Slashdot Mirror

A rock isn't that much harder to use effectively than a knife.

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/12/14/15901085-villager-slashes-22-kids-with-knife-at-elementary-school-gates-in-china?lite

No, Martin conducting a life endangering assault is literally what happened: Noted Forensic Pathologist Says Zimmerman Story “Consistent” with Evidence, As Defense Case Nears End

If anyone had a problem with thuggery, it was Martin.

Has State Opened Door to Defense Introducing Martin Fight Video?
Zimmerman judge excludes Trayvon Martin fighting, social media and marijuana use
Saturday Night Card Game (Would Zimmerman case have been filed if “creepy ass cracker” comment known?)
Trayvon Martin’s Involvement In Local Burglaries Covered Up By Media, School, Police, Prosecutors
Trayvon Martin was suspended three times from school

Zimmerman was on the phone with the police as a member of the neighborhood watch reporting Martins suspicious behavior. He wasn't "hassling" Martin. He did have a reason, and what he did was legal.

Trayvon Martin was a violent, racist sociopath, eh? Sounds like you're the one constructing a narrative separate from the facts.

There is certainly plenty to know.

Saturday Night Card Game (Would Zimmerman case have been filed if “creepy ass cracker” comment known?)

Trayvon Martin’s Involvement In Local Burglaries Covered Up By Media, School, Police, Prosecutors
Has State Opened Door to Defense Introducing Martin Fight Video?
Zimmerman judge excludes Trayvon Martin fighting, social media and marijuana use
Trayvon Martin was suspended three times from school

Noted Forensic Pathologist Says Zimmerman Story “Consistent” with Evidence, As Defense Case Nears End

Racial politics supported by State power come down on George Zimmerman
In Audio Recording, Department of Justice Official Urges Protesters to Seek ‘Justice’ for Trayvon Martin

Like in this case. Fla. mom gets 20 years for firing warning shots.

Oh, how typical of Illiberals to withdraw the inconvenient facts, when appealing to passionate, rather than rational... The link you gave us is surprisingly — for an article about a criminal case — devoid of the details, like what was the actual charge, for example... Thankfully, other reporters are still doing their job (which is to inform, rather than agitate the toiling masses). Here, for example, we find that the 20 years come from three counts of aggravated assault. The article also explains, why the jury did not buy neither the "self-defense" argument (which Zimmerman used successfully) nor the "stand your ground" argument (which Zimmerman did not use):

But a jury agreed with prosecutors that the law didn't apply because she left during the argument, got a gun and returned to confront him [emphasis mine], WJXT reported.

It costs me money either way. Either they're bumped from the health insurance that the company has and I have to subsidize because they're no longer insurable, or the costs for that particular policy goes up.

The situation isn't that black and white. There is a large swath of people that would have been dying before that are now kept alive for many more decades on a very expensive and unhealthy lifestyle (take your pick: ridiculous numbers of heart disease drugs perhaps: http://www.nbcnews.com/health/too-many-heart-pills-doctors-say-1C8845071). Believe it or not, EMTALA isn't a "cure-all". They might patch you up and send you on your way at the emergency room, but without maintenance drugs, nothing is stopping your next heart attack. Giving everyone a blank check to lead whatever lifestyle they wish w/ society footing the bill will be more expensive than the previous "heartless" way of doing it, guaranteed. Your belief that's it a zero sum game and merely a transfer of payment source is too simplistic.

On the one hand you have the certain embarrassment of questioning your superior, when it will probably turn out that they were right anyway, and you will have shown yourself as immature and rebellious. One the other hand you have a pretty distant possibility of something going wrong, though surely your more experienced senior would be reacting if there was a problem.

I'm a bit dubious about the cultural connection here, but I just want to point out that any difference is not due to disregard for people's lives.
Americans may not have the same stigma against confrontation, but they're not immune to inducing micromorts for short-term benefits. Maybe you'll find other motivations for negligence more "plausible", like laziness, greed or pride.

An example, it's not that these two pilots thought that managing their schedule were more important than the lives of their passengers, they just made a really bad judgment call and didn't think it would cause a problem. (Luckily, no one got hurt.)
Not to excuse it in any way - just to point out that at no point did these pilots make a conscious side-by-side choice between "use our laptops" and "get our passengers safely to their destination".

I won't speculate on your motives for making such easily disproven claim about Snowden's character.

