"One way or the other, we are determined to deny Iraq the capacity to develop weapons of mass destruction and the missiles to deliver them. That is our bottom line." President Clinton, Feb. 4, 1998
"If Saddam rejects peace and we have to use force, our purpose is clear. We want to seriously diminish the threat posed by Iraq's weapons of mass destruction program." President Clinton, Feb. 17, 1998
"Iraq is a long way from [here], but what happens there matters a great deal here. For the risks that the leaders of a rogue state will use nuclear, chemical or biological weapons against us or our allies is the greatest security threat we face." Madeline Albright, Secretary of State, Feb 18, 1998
"He will use those weapons of mass destruction again, as he has ten times since 1983." Sandy Berger, Clinton National Security Adviser, Feb, 18, 1998
"We urge you, after consulting with Congress, and consistent with the U.S. Constitution and laws, to take necessary actions (including, if appropriate, air and missile strikes on suspect Iraqi sites) to respond effectively to the threat posed by Iraq's refusal to end its weapons of mass destruction programs." Letter to President Clinton, signed by Sens. Carl Levin, Tom Daschle, John Kerry, and others Oct. 9, 1998
"Saddam Hussein has been engaged in the development of weapons of mass destruction technology which is a threat to countries in the region and he has made a mockery of the weapons inspection process." Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D, CA), Dec. 16, 1998
"Hussein has chosen to spend his money on building weapons of mass destruction and palaces for his cronies." Madeline Albright, Secretary of State, Nov. 10, 1999
"There is no doubt that... Saddam Hussein has reinvigorated his weapons programs. Reports indicate that biological, chemical and nuclear programs continue apace and may be back to pre-Gulf War status. In addition, Saddam continues to redefine delivery systems and is doubtless using the cover of a licit missile program to develop longer-range missiles that will threaten the United States and our allies." Letter to President Bush, Signed by Sen. Bob Graham (D, FL,) and others, Dec, 5, 2001
"We begin with the common belief that Saddam Hussein is a tyrant and a threat to the peace and stability of the region. He has ignored the mandated of the United Nations and is building weapons of mass destruction and the means of delivering them." Sen. Carl Levin (D, MI), Sept. 19, 2002
"We know that he has stored secret supplies of biological and chemical weapons throughout his country." Al Gore, Sept. 23, 2002
"Iraq's search for weapons of mass destruction has proven impossible to deter and we should assume that it will continue for as long as Saddam is in power." Al Gore, Sept. 23, 2002
"We have known for many years that Saddam Hussein is seeking and developing weapons of mass destruction." Sen. Ted Kennedy (D, MA), Sept. 27, 2002
"The last UN weapons inspectors left Iraq in October of 1998. We are confident that Saddam Hussein retains some stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons, and that he has since embarked on a crash course to build up his chemical and biological warfare capabilities. Intelligence reports indicate that he is seeking nuclear weapons..." Sen. Robert Byrd (D, WV), Oct. 3, 2002
"I will be voting to give the President of the United States the authority to use force -- if necessary -- to disarm Saddam Hussein because I believe that a deadly arsenal of weapons of mass destruction in his hands is a real and grave threat to our security." Sen. John F. Kerry (D, MA), Oct. 9, 2002
"There is unmistakable evidence that Saddam Hussein is working aggressively to develop nuclear weapons and will likely have nuclear weapons within the next five years... We also should remember we have always underestimated the progress Saddam has made in development of weapons of mass destruction." Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D, WV), Oct 10,
"Assuming Moore's law holds, ethics might be in for some major revisions in a couple decades. High-end computer systems may surpass the computational ability of the standard human brain within 20 years."
Sorry, building an intelligent, sentient machine requires alot more than pure computational capacity. This kind of thinking reminds me of this old 50's or 60's horror flick where they hooked up all the computers of the world and the computers "magically" became a sentient being which subsequently tried to take over the world.
Despite all of the progress in AI and computers, we still have a very long way to go. We are just being to understand the difficulties. Who would have thought in 1940 that building a machine that could beat the best human chessmaster was an *easier* problem than building a machine that could simply move the pieces around the board! Beating the chessmaster just required a good enough search algorithm with enough speed. Moving pieces around the board requires extremely advanced 3-d image processing (taking into account that pieces may look different from board to board) as well as an extremely advanced robotic arm with very fine motor control.
