McCrea 's Techdirt Comments

Latest Comments (327)

• On the post: How The CIA's Torture Program Is Destroying The Key Foreign Power The US Had: The Moral High Ground

  

  McCrea ( profile ), 24 Dec, 2014 @ 08:22pm

  Increasingly difficult choices

  "Increasingly difficult choices" sounds like a massive understatement to me.
  
  Let's see, 9-11 happened, and we made some difficult choice to, for starters, torture and spy on everyone.
  
  So, we failed to make the right choices there, and yes, I'm quite willing to believe there will be future choices more difficult than how to respond to 9-11.

• On the post: Newly-Released Documents Show NSA Claiming An Email Address Is A 'Facility,' Skirting Probable Cause Requirements

  

  McCrea ( profile ), 17 Dec, 2014 @ 12:46am

  Re:

  Standard dictionaries are for laymen and linguists, not lawyers, not doctors, nor IT experts. https://www.ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=fiber (of course) does not mention a type of data medium.
  
  There's always been a difference between legal definitions and common language. We could argue that the continuing evolution of any industry's jargon is the footprint of progress. It's very hard to fight against. I'll theorize that those who argue semantics are often seen as argumentative rather than willing to make progress.
  
  I'm still explaining to people that the Internet is capitalized.
  
  Language will find a way.

• On the post: The Snowden Effect: 750 Million People Have Taken Steps to Avoid Surveillance

  

  McCrea ( profile ), 16 Dec, 2014 @ 11:57pm

  Re:

  If by "damage to this country" you mean "enlightenment in the world".

• On the post: DailyDirt: Advertising Needs To Be More Considerate

  

  McCrea ( profile ), 16 Dec, 2014 @ 11:05pm

  Re: Re: Re: Nazca lines

  Well, being an American, I have been raised to be ignorant and dismissive of "other cultures", as if any such things actually exist.
  
  I didn't know they were called Nazca Lines and would appreciate learning such a thing in the news... if only I had. I learned about this only by following Techdirt.
  
  My brain seriously does a little happy dance when American news reports anything not related to America. It definitely does not happen too often. I think our school children might take a moment of silence to appreciate the grace and fragility of the Nasca Lines (that could certainly be a better use of the time expressly given for saying the Pledge of Allegiance). Older students should look at Greenpeace's assinity and realize that virtually nobody ever respects someone's political message on someone else's apolitical work.

• On the post: DailyDirt: Getting Ahead Is Getting Harder

  

  McCrea ( profile ), 12 Dec, 2014 @ 02:51am

  Re:

  Right, I understand that a employer/customer to business relationship is a net loss at both ends due to you-name-it-tax. Even before vacuum taxes are considered, employees can never be paid more than the business earns and a business can never earn more than a customer can pay. It's lose-lose.

• On the post: DailyDirt: Getting Ahead Is Getting Harder

  

  McCrea ( profile ), 11 Dec, 2014 @ 09:00pm

  Keeping People Down is Easier.

  Is there a name for this following phenomenon?
  
  Poor people are hurt more and more often and wealthy people by reconnection fees.
  
  It only logical: Poor people are more likely to have service terminated due to failure to pay. A fixed dollar fee will be a greater percent of a poor person's wealth than that of a wealthier person.
  
  In my real life I was flabbergasted when I was charged $100 to reconnect my water, which I paid 45 minutes after it was shut off. Apparently I lost the notice.
  
  $100 is too much to turn a handle (in town).

• On the post: Why Requiring Social Networks To Monitor Posts To Spot Terrorists Will Make It Even Harder To Catch Them

  

  McCrea ( profile ), 05 Dec, 2014 @ 04:07pm

  Re:

  Job security, bro.

• On the post: AMC Forgets Time Zones Exist, Spoils Walking Dead Midseason Finale

  

  McCrea ( profile ), 05 Dec, 2014 @ 08:56am

  Re: Or do what I do

  Both watching TV and reading books are passive mental engagement. If you want to train an active brain, find more active pastimes.
  
  Posting on a forum is much more stimulating.

• On the post: EU Parliament Wants To Break Up Google… Because It's Big & American Or Something

  

  McCrea ( profile ), 22 Nov, 2014 @ 04:41am

  unbundling various other services from the search engine

  "unbundling various other services from the search engine," and I presume from each other.
  
  Yes, nobody likes having to have a G+ account in order to comment on YouTube. I understand that hate.

• On the post: Bill Aimed At Shutting Off NSA's Water Starts Moving Forward Again

  

  McCrea ( profile ), 21 Nov, 2014 @ 03:43am

  Sad that we have to play these reindeer games.
  
  ...Sorry, I'm near Buffalo.

• On the post: Middle School Principal Suspended Over Unannounced School Shooter Drill

  

  McCrea ( profile ), 20 Nov, 2014 @ 11:21am

  Re: Re: Re:

  I said it was nonsense. ("such drills ... are nonsensical to me.") Why are you yelling at me as if I don't understand it's not combat when that paragraph explains why they should not be treating the children in this manner?

• On the post: Middle School Principal Suspended Over Unannounced School Shooter Drill

  

  McCrea ( profile ), 20 Nov, 2014 @ 12:07am

  Re: School Shootings In The US Are NOT Incredibly Rare

  Anything pragmatic that can be derived from that fact?

