Indeed. And the politicians don't care about filling up the prisons with non-violent offenders who cause no harm to anyone but themselves (and in most cases these people aren't even hurting themselves).
Just as an example, 2003 federal prison statistics list over 50% of their prison population as being locked up for drug offenses*. How's that for a bullshit industry just looking to make money? These people have done nothing to harm anyone, and they get locked up for longer amounts of time than rapists and murderers. Its just one more government subsidized corporation that uses us sheeple to make ever increasing profits. If locking up millions of P2P file-share users keeps the lobby happy, don't expect a single one of those facists on the hill to stand in the way of this legislation.
Right. Instead guns are deemed "evil" and are banned left and right after a person uses it in an action that harms another person. So by your example we should fully expect P2P software to be banned the first time some sicko puts kiddie porn into the system.
Yay for mob rule!
Yes, and that is great for your country. But this isn't Denmark. Taking away guns from responsible citizens in this country is:
A) Against our Constitution
B) Exceeding dangerous due to our society and how criminals work in this country
And I would venture to say that any country where the citizens aren't allowed to own firearms for protection, isn't a truly free society. Sure, things might be fine and dandy right now, but ultimatly you are under the thumb of your government and your government's army. If a day ever came when your government started going too far... well you are all shit out of luck and likely to be crying out for international intervention. Not free at all...
What I would find interesting would be what the murder rates in Denmark would become if you relaxed the gun laws, taught people proper respect for firearms, and pretty much armed everyone (well, non-convicted criminals) with at least handguns. Would the murder rate suddenly skyrocket simply because of the introduction of firearms, or are the people of your country rational and able to handle themselves? My guess is that since your society seems to respect human life a great deal, giving people firearms would not raise the murder rate at all. If anything it would decline further.
Indeed. To give a few figures for this statement (I noticed a reply asking for figures), I point those interested to www.morganquitno.com/cit00rank.pdf. You can find different numbers from different studies if you google around, but the basic trend is the same.
From the above stated study, Washington DC, with the strictest gun laws in the US (nobody but cops can have them... well, or politicians, uber rich/famous, etc...) has a year 2000 murder rate of 41.8 per 100,000 persons.
Indianapolis, with generally citizen friendly firearms laws, and easy to attain CCW permits (lots more gun owners in this city) has a year 2000 murder rate of 12.5 per 100,000 persons.
Imagine that. Criminals generally don't fare well in areas where an intended victim or a passerby is likely to be armed and capable of defending themself/others. I've seen the figures for these two cities go to a peak of 69/100,000 for DC to 9/100,000 for Indianapolis.
There are plenty of other studies showing this correlation for CCW, firearms ownership, and friendly gun laws (towards law abiding citizens) and lower crime rates. But we don't like to see stories in the press about all the times everyday that someone uses a gun to save lives. We like to see blood and gore and children running and pretending we have an epidemic when actual crime rates have been declining (even before anti-gun measures were put in place).
You must not be using Visual Studio.NET... I sit here in front of that wretched beast at this very moment. Dear god does it ever drive me insane.
At first I thought I was coding faster than ever before with this wonderous.NET. Well, that was while I was just fiddling around with it. Now that I'm actually using it make programs it just drives me up the wall. Every time I touch ASP.NET and throw in some C# codebehind, I can think of multiple different ways that would be easier/faster than what I have to slop together with those two.
Wha? I have no clue about the rest of the world democracies, but in the US our government has no power but that which we let it take. The Constitution of this country makes clear what powers the government has. Everything not specifically stated as a government power is reserved to the people. We are just fat and lazy and let the government goons do whatever they want because as a whole our society cannot be bothered to take care of itself. We want the government to do that for us so we have given up the powers which are expressly ours.
Hmmmm, so I guess if we let the government run amuck, and the governemnt is bought out by corporations... we let the corporations run amuck. What a shithole of a society this is turning into.
Well, I'd revise that to say "killing people isn't relating to people at all." With that said however, what is the "sophisticated" way to relate to certain violent criminal types (and yes, I'll even throw in certain US actions that are violent and criminal and misguided)? Do you walk up and shake their hand?
If Bush just went up to Osama one day, said "Hey, lets just put this all behind us" and shook his hand kissed his cheeks, you think Osama would say "Yeah, this is all a big mess. You US guys are really OK, lets be friends"?
I think you gotta face the facts that some people just won't stop, the hate runs too deep and is all they know. If you don't stay ahead of the millitary game you put yourself at the mercy of those people. Its the sad but true fact of living on this world. We won't ever all get along.
