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Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 (also marketed as China Southern Airlines flight 748 through a codeshare) was a scheduled passenger flight from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Beijing, China, when on 8 March this Boeing 777-200ER aircraft “disappeared” in flight with 227 passengers on board from 15 countries, most of whom were Chinese, and 12 crew members.
Interesting to note, this report says, was that Flight 370 was already under GRU “surveillance” after it received a “highly suspicious” cargo load that had been traced to the Indian Ocean nation Republic of Seychelles, and where it had previously been aboard the US-flagged container ship MV Maersk Alabama.
What first aroused GRU suspicions regarding the MV Maersk Alabama, this report continues, was that within 24-hours of off-loading this “highly suspicious” cargo load bound for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, the two highly-trained US Navy Seals assigned to protect it, Mark Daniel Kennedy, 43, and Jeffrey Keith Reynolds, 44, were found dead under “suspicious circumstances.”

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/2-...

Both Kennedy and Reynolds, this report says, were employed by the Virginia Beach, Virginia-based maritime security firm The Trident Group which was founded by US Navy Special Operations Personnel (SEAL’s) and Senior US Naval Surface Warfare Officers and has long been known by the GRU to protect vital transfers of both atomic and biological materials throughout the world.

Upon GRU “assests” confirming that this “highly suspicious” cargo was aboard Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 on 8 March, this report notes, Moscow notified China’s Ministry of State Security (MSS) of their concerns and received “assurances” that “all measures” would be taken as to ascertain what was being kept so hidden when this aircraft entered into their airspace.
However, this report says, and as yet for still unknown reasons, the MSS was preparing to divert Flight 370 from its scheduled destination of Beijing to Haikou Meilan International Airport (HAK) located inHainan Province (aka Hainan Island).
Prior to entering the People Liberation Army (PLA) protected zones of the South China Sea known as the Spratly Islands, this report continues, Flight 370 “significantly deviated” from its flight course and was tracked by VKO satellites and radar flying into the Indian Ocean region and completing its nearly 3,447 kilometer (2,142 miles) flight to Diego Garcia. (large enough runway)

Critical to note about Flight 370’s flight deviation, GRU experts in this report say, was that it occurred during the same time period that all of the Spratly Island mobile phone communications operated by China Mobile were being jammed.
China Mobile, it should be noted, extended phone coverage in the Spratly Islands in 2011 so that PLA soldiers stationed on the islands, fishermen, and merchant vessels within the area would be able to use mobile services, and can also provide assistance during storms and sea rescues.
As to how the US Navy was able to divert Flight 370 to its Diego Garcia base, this report says, appears to have been accomplished remotely as this Boeing 777-200ER aircraft is equipped with a fly-by-wire (FBW) system that replaces the conventional manual flight controls of an aircraft with an electronic interface allowing it to be controlled like any drone-type aircraft.

However, this report notes, though this aircraft can be controlled remotely, the same cannot be said of its communication systems which can only be shut down manually; and in the case of Flight 370, its data reporting system was shut down at 1:07 a.m., followed by its transponder (which transmits location and altitude) which was shut down at 1:21 a.m.
What remains “perplexing” about this incident, GRU analysts in this report say, are why the

Yes because a "We just cured cancer"-discovery isn't going to be profitable AT ALL. Nope. Not at all.

The net profits of the top 11 pharmaceuticals companies was $85B in 2012 - that's net profit, after all expenses are accounted for:

http://www.alternet.org/11-maj...

The profit taking for cancer is large enough that 100 top oncologists wrote a public letter in July of 2013:

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/ca...

So yeah, it's not going to be *as* profitable for them, unless they can get $12.14 for every man, woman, and child on Earth some other way. Net, after all expenses.

They had half a billion dollars worth of bitcoins, a "currency" which is extremely hard to track and ridiculously easy to steal if you have the keys to the city. Stealing half a billion dollars (without being a bank) requires a truck and some heavy lifting.

Oh come on. Here is a story about a single person stealing about 7billions worth without Bitcoins, trucks and heavy lifting.

You apparently missed his "without being a bank" qualifier.

Do not pass go. Do not collect your 200 francs.

