Slashdot Mirror

I agree it brings promise for that, but a mighty LOL if you think they'll bring down the prices once the switch is made...

"Unfortunately, this time- and material-saving process is highly innovative and thus requires a great investment in 3D printers and intellectual property* that will bring prices up 'temporarily'," says the spokesmen for the automakers, insurance companies, and auto-repair shops today. The reps were confirmed to be making a so-called "air quote" gesture before "temporarily", followed by muffled giggles among themselves after.

*You don't really think someone won't try to add a wonderful 3D-Print-My-Parts insurance fee, or patent the specific process of 3D printing a car part, d'ya? Especially for each specific trademarked shape? "We've only just beguuuuun..."

Well, lets[sic] all remember what the second amandment[sic] actually is for. Maybe its about time?

The 2nd Amendment was canceled a long time ago in many parts of the USA. Every now and then somebody gets shocked when they discover that. Who knew that you could be arrested, convicted, and sentenced to jail for doing nothing more than "keeping and bearing arms"?

So the bottom line, my dear AC, is -- don't worry, the Bill of Rights is being rolled back in an entirely intentional and deliberate sequence by the government. They know what they are doing.

70% of Obama's twitter followers are fake and paid for.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/23/fashion/twitter-followers-for-sale.html?_r=0

Parent Score +1 ON topic. "And ida been able to get away with my Obama astroturfing... if it weren't for those meddling kids." Must! suppress! dissent! for! Obama!

This means YOU, United States techie boyz & girlz. This thing is playing out just as I sketched it out here on Slashdot a couple days ago.

NSA is orchestrating a limited hangout to try and focus and tie off the entire surveillance issue into a neat little package of FISA and a 'manageable' number of transactional transgressions. Not surprisingly the New York Times gobbled up the bait, fronting the idea that this whole rasmatazz is about a few digital drop boxes where companies dropped users' data upon being served with warrants.

"Look marge, the Times says there were only 1,856 FISA warrants served last year. Probably for baad people. What's all the fuss about?"

Straw man going DOWN.

NSA needs to be summoned to Congress to disclose the nature and extent of their domestic communications backbone piggyback-slurp operation: its collection points, its storage capabilities and the number of personnel who are aware of and have access to this raw data source. And whether SOME of those personnel are foreign nationals recruited for the task to reduce their exposure and liability. (Greetz Israel.)

NSA needs to be summoned to Congress to disclose any SSL private key sharing agreements, an intimidation tactic that goes like this, "We're either going to move in here with secret directives, equipment and gag orders ... OR you will share all your private keys on a regular basis," which gives them access even to emails that never left their networks, they can read it as you drop it off and pick it up.

Nothing less will work.

EFF is fighting a jurisdictional war right now. FISA has told them they must take their case to local district and federal court. Those courts have said they must take it to FISA. It is an impasse. This is a bas Constitutional Supreme Court issue and the only way to get there is through the circuit. Enough Congress must be raised to estabish through legislation or resolution that this issue is an existential threat to the republic and the courts are authorized to hear it because this surveillance is occurring within the borders and citizens are being targeted.

Only Congress has the power to do this. No amount of picketing or marching or whining will win this one.

Or just let it go and knock that PRISM limited hangout straw man down, declare the problem solved and let the terrorists win. Fall of the republic.

Ball's in our court.

70% of Obama's twitter followers are fake and paid for.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/23/fashion/twitter-followers-for-sale.html?_r=0

NYT disagrees with your assertion. It passed the Senate 89-10. I'm almost POSITIVE that there were more than 3 Democrats in the Senate in 2006.

Pro tip: Every time a liberal makes a "factual statement" look it up. I have found about 90% of the time its an outright lie, which is why most of the time they make nebulous statements that can't be factually looked up.

that's quite possibly the honest truth since neither that "war" nor "terrorism" has been defined to any degree.

For it is the doom of men that they forget. -- Merlin, Excalibur

SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION FOR USE OF UNITED STATES ARMED FORCES.

(a) In General.--That the President is authorized to use all necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organizations, or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, or harbored such organizations or persons, in order to prevent any future acts of international terrorism against the United States by such nations, organizations or persons.

By their deeds you shall know them.

1996 Bin Laden's Fatwa - The following text is a fatwa, or declaration of war, by Osama bin Laden first published in Al Quds Al Arabi

1998 Bombing of US embassies in Tanzania and Kenya

2000 Photo: USS Cole - Video: 2000: USS Cole Attack in Yemen

2001 9-11

2002 Bali terror attack

2004 Madrid train attacks

2005 London 7/7 Terrorist Attacks

2009 Now classified as "workplace violence" - Nidal Hasan Admitted Jihadist Motive, Ft. Hood Victims’ Attorneys Say

2013 Boston Marathon Bombing

Note that this is only a snapshot of attacks, and doesn't include the many attacks that occurred in the Middle East (except the Cole). It also doesn't include the many plots disrupted by the security services, or cancelled by the terrorists planning them. It doesn't include the many arrests for terrorism related activity, but snapshot of that over a short period of time is below:

FBI’s Top Ten News Stories for the Week Ending January 27, 2012

Denver: Man Arrested for Providing Material Support to a Designated Foreign Terrorist Organization

Jamshid Muhtorov was arrested by members of the FBI’s Denver and Chicago Joint Terrorism Task Forces on a charge of providing and attempting to provide material support to the Islamic Jihad Union, a Pakistan-based designated foreign terrorist organization.

Baltimore: Man Pleads Guilty to Attempted Use of a Weapon of Mass Destruction in Plot to Attack Armed Forces Recruiting Center

U.S. citizen Antonio Martinez, aka Muhammad Hussain, pled guilty to attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction against federal property in connection with a scheme to attack an armed forces recruiting station in Catonsville, Maryland.

