Slashdot Mirror

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/shortcuts/2013/mar/28/spamhaus-internet-attack-pr-stunt

Links screwed up: link1 link2

Well, I live in the UK and in the last year we've had http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20415689>this and this as the two biggest church news stories of the year. Whilst the majority think that the church *should* move with the times, and should allow women bishops, and should allow gay people into the church. The church (of england) as an organisation, still [b]actively discriminates[/b] against women and gay people. They have finally allowed gay clergy, it comes with the caveat that they must remain celibate (which is not equality in any sense of the word). When I see women bishops in the Church of England, a female pope in the vatican, and gay people openly welcomed into the church, will be the day that I stop pointing out the bigotry that exists within Christianity.

2011: Britain's hot spring could be result of shrinking Arctic Meteorologist Tim Woollings, of Reading University, said: "Climate models are starting to show some agreement that jet streams will shift slight closer to the poles in response to increases in greenhouse gases."

Woollings added. "The hot weather we had this year arose because the jet stream was deflected south. Last year, it occurred because the stream was deflected north. So it is still very difficult to predict what will happen."

2013: Scientists link frozen spring to dramatic Arctic sea ice loss Climate scientists have linked the massive snowstorms and bitter spring weather now being experienced across Britain and large parts of Europe and North America to the dramatic loss of Arctic sea ice.

According to Francis and a growing body of other researchers, the Arctic ice loss adds heat to the ocean and atmosphere which shifts the position of the jet stream – the high-altitude river of air that steers storm systems and governs most weather in northern hemisphere.

So, not very amazing at all. As the jet stream fluctuates it has large effects on the weather. Increased fluctuations lead to less stable and predictable weather patterns. Climate scientists have been consistent in predicting this loss of stability.

2011: Britain's hot spring could be result of shrinking Arctic Meteorologist Tim Woollings, of Reading University, said: "Climate models are starting to show some agreement that jet streams will shift slight closer to the poles in response to increases in greenhouse gases."

Woollings added. "The hot weather we had this year arose because the jet stream was deflected south. Last year, it occurred because the stream was deflected north. So it is still very difficult to predict what will happen."

2013: Scientists link frozen spring to dramatic Arctic sea ice loss Climate scientists have linked the massive snowstorms and bitter spring weather now being experienced across Britain and large parts of Europe and North America to the dramatic loss of Arctic sea ice.

According to Francis and a growing body of other researchers, the Arctic ice loss adds heat to the ocean and atmosphere which shifts the position of the jet stream – the high-altitude river of air that steers storm systems and governs most weather in northern hemisphere.

So, not very amazing at all. As the jet stream fluctuates it has large effects on the weather. Increased fluctuations lead to less stable and predictable weather patterns. Climate scientists have been consistent in predicting this loss of stability.

2011: Britain's hot spring could be result of shrinking Arctic
Meteorologist Tim Woollings, of Reading University, said: "Climate models are starting to show some agreement that jet streams will shift slight closer to the poles in response to increases in greenhouse gases."

2012: Met Office: Arctic sea-ice loss linked to colder, drier UK winters
Slingo told the MPs that there is "increasing evidence in the last few months of that depletion of ice, in particular in the Bering and Kara seas, can plausibly impact on our winter weather and lead to colder winters over northern Europe". She added that more cold winters mean less water, and could exacerbate future droughts.

2013: Scientists link frozen spring to dramatic Arctic sea ice loss
Climate scientists have linked the massive snowstorms and bitter spring weather now being experienced across Britain and large parts of Europe and North America to the dramatic loss of Arctic sea ice.

2011: Britain's hot spring could be result of shrinking Arctic
Meteorologist Tim Woollings, of Reading University, said: "Climate models are starting to show some agreement that jet streams will shift slight closer to the poles in response to increases in greenhouse gases."

