Re:After Pearl Harbor we shoulda exterminated them
on
Tor: A JAP Replacement
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· Score: 1
What would a nuke do? Today, for the obviously clueless, is the 59th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. That day, 59 years ago, 80,000 people died, mostly civilians. 60,000 more would die of radiation sickness by the end of the year. Thousands more still suffer from the radiation exposure. That is the inhuman price of your "glass"!
In Nagasaki, the effects were similar except for one difference: Nagasaki was home to Asia's largest Catholic population. A population that was persecuted by their own government: the punishment for practicing any form of Christianity was death. The Catholics of Nagasaki were not only innocent civilians (which it was against the Geneva Convention to attack - can you say war crime?), but they were innocent victims of their own fascist government: our enemy. We still murdered them by the tens of thousands.
In WWII, we "liberated" the Marshall Islands from Japan and made it our protectorate. Years later, in 1954 (fifty years ago this year), the Japanese occupation was ending, and Japan was emerging as our ally once more (Japan, except for the WWII era, has been our ally since our Commander Perry visited it). On Bikini Atoll, in the Marshall Islands, we were conducting nuclear testing. On March 1st, we tested Bravo, the first, biggest, and deadliest H-bomb, the equivalent of 1,000 Hiroshimas. The Lucky Dragon Number 5, was trawling for tuna 87 miles away: its radioman would die of radiation sickness in six months, its tuna catch poisoned. Rongelap Atoll, 120 miles away, was irradiated by a nuclear hurricane and a snow fall of ash. Death came in the form of cancers, leukemia, and hideously deformed babies. Japanese newspapers declared "The Second Atomic Bombing of Mankind". The Japanese public turned strongly against nuclear testing. On November 3rd, Godzilla, Son of Bravo, appeared for the first time in Tokyo Bay.
Well, now you know the cost of your glass. (I'd suggest getting a book on glass making and try making it using fire.) You should also know the cost of dehumanizing a group of people with a word like "JAP": all kinds of atrocities become possible, from concentration camps to nukes.
The person who named "JAP" probably did it out of ignorance, but the word is still highly offensive to people who today are our good friends (by some miracle). I'm glad to hear it is being replaced.
"Our people.. stricken with disease.
You.. you played with the fires of the gods.
And you dare to come here and ask us for help!
You betrayed us! You expect us to trust you after what you have done?" Infant Island Chief, "Godzilla vs. Mothra" (US Version), 1964 For the 10th anniversary of Bravo.
King Ghidora, God of Space, Asteroids, and Mass Extinction, would like to inform Earth's space agencies that they are welcome to probe the interior of space rocks, but they are not welcome to probe his interior. Failure to comply with this order will result in all life on Earth being extinguished. Because He rules!
Godzilla: No, I rule the world!
Mothra: Boys, I rule: you!
King Ghidora: No, I...
Godzilla: Better behave. Remember what happened last time?
King Ghidora: Er, yeah. You totally rule, Mothra!
Godzilla: Yeah, same here!
Mothra: That's better. I'd hate to have to spend my birthday tomorrow beating up on one of you. I may be the Goddess of Peace, but I must agree that there are definite perks to being "the Mightiest Monster in all Creation". Note to self: be sure to thank the nice boys in PR that thought that one up.;)
"Why do you need to be fit when we're gonna make Godzilla disappear up his own butt hole, huh?" Kudo, "Godzilla vs. Megaguirus", US version Duh, that's "black hole", you dim-witted dubbers! The Japanese track uses the English words!
This is hardly a surprise - how many other works of art were reviled in their time, only to be acclaimed by future generations?
Well, if I knew anything about art, I'm sure I could come up with a few names...
How about a critically acclaimed film (in its own country) that had a record breaking budget, great plot with a strong message for its day, A level actors (the very best), and a special effects artist that was the greatest of his day (Spielberg and Lucas' special effects people studied under him, and would consider him their "Yoda")?
When this movie came to the US, it was badly chopped up, shown out of sequence, with an American actor inserted to "Americanize" it, its hero relegated to a minor role, his motivation changed, and the message hardly distinguishable. As a result, this masterpiece and its many sequels have been reviled, denigrated, and referred to as "camp"!
Now, fifty years later, the original film in all its glory, with newly translated subtitles, is making its way around the USA. If it comes to a theater in your town, go see it, and get introduced to the real "Gojira" for the very first time! Then you can acclaim it.;)
All our tomorrows,
By the sun and the light,
I am forgotten.
"Oh Peace Oh Light Return" (national song of mourning)
from "Gojira" 1954
The shares were part of a deal to give Jobs some capital to get Apple back on its feet after a nasty fall. The deal also included Office on the Mac in exchange for IE on the Mac as the default browser. Microsoft was trying to prop up Apple as a competitor to get the DOJ of its back.
The deal has since expired, and the shares were dumped on the market in the Fall of 2000 (contributing to Apple's nasty trip that presaged the crash of the PC industry a few days later). Apple has since recovered (more quickly than the rest of the industry, and with hardly any layoffs).
Safari, based on open source KHTML goodness, is now the default browser on the Mac. Since MS tacked its recent acquisition, Virtual PC, onto Office for Mac, they are having trouble getting the full product released.
The "marriage" is over, much to the dismay of clueless pundits. With the success of iTunes, the iTunes Music Store, and the iPod, Apple is laughing all the way to the bank.;)
With Office import/export capability in AppleWorks, ThinkFree Office, and OpenOffice being ported, we won't be needing MS Office for much longer.
Microsoft free Macs are wonderful. I know, I own one. So is Linux, for that matter.
So, what was it that we needed Microsoft for? Oh yeah, that headache and sick stomach feeling I get every time I try to use, let alone program, Windows.:b
"At this moment, it has control of systems all over the world. And...we can't do a damn thing to stop it." Miyasaka, "Godzilla 2000 Millennium" (Japanese version) Sure we can. Trick MS into embracing and extending Godzilla, he'll stick his head down MS's throat, and nuke it.
Here's another word for you, digitalgiblet: Prometheus!
Most people don't know Challenger was supposed to be transporting a satellite powered by 46.7 pounds of plutonium in its very next trip after the one where it was destroyed. Had the disaster occurred on that next trip, a whole lot more people would have died of lung cancer and plutonium poisoning.
The Challenger disaster and Chernobyl, both the same year, were together enough to persuade Nasa to give up its dangerous desire for nuclear fission powered engines (then Project Ulysses). For a time at least...
As the Columbia disaster happened, Nasa was pushing for a new nuclear fission engine program: Project Prometheus. This time, Nasa doesn't seem to be stopping or even slowing down its plans, despite its current safety problems, or the newly available high-energy solar power, that is far, far safer.
Prometheus of old stole fire from heaven, and was punished for his crime by Zeus, who sent an eagle every day to rip out his liver. This new Prometheus steals fire from the heart of the atom to fly into the heavens. One stupid mistake (and human stupidity that is the topic of this thread always is the cause in nuclear accidents), and the radioactive ancestor (from the mesozoic) of the eagle will be there to attack your liver, or any other organ he can get, with cancer.
Assuming, of course, that the reactor doesn't do something spectacular: like falling intact, while heating up enough to get fission going. Don't look now, but Chernobyl just landed in your back yard!
Extra credit for the Slashdot geek who can slap a coolant system on that puppy before it causes a disaster, and hook it up to power his home.;)
Shinoda: "Is Godzilla showing his hatred toward man-made energy?"
Godzilla: "Human! Impertinent! I rule the Atom!"
"Godzilla 2000 Millennium" (Japanese version)
Not completely, but they are actually working toward that goal.
For instance, you will see one Korean team at the Olympics this summer under the banner of a united Korea.
Despite the US being against it, a unified Korea is for the best. It would solve most of the problems currently posed by North Korea, including the nuclear one.
Of course, then the US will have no need for troops in Japan or South Korea...
"The path of peace is yours to discover for eternity." Japanese version of "Mothra" (1961)
So then all the micro-chipped terrorist has to do is ride the New York City subway until you fire the cruise missile, and there goes the subway and a nice sized chunk of New York City. Yep, "nothing bad can possibly come of this type of action".
How about we *not* help the terrorists blow up things, huh?
That's as bad as Godzilla, Mothra, Rodan, and Manda basically standing around in bemusement as the Japanese destroyed Tokyo with their artillery in "Destroy All Monsters". What a tragedy that was!;)
"Once we wake Godzilla, he'll take care of those guys." Ichiro on disposing of the Red Bamboo terrorists. "Godzilla, Ebira, Mothra: Big Duel in the South Sea" (Japanese version)
All the rational for the war given at the time has been shattered. Under international law (IANAL, but I have read plenty of articles by people who were), Bush's Iraq war was a crime against peace, and the numerous violations of the Geneva Conventions give plenty of grounds for war crimes and crimes against humanity charges as well.
