Slashdot Mirror

Pharma conspiracy nutters. Heroin has never been prescribed, nor has marijuana.

You might be correct, but only because prescriptions weren't required for them at the time. I should point you to this article. I has some interesting pictures of ads for heroin, mostly for children. I'm not sure if I should be typing "Heroin (R)" since it was a registered Bayer trademark, but they've let it lapse, plus the term has become a generic, so I don't think I need to.

Our regular-speed rail is subsidized, but the closest thing we have to high speed rail, Amtrak's Acela Express, made a profit of about $41 per passenger in 2008.

The experience in other countries is the same. High speed rail subsidizes slower intercity lines.

Only Taiwan continued to lose money on HSR after their line became operational. But since then they refinanced the debt and the line is now making a profit.

Microsoft's CEO has sworn to "fucking kill Google", saying "I've done it before and I can do it again." He's spending several billion dollars a year on that effort, historically more than $16 Billion if you include aQuantive. He's spending several billion dollars a year on the Google-bashing campaign. It's not like Microsoft is some random developer here innocently trying to get their app to work.

You're wrong, see Hold Brothers and the stock of SPDR BofA ML Crossover Corp Bond ETF for examples.

Well, it got you talking about him, his name on the tip of your tongue and in the mouths of those nationwide

Yes, people are talking about him. Negatively. So?

The publicity from his first scandal caused him to resign form the Congress seat he had already won.

The publicity from his second scandal is doing a fine job of killing his bid to be the NYC mayor.

The publicity is always about his sexual habits. Not about how good a leader/person he is, his achievements or qualifications, his contributions to society etc. None of that matters. And it gives his opponents a free shot at him that he can't dodge.

The fact that he resigned in 2011 and kept a low profile for a year I'm sure was because he hoped the publicity would die down and be forgotten. All in all, I'm pretty sure he'd rather not have to deal with this '"good" publicity.

As QWest found out the hard way, if you don't cooperate with NSA, you don't get government contracts.

Here is the background to the story.

Among the big telecommunications companies, only Qwest has refused to help the NSA, the sources said. According to multiple sources, Qwest declined to participate because it was uneasy about the legal implications of handing over customer information to the government without warrants.

Qwest's refusal to participate has left the NSA with a hole in its database.

The NSA, which needed Qwest's participation to completely cover the country, pushed back hard.

Trying to put pressure on Qwest, NSA representatives pointedly told Qwest that it was the lone holdout among the big telecommunications companies. It also tried appealing to Qwest's patriotic side: In one meeting, an NSA representative suggested that Qwest's refusal to contribute to the database could compromise national security, one person recalled.

In addition, the agency suggested that Qwest's foot-dragging might affect its ability to get future classified work with the government. Like other big telecommunications companies, Qwest already had classified contracts and hoped to get more.

So, MS gets lucrative government contracts. What does that say?

These service providers should be replying to the Government with "Hello no, bitches. Read the damn Constitution of the United States of America."

Your sentiment is admirable, but lets not be naive. Former Qwest CEO Joseph Nacchio fought back against the government, just as you said. He is now jailed for six years.

Former Qwest CEO Joseph Nacchio is currently serving a six-year sentence after being convicted of insider trading in April 2007 for selling $52 million of stock in the spring of 2001 as the telecommunications carrier appeared to be deteriorating.

During the trial his defense team argued that Nacchio, 63, believed Qwest was about to win secret government contracts that would keep it in the black.

Nacchio alleged that the government stopped offering the company lucrative contracts after Qwest refused to cooperate with a National Security Agency surveillance program in February 2001.

Before someone makes the asinine argument that he was convicted of "insider trading", take note that he would be in the clear today if he had played ball, and the government awarded Qwest the contracts.

My point is, resistance has a heavy price. I don't think we should be so eager to demand that others become martyrs when it is clear we are willing to do so little to protect them. As evidence, I point to how little is being done for Snowden today.

Also - who whips out a camera during a meeting unless it's already established that's what he's supposed to do?

From http://www.businessinsider.com/leaked-audio-listen-to-aol-ceo-tim-armstrong-fire-a-patch-employee-snapping-a-photo-2013-8:

We hear that Lenz, based in New York, would always take pictures of people talking on company-wide conference calls so that he could post them on Patch's internal news site.

From http://www.businessinsider.com/leaked-audio-listen-to-aol-ceo-tim-armstrong-fire-a-patch-employee-snapping-a-photo-2013-8 :

We hear that Lenz, based in New York, would always take pictures of people talking on company-wide conference calls so that he could post them on Patch's internal news site.

And since almost 100% of their funding comes from Google anyway, I can't help but thinking this is a joint project, or at least carried out with Google's full approval.

