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Problem with the Binishell is that it looks like a half-buried helmet. I can imagine a brigade of stormtroopers standing around it, singing "Share and Enjoy".

The Domtec construction isn't all that bad, but it can't be done with just a fire hose. If you're hundreds or thousands of miles from the nearest contractor, you need something that will do that work for you.

Mal-2

Hard-shelled structures created from inflatable templates are actually quite common. Usually, they are made by spraying concrete or polymer onto the inflatable shell. Alternatively, you first pour on the concrete, then inflate (it takes fairly little pressure to do so). The lining is some combination of fabric and water/air-proof plastic. Some of the templates are reusable, others become part of the structure.

Have a look at Domtec and Binishells.

Comcast tried to hide their most recent 6 percent fee hike by announcing the day before Thanksgiving. Shady.

At that point, I decided to switch to Netflix. Comcast then offered to roll me back to the original rates and then take $10/month off of THAT. I went ahead and canceled anyway and have never looked back.

I watch all my shows on Netflix DVDs now. I get to watch whenever I want and pause whenever I want without having to pay for cable or a DVR. All the HBO shows I used to watch are available, I just can't watch the latest season. Which is no problem because I'm catching up on everything I missed.

It's been a little over three months and Netflix is still working very well. My monthly bill went from $80+ (with HBO but without DVR) to less than $20.

For news I turn to the Web. I even watch Daily Show segments online.

Guess I sound like a Netflix fanatic, but just wanted to point out there are good alternatives to Comcast.

Please note that the identical AC post in this story was me, but I accidentally posted it as AC the first time.

Here's a basic list of just a handful of abuses I came up:

• The PATRIOT act is being used in regular non-terrorism criminal cases. Anything beyond simple misdemenors is being passed off as terrorism, now.
• A webmaster was jailed under PATRIOT because someone had posted bomb making info on his server. Keep in mind that he didn't put the info there, he was basically a web host, and one of his clients was using his account this way. This is a particularly damning case of abuse where "Innocuous objects such as iced tea bottles and a toy car were described as terrorist devices by the FBI and a joint task force of police officers."
• A disturbing article about using the PATRIOT act to obtain warrants against doctors and scientists. Not because they've done anything wrong, but because they happen to do research with hazardous materials. Guilty before proven innocent.
• Story about someone killed by the PATRIOT act
• Several artists were charged with bioterrorism under PATRIOT for creating artwork meant to educate viewers in the dangers of the biotech industry.
• Story about a veteran being arrested for complaining too much due to the heightened terror alert.
• Shining a pocket laser into an airplane is terrorism falling under the PATRIOT act
• Article republished fromt the Washington post about American citizens held without trial
• A man being harrassed by a "joint terrorism task force" (the kind that has authority under the PATRIOT act) because of investigating Area 51
• Another "joint terrorism task force" investigating a 12 year old for doing a school paper on the Cesapeake Bay Bridge
• A photographer arrested and threatened with being charged under the PATRIOT act for taking pictures of Dick Cheney

And finally, maybe there haven't been as many abuses as there will be once all 2nd legal track the preparations are in place.

Here's a basic list of just a handful of abuses I came up:

• The PATRIOT act is being used in regular non-terrorism criminal cases. Anything beyond simple misdemenors is being passed off as terrorism, now.
• A webmaster was jailed under PATRIOT because someone had posted bomb making info on his server. Keep in mind that he didn't put the info there, he was basically a web host, and one of his clients was using his account this way. This is a particularly damning case of abuse where "Innocuous objects such as iced tea bottles and a toy car were described as terrorist devices by the FBI and a joint task force of police officers."
• A disturbing article about using the PATRIOT act to obtain warrants against doctors and scientists. Not because they've done anything wrong, but because they happen to do research with hazardous materials. Guilty before proven innocent.
• Story about someone killed by the PATRIOT act
• Several artists were charged with bioterrorism under PATRIOT for creating artwork meant to educate viewers in the dangers of the biotech industry.
• Story about a veteran being arrested for complaining too much due to the heightened terror alert.
• Shining a pocket laser into an airplane is terrorism falling under the PATRIOT act
• Article republished fromt the Washington post about American citizens held without trial
• A man being harrassed by a "joint terrorism task force" (the kind that has authority under the PATRIOT act) because of investigating Area 51
• Another "joint terrorism task force" investigating a 12 year old for doing a school paper on the Cesapeake Bay Bridge
• A photographer arrested and threatened with being charged under the PATRIOT act for taking pictures of Dick Cheney

