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That's geopolitical consultant, you insensitive clod ;-). Pushing for the downfall of a superpower so you can flood a desperate, depressed region with tobacco - you've got to hand it to her, she's worse than any fictional supervillain.

Ken Clarke's achievement is almost more disturbing, as he went from being a pro-tobacco health secretary (the competition in the NHS which the BMA have just spoken up against, again, started with him) to 10 years as a director of British-American Tobacco before making a return into today's government. The only problem he had with Thatcher was that he never had the chance to take over her position. Some people regard him as a more moderate and reasonable Tory; I regard him as one of the most clever but most nasty.

See This. There are plenty of other articles about it, just google for 'Food Speculation'. It's fact. A nasty, unpleasant fact. But Fact. There's more to it then simple speculation. I'll admit the exact details of the systems escape me, but it was a break down in regulations that were written for the express purpose of preventing pricing spikes.

You are trying to change the subject once again - why are you talking about the days of communism and the Pravda?

I'm talking about the year of 2010 when a record heat wave hit Russia and other parts of Eastern Europe. You started with this bold-faced lie:

[...] shortages of supply in commodities? On which planet?

I gave you the link: here it is again ("Russian wheat export ban threatens higher inflation and food riots") . That article predicted food inflation before last year's big run-up in food commodity prices.

Here's more pictures from that record heat-wave ("Wildfire Pictures: Russia Burns, Moscow Chokes") , unprecedented in Russia's 200 years history of meteorological record keeping.

The year 2010 was also the hottest year on record, with record low Arctic ice early this year ("Arctic warmth: Sea ice at record low levels in January [2011]") .

Can you read, liar? Can you think? Do you really think that with major wheat production areas on fire or hit by record draught and with population growing ever faster wheat production is just business as usual and prices will stay super low?

[...] shortages of supply in commodities? On which planet?

On the third (blue) planet of the Solar System, Milky Way, liar.

It is clearly not the planet you are living on.

Oil shortages? Peak oil shortages in supply combined with unprecedented growth of oil demand from China.

Sugar shortages? Record bad weather in Brasil and a record typhoon in Australia hitting the biggest sugar production area (global warming, anyone?) hurting supplies combined with unprecedented sugar demand from India - the largest sugar consumer on the planet.

Wheat shortages? Unprecedented heat-wave in Russia (global warming, anyone?) and a wheat export ban by Russia - combined with weak wheat production elsewhere as well.

Do basic supply and demand pressures mean anything on the planet you live on? Do you know the concept of inflexible demand, where advanced countries will pay pretty much any price to get the wheat they want, even if it means that they starve poorer countries?

But you really need to address the lies of yours I've already exposed, before getting into new topics ...

What's the difference between a GM crop and a non-GM crop by the way?

The GM crop contains genetic sequences not in the genome of the altered species. That's the whole fucking point. The "it's no different than selective breeding!" argument is ludicrous.

GM crops are about profit, not about science and certainly not about feeding people (they have lower yields). Ordinary cross-breeding (which can be supplemented by genetic analysis) gives better and safer results, both for the consumer and the environment.

Notice where no one programmed the thing with any logic about when to pay out? They are relying on math to handle the payouts.

I can't comment on the USA, but in the UK this simply isn't so. They *could* rely on maths to handle the payouts, but at least some of them go with pre-determined ones. See this for example.

Sadly, they are.

Smart people realize that they cannot multitask and do anything well... so they just don't.

And if you think every other government doesn't do exactly the same thing, then you're a fucking retard.

True, but consider that Bush quite freely admits that God told him to invade Iraq and that it was a holy crusade. Shame God couldn't also tell him there were no WMD there. The fact that a Country with frequently elects religious fundamentalist presidents who genuinely believe invisible men are telling them to invade other nations, also has enough nuclear weapons to extinguish all life on the planet. Yes this deserves some serious scrutiny and a man willing to risk his freedom and his life exposing the dirty things their military and global corporations get up to does actually deserve some kind of recommendation.

