> When the Towers fell, everything changed in America.
No, this is the biggest lie told today in the U.S. Take a random person... Hell, take EVERY SINGLE PERSON I KNOW. Their lives have not been changed by 9/11, except because of these irresponsible and damaging laws passed by our government, hassling them at airports, etc. 9/11 affected those who were directly involved, whether because they knew someone who died, or lived nearby, whatever. Anyone else who was affected by the incident was only affected because they chose to be.
> if it weren't for this legislation there would have been more attacks on our soil.
Unfortunately, I agree with you here.;) But, you are implying that the ends justify the means. If there had been a REASONABLE law put into place, the same result would have happened, except that we would still have some of those freedoms that we have recently lost.
> But it still boils down to if you don't do anything wrong, you don't have to worry about it.
That's assuming "wrong" is a quantitative value. Who are you to say what is "wrong?" Is it wrong to smoke a joint that is grown in my home state and gives money to a hard working farmer? The TeeVee and the Administration call me a terrorist if I do that, even though a HUGE chunk of those "terrorist-supporting drugs" are grown/made inside the U.S. This is, of course, a bad example, since it was already illegal for some idiotic reason, but it is the idea.
If I feel like donating money to some Islamic group because I like the charity work they do, but they are accused of supporting terrorists, I can be deprived of every single one of my supposedly "inalienable" rights for an indefinite amount of time. That is bullshit, and I would like to see the ritual torture of all those who think it's a "good thing." Okay, maybe that's a bit harsh, but the point should get across.
> Like it or not, we are moving to a more of a Republic than a Democracy
Wow, surprise surprise, we never were a democracy, but thanks for playing. We were made to be a Representative Republic (or something like that).
> Its been happening for years.
Yep, just over 200 years.
> People are just *now* discovering this
Well, the stupid people & the ones who slept through any History or politics classes they had.
> I think it is too late
Yep
> since these changes been in place for a few decades
> reflected rational consideration that simply wasn't possible when it was signed.
A bit of a nitpick... Rational consideration was not used because to do so would delay their knee-jerking. I believe they even KNEW this, but they think (perhaps rightly so) that if the American public doesn't see immediate action (regardless of if it does a damn thing), come next election their opponents will point them out as being unpatriotic.
> Maybe, if we try hard enough, we can come up with some way to make sure that every human being on the planet feels a basic sense of security
As long as one person hates another, there will be no such feeling. Most of this hate comes about from religions. Well, not so much religions, but the people who choose to misinterpret & exploit their religion for personal gains. Much of it because of jealousy, and much just because that's what they are told to do.
Reps & Dems may be identical in action, but Libertarians, Greens, Socialists, even Communists... They are here, even though they are not very well (or at all) represented.
> 99.999999% of the population had no idea what the Patriot Act was when it was passed. Therefore, the govt is not relying on public opinion at all.
The government (Dem, Rep, or other) knows that the public is ignorant. They also knew that many provisions of PATRIOT were unconstitutional (most of them were lawyers, for pete's sake). They passed it anyway to make it look like they were doing something. It definitely WAS about public opinion. Why else (other than a power grab, which would be arguable) would they pass something they knew was illegal?
> it always seems to be from someone with a right wing political agenda, whether the topic has wandered over to a political one
Yes, because obviously, you have the insight to know when an ANONYMOUS MODERATION comes from a right-wing radical when the topic has nothing to do with politics. Even when it does.
You are a fucking liar, an idiot, and I hope I run you over this afternoon.
> posting anonymously because I'm becoming jaded by the whole karma phenomena
Or because you are a troll and don't know what "phenomena" means.
> After the first plane hit the first tower, all aircraft should have been immediately grounded, across the countrY
So, you expect all air traffic to come to a screeching halt as soon as a single air traffic accident happens? Every time a plane crashes? Remember, after the first one, we thought it was tragic, not an attack, so grounding all other planes would not have been considered by any sane person.
Not to mention that as soon as the pilot told the passengers they were going to land (if the plane hadn't already been taken-over), the terrorists could jump up and take over then. The end result would be the same, except more chaos at airports.
> parking ICBMs in orbit above Mecca and Medina would have been also an appropriate way to "fight back"
Do you have a brain? Do you realize the amazing backlash that would occur if we did anything like that? Geesh.
