Domain: earthtimes.org
Stories and comments across the archive that link to earthtimes.org.
Comments · 42
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Re:Speaking as a vegan
So now you want to conflate eating meat with rape, and then tell me I need to study formal logic a bit more? You need to study your teeth and your stomach a bit more. Presumably you are already sufficiently familiar with your asshole.
Carnivore teeth:
1) Tiger
2) BaboonHerbivore teeth:
1) Deer
2) HorseAnd finally, human teeth.
We like to think of ourselves as "King of the Jungle", and we are. But that's not due to our physical power, but rather, to our brain power. Also - our teeth are much closer to the herbivore's teeth than to the carnivores. We don't have the ruminant stomachs, but we have the ruminant teeth with a carnivore-lite's stomach. Which suggests to me that we're probably designed to eat mostly plants but can digest animal protein if we come across it.
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Perhaps better than just compatible
I imagine having a spaceport wouldn't be all that different from having an airport, though an airport sees constant use and a spaceport would therefore seem to be less of a disturbance.
Throughout the world a lot of airports have wildlife preserves- especially wetlands- near them; that's the case for both of the airports closest to me. The airport and its noise make it less likely that people will drain/bulldoze the wetlands for housing developments. Bacteria in wetlandscan make short work of deicing chemicals used by the airport, which would otherwise build up to toxic levels. Bird strikes don't increase as much as you might think. There's some mutual benefits here.
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Re:The Free World or the Corporate World
Not really. For example, the Mövenpick corporation owns the Free Democratic Party.
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Re:Why pretend? What game is this?
Quick, call these guys and tell them they are stupid: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/brightsource-energy-offered-nearly-14,1174231.shtml
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Re:Surpisingly many respectible physists talking
Besides when you compare the cost of a new collider to their national bottom lines it just isn't that significant.
Not sure if you meant this seriously, but Austria compared it with their national bottom line, and almost cut it.
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Re:Don't matter...
We have been warned for years on end that coastal inundation would be the direct effect of polar melting.
But inundation should not be a delayed effect. It should appear immediately, and in direct proportion to the melting.
So where is it?
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Re:Did anybody read his paper?You will need to remember, these are people with agendas. They will use the data that supports their position and ignore the rest. Oh look, polar regions have had a warming trend? Excellent, let's use that
.4 degree difference as our main argument. Let's also not mention that the earth tends to trend in one direction or another for long periods of time. [either cooling down, or warming up].Vienna - Plants grow better and absorb more carbon dioxide under hazy skies, a team of European researchers said Wednesday
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/265464,dirty-skies-make-plants-grow-slow-down-climate-change.html Lets also not mention that more carbon will make more plants grow bigger and faster. It really makes no sense why the US has this anti-carbon obsession... Maybe someone can explain it to me? The EPA's job is to 'regulate' I guess they would feel useless if they had nothing to do...
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Re:Not us.
Indeed, in fact this happened in Belgium with them collectively asking for US$77M.
Eventually the two reached a settlement whereby G didn't show their cached results
a history of the case -
Re:My goodness! It might have...
barney frank dated the ceo of fannie mae for many years. chris dodd got sweetheart deals from countrywide. citigroup just sponsored a trip the caribbean for 5 democrats.
regulation or not, the foxes are already in the chicken coop, and nobody is watching them.
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Meanwhile,on the real piracy front
Meanwhile, on the real piracy front, the MV Faina is still being held by Somali pirates. It was surrounded by US warships weeks ago. Now some additional NATO warships are surrounding it. The pirates want $20 million to release the mostly-Ukrainian crew, and Ukrainians have collected the money. This sort of piracy happens frequently, but this ship is unusual because it's loaded with old Soviet tanks and other weapons.
This has been dragging on for weeks. Neither the US nor NATO wants to take the casualties and risk the hostages to take the ship back.
But the situation will soon change. The Russian Navy is sending one warship, the Neustrashimiy, to the scene; it just passed through the Suez Canal and should reach the target by the end of the week. The Russians aren't saying what they intend to do, but the general consensus is that when they get done, the pirates will be dead. The hostages may be dead too, but that won't bother Putin, or, indeed, many Russians.
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Re:Utterly clueless ...What is the statistic on how many people own HD display devices? I'm betting it's only in the 20% range of penetration compared to all TVs. I had the same question. According to these people, 39% in the US, 35% in the UK and 28% in Japan as of January.