Washington Field: Man Pleads Guilty to Shootings at Pentagon, Other Military Buildings

Yonathan Melaku, of Alexandria, Virginia, pled guilty to damaging property and to firearms violations involving five separate shootings at military installations in northern Virginia betwe

The Freedom-hating Scumbags on the SCOTUS continue to chip away at Miranda.

Give 'em enough time, they'll do away with it entirely.

Why pay hardcover price for an ebook? Because you get it same day the hardcover comes out. If you want to pay paperback prices, wait a couple years for the paperback to come out and the ebook prices typically drop at the same time.

According to this it used to be about 1 year, and has actually decreased due to pressure from ebooks.

But really, even when paperbacks are out, it often costs more for an ebook today than the paperback version, which is ridiculous and probably what OP was referring to, not paying cheaper-than-paperback prices on release day.

How much of a hardcover price do you really think is physical costs? A 400 page hardcover is equivalent to 100 pages of double side letter paper. I can print that for 5c a page (or less) on a decent laser printer. So as a guy with basic consumer equipment my costs for for printing a hardcover book are $5 or less. Of course, a publishing house can do it for less. On a big run, I suspect their costs for printing, binding and shipping combined probably don't top that same $5.

Okay you've covered printing costs. You're forgetting major costs like physical distribution and storage which are nearly free for ebooks. Then the overhead at every retailer for physical storage. Then the deals that let sellers return unsold books to the publisher.

The rest of the hardcover costs? Pays for things like editing and typesetting (which is more work for a ebook than a traditional one)

Yeah right. I call bullshit. Let's look at some numbers.

On a typical hardcover [...] For cover design, typesetting and copy-editing, the publisher pays about 80 cents. Marketing costs average around $1 but may go higher or lower depending on the title. Most of these costs will deline [sic] on a per-unit basis as a book sells more copies.
[...]
So on a $12.99 e-book, the publisher takes in $9.09. Out of that gross revenue, the publisher pays about 50 cents to convert the text to a digital file, typeset it in digital form and copy-edit it. Marketing is about 78 cents.
[...]
At a glance, it appears the e-book is more profitable. But publishers point out that e-books still represent a small sliver of total sales, from 3 to 5 percent.

It costs less for ebooks than hardcovers. Now this article was written in early 2010 using numbers from 2009 -- since then the share of sales for ebooks has grown. According to this report for the entire year of 2012, ebook sales represented 20% of the market instead of 3-5%.

You know what that does to fixed costs? Instead of 50 cents per sale, it's like 10 cents per sale or less now.

I don't know why you thought editing and typesetting an ebook would be MORE expensive than what it costs for a physical book. That defies common sense, and real numbers seem to confirm that you're wrong. I'm curious if you have a source for your belief?

And if you feel that feeding authors and their editors is unreasonable, then fuck off.

If authors and their editors can't buy food, they need to get new jobs and write/edit on the side. Guess what, plenty of authors do have other jobs, or depend on support from family. That's life.

But I don't think that's more likely due to low price ebooks (which are much cheaper to produce), you're just exaggerating ridiculously to try to make an emotional point.

Why pay hardcover price for an ebook? Because you get it same day the hardcover comes out. If you want to pay paperback prices, wait a couple years for the paperback to come out and the ebook prices typically drop at the same time.

According to this it used to be about 1 year, and has actually decreased due to pressure from ebooks.

But really, even when paperbacks are out, it often costs more for an ebook today than the paperback version, which is ridiculous and probably what OP was referring to, not paying cheaper-than-paperback prices on release day.

How much of a hardcover price do you really think is physical costs? A 400 page hardcover is equivalent to 100 pages of double side letter paper. I can print that for 5c a page (or less) on a decent laser printer. So as a guy with basic consumer equipment my costs for for printing a hardcover book are $5 or less. Of course, a publishing house can do it for less. On a big run, I suspect their costs for printing, binding and shipping combined probably don't top that same $5.

Okay you've covered printing costs. You're forgetting major costs like physical distribution and storage which are nearly free for ebooks. Then the overhead at every retailer for physical storage. Then the deals that let sellers return unsold books to the publisher.

The rest of the hardcover costs? Pays for things like editing and typesetting (which is more work for a ebook than a traditional one)

Yeah right. I call bullshit. Let's look at some numbers.

On a typical hardcover [...] For cover design, typesetting and copy-editing, the publisher pays about 80 cents. Marketing costs average around $1 but may go higher or lower depending on the title. Most of these costs will deline [sic] on a per-unit basis as a book sells more copies.
[...]
So on a $12.99 e-book, the publisher takes in $9.09. Out of that gross revenue, the publisher pays about 50 cents to convert the text to a digital file, typeset it in digital form and copy-edit it. Marketing is about 78 cents.
[...]
At a glance, it appears the e-book is more profitable. But publishers point out that e-books still represent a small sliver of total sales, from 3 to 5 percent.

It costs less for ebooks than hardcovers. Now this article was written in early 2010 using numbers from 2009 -- since then the share of sales for ebooks has grown. According to this report for the entire year of 2012, ebook sales represented 20% of the market instead of 3-5%.

You know what that does to fixed costs? Instead of 50 cents per sale, it's like 10 cents per sale or less now.

I don't know why you thought editing and typesetting an ebook would be MORE expensive than what it costs for a physical book. That defies common sense, and real numbers seem to confirm that you're wrong. I'm curious if you have a source for your belief?

And if you feel that feeding authors and their editors is unreasonable, then fuck off.

If authors and their editors can't buy food, they need to get new jobs and write/edit on the side. Guess what, plenty of authors do have other jobs, or depend on support from family. That's life.

But I don't think that's more likely due to low price ebooks (which are much cheaper to produce), you're just exaggerating ridiculously to try to make an emotional point.

Why pay hardcover price for an ebook? Because you get it same day the hardcover comes out. If you want to pay paperback prices, wait a couple years for the paperback to come out and the ebook prices typically drop at the same time.

According to this it used to be about 1 year, and has actually decreased due to pressure from ebooks.