Snowden to newspaper: I took contractor job to gather evidence

That would be Edward Snowden, the man who took a contractor job under false pretenses to steal what top secret classified information he could in 90 days. He then fled the United States for a city in the People's Republic of China, after which he fled to Russia due to an extradition request. Since his flight he has been dispensing classified information that has resulted in the compromise of secret intelligence programs and strained diplomatic relationships among multiple allied countries. He is currently under the protection of Russia's President Putin, a former career KGB officer, while he awaits the results of his applications for asylum. So far it appears he has three countries willing to offer him asylum, all are Latin American countries with an ideological disposition hostile to the US. The disposition of Snowden's four laptops of top secret data is unknown. The final damage toll of Snowden's actions will not be known for some time as he continues to leak information and terrorists groups are altering their communication methods in light of Snowden's leaks.

Despite applying to at least 20 countries for refuge to avoid U.S. prosecutors, Snowden’s choices now seem to boil down to a "trifecta" offer of asylum by three leftist and vocally anti-Washington, Latin American nations: Venezuela, Nicaragua and Bolivia. And maybe also Iceland. -- more

So Restore the Fourth and Fight for the Future. Attend rallies like this one last week, support privacy advocates, sign the petition to shut down the NSA Utah data center, or hell the petition to pardon Snowden.

Yeah, those firefighters never do shit. Why do I pay for them in my taxes?
We should have a system more like this: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2011/12/07/9272989-firefighters-let-home-burn-over-75-fee-again?lite

Do you have a citation on that? I did a little looking, but found some unexpected things instead.

Exclusive: Airbus Dreamliner Dossier Revealed

In a stunning and candid critique of its chief competitor, Airbus has crafted a comprehensive competitive analysis that touches on nearly every aspect of the troubled 787 programme gleaned from Boeing proprietary data and an embedded network of sources from inside the Dreamliner's global supply chain.

Competitive intelligence is a standard practice in the aerospace industry, but the information revealed in the Airbus analysis reveals a scope and specificity of the data collected.

The document includes what appear to be seven slides labelled BOEING PROPRIETARY with a format style used in Boeing presentations, including two that appear to have been photocopied, raising questions about the methods and sources the European consortium utilizes to collect its data.

Airbus claims the presentation, as well as its competitive intelligence gathering methods, fully comply with all laws. Though when approached about how the information was gathered, Airbus declined to address it specifically, suggesting that a lot of data labelled BOEING PROPRIETARY is freely available online. Airbus added that not all documents labelled BOEING PROPRIETARY are in fact proprietary. A spokesman emphasized that Airbus closely watches the market to draw its own conclusions, as do its competitors.

A search engine query for "Boeing Proprietary PPT" did not yield the slides in question.

Boeing Called A Target Of French Spy Effort

The Boeing Co. was among the targets of a French government plan for a massive spying effort to learn U.S. technological secrets and trade strategies, according to classified documents.

The plan targeted 49 high-tech companies, 24 financial institutions and six U.S. government agencies with important roles in international trade, the French documents show.

The plan focused on research breakthroughs and marketing strategies of leading-edge U.S. aerospace and defense contractors that compete directly with French firms.

The French also sought advance knowledge of the bargaining positions of American negotiators in trade talks involving France. The 21-page assignment sheet, prepared by the French equivalent of the Central Intelligence Agency, is considered authentic by senior U.S. experts.

Why We Spy on Our Allies

That's right, my continental friends, we have spied on you because you bribe. Your companies' products are often more costly, less technically advanced or both, than your American competitors'. As a result you bribe a lot. So complicit are your governments that in several European countries bribes still are tax-deductible.

When we have caught you at it, you might be interested, we haven't said a word to the U.S. companies in the competition. Instead we go to the government you're bribing and tell its officials that we don't take kindly to such corruption. They often respond by giving the most meritorious bid (sometimes American, sometimes not) all or part of the contract. This upsets you, and sometimes creates recriminations between your bribers and the other country's bribees, and this occasionally becomes a public scandal. ...

Why do you bribe? It's not because your companies are inherently more corrupt. Nor is it because you are inherently less talented at technology. It is because your economic patron saint is still Jean Baptiste Colbert, whereas ours is Adam Smith. In spite of a few recent reforms, your governments largely still dominate your economies, so you have much greater difficulty than we in innovating, encouragin

However, more recent studies show smokers DO cost more in healthcare than non-smokers:
NBCnews

That study is bull. It talks about the insurance cost to employers, but doesn't mention the insurance savings to Medicare. If you count the negatives but not the positives, it's small wonder that you'll get a negative answer. Tell me what conclusion you want to come to, and I can create a "study" to reach it.

