I forgot about WWII. I have to admit the Nazis were pretty damn evil by nearly any definition. And I guess you are right about the viability of a computer game war. I was just thinking how nice and civilized it would be. But robots against robots would be an excellent and very geeky way to fight a war. In the same way that today targeting civilians is frowned upon perhaps in some distant future people may have the same attitude about attacking any humans at all. Sure the occasional robot may go on a human killing spree but as long as it is considered unacceptable (in the same way that chem/bio or nuclear is generally considered unacceptable today) to target humans, humanity will have made a great step forward. Although the robots may not be so happy about it as our new class of very disposable war slaves.
Being Christian means being intimately tied to the Jewish faith, but with the addition of another third of bible or so.
This assumption you are making here is just wrong. You need to study more or at least less biased history. Surely you are aware that Christians are the ones who persecuted and murdered more Jews than anyone else. Adolf Hitler was a Christian. Muslims haven't really killed many Jews as AFAIK. And they certainly haven't persecuted them or specifically singled them out. Christians have absolutely no love for Jews. That is one thing that Christians and Muslims definitely have in common. I don't know if this idea of Christians and Jews getting along so well has come from living in a Muslim country (I have no idea if you do). I used to live in Malaysia and I encountered a lot of negative stereotypes of Jews while there. And most people I met had never even met a Jew. Yet they are so sure they know all about them. Jewish Americans have basically no political influence in this country. Israel is basically the only country in the world where that is the case.
As for supporting Muslim theocracies, you need to offer some examples of before I can properly respond. But guessing at your meaning, I might point out that Muslim theocracies also support the U.S., (Saudi Arabia and its ilk);
Well I was mainly thinking of Saudi Arabia actually. But there is also Malaysia, which may not be a theocracy but does have a Muslim majority and a police force to enforce Muslim laws (although they leave non-Muslims alone). We also have excellent relations with Turkey and Indonesia and are on pretty good terms with Pakistan I think.
One other thing that you seem not to be getting. In fact it might even be the main misunderstanding here. Americans for the most part are just not religious. I know it can seem that way sometimes. Especially if you ever watch our political speeches or maybe even some of our movies. But this country has become much more secular than it used to be. Religion is just not an important force in peoples lives here. And the younger the generation the more likely it is to be true. I can't remember the last person I met that actually read the bible or who spends more than 1 day a year in church. They may say that they believe in Christianity but they live their lives just like an atheist would. IOW you couldn't tell they believed in a God based on their actions.
Although I have never been to the middle east, I have spent a great deal of time in Malaysia and some time in Indonesia and the situation is very different there. People don't just believe in their religion they actually live it. I have a friend who is working on her PhD in something like "Islamic Studies" (I can't remember the exact title). She is a (Chinese) Atheist herself and thinks religion is mostly pretty silly, but she is fascinated by Islam, its customs and people. She told me that one of the things that fascinated her most was how deeply religious they were. She believed (and I concur) that the Muslim religion is maybe the last one on earth with followers who mostly are still fully devoted to it. Who actually live their lives in a different way because of their religious beliefs. So if you are from a Muslim country it may be difficult for you to get the idea that religion just doesn't work that way elsewhere. Almost no one really takes it seriously like Muslims do. Except maybe for our fundamentalist nut jobs. And we do have some of those. Maybe even as little as 100 years ago it wasn't like this here. But it is now. And you need to understand this before you can even begin to understand the US and many other countries with predominately Christian populations.
So your idea of some sort of (very questionable) brotherhood between Christianity and Judaism having anything at all to do with the US support of Israel is way off base. The US is allied with Israel for political reasons. Israel is the only democracy and only non-Arab country in the region. Like Turkey they are just
The cop's laser gun tells him when someone jams it. That may be true now. Are you sure that that detection circuit cannot be defeated or tricked? It was certainly not true when I was jamming. If it had been I would have been pulled over left and right since active jamming was quite illegal in my state even then. I don't think I ever got a ticket while I had that thing. Or at least if I did no cop ever mentioned my jamming him. It was great fun and saved my arse quite a few times. But I always wanted one that was so powerful it would destroy his equipment. That would be really cool. Also one of those traffic light changers please.
