But during these past 5 years, the favored phase of the NAO has been negative, which is associated with ridging into Greenland (translating into warmer temperatures there) while Europe and the eastern United States is colder.
Europe colder?
It is 15C today. We have had snow for 1 day this winter.
Our kids just can't see snow, unless they go to the mountains. And we used to have LOTS of snow in my city, until appx 1998-1999.
For the past few years, we just don't see snow, and we have low temperatures (below -5C) for maybe 2 weeks during whole winter.
Compatibility with web sites that are made exclusively for Microsoft Internet Explorer technology and for which there are no close substitutes.
And which sites would that be (that people would care about)?
I have an offshore account, with a major bank. They used to only accept Netscape Communicator 4.72 and IE 5/6 as browsers (they'd check User-Agent: w/ JS, and not let you login if you don't match).
They kept on changing the system (HTML, JS, removed all JAVA stuff), and I've been using FireFox (with user-agent extension) for a year.
I've mailed them once telling them that systems works perfectly fine with Firefox.
Then I realized I don't use User-Agent extension at all and I am still able to login into banking system.
Moral of the story - things are changing. If major bank modifies its banking system so that it works with Firefox, I think it says something.
Either they care about users, or they have hired a switched on geek, aware of standards;)
I guess all of you have great experiences in managing countries. Even better, you're all probably managing 1.3 billion people on a daily basis.
China leadership already told to Clinton and Bush to f*ck off, since they have no idea how it looks to manage and feed 1.3 billion people. And they said they'll go SLOW.
Which I can understand. I live in Eastern European country (population of 8 million), and "transition" to democracy and free market (globalism, in other words;) wrecked us badly.
I can't imagine what would happen to 1.3bn people if they tried to implement "transition" like we did.
I don't like what China does. Hell, I don't like what my own government does (but we don't have a choice, we're being "ordered" to do things by EU/USA - so much about "freedom and democracy"), but I seriosly think we have no right to tell Chinese people anything. Most of the people I've talked to (and am doing business with) are quite ok with the situation. Considering what they had 10 years ago, they seem to be very happy with how things are working out right now. Granted, there will be a lot of unhappy people, but there are lots of unhappy people in USA, EU, etc, so... it's all part of the game.
Hahahahaha! I get it. It's because most OS software developers Just Don't Get It when it comes to databases. They read a text file that teaches them "SELECT * FROM SomeTable;" and suddenly they're DBAs, except they're not. Fortunately for them MySQL sucks in such a fashion as to give them a false feeling of confidence that they're shit is going to work. As long as they actually don't do anything mission critical they're fine.
And you must be the ultimate authority on what is "mission critical" for who? I guess you've reviewed all applications on this planet (especially company internal ones) that use MySQL, so you'd know.
Ebay uses some serious "mission critical" database server, yet their site is shit slow most of the time. I guess those "mission critical" database servers are not that good either. I reckon Ebay should move to Postgres - it's silver bullet solution for all database needs. It also cooks and washes dishes.
Everyone uses what suits them best. Some people use Windows, some people use Postgres, some people use MySQL, and some use flat-text files.
I've seen quite few MISSION CRITICAL applications in banks that still use flat-text files. Do you want me to give them your contact details, so that you can "open their eyes"? I'm sure they need your expert advice...
Logic and people like this are the reason I abandoned "security world" (which I loved, and was there for 15 years).
No, this has nothing to do with "we need more marketing and sales - let's use some big words" (SANS is profitable org, you know). No. Not at all.
They simply have such 3l33t connections and t00lz and t3chniques which can uncover (and trace and bust) any hax0r.
This have NOTHING to do with China's economic/IT explosion and deployment of countless boxes (which can't all be secured) in short timeframe. Heaven for bouncing.
We haven't seen this before with South Korea (which had Gigabit links to everywhere when most of the world could dream about it). No.
These are military hax0rs, really. Because attacks come from China.
And SANS was first to find it out.
