Now imagine some guy whose family pissed Stalin off, spending his fifth year at a weather station in the middle of a Siberian winter with nothing but some half-rotted potatoes, a still, and the collected works of Fyodor Dostoevsky for company. What could possibly go wrong?
I wonder how somebody doing the same kind of thing would have been treated in Chile under Pinochet, or one of the other countries where the US has installed its own bloody-handed dictators. Actually, I don't wonder at all. At least in Cuba the guy has a chance of getting out alive. If Pinochet or one of the other US puppets got hold of him, he'd already be missing some body parts and rotting in a shallow grave somewhere.
When, inevitably, these douche bags find themselves lobbying some government for "fair treatment", this conduct would be a lovely thing to throw in their face. Especially in an election year.
When people start talking about some kind of "total trees then and now" figure, let's not even get near a debate on the difference between an old growth forest and a one species tree farm. It would just get everybody upset.
If you update/install Google Earth, you're also going to get a semi-stealth install of the Chrome browser to go along with it...whether you like it or not. The first time I noticed Google was trying to shove Chrome down my throat was AFTER I'd already initiated an update installation of GE.
So be warned...if you don't want a little something extra with GE, you'd better skip this update.
Just as long as people keep in mind that satellite photos don't always tell the whole story. A team of Canadian scientists went north recently in an ice breaker. Satellite imagery indicted that the pack ice had expanded rather than contracted, which was totally at odds with Global Warming models.
What they found when they actually got to the location where the satellites indicated the pack ice started, it wasn't there. It had retreated more than a hundred miles beyond where it was thought to be. The satellite cameras had been looking at a slurry of rotted ice fragments that were so broken up the ship just blasted through them at full speed without even noticing it.
Basically, the reality on the ground was very different from what appeared to be happening on cameras located a few miles overhead.
That statement is exactly in line with the ugly police state mentality that asks, "If you aren't doing anything wrong, what are you worried about?" The answer is that as a responsible, law-abiding adult in a free society, you have the RIGHT to go about your lawful business and live your life without interference from either the government or other citizens.
There are many, many things some people within a free society might disapprove of, and they might very well have the opportunity to affect your life. Try getting hired at a company full of true believers if you happen to be an atheist...and they know it. Or watch what happens to your kids if your standards of acceptable behaviour (though legal) aren't the community norm.
If that's what Eric Schmidt actually believes, he's a crypto-fascist, and we'd better start keeping a very close eye on Google.
If your only objective was to stop your retinal scan from being successfully compared to one on record, I'd think a little mild laser surgery would solve the problem.
Of course, these charming folks would never dream of using the project to map out, in a loose but enlightening way, the contacts of some of the more net-savvy people around. And keeping that info for future reference, of course.
CFL's do best if they're not turned off and on a lot. When they are, their lifetime sometimes winds up to be about the same as a regular light bulb. They still use less power, but you might question whether the higher cost is worth it in some locations. I don't know whether I've just been lucky, but the first CFL I ever bought is still going strong more than two years later, and none of the others have burnt out either.
One thing that seems to have helped with the on-off problem is that I use battery-powered LED's in some cupboards and closets. I won't usually turn an overhead light on for half a minute of extra illumination when there's a light right in those dark, shadowy places where the pots, pans, cans and linens lurk.
This is like two pox-ridden whores fighting over which one gets to service the local hockey team. Whoever comes out on top, the only winner is the guy selling condoms, and the only thing certain is that a lot of people are going to get screwed.
A lot of the "adapters" you get to change European current to our 115 Volt tell you straight-up that they shouldn't be used for electronics. They aren't kidding.
The best answer is to buy (or build) a charger that accepts batteries and has a suitable adapter. I just bought one for $25 for my Palm PDA that came with about a dozen different output jacks. It accepts two AA batteries, which can be bought just about anywhere in the world.
Here's a couple of options for the home-built version:
The Nazis didn't have to go to war with England to turn it into a fascist state. All they had to do was sit back patiently and wait for England to make the change all by itself. Somewhere in hell, Hitler's nodding and smiling.
So let's see if I've got this straight: pot stays illegal, which means it's very profitable to grow it and sell it. So that would justify the cost of installing expensive off-the-grid tech such as solar panels, heat pumps, etc. And the cost of some kind of storage for all that power.
Can anybody doubt that, even as we speak, some clever little bugger is writing software that will provide the "smart meter" with a generic family profile while the illegal stuff bleeds a bit of power off the grid and a lot from the Grey Cup".
John Hodgman's looking better and better, and the skinny little "I'm an Apple" dweeb is looking more and more like a Cthulhu sock puppet.
Seriously, anybody so programmed that they'd fork out hard-earned money for a nasty, coercive piece of crap like this (whether it's a computer, a smart phone or whatever) ought to be punished without mercy. The problem is that if enough of the sheeple are so deperate for the latest tech toy that they buy into the system, the idea will catch on and pretty soon the rest of us will be looking at legal sanctions when we find ways to disable this kind of offensive crapware.
Slashdot Mirror
If you'd like a very good answer to that question, go here:
http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2009/12/trust_scientists
Now imagine some guy whose family pissed Stalin off, spending his fifth year at a weather station in the middle of a Siberian winter with nothing but some half-rotted potatoes, a still, and the collected works of Fyodor Dostoevsky for company. What could possibly go wrong?
Fucking pathetic. I can't wait 'til a couple of years hence, when she updates her status while the pool boy is downloading a virus into her system.
Sorry...for a moment there, I forgot myself and almost believed there WERE other countries. It's U.S. and T.H.E.M.
