Posts by Seth Johnson

Cloudflare: We dumped Daily Stormer not because they're Nazis but because they said we love Nazis

Hating Muslims Much?

The amount of anti-Muslim sentiment on this site is such a shame when the usual level of engagement is so good. Such vitriol and emotion. You're talking about a religion that's brought about a huge amount of 'good' objectively speaking, and yet even talking objectively triggers the hell out of a small handful of regular contributors. Any movement, yes even atheism, consumerism, science has had it's losers and there's no point just believing the media narrative on every issue.

People, there are 1.6 Billion muslims in the world, the vast majority of which who actively pray, fast, pay charity and do all the other things that their religion requires of them. If you seriously think Islam is the religion of evil and killing then you really have to take a step back and look at which countries are invading which. Islamophobia has been a thriving industry for quite some time now. And yet if Muslims really were the enemy then we'd all already be dead.

Islamism (whatever hte hell that's supposed to mean) is as bad as communism and as bad as nazi-ism? Seriously? Give me a break.

350,000 Twitter bot sleeper cell betrayed by love of Star Wars and Windows Phone

How does this happen?

Stupid question - how do these accounts get created in the first place? I thought they require text entered into a 'captur' thing and then an email that gets verified?

The future often starts as a toy, so don't shun toy VR this Christmas

I've largely been ignoring this whole VR thing on the basis that it always just used to cause headaches - something up close that causes you to focus on far away. Haven't seen that mentioned in ages though, has it just gone away as a problem?

Will AI spell the end of humanity? The tech industry wants you to think so

So why are they all fussing about it?

My understanding of AI is similar to many of those here in that AI is an incredibly difficult problem and there's been no fundamental game changer just bigger processors, more RAM and larger data sets. If anything the improvements are incremental. So why are all the big wigs fussing about it?

Google to snatch control of Android updates from mobe makers – analyst

Re: Don't get your hopes up

Hmm, interestingly enough I've switched from touchwiz to stock android to cyanogen and now onto a sony xperia z3 that I haven't even bothered to root because... well it's just lovely exactly how it is. Not sure that many agree but the sony line of phones have been nice, I'm planning to get a z5 just because the hardware feels solid, it's waterproof and feels very well put together and it's reassuringly quick. I try loads of phones, including the blackberry priv but i really like the sony xperia range precisely because of the customisation they've added over stock.

Helpdesk? I have a software problem. And a GRIZZLY BEAR problem

Re: Bears vs. alligators+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I noticed this.

Coalmont is an old community which goes back to the Granite Creek gold rush of 1885. Although Coalmont has often been called a ghost town it still has remained a community and currently has about 100 residents. Click here to go to the Coalmont Community page.

Wow. Impressive lifestyle choice.

Zionists stole my SHOE, claims Muslim campaigner

Re: A few pointers

There are 1.6 Billion muslims in the world co-existing quite happily in every corner of it as they have done for over a thousand years. You're so fixed on the idea that 'they are all bad' that you can't see the reality of the world in front of you.

Consider, even before the global catastrophe that is zionism, there were still Jewish communities living in Jerusalem one of the holiest places in Islam as they had done for centuries under islamic rule. So you have two possible reasons.

1. Muslims were so lazy about following those instructions you're so keen on that they didn't follow them through and 'cleanse' the region of jewish people and druze people etc.

2. Those religious instructions are perhaps related to extreme circumstances such as war and invasion (when pretty much every society changes its rules). Unsurprisingly, this is the standard explanation.

If you "learn" purely with the intention of proving your own pre-taught bigoted views then that isn't learning at all. You might as well sit there and google why black people are inferior to whites. It's time to grow up and use a bit more brain and a bit less 'the tv told me so'.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-V3BA8IkoZx4/VXSylCeapjI/AAAAAAAABik/JUH_dsaFWjs/s1600/dilbert%2Binternet%2Bguy.jpg

Re: Unlikely

I'll "bite" as I've read a bit about this recently. Yes Muslims are not allowed to keep dogs except as working dogs.

And 'fatwa' is closer in translation to 'educated religious opinion', rather than the common understanding. So eg whether or not a muslim fasting during Ramadan is allowed to use ear drops or eye drops would come under the approprite 'fatwa'.

Re: A few pointers

Even that comment is based on a level of general ignorance. Islam has been around for 1400 years. There's a rich history of dialogue and conversation. There are people who aren't muslim, living in muslim countries as they have done for over a thousand years.

The current narrative of 'muslim people kill everyone who doesn't agree with them' is medieval in it's origin.

And as for enlightenment, it was Muslim scientists that were at the forefront of the Rennaisance in Europe as experts in many modern disciplines will tell you.

A few pointers

1. This is actually a thing. As strange as it seems, this is actually something that has been done in the past as a form of psychological harm/punishment. So yes, oddly enough this does occur. Israeli agents active in the UK? Wouldn't doubt that for a second. And it's specific to shoes! For the record I'm the sort of person that never loses anything and if a shoe went missing then yep I could easily spend a day wondering how that was possible.

2. This guy is a well known 'agitant of the state'. From what I can tell, he's a massive thorn in the side of people like Theresa May and a well known protestor/activist for civil rights. He's bound to be under a serious level of monitoring given the current political climate as not only is he politically but obviously he's Muslim.

