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Google's plan to host ALL our applications.
By Robert X. Cringely

http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/2007/pulpit_20071026_003304.html ...

MySQL AB, the Sweden- and Cupertino-based primary developer of MySQL, recently laid out its development road map all the way through 2009, and this includes code specifically contributed by Google, which signed a contributor agreement with MySQL last fall.

Here is what's significant about Google putting code into MySQL: they haven't done it before. Google has been a MySQL user from almost the very beginning, customizing the database in myriad ways to support Google's widely dispersed architecture with hundreds of thousands of servers. Google has felt no need previously to contribute code to MySQL. So what changed? While Google has long been able to mess with the MySQL code in ITS machines, it hasn't been able to mess with the code in YOUR machine and now it wants to do exactly that. The reason it will take so long to roll out MySQL 6.1 is that Google will only deliver its MySQL extensions for Linux, leaving MySQL AB the job of porting that code to the 15 other operating systems they support. That's what will take until early 2009. ...

Actually, the grandparent was implicitly making the very reasonable point that we often see in this forum stories about how the United States government is screwing us over in some way, which upon further inspection turn out to be much ado about nothing.

Like when the government forcibly sterilized Native American Indian women? Or when the military conducted medical experiments on black airmen, giving them syphilis?

but how many know of the genuine motivation of extreamist?

Trillion dollar stock market manipulation of the 90's striking and draining south east Asia including Indonesia (which is 88% Muslin according to CIA records)

And what would be the opposite direction or the removing of terrorist excuses at a far lower cost.

What the World Wants

Where does such access to emails come into play? The same as the telecoms assisting the government in spying on Americans. If you know what the public in general is thinking you will know what lies to tell them.

We all know Professional vetting always prevents bad things from happening or resolves them quickly

A teen crime shouldn't be thought of any different than that of a mentally retarded person; their mental limitations are heavily influential upon how you deal with the problem. It should be clear to somebody who deals with teens or has them that they are not smaller adults who are just ignorant, they are stupid in ways that make them fundamentally different than adults (for the most part, even then acting to the contrary not any different than primates mimicking behaviors...these being the smartest primates.)

Watch PBS frontline's show on the teenage brain for more background:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/teenbrain/view/

NOVA has a great show about the argument over evolution. It's called Judgment Day: Intelligent Design on Trial. It shows just how much evidence there is to support evolution. Apparently we should be teaching more about evolution in schools instead of less.

Robert X. Cringely described that long ago

I think that the digestive trouble that correlates with autism spectrum disorders combined with the modern Western diet (American in particular) is helping to amplify autism symptoms. In short: the inside of the intestines is considered to be outside of the body. If intestinal permeability is increased (leaky gut), larger molecules start entering the bloodstream. How bad that is depends on what is being consumed and the genetics of the person in question. The petrochemicals that make up most artificial coloring, flavoring and preservatives do Bad Things and are the likely cause of the rise in ADHD (Lancet published a study about that). Large proteins like gluten and casein (wheat and dairy protein) that are unlikely to fully digest entering the bloodstream will trigger all sorts of immune responses. A high refined sugar (or simply high carb) diet feeds yeasts that will puncture intestinal walls, and broad spectrum antibiotics will kill off competitors to those yeasts. Carbonated beverages are intestinal irritants by definition and are usually loaded with synthetic chemicals as well (says the recovering Diet Coke addict).

Anyhow, a whole foods (versus processed foods) diet free of synthetics often goes a long ways towards reducing autism (and other) symptoms, and it's something we all should be doing anyhow. It takes time but it doesn't cost much, if anything. GFCF (Gluten Free Casein Free) is well worth trying for combating autism and maybe for people with poor digestion in general.

Epigenetics looks like a very interesting topic to study.

One more thing: anyone with an autism spectrum disorder should get their ammonia level checked. It's often high. Calcium butyrate combined with a proper diet will fix this. The medical textbooks still say that hyperammonemia is acute and fatal and never persistent. If you're just fuzzy-headed all the time and can't figure out what's going on it's worth getting the simple blood test, if only to rule it out.