Oh, look at these training/course offers we have...
if only their government didn't suck ass, they could be so great. they have immense cultural momentum, a well reasoned and disciplined populace, and a penchant for churning out intelligent people.
If only US govt didn't suck ass, they could be so great. Blah, blah.
Bottom line is, people don't approve what they do, nor do they like it. But I certainly would NEVER know how to maintain 1.2 billion people. I presume you wouldn't either.
I don't think there is an "easy transition" for such a HUGE population, and I think they'll behave in the same way (politically speaking - economically they're already went far) for the next decade or so.
My boss has made it a priority to seriously look at replacing MS Office with OpenOffice when that buglist gets below 1000. We shall see if that can happen.
Not trying to be a troll or anything, but does your boss know how many bugs are in MS Office? Is he positive there are less than 1000?
Strange way to decide if someone will upgrade to product or not. Usability and million other things should have higher priority than number of bugs...
"Particle Fountain" from KDE, if I remember the name right.
Guy who was watching me install CentOS 4.1 on one desktop machine is exposed to Linux all the time (but via SSH). This was first time for him to see KDE running on Linux, and when he saw this particular screensaver - he immediately took the DVD and brought it back home to install it.
Althought he watched me use Linux on my laptop for ages (but I either used WindowMaker or, lately, XFCE, with very simple and fast theme - does the job for me:), he didn't see the full potential of KDE or Gnome.
Once people are exposed to such things, they tend to want to experiment asap.
He's right about contributions from community
on
Nessus Closes Source
·
· Score: 2, Informative
He even had to contact people around (who found security bugs) and ask them to check if Nessus check was valid for certain vulnerability. He did contact me twice, and I did test/review the check, but I never contributed anything to Nessus.
Why?
In all honesty - because of the reason I went out of "security business". It became a business, where every idiot would try to take a "piece of security cake", even if they were complete idiots without clue about anything related to security. Or more precise - "it became a business".
Although I adore Nessus, and used it on few occasions (prefer to do things "by hand":), I simply never wanted to make it easier for those idiots to perform tasks they were not intended to do, in the first place.
I admire Renaud for actually surviving this long with GPL license, and I sure admire his dedication to Nessus.
He is right for doing this, and I wish him all the best.
I'm really not trying to post flamebait here, but GAH, the people who work on that thing should hang their heads in embarrassment. Spaghetti code, no comments -- I'm talking a total mess. I was actually just looking for the code that clears the screen when you log out of a session (because I actually hate the automatic clear screen, and was hoping there was an option for it). I finally gave up in disgust.
And this comes from a person who looks into OpenSSH source instead of.bash_logout.
Ubuntu was one of the things I wanted them to try, and they really liked it, but there was a huge problem - fonts look like sh*t on TFT screens. I've tried just about everything (including HOWTO on their forums) I could find in order to tweak fonts, but to no avail.
I ended up installing CentOS 4.1 (which I use on my desktop, with CRT) and fonts are rendered MUCH nicer, without any tweaking.
Most of those 65,000 bugs were things like spelling mistakes, formatting mistakes, spacing issues etc in dialog boxes, nothing really interesting. Thats the difference between bugfree and generally bugfree.
Time travel...
-start quote- According to an article on ZDNet, an internal Microsoft memo states that:
* More than 21,000 "postponed" bugs, an indeterminate number of which Microsoft is characterizing as "real problems." Others are requests for new functionality, and others reflect "plain confusion as to how something is supposed to work."
* More than 27,000 "BugBug" comments. These are usually notes to developers to make something work better or more efficiently. According to Microsoft, they tend to represent "unfinished work" or "long-forgotten problems."
* Overall, there are more than 65,000 "potential issues" that could emerge as problems, as discovered by Microsoft's Prefix tool. Microsoft is estimating that 28,000 of these are likely to be "real" problems. -end quote-
Spacing issues in dialog boxes. Really made me laugh:)
Microsoft's holy grail is a system that cranks out a new, generally bug-free version of basic Windows every few years, with frequent updates in between to add enhancements or match a competitor's offering.
