"My guess is an experimental unmanned aircraft, but it seems unusual that someone would be testing such a thing over London, Ontario."
I thought about that too, with regards to testing that over Lake County california, but then I realized, this sky, she is very very big.:) If you had craft that could do this, it would be visible probably throughout the sky of whatever hemisphere you're flying it through.
But again, pure conjecture on my part. Have no real clue what I saw or what anyone else saw. A point of light could be just about anything...
"The skeptic in me says 'insects'. (high enough up so it's difficult to focus on them, reflecting light from distant sources...)"
If there is a way an insect could appear to be a point of light just like a star, then I'm open to that being a possibility. It's just harder for me to believe that, than experimental aircraft. I'd totally encourage you to go to a remote location during a new moon, far away from light pollution. I'm confident you will see similar things.
This whole BS about trying to label entire generations is marketing driven drivel. Don't worry about what generation you are a part of, let your intuition guide you and seek out the deeper truths, and you will have happiness that transcends those who get their opinions from media outlets. Definetly ignore the lunatics who say you'll never achieve without working 60 hours a week. No one will remember them when they're dead, save the greedy little kids they will raise who will inherit their money and blow it all on their vices. Personally, I'd rather die poor and happy, than rich with snotty little shits who will view my death as a blessing.
Not nearly as pointless as yours. Jeeze, try thinking, it may hurt at first...
"a.) They followed US law."
*US* law is applicable in US jurisdiction. If I grow pot in Amsterdam, should the DEA be able to break down my door and confiscate my pot and equipment? Do you have any clue at all, whatsoever, as to what national sovereignty is about?
"b.) They had no choice. In the US they could have gotten a warrant. In Russia they can't. They got their job done."
And you are sure of this because... oh, that's right, I know... you read some news story about it online, so that makes you a big expert. Well expert, here's something for you to think about, it is the job of US law enforcement to enforce US law in, surprise surprise, the US! US law enforcement != russian law enforcement. If I comit a crime in Russia, that is not the job of US law enforcement to prosecute me.
"c.) Where have you been? Europeans have been wanting to arrest US officials for executions and other violations of "enlightened" European laws for a long time. Get a freaking clue."
Wanting to arrest US officials and actually doing it are two different things. Right now, I'd like to smack you upside the back of your unthinking head, but it would only be a crime if I actually did it. In this case the US enforced US law in a country that is not the US. Have you gotten the clue yet?
"It is NOT an issue of whether or not the punishment is unjust. It most certianly is, and should have been more severe."
From that perspective, I somewhat agree with you. I believe if you go back and read my original post, taking my statement within the context of the whole of my post, you would see that I was in no way saying that this was unjust because the punishment doesn't fit the crime. Maybe it does, maybe it doesn't.
What I meant by saying he goes to jail unjustly is that he go to an American prison for comitting crimes in a foreign nation, way the hell outside of American jurisdiction. That is unjust in and of itself and the remainder of your post does a fairly good job of explaining why.
Who am I or you or anyone else on Slashdot to say that this guy even did these crimes? I haven't seen the evidence, I haven't heard the arguments from either side. It is pompous arrogance to sit behind a computer screen and talk like you're a big expert about things you know nothing of, beyond blurbs you read on news sites. Is he guilty? You don't know for sure, and neither does any of the others who call names and say he deserves to be punished for these things.
"Unjustly going to prison? Are your chromosomes scrambled, corky? He stole and defrauded money from people. Are you a complete retard?"
Ah yes, another fine, upstanding, and mature slashdot reader...
Now then, it is unjust that he is going to an American prison for breaking American laws, when he was not in American jurisdiction. If a complete retard like myself can grasp concepts of national sovereignty and see the injustice of of a government that acts like it's laws apply to everyone on the planet, then why can't you?
Other than when I was a child, I never really gave much thought to UFOs. However, I did have an experience with *unidentified flying objects*(for you have literates, this means I saw objects that I could not identify flying, not that I saw alien spacecraft, UFO != alien spacecraft).
I was at Clearlake with some friends about 4 years back, it was a new moon and you could see satelites with the naked eye. My friend had tried to tell me about "ufos" he saw, but I laughed at him as he was a Sightings fan and well, believed the things that Sightings fans believed...
Eventually, we all began to see what looked like satellites, except they moved all throughout the night sky. They were tiny points of light, so they could have been just about anything, but they moved across the sky at very fast speeds, to get to one end of the sky from the other took them about 15 to 20 seconds. If that's all they did, I'd say "satellite" but then the little buggers would do right angle turns and contine towards a different section of the sky altogether, sometimes pausing, other times simply turning to a different direction. They would occasionally go to the same section of the sky, seem to meet up, pause for a moment or two, and then continue to move around the sky. It went on for hours, and was still occuring when we finally packed it in and went to sleep. We saw them on every subsequent night after that.
Personally, I believe that they are experimental aircraft of some type, probably unmanned, but that's pure speculation on my part. I only know I saw these wierd points of light doing things that I had previously thought was impossible. I didn't get abducted or probed or anything like that, but I did see those lights, and all my friends saw them. I personally believe that anyone will see them if they go to a remote location(away from light pollution) on a new moon and just watch the sky. If you can see satellites with the naked eye, I believe you will see those lights, as a few of my friends have seen them on subsequent trips.
In your post on 9/15 titled "getting closer..." under "VoIP Cell Phones Coming", you failed to capitalize the first word of the sentence, you misspelled ubiquitous, you failed to capitalize the first letter of the following sentence, then the next sentence, then you failed to capitalize the 'i' in "I'll", then the following 'I', and finally the first letter of the next sentence.
Now then, if my misspelling of a single word makes me a dumbass, what do the numerous mistakes mentioned above say about you? Oh please, demonstrate some of that good old-fashioned American HIPOCRISY for me with a reply... Aren't you glad I spelt it right this time?
