I'm not trying to start a fight here, but please refute these points because I am curious about MD.
audio quality:
MD uses lossy compression. Is there no MP3 quality setting that compares? There must be. And if you are storing files on a 650 or 700MB CD-R, there's got to be a way where you get as much music as you can on a (128MB?) MD.
simplicity:
Depends too much on the device to compare categories. However, if you already have a load of MP3s, copying them to a CD-R is pretty easy.
cheap media:
A CD-R is pretty cheap. How much is a MiniDisc? Aren't they about $3? I could be wrong.
battery life:
I do not have a CD-R based MP3 player so I can't comment, but my geek intuition tells me that since both kinds of devices have spinning media, decoding hardware and audio hardware they will probably have similar battery life. Likewise I assume cost of the player is about the same too.
There are links to CD-based MP3 players on this page.
I own a PC that I use to rip my cds to mp3 LEGALLY...
The really offensive thing, besides the MJ music, is they just changed the definition of "legal" on us. You have the right to rip your CDs, but under the DMCA the publisher also has the right to stop you from doing so, and his right trumps your right.
I'm waiting for DVDs that won't play in computers next. It's only a matter of time.
Do you live in the US? Do you think your country should do nothing to protect its citizens? Don't get all hot and bothered about our foriegn policy, and causes of the attack and all that. It's irrelevant to this question.
Should we protect ourselves, or should we all just suck it up when someone blows the hell out of us? And I'm not talking about just the US. How should ANY country handle this?
Personally I don't give a frog's fat ass WHY this happened. Not today. Today I care about making sure it doesn't happen again. One thing at a time.
The Koran teaches that even during a Jihad (which this is not, as a holy war must be declared by an islamic cleric, which Bin Laden certainly isn't), you should not kill women, children or the elderly.
I'm sure that is true, but nonetheless all those people and then some are getting killed, by people who call themselves Muslims. So what's Whitey supposed to think? You hear that often enough and a message starts to sink in.
The worst part is that many Muslim nations are being less than enthusiastic in their support of the anti-terrorist coalition. From my European-descended white male TV news watching perspective, it looks like there's a pretty strong undercurrent of anti-West sentiment in Muslim society as a whole. I have read numerous AP stories about how even in friendly nations like Egypt Joe Citizen thinks that dead Americans are cool.
I am not blaming all Muslims. I don't know them all. But there sure as hell are some bad apples.
Do Muslims consider themselves men of their God first, or citizens of their nations first?
Do they believe that they must support all their Muslim brothers, no matter how different in belief a group may be?
Huzzah! Please repost this about 10 billion times so maybe it will sink in to some of the thick heads around here.
I wish people would realize that despite being white rich guys the Founding Fathers really had it down. They lived through a revolutionary war; they saw the levels government can sink to, and from their experience they crafted an amazing system of government that has protected liberty incredibly well.
As soon as anyone around here has the same kind of life experience as Sam Adams and TJ and the rest, I will start to take their opinion on how to change the Constitution seriously.
Look at each proposed limitation on freedom and clearly explain why it won't work.
Sorry pal -- as the one advocating the limitations, the burden of proof falls on you. Be specific. Look at each proposed limitation on freedom and clearly explain why it WILL work.
That may work in your country, but in America there are as many guns as there are cars, roughly. The bad guys have 'em for sure. Gun control arguments aside, as a matter of practicality the police simply must be armed here. (at least I don't have to rely on that; I carry my own, thank you very much.)
Interestingly, the UK has strict gun control but a I recall their latest stats show a great increase in illegal gun use anyway. Consequently, the famous "bobbies" are often packing heat now too.
This is why El-Al employs professionals in this capacity.
And that's great, and we should too, but don't get too complacent about the competence of those "professionals."
Do you know any cops? Friends of friends who are cops? If you do, start asking them about firearms training... how often they have to go, how well they have to shoot. You will likely find that most cops consider their firearms training to be a chore... a pain in the ass, to be taken care of as quickly as possible.
A disturbing number of cops can't even pass their periodic shooting qualification tests, and they get "do-overs" and other special treatment.
When I was in my early 20s I went to the cop range in Montebello, CA... a relative was the assistant rangemaster there. I took the cop qualifying course of fire. That was the 2nd time I had handled a pistol. And I passed, and I scored in the 50th percentile.
