In politics, every opinion is essentially a threat of violence. Why? Because everything government does and could possibly do is founded on coercion (meaning violence or threat of violence). Coercion is the first prerequisite and key tool of every government, and accordingly it is the end prize that goes to the "winner" of politics. This is why people are so sensitive to political issues, whether they consciously accept it or not: if they lose, then the enemy gains the tool of violence.
The only possible way religion can threaten peace is when religion becomes intermixed with politics, thereby gaining the tool of coercion. It is therefore quite pointless to be "against" religion when religion is independent of politics -- there is no enemy to be concerned with!
In conclusion, religion is a non-issue for the non-religious. The only issue of importance is coercion, and who holds the legal "right" to wield it.
If Ned Stark would have realized this he would still be... argh! I'm a geek, I'm a geek! It burns!
All of this is absurd, like a Dada or Surrealist depiction of a repressive government. I'm thinking of the Marx Brother's "Duck Soup" or something similar. It would all be hilarious if it didn't have real, and possibly fatal, consequences. Good luck, people of China.
the interviewer, his CIA handler, and the IT staff.
CIA handler: ask it what it's wearing! No, no! Ask him what his favorite "Hackers" character is. I bet it's Angelina Jolie.
Interviewer and IT staff: Shaw! More like Jonny Lee Miller, nerd!
IT Staff: OK... here's the headers for the first email reply... and. That's a Chinese IP. OK.
CIA handler: Ooh! So he's in China. I knew it knew it!
IT Staff: (wilting glare)
IT Staff: OK, this one is from... Sheboygan, Wisconsin. Huh.
CIA handler: (checks Blackberry). Oh. Nice. We have the Assange double in place. Opps! Did I say that out loud?
IT Staff: OK, next email. That looks... OK. Where's the Start button on this stupid thing...? Anyone? OK.. ifconfig... it's the same IP!!
CIA handler: ZOMG! He's here in the house!?
IT Staff: Yeah. We're done here. Packing up. Later dudes, dudette.
Are they using this to campaign in the traditional sense or is the line between PR/Advertisement and "Spy Agency" is growing thinner and thinner. After all, the CIA started merely reading russian newspapers and expanded from there.
CIA analyst, circa 1980: "You guys, c'mere! It's "Garfield" translated into Russian. Look at that -- that's clearly lasagna, but the caption reads "borscht"! You're going down, Commies!"
Are they gathering information to conduct survailence, and perhaps the type of "blag bag jobs" that become easier and deniable after conducting lengthy intellegence gathering on your subject. Where is the line.
Blagging, while generally innocuous, is not to be confused with blathing, a much more serious offense.
What safeguards do we have in place to prevent these intellegence gathering PR agencies from:
Spreading disinformation on enemies, that sounds plausable, based on information they've gathered.
Digging up dirt on politicians enemies and disemenating it.
Using the social network to intimidate non-likely voters by having their friends shame and intimidate them into voting.
Looking up information on critics, and digging up dirt on critics.
Digging up dirt on potential voters to keep them in line with some form of blackmail.
What system do we have to investigate these people should their massive campaigns succeed and their clients now have the power to pardon or otherwise shield them from the legal proccess after being elected.
What happens when these PR goons become the new prateroian guard?
What's with the questions? Are you writing a paper? Nice try, pal. OK, nobody answer him. He needs to quit partying, make a class or two, and work this out for himself. It builds character. It's called basic research: try Google or burn some shoe leather and actual visit your campus library. Jeez.
Romney: well what you have to know is that the Moon is NOT a job creator. The Moon is part of that 47% of the solar system that sponges off of the hard work the other half is doing. The Moon is a worthless satellite.
Some Character Who Is Not Romney: Yes, but isn't the Moon responsible for tides? Without tides, there would be no surfers. Without surfers, there wouldn't be the movie Point Break and that would be tragic. The Moon is also responsible for werewolves. You need a full Moon for werewolves to change And I quote
Even a man who is pure in heart
and says his prayers by night
may become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms
and the autumn moon is bright
and if he doesn't wear his Mormon magic underwear
Were it not for the Moon, then the act of baring our posteriors would simply be called "baring our posteriors" or something equally uncool.
