how a terrorist could deliver a nuke
on
'Thirteen Days'
·
· Score: 1
Your post was well stated. I only have one addendum to make:
"And finally, there is the terrorist carrying the nuke. This nuke would almost certainly come from outside the country, and it would be quite the job to get it past customs. Even assuming it could be imported into the country, it would not be a huge nuke."
As you stated above, New York and Washington are both within range of a ship. More importantly, they both have harbors, or are close enough to one as to make no difference (same with LA, San Francisco, and Seattle...Chicago, maybe, if you can get up the inland straights...and let's not forget Pearl Harbor, San Diego, and Norfolk). So why bother with either missiles or a suitcase bomb? Just put a big humping warhead below decks on an old freighter, pull up as close to your target as you can, and light the proverbial candle. It would be a suicide mission, but those seem to be pretty popular nowadays.
Re-read the text:"Unfortunately, we have noticed that an error occurred during your registration process that prevented you from receiving these communications. Many of your Notification Preference defaults were set to "no" rather than
to "yes", which means that unlike other eBay members, you're not receiving these types of communications."
Notice they reference the defaults. They're not saying "Your lips say no, but your eyes say yes." They're saying "We didn't give you the oppurtunity to say yes or no, so for now we'll assume you meant "yes", but won't follow up on that assumption until you've had time to tell us what you meant."
If this were anything more than them making sure their customers aren't "victims" of a system error, you'd expect *a lot* of people to get this email. I'm an eBay user, and I didn't get one. Neither did anyone I asked about this.
I hardly see where this makes eBay into some evil nemesis. And it's sure as hell not stuff that matters.
It's my understanding that companies can avoid this rule by doling out a minimum two months severance. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but that's the reasoning management gave at my company for giving *everyone* who got laid off two months pay, even the guy that started that day (boy, was he happy).
16.5 days at the longest point? Jeez, China clippers in the last century would take months, or years, to go between China, Europe, and America, and look at the fortunes their owners amassed. Or the month (or more) it took to steam from New York to San Francisco during the Gold Rush. Half a month is nothing.
All we need now is for NASA to announce some reason to go to Mars (like huge gold mines below the surface), and we'll finally start seeing interplanetary travel.
I think americans need to evaluate the cost they put on food (not to mention petrol, but that's another matter). It's gross overconsumption such as this that leads to global warming, and global malnutrition.
Bullshit. Food is cheap here because we grow *lots* of it. We export more food than most of the rest of the world grows *combined*. So don't blame us for "global malnutrition". If anything, blame the greens out there that want to eliminate any effective insectiside and genetically modified food that has more nutrients than the type provided by nature.
There's only one reason why Americans eat a lot: we're rich (as a country). And there's only one reason why people in other countries don't want us eating a lot: they're jealous.
Won't work. You need the name of the card holder, as it appears on the card.
I do agree that a more secure way of credit payment is sorely needed, though. If one time tokens can be used for logging into computers I don't see why the same technology couldn't be extended to making credit card payments.
The response rate isn't 20%, the percent of people responding positively is. Since the original writer doesn't know how many emails were sent out, we don't know the response rate.
On the starving comment: please show one, just *one*, documented case of a person starving to death in the United States in the last, oh, say, 40 years. It doesn't happen. Sure, homeless people may die of exposure, and people who are malnourished suffer more diseases, but noone *starves* here.
About six years ago, I spent a year hitchhiking around the country and living in homeless shelters and missions, just to get a real good idea of what it was like. You know what I discovered? That the vast (read: >80%) of the people on the streets are there because *they want to be*. No responsibilities, no mortgage, no screaming kids. They usually can find a roof over their heads and a hot meal, and can even come across free money from the government to get their alcohol and drugs. Life is grand for them. Of course, they won't fess up to this to just anyone, only one of "their own". If people knew what the homeless really thought about life, charities and welfare would disappear over night.
US Code Title 3, Chapter 1, section 1:
The electors of President and Vice President shall be appointed, in each State, on the Tuesday next after the first Monday in November, in every fourth year succeeding every election of a President and Vice President.
Now, as Congress has the authority to determine the time of choosing electors, and they have done so, it's not up to anyone else to circumvent that decision.
