Of greater concern is some (purposely, I suspect) misleading statments in that list. Like the 'typeof' in the generic programming section. After reading the description of this it sure looks like the Java 'instanceof' or the old RTTI stuff from C++. Or at least it looks like something that can be implemented with a function in about 10 lines of code in either language using the Reflection API or RTTI.
If I'm wrong, please enlighten me.
Oh and for the 'yeah but Java is at 1.4' crowd, all of the advanced functionality that is currently in the 1.5 beta (which will likely be a full release at Java One in June) are downloadable libraries that can be used in the 1.4.x JSDK. I'd be willing to bet most of the functionality they brag about is either available as a third party library from Apache et al or isn't needed.
Perhaps they should compare what kinds of things can currently be done with all those languages and how easy it is to do them right now, rather than focus narrowly on the language spec. There are lots of things on those lists that can be done in ALL the languages (like variable arrays -> vectors? Lists?) but aren't in the spec. Some languages make it easier to do that others...
Ok, so don't use it. You don't have to use Windows or X or OSX today either. You can stick with the command line, or fvwm or something nice and lite so you can use your processing power as you see fit.
But since hardware is cheap, and most regular users don't use the power of the machines they have anyway, why not let them choose a desktop like this? For them it could greatly increase the easy of use of a computer, perhaps letting them do their jobs better or enjoy their experience on the computer more.
Isn't that more important than wheter YOU think Looking Glass or this particular 3D desktop is annoying? If this thing really is annoying and hard to use, it'll go the way of NextStep, and AmigaOS and all the other desktop systems that nobody in mainstream society uses.......but what if it really does work better than what we have now?
" There you have it sparky. Al-Qaida exists to further the cause of a militant ultra-radical pan-islamic state. There can be peace in Israel and a Free Palestine - They'll still hate us."
Yep, they will hate you still. No doubt. But much like the Posse Comustatis or the Aryan Resistance (who also hate you), if you do the Right Thing (TM) and help do things like bring peace to Isreal or create a Free Palestine (for instance, or lead the charge to wipe out Tuberculosis around the world, as Bono suggests), Al Queda will be very small, inconsequential bunch of kooks with no mainstream following in the Muslim world (like the Aryan Resistance or the Posse Comustatis in the US), instead of the greatest enemy the West has seen in ages.
As Sun Tzu would suggest, take the whole. Fight them head on when you need to (as in Afghanistan, which is another example of the US doing the Right Thing(tm) - just stay focused), but also take away their support among the peoples of the Muslim world. People only support him and buy his message if they already thing the US is against them. Remember, no followers=no movement. No Movement=little or no terrorism.
Hey, I actually like the people of the US. The US is a country with an enoumouse capacity and potential to do alot of good and bring peace to this world. I just shake my head everytime the government of the US seems to do the exact wrong thing. And they seem to do it a lot. Perhaps if your politicians looked further down the road than 4 years, they might see the long term consequences of what they are doing. (For instance, I would be willing to bet Reagan would NOT have sold Stingers to the Mujhadeen or cozied up to OBL, had he had the foresight to see what would happen only 15 years later. There were some warnings. OBL has never said any different. But of course, he was more interested in the next election for GHWB or getting rid of Gorbachev. He didn't think about what would happen in the world after he suceeded).
I sure hope in you next elections you can do that...
Hard to protect your family when you are already chopped to bits by a machete, asshat.
I guess by the same token, it was the Jewish mothers fault their children were gassed at Auchwitz not the Nazis. They should have marched into the chamber's Second so to try to protect their children.
Man, with an attitude like that, no wonder the world hates you...
Somalia - did the right thing, but buggered off when the heat was turned up. As a result, Osama bin Laden and his ilk saw that the US would cut and run if attacked. So, OBL decided to attack the US. Result: September 11, 2001. Guess you shoulda stuck it out and done the right thing, huh?
The Baltics - by this you mean Kosovo, of course, where the US had to be convinced to do anything by the NATO allies - the US was almost dragged kicking and screaming into that one, so I wouldn't hold it up as an example of the US doing the right thing of it's own accord. Did you know that the Serbs had been doing the same nasty things that they were doing in Kosovo to deserve getting bombed in places like Bosnia and Croatia for about 6 years before Kosovo? Ever heard of Srebeniza? Did you miss all the rape camps and mass graves in Bosnia long before Kosovo? The US role in Kosovo is a matter of "about time" in the rest of the world.
Haiti - amazing how fast the US will react when something is close to home. Personally I'm glad they are there. They should do more of this. Maybe they sent troops to Haiti so thousands of Haitians wouldn't show up on the shores of Florida AGAIN. The only diffeence between Haiti and Rawanda is about 5000 km. So tell me again why they didn't react when they knew a genocide was about to take place?
As for my "whining" well you are entitled to your opinion. Just remember, when it comes to Saddam, who gave him the money, who sold him the weapons and who is on film shaking his hand. If Iraq didn't have oil, the US wouldn't be anywhere near the place, and it is just that simple. If Iraq didn't have oil, Saddam would not have become the butcher he was, since he wouldn't had all those US dollars to by the weapons with.
