Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's true for countries in which russia directly meddles. Countries that thrown off the yoke, like Czechia or Poland have one of the lowest crime rates in the world.
You might be correct now. They are probably correct about the 90s or early 2000s. Then again crime rates in Belarus for instance don't seem to be much higher than in Poland or Lithuania.
Steve Wozniak used to tip from printed sheets of $2 bills
531–540 of 553 posts
Re: Steve Wozniak used to tip from printed sheets of $2 bills
#532Earlier quoted context omitted.
And people jaywalk all the time. Can we stop being so obtuse and only look at the letter of the law and think about the actual practical real-life consequence as a measure of severity? This was a joke, and no harm was done. Are you really advocating for a felony offence here? This is the same line of thinking, just reversed, that people use to say "well it's not illegal" when someone does something super shitty that…
Jokes are dangerous. There is a fine line between jokes, wasting an officer's time, and outright obstruction. I wouldnt want to risk my joke landing flat and an angry officer deciding to make me an example.
In your scenario, would you actually be ok or understanding if the "angry officer" made an example of you for this harmless joke? Or would you maybe protest that it was a bit disproportionate or unnecessary?
And finally, hearing people say "jokes are dangerous" in a serious manner makes me very sad for our society. The level of unconscious mass conformism seems to be growing fast, and historically that never leads to good outcomes.
Re: Steve Wozniak used to tip from printed sheets of $2 bills
#533Earlier quoted context omitted.
Without a doubt, it is servitude, but I feel it downplays the plight of servicemen like yourself to roll it up into that "of country". The expended lives towards obtuse ends is far more tragic than that of something noble like life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. I wish you luck on your tour, wherever it is.
Do you think the soldiers should see themselves as capitalists in it for themselves?
Re: Steve Wozniak used to tip from printed sheets of $2 bills
#534Earlier quoted context omitted.
Maybe this struck a nerve because I'm an American born-and-raised PoC, but frankly I believe this is a bad opinion that is often pushed by racists (even if the idea itself isn't necessarily inherently racist). Heightened social trust in people of one's own ethnicity isn't a fact of life, it's just racism. It's what causes PoC to be profiled by law enforcement, on average have worse outcomes for the same crimes in the…
How many of those colorblind people (of the ones who are married), and married outside their race and/or religion?
Re: Steve Wozniak used to tip from printed sheets of $2 bills
#535Earlier quoted context omitted.
No deep inferrence needed. The entire discussion with the security guy is about toying with him, eventually he tricks the guy, "scores a point" and is ever so pleased at himself: > But I had got a big point on him and I was quite satisfied in that Like, I can sort of understand the humor value of giving away $2 bills as a tip since they're rare and some people don't know about it. But there is literally no value in b…
"Baiting" the security guy has only as much weight as his unnecessary investigation. They knew the bills were fine but he came to investigate anyway and he didn't just ask "Hey, how'd ya get those bills?" but tried to be sneaky. He was also salaried and got paid for the interaction so he wasn't a victim in the slightest, except perhaps to his ego. The nasty act here, and possibly criminal, was the security guy callin…
Yes, trying to hurt somebody's ego would indeed be a pretty good example of humiliating them.
Look, if you think that the bound booklet of $2 bills is a fun gag, there's a humane and lighthearted way to do it. You use the bills as described, but if somebody seems even a bit uncomfortable with them you volunteer an explanation for what's going on. That way they actually have a cool story to tell. And the joke's on you, not them.
But that is not what Woz did. He intentionally made himself as suspicious as possible, in multiple ways, just to try to force people to investigate. It was all about showing his superiority over this sad loser working a 10-hour shift in a suit, who thought he knew a thing or two about counterfeit money. Well, he wasn't all that, and Woz sure showed him who the smartest guy in the room was.
> Thankfully, if these people go unchallenged then when they go off it's on a random unsuspecting person. He's prepared and can take it in stride.
No unsuspecting person would have this interaction in the first place. They would not have gone through the trouble of arranging for legit money to look counterfeit. That is not what normal people do. They would not have a script to follow to string people along, and carefully consider just what the optimal level of dodgy behavior would be. They would not waste others' time for their own amusement. Because that's not what people with even a pinch of empathy would do.
Put yourself into some work situation. I don't know, maybe you're a engineer given this is HN. And you get this bug report from a customer. It's really well written, has a screenshot showing the issue, and includes reproduction steps. You try to reproduce it, and can't. So you ask some questions from a customer, iterate a few times, add some logging statements and ask them to reproduce the problem. etc. And then finally the customer smugly says that there never was a bug. They photoshopped the screenshot, and made everything up. If you'd actually known how this program works, you'd have known that this bug could never exist. It's a hilarious gag, what a prankster! And you were paid for this work, no harm done, right?