Building a self-aware machine is going to be a bit more difficult than just hooking together a masssive beowolf cluster and hitting it with lightning
Right, cause there is NEVER any fraud using paper.
Paper ballots can be conveniently lost or stolen, altered, miscounted by biased observers, or a affected by a whole host of bad behavior.
With a free and open source e-voting system, we can elminiate much of the bias by having a neutral, unemotional party tally the vote. And hopefully in the future we can cross reference voters with databases so insure they haven't voted twice, are legal citizens, aren't dead, and aren't felons.
This the current "publish or perish" environment all those papers establishing the fields of Physics and Calculus may not be enough...
Actually, this is a very good question. Not because of "excessive quirkyness" because many of the great professors I have met are "querky or weird". But I wonder if Newton would have been able to handle Relativism and Quantum Physics. Many physicists of Einstein's time couldn't handle Relativism and Einstein himself had a problem with Quantum Physics. If Newton lived to 1000 years old I wonder if he could have handled the shifts.
I disagree. Look at the stink over "Natural Born Killers". I'm generalizing, but in the USA violence in the movies is OK because it is generally Good Guys vs. Bad Guys and the most violence is directed toward the Bad Guys. I think that is also why GTA is controversial but games like Rainbow Six aren't.
>He picked a key sequence that's difficult to >accidentally set off. So what? It could have >been shift-esc-break. If this is what a Ph.D. >in electrical engineering is good for, I'm glad >I don't have mine.
He didn't just pick the sequence, but also engineered the hardware to make the interrupts work correctly.
>You know what bugs me? When people refer to a >giant slashdot collective, as if everyone here >thought the same things about every issue.
I admit my comments are a generalization, but I believe it is a fair one based on the editorial decisions of the Slashdot staff plus the vast majority of the comments. Sure there are a few voices of reason in the comments but I read Slashdot regularly and I have NEVER seen a story presenting the other side of piracy---namely that if everyone pirated then we wouldn't have music, movies, or games. And if you look at the comments in articles like this there is a high bias (esp in the +4 and +5 articles) in favor of the pirates.
>Remember, movie piracy doesn't just hurt actors, >but also camera operators, key grips, makeup >artists, and costumers.
Why be sarcastic about this? Its the truth, isn't it? I thought this is WHAT Slashdot wanted---instead of suing people the MPAA is educating them on why they should buy a DVD instead of copy their friend's.
First the general Slashdot position was "Don't shut down P2P, shut down the criminals." Then it was "Don't shut down the criminals, they don't know any better." Now it is "Don't educate people on WHY a movie costs 8 dollars".
Seems to me Slashdot is becoming more and more a piracy advocacy board. Movies and music cost money. Sorry, that's the way life works. Not everything can use the open-source software model. It takes a tremendous amount of people and resources to make a money.
Seems to me that educating people on why we need to contribute to movies is the best solution for everyone.
Brian
PS The Slashdot crowd is the FIRST ones to complain if a movie looks "cheap" or "fake".
"So with this huge market share, what R&D has Dell contributed to the world? Absolutely nothing, except for their one invention: a tech support button [theregister.co.uk] on their machines which never worked properly and they longer support. Every single aspect of Dell's business is copied from other manufacturers. There is absolutely no innovation going on there."
Bull. How many major PC makers did PC advanced PC customization before Dell, where you pick exactly what components you want from Monitor to Video Card to Speakers? Dell also led the way in direct customer sales. And their supply-chain is one of the best of ANY company.
>the telecom industry still hasn't figured out >that VOIP is going to take more and more $$$ >away. >I wonder just when their lobbyists will get the >US congress to outlaw or at least hamper the use >of inter/intrastate VOIP?
They already know that the future is one service with cable, internet, and phone all in one and are making moves in that direction. BellSouth just made a deal with DirectTV to create a cable/internet/phone package with the (assumed)eventual intention of supplying the cable through their fiber optic phone lines. Its all going to be one pipe---the question of whose pipe it will be.
In terms of "regulations", the problem I have with the Slashdot crowd is that they don't want a level playing field. Either remove the regulatory burdens and taxes from the big telecoms or apply it to the startups as well. I like 911 service and would like to see it its continued funding and service.
>Yes. I know what they want. I know what >motivates them. Envy of economic status that >transforms to hatred.