I will "whine" about the selfish and inconsistant way the US acts in the world all I want, thank you. They invade Iraq to free the people from a vicious dictator, yet let 800 000 die in a preventable genocide. They push China to respect human rights, yet help overthrow a democratically elected leader and replace him with military despot who killed thousands (Chile - the Other September 11). They install puppet regimes all over the world because they will be their "friends" against the Soviets, or Al Queda, or whomever is the enemy du jour, rather than trusting the people of those countries decide for themselves.
They claim to be about justice, yet opt out of the world criminal court in the Hague. You know, the ones trying war crimes and crimes against humanity committed Bosnia, Kosovo and Rawanda.
But of course, don't listen to me. I'm just a whiner. No one else in the world could possibly share these opinions. All that terrorism is just the result of "evil" or jealousy or something...
What he is suggesting is don't be surprised that groups of people around the world grow to hate the US so much that they WILL fly airplanes into buildings. Not because of the actions of individual Americans, but because of the ongoing actions of every American Government for 50 years. How many despots do they have to put in power (or return to power, like in Iran) before the common people of the country start hating them? How many death squads and murderous rebel groups should they support and fund (Nicaragua and El Salvador) before the regular folks stop believing the "peace and freedom" tripe they claim to espouse.
Do you know what day today is, sparky? It is the 10th anniversary of the start of the genocide in Rawanda. 800 000 people killed in 100 days. That's faster than the Nazis did it at Auchwitz and Treblinka. You know what else? Canadian General Romeo Dalaire had been begging the UN, the US and the other major powers for more troops and more equipment for 3 months prior to this infamous date because he had been tipped off of the impending genocide. He was even forbidden to use the troops and equipment he had to confiscate the weapons he had found, which probably would have prevented the genocide. And do you know what the US did to help? They (along with Britain and France) VETOED a UN Security Council resolution that would have sent the troops and equipment to Rawanda and allowed General Dalaire to conduct opperations. The US signed the death warrant of 800 000 innocent civilians, because preventing genocide is not in the best interests of the US. Why aren't you crying for them? They most certainly did not diserve to die. Too bad there wasn't oil in Kigali, the 1st Marine Expiditionary Force would have been in there in a heart beat....
It is the selfish actions of your government that make people hate the US so much they want to fly planes into buildings. The policies of the US government kill and enslave far more people on a daily basis than all the terrorist attacks they have ever suffered combined. Why aren't you upset by that?
No one deserves to die like your friend Amy. Nor do they deserve to be hacked to death with machetes, or murdered and dumped at El Playon because the voted for the wrong party. Don't pretend that the US government condoning the latter has nothing to do with the former. Until you realize that, expect a lot more 9/11-type attacks in your future.
You have just figured out why very few people in Canada read or like the Globe and Mail any more. It was once a great, albeit conservative, newspaper. No its a rag.
Or, more likely, the very fact this guy was sending obviously encrypted e-mail started the suspicion.
Add to that that this guy was a contract worker at our Department of Forieng Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT - same as the US State Department or Brits Foreign Office).
You certainly wouldn't have to know what the message said to be suspicious. Most likely this arrest started with the e-mail from Pakistan to the UK, mentioned in the article. Then good old fashoined, on the ground police foot work (with a good old fashioned on the ground wiretap) uncovered the plot in the UK. They then monitored a bunch of e-mails back and forth between the UK ploters to this one guy working at DFAIT here in Ottawa.
As an Ottawa resident I can tell you, the raid on Khawaja's house was not due to an arrest warrant, it was due to a search warrant. It was all over the local news the day it happened. Khawaja wasn't placed under arrest and charged until the next day. The above would be enough for a search warrant under Canadian law, but not an arrest warrant. I guess the Mounties and the Ottawa police found enough to finally charge him after searching his house.
Now, given our recent experience with the Mahar Arar case, I will hold judgement on Khawaja until his trial and until the evidence is presented. He may be guilty but he may be innocent. I'd sure like to know what that message said.
I also wonder if the US immagration officers were told to look out for an Arab software developer from Ottawa (Khawaja) but grabbed Arar (also an Arab software developer from Ottawa) instead. This could explain why some higher ups in the RCMP are still convince Arar was guilty, despite all the evidence to the contrary.
Seems this case may have been going on for a while...
I got a day off work, I got to play games outside with my kids (2 and 4) and got to see a beautiful starry sky that night, which isn't easy to do, even in Ottawa.
The next morning we "camped" in the backyard and made our breakfast and morning coffee on the BBQ. Man that old percaltor we use when were camping makes the best coffee...even better than Tim Hortons.
I gotta say, I haven't been that relaxed in ages. I can hardly wait to do it again sometime.
What say we all plug in our toasters at the same time next August too. I'm willing to bet my next paycheck whatever problems led to this aren't fixed by then....
Isn't it funny how this "disaster" was the most peaceful, enjoyable, friendliest time most of the posters here have had in years...
Uhm, Johnathan Schwartz got a promotion. It's mentioned in the second line of the first parargraph of the article you linked to. You know, right after it says he's being replaced in the first line...
