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Comment Re:yet another one of these stories? (Score 1) 1198

There simple is no "rape culture" in Western civilization by the "physical assault" definition of rape - marrying off girls against their will has been passe for some time now, as has blaming a rape victim for the crime. But there's an entire cultural leadership based on convincing people that they are victims, and so a new definition of "rape' and "rape culture" was needed.

Really now. You've never known a woman who has reported any kind of sexual harassment or violence and in turn been asked what she was wearing, if she'd been drinking/smoking/doing other drugs, or in any way encouraged the victim? A horrifying number of women I know have had that exact problem.

Look at the case of Marissa Alexander in Florida. She fired a warning shot at her violent husband, and because she hit the wall and not him can't use Florida's awful "stand your ground" law as a shield, and is facing decades in prison.

Comment Re:hypocracy (Score 1) 1448

It seems that there are number of groups on both sides of the isle that plead for equal rights for their believes, opinions and convictions when their cause is under attack, however they are just as eager to deny the rights, prosecute their political opponents whenever opportunity arises.

What rights of conservatives do liberals generally attack? The only one that comes to mind is gun ownership, and there's still a lot of legitimate controversy over exactly what the 2nd Amendment means. And very few liberals want to outright ban gun ownership, they just want varying degrees of restrictions.

Comment Re:Really?!? (Score 1) 1448

Besides, OSC's SF books have nothing to do with his views on a totally orthogonal societal issue.

Depends on the book. In the Homeward series, for example, a gay character has a nickname that is the same as a word for "sphincter" in the conlang in the series, because of course gay people are about nothing but teh buttsex. And that gay character eventually swallows his desires and has sex with a woman for the "good of the species", or something like that.

Technology

The Forgotten Macro Language of HTML: XBL 2.0 138

tvlinux writes "The web is becoming more than just a media display; there is more interaction and more special things that need to be done. Right now, jQuery is the preferred method of a very dynamic user interface. There is a W3 standard called XBL2.0. It is the macro language of HTML. To me it seems like a great idea — reusable HTML widgets, where each one is a separate object contained with in itself. You can define properties, methods, and events, each of which is self-contained. If the browsers supported XBL2, I can envision a whole ecosystem of new widgets, charts, grids and inputs that people could add to web pages just like any other HTML element. I see less experienced developers being able to create fancy websites by just using DOM and not having to learn jquery. My question: why is XBL dead? I think a macro-language for HTML is a good idea." XBL is alive and well, but only for XUL. Looks like another casualty of HTML5's rejection of XML.

Comment ER... Why? (Score 5, Insightful) 766

I realize Slashdot is probably the wrong place to ask this question, but why bother transitioning them? If Windows works for them, and they're happy, you're just asking for a LOT of headaches with tech support, questions, and problems. Let them continue to use Windows in peace, unless there's some kind of real pressing issue that leads you to recommend them switching.

Google

Chrome EULA Reserves the Right To Filter Your Web 171

An anonymous reader writes "Recently, I decided to try out Google Chrome. With my usual mistrust of Google, I decided to carefully read the EULA before installing the software. I paused when I stumbled upon this section: '7.3 Google reserves the right (but shall have no obligation) to pre-screen, review, flag, filter, modify, refuse or remove any or all Content from any Service. For some of the Services, Google may provide tools to filter out explicit sexual content. These tools include the SafeSearch preference settings (see google.com/help/customize.html#safe). In addition, there are commercially available services and software to limit access to material that you may find objectionable.' Does this mean that Google reserves the right to filter my web browsing experience in Chrome (without my consent to boot)? Is this a carry-over from the EULAs of Google's other services (gmail, blogger etc), or is this something more significant? One would think that after the previous EULA affair with Chrome, Google would try to sound a little less draconian." Update: 04/05 21:14 GMT by T : Google's Gabriel Stricker alerted me to an informative followup: "We saw your Slashdot post and published the following clarification on the Google Chrome blog."
Unix

Why Do We Name Servers the Way We Do? 1397

jfruhlinger writes "If you use a Unix machine, it probably has a funny name. And if you work in an environment where there are multiple Unix machines, they probably have funny names that are variations on a theme. No, you're not the only one! This article explores the phenomenon, showing that even the CIA uses a whimsical server naming scheme." What are some of your best (worst?) naming schemes?

Feed Banking on Babies' Cord Blood (wired.com)

Pediatricians push the ultimate biological insurance policy -- a stash of umbilical cord blood to battle future illness -- as the government sets up a national blood-banking system. By the Associated Press.


Education

Submission + - Should sites like Wikipedia be blocked at schools?

Londovir writes: Recently our school board made the decision to block Wikipedia from our school district's WAN system. This was a complete block — there aren't even provisions in place for teachers or administrators to input a password to bypass the restriction. The reason given was that Wikipedia (being user created and edited) did not represent a credible or reliable source of reference for schools. My question is: should we block sites such as Wikipedia because students may be exposed to misinformation, or should we encourage sites such as Wikipedia as an outlet for students to investigate and determine validity of information? What's your opinion?

PS3 Missed Ship Targets, Loses Exclusives 173

Sony's having a rough week. After shootings on launch day and a harsh review from the New York Times, Bloomberg is now calling Sony out as having completely missed its shipping targets. The analyst company says there may have been as few as 50% of aimed-for units available, and that the company may only get about 200,000 units to stores by the end of the year (something Sony flatly denies). PS3 fans now also have to deal with the fact that Koei is cross-platforming two previously exclusive titles. Fatal Inertia and Bladestorm are now in development for the 360 as well, marking the latest in a string of titles that have slipped away from Sony. There is some consolation for the company to take away from this week, though. They did better than Microsoft last week in Japan, with around 81,000 PS3s, 19,000 PSPs, and 16,000 PS2s sold to a mere 4,000 Xbox 360s and ... 4 Xboxes.

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