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Neither is a great indicator. Gross profits are less significant than net profits. You can take net profits to the bank, literally.

Gross Profit = Sales - Cost of Materials, Labor and Shipping

Net Profit = Sales - All Costs

Apple made $6 Billion net profit quarter ending 12/25/10. Up 78%

Microsoft made $6.63 Billiion net profit quarter ending 12/31/10 Down 4%

If you think looking at a quarterly result is the way to go: Microsoft is incurring some operational costs that are extraordinarily high for their type of business. The trend is unmistakable +78% vs -4%.

Personally I do not believe that one quarter makes a company, but you brought it up.

Neither is a great indicator. Gross profits are less significant than net profits. You can take net profits to the bank, literally.

Gross Profit = Sales - Cost of Materials, Labor and Shipping

Net Profit = Sales - All Costs

Apple made $6 Billion net profit quarter ending 12/25/10. Up 78%

Microsoft made $6.63 Billiion net profit quarter ending 12/31/10 Down 4%

If you think looking at a quarterly result is the way to go: Microsoft is incurring some operational costs that are extraordinarily high for their type of business. The trend is unmistakable +78% vs -4%.

Personally I do not believe that one quarter makes a company, but you brought it up.

Absolutely! At no point did I say that copyright infringement doesn't affect the sale of media by artists or their publishers, and the money they make from it.

Oh, wait a minute... Looking at MPAA figures for movie ticket sales, from 1995 to 2010 revenue has steadily increased. http://www.the-numbers.com/market/

It seems that the music industry is doing pretty well too. http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blog/2010/mar/12/demise-music-industry-facts

To address your final sentence, I expect content to be produced the same way it should always have been; By people who create content because they must do it, because it is what drives them and what fulfils their lives. We need distinctly less JLS's, Britney Spears', and other manufactured and bulk produced filler in the music market. We need less re-hashes of good old films with more explosions and CGI effects just to cash in on the brand. Art should be created for passion, not profit. People will pay for what is worthy of payment.

Disclaimer: I haven't downloaded unlicensed copyrighted media for many years, and ended up buying licensed copies of what I downloaded anyway. Last album I downloaded was Master of Puppets; I've since bought the entire back catalogue of Metallica (excluding St Anger. What were they thinking?). That was after they performed the whole album at Download in 2006.

They aren't doing a damn thing, they are TALKING, AKA, STALLING, as long as possible.
They just got a delay on DEA for 2 years. They are also fighting this bullshit too.

Seriously, start linking to the actual sources, /., not someone with an obvious agenda against the big, bad evil ISPs.
THE ARTICLE

Science is already well past that point. String theory: Is it science's ultimate dead end? Some respond to Japan earthquake by pointing to global warming (Global warming - is there anything it can't do?)

Some random people on twitter makes outrageous claims, and that means that science is broken?

As for string theory, I don't get why it is considered science, but a lot of people more knowledgeable in the field than me thinks it is, so I would prefer to wait and see where it ends up.

Occam's razor is a guide, not an iron law. If it was an iron law, we would probably be using the TeVeS theory of gravity and leave the search for "dark matter & dark energy" (supposedly the matter and energy that makes up all but a tiny fraction of the Universe despite never really being seen) to compete for funding with the search for eluminiferous Ether.

TeVeS? The theory that doesn't explain all of the data, and where even it's proponents agree that dark matter is still needed?

Moreover, there are limits to what can be known, and what is provable. Godel's incompleteness theorems

So, since Gödel's theorem is relevant, science must somehow be an axiomatic system that is capable of expressing elementary arithmetic. Weird, I thought it was all about observations, hypotheses and testing.

Every creationist regardless of religious orientation depends on a logical fallacy to advance their beliefs. Which is essentially a form of lunacy as the OP advanced.

So, committing a logical fallacy renders you insane? I would say that you've just condemned pretty much the entire human race as insane, no doubt including yourself.

As soon as you reject occum's razor and introduce non-empirical shenanigans every theory is subject to the Spaghetti Monster/Last Tuesday fallacies.

Science is already well past that point. String theory: Is it science's ultimate dead end?
Some respond to Japan earthquake by pointing to global warming (Global warming - is there anything it can't do?)

