>Do you believe rehabilitation is impossible or do you want revenge?

I don't believe that someone who commits mass murder can be rehabilitated, no. It isn't about revenge; it's about public safety.

Someone once pointed out that hoping a rapist gets raped in prison isn't a victory for his victim(s), because it somehow gives him what he had coming to him, but it's actually a victory for rape and violence. I wish I could remember who said that, because they are right. The score doesn't go Rapist: 1 World: 1. It goes Rape: 2.

What this man did is unspeakable, and he absolutely deserves to spend the rest of his life in prison. If he needs to be kept away from other prisoners as a safety issue, there are ways to do that without keeping him in solitary confinement, which has been shown conclusively to be profoundly cruel and harmful.

Putting him in solitary confinement, as a punitive measure, is not a victory for the good people in the world. It's a victory for inhumane treatment of human beings. This ruling is, in my opinion, very good and very strong for human rights, *precisely* because it was brought by such a despicable and horrible person. It affirms that all of us have basic human rights, even the absolute worst of us on this planet.

This is precisely why I lost all interest in Oculus the instant I heard that it had been acquired by Facebook.

Currently, in big business (healthcare), my company has a CIO. However, my last job was as IT Manager of a small company (~300 people). There I actually reported to the Continuous Improvement Manager.

This is good advice, and gives me an opportunity to speak to the community at large: some of us who go to cons and are in a position to shake tons of hands politely decline. It's not because we're being dicks, it's because we know it's a good way to substantially decrease our chances of catching and spreading any germs.

I played the PAX Pandemic game, where the Enforcers handed out stickers to attendees that read [Carrier] [Infected] or [Immune] (There was also a [Patient Zero].

I got the [Immune] sticker, and by the time I got home on Monday, it was clear that I had the flu. I've had a fever between 100 and 104 all week that finally broke last night, but I'm going to the doctor today because I think whatever I had settled into my lungs. I'll tell him about the H1N1 outbreak and get tested if he wants to run the test, but at this point I think it's safe to assume that I was [Immune] to the Pig Plague, but definitely [Infected] with the damn PAX pox.

Even though it's been a week of misery, it was entirely worth it, and I don't regret going to PAX for a single second.

When my time comes, I can't think of a better way to go... death by custard. At least I'd die happy...

This is why my motto (and fundamental rule for life) is Don't be a dick: it's simple to understand, and reasonable people can agree on what it means.

+1 for Parent. I just finished teaching a semester course in Alice. For their group project, my class made a tank game where you drive your tank around on a map and try to kill the enemy tank. The enemy tank (for time's sake) was run on a series of waypoints, but it detected when you were in range and fired in the appropriate direction. Alice is VERY VERY easy to pick up for non-programmers, and it gets them used to concepts in a pretty friendly way. Plus the 3d graphics gives it a bit more appeal than a console-driven application can. The language is a bit clunky, but rumor has it they're releasing a new version. Bonus: Open-source software!

Personally, I'd have to disagree with both of your examples.

Beauty and the Geek is not about making fun of geeks, it's about breaking stereotypes. The geeks usually come in thinking "There's nothing I can learn from these bimbos" and by the end of the series, you see them realize that they actually can learn from each other, and it helps them be better-adjusted people. The girls come in thinking "math is hard!" and being totally self-centered... but by the end of the show, they've learned not to just look at the geeks based on physical appearance or social skill, but they see that they're people too. I think this is the closest that reality TV has ever gotten to being useful.

As a geek with a somewhat tenuous grasp on social skills, the Big Bang Theory is hilarious to me. They make geek jokes I can laugh at, they fawn over the girl next door, they play Klingon boggle, it's like hanging out with me and my friends, only a little more absurd. It's something that contains more elements of *my* life than a show like "Friends" does... and I like it for that reason. Last night one of the guys said "I'm not watching the animated Star Wars TV series until I've watched the animated Star Wars Movie. I'd prefer to let George Lucas ruin my childhood memories in the order he prefers." That's not demeaning to geeks, that's funny stuff.

Sure, they can pick on geeks once in a while. But if you can't laugh at yourself...

John Scalzi wrote a hilarious exchange on his blog the sums up perfectly why this idea is made of fail:

Sony BMG spokesperson: We're pleased to announce we are the final major music corporation to release electronic tracks without that pesky DRM! All you have to do is leave your house, go to a selected retail outlet, buy a special card there, go back to your house, scratch off the back of the card to find a code, go to our special MusicPass Web site, enter said code, and download one the 37 titles we have available, from Celine Dion to the Backstreet Boys!

Kid #1: Or, in the time it takes me to jump through all those hoops, I could just download all 37 of those albums off of Pirate Bay.

Kid #2: Or, I could just scratch off the back at the store, record the pin number, go home and download the album through a Tor connection, so you can't trace my IP number.

Kid #1: Also, what's with this first slate of artists? Celine Dion? Backstreet Boys? Kenny Chesney? Barry Manilow? Are you high?

There's much more, but I didn't want to jack his entire post.