an idea that I had went a little something like this. You get a few dozen sysadmins together and have them create thousands of dummy email accounts, sell that list to the spammers as if they were a list of valid addresses.
Hit them where it really hurts, in their pocketbooks.
So then they have to worry about 1. getting caught running afoul of the law. 2. getting a bunch of useless email addresses. and 3. getting ripped off by the people that they fight tooth and nail to outsmart.
Had they done it before the vote, or gone to each Assembly-person and demonstrated the capability before the vote, that would've been legitimate lobbying. This is just petty and serves to make the Assembly-people less likely to listen to this group in the future.
I respectfully disagree. This is a perfectly valid way to express dissatisfaction with the decision of these lawmakers.
"Really assemblyman? This privacy measure isn't needed? Will your position be the same when it's YOUR information instead of ours?"
when that company removed the bare breasted scenes of Kate Winslett from Titanic?
If I remember correctly, as a joke many people called their edited version "anic".
LK
Re:I sold and repaired Macs for 5 years
on
iBox Episode 2
·
· Score: 1
thats funny, I've had no problems running quake, quakeworld, quake 2, quake 3, and just about every other game based on the quake 3 engine.
Albeit at least a year later than the people who are using Windows PCs.
When my Pentium 100 ran more programs than my 6400/200, that was when I lost faith in Apple.
As soon as EV Nova is released for Windows, I'll have no need to look back.
LK
Re:I sold and repaired Macs for 5 years
on
iBox Episode 2
·
· Score: 1
The clone pricing wasn't the issue, it was the incompatibilities. Apple had to provide tech support to people who couldn't run the OS, when it wasn't Apple's fault but the clones. That cost them money *and* hurt their reputation.
Apple had to approve designs for the clones. If Apple approved a flawed design, that was their fault.
LK
Re:I sold and repaired Macs for 5 years
on
iBox Episode 2
·
· Score: 1
Damn man -- That quote says it all. For as much as I spite microsoft, and have used *nix for 95% of the time for the last 6 years...It is easy to say "I don't need no stinkin' [insert software name here]", it is harder when really, really need to Run said software...
Quake was the app that did it for me. The list grew exponentially from there.
LK
Re:New Source for parts!!!!
on
iBox Episode 2
·
· Score: 1
The problem is that a non-Apple board won't run OSX natively.
You didn't even follow the link, did you?
Follow the link, see what Shreve sells and then respond again.
Re:I sold and repaired Macs for 5 years
on
iBox Episode 2
·
· Score: 1
Hmmmm... Yet what you say about Steve Jobs, a Goliath treating them as David, and these fanatics you understand are thinking
Maybe I was unclear, or maybe you intentionally misunderstood. They seem themselves (and Jobs) as David and the rest of the computing world as Goliath.
AFAIK, the fanaticism is about quality of user experience, which equates to productivity in business and a friendly personal computer at home, and about the quality of gear, which is how long the computer lasts and how infrequently or easy it is to upgrade both hardware and software.
Then obviously, you didn't have to replace as many analog/power boards on Summer 2000 iMacs as I did.
I don't hear them talk about market share or reaping rewards on a gamble. I'm to understand they just really like Macs. Maybe it's because I listen to more than just those who have problems that require a technician.
So did I. I sold new Macs as well.
LK
New Source for parts!!!!
on
iBox Episode 2
·
· Score: 1, Informative
These guys have G3 logic boards starting at $199 and G4 logic boards starting at $249, both sans CPU. One could roll his own PPC box at a reasonable price.
LK
I sold and repaired Macs for 5 years
on
iBox Episode 2
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
I understand the mindset of the Apple fanatics.
When Apple makes a move to shut someone down, they are doing it because they have to in order to survive. After all, they have less than 10% market share. They need to be a lot more defensive of the position that they have.
Namely killing off PPC Mac clones, Purchasing NeXT instead of Be, Refusing to give Be the engineering specs that they needed to support the Be OS on post 9600 Macs, Killing off the iBox, whatever it happens to be.
Steve Jobs understands that people who seem themselves as David, fighting for survival against a monsterous Goliath will give more and tolerate more than other people. "Sure we have to pay a premium for Apple hardware, but when they gain market share we will be able to reap the rewards. Economics of scale always applies, so even though I overpaid for this G3 tower, by the time the G5 is out, the prices will be lower."