Geeeeeeee, imagine that. Using the best tool for each job. Solaris on the web server, a few linux powered handhelds, BSD firewalls, a whole slough of Windows desktops for the accountants... Sounds like somone was smart enough to go beyond single OS zealotry.
Why ? Is it because we are the only country with "God" on our side ?:-)
Quite the opposite. Americans are infidels, and "God" is directly opposed to us, which is why people the world over can attack us in a "holy war." With that in mind, only the US should have WMDs because "God" would never let any of our bombs hit a country full of the holy belivers... so things are perfectly safe and stable.
More like:
"Terrible seller. Gov't enforcers still pull me over. Sticker is worthless. Took 3 months to get here (Buearocratic mess!). WOULD NOT BUY AGAIN!"
And the govt's feedback response:
"Buyer is an obvious terrorist. You will now be secretly taken away and never seen again (as per the PATRIOT act)."
So who decides what is "offensive and degrading material?" The gov't? A company? The librarian? Quite frankly I wouldn't trust the first two to decide what I am going to have for lunch today.
At least I hope. In my mind at least, the umpire is as much a part of the game as any of the players. Sure you want them to make the best calls possible, but I also want to have actual people out there making those calls. Has nothing to do with thinking a few cameras and some software can't do this job, just that I think it would take something away from the game.
Also, what if the computer controlling this crashes, hits a bug in the code, loosees connection to a camera, etc... Sure an umpire could call in sick, or whatnot, but at least in that case it is very obvious what is going on. Whereas with a computer malfunction it might not be until the 9th inning that you realize the computer wasn't calling things the way it was supposed to.
Are you kidding me? Unable to force it how? If the US and its drug laws are any indication, you can very succesfully toss people in the slammer for doing something that is rather popular. All sorts of drug users are jailed all the time, even though a good sized portion of our public uses drugs of all types (whether they admit to it publicly or not).
Sure they won't up and arrest 1/3 of the population, but "token" busts and random searches/seizurs/imprisonments will certainly occur. Governments have always been good at enforcing laws just below the level at which the majority of the population will wake up and revolt.
Crack cocaine isn't crack cocaine either! (At least not the way you are obviously thinking of it). The same untruthful, blame-your-problems-on-something-else, people have no self-control type attitude that you seem to be angry with is precisely what has happened with illegal drugs. They have been demonized, immoralized (even a word?), and basically used to promote racism and used as a scapegoat for the last hundred years or so (in the US at least).
I'd invite you to look into some actualy studies of crack cocaine, heroin, LSD, <insert favorite demon drug>. You'll find that the evidence isn't there to suggest that simply using any of these causes you to do anything you weren't inclined to before you took the substance. You will also find the theme of "just one time and you are hopelessly addicted" is also bogus. Just more FUD in the Government's games...
I'd assume this is the same BS that is going on in Bhutan. The culture shock is probably there, but in the end some people are just using it as an excuse for fscked up behavior.
Re:Sounds Fantastic -- Now Why Not Hemp
on
Corn-Based Plastic
·
· Score: 2, Informative
If you want the whole story of hemp in America, get "The Emperor Wears no Clothes", by Jack Herer. Has the history, the uses, and the politics involved in hemp. Good read, and quite a versatile plant I must say.
There most certainly isn't anything "wrong" with it... when they setup the network they planned for 1-5 second pings during peak hours. So by their perception you are actually getting one of their "better" connections.
Sorry, couldn't resist. I know the kind of bullshit companies will pull. A couple years back when I got my first DSL line it took a full 4 months from my first signing up for service before I actually got my first connection to the DSLAM. All the while PacBell (the provider at that time, now SBC) told me every day "Your connection will be up tomorrow, don't worry".
Interesting. So then you are not at all against the famed (at least because of all the press coverage they got in the '90's) Michigan millitias having all the same weapons that the gov't has? They train weekly/monthly, give ranks... so they ought to have full-autos, tanks, mortars, rockets... basically everything the gov't forces have.
I just ask because most people I have talked with that interpret "millitia" in the 2nd amendment as meaning training, ranks, National Gaurd only, etc... write off non-government funded millitias as wackos. Yet nowhere does the amendment say "government funded and sanctioned millitias".
Again, I'm not attacking you per se, just asking what you take is on groups of citizens getting together and exercising their rights.
