"For the rest of us (non-Americans), we think a love of guns and a feeling of necessity to own fire-arms by U.S. citizens is as fucked up as it is in the Middle East for ordinary citizens to own automatic military assault rifles. "
Lots of us think your utter submission to your governments, preference for the safety of lawbreakers over personal self-defense, and general sheeple tendencies aren't admirable either. You've traded freedom for (the perception of) security as is your right, but that only works in certain situations and assumes benign government.
The Middle Eastern populace clearly needs them for self-defense, and even the Coalition forces in Iraq allow one per household. If you cannot use force to protect yourself you have no _effective_ right to self-defense.
While those of you who are totally comfortable with your government controlling your lives and who live in areas without violent demographic/sectarian/criminal conflict may not care for firearms, they do go a long way to ensure sovereignty over ones own space.
Americans killed their way to freedom in the Revolution, killed those who supported slavery until they surrendered at Appomattox, and if the government gets bad enough will vote with the bullet again. We tolerate quite a bit of corporate abuse, as do the rest of you, but woe betide the government that goes too far. Mao was right, political power does flow from the barrel of a gun, and the requirement to kill opponents who won't respond to reason means that the tools to do that are worth keeping.
Both self and wife have used firearms in self-defense without firing them. We live in a rural area where the cops can't do more than react (clean up the mess), so relying on the kindness of others isn't a good idea. If you don't have a gun, anyone physicallly superior to you can do what they will.
"Is BP paying those fishermen for the next 40 years of lost work?"
BP can always attribute fishing losses to the Dead Zone created by river runoff. No one who matters is even raising that as an issue, though it preceded and will outlive the (comparatively) minor damage from Macondo.
Fertilizer runoff lacks the drama of crispy oil rigs...
"It does make a distinct sound and sounds like that in a war-zone can have a terrifying effect, psychologically on enemy troops."
Until they learn to range it by sound and take countermeasures...
"Frightfulness" gets the low-hanging fruit, but disciplined men have stood incredible barrages (WWI being the best example) and stood fast despite losing tens of thousands killed in a single day.
"Ddosers likely think that they are attacking the big corporate giants but instead it's just the network admins who get all the shit and still desperately try to keep the sites up."
What Linux proponents are missing is that for users Windows is the computer, replacements must be the same as Windows, and anything that is different requires reacting to the difference.
_Users_ have no reason and will never have a reason to think differently so they don't think differently. The cost of Windows is only a factor to those paying for it, and is low enough not to be a concern to anyone else who matters.
"Imagine if you made it so if you pull the arm to one side. Then instead of stopping, the device kept moving you arm around your body, and ripped off a limb. "
That's why you design in adjustable POSITIVE MECHANICAL STOPS.
Analogy: Cars are complex, guardrails less so, for appropriate reasons.
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I was indeed referring to the racism, which is the central theme of the book.
The Turner Diaries etc don't define US gun culture, which is quite diverse.
This guy is no closet Klansman waiting for the Apocalypse:
http://catb.org/esr/guns/
Nor is she:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/7/4/881431/-Why-liberals-should-love-the-Second-Amendment
"For the rest of us (non-Americans), we think a love of guns and a feeling of necessity to own fire-arms by U.S. citizens is as fucked up as it is in the Middle East for ordinary citizens to own automatic military assault rifles. "
Lots of us think your utter submission to your governments, preference for the safety of lawbreakers over personal self-defense, and general sheeple tendencies aren't admirable either. You've traded freedom for (the perception of) security as is your right, but that only works in certain situations and assumes benign government.
The Middle Eastern populace clearly needs them for self-defense, and even the Coalition forces in Iraq allow one per household. If you cannot use force to protect yourself you have no _effective_ right to self-defense.
While those of you who are totally comfortable with your government controlling your lives and who live in areas without violent demographic/sectarian/criminal conflict may not care for firearms, they do go a long way to ensure sovereignty over ones own space.
Americans killed their way to freedom in the Revolution, killed those who supported slavery until they surrendered at Appomattox, and if the government gets bad enough will vote with the bullet again. We tolerate quite a bit of corporate abuse, as do the rest of you, but woe betide the government that goes too far. Mao was right, political power does flow from the barrel of a gun, and the requirement to kill opponents who won't respond to reason means that the tools to do that are worth keeping.
