People wouldn't steal to get money to buy heroin if heroin was cheap and legally available and heroin addicts were allowed to work legitimate jobs.
Your line of reasoning is exactly the sort of vapid circular logic that is destroying our society by supporting drug prohibition. The laws against drug use lead to addicts stealing and robbing to survive, and then you say that we need to have laws against drug use because addicts steal and rob?
Fucking moron. Go kill yourself now and spare me the trouble of putting a bullet in your head when we end up having a civil war over the drug war.
Maybe she was just pointing out that the computers could get viruses while also cleaning the keyboard to get rid of the germs/sperm/shame/whatever. Her words and her actions at the time aren't necessarily related. She might not be as dumb as we're assuming.
10/10, epic troll. Seriously dude, fuck the cologne, fuck the deodorant, all you need is the natural scent of an alpha male.
We cover up our body's natural sweat and pheromones (which has been chosen by evolution to attract the opposite sex) with cheap, disgusting, overpowering, unnatural scents. It makes no sense. Furthermore, some of those colognes, like Realm, advertise having "natural pheromones." Isn't that ironic? Here's an idea, genius, skip the $50 cologne "pheromones" and use the pheromones in your sweat that you already have.
"Special" sex? What do you mean exactly? There are plenty of non-standard sexual fetishes that modern psychology has established are not symptoms of being disturbed or otherwise challenged.
If you mean to suggest rape, necrophilia, or bestiality, then yes, those are symptoms of a problem. However, a foot fetish or an interest in handcuffs are not symptoms of a problem in the absence of any other serious issues.
Aging is detrimental to your health. Arguing whether or not to call it a "disease" is simple semantics.
Would you care to enlighten us as to why curing aging would be a problem? Don't say "overpopulation," because that is an entirely different disease which needs to be addressed as well.
I don't think "highway speeding cameras" are as serious of a social ill as racism and sexism, it's a silly comparison. There's no reason to martyr yourself over a few cameras. And the OP is right, the cops are not going to give this guy a moment's rest if they can avoid it. It sucks but it's true, a lot of cops don't separate their emotions from the job and will target anyone that they perceive to be a threat to their "brotherhood." I know, my Dad was a cop for 15 years.
Sounds okay in theory but there is one flaw. While I agree that some of the damages discussed lately have been cruel & unusual, if the maximum penalty for getting caught copy infringing is what you would have paid for it legitimately, why would anyone concern themselves with avoiding infringement? It would be a "try anyway and if you get caught, oh well" sort of situation, and the average cost of the material for these infringers would actually end up being less than what they'd pay retail, since you won't catch them every time.
What you need to do is make the average cost of infringing more than the average cost of purchasing the material. One way to do that is to make prices more reasonable; for example, once a game gets down to $10 or so for purchase on Steam, going to the effort and risk of pirating the game is no longer attractive. The other way is to increase the average cost of infringing. I say, make the maximum damages three times the cost of the product. That's not so much that it would financially ruin the infringer, but seems high enough to be a deterrent.
You seem to think that burglary, rape and murder are all new things. If people could leave their door unlocked before without worrying, it was likely because the population was spread so thin that they either didn't have to worry about random folks trying to open the door, either because they lived out in the woods next to no one or they lived in a small community where it would be difficult to commit a crime and get away with it because there would be so few suspects.
I agree that it would be nice not to worry but let's try to avoid viewing the past through rose-tinted glasses. Do you think that castles had moats, drawbridges, towers and murder holes just for looks?
Unfortunately, you can't force them to accept legal tender. They are only forced to accept legal tender for an outstanding debt; before you buy the phone, you don't owe them anything, and they can demand payment in whatever form they like. If they wanted to they could charge 3 gold bars and 2 goats for every iPad, and that would be legal (and ridiculous).
Do you propose that we force everyone using the craigslist.org barter section to accept legal tender? Do you propose that we force people who want to trade to cars to accept legal tender? Do you propose that we force little kids trading Pokemon cards to accept legal tender?
It sucks, but Apple is in full compliance with the law by refusing cash. Forcing them to accept cash could have unintended legal consequences for people who refuse to accept cash in other situations.