Osama Bin Laden comes from a family that has incredible amount of wealth. All of the 9/11 hijackers were in the Middle class. If the Islamic radicals were driven by economic status they would attack their own corrupt governments rather than attacking us. Your acting as if the Middle East wasn't the richest source of oil in the world.
The difference is that she didn't try to hack it first. She made a challenge and they accepted. This is how normal society acts. Hackers have made a bad name for themselves by doing things without other people's knowledge or permission---often to show off their "superior skills". Hackers may feel this is no big deal or some sort of "good work", but normal people feel very threatened and violated. Hence people like Mitnick go to jail.
If Mitnick had asked and recieved permission like this woman, there would have been no problems.
Lovett's uncle Thomas Crymes said the June graduate of Collingswood High School had been on his computer "constantly."
"He never went anywhere with anybody," Crymes said.
Ever think he was on the computer constantly because he was harassed by the other students and had nowhere to go? Maybe that same harassment had something to do with his motive?
Was the guy that shot up that Lockheed Martin factory also "under the influence" of computer games and violent movies? Or is there a more complex societal problem going on here?
Ronald Lovett, who works as a electronics repairman on the same block as his apartment, said his son had become withdrawn after his mother's death. His son also often had to defend his younger brother, who has undergone 13 operations for a cleft palate, the father said.
"When they used to go out when they were little, of course people would pick on the brother, and Matt would have to defend him," Ronald Lovett told CNN. "They didn't get along well with their peers." . . . "The boys also had to endure the death of an older half sister who was hit by a car a year after their mother's death, Crymes said."
What kind of evil SOBs would pick on a kid with a cleft palate whose mother and sister recently died. I thank the Lord that these kids were picked up before they hurt anyone, but if you want to examine "root causes" instead of video games maybe take a look at an utter lack of conscious or morality by all parties involved.
Let's see...who's got more lobbying money/access? Us (as individuals), or Walmart/Sears/Kmart/Target/Asda/Tesco?
Who do you think will win?
I guess you haven't heard of the ACLU, NRA, NAACP, AARP, or the various other special interest groups in this country. Special interest groups represent a group of people gathering their resources to fight for a particular cause. They can wield power as great or greater than any corporation. I'm not aware of any single organization that can completely turn an election like the NRA or AARP can. Corporations can only give money, but special interests can directly give VOTES.
You personally will not stop Walmart or Sears from implementing the tags directly in items but the EFF may! So donate and get involved!
Just require that manufacturers only use the RFID tags on things that can be removed from the product, such as an easily identified sticker or a common cardboard tag. This would make it RFID tags pretty much the same as the common Barcodes we use now.
Instead of going around trying to squash the competition, why don't we try to improve the plight of other countries, and if other countries become both powerful and good, we should welcome them to the club with open arms.
Wouldn't it be nice if it was that easy. Give grants or loans? Well, that feeds dependency and often goes to the hands of dictators or warlords. Build factories? Your being "economic imperialists" and using the people for cheap labor. Take out murderous dictators? Your trying to "conquer the world". Do nothing? Your being selfish "isolationists". Heck we can't seem to get it right even when we try to feed starving people (see Somalia).
The problem is that very few people in this world want to "cooperate". Most people are out for themselves. And most people generally have to succeed or fail for themselves. That is why restricted competition works so well in this world.
Practically, with China, this means not letting greedy coorporations dictate foreign policy, and even more important, considering China a strategic _partner_ for the future, and not this bullshit strategic _competitor_.
There is nothing that corporations love more than peaceful cooperative foreign policies. The less barriers the more trade and the more markets to sell goods to. There are a heck of alot more corporations selling butter than selling guns.
Brian Ellenberger
Would be happy just to have a job!!!!
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Seriously, I would just be happy to get a job after my current contract runs out. With all the jobs going to India I would gladly work 60 hours a week to stay employed.
I would believe that the politicians do need to wake up. it's not that destroying the terrorist is bad, but it's time to review that why there are terrorists, are they simply shitty pimpy-faced nerd that hates the whole world? probably not. they are there because of something.
There are no "innocent" nations or people's in this world. Every country, every people has done something bad to someone else sometime in history. Westerners tend to maximize our own "evilness" and minimize other's bad deeds, but history just doesn't justify that. For example, everyone brings up the *EVIL CRUSADES* but passes over the Islamic invasions of Europe. See Battle of Tours for example.