The experiments to try and generate the chemicals of life in what is thought to be conditions on the young earth are interesting, but they are at best a form of speculation. I don't believe there is any way to prove that any given method truly resembles what actually occurred. The fact that some scientists are attributing life or the presence of the chemicals of life on earth to meteors doesn't really change things either. If anything, it just confuses the picture even more - "life didn't begin on earth, but in space, and it came here on meteors!" And how did it start in space? Isn't that just a bit more of a hostile environment?

Occam's razor is a guide, not an iron law. If it was an iron law, we would probably be using the TeVeS theory of gravity and leave the search for "dark matter & dark energy" (supposedly the matter and energy that makes up all but a tiny fraction of the Universe despite never really being seen) to compete for funding with the search for eluminiferous Ether.

Moreover, there are limits to what can be known, and what is provable.
Godel's incompleteness theorems

Godel's incompleteness theorems are two theorems of mathematical logic that establish inherent limitations of all but the most trivial axiomatic systems for mathematics. The theorems, proven by Kurt Godel in 1931, are important both in mathematical logic and in the philosophy of mathematics. The two results are widely interpreted as showing that Hilbert's program to find a complete and consistent set of axioms for all of mathematics is impossible, thus giving a negative answer to Hilbert's second problem.

I think the ground you're on is shakier than you recognize, or care to admit.

Read anything by Donald Knuth lately?

<Hi there! Wazuuup?>

And thanks for the money shot..

You are almost certainly right. It is worse than I thought. There's sockpuppet software being marketed: link.

Having just attended training in emergency preparedness, we trained not to release details, so the Japanese are just following the standard script. They also said never lie, or you will never be believed in the future. They seem to be following the script.

Silence is not a substitute for candor.

Silence can fuel rumors far more dangerous than the truth. Silence does not inspire trust.

Yes sad isn't it. But we are dealing with a forth estate here. The media will twist things the best they can to scare people and so sell their product.

The script is not the performance:

I think script is the right word. You know that a good Public Information Officer (and team) is expected to have already written the answers to 95% of the questions that will come up at a news conference. FEMA Public Information Officer

[Tepco] has already been severely criticised by Japan's prime minister, Naoto Kan, for failing to inform him immediately that a serious explosion had taken place following the earthquakes. "What the hell is going on?" asked Kan last week when he finally caught up with Tepco officials, in remarks picked up by a stray microphone. "Retreat is unthinkable," he told the firm, fearing that the decision to evacuate 740 staff from the stricken reactor site was the start of a complete abandonment.

Embattled Tepco faces its BP moment over Japan nuclear disaster

Now I can't give any more details of the training. Sorry.

Why not?

Oops that was a bit dramatic. It really is just a personal problem for me. No standing rules or anything nefarious.

Radiation Protection - Protective Action Guides

My choice would be release details so the people who wished to become educated on the issue could make their own decisions. You know the slashdot crowd. This is not how it is done.

Absolutely! Before the UN or anybody else intervenes, there should be some clear sign that Absolutely!

Given that the UN has publicly comitted more genocides than any other organization in history, I'd advocate violently keeping UN bastards out of everything.

Also, it's the same organization as the "League of nations". It's not often said exactly which organization put Germany in such a position that almost the entire population supported Hitler, but that organization would be the League of nations. Also the League of nations was the organization caused Poland's military to demobilize DURING Hitler's attack, "to allow for peace".

These organizations do not have anything at heart except the delusions of the politicians leading them (first amongst those delusions : that any UN politician, even low-level, should have a wage that Goldman Sach's CEO would be ashamed of)

People should be defended from UN intervention. Because, frankly, if the Libyans knew what they're getting into, they'd put Qadhafi back and give him a raise. Voluntarily. Because it's a lot better than the alternative.

