[Princess Leia torture scene in Death Star] The floating torture droid has been removed and replaced with a TV and DVD carousel player... [Vader places Ep's 1-3 and 7-9 in carousel] Vader: [finger poised over Play button] So Princess, where is the Rebels' secret base?
The reality in the US right now is that in order to get to work, the vast majority of people need to drive a car. Additionally, the vast majority of goods are transported around the US via truck and rail. This whole infrastructure runs on gasoline and diesel.
So you're trying to promote a "if they need it, someone will build it" approach? Great, wonderful, what do we do during the time that we need it and there's no viable alternative.
Electric cars are not a feasable alternative for the bulk of people in the US. The range and recharge requirements for these vehicles are simply a no-go. Additionally, what do you propose to do with all of the batteries that these cars require? No, that's not an environmental problem at all eh?
Hybrid cars require gasoline. Not as much, but they still require gasoline. Additionally, the hybrid approach is inadequate for large cargo-carrying trucks. I'm not sure what kind of mass-public transit system you'd propose to deal with the layout of the average town/city here in the US. The mass transit system works in Europe in the areas were people are concentrated. The minute you venture out of those areas, you're back to a car.
Lots of money is being spent on electric, hybrid, and hydrogen powered vehicles. The fact remains that they're too expensive or too inadequate for the bulk of the driving requirements in this country.
Yeah, let's tax the hell out of gasoline that'll get people to change....
WRONG!
Transportation in the US is a necessity, not a luxury. People aren't driving 15 year old POS cars because they want to/are too cheap to buy a new one. They're driving those cars because their income covers the basics of life and nothing more. So now you want to slap them with an extra $1/gal [that probably doesn't qualify under your 'tax it through the roof' classification] on their gas bill for just getting to work? Heck, let's look at what those taxes will do to transportation costs and thus the cost of goods bought at your local store.
Think things through a little before you jerk your knee next time.
Having had to do the dance with INS in the process of getting my wife to the US I'd have to say that while they are definitely annoying and beaurocratic I can't see where/how you would get to compare it to prison.
(This was dealing with the US Embassy in Peru where they had designed the place to deal with the Shining Path back in their hey day.)
While the building was quite well fortified there was no oppressive feeling to it. (To top it all off we picked up her Visa on 9/11.)
The Gallactica was about to be decomisioned and turned into a museum.
Obviously they weren't going to be going to great lengths to update the hardware, software, heck even the paint wouldn't get revised and we know the military attitude about paint. (Hint - If it's dirty, paint it!:-D )
Time to fight the power, kill off the Corporate-patent-sucking-pond scum. Let's get back to our inner-city protest youth and show them what we're about.
I hearby declare the OS declaration of independence that shalled be led by the PHAT file system.
(Yeah, way too long a wind up for a mediocre joke at best.:-D )
Any signal can be jammed. Remember the flap when it was found out that Russian GPS jammers had been sold to Iraq?
The real issue isn't jamming but in scrambling/encoding. The idea is that you keep the system functioning but only for your benefit and not for the other side. A blanket jamming signal would deprive everyone of the system. An encrypted signal would mean that only the people with the right keys get the accurate information.
You head over to Best Buy to look at TV's. While there you happen to swing by the entertainment center display and see one that you think the SO would particularly like. Since (s)he ain't with ya at the time you whip out the cell phone and snap a pic of it to show them later.
Congrats, you've just broken the law. If you snap a second entertainment center for comparison purposes it gets even worse.
No, the problem with laws like these is that they are overly broad, poorly written, and most important don't stop the activity that they're trying to outlaw.
Really, why would C:\Pictures (or C:\My Pictures in the MS case) be more friendly than/mnt/users/username/pictures?
Why exactly do we consider C: == first harddrive partition (what's a partition some might ask...) more user friendly?
The "no install file" complaint is a canard as well. I ran through a rather nice install routine for CrossOver Office that was then able to run the installer for Office itself. All relatively painless.
The point is that the "average computer user" really can't fend for themself beyond stick a CD in and click and hope for the best. If things go off the skids then they come to us.
