You know, until I read this thread, I was unaware of this. I honestly was. I had no idea that the president, by themselves, held that power. That's an awesome power to hold. I consider myself almost, not quite, scholarly interested in civics and matters of law and I did not know that. That's a baton to wield with great care and I was unaware that they had such power - I'd have thought it to be an enumerated war power and was under the impression that it was.
Fascinating to think about... I imagine, with the increased means of communication, that such isn't nearly as powerful as it once was but imagine that back in the days when it took weeks or months to get here. In today's world, the president could literally say, "No, brown people may not come across the border." The implications... "No, not one single Mexican can come across the border, not even legally, unless they're white and can prove it to five generations."
I mean, sure, s/he's gonna not get elected again and Congress is *going* to find a reason to impeach them. Well, they damned sure better invent a reason to impeach him but I'm not sure how that would work - it's lawful. There's no checks and balances with that, eh? I knew they had the power but I always thought it was an enumerated emergency or war power. In times of war... Then again, we're at war from everything from drugs to illiteracy although I suppose those don't really count as declared wars.
Damn... I mean, seriously, think of what that kind of statement could result in. Imagine if Bush had said, "Alright, no more French people can come to the US." For such an open-to-abuse thing, I'm surprised I've only known of it as an emergency or war power and that it's never been (as far as I know) abused. That stick is so large that I'm not even sure if it can be used with finesse.
While certainly true, I'm actually engaged in a project right this very minute (I'm just taking a break from getting things set up) where I'm going to do an entire online bit without spending a single penny of my own money. I'm not even going to host it on my own. I'll put up donations and anyone wishing to donate will get to help decide where any profits go (or probably just all donations as I really don't need the money but I want it to be self-funding if it escalates) so long as they go to a charitable cause.
I'm actually, oddly enough, working on figuring a few other things out (I'll avoid spamming the URLs at this time) how to do exactly that for no cost at all. Well, no cost other than those fees already paid. I'm using SMF and TinyPortal as the front-end, at the moment, but I may end up just writing something myself. The first step is to make a site aimed at *something* and then create a separate site that's for less-topical speech and encourages others to participate. Who knows? It might be of value, at some point.
Ya know... The damned thing works natively in Linux and probably someone's already ported it to run on your toaster, remote control, car dashboard, and even installed a server on an IoT light bulb. Using WINE isn't *really* mandatory but, I suppose, someone had to.
With a little work, you can be tracked if you use Tor to browse "clearnet." So long as you remain on domains that end in.onion it's still assumed that you're safe - provided you have things like scripting enabled and no extensions loaded.
Oddly, the sites on the Tor network remind me of the internet in the mid-1990s. I wonder if they're follow a similar path.
Do you use Firefox? (This may lead to a follow-up question.)
Have you tried Opera? (Opera is based on Chromium and has the spyware stripped out and is actually a very nice browser with a great ecosystem.)
Also, if you want to help curate a browser then maybe Vivaldi is something for you? They're still reasonably new and one might have more ability to influence the direction with a new project than they will with an entrenched project.
For the past few weeks, I've been mulling over Thomas Jefferson's turn of phrase about the tree of liberty needing to be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots. I'm thinking that the tree of software must be refreshed from time to time with the tears of users. When the tipping point is reached there will be a fork and, like a phoenix, a new browser will rise from the ashes. In order for that to happen, the old must die. So, I'm suggesting we avoid bloodshed over a simple software refresh but that we may want to consider writing something new?
It's not like we're a bunch of unskilled people. I mean hell, it's not like we don't have time. By default, I'm off in a browser somewhere and have at least one Slashdot tab open even if I'm not reading it. That could, just as easily, be reading and working on documentation or something. (We'll need trolls and mod points to get us motivated.)
Maybe we should build SlashFoxPaleExporaChromePeraNX? (Oddly, I picture this monstrosity containing every language known to man, some unknown, and having more "features" and bloat than anything else but, hey, it'd keep us busy for a little while.)
Okay, so more than two things. But I started off with just two things!