Did you get that? New shooter that I was at the time, I still did better than HALF THE DEPARTMENT. And while I do have some small talent for pistolcraft, I am NOT a prodigy. In fact, back then I plain sucked.
The fact is hobbyist shooters will very often be better shots than the police. Hobbyists LIKE their guns. They practice because it's fun. Have you ever seen a modern tactical pistol match? The master shooters are like damn SUPERHEROES, they can shoot so well. It's really amazing.
Most cops shoot a couple of times a year, when regs force them to, and they don't take the gun out of the holster in between.
True story from the Glendale CA PD: An officer (female, not that it matters) goes in for her qualifying, which happens twice a year there if I remember right. She goes into the range, draws and fires... and nothing happens. Turns out there was no magazine in her weapon. She had removed it after her last qualifying trial, months before, and never replaced it... and never noticed. D'oh!
True story, Bell, CA: Cops are hidden behind their car, exchanging fire with a criminal. I forget the specifics. Another cop drives up, runs over to them and joins in. As he shoots, he says, "Hey guys, what are we shooting at?" (This is not a joke.)
I got both those stories from eye witnesses in the departments.
I'm a big cop supporter, so don't flame me for those illustrations. I'm just pointing out that firearms skill is not generally a big cop strength until you get to the elite units.
Those El Al cops -- I bet they are pretty good though. Israel doesn't screw around in matters martial.
Since I almost never use my Linux box I can't give you a good comparison. But just try it out; it's free after all! But basically you can do anything on BSD that you can do on Linux, it's just how you get it done that differs. You might find that you prefer the BSD style if you try it.
IMHO a strength of FreeBSD is that there is JUST ONE of them. No distro wars. I realize that distros are an advantage themselves for some folks, but especially when I was a BSD newbie I really appreciated how easy it was to get answers to my questions. One OS, one core team, one great product.
The word "privacy" does not have to be mentioned. The word "shotgun" isn't in the Constitution either. I would say that the protection against unreasonable search and seizure IS the privacy protection.
Like other rights, the right to privacy can be abridged under some circumstances. You can be deprived of life and liberty if you have committed a crime. And with a COURT ORDER you can be deprived of privacy. There should always be a check like that, a protection against "unreasonable" measures.
It is not reasonable for all of a person's digital documents and communications to have no protection against government eavesdropping, as so many scared people are now advocating.
I seriously can't believe the sheep-like attitude from so many people around here.
The government has been tending towards more control for a long time. This is going to accelerate the process, and when the war is over -- in 6 months, or 6 years -- we'll be left with tattered civil rights if we don't take steps now to protect them.
Read the Constitution. It's the damn source code for our government.
The Constitution does not cover freedom of easy communication.
The Constitution doesn't have anything to say about how "hard" something has to be before it is protected. Sheesh. Try reading it. Start with the 4th Amendment.
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particu larly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
Did you see that bit about "papers?" They could not have conceived of a computer, but I bet the Founding Fathers would consider your computer files and communications to be your "papers" if they could be asked about it today. A machine for writing, and sending written messages to people with the same kind of machine... not a hard concept. Not something so alien that the Constitution should't apply to it.
If we sacrifice our freedoms, they are not coming back. Everyone just assumes that bad laws will evaporate, which is stupid wishful thinking. Don't let them turn us into a police state. We can win the coming conflict without doing that.
"Addiction" is a good term for some people. I may be one. Daily, I have a raft of web sites I have to read. Gotta keep up on the things I am interested in. If I don't get to, I get cranky. And that was way before the latest events. With a big story in the news, a story I care about anyway, I go on news binges like the article talked about.
The net has been a blessing and a curse for me. There are a million things I am interested in, with more coming up all the time. And now there is this wealth of info at my fingertips... It is often very hard to stop studying up my newest obsession and GET SOME DAMN WORK DONE.
Sounds like it could be an addiction to me, but i don't know the proper psychological criteria for the term.
Here's my question -- will this story be bigger than the O.J. Simpson trial?
I am not being a smartass. Please read on.
The OJ trial was the #1 story of EVERY news broadcast, EVERY DAY for about 2 years. Half of every broadcast was dedicated to OJ, it seemed. I used to think that was an LA thing, but people tell me it was the same way all over the country. You guys must remember this... it was insane how much coverage there was. If you used a TV or radio you could not escape it. Criminal trial, civil trial, custody hearings...