Both self and wife have used firearms in self-defense without firing them. We live in a rural area where the cops can't do more than react (clean up the mess), so relying on the kindness of others isn't a good idea. If you don't have a gun, anyone physicallly superior to you can do what they will.
"In my town over 100 businesses have closed their doors and endless others have not even tried to start up due to competition from online sources."
Citation very, very much needed. :)
"The moral of the story? Save the planet. Kill yourself."
Do I get pollution tax credits for killing others?
"I swear Bill Gates could come to my house and hit my balls with a hammer for all the harm it would do."
I, for one, find that idea vaguely arousing.
"Is BP paying those fishermen for the next 40 years of lost work?"
BP can always attribute fishing losses to the Dead Zone created by river runoff. No one who matters is even raising that as an issue, though it preceded and will outlive the (comparatively) minor damage from Macondo.
Fertilizer runoff lacks the drama of crispy oil rigs...
"This scare tactic will probably backfire on them..."
Easy enough to help that happen.
Geeks are often asked for advice. Telling people software will fuck up their computer tends to get their attention.
"Then in winter the cold will kill the gorillas. Problem solved!"
That depends on the availability of Section 8 housing...
"It does make a distinct sound and sounds like that in a war-zone can have a terrifying effect, psychologically on enemy troops."
Until they learn to range it by sound and take countermeasures...
"Frightfulness" gets the low-hanging fruit, but disciplined men have stood incredible barrages (WWI being the best example) and stood fast despite losing tens of thousands killed in a single day.
"It's human nature, and it should be catered for, not stamped out."
It IS catered for, on race tracks. Not all human nature = good judgement.
Don't trust anyone.
Looks for ways to check assertions, but /government and /personyoulike all have agendas, and nothing prevents either from having MIXED agendas.
"Oh, they will, but the roads might need a few upgrades."
Likely to cost so much more than the lives saved as to not be worth it.
Want safe(r) transit? Build railways (including tracked trolley systems) everywhere practical.
"Ddosers likely think that they are attacking the big corporate giants but instead it's just the network admins who get all the shit and still desperately try to keep the sites up."
The servant of an enemy is still an enemy.
"You just told the powers in the world to stop fucking around on the Internet and to start fucking around with jackbooted thugs knocking down doors."
That was inevitable. One must eventually decide what to do about the thugs.
What Linux proponents are missing is that for users Windows is the computer, replacements must be the same as Windows, and anything that is different requires reacting to the difference.
_Users_ have no reason and will never have a reason to think differently so they don't think differently. The cost of Windows is only a factor to those paying for it, and is low enough not to be a concern to anyone else who matters.
"To see if in the next 3 years they report a massive increase in the number of malware infections."
That's why we need extremely destructive malware to force users to be concerned with security.
"The gimp name is a marketing nightmare and probably has caused the software to be banned from more corporations than the developers realize."
They realize by now, so it is obvious they don't care.
"bizarre"
Not bizarre, but brilliant, even better than Bob Ballard getting DoD sponsorship for his Titanic hunt.
"Seriously, try it against nukes and UAVs. See how far you get."
Nukes aren't on the table.
UAVs? Go tell the Taliban they have lost and it's time to go home. :)
"Imagine if you made it so if you pull the arm to one side. Then instead of stopping, the device kept moving you arm around your body, and ripped off a limb. "
That's why you design in adjustable POSITIVE MECHANICAL STOPS.
Analogy: Cars are complex, guardrails less so, for appropriate reasons.
"It's a powered crutch... that uses your crotch instead of your armpits."
I, for one, find the idea vaguely arousing.
"It's sad that it would take a X-Prize contest with a 10-million dollar purse to get us back to using the technology discussed in a old magazine. "
The components you listed are essentially delicate junk powered by a good tractor motor.
War requires technology, from flint knapping to nukes. "Engineers" have ALWAYS been valuable.
"OW! Zog hit me with club after mine broke! You may have shiny object if you help me!"
"Lemme get some sinew and an oak limb. We'll have ya fixed up in a jiffy."
"Engineers also believe in objective and observable truth."
Religion conspicuously excepted.
"Death to all infidels who do not use green on black displays! Monochrome CRT Akbar!"
If it weren't for the great Text Editor Schism, we'd be doomed.