Let's just review :

IAEA - Because pakistan doesn't yet have hydrogen bombs. Oh and pakistan won't help Iran (the one smart decision in a forest of lunatic, delusional decisions that border on warcrimes), so someone else will have to give them the bomb.
IMF - Because the UN does not yet control the money of every state
UNRWA - Because, let's face it, palestinians might finish what hitler started, wouldn't that be great
UNICEF - Giving money to dictators, but ONLY if they torture children
WIPO - You thought the DMCA was bad ? Enter this in google
UNAIDS - because blacks, frankly, deserve to die (and because agents of this agency themselves are the source of the disease in several provinces)
UN security council - Securing your oil supply -and our politician's superiority feelings- through human rights violations, rape, and genocide. Worldwide
UNESCO - Talibanizing your cultural heritage (you'd think an organization like would actually have restored or maintained even a single monument, right ?)
ILO - Ensuring adequate supplies of young girls to clean politician's houses at a wage low enough to ensure they're open to making something on the side (I know an ILO politician. Sadly. He likes to have a young girl as a cleaning lady, one that's illegal in the country, and yells at her publicly. So does his wife. To the point that his family defends the cleaner physically from him. He's working on the "child labour" issue, now for 20 years). He claims this is nothing strange. He may be right.
-oh and-
UN inspections didn't find ANY chemical weapons. Only dead bodies killed with sarin gas. That *obviously* means Iraq never had any chemical weapons. Too bad Saddam can't teach us how to fire non-existent weapons at our enemies. Let's face it, we could halve our military budget with that trick ...

People should be protected from the atrocity that is the UN. Why anyone even associates with these assholes is beyond me.

Do you? (fully, not PR version for the masses; few quick examples: first, second, third; curiously even some(!) parallels with...)

Having just attended training in emergency preparedness, we trained not to release details, so the Japanese are just following the standard script. They also said never lie, or you will never be believed in the future. They seem to be following the script.

Silence is not a substitute for candor.

Silence can fuel rumors far more dangerous than the truth. Silence does not inspire trust.

The script is not the performance:

[Tepco] has already been severely criticised by Japan's prime minister, Naoto Kan, for failing to inform him immediately that a serious explosion had taken place following the earthquakes. "What the hell is going on?" asked Kan last week when he finally caught up with Tepco officials, in remarks picked up by a stray microphone. "Retreat is unthinkable," he told the firm, fearing that the decision to evacuate 740 staff from the stricken reactor site was the start of a complete abandonment.

Embattled Tepco faces its BP moment over Japan nuclear disaster

Now I can't give any more details of the training. Sorry.

Why not?

Radiation Protection - Protective Action Guides

Considering "Jane" used to be "John" http://zagria.blogspot.com/2010_02_01_archive.html . Sexier pic: http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/jane-fae

Someone erroneously posted below that homosexuality is a preference. Its not. I had a friend who was a male married to a female with 2 kids and he was homosexual. AFAIK they had no plans for divorce. I work with a m2f transgender, and I've known many male and female homosexuals and bisexuals. Honestly, I can't understand it fully, but I just look at it as gender being a bimodal distribution that has overlap between the modes. Personally, I think it takes balls to go m2f and in no way be fooling anybody.

You mean like the 16 UN resolutions Saddam ignored? Like the UN inspectors he kicked out of the country? Like when he gassed his own people?

Sadly when Saddam was gassing his own people, we were all looking the other way. Other countries have ignore UN resolutions, UN resolutions rely on 5 countries agreeing, it is not neccessarily the will of the majority.
I think we should have removed Saddam with desert storm but - as usual it seems - politics won the day and stopped the war before the job was finished. The argument that it would have fractured the alliance and the west would be busy running Iraq (according to Bush and Cheney) are, in my opinion, rather flimsy.

I was and still am against the second war in Iraq. The people are a lot worse off, fundamentalists have moved in, Iran is sitting in the box seat regarding influence there and the country is rife with corruption (I know - pot, meet kettle). An invasion of a country justifies military intervention (Iraq and Kuwait) - Purported possession of "WMDs" does not (imo).

Regarding Gadaffi, I believe removing the dictator is long overdue but I hope we (the west - or any other "interested party" for that matter) are not busy selecting who the winner of their "free and fair" election is.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/25/task-force-373-secret-afghanistan-taliban
http://www.google.com/search?q=wikileaks+afghanistan+civilian+deaths+labeled+insurgents&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

No making up needed. The leaks revealed that the vast majority of "insurgents" are civilian casualties.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/25/task-force-373-secret-afghanistan-taliban
http://www.google.com/search?q=wikileaks+afghanistan+civilian+deaths+labeled+insurgents&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

We know that the Mediterranean basin cracked open and flooded the desert a while back, in the area where all that shit happened.

