"There's a link for direct download as well - cancel the auto bloatware download, click the direct link, all done."
Dude, we got this corpse half way into the ground and you're trying to tell us it ain't dead yet? OK. Sure, it might not be dead, but it definitely stinks, so into the hole it goes...
From the Wikipedia article on "Private Prisons"...
"CCA is and formerly The GEO Group have been major contributors to the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a Washington, D.C. based public policy organization that develops model legislation that advances tough-on-crime legislation and free-market principles such as privatization.
Under their Criminal Justice Task Force, ALEC has developed and helped to successfully implement in many states âoetough on crimeâ initiatives including âoeTruth in Sentencingâ and âoeThree Strikesâ laws. Corporations provide most of the funding for ALECâ(TM)s operating budget and influence its political agenda through participation in policy task forces. ALECâ(TM)s corporate funders include CCA and The GEO Group. In 1999, CCA made the Presidentâ(TM)s List for contributions to ALECâ(TM)s States and National Policy Summit; Wackenhut (predecessor to GEO Group) also sponsored the conference. Past cochairs of the Criminal Justice Task Force have included Brad Wiggins, then Director of Business Development at CCA and now a Senior Director of Site Acquisition, and John Rees, a former CCA vice president. On November 11th, 2010, GEO's outgoing COO Wayne Calabrese, told a large community gathering at a middle school in Bangor, Pennsylvania, that GEO had withdrawn from ALEC years earlier because of the obvious conflict of interest involved in creating legislation that insured an increased supply of prisoners. CCA and GEO have both engaged in state initiatives to increase sentences for offenders and to create new crimes, however, CCA helping to finance Proposition 6 in California in 2008 and GEO lobbying for Jessica's Law in Kansas in 2006.
By funding and participating in ALECâ(TM)s Criminal Justice Task Forces, critics argue, private prison companies directly influence legislation for tougher, longer sentences.[27] The legal system may also be manipulated more directly: in the Kids for cash scandal, Mid-Atlantic Youth Services Corp, a private prison company was found guilty of paying two judges[28] $2.6m to send 2000 children to their prisons.[29][30]CCA is and formerly The GEO Group have been major contributors to the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a Washington, D.C. based public policy organization that develops model legislation that advances tough-on-crime legislation and free-market principles such as privatization.
Under their Criminal Justice Task Force, ALEC has developed and helped to successfully implement in many states âoetough on crimeâ initiatives including âoeTruth in Sentencingâ and âoeThree Strikesâ laws. Corporations provide most of the funding for ALECâ(TM)s operating budget and influence its political agenda through participation in policy task forces. ALECâ(TM)s corporate funders include CCA and The GEO Group. In 1999, CCA made the Presidentâ(TM)s List for contributions to ALECâ(TM)s States and National Policy Summit; Wackenhut (predecessor to GEO Group) also sponsored the conference. Past cochairs of the Criminal Justice Task Force have included Brad Wiggins, then Director of Business Development at CCA and now a Senior Director of Site Acquisition, and John Rees, a former CCA vice president. On November 11th, 2010, GEO's outgoing COO Wayne Calabrese, told a large community gathering at a middle school in Bangor, Pennsylvania, that GEO had withdrawn from ALEC years earlier because of the obvious conflict of interest involved in creating legislation that insured an increased supply of prisoners. CCA and GEO have both engaged in state initiatives to increase sentences for offenders and to create new crimes, however, CCA helping to finance Proposition 6 in California in 2008 and GEO lobbying for Jessica's Law in Kansas in 2006.
By funding and participating in ALECâ(TM)s Criminal Justice Task Forces, critics argue, private prison companies directly influence legislation for tougher, longer sentences.[27] The legal system
I wonder how many lawyers have already figured out that any suspect that has evidence brought against them, evidence obtained with this technology, already has in hand an admission by the authorities that the suspect was subjected to x-rays against their will? Hell, even a probable cause statement for a warrant would require the admission of use of this technology.
Every prosecution could mean a reciprocal civil lawsuit for damages associated with X-ray exposure. I think it would be justified. If nothing else, it would bring the issue to into the realm of public awareness.
There is a huge difference between this tech being in place at an airport, where the person going through it knows the risks, and mobile scanning--there is no consent with mobile, covert scanning.
It should be illegal to even MAKE these things, let alone use them.
"If these knuckleheads ever learn correct English, we're screwed."
