"But now, a Brazilian launch vehicle explodes, on the pad no less (think Challenger, only a bit sooner) and all those 16 dead people merit are one measly link,"
While it is for Brazil, ground personnel dying in launch accidents isn't exactly something new from a world perspective. Brazil has a long way to go before they catch up with the number of people on the ground Soviet accidents have killed. Heck, it will be a while before they catch up to the numbers killed just by one exploding N1 (not that Brazil will be attempting a manned mission to the moon any time soon, mind you).
The Columbia disaster is Something Different because it's a vehicle with a proven safety record operated by a country who has been doing spaceflight for longer than most people here have been alive. We were supposed to have things like this all straightened out by now. After all, the US had reached the point where it was sending people into space.
Comparing these deaths in Brazil to those who died aboard the Columbia is like comparing someone who died while flying a high-tech jet fighter to someone who died trying to fly an ultralight he cobbled together in his garage. Like it or not, the former is more newsworthy because it's rarer, more spectacular and more expensive.
New States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union; but no new State shall be formed or erected within the Jurisdiction of any other State; nor any State be formed by the Junction of two or more States, or Parts of States, without the Consent of the Legislatures of the States concerned as well as of the Congress.
It can't just split up all by itself for no reason, Congress has to give it the green light as well. To my knowledge, the only times something like that have happened were with Maine and Vermont (suggesting that Texas isn't the "special case" you seem to believe it is). West Virginia is something of a special case, being part of that aforementioned 1861-1865 time period.
"What do you think the militias and the National Guard are?"
The National Guard is partially federally funded and can be "nationalized" at the White House's discretion. State militias don't have the feds involved in any respect (including the chain of command), but tend not to exist any more. That, and sending them to another country would be (federally) unconstitutional, as it would be the state trying to exercise it's own foreign policy.
"so how would anyone new join in? by sharing worthless files?"
The same way you pump up your d/l ratios on your local BBS: by changing the names of the files you upload so that the machine thinks you're uploading something new.
"So you're saying people don't vote for who they see on TV."
It'd be more correct to simply say "people don't vote" and leave it at that. Those people that actually give enough of a damn to go out and vote usually pay a bit more attention to the candidates than just what they see on TV. The TV commercials are an effort to convince people they care about the vote when they really don't.
"Let's face it as a Canadian (who is happy as hell most of our Federal politicians are not only talking about capaign finance reform, they are actually making laws),"
As a Canadian, most of your federal government isn't even elected.
"I understand that a lot of Californians are unhappy with Gray Davis' performance, but he WAS elected by the people, if people dislike him then they can vote him out of office when his term is up."
I don't even live in California (you insensitive clod!) and already statements like this are giving me a nervous tic.
IT'S YOUR FUCKING CONSTITUTION!!! You know, that document that has this whole recall mechanism written into it? That document that those very same "people" you mention here! Why is it that "the people" are only right when they agree with you?
It doesn't matter whether it's fair or not, all that matters is that it's exactly what the voters decided upon when they chose that paricular amendment. I would even go so far as to say this is a topic that should be beyond reproach for even the candidates to bemoan. The People (a. k. a. your boss) Have Spoken, and comments like this should be seen as an insult to those very same people she's trying to represent (not to mention making the candidate look two-faced for running on the same recall ballot they claim to oppose).
If you're serious about running for government, why don't you put your money where your mouth is, show what kind of a go-getter you are and get your own petition to re-amend your state's constitution. Short of that, I don't think these people should be insulting their voters' intelligence like this.
"And who's fault is this? I wouldn't even call this bootlegging."
Well, it sure as heck isn't a legal copy. Importing a legit copy is legal. Finding an English script on the internet to go along with it is in the legal gray area. But an illegitimate copy, whether it has subtitles added or not, is still an illegitimate copy.
" Official goods normally have good quality packaging that is well designed.
That just isn't true. Ditto for pirated Anime but all of the Anime I own has average to crappy packaging."
Either you're dealing with the wrong publishers, or you have more pirated stuff than you know.
"Does anyone know why they cost so much?"
Because they just don't sell compared to other DVDs and they have to make up their costs somehow. That, and the way they have to pay for twice the voice actors.
"Can't be the English subtitling, since they don't even have to know English to do their work"
Again, perhaps you have more pirated stuff than you realize. I'm pretty damned pleased with the subtitling job on the Maison Ikkoku boxed set I bought last night.l
"I am assuming that customers want both chinese and english subtitles, but legit DVDs do not provide those"
They do that because Hong Kong pirates can't be bothered to release two different bootleg versions of the same source (one for the mainland, one for the states). The vast majority of customers out there only care about one or the other, not both.
Lots of people have chimed in talking about how these pictures of the blackout could give away some information "vital" to national security.
Nobody seems to have noticed that the satellite that took the pictures is a military weather satellite whose orbital information hasn't been available to the general public since 9/11/01.
