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I think the grandparent was referring to the December 1st 2003 cover. I don't know whether it's a good parallel case, but it seems unlikely to me that Bush was wearing makeup for that photo - it was probably 'shopped.

Does this mean that US dollars are no longer allowed in Germany? Several German states banned Red Bull because it had 0.13 micrograms of cocaine per can. http://news.slashdot.org/story/09/05/25/2021226/Cocaine-Test-Prompts-Red-Bull-Removal-In-Germany or http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1900849,00.html

Oh yes, because I want my internet connection tapped 24/7

As others have pointed out, they already did this with a more-than-willing corporate helping hand.

and all my comments that criticize the US government to be flagged (or did you forget flag@whitehouse.gov?).

Spreading FUD is not the same thing as criticizing. And it's the content of the FUD they're asking for. (And speaking of spreading FUD, your post seems a shining example...)

And just look at the crappy service you get from other government agencies like medicare

You ask anyone who's on Medicare if they want it abolished. Go on, ask. Your odds are about 50/50 between being looked at like you have three heads and being called an idiot.

the lackluster performance of veterans hospitals

How Veterans' Hospitals Became the Best in Health Care

the annoyances of the post office

Annoyances like being able to send a letter for a negligible amount of money?

the general greed of the IRS

Greed?? The IRS collects and passes on the money they're told to collect and pass on. It's not like they get to keep it.

Yah, I really want the US government to provide broadband.

Yah, fer sher, y'betcha. I do. I want as many players in the market as I can get, public, private, or otherwise. It'd be a damn sight better than the local monopolies we're screwed with now.

http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1912574,00.html

Cash for Clunkers was originally funded at $US 1 Billion. Congress is negotiating this week to add an additional $US 2 Billion to the program. The original intent of the program was to stimulate the auto industry, encourage consumers to buy more fuel efficient cars, while removing older less efficient cars from the roads permanently. Key provisions of the program were compromised during its initial passing, which result in only slight gains with respect to carbon emissions, particularly when the carbon cost of producing the new vehicle is accounted for.

Despite the program being neutered, people are actually buying cars significantly more efficient than the ones they turn in:
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1914602,00.html

The links do not matter whether they are conservative or not. And you are an idiot if you think Al Qeada is the only terrorist group out there. I didn't say Al Qeada and Al Qeada not being included is not a disqualifies. Support for terrorist or terrorism is just that regardless of what name the terrorist take. If you are willing to ignore information because it didn't come from your favorite source, then will will always remain ignorant. If you are willing to supplant what was said with your own ideology leaning, you will remain stupid.

http://web.archive.org/web/20070605111535/http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/13jul20041400/www.gpoaccess.gov/serialset/creports/pdf/s108-301/sec12.pdf Read the next two pages.

You can also find information at wikipedia which is cited by looking for Abu Musab al Zarqawi who did have links to Al Qeada before the 2003 invasion of Iraq and was also offered and received safe haven while recuperating from injuries received in Afghanistan.

Hamas pays its bombers' survivors a permanent pension of $300 to $600 a month in addition to bankrolling the family's health care and the education of the bomber's children. Iraqi President Saddam Hussein also funds a one-time $20,000 payment for the families--increased from $10,000 about six months ago in a show of solidarity.

Although remaking 'classics' into a video game sounds like a great idea, the inherit problems already mentioned don't use the medium of video games to their full potential.

What I would like to see in a video game is the depth that is in the 'classics', using the medium of video games to its full potential. I think of "Watchmen" when I think of this. No one really took comic books seriously until Alan Moore created, quite well, a real 'classic' using the medium of comic books. It was in Time's top 100 novels of all time. (Source) Sure, a video game won't make that list because of the inherit differences, but I would like to see a game that is deep as "Watchmen", or "Invisible Man."

Son, it don't matter if they call you a sissy,

just don't get caught speedin' through Ludowici.

Federal agents can (and most likely will) keep arresting those who are using pot, while it's completely legal in the stat

Actually they'll probably arrest those who are engaged in the business of selling pot, not those who are merely using it. Your point is still valid though.

Hopefully more and more states will start giving the finger to the Fed and do what's in their best interest and not some random law passed from on high in DC.

A few of them are trying to. It's not just pot either....