No it didn't.

You may want to argue on the basis of facts, not a half-remembered mishmash of sensationalist stories. Of course, if you're a creationist, you can't do that and still hold on to your beliefs, so never mind.

Actually it did but it was a long time ago. Considering how little we remember about the people who lived on our land ~4000 years ago, I find it hard to think that the memory of the mediterranean deluge would have stuck in the collective memory for 5 million years.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/blog/2011/mar/17/japan-nuclear-crisis-tsunami-aftermath#block-28 - "The death toll from the earthquake and tsunami is expected to exceed 10,000"

Indeed, 220,000 died in Haiti -- smaller quake, less developed country. Things are still desperate over there, so after donating to Japan, maybe spare a little for Haiti.

Funny, I thought his fellow service members were busy betraying their principles by colluding in the organised rape of children that Manning helped expose.

Yeah, finding out my country was funding that could quite possibly put me "in a bad place emotionally" and lead to a "fit of pique". Of course, I'd probably call it "righteous anger" and "exposing corruption", but spin it however you will. After all, it's easier to call people "drama queens" and "ego maniacs" than it is to actually believe that your saintly government could be involved in corruption.

No doubt you will be relieved to know that those claims are false.

DynCorp disputes WikiLeaks allegations

A salacious, scandalous story involving allegations of child sex that has unfolded on blogs and websites over the last two weeks seems to implicate DynCorp International, a major Fort Worth employer.

The problem, say both DynCorp and the U.S. State Department, is that the story is exaggerated and the worst parts of it untrue.

The recent release of thousands of U.S. diplomatic cables by WikiLeaks prompted the reports. Among the cables is one that discusses a meeting with Afghan Minister of Interior Hanif Atmar, who wanted the U.S. to help quash a possible newspaper article about foreign employees of DynCorp hiring "dancing boys" to perform at a party.

Britain's Guardian newspaper published an article Dec. 2 about the memo and the minister's meeting with embassy officials. The article tied the reported party to "a long [Afghan] tradition of young boys dressing up as girls and dancing for men ... that sometimes crosses the line into child abuse with Afghans keeping the boys as possessions.".....

In the Afghanistan case, both DynCorp and the State Department say what occurred was far less sinister than portrayed in such reports.

According to a detailed statement provided by DynCorp spokeswoman Ashley Burke, a going-away party for a departing Afghan employee was held at the regional police training center in Kunduz. The party organizer, a local employee, hired "a 17-year-old local dancer who performed at ... weddings and other celebrations, to perform a traditional Afghan dance."

Shortly after the dancing began, a DynCorp manager "recognizing that the situation was culturally insensitive ... stopped the performance," according to the statement.

The company conducted its own investigation of the matter, "determined that the leadership of the team exhibited poor judgment and were subsequently terminated. That is the whole story; no alcohol or drugs were involved, or other illegal behaviors occurred."

The State Department concurred, saying there were no drugs, no alcohol and no boys procured for sex.

"There was no evidence of any of that," said Susan Pittman, spokeswoman for the State Department's Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement.

Both the bureau and the Office of the Inspector General investigated the matter, Pittman said, including reviewing videos of the party.

For several days after the leaked memo was published, DynCorp's Burke said, none of the online media writing about it bothered to contact the company or the State Department. Eventually, one blog, TalkingPointsMemo, did and reported the company and State Department side of the story.

The leaked memo says the Afghanistan government was prosecuting two Afghan police officers and nine other persons for "the crime of purchasing a service from a child."

Publication of the leaked memo didn't actually break any news. The Washington Post reported on the party in a July 2009 article about DynCorp. The Post said the company was taking steps to strengthen its ethics

Funny, I thought his fellow service members were busy betraying their principles by colluding in the organised rape of children that Manning helped expose.

Yeah, finding out my country was funding that could quite possibly put me "in a bad place emotionally" and lead to a "fit of pique". Of course, I'd probably call it "righteous anger" and "exposing corruption", but spin it however you will. After all, it's easier to call people "drama queens" and "ego maniacs" than it is to actually believe that your saintly government could be involved in corruption.

For an example closer to Western home, check out what's happening to Bradley Manning.