No. Fuck that. I would be furious at having my time wasted like that. And this is what Woz did. Not just once, but probably dozens of times. That's just outright sociopathic behavior, and I cannot believe how many people here are defending it just because he is a member of your tribe.
Re: Steve Wozniak used to tip from printed sheets of $2 bills
#536Earlier quoted context omitted.
As little as a birth certificate? You can still cross EU borders with just a driving licence, or government issued ID where they have them. (In practice the vast majority using planes and boats at least probably do take a passport, I always did from the UK, but in theory you don't need one, so if you weren't planning to go elsewhere you wouldn't even need to get a passport.)
> As little as a birth certificate? Lost in translation I think. You could cross the border to Canada with just your state issued ID/drivers license as well back then. What OP is saying is that it was even more lax than that. OP brought a piece of paper that is trivially forged, no photo on it, that basically just said in writing who they were with no additional ID needed.
> Lost in translation I think.
Yeah, perhaps. My surprise I suppose is because to me a birth certificate is something somewhat safely tucked away somewhere, extremely rarely required; frankly I don't know how much of a problem it would be to lose and try to replace (maybe not replacing it but fraud would be your greater concern?) but certainly not something generally carried around with you here. (At least, I'd be surprised to learn that's just me?)
Re: Steve Wozniak used to tip from printed sheets of $2 bills
#537Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think that's what he means too. Other people are talking about sacrifice. It's a job, like any other job. People do it because they want to get paid and military worship is ridiculous.
Serving in the military is different from other jobs as soldiers may be sent to dangerous situations where there is a risk of death. Although many Americans believe the decisions made by politicians that put military personnel in harm's way have not been good, this does not take away from the bravery of those who voluntarily choose to serve their country.
They need a job and being a soldier is a job. A glorified one where words like bravery and valor are thrown around in the US to make people accept risking their life in a noble way.
And I realize that some people will actually be driven by these ideals and there are things like military families where this tradition is actually strong and it gives them purpose but for the average soldier, they just needed a job and the propaganda worked.
Re: Steve Wozniak used to tip from printed sheets of $2 bills
#538Earlier quoted context omitted.
Your comment is rather offensive. Stolen valor is a crime. Wearing a band t-shirt while not listening to the band is not. Military members risk their lives for others. People that do this get respect, be it a Dr, Military, Police, etc.
> Stolen valor is a crime. A civilian wearing an army T-shirt is not “stolen valor” in the sense that stolen valor is a crime, so this is, at best, equivocation. While I believe (but I don’t feel like checking the UCMJ) there is a much more extensive crime (or set of crimes) relating to stolen valor within the military, the crime of stolen valor that it is possible for a civilian to commit consists of, and (outside o…
Wearing a band shirt and an army shirt are not comparable at all. The default thought when someone sees someone wearing a military shirt is “oh they were in the military”. The thought when wearing a band shirt certainly wasn’t “oh they must be in the who”.
Re: Steve Wozniak used to tip from printed sheets of $2 bills
#539Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Not everyone in the military is noble, or serving their country. Any more than any other federal employee. I stopped reading here. Every military member swore an oath. They have no choice of duty, but they still swore the same oath to die for their country. Anybody attempting to minimize their sacrifices should remember things like Pearl Harbor, which killed all indiscriminately. And remember that desks fit in tent…
Stripped down, this is an appeal to emotion. It feels good and honorable to say, just like defending a member of your family. That is a goal of the mythology, and it works! It's a hell of a drug. I don't intend to criticize the military -- combat or non. But the psychology of it is fascinating.
This seems like a psychological issue with some demanding they have given just as much, and are just as important, yet are too scared to pay the ultimate price.
Or how about the psychological issue that results in hatred towards the military? That one I witnessed personally and I find very interesting.
Re: Steve Wozniak used to tip from printed sheets of $2 bills
#540Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not a lawyer either, but this doesn't appear to statutorily require intent. This is the relevant law[1]. I think the easiest way to prosecute this would be under the "authentication features" section: (1) the term “authentication feature” means any hologram, watermark, certification, symbol, code, image, sequence of numbers or letters, or other feature that either individually or in combination with another feature i…
If Sara was 12 when this happened then this occurred around 1998 or so. At that time the "authentication features" provisions of the law didn't exist, as they were added in 2003. (See the "Notes" tab in your link).