" the after picture clearly shows that columbus was 'dark'."
If you look at both pictures, you'll see that Columbus is closer to the edge of the picture in the "dark" photo than in the "light." Which means that during the "dark" picture, the satellite saw Columbus almost eddge-on, reducing the amount of light the camera could see coming from Columbus as well as putting more atmosphere between the two. Columbus got "darker" because of the same reasons the sun gets "darker" near sunset.
" It is good that India and China are competing through science, and not through arms."
Except that they are. They're both nuclear powers and there's friction between them.
Recently, Pakistan brought up the idea of both Pakistan and India eliminating their nuclear weapons. India responded positively to the idea, but pointed out that Pakistan wasn't the only nuclear power on their borders they don't trust.
"Number of times nuclear weapons have been used to destroy military targets: 0
Number of times nuclear weapons have been used to destroy "the entire downtown area": 2"
Hiroshima: Headquarters for the 2nd Japanese Army, major organization and embarkation point for troops bound for the Pacific theater.
Nagasaki: Mitsubishi Steel & Arms Works, Mitsubishi-Urakami Ordinance Works and a major naval shipyard.
Nope, no military targets there.
"Nuclear weapons are in no way appropriate for "bunker-busting"; for that you need something that explodes after impact to be effective."
And why couldn't nuclear weapons be built with such a delayed fuse? If anything, they are best suited for this role because the initial impact with the ground can't set off the explosion.
Not all nuclear weapons are multi-megaton H-bombs strapped to ICBMs.
"If you add that up, it comes to 109%"
And if you had scrolled down just a few inches further, you would have seen the raw numbers before they were turned to percentages rounded to the nearest whole percent.
Slashdot Mirror
"But now, a Brazilian launch vehicle explodes, on the pad no less (think Challenger, only a bit sooner) and all those 16 dead people merit are one measly link,"
While it is for Brazil, ground personnel dying in launch accidents isn't exactly something new from a world perspective. Brazil has a long way to go before they catch up with the number of people on the ground Soviet accidents have killed. Heck, it will be a while before they catch up to the numbers killed just by one exploding N1 (not that Brazil will be attempting a manned mission to the moon any time soon, mind you).
The Columbia disaster is Something Different because it's a vehicle with a proven safety record operated by a country who has been doing spaceflight for longer than most people here have been alive. We were supposed to have things like this all straightened out by now. After all, the US had reached the point where it was sending people into space.
Comparing these deaths in Brazil to those who died aboard the Columbia is like comparing someone who died while flying a high-tech jet fighter to someone who died trying to fly an ultralight he cobbled together in his garage. Like it or not, the former is more newsworthy because it's rarer, more spectacular and more expensive.
You seem to be ignoring that whole 1861-1865 bit.
"It can also split itself into up to 5 states." It can't just split up all by itself for no reason, Congress has to give it the green light as well. To my knowledge, the only times something like that have happened were with Maine and Vermont (suggesting that Texas isn't the "special case" you seem to believe it is). West Virginia is something of a special case, being part of that aforementioned 1861-1865 time period.
Oh, and by the way, Alaska is bigger.
"The treaties are full of the phrase "Ever Closer Union","
As opposed to "more perfect union?"
"What do you think the militias and the National Guard are?"
The National Guard is partially federally funded and can be "nationalized" at the White House's discretion. State militias don't have the feds involved in any respect (including the chain of command), but tend not to exist any more. That, and sending them to another country would be (federally) unconstitutional, as it would be the state trying to exercise it's own foreign policy.
If he's actually seeing that much money per CD, he obviously side-stepped most major RIAA members in publishing those CDs.
RMS: "Guns don't kill people, GNU/Guns kill people."
"A spokeswoman for Siemens said a GSM (cellphone) of the Siemens brand exploded last year in Germany."
Exploding Siemens?
Sometimes they make it all too easy...
... obviously ripped from SCO's proprietary code. You'll be hearing from their lawyers shortly.
"so how would anyone new join in? by sharing worthless files?"
The same way you pump up your d/l ratios on your local BBS: by changing the names of the files you upload so that the machine thinks you're uploading something new.
Damn I'm old...
"So you're saying people don't vote for who they see on TV."
It'd be more correct to simply say "people don't vote" and leave it at that. Those people that actually give enough of a damn to go out and vote usually pay a bit more attention to the candidates than just what they see on TV. The TV commercials are an effort to convince people they care about the vote when they really don't.
"Let's face it as a Canadian (who is happy as hell most of our Federal politicians are not only talking about capaign finance reform, they are actually making laws),"
As a Canadian, most of your federal government isn't even elected.
"I understand that a lot of Californians are unhappy with Gray Davis' performance, but he WAS elected by the people, if people dislike him then they can vote him out of office when his term is up."