The mentality that leads to "One platform over all others." is one that is filled with logic defects. Listen to a Mac user who will slam someone who chooses windows because of availability of games, but they jump up and cheer when Apple uses a gaming chipset for the graphics cards in their new model. They did this with the ATI Rage, and GeForce cards as they were introduced.
Take it from me, I used to be one of them. You can't save them. You can't convert them. All you can do is not tease too much when one of them wakes up and decides that his wallet is the best place to find most of his money and that not being able to run a program is not the same as not wanting to run that program.
LK
Re:Another 3dfx, etc, etc.
on
iBox Episode 2
·
· Score: 0
Apple allowed clones for years, and many of the clone were superior to Apple's machines. Power Computing and Umax made machines that were faster and cheaper than Apple's top of the line. This is why Steve Jobs put an end to cloning within months after his return to Apple.
This goes back to the time of the releas of Mac OS 8.0, this is also roundabout the last time I bought new Apple hardware.
No, it's not a miserable failure. I've got upwards of 50 DIVX movies on a hard disk in one of my computers.
On the off chance that you are not joking, you may have 50 DiVX movies on your hard drive. But he is talking about DIVX. Same letters, but a whole different meaning.
I worked at Circuit City when DIVX was launched. I remember going through my orientation and one of the managers was really enthused about the DIVX launch and I remember telling him "That's going to fail." He didn't understand why I explained to him "People would rather pay $20 and watch a movie whenever they want to than pay $4.00 for the disk, and $1.99 for each time after. People aren't going to like that studios can stop them from watching the disks that they have bought because of a theatrical re-release."
He assured me that because Circuit City had spent over 80 million dollars on research that they could make it happen.
When I was on the sales floor, my manager (a different one) informed me that all employees were to ask customers if they knew anything about DIVX and to offer them a demonstration. I responded "Please don't make me do that, I will if I have to, but I will not lie to the people if they ask me any questions. Including questions about my personal opinion of DIVX." I told him all of the same things that I told the first manager about DIVX. He didn't force me to offer the demonstrations. I think the fact that I was only working part time (still taking college classes) but was the second highest money maker in the store didn't hurt.
Oh, and a big fuck you to the multitude of rabid capitalists who think thereâ(TM)s something inherently wrong with not wanting to pay for stuff. You can take your American Dream, consumer culture, built-in obsolescence, slave to the machine, bleached pop culture ideas and go fucking rot. Itâ(TM)s idiots with a attitudes like yours that make it possible for someone to sell boxes of fucking diapers to clean your floor with when a fucking mop will do. You are the modern day serf... go back to your damned cubicle and shut up.
Why do you think we don't have global wireless energy right now? Because JP Morgan knew that there was no place to put a meter.
I'm sorry that you don't like it, and I'm sorry that it has so permeated every facet of life, but money makes the world go round.
Over time you are likely to have %80 leakage or more. Hydrogen molecules are tiny, very tiny, so small in fact that they can pass through solid objects given time. It is referred to as "hydrogen creep"ing. If you store hydrogen under pressure for extended periods of time it will creep until the pressure inside of the contailer matches that of the outside.
Another problem with all of the Hydrogen hype is that the two methods of obtaining it have many undesireable effects. To extract H2 from methane gas (namely natural gas) you end up with a byproduct of carbon dioxide. To separate hydrogen from water, sulfuric acid is often used and it takes a lot of electricity. So much that only nuclear power even makes sense to power the reaction. So in order to implement an environmentally friendly hydrogen fuel program, we will have to pollute the environment with CO2, Sulfuric Acid or the byproducts of fission power plants.
I don't recall anyone with a cadilliac or other high end luxury car, or other passive anti theft car with the RFID tag in the key, concerned about privacy.
Since when does having alot of money make you any more aware of social issues?
I'll complain when they try and tag my children at birth...
You seem to be missing the point. It's about slowly getting people used to being tracked.
When the day comes to implant tracking devices in your children at birth, the argument will be 'You already have RFID tags in your clothes, shoes, car, keys, food, furniture, toothpaste, and everything else you buy. What difference will one more tag make?'
