Catch up on stories from the past week (and beyond) at the Slashdot story archive

 



Forgot your password?
typodupeerror
×

Comment Re:What's so American (Score 1) 531

"Do you think the MIT researcher should pay for the higher tier and be slowed down to Grandma's speed for some sites?"

Yes. I think both of them should have their packets delivered as fast as the network hardware allows, considering the networks they are both on. If they are on equally fast networks, then yes, their speeds should be the same.

"Do you think your overnight package should be 3 days to certain destinations for the same price of overnight delivery?"

No, but I do think that putting a stamp on a letter should get it across the city or across the country. Package delivery is different in some ways from packet delivery, and similar in other ways.

Comment Re:What's so American (Score 3, Insightful) 531

"Without it you get toll roads everywhere, and you constantly have to pay by the mile"

Ah, yes, the libertarian dream.

That very hypothetical scenario is the actual reason I'm not a libertarian. Back in college it was popular to say you were a libertarian, but one day we were talking about roads and the non-hypocrites had to admit that, yes, a libertarian country would be 100% toll roads. I abandoned that stupid philosophy that day. I don't want to live in an ideologically pure world; I want to live in a good world, and libertarianism wouldn't lead to a good world.

Comment Re:NYC Resident Here (Score 1) 149

You told them to stop breaking the law because it inconveniences you, and they said "it's our right"? Seriously? Given that situation, my response would have been "Oh, gosh, I'm sorry, I thought it wasn't your right at all. I'll call the Hotel Commission just to verify you are right. Here, I'll do it while you wait..."

Comment Re:It's about hotel taxes (Score 1) 149

That's what it's about, and that's what it should be about.

Pay your taxes. Stop trying to invent clever ways to avoid taxes. When you do that, you are fucking me, and I don't appreciate it, and it makes me support a heavy-handed government. If you don't like heavy-handed government then stop being a tax cheat.

Comment Re:Nope (Score 1) 511

Only if you mean "portable if the only thing I have is a binary".

No, also for the development. My company is writing a major piece of new software in Java. All the programmers have Macs although the deployment environments will be mostly Linux and Windows.

But even if not, "portable if I only have a binary" is incredibly valuable because that describes a lot of situations.

Comment Re:well (Score 1) 200

I don't think that is right. For that to be true the SC would have had to find a Constitutional right to take pictures. I think they were interpreting existing privacy common law and statute.

You can certainly pass laws which go against SC rulings, if they are statutory rulings. The recent Hobby Lobby case, for instance, could be overturned by a new statute. Do I have a Constitutional right to live-stream a high-def real-time video feed of your high-fenced back yard from my swarm of drones which constantly monitor your property from 83 feet in the air? I don't think the Court has ever said that right exists and I bet they'd be receptive to some legislation limiting such actions.

Comment Re:Sigh (Score 1) 748

Generally we divide government action from private action. If you use a racial slur and your brother frowns at you, we don't usually consider that force. But if you use a racial slur and the police arrest you for incitement, or whatever, then that would be typical of "force". There's a gray area when a whole community of private actors use shame together. But if you say "I don't think gays should be allowed to enjoy marriage rights" and your employees say "We don't want to work for someone who thinks that", I don't think that's "force", and I don't think any reasonable person could say it is.

Comment Re:Sigh (Score 1) 748

Pictures? Getting prosecuted for drawings is a legal gray area. I think the SCUSA even struck that down, didn't they? Getting prosecuted for photos is a perfectly straightforward case of exploitation.

We don't recognize consent from children, so if you're prosecuted for that it's because you're accused of being a child rapist.

I tolerate pedophiles despite thinking their proclivities are gross. I support full equal rights for pedophiles. I don't want to deny pedophiles the right to marry, or to put pedophiles in jail, or to suppress their freedom of speech. Of course marriage and sex require consent of a second party, so you have to establish legally valid consent for those things. I don't see any contradiction there.

Comment This is how I got a stipend (Score 2) 161

At my former job the seniors got a $50-per-month phone stipend, but we juniors didn't. I once asked about it and they told me I didn't qualify. I shrugged it off, it was no big deal.

Then one day my phone started ringing after I got home from work; it was my boss. I didn't pick up the call. He called a second time; I didn't pick up the call.

Literally the next day they announced that juniors would also receive the stipend, and would be expected to answer calls when they could outside of business hours. That might be a coincidence but I doubt it. I think they realized that $50 is small change when the input of a 'junior' employee is required to seal a contract.

At the next job after that I was put on "on call rotation" meaning I'd get calls in the middle of the nite to fix problems -- usually to restart a server. They immediately gave me a phone stipend and also an internet stipend.

That is all as it should be. If you expect to be able to communicate with me outside of work hours and work space, then you can foot the bill for that. Otherwise, I'll see you at 9am at the office. If the law in California supports this notion then the law is appropriate.

Slashdot Top Deals

He has not acquired a fortune; the fortune has acquired him. -- Bion

Working...