[wildsurf wrote]Does any system like this currently exist?

Whole Foods is doing something similar; refer to http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/issues/greenaction/solarpower.html for the corporate view.

PBS's science program Nova did an episode about solar energy (title: "Saved by the Sun"; broadcast date:April 24, 2007) , and talked about the Whole Foods concept (transcript at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/transcripts/3406_solar.html); a brief excerpt of the transcript here to whet your appetite:

But one trend is showing real promise here, and it's not being led by government but by business.

This Whole Foods market is in Ridgewood, New Jersey. At first glance it's pretty much like any other Whole Foods: neat and bright, with lots of great looking food at premium prices.

CASHIER (Whole Foods): Hi, would you like paper or plastic?

NARRATOR: But there is one thing different about this particular store. The roof is covered with solar panels. They look expensive, but Whole Foods didn't pay a cent for them. They're owned by a solar energy power company called SunEdison. Its founder and CEO is Jigar Shah.

JIGAR SHAH (SunEdison): We help companies like Whole Foods move to solar power. SunEdison and its investors pay all of the upfront costs for these solar systems, and Whole Foods promises to buy the power over a long-term contract.

NARRATOR: Jennifer McDonnell is a Green Mission specialist for Whole Foods.

JENNIFER McDONNELL (Whole Foods, Green Mission Specialist): And we use a lot of energies. And solar power powers everything in this store, from lighting to the steamers, slicers, the coolers, freezers, anything that requires electricity, even the registers.

So it's important for us to look at ways to make that energy clean and be aware of the amount of energy that we use.

NARRATOR: Solar panels on this store complement, do not replace energy from the grid.

JIGAR SHAH: The solar power only produces 15 percent of the store's use all year around. But it produces between 50 and 100 percent of its energy needs during the daytime. And that's the time when the power from the utility company is the most expensive.

NARRATOR: This is especially true in the summer.

LARRY KAZMERSKI: During the summer months, when you have all this air conditioning demand during the dayyou know, it's 95 degrees with 98 percent humidity outsideyou're not paying seven cents a kilowatt-hour. You're paying up to 30 cents a kilowatt-hour during the summer.

JIGAR SHAH: Whole Foods' air conditioning bills are the highest when the sun is beating down on their roof. That's when these solar panels are producing the most power.

NARRATOR: So at these peak hours, solar power is cheaper than grid power. And there's more potential energy savings for the store.

Electricity rates fluctuate with the price of fossil fuels. And since most experts expect fuel prices to rise, the SunEdison deal has an added benefit for Whole Foods.

JIGAR SHAH: We are guaranteeing Whole Foods a fixed price, for 20 years, from these solar panels. That's something that their traditional utility company can't promise them.

NARRATOR: How much Whole Foods saves over the next 20 years will depend on the cost of their conventional energy, but SunEdison knows precisely how much it will make from the Whole Foods deal.

JIGAR SHAH: I know exactly how much sun is going to hit these panels every year. I know exactly how long these panels are going to last, which is about 40 years. And because of that, just based on interest rates and based on my cost of installation, I can figure out exactly whether these systems will be profitable or unprofitable from day one.

VIJAY VAITHEESWARAN: If you look at companies, like SunEdison, who are helping retailers p

Quite precisely one year ago there was a piece on PBS NOVA ScienceNOW about uncovering mayan ruins on satellite images.

Imagine Diebold going to NASA/Air Force and trying to peddle their sub-standard hardware for mission-critical situations. I'm sure they would be given the boot faster than they can cry in pain.

You might be interested in reading up about the use of Microsoft Windows by the US Navy, which you can read about at http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/1998/07/13987.

Also of interest is the NewsHour's report on body armor, in which it turned out that the colonel in charge of approving the armor retired from the military and went to work for the company that he'd just signed a huge contract with: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/military/july-dec07/armor_09-21.html

No politician will die if body armor is poor, and the old men at the Pentagon won't die, and the owners of body armor companies won't die either. What makes you think they care about the people who will die?