Err... Umm... I kinda do like my Windows phone. I plan on buying a better one shortly because it turns out that my carrier is allowing SIM card activations on non-branded phones. I didn't know that 'cause, err... Well. I didn't know that for REASONS...
I don't actually really pick out my phone or pay the bill. I have that taken care of on my behalf. I just said, "Get me a Windows phone please?" They ordered it and shipped it to my last stop. I guess I pay the bill but I don't actually physically pay the bill or anything like that. I don't even really know exactly what it costs but I did look not too long ago and they charge a bunch for a 25 GB plan. No, I don't actually know why I picked such a large plan except, "I might need it some day."
But, to the point, I kind of like my Windows phone. I've not had it for very long but I've enjoyed it so far. I don't think I actually have an app installed that didn't come default, however. I have browsed on it, that was nice. Oh, it sends texts and emails. It does GPS. Some Samsung, something or other, from US Cellular. I'll probably find a better/more powerful one and use that now that I know I can.
I haven't found it, or the tablet, to be useful form factors for anything that interests me. I've tried but I just can't get into it. It's sad. The idea that I have that much compute power in my pocket and I can't actually think of a damned thing that I want to do with it other than waste some time reading the internet while I'm bored.
When the service was first announced, I went there. I think I even got an account. I don't believe that I've ever used the account. I suspect that I no longer control that domain name and no longer have access to that email.
You just need some collector, aficionado, or (better) licensed dealers as friends.;-)
I'm not in your area or I'd offer to hook you up, depending on what you were looking for. I probably have "too many" (there's no such thing) as it is. No, seriously, I probably have too many - as in, it'd take three men and a boy to move them all as well as their safes.
Any specific model you were after? Use-case? Depending on your state laws, private sales over the internet *might* be possible. Consult a lawyer.
Heh... Do you know how much one of those rounds cost? *I* don't even like that price. Seriously, it's like $4 per round the last time I bought some. I like to go out and touch off a couple hundred rounds. That's like an $800 afternoon, more if I bring friends and have other firearms out.
However, it's hard for it to not bring a smile to your face.
I own, what some might call, an obscene number of firearms. As in, I have multiple safes full of 'em - like a couple of walls in a room dedicated to them and that room also has its own special steel door with a frame embedded into the concrete kind of room. In fact, I've posted at least one or two pics online. I mean, seriously, I love my firearms. I have bulk-ordered crates of ammunition.
I say that to say this... I read the summary and, while I commented on bias up-thread, I really don't see much bias in this at all. It's all pretty topical and gives some interesting things to discuss. It doesn't even seem particularly slanted against firearms. It seems reasonably fair and balanced. It doesn't portray this as a negative but does imply that it may be received negatively by some but that's a certainty in this environment.
I dunno... If you look in the closet for monsters and see nothing but darkness, that doesn't mean there are monsters in there that you can't see.
I'm kind of working on something like that but it's not coming along as rapidly as I'd like. My goal is to write down the really bad things I've ever done on one side of a piece of paper. On the other side is what I've learned from each of those things and how they've changed my outlook in life and my political views. Then, if there's room, a bit about how I'd vote and why I'd listen to the constituents instead of just voting however I felt. I might need a third sheet of paper and I'm not sure what to do with the back of that paper.
Why? Err... In 2016 I will be, it's a near certainty now, running for office. Chances are very good that you can't vote for me but I still am (hopefully) not using this as a speech medium to encourage folks to vote my way. Hell, I kind of hope they *don't* read this sort of stuff but I'm okay with my posts being opened up to scrutiny. Taken out of context, they'll be horrible. Oh well... Fortunately, it's a pretty rural and very relaxed area. I know scads of people and they'll probably chuckle. I don't really want the job but the current person is not doing a very good job and I've been asked to run by a number of folks which is how I got started on this path.
Frankly, I've far more interesting things to do with my time and this is why I have to be home in the spring and going to actually have to wake up at regular hours.
