Slashdot Mirror

Um, no. The cable being laid at the moment goes from Finland to Germany. A Northeast Passage cable would go from the other end of Finland, along the Russian coast to Japan.

When plans for the undersea link to Germany were unveiled last year, he [the minister] mused that it could one day be hooked up via Finland to another that could run under the Northeast Passage - providing a superfast data route to Asia.

Conceded, more than a data center owner, but "mused" and "one day" doesn't exactly sound like they've finalized their plans.

And another company working on undersea cables in the Arctic (working on a route from Europe via Canada to Asia) has its doubts:

The route above Russia is too long a route with little or no commercial demand. No financing would be available and there are too many ice scour issues in East Siberian Sea to make this route preferable over the Northwest Passage route.

Really? Huffington post is your bible? Seriously?

What about all the scrap metal missile parts that went through the port of Rotterdam? Did Huffington post knock that story down too?

I don't have an answer, but the U.S. is still either bigger or equal to China as a manufacturer.

Not any more.

The annual independence vs unification poll was just released recently in Taiwan.

Asked about their position on cross-strait relations, 66 percent of respondents supported the “status quo,” 24 percent wanted independence and 7 percent supported unification with China, according to the survey conducted by cable news channel TVBS between Thursday last week and Monday.
However, the poll found that most respondents favored independence over unification if they were asked to choose between just those two options, with 71 percent supporting independence and only 18 percent supporting unification with China.
With regards to identity, 78 percent of those polled identified themselves as Taiwanese, while 13 percent saw themselves as Chinese.

They have never denied having them. They just denied using them until recently. Just as the U.S. has them as well.

Syria has repeatedly denied having chemical weapons. And when they haven't denied it, they haven't acknowledged it, either.

2003
2013

Our regular-speed rail is subsidized, but the closest thing we have to high speed rail, Amtrak's Acela Express, made a profit of about $41 per passenger in 2008.

The experience in other countries is the same. High speed rail subsidizes slower intercity lines.

Only Taiwan continued to lose money on HSR after their line became operational. But since then they refinanced the debt and the line is now making a profit.

the clearest fact is that the person who said "the bible is a bunch of bullshit, its [sic] just a fact." clearly has not read the bible.. theres tons of useful stuff in there.

just one example of the insight offered in the bible which has nothing to do with faith can be seen in the book of Deuteronomy.

Designate a place outside the camp where you can go to relieve yourself. As part of your equipment have something to dig with, and when you relieve yourself, dig a hole and cover up your excrement. deut23:12-13 (niv)

Now, this might seem silly/simple/obvious at first.. but if you look at the problems that still exist today, it is anything but a bunch of bullshit.

Over 90 per cent of deaths from diarrhoeal diseases due to unsafe water and sanitation in the developing world occur in children below 5 years old.

About 4,500 children die each day from unsafe water and lack of basic sanitation facilities. Countless others suffer from poor health, diminished productivity and missed opportunities for education.

http://www.unicef.org/wash/index_31600.html

Diarrhea, mainly caused by poor sanitary conditions, claims the lives of 1.8 million people annually, 1.6 million of them children under five years old, he said, citing World Bank figures.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2007/10/04/2003381667

So here we have nearly 2 million people dying a year due to no toilets and sanitation facilities... they openly defecate without burying it.. the flies carry waste around..

One of the best ways to stop the flies from landing on the human waste and contaminating everything? ..burying it.

If people were able to follow this simple bible scripture, one that has nothing to do with God, or Jesus.. we may be able to save hundreds of thousands of lives.

Helping hundreds of thousands of children avoid a horrible death by following a simple scripture, a bunch of bullshit? really?

It's probably a reference to this

http://english.sina.com/china/2012/1119/528202.html

Zhou Yongkang no longer holds the post as secretary of the Committee of Political and Legislative Affairs of the CPC Central Committee.

Meng Jianzhu, Minister of Chinese Ministry of Public Security, has been appointed as the new secretary, CPC Central Committee announced Monday afternoon

So You Yongkang got sacked but no one in China is allowed to speculate as to why.

According to Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhou_Yongkang

In May 2012 the Financial Times reported that Zhou had relinquished the operational control of the party's Political and Legal Affairs Commission to Minister of Public Security Meng Jianzhu due to his support for former Chinese politician Bo Xilai, and had lost his right to select his successor when he retires from the Politburo Standing Committee in fall 2012. The New York Times later reported that Zhou's status remained unchanged.