That's because of the global ice age that's happening as a result of humans. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,944914,00.html If carbon emissions are causing a problem, I say we destroy all Magnoliophyta. These things just suck up oxygen all night and spit out CO2. We've gotta get rid of them!

Entertainment sales dropping during a continued recession isn't exactly a surprise. People have less money, so they buy less.

That's why I thought Time Magazine's conclusions last year were just ludicrous, as they predicted that entertainment sales would go up.

7000 lives could have been saved EVERY YEAR if not for the poor penmanship by doctors: http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1578074,00.html

I imagine that a substantial part of the sudden increase in society's respect for geeks, (maybe mostly their potential incomes,) was due to the glamorous press exposure l0pht received at that time.

Or maybe it's that whole Internet thing that was popping up around that time. The geeks became attractively rich. The tech stopped being black boxes hidden in white-floored, air-conditioned caves and became vehicles for wealth and ubiquitous services. And did I mention the geeks becoming attractively rich?

I doubt "society" in general paid much attention to L0pht (beyond the attention the mysterious hacker "whiz kid" usually gets). There was already about a decade of exposure to the microcomputer and the concept that it would change our lives. And we had already seen ample exposure of the hacker to pop-culture (i.e. the movie War Games and T.V. show Whiz Kids). Mainstream society seemed sort of curious but not entirely impressed with the geek behind the curtain.

But when the Internet dot-boom era began, money got everyone's attention. Suddenly the geek behind the curtain got much more interesting.

Hurricanes are not known to be affected in number or severity due to climate change, so it isn't clear why you bring them up

Because I know what I'm talking about. Well you could argue that you're right in that the number of hurricanes doesn't change, but the difference between a weak ass hurricane that dies on a beach and something like Katrina makes the whole difference between no one cares and the whole world cares.

Here, have a clue : "All these hurricanes in such a short period of time begs the question: are storms getting stronger, and if so, what's causing it? According to a new paper in Nature, the answer is yes â" and global warming seems to be the culprit. Researchers led by James Elsner, a meteorologist at Florida State University, analyzed satellite-derived data of tropical storms since 1981 and found that the maximum wind speeds of the strongest storms have increased significantly in the years since, with the most notable increases found in the North Atlantic and the northern Indian oceans. They believe that rising ocean temperatures â" due to global warming â" are one of the main causes behind that change. "There is a robust signal behind the shift to more intense hurricanes," says Judith Curry, chair of the school of earth and atmospheric sciences at the Georgia Institute of Technology."

My real question is, why don't they just give up on this 3D crap already?

Money.

Don't get me wrong - I love me some stereographic 3D (actual 3D is even nicer but well out of reach).

But the only motivator for 3D content right now is money. Money spent on 3D projection systems, the glasses, eventually special Blu-Ray (or beyond) features, displays (in the news a lot lately), cameras*, etc. etc.

Eventually stereographic 3D will become mainstream, as there's a -huge- push behind it. Eventually, smell-o-vision will be tried again as well.

*
stereoscopic video camera: http://dvice.com/archives/2009/04/panasonic-takes.php
( same in concept as sticking a big ol' 3D Lens in a Cap on your dSLR, fwiw )
stereoscopic photo camera: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1909457,00.html?CNN=YES

Not particularly new. There have been stereographic 3D photo cameras before that you'd get developed at a special lab that'd stick a lenticular sheet over it. Those usually had 3-5 lenses, too, for even greater effect (some perspective shift):
http://www.lenticulations.com/images_stereogram/nimslo.jpg ( creating output a la: http://www.lenticulations.com/#1 )

Nah, they're going to blame it on the economy - you know ... inflation.

Or they'll just say that it's environmental - they live in the South

Why Are Southerners So Fat?

People from Mississippi are fat. With an adult obesity rate of 33%, Mississippi has gobbled its way to the "chubbiest state" crown for the fifth year in a row, according to a new joint report by Trust for America's Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Alabama, West Virginia and Tennessee aren't far behind, with obesity rates over 30%. In fact, eight of the 10 fattest states are in the South.

Another example of how you are what you eat ... and another reason to keep your BMI below 25.

The BMI is a useful tool in the sense that it helps get people to actually discuss the issue. Of course, the real test is with calipers. Can you "pinch an inch?" If so, you're carrying excess fat. If you have to use the jaws of life to remove the calipers, you're obese. If the calipers strike oil, you're a Southener.