Now read through this staggeringly long list of military engagements and consider how many of them were necessary :- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_United_States_military_operations#2000.E2.80.932009

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/bush-god-told-me-to-invade-iraq-509925.html

You can say they don't 'need' to steal the research, but the evidence of Chinese born espionage in the US is blatant. And if you follow corporate and government level espionage in the news you would know that you would bet China if betting your life on who did it.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/spy/spies/

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/11/19/national/main5708534.shtml

http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/military/news/3319656

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/foremski/chinese-spies-use-cyber-hacking-and-sexual-blackmail/1104

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2008-02-12/news/shuttlespy12_1_space-technology-military-technology-republic-of-china

http://www.haohaoreport.com/ChinaNews/Chinese-spy-gets-more-than-15-years-in-prison

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/fbi-arrests-chinese-spies-over-theft-of-military-data-781090.html .............

Seriously, just open your eyes or start paying attention. NASA has been infiltrated by Chinese spies on several occasions. This policy is rational and safe and is a better/safer choice than any potential 'crippling of research' as you put it.

But go ahead pretending this isn't real... go ahead.. I only copied the first few things I looked up, but the truth is about every 3-4 months I read about another Chinese spy in the US. Yet it takes years before I read about ANY OTHER NATION spying (or getting caught at least).

Snowfalls are now just a thing of the past

http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/snowfalls-are-now-just-a-thing-of-the-past-724017.html

BTW, wasn't Britain supposed to get drier winters with no snow because of 'global warming', not wetter ones? When did that change?

citation needed

Start here: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/secret-memos-expose-link-between-oil-firms-and-invasion-of-iraq-2269610.html for the British interest when it looked like America and one or two other countries would get all the oil and continue with your own research.

If you're in America, you probably don't use oil from as far away as Iraq - there's a couple of countries to the south that you mostly buy from, with some the north. Look up "oil speculation" and "limited resource" for further information on its price (really limited or artificially like diamonds I could tell you, but considering how much is being spent to get it out of tar sands I'd expect the former)

Actually Apple raked in the profit, mostly at AT&T's expense.

Apple is the the largest handset maker when measured by Revenue.

While slipping to a dismal third in terms of actual smartphones sold Apple rakes in more money than anyone.

The odd thing is just how proud of this Apple fans are. Imagine being told you are being overcharged (gouged) for your device and saying "thank you sir, may I have another".

Yes it is economical, both in California and Sweden. In fact, Google is currently investing 168M into a solar plant in California. The US deploys enough solar panels every 18 months to replace the output of an entire nuclear reactor.

Germany has made it their goal to reach 35% of electricity generation by 2020 and they aren't a sunny climate (solar panels produce even when it's cloudy). They've already achieved nearly 20% of their entire electricity production from renewables. Ignoring capacity factor, Germany has deployed enough solar panels at peak production to replace the average production output from Fukushima's six reactors.

Sweden has an even more aggressive schedule -- 49% of energy by 2020. They're already at 44%. Sweden Leads the European Union

Ultimately the resistance to renewables comes down to people not recognizing that renewables are getting every year after year while non-renewables and the fuel they consume keeps getting more expensive year by year.

http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/snowfalls-are-now-just-a-thing-of-the-past-724017.html This is where models will get you when they aren't verified or validated.

I thought the same when I saw the following story:

UN staff beheaded as Afghans rage against pastor who burnt Koran
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/un-staff-beheaded-as-afghans-rage-against-pastor-who-burnt-koran-2260108.html

There are certain parts of the world that could be sucked in to the bowels of the earth with nothing of value being lost save some interesting lamb dishes.

They were even dumber. The Independent wrote:

The alleged manipulations came to light because Mr Marzolo did not have a mobile telephone of his own. As a result of financial problems he had been barred by all mobile companies. His telephone had been loaned to him by another senior player for whom he once worked, Joanna Pomian, the vice president of the federation.

During the championship, she accidentally discovered a message from Mr Hauchard in Russia which read: "Hurry up and send the moves." She checked the records of the line and found Mr Marzolo had sent 180 messages to the other accused men during the competition. Most consisted of telephone numbers.

It mention the chess program used is called "Firebird". From google there are many reference for it in various chess forums as an open source chess engine but I can't find an official page in English.

One month, that is how long I give it before this gets used to block sites for non-piracy reasons. Like a site that talks about BitTorrent community activity or a competitor who infringes a patent for two random examples. Make my words, this will be used for political suppression even if it isn't the government doing it.

