If you think that the mortgage payment is the only cost associated with owning a home, I suggest you acquaint yourself with Property Taxes, Maintenance/Upkeep on homes, and such before you purchase one yourself. While he's certainly capable of paying them for the next few centuries or so, the upkeep and taxes on a $70 million property aren't exactly going to be negligible.
Actually, it didn't work. If you make every offense a capital one, even minor offenders are now faced with a choice of obeying the law (and dying), or revolution. When every minor offender is suddenly a recruit for a rebel army, well, that tends to undermine the authority of the state rather than increase it. It's probably worth noting that the Qin dynasty was one of the shortest in Chinese history.
The "War on Drugs" has been as serious, if not moreso, of a driver in the infringement of civil liberties than terrorism. Terrorism may have been the angle to push through many of the changes, but the "War on Drugs" is where it's being put to use. See Parallel Construction, Civil Asset Forfeiture, and similar topics. That this particular article focuses on the UK shouldn't distract from the fact that we're facing the same thing here in the USA.
It's a plausible hypothesis, but it's easily disproved by the fact that the amount of monetary losses to Sony Pictures from the hack will vastly outweigh any increase in profits they could possibly make from the movie.
Perhaps I should have phrased things in better context. North Korea is an unrepentant rogue state that threatens, and occasionally attacks, just about anyone within its reach (save for its protector, China). For the most part though, aside from some things like the bombing of KAL 858, North Korea's reach has historically been limited in that regard. The internet has apparently changed that, and their reach extends pretty much anywhere around the world... nor do I think that they're likely to stop or change any of this behavior if things continue as they have.
The balloons carried with them USBs containing Korean-language versions of Wikipedia, 500,000 leaflets, DVDs with South Korean TV dramas and radios able to be tuned to foreign broadcasts.
"Mr Gladstein says most North Koreans do not have access to technology.
"Obviously high level military and political figures have access to pretty much anything you'd expect to have in a similar sized city or country, with the exception that it is not connected to the outside world."
"So they have access to the intranet, which is a closed internal-only internet. But that's just the elite, the average North Korean, many of them do have TV and DVD players that have actually been provided to them by the government so that the government can show its propaganda."
He says the most effective media is probably still DVDs.
They were, yes. I already had ordered my ticket from a minor chain (not one of those who chickened out). Furthermore, the US Government is now openly attributing the hack to North Korea (according to CNN). What I want to know is what we (for any of the appropriate values of 'we') are going to do about this, because this kind of thing cannot be allowed to go on.
In defense of Sony (I know, right?), the vast majority of Theater chains had already balked, so they probably figure they're cutting their losses. It certainly doesn't make Sony look any better, but it was the Theater chains that panicked, not Sony.
DHS openly stated they don't think there was any credible threat. Major theater chains panicked anyway. Seems sort of telling how much stock they put in that, doesn't it?
Unfortunately all five of the major chains had backed out. Luckily for me, when I do go see movies in a theater I usually do so at Alamo Drafthouse, so I can drink beer while watching. At least prior to Sony's announcement, Alamo hadn't backed out (and it wouldn't be their style either), so this just confirms that I'll be skipping the major chains in the future.
Sort of like how the current Atari is nothing to do with the 1980s Atari except for the name and the logo. Short version though, I think increased competition like this can only be a good thing. If small companies start doing fiber buildouts, it'll kick the incumbents like Comcast into having to step up their game to compete rather than just sitting on their backsides collecting rents. It's already happened in the areas Google Fiber showed up.
Agreed, some fields need a specific degree (Engineering, Physics/Biology/Chemistry/etc) while others such as many Computer related ones will care as much (if not more than) about practical and work experience.
Depending on what field you want to go into, the Military can be a very good option. It's a large part of how I made the transition from History major to Network Security. The Military doesn't care what your past experience is (it can be a plus, but never a minus), just what your aptitude test scores are. They will pay to send you to the appropriate training for your field, and if you have existing student loan debt, they have a program to pay that off too (it's how I paid off mine) in lieu of receiving the Montgomery GI Bill. Note that this applies to the Army, not necessarily the other services - I can't speak directly for how much choice you get in which field you go into in the others, but the Army at least will put your choice of training into the written contract. Once I finished my time in the Army, I found that the fact that I had a BA in History didn't matter so much as the fact that I had a degree, I had work experience/certifications/etc. If anything, it was a positive, as I had somewhat better overall communications skills (writing/etc) than many of my counterparts that came from a purely technical background.
