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...definitely, not the second bomb.

I would suggest a closer reading of history. I can see that there is a healthy ability to debate this issue, but I cant see anything definite about it. In hindsight, it all looks so easy, and so many of the details that lead to that decision are lost to us today.

In taking many of the islands on the way to Japan, the American military had a rather good measure of just what it took to take those islands.

In taking Okinawa, at least ( IIRC ), civilians ( men, women, and children ) jumped off cliffs when it was obvious that the American forces were going to succeed. Such was the propaganda that had been fed to the Japanese citizenry about the Americans.

In the analysis of what it would take in terms of American casualties gave results where 1 million American dead where expected. It was expected that in addition to the regular Japanese army, that ordinary civilians would be taking part in the resistance, and would therefore be part of the Japanese casualties. Would the Japanese have surrendered? After my reading of this era and issue, I do not think so, not until the population of Japan was decimated. Not until after a long hard fight in which many many Japanese and Americans were dead. It is easy to loose sight of this in the interval that has elapsed since. Here is an interesting link tangent to the subject.

So, was the first or second bomb really needed?
In a sense no, but the effect saved many many Japanese and American lives. Yes, there was a cost to that.

Was the second bomb needed?
The Japanese had not surrendered after the dropping of the first bomb, indeed, it took five days after the dropping of the second bomb before the Japanese announced that they would surrender.


Now, as to the point that this is not something other countries should be worrying about.
The military outlook unfortunately has to look at capabilities first and foremost, and then at intents. So, while I agree that India lives in a rough neighborhood, and I can understand wanting a better deterent than they had before, I can also see that Pakistan would feel exactly the same way about the issue, and so might others in the region. Thus begins the proliferation. Tensions rise, and who knows what happens next?

Didn't find any of the pics, but here's a link to an article about it: The article

You might want to try again. Blame a screwed currency exchange rate for example.

I'd rather not. It is generaly agreed that the U.S. dollar is overvalued (of note, the pdf ends by saying that "overvalued" doesn't mean much when private market forces hold sway and the government doesn't intervene...but check out what G.W. Bush has been doing as of late.)

As for the bloated lifestyle, I would like to ask you the following: how much do you spend a year on cable, satelite, cellphone, laundry services, fuel, restaurants, computer games, music, clothes, electronics. That list isn't all encompassing, its just to give you an idea.

Next, tell me how much on average how much do you spend on a new shirt? On a pair of shoes? On a tie? On sunglasses? How much did you spend on your SUV (yes, I'm assuming here, but don't forget in my original post I said Americans (in general)).

Do you see where I'm getting at? Now contrast this to a country like Russian, which person for person could more or less get any given US job done just as well. How much do they own? How much do they spend for one shirt (hint, as a rule of thumb, they ain't buying polo and hilfigger)? Ok, then turn it up a notch and think India, think China!

That is what I was talking about when I refered to bloat.

Fact is, this shit has already happened (think Canada!) and its only a matter of time till it happens on a grander scale (and if you're saying "it happened to Canada and we're fine, so what?" don't forget that Canada only has 30,000,000 people, and its own economic sectors to keep them busy, all the other countries I've listed have significantly more people, and not necessarily other economic sectors to fall back on, which makes them more eager to take yours).

I'm starting to ramble a bit but what I'm still saying is unless Americans cut back you won't be able to stop this from happening. If you still don't understand what I mean by now, then unfortunately you are one of the masses who doesn't realise not just how good they've got it, but how excessive they've got it as well.

A downturn in the economy (think black monday 1929 + drought) would seriously change your response to the questions I asked above. What if that downturn was spawned by an exoduse of jobs from the US, and the crash of an overinflated U.S. dollar? And since the US has a massive trade deficite, if its dollar lost a significant amount of its value, wouldn't that affect its purchasing power? Do you think you'd still own/enjoy the things you do right now?

Oh, and one final note. Although I don't expect the above to happen tomorrow, has it occured to you that the reason you don't hear about this sort of stuff in the media, is because they have a vested interest in not alarming/letting you know? That's right, just keep giving them your money so that when the time does come, they have a pillow to fall on. What will you fall on?