But really, even when paperbacks are out, it often costs more for an ebook today than the paperback version, which is ridiculous and probably what OP was referring to, not paying cheaper-than-paperback prices on release day.

How much of a hardcover price do you really think is physical costs? A 400 page hardcover is equivalent to 100 pages of double side letter paper. I can print that for 5c a page (or less) on a decent laser printer. So as a guy with basic consumer equipment my costs for for printing a hardcover book are $5 or less. Of course, a publishing house can do it for less. On a big run, I suspect their costs for printing, binding and shipping combined probably don't top that same $5.

Okay you've covered printing costs. You're forgetting major costs like physical distribution and storage which are nearly free for ebooks. Then the overhead at every retailer for physical storage. Then the deals that let sellers return unsold books to the publisher.

The rest of the hardcover costs? Pays for things like editing and typesetting (which is more work for a ebook than a traditional one)

Yeah right. I call bullshit. Let's look at some numbers.

On a typical hardcover [...] For cover design, typesetting and copy-editing, the publisher pays about 80 cents. Marketing costs average around $1 but may go higher or lower depending on the title. Most of these costs will deline [sic] on a per-unit basis as a book sells more copies.
[...]
So on a $12.99 e-book, the publisher takes in $9.09. Out of that gross revenue, the publisher pays about 50 cents to convert the text to a digital file, typeset it in digital form and copy-edit it. Marketing is about 78 cents.
[...]
At a glance, it appears the e-book is more profitable. But publishers point out that e-books still represent a small sliver of total sales, from 3 to 5 percent.

It costs less for ebooks than hardcovers. Now this article was written in early 2010 using numbers from 2009 -- since then the share of sales for ebooks has grown. According to this report for the entire year of 2012, ebook sales represented 20% of the market instead of 3-5%.

You know what that does to fixed costs? Instead of 50 cents per sale, it's like 10 cents per sale or less now.

I don't know why you thought editing and typesetting an ebook would be MORE expensive than what it costs for a physical book. That defies common sense, and real numbers seem to confirm that you're wrong. I'm curious if you have a source for your belief?

And if you feel that feeding authors and their editors is unreasonable, then fuck off.

If authors and their editors can't buy food, they need to get new jobs and write/edit on the side. Guess what, plenty of authors do have other jobs, or depend on support from family. That's life.

But I don't think that's more likely due to low price ebooks (which are much cheaper to produce), you're just exaggerating ridiculously to try to make an emotional point.

I hope most US slashdotters are not too rankled by this reality because this is what they voted for. Bush and Nixon, two presidents modern leftists love to vilify, HAVE NOTHING on the monster currently in office...NOTHING.

Before you try to pin this on the left, take a look at who voted for the Patriot Act:

2001:
        Senate: 98 voted for the act, a single democrat voted against
        House: 357 voted for the act, 66 voted against (62 democrats, 3 republicans)
2006: Patriot act renewal
        Senate: 89 voted for the act, 10 against (9 democrats, 0 republicans)
        House: 280 voted for the act, 138 against (124 democrat, 13 republican)
2011: Patriot act renewal
        Senate: 72 Yes, 23 against (18 democrat, 4 republican)
        House: 275 Yes, 144 no (117 democrat, 27 republican)

If the leftist monster in the whitehouse is solely responsible for this, then why didn't our republican saviors in Congress do anything to stop it, not even back before Obama was even in office?

Sources:

http://educate-yourself.org/cn/patriotact20012006senatevote.shtml
http://politics.nytimes.com/congress/votes/112/senate/1/84
http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2011/roll036.xml

So if Verizon refused to hand over the records, that would be another story.

And even if Verizon had the inclination (and the balls) to fight it, they would've suddenly found themselves the subject of scrutiny by the IRS, the SEC, the Labor Department, the FCC, and, possibly, some other friendly government agencies.

Is not it great, we have so many regulations, the Executive branch does not even need to bother the Judiciary to get its way? I, for one, do appreciate, they decided to bother this time, but, really, they did not have to...

Oh, and in only a couple of decades, as the government's control of healthcare extends further and deeper, the same benevolent Executive officials will have the power to decide, who lives, and who dies:

We regret to inform you, but upon the review of your life support system in accordance with XIXIXIXX section C part Y, it was determined, that the ongoing cost of the care outweigh the benefits. As a result, the assisted breathing/feeding tube (circle all that apply) will be turned off at 11:59pm EST, tomorrow.

That the individuals supporting the regime in power will be deemed eligible for remaining on life-support for, on average, 50% longer than the opposition, will be nothing other than a coincidence, of course.

Huh? Please cite these charts because what I can find strongly disagrees with you. Plus there's that whole insane idea of cutting taxes while launching two wars that you conveniently ignore.

Like this guy? http://www.wnd.com/2013/05/video-maker-blamed-for-benghazi-remains-jailed/

No; that guy is in jail for tax evasion, using an alias after a judge strictly forbid him from doing so, and fraud; well he should be incarcerated, considering the fact that he's 100% guilty.

ProTip: You'd be more well informed getting your news from the fucking Enquirer than World News Daily.

"Tax evasion" as alleged by the known to be corrupt and used for political purposes IRS? That kind of "tax evasion"?

No; as a matter of fact, upon further research I find I was mistaken - he served his term for tax fraud, and is now in jail for violating the terms of his parole (using an alias and committing wire fraud).

But no, let's keep fomenting divisive rhetoric by insisting he was jailed for that stupid fucking movie he made. That's productive...

That was Steve Jobs' original vision at NeXT --- a fully-automated factory where raw materials came in one end and finished computers the other. http://www.nytimes.com/1990/12/24/business/all-next-inc-s-plant-lacks-is-orders.html

The problem of course is how to sustain people who aren't / can't work. For a pessimistic view on this look at Manny by Marshall Brain: http://marshallbrain.com/manna1.htm

Yup, like nuclear weapon arming, and massive military investment from the US. The soviet union is long dead.

