Times have changed and computers have proliferated, and I've only done some casual investigation, but I've never found any guarantee by the US government that the SSN is unique.
I delved into this up a while ago for a project at work.
Due to the way they are assigned, it seems the SSAN cannot be unique in all areas.
The SSAN is assigned by state or area. The first 3 digits denote what state the number was assigned in.
For instance, an SSAN created for a New York resident gets 050-134 as the first 3. That leaves 86 million possible combinations. Fair enough, since the pop. of NY is currently ~18 million. A lot left over to prevent duplication.
New Hampshire doesn't seem to be too bad. A pop of 1.2 million, and SSAN's from 001-003. Just over 50% free combinations. Consider though all the people who were born there, and have passed away. You may be getting a recycled SSAN.
But consider Florida. The pop. of Florida is currently ~15.2 million. Florida SSAN's range from 261-xx-xxxx to 267-xx-xxxx. Leaving a possible 7 million combinations. How can that be truly unique? (Ok...a LOT of Florida residents moved in from out of state, but still). California is just as bad. SSAN's from 545-573 (28 million combo's), with a population of 32.5 million.
North Carolina, with a single SSAN group (232) has a population of just under 8 million. Unique? Doesn't seem to be.
Attach the person's name to the SSAN, and you get pseudo uniqueness. Joe Blow, 001-01-0001 will be the only one. But that is only uniqueness through chance, not truly unique.
Shut down your shared folder out of fear of a lawsuit, and P2P dries up due to no source files.
How many semi-clueful parents, after hearing of possible lawsuits, and then REAL lawsuits, have shut down the kids shared folders? Family finacial ruin is a hard thing to risk for 'free' music.
"The impact of DU ammunition against a hard target creates a fine DU dust that
contaminates the impact site, though small amounts of DU dust drift downwind. Test data
from the United States demonstrate that, normally, about 20 percent of a DU penetrator is
aerosolized on impact with a tank. The impact of one 120 mm DU tank round could
therefore create approximately 950 g of DU dust. During a single attack by an A-10
aircraft shooting a burst of 30 mm ammunition, between five and 16 DU bullets will
likely hit the target, creating 300 to 960 g of aerosol.
"About 90 percent of the DU dust created by the impact of a tank round against a hard target falls to the ground within 50 meters of the target, although airborne DU has been
measured out to 400 meters immediately following an impact."
Ergo, using worst case here, something less than 100g falls outside a 50 meter radius of a destroyed tank.
You'd have to be standing directly downwind, inhaling the smoke and dust deeply, to get an real amounts in your lungs.
quoted statement says DU is weakly radioactive, but it does not say that is is weakly radioactive compared to uranium ore miners are exposed to.
Has all reading comprehension gone out the window?
Again, from the WHO DU FactSheet
"The main difference between DU and natural uranium is that the former contains at least three times less 235U than the latter."
A lot of people keep talking about how Saddam used chemical weapons on "his own people". He used them on Kurds living in the area that most people around the world call Iraq, but that Kurds still like to refer to as "part of Kurdistan". The Kurds didn't like being Iraqis (nor Turks for that matter) and were openly rebelling. The Kurds were "Saddam's own people" in the same sense that the Cherokee were Andrew Jackson's own people.
True enough. The Kurds do not consider themselves Iraqis. But Saddam sure did. That's why he wanted to prevent them from ceceding and forming their own country. He didn't want to lose control over them and their land.
But the way it keeps being stated makes it sound like Saddam just rounded up a few randomly chosen Iraqis and gassed them for the fun of it.
According to reports, this, and worse, DID happen. Heard anything about a shredder, lately?
Ever picked up a 30mm DU bullet of the type fired by the A-10?
Why yes, I have. As a matter of fact, I used to do it for a living.
That is a lot of DU that could become airborne, and that is only from a single A-10.
How much remains airborne to blow around, and how much falls back to the ground in the immediate area? After dispersal on the winds, how much could a person standing downwind actually inhale?
And data about DU causing very high levels of birth defects in Iraq, or people inhaling "significant amounts", are, to date, very inconclusive. It could just as easily be (if true) caused from poor safety procedures in the Iraqi manufacturing sector. Or Saddam's use of chemical weapons on his own people, which a proven fact.
Near where I live, an upscale subdivision is being evacuated. The reason? Lead contamination of the soil. The area used to be a shooting range years ago, and all the rounds ended up in the soil, to decay.
"I spent $29.95 on Kazaa and thought I could download thousands of dollars of CDs, movies, software and pr0n."