Although my arguments may not be entirely right or convincing, I hope they gave you though, and I hope you at least now see where I'm coming from.

this new research grant seems to follow pretty closely on the heels of new activity occuring at yellowstone national park, described here, here, and here (where you can also buy your own survey equipment.)

apparently, yellowstone park is right on top of a vent or something that has exploded catastrophically and according to some is overdue to do the same soon.

i'm willing to bet that the funding discussed in the article i linked to above:

Grants totaling $319 million from the National Science Foundation have been awarded to cover the first five years of the major new project, called EarthScope. Work has already begun on its array of instruments and facilities, which will provide the tools for decades of future detailed studies.

... has eveything to do with attempting to determine just how soon and how badly North America is going to be covered with ash and oochi-hot burning lava. Cool, or what?

1.), regarding the Church's response to the printing of books: It was the printing part which made books a threat; books themselves predated the printing press by centuries. And, of course, written records of knowledge pre-dated the "book" format by a lot more -- scrolls, tablets, and wall inscriptions are all forms of written communication. No, it was not the books that were threatening to the Church: it was the printing press, which made it a lot harder for the Church to control the dissemination of knowledge. It is not surprising that the Reformation was underway within 100 years of Gutenberg's printing press (invented 1436, completed 1440); the printing press made it possible to create and disseminate heretical works much more widely, presenting a great challenge to the Church's authority.

Oh, and I'll admit that it was a bit disingenuous to claim that they didn't have classrooms; that was a rather feeble attempt at humor. In future I shall keep my jokes strictly to myself, to avoid confusing people.

2.) I did not blame a technology (TV, in that case) for poor pedagogy. I merely observed that it can be used in one of two ways (well or poorly), and provided an example from my own experience of one poor application. Perhaps I should have included an example of a good application, for balance; but offhand I can't think of a time when I was particularly impressed by the use of a TV in the classroom.

3.) I don't quite understand your argument. Furthermore, I think we actually agree on this point. I was arguing, first, that technology is not strictly necessary; and second, that it can be immensely valuable when used properly. It isn't strictly necessary: you could get by without it, as evidenced by the fact that people did get by with out it until very recently. That doesn't mean we shouldn't use technology in schools; just that we don't absolutely require it, as the original poster suggested.

In addition, I said that ". . . they [computers] should be a supplement, not a staple. There's plenty of time for more computer-centric education during the later years of education (eg ages 12 and up)." That would seem to be in line with your statement that ". . . a much more advanced set of problems can be solved and explained using technology AFTER basic fundamentals have been mastered." In brief, computers should be used in moderation, as a supplement to more basic skills, particularly in early education. How are we in disagreement here?

4.) I will concede you this point; I do not know enough about K-12 expenditures. As this guy pointed out already, with better data and much more politely.

I DO, however, know that the San Francisco Unified School District referred to in the article has recently experienced budget cuts because of the State of California's 1.7 billion dollar cut to the education budget, and that they are currently working on a "Master Technology Plan", which they hope ". . . may result in operational savings to recover the cost of technology investments by the District." They are planning public forums starting in February to get public input on ways to do that. At such a time, is it really unreasonable to suggest switching away from expensive proprietary solutions?

It may be that you're right, that Linux isn't ready for widespread desktop usage in K-12 schools. (Though this school and this one and this one an

Read it here

Unbelievable. Nobody probably threatened them. They simply ran outta lies to tell and had a press deadline :D

According to the Salt Lake Tribune, Darl McBride reports that, having receive personal threats, he has employed bodyguards for SCO execs.

Apparently SCO has had to hire bodyguards for its execs.

Job satisfaction, anyone?

Named after Ralph Yarro ? .

what a puff piece ...

While the privately held Canopy does not release overall results, it also can boast in the results of its public spinoffs. SCO, for example, finished its most recent quarter with net income of $3.1 million on revenue of $20.1 million, a sharp turnaround from the same time a year ago when net losses were $4.5 million and revenue $15.4 million. ... Even during "the last three difficult years" for Utah's tech economy, Canopy has kept the industry alive and poised for recovery, Nelson says. "Without the funding of the Canopy Group during this period, Utah would have at least 1,000 fewer very high-paying jobs," he says. "Canopy has been a vital funding source in light of the brutal capital markets [tech] companies have faced."