I really wish they explain me the difference between "generally bug-free" and "bug-free". Is the difference around 65,000 (as Win2000 has ~65,000 known bugs when launched)?
What good is free speech if you're regulated how you can tell it, where you can tell it and what you can tell? That's not free speech anymore.
What you can say and how you can say it are things which are being regulated these days.
Even if you say what you want, you can get ready to get sued (by some corporation or by govt or by whomever), so you also better have deep pockets.
If you're a Washigton Post reporter and have backing of the management/lawyers, you can tell things. If you're a blog writer with the same information/sources as WP guy - you probably will end up in lots of trouble.
Free speech my ass. We're all bloody slaves, people just don't want to realize/admit it.
We have to kill people who even just strongly SUPPORT terrorism overseas if we can to drive home the point we are serious. If we don't, then many of those people will be saying "sign me up" right after the American paper tiger has been defanged by the "martyrs."
Now I understand why so many Americans need shrinks...
Do you realize how scared, you as a nation, are?
Seems like many people are scared of "What goes around, comes around" problem.
Blame the enemy, not us. Most Americans do not want to rule the world. Hell, most Americans would really be happy if the rest of the world would just leave us alone and we could get our government to reciprocate to them.
You *really* need a shrink.
Most of the world would be happy if Americans left THEM alone. You seem to have problems with understanding things, since noone is bothering USA - it's the other way around.
Hell, USA bombed me in 1999 and you're telling me that you want to be left alone?!?
Right. So, you bully people all over the world, and come back later with "Blame the enemy, not us".
So logical, how come I didn't think of it?
As a sidenote - I wonder how noone realized (in writing;) that this move by the US govt will bring some more contracing jobs to various "friendly" companies.
It's always about the money people, not the moral or right/wrong...
When "Death to America, death to Ireal" is chanted at the end of Irans parliamentry sessions much in the same fasion you might say "Amen" in church...do you really thing we should not take them seriously?
You should. But do you EVER think of what makes them chant that?
The simple question - WHY? (and the answer is not 42, so don't try...;)
Do you really think freedom-loving-minding-our-own-personal-business "want" to be launching nukes? Hell no! In fact, no one does....except the brain washed commies and religious zelots.
Uhm... remind me again, which was the only country to use nukes?
The article really fails to address any real issue with security. What the article really read like was something more along the lines of, "Six Things Dumb Management Sometimes Do In Relations to Computer Security".
I guess that people who comment like this have never done any serious security work in their life.
If you had, you'd acknowledge all the points (plus the extras) easily...
I worked in "security research" field for 10 years. I loved it.
Then companies got involved, certifications/courses/books appeared, pentesting became a business...
I moved to another field, for the very reasons MJR explained in his editorial.
Everyone wanted to be "secure", but noone wanted to invest time or brains in order to achieve that goal.
In 4 years of pentesting (and I'm talking about BIG players and companies with bright people, big budgets), I have only ONCE seen a company that actually took SERIOUS measures in order to improve its' security. I'm not talking about adding another layer of firewalls or installing new toys, but actually redesigning their security infrastructure/thinking.
All the others wanted signed paper which says "You are secure now".
Can you join a Nazi party in your Country? Many European Countries you can not, in the US, you can. Can you buy a copy Mein Kamf? Many Countries you can not, in the US, you can. Can you buy anything that is printed? In the United Stated, bomb making books are printed and sold, legally. Are your basic rights outlined in your constition? Freedom of Speech, Right to Assemble, Freedom of the Press and Freedom of Religion are the basic foundations of this Country are protect by our Bill of Rights.
Europe and other countries can bash us for many reasons and in some areas are more free than we are, but in the Big Picture, we are more free than anyone else.
I am amazed by which "parameters" you measure FREEDOM (actually, I can freely buy Mein Kampf at my place, if you really had to know - it seems you have the freedom not to know correct book names, though). Don't you think there are about million more questions which could be added to the list (both against and for any country on the planet)?