Funny, I don't see anything there about a long history of genocidal threats and intended genocide by the Arab Nations surrounding Israel. Some of those noted here in this same discussion. I also don't see any mention of Iran's continuing veiled and unveiled threats of genocide against Israel which led not long ago to a rebuke by the Secretary General of the UN.

US military aid to Israel is a minor fraction of its defense budget. At times it has been used to coax Israel into doing things against its interest and in the interest of the US. One example: during the 1991 Gulf War against Iraq, the US sent a Patriot missile battery to Israel to help defend it against Iraqi Scud missile so Israel would not counter-attack Iraq after Iraq attacked Israel.

The Soviet Union may be long dead, but hatred on the part of many Muslims of Jews lives on as part of their religion. Muslims that have never met a Jew in their life are willing to kill them.

Of course Muslims aren't the only ones to have a problem with Israel.

The European Left and Its Trouble With Jews

[W]e have a NY Supreme Court Justice who can be struck by an police officer, for doing nothing more than offering some assistance, and the DA / Internal Affairs is unwilling to pursue the case to any end.

Here's a link to an article describing the incident lightknight referred to: Judge Says He Was Struck by a Police Officer in Queens

As is usually the case, what Zionist shitbags complain about others doing, they did first. Stuff like of Palestinians and terrorist bombings of government buildings.

What you depict doesn't remotely resemble genocide, which was the topic. Killing 6 of 9 million Jews in Europe, or all of the Jews in Israel. Similar to the announced intention of the invading Arab armies in 1948. See this A bomb in the King David hotel compared to the mass murder of 6 million people? You don't really seem to have a sense of proportion, which might explain a lot.

From a bunch of immigrants from Europe, as Jews were less than 10% of the population in 1900.

Jewish immigrants that bought land, even the worst land that nobody else wanted, and made it productive. You also neglect to mention the large numbers of Arabs that immigrated there as well, especially as the Jewish population began improving the economy.

More on Arab immigrants, So called "Palestinians". When they started to flood Palestine as Jews changed and cultivated the vacant land
The Arabs in Palestine

You seem to be making it your mission in life to remove whatever fig leaf of respectability "anti-Zionism" has and fully merging it with anti-Semitism.

The European Left and Its Trouble With Jews

Ah the 1948 war, where the arabs told the other arabs living in said regions that if they flee, they'll be able to live on the land of the jews that they those arab armies were going to ethnically cleanse. Never mind that said arab armies did in fact commit cleansing...of their fellow arabs, and in those regions among others. That's not new, news.

The post above is essentially correct, and it shouldn't be down modded.

Time Now for a Declaration of Mideast Peace; Doomed Arab Refugees

In ''Semites and Anti-Semites'' (New York, 1986), Bernard W. Lewis quotes (page 270) from the memoirs of Khalid al-Azm, Prime Minister of Syria in 1948-49, listing the factors that led to Israel's success:

''Fifth: the summons of the Arab governments to the population of Palestine to leave the country and take refuge in the neighboring Arab countries . . . this collective flight served the Jews and strengthened their position without effort. . . . Since 1948 we have been demanding the return of the refugees to their homes when we ourselves were the ones who induced them to leave them. . . . We doomed a million Arab refugees, by calling on them and insisting that they abandon their land, their homes, their work and their occupations, and we made them unemployed and homeless.''

You may want to review this post in this same topic for more information.

There are better sources.

Time Now for a Declaration of Mideast Peace; Doomed Arab Refugees

In ''Semites and Anti-Semites'' (New York, 1986), Bernard W. Lewis quotes (page 270) from the memoirs of Khalid al-Azm, Prime Minister of Syria in 1948-49, listing the factors that led to Israel's success:

''Fifth: the summons of the Arab governments to the population of Palestine to leave the country and take refuge in the neighboring Arab countries . . . this collective flight served the Jews and strengthened their position without effort. . . . Since 1948 we have been demanding the return of the refugees to their homes when we ourselves were the ones who induced them to leave them. . . . We doomed a million Arab refugees, by calling on them and insisting that they abandon their land, their homes, their work and their occupations, and we made them unemployed and homeless.''

You may want to review this post in this same topic for more information.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/04/business/energy-environment/04weed.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Instead of them all failing, the concept of engineering a crop so that poisons can be applied without killing the desired crop is a dead end path, and doomed to failure.

By large scale application of the poisons onto many, many, fields, the main thing we are accomplishing is an evolutionary experiment that just speeds up natural selection

It's not all that difficult to figure out that if 99 percent of "weeds" are killed, eventually the 1 percent that are left won't give a damn about the Roundup(tm) or whatever new herbicide replaces it. And we start all over.

I'm pretty convinced that if we are going to continue our efforts to populate the bejabbers out of the earth, we are going to need grow our food hydroponically in huge greenhouse superfactories. Otherwise, we'll be breeding some pretty impressive superweeds in a losing war.

>None of this can be justified in any way by the alleged rhetoric of some ill-defined "arabs" saying something that - if you are understood correctly - would amount to: "If you leave your property that you own, and your orchards and shops, then after you are refugees, you might be able to squat on the couple of Kibbutz those Poles stole from your parents, instead!"

You are on the wrong side of history, and pretty much all of the nonsense you refer to is coming from you. The Arabs in Palestine were following the orders of the Arab leaders to evacuate. They had been making it clear that a genocide was coming, and who wants get pulled into a genocide? If the Israelis hadn't been able to defend themselves and stop the many attacking Arab armies, it is very possible that any Arabs that had remained behind and ignored the commands to leave would have been killed along with the Jews.

Time Now for a Declaration of Mideast Peace; Doomed Arab Refugees

In ''Semites and Anti-Semites'' (New York, 1986), Bernard W. Lewis quotes (page 270) from the memoirs of Khalid al-Azm, Prime Minister of Syria in 1948-49, listing the factors that led to Israel's success:

''Fifth: the summons of the Arab governments to the population of Palestine to leave the country and take refuge in the neighboring Arab countries . . . this collective flight served the Jews and strengthened their position without effort. . . . Since 1948 we have been demanding the return of the refugees to their homes when we ourselves were the ones who induced them to leave them. . . . We doomed a million Arab refugees, by calling on them and insisting that they abandon their land, their homes, their work and their occupations, and we made them unemployed and homeless.''