The article in the Salt Lake Tribune was actually ballanced and, if anything, a little anti-SCO. Darl must not have renewed his subscription.

Sure.. NOW I find the link...

Complete with a 24-inch, collapsible wingspan, the plane can be piloted by a computer with a GPS system, thanks to a computer board developed at BYU.

As for the autopilot, these two pictures show what looks like an awfully standard transmitter. Perhaps they've created some sort of spiffy autopilot, but they don't appear to be using it here. But even autopilots aren't new -- people have been doing that for years too, from systems that just automatically right the plane as needed, to full fledged auto-pilots where you just tell the plane what to do on a computer. And here is something in between -- a plane that crossed the Atlantic, where people controlled it directly only for takeoff and landing.

In any event, even the planes themselves look pretty standard. This one looks like your basic flying wing (Zagi makes a very popular model) and this just looks like your basic small electric plane with a V-tail.

http://www.sltrib.com/2003/Oct/10012003/business/9 7397.asp:

SCO spokesman Blake Stowell said Tuesday that he understood the extension is being sought "for the purpose of gaining documents from IBM related to the patents they claim. . . . Some of the patents aren't even filed with the U.S. Patent Office, as far as we can learn."

From http://lwn.net/Articles/43592/ the patent numbers are:
4,814,746
4,821,211
4,953,209
5,805,785

Go here http://patft.uspto.gov/netahtml/srchnum.htm [uspto.gov]

Type in the patent numbers into uspto.gov form

You will find them all. Immediately. In fact they load up immediately after typing in the number.

http://www.sltrib.com/2003/Oct/10012003/business/9 7397.asp:

SCO spokesman Blake Stowell said Tuesday that he understood the extension is being sought "for the purpose of gaining documents from IBM related to the patents they claim. . . . Some of the patents aren't even filed with the U.S. Patent Office, as far as we can learn."

From http://lwn.net/Articles/43592/ the patent numbers are:
4,814,746
4,821,211
4,953,209
5,805,785

Go here http://patft.uspto.gov/netahtml/srchnum.htm

Type in the patent numbers into uspto.gov form

You will find them all. Immediately. In fact they load up immediately after typing in the number.

Here is a very slanted view of the Canopy Gropu published this past Sunday:

Littl Tech Titan

I'll let you reach your own conclusions.

There's a small snippet in here, but it doesn't really meet the characterization you noted. It's more like basic newspaper reporting - a couple facts, a couple quotes, more a note about stock performance than anything else...

The state's best performing stock belongs to SCO Group Inc., the Lindon-based software developer locked in legal disputes with IBM Corp. and Red Hat Inc. over allegations that parts of the Linux operating system are identical to SCO Group's Unix program. SCO Group's shares are up 854 percent so far this year. "We have become much more aggressive this year in protecting our intellectual property," SCO Group spokesman Blake Stowell said. In addition, SCO Group reported its first-ever profits during the past two quarters and expects to report another profit next quarter. "We've also announced some big licensing deals," Stowell said.

There's also a dryer, less rah-rah note on the filing for extension here.

The state's best performing stock belongs to SCO Group Inc., the Lindon-based software developer locked in legal disputes with IBM Corp. and Red Hat Inc. over allegations that parts of the Linux operating system are identical to SCO Group's Unix program. SCO Group's shares are up 854 percent so far this year. "We have become much more aggressive this year in protecting our intellectual property," SCO Group spokesman Blake Stowell said. In addition, SCO Group reported its first-ever profits during the past two quarters and expects to report another profit next quarter. "We've also announced some big licensing deals," Stowell said.

There's also a dryer, less rah-rah note on the filing for extension here.

Hell, if slashdot didn't have 4 SCO stories a day, average shmucks like me wouldn't know or care! Quit elevating them to a position of importance!