>Protein folding is important, however discovery of ETI ranks up somewhere along with; fire, wheel, tools, calculus. Find a protein, you change many lives for the better. Find ET, and you change the course of the human race forever. We have the equilivant of alien intelligence here on earth, in the form on the cuttlefish. Let's figure that creature our before trying to find ANOTHER one. NOVA Program Kings of Camouflage: Meet the cuttlefish, one of the brainiest, most bizarre animals in the ocean. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/camo/

How about some facts instead?

I strongly feel that the US should focus more on taking away the causes of all this senseless terror. You might feel safe but the root of the evil is still there.

Really? Go read the fatwa of Osama bin Laden from 1996. His main complaint is that American infidels were defiling the "land of the two holy places" (ie Saudi Arabia) by their presence in the country. Why were the Americans in Saudi Arabia? Because the Saudis invited them there to protect the country.

You cannot reason with this kind of religious extremism - it is kill or be killed.

(Incidentally, when the Saudis asked the Americans to leave, they left)

The Jews got killed in WWII, so the were a bit pissed (and reasonably so). So they went of and conquered themselves some Palestinian land, thus making these guys unhappy (again, reasonably so).

Conquered Palestinian land? Absolutely not. The British Mandate of Palestine was picked by the British from the collapsing Ottomans, who ruled the area for centuries. The British took the vast majority of the Mandate's land and created an new Palestinian Arab state called Jordan. The remainder of the Mandate was kept by the British until after World War II ended.

Faced with competing claims to the remainder of the Mandate territory from Arabs & Jews, the Brits turned the problem over to the United Nations. After investigating & consulting with all parties, the UN decided to split the remainder of the Mandate territory into two states, one for Arabs and one for Jews, with international status for Jerusalem (sound familiar?). This two-state solution was unacceptable to the Arabs, and they declared war (and lost).

In 1967, when Egypt ordered the UN peacekeepers to leave, and blockaded an international waterway (an act of war), Israel responded, and the Arabs lost (again).

The Arab-Israeli wars are still ongoing. Israel never claimed the West Bank and Gaza as their own - the land is not conquered.

Jews blow Lebanon to pieces with some clusterboms and padabing padaboom, you have a full scale war on your hands.

Are you referring to the most recent conflict in Lebanon? Let us review:

Hezbollah, with the consent of the Lebanese government, sent a group of armed men across the internationally recognized border between Lebanon & Israel. These men killed & captured a number of Israeli soldiers. Now, when you send a group of armed men across the border to attack the armed forces of another country, that is an act of war. Israel responded with war, and Lebanon got fucked (again). War is a terrible thing, causing great suffering, destruction and loss of life. Maybe the Lebanese won't be so quick to start a war next time.

Why do you think North Koreans are so pissed?? Because they like to lob a nuke in our backyard and because they think this will make things better for them? NO!!!! Because they are piss poor

Are you referring to ordinary North Koreans? Their opinion doesn't matter in the slightest - they do what the dictatorship tells them, or they get sent to the gulag & killed.

The North Korean leadership is a typical dictatorship trying to stay in power. The support they used to get from China & Russia has been falling off, and they are getting nervous since they drove their own economy into the ground and can't even feed themselves.

The hungry & angry North Korean people are a potential threat to the North Korean leadership, but not anyone else.

I personally, through this job, through working at this job, have come to feel that the news media is even more depressing than the news it attempts and fails miserably to report. I think it's horrible news, broadcast horribly. That's a fairly blanket statement, but I've been doing this for a long time, and seeing, delving into this every day, it's a thoroughly depressing business. To the extent that people look to us as a source of news, that is 100% indicative of other people's failure, and not our success. Because Jon, unlike me, has the cable news on in his office all day. I can't take it. I can't take it. But he's a tougher man than I am... "No fear, just facts"... [referring to a mocked CNN clip] ...if that's their slogan, then they're asking to be punched in the face, when they have nothing on but fear.

This was one in a series of lessons I learned about how television news had lost its most basic journalistic instincts in its search for the audience-driven sweet spot, the "emotional center" of the American people. Gone was the mission of using technology to veer out onto the edge of American understanding in order to introduce something fundamentally new into the national debate. The informational edge was perilous, it was unpredictable, and it required the news audience to be willing to learn something it did not already know.