Also, frequently forgotten, the Iraqi resistance has every right to exist under the Geneva Conventions.
But more important, and more pertinent to the topic, is the effects of the nuke and international reaction to it. Nukes don't care about international boundaries, anymore than they care about whether their victims are innocent or guilty, friend or enemy. If you drop a nuke anywhere in the Sunni Triangle, you are going to irradiate Iran. If you drop a nuke in the westernmost part of the Sunni Triangle (including Baghdad - a city the size of Chicago), you are going to get lethal levels of radiation into Iran. I don't know about them, but I would consider that an act of war. Iran hasn't been weakened by a decade of sanctions. They would have allies: every man, child, and maybe even woman of the surviving Iraqis.
Internationally, the US would be branded a rogue nation (lots more than we are now). It is one thing to use nukes to end a world war, or to prevent one using deterrence (not that I am fond of either). It is something quite different to casually use a nuke, the one and only true weapon of mass destruction, against large segments of a country you are occupying (over 100,000 foreign troops acting independently with a puppet government that has to ask permission to declare martial law is not sovereignty).
The exact repercussions are hard to predict, as no one has used a nuke in this setting. Let's put it this way: if we were on North Korea and Iran's cases because we thought they were developing weapons, and invading Iraq because they supposedly had them, what do you think the rest of the world would do to us if we used them?
If it makes you feel any better (and I would get help I were you if it did), US forces left the UN repository (stuff found and put under seal by UN inspectors) of radioactive materials near Tikrit unguarded when they took over Iraq. The repository was looted by ignorant villagers, who simply dumped the yellow powder out of its barrels on the ground, and took the barrels home. The Tikrit area is pretty radioactive now, and people are rather sick. Of course, if we never invaded, that stuff would all be safely under UN monitored lock and key now, with no disaster and no one sick.
"Our people.. stricken with disease.
You.. you played with the fires of the gods.
And you dare to come here and ask us for help!
You betrayed us! You expect us to trust you after what you have done?" Infant Island Chief, "Godzilla vs. Mothra" (US Version), 1964 (For the 10th anniversary of the test of H-bomb Bravo and in memory of its victims: peaceful Japanese fishermen and the Marshall Islands people.)
I saw the St. Louis tech segments (one was also on the Gimp). Personally, considering an audience that is not very computer literate and ignorant of open source, I thought they did a pretty good job. What you neglected to mention was that they said very clearly that the Open Source apps were plenty good enough for home use, and the price (free) was great.
Considering the bad economic crunch around here (plainly visible in all that empty parking lot space at Six Flags at the height of summer - usually people are parking on the grass with a full lot at this time), having usable and free (as in beer as well as otherwise) software for families to use is great. No one now has the bucks to buy Office or Photo-anything for the home.
Godzilla has been doing his part too. An old and dear friend of the Mac (still used to make his movies - last I heard), Godzilla has since discovered open source (but then, so has Apple). Most computer displays in his last few movies now have a window of source code scrolling past (not the usual method of distribution and sans license, but hey, it's a movie). "Godzilla vs. Megagiras" also featured Kudo's Original OS, which could debug the Dimension Tide's OS ten times faster than any other OS, including the buggy mess Dimension Tide was running on (referring to an old claim of Linux being 10 times faster than Windows 3.1).
"At this moment, it has control of systems all over the world.... There is one flaw in its plan: Godzilla." Shinoda: "Godzilla 2000 Millennium" (Japanese version)
If you live in the USA, you are completely full of crap. If the USA is so bad, why don't you either leave or take up arms against this government that is so terribly evil?
Maybe because we are patriotic citizens who love what our country is supposed to stand for, and take peaceful action to change our government so it is more in line with those ideals?
9/11 and the corruption in our government are not two separate things, they are the two sides of the same coin. US foreign policy has done great harm in the Middle East, especially its policy regarding Israel, and the economic sanctions against Iraq (which killed a half a million children). Mounting anger in the Middle East fuels terrorism, and our government uses this to justify the Patriot Act, the rights violations perpetrated in the name of the "War on Terror", and to excuse the invasion of Iraq and torture of Iraqi (and probably other) prisoners. Which fuels more anger, more terrorism, and more excuses to turn the US into a fascist nightmare (complete with happy corporations raking in the gold). And the nightmare spreads outward, with repressive governments (like Egypt) using the name and techniques of Abu Graibe to terrorize their own citizenry. This is just another version of your garden variety cycle of violence, just like you get in cases of child abuse where abused children grow up to abuse their own. The only difference is the greed and power lust of Mongol King George, and maybe that isn't that much of a difference.
On the path that it is on, our government can never hope to end terrorism. It will only learn how to effectively terrorize its own citizens. Our founders offered a different path: with checks and balances to keep our government in line, and the kind of respect for the independence of other countries that would allow us to make peace with all the peoples of the Middle East, thereby depriving the terrorists of the hatred and anger that fuels them. Without popular support, terrorists become unpopular criminals that anyone would turn in.
On a practical note: if you are a US citizen, check out who waffled and who firmly supported the Patriot Act. This vote conveniently happened right before an election. Take advantage of that, and vote these people out of office. The veto they should be worried about is yours, not the President's.
Here is a favorite quote of mine. It is part of a wiser president's speech to the House of Representatives. Why is he wiser? His dad invented the first set of laws that we now call the "Patriot Act". The son learned how to really be president from one Thomas Jefferson:
She [America] well knows that by once enlisting under other banners than her own, were they even the banners of foreign independence, she would involve herself beyond the power of extrication, in all the wars of interest and intrigue, of individual avarice, envy, and ambition, which assume the colors and usurp the standard of freedom.
The fundamental maxims of her policy would insensibly change from liberty to force....
She might become the dictatress of the world. She would be no longer the ruler of her own spirit....
President John Quincy Adams' speech to the U.S. House of Representatives on July 4, 1821.
Look again. The JP computers were SGIs and Macs. The GUI our little vegetarian hacker used was an SGI demo of a 3D file system interface. You can find it here:
http://www.sgi.com/fun/freeware/3d_navigator.htm l
A G4 iMac gives you the UNIX capability and graphics of an SGI machine (I worked with them around 1990) with the ease of use of a Mac. Plus it is more powerful than your old Cray. JP today could be done on iMacs.
Considering that the SGI machine that I worked with cost as much as a house back then, and Macs were much more expensive, the iMac is a real bargain. You can also pick up the iMac and smack a raptor with it, which you can't do with the other computers used in JP very easily.
A pity we can't get a port of the game "Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis" for the Mac. I really, really love that game! It would be so cool to control my parks on a real iMac.
"Oh yeah: 'Oooh!' 'Aaah!'; that's how it always starts, but then later there's running and um.. screaming." Ian Malcolm, The Lost World: Jurassic Park
Hm, seems to me that this is your interstellar traveller: King Ghidora. He is also known as "The God from Space", "The Strongest Foe", "The God of Mass Extinction", "The Great Devil That Comes From the Sky", "The Thousand Year Dragon King" and "Guardian God of the Heavens" in his various incarnations, both good and evil.
December 20th is his fortieth birthday, and Toho isn't throwing him a party. (Well, they did in 2001, but he wants another one.) So he has been showing off, with close asteroid flybys, fireballs, three naked eye comets, and the discovery of Planet X (Sedna).
So relax, and enjoy the show. Give him some popcorn offerings (so he doesn't have to fling asteroids into corn fields to make his own). And pray Mothra that he remains in a relatively good mood, because if he doesn't, it's curtains for the human race!
I agree with you, teamhasnoi. A couple nights ago I watched Ashcroft squirm while Congress grilled him (replayed from that morning on CSpan). Boy that was high entertainment. (He almost got jail time for "Contempt of Congress.;) But what really caught my attention when he protested that some Patriot Act provision (something to do with police hijinks sans subpoena) was just an extension to terrorism of what they already could do with health insurance fraud. Health insurance fraud!
Sound like some congress critter owned by the insurance industry already signed away our rights long before 911. I wouldn't be too surprised (now) to find that a lot of the Patriot Act's more odious provisions were simply preexisting cracks widened by it and 911.
As for the terrorists (the real ones, not the PR ones), apply what's in my sig to our foreign policy, and that little problem should clear itself up. What's sauce for the King of Terror, is sauce for the terrorists. True peace alone (not Bush's fraud) can conquer both. Not peace with terror, but peace with people so their hatred and anger isn't stirred to empower terror. Rumsfeld, in a memo, has already noted that the War on Terror (and especially in Iraq) is stirring up so much hatred and anger that they are making terrorists faster than we can kill them.
"Lola, kindness is not enough, look for the reason of hatred and anger.