Evolution says nothing of how life is created, but only how it changes in response to the environment.
That's all.
Any Creationist arguement based on any such thing like " evolution says we began in a goop and life spontaneously occured " is a straw man attack and is not worth a respose.
As for "Macroevolution" arguement, I don't know where you got the idea. There are 4 species of Orchid in Hawaii that are traced back to a single species. The only controversy in evolution is whether it occurs slowly and incrementally or in sudden, orgasmic changes or in a combination of the two.
Despite any controversy, I'll take the logic and scientifically provable idea of evolution over the big bearded guy in the sky that created the Earther 6000 years ago and hides dinosaur fossils around that are millions of years older to "test us"...
Well, the US taking my Canadian fingerprints will do nothing to expedite my next passport, whether it's lost, stolen or expired. It won't help Germans, Britons or anyone else on the list either.
I am also not against the collection of finger prints per se. As you rightly point out it has it's place. But when was the last time your were both finger printed and photographed at the same time? Where does that happen routinely? Oh yes, at any police station in the world after you have been arrested. That's why this carries the stigma. That's why US citizens that are being subjected to this exact same treatment in places like Brazil are quite upset by it - a few airline pilots have been fined for 'flipping the bird' while having their picture taken.
Why don't they just put up and shut up? I'm sure the Brazillians won't miss-use the information...
Of course, my main point that this measure is supposedly put in place to increase the security of Americans, so the insult and hassle to foriegn visitors is worth it, right? Well, if you read what many security experts have stated (including Bruce Schneier) this is not the case. The US government will waste millions of dollars that could be better spent elsewhere hassling, alienating and insulting millions of visitors that are actually allies.
Brilliant, except every one of the 9/11 bombers entered the country legally. Some lived in the US for years. Many had been finger printed before and were on terrorist watch lists. Even the mastermind, Mohammed Atta boarded the plan using his own name and correct identity.
Ask your self this. Would having the pictures and fingerprints of the 9/11 terrorist have stopped them?
Sorry, trick question - the US government did have that information and 9/11 still occured. Quite a few of the 9/11 terrorists used their real identities and despite some of them being on watch-lists, still succeeded.
So tell me again how this extremely expensive initiative is going to make you safer?
Hint: Gathering info about the bad guys isn't the problem - the US has reams of info on terrorist and doesn't need the picture and fingerprints of every person entering the country. The problem is sorting through, connecting and properly and correctly analyzing the data they already have. Wouldn't this money be better and more effectively spent in this area, without insulting and marginalizing the rest of the world?
Think it's not a bother? Ask the US airline pilots who have to get photographed and fingerprinted in Brazil if it's just part of the routine. Or maybe flipping the bird and getting fined is part of the routine...
You know what's ironic? You say your not covered by their constitution because your not a citizen, but in Canada, it is a matter of law that our constitution and Charter of Rights applies to anyone on Canadian soil.
Well, I for one, probably won't go to Java One this year because of this. That's about $10 k out of the San Francisco area economy. Now apply that to all the foriegn visitors for all the conference places like the Moscone Centre host in a year.
All it does is get my identity into a database for a foreign country to use against me. And since I'm not a citizen, I have no right to see how the information is being used or whether it's accurate.
I personally think Canada's security is OK. We'll arrest you when we have the evidence, as we recently did in Ottawa (where I live), not before.
BTW, if you think taking pictures and finger prints is going to increase security, you are living in a dream world. Try reading any of the last 5 or 10 Cryptograms and let Bruce Schneier tell you why it will likely make us less secure.
It an unescesary invasion of my privacy. Having my fingerprints will not help the US deter or track terrorists.
Buddy, nobody does. I have been on/. since 1997 when I started there. And here's a typical story why nobody likes them:
I was recruited out of Canada by them, with the promises of cool work and possibly travel. Now, luckily I was a recent grad of 1 year IT program (I have since finiswhed my CS degree) and had about 2 1/2 years of University level programming in C/C++, Pascal, Unix and teaching myself Java. My IT program gave me VB, Oracle, PowerBuilder and various networking technologies. I taught myself a lot more stuff so I was pretty well prepared. So when I started, I was sent to Boston for 3 weeks of intensive COBOL and JCL training, because, as it turns out, what the really wanted me for was the Y2K cash-in.
About 10 minutes after arrival in the first class, I realized I (and about 7 other Canadians they brought down from my school) was head and shoulders above the other "kids" in the class. Most were recent college grads from the US with NO IT TRAINING AT ALL!!!!! I (and my Canadian collegues) spent most of my class time over the next 3 weeks helping these guys learn basics of programming, let alone picking up the complexities of COBOL and JCL.
(**We also spent it drinking in the various pubs around Boston and Charlestown, so I guess some good did come out of it;-) **)
I got to do all this while living at the Charlestown YMCA, earning about $34000 CDN dollars, which they didn't get around to paying us until the 3rd week anyway! I was also 1 of only 2 Canadians returning to Canada, so I was never issued a Medical Insurance Card while I was there (since we have public health insurance up here). So of course when I was injusred in a basketball game (we were living at the Y, remember) I had to pay with my credit card, since I wasn't covered. It took 4 months to get the signatures from within Keane to get my money back!