Azzam's Genocidal Threat

An October 11, 1947 report on the pan-Arab summit in the Lebanese town of Aley,[9] by Akhbar al-Yom's editor Mustafa Amin, contained an interview he held with Arab League secretary-general Azzam. Titled, "A War of Extermination," the interview read as follows (translated by Efraim Karsh; all ellipses are in the original text):

Abdul Rahman Azzam Pasha spoke to me about the horrific war that was in the offing saying:

"I personally wish that the Jews do not drive us to this war, as this will be a war of extermination and momentous massacre which will be spoken of like the Tartar massacre[10] or the Crusader wars. I believe that the number of volunteers from outside Palestine will be larger than Palestine's Arab population, for I know that volunteers will be arriving to us from [as far as] India, Afghanistan, and China to win the honor of martyrdom for the sake of Palestine You might be surprised to learn that hundreds of Englishmen expressed their wish to volunteer in the Arab armies to fight the Jews.

"This war will be distinguished by three serious matters. First—faith: as each fighter deems his death on behalf of Palestine as the shortest road to paradise; second, [the war] will be an opportunity for vast plunder. Third, it will be impossible to contain the zealous volunteers arriving from all corners of the world to avenge the martyrdom of the Palestine Arabs, and viewing the war as dignifying every Arab and every Muslim throughout the world

"The Arab is superior to the Jew in that he accepts defeat with a smile: Should the Jews defeat us in the first battle, we will defeat them in the second or the third battle or the final one whereas one defeat will shatter the Jew's morale! Most desert Arabians take pleasure in fighting. I recall being tasked with mediating a truce in a desert war (in which I participated) that lasted for nine monthsWhile en route to sign the truce, I was approached

Anyone know how they made up the slack besides conservation?

Yes.

Japan takes on more Iranian crude oil
Japan’s energy costs spiral higher
Trade Deficit in Japan Hits Record
Japan's energy imports may outweigh stimulus gain
Skyrocketing energy imports increase Japanese trade deficit

I always thought it was a rule from Espionage 101 that you don't let the other side know when your side has been compromised. You use it as an opportunity to start sending out false information, and to learn their tactics and precisely who is involved.>/p>

I think this has already happened. They traced the attacks to a specific building in Shanghai operated by the Chinese military and learned a great deal about the operations taking place there.

I don't understand why we are telling everyone in the world that the Chinese have stolen our information. It just makes us look inept in all sorts of ways.

Probably because all the useful counter-espionage plays have been done. Now the biggest payoff is from using the information for political leverage.

... a bunch of right wing loony tunes

You're writing some comedy gold there. Israel is a left leaning liberal democracy of about 5 million people surrounded by more than 100 million that would do them in if they could, not because of what they've done, but because of who they are - Jews. But the double minded thinking about Israel reaches astonishing heights. Just think about the question of gay rights. Don't you live somewhere in the Bay area? Maybe you've seen these guys:

Queers for Palestine

No single group better exemplifies the cognitive dissonance on display at these rallies than Queers for Palestine, also known as QUIT -- Queers Undermining Israeli Terror. What is left to say about the fundamental self-contradicting nature of such a group?

In Israel, gays live openly and happily in a free and liberal society. There is a thriving gay scene, just as there is in the United States and many other Western democracies.

But in Palestine -- as in most Islamic countries -- being gay is not only frowned upon, it is a crime often punishable by death. Tales of what life is like for gays in Palestinian society are horrifying in the extreme. In fact, gay youth in Palestine frequently flee to Israel if they can get a chance.

So why in the world would gay activists in the most gay-friendly city on Earth protest against one of the other centers of gay liberation (Israel) and for one of the planet's most violently oppressive homophobic societies?

This is the essence of cognitive dissonance -- the condition of holding two differing beliefs that are so incompatible and contradictory that the only way to internally reconcile them is to, well, go insane (to use the layman's term). Because, try as I might, I can't comprehend any other justification for being a member of QUIT other than insanity. ...more

Socialism, in the form of the Kibbutz - collective farms - was a strong early influence and institution in Israel before the country even existed, and they survive to this day.

Despite all that, many on the left still have a problem with Israel.

The European Left and Its Trouble With Jews

Some people confuse the unwillingness of Israelis to be exterminated with being "right wing."

and a single line written by goatherders about Jews in Zion...

You might be a few lines short. As a minimum, 66 books minus one line short.

ya know what? if their God is so damned weak that it can't keep a handful of people in one place without the US military?

I don't believe that the US military has ever fought alongside Israelis in any war other than putting a Patriot antiaircraft missile battery in Israel during the 1991 Gulf War as a concession to keep Israel from attacking Iraq when Saddam inevitably attacked them. So all of the major wars that Israel has fought for its existence have been by their effort, not American effort, Israeli blood, not American.

Then you have a shitty God and should really go elsewhere.

Not really an option. The Jewish people are tied to Jerusalem as the only place where they can build their temple. Christians are tied to it as well as an offshoot of Judaism, and the place where Jesus lived and was crucified. The truly sticky part is that Muslims consider it their third most holy site as well.

As a counterpoint to your statement, Blaise Pascal thought the continued existence of the Jews was a proof of the existence of miracles.

there are pretty big differences as to expectations, work hours, pay, and career path for doctors in the US and the UK, along with the obvious of who is paying the doctor, and this study is about the UK. Oddly enough, this means I've never been turned down to see a doctor in the US on short notice while I have been in the UK.

As an example to the doctor's pay difference:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/02/health/colonoscopies-explain-why-us-leads-the-world-in-health-expenditures.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

I know this is Slashdot, but seriously, 2 clicks from the summary isn't fucking rocket science. http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/06/04/i-b-m-buys-cloud-computing-firm-in-deal-said-to-be-worth-2-billion/

American forces withdrew from Iraq several years ago.