About 85%, and that's from a standard commercial arrangement - eg a fee for a service. It bought Google the default search engine spot, but nothing else.

Microsoft had the opportunity to buy the spot for Bing, but chose not to.

http://www.businessinsider.com/why-did-microsoft-let-google-win-the-firefox-deal-2011-12

I'm throwing as fast as I can!

Get these MUTHERFUCKING RACOONS OFF MY MUTHERFUCKING SPACESTATION!


Lameness filter encountered. Post aborted! Filter error: Don't use so many caps. It's like YELLING.
ahhhh, slashdot...

Aside from base assumptions, what makes you believe that Snowden entered employment with the NSA with the intent to release data he was exposed to?

Because he said that.

Snowden to newspaper: I took contractor job to gather evidence

Also, what gives you the impression that he has an interest backing him

He did manage to steal an enormous amount of wide ranging data in only 90 days of employment, don't you think?

Who Helped Snowden Steal State Secrets?

In my opinion, the fact that the US gov't has hunted him so furiously and has taken the exact opposite approach that they mandate regarding any other nation's political refugees ...

He isn't a political refuge. He stole national defense secrets and has revealed a few of them. Nobody really knows what he is doing with the rest of them.

Charles Moore: Snowden is a traitor - The beneficiaries of his betrayal are not civil liberties, but those who wish to embarrass us.

Snowden leaks give edge to U.S. rivals, officials say - Russia, China and terrorism suspects have altered how they communicate to evade U.S. detection, current and former U.S. intelligence officials say.

Snowden’s Nuclear War on Intelligence

Geoffrey Ingersoll: It's Now Clear That Russian Intelligence Speaks For Edward Snowden

You say that as if momentum were bad! Compare. Microsoft has been raking in at least a billion in profit per year, year, for 15 years. Apple, meanwhile, for about last 5. Do you see any of Apple's current products that wedged so deep into every business process out there that they will almost surely still be profiting $1BN / year a decade from now, as Microsoft has ALREADY done? I don't. Apple is never more than about 2 bum product releases away from losing money. Microsoft has already done that many times over :)

It was a gun owners advocacy group.

It's not anymore. http://www.businessinsider.com/gun-industry-funds-nra-2013-1

The NRA does what it can to keep interest up in its members. I'm sure it does what it can to increase gun ownership to pick up new members. It also, very much, wants to make sure that more guns are sold. My basis for these last few statements are the change of heart they had regarding background checks, their reactions to shootings that make national news, and the people I know who belong to the organization.

If only there were some options other than nuclear fission and burning brown coal in an open pit!

Oh, wait, there are.

Here in reality, decentralized heterogenous power production would be inherently better for human culture and society, since it has less tendency to create economic disparities large enough to engender wholesale regulatory capture or militarization of power production, has fewer military vulnerabilities, and employs more working people gainfully (instead of funneling money to banksters), and would potentially allow a less expensive grid to carry more total power.

Solar, wind, hydro, and most importantly carbon-neutral biomass energy plants spotted all over the country on a true "smart grid" is the way to go. Solve dozens of social and economic problems while eliminating the pollution caused by burning petroleum.

Incidentally, I'm not the first to figure this out. Nikola Tesla talked about the idiocy of burning limited resources in 1915, before we compounded the problem by building terrestrial fission plants.

Sounds like some company is trying to toot their own horn here or something, but AI didn't out J.K. Rowling. Her lawyers friend did. http://www.businessinsider.com/russells-apologizes-to-jk-rowling-2013-7

This is a privacy related story on Slashdot. Facts have as much of a place here as in a Microsoft story.

Although Slashdot does hate lawyers, so maybe you can get some traction with this ...

Sounds like some company is trying to toot their own horn here or something, but AI didn't out J.K. Rowling. Her lawyers friend did. http://www.businessinsider.com/russells-apologizes-to-jk-rowling-2013-7

I know that bashing Fox News is a popular opinion. But of the mainstream papers, websites, and news TV stations, it's actually rather moderate.

"Moderate"? Compared to what? There is almost endless evidence that Fox News intentionally presents a staunchly conservative viewpoint and they have an audience to match. It's not even a meaningful debate at this point.

You're just as likely to find a liberal view on a panel segment as you are a conservative one.

Just because they invite some token liberals on to some of the shows doesn't mean their coverage is remotely balanced. Fox News is basically a mouthpiece for the republican party. Name one talking head (ala Sean Hannity or Rachel Maddow) on Fox News who is a clear liberal. Go ahead, I'll wait...

Fox News gets its ratings because there are enough liberals and moderates to attract a broad audience.

The audience of Fox News contains a minority of moderates and VERY few liberals. 94% of Fox News viewers self identify as republican or republican leaning. In what universe is that a "broad audience"?

