Hmm... it strikes me that the example you used would be covered under existing harassment laws. If someone sends me an offensive image (or before it gets to that point, as appropriate), I go to the county courthouse and get a restraining order filed against them. If they break the order, they are subject to penalties (not sure if they are civil or criminal). Is it better to go through the existing process?

The "villain" in this production is a pasty middle-aged white man, with poorly-done, slick hair, wearing a business suit. He's a little unsure of himself, and he sneaks away with an even greater number of DVDs (3) than what was previously mentioned (1 or 2), indicating greed.

The heroine is a very attractive ethnic-appearing female. She is dressed very trendily. Not only is she attractive, but she is intelligent. While the "villain" stammers in his decision, our heroine looks down in careful contemplation, as if she is making some life-altering decision, then boldly states her objection.

They created the villain by taking things most people would reject subconsciously, and they use the same tricks in the opposite way so we identify with the heroine. Nevermind the fact that the MPAA-types would almost EXCLUSIVELY appear like the villain does, and most of soulless pirates are probably closer to the heroine.

But if we swap places, wouldn't China then outsource jobs to the US/EU?

Like a lot of Slashdotters I'm getting older

No, like every single person on earth, you are getting older.

I tend to discount many attractive female celebrities' description of "being bullied" growing up. I have know a few attractive women IRL who perceive every single slight as a "bullying" or "being mean" (I was at the story with one once, and she thought the cashier VERY mean based on inflection and tone, etc). Sorry Taylor, a few girls growing up were jealous and said some nasty things about you behind your back. That's not bullying.

(I don't mean for this to sound sexist - I just noticed a handful of female celebs are saying this now. I think guys, for whatever reason, are able to distinguish people talking crap about them and actual bullying)

"one of the oldest, largest, and most respected UFO investigation organizations in the world"

World's tallest midget, and all that.

One other problem I believe is the American fixation on outcome, and the Asian focus on process, as it has been explained to me by a couple Japanese colleagues of mine (if it's incorrect, someone with direct experience can correct me). In the US in business, if you had a successful short-term outcome, you "did it right"; and if you did not meet the outcome, you failed. In Japanese business, the short-run results are not as important as the process that led to the outcome - results are often distorted by randomness and a correct process will lead to the right outcome in the long-run. This belief in proper processes is the direct result of a focus on and respect for engineering.

I'm a corporate finance analyst (like an accountant) who got into this gig because my math skills were good but not strong enough to be a good engineer. I love science and engineering and I've always wanted to get involved somehow. I've tried to focus on engineering or manufacturing-based firms for hiring (I'm an MBA student at the moment), and in interviews I mention one of my strengths is my respect for science and my ability to effectively communicate financial concepts to scientists and engineers. But what else can I do?

I doubt the censored version has anything to do with being politically correct - and everything about money. Since Huck Finn is in the public domain, I'd guess there are 50 different publishers of this book, and none of them probably make much money from them (and why should they, when a copy of Huck Finn by one publisher is perfectly substitutable for another, price is the only thing that matters). Now, if you can make a niche version of a PD work, you will sell your copy (maybe even at a premium) to all the people and school districts worried about the word. Nothing stopping other publishers from copying what NewSouth is doing, but at least their Q1 profits will look a little better than they otherwise would have.

I've never really understood the attraction to Anna Kournikova; and Kelli Garner is the pinnacle of beauty to me. I can't speak for women, but at least for men, it has been my experience that we have varying tastes in what we find attractive in the opposite sex. While there are objective measures of beauty (i.e. Megan Fox), there are many, many women who are attractive to me, but would be considered average-looking by most other guys. This service is great for finding women who are my "type". It doesn't mean it is easier to filter out the uggos and fatties, it means I can use pictures of women who fit my subjective tastes and go from there.

As of 2:53pm Central time, this post has approximately 750 comments. I think you have your answer right there.

I have no sympathy for Julian Assange, should he somehow face prosecution for these leaks. For the longest time, I knew of WikiLeaks, but had never heard of Assange. Until more recent times, WikiLeaks' message was clear: We are simply to conduit for others to leak documents. I saw them much like a P2P network - people may use the service, but ultimate responsibility lies with the user.

I now feel different. With the Iraq and Afganistan leaks, as well as this one, it is clear to me Assange has fallen in love with his own legend. At least in spirit, WikiLeaks appears to have gotten into the promotion business and crafting a "public image" (and I believe have decided to push an agenda, but I understand that's a contentious point). Had Assange not decided to at the very least not become a celebrity (if not pushing an agenda), I firmly believe the media and government official would be more focused on the source of the link as opposed to being focused on WikiLeaks and Assange.

Assange himself has contributed to painting the target on his own back.

I imagine that companies are not buying this data for information on their own stores (Wal-Mart, for example, can see every transaction at every store in real time), but rather on their competitors' stores. Any large retailer can process their own sales information a million different was in very short order. But getting intel on your competitors can be very valuable. For example, Wal-Mart can use these images to say "at 5am, the average store had 1 car in the parking lot for every 10 square feet of retail space. Target had 1 car for every 14 feet of retail space (also determined by the images)". This could give Wal-Mart a rough sense of their performance versus competitors well in advance of the Q4 earnings release, for instance.

"See the BEAR of fearsome size, all the world's within his eyes..."