They had half a billion dollars worth of bitcoins, a "currency" which is extremely hard to track and ridiculously easy to steal if you have the keys to the city. Stealing half a billion dollars (without being a bank) requires a truck and some heavy lifting.

Oh come on. Here is a story about a single person stealing about 7billions worth without Bitcoins, trucks and heavy lifting.

Massachusetts lawmakers crack down on "upskirt" photos

That's Fark quality.

This will probably get lost in the noise, but, the monks on Mount Athos follow a vegetarian diet that contains no animal protein, apart from the occasional fish. There is plenty of plant protein, and the carbs they eat are typically found in fruits and vegetables. They don't eat a lot of bread, rice and pasta. They tend to live long, healthy lives. There is more to it than just the diet, however. Their lives are ordered, unhurried, with little stress, and plenty of mild exercise.

Think of the chinese, indian, etc workers as the robots. Is it working out so well for the US workers so far? I don't think so. Even when manufacturing is brought back to the USA, far fewer long term jobs are created[1].

And guess what? Foxconn is busy replacing chinese workers with actual robots.

What will the chinese workers do? Some may take your higher end jobs, for 20% your pay: http://articles.latimes.com/20...

His performance reviews were impeccable, and his company considered him the best developer in the building.

Amazon is replacing warehouse workers with robots. There are burger making robots.

The cycle may go on, but it might be rather big and ugly cycle. The people at the top who'd own everything don't need that very many people to keep them happy - how many luxury goods designers and top chefs do they need anyway?

[1] You get some short term construction jobs to build the factories but even there are companies that build buildings quickly out of prefab (that can be made in more and more automated factories) - so the amount of human labour will go down. Buildings might even be 3D printed: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/3d...

p.s. I'm an IT worker in a 3rd world country. From what I gather, I cost less but I doubt I'm less capable than the average Slashdotter (the average quality appears to be dropping too ;) ).

No, he would also say that there are flaws, such as monopolies, that would also have to be watched and prevented.

Quite true. Didn't mean to imply Smith didn't recognize the flaws in market economies. Too bad the leadership in the US fails to recognize the flaws in so called free markets - particularly in the case of monopolies.

"Hunting is considered a sport, but you normally can't lose (I haven't seen a deer with a rifle yet)."

A deer perhaps not, but there have been cases where a hunter got shot by his own dog.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/do...

Mod parent up.

I'm getting bored of articles about Venezuela's so-called dictatorship. Ask yourself:

1. Why is Venezuela's democracy questioned when former US President, Jimmy Carter, whose foundation monitors these things, says "of the 92 elections that we've monitored, I would say that the election process in Venezuela is the best in the world"?
2. Why does the media spend so much time vilifying Venezuela's democracy when our friends in Saudi Arabia chop off the head of a princess in a car park, ban women from driving and do not have elections but have a rather nasty dictator? "Ignore that man behind the curtain" - apparently it's hateful little Venezuela with their elections that keep voting in socialists that are the real problem not the Islamic dictatorships of the Middle East with whom we can more easily negotiate oil supplies.
3. Does it have anything to do with Venezuela having the world's largest proven reserves of oil? And that despite all the animosity between Venezuela and the United States, it still is the fourth largest exporter of oil to the US? Or could it be that it used to have a habit of threatening to stop selling oil to the United States? A self-destructive move but one which it had every right to do.

Venezuela is undeniably badly run. But in a democracy, a country has the right (within reason) to run their affairs as they see fit.

Actually nevermind UK isn't any better than the US since UK does not respect free speech

Except that the same party that opposes creation of regulations also opposes enforcement. The like to cut the EPA's budget, and appoint judges who favor businesses. They're the party who demand apologies when the government does attempt to enforce regulations even after the fact.

The other party is certainly far from guiltless, but there's only one party that makes a point out of making enforcement harder and harder. Enforcement requires effort, generally taking many years to achieve, and is frequently fruitless by the time corporate lawyers have circled the wagons. In that time, it's not uncommon for the executive branch to change hands and simultaneously change its mind about just how important it is to proceed.

So yeah, it's a partisan issue. I won't forgive the blue party for its failures to prosecute, but I recognize that for them to take any action at all requires a supreme force of will and political capital against an opposing party whose primary goal is to thwart them. If the red party matched its zeal to deregulate with equal fervor in prosecuting those who violate remaining regulations, it might be different, but instead we're left with a party of "please do something, anything" to try to counter the party of "do nothing, ever". And since the separation of powers favors inaction, that's what we get.