Back in my WoW raiding days, an idea occurred to me that I kept to myself out of fear that someone might actually do it. I don't play WoW anymore, so I couldn't really give a damn (I know. Nice guy, huh?), but you just made me realize that gold-farmers wouldn't be the only target customers.
The general idea is a native-English speaking person contracting out to Chinese customers to write proper sounding communications such as WoW account phishing emails. It would be just as valuable to email writers with other goals in mind.
To be honest, I am surprised it hasn't happened yet.
Now that I think about it, why are these guys (spammers) not using a little spear-phishing to get the real companies to send them actual examples of emails to copy? You know, open a dummy account and then fuck with it to get an automated-response triggered? It would be trivial to copy such a notice, cutting/pasting a little to personalize it.
Man, it sucks to find your career calling so late in life. I should have opted for the Chinese class in junior high instead of Maori.
"I wonder if it's a bit of architect's humor that the Burj Khalifa's sections hint at a conical tower with a spiralled path on the outside like the traditional depictions of the Tower of Babel."
Humor? It would have to be a rather sick sense of humor.
If you think about it for a bit, there is a logical conclusion to this "race to build the tallest..."--eventually all of us get to watch the tallest building in the world fall over. Doe's anyone really think that risks won't be taken in order to build the next "tallest building"? The margin for error slowly erodes with each incremental increase in height, and the architects know it, yet they keep designing and building. Being a part of that must feel something akin to working on the Trinity project--the possibility of a major fuck-up is quite real, but hey, what the hell, let's go for it. How many people can you fit in one of these things anyways?
You know what they saw about falling giants...the taller they are, the further everyone else has to run to get the fuck out of the way...or something like that.
"I feel a plugin coming on that will randomise the ID reported this way."
Or a plug-in that simply throws up random Google search phrases and randomly clicks links while your computer is idle, thus making any data obtained stained with uselessness and buried in garbage...kind of like my last 4 or 5 "bright ideas".
"Brings corporate cyber-sabotage to a whole new level when you are wiping out a workforce. Humans, you put up a hiring both, three million robots, you go bankrupt."
Wow. That came out wrong. Dr. Mengele and I sincerely apologize. We'll get back to our logs now.
More applicable then you might think. Foxconn is putting their eggs in one basket with this approach. They've tied their entire workforce to the price of coal and oil (seeing as most of the energy used to power robots would come from one or the other), as opposed to the price of food, housing and paper money.
They've also put their entire workforce at risk of going on "strike", much like the Iranians had a bunch of centrifuges go on "strike". Brings corporate cyber-sabotage to a whole new level when you are wiping out a workforce. Humans, you put up a hiring both, three million robots, you go bankrupt.
Phrenology is quite useful, and quite possibly the only means of divination that is subject to "real-time" influences.
For instance, If I were to take a tire iron to your head for a few seconds, I would suddenly be able to determine far more information about you, based solely on the bumps in your cranium. I'd know that you were in urgent need of medical care, that you were in possession of a flawed "fight or flight" response mechanism (perhaps an expression of Neanderthal genes...) and that you need to work on your reflexes.
You need an open mind (speaking figuratively, of course) if you are going to participate here at Slashdot.
"Somalia has been a failed state for a while now."
By your definition of government, maybe.
Just because Somalia has a different government structure then most countries (I consider no government "different", and nothing more) does not mean we should preclude them from discussion venues such as the United Nations or even more personal dialogs with individual nations.
Most of these "pirates" are regular people forced into this role by outside influences. Most coastal communities in Somalia have been devastated economically and environmentally by the continued dumping of wastes by foreign governments and corporations, up to and including nuclear waste. More easily put, the ocean they once relied on for food and commerce is no longer viable for either.
The 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami made matters far worse--destroying the remaining fishing boats while leaving the pirate-craft out at sea unharmed. This was the "push" that forced a lot of legitimate fishermen into piracy. A little diplomacy and some aid in the form of fat, slow fishing boats might have gone a long way in preventing piracy.
The Media is partly to blame for ignoring the root cause of the situation and instead focusing on the result--desperate people doing what they can to survive.
What these people need is someone to speak for them (it shouldn't really matter who), and more importantly, someone to listen.
"My entire point is that you need to just stop right there. Why would everyone start to accept bitcoin? It's complicated, and it offers zero advantage over federal reserve notes to 99.99% of people."
Unless you are, much like myself, sick and tired of not having a say in our economy short of what we purchase. You underestimate the allure of "stickin' it to tha Man".