Cobain dies in 1994, before Iraq/Afghanistan/Paul were stories of any sort

The first war in Iraq was in 1990-91. Iraq was a story before Cobain died.

Afghanistan should have been a major story in the early 1990s. The mujhadin took over the capital in 1992 and paved the way for the current government.

Ron Paul wasn't a story, but Ross Perot was.

If the complaint is that there isn't enough "hard" news or "real" news then Kurt Cobain is a terrible example. He was important to rock, but Britney is important to pop.

Can't the money be spent on finding reasons WHY the crimes are caused in the first place?

Here is the short version... there are many, many causes of crime - here are some of them:

- many people think they can get away with crime
- a lot of crime is a result of the drug business
- you have a large permanent underclass that grow up in single-parent homes, drop out of school and have no career prospects

Oh I'm sorry, apparently asking "why" somehow rationalizes their actions, just like why we can't talk about the reasons WHY terrorists want to kill us.

Why? Not much need to ask why - they usually tell you. Osama bin Laden's complaints are on the record multiple times as to why, and they predate September 11th by many years. Go read his original fatwa from 1996.

His main complaint is that American infidels were polluting the "land of the two holy places" (ie Saudi Arabia) by their presence in the country.

That is in the document title: "Declaration of War against the Americans Occupying the Land of the Two Holy Places.".

The fact that the Americans were there by invitation of Saudi Arabia to protect the Saudis isn't relevant to him. The fact that the Americans left when the Saudis isn't relevant to him.

Go read the original document. It is impossible to reason with this kind of person. It is kill or be killed.

Actually, the inner core is made of the softer steel, which is wrapped with the higher-carbon steel that forms the cutting edge. The (straight) sword is quenched and the softer steel contracts more (because of less carbon) than the outer high-carbon steel causing the sword to curve. The clay is used to create and preserve decorations on the blade face. High-quality swords can run over $100k.

Thank you PBS and NOVA, Secrets of the Samurai Sword, which shows the manual process from raw materials to finished sword.

I can't believe people still bring this up. This has been discussed on Slashdot plenty o' times before. It is out of complete ignorance, I know, but still. Would you rather inhale the mercury than bury it in a landfill? Would you rather eat it in a fish sandwich? According to the EPA, should should be able to eat about 4 bulbs a week.

The amount of mercury is so small that this issue is laughable.

I can't link to the specific page, because it's a dumb Flash (redundant?) thing where you click through the pages.

But there was an episode of "Secrets of the Dead" with a theory about static electricity causing the doping compound to ignite.

You can find it at: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/secrets
Pick "What happened to the Hindenburg?" from the popup.

Oops, sorry forgot to mention the post also contains a link to the master: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/smoke/interviews/bagdikian1.html I studied Ben Bagdikian "The Media Monopoly" in undergrad and his points are still salient today and they will remain so for the next foreseeable future.

Bill Moyers just did a piece on this Monday evening:

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/12142007/watch2.html

While fascinating, it was also one of the most horrific examples I have recently seen of a runaway Executive Branch. Once again we, as US citizens, need to rely upon our elected officials in Congress. Who knows how well that will turn out......

You seem to be confusing Pirates of Silicon Valley with Triumph of the Nerds, which is an actual documentary.

Just like PBS blocks everyone across the pond. Oh, wait...

I prefer to think of things like this as cultural propaganda (though that's a bit of a strong word). Exposing people outside your borders to your culture.
I'd love to see some BBC content to get a better understanding of what's going on "over there". Just a few reruns of Benny Hill or Monty Python don't quite cover it.

I hate to see a good idea go to waste:

If you were looking in the Artic, for these clouds, Aircraft in the US are grounded, and there had not been any shuttle flights since August 10th, 2001, We could easily have asked Isreal, or China, both of which posess the spyplane technology we are using to study these clouds to make a artic flight. The shuttle had just launched a month earlier, and the vapor trail, from the hole punched in the ozone took only 48 hours to reach the poles, so there were clouds there.