Bo Xilai was a Maoist and a very dangerous person who got denounced by Wen Jiabao (who as someone put it "seems quite nice for a Chicom")

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bo_Xilai#Removal_from_posts

On 15 March, Bo was dismissed as Chongqing party chief and its related municipal posts, while temporarily retaining a seat on the Politburo. Due to the potentially destructive effects Bo's dismissal would have on party unity, party elders were consulted on the matter. The decision was reportedly made at a meeting of the Politburo Standing Committee on 7 March, during which security tsar Zhou Yongkang cast a lone dissenting vote. On 14 March, Bo was reprimanded by Premier Wen Jiabao during the Premier's annual press conference. Wen called the achievements of Chongqing "significant," but the result of "multiple administrations," i.e., not just Bo himself. Wen also made numerous allusions to the damage wrought by the Cultural Revolution, an indirect rebuke of Bo's efforts to revive "red culture". Addressing high-level political changes by a Premier to an open public forum was unprecedented. Political observers believe that Wen's remarks and Bo's downfall represented a consensus within the central leadership that Bo not only needed to shoulder the responsibility for the Wang Lijun scandal, but also marked a significant victory for liberal reformers.

On 10 April, Bo was suspended from the party's Central Committee and its Politburo, pending investigation for "serious disciplinary violations." Bo's wife, Gu Kailai, was now a prime suspect in the inquiry into the death of British businessman Neil Heywood. The announcements, carrying criminal implications, likely marked the end of Bo's political career.

On 28 September, the party's Politburo adopted a decision to expel him from the CPC. He was accused of major disciplinary violations and corruption charges during his tenure in Dalian, the Ministry of Commerce and Chongqing, including the Gu Kailai case. He was also accused of having "improper sexual relationships with a number of women."

On 26 October, the Standing Committee of the 11th National People's Congress expelled him, removing his final party or state position and setting the stage for his trial.

On 4 November, Bo Xilai was formally kicked out of the Chinese Communist Party. There is speculation that he is going to be tried by the Supreme People's Court in original jurisdiction, the first time since the trial of the Gang of Four.

Ha ha. It's like when the Daleks took Davros off to "stand trial for crimes against the Daleks". Or when the Island decided to put Patrick McGoohan's chief tormentor on (predictably insane and Orwellian) tr

It's funny, but I don't recall that the NKVD, KGB, SMERSH, or other secret police organs of Soviet Power in the USSR worried about blood feuds from torture, or any of that. They simply tortured and killed in staggering numbers.

The KGB prison in Vilnius at The Museum of Genocide Victims

solitary confinement cell, KGB style.

Surprise!

And the Gulags?

What Were Their Crimes? Living in the Gulag Stalin World - Lithuania

The Great Terror: A Reassessment

- - - - -

Torture is ineffective and diminishes the society that condones torture. I still think that the stories that came out last decade are a big part of why American society is so psychotic today.

Some small segments of American society did become unhinged, yes, but not anything close to all of American society.

Keep in perspective that: Only Three Have Been Waterboarded by CIA The most recent of which was about 9 years ago.

Many people are also mistaken regarding what went on at Abu Ghraib. The Army put a stop to abuse by a handful of rogue soldiers who were abusing prisoners, court martialed them, and sent them to jail. All the news media really did was report the news of the Army investigation, and what had gone on. Of course it is more profitable, poltically and financially, to spin dark conspiracy theories when the reality is closer to Jackass: The Movie.

Iraq abuse photos were `just for fun'

Private Lynndie England, the woman who has become the emblem of the US' shame over the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, on Tuesday showed little expression aside from an occasional nervous giggle at a hearing to determine whether she should face the full weight of a court martial.

When first confronted with pictures of her gloating over naked and cowering Iraqi prisoners, England had shown no alarm, telling the officer who led the investigation of the Abu Ghraib scandal in Iraq: "It was just for fun."

That lack of comprehension returned to haunt her yesterday as the prevailing view of the US military -- that England and the handful of other lowly reservists charged in the abuse were rogue soldiers -- began to emerge more fully.

"They didn't think it was that serious. They were just joking around and having some fun during the night shift," Chief Warrant Officer Paul Arthur told the court.

He added later: "From the get-go, it was jokes and frustration." . . . .

If England is convicted on all 19 charges, she could face 38 years in the brig. Some 25 witnesses are to appear including Specialist Joseph Darby, the soldier who first came forward about the abuse, and Specialist Jeremy Sivitz, who was granted relative leniency for cooperating with the investigation.
Much of the prosecution's evidence is from photographs, with more than 280 images of abuse of detainees, . . . The images first came to the attention of the authorities last January.