I'm not convinced that a book which describes how to make bombs is a terrorist manual, even if some of the speech in the book is inflammatory. There are plenty of legitimate uses for a bomb manual; it could be of great utility to civilian militias, an important part of our freedom and national heritage.
Winston did a lot of illegal things in the novel, yes, but he mentions on several occasions that simply the act of keeping a journal at all is a thoughtcrime.
In North Korea, it is illegal to bring any books into the nation at all, because the government is afraid that reading imported books might cause the people to begin thinking rebellious thoughts. Once you begin to restrict what we can and can't read, I think you're moving into potentially catastrophic territory.
The USSR was clearly an inspiration for much of the novel but it would be a mistake to interpret the novel as a mere indictment of Stalin; all governments, regardless of their economic system and ruling body, are capable of severe oppression and the criminalization of "anti-government" thoughts and writings.
If the events of 1984 were rooted in complete fantasy, I wouldn't bring it up at all, but it is a cautionary tale based on the real-life actions of governments, past and present.
The short version of this is, I don't think anyone should be arrested for owning and reading a book, regardless of what the book says. The freedom to read anything is an important part of having freedom at all. If you want to arrest someone for illegally possessing explosives, fine. If you want to arrest someone for conspiracy to purchase explosives, or conspiracy to commit mass murder or other terrorist acts, fine. However, if you criminalize merely reading about how to make explosives, then you have essentially created a thoughtcrime law.
So what you're saying is that when Winston Smith was convicted for keeping a journal, that was not a thought crime? After all, possession of a journal was an actual crime, not a thought crime. He was convicted for actions that he did, not thoughts that he had.
Speaking seriously, did you ever read 1984? Did the point of the book pass entirely over your head? Being convicted of a crime simply for owning a particular book with "illegal information" in it is practically the definition of thoughtcrime. It's so similar to the plot and events of the novel 1984 that it ought to give you chills.
The article makes it sound like they didn't review any submissions until after 2 months. Obviously they chose to do this intentionally to artificially extend the duration of the contest, but I don't think they were deliberately and knowingly hiding the fact that someone had won so soon.
Marketing. Think about it. What's easier and more unique to verbalize, "two-kay-ten" or "two-thousand-ten?" People already say, hear and think the latter all of the time. So if someone says "two-thousand-ten," other people won't think "oh yeah that baseball game." However they will recognize the phrase "two-kay-ten," and they are used to using the "two-kay-(number)" format to refer to the games. In my opinion, it's brilliant, despite all of you nerds whining that it's the same number of characters. The difference in pronunciation is just as important as the character count, if not more so.
Do you know what percentage of slashdot readers are American? If it's a majority, then it makes sense; it's the job of a news outlet to provide news that it's audience is interested in.
I use Windows Vista and earlier today I got a virus while looking for porn torrents. The virus disabled taskmanager and the ability to run any other executables and flooded the screen with popups advertising fake virus software. It was easy enough to run HijackThis (after renaming it to iexplore.exe to fool the virus) to identify and delete the viral executable; I had the problem fixed in under 30 minutes.
Windows isn't that bad when you actually know what you're doing. Problem is, most people don't. Do you think those people would do any better on Linux? I doubt it.
I can't imagine why any porn producer would want to circumvent that system, though. Making porn available to kids is bad PR. Your point makes a lot of sense from a security perspective, where the malicious coders are trying to sneak malware onto your system, but this seems like a different situation. If I ran a porn site, I'd voluntarily use the.xxx domain.
We could make the system more effective by making it a federal law that if your website has porn on it, it must be on the.xxx domain. It'd be an easy law to pass (think of the children!), and it might actually be worthwhile.
Slashdot Mirror
People wouldn't steal to get money to buy heroin if heroin was cheap and legally available and heroin addicts were allowed to work legitimate jobs.
Your line of reasoning is exactly the sort of vapid circular logic that is destroying our society by supporting drug prohibition. The laws against drug use lead to addicts stealing and robbing to survive, and then you say that we need to have laws against drug use because addicts steal and rob?