"big pharma, for all its problems still is the number one creator of new drugs"

How many of them are derivatives of existing drugs introduced just for patenting? According to Dr. Marcia Angell, they constituted about 77% of all approved drugs in 1998-2002.

"the U.S. government and private companies spent a combined $130 billion (PDF) on medical research."

The referenced paper gives a break down: only $37B comes from pharmaceutical companies, $32B comes from biotechnology and medical technology companies, the rest mostly from the government.

How does it compare with marketing spending? A random bit: $33B for R&D and $25B for marketing in 2004, with some essentially marketing activities labeled as "doctor education".

Mouth off to a cop and see how precious your fucking rights are in Amerikkka. Fags.

Mouthing off to a cop is pretty STUPID because there is *never* an upside to it. At best it is neutral if the cop decides to ignore you, but all other outcomes go down hill from there. It's best to just be respectful, stay calm and do what they tell you. You don't have to answer any questions or consent to any searches (and I suggest you not do either), but there is absolutely no sense in mouthing off.

If you're white and middle-aged enough, and you can bait the cop into doing something stupid enough, and you can get the ACLU involved, then you can actually get yourself a nice cash settlement and get the local "law enforcement" to go to anger management and remedial US Constitution classes. I wouldn't try it if you didn't meet enough of the above qualifications.

Mouth off to a cop and see how precious your fucking rights are in Amerikkka. Fags.

Mouthing off to a cop is pretty STUPID because there is *never* an upside to it. At best it is neutral if the cop decides to ignore you, but all other outcomes go down hill from there. It's best to just be respectful, stay calm and do what they tell you. You don't have to answer any questions or consent to any searches (and I suggest you not do either), but there is absolutely no sense in mouthing off.

If you're white and middle-aged enough, and you can bait the cop into doing something stupid enough, and you can get the ACLU involved, then you can actually get yourself a nice cash settlement and get the local "law enforcement" to go to anger management and remedial US Constitution classes. I wouldn't try it if you didn't meet enough of the above qualifications.

In October 2009 the Democrats who were then running congress by a huge majority changed the locks on the capitol hill meeting rooms so they could keep Republicans out when they wanted to. (they did this to stop Republicans exposing the involvement of Democrats in the 2008 home loan meltdown activity at Countrywide, but they then used those locked rooms to exclude Republicans from the secret healthcare reform negotiations which Obama had promised would air in their entirety live on C-SPAN)

Obama did, indeed, promise Obamacare negotiations would air live on C-SPAN before he broke his promise, and journalists from across the political spectrum objected and tried to get the negotiations opened

And here's an admittedly biased link to a TEA Party site, used here to point out their frustration with the fact that the "establishment" wing (the lifetime politicians who like big government) of the GOP keeps doing SYMBOLIC votes against Obamacare but then keeps actually fully funding it. The Washington elites of both parties have done stuff like that to their base voters on many issues for decades, but the internet is exposing it.

Oh, and if you are in denial about the corporate lobbyists who climbed into bed with Obama on Obamacare, here is a link to a story explaining WHY big insurance got on board (they originally fought it, but then they got admitted to the closed-door meetings WE the public were shut out of). Also see this link on big Pharma and big Insurance climbing on board and throwing money at Democrat politicians. While many organizations and lobbying groups were involved in the "secret" negotiations, the names of most of the individuals involved are NOT known to Republicans who repeatedly demanded the names and were denied.

Let me further point out that when the Obama administration thinks a Republican governor is breaking a law, they run to the federal courts - something they have NOT done (so I cannot link to it here) to any governor over his/her refusal to create a state exchange - a tacit admission that the governors are obeying the law.

Since I have validated everything in the post you said was so full of falsehoods, whereas YOU provided NO evidence ANY of the claims was false, that previous post was the correct one and yours was the loser

Good, but I'd argue that MS and google are just one of a few companies that are too big to be trusted. Monsanto, for example, is more blatantly evil. They are coming close to a monopoly on corn and soybeans (source). You can live without an electronic map with very little trouble. I suspect Monsanto is not on your list, as eating all organic food that doesn't stem from corn or soybeans is pretty expensive.