Finally we're better at something than both the Japanese and British: Buying Expensive Shit.
Suck it down rest of the world. -
Re:Then you had better lower those prices!
I agree that there's little to no sense in people without HDTVs buying a BluRay player, but it looks like as of January of this year in the US HDTV penetration is at almost 40%.
As prices continue to fall, I'm sure that number is going to grow quickly. I notice a big difference on my comparatively small (42") HD-display between upscaled DVD quality content and 1080p content. Not a big enough difference to drop $400 on a BluRay payer, but if I were more wealthy or the player cheaper, it would be a no brainer. -
German Wikipedia better than printed encyclopedia
There's an article in the current issue of the German magazine Stern about a comparison between articles in the German Wikipedia and the Brockhaus (a renowned German encyclopedia) done by a research institute. Surprisingly (well, not for everyone), almost all tested articles in Wikipedia were better then their equivalents in Brockhaus.
See http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/153663.html -
Dishonesty Institute's playbook
If Harvard's lawyers send the DI a cease & desist letter then I'm sure the DI will spin this into another fable of how the "big bad Darwinian dogmatists" are persecuting them. It's the way the DI has been spinning things since Kitzmiller v. Dover; play the victim. It's all about public relations with them, not science.
Why do you think they made talk-radio host/movie critic/culture warrior Michael Medved one of their senior fellows just recently? It's not like they are going to put him to work in a lab looking for God in a bacteria's tail. -
Re:Arctic minimum, antarctic maximum
Who cares what the entire field of climate science agrees on
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/news_press_release,176495.shtml -
Re:If the ice melts and there's nobody on the beac
It's not the temprature itself that people are concerned about (go back 250MYA and CO2 concentrations were 4X what they are now and the planet was 10C warmer. It's the unprecedented rate of change that is "unatural" and a "clear and present danger".
The rate of temperature change is "unprecedented"? You can't be serious. The rate of change is nothing compared to the end of the ice age around 12kya. Nor is there any evidence that the rate of change is unusual compared to the relatively stable temperature since then. Nor is there a shred of evidence that the existing change is unnatural.If you think discussing the possiblity of a global famine is hyperbowl then take a good look at what is happening to SE Australia (where I happen to live), if you prefer history then take a look at the "dustbowl" years in the US or the many cases where ancient civilizations crumbled due to rapidly changing environmental conditions.
The dustbowl and the current Australian drought are examples of cyclical local climate fluctuations. While it is a serious thing, it is neither global nor because of CO2.Currently the Artic is predicted to be ice free in 40-50yrs so (according to predictions) the US still has a while before it "dries up", but this year's data (to quote TFA) was "extreme".
The arctic was melting during the dustbowl as well. It didn't last 40-50yrs, and this one won't either. Such predictions are wishful thinking on the part of apocalypse mongers. When we don't understand some process, it's natural to be afraid it will never stop. Like some stereotypical savage seeing an eclipse and thinking the sun isn't going to come back. However, I think that actual savages were more rational than us, as they observed that nature operates in cycles -- something that modern man is apparently oblivious to.Thanks to this large but much maligned group of boffins there have been huge strides in our knowledge over the last three decades (including the sources for your "facts"). Yet when the consensus predictions of these "grant seeking leaches" start occuring in front of our very eyes at a much more alarming rate there are still those who will brush it all aside with some self-serving babble about our distant ancestors who had not even developed language let alone a global econmy and infrastructure that is TOTALLY dependent on the predictability of annual weather patterns (ie:climate). Arguing about the exact definition of an "open" as it pertains to the N.W. passage is the preverbial arranging of deck chairs.
I agree that understanding the climate is vital to the preservation of civilization. Most importantly, there is an Ice Age coming, and if we want to preserve our way of life, we have to find a way to stop it. I to admire the work of scientists over the last few decades, but when you talk about "consensus predictions" it makes me think that you haven't actually read the work.