Or, 3. if they took stem cells from a lesbian, they could generate some sperm for her, thereby along her to impregnate her other female partner.

Actually no:

It is worth noting that researchers could generate IVD sperm only from male embryos; when they tried using stem cells from a female embryo, they were unable to get sperm to mature past the spermatogonial stage. That suggests that genes located on the Y chromosome, which female cells do not contain, may be essential for triggering the maturation of the primitive sperm cell.

The sperm meet the 4 basic descriptions for sperm: have 23 chromosomes, have head and tail, have egg-activating proteins, and swim. They are not exact copies of sperm, and, more importantly, only sperm made from male cells actually matured; those from female cells didn't.
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1909164,00.html
Post AC because I'm in a grouchy mood and commenting on something I usually don't comment on.

From my understanding, embryonic stem cells are not necessary any longer, and have issues of their own that make them undesirable in the long term. Also, as far as I understand, adult stem cells can be made to act like embryonic stem cells, and they don't have the biological (and moral) issues that accompany embryonic stem cells.

A researcher out of Japan named Yamanaka is performing what can only be termed as medical miracles. Something to read

1. Author: God
2. Lifespan: Eternal

There is some controversy about that. The copyright on the Bible could expire in a few decades.

India is a corrupt democracy.
The more rules and laws are present, the more corrupt the government becomes. ...

Well, that explains Obama and the Dems passing all those new laws.

What percentage of "cap and trade" taxes are going to fund Al Gore's private jet trips?

How big of another financial meltdown will Barney Frank cause when he forces mortgage standards down AGAIN!!!! (Yes, folks, just last week Barney Frank was trying to force banks and government agencies to lower their lending standards. All over again. We're still sorting out the mess of a mortgage bubble burst and subsequent meltdown that's still happening and here's Barney Frank starting to blow up another .... bubble. And you thought nothing could be worst than running a prostitution ring out of a Congressman's house....)

http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1894028,00.html

Now I keep a can of Sears Weather-beater next to my bed.

This is the start of a serious idea: Spray-On Condoms: Still a Hard Sell

Trouble seems to be drying time:

Liquid latex currently takes two to three minutes to vulcanize, making it impractical. "For people to buy it," Krause says, "it needs to be ready in five to 10 seconds."

I was actually kind of surprised to see Baltimore on the list. Given its location, it's a prime candidate for urban renewal. DC's been growing explosively over the past decade, and the suburban sprawl that appeared overnight is becoming less and less popular, while space within the city itself is dwindling, and the 'bad neighborhoods' are gradually becoming livable again.

Baltimore is about an hour away, and clearly has an abundance of housing available. I'm surpised that the city hasn't been able to capitalize on this. (Granted, they'll have to fix the socioeconomic problems causing the absurdly high crime rate, which unfortunately might be a chicken-or-egg type of situation.)

Although I suppose you could question the extent of its benefits, Baltimore very successfully revitalized its inner harbor area.

Major props go to the Orioles for successfully integrating their ballpark into the urban landscape. I'm not a huge baseball fan, although I almost always try to catch a game whenever I'm in or near Baltimore. It's one of the best (urban) places I know of to enjoy a night out.

I don't know about the others, but ProPublica is a left-wing propaganda organization. It was founded by Herbert and Marion Sandler, from Time's 25 people to blame for the financial crisis. It has provided propaganda stories to newspapers around the country disguised as news....

On second thought, that should fit right in with the rest of what the AP distributes.

mootonium, after the Time Mag most Influential man of the year.
tg*l
hayo
emos
*eut

mootium

http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1894028,00.html

retarded fanbases with way too much time to mindlessly endlessly vote are not unique to the Colbert Report

come to think of it, then perhaps AmericanIdolium is an even more appropriate name choice

Let me start it out for you then, I believe in what the author claimed was the american way where the autopilot can be overcome by the pilot. Why, because an experienced pilot would also be aware of when the autopilot if taking the wrong procedure or maneuvers and could correct for faulty sensors or whatever causing it.