When you find and understand that, love becomes the strongest power; stronger than courage or wisdom." Belabera, "Mothra 3: King Ghidora Attacks"
zymano touched on this a bit, but I think it needs to be stressed: In the USA, the airwaves do not belong to the government or the corporations. The airwaves are public property, just like National Parks. The FCC's job is to administer them to serve public interests. While government is not to be totally trusted, as there is such a thing as corruption, they are the best ones to manage public property. If they screw up, US citizens can bring pressure to bear and make them behave nicely. We have no such control over super-corporations and the "market".
Regarding the AC's remark about no equipment without corporations: It is obvious that you are a bit too removed from the era of do-it-yourself electronics. Guglielmo Marconi invented radio in his dad's attic after having failed a university entrance exam. His company, the Nobel prize, and the first transatlantic wireless communication came later.
It's amazing what you can do without a big corporation. Why people have had their very own grocery stores, grown their own food, composed music, invented stuff, etc.: all without a single corporation in sight!
"Ridiculous, you have no claim. I'll sue you for interfering with private enterprise." Kumoyama, Happy Enterprises, "Mothra vs. Godzilla", 1964 (HE's private enterprise = kidnapping, holding two deities hostage inside their egg, and attempted slave traffic.)
An actual emergency made worse by cell phone jamming:
Citizen 1: "Hello, hello?". "Dammit, I can't get through on this thing."
Citizen 2: "Better just assume its a normal hijacking then.
As they slip back in their seats, Citizen 1: "Okay, we'll cooperate fully. We don't want anyone to get hurt."
The terrorist smirks. Some time later, Flight 93 slams into the White House.
The above scenario is obviously fictitious. The passengers of Flight 93 did not have their cell phones jammed. They did find out about the other planes hitting the WTC, and they did choose to sacrifice themselves to save lives.
But as cell phones have already proven their usefulness in saving lives during a terrorist attack, it is ridiculous to be jamming them now.
Regarding the issue of telephone rights: 1) The government, using my tax money, set up the 911 service so I could get the help of police, fire, etc. if I really need it. Use of this service requires a telephone. As often 911 calls deal with the safety of the community (bank robbery, finding trapped people in a disaster, terrorism), jamming them endangers the community.
2) Cell service is paid for. Under the Fifth Amendment (Bill of Rights), I require compensation if the government disrupts it.
Movie (December 1998): "The great devil will come from the sky!" Video Subtitle (Summer 1999): "The King of Terror is coming!" American Version (May 2003): "The King of Terror!" Moll, "Mothra 3: King Ghidora Attacks" / "Rebirth of Mothra 3"
Not just large cats, but large cats that can easily kill cattle. Longhorn is coming, and Apple wants to be ready to take it on.
Jaguar is the mystical cat of South America. Jaguars are the masters of many environments, can swim, and climb trees. They could kill something like a Longhorn with a simple crunch of its skull in their jaws. Jet Jaguar was the heroic robot friend of Godzilla in "Godzilla vs. Megalon".
Apple's black panther is really a black leopard. Leopards are the third largest cat, only lions and tigers exceed them in size and strength. Leopards are the symbol of royalty and divinity in countries where they prowl (Pope John Paul II wore leopard print vestments when he said Mass in one location in Africa to indicate to the people by their culture that he was a priest). They are very strong cats, carrying large kills up into the trees with them. Leopards often prey on cattle.
Tiger is the biggest of all cats, the Asian King of Beasts, Lord of the Land, and the representative of the Earth Mother. In China, White Tiger is the guardian god of the west and the god of war. This noble cat masters all environments (snow to tropical jungle), can climb trees (though trees are not a comfortable perch for its size), and loves to play in the water. Longhorn hasn't a prayer with Tiger, as Water Buffalo are frequent meals, and even elephants aren't safe. For all its majesty and fierceness, Tiger is one of the friendliest of cats to its own kind. When two tigers meet in the forest, they rub heads together in greeting and go their own way. Even a mighty male tiger, in its prime, that has made a fresh kill, will give way to orphaned cubs crying with hunger, and let them have as much as they want first. Maybe such compassion is due because tiger cubs are the cutest little things you ever did see.
Longhorn had better give it up and run away. Baby Tiger is gonna kill you with excessive cuteness!;)
Miyasaka: "At this moment, it has control of systems all over the world." [...] Shinoda: "There is one flaw in its plan: Godzilla." "Godzilla 2000 Millennium" (Japanese version)
Yes, it would be lovely if Linux developers could use real words to name their software. Unfortunately, real words are all trademark of some corporation (as the developers of Killustrator discovered). Linux developers, writing software for others on their free time (yes, some get hired by Linux companies, but some don't), can't afford trademark lawyers to research and develop their own trademarks. They certainly can't afford to have behemoth corporations hitting them with lawsuits. "Fbrsr" and "mrd" are safer names for them to use.
Yes, easy installers are something for the Linux community to be moving toward. In the mean time, try booting up a Knoppix CD. In a few minutes, you have a complete Linux system with 2 gigabytes of software (including two office suites and a couple of browsers), with no compiling. Even better, your hard drive is not even touched.
"Ridiculous, you have no claim. I'll sue you for interfering with private enterprise." Kumoyama, Happy Enterprises, "Mothra vs. Godzilla", April 29, 1964
Capitalism is about an exchange of value for money. Basically, you would have something I wanted, and I would pay you money, based on its value, to obtain it. I would then get value, and you would get money.
Employees used to be a valuable company resource. That is what "Human Resources" departments were about: managing that resource, and making it more valuable to the company through training. If you improved your value to the company, you would get a raise in pay.
Now companies have decided to get something of value for as close to nothing as they can get. Witness manufacturing jobs moving from country to country in an attempt to get the lowest salary and working conditions possible. It has started with IT jobs too, as India's bubble economy is making IT companies turn to cheaper alternatives. If the Nazis were still in charge of Germany and still offering slave labor, these companies would all be moving the jobs there (IBM being one of the companies to take advantage of those "working conditions" back in Nazi Germany).
This isn't any legitimate form of capitalism. This is naked greed, and extreme exploitation of workers. Ultimately, this will be economic suicide, as the unemployed workers in all the countries left behind, and the next best thing to slave wage workers in current countries will not be able to afford the companies' products.
Protectionism is nothing but a bandaid. It does not address the root of the problem: the devaluing of employee contributions to the company. This is a global problem that needs to be solved. Once it is, workers all over the world should be able to make a decent living with dignity.
"They bind our hearts: 'Let's sell them again and again!'
Our plan understands the sea; we can wait for her coming." From the song "Infanto no Musume" in the Japanese version of "Mothra" (1961).
The only reason 9/11 happened is that the Bush Administration refused to share a vital fact with the American people: planes were to be hijacked and used in terrorist attacks. The passengers in the first three flights to crash thought they were in an ordinary hijacking, and acted accordingly. Which got them, some of the people in the WTC, and some of the people in the Pentagon killed.
Flight 93 was different because it was last and passengers found out what was really going on - too late to save their pilot crew. So they gave their lives and took the terrorists down to die with them - saving who knows how many people.
On the Shoe-bomber's flight, the passengers were well aware of the lessons of Flight 93, and stopped him. The plane landed safely (as all four planes might have on 9/11), and the bad guy got arrested.
As long as the lessons of Flight 93 are remembered, and passengers are courageous enough to follow their example, our airplanes are safe from that kind of terrorism. This is the American way of doing things, with the power and responsibility in the hands of a free and brave people.
Why now all this "security", and invasion of Fourth (and other) Amendment rights? Simple, it is to make us unfree and fearful. Fearful people are easy to control, and our government is on another power trip. Which is quite un-American if you ask me. The definition of the word "terrorism" according to the World Book's dictionary section is quite relevant here:
1. the act of terrorizing; use of terror, especially the systematic use of terror by a government or other authority against particular persons or groups.
2. a condition of fear and submission produced by frightening people.
3. a method of opposing a government internally through the use of terror.
Hm, it seems Al Qaeda isn't the only one being bad here. Though that does explain why the terrorists behind the Spanish terrorist attack announced their endorsement of Bush as their candidate for the US presidency. I'm sure the lessons of Flight 93 will be instructive in dealing with the other bad guy here. Especially come election time. All we need is a good candidate to pile on to.
I pray that the wise, courageous and compassionate spirit of America will be reborn, and that the brave and free government of the people, by the people, and for the people, will never, ever, perish from this earth.
Japanese Movie (December 1998): "The great devil will come from the sky!"
Japanese Video Subtitle (Summer 1999): "The King of Terror is coming!"
US Version on SciFi (May 2003): "The King of Terror!"
Moll, "Mothra 3: King Ghidora Attacks" / "Rebirth of Mothra 3"
I know none of the big unregulated power companies are saints - all of them put profit before safety and reliablility these days.