There was a recent analysis of peer-reviewed climate research that finds that the work of over 500 scientists is undermining what is trying to be passed off by as "consensus" by snake oil salesmen. The ACTUAL scientific consensus includes the facts that
"1) a natural moderate 1,500-year climate cycle has produced more than a dozen global warmings similar to ours since the last Ice Age; 2) our Modern Warming is linked strongly to variations in the sun's irradiance; 3) sea levels are failing to rise importantly; 4) that our storms and droughts are becoming fewer and milder with this warming as they did during previous global warmings; 5) that human deaths will be reduced with warming because cold kills twice as many people as heat; and 6) that corals, trees, birds, mammals, and butterflies are adapting well to the routine reality of changing climate." -
The planet warms up. The planet cools down...It's happened before, why wouldn't it happen again? Ever hear of an "ice age"? How did they end? How about all those nice fern-filled steamy renderings of the age of dinosaurs? Did dinosaurs make the climate turn cold by eating and farting too much?
Everyone thinks that "global warming" is a political thing. That's not the case. The "politics" is about whether you think humans have much to do with it.
While it is popular, in some circles, to say people are contributing to global warming in a meaningful way, the science is still out, and in many cases pointing towards a "shit happens" point of view, if it turns out badly for people.
Personally, I strongly believe in the "shit happens" model of the universe. In the cosmic scheme of things it doesn't matter one wit if a big rock wipes out all life on this planet tomorrow. A lot of people can't handle that idea.
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Re:Follow the money
It's self-regulating. The speculators go after high-risk stuff. If they go too high-risk, they lose all of their money and cease to be speculators.
That all depends on the system. What about all the sleazy loan agents who sold ballooning loans to people who could barely pay the teaser rate? Those agents got their comission and they are long gone. Now it's up to the Fed to pump billions into the economy to compensate for their actions. The rest of us will repay that handout through inflation.One of the reasons that they are so successful here is that there is a relatively low stigma associated with failure in the US.
I guess you mean "business failure," because the consequences for personal bankruptcy in the US are pretty severe - moreso after the 2005 bankruptcy law changes. -
Re:Universal?
2 things that should be pointed out for the north americas 1. Both PS3 and Xbox 360 are selling at about the same rate. Wii is selling slighty more then both combined on a weekly basis. Wii is absolutely going to crush both as it screams past xbox360 in a few months. http://vgchartz.com/hwcomps.php?cons1=Wii®1=Al
l &cons2=PS3®2=All&cons3=X360®3=All&align=1 2. HD-DVD standalone vs bluray standalone 150,000 to 100,000. http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/news_press _release,119772.shtml XB360 addon vs PS3 sold was 1 to 5 for last known data giving it about 310,000 to 1,550,000 Totals: Blu ray ~ 1,650,000 HD-DVD ~ 460,000 Which has resulted in the following disc sales numbers http://www.eproductwars.com/dvd/index.cfm Which means Walmart has to sell ALOT of players to catch up to the blu ray install base. -
Re:Bill Maher said it really well
Yes, you are absolutely correct, a modern army has no trouble at all keeping urban populations under control..
Widespread civil resistance, especially when well armed, eventually makes control too hard and too expensive to maintain.
I ought also to add that here you are talking about urban resistance in the USA - Uncle Sam pays his soldiers with resources from the mighty US economy, and so he really can't afford to start nuking cities. And I think it might play badly in the polls. -
Re:Aw poor Scoble
Are you sure about that?
Seriously, MS still envies google in that area. For all the hot air Ballmer spews about googles' "cute" apps, and how their hire rate is "insane".... MS has lost this round of the search match, they're not able to compete. Look at the emphasis they've put on it. Why pay people to use windows live if you don't care? Microsoft is becoming the one thing that Bill Gates hoped he'd never see.... a lumbering behemoth not dissimilar to the old IBM. They are having diffifulty keeping up with the present, just look at vista for connfirmation. (Disclaimer: I don't mind vista).
But vista brings forth features that I've had in linux for years. gkrellm does a great job as a sidebar, without the resource usage. The latter part of... scratch that.... MOST OF XP's cycle was spent chasing holes and vulnerabilities.
I like vista, and see it being fairly well adoped in a few years time. But it's not a forward looking technology, just as Live Search isn't forward looking. They care, but there isn't much they can do about it besides pay people to use it. -
Re:Next Week
"but you are relying on unscientific methods..."
Really? Are you sure it's just unscientific speculation?
(apologise for including a fox news link, I think my point stands nonetheless)
"to conduct your 'survey' and concluding based on these biased methods (that you created) that your results are the only results possible"
My survey? Biased methods? That I created? All those articles aren't quoting me you know! I wasn't even alive for the 1958 study!