Neville Chamberlain thought like you do about Germany and the Nazi's. Looking back at the Treaty of Versailles, it was a pretty mean spirited vengeful treaty to force Germany into.
Chamberlain felt so guilty he gave the Sudetenland and Checkoslovakia to Hitler. His actions almost led to world domination by the Nazi's. He did so because he thought he could make peace and somehow right the wrongs the British committed. He refered to it as "Peace in Our Time". Tens of millions died as a result of his "Peace".
Just because we at some time or another did something bad does not mean we should give in to the bad guys ourselves. We should stop doing things that are wrong and start making up and doing things right. However, just giving in to evil is just going to cause more evil. Do you actually think you can appease the terrorists? That they will just go home and live in peace? Or will they most likely see your actions as a sign of weakness and bomb us even more and get even more concessions out of us?
Too many so called liberals want to, for example, hand over Israel just like Chamberlain handed over Checkoslovakia.
See this place This is where your jobs will go if you keep whining about unions and suing for overtime and everything else.
What you *really* want to do is get Indian workers to unionize.
Brian Ellenberger
Love the Cronkite newspeak
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''I'm very concerned about a private developer's plan to build an industrial energy complex across 24 square miles of publicly owned land
Industrial energy complex?? WTF? When it is "good" it is a "renewable energy source" but when it is "bad" it is a "industrial energy complex"? What does he want, a non-industrial energy complex? No industry? Industry only around poor people?
And it's not like the windmills are that visible based on the drawing. Just little specs far out in the ocean. Maybe he would have a point if it was a giant monolith 10 feet from his house.
This is just a further example to show that many so-called environmentalists like Kennedy and Cronkite are nothing of the sort. They are only interested in image, not substance. They act but don't think. To me this would be like a right-wing religious Bible-quoting conservative fighting the construction of a new church because it would reduce tax-revenue.
a corrupt and entrenched mass of politicians who have no incentive for doing what is good for the electorate because they don't need to do so to remain in power.
I thought that was the definition of government.:)
Seriously, the people of the US have a heck of alot of more important things to worry about than whether the Government chooses Linux vs. Microsoft. Do you think the CEO of General Electric gives a crap whether the OS of choice on Random Project X is Linux or Microsoft. Heck No!
Anyway, the money that would be saved by going from Microsoft to Linux is miniscule compared to the money spent on pork barrel projects by both sides of the isle. Unforunately, pork barrel projects are essentially politicans bribing their own people so they are hard to remove.
This is seriously an A#1 example of government at its worst. Decisions about which software to use are being made by politicans instead of by Software Architects ACTUALLY ON THE PROJECT. You know, the people who actually know best! Maybe the best tool should win instead of the tool that has the most political power---whether it be open source or Microsoft.
Streisand's suit complains that the photograph is of extraordinary clarity and violates her right to privacy, as it shows details of the property that one would not ordinarily be able to see from the road or the beach.
So under "right to privacy", we are never allowed to include someone's home in a photograph? I guess that makes this product completely illegal.
Or is it only rich and famous Hollywood stars whose homes are covered by "privacy" acts. After all, who would want to look at a picture of my shaby old 200K home.
Streisand only seems like she is for the "little people" when it benefits her---either by raising publicity for her or by making her feel better by "fighting the EVIL REPUBLICANS". Strange that it is *HER* that is fighting this environmentalist's work and not some land developer or corporate polluter. But you can be sure if she wins, every land developer and corporate polluter will be using her case as a precedent. After all, don't they and their workers deserve privacy as well?
Ender's Game is awesome. What is cool about it is that it appeals to so many different aspects of geekdom. There are the philosophical aspects of human society and the choices it made in the war and with Ender. There is the difficulty that Ender went through being singled out and gifted. There is the coolness of the 3d battle rooms and wargames. And there is the prediction of an influencial global network that seems apart of everyday life.
I never got a chance yet to read "Speaker for the Dead", the first sequel to Ender's Game. However, it has gotten all of the critical praise that Ender's Game did. It too won both the Hugo and Nebula awards. In fact, Orson Scott Card claimed that he wrote Ender's Game as merely a prelude to "Speaker for the Dead" and never imagined it would do so well.