And finally, maybe there haven't been as many abuses as there will be once all 2nd legal track the preparations are in place.

If the administration didn't let Rumsfield resign over Abu Gharib, why should we think it's going to let the Justice Department give it's favorite roll-back of civil liberties a bad mark? It's just not going to happen.

We're producing propaganda pieces and selling them to TV stations as news stories, and we're going to come clean about Patriot Act abuses? Not a chance.

I mean, what do you think the Chinese government is going to conclude if they set up a task force to look into their possible human rights abuses??

* Post the same misinformed crap as you did in the last article
* Get a clue about the difference between "news that is in the public's interest" and "news that interests the public"
* RTFA and actually understand it
* Stay ignorant

We all would have liked for the economy and job market to remain that strong.

Forgive me, but the bitter curmudgeon in me compels me to say no, I wouldn't want the job market and economy to have remained that way.

There was a lot of stoopid stuff happening in the valley. The pundits did not exaggerate -- the exuberance truly was irrational. And not just with the whole swanky laptop, Aeron chair, foosball table thing. People were paying twice the asking price for homes in the area. A home in San Francisco's Noe Valley which was put up for $900K (already overpriced) sold for $1.8 million. Rent for a one-bedroom studio apartment was $1600/month. (Check the long-running series Surreal Estate in the San Francisco Chronicle for more examples.)

People fresh out of college were starting the most absurd companies, siphoning off capital that could have been used for better things. They hired people still clutching their "Learn Java in 21 Days" book in their hand. People with no evident experience were being given positions in senior management with the letters C?O after their name (where '?' could be 'E', 'O', 'T', 'I', 'F', or just about anything else).

Meanwhile, old hands like me who grind out designs and code for them on a daily basis weren't invited to the party. The result: Housing prices in the San Francisco area have effectively doubled in the last five years, but my salary hasn't, putting home ownership even further out of reach. I was out of work for a year and a half. My sweetie still hasn't found steady work (tech support). Stock options? Worthless. Actual stock grants? Yeah, I made a few extra dollars there, but certainly not enough to buy property.

It is a supremely depressing thought that perhaps the only way I'll have the security of owning a home is when my mother passes away.

So, no, I don't wish those days had continued, where people with no forethought bid up the price of everything like it was a game of M.U.L.E. It also proved to me just how delicate a real economy is, when just a very few ephemerally rich people managed to throw the whole thing out of whack. Actual, hardworking, worthwhile people got left behind.

Schwab

The big flap here is that someone arranged to cover the Golden Gate Bridge with HDTV digital cameras and now has nineteen suicides recorded. He's planning a theatrical release as a documentary.

but this sounds remarkably similar to the way tobacco companies once behaved

that should be

but this sounds remarkably similar to the way tobacco companies currently behave

Yes, Yes it can. http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/20 05/03/04/HAZING.TMP

There have been concerted effort with Linux...

Apparently China is on board with Linux. And the vendor is big evil Linux-hating Sun Microsystems! (thousands of trolls' heads explode over this paradox)

Your statement that the only difference between governmental involvement and private enterprise being that some corporations got involved neglects the fact that water prices DID rise in the case of Bolivia and that the root cause WAS the handing of the water utilities over to foreign companies in the name of capitalism. I couldn't find much in English other than Palast's stuff. But if you can read Spanish, you will see the humanitarian effect of handing over the water to Bechtel.