Which is irrelevant to the discussion. The fact remains these people, like drug users, have made a choice to do something which is known to cause health issues. Why should the rest of us be forced to pay to protect them from their own choice?

Also, there are contradictory studies on how much smokers cost, to wit:

Abstract

However, more recent studies show smokers DO cost more in healthcare than non-smokers:

NBCnews

Further, the following article talks about not only smokers, but the obese. In both cases the response from people is, "It's my life, I can do with it as I want." Which is correct. With few exceptions, one is free to live as they choose.

However, that does not mean your actions don't have consequences to the rest of us. In this case, their actions cost me money.

The Ledger

Apparently he withdrew his asylum request after Putin asked him to stop leaking more secrets. Funny he would consider it in the first place knowing that Russians are likely much worst when it comes to surveillance of their own citizens. Can't see many nations wanting him at this time.

What really irks me is shit like this: http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/06/27/19166043-obama-not-scrambling-jets-to-get-nsa-leaker-snowden Whereby we now have US Trade Representatives considering revoking trade privileges of an entire country (Ecuador) because the administration has a personal vendetta against Snowden. It is really sickening what our government is willing to do to cover its own ass.

This sounds similar to some of the problems that Steve Mann has run into. He has been experimenting with augmented reality headsets since 1980 and has documented quite a few incidents before and been on slashdot before.

Where did it say hacking university is unauthorized war

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/43224451/ns/us_news-security/t/sources-us-decides-cyber-attack-can-be-act-war/

Been living under a rock?

I personally don't think hacking should be even considered an act of war itself, but hey, I can't control what other people think.

Iran, Afghanistan, Russia, China, North Korea... the list goes on... and none of them are building dozens of massive data centers for the sole purpose of spying wholesale on its own citizens.

How can you possibly know that what you saying is true or false?

Not that you need the high-tech data center if your people have no contact with the outside world.

You won't find people in North Korea checking Facebook or Twitter for the latest updates on the tense situation created by its leader, Kim Jong Un. That's because the nation of 24 million is largely shut out from the Internet. Few outside the government and military have ever been online.

''In North Korea, we don't see evidence that much of anyone has access,'' Jim Cowie, chief technology officer and co-founder of Renesys, which does global Internet measurement, told NBC News.

''You don't see banks or factories or universities attached to the Internet,'' he said. ''In North Korea, Internet is extremely limited. They don't have those resources. There's basically one service provider and that is state-controlled.''

The country's Internet access physically comes through from China, he said, supplemented ''sometimes'' by a satellite provider.

So much so that North Korea was named one of 12 ''enemies'' of the Internet last year by Reporters Without Borders, which monitors censorship globally. ''We still consider North Korea as an enemy of the Internet,'' Delphine Hagland, the group's director in Washington, D.C., told NBC News. Other countries making that list included China, Iran, Syria and Vietnam.

There aren't many other sources of information available in North Korea, which according to the CIA World Factbook, has ''no independent media,'' with ''radios and TVs ... pre-tuned to government stations.''

North Korea's Internet? What Internet? For most, online access doesn't exist

Nixon ordered a hit against a reporter too (at least one is known of).

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/39157420/ns/politics/t/nixon-plot-against-newspaper-columnist-detailed/

Bush Jr. not only ordered hits (bombings) against Al Jazeera reporters multiple times for deviating from the official story line on the US war in Iraq, his administration also imprisoned and tortured reporters for Al Jazeera. Obama has ordered hits on regular citizens, including a child who was apparently guilty of having the wrong father (his father also assassinated, seperately, by Obama administration was never charged with any crime either). And, what about Assange, who was by any reasonable definition, a journalist, and would be almost definitely be tortured and murdered if the US every got its hands on him.

I heard an interview with Glen Greenwald, the reporter who was Snowden's contact at the Guardian. Greenwald is already being harassed, and is concerned of what the US might do to him. In the wake of the Snowden revelations, some senators have been making statements that reporters publishing leaked classified information are also guilty of espionage, and should be punished accordingly. One promised to enter legislation to that effect. So, it would become legal to kill reporters (capital offense) in the U.S. who expose US wrong doing.

A guy I heard speaking who was originally from the former Soviet Union, and had lived in the US for over a decade, summed it up well. "Everything the US officials said about the Soviet Union was true, and everything the Soviet officials said about the US was true. But, nothing they said about themselves was true.