Arthur, a member of the military CID, was at Abu Ghraib when a soldier in England's military police

Even as a foreigner, you'll have a concrete claim

A couple of schools next to my house have sent invoices for millions of dollars in "decontamination" fees (which usually consists of washing the radioactive contamination down the drain to the water treatment plant with high power hoses . . . with minimal results). Guess how much they have received so far? I think the schools would get paid before I would, and personally, I do not feel comfortable trying to compete for money that could help reduce the exposure to the kids in my neighborhood. Irregardless, the money is just not there and probably will not be fore decades, if that.

I see estimates [newsonjapan.com] of those damages around 60 billion

Even YOUR link says 250 Billion. Plus, that is back in June. Everything about this disaster gets bigger as time goes by and more reality slowly seeps out. Besides, I think a professor at the most prestigous university in Japan carries more weight than "some private think tank." Finally the 20km radius buy-up is complete BS. The contamination is way higher in many areas outside of that arbitrary circle around the plant. There are non-contiguous hot spots all over Kanto. But, by all means, keep up your claims of this all being "nuclear hysteria" on the victims' part. I am sure the industry is depending on your ilk to keep costs down by blaming the victims. After all my family and I have been through, go ahead and continue your hard work to minimize the situation to fuck us over some more. I am sure your Duke Energy investment is certainly worth it . . .

rather big asset to just toss

Funny, but I would expect most Japanese citizens at this point no longer look at those as big assets but as big ticking bombs. Fukushima Dai-ichi will inevitably cost astronomically more than its book value was at the time of the accident. But here we are talking all about Japan, while your precouis US nuke industry is facing significant hardship. How are you going to convince Japan to stay with nukes, when your own country's nuclear industry is floundering?

I would consider it a fairly surprising accusation to say that most world governments are engaging in corporate espionage. They are certainly engaging in espionage, but CIA spying on Toyota to give trade secrets to Ford? I'd call that unlikely. China is a different matter. Chinese business is war, and all's fair in war. No ethics, no morals, everything to win and cut-throat. It's that way in most countries, but in China, winning is a religion, and state-backed corporate espionage and monopolies are the way the game is played.

Here's a story I read just today on Taipei Times. Yes, they're Taiwanese and going to have a bias against China, but the point here is that these kinds of stories are so common in China that I read one just today.

China will not limit themselves to economic weapons.

Citation needed.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2009/02/15/2003436194

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incorporation_of_Tibet_into_the_People's_Republic_of_China

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2011/07/14/2003508170

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2731411/posts

http://www.defence.pk/forums/china-defence/93916-vietnam-protests-chinas-military-exercise-south-china-sea.html

China will not limit themselves to economic weapons.

Citation needed.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2009/02/15/2003436194

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incorporation_of_Tibet_into_the_People's_Republic_of_China

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2011/07/14/2003508170

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2731411/posts

http://www.defence.pk/forums/china-defence/93916-vietnam-protests-chinas-military-exercise-south-china-sea.html

japan is 100 million (and you HAVE to have advanced gadgetry there - cellular phones that cannot display tv broadcasts dont sell - that includes apple's iphones http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/02/why-the-iphone/ ),

You meant that included> Apple's iPhones; as the Wired article notes in an update at the end, Apple fixed the problems that got in the iPhone's way in Japan.

Except they are--presently, and "not sure" for the future.

The Mobile /Handheld CE development kit will be released in July of this year. The Army is whether or not a commercial made phone or government off the shelf model is more appropriate. Regardless, the Army says, the software development kit will be designed for a variety of Android based systems.

"I saw the ability when a soldier is wounded to take a picture of the wound and to pass that to the doctors, so that medics can make sure that they are treating the soldier in the appropriate way, given the wound that he has received. So there are many, many applications of this,"

McCarthy said that to date, the project has been run on shoestring budget, and he'd like to keep it that way. Defense contractors have provided him with proposals that would requrre the expenditure "of a lot of money," he said, but he does not want to pursue proposals that would transform a $200 commercial gadget into a $2,400 Army-unique phone. from

more...

• example
• example
• example

I'm not certain if the you you speak of is directed targeted at me or what you perceive to be people like me, but really, I think there's a benefit to people thinking critically and trying to not simply believe the marketing without due consideration and proper knowledge.