2012: Met Office: Arctic sea-ice loss linked to colder, drier UK winters
Slingo told the MPs that there is "increasing evidence in the last few months of that depletion of ice, in particular in the Bering and Kara seas, can plausibly impact on our winter weather and lead to colder winters over northern Europe". She added that more cold winters mean less water, and could exacerbate future droughts.

2013: Scientists link frozen spring to dramatic Arctic sea ice loss
Climate scientists have linked the massive snowstorms and bitter spring weather now being experienced across Britain and large parts of Europe and North America to the dramatic loss of Arctic sea ice.

2011: Britain's hot spring could be result of shrinking Arctic
Meteorologist Tim Woollings, of Reading University, said: "Climate models are starting to show some agreement that jet streams will shift slight closer to the poles in response to increases in greenhouse gases."

2012: Met Office: Arctic sea-ice loss linked to colder, drier UK winters
Slingo told the MPs that there is "increasing evidence in the last few months of that depletion of ice, in particular in the Bering and Kara seas, can plausibly impact on our winter weather and lead to colder winters over northern Europe". She added that more cold winters mean less water, and could exacerbate future droughts.

2013: Scientists link frozen spring to dramatic Arctic sea ice loss
Climate scientists have linked the massive snowstorms and bitter spring weather now being experienced across Britain and large parts of Europe and North America to the dramatic loss of Arctic sea ice.

"The lab has hired many prominent scientists to work on a variety of inventions including safer nuclear reactor designs and vaccine research"

The 'lab' is nothing more than a patent troll factory ..

"Intellectual Ventures and Lodsys

"this patent also seems to cover a big chunk of what happens on the Internet: upgrading software, buying stuff online, and what's called cloud storage. If you have a patent on all that, you could sue a lot of people. And, in fact, that's what's happening with Chris Crawford's patent. Intellectual Venures sold it to a company called Oasis research in June of 2010. Less than a month later, Oasis Research used the patent to sue over a dozen different tech companies, including Rackspace, GoDaddy, and AT&T."

I hear ya.

The counterbalance is that the UK is NOT the same as the US. They are in different places in the world and have different histories.

I personally know, and know people that know others who like to shoot guns at targets for practice just for the hell of it; they do not own and shoot because they feel the need for protection. That comes later, *if* needed. Those who are smart know that if you are to shoot someone, they must act in a manner to make you feel threat to your life first. If you aren't a licensed concealed carrier, you're pretty much limited to your home in most states. If you are to be justified in shooting someone, they must come in to your home and make you feel threatened for your life OR shoot at you first. Since this legal state is a stupid one, people may tend to overreact. When I say that, I refer to the lack of rights to use a gun on someone who you know to have one and simply feel threatened by them. If that right existed, people would feel a little less confident in acting out with a gun. Lacking that right, people feel a bit more grandiose, in that they are trying to *find a legally valid reason* in their heads to use their guns on others when they feel threatened with no recourse other than "waiting for the cops to show up". I'm sure the person who is approaching you and threatening you isn't going to say, "Oh, of course. I'll wait for the police to show up before I act out on your any further."

Moving on...

If you were to try and take the guns away from those who own them, the counter-response would be astronomical. Here in the good ol' US, we're used to freedom and rights. That's pretty much what it was founded on, eh? If you try to remove freedom or rights, people counter with an increased desire to HAVE said freedom/rights and to ACT to maintain them or regain them. You can't with 100% certainty say that the minds of those in the UK are the same as the US or say that the statistical data is relevant in an apples-apples sense.

people who carried guns were 4.5 times as likely to be shot and 4.2 times as likely to get killed compared with unarmed citizens. When the team looked at shootings in which victims had a chance to defend themselves, their odds of getting shot were even higher.

Okay, another quote from the article:

So Charles Branas's team at the University of Pennsylvania analysed 677 shootings over two-and-a-half years to discover whether victims were carrying at the time, and compared them to other Philly residents of similar age, sex and ethnicity. The team also accounted for other potentially confounding differences, such as the socioeconomic status of their neighbourhood.