Slashdot Mirror
"One way or the other, we are determined to deny Iraq the capacity to develop weapons of mass destruction and the missiles to deliver them. That is our bottom line." President Clinton, Feb. 4, 1998
... Saddam Hussein has reinvigorated his weapons programs. Reports indicate that biological, chemical and nuclear programs continue apace and may be back to pre-Gulf War status. In addition, Saddam continues to redefine delivery systems and is doubtless using the cover of a licit missile program to develop longer-range missiles that will threaten the United States and our allies." Letter to President Bush, Signed by Sen. Bob Graham (D, FL,) and others, Dec, 5, 2001
... We also should remember we have always underestimated the progress Saddam has made in development of weapons of mass destruction." Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D, WV), Oct 10,
"If Saddam rejects peace and we have to use force, our purpose is clear. We want to seriously diminish the threat posed by Iraq's weapons of mass destruction program." President Clinton, Feb. 17, 1998
"Iraq is a long way from [here], but what happens there matters a great deal here. For the risks that the leaders of a rogue state will use nuclear, chemical or biological weapons against us or our allies is the greatest security threat we face." Madeline Albright, Secretary of State, Feb 18, 1998
"He will use those weapons of mass destruction again, as he has ten times since 1983." Sandy Berger, Clinton National Security Adviser, Feb, 18, 1998
"We urge you, after consulting with Congress, and consistent with the U.S. Constitution and laws, to take necessary actions (including, if appropriate, air and missile strikes on suspect Iraqi sites) to respond effectively to the threat posed by Iraq's refusal to end its weapons of mass destruction programs." Letter to President Clinton, signed by Sens. Carl Levin, Tom Daschle, John Kerry, and others Oct. 9, 1998
"Saddam Hussein has been engaged in the development of weapons of mass destruction technology which is a threat to countries in the region and he has made a mockery of the weapons inspection process." Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D, CA), Dec. 16, 1998
"Hussein has chosen to spend his money on building weapons of mass destruction and palaces for his cronies." Madeline Albright, Secretary of State, Nov. 10, 1999
"There is no doubt that
"We begin with the common belief that Saddam Hussein is a tyrant and a threat to the peace and stability of the region. He has ignored the mandated of the United Nations and is building weapons of mass destruction and the means of delivering them." Sen. Carl Levin (D, MI), Sept. 19, 2002
"We know that he has stored secret supplies of biological and chemical weapons throughout his country." Al Gore, Sept. 23, 2002
"Iraq's search for weapons of mass destruction has proven impossible to deter and we should assume that it will continue for as long as Saddam is in power." Al Gore, Sept. 23, 2002
"We have known for many years that Saddam Hussein is seeking and developing weapons of mass destruction." Sen. Ted Kennedy (D, MA), Sept. 27, 2002
"The last UN weapons inspectors left Iraq in October of 1998. We are confident that Saddam Hussein retains some stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons, and that he has since embarked on a crash course to build up his chemical and biological warfare capabilities. Intelligence reports indicate that he is seeking nuclear weapons..." Sen. Robert Byrd (D, WV), Oct. 3, 2002
"I will be voting to give the President of the United States the authority to use force -- if necessary -- to disarm Saddam Hussein because I believe that a deadly arsenal of weapons of mass destruction in his hands is a real and grave threat to our security." Sen. John F. Kerry (D, MA), Oct. 9, 2002
"There is unmistakable evidence that Saddam Hussein is working aggressively to develop nuclear weapons and will likely have nuclear weapons within the next five years
"Assuming Moore's law holds, ethics might be in for some major revisions in a couple decades. High-end computer systems may surpass the computational ability of the standard human brain within 20 years."
Sorry, building an intelligent, sentient machine requires alot more than pure computational capacity. This kind of thinking reminds me of this old 50's or 60's horror flick where they hooked up all the computers of the world and the computers "magically" became a sentient being which subsequently tried to take over the world.
Despite all of the progress in AI and computers, we still have a very long way to go. We are just being to understand the difficulties. Who would have thought in 1940 that building a machine that could beat the best human chessmaster was an *easier* problem than building a machine that could simply move the pieces around the board! Beating the chessmaster just required a good enough search algorithm with enough speed. Moving pieces around the board requires extremely advanced 3-d image processing (taking into account that pieces may look different from board to board) as well as an extremely advanced robotic arm with very fine motor control.
Building a self-aware machine is going to be a bit more difficult than just hooking together a masssive beowolf cluster and hitting it with lightning
Brian Ellenberger
Right, cause there is NEVER any fraud using paper.