> The failure of the military to stop the second plane on its way to NYC is UNFORGIVABLE
But since they didn't know it was going to have an "accident" as well... See above.
Please think before posting your bullshit, it would make all our lives nicer.
What???? REALLY?? Wow, I've only known that since I was 8. Stop bringing it up, we fucking know that.
> The US electorial college causes such anomalies such as the 2000 election of a president with the 2nd highest number of popular votes
Yes, an anomaly. If it happened regularly, it would be a problem.
> the 1992 election of a president with only 43% of the votes
Oh, would you like to mandate a 2-party-only system? Would limiting our choices further make you happy? In a TRUE democracy, the chances of any candidate getting 50% is fucking slim, verging on NIL.
> you will also realize that you have no real importance in human history, that you are just another empire that will eventually disapear. [sic]
Well, certainly more importance than you, wherever you are. As for disappearing, so will the EU, China, Japan... eventually, every political entity that exists now, will not in the future.
> he hates you in a way we can't even understand.
Well, then it his own ignorance in equating the acts of a country to that of its populace. Don't give me that "representational democracy means it IS the people" crap, most governments routinely do things the public does not want. You seem to think that Americans are all rich and don't have to do anything to survive. Americans are not handed their lives, they have to make their own lives, locally. Take what you are given and work for more.
> since your country has taken care over the years of taking all those things away from him
Please explain to me how the U.S. took all those things away from him? It was his OWN government that denied him those things, and not just because of sanctions or whatnot. You cannot, because we have not.
> which is work hard [sic] to see my country recover from what you have done to it
Granted, I don't know what country you are from, but I doubt your country's need to "recover" from whatever it is that you are recovering from was caused completely by the U.S.
Linux seems to be dominating your mom, but she likes it that way, so it's not a problem. Linux is versatile like that.
> why does linsux users all have hary palms
They can masturbate all they want, because their system works, instead of spending all their lives loading patches & fixes and killing the daily viruses.
Better question: How does you not english spelling and speaking well? Because you're an idiot.
(BTW, don't mod me down, mod someone else up -- there are plenty of posts more deserving of your time & points)
And unless you are one of the There's absolutely *nothing* that a PS2 or Gamecube can do that an XBox cannot do, period.
And there's nothing an XBox can do, that a PC cannot, period. It can do less, actually. To argue that an XBox has even CLOSE to the power (not to mention upgradeability) of a good PC is ludicrous. Therefore, the XBox is worthless. What you say? They have different uses? Duh, that's the point.
Each system has its strong points. The XBox does really well (best) with realistic-looking 3D, texturing, etc. No wonder, it's a PC. The game cube has its sorta-niche market with cartoon-style animation, a la cell shading.
I don't hate the XBox because it is made by Microsoft, I dislike it because IT IS NOT EVEN SLIGHTLY ORIGINAL! Except for the packaging & extra restrictions, it is a PC that you could build for yourself (admittedly, it would be more expensive).
And, as another poster said, the Gamecube is portable. This has come in handy for my friends, since we can't all afford consoles but don't want to sit at the same person's house every friggin' day.
FYI, I have used all three systems & my friends (together) have all of them. I like the GC games, the XBox graphics, although I'm not into the kinds of games the XBox has, but I can appreciate the graphic quality (as for playability, eh... that's another matter entirely). The PS2 has so many more games that it's hard to deny it is the most desireable, in general, although I would get a GC first (the only console systems I own are the Sega Genesis & an Atari 2600 in the garage).
Methinks the moderators need to know what the fuck I am talking about before moderating (you fucking clueless dolt). This was certainly on the topic at this point.
> if an artist draws the exact same picture multiple times using different paints, then the superior picture will be the one that uses the superior paints.
No, not at all. The superior picture will be the one that looks the best with the given paint. Each kind of paint (console) has advantages & disadvantages -- there is no perfect paint, because they have different attributes which make them all good. Except Sega brand paint, which skipped the middle man and started selling paintings directly and gave up on the paint.
> As I said, we can find all of those things you're looking for without sending a manned mission.
Okay, if that's what your claiming, what does the soil feel like? Smell like?