I don't know anything about you, where you are from or what you've seen, but in my lifetime I have seen the US change so much as it relates to smoking that it is amazing. When I was a child, you could smoke in a hospital. Now there are places where it is illegal to smoke inside of a bar. How did this happen? One thing at a time. First no smoking in Hospitals (which is more than reasonable), then no smoking in movie theaters (also reasonable), then no smoking in elevators(reasonable again) but since people were comforgable with reasonable restrictions they slept right through the unreasonable ones.
I see the same thing happening now with RFID. No thank you. I'd rather pay a slightly higher price to make up for lost revenue from shoplifters than have RFID tags in everything that I buy.
It's more like this. A shopkeeper lets you in. You are wearing a T shirt that he objects to so he kicks you out. The next day you ask to be let in by his wife/business partner and are granted access.
The "gives permission by connecting to the Internet" argument is completely bogus because that would be talking about implied permission, and Intel specifically told Hamidi not to send the messages in question. An explicit withdrawal of permission trumps implied permission.
When there is an SMTP connection to their mail server, that mail server gives permission again for that content to be passed through.
So what we have is implied consent because they are connected to the internet, a withdrawal of that consent by their explicit request, and a reinstatement of the previously withdrawn consent because their mail server allowed the connection(s), accepted the messages and delivered them to their intended recipients.
We have told the world that we don't need the Brits to invade Iraq. Britons are understandably pissed off that even they who have supported us are crap in the eyes of the radical right.
It is not a matter of Right and Left. I am one of those whom you'd probably see as a part of the so called "radical right" (there is no such thing, but that is another discussion. With a few minor disagreements, I concur with you as it relates to this war.
When Saddam WAS acting the bully, he was our guy, and we didn't care. When he attacked our oil supply, he became the enemy. But he was always pathetic and helpless against any real enemy. He can't touch us, and has never shown any inclination to commit suicide by doing so.
To be honest, I don't believe that was it. The US had the opportunity to stop Saddam's invasion of Kuwait before it happened. Saddam was accusing Kuwait of stealing BILLIONS of dollars worth of oil from the oil reserve that lies beneath the border of both countries. He threatened to invade them for months, and the Iraqis were told by April Glaspie (the US ambassador to Iraq) "We have no opinion on your Arab-Arab conflicts, such as your dispute with Kuwait. Secretary [of State James] Baker has directed me to emphasize the instruction... that Kuwait is not associated with America." I don't believe that this was merely a miscommunication. You don't get to be an ambassador or Cabinet member without a long history of effective and successful communication.
We have told the world that we will torture if we want to. That the Geneva convention no longer applies to our prisoners.
To be fair, the US's idea of torture and the Iraqi idea of torture are light years apart. For the US torture is taping someone's eyelids open and exposing him to a strobe light, or tying him to a board and dumping a glass of water on his face a few times per minute. All of that aside, the biggest motivator of prisoners is to offer them passage to the US. "Hey, do you like steak? If you work with us, we can make sure that you get steak twice a week, if not we'll keep you awake for a solid week. Either way, we'll get what we want. The question is what do YOU want?"
We have told the world that they can go to commie hell if they want us to sign environmental treaties.
Don't forget that the current administration is ignoring the Salt II treaty with its missile sheild.
We have told the world we no longer need the U.N.
We (those of us on the so called 'far right') have been saying that for close to a decade.
We (Bush) have made it known we will punish economically anyone who opposes us.
Well, that is fair. In this country we boycott businesses at the drop of a hat. For most of the world, there is no greater motivator than the green stuff.
He is seemingly oblivious to the fact that our economy, via the money he borrows from abroad to pay for our tax cuts and military expansion, is financed by foreign investors. He thinks he can be a bully, but he is about to learn that he is, in fact, a beggar and a fool who is about to learn that he is NOT God's representive on Earth.
You are correct, on a small scale economic sanctions work wonderfully, but we are not a rich enough country to threaten the entire the globe.
I regret that I had to hold my nose and vote for GW in 2000, and even more I regret the fact that I will have to do so again in 2004.
If it does not comply with the Red Book audio standard, it can't use the "Compact Disc Digital Audio" logo, well at least not without false advertising and possible lawsuit coming from Phillips for the misrepresentation.
Shell casing are more often used as forensic evidence than balistics.
No. Have you ever heard of a revolver? Revolvers at least as often, and by some methods of analysis more often than autoloaders.
No once again, anonymous schema have been proposed many times.
By whom? When? Most recently, with the Washington DC area snipers, the plan proposed was definately not an anonymous database.
