Aye, the people of USA have worked hard, many of them have worked their arses off to make a living while the corporations they worked for turned in mahusive profits at their expense. Then the corporations decided that their profits was not big enough off the back of the people in the USA, so they looked abroad, became multi national and started ripping people off that did not have the benefits of the good education in the USA, or where you did not have to adhere to petty little rules about safety, working hours and practices that cut in to their precious profits.
Wake up and smell the coffee.. Resources are running out, and any nation that decides to start getting a little too agressive about securing resources for themselves will see the rest of the world gang up on them. The eyes of the world is on the US now, how your government handles Iraq will set the tone for the future me thinks.
Any politicial or national leader that diverts funds into secret bank accounts deserves exposure, punishment and removal from their post, whether that be Arafat, Sharon, GWB or Mona Sahlin. Abuse of their position of trust is inexcusable and they should have the long arm of the law punch seven shades of shit out of them. Okay? That fine with you, or is it only okay when it happens to someone you don't like?
To digress slightly, I would like to see the ICC up and running, with full authority to bring anyone, in any country, to justice for war crimes. Blair and Bush (including both sets of back room staff and advisors) should be some of the first in line for a trial IMNSHO.
You can come up with excuses to run cover for Arafat's theft from his own people while he profits from their misery.
Why should I? He had his reasons which I am sure he will share with us at some point, if he is not assassinated first. One excuse I can think of was that if the money was no longer in Israel, it could not be confiscated by the Israeli authorities. Not sure that is the reason, but it would be a plausible one.
You might be willing to give up when you can't find Palestinian heroes/victims that justify your hatred of Israelis, but the rest of us aren't so demented.
Hold the phone... I do not "hate" the Israelis. Same as I do not "hate" the americans. I disagree strongly with their political leaders on various matters. US foreign policy and Israeli treatment of palestinians for example. I also disagree with how Mugabe runs Zimbabwe, the ethnic cleansing in Sudan, how the Kurds are treated in Turkey, Iraq and the other three nations they happen to live in.
Your cavalier treatment of that insane notion, combined with your hatred of Israelis and easily dispelled commitment to Palestinians, makes me ask how you, or your grandparents, spent the 1940s? Does a Final Solution to those irritating semites run in your family?
If you are inquiring whether my family supported the Nazis, the answer is no. I believe that the Nazis in Germany, and the Fascists in Italy were deluded and evil and the world is a better place without them. Now that the Israeli regime (and to a great extent the US of A regime) are picking up the fallen cape of those two regimes there are two new candidates that the world could do without.
One would have thought that the memory of what the semites endured in WWII would ensure that they never fell in the trap of themselves becoming the persecutors. But, we learn from history that we learn nothing from history.
I read the article over at electronicintifada.net, and yes, the money was diverted by Arafat into a Swiss bank account. However, it states later down in the article: "Most of it has been used to invest in Palestinian assets, both internally and abroad." It also states that work is in progress to account for the rest.
So in other words, the money was not hidden for Arafats personal use after he 'retires'. It was used to invest on behalf of the palestinian people. There is a propaganda war running out there, where it is in Israels best interest to discredit the palestinians to gain support for their Apartheid policies. Saying that, the palestinians are not doing themselves any favours with suicide bombings targeting israelis. There is plenty of parallels that can be drawn between the situation in Israel and the situation in Northern Ireland. Thankfully they are starting to calm down in N.I. a bit.
I disregard the british media pretty much (BBC being an exception), swedish media is known for being about as impartial as you can get. I should perhaps read swiss news for another source with little or no bias. Taking a step back and taking a 'balanced' view of the situation in Israel, I think the best way to solve that sitation is to nuke the place. At least there is nothing left to fight about then. They can clearly not settle the issue like adults of their own accord down there, so just take away the prize and let none of them have it.
I think I can safely say that we will have to agree to disagree on this issue, as neither of us will make the other change his mind.
I believe you are trolling here, but I will respond anyway.
From your reply, I guess that you are american (from the US of A). If what you are saying is representative of the majority of people in the US, then the US deserves isolation from the rest of the world. Remember that without trade with the rest of the world, the US is nothing.
FWIW, I do not believe that the majority of people in the US is as short-sighted as you make yourself out to be. Given all the unbiased facts of the situation, I believe a majority would be willing to even out the standard of living across the planet.
