The U.S. has always made nuclear contingency plans.
In the 70's, the U.S. developed the neutron bomb. It kills all the people but leaves buildings standing (sounds familiar?! It minimizes collateral damage, but gets the bastards causing us problems). Also, tactical nukes (battlefield level devices as opposed to strategic - i.e. ICBMs) have always existed in the U.S. arsenal.
Nobody creates weapons without having specific plans on where or when they might be used. Also, to get funding, you need to justify the existence of such a program. It can't be done unless you write a report first.
I was in military intelligence in the 1980's. There is nothing new about this story.
Let me see, Microsoft Corp. has a market cap. of 332,332 million dollars.
AOL/Time Warner has a market cap. of 115,003 million dollars.
That means that Microsoft is twice the size in terms of market capitalization value, and they have been judged a monopoly, and they have gone out of their way to destroy all of their competition. (Sorry, folks, but Linux on the desktop sucks and doesn't stand a chance. Plus Linux, at best, will share the server market with Microsoft.)
AOL/Time Warner is diversified and completes in a number of different markets against a number of strong competitors.
The fact of the matter is that the overwhelming majority of Morpheus users don't know what GPL is or what source code does.
I don't use Morpheus however, the author must be a real dumb shit to think that 99.99% of the users downloading Morpheus care what GPL is or whether they have access to the source code.
Morpheus users just want to download and get stuff for free. They probably read the GPL as closely as they read Microsoft's EULA, which is to say, they skip over the text and go straight to the install.
WordPerfect has historically been the most heavily used work processing program in the legal world.
Almost every lawyer I know, they and their staff still use WordPerfect because of the macro and template boilerplates specifically geared towards the legal profession.
In Word Perfect you can put a single macro directory on your file server and point all the users to that directory to share the same macros. While it's possible to do the same with MS Word, it's a lot tricker.
Also, once the legal people get used to the FXX keystoke sequence of WP, they can type quickly without having to use the mouse and waste time by pointing and clicking, and going through the menu and toolbars.
I haven't used Word Perfect in years, but for the legal people, Word Perfect is the work processing tool of their profession.
While it's true that ASP is flexible in letting you choose which component you wish to use, the fact remains that VBScript is the overwhelming favorite.
As an independent contractor seeing a custom component or app written in something other than VBScript running on IIS happens once in a blue moon. I've never seen it, but I always read about someone doing it.
The bottom line is that VBScript is the dominant choice for ASP much like VB is the dominant choice for writing apps for MS Windows. Other alternatives exist, but they are in the minority.
Other than that I find Flash to be incredibly annoying. I've closed the web browser rather than deal with an irritating Flash opening page that has no skip intro function.
Flash is fun for the first couple of times that you see it. After that, it's a nuisance. Besides, I pay as much attention to a Flash image as I do a pop-up advertising banner. When the Flash graphic comes up, the first thing I look for is the skip intro link. If I don't see it, I kill the browser and make a mental note not to visit that site again unless I have absolutely no alternative.
Let's face it, other than dorks and geeks, very very few people use Star Office. M$ owns the office productivity market.
In all the places I've done work for, I've never seen a Solaris box used to run Star Office. The same applies to Linux. I've only seen Solaris and Linux used to act as servers not personal workstations.
For the price of one Solaris SPARC box, I can buy 3 Intel/AMD machines running Linux that are just as fast.
M$ owns the office application suite market, so this change is pricing is meaningless.
What's the difference between paying $30 a year for access to a site and getting a yearly magazine subscription?!
Well, the major difference is content. Some sites, i.e./., provide enough content per month to justify any fee based service. The majority of sites on the internet don't provide enough content or quality to justify a monthly fee.
I liked them (and have used them fairly frequently for buying EBay items), however when I accidently sent someone the wrong amount and immediately realized my error, I could not reverse the transaction using *ANY* available option on PayPal. They *USED* to have the ability to correct transactions, but they seem to have quietly changed their rules.
I contacted the buyer and asked them to make an adjustment.
Not being able to correct a payment mistake shows that PayPal is running a peculiar type of business. Credit card companies allow you to void, or correct transactions, but PalPay has taken away the ability to do so. The question is why?
That's for phonorecords only which means audio only recordings. Downloads do not fall into this category. That is how record labels are able to pay for fractions on the penny for digital downloads. This same rule applies to useage in soundtracks.
