The security screenings are a government mandate and, therefore, the experience for the traveler is the same regardless of the airline they're flying. Boarding arrangements, on the other hand, are at the airlines' discretion; if travelers are unhappy with the way one airline handles things, they can go with a competing airline.
Did you notice the "citation needed" note was on neither the number of refugees nor the impetus of their flight? Or do you also like to insist that evolution is "just a theory?"
"Then why have we so consistently over the last several decades acted in ways that *destabilize* the Cuban government?"
Um... because the sooner Castro goes away, the sooner the boat people stop swamping south Florida like they did in 1980 and 1994? Even the number of Hatians we've had to process and repatriate comes in a distant second to the number of Cubans.
The Bering Straight is far more dangerous to cross, there's nobody on their side living near it, and have you seen the military presence in Nome and the Aleutians?
"Canada is even closer."
Canadians are fat and happy. It's the Mexicans that are making a run on the border and, consequently, it's Mexican politics that the State Department is far more concerned with.
"As far as I can tell, the department of homeland security is staffed by a bunch of paranoid Nazis."
Were the 1990's so long ago? Thanks to protests in Havana and the wake of a coup in Haiti, in 1994 the Coast Guard alone interdicted 64,382 boat people. Heck, according to the New York Times, the Coast Guard picked up over 1200 on a single day. Just because the Caribbean has been relatively quiet in your young life doesn't mean these things never happened in the past or will not happen in the future.
There are going to be some late nights this week for the higher ups in the Florida Department of Military Affairs.
The worse things get in Cuba, the more Cubans wash ashore here. The day that there's an actual change in regime in Cuba is the day the Florida National Guard gets put on alert.
"The US should stay the hell away from the internal affairs of other sovereign countries."
If this was south Asia or sub-Saharan Africa, you might have a point, but when it comes to something only 90 miles away from our shores, such "international" issues can quickly become domestic. Either we make sure that other governments in the region are stable and tenable, or we deal with yet another wave of tens (or even hundreds) of thousands of refugees washing up in south Florida.
Like it or not, this is yet another matter in th Caribbean that either the State Department or the Homeland Security Department has to deal with, and I'd wager you'd prefer the former.
As anybody who's ever talked over a long-distance connection that involved a satellite relay knows, you don't need to go out to the moon to get a discernible lag.
We're here and alive because Jupiter is big enough and close enough to suck up most comets and asteroids that might wipe us out, but small enough and far enough out that it doesn't suck us up. Most of the extrasolar planetary systems we've seen to date fail the second qualification.
To the people who think that the American People (TM) have used the writers strike to go forth and do without television, leading to a new utopia, I'd like to remind you all of the 1994 baseball player's strike and how nobody ever bought a stadium ticket again after that, causing the death of major league baseball.
"In 2006, only a small percentage of attackers employed camouflaging techniques, but this number soared to 80 percent during the first half of 2007."
If they're going to hose my Windows boxen and install spurious applications of dubious intent, I find that I prefer if they camouflage their attempts so as not to bother me with constant popups from the system tray telling me to install their spyware to get rid of spyware.
Without the royalty money, how is author J. R. R. Tolkien going to afford to put food on his table? Why, without the royalty money, he may not even be able to afford to write a new book!
"BTW, anyone who pulls out "but Christians did that a few hundred years ago" line is a complete moron. I don't care what happened 200 years ago. I care about what is happening right now."
Who needs to go back 200 years? How about Belfast? How about Uganda? Or do the Christians that aren't fat and happy in G7 countries not count?
In a dead heat between Clinton and Obama, Clinton will end up the winner as she's far more entrenched than her competitor and has the support the important people in the party. So then we'll end up with an election contest between her and McCain, leaving the voters to decide between the candidate that quietly supported war and torture, and the candidate that quietly supported war and torture.
