I could have used that money as a down payment towards an iHouse or an iCar...
Just be proud that you helped pay for the $100,000,000.00 that Apple gave iU2 for the album
Under the deal between Apple and the band where Bono is one of the members, U2 "gives away" the album on iTune and for that, Apple awards them with a cool Two Hundred Million United States Greenbacks
Thomas Jefferson was a dangerous fool, this country would do well to forget him
If you are from North Korea, you are right
But if you are an American, take my advice --- get a visa, fly to North Korea, and when you arrive at North Korea, tear that North Korean visa to shred and demand a political asylum !
If the "five eyes" limit their surveillance on the people of their respective five countries the 'national security" argument could still be applied
But what TFA is describing has gone way beyond their respective national border. Their aim is to extend their authoritarian control over THE ENTIRE WORLD and this is the one thing that the whole world must reject
Not since the dawn of time _any_ one entity has the control of the entire planet - As a comparison, even the largest empire ever was, the British Empire, in its peak, controlled less than 25% of the world
The worldwide hegemony must be defeated, dismantled and destroyed, or our future, the future of the Human Race, will forever be shrouded under a thick layer of very dark cloud
Following those same lines I predict China will build five more carriers amidst rising tensions in the Pacific
I was from China, and have been keeping a very close eye on what's happening in China. Please allow me to chime in
China is not America
Unlike America China does not have any ambition of global control, nor any need to become the world's policeman
China's immediate concern is the South China Sea and the Yellow Sea - open lanes to the Pacific and the Indian oceans
China will do everything it can to ensure that it gets a free passage way in both the abovementioned seas --- and China knows America/Japan are the two entities which will throw the monkey wrench into the clockwork whenever they got the chance
The floating military base concept is a concept started by ambitious countries which want global domination, like Japan, America, Great Britain, and since China does not share such ambition, China actually does not need aircraft carriers
And the fact that China has devoted a lot of research into anti-aircraft carrier weapons, like their scramjet powered missiles tells us that the "Liaoning" is but an experiment
Although China does not need any aircraft carrier it does need to understand how to operate one, and it does need its own military (Navy/Air Force) to be able to fly off/land on aircraft carriers, just in case
And another reason for having the Liaoning is psychological --- like everything else in China, everything is scripted according to the Art of War
China's intention on Aircraft Carriers is to force America into building more, and with more carrier groups, the massive expenditure will only bankrupt America faster
This "aircraft carrier game" is not the first game China plays with USA
When USA came out with its "stealth fighters" in the 1980's China had none, but China somehow gave the impression to the world that they are making their moves in that area (which include having a few photos of "made in China stealth bomber" online) and that essentially forced America to waste even more of its precious resources into obtaining even more advanced versions of stealth bombers/fighters to the tune of hundreds of billions (the hundreds of billions which could, theoretically, be used to improve the falling education system inside America, but I digress)
China knows too well that if WW3 is going to come it will a total wipe out - that is why if you guys pay attention to what China is doing, the aircraft carrier / stealth aircraft things are nothing but a big bluff crafted to lure the enemies into wasting their own resources into things that will turn out to be totally worthless
Just because someone happens to be a "Researcher" does not mean he or she is automagically smart
Even after that Nina girl pulled off a single-atom layer of Boron Nitrite - which is structurally very similar to Graphene - without dousing it with strong oxydizing agents, she couldn't muster the confidence that it might be possible the same procedure would work with Graphene as well --- she rather trust the so-called consensus , instead
Methinks BBC did what they did on the advise of their lawyers, and I am sure that there are still plenty of good people within BBC who can discern good from bad, right from wrong
So... why don't all of us contact BBC and tell them what we think ?
If they can regenerate brain cells using the stem cells, a lot of brain-related illnesses / injuries might be cured - from ALS to Alzheimer Disease to people suffering from brain hemorrhages / tumors / cancers to diseases such as Japanese Encephalitis which affected the brain, and so on
Who knows? They might even find ways to cure stupidity
The rest of your story is great, but saying most Americans are pushing to give up guns is facking stupid and not true.
I said "many", not "most"
And the worse part is, many of my fellow Americans are supporting that change --- for they want the government to make the "hate things"(like "hate speech") illegal, and they want the government to take away all the firearms (for safety), and they want to government to take away their liberty so that the government could "protect them"
Glad to read your reply, very thought provoking, even when you post it under an AC
Thanks !