You're over two years - possibly much more - too late. The UK ISP industry already has the technology in place to block more-or-less any site they like and to administer that blocking from a single, central location which then gets pushed out to most of the big providers. The thing is it mostly went under the radar for two reasons:

1. It wasn't widely publicised.
2. It was mostly centred around blocking of child porn.

Odds on this is about adding another category to the list of things they consider acceptable to block.

(For those who didn't know about this: Citation 1 Citation 2 - and the actual organisation responsible for this list)

The thing that did come up around that time was that not only are ISPs blocking dodgy material, many are doing so in a fashion that ensures the end user is blissfully unaware it's happening - either by resetting TCP connections or intercepting with an HTTP 404. At the time this all happened, one ISP was putting up a message saying "Sorry, I can't let you see that" (so the technology used does make that possible) but that ISP was in a minority.

According to the Independent, this whole thing is basically about people having no jobs and no food. Social media and wikileaks maybe were an extra drop, but people are usually not willing to die for more freedom. They are for feeding their kids.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/the-price-of-food-is-at-the-heart-of-this-wave-of-revolutions-2226896.html

Here is an except that proves anonymous post is correct:

But even Unabombers are not infallible. Exulting in his apparent mastery of the FBI, the master criminal made his mistake, in the form of a 35,000- word treatise on the "Future of Industrial Society", which he submitted to the Washington Post and New York Times. If they published the rambling, anti-technology manifesto, the writer said, he would cease his campaign. After much soul-searching, the two papers did so on 20 September 1995, on the advice of the FBI.

Relatives in Chicago were struck by similarities between some of Ted Kaczynski's earlier writings and the rambling musings of the Unabomber's tract, and eventually his brother informed the FBI. And so the trail of 18 years, dotted with 200 detained suspects along the way, led to a hand- built cabin near the Continental divide. But the tale may not yet be over.

Here is the article from the Independent.

I recollected that this was how the Unabomber was finally caught, via relatives who read his writings and recognized him... I respect that some mods might not like anonymous cowards, but if they are correct they should not be modded down, at least not to be fair.

I don't see the word "all" in his post. Just "the".

As we've seen, doing anything that antagonizes "the muslims" will get you targeted by the violent muslims, of whom there is no shortage.

Which, again, makes them like almost all religions. There are a few religions that don't have as much violence to them. But even Buddhists like to kick a little ass from time to time.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/buddhist-monks-riot-injures-40-1188655.html

My position isn't weak, yours is delusional, and the Amish have nothing to do with the topic under discussion. You can walk away from being Amish. You won't be hauled into court by the state and put on trial for your life simply because you changed your beliefs.

You don't want to discuss honor killings I see. Is that because your position is destroyed by their very existence?

These are all facets of the same problem. Egypt is far more advanced in the the area of women's rights than most countries in the region, but even there they have a long way to go.

Well whatever Wikileaks is alleging Domscheit-Berg of doing (stealing wikileaks' info, sabotaging their server), it happened a while ago. They're only throwing a fit NOW and threatening to sue because Berg's new book about his experience in Wikileaks hit the bookstores today.

Apparently the book alleges that Assange once threatened to kill Berg over their differences, was intensely paranoid and began travelling with bodyguards, and ruled over his followers as an "emperor".

Although the GP post was a bit harsh, there is no denying that the BBC, one of the great institutions of British society, is biased as an institution. It has been admitted repeatedly by the BBC over the years on various matters (and you don't have to read it in the Daily Mail). Perhaps the first one I quote from 1994 helps explain the others.

Birts admits BBC has London bias - Friday, 25 March 1994
The BBC is too London- based and 'must make a huge leap forward in reflecting life, activity, culture and events in the whole of the UK,' John Birt, the corporation's director-general said yesterday.

In a speech in Glasgow, Mr Birt conceded that the BBC had 'developed far too much' in London, where more than 80 per cent of network television and radio programmes were made.

Yes, we are biased on religion and politics, admit BBC executives - 22.10.06
BBC executives have been forced to admit what critics have known for years - that the corporation is institutionally biased.