Hello! What is this?! I responded to "whistleblower defense isn't going to fly [in court]" with something OBAMA'S OWN ADMINISTRATION speaker had concerns with: Bradley Manning's treatment now would affect the court case later [if he's ever able to stand trial].

I called it torture, and I'm not alone. Even the UN is investigating the government's treatment of Bradley Manning. Likewise, several journalists have taken Manning's treatment to task and called it 'torture' (Will Bunch, Daniel Ellsberg... the numbers are building). And [finally!] a congressman likened Manning's treatment to Abu Ghraib.

As for Manning's ability to stand trial, after being in solitary confinement for 8 mos+, and stripped naked at night most recently (ostensibly because he's a 'suicide threat' but doesn't qualify for a mental evaluation), Manning's reportedly catatonic — not fit for trial. That's FLAMEBAIT?! Hell no — at worst, it's "Off topic", but then again, so is this whole part of the thread.

The Guardian reported some time ago that "caramel" poop is the new rage in design.

Periodically maroon and those colors are fashionable again and again. So probably the asked which color to make the Zune to a fashion columnist. Forgetting that normal, everyday people don't shit in golden bowl, and associate those colors to other... well, more down-to-earth, so-to-speak, things.

Sorry, here's the correct link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/blog/2011/mar/13/japan-earthquake-and-tsunami-japan

The Guardian's live blog is usually up-to-date with developments: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/13/japan-earthquake-tsunami-nuclear-crisis

News says, there is at least one nuclear power plant burning: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/11/japan-declares-nuclear-emergency-quake I am scared now.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/feb/27/kindle-ebooks-amazon-stephen-leather

In truth, the passage in question was indeed mistranslated

The word "in truth" in your statement should be changed to "according to one guy" in order to be more accurate. Critics of that "one guy" have said that "quite a few of his theories are doubtful and motivated too much by a Christian apologetic agenda", and have pointed out there is much scholarly work that he seems to be unaware of and has not factored into his thesis.

In a speech last night Gaddafi, an ally of the ousted president, Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, said he was "pained" by the fall of the Tunisian government. He claimed protesters had been led astray by WikiLeaks disclosures detailing the corruption in Ben Ali's family and his repressive regime. The leaked cables were written by "ambassadors in order to create chaos", Deutsche Press-Agentur reported Gaddafi as saying.

The Iranian government have claimed that Wikileaks is a U.S. plot to destabilise anti-colonislist governments.

the release was an organized coordinated move, adding that such a huge volume of documents could not have been released without the cooperation of intelligence services of Western governments, in particular the US.

A former Pakistanti General has also claimed Wikileaks is a CIA/Mossad plot:

The US has a hand in this plot, and these reports (posted by the WikiLeaks website) are part of the US psychological warfare

Disclaimer: Tunisia: Don't Call It a WikiLeaks Revolution

In truth, the passage in question was indeed mistranslated

Bummer, bombers.

And you are aware that the same Saddam destroyed his stockpile afterwards? Before insulting people just for having a different opinion than yours, I suggest you let your rage go down a little bit and read the Guardian article "Iraq war inquiry: Blair government 'massaged' Saddam Hussein WMD threat" http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/jul/12/iraq-war-inquiry-saddam-carne-ross

I believe the Koran itself doesn't actually specify how many virgins; that was mentioned in the Book of Suran instead as a fifth-hand recollection of something Mohammed said. Also, there's no mention of them being specifically available only for martyrs.

There's also some doubt about the virgin part. Some scholars believe that the word "hur" is better translated as "white raisin".

Face it women know the dangers of having sex before engaging. Don't let them about face when shit gets real. /flame

Really? Then why do the same general group of pro-lifers insist on not having proper sex education?

http://dir.salon.com/news/feature/2004/02/24/abstinence/index.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2009/jul/20/george-bush-teen-pregnancy-abstinence
http://articles.sfgate.com/2007-02-11/news/17229994_1_abstinence-comprehensive-sex-education-sexual-and-reproductive-health

Face it, the issue is religious and political and not about what's good for society.

Professor David Nutt uses science in a paper against prohibition of drugs, and is fired the next day. Article from 2009
 
Popular opinion and straw men are the new trusted sources of facts, guys! Science and statistical analysis are for fringe nutjobs and quacks!

