Israel, isn't that the democracy where the president was killed because he wanted to end the senseless policy of creating 'settlements' in another country? No one is going to make that mistake again. Vietnam had just about all its infrastructure destroyed. How many are killed each year by unexploded ordnance still? Read "The Bright Shining Lie" for an insight into the Vietnam war. The Arabs are hardly shining lights of democracy, but Israel denies the world the facts of what they are doing too. Cities have been basically destroyed by the latest armed incursion.
Re:Not Really A Concern
on
Space Wars
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· Score: 1
This whole concept is still a push for the same thing, which will not work in moral or practical terms. It is, however, a part of the push for a never ending series of expenditure on weapons systems, that usually have no justification. Look at B1 bomber, the new jet fighter program, (now who is that going to be used against?) Look at Fort Hood. Endless miles of hardware, most of which is useless. Try this for size.
Re:Well, I would agree with most of that there...
on
Space Wars
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· Score: 1
This is more than just deterrence, as someone else pointed out, the US is the worlds top spender on arms. Can you tell me the sense in the tank mentioned here, the extravagent spending on hardware, but no real sense behind the use and training of it. Meanwhile, the soldiers who to risk their lives fighting a war, are paid subsistence wages. Pawn shops are the biggest business in town. I just cross my fingers and hope for the best.
Re:Just don't shoot down mine!
on
Space Wars
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· Score: 1
The Govt went into overdrive to dish out cash, prop up companies etc. In real terms, the US suffers much more each year from weather effects such as hail, hurricanes etc. The morale problem was much worse.
Re:Well, I would agree with most of that there...
on
Space Wars
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· Score: 1
Yeah right, so how smart is this, Fort Hood?. It would be easier to just pay all the people involded cash, and not have to worry about storing the excess hardware that is going nowhere.
Re:Well, I would agree with most of that there...
on
Space Wars
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· Score: 1
Lets see now, the B1 bomber, that was brilliant. The M1A1, which is more of a cadillac than a tank. The Vietnam War, now that wasn't lost was it? The M-16 was used there, wasn't it?
The Roman Empire found after a while that what it really had for an army were mercenaries, which is exactly the way the US is heading. Soldiers who are there because they need a job, not because they want to be.
How many weapons programs are just b**t that is designed to blackmail a congressman into funding them. How many billions of dollars of arms are stored in the deserts, never to be used.
Total cost of the Manhattan project: (through August 1945)
$20 billion dollars
Total number of U.S. nuclear warheads and bombs built between 1945 and 1990:
More than 70,000 of 65 types
Number remaining in U.S. stockpile as of 1997:
12,500 (8,750 active, 2,500 contingency stockpile, 1,250 awaiting disassembly)
Number of nuclear warheads requested by the U.S. Army in 1956 and 1957:
151,000
Amount of plutonium remaining in U.S. nuclear weapons:
43 Metric tons
Number of thermometers which could be filled with mercury used to produce lithium-6 at the Oak Ridge Reservation:
11 billion
Number of dismantled plutonium "pits" stored at the Pantex Plant in Amarillo, Texas:
12,067 (as of May 6, 1999)
States with the largest number of nuclear weapons:
New Mexico (2,450), Georgia (2,000), Washington (1,685), Nevada (1,350), and North Dakota (1,140)
Money paid by the U.S. State Department to Japan following fallout from the 1954 "Bravo" test:
$15,300,000
Money paid to U.S. citizens under the Radiation Exposure and Compensation Act of 1990, as of January 13, 1998:
Approximately $225 million dollars (6,336 claims approved; 3,156 denied)
Total cost of the Aircraft Nuclear Propulsion (ANP) program, 1946-1961: (To design a nuclear-powered aircraft.)
