As opposed to some European dates, where the date comes before the month in dd/mm/yy format.
...which is how American military dates are formatted. American military members will record the date as 1 September 2011, instead of September 1, 2011.
The CIA on the other hand, who knows what those cats are up to...
Pffffttttt.. 5.8? that's not even worth crawling out of bed for./so-cal
Yeah, yeah. It's news out there too, and don't deny it. The difference is that when the East Coast gets an earthquake, the whole East Coast feels it due to us all sitting on the same huge plate. Despite your Los Angeles conceit, the center of the American civilization is in the corridor from Virginia to New York to Massachusetts, which comprises a large plurality of our population. These are old cities comparatively, with many buildings built well before earthquakes were understood, let alone prepared for. A 5.anything quake is an alarming occurrence.
I won't minimize the importance of earthquake preparation, especially on our west coast. But, just think, our national Capitol was built before seismology was a science. They had to evacuate because they didn't know how the building would react. I've read accounts that there were some cracks in the plaster. What happens if this was a 6.x event? The old buildings we look to as our connection to history would be in serious jeopardy. There is evidence of 7.x earthquakes east of the Mississippi (see also: New Madrid). Imagine our Capitol tumbling to the ground and the Washington Monument laying on its side in the Mall. Even Fallout 3 wasn't so dystopian.
PS Bro, next time LA gets a decent quake don't post.
What war in Libya? We've basically done some live bombing practice and sent in a handful of trainers and some covert troops. We expended more resources arresting Noriega.
Just because we're doing it half-assed doesn't make it any better.
the most important discoveries science has ever made stemmed from basic research: research for research's sake
You misspelled "research into how to kill people more effectively". War is the single greatest catalyst for scientific discovery (and application) in our shared history.
A NATO stealth bomber strike to take them out with missiles intended for that (i understand some ordinance can fry electronics). Enough is enough. Fuck Gaddafi!
You mean an American stealth bomber. We're the only ones who have them. Of course it will be done, under the auspices of NATO or the UN. Some ordinance can indeed fry electronics, but I doubt we're going to go full EMP-burst on them. HARM works well enough and has the added bonus of not being a weapon of mass destruction. It's going to happen, by the way. Just a matter of the weather in Tripoli.
CT scanners are slow. I would guess this is a plain old x-ray machine with a digital sensor and a new idiot-proof interface. Just insert suspect and press button. It might even do some colorisation to try to make things with non-fleshy absorbtion profiles stand out more. Basically just like one of those luggage scanners, except with a more carefully limited dose.
Actually, CT scanners aren't all that slow anymore. Back when the technology was first developed, it sure was. A modern CT scanner can complete a diagnostic on a major organ in a matter of a second or so.
This is a very, very cogent point - one I was hoping someone would make. University educated professionals operating FDA approved devices have dosed patients with multiple Grays of radiation during a single instance of a well studied medical diagnostic procedure. Somehow we're trusting Billy Bob and Rayquan with similar equipment that hasn't undergone any FDA oversight at all? And now we've got even more powerful imaging equipment scanning our soft tissue? Which way to the freedom patdown line?
I would argue than when your goal is suppression of another person/group's right to free speech (however offensive you may find that speech) there is no such thing as a "great target".
I'm not for suppressing anyone's free speech. I'm for shouting these hate mongers down. And yeah, maybe chin checking a few of them in the process.
Unlike the actions against the Scientology cult there is no locus for protest. The Phelps cult travel all over the country to shit on the funerals of decent people, whether those people are dead soldiers or gay people or anyone else who disagrees with their myopic view of the world. There are other groups who oppose the Westboro crowd, I hope the Anon people coordinate with them if they are going out to protest. And, if it should happen in my neck of the woods, I am sure someone will be there who looks like me but who is not me because it's anonymous.
These inbred wackos are a great target for derision, but what exactly does Anonymous propose to do to them? A DDoS? An email hack? Does the Phelps clan have a website? If they do, does anyone actually go there? Do they even use email? I think unless they go out to the sites where these troglodytes are harassing grieving families and directly confront them, they're wasting their time.
This is like one day telling all Americans "Sorry, no more 110v - we're moving to 240v power"
Most North American households can already do 240 volt, 60 hertz electricity. If you look in the back of a residential electrical panel you'll generally see two bus bars. If you take a voltage reading between those bus bars (make sure the multimeter is set on volts and not amps or you'll smoke your leads) you'll get somewhere between 220-240 volts, depending on your distance from the utility transformer and various other factors. We've got, for the most part, three wires going to every outlet (lighting or receptacle). A quick fix entails taking the neutral (white, according to the National Electrical Code) wire and applying that second phase of 120V to it, and using the ground as a neutral. It's shoddy, and a bit unsafe, but if for some strange reason we absolutely needed to go 240V it could be done with moderate effort, it wouldn't be a moon shot type undertaking. In some areas of the country, where metallic conduit is required for all buildings whether industrial, commercial or residential, you could bond the conduit to the building ground and use that for a ground. It's just a matter of having the right fixtures and receptacles at that point. I can't foresee any situation which would require North America having to go 240V however. The current ~110V does the trick.