And yes, I do watch FOX News...every time I feel an overwhelming need to throw up. About a minute and a half usually does it.
Citation, please?
I wonder how somebody doing the same kind of thing would have been treated in Chile under Pinochet, or one of the other countries where the US has installed its own bloody-handed dictators. Actually, I don't wonder at all. At least in Cuba the guy has a chance of getting out alive. If Pinochet or one of the other US puppets got hold of him, he'd already be missing some body parts and rotting in a shallow grave somewhere.
When, inevitably, these douche bags find themselves lobbying some government for "fair treatment", this conduct would be a lovely thing to throw in their face. Especially in an election year.
When people start talking about some kind of "total trees then and now" figure, let's not even get near a debate on the difference between an old growth forest and a one species tree farm. It would just get everybody upset.
And there's people who use toothpicks, too. Shouldn't they also count as employees of the logging industry?
Hey, whatever boosts your stats or makes a pretty picture, I'm all for it. Real numbers are for pussies.
If you update/install Google Earth, you're also going to get a semi-stealth install of the Chrome browser to go along with it...whether you like it or not. The first time I noticed Google was trying to shove Chrome down my throat was AFTER I'd already initiated an update installation of GE.
So be warned...if you don't want a little something extra with GE, you'd better skip this update.
Just as long as people keep in mind that satellite photos don't always tell the whole story. A team of Canadian scientists went north recently in an ice breaker. Satellite imagery indicted that the pack ice had expanded rather than contracted, which was totally at odds with Global Warming models.
What they found when they actually got to the location where the satellites indicated the pack ice started, it wasn't there. It had retreated more than a hundred miles beyond where it was thought to be. The satellite cameras had been looking at a slurry of rotted ice fragments that were so broken up the ship just blasted through them at full speed without even noticing it.
Basically, the reality on the ground was very different from what appeared to be happening on cameras located a few miles overhead.
You could always change your name. Might I suggest Mike Hawke, Miles O'Toole or Haywood Jablome as possibilities?
Just trying to help.
That statement is exactly in line with the ugly police state mentality that asks, "If you aren't doing anything wrong, what are you worried about?" The answer is that as a responsible, law-abiding adult in a free society, you have the RIGHT to go about your lawful business and live your life without interference from either the government or other citizens.
There are many, many things some people within a free society might disapprove of, and they might very well have the opportunity to affect your life. Try getting hired at a company full of true believers if you happen to be an atheist...and they know it. Or watch what happens to your kids if your standards of acceptable behaviour (though legal) aren't the community norm.
If that's what Eric Schmidt actually believes, he's a crypto-fascist, and we'd better start keeping a very close eye on Google.
If your only objective was to stop your retinal scan from being successfully compared to one on record, I'd think a little mild laser surgery would solve the problem.
Of course, these charming folks would never dream of using the project to map out, in a loose but enlightening way, the contacts of some of the more net-savvy people around. And keeping that info for future reference, of course.
Vonnegut would loved it.
CFL's do best if they're not turned off and on a lot. When they are, their lifetime sometimes winds up to be about the same as a regular light bulb. They still use less power, but you might question whether the higher cost is worth it in some locations. I don't know whether I've just been lucky, but the first CFL I ever bought is still going strong more than two years later, and none of the others have burnt out either.
One thing that seems to have helped with the on-off problem is that I use battery-powered LED's in some cupboards and closets. I won't usually turn an overhead light on for half a minute of extra illumination when there's a light right in those dark, shadowy places where the pots, pans, cans and linens lurk.
I understand KFC chickens are instantly identifiable. Some of them have teeth. And tails.
This is like two pox-ridden whores fighting over which one gets to service the local hockey team. Whoever comes out on top, the only winner is the guy selling condoms, and the only thing certain is that a lot of people are going to get screwed.
A lot of the "adapters" you get to change European current to our 115 Volt tell you straight-up that they shouldn't be used for electronics. They aren't kidding.
The best answer is to buy (or build) a charger that accepts batteries and has a suitable adapter. I just bought one for $25 for my Palm PDA that came with about a dozen different output jacks. It accepts two AA batteries, which can be bought just about anywhere in the world.
Here's a couple of options for the home-built version:
http://www.aarondunlap.com/blog/1130885615 http://www.instructables.com/id/MintyBoost!---Small-battery-powered-USB-charger/
That's brilliant!
And you're dead right...it's a crying shame we'll have to go to these lengths just to protect our privacy.
The Nazis didn't have to go to war with England to turn it into a fascist state. All they had to do was sit back patiently and wait for England to make the change all by itself. Somewhere in hell, Hitler's nodding and smiling.
So let's see if I've got this straight: pot stays illegal, which means it's very profitable to grow it and sell it. So that would justify the cost of installing expensive off-the-grid tech such as solar panels, heat pumps, etc. And the cost of some kind of storage for all that power.
Can anybody doubt that, even as we speak, some clever little bugger is writing software that will provide the "smart meter" with a generic family profile while the illegal stuff bleeds a bit of power off the grid and a lot from the Grey Cup".
John Hodgman's looking better and better, and the skinny little "I'm an Apple" dweeb is looking more and more like a Cthulhu sock puppet.
Seriously, anybody so programmed that they'd fork out hard-earned money for a nasty, coercive piece of crap like this (whether it's a computer, a smart phone or whatever) ought to be punished without mercy. The problem is that if enough of the sheeple are so deperate for the latest tech toy that they buy into the system, the idea will catch on and pretty soon the rest of us will be looking at legal sanctions when we find ways to disable this kind of offensive crapware.
"Helmsman, swordsman, physicist... the guy can do everything!"
Except girls.
Don't care...just sayin'.