$7 billion dollars
Total number of nuclear powered aircraft and hangers ever built:
0 and 1
First and last U.S. nuclear weapons tests:
July 16, 1945 ("Trinity") and September 23, 1992 ("Divider")
Estimated amount spent between October 1, 1992 and October 1, 1995 on nuclear testing activities:
$1.2 billon dollars to conduct 0 tests
Number of U.S. nuclear tests in Nevada:
911
Number of U.S. nuclear bombs lost in accidents and never recovered:
11
Re:Not Really A Concern
on
Space Wars
·
· Score: 1
Whoa, moderation war happening here!
Re:Pax Americana, Arms and World Domination
on
Space Wars
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· Score: 1
Ah yes, and no matter how strong the US is, if it pisses of the wholeworld with this attitude, it still can't take everyone else on. You can fool yourself that all this techno b**t will protect you, it won't.
At the same time all this hardware is being developed the people that run it are in many respects not even part of a Democracy any more. What percentage of the US votes in elections? Not even a majority.
Maybe I wouldn't pick a fight with Mike Tyson, but he is history, due to a majority of opinion. There is nothing so powerful as idea whose time has come.
The US hasa long history of expansion and control. It has funded many proxy wars. Look at Vietnam, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Chile, Afganistan, Australia (In 1975), the Phillipines, Mexico, Iran, (the Shah), Iraq, (It was on Saddams side when it suited them), Japanese bases, (the US is never moving out of them), Alaska, Space. The US is theworld power looking after its owninterests.
While not downplaying the effect of 9/11 on Americans, they have had the curious attitude of ignoring what the US has been doing to other countries for years. Eg, the Shah of Iran, Vietnam, (they lost millions, not thousands, etc, etc). It has this head in the sand attitude that has come back to bite you. In fact, I believe that a large part of the unfortunate resurgence in Muslim fundamentalism was due to the success of these people in kicking out the Shah, not to mention the US actively backing these dangerous people in other conflicts.
It was the Israelies, with US backing, who funded the Hezbollah, because they thought it would split the Palestinians!
If the US had not propped up people like the Shah and Hezbollah, the world may be a very different place now.
Putting short term US interests ahead of the long term interests of the world is always going to lead to long term problems, much like Enron self imploding by concentrating purely on the bottom line for this quarter.
Re:Military threats promote innovation
on
Space Wars
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· Score: 2, Interesting
Which makes you wonder why we need a war for these things to occur. And for all the anti-govt rhetoric that is going on these days, it is governments that run wars.
Re:Not Really A Concern
on
Space Wars
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· Score: 1
I actually tried to read one of his novels once, and was glad to find the article also agreed that they were 'unreadable'. I guess SF, like all arts, has to start somewhere, but couldn't it at least have been something you could read.
Re:Not Really A Concern
on
Space Wars
·
· Score: 4, Insightful
You don't need to get many nukes past a 'missile shield' to make the whole 'lets have a war to solve this problem' point of view pretty well pointless. No way can stop them all, ever.
This is all just a massive build up to spend ever more pointless billions on arms that don't solve a problem, except how to line the pockets of the rich, powerful and dangerous.
This is a planet we live on, not the plaything of the maniacally aggressive and greedy. Either we all get on, or we don't. The underground caves aren't big enough to hold you all, and who want's to have to live in caves for the next thousand years anyway?
It doesn't just spend, it exports more arms than any other country as well. Lets see now, just where do all those arms come from that allow all these countries around the world to destroy each other with come from?
Just how much was the US paying to buy back stinger missiles it gave to Muslim fundamentalists in Afganistan?
Israel has massively more arms than Palestine but it doesn't look to secure for me.
I would have to put at the top of my list the 'hidden' files specified with a . at the start of the name feature. This kludge introduces so many hassles into so many ways of trying to use Unix it makes me want to cry. Unix works, but it is a pig to use.
The thing that is killing Unix is the huge differences between them. It's like having cars that all have different controls. It fragments the skills market enormously, and makes it difficult for people to talk about one Unix. The OSF died because the manufacturers each thought they could make more money by themselves. Criticise MSFT all you want, at least they control one standard now, (XP), even if it has had to come a long way, and has a way to go. At least it has a unified force pushing it.