Then again, I suppose Monsanto has grown past the point where consumer action is going to do anything ever.

"The tea party is the Republican Party"
http://www.newrepublic.com/art...

"More than half (54 percent) identify as Republicans"
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/te...

"Views of the GOP and the tea party are virtually the same across all demographics."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...

There is not a teacher shortage- there is an ability to pay teachers shortage. I know of plenty of teachers with state credentials who cannot find work because there either is not enough room in the schools or schools are pinching their budgets so tight that increasing class room size and decreasing teachers is a way to pay for it.

There is no shortage in ability to pay teachers. The U.S. spends more on education per student than any other country in the world. It's ludicrous to even suggest we're not spending enough on education.

The problem is is an overabundance of administrators who siphon away money from teachers and kids. In the few school budgets I was able to dig up, administration payroll accounted for over half of total payroll.

The US ALREADY has more funding per student than any other major country. That's funded mainly through property taxes, other taxes, etc. This news story points to a 440 page report with all of the details:

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/us...

And it's not as though all spending on education is public, the OECD report found. Public spending accounts for just 70 cents of every education dollar in the United States. Parents picked up another 25 cents and private sources paid for the remainder in 2010.

So it works really well for kids whose parents can afford to to pick up 1/4 of the tab. Faint praise indeed.

The US ALREADY has more funding per student than any other major country. That's funded mainly through property taxes, other taxes, etc. This news story points to a 440 page report with all of the details:

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/us...

We already spend the most money, and we get terrible results. Obviously, then, spending a LOT of money does not result in a better education. If it were a funding issue, the US would have the best education in the world. Funding is NOT the problem.

Some problems we have include:
Spending time and money teaching politics rather than skills. (K-12 students spend FAR more time studying global warming than technology). See also full WEEKS devoted to learning about Mexican culture, another week for Asian culture, two different weeks on black culture, etc.

Ridiculous rules that horribly bad teachers can't ever be fired because they have tenure (weren't fired sooner).

Parents are forced to pay for a specific school, rather than having school choice and therefore competition.

The money's probably going to his legal defense fund. If he told people that, he'd get more Bitcoins than a Matrix cosplay prostitute.

If you see the 60 Minutes he was in a few months ago, it's pretty clear that the man is incapable of projecting anything less than supreme confidence in the belief that he is The Greatest Thing To Happen to whatever he's trying to do this week, particularly if his goal this week is to play Kim Dotcom, Victim of the Oppressive Copyright State who had No Idea what people used MegaUpload for.

I have no problem with the harvesting of Gary Becker(head)'s organs, nor Thomas "three chins" Friedman's organs, nor anyone else's organs at the Hoover Institution, which Becker(head) is a paid member of, but once allowed, forced organ harvesting in a predatory monopolistic capitalistic society will be the order of the day, far worse than it now is!

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304149404579322560004817176?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLENexttoWhatsNewsFifth

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organ_transplantation_in_China

http://www.dafoh.org/

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/hospital-errors-lead-to-dead-patient-opening-eyes-during-organ-harvesting/

Who cares what idiot left green-types think? Mainline liberals, notably the Obama administration, are in favor of nuclear. Perhaps more education about newer types of nuclear plants could help assuage fears of nuclear power. I don't think calling a group of people idiots is going to bring them around to your way of thinking.

Since I think we know that few scientists are billionaires, and yet scientific fraud is documented to exist, you just might be distorting the picture. (I like the bit about, "might as well add creationism while we are into denialism." It really added to your argument. You should have suggested a more sophisticated cocktail for sipping on a "billion dollar yacht" though.) Thank goodness that everyone associated with climate science is clean, eh?

False positives: fraud and misconduct are threatening scientific research

The psychologist, who admitted "massaging" the data in some of his papers, resigned from his position in June after being investigated by his university, which had been tipped off by Uri Simonsohn from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Simonsohn carried out an independent analysis of the data and was suspicious of how perfect many of Smeesters' results seemed when, statistically speaking, there should have been more variation in his measurements.