I am a lot less concerned about foreign/military uses for this tech and a lot more concerned with domestic/police use. Does any of us doubt that this will eventually trickle down to the corrupt stupid thug/bullies known as the police? A scary thought. Although I don't think the first generation of mobile surveillance "bugs" are going to be a threat indoors, I do think it will happen eventually.
If this technology ever does prove to save lives on the battlefield, it would only be the lives of the "good guys" Shirley you can't be serious. That is the point of war. To win by killing your enemy faster than they can kill you. And there is no "good" or "bad" here. Only winner and loser. I guess it's just a question of which side you would like to be on. Personally I like any tech that tends to result in the destruction of simple machines rather than humans. There is nothing stopping the other side from doing the same. Are there any geeks who would not like to see wars turn into gigantic "battlefield" bot contests with armed bots shooting at other armed bots? For the sake of humanity I do hope that that is precisely what wars become. Or even taking it a step further and standardizing on some kind of networked multiplayer video game so that even machines need not be destroyed, just bits in memory.
You are aware that not every country has long range ballistic missiles and nuclear warheads? So in many cases nuking a country from the other side of the world would be perfectly feasible without any (direct) retribution. In fact even some members of the nuclear club lack long range ballistic missiles not only because they may be hard to make but also because they probably feel they don't need them. The reason no country has ever used a nuclear weapon against another country since WWII has a lot more to do with the negative PR of such an act and their total impracticality as weapons than worrying about retribution. Most "threats" these days are asymmetrical. It is quite rare for opponents to be evenly matched. Don't be so disingenuous.
That all sounds real dandy, but battery life is the achilles heel An atomic battery combined with some of the newer high efficiency solar cell tech should be sufficient I would thing. And probably a very small lithium ion battery for the solar cells to charge during the day. It could be programmed to find a safe spot to charge its battery with sunlight or even room lights every so often. Also it could have thin wires that could be programmed to recognize electrical outlets, especially in dark corners and behind furniture where it could insert its "antennae" to charge from AC power for a few minutes. One problem with this scenario might be noise. I bet indoors noise would always be a problem with these in any case even with rubberized feet. Another idea for outdoor use would be a micro wind turbine so that it might get some energy for recharging its batteries even at night. I also wonder if soldiers could charge them remotely with microwave transmissions.
btw. those 'jammers' are useless. By the time they detect the radar it's way too late. I used to have one that actually did work. Most of the time at least. I used to drive by cops at 90mph without getting a ticket. I did slow down when I saw him of course, but by then he could already tell that I was speeding. I think the idea was that cops were so used to relying on their radar equipment that they were really distracted by not getting a reading and by then the speeder had already slowed down. So there wasn't much point in giving chase. I mean they could. But why not go for the easier fish. No shortage of speeders without radar jammers after all. It was a great and geeky feeling to be able to get shot with radar at such high speeds and not get a ticket. The problem was it only worked for X and K band, which after a few years started to become more and more rare and the jammer couldn't be relied upon.
Those jammers worked by sending back an active signal as soon as they detected an incoming one. The circuitry was fast enough to do the job. Supposedly they would get a "no reading possible" or something on their display. Aside from the real deal of not getting pulled over after getting nailed at high speed, I also used to test it against those police displays that are supposed to show your speed. It usually worked but not always. Sometimes it would show a speed like 10mph higher than I was going. Also it could be a problem in traffic with cars that had radar detectors. The unit would get quite a few false positives and then all the cars with detectors would jam on their brakes forcing me to drive even slower.
Nowadays there are really too many different threats to guard against them all. What amazes me is that there are laser jammers that supposedly work. I would have thought that to be much more difficult. Turns out to be easier.
HFMD usually affects infants and children, and is quite common. It is highly contagious and is spread through direct contact with the mucus, saliva, or feces of an infected person. It typically occurs in small epidemics in nursery schools or kindergartens, usually during the summer and autumn months. The usual incubation period is 3-7 days. It is extremely uncommon in adults, however still a possibility. Most adults have strong enough immune systems to utterly defeat the virus... Damn. That sounds like a virus that I would have invented. I hate kids. Although I think I would have introduced some Marburg and Lassa (Ebola Zaire used to be so cool until they invented that damn vaccine) traits into the mix as well. It's not deadly enough. Is there some way that I can improve the virulence? I realize that there aren't many virologists on slashdot but you never know.
