Re:Warning, bogon flux
on
The Drone War
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· Score: 2
Well, if he does have inside info, he certainly can't tell you because it's most likely classfied. So, should you believe him? Up to you. I happen to agree with him as I have to have worked for the agencies for a few years and have similar stories. The number one rule of classified information is "only on a need to know basis".
Sure, I bet you've worked for lots of three letter agencies. Agreeing with a paranoid conspiracy theorist doesn't do much for your credibility.
If his post had even a modicum of truth to it, that info would probably be classified. If he did have classified information, he wouldn't be sharing it here, or he'd lose his clearance and end up in a federal prison.
I don't know how paranoid conspiracy theorists get modded up like that. Especially when their posts are so devoid of factual information.
At least there are a few rational thinkers still here.
Re:You Believe This??
on
The Drone War
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· Score: 3, Interesting
No, the first casualty reported to the media died three months into the war. Same thing in Desert Storm. We had a lot of casualties. Some are still classified.
Compared to previous wars, the gulf war was almost bloodless (for our side at least). How could casualties be classified? Didn't they have any family? You're just spouting crazy conspiracy theories.
If you don't think that Navy Seals have been in Afghanastan since September 12th, and that some of them died before we even declared war, then you shouldn't even speak of war, cause you are out of the loop.
First of all, we didn't declare war! The USA has only declared 5 wars in our history: the War of 1812, the Mexican War, Spanish-American War, WW I, & WW II.
Also, the US Navy Seals haven't been involved in Afghanistan, although they may be involved in other areas around the world.
And no US forces got into Afghanistan on Sep 12 that weren't there already. We don't have the assets in place to move that quickly. The first in were the Army Special Forces A-Teams in early October.
If you are stopped for a traffic violation, you have to show your license because you are obviously driving... And driving (on public roads, anyway) isn't a right, it's a priviledge.
They can't demand ID just because you were driving, but they can demand ID because you violated criminal law.
Also, driving is actually a right, not a privilege, upheld by the US Supreme Court and other courts numerous times. They are still free to regulate driving however, including requiring a license to drive. It just means that they can't arbitrarily revoke your license for no reason. Similarly, your right to vote or own a firearm can't normally be revoked, but can if you commit a felony.
Here's a good explanation of the right to drive:
Constitutional law, which encompasses legal opinions that derive from principles defined in the US Constitution, allows us to relate the concept of liberty to transportation policy. In American Jurisprudence we read: "Personal liberty largely consists of the Right to locomotion - to go where and when one pleases - only so far restrained as the Rights of others may make it necessary for the welfare of all other Citizens. The Right of the Citizen to travel upon the public highways and to transport his property thereon, by horsedrawn carriage, wagon, or automobile, is not a mere privilege which may be permitted or prohibited at will, but the common Right which he has under his Right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Under this Constitutional guarantee one may, therefore, under normal conditions, travel at his inclination along the public highways or in public places, and while conducting himself in an orderly and decent manner, neither interfering with nor disturbing another's Rights, he will be protected, not only in his person, but in his safe conduct."
- American Jurisprudence 1st, Constitutional Law, Section 329, p. 1135.
In CA, if you cannot produce identification you can be arrested and held until they figure out who you are.
No, if they passed a law like this, it would be struck down as unconstitutional pretty quickly (see my previous post).
Police may not arrest anyone unless they have probable cause they engaged in criminal conduct. So if you're stopped for a traffic violation, you've already given them probable cause. This is the case everywhere in the US, even WA.
They did pass a law like this at one time, but it was ruled unconstitutional by the US Supreme Court under Brown v. Texas in 1979.
On the grounds of the 4th Amendment, you may not be punished for refusing to identify yourself, unless they have reasonable suspicion that you engaged in criminal conduct. So if you're stopped for a traffic violation, you do have to identify yourself if requested.
Re:For anyone drooling over the thought of a BeBox
on
Be Gear Up For Auction
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· Score: 2
...according to the auction page, there aren't any.
You didn't look very carefully. Under Laptops & Websurfers, it says there are 20 Be Boxes available. Here's the picture.
And I'm guessing your problem with this "communist" China is the fact that you're a Christian trying to promote your religion in a country that doesn't want you to come in.