7.1 per song?! Try 7.55 or 1.45 per minute of playing time which ever is larger. However, record companies can and will discount this rate by as much as 75%. Per Donald Passman's book "All You Need To Know About The Music Business", a lawyer with over 20 years of experience specializing in the music industry.
Since we are talking about digital downloads, the record labels are not constricted by the statutory rate because digital downloads are a "new media" and it isn't covered by any laws on the books. So record companies are legally able to screw over artists by setting their own royalty rates. They can and will put all sorts of suspect charges in an attempt to deprive the artists of their fair share.
1.) Creative accounting makes it appear that they are bleeding money. The purpose of doing so is to avoid paying royalties.
2.) A phenomenon that has occurred in the last 10 years in the record industry is the notion of a "bidding war" for a new unsigned artist. Unproven acts are given budgets in the hundreds of thousands of dollars and are expected to be immediate hits or dropped if they don't. Record labels no longer give the artists the opportunity to grow. Giving one band 500K and telling them they must go platinum or giving 5 bands 100K each and allowing them the chance to mature and grow, it doesn't take a genius to figure out that putting all your eggs in one basket is not a smart business practice.
3.) Record companies have remained profitable due to the profit margin built into compact discs. Artists are largely screwed over on the CD's because if you look at the standard royalty built into most contracts, the artists make approximately the same amount of money per CD as they do per cassette tape. Since CD's cost about $6 more per unit to the consumer, the difference goes to the record labels.
A daisy cutter is dropped by a C-130 using the regular parachute cargo delivery mechanism. Daisy cutters were originally designed to blow LZs (landing zones) in Vietnam so that the U.S. could bring in choppers. Daisy cutters are designed to knock down vegetation without leaving craters. The U.S. used them in the Gulf War and Afghanistan primarily for psychological effect.
You don't carpet bomb a radar installation. A single HARM missile will take out a radar site. Then again, so will a single so-called smart bomb.
Carpet bombing is done to take out large numbers of enemy soldiers dug into wide areas of the surrounding terrain. Carpet bombing is done to supplement artillery or used when artillery is not available.
Baretta makes a.50 cal sniper rifle that is used by many different world armies and police forces.
RPGs (rocket propelled grenades, shaped charges/antitank weapons) were used by the Somalians and North Vietnamese Army against U.S. ground troops (i.e. humans).
The Soviets in Afghanistan routinely used ZSU 23s (23mm cannon) against human targets. Also, most modern aircraft are armed with 20mm, 23mm or 25mm cannons. In addition, the next generation personal weapon the U.S. is testing will be a double barreled hybrid with a 20mm cannon and a 5.56mm rifle barrel mounted in over/under fashion.
I haven't even touched on Blooper (aka Thumper). The M-79 grenade launcher which fires a variety of 40mm ammo. A variation of Blooper mounts underneath the M-16 (CAR-15/M-4).
I think you must be quoting somebody who was quoting somebody who was quoting somebody else from Amnesty International or PETA.
In the six years I spent in the service, I don't ever recall hearing this argument. I know the military cannot use tumblers, dum dum rounds, flat heads or hollow points against human targets. I also know we were not supposed to file, score or scratch the standard steel jacketed round so that it fragments better.
I did not vote for Bush. I am not a fan of Bush either.
However, Bush has not ignored the Geneva Convention. Article 4 clearly states the criteria necessary for classification as a POW (prisoner of war). If you read 4.A.2(b) and 4.A.2(d) you will note immediately that the Taliban and al Qaeda failed these criteria. 4.A.2(b) for the uninitiated means uniforms or clothing that differentiates themselves from the civilian population. Also, al Qaeda fails 4.A.2(a) because purposely targeting civilian targets is not within the rules of war. Giving POW status to the Taliban was generous on the part of the Bush administration because the conduct of the Taliban towards the Tajiks and other ethnic minorities in Afghanistan technically violates 4.A.2(a).
I am not a supporter of Bush's policies or his intelligence but he did make the right call on the Geneva Convention.
For Your Information: Geneva Convention excerpts
Article 4
A. Prisoners of war, in the sense of the present Convention, are persons belonging to one of the following categories, who have fallen into the power of the enemy:
1. Members of the armed forces of a Party to the conflict as well as members of militias or volunteer corps forming part of such armed forces.