The NRA always casts this as the camels nose in the tent of a future mandatory registration policy.
Because it always is. If someone wants your wallet, can you negotiate with him? "Just take all except my last $5 because I need bus fare".
The people who are introducing and championing this legislation want to eliminate civillian firearms ownership. There is no point in compromise. A compromise will only embolden them, and perhaps sway a few of the people on the fence. Like it or not, people like to side with the winner. When one side picks up momentum, people who have been undecided will side with the group that looks like it is winning.
One of the nice things about tracking gunpower and not guns is that it sort of neatly finds a path through most NRA objections.
Then you find yourself arguing with the realist. Assuming for just a moment that there is no safety issue. Most shootings take place in geographically small areas. If there are several shootings in a bad (drug infested) neighborhood. Those taggants will be all over the place. How can you tell if someone is the shooter, a witness, or someone who happened to walk down the same hallway 15 minutes later?
I should think you would be on my side here.
There can be no compromise. The reason for this is obvious.
No you could just have the signature be present an anonymous.
That's not what has been proposed. A ballistic fingerprint database is a tool for backdoor registration.
Currently shell casing from different crimes literally across the street from each other are often not corrlated if they occur in separate jurisdictions.
Shell casings are not a reliable way to track crimes, for one, not every shooting leaves behind a shell casing, and two a rat tail file and 30 seconds can change the markings left on a shell casing without effecting the reliability of the gun.
For example, millions of dollars are contributed to politcial campaigns by individual voters.
A split of %50 from the Democrats who donate and 50% from the Republicans keeps things pretty even.
The purpose of belonging to the NRA or NARAL or the EFF or any other group with a political agenda is to pool your resources because there is strength in numbers. Me writing a $1000 check to John Q. Politician is nothing on a national scale. When millions of people contribute to a PAC or the NRA and that money is presented to a political party, that means something. You're not just one man with an opinion, you're a part of a group who cares not only enough to donate, but more importantly, one that votes.
The prblem is the bottom end undercuts the market for safe waepons.
How many "unsafe" guns are on the market? Can you name any of them? It's a non-issue.
Slashdot Mirror
an idea that I had went a little something like this. You get a few dozen sysadmins together and have them create thousands of dummy email accounts, sell that list to the spammers as if they were a list of valid addresses.
Hit them where it really hurts, in their pocketbooks.
So then they have to worry about 1. getting caught running afoul of the law. 2. getting a bunch of useless email addresses. and 3. getting ripped off by the people that they fight tooth and nail to outsmart.
LK
Had they done it before the vote, or gone to each Assembly-person and demonstrated the capability before the vote, that would've been legitimate lobbying. This is just petty and serves to make the Assembly-people less likely to listen to this group in the future.
I respectfully disagree. This is a perfectly valid way to express dissatisfaction with the decision of these lawmakers.
"Really assemblyman? This privacy measure isn't needed? Will your position be the same when it's YOUR information instead of ours?"
I agree 100% with these guys.
Thousands of people who were born in the same part of the country as me the same year I was have the same first 4 numbers.
All that can be deduced from that info is an approximate region of birth and possibly age.
Perhaps these guys should release one extra number per week until they get the privacy laws corrected.
LK
when that company removed the bare breasted scenes of Kate Winslett from Titanic?
If I remember correctly, as a joke many people called their edited version "anic".
LK
thats funny, I've had no problems running quake, quakeworld, quake 2, quake 3, and just about every other game based on the quake 3 engine.
Albeit at least a year later than the people who are using Windows PCs.
When my Pentium 100 ran more programs than my 6400/200, that was when I lost faith in Apple.
As soon as EV Nova is released for Windows, I'll have no need to look back.
LK
The clone pricing wasn't the issue, it was the incompatibilities. Apple had to provide tech support to people who couldn't run the OS, when it wasn't Apple's fault but the clones. That cost them money *and* hurt their reputation.
Apple had to approve designs for the clones. If Apple approved a flawed design, that was their fault.
LK
Damn man -- That quote says it all. For as much as I spite microsoft, and have used *nix for 95% of the time for the last 6 years...It is easy to say "I don't need no stinkin' [insert software name here]", it is harder when really, really need to Run said software...
Quake was the app that did it for me. The list grew exponentially from there.