"Do you have any idea just how much your life would suck right now had it not been for the banking system bailout?"
Do you have any idea how much better off we would all be if The Banks/The Fed had never had the ability to fuck things up in the first place?
"Compassion and caring is not bounded by family boundaries, so it seems to me that the evolutionary advantage behind altruism is still questionable."
You quite possibly provided the answer without realizing it--I suspect the advantage comes from the increase in genetic diversity, at least as far as species that utilize genetics are concerned. Family has nothing to do with it--species often mate outside the core familial structure. We humans are a good example. We have developed an actual taboo or disdain for mating within the family.
Think about it for a minute. How "healthy" do you think the royalty of Europe of been historically? Hemophilia was a result of "keeping it in the family". Those royals would have been better off with the occasional peasant invited into the boudoir, for many reasons. "Hillbillies" come to mind as well.
The really interesting aspect of this, to me at least, is how something like this can develop without a conscious effort--it's not like every species out there even knows about genetics, so what pressures are driving such "altruism"?
Another question is how something like this would develop in robots, a "species" that is not reliant on genetics. Or did the researchers ingrain something as a placeholder to take this into account?
The timing of the cases against Zuckerberg are interesting. Take a look at them a little closer...
Late 2008: Facebook settles with the Winklevoss twins for stock and cash in a suit brought by them in 2004. Evidence is entered before the case is settled...
From a April 7,2008 venturebeat.com article... " It's important for Facebook to get this suit behind it, particularly if the company plans to make a public offering. The case brought some unflattering details about Zuckerberg to light--some of them casting doubt on his ingenuity and originality, like the disappearance of Facebook's early code base (which was supposed to be a key part of Facebook's defense), others just plain awkward and embarrassing, like Zuckerberg's diary."
January 2011: The Winklevoss twins sue again. Although the case is dismissed on appeal, the appeal forces Facebook to discuss the valuation of it's stocks...on the record.
April 2011: Paul Ceglia sues Zuckerberg, evidence in hand, claiming to own 50% of Facebook.
Any evidence used before the 2008 settlement might be usable in Ceglia's suit. Not a lawyer (thank god), so I don't know. Maybe the combination of evidence possessed by Ceglia and that entered into evidence by the Winklevoss' suit is a slam dunk. The recent legal actions by the twins might actually be a deliberate attempt at forcing the hand of Facebook, as far as stock valuation goes, in anticipation of Ceglia's suit. Maybe Paul has that "missing code".
Could it be that Zuckerberg just got setup, in a big way, as the result of a concerted effort of all those he has fucked over?
It's like watching a little ball of snow rolling down the hill towards you as it gets larger and larger, gaining speed as it goes, faster then you can run in the deep snow, packing together tighter and tighter until it is as hard as the coldest ice, dwarfing you as you run floundering through the snow, screaming until your out of breath...
Lookin' forward to the sequel...and I haven't even seen the first movie. I don't think I'll bother.
To be honest, I have no real way to verify, with absolute certainty, that is fake. I think it is, based on what I see and have found by dissecting the image.
I suppose the confirmation will be when they remove it (why else would they?)
"Simply the fact that some software was used doesn't indicate that it was maliciously edited."
But it does mean they didn't just post the image as received. Why not? The image is quite sharp, clearly framed and was taken in bright light. I see no reason to modify anything here. And, in the name of journalistic neutrality/integrity, don't you think they would avoid manipulating something that didn't need it?
Now I know that most images are cropped for publication, but JPEGsnoop ignores such things. Here are the tail end of the results for the image (the rest is pretty technical).
"Searching Compression Signatures: (3327 built-in, 0 user(*) )...... NOTE: JFIF COMMENT field is known software
Based on the analysis of compression characteristics and EXIF metadata:
ASSESSMENT: Class 1 - Image is processed/edited
This may be a new software editor for the database.
If this file is processed, and editor doesn't appear in list above,
PLEASE ADD TO DATABASE with [Tools->Add Camera to DB]"
Take that as you will. I couldn't add more information without/. pitching a fit (something about "junk" characters....I resent that).
If you'll notice the message has "runs" of paint off the bottom of some letters. Although the black Arabic writing in the lower right corner is darker and narrower, indicating the spray-can was held closer but at the same volume of spray, there are no "runs" in that paint. As a matter of fact, none of the other spray tags on that wall have "runs". Not a single spot on that wall has paint "runs" except in the questioned message. The Arabic message has several spots where the spray overlaps itself without running, yet the overlap spots in the English message have runs at these locations. Why the difference?
