Thank you, AOL! I think this is a really good idea!! I'm sure lots of people will come over to AOL now!!! Yay for AOL!!!! Now undoubtedly the best ISP ever!!!!!
Now, maybe, finally, we can have our newsgroups back after AOL chokes and dies. It's only been, what, 12 years since the black day they opened up the newsgroup feed... I'll bet there's some freaking awesome Smashing Pumpkin and Nirvana bootlegs in there! And nekkid pictures of Tiffany Amber Thiessen!
Yeah, because we all have a few hundred thousand dollars sitting around that we can throw at the TV ads, print ads, internet ads, billboards, signs, pickets, bribes, and premarked ballots required to win a seat on the national government.
Part of the problem with the system is that it's fixed to only let those with money in... and for 95% of the people, the only way to get that money is to play along with the system and be one of the good old boys.
Yes, yes, you CAN/technically/ run for office with only a few hundred dollars, running a grassroots campaign, going door to door. Last Federal election here in Canada, the Marxist-Leninist Party did that... you know what their sole mention on network TV was? The day of the election, an Ontario candidates home riding was the first to be counted, and for a very (very) brief period, the Marxist-Leninist Party was leading for a seat... which the CBC announcer had a hard time saying, he was chuckling so hard. Yeah... grassroots works.
I don't recall seeing third-party candidates at the much-vaunted debates in '04. I don't recall them getting any noticable mention or coverage on the major networks, except for pundits complaining how these evil candidates were taking votes away from their guys. I do recall a very occasionaly TV ad, but it was quickly drowned out by a dozen ads from the major parties.
It's all fine and good to say "If you don't like the system, change it from within"... but the truth is the system is fundamentally flawed, and designed to never change. Even if you did somehow manage to win a seat (thank you, electronic voting errors!), you'd have, what, 529 other Reps or 98 other Senators who ARE part of the system, and who DON'T want you to change it?
Sometimes, you have to accept that something is broken, and wipe the slate clean and start over. Just throwing out the people in power won't work... they've built the system to ensure it.
I was going to mod, but instead I'll comment, starting with a large "Bugger you, mate".
Remember friend, history is written by the victors. The US, like every other major power, has had it's share of atrocities. The difference is the US, as the victor, has generally been able to supress and gloss over its 'incidents', and by the same token, make much noise about the faults of it's fallen foes, for the purpose of looking like the white knight, defending the world against evil.
I'd remind you, this is the same US that has conducted biological and chemical experiments on it's own troops and citizens, participated in the firebombing of Dresden, the slaughter of Vietnamese noncombatants, holds political prisoners in an offshore base without trial or reporesentation, refused to agree to a worldwide ban on landmines, also refused to agree on a worldwide ban on children in the military, still says to kids "You aren't old enough to drink, but you can go kill these bad guys for us"...
Sympathy is not something you have to earn, in my books. A horrible event happened, and we sympathize with all those who died and suffered, regardless of nationality or reasoning. Sympathy is something that happens person-to-person, not nation-to-nation... as such, I can sympathize with the thousands of dead and injured soldiers coming out of Iraq, even if I don't agree with the war or the nation that sent them there. By the same token, you can sympathize with the japanese people, even if you don't agree with the nation that took them to war. Have a little bit of humanity for those who did what they thought was right and followed their leaders where they were told to go, whether they be Japanese, American, or Other.
Here I was, just sitting here lazily, thinking everything was fine with the world... then *BOOM*, suddenly robots are wandering the hospitals in a homicidal rampage! Targetting our weakest and most vulnerable citizens too, how rude... but, being a vigilant/.er who always RTFM, I was horrified to discover, at the bottom of the page, another in-depth investigative piece from the loyal Humans at the Register... Vampire RoboNurses Hunt in Packs!
The hospitals are no longer safe people! Thats where the invasion is starting! Flee for the hills, set up your resistance groups, prepare to fight for humanity... and whatever you do, for the love of all that you believe in.... DON'T GET SICK!!!
Hmmm...the fact that they didn't immediately surrender makes it far less troubling in my not so humble opinion.
You have to remember... in 1945, such destruction being caused by one bomb was unimaginable. The almost total destruction of the city, the lack of available couriers, and the frying of outbound telecommunications lines (those that were left after months of US bombing), all contributed to it taking days just for reliable word of what had happened to reach the powers-that-be... it's not at all unreasonable that it took days more before they could finally believe that such a superweapon existed, and that this wasn't an exaggeration, a deception by those who wanted the war to end, or some sort of hoax by the US forces.