Now I think it's important to mention experience pilot. The experienced pilot is going to know the proper reactions anyways and will observe the auto pilot taking them. There should be a warning to alert the pilot to any course corrections or anything the autopilot has to do outside of flying straight and level as the flight plan calls for. This alert would allow the pilot to watch the situation and if the computer is doing the wrong thing, correct for it, and go from there.

So far people are saying the auto pilot is more accurate at speed of reaction and so on where the pilot is better at ingenuity. If the pilot is experienced, he will use the computer to his advantage and you really have the best of both worlds, the reliability of computers and all the flight data from 2000 other flights working for you as well as a pilot who can tell when something is obviously not going right and correct for errors and glitched.

I don't think it is a matter of either or, but one or both. With the Airbus systems, as far as I can tell, it's the computer all the way if it's on. Remember that Australia flight that ended up with passengers having broken bones from autopilot reactions to turbulence?

It forever changed the way software would be packaged and sold, and reminded the software companies that the higher you price the package, the more likely it is to be broken. It also directly led to other incredibly popular commercial programs such as Copy II PC and CopyWrite. RIP Omega Microware. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,953342,00.html

Leap in U.S. debt hits taxpayers with 12% more red ink
By Dennis Cauchon, USA TODAY
2009-05-28
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2009-05-28-debt_N.htm

...The latest increase raises federal obligations to a record $546,668 per household in 2008, according to the USA TODAY analysis. That's quadruple what the average U.S. household owes for all mortgages, car loans, credit cards and other debt combined...

Bottom line: The government took on $6.8 trillion in new obligations in 2008, pushing the total owed to a record $63.8 trillion...

By the time the Kenyan Prince and Telly Axelrod and Bolshoi Emanuel and Blofeld Soros and the rest of the tribe are finished, there won't be any USA left [much less any USAF to hire you].

If you want to do this kind of work in the future, then you'll need to emigrate to China.

Other types of biofuel may be better than corn, but they have their problems too. According to a shocking report by "Time Magazine", "if the world gets even 10% of its energy from these new kinds of crops, most tropical forests will probably disappear."

Not surprisingly, lobbyists for American agribusiness are angry as hell about the conclusions of the EPA study.

Really, the best way to partially fix this nonsense is to make Iowa (and its corn farmers) the last state to participate in both the Republican primary and the Democratic primary. Due to the importance of Iowa as the first state in the presidential primaries (including caucuses), Iowan agribusiness has a stranglehold on American politics, and its politicians do stupid things (like supporting corn-based ethanol) in order to cater to Iowa.

Also, has anyone noticed that no one has mentioned the #1 reason for the growing energy problem and its associated pollution problem? The #1 reason is overpopulation. If we reduced greenhouse-gas emissions by 3% over 10 years but increased the population by 3% over the same period across all nations, then we effectively accomplished nothing.

Can anyone guess why overpopulation is never mentioned by American politicians? Could the concept of overpopulation be too closely tied to illegal immigration?

You ever buy a Trabant or a Dacia? You'll never complain about an American car again.

Was it the support for Boris Yeltsin even when he was a drunk?
So he helped bring Russia from totalitarianism to democracy and he shouldn't be supported because he drinks? Putin's soberly bringing Russia back to authoritarianism.

Was it picking the wrong side in the Balkans war?
Fighting against the Milosevich, the Butcher of the Balkans who murdereed tens of thousands in an act of genocide? And giving those involved war trials for crimes against humanity. (He also managed to finish the war, something we're not so good at right now)

Was it all those failed peace agreements?
Like the 400 year old conflict in Northern Ireland? 10 years of peace and counting.

Are you trying to help my point?

Obama has excellent speech writers and the ability to read the teleprompter. Anyone who thinks Obama (or any other modern politician) is a "great orator" is either intentionally being an idiot or is just another one of the sheeple

Except that Obama is an ex college professor, wrote 2 bestselling autobiographies, and, oh yeah, has been confirmed to write his own speeches.

I know you conservatives are upset that reality has such a well known Liberal bias but seriously, come out of the bubble sometime. The talking point about the teleprompter is a non starter outside of the wingnutosphere.

Well, "cannibalism" still occurs in "modern" times. The most infamous incidents of cannibalism occurred in China from 1966 until 1976. According to a report by the "New York Times" in 1993, "At some high schools, students killed their principals in the school courtyard and then cooked and ate the bodies to celebrate a triumph over 'counterrevolutionaries,' the documents report. Government-run cafeterias are said to have displayed bodies dangling on meat hooks and to have served human flesh to employees.