• On the post: Middle School Principal Suspended Over Unannounced School Shooter Drill

  

  McCrea ( profile ), 19 Nov, 2014 @ 10:55pm

  They're still oblivious to how actual training works, for some reason. They give that "how you perform in a training is how you will respond in real life" to justify the intensity of the exercise. Protip: That is *after* you have been trained. That is more accurately described as a test, not training.
  
  Let's try an example. Say a police cadet must respond to an armed target. The target, only 15 meters away, will pop up. The target may or may not be armed, and the cadet has 10 seconds to evaluate the threat, and if armed, draw his weapon, fire and shoot the target. If he fails, the target will shoot and kill the cadet. For a gimme, the cadet is not penalized if he shoots an unarmed target.
  
  The chief can do this quite well. Always seems to down appropriate targets within 2 seconds. Rookies who have recently graduated from the academy seem to do well enough. There is almost never a mis-identification, and about the only time it takes more than 5 seconds is when there is a misfire, or other unlikely situation like dropping the pistol as it catches on a belt buckle.
  
  But the cadets? some do okay. Enough die, however.
  
  Why? Because they haven't been trained. As suggested, this is a practice situation, not a training situation. Many of these recruits have never fired a pistol before. None of these recruits have been trained before.
  
  I did not train them on how to prepare their weapon before hand. I did not tell them in training whether their pieces should be loaded before hand or not. (Protip: they should be loaded for this scenario). I didn't not train them what discerning markings or features to look for in order to evaluate whether the target is armed or not. I didn't train them how to unbuckle their holster. I didn't train them to know where the safety is. I didn't train them how to aim. I didn't train them to hold the pistol parallel to the horizon -- nor any other method. I didn't train them to put a round in the chamber. I didn't train them to ensure their fingers are clear of the slide so that they don't lose any digits when the slide slams back. I didn't train them how to fire a second shot.
  
  Now, I cannot imagine anyone saying that training someone how to take the safety off has to be performed under the stress of almost real engagement. Yes, the cadet will eventually reach the point where he must successful test under stress, but the journey from complete ignorance to fully trained (a.k.a. ready to be tested) is a progression of training.
  
  This scenario of mine is not training. This is a test. You need to be trained before you can practice this test.
  
  Those that die in this scenario prove that this was not training. After all, they are not trained; they are dead.
  
  Those students? Are they trained now, or are they traumatized? The School Shooter Drill was a test, it was not training.
  
  *IF* such training for school student were to ever be implemented, it has to be by degrees. Perhaps *training* once a month for 8 months, then you can run your full *test* in the 9th month as a graduation send off.
  
  But such drills under as real circumstances as possible are nonsensical to me. The kids are arguable being terrorized. You know, the terrorist only win if we live in fear. You are making the children live in fear by doing this training. You are the terrorist.
  
  But if we are going to talk about this, please dismiss this myth -- this misnomer -- that "training must be done under real-life circumstances." No, training is something different entirely. Training is what you do so that you act appropriately when tested. Training is what you do BEFORE the test.
  
  Training would ideally also decrease the amount of traumatizing stress a participator absorbs. The stress of real life combat situations, unfortunately, cannot be trained for. Simulating real life combat situations will always have the chance to mentally scar people.

• On the post: Article Quoting Norwegian Mass Murderer Anders Breivik's Manifesto Gets Caught In Right-To-Be-Forgotten Memory Hole

  

  McCrea ( profile ), 19 Nov, 2014 @ 08:46am

  Re:

  ... right to be removed from Google search index.

• On the post: Cops Decide Running Surprise School Shooter Drill During Class At A Middle School Is A Great Idea

  

  McCrea ( profile ), 19 Nov, 2014 @ 08:09am

  Re:

  Watch a movie? Having a real-life re-enactment where the children can actually be volunteers in the Hunger Games would be a far more appropriate reward, not to mention further ensuring the children's on-going safety.

• On the post: DailyDirt: Life Is Complicated

  

  McCrea ( profile ), 17 Nov, 2014 @ 08:11pm

  The classic question of "which came first: the chicken or the egg?" is not that easy to answer.

  
  
  Actually, one of my first philosophical lessons was that that is one of the easiest paradoxes.

• On the post: NY Times Urges News Sites To Embrace HTTPS/SSL… In An Article That Can't Be Read Via HTTPS

  

  McCrea ( profile ), 14 Nov, 2014 @ 05:49pm

  Re: Americans Say They Want Privacy, but Act as if They Don’t

  Most of the fellow Americans I know say we'll never have privacy.

• On the post: Justice Department Admits It Lied To Appeals Court Concerning Companies' Ability To Talk About National Security Letters

  

  McCrea ( profile ), 14 Nov, 2014 @ 01:02pm

  Re: Re: prosecution bait

  Shit! I've received precisely 0-249 NSLs this year, too!

• On the post: Redskins Decide That Suing Offended Native Americans Should Really Help Their Case

  

  McCrea ( profile ), 11 Nov, 2014 @ 05:08pm

  Re: Re: Seriously...?

  Which will certainly be confused with Cracker Barrel.

• On the post: Veteran Police Officer Defends Law Enforcement's Use Of Military Vehicles Using Condescension And Baseless Claims

  

  McCrea ( profile ), 10 Nov, 2014 @ 07:07am

  Re:

  But he did say terrorism.

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