1) Israel and the neo-conservative movement involves a lot of, ahem, Jewish people who root for their ethnic homeland Are you honestly implying that Jews are in a majority anywhere in the world outside of Israel, let alone in the Republican party? Last time I checked the Republican party was 99.99% Christian. Period. You are just another anti-semite talking out of your arse.
I don't think Israel should be eliminated, but it is a very natural reaction Genocide is a natural reaction? Yes we took sides. Deal with it. There is no going back. Even if we didn't take sides we would be on their list. 9/11 wasn't about Palestine. It was about us in Saudi Arabia. And we weren't there in the first place due to the Palestinian issue. In fact none of this has anything to do with the Palestinian issue. Both Israel and Jews should be irrelevant to this discussion. In any case if Iran and Israel have a nuclear exchange it's probably game over for you too pal. The world has never faced anything remotely like a nuclear war. It is not likely to end well for anyone.
The U.S. is also a theocracy. It is not in the constitution, but it is nonetheless a requirement if one is to hold any power in government. This is the reason Israel's genocidal behavior is being funded by the U.S. So you are saying that George Bush is secretly Jewish? Am I hearing you right? You may as well say that George Bush is a Christian, and that is why he supports Muslim theocracies (which he clearly does in any case). Since they are both religions. So if George Bush were an atheist the US would not be a theocracy?
In the minds of the Palestinians, the wound is still too fresh. After all, it's only been a few decades since a massive influx of Europeans debarked on their lands, and their situation went downhills from there. So, they will never forgive nor forget. Don't you see the irony here? Also, you are saying that the Palestinians own the land? Is this the same as Texans taking land from Mexico? Was the land "owned" by the Mexicans, the Spanish, the Native Americans? Whose land? Land is just land. Did the Palestinians always own it? Surely they just stole it from someone else. It has always been that way. The only way to get "your" land back is to take it by force. All this fighting about land ownership I see as ridiculous. Governments are all about fighting for power. I don't regard any government as "legitimate". I do think Palestinians should be allowed to live in Israel, but if they want control they will have to fight for it. And their fight is not any more legitimate than anyone else's. It's just a power grab.
Would it be fair to say that if you have a non-emergency condition and no health insurance, that you are basically left to fight for yourself? Not exactly. I don't know about other states but in Massachusetts you can always go to the ER regardless of your problem and they always have to treat you whether or not you have insurance. The problem arises when you make too much money to qualify for free care. You will still get treatment, but without insurance (due to a preexisting condition or due to not being able to afford it) you will get a rather large bill in the mail. In certain situations I have heard of people just not paying their medical bills. Even if you haven't paid any of your previous bills they will not refuse you care. But basically if you make too much money, but not enough to easily afford insurance or you make too much money and you have a preexisting condition you are fucked. Is this confusing?
Why would Iran want to burn oil, when it could sell it for insanely high prices? So that they can buy Uranium for insanely high prices. Yup. Great business decision there. I guess they could just trade oil for uranium. Oh wait...
The people who least believe in any imaginary being in the sky are the same people who preach most about its existence What makes you think they are atheists? In America it's usually the religious ones who kill people and blow things up and run for office and just generally behave badly. Atheists are too rational to ever become politicians. That's why we have our own moron religious nut job as president. An atheist would never get elected. Too many dumb Americans who believe in a supernatural deity for that.
The regime occupying Jerusalem must vanish from the page of time I'm not sure how much better that is. He didn't mention how that might be accomplished exactly? Maybe divine intervention? A few lightning bolts? I'm not saying an Iranian nuclear program is worthy of any sort of military action, especially since Iran has never attacked anyone in recent history. If George Bush were to say "The regime in Iran must vanish from the page of time", would that not be considered a serious threat? But talk is cheap. When was the last time Ahmadinejad or Iran started any kind of military action? If Iran ever launched a nuke at Tel Aviv, the entire Middle East would be a smouldering, highly radioactive ruin in less than an hour. And the consequences for the rest of humanity would be nearly as dire. Forget about peak oil. How about no oil? And we would all be living in fallout shelters for a while due to the large release of nuclear material. Nuclear weapons are not really very practical as a weapon. Great armageddon devices though.