At any rate, you're spot on about people being able to write things with biases and be completely factual. You can factually state that I've done drugs, I've used drugs via IV, I've done loads illegal drugs, I've operated a motor vehicle while intoxicated, and that I'm generally an asshole. Oh, and I swear sometimes. I've also had sex outside of wedlock and am not a Christian. You could even say that I have drugs in my system right this very minute. All of which would be perfectly honest.
Which is why I've concluded that if I just tell them all the bad things that I've done so far then the press won't have a whole lot to dig up about me and surprise the voters with. Honesty has its benefits, hopefully (sort of). See, I'm not actually sure I want to win. I really do not want the job but I'll do it to the best of my ability should I be elected. I really do have far more interesting things to occupy my life - even posting to Slashdot is fun for me.
At any rate, negate bias with full disclosure perhaps?
I have five exterior doors in my home. One of which is the back door. I can't think of any situation where it would eventually become the front door. The case is not closed.
Not that I disagree, I just think you need better pithy sayings than that if you want to appeal to the masses. How about, "If you put a backdoor in encryption, some jackass will abuse it and this is a near certainty?" That might work. Let's see if we can fluff it out a little, shall we?
"In order to be able to decrypt something that has been encrypted, you need a key. If you want to decrypt everything you'll need to either store all of these keys or have a master key that is given to only certain people. Now, as we know, storage can be broken into and people are not infallible. This key storage or master key will be targeted very aggressively by those who wish to do us harm. Because of this, there's no realistic way to reasonably provide a centralize means of decrypting encrypted data."
'Snot so hard and even the less technical will understand it. The pithy reply you parroted isn't really very accurate and doesn't convey enough to clarify the problem for those who are unaware of the problem or think that there's a technological solution to this situation.
That's like.01% of the population. It's cold, I know, but yeah, I accept that number. It sucks but that's the way the cookie crumbles. We're not giving up firearms any time soon and, hopefully, never. Violence is trending down and has been for years. Go look at Detroit's statistics back in the 80s.
As a law-abiding, firearm-owning, individual - I don't feel obligated to give up my rights because of something someone else might do. I know this is hard to comprehend but, for an example, look at how you respond to them talking about backdooring encryption. You don't want to give up your rights because of something someone else might do. What they might do is harmful, it sucks, but it's not justification to take the liberties away from those who are responsible actors.
As for my firearms? Well, there's a record of my ownership with quite a few of them. They know I've got 'em. I'm okay with that so long as it's not misused. I'm okay with reasonable legislation. We have that now (except in a few areas like California and New York and DC). What we don't have is reasonable enforcement.
Stop emoting and start thinking. Stop letting your fear dictate your beliefs. The world is not safe and never will be, no matter how many weapons you try to take away. Put on your man-panties, quit wandering about being scared of your shadow, and accept that life is short so each moment should be used to maximize your enjoyment of that living state. More importantly, stop letting your fear make you desire a result that negatively impacts my life.
I have, in my life, needlessly slaughtered tens-of-thousands of innocent bits of paper. I've done so without mercy, with malice aforethought, and repeatedly. I'm even prejudiced as I prefer a very specific color pattern when I slaughter that paper. Not only that, I'm a supremacist, I *know* I am better than that innocent paper that was minding its own business before I bought it, enslaved it, tortured it, and then destroyed it in a violent fashion - sometimes with its relatives watching.
Worse? And I'm not kidding, for every single one of those lousy bits of paper that decide you don't mercilessly slaughter, I'm going to murder the ever-living-hell out of two or I'm going to die trying. I might even stack a bunch of them up and try to terrorize them, I might use fear and intimidation to get them to do what I want. You know what? I actually have some equipment back at the house that I can detonate and blow the ever living hell out of whole innocent families of paper.
Sometimes, I even feed myself by using the firearm as a tool. Yes, when home, almost everything I eat was known to me and processed by me. A good portion of that was even harvested by me. I can't even think of one thing that I've ever eaten where the object eaten was a willing participant. I'm a straight up fucking monster!
You know what! You're right! We'd better take these firearms away so that you can finally turn that night off and get a sound night's sleep! Think of the paper!