But hey, I got to hear inspiring words from John Keane like "Every dog will have it's place in the Sun".....
And guess what, I never did travel (except to Boston for training) and had to do garbage work like Y2K conversion, miss-managed Oracle Forms projects and 3 day C++ "one-ofs" for an existing client.
Let me tell you, I got out as soon as I could. I accepted a job with my current company (4 years now) over the phone while on a training course for Keane in Chicago...Ahh the delicious irony and karma! I instantly doubled my salary, because my new company could not believe Keane was getting away with exploiting me so badly (I didn't know my own market value...talk about a green horn!).
I guess if you lie to your employees and clients, preach "Project Management" (and even write a book about it!) yet not practice it at all, you are not likely to be admired by the industry. I found out too late that Keane is the "MacDonalds" of the IT world...anybody can work there and work there for cheap cuz you have to be a branch manager to make any money.
I sure hope they people I was in training with have made it out...I still shudder about working there.
I believe it is a $70 onetime purchase cost. Then you buy upgrades, just like Windows, only way cheaper. Also, since it's based on Suse 9.0 the more tech savy can upgrade the old-fasioned way...with rpm from the Suse site.
Well, apart from the obvious marketing ploy by Sun, it does come with the latest J2SE installed by default and even has some GUI apps that are Java-based rather than C/Gnome based. How many other distros and os can claim that, apart from OSX. I've purused the demo CD and I think it's a pretty sweet system.
Hey and just for fun, poke through and see if you can find the apps that are Swing based...
People who shop at Walmart will buy and use whatever PC is cheap and gets them on the Internet-thingy and lets them do e-mail. They could care less about Microsoft, Open source, Sun or ESR.
Remember, these are the people that think "Microsoft Windows" is their word processor...they don't know what an operating system is. The can, however, tell the difference between having to pay $350 (for Word) and $0 (for OpenOffice.org/StarOffice, included in the JDS) or having to pay $150 (for a Windows upgrade down the road) and $0 to $70 (for an upgrade of Linux/JDS when they want it).
And when their kids grow up, which OS do you think they'll use and trust?
The Java Enterprise System is subscription based. The Java Desktop System is a pay once model - about $70 USD I believe. And since it's based on SUSE, you can then upgrade however you want (or know how to do). Or you can wait until the next version of the JDS come out. Or you can wait until Looking Glass come out and upgrade then.
This is really no different that the Windows boxes the sell. What's better, Linux on the desktop will get MASSIVE penetration thanks to Walmart. It will be pre-loaded so Linux will have the advantage that Windows has. It will be easy to use, familiar and much safer than Windows. It might be Linux with training wheels, but it's still Linux.
Personally, I think this is a brilliant move by Sun. First the sell JDS to China and manay other countries, then they make it available as a powerful, yet cost effective alternative to Windows for average folks running low-end hardware. Certainly a good way to win the hearts and minds of the regualr, non-technical folks out there.
BTW, the JDS is very easy to use. Our head of sales uses it and it HE can use it, anyone can.
Oh boy, I think I'm being trolled but I have to bite...just in case this AC really is that dumb.
ahem...
No I am not suggesting any such thing. In response to the previous posters assertion that we should keep the government out and let the market decide, I was merely pointing out at least 3 areas where you cannot simply "not buy" and force the price down. In our modern society we cannot survive without electicity for our homes, gasoline for our cars or (for us Canadians anyway) natural gas for our heat. Go on try it. You can't "not buy" these commodoties and survive. Even the poorest person must have at least electricity and heat (either gas or electric). They can't "not" pay for it. If they do, they become homeless, or have to live a feral existance in the woods, thus removing themselves from society. There is not choice but to buy these commodoties.
You know what, the oil companies could double the price of gas tomorrow morning. There would be outrage and probably violence, but in the end, after a few days of riots, we will have to buy gasoline to continue to function. And then you'd be paying $1.50/litre whether you liked it or not. But you know why that won't happen? Because if it did the government (ANY government - my middle of the road Liberal government or the reactionary US Republicans) would step in and force the price back down to reasonable levels. In some places this might mean "nationalization", so the oil companies won't risk it (but they will jack the price up on the Thursday night before a long weekend though, because they can get away with it).
I beleive this is called in-elsastic demand.
My whole point was that with in-elastic demand, the whole "don't buy" bit of the "invisible hand" doesn't work. And with cable, a government legislated monopoly even in my country, it won't work either.
Sometimes the government needs to step in (even if it's this kind of further legislation or to remove the monopoly).
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Of greater concern is some (purposely, I suspect) misleading statments in that list. Like the 'typeof' in the generic programming section. After reading the description of this it sure looks like the Java 'instanceof' or the old RTTI stuff from C++. Or at least it looks like something that can be implemented with a function in about 10 lines of code in either language using the Reflection API or RTTI.
If I'm wrong, please enlighten me.