But First Energy is spectacularly unsafe. The nation's second and third worst nuclear accidents happened on their watch, at their David-Besse plant in Ohio. For six years they just wiped off the leaking coolant from the reactor head. It was inspected several times by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. It wasn't until there was a hole eaten in the head big enough to stick a gallon milk jug into, with only a thin (1/16 inch) veneer of stainless steel between the US and a Three Mile Island to Chernobyl accident, that it was even discovered and shut down! They are trying, with NRC supervision (like that helps), to restart it with a new head, and last I heard they couldn't go 24 hours without another failure of some sort or another!
This is what I would do:
First, I would re-regulate the industry and get tough. Make it clear that power companies are expected to be safe and reliable as being a power company is a public trust.
Second, regulatory bodies should not be responsible for industry promotion. They should be regulatory bodies only. This would toughen inspections, as there would be no more "nudge, nudge, wink, wink" at their industry "pals".
Third, look at what worked during the blackout. Coal and nuclear, dirty power, when down. Clean energy, such as the Niagara Falls hydroelectric plant, kept right on chugging. That shows us a good direction to go for the future.
Fourth, repair or replace the grid. It is held together badly by a bunch of companies who don't want to spend money on it. Either repair it, or localize the power sources (even per building) so no more huge blackouts can occur.
Shinoda: "Is Godzilla showing his hatred toward man-made energy?" Godzilla: "Human! Impertinent! I rule the Atom!" "Godzilla 2000 Millennium" (Japanese version)
Actually, it has had a lot of delays already. The Millennium project was going on at Microsoft Research back in the late 1990's. Judging from technologies like Yukon, "Longhorn" is the marketing code name for Millennium. It has hit a lot of roadblocks since then:
Millennium ran on the
Borg JVM (Look under "Previous Projects"). Sun managed to get the courts to block further modification of Java by Microsoft. This caused Microsoft to have to take time out to develop C# and.Net.
Hollywood and Senator Fritz Hollings twice attempted to get a digital rights management bill passed that required all computers and electronics to have DRM built in. Microsoft patented the concept of a digital rights management operating system, and attempted to ride these bills into a legislated monopoly that would have required all operating system makers to license the rights from them, or fail to comply with the law. The bills never got anywhere. Microsoft was left with Palladium, but no way to shoehorn it onto other systems so Millennium could run on top of them (the original plan, as.Net exists for OS X, and as Mono, on Linux), enabling Microsoft to fold in all operating systems into a true 100% monopoly. So Microsoft turned to indirectly funding SCO, and sicked them on Linux, and later BSD (OS X), in an attempt to extinguish their competition.
Millennium is a distributed operating system with a distributed database file system. It requires broadband to be widely and cheaply available. Rather than sit on their heels and wait for that to happen, they have been actively promoting broadband. A google search for "Bill Gates" broadband turns up 84,600 hits. Obviously, he has been busy becoming the great champion of broadband.
It doesn't matter how you skin it, or how many obstacles Microsoft has to overcome, Millennium is coming. Will Millennium be the key to Microsoft's thousand year reign over the computing world? Or will Microsoft die the day its reign begins? Hm, sounds like the plot for a great monster movie...
"New machines, network links, and resources should be automatically assimilated." Microsoft
Shinoda: "The age of Millennium."
Io: "What does that mean?"
Shinoda: "A thousand year kingdom. It wants to create a home for itself. There is one flaw in its plan: Godzilla." Godzilla 2000 (vs) Millennium (Japanese version, US version cut most of the Microsoft and Millennium references)
(Note: Palladium is a soft, shiny white metal. The Millennium alien in Godzilla 2000 (vs) Millennium in its original form appears to have a skin of palladium.)
Actually, the Fourth Amendment issues are obvious. I have a right to be secure in my papers (records), and if the government (including the IRS) wants to see them, they should be getting a search warrant from a judge, and with probable cause and all that good stuff. This is the government going through my things looking for something to put me in jail for, exactly the sort of thing this Amendment is supposed to protect me from.
The Rolls Royce thing is bogus, especially today when you have all those six figure programmers (never me, alas) driving fancy cars (for as long as they can hold on to them), out of work and flipping burgers. Should they be in jail now because they once had a better job and fancy stuff, and all they could get in the past year was a job at McDonald's?
As times are pretty bad now, the unemployed driving fancy cars bought in their glory days are going to out number the ones who are cheating on their taxes. If the IRS goes, unjustly, against the unemployed in a big way, what kind of black eye is that going to get them?
Note: this is not a flame. And I have read both Liselle's post and the article.
"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized." Fourth Amendment: US Constitution.
> In a sense, what Apple does is even worse than moving > jobs to India - they eliminate the need of paying for them.
So, how many small companies and scientists were actually using the services of a paid IT consultant before Rendezvous, Airport, or XGrid? Small companies tend to run older systems, and might not bother with a network unless someone inhouse or a relative of the owner knows how to set one up. Scientists have the IT resources of their institution, or they have the brains to rtfm and do it themselves. Apple is just making it easier for these people to access the technology.
Besides, Rendezvous and XGrid are no good without supporting software. Apple has Blast for XGrid, but that is only one application. The rest of the applications for it have to be written. That creates jobs (or would if the programmers involved could find someone here in the US to hire them to do the work), instead of taking them away.
If, on the other hand, you have a big company, you are obviously going to need the services of an IT professional (inhouse or consultant). If you want to rage against the loss of IT jobs, why not attack AOL, which is offshoring inhouse jobs? Or IBM and HP's consultant divisions, or any of the smaller fry, that subcontract consultant work to India?
BTW, Apple has loads of job openings in California. If you are unemployed and in the area, you might want to check them out.
"What I'm thinking is different from what you are." Belabera, "Mothra 3: King Ghidora Attacks" 1998
If all you saw was a "lizard" and Raymond Burr, then all you saw was a bad hatchet job. The real thing will be in a few theaters this spring and summer in the US. (Otherwise, I agree with you, Dun Malg.)
On March 1st, 1954, the US exploded H-bomb Bravo on Bikini. Radioactive ash fell on the Japanese fishing boat "The Lucky Dragon No. 5", and Bravo's nuclear hurricane engulfed Rongelap. Children played in the "snow", and then began screaming as it burned and poisoned them. The Japanese newspapers ran with the headline "The Second Atomic Bombing of Mankind".
On September 23, 1954, "The Lucky Dragon No. 5" radioman Aikichi Kuboyama died, the first victim of the H-bomb.
On October 15, 1954, Hurricane Hazel rampaged up the US east coast, up into the nation's capital. In its wake it left 95 deaths and over a quarter of a billion dollars in damages.
On November 3, 1954, with the sinking of fishing boats and the fury of a typhoon heralding his epiphany, the dinosaur god Gojira (Godzilla), Son of Bravo, God of the Atom, and King of Monsters appeared. Only the compassion of Emiko and the heroic sacrifice of Serizawa in his dedication to peace, could halt the rampage of the angry god.
Within a month of the 25th anniversary of Bravo, in the Silver Jubilee year of Godzilla, the Three Mile Island accident happened. As always, human stupidity was at least partly to blame.
It is now within a month of the 50th anniversary of Bravo, in the Golden Jubilee year of Godzilla. How many times does he have to tell you all?
Safe!?! Was Chernobyl safe? Maybe, until they turned off all the safety mechanisms to see what would happen!
Tokai? Well, if anybody qualified for the Phoenix awards, it is the idiots who invited the Godzilla crew over to film an attack on their plant, and then tossed out the safety measures while mixing a nice bowl of uranium and nitric acid. Gee, they couldn't wait for "Godzilla 2000 Millennium" to come out before having Japan's worst nuclear accident. (Toho took out the plant destruction footage and ran it in the next movie, set in 1966 when the thing was first built.)
Then there is David Besse, Ohio's very own Hole-in-the-Head reactor, holder of the distinction of America's 2nd and 3rd worst nuclear accidents. They are trying to restart it again. Last I heard, there were valve malfunctions. First Energy who runs the thing brought us the big blackout a while ago. Be sure to thank them for that.
Face it, nuclear plants aren't safe. Nuclear weapons can't be safely tested or used (Bush wants to do both). The world's only God of the Atom is only going to be your friend when you return the fire you stole from him. Until then, you have a gigantic, divine, and extremely territorial carnivorous dinosaur who is seriously mad at you.
What do you think all those Native American prophetic warning labels on sacred mountains located over uranium deposits were about? They told you so!
Shinoda: "Is Godzilla showing his hatred toward man-made energy?" Godzilla: "Human! Impertinent! I rule the Atom!" "Godzilla 2000 Millennium" (Japanese version)
Yes, this is business. Not to be confused with highway robbery.
