POISON BOX

War is Peace

"When you're hunting, you don't expect somebody to try to shoot you and murder you'
-- Hunter Bill Wagner

Unless you're a deer.

Five hunters got a taste of their own medicine.

Hats off, please, Gentlemen.

California's Dept of Motor Vehicles Chief is proposing to tax cars based upon mileage. The issue arose because the state is losing too much money from those communist pinkos who drive fuel efficient vehicles (unlike Gov. Ahhnold, who has more than one 10-mpg Hummer). A major source of state revenue comes from gas taxes.

The plan would call for installing a device on every car that either transmits mileage based upon GPS readings or the vehicle's odometer. One scenario has the taxes levied when the car drives up to the pump; the car device transmits the mileage to a reciever on the pump, which then adds the tax to the pump price.

One hope for the system is to discourage congestion during certain times of the day. For example, the tax on the 10 could jack up to $2/mile, whereas local streets could decrease to $0.10, thus encouraging people to get off the freeway.

Silly privacy advocates worry that such devices will allow cars to be tracked. Like that would ever happen.

Nope, no flaws in this plan... no way to circumvent the system, either. Besides, I see the best part in the whole thing: automated speeding ticket payment. Every time you speed, you get fined, and your cost is added to your "driving fee," so when you next fill up at the pump, you get to pay for it all in one go.

1. Buy $20 of gas
2. Pay $30 mileage tax and $200 for speeding fines
3. ???
4. (State) Profit!!

Tiny revolution writes:

What we tend to overlook in such situations is that other people will react much as we would... And since [the people who bombed the Marine barracks in Beirut] could not reach the battleship, they found a more vulnerable target, the exposed Marines at the airport.
-- Autobiography of Colin Powell

And as I looked at those demolished towers in Lebanon [after the US-backed 1986 Israeli invasion], it entered my mind that we should punish the oppressor in kind and that we should destroy towers in America in order that they taste some of what we tasted and so that they be deterred from killing our women and children.
-- Osama bin Laden

Likewise, when we couldn't get at bin Laden, we "found a more vulnerable target."

History repeats...

Oh, the Humanity!

Now, you may wonder why I'm so hard on them--they're just trying to make a buck, right? The issue is their model was based upon tracking people; you don't have to do that in order to figure out what ads people like.

If you have multiple clients, then you can say to them, "Everyone who saw your Coke ad went to a site that sold Magazines." Then the Coke people could get with the magazine people and make babies. Will they sell more Coke or Magazines? No, because they're missing the point. People don't buy product on the spot based upon ads they just saw (Saturday morning children's sales hours--interspaced with stupid cartoons--exempted) on the tube.

What are the point of ads on the internet? I believe the best use is brand awareness. Advertisers are not going to get the clickthroughs they think, because most ads suck ass and people only "see them" subliminally. Conversely, why are there Sprite ads on billboards? You can't obtain a Sprite on the spot when you see the ad. The point is brand awareness; the next time you're thirsty, hopfully you'll select our tasty beverage product. Obey your thirst©(TM)

So, may DoubleClick roast in the fires of a thousand hells. Maybe they'll get it right next time, but I doubt it.

What he said!

No frames, no JS.
Just CSS.

Okay, check out probably one of the cleanest pages (code-wise) I've come across.

Look at the HAND and the SHADOW! OMG!!!! WTF!!!!1111

I watched NOW with Bill Moyers last night on PBS. His guest was Sister Joan Chittister, a Benedictine Nun.

I was actually blown away: here was a rational, thoughtful person, representing her religion in a kind, non-confrontational way. I'd almost thought those types of people were all dead, based upon what's been going on in our country lately. To wit, a letter from Bob Jones, III to Bush:

~ In your re-election, God has graciously granted Americathough she doesn't deserve ita reprieve from the agenda of paganism. ~.

~ Undoubtedly, you will have opportunity to appoint many conservative judges and exercise forceful leadership with the Congress in passing legislation that is defined by biblical norm regarding the family, sexuality, sanctity of life, religious freedom, freedom of speech, and limited government. ~.

~ If you have weaklings around you who do not share your biblical values, shed yourself of them. ~.

Enter Sister Joan: she states that in her view, any time a group tries to impose their own views upon the rest of us, we get nothing but disaster. She cites the last few times we had a religious "mandate," the Puritans burned people at the stake because they were witches. Is that the kind of "moral" country we want to become? Same goes for Prohibition; some misguided people decided that they knew what is best for the rest of us and managed to pass a law enforcing temperance. Instead of the garden utopia those people envisioned, we got a dystopia of organize crime.

One of her best moments: the so-called moral Christian Right is rabidly against abortion, because they are "pro-life" and want to "protect children." Yet these same people are for the war in Iraq.

I'm finding it hard to believe that religious people who are opposed to abortion on demand are really gleeful about the war deaths in Iraq -- 37,000 civilians according to the Brookings Institute or more than 100,000 war-related epidemiological deaths reported by The Lancet, the international journal of science and medical practice.