"They also mention how a U.S. judge found that the FBI wasn't breaking any laws in breaking into a Russian computer system, despite the fact that they were breaking a Russian law doing so. So apparently, it's ok for Americans to break Russian law if they're in the U.S., but not ok for Russians to break U.S. law, even while in Russia.""
Duh. What planet has this person lived on for the last 50 years, that they are shocked by such hipocrisy from the US government? President Bush straight up wants to enforce international law while also simulataneously breaking it and insisting that he or his minions not be prosecuted under it for doing so, all in the name of enforcing it.
It makes me mad that it takes something like one person going to prison unjustly to open peoples eyes, while the mass starvations of women and children, people whom have never harmed the U.S., are occuring for a petty dictator that the U.S. themselves built up and made strong in the first place.
Hipocrites. One and all, including myself, that is what we Americans are. And liars, dishonorable, with no respect for other peoples or nations. I mean, we can say nice things about how we supposedly respect others, but OUR deeds speak louder than words.
"Business users will never take open source seriously as long as people use phrases like "Micro$hit^H^H^Hoft" and others rate it +5 insightful."
Why not? They take Microsoft seriously after more than a decade of products with consistant serious stability, security, and interoperability(with other platforms) issues. Hell, they'll still take Microsoft seriously even after the VP states clearly and for the record: "We really haven't done everything we could to protect our customers... Our products just aren't engineered for security." Microsoft don't give a crap about their customers security, their VP admits it, but because someone on Slashdot posted "Micro$shit" and others liked it, businesses won't take seriously the competing products that ARE IN FACT engineered for security? I say good for the tarded kids, let them sleep in the bed their idiocy makes for themselves.
Such straining of the gnats to swallow the camel only hurts businesses in the long run, it doesn't hurt Open Source one little bit.
This is the US government, as led by born and bred politicians, what else was anyone expecting? After Prozac, Nutrasweet, and the ongoing tobacco fiascos, it stuns me that people can be so stupid as to expect anything approaching logic and reason from our government.
"Wow, long reply for something I said offhandedly."
See what offhanded remarks get you!:) I only took the time to answer because I didn't want anyone to construe what I said as meaning what your reply said. I knew you weren't being particularly serious, I even found your reply humourous, but as these are my real convictions, I felt obliged to reply with a serious answer to clarify.
When it comes to interpreting the imagery, it becomes easier if you study several major religions until you begin to read between the lines of dogma, to see the one Truth they all communicate. At that point, understanding the prophecies of any religion becomes substantially easier, when viewed from the context of the underlying truth of all religions, as opposed to the dogmas that the organized churches of a specific religion have developed.
The mark of the beast isn't a physical mark. This is hard to explain in such a short space, but... The mark of the beast is on your forehead when you share the thoughts of those who exercise the authority of the beast(selfish man, man apart from Truth, apart from God, lawless, the son of erdition). The beast knows only force as a means to achieve it's goals, for the beast, seeing itself as the center of all things, does not really care about justice or anything else, only about what it can get. The beast rules today, as leaders everywhere know only force as a first and last resort. They babel on about peace and justice but their hearts are set on any war and laws which will profit them and expand their power, the rights of their fellow man be damned.
The mark of the beast is on your hand when your work goes towards furthering the agenda of those who exercise the authority of the beast. An example would be giving money to advance a war. When man treats life like a jungle, and treats his fellow man like prey, consuming each other for their own satisfaction, then they have the mark of the beast indeed. There is nothing enlightened about violence, but to turn the other cheek is the mark of the Son of God.
When religions, which were setup to teach man love of Truth, are used to coerce(force) members of the religion to believe something that furthers the agenda of selfish man(the beast), then that religion becomes the great whore(unfaithful to her husband, the Truth) that rides upon the back of the beast(exercises the authority of the beast). Which is what this story is about and why I mentioned the mark at all. The godless powers, man with no soul, a mere beast, are forcing their will upon the powers that were once used by God(Truth) to bring people out of the hell that is being a beast. Or, to put it wordly: The powers that be, powers fed by the money interests in the world who maintain their power through force(and the threat of it), have forced the churches to bow to their sovereingty, thus accepting their mark, and forced the churches to give their thoughst to their followers, thus encouraging their followers to accept the mark on their foreheads. Those nations who do not stand with the beast power, recieve strict economic sanctions, or in other words, those who have not taken the mark, are not allowed to buy or sell.
Of course, if you're a fun-dumb-mental-case, er, fundamentalist, then none of this will make sense to you because you believe in a literal mark and a literal beast, even though the scripture that contains the imagery for both, was just that, imagery.
Gandhi had the mark of God, and that tree was known by it's fruit. Peace, good will, brotherhood. Hitler had the mark of the beast, and that tree was known by it's fruit. War, hate, enmity. Hope this helps.
I mean seriously. Go code, go run, go workout, go pick up some women(or men, depending on your sex/sexual orientation), go do something else, anything, but watch TV. If enough people stop watching, it won't matter what these clowns do as no one will be there to buy their products anyway. Then they can come to us, kissing OUR asses, and deliver to us products we actually want and will be able to use the way we see fit.
It's like this with every media. You want to take control from "them" stop using their products, whether legally or otherwise. That way, when sales and piracy slumps, they can then scapegoat each other, and when they're done picking each other to pieces, the survivors can step up, kiss our asses and apologize, and actually start doing business in a legitimate American way again. And the corrupt courts who have been in their back pockets? Not even they are going to force you to consume their products.
But predictably, all the "smart" people who just "have" to listen to sellout-bands music, will just keep it going, wondering why the music/tele/movie/media industry just keeps getting more powerful while their rights are ripped to shreds. All because the "smart" people couldn't forgo watching TV, listening to pop music, and buying DVDs. Wow, what great reasons to lose your rights.
