I agree with you, overall, but I think you are investing way too much personal angst in it. You don't need me to tell you it is a fucked up world out there, but black humor has a very important place. Sure, many posters believe these and many other conspiracies, but forget about them. Accept it, man. Life is too short.
I know what you mean, but there are enormous flaws in the "rogue missile/nuke" hypothesis. Let's take today's favorite, Iran. Let's pretend that all of the reasonable players in Iran, those who wish to live and see another day, are cast aside, and some bozo manages to fire a Hiroshima-class nuke at Israel on a missile. Let's further assume that it all works reasonably well, and it hits a suburb of Tel Aviv or some such place.
The US Hawk contingent paints this as the gist of the danger, as if the game stops there. It doesn't, of course. The nuke will cause enormous damage, possibly killing and injuring significantly more people in the first 72 hours than in the historical attacks over half a century ago. What will happen to Iran? Will they smile and congratulate themselves? Will their citizens dance in the streets? Will this inspire a vast new wave of Islamic Extremists who will brag about the defeat of Zionism for centuries to come? No, of course not.
There will be an immediate backlash against Iran, with almost unanimous international support, formally and informally, inside and outside institutions like the UN and NATO. Within a few weeks, Iran will have no military forces left, because their military and part of their industrial capacity will have been summarily destroyed by one of the most sudden and overwhelming interventions in human history. They will have a caretaker government strictly controlled by outsiders, and they will cease to be a sovereign nation for decades to come.
I may have some of the story wrong, but it would almost certainly transpire along those rough brush strokes. Now the question is, is it believable that Iran would launch a preemptive nuclear strike on Israel, or any US or European ally or client state?
Create an expensive and ostentatious weapons system on which other nations were not willing to squander billions of dollars
Make a cool video about it and circulate it widely. Conceal the real, practical day-to-day performance results.
If a global arms race fails to start, announce that you are also developing a handy-dandy, sure-fire defense against the weapons system only you possess. Caution: increased risk of scam backfiring.
???
Profit!
Yet another defense industry scam, and all of us are dragged along for the ride.
No sane person would want to keep all of her data offsite, or risk losing access to essential software at the momentary whim of the vendor.
Get real, folks. Personal computing hardware, their OSs and application software, and the data physically residing on them are not going away. They'll change, and perhaps change a lot, but they are definitely not going away.
This is vendor hype-push on consumers. We aren't exactly clamoring for it.
The capitalist market might be "greedy," but it is better by far than any other option you can think of.
This remark is rubbish. It is true for you because it has placed you in a position with which you are more or less satisfied. This is not the case for everyone in the US, and may not be for quite a large portion of the population. The same is true in systems which you would undoubtedly consider far inferior to "capitalism" (a vague term at best). In dictatorships, communist or not, there are also large segments of the population who are relatively satisfied as well as others who are not at all satisfied.
It is an oft-repeated truism that capitalism (usually a narrow personal interpretation of the term that goes unexplained and undefined) is the best possible system. Likewise, statements like "the market corrects itself," "private enterprise is more efficient than government," "free trade" (another vague term) is better than regulated trade, "prices are controlled fundamentally by supply and demand," supply and demand are "the invisible hand of the market," and many others are taken to have a validity and descriptive power at the level of physical laws like Newtonian physics or classical thermodynamics. These claims too are rubbish, little more than personal opinion, often made by people with an academic, economic, or political vested interest to defend and promote.
In the discussion within this thread, the controversy surrounds the fact that one needs to pay a lot of money for what appears to be a modest service, and one must pay it every year to maintain a certificate. Some companies have been quite abusive of their privilege to sell such certificates and/or function as domain name authorities and resellers. They often must be forced by regulating agencies to diminish their abuses. Your wacky, shallow claims about capitalism add little to the discussion
The driver is that the calcium carbonate precipitates as a solid and is thus removed from the reaction. This pulls it forward to "sequester" carbon dioxide on the sea bed. The potentially dumb part, and it may be colossally dumb on a grand, historic scale, is the notion of dumping enormous quantities of lime into the seas and producing a blanket of calcium carbonate at the bottom.
Years from now, whenever you say "sequester" people will think "that is so 2009!"
Now we can solve Global Warming by dumping billions of tons of limestone into the seas! Brilliant, Holmes, brilliant!
