Like, when the Japanese started rebuilding the Kido Butai? Personally, I'm untroubled by the announcement, but I think it's funny that "marines and drones" are getting notice, but the 27,000-ton carrier under construction and the two 19,000-ton carriers in commission get no mention.
Sure, the government (and its employees) sometimes blow money on amazingly stupid stuff. Sometimes the amounts of money involved seem mind-boggling to thee and me. But take a step back and look at things in perspective; compared to the real gross abuses going on (corruption from post-facto bribes and regulatory capture, the implementation of secret programs of all stripes, idiotic policies, and poor implemention) 'waste' isn't anywhere near being one of the U.S. Federal Government's more serious problems.
The Director of the NSA has openly admitted he lied to Congress, and his punishment is... nothing. Not even harsh language, much less prosecution or losing his job.
AC above is right. The so-called "Noble Prize in Economics" is actually the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel. It was created in 1969 - over 70 years after the actual Noble Prizes. (Apparently the bankers felt left out.) I can create the Runeghost Prize in Absolute Awesomeness in Memory of Alfred Nobel, but even if I bribe the Nobel Committe with a few tens of millions I happen to have lying around to let me into the ceremony, that does not mean that there is actually a Nobel Prize in Awesomeness.
I don't know if the original poster knew this or not, but he is correct in a roundabout way. When Hasbro relaunched G.I. Joe in the 80s, they wanted a comic book series to go along with it. Marvel had a plan for a SHIELD vs. HYDRA series kicking around. SHIELD was replaced with G.I. Joe, HYDRA got a pallet swap and a name change, and the rest was history.
Thanks for the informative post - I was wondering why there was such a fight over who got to be in charge of making some of the crappiest computers on the planet, and now I know.
Also, Type 1 (pirates) can easily turn into Type 2 (paying customers) when their circumstances change. Often pirates are people who literally cannot become customers. Many college students have abundant time but little money, inclining them to pirate readily while making purchasing an unattractive option. After graduating and (hopefully) acquiring a somewhat lucerative job and a busier schedule they'll happily pay a reasonable price to save themselves some now-precious time.
But if you make it too hard to access your content, you're going to end up shooting yoursefl in the foot. Bury your content behind a secure and obnoxious paywall and sure, Type 1's won't ever see a pirated copy, but neither will they potentially become future customers, because they never developed a taste for your content. And many Type 2's will decline to spend their precious time (even 5 or 10 minutes may end up being too much if there are other options available to them) dealing with your DRM. And that's assuming you don't manage to kill your own word of mouth (or even search engine presence) by locking up your content.
Obviously the precise impact of your DRM will vary depending on the nature of your content, but in many cases (I personally think it's the vast majority of cases) pirates don't represent any loss in current sales, but do represent potential future sales.
Is committing vote fraud in a student election more nefarious than conspiracy to disenfranchise real voters, building insecure voting machines, torture, billions of dollars of bank fraud, or lying to Congress.
I enjoy Game of Thrones, but find very little other content on television that appeals to me. I decline to pay my local cable monopoly $300+ for one show, so buying the DVDs is my only way of making a contribution to the show's bottom line.
I use VLC for pretty much everything that isn't Hulu or Netflix. I guess the folks at VideoLAN can put that extra $40 to better use anyway.
The point of this device, just like drug sniffing dogs, is not its ability to actually detect what it's supposed to be looking for. Its purpose to give the police, military, or other arm of the state a plausible excuse to detain and/or search anyone they want.
Regardless of law, marriage has only one definition, and any government that attempts to change it is my mortal enemy. I will act to destroy that government and bring it down, so it can be replaced with a government that will respect and support marriage, and help me raise my children in a society where they will expect to marry in their turn.
Laws against homosexual behavior should remain on the books, not to be indiscriminately enforced against anyone who happens to be caught violating them, but to be used when necessary to send a clear message that those who flagrantly violate society's regulation of sexual behavior cannot be permitted to remain as acceptable, equal citizens within that society.
Card has publicly advocated jailing homosexuals to create a reign of terror and overthrowing the government in order to implement laws that will force people to act in ways he finds acceptable. Call his statements "bigoted hate speech" is being generous.
It is not a "financial attack" when I decline to buy a product and encourage others to do the same. No one has a right to make a profit from anything.
No, it's not. You're completely missing the point. It's not just his views that people have a problem with, it's the way he uses his money and authorial fame to promote them.
