"Brushing your teeth is a fight against tooth decay, not denture companies."
Tooth decay is a hoax perpetuated by dental industry in an effort to get you to buy useless appliances and pastes. I havn't seen any evidence to support the need to brush your teeth ever.
I'm in New Zealand, we have MMP (Mixed Member Proportional).
When I listen to the news about American politics, it always amuses me when the American media refer to the 'other' parties as 'independent' parties.
So, let me get this straight, the Republicans and the Democrats are not independent parties? What is the media trying to say here?
I mean, on the one hand it makes perfect sense; the Rep. and Dem. parties are co-dependent and are therefore not exactly independent of one another.
But on the other hand I find it hard to believe that, eg, CNN, would want the American public to think like that.
And after all, in any modern democracy with modern media corporations involved, the media is crucial for shaping voting patterns. In fact, it becomes, in essence a 'mediacracy' and no longer a 'democracy'
Or maybe the truth is "America; we put the 'Mock' into De-mock-racy!"?
Actually, I suspect that Herr Hitler would best be described as a 'pagan'.
For example, he had certain German towns street plans rearranged to form runic symbols, SS officers were sent on special missions to perform rituals at certain sacred sites and so forth.
google for 'Hans Horbiger' who was a strong influence on Hitlers philosophy.
When I try to listen to the bbc world service online, all I get is something like 'due to rights restrictions we are unable to bring you this programme'
and that applies to the world news on the hour... indeed I havn't heard anything but an apology out of the bbc world service since the olympics started.
Worse yet, the bbc has taken the world news off the air for the duration of the olympics; the online broadcast bbc world news is the only version I can get (they don't beam shortwave at us and noone is rebroadcasting on am or fm here).
"The problem with Israel is that you can't have a democratic Jewish state any more than you can have a democratic white people's state or a democratic Christian state. There is a whole rack of discriminatory legislation that makes Arab Israeli citizens second class. For example only Jews are allowed to build in Jerusalem. Palestinans simply do not get building permission."
To emphasise your point, I'd mention that, from the perspective of Israelis this is a typo; for the Israeli there is no such thing as a Palestinian.
The Arabs who live in Israel are 'Israeli Arabs'
The Arabs who live in Gaza and the West Bank are simply Arabs.
For the Israeli, 'Palestinian' is a fiction created for the political expediency of the Arab world to try and win sympathy from the rest of the world.
To put it simply, I'll distil what many Israelis have told me into a few words;
'The people who call themselves Palestinian are really just Arabs and, as Arabs, they should be happy to live anywhere in the Arab world. Israel is not part of the Arab world.'
Therefore, for the Israeli, no Arab living in Israel has a right to live there; they do so at the suffrance of Hebrews. Some democracy.
"You want to join the club, you play by their rules, idiotic though they may be."
I dunno... its now extremely uncommon for even private clubs to disallow membership based on race or gender. The current, as you say, asinine approach taken by sports governing bodies is not far off.
Consider this scenario.
It is determined that someone who drinks a lot of water before a drugs test could be trying to conceal traces of a banned substance.
Anyone whos urine sample exceeded a certain quota will be retroactively banned and all their medals stripped.
Except that many people about to attend a drugs test at which a urine sample may be required may well drink lots of water in order to actually be able to urinate on demand...
If a 'sports club' acts in this way, would it not be in the interests of the public good for their behavior to be regulated by law, just as their behavior re race or gender of membership is also regulated by law (in many countries)?
But they change their (collective) mind all the time and make it retroactive; there isn't an athlete around who can guarantee that their medals won't be stripped by some retroactive rules change in the years to come.
This is surely fickleness and demonstrates lack of good faith on the part of the sports governing bodies.
'The body itself is full of "performance enhancing drugs" which we use whenever we are in a situation requiring above-normal abilities.'
and pretty soon these will be banned as well! Athletes will be required to have their *adrenal* glands removed before competition!
'The anti-drug stance of the IOC and other bodies is pure fascism, and doomed to failure.'
Absolutely; consider the case of the athlete who tested positive for a controlled substance, was retested, as the rules required, just to be sure, came up negative on the second test.
Fine, thinks the athlete...
Then the governing body decide to *change* the rules, make it retroactive and say 'oh, by the way, that first test is the one that counts now. You are banned, sucker!'
And thats it; the athletes lives are under the control of arbitrary and fickle agencies who change the rules at a whim.
"In 1756, Admiral Byng was ordered to prevent the French from taking Minorca. He was supplied with a fleet of thirteen ships that were both ill equipped and undermanned."