We would have seen the isolated effect of a prior launch without contrails or thunder clouds on the artic polar vortex. I would have been an extrodinary opportunity to study this exact phenomenon and a petcular compnnent of its cause.

From your refrence:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sun/images/cont-nasalrcteambushavhrr64-l.jpg

This photo shows the absolute clarity of the skies.

There should be a difference between freedom of speech and dishonesty speaking.

Do you know how stupid it sounds that one random person speaks up against their government and then is executed for organ harvesting for someone important?
Whats the odds of a genetic enough match?

China worked with americans to get starving people out of north korea. Why? Because Americans don't look korean enough to do it themselves.

Tienanmen square. What was worse than that? What happened in Mexico the year the Olympics was there. It was suppressed, more students were killed, but that would be bad press for such an event.

Why was there not one but two attacks on the world trade center many years apart?
follow the money http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/transcripts/2704stockmarket.html and know the CIA has identified indonesia as 88% muslim.

Freedom of speech, which part? The true part? the true part that supports an illusion? The dishonest part?
How about fully integrated honesty.

If you are going to support patriotism, as your web page link points to, perhaps you should really support trade sanctions against China, if you so really believe what you do.

When was the last time you read the declaration of independence? Maybe its time you read it again! You know, to understand the honest meaning of patriotism.

'tweren't Huck, 'twere Tom!

http://www.pbs.org/marktwain/learnmore/writings_tom.html

is to step on the citizens' legal rights like privacy and free speech.

And the software to do this is already fully mature thanks to American companies' partnership with the Chinese government. If you don't think it will happen, watch the PBS Frontline episode Tank Man. After railing on the Chinese government for censoring photos and video on the internet for 50 minutes, the American censors step in during part six and delete out a scene of their own in the name of copyright. It's already happening voluntarily. AT&T is promising you it will ratchet up the online oppression. Those reluctant to follow their lead will be forced to do so due to more legislation like the 1997 NET Act and the DMCA. The software developed in China could easily be deployed here. Copyright *IS* censorship.

I've seen the few public sessions he's attended on this and it is just so clear that he is a total douchebag running his own personal agenda(supervised by big business of course). The democrats on committee are against it, the public is clearly against it and yet there he goes in a total rush to force more consolidation. It's very sad and frustrating to see someone so who has been paid off(either now or in the very near future from big media) sit there and lie to our faces. You can watch a summary and a great piece of video here http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/11162007/profile2.html

The Bill Moyers Journal on PBS had two recent shows about the problem of media consolidation. In case anyone is interested, here are the transcripts to those two episodes:

Bill Moyers Journal Transcript for November 16, 2007
Bill Moyers Journal Transcript for November 2, 2007

The Bill Moyers Journal on PBS had two recent shows about the problem of media consolidation. In case anyone is interested, here are the transcripts to those two episodes:

Bill Moyers Journal Transcript for November 16, 2007
Bill Moyers Journal Transcript for November 2, 2007

In 1722 a series of letters appeared in the New-England Courant written by a middle-aged widow named 'Silence Dogood'. The letters poked fun at various aspects of life in colonial America, such as the drunkenness of locals and the fashion for hoop petticoats.

Silence was particularly fond of ridiculing Harvard. She complained that it had been ruined by corruption and elitism, and that most of its students learned nothing there except how to be conceited.

This was the first of many of Benjamin Franklin's hoaxes.

So I'm guessing some of the founding fathers of our nation and at least this Signer of the Declaration of Independence would have this guys back. ;-)

http://www.pbs.org/benfranklin/pop_dogood.htm
http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/dogood.html

FYI, this has happened a few times before. PBS Nova Science Now recently did a piece on something similar.

Watch Online:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/3411/01.html

There's a good documentary about the Dover Evolution Trials online at NOVA. If a conservative judge appointed by Bush can see through the sham that ID is, then it's amazing that anyone's still trying to push it through.