Really, the US dropped the second bomb because they wanted to test out it's effectiveness before the Japanese had a chance to surrender, and perhaps they wanted to impress the Russians as well. Either way, an honourable adversary would have stood by his deadline.
You know, I had something similar happen with my ex girlfriend.... we were making the bed shake, I suddenly slid down a bit on the covers, and, well... I tried to tell her it was a slip fault, not a thrust fault, and therefore it didn't do any real damage, but she said her south coast was not an area that gave her tsunamis, and if I ever wanted to get near her epicentre again, I'd better stay as far offshore as possible from the aforementioned south coast...
When 2K came out, I pushed as hard as I could for upgrades for me (+/-)200 users. 95/98 was slow, unstable, and a pain in the ass.
Of course, given how management prioritizes things.... well, let's just say they didn't, and I finally got everyone done last year.
Of course, now, I have a stable, fast OS, on decent hardware, runs everything I need it too... frankly, with no "killer app" on the horizon, I have no plans for upgrades anytime soon. Even when (if?) Longhorn comes out... I just have no compelling reason to update. If these things are still running when the final End-Of-Life comes and there are no longer any critical security updates issued... hell, I'm behind a firewall with A/V on every machine, I may just consider keeping them longer.
That's the wonderful problem with quality vs. capitalism... if you build something good, strong, sturdy, and long-lived... you get to sell it once. If you build a piece of crap that falls apart in a year... you get to sell it over and over.
My big concern with XP is that, when it's 5 years is up, Microsoft may say "Sorry folks, we're turning off the activation servers! If you want software, upgrade to WinMe2008!".
Sorry Bill... you made something that actually works and doesn't cause me trouble. Until my office is swept away by a tsunami and I have to replace all my hardware... well, you won't get my money, but I'll think fondly of you.
The little bastard deserves everything he gets. No defense coming from me here.
It's bastards like this that screw things up for grey-hats everywhere. Ok, you were curious, you wanted information, and the information wanted to be free... good enough. But you don't go deleting files and user accounts! How fraggin dumb can you be? "Hmm, I just hacked NASA and no-one knows.... I think I'll fuck things up!".
If he'd just gone looking for the information and gotten busted, I would have had sympathy for him. But he just went to wreck shit up. "Looking for UFOs" is just AOL-Speak for "Shit, I got caught being a dick and I need an excuse, quick!"
You should be able to take her in another year or so, if you train hard.
This is a perfect example of why you should always quote all the way up the chain to the very top-level parent. I'm browsing at +4, and dude, that sounded SICK SICK SICK.
Screw the people... they're easy to replace. But planes cost money!
Seriously folks. Get some freaking perspective. These measures aren't to save you from the evil AQ terrorists (who've hit the continental US ONCE in the past 500 years), but to make the sheeple feel safe, and to pump lots of money into defense contractors and security product makers. Really, were I intent on causing death and destruction, I'd walk into an airport on a friday evening and toss some AP grenades into the air. Or I'd pack a shipping container full of C4 and old uranium from Russia and set it off in one of the many, many unprotected seaports. Or I'd find a nightclub, or a church, or a sporting event, or an ANYTHING. Do you see the pattern? Catch the key word? ANYTHING. It does't matter how many billions you blow on security, how invasive you are... there is ALWAYS a loophole, a weakness, a way. And that's exactly what the government is counting on. An unlimited source of fear, and fear is the tool. Today it's airports, next it's shipping, sporting events, libraries, coffee shops... they just have to pick one, make you afraid of it, and then spend the next 5 years pumping money into the industry in the name of Freedom(tm) and National Security(tm).
The key to understand is that THIS is how the Terrorists Win (tm). Not by blowing up a nightclub, or crashing a plane. The key word is "Terror", hence "Terrorists". A "Terrorist" is one who causes terror, and by causing terror, he wins. Some guys crash planes into buildings 4 years ago, and everyone is still afraid. They've won. The battle is not over planes or money, the battle is over Terror. You make them more afraid of you, than you are of them. That's how you win. And you do that not by blowing the shit out of unrelated countries, but by undermining their base, making them weak, to the point where they know if they hit you, they'll have no support at all.
For example, "Hmm, Saudi Arabia, looks like you're closely allied with AQ to us. So, until you stop funding and stamp out AQ, we're not buying any more oil from you. Yes, it will hurt, but we'll find other suppliers, and this is the price we pay for sticking to our values".
So, let me predict how this particular issue will go. Govt: We want to see you nekkid! Sheeple: No, we will protest! Govt: Ok, we reluctantly agree to restrict our NekkidViewer to people who really, really deserve it. Sheeple: Yay! We've won! Government of the People, baby!