Those students from Islamic countries who can afford these expensive degrees, especially if they study abroad to get their degree, are already financially well-to-do and have the spare time to get involved in the pet issue of the day, rather than dealing with the day-by-day struggle to support themselves in a country whose social programs make the US look like France.
An expensive degree on the road to a well-paying career... there's only so many fast cars and loose women you can buy. In Los Angeles, the rich relieve their boredom with L. Ron Hubbard; in Riyadh, Osama bin Laden is the enlightenment du jour.
The next question is "What fraction do these technical degrees make up out of all the degrees earned by students from Islamic countries?" And after that, "Are the libby arts majors blowing themselves up too?"
"Besides, if your enemy expects your robots to defeat their army, what would be the point of fighting them in the first place? Attacking civilians seems a more logical step"
And that hasn't been happening already? For the past ten thousand years or so?
The argument of how this could desensitize us to killing comes up on Slashdot often, but the flip side never gets mentioned much: freedom from the fear of dying. Someone remotely operating a Killbot 5000 from a nice, comfy, air-conditioned room no longer has to fear for his own well-being and is better able to act in a lawful way, and far less ambiguously, when confronted with a dangerous situation.
Instead of having to shoot before you yourself are shot, with worries of leaving behind mourning family/friends/etc, the lack of personal risk means you can afford to let the other guy demonstrate hostile intentions, mutter something about having to put a new coat of paint on your previously shiny Killbot before repeating, mildly annoyed, over its loudspeaker "No, seriously, drop the weapon."
Slashdot Mirror
The security screenings are a government mandate and, therefore, the experience for the traveler is the same regardless of the airline they're flying. Boarding arrangements, on the other hand, are at the airlines' discretion; if travelers are unhappy with the way one airline handles things, they can go with a competing airline.
Did you notice the "citation needed" note was on neither the number of refugees nor the impetus of their flight? Or do you also like to insist that evolution is "just a theory?"
"Then why have we so consistently over the last several decades acted in ways that *destabilize* the Cuban government?"
Um... because the sooner Castro goes away, the sooner the boat people stop swamping south Florida like they did in 1980 and 1994? Even the number of Hatians we've had to process and repatriate comes in a distant second to the number of Cubans.
Happy people don't try to emigrate.
"Russia is only 55 miles away"
The Bering Straight is far more dangerous to cross, there's nobody on their side living near it, and have you seen the military presence in Nome and the Aleutians?
"Canada is even closer."
Canadians are fat and happy. It's the Mexicans that are making a run on the border and, consequently, it's Mexican politics that the State Department is far more concerned with.
"As far as I can tell, the department of homeland security is staffed by a bunch of paranoid Nazis."
Were the 1990's so long ago? Thanks to protests in Havana and the wake of a coup in Haiti, in 1994 the Coast Guard alone interdicted 64,382 boat people. Heck, according to the New York Times, the Coast Guard picked up over 1200 on a single day. Just because the Caribbean has been relatively quiet in your young life doesn't mean these things never happened in the past or will not happen in the future.
There are going to be some late nights this week for the higher ups in the Florida Department of Military Affairs.
If it's just SCOTUS decisions you're after, Cornell's Legal Information Institute has been around for years.
Not really.
"Microsoft is an evil, evil monopoly, but Airbus, well... that's something completely different."
"I don't recall Cuba doing anything significantly irritating."
Problems? What problems?
The worse things get in Cuba, the more Cubans wash ashore here. The day that there's an actual change in regime in Cuba is the day the Florida National Guard gets put on alert.
"The US should stay the hell away from the internal affairs of other sovereign countries."
If this was south Asia or sub-Saharan Africa, you might have a point, but when it comes to something only 90 miles away from our shores, such "international" issues can quickly become domestic. Either we make sure that other governments in the region are stable and tenable, or we deal with yet another wave of tens (or even hundreds) of thousands of refugees washing up in south Florida.
Like it or not, this is yet another matter in th Caribbean that either the State Department or the Homeland Security Department has to deal with, and I'd wager you'd prefer the former.