2. Members of other militias and members of other volunteer corps, including those of organized resistance movements, belonging to a Party to the conflict and operating in or outside their own territory, even if this territory is occupied, provided that such militias or volunteer corps, including such organized resistance movements, fulfil the following conditions:
(a) That of being commanded by a person responsible for his subordinates;
(b) That of having a fixed distinctive sign recognizable at a distance;
(c) That of carrying arms openly;
(d) That of conducting their operations in accordance with the laws and customs of war.
Why do you have to be so right?!
I like Linux. As a matter of fact I run 6 Linux servers and only 1 Win2000 server. However when I upgraded to the 2.4 kernel I had to get the RedHat 7.2 ISOs because getting the 2.4 kernel source and trying to get the stupid freaking thing to compile *AND* work with my hardware was pure shit.
I'm not going to spend countless hours, days or weeks trying to get the fucking kernel to compile. I have a business to run and the time I spend jerking around trying to compile source is better served by me creating apps that generate *REVENUE*.
Generating revenue means more than being able to get 2.4.XX of the kernel to compile and boot.
BTW, some of my RH Linux servers still run the 2.2.5-15 kernel because Oracle 8.1.7 gets broken by the 2.4.xx kernel and will not run unless you patch your system.
When you are you./ people going to realize that petitions and e-mail have very little impact on executives or politicians?!
For a lot of the decision makers, one signed hand written letter means more than ten thousand e-mails.
This is the way the real world works.....
Re:They can't even identify these "CRIMINALS"
on
Collateral Damage
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· Score: 1
In order to be considered a POW, the Geneva Convention requires that the person in question wear a uniform, and represent a recognized government.
The Taliban do not fit this profile, however the U.S. is willing to give them POW status. Al queda members absolutely do not fit either criteria.
Article 5 of the Geneva Convention, which you vaguely reference, competent tribunal, only applies if Article 4 is in doubt. Also, Article 5 does not say "competent international tribunal". It says "competent tribunal". The tribunal could be an all U.S. tribune and still fall within the letter of the Geneva Convention. So the U.S. does have the authority to classify these people as non-POW's.
Here's Article 4 and Article 5 of the Geneva Convention:
Article 4
A. Prisoners of war, in the sense of the present Convention, are persons belonging to one of the following categories, who have fallen into the power of the enemy:
1. Members of the armed forces of a Party to the conflict as well as members of militias or volunteer corps forming part of such armed forces.
2. Members of other militias and members of other volunteer corps, including those of organized resistance movements, belonging to a Party to the conflict and operating in or outside their own territory, even if this territory is occupied, provided that such militias or volunteer corps, including such organized resistance movements, fulfil the following conditions:
(a) That of being commanded by a person responsible for his subordinates;
(b) That of having a fixed distinctive sign recognizable at a distance;
(c) That of carrying arms openly;
(d) That of conducting their operations in accordance with the laws and customs of war.
3. Members of regular armed forces who profess allegiance to a government or an authority not recognized by the Detaining Power.
4. Persons who accompany the armed forces without actually being members thereof, such as civilian members of military aircraft crews, war correspondents, supply contractors, members of labour units or of services responsible for the welfare of the armed forces, provided that they have received authorization from the armed forces which they accompany, who shall provide them for that purpose with an identity card similar to the annexed model.
Article 5
The present Convention shall apply to the persons referred to in Article 4 from the time they fall into the power of the enemy and until their final release and repatriation.
Should any doubt arise as to whether persons, having committed a belligerent act and having fallen into the hands of the enemy, belong to any of the categories enumerated in Article 4, such persons shall enjoy the protection of the present Convention until such time as their status has been determined by a competent tribunal.
Re:IT'S 11/9 NOT 9/11 IT'S 11/9 NOT 9/11 IT's 11/9
on
Collateral Damage
·
· Score: 1
....however, when I was in the U.S. military, we dated things DD MMM YY. My Dad was also in the miltary and he still writes the date in the DD MMM YY format.
Bin Laden didn't win anything.
The people in power in Afghanistan are the same corrupt people that the Taliban originally replaced.
The US economy is messed up because of the cyclical nature of business. The economy could not expand or be bullish forever. It didn't matter if Gore or Bush got elected the recession was going to happen. I predicted the recession when the dot bombs started to contract in May'2000.