I have been waiting for the end of this RAM/DISK pain in the a** for years. IBM AS/400s have had an io less architecture for years. Everything is paged. I look for the day when I don't have to 'save something to disk'. All objects will have a class of persistent, and then you are done. And there is no penalty in terms of speed for doing so. In the background, the garbage collector would be getting rid of everything that hasn't been referenced in the last ten years.
Re:Off-Topic, but technical implausibilty...
on
Review: Panic Room
·
· Score: 1
The idea that people are used to generate electricty was crazy, and really let the whole movie down. The human body uses more energy than it creates just to keep alive, and there are massive towers of millions of people to extract it. Something in the back of mind in the dim dark days of uni says the entropy just doesn't add up.
Seven was one of the worst films I have ever seen, pretending that dark lighting and everyone being depressed could make up for a totally ridiculous plot and an ending that was pure formula.
Slashdot Mirror
Israel, isn't that the democracy where the president was killed because he wanted to end the senseless policy of creating 'settlements' in another country? No one is going to make that mistake again. Vietnam had just about all its infrastructure destroyed. How many are killed each year by unexploded ordnance still? Read "The Bright Shining Lie" for an insight into the Vietnam war. The Arabs are hardly shining lights of democracy, but Israel denies the world the facts of what they are doing too. Cities have been basically destroyed by the latest armed incursion.
This whole concept is still a push for the same thing, which will not work in moral or practical terms. It is, however, a part of the push for a never ending series of expenditure on weapons systems, that usually have no justification. Look at B1 bomber, the new jet fighter program, (now who is that going to be used against?) Look at Fort Hood. Endless miles of hardware, most of which is useless. Try this for size.
This is more than just deterrence, as someone else pointed out, the US is the worlds top spender on arms. Can you tell me the sense in the tank mentioned here, the extravagent spending on hardware, but no real sense behind the use and training of it. Meanwhile, the soldiers who to risk their lives fighting a war, are paid subsistence wages. Pawn shops are the biggest business in town. I just cross my fingers and hope for the best.
The Govt went into overdrive to dish out cash, prop up companies etc. In real terms, the US suffers much more each year from weather effects such as hail, hurricanes etc. The morale problem was much worse.
like timothy mcveigh?
Yeah right, so how smart is this, Fort Hood?. It would be easier to just pay all the people involded cash, and not have to worry about storing the excess hardware that is going nowhere.
The Roman Empire found after a while that what it really had for an army were mercenaries, which is exactly the way the US is heading. Soldiers who are there because they need a job, not because they want to be.
How many weapons programs are just b**t that is designed to blackmail a congressman into funding them. How many billions of dollars of arms are stored in the deserts, never to be used.
Total cost of the Manhattan project: (through August 1945) $20 billion dollars Total number of U.S. nuclear warheads and bombs built between 1945 and 1990: More than 70,000 of 65 types Number remaining in U.S. stockpile as of 1997: 12,500 (8,750 active, 2,500 contingency stockpile, 1,250 awaiting disassembly) Number of nuclear warheads requested by the U.S. Army in 1956 and 1957: 151,000 Amount of plutonium remaining in U.S. nuclear weapons: 43 Metric tons Number of thermometers which could be filled with mercury used to produce lithium-6 at the Oak Ridge Reservation: 11 billion Number of dismantled plutonium "pits" stored at the Pantex Plant in Amarillo, Texas: 12,067 (as of May 6, 1999) States with the largest number of nuclear weapons: New Mexico (2,450), Georgia (2,000), Washington (1,685), Nevada (1,350), and North Dakota (1,140) Money paid by the U.S. State Department to Japan following fallout from the 1954 "Bravo" test: $15,300,000 Money paid to U.S. citizens under the Radiation Exposure and Compensation Act of 1990, as of January 13, 1998: Approximately $225 million dollars (6,336 claims approved; 3,156 denied) Total cost of the Aircraft Nuclear Propulsion (ANP) program, 1946-1961: (To design a nuclear-powered aircraft.) $7 billion dollars Total number of nuclear powered aircraft and hangers ever built: 0 and 1 First and last U.S. nuclear weapons tests: July 16, 1945 ("Trinity") and September 23, 1992 ("Divider") Estimated amount spent between October 1, 1992 and October 1, 1995 on nuclear testing activities: $1.2 billon dollars to conduct 0 tests Number of U.S. nuclear tests in Nevada: 911 Number of U.S. nuclear bombs lost in accidents and never recovered: 11
Whoa, moderation war happening here!