Open that image in an editor, then look closely at the bullet hole at the final "a" in Al Jazeera. The paint goes right over it. Zoom in closely. There is another to the left.
"Not in Australia, The whole place is a prison for god's sake."
I love it when Americans say something along those lines...Sure, it's a joke and I laughed too, but you also highlight the ignorance we Americans display in regards to the subject.
From Wikipedia's article on "Penal Transportation":
"North America was used for transportation from the early 17th century to the American Revolution of 1776. In the 17th century, it was done at the expense of the convicts or the shipowners. The first Transportation Act in 1718 allowed courts to sentence convicts to seven years' transportation to America. In 1720, extension authorized payments by the state to merchants contracted to take the convicts to America. Under the Transportation Act, returning from transportation was a capital offence.[2][3]
The gaols became overcrowded and dilapidated ships were pressed into service, the hulks moored in various ports as floating gaols. The number of convicts transported to North America is not verified although it has been estimated to be 50,000 by Dr John Dunmore Lang. These went originally to New England, the majority of prisoners taken in battle from Ireland and Scotland. Some were sold as slaves to the Southern states.[4]
From the 1620s until the American Revolution, the British colonies in North America received transported British criminals, effectively double the period that Australian colonies received convicts. The American Revolutionary War brought that to an end and, since the remaining British colonies in what is now Canada were close to the new United States of America, prisoners sent there might become hostile to British authorities. Thus, the British Government was forced to look elsewhere."
I didn't really have a "hero" when I was a kid, nor did I as I was growing up, primarily because all of the "heroes" I was told I should look up to were either fictitious (and thus inherently biased) or simply bullshit. Even as a kid that was pretty obvious. I did have people I looked up to, people I emulated as being role models, such as Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr., but they focused on the symptoms of what was really a cancer that needed to be excised--they never addressed the root of the problems they made so much noise about.
I do have a "hero" now, and have since the day I heard about him. Bradley Manning. He found himself in possession of something that could actually be used to address the root of those problems and did what he though would best serve that goal, as well as do what he took an oath to do--protect his country, not the government, but his country...at all costs, up to and including his life.
Say what you will, but any way I look at it Bradley Manning knowingly risked his life to provide the citizens of this country, as well as the rest of the world, with KNOWLEDGE, knowledge that I think is crucial to our understanding of those we employ to run our country, and by extension, a large portion of the rest of the world (another issue entirely). It is one thing to speak out, it is another thing entirely to risk one's life in order to speak out. He knew the risks and weighed them carefully, I am sure.
Many do not understand his actions simply because they wouldn't do such a thing themselves--put themselves in harms way for the betterment of others. That in itself, in my mind, is a symptom of exactly what he is trying to fix--the selfish ambivalence pervasive in our society that allows our elected leaders, as well as corporations, to do pretty much anything they want. That selfish ambivalence is a product of the misinformation and lies we've all been handed, as well as the omission of data from the public domain. The release of those cables is a huge step in dealing with such issues.
That being said, fuck you Paypal. I've never been a customer and I never will because of shit like this (that also rules out doing business with anyone that requires PayPal transactions).
Anyone have any idea if Courage to Resist has set up a SECURE (and by that I mean "unfreezable") means of donating? I'd like to donate.
"Yeah. Screw you assholes and your manufactured FUD."
You missed this little nugget...
"On Oodle's Marketplace, people who post or respond use their real identity on Facebook, introducing appropriate social norms back into the conversation.""
It is quite easy to make a Facebook account with a false identity--in short, there is NO real difference between the two, except you are required to be a Facebook user to participate Oodle's Marketplace. That rules me out.
This is nothing more then a move to get even more people to use FaceFuck.
Slashdot Mirror
"Does anyone have any experience with this, or is it just (possibly malicious) spam?"
It's a Madlib!
Simply replace the URL with one of your own choosing and repost here for Great Fun!
Amuse your Friends and Foes alike! Garner wasted Moderation Points for the Entire Family!
"There's a link for direct download as well - cancel the auto bloatware download, click the direct link, all done."
Dude, we got this corpse half way into the ground and you're trying to tell us it ain't dead yet? OK. Sure, it might not be dead, but it definitely stinks, so into the hole it goes...
Now where did I put my spade?
And what is with the double cut and paste!?? The entire cut and paste was repeated upon posting. It wasn't there when I previewed...