Bad data. They are only accounting for people *IN* Philadelphia, PA. They aren't comparing gender, age, upbringing, income, ethnicity, or other factors *from other areas of the country/state/world*. Statistics do not account for hidden mental states. If they did, we would be able to read the mind by now. All they have to work with are the outcomes of the acts (in written legal cases) which may or may not have a complete set of information of the causes and effects of the individual person. In fact, they can never have a COMPLETE set of information; hell, if they did, we wouldn't really have much to talk about in this situation, would we?

And it's not even a case of law abiding UK citizens being defenceless. Because of the tight restrictions, there are less guns in circulation, and because less people are armed, crimes are far less lethal.
If a shop keeper were to be targeted here, no one would get shot, the perp'd just get hit upside the head with a chair & chased down the street.

I'd like to say what you're bringing up here is a good point, but it's lacking the mention of UK people trying to and succeeding in obtaining guns, as well.

I will a

Really? Why are we arguing over something so trivial as turning off a device for 15 minutes until you're in the air? We need instant gratification 100% of the time? Deal with it.
I'd rather not even chance my safety over something as stupid as a cellphone or e-reader.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2003/may/22/thisweekssciencequestions

It's not about devices that are broadcasting under normal conditions, or intended conditions. It's about malfunctioning devices. The last thing we need on the news is a blackbox recording of the pilots trying to communicate with the tower about a situation in which another plane is approaching and to take immediate actions to avoid a collision only to be drowned out by static, squeals, or Samuel L Jackson giving his speech about Ezekiel 21 and a slew of gunshots.

I honestly don't give a rip about you trying to get a last "OMG! takeoffz!" text in.

They got very cross and ran around screaming with their bare boobs out.

No, people want subsidized solar.

Lets spell it out: When the UK cut solar subsidies by 50% in 2012 demand fell by 90%.

There is no way to claim that everyone involved is benefiting when the tax payers are forced to partake. The entire point of forcing one person to pay for another is that the benefit isnt mutual. If the benefit was mutual, there would be no reason to force it.

Glenn Greenwald wrote a remarkably insightful column in the Guardian concerning this case.

Correct me if I'm wrong here, but I am pretty sure Afghanistan was very connected to 9/11

No more so than Florida, where the hijackers went to flight school.

I feel like this severely understates the relationship between the Taliban and Al Queda, but that you would not like to be convinced to the contrary.

The state of Florida was not complicit on many governmental levels in ensuring those hijackers were trained to fly planes. The buck stops at the licensing centre in Florida, or with the FAA (or whoever deals with that incredibly minor detail within the 9/11 event) in your incredibly imperfect analogy.

Were the Taliban not harboring many Al Queda operations and people connected to the attack?

The Taliban offered to hand over Bin Laddin if we offered evidence that he was guilty of what we were accusing him of doing. So, Iraq wasn't Bush's first bogus war of choice.

Even the FBI, a group that does not directly connect Bin Ladin to 9/11, connects the hijackers to Al Queda, which Bin Ladin founded and maintained a position of seniority in. I think we can both agree that Bin Ladin's death was a symbol for the masses, and that he intentionally kept his involvement in the scheme to a minimum from the get go. Hence why many other organizers of the event, senior ranking members of Al Queda generally, were taken out as there was hard evidence to do so. Not fake Iraq war evidence, which was all debunked within 1 month. The Taliban (rulers of Afghanistan at the time) were very clearly supporting the activities of Osama and Al Queda (once again, there is hard evidence for this) and Afghanistan is where these groups all started and mostly called home.

I don't know why I am entertaining your fantasies and engaging in your argument, but when I see ignorance as blind as yours I must respond.

Start with a little wikipedia to shed some light on the issue for yourself: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Responsibility_for_the_September_11_attacks

Correct me if I'm wrong here, but I am pretty sure Afghanistan was very connected to 9/11

No more so than Florida, where the hijackers went to flight school.

Were the Taliban not harboring many Al Queda operations and people connected to the attack?