Now what in the world does irans nuclear program have to do with Technology? I was wondering the same thing until it dawned on me. Schematics please. Open source uranium enrichment FTW! To finish what this guy started. Why is it only governments who get to have all the fun?
There is evil in this world whether you naive young snots want to admit it or not. Evil HAS to be defeated to save millions of innocent people from suffering needlessly. How can you live with yourself if you take the opposite view?!? Are you Iranian? It's about time we heard someone from your country in this debate. Don't you think attacking the US with your nukes would be bloody stupid? Do you think you could strike before the American nukes were launched? Don't you think your government is going to actually cause more suffering with this whole "holy war" thing?
OMG. I had no idea that Israeli chicks were so hot. It would almost be a privilege to be killed by one. Now I know why we are on their side. We can't we recruit hot girls like that into our military? There should be some sort of international law against bombing or attacking countries with a high per capita hot girl ratio. Do the arab countries know about this? Too bad about the language though. It's one of the few languages that sounds worse than German to my ear. Of course Arabic is even worse. Clearing your throat should never be used as a phoneme in any language.
since loads of countries with established energy sources have opted to move towards nuclear energy. For instance? And how many countries are there with established nuclear power generation but no nuclear weapons or nuclear weapons program? I am guessing not many. The temptation is just too great. Personally I have no problem with Iran getting nukes. I am not aware of them starting any wars recently. They don't appear to be much of a threat. And even if they were, who would they attack? Israel? The US? Anyone else that they might want to attack that the US actually gives a damn about are already members of The Club. Not to mention excellent customers. Who else buys SUVs like we do. They need someone to buy their oil. Even if they could somehow figure out a way to beat the longest standing nuclear superpower in the world and make the US into a glowing nuclear wasteland they would merely be destroying one of their best customers. In addition to creating thousands of Chernobyls worth of fallout and radioactive debris to migrate back to the rest of the world. I for one would welcome a real nuclear war. Bring it on!
Actually most Cubans seem to believe that poor Americans are literally left to die in the streets if they can't afford the insanely high (and it is) cost of care. It took me quite a while to convince my Cuban friend that this wasn't true. And he usually wasn't one to believe in the government speeches etc. It does seem plausible I must admit. However the truth is quite a bit different. I can't speak for other states, but here in the People's Republic of Massachusetts we basically already have universal health care. Anyone who can show that their income is below a certain point (not sure what exactly) doesn't have to pay for emergency care at all. And in fact a friend of mine who earns no more than maybe $600/month at his "job" even sees a psychiatrist once a week free of charge. That is in addition to seeing a doctor on a regular basis. He doesn't even have a copayment like I do. And of course he doesn't have to pay the (approx.) $500/month for good health insurance. The cost of health insurance in the US truly has gotten out of control. It is INSANE!
However the level of care here is really, really good. And if you are poor enough you get it for free. It is really only the lower middle class who make slightly above the minimum income requirement who really get screwed. In some cases I would even agree that having some of the best doctors and hospitals in the world is useless when you can't ever afford to see them. $500/month is a pretty good chunk of change. Not everyone can afford that. So I guess the trick is not to work so much so as to exceed the minimum income requirement for free care.
Just a couple of weeks ago I had what was probably my very first migraine headache. It lasted 3 or 4 days. A continuous headache. I didn't even know that was possible. So I called my doctor (HMO primary care physician) and he told me to go to the ER. As soon as I arrived they asked me some questions and almost immediately gave me a CT scan. I didn't even have to ask for one. I'm sure that scan cost at least $1200. Probably $1500. For a headache. I don't believe that any of the countries I have lived in other than the US would have given me a high tech brain scan for a headache. Hell, I'm not even sure Cuba has one. Maybe Cira Garcia. But Cira Garcia aint free.