Regardless of whether he is a Christian or not, he made a well argued, insightful post with one specific example and a few other general cases. How do you know he's not Falun Gong or Tibetan? Why only pick on the one little aspect and completely ignore the main point of his argument?
Though I guess the performance of that is copyrighted...
somebody tell me!
Yes, unless the recording was made before ~1922, it is copyrighted.
For music, there are 2 kinds of copyrights:
PA - Performing Arts
SR - Sound Recording
Since most classical music was written before ~1922, there is no PA copyright for it in general; hoever, a specific arrangement or orchestration can be copyrighted. Most sheet music of classical music is coprighted for this reason, unless it's aiming to be as close to the original score as possible (then it would be public domain).
Every recording of classical music (or any music) is SR copyrighted. Since not many recordings exist from before ~1922, you can safely assume the recording is copyrighted.
Peter Singer is one of the only philosophers I know willing to accept the absurd conclusions he reaches.
absurd (b-sûrd, -zûrd)
adj.
1.Ridiculously incongruous or unreasonable. See Synonyms at foolish.
By definition, absurd conclusions are unreasonable. Conclusions are supposed to be arrived at by reason. Therefore, using this criteria, his conclusions are obviously wrong.
I've read a great deal of his writing, most of it has significant logical flaws, but his most important conclusions seem, in my opinion, justified.
So you're saying most of his writing has significant logical flaws yet you agree with his most important conclusions? That's more than just absurd, it's moronic.
Before you say something bad about him, read one of his books, with an eye toward the same sort of "absurd conclusions" (e.g., it's okay to kill a newborn, because it doesn't have a personality)
I believe that every human life has value. Singer also advocates euthanizing people with cognitive disabilities. Once you start assigning less value to people based on a disability that opens the door to debate on what constitutes a disability. Maybe people with ADHD should be considered disabled, are of less value, & should be euthanized? Who decides the criteria?
there are as many positive odd numbers (which are all whole numbers) as all positive and negative whole numbers and fractions of two whole numbers combined. This is absurd, but any mathematician will tell you its a fact.
It's only true because there are an infinite number of positive odd integers, and also infinite positive & negative whole integers, & fractions of 2 integers. If you add infinity to itself, however many times, you still have inifinity. I don't consider that absurd.
Most of the awardees and finalists are probably well deserving, but one of the finalists in Ethics was Peter Singer.
If you're not familiar with Singer, here's a good page about him. The short version is that he advocates infanticide until 28 days for disabled newborns and euthanasia for people with cognitive
disabilities. He first made it big in the animal rights community, but many are abandoning him after he tried to justify some forms of bestiality (see this). Here's one of his quotes:
Sex with animals does not always involve cruelty.
Sounds like a real champion of animal rights, huh?
Also, as other posters have mentioned, although he's well deserving of the award, Linus didn't establish the Open Source software model. Some of the posters have said RMS did, but there are a couple issues with that:
RMS would say he's not for Open Source, he's for Free Software
The model was around long before RMS, he just successfully described & codified it in the GPL
I doubt that the CIA/FBI/NSA even uses windows XP for any sort of confidential information. Most like they're still running the nearly bug free Windows NT, or some incarnation of unix.
You're right. They use certified "secure" operating systems, like Trusted Solaris (based on 2.5, although a version based on 8 is now out, it'll be awhile before anyone switches over), HP-UX Trusted (based on 6.5 or 7.0) , Trusted IRIX (based on 4.0 or 6.5), Trusted AIX, Trusted Oracle (based on 7.2.3), and other systems that have been thoroughly audited and tested by the DOD.
Also, the government's secure systems are not even connected to the internet. They're on a completely separate network, the SIPRNET, which is highly encrypted before it leaves the buildings. So, for his #5 to happen, some agency would have to adopt Windows XP early in its life cycle (not their style at all), connect it to the internet (doesn't happen), or inadvertently let someone into their server room (yeah right).
No, Mueller was in Washington the whole time the Sklyarov case was going on. Did you even read the bio you linked to?
He started in his position as interim US Attorney in Northern CA in Aug 1998, officially confirmed in Oct 1999. Then he was the acting Deputy Attorney General of the US from Jan to May 2001, when he was nominated as the FBI director. He wasn't confirmed until Aug 2001, and took the oath of office in Sep 2001.