Look at who is buying newspapers now. Extreme right and left wing political donators.

Really? Warren Buffet is an "extreme" political donator?

Nobody cares enough about Africa to listen in on them. The only thing Africa has is resources, and China already is buying them. Is the infrastructure subject to surveillance? Sure, but every infrastructure is, even heterogeneous ones like the US.

So, nothing to see in Africa? Just move along? I don't think so.

Just like Europe, South America, and Asia, Africa is an entire continent of nations, some of which have drawn considerable attention in the last couple of years. I assume you've heard of Libya? Egypt? Algeria? South Africa? There is a lot going on in Africa, and the Chinese are heavily involved. There are plenty of things they might want to listen to.

Africa has more mobile phone users than the U.S. or E.U.
How mobile phones are making cash obsolete in Africa
European Rocket Launches 2 African Satellites

China and Africa: What the U.S. doesn't understand

Seven out of the world's 10 fastest growing economies are African. According to a 2010 report by consulting firm McKinsey & Company, the rate of return on foreign investments in Africa was, in the first decade of this century, higher than in any other region. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) projected that Africa is now growing faster than Asia.

Sino-African trade volumes have grown accordingly. Negligible in 2000, trade hit $198.5 billion in 2012. By comparison, U.S.-Africa trade volume was $108.9 billon, and is slated to fall further behind: Research from Standard Chartered estimates that trade between China and Africa will hit $385 billion by 2015

MAP: Here Are All Of The Big Chinese Investments In Africa Since 2010
China’s Increasing Interest in Africa: Benign but Hardly Altruistic

South Africa Could Have a Spaceport

The Republic of South Africa has considered using Israel's Shavit space booster to send a satellite to orbit. The South Africans have tested the Israeli Jericho 2 intermediate-range ballistic missile which converts to the Shavit space rocket.

International Effort Seeks to Counter Jihadists in Africa

China To Establish A Naval Base Around Somalia

As the threat of piracy continues. And as Somali pirates continue with their awkward trade to kidnap foreign ships, a Chinese Admiral has revealed China’s proposal to establish a naval base in the region in its commitment to thwart piracy and finally end this tragedy in the gulf of Eden. The lazy pirates who have no intentions to pursue an education or employment see piracy as an easy way to make money. About 75% of piracy in the region is being masterminded by terror groups to finance their illegal activities.

Rear Admiral Yin Zhou’s, a senior Chinese naval officer has suggested that China will establish a permanent base in the Gulf of Aden to aid its anti-piracy operations. The proposal was posted on China’s Defence ministry website. The Admiral went on to say that supplying and maintaining the fleet off Somalia was challenging without such a base, and said other nations were unlikely to object. The Chinese navy curr

Did this great system tell them that the Boston Marathon was going to be bombed? No, it didn't. It should have, after all, that was what it is for. But it and the NSA have failed miserably.

So they should just stop trying? There is no doubt such a system is an effective intelligence tool or they would not use it and no one would even be afraid of it. A single failure does not justify scrapping what is otherwise a very effective system. Even if they're only telling the truth about 10% of the threats they claim to have thwarted, that's 30 terror plots that would have otherwise been successful. And perhaps even more to the point, it surely slows down the development of a plot when those involved must go to such great lengths to avoid detection.

Because right now it's being abused.

According to whom? Snowden? What evidence has he presented? He has exposed the existence and some portion of the nature of these programs, but I have yet to see a shred of evidence that it is being abused in any systematic way - or even by any individuals. He has made various claims about what he could have done, but does that mean he could have done it and gotten away with it? No. There are surely abuses of every such system and oversight is necessary, but claiming that it is being abused without evidence sounds a lot like what Daryl Issa is trying to do. Which brings me to...

And if you don't believe that, remember that the IRS targeted "by accident" various political groups recently.

You're kidding right? Read this or this or this and any number of other reports about the fact that the IRS targeted any group claiming tax-exempt status in the months leading up to the election. The whole "keyword" fracas turned out to be a wash as they targeted just as many if not more progressive groups as tea party groups. Moreover, there is absolutely no evidence that anyone in Washington had anything to do with the Cincinnati office and their unfortunate use of keywords in group names to filter the thousands of PACs requesting exemptions. Why do you think no one cares anymore but Fox? And even they dont talk much about it anymore. The GOP in general has disavowed it and not even the leadership thinks that dog will hunt.

This database, as it stands now, is only being used for abuse, and/or for monetary/political gains by people with access to it.

Where exactly are you getting this ridiculous nonsense? The Weekly World News? The Enquirer? Oh, must be Newsmax. Did you see the one about Obama being an alien? (Not the foreign kind...like from space).

