Presumably not with speech-to-text.

Sounds like a great reason to bring back the middle class trade guild as a meaningful part of professional development.

You can get in so long as you can pass the tests, then once you've worked under an experienced professional with genuine, demonstrated knowledge of how things happen in the real world for a period of time you get the stamp of approval to strike out on your own, and eventually take neophytes under your wing as well.

Of course anything even remotely resembling a union is "communist", so we can rule that option right out.

"Children being born today will have access to far more and better education than any generation ever, if we don't mess it up in some way."

No need to worry, we will definitely find a way to mess it up.

Yeah, somehow the bots are more intelligible than most of their actual human comments.

Really makes you lose faith in humanity, doesn't it?

"Remember there are several definitions of fairness: equality and equity. I'm a fan of equity..ie earned reward."

And I don't think a person should need to earn the privilege of not being disparaged or having their rights abridged. Equity is meaningless in a system where some people start so far behind that they never see any reward and other people start so far ahead that they never have to care.

"Yet their methods (laws passed, policies enacted) build systemic bias in society that benefits one group over another under the assumption (or made up malarkey) that there's an existing, systemic, opposing bias (some would call this a conspiracy theory)."

So when multiple states pass laws expressly and intentionally limiting the rights of homosexuals, it is "malarkey" to suggest that this is the result of a conspiracy against homosexuals? And liberals are wrong to wish to address laws and policies intended to curtail the rights of homosexuals with laws and policies intended to ensure those rights? What do you expect them to do, sit around and sing "Kumbaya" until everything gets magically better?

What "details"? They can read my comment history. Is there some secret functionality of Slashdot that I don't know about where all the drug deals and private scandal go down?

The difference is that I don't pretend that any of you people are my friends.

That might just sound like I'm being an asshole (which is fair), but think about it for a moment.

I don't tell Slashdot that I just ate an awesome burrito.

I don't keep Slashdot up-to-date on my relationship status.

I don't announce to Slashdot every time I'm super excited that my bff is having a cookout in 3 months.

I tell Slashdot that I think they're wrong on the internet.

Unless an employer is particularly interested in how I feel about lawyers (some of them are alright, some of them suck, pretty much like everyone else) or how great Planscape: Torment is (it is the best written video game ever) or whether or not Disney can afford to hire Harrison ford (of course they can, don't be foolish) or any of the other inane, mostly irrelevant crap I've commented about here, they aren't getting much.

That is to say, I'm sure if some stalker wants to track down random details of my life from sources on the internet, they can, and at this point I can't really stop them. That's just part of living in the future.

Given that this law would, in effect, force me to have a facebook profile... yes, it does affect me, and quite unjustly I might add. That is clear-cut cruel and unusual punishment.

Even if my employers didn't already know, which they do, then so be it. I prefer not to associate with anyone who can't handle the concept of somebody choosing not to use facebook anyway.

One of the things that a lot of people don't seem to grasp is that at some point, you need to just accept that your choices might have consequences you don't like, and just move on. I choose not to use facebook, twitter, and most of that other garbage. Sometimes I do this in venues that could be traced back to me personally. If somebody has a problem with it, I'll cross that bridge when I get there. What I won't do is start using services I don't have any interest in and don't like just because some hypothetical stranger thinks I'm weird unless I do.

"Google has cited their intent to drop compatibility for various platforms as a motivating factor for this decision"

My reading was that they wanted to drop code that existed for compatibility for older Mac platforms, but I got the distinct impression that part of the desire comes from Chromium itself already not supporting these. Perhaps I'm mistaken, though.

This is easily avoided by simply refusing to participate in facebook and other social media. Actually, that solves a lot of really stupid problems. I highly recommend it.

I'm sorry you and your buddy have only met truly reprehensible lawyers. I know several who are good, honest, thoughtful people who genuinely try to make the world around them a better place. Granted, I've also met a hunch who are slimeballs I would just as soon push in front of a bus, but I've met a lot of people who are slimeballs that I would just as soon push in front of a bus who aren't lawyers, so it doesn't seem fair to say lawyers are necessarily any worse than the rest of humanity.

If anything, I've met a greater percentage of sales and corporate management types who would contribute more to the benefit of mankind by dying messily than I have lawyers, but YMMV.

Do you really think they wouldn't be able to afford him? This is a new Star Wars movie being made by Disney, they can and will spend whatever amount of money they need to get whatever it is they want, and they'll still turn a profit even if it sucks.

Yeah, when I tell people to play it, I'm always a little stumped when they ask what makes the gameplay so good... frankly it isn't: it has a lot of bugs, the graphics are less than impressive, the controls are far from ideal, the magic system borders on useless, the combat is unchallenging, and NONE OF THAT MATTERS AT ALL.

The point of Torment isn't any of those things, the point of Torment is the chill that runs down your spine during conversations with Ignuus, the point of Torment is feeling you heart race as the Lady's shadow falls over you, the point of Torment is the soul crushing revelation of What Can Change The Nature Of A Man. None of those things make any sense in a 30 second demo, or even in a 30 minute demo.

" If a person was using their popularity to further a point you found agreeable, would you make it known that you will patronize them?"

Not the GP, but this is a pretty common practice.

"What if the person quietly held the belief you found reprehensible? What would be your response then?"

If a tree falls in the forest, and doesn't land on a mime, does anyone care? They wouldn't be using their fame to spread a belief I vehemently disagree with, and as such I wouldn't be terribly worried about that belief.

The right to Free Speech doesn't mean you cannot suffer for what you choose to say, merely that the government cannot punish you for it (some exceptions may apply).