More on topic, what I think we'll see as IPv6 becomes more widely adopted is that ISP's will start providing (read: selling) IPv6 capable modems and routers. The onus is really on them, after all. They can't expect Joe Six-Pack to realize, "oh gee, I better upgrade this router my nerdy brother installed so the wife can get her wireless laptop on the intertubes". It's actually a substantially easier fix than the hypothetical 110V-240V conversion.
Which is why England and France attacked Egypt in 1956.
I don't disagree with anything you've laid out in your very informative post. I think it must be noted, however, that the Suez Crisis (which also included Israel allied with Britain and France) was ended in no small part due to the diplomatic intervention of the US, especially at the United Nations.
I think that even from my reasonably comfortable suburban existence, I can judge that trying to weaken a brutal dictator via lies and deceit is a highly non-optimal strategy
Who are you kidding? It's the ONLY STRATEGY. You know what you call someone who tries to weaken a brutal dictator with the bald-faced truth? A martyr.
And this is why the League of Nations failed. No will to do the wet work to get rid of the despots. It's the reason the UN will eventually fail, as well. The chattering class will lisp us into inaction, and all the sudden we've got $facsist_nation cruising across the plains of $victim_nation while we in the West are $politicallly_paralyzed. Granted Mugabe is just a dick to his own people, but wtf? Do we take the Declaration of Human Rights seriously or not? Do we take it seriously only when it's convenient or when everyone agrees on it? What's the line that has to be crossed before we say, "okay, you guys are being total dicks and it ends now"? I believe in the UN, and in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Where is the point, politically, where we as humans can get together and enforce those ideals? We sign on to those documents for a reason. Honestly, as a human being who loves his fellow man, I cannot fathom allowing my brothers and sisters in Zimbabwe to be crushed under a tyrant's boot heel while I enjoy the bounty that is America. The men and women of that nation have the same rights I do, as far as I can estimate.
I'm sure that given a certain preexisting worldview, Lieberman's claims would seem pretty damning. However, Amazon flat out denies that government pressure was behind their dumping of Wikileaks as a customer.
There have been reports that a government inquiry prompted us not to serve WikiLeaks any longer. That is inaccurate.
There have also been reports that it was prompted by massive DDOS attacks. That too is inaccurate. There were indeed large-scale DDOS attacks, but they were successfully defended against.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) rents computer infrastructure on a self-service basis. AWS does not pre-screen its customers, but it does have terms of service that must be followed. WikiLeaks was not following them. There were several parts they were violating. For example, our terms of service state that “you represent and warrant that you own or otherwise control all of the rights to the content that use of the content you supply does not violate this policy and will not cause injury to any person or entity.” It’s clear that WikiLeaks doesn’t own or otherwise control all the rights to this classified content. Further, it is not credible that the extraordinary volume of 250,000 classified documents that WikiLeaks is publishing could have been carefully redacted in such a way as to ensure that they weren’t putting innocent people in jeopardy. Human rights organizations have in fact written to WikiLeaks asking them to exercise caution and not release the names or identities of human rights defenders who might be persecuted by their governments.
We’ve been running AWS for over four years and have hundreds of thousands of customers storing all kinds of data on AWS. Some of this data is controversial, and that’s perfectly fine. But, when companies or people go about securing and storing large quantities of data that isn’t rightfully theirs, and publishing this data without ensuring it won’t injure others, it’s a violation of our terms of service, and folks need to go operate elsewhere.
We look forward to continuing to serve our AWS customers and are excited about several new things we have coming your way in the next few months.
Slashdot Mirror
As opposed to some European dates, where the date comes before the month in dd/mm/yy format.
...which is how American military dates are formatted. American military members will record the date as 1 September 2011, instead of September 1, 2011.
The CIA on the other hand, who knows what those cats are up to...
Give Red Green some time, he could do it, eh? Canada is funny.
Pffffttttt.. 5.8? that's not even worth crawling out of bed for. /so-cal
Yeah, yeah. It's news out there too, and don't deny it. The difference is that when the East Coast gets an earthquake, the whole East Coast feels it due to us all sitting on the same huge plate. Despite your Los Angeles conceit, the center of the American civilization is in the corridor from Virginia to New York to Massachusetts, which comprises a large plurality of our population. These are old cities comparatively, with many buildings built well before earthquakes were understood, let alone prepared for. A 5.anything quake is an alarming occurrence.