At the same time all this hardware is being developed the people that run it are in many respects not even part of a Democracy any more. What percentage of the US votes in elections? Not even a majority.
Maybe I wouldn't pick a fight with Mike Tyson, but he is history, due to a majority of opinion. There is nothing so powerful as idea whose time has come.
The US hasa long history of expansion and control. It has funded many proxy wars. Look at Vietnam, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Chile, Afganistan, Australia (In 1975), the Phillipines, Mexico, Iran, (the Shah), Iraq, (It was on Saddams side when it suited them), Japanese bases, (the US is never moving out of them), Alaska, Space. The US is theworld power looking after its owninterests.
Oh, only a hundred million instead of 200 million. Either way, I think you lose.
It was the Israelies, with US backing, who funded the Hezbollah, because they thought it would split the Palestinians!
If the US had not propped up people like the Shah and Hezbollah, the world may be a very different place now.
Putting short term US interests ahead of the long term interests of the world is always going to lead to long term problems, much like Enron self imploding by concentrating purely on the bottom line for this quarter.
Which makes you wonder why we need a war for these things to occur. And for all the anti-govt rhetoric that is going on these days, it is governments that run wars.
And achieve *what*?
I actually tried to read one of his novels once, and was glad to find the article also agreed that they were 'unreadable'. I guess SF, like all arts, has to start somewhere, but couldn't it at least have been something you could read.
This is all just a massive build up to spend ever more pointless billions on arms that don't solve a problem, except how to line the pockets of the rich, powerful and dangerous.
This is a planet we live on, not the plaything of the maniacally aggressive and greedy. Either we all get on, or we don't. The underground caves aren't big enough to hold you all, and who want's to have to live in caves for the next thousand years anyway?
Just how much was the US paying to buy back stinger missiles it gave to Muslim fundamentalists in Afganistan?
Israel has massively more arms than Palestine but it doesn't look to secure for me.
I would have to put at the top of my list the 'hidden' files specified with a . at the start of the name feature. This kludge introduces so many hassles into so many ways of trying to use Unix it makes me want to cry. Unix works, but it is a pig to use.
Then they should stop using Unix and use a real fault tolerant operating system.
Maybe we could simulate the next wars on this too.
The thing that is killing Unix is the huge differences between them. It's like having cars that all have different controls. It fragments the skills market enormously, and makes it difficult for people to talk about one Unix. The OSF died because the manufacturers each thought they could make more money by themselves. Criticise MSFT all you want, at least they control one standard now, (XP), even if it has had to come a long way, and has a way to go. At least it has a unified force pushing it.
I have been waiting for the end of this RAM/DISK pain in the a** for years. IBM AS/400s have had an io less architecture for years. Everything is paged. I look for the day when I don't have to 'save something to disk'. All objects will have a class of persistent, and then you are done. And there is no penalty in terms of speed for doing so. In the background, the garbage collector would be getting rid of everything that hasn't been referenced in the last ten years.
Just don't let Tom turn off the cooling fans. I can see the smoke pouring out now.
I am going to buy 10 for my boewolf cluster.
The idea that people are used to generate electricty was crazy, and really let the whole movie down. The human body uses more energy than it creates just to keep alive, and there are massive towers of millions of people to extract it. Something in the back of mind in the dim dark days of uni says the entropy just doesn't add up.
Seven was one of the worst films I have ever seen, pretending that dark lighting and everyone being depressed could make up for a totally ridiculous plot and an ending that was pure formula.