Posting on /. shouldn't be this frustrating. Again, sorry folks.
From the Wikipedia article on "Private Prisons"...
"CCA is and formerly The GEO Group have been major contributors to the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a Washington, D.C. based public policy organization that develops model legislation that advances tough-on-crime legislation and free-market principles such as privatization.
Under their Criminal Justice Task Force, ALEC has developed and helped to successfully implement in many states âoetough on crimeâ initiatives including âoeTruth in Sentencingâ and âoeThree Strikesâ laws. Corporations provide most of the funding for ALECâ(TM)s operating budget and influence its political agenda through participation in policy task forces. ALECâ(TM)s corporate funders include CCA and The GEO Group. In 1999, CCA made the Presidentâ(TM)s List for contributions to ALECâ(TM)s States and National Policy Summit; Wackenhut (predecessor to GEO Group) also sponsored the conference. Past cochairs of the Criminal Justice Task Force have included Brad Wiggins, then Director of Business Development at CCA and now a Senior Director of Site Acquisition, and John Rees, a former CCA vice president. On November 11th, 2010, GEO's outgoing COO Wayne Calabrese, told a large community gathering at a middle school in Bangor, Pennsylvania, that GEO had withdrawn from ALEC years earlier because of the obvious conflict of interest involved in creating legislation that insured an increased supply of prisoners. CCA and GEO have both engaged in state initiatives to increase sentences for offenders and to create new crimes, however, CCA helping to finance Proposition 6 in California in 2008 and GEO lobbying for Jessica's Law in Kansas in 2006.
By funding and participating in ALECâ(TM)s Criminal Justice Task Forces, critics argue, private prison companies directly influence legislation for tougher, longer sentences.[27] The legal system may also be manipulated more directly: in the Kids for cash scandal, Mid-Atlantic Youth Services Corp, a private prison company was found guilty of paying two judges[28] $2.6m to send 2000 children to their prisons.[29][30]CCA is and formerly The GEO Group have been major contributors to the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a Washington, D.C. based public policy organization that develops model legislation that advances tough-on-crime legislation and free-market principles such as privatization.
Under their Criminal Justice Task Force, ALEC has developed and helped to successfully implement in many states âoetough on crimeâ initiatives including âoeTruth in Sentencingâ and âoeThree Strikesâ laws. Corporations provide most of the funding for ALECâ(TM)s operating budget and influence its political agenda through participation in policy task forces. ALECâ(TM)s corporate funders include CCA and The GEO Group. In 1999, CCA made the Presidentâ(TM)s List for contributions to ALECâ(TM)s States and National Policy Summit; Wackenhut (predecessor to GEO Group) also sponsored the conference. Past cochairs of the Criminal Justice Task Force have included Brad Wiggins, then Director of Business Development at CCA and now a Senior Director of Site Acquisition, and John Rees, a former CCA vice president. On November 11th, 2010, GEO's outgoing COO Wayne Calabrese, told a large community gathering at a middle school in Bangor, Pennsylvania, that GEO had withdrawn from ALEC years earlier because of the obvious conflict of interest involved in creating legislation that insured an increased supply of prisoners. CCA and GEO have both engaged in state initiatives to increase sentences for offenders and to create new crimes, however, CCA helping to finance Proposition 6 in California in 2008 and GEO lobbying for Jessica's Law in Kansas in 2006.
By funding and participating in ALECâ(TM)s Criminal Justice Task Forces, critics argue, private prison companies directly influence legislation for tougher, longer sentences.[27] The legal system
I wonder how many lawyers have already figured out that any suspect that has evidence brought against them, evidence obtained with this technology, already has in hand an admission by the authorities that the suspect was subjected to x-rays against their will? Hell, even a probable cause statement for a warrant would require the admission of use of this technology.
Every prosecution could mean a reciprocal civil lawsuit for damages associated with X-ray exposure. I think it would be justified. If nothing else, it would bring the issue to into the realm of public awareness.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-ray#Health_risks
There is a huge difference between this tech being in place at an airport, where the person going through it knows the risks, and mobile scanning--there is no consent with mobile, covert scanning.
It should be illegal to even MAKE these things, let alone use them.
"If these knuckleheads ever learn correct English, we're screwed."
Back in my WoW raiding days, an idea occurred to me that I kept to myself out of fear that someone might actually do it. I don't play WoW anymore, so I couldn't really give a damn (I know. Nice guy, huh?), but you just made me realize that gold-farmers wouldn't be the only target customers.