The revelation came after details of an 'impartiality' summit called by its chairman, Michael Grade, were leaked.

Senior figures admitted that the BBC is guilty of promoting Left-wing views and an anti-Christian sentiment.

They also said that as an organisation it was disproportionately over-represented by gays and ethnic minorities.

It was also suggested that the Beeb is guilty of political correctness, the overt promotion of multiculturalism and of being anti-American and against the countryside.

During the meeting, hosted by Sue Lawley, executives admitted they would happily broadcast the image of a Bible being thrown away - but would not do the same for the Koran.

BBC was biased against Thatcher, admits Mark Thompson - 02 Sep 2010
The BBC was "massively" biased against Margaret Thatcher and journalists allowed their left-wing politics to set the corporation's agenda, director-general Mark Thompson has admitted.
Critics of the BBC have long accused it of left-wing bias and a hatred of the former Tory leader.

Confirming their fears, Mr Thompson said: "In the BBC I joined 30 years ago there was, in much of current affairs, in terms of people's personal politics, which were quite vocal, a massive bias to the left.

"The organisation did struggle then with impartiality. And journalistically, staff were quite mystified by the early years of Thatcher."

Why the BBC ignored the Holocaust: Anti-Semitism in the top ranks of broadcasting and Foreign Office staff led to the news being suppressed, says Stephen Ward - 22 August 1993
ANTI-SEMITISM in the higher ranks of the Foreign Office and the BBC during the Second World War led to a policy which suppressed news about Germany's attempt to exterminate European Jews, new research will show this week.

The attitude was reinforced by a belief that the British population was anti-Semitic and that anti-German propaganda about atrocities in the First World War, which was often fiction, had made the public sceptical of such stories. Early in the war the Government and the BBC agreed that this time, British propaganda would contrast Nazi 'lies' with British truthfulness and a 'good clean fight'.

Although the GP post was a bit harsh, there is no denying that the BBC, one of the great institutions of British society, is biased as an institution. It has been admitted repeatedly by the BBC over the years on various matters (and you don't have to read it in the Daily Mail). Perhaps the first one I quote from 1994 helps explain the others.

Birts admits BBC has London bias - Friday, 25 March 1994
The BBC is too London- based and 'must make a huge leap forward in reflecting life, activity, culture and events in the whole of the UK,' John Birt, the corporation's director-general said yesterday.

In a speech in Glasgow, Mr Birt conceded that the BBC had 'developed far too much' in London, where more than 80 per cent of network television and radio programmes were made.

Yes, we are biased on religion and politics, admit BBC executives - 22.10.06
BBC executives have been forced to admit what critics have known for years - that the corporation is institutionally biased.

The revelation came after details of an 'impartiality' summit called by its chairman, Michael Grade, were leaked.

Senior figures admitted that the BBC is guilty of promoting Left-wing views and an anti-Christian sentiment.

They also said that as an organisation it was disproportionately over-represented by gays and ethnic minorities.

It was also suggested that the Beeb is guilty of political correctness, the overt promotion of multiculturalism and of being anti-American and against the countryside.

During the meeting, hosted by Sue Lawley, executives admitted they would happily broadcast the image of a Bible being thrown away - but would not do the same for the Koran.

BBC was biased against Thatcher, admits Mark Thompson - 02 Sep 2010
The BBC was "massively" biased against Margaret Thatcher and journalists allowed their left-wing politics to set the corporation's agenda, director-general Mark Thompson has admitted.
Critics of the BBC have long accused it of left-wing bias and a hatred of the former Tory leader.

Confirming their fears, Mr Thompson said: "In the BBC I joined 30 years ago there was, in much of current affairs, in terms of people's personal politics, which were quite vocal, a massive bias to the left.

"The organisation did struggle then with impartiality. And journalistically, staff were quite mystified by the early years of Thatcher."

Why the BBC ignored the Holocaust: Anti-Semitism in the top ranks of broadcasting and Foreign Office staff led to the news being suppressed, says Stephen Ward - 22 August 1993
ANTI-SEMITISM in the higher ranks of the Foreign Office and the BBC during the Second World War led to a policy which suppressed news about Germany's attempt to exterminate European Jews, new research will show this week.