The preexisting issue is a major one though. The problem is that it is just "insurance", and that most people have it and are covered for most things. So those few who fall through the cracks are really screwed. As private companies I can sympathize with them for not wanting to take a customer who will almost certainly cost them more money than they receive in premiums, but it means that the system as a whole is just not working. Medical care is so expensive that without insurance it is only affordable to very wealthy Americans. And I believe part of the reason medical care is so expensive is that most people have insurance and don't need to pay anything. At least not directly. This is a real problem IMHO. And it is only going to get worse.
If I didn't have insurance, and I needed some expensive procedure, I would fly to Colombia or Argentina or Thailand to have it done. But it still isn't cheap. Typically about 1/4 the cost of the US. Sometimes less.
A UK House of Commons Health Select Committee, spent months over there looking at it
I don't know what to say to that. What did they say about Cuban medicine specifically? I have been to Cuban clinics where the nurses reuse needles, just dunking them in hot water or maybe alcohol (I'm not sure what it was) between patients. I had to specifically request (and pay for) a fresh disposable needle for my girlfriend. I am not making this up. Very few drugs are available. Just some basic antibiotics (but nothing fancy or expensive), some aspirin etc. My friend's wife was pregnant and very sick and she was prescribed vitamins. I can perfectly understand why you would believe them over some slashdot poster. Go ahead and believe them. I can't stop you.
But given thier underfunding i find it quite impressive that they only rank 2 places below the US according to the WHO (they seam to know a thing or two about health)
Even given their lack of funding I still would never describe Cuban health care as "impressive". I won't deny that WHO knows about medicine, but that rating is beyond ludicrous. I can't explain it at all. I don't understand how that could happen. Maybe if Colombia or Argentina or Thailand had gotten that rating. But Cuba? It is completely insane. If you ever go there I think you will see it for yourself. Until then I guess you just have to believe what you consider the most probable. I was in the same position before I moved there. My Cuban friend was amazed when I told him the kind of reputation that Cuba has in the rest of the world for health care. His idea was that Fidel was just very good with propaganda. But could he really fool WHO and the British government? I don't know. All I know is that my experiences there doesn't reflect those "statistics". And most Cuban travelers and expats who have actually used the system tend to agree with me.
Yeah thats one of the many critisms, since the missle crises there econemy has been pretty much screwed and so everything is underfunded.
I really think the whole "embargo" thing is so overrated. While it certainly hasn't helped their economy, I don't think it has anything to do with their problems. I haven't noticed a lot of American products in SE Asia either and they don't seem to be crippled by it. Hardly anything is made here anymore anyway. Now if China were to embargo them, that would be a horse of a very different color. But of course Cuba has had excellent relations with their communist brothers in the Chinese government for a long time. I think the embargo is more a sign of American arrogance to think that it would significantly hurt them than anything else.
Actually i cant find the quote right now, but apparently their healthcare & education systems are seen as key reasons that the regime has lasted so long.
Whoever sees it that way, their view is not shared by any Cubans that I have met. Not even the few Communist party members that I have known. Oh god. Let's not even get into the education system. Have you ever been to a country without libraries or bookstores? I have never traveled to a country with so few books in my life. The schools don't even seem to have textbooks. Instead they have some kind of weird notebook things. At least that was the case for some high school and university students that I knew. I actually asked them about that issue specifically but I don't remember what they said exactly. I don't know how widespread the lack of real textbooks are, but it seems a bit difficult to learn without textbooks. I guess in a country like Cuba textbooks are seen as an extravagant luxury. Actually my ex-girlfriend went to school for 4 years to study to be a waitress, which is a prestigious job in that country. I'm not sure whether I consider that to be funny or sad. At least she did get the job. She still works as a waitress, making about $14/month with tips. I think the reason the regime has lasted so long has a lot more to do with Cu
As a person who has visted alot of.cu websites (suck it, Bush!) there is alot of stuff that America is missing that the Cubans have. Can you give an example or are you referring to the websites themselves being better? Since you have sort of implied the question in my mind, let me see if I can answer it for you. What does Cuba have that "America" is missing? 14 year old prostitutes who will sleep with you for about $35. You sure as hell can't find that in America. Used to be only $20 but inflation is a bitch. Although they are pretty hard to find these days. Most of them are in prison now. You've heard the saying "hunger is the greatest aphrodisiac". Lets see... Some of their vegetables, most notably the Yuca and Malanga (delicious potato-like root vegetables) are much much better than you can find in North America. They have those green oranges (the skin is green) that are so sour and just incredible. A bit like Minneola tangelos but much better IMO. I assume they are just very fresh unripe oranges. Nice climate, except in the summer or in the center of the island. If you like dancing Cubans are widely regarded as the best in the world. And of course if you like salsa music. The people are very laid back although that may also have something to do with the fact that even when you work you really don't get paid. I can't think of anything else at the moment. So what were you going to say? I am curious.