I could site numerous other examples, Mr. Future-President-To-Be-Because-The-Current-President-Was-Coasting-Like-It-Was-The-Month-Of-June-In-His-Senior-Year-So-He-Phoned-In-The-Previous-Debate-And-Dropped-Around-4-Points-In-The-Polls-According-To-Real-Clear-Politics. But I think I have made my point. Check and Mate, sir.
The submitter obviously hasn't heard of PYRAMID POWER! I said "PYRAMID POWER"!!
Yeah. Never mind. I thought it would work, but that was pretty dumb.
PYRAMID POWER-R-R-R-R-R-R-R!!!
Shut up, you babies. Energy independence is a joke. Expect to use fossil fuels for the remainder of your time here on the planet. The economics, special interests, are entrenched. There are criticisms for this, Gusher of Lies, but at least it is a starting point. When is the last time you've read a book on the subject?
Add some critical thinking into your diet. This thread, which is large parts mindless regurgitation, makes me ill.
As far as Muslim bashing, sidestepping the relative merits of various religions, you put everyone into the same Fundamentalist, hard-line bucket. That is also intellectually dishonest, ignorant. There are moderates in every religion as well as extremists. To think that all Muslims, which is what is being implied, are frothing, fanatical killers and contemptible and ridiculous. People are people: they are concerned about putting food on the table, ensuring their children have a better life than they did. That is all.
PS Did you know that Indonesia, the 2nd largest Muslim nation in the world, is a Democracy? Bonus: their voter turn outs are ridiculously high. Because they appreciate their right to exercise their democratic rights, unlike a lot of people in the US.
Are there governments that are hostile to the US? Of course. But try to make the distinction between the organization and the people and the culture. You're no better than the idiots holding up signs reading "American is the Great Satan".
Then why are Muslims also attacking in so many other countries? There are Muslim terrorist attacks, all over the world, every day, and it's been going on like that for decades. Muslims are actively attacking not only Jews, and Christians, but Hindus, Buddhists, and of course, other Muslims.
How could this all be due to US mid-east policy?
Is that a rhetorical question? I can see you came with well-researched answers. Not. Here's a starting point: PBS. Now, you can bring facts to the table. That's how debate and argumentation work. Otherwise its just an emotional mess.
How are these comments being scored as interesting? What a bunch of ignorant twaddle.
disclaimer: ATHEIST
Sure. However, from business standpoint, using network gear with a built-in backdoor to the PRC is probably not a great idea assuming you want to hold on to your IP, or otherwise wish to limit your network attack surface.
Chinese espionage costs the US around 1 trillion dollars article here. I'm not certain over what period of time, but for any reasonable length of time, that's pretty bad in the aggregate, and downright awful for individual companies.
I think it's apples and oranges, granting that both fruits are rotten:)
It's hard to criticize his opening remarks, as he was so vague and rambling (even if you RTFA, it's difficult to tell who exactly he's criticizing or what's he's proposing as an alternative).
Glad that someone said it. I had a difficult time comprehending the article -- it was poorly written.
The best solution is always to keep other parties from getting your information in the first place, as much as it is feasible (not to the point of paranoia, but enough to make reasonably sure that you're not just opening your zipper to someone else either).
People are remarkably plastic with ethics and morals -- it seems sometimes that no one is willing to consider: "would I want this done to me? Therefore, I shouldn't visit x upon this (person|group|etc)." This has something to do with distance and depersonalization of the victims -- "It's just their name, address, primary email, and credit card purchases from 2010. It's not actually hurting anyone." Also, mentioning the Milgram and/or Stanford experiments here seems appropriate; the company policy is sell personal information, so individuals who would normally not behave this way do because of various pressures.