"Btw something which has 'exceptions' doesn't make 'fact' status"
Did I say 'fact' or did I say 'trend'? (problems with vocabulary recall?) I think you'll find it was the latter (and here's the link to my post if you're in doubt)... although, it is a fact that there is a trend, as the numerous research projects have shown. The fact that there are exceptions is what makes it a trend, not a law. -
Can't use Sugar!
In Mexico they are protesting the rise in prices of tortilla due to using ethanol http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/26115.htm
l If we use sugar Rosie O'donnell and the 30% pleasently plump Americans will protest the rise in cake, candy and ice cream. There is no solution! -
An allergy cure is just three years away
"A cure for allergies that affects millions including asthma and hayfever will be available within the next few years" so we don't need hyperallogenic cats. Let's make them glow instead.
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Corrupt, stupid, or both?
Given that the technology used in the new electronic passports has already been broken, why the $&#* is deployment continuing? Corruption or stupidity, it's a criminal waste of tax money and dangerous to our security.
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Re:Yahoo!'s transition to a media company
Yahoo! is probably attempting to get into the media, and having bad publicity in the media industry has worse consequences than it would in the high-tech industry.
Yeah. It's apparent that they sure wouldn't want to do anything that would result in bad publicity. -
I love xbox but...
Microsoft so screwed up the launch of the 360 the business mags are noting its hurting their bottom line and their outlook. It just floors me that a company so well known for business tactics (underhanded or just otherwise strong arm) managed to flub a launch so horribly. This is beyond the Japan roll out which was busted as far back as their planning meetings.
The lack of boxes available for the retail chain for the holiday kept me from getting one (and I certainly won't compete to pay $1000 for something that should cost $400.) The delay means I don't even have one today and now plan on waiting and enjoying my Xbox-1.
I think Sony nearly wet themselves over the last 2 months watching this spectacle. If anything Sony now has breathing room do really perfect the PS3. Unless Microsoft can pull an amazing comeback I expect Sony to strap on the hobnailed boots and introduce Microsoft to a serious butt kicking. They've been waiting for this opportunity since Okinawa!
Seriously though, I think Sony has a great opportunity to put it to Microsoft like never before. The 360 was supposed to bring balance to the force... er I mean launch Microsoft to top of the pile. Now that its introduction was bungled so bad I think Sony is going to take the time to make sure the PS3 is extremely strong - perhaps strong enough to push Gates out of the market.
Again, I say all of this and am a big fan of the xbox. However even a fan has to own up to the facts.
And to back my initial statement about 360 killing MSFT read these:
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/5140.html
http://localnewsleader.com/jackson/stories/index.p hp?action=fullnews&id=132788
http://www.reflector-online.com/vnews/display.v/AR T/2006/01/25/43d78f7f0f8a8
Why even in NORWAY they have this to say!
Bill Gates och hans någotsånär stora företag Microsoft har som alla bör känna till släppt nu två konsoller på marknaden. Den första gick enligt Forbes back hela 4 miljarder dollar. Gates snackar om detta, och han berättar att Xbox'arna är en långtidsinvestering. -
Re:The player is only half the answer...According to http://www.playsforsure.com/, no existing portable player under $199 (Dell's Pocket DJ) supports such unlimited subscription services.
Check the site again when it's updated, because the Dell Ditty is "playsforsure" compatible.
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Re:stealing money or 'stealing movies'
just glad i didnt donate any. i wish i could remember the guys name... oh yeah, it's edward webber
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whaa?
What about the fact that NASA failed to meet three vital safety recomendations Tuesday?
I mean granted, I'm sure they know what they are doing but what happens if we lose Discovery too? We haven't launched in over two years due to Columbia blowing up and I can't even imagine what would happen to the space program if we lost Discovery. Even more so if it is because of one of the failed safety checks.
From my link:
The panel said that NASA had failed to satisfactorily eliminate losses of foam and ice from the shuttle's external fuel tank. Additionally, the agency could not adequately strengthen areas of the spacecraft that are at risk of being damaged by the impact of stray debris. The astronauts who are a part of the return to flight mission did not have reliable repair kits, the panel pointed out. -
Actually, it's not quite as dangerous as it sounds
I posted the original story, and found this link after I posted it: Earthtimes story. The 10-second pulse knocked out all the ozone, which allowed gamma radiation to bathe the earth for a few years afterwards, and that's what caused the extinction. If our lives depended on saving the ozone in a hurry, I'm sure it could be done. We would need to build an enormous number of huge nuclear reactors to work as ozone generators, but it could be done. I'm sure some enterprising Slashdotter could calculate how many it would take and how long to get them operational.