The California (especially Los Angeles) economy was far worse off in '90 than it is today. 9.5% unemployment then versus 6% today.
If the U.S. can't catch Eric Robert Rudolph, the Atlanta bomber and on the FBI's Most Wanted List since 1998, in our own backyard, how in the world are we going to go halfway around the world and nab a truckload of terrorists?!
The Gulf War failed because of Bush Sr.'s staff, and especially Gen. Colin Powell, who was the one determined not to send U.S. troops into Bagdad. Powell didn't mind desert warfare over flat sandy terrain, but urban war was something he did not want to face.
M$ can always do port scanning to find a path to their servers. In addition, adding an alias to their DNS records to bypass users running filtering software takes seconds.
I'm a Java (mostly JSP/servlets) developer for Linux. I'm also a VB developer (apps and IIS) for M$ platforms as well.
I get highly annoyed at the M$ "... your application has performed an illegal operation and will be shut down..." system messages. When these are M$ bugs and not mine.
That being said, the article amazed me with the most obscure languages I've never heard of.
Other that the 1/2 of 1 percent of developers out there, does anyone (outside of the academic community) actually use Smalltalk or Lisp for commercial projects that turn a profit?
I hope that you were expressing sarcasm.
Working as an independent computer consultant, I've had incredibly difficult times just teaching end users the notion of copy and paste, or cut and paste. To many of the end users in today's businesses, copy and paste (or cut and psste) is almost like rocket science to them.
One accountant I tried to demonstrate copy and paste to said to me "That's too hard, isn't there an easier way?"
Let's see, highlight the text, CTRL-C (or CTRL-INSERT), move to where you want to put the text, CTRL-V (or SHIFT-INSERT).
I've got 6 Linux servers, and 1 WinDoze server, and the bottom line about end users (who constitute the majority of the computer users in this world) is that Linux on the desktop is way to cumbersome and difficult. I don't care what the/. people say. I had to put xdm in inittab for one company because their receptionist found that typing her name and password at the console login and then typing "startx" was too difficult. All she did on this Linux machine was run Netscape to check her e-mail and surf the web.
Slashdot Mirror
This is an old story.
The U.S. has always made nuclear contingency plans.
In the 70's, the U.S. developed the neutron bomb. It kills all the people but leaves buildings standing (sounds familiar?! It minimizes collateral damage, but gets the bastards causing us problems). Also, tactical nukes (battlefield level devices as opposed to strategic - i.e. ICBMs) have always existed in the U.S. arsenal.
Nobody creates weapons without having specific plans on where or when they might be used. Also, to get funding, you need to justify the existence of such a program. It can't be done unless you write a report first.
I was in military intelligence in the 1980's. There is nothing new about this story.
France isn't on the list because of their fine wines and cuisine.
Yes, it's the wine and the food that has spared France.....this time.
Let me see, Microsoft Corp. has a market cap. of 332,332 million dollars.
AOL/Time Warner has a market cap. of 115,003 million dollars.
That means that Microsoft is twice the size in terms of market capitalization value, and they have been judged a monopoly, and they have gone out of their way to destroy all of their competition. (Sorry, folks, but Linux on the desktop sucks and doesn't stand a chance. Plus Linux, at best, will share the server market with Microsoft.)
AOL/Time Warner is diversified and completes in a number of different markets against a number of strong competitors.
It looks like you must be an idiot.
The fact of the matter is that the overwhelming majority of Morpheus users don't know what GPL is or what source code does.
I don't use Morpheus however, the author must be a real dumb shit to think that 99.99% of the users downloading Morpheus care what GPL is or whether they have access to the source code.
Morpheus users just want to download and get stuff for free. They probably read the GPL as closely as they read Microsoft's EULA, which is to say, they skip over the text and go straight to the install.
The author needs to get a clue.
WordPerfect has historically been the most heavily used work processing program in the legal world.
Almost every lawyer I know, they and their staff still use WordPerfect because of the macro and template boilerplates specifically geared towards the legal profession.
In Word Perfect you can put a single macro directory on your file server and point all the users to that directory to share the same macros. While it's possible to do the same with MS Word, it's a lot tricker.
Also, once the legal people get used to the FXX keystoke sequence of WP, they can type quickly without having to use the mouse and waste time by pointing and clicking, and going through the menu and toolbars.