So, although he was officially the US Attorney for Northern CA until Aug 2001, he hadn't worked there since January.
Maybe you should actually read the pages you link to before you spread disinformation.
Prince hasn't toured or been seen much in public any more, since he converted to a Jehovah's Witness. There's a story about it in one of the weekly papers here in Minneapolis.
What if a "virus" (more correctly, a worm or trojan) is created that destroys every MS-Windows installation? This means more than just Grandma Jane's computer-- I mean military, telecom, and hospital-controlling computer in the world.
Well, then it's a good thing there are no critical military, telecom, or hospital systems running Windows.
You're partially right, my source does say 650 mph.
But, the speed of sound depends on the density of the medium:
v = sqrt(B/rho)
where v = the speed of sound, B = the bulk modulus of elasticity of the medium, and rho = the density of the medium.
Since air density changes with altitude, pressure, and temperature, the speed of sound also varies. In general the speed of sound in air, at 70F, at sea level is 1129 ft/sec = 770 mph.
That's OK if you want the layout & formatting. 9 times out of 10, I don't, so I have to go to Edit->Paste Special, then select Unformatted Text. No shortcut key available.
Mig-31 has the same characteristics (Mach 3), and is still on duty (it's an evolution of Mig-25).
Actually, the Mig 31 is heavier than the 25, so its max speed is only Mach 2.83, see this. Also, the Mig 25 is still in service with a number of countires.
But i think that the famous U2 (it's called TR-1 in latest evolutions), was shot by a SAM, not that Mig.
Right, when Capt Gary Powers was shot down in 1960, it was an SA-2 that shot it down. However, the TR-1s and U-2s are all designated U-2 now, see this.
BTW, SR-71 shouldn't have been called that way, it's a mistake from Carter. I think it should have been RS-71.
Almost, actually it was Lyndon Johnson, and it may or may not be true. An AF Col that flew the SR-71 tried to get to the bottom of this legend, see this (bottom of page).
The B2, and to a lesser extent, the B1-B, is built to fight a war that we probably won't see for a long, long time - high-altitude strategic attacks.
Actually, the B-1B was designed as a low altitude penetration bomber. It has terrain following radar that allows them to fly 200 feet above the ground on autopilot.
I remember reading about special missiles that could be loaded onto an F15 that would be able to take out a Sattelite.
You're thinking of the ASAT (anti-satellite) missile. They tested them on F-15s, before they were outlawed by the same ABM treaty we're pulling out of in 6 months.
Slashdot Mirror
If his post had even a modicum of truth to it, that info would probably be classified. If he did have classified information, he wouldn't be sharing it here, or he'd lose his clearance and end up in a federal prison.
Thank you.
I don't know how paranoid conspiracy theorists get modded up like that. Especially when their posts are so devoid of factual information.
At least there are a few rational thinkers still here.
First of all, we didn't declare war! The USA has only declared 5 wars in our history: the War of 1812, the Mexican War, Spanish-American War, WW I, & WW II.
Also, the US Navy Seals haven't been involved in Afghanistan, although they may be involved in other areas around the world.
And no US forces got into Afghanistan on Sep 12 that weren't there already. We don't have the assets in place to move that quickly. The first in were the Army Special Forces A-Teams in early October.
Also, driving is actually a right, not a privilege, upheld by the US Supreme Court and other courts numerous times. They are still free to regulate driving however, including requiring a license to drive. It just means that they can't arbitrarily revoke your license for no reason. Similarly, your right to vote or own a firearm can't normally be revoked, but can if you commit a felony.
Here's a good explanation of the right to drive:
Police may not arrest anyone unless they have probable cause they engaged in criminal conduct. So if you're stopped for a traffic violation, you've already given them probable cause. This is the case everywhere in the US, even WA.
They did pass a law like this at one time, but it was ruled unconstitutional by the US Supreme Court under Brown v. Texas in 1979.
On the grounds of the 4th Amendment, you may not be punished for refusing to identify yourself, unless they have reasonable suspicion that you engaged in criminal conduct. So if you're stopped for a traffic violation, you do have to identify yourself if requested.
My first impression was it looked like a table lamp. Look at this picture.