The only reason XP is more "user friendly" is that we've had 10 years to adjust to the concepts of DOS and Windows.
The first movie rocked because it was something completely new at the time. Dystopian future, cool SFX, and sword fights in outer space instead of just silly zap guns. The dialog blew chunks but it was easily digestible for 7 year olds. The second one was cool because of one thing 'The Good Guys LOST!'
They got kicked out of their home, one of them got frozen, and the other lost a hand. The end scene was them all sitting there licking their wounds and hoping for a come back.
The third one sufferred from marketing issues. Ewoks were mainly annoying though the low tech ways they destroyed the scout walkers were fun (minus the flying wings routine). The main problem with three was that the good guys became way too competent and the bad guys too incompetent without any explanation after the end of 2 (err 5).
Personally, STTOS, Planet of the Apes, and the Space:1999 Eagle were the action sets I had while growing up. (Though I was jealous of my friend who had the big Millenium Falcon.)
Did you bother tracking back that quote that I presented to you when you attempted to claim that WMD was only in people's "fevered imaginations"? Should we go on to a list of the quotes and times that Clinton invoked WMD's and Iraq in his public speeches?
As far as only nuclear deserving to be classified as a WMD I would have to disagree with you in the strongest possible terms. While chemical weapons are devastating, they are at least usually limited to the area that you can disperse them in. The REAL WMD is biological. Just look at how much havoc SARS caused and it was a natural occurance. Imagine a weaponized version of something like SARS with a longer incubation period and a higher mortality rate. (Incubation periods are the real danger as you have people walking around carrying a disease and spreading it but not knowing that they're infected.)
Frankly I don't believe any "comforting lies" I believe in reading as much as I can about things and then forming my own opinions. What I've read on Iraq is enough to chill anyone's soul.
Consider that we intervened in Bosnia for so much less.
I agree that we're seeing not only the dangers of "black box" items but a really bad development methodology as well.
The point was that the lessons from ATM development are not transferrable to voting machine development.
It's kind of strange how in the end we feel that the one item that is going to give us peace of mind is paper. So, how come we don't just simply start and end with that paper? (I think the big "connect the arrow" and scan your ballot before dropping it in the box approach is the way to go.)
Wow, it started out as such a reasonable reply then fell apart in a hurry.
Let's look at this carefully.
Quite the opposite. It's saying that I care about human life, liberty, the rule of law and a bunch of other things America once represented to the world.
How about that whole Bosnia affair? I suppose we should have simply sat on the sidelines and waited for one side to finish whiping out the other? What happens when the other people don't care about our values?
What threat? The 'terrorist links' that the intelligence community said from the beginning never existed, which were never substantiated? Except of course for that one group somehow loosely associated with Al Qaeda, operating in the north of the country where the US and the Kurds, not Baghdad, were in control since the last war? I suppose we'll simply ignore the money that Sadam was sending to families of suicide bombers in Israel? How about the increasing Ba'athification of Iraq since the '91 defeat? (Adding words from the Khoran to the flag, buiding giant mosques while his people starved...)
Or maybe those 'weapons of mass destruction' that are actually less dangerous than plenty of perfectly ordinary weapons, that the inspectors said weren't there, that the intelligence community worldwide said weren't there, that turned out to have not been there? WMD are orders of magnitude more dangerous than conventional weapons. They kill indiscriminately and have the ability to render entire areas inhospitable for decades or centuries (if nuclear in nature). Did you bother reading the Kay report? The hidden programs, the vial of botulinum toxin in a scientist's refridgerator? How about the centrifuge pieces buried in a scientists backyard? Maybe the missile development instead? What more do you need to be convinced that Hussein wasn't a poor little misunderstood man?
Or maybe that elusive nuclear program (those my friend, not poison gas, are real 'weapons of mass destruction' and several nations, including the US, Israel, and North Korea have them - places that don't get invaded you'll notice) that turns out to have not existed The nuclear program in Iraq was about to be deemed completely dismantled back in 1995 (I believe) until a defector managed to point out all of the items that had been hidden from inspectors.