Haven't we been through all this before? Yes, we have. The Dover, PA trial of 2005 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dover_trial]

Check this PBS/Nova production called "Judgment Day - Intelligent Design on Trial"
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/id/program.html

It's a very well done documentary on the ID/Evolution trial up on Dover, PA. This issue has been decidedly beaten to death (verdict:ID is absolute hogwash) in a court of law.

SD

we can't seem to find you anywhere..

"Intelligent Design" (ID) has no credibility or place in any society anyway.

Keep in mind that "Intelligent Design" has already been exposed and refuted as religion in a new disguise, carefully crafted by lawyers.

Need proof? Remember the case in Dover, Pennsylvania?
No? Refresh your memory then, citizen:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/id/program.html

(Don't care about production values? Read the transcripts.)

Remember Steve Jobs' first days back at Apple in 1997 as Interim-CEO-for-Life? Trying to save the company, Steve got Bill Gates to invest $150 million in Apple and promise to keep Mac Office going for a few more years in exchange for a five-year patent cross-licensing agreement? The idea in everyone's mind, of course, was that Microsoft would grab lots of Apple technology, which they probably did, and it quite specifically ended an Apple patent infringement suit against Microsoft. But I'm told that the exchange wasn't totally one-way, that Apple, in turn, got some legal right to the Windows API.
That agreement ran for five years, from August, 1997 to August 2002. Even though it has since expired, the rights it conferred at the time still lie with the respective companies. Whatever Microsoft grabbed from Apple they can still use, they just aren't able to grab anything developed since August 2002. Same for Apple using Microsoft technology like that in Office X. But Windows XP shipped October 25, 2001: 10 months before the agreement expired.

From what I've read previously-- consumption of violent media does not lead to violent behavior, it leads to the desire to consume more violent media-- and people who are violent tend, for the most part, not to consume violent media for one reason or another. To date, I have not read anything that suggests otherwise and that leaves me skeptical of the article.

There seems to be stigma that "well, they must be related, it's common sense, both involve 'violence'"-- no, this untrue, both being subsets of violence does not constitute cross-correlation. Somehow, people just make bad assumptions (probably because the human brain is designed to group and categorize as part of its functioning), but it leads to "it's common sense" type statements.

When it comes to video games, they are really nothing more than mental exercise, violent or no. Games are how animals in the wild learn to be adults-- same here with humans. What seems to get lost in these "harmful to us" discussion are limits and moderation. When it comes to physical exercise, you shouldn't let a child start at heavy lifting and you shouldn't let them run around all day-- limits should be set and expanded as they grow and children shouldn't be allowed to focus on any single activity for too long lest they will have trouble coping with the simplest of things when they reach adulthood. In similar fashion, you shouldn't let a child start with "inappropriate" games and shouldn't let them excessively play any game-- again, limits and moderation-- it's probably a parent's most important job in raising their children.

I will remain skeptical of the article until I begin seeing more of a volume of evidence-- as it is now, the evidence debunking the article appears strong to me and makes more sense to me as well. My daughter at age 2 knew the difference between fantasy and reality, which I've notice is quite normal-- I've also noticed that children that cannot tell the difference tend to have deep lying problems that can lead to violent behavior, but in of themselves have nothing to do with violent media. The fact that this article suggests "greater control on the part of [...] society" bothers me greatly. It suggests that society should take part in the raising of my children-- I cannot disagree more. Parents should raise their children. Society's role should be confined to holding parents responsible for their children within the normal capacity of parenting and reassigning parenting in the cases of abuse or great negligence.

I could rant on for a long time on the subject. Any, here is some interesting reading...
"Reality Bytes: Eight Myths About Video Games Debunked" by Henry Jenkins, MIT Professor: http://www.pbs.org/kcts/videogamerevolution/impact/myths.html

My two cents.
--Dave Romig, Jr.

This is why it's destructive to classify people based on some perceived innate intelligence or lack thereof.