Also, I do have to pick a nit with your labeling the parent post as a "nut with a gun." I own guns, and I also go to the range and "train" with those guns every week, firing hundreds of rounds. I am trained, competent, and a fully contributing member of society paying taxes, my rent, and even helping people out from time to time. So on that count, I do have to personally attack you and say that the last part of your comment obviously shows that you are a quick-to-judge nutcase who is totally unprepared to listen to any point of view other than your own.
Anyhow, flame on all ye people. I know that suggesting guns are a right is taboo on/., but I'll keep right on doing it till my karma runs dry.
It's the software they're running that matters here. Your comment is like saying a blind guy would drive better in a Dodge Dakota than a Toyota Tacoma.
That is so utterly ridiculous. Everyone knows blind people should drive Geo Metros. That way even when they do hit a pedestrian it won't do anything but cause the car to implode.
Most people don't reinvent the wheel the way you think of somebody working hard to come up with the idea of a circular object that rolls.
The correct way to think of coding items very similar to what is already out there is a tire company. You have different treads, sizes, applications, etc... but they are all "wheels". And nobody tries to tell a tire company it is constantly reinventing the wheel...
I totally agree that copyrights are maintained for too long and are out-of-control.
But honestly now, "works are *lost* to the public" just isn't true. That line of thinking is just counting losses for something you never had. Like bemoaning being robbed because you *should* have had that raise. These works aren't lost, they just aren't found.
Subtle difference perhaps, but I can't see bitching like we have some inherant right to the works of others. It's just that as a part of our society we agree that copyright will grant you protections for now, but you agree to give up all of your rights later. And the rules of this agreement have been tweaked to the point of being useless to the public. Still, we didn't actually loose anything that was our's to begin with.
The safety factor could be a big plus for women especially. You aren't likely to be slipped a date rape drug and find yourself tied to hotel bed while being gang raped if your meeting through the Net. Sure you have some risk when you eventually do meet the people in real life but you get some chance to screen people before going out with them.
And thus we see a real problem with (US at least) perceptions these days. We are all convinced that everyone is out to get us. Everyone is a raving madman, because the news says so every night! If its not road-rage, it's date rape drugs. If it isn't school shootings, its crack fiends. You can also get killed when lightening strikes your monitor and blows you to pieces, but nobody ever worries about that.
I don't think more online chat is what we really need (though it certainly can be useful). If you want to start meeting people, try starting up a converstation next time you see your neighbor. Or chat up that hot women in line at your ATM. You don't need to go clubbing, or boozing, you just need to be a little outgoing and talk to the people who are enevitably all around you every time you step outside.
Whooops, guess alot of geeks don't tend to step outside that often... well damn.
Yep, just to point out how the starving civilian masses have nothing to do with how much money/resources the country actually has at hand, I submit these points:
The capital city of N. Korea employs traffic "maids" or whatever they are called to direct traffic... traffic which is utterly non-existent. They stand out there in the middle of intersections waiving along cars that simply are not there. The capital is also kept looking ridiculously clean and modern, even though not much actually ever happens there. The millitary (or at least the special forces) is kept as modern as possible and well-fed, while the rest of the country is starving, and anyone who speaks out against this disparity is deemed a traitor, and is locked up with one of the other millions of prisoners in the countries vast prisons (where the prisoners are worked like slaves until they die).
The gov't also spent a boatload of money to make the tallest building in the world (at least it was, I don't know if it still is), but in the end it was so poorly made that it cannot be inhabited.
Yeah, or people could wise up and not live in a FLOOD ZONE.
Nature will take its course, as it has for millenia. I don't think flooding alone is a good reason to build a shitload of dams (though it might be a nice addition to all the power that will get produced).
As for the interview itself, I would like to know how it was conducted. It looks to me like it was conducted over AIM, in which case I'm sure John either wrote the responses himself or was standing over the typist's shoulder coaching him/her. If it was conducted over telephone or in person I'd be very surprised.
Wow, rather intimidated by good looking women aren't you? So let me get this straight, from the lack of evidence to suggest she is a brainless twit, it would appear that she couldn't have typed the answers herself because: A) She is a girl B) She is a hot girl (as if looks relate to brains in any way) C) She is only 18 D) Someone else (not her) involved in Aimster is a felon (BTW, if you have ever used a P2P system, you are probably a thief, maybe even a felon)
Would you have the same contempt if it were an 18 year old male "hacker"?
I can't honestly say I know for sure that she is very smart, or concerned about any of the issues brought up in the interview. But what reason does anyone have to doubt her intelligence?