So, yeah, by all means do not rely on the decency and goodness of others to "do the right thing", and protect your privacy. It makes for a crummy, cynical world, but what can you do?
agreed. having an industrial strength lock doesn't matter if it is mounted on a door to a building made of 1/4" thick plywood. For all that, sometimes 1/4" thick plywood is just enough of a barrier. But, for what you are thinking of, anyone with the will will not be deterred.
Slashdot Mirror
In politics, every opinion is essentially a threat of violence. Why? Because everything government does and could possibly do is founded on coercion (meaning violence or threat of violence). Coercion is the first prerequisite and key tool of every government, and accordingly it is the end prize that goes to the "winner" of politics. This is why people are so sensitive to political issues, whether they consciously accept it or not: if they lose, then the enemy gains the tool of violence.
The only possible way religion can threaten peace is when religion becomes intermixed with politics, thereby gaining the tool of coercion. It is therefore quite pointless to be "against" religion when religion is independent of politics -- there is no enemy to be concerned with!
In conclusion, religion is a non-issue for the non-religious. The only issue of importance is coercion, and who holds the legal "right" to wield it.
If Ned Stark would have realized this he would still be... argh! I'm a geek, I'm a geek! It burns!
All of this is absurd, like a Dada or Surrealist depiction of a repressive government. I'm thinking of the Marx Brother's "Duck Soup" or something similar. It would all be hilarious if it didn't have real, and possibly fatal, consequences. Good luck, people of China.
I think everyone is forgetting that none of this crap gets dumped in a landfill...
"You bet! M-O-O-N, that spells "zombie apocalypse"!
the interviewer, his CIA handler, and the IT staff. CIA handler: ask it what it's wearing! No, no! Ask him what his favorite "Hackers" character is. I bet it's Angelina Jolie. Interviewer and IT staff: Shaw! More like Jonny Lee Miller, nerd! IT Staff: OK... here's the headers for the first email reply... and. That's a Chinese IP. OK. CIA handler: Ooh! So he's in China. I knew it knew it! IT Staff: (wilting glare) IT Staff: OK, this one is from... Sheboygan, Wisconsin. Huh. CIA handler: (checks Blackberry). Oh. Nice. We have the Assange double in place. Opps! Did I say that out loud? IT Staff: OK, next email. That looks... OK. Where's the Start button on this stupid thing...? Anyone? OK.. ifconfig... it's the same IP!! CIA handler: ZOMG! He's here in the house!? IT Staff: Yeah. We're done here. Packing up. Later dudes, dudette.
-signed Admiral Thomas Dalton Ackbar
Can this thing be used to take out the "Dancing With the Stars" and "American Idol" studios? Oh, please God.
Are they using this to campaign in the traditional sense or is the line between PR/Advertisement and "Spy Agency" is growing thinner and thinner. After all, the CIA started merely reading russian newspapers and expanded from there.
CIA analyst, circa 1980: "You guys, c'mere! It's "Garfield" translated into Russian. Look at that -- that's clearly lasagna, but the caption reads "borscht"! You're going down, Commies!"
Are they gathering information to conduct survailence, and perhaps the type of "blag bag jobs" that become easier and deniable after conducting lengthy intellegence gathering on your subject. Where is the line.
Blagging, while generally innocuous, is not to be confused with blathing, a much more serious offense.
What safeguards do we have in place to prevent these intellegence gathering PR agencies from: Spreading disinformation on enemies, that sounds plausable, based on information they've gathered. Digging up dirt on politicians enemies and disemenating it. Using the social network to intimidate non-likely voters by having their friends shame and intimidate them into voting. Looking up information on critics, and digging up dirt on critics. Digging up dirt on potential voters to keep them in line with some form of blackmail. What system do we have to investigate these people should their massive campaigns succeed and their clients now have the power to pardon or otherwise shield them from the legal proccess after being elected. What happens when these PR goons become the new prateroian guard?
What's with the questions? Are you writing a paper? Nice try, pal. OK, nobody answer him. He needs to quit partying, make a class or two, and work this out for himself. It builds character. It's called basic research: try Google or burn some shoe leather and actual visit your campus library. Jeez.