LK
The problem is that a non-Apple board won't run OSX natively.
You didn't even follow the link, did you?
Follow the link, see what Shreve sells and then respond again.
Hmmmm... Yet what you say about Steve Jobs, a Goliath treating them as David, and these fanatics you understand are thinking
Maybe I was unclear, or maybe you intentionally misunderstood. They seem themselves (and Jobs) as David and the rest of the computing world as Goliath.
AFAIK, the fanaticism is about quality of user experience, which equates to productivity in business and a friendly personal computer at home, and about the quality of gear, which is how long the computer lasts and how infrequently or easy it is to upgrade both hardware and software.
Then obviously, you didn't have to replace as many analog/power boards on Summer 2000 iMacs as I did.
I don't hear them talk about market share or reaping rewards on a gamble. I'm to understand they just really like Macs. Maybe it's because I listen to more than just those who have problems that require a technician.
So did I. I sold new Macs as well.
LK
These guys have G3 logic boards starting at $199 and G4 logic boards starting at $249, both sans CPU. One could roll his own PPC box at a reasonable price.
LK
I understand the mindset of the Apple fanatics.
When Apple makes a move to shut someone down, they are doing it because they have to in order to survive. After all, they have less than 10% market share. They need to be a lot more defensive of the position that they have.
Namely killing off PPC Mac clones, Purchasing NeXT instead of Be, Refusing to give Be the engineering specs that they needed to support the Be OS on post 9600 Macs, Killing off the iBox, whatever it happens to be.
Steve Jobs understands that people who seem themselves as David, fighting for survival against a monsterous Goliath will give more and tolerate more than other people. "Sure we have to pay a premium for Apple hardware, but when they gain market share we will be able to reap the rewards. Economics of scale always applies, so even though I overpaid for this G3 tower, by the time the G5 is out, the prices will be lower."
The mentality that leads to "One platform over all others." is one that is filled with logic defects. Listen to a Mac user who will slam someone who chooses windows because of availability of games, but they jump up and cheer when Apple uses a gaming chipset for the graphics cards in their new model. They did this with the ATI Rage, and GeForce cards as they were introduced.
Take it from me, I used to be one of them. You can't save them. You can't convert them. All you can do is not tease too much when one of them wakes up and decides that his wallet is the best place to find most of his money and that not being able to run a program is not the same as not wanting to run that program.
LK
Apple allowed clones for years, and many of the clone were superior to Apple's machines. Power Computing and Umax made machines that were faster and cheaper than Apple's top of the line. This is why Steve Jobs put an end to cloning within months after his return to Apple.
This goes back to the time of the releas of Mac OS 8.0, this is also roundabout the last time I bought new Apple hardware.
LK
No, it's not a miserable failure. I've got upwards of 50 DIVX movies on a hard disk in one of my computers.
On the off chance that you are not joking, you may have 50 DiVX movies on your hard drive. But he is talking about DIVX. Same letters, but a whole different meaning.
Have a look at this.
LK
I worked at Circuit City when DIVX was launched. I remember going through my orientation and one of the managers was really enthused about the DIVX launch and I remember telling him "That's going to fail." He didn't understand why I explained to him "People would rather pay $20 and watch a movie whenever they want to than pay $4.00 for the disk, and $1.99 for each time after. People aren't going to like that studios can stop them from watching the disks that they have bought because of a theatrical re-release."
He assured me that because Circuit City had spent over 80 million dollars on research that they could make it happen.
When I was on the sales floor, my manager (a different one) informed me that all employees were to ask customers if they knew anything about DIVX and to offer them a demonstration. I responded "Please don't make me do that, I will if I have to, but I will not lie to the people if they ask me any questions. Including questions about my personal opinion of DIVX." I told him all of the same things that I told the first manager about DIVX. He didn't force me to offer the demonstrations. I think the fact that I was only working part time (still taking college classes) but was the second highest money maker in the store didn't hurt.
LK
Oh, and a big fuck you to the multitude of rabid capitalists who think thereâ(TM)s something inherently wrong with not wanting to pay for stuff. You can take your American Dream, consumer culture, built-in obsolescence, slave to the machine, bleached pop culture ideas and go fucking rot. Itâ(TM)s idiots with a attitudes like yours that make it possible for someone to sell boxes of fucking diapers to clean your floor with when a fucking mop will do. You are the modern day serf... go back to your damned cubicle and shut up.