The Taliban offered to hand over Bin Laddin if we offered evidence that he was guilty of what we were accusing him of doing. So, Iraq wasn't Bush's first bogus war of choice.

The Taliban no doubt enjoyed sticking up two fingers to the US over these alleged terrorists

By offering to hand over Bin Laddin if given evidence that the accusations against him were true?

Iraq wasn't the only bogus war of choice started by Bush.

He should get a harley.

A Harley? Nah man, Bush hasn't been the president since like... 2008.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2013/mar/11/facebook-users-reveal-intimate-secrets

Worse than Nixon according to the attorney who worked for the NY Times during the Nixon administration and was involved in the decision to publish the Pentagon Papers.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/mar/19/goodale-obama-press-freedoms-secrecy-nixon

Bugs for electronics, bird poop for science and now rats for engineering?

http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/images/h96000/h96566kc.htm
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2009/nov/06/cern-big-bang-goes-phut
http://www.aps.org/programs/outreach/history/historicsites/penziaswilson.cfm

It would be a lot easier if you published a link to the story: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/mar/16/activist-shocked-conviction-cameron-protest

Despite your hyperbolic tone, I agree with you. Here in the US when the president makes an appearance we now have "free speech zones", which is odd because I remember when the entire country was a free speech zone. The British approach is apparently to outlaw words that cause the PM "distress". To that the appropriate response is that they're supposed to cause distress! Quoting the American president Harry Truman on the pressures of office: "if you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen".

You're right. It has been abused but in practice, it could be worse. I've been on the receiving end of DMCAs before. It's easy enough to send a counter-notice. True, you have to identify yourself, but if you're really in fear of being identified (scientology, Islam) you can use a lawyer as a proxy. In the UK you can't even say "Scientology is a cult" without being prosecuted . Pick the redwood out of your own eye.

Put down the crack pipe

- never.

Manning wanted to embarrass the United States and he made that very clear in his statement in his court martial.

- wrong, either you are misinformed or lying on purpose.

full transcript

excerpts:

Up to this point,during the deployment, I had issues I struggled with and difficulty at work. Of the documents release, the cables were the only one I was not absolutely certain couldn't harm the United States. I conducted research on the cables published on the Net Centric Diplomacy, as well as how Department of State cables worked in general.

...

The more I read the cables, the more I came to the conclusion that this was the type of information that should become public. I once read a and used a quote on open diplomacy written after the First World War and how the world would be a better place if states would avoid making secret pacts and deals with and against each other.

I thought these cables were a prime example of a need for a more open diplomacy. Given all of the Department of State cables that I read, the fact that most of the cables were unclassified, and that all the cables have a SIPDIS caption.

...

I did not see anything in the 15-6 report or its annexes that gave away sensitive information. Rather, the investigation and its conclusions were and what those involved should have done, and how to avoid an event like this from occurring again.

...

The only place that you could possibly be referring to would be this part:

I believe that the public release of these cables would not damage the United States, however, I did believe that the cables might be embarrassing, since they represented very honest opinions and statements behind the backs of other nations and organizations.
In many ways these cables are a catalogue of cliques and gossip. I believed exposing this information might make some within the Department of State and other government entities unhappy. On 22 March 2010, I began downloading a copy of the SIPDIS cables using the program Wget, described above.

Yes, releasing very honest opinions behind the backs might be embarrassing to some organisations, you are however implying that it was his motive, which is false or a lie. It was not his motive, his motive was to ensure that the public knew what was done in its name:

The more I read, the more I was fascinated with the way that we dealt with other nations and organizations. I also began to think the documented backdoor deals and seemingly criminal activity that didn't seem characteristic of the de facto leader of the free world.

...

It detailed corruption within the cabinet of al-Maliki's government and the financial impact of his corruption on the Iraqi people. After discovering this discrepancy between the Federal Police's report and the interpreter's transcript, I forwarded this discovery to the top OIC and the battle NCOIC. The top OIC and the overhearing battle captain informed me that they didn't need or want to know this information anymore. They told me to quote "drop it" unquote and to just assist them and the Federal Police in finding out, where more of these print shops creating quote "anti-Iraqi literature" unquote.