• www.gvom.ch
• www.socialismo-o-barbarie.org
• www.aguabolivia.org
• www.whrnet.org

Point is that privatization of shared resources has historically resulted in profits to businesses at the expense of the consumer. It's not just a matter of changing hands from governmental owners/regulators to private industry. Part of the mandate of government is to serve the people. This is NOT a mandate of business. If you have been following WTO, and US business models of late, you will note that they all include the ownership of government officials.

How can we even start to improve high schools in America if we can't even agree on what should be taught?

High schools will continue to fail their students when "liberal" boards of education decide to teach evolutionary theory while backwoods podunk boards of education decide that "creationism" should be taught in science class.

A national panel of educators, scientists, researchers, and business representatives needs to decide what is needed by today's kids to succeed in life.

Education is too important to leave to the whim of local school boards. Parents should not have the option of sending their kids to "non-accredited" institutions - or worse - home schooling.

Too many people in this country have been taught the "Adam and Eve" fairytale, that calculus and algebra aren't necessary for a good job, and history classes are only good if you want to teach it.

Green Day's newest album title "Idiot America" seems so appropriate these days.

-ted

"Bush Could Usher in Hydrogen Age as Kennedy Did Space Age
By Glenn Sacks

George W. Bush today has the opportunity to usher in the Hydrogen Age--the coming era of non-polluting, limitless hydrogen fuel cell power--as John F. Kennedy did the Space Age. In so doing, he would be remembered as one of our nation's greatest leaders.

The National Organization for Women supports Equal Pay Day...What NOW doesn't recognize...NOW gets 75% by comparing apples and oranges...If NOW were correct that women earn 75% of what men earn...NOW does have some good ideas for families...

From the article: The $10 billion video game industry, which generates more revenue than Hollywood, has never released so many highly anticipated blockbuster titles in a single season.

So, by your logic, practically nobody goes to movies?

You point out that IT people would ideally be more people-friendly than the Average Joe. Interestingly enough, one data recovery service actually employs a psychologist with no computer training to help calm distraught callers. She helps provide some of the people-soothing skills necessary to get the hysterical callers to calm down enough so they can describe their problem to tech support. Wouldn't it be even better if the tech support could provide that human touch? Why employ two seperate people? We can argue all day about whether women really, truly empathize more than men as the common belief goes. But there is definitely a need for IT people of either sex to be more understanding and friendly than they are. I know I've talked with some people on the phone who are borderline rude. Please, no replies here about how it's a thankless job (I'm getting to that below) and I should be understanding of how they treat me.

People in IT get treated pretty badly sometimes. Think about it: they work long and hard for little to no thanks. No one walks up to their sysadmin and says "Hey, thanks for all you do. My system worked perfectly today!" No, the only time co-workers take notice of them is when things are going badly. In many ways, IT and sysadmin-ing in general is a thankless job. Now, I have no idea whether women are more able to put up with this kind of situation or not. But I can see where it would take a very unique kind of person to feel happy in such a job. And I see no reason why only men would have the necessary outlook on life, their career, and their role within a company.

By the way, I happen to know a female sysadmin who works out at the local gym. This is no typical-looking geek girl. She is really damn sexy. We're talking blond, super-fit, and breast implants. I mean everyone in the gym watches her with envious eyes (she's married). And when I was in grad school, the syadmin in our department was this asian cutie who was so pretty she made your teeth hurt! So the idea that only unpopular girls who don't care about their appearance go into IT is definitely not true.

GMD

It's very relevant when those against embryonic stem cell research start touting these results as arguments against the necessity for embryonic stem cell, as you are doing.