Just like "I paid emusic.com $10/month and thought I could download thousands of dollars of CD's"
Guess what...you can.
2 What You Can't Do Under This Licence
2.6 Transmit, access or communicate any data that infringes any patent, trademark, trade secret, copyright or other proprietary rights of any party;
8. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS 8.2
Except as expressly provided herein, you are not granted any rights or license to patents, copyrights, trade secrets or trademarks with respect to the Service or its contents, and EMusic reserves all rights not expressly granted hereunder.
To the casual user, the apparent differences might not be that obvious.
Now, pulverize the same DU into particles that can be airborne. Now ingest those same particles and repeat the study. I believe you will find different results. This is because ingested radioactive material producing alpha and beta radiation will not be absorbed by dead skin, but instead by live cells. The results in this case are quite different.
Really.
From that same section of the WHO report:
"In a number of studies on uranium miners, an increased risk of lung cancer was demonstrated, but this has been attributed to exposure from radon decay products. Lung tissue damage is possible leading to a risk of lung cancer that increases with increasing radiation dose. However, because DU is only weakly radioactive, very large amounts of dust (on the order of grams) would have to be inhaled for the additional risk of lung cancer to be detectable in an exposed group. Risks for other radiation-induced cancers, including leukaemia, are considered to be very much lower than for lung cancer.
Given the extremely high levels of birth defects and rare cancers seen by Iraqis since 1991, the general consensus among the medical community is that DU munitions do cause considerable harm when used in battle.
Given that the WHO, in their DU FactSheet, does not agree with your statement, I call BS.
Potential health effects of exposure to depleted uranium
"Erythema (superficial inflammation of the skin) or other effects on the skin are unlikely to occur even if DU is held against the skin for long periods (weeks).
No consistent or confirmed adverse chemical effects of uranium have been reported for the skeleton or liver.
No reproductive or developmental effects have been reported in humans."
Quite: (some excerpts from the FactSheet) Exposure to uranium and depleted uranium
"A recent United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report giving field measurements taken around selected impact sites in Kosovo (Federal Republic of Yugoslavia) indicates that contamination by DU in the environment was localized to a few tens of metres around impact sites. Contamination by DU dusts of local vegetation and water supplies was found to be extremely low. Thus, the probability of significant exposure to local populations was considered to be very low."
Absorption of depleted uranium "About 98% of uranium entering the body via ingestion is not absorbed, but is eliminated via the faeces.
Of the uranium that is absorbed into the blood, approximately 70% will be filtered by the kidney and excreted in the urine within 24 hours; this amount increases to 90% within a few days."
Potential health effects of exposure to depleted uranium Erythema (superficial inflammation of the skin) or other effects on the skin are unlikely to occur even if DU is held against the skin for long periods (weeks).
No consistent or confirmed adverse chemical effects of uranium have been reported for the skeleton or liver.
No reproductive or developmental effects have been reported in humans.
Interesting once you get past all the scarey words, isn't it?
Using the sat tot ell a car mounted receiver where it is, which then beams it's movement data to a ground based system is a way to justify the cost of building the satellite system.
until the in-car breathalizers are installed to see if your are drunk and then auto-drive kicks in and drives you to jail.
If the 'auto-drive' is good enough to drive you to jail, it's good enough to drive you home. You won't need to drive at all. Get as toasted as you want.
How are they going to receive information on all the millions of motor cars?? and how are the motor cars going to transmit all the positioning info??? and what is going to receive all the info????
The SpeedPass-like sensors at each exit ramp. Your car d/l's it's data as you pass by.
Yes, that's true. But it is far harder to peruse through an hours video tape, than to run a quick SQL statement. With your name, address, and bank account attached.
I expect those tapes are recycled, except in case of need. Currently, are they able to look at a video record of 3 months ago, Friday, at 3:30 PM? Maybe, but somehow, I don't think so. Raw data has no such restrictions.
Because with the current way, me and my car is not tied to a time/location. I get the ticket, pay the money at the off-ramp, and be on my way. No one knows or cares that it was *me*.
With the proposed system, there is a permanent record of when and where I (or at least my car) went.
NetZero, et al, doesn't want you to go to broadband (cable/DSL). They obviously want you to stay right where you are. So, they roll out this thing, which may or may not actually work, and charge you a little bit for it. Advertised as a cheaper alternative to real consumer level broadband (as it is currently employed). They keep you, AND get a little bit more profit.