Sister Joan raises the point that in all the civilians who were killed, there are some who were pregnant. What about those kids? She then goes on to say that most "right-to-lifers" are actually only "right to birth," because they do nothing for the children once they are born. Raise taxes to provide day care/nutrition programs/schooling for the children? Not on your life. Hypocrites.

I doubt that those religious people who believe in tax relief as their strategy for pumping new money into job creation and economic development are really willing to allow our schools and inner cities to deteriorate.

Finally, she goes on to say that in her view, there is no one way to worship god. The moment you establish an official religion by bringing in monuments, tablets, bibles, whatever into the public square, you're dismissing all the other ways of practicing spirituality.

This election pitted two goods -- personal religion and political liberalism -- against each other at their extremes. In the process, we may have injured both gravely. God deliver us from any more witch hunts.
-- Sister Joan

All you need now is a donor.

Okay, so check out the "Greatest Equations Ever" story. At the time of this posting, they're up to 513 comments.

That's quite a few, so let's look at the "best" (yeah, I know) ones. Change the filter to score 5, flat, highest first (currently 23 messages). Result: zero messages.

Okay, try score 4, flat, highest first (currently 37 messages). Result:

• 1 reply beneath your current threshold.
• 3 replies beneath your current threshold.
• 7 replies beneath your current threshold.
• 4 replies beneath your current threshold.
• 4 replies beneath your current threshold.
• 1 reply beneath your current threshold.
• 5 replies beneath your current threshold.
• 21 replies beneath your current threshold.
• 4 replies beneath your current threshold.
• 5 replies beneath your current threshold.
• 3 replies beneath your current threshold.
• 7 replies beneath your current threshold.
• 1 reply beneath your current threshold.
• 1 reply beneath your current threshold.
• 4 replies beneath your current threshold.
• 1 reply beneath your current threshold.
• 2 replies beneath your current threshold.
• 8 replies beneath your current threshold.

--- 37 score 4 & 5 messages here ---

• 207 replies beneath your current threshold.

Maybe it is me? A quick check of the preferences shows "0" for every modifier.

Wow.

I just got done begging---begging---for a friggin' pencil from the old bat who "owns" the supply closet. I asked for 5, she gave me 2 used ones.

TWO USED *(#@$#@ PENCILS!!!!!!

And had the gall to ask why I needed five. BECAUSE I NEED 'EM, you old hag!

Okay muthafarkers, you complained when we were negotiating for me to come on board fulltime, how I was "so expensive" and then you chump me out with time wasters. You waste so much time, effort, and money---yes, money---looking after every US$0.02 pencil that you forget that your developer is sitting in the hall, waiting to receive less than he needs to get the job done and not programming! Oh, and because he was thwarted from pilfering your stupid locker of a whole $0.10 worth of valuable office supplies, he'll be back in a week or so to beg for more crumbs...again, instead of programming.

According to The Joel Test, we score a THREE (before I started working here it was a 1). And they wonder why it always takes a long time to get anything done. Roadblocks? Nah, not us! We just need to control costs. Oh, and you can't have Visio--a tool that will allow you to do the job in a few hours--to do your data flow diagrams. Use MS Paint instead, even if it takes you a few days and is unsuitable to the task, because it is "free."

*cough* )hack(

Everyone else is number two, or lower. *wheeze*

Have you tried posting anonymously to this front-page story? When I tried, I got:

Due to excessive bad posting from this IP or Subnet, anonymous comment posting has temporarily been disabled. You can still login to post. However, if bad posting continues from your IP or Subnet that privilege could be revoked as well. If it's you, consider this a chance to sit in the timeout corner or login and improve your posting . If it's someone else, this is a chance to hunt them down. If you think this is unfair, please email moderation@slashdot.org with your MD5'd IPID and SubnetID, which are "yadda-yadda" and "yadda-yadda".

Evidence of incompetence:

• I'm the only one on my block that posts here.
• A quick check of my last 24 comments reveals no down-mods
• The discussion has a very low number of comments

I'm thinking someone rolled to production again without testing, and now something is busted. Again. Or, Michael loves me.

Here's the response to the letter I sent previously:

From: "Jim Louderback" >jim@NOSPAMlouderback.com>
Date: Fri, 24 Sep 2004 17:16:32 -0700

hehehe.

111-22-3344 born on 1/2/03

Not so willing to give up privacy for safety? Hmm.

Relevant thought for the day: the Founding Fathers were terrorist-loving communists. Realizing that "innocent people have nothing to hide," they brazenly added the following amendments to the constitution before ratification:

Amendment IV The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Amendment V No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

Amendment VI In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.

Why did they protect people from searches, answer for crimes before a jury, prohibit the government from forcing people to testify against themselves, insist that the accused be granted a "fair and speedy trial," and allow the them to confront their accusers?

Can one honestly say that they would think "innocent people have nothing to hide"? Quite the contrary.