IIRC, British admiralty policy at the time was that 'one Englishman is worth three Frenchmen' and they undermanned their ships consistent with this ratio.
The interesting thing is that a great many French warships were captured by under-manned British ships (often far smaller British ships too).
Odd, especially considering that the French naval objective was to capture the British ship while the British objective wasn't to capture but to sink the French ship.
What wound up happening was that the French warship would fire at the British ships masts and rigging while the British would fire at or below the waterline of the French ships.
Consequently, the French seamen would experience some very serious personal danger and mutiny, surrendering to the British.
While I generally agree with you, a nation that enshrines laws which treat a person differently depending on their parentage cannot be off to a good start.
I read on http://www.theonion.com/ that Ford were planning a hydrogen-powered SUV and that if it reached prjected sales forecasts the world supply of hydrogen would be depleted in 20 years.
"The hybrid Escape uses a 200-pound, 330-volt battery pack to power the vehicle at low speeds and in stop-and-go traffic."
Since so many people spend so much of their day in stop and go traffic this is a big winner.
Just do the math. When I look at masses of traffic stuck at rush hour I can't help but imagine how many litres of fuel are being burnt while the cars are all but totally stationary for hours on end.
What a stupid waste. Electrical has to be better under those conditions.
Actually, surely it can't be hard to convert? If you had a large battery in a regular car, couldn't you use it to drive the starter motor while in gear and push the car forward slowly without the engine having to be running? (Using the starter motor to jog a car forward saves lives; when you are stalled out while crossing the railway lines for example)
Slashdot Mirror
"Brushing your teeth is a fight against tooth decay, not denture companies."
Tooth decay is a hoax perpetuated by dental industry in an effort to get you to buy useless appliances and pastes. I havn't seen any evidence to support the need to brush your teeth ever.
I'm only surprised they didn't translate 'user' as 'pendeco'
Yes, with luck the USA will be writing itself out of history.
I'm in New Zealand, we have MMP (Mixed Member Proportional).
When I listen to the news about American politics, it always amuses me when the American media refer to the 'other' parties as 'independent' parties.
So, let me get this straight, the Republicans and the Democrats are not independent parties? What is the media trying to say here?
I mean, on the one hand it makes perfect sense; the Rep. and Dem. parties are co-dependent and are therefore not exactly independent of one another.
But on the other hand I find it hard to believe that, eg, CNN, would want the American public to think like that.
And after all, in any modern democracy with modern media corporations involved, the media is crucial for shaping voting patterns. In fact, it becomes, in essence a 'mediacracy' and no longer a 'democracy'
Or maybe the truth is "America; we put the 'Mock' into De-mock-racy!"?
"there are millions that look at that and see God."
Hey, I look at *anything* and see God.
what proportion of their subscribers are griefers?
Actually, I suspect that Herr Hitler would best be described as a 'pagan'.
For example, he had certain German towns street plans rearranged to form runic symbols, SS officers were sent on special missions to perform rituals at certain sacred sites and so forth.
google for 'Hans Horbiger' who was a strong influence on Hitlers philosophy.
My favorite is the 'giant glass worms on Mars'
When I try to listen to the bbc world service online, all I get is something like 'due to rights restrictions we are unable to bring you this programme'
and that applies to the world news on the hour... indeed I havn't heard anything but an apology out of the bbc world service since the olympics started.
"Yes, they would do what they always do and get the feed from the BBC."
If only I could get *some* feed from the BBC; but due to the olympics the world is not allowed to listen to the bbc world news online.
Worse yet, the bbc has taken the world news off the air for the duration of the olympics; the online broadcast bbc world news is the only version I can get (they don't beam shortwave at us and noone is rebroadcasting on am or fm here).
I am disgusted.
"The problem with Israel is that you can't have a democratic Jewish state any more than you can have a democratic white people's state or a democratic Christian state. There is a whole rack of discriminatory legislation that makes Arab Israeli citizens second class. For example only Jews are allowed to build in Jerusalem. Palestinans simply do not get building permission."
To emphasise your point, I'd mention that, from the perspective of Israelis this is a typo; for the Israeli there is no such thing as a Palestinian.
The Arabs who live in Israel are 'Israeli Arabs'
The Arabs who live in Gaza and the West Bank are simply Arabs.
For the Israeli, 'Palestinian' is a fiction created for the political expediency of the Arab world to try and win sympathy from the rest of the world.