The Chinese already enjoy the major benefit of Iraq's oil.

China Is Reaping Biggest Benefits of Iraq Oil Boom

An identity that later won internal awards for ethics "scholar of ethical behavior.”

Of course this is also the administration who also was caught having visiting with lobbyists at a local Caribou coffee shop (ie secretly) instead of bringing them into the White House where they would show up in the visitor logs.

Most transparent administration evah eh?

Between the IRS targeting conservatives, a few officials being held in contempt of congress (and court), Obama sleeping on the job when his ambassador in Libya was killed, running guns to Mexican drug gangs, HHS seeking protection money from companies they are to regulate (and much much more)... this administration is destined to go down in history as even more corrupt than history has tried to paint Nixon.

And I don't think that 7% figure is accurate ... it's more like 0.7% of the population getting married any given year, and 0.3% per year getting divorced.

GP here.
You were correct, it's actually 7 per-THOUSAND, not percent, but I read it wrong.
What nobody is tackling in this thread is that marriage has become a bold step rather than the norm. If what is at the top is caused to be this bad, then everything underneath, has a rotten value. If we similarly tracked worldwide hook-ups and break-ups we'd see how bad the world today, even given that there's supposedly less pressure beyond the surroundings of a marriage. I don't care about serial divorcees. It'd be neat to see how many failed relationships people burn through in their lifetime. That will tell why marriage enrollment is so low.

Here, I'll even fix your broken link: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/19/health/19divo.html

How many of those divorces are by serial divorcees? I mean, 66% of Newt Gingrich's marriages ended in divorce; him and other people are raising the average.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/19/health/19divo.htm

"The method preferred by social scientists in determining the divorce rate is to calculate how many people who have ever married subsequently divorced. Counted that way, the rate has never exceeded about 41 percent, researchers say."

And I don't think that 7% figure is accurate ... it's more like 0.7% of the population getting married any given year, and 0.3% per year getting divorced. At that rate, more people are dying (0.8%/year overall, assume 0.4% for married people who make up half the population) than getting divorced.

Yes, I did notice it. I'm not sure if you are familiar with police practices, but "assault on an officer" is often used as a blanket crime by police to arrest people in any situation where the police use force, especially if they use improper or excessive force. It is completely logical to me that both would drop by 60% because very often they are the same thing.

That is, often a police officer will aggress against a person for whatever reason and then later claim that the person they aggressed against was the agressor. It basically allows an officer to arrest or even beat anyone up for anything and is a much more common tactic than you think. When the citizen gets to court, do you think a judge or jury will believe the police officer or the citizen?

We hear a lot about the minority of cases where a bystander taped the scene and the police did something wrong, but you don't hear about the majority where nobody was there to video tape it.

It has always been about making a profit. It's just that there is more profit to be made in the US today due to a general lack of transparency of costs and a disconnect between costs and outcomes. If you can get past the paywall there is a great article in today's NY Times on part of the reason why medical care costs so much in the US.

In all fairness, a black child with a candy bar is enough to warrant a shooting by police.

This article explains the problems better.

In still others, workers seemed flummoxed by procedures that accompanied the new equipment, especially for accepting ballots when the scanners did not function. At times the frustration boiled over, and there were shouting matches between voters and poll workers.

At least some of the problems are caused by incompetent election officials. Perhaps that could work on reading comprehension?

This insistence on sticking to the letter of the constitution smacks of Tea Partyism. Let's get to the root of the matter, let's give up on the constitution. It contains archaic, idiosyncratic and downright evil provisions. Moreover, it is worshipped by right-wingers and anything that they like is dodgy by definition.

Well I donno but it seems there is a problem with storage of contaminated water and this is not being dealt with. I would not know but it was in the news few weeks back as TEPCO I think found out that some of the water already liked into the ocean. There are different articles about this in variously trustworthy media you can have a look here or here (nice picture of the tanks with polluted water that I meant)

I did find this dated article.
http://www.nytimes.com/1987/05/03/realestate/can-a-town-set-a-minimum-house-size.html
Times may have changed, but at the time of writing, "New Jersey has no minimum size requirements. A similar challenge brought in the late 70's by the Home Builders League of South Jersey against the Township of Berlin struck down the idea of minimum square feet unless directly related to the ''health, safety and welfare'' of a community. New Jersey similarly requires each town to assume its fair share of affordable housing through one means or another."

"no reason for any civilian to have more than 9 rounds in a firearm"

Either you are the world's best shot, or simple math escapes you. It is common in stressful situations to have a hit rate of less than 20%:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/09/weekinreview/09baker.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

There have been many times this past year where people defended themselves from multiple assailants like this scenario:

http://thegrio.com/2013/05/20/cops-men-burst-in-beat-up-disable-veteran-in-philly/

So explain to me why it is difficult to imagine a scenario where multiple assailants would require 3-5 shots each to disable or kill. I have a natural born right to self-defense and defense of my loved ones. I want the absolute best tool for the job. If the best tool has a standard magazine capacity of 30 rounds - I want it. My possession of the tools of self defense harms no one.

It's nice that you live in a nice, crime-free area of the world, but it is absolutely improper to think that everyone lives in the same situation.

The good news is that, eventually, this will probably get sorted out. Producers and installers with brands and reputations (not to mention business contracts) to defend will eventually get fed up with dealing with shitty suppliers, who will either clean up their act, go out of business, or retreat to the purgatory of "known to be poor quality", where there's still plenty of business to be had (see again the desktop PC market), but not much money to be made.