I haven't used Word Perfect in years, but for the legal people, Word Perfect is the work processing tool of their profession.
While it's true that ASP is flexible in letting you choose which component you wish to use, the fact remains that VBScript is the overwhelming favorite.
As an independent contractor seeing a custom component or app written in something other than VBScript running on IIS happens once in a blue moon. I've never seen it, but I always read about someone doing it.
The bottom line is that VBScript is the dominant choice for ASP much like VB is the dominant choice for writing apps for MS Windows. Other alternatives exist, but they are in the minority.
Flash routinely crashes one of my computers.
Other than that I find Flash to be incredibly annoying. I've closed the web browser rather than deal with an irritating Flash opening page that has no skip intro function.
Flash is fun for the first couple of times that you see it. After that, it's a nuisance. Besides, I pay as much attention to a Flash image as I do a pop-up advertising banner. When the Flash graphic comes up, the first thing I look for is the skip intro link. If I don't see it, I kill the browser and make a mental note not to visit that site again unless I have absolutely no alternative.
It's concise and gets the point across.
Look under Internet Options -> security -> (select the zone) custom level -> scripting -> active scripting -> disable.
Let's face it, other than dorks and geeks, very very few people use Star Office. M$ owns the office productivity market.
In all the places I've done work for, I've never seen a Solaris box used to run Star Office. The same applies to Linux. I've only seen Solaris and Linux used to act as servers not personal workstations.
For the price of one Solaris SPARC box, I can buy 3 Intel/AMD machines running Linux that are just as fast.
M$ owns the office application suite market, so this change is pricing is meaningless.
What's the difference between paying $30 a year for access to a site and getting a yearly magazine subscription?!
/., provide enough content per month to justify any fee based service. The majority of sites on the internet don't provide enough content or quality to justify a monthly fee.
Well, the major difference is content. Some sites, i.e.
I liked them (and have used them fairly frequently for buying EBay items), however when I accidently sent someone the wrong amount and immediately realized my error, I could not reverse the transaction using *ANY* available option on PayPal. They *USED* to have the ability to correct transactions, but they seem to have quietly changed their rules.
I contacted the buyer and asked them to make an adjustment.
Not being able to correct a payment mistake shows that PayPal is running a peculiar type of business. Credit card companies allow you to void, or correct transactions, but PalPay has taken away the ability to do so. The question is why?
That's for phonorecords only which means audio only recordings. Downloads do not fall into this category. That is how record labels are able to pay for fractions on the penny for digital downloads. This same rule applies to useage in soundtracks.
7.1 per song?! Try 7.55 or 1.45 per minute of playing time which ever is larger. However, record companies can and will discount this rate by as much as 75%. Per Donald Passman's book "All You Need To Know About The Music Business", a lawyer with over 20 years of experience specializing in the music industry.
Since we are talking about digital downloads, the record labels are not constricted by the statutory rate because digital downloads are a "new media" and it isn't covered by any laws on the books. So record companies are legally able to screw over artists by setting their own royalty rates. They can and will put all sorts of suspect charges in an attempt to deprive the artists of their fair share.
1.) Creative accounting makes it appear that they are bleeding money. The purpose of doing so is to avoid paying royalties.
2.) A phenomenon that has occurred in the last 10 years in the record industry is the notion of a "bidding war" for a new unsigned artist. Unproven acts are given budgets in the hundreds of thousands of dollars and are expected to be immediate hits or dropped if they don't. Record labels no longer give the artists the opportunity to grow. Giving one band 500K and telling them they must go platinum or giving 5 bands 100K each and allowing them the chance to mature and grow, it doesn't take a genius to figure out that putting all your eggs in one basket is not a smart business practice.
3.) Record companies have remained profitable due to the profit margin built into compact discs. Artists are largely screwed over on the CD's because if you look at the standard royalty built into most contracts, the artists make approximately the same amount of money per CD as they do per cassette tape. Since CD's cost about $6 more per unit to the consumer, the difference goes to the record labels.
B-52s don't carry daisy cutters.
A daisy cutter is dropped by a C-130 using the regular parachute cargo delivery mechanism. Daisy cutters were originally designed to blow LZs (landing zones) in Vietnam so that the U.S. could bring in choppers. Daisy cutters are designed to knock down vegetation without leaving craters. The U.S. used them in the Gulf War and Afghanistan primarily for psychological effect.