I thought the worst possible theft was stealing someones life both from that someone and the people that love and depend on that someone.
Oh wait, I forgot. I'm living in that New World Order that everyone said wasn't coming, no one seems to realize is here now, and unless we refuse to support it, will choke every last bit of life out of the earth in the name of profits.
In this great new order, not only do corporate rights supercede that of humanities, but also the value of corporate merchandise supercedes the value of human life.
I guess that sect of Islam now realizes it's accept the mark of capitalism by agreeing with it in thought or working for it with the fruit of your hands, or you will not be allowed to buy and sell.
They have MUCH more functional platforms, although they don't come with a camera, but a good quickcam is under a hundred bucks anyway. I went with the Max 99 myself, good little base. With a creative application of either a 5-10 gallon bucket(depending on which base you buy), or a Rubbermaid container, you can have a really spiffy looking and useful robot. For about 300 bucks cheaper than the one in the article I might add and MUCH more customizeable. Adding an arm, for example, would be much easier.
...wars are waging, Emperors, I mean Presidents are being exposed for letting national tragedies occur in spite of forewarning, and the intelligent writers among us are philosophically and morally anaylzing sci-fi movies.
Babel on Babylon.
Globalism and other redefinitions...
on
Defining Globalism
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· Score: 2, Interesting
Globalism is when I make the rest of the world become like my society, which "everyone knows" is the best society.
Oppression is when someone else makes me and the rest of the world become like their society, which , we all "know" is evil and deserves to be wiped out.
War is good when I do it to you for my just and righteous cause.
But War is violence and depraved, even terrorism, when you do it to me for your just and righteous cause.
Open mindedness is you seeing my point of view.
Your point of view, being "dogmatic" and "fundamentalist" is intolerable, and must be stamped out. Don't worry though, once we have wiped out your point of view, everyone will be "openminded".
Tolerance is when you learn to tolerate me, no matter how much my idiocy offends you.
Your idiocy on the other hand, can not be tolerated and as such must be wiped out. It's the only way to achieve tolerance you know.
Respect is when you respect me because if you don't, I will rain bombs down from the heavens on your people, and impose sanctions that result in the deaths of a million of your countrymen.
It's terror, on the otherhand, when you make me feel scared that you will make planes fall from the sky and poison 20 people with anthrax.
A democratic nation is not one, contrary to popular misconception, where the people choose their leader. If that were the case, then we would have violated the rights of a free and democratic nation when we removed Milosevich from his term which he was democratcily elected to.
No, democracy is any government which has elections, AND does that which pleases our government.
I hope these new definitions will help some of you out there who are still confused as to the apparent hipocricy. It seems, our leaders found the laws they see fit for us as too restraining for themselves, so they were forced to change definitions to allow them to do that which they please. You and I on the otherhand, will be expected, like good little Nazi's, I mean patriots, to live up to the ideal that they themselves don't even bother trying to achieve anymore. But God damned those pot smokers, throw those sick criminal mastermind bastards in the pen, and let those poor misunderstood rapists and child molesters go to make room for the evil dope smokers.
"But there's worse places on earth to live."
Yeah, but that doesn't make any of these things right. If I stood before a judge for growing marijuana, and pointed to a rapist and as my only defence of my crimes said "well, I'm not as bad as him.", do you expect the judge to let me off? But this is the argument unthinking and emotionally driven "patriots" use to justify the crimes of their country. I love my country, just as I love myself, but just as I am not a blind fool when it comes to my own imperfections, neither am I one when it comes to my nations. Open your eyes, the light hurts only for a brief moment, and then you grow accustomed to it.
To maintain choice oil prices and to restore a kingdom to a king.
"Was it to remake them in our image, or was it because a man who had the military might to back him up decided to remake one of our allies in his image?"
Do you ever wonder why we left him in power? Why have we killed over a million Iraqi's between the war and embargo, and not one of them was Saddam? People just like you and me are the ones who paid for our selective politics.
An entangling alliance with a king is an entangling alliance with a king.
"Your ignoring the fact that Iraq invaded Kuwait shows your willingness to ignore reality and pretend that the US brought this on itself."
No, I'm not. Iraq invaded Kuwait, not America. Kuwait is a kingdom. It was not the people responsible for the invasion of Kuwait that died, but the people of Iraq who have very little to no power to do anything about it.
Kind of like the world trade center. They could not reach the people they feel are responsible directly, so they decided(like we did), that they would kill the civilians to get their message across.
"Did the US go in to occupy Iraq after it's defeat and force them to live out Judeo-Christian ethic of right and wrong? No."
No they didn't. Instead, we make demands of them which are clear violations of the principles of national sovereignty, in exchange for less than sufficient food and medicine to stop the famine and disease outbreak that has occured there since we waged war on them.
"Did we ask Kuwait to adopt our system of government in return for protection? No."
Now you're telling half truths. We IN FACT, did put pressure on them to change laws regarding women, AS WELL AS, pressuring them to move power to their elected powers and away from the king. I won't debate the merits of democracy, as I believe very much in it, but we still pressured them to change for political reasons.
"Do we give a crap what Afghanistan, China and other countries with histories of Human Rights abuses do within their own borders? Yes, because we believe in basic human rights."
Like the human rights of Iraqi children to have access to medicines, that they might grow up healthy? We don't give a crap about human rights, open your eyes:
A) America has one of the largest percentages of it's population incarcerated, well over 1/4 of the inmates are in prison for non-violent, drug related "offenses".
B) America's government burned men, women, and children alive in a place called WACO. No one "paid" for it.
C) America's government had a sharp shooter kill an infant in his mothers arms, and then the mother, at a place called ruby ridge, over non-violent charges. Do you, or most Americans give a crap about these human rights abuses?