As anybody who's ever talked over a long-distance connection that involved a satellite relay knows, you don't need to go out to the moon to get a discernible lag.
What, has Comcast become the new SCO or Sony around here?
We're here and alive because Jupiter is big enough and close enough to suck up most comets and asteroids that might wipe us out, but small enough and far enough out that it doesn't suck us up. Most of the extrasolar planetary systems we've seen to date fail the second qualification.
To the people who think that the American People (TM) have used the writers strike to go forth and do without television, leading to a new utopia, I'd like to remind you all of the 1994 baseball player's strike and how nobody ever bought a stadium ticket again after that, causing the death of major league baseball.
Probably because all too many drivers out there are 32-bit only.
Heck, is it even possible to get on OEM version of 64-bit Vista?
"In 2006, only a small percentage of attackers employed camouflaging techniques, but this number soared to 80 percent during the first half of 2007."
If they're going to hose my Windows boxen and install spurious applications of dubious intent, I find that I prefer if they camouflage their attempts so as not to bother me with constant popups from the system tray telling me to install their spyware to get rid of spyware.
Without the royalty money, how is author J. R. R. Tolkien going to afford to put food on his table? Why, without the royalty money, he may not even be able to afford to write a new book!
(I'm not sure who to cheer for here)
"BTW, anyone who pulls out "but Christians did that a few hundred years ago" line is a complete moron. I don't care what happened 200 years ago. I care about what is happening right now."
Who needs to go back 200 years? How about Belfast? How about Uganda? Or do the Christians that aren't fat and happy in G7 countries not count?
Not to mention the millions he's collected in "door repair charges."
In a dead heat between Clinton and Obama, Clinton will end up the winner as she's far more entrenched than her competitor and has the support the important people in the party. So then we'll end up with an election contest between her and McCain, leaving the voters to decide between the candidate that quietly supported war and torture, and the candidate that quietly supported war and torture.
Yay democracy.
"127.0.0.1/32"
Then what's the network address? The broadcast address? Thous shalt not have a netmask longer than 30 bits.
I just hope that the guy who holds the 127.0.0.0/8 network never follows suit. All his hosts have the largest pr0n collection I've ever seen!
"Every game but Blackthorne"
You mean Blizzard made a game before World of Warcraft?
Except there's no need to cut a wire in order to tap it. Ever heard of induction?
And cue the Grammar Nazis while you're at it.
Those students from Islamic countries who can afford these expensive degrees, especially if they study abroad to get their degree, are already financially well-to-do and have the spare time to get involved in the pet issue of the day, rather than dealing with the day-by-day struggle to support themselves in a country whose social programs make the US look like France.
An expensive degree on the road to a well-paying career... there's only so many fast cars and loose women you can buy. In Los Angeles, the rich relieve their boredom with L. Ron Hubbard; in Riyadh, Osama bin Laden is the enlightenment du jour.
The next question is "What fraction do these technical degrees make up out of all the degrees earned by students from Islamic countries?" And after that, "Are the libby arts majors blowing themselves up too?"
"Besides, if your enemy expects your robots to defeat their army, what would be the point of fighting them in the first place? Attacking civilians seems a more logical step"
And that hasn't been happening already? For the past ten thousand years or so?
The argument of how this could desensitize us to killing comes up on Slashdot often, but the flip side never gets mentioned much: freedom from the fear of dying. Someone remotely operating a Killbot 5000 from a nice, comfy, air-conditioned room no longer has to fear for his own well-being and is better able to act in a lawful way, and far less ambiguously, when confronted with a dangerous situation.
Instead of having to shoot before you yourself are shot, with worries of leaving behind mourning family/friends/etc, the lack of personal risk means you can afford to let the other guy demonstrate hostile intentions, mutter something about having to put a new coat of paint on your previously shiny Killbot before repeating, mildly annoyed, over its loudspeaker "No, seriously, drop the weapon."