Isn't having fun and sharing life with others the pinnacle of being human? I hardly see anything wrong with the example you presented
Technically you are correct, Sir
There is nothing wrong with having fun and sharing a good time with someone you love
But what I am talking about is not that fun-saturday-night-in-a-cabin-with-girlfriend
The gist of my point is on the "life-is-good" part. Too many of my fellow Americans only care about that part and never pay any attention to what the government is doing
The "good life" that my fellow Americans are having is like a frog being slowly boiled - and before long, all of us will be cooked
With the climate nowadays 1st Amendment does not offer any real protection of free speech anymore
You can be accused of "hate speech", you can be prosecuted under whatever trumped up charge they can cook up, and they can silence you with their "national security" privileges - and the unknown number of secretive laws there are (so secret that we may not know the extent of those laws) can be used at any given time to shut anybody and everybody up, by any mean
Back when I arrived in America I had no passport. I was a refugee from a Communist Country, yearning for freedom, liberty and democracy, a place where I can think freely, without being told how to think or what to think
When I reached America, to me, at least, it was paradise - I felt that "freedom" that I never got to enjoy when I was in China
Of course I did not know anything about "Operation Mocking Bird", or anything similar - but even if I did know, at that time, America was still "free-ier" than the China that I ran away from
Today, however, if I were to be truthful to myself, I could no longer say the same thing
Sure, China is still a repressive country, but the America that I loved so much has slowly creeping towards the authoritarian style of government
And the worse part is, many of my fellow Americans are supporting that change --- for they want the government to make the "hate things"(like "hate speech") illegal, and they want the government to take away all the firearms (for safety), and they want to government to take away their liberty so that the government could "protect them"
That is the America of today, very different from the America when I first arrive in, some decades ago
As late as the 1980's there were still true independent press in America
Yes, there were the "fringe", but at the very least, they were around
Nowadays? The so called indie-press are no longer truly independence - they either belong to the extreme-left-wing, or extreme-right-wing, subscribing to either the view of the ultra-liberal, or those of the ultra-conservative
I ran away from China during the Cultural Revolution. During that time, the so-called "Press" in China are but mouthpiece of the CCP - every piece of "news" from them are of the excellence of Chairman Mao and the Communist Party, and how the people must defeat the ugly filthy enemy of the revolutionaries
I ran away from China because I couldn't stand such thing. I ended up in the United States of America because back then the U. S. of A. was the epitome of liberty, freedom and democracy (at least to a Chinese refugee)
Nowadays America, my adopted country, has turned into something that I ran away from, where the "Press" no longer collaborate with the authority, where the "Media" willingly becomes the mouthpiece of the power that be
Many of my fellow Chinese from China - especially the older generation - know how bad such system can be, and the sufferings of the people under that kind of depressive government
On the other hand, many of my fellow Americans do not understand the situation they are in - for them, as long as they get to kick back with their girlfriend in a cabin on Saturday night, life is good
Truth is that nobody has any clue as to how to contain this ebola epidermic in West Africa
The fact that WHO came out with this "blood transfusion" idea tells us that they have run out of ideas on what to do next
Liberia is issuing a total clamp down on its local population for 3 days, starting September 18th - which in theory can allow the medical personnel to check who is sick, who is not, who to isolate, and whatnot - but which will not work in the reality since there are so many unknowns, so many other things that nobody has yet to considered that will come into play when the things actually transpire
Okay, I read the articles, and I cannot keep the parties straight. Who did what and who is claiming what? Can this be expressed as a simple bulleted list. Too much lawyer. Many nomenclature
While this case is a little bit odd (with all the mixed-up parties, mixed up copyrights, mixed-up codes, mixed-up claims) we shouldn't let ourselves be confused by it
Instead, if we take a step back the picture looks clear --- it's the DMCA that is fueling all these takedown requests
When I landed in the States I found myself amazed with all the grizzly things and I found myself, a refugee fresh from communist China, being the dumb one, as everybody else was smarter than me
Later on as I enrolled into college, I found that my professors were very smart, because they knew things that I didn't know
And more later on when I got out of college I found many other people, people of the company I worked for and people outside of the company but still in the same job field, were much smarter than me because there were so many things that I could learn from them
I have worked with some legendary programmers in the more than 30 years I have been in this field, and yes, there were all much smarter than me
So, how do you define "smart" ?