Meanwhile, no-one cares that their library records are recorded by the government, that there's a national biometric database, or cameras on every street corner. The government isn't stupid enough to think that we'll actually let them see us nekkid. It's just a carrot to dangle to the sheeple, to distract them from the real objective. And it helps keep eyeballs away from the real issue. After all, how many people would rather read about NekkidView than biometrics?
Yeah, I tried it, but I think there's a bug with the weather service. It keeps coming up with these really weird high numbers followed by an "F". I know the number is wrong, because I just came in from outside, and it's only about 16C.
So, let's review: Nuclear Weapons: The US and their allies have them. Most of the rest of the world, excepting what's left of Russia, doesn't. US thinking: Anyone else having nuclear weapons is bad. We will stop anyone from having them, no matter what we have to do or who we have to kill. Problem: Finding them is hard, hiding them is easy, and taking them away from people is exceptionally difficult.
Now, let's look at Space Weapons (should this be approved and fast-tracked): US has them. The rest of the world doesn't. US thinking: Anyone else having Space Weapons is bad. We will stop anyone from having them, no matter what we have to do or who we have to kill. Problem: What problem? Launch facilities are easy to find, it's easy to use Space Weapons to destroy launch facilities, and we can keep doing it as much as we want. Upsides: Every launch facility becomes a valid target. What if Al Quada took over one and launched their own weapon? Why does China need a launchpad, they still wear sandals! It must be for Evil. India? They still wear sheets on their head! We'll convince them otherwise. And, once every launch facility is either destroyed or locked down, with US troops monitoring all activity and US inspection and approval required to launch anything, suddenly the civilian telecommunications market is owned by US corporations who can launch at will.
Oh, look, outstanding military might and unprecedented control of the economy, AND we get to tell everyone it's for their own safety. How convenient.
Face it, once they get those weapons up their, the first thing they're going to be designed to do is not to snipe some suspected operative or scare North Korea. They'll be designed to destroy any possible launch site for other countries to get their weapons into space. Even if they're sucky first-gen weapons, once they're there, the US gains a huge advantage. Other countries will try to adapt, perhaps build armoured launch facilities, but they'll always be behind because the easiest way to kill a satallite is with another satallite. Killing them from the ground is hella-hard.
And, once the US has spy sats and killbot sats in orbit and doesn't have to risk US lives to exert their will.. well, we've seen how the CIA likes to use unmanned drones to execute suspected AQ operatives. Personally, I wasn't aware that the CIA had the right to execute people, let alone in foreign countries, let alone without fair trial... but hey, what do I know, I'm just a Canuck.
For those of you who say "No, we'd never do that..." I point out that Operation Iraqi Liberation has killed 1600 US troops and (averaging estimates) 100,000 Iraqis, and you reelected the fucker who lied to you about it... and only now is the mainstream Thought Police (sorry, Media) starting to do a few little stories here and there about hippy liberals unhappy at all the death. If Vietnam was any guide, it'll be another 3 years before hardcore stories of the suffering and death are regular fare on TV, the cows start to moo, and the politicians get ready for the next election by pulling out the troops. So, how bad do you think it's gonna be when NO US citizens will die when they launch an attack? There's a reason that there is very little foreign media shown in the US. They can't be controlled. If there's only US media, and they show what they're told, who's to tell that the latest Space Bombardment killed 100,000 Koreans? And if no-one tells and all you get is spin, who's to stop the Politburo from blowing up whoever they want?
+2 funny, +2 insightful! Oh, I guess CleverNickName doesn't have any mod points today. He must be too busy working on his new book, "I am not Wesley", soon to be followed by "No, I'm still not Wesley, go fuck yourself Nimoy!"
I heard somewhere that getting wet for electronic devices is a dangerous thing.
Actually, I heard that getting wet for electronic devices is a common occurance among the females of the species. Admittedly, it can be dangerous when they come to prefer them to the biological alternative, but shorting out the batteries to the metal casing usually takes care of that after one application.
However, getting electronic devices wet is probably a Bad Idea. Stabbing them with your screwdriver just makes it worse. Which, coincidentally, is also true when it comes to the female of the species.
And before someone makes a dirty joke about that, I'll point out that if you are equipped in such a way that "screwdriver" immediately reminds you of such equipment, perhaps you should keep it to yourself and hope none of the girls tell their friends.
On the other side of the rockies, however, things suck.