Let me guess - you are from the USA?
And let me guess, you have extensive knowledge of life and culture at other places?
Let me guess - you spent exactly 0 minutes as RESIDENT of any other country than the USA.
Or maybe, you've been to France or Germany as a tourist, so you got these fantastic parameters for your "Freedom-meter" device?
Ah, reminds me of my fist encounter (years and years ago) with an American. When I told him where I am from (and he had no clue where that was, because it's a small European country), his next questions were "Do you know what is McDonalds? Do you have Coca-Cola?" Kind of left a strong impression on me...
I've spent 6 years of my life in other countries (2 of them). Even so, I don't think I'd ever try to measure "freedom" in those countries. I might ask people living there to measure it. I lost some freedoms I was used to, but I gathered some others.
Like "Freedom to be left alone", which is the most important freedom, but not something you have, for example.
Gotta love Slashdot wankers who are experts in everything but have experience in nothing...
Does it bother anyone else that our tax dollars will be used to pay for people who didn't have insurance?
"Humanity" gene seems to have been taken out of quite many individuals these days.
I mean, doesn't it bother you that half a trillion dollars of "taxpayer's money" goes for military budget? Ah, that's ok.
But hey - this is real world. 2 minutes of news coverage about victims, then 30 minutes of coverage dedicated to insurance claims and how oil plants were shutdown.
Amazing world, I really wish Vogon fleet arrives soon...
Slashdot Mirror
But during these past 5 years, the favored phase of the NAO has been negative, which is associated with ridging into Greenland (translating into warmer temperatures there) while Europe and the eastern United States is colder.
Europe colder?
It is 15C today. We have had snow for 1 day this winter.
Our kids just can't see snow, unless they go to the mountains. And we used to have LOTS of snow in my city, until appx 1998-1999.
For the past few years, we just don't see snow, and we have low temperatures (below -5C) for maybe 2 weeks during whole winter.
Colder? Don't think so.
Maybe in Siberia, but not in Central Europe.
Compatibility with web sites that are made exclusively for Microsoft Internet Explorer technology and for which there are no close substitutes.
;)
And which sites would that be (that people would care about)?
I have an offshore account, with a major bank. They used to only accept Netscape Communicator 4.72 and IE 5/6 as browsers (they'd check User-Agent: w/ JS, and not let you login if you don't match).
They kept on changing the system (HTML, JS, removed all JAVA stuff), and I've been using FireFox (with user-agent extension) for a year.
I've mailed them once telling them that systems works perfectly fine with Firefox.
Then I realized I don't use User-Agent extension at all and I am still able to login into banking system.
Moral of the story - things are changing. If major bank modifies its banking system so that it works with Firefox, I think it says something.
Either they care about users, or they have hired a switched on geek, aware of standards
I guess all of you have great experiences in managing countries. Even better, you're all probably managing 1.3 billion people on a daily basis.
;) wrecked us badly.
China leadership already told to Clinton and Bush to f*ck off, since they have no idea how it looks to manage and feed 1.3 billion people. And they said they'll go SLOW.
Which I can understand. I live in Eastern European country (population of 8 million), and "transition" to democracy and free market (globalism, in other words
I can't imagine what would happen to 1.3bn people if they tried to implement "transition" like we did.
I don't like what China does. Hell, I don't like what my own government does (but we don't have a choice, we're being "ordered" to do things by EU/USA - so much about "freedom and democracy"), but I seriosly think we have no right to tell Chinese people anything. Most of the people I've talked to (and am doing business with) are quite ok with the situation. Considering what they had 10 years ago, they seem to be very happy with how things are working out right now. Granted, there will be a lot of unhappy people, but there are lots of unhappy people in USA, EU, etc, so... it's all part of the game.
"During the search for clues..."
If you've found only those 2 (first being for now almost obsolete card, 2nd being commercial) URLs after "search for clues" - I feel sorry for you.