The case, which led to two scientific papers being retracted, came on the heels of an even bigger fraud, uncovered last year, perpetrated by the Dutch psychologist Diederik Stapel. He was found to have fabricated data for years and published it in at least 30 peer-reviewed papers, including a report in the journal Science about how untidy environments may encourage discrimination.

The cases have sent shockwaves through a discipline that was already facing serious questions about plagiarism.

Spring (and Scientific Fraud) Is Busting Out All Over

Verbeke and Tijdink cast a wide net, with support they received from the Pascal Decroos Fund for Investigative Journalism. They contacted researchers from the medical science faculties of every university in Flanders, sending out more than 2,500 questionnaires and receiving 315 fully completed anonymous responses in return.

The answers startled. Four of the researchers who responded, or 1.3 percent, acknowledged that they had fabricated data at least once during the past three years, misdeeds that may still be unpunished. What’s more, 23, or 7.3 percent, of those who sent back questionnaires had engaged in the quaint term “massaging”—in which data or results were removed to make their work true up with original hypotheses. The roughly 8 percent of fraudulent practices found at the universities in Flanders compared with an average of 2 percent of smelly stuff going on that turned up in a 2009 meta-analysis in PLoS ONE of studies from around the world. .....

Respondents said the publish or die imperative was one of the main reasons for the infractions. The survey found that two thirds of the professors polled ran into excessive pressure to get their work into journals and nearly 70 percent of all of those surveyed had added the name of one author who had not participated in a study.

Study: Scientific research fraud on the rise

H.265 is already planned to go into 2015 devices (TVs and BD players) in order to support upcoming features like 4k and HDR - but, there is still a chance to get VP9, etc in there.

Netflix and Amazon aren't waiting until 2015 to anchor their position as the leading providers of 4K video.

Netflix says video streaming of its programming in ultra-high definition will work for buyers of new UHD sets from LG, Sony, Samsung, Vizio and others upon purchase.
That's because Ultra HD models from those makers will include the Netflix app and chips that decode signals in the so-called High Efficiency Video Coding standard, or HEVC.
The chip is required to decode signals that Netflix Inc. will compress by more than 100 times and squeeze through the Internet at a speed of 15.6 megabits per second. That's a download speed widely available from Internet providers in the U.S.

Netflix app to stream "Ultra HD" 4K video on new TVs

As a side note, the United States is already one of the biggest spenders on education, and yet gets very mediocre results.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/06/25/where-u-s-stands-in-education-internationally-new-report/
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/us-education-spending-tops-global-list-study-shows/

So even if they decide to throw a lot more funding for this STEM education it is unlikely to have any real impact.

That being said, can you provide links for your version of this information?

Here.

...and here.

...and here.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/obama-if-i-had-a-son-hed-look-like-trayvon/

He is referencing a comment Obama made and taking it to an extreme.

There's Already 17 Times More Coverage on Christie Scandal Than in Last Six Months of IRS (scandal)

Chris Christie's bridge scandal: A blessing in disguise?

CSEC Admits It 'Incidentally' Spies On Canadians

So, go to Europe then. Oh, that's right.

The German Prism: Berlin Wants to Spy Too
France - Alarm over massive spying provisions in new military programming law

Why is this going on? Is there some sort of pattern that could explain it?

Iran’s fingerprints in Fallujah
Report: Canadian Terrorists Planned Truck Bomb Attack
At Least 4,000 Suspected of Terrorism-Related Activity in Britain, MI5 Director Says
Dutch Arrest 12 Somalis on Terror Suspicions

• Education: "In 1987, public colleges and universities received 3.3 times as much in revenue from state and local governments as they did from students. They now receive about 1.1 times as much from states and localities as from students." cite
• Pay: "The minimum wage of $1.60 an hour in 1968 would be $10.56 today when adjusted for inflation (cite).
• Federal Benefits: "As one can see, even single men, who get back the lowest amount of benefits for their Medicare contributions, receive almost three times what they pay in..." cite.
• And finally, the Bottom Line: "The wealth gap between younger and older Americans has stretched to the widest on record, worsened by a prolonged economic downturn that has wiped out job opportunities for young adults and saddled them with housing and college debt. The typical U.S. household headed by a person age 65 or older has a net worth 47 times greater than a household headed by someone under 35, according to an analysis of census data released Monday. While people typically accumulate assets as they age, this wealth gap is now more than double what it was in 2005 and nearly five times the 10-to-1 disparity a quarter-century ago, after adjusting for inflation." (cite)

Some are caused by carcinogens but most are random misprints.