Your headache can go away. It's just all about taxi drivers not liking pink mustaches: http://www.businessinsider.com/lyft-ride-sharing-john-zimmer-2012-9

Meet Lyft, A Startup Trying To Change San Francisco's Decades-Old Transportation System

n San Francisco, a hotbed of transportation innovation from ferries to cable cars to high-speed rail, the latest way to get around is sporting a giant, pink, fluffy mustache. If you see a car with that hood decoration, you're looking at a driver for Lyft, a new app from a startup called Zimride that lets you order a car ride from one point to another on demand. Instead of working like Uber, a similar service for professional limo drivers, Lyft has more of a community aspect, focusing on regular car owners who want to help their friends and meet new people.

With Android's market share in tablets exceeding Apple by a wide margin you would expect that this emphasis on Apple will wane.

Not until Apple runs out of payola.

Well the course-ware they plan to use is also available on Android (most of it anyway). You have to did deep in the course-ware website to see the Android availability, but it is there.

With Android's market share in tablets exceeding Apple by a wide margin you would expect that this emphasis on Apple will wane. (Assuming of course that Apple doesn't have a significant interest in Pearson).

Not sure I agree with sam_vilain's claim that it's "worth reading" (seems more like a string of poorly-reasoned ad-hominem to me), but here you go:

Following his request for asylum in Russia, it's become pretty clear that Edward Snowden is officially the most naïveperson in the room.

Not only is he surrounded by members of Russia's Foreign Security Service (FSB) — the successor to the KGB — but he's loudly trumpeting the moral superiority of the Putin government, one of the most repressive, cutthroat regimes in modern history.

David Francis' Fiscal Times write-updigs into Snowden for his "mind boggling naiveté":

He is asking for asylum in a country that continues to openly squash dissent, often using violent tactics. Putin runs the country with an iron fist, has jailed people who oppose him, and has chased others out of the country. Opponents have been known to meet early deaths, often under suspicious circumstances.

Francis notes theuntimely,often gruesomedeathsof several political opponents to Putin over the years.

Snowden's statements about Russia's sterling Human Rights image come within days of the imprisonment of high-profile political opposition leader Alexei Navalny,on what some call trumped-up embezzlement charges.

Snowden himself acknowledged his potential for naivetyto Bart Gellman of the Washington Post: “Perhaps I am naïve, but I believe that at this point in history, the greatest danger to our freedom and way of life comes from the reasonable fear of omniscient State powers kept in check by nothing more than policy documents.”

To make matters worse, the person seemingly speaking for Snowden now —Russian attorney Anatoly Kucherena — also happens to be the head of public relations for the FSB.

Freelance reporter and intelligence expert Joshua Foust writes:"The involvement of known FSB operatives at his asylum acceptance ... suggests this was a textbook intelligence operation, andnota brave plea for asylum from political persecution."

"The Russians are very good at what they do," wrote Foust, referring to their simultaneous control of the "principal" — Snowden — and the public message.

Putin — a former lieutenantcolonelin the KGB — drew laughs from Finland students when he said regarding Snowden, "If you want to stay, please, but you have to stop your political activities. We have a certain relationship with the U.S., and we don’t want you with your political activities damaging our relationship with the U.S."

The Russian president just as deftly shifted the blame to the U.S., a foreseeable consequence of the State Department's decision to revoke Snowden's passport.

It seems in all of this, Snowden is not the super-intelligent super spy he makes himself out to be, but just an analyst who is in over his head.

Looking at his statement that he could be "petting a phoenix, in a palace" in China, indicates that he expected to be gree

Not sure I agree with sam_vilain's claim that it's "worth reading" (seems more like a string of poorly-reasoned ad-hominem to me), but here you go:

Following his request for asylum in Russia, it's become pretty clear that Edward Snowden is officially the most naïveperson in the room.

Not only is he surrounded by members of Russia's Foreign Security Service (FSB) — the successor to the KGB — but he's loudly trumpeting the moral superiority of the Putin government, one of the most repressive, cutthroat regimes in modern history.

David Francis' Fiscal Times write-updigs into Snowden for his "mind boggling naiveté":

He is asking for asylum in a country that continues to openly squash dissent, often using violent tactics. Putin runs the country with an iron fist, has jailed people who oppose him, and has chased others out of the country. Opponents have been known to meet early deaths, often under suspicious circumstances.

Francis notes theuntimely,often gruesomedeathsof several political opponents to Putin over the years.

Snowden's statements about Russia's sterling Human Rights image come within days of the imprisonment of high-profile political opposition leader Alexei Navalny,on what some call trumped-up embezzlement charges.

Snowden himself acknowledged his potential for naivetyto Bart Gellman of the Washington Post: “Perhaps I am naïve, but I believe that at this point in history, the greatest danger to our freedom and way of life comes from the reasonable fear of omniscient State powers kept in check by nothing more than policy documents.”