'There are many varieties of cannibalism,' declares one report, 'and among them are these: killing someone and making a late dinner of it, slicing off the meat and having a big party, dividing up the flesh so each person takes a large chunk home to boil, roasting the liver and eating it for its medicinal properties, and so on.'

The documents suggest that at least 137 people, and probably hundreds more, were eaten in Guangxi Province in southern China in the late 1960's. In most cases, many people ate the flesh of one corpse, so the number of cannibals may have numbered in the thousands."

According to a report by "Time Magazine" in 2001, "The atrocities took many forms, according to documents. One report refers to 'eating people as an after-dinner snack . . .barbecuing people's livers . . .banqueting on human meat.' The same document matter-of-factly relates specific tales of depravity. 'On May 14, 1968,' it says, 'a group of 11, led by the Wei brothers, captured a man named Chen Guorong and killed him with a big knife before cutting out his liver. They shared the human meat with 20 participants.' The same month Wu Shufang, a teacher at the Wuxuan Middle School, was beaten to death; her liver was roasted and eaten. During 1968, 91 members of the Communist Party in Guangxi were expelled on charges that they were involved in cannibalism, but none was severely punished."

To this day, some of the cannibals still hold political power in the Chinese government.

The Presiding Bishop, Katharine Jefferts Schori has a Ph.D. in evolutionary biology

Wikipedia says that it's in Oceanography. Still, she's not a creationist or an IDiot.

As long as the laws are consistent I'm fine with it.

You say video games cause people to be stationary and fat or obese? They need to be taxed? Ok.

What about reading? Watching cable television? Going to the movies and sitting?

Why single out video games for making people immobile? Why not have a 'stationary tax' that taxes all activities that aren't physical fitness? Isn't that the point? To get people to exercise more?

http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1897920,00.html?xid=rss-topstories
"Why Kids' Exercise Matters Less Than We Think"

A study showing how exercise in children is not understood very well by the public.

http://www.canada.com/Health/Overeating+blame+obesity+epidemic/1584819/story.html
"Overeating to blame for U.S. obesity epidemic"

Exercise has very little to do with the fact that Americans are so fat. It's all over-consumption of calorie rich foods.

http://rochesterhomepage.net/content/fulltext/?cid=91611
Billionaire moves from NYS to Florida because of taxes.

The billionaires are moving because of the taxes...imagine how these taxes affect the working poor of NYC...it's awful.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090511/ap_on_re_us/us_nyc_transit_woes_3
NY mass transit increases fees by 10 percent.

I swear if NYS could figure out how to tax breathing they would. Governor Patterson has such a low approval rating right now that more New Yorkers, including myself, would prefer Elliot Spitzer back.
http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/article/20090505/NEWS/905050327/1006/RSS01

http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1897920,00.html?xid=rss-topstories I don't applaud it all that much. It most certainly is a money grab and isn't doing anything positive at all.

'Because ultimately books are supposed to be "spread around", and not hidden away.
Should I put you on my list of "Big Jerks of Sci-Fi" next to Ellison now?'

No, you really shouldn't.

Partly because Le Guin is quite rightly regarded as one of the greatest of all SF authors (just the other day, aged 79, she won yet another Nebula), and deserves a bit of respect.

Partly because her annoyance at noticing violation of her copyright is perfectly understandable, and would be shared by the vast majority of authors (Cory Doctorow is writing in a subgenre and is active in a subculture where free distribution provides useful publicity - full marks to him, but not everyone can make this model work for them right now).

Partly because Le Guin is not as 'unenlightened' about copyright and sharing ideas as you might imagine, e.g. here:

http://www.ursulakleguin.com/Copyright.html

she describes the Sonny Bono act as "the recent excessive extension of copyright term by the U.S.A, which has imperilled the international copyright system", and here:

http://nerdworld.blogs.time.com/2009/05/11/an-interview-with-ursula-k-le-guin/

(on JK Rowling) "It's great that so many people have enjoyed her fantasies and thereby rediscovered the genre. I could wish she'd been a little more generous about admitting influences, but so what. A lot of borrowing always goes on in an active, vital art form, not plagiarism, just learning from each other. No harm in saying so."

