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Comment Re:How hard can that possibly be? (Score 1) 663

The entire thing is an overly complicated way to say something which is fairly simple: 6 - 5 = ??. The number of ways to present that are numerous but the simplest would likely have been: You have 6 Apples, you eat 5. How many are left?

Assuming you just don't want to go with: 6 - 5 = ??. Odd that we could teach it the simple equation way for the last.. oh.. forever?

Comment Re:You don't know what you are talking about. (Score 1) 569

That's ridiculous. I used to install pipelines and wells beneath roads in southern California. That's a much slower and messier process than laying underground cables (I know because we did that too). Believe me, the residents did stand for it. To them it's just more road work. It would be easy for a company to lay new subterranean cable, and it would be even easier to place it above ground.

Not only that but they'd likely say something along the lines of: "This will cut your Internet bill in half and double your speeds" to which the people in the area would reply "Right, do that then."

Prices are high because government causes un-natural monopolies and shields their pet companies from competition via exclusive contracts for areas. End this practice and watch prices fall and quality rise.

Comment Re:The Romans found out about lead (Score 2) 780

Well, considering the ATF - in its infinite malice - has banned solid copper and brass hunting projectiles as "armor piercing" even though they work EXTREMELY well as hunting bullets

Except they didn't do that. They banned brass pistol ammo, which is very rarely used in hunting.

The attack on lead ammo is about gun control, not lead abatement. Period.

Except the bill in question (AB711) places no restrictions on the sale, use or possession of lead ammo, as long as you don't hunt with it.

Given the history of such proponents and of such laws there is exactly zero reason to believe that if this law isn't fought and defeated that these same people won't be back next year wanting to ban lead, also known as 'affordable', ammo entirely.

The history of gun control is one of dishonesty, misdirection and incrementalism. It is also unlikely, though possible, that this is really about serious concerns about the relatively tiny amounts of lead and more likely just a way to try and ban ammo in a politically acceptable manner.

They want bans, they should provide incontrovertible evidence that this is not only a serious problem with direct and provable harm but that the only reasonable solution is this ban. Otherwise, it should be voted down immediately.

Comment Re:Hey US... (Score 1) 650

When you say "both" you appear to be suffering under the misaprehension that you have two political parties and a functioning democracy. Do don't. You have one party with two brands, and they all are given their marching orders by their funders. There is no more freedom in the United States than in China. The only difference is the mechanism by which the people are controlled. Tomorrow I protest against the corrupting influence of the United States in my own country.

The US has problems to be sure but if you think this is an accurate statement then you clearly have no idea at all what you're talking about and likely have never been to either place.

If you have then you're wearing such heavily colored glasses that you cannot see the reality of the situation.

The Internet

ICANN Approves First Set of New gTLDs 106

hypnosec writes "ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) has approved the first set of global Top Level Domains (gTLDs) and surprisingly all four are non-English words including . ("Web" in Arabic); . ("Game" in Chinese); . ("Online" in Russian); and . ("Web site" in Russian). Approval of four non-English words can be considered as a milestone and this approval marks "the first time that people will be able to access and type in a website address for generic Top-Level Domains in their native language.""

Comment Re:Smart guns... (Score 1) 814

Actually, I would argue that the other issue is range.

The baseball bat and sword are as effective as a pistol at close range--say, within 3 feet or so. However, a pistol is effective at a much further range--figure 20-30 feet. It is much more difficult to get out of range of a pistol than it is to get out of range of a baseball bat or sword.

That's actually the logic of why if you're already that close to the gun and its wielder the recommended course of action is to attack vice trying to get out of range. You're right you're not going to be able to get out of range but on the other hand the lethal point, that point in which the gun can cause damage, is actually really really small. If you keep it off you the gun can do no harm.

Comment Re:Political Correctness has no place in Kernel De (Score 1) 1501

My point wrt the Civil Rights Movement was not anything to do with skin colour. It was that a growing group of people decided not to simply subscribe to the rules and customs of the community around them and started increasingly taking a stand against it.

I'm surprised people didn't connect the dots.

Whether or not I agree with Sarah isn't the point. It's that she's able to stand up for what she believes in, going against the community as a whole, and (at least a little bit) forcing a few people to temporarily re-evaluate the idea of what the group norms are. I'm glad she's trying.

I've nothing wrong with her trying and I didn't think what you said had anything to do with color. I'm not sure what the color of all those involved are anyway and it wouldn't matter either way.

She can try all she wants. However, in the end either she has to accept the results or leave the community. The community is under no obligation to change itself to fit her whims/desires, no?

Comment Re:Smart guns... (Score 1) 814

The general rule of guns vs knives is that it is best to run from a knife but attack a gun. This is mainly at relative close quarters but the logic is that a gun is really only deadly at one point extending out of the barrel and that point is actually pretty small. If you can keep it off of you then the gun is harmless. A knife on the other hand can do damage more easily, again in closeish quarters, and as such it is best to retreat and attempt to counter-attack from range. You are correct that the best way to deal with the bat would be to move in very close and if possible flatten the attacker. Interestingly, as I stated that's the same idea with the gun if you're already within range for such a move.

