Slashdot

How does correcting an unfair imbalance equal hamstringing? More attention was paid to boys, and they did better. Now that teachers are giving more time to girls and teaching in a more gender neutral fashion, the scores are becoming more equal. If I give you something that I don't give to others, and then I take some of that away from you in order to more fairly distribute it, I am not hamstringing you.

Its sad, so many people have gotten used to having unfair advantage, they consider it their birthright. White males tend to be the worst whiners.

Well, "Flying Spaghetti Monster damn it!" doesn't really roll off the tongue that well, plus he's not as much into fire and damnation. So, you know, it would end up a bit on par with, "Dear Enemy, I curse you and hope something slightly unpleasant happens to you. Like an onion falling on your head."

And the Invisible Pink Unicorn is too cute to be taken seriously when it comes to damning, so that one's out of the question too.

Tooth fairy? I suppose she could get scary if you speak with your head under your pillow, but a damnation that depends on that is kinda unreliable.

Santa Claus? What's he going to do if he damns you? Bring you a lump of coal? With the prices of energy lately, being damned by Santa might actually be a blessing these days, if you know what I mean.

So, you know, as non-existent personifications go, the Christian god wins hands down. Now _that_ guy can damn properly. It still doesn't mean we _believe_ in him, but he's the right non-existent guy for the job.

As a former Accenture employee I can tell you that this is 100% true, but a few years at Accenture right out of college sure looks good on your resume.

Model M = The most annoying keyboard ever created. The guy in the cube behind me insists on using one. Aside from punch-card mainframes it is the loudest most obnoxious piece of computer equipment ever created.

There is a reason modern keyboards are quiet and it's not because of cheap manufacturing. It's common courtesy.

Seriously, it's not cool in an office setting.

You can identify the type of traffic, because we're not trying very hard to hide it. If you keep going down this road, we'll just send all the time, the same constant packet size, the same rate, regardless of actually required service. It's the same to us, really, because we pay a flat price. It is not the same to you, though, because when we have to make every traffic look the same, we'll use much more of your precious bandwidth, so cut out the crap.

Glass is not a liquid of any kind, "technically" or otherwise.

Glass is a solid.

Glass is not a crystalline solid.

Glass is an amorphous solid.

Yes, I am a materials engineer.

So, you just secure it in place with duct tape. And for that, you want high fidelity duct tape...

This is a civil case. That means it isn't so easy to defend yourself. In a criminal case the standard is beyond a reasonable doubt. That is a fairly high standard because it means, just as it says there must be no reasonable doubt that you committed the crime for the jury to convict. That means that the prosecution actually has to prove their case, the defense needn't do anything at all if they don't. Also in a criminal trial, you get a lawyer, even if you can't afford one. Public defenders generally aren't as good as high paid lawyers, but they are lawyers none the less who can help you navigate the complexities of the legal system.

A civil case has a much lower standard, the preponderance of the evidence. More or less that means whoever has the more convincing argument. There can still be reasonable doubt, so long as one side seems to present better evidence, then they win. Also, you aren't given a lawyer, you have to pay for one yourself.

So even if you are innocent, paying the extortion money can be the easy out to take. It'd be real hard to mount a defense for $30,000, much less $3,000. Even if you do, they could still win.

That's the problem here. It isn't one of these "Oh you are innocent so you have nothing to worry about." No, you have a lot to worry about. Either you pay a ton of money to hire a lawyer to try to defend yourself, or you do it all by yourself and almost certainly lose just because you don't understand the legal system.

I bike commute to work, and the only close shave I've had is with the new Gillette Fusion(r) Power razor. Truly, the best a man can get.

Yeah well, when they came out with their first version of their iPod music player, it was expensive, bulky, and claimed only a small percentage of the market. Wait a few years and you'll have iPhone Mini/Nanos replacing your Nokia and Sony Ericssons. When the iPod was initially released, one could argue the Mp3 player market was already saturated with no clear winner. One could argue the cell phone market today is pretty similar.

Is this a joke?

In a post that is riddled with historical inaccuracies and plain daft statements, this stands out:

"Of course, typical Americans; cleaning up after europe shits all over the place. Abolishing slavery."

WTF? That's a party you were particularly late to (just like both World Wars). You might want to check on the dates for European countries abolishing slavery (hint: generally before you). And as for reinstating civil rights, of course you remember what happened about 40 years ago, right?

Congratulations on making yourself look like an ass and giving your fellow Americans a bad name.

Nintendo is trickling just enough Wiis (yech) into the US sales channels to keep up interest while feeding markets that are actually making money. Unfortunately, the citizenry of the US rested on its laurels and consequently our nation has been conquered from within in the name of profit, and our economy has successfully been attacked and destroyed. The effects are only now starting to become apparent, compared to what's coming. The point is, the Wii isn't a joke, the US Economy is - and it's going to take a lot of sweat to correct it.

Do you want to be forced to pay pennies of your income to help my neighboors, or do you want them to turn to a life of crime to support themselves and wind up in a prison where you will be forced to pay dollars of your income to support them?

Public education, social responsibility, and the empowerment of all will help you more significantly than isolating yourself from society.

I'm not saying we should go all commie or socialist over here, but a balanced struggle between socialist and capitalist (and many other!) points of view in our government is what keeps it healthy. Falling in the trap of a single party (even a dual party like we have now) reduces our government's health.

-Rick

I'm marking "Download Day" on my calendar right now.

I have a big circle around 2008, and a thin one around 2009 too, just in case the news gets any more vague.

I don't understand how he managed to do this. He can't use 50,000 bank accounts. There aren't 50,000 payment services. So why would any of them send a few cents to the same bank account more than once?

Can anyone explain this to me? It makes no sense at all.