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Re:Question for the Abiogenesis CrowdEver think that maybe you're shot down "every time" you have pointed out your pet theory to "evolutionists" is possibly because you're dead wrong?
You prove my point.
Please cite a scientific source which says "early Earth had an oxygenating atmosphere". There are none because its preposterous. Just about all the oxygen in the atmosphere came from autotrophic organisms. ie. PLANTS!! It can only have accumulated after life appeared. The data on O2 concentration in the atmosphere of ancient earth is WELL constrained [columbia.edu].
OK, bright guy, tell me this, then: Why would the topic study be such a big deal if the scientific community generally agreed that the early Earth atmosphere was depleted of oxygen? Why does one news report state that this study, "could lead to a revival of interest in an experiment conducted by University of Chicago graduate student Stanley Miller in 1953," if there were never a reason to question the relevance of Miller's experiment? What would have led people to question the relevance of Miller's experiment?
You are simply another person who refuses to acknowledge weaknesses in evolutionary/abiogenesis theory, even when it is presented in front of by the scientists you study.
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very sad...
its sad that i first heard about this on news.google.com linking to a earthtimes.org article this morning. here is the article http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/2241.html
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All I don't like...
The only thing that I seriously hate in all this hooplah is the assertion by Apple's lawyers that freedom of the press applies ONLY to the traditional media. I may not have any legal training, but any assertion that certain constitutionally guaranteed rights apply exclusively to people in the elite makes me nervous. Because then you have to start asking where the line is.
If I print out my own weekly newsletter on my computer, am I more of a traditional (and thus constitutionally protected) journalist than a reporter with 30+ years experience who now writes exclusively online?
I think that EVERY citizen has a constitutionally protected right to free press. I don't recall a clause in the constitution that says you have to be certified to truly enjoy that right. The right covers us all.
Additionally, what would Apple's lawyers be saying if this information HAD been published in a big "traditional" paper? Or if it were on CNN?
IMHO, I think they are behaving like Microsoft. They don't really care about constitutional rights or legal protections of free speech, etc. It's just about money. I'm a mac user, but I'm not an Apple apologist - and I think there's something terribly wrong with any corporation's greed can circumvent the rights of ordinary citizens.
Whether you journalism snobs like it or not, anyone CAN be a journalist with enough time and dedication. No certification necessary, according to our constitution. -
Re:The DonationsFrom http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/1581.html
Lokitorrent Owner to pay $1 million
'nuff said
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Re:AccuracyI consider that the reasoning behind Atkins is medically unsound: All across Earth, there are plenty of cultures where a high intake of carbohydrates are considered the norm yet do not have a high incident of obesity, which seems to disprove his hyperinsulin theory.
Fortunately, most medical and scientific researchers do not hold your preference for deciding medical and scientific judgements based on "well, all across Earth, there are exceptions to this theory". Honestly, rather than looking into the physiology or the chemistry behind Atkins and other low-carb diets, you decide it's "medically unsound" because Japanese people eat a lot of rice? Are you a statistician, by any chance?
My personal belief is that Atkins works the way that any other diet works: By restricting net calorie intake.
... and this belief is based on what? Have you read the book, or any of the multiple independant studies about what goes on in the body in low-carb diets?I thought not.
Losing wait isn't complicated: Energy in has to be less then energy out. High-fiber and low fat foods have less calories then high fat food and food without the additional bulk of fiber. (Yes, per unit of weight, fat has over twice the calories of carbohydrates and protein.) Everything being constant, more energy in is weight gain.
Really? Take two people - have them consume exactly identical calorie levels and expend the exact same amount of energy. Even have them start with indentical body fat and muscle levels. However, have one's intake made up completely of fat, and the other's intake made up completely of protein (yes, twice as much by gram weight). The one taking in fat will lose muscle mass much faster than the one taking in protein. In fact, even with no more expense of caloric energy than they take in, the one eating no protein will lose muscle mass (and weight!) and gain body fat by percentage.