To put it simply, I'll distil what many Israelis have told me into a few words;
'The people who call themselves Palestinian are really just Arabs and, as Arabs, they should be happy to live anywhere in the Arab world. Israel is not part of the Arab world.'
Therefore, for the Israeli, no Arab living in Israel has a right to live there; they do so at the suffrance of Hebrews. Some democracy.
"You want to join the club, you play by their rules, idiotic though they may be."
I dunno... its now extremely uncommon for even private clubs to disallow membership based on race or gender. The current, as you say, asinine approach taken by sports governing bodies is not far off.
Consider this scenario.
It is determined that someone who drinks a lot of water before a drugs test could be trying to conceal traces of a banned substance.
Anyone whos urine sample exceeded a certain quota will be retroactively banned and all their medals stripped.
Except that many people about to attend a drugs test at which a urine sample may be required may well drink lots of water in order to actually be able to urinate on demand...
If a 'sports club' acts in this way, would it not be in the interests of the public good for their behavior to be regulated by law, just as their behavior re race or gender of membership is also regulated by law (in many countries)?
But they change their (collective) mind all the time and make it retroactive; there isn't an athlete around who can guarantee that their medals won't be stripped by some retroactive rules change in the years to come.
This is surely fickleness and demonstrates lack of good faith on the part of the sports governing bodies.
'The body itself is full of "performance enhancing drugs" which we use whenever we are in a situation requiring above-normal abilities.'
and pretty soon these will be banned as well! Athletes will be required to have their *adrenal* glands removed before competition!
'The anti-drug stance of the IOC and other bodies is pure fascism, and doomed to failure.'
Absolutely; consider the case of the athlete who tested positive for a controlled substance, was retested, as the rules required, just to be sure, came up negative on the second test.
Fine, thinks the athlete...
Then the governing body decide to *change* the rules, make it retroactive and say 'oh, by the way, that first test is the one that counts now. You are banned, sucker!'
And thats it; the athletes lives are under the control of arbitrary and fickle agencies who change the rules at a whim.
"In 1756, Admiral Byng was ordered to prevent the French from taking Minorca. He was supplied with a fleet of thirteen ships that were both ill equipped and undermanned."
IIRC, British admiralty policy at the time was that 'one Englishman is worth three Frenchmen' and they undermanned their ships consistent with this ratio.
The interesting thing is that a great many French warships were captured by under-manned British ships (often far smaller British ships too).
Odd, especially considering that the French naval objective was to capture the British ship while the British objective wasn't to capture but to sink the French ship.
What wound up happening was that the French warship would fire at the British ships masts and rigging while the British would fire at or below the waterline of the French ships.
Consequently, the French seamen would experience some very serious personal danger and mutiny, surrendering to the British.
Sensible people, those Frenchmen.
While I generally agree with you, a nation that enshrines laws which treat a person differently depending on their parentage cannot be off to a good start.
I live in New Zealand.
It has a racist pseudo-constitution (the treaty of waitangi).
So with that as a basis, no its not really that civilised a society.
"In a civilized society, prisoners are sentenced to time in jail."
So... where *exactly* in the world is there a civilised society?
I sometimes wonder if human beings even understand the concept.
"Ignoring the real nearest star, Sol, the next nearest star is Proxima Centauri"
How about the nearest *real* star, proxima is tiny, just a little pink puffball.
(oh crap I hope this doesn't start an interstellar war).
"Does a Hydrogen SUV make sense then?"
I read on http://www.theonion.com/ that Ford were planning a hydrogen-powered SUV and that if it reached prjected sales forecasts the world supply of hydrogen would be depleted in 20 years.
Maybe I could power my browser on the cookies that site wanted to feed me...
"The hybrid Escape uses a 200-pound, 330-volt battery pack to power the vehicle at low speeds and in stop-and-go traffic."
Since so many people spend so much of their day in stop and go traffic this is a big winner.
Just do the math. When I look at masses of traffic stuck at rush hour I can't help but imagine how many litres of fuel are being burnt while the cars are all but totally stationary for hours on end.
What a stupid waste. Electrical has to be better under those conditions.
Actually, surely it can't be hard to convert? If you had a large battery in a regular car, couldn't you use it to drive the starter motor while in gear and push the car forward slowly without the engine having to be running? (Using the starter motor to jog a car forward saves lives; when you are stalled out while crossing the railway lines for example)
"Using that as the standard I can make pretty much any unsubstantiaed accusation I want"
this is the internet, naturally I can make any unsubstantiated accusation at all. So can you. Its fun.
I'm gonna quote myself;
"or soon will be"
ok?