The US has no moral high ground.

More of the same old same old Bringsjord (from 2005):

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/6889435/ns/technology_and_science-tech_and_gadgets/t/teaching-computers-read-no-simple-task/#.UcUbzuvuY5Y

Yeah I remember being embarrassed for this guy a few years ago when he won a grant to create a computer that reads free text in order to teach itself. This proposal came from a philosopher with no practical experience in computing, machine learning, or natural language.

You do wonder how the abject failure this project must have become wouldn't disqualify Bringsjord from further federal funding by now. Alas, not.

I've come to expect such cluelessness from DARPA, but for Rensselaer I once had more respect. How far the mighty have fallen.

You mean they are different places? :) Speaking of south america...check out this article today on msnbc: Why the World Cup can't save Brazil's tourism industry http://www.nbcnews.com/travel/why-world-cup-cant-save-brazils-tourism-industry-6C10344869

How do you know they are not using hydrogen?

Several other articles, like this NBC article, say the balloons will use helium.

I really wish Google would use another gas. We need to preserve the world's supply of helium.

The limited revelations so far have focused on the technical scheme and said little about the regulatory scheme, how it was used operationally. Leaving out that sort of data is like noting that almost everybody has in their house or on their person a device which has a microphone and transmits all it hears to remote listeners, that is a telephone, but leaving out the fact that it is off until you pick it up or turn it on. The existence of this technology and program says very little about if it is legal and if it has been used appropriately.

Turning off telephone service is inconvenient. Turning off the intelligence services ability to gather timely intelligence can perilous.

Bali death toll set at 202
London 7/7 terrorist attacks
Madrid train attacks
9-11 attacks

What has MI-5 had to say?

U.K. tracking 30 terror plots, 1,600 suspects - updated 11/10/2006

British authorities are tracking almost 30 high-priority terrorist plots involving 200 networks and 1,600 suspects, the head of Britain’s domestic spy agency said, adding that many of those under surveillance are homegrown terrorists plotting suicide attacks and other mass-casualty bombings.

What did the next head of MI-5 say a year later?

New MI5 chief says terror suspects in Britain have doubled in the last year - November 6, 2007

The new chief of Britain's intelligence service MI5 painted a troubling picture of growing terrorist threat in Britain, saying the number of suspects in the country has more than doubled in the past year – and that many of the new recruits are teenagers....

and more:

At Least 4,000 Suspected of Terrorism-Related Activity in Britain, MI5 Director Says - November 6, 2007

LONDON, Nov. 5 -- British security officials suspect that at least 4,000 people are involved in terrorism-related activities in Britain and that al-Qaeda's "deliberate campaign" against Britain poses the "most immediate and acute peacetime threat" to the nation in a century, the head of Britain's domestic spy agency said Monday.

And in 2012?

MI5 warns al-Qaida regaining UK toehold after Arab spring

You cripple the security services at your peril. Unlike the IRA, al Qaida doesn't tend to phone in warnings before a blast.

Cheers

A lot of tough talk, but what can everyday Americans do to change their government?

Join a militia to do some group violence? Hear that--that's a drone coming, you've got about 10 seconds...

Go solo against the government? Enjoy your one-way ticket to a secret prison somewhere.

Civil disobedience? How does spending the rest of your life in prison sound?

March in protest? Worked in the 60s, not anymore, unless you like a mouthful of pepper spray and a tear gas canister shot into your skull.

Vote? LOL

http://yro.slashdot.org/story/12/03/31/2027225/samsung-says-their-tvs-arent-really-spying-on-you
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/09/20/1942248/smart-meters-reveal-what-youre-watching
http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/09/07/18/224208/consumers-may-find-smart-appliances-a-dumb-idea
http://tech.slashdot.org/story/13/04/14/1227215/new-bird-shaped-drone-shown-at-security-and-defense-trade-show
http://slashdot.org/topic/datacenter/green500-inventor-asked-to-improve-robo-bugs/
http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/04/19/17830076-secret-weapon-how-thermal-imaging-helped-catch-bomb-suspect?lite
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/12/03/10/0143240/drones-dogs-and-the-future-of-privacy

Specific to international distress signals, but illustrates how often consumer devices malfunction:

âoeOver the years Iâ(TM)ve been here, we have chased signals to a variety of malfunctioning equipment, from garage door openers to one of the most interesting â" the University of Arkansas had a malfunctioning (Sony) Jumbotron (a giant television used at sporting arenas).â A malfunctioning capacitor caused âoevery serious interferenceâ with the international SAR system, Knox said.