And about those "fevered fantasies of a few people" try this statement on for size: I supported the resolution because I gained information from the CIA and other former Clinton security officials that Iraq either had weapons or components of weapons of mass destruction. Two guesses who said that. (Here's the link for when you give up: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A350 20-2003Oct29.html)
I suggest that you try to educate yourself some more on this topic.
Dial-up or not they still have to verify the transaction during the transaction. (How else would they know if you actually have money in your account to withdraw?)
The anonymity of the voting transaction is definitely an additional challenge. I think the real problem is that they have to retain all of that data through the course of the day and each precinct may have different ballots.
The requirements for an ATM transaction are quite different from a voting transaction.
The ATM card itself greatly simplifies the whole ATM issue in that you use the physical card plus a PIN to identify the user. Additionally, it is built on the need for an ever-present network connection and only needs to ensure the integrity of the current transaction.
Finally, the biggest plus for an ATM machine is that you don't have to deal with the chaos that is programming in a new ballot every time.
What an absurd statement: Being against war isn't a right-left thing. It's a humanity thing.
War isn't something that most people embrace with relish and joy. War is something people resort to solve a problem of one sort or another.
Saying you're "anti-war" is just sticking your head in the ground and not confronting the realities of the world. Now if you want to say you're against the Iraq war you are at least starting at a point for discussion. The next step would be to say why you're against the war and what should be done instead to solve the problem that Iraq presented. (You can also argue the degree of that problem but you can't pretend that it doesn't exist.)
Slashdot Mirror
Just go into the local bar and insult the biggest guy in there.
[Princess Leia torture scene in Death Star]
The floating torture droid has been removed and replaced with a TV and DVD carousel player...
[Vader places Ep's 1-3 and 7-9 in carousel]
Vader: [finger poised over Play button] So Princess, where is the Rebels' secret base?
WTF is a political necessity?
The reality in the US right now is that in order to get to work, the vast majority of people need to drive a car. Additionally, the vast majority of goods are transported around the US via truck and rail. This whole infrastructure runs on gasoline and diesel.
So you're trying to promote a "if they need it, someone will build it" approach? Great, wonderful, what do we do during the time that we need it and there's no viable alternative.
Electric cars are not a feasable alternative for the bulk of people in the US. The range and recharge requirements for these vehicles are simply a no-go. Additionally, what do you propose to do with all of the batteries that these cars require? No, that's not an environmental problem at all eh?
Hybrid cars require gasoline. Not as much, but they still require gasoline. Additionally, the hybrid approach is inadequate for large cargo-carrying trucks. I'm not sure what kind of mass-public transit system you'd propose to deal with the layout of the average town/city here in the US. The mass transit system works in Europe in the areas were people are concentrated. The minute you venture out of those areas, you're back to a car.
Lots of money is being spent on electric, hybrid, and hydrogen powered vehicles. The fact remains that they're too expensive or too inadequate for the bulk of the driving requirements in this country.
Yeah, let's tax the hell out of gasoline that'll get people to change....
WRONG!
Transportation in the US is a necessity, not a luxury. People aren't driving 15 year old POS cars because they want to/are too cheap to buy a new one. They're driving those cars because their income covers the basics of life and nothing more. So now you want to slap them with an extra $1/gal [that probably doesn't qualify under your 'tax it through the roof' classification] on their gas bill for just getting to work? Heck, let's look at what those taxes will do to transportation costs and thus the cost of goods bought at your local store.
Think things through a little before you jerk your knee next time.
Having had to do the dance with INS in the process of getting my wife to the US I'd have to say that while they are definitely annoying and beaurocratic I can't see where/how you would get to compare it to prison.
(This was dealing with the US Embassy in Peru where they had designed the place to deal with the Shining Path back in their hey day.)
While the building was quite well fortified there was no oppressive feeling to it. (To top it all off we picked up her Visa on 9/11.)
Jesus saves!...But Gretzky gets the rebound, he shoots, he scores!!!
Jesus saves sinners...and redeems them for valuable cash prizes.