You don't carpet bomb a radar installation. A single HARM missile will take out a radar site. Then again, so will a single so-called smart bomb.
Carpet bombing is done to take out large numbers of enemy soldiers dug into wide areas of the surrounding terrain. Carpet bombing is done to supplement artillery or used when artillery is not available.
Baretta makes a .50 cal sniper rifle that is used by many different world armies and police forces.
RPGs (rocket propelled grenades, shaped charges/antitank weapons) were used by the Somalians and North Vietnamese Army against U.S. ground troops (i.e. humans).
The Soviets in Afghanistan routinely used ZSU 23s (23mm cannon) against human targets. Also, most modern aircraft are armed with 20mm, 23mm or 25mm cannons. In addition, the next generation personal weapon the U.S. is testing will be a double barreled hybrid with a 20mm cannon and a 5.56mm rifle barrel mounted in over/under fashion.
I haven't even touched on Blooper (aka Thumper). The M-79 grenade launcher which fires a variety of 40mm ammo. A variation of Blooper mounts underneath the M-16 (CAR-15/M-4).
I think you must be quoting somebody who was quoting somebody who was quoting somebody else from Amnesty International or PETA.
In the six years I spent in the service, I don't ever recall hearing this argument. I know the military cannot use tumblers, dum dum rounds, flat heads or hollow points against human targets. I also know we were not supposed to file, score or scratch the standard steel jacketed round so that it fragments better.
I did not vote for Bush. I am not a fan of Bush either.
However, Bush has not ignored the Geneva Convention. Article 4 clearly states the criteria necessary for classification as a POW (prisoner of war). If you read 4.A.2(b) and 4.A.2(d) you will note immediately that the Taliban and al Qaeda failed these criteria. 4.A.2(b) for the uninitiated means uniforms or clothing that differentiates themselves from the civilian population. Also, al Qaeda fails 4.A.2(a) because purposely targeting civilian targets is not within the rules of war. Giving POW status to the Taliban was generous on the part of the Bush administration because the conduct of the Taliban towards the Tajiks and other ethnic minorities in Afghanistan technically violates 4.A.2(a).
I am not a supporter of Bush's policies or his intelligence but he did make the right call on the Geneva Convention.
For Your Information: Geneva Convention excerpts
Article 4
A. Prisoners of war, in the sense of the present Convention, are persons belonging to one of the following categories, who have fallen into the power of the enemy:
1. Members of the armed forces of a Party to the conflict as well as members of militias or volunteer corps forming part of such armed forces.
2. Members of other militias and members of other volunteer corps, including those of organized resistance movements, belonging to a Party to the conflict and operating in or outside their own territory, even if this territory is occupied, provided that such militias or volunteer corps, including such organized resistance movements, fulfil the following conditions:
(a) That of being commanded by a person responsible for his subordinates;
(b) That of having a fixed distinctive sign recognizable at a distance;
(c) That of carrying arms openly;
(d) That of conducting their operations in accordance with the laws and customs of war.
Why do you have to be so right?! I like Linux. As a matter of fact I run 6 Linux servers and only 1 Win2000 server. However when I upgraded to the 2.4 kernel I had to get the RedHat 7.2 ISOs because getting the 2.4 kernel source and trying to get the stupid freaking thing to compile *AND* work with my hardware was pure shit. I'm not going to spend countless hours, days or weeks trying to get the fucking kernel to compile. I have a business to run and the time I spend jerking around trying to compile source is better served by me creating apps that generate *REVENUE*. Generating revenue means more than being able to get 2.4.XX of the kernel to compile and boot. BTW, some of my RH Linux servers still run the 2.2.5-15 kernel because Oracle 8.1.7 gets broken by the 2.4.xx kernel and will not run unless you patch your system.
When you are you ./ people going to realize that petitions and e-mail have very little impact on executives or politicians?!
For a lot of the decision makers, one signed hand written letter means more than ten thousand e-mails.
This is the way the real world works.....