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/6332030/ns/technology_and_science-space/t/tv-set-sends-satellite-distress-signal/

CNN's front page has a link (under "trends") to a devoted page.

Fox doesn't have any thing on the home page, but it's World page has this.

NBC's home page has a link to its story.

Second story on CNN's world news page: For a third day, police, protesters clash in Turkey

Second story on MSNBC's world news page (and shows up on their front page too): Tear gas, pepper spray fired at youths as thousands riot in Turkey

These stories are getting mentioned, mixed in between problems in Egypt and worse problems in Syria. It is not like they are hiding or downplaying such news. At worst, they are simply not spoon feeding you such news, instead concentrating on some other serious issues in the world.

As I suspected, this is overblown. Texas doesn't require teaching Creationism, or related doctrines. If some teacher does discuss it, it is by no means clear that it runs foul of the law.

Fact check: Does Texas teach creationism in public schools? Is it constitutional?

Clay Robison, a spokesman for the Texas State Teachers Association, the state’s teachers’ union, says, “It is not part of the recognized official state curriculum.”

But, Robison, who criticized Perry for "trying to reach right-wing voters," added, “I can’t say that some teacher someplace” that isn’t widely known about, isn’t teaching it.

More definitively, Suzanne Marchman, a spokeswoman for the Texas Education Agency, the state’s version of the Department of Education, tells NBC, the state’s science standards for high-school biology “require students to analyze, evaluate, and critique, scientific explanations.”

And since teachers craft their own lesson plans, “It’s likely that other theories, likely creationism, are being discussed in class" -- whether it's because teachers plan lessons around it, or because students bring it up. . . .

In 1987, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that requiring the teaching of creationism, or forbidding the teaching of evolution, violates the separation of church and state. The court struck down a Louisiana law that banned teaching evolution unless accompanied by instruction in creationism. . . .

The central question, the court said, was the law's purpose. Louisiana's intent, the majority concluded, was to endorse a particular religious doctrine. But, the court added, "teaching a variety of scientific theories about the origins of humankind might be validly done with the clear secular intent of enhancing the effectiveness of science instruction."

Also note that there are various factors that play into determining if a particular case becomes Precedent.

Sorry, managed to screw up the link in the last post somehow, will get more coffee. Here's the corrected one: Link

The exact phrase I used was: "would be genocidal Iranian regime"

Evidence?

UN chief denounces Iran to its face over calls to destroy Israel
Iran Steps Up Threats to Rub Out Israel

At present they lack the means, such as working nuclear weapons, not the desire. I have to say that I find it astonishing that this might somehow be news to you. It is a fairly widely held goal in the region.

The Jews Were Brought to Palestine for the Great Massacre
Hamas video: Killing Jews is 'worship that draws us close to Allah'
Judgment Day - When the Muslims Kill the Jews

After all, the book by you-know-who is disgustingly popular in certain circles among kindred spirits.

Cut-rate 'Mein Kampf' sells well in Turkey, spurring concerns
Mein Kampf in pride of place on bookshop shelves
Their Kampf - Hitler’s book in Arab hands

Unrelated, but since I have your attention - I expect these topics percolate at the back of your mind:

Jenin: Palestinian Myth Machine
Goldstone: Fighting the Lies Harder Than Fighting the War

As is common in this matter, you have things badly confused. Israel did nothing to Iran to deserve they way the new Iranian government turned on them. If you think otherwise, please provide a list. One hint to reduce the chances of you going down the wrong path again: the Palestinians are not Iranian, and the Iranians are not Arabs.

As to "untermenschen," that would be the view of post-revolution Iranian government, and many Arabs living in Palestine.

Reading Mein Kampf in Tehran

On Monday, the Iranian Foreign Ministry held an international conference. Nothing unusual in that: Foreign ministries hold conferences, mostly dull ones, all the time. But this one was different. For one, "Review of the Holocaust: Global Vision" dealt with history, not current politics. Instead of the usual suspects — deputy ministers and the like — the invitees seem to have included David Duke, a former Ku Klux Klan leader; Georges Theil, a Frenchman who has called the Holocaust "an enormous lie"; and Fredrick Toeben, a German-born Australian whose specialty is the denial of Nazi gas chambers.

The guest list was selective: No one with any academic eminence, or indeed any scholarly credentials, was invited. One Palestinian scholar, Khaled Mahameed, was asked to come but then barred because he holds an Israeli passport — and also perhaps because he, unlike other guests, believes that the Holocaust really did happen.