The Gallactica was about to be decomisioned and turned into a museum.
:-D )
Obviously they weren't going to be going to great lengths to update the hardware, software, heck even the paint wouldn't get revised and we know the military attitude about paint. (Hint - If it's dirty, paint it!
Time to fight the power, kill off the Corporate-patent-sucking-pond scum. Let's get back to our inner-city protest youth and show them what we're about.
:-D )
I hearby declare the OS declaration of independence that shalled be led by the PHAT file system.
(Yeah, way too long a wind up for a mediocre joke at best.
Any signal can be jammed. Remember the flap when it was found out that Russian GPS jammers had been sold to Iraq?
The real issue isn't jamming but in scrambling/encoding. The idea is that you keep the system functioning but only for your benefit and not for the other side. A blanket jamming signal would deprive everyone of the system. An encrypted signal would mean that only the people with the right keys get the accurate information.
You head over to Best Buy to look at TV's. While there you happen to swing by the entertainment center display and see one that you think the SO would particularly like. Since (s)he ain't with ya at the time you whip out the cell phone and snap a pic of it to show them later.
Congrats, you've just broken the law. If you snap a second entertainment center for comparison purposes it gets even worse.
No, the problem with laws like these is that they are overly broad, poorly written, and most important don't stop the activity that they're trying to outlaw.
Really, why would C:\Pictures (or C:\My Pictures in the MS case) be more friendly than /mnt/users/username/pictures?
Why exactly do we consider C: == first harddrive partition (what's a partition some might ask...) more user friendly?
The "no install file" complaint is a canard as well. I ran through a rather nice install routine for CrossOver Office that was then able to run the installer for Office itself. All relatively painless.
The point is that the "average computer user" really can't fend for themself beyond stick a CD in and click and hope for the best. If things go off the skids then they come to us.
The only reason XP is more "user friendly" is that we've had 10 years to adjust to the concepts of DOS and Windows.
Can you see trying to use an NLM to cash out your register at the end of the day? :-D
Where SCO's bottom line is headed I think they're more interested in ABS().
The first movie rocked because it was something completely new at the time. Dystopian future, cool SFX, and sword fights in outer space instead of just silly zap guns. The dialog blew chunks but it was easily digestible for 7 year olds. The second one was cool because of one thing 'The Good Guys LOST!'
They got kicked out of their home, one of them got frozen, and the other lost a hand. The end scene was them all sitting there licking their wounds and hoping for a come back.
The third one sufferred from marketing issues. Ewoks were mainly annoying though the low tech ways they destroyed the scout walkers were fun (minus the flying wings routine). The main problem with three was that the good guys became way too competent and the bad guys too incompetent without any explanation after the end of 2 (err 5).
Personally, STTOS, Planet of the Apes, and the Space:1999 Eagle were the action sets I had while growing up. (Though I was jealous of my friend who had the big Millenium Falcon.)
Come on, be creative: install a toilet IN your couch!
I'm thinking the overclocking, water cooling, and see-through side with the neon lighting wouldn't be a good idea for such a project.
I wouldn't dare post it on slash dot for fear of enciting all the core dump jokes...
My problem will be that I can run 6 DVD's in a row. I guess when all three are out it'll be the LotR - Exploded Bladder edition for me. :-}
Then we're not going to go anywhere at all I see.
Did you bother tracking back that quote that I presented to you when you attempted to claim that WMD was only in people's "fevered imaginations"? Should we go on to a list of the quotes and times that Clinton invoked WMD's and Iraq in his public speeches?
As far as only nuclear deserving to be classified as a WMD I would have to disagree with you in the strongest possible terms. While chemical weapons are devastating, they are at least usually limited to the area that you can disperse them in. The REAL WMD is biological. Just look at how much havoc SARS caused and it was a natural occurance. Imagine a weaponized version of something like SARS with a longer incubation period and a higher mortality rate. (Incubation periods are the real danger as you have people walking around carrying a disease and spreading it but not knowing that they're infected.)
Frankly I don't believe any "comforting lies" I believe in reading as much as I can about things and then forming my own opinions. What I've read on Iraq is enough to chill anyone's soul.