Paper ballots can be conveniently lost or stolen, altered, miscounted by biased observers, or a affected by a whole host of bad behavior.
With a free and open source e-voting system, we can elminiate much of the bias by having a neutral, unemotional party tally the vote. And hopefully in the future we can cross reference voters with databases so insure they haven't voted twice, are legal citizens, aren't dead, and aren't felons.
Brian Ellenberger
This the current "publish or perish" environment all those papers establishing the fields of Physics and Calculus may not be enough...
Actually, this is a very good question. Not because of "excessive quirkyness" because many of the great professors I have met are "querky or weird". But I wonder if Newton would have been able to handle Relativism and Quantum Physics. Many physicists of Einstein's time couldn't handle Relativism and Einstein himself had a problem with Quantum Physics. If Newton lived to 1000 years old I wonder if he could have handled the shifts.
Brian
I disagree. Look at the stink over "Natural Born Killers". I'm generalizing, but in the USA violence in the movies is OK because it is generally Good Guys vs. Bad Guys and the most violence is directed toward the Bad Guys. I think that is also why GTA is controversial but games like Rainbow Six aren't.
Brian
>He picked a key sequence that's difficult to >accidentally set off. So what? It could have >been shift-esc-break. If this is what a Ph.D. >in electrical engineering is good for, I'm glad >I don't have mine.
He didn't just pick the sequence, but also engineered the hardware to make the interrupts work correctly.
>You know what bugs me? When people refer to a >giant slashdot collective, as if everyone here >thought the same things about every issue.
I admit my comments are a generalization, but I believe it is a fair one based on the editorial decisions of the Slashdot staff plus the vast majority of the comments. Sure there are a few voices of reason in the comments but I read Slashdot regularly and I have NEVER seen a story presenting the other side of piracy---namely that if everyone pirated then we wouldn't have music, movies, or games. And if you look at the comments in articles like this there is a high bias (esp in the +4 and +5 articles) in favor of the pirates.
>Remember, movie piracy doesn't just hurt actors, >but also camera operators, key grips, makeup >artists, and costumers.
Why be sarcastic about this? Its the truth, isn't it? I thought this is WHAT Slashdot wanted---instead of suing people the MPAA is educating them on why they should buy a DVD instead of copy their friend's.
First the general Slashdot position was "Don't shut down P2P, shut down the criminals." Then it was "Don't shut down the criminals, they don't know any better." Now it is "Don't educate people on WHY a movie costs 8 dollars".
Seems to me Slashdot is becoming more and more a piracy advocacy board. Movies and music cost money. Sorry, that's the way life works. Not everything can use the open-source software model. It takes a tremendous amount of people and resources to make a money.
Seems to me that educating people on why we need to contribute to movies is the best solution for everyone.
Brian
PS The Slashdot crowd is the FIRST ones to complain if a movie looks "cheap" or "fake".
"So with this huge market share, what R&D has Dell contributed to the world? Absolutely nothing, except for their one invention: a tech support button [theregister.co.uk] on their machines which never worked properly and they longer support. Every single aspect of Dell's business is copied from other manufacturers. There is absolutely no innovation going on there."
Bull. How many major PC makers did PC advanced PC customization before Dell, where you pick exactly what components you want from Monitor to Video Card to Speakers? Dell also led the way in direct customer sales. And their supply-chain is one of the best of ANY company.
Brian
>the telecom industry still hasn't figured out >that VOIP is going to take more and more $$$ >away.
>I wonder just when their lobbyists will get the >US congress to outlaw or at least hamper the use >of inter/intrastate VOIP?
They already know that the future is one service with cable, internet, and phone all in one and are making moves in that direction. BellSouth just made a deal with DirectTV to create a cable/internet/phone package with the (assumed)eventual intention of supplying the cable through their fiber optic phone lines. Its all going to be one pipe---the question of whose pipe it will be.
In terms of "regulations", the problem I have with the Slashdot crowd is that they don't want a level playing field. Either remove the regulatory burdens and taxes from the big telecoms or apply it to the startups as well. I like 911 service and would like to see it its continued funding and service.
Brian Ellenberger
>Yes. I know what they want. I know what >motivates them. Envy of economic status that >transforms to hatred.