Romney: well what you have to know is that the Moon is NOT a job creator. The Moon is part of that 47% of the solar system that sponges off of the hard work the other half is doing. The Moon is a worthless satellite.
Some Character Who Is Not Romney: Yes, but isn't the Moon responsible for tides? Without tides, there would be no surfers. Without surfers, there wouldn't be the movie Point Break and that would be tragic. The Moon is also responsible for werewolves. You need a full Moon for werewolves to change And I quote
Even a man who is pure in heart
and says his prayers by night
may become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms
and the autumn moon is bright
and if he doesn't wear his Mormon magic underwear
Were it not for the Moon, then the act of baring our posteriors would simply be called "baring our posteriors" or something equally uncool.
I could site numerous other examples, Mr. Future-President-To-Be-Because-The-Current-President-Was-Coasting-Like-It-Was-The-Month-Of-June-In-His-Senior-Year-So-He-Phoned-In-The-Previous-Debate-And-Dropped-Around-4-Points-In-The-Polls-According-To-Real-Clear-Politics. But I think I have made my point. Check and Mate, sir.
The submitter obviously hasn't heard of PYRAMID POWER! I said "PYRAMID POWER"!! Yeah. Never mind. I thought it would work, but that was pretty dumb. PYRAMID POWER-R-R-R-R-R-R-R!!!
Then why are Muslims also attacking in so many other countries? There are Muslim terrorist attacks, all over the world, every day, and it's been going on like that for decades. Muslims are actively attacking not only Jews, and Christians, but Hindus, Buddhists, and of course, other Muslims. How could this all be due to US mid-east policy?
Is that a rhetorical question? I can see you came with well-researched answers. Not. Here's a starting point: PBS. Now, you can bring facts to the table. That's how debate and argumentation work. Otherwise its just an emotional mess. How are these comments being scored as interesting? What a bunch of ignorant twaddle. disclaimer: ATHEIST
I wonder if they realize that "Apocalypse Now" was not a documentary, and not filmed in real time?
what good is building a robot with a mullet? You'd think they would want to give the robot good hair, like George Clooney.
you know who else was... wait. You said "Germany" right?
article here
Sure. However, from business standpoint, using network gear with a built-in backdoor to the PRC is probably not a great idea assuming you want to hold on to your IP, or otherwise wish to limit your network attack surface. Chinese espionage costs the US around 1 trillion dollars article here. I'm not certain over what period of time, but for any reasonable length of time, that's pretty bad in the aggregate, and downright awful for individual companies. I think it's apples and oranges, granting that both fruits are rotten :)
It's hard to criticize his opening remarks, as he was so vague and rambling (even if you RTFA, it's difficult to tell who exactly he's criticizing or what's he's proposing as an alternative).
Glad that someone said it. I had a difficult time comprehending the article -- it was poorly written.
The best solution is always to keep other parties from getting your information in the first place, as much as it is feasible (not to the point of paranoia, but enough to make reasonably sure that you're not just opening your zipper to someone else either).
People are remarkably plastic with ethics and morals -- it seems sometimes that no one is willing to consider: "would I want this done to me? Therefore, I shouldn't visit x upon this (person|group|etc)." This has something to do with distance and depersonalization of the victims -- "It's just their name, address, primary email, and credit card purchases from 2010. It's not actually hurting anyone." Also, mentioning the Milgram and/or Stanford experiments here seems appropriate; the company policy is sell personal information, so individuals who would normally not behave this way do because of various pressures. So, yeah, by all means do not rely on the decency and goodness of others to "do the right thing", and protect your privacy. It makes for a crummy, cynical world, but what can you do?
agreed. having an industrial strength lock doesn't matter if it is mounted on a door to a building made of 1/4" thick plywood. For all that, sometimes 1/4" thick plywood is just enough of a barrier. But, for what you are thinking of, anyone with the will will not be deterred.
The Desktop PC is kind of like a Highlander, actually.