For me, that goal post of "smartness" kept on shifting, as I grew from a stage of my life to another - For example: those Americans whom I found so smart when I first arrived in America, in hindsight, were not smart at all. They were lucky to be born in this country, that's all
Plus I sincerely doubt that the students from elite universities are "smarter" - In my own experience, most of those who came working with me with sheepskin issued by elite universities are not really smarter than those who came without any official sheepskin
Connections are crucial, but, there is a very BIG but, if one solely relies on the connections he or she fosters when the individual was in the college, then that individual is a loser
I did what I did, from a refugee, into someone who have thousands of co-workers all around the world, partly because of the connections that I have fostered through all the stages of my life
The kicker is, over 90% of those connections that I rely on are the connections I've made _after_ I came out of college
Connections I have from the Silicon Valley enable me to enjoy a certain "respectable" position when I am in Asia, which open a lot of doors for me, even the doors to foreign governments
Which is why I am always amused by those who stress so much on the connections that they foster through their alma mater --- life does not only evolve around college
Couples of years ago I invested in startups doing apps as at that time the app market has yet to mature
After the 'angry bird' phenomena when everyone and their dog wants to get in, I started to divest
Now, I still invest in startups, but none of them are in the "app business" - the app market is a fools' gold right now
I am not saying that there is no more new idea in the App space - what I am saying is that with so many people getting involve, the _noise_ level has gotten so loud it even genuinely clever ideas might not get noticed anymore
No matter if one can write high level code or whatnots, it still gonna be linked to the economy
People do not hire IT workers just because they have too much money - people hire IT workers because their companies have IT problems to be solved
And... this is the kicker... when the economy is not expanding, companies don't see their profit jumps, and when that happen, they will start looking for ways to save money, and one way to save money is to NOT hiring
The spending power of the people inside the U. S. of A. ain't booming - plus, the US exports also not growing leaps and bounds either
Face it, the economy of the United States of America hasn't been in too great a shape since the 1990's, and the future sure ain't look so bright
Slashdot Mirror
I could have used that money as a down payment towards an iHouse or an iCar...
Just be proud that you helped pay for the $100,000,000.00 that Apple gave iU2 for the album
Under the deal between Apple and the band where Bono is one of the members, U2 "gives away" the album on iTune and for that, Apple awards them with a cool Two Hundred Million United States Greenbacks
Thomas Jefferson was a dangerous fool, this country would do well to forget him
If you are from North Korea, you are right
But if you are an American, take my advice --- get a visa, fly to North Korea, and when you arrive at North Korea, tear that North Korean visa to shred and demand a political asylum !
The guise of national security ...
If the "five eyes" limit their surveillance on the people of their respective five countries the 'national security" argument could still be applied
But what TFA is describing has gone way beyond their respective national border. Their aim is to extend their authoritarian control over THE ENTIRE WORLD and this is the one thing that the whole world must reject
Not since the dawn of time _any_ one entity has the control of the entire planet - As a comparison, even the largest empire ever was, the British Empire, in its peak, controlled less than 25% of the world
The worldwide hegemony must be defeated, dismantled and destroyed, or our future, the future of the Human Race, will forever be shrouded under a thick layer of very dark cloud
we understand that it is a normal behavior for totalitarian regime
Has the United States of America become a member of The Totalitarian Club ?
Dang !
We were searching high and low in America for that fella he slipped out and went to Greece !!
Following those same lines I predict China will build five more carriers amidst rising tensions in the Pacific
I was from China, and have been keeping a very close eye on what's happening in China. Please allow me to chime in
China is not America
Unlike America China does not have any ambition of global control, nor any need to become the world's policeman
China's immediate concern is the South China Sea and the Yellow Sea - open lanes to the Pacific and the Indian oceans
China will do everything it can to ensure that it gets a free passage way in both the abovementioned seas --- and China knows America/Japan are the two entities which will throw the monkey wrench into the clockwork whenever they got the chance
The floating military base concept is a concept started by ambitious countries which want global domination, like Japan, America, Great Britain, and since China does not share such ambition, China actually does not need aircraft carriers
And the fact that China has devoted a lot of research into anti-aircraft carrier weapons, like their scramjet powered missiles tells us that the "Liaoning" is but an experiment
Although China does not need any aircraft carrier it does need to understand how to operate one, and it does need its own military (Navy/Air Force) to be able to fly off/land on aircraft carriers, just in case
And another reason for having the Liaoning is psychological --- like everything else in China, everything is scripted according to the Art of War
China's intention on Aircraft Carriers is to force America into building more, and with more carrier groups, the massive expenditure will only bankrupt America faster
This "aircraft carrier game" is not the first game China plays with USA
When USA came out with its "stealth fighters" in the 1980's China had none, but China somehow gave the impression to the world that they are making their moves in that area (which include having a few photos of "made in China stealth bomber" online) and that essentially forced America to waste even more of its precious resources into obtaining even more advanced versions of stealth bombers/fighters to the tune of hundreds of billions (the hundreds of billions which could, theoretically, be used to improve the falling education system inside America, but I digress)
China knows too well that if WW3 is going to come it will a total wipe out - that is why if you guys pay attention to what China is doing, the aircraft carrier / stealth aircraft things are nothing but a big bluff crafted to lure the enemies into wasting their own resources into things that will turn out to be totally worthless
Just because someone happens to be a "Researcher" does not mean he or she is automagically smart
Even after that Nina girl pulled off a single-atom layer of Boron Nitrite - which is structurally very similar to Graphene - without dousing it with strong oxydizing agents, she couldn't muster the confidence that it might be possible the same procedure would work with Graphene as well --- she rather trust the so-called consensus , instead
If you really want to visit the largest e-waste site on Earth you won't find it in China
Because it is in Africa
http://www.theguardian.com/env...