Business: Microsoft was supposed to build their own competing product, follow all legal and ethical guidelines, and fairly compete with Go. Hopefully if they both have good business plans and a good product, they both make a profit. The good natured rivalry between the two causes each to put for their best effort to make their product better. Their customers have a choice of who to give their money to, and high quality products from which to choose from. Everyone benefits.
Highway-robbery: Microsoft violated a non-disclosure agreement (a contract). They took Go's technology and used it to compete with Go. They used their monopoly and bullying tactics to try to frighten investors away from Go. Regardless of the fate of the Newton, this was breach of contract, and potentially a violation of antitrust laws (IANAL). In short, Microsoft's actions were unethical, and possibly illegal.
Btw, Apple canceled the Newton in order to streamline their product line so they could concentrate on OS X (and staying afloat). The Newton still has users today.
"At this moment, it has control of systems all over the world.
And...we can't do a damn thing to stop it." Miyasaka, "Godzilla 2000 Millennium" (Japanese version)
Slashdot Mirror
What would a nuke do? Today, for the obviously clueless, is the 59th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. That day, 59 years ago, 80,000 people died, mostly civilians. 60,000 more would die of radiation sickness by the end of the year. Thousands more still suffer from the radiation exposure. That is the inhuman price of your "glass"!
In Nagasaki, the effects were similar except for one difference: Nagasaki was home to Asia's largest Catholic population. A population that was persecuted by their own government: the punishment for practicing any form of Christianity was death. The Catholics of Nagasaki were not only innocent civilians (which it was against the Geneva Convention to attack - can you say war crime?), but they were innocent victims of their own fascist government: our enemy. We still murdered them by the tens of thousands.
In WWII, we "liberated" the Marshall Islands from Japan and made it our protectorate. Years later, in 1954 (fifty years ago this year), the Japanese occupation was ending, and Japan was emerging as our ally once more (Japan, except for the WWII era, has been our ally since our Commander Perry visited it). On Bikini Atoll, in the Marshall Islands, we were conducting nuclear testing. On March 1st, we tested Bravo, the first, biggest, and deadliest H-bomb, the equivalent of 1,000 Hiroshimas. The Lucky Dragon Number 5, was trawling for tuna 87 miles away: its radioman would die of radiation sickness in six months, its tuna catch poisoned. Rongelap Atoll, 120 miles away, was irradiated by a nuclear hurricane and a snow fall of ash. Death came in the form of cancers, leukemia, and hideously deformed babies. Japanese newspapers declared "The Second Atomic Bombing of Mankind". The Japanese public turned strongly against nuclear testing. On November 3rd, Godzilla, Son of Bravo, appeared for the first time in Tokyo Bay.
Well, now you know the cost of your glass. (I'd suggest getting a book on glass making and try making it using fire.) You should also know the cost of dehumanizing a group of people with a word like "JAP": all kinds of atrocities become possible, from concentration camps to nukes.
The person who named "JAP" probably did it out of ignorance, but the word is still highly offensive to people who today are our good friends (by some miracle). I'm glad to hear it is being replaced.
"Our people.. stricken with disease.
You.. you played with the fires of the gods.
And you dare to come here and ask us for help!
You betrayed us! You expect us to trust you after what you have done?"
Infant Island Chief, "Godzilla vs. Mothra" (US Version), 1964
For the 10th anniversary of Bravo.
King Ghidora, God of Space, Asteroids, and Mass Extinction, would like to inform Earth's space agencies that they are welcome to probe the interior of space rocks, but they are not welcome to probe his interior. Failure to comply with this order will result in all life on Earth being extinguished. Because He rules!
;)
Godzilla: No, I rule the world!
Mothra: Boys, I rule: you!
King Ghidora: No, I...
Godzilla: Better behave. Remember what happened last time?
King Ghidora: Er, yeah. You totally rule, Mothra!
Godzilla: Yeah, same here!
Mothra: That's better. I'd hate to have to spend my birthday tomorrow beating up on one of you. I may be the Goddess of Peace, but I must agree that there are definite perks to being "the Mightiest Monster in all Creation". Note to self: be sure to thank the nice boys in PR that thought that one up.
"Why do you need to be fit when we're gonna make Godzilla disappear up his own butt hole, huh?"
Kudo, "Godzilla vs. Megaguirus", US version
Duh, that's "black hole", you dim-witted dubbers! The Japanese track uses the English words!
TopShelf wrote:
How about a critically acclaimed film (in its own country) that had a record breaking budget, great plot with a strong message for its day, A level actors (the very best), and a special effects artist that was the greatest of his day (Spielberg and Lucas' special effects people studied under him, and would consider him their "Yoda")?
When this movie came to the US, it was badly chopped up, shown out of sequence, with an American actor inserted to "Americanize" it, its hero relegated to a minor role, his motivation changed, and the message hardly distinguishable. As a result, this masterpiece and its many sequels have been reviled, denigrated, and referred to as "camp"!
Now, fifty years later, the original film in all its glory, with newly translated subtitles, is making its way around the USA. If it comes to a theater in your town, go see it, and get introduced to the real "Gojira" for the very first time! Then you can acclaim it. ;)
All our tomorrows,
By the sun and the light,
I am forgotten.
"Oh Peace Oh Light Return" (national song of mourning) from "Gojira" 1954
The shares were part of a deal to give Jobs some capital to get Apple back on its feet after a nasty fall. The deal also included Office on the Mac in exchange for IE on the Mac as the default browser. Microsoft was trying to prop up Apple as a competitor to get the DOJ of its back.
;)
:b
The deal has since expired, and the shares were dumped on the market in the Fall of 2000 (contributing to Apple's nasty trip that presaged the crash of the PC industry a few days later). Apple has since recovered (more quickly than the rest of the industry, and with hardly any layoffs).
Safari, based on open source KHTML goodness, is now the default browser on the Mac. Since MS tacked its recent acquisition, Virtual PC, onto Office for Mac, they are having trouble getting the full product released.
The "marriage" is over, much to the dismay of clueless pundits. With the success of iTunes, the iTunes Music Store, and the iPod, Apple is laughing all the way to the bank.
With Office import/export capability in AppleWorks, ThinkFree Office, and OpenOffice being ported, we won't be needing MS Office for much longer.
Microsoft free Macs are wonderful. I know, I own one. So is Linux, for that matter.
So, what was it that we needed Microsoft for? Oh yeah, that headache and sick stomach feeling I get every time I try to use, let alone program, Windows.
"At this moment, it has control of systems all over the world.
And...we can't do a damn thing to stop it."
Miyasaka, "Godzilla 2000 Millennium" (Japanese version)
Sure we can. Trick MS into embracing and extending Godzilla, he'll stick his head down MS's throat, and nuke it.
Here's another word for you, digitalgiblet: Prometheus!
Most people don't know Challenger was supposed to be transporting a satellite powered by 46.7 pounds of plutonium in its very next trip after the one where it was destroyed. Had the disaster occurred on that next trip, a whole lot more people would have died of lung cancer and plutonium poisoning.
The Challenger disaster and Chernobyl, both the same year, were together enough to persuade Nasa to give up its dangerous desire for nuclear fission powered engines (then Project Ulysses). For a time at least...
As the Columbia disaster happened, Nasa was pushing for a new nuclear fission engine program: Project Prometheus. This time, Nasa doesn't seem to be stopping or even slowing down its plans, despite its current safety problems, or the newly available high-energy solar power, that is far, far safer.
Prometheus of old stole fire from heaven, and was punished for his crime by Zeus, who sent an eagle every day to rip out his liver. This new Prometheus steals fire from the heart of the atom to fly into the heavens. One stupid mistake (and human stupidity that is the topic of this thread always is the cause in nuclear accidents), and the radioactive ancestor (from the mesozoic) of the eagle will be there to attack your liver, or any other organ he can get, with cancer.
Assuming, of course, that the reactor doesn't do something spectacular: like falling intact, while heating up enough to get fission going. Don't look now, but Chernobyl just landed in your back yard!
Extra credit for the Slashdot geek who can slap a coolant system on that puppy before it causes a disaster, and hook it up to power his home. ;)
Shinoda: "Is Godzilla showing his hatred toward man-made energy?"
Godzilla: "Human! Impertinent! I rule the Atom!"
"Godzilla 2000 Millennium" (Japanese version)
Not completely, but they are actually working toward that goal.
For instance, you will see one Korean team at the Olympics this summer under the banner of a united Korea.
Despite the US being against it, a unified Korea is for the best. It would solve most of the problems currently posed by North Korea, including the nuclear one.
Of course, then the US will have no need for troops in Japan or South Korea...
"The path of peace is yours to discover for eternity."
Japanese version of "Mothra" (1961)
So then all the micro-chipped terrorist has to do is ride the New York City subway until you fire the cruise missile, and there goes the subway and a nice sized chunk of New York City. Yep, "nothing bad can possibly come of this type of action".
