to be around anyone who could read either.
It's the Return of the Question Nobody Wants Answered!
on topic: fuck that kid, he should get suspension, and instead of trying to weasel out of a perfectly legitimate suspension, those parents should be asking themselves why their boy is such a little shithead.
More power to you! I'd gladly switch off Quicken if I possibly could. That thing is total ass. I'll be rooting for you. :)
Our what?
Nice. But what the grandparent was referring to (I think) was spy agencies spying on their own citizens, much like the NSA is doing in the US right now. These data privacy laws wouldn't really help us there because, hell, apparently NO laws apply to them as long as they're fighting terrists!!! Still, some data privacy laws sure would be nice.
exactly. Accounting software is neither sexy nor ubergeeky, so you're never gonna see people jumping at the chance to write it for free. Plus it's large and complex, so you're not likely to see a single obsessive genius crank it out, either.
I can see it now:
... maybe some cool drawing software? Or security tools to keep out hax0rz? No, no ... wait, I've got it! Accounting!"
"Well, I'm really interested in starting an open-source project. A game? Naaah
I always thought it was one of the acknowledged shortcomings of open source stuff that it concentrated all the work in the high-profile, high-geek-factor areas?
Osma?
Ontario Sheep Marketing Agency?
Ohio State Medical Association?
it is a mystery.
It's a public service for people who don't realize (a) that they have an open network at all or (b) the possible dangers of having one. I realize living in Bush's America has made us all a little paranoid about this, but come on, let's not immediately jump to the worst possible case.
It's not like it's difficult to explain. "Thanks for the warning, officer, but I'm keeping it open deliberately as kind of a public service for my neighbors. I've spent a long time making sure my own data is secure. Thanks for stopping by."
Data privacy laws aren't there to keep the gov't from snooping into your stuff, it's to keep companies from trading your private data, or even keeping it on file in many instances.
I still see a lot of open networks that are set to the default values with no WEP enabled. I don't know if they ship from the factory like this, or if they're old APs that have been there forever or if people just disable the WEP because it's too much of a hassle or what, but there's a lot of them. Way more than you could explain away with "oh, those must be egalatarian technophiles sharing their bandwidth with their fellow man." No, those are just people who are either ignorant or lazy.