10 years ago, there was snow up to my waist for at least 4 months out of the year. Last year, I had to shovel exactly twice, and realistically I coud have used a broom to sweep aside the white dust that passes for snow.
Unfortunately, while the climate change has spared us from hours of chopping away at icy chunks of snow that barricade us inside our houses, it hasn't stopped the bloody cold weather. So, now all those plants that used to get covered by a few feet of snow to protect them, are now exposed to the -40C weather with an extra -20C on the wind chill.
Oh, and once it warms up (which it hasn't finished doing yet), then there's no snow to melt... so all the farmers have no water, the wells are at all-time lows, the soil is crap because there isn't a heavy water flow to move nutrients around and pull out all the poisons, and the North Saskatchewan (which I live right next to) is a barren brown sludgepile. It should be a raging torrent right now, fresh with water from the foothills streaming down so hard it makes whitecaps... instead, I think half the current is created by the output from the waste water treatment plant.
But yeah, global warming is great. Unless you live in Kansas. In which case, I guess God is punishing us for something.
You bastard! I had that fucking deer right in my sights on my second monitor, just killing time reading/. waiting for it to get out from behind that tree so I could get a clean headshot, and now I spewed Jolt all over my monitors and scared it off!!!
Every time I hear ya'll talk about "those who hate freedom" and it is considered valid grounds for killing... every time someone says "if you don't like it, leave!"... every time a school board notices that their children don't meet their minimum standards, so they drop their standards... every time elected officials stand in their governmental buildings and pray to their deity... every time a government branch considers company profit above what is right... every time Bush speaks...
I say it whenever any of the above occur in such a way as to give me a headache, and now, thanks to this, I have to say it again...
Since when does this crap count as a "pimped out rig"? Really, from the look of it, it's a stock alienware case (which, nowadays, I can do down to my local IT vendor and get something remarkably close for $75CDN) with a graphic on the side. Oooooh, wow, check out the l33t rig! Oh, my GAWD, you PREINSTALLED the STAR WARS DESKTOP THEME too? I'm totally sold! Can I please give you my money and wait 4-6 weeks for delivery??? Can I buy 10, in case they become a collectors item?
Worst. "Mod". Ever.
I'd have some respect for it if it was something a little more hardcore. Light sabre that shoots out from the 5 1/4" bay if your biometric doesn't scan right. A nice custom case shaped like a stormtroopers helmet. Hell, even a nicely cut out side panel with back lighting. This? This is a fuckin ironed-on graphic. Ooooh, wow.
Of course, we all know the best Star Wars mod ever was the Millenium Falcon PC. Now, we know what the lamest was too.
Slashdot Mirror
You may have noticed the numbers don't add up.
They didn't want to admit the other 25%... are still bootlegging music onto their 8-track players.
Hey, some of us don't like to give up our old tech! It still works, why replace it??!!
Thank you, AOL! I think this is a really good idea!! I'm sure lots of people will come over to AOL now!!! Yay for AOL!!!! Now undoubtedly the best ISP ever!!!!!
... I'll bet there's some freaking awesome Smashing Pumpkin and Nirvana bootlegs in there! And nekkid pictures of Tiffany Amber Thiessen!
Now, maybe, finally, we can have our newsgroups back after AOL chokes and dies. It's only been, what, 12 years since the black day they opened up the newsgroup feed
Party on, Wayne!
Party on, Garth!!
Yeah, because we all have a few hundred thousand dollars sitting around that we can throw at the TV ads, print ads, internet ads, billboards, signs, pickets, bribes, and premarked ballots required to win a seat on the national government.
/technically/ run for office with only a few hundred dollars, running a grassroots campaign, going door to door.
Part of the problem with the system is that it's fixed to only let those with money in... and for 95% of the people, the only way to get that money is to play along with the system and be one of the good old boys.
Yes, yes, you CAN
Last Federal election here in Canada, the Marxist-Leninist Party did that... you know what their sole mention on network TV was? The day of the election, an Ontario candidates home riding was the first to be counted, and for a very (very) brief period, the Marxist-Leninist Party was leading for a seat... which the CBC announcer had a hard time saying, he was chuckling so hard. Yeah... grassroots works.
I don't recall seeing third-party candidates at the much-vaunted debates in '04. I don't recall them getting any noticable mention or coverage on the major networks, except for pundits complaining how these evil candidates were taking votes away from their guys. I do recall a very occasionaly TV ad, but it was quickly drowned out by a dozen ads from the major parties.