The general idea is a native-English speaking person contracting out to Chinese customers to write proper sounding communications such as WoW account phishing emails. It would be just as valuable to email writers with other goals in mind.
To be honest, I am surprised it hasn't happened yet.
Now that I think about it, why are these guys (spammers) not using a little spear-phishing to get the real companies to send them actual examples of emails to copy? You know, open a dummy account and then fuck with it to get an automated-response triggered? It would be trivial to copy such a notice, cutting/pasting a little to personalize it.
Man, it sucks to find your career calling so late in life. I should have opted for the Chinese class in junior high instead of Maori.
"I wonder if it's a bit of architect's humor that the Burj Khalifa's sections hint at a conical tower with a spiralled path on the outside like the traditional depictions of the Tower of Babel."
Humor? It would have to be a rather sick sense of humor.
If you think about it for a bit, there is a logical conclusion to this "race to build the tallest..."--eventually all of us get to watch the tallest building in the world fall over. Doe's anyone really think that risks won't be taken in order to build the next "tallest building"? The margin for error slowly erodes with each incremental increase in height, and the architects know it, yet they keep designing and building. Being a part of that must feel something akin to working on the Trinity project--the possibility of a major fuck-up is quite real, but hey, what the hell, let's go for it. How many people can you fit in one of these things anyways?
You know what they saw about falling giants...the taller they are, the further everyone else has to run to get the fuck out of the way...or something like that.
"I feel a plugin coming on that will randomise the ID reported this way."
Or a plug-in that simply throws up random Google search phrases and randomly clicks links while your computer is idle, thus making any data obtained stained with uselessness and buried in garbage...kind of like my last 4 or 5 "bright ideas".
"Brings corporate cyber-sabotage to a whole new level when you are wiping out a workforce. Humans, you put up a hiring both, three million robots, you go bankrupt."
Wow. That came out wrong. Dr. Mengele and I sincerely apologize. We'll get back to our logs now.
"We've heard of Peak Oil."
More applicable then you might think. Foxconn is putting their eggs in one basket with this approach. They've tied their entire workforce to the price of coal and oil (seeing as most of the energy used to power robots would come from one or the other), as opposed to the price of food, housing and paper money.
They've also put their entire workforce at risk of going on "strike", much like the Iranians had a bunch of centrifuges go on "strike". Brings corporate cyber-sabotage to a whole new level when you are wiping out a workforce. Humans, you put up a hiring both, three million robots, you go bankrupt.
Oh, c'mon.
Phrenology is quite useful, and quite possibly the only means of divination that is subject to "real-time" influences.
For instance, If I were to take a tire iron to your head for a few seconds, I would suddenly be able to determine far more information about you, based solely on the bumps in your cranium. I'd know that you were in urgent need of medical care, that you were in possession of a flawed "fight or flight" response mechanism (perhaps an expression of Neanderthal genes...) and that you need to work on your reflexes.
You need an open mind (speaking figuratively, of course) if you are going to participate here at Slashdot.
"Somalia has been a failed state for a while now."
By your definition of government, maybe.
Just because Somalia has a different government structure then most countries (I consider no government "different", and nothing more) does not mean we should preclude them from discussion venues such as the United Nations or even more personal dialogs with individual nations.
Most of these "pirates" are regular people forced into this role by outside influences. Most coastal communities in Somalia have been devastated economically and environmentally by the continued dumping of wastes by foreign governments and corporations, up to and including nuclear waste. More easily put, the ocean they once relied on for food and commerce is no longer viable for either.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somalian_pirates#Sovereignty_and_environmental_protection
The 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami made matters far worse--destroying the remaining fishing boats while leaving the pirate-craft out at sea unharmed. This was the "push" that forced a lot of legitimate fishermen into piracy. A little diplomacy and some aid in the form of fat, slow fishing boats might have gone a long way in preventing piracy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effect_of_the_2004_Indian_Ocean_earthquake_on_Somalia
The Media is partly to blame for ignoring the root cause of the situation and instead focusing on the result--desperate people doing what they can to survive.
What these people need is someone to speak for them (it shouldn't really matter who), and more importantly, someone to listen.
"My entire point is that you need to just stop right there. Why would everyone start to accept bitcoin? It's complicated, and it offers zero advantage over federal reserve notes to 99.99% of people."
Unless you are, much like myself, sick and tired of not having a say in our economy short of what we purchase. You underestimate the allure of "stickin' it to tha Man".