If Dialup Joe's overall speed diff is 10%, he will not notice the increase after a day or two.
Just like all the new phone 'features'. No one needs, or even wants, them, but good marketing leads you to think you do.
BigChampagne?
"Because the current active audience numbers in the tens of millions, and is made up of highly motivated "early adopters," we have been able to observe close correlations between online interest and offline sales. "
or the RIAA?
"Says an RIAA spokesman: "In our view, piracy is the primary reason for the decline in sales."
I know who I'd tend to believe on that. How about you?
From the Kazaa website:
"Download and buy" Search, download, share
24 hour customer support
Only $29.95
From emusic.
Unlimited mp3's - One low monthly price Download Play Burn
Get 50 free mp3's
From ITunes:
Instantly buy and download music Share music within the same household
Search using more options
Quite similar, eh? You pay money to (someone), and in return, you can search for, and download music to your PC. How is the casual user/parent supposed to know that only one of these 3 services is not quite legal? And by using it, you are liable to be sued into financial ruin by some nameless 'association' you've never heard of.
The only mention of "copyrights", and not violating such, is 2 or 3 mouseclicks away, couched in dense legalese. Nowhere does it say on the Kazaa site that use of their service does not constitute a legal transaction. And even then, you paid money. Kazaa appears to be as completely legit as the other two.
The real upshot of this might be to drive people away from the legit services. Downloading music = lawsuit. Guess I'd better not download music from anywhere, cause it's too damn hard to tell what is legit.
Again.... emusic - $10/month iTunes - $0.99 per song KazaaPlus - $29.95 You pay money to (someone), your modem connects, you download music from (somewhere), you listen.
You and I know the diff, but put yourself in Brianna's mom's place. "We're not downloading any music online, from anywhere, ever again."
Granted, 12 year olds, especially girls, may listen to a lot of music. But I find it quite improbable that she could be among the top 0.0006%, once you look at all the college kids and 20 somethings, with far more free time on their hands, and far more varied music interests.
I'll bet even among the small community of/., she would not even in the top 2/3.
More likely some backroom fool just shotgunned at random.
Don't studies suggest that using abusive tactics with children only works for a short time, and then they just hate the abuser, permanently?
The problem is, there is no visible "abuser". The RIAA? Who are they? Sony, Warner Brothers, EMI, Tower Records, MTV....THAT'S who is in the music biz. You don't buy CD's from the RIAA. I'd venture to say that almost no one had heard of the RIAA, even readers here if not for the recent foolishness.
Hate the RIAA? Sure. "I get my music from Sam Goody's, not the RIAA!"
Instead try handing over the names of the sons and daughters of your favorite senator
Unfortunatly, it has to be notarized. Unless you know a notary willing to risk their license...this won't work.
Re:ST theme became clear the other day
on
New Heinlein Novel
·
· Score: 1
outdated jet plane
Dude:
The F-102 entered military serice in 1953
GWB is (theoreticaly) a full time ANG pilot from 1970-1972
That makes the F-102 17 years in service when Bush is flying it.
The current prime fighter jets (F-15) entered service in 1972. 31 years ago.. The last B-52H entered service in 1962. Over 40 years ago. And are expected to fly for another 30 or so. The F-102 was not perfect, but it performed its mission at the time.
Old does not necessarily mean outdated.
Not everyone who is in the military gets to be in direct combat. May we inquire as to your military service?
Re:ST theme became clear the other day
on
New Heinlein Novel
·
· Score: 1, Offtopic
...gripping the levers of power without ever having had to personally defend those powers with their lives in combat.
President Bush: Texas ANG F-102 pilot (arguable)
Sec of State Powell: Chairman, JCoS
Vice Pres Chaney: Sec of Defense
Tom Ridge, Sec. Homeland Security: Army infantry, Vietnam
Norman Mineta, Sec. Transportation: Army Intelligence
Senate: 35 members with military experience.
House: 122 members with military experience.
Slashdot Mirror
Last year, I went through this same calculation. The personal costs, don't average out until you have driven several hundred thousand miles.
A $12,000 regular car vs a $20,000 hybrid. That extra $8000 buy a LOT of gas.
Contrast an $8500 Hyundai @ 30mph, and a $22,000 Toyota @ 45mpg, and the costs NEVER equal out. Both cars will be long in the junkyard before then.
Of course, there are other considerations (ecology, etc) but don't do it to reduce your personal costs.
Times have changed and computers have proliferated, and I've only done some casual investigation, but I've never found any guarantee by the US government that the SSN is unique.