It seems there is some research pointing to the contrary.

The /. summary also mentions that cancer is about to overtake heart disease as the number 1 cause of death. Accordingly, can we deduce that increase of lifespan is increasing relatively faster than the increase of environmental causes of cancer? I would sincerely like to believe that, but the ./ summary is not enough for me to adopt such an optimistic view.

Can anyone here please provide some sources supporting the view that the current cancer epidemic is being driven by increased longevity and not environmental causes?

Before It's Too Late!

Somehow that familiar refrain often escapes the notice of critics around here.

Even the newsclowns admit it.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/poll-most-americans-dont-trust-government/
Pew figured out 80% have no faith.
Im guessing there is a higher number out there, uninfected with cranial rectumitis. Maybe so , maybe not. Either way, Im not surprised.

For some strange reason, the ACA did not fix this problem. We need to decouple health care and employers by eliminating the tax break that employers get.

McCain wanted to do that in 2008

Didn't happen because politics.

The only reason McCain could say he wanted to do that is because he knew it would NEVER pass in congress. Republicans have a history of offering solutions to health care during elections that seem to dissolve if they are elected. Not too surprising.

Obamacare (Actually, Reid/Pelosi care) sucks. That is because it was the only thing they could pass, given the politics (Democrats also take money from insurance companies). However, THEY DID PASS IT. We have been trying to do this since Teddy Roosevelt. It is going to help millions of people, will provide sorely needed economic stimulus, and allow more entrepreneurs to start businesses without fear of losing their healthcare. There are a whole host of clauses in it that attempt to limit the insane inflation of healthcare costs, and appear to be working. It will prevent many of the the bankruptcies that affected 2 million people a year in the US.

It isn't what I wanted, but it does pretty well.

He accepted it, putting him into a club of quite questionable people
He donated the money to charity.

So you are totally skipping over the whole "lying to congress" thing as if its inconsequential?

That wasn't "lying to Congress," that was a stunt by a Senator Wyden . The record is clear that Congress was informed.

Wyden’s Stunt Was Congress at its Worst

Snowden may have pulled the curtain away to reveal what was suspected with regards to who spies on who, but in doing so he also showed that the intelligence services were out of control and arrogant in their stance.

The intelligence agencies are performing the mission given to them by Congress & the President, and are seeking information requested by other parts of the government. At best Snowden is a vigilante that overthrows the rule of law governing the intelligence agencies and has already caused immense damage to the US intelligence effort. At worst he may be the most damaging spy ever in US history.

General Benedict Arnold only offered to give away one fort, Snowden has stolen the "keys to the kingdom" and is on track to severely damage US intelligence for decades to come. The view of Britain's spymaster in the colonies, Major Beckwith, was that ''Washington did not really outfight the British; he simply outspied us!'' Had Snowden acted in the 1770s Washington would not have been able to outspy the British, the practically certain outcome of that would have been for the Colonists to lose their fight. Had the Colonists lost their fight it is quite likely that Washington, Franklin, Madison, Jefferson, et. al would have been hung, and the Constitution of the United States with the Bill of Rights would never have been written. Make your choice, cheer Snowden, or cheer the Constitution, you can't cheer both. Snowden's very acts strike against the Constitution itself and the principles of democratic, representative government.
'
Now as is the custom, I must receive my -1 flamebait/-1 troll moderations since my worlds must not be seen or debated in a free society.

For some strange reason, the ACA did not fix this problem. We need to decouple health care and employers by eliminating the tax break that employers get.

McCain wanted to do that in 2008

Didn't happen because politics.

Didn't read TFA (sorry) but there *does* seem to be a statistically significant bias toward denying evolution that is far more prevalent in one group of people than in another in a certain category. That the category in question happens to be political beliefs is irrelevant, the bias is still there and therefor merits discussion, even more so when successive polling finds the gap between the two groups widening (not only that, they seem to be heading in opposite directions -- more democrats are now saying they believe in evolution as opposed to more republicans claiming the opposite).