They just have to know where the source was and come to your house. They don't have to crack the encryption. They just need to notice it and decide they want to pay you a friendly visit. Then, to crack the encryption, they use the monkey wrench. They control the pipes. If you put something in the pipes that stands out they don't need to know what it is, they just need to know you did it and aren't fond of monkey wrenches.
Not only is that horrible English, it's horrible SPAM. I keep seeing you goobers try to SPAM this site with almost on-topic posts. Your peers do a better job at this forum posting gig than you do. You? You need to be fired. Also, the person who authored the page? They need to learn the fucking language. The last paragraph is borderline retarded.
I take that back, the last paragraph is retarded. Also, all scripts and ads are blocked by default so someone paid for bandwidth that will not be of any value to them as they're unable to get any tracking (those cookies didn't make it through either) and they didn't even get ad impressions. You guys need someone competent to run your business.
I've not given much thought to the business but if you donate $500 USD to EFF, and provide a verifiable receipt for doing so, then I will spend ten hours researching the business, five hours researching your specific business model, and then five hours writing a report that will enable you to increase your return on investment. I won't even just fill it up with marketing jargon. I'll give you a full, detailed, report and advice you can opt to act on so long as you make the donation to EFF first.
A Libertarian would say that it is censorship in either case but only when the government does it (or forces it) is it wrong. Well, most would, I hope. However, we have our share of idiots in the party so you might be right.
Censorship doesn't absolutely require it to be done by a government for it to be censorship. When a government does it by regulation or coercion it's generally a bad idea. Why? Well, in my humble opinion, prosecuting or persecuting thought isn't a good thing. Instead, we should prosecute actions that are cause harm to others in a meaningful fashion.
I have no problem when a business does it. Why? It's their property and they get to make the rules (to some extent) on their property. If there are no other choices then it sucks to be you unless you've the means and wherewithal to create your own service but you've no right to insist another give you aid or a platform.
If I make a forum and disallow the use of the word "viscosity" then I'm well within my rights to do so. You've no right to say that word on my website. If the government disallows the use of the word "viscosity" there's surely something amiss and we should probably oust those who'd suggest such. We might even need to resort to force if they refuse to give up their offices after an electorate indicates that they're obligated to do so. So far, in my country, we've not had that problem during my lifetime. One might stretch the US Civil War, War Between the States, War of Northern Aggression, into something along those lines but that's a topic for another day.
I thought that was a given?;-) It's not like we're going to blame the idiot for trying to climb onto a moving boat. We're HORRIBLE at blaming the appropriate problem, we really are. We'll blame terrorism on the US, Europe, France, religion, poverty, health-care (really), women's rights (seen it), capitalism (not kidding), and all sorts of other things. You know who we don't blame? The jackass terrorists!
There's the adage about truth being worse than fiction and it springs to mind. I don't recall them teaching me much about the Japanese during WWII in high school and I didn't take any real history courses in college. So, I've had to learn a lot on my own since then and I learned a lot about WWII while in boot when we learned the history of the Corps. That's what struck my curiosity bone and has made me read and watch a lot of documentaries on the subject.
Well, technically it's a M22. It's what the Chinese exported to Vietnam. There's not a whole lot known about it but it was grandfathered in under one regulation or another way back when. I'd have just been a kid when it came into the country which was probably sometime during the war. I am not really an avid firearm historian or anything but I can probably find out more information if you're really curious. I've posted pics of it online a few times in hopes of someone knowing a bit more but nobody has ever been able to determine a whole lot from the serial number.
Nope, that'd be the one. Well, except I thought it was a bit later than that. That says it was found in 1952. It turns out, it wasn't even news when I heard about it as a child.:/ (Probably 10-15 years later, mid to late 1960s.)
Slashdot Mirror
You know, until I read this thread, I was unaware of this. I honestly was. I had no idea that the president, by themselves, held that power. That's an awesome power to hold. I consider myself almost, not quite, scholarly interested in civics and matters of law and I did not know that. That's a baton to wield with great care and I was unaware that they had such power - I'd have thought it to be an enumerated war power and was under the impression that it was.