Fucking moron. Go kill yourself now and spare me the trouble of putting a bullet in your head when we end up having a civil war over the drug war.
If it doesn't come to PC, I don't fucking care. That's because I use the gaming device of an adult and not the one of a child.
Maybe she was just pointing out that the computers could get viruses while also cleaning the keyboard to get rid of the germs/sperm/shame/whatever. Her words and her actions at the time aren't necessarily related. She might not be as dumb as we're assuming.
Word.
10/10, epic troll. Seriously dude, fuck the cologne, fuck the deodorant, all you need is the natural scent of an alpha male.
We cover up our body's natural sweat and pheromones (which has been chosen by evolution to attract the opposite sex) with cheap, disgusting, overpowering, unnatural scents. It makes no sense. Furthermore, some of those colognes, like Realm, advertise having "natural pheromones." Isn't that ironic? Here's an idea, genius, skip the $50 cologne "pheromones" and use the pheromones in your sweat that you already have.
/end rant
"Special" sex? What do you mean exactly? There are plenty of non-standard sexual fetishes that modern psychology has established are not symptoms of being disturbed or otherwise challenged.
If you mean to suggest rape, necrophilia, or bestiality, then yes, those are symptoms of a problem. However, a foot fetish or an interest in handcuffs are not symptoms of a problem in the absence of any other serious issues.
So again, I ask ... what do you mean exactly?
Aging is detrimental to your health. Arguing whether or not to call it a "disease" is simple semantics.
Would you care to enlighten us as to why curing aging would be a problem? Don't say "overpopulation," because that is an entirely different disease which needs to be addressed as well.
I don't think "highway speeding cameras" are as serious of a social ill as racism and sexism, it's a silly comparison. There's no reason to martyr yourself over a few cameras. And the OP is right, the cops are not going to give this guy a moment's rest if they can avoid it. It sucks but it's true, a lot of cops don't separate their emotions from the job and will target anyone that they perceive to be a threat to their "brotherhood." I know, my Dad was a cop for 15 years.
Sounds okay in theory but there is one flaw. While I agree that some of the damages discussed lately have been cruel & unusual, if the maximum penalty for getting caught copy infringing is what you would have paid for it legitimately, why would anyone concern themselves with avoiding infringement? It would be a "try anyway and if you get caught, oh well" sort of situation, and the average cost of the material for these infringers would actually end up being less than what they'd pay retail, since you won't catch them every time.
What you need to do is make the average cost of infringing more than the average cost of purchasing the material. One way to do that is to make prices more reasonable; for example, once a game gets down to $10 or so for purchase on Steam, going to the effort and risk of pirating the game is no longer attractive. The other way is to increase the average cost of infringing. I say, make the maximum damages three times the cost of the product. That's not so much that it would financially ruin the infringer, but seems high enough to be a deterrent.
You're kind of a dick aren't you, mate? Your post would have been just fine without the condescending first sentence.
You seem to think that burglary, rape and murder are all new things. If people could leave their door unlocked before without worrying, it was likely because the population was spread so thin that they either didn't have to worry about random folks trying to open the door, either because they lived out in the woods next to no one or they lived in a small community where it would be difficult to commit a crime and get away with it because there would be so few suspects.
I agree that it would be nice not to worry but let's try to avoid viewing the past through rose-tinted glasses. Do you think that castles had moats, drawbridges, towers and murder holes just for looks?
Unfortunately, you can't force them to accept legal tender. They are only forced to accept legal tender for an outstanding debt; before you buy the phone, you don't owe them anything, and they can demand payment in whatever form they like. If they wanted to they could charge 3 gold bars and 2 goats for every iPad, and that would be legal (and ridiculous).
Do you propose that we force everyone using the craigslist.org barter section to accept legal tender? Do you propose that we force people who want to trade to cars to accept legal tender? Do you propose that we force little kids trading Pokemon cards to accept legal tender?
It sucks, but Apple is in full compliance with the law by refusing cash. Forcing them to accept cash could have unintended legal consequences for people who refuse to accept cash in other situations.