Sad to see more and more comments about greed and problems in Japan, too. :-( Like this one:
    "Reports: Lax oversight, 'greed' preceded Japan nuclear crisis"
    http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-Pacific/2011/0316/Reports-Lax-oversight-greed-preceded-Japan-nuclear-crisis

Or this:
    "As Japan nuclear crisis unfolds, a small town questions government reassurances"
    http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-Pacific/2011/0316/As-Japan-nuclear-crisis-unfolds-a-small-town-questions-government-reassurances

Now workers are having to abandon a plant, although return:
    http://www.adn.com/2011/03/16/1756438/radiation-level-soars-after-japan.html

And the plant design was said to be unsafe:
    "JAPAN DISASTER: GE engineer says he quit over unsafe reactor design"
    http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2011/03/17/2003498413

Basically, it would seem like any reactor design that requires active cooling is unsafe and should be mothballed? Passive cooling ones like Hyperion or stuff like TRIGA is better.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TRIGA
    http://www.phyast.pitt.edu/~blc/book/chapter10.html

In the robot capital of the globe as Japan is, where are the robots for nuclear cleanup? I helped a tiny bit with the Workhorse project for TMI (helping make a model mockup that helped get the contract):
    http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=three-mile-island-robots

Do they have stuff like Workhorse for nuclear disasters in Japan? If not, that is indeed lack of planning.

Other comments by me and someone else related to this thread are here:
    http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=2036928&cid=35486070

So, it seems like Japan is struggling with issues about corruption and incomplete planning too? Even if so far, overall, they still seem to be doing better than the USA after Katrina under Bush... Or even now? Especially as the USA now is seemingly expanding its torture policies to torturing US soldiers going down a slippery slope as is suggested here (in response to someone probably concerned about wrongdoing by his country):
    http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/03/2011310153040668605.html

Pictures of the Japan devastation:
    http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/powerful-quake-aftershocks-rattle-tokyo/2011/03/11/ABX65lQ_gallery.html

Very sad to see so much disaster. I can hope for the best for everyone there. "Never send to know for whom the bell tolls..."

Sigh.

China has one of the largest espionage networks in the world. It encompasses all manner of relations, whether it be military, business, hackers, diplomats, or even foreign exchange students.

I doubt that China would need a demonstration of the US military's capabilities to understand a fact that most of the world already knows -- the US has the capability to launch ICBMs from basically whatever platform it wants.

Wen does, in fact, still favor political reform. He's so powerful that he's going around southern China talking about it without any consequence.
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2010/10/02/2003484323

Zhao Ziyang, however, is thrust into irrelevancy until his death because of his beliefs.

The difference between the two, both very powerful men in the PRC, is that Premier Wen is near the end of his political career, so locking him up would only cause more attention to his ideals. Zhao Ziyag still had much life in him when they decided to shut him up.

Taiwan's Suicide rate is 18.8 per 100,000.

Foxconn has 486,000 employees globally

Now I'm not sure how many employees are in Taiwan but that would make for 91 suicides per year at Foxconn globally to meet the Taiwanese norm. All in all, I think the news stories are just sensationalizing a normal societal trend.

The notion that "anybody can make it in the US if they work hard" is a fairy tale.

Seriously. Be born rich. That's the way to go.

The notion that the notion is a fairytale is a fairytale. People love to blindly spread memes like this because they enjoy feeling sorry for themselves, but it simply isn't true:

Rags To Riches Billionaires: "Almost two-thirds of the world's 946 billionaires made their fortunes from scratch, relying on grit and determination"

That doesn't mean everyone can end up a billionaire, but it's simply false that this notion that 'anyone can make it' is a fairytale; it's borne out on practically a daily basis. If you open your eyes and look, you'll find true-life rags-to-riches story under every second stone you turn --- especially in the USA, but also these days frequently in places like China. But yeah, not everyone is born hard-working, I guess, so keep sitting and feeling sorry for yourself and you'll definitely ensure that nothing ever changes for you.

Rags to Riches CEOs

7 greatest celebrity rags to riches stories

Rags to Riches

Entrepreneur takes women from rags to riches

Rags to Riches billionaires

Asian American Rags to Riches Sagas

Case Study: From Rags to Riches (Brenda French)

Cordia Harrington: From Rags to Riches Success Story

Local cosmetics magnate reveals rags-to-riches life story

China: A rags-to-riches story to dream about (Yan Huiyan)

China’s paper magnate is a rags-to-riches story, literally

Rags to riches: Bill MacAloney: from orphan to successful business owner to CBA

From rags to riches: Filipino weavers trade up

Etc. etc. blah blah ... I could go on pasting these stories in here all day. Nothing worse than listening to whiny losers feeling sorry for themselves that they weren't born rich.