Oh and for the 'yeah but Java is at 1.4' crowd, all of the advanced functionality that is currently in the 1.5 beta (which will likely be a full release at Java One in June) are downloadable libraries that can be used in the 1.4.x JSDK. I'd be willing to bet most of the functionality they brag about is either available as a third party library from Apache et al or isn't needed.
Perhaps they should compare what kinds of things can currently be done with all those languages and how easy it is to do them right now, rather than focus narrowly on the language spec. There are lots of things on those lists that can be done in ALL the languages (like variable arrays -> vectors? Lists?) but aren't in the spec. Some languages make it easier to do that others...
Ok, so don't use it. You don't have to use Windows or X or OSX today either. You can stick with the command line, or fvwm or something nice and lite so you can use your processing power as you see fit.
...but what if it really does work better than what we have now?
But since hardware is cheap, and most regular users don't use the power of the machines they have anyway, why not let them choose a desktop like this? For them it could greatly increase the easy of use of a computer, perhaps letting them do their jobs better or enjoy their experience on the computer more.
Isn't that more important than wheter YOU think Looking Glass or this particular 3D desktop is annoying? If this thing really is annoying and hard to use, it'll go the way of NextStep, and AmigaOS and all the other desktop systems that nobody in mainstream society uses....
" There you have it sparky. Al-Qaida exists to further the cause of a militant ultra-radical pan-islamic state. There can be peace in Israel and a Free Palestine - They'll still hate us."
Yep, they will hate you still. No doubt. But much like the Posse Comustatis or the Aryan Resistance (who also hate you), if you do the Right Thing (TM) and help do things like bring peace to Isreal or create a Free Palestine (for instance, or lead the charge to wipe out Tuberculosis around the world, as Bono suggests), Al Queda will be very small, inconsequential bunch of kooks with no mainstream following in the Muslim world (like the Aryan Resistance or the Posse Comustatis in the US), instead of the greatest enemy the West has seen in ages.
As Sun Tzu would suggest, take the whole. Fight them head on when you need to (as in Afghanistan, which is another example of the US doing the Right Thing(tm) - just stay focused), but also take away their support among the peoples of the Muslim world. People only support him and buy his message if they already thing the US is against them. Remember, no followers=no movement. No Movement=little or no terrorism.
Hey, I actually like the people of the US. The US is a country with an enoumouse capacity and potential to do alot of good and bring peace to this world. I just shake my head everytime the government of the US seems to do the exact wrong thing. And they seem to do it a lot. Perhaps if your politicians looked further down the road than 4 years, they might see the long term consequences of what they are doing. (For instance, I would be willing to bet Reagan would NOT have sold Stingers to the Mujhadeen or cozied up to OBL, had he had the foresight to see what would happen only 15 years later. There were some warnings. OBL has never said any different. But of course, he was more interested in the next election for GHWB or getting rid of Gorbachev. He didn't think about what would happen in the world after he suceeded).
I sure hope in you next elections you can do that...
Hard to protect your family when you are already chopped to bits by a machete, asshat.
I guess by the same token, it was the Jewish mothers fault their children were gassed at Auchwitz not the Nazis. They should have marched into the chamber's Second so to try to protect their children.
Man, with an attitude like that, no wonder the world hates you...
Read "Shake Hands with the Devil" By General Romeo Dalaire....
Somalia - did the right thing, but buggered off when the heat was turned up. As a result, Osama bin Laden and his ilk saw that the US would cut and run if attacked. So, OBL decided to attack the US. Result: September 11, 2001. Guess you shoulda stuck it out and done the right thing, huh?
The Baltics - by this you mean Kosovo, of course, where the US had to be convinced to do anything by the NATO allies - the US was almost dragged kicking and screaming into that one, so I wouldn't hold it up as an example of the US doing the right thing of it's own accord. Did you know that the Serbs had been doing the same nasty things that they were doing in Kosovo to deserve getting bombed in places like Bosnia and Croatia for about 6 years before Kosovo? Ever heard of Srebeniza? Did you miss all the rape camps and mass graves in Bosnia long before Kosovo? The US role in Kosovo is a matter of "about time" in the rest of the world.
Haiti - amazing how fast the US will react when something is close to home. Personally I'm glad they are there. They should do more of this. Maybe they sent troops to Haiti so thousands of Haitians wouldn't show up on the shores of Florida AGAIN. The only diffeence between Haiti and Rawanda is about 5000 km. So tell me again why they didn't react when they knew a genocide was about to take place?
As for my "whining" well you are entitled to your opinion. Just remember, when it comes to Saddam, who gave him the money, who sold him the weapons and who is on film shaking his hand. If Iraq didn't have oil, the US wouldn't be anywhere near the place, and it is just that simple. If Iraq didn't have oil, Saddam would not have become the butcher he was, since he wouldn't had all those US dollars to by the weapons with.