We won't listen to any logic and reason here! No, sir! Who do you think we are!? Where do you think this is!? What you speak of is madness, sir.
I can't jerk off to internet porn in the living room! People are out there!
I'm not convinced that a book which describes how to make bombs is a terrorist manual, even if some of the speech in the book is inflammatory. There are plenty of legitimate uses for a bomb manual; it could be of great utility to civilian militias, an important part of our freedom and national heritage.
Winston did a lot of illegal things in the novel, yes, but he mentions on several occasions that simply the act of keeping a journal at all is a thoughtcrime.
In North Korea, it is illegal to bring any books into the nation at all, because the government is afraid that reading imported books might cause the people to begin thinking rebellious thoughts. Once you begin to restrict what we can and can't read, I think you're moving into potentially catastrophic territory.
The USSR was clearly an inspiration for much of the novel but it would be a mistake to interpret the novel as a mere indictment of Stalin; all governments, regardless of their economic system and ruling body, are capable of severe oppression and the criminalization of "anti-government" thoughts and writings.
If the events of 1984 were rooted in complete fantasy, I wouldn't bring it up at all, but it is a cautionary tale based on the real-life actions of governments, past and present.
The short version of this is, I don't think anyone should be arrested for owning and reading a book, regardless of what the book says. The freedom to read anything is an important part of having freedom at all. If you want to arrest someone for illegally possessing explosives, fine. If you want to arrest someone for conspiracy to purchase explosives, or conspiracy to commit mass murder or other terrorist acts, fine. However, if you criminalize merely reading about how to make explosives, then you have essentially created a thoughtcrime law.
But can someone explain what this article is about using a car analogy?
So what you're saying is that when Winston Smith was convicted for keeping a journal, that was not a thought crime? After all, possession of a journal was an actual crime, not a thought crime. He was convicted for actions that he did, not thoughts that he had.
Speaking seriously, did you ever read 1984? Did the point of the book pass entirely over your head? Being convicted of a crime simply for owning a particular book with "illegal information" in it is practically the definition of thoughtcrime. It's so similar to the plot and events of the novel 1984 that it ought to give you chills.
I don't have horns, am I an angel?
What makes you think they're angels?
The article makes it sound like they didn't review any submissions until after 2 months. Obviously they chose to do this intentionally to artificially extend the duration of the contest, but I don't think they were deliberately and knowingly hiding the fact that someone had won so soon.
It's pure genius, really.
Marketing. Think about it. What's easier and more unique to verbalize, "two-kay-ten" or "two-thousand-ten?" People already say, hear and think the latter all of the time. So if someone says "two-thousand-ten," other people won't think "oh yeah that baseball game." However they will recognize the phrase "two-kay-ten," and they are used to using the "two-kay-(number)" format to refer to the games. In my opinion, it's brilliant, despite all of you nerds whining that it's the same number of characters. The difference in pronunciation is just as important as the character count, if not more so.
Maybe I should be playing Guild Wars, huh?
Do you know what percentage of slashdot readers are American? If it's a majority, then it makes sense; it's the job of a news outlet to provide news that it's audience is interested in.
I use Windows Vista and earlier today I got a virus while looking for porn torrents. The virus disabled taskmanager and the ability to run any other executables and flooded the screen with popups advertising fake virus software. It was easy enough to run HijackThis (after renaming it to iexplore.exe to fool the virus) to identify and delete the viral executable; I had the problem fixed in under 30 minutes.
Windows isn't that bad when you actually know what you're doing. Problem is, most people don't. Do you think those people would do any better on Linux? I doubt it.
I can't imagine why any porn producer would want to circumvent that system, though. Making porn available to kids is bad PR. Your point makes a lot of sense from a security perspective, where the malicious coders are trying to sneak malware onto your system, but this seems like a different situation. If I ran a porn site, I'd voluntarily use the .xxx domain.
We could make the system more effective by making it a federal law that if your website has porn on it, it must be on the .xxx domain. It'd be an easy law to pass (think of the children!), and it might actually be worthwhile.