It's certainly feasible. It takes political will, but more importantly it takes _Money_. All of that stuff is going to cost money. It's not so simple a matter as saying "Well we already spend $X on Y, let's put it on Z instead." You have to house those soldiers and feed them. Field operations are an increased cost over using the established housing and facilities on their old bases. Trucks using fuel moving food/water/etc. That said, it's certainly in the realm of possibility. Congress isn't interested in paying, and it's not just a matter of the left not wanting to stop immigrants. The entire reason the President was able to make his most recent order on how to prioritize deportations is because the law Congress passed only allocates enough money to deport a small fraction of the people here, and gives him the authority to prioritize how it's spent. They're certainly able to try and pass a new law changing that, or to spend money to really secure the border, but they're not likely to do that.
Correct. The Irish Government's position is that the Mutual Assistance Treaty covers this, and is the appropriate method for the US to use to get access to the data.
Only one person has gone to jail over this - John Kiriakou, a whistleblower who was prosecuted for revealing classified information about this activity.
What about John Kiriakou? He was a whistleblower on some of this stuff, and part of (if not the entire) reason we even know about this stuff. What happened to him? Oh, right, he got thrown in federal prison for his troubles.
What's really sad is how much of this wasn't done by actual skilled interrogators, who know that torture is not only amoral but also horribly counterproductive to getting good intelligence. I've worked with some of those guys, and they're really good at what they do - and would have nothing to do with anything of this sort. Experts like Ali Soufan have long debunked the kind of myths that surround crimes like these - and that's what they are, crimes. There's no justification or excuse for it whatsoever.
I'm reminded of a quote I once heard from a U.S. Army interrogator (paraphrasing a bit to make the context and intent clear):
"Torture and Drugs are something people do for fun - they're not used for gathering intelligence."
This has mostly been my experience. Certs will help get you an interview, but they won't get you the job if you don't know your stuff. If you know your stuff, and have some kind of prior experience, anyplace decent should have no problem hiring you. The only exception to that is in some government/government contracting work, where specific certifications are required by federal regulations (like DoD 8570), and they have to have someone with one of those certs in that seat.
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If you think that the mortgage payment is the only cost associated with owning a home, I suggest you acquaint yourself with Property Taxes, Maintenance/Upkeep on homes, and such before you purchase one yourself. While he's certainly capable of paying them for the next few centuries or so, the upkeep and taxes on a $70 million property aren't exactly going to be negligible.
Actually, it didn't work. If you make every offense a capital one, even minor offenders are now faced with a choice of obeying the law (and dying), or revolution. When every minor offender is suddenly a recruit for a rebel army, well, that tends to undermine the authority of the state rather than increase it. It's probably worth noting that the Qin dynasty was one of the shortest in Chinese history.
The "War on Drugs" has been as serious, if not moreso, of a driver in the infringement of civil liberties than terrorism. Terrorism may have been the angle to push through many of the changes, but the "War on Drugs" is where it's being put to use. See Parallel Construction, Civil Asset Forfeiture, and similar topics. That this particular article focuses on the UK shouldn't distract from the fact that we're facing the same thing here in the USA.
It's a plausible hypothesis, but it's easily disproved by the fact that the amount of monetary losses to Sony Pictures from the hack will vastly outweigh any increase in profits they could possibly make from the movie.
Perhaps I should have phrased things in better context. North Korea is an unrepentant rogue state that threatens, and occasionally attacks, just about anyone within its reach (save for its protector, China). For the most part though, aside from some things like the bombing of KAL 858, North Korea's reach has historically been limited in that regard. The internet has apparently changed that, and their reach extends pretty much anywhere around the world... nor do I think that they're likely to stop or change any of this behavior if things continue as they have.
According to this - http://www.abc.net.au/news/201... - many of them do.
Key quote:
The balloons carried with them USBs containing Korean-language versions of Wikipedia, 500,000 leaflets, DVDs with South Korean TV dramas and radios able to be tuned to foreign broadcasts.
"Mr Gladstein says most North Koreans do not have access to technology.
"Obviously high level military and political figures have access to pretty much anything you'd expect to have in a similar sized city or country, with the exception that it is not connected to the outside world."
"So they have access to the intranet, which is a closed internal-only internet. But that's just the elite, the average North Korean, many of them do have TV and DVD players that have actually been provided to them by the government so that the government can show its propaganda."
He says the most effective media is probably still DVDs.
They were, yes. I already had ordered my ticket from a minor chain (not one of those who chickened out). Furthermore, the US Government is now openly attributing the hack to North Korea (according to CNN). What I want to know is what we (for any of the appropriate values of 'we') are going to do about this, because this kind of thing cannot be allowed to go on.