I will "whine" about the selfish and inconsistant way the US acts in the world all I want, thank you. They invade Iraq to free the people from a vicious dictator, yet let 800 000 die in a preventable genocide. They push China to respect human rights, yet help overthrow a democratically elected leader and replace him with military despot who killed thousands (Chile - the Other September 11). They install puppet regimes all over the world because they will be their "friends" against the Soviets, or Al Queda, or whomever is the enemy du jour, rather than trusting the people of those countries decide for themselves.
They claim to be about justice, yet opt out of the world criminal court in the Hague. You know, the ones trying war crimes and crimes against humanity committed Bosnia, Kosovo and Rawanda.
But of course, don't listen to me. I'm just a whiner. No one else in the world could possibly share these opinions. All that terrorism is just the result of "evil" or jealousy or something...
Easy buddy, he's suggesting no such thing.
What he is suggesting is don't be surprised that groups of people around the world grow to hate the US so much that they WILL fly airplanes into buildings. Not because of the actions of individual Americans, but because of the ongoing actions of every American Government for 50 years. How many despots do they have to put in power (or return to power, like in Iran) before the common people of the country start hating them? How many death squads and murderous rebel groups should they support and fund (Nicaragua and El Salvador) before the regular folks stop believing the "peace and freedom" tripe they claim to espouse.
Do you know what day today is, sparky? It is the 10th anniversary of the start of the genocide in Rawanda. 800 000 people killed in 100 days. That's faster than the Nazis did it at Auchwitz and Treblinka. You know what else? Canadian General Romeo Dalaire had been begging the UN, the US and the other major powers for more troops and more equipment for 3 months prior to this infamous date because he had been tipped off of the impending genocide. He was even forbidden to use the troops and equipment he had to confiscate the weapons he had found, which probably would have prevented the genocide. And do you know what the US did to help? They (along with Britain and France) VETOED a UN Security Council resolution that would have sent the troops and equipment to Rawanda and allowed General Dalaire to conduct opperations. The US signed the death warrant of 800 000 innocent civilians, because preventing genocide is not in the best interests of the US. Why aren't you crying for them? They most certainly did not diserve to die. Too bad there wasn't oil in Kigali, the 1st Marine Expiditionary Force would have been in there in a heart beat....
It is the selfish actions of your government that make people hate the US so much they want to fly planes into buildings. The policies of the US government kill and enslave far more people on a daily basis than all the terrorist attacks they have ever suffered combined. Why aren't you upset by that?
No one deserves to die like your friend Amy. Nor do they deserve to be hacked to death with machetes, or murdered and dumped at El Playon because the voted for the wrong party. Don't pretend that the US government condoning the latter has nothing to do with the former. Until you realize that, expect a lot more 9/11-type attacks in your future.
Congratulations,
You have just figured out why very few people in Canada read or like the Globe and Mail any more. It was once a great, albeit conservative, newspaper. No its a rag.
Or, more likely, the very fact this guy was sending obviously encrypted e-mail started the suspicion.
Add to that that this guy was a contract worker at our Department of Forieng Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT - same as the US State Department or Brits Foreign Office).
You certainly wouldn't have to know what the message said to be suspicious. Most likely this arrest started with the e-mail from Pakistan to the UK, mentioned in the article. Then good old fashoined, on the ground police foot work (with a good old fashioned on the ground wiretap) uncovered the plot in the UK. They then monitored a bunch of e-mails back and forth between the UK ploters to this one guy working at DFAIT here in Ottawa.
As an Ottawa resident I can tell you, the raid on Khawaja's house was not due to an arrest warrant, it was due to a search warrant. It was all over the local news the day it happened. Khawaja wasn't placed under arrest and charged until the next day. The above would be enough for a search warrant under Canadian law, but not an arrest warrant. I guess the Mounties and the Ottawa police found enough to finally charge him after searching his house.
Now, given our recent experience with the Mahar Arar case, I will hold judgement on Khawaja until his trial and until the evidence is presented. He may be guilty but he may be innocent. I'd sure like to know what that message said.
I also wonder if the US immagration officers were told to look out for an Arab software developer from Ottawa (Khawaja) but grabbed Arar (also an Arab software developer from Ottawa) instead. This could explain why some higher ups in the RCMP are still convince Arar was guilty, despite all the evidence to the contrary.
Seems this case may have been going on for a while...
I got a day off work, I got to play games outside with my kids (2 and 4) and got to see a beautiful starry sky that night, which isn't easy to do, even in Ottawa.
The next morning we "camped" in the backyard and made our breakfast and morning coffee on the BBQ. Man that old percaltor we use when were camping makes the best coffee...even better than Tim Hortons.
I gotta say, I haven't been that relaxed in ages. I can hardly wait to do it again sometime.
What say we all plug in our toasters at the same time next August too. I'm willing to bet my next paycheck whatever problems led to this aren't fixed by then....
Isn't it funny how this "disaster" was the most peaceful, enjoyable, friendliest time most of the posters here have had in years...
Uhm, Johnathan Schwartz got a promotion. It's mentioned in the second line of the first parargraph of the article you linked to. You know, right after it says he's being replaced in the first line...
Talk about RTFA...
Evolution says nothing of how life is created, but only how it changes in response to the environment.
That's all.