Homer isn't making any money when you consume some version of the Illiad. When Mr. Card makes money, he uses it to promote his bigoted hate speech. Thus, many people don't want to see him make any more money.
Tolerance does not mean you should support despicable behavior and ideas. Mr. Card is free to spew his bigotry as much as he wants. My decision to not see the film based on his book, and to make certain that others are aware of what he will likely do with any money or publicity that flows his way as a result of said film is not censorship or intolerance, it is well deserved judgement.
NSA Director's Alexander's initial statement to Congress was,. "These programs are critical. They prevented 50 attacks". Now that he's no longer in front of Congress and his claim is being investigated, it's being walked back to, "50 attacks were prevented, and these programs helped us understand them and maybe prevent some of them". (And that's not even getting into the government's habit of grossly overstating the threat level of potential terror attacks.)
You can play semantic games all you want - actively misleading Congress is lying. Or, are you going to claim that he's wasn't lying, he was just telling Congress (and the American public) what was "least untrue".
What else would you expect from a country that repeatedly elected George W. Bush and Barack Obama. If you're currently living in the United States, not part of the 1%, and give a damn about your or your childrens' future freedom, it's time to move elsewhere.
I absolutely agree and am very happy to see the IAU's decision . I winced every time I saw that one of Pluto's moons was going to be named Vulcan. Pluto's moons should be directly assosciated with darkness and the underworld. Vulcan was inappropriate, not simply for its Trek connections, but because (barring some truly exceptional discoveries by New Horizons) it is inappropriate to name a tiny, icy moon of a dwarf planet after the god of the forge.
Save the name, Vulcan, for the first super-heated super-Earth, or the first Hot Jovian that humans or our robot proxies directly explore.
Then you're an idiot. Who are the "enemies" in this case supposed to be? The Chinese government that President Obama just had a meeting with? The American public that's being spied on? The whole world?
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Like, when the Japanese started rebuilding the Kido Butai? Personally, I'm untroubled by the announcement, but I think it's funny that "marines and drones" are getting notice, but the 27,000-ton carrier under construction and the two 19,000-ton carriers in commission get no mention.
Sure, the government (and its employees) sometimes blow money on amazingly stupid stuff. Sometimes the amounts of money involved seem mind-boggling to thee and me. But take a step back and look at things in perspective; compared to the real gross abuses going on (corruption from post-facto bribes and regulatory capture, the implementation of secret programs of all stripes, idiotic policies, and poor implemention) 'waste' isn't anywhere near being one of the U.S. Federal Government's more serious problems.
Former KGB General Oleg Kalugin, who is an American citizen and critic of Putin, stated in an interview that he doesn't believe that Snowden has much if anything Russian intelligence didn't already know. http://ianmasters.com/content/july-2-julian-assange-now-speaking-edward-snowden-kgb-general-standoff-moscow-could-deadly-n
The Director of the NSA has openly admitted he lied to Congress, and his punishment is... nothing. Not even harsh language, much less prosecution or losing his job.
AC above is right. The so-called "Noble Prize in Economics" is actually the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel. It was created in 1969 - over 70 years after the actual Noble Prizes. (Apparently the bankers felt left out.) I can create the Runeghost Prize in Absolute Awesomeness in Memory of Alfred Nobel, but even if I bribe the Nobel Committe with a few tens of millions I happen to have lying around to let me into the ceremony, that does not mean that there is actually a Nobel Prize in Awesomeness.
I don't know if the original poster knew this or not, but he is correct in a roundabout way. When Hasbro relaunched G.I. Joe in the 80s, they wanted a comic book series to go along with it. Marvel had a plan for a SHIELD vs. HYDRA series kicking around. SHIELD was replaced with G.I. Joe, HYDRA got a pallet swap and a name change, and the rest was history.
Thanks for the informative post - I was wondering why there was such a fight over who got to be in charge of making some of the crappiest computers on the planet, and now I know.
Obviously, they haven't mastered the fine American art of purchasing politicans and judges.
Prohibit it from doing business for a period of time? What? You're saying that would hurt it? As in, might actually be a penalty?
Also, Type 1 (pirates) can easily turn into Type 2 (paying customers) when their circumstances change. Often pirates are people who literally cannot become customers. Many college students have abundant time but little money, inclining them to pirate readily while making purchasing an unattractive option. After graduating and (hopefully) acquiring a somewhat lucerative job and a busier schedule they'll happily pay a reasonable price to save themselves some now-precious time.