Why do you think we don't have global wireless energy right now? Because JP Morgan knew that there was no place to put a meter.
I'm sorry that you don't like it, and I'm sorry that it has so permeated every facet of life, but money makes the world go round.
LK
Over time you are likely to have %80 leakage or more. Hydrogen molecules are tiny, very tiny, so small in fact that they can pass through solid objects given time. It is referred to as "hydrogen creep"ing. If you store hydrogen under pressure for extended periods of time it will creep until the pressure inside of the contailer matches that of the outside.
Another problem with all of the Hydrogen hype is that the two methods of obtaining it have many undesireable effects. To extract H2 from methane gas (namely natural gas) you end up with a byproduct of carbon dioxide. To separate hydrogen from water, sulfuric acid is often used and it takes a lot of electricity. So much that only nuclear power even makes sense to power the reaction. So in order to implement an environmentally friendly hydrogen fuel program, we will have to pollute the environment with CO2, Sulfuric Acid or the byproducts of fission power plants.
Doesn't sound like my idea of a slam dunk.
LK
I don't recall anyone with a cadilliac or other high end luxury car, or other passive anti theft car with the RFID tag in the key, concerned about privacy.
Since when does having alot of money make you any more aware of social issues?
I'll complain when they try and tag my children at birth...
You seem to be missing the point. It's about slowly getting people used to being tracked.
When the day comes to implant tracking devices in your children at birth, the argument will be 'You already have RFID tags in your clothes, shoes, car, keys, food, furniture, toothpaste, and everything else you buy. What difference will one more tag make?'
I don't know anything about you, where you are from or what you've seen, but in my lifetime I have seen the US change so much as it relates to smoking that it is amazing. When I was a child, you could smoke in a hospital. Now there are places where it is illegal to smoke inside of a bar. How did this happen? One thing at a time. First no smoking in Hospitals (which is more than reasonable), then no smoking in movie theaters (also reasonable), then no smoking in elevators(reasonable again) but since people were comforgable with reasonable restrictions they slept right through the unreasonable ones.
I see the same thing happening now with RFID. No thank you. I'd rather pay a slightly higher price to make up for lost revenue from shoplifters than have RFID tags in everything that I buy.
LK
It's more like this. A shopkeeper lets you in. You are wearing a T shirt that he objects to so he kicks you out. The next day you ask to be let in by his wife/business partner and are granted access.
LK
The "gives permission by connecting to the Internet" argument is completely bogus because that would be talking about implied permission, and Intel specifically told Hamidi not to send the messages in question. An explicit withdrawal of permission trumps implied permission.
When there is an SMTP connection to their mail server, that mail server gives permission again for that content to be passed through.
So what we have is implied consent because they are connected to the internet, a withdrawal of that consent by their explicit request, and a reinstatement of the previously withdrawn consent because their mail server allowed the connection(s), accepted the messages and delivered them to their intended recipients.
LK
Something on slashdot what someone out there will probably actually create a Beowulf cluster of.
We have told the world that we don't need the Brits to invade Iraq. Britons are understandably pissed off that even they who have supported us are crap in the eyes of the radical right.
... that Kuwait is not associated with America." I don't believe that this was merely a miscommunication. You don't get to be an ambassador or Cabinet member without a long history of effective and successful communication.
It is not a matter of Right and Left. I am one of those whom you'd probably see as a part of the so called "radical right" (there is no such thing, but that is another discussion. With a few minor disagreements, I concur with you as it relates to this war.
When Saddam WAS acting the bully, he was our guy, and we didn't care. When he attacked our oil supply, he became the enemy. But he was always pathetic and helpless against any real enemy. He can't touch us, and has never shown any inclination to commit suicide by doing so.
To be honest, I don't believe that was it. The US had the opportunity to stop Saddam's invasion of Kuwait before it happened. Saddam was accusing Kuwait of stealing BILLIONS of dollars worth of oil from the oil reserve that lies beneath the border of both countries. He threatened to invade them for months, and the Iraqis were told by April Glaspie (the US ambassador to Iraq) "We have no opinion on your Arab-Arab conflicts, such as your dispute with Kuwait. Secretary [of State James] Baker has directed me to emphasize the instruction
We have told the world that we will torture if we want to. That the Geneva convention no longer applies to our prisoners.