Any Creationist arguement based on any such thing like " evolution says we began in a goop and life spontaneously occured " is a straw man attack and is not worth a respose.
As for "Macroevolution" arguement, I don't know where you got the idea. There are 4 species of Orchid in Hawaii that are traced back to a single species. The only controversy in evolution is whether it occurs slowly and incrementally or in sudden, orgasmic changes or in a combination of the two.
Despite any controversy, I'll take the logic and scientifically provable idea of evolution over the big bearded guy in the sky that created the Earther 6000 years ago and hides dinosaur fossils around that are millions of years older to "test us"...
Well, the US taking my Canadian fingerprints will do nothing to expedite my next passport, whether it's lost, stolen or expired. It won't help Germans, Britons or anyone else on the list either.
I am also not against the collection of finger prints per se. As you rightly point out it has it's place. But when was the last time your were both finger printed and photographed at the same time? Where does that happen routinely? Oh yes, at any police station in the world after you have been arrested. That's why this carries the stigma. That's why US citizens that are being subjected to this exact same treatment in places like Brazil are quite upset by it - a few airline pilots have been fined for 'flipping the bird' while having their picture taken.
Why don't they just put up and shut up? I'm sure the Brazillians won't miss-use the information...
Of course, my main point that this measure is supposedly put in place to increase the security of Americans, so the insult and hassle to foriegn visitors is worth it, right? Well, if you read what many security experts have stated (including Bruce Schneier) this is not the case. The US government will waste millions of dollars that could be better spent elsewhere hassling, alienating and insulting millions of visitors that are actually allies.
And you won't be any more secure.
Brilliant, except every one of the 9/11 bombers entered the country legally. Some lived in the US for years. Many had been finger printed before and were on terrorist watch lists. Even the mastermind, Mohammed Atta boarded the plan using his own name and correct identity.
Ask your self this. Would having the pictures and fingerprints of the 9/11 terrorist have stopped them?
Sorry, trick question - the US government did have that information and 9/11 still occured. Quite a few of the 9/11 terrorists used their real identities and despite some of them being on watch-lists, still succeeded.
So tell me again how this extremely expensive initiative is going to make you safer?
Hint: Gathering info about the bad guys isn't the problem - the US has reams of info on terrorist and doesn't need the picture and fingerprints of every person entering the country. The problem is sorting through, connecting and properly and correctly analyzing the data they already have. Wouldn't this money be better and more effectively spent in this area, without insulting and marginalizing the rest of the world?
Think it's not a bother? Ask the US airline pilots who have to get photographed and fingerprinted in Brazil if it's just part of the routine. Or maybe flipping the bird and getting fined is part of the routine...
You know what's ironic? You say your not covered by their constitution because your not a citizen, but in Canada, it is a matter of law that our constitution and Charter of Rights applies to anyone on Canadian soil.
Now, who is the Home of the Free again?
Well, I for one, probably won't go to Java One this year because of this. That's about $10 k out of the San Francisco area economy. Now apply that to all the foriegn visitors for all the conference places like the Moscone Centre host in a year.
All it does is get my identity into a database for a foreign country to use against me. And since I'm not a citizen, I have no right to see how the information is being used or whether it's accurate.
I personally think Canada's security is OK. We'll arrest you when we have the evidence, as we recently did in Ottawa (where I live), not before.
BTW, if you think taking pictures and finger prints is going to increase security, you are living in a dream world. Try reading any of the last 5 or 10 Cryptograms and let Bruce Schneier tell you why it will likely make us less secure.
It an unescesary invasion of my privacy. Having my fingerprints will not help the US deter or track terrorists.
Buddy, nobody does. I have been on /. since 1997 when I started there. And here's a typical story why nobody likes them:
;-) **)
I was recruited out of Canada by them, with the promises of cool work and possibly travel. Now, luckily I was a recent grad of 1 year IT program (I have since finiswhed my CS degree) and had about 2 1/2 years of University level programming in C/C++, Pascal, Unix and teaching myself Java. My IT program gave me VB, Oracle, PowerBuilder and various networking technologies. I taught myself a lot more stuff so I was pretty well prepared. So when I started, I was sent to Boston for 3 weeks of intensive COBOL and JCL training, because, as it turns out, what the really wanted me for was the Y2K cash-in.
About 10 minutes after arrival in the first class, I realized I (and about 7 other Canadians they brought down from my school) was head and shoulders above the other "kids" in the class. Most were recent college grads from the US with NO IT TRAINING AT ALL!!!!! I (and my Canadian collegues) spent most of my class time over the next 3 weeks helping these guys learn basics of programming, let alone picking up the complexities of COBOL and JCL.
(**We also spent it drinking in the various pubs around Boston and Charlestown, so I guess some good did come out of it
I got to do all this while living at the Charlestown YMCA, earning about $34000 CDN dollars, which they didn't get around to paying us until the 3rd week anyway! I was also 1 of only 2 Canadians returning to Canada, so I was never issued a Medical Insurance Card while I was there (since we have public health insurance up here). So of course when I was injusred in a basketball game (we were living at the Y, remember) I had to pay with my credit card, since I wasn't covered. It took 4 months to get the signatures from within Keane to get my money back!