Do you know that the servers the government purchased to run these have memor that's ... made in Taiwan! Where the average annual income for a factory worker is a paltry US$1,150.00 annually! And don't even get me started on where the plastic casings came for the keyboards, servers and mice that comprise these servers!

All the salary figure in the Taipei Times article is per month, not per year. So the factory worker gets a paltry US$ 1,1500.00 per month.

make that $1,150.00 per month.

Do you know that the servers the government purchased to run these have memor that's ... made in Taiwan! Where the average annual income for a factory worker is a paltry US$1,150.00 annually! And don't even get me started on where the plastic casings came for the keyboards, servers and mice that comprise these servers!

All the salary figure in the Taipei Times article is per month, not per year. So the factory worker gets a paltry US$ 1,1500.00 per month.

BTW, an earlier White House-sponsored, IdeaScale-powered Open Government Brainstorm identified legalizing marijuana as one of the best ways to 'strengthen our democracy and promote efficiency and effectiveness.

So because IdeaScale built an application to spec for the White House (who shouldn't have paid for it if it didn't meet requirements) and a bunch of pothead hippies turned up in full force to get their message out loud and clear on it, it's IdeaScale's fault? I think you'd be better off blaming the concept of democracy or the buzzword 'crowd-sourcing' as this is just kind of evidence of a technology-based bias of the voices.

You criticize the White House for doing something we all do then you blame the wonderful effects of democracy on a web application?

I don't think what China is doing is necessarily immoral - many countries have e.g. ignored others' patent and copyright claims as long as it was to their advantage. The US has done so as long as ignoring that was to their benefit - they only changed their tune once they became the innovators. By the same token: while this may not be a moral issue, it's still something companies need to take into account. If manufacturing in China is not to your company's benefit then you shouldn't do it, and to evaluate the risk you need to be aware that manufacturing in China has different implications than manufacturing in the Republic of Czech.

FFS, just ask your friends if they're planning on having any kids when the job market is crap. There's plenty of evidence that bad economic times or reduced earnings result in people postponing starting families, so obviously, when the good times return, they breed.

Japan's economy has been in the shitter for more than a decade. Just search for "japan lost decade". They're still not out of it; 2 decades later asset prices haven't recovered. The US is going to have the same problem - at least a lost decade, probably a lost generation, in terms of economic growth. The problem was the same, and we're seeing the same refusal to mark to market and clear out bad debts. The government continues to try to prop up real estate prices, but it simply can't be done.

The Chinese made it quite clear during the first half of the decade that $10T was their limit; they are now in the process of diversifying their holdings; so are other countries, who are now investigating ways to abandon the greenback as a reserve currency. China has been quite vocal about it; the increase in the US debt (projected to hit $20 trillion) is a disaster.

The US can't pay it off without a significant reduction in the standard of living. It's the same as any other debt - paying it down means less cash for other spending.

Thanks for bringing Italy up - it's exactly the sort of example I'm talking about. It's public debt is rated AA2, two levels below AAA. Do you really want the US to have its' debt downgraded, which is seen as more likely nowadays? Every notch down costs billions in interest points, with further impacts on state and municipal bonds (California is already junk ..)

Forecast: Even without a downgrade, there will be less appetite for US dollars, since they no longer hold their value over even the medium term. Less demand means higher interest rates. Debt spirals are an ugly thing to watch.

I live in a European country with socialized medicine and suffer from a condition for which I must buy what I've been prescribed every three months and the receipt says 2 000+ EUR (almost $ 3 000) but I pay only 3 EUR (about $ 4).

I live in a country with socialized medicine. All my prescriptions state the purchase price, and none of them have any number other than that. I'm curious where you are that they give you a receipt that doesn't match what you pay. What's the drug? Perhaps someone else who gets it in the US could say what it costs there.

Sounds like there's a lot of bull somewhere in the grandparent then.

I'm trying to find the spike in Microsofts stock margins where it actually took 96% of the netbook market..

Their stocks don't seem to reflect this major feat. Considering that the netbook market is growing quickly, even in the downward economy. You should think they would have something to show for this, are they giving these away for free or something? 2008 seems to be nothing but downward movement for them and 2009 doesn't look better.

Actually they have a much more elegant way of resolving things like this

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2009/02/03/2003435140

A Chinese dissident who was arrested after campaigning for the parents of children killed in the Sichuan earthquake will stand trial on state secret charges, his wife and lawyer said.