You're severely missing the science, friend, and just going by 'common wisdom'. And you know what the error in that is:PS: In the long run, the Atkin diet fares poorly in regards to keeping a healthy weight.
Published just over three weeks ago:
"A team of researchers from the Tufts-New England Medical Centre in Boston carried out a study to find out the best diet to reduce weight. Is it the Atkins, or Ornish, the Weight Watchers or Zone? They say none.
"... It has revealed few interesting things. It says that all the diets were somewhat equally effective if people really followed them properly."So, in the long run, the Atkins diet fares equally well with the Ornish diet (low-fat), Weight-watchers (calorie counting), and the Zone diet (food-pyramid based).
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Might help detecting mountains...
...and preventing this
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How about Asteroid ownership by Zhu GuangyaThe asteroid was discovered by a Chinese observatory and its international code is No. 10388
Zhu Guangya is a physicist and is a member of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and the Chinese Academy of Engineering. He has been instrumental in shaping China's development programs for the A-bomb and the H-bomb. Being a strategic scientist, Zhu has helped create the country's long-term development of defense technology.
Noting his crucial role in country's technological development Lu Yongxiang, president of china handed over a certificate of asteroid possession to Zhu at ceremony and workshop last Sunday.
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Re:Yay China!
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Re:Is the absence of bio-engineering justifiable?Domestic animals (domesticated then abandoned later as unprofitable): Nearly one-third of domestic animal breeds threatened by extinction
Global extinction rate: SPECIES: UNPRECEDENTED EXTINCTION RATE, AND IT'S INCREASING
And on and on. You can do a google search as well as I can, and you'll even find some counterpoints.
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Re:Canada's the REAL home of the free (or not, eh?
Perhaps this is little late
... but I can't resist answering his comments.>>Would you buy hamburgers from McDonalds if the
>>company also sold crack>Could you stop them if they did? And would the
>other 90% of sheeple in America continue to buy
>McDonalds b/c they cant read/dont care? Would
>you let these same people set the co-ordinates
>on the Space Shuttle???? no - why should we just
>let the sheeple-mob steer us all into oblivion?You touch upon a very interesting point. You are basically saying that you don't trust the people. If you can't trust your fellow citizens, whom are you going to trust? And at the same time you are saying that "90% of sheeple in America can't read/don't care?" you are asking for "business to come to town-hall style meetings and be accountable to the public". The same public that can't read and doesn't care?
>>Shell now has a human right commissioner and
>>most ads from that company state how nice the
>>company is to the environment and to it's worker>Are you on drugs? So they put some asshole in a
>title and shove propaganda down your throat and
>you think all is well? You think they have
changed one fucking bit?Well, Amnesty International does think Shell is trying to improve. From an Amnesty International report on Nigeria:
"In its approaches in recent years to Shell and other transnational companies [other oil companies] with significant investments in Nigeria, Amnesty International has appealed to them to acknowledge their responsibility to do all they can to uphold human rights under the UDHR. Only Shell has done so to date."
Shell was heavily attacked for their stance in Nigeria so it is understandable that they have responded to those concerns. When your stock price begins to fall because of your human rights record you have to do something.
And Amnesty International is not the only NGO that thinks Shell is trying to improve it's human rights record. Urmi Shah of Human Rights Watch believes Shell is moving in the right direction on the human rights front.>Would you buy hamburgers from McDonalds
>if the company also sold crack
>>Could you stop them if they did?
Yes, I could stop them, with little help from the "sheeple-mob". The campaign against Shell was pretty effective. So was the campaign against Nike for employing children in it's factories. And so was the campaign against soccer ball producers in Pakistan.>>A corporation is a body, formed by people, that
>> is authorized by law to act as a single person>When thousands of people act on behalf of a
> corporation it is no one person who is acting
> 'evil or bad'. The problem lies in the motivations,
> what people are forced to do to feed themselves.
> They are compeled to act on the corporations
> behalf to further its interests. There is no debate
> what the 'interests' of the corporation are: profit.