To make matters worse, the person seemingly speaking for Snowden now —Russian attorney Anatoly Kucherena — also happens to be the head of public relations for the FSB.

Freelance reporter and intelligence expert Joshua Foust writes:"The involvement of known FSB operatives at his asylum acceptance ... suggests this was a textbook intelligence operation, andnota brave plea for asylum from political persecution."

"The Russians are very good at what they do," wrote Foust, referring to their simultaneous control of the "principal" — Snowden — and the public message.

Putin — a former lieutenantcolonelin the KGB — drew laughs from Finland students when he said regarding Snowden, "If you want to stay, please, but you have to stop your political activities. We have a certain relationship with the U.S., and we don’t want you with your political activities damaging our relationship with the U.S."

The Russian president just as deftly shifted the blame to the U.S., a foreseeable consequence of the State Department's decision to revoke Snowden's passport.

It seems in all of this, Snowden is not the super-intelligent super spy he makes himself out to be, but just an analyst who is in over his head.

Looking at his statement that he could be "petting a phoenix, in a palace" in China, indicates that he expected to be gree

Protected grounds include race, nationality, religion, political opinions and membership and/or participation in any particular social group or social activities.

While I can't claim to be intimately fimiliar with the relevant international law: the UN CRSR (1951) probably applies. It specifically doesn't apply to "War Criminals", but I'm not sure what else.

Business Insider have a somewhat cynical take on Snowden's asylum claim which I think is worth reading.

Re: demonstrated they are willing to fight governments: after been exposed by brand.
Legal dept, boss, admins at the big telcos and computer firms just did their jobs once shown 'paper' to make it all legal.
A few http://au.businessinsider.com/the-story-of-joseph-nacchio-and-the-nsa-2013-6
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Room_641A

Here are some things we do know.

The Russian lawyer that has been speaking for Snowden for some time now is Anatoly Kucherena. Kucherena is head of public relations for the FSB, the successor to the KGB. So the KGB running interference for Snowden and his laptops full of stolen American secrets. John Walker must be jealous.*

Snowden's Choice For Russian Asylum Reveals His 'Mind-Boggling Naiveté'

David Francis' Fiscal Times write-up digs into Snowden for his "mind boggling naiveté":

He is asking for asylum in a country that continues to openly squash dissent, often using violent tactics. Putin runs the country with an iron fist, has jailed people who oppose him, and has chased others out of the country. Opponents have been known to meet early deaths, often under suspicious circumstances.

Francis notes the untimely, often gruesome deaths of several political opponents to Putin over the years...

To make matters worse, the person seemingly speaking for Snowden now — Russian attorney Anatoly Kucherena — also happens to be the head of public relations for the FSB.

Freelance reporter and intelligence expert Joshua Foust writes: "The involvement of known FSB operatives at his asylum acceptance ... suggests this was a textbook intelligence operation, and not a brave plea for asylum from political persecution."

"The Russians are very good at what they do," wrote Foust, referring to their simultaneous control of the "principal" — Snowden — and the public message.

WSJ/NBC Poll: Most Americans View Snowden Negatively - July 24, 2013

In the poll, only 11% of respondents said they viewed Mr. Snowden in a positive light, while 34% said they viewed him negatively. Nearly a third said they didn’t know who he was.

All in all, another impressive triumph for the KGB.

* John Walker so damaged American security by providing the Soviets stolen American cryptographic material that if an actual shooting war with the Soviet Union had occurred, the US Navy may have been defeated at sea. The Soviets would have been able to read their transmissions, know the locations of ships, and their orders. Snowden's damage may be as bad or worse.

63 versions of http://au.businessinsider.com/the-story-of-joseph-nacchio-and-the-nsa-2013-6 over time.

Good response, I have to hand it to you. And you're obviously quite informed. I won't try to address everything you've brought up, but I'll respond to a couple of things:

For the last, I hate the NSA spying programs, but is there any evidence they've specifically went after reporters? I'd love to hear it.

This was a big deal in the news, but it was overshadowed by some of the other stuff going on, not surprised not everyone heard about it. Basically, the justice department obtained months of AP reporters' phone records, a rather huge sweep rather than a targeted investigation, just looking for evidence of leaks. So far, Holder has not been forthcoming about why they did it.

Obama's ATF, at least, was selling the guns to try to track down criminals with an intent to disrupt and arrest them -- not to deliberately support them.

According to them (politicians / liars, but I repeat myself). But, according to some, the real purpose was to supply guns to the largest cartel, allow them to wipe out their rivals, with the theory that a single large cartel could be manipulated better than all the little competing groups. Who to believe? I don't know, but in either case you could claim that there were good intentions involved. But then we know what road is paved with that.