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I forgot about WWII. I have to admit the Nazis were pretty damn evil by nearly any definition. And I guess you are right about the viability of a computer game war. I was just thinking how nice and civilized it would be. But robots against robots would be an excellent and very geeky way to fight a war. In the same way that today targeting civilians is frowned upon perhaps in some distant future people may have the same attitude about attacking any humans at all. Sure the occasional robot may go on a human killing spree but as long as it is considered unacceptable (in the same way that chem/bio or nuclear is generally considered unacceptable today) to target humans, humanity will have made a great step forward. Although the robots may not be so happy about it as our new class of very disposable war slaves.
Being Christian means being intimately tied to the Jewish faith, but with the addition of another third of bible or so.
This assumption you are making here is just wrong. You need to study more or at least less biased history. Surely you are aware that Christians are the ones who persecuted and murdered more Jews than anyone else. Adolf Hitler was a Christian. Muslims haven't really killed many Jews as AFAIK. And they certainly haven't persecuted them or specifically singled them out. Christians have absolutely no love for Jews. That is one thing that Christians and Muslims definitely have in common. I don't know if this idea of Christians and Jews getting along so well has come from living in a Muslim country (I have no idea if you do). I used to live in Malaysia and I encountered a lot of negative stereotypes of Jews while there. And most people I met had never even met a Jew. Yet they are so sure they know all about them. Jewish Americans have basically no political influence in this country. Israel is basically the only country in the world where that is the case.
As for supporting Muslim theocracies, you need to offer some examples of before I can properly respond. But guessing at your meaning, I might point out that Muslim theocracies also support the U.S., (Saudi Arabia and its ilk);
Well I was mainly thinking of Saudi Arabia actually. But there is also Malaysia, which may not be a theocracy but does have a Muslim majority and a police force to enforce Muslim laws (although they leave non-Muslims alone). We also have excellent relations with Turkey and Indonesia and are on pretty good terms with Pakistan I think.
One other thing that you seem not to be getting. In fact it might even be the main misunderstanding here. Americans for the most part are just not religious. I know it can seem that way sometimes. Especially if you ever watch our political speeches or maybe even some of our movies. But this country has become much more secular than it used to be. Religion is just not an important force in peoples lives here. And the younger the generation the more likely it is to be true. I can't remember the last person I met that actually read the bible or who spends more than 1 day a year in church. They may say that they believe in Christianity but they live their lives just like an atheist would. IOW you couldn't tell they believed in a God based on their actions.
Although I have never been to the middle east, I have spent a great deal of time in Malaysia and some time in Indonesia and the situation is very different there. People don't just believe in their religion they actually live it. I have a friend who is working on her PhD in something like "Islamic Studies" (I can't remember the exact title). She is a (Chinese) Atheist herself and thinks religion is mostly pretty silly, but she is fascinated by Islam, its customs and people. She told me that one of the things that fascinated her most was how deeply religious they were. She believed (and I concur) that the Muslim religion is maybe the last one on earth with followers who mostly are still fully devoted to it. Who actually live their lives in a different way because of their religious beliefs. So if you are from a Muslim country it may be difficult for you to get the idea that religion just doesn't work that way elsewhere. Almost no one really takes it seriously like Muslims do. Except maybe for our fundamentalist nut jobs. And we do have some of those. Maybe even as little as 100 years ago it wasn't like this here. But it is now. And you need to understand this before you can even begin to understand the US and many other countries with predominately Christian populations.