I'm going to counter your example by saying that yes you're right most rapes are committed by people known by the person raped. However, if you think a person who has a gun at hand isn't going to shoot someone they know who is in the process of trying to rape them you're smoking crack.

I realize that the plural of anecdote isn't data, however those I have personally known seriously regrets not having a gun at hand to shoot their rapist.

As to your second point that isn't logical. Responsibility for an external act does not transfer simply because someone didn't take a theoretical step to protect against that act.

One could argue that if hit in a car and I'm not wearing a safety belt that some responsibility for the extent of my injuries may be mine, but that does not transfer nor impact the responsibility of who caused the accident.

Comment Re:Smart guns... (Score 5, Insightful) 814

I believe he's asking you to assume that a gun is an inanimate object incapable of independent action and that it is the person wielding it that ultimately makes it dangerous or rather uses it in a dangerous manner.

Can it be used more effectively than the other items listed? Sure. Does that negate the point? It does not. You want to imbue it with special powers beyond those of the person holding it as it seems what you really want to do is blame the thing and ignore the user.

A baseball bat in the hands of a mad man is most certainly a deadly weapon and without adequate resistance can easily kill a goodly number of people in a relatively short period of time. Longer than a gun perhaps but that really depends on the targets and environment.

A sword would be even more effective and again absent adequate resistance would be extremely deadly even in the hands of the untrained mad man.

While you're mentioning the evil uses of the canceling properties it seems highly disingenuous not to mention the practically infinitely more common instances:
The 90 pound woman defending herself against a rapist.
The gay man defending against the mob intent on beating him senseless.
The old and the infirm defending against the young and strong

And so on.

Comment Re:Political Correctness has no place in Kernel De (Score 2) 1501

Yet also a fair statement. After all, when you attempt to join a community you either abide by the rules and customs of that community or else you leave and go elsewhere. You do not demand that community change to meet your world view.

It's not a community, it's a software development project. OK, one can talk about a developer "community", but as soon as that "community" starts having rules and customs not directly linked to the development of the software in question, it becomes something else, especially if the rules and customs can be perceived as antithetical to the development process. The Linux kernel development team are not a masonic lodge!

A community is a group of individuals banding together for common purpose with agreed upon customs and norms, spoken or unspoken. Any software development project with almost any degree of openness quickly forms into a community as a natural consequence of human behavior.

The norms of that community are well established and nothing you've said changes my points. :)

Comment Re:Political Correctness has no place in Kernel De (Score 4, Insightful) 1501

Yours is not a fair statement. She’s been contributing to the Linux kernel for (as far as I can tell after a quick Google) 5 years or more. She’s not ‘attempting to join [the] community’; she’s already part of the community.

And she’s attempting to change it from within. Nothing, ipso facto, wrong with that.

30 Linux Kernel Developers in 30 Weeks: Sarah Sharp <<-- describes her involvement with kernel in 2007.

Okay, in that case she's been a part of it for a while now and has (so far as I know) suddenly decided she doesn't like the way things are. That's fine. Asking for change and such is fine to a point. However, this is also closely related to the ridiculous idea that people have a right not to be offended or to hear things they don't like. No such right exists.

If they are unwilling to change, and I unsurprisingly tend to agree with Linus's stance on the fakery involved in being "professional", then she can either deal with it or leave. The people on that list were the way they were long before she got there even if she has been involved with it for the last few years.

Comment Re:Political Correctness has no place in Kernel De (Score 2) 1501

American Civil Rights Movement.

Done, done.

What is insightful about this? It isn't the same thing at all.

What you're referring to is a group already part of a society campaigning for equality within the society. One could argue that they could have simply left but those who were doing the campaigning didn't have that option nor was it necessarily the appropriate option. They also were not attempting to force society to adopt their standards and beliefs but to force society to apply its own standards and beliefs to them and treat them equally.

If this person on the LKML was saying that she wanted to be allowed to curse and such because she had been told women shouldn't do such things then your point would be valid, or at least more so. Instead she's demanding that everyone else change to accommodate her desires and world view.

Comment Re:Political Correctness has no place in Kernel De (Score 4, Insightful) 1501

If Sarah cannot stand the heat, she should go back to the kitchen.

See - now that is political incorrectness.

Yet also a fair statement. After all, when you attempt to join a community you either abide by the rules and customs of that community or else you leave and go elsewhere. You do not demand that community change to meet your world view.

Comment Re:Playing together on a sofa (Score 1) 132

And if you enjoy fighting games or racing games or other console-friendly genres, that's fine. But when was the last time anyone made an RTS or RPG for a console that didn't have a dumbed-down control system? Some of the most interesting user interfaces in console gaming in recent years seem to be the ones that don't use the standard controllers at all.

To me this is the worst result of consoles being the primary development target. Dumbed down games. Overly simple console compatible control interfaces, overly simple game play, being shackled to what the current generation console is capable of while PCs race ahead in power.

Result: Piles of same old same old games with occasional kinda sorta bursts of something that resembles innovation. Mostly railshooters and sports games out the ass with occasional exceptions. Hell, what's the greatest thing about the new Call of Duty game? The dog and it is very pretty. Otherwise, it will likely be waist high walls as far as the eye can see between cut scenes. Because console.

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