I won't minimize the importance of earthquake preparation, especially on our west coast. But, just think, our national Capitol was built before seismology was a science. They had to evacuate because they didn't know how the building would react. I've read accounts that there were some cracks in the plaster. What happens if this was a 6.x event? The old buildings we look to as our connection to history would be in serious jeopardy. There is evidence of 7.x earthquakes east of the Mississippi (see also: New Madrid). Imagine our Capitol tumbling to the ground and the Washington Monument laying on its side in the Mall. Even Fallout 3 wasn't so dystopian.
PS Bro, next time LA gets a decent quake don't post.
Felt it in Buffalo, 15-20 seconds swaying, 5 stories up.
I hope my ancestors get to ride giant lizards through great underground cities.
I think you mean descendants?
That's just for research, good sir! It's got a dot-edu interwebs address and everything!
Or to be more locally relevant to the story at hand:
What war in Libya? We've basically done some live bombing practice and sent in a handful of trainers and some covert troops. We expended more resources arresting Noriega.
Just because we're doing it half-assed doesn't make it any better.
They are cheaper in the long term safe and do a great job. You are using tools wrong. Do you complain about your hammer when it fails to drive screws?
Use either cold starting CFLs or LEDs.
They're safe until you break one and the mercury gets loose.
the most important discoveries science has ever made stemmed from basic research: research for research's sake
You misspelled "research into how to kill people more effectively". War is the single greatest catalyst for scientific discovery (and application) in our shared history.
A NATO stealth bomber strike to take them out with missiles intended for that (i understand some ordinance can fry electronics). Enough is enough. Fuck Gaddafi!
You mean an American stealth bomber. We're the only ones who have them. Of course it will be done, under the auspices of NATO or the UN. Some ordinance can indeed fry electronics, but I doubt we're going to go full EMP-burst on them. HARM works well enough and has the added bonus of not being a weapon of mass destruction. It's going to happen, by the way. Just a matter of the weather in Tripoli.
Bust out the ham radios and brush up on your CW!
I really need to up my license to General.
CQ CQ CQ oh shit help guys with guns are here
Mobile 2-meter stuff might be an option. Don't count on repeaters lasting long though.
CT scanners are slow. I would guess this is a plain old x-ray machine with a digital sensor and a new idiot-proof interface. Just insert suspect and press button. It might even do some colorisation to try to make things with non-fleshy absorbtion profiles stand out more. Basically just like one of those luggage scanners, except with a more carefully limited dose.
Actually, CT scanners aren't all that slow anymore. Back when the technology was first developed, it sure was. A modern CT scanner can complete a diagnostic on a major organ in a matter of a second or so.
From TFA:
We can't count on actual medical personnel to be trained properly with regard to x-ray exposure levels...
As Technology Surges, Radiation Safeguards Lag After Stroke Scans, Patients Face Serious Health Risks A Pinpoint Beam Strays Invisibly, Harming Instead of Healing Radiation Offers New Cures, and Ways to Do Harm
This is a very, very cogent point - one I was hoping someone would make. University educated professionals operating FDA approved devices have dosed patients with multiple Grays of radiation during a single instance of a well studied medical diagnostic procedure. Somehow we're trusting Billy Bob and Rayquan with similar equipment that hasn't undergone any FDA oversight at all? And now we've got even more powerful imaging equipment scanning our soft tissue? Which way to the freedom patdown line?
I'm willing to sacrifice my liberty for some security
Then you deserve neither and will most assuredly lose both (that is, if things keep going the way they are going).
I would argue than when your goal is suppression of another person/group's right to free speech (however offensive you may find that speech) there is no such thing as a "great target".
I'm not for suppressing anyone's free speech. I'm for shouting these hate mongers down. And yeah, maybe chin checking a few of them in the process.
Unlike the actions against the Scientology cult there is no locus for protest. The Phelps cult travel all over the country to shit on the funerals of decent people, whether those people are dead soldiers or gay people or anyone else who disagrees with their myopic view of the world. There are other groups who oppose the Westboro crowd, I hope the Anon people coordinate with them if they are going out to protest. And, if it should happen in my neck of the woods, I am sure someone will be there who looks like me but who is not me because it's anonymous.
These inbred wackos are a great target for derision, but what exactly does Anonymous propose to do to them? A DDoS? An email hack? Does the Phelps clan have a website? If they do, does anyone actually go there? Do they even use email? I think unless they go out to the sites where these troglodytes are harassing grieving families and directly confront them, they're wasting their time.