My friends used to joke about what might be a bigger news story. We had to come up with some pretty bizarre stuff before it sounded like it would beat OJ. And it all involved celebrities. Couldn't think of anything IMPORTANT that would get as much coverage.
I guess my real question is what the hell is wrong with us, where some washed up football guy makes the #1 story every day for so long? Are we truly only interested in shallow things like celebrities, or does real news like the current disaster have a chance with the people?
I will be very interested to see what the coverage looks like a year from now. Who will have the staying power, The Juice or Osama bin Laden? I want to believe that as a people we are not as shallow as we appear to be most of the time.
Unfortunately, now I will get to find out for sure. And I'm afraid I will find out that the world is right, that Americans are a shallow, forgetful people. Here's hoping I'm wrong.
For the morbidly curious, here's an OJ chronology. Insane how long it went on, and how important it seemed to people.
Great letter. Short enough for someone read completely, and well written. And you didn't even mention Linux, like so many other people who post their letters in the comments.
No government official needs to hear about Finnish software... gotta keep things in terms they can understand.
Are you aware that in those raids sometimes PEOPLE get broken? Sometimes the Feds come in and someone gets shot... and it is later revealed that they were at the wrong address. Bungles like that are not exactly rare.
Inviting more rambo-style searches is one of the worst things you can do for our society.
How do I communicate this problem to the vendor without strong encryption?
You'd be crazy to report a security flaw like that. If the company with the flawed product was vindictive or just stupid, they'd try to get you thrown in the slammer as some kind of computer terrorist. Security through Obscurity is a stone's throw from Security through Repression of the Facts and the Destruction of Those Who Would Reveal Us as Incompetent.
When it comes to computer security, the good Samaritan is an endangered species.
Clearly, what we need is DENIABLE crypto. "I swear, officer, the password was 'sexgod123'. Yes, I DID encrypt my mother's apple pie recipe. It is a family secret. I am cooperating fully though, aren't I? Prove I'm NOT, YOU SMUG BASTARD! Oops, did I say that out loud?"
Meanwhile, someone else can decrypt the file with password #2, revealing the actual secret data. The crypto would have to hide the very presence of the "real" data, giving up the false data when the right passphrase was used.
I presume there is no math stating that such a system is impossible, but I'm no Doc Crypto.
Keep in mind that those towns are pretty small. How would this make my city of 3.5 million people safer?
I live in Seattle, where anyone can carry a gun as long as they have these 2 things:
1. $60
2. Nothing bad on their record
Is Seattle famous for its high violent crime rate?
MOST US states have similar "shall-issue" weapon permits... if there was a correlation between such laws and increases in crime, wouldn't someone have pointed it out by now? The states and Feds collect a lot of crime data. Surely it would be obvious by now. There are enough people with an anti-gun agenda, wouldn't Brady or someone like that have presented the irrefutable proof that gun permits cause carnage?
It's strange, I wouldn't trust the average guy on the street to fix my hamburger right. But I'll be damned if they don't manage to carry a gun responsibly most of the time when they are given the right to do so. Pretty weird.
You might want to read this summary of Gary Kleck's study on defensive gun use.
This page has a summary of crime stats that relate to CCWs. Quick factoid: Florida's homicide rate has declined 21% since adopting a permissive CCW law in 1987. This is not an unusual kind of result.
I realize that figure does not PROVE that concealed weapons reduce crime. But it does seem to indicate that a CCW law doesn't turn a state into a bloodbath.
Give your fellow American a little more credit. Surprisingly, they seem to deserve it.
I'd be willing to give up some privacy freedoms to prevent this sort of thing from happening - random search and siezure for instance.
Please god, tell me you don't vote. That's crazy talk. It's seriously OK with you if the Black Jumpsuit Gang busts your door down at 3AM for no reason at all?
I am quite a conspiracy buff, and the world's hugest cynic, but I do not believe that our government would sit back and allow an attack like this would happen. So you do; that's fine. I don't want to argue that point. Difference of opinion... still legal is 43 states.
But I want to ask you this: if you believe that the government allowed the WTC attack to happen, do you not consider that an act of war against the populace? Is that not sufficient reason to depose the government by any means necessary?