;)
How about we *not* help the terrorists blow up things, huh?
That's as bad as Godzilla, Mothra, Rodan, and Manda basically standing around in bemusement as the Japanese destroyed Tokyo with their artillery in "Destroy All Monsters". What a tragedy that was!
"Once we wake Godzilla, he'll take care of those guys."
Ichiro on disposing of the Red Bamboo terrorists.
"Godzilla, Ebira, Mothra: Big Duel in the South Sea" (Japanese version)
Insightful? Give me a break!
All the rational for the war given at the time has been shattered. Under international law (IANAL, but I have read plenty of articles by people who were), Bush's Iraq war was a crime against peace, and the numerous violations of the Geneva Conventions give plenty of grounds for war crimes and crimes against humanity charges as well.
Also, frequently forgotten, the Iraqi resistance has every right to exist under the Geneva Conventions.
But more important, and more pertinent to the topic, is the effects of the nuke and international reaction to it. Nukes don't care about international boundaries, anymore than they care about whether their victims are innocent or guilty, friend or enemy. If you drop a nuke anywhere in the Sunni Triangle, you are going to irradiate Iran. If you drop a nuke in the westernmost part of the Sunni Triangle (including Baghdad - a city the size of Chicago), you are going to get lethal levels of radiation into Iran. I don't know about them, but I would consider that an act of war. Iran hasn't been weakened by a decade of sanctions. They would have allies: every man, child, and maybe even woman of the surviving Iraqis.
Internationally, the US would be branded a rogue nation (lots more than we are now). It is one thing to use nukes to end a world war, or to prevent one using deterrence (not that I am fond of either). It is something quite different to casually use a nuke, the one and only true weapon of mass destruction, against large segments of a country you are occupying (over 100,000 foreign troops acting independently with a puppet government that has to ask permission to declare martial law is not sovereignty).
The exact repercussions are hard to predict, as no one has used a nuke in this setting. Let's put it this way: if we were on North Korea and Iran's cases because we thought they were developing weapons, and invading Iraq because they supposedly had them, what do you think the rest of the world would do to us if we used them?
If it makes you feel any better (and I would get help I were you if it did), US forces left the UN repository (stuff found and put under seal by UN inspectors) of radioactive materials near Tikrit unguarded when they took over Iraq. The repository was looted by ignorant villagers, who simply dumped the yellow powder out of its barrels on the ground, and took the barrels home. The Tikrit area is pretty radioactive now, and people are rather sick. Of course, if we never invaded, that stuff would all be safely under UN monitored lock and key now, with no disaster and no one sick.
"Our people.. stricken with disease.
You.. you played with the fires of the gods.
And you dare to come here and ask us for help!
You betrayed us! You expect us to trust you after what you have done?"
Infant Island Chief, "Godzilla vs. Mothra" (US Version), 1964
(For the 10th anniversary of the test of H-bomb Bravo and in memory of its victims: peaceful Japanese fishermen and the Marshall Islands people.)
I saw the St. Louis tech segments (one was also on the Gimp). Personally, considering an audience that is not very computer literate and ignorant of open source, I thought they did a pretty good job. What you neglected to mention was that they said very clearly that the Open Source apps were plenty good enough for home use, and the price (free) was great.
...
Considering the bad economic crunch around here (plainly visible in all that empty parking lot space at Six Flags at the height of summer - usually people are parking on the grass with a full lot at this time), having usable and free (as in beer as well as otherwise) software for families to use is great. No one now has the bucks to buy Office or Photo-anything for the home.
Godzilla has been doing his part too. An old and dear friend of the Mac (still used to make his movies - last I heard), Godzilla has since discovered open source (but then, so has Apple). Most computer displays in his last few movies now have a window of source code scrolling past (not the usual method of distribution and sans license, but hey, it's a movie). "Godzilla vs. Megagiras" also featured Kudo's Original OS, which could debug the Dimension Tide's OS ten times faster than any other OS, including the buggy mess Dimension Tide was running on (referring to an old claim of Linux being 10 times faster than Windows 3.1).
"At this moment, it has control of systems all over the world.
There is one flaw in its plan: Godzilla."
Shinoda: "Godzilla 2000 Millennium" (Japanese version)
An AC wrote:
Maybe because we are patriotic citizens who love what our country is supposed to stand for, and take peaceful action to change our government so it is more in line with those ideals?
9/11 and the corruption in our government are not two separate things, they are the two sides of the same coin. US foreign policy has done great harm in the Middle East, especially its policy regarding Israel, and the economic sanctions against Iraq (which killed a half a million children). Mounting anger in the Middle East fuels terrorism, and our government uses this to justify the Patriot Act, the rights violations perpetrated in the name of the "War on Terror", and to excuse the invasion of Iraq and torture of Iraqi (and probably other) prisoners. Which fuels more anger, more terrorism, and more excuses to turn the US into a fascist nightmare (complete with happy corporations raking in the gold). And the nightmare spreads outward, with repressive governments (like Egypt) using the name and techniques of Abu Graibe to terrorize their own citizenry. This is just another version of your garden variety cycle of violence, just like you get in cases of child abuse where abused children grow up to abuse their own. The only difference is the greed and power lust of Mongol King George, and maybe that isn't that much of a difference.
On the path that it is on, our government can never hope to end terrorism. It will only learn how to effectively terrorize its own citizens. Our founders offered a different path: with checks and balances to keep our government in line, and the kind of respect for the independence of other countries that would allow us to make peace with all the peoples of the Middle East, thereby depriving the terrorists of the hatred and anger that fuels them. Without popular support, terrorists become unpopular criminals that anyone would turn in.
On a practical note: if you are a US citizen, check out who waffled and who firmly supported the Patriot Act. This vote conveniently happened right before an election. Take advantage of that, and vote these people out of office. The veto they should be worried about is yours, not the President's.
Here is a favorite quote of mine. It is part of a wiser president's speech to the House of Representatives. Why is he wiser? His dad invented the first set of laws that we now call the "Patriot Act". The son learned how to really be president from one Thomas Jefferson:
President John Quincy Adams' speech to the U.S. House of Representatives on July 4, 1821.
Look again. The JP computers were SGIs and Macs. The GUI our little vegetarian hacker used was an SGI demo of a 3D file system interface. You can find it here:
m l
http://www.sgi.com/fun/freeware/3d_navigator.ht
A G4 iMac gives you the UNIX capability and graphics of an SGI machine (I worked with them around 1990) with the ease of use of a Mac. Plus it is more powerful than your old Cray. JP today could be done on iMacs.
Considering that the SGI machine that I worked with cost as much as a house back then, and Macs were much more expensive, the iMac is a real bargain. You can also pick up the iMac and smack a raptor with it, which you can't do with the other computers used in JP very easily.
A pity we can't get a port of the game "Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis" for the Mac. I really, really love that game! It would be so cool to control my parks on a real iMac.
"Oh yeah: 'Oooh!' 'Aaah!'; that's how it always starts, but then later there's running and um.. screaming."
Ian Malcolm, The Lost World: Jurassic Park
Hm, seems to me that this is your interstellar traveller: King Ghidora. He is also known as "The God from Space", "The Strongest Foe", "The God of Mass Extinction", "The Great Devil That Comes From the Sky", "The Thousand Year Dragon King" and "Guardian God of the Heavens" in his various incarnations, both good and evil.
December 20th is his fortieth birthday, and Toho isn't throwing him a party. (Well, they did in 2001, but he wants another one.) So he has been showing off, with close asteroid flybys, fireballs, three naked eye comets, and the discovery of Planet X (Sedna).
So relax, and enjoy the show. Give him some popcorn offerings (so he doesn't have to fling asteroids into corn fields to make his own). And pray Mothra that he remains in a relatively good mood, because if he doesn't, it's curtains for the human race!
Happy Birthday, Maha King Ghidora!
I agree with you, teamhasnoi. A couple nights ago I watched Ashcroft squirm while Congress grilled him (replayed from that morning on CSpan). Boy that was high entertainment. (He almost got jail time for "Contempt of Congress. ;) But what really caught my attention when he protested that some Patriot Act provision (something to do with police hijinks sans subpoena) was just an extension to terrorism of what they already could do with health insurance fraud. Health insurance fraud!
Sound like some congress critter owned by the insurance industry already signed away our rights long before 911. I wouldn't be too surprised (now) to find that a lot of the Patriot Act's more odious provisions were simply preexisting cracks widened by it and 911.
As for the terrorists (the real ones, not the PR ones), apply what's in my sig to our foreign policy, and that little problem should clear itself up. What's sauce for the King of Terror, is sauce for the terrorists. True peace alone (not Bush's fraud) can conquer both. Not peace with terror, but peace with people so their hatred and anger isn't stirred to empower terror. Rumsfeld, in a memo, has already noted that the War on Terror (and especially in Iraq) is stirring up so much hatred and anger that they are making terrorists faster than we can kill them.