Of course, you know this project isn't going anywhere until Bechtel, Parsons, Boeing, BAE Systems, Halliburton, Blackwater, and the rest of the gang get some serious action.
OK, OK already! We get it! It seems clear from the context that the word the author intended was more along the lines of "cartel" than "monopoly." The point is still well taken. These companies exploit a captive market with inflated prices.
MS is not about to kill its cash cow, the core of its monopoly, its reason for existence. If anything, there will be greater fragmentation of "versions" with "incentives" at the bottom end to upgrade at additional cost. Expect to see inexpensive laptops and desktops at the sub-US$300 level that are practically useless without an upgrade.
You were in the NSA? Fair enough. Perhaps you could give us more details rather than just veiled implications. I lived in the Third World for almost 20 years. I know the world is a rough place, and there are all sorts of criminals and sociopaths out there (and, lamentably, in our own nation) at every level of society. Nevertheless, you have not made any kind of case in favor of the FISA bill that was passed.
Why did you want it to pass (assuming your post is not a troll)? Do you actually believe the "Global War on Terror" is a legitimate, well-founded, and sincerely pursued enterprise? Do you think people are lining up to come and attack us out of sheer irrational hatred? Do you think it is credible that "we are fighting them there so we don't have to fight them here," and it doesn't occur to the bad guys to just come over here and attack us anyway instead of waiting in line patiently to fight one-on-one with our hero like in an old Batman episode?
Surely you can't be so gullible, so willing to take everything at face value and without analysis, so ready to assume that "they must know something we don't, so I'll trust them." Have you never ever wondered whether the vast sums of money changing hands have a significant bearing on the situation?
The most tragic part is that this will disillusion people and reduce the number of anti-McCain votes. McCain will win, the "Global War on Terror" and Milton Friedman Free Market scams will last for many more years, and things will just keep going down the road they're on now. Unfortunately, it is no longer especially credible that Obama is a significant alternative, if he ever was.
Now what? Millions of irrational nitwits awaiting the Rapture or armageddon (or both), proud of themselves for asking out loud "how do they know there were dinosaurs if nobody was there to see them?" and suchlike rot. An oligarchy of businessman-politician-criminals looting the world, inside and outside of our nation. A society where it is in poor taste to mention these things, where we must be good little consumers and emulate the absurd role models in our commercial entertainment media. A body politic where the only tolerated discussion is regarding the shallow and contrived theater in that part of the commercial entertainment media called "news" or "journalism." A citizenry that believes every bogeyman story that is presented to it, regardless of how absurd, unfounded, or internally inconsistent it may be.
Obama is the "lessor of two evils?" Does he own a couple of strip clubs or fast food joints that he leases out to people? Where are they? Are they at least profitable? Is he the only person who leases out exactly two evils?
Slashdot Mirror
Sadly, I agree with you 100%. Sadly.
Welcome to the glorious Union of Soviet Capitalist Republics!
Will we have an October Surprise to make sure that the Heroic Global War on Terror continues for years to come?
Of course, they vote, don't they...
Lighten up, Dude. People are taking that slant mainly because the whole affair resembles bad film noir.
He couldn't. He had a sharp instrument in each hand.
Stabbed himself repeatedly. Again and again. About the head, neck, and shoulders. In the back, in the front, in the sides. It was an ugly scene.
Welcome to the glorious Union of Soviet Capitalist Republics!
In Soviet Russia, ??? suicides you!
The US Hawk contingent paints this as the gist of the danger, as if the game stops there. It doesn't, of course. The nuke will cause enormous damage, possibly killing and injuring significantly more people in the first 72 hours than in the historical attacks over half a century ago. What will happen to Iran? Will they smile and congratulate themselves? Will their citizens dance in the streets? Will this inspire a vast new wave of Islamic Extremists who will brag about the defeat of Zionism for centuries to come? No, of course not.
There will be an immediate backlash against Iran, with almost unanimous international support, formally and informally, inside and outside institutions like the UN and NATO. Within a few weeks, Iran will have no military forces left, because their military and part of their industrial capacity will have been summarily destroyed by one of the most sudden and overwhelming interventions in human history. They will have a caretaker government strictly controlled by outsiders, and they will cease to be a sovereign nation for decades to come.