I do, in fact, credit Obama with following up on Iraq and Afghanistan as he said he would (even though I disagree with his decision to escalate / continue the conflict in Afghanistan. But the Middle East strategy is still the same one created during the Bush administration, and so is the domestic spying, secret programs, drug trade, corporate welfare, and other fascist programs, and I condemn him for that, doubly so because he promised MUCH different.

EXACTLY. I've been working contract jobs for the past year hoping to land on some permemant gig, but they keep asking me idiotic questions in the interviews like How many golf balls can fit in a school bus?. Then I never hear from them again and they go crying about a "shortage of talent" and they run to the H1B's. I'M RIGHT HERE YOU FUCKING ASSHOLES!

I think we could actually make it self-powering if you put solar panels on it, you generate more power than you would consume in the system. -- Musk

How would you put solar panels on an underground tube?

The link for: "... from New York to L.A. in about 30 minutes ..."

Goes here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51HbmuKhRbk

Which clearly states claims New York to Los Angeles in 45 minutes.

LA to NY is around 3900km.

The link for: "... Musk as a "cross between a Concorde, a railgun, and an air hockey table ..."

Goes here: http://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-has-plans-for-faster-transportation-called-the-hyperloop-2013-5

Which claims, quote: "You would go from downtown LA to downtown San Francisco in under 30 minutes."

LA to SF is around 558km.

So, um, yeah... what the fuck. Timothy, are you dropping acid again?

Not all. I just quoted four. How you can extrapolate that to all when I specifically said they are not to be trusted as much as reliable ones?

How can you extrapolate that if your sources are right this time, they are always right? And they were not always right. One source said the re-org would happen July 1. That wasn't entirely correct.

The difference should be obvious if you have any background in journalism. It is that reputable organizations like the ones I have listed vet their sources and don't post everything from every anonymous email or tip they get. They spend a minimum time and effort to make sure their reputation stays intact. You can add Reuters and AP to the list I quoted. Most other news organizations just print anything regardless of the reliability of their sources.

Again, you are assuming the source was given all the correct information. The source isn't lying to the reporter but the information they were given may not have been correct. That's why reputable news organization specifically word their articles as coming from a source.

Everyone? Care to reference a couple from WSJ, Bloomberg, Reuters, AP, Washington Post, NYT that say "from our sources"? Or are you making up things as you go ?

WSJ: Apple Moves Closer to Making TV Set
New York Times: What’s Really Next for Apple in Television
Business Insider: Apple Could Announce New TV This December, Says Top Apple Analyst

Satisfied or do you need more?

That made me laugh, you're clutching at straws here. The whole point of the reorg is to have new divisions and heads. Ballmer need not name the head of every small subdivision. Is there even a Xbox division anymore?

That's as idiotic as saying Apple doesn't need someone in charge of iPhones. GE doesn't need anyone in charge of jet engines. Larson-Greene will oversee everything involving Xbox, Windows Phone, Surface, third party developers, and studios. She's never going to eat or sleep again right?

Not this again, I got tired of it because you were not willing to concede the point after losing it. In one post you claimed Microsoft had a option not to let go of Mattrick. I replied no they cannot. After a couple of posts you changed your tune saying that Microsoft can't prevent him from leaving if he pays his way out. I am tired of arguing this again and again.

Since you can't or won't bother to look it up: Wikipedia

A contract of employment usually defined to mean the same as a "contract of service".[2] A contract of service has historically been distinguished from a "contract for services", the expression altered to imply the dividing line between a person who is "employed" and someone who is "self-employed". The purpose of the dividing line is to attribute rights to some kinds of people who work for others. This could be the right to a minimum wage, holiday pay, sick leave, fair dismissal, a written statement of the contract, the right to organize in a union, and so on. The assumption is that genuinely self-employed people should be able to look after their own affairs, and therefore work they do for others should not carry with it an obligation to look after these rights.

or About.com

An employment contract is a written legal document that lays out binding terms and conditions of employment between an employee and an employer. . .

Apparently, not yet - NAACP tweets:

"BREAKING: Zimmerman acquitted on all charges.We will update you as we work to pursue civil rights charges against Zimmerman through the DOJ."

NAACP Is 'Outraged And Heartbroken,' And Will Pursue 'Civil Rights Charges' Against George Zimmerman

C'mon - you didn't seriously think Zimmerman was going to walk unscathed, did you?

Is that sort of like a 9-11 truther?