"Lola, kindness is not enough, look for the reason of hatred and anger.
When you find and understand that, love becomes the strongest power; stronger than courage or wisdom."
Belabera, "Mothra 3: King Ghidora Attacks"
zymano touched on this a bit, but I think it needs to be stressed: In the USA, the airwaves do not belong to the government or the corporations. The airwaves are public property, just like National Parks. The FCC's job is to administer them to serve public interests. While government is not to be totally trusted, as there is such a thing as corruption, they are the best ones to manage public property. If they screw up, US citizens can bring pressure to bear and make them behave nicely. We have no such control over super-corporations and the "market".
Regarding the AC's remark about no equipment without corporations: It is obvious that you are a bit too removed from the era of do-it-yourself electronics. Guglielmo Marconi invented radio in his dad's attic after having failed a university entrance exam. His company, the Nobel prize, and the first transatlantic wireless communication came later.
It's amazing what you can do without a big corporation. Why people have had their very own grocery stores, grown their own food, composed music, invented stuff, etc.: all without a single corporation in sight!
"Ridiculous, you have no claim. I'll sue you for interfering with private enterprise."
Kumoyama, Happy Enterprises, "Mothra vs. Godzilla", 1964
(HE's private enterprise = kidnapping, holding two deities hostage inside their egg, and attempted slave traffic.)
An actual emergency made worse by cell phone jamming:
Citizen 1: "Hello, hello?". "Dammit, I can't get through on this thing."
Citizen 2: "Better just assume its a normal hijacking then.
As they slip back in their seats, Citizen 1: "Okay, we'll cooperate fully. We don't want anyone to get hurt."
The terrorist smirks. Some time later, Flight 93 slams into the White House.
The above scenario is obviously fictitious. The passengers of Flight 93 did not have their cell phones jammed. They did find out about the other planes hitting the WTC, and they did choose to sacrifice themselves to save lives.
But as cell phones have already proven their usefulness in saving lives during a terrorist attack, it is ridiculous to be jamming them now.
Regarding the issue of telephone rights:
1) The government, using my tax money, set up the 911 service so I could get the help of police, fire, etc. if I really need it. Use of this service requires a telephone. As often 911 calls deal with the safety of the community (bank robbery, finding trapped people in a disaster, terrorism), jamming them endangers the community.
2) Cell service is paid for. Under the Fifth Amendment (Bill of Rights), I require compensation if the government disrupts it.
Movie (December 1998): "The great devil will come from the sky!"
Video Subtitle (Summer 1999): "The King of Terror is coming!"
American Version (May 2003): "The King of Terror!"
Moll, "Mothra 3: King Ghidora Attacks" / "Rebirth of Mothra 3"
Not just large cats, but large cats that can easily kill cattle. Longhorn is coming, and Apple wants to be ready to take it on.
;)
Jaguar is the mystical cat of South America. Jaguars are the masters of many environments, can swim, and climb trees. They could kill something like a Longhorn with a simple crunch of its skull in their jaws. Jet Jaguar was the heroic robot friend of Godzilla in "Godzilla vs. Megalon".
Apple's black panther is really a black leopard. Leopards are the third largest cat, only lions and tigers exceed them in size and strength. Leopards are the symbol of royalty and divinity in countries where they prowl (Pope John Paul II wore leopard print vestments when he said Mass in one location in Africa to indicate to the people by their culture that he was a priest). They are very strong cats, carrying large kills up into the trees with them. Leopards often prey on cattle.
Tiger is the biggest of all cats, the Asian King of Beasts, Lord of the Land, and the representative of the Earth Mother. In China, White Tiger is the guardian god of the west and the god of war. This noble cat masters all environments (snow to tropical jungle), can climb trees (though trees are not a comfortable perch for its size), and loves to play in the water. Longhorn hasn't a prayer with Tiger, as Water Buffalo are frequent meals, and even elephants aren't safe. For all its majesty and fierceness, Tiger is one of the friendliest of cats to its own kind. When two tigers meet in the forest, they rub heads together in greeting and go their own way. Even a mighty male tiger, in its prime, that has made a fresh kill, will give way to orphaned cubs crying with hunger, and let them have as much as they want first. Maybe such compassion is due because tiger cubs are the cutest little things you ever did see.
Longhorn had better give it up and run away. Baby Tiger is gonna kill you with excessive cuteness!
Miyasaka: "At this moment, it has control of systems all over the world."
[...]
Shinoda: "There is one flaw in its plan: Godzilla."
"Godzilla 2000 Millennium" (Japanese version)
Yes, it would be lovely if Linux developers could use real words to name their software. Unfortunately, real words are all trademark of some corporation (as the developers of Killustrator discovered). Linux developers, writing software for others on their free time (yes, some get hired by Linux companies, but some don't), can't afford trademark lawyers to research and develop their own trademarks. They certainly can't afford to have behemoth corporations hitting them with lawsuits. "Fbrsr" and "mrd" are safer names for them to use.
Yes, easy installers are something for the Linux community to be moving toward. In the mean time, try booting up a Knoppix CD. In a few minutes, you have a complete Linux system with 2 gigabytes of software (including two office suites and a couple of browsers), with no compiling. Even better, your hard drive is not even touched.
"Ridiculous, you have no claim. I'll sue you for interfering with private enterprise."
Kumoyama, Happy Enterprises, "Mothra vs. Godzilla", April 29, 1964
Okay, gid13, I will correct you. ;)
Capitalism is about an exchange of value for money. Basically, you would have something I wanted, and I would pay you money, based on its value, to obtain it. I would then get value, and you would get money.
Employees used to be a valuable company resource. That is what "Human Resources" departments were about: managing that resource, and making it more valuable to the company through training. If you improved your value to the company, you would get a raise in pay.
Now companies have decided to get something of value for as close to nothing as they can get. Witness manufacturing jobs moving from country to country in an attempt to get the lowest salary and working conditions possible. It has started with IT jobs too, as India's bubble economy is making IT companies turn to cheaper alternatives. If the Nazis were still in charge of Germany and still offering slave labor, these companies would all be moving the jobs there (IBM being one of the companies to take advantage of those "working conditions" back in Nazi Germany).
This isn't any legitimate form of capitalism. This is naked greed, and extreme exploitation of workers. Ultimately, this will be economic suicide, as the unemployed workers in all the countries left behind, and the next best thing to slave wage workers in current countries will not be able to afford the companies' products.
Protectionism is nothing but a bandaid. It does not address the root of the problem: the devaluing of employee contributions to the company. This is a global problem that needs to be solved. Once it is, workers all over the world should be able to make a decent living with dignity.
"They bind our hearts: 'Let's sell them again and again!'
Our plan understands the sea; we can wait for her coming."
From the song "Infanto no Musume" in the Japanese version of "Mothra" (1961).
The only reason 9/11 happened is that the Bush Administration refused to share a vital fact with the American people: planes were to be hijacked and used in terrorist attacks. The passengers in the first three flights to crash thought they were in an ordinary hijacking, and acted accordingly. Which got them, some of the people in the WTC, and some of the people in the Pentagon killed.
Flight 93 was different because it was last and passengers found out what was really going on - too late to save their pilot crew. So they gave their lives and took the terrorists down to die with them - saving who knows how many people.
On the Shoe-bomber's flight, the passengers were well aware of the lessons of Flight 93, and stopped him. The plane landed safely (as all four planes might have on 9/11), and the bad guy got arrested.
As long as the lessons of Flight 93 are remembered, and passengers are courageous enough to follow their example, our airplanes are safe from that kind of terrorism. This is the American way of doing things, with the power and responsibility in the hands of a free and brave people.
Why now all this "security", and invasion of Fourth (and other) Amendment rights? Simple, it is to make us unfree and fearful. Fearful people are easy to control, and our government is on another power trip. Which is quite un-American if you ask me. The definition of the word "terrorism" according to the World Book's dictionary section is quite relevant here:
Hm, it seems Al Qaeda isn't the only one being bad here. Though that does explain why the terrorists behind the Spanish terrorist attack announced their endorsement of Bush as their candidate for the US presidency. I'm sure the lessons of Flight 93 will be instructive in dealing with the other bad guy here. Especially come election time. All we need is a good candidate to pile on to.
I pray that the wise, courageous and compassionate spirit of America will be reborn, and that the brave and free government of the people, by the people, and for the people, will never, ever, perish from this earth.
Japanese Movie (December 1998): "The great devil will come from the sky!"
Japanese Video Subtitle (Summer 1999): "The King of Terror is coming!"