What's going on here? People are too lazy to even make a Google search, so they post a Slashdot "article"?
Amusing...
IE7 can't possibly leak as much as Firefox. That browser is a memory pig! But I guess that's the price for security and "standards compliance"
Using AdBlock, aren't we?
Hahahahaha! I get it. It's because most OS software developers Just Don't Get It when it comes to databases. They read a text file that teaches them "SELECT * FROM SomeTable;" and suddenly they're DBAs, except they're not. Fortunately for them MySQL sucks in such a fashion as to give them a false feeling of confidence that they're shit is going to work. As long as they actually don't do anything mission critical they're fine.
And you must be the ultimate authority on what is "mission critical" for who? I guess you've reviewed all applications on this planet (especially company internal ones) that use MySQL, so you'd know.
Ebay uses some serious "mission critical" database server, yet their site is shit slow most of the time. I guess those "mission critical" database servers are not that good either. I reckon Ebay should move to Postgres - it's silver bullet solution for all database needs. It also cooks and washes dishes.
Everyone uses what suits them best. Some people use Windows, some people use Postgres, some people use MySQL, and some use flat-text files.
I've seen quite few MISSION CRITICAL applications in banks that still use flat-text files. Do you want me to give them your contact details, so that you can "open their eyes"? I'm sure they need your expert advice...
Logic and people like this are the reason I abandoned "security world" (which I loved, and was there for 15 years).
No, this has nothing to do with "we need more marketing and sales - let's use some big words" (SANS is profitable org, you know). No. Not at all.
They simply have such 3l33t connections and t00lz and t3chniques which can uncover (and trace and bust) any hax0r.
This have NOTHING to do with China's economic/IT explosion and deployment of countless boxes (which can't all be secured) in short timeframe. Heaven for bouncing.
We haven't seen this before with South Korea (which had Gigabit links to everywhere when most of the world could dream about it). No.
These are military hax0rs, really. Because attacks come from China.
And SANS was first to find it out.
Oh, look at these training/course offers we have...
Frankly, after the shootings the other day in China I wish we'd stop doing business with them. Our relationship with China is nothing to be proud of.
After all the places US has bombed and all the destruction they've brought to many places, I wish we all stopped doing business with them.
Anyone's relationship with US is nothing to be proud of.
if only their government didn't suck ass, they could be so great. they have immense cultural momentum, a well reasoned and disciplined populace, and a penchant for churning out intelligent people.
If only US govt didn't suck ass, they could be so great. Blah, blah.
Bottom line is, people don't approve what they do, nor do they like it. But I certainly would NEVER know how to maintain 1.2 billion people. I presume you wouldn't either.
I don't think there is an "easy transition" for such a HUGE population, and I think they'll behave in the same way (politically speaking - economically they're already went far) for the next decade or so.
My boss has made it a priority to seriously look at replacing MS Office with OpenOffice when that buglist gets below 1000. We shall see if that can happen.
Not trying to be a troll or anything, but does your boss know how many bugs are in MS Office? Is he positive there are less than 1000?
Strange way to decide if someone will upgrade to product or not. Usability and million other things should have higher priority than number of bugs...
"Particle Fountain" from KDE, if I remember the name right.
:), he didn't see the full potential of KDE or Gnome.
Guy who was watching me install CentOS 4.1 on one desktop machine is exposed to Linux all the time (but via SSH). This was first time for him to see KDE running on Linux, and when he saw this particular screensaver - he immediately took the DVD and brought it back home to install it.
Althought he watched me use Linux on my laptop for ages (but I either used WindowMaker or, lately, XFCE, with very simple and fast theme - does the job for me
Once people are exposed to such things, they tend to want to experiment asap.
He even had to contact people around (who found security bugs) and ask them to check if Nessus check was valid for certain vulnerability. He did contact me twice, and I did test/review the check, but I never contributed anything to Nessus.
:), I simply never wanted to make it easier for those idiots to perform tasks they were not intended to do, in the first place.
Why?