I delved into this up a while ago for a project at work.
Due to the way they are assigned, it seems the SSAN cannot be unique in all areas.
The SSAN is assigned by state or area. The first 3 digits denote what state the number was assigned in.
For instance, an SSAN created for a New York resident gets 050-134 as the first 3. That leaves 86 million possible combinations. Fair enough, since the pop. of NY is currently ~18 million. A lot left over to prevent duplication.
New Hampshire doesn't seem to be too bad. A pop of 1.2 million, and SSAN's from 001-003. Just over 50% free combinations.
Consider though all the people who were born there, and have passed away. You may be getting a recycled SSAN.
But consider Florida. The pop. of Florida is currently ~15.2 million. Florida SSAN's range from 261-xx-xxxx to 267-xx-xxxx. Leaving a possible 7 million combinations. How can that be truly unique? (Ok...a LOT of Florida residents moved in from out of state, but still).
California is just as bad. SSAN's from 545-573 (28 million combo's), with a population of 32.5 million.
North Carolina, with a single SSAN group (232) has a population of just under 8 million. Unique? Doesn't seem to be.
Attach the person's name to the SSAN, and you get pseudo uniqueness. Joe Blow, 001-01-0001 will be the only one. But that is only uniqueness through chance, not truly unique.
Just stop sharing and you'll be in the clear.
Bingo! That is exactly what they want.
Shut down your shared folder out of fear of a lawsuit, and P2P dries up due to no source files.
How many semi-clueful parents, after hearing of possible lawsuits, and then REAL lawsuits, have shut down the kids shared folders?
Family finacial ruin is a hard thing to risk for 'free' music.
I'll see your document, and raise you another:
Science or Science Fiction? Facts, Myths, and Propaganda In the Debate Over Depleted Uranium Weapons
Dan Fahey - March 12, 2003
"The impact of DU ammunition against a hard target creates a fine DU dust that contaminates the impact site, though small amounts of DU dust drift downwind. Test data from the United States demonstrate that, normally, about 20 percent of a DU penetrator is aerosolized on impact with a tank. The impact of one 120 mm DU tank round could therefore create approximately 950 g of DU dust. During a single attack by an A-10 aircraft shooting a burst of 30 mm ammunition, between five and 16 DU bullets will likely hit the target, creating 300 to 960 g of aerosol.
"About 90 percent of the DU dust created by the impact of a tank round against a hard target falls to the ground within 50 meters of the target, although airborne DU has been measured out to 400 meters immediately following an impact."
Ergo, using worst case here, something less than 100g falls outside a 50 meter radius of a destroyed tank.
You'd have to be standing directly downwind, inhaling the smoke and dust deeply, to get an real amounts in your lungs.
quoted statement says DU is weakly radioactive, but it does not say that is is weakly radioactive compared to uranium ore miners are exposed to.
Has all reading comprehension gone out the window?
Again, from the WHO DU FactSheet
"The main difference between DU and natural uranium is that the former contains at least three times less 235U than the latter."
A lot of people keep talking about how Saddam used chemical weapons on "his own people". He used them on Kurds living in the area that most people around the world call Iraq, but that Kurds still like to refer to as "part of Kurdistan". The Kurds didn't like being Iraqis (nor Turks for that matter) and were openly rebelling. The Kurds were "Saddam's own people" in the same sense that the Cherokee were Andrew Jackson's own people.
True enough. The Kurds do not consider themselves Iraqis. But Saddam sure did. That's why he wanted to prevent them from ceceding and forming their own country. He didn't want to lose control over them and their land.
But the way it keeps being stated makes it sound like Saddam just rounded up a few randomly chosen Iraqis and gassed them for the fun of it.
According to reports, this, and worse, DID happen. Heard anything about a shredder, lately?
A single A-10 aircraft can fire 2100 or 4200 of these per minute (depending upon the configuration).
Given that the A-10/GAU-8 only carries ~1000 rounds of 30MM, "4200 per minute" is a bit misleading.
Ever picked up a 30mm DU bullet of the type fired by the A-10?
Why yes, I have. As a matter of fact, I used to do it for a living.
That is a lot of DU that could become airborne, and that is only from a single A-10.
How much remains airborne to blow around, and how much falls back to the ground in the immediate area?
After dispersal on the winds, how much could a person standing downwind actually inhale?
And data about DU causing very high levels of birth defects in Iraq, or people inhaling "significant amounts", are, to date, very inconclusive. It could just as easily be (if true) caused from poor safety procedures in the Iraqi manufacturing sector. Or Saddam's use of chemical weapons on his own people, which a proven fact.