I couldn't possibly agree more. My parents, and most of the adults in my life significant to my formative years, never made any assumptions regarding what I was or wasn't capable of. They did encourage me to view any challenge as a game, and rewarded me with a lot of positive support when I figured something out. I grew up in the 80's on PBS, with shows like Nova that sparked tons of curiosity about the world around me. My parents encouraged me to read as much as possible, and talked to me regularly about what I had read. They never said, "Oh, that book is a little ahead of you right now" or other such nonsense. I was never told I couldn't do something, so I wound up able to do a lot more than most of my peers at times. My father gave me an AT&T PC-6300 as kid, with a DOS command reference, GW-BASIC programmer's guide, and C compiler/programmer's guide. He told me if I wanted more software, I could just learn how to write it myself, so I did :). A couple of years later, I discovered the world of BBSes and things evolved rather exponentially from there.

In my opinion, a parent's role in fostering a thirst for knowledge and a creative outlook on life cannot be stressed enough. Now I'm "all grown up" and married, trying for a child of my own. I sincerely hope to be at least half the positive influence my parents were when it comes to learning and exploration of the amazing universe we live in.

"Please name one good thing that will come out of any military intervention in Sudan."

Please read my original statement. I'm not talking about intervention at all, military or humanitarian even. I'm only talking about withdrawing our government contracts with companies who supply Sudan with the equipment and infrastructure used to commit this genocide. That's it. The current divestment has been working - companies are pulling out of Sudan, and the regime is going to the lengths of putting million-dollar-ads in the New York Times to show the "good side of Sudan".

"Also name one good thing that comes out of economic sanctions, for the tradeoff of impoverishing and starving the very people that depend on economic activity for their wellbeing."

I'm not sure what sort of first-world country you think Sudan is. The people being affected by this are poor farmers who get no financial support from the Sudanese regime. This is exactly the reason for the genocide - when the regime got rich, some poor people started fighting back, so the government is solving the "problem" by killing them ALL off.

Basically, withdrawing our government contracts from companies helping the regime slaughter its poor people IS NOT somehow financially impact the poor of Darfur - they were already financially cut off (the whole point of the genocide).

You really need to inform yourself by watching the PBS Frontline special that aired last week. You can watch it online for free. US tax dollars went into the show's production; why not benefit from it?

"I agree that life outside of republican government is nasty, brutish, and short. The Sudanese will eventually learn this, and cease to tolerate it. This is a lesson that must be learned; it cannot be taught."

Again, please inform yourself. The regime is paying bandits to kill people off, no matter where they flee to. They have followed the victims across the border into Chad. Life is not "brutish". It's impossible. The bandits have been attacking villages by night, supported by weaponized helicopters that are mowing down everyone in sight. The bandits on the ground are gang-raping women and cutting babies into pieces. This is not "nasty/brutish". It's obscene.

Our purposeful inaction, out of fear of loss of trade with China or future military action from China, will not go unnoticed by other regimes desiring global power. They will strengthen their ties with China and get a free ticket to whatever atrocities they desire. China also sees how much power they have to completely paralyze the UN for 4 years. They will not back down an inch in the future. All because of our knowing lack of action, action that would have kept them in check.

"Please name one good thing that will come out of any military intervention in Sudan."

Please read my original statement. I'm not talking about intervention at all, military or humanitarian even. I'm only talking about withdrawing our government contracts with companies who supply Sudan with the equipment and infrastructure used to commit this genocide. That's it. The current divestment has been working - companies are pulling out of Sudan, and the regime is going to the lengths of putting million-dollar-ads in the New York Times to show the "good side of Sudan".

"Also name one good thing that comes out of economic sanctions, for the tradeoff of impoverishing and starving the very people that depend on economic activity for their wellbeing."

I'm not sure what sort of first-world country you think Sudan is. The people being affected by this are poor farmers who get no financial support from the Sudanese regime. This is exactly the reason for the genocide - when the regime got rich, some poor people started fighting back, so the government is solving the "problem" by killing them ALL off.

Basically, withdrawing our government contracts from companies helping the regime slaughter its poor people IS NOT somehow financially impact the poor of Darfur - they were already financially cut off (the whole point of the genocide).

You really need to inform yourself by watching the PBS Frontline special that aired last week. You can watch it online for free. US tax dollars went into the show's production; why not benefit from it?