Plus, manned missions can do things MANY MANY times faster. It took a few days just to move. With humans, it can be done immediately (or at least quicker). Humans also can have many different tests with simple materials, but these rovers can only do what it can with the electronics put on them. Humans can look at something in 3D, REAL color, and say "hey, this looks like such & such, except a foot taller." With digital images, we have a much worse feel for scale.
Humans can do things outside the ability of a pre-made program. See something wierd flash overhead? A human can go up the side of a crater. The object would be LONG gone before JPL even caught a glimpse back on Earth.
Basically, the latency is a horrible holdup to actual "real-time" science.
Despite the flaming tone, Mr. Pimp is right. Certainly/. editor isn't the most important job in the world, but there are situations when you absolutely need to get on the Internet for some reason (usually job). If the connection is down (which it seems satellite often is), not only are YOU SOL, but so is everyone else who depends on the work you are doing.
If that work is teleradiology (just one example), there's some dude with a broken neck waiting in an E.R. somewhere, getting antsy & wanting to move around because he "feels okay."
Since these operate on solar energy, they are turned off at night to conserve power. Plus, if it's night, what do you expect to see? Black on blackness? It's not like there are any city lights to illuminate the sky as on Earth (well, we think so at least).
Slashdot Mirror
> When the Towers fell, everything changed in America.
;) But, you are implying that the ends justify the means. If there had been a REASONABLE law put into place, the same result would have happened, except that we would still have some of those freedoms that we have recently lost.
No, this is the biggest lie told today in the U.S. Take a random person... Hell, take EVERY SINGLE PERSON I KNOW. Their lives have not been changed by 9/11, except because of these irresponsible and damaging laws passed by our government, hassling them at airports, etc. 9/11 affected those who were directly involved, whether because they knew someone who died, or lived nearby, whatever. Anyone else who was affected by the incident was only affected because they chose to be.
> if it weren't for this legislation there would have been more attacks on our soil.
Unfortunately, I agree with you here.
> But it still boils down to if you don't do anything wrong, you don't have to worry about it.
That's assuming "wrong" is a quantitative value. Who are you to say what is "wrong?" Is it wrong to smoke a joint that is grown in my home state and gives money to a hard working farmer? The TeeVee and the Administration call me a terrorist if I do that, even though a HUGE chunk of those "terrorist-supporting drugs" are grown/made inside the U.S. This is, of course, a bad example, since it was already illegal for some idiotic reason, but it is the idea.
If I feel like donating money to some Islamic group because I like the charity work they do, but they are accused of supporting terrorists, I can be deprived of every single one of my supposedly "inalienable" rights for an indefinite amount of time. That is bullshit, and I would like to see the ritual torture of all those who think it's a "good thing." Okay, maybe that's a bit harsh, but the point should get across.
> Like it or not, we are moving to a more of a Republic than a Democracy
Wow, surprise surprise, we never were a democracy, but thanks for playing. We were made to be a Representative Republic (or something like that).
> Its been happening for years.
Yep, just over 200 years.
> People are just *now* discovering this
Well, the stupid people & the ones who slept through any History or politics classes they had.
> I think it is too late
Yep
> since these changes been in place for a few decades
Almost 22 decades, to be specific.
> Looks like the Bush administration is going to have to orchestrate another attack
Psshh, don't you know anything? That's when they are going to "capture" Osama.
> reflected rational consideration that simply wasn't possible when it was signed.
A bit of a nitpick... Rational consideration was not used because to do so would delay their knee-jerking. I believe they even KNEW this, but they think (perhaps rightly so) that if the American public doesn't see immediate action (regardless of if it does a damn thing), come next election their opponents will point them out as being unpatriotic.
> cause if your political discourse doesn't fit on a t-shirt the left can't comprehend the concepts.
Too, too true, but for the right, if it isn't in the Bible or related to war, it doesn't matter.
> Maybe, if we try hard enough, we can come up with some way to make sure that every human being on the planet feels a basic sense of security
As long as one person hates another, there will be no such feeling. Most of this hate comes about from religions. Well, not so much religions, but the people who choose to misinterpret & exploit their religion for personal gains. Much of it because of jealousy, and much just because that's what they are told to do.