Methinks BBC did what they did on the advise of their lawyers, and I am sure that there are still plenty of good people within BBC who can discern good from bad, right from wrong
So ... why don't all of us contact BBC and tell them what we think ?
Their website is at http://bbc.com/
You can contact them via http://www.bbc.co.uk/faqs/cont...
Or file a complaint at http://www.bbc.co.uk/complaint...
Their worldservice email address is at worldservice.letters@bbc.co.uk
Their FB page is at https://www.facebook.com/bbcwo...
Let them know, let BBC know how wrong they are about VPN
"The answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe and everything is 42"
--- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Brain is the most wonderful organ there is
If they can regenerate brain cells using the stem cells, a lot of brain-related illnesses / injuries might be cured - from ALS to Alzheimer Disease to people suffering from brain hemorrhages / tumors / cancers to diseases such as Japanese Encephalitis which affected the brain, and so on
Who knows? They might even find ways to cure stupidity
The rest of your story is great, but saying most Americans are pushing to give up guns is facking stupid and not true.
I said "many", not "most"
And the worse part is, many of my fellow Americans are supporting that change --- for they want the government to make the "hate things"(like "hate speech") illegal, and they want the government to take away all the firearms (for safety), and they want to government to take away their liberty so that the government could "protect them"
Glad to read your reply, very thought provoking, even when you post it under an AC
Thanks !
Isn't having fun and sharing life with others the pinnacle of being human? I hardly see anything wrong with the example you presented
Technically you are correct, Sir
There is nothing wrong with having fun and sharing a good time with someone you love
But what I am talking about is not that fun-saturday-night-in-a-cabin-with-girlfriend
The gist of my point is on the "life-is-good" part. Too many of my fellow Americans only care about that part and never pay any attention to what the government is doing
The "good life" that my fellow Americans are having is like a frog being slowly boiled - and before long, all of us will be cooked
With the climate nowadays 1st Amendment does not offer any real protection of free speech anymore
You can be accused of "hate speech", you can be prosecuted under whatever trumped up charge they can cook up, and they can silence you with their "national security" privileges - and the unknown number of secretive laws there are (so secret that we may not know the extent of those laws) can be used at any given time to shut anybody and everybody up, by any mean
Back when I arrived in America I had no passport. I was a refugee from a Communist Country, yearning for freedom, liberty and democracy, a place where I can think freely, without being told how to think or what to think
When I reached America, to me, at least, it was paradise - I felt that "freedom" that I never got to enjoy when I was in China
Of course I did not know anything about "Operation Mocking Bird", or anything similar - but even if I did know, at that time, America was still "free-ier" than the China that I ran away from
Today, however, if I were to be truthful to myself, I could no longer say the same thing
Sure, China is still a repressive country, but the America that I loved so much has slowly creeping towards the authoritarian style of government
And the worse part is, many of my fellow Americans are supporting that change --- for they want the government to make the "hate things"(like "hate speech") illegal, and they want the government to take away all the firearms (for safety), and they want to government to take away their liberty so that the government could "protect them"
That is the America of today, very different from the America when I first arrive in, some decades ago
... than Obama does for America
No matter how you hate Putin, that fella at least did something for *HIS* country ... unlike that guy in the White House, the one with "no strategy"
As late as the 1980's there were still true independent press in America
Yes, there were the "fringe", but at the very least, they were around
Nowadays? The so called indie-press are no longer truly independence - they either belong to the extreme-left-wing, or extreme-right-wing, subscribing to either the view of the ultra-liberal, or those of the ultra-conservative
I came from China
I ran away from China during the Cultural Revolution. During that time, the so-called "Press" in China are but mouthpiece of the CCP - every piece of "news" from them are of the excellence of Chairman Mao and the Communist Party, and how the people must defeat the ugly filthy enemy of the revolutionaries
I ran away from China because I couldn't stand such thing. I ended up in the United States of America because back then the U. S. of A. was the epitome of liberty, freedom and democracy (at least to a Chinese refugee)
Nowadays America, my adopted country, has turned into something that I ran away from, where the "Press" no longer collaborate with the authority, where the "Media" willingly becomes the mouthpiece of the power that be
Many of my fellow Chinese from China - especially the older generation - know how bad such system can be, and the sufferings of the people under that kind of depressive government
On the other hand, many of my fellow Americans do not understand the situation they are in - for them, as long as they get to kick back with their girlfriend in a cabin on Saturday night, life is good
All I can say is that I am sad, very sad
Why are the link to Marching ants got screwed ?