D) America's government leveled a nation with a democraticly elected leader. Serbia. Our "smart" bombs were dropped on hospitals and schools, and we killed more people(mostly civilians), than they killed in the alleged "ethnic cleansing".
E) America continues to be the reason China has economic power today, because "caring" Americans, who are so concerned about human rights abuses as you allege, refuse to buy more expensive non-chinese made goods. This fact alone is proof postive that we don't give a crap about human rights abuses, it's a facade. It's all about the Benjamins for the vast majority of Americans.
"Do we attempt to show them our way of doing things but leave the final decision up to them? Yes."
Yeah, like we did with our old ally Iraq, who was armed by OUR government, before being made the enemy.
"Do we stand idly by and watch of allies get beat on by dictators? No."
No, of course not. Our allies are the dictators. Like the KING of kuwait, the leaders in China, all the little banana republic leaders throught central and south America, etc...
"Do we sit around and wring our hands impotently while our soil is attacked? Hell No."
Of course not, we haven't been guided by reason in over 50 years, why should we start now? Instead, let's get ourselves involved in a vaguely defined war, with the hopes that we will then execute police actions around the globe for years to come. Maybe we can drop some agent orange on villagers in Afganastan to make these terrorists pay. You know, the American way we did it in Vietnam, the way that so successfully made the communists in that country pay by killing their women and children.
"Peace is not found through pacifism. Peace is earned through defeating those that would destroy you."
Is that right? Hahahaha. Gandhi has already proved you wrong. If a lasting peace were achieved that way, we would have had peace over 200 years ago. Violence begets violence. It's as clear as the sun in the sky. But if you want to have sex to maintain your virginity, go right ahead. I respect your sovereignty, if not your reasoning.
"They are free to do that. But if they harm us, attack our innocents and destroy our lives, then we have the right to retaliate with whatever force we deem fit."
And the funniest thing is, your reasoning proves that violence begets violence. Your reasoning was the reasoning they used to arrive at the conclusion they had a right to bomb us. Open your eyes and recognize yourself in your fellow man.
"No one has the right to do what those terrorists did, but they gave us the right to make sure it never happens again.
...It's crap-tacular... "
And the terrorists obviously felt that we gave them the right to strike out at us in such a way. And so they, paying us back, did, and now you adopt their reasonings, ensuring the circle of violence will continue.
The big problem with Americans who think this way, is they don't see the deaths of the innocents who must pay for this stupid political and economic game. But by all means, indulge your blood lust and relish your folly. In the end, a million Arab deaths won't bring back the dead, won't stop terrorism, and won't make anything right.
...is when are we going to stop oppressing other countries? When are WE going to stop remaking other nations in our self righteous image?
When iraqi's saw American's destroying their cities, they felt the exact same way we all felt when we saw the trade center get destroyed. When serbians saw American warships dropping bombs on their hospitals, you can bet they wanted so badly to hurt us back.
But Americans live in this little dream world where they can go around the globe bullying anyone and everyone and expect no retribution. That dream has ended. Those people were not cowards who did this, I dare say that very few of our elected officials have the guts to die for something they believe in, but that's exactly what the people who did these things did. I'm not saying they're heroes, but I am saying that Americans should wake up and smell the coffee. These people hate our war machine and the businesses that finance and manipulate it so much, they are willing to give their lives to rid the world of it.
Only emotional tripe sees it as anything else. Anyone with half an ounce of reason left in them will ask themselves "Why do they hate us so much?" An objective look at our foreign policy of the last 50 years will turn up an obvious answer. Just pretend that America was on the recieving end of all the campaigns that we dished out, and very quickly you can clearly see the hate that we have fostered towards ourselves around the globe.
The curse causeless does not come. Neither does a man harvest grapes where he plants brambles. You do not reap peace where you have sown war. Anyone who wants you to believe otherwise has a hidden agenda, or is a complete idiot.
We need to change our foreign policy and to quit fostering hate among the nations. This makes alot more sense than giving up the very things which make America great, our civil liberties. "Good will and free trade with all, entangling alliances with none."
God Bless America and my fellow Americans who have been harmed by these bombings. My advocation of peace and a change of our unjust foreign policy, does not in any way mean I think what happened was just. It was horrific, and I have shed more than a few tears for the pain that has been visited to all those families out there. My heart goes out to you, but we must not be ruled by emotions, but by reason, and we must not make decisions based on fear. Fear is a bigger threat to our nation than any terrorist.
... you lose alot more potential business than you are aware of by publishing tripe. As I tell the SF Chronicle week after week regarding their "free" daily when you pay for Sunday,
"You have no insights that aren't held by anyone else, why should I pay to read your overly popularized, heavily opinionated stories, when I can get that by speaking with a friend or looking at a website?"
When a truly honest publication appears, I suspect it could make a fat profit. I for one would pay, but I'm not going to pay for some crappy publication where all the stories rally around a single theme or viewpoint(usually whatever the latest PC dictates). BORING, STUPID, and DULL.
The million dollar idea for any one who cares to hear it:
TELL THE TRUTH. SPEAK THE TRUTH. GOD DAMN THE SPONSORS. Anything else is stinky, squishy, and brown. Not worth paying a dime for.
No, you're flamebait because like a crackhead, you posted a comment that was both inflammatory, and also irrelevant to the topic of the legal proceedings against Microsoft. At least, it was about as relevant as me posting "Either vote for Condit or not. Personally, I'll be voting for Condit, although I have respect for his running mate" in a forum about the police investigation into the disappearance of Levy. Irrelevant to the subject at hand, and also inflammatory.
No one can suck a left nut which isn't there. And who but a 13 year old would be telling people to?
Please quit giving software subs mindshare please.
on
Code Red Refunds?
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· Score: 1
Slashdot Mirror
"My guess is an experimental unmanned aircraft, but it seems unusual that someone would be testing such a thing over London, Ontario."