Fascinating to think about... I imagine, with the increased means of communication, that such isn't nearly as powerful as it once was but imagine that back in the days when it took weeks or months to get here. In today's world, the president could literally say, "No, brown people may not come across the border." The implications... "No, not one single Mexican can come across the border, not even legally, unless they're white and can prove it to five generations."
I mean, sure, s/he's gonna not get elected again and Congress is *going* to find a reason to impeach them. Well, they damned sure better invent a reason to impeach him but I'm not sure how that would work - it's lawful. There's no checks and balances with that, eh? I knew they had the power but I always thought it was an enumerated emergency or war power. In times of war... Then again, we're at war from everything from drugs to illiteracy although I suppose those don't really count as declared wars.
Damn... I mean, seriously, think of what that kind of statement could result in. Imagine if Bush had said, "Alright, no more French people can come to the US." For such an open-to-abuse thing, I'm surprised I've only known of it as an emergency or war power and that it's never been (as far as I know) abused. That stick is so large that I'm not even sure if it can be used with finesse.
While certainly true, I'm actually engaged in a project right this very minute (I'm just taking a break from getting things set up) where I'm going to do an entire online bit without spending a single penny of my own money. I'm not even going to host it on my own. I'll put up donations and anyone wishing to donate will get to help decide where any profits go (or probably just all donations as I really don't need the money but I want it to be self-funding if it escalates) so long as they go to a charitable cause.
I'm actually, oddly enough, working on figuring a few other things out (I'll avoid spamming the URLs at this time) how to do exactly that for no cost at all. Well, no cost other than those fees already paid. I'm using SMF and TinyPortal as the front-end, at the moment, but I may end up just writing something myself. The first step is to make a site aimed at *something* and then create a separate site that's for less-topical speech and encourages others to participate. Who knows? It might be of value, at some point.
Kind of? I only read the summary but it could be interpreted that way.
Ya know... The damned thing works natively in Linux and probably someone's already ported it to run on your toaster, remote control, car dashboard, and even installed a server on an IoT light bulb. Using WINE isn't *really* mandatory but, I suppose, someone had to.
With a little work, you can be tracked if you use Tor to browse "clearnet." So long as you remain on domains that end in .onion it's still assumed that you're safe - provided you have things like scripting enabled and no extensions loaded.
Oddly, the sites on the Tor network remind me of the internet in the mid-1990s. I wonder if they're follow a similar path.
Two things, both a bit disparate...
Do you use Firefox? (This may lead to a follow-up question.)
Have you tried Opera? (Opera is based on Chromium and has the spyware stripped out and is actually a very nice browser with a great ecosystem.)
Also, if you want to help curate a browser then maybe Vivaldi is something for you? They're still reasonably new and one might have more ability to influence the direction with a new project than they will with an entrenched project.
For the past few weeks, I've been mulling over Thomas Jefferson's turn of phrase about the tree of liberty needing to be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots. I'm thinking that the tree of software must be refreshed from time to time with the tears of users. When the tipping point is reached there will be a fork and, like a phoenix, a new browser will rise from the ashes. In order for that to happen, the old must die. So, I'm suggesting we avoid bloodshed over a simple software refresh but that we may want to consider writing something new?
It's not like we're a bunch of unskilled people. I mean hell, it's not like we don't have time. By default, I'm off in a browser somewhere and have at least one Slashdot tab open even if I'm not reading it. That could, just as easily, be reading and working on documentation or something. (We'll need trolls and mod points to get us motivated.)
Maybe we should build SlashFoxPaleExporaChromePeraNX? (Oddly, I picture this monstrosity containing every language known to man, some unknown, and having more "features" and bloat than anything else but, hey, it'd keep us busy for a little while.)
Okay, so more than two things. But I started off with just two things!
*hangs head in shame and slowly raises his hand*
Err... Umm... I kinda do like my Windows phone. I plan on buying a better one shortly because it turns out that my carrier is allowing SIM card activations on non-branded phones. I didn't know that 'cause, err... Well. I didn't know that for REASONS...