The Palestinian Authority is one of the few examples of a state without a country. They subsidize and educate their poorest population to multiply. That provides a pool of suicide bombers, other terrorists, and the ghettoes that nurture them. And the increasing number of Palestinians, especially in those conditions, inhibits any policy of absorption by Israel as citizens, because of the disproportionate voting power they'd have, which would be used in blocs to vote out democracy, in favor of sharia, or Arafat's version of it.
Okay, I may conceede a point about the state without country. However, the Palestinian authorities need not nurture people to become suicide bombers. The israeli butchers does that job for free for them. Just as the israelis provide the scenery with the ghettoes and the poverty by implementing Apartheid. I still have not heard any calls for sanctions against Israel for this even though the Apartheid is blatant and there is international precedent for sanctions.
These conditions don't exist in a vacuum. Arafat needs Israel to threaten the lives of Palestinians to protect his power (and his $billions in Switzerland), so he pressures Israel to pressure Palestine - that's the downward death spiral those two tyrants have locked their peoples in. Sharon's militarism, and American support for it, has offered this reaction to Arafat as a viable, though gruesome, option. But we are analyzing the actions of a state growing its population as a cynical sacrifice of human suffering for political pressure.
Considering that Israel keeps threatening to assassinate Arafat (illegal practice to assasinate political opponents, but since when has Israel cared about petty things like international law) and that Israel is threatening the lives of palestinians for free, your point is moot.
If you have proof about Arafat stashing away cash in Switzerland, you might want to publish the proof so others can examine it. If there is no proof, you owe Arafat an apology.
To look at the situation in another light would be to observe that Israel is beginning a type of ethnic cleansing not seen for a long time. Victim becoming the abuser etc. Now there you have an evil spiral to talk about...
I understand what you are saying. No-one wants to give up their standard of living for something less. No argument there... But, this is exactly the mentality that has to go.
However, in a world with 6+ billion people, do you think it is feasible that every family (2-15 people) has two cars, multiple TV's, microwave owen, change their settee every two years?
No, it is not feasible or sustainable. I do not think that it ever will get to the point where everyone have the same standard of living, but I think that the disparity will get less eventually.
In the west, we have for far to long had an overinflated standard of living at the expense of people in development countries. It has to change and it will change. By peaceful means, or by violent means.
Look at China, they want the standard of living that people in the US has. Can the world take a 500% increase in pollution, use-and-chuck mentality etc? Hardly. What if India wants the same standard of living as in US? That is another billion of people.
Dropping the standard for the privilegied minority to raise it a bit for the vast majority is the only option. There is not enough resources to raise everyone to the highest standard. That is a fact and the sooner people realise, the better.
You were doing well, but from me, you'd get -1, Troll for the line:
An example of a deliberate government policy of forcing population growth to impose a foreign policy on a hostile neighbor is Palestine.
Why?
The palestinians do not have their own state, so hence no govenment and no government policy. What proof do you have that they would be forcing a population growth? How could they possible 'impose' a foreign policy on a hostile neighbour that is determined to exterminate them?
> And yet recent events show why this might not be the > best thing in the World.
Aye, that is a price to pay when the minister in question is ignoring advice to have protection because there is a discernable threat.
It has happened before, Feb 28th 1986, when Olof Palme, the PM, was killed in Stockholm late at night.
However - in an open society where you feel you can approach the people in office this is a risk that you have to take. Most politicians in scandinavia feel that this is a risk worth taking.
> Not trying to flame either -- just pointing out > something obvious. I think it's cool that you can > walk up and chit-chat with such high-level officials > but that incident clearly shows why it might not > always be a good idea.
No offence taken. The murder of Anna Lindh was a shock to all of Sweden and probably to a fair few people outside Sweden as well. It was not something anyone had anticipated.
But being able to talk with high-level officials is very very valuable, as is a society that is as transparent (as few secrets) as possible./A
> It might be perfectly legal for police to Sweden to > intimidate people in this fashion, and illegal for > protestors to respond by taking pictures and > publishing them.
No, it isn't legal for the police to intimidate people like that. And there is no law preventing protesters from carrying cameras either.
As for the protesters publishing the pictures, IANAL etc., if the police, secret or not, is stupid enough to allow themselves to be photographed when they are supposed to keep their identity secret, they should be disciplined by their superiors. As far as I am aware, a normal police officer can not complain if he has his photo taken at a demonstration. (Freedom of the press etc.)
> Remember that the world does NOT subscribe to > the American idea of freedom and democracy.