But hey, I got to hear inspiring words from John Keane like "Every dog will have it's place in the Sun".....
And guess what, I never did travel (except to Boston for training) and had to do garbage work like Y2K conversion, miss-managed Oracle Forms projects and 3 day C++ "one-ofs" for an existing client.
Let me tell you, I got out as soon as I could. I accepted a job with my current company (4 years now) over the phone while on a training course for Keane in Chicago...Ahh the delicious irony and karma! I instantly doubled my salary, because my new company could not believe Keane was getting away with exploiting me so badly (I didn't know my own market value...talk about a green horn!).
I guess if you lie to your employees and clients, preach "Project Management" (and even write a book about it!) yet not practice it at all, you are not likely to be admired by the industry. I found out too late that Keane is the "MacDonalds" of the IT world...anybody can work there and work there for cheap cuz you have to be a branch manager to make any money.
I sure hope they people I was in training with have made it out...I still shudder about working there.
So you worked for Keane too, eh?
Yeah but that still makes them 10 times better than the roads in Michigan (Detroit anyway).
Well, my bad. I assumed it WAS the physical Walmart stores. I've though Walmart.com was just the corprate web site.
Of course, I would never shop there anyway, since I'm Canadian and the exchange and customs fees would negate any savings a $500 PC would have.
BTW, disgruntled Walmart shoppers in Canada don't sue, they go to Zellers or Canadian Tire.
Nope..
I believe it is a $70 onetime purchase cost. Then you buy upgrades, just like Windows, only way cheaper. Also, since it's based on Suse 9.0 the more tech savy can upgrade the old-fasioned way...with rpm from the Suse site.
Well, apart from the obvious marketing ploy by Sun, it does come with the latest J2SE installed by default and even has some GUI apps that are Java-based rather than C/Gnome based. How many other distros and os can claim that, apart from OSX. I've purused the demo CD and I think it's a pretty sweet system.
Hey and just for fun, poke through and see if you can find the apps that are Swing based...
Wrong.
People who shop at Walmart will buy and use whatever PC is cheap and gets them on the Internet-thingy and lets them do e-mail. They could care less about Microsoft, Open source, Sun or ESR.
Remember, these are the people that think "Microsoft Windows" is their word processor...they don't know what an operating system is. The can, however, tell the difference between having to pay $350 (for Word) and $0 (for OpenOffice.org/StarOffice, included in the JDS) or having to pay $150 (for a Windows upgrade down the road) and $0 to $70 (for an upgrade of Linux/JDS when they want it).
And when their kids grow up, which OS do you think they'll use and trust?
Nope.
The Java Enterprise System is subscription based. The Java Desktop System is a pay once model - about $70 USD I believe. And since it's based on SUSE, you can then upgrade however you want (or know how to do). Or you can wait until the next version of the JDS come out. Or you can wait until Looking Glass come out and upgrade then.
This is really no different that the Windows boxes the sell. What's better, Linux on the desktop will get MASSIVE penetration thanks to Walmart. It will be pre-loaded so Linux will have the advantage that Windows has. It will be easy to use, familiar and much safer than Windows. It might be Linux with training wheels, but it's still Linux.
Personally, I think this is a brilliant move by Sun. First the sell JDS to China and manay other countries, then they make it available as a powerful, yet cost effective alternative to Windows for average folks running low-end hardware. Certainly a good way to win the hearts and minds of the regualr, non-technical folks out there.
BTW, the JDS is very easy to use. Our head of sales uses it and it HE can use it, anyone can.
Oh boy, I think I'm being trolled but I have to bite...just in case this AC really is that dumb.
ahem...
No I am not suggesting any such thing. In response to the previous posters assertion that we should keep the government out and let the market decide, I was merely pointing out at least 3 areas where you cannot simply "not buy" and force the price down. In our modern society we cannot survive without electicity for our homes, gasoline for our cars or (for us Canadians anyway) natural gas for our heat. Go on try it. You can't "not buy" these commodoties and survive. Even the poorest person must have at least electricity and heat (either gas or electric). They can't "not" pay for it. If they do, they become homeless, or have to live a feral existance in the woods, thus removing themselves from society. There is not choice but to buy these commodoties.
You know what, the oil companies could double the price of gas tomorrow morning. There would be outrage and probably violence, but in the end, after a few days of riots, we will have to buy gasoline to continue to function. And then you'd be paying $1.50/litre whether you liked it or not. But you know why that won't happen? Because if it did the government (ANY government - my middle of the road Liberal government or the reactionary US Republicans) would step in and force the price back down to reasonable levels. In some places this might mean "nationalization", so the oil companies won't risk it (but they will jack the price up on the Thursday night before a long weekend though, because they can get away with it).
I beleive this is called in-elsastic demand.
My whole point was that with in-elastic demand, the whole "don't buy" bit of the "invisible hand" doesn't work. And with cable, a government legislated monopoly even in my country, it won't work either.
Sometimes the government needs to step in (even if it's this kind of further legislation or to remove the monopoly).