In all honesty - because of the reason I went out of "security business". It became a business, where every idiot would try to take a "piece of security cake", even if they were complete idiots without clue about anything related to security. Or more precise - "it became a business".
Although I adore Nessus, and used it on few occasions (prefer to do things "by hand"
I admire Renaud for actually surviving this long with GPL license, and I sure admire his dedication to Nessus.
He is right for doing this, and I wish him all the best.
"...Nessus is dropping the GPL license for the upcoming version 3 of the software."
It's in the summary, and beats me how someone could miss it...
I'm really not trying to post flamebait here, but GAH, the people who work on that thing should hang their heads in embarrassment. Spaghetti code, no comments -- I'm talking a total mess. I was actually just looking for the code that clears the screen when you log out of a session (because I actually hate the automatic clear screen, and was hoping there was an option for it). I finally gave up in disgust.
.bash_logout.
And this comes from a person who looks into OpenSSH source instead of
It must be credible source review, really...
I'm moving some users from Windows to Linux.
Ubuntu was one of the things I wanted them to try, and they really liked it, but there was a huge problem - fonts look like sh*t on TFT screens. I've tried just about everything (including HOWTO on their forums) I could find in order to tweak fonts, but to no avail.
I ended up installing CentOS 4.1 (which I use on my desktop, with CRT) and fonts are rendered MUCH nicer, without any tweaking.
Most of those 65,000 bugs were things like spelling mistakes, formatting mistakes, spacing issues etc in dialog boxes, nothing really interesting. Thats the difference between bugfree and generally bugfree.
:)
Time travel...
-start quote-
According to an article on ZDNet, an internal Microsoft memo states that:
* More than 21,000 "postponed" bugs, an indeterminate number of which Microsoft is characterizing as "real problems." Others are requests for new functionality, and others reflect "plain confusion as to how something is supposed to work."
* More than 27,000 "BugBug" comments. These are usually notes to developers to make something work better or more efficiently. According to Microsoft, they tend to represent "unfinished work" or "long-forgotten problems."
* Overall, there are more than 65,000 "potential issues" that could emerge as problems, as discovered by Microsoft's Prefix tool. Microsoft is estimating that 28,000 of these are likely to be "real" problems.
-end quote-
Spacing issues in dialog boxes. Really made me laugh
Microsoft's holy grail is a system that cranks out a new, generally bug-free version of basic Windows every few years, with frequent updates in between to add enhancements or match a competitor's offering.
I really wish they explain me the difference between "generally bug-free" and "bug-free". Is the difference around 65,000 (as Win2000 has ~65,000 known bugs when launched)?
What good is free speech if you're regulated how you can tell it, where you can tell it and what you can tell? That's not free speech anymore.
What you can say and how you can say it are things which are being regulated these days.
Even if you say what you want, you can get ready to get sued (by some corporation or by govt or by whomever), so you also better have deep pockets.
If you're a Washigton Post reporter and have backing of the management/lawyers, you can tell things. If you're a blog writer with the same information/sources as WP guy - you probably will end up in lots of trouble.
Free speech my ass. We're all bloody slaves, people just don't want to realize/admit it.
We have to kill people who even just strongly SUPPORT terrorism overseas if we can to drive home the point we are serious. If we don't, then many of those people will be saying "sign me up" right after the American paper tiger has been defanged by the "martyrs."
;) that this move by the US govt will bring some more contracing jobs to various "friendly" companies.
Now I understand why so many Americans need shrinks...
Do you realize how scared, you as a nation, are?
Seems like many people are scared of "What goes around, comes around" problem.
Blame the enemy, not us. Most Americans do not want to rule the world. Hell, most Americans would really be happy if the rest of the world would just leave us alone and we could get our government to reciprocate to them.
You *really* need a shrink.
Most of the world would be happy if Americans left THEM alone. You seem to have problems with understanding things, since noone is bothering USA - it's the other way around.
Hell, USA bombed me in 1999 and you're telling me that you want to be left alone?!?