I don't actually really pick out my phone or pay the bill. I have that taken care of on my behalf. I just said, "Get me a Windows phone please?" They ordered it and shipped it to my last stop. I guess I pay the bill but I don't actually physically pay the bill or anything like that. I don't even really know exactly what it costs but I did look not too long ago and they charge a bunch for a 25 GB plan. No, I don't actually know why I picked such a large plan except, "I might need it some day."
But, to the point, I kind of like my Windows phone. I've not had it for very long but I've enjoyed it so far. I don't think I actually have an app installed that didn't come default, however. I have browsed on it, that was nice. Oh, it sends texts and emails. It does GPS. Some Samsung, something or other, from US Cellular. I'll probably find a better/more powerful one and use that now that I know I can.
I haven't found it, or the tablet, to be useful form factors for anything that interests me. I've tried but I just can't get into it. It's sad. The idea that I have that much compute power in my pocket and I can't actually think of a damned thing that I want to do with it other than waste some time reading the internet while I'm bored.
When the service was first announced, I went there. I think I even got an account. I don't believe that I've ever used the account. I suspect that I no longer control that domain name and no longer have access to that email.
You just need some collector, aficionado, or (better) licensed dealers as friends. ;-)
I'm not in your area or I'd offer to hook you up, depending on what you were looking for. I probably have "too many" (there's no such thing) as it is. No, seriously, I probably have too many - as in, it'd take three men and a boy to move them all as well as their safes.
Any specific model you were after? Use-case? Depending on your state laws, private sales over the internet *might* be possible. Consult a lawyer.
Heh... Do you know how much one of those rounds cost? *I* don't even like that price. Seriously, it's like $4 per round the last time I bought some. I like to go out and touch off a couple hundred rounds. That's like an $800 afternoon, more if I bring friends and have other firearms out.
However, it's hard for it to not bring a smile to your face.
Do you know why the British were marching to Concord, New Hampshire?
I own, what some might call, an obscene number of firearms. As in, I have multiple safes full of 'em - like a couple of walls in a room dedicated to them and that room also has its own special steel door with a frame embedded into the concrete kind of room. In fact, I've posted at least one or two pics online. I mean, seriously, I love my firearms. I have bulk-ordered crates of ammunition.
I say that to say this... I read the summary and, while I commented on bias up-thread, I really don't see much bias in this at all. It's all pretty topical and gives some interesting things to discuss. It doesn't even seem particularly slanted against firearms. It seems reasonably fair and balanced. It doesn't portray this as a negative but does imply that it may be received negatively by some but that's a certainty in this environment.
I dunno... If you look in the closet for monsters and see nothing but darkness, that doesn't mean there are monsters in there that you can't see.
I'm kind of working on something like that but it's not coming along as rapidly as I'd like. My goal is to write down the really bad things I've ever done on one side of a piece of paper. On the other side is what I've learned from each of those things and how they've changed my outlook in life and my political views. Then, if there's room, a bit about how I'd vote and why I'd listen to the constituents instead of just voting however I felt. I might need a third sheet of paper and I'm not sure what to do with the back of that paper.
Why? Err... In 2016 I will be, it's a near certainty now, running for office. Chances are very good that you can't vote for me but I still am (hopefully) not using this as a speech medium to encourage folks to vote my way. Hell, I kind of hope they *don't* read this sort of stuff but I'm okay with my posts being opened up to scrutiny. Taken out of context, they'll be horrible. Oh well... Fortunately, it's a pretty rural and very relaxed area. I know scads of people and they'll probably chuckle. I don't really want the job but the current person is not doing a very good job and I've been asked to run by a number of folks which is how I got started on this path.
Frankly, I've far more interesting things to do with my time and this is why I have to be home in the spring and going to actually have to wake up at regular hours.