US Version on SciFi (May 2003): "The King of Terror!"
Moll, "Mothra 3: King Ghidora Attacks" / "Rebirth of Mothra 3"
I know none of the big unregulated power companies are saints - all of them put profit before safety and reliablility these days.
But First Energy is spectacularly unsafe. The nation's second and third worst nuclear accidents happened on their watch, at their David-Besse plant in Ohio. For six years they just wiped off the leaking coolant from the reactor head. It was inspected several times by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. It wasn't until there was a hole eaten in the head big enough to stick a gallon milk jug into, with only a thin (1/16 inch) veneer of stainless steel between the US and a Three Mile Island to Chernobyl accident, that it was even discovered and shut down! They are trying, with NRC supervision (like that helps), to restart it with a new head, and last I heard they couldn't go 24 hours without another failure of some sort or another!
This is what I would do:
First, I would re-regulate the industry and get tough. Make it clear that power companies are expected to be safe and reliable as being a power company is a public trust.
Second, regulatory bodies should not be responsible for industry promotion. They should be regulatory bodies only. This would toughen inspections, as there would be no more "nudge, nudge, wink, wink" at their industry "pals".
Third, look at what worked during the blackout. Coal and nuclear, dirty power, when down. Clean energy, such as the Niagara Falls hydroelectric plant, kept right on chugging. That shows us a good direction to go for the future.
Fourth, repair or replace the grid. It is held together badly by a bunch of companies who don't want to spend money on it. Either repair it, or localize the power sources (even per building) so no more huge blackouts can occur.
Shinoda: "Is Godzilla showing his hatred toward man-made energy?"
Godzilla: "Human! Impertinent! I rule the Atom!"
"Godzilla 2000 Millennium" (Japanese version)
Actually, it has had a lot of delays already. The Millennium project was going on at Microsoft Research back in the late 1990's. Judging from technologies like Yukon, "Longhorn" is the marketing code name for Millennium. It has hit a lot of roadblocks since then:
It doesn't matter how you skin it, or how many obstacles Microsoft has to overcome, Millennium is coming. Will Millennium be the key to Microsoft's thousand year reign over the computing world? Or will Microsoft die the day its reign begins? Hm, sounds like the plot for a great monster movie...
"New machines, network links, and resources should be automatically assimilated." Microsoft
Shinoda: "The age of Millennium."
Io: "What does that mean?"
Shinoda: "A thousand year kingdom. It wants to create a home for itself. There is one flaw in its plan: Godzilla."
Godzilla 2000 (vs) Millennium (Japanese version, US version cut most of the Microsoft and Millennium references)
(Note: Palladium is a soft, shiny white metal. The Millennium alien in Godzilla 2000 (vs) Millennium in its original form appears to have a skin of palladium.)
Actually, the Fourth Amendment issues are obvious. I have a right to be secure in my papers (records), and if the government (including the IRS) wants to see them, they should be getting a search warrant from a judge, and with probable cause and all that good stuff. This is the government going through my things looking for something to put me in jail for, exactly the sort of thing this Amendment is supposed to protect me from.
The Rolls Royce thing is bogus, especially today when you have all those six figure programmers (never me, alas) driving fancy cars (for as long as they can hold on to them), out of work and flipping burgers. Should they be in jail now because they once had a better job and fancy stuff, and all they could get in the past year was a job at McDonald's?
As times are pretty bad now, the unemployed driving fancy cars bought in their glory days are going to out number the ones who are cheating on their taxes. If the IRS goes, unjustly, against the unemployed in a big way, what kind of black eye is that going to get them?
Note: this is not a flame. And I have read both Liselle's post and the article.
"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."
Fourth Amendment: US Constitution.
Trurl's Machine wrote:
> In a sense, what Apple does is even worse than moving
> jobs to India - they eliminate the need of paying for them.
So, how many small companies and scientists were actually using the services of a paid IT consultant before Rendezvous, Airport, or XGrid? Small companies tend to run older systems, and might not bother with a network unless someone inhouse or a relative of the owner knows how to set one up. Scientists have the IT resources of their institution, or they have the brains to rtfm and do it themselves. Apple is just making it easier for these people to access the technology.
Besides, Rendezvous and XGrid are no good without supporting software. Apple has Blast for XGrid, but that is only one application. The rest of the applications for it have to be written. That creates jobs (or would if the programmers involved could find someone here in the US to hire them to do the work), instead of taking them away.
If, on the other hand, you have a big company, you are obviously going to need the services of an IT professional (inhouse or consultant). If you want to rage against the loss of IT jobs, why not attack AOL, which is offshoring inhouse jobs? Or IBM and HP's consultant divisions, or any of the smaller fry, that subcontract consultant work to India?
BTW, Apple has loads of job openings in California. If you are unemployed and in the area, you might want to check them out.
"What I'm thinking is different from what you are."
Belabera, "Mothra 3: King Ghidora Attacks" 1998
If all you saw was a "lizard" and Raymond Burr, then all you saw was a bad hatchet job. The real thing will be in a few theaters this spring and summer in the US. (Otherwise, I agree with you, Dun Malg.)
On March 1st, 1954, the US exploded H-bomb Bravo on Bikini. Radioactive ash fell on the Japanese fishing boat "The Lucky Dragon No. 5", and Bravo's nuclear hurricane engulfed Rongelap. Children played in the "snow", and then began screaming as it burned and poisoned them. The Japanese newspapers ran with the headline "The Second Atomic Bombing of Mankind".
On September 23, 1954, "The Lucky Dragon No. 5" radioman Aikichi Kuboyama died, the first victim of the H-bomb.
On October 15, 1954, Hurricane Hazel rampaged up the US east coast, up into the nation's capital. In its wake it left 95 deaths and over a quarter of a billion dollars in damages.
On November 3, 1954, with the sinking of fishing boats and the fury of a typhoon heralding his epiphany, the dinosaur god Gojira (Godzilla), Son of Bravo, God of the Atom, and King of Monsters appeared. Only the compassion of Emiko and the heroic sacrifice of Serizawa in his dedication to peace, could halt the rampage of the angry god.
Within a month of the 25th anniversary of Bravo, in the Silver Jubilee year of Godzilla, the Three Mile Island accident happened. As always, human stupidity was at least partly to blame.
It is now within a month of the 50th anniversary of Bravo, in the Golden Jubilee year of Godzilla. How many times does he have to tell you all?
Safe!?! Was Chernobyl safe? Maybe, until they turned off all the safety mechanisms to see what would happen!
Tokai? Well, if anybody qualified for the Phoenix awards, it is the idiots who invited the Godzilla crew over to film an attack on their plant, and then tossed out the safety measures while mixing a nice bowl of uranium and nitric acid. Gee, they couldn't wait for "Godzilla 2000 Millennium" to come out before having Japan's worst nuclear accident. (Toho took out the plant destruction footage and ran it in the next movie, set in 1966 when the thing was first built.)
Then there is David Besse, Ohio's very own Hole-in-the-Head reactor, holder of the distinction of America's 2nd and 3rd worst nuclear accidents. They are trying to restart it again. Last I heard, there were valve malfunctions. First Energy who runs the thing brought us the big blackout a while ago. Be sure to thank them for that.
Face it, nuclear plants aren't safe. Nuclear weapons can't be safely tested or used (Bush wants to do both). The world's only God of the Atom is only going to be your friend when you return the fire you stole from him. Until then, you have a gigantic, divine, and extremely territorial carnivorous dinosaur who is seriously mad at you.
What do you think all those Native American prophetic warning labels on sacred mountains located over uranium deposits were about? They told you so!
Shinoda: "Is Godzilla showing his hatred toward man-made energy?"
Godzilla: "Human! Impertinent! I rule the Atom!"
"Godzilla 2000 Millennium" (Japanese version)
Yes, this is business. Not to be confused with highway robbery.
Business: Microsoft was supposed to build their own competing product, follow all legal and ethical guidelines, and fairly compete with Go. Hopefully if they both have good business plans and a good product, they both make a profit. The good natured rivalry between the two causes each to put for their best effort to make their product better. Their customers have a choice of who to give their money to, and high quality products from which to choose from. Everyone benefits.
Highway-robbery: Microsoft violated a non-disclosure agreement (a contract). They took Go's technology and used it to compete with Go. They used their monopoly and bullying tactics to try to frighten investors away from Go. Regardless of the fate of the Newton, this was breach of contract, and potentially a violation of antitrust laws (IANAL). In short, Microsoft's actions were unethical, and possibly illegal.
Btw, Apple canceled the Newton in order to streamline their product line so they could concentrate on OS X (and staying afloat). The Newton still has users today.
"At this moment, it has control of systems all over the world.
And...we can't do a damn thing to stop it."
Miyasaka, "Godzilla 2000 Millennium" (Japanese version)