Ok, here is a quote from a young tunisian directly linking the cable to the revolution. Here is an article about the tunisian government blocking a website which posted the leaked cable. Here is an article about Gaddafi's statement that the leaked cables were responsible for the revolution (you didn't ask for that but I saw it from the other article and it seemed relevant).

Again, I'm not saying that the leaks caused the revolution, only that they contributed to it. There's enough information here to support that hypothesis.

Ok, here is a quote from a young tunisian directly linking the cable to the revolution. Here is an article about the tunisian government blocking a website which posted the leaked cable. Here is an article about Gaddafi's statement that the leaked cables were responsible for the revolution (you didn't ask for that but I saw it from the other article and it seemed relevant).

Again, I'm not saying that the leaks caused the revolution, only that they contributed to it. There's enough information here to support that hypothesis.

Even many environmentalists seem to be realising the potential benefits of a Thorium reactor. E.g. see:

http://www.fastcompany.com/1727914/will-green-nukes-save-the-world
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2011/feb/16/china-nuclear-thorium

Those weren't 'hand picked' over weeks or years, but found after a quick search today in Google news.
Also, afaik, there are still potential economical challenges with Thorium based reactors. Not sure about that though.

You are factually incorrect about iOS outselling Android too. Android passed it a while back, there was even a story on Slashdot. http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/may/10/google-android-outsells-apple-iphone [guardian.co.uk]

Do Slashdotters run a plugin on Chrome that changes "iOS" to "iPhone" (or the other way around)?

Wow, nice use of selective quoting there.

No one has ever been forced to buy Apple hardware.

I literally did a facepalm with that one. Yeah, no one forces you to, but I think it is safe to assume that Apple want you buy their stuff. To get money from iOS apps they need to sell you a high price iOS device first, thus limiting themselves to people willing to spend that much money and wanting only the hardware Apple provide. Google's market is already larger and it isn't hard to see why - there is an Android phone to suit pretty much every purse and set of requirements. Apple makes more money than any other PC maker

Yes, because Apple is not a PC maker. The majority of their profits don't come from PC or MacOS sales. Their margins are higher than say Dell or HP, but not much higher if you factor in Microsoft's profit margin too. After all Apple do provide both the hardware and OS.

I bet if Apple ever released stats for iTunes installs the majority would be on Windows.

You are factually incorrect about iOS outselling Android too. Android passed it a while back, there was even a story on Slashdot. http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/may/10/google-android-outsells-apple-iphone

The only edit from the original submission appears to be to remove the link to the original Guardian posting. ( http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/mar/06/john-naughton-apple-dominates-market )
Are they trying to prevent us from RTFA?

Here is the article -

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/mar/06/john-naughton-apple-dominates-market

Or perhaps this one.

Relevant enough for Western countries sending out diplomats to establish relations (source, source).

This article describes three activists being arrested (it's not mentioned in the article, but they were all later acquitted); it's not clear if they were arrested for photographing police offices or for simply asking police officers to give their badge numbers (neither are illegal in the UK, and police officers are required by law to give their badge numbers when requested by a member of the public).

The problem is that the police frequently seem to be unaware of what the law says.

FitWatch is a great resource for seeing how the police photographers act, and how they expect civilian photographers to act.

Posting anonymously because I live in what is rapidly becoming a very unpleasant place to live.

The leaks happened before the revolution, they contained information about the government of Tunisia, therefore the potential for a causal link exists. You are correct that the man was not a student, as he was a graduate who was unable to find work and was fed up after the government shut down his vegetable stand. If you would to read a discussion of the link, here's a discussion of it. But honestly, I don't know what kind of "evidence" would prove such a link to your satisfaction. Do you? Would you like signed statements from all the participants saying that Wikileaks had something to do with it? All I said was that Wikileaks may well have had something to do with it. You say there's zero evidence, but I don't know what kind of evidence you're looking for, it's not like there's going to be fingerprints or DNA evidence. The fact that the leaks happened soon before the revolution, and people were talking about it at the time is all the evidence you're going to get (and it's all the evidence you could possibly hope to get). If that's not enough for you that's fine, but there's no reason for you to shout down people who think it is good enough.

And what's with you saying that I'm arrogant or that I don't know what I'm talking about? All I have to go on is news reports, I've never been to Tunisia. If you'd been there and were involved with the rebellion, maybe you'd have a point. But as it stands, I don't see any reason to think you know any more about it than I do.