> There is not a thing more universally hated than hypocrasy
/., it appears true))
Except bad spelling...
(j/k, although judging by
> you'd better have a list of many.
Why? Because you will not accept that only one part can be wrong? Life is not an all-in or all-out situation.
> Since when?
Since about, oh... 1776.
Reps & Dems may be identical in action, but Libertarians, Greens, Socialists, even Communists... They are here, even though they are not very well (or at all) represented.
> 99.999999% of the population had no idea what the Patriot Act was when it was passed. Therefore, the govt is not relying on public opinion at all.
The government (Dem, Rep, or other) knows that the public is ignorant. They also knew that many provisions of PATRIOT were unconstitutional (most of them were lawyers, for pete's sake). They passed it anyway to make it look like they were doing something. It definitely WAS about public opinion. Why else (other than a power grab, which would be arguable) would they pass something they knew was illegal?
> it always seems to be from someone with a right wing political agenda, whether the topic has wandered over to a political one
Yes, because obviously, you have the insight to know when an ANONYMOUS MODERATION comes from a right-wing radical when the topic has nothing to do with politics. Even when it does.
You are a fucking liar, an idiot, and I hope I run you over this afternoon.
> posting anonymously because I'm becoming jaded by the whole karma phenomena
Or because you are a troll and don't know what "phenomena" means.
> bombing Vatican City
:)
Ooh, thanks for the grand idea!
> > I rarely ever say this, but you are a pussy.
> A God-fearing person swearing
Uh.... "pussy" is not a "swear word."
> After the first plane hit the first tower, all aircraft should have been immediately grounded, across the countrY
So, you expect all air traffic to come to a screeching halt as soon as a single air traffic accident happens? Every time a plane crashes? Remember, after the first one, we thought it was tragic, not an attack, so grounding all other planes would not have been considered by any sane person.
Not to mention that as soon as the pilot told the passengers they were going to land (if the plane hadn't already been taken-over), the terrorists could jump up and take over then. The end result would be the same, except more chaos at airports.
> parking ICBMs in orbit above Mecca and Medina would have been also an appropriate way to "fight back"
Do you have a brain? Do you realize the amazing backlash that would occur if we did anything like that? Geesh.
> The failure of the military to stop the second plane on its way to NYC is UNFORGIVABLE
But since they didn't know it was going to have an "accident" as well... See above.
Please think before posting your bullshit, it would make all our lives nicer.
> USA not a true democracy
What???? REALLY?? Wow, I've only known that since I was 8. Stop bringing it up, we fucking know that.
> The US electorial college causes such anomalies such as the 2000 election of a president with the 2nd highest number of popular votes
Yes, an anomaly. If it happened regularly, it would be a problem.
> the 1992 election of a president with only 43% of the votes
Oh, would you like to mandate a 2-party-only system? Would limiting our choices further make you happy? In a TRUE democracy, the chances of any candidate getting 50% is fucking slim, verging on NIL.
> It's barbaraic
Why does everyone forget the Hannaics... They came first! Oh, unless you meant Barbaric....
> The overthrow of the godless regimes and their replacement with an Islamic regime
Well, the solution is simple then. Line up everyone in the world. Ask their religion. If they say anything other than "none," shoot them in the head.
Then I will conquer the rest! Muwahahahahaaaaaa!!!
> you will also realize that you have no real importance in human history, that you are just another empire that will eventually disapear. [sic]
Well, certainly more importance than you, wherever you are. As for disappearing, so will the EU, China, Japan... eventually, every political entity that exists now, will not in the future.
> he hates you in a way we can't even understand.
Well, then it his own ignorance in equating the acts of a country to that of its populace. Don't give me that "representational democracy means it IS the people" crap, most governments routinely do things the public does not want. You seem to think that Americans are all rich and don't have to do anything to survive. Americans are not handed their lives, they have to make their own lives, locally. Take what you are given and work for more.
> since your country has taken care over the years of taking all those things away from him
Please explain to me how the U.S. took all those things away from him? It was his OWN government that denied him those things, and not just because of sanctions or whatnot. You cannot, because we have not.
> which is work hard [sic] to see my country recover from what you have done to it
Granted, I don't know what country you are from, but I doubt your country's need to "recover" from whatever it is that you are recovering from was caused completely by the U.S.