To a large extent, that's already happened. After being heavily criticized for poor working conditions and high suicide rates, Foxconn increased worker salaries by about 25% and reduced overtime work in early 2012. Working conditions are still crappy by Western standards, of course – but they're not so bad by Chinese standards, and seem to be improving. This added pay means that Foxconn isn't going to be competing much for the bottom-end, low-margin business. Instead they are going to focus on high-value-add products like Apple devices. (In fact, Apple is considering making a new, cheaper iPhone with a different supplier – which seems to indicate that Foxconn might be raising the bar a bit on contract prices.) There will still be plenty of factories in China that crank out crap for people who care about nothing but the lowest price, but the Chinese leadership doesn't want their country to be known for producing only junk. They want to move up the value chain.

What's Apple famous for again? Yup, they are famous for being famous.

Well that and popularizing the graphic user interface everyone uses in the first place.

And for having a pretty decent Unix-based operating system while Ballmer drives Microsoft off a cliff.

And for designing the first mp3 player that the mass-market embraced.

And for ushering in the change from feature-phones to smartphones.

And for creating an earthquake in the tablet market such that in the future it is predicted more tablets will sell than PCs.

But yeah...they are just famous for being famous...

...Until they release a TV with a kinect-like interface running iOS. And then Sony's PS4 and the Wii U crashes and burns, (which is sort of already happening...sales on the Wii U are very poor and Sony's electronics wing isn't doing well either), while everyone is playing Angry Birds on their new Apple TV platform and we get umpteen-million articles about the "New Console Wars," which are now between Microsoft and Apple.

Of course then a couple years will go by and people will forget all of history and again claim that Apple is just famous for being famous. Such is the cycle of Slashdot.

It may have worked for you for a long time but the world is slowly awakening to just how evil the behaviour of Israel is.

Given your views, you should probably hope that the world isn't awakening to evil behavior, otherwise the there some unexpected drubbings that are going to be handed out.

Palestinians Celebrate after Brutal Murder of Fogel Family
The Jews Were Brought to Palestine for the Great Massacre
Palestinian Myth Machine
Fighting the Lies Harder Than Fighting the War
Goldstone: You Cannon Undo a Slander
The European Left and Its Trouble With Jews
Why the al-Dura Blood Libel Still Matters

Yes, much of the world joins to condemn Israel, often based on lies, but either passes in silence over true horrors of the genuine mass murdering regimes in the Middle East, or actually defends the real butchers.

Hama 1982 – The Syrian massacre you never heard about
Commentary: Remembering Iraq's mass graves

What happened to Iraq's 'human shields'?

If Israel was only as evil as Iraq or Syria, the Paelstinians would have disappeared into mass graves long ago. That clearly hasn't happened.

You are the troll. And a very low-value poster. The Guardian link refers to a nano-diamond creation device supplied by Russia for industry, and which "western" intelligence tried to spin as related to weapons research. Here is the thorough debunking from Moon of Alabama. The "reporting" on nano diamonds was spanked SO BADLY by this blog, that all traces disappeared from press and punditry before November ended.

The whole issue is a misrepresentation of the highest order - from 11/11. Let me update you, with an analysis that is independent, not mere military/government stenography. Concerning the IAEA findings more recently, in August of 2012:

IAEA: Iranian "Nuclear Danger" Decreased

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) just released its most recent report (GOV/2012/37) on the state of Irans nuclear program.

As usual this report is used to hype up the "nuclear Iran" scare. The London Times even headlines Iran is stockpiling weapons grade uranium, a new reported finds (sic) which is completely false as even its own report below that headline says:

The Israeli diplomat said that Iran was in the process of doubling its capacity at Fordow to about 1,500 centrifuges, increasing the amount of 20 per cent-enriched uranium it could produce. Uranium enriched to 20 per cent fuels Irans main research reactor, but it is also just below the level usable in nuclear bombs.

Not only is any Uranium Iran has below weapons grade but, according to the new IAEA report, Iran has today less enriched Uranium that could quickly be converted into a nuclear weapon than it had in May 2012, the time of the IAEAs last report (GOV/2012/23) on the issue.

Critics of Irans nuclear program are most concerned with the Uranium Iran enriches to a level of 20% U-235 isotope. This enriched Uranium, critics say, could be quickly enriched further to up to 95% and then be used to manufacture a nuclear explosion device.

But enriched Uranium can have several forms. For enrichment natural Uranium is converted into Uranium hexafluoride (UF6) and, slightly heated and under pressure, fed as a gas into centrifuges to separate out the U-238 isotopes. This increases the content of U-235 isotopes needed for nuclear reactions. The enrichment product with 20% U-235 is still in the form of UF6 which could be again fed into a centrifuge cascade for even higher enrichment levels.

But UF6 is not usable as nuclear reactor fuel. For reactor use the UF6 has to be converted into Triuranium oxtoxide (U3O8) and from there into Uranium dioxide UO2. These can be formed into fuel elements to be fed into a reactor. Once this is done there is no easy and quick process to convert these fuel elements back into UF6 for further enrichment. Enriched UF6 once converted into U3O8 and UO2 fuel plates is thereby not directly usable for producing bomb grade uranium and of little proliferation concern.

Iran needs fuel elements with 20% enrichment level for the Tehran Research Reactor (TRR) to produce nuclear isotopes for medical purposes.

According to the May 2012 IAEA report Iran had, at that time, enriched 110.1 kg 20% enriched UF6 at the Pilot Fuel Enrichment Plant (PFEP) in Natanz and 35.5 kg 20% UF6 in the Fuel Enrichment Plant (F

a quick google search did it.

http://books.google.com/books?id=EYAnJEMZGn8C&pg=PA116&lpg=PA116&dq=photograph+new+york+times+magazine+black+middle+class+sued&source=bl&ots=XNi0u7VRJ1&sig=ODCfecF6uiGCBIH4fzZ97SgTbk0&hl=en&sa=X&ei=jaikUaGPO5TH0gGY2YEw&ved=0CEgQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=photograph%20new%20york%20times%20magazine%20black%20middle%20class%20sued&f=false

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/17/arts/17iht-lorca.html?pagewanted=all