Consider that we intervened in Bosnia for so much less.
Lack of Lawyerly Principles
I agree that we're seeing not only the dangers of "black box" items but a really bad development methodology as well.
The point was that the lessons from ATM development are not transferrable to voting machine development.
It's kind of strange how in the end we feel that the one item that is going to give us peace of mind is paper. So, how come we don't just simply start and end with that paper? (I think the big "connect the arrow" and scan your ballot before dropping it in the box approach is the way to go.)
Wow, it started out as such a reasonable reply then fell apart in a hurry.
0 20-2003Oct29.html)
Let's look at this carefully.
Quite the opposite. It's saying that I care about human life, liberty, the rule of law and a bunch of other things America once represented to the world.
How about that whole Bosnia affair? I suppose we should have simply sat on the sidelines and waited for one side to finish whiping out the other? What happens when the other people don't care about our values?
What threat? The 'terrorist links' that the intelligence community said from the beginning never existed, which were never substantiated? Except of course for that one group somehow loosely associated with Al Qaeda, operating in the north of the country where the US and the Kurds, not Baghdad, were in control since the last war?
I suppose we'll simply ignore the money that Sadam was sending to families of suicide bombers in Israel? How about the increasing Ba'athification of Iraq since the '91 defeat? (Adding words from the Khoran to the flag, buiding giant mosques while his people starved...)
Or maybe those 'weapons of mass destruction' that are actually less dangerous than plenty of perfectly ordinary weapons, that the inspectors said weren't there, that the intelligence community worldwide said weren't there, that turned out to have not been there?
WMD are orders of magnitude more dangerous than conventional weapons. They kill indiscriminately and have the ability to render entire areas inhospitable for decades or centuries (if nuclear in nature). Did you bother reading the Kay report? The hidden programs, the vial of botulinum toxin in a scientist's refridgerator? How about the centrifuge pieces buried in a scientists backyard? Maybe the missile development instead? What more do you need to be convinced that Hussein wasn't a poor little misunderstood man?
Or maybe that elusive nuclear program (those my friend, not poison gas, are real 'weapons of mass destruction' and several nations, including the US, Israel, and North Korea have them - places that don't get invaded you'll notice) that turns out to have not existed
The nuclear program in Iraq was about to be deemed completely dismantled back in 1995 (I believe) until a defector managed to point out all of the items that had been hidden from inspectors.
And about those "fevered fantasies of a few people" try this statement on for size:
I supported the resolution because I gained information from the CIA and other former Clinton security officials that Iraq either had weapons or components of weapons of mass destruction.
Two guesses who said that. (Here's the link for when you give up: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A35
I suggest that you try to educate yourself some more on this topic.
Dial-up or not they still have to verify the transaction during the transaction. (How else would they know if you actually have money in your account to withdraw?)
The anonymity of the voting transaction is definitely an additional challenge. I think the real problem is that they have to retain all of that data through the course of the day and each precinct may have different ballots.
The requirements for an ATM transaction are quite different from a voting transaction.
The ATM card itself greatly simplifies the whole ATM issue in that you use the physical card plus a PIN to identify the user. Additionally, it is built on the need for an ever-present network connection and only needs to ensure the integrity of the current transaction.
Finally, the biggest plus for an ATM machine is that you don't have to deal with the chaos that is programming in a new ballot every time.
Congratulations, you have managed to sneak in the subtlest "BSD is dieing" troll of the day.
That was very well done.
What an absurd statement:
Being against war isn't a right-left thing. It's a humanity thing.
War isn't something that most people embrace with relish and joy. War is something people resort to solve a problem of one sort or another.
Saying you're "anti-war" is just sticking your head in the ground and not confronting the realities of the world. Now if you want to say you're against the Iraq war you are at least starting at a point for discussion. The next step would be to say why you're against the war and what should be done instead to solve the problem that Iraq presented. (You can also argue the degree of that problem but you can't pretend that it doesn't exist.)
Close those ports and get a REAL firewall. :-D