> Always.Correct, the objective of every corporation is profit, the more profit, the better. But do you have a better system? Do you want all the corporations to be owned by the government, or perhaps you have even better solution? Besides, every society has rules to control the behavior of both people and corporations. Perhaps you will just say that corporations will bend the rules and bribe the governments. If you really think so, then please tell that to all the corporations that have had their actions blocked for some reason by the European Union
:)>The worlds transnationals are all alike
> - what the hell are you thinking? There
>are none that I would consider moral and
> just. Literally zero. Besides, capatalism
> ends in collusive monopolistic mega-corps
> all acting to preserve there collective best
> interests. They will collectively oppose
> anything that may force them to become
> accountable and responsible.... I suppose
> youve never heard of RIAA/MPAA?Yes, I have heard of RIAA/MPAA. In fact I've been following the copyright and fair rights issues for a quite a while.
Even though I don't agree with RIAA/MPAA I don't find them immoral and evil. I do in fact believe there are quite a few good multinational companies. What do you have against IBM, HP, Oracle, Volvo, Compaq, Lucent, Dell, Xerox, Fedex, Kodak, Cisco to name a few?
You may disagree with them on some issues and their products may be trash. But to say those companies are immoral is just not correct. Heck, even Microsoft has done a lot for humanity, even though Windows is crap and they are a monopoly.
Besides, most companies today are accountable to the public. They have to comply with laws in America and EU and they have to answer for their wrongdoings in the media and before shareholders meetings. And Ford has certainly suffered because of the Firestone incident. And so has Shell because of their Nigeria incident.
>>>The internet is being dismantled by people
>>> who want to stop paying anything to
>>> produce any content but make you pay
>>>everytime you access the same old content,
>>>over and over, because its gravy, all gravy.
> you didnt address his point: That big business
> will simply change/buy laws to extend copyright
> so they dont have to create new content...
>and force everyone who does out of business...This comment is quite ridiculous. Media companies make the most money from new or recent content. Do you see Disney, WB, Paramount, etc. trying to sell their many excellent old movies. No, you don't; instead you see them marketing their new and terrible movies every single year. I don't even see book publishers heavily marketing their old books, and I don't expect to see this change in the coming years. This phenomena hasn't changed yet, even when at the same time copyrights has been extended from 25 to more than 90 years today. Do you really think media companies will suddenly begin to market their old warez just because the copyright will be extended even further?
Media companies don't even have that immense clout. They are being attacked heavily by Congress and many NGOs for violence in their movies and TV shows (perhaps you agree with those attacks?). And do you really think the media companies, with perhaps 100 billions in total revenues, have more influence on the government and congress than the much bigger computer industry [or any big industry for that matter]? The computer industry isn't that successful in it's campaigns for more visas for foreign workers and for less export regulations for encryption.>Big American Corporations have WAY to much
>power and WAY too little public accountability.
>I dont want to 'vote with my dollars' - this simply
>allows them to predicate their 'money is the only
>thing that matters' system - fuck that: I want
>business to come to town-hall style meetings
>and be accountable to the public, you dont
>satisfy the public - your out of business (or
>something similar, I may not have the right
>mechanism - but you get the idea...)Perhaps you are right, maybe corporations do have too much power. If you want to fix that, the right place to start is with campaign financing reform, just like John McCain is asking for.
But your town hall solution is pretty weak as you have yourself pointed out (90% of Americans are "sheeple-mob").
And using your logic ("you dont >satisfy the public - your out of business") media companies that produce material that the public doesn't like (Hustler, Nazi books, communist books, etc.) would go out of business. I'm pretty sure no movie company would have dared to produce a movie like Natural Born Killers or Lolita because every town hall meeting would have found those movies to be immoral.Try to come up with a better logic next time.
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The Big Brother ImplicationsHere's another article talking about Warwick. And here's a quote from the article:
During a recent radio interview with a station in Texas, he suggested that the chip might keep track of gun owners and warn police of their imminent arrival, a comment that provoked the wrath of some gun lobbyists in the Lone Star State.
And well it should.This will not keep people from shooting up schools. All the "law abiding" gun-owners would have the chips in their arms, but they aren't the ones who are going to shoot up a school. The potential murderers would find a way to remove the chips or acquire illegal guns (and therefore not get a chip) and shoot up the school anyway.
So implanting a chip is not the solution to this problem. But worse than that, it allows your privacy to be invaded even easier than it already is! Can you imagine - we already have the technology to track cell phones so that they continue to work when you move. The government/stalkers/etc. could track you easily if you had one of these chips implanted.
Very scary stuff.
99 little bugs in the code, 99 bugs in the code,
fix one bug, compile it again...