- There isn't a "ban" on any kind of stem cell research in the US. There is a restriction on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research - entities are still free to perform embryonic stem cell research (see California's recent US$3 billion bond initiative to support such research in the state) The ban is on federal funding for research involving any embryonic stem cell lines except those few, very limited lines derived before Bush's announcement of the ban. Additionally, the consensus among stem cell researchers is that those few lines which are available are fairly poor, most being contaminated. Oh, and the California Initiative? That's California attempting a legal run around the ban. You can't claim it as an example of it's merit.

- The Bush administration is the first administration to allow any federal funding at all for embryonic stem cell research. Granted, this is partly due to timing, but it's still a point of information.

It's entirely a matter of timing; the Clinton administration was aiming to put a much more liberal federal funding scheme which would not limit researchers to a few poor cell lines

A portuguese link don't help too much =)
Not only Brazil doed that before India, Texas Heart Institute use this type os treatment on experimental scale.
Here the links.. googled in few seconds:
http://www.tmc.edu/thi/stemart1.html

http://circ.ahajournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/1 07/18/2294

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article/article?f=/n/a/2 005/02/02/international/i180707S22.DTL&type=health

Man.. don't take this too serious.. Times of India editors do not like to lost time doing resarch berfore publish someting.

The TiVo interface? It's impressive for a consumer electronics product, but nothing special by Apple standards. Presumably, Apple would want to roll their own, as they did for iPod.

That only applies to stickers endorsed by Democrats.

Attacking Republicans, sadly, is seen as fair game.

However, the corporation sued the goverment for 40 years of lost profits.

There was also a law passed that would give ownership for rain water, so the people couldn't even collect their own water without permission from the company. All your water are belong to us!

More Info

News Anchor: In an unrelated story, Koko the gorilla has a nipple fetish.

Debbie (unzipping top): We're under attack by robot monkey nipple fetishists?!

Sparks: No!

Debbie: Damn! I haven't been touched in hours! (zips top)

Murphy: Sparks! I'll be in my quarters. No way those monkeys are stealing my nipples....

Halliburton misplaces Americium in Massachusetts, fails to notify Nuclear Regulatory Commission within federally-mandated deadline.

Do you have any credible news sources to back up this claim? If so, please post URLs, otherwise I don't think many people are going to believe a wild unsubstantiated claim like this.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/ch ronicle/archive/2003/09/28/MN25356.DTL

http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interes ting-people/200309/msg00128.html

http://www.jsonline.com/news/editorials/aug04/2494 20.asp

There has been some interesting research on learning done in Dr. Pepperberg's lab. The odd aspect of it is that they are tackeling the learning issue by studing how African Grey Parrots learn. The Home Page is a place to start looking for information and think about teaching. Another example of how well these particular birds can hear and respond is here, and finally, there was an article in the SF Chronicle that discussed how intelligent the birds might be here. While I am tooting the horn for birds, we should also consider how they learn, because it is different that "normal" human patterns. This could be quite useful for learning disabilities when the normal avenues do not work.

You're not serious that you don't "GET IT" are you? The evidence is overwhelming. And those who trot out some trumped up fiction that refutes the majority are mostly politcally motivated, or funded by oil companies. There is really buig bucks at stake to these people, at least for them. But if the planet compromises it's long term future, what have we done? Look at this month's "Discover" magazine; or any simple searching dregs up tons.: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/ch ronicle/archive/2001/04/13/MN211246.DTL http://home.earthlink.net/~cevent/11-10-04_solid_e vidence_gw.html http://www.carleton.ca/~tpatters/teaching/climatec hange/globemail4.11.97.html http://archives.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/europe/02/19/en vironment.report/ http://www.ehleringer.net/Biology_5460/Projects/cl imatedata/globalwarming3.pdf http://www.climatesolutions.org/pubs/pdfs/gwih.pdf http://www.climateark.org/articles/2001/2nd/statto ce.htm http://www.mmmfiles.com/archive/gw2001.htm http://www.environmentaldefense.org/documents/3970 _ConferenceBoard.pdf http://www.colorado.edu/pwr/occasions/salliebaliun as.htm http://www.physicstoday.org/vol-58/iss-1/p13.html

Wow that is really stretching to tie thoses two together.