Here I post the link as it is - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M...
I am wondering for some time
Truth is that nobody has any clue as to how to contain this ebola epidermic in West Africa
The fact that WHO came out with this "blood transfusion" idea tells us that they have run out of ideas on what to do next
Liberia is issuing a total clamp down on its local population for 3 days, starting September 18th - which in theory can allow the medical personnel to check who is sick, who is not, who to isolate, and whatnot - but which will not work in the reality since there are so many unknowns, so many other things that nobody has yet to considered that will come into play when the things actually transpire
Okay, I read the articles, and I cannot keep the parties straight. Who did what and who is claiming what? Can this be expressed as a simple bulleted list. Too much lawyer. Many nomenclature
While this case is a little bit odd (with all the mixed-up parties, mixed up copyrights, mixed-up codes, mixed-up claims) we shouldn't let ourselves be confused by it
Instead, if we take a step back the picture looks clear --- it's the DMCA that is fueling all these takedown requests
When I landed in the States I found myself amazed with all the grizzly things and I found myself, a refugee fresh from communist China, being the dumb one, as everybody else was smarter than me
Later on as I enrolled into college, I found that my professors were very smart, because they knew things that I didn't know
And more later on when I got out of college I found many other people, people of the company I worked for and people outside of the company but still in the same job field, were much smarter than me because there were so many things that I could learn from them
I have worked with some legendary programmers in the more than 30 years I have been in this field, and yes, there were all much smarter than me
So, how do you define "smart" ?
For me, that goal post of "smartness" kept on shifting, as I grew from a stage of my life to another - For example: those Americans whom I found so smart when I first arrived in America, in hindsight, were not smart at all. They were lucky to be born in this country, that's all
Plus I sincerely doubt that the students from elite universities are "smarter" - In my own experience, most of those who came working with me with sheepskin issued by elite universities are not really smarter than those who came without any official sheepskin
Mostly connections
Connections are crucial, but, there is a very BIG but, if one solely relies on the connections he or she fosters when the individual was in the college, then that individual is a loser
I did what I did, from a refugee, into someone who have thousands of co-workers all around the world, partly because of the connections that I have fostered through all the stages of my life
The kicker is, over 90% of those connections that I rely on are the connections I've made _after_ I came out of college
Connections I have from the Silicon Valley enable me to enjoy a certain "respectable" position when I am in Asia, which open a lot of doors for me, even the doors to foreign governments
Which is why I am always amused by those who stress so much on the connections that they foster through their alma mater --- life does not only evolve around college
Couples of years ago I invested in startups doing apps as at that time the app market has yet to mature
After the 'angry bird' phenomena when everyone and their dog wants to get in, I started to divest
Now, I still invest in startups, but none of them are in the "app business" - the app market is a fools' gold right now
I am not saying that there is no more new idea in the App space - what I am saying is that with so many people getting involve, the _noise_ level has gotten so loud it even genuinely clever ideas might not get noticed anymore
... the economy of US is not booming
No matter if one can write high level code or whatnots, it still gonna be linked to the economy
People do not hire IT workers just because they have too much money - people hire IT workers because their companies have IT problems to be solved
And ... this is the kicker ... when the economy is not expanding, companies don't see their profit jumps, and when that happen, they will start looking for ways to save money, and one way to save money is to NOT hiring
The spending power of the people inside the U. S. of A. ain't booming - plus, the US exports also not growing leaps and bounds either
Face it, the economy of the United States of America hasn't been in too great a shape since the 1990's, and the future sure ain't look so bright