In response, Europe, America, and Israel expressed official outrage. The German government, to its credit, organized a counter-conference. ...

Hamas video: Killing Jews is 'worship that draws us close to Allah'
The Jews Were Brought to Palestine for the Great Massacre

As to the rest, you should catch up on some reading and get back to me.

UN agency stops aid imports to Gaza, cites Hamas 'thefts'
Looters strip Gaza greenhouses
Gazans seethe over taxes and blackouts
Sewage flood causes Gaza deaths
Hamas Bulldozes UN-Designated Historical Site to Make Room for Terrorist Training Camp
In Gaza, Hamas rule has not turned out as many expected
Rights watchdog accuses Hamas of torture, abuse of Palestinians
Hamas accused of routine torture of detainees in Gaza Strip
Palestinian Authority: Still Stealing "Hundreds of Millions," Hamas Taking Over
NY Times ignores Gaza's millionaires, hypes poverty, blames Israel (natch)

According to reports in the Arab press, a thriving smuggling economy in Gaza has produced no fewer than 600 millionaires. Hundreds of tunnels to Egypt have become bustling export and import conduits -- with the ruling Hamas elite siphoning off milli

Maybe launching destructive malware at Iranian infrastructure wasn't such a good idea.

If you are referring to "stuxnet," it wasn't launched against the Iranian infrastructure, but against Iran's nuclear program, which includes clandestine work on nuclear weapons.

Iran nuclear report: IAEA claims Tehran working on advanced warhead

I you think that Iran's behavior with just software is disagreeable, I don't think you want to see them with nuclear weapons.

UN chief denounces Iran to its face over calls to destroy Israel
'Cancerous tumour' Israel will soon be destroyed, says Ahmadinejad

Israel’s existence is an “insult to all humanity,” Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Friday, in one of his sharpest attacks yet against the Jewish state, which is currently debating whether to attack Iran over its nuclear program.

AFP - Israel is a "cancerous tumour" that will soon be finished off, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Friday told demonstrators holding an annual protest against the existence of the Jewish state.

"The Zionist regime and the Zionists are a cancerous tumour. Even if one cell of them is left in one inch of (Palestinian) land, in the future this story (of Israel's existence) will repeat," he said in a speech in Tehran marking Iran's Quds Day that was broadcast on state television.

"The nations of the region will soon finish off the usurper Zionists in the Palestinian land.... A new Middle East will definitely be formed. With the grace of God and help of the nations, in the new Middle East there will be no trace of the Americans and Zionists," he said.

Iran Steps Up Threats to Rub Out Israel

The main factor behind the upsurge in threats is the Iranian state-sponsored celebration of its annihilation policy towards Israel, which occurs on the fourth and last Friday of Ramadan every year.

The event is called "Al-Quds (Jerusalem) Day," and involves mass rallies, speeches by Iranian leaders, chants of "Death to Israel," and placards bearing the same intent. Last week, Khamenei described Israel as a "cancerous tumor" and "the biggest problem confronting Muslim countries today," according to Iranian media reports.

"Many of the Islamic world's problems come from the existence of the sham Zionist regime," Khamenei added, in comments that are reminiscent of traditional anti-Semitic comments that could be heard everywhere before the Holocaust. . .

Also last week, Brig.- Gen. Gholamreza Jalali, who heads Iran's Passive Civil Defense Organization and is a former commander of the Revolutionary Guards, said there was "no other option but to destroy Israel."

Nuclear weapons have a form of "blow back" all their own due to the intense blast effects. Iran may discover this, as well as other disagreeable forms, if it continues down its present course.

The present circumstances are all the sadder given that Israel and Iran were once allies, until the Islamic revolution in 1979. After that, Iran declared Israel an enemy to be destroyed. The current bad relationship filled with Iran's barely veiled threats of genocide is entirely Iran's choice. Israel did nothing to deserve it.

Which is the bigger threat:

China spying on Austrailia now that it knows the floor plan of the intelligence agency?

Or them using the blue prints to rebuild it in China

That would be a really silly idea, as enemy countries already have the plans they know where all the vents and shitters they can hide in are.

Which is the bigger threat:

China spying on Austrailia now that it knows the floor plan of the intelligence agency?

Or them using the blue prints to rebuild it in China

On the one hand, such an operation can be justified in that persons with military training and radical political views make for a volatile and dangerous group: heightened aggression coupled with access to weapons and knowledge of weapon use, explosives, and demolition can lead to nasty results.