Average joes have no idea what Slashdot is. But many of them have heard of SCO and Canopy group through the mainstream press and articles like this one.

Slashdot has no effect on average joes, but at least it gives a place for more informed readers to come and complain about SCO to each other. Small comfort, but better than having to read crap like the linked article.

Time to counter some misinformation being put out by anti-Ashcroftites about the Patriot Act including the lie that library and internet searches are done w/o notification or in a secret way:

http://www.sltrib.com/2003/Sep/09212003/commenta/9 4284.asp

eWEEK asked:

SCO and its lawyers also say that even if that were a workable solution, they would still want damages for the illegal use of their code in Linux until the "fix" was implemented. They say Unix code has been in Linux since 2001 and that vendors and end users have been profiting from this since then, and they want to be compensated for that. Who, they ask, would compensate them under this scenario.

Better yet: How about a class action suit against Canopy Group? They have made millions during the course of this scam while threatening busnesses and everyone's freedom. People of the World v. Canopy Group sounds nice. They should pay for our anguish with a multiple of the profit they made by these actions.

i dunno how much this will help, but ive written to
the standard examiner
the salt lake tribune
and the deseret news

if you also live in utah you should consider doing the same.

Executives at Lindon, Utah-based SCO Group have sold more than 126,000 shares for about $1.2 million since the IBM suit was filed. Before that, SCO insiders hadn't sold shares in more than a year. The officials are facing higher tax bills because of the increased value of their options and restricted shares, said Chief Executive Darl McBride. The shares have gained more than fourfold since the company filed suit against IBM in March.

"The guys don't want to be selling," McBride said. McBride said he has no plans to sell his shares. Senior Vice President Chris Sontag, who heads the company's software-licensing unit, also hasn't sold shares, McBride said.

The executives are selling shares on a preset schedule to avoid suggestions of improper trading, McBride said. The SEC's Rule 10b5-1 allows insiders to sell shares of their company on a preset schedule, even if he or she has information that could affect the stock price. Insiders at companies including Staples Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. have used 10b5-1 plans.

SCO execs HAVE been dumping their shares:


SCO Senior Suits Dump Shares

SCO Execs Dumping Stock
Slashdot-17 hours ago
By Jeff Heard. Lindon, UT - The SCO Group announced the launch of a campaign to shoot 1% of all babies born in the US. Statistically ...

SCO execs unloading shares-Salt Lake Tribune
SCO not exactly the lovable little guy-Salt Lake Tribune

SCO Execs Dumping Stock
Slashdot-17 hours ago
By Jeff Heard. Lindon, UT - The SCO Group announced the launch of a campaign to shoot 1% of all babies born in the US. Statistically ...

SCO execs unloading shares-Salt Lake Tribune
SCO not exactly the lovable little guy-Salt Lake Tribune

It's as if a magician gave away his secrets, then started suing his audience for learning how he did his tricks.

The very next story in the business section of the SLTrib is also about SCO (click the blue right arrow at the bottom of the original article or click the link below):

http://www.sltrib.com/2003/Aug/08122003/business/8 3192.asp

If you read the article to its end and clicked the right-arrow at the bottom you get this article:

SCO not exactly the lovable little guy

I think it's pretty hilarious that SCO can't even get their local press to show them in a good light.

Looks like you are right - SLT also has article from the Wall Street Journal. Can someone confirm that it actually appeared in a printed copy of the WSJ?

As this article on the same site shows, slashdot is being read by the people who report op this whole mess. That too is part of "doing something about it".

SCO not exactly "loveable" ???

Check out this additional story about SCO at the Salt Lake Tribune website.

"Red Hat thinks that we should show them every line of infringing code so they can make changes and go forward with a complete disregard for our business rights," [McBride] said[...]"

Cubans in a '51 Chevy "boat"

Hey, check this out: Cool, huh?

If you buy fake goods you could be
helping terrorists.

Cheers,
W00t

Why do you think there's been such an uproar about SCO's lawsuit?

You were aware of the lawsuit, yes?