Near where I live, an upscale subdivision is being evacuated. The reason? Lead contamination of the soil. The area used to be a shooting range years ago, and all the rounds ended up in the soil, to decay.
Based on this, should we ban lead?
"I spent $29.95 on Kazaa and thought I could download thousands of dollars of CDs, movies, software and pr0n."
Just like "I paid emusic.com $10/month and thought I could download thousands of dollars of CD's"
Guess what...you can.
2 What You Can't Do Under This Licence
2.6 Transmit, access or communicate any data that infringes any patent, trademark, trade secret, copyright or other proprietary rights of any party;
8. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS
8.2 Except as expressly provided herein, you are not granted any rights or license to patents, copyrights, trade secrets or trademarks with respect to the Service or its contents, and EMusic reserves all rights not expressly granted hereunder.
To the casual user, the apparent differences might not be that obvious.
Now, pulverize the same DU into particles that can be airborne. Now ingest those same particles and repeat the study. I believe you will find different results. This is because ingested radioactive material producing alpha and beta radiation will not be absorbed by dead skin, but instead by live cells. The results in this case are quite different.
Really. From that same section of the WHO report:
"In a number of studies on uranium miners, an increased risk of lung cancer was demonstrated, but this has been attributed to exposure from radon decay products. Lung tissue damage is possible leading to a risk of lung cancer that increases with increasing radiation dose. However, because DU is only weakly radioactive, very large amounts of dust (on the order of grams) would have to be inhaled for the additional risk of lung cancer to be detectable in an exposed group. Risks for other radiation-induced cancers, including leukaemia, are considered to be very much lower than for lung cancer.
Grams.
Given the extremely high levels of birth defects and rare cancers seen by Iraqis since 1991, the general consensus among the medical community is that DU munitions do cause considerable harm when used in battle.
Given that the WHO, in their DU FactSheet, does not agree with your statement, I call BS.
Potential health effects of exposure to depleted uranium
"Erythema (superficial inflammation of the skin) or other effects on the skin are unlikely to occur even if DU is held against the skin for long periods (weeks).
No consistent or confirmed adverse chemical effects of uranium have been reported for the skeleton or liver.
No reproductive or developmental effects have been reported in humans."
WHO FactSheet on Depleted Uranium.
Quite: (some excerpts from the FactSheet)
Exposure to uranium and depleted uranium
"A recent United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report giving field measurements taken around selected impact sites in Kosovo (Federal Republic of Yugoslavia) indicates that contamination by DU in the environment was localized to a few tens of metres around impact sites. Contamination by DU dusts of local vegetation and water supplies was found to be extremely low. Thus, the probability of significant exposure to local populations was considered to be very low."
Absorption of depleted uranium
"About 98% of uranium entering the body via ingestion is not absorbed, but is eliminated via the faeces.
Of the uranium that is absorbed into the blood, approximately 70% will be filtered by the kidney and excreted in the urine within 24 hours; this amount increases to 90% within a few days."
Potential health effects of exposure to depleted uranium
Erythema (superficial inflammation of the skin) or other effects on the skin are unlikely to occur even if DU is held against the skin for long periods (weeks).
No consistent or confirmed adverse chemical effects of uranium have been reported for the skeleton or liver.
No reproductive or developmental effects have been reported in humans.
Interesting once you get past all the scarey words, isn't it?
So then what's the sats got to do with it???
Using the sat tot ell a car mounted receiver where it is, which then beams it's movement data to a ground based system is a way to justify the cost of building the satellite system.
Simple, isn't it?
until the in-car breathalizers are installed to see if your are drunk and then auto-drive kicks in and drives you to jail.
If the 'auto-drive' is good enough to drive you to jail, it's good enough to drive you home. You won't need to drive at all. Get as toasted as you want.
How are they going to receive information on all the millions of motor cars?? and how are the motor cars going to transmit all the positioning info??? and what is going to receive all the info????
The SpeedPass-like sensors at each exit ramp. Your car d/l's it's data as you pass by.
Yes, that's true. But it is far harder to peruse through an hours video tape, than to run a quick SQL statement. With your name, address, and bank account attached.
I expect those tapes are recycled, except in case of need. Currently, are they able to look at a video record of 3 months ago, Friday, at 3:30 PM? Maybe, but somehow, I don't think so. Raw data has no such restrictions.
