It's because the media reports it. They report it as "Hey, you like celebrities! Here's a celebrity saying stuff!" And people watching are unable to separate that from actual information.

It's part of a much bigger problem. People are unable to separate press statements from reality as well. That's probably the bigger issue.

The media needs to do some regulating in order for things like this to stop happening. What's really frustrating is they DO decide what is news and what isn't, they'll ignore real stories, they ignore voices in politics that aren't framed in the way they want it to be framed. So for them to act like they're not responsible as they report the news, not make it, is absurd. They could ignore McCarthy and other antivaxers. They don't because it's easier to report shit like that than do actual journalism.

A bit off-topic, but I'm pretty sure that if Darwin were alive today, he'd be very frustrated at his name being applied to social situations like this. For one thing, I expect he would have been convinced by Eldredge and Gould and would say till he was blue in the face "that is not how evolution works." For another, he'd likely point out that ignorance is not inherited, and thus this is not selection on any level.

Fair point, but I'd suggest focusing on google glass diverts attention from the other two.

What IS going to be effective? I'd argue that nothing done in relation to google glass, getting upset about it or being cool with it, will revive privacy.

How many product launches exactly inspired "much rejoicing?" When the iphone was launched, most of us were like "Huh? No keyboard?!?" Same with the tablet. The ipod of course launched with a dismissal from slashdot.

How about we not call this one before it's even tossed. And how about we quit acting like this is the end of privacy and not CCTVs or the NSA.

Oh, you mean like the constitution free zones which are at the border and cover the majority of americans? And that was recently upheld in court? I'm sure that will never get abused by the government.

You probably shouldn't trust me with a badge, a gun, and a drone-mounted pepper spray.

And I probably shouldn't trust you to get my point. My point, joking about his handle aside, was that "turnaround would be fair play" is not true when talking about law enforcement, which seemed to be what msauve was suggesting.

Dunno, but I think law enforcement should ideally be held to a higher standard than someone running around calling themselves the Japanese word for breaded pork tenderloin.

Particularly in Antartica, which is ironic given how indistinguishable penguin genders are. Motherfuckers HATE it when they get it wrong, because it happens all the time. They'll waddle you to death if you're a guy wearing a skirt.

It's a self fulfilling malignment: they were maligned in the summary. QED!

In seriousness, google glass is taking a lot of flak in terms of "I can't believe you're recording me! Privacy!" Annoyingly, this outrage is not directed at privacy issues that matter, like companies requiring your SSN for anything besides giving you social security benefits, or CCTVs everywhere, or the NSA. Google glass is maligned by people who want to act like they care about privacy but who can't be bothered to think about it much.

I'd respond that nature selects against them. Males with downs syndrome are infertile for reasons which are not clear. And a quick google search suggested that with females, the extra chromosome doesn't get passed on, so the disease isn't necessarily inheritable at all. Downs syndrome always arises spontaneously, and will continue to do so.

You haven't read the militant deaf culture much! Kids who are using implants for the first time have trouble getting used to it! And... well that's about it from what I have read. My kid doesn't like wearing pants. Guess I'm killing pants-less culture.

Question: how often are the profits from said illegal activity also forfeited on top of the fine? Is it "never" or is it "almost never"? Or am I being too cynical here? I'm not, am I? I'm being naive for even asking?

He noticed a spike in people saying GG and takes that as a general sign that the atmosphere is improving. Is it that, or are trolls tone basically unchanged, but they're just saying "GG" to get their honor stat back a little?

The problem with closing loopholes isn't figuring out what needs to be done. It's usually obvious: you close the fucking loophole.

The problem is usually actually doing it without giving up more ground than you get. Law enforcement anywhere tends to think that oversight is a conspiracy to aid the bad guys, and resists thinking that they themselves are or even can be the bad guys. LAPD in particular. That mindset goes back a long time and is undoubtedly entrenched at every level. Any moves which actually bring the LAPD under reasonable oversight will be resisted by damn near everyone.

With campaign finance reform, that's resisted for similar reasons, but there's competition working for it: a politician who says he wants to reform things might be hurt by it, but so will his opponents. With law enforcement, reform isn't really beneficial to anyone since it just hurts everyone and no one gets ahead by enacting it.