Because some of us had the balls to enlist and work for the government we get extra-screwed? And even more so when we point out that having been on the inside of the machine that there could be problems? I've worked in DOD contracting, and I could tell you some stories..

So..

Fuck you, you spineless bastard. Everybody's afraid of their own shadow, yet statistics have have shown that violent crime is through dropping through the floor.

Here's the deal: The Boston bombing and the shooting in Newtown were tragic, yes, but in the grand scheme they ARE STATISTICAL FUCKING NOISE. They are inconsequential. And by paying so much attention to these assholes you are encouraging more of it.

Here's the deal: bad shit has always happened, it's just now thanks the net we get damned near real-time access to all of it, and fast. Now, everybody is afraid of their own goddamned shadow, and afraid to take responsibility for their own lives and actions.. so we're allowing this overreach.

What a nation of fucking cowards.

I don't know where you got your numbers from, but the energy density this supercap has is on par with batteries: 20Wh/kg. Now look at the size of the caps she has. Those are samples that weigh grams. Whatever fits in a cellphone will weigh probably on the order of 100g, and will store on the order of 1 Wh. I don't see kilowatts for charging, never mind that you absolutely don't have to charge in 20s. A one minute charge cuts the power by a factor of 5, and anyone sane will go with what's economical and makes business sense, not with what was put on a headline somewhere.

Never mind that it doesn't matter much what the energy rate (power) is, what matters is the stored energy. 1 Watt-hour is 0.86 kg*Kelvin for water. Assuming whatever the phone and battery are made out of have the heat capacity comparable to water, releasing 1 W-h will heat things up by 10 degrees C.

In other words: yes, it's as harmless as any current battery technology. Get over it.

My other gripe: couldn't that girl publish this stuff like everyone else out there? All we have is stupid news articles and a single-page PDF summary. Weren't they supposed to have write-ups submitted with the project? WTF is all this stuff? To me it's not $5k-worthy science if it's secret.

"We have 200million firearms here"
310 million actually - http://nbcpolitics.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/12/18/15977143-gun-control-offers-no-cure-all-in-america?lite

Astroturfer or ignorant?

Microsoft tracks you everywhere for contextual ads as well. And they value your privacy far less than Microsoft.

http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/microsofts-new-outlook-mail-welcome-hotmail-replacement-917473

https://www.eff.org/who-has-your-back-2013

Microsoft has been caught selling DATA to advertisers, which is the worst offense.

http://rt.com/usa/yahoo-microsoft-campaign-political-862/

And they have a patent specifically covering selling your personal private data to advertisers, allowing advertisers to bid on that data.

http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/blog/techflash/2010/02/gates_ozzie_other_microsoft_execs_patent_personal_data_mining.html

Oh, let's see:

IRS Apologizes For Singling Out Conservative Groups
Justice Department Seized AP Phone Records to Track Government Leaks
Women shot by cops were just delivering papers
Man Dies in Police Raid on Wrong House
Student Photojournalist Beaten and Arrested While Taking Photos of Police in Public

I figured I'd follow up on your post than on mine. I've found an article that obliquely mentions targeted ads for Outlook.com: nbcnews.com

It's not very meaty in terms of evidence or details, but definitely concerning. Before I made my first reply to you, I checked my Outlook.com inbox to see if the ads were contextual, and they most certainly weren't, but I almost never use that address, so it's hard to be sure.

However, if that article is correct about targeted ads, then you're quite correct in your first sentence. I'm still interested in reading about MS "selling *data* to outside interests".

Except Microsoft does mine your email context to serve up contextual ads.

http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/microsofts-new-outlook-mail-welcome-hotmail-replacement-917473

They says theirs isn't as deep, so it respects your privacy more, but what it really means is that they're not as good at serving up contextual ads, but they're still scanning your email.

One wonders what could possibly go wrong regarding Syria.

Turkey claims evidence of Syrian chemical weapons use
UN accuses Syrian rebels of chemical weapons use
An Al-Qaeda Alliance in Syria Demands Response From U.S.
Al Qaeda's track record with chemical weapons

Even if there are chemical weapons laying around, they would still need to get them somewhere where they could be used. They would probably need help for that. Is any available?

US teen accused of seeking to join al Qaeda-linked Syrian group
Danish jihadist killed while fighting for Muhajireen Brigade in Syria

Iran recruiting volunteer troops for Syria
Hezbollah Steps Up in Syria as Israel Tries to Ease Tension

US Congressman: Hezbollah agents in US worse than al-Qaida
Peter King warns: Hezbollah agents in U.S.