Either way Both 9-11 was an inside job, and Global warming is NOT CAUSED BY MAN and IS NOT REAL

Yes the senator is a imaginative fairy god douche but But even Nasa Will agree with me about climate change as of 2 months ago

Look up the Rothchild's and the carbon credit economy. These carbon credits area a robber baron's dream! On a commercial level certainly. But the real goal here is residential. They want to charge you personally for your carbon footprint - ie how much carbon you get off in the atmosphere you will pay for. If everyone in the world paid this tax it would make bankers SUPER RICHER. By enforcing a culture of fear about climate change, it makes people panic with lies and ultimately give up their rights in exchange for security yet again..

Talk about a fucking flame-bait title and article. And I could give a shit less about Google as a company.

Because this THIS is revealing state secrets for personal gain, which is worse, much worse than what Manning, Snowden Tice , Drake , Klein, Binney , Kiriakou

http://www.businessinsider.com/nsa-whistleblower-william-binney-was-right-2013-6

Tice,
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/01/21/687340/-Exposed-NSA-Watching-Everything-on-Anyone-Illegally-Updated-x3#

Drake,
http://www.whistleblower.org/action-center/save-tom-drake

Kline,
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9135645/The_NSA_wiretapping_story_nobody_wanted

Kiriakou
http://dissenter.firedoglake.com/2013/05/29/imprisoned-cia-torture-whistleblower-john-kiriakou-pens-letter-from-loretto/

Conclusion: you have to be extremely naive or engagged in a career enhancing self-serving thinking process to imagine that universal spying on ordinary Americans won't be used to in the basest way control the internal political trajectory of the nation by the next group of people like Cheney PErle Rumsfeld and Bolton.

Yes something very bad could and probably will happen . Yes we will lose relevant information by not constantly tapping all Americans , The but alternative path is worse. When bad actors get involved, there are often no good paths left.

the NSA does whatever policy makers tell them to do without getting all "philosophical" or "speculative" about whether it's exactly or even slightly legal or not. That's what we know for certain. Anyone able to worm themselves into a position of power - from the analyst level on up, has God power over The Database Of Guilt. Unelected officials - Perle Rice Rumsfeld Abrams Bolton Cohen etc can and will commandeer that database for their own illegal purposes and the NSA will comply because that's what they do. It may already be happening.

This is 100% unacceptable. This is no-go no-matter-what territory.

engineers find problems all the time but they are most often in the same boat as everyone else... shut the hell up and do your job (make it even more awesome and cheaper) or get a new job. granted engineers have safer jobs than many other professions (including probably programmers), but bosses that aren't engineers often don't make the right decision even if it ends up costing the company big down the track (this is often the case with maintenance planning for large plant such as in base load electricity generation). in this day and age of consulting, engineers may be expensive but they are still out there, and stupid managers seem to be quite happy to pay three times as much in the mere hope that they might find someone else that will tell them something different (and stick it to the original engineer who had the gall to tell him he needed to spend money on something other than corporate junkets).

fortunately many engineers also eventually find their way into management positions, and quite a few of the biggest companies are headed by engineers

http://au.businessinsider.com/ceos-majored-in-engineering-2011-3?op=1#33-of-the-sp-500-ceos-undergraduate-degrees-are-in-engineering-and-only-11-are-in-business-administration-1

Look at insider trading, what percent of occurrences do you think are actually discovered and successfully prosecuted? Proving where information came from - such as the idea to look at a few disparate sources and put them together in a certain way - can be accomplished only to a certain degree.

If you look at past corrupt officials that did a lot of damage with much less powerful tools at their disposal, such as J Edgar Hoover or Senator McCarthy or President Nixon, the admissibility of evidence in court really had very little to do with anything.

As for Congress, Clapper was caught in a bald-faced lie to them. After being caught, he said sorry, so apparently that's the end of that. For that matter, under Bush similar activities were carried out without any notification of Congress or the courts. They were caught eventually, and nothing happened. It's a real shame, because integrity is everything when you're dealing in secrecy and cannot directly verify the facts. All we know for sure, now, is that they're making up secret rules for themselves as they go along.

Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg narrowly avoided being on the flight

Private companies have set up their own spying operations. Bloomberg Financial is spying on Goldman Sachs. and Murdoch is running saboteur operations against his competitors. And these same people keep calling to tougher measures against hackers.It is as if the entire international power structure walked out of a Vladimir Voinovich novel. Sigh.

Didn't the Egyptians just elect this guy a year ago?

Yep, they elected a Muslim Brotherhood guy who made election campaign statements like

'"The Koran is our constitution, the Prophet is our leader, jihad is our path and death in the name of Allah is our goal"

Now they found it shocking that the guy is just a tiny bit of an Islamic fanatic.

He also has a legal responsibility to report criminal behavior. Bruce Schneier said it best...before any prosecution of Snowden takes place, there need to be serious and independent inquiries into any possible criminal behavior and trials of those who perpetrated it. Only after the extent of the criminal activity is known can a jury properly balance his responsibilities stipulated in his contract and his other legal responsibilities.