Um, considering that the Social Security surplus is currently funding 20% of the general deficit - no, it isn't.

When the Social Security trust fund runs out, the US government will need to borrow money until the baby boomers die off. That demographic lump will go away, and it's actually possible the problem will never happen.

When the Social Security trust fund runs out of money, the government borrows to pay for the trustees. The Social Security surplus now - caused by Greenspan and Reagan doubling payroll taxes in the 80s - is actually pre-paying for this borrowing.

What theoretically should be happening is the US government paying down the deficit, and preparing to borrow when the trust fund runs out. Given that Bush reversed Clinton's surplus and is spending money like a drunken sailor, he wants to reneg on those promises and promise the moon. His plan won't kick in until 2009, when he's safely gone.

You did know that social security is taking in more than it's paying out now, right? And those funds go straight into the general pool?

So, let's summarize from your perspective: current budget deficits that are weakening the dollar and appear to be structural: OK. Budget defecits that won't kick in for 40 or 50 years because they've been prepaid for? Not only much worse, but totally different!

If the payroll tax hike in the 80s is meaningless - the way Bush says it is - then US govenment bonds are worthless. Hello, major economic meltdown. (By the way, most of Bush's money is in US government bonds. I don't think he really feels they are worthless.)

But then I am not a hate filled person who considers every corrected mistake a lie

I hate stupidity. Would you please show me where Bush admitted that Social Security won't be bankrupt in 2042, or that US government bonds aren't worthless? By the way, the non-partisan CBO says that Social Security won't exhaust its trust funds until 2052. Wow, ten years of solvency right there!

Every year or two, the date of social security meltdown gets pushed back another year. If this happens often enough, problem solved.

Can you show me where Bush admitted that voluntary pollution controls and abstinence-only education don't work. Oh! How about all those times he apologized for taking credit for bills that he had opposed, or even vetoed? (Bush even opposed the Iraqi vote for over a year - imagine what would have happened if the vote were last May, like Sistanti originally wanted?)

You could also show the cite where Bush admitted that going into Iraq without a post-war plan was a mistake.

I know, I know - I'm full of hate for clinging to reality.

You know - or you probably don't - 10 years ago, the crisis was scheduled to happen sooner than 2018 and 2042. Do you know why this is? I bet not.

Like the chump you are, you repeat your 2% talking point. The Social Security trustees use an amazingly pessimistic forecast, while the private account numbers are done with an optimistic one.

This is repeatedly and deliberately using misleading numbers to create a phony 'crisis', then proposing a "solution" that doesn't address the problem. If you don't think this is lying, today's Republican party is the right party for you.

I posted a story on AQFL about it:

"Former U.S. President candidates' Web sites can be just another place to shop for sex toys, download movies and get a law degree online in a few months...

When politicians and Internet domain names meet, strange things happen, particularly after the campaigns are over. Click on Elizabeth Dole's old site, and you go straight to an auction of Pokemon video games on eBay. A Libertarian currently owns the original 1996 Clinton and Dole campaign Web sites, and uses them to support 2004 Libertarian presidential candidate Michael Badnarik, while also hawking Clinton and Dole's latest books.

When asked for an explanation, a top domain-name registrar pointed out that Web site addresses are always rented and never owned, and that former owners can't dictate who picks up their discarded sites."

There was never much evidence for a backlash against Microsoft even at the height of the antitrust suits:

Despite court loss, Microsoft moving ahead in public opinion, ABC Poll Fails to Capture Public Opinion on Microsoft Case

The plain truth is that Americans are more likely to side with the entrepreneur who drives the market forward by playing a ruthless game of hardball than the competitor who whines from the sidelines that he has been driven off the field.