The abrupt announcement that Huang Qi , 45, would be tried came nearly eight months after he was detained as authorities silenced criticism about fragile school buildings that collapsed on children in the May 12 quake.

"This morning I received a phone call from the court ... to ask me to tell Huang Qi's lawyers that he will be put on trial on Tuesday [today] for illegal possession of state secrets," Huang's wife Zeng Li told reporters by phone yesterday.

Later, Huang's lawyer Mo Shaoping said that the district court in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan Province, had agreed to push back the trial date after attorneys protested they had not been given enough time to prepare.

"The court must warn the defense side three days before," he said, adding that he did not know when the trial would begin.

Huang was detained in Chengdu on June 10 â" about a month after the 8.0-magnitude earthquake left more than 87,000 people dead or missing.

Huang, a long-time rights activist who used the Internet to publicize his causes, had started to campaign for parents whose children were killed when their schools collapsed in the quake.

About 7,000 schools were destroyed, often as nearby buildings stood firm, and relatives of the dead children initially spoke out loudly against the graft they believed led to shoddy construction.

"Up to now, we still have not been able to see the [specific] charges" against Huang, Mo said.

Zeng said Huang's arrest was a result of his work in the earthquake zone.

"This is because he went to the disaster area a couple of times. He reported on the shoddy schools and reported about the appeals of the parents of the students. So he was arrested and charged with possessing state secrets," she said.

The ill-defined charge is often used to clamp down on dissent and send activists to prison.

So it's not just China, rather Japan and China.

Nobody is proposing to abolish money and go back to bartering. I'm not even sure this stimulus is such a terrible idea, maybe it will work (though we'll never really known either way). What worries me is we've been doing this since the 80's (Reagan), long enough to know that even in good times, we never quite get around to repaying the debt we rationalize in the bad times. Where will it end?

If they are in low earth orbit odds of a shuttle hitting space junk http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,418741,00.html are about 1-300 (I assume over a week period). This means with such a large area odds of a collision to be over 99% at low earth orbit. Now to beam power down that would be geo- which is still pretty crowded ... For low earth orbit below 600km gravity eventually cleans up the mess but not geostationary: http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2003/07/16/2003059688

The OLPC has already driven development for a number of other ultra-cheap computers, which is not a bad thing.

I disagree. There is already a huge envionmental problem with dumping electronics. I support the OLPC because I believe in education and helping third world children. However, having cheap computers in first world countries can be an environmental nightmare.

I would agree with you if these machines were recycled completely. However, used electronics are being exported to countries where labor is cheap and environmental regulations are less strict or non-existent. Once there, they waste many of the resources, and poison the environment.

By improving education, equality, and economic opportunity the population will reduce.

A blank assertion which (without significant elaboration) is unlikely to be correct.

From the CDC:

"National Center for Health Statistics"
Mother's Educational Level Influences Birth Rate"
... "Educational attainment is a very critical factor in accounting for lifetime fertility differentials. Women with 1 or more years of college have sharply lower lifetime fertility than less educated women, regardless of race or Hispanic origin. Women with college degrees can be expected to complete their childbearing with 1.6-2.0 children each; 1.7 for non-Hispanic white, 1.6 for non-Hispanic black, and 2.0 for Hispanic women. For women with less education the total expected number of children are: 3.2 children for those with 0-8 years of education; 2.3 children for those with 9-11 years of education and 2.7 for high school graduates."

"Japan birth rate off record low as economy improves"

"Adolescent Sexual Health in Europe and the U.S.--Why the Difference?"
...
"In these nations, societal openness and comfort in dealing with sexuality, including teen sexuality, and pragmatic governmental policies create greater, easier access to sexual health information and services for all people, including teens. Easy access to sexual health information and services leads to better sexual health outcomes for French, German, and Dutch teens when compared to U.S. teens."

"Study urges action to raise birth rate"

FERTILITY: While most Taiwanese are married by the time they reach 40, well educated women are more likely to stay single, the latest study shows"

"California Reduces Teen Birth Rate Through Sex Education"[pdf]

Associated Press (05.10.04)
California's teen birth rate has fallen from 11th nationwide in 1991 to 21st in 2002. The drop of more than 40 percent is attributed to a state-sponsored program that provides information about abstinence and birth control. The pregnancy figures cited by California Wellness Foundation, which runs a statewide teen pregnancy initiative, were included in a brief the foundation gave California lawmakers last week in Washington. The drop exceeds the 30 percent decline in teen pregnancies nationally during the same period.