Awwww.. Good post right up until there.. Don't go there mate, just don't go there.. You are opening a can of worms better left unopened.
> There are rights we have in the US that you do > not in other free countries, and rights they > have that we do not.
This I agree with. And looking at the nordic countries (for the geographically challenged out there, 'scandinavia' or 'the nordics' is not a country...) there is rather a lot of freedoms and rights you have not got that exist elsewhere.
In how many nations on the earth can you, as a citizen, start a *direct* dialogue with, uhm, your minister of defence? (Hint, I have done.)
Could you stop your PM/President in the street when you recognize him and have a friendly chat about some political issue without getting arrested or getting your ass shot off by some secret service trigger happy dude?
In Sweden (and probably in Denmark, Norway, Finland and Iceland) you can stop your PM/President in the street and talk to them.
I know from experience that trying to get in touch with the Foregin Minister in UK is a mission in futility. I would hazard a guess that that holds true in the US as well.
Aye, I know of that one, and I use it. However, (as in this case) it might be a day or two before I get to reply.
Somehow I don't think you worry too much about me replying in a couple days time, but the original poster sure seemed to have a bee in the bonnet about it.
Ok, you're modded troll, but I'll bite anyway. Mainly because I am bored and would like to wind someone up for fun...
> I wonder why we don't just invite the UN to run the USA?
Well, the UN would a) make a better job of it than the GWB loonie toons contingency and b) they would not go unilateral on someone based upon fake 'evidence' and non-existant WMD...
Impressive how much time and effort you put into that post. However, it is your life and you are entitled to waste time on whatever you like.
I have one beef with your post and that is what you call 'driveby advocacy'. Note that not all people reading/. can spend hours refreshing the page to see if someone have responded to a post they made. Some of us have lives and a job to do. So if you occasionally have to wait *gasp* for a reply - tough shit matey.
Not quite correct. They are sort of orbiting around each other. But as Earth is bigger, its movements are smaller than the Moons and therefore it is easier in a simplified context to say that the Moon orbits Earth.
However, from what RIAA is saying and doing, they'd rather you didn't even get that option to listen through an album in the store before purchasing it.
There is a swedish saying (translated verbatim as) "do not buy the pig in the sack" - meaning not to buy something without having looked over its quality first. At the moment, RIAA wants to revoke you that privilege to examine the product before buying it.
I personally believe that if you download an entire album to 'preview' it, that should not be an offence as long as you delete the files if you do not buy the album. That would be the 'common sense' angle.
SR-71 might have been classified, but using it to violate sovereign nations air-space and then getting pissed off when said nations took photos of the SR-71 when it was in process of violating said air-space is just what we have grown to expect from the USA.
Now, talking about stealth technology, you are aware that the 'stealth' airplanes are not invisible to radar yes? So why mess about wasting millions of dollars on something that doesn't really work? Pointless, but the USA has money to burn apparently. Hint, linking radar stations means you can see 'stealth' planes in a trivial manner.
As for Mach3+ flight, how often do you need that? Oh yes, only when you are the aggressor nation. Surprise surprise, most other nations in the world do not enjoy going around picking fights with anyone and everyone all the time.
As for matching the USA aircraft industry, it is interesting to see that the only reason you compete in the private sector is because USA is using blackmail to help companies located in the USA, when non-USA aircrafts are superior. Regarding the military side, JAS 39 Gripen was developed in a nation consisting of 9 million people, for a minute cost compared to what the USA blows on a similar project, and Gripen will be more than a match for the USA developed planes.
So, your point again was?
Once the USA realises that they are not alone in the world, they actually NEED the world (fine, isolate yourselves, see if we care, when you need oil after wasting your own resources don't come crawling back to the rest of the world for some) or you'd go bust. Even implementing totally fair trade across the world (no penalty toll fares to protect internal business) would seriously hurt the USA (and to be fair, most western nations).
PGP or GnuPG is there, available and would prevent unauthorised reading of your communications. The real problem is to get people to understand the need for it and get them bothered enough about 3rd party reading their e-mails that they actually start using encryption.
Only problem I can see is that law-makers will get irritated that they can't snoop mails because people start using encryption that they will legislate for some EscRow crud. Like the law in effect in UK, if they ask for the decryption key, and you won't, or worse, can't, give it them, it is automatically two years in jail.