But mainly because Ellison is really in a class of his own...

At one point Lolita and Ulysses were nothing more than "juvenile self-indulgence" ...

Um, since you bothered to link to Wikipedia, need I say more than "citation needed"?

On Lolita from Time Magazine:

First published in France by a pornographic press, this 1955 novel explores the mind of a self-loathing and highly intelligent pedophile named Humbert Humbert, who narrates his life and the obsession that consumes it: his lust for "nymphets" like 12-year-old Dolores Haze. French officials banned it for being "obscene," as did England, Argentina, New Zealand and South Africa. Today, the term "lolita" has come to imply an oversexed teenage siren, although Nabokov, for his part, never intended to create such associations. In fact, he nearly burned the manuscript in disgust, and fought with his publishers over whether an image of a girl should be included on the book's cover.

Ulysses was banned by the U.S. Customs Court for being "obscene" and pornographic in 1921. It wouldn't be released in the United States until 1933 when that was repealed:

In United States v. One Book Called Ulysses, U.S. District Judge John M. Woolsey ruled on December 6, 1933 that the book was not pornographic and therefore could not be obscene, a decision that has been called "epoch-making" by Stuart Gilbert. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the ruling in 1934.

Wish I could provide better sources for you but they do show up on the list of historically banned books.

Actually I do, not that I'd proselytize.

Well, I suggest you mind your own business, and keep out of othere's lives. At most you should care that obese people are the cause of rising healthcare costs... but the solution is to fix the insurance so that unhealthy people pay more, not ban food.

Honestly, why DON'T you care?

Because I don't know them, so I don't care what happens to them. I only care on the level that it affects my life.. causing my health premiums to go up even though I take care of my self.

BTW lack of empathy is also considered a sign of mental illness.

Oh, and where did you get your PhD? Being gay used to be called a mental illness too. I have plenty of empathy for family and friends... but not for someone I don't know from a hole in the wall. And it seems that is pretty normal... so perhaps you can actually answer my question honestly instead of trying to put yourself onto a pedistal:

http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1867735,00.html

I don't think this is necessarily true...so I googled it.

http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1880145,00.html

from that article:

2. On the So-Called "Dilution Effect": Today's vegetables might be larger, but if you think that means they contain more nutrients, you'd be wrong. Davis writes that jumbo-sized produce contains more "dry matter" than anything else, which dilutes mineral concentrations. In other words, when it comes to growing food, less is more. Scientific papers have cited one of the first reports of this effect, a 1981 study by W.M. Jarrell and R.B. Beverly in Advances in Agronomy, more than 180 times since its publication, "suggesting that the effect is widely regarded as common knowledge."

Yes, synthetic fuel is currently possible.

Nazi Germany fed its war machine on 100% synthetic fuel - oil derived from coal. Keep in mind that what's expedient in war may not be practical or economical in peacetime, nor did the Nazis likely worry much about the environmental consequences.

Inb4 Colbert or Moot. For the lulz.

When life...is just a game, who's to blame?
-- Green Jelly

"Waterboarding, sleep deprivation, and food-denial are not torture techniques."

I'm sorry, but remember when those interrogation logs of "Prisoner 063" came out a few years ago? They're pretty bland reading, but I sat down and read the whole thing a while ago -- about 2 months worth. There was no waterboarding, just the latter two techniques you mention, plus physical restraints and several other things.

The first couple of pages I found myself thinking "If I was subjected to that it would be uncomfortable but really no big deal". Then I got into the second week, and the third, and the next, and the second month. Day after day after day without any real break. It was a grinding monotony. Several times they had to stop for medical reasons -- they pushed the guy right up to the edge of medical safety, and then stopped for a while until he could take some more. Oh, and this is just the released part. The guy was subjected to interrogation for months before and after. And he was not subjected to the harshest stuff that we now know was authorized (e.g., "waterboarding").

Yes, it's fricking torture. Maybe not for a day's worth, but there's no way someone would not be permanently psychologically scarred from months and months of treatment like that. It's psychological torture. It's the duration of the stress that is the problem. You don't have to have broken bones to be permanently injured. Just ask war veterans.