"Do you have any idea just how much your life would suck right now had it not been for the banking system bailout?"
Do you have any idea how much better off we would all be if The Banks/The Fed had never had the ability to fuck things up in the first place?
"Compassion and caring is not bounded by family boundaries, so it seems to me that the evolutionary advantage behind altruism is still questionable."
You quite possibly provided the answer without realizing it--I suspect the advantage comes from the increase in genetic diversity, at least as far as species that utilize genetics are concerned. Family has nothing to do with it--species often mate outside the core familial structure. We humans are a good example. We have developed an actual taboo or disdain for mating within the family.
Think about it for a minute. How "healthy" do you think the royalty of Europe of been historically? Hemophilia was a result of "keeping it in the family". Those royals would have been better off with the occasional peasant invited into the boudoir, for many reasons. "Hillbillies" come to mind as well.
The really interesting aspect of this, to me at least, is how something like this can develop without a conscious effort--it's not like every species out there even knows about genetics, so what pressures are driving such "altruism"?
Another question is how something like this would develop in robots, a "species" that is not reliant on genetics. Or did the researchers ingrain something as a placeholder to take this into account?
The timing of the cases against Zuckerberg are interesting. Take a look at them a little closer...
Late 2008: Facebook settles with the Winklevoss twins for stock and cash in a suit brought by them in 2004. Evidence is entered before the case is settled...
From a April 7,2008 venturebeat.com article...
" It's important for Facebook to get this suit behind it, particularly if the company plans to make a public offering. The case brought some unflattering details about Zuckerberg to light--some of them casting doubt on his ingenuity and originality, like the disappearance of Facebook's early code base (which was supposed to be a key part of Facebook's defense), others just plain awkward and embarrassing, like Zuckerberg's diary."
January 2011: The Winklevoss twins sue again. Although the case is dismissed on appeal, the appeal forces Facebook to discuss the valuation of it's stocks...on the record.
April 2011: Paul Ceglia sues Zuckerberg, evidence in hand, claiming to own 50% of Facebook.
Any evidence used before the 2008 settlement might be usable in Ceglia's suit. Not a lawyer (thank god), so I don't know. Maybe the combination of evidence possessed by Ceglia and that entered into evidence by the Winklevoss' suit is a slam dunk. The recent legal actions by the twins might actually be a deliberate attempt at forcing the hand of Facebook, as far as stock valuation goes, in anticipation of Ceglia's suit. Maybe Paul has that "missing code".
Could it be that Zuckerberg just got setup, in a big way, as the result of a concerted effort of all those he has fucked over?
It's like watching a little ball of snow rolling down the hill towards you as it gets larger and larger, gaining speed as it goes, faster then you can run in the deep snow, packing together tighter and tighter until it is as hard as the coldest ice, dwarfing you as you run floundering through the snow, screaming until your out of breath...
Lookin' forward to the sequel...and I haven't even seen the first movie. I don't think I'll bother.
"Ya, I'd say it looks fake too."
To be honest, I have no real way to verify, with absolute certainty, that is fake. I think it is, based on what I see and have found by dissecting the image.
I suppose the confirmation will be when they remove it (why else would they?)
"Simply the fact that some software was used doesn't indicate that it was maliciously edited."
But it does mean they didn't just post the image as received. Why not? The image is quite sharp, clearly framed and was taken in bright light. I see no reason to modify anything here. And, in the name of journalistic neutrality/integrity, don't you think they would avoid manipulating something that didn't need it?
Now I know that most images are cropped for publication, but JPEGsnoop ignores such things. Here are the tail end of the results for the image (the rest is pretty technical).
"Searching Compression Signatures: (3327 built-in, 0 user(*) )... ... NOTE: JFIF COMMENT field is known software
Based on the analysis of compression characteristics and EXIF metadata:
ASSESSMENT: Class 1 - Image is processed/edited
This may be a new software editor for the database.
If this file is processed, and editor doesn't appear in list above,
PLEASE ADD TO DATABASE with [Tools->Add Camera to DB]"
Take that as you will. I couldn't add more information without /. pitching a fit (something about "junk" characters....I resent that).
You can see the entire report if you run JPEGSnoop, found here...
http://www.impulseadventure.com/dl.php?file=JPEGsnoop_v1_5_2.zip
Another point.