I may have some of the story wrong, but it would almost certainly transpire along those rough brush strokes. Now the question is, is it believable that Iran would launch a preemptive nuclear strike on Israel, or any US or European ally or client state?
You forgot the "???" step. Then again, maybe you didn't. It's the defense industry, after all.
Yet another defense industry scam, and all of us are dragged along for the ride.
Get real, folks. Personal computing hardware, their OSs and application software, and the data physically residing on them are not going away. They'll change, and perhaps change a lot, but they are definitely not going away.
This is vendor hype-push on consumers. We aren't exactly clamoring for it.
This remark is rubbish. It is true for you because it has placed you in a position with which you are more or less satisfied. This is not the case for everyone in the US, and may not be for quite a large portion of the population. The same is true in systems which you would undoubtedly consider far inferior to "capitalism" (a vague term at best). In dictatorships, communist or not, there are also large segments of the population who are relatively satisfied as well as others who are not at all satisfied.
It is an oft-repeated truism that capitalism (usually a narrow personal interpretation of the term that goes unexplained and undefined) is the best possible system. Likewise, statements like "the market corrects itself," "private enterprise is more efficient than government," "free trade" (another vague term) is better than regulated trade, "prices are controlled fundamentally by supply and demand," supply and demand are "the invisible hand of the market," and many others are taken to have a validity and descriptive power at the level of physical laws like Newtonian physics or classical thermodynamics. These claims too are rubbish, little more than personal opinion, often made by people with an academic, economic, or political vested interest to defend and promote.
In the discussion within this thread, the controversy surrounds the fact that one needs to pay a lot of money for what appears to be a modest service, and one must pay it every year to maintain a certificate. Some companies have been quite abusive of their privilege to sell such certificates and/or function as domain name authorities and resellers. They often must be forced by regulating agencies to diminish their abuses. Your wacky, shallow claims about capitalism add little to the discussion
Years from now, whenever you say "sequester" people will think "that is so 2009!"
Of course, you know this project isn't going anywhere until Bechtel, Parsons, Boeing, BAE Systems, Halliburton, Blackwater, and the rest of the gang get some serious action.
OK, OK already! We get it! It seems clear from the context that the word the author intended was more along the lines of "cartel" than "monopoly." The point is still well taken. These companies exploit a captive market with inflated prices.
Try using GNU/Linux
MS is not about to kill its cash cow, the core of its monopoly, its reason for existence. If anything, there will be greater fragmentation of "versions" with "incentives" at the bottom end to upgrade at additional cost. Expect to see inexpensive laptops and desktops at the sub-US$300 level that are practically useless without an upgrade.
You were in the NSA? Fair enough. Perhaps you could give us more details rather than just veiled implications. I lived in the Third World for almost 20 years. I know the world is a rough place, and there are all sorts of criminals and sociopaths out there (and, lamentably, in our own nation) at every level of society. Nevertheless, you have not made any kind of case in favor of the FISA bill that was passed.
You're on the right track. Read Shock Doctrine . You'll be disappointed to learn that it is a tried and true formula.
My gut instinct is to either instinctively assume you are joking, or that you are an idiot. I'm not so sure now...
Welcome to the glorious Union of Soviet Capitalist Republics!
Surely you can't be so gullible, so willing to take everything at face value and without analysis, so ready to assume that "they must know something we don't, so I'll trust them." Have you never ever wondered whether the vast sums of money changing hands have a significant bearing on the situation?
Now what? Millions of irrational nitwits awaiting the Rapture or armageddon (or both), proud of themselves for asking out loud "how do they know there were dinosaurs if nobody was there to see them?" and suchlike rot. An oligarchy of businessman-politician-criminals looting the world, inside and outside of our nation. A society where it is in poor taste to mention these things, where we must be good little consumers and emulate the absurd role models in our commercial entertainment media. A body politic where the only tolerated discussion is regarding the shallow and contrived theater in that part of the commercial entertainment media called "news" or "journalism." A citizenry that believes every bogeyman story that is presented to it, regardless of how absurd, unfounded, or internally inconsistent it may be.
Are we fucked backwards and forwrds yet?
Obama is the "lessor of two evils?" Does he own a couple of strip clubs or fast food joints that he leases out to people? Where are they? Are they at least profitable? Is he the only person who leases out exactly two evils?