To be fair, the US's idea of torture and the Iraqi idea of torture are light years apart. For the US torture is taping someone's eyelids open and exposing him to a strobe light, or tying him to a board and dumping a glass of water on his face a few times per minute. All of that aside, the biggest motivator of prisoners is to offer them passage to the US. "Hey, do you like steak? If you work with us, we can make sure that you get steak twice a week, if not we'll keep you awake for a solid week. Either way, we'll get what we want. The question is what do YOU want?"
We have told the world that they can go to commie hell if they want us to sign environmental treaties.
Don't forget that the current administration is ignoring the Salt II treaty with its missile sheild.
We have told the world we no longer need the U.N.
We (those of us on the so called 'far right') have been saying that for close to a decade.
We (Bush) have made it known we will punish economically anyone who opposes us.
Well, that is fair. In this country we boycott businesses at the drop of a hat. For most of the world, there is no greater motivator than the green stuff.
He is seemingly oblivious to the fact that our economy, via the money he borrows from abroad to pay for our tax cuts and military expansion, is financed by foreign investors. He thinks he can be a bully, but he is about to learn that he is, in fact, a beggar and a fool who is about to learn that he is NOT God's representive on Earth.
You are correct, on a small scale economic sanctions work wonderfully, but we are not a rich enough country to threaten the entire the globe.
I regret that I had to hold my nose and vote for GW in 2000, and even more I regret the fact that I will have to do so again in 2004.
LK
Is it compact? Sure. Is it a disc? Yup.
It's still a CD.
If it does not comply with the Red Book audio standard, it can't use the "Compact Disc Digital Audio" logo, well at least not without false advertising and possible lawsuit coming from Phillips for the misrepresentation.
LK
During WWII Hamburgers were called "Liberty Steak" and Frankfurters were called "Liberty Sausage".
Goofy? No doubt. Rare or new? Unfortunately not.
Shell casing are more often used as forensic evidence than balistics.
No. Have you ever heard of a revolver? Revolvers at least as often, and by some methods of analysis more often than autoloaders.
No once again, anonymous schema have been proposed many times.
By whom? When? Most recently, with the Washington DC area snipers, the plan proposed was definately not an anonymous database.
The NRA always casts this as the camels nose in the tent of a future mandatory registration policy.
Because it always is. If someone wants your wallet, can you negotiate with him? "Just take all except my last $5 because I need bus fare".
The people who are introducing and championing this legislation want to eliminate civillian firearms ownership. There is no point in compromise. A compromise will only embolden them, and perhaps sway a few of the people on the fence. Like it or not, people like to side with the winner. When one side picks up momentum, people who have been undecided will side with the group that looks like it is winning.
One of the nice things about tracking gunpower and not guns is that it sort of neatly finds a path through most NRA objections.
Then you find yourself arguing with the realist. Assuming for just a moment that there is no safety issue. Most shootings take place in geographically small areas. If there are several shootings in a bad (drug infested) neighborhood. Those taggants will be all over the place. How can you tell if someone is the shooter, a witness, or someone who happened to walk down the same hallway 15 minutes later?
I should think you would be on my side here.
There can be no compromise. The reason for this is obvious.
LK
No you could just have the signature be present an anonymous.
That's not what has been proposed. A ballistic fingerprint database is a tool for backdoor registration.
Currently shell casing from different crimes literally across the street from each other are often not corrlated if they occur in separate jurisdictions.
Shell casings are not a reliable way to track crimes, for one, not every shooting leaves behind a shell casing, and two a rat tail file and 30 seconds can change the markings left on a shell casing without effecting the reliability of the gun.
For example, millions of dollars are contributed to politcial campaigns by individual voters.
A split of %50 from the Democrats who donate and 50% from the Republicans keeps things pretty even.
The purpose of belonging to the NRA or NARAL or the EFF or any other group with a political agenda is to pool your resources because there is strength in numbers. Me writing a $1000 check to John Q. Politician is nothing on a national scale. When millions of people contribute to a PAC or the NRA and that money is presented to a political party, that means something. You're not just one man with an opinion, you're a part of a group who cares not only enough to donate, but more importantly, one that votes.
The prblem is the bottom end undercuts the market for safe waepons.
How many "unsafe" guns are on the market? Can you name any of them? It's a non-issue.
LK