So your idea of some sort of (very questionable) brotherhood between Christianity and Judaism having anything at all to do with the US support of Israel is way off base. The US is allied with Israel for political reasons. Israel is the only democracy and only non-Arab country in the region. Like Turkey they are just
How many nukes would I be allowed to use?
I am a lot less concerned about foreign/military uses for this tech and a lot more concerned with domestic/police use. Does any of us doubt that this will eventually trickle down to the corrupt stupid thug/bullies known as the police? A scary thought. Although I don't think the first generation of mobile surveillance "bugs" are going to be a threat indoors, I do think it will happen eventually.
You are aware that not every country has long range ballistic missiles and nuclear warheads? So in many cases nuking a country from the other side of the world would be perfectly feasible without any (direct) retribution. In fact even some members of the nuclear club lack long range ballistic missiles not only because they may be hard to make but also because they probably feel they don't need them. The reason no country has ever used a nuclear weapon against another country since WWII has a lot more to do with the negative PR of such an act and their total impracticality as weapons than worrying about retribution. Most "threats" these days are asymmetrical. It is quite rare for opponents to be evenly matched. Don't be so disingenuous.
Those jammers worked by sending back an active signal as soon as they detected an incoming one. The circuitry was fast enough to do the job. Supposedly they would get a "no reading possible" or something on their display. Aside from the real deal of not getting pulled over after getting nailed at high speed, I also used to test it against those police displays that are supposed to show your speed. It usually worked but not always. Sometimes it would show a speed like 10mph higher than I was going. Also it could be a problem in traffic with cars that had radar detectors. The unit would get quite a few false positives and then all the cars with detectors would jam on their brakes forcing me to drive even slower.
Nowadays there are really too many different threats to guard against them all. What amazes me is that there are laser jammers that supposedly work. I would have thought that to be much more difficult. Turns out to be easier.
OMG. I had no idea that Israeli chicks were so hot. It would almost be a privilege to be killed by one. Now I know why we are on their side. We can't we recruit hot girls like that into our military? There should be some sort of international law against bombing or attacking countries with a high per capita hot girl ratio. Do the arab countries know about this? Too bad about the language though. It's one of the few languages that sounds worse than German to my ear. Of course Arabic is even worse. Clearing your throat should never be used as a phoneme in any language.
Are you trying to say that the pen is mightier than the sword?
Actually most Cubans seem to believe that poor Americans are literally left to die in the streets if they can't afford the insanely high (and it is) cost of care. It took me quite a while to convince my Cuban friend that this wasn't true. And he usually wasn't one to believe in the government speeches etc. It does seem plausible I must admit. However the truth is quite a bit different. I can't speak for other states, but here in the People's Republic of Massachusetts we basically already have universal health care. Anyone who can show that their income is below a certain point (not sure what exactly) doesn't have to pay for emergency care at all. And in fact a friend of mine who earns no more than maybe $600/month at his "job" even sees a psychiatrist once a week free of charge. That is in addition to seeing a doctor on a regular basis. He doesn't even have a copayment like I do. And of course he doesn't have to pay the (approx.) $500/month for good health insurance. The cost of health insurance in the US truly has gotten out of control. It is INSANE!
However the level of care here is really, really good. And if you are poor enough you get it for free. It is really only the lower middle class who make slightly above the minimum income requirement who really get screwed. In some cases I would even agree that having some of the best doctors and hospitals in the world is useless when you can't ever afford to see them. $500/month is a pretty good chunk of change. Not everyone can afford that. So I guess the trick is not to work so much so as to exceed the minimum income requirement for free care.
Just a couple of weeks ago I had what was probably my very first migraine headache. It lasted 3 or 4 days. A continuous headache. I didn't even know that was possible. So I called my doctor (HMO primary care physician) and he told me to go to the ER. As soon as I arrived they asked me some questions and almost immediately gave me a CT scan. I didn't even have to ask for one. I'm sure that scan cost at least $1200. Probably $1500. For a headache. I don't believe that any of the countries I have lived in other than the US would have given me a high tech brain scan for a headache. Hell, I'm not even sure Cuba has one. Maybe Cira Garcia. But Cira Garcia aint free.