If you'll notice the message has "runs" of paint off the bottom of some letters. Although the black Arabic writing in the lower right corner is darker and narrower, indicating the spray-can was held closer but at the same volume of spray, there are no "runs" in that paint. As a matter of fact, none of the other spray tags on that wall have "runs". Not a single spot on that wall has paint "runs" except in the questioned message. The Arabic message has several spots where the spray overlaps itself without running, yet the overlap spots in the English message have runs at these locations. Why the difference?
Al Jazeera (or someone) is manipulating the news from Libya (or at the very least, posting doctored images).
http://blogs.aljazeera.net/sites/default/files/imagecache/FeaturedImagePost/images/game.jpg
Open that image in an editor, then look closely at the bullet hole at the final "a" in Al Jazeera. The paint goes right over it. Zoom in closely. There is another to the left.
Photo-shopped.
"Not in Australia, The whole place is a prison for god's sake."
I love it when Americans say something along those lines...Sure, it's a joke and I laughed too, but you also highlight the ignorance we Americans display in regards to the subject.
From Wikipedia's article on "Penal Transportation":
"North America was used for transportation from the early 17th century to the American Revolution of 1776. In the 17th century, it was done at the expense of the convicts or the shipowners. The first Transportation Act in 1718 allowed courts to sentence convicts to seven years' transportation to America. In 1720, extension authorized payments by the state to merchants contracted to take the convicts to America. Under the Transportation Act, returning from transportation was a capital offence.[2][3]
The gaols became overcrowded and dilapidated ships were pressed into service, the hulks moored in various ports as floating gaols. The number of convicts transported to North America is not verified although it has been estimated to be 50,000 by Dr John Dunmore Lang. These went originally to New England, the majority of prisoners taken in battle from Ireland and Scotland. Some were sold as slaves to the Southern states.[4]
From the 1620s until the American Revolution, the British colonies in North America received transported British criminals, effectively double the period that Australian colonies received convicts. The American Revolutionary War brought that to an end and, since the remaining British colonies in what is now Canada were close to the new United States of America, prisoners sent there might become hostile to British authorities. Thus, the British Government was forced to look elsewhere."
I didn't really have a "hero" when I was a kid, nor did I as I was growing up, primarily because all of the "heroes" I was told I should look up to were either fictitious (and thus inherently biased) or simply bullshit. Even as a kid that was pretty obvious. I did have people I looked up to, people I emulated as being role models, such as Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr., but they focused on the symptoms of what was really a cancer that needed to be excised--they never addressed the root of the problems they made so much noise about.
I do have a "hero" now, and have since the day I heard about him. Bradley Manning. He found himself in possession of something that could actually be used to address the root of those problems and did what he though would best serve that goal, as well as do what he took an oath to do--protect his country, not the government, but his country...at all costs, up to and including his life.
Say what you will, but any way I look at it Bradley Manning knowingly risked his life to provide the citizens of this country, as well as the rest of the world, with KNOWLEDGE, knowledge that I think is crucial to our understanding of those we employ to run our country, and by extension, a large portion of the rest of the world (another issue entirely). It is one thing to speak out, it is another thing entirely to risk one's life in order to speak out. He knew the risks and weighed them carefully, I am sure.
Many do not understand his actions simply because they wouldn't do such a thing themselves--put themselves in harms way for the betterment of others. That in itself, in my mind, is a symptom of exactly what he is trying to fix--the selfish ambivalence pervasive in our society that allows our elected leaders, as well as corporations, to do pretty much anything they want. That selfish ambivalence is a product of the misinformation and lies we've all been handed, as well as the omission of data from the public domain. The release of those cables is a huge step in dealing with such issues.
That being said, fuck you Paypal. I've never been a customer and I never will because of shit like this (that also rules out doing business with anyone that requires PayPal transactions).
Anyone have any idea if Courage to Resist has set up a SECURE (and by that I mean "unfreezable") means of donating? I'd like to donate.
"Yeah. Screw you assholes and your manufactured FUD."
You missed this little nugget...
"On Oodle's Marketplace, people who post or respond use their real identity on Facebook, introducing appropriate social norms back into the conversation.""
It is quite easy to make a Facebook account with a false identity--in short, there is NO real difference between the two, except you are required to be a Facebook user to participate Oodle's Marketplace. That rules me out.
This is nothing more then a move to get even more people to use FaceFuck.
"... but it goes away if you open the parent comment."
Which kind of defeats the purpose of hidden comments.
"If more of us valued food and cheer above hoarded gold, it would be a much merrier world."
— J.R.R. Tolkien