And given the state of US politics over that past few years, the Tea Party movement, the hotter topics in Republican primaries, etc, it *is* interesting to observe.

The study itself, as far as I can tell, isn't political in nature, but you can't deny that some political implications can be made (speculated, inferred, deduced) from the numbers the study provides.

Regardless, I would say that it really scares me (even as a non-US citizen) that in the US of A, more people believe in angels than evolution.

You are neither a terrorist nor "terrorist" for reading Slashdot, but real terrorists could read Slashdot if they were so inclined, just like they could read the New York Times or watch CNN.

What is the source of the distorted thinking in the thread above? There seems to be an endless supply of it.

And yes, we know that real terrorists use computers, cell phones, and the internet.

Finding treasures in Bin Laden computers*
Inside Al-Qaeda’s Hard Drive

*Where would Bin Laden store and view his pr0n without computers besides everything else he used them for?

About that "state doing terrorism" thing, here is a correction for you.

Spending too much time sitting on your butt probably kills more people than tobacco. Will we be seeing less of you? Probably not. Does it then need to be outlawed? It would appear you should support that.

The European cradle-to-grave welfare state is an unsustainable boondoggle that's bankrupting the continent through deficit spending. Those deficits will never be paid back short of hyperinflation because Europe has declining birth rates that will make it impossible maintain the current welfare state.

If you want to know what the future of Europe looks like, look at Greece.

Here: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/homefront/view/

The NSA knew about some of the 9-11 hijackers, but it was lost in the noise (and in lack of interdepartmental information sharing). The solution, suck in more noise? Makes little sense to me.

I don't think that is quite right.

NSA speaks out on Snowden, spying

Gen. Keith Alexander: Well, the reality is if you go and do a specific one for each, you have to tell the phone companies to keep those call detail records for a certain period of time. So, if you don’t have the data someplace you can’t search it. The other part that's important, phone companies-- different phone companies have different sets of records. And these phone calls may go between different phone companies. If you only go to one company, you'll see what that phone company has. But you may not see what the other phone company has or the other. So by putting those together, we can see all of that essentially at one time.

John Miller: Before 9/11, did we have this capability?

Gen. Keith Alexander: We did not.

John Miller: Is it a factor? Was it a factor?

Gen. Keith Alexander: I believe it was.

What Gen. Alexander is talking about is that two of the 9/11 hijackers, Khalid al-Mihdhar and Nawaf al-Hazmi were in touch with an al Qaeda safe house in Yemen. The NSA did not know their calls were coming from California, as they would today.

Gen. Keith Alexander: I think this was the factor that allowed Mihdhar to safely conduct his plot from California. We have all the other indicators but no way of understanding that he was in California while others were in Florida and other places.

Based on the 60 Minutes segment, if NSA sees something suspicious involving a US number it alerts the FBI of the number. The FBI would then investigate and identify who was involved.

I suggest watching it, it clarifies things.

You might as well watch the 60 Minutes segment. The metadata discussion, and a demonstration of the analysis, is near the beginning and in the transcript.

It is demonstrated in the 60 Minutes segment near the beginning.

I don't believe I've heard anyone, in the government or not, make that claim. What possible good would metadata be to them if they couldn't associate it with an individual?

What I've mainly heard them say is "you shouldn't care, since we're not listening to the actual call". That's still garbage.

They show how it is done and discuss it in the 60 Minutes segment. It is pretty close to the start after a brief discussion with General Alexander. You can read the transcript and watch the video.

Briefly, they can chain together the calls from someone that they identify as a terrorist and see where it leads. How many calls, where they go.

If they run into a US number that looks suspicious they can alert the FBI to start an investigation based off from the phone number. It would be up to the FBI to identify who that was.

Catholic Church and rape little boys

A child is in far graver danger (nearly 100 times higher) of becoming a victim of sexual assault in a public school, than in any church. Perhaps, I should consider becoming teacher, huh?

The US population has trouble with reading and math compared to the rest of the World and these guys are worried about computer science being taught in school.

Something tells me that this isn't so much about improving society and more about increasing supply of technical labor and the subsequent decrease in pay for said workers.

Oh, and "non-profit" is just a tax status - you are just limited on what you can do with the profits you make. non-profit != charity.