As for absentee ballots and voting by mail, remember that they have to be postmarked by election day or they don't count (which bit Bush in the ass when all those ballots came in w/out postmarks). Personally, I think it's a bad idea to have mail-in voting, as well. I'd rather have Americans overseas go to an embassy or some other "appropriate" location (when an embassy doesn't exist) than mail in ballots.
Alright, for those of you who are ignorant of the US Constitution, for whatever reason, Article II (the section governing the Executive Branch, eg. the Presidency) only allows for *one* vote by the people, one *one* day. That's it, no exceptions. The electors get chosen, they vote, the Congress tallies the vote, the President of the Senate (eg, Gore) certifies the winner, and the President-elect then gets sworn in on a certain day in January. That's how it works (in a nutshell). Revotes are patently un-Constitutional.
Cory
Say, that's a good idea. You do realize, however, that it would also prevent labor unions, political action committees, political groups like the ACLU or NAACP, and various other "non-corporate" groups from having a say in government.
I'm not a tax lawyer or accountant, nor do I play one on TV. But it occurs to me that publishing technical books might, just might, fall into the area of "education". If so, there might be some way to establish a tax free foundation for publishing these books (either online or in print). People could donate funds, which would then be used to pay writers and such.
Any lawyers/accountants out there think this has any merit?
uploading the last of the software upgrades will be completed in just over two weeks.
Two weeks?? And I thought ftping the RedHat source over a 28.8 connection took a long time.
I wonder what protocol they're using to upgrade their software. It's gotta be some kind of stateless connection (imagine it: SYN ACK...). Maybe just a radio broadcast, with something like a FIN containing the checksum of the received data. Anyone have any clues?
I'll throw in the obligatory M$ slam by saying "Imagine having to reboot a computer 1.3 billion miles from home after a software upgrade."
That's a pretty broad brush you're painting with. Libertarians are a very diverse lot (IME, more diverse than other political causes/parties/idealogies). This is because there's only one real connecting factor: a love of liberty. Not all libertarians want drugs legalized, and not all libertarians support the ACLU (I don't because of their stand on abortion; other libertarians do support them because of that stand).
So you see, we libertarians run a broad gammit. Writing off an entire group of people because of a few misconceptions is always a Bad Thing(tm).
I wonder if they will decide to focus a bit more on that galaxy to see if anything shows up.
Epsilon Eridani would be a horrible choice for SETI. The star itself is only a billion years old, hardly enough time for life to start, let alone evolve into intelligence.
Of course, as time progresses, the Mars-resident humans will resent the colonialism of the Earthlings, and if America's history is any indication, Mars will soon sever political ties with earth; all of Asimov's and Bradbury's inter-planetary and inter-stellar rebellion tales will be enacted out in full. Soon we shall have an independent Mars.
You ever think that this is one reason why Congress and other politicos aren't thrilled with launching colonies in space and on other planets? Not the only reason, mind you, but one of them.
One of the JPEGs on the first page shows a guy putting around on a Yamaha quad runner. How the hell is that supposed to work on a planet with little or no oxygen? I thought internal combustion engines required the ability to, oh, I don't know, combust.
In short, the Congress is loaded with porkbarrel pussies and cowards (and criminals) and these clowns hold the purse strings of NASA. NASA has to walk on eggshells because if they don't, Congress will use the slightest excuse to transfer NASA funds to pork to buy votes.
This is probably the best answer I've ever seen to why the private sector should take the lead in space exploration. I don't remember the Wright Brothers, Charles Lindbergh, or Amelia Earhartdt waiting on Congress to OK funds before starting their explorations.
As for giving scientists their head, that's a Bad Thing(tm) for Congress to do. Not everyone paying taxes agrees with you (and me) that space exploration is beneficial, why should their tax dollars support something they don't believe in? Do you want your tax dollars supporting abortions/free guns for everyone? (Figured I'd catch both sides of the isle with that one.)
The thing I really hate is looking up a domain I would like to register seeing it is taked but no web site, or if there is a web site it says for sale.
No kidding. I recently tried to get freestories.com, since I'm writing my first novel and want to publish it free on the Web. I figured others would, too, and freestories.com seemed the ideal domain name. But it's taken by some guy in Canada who "might" use it in the future for porn garbage, not literature. Granted, he's willing to sell it, but for huge bucks.
I say domain names should be treated as a natural resource and if you're not using it, it goes back in the pool. (I'm not sure offhand how to define "not using it", but I'm sure something could be worked out.)