This is like one day telling all Americans "Sorry, no more 110v - we're moving to 240v power"
Most North American households can already do 240 volt, 60 hertz electricity. If you look in the back of a residential electrical panel you'll generally see two bus bars. If you take a voltage reading between those bus bars (make sure the multimeter is set on volts and not amps or you'll smoke your leads) you'll get somewhere between 220-240 volts, depending on your distance from the utility transformer and various other factors. We've got, for the most part, three wires going to every outlet (lighting or receptacle). A quick fix entails taking the neutral (white, according to the National Electrical Code) wire and applying that second phase of 120V to it, and using the ground as a neutral. It's shoddy, and a bit unsafe, but if for some strange reason we absolutely needed to go 240V it could be done with moderate effort, it wouldn't be a moon shot type undertaking. In some areas of the country, where metallic conduit is required for all buildings whether industrial, commercial or residential, you could bond the conduit to the building ground and use that for a ground. It's just a matter of having the right fixtures and receptacles at that point. I can't foresee any situation which would require North America having to go 240V however. The current ~110V does the trick.
More on topic, what I think we'll see as IPv6 becomes more widely adopted is that ISP's will start providing (read: selling) IPv6 capable modems and routers. The onus is really on them, after all. They can't expect Joe Six-Pack to realize, "oh gee, I better upgrade this router my nerdy brother installed so the wife can get her wireless laptop on the intertubes". It's actually a substantially easier fix than the hypothetical 110V-240V conversion.
Which is why England and France attacked Egypt in 1956.
I don't disagree with anything you've laid out in your very informative post. I think it must be noted, however, that the Suez Crisis (which also included Israel allied with Britain and France) was ended in no small part due to the diplomatic intervention of the US, especially at the United Nations.
America imports twice as much oil from Canada
Those Canadians need to be stopped, too, before we're all eating circular bacon and enjoying curling.
I think that even from my reasonably comfortable suburban existence, I can judge that trying to weaken a brutal dictator via lies and deceit is a highly non-optimal strategy
Who are you kidding? It's the ONLY STRATEGY. You know what you call someone who tries to weaken a brutal dictator with the bald-faced truth? A martyr.
And this is why the League of Nations failed. No will to do the wet work to get rid of the despots. It's the reason the UN will eventually fail, as well. The chattering class will lisp us into inaction, and all the sudden we've got $facsist_nation cruising across the plains of $victim_nation while we in the West are $politicallly_paralyzed. Granted Mugabe is just a dick to his own people, but wtf? Do we take the Declaration of Human Rights seriously or not? Do we take it seriously only when it's convenient or when everyone agrees on it? What's the line that has to be crossed before we say, "okay, you guys are being total dicks and it ends now"? I believe in the UN, and in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Where is the point, politically, where we as humans can get together and enforce those ideals? We sign on to those documents for a reason. Honestly, as a human being who loves his fellow man, I cannot fathom allowing my brothers and sisters in Zimbabwe to be crushed under a tyrant's boot heel while I enjoy the bounty that is America. The men and women of that nation have the same rights I do, as far as I can estimate.
The second amendment mentions "enemies both foreign and domestic".
No, it doesn't. Here's what the Second Amendment says:
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
Several oaths contain the "enemies both foreign and domestic" phrase, however, including for citizenship and enlisting in the armed forces.
I'm sure that given a certain preexisting worldview, Lieberman's claims would seem pretty damning. However, Amazon flat out denies that government pressure was behind their dumping of Wikileaks as a customer.
Message
There have been reports that a government inquiry prompted us not to serve WikiLeaks any longer. That is inaccurate.
There have also been reports that it was prompted by massive DDOS attacks. That too is inaccurate. There were indeed large-scale DDOS attacks, but they were successfully defended against.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) rents computer infrastructure on a self-service basis. AWS does not pre-screen its customers, but it does have terms of service that must be followed. WikiLeaks was not following them. There were several parts they were violating. For example, our terms of service state that “you represent and warrant that you own or otherwise control all of the rights to the content that use of the content you supply does not violate this policy and will not cause injury to any person or entity.” It’s clear that WikiLeaks doesn’t own or otherwise control all the rights to this classified content. Further, it is not credible that the extraordinary volume of 250,000 classified documents that WikiLeaks is publishing could have been carefully redacted in such a way as to ensure that they weren’t putting innocent people in jeopardy. Human rights organizations have in fact written to WikiLeaks asking them to exercise caution and not release the names or identities of human rights defenders who might be persecuted by their governments.
We’ve been running AWS for over four years and have hundreds of thousands of customers storing all kinds of data on AWS. Some of this data is controversial, and that’s perfectly fine. But, when companies or people go about securing and storing large quantities of data that isn’t rightfully theirs, and publishing this data without ensuring it won’t injure others, it’s a violation of our terms of service, and folks need to go operate elsewhere.
We look forward to continuing to serve our AWS customers and are excited about several new things we have coming your way in the next few months.
— Amazon Web Services