The truth certainly does matter to Americans, but they'll (we'll? hmmm) believe what they're told. What other basis can you derive something that feels like the truth besides through the information you know? America is running high on belief these days, and Truth is very important to the world of belief.

That said, I noticed your "freemacmini" link in your .sig. You know they're the same as the freeipod people, right? Well, they just had their TrustE membership cancelled for misusing private data. So good luck on that.

Am I missing something?

Long-term memory, apparently. Do the names Scott Ritter and Hussein Kamel ring any bells?

Did not every serious observer, from John Kerry to MI5, believe that Saddam had WMD's prior to the war?

So, did John Kerry believe that because of what his intelligence service said? Oh, you mean Kerry didn't have his own intelligence service? Hm, I guess he had to rely on the Executive Branch.

People believed that Saddam had not accounted for all his weapons. Some intelligence reports, particularly from defectors, indicated that Saddam was hiding weapons. These reports had qualifications and equivocations that seemed to mysteriously get stripped out when declassified for public consumption.

Bush made his decision to go to war without even asking for a National Intelligence Estimate - Ahmed Chalabi's defectors speaking to the Office of Special Plans were good enough for him.

Not everyone believed that Saddam still had WMDs - former UN weapons inspector (and ex-Marine) Scott Ritter is a strong counter-example. Hans Blix was having no success because all of the US 'hot leads' were coming up a dry hole. Heck, even the State Department's intelligence service saw through most claims, such as those wacky aluminum tubes.

Hussein Kamel, Saddam's slain son-in-law, was frequently referenced as an expert in Iraq's WMD programs. But, after he defected, he claimed Saddam had unilaterally destroyed all his WMD. Didn't hear that a lot, did you?

Are you saying that they were all so stupid and gullible that they could be misled by the smooth lies of the inarticulate smirking chimp moron Bushitler?

Well, Colin Powell lied too, and so did Cheney, and Condi, and Rumsfeld...

But yes, I do say it was stupid and gullible for Congress to believe this administration, particularly in granting him a blank declaration of war.

You're missing a fundamental point - the issue is not that many people believed Saddam was lying about WMDs. The issue is that, when evidence to the contrary surfaced and the case began to collapse, Bush rushed to invade without a post-war plan more advanced than "collect rose petals thrown by grateful Iraqis, give keys to Chalabi".

Clinton never did that, and I doubt President Gore would have either.

from the rejected submission bin:

funny-jack says: A small school in the San Francisco area has come up with the latest "innovative" use for RFID: tracking student attendance.

SFGate is running a picture with this story that is just... well... suggestive.

"And this, my fellow board members, is how we please our customers..."

I can't help but think that this isn't entirely unintentional on the part of the editors... were it Boston.com, I wouldn't feel that way... but it's sfgate... known for their tongue-in-cheek methods.

I don't care if it is a cut rate ship, as long as Microsoft isn't the operating system on board!

Take a look

Regards,
Roger Born
Writer, Teacher, General Troublemaker
writing.borngraphics.com
"Sorry. No Refunds."

I know of what I speak. I am not a novice.

Well, after her Vaio was so violently debilitated, and after being told by various experts that it would require nothing short of a complete (and very expensive) Windows system debugging and OS reinstall followed by a mandatory soak of the machine in a tub of bleach and then spraying it with a thick coat of road tar as she waved a burning effigy of Steve Ballmer over it while chanting the text of the Official Microsoft 'Screw You Sucker' Windows Troubleshooting Guide, she promptly dumped the useless hunk of sad landfill and bought herself a beautiful new iBook.

Well, we did. So let's download them, burn each of them to a CD-ROM, pick an appropriate pen to write the respective download URL and these words

Copy this and give it to your friends for free as well - it's Linux and it's legal!
And do bear in mind it will become even faster as soon as you install it to your hard drive...

Then, next time you get that desperate call from someone claiming their computer is broken, and asking you to fix their Wintel, in most cases you'll be able to help them simply by saying...