Why in gods name would an almost certainly enlightened race of beings want to have anything to do with a group of bipedal assholes who fight over little sections of dirt, or whether or not one group of bipedal assholes is slightly more tan than another group of bipedal assholes.
I'm always curious why people assume that a civilization that is almost certainly more technologically advanced than we would also be more "enlightened" (whatever the hell that means). It just doesn't follow in my mind that technology makes everyone nicer. (I don't think it makes anyone meaner, for that matter.) After all, the only reason we're less likely to brutally murder each other now than, say, 1,000 years ago, is only because we have less motivation (there are more resources, so people don't *have* to fight over them), and even when we do kill each other it's generally a cleaner way of doing it (I'd much rather get a 9mm to the head than a claymore to the gut).
I suppose my point is that human nature has never really changed, only our outward behavior has become less brutal. I would expect other intelligences out there that came from a similar evolutionary path (social omnivores & hunters) would approach us the way we would approach a lower tech race on another world: exploit 'em for a buck. (Mind you, I don't see anything wrong with this per se.)
The only real question is, what type of exploitation would it be? Outright enslavement, or some form of creeping commercialism? Now there's a scary thought to say good-night on.
Slashdot Mirror
"And finally, there is the terrorist carrying the nuke. This nuke would almost certainly come from outside the country, and it would be quite the job to get it past customs. Even assuming it could be imported into the country, it would not be a huge nuke."
As you stated above, New York and Washington are both within range of a ship. More importantly, they both have harbors, or are close enough to one as to make no difference (same with LA, San Francisco, and Seattle...Chicago, maybe, if you can get up the inland straights...and let's not forget Pearl Harbor, San Diego, and Norfolk). So why bother with either missiles or a suitcase bomb? Just put a big humping warhead below decks on an old freighter, pull up as close to your target as you can, and light the proverbial candle. It would be a suicide mission, but those seem to be pretty popular nowadays.
Re-read the text:"Unfortunately, we have noticed that an error occurred during your registration process that prevented you from receiving these communications. Many of your Notification Preference defaults were set to "no" rather than to "yes", which means that unlike other eBay members, you're not receiving these types of communications."
Notice they reference the defaults. They're not saying "Your lips say no, but your eyes say yes." They're saying "We didn't give you the oppurtunity to say yes or no, so for now we'll assume you meant "yes", but won't follow up on that assumption until you've had time to tell us what you meant."
If this were anything more than them making sure their customers aren't "victims" of a system error, you'd expect *a lot* of people to get this email. I'm an eBay user, and I didn't get one. Neither did anyone I asked about this.
I hardly see where this makes eBay into some evil nemesis. And it's sure as hell not stuff that matters.
Between the resumes stored on their site and the job descriptions listed, there's no way DICE could pass a truth-o-meter.
It was Franklin: "Those who would sacrifice an essential liberty for temporary security deserve neither liberty nor security."
It's my understanding that companies can avoid this rule by doling out a minimum two months severance. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but that's the reasoning management gave at my company for giving *everyone* who got laid off two months pay, even the guy that started that day (boy, was he happy).
All we need now is for NASA to announce some reason to go to Mars (like huge gold mines below the surface), and we'll finally start seeing interplanetary travel.
Bullshit. Food is cheap here because we grow *lots* of it. We export more food than most of the rest of the world grows *combined*. So don't blame us for "global malnutrition". If anything, blame the greens out there that want to eliminate any effective insectiside and genetically modified food that has more nutrients than the type provided by nature.
There's only one reason why Americans eat a lot: we're rich (as a country). And there's only one reason why people in other countries don't want us eating a lot: they're jealous.
I do agree that a more secure way of credit payment is sorely needed, though. If one time tokens can be used for logging into computers I don't see why the same technology couldn't be extended to making credit card payments.
The response rate isn't 20%, the percent of people responding positively is. Since the original writer doesn't know how many emails were sent out, we don't know the response rate.
About six years ago, I spent a year hitchhiking around the country and living in homeless shelters and missions, just to get a real good idea of what it was like. You know what I discovered? That the vast (read: >80%) of the people on the streets are there because *they want to be*. No responsibilities, no mortgage, no screaming kids. They usually can find a roof over their heads and a hot meal, and can even come across free money from the government to get their alcohol and drugs. Life is grand for them. Of course, they won't fess up to this to just anyone, only one of "their own". If people knew what the homeless really thought about life, charities and welfare would disappear over night.