:) If you had craft that could do this, it would be visible probably throughout the sky of whatever hemisphere you're flying it through.
I thought about that too, with regards to testing that over Lake County california, but then I realized, this sky, she is very very big.
But again, pure conjecture on my part. Have no real clue what I saw or what anyone else saw. A point of light could be just about anything...
"The skeptic in me says 'insects'. (high enough up so it's difficult to focus on them, reflecting light from distant sources...)"
If there is a way an insect could appear to be a point of light just like a star, then I'm open to that being a possibility. It's just harder for me to believe that, than experimental aircraft. I'd totally encourage you to go to a remote location during a new moon, far away from light pollution. I'm confident you will see similar things.
This whole BS about trying to label entire generations is marketing driven drivel. Don't worry about what generation you are a part of, let your intuition guide you and seek out the deeper truths, and you will have happiness that transcends those who get their opinions from media outlets. Definetly ignore the lunatics who say you'll never achieve without working 60 hours a week. No one will remember them when they're dead, save the greedy little kids they will raise who will inherit their money and blow it all on their vices. Personally, I'd rather die poor and happy, than rich with snotty little shits who will view my death as a blessing.
Happiness is being happy.
"Your diatribe is pointless."
Not nearly as pointless as yours. Jeeze, try thinking, it may hurt at first...
"a.) They followed US law."
*US* law is applicable in US jurisdiction. If I grow pot in Amsterdam, should the DEA be able to break down my door and confiscate my pot and equipment? Do you have any clue at all, whatsoever, as to what national sovereignty is about?
"b.) They had no choice. In the US they could have gotten a warrant. In Russia they can't. They got their job done."
And you are sure of this because... oh, that's right, I know... you read some news story about it online, so that makes you a big expert. Well expert, here's something for you to think about, it is the job of US law enforcement to enforce US law in, surprise surprise, the US! US law enforcement != russian law enforcement. If I comit a crime in Russia, that is not the job of US law enforcement to prosecute me.
"c.) Where have you been? Europeans have been wanting to arrest US officials for executions and other violations of "enlightened" European laws for a long time. Get a freaking clue."
Wanting to arrest US officials and actually doing it are two different things. Right now, I'd like to smack you upside the back of your unthinking head, but it would only be a crime if I actually did it. In this case the US enforced US law in a country that is not the US. Have you gotten the clue yet?
"It is NOT an issue of whether or not the punishment is unjust. It most certianly is, and should have been more severe."
From that perspective, I somewhat agree with you. I believe if you go back and read my original post, taking my statement within the context of the whole of my post, you would see that I was in no way saying that this was unjust because the punishment doesn't fit the crime. Maybe it does, maybe it doesn't.
What I meant by saying he goes to jail unjustly is that he go to an American prison for comitting crimes in a foreign nation, way the hell outside of American jurisdiction. That is unjust in and of itself and the remainder of your post does a fairly good job of explaining why.
Who am I or you or anyone else on Slashdot to say that this guy even did these crimes? I haven't seen the evidence, I haven't heard the arguments from either side. It is pompous arrogance to sit behind a computer screen and talk like you're a big expert about things you know nothing of, beyond blurbs you read on news sites. Is he guilty? You don't know for sure, and neither does any of the others who call names and say he deserves to be punished for these things.
"Unjustly going to prison? Are your chromosomes scrambled, corky? He stole and defrauded money from people. Are you a complete retard?"
Ah yes, another fine, upstanding, and mature slashdot reader...
Now then, it is unjust that he is going to an American prison for breaking American laws, when he was not in American jurisdiction. If a complete retard like myself can grasp concepts of national sovereignty and see the injustice of of a government that acts like it's laws apply to everyone on the planet, then why can't you?
Other than when I was a child, I never really gave much thought to UFOs. However, I did have an experience with *unidentified flying objects*(for you have literates, this means I saw objects that I could not identify flying, not that I saw alien spacecraft, UFO != alien spacecraft).
I was at Clearlake with some friends about 4 years back, it was a new moon and you could see satelites with the naked eye. My friend had tried to tell me about "ufos" he saw, but I laughed at him as he was a Sightings fan and well, believed the things that Sightings fans believed...
Eventually, we all began to see what looked like satellites, except they moved all throughout the night sky. They were tiny points of light, so they could have been just about anything, but they moved across the sky at very fast speeds, to get to one end of the sky from the other took them about 15 to 20 seconds. If that's all they did, I'd say "satellite" but then the little buggers would do right angle turns and contine towards a different section of the sky altogether, sometimes pausing, other times simply turning to a different direction. They would occasionally go to the same section of the sky, seem to meet up, pause for a moment or two, and then continue to move around the sky. It went on for hours, and was still occuring when we finally packed it in and went to sleep. We saw them on every subsequent night after that.
Personally, I believe that they are experimental aircraft of some type, probably unmanned, but that's pure speculation on my part. I only know I saw these wierd points of light doing things that I had previously thought was impossible. I didn't get abducted or probed or anything like that, but I did see those lights, and all my friends saw them. I personally believe that anyone will see them if they go to a remote location(away from light pollution) on a new moon and just watch the sky. If you can see satellites with the naked eye, I believe you will see those lights, as a few of my friends have seen them on subsequent trips.
troll on... :)
In your post on 9/15 titled "getting closer..." under "VoIP Cell Phones Coming", you failed to capitalize the first word of the sentence, you misspelled ubiquitous, you failed to capitalize the first letter of the following sentence, then the next sentence, then you failed to capitalize the 'i' in "I'll", then the following 'I', and finally the first letter of the next sentence.
Now then, if my misspelling of a single word makes me a dumbass, what do the numerous mistakes mentioned above say about you? Oh please, demonstrate some of that good old-fashioned American HIPOCRISY for me with a reply... Aren't you glad I spelt it right this time?