Right. So, you bully people all over the world, and come back later with "Blame the enemy, not us".
So logical, how come I didn't think of it?
As a sidenote - I wonder how noone realized (in writing
It's always about the money people, not the moral or right/wrong...
When "Death to America, death to Ireal" is chanted at the end of Irans parliamentry sessions much in the same fasion you might say "Amen" in church...do you really thing we should not take them seriously?
;)
You should. But do you EVER think of what makes them chant that?
The simple question - WHY? (and the answer is not 42, so don't try...
Do you really think freedom-loving-minding-our-own-personal-business "want" to be launching nukes? Hell no! In fact, no one does....except the brain washed commies and religious zelots.
Uhm... remind me again, which was the only country to use nukes?
The article really fails to address any real issue with security. What the article really read like was something more along the lines of, "Six Things Dumb Management Sometimes Do In Relations to Computer Security".
I guess that people who comment like this have never done any serious security work in their life.
If you had, you'd acknowledge all the points (plus the extras) easily...
Really good points.
I worked in "security research" field for 10 years. I loved it.
Then companies got involved, certifications/courses/books appeared, pentesting became a business...
I moved to another field, for the very reasons MJR explained in his editorial.
Everyone wanted to be "secure", but noone wanted to invest time or brains in order to achieve that goal.
In 4 years of pentesting (and I'm talking about BIG players and companies with bright people, big budgets), I have only ONCE seen a company that actually took SERIOUS measures in order to improve its' security. I'm not talking about adding another layer of firewalls or installing new toys, but actually redesigning their security infrastructure/thinking.
All the others wanted signed paper which says "You are secure now".
I ended up pointing all of them to MJR's Ultimate Firewall
Simple test to see which country is more free.
Can you join a Nazi party in your Country? Many European Countries you can not, in the US, you can.
Can you buy a copy Mein Kamf? Many Countries you can not, in the US, you can.
Can you buy anything that is printed? In the United Stated, bomb making books are printed and sold, legally.
Are your basic rights outlined in your constition? Freedom of Speech, Right to Assemble, Freedom of the Press and Freedom of Religion are the basic foundations of this Country are protect by our Bill of Rights.
Europe and other countries can bash us for many reasons and in some areas are more free than we are, but in the Big Picture, we are more free than anyone else.
I am amazed by which "parameters" you measure FREEDOM (actually, I can freely buy Mein Kampf at my place, if you really had to know - it seems you have the freedom not to know correct book names, though). Don't you think there are about million more questions which could be added to the list (both against and for any country on the planet)?
Let me guess - you are from the USA?
And let me guess, you have extensive knowledge of life and culture at other places?
Let me guess - you spent exactly 0 minutes as RESIDENT of any other country than the USA.
Or maybe, you've been to France or Germany as a tourist, so you got these fantastic parameters for your "Freedom-meter" device?
Ah, reminds me of my fist encounter (years and years ago) with an American. When I told him where I am from (and he had no clue where that was, because it's a small European country), his next questions were "Do you know what is McDonalds? Do you have Coca-Cola?" Kind of left a strong impression on me...
I've spent 6 years of my life in other countries (2 of them). Even so, I don't think I'd ever try to measure "freedom" in those countries. I might ask people living there to measure it. I lost some freedoms I was used to, but I gathered some others.
Like "Freedom to be left alone", which is the most important freedom, but not something you have, for example.
Gotta love Slashdot wankers who are experts in everything but have experience in nothing...
Does it bother anyone else that our tax dollars will be used to pay for people who didn't have insurance?
"Humanity" gene seems to have been taken out of quite many individuals these days.
I mean, doesn't it bother you that half a trillion dollars of "taxpayer's money" goes for military budget? Ah, that's ok.
But hey - this is real world. 2 minutes of news coverage about victims, then 30 minutes of coverage dedicated to insurance claims and how oil plants were shutdown.
Amazing world, I really wish Vogon fleet arrives soon...