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Comment Good! (Score 5, Interesting) 1271

Doctors aren't always right (like anybody in any profession), but this isn't about the doctors themselves. It's about the science.

And the scientific evidence has shown time and time again that there is no link between vaccinations and autism, and that the benefits of eradicating these types of diseases far outweigh the potential mild side effects of taking them.

As such, I have no problem with the idea of doctors who practice said science turning away patients who want to be in denial about it.

Comment Re:I Left Today (Score 1) 722

The admins NEVER allowed illegal content on their site. Child pornography was never allowed. Not caring about what people in each subreddit did was not a glaring flaw. If you didn't like a subreddit, you didn't go there. It worked pretty well actually - reddit is very popular.

You clearly are not really familiar with the circumstances of what was going on or what led to this situation. This all came to a head because a random Redditor was presented with r/preteens content while he was just browsing r/new. He wasn't subscribed to it, never went there, yet he was exposed to it, anyway. So that dismantles your argument of, "if you don't like it, you don't have to look at it."

Secondly, the admins absolutely HAVE and DID allow child pornography on the site. r/jailbait was allowed for a long while, even after the CNN story on it. One Reddit admin went as far as to blame the victims themselves for it. And the admins also did nothing about r/preteen_girls until Something Awful began their media campaign, in which case they were terrified into defensive mode. They still have yet to ban the still-popular-on-the-site violentacrez (who is friends with the site admins, it should be pointed out) or other subreddits such as r/picsofdeadkids.

They have no moral authority in this. They simply were, and are, fine to allow such content to go on unconfronted until their reputation is at stake, then they will tenuously pretend to care and respond to it. As the OP here pointed out, Reddit just now had to come out and say that child sexualization was not allowed on the site; something that people with morals would have already assumed to be the case.

The entire situation is, and remains, despicable, and Reddit and its admins don't have a moral leg to stand on it over it.

Comment I Left Today (Score 4, Interesting) 722

I'm one of the many who deleted their accounts at Reddit today, not just over the admins' lax "oh-noes-censorship!" policy, but due to the sheer number of Redditors there actively defending pedophiles and their crimes under the guise of "free speech". I had over 10,000 karma there, as well, which means really nothing other than to say I wasn't just a random lurker on the site.

The front page stories at the moment don't even begin to tell the story of the stuff that goes in in the nether regions of that site, and the fact that so many members there not just defend, but seemingly embrace, those who perpetrate it - look up a guy named violentacrez if you don't believe me - is beyond disgusting. The number of members there who seem to base their morals on whether something is legal or not (unless the matter relates to pot, prostitution, or any of the other activities they like) is disturbing, as well, and I'd finally had enough.

Reddit didn't care at all about any of this stuff until suddenly they were at risk of a major media campaign against them - organized by Something Awful - then suddenly they went into full defensive mode, not out of a sudden concern for the actual children being exploited, but for their own reputations for allowing it. A good move overall, but hardly noble. It's the same tactic they eventually were forced to use when the r/jailbait scandal hit the mainstream news.

The bottom line is that Reddit has been, and can be, an interesting site full of interesting content. But the willingness of the admins there to allow such abhorrent (and clearly illegal) content until publicity won't allow them to continue to do so is a glaring flaw in the organization of the site, and I'd rather not be associated with such a wild west approach to such things, especially when their morals seem to be dictated more on whether something will affect their reputation than whether or not it's right.

Comment Bandwidth Is Dirt Cheap (Score 2) 215

When the average cost to transfer a gigabyte of data is below 5 cents - http://business.financialpost.com/2011/02/05/how-much-does-bandwidth-actually-cost/ - I don't buy all these complaints from carriers about customers using huge amounts of data, especially since the typical "unlimited" (heh) data plan costs $30/month. At that rate, a customer would have to transfer 600 gigabytes of data in a given month to equal the raw cost of that bandwidth to the carrier.

Now, admittedly, that is based on the raw cost of bandwidth, and, of course, other factors come into play in figuring the cost of delivering that data, but the point is that carriers are, without question, earning money hand over fist with the current rates they are charging. I mean, we also have carrier CEOs admitting that the cost of bandwidth has little to do with the cost of services - http://stopthecap.com/2011/07/28/time-warner-ceo-bandwidth-costs-are-not-terribly-relevant-to-broadband-pricing.