Thank you! Somebody get this man a hug!
"They also mention how a U.S. judge found that the FBI wasn't breaking any laws in breaking into a Russian computer system, despite the fact that they were breaking a Russian law doing so. So apparently, it's ok for Americans to break Russian law if they're in the U.S., but not ok for Russians to break U.S. law, even while in Russia.""
Duh. What planet has this person lived on for the last 50 years, that they are shocked by such hipocrisy from the US government? President Bush straight up wants to enforce international law while also simulataneously breaking it and insisting that he or his minions not be prosecuted under it for doing so, all in the name of enforcing it.
It makes me mad that it takes something like one person going to prison unjustly to open peoples eyes, while the mass starvations of women and children, people whom have never harmed the U.S., are occuring for a petty dictator that the U.S. themselves built up and made strong in the first place.
Hipocrites. One and all, including myself, that is what we Americans are. And liars, dishonorable, with no respect for other peoples or nations. I mean, we can say nice things about how we supposedly respect others, but OUR deeds speak louder than words.
"Business users will never take open source seriously as long as people use phrases like "Micro$hit^H^H^Hoft" and others rate it +5 insightful."
... Our products just aren't engineered for security." Microsoft don't give a crap about their customers security, their VP admits it, but because someone on Slashdot posted "Micro$shit" and others liked it, businesses won't take seriously the competing products that ARE IN FACT engineered for security? I say good for the tarded kids, let them sleep in the bed their idiocy makes for themselves.
Why not? They take Microsoft seriously after more than a decade of products with consistant serious stability, security, and interoperability(with other platforms) issues. Hell, they'll still take Microsoft seriously even after the VP states clearly and for the record:
"We really haven't done everything we could to protect our customers
Such straining of the gnats to swallow the camel only hurts businesses in the long run, it doesn't hurt Open Source one little bit.
This is the US government, as led by born and bred politicians, what else was anyone expecting? After Prozac, Nutrasweet, and the ongoing tobacco fiascos, it stuns me that people can be so stupid as to expect anything approaching logic and reason from our government.
"Wow, long reply for something I said offhandedly."
:) I only took the time to answer because I didn't want anyone to construe what I said as meaning what your reply said. I knew you weren't being particularly serious, I even found your reply humourous, but as these are my real convictions, I felt obliged to reply with a serious answer to clarify.
See what offhanded remarks get you!
When it comes to interpreting the imagery, it becomes easier if you study several major religions until you begin to read between the lines of dogma, to see the one Truth they all communicate. At that point, understanding the prophecies of any religion becomes substantially easier, when viewed from the context of the underlying truth of all religions, as opposed to the dogmas that the organized churches of a specific religion have developed.
Beware the light bearer, but welcome the light.
That's not what was said.
The mark of the beast isn't a physical mark. This is hard to explain in such a short space, but... The mark of the beast is on your forehead when you share the thoughts of those who exercise the authority of the beast(selfish man, man apart from Truth, apart from God, lawless, the son of erdition). The beast knows only force as a means to achieve it's goals, for the beast, seeing itself as the center of all things, does not really care about justice or anything else, only about what it can get. The beast rules today, as leaders everywhere know only force as a first and last resort. They babel on about peace and justice but their hearts are set on any war and laws which will profit them and expand their power, the rights of their fellow man be damned.
The mark of the beast is on your hand when your work goes towards furthering the agenda of those who exercise the authority of the beast. An example would be giving money to advance a war. When man treats life like a jungle, and treats his fellow man like prey, consuming each other for their own satisfaction, then they have the mark of the beast indeed. There is nothing enlightened about violence, but to turn the other cheek is the mark of the Son of God.
When religions, which were setup to teach man love of Truth, are used to coerce(force) members of the religion to believe something that furthers the agenda of selfish man(the beast), then that religion becomes the great whore(unfaithful to her husband, the Truth) that rides upon the back of the beast(exercises the authority of the beast). Which is what this story is about and why I mentioned the mark at all. The godless powers, man with no soul, a mere beast, are forcing their will upon the powers that were once used by God(Truth) to bring people out of the hell that is being a beast. Or, to put it wordly: The powers that be, powers fed by the money interests in the world who maintain their power through force(and the threat of it), have forced the churches to bow to their sovereingty, thus accepting their mark, and forced the churches to give their thoughst to their followers, thus encouraging their followers to accept the mark on their foreheads. Those nations who do not stand with the beast power, recieve strict economic sanctions, or in other words, those who have not taken the mark, are not allowed to buy or sell.
Of course, if you're a fun-dumb-mental-case, er, fundamentalist, then none of this will make sense to you because you believe in a literal mark and a literal beast, even though the scripture that contains the imagery for both, was just that, imagery.
Gandhi had the mark of God, and that tree was known by it's fruit. Peace, good will, brotherhood. Hitler had the mark of the beast, and that tree was known by it's fruit. War, hate, enmity. Hope this helps.
I mean seriously. Go code, go run, go workout, go pick up some women(or men, depending on your sex/sexual orientation), go do something else, anything, but watch TV. If enough people stop watching, it won't matter what these clowns do as no one will be there to buy their products anyway. Then they can come to us, kissing OUR asses, and deliver to us products we actually want and will be able to use the way we see fit.
It's like this with every media. You want to take control from "them" stop using their products, whether legally or otherwise. That way, when sales and piracy slumps, they can then scapegoat each other, and when they're done picking each other to pieces, the survivors can step up, kiss our asses and apologize, and actually start doing business in a legitimate American way again. And the corrupt courts who have been in their back pockets? Not even they are going to force you to consume their products.