> linsux is not dominating anywhere
Linux seems to be dominating your mom, but she likes it that way, so it's not a problem. Linux is versatile like that.
> why does linsux users all have hary palms
They can masturbate all they want, because their system works, instead of spending all their lives loading patches & fixes and killing the daily viruses.
Better question: How does you not english spelling and speaking well? Because you're an idiot.
(BTW, don't mod me down, mod someone else up -- there are plenty of posts more deserving of your time & points)
> And unless you are one of the T
Grrr, I fucking hate HTML.
"And unless you are one of the <1% of the population that has an HDTV, it's an absolutely useless feature that just raises the price."
> The XBox can display in every HDTV resolution
And unless you are one of the There's absolutely *nothing* that a PS2 or Gamecube can do that an XBox cannot do, period.
And there's nothing an XBox can do, that a PC cannot, period. It can do less, actually. To argue that an XBox has even CLOSE to the power (not to mention upgradeability) of a good PC is ludicrous. Therefore, the XBox is worthless. What you say? They have different uses? Duh, that's the point.
Each system has its strong points. The XBox does really well (best) with realistic-looking 3D, texturing, etc. No wonder, it's a PC. The game cube has its sorta-niche market with cartoon-style animation, a la cell shading.
I don't hate the XBox because it is made by Microsoft, I dislike it because IT IS NOT EVEN SLIGHTLY ORIGINAL! Except for the packaging & extra restrictions, it is a PC that you could build for yourself (admittedly, it would be more expensive).
And, as another poster said, the Gamecube is portable. This has come in handy for my friends, since we can't all afford consoles but don't want to sit at the same person's house every friggin' day.
FYI, I have used all three systems & my friends (together) have all of them. I like the GC games, the XBox graphics, although I'm not into the kinds of games the XBox has, but I can appreciate the graphic quality (as for playability, eh... that's another matter entirely). The PS2 has so many more games that it's hard to deny it is the most desireable, in general, although I would get a GC first (the only console systems I own are the Sega Genesis & an Atari 2600 in the garage).
Methinks the moderators need to know what the fuck I am talking about before moderating (you fucking clueless dolt). This was certainly on the topic at this point.
> if an artist draws the exact same picture multiple times using different paints, then the superior picture will be the one that uses the superior paints.
No, not at all. The superior picture will be the one that looks the best with the given paint. Each kind of paint (console) has advantages & disadvantages -- there is no perfect paint, because they have different attributes which make them all good. Except Sega brand paint, which skipped the middle man and started selling paintings directly and gave up on the paint.
> As I said, we can find all of those things you're looking for without sending a manned mission.
Okay, if that's what your claiming, what does the soil feel like? Smell like?
Plus, manned missions can do things MANY MANY times faster. It took a few days just to move. With humans, it can be done immediately (or at least quicker). Humans also can have many different tests with simple materials, but these rovers can only do what it can with the electronics put on them. Humans can look at something in 3D, REAL color, and say "hey, this looks like such & such, except a foot taller." With digital images, we have a much worse feel for scale.
Humans can do things outside the ability of a pre-made program. See something wierd flash overhead? A human can go up the side of a crater. The object would be LONG gone before JPL even caught a glimpse back on Earth.
Basically, the latency is a horrible holdup to actual "real-time" science.
> Pansy. Run that shit 24/7 or get the fuck out.
/. editor isn't the most important job in the world, but there are situations when you absolutely need to get on the Internet for some reason (usually job). If the connection is down (which it seems satellite often is), not only are YOU SOL, but so is everyone else who depends on the work you are doing.
Despite the flaming tone, Mr. Pimp is right. Certainly
If that work is teleradiology (just one example), there's some dude with a broken neck waiting in an E.R. somewhere, getting antsy & wanting to move around because he "feels okay."
> Why is it there are no nightsky photos yet?
Since these operate on solar energy, they are turned off at night to conserve power. Plus, if it's night, what do you expect to see? Black on blackness? It's not like there are any city lights to illuminate the sky as on Earth (well, we think so at least).
> I wonder what par on the course is?
7,076,983. Heck, I would have settled for a double bogey!