Because with the current way, me and my car is not tied to a time/location. I get the ticket, pay the money at the off-ramp, and be on my way. No one knows or cares that it was *me*.
With the proposed system, there is a permanent record of when and where I (or at least my car) went.
But rather for the ISP.
NetZero, et al, doesn't want you to go to broadband (cable/DSL).
They obviously want you to stay right where you are. So, they roll out this thing, which may or may not actually work, and charge you a little bit for it. Advertised as a cheaper alternative to real consumer level broadband (as it is currently employed). They keep you, AND get a little bit more profit.
If Dialup Joe's overall speed diff is 10%, he will not notice the increase after a day or two.
Just like all the new phone 'features'. No one needs, or even wants, them, but good marketing leads you to think you do.
BigChampagne?
"Because the current active audience numbers in the tens of millions, and is made up of highly motivated "early adopters," we have been able to observe close correlations between online interest and offline sales. "
or the RIAA?
"Says an RIAA spokesman: "In our view, piracy is the primary reason for the decline in sales."
I know who I'd tend to believe on that. How about you?
Hurting other, legit, online services
From the Kazaa website:
"Download and buy"
Search, download, share
24 hour customer support
Only $29.95
From emusic.
Unlimited mp3's - One low monthly price
Download Play Burn
Get 50 free mp3's
From ITunes:
Instantly buy and download music
Share music within the same household
Search using more options
Quite similar, eh? You pay money to (someone), and in return, you can search for, and download music to your PC. How is the casual user/parent supposed to know that only one of these 3 services is not quite legal? And by using it, you are liable to be sued into financial ruin by some nameless 'association' you've never heard of.
The only mention of "copyrights", and not violating such, is 2 or 3 mouseclicks away, couched in dense legalese. Nowhere does it say on the Kazaa site that use of their service does not constitute a legal transaction. And even then, you paid money. Kazaa appears to be as completely legit as the other two.
The real upshot of this might be to drive people away from the legit services.
Downloading music = lawsuit. Guess I'd better not download music from anywhere, cause it's too damn hard to tell what is legit.
Again....
emusic - $10/month
iTunes - $0.99 per song
KazaaPlus - $29.95
You pay money to (someone), your modem connects, you download music from (somewhere), you listen.
You and I know the diff, but put yourself in Brianna's mom's place.
"We're not downloading any music online, from anywhere, ever again."
And a 12 year old girl is one of those?
/., she would not even in the top 2/3.
Granted, 12 year olds, especially girls, may listen to a lot of music. But I find it quite improbable that she could be among the top 0.0006%, once you look at all the college kids and 20 somethings, with far more free time on their hands, and far more varied music interests.
I'll bet even among the small community of
More likely some backroom fool just shotgunned at random.
Don't studies suggest that using abusive tactics with children only works for a short time, and then they just hate the abuser, permanently?
The problem is, there is no visible "abuser". The RIAA? Who are they? Sony, Warner Brothers, EMI, Tower Records, MTV....THAT'S who is in the music biz. You don't buy CD's from the RIAA. I'd venture to say that almost no one had heard of the RIAA, even readers here if not for the recent foolishness.
Hate the RIAA? Sure. "I get my music from Sam Goody's, not the RIAA!"
If my ID card is stolen how will the person use it without my finger?
Two words - gummi bears.
Instead try handing over the names of the sons and daughters of your favorite senator
Unfortunatly, it has to be notarized. Unless you know a notary willing to risk their license...this won't work.
outdated jet plane
Dude:
The F-102 entered military serice in 1953
GWB is (theoreticaly) a full time ANG pilot from 1970-1972
That makes the F-102 17 years in service when Bush is flying it.
The current prime fighter jets (F-15) entered service in 1972. 31 years ago.. The last B-52H entered service in 1962. Over 40 years ago. And are expected to fly for another 30 or so. The F-102 was not perfect, but it performed its mission at the time.
Old does not necessarily mean outdated.
Not everyone who is in the military gets to be in direct combat. May we inquire as to your military service?
...gripping the levers of power without ever having had to personally defend those powers with their lives in combat.
President Bush: Texas ANG F-102 pilot (arguable)
Sec of State Powell: Chairman, JCoS
Vice Pres Chaney: Sec of Defense
Tom Ridge, Sec. Homeland Security: Army infantry, Vietnam
Norman Mineta, Sec. Transportation: Army Intelligence
Senate: 35 members with military experience.
House: 122 members with military experience.
Shall I go on?
May we inquire as to your military experience?