Border porous for obvious reason
Official: Book of suicide bombers found in Arizona desert

. . .the book is published in Iran and contains biographies of Islamic suicide bombers and other Islamic militants who died while carrying out their attacks. . .

Yes indeed, what could possibly go wrong?

Buy a ticket to the moon, then Adagio for strings.

Anyone have $500M I can borrow?

I saw some things here:
http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/5-year-old-gets-3-d-printed-robohand-internet-collaborators-1B8242915

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:44150

I'm not sure if it would work for an artist, but it is supposed to be low-cost.

One season of locally cold weather is a simple fluctuation. You need to consider all the data.

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/01/08/16413805-noaa-2012-was-warmest-year-ever-for-us-second-most-extreme?lite

The summary is quite misleading, conflating the CAFE standards test and the window sticker EPA mileage. The window sticker standards have changed many times, most recently in 2008. They will change again as reality changes.

The European tests are a joke in comparison. The exact same car will have fantastic mileage in Europe for some mysterious reason :) Carmakers over-inflate tires, put tape over body panel seams, and remove rear-view mirrors. There is less of that kind of thing in the US because the government spot-checks the manufacturers' numbers. Hyundai/Kia were the most recent culprits.

As for the speed limit issue - I believe the "highway" test originally tried to simulate rush hour traffic in Los Angeles... this obviously will not apply to everyone equally. If you take your family truckster down I-95 for a roadtrip and average 75 MPH, you will suffer significantly more aerodynamic loss than a test that averages 45 MPH.

I just can't see a US commander going "We DIE."

Kamikaze: F-16 pilots planned to ram Flight 93

A couple of things wrong with that interpretation. First, all of the subjects in the study apparently received treatment, the independent variable was belief in God. So, there isn't really any placebo in the study. Second, the placebo effect has been studied with an interesting result:

Is the placebo powerless? An analysis of clinical trials comparing placebo with no treatment

CONCLUSIONS:
We found little evidence in general that placebos had powerful clinical effects. Although placebos had no significant effects on objective or binary outcomes, they had possible small benefits in studies with continuous subjective outcomes and for the treatment of pain. Outside the setting of clinical trials, there is no justification for the use of placebos.

Third, it isn't hard to find educated, accomplished people that believe in God, including many doctors:

Collins: Why this scientist believes in God
Survey: Most doctors believe in God, afterlife

Just think - if you go to see a doctor for depression, there is a good chance he or she will believe in God.

Fourth, ignorance in this case isn't bliss, it is misery. Those who know God had better clinical outcomes.

Compare his comments about the hobby of building and flying model airplanes http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/technolog/private-drones-pose-privacy-threat-says-googles-eric-schmidt-1C9340969 with Schmidt cautioned against jumping to the worst conclusions, saying that society always tends to adapt to new technologies — and he's hoping for etiquette rather than government regulation.

Believers are more likely to be less intelligent, which may reduce the risk of depression.

Believers in what? The nonexistence of God?

Collins: Why this scientist believes in God

Editor's note: Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D., is the director of the Human Genome Project. His most recent book is The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief.

ROCKVILLE, Maryland (CNN) -- I am a scientist and a believer, and I find no conflict between those world views.

As the director of the Human Genome Project, I have led a consortium of scientists to read out the 3.1 billion letters of the human genome, our own DNA instruction book. As a believer, I see DNA, the information molecule of all living things, as God's language, and the elegance and complexity of our own bodies and the rest of nature as a reflection of God's plan.

I did not always embrace these perspectives. As a graduate student in physical chemistry in the 1970s, I was an atheist, finding no reason to postulate the existence of any truths outside of mathematics, physics and chemistry. But then I went to medical school, and encountered life and death issues at the bedsides of my patients. Challenged by one of those patients, who asked "What do you believe, doctor?", I began searching for answers. . . .more

Survey: Most doctors believe in God, afterlife

CHICAGO — A survey examining religion in medicine found that most U.S. doctors believe in God and an afterlife — a surprising degree of spirituality in a science-based field, researchers say.

  In the survey of 1,044 doctors nationwide, 76 percent said they believe in God, 59 percent said they believe in some sort of afterlife, and 55 percent said their religious beliefs influence how they practice medicine. . . .more

Just think - if you go to see a doctor for depression, there is a good chance he or she will believe in God.