There is something called 'nicotin' that about half the world uses and that has a nasty little side-effect of contracting blood vessels in your extremities, hence causing them to become cooler than normal. Most peoples hands are normally about 36C while if you use nicotin your hands can easily drop in temperature to about 31C - 33C.
Just accept that there is no 'silver bullet' for security. Any system can be circumvented, some more easily than others.
Fairly standard units I would imagine if they let a whole damn company get captured without inflicting any loss on the opponents.
> by your use of of 'Mountain Seal' I suppose they are of high calibre.
The "Mountain Seals" are not your average Joe Soldier, that is for sure. They are the type of guys that will parashute in behind enemy lines, hide for a few weeks, fire a single shot (usually to take out some high officer) and then ski back to friendly territory just to do it all over again. I have more respect for these guys than I have for the Navy equivalent.
> On the other hand, why don't you go head to head with the SAS, Delta, or a Seal Team?
The SAS (UK Special Forces) are very very good, that I will not dispute. They also have a characteristic that I admire very much. They are not arrogant stuck up twits just because they are elite troups.
> I'll tell you why, because your soft-bodied little self would have his soul owned at 1000 meters by a Barrett.50.
In the duty I performed in military service, the.50 Barrett would not have concerned me particularly much. RSV grenades or AT mines would be higher on my list of things to worry about.
The stock response to.50 cal fire would be to saturate the area with 7.62mm machine-gun fire until cannon was loaded with correct grenade.
Tell that to the guys doing UN service in Kosovo. I have lost a close friend that I did military service with, down there.
I resent your remark about the skills of the Swedish military. We might not have a salaried professional military, that is still no reason to underestimate it. Just FYI, there are only two pilots in the world that has managed to get a missile lock on the SR-71 Blackbird, one is an American pilot, the other pilot just so happens to be Swedish.
Slashdot Mirror
Aye, the people of USA have worked hard, many of them have worked their arses off to make a living while the corporations they worked for turned in mahusive profits at their expense. Then the corporations decided that their profits was not big enough off the back of the people in the USA, so they looked abroad, became multi national and started ripping people off that did not have the benefits of the good education in the USA, or where you did not have to adhere to petty little rules about safety, working hours and practices that cut in to their precious profits.
Wake up and smell the coffee.. Resources are running out, and any nation that decides to start getting a little too agressive about securing resources for themselves will see the rest of the world gang up on them. The eyes of the world is on the US now, how your government handles Iraq will set the tone for the future me thinks.
Any politicial or national leader that diverts funds into secret bank accounts deserves exposure, punishment and removal from their post, whether that be Arafat, Sharon, GWB or Mona Sahlin. Abuse of their position of trust is inexcusable and they should have the long arm of the law punch seven shades of shit out of them. Okay? That fine with you, or is it only okay when it happens to someone you don't like?
To digress slightly, I would like to see the ICC up and running, with full authority to bring anyone, in any country, to justice for war crimes. Blair and Bush (including both sets of back room staff and advisors) should be some of the first in line for a trial IMNSHO.
You can come up with excuses to run cover for Arafat's theft from his own people while he profits from their misery.
Why should I? He had his reasons which I am sure he will share with us at some point, if he is not assassinated first. One excuse I can think of was that if the money was no longer in Israel, it could not be confiscated by the Israeli authorities. Not sure that is the reason, but it would be a plausible one.
You might be willing to give up when you can't find Palestinian heroes/victims that justify your hatred of Israelis, but the rest of us aren't so demented.
Hold the phone... I do not "hate" the Israelis. Same as I do not "hate" the americans. I disagree strongly with their political leaders on various matters. US foreign policy and Israeli treatment of palestinians for example. I also disagree with how Mugabe runs Zimbabwe, the ethnic cleansing in Sudan, how the Kurds are treated in Turkey, Iraq and the other three nations they happen to live in.
Your cavalier treatment of that insane notion, combined with your hatred of Israelis and easily dispelled commitment to Palestinians, makes me ask how you, or your grandparents, spent the 1940s? Does a Final Solution to those irritating semites run in your family?
If you are inquiring whether my family supported the Nazis, the answer is no. I believe that the Nazis in Germany, and the Fascists in Italy were deluded and evil and the world is a better place without them. Now that the Israeli regime (and to a great extent the US of A regime) are picking up the fallen cape of those two regimes there are two new candidates that the world could do without.
One would have thought that the memory of what the semites endured in WWII would ensure that they never fell in the trap of themselves becoming the persecutors. But, we learn from history that we learn nothing from history.