In defense of Sony (I know, right?), the vast majority of Theater chains had already balked, so they probably figure they're cutting their losses. It certainly doesn't make Sony look any better, but it was the Theater chains that panicked, not Sony.
DHS openly stated they don't think there was any credible threat. Major theater chains panicked anyway. Seems sort of telling how much stock they put in that, doesn't it?
Unfortunately. Screw North Korea for making me feel sympathy for Sony Pictures.
Unfortunately all five of the major chains had backed out. Luckily for me, when I do go see movies in a theater I usually do so at Alamo Drafthouse, so I can drink beer while watching. At least prior to Sony's announcement, Alamo hadn't backed out (and it wouldn't be their style either), so this just confirms that I'll be skipping the major chains in the future.
Sony should give free license to the South Korean groups that send balloons over the North Korean border to include DVD copies of this movie.
Sort of like how the current Atari is nothing to do with the 1980s Atari except for the name and the logo. Short version though, I think increased competition like this can only be a good thing. If small companies start doing fiber buildouts, it'll kick the incumbents like Comcast into having to step up their game to compete rather than just sitting on their backsides collecting rents. It's already happened in the areas Google Fiber showed up.
Obligatory What-If XKCD: http://what-if.xkcd.com/12/
Agreed, some fields need a specific degree (Engineering, Physics/Biology/Chemistry/etc) while others such as many Computer related ones will care as much (if not more than) about practical and work experience.
Depending on what field you want to go into, the Military can be a very good option. It's a large part of how I made the transition from History major to Network Security. The Military doesn't care what your past experience is (it can be a plus, but never a minus), just what your aptitude test scores are. They will pay to send you to the appropriate training for your field, and if you have existing student loan debt, they have a program to pay that off too (it's how I paid off mine) in lieu of receiving the Montgomery GI Bill. Note that this applies to the Army, not necessarily the other services - I can't speak directly for how much choice you get in which field you go into in the others, but the Army at least will put your choice of training into the written contract. Once I finished my time in the Army, I found that the fact that I had a BA in History didn't matter so much as the fact that I had a degree, I had work experience/certifications/etc. If anything, it was a positive, as I had somewhat better overall communications skills (writing/etc) than many of my counterparts that came from a purely technical background.
It's certainly feasible. It takes political will, but more importantly it takes _Money_. All of that stuff is going to cost money. It's not so simple a matter as saying "Well we already spend $X on Y, let's put it on Z instead." You have to house those soldiers and feed them. Field operations are an increased cost over using the established housing and facilities on their old bases. Trucks using fuel moving food/water/etc. That said, it's certainly in the realm of possibility. Congress isn't interested in paying, and it's not just a matter of the left not wanting to stop immigrants. The entire reason the President was able to make his most recent order on how to prioritize deportations is because the law Congress passed only allocates enough money to deport a small fraction of the people here, and gives him the authority to prioritize how it's spent. They're certainly able to try and pass a new law changing that, or to spend money to really secure the border, but they're not likely to do that.
Correct. The Irish Government's position is that the Mutual Assistance Treaty covers this, and is the appropriate method for the US to use to get access to the data.
Nevermind the fact that as a result of the torture he suffered, McCain cannot (fully) raise his hands anymore.
Only one person has gone to jail over this - John Kiriakou, a whistleblower who was prosecuted for revealing classified information about this activity.
What about John Kiriakou? He was a whistleblower on some of this stuff, and part of (if not the entire) reason we even know about this stuff. What happened to him? Oh, right, he got thrown in federal prison for his troubles.
Yes. What this underscored for me was just how much Cheney and his ilk were in control of things than had been suspected.
What's really sad is how much of this wasn't done by actual skilled interrogators, who know that torture is not only amoral but also horribly counterproductive to getting good intelligence. I've worked with some of those guys, and they're really good at what they do - and would have nothing to do with anything of this sort. Experts like Ali Soufan have long debunked the kind of myths that surround crimes like these - and that's what they are, crimes. There's no justification or excuse for it whatsoever.
I'm reminded of a quote I once heard from a U.S. Army interrogator (paraphrasing a bit to make the context and intent clear): "Torture and Drugs are something people do for fun - they're not used for gathering intelligence."
This has mostly been my experience. Certs will help get you an interview, but they won't get you the job if you don't know your stuff. If you know your stuff, and have some kind of prior experience, anyplace decent should have no problem hiring you. The only exception to that is in some government/government contracting work, where specific certifications are required by federal regulations (like DoD 8570), and they have to have someone with one of those certs in that seat.