I couldn't believe what I heard and I returned to the T-SCIF and complained to the other analysts and my section NCOIC about what happened. Some were sympathetic, but no one wanted to do anything about it.

The only thing big about the xbox are the power supplies. XBox is not profitable. Is not now, nor has it ever been.

If you're going to just lie then I don't know what else to really say other than "you're a lying liar". Xbox has indeed been profitable, though it's gone down in the most recent report (R&D costs up probably due to pending 720 and due to gaming doing poorly lately).

"One reporter used a tool called Collusion to track who was tracking him; 105 companies tracked his Internet use during one 36-hour period"

I ran it on the Guardian, makes me wonder why a 'centre-left' newspaper spends so much effort in tracking what sites its readers visit online.

Collusion report on the Guardian : ajax.googleapis.com, chartbeat.com, cloudfront.net, criteo.com, doubleclick.net, guim.co.uk, imrworldwide.com, optimizely.com, outbrain.com, quantserve.com, scorechartresearch.com, wunderloop.net

The guardian article on this makes an odd comment:

A Reuters spokeswoman said the company was reviewing the matter but pointed out that the alleged action occured more than a year before Keys joined.

If that's true how did he obtain the data in the first place, and how does this mesh with claiming to be a former employee? Did he hack the site first, claim to be a former employee, give the data to Anon and then join the company or what? Or is something being miscommunicated here?

They do not have a working bomb but they certainly have a program

Even the U.S. and Israel admit Iran has no nuclear weapons program.

Link 1. Link 2.

What fantasy world do you live in where Iran is a peaceful loving nation?

Reality. Feel free to visit it any time.

The United States has: overthrown Iran's democratically elected government, backed a torture loving dictator in the Shah, shot down an Iranian passenger jet, backed Iraq when it attacked Iran, committed an act of war with Stuxnet, has either assassinated Iran's nuclear scientists or aided our client state Israel in doing so, and has spent years violating international law over the nuclear weapons program we admit they don't have.

What Iran hasn't done:

Overthrown socialisticy democracies in favor of capitalistic dictators, launched two illegal wars of choice, set up a world-wide torture regime, set up a world-wide system of gulags, shredded it's own Constitution to deal with a "threat" less severe than a slip in a bathtub, and engaged in illegal covert wars across the world with drones.

Stick that in your jingoistic, American-exceptionalist ass and smoke it.

Meanwhile at the DOD: Pallets of shrinkwrapped Benjamins equal to 13 years of savings from NASA budget cuts simply vanished and no one can explain where they went.

THIS IS WHY WE CAN'T HAVE NICE THINGS.

It's easier to commit crimes against humanity when they are going to be pinned to a different name than yours.

He didn't know of anything wrong, he didn't want to fix something, he didn't see some injustice. He just released documents in mass in the hopes that something would show up.\

You claim to know what Manning thought process was, yet in the link provided you can hear Manning himself say the exact opposite of what your claiming: He saw US soldiers persecuting people complaining about corruption by handing them off to be tortured and killed as being wrong, and it was a gave injustice that he wanted to fix because nobody else including his superiors wanted to know. He also talks at length about how he considered the pros/cons of releasing the documents of certain clearance levels before actually doing so.

Considering this is the first time Manning has had a chance to get his side of the story out to the world, perhaps you can be forgiven for being ignorant of his reasoning...

Considering the bleeding wound which is life in Iraq today you were trying for sarcasm, weren't you?

Wow, sucks to be them.

Buoyed by an increase in oil production and declining violence, Iraq's economy is showing signs of life.

Iraq has boosted oil production to 3 million barrels a day with the help of international oil companies. That's up from the 2.5 million barrels before the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. The government expects to expand capability to 10 million barrels a day in six years, which would put it at the top of world oil producers.

