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by exasperation (#33350466) Attached to: Court Rules Against Stem Cell Policy

My main concern with it is that we avoid any slippery slopes that lead to the production of embryos specifically for research. Then we are talking about the farming and harvesting of humans for our own gain.

I don't really see the issue with that. We are talking blastocysts with several hundred cells at most.

A blastocyst is not a human being. There are no differentiated organs... and most importantly, there is no nervous system. How can you have a human being when there is no brain for a mind, and no organs?

It is not human life that is precious, it is human beings that are precious. Cancerous tumours cut out of people are human life, biologically speaking, yet they have no special value.

Now that's not to say the field is wholly without concern. There are certain ethical questions regarding the sourcing of the eggs and sperm for fertilization, since those have to come from human beings and "harvesting", especially of eggs, is problematic.

Comment: Well, it's not that unusual. (Score 5, Interesting) 745

by exasperation (#32246440) Attached to: US Supreme Court Upholds Indefinite Confinement

Canadian law, and I generally consider Canada to be a free society, has the possibility of indefinite detention if someone is found to be a dangerous offender, and likely to reoffend. It's not very often used, mostly in the most grievous murder and sexual assault cases.

Wikipedia has more information: Dangerous Offender

Comment: Re:So what? (Score 1) 1590

by exasperation (#32010842) Attached to: Arizona "Papers, Please" Law May Hit Tech Workers

At least in Canada, if you're stopped on the street, the only thing you are legally required to provide a police officer is your name. You are not obligated to carry or provide identification (though generally doing so is helpful), and you are most certainly not required to prove your citizenship on demand.

Any such law would impact citizens as well as non-citizens. I'm a Canadian citizen. If the police believe I'm not a citizen and stopped me, demanding proof... well, I don't have proof handy. I certainly don't carry my passport around with me when I'm in Toronto.

As for China? Well, it's a repressive hellhole. Their behaviour is not an excuse.

Comment: Re:...Or an arms race (Score 4, Insightful) 646

by exasperation (#31586958) Attached to: SSD Price Drops Signaling End of Spinning Media?

I think HDD will continue to stay enough ahead of SSD in raw capacity that it will stay relevant for a long time. When SSD is affordable at 200 GB then HDD will already be affordable at 2 TB, etc.

Ah, but when 200 GB of storage is $20, no hard drive will ever be able to be that cheap. There is a fixed minimum cost for building a hard drive. Spindle, motor, etc. It's about $70. When "enough storage" for the average user, let's say 200 GB costs less than that base cost, almost all new storage sold will be SSD devices due to their overall advantages, especially in a battery-powered machine (which are the majority of all computers sold today).

This will completely gut the market for hard drives and R&D into them will cease. All money will move to SSDs and they will improve even more rapidly.

Comment: Re:Alternative (Score 1) 727

by exasperation (#31468266) Attached to: Why Are Digital Hearing Aids So Expensive?

There's not really anything as "registered deaf" in Canada (nor as far as I know, the United States) since there's no organization or government body to... register with. And while yes, having a hearing loss or being deaf is something they legally cannot discriminate against and must make reasonable accommodations for, making it known drops your chances of getting employed by something like 90%, and even if they do hire you, they won't care enough to do anything for you... especially if it is a severe loss or total deafness. I speak from personal experience.

A few years ago, in my first year of college I applied for a job at a small pet store, part time. Retail, though I wouldn't be interacting with the customers very much, if ever, since I was to be unloading stock in the back and putting it on carts and maybe occasionally stocking shelves.

I got through the brief interview and so on well enough without telling my manager about the hearing loss (some residual hearing, a quiet environment, in-the-canal hearing aids and lip-reading sometimes make me able to pass as a hearing person). On the first day of the job next week, I tell my manager about the hearing loss, out of a mixture of concern for safety (though it wasn't a risky working environment) and simple practicality.

I was promptly "unhired". Company "image" and "difficulty for the customers" and "safety" concerns.

Not much avenue to follow up with it, being naive about working at the time I never got a copy of my employment contract. I never got paid for the day I did work, either.

I finally, through a friend, got another retail job, and while the store owner was understanding, both the night shift managers were not. I would get called over the PA and if one of my co-workers didn't point it out to me, about 20 minutes later the manager would come storming up to me, yelling at me "why didn't you...".

So yeah. Unless you're profoundly deaf, just fudge it. If they're not total assholes, they'll just forget so it won't actually help you, and if they are assholes you will get burned for it. Never give them anything; they will just use it against you.

Anything free is worth what you pay for it.