Remember that disk I gave you? There's probably nothing wrong with your hardware at all... just boot this!

I almost forgot-

Morford wrote an article about selling his AAPL stock in October.

Whoops!

Windows PC and therefore nothing was really all that smooth

When we had RoadRunner hook up our cable internet here in the appartment, it was as simple as hooking up an Ethernet cable to the NIC on the computer. Later we purchased a wireless router so we could keep miho-san in the bedroom. Didn't need any more software, didn't even need to configure PPPoE like I did in PA. It was assigned an IP and off we went. What OS was I running? Oh, right, Windows XP. Hell, Knoppix and OS 10.1 worked fine too. This is how you say, ah yes, a non-argument.

Then, something happened.

Something sinister, something involving tentacles and Japanese animation...

Something swarmed her...

See?

computer the instant

Oh.

McAfee AntiVirus protection for $39.95?

It sounds as if this fellow's so horribly inept that it'd be a grand starting place, sure.

Are you using a PC? You probably have spyware

Hrm...

Why the hell do people put up with this?

The same way anyone deals with anything. Those that're too stupid to learn how to effectively deal with a problem either cope and are unhappy or pay someone more intelligent than themselves (in that area, at least) to fix it for them. Of course, the truly cunning read, comprehend and understand a problem based upon the scientific method (remember that lovely practice that they taught you in elementary school? No? That somehow doesn't surprise me...) and break it down into its baser parts, develop a hypothesis and perform experimentation. Do it once, figure out how everything works together, never worry about it again.

Why is there not a huge contingent of furious users

See my above statement.

stomping up to Seattle with torches and scythes

Microsoft is in Redmond (as is Nintendo of America, believe it or not). A suburb makes not a city-center, despite what the yuppies there might want to believe.

consumers would scream bloody murder and demand their money back and there would be some sort of investigation, class-action litigation, a demand for Bill Gates' cute little geeky head on a platter.

Yeah, it probably has something to do with the fact that you realize, on some level or another, that Billy G has made you his bitch, Minnie Can't-Driver. Good for him. There's a lot of negative things I could say about William H. Gates III, but his ability to get money from idiots is unparalleled. Bravo, friend.

Yay yay new car.

Nothing technical here, but who in the hell writes like this and considers themselves a professional?

that's they way they all run.

Odd, as you've already seen, my system (my Windows XP system) doesn't have spyware. Nor does hinkypunk, my girlfriend's laptop. Nor does the G3 I own that runs OS X. Nor does the Linux partition on my main computer. Sorry there, sport, but generalizations like 'all' are far from the truth. Don't want spyware/adware/Trojans? Learn to use XP correctly. Use a different OS. Or use a different computer altogether. Hell, those Mini Macs look pretty keen, and they're (relatively) cheap, no? "But I can't use Kazaa or SuperCrapoTimeSetter or PornWatcher5000!" you say. Tough. The only P2P application is BitTorrent, and it has clients for practically every OS out there. Those other apps? Fuck 'em. In a lot of cases there are alternatives that work just as well or better or, in some cases, have versions made by the same company. Photoshop, Office, these are the kind of applications people really need/can't live without, and they're easily available i

You've obviously not seen what's at the bottom of the guy's archive of previous columns page...

But if I'm representing myself as a non-US firm, who's really a front for a US firm, then I'm in the clear.

No, you're not in the clear. I see where you're coming from, but it's not really applicable to telemarketing. You are suggesting that businesses operating outside of the US, but doing trade and advertising inside of the US are not subject to US regulation. That's just not right -- these businesses are regulated every day, regardless if it's a spin-off, a front, or a subsidiary. Haliburton is a popular lightning rod, and perhaps they got away with something. Does that mean that every business gets away with breaking every law? I 'd like to think not.