Baghdad streets are jammed with late-model cars, and restaurants and cafes are open well into the night. People have more disposable income and can buy an infinite array of consumer goods. "There is a sense money is percolating," says Kevin Carey, a senior economist at the World Bank.

The International Monetary Fund forecasts Iraq's economy will grow 11.1% this year to about $144 billion . . .

Last year, Iraq attracted $55.67 billion in foreign investment and other commercial activity, a 40% increase from the previous year, according to Dunia Frontier Consultants. . . .

Last year, China's investment and other business activity in Iraq was valued at more than $3 billion, according to Dunia. South Korea ranked No. 1, with about $12 billion in Iraq, according to the report. A South Korean real estate developer is in negotiations on a deal potentially worth $35 billion to build 500,000 housing units and related infrastructure, according to Dunia.

. . . consumers are ready to spend. Stores are jammed with microwaves, computers, air conditioners and wide-screen televisions.

"In one day, we might sell 75 cars in this showroom," says Ali Alrobaiy, a marketing official for a large car dealer in Baghdad. "It's a huge market.". . . ---- Iraq's economy shows signs of growth

How?! How will they get by without Saddam to destroy villages with chemical weapons, steal the oil money to buy arms and build yet another palace? Who will replace the genius of his sons?

Dear Mr Blair. . .

It's funny to me that the NYT posted this at all, because they're engaging in a counterfactual about what could have happened if they had done their fucking jobs.

Bradley Manning tried to get in touch with a number of traditional media outlets, the NYT included, before giving up on traditional outlets and just dumping the files to Wikileaks. He discussed this, and many other things, in a statement he read at his pre-trial hearing. The Times tries to blame their failure on Bradley, but the ball was in their court and they chose not to follow up on it.

The funny thing is, he actually tried to go to them first. He tried the traditional media outlets and when none of them could be bothered to give him the time of day, he dumped the files to Wikileaks. He called the NYT before he went to Wikileaks, but they never called him back.

It's all in a statement he read out at his last pre-trial hearing: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/mar/01/bradley-manning-wikileaks-statement-full-text

Republicans are on the record as vowing to block anything the Obama attempts to do.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/apr/26/democrats-gop-plot-obstruct-obama

And yes, Obamacare is so socialist that it is virtually identical to a health care plan the the Republicans came up with several years back.

Obama is not trying to take away your guns or your Second Amendment rights. If you had been paying attention, you would have realized that he's trying to take away your Fourth Amendment rights.

Manning was a danger to nobody... except maybe Anna Nicole Smith, who just happens to be dead by the way...

But seriously, the weather... when someone actually has real info that could be what you might call 'embarrassing', we all know the routine.

Government/corporate secrets are quite safe.

None of this would be known: Revealed: Pentagon's link to Iraqi

"A full audio recording of the whistleblower is released today despite a court prohibition on such recordings"

Whistle-blowers would do well to stay far away from their "Anti-Censorship Shelter" or they may find themselves in Mannings boat.

But they can't say they are canceling the armistice then continue to comply with the armistice.

Why not? Just because they *appear* to be complying with a contract does not mean that they are following a contract. Maybe they aren't interested in physical combat and instead start attacking vital systems of South Korea, US, etc. Wouldn't that be the same thing?

I'm not familiar with the terms of the armistice, but a few days ago Guardian columnist Aidan Foster-Carter talked about "dozens of South Koreans" commuting cross the border to supervise workers in the city of Kaesong, North Korea, in an arrangement established under the former Sunshine Policy. Although the Sunshine Policy ended in 2008, neither side has ended the commuting arrangement, thus it potentially serves as a warning indicator of the seriousness of worsening relations between the Koreas.

is that you just catching on to that?

