I think "trolls" are absolutely necessary and wouldn't support banning any of them. I see I got downvoted (probably by someone who identifies themselves with the current propaganda cycle) but I'm pretty sure I'm correct in thinking that companies supposedly offering salvation from the trolls are really doing it to open the doors for much broader censorship. It's a typical playbook, invent a fictitious enemy and then offer censorship tools to be accepted by general public. Once that happens, the criteria slowly and quietly converts into something much more sinister. Communists have been doing it for decades.
You are correct, it won't affect the omnipresent Google because virtually everyone has visited their domain at some point. This will target alternatives to Google, leaving us with one company to do effective advertising.
How is this in the interests of the end user is beyond me, really.
Not being given looks by people passing by is exactly the reaction headscarves, burqas and other similar garments are supposed to produce. They represent chastity and modesty, and showing off your bodily features definitely doesn't fall into those categories. The concept of sending a message to people by fashion is very simple actually, and I personally think that reacting to such a message does not represent ignorance. Take the scarf off and let your face and hair be visible - people will look at you. Cover yourself in wraps - people will turn their looks away, and that is exactly the intended effect. It might seem strange to a white girl in a western society, but that doesn't change the fact.
As far as terrorism reference goes, that's a perfect example of generalization, another thing the whole humanity exercises daily simply because that is the way our reasoning works. Unfortunate it might be, but people generalize everywhere and about everything, and especially so when they are frightened.
So if you want to search for something on TV, which GoogleTV is supposed to enable you to do, how would you do that using Apple's three-button remote? I have an idea about a prayer and Steve Jobs, but wouldn't elaborate on it.
I think the blog post doesn't have a point at all, since it compares apples to pears.
This has simply not been true for me. I participated in DV lottery for quite a few years, and later on had multiple visits to US Embassy and never have had any kind of problems with getting my visas approved whatsoever.
I think your friend might be having some other issues, not the DV lottery.
Zoltan was operating in central Serbia (not even in its southern part Kosovo).
NATO bombers (USA bombers in this instance, really) were attacking Serbia, and Zoltan was a soldier operating in his own country, defending it against enemy aggression. How can you raise morality questions against that?
And as I already said, the truth about Kosovo is far from what your media told you. Kosovo is now brought down to two functions only:
1. American army base (Bondsteel)
2. Haven for drug lords, and traffickers of people and weapons. Now they've got their own state in the heart of Europe, thanks to USA lobbying practice which is where all of it originated from.
Macedonians have never been at war with Serbia. We have traditionally been allies, mostly because we share the same orthodox religion. I will assume you have limited knowledge of what really happened in Balkans in the end of 20th century, so I can only recommend reading some independent sources.
I also recommend actually being in a war and then reading about it in the media. You would be surprised how biased CNN, Fox and BBC were during the NATO campaign in Kosovo (well, maybe not so much surprised by CNN and Fox). I personally was greatly disappointed by the BBC - I viewed them as one of the rare media telling mostly truth, but it turned out the BBC way of supporting official British politics was turning the blind eye to all bad things that were being done by Muslims in Kosovo.
And also, in near future you will get to see what kind of regime NATO was defending in Kosovo.
As far as F-117 is concerned, funny thing is how in Serbia we were watching Discovery channel's praising "documentaries" about that aircraft, telling (years after 1999) how it has never been shot down by the enemy. Well go to Belgrade and you can see it displayed, you don't even need a visa for Serbia.
Western media is a great war machine, much greater than some "invisible aircraft". And you miked, are either a part of that machine, or a foolish follower of their praise.
I underwent surgical procedure and removed a pilonidal cyst located at my lower back. Because of the surgery I was under heavy dose of pain killers, and could not sit, stand or lie on my back.
So I had to implement a "will take only 15 minutes but is extremely important" feature, lying on my stomach with laptop on the floor, with my head dizzy because of the pain killers and a bloody butt.
As someone who is doing programming nearly 90% of my working hours, and someone who used all three major systems (OS X, Vista, Linux), I would suggest you go with a computer that is giving you highest raw metal power for the buck.
If you are really working and not playing around with desktop cpu monitor gadgets or trying out hundreds of time organizing schemes instead of doing some actual work, you will come to the conclusion that it's not that much about the editor, or the OS you are using, it's all about cpu and memory cycles you wait for while compiling, debugging, testing.
Since Macs aren't actually known for their "bang for the buck" ratio (in hardware terms), I'd go with a PC and install either Vista or Linux. Mac OS X simply doesn't add that much value to justify the price difference (plus it has its own quirks and wtfs).
Nobody I know quit smoking by "reducing" it. It's always either you do smoke, or you don't.
I am 28 and have been smoking since I was 16, have "quit" two times counting something close to three years combined, but have obviously returned to it later. Both times I quit I simply:
1. Threw the cigarette box I had with me.
2. Did not lit a cigarette, no matter what strange ways my brain took in order to seduce me back to it.
This question might sound ridiculous to majority of people commenting here, but why are you making the site boring instead of trying to improve its performance (putting additional hardware, ditching Arc, whatever)?
Although I'm more of a user than a contributor to HN, I have to (generally) disagree to the practice of banning blogs such as CodingHorror, Joel Spolsky etc.
I simply think that the practice of banning will lead to elitism, which will eventually lead to extinction.