At any rate, you're spot on about people being able to write things with biases and be completely factual. You can factually state that I've done drugs, I've used drugs via IV, I've done loads illegal drugs, I've operated a motor vehicle while intoxicated, and that I'm generally an asshole. Oh, and I swear sometimes. I've also had sex outside of wedlock and am not a Christian. You could even say that I have drugs in my system right this very minute. All of which would be perfectly honest.
Which is why I've concluded that if I just tell them all the bad things that I've done so far then the press won't have a whole lot to dig up about me and surprise the voters with. Honesty has its benefits, hopefully (sort of). See, I'm not actually sure I want to win. I really do not want the job but I'll do it to the best of my ability should I be elected. I really do have far more interesting things to occupy my life - even posting to Slashdot is fun for me.
At any rate, negate bias with full disclosure perhaps?
I have five exterior doors in my home. One of which is the back door. I can't think of any situation where it would eventually become the front door. The case is not closed.
Not that I disagree, I just think you need better pithy sayings than that if you want to appeal to the masses. How about, "If you put a backdoor in encryption, some jackass will abuse it and this is a near certainty?" That might work. Let's see if we can fluff it out a little, shall we?
"In order to be able to decrypt something that has been encrypted, you need a key. If you want to decrypt everything you'll need to either store all of these keys or have a master key that is given to only certain people. Now, as we know, storage can be broken into and people are not infallible. This key storage or master key will be targeted very aggressively by those who wish to do us harm. Because of this, there's no realistic way to reasonably provide a centralize means of decrypting encrypted data."
'Snot so hard and even the less technical will understand it. The pithy reply you parroted isn't really very accurate and doesn't convey enough to clarify the problem for those who are unaware of the problem or think that there's a technological solution to this situation.
That's like .01% of the population. It's cold, I know, but yeah, I accept that number. It sucks but that's the way the cookie crumbles. We're not giving up firearms any time soon and, hopefully, never. Violence is trending down and has been for years. Go look at Detroit's statistics back in the 80s.
As a law-abiding, firearm-owning, individual - I don't feel obligated to give up my rights because of something someone else might do. I know this is hard to comprehend but, for an example, look at how you respond to them talking about backdooring encryption. You don't want to give up your rights because of something someone else might do. What they might do is harmful, it sucks, but it's not justification to take the liberties away from those who are responsible actors.
As for my firearms? Well, there's a record of my ownership with quite a few of them. They know I've got 'em. I'm okay with that so long as it's not misused. I'm okay with reasonable legislation. We have that now (except in a few areas like California and New York and DC). What we don't have is reasonable enforcement.
Stop emoting and start thinking. Stop letting your fear dictate your beliefs. The world is not safe and never will be, no matter how many weapons you try to take away. Put on your man-panties, quit wandering about being scared of your shadow, and accept that life is short so each moment should be used to maximize your enjoyment of that living state. More importantly, stop letting your fear make you desire a result that negatively impacts my life.
I have, in my life, needlessly slaughtered tens-of-thousands of innocent bits of paper. I've done so without mercy, with malice aforethought, and repeatedly. I'm even prejudiced as I prefer a very specific color pattern when I slaughter that paper. Not only that, I'm a supremacist, I *know* I am better than that innocent paper that was minding its own business before I bought it, enslaved it, tortured it, and then destroyed it in a violent fashion - sometimes with its relatives watching.
Worse? And I'm not kidding, for every single one of those lousy bits of paper that decide you don't mercilessly slaughter, I'm going to murder the ever-living-hell out of two or I'm going to die trying. I might even stack a bunch of them up and try to terrorize them, I might use fear and intimidation to get them to do what I want. You know what? I actually have some equipment back at the house that I can detonate and blow the ever living hell out of whole innocent families of paper.
Sometimes, I even feed myself by using the firearm as a tool. Yes, when home, almost everything I eat was known to me and processed by me. A good portion of that was even harvested by me. I can't even think of one thing that I've ever eaten where the object eaten was a willing participant. I'm a straight up fucking monster!
You know what! You're right! We'd better take these firearms away so that you can finally turn that night off and get a sound night's sleep! Think of the paper!