Once again, I would like to reiterate to you how unnecessary and pointless your name-calling and inflammatory remarks are. If you don't want to talk to me, you don't have to reply. You're really just wasting your fingers typing all that. I'm not going to get upset and my feelings will not be hurt by some random person on the internet for calling me names.

Yes... Mac is all that and more. http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/feb/28/charlie-brooker-pfroblem-with-macs Of course all of my desktops and laptops at home and at work are Linux.

Facebook == Crimebook

This is the original article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/mar/02/ghostmarket-web-scam-teenagers

Bonus picture of kid being a douche.

Yes because Oceania has always been at war with Eastasia. Or was it Eurasia? So many enemies...

Allow me to alleviate your (feigned) bafflement. (For those who like to cut to the chase.)

Previously unseen tape shows bin Laden's declaration of war

Previously unseen tape shows bin Laden's declaration of war

A never-before-seen al Qaeda video obtained by CNN shows Osama bin Laden declaring war against the United States and the West.

The tape of a May 26, 1998, news conference is among 64 obtained in Afghanistan from a source, who said the tapes were found in an Afghan house where bin Laden had stayed. Experts say the collection of tapes sheds new light on al Qaeda's training, capabilities and mindset.

"By God's grace," bin Laden says on the tape, "we have formed with many other Islamic groups and organizations in the Islamic world a front called the International Islamic Front to do jihad against the crusaders and Jews."

"And by God's grace," he says at another point in the tape, "the men ... are going to have a successful result in killing Americans and getting rid of them."

CNN terrorism analyst Peter Bergen, who interviewed bin Laden a year earlier, believes the tape depicts a key moment for al Qaeda.

"They're going public," Bergen said. "They're saying, 'We're having this war against the United States.'"

Accompanying bin Laden on the video are Ayman Al-Zawahiri, bin Laden's right-hand man and inspirational ally, and military adviser Mohammad Atef, who died last November in coalition bombing.

Although a select group of Pakistani journalists and one Chinese writer were invited to witness as al Qaeda launched its jihad on the West, the event never got wide exposure because no independent videotaping was allowed.

Ismail Khan was one of the journalists there that day.

"We were given a few instructions, you know, on how to photograph and only take a picture of Osama and the two leaders who were going to sit close by him. Nobody else," Khan said.

Rohan Gunaratna, an international terrorism expert and author of "Inside Al Qaeda," suggests security was a key reason for keeping the video under wraps.

"Making that tape public would compromise the security of al Qaeda and of Osama bin Laden," he said. "They did not release that tape."

Among those who appear with bin Laden are the two sons of Sheik Abdul Rahman, the spiritual leader of those convicted of blowing up the World Trade Center in 1993. He is now in a U.S. prison for planning other attacks on New York.

Bergen says the significance of the sons' presence at the press conference "can't be underestimated." They distribute what they claim is the will of their father, which calls for attacks on Americans.

"The purported will states, 'Attack them on the sea. Attack them on the land. Attack them everywhere. Attack their economy,'" Bergen said.

The connection to Rahman, Bergen said, is key for bin Laden, who uses the sheik's spiritual guidance as a religious fig leaf from behind which bin Laden broadens his terror groups' appeal to radicals.

With hindsight, the important moments on the video are easy to pick out, including bin Laden hinting at an attack on U.S. targets.

Within 11 weeks of the declaration, al Qaeda attacked U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, in bombings that killed 224 people, including 12 Americans.

And perhaps almost as chilling, because it didn't happen, al-Zawahiri appears to justify an attack on the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, Egypt.

Bin Laden gave his peace terms in is letter to America. In short: covert to Islam as a nation, give up the US constitution and implement strict Sharia la

In case you didn't miss the next response to your parent, check it out: http://news.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=2020186&cid=35368210

He links to an article that answers your question: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/feb/02/wikileaks-exclusive-book-extract

I'm sure if you looked you could find more articles that strengthen the association, but the cables definitely had an effect in confirming the Tunisians' suspicions about the extravagance and corruption of their ruling elite and pushing them further toward revolution. Maybe they would have revolted without the leaked cables, but the leaked cables definitely helped.