The attitude was reinforced by a belief that the British population was anti-Semitic and that anti-German propaganda about atrocities in the First World War, which was often fiction, had made the public sceptical of such stories. Early in the war the Government and the BBC agreed that this time, British propaganda would contrast Nazi 'lies' with British truthfulness and a 'good clean fight'.

Heh, it's been a while since I've cited that. I had to look it back up. Unfortunately, I can only find an article discussing the study in the limited time I have right now: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/higher/dr-paul-irwing-there-are-twice-as-many-men-as-women-with-an-iq-of-120plus-426321.html

And, also, I must correct myself: 20+ points away from norm is 2:1. 70+ points away from norm is still 30:1

(looks both ways, feeds troll)

Screw drilling. Perhaps you haven't noticed, but big oil is not so concerned about proceedure as they are about profit, which is exactly why Shell had deep water horizon explode like that. Moreover, it was not a singular incident. The federal investigation found systemic wrongdoing in many offshore drilling projects.

What I want to see, is land-based wind generation in areas suited to it. My home state could power at least 3 others if this were to come to fruition.

It is absolutely disgusting that people can build a new skyscraper in New York without any 'Environmental impact studies" on migratory birds, but somehow it becomes so very relevent as soon as we are talking about non-poluting power generation structures.

So, lawmakers want to appease everyone at the same time ? It may sound reasonable but then what happens when the next team of freak-ass idiots want a piece of the cake too, say for instance the 'drinking urine is good for your health' crowd ? Those same politicians will support introducing a 'drink your own urine' minute at school, right ? Of course they don't give a fuck, as they send their own kids to boarding schools across the country, so they'll probably support it out of spite instead of just not reading the bill.

Your point is valid, but they do not deny this. It is sometimes intended as a political statement:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/carter-awarded-nobel-peace-prize-while-chairman-attacks-bush-policies-607982.html

Dubai as a whole seems to be largely a mirage... (which isn't particularly unusual of course; but this one is stronger than usual)

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/the-dark-side-of-dubai-1664368.html (really worth reading)

I believe I was still living in Tampa during that period (I was moving around for work at the time), and don't remember anything about it.

    Thanks for the info though, it gave me enough to find a little something on it. I found this blurb, and this more complete story.

    The waitress was in Georgia. They were stopped on Alligator Alley, the stretch of I-75, where it goes East to West across the Southern end of Florida.

    This didn't involve any gov't agency leading "terrorist" suspects through acts, nor facilitating wanna-be terrorists to actions beyond their abilities. It was just the government fueled paranoia that made so many American civilians see terrorists behind every bush.

    Hell, even I was seen as a terrorist at some point. It wouldn't have been long after that, where I moved across the country. We packed up a 26' U-Haul truck with everything we owned, and drove across the country. We unloaded all of our household stuff at the new apartment, and left my toolbox (the big rolling cabinet type) and a NOS tank in the truck. We then drove it to a coworkers house to store it.

    On the final leg of the drive, the NOS tank came loose and went flying to the front of the truck, when yet another idiot driver cut me off (how do you not see a 26' moving truck?). The popoff valve started leaking.

    When we got there, I saw the tank spraying NOS. The tank was completely covered in frost (releasing a gas under pressure results in cooling the container). I tossed the tank out of the truck into the grass right beside where it was parked, and opened the valve so it would release all the pressure, and got a bit of frostbite on my hands. I then went back to the garage to talk with my coworker. Mental note, NOS being released in a confined area can be make you light headed. :)

    A neighbor saw the tank in the grass, and immediately thought "terrorist!" She called the police. When it was done releasing the gas, I walked over to get it, so I could put it in the garage. She came over and asked if it was mine. Since I'm a clean cut white man, obviously I wasn't what the government hyped as a "terrorist". I explained what it was, with a technical description of an oxidizer, that it was perfectly safe as long there wasn't spraying into a fire, etc. She told me what she had done, apologized, and suggested I should probably hurry to leave, as the police would be there soon. She promised to tell the police what I said when they arrive. I left, and the police didn't catch me, but it could have been a lot worse.

Note that if you read TFAs, the police were using sex to infiltrate "anti-racist groups". Oh the humanity!