In order to be considered a POW, the Geneva Convention requires that the person in question wear a uniform, and represent a recognized government. The Taliban do not fit this profile, however the U.S. is willing to give them POW status. Al queda members absolutely do not fit either criteria. Article 5 of the Geneva Convention, which you vaguely reference, competent tribunal, only applies if Article 4 is in doubt. Also, Article 5 does not say "competent international tribunal". It says "competent tribunal". The tribunal could be an all U.S. tribune and still fall within the letter of the Geneva Convention. So the U.S. does have the authority to classify these people as non-POW's. Here's Article 4 and Article 5 of the Geneva Convention: Article 4 A. Prisoners of war, in the sense of the present Convention, are persons belonging to one of the following categories, who have fallen into the power of the enemy: 1. Members of the armed forces of a Party to the conflict as well as members of militias or volunteer corps forming part of such armed forces. 2. Members of other militias and members of other volunteer corps, including those of organized resistance movements, belonging to a Party to the conflict and operating in or outside their own territory, even if this territory is occupied, provided that such militias or volunteer corps, including such organized resistance movements, fulfil the following conditions: (a) That of being commanded by a person responsible for his subordinates; (b) That of having a fixed distinctive sign recognizable at a distance; (c) That of carrying arms openly; (d) That of conducting their operations in accordance with the laws and customs of war. 3. Members of regular armed forces who profess allegiance to a government or an authority not recognized by the Detaining Power. 4. Persons who accompany the armed forces without actually being members thereof, such as civilian members of military aircraft crews, war correspondents, supply contractors, members of labour units or of services responsible for the welfare of the armed forces, provided that they have received authorization from the armed forces which they accompany, who shall provide them for that purpose with an identity card similar to the annexed model. Article 5 The present Convention shall apply to the persons referred to in Article 4 from the time they fall into the power of the enemy and until their final release and repatriation. Should any doubt arise as to whether persons, having committed a belligerent act and having fallen into the hands of the enemy, belong to any of the categories enumerated in Article 4, such persons shall enjoy the protection of the present Convention until such time as their status has been determined by a competent tribunal.
....however, when I was in the U.S. military, we dated things DD MMM YY. My Dad was also in the miltary and he still writes the date in the DD MMM YY format.
Bin Laden didn't win anything. The people in power in Afghanistan are the same corrupt people that the Taliban originally replaced. The US economy is messed up because of the cyclical nature of business. The economy could not expand or be bullish forever. It didn't matter if Gore or Bush got elected the recession was going to happen. I predicted the recession when the dot bombs started to contract in May'2000. The California (especially Los Angeles) economy was far worse off in '90 than it is today. 9.5% unemployment then versus 6% today. If the U.S. can't catch Eric Robert Rudolph, the Atlanta bomber and on the FBI's Most Wanted List since 1998, in our own backyard, how in the world are we going to go halfway around the world and nab a truckload of terrorists?! The Gulf War failed because of Bush Sr.'s staff, and especially Gen. Colin Powell, who was the one determined not to send U.S. troops into Bagdad. Powell didn't mind desert warfare over flat sandy terrain, but urban war was something he did not want to face.
M$ can always do port scanning to find a path to their servers. In addition, adding an alias to their DNS records to bypass users running filtering software takes seconds.
I'm a Java (mostly JSP/servlets) developer for Linux. I'm also a VB developer (apps and IIS) for M$ platforms as well. I get highly annoyed at the M$ "... your application has performed an illegal operation and will be shut down..." system messages. When these are M$ bugs and not mine. That being said, the article amazed me with the most obscure languages I've never heard of. Other that the 1/2 of 1 percent of developers out there, does anyone (outside of the academic community) actually use Smalltalk or Lisp for commercial projects that turn a profit?
I hope that you were expressing sarcasm. Working as an independent computer consultant, I've had incredibly difficult times just teaching end users the notion of copy and paste, or cut and paste. To many of the end users in today's businesses, copy and paste (or cut and psste) is almost like rocket science to them. One accountant I tried to demonstrate copy and paste to said to me "That's too hard, isn't there an easier way?" Let's see, highlight the text, CTRL-C (or CTRL-INSERT), move to where you want to put the text, CTRL-V (or SHIFT-INSERT). I've got 6 Linux servers, and 1 WinDoze server, and the bottom line about end users (who constitute the majority of the computer users in this world) is that Linux on the desktop is way to cumbersome and difficult. I don't care what the /. people say. I had to put xdm in inittab for one company because their receptionist found that typing her name and password at the console login and then typing "startx" was too difficult. All she did on this Linux machine was run Netscape to check her e-mail and surf the web.