Slashdot Mirror
Indeed. And the politicians don't care about filling up the prisons with non-violent offenders who cause no harm to anyone but themselves (and in most cases these people aren't even hurting themselves).
Just as an example, 2003 federal prison statistics list over 50% of their prison population as being locked up for drug offenses*. How's that for a bullshit industry just looking to make money? These people have done nothing to harm anyone, and they get locked up for longer amounts of time than rapists and murderers. Its just one more government subsidized corporation that uses us sheeple to make ever increasing profits. If locking up millions of P2P file-share users keeps the lobby happy, don't expect a single one of those facists on the hill to stand in the way of this legislation.
* http://www.bop.gov/fact0598.html#Offense
Right. Instead guns are deemed "evil" and are banned left and right after a person uses it in an action that harms another person. So by your example we should fully expect P2P software to be banned the first time some sicko puts kiddie porn into the system. Yay for mob rule!
Yes, and that is great for your country. But this isn't Denmark. Taking away guns from responsible citizens in this country is:
A) Against our Constitution
B) Exceeding dangerous due to our society and how criminals work in this country
And I would venture to say that any country where the citizens aren't allowed to own firearms for protection, isn't a truly free society. Sure, things might be fine and dandy right now, but ultimatly you are under the thumb of your government and your government's army. If a day ever came when your government started going too far... well you are all shit out of luck and likely to be crying out for international intervention. Not free at all...
What I would find interesting would be what the murder rates in Denmark would become if you relaxed the gun laws, taught people proper respect for firearms, and pretty much armed everyone (well, non-convicted criminals) with at least handguns. Would the murder rate suddenly skyrocket simply because of the introduction of firearms, or are the people of your country rational and able to handle themselves? My guess is that since your society seems to respect human life a great deal, giving people firearms would not raise the murder rate at all. If anything it would decline further.
Indeed. To give a few figures for this statement (I noticed a reply asking for figures), I point those interested to www.morganquitno.com/cit00rank.pdf. You can find different numbers from different studies if you google around, but the basic trend is the same.
From the above stated study, Washington DC, with the strictest gun laws in the US (nobody but cops can have them... well, or politicians, uber rich/famous, etc...) has a year 2000 murder rate of 41.8 per 100,000 persons.
Indianapolis, with generally citizen friendly firearms laws, and easy to attain CCW permits (lots more gun owners in this city) has a year 2000 murder rate of 12.5 per 100,000 persons.
Imagine that. Criminals generally don't fare well in areas where an intended victim or a passerby is likely to be armed and capable of defending themself/others. I've seen the figures for these two cities go to a peak of 69/100,000 for DC to 9/100,000 for Indianapolis.
There are plenty of other studies showing this correlation for CCW, firearms ownership, and friendly gun laws (towards law abiding citizens) and lower crime rates. But we don't like to see stories in the press about all the times everyday that someone uses a gun to save lives. We like to see blood and gore and children running and pretending we have an epidemic when actual crime rates have been declining (even before anti-gun measures were put in place).
You must not be using Visual Studio .NET... I sit here in front of that wretched beast at this very moment. Dear god does it ever drive me insane.
.NET. Well, that was while I was just fiddling around with it. Now that I'm actually using it make programs it just drives me up the wall. Every time I touch ASP.NET and throw in some C# codebehind, I can think of multiple different ways that would be easier/faster than what I have to slop together with those two.
At first I thought I was coding faster than ever before with this wonderous
I must say, I am not impressed.
Wha? I have no clue about the rest of the world democracies, but in the US our government has no power but that which we let it take. The Constitution of this country makes clear what powers the government has. Everything not specifically stated as a government power is reserved to the people. We are just fat and lazy and let the government goons do whatever they want because as a whole our society cannot be bothered to take care of itself. We want the government to do that for us so we have given up the powers which are expressly ours.
Hmmmm, so I guess if we let the government run amuck, and the governemnt is bought out by corporations... we let the corporations run amuck. What a shithole of a society this is turning into.
The good stuff? Metallica is like buying your coke cut with ajax...
Well, I'd revise that to say "killing people isn't relating to people at all." With that said however, what is the "sophisticated" way to relate to certain violent criminal types (and yes, I'll even throw in certain US actions that are violent and criminal and misguided)? Do you walk up and shake their hand?
If Bush just went up to Osama one day, said "Hey, lets just put this all behind us" and shook his hand kissed his cheeks, you think Osama would say "Yeah, this is all a big mess. You US guys are really OK, lets be friends"?