I was startled at that too, but a little research suggested they -might- have cause. "Police infiltrating groups of people who are interested in violence and use 'anti-racism' as an excuse" might have been a more accurate description.

Or it might not, I really don't know anything about the subject, just that there could be a more legitimate reason than police are pro-racism.

"Children just aren't going to know what snow is," he said.

http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/snowfalls-are-now-just-a-thing-of-the-past-724017.html
No, making a prediction is not in and of itself science. However, if you have a scientific theory, historically the way to get it accepted was to make a prediction based on it and then go out and collect the data to see if your prediction is correct. So far my experience with AGW proponents is that they say that whatever unusual weather happens is what one would expect if AGW was true. Is it unusually warm? AGW. Is it unusually cold? AGW. Is it unusually dry? AGW. Is it unusually wet? AGW. that isn't science.

http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/snowfalls-are-now-just-a-thing-of-the-past-724017.html

"According to Dr David Viner, a senior research scientist at the climatic research unit (CRU) of the University of East Anglia,within a few years winter snowfall will become "a very rare and exciting event"."

However, the warming is so far manifesting itself more in winters which are less cold than in much hotter summers. According to Dr David Viner, a senior research scientist at the climatic research unit (CRU) of the University of East Anglia,within a few years winter snowfall will become "a very rare and exciting event". "Children just aren't going to know what snow is," he said.

Here is the article from which that was taken: http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/snowfalls-are-now-just-a-thing-of-the-past-724017.html

Conservatives, scientifically, are more scared of loud noises and scary pictures, were described as being frightened and easily offended as three year olds, and have a larger 'fear' center and smaller 'anticipation and decision-making' center

This isn't spin, it's established science. So seeing fear, anti-government sentiment, and a parroting of the Glenn Beckesque rhetoric that's unfortunately a large part of the news here in the US right now doesn't surprise me one bit.

Conclusion: In the age of three years, we were all conservatives.
So where's the conservative campaign to allow three-year olds to vote? :-)

Conservatives, scientifically, are more scared of loud noises and scary pictures, were described as being frightened and easily offended as three year olds, and have a larger 'fear' center and smaller 'anticipation and decision-making' center

This isn't spin, it's established science. So seeing fear, anti-government sentiment, and a parroting of the Glenn Beckesque rhetoric that's unfortunately a large part of the news here in the US right now doesn't surprise me one bit.

I think somebody did - that's why they've all moved to Lancashire.

Handguns are the number one murder weapon by far, outnumbering all the other weapons added together.

Except in the UK, where it is knives. Oh, and guns (in this gun controlled police state) still account for 9 percent of murders.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/scourge-of-the-most-common-murder-weapon-478909.html

Guns are #1 because guns are lethal and available. Ban them, and people will use other weapons. And they'll still use guns too, just not as frequently. AND you'll be trampling on the rights of millions. Good luck with that.

There are a couple of good excuses, actually, both of which are squarely on point to his case. One is the oath of office, the other is the Nuremberg principles.

He violated his oath, betrayed his country, and Nuremberg never came into it.

He got the so called 'Collateral Murder' thing wrong.

The United States will be paying the price for his hissy fit for years to come.

American diplomacy is in shambles. (Hopefully the Wikileaks revelation that China was willing to see North Korea go under doesn't push them into war, which is where they may be heading now.)

Getting your kid involved in dangerous stunts like these is uncalled for. This kid could've choked on a game piece, or something

Everyone has a few hidden DNA defects that would severely impact their health if ever triggered. If insurance companies took this at face value, no one would be insured, and they'd be out of business — a silly position for the companies to take. I would expect that it'd just be factored into their risk analysis, which already includes things with a high heritability (like family history of particular diseases).

I don't think it's a good idea to give an insurance company your entire genome sequence, but I think fears about that particular situation are somewhat unfounded.

Wikileaks is guilty only of receiving the data and publishing the parts they feel are morally justifiable to make public, not stealing, and not espionage, and certainly not treason (they aren't even eligible to commit that one).

Well, thats kind of the problem.