Osama Bin Laden comes from a family that has incredible amount of wealth. All of the 9/11 hijackers were in the Middle class. If the Islamic radicals were driven by economic status they would attack their own corrupt governments rather than attacking us. Your acting as if the Middle East wasn't the richest source of oil in the world.
Brian Ellenberger
Does this satisfy the definition of ironic?
The difference is that she didn't try to hack it first. She made a challenge and they accepted. This is how normal society acts. Hackers have made a bad name for themselves by doing things without other people's knowledge or permission---often to show off their "superior skills". Hackers may feel this is no big deal or some sort of "good work", but normal people feel very threatened and violated. Hence people like Mitnick go to jail.
If Mitnick had asked and recieved permission like this woman, there would have been no problems.
Brian Ellenberger
Lovett's uncle Thomas Crymes said the June graduate of Collingswood High School had been on his computer "constantly."
"He never went anywhere with anybody," Crymes said.
Ever think he was on the computer constantly because he was harassed by the other students and had nowhere to go? Maybe that same harassment had something to do with his motive?
Was the guy that shot up that Lockheed Martin factory also "under the influence" of computer games and violent movies? Or is there a more complex societal problem going on here?
Ronald Lovett, who works as a electronics repairman on the same block as his apartment, said his son had become withdrawn after his mother's death. His son also often had to defend his younger brother, who has undergone 13 operations for a cleft palate, the father said.
"When they used to go out when they were little, of course people would pick on the brother, and Matt would have to defend him," Ronald Lovett told CNN. "They didn't get along well with their peers."
.
.
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"The boys also had to endure the death of an older half sister who was hit by a car a year after their mother's death, Crymes said."
What kind of evil SOBs would pick on a kid with a cleft palate whose mother and sister recently died. I thank the Lord that these kids were picked up before they hurt anyone, but if you want to examine "root causes" instead of video games maybe take a look at an utter lack of conscious or morality by all parties involved.
Evil begets evil.
Brian Ellenberger
Let's see...who's got more lobbying money/access? Us (as individuals), or Walmart/Sears/Kmart/Target/Asda/Tesco?
Who do you think will win?
I guess you haven't heard of the ACLU, NRA, NAACP, AARP, or the various other special interest groups in this country. Special interest groups represent a group of people gathering their resources to fight for a particular cause. They can wield power as great or greater than any corporation. I'm not aware of any single organization that can completely turn an election like the NRA or AARP can. Corporations can only give money, but special interests can directly give VOTES.
You personally will not stop Walmart or Sears from implementing the tags directly in items but the EFF may! So donate and get involved!
Brian Ellenberger
Just require that manufacturers only use the RFID tags on things that can be removed from the product, such as an easily identified sticker or a common cardboard tag. This would make it RFID tags pretty much the same as the common Barcodes we use now.
Brian Ellenberger
Instead of going around trying to squash the competition, why don't we try to improve the plight of other countries, and if other countries become both powerful and good, we should welcome them to the club with open arms.
Wouldn't it be nice if it was that easy. Give grants or loans? Well, that feeds dependency and often goes to the hands of dictators or warlords. Build factories? Your being "economic imperialists" and using the people for cheap labor. Take out murderous dictators? Your trying to "conquer the world". Do nothing? Your being selfish "isolationists". Heck we can't seem to get it right even when we try to feed starving people (see Somalia).
The problem is that very few people in this world want to "cooperate". Most people are out for themselves. And most people generally have to succeed or fail for themselves. That is why restricted competition works so well in this world.
Practically, with China, this means not letting greedy coorporations dictate foreign policy, and even more important, considering China a strategic _partner_ for the future, and not this bullshit strategic _competitor_.
There is nothing that corporations love more than peaceful cooperative foreign policies. The less barriers the more trade and the more markets to sell goods to. There are a heck of alot more corporations selling butter than selling guns.
Brian Ellenberger
Seriously, I would just be happy to get a job after my current contract runs out. With all the jobs going to India I would gladly work 60 hours a week to stay employed.
I would believe that the politicians do need to wake up. it's not that destroying the terrorist is bad, but it's time to review that why there are terrorists, are they simply shitty pimpy-faced nerd that hates the whole world? probably not. they are there because of something.
There are no "innocent" nations or people's in this world. Every country, every people has done something bad to someone else sometime in history. Westerners tend to maximize our own "evilness" and minimize other's bad deeds, but history just doesn't justify that. For example, everyone brings up the *EVIL CRUSADES* but passes over the Islamic invasions of Europe. See Battle of Tours for example.