I think you gotta face the facts that some people just won't stop, the hate runs too deep and is all they know. If you don't stay ahead of the millitary game you put yourself at the mercy of those people. Its the sad but true fact of living on this world. We won't ever all get along.
Geeeeeeee, imagine that. Using the best tool for each job. Solaris on the web server, a few linux powered handhelds, BSD firewalls, a whole slough of Windows desktops for the accountants... Sounds like somone was smart enough to go beyond single OS zealotry.
The world of computers isn't black and white.
Why ? Is it because we are the only country with "God" on our side ? :-)
Quite the opposite. Americans are infidels, and "God" is directly opposed to us, which is why people the world over can attack us in a "holy war." With that in mind, only the US should have WMDs because "God" would never let any of our bombs hit a country full of the holy belivers... so things are perfectly safe and stable.
Oh wait, nm... <grin>
More like:
"Terrible seller. Gov't enforcers still pull me over. Sticker is worthless. Took 3 months to get here (Buearocratic mess!). WOULD NOT BUY AGAIN!"
And the govt's feedback response:
"Buyer is an obvious terrorist. You will now be secretly taken away and never seen again (as per the PATRIOT act)."
So who decides what is "offensive and degrading material?" The gov't? A company? The librarian? Quite frankly I wouldn't trust the first two to decide what I am going to have for lunch today.
At least I hope. In my mind at least, the umpire is as much a part of the game as any of the players. Sure you want them to make the best calls possible, but I also want to have actual people out there making those calls. Has nothing to do with thinking a few cameras and some software can't do this job, just that I think it would take something away from the game.
Also, what if the computer controlling this crashes, hits a bug in the code, loosees connection to a camera, etc... Sure an umpire could call in sick, or whatnot, but at least in that case it is very obvious what is going on. Whereas with a computer malfunction it might not be until the 9th inning that you realize the computer wasn't calling things the way it was supposed to.
Are you kidding me? Unable to force it how? If the US and its drug laws are any indication, you can very succesfully toss people in the slammer for doing something that is rather popular. All sorts of drug users are jailed all the time, even though a good sized portion of our public uses drugs of all types (whether they admit to it publicly or not).
Sure they won't up and arrest 1/3 of the population, but "token" busts and random searches/seizurs/imprisonments will certainly occur. Governments have always been good at enforcing laws just below the level at which the majority of the population will wake up and revolt.
TV, is not crack cocaine.
And the kicker...
Crack cocaine isn't crack cocaine either! (At least not the way you are obviously thinking of it). The same untruthful, blame-your-problems-on-something-else, people have no self-control type attitude that you seem to be angry with is precisely what has happened with illegal drugs. They have been demonized, immoralized (even a word?), and basically used to promote racism and used as a scapegoat for the last hundred years or so (in the US at least).
I'd invite you to look into some actualy studies of crack cocaine, heroin, LSD, <insert favorite demon drug>. You'll find that the evidence isn't there to suggest that simply using any of these causes you to do anything you weren't inclined to before you took the substance. You will also find the theme of "just one time and you are hopelessly addicted" is also bogus. Just more FUD in the Government's games...
I'd assume this is the same BS that is going on in Bhutan. The culture shock is probably there, but in the end some people are just using it as an excuse for fscked up behavior.
If you want the whole story of hemp in America, get "The Emperor Wears no Clothes", by Jack Herer. Has the history, the uses, and the politics involved in hemp. Good read, and quite a versatile plant I must say.
There most certainly isn't anything "wrong" with it... when they setup the network they planned for 1-5 second pings during peak hours. So by their perception you are actually getting one of their "better" connections.
Sorry, couldn't resist. I know the kind of bullshit companies will pull. A couple years back when I got my first DSL line it took a full 4 months from my first signing up for service before I actually got my first connection to the DSLAM. All the while PacBell (the provider at that time, now SBC) told me every day "Your connection will be up tomorrow, don't worry".
Interesting. So then you are not at all against the famed (at least because of all the press coverage they got in the '90's) Michigan millitias having all the same weapons that the gov't has? They train weekly/monthly, give ranks... so they ought to have full-autos, tanks, mortars, rockets... basically everything the gov't forces have.
/., but I'll keep right on doing it till my karma runs dry.
I just ask because most people I have talked with that interpret "millitia" in the 2nd amendment as meaning training, ranks, National Gaurd only, etc... write off non-government funded millitias as wackos. Yet nowhere does the amendment say "government funded and sanctioned millitias".
Again, I'm not attacking you per se, just asking what you take is on groups of citizens getting together and exercising their rights.