The preexisting issue is a major one though. The problem is that it is just "insurance", and that most people have it and are covered for most things. So those few who fall through the cracks are really screwed. As private companies I can sympathize with them for not wanting to take a customer who will almost certainly cost them more money than they receive in premiums, but it means that the system as a whole is just not working. Medical care is so expensive that without insurance it is only affordable to very wealthy Americans. And I believe part of the reason medical care is so expensive is that most people have insurance and don't need to pay anything. At least not directly. This is a real problem IMHO. And it is only going to get worse.
If I didn't have insurance, and I needed some expensive procedure, I would fly to Colombia or Argentina or Thailand to have it done. But it still isn't cheap. Typically about 1/4 the cost of the US. Sometimes less.
A UK House of Commons Health Select Committee, spent months over there looking at it
I don't know what to say to that. What did they say about Cuban medicine specifically? I have been to Cuban clinics where the nurses reuse needles, just dunking them in hot water or maybe alcohol (I'm not sure what it was) between patients. I had to specifically request (and pay for) a fresh disposable needle for my girlfriend. I am not making this up. Very few drugs are available. Just some basic antibiotics (but nothing fancy or expensive), some aspirin etc. My friend's wife was pregnant and very sick and she was prescribed vitamins. I can perfectly understand why you would believe them over some slashdot poster. Go ahead and believe them. I can't stop you.
But given thier underfunding i find it quite impressive that they only rank 2 places below the US according to the WHO (they seam to know a thing or two about health)
Even given their lack of funding I still would never describe Cuban health care as "impressive". I won't deny that WHO knows about medicine, but that rating is beyond ludicrous. I can't explain it at all. I don't understand how that could happen. Maybe if Colombia or Argentina or Thailand had gotten that rating. But Cuba? It is completely insane. If you ever go there I think you will see it for yourself. Until then I guess you just have to believe what you consider the most probable. I was in the same position before I moved there. My Cuban friend was amazed when I told him the kind of reputation that Cuba has in the rest of the world for health care. His idea was that Fidel was just very good with propaganda. But could he really fool WHO and the British government? I don't know. All I know is that my experiences there doesn't reflect those "statistics". And most Cuban travelers and expats who have actually used the system tend to agree with me.
Yeah thats one of the many critisms, since the missle crises there econemy has been pretty much screwed and so everything is underfunded.
I really think the whole "embargo" thing is so overrated. While it certainly hasn't helped their economy, I don't think it has anything to do with their problems. I haven't noticed a lot of American products in SE Asia either and they don't seem to be crippled by it. Hardly anything is made here anymore anyway. Now if China were to embargo them, that would be a horse of a very different color. But of course Cuba has had excellent relations with their communist brothers in the Chinese government for a long time. I think the embargo is more a sign of American arrogance to think that it would significantly hurt them than anything else.
Actually i cant find the quote right now, but apparently their healthcare & education systems are seen as key reasons that the regime has lasted so long.
Whoever sees it that way, their view is not shared by any Cubans that I have met. Not even the few Communist party members that I have known. Oh god. Let's not even get into the education system. Have you ever been to a country without libraries or bookstores? I have never traveled to a country with so few books in my life. The schools don't even seem to have textbooks. Instead they have some kind of weird notebook things. At least that was the case for some high school and university students that I knew. I actually asked them about that issue specifically but I don't remember what they said exactly. I don't know how widespread the lack of real textbooks are, but it seems a bit difficult to learn without textbooks. I guess in a country like Cuba textbooks are seen as an extravagant luxury. Actually my ex-girlfriend went to school for 4 years to study to be a waitress, which is a prestigious job in that country. I'm not sure whether I consider that to be funny or sad. At least she did get the job. She still works as a waitress, making about $14/month with tips. I think the reason the regime has lasted so long has a lot more to do with Cu