I'm not a big fan of any of the iMac designs. But I could sure go for one of those Titanium Powerbooks.
For music, there are 2 kinds of copyrights:
PA - Performing Arts
SR - Sound Recording
Since most classical music was written before ~1922, there is no PA copyright for it in general; hoever, a specific arrangement or orchestration can be copyrighted. Most sheet music of classical music is coprighted for this reason, unless it's aiming to be as close to the original score as possible (then it would be public domain).
Every recording of classical music (or any music) is SR copyrighted. Since not many recordings exist from before ~1922, you can safely assume the recording is copyrighted.
adj.
1.Ridiculously incongruous or unreasonable. See Synonyms at foolish.
By definition, absurd conclusions are unreasonable. Conclusions are supposed to be arrived at by reason. Therefore, using this criteria, his conclusions are obviously wrong.
So you're saying most of his writing has significant logical flaws yet you agree with his most important conclusions? That's more than just absurd, it's moronic.
I believe that every human life has value. Singer also advocates euthanizing people with cognitive disabilities. Once you start assigning less value to people based on a disability that opens the door to debate on what constitutes a disability. Maybe people with ADHD should be considered disabled, are of less value, & should be euthanized? Who decides the criteria?
It's only true because there are an infinite number of positive odd integers, and also infinite positive & negative whole integers, & fractions of 2 integers. If you add infinity to itself, however many times, you still have inifinity. I don't consider that absurd.
If you're not familiar with Singer, here's a good page about him. The short version is that he advocates infanticide until 28 days for disabled newborns and euthanasia for people with cognitive
disabilities. He first made it big in the animal rights community, but many are abandoning him after he tried to justify some forms of bestiality (see this). Here's one of his quotes:
Sounds like a real champion of animal rights, huh?
Also, as other posters have mentioned, although he's well deserving of the award, Linus didn't establish the Open Source software model. Some of the posters have said RMS did, but there are a couple issues with that:
RMS would say he's not for Open Source, he's for Free Software
The model was around long before RMS, he just successfully described & codified it in the GPL
Also, the government's secure systems are not even connected to the internet. They're on a completely separate network, the SIPRNET, which is highly encrypted before it leaves the buildings. So, for his #5 to happen, some agency would have to adopt Windows XP early in its life cycle (not their style at all), connect it to the internet (doesn't happen), or inadvertently let someone into their server room (yeah right).
No, Mueller was in Washington the whole time the Sklyarov case was going on. Did you even read the bio you linked to?
He started in his position as interim US Attorney in Northern CA in Aug 1998, officially confirmed in Oct 1999. Then he was the acting Deputy Attorney General of the US from Jan to May 2001, when he was nominated as the FBI director. He wasn't confirmed until Aug 2001, and took the oath of office in Sep 2001.
So, although he was officially the US Attorney for Northern CA until Aug 2001, he hadn't worked there since January.
Maybe you should actually read the pages you link to before you spread disinformation.
1 quintillion, 152 quadrillion, 921 trillion, 504 billion, 606 million, 846 thousand, 976.
Oh my God! Even Hanson is a member.
Prince hasn't toured or been seen much in public any more, since he converted to a Jehovah's Witness. There's a story about it in one of the weekly papers here in Minneapolis.
But, the speed of sound depends on the density of the medium:
where v = the speed of sound, B = the bulk modulus of elasticity of the medium, and rho = the density of the medium.
Since air density changes with altitude, pressure, and temperature, the speed of sound also varies. In general the speed of sound in air, at 70F, at sea level is 1129 ft/sec = 770 mph.
That's OK if you want the layout & formatting. 9 times out of 10, I don't, so I have to go to Edit->Paste Special, then select Unformatted Text. No shortcut key available.
Right, when Capt Gary Powers was shot down in 1960, it was an SA-2 that shot it down. However, the TR-1s and U-2s are all designated U-2 now, see this.
Almost, actually it was Lyndon Johnson, and it may or may not be true. An AF Col that flew the SR-71 tried to get to the bottom of this legend, see this (bottom of page).
Actually, there are SAMs that are faster and fly higher than the SR-71. Prime example: SA-10.
That's wild speculation. The resolution of its cameras & sensors is still classified.
No, the Mig-25 could fly at Mach 3, even the ones without rocket engines.