But predictably, all the "smart" people who just "have" to listen to sellout-bands music, will just keep it going, wondering why the music/tele/movie/media industry just keeps getting more powerful while their rights are ripped to shreds. All because the "smart" people couldn't forgo watching TV, listening to pop music, and buying DVDs. Wow, what great reasons to lose your rights.
I thought the worst possible theft was stealing someones life both from that someone and the people that love and depend on that someone.
Oh wait, I forgot. I'm living in that New World Order that everyone said wasn't coming, no one seems to realize is here now, and unless we refuse to support it, will choke every last bit of life out of the earth in the name of profits.
In this great new order, not only do corporate rights supercede that of humanities, but also the value of corporate merchandise supercedes the value of human life.
I guess that sect of Islam now realizes it's accept the mark of capitalism by agreeing with it in thought or working for it with the fruit of your hands, or you will not be allowed to buy and sell.
go to http://www.zagrosrobotics.com
They have MUCH more functional platforms, although they don't come with a camera, but a good quickcam is under a hundred bucks anyway. I went with the Max 99 myself, good little base. With a creative application of either a 5-10 gallon bucket(depending on which base you buy), or a Rubbermaid container, you can have a really spiffy looking and useful robot. For about 300 bucks cheaper than the one in the article I might add and MUCH more customizeable. Adding an arm, for example, would be much easier.
...wars are waging, Emperors, I mean Presidents are being exposed for letting national tragedies occur in spite of forewarning, and the intelligent writers among us are philosophically and morally anaylzing sci-fi movies.
Babel on Babylon.
Globalism is when I make the rest of the world become like my society, which "everyone knows" is the best society.
Oppression is when someone else makes me and the rest of the world become like their society, which , we all "know" is evil and deserves to be wiped out.
War is good when I do it to you for my just and righteous cause.
But War is violence and depraved, even terrorism, when you do it to me for your just and righteous cause.
Open mindedness is you seeing my point of view.
Your point of view, being "dogmatic" and "fundamentalist" is intolerable, and must be stamped out. Don't worry though, once we have wiped out your point of view, everyone will be "openminded".
Tolerance is when you learn to tolerate me, no matter how much my idiocy offends you.
Your idiocy on the other hand, can not be tolerated and as such must be wiped out. It's the only way to achieve tolerance you know.
Respect is when you respect me because if you don't, I will rain bombs down from the heavens on your people, and impose sanctions that result in the deaths of a million of your countrymen.
It's terror, on the otherhand, when you make me feel scared that you will make planes fall from the sky and poison 20 people with anthrax.
A democratic nation is not one, contrary to popular misconception, where the people choose their leader. If that were the case, then we would have violated the rights of a free and democratic nation when we removed Milosevich from his term which he was democratcily elected to.
No, democracy is any government which has elections, AND does that which pleases our government.
I hope these new definitions will help some of you out there who are still confused as to the apparent hipocricy. It seems, our leaders found the laws they see fit for us as too restraining for themselves, so they were forced to change definitions to allow them to do that which they please. You and I on the otherhand, will be expected, like good little Nazi's, I mean patriots, to live up to the ideal that they themselves don't even bother trying to achieve anymore. But God damned those pot smokers, throw those sick criminal mastermind bastards in the pen, and let those poor misunderstood rapists and child molesters go to make room for the evil dope smokers.
"But there's worse places on earth to live."
Yeah, but that doesn't make any of these things right. If I stood before a judge for growing marijuana, and pointed to a rapist and as my only defence of my crimes said "well, I'm not as bad as him.", do you expect the judge to let me off? But this is the argument unthinking and emotionally driven "patriots" use to justify the crimes of their country. I love my country, just as I love myself, but just as I am not a blind fool when it comes to my own imperfections, neither am I one when it comes to my nations. Open your eyes, the light hurts only for a brief moment, and then you grow accustomed to it.
"Why did we bomb Iraq?"
To maintain choice oil prices and to restore a kingdom to a king.
"Was it to remake them in our image, or was it because a man who had the military might to back him up decided to remake one of our allies in his image?"
Do you ever wonder why we left him in power? Why have we killed over a million Iraqi's between the war and embargo, and not one of them was Saddam? People just like you and me are the ones who paid for our selective politics.
An entangling alliance with a king is an entangling alliance with a king.
"Your ignoring the fact that Iraq invaded Kuwait shows your willingness to ignore reality and pretend that the US brought this on itself."
No, I'm not. Iraq invaded Kuwait, not America. Kuwait is a kingdom. It was not the people responsible for the invasion of Kuwait that died, but the people of Iraq who have very little to no power to do anything about it.
Kind of like the world trade center. They could not reach the people they feel are responsible directly, so they decided(like we did), that they would kill the civilians to get their message across.
"Did the US go in to occupy Iraq after it's defeat and force them to live out Judeo-Christian ethic of right and wrong? No."
No they didn't. Instead, we make demands of them which are clear violations of the principles of national sovereignty, in exchange for less than sufficient food and medicine to stop the famine and disease outbreak that has occured there since we waged war on them.
"Did we ask Kuwait to adopt our system of government in return for protection? No."
Now you're telling half truths. We IN FACT, did put pressure on them to change laws regarding women, AS WELL AS, pressuring them to move power to their elected powers and away from the king. I won't debate the merits of democracy, as I believe very much in it, but we still pressured them to change for political reasons.
"Do we give a crap what Afghanistan, China and other countries with histories of Human Rights abuses do within their own borders? Yes, because we believe in basic human rights."
Like the human rights of Iraqi children to have access to medicines, that they might grow up healthy? We don't give a crap about human rights, open your eyes:
A) America has one of the largest percentages of it's population incarcerated, well over 1/4 of the inmates are in prison for non-violent, drug related "offenses".
B) America's government burned men, women, and children alive in a place called WACO. No one "paid" for it.