But if you make it too hard to access your content, you're going to end up shooting yoursefl in the foot. Bury your content behind a secure and obnoxious paywall and sure, Type 1's won't ever see a pirated copy, but neither will they potentially become future customers, because they never developed a taste for your content. And many Type 2's will decline to spend their precious time (even 5 or 10 minutes may end up being too much if there are other options available to them) dealing with your DRM. And that's assuming you don't manage to kill your own word of mouth (or even search engine presence) by locking up your content.
Obviously the precise impact of your DRM will vary depending on the nature of your content, but in many cases (I personally think it's the vast majority of cases) pirates don't represent any loss in current sales, but do represent potential future sales.
Is committing vote fraud in a student election more nefarious than conspiracy to disenfranchise real voters, building insecure voting machines, torture, billions of dollars of bank fraud, or lying to Congress.
I enjoy Game of Thrones, but find very little other content on television that appeals to me. I decline to pay my local cable monopoly $300+ for one show, so buying the DVDs is my only way of making a contribution to the show's bottom line.
I use VLC for pretty much everything that isn't Hulu or Netflix. I guess the folks at VideoLAN can put that extra $40 to better use anyway.
The point of this device, just like drug sniffing dogs, is not its ability to actually detect what it's supposed to be looking for. Its purpose to give the police, military, or other arm of the state a plausible excuse to detain and/or search anyone they want.
Regardless of law, marriage has only one definition, and any government that attempts to change it is my mortal enemy. I will act to destroy that government and bring it down, so it can be replaced with a government that will respect and support marriage, and help me raise my children in a society where they will expect to marry in their turn.
Laws against homosexual behavior should remain on the books, not to be indiscriminately enforced against anyone who happens to be caught violating them, but to be used when necessary to send a clear message that those who flagrantly violate society's regulation of sexual behavior cannot be permitted to remain as acceptable, equal citizens within that society.
Card has publicly advocated jailing homosexuals to create a reign of terror and overthrowing the government in order to implement laws that will force people to act in ways he finds acceptable. Call his statements "bigoted hate speech" is being generous.
It is not a "financial attack" when I decline to buy a product and encourage others to do the same. No one has a right to make a profit from anything.
Homer isn't making any money when you consume some version of the Illiad. When Mr. Card makes money, he uses it to promote his bigoted hate speech. Thus, many people don't want to see him make any more money.
Or the Republican and Democratic parties of the United States.
Tolerance does not mean you should support despicable behavior and ideas. Mr. Card is free to spew his bigotry as much as he wants. My decision to not see the film based on his book, and to make certain that others are aware of what he will likely do with any money or publicity that flows his way as a result of said film is not censorship or intolerance, it is well deserved judgement.
Will it make our cites as safe and peaceful and Afghanistan and Iraq? Will it be as successful here at creating desired outcomes as it was there?
NSA Director's Alexander's initial statement to Congress was,. "These programs are critical. They prevented 50 attacks". Now that he's no longer in front of Congress and his claim is being investigated, it's being walked back to, "50 attacks were prevented, and these programs helped us understand them and maybe prevent some of them". (And that's not even getting into the government's habit of grossly overstating the threat level of potential terror attacks.)
You can play semantic games all you want - actively misleading Congress is lying. Or, are you going to claim that he's wasn't lying, he was just telling Congress (and the American public) what was "least untrue".
This would be the same NSA director Snowden exposed as having lied to Congress. Why on Earth should we think he's telling the truth this time? Oh, wait, looks like he was lying again. http://reason.com/blog/2013/06/26/nsa-director-softens-claims-about-survei
What else would you expect from a country that repeatedly elected George W. Bush and Barack Obama. If you're currently living in the United States, not part of the 1%, and give a damn about your or your childrens' future freedom, it's time to move elsewhere.
I absolutely agree and am very happy to see the IAU's decision . I winced every time I saw that one of Pluto's moons was going to be named Vulcan. Pluto's moons should be directly assosciated with darkness and the underworld. Vulcan was inappropriate, not simply for its Trek connections, but because (barring some truly exceptional discoveries by New Horizons) it is inappropriate to name a tiny, icy moon of a dwarf planet after the god of the forge. Save the name, Vulcan, for the first super-heated super-Earth, or the first Hot Jovian that humans or our robot proxies directly explore.
"authorities had recently detected 'an increased interest in explosives and model aircraft'" - so they were monitoring a couple of random young boys?
For a project originally started to combat software bloat....
Then you're an idiot. Who are the "enemies" in this case supposed to be? The Chinese government that President Obama just had a meeting with? The American public that's being spied on? The whole world?