Wouldn't that be enough to start another civil war, if everyone knew and believed?
If you really believe this, what do you propose doing next? Are you just going to sit back and take it?
Sure, in the 1700's, people with shotguns might have been a credible threat to the government. But have you noticed that the US government today enjoys the use of such toys as F-16s and nuclear weapons? How will owning a shotgun help defend you against that?
The F16 and the nuke are weapons of mass destruction. For the government to PACIFY the people, they will have to OCCUPY our cities -- not destroy them. And an occupying force is terribly vulnerable to resistance.
In the worst case scenario of a US revolution, the army will be rolling in with tanks and ranks of guys with rifles... and that's the kind of enemy that Joe Average with a Gun can in fact take on.
Look at Chechnya. The Russians had to shell Grozny into a smoking pile of rubble because the Red Army could not deal with rebels with rifles. If it was Moscow that was to be pacified, they probably wouldn't have gone to such extreme measures; the Russians HATE the Chechens.
I do not believe the American armed forces would pull a Grozny on an American city. Remember, the soldiers are our countrymen, and if average people were pissed off enough to take part in a revolution, that's going to include military folks too. They aren't the enemy... they are US.
If some faction within the gov't started NUKING our own cities, I believe that the vast majority of our people, military and civilian, would unite to take the bastards out. And we'd do it too, with our Glocks and hunting rifles and fighting spirit.
Anyway, it comes down to this: if the military tries to suppress or pacify an American revolution, they are vulnerable and I believe ultimately they will lose. If they try to utterly destroy us with nukes... well, ok, my shotgun won't help. But that isn't a revolution we're talking about there... it's genocide. I doubt things would ever come to that. We probably won't be nuking anybody as a result of the WTC attack, and that was a provocation worse than Pearl Harbor... so talk of nuking ourselves is pretty far out there.
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I'm not trying to start a fight here, but please refute these points because I am curious about MD.
audio quality:
MD uses lossy compression. Is there no MP3 quality setting that compares? There must be. And if you are storing files on a 650 or 700MB CD-R, there's got to be a way where you get as much music as you can on a (128MB?) MD.
simplicity:
Depends too much on the device to compare categories. However, if you already have a load of MP3s, copying them to a CD-R is pretty easy.
cheap media:
A CD-R is pretty cheap. How much is a MiniDisc? Aren't they about $3? I could be wrong.
battery life:
I do not have a CD-R based MP3 player so I can't comment, but my geek intuition tells me that since both kinds of devices have spinning media, decoding hardware and audio hardware they will probably have similar battery life. Likewise I assume cost of the player is about the same too.
There are links to CD-based MP3 players on this page.
I own a PC that I use to rip my cds to mp3 LEGALLY...
The really offensive thing, besides the MJ music, is they just changed the definition of "legal" on us. You have the right to rip your CDs, but under the DMCA the publisher also has the right to stop you from doing so, and his right trumps your right.
I'm waiting for DVDs that won't play in computers next. It's only a matter of time.
So don't tell me Christians are any better than Muslims.
And where did I say that?
Do you live in the US? Do you think your country should do nothing to protect its citizens? Don't get all hot and bothered about our foriegn policy, and causes of the attack and all that. It's irrelevant to this question.
Should we protect ourselves, or should we all just suck it up when someone blows the hell out of us? And I'm not talking about just the US. How should ANY country handle this?
Personally I don't give a frog's fat ass WHY this happened. Not today. Today I care about making sure it doesn't happen again. One thing at a time.
The Koran teaches that even during a Jihad (which this is not, as a holy war must be declared by an islamic cleric, which Bin Laden certainly isn't), you should not kill women, children or the elderly.
I'm sure that is true, but nonetheless all those people and then some are getting killed, by people who call themselves Muslims. So what's Whitey supposed to think? You hear that often enough and a message starts to sink in.
The worst part is that many Muslim nations are being less than enthusiastic in their support of the anti-terrorist coalition. From my European-descended white male TV news watching perspective, it looks like there's a pretty strong undercurrent of anti-West sentiment in Muslim society as a whole. I have read numerous AP stories about how even in friendly nations like Egypt Joe Citizen thinks that dead Americans are cool.
I am not blaming all Muslims. I don't know them all. But there sure as hell are some bad apples.