I don't even live in California (you insensitive clod!) and already statements like this are giving me a nervous tic.
IT'S YOUR FUCKING CONSTITUTION!!! You know, that document that has this whole recall mechanism written into it? That document that those very same "people" you mention here! Why is it that "the people" are only right when they agree with you?
It doesn't matter whether it's fair or not, all that matters is that it's exactly what the voters decided upon when they chose that paricular amendment. I would even go so far as to say this is a topic that should be beyond reproach for even the candidates to bemoan. The People (a. k. a. your boss) Have Spoken, and comments like this should be seen as an insult to those very same people she's trying to represent (not to mention making the candidate look two-faced for running on the same recall ballot they claim to oppose).
If you're serious about running for government, why don't you put your money where your mouth is, show what kind of a go-getter you are and get your own petition to re-amend your state's constitution. Short of that, I don't think these people should be insulting their voters' intelligence like this.
"Everyone seems to forget the third option..."
There hasn't been a viable "third option" in the US since Theodore Roosevelt.
"d. Bhaat Party animal shooting at Yankees"
Am I the only one here who had an image of Uday chanting "Toga! Toga!" flash through their head?
"And who's fault is this? I wouldn't even call this bootlegging."
Well, it sure as heck isn't a legal copy. Importing a legit copy is legal. Finding an English script on the internet to go along with it is in the legal gray area. But an illegitimate copy, whether it has subtitles added or not, is still an illegitimate copy.
" Official goods normally have good quality packaging that is well designed.
That just isn't true. Ditto for pirated Anime but all of the Anime I own has average to crappy packaging."
Either you're dealing with the wrong publishers, or you have more pirated stuff than you know.
"Does anyone know why they cost so much?"
Because they just don't sell compared to other DVDs and they have to make up their costs somehow. That, and the way they have to pay for twice the voice actors.
"Can't be the English subtitling, since they don't even have to know English to do their work"
Again, perhaps you have more pirated stuff than you realize. I'm pretty damned pleased with the subtitling job on the Maison Ikkoku boxed set I bought last night.l
"I am assuming that customers want both chinese and english subtitles, but legit DVDs do not provide those"
They do that because Hong Kong pirates can't be bothered to release two different bootleg versions of the same source (one for the mainland, one for the states). The vast majority of customers out there only care about one or the other, not both.
I bet it will sell more than the N-Gage, though! :)
In order for spammers to move from Louisiana, there would have to be some sort of tech industry here to begin with.
"time" should be plural.
Lots of people have chimed in talking about how these pictures of the blackout could give away some information "vital" to national security.
Nobody seems to have noticed that the satellite that took the pictures is a military weather satellite whose orbital information hasn't been available to the general public since 9/11/01.
"but our Mayor Mel Lastman answered back with, "How many time have you seen the American's take the blame for anything?""
I'm glad the US isn't the only country that has to put up with politicians with lousy grammar.
" the after picture clearly shows that columbus was 'dark'."
If you look at both pictures, you'll see that Columbus is closer to the edge of the picture in the "dark" photo than in the "light." Which means that during the "dark" picture, the satellite saw Columbus almost eddge-on, reducing the amount of light the camera could see coming from Columbus as well as putting more atmosphere between the two. Columbus got "darker" because of the same reasons the sun gets "darker" near sunset.
Iraq - has a few handfuls of unreliable Scuds that just might reach Jerusalem.
DPRK - has more artillery than you can shake a stick at that can and will level all of Seoul the instant the flag goes up.
DPRK isn't a special case because it has nuclear weapons, it's a special case because they have South Korea hostage.
" It is good that India and China are competing through science, and not through arms."
Except that they are. They're both nuclear powers and there's friction between them.
Recently, Pakistan brought up the idea of both Pakistan and India eliminating their nuclear weapons. India responded positively to the idea, but pointed out that Pakistan wasn't the only nuclear power on their borders they don't trust.
"Number of times nuclear weapons have been used to destroy military targets: 0
Number of times nuclear weapons have been used to destroy "the entire downtown area": 2"
Hiroshima: Headquarters for the 2nd Japanese Army, major organization and embarkation point for troops bound for the Pacific theater.
Nagasaki: Mitsubishi Steel & Arms Works, Mitsubishi-Urakami Ordinance Works and a major naval shipyard.
Nope, no military targets there.
"Nuclear weapons are in no way appropriate for "bunker-busting"; for that you need something that explodes after impact to be effective."
And why couldn't nuclear weapons be built with such a delayed fuse? If anything, they are best suited for this role because the initial impact with the ground can't set off the explosion.
Not all nuclear weapons are multi-megaton H-bombs strapped to ICBMs.
"If you add that up, it comes to 109%"
And if you had scrolled down just a few inches further, you would have seen the raw numbers before they were turned to percentages rounded to the nearest whole percent.
"The Bush administration has restarted our NBC weapons program,"
It has?