No, these common refrains from the carriers are due to nothing more than them wanting to have their cake and eat it, too. They don't want to upgrade their infrastructure to support the bandwidth capabilities today's customers are demanding, but they still want to justify charging the rates they do whilst continuing to advertise "unlimited" data plans. So how do they go about doing that? Blame any and all bandwidth problems on "data hogs".

Again, I'm not buying it.

Comment Modus Operandi (Score 5, Insightful) 186

This is nothing more than a legalized protection racket.

Microsoft has made claims for years to own the patents on various aspects of Linux (which Android is built on), making only vague references and never specifying what exactly it owns. It then uses this to strongarm companies using Linux into paying them royalties.

The best part is that, unlike illegal protection rackets, this one is entirely supported by the broken patent (and legal) system we have today.

Comment Say what? (Score 1) 425

Even the artist doesn't really know what he's created, and a work doesn't become 'something' until given value by an audience: 'the artist is merely the medium for his or her work.'

Uh, say what? A work of art is entirely the work and creation of the artist creating it. Whether or not society deems it to have "value" is entirely irrelevant to it still being a creative expression by the artist. Indeed, one could create something and hide it away, never to have it seen by anyone other than themselves, and it still would not change the fact that it is a work of art. There would be no work of art without that artist, so the idea that someone is merely the "medium" for it is beyond ridiculous.

If that were true, anybody at any time at any place could, and indeed would, create any work of art that ever has been. Clearly that is not the case.

I personally feel that Lucas has lost touch with the artistic core that made Star Wars great in the first place, but that still doesn't change the fact that it is his (and everyone else involved in its production) work of art. It may be insane for an artist to decide to burn down or defecate on any work of art they have ever created, but that does not mean the art no longer belongs to them, or that it somehow belongs to those who can "appreciate it more".

This article's entire premise falls flat on its face.

Comment Intellectual Property Violations? (Score 1) 306

I always had a problem with Turnitin, because it seems as though they are blatantly violating intellectual property rights by keeping copies of student's work on files, against the student's will (arguable, but I certainly wouldn't allow it if I had the choice), to use as an anti-plagiarism control, all for profit without the student being reimbursed.

I am not a lawyer, so there may be legal standing to do all of this, but it's always bothered me.

Comment Unregulated technology is a crutch (Score 1) 511

Technology is a crutch which keeps students incapable of controlling its use from learning, not a tool which enhances it.

Throwing millions at fancy electronics will not fix any problems with education, if anything it will exacerbate them; instead, focus should be put on valuing learning and education itself, and forcing students into situations in which they must think for themselves.

Comment Software Patents Should Be Abolished (Score 3, Insightful) 248

Software patents are a pox on this nation. They undermine the system, stifle, rather than motivation, innovation, and are used as clubs by the bullies in industry.

The idea that I can "create" something intangible, easily replicated, and quite literally out of nothing simply by typing some characters on a keyboard is absolutely insane, and should never have been allowed in the first place. Had the system existed like this centuries ago, the book market would have been driven into the ground by publishers who owned the patent on "arranging characters on a page to create words and express ideas".

And the fact hat Apple is choosing to beat Android into submission with them, rather than make a superior product, is very telling indeed.

Comment Re:One of many (Score 1) 462

PC Gamer, much as I like them, has a massive inferiority complex in which they feel driven to give every console game also released on PC a high score. It's almost as if they are so desperate for developers not to forget the PC platform that they give out high scores just for showing up.

Dragon Age 2 scored higher than The Witcher 2, and they called it the RPG of the decade. Duke Nukem Forever received an 80/100, when almost every other reviewer and gamer is ripping it apart. They gave Crysis 2 an 89 for heaven's sake, in all its consolified glory.

The rule of thumb is that PC Gamer has fairly reliable reviews so long as the game wasn't also released on console. If it was, just expect the review to gloss over all the game's flaws while trumpeting even its most minor of positives.

Comment Disney Being Disney (Score 0) 254

Disney's entire business plan has been based on taking other people's work/ideas/creations and capitalizing on them for their own profit. They've been that way since the beginning. (Go ahead, go count all the original ideas Disney itself has ever had. I'll wait.)

So that being said, I can't say I'm surprised by this, although I do think this is a new low (based on the obvious bin Laden connection), even for them.

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