C) America's government had a sharp shooter kill an infant in his mothers arms, and then the mother, at a place called ruby ridge, over non-violent charges. Do you, or most Americans give a crap about these human rights abuses?
D) America's government leveled a nation with a democraticly elected leader. Serbia. Our "smart" bombs were dropped on hospitals and schools, and we killed more people(mostly civilians), than they killed in the alleged "ethnic cleansing".
E) America continues to be the reason China has economic power today, because "caring" Americans, who are so concerned about human rights abuses as you allege, refuse to buy more expensive non-chinese made goods. This fact alone is proof postive that we don't give a crap about human rights abuses, it's a facade. It's all about the Benjamins for the vast majority of Americans.
"Do we attempt to show them our way of doing things but leave the final decision up to them? Yes."
Yeah, like we did with our old ally Iraq, who was armed by OUR government, before being made the enemy.
"Do we stand idly by and watch of allies get beat on by dictators? No."
No, of course not. Our allies are the dictators. Like the KING of kuwait, the leaders in China, all the little banana republic leaders throught central and south America, etc...
"Do we sit around and wring our hands impotently while our soil is attacked? Hell No."
Of course not, we haven't been guided by reason in over 50 years, why should we start now? Instead, let's get ourselves involved in a vaguely defined war, with the hopes that we will then execute police actions around the globe for years to come. Maybe we can drop some agent orange on villagers in Afganastan to make these terrorists pay. You know, the American way we did it in Vietnam, the way that so successfully made the communists in that country pay by killing their women and children.
"Peace is not found through pacifism. Peace is earned through defeating those that would destroy you."
Is that right? Hahahaha. Gandhi has already proved you wrong. If a lasting peace were achieved that way, we would have had peace over 200 years ago. Violence begets violence. It's as clear as the sun in the sky. But if you want to have sex to maintain your virginity, go right ahead. I respect your sovereignty, if not your reasoning.
"They are free to do that. But if they harm us, attack our innocents and destroy our lives, then we have the right to retaliate with whatever force we deem fit."
And the funniest thing is, your reasoning proves that violence begets violence. Your reasoning was the reasoning they used to arrive at the conclusion they had a right to bomb us. Open your eyes and recognize yourself in your fellow man.
"No one has the right to do what those terrorists did, but they gave us the right to make sure it never happens again.
...It's crap-tacular... "
And the terrorists obviously felt that we gave them the right to strike out at us in such a way. And so they, paying us back, did, and now you adopt their reasonings, ensuring the circle of violence will continue.
The big problem with Americans who think this way, is they don't see the deaths of the innocents who must pay for this stupid political and economic game. But by all means, indulge your blood lust and relish your folly. In the end, a million Arab deaths won't bring back the dead, won't stop terrorism, and won't make anything right.
...is when are we going to stop oppressing other countries? When are WE going to stop remaking other nations in our self righteous image?
When iraqi's saw American's destroying their cities, they felt the exact same way we all felt when we saw the trade center get destroyed. When serbians saw American warships dropping bombs on their hospitals, you can bet they wanted so badly to hurt us back.
But Americans live in this little dream world where they can go around the globe bullying anyone and everyone and expect no retribution. That dream has ended. Those people were not cowards who did this, I dare say that very few of our elected officials have the guts to die for something they believe in, but that's exactly what the people who did these things did. I'm not saying they're heroes, but I am saying that Americans should wake up and smell the coffee. These people hate our war machine and the businesses that finance and manipulate it so much, they are willing to give their lives to rid the world of it.
Only emotional tripe sees it as anything else. Anyone with half an ounce of reason left in them will ask themselves "Why do they hate us so much?" An objective look at our foreign policy of the last 50 years will turn up an obvious answer. Just pretend that America was on the recieving end of all the campaigns that we dished out, and very quickly you can clearly see the hate that we have fostered towards ourselves around the globe.
The curse causeless does not come. Neither does a man harvest grapes where he plants brambles. You do not reap peace where you have sown war. Anyone who wants you to believe otherwise has a hidden agenda, or is a complete idiot.
We need to change our foreign policy and to quit fostering hate among the nations. This makes alot more sense than giving up the very things which make America great, our civil liberties. "Good will and free trade with all, entangling alliances with none."
God Bless America and my fellow Americans who have been harmed by these bombings. My advocation of peace and a change of our unjust foreign policy, does not in any way mean I think what happened was just. It was horrific, and I have shed more than a few tears for the pain that has been visited to all those families out there. My heart goes out to you, but we must not be ruled by emotions, but by reason, and we must not make decisions based on fear. Fear is a bigger threat to our nation than any terrorist.
... you lose alot more potential business than you are aware of by publishing tripe. As I tell the SF Chronicle week after week regarding their "free" daily when you pay for Sunday,
"You have no insights that aren't held by anyone else, why should I pay to read your overly popularized, heavily opinionated stories, when I can get that by speaking with a friend or looking at a website?"
When a truly honest publication appears, I suspect it could make a fat profit. I for one would pay, but I'm not going to pay for some crappy publication where all the stories rally around a single theme or viewpoint(usually whatever the latest PC dictates). BORING, STUPID, and DULL.
The million dollar idea for any one who cares to hear it:
TELL THE TRUTH. SPEAK THE TRUTH. GOD DAMN THE SPONSORS. Anything else is stinky, squishy, and brown. Not worth paying a dime for.
No, you're flamebait because like a crackhead, you posted a comment that was both inflammatory, and also irrelevant to the topic of the legal proceedings against Microsoft. At least, it was about as relevant as me posting "Either vote for Condit or not. Personally, I'll be voting for Condit, although I have respect for his running mate" in a forum about the police investigation into the disappearance of Levy. Irrelevant to the subject at hand, and also inflammatory.
No one can suck a left nut which isn't there. And who but a 13 year old would be telling people to?
As long as it remains unthinkable, it will be.