Do Muslims consider themselves men of their God first, or citizens of their nations first?
Do they believe that they must support all their Muslim brothers, no matter how different in belief a group may be?
Man... when did things get so screwed up?
Huzzah! Please repost this about 10 billion times so maybe it will sink in to some of the thick heads around here.
I wish people would realize that despite being white rich guys the Founding Fathers really had it down. They lived through a revolutionary war; they saw the levels government can sink to, and from their experience they crafted an amazing system of government that has protected liberty incredibly well.
As soon as anyone around here has the same kind of life experience as Sam Adams and TJ and the rest, I will start to take their opinion on how to change the Constitution seriously.
Look at each proposed limitation on freedom and clearly explain why it won't work.
Sorry pal -- as the one advocating the limitations, the burden of proof falls on you. Be specific. Look at each proposed limitation on freedom and clearly explain why it WILL work.
That may work in your country, but in America there are as many guns as there are cars, roughly. The bad guys have 'em for sure. Gun control arguments aside, as a matter of practicality the police simply must be armed here. (at least I don't have to rely on that; I carry my own, thank you very much.)
Interestingly, the UK has strict gun control but a I recall their latest stats show a great increase in illegal gun use anyway. Consequently, the famous "bobbies" are often packing heat now too.
This is why El-Al employs professionals in this capacity.
And that's great, and we should too, but don't get too complacent about the competence of those "professionals."
Do you know any cops? Friends of friends who are cops? If you do, start asking them about firearms training... how often they have to go, how well they have to shoot. You will likely find that most cops consider their firearms training to be a chore... a pain in the ass, to be taken care of as quickly as possible.
A disturbing number of cops can't even pass their periodic shooting qualification tests, and they get "do-overs" and other special treatment.
When I was in my early 20s I went to the cop range in Montebello, CA... a relative was the assistant rangemaster there. I took the cop qualifying course of fire. That was the 2nd time I had handled a pistol. And I passed, and I scored in the 50th percentile.
Did you get that? New shooter that I was at the time, I still did better than HALF THE DEPARTMENT. And while I do have some small talent for pistolcraft, I am NOT a prodigy. In fact, back then I plain sucked.
The fact is hobbyist shooters will very often be better shots than the police. Hobbyists LIKE their guns. They practice because it's fun. Have you ever seen a modern tactical pistol match? The master shooters are like damn SUPERHEROES, they can shoot so well. It's really amazing.
Most cops shoot a couple of times a year, when regs force them to, and they don't take the gun out of the holster in between.
True story from the Glendale CA PD: An officer (female, not that it matters) goes in for her qualifying, which happens twice a year there if I remember right. She goes into the range, draws and fires... and nothing happens. Turns out there was no magazine in her weapon. She had removed it after her last qualifying trial, months before, and never replaced it... and never noticed. D'oh!
True story, Bell, CA: Cops are hidden behind their car, exchanging fire with a criminal. I forget the specifics. Another cop drives up, runs over to them and joins in. As he shoots, he says, "Hey guys, what are we shooting at?" (This is not a joke.)
I got both those stories from eye witnesses in the departments.
I'm a big cop supporter, so don't flame me for those illustrations. I'm just pointing out that firearms skill is not generally a big cop strength until you get to the elite units.
Those El Al cops -- I bet they are pretty good though. Israel doesn't screw around in matters martial.
Since I almost never use my Linux box I can't give you a good comparison. But just try it out; it's free after all! But basically you can do anything on BSD that you can do on Linux, it's just how you get it done that differs. You might find that you prefer the BSD style if you try it.
IMHO a strength of FreeBSD is that there is JUST ONE of them. No distro wars. I realize that distros are an advantage themselves for some folks, but especially when I was a BSD newbie I really appreciated how easy it was to get answers to my questions. One OS, one core team, one great product.
The word "privacy" does not have to be mentioned. The word "shotgun" isn't in the Constitution either. I would say that the protection against unreasonable search and seizure IS the privacy protection.
Like other rights, the right to privacy can be abridged under some circumstances. You can be deprived of life and liberty if you have committed a crime. And with a COURT ORDER you can be deprived of privacy. There should always be a check like that, a protection against "unreasonable" measures.