In the link I posted in my previous post, they specifically said that US companies are liable for the actions of any agent whom they hire outside of the country. Unless Halliburton and GE were hiring massive amounts of Iranian telemarketers to cold call us, your example isn't really applicable to this particular topic. This is especially considering that we're talking about issues which are handled by different govermnent offices. Embargos are handled by the Treasury department's Office of Foreign Assets Control. Telemarketing is handled by the Federal Trade Commission (which may or may not be under the control of the department of Treasury, I'm not sure). Different offices do things differently (and yes, usually ineffectively).

Power them with the methane produced!

Using cows for power.

Hell, we're now spending our tax dollars to buy Viagra for seniors.

link here

As a friend of mine put it. The seniors have been screwing over the young for years... now they've got Viagra to help.

... and allowing them to be used as investigative tools (again with court orders) against terrorists

Substantial parts of the PATRIOT act can be used without any kind of court order. The 'sneak-and-peek' provisions can be carried out without the government ever telling you that you were searched or investigated.

The ACLU and EFF have pages up about the PATRIOT Act, and clearly show how the effects are not limited to "terrorists". (Unless, like Ashcroft, you feel that breasts and calico cats are weapons of mass destruction.)

More importantly, can you give me the number of people whose civil liberties have *actually* been violated (N.B. not those who "felt" they were violated) under specific provisions of the PATRIOT Act?

Not easily, because it's secret. I can certainly say that Maher Arar had his civil liberties violated, but since the US government won't talk about it, it's hard to say whether it was PATRIOT-related or just plain extra-legal.

Of course, you may feel that using the PATRIOT act against pot-smugglers is excessive.

Ah - so the first American president to win the election, both in electoral votes AND popular votes in oh, however many years, is a fuckup?

You may want to sit down for this - the number of votes a politician gets doesn't alter whether or not his policies are successful. Opinions don't magically alter reality.

Even in 2000, it was clear Bush had the reverse Midas touch - everything he'd been involved with had turned to crap. His only success in 'business' involved getting the state of Texas to confiscate land and hand it over to a baseball team.

But you can say that John Kerry (or any of the other candidates) wasn't one?

Actually, they didn't say that. It's pretty clear Kerry did fuck up, in that he lost to arguably the worst US president ever.

If the US is so concerned about the capability to do evil things, when is this administration invading Russia? Or if the issue is actual harm done, what is this administration doing for the 4 million dead and 3 million displaced in the Congo?

The only lists that Saddam was #1 on were:
1: Weak states on top of vast oil reserves
2: Mistakes W felt his daddy made

Here is a graphic from the San Francisco Chronicle which shows that history.

Hey, that's 34M$ they're giving to a huge, foreign company

Well, as a Winnipegger.. Let me just say thank god we're not giving it to the Jets anymore. The only thing worse than spending 40M a year to fund a hockey team, is spending 40M a year to prop up a BAD hockey team.

You're welcome, Phoenix.. No refunds.

And wire the speakers with MonsterCable or similar

Monster Cable is the Microsoft of the cable industry. Use something else, anything else. They are also sue happy, going after businesses with "monster" in their name.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/ch ronicle/archive/2004/11/08/BUG1J9N3C61.DTL

Notice that at the bottom of the monster.com page is a link "For patrons of Monster Cable"

You get what you vote for.

Stop blaming voters for their government's actions. The last two elections proved that you do not get what you vote for.

What I've seen of recent trends in some public schools, there is some cause for concern regarding altering history to conform to what our current notion of fairness is. I had heard stories from people I knew, who have children in public schools, about prominent figures in U.S. history being largely ignored because they were being judged, and therefore shunned, by today's standards. I came across this article last year that I think illustrates this concern effectively.

While the intentions of excluding, or downplaying some history, or historical figures, because we, in today's society, may disagree with some of their actions is certainly debatable, I think the article that is the topic of this whole discussion today shows how dangerous it can be if we spend too much time thinking about what we want to be, and not enough time looking at what we once were.