I read the article over at electronicintifada.net, and yes, the money was diverted by Arafat into a Swiss bank account. However, it states later down in the article: "Most of it has been used to invest in Palestinian assets, both internally and abroad." It also states that work is in progress to account for the rest.
So in other words, the money was not hidden for Arafats personal use after he 'retires'. It was used to invest on behalf of the palestinian people. There is a propaganda war running out there, where it is in Israels best interest to discredit the palestinians to gain support for their Apartheid policies. Saying that, the palestinians are not doing themselves any favours with suicide bombings targeting israelis. There is plenty of parallels that can be drawn between the situation in Israel and the situation in Northern Ireland. Thankfully they are starting to calm down in N.I. a bit.
I disregard the british media pretty much (BBC being an exception), swedish media is known for being about as impartial as you can get. I should perhaps read swiss news for another source with little or no bias. Taking a step back and taking a 'balanced' view of the situation in Israel, I think the best way to solve that sitation is to nuke the place. At least there is nothing left to fight about then. They can clearly not settle the issue like adults of their own accord down there, so just take away the prize and let none of them have it.
I think I can safely say that we will have to agree to disagree on this issue, as neither of us will make the other change his mind.
I believe you are trolling here, but I will respond anyway.
From your reply, I guess that you are american (from the US of A). If what you are saying is representative of the majority of people in the US, then the US deserves isolation from the rest of the world. Remember that without trade with the rest of the world, the US is nothing.
FWIW, I do not believe that the majority of people in the US is as short-sighted as you make yourself out to be. Given all the unbiased facts of the situation, I believe a majority would be willing to even out the standard of living across the planet.
The Palestinian Authority is one of the few examples of a state without a country. They subsidize and educate their poorest population to multiply. That provides a pool of suicide bombers, other terrorists, and the ghettoes that nurture them. And the increasing number of Palestinians, especially in those conditions, inhibits any policy of absorption by Israel as citizens, because of the disproportionate voting power they'd have, which would be used in blocs to vote out democracy, in favor of sharia, or Arafat's version of it.
Okay, I may conceede a point about the state without country. However, the Palestinian authorities need not nurture people to become suicide bombers. The israeli butchers does that job for free for them. Just as the israelis provide the scenery with the ghettoes and the poverty by implementing Apartheid. I still have not heard any calls for sanctions against Israel for this even though the Apartheid is blatant and there is international precedent for sanctions.
These conditions don't exist in a vacuum. Arafat needs Israel to threaten the lives of Palestinians to protect his power (and his $billions in Switzerland), so he pressures Israel to pressure Palestine - that's the downward death spiral those two tyrants have locked their peoples in. Sharon's militarism, and American support for it, has offered this reaction to Arafat as a viable, though gruesome, option. But we are analyzing the actions of a state growing its population as a cynical sacrifice of human suffering for political pressure.
Considering that Israel keeps threatening to assassinate Arafat (illegal practice to assasinate political opponents, but since when has Israel cared about petty things like international law) and that Israel is threatening the lives of palestinians for free, your point is moot.
If you have proof about Arafat stashing away cash in Switzerland, you might want to publish the proof so others can examine it. If there is no proof, you owe Arafat an apology.
To look at the situation in another light would be to observe that Israel is beginning a type of ethnic cleansing not seen for a long time. Victim becoming the abuser etc. Now there you have an evil spiral to talk about...
I understand what you are saying. No-one wants to give up their standard of living for something less. No argument there... But, this is exactly the mentality that has to go.
However, in a world with 6+ billion people, do you think it is feasible that every family (2-15 people) has two cars, multiple TV's, microwave owen, change their settee every two years?
No, it is not feasible or sustainable. I do not think that it ever will get to the point where everyone have the same standard of living, but I think that the disparity will get less eventually.
In the west, we have for far to long had an overinflated standard of living at the expense of people in development countries. It has to change and it will change. By peaceful means, or by violent means.
Look at China, they want the standard of living that people in the US has. Can the world take a 500% increase in pollution, use-and-chuck mentality etc? Hardly. What if India wants the same standard of living as in US? That is another billion of people.
Dropping the standard for the privilegied minority to raise it a bit for the vast majority is the only option. There is not enough resources to raise everyone to the highest standard. That is a fact and the sooner people realise, the better.
Just a thought...
You were doing well, but from me, you'd get -1, Troll for the line:
An example of a deliberate government policy of forcing population growth to impose a foreign policy on a hostile neighbor is Palestine.