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/12/arts/television/doomsday-preppers-and-doomsday-bunkers-tv-reality-shows.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2012/aug/30/america-religious-fundamentalists-rewrite-history

Slashdot should stop the Iran bashing already

So, when the Iranian government imposes yet another new repressive measure to build on its existing repressive measures against the Iranian people that result in death, mutilation, torture, and other atrocities, your concern is that people on Slashdot don't criticize - don't say harsh things against the Iranian government? I think there is a word for that, Mr. Liberty.

If you think the Iranian government is for peace, you aren't listening carefully.

All Iran is saying,
is give cutting people into pieces a chance.

Iranian Women Prisoners Detail Torture

Iran as continual regional menace
Iran's Menace in Azerbaijan
15,000 Elite Iranian special-ops 'head' to Syria ---- Iran confirms it has forces in Syria ...
Gulf states lash out at Iran 'interference'

The six members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) said in a statement that Tehran's actions were threatening regional security and stability.
The GCC said it "rejects and denounces" Iran's "continued interference" in their internal affairs and Tehran must "immediately and completely stop these actions and policies that increase regional tension and threaten security and stability".

Iranian Bomb Suspects 'Targeted' Israelis, Thai Police Say
Report: Turkey thwarts Iran weapons shipment to Hezbollah
      Why Hezbollah is sitting on 40,000 rockets and missiles ...
            Iran and Hezbollah: The Balance of Power Shifts in Lebanon
Afghanistan war logs: Iran's covert operations in Afghanistan
Iran Steps Up Threats to Rub Out Israel

Discussing the record of Iran's actions and behavior doesn't constitutes "warmongering."

Slashdot should stop the Iran bashing already

So, when the Iranian government imposes yet another new repressive measure to build on its existing repressive measures against the Iranian people that result in death, mutilation, torture, and other atrocities, your concern is that people on Slashdot don't criticize - don't say harsh things against the Iranian government? I think there is a word for that, Mr. Liberty.

If you think the Iranian government is for peace, you aren't listening carefully.

All Iran is saying,
is give cutting people into pieces a chance.

Iranian Women Prisoners Detail Torture

Iran as continual regional menace
Iran's Menace in Azerbaijan
15,000 Elite Iranian special-ops 'head' to Syria ---- Iran confirms it has forces in Syria ...
Gulf states lash out at Iran 'interference'

The six members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) said in a statement that Tehran's actions were threatening regional security and stability.
The GCC said it "rejects and denounces" Iran's "continued interference" in their internal affairs and Tehran must "immediately and completely stop these actions and policies that increase regional tension and threaten security and stability".

Iranian Bomb Suspects 'Targeted' Israelis, Thai Police Say
Report: Turkey thwarts Iran weapons shipment to Hezbollah
      Why Hezbollah is sitting on 40,000 rockets and missiles ...
            Iran and Hezbollah: The Balance of Power Shifts in Lebanon
Afghanistan war logs: Iran's covert operations in Afghanistan
Iran Steps Up Threats to Rub Out Israel

Discussing the record of Iran's actions and behavior doesn't constitutes "warmongering."

I visited Stallman's site to see what he had to say on the passing of his comrade Chavez, and it didn't disappoint. But what he cited was a hoot - blaming Venezuela for global warming, er, heating, due to them exporting their oil.

Only problem - Chavez too needed money, and Stallman never explained to him how he too could be better off by ending Venezuela's oil exports and selling free, sorry, libre software instead. Now, if only Stallman could put together an online petition suggesting that Chavez's body be made available for necrophilia - Stallman's own #2 choice after scientific experimentation.

#1 Total emissions *per year* : China
#1 Total emissions : USA
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/apr/21/countries-responsible-climate-change

It all depends on how you define "#1".
Given that the atmosphere doesn't really care if it's still 2012 or already 2013 or how many people it took to release those GTons of CO2, I'm pretty sure the US is the #1 greenhouse gas emitter.
Not per capita, not per year, just overall :
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/apr/21/countries-responsible-climate-change
USA : 28.8%
China: 9%
Russia: 8%

GP was totally correct.

Considering the administration's attacks on whistleblowers, irony abounds.