It is not reasonable for all of a person's digital documents and communications to have no protection against government eavesdropping, as so many scared people are now advocating.
Mod this guy up.
I seriously can't believe the sheep-like attitude from so many people around here.
The government has been tending towards more control for a long time. This is going to accelerate the process, and when the war is over -- in 6 months, or 6 years -- we'll be left with tattered civil rights if we don't take steps now to protect them.
Read the Constitution. It's the damn source code for our government.
The Constitution does not cover freedom of easy communication.
The Constitution doesn't have anything to say about how "hard" something has to be before it is protected. Sheesh. Try reading it. Start with the 4th Amendment.
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particu larly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
Did you see that bit about "papers?" They could not have conceived of a computer, but I bet the Founding Fathers would consider your computer files and communications to be your "papers" if they could be asked about it today. A machine for writing, and sending written messages to people with the same kind of machine... not a hard concept. Not something so alien that the Constitution should't apply to it.
If we sacrifice our freedoms, they are not coming back. Everyone just assumes that bad laws will evaporate, which is stupid wishful thinking. Don't let them turn us into a police state. We can win the coming conflict without doing that.
"Addiction" is a good term for some people. I may be one. Daily, I have a raft of web sites I have to read. Gotta keep up on the things I am interested in. If I don't get to, I get cranky. And that was way before the latest events. With a big story in the news, a story I care about anyway, I go on news binges like the article talked about.
The net has been a blessing and a curse for me. There are a million things I am interested in, with more coming up all the time. And now there is this wealth of info at my fingertips... It is often very hard to stop studying up my newest obsession and GET SOME DAMN WORK DONE.
Sounds like it could be an addiction to me, but i don't know the proper psychological criteria for the term.
Here's my question -- will this story be bigger than the O.J. Simpson trial?
I am not being a smartass. Please read on.
The OJ trial was the #1 story of EVERY news broadcast, EVERY DAY for about 2 years. Half of every broadcast was dedicated to OJ, it seemed. I used to think that was an LA thing, but people tell me it was the same way all over the country. You guys must remember this... it was insane how much coverage there was. If you used a TV or radio you could not escape it. Criminal trial, civil trial, custody hearings...
My friends used to joke about what might be a bigger news story. We had to come up with some pretty bizarre stuff before it sounded like it would beat OJ. And it all involved celebrities. Couldn't think of anything IMPORTANT that would get as much coverage.
I guess my real question is what the hell is wrong with us, where some washed up football guy makes the #1 story every day for so long? Are we truly only interested in shallow things like celebrities, or does real news like the current disaster have a chance with the people?
I will be very interested to see what the coverage looks like a year from now. Who will have the staying power, The Juice or Osama bin Laden? I want to believe that as a people we are not as shallow as we appear to be most of the time.
Unfortunately, now I will get to find out for sure. And I'm afraid I will find out that the world is right, that Americans are a shallow, forgetful people. Here's hoping I'm wrong.
For the morbidly curious, here's an OJ chronology. Insane how long it went on, and how important it seemed to people.
Great letter. Short enough for someone read completely, and well written. And you didn't even mention Linux, like so many other people who post their letters in the comments.
No government official needs to hear about Finnish software... gotta keep things in terms they can understand.
Are you aware that in those raids sometimes PEOPLE get broken? Sometimes the Feds come in and someone gets shot... and it is later revealed that they were at the wrong address. Bungles like that are not exactly rare.
Inviting more rambo-style searches is one of the worst things you can do for our society.
How do I communicate this problem to the vendor without strong encryption?
You'd be crazy to report a security flaw like that. If the company with the flawed product was vindictive or just stupid, they'd try to get you thrown in the slammer as some kind of computer terrorist. Security through Obscurity is a stone's throw from Security through Repression of the Facts and the Destruction of Those Who Would Reveal Us as Incompetent.
When it comes to computer security, the good Samaritan is an endangered species.
Clearly, what we need is DENIABLE crypto. "I swear, officer, the password was 'sexgod123'. Yes, I DID encrypt my mother's apple pie recipe. It is a family secret. I am cooperating fully though, aren't I? Prove I'm NOT, YOU SMUG BASTARD! Oops, did I say that out loud?"
Meanwhile, someone else can decrypt the file with password #2, revealing the actual secret data. The crypto would have to hide the very presence of the "real" data, giving up the false data when the right passphrase was used.