On top of that, the Geneva convention *clearly* states that people captured in a war zone are supposed to be treated as if they are prisoners of war -- whether they actually turn out to be or not -- until such time that they receive a hearing in front of a competent military tribunal to determine their status. The immediate designation and treatment of them as other than prisoners of war was in violation of international law. Their subsequent treatment (whether you call it torture or not) makes it that much worse.

If American soldiers were subjected to it, there's no doubt the same techniques would be called torture, because historically they certainly were.

People who trivialize this stuff haven't grasped what is really going on. Comparisons to sales-teams games? Please. Do you even understand what waterboarding is? It's not a freaking dunk-tank.

"Waterboarding, sleep deprivation, and food-denial are not torture techniques."

I'm sorry, but remember when those interrogation logs of "Prisoner 063" came out a few years ago? They're pretty bland reading, but I sat down and read the whole thing a while ago -- about 2 months worth. There was no waterboarding, just the latter two techniques you mention, plus physical restraints and several other things.

The first couple of pages I found myself thinking "If I was subjected to that it would be uncomfortable but really no big deal". Then I got into the second week, and the third, and the next, and the second month. Day after day after day without any real break. It was a grinding monotony. Several times they had to stop for medical reasons -- they pushed the guy right up to the edge of medical safety, and then stopped for a while until he could take some more. Oh, and this is just the released part. The guy was subjected to interrogation for months before and after. And he was not subjected to the harshest stuff that we now know was authorized (e.g., "waterboarding").

Yes, it's fricking torture. Maybe not for a day's worth, but there's no way someone would not be permanently psychologically scarred from months and months of treatment like that. It's psychological torture. It's the duration of the stress that is the problem. You don't have to have broken bones to be permanently injured. Just ask war veterans.

On top of that, the Geneva convention *clearly* states that people captured in a war zone are supposed to be treated as if they are prisoners of war -- whether they actually turn out to be or not -- until such time that they receive a hearing in front of a competent military tribunal to determine their status. The immediate designation and treatment of them as other than prisoners of war was in violation of international law. Their subsequent treatment (whether you call it torture or not) makes it that much worse.

If American soldiers were subjected to it, there's no doubt the same techniques would be called torture, because historically they certainly were.

People who trivialize this stuff haven't grasped what is really going on. Comparisons to sales-teams games? Please. Do you even understand what waterboarding is? It's not a freaking dunk-tank.

Somali pirates take their pick of the 16,000 mainly cargo ships that pass through the Suez Canal annually

times
$350,000 per ship

equals
$5,600 million/year

In last year "they have attacked more than 80 ships and hijacked at least 30, collecting [a total of] anywhere from $18 million to $30 million in ransom"

Cost of paying ransom is 1% of the cost of arming all the ships.

first they say "many details couldnt be learned" such as origin, then the article does an about face and implies it came from china...are we just blaming the new kid for everything!?

The "new kid"? The second article in the past 6 months? FYI, the Chinese have been hacking US systems under the "Titan Rain" program for the past 6 years. The US government has known about the program, and has had counter-espionage measures prepared, for the past 6 years. And you're trying to imply that they're mistaking this for a backup job. I think you underestimate the capability of the intelligence services.

The Phantom's list of accomplices showed no pattern, ranging from Slovaks to Serbs, Albanians to Romanians, and her territory stretched throughout Germany and into Austria and France. No one had ever seen her, no security camera had ever captured her image. But when witnesses described her, they sometimes said she looked like a man.

Yeah, sure as hell police knows that you can't trust DNA samples right? Which is why dozens of police officers searched for the phantom for years despite these obvious contradictions. Even a 100.000 Euro bounty was offered...

It turned out to be some DNA pollution on the q-tips the police used: the DNA came from an employee of the cotton-wool tip manufacturer the police used. By the way, the q-tips (which are German polices standard DNA evidence seizure tips) were never supposed to be used for collecting DNA evidence by the manufacturer.

Way to ommit what happened in the intervening years between the two surveys.

So people were happier before the 2 wars, 9/11, and dot-com bubble bursting than after 9/11, Iraq & Afghanistan, & 5 years of Bush deviciveness. What a shocker. Let me guess, these numbers are further down in surveys taken between 2H'08 & now (particularly in places like NY, Detroit, etc).