Why?
The palestinians do not have their own state, so hence no govenment and no government policy. What proof do you have that they would be forcing a population growth? How could they possible 'impose' a foreign policy on a hostile neighbour that is determined to exterminate them?
> And yet recent events show why this might not be the
/A
> best thing in the World.
Aye, that is a price to pay when the minister in question is ignoring advice to have protection because there is a discernable threat.
It has happened before, Feb 28th 1986, when Olof Palme, the PM, was killed in Stockholm late at night.
However - in an open society where you feel you can approach the people in office this is a risk that you have to take. Most politicians in scandinavia feel that this is a risk worth taking.
> Not trying to flame either -- just pointing out
> something obvious. I think it's cool that you can
> walk up and chit-chat with such high-level officials
> but that incident clearly shows why it might not
> always be a good idea.
No offence taken. The murder of Anna Lindh was a shock to all of Sweden and probably to a fair few people outside Sweden as well. It was not something anyone had anticipated.
But being able to talk with high-level officials is very very valuable, as is a society that is as transparent (as few secrets) as possible.
> It might be perfectly legal for police to Sweden to
> intimidate people in this fashion, and illegal for
> protestors to respond by taking pictures and
> publishing them.
No, it isn't legal for the police to intimidate people like that. And there is no law preventing protesters from carrying cameras either.
As for the protesters publishing the pictures, IANAL etc., if the police, secret or not, is stupid enough to allow themselves to be photographed when they are supposed to keep their identity secret, they should be disciplined by their superiors. As far as I am aware, a normal police officer can not complain if he has his photo taken at a demonstration. (Freedom of the press etc.)
> Remember that the world does NOT subscribe to
> the American idea of freedom and democracy.
Awwww.. Good post right up until there.. Don't go there mate, just don't go there.. You are opening a can of worms better left unopened.
> There are rights we have in the US that you do
> not in other free countries, and rights they
> have that we do not.
This I agree with. And looking at the nordic countries (for the geographically challenged out there, 'scandinavia' or 'the nordics' is not a country...) there is rather a lot of freedoms and rights you have not got that exist elsewhere.
In how many nations on the earth can you, as a citizen, start a *direct* dialogue with, uhm, your minister of defence? (Hint, I have done.)
Could you stop your PM/President in the street when you recognize him and have a friendly chat about some political issue without getting arrested or getting your ass shot off by some secret service trigger happy dude?
In Sweden (and probably in Denmark, Norway, Finland and Iceland) you can stop your PM/President in the street and talk to them.
I know from experience that trying to get in touch with the Foregin Minister in UK is a mission in futility. I would hazard a guess that that holds true in the US as well.
Aye, I know of that one, and I use it. However, (as in this case) it might be a day or two before I get to reply.
Somehow I don't think you worry too much about me replying in a couple days time, but the original poster sure seemed to have a bee in the bonnet about it.
Ok, you're modded troll, but I'll bite anyway. Mainly because I am bored and would like to wind someone up for fun...
> I wonder why we don't just invite the UN to run the USA?
Well, the UN would a) make a better job of it than the GWB loonie toons contingency and b) they would not go unilateral on someone based upon fake 'evidence' and non-existant WMD...
> The United States is known as being the world's most stable democracy.
ROFL!!! If that isn't an oxymoron, what is...
Impressive how much time and effort you put into that post. However, it is your life and you are entitled to waste time on whatever you like.
/. can spend hours refreshing the page to see if someone have responded to a post they made. Some of us have lives and a job to do. So if you occasionally have to wait *gasp* for a reply - tough shit matey.
I have one beef with your post and that is what you call 'driveby advocacy'. Note that not all people reading
Not quite correct. They are sort of orbiting around each other. But as Earth is bigger, its movements are smaller than the Moons and therefore it is easier in a simplified context to say that the Moon orbits Earth.
Yup, I totally agree.
However, from what RIAA is saying and doing, they'd rather you didn't even get that option to listen through an album in the store before purchasing it.
There is a swedish saying (translated verbatim as) "do not buy the pig in the sack" - meaning not to buy something without having looked over its quality first. At the moment, RIAA wants to revoke you that privilege to examine the product before buying it.
I personally believe that if you download an entire album to 'preview' it, that should not be an offence as long as you delete the files if you do not buy the album. That would be the 'common sense' angle.
