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I guess it helps to understand the origin of imprisonment was as an alternative to corporeal punishment.
In the old times punishment was immediate and corporeal to act as a discouragement and deter people from doing crimes, on the basis that if you got caught you ended up flogged or in the pillory. (or worse)
In those times prisons were only used as storage for rich people that either were in debt or that they tried to get a ransom for.
It was during the enlightenment that the idea of corporeal punishment being inhuman took root. And the idea of an alternative was to give criminals time to consider their crimes in solitude with god would create better citizens.
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That idea has failed to manifest in real life.
Especially today. In the old days of corporal punishment, when you had taken it, you had paid you dues to society, and you were entitled to be treated as a man that had no social debt. I guess there are many cases where is wasn't perfectly so, but in today's society it becomes stronger every year that any sentence will follow you for the rest of your life, no matter how much you have paid for it by years in prison. Your neighbourhood demands to know what you did wrong as a teenager and take their precautions against you. Potential employers demand to know everything about your past. Meetooers want to ruin the rest for your life for 35 years ago having looked at a girl in a way they do not approve of today. An increasing number of criminals receive the maximum sentence that the law allows, but in addition, they are to be kept "in custody" for another number of years "to protect society against them". Formally, it isn't a prison sentence, yet "in custody" means "in a prison cell", and it is unbound: You know when your prison sentence ends, but when the period of custody ends, it may be reconsidered and extended for as long as the court pleases. It isn't a prison sentence, so it isn't limited by the laws. You are just put into a prison cell to protect society against you...
I think this is the ultimate proof that a sentence to prison is no sort of cure whatsoever for criminal inclinations.
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Sander Rossel wrote: Is this a free country or what!?
Of course it is (according to the normal definition of "free"). However, you still have strict rules (as do most countries) that most of us accept as necessary for the benefit of all. For example, there are rules regarding driving on a particular side of the road. They clearly limit the freedom of people who wish to drive on the other side, perhaps simply to get past a long queue that inconveniences them. Not many people would argue that those rules are unreasonable.
My point is that some rules are necessary and acceptable even if they sometimes seem arbitrary and restrictive. There will always be some measure of disagreement about where the line should be drawn between total freedom and necessary restriction. We need to be careful about claiming that some are just wrong because they don't meet our judgement about where the line should be drawn.
Phil
The opinions expressed in this post are not necessarily those of the author, especially if you find them impolite, inaccurate or inflammatory.
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Yeah, I'm not attacking having rules, but telling people they cannot go outside and giving them such ridiculous fines crosses a line.
Urging people to stay inside, fine.
Urging people not to visit friends and relatives, fine.
Bugging people about why they're outside when they're outside and urging them to go home, still fine.
Trespassing a private residence and giving out fines because a car is parked out front and you can see visitors through the window, crossing a line.
Giving out fines that people have to work months for to pay because they're cutting someone's hair who has agreed to that, crossing a line.
Allowing people to live together, but then giving them a fine when they go outside together, not only ridiculous, but also crossing a line.
Giving people a criminal record for being outside or visiting relatives, crossing that line like there is none!
It may be difficult to draw the line, but our government is certainly crossing it and we can only wonder if it's still for "the greater good".
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Ah simulations - like climate change. Let's take a very complex situation, put it on the internet, and further stampede the masses.
I recommend this: NUKEMAP by Alex Wellerstein[^]
Charlie Gilley
<italic>Stuck in a dysfunctional matrix from which I must escape...
"Where liberty dwells, there is my country." B. Franklin, 1783
“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” BF, 1759
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Smoking Meth and posting bible verses on Facebook does not make you a Methodist!
When you talk, you are only repeating what you already know.
But if you listen, you may learn something new.
--Dalai Lama
JaxCoder.com
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... jutht methed up?
Software rusts. Simon Stephenson, ca 1994. So does this signature. me, 2012
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Be nasty to a woman, defending it with bible verses, could make her a Metoodist.
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... it's old, but so appropriate: Social distance bar fight[^]
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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Never seen that before but it is hilarious, thanks for pointing it out.
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Read the title, saw the link to YouTube, went in expecting to see a Shatner fight scene...
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"Relevance is not Relevant"
Ravings en masse^ |
---|
"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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is this where I can disagree?
pestilence [ pes-tl-uh ns ] noun
1. a deadly or virulent epidemic disease. especially bubonic plague.
2. something that is considered harmful, destructive, or evil.
Synonyms: pest, plague, CCP
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Oh I'm sorry, is this a five minute disagreement, or the full half hour?
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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Quite a revaluation!
When you talk, you are only repeating what you already know.
But if you listen, you may learn something new.
--Dalai Lama
JaxCoder.com
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She hasn't realized what I've done yet, but the thyme is cumin.
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Drop her a card - a mom appreciates the warning. But you're a sage bloke, sesame - you'll know that already.
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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Or as Dylan would say..."The Thymes they are a changin"
When you talk, you are only repeating what you already know.
But if you listen, you may learn something new.
--Dalai Lama
JaxCoder.com
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I fell too often for that; it's hard to see if someone salted your sugar.
Salty coffee in the morning. Salty whipped cream once.
Bastard Programmer from Hell
If you can't read my code, try converting it here[^]
"If you just follow the bacon Eddy, wherever it leads you, then you won't have to think about politics." -- Some Bell.
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Wow.
I would never have mustard the curryage...
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Hah! I did that three weeks ago[^]!
Anything that is unrelated to elephants is irrelephant Anonymous
- The problem with quotes on the internet is that you can never tell if they're genuine Winston Churchill, 1944
- Never argue with a fool. Onlookers may not be able to tell the difference. Mark Twain
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Yeah but you did it to your wife's spice rack and he did it to his mother's.
I'm retired. There's a nap for that...
- Harvey
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Stolen.
[Edit]
By me I mean, for future use...
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OK, so Windows Live Mail - my previous email app - is eight years old (and written by MS as a "cut-down" version of Outlook Express, remember - it's important) and Outlook 2019 is shiny, new, and obviously much, much better.
So ... while you are editing a message, why don't the CTRL+LEFT, CTRL+RIGHT keys do anything? In Live mail, and Word, (and notepad, and Chrome, and Edge, and ....) they move "One word Left" and "One word Right" which is really handy when your typing error rate is as poor as mine currently is ...
And not to be outdone, Outlook has an "Open in Browser" option for emails it's mangled beyond redemption by eliminating images (not that that's a problem, but sometimes you need to say "sod the security" and load images to make sense of what some companies are saying). Many apps do this: and they fall into two classes:
1) Apps which use the system default browser to open the new page.
2) Apps which always deliberately open Edge to view the new page.
And while (2) is annoying (and only some MS apps do this, not all are as rude) Outlook falls into neither category. Why not? Because it forces open IE11 even if you didn't know it was installed on your PC.
Come on MS, get your damn act together. Is it really necessary to roll your own text editor for every separate application? Do you really have to force us to use something your own company abandoned five years ago?
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
modified 17-May-20 2:55am.
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It seems after all open source software not that bad...
"The only place where Success comes before Work is in the dictionary." Vidal Sassoon, 1928 - 2012
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