"I agree that life outside of republican government is nasty, brutish, and short. The Sudanese will eventually learn this, and cease to tolerate it. This is a lesson that must be learned; it cannot be taught."

Again, please inform yourself. The regime is paying bandits to kill people off, no matter where they flee to. They have followed the victims across the border into Chad. Life is not "brutish". It's impossible. The bandits have been attacking villages by night, supported by weaponized helicopters that are mowing down everyone in sight. The bandits on the ground are gang-raping women and cutting babies into pieces. This is not "nasty/brutish". It's obscene.

Our purposeful inaction, out of fear of loss of trade with China or future military action from China, will not go unnoticed by other regimes desiring global power. They will strengthen their ties with China and get a free ticket to whatever atrocities they desire. China also sees how much power they have to completely paralyze the UN for 4 years. They will not back down an inch in the future. All because of our knowing lack of action, action that would have kept them in check.

It doesn't seem like the non-overkill theories are so suppressed anymore. This looks like pretty mainstream coverage to me:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/stoneage/megafauna.html

I saw that show and it was thoughtful and nicely done, and naturally didn't conclude those species were hunted to extinction. People are just following the evidence and realizing that overkill just doesn't compute. It's just too bad a few anthropologists won't.

"The best way to help in Darfur and Sudan is to be part of a UN force"

Please, you need to inform yourself. Start by watching the US-tax-dollar-funded PBS Frontline special released last week. Every second of the program explains how the UN has done nothing stopping the genocide, simply because China is Sudan's key supplier, and nobody wants China angry at them. The most they're willing to do is to make idealistic statements, saying, "hey, that's not nice, please stop".

A choice quote from the program is made by one of the leaders of the movement to stop the genocide, who explains that the most useful knowledge gained from the last 4 years of inaction by the UN is that despite their saying "never again" after the Rwandan Genocide, the UN is ultimately useless for these purposes. You should keep that in mind when the 2nd major genocide of the 21st century occurs (which it will).

"...and to be apart of any multinational embargoes that happen..."

This is the whole point of Sudanese divestment.

Cringely (I know, I know) had a lot to say about these guys and Google's $10M investment in them a few weeks ago.

It's all about high-altitude kites!

Pete Lynn works for Makani, and had a series of posts to Google Groups in 2003 that explained the concept. There's also an old web page of his that's only available on the Internet Archive.

That's the interesting part about Google's initiative -- they're looking to solve this problem on the (relative) cheap, in years and with millions instead of decades and billions.

A very good summary of Paul's general views. While I was entirely supportive of Ron Paul until very recently, I do agree with a lot of the Constitutional "hands off" approaches, however I believe that this only works up to a point. Companies are much too skilled at fucking people over these days. It doesn't make sense any longer for a government to assume that the free market will just work itself out. It's ignorance more than anything that drives these sweeping arguments that are basically saying "leave me alone, I don't want to get involved, I don't care what's happening"

Here is Paul's speech in which he confuses the Darfur genocide with the North-South civil war - two completely separate issues (the Sudanese government even said that they were delaying a peace agreement to end the civil war, in order to have a "lasting solution in Darfur").

...until I found out about his opinion regarding the Darfur genocide (watch this excellent Frontline special online if you have no clue what is happening over there).

While I can understand his not wanting to send troops over there to stop the government from slaughtering its own people, I can not understand his voting against the Divestment Act of 2007 (passed 418-1), which intended "to require the identification of companies that conduct business operations in Sudan, [and] to prohibit United States Government contracts with such companies".

Basically, the act says that if a company is directly helping the Sudanese government act out the genocide of their own people, the US government would not sign a contract with that country.

When I read Paul's argument, I was even more appalled. Not only did he ignore the currently-known results of divesting from Sudan (in other words, it's working!), he also had the gall to (purposely?) confuse the Darfur genocide with the completely separate North-South civil war. So his basic argument was "we shouldn't be getting involved with other countries' civil wars"

• Great Q/A on IFR with Dr. George S. Stanford
• Wikipedia article
• a Frontline (PBS) interview with Dr. Till

Why are we ignoring this technology???