Oh please, the man in charge of the executive wash room is hardly qualified to make calls on the economy.
Talk about the pot calling the kettle black....
The electors of President and Vice President shall be appointed, in each State, on the Tuesday next after the first Monday in November, in every fourth year succeeding every election of a President and Vice President.
Now, as Congress has the authority to determine the time of choosing electors, and they have done so, it's not up to anyone else to circumvent that decision.
As for absentee ballots and voting by mail, remember that they have to be postmarked by election day or they don't count (which bit Bush in the ass when all those ballots came in w/out postmarks). Personally, I think it's a bad idea to have mail-in voting, as well. I'd rather have Americans overseas go to an embassy or some other "appropriate" location (when an embassy doesn't exist) than mail in ballots.
Alright, for those of you who are ignorant of the US Constitution, for whatever reason, Article II (the section governing the Executive Branch, eg. the Presidency) only allows for *one* vote by the people, one *one* day. That's it, no exceptions. The electors get chosen, they vote, the Congress tallies the vote, the President of the Senate (eg, Gore) certifies the winner, and the President-elect then gets sworn in on a certain day in January. That's how it works (in a nutshell). Revotes are patently un-Constitutional. Cory
Still think it's a good idea?
Any lawyers/accountants out there think this has any merit?
Veteran Quake players, of course.
Two weeks?? And I thought ftping the RedHat source over a 28.8 connection took a long time.
I wonder what protocol they're using to upgrade their software. It's gotta be some kind of stateless connection (imagine it: SYN ACK ...). Maybe just a radio broadcast, with something like a FIN containing the checksum of the received data. Anyone have any clues?
I'll throw in the obligatory M$ slam by saying "Imagine having to reboot a computer 1.3 billion miles from home after a software upgrade."
So you see, we libertarians run a broad gammit. Writing off an entire group of people because of a few misconceptions is always a Bad Thing(tm).
Epsilon Eridani would be a horrible choice for SETI. The star itself is only a billion years old, hardly enough time for life to start, let alone evolve into intelligence.
You ever think that this is one reason why Congress and other politicos aren't thrilled with launching colonies in space and on other planets? Not the only reason, mind you, but one of them.
One of the JPEGs on the first page shows a guy putting around on a Yamaha quad runner. How the hell is that supposed to work on a planet with little or no oxygen? I thought internal combustion engines required the ability to, oh, I don't know, combust.
This is probably the best answer I've ever seen to why the private sector should take the lead in space exploration. I don't remember the Wright Brothers, Charles Lindbergh, or Amelia Earhartdt waiting on Congress to OK funds before starting their explorations.
As for giving scientists their head, that's a Bad Thing(tm) for Congress to do. Not everyone paying taxes agrees with you (and me) that space exploration is beneficial, why should their tax dollars support something they don't believe in? Do you want your tax dollars supporting abortions/free guns for everyone? (Figured I'd catch both sides of the isle with that one.)
No kidding. I recently tried to get freestories.com, since I'm writing my first novel and want to publish it free on the Web. I figured others would, too, and freestories.com seemed the ideal domain name. But it's taken by some guy in Canada who "might" use it in the future for porn garbage, not literature. Granted, he's willing to sell it, but for huge bucks.
I say domain names should be treated as a natural resource and if you're not using it, it goes back in the pool. (I'm not sure offhand how to define "not using it", but I'm sure something could be worked out.)
I'm always curious why people assume that a civilization that is almost certainly more technologically advanced than we would also be more "enlightened" (whatever the hell that means). It just doesn't follow in my mind that technology makes everyone nicer. (I don't think it makes anyone meaner, for that matter.) After all, the only reason we're less likely to brutally murder each other now than, say, 1,000 years ago, is only because we have less motivation (there are more resources, so people don't *have* to fight over them), and even when we do kill each other it's generally a cleaner way of doing it (I'd much rather get a 9mm to the head than a claymore to the gut).
I suppose my point is that human nature has never really changed, only our outward behavior has become less brutal. I would expect other intelligences out there that came from a similar evolutionary path (social omnivores & hunters) would approach us the way we would approach a lower tech race on another world: exploit 'em for a buck. (Mind you, I don't see anything wrong with this per se.)
The only real question is, what type of exploitation would it be? Outright enslavement, or some form of creeping commercialism? Now there's a scary thought to say good-night on.