Neville Chamberlain thought like you do about Germany and the Nazi's. Looking back at the Treaty of Versailles, it was a pretty mean spirited vengeful treaty to force Germany into.
Chamberlain felt so guilty he gave the Sudetenland and Checkoslovakia to Hitler. His actions almost led to world domination by the Nazi's. He did so because he thought he could make peace and somehow right the wrongs the British committed. He refered to it as "Peace in Our Time". Tens of millions died as a result of his "Peace".
Just because we at some time or another did something bad does not mean we should give in to the bad guys ourselves. We should stop doing things that are wrong and start making up and doing things right. However, just giving in to evil is just going to cause more evil. Do you actually think you can appease the terrorists? That they will just go home and live in peace? Or will they most likely see your actions as a sign of weakness and bomb us even more and get even more concessions out of us?
Too many so called liberals want to, for example, hand over Israel just like Chamberlain handed over Checkoslovakia.
Brian Ellenberger
See this place This is where your jobs will go if you keep whining about unions and suing for overtime and everything else.
What you *really* want to do is get Indian workers to unionize.
Brian Ellenberger
''I'm very concerned about a private developer's plan to build an industrial energy complex across 24 square miles of publicly owned land
Industrial energy complex?? WTF? When it is "good" it is a "renewable energy source" but when it is "bad" it is a "industrial energy complex"? What does he want, a non-industrial energy complex? No industry? Industry only around poor people?
And it's not like the windmills are that visible based on the drawing. Just little specs far out in the ocean. Maybe he would have a point if it was a giant monolith 10 feet from his house.
This is just a further example to show that many so-called environmentalists like Kennedy and Cronkite are nothing of the sort. They are only interested in image, not substance. They act but don't think. To me this would be like a right-wing religious Bible-quoting conservative fighting the construction of a new church because it would reduce tax-revenue.
Brian Ellenberger
a corrupt and entrenched mass of politicians who have no incentive for doing what is good for the electorate because they don't need to do so to remain in power.
:)
I thought that was the definition of government.
Seriously, the people of the US have a heck of alot of more important things to worry about than whether the Government chooses Linux vs. Microsoft. Do you think the CEO of General Electric gives a crap whether the OS of choice on Random Project X is Linux or Microsoft. Heck No!
Anyway, the money that would be saved by going from Microsoft to Linux is miniscule compared to the money spent on pork barrel projects by both sides of the isle. Unforunately, pork barrel projects are essentially politicans bribing their own people so they are hard to remove.
Brian Ellenberger
This is seriously an A#1 example of government at its worst. Decisions about which software to use are being made by politicans instead of by Software Architects ACTUALLY ON THE PROJECT. You know, the people who actually know best! Maybe the best tool should win instead of the tool that has the most political power---whether it be open source or Microsoft.
Streisand's suit complains that the photograph is of extraordinary clarity and violates her right to privacy, as it shows details of the property that one would not ordinarily be able to see from the road or the beach.
So under "right to privacy", we are never allowed to include someone's home in a photograph? I guess that makes this product completely illegal.
Or is it only rich and famous Hollywood stars whose homes are covered by "privacy" acts. After all, who would want to look at a picture of my shaby old 200K home.
Streisand only seems like she is for the "little people" when it benefits her---either by raising publicity for her or by making her feel better by "fighting the EVIL REPUBLICANS". Strange that it is *HER* that is fighting this environmentalist's work and not some land developer or corporate polluter. But you can be sure if she wins, every land developer and corporate polluter will be using her case as a precedent. After all, don't they and their workers deserve privacy as well?
Brian Ellenberger
Ender's Game is awesome. What is cool about it is that it appeals to so many different aspects of geekdom. There are the philosophical aspects of human society and the choices it made in the war and with Ender. There is the difficulty that Ender went through being singled out and gifted. There is the coolness of the 3d battle rooms and wargames. And there is the prediction of an influencial global network that seems apart of everyday life.
I never got a chance yet to read "Speaker for the Dead", the first sequel to Ender's Game. However, it has gotten all of the critical praise that Ender's Game did. It too won both the Hugo and Nebula awards. In fact, Orson Scott Card claimed that he wrote Ender's Game as merely a prelude to "Speaker for the Dead" and never imagined it would do so well.
Brian Ellenberger