"The Chinese Economy"

Desperate for a baby boom
By Kalinga Seneviratne

SINGAPORE - Alarmed by a falling birth rate and its impact on the economy, Singapore badly wants its well-educated, career-oriented women to have more babies.

So, at 2.1-something children per female (your figure), that would class America as not being a developed nation.

The US is a special case, as I said "As the US is becoming more religious I wonder how much religion influences this as some of them call their followers to "multiply"."

Going through the rest of your reply, I see more arguments and one "table", I wish /. would allow html tables, you ran off on a spreadsheet with numbers you made up, without any real data. As I provided links to data as well as links to articles on how some governments are concerned about declining birthrates due to improvements in economic opportunities, educations, and or equality c

One week before the Washington Times hyped the ONI report, the nominated commander of Pacific Command, Admiral Timothy J. Keating, testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee where he dismissed alarmist reports of recent gains in Chinese submarine development.

"If the reports are fairly accurate, they are well behind us technologically. We enjoy significant advantages across the spectrum of defensive and offensive systems, in particular undersea warfare," he said according to Taipei Times. In an interview with the paper, Keating added: "Should it become necessary for us to put our forces [in harm's way], the development of Chinese submarines are [sic] a concern to us, but it is hardly an insurmountable concern."

The implications of the low patrol rate are significant. The total operational experience for the entire Chinese submarine force is only 49 patrols in 25 years, corresponding to each submarine conducting an average of one patrol every third year.

As a result, Chinese submarine crews appear to have relatively little operational experience and consequently limited skills in operating their boats safely and competently. It suggests that the tactical skills that would be needed for the Chinese submarine force to operate effectively in a war may be limited.

China continues - at least for now - to use its submarine force as a coastal defense force.

I admit I shouldn't use the word "float", but it's a slang for "bringing something up from undersea"

More details here. They do a much better job at explaining this-

From the article:

To effect repairs on deep cables, the damaged portion is brought to the surface using a grapple. Deep cables must be cut at the seabed and each end separately brought to the surface, whereupon a new section is spliced in. The repaired cable is longer than the original, so the excess is deliberately laid in a 'U' shape on the sea-bed. A submersible can be used to repair cables that are near the surface.

Another link from Taipei Times-

The grapnel is a metal tool about 46cm by 61cm with a cutter like a fine razor blade and a grabbing tool. As tension increases and the cable is slowly pulled up, it is cut, grabbed, and half of it is hoisted to the surface. Dropping the grapnel, dragging the sea bed and recovering the cable can take about 16 hours, Walters said.

The crime and murder rate have always been low in Japan. I'd submit this is a social/cultural phenomena, rather than a gun control one.

Japan isn't immune from shootings and is in fact in the middle of some shooting/gang issues at the moment. http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/200 7/02/09/2003348298 As the gangs in Tokyo have proven, just because it's illegal to have firearms doesn't mean they aren't there.

Well the Chinese government is now pro actively trying to counter the threat of climate change. Government reports are saying this is a real threat that must be countered immediately. Can the same be said for this administration? I'm not saying that America is to blame for everything, but your straw man argument claiming that because some people blame everything on America it must not be true doesn't fly either.

Thai New Year's Eve celebrants in Bangkok

Speculate much, do you?

Prime Minister Surayud Chula-nont said yesterday that supporters of Thailand's toppled regime rather than Muslim insurgents were likely behind bombings in the capital that killed three people and ruined New Year's Eve festivities for thousands of revelers.

Why do you go around picking on people? Play nice.

As long as you asked, however:

Here's a link to a story about antibiotics in burgers from Mickey D's.

Wikipedia confirms that the plural of virus is viruses, but acknowledges that virii can be used as wordplay, such as on BBSs, or by computer hackers. Besides, this is slashdot--we're above teh r00lz 0f gr4mm4r!!!!11oneonee!

And as for the last point--being an anonymous coward doesn't get you girls, either. Turdhead.

First point, I am glad to see that someone seems to support my point that, for the average consumer, when they want a laptop, they don't first think "I want a Toshiba"

With regard to what you are actually saying, I should clarify. Since I know you read my statements in their context, I'm sure you noted that my point was that I had a hunch that having the highest selling laptops, and those laptops being relatively inexpensive, it implied some sales coming from outside of the 'West'. And wouldn't you know it, I was right! Toshiba does sell some laptops in Asia!