Taliban Study WikiLeaks to Hunt Informants
WikiLeaks Comes Under Fire from Rights Groups
Wikileaks Fails “Due Diligence” Review

This could turn into a feedback loop. If enough informants against the Taliban and Al Qaeda are killed as a result of Wikileaks, it could have consequences in the United States or Europe.

The diplomatic consequences have already been considerable.

What motivates Assange?

In December, 2006, WikiLeaks posted its first document: a “secret decision,” signed by Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, a Somali rebel leader for the Islamic Courts Union, that had been culled from traffic passing through the Tor network to China. The document called for the execution of government officials by hiring “criminals” as hit men. Assange and the others were uncertain of its authenticity, but they thought that readers, using Wikipedia-like features of the site, would help analyze it. They published the decision with a lengthy commentary, which asked, “Is it a bold manifesto by a flamboyant Islamic militant with links to Bin Laden? Or is it a clever smear by US intelligence, designed to discredit the Union, fracture Somali alliances and manipulate China?”

The document’s authenticity was never determined, and news about WikiLeaks quickly superseded the leak itself. Several weeks later, Assange flew to Kenya for the World Social Forum, an anti-capitalist convention, to make a presentation about the Web site. “ No Secrets

Assange the Anti-American

Manning supposedly had some encrypted chats with Assange prior to releasing any material. It will be very interesting if those come to light.

Heterosexual men actually rape more men than homosexual men, but don't let facts mess with your homophobic views!

The bigger news is that

'A number of theories have popped up as to why the North American honey bee population has declined — electromagnetic radiation, malnutrition, and climate change have all wrongly been pinpointed. Now a leaked EPA document reveals that the agency allowed the widespread use of a bee-toxic pesticide, despite warnings from EPA scientists.'

Climate change is ... not ... responsible for some calamity. Don't expect this to get much press coverage, resulting in the idiotic fact that you will hear regularly 5 years from now how climate change is responsible for the decline of bees in North America.

Like the gletsjer "misprint", that states every gletsjer will be gone by 2030, when they meant that if co2 keeps rising like it does today (ie. exponentially) they *might* be gone by 2300 (and ignoring the fact that if we burn all fossil fuel in the ground at the current rate, co2 increase will level out by 2080 at the latest (probably sooner), and the gletsjers will therefore keep existing no matter how badly we fuck things up).

This leads to the kind of remarks that we all know, like Snowfall in Britain will be a thing of the past. In case anyone's wondering how to blow up one's credibility in a single sentence : That was a pretty good way to go about it. IPCC claim : "Snowfall will be a thing of the past". Promptly dozens of people freeze to death, in a winter blast not seen for a hundred years (okay the second article is from the wrong year, but I couldn't find a better one, but there's been quite a few horridly cold winter blasts in europe now).

I wonder why idiots, especially in politics, keep repeating these things. When asked, they claim that even if it's a lie, it's for a good cause. That's another good way to blow up your credibility, as it's a blatant admission that the only reason you believe in the theory of climate change is the politics resulting from it. Exactly the accusation climate skeptics make.

That's one thing I truly don't understand. Suppose we burn all oil in the ground, and half of all coal. That will result in an athmospheric co2 concentration that is actually *below* the IPCC targets. So if we have no climate accords or treaties at all, we will do *better* (not worse) at keeping co2 out of the athmosphere than with the treaties in place. I truly don't understand why people act so hostile to these suggestions. And obviously, like most of the UN's actions, climate accords actually make things worse, not better.

> It really bothers you? How? Please tell me how I've ruined your shopping experience.

Many of these are obviously jokes, fine. I think what the OP was getting at is that there are nefarious purposes to which this can be put. Imagine if you want to "attack" a competitor, and make up a bunch of poor reviews (there have been court cases about this kind of thing, in this case about libel). Or, you could just boost your own product, or try to game the Amazon recommendation system to get your product recommended based on the fact that you "like" many popular items in a segment, plus this product.

Despite research on the topic, it's not going away anytime soon, just because it's obviously pretty hard to figure out when an "attack" on the system is happening (though there are some clues that have been used in automated detection, e.g. lots of similar rating events in a row, accounts used only to rate a few products, etc.).

"Within a few years winter snowfall will become a very rare and exciting event"

"Children just aren't going to know what snow is"

more snow = global warming
less snow = also more global warming?