Nobody says we're treating particle physicists like "priests"

Whilst I agree with your comment in general, you're about a week behind the times on that one.

If you scrutinize the article, Sergei Bulat is quoted as saying the organism has less than 86% "DNA similarity" to other species. Taken at face value, this means that the entire genome of the bacterium is less than 86% similar, which (a) requires isolating it first and months of work, and (b) would not be impressive at all, since Escherichia coli genomes have much higher variety.

He then goes on to say that 90% is the threshold beyond which a species is considered completely unknown. This is an appropriate figure to give when discussing the evolution of one particular gene called the 16S ribosomal RNA, which is very important to cellular function and changes very slowly. It's also a standard test to use in the analysis of bacterial communities, and one of the core tools in metagenomics, because it's very unique to species and hence an excellent fingerprint. If you need citations to back up this claim, I can give you oceans of them. This is my actual day job.

So how divergent is 100 – 86 = 14%? This article references a standard 1% every 50 million years. 14 * 50 = 700 million years. This figure is quite possibly too low in this case, since evolution has a non-linear effect on sequences—eventually mutations flip multiple times, and so large numbers of changes get masked. This rate of change can be sped to 2% every 50 million years if the environment is exceptionally rich and predator-free, like inside certain cells in insects—but that's largely because the host cell is available to a degree to provide nutrients, so proper ribosomal function isn't as important.

This doesn't mean necessarily that this species has been completely isolated the whole time, just that we haven't found any surviving links. If it previously existed in a cave system, for example, that entire community could have been wiped out when Antarctica froze, leaving behind only a stub of organisms that were sheltered by the heat (and food chain) emanating from the thermal vent. Cave ecosystems often contain numerous species that have adapted so tightly to their niche that they are unable to survive outside.

That being said, this expedition has already made crap up for publicity stunts. As this hasn't been published in any journals yet and was instead released to the press first, it's entirely possible that no such species exists. Nevertheless, the claim of 14% divergence will be interpreted by other experts as more than half a billion years.

He was given a sample of water from the lake before they had punched through—so... ten years ago, I'd guess? At the latest?

Maybe Cuba, but Cuba had a policy of being the spearhead of a Soviet attack on the U.S., so was genuinely hostile.

Cuba was a response the United States putting missiles in Turkey, aimed at the Soviet Union. Ah, nothing like American exceptionalism in action.

We're currently at war though, with Al-Qaeda and their allies and people we don't even bother to claim have an Al Qaeda affiliation.

Fixed that up a bit. OBL's Al Qaeda was destroyed years ago, and the AUMF was explicitly limited to those who planned and carried out the attacks on 911. Which, funnily enough, hasn't included invading Saudi Arabia, but countries that didn't have anything to do with it in the first place (Iraq) or where the government offered to hand over OBL if Bush would just give some evidence that our accusations were correct (Afghanistan).

We bombed Al-Qaeda bases and camps in Afghanistan in return for their bombing our embassy in Nairobi; we didn't consider the embassy bombing an act of war.

The problem is that we're trying to have it both ways. We call accused terrorist criminals to deny them the rights of POW's, then say we're in a war to deny the accused the rights of criminals. Pick one and stick with it.

Iraq was our enemy because Saddam Hussein said it was. It's that simple.

Simply BS. Saddam's blustering was for the benefit of his neighbors, chiefly Iran, who for some reason still harbored a grudge over that whole invasion thing. American intelligence agencies knew perfectly well that Saddam had no WMD's or WMD program. Remember the whole PNAC planning an invasion of Iraq months before 911?

The U.S. has never stolen resources from anyone.

Please tell me you're snarking here. Please tell me no one with Internet access and some education is this ignorant.

Never stolen resources? Land is a resource, and we stole most of this country from the people that were living on it. Stole more land in Hawaii after supporting a business coup, a raft of islands in the Spanish-American civil war. Stole Iran's oil by overthrowing their democratically elected government, and tried to do the same thing in Venezuela.