Also, I do have to pick a nit with your labeling the parent post as a "nut with a gun." I own guns, and I also go to the range and "train" with those guns every week, firing hundreds of rounds. I am trained, competent, and a fully contributing member of society paying taxes, my rent, and even helping people out from time to time. So on that count, I do have to personally attack you and say that the last part of your comment obviously shows that you are a quick-to-judge nutcase who is totally unprepared to listen to any point of view other than your own.
Anyhow, flame on all ye people. I know that suggesting guns are a right is taboo on
It's the software they're running that matters here. Your comment is like saying a blind guy would drive better in a Dodge Dakota than a Toyota Tacoma.
That is so utterly ridiculous. Everyone knows blind people should drive Geo Metros. That way even when they do hit a pedestrian it won't do anything but cause the car to implode.
Most people don't reinvent the wheel the way you think of somebody working hard to come up with the idea of a circular object that rolls.
The correct way to think of coding items very similar to what is already out there is a tire company. You have different treads, sizes, applications, etc... but they are all "wheels". And nobody tries to tell a tire company it is constantly reinventing the wheel...
I totally agree that copyrights are maintained for too long and are out-of-control.
But honestly now, "works are *lost* to the public" just isn't true. That line of thinking is just counting losses for something you never had. Like bemoaning being robbed because you *should* have had that raise. These works aren't lost, they just aren't found.
Subtle difference perhaps, but I can't see bitching like we have some inherant right to the works of others. It's just that as a part of our society we agree that copyright will grant you protections for now, but you agree to give up all of your rights later. And the rules of this agreement have been tweaked to the point of being useless to the public. Still, we didn't actually loose anything that was our's to begin with.
The safety factor could be a big plus for women especially. You aren't likely to be slipped a date rape drug and find yourself tied to hotel bed while being gang raped if your meeting through the Net. Sure you have some risk when you eventually do meet the people in real life but you get some chance to screen people before going out with them.
And thus we see a real problem with (US at least) perceptions these days. We are all convinced that everyone is out to get us. Everyone is a raving madman, because the news says so every night! If its not road-rage, it's date rape drugs. If it isn't school shootings, its crack fiends. You can also get killed when lightening strikes your monitor and blows you to pieces, but nobody ever worries about that.
I don't think more online chat is what we really need (though it certainly can be useful). If you want to start meeting people, try starting up a converstation next time you see your neighbor. Or chat up that hot women in line at your ATM. You don't need to go clubbing, or boozing, you just need to be a little outgoing and talk to the people who are enevitably all around you every time you step outside.
Whooops, guess alot of geeks don't tend to step outside that often... well damn.
Yep, just to point out how the starving civilian masses have nothing to do with how much money/resources the country actually has at hand, I submit these points:
The capital city of N. Korea employs traffic "maids" or whatever they are called to direct traffic... traffic which is utterly non-existent. They stand out there in the middle of intersections waiving along cars that simply are not there. The capital is also kept looking ridiculously clean and modern, even though not much actually ever happens there. The millitary (or at least the special forces) is kept as modern as possible and well-fed, while the rest of the country is starving, and anyone who speaks out against this disparity is deemed a traitor, and is locked up with one of the other millions of prisoners in the countries vast prisons (where the prisoners are worked like slaves until they die).
The gov't also spent a boatload of money to make the tallest building in the world (at least it was, I don't know if it still is), but in the end it was so poorly made that it cannot be inhabited.
Yeah, or people could wise up and not live in a FLOOD ZONE.
Nature will take its course, as it has for millenia. I don't think flooding alone is a good reason to build a shitload of dams (though it might be a nice addition to all the power that will get produced).
As for the interview itself, I would like to know how it was conducted. It looks to me like it was conducted over AIM, in which case I'm sure John either wrote the responses himself or was standing over the typist's shoulder coaching him/her. If it was conducted over telephone or in person I'd be very surprised.
Wow, rather intimidated by good looking women aren't you? So let me get this straight, from the lack of evidence to suggest she is a brainless twit, it would appear that she couldn't have typed the answers herself because:
A) She is a girl
B) She is a hot girl (as if looks relate to brains in any way)
C) She is only 18
D) Someone else (not her) involved in Aimster is a felon (BTW, if you have ever used a P2P system, you are probably a thief, maybe even a felon)
Would you have the same contempt if it were an 18 year old male "hacker"?
I can't honestly say I know for sure that she is very smart, or concerned about any of the issues brought up in the interview. But what reason does anyone have to doubt her intelligence?