Well, with a car dealership, you at least have the option of taking the car you are thinking about buying out for a spin...
> Well I had never heard of him before this.
I suspect that people with no interest in Chess would not have heard of him, but that does not mean he was not a good Chess player in his day.
> Chess requires an enormous amount of stragegy and intellect
Indeed, but Go requires more.
SR-71 might have been classified, but using it to violate sovereign nations air-space and then getting pissed off when said nations took photos of the SR-71 when it was in process of violating said air-space is just what we have grown to expect from the USA.
Now, talking about stealth technology, you are aware that the 'stealth' airplanes are not invisible to radar yes? So why mess about wasting millions of dollars on something that doesn't really work? Pointless, but the USA has money to burn apparently. Hint, linking radar stations means you can see 'stealth' planes in a trivial manner.
As for Mach3+ flight, how often do you need that? Oh yes, only when you are the aggressor nation. Surprise surprise, most other nations in the world do not enjoy going around picking fights with anyone and everyone all the time.
As for matching the USA aircraft industry, it is interesting to see that the only reason you compete in the private sector is because USA is using blackmail to help companies located in the USA, when non-USA aircrafts are superior. Regarding the military side, JAS 39 Gripen was developed in a nation consisting of 9 million people, for a minute cost compared to what the USA blows on a similar project, and Gripen will be more than a match for the USA developed planes.
So, your point again was?
Once the USA realises that they are not alone in the world, they actually NEED the world (fine, isolate yourselves, see if we care, when you need oil after wasting your own resources don't come crawling back to the rest of the world for some) or you'd go bust. Even implementing totally fair trade across the world (no penalty toll fares to protect internal business) would seriously hurt the USA (and to be fair, most western nations).
Best BR excuse was 'wrong type of barometric pressure'.. *lol*
> There is no one else in the world as qualified or capable of producing as advanced aircraft.
Three examples that makes your theory utterly useless.
Mig-29
Eurofighter
JAS 39 Gripen
Use Encryption.
PGP or GnuPG is there, available and would prevent unauthorised reading of your communications. The real problem is to get people to understand the need for it and get them bothered enough about 3rd party reading their e-mails that they actually start using encryption.
Only problem I can see is that law-makers will get irritated that they can't snoop mails because people start using encryption that they will legislate for some EscRow crud. Like the law in effect in UK, if they ask for the decryption key, and you won't, or worse, can't, give it them, it is automatically two years in jail.
Bad idea.
There is something called 'nicotin' that about half the world uses and that has a nasty little side-effect of contracting blood vessels in your extremities, hence causing them to become cooler than normal. Most peoples hands are normally about 36C while if you use nicotin your hands can easily drop in temperature to about 31C - 33C.
Just accept that there is no 'silver bullet' for security. Any system can be circumvented, some more easily than others.
SR-71 Blackbird - Mach3
Standard Issue SideWinder Missile - Mach6
Go Figure.
> And which units comprised the NATO troops?
.50.
.50 Barrett would not have concerned me particularly much. RSV grenades or AT mines would be higher on my list of things to worry about.
.50 cal fire would be to saturate the area with 7.62mm machine-gun fire until cannon was loaded with correct grenade.
Fairly standard units I would imagine if they let a whole damn company get captured without inflicting any loss on the opponents.
> by your use of of 'Mountain Seal' I suppose they are of high calibre.
The "Mountain Seals" are not your average Joe Soldier, that is for sure. They are the type of guys that will parashute in behind enemy lines, hide for a few weeks, fire a single shot (usually to take out some high officer) and then ski back to friendly territory just to do it all over again. I have more respect for these guys than I have for the Navy equivalent.
> On the other hand, why don't you go head to head with the SAS, Delta, or a Seal Team?
The SAS (UK Special Forces) are very very good, that I will not dispute. They also have a characteristic that I admire very much. They are not arrogant stuck up twits just because they are elite troups.
> I'll tell you why, because your soft-bodied little self would have his soul owned at 1000 meters by a Barrett
In the duty I performed in military service, the
The stock response to
> the Swedish miliary is not battle-proven
Tell that to the guys doing UN service in Kosovo. I have lost a close friend that I did military service with, down there.
I resent your remark about the skills of the Swedish military. We might not have a salaried professional military, that is still no reason to underestimate it. Just FYI, there are only two pilots in the world that has managed to get a missile lock on the SR-71 Blackbird, one is an American pilot, the other pilot just so happens to be Swedish.