Uhhh when they wrote that they not only had slaves, which were required because frankly there wasn't enough backs to do all the work, but they had hundreds upon hundreds of miles of open country, minus the Indians they slaughtered of course.

Today for every one you have climbing the fence to look for a job (which honestly I've had more than a dozen Americans ask to cut my mom's grass because they can't find any work, its fricking bad in the flyover states folks) you have probably a dozen criminals coming here to ply their "trade" because they know with all these "safe havens" its easy to set up camp here, you have whole busloads filled with those needing ultra expensive medical treatment (its gotten so bad in some places they are basically knocking them out and slipping them on a plane or bus, look up "guy goes into coma, wakes up in Poland" for just one example) and we have H1-Bs killing any chance of Americans learning those skills because they pay less for a master's than we do for a new econo-car.

We can't even feed our own (look up "face of hunger in USA" to see how many of our citizens go to bed hungry each night) or pay our own bills, we just can't support the damned planet folks, we just can't. Meanwhile while they open the floodgates they have sent more than 42,000 FACTORIES overseas since 2001, you have nearly half the population getting handouts or aid, its just not sustainable folks, its gonna collapse and when it does its gonna be REALLY ugly, worse than NO after Katrina ugly.

This line of thinking is some of the absolute DUMBEST bullshit still floating around on the internet.

Only if you're a big Apple fanboy, as you're known to be, but let me give your arguments a fair shake anyway, despite your foulmouthed rant.

Pull your head out of your ass and recognize that iPads are used in a LOT of industries as incredibly viable tools that increase productivity.

Erm like what? Bonus points if those tasks cannot be performed on a PC, laptop or Android tablet. Further, as I said it's good for grandmas and other folks, just not kids.

Furthermore, do you think, maybe, possibly, some of these kids might get excited about programming and decide, just possibly, to learn more about programming for iOS because of the iPads.

You mean like this? http://www.pbs.org/idealab/2010/05/programming-language-for-kids-banned-from-apple-app-store118

Ok lets see what a kid wanting to program on iOS needs to do.

1) Needs a relatively expensive Mac to even start. What chance is there that parents are going to buy one(if they don't have one) just because little Jimmy may want to dip their feet in programming, which may finally end up in nothing? Pretty close to zero. The cheapest Mac starts at $599 for a weak device on which Xcode lags.
2) Needs an Apple developer ID for which they need to be atleast 13 years ago and $99/yr subscription to test apps on their iOS device. Fat chance that many parents are going to get those for a kid who are known to get bored pretty quick.

You know, sorta like how all the old time geeks learned programming because of their piece of crap computers at their schools.

Seriously, pull your head out of your ass.

Steps taken by old time geeks:

1) Install any one of the hundred IDEs and/or runtimes and start typing.

Who has their "head up their ass" posting "dumbest bullshit" just because they outright worship a company?

Oh, I forgot there is no use arguing with folks like you because:

http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-is-a-religion-neuroscientists-find-it-triggers-the-same-reaction-in-your-brain-2011-5

Look at some of the big consulting companies that work with the military. MITRE, CACI, Booz Allen, CSC, GE, Lockheed Martin, etc., like to hire ex-military. Here is a good list:
http://www.businessinsider.com/top-25-us-defense-companies-2012-2?op=1

Easy to explain what it is, and the same explanation also say why it is wrong. Anyway, this goes with the current agenda of taking control of internet.

Though it's been quite stellar for years, ever since the DoubleClick acquisition, Google's DNA has become more spammy [1]. Not that Bing is any saint [2], and Microsoft has it's sordid history with not showing "linux" search results (before Bing days).

This kind of intervention from big bad government might do something to keep the search engines from devolving into glorified billboards.

[1] http://www.businessinsider.com/google-is-blurring-the-lines-between-ads-and-search-results-2012-4
[2] http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/microsofts-bing-uses-google-search.html

Is Google doing this out of the goodness of their corporate heart? What do they gain by fibering up (as opposed to "wiring up") all these cities? Quicker access to their browsing habits? Quicker access to all the personal information they put into Gmail, Google Drive, Google Documents, Google Places, Google+ contacts?

Money.

Google expects it to be a profitable business: http://www.businessinsider.com/google-expects-google-fiber-to-be-profitable-2013-5

42% Samsung is not "The vast majority of Android phones".
http://www.businessinsider.com/samsung-android-market-share-2013-2

You might get updates for your phone via UK carriers, that doesn't mean that most UK Android users are, let alone people in other non-US countries.

And the fact that despite that you still choose to use CyanogenMod just underlines how much the stock versions of Android that most users have suck.