Wait, what? If I'm sick of Obama then I'm a racist?
They just have to know where the source was and come to your house. They don't have to crack the encryption. They just need to notice it and decide they want to pay you a friendly visit. Then, to crack the encryption, they use the monkey wrench. They control the pipes. If you put something in the pipes that stands out they don't need to know what it is, they just need to know you did it and aren't fond of monkey wrenches.
Not only is that horrible English, it's horrible SPAM. I keep seeing you goobers try to SPAM this site with almost on-topic posts. Your peers do a better job at this forum posting gig than you do. You? You need to be fired. Also, the person who authored the page? They need to learn the fucking language. The last paragraph is borderline retarded.
I take that back, the last paragraph is retarded. Also, all scripts and ads are blocked by default so someone paid for bandwidth that will not be of any value to them as they're unable to get any tracking (those cookies didn't make it through either) and they didn't even get ad impressions. You guys need someone competent to run your business.
I've not given much thought to the business but if you donate $500 USD to EFF, and provide a verifiable receipt for doing so, then I will spend ten hours researching the business, five hours researching your specific business model, and then five hours writing a report that will enable you to increase your return on investment. I won't even just fill it up with marketing jargon. I'll give you a full, detailed, report and advice you can opt to act on so long as you make the donation to EFF first.
A Libertarian would say that it is censorship in either case but only when the government does it (or forces it) is it wrong. Well, most would, I hope. However, we have our share of idiots in the party so you might be right.
Censorship doesn't absolutely require it to be done by a government for it to be censorship. When a government does it by regulation or coercion it's generally a bad idea. Why? Well, in my humble opinion, prosecuting or persecuting thought isn't a good thing. Instead, we should prosecute actions that are cause harm to others in a meaningful fashion.
I have no problem when a business does it. Why? It's their property and they get to make the rules (to some extent) on their property. If there are no other choices then it sucks to be you unless you've the means and wherewithal to create your own service but you've no right to insist another give you aid or a platform.
If I make a forum and disallow the use of the word "viscosity" then I'm well within my rights to do so. You've no right to say that word on my website. If the government disallows the use of the word "viscosity" there's surely something amiss and we should probably oust those who'd suggest such. We might even need to resort to force if they refuse to give up their offices after an electorate indicates that they're obligated to do so. So far, in my country, we've not had that problem during my lifetime. One might stretch the US Civil War, War Between the States, War of Northern Aggression, into something along those lines but that's a topic for another day.
Kinda? She's kinda hot. I already have a girlfriend. It's not gay if you have sex with a transgendered woman. I have this on good authority.
I thought that was a given? ;-) It's not like we're going to blame the idiot for trying to climb onto a moving boat. We're HORRIBLE at blaming the appropriate problem, we really are. We'll blame terrorism on the US, Europe, France, religion, poverty, health-care (really), women's rights (seen it), capitalism (not kidding), and all sorts of other things. You know who we don't blame? The jackass terrorists!
We humans are bloody stupid.
There's the adage about truth being worse than fiction and it springs to mind. I don't recall them teaching me much about the Japanese during WWII in high school and I didn't take any real history courses in college. So, I've had to learn a lot on my own since then and I learned a lot about WWII while in boot when we learned the history of the Corps. That's what struck my curiosity bone and has made me read and watch a lot of documentaries on the subject.
Well, technically it's a M22. It's what the Chinese exported to Vietnam. There's not a whole lot known about it but it was grandfathered in under one regulation or another way back when. I'd have just been a kid when it came into the country which was probably sometime during the war. I am not really an avid firearm historian or anything but I can probably find out more information if you're really curious. I've posted pics of it online a few times in hopes of someone knowing a bit more but nobody has ever been able to determine a whole lot from the serial number.
Nope, that'd be the one. Well, except I thought it was a bit later than that. That says it was found in 1952. It turns out, it wasn't even news when I heard about it as a child. :/ (Probably 10-15 years later, mid to late 1960s.)
More importantly, the use of the bug is hardly news. Hell, I remember when it *was* news.