I'm not sure what's going on in the article, it seems more of an artsy-fartsy place than really rugged volcano-ey belly of the beast thingy. If you are looking to trek up, over and down into a hopefully-extinct volcano will take your breath away, that is accessible and is not overrun by tourists and access roads, here's the place:

http://www.flashearth.com/?lat=17.369741&lon=-62.80873&z=14.2&r=0&src=yh
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Liamuiga
http://www.peakware.com/peaks.html?pk=2174
http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g147374-d147557-r157740414-Mount_Liamuiga-St_Kitts_St_Kitts_and_Nevis.html
http://www.nytimes.com/1990/11/18/travel/climbing-a-st-kitts-volcano.html

Here's my suggestion: plan a night in the crater. Everyone should be in decent shape. The hike up the mountain is not too demanding and even pleasant if you make a 4-5 hour trek of it. Take at least 1-1/2 gallon drinking water per person, compact food for a couple good meals, mosquito repellent and light tents for shelter from bugs and rain. There is a lake in the crater that you might find drinkable. I did, it was the most delicious water I have ever tasted. Make sure everything is carried on your backs or can dangle comfortably, you will need both hands and feet for the final ~400' climb down into and out of the crater. It will be a careful scramble using both hands to cling to tree roots as you face the hillside and lower yourself, there are short lengths of rope left by previous climbers. Bring 50-100' of rope to use if existing ropes are in bad condition and to leave for future adventurers. It is rigorous but I do not recall that any part of the decent as terrifyingly vertical or overhanging.

Once you're down in the crater set up camp. There are a few active fumaroles along the rim, in places you can see faint steam rising and there is a faint odor of sulfur but the crater has good air circulation within it. As a common sense precaution site your camp on high ground within the crater, and if you are particularly nerdy you can bring a gas detector to check for H2S but it's probably not a big deal.

Regardless of the weather you will be in a place like no other and will consider yourself grateful to be alive. Framed by the circular crater rim's cliffs above you a sharp celestial bowl of stars might roll above you, untainted by light pollution. Or perhaps a light rain punctuated by echoing thunder and circle of lightning along the sharp peaks of the rim.

If you camp overnight have at least one good hands-free head mounted flashlight in the group in case of emergency, for someone would need to climb up to the crater's rim to call for help. Volcanic craters tend to have bad cellphone reception.

It is a little known fact that compatible and like-minded individuals are implicitly married as they descend into the crater of hopefully-extinct volcanoes so there is no need for pomp or ceremony. Just get on with it.

They also want to allow private companies to make "aggressive actions" in retaliation against "foreign cyber spies".

Like, there's no way THAT could possibly escalate or cause the end of the internet as we know it...

Link

He thinks the rules do not apply to him.

https://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/24/nyregion/bloomberg-violates-weekend-helicopter-ban-and-will-stop.html?_r=0

He also wants to disarm the public but he gets to keep police protection.

What he's talking about isnt a routing problem, it's drivers taking a break. The yellow cabs will sit at JFK for a bit (for example) then grab a $50-100 fare. Not a bad wage, considering. Routing is more of an issue with Livery. Livery (per-arranged, dispatched car service), is not allowed to pick up a street hail. And are often not "in line" at the airports. Yellow cabs can be hailed on the street and Uber offers little value over raising one's arm in the air.

Really though, Uber's problem was that they didn't want to play by the rules. There is special insurance and licenses for both Livery and yellow cab drivers in NYC, and it works pretty damn well. This is mandated by the TLC. Uber didn't want to have to bother with all that. That's why they got the boot. They also wanted to turn yellow cabs into Livery which would pretty much fuck the system and cause all prices to skyrocket as a lot of yellow cabs would sit on their asses for an hour then grab that $100 fair from midtown, rather than putting someone in the seat as soon as it becomes vacant (and actually spending that hour working).

Also Uber's contempt for regulation and public safety laws and even their own employees has been well documented:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/05/nyregion/as-ubers-taxi-hailing-app-comes-to-new-york-its-legality-is-questioned.html?_r=1&
http://pandodaily.com/2012/10/17/whos-the-real-bully-uber-or-new-york/
http://pandodaily.com/2012/10/24/travis-shrugged/

Funny there are still Slashdotters (like you) making the same idiotic "screw those entrenched powers!" comments that are made fun of in one of the above links.

Incidentally I took 3 yellow cabs today, 2 subways, and a commuter rail. I have used them all countless times before (also Livery/car services). The NYC transportation systems work amazingly well. I have always paid a fair price and 98% of the time had nice drivers.

So what the fuck value does Uber bring to the table? Very little. For Livery and off-hours there is a use for them, and maybe for scheduling a ride, sure. But they need to play by the rules.

Finally, is the TLC a bunch of saints? Of course not -- they most certainly have some corrupt fat-cat bureaucratic interests, as do some of the Livery companies. But that's not *all* they are, they also have some good regulations.

People (especially on Slashdot) need to stop thinking in one-dimensional black and white. Government is neither good nor bad, but has elements of both. Uber wanted to cry "look at the entrenched bully!" while being just as big assholes themselves, with the added benefit of ignoring laws and charging a premium for it all.

I just hope they have improved over the last year as they are persistent assholes, that's for sure.

Not sure where you're getting your numbers from but they're WAY off:

Wow, I really did mistake the numbers I was gathering for my post. Those were not sales, they were total cars sold. And the numbers were in the millions, not billions.

14.5 million new cars were sold in the US in 2012 (source), and 40.5 million used cars sold (source). Considering the average price of a new car is now about $30k (source) and the price of a used car sale is about $10k (source), that puts the actual size of the market at the values listed below.

$435 billion new car market vs $405 billion used car market.
14.5 million new car sales vs 40.5 million used car sales.

$22 billion new video game market vs $2.5 billion used game market
500 million new game sales vs 125 million used game sales
source

While the difference is not as drastic as my original incorrect values suggested, the difference is still enormous. The used car market is about the same as the new car market, but for video games it is 1/10th the size.