I presume there is no math stating that such a system is impossible, but I'm no Doc Crypto.
Keep in mind that those towns are pretty small. How would this make my city of 3.5 million people safer?
I live in Seattle, where anyone can carry a gun as long as they have these 2 things:
1. $60
2. Nothing bad on their record
Is Seattle famous for its high violent crime rate?
MOST US states have similar "shall-issue" weapon permits... if there was a correlation between such laws and increases in crime, wouldn't someone have pointed it out by now? The states and Feds collect a lot of crime data. Surely it would be obvious by now. There are enough people with an anti-gun agenda, wouldn't Brady or someone like that have presented the irrefutable proof that gun permits cause carnage?
It's strange, I wouldn't trust the average guy on the street to fix my hamburger right. But I'll be damned if they don't manage to carry a gun responsibly most of the time when they are given the right to do so. Pretty weird.
You might want to read this summary of Gary Kleck's study on defensive gun use.
This page has a summary of crime stats that relate to CCWs. Quick factoid: Florida's homicide rate has declined 21% since adopting a permissive CCW law in 1987. This is not an unusual kind of result.
I realize that figure does not PROVE that concealed weapons reduce crime. But it does seem to indicate that a CCW law doesn't turn a state into a bloodbath.
Give your fellow American a little more credit. Surprisingly, they seem to deserve it.
I'd be willing to give up some privacy freedoms to prevent this sort of thing from happening - random search and siezure for instance.
Please god, tell me you don't vote. That's crazy talk. It's seriously OK with you if the Black Jumpsuit Gang busts your door down at 3AM for no reason at all?
I am quite a conspiracy buff, and the world's hugest cynic, but I do not believe that our government would sit back and allow an attack like this would happen. So you do; that's fine. I don't want to argue that point. Difference of opinion... still legal is 43 states.
But I want to ask you this: if you believe that the government allowed the WTC attack to happen, do you not consider that an act of war against the populace? Is that not sufficient reason to depose the government by any means necessary?
Wouldn't that be enough to start another civil war, if everyone knew and believed?
If you really believe this, what do you propose doing next? Are you just going to sit back and take it?
I would like to talk more with you about my plans to implement airline ticket waiting periods. It's a sensible measure, wouldn't you say?
Ultimately we may be able to move to some kind of national "instant check" system, where air travel plans could be delayed as little as 3 days.
THINK OF THE CHILDREN!
Sure, in the 1700's, people with shotguns might have been a credible threat to the government. But have you noticed that the US government today enjoys the use of such toys as F-16s and nuclear weapons? How will owning a shotgun help defend you against that?
The F16 and the nuke are weapons of mass destruction. For the government to PACIFY the people, they will have to OCCUPY our cities -- not destroy them. And an occupying force is terribly vulnerable to resistance.
In the worst case scenario of a US revolution, the army will be rolling in with tanks and ranks of guys with rifles... and that's the kind of enemy that Joe Average with a Gun can in fact take on.
Look at Chechnya. The Russians had to shell Grozny into a smoking pile of rubble because the Red Army could not deal with rebels with rifles. If it was Moscow that was to be pacified, they probably wouldn't have gone to such extreme measures; the Russians HATE the Chechens.
I do not believe the American armed forces would pull a Grozny on an American city. Remember, the soldiers are our countrymen, and if average people were pissed off enough to take part in a revolution, that's going to include military folks too. They aren't the enemy... they are US.
If some faction within the gov't started NUKING our own cities, I believe that the vast majority of our people, military and civilian, would unite to take the bastards out. And we'd do it too, with our Glocks and hunting rifles and fighting spirit.
Anyway, it comes down to this: if the military tries to suppress or pacify an American revolution, they are vulnerable and I believe ultimately they will lose. If they try to utterly destroy us with nukes... well, ok, my shotgun won't help. But that isn't a revolution we're talking about there... it's genocide. I doubt things would ever come to that. We probably won't be nuking anybody as a result of the WTC attack, and that was a provocation worse than Pearl Harbor... so talk of nuking ourselves is pretty far out there.
Enjoy this conversation while you can. It will probably be illegal to talk about this inside of a year.
I am surprised that no one has proposed an airline ticket waiting period yet. It would help just as much as this stupid crypto law.