Could someone please explain to me what good I (as the end consumer) should see in this law? All I see right now is greedy media companies trying to loophole themselves eternal copyrights (or any effective analog) of a sort that independent creators are prevented from sharing that term of protection. They are using otherwise reasonable-sounding arguments -- such as "director's vision" in the case against CleanFlicks or the (now tired) complaint of piracy against Studio 321, and at one time I might have found myself agreeing with those complaints -- but when I realized that they are pushing a campaign for eternal control of media even to the destruction of fair use ("it's not a sale, it's a licensing -- laws reguarding sales do not apply"[link goes to a .PDF]) and that they refuse any middle ground or quid pro quo, those arguments lost all meaning with me. I fear that the DMCA may create a modern, digital stationer's guild, and the thought that the *AA may have exactly that in mind frightens me.

Court Upholds Secret Detentions

US court upholds draconian law allowing secret arrests

Executions possible at Guantanamo

Big Brother - Make That Uncle Sam

Ashcroft seeks broader powers

Now shut the fuck up about your imaginary "rights". May you live in interesting times, american bastards.

SCO's extorted $8.8 million so far. I don't know how much of that comes from Microsoft though (it wouldn't surprise me if it was all of it). Interestingly, that's twice their profit from all of last year. (on $20 million revenue)

So apparently this little stunt is profitable. Maybe after their done they'll change their name back to Caldara or Canopy and hope no one notices.

sun has already digitized them all, so just hard copies are being destroyed

Quoting this AClater on down in the comments...

Here's the full story from the Salt Lake Tribune.

Good news for the Moron-In-Command

Cheers,
W00t

Get Your War On 23

"You're not just dealing with bunker-buster bombs, you have guns that can take out an individual 17 miles away, and that kind of capability is going to have a profound impact on the development of the world."

REP. CHRIS CANNON
Utah Republican

Taken from this.

A president can not be "ousted" period. There are no recall procedures for federal offices.

A president, or any other official, can be ousted thru a revolt. It has happened all throughout history, and I suspect it will happen at some point in the USA's future...though I don't expect that that time is now.

The vast majority of people agree with President Bush. Period.

The vast majority (about 70%) of Americans agree that war is necessary to remove Hussein. Fewer than half of Americans are strongly convinced that Bush's policies are correct, however.

Of course, the flip side is that over half of Americans believe that this will increase terrorism in the short term, and almost half think that it will increase terrorism in the long term as well.

International polls aren't nearly as favorable towards Bush or the USA.

All this FUD about most disagreeing with him is just that, FUD. He has enjoyed the highest approval ratings in history. Higher than FDR. (read your history).

His approval ratings were highest immediately after September 11. They've been declining since. Lately, they've dipped down to Clinton numbers. And approval of things other than the war on terrorism have been less than stellar.

Anwr? Yes, we should drill there. Look at the results of drilling in other areas of Alaska. So far, the most damage it has done is to create a population explosion of carabu [sic].

I suppose that depends on whether or not you think oil rigs and pipelines are a scenic addition. Oh, and don't forget the Exxon Valdez oil spill.

I still don't agree with [Bush] all the time, but I respect him and believe he is doing what he feels is the morally correct thing to do.

I believe Bush is doing what he feels is morally correct as well. Unfortunately, I'm not sure I share his morals or his view of world politics.

Try this on and see if it's not about oil. I'm convinced now.

And what's this talk about keeping the Iraqi and Kuwaiti oil fields? Are you talking about conquest and empire-building? Some do want that -- Dick Cheney is a signer, for example -- but the first Gulf War was a war for liberation. Bush Sr. was a believer of noblesse oblige, not a megalomaniac.

No, the real news is that the number of male nurses is increasing, gradually, and that there is a looming nursing shortage. More men would be welcomed, but many are turned off the inferior pay characteristic of female-dominated fields, and the supposed social stigma of being insufficiently masculine.. Maybe more men should be encouraged to apply?

some of the issues surrounding these comments is here.

choice quote -- With copyright holders wanting stronger protections and users seeking greater freedom to copy, Congress "looked at those extremes and struck a balance," said Robert Holleyman, chief executive of the Business Software Alliance.

salt lake tribune's copy of the article.