3. Is he paranoid? He pretty much has every reason to be paranoid because of the aforementioned reasons. They tap phones so his is probably tapped. They've used undercover agents to have long term relationships with potential enemies of the state and even have children with them so yes that's probably something he has to think about as well.

4. we have pretty much declared war on Islam in it's current form. (http://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/monograph_reports/2005/MR1716.pdf). And by us I mean UK as an extension of american foreign policy.

From a wider perspective, there's a lot of people in this country that hate muslims or hate brown people or hate immigrants or hate religion and blame them for their ills particularly if said group chooses to live in a different way or if the media representation of such a group is particularly derogatory. It's a dumb narrative as there's 1.6 billion muslims in the world from every walk of life and one thing that I certainly do agree with this guy on is the danger and idiocy of Islamophobia.

Twitter slips into the world of venture capital with barely a chirrup

Gosh. But I wonder where the money is...

I'm genuinely amazed. I had to look up if this is the same cyanogen of cyanogenmod fame that I installed on various previous phones and tablets over the last few years. Hats off to them to have come so far and reached this new playing field from just another homebrew custom mod, albeit a slightly more polished and less buggy one.

It really shows the difference between a nice piece of tech (the OS) and the people connections that it takes to e.g. get it installed by default on a whole new handset and then to get into the room to talk to people who can invest megabucks to make a viable financial proposition.

But I'm just wondering where's the money?

After a few links, I found the following (http://www.forbes.com/sites/miguelhelft/2015/03/23/meet-cyanogen-the-startup-that-wants-to-steal-android-from-google-2/):

"The deals will take many forms, from distribution to in-app purchase agreements to customized services for specific countries, says Vikram Natarajan, who runs business development for Cyanogen."

So to me this sounds like:

1. Pay us for the OS, we'll charge you less than google and people love it.

2. Pay us a cut for in-app purchases but less than you'll pay google.

3. hmm country services.

I can see money to be made from 1. but much less than 2 so maybe that's the business plan? Just sell it to mobile phone makers? Otherwise can't really see it making that much money.

Interested to hear other people's thoughts and predictions.

Saudi Arabia to flog man 1,000 times for insulting religion on Facebook

Re: To paraphrase the villan from Speed.

Nothing to do with oil and US hegemony then?

Or (choke) because Saddam had WMDs?

Really the American's are happy with a stable ruling body that they ultimately control that will maintain a regularly supply of oil. It's nothing to do with their 'brand' of Islam because a ruling elite wouldn't espouse something that challenged their stability. Islam specifies a 'Caliphate' from the people, never a 'Kingdom' which is why the Saudi's grip will fail eventually as soon as the west withdraws its support. IMHO.

Re: "right to freedom of expression"

Just a thought. There are still books, films and people that are banned from the UK.

One famous case was an Irish comedian (writer?) who Margaret Thatcher didn't approve of and so was banned for coming into the country based on what they might say.

Obviously I don't agree with the Saudi regime but it is more like a sliding scale and we're less censoring than they are rather than full on black vs white. Interested in people's responses on this and happy as always to be corrected (sorry I can't find details of the example mentioned).

Intel forced to shoot down viral 'Israeli boycott' whopper

The incursion and bombardment of Gaza is not about destroying Hamas. It is not about stopping rocket fire into Israel, it is not about achieving peace.

The Israeli decision to rain death and destruction on Gaza, to use lethal weapons of the modern battlefield on a largely defenseless civilian population, is the final phase in a decades-long campaign to ethnically-cleanse Palestinians.

Israel uses sophisticated attack jets and naval vessels to bomb densely-crowded refugee camps, schools, apartment blocks, mosques, and slums to attack a population that has no air force, no air defense, no navy, no heavy weapons, no artillery units, no mechanized armor, no command in control, no army… and calls it a war. It is not a war, it is murder.

When Israelis in the occupied territories now claim that they have to defend themselves, they are defending themselves in the sense that any military occupier has to defend itself against the population they are crushing. You can’t defend yourself when you’re militarily occupying someone else’s land. That’s not defence. Call it what you like, it’s not defence.

Sony Xperia Z2: What we REALLY thought of this Android fondleslab

Re: Great but poison for RSI sufferer

Hello there, I normally don't reply to forums but I was sorry to hear about your RSI. I struggled with terrible RSI about 10-13 years ago that was steadily and slowly worsening over the years. I tried many different methods and approaches in terms of long/regular breaks, stretching exercises, mixed sessions with voice typing, also Alexander techniques for posture and breathing and it made very little difference except temporary. I was medically advised to 'look for a career that didn't involve computers' - I was a programmer at the time! I seriously considered surgery even though the 'success' rates were decidedly modest. After much prayer (I'm muslim), I came across someone was a pianist who had gone through many of the same experiences that I could relate to and he recommended a book called "The Mindbody Prescription" by Dr John Sarno. A systematic set of techniques, considerations and (mental) tools that that have been hugely effective when it comes to any kind of persistent chronic pain (particularly back, shoulder, neck and wrist pain). I read it with an open mind, naturally extremely cynical but looking for something that would make a difference. I'm very, very, (VERY!) happy to say that following the outline in that book, I've now been totally RSI pain free for years and consider my condition completely resolved.

So there is light at the end of the tunnel!

The book is quite famous so you can even get a second hand copy from Amazon for next to nothing and given your comments, I really recommend it.

Best wishes.

~S