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/biz/archives/2005/ 03/30/2003248395

Also, Look everyone! My hunch is no longer! I found Data! http://news.com.com/PC+market+surged+in+2005,+will +settle+in+2006/2100-1003_3-6028454.html
9 Months Ago:

Toshiba, meanwhile, snuck ahead of Apple Computer to take the fifth place for U.S. shipments with a 3.5 percent market share. Notebook sales helped the Japanese company, said IDC analyst David Daoud. Toshiba periodically makes an appearance in the top five.

For the year, however, Apple topped Toshiba with a 3.3 percent market share to Toshiba's 3.2 percent. For the year, Apple grew shipments by 32 percent, just slightly slower than Gateway.


So Toshiba in the U.S.... top five? Yes. Market share? ~3%

(By the way, this means most of Toshiba's sales are Non-U.S., so relating to my original point, Public exposure in the U.S. for Toshiba is Good)

I can tell I'm getting crabby. No more slashdot for me today.

Sorry, links to support my previous post:
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/200 6/07/23/2003320046
http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/articlenews.aspx?t ype=topNews&storyid=2006-07-17T081430Z_01_L1677892 8_RTRUKOT_0_TEXT0.xml&src=071706_1228_TOPSTORY_off icers_escape_charges_over_menezes_shooting

All of the Open Source software will be written outside of the US where US patent law doesn't hold.

That wouldn't work. Because of the Berne Convention and/or other agreements including the WTO, basically all countries will have to enforce patents issued by other countries. As in China, US sets up office dedicated to fight against piracy

There are elements in China that are planning war against Taiwan! There are people in China who want China to administer the Taiwan government, too, when they are not successful administering their own country. That's another example of Chinese self-defeat.

From the Taipei Times: Read about China's "Taiwan Complex". "Symptoms include an irrational, even schizophrenic, approach to relations with Taiwan."

"They also threaten Taiwan with missiles deployed directly opposite the island -- 784 according to the latest count -- but appear bewildered when polls show that the Taiwanese believe the regime in Beijing is unfriendly toward them."

Says so here

That's all about money...
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/200 6/06/03/2003311446

If they can't sell any PCs in China they'll definitely need that US market ... http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/200 6/06/03/2003311446

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/200 6/06/03/2003311446

• library = internet
• librarian = search engine, wikipedia, a knowledgeable friend (online or not), chatroom, etc.
• popular book = popular sites
• reference manuals = wikipedia or other encyclopedia sites.

• anecdotal evidence - "Blogs are horrible."
• generalization - "You may have access to the modern equivalent of the printing press, but that doesn't mean you can publish the modern equivalent of the Principia Mathematica (either one)."
• Argumentum ad Antiquitatem - "Blogs are *not* an improvement over a good newspaper."
• Non Causa Pro Causa - "traditionally news media has become so watered down and useless that just about any form of media that doesn't talk to you like a child could supplant it."
• Agumentum ad Populum - "it is just that good newspapers are hard to find these days (the seattle times in pretty good though)."
• Petitio Principii - "Vastly *better* than others by any way you mean to quantify better."
• bifurcation - "You may have access to the modern equivalent of the printing press, but that doesn't mean you can publish the modern equivalent of the Principia Mathematica (either one) ... They allow people who are too lazy or too ignorant even to build their own website the ability to spread their tawdry and mindless blatherings to the rest of the world."
  
  Quit spreading FUD -jijin

Hmm do I smell Mod abuse, surely my parent comment is informative or inciteful refering to an earlier story on slashdot about the South Korean government mandating that a city in South Korea use Linux.

Isn't it pretty obvious that both storys indicate a determination on the part of the South Koreans to weaken the grip of microsoft on thier infrastructure. Either they are looking for a cheaper deal with Microsoft or they really do want an IT infrastructure which isn't dependant on paying Microsoft.

Companies such as Samsung are already big players in the hardware Market place. With countrys such as japan threatening to levy import tarrifs of 27.2%
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/worldbiz/archives/ 2006/01/21/2003290105
Strengthening South Korea's posistion in the software market surely makes a lot of sense for South Korea.

If South Koreans can buy domestically produced hardware at a significantly lower price than the rest of the world then widespread use of a free alternative operating system increases the competitive advantage of low priced quality hardware.

It also makes sense that if your going to use windows then push for the lowest price you can surely?

Karma generally works on slashdot so hopefully whoever metamoderates my previous post will see it wasn't the work of a troll and score it fairly.

Oh, come on...they just stole this idea from the Chinese!

Is the U.S. government going to resort to Communism next?!?

- RG>