It's all fine and good to say "If you don't like the system, change it from within"... but the truth is the system is fundamentally flawed, and designed to never change. Even if you did somehow manage to win a seat (thank you, electronic voting errors!), you'd have, what, 529 other Reps or 98 other Senators who ARE part of the system, and who DON'T want you to change it?
Sometimes, you have to accept that something is broken, and wipe the slate clean and start over. Just throwing out the people in power won't work... they've built the system to ensure it.
I was going to mod, but instead I'll comment, starting with a large "Bugger you, mate".
Remember friend, history is written by the victors. The US, like every other major power, has had it's share of atrocities. The difference is the US, as the victor, has generally been able to supress and gloss over its 'incidents', and by the same token, make much noise about the faults of it's fallen foes, for the purpose of looking like the white knight, defending the world against evil.
I'd remind you, this is the same US that has conducted biological and chemical experiments on it's own troops and citizens, participated in the firebombing of Dresden, the slaughter of Vietnamese noncombatants, holds political prisoners in an offshore base without trial or reporesentation, refused to agree to a worldwide ban on landmines, also refused to agree on a worldwide ban on children in the military, still says to kids "You aren't old enough to drink, but you can go kill these bad guys for us"...
Sympathy is not something you have to earn, in my books. A horrible event happened, and we sympathize with all those who died and suffered, regardless of nationality or reasoning. Sympathy is something that happens person-to-person, not nation-to-nation... as such, I can sympathize with the thousands of dead and injured soldiers coming out of Iraq, even if I don't agree with the war or the nation that sent them there. By the same token, you can sympathize with the japanese people, even if you don't agree with the nation that took them to war. Have a little bit of humanity for those who did what they thought was right and followed their leaders where they were told to go, whether they be Japanese, American, or Other.
The hospitals are no longer safe people! Thats where the invasion is starting! Flee for the hills, set up your resistance groups, prepare to fight for humanity... and whatever you do, for the love of all that you believe in.... DON'T GET SICK!!!
You have to remember... in 1945, such destruction being caused by one bomb was unimaginable. The almost total destruction of the city, the lack of available couriers, and the frying of outbound telecommunications lines (those that were left after months of US bombing), all contributed to it taking days just for reliable word of what had happened to reach the powers-that-be... it's not at all unreasonable that it took days more before they could finally believe that such a superweapon existed, and that this wasn't an exaggeration, a deception by those who wanted the war to end, or some sort of hoax by the US forces. Really, the US dropped the second bomb because they wanted to test out it's effectiveness before the Japanese had a chance to surrender, and perhaps they wanted to impress the Russians as well. Either way, an honourable adversary would have stood by his deadline.
You know, I had something similar happen with my ex girlfriend.... we were making the bed shake, I suddenly slid down a bit on the covers, and, well... I tried to tell her it was a slip fault, not a thrust fault, and therefore it didn't do any real damage, but she said her south coast was not an area that gave her tsunamis, and if I ever wanted to get near her epicentre again, I'd better stay as far offshore as possible from the aforementioned south coast...
When 2K came out, I pushed as hard as I could for upgrades for me (+/-)200 users. 95/98 was slow, unstable, and a pain in the ass.
Of course, given how management prioritizes things.... well, let's just say they didn't, and I finally got everyone done last year.
Of course, now, I have a stable, fast OS, on decent hardware, runs everything I need it too... frankly, with no "killer app" on the horizon, I have no plans for upgrades anytime soon. Even when (if?) Longhorn comes out... I just have no compelling reason to update. If these things are still running when the final End-Of-Life comes and there are no longer any critical security updates issued... hell, I'm behind a firewall with A/V on every machine, I may just consider keeping them longer.
That's the wonderful problem with quality vs. capitalism... if you build something good, strong, sturdy, and long-lived... you get to sell it once.
If you build a piece of crap that falls apart in a year... you get to sell it over and over.
My big concern with XP is that, when it's 5 years is up, Microsoft may say "Sorry folks, we're turning off the activation servers! If you want software, upgrade to WinMe2008!".
Sorry Bill... you made something that actually works and doesn't cause me trouble. Until my office is swept away by a tsunami and I have to replace all my hardware... well, you won't get my money, but I'll think fondly of you.
The little bastard deserves everything he gets. No defense coming from me here.
It's bastards like this that screw things up for grey-hats everywhere. Ok, you were curious, you wanted information, and the information wanted to be free... good enough. But you don't go deleting files and user accounts! How fraggin dumb can you be? "Hmm, I just hacked NASA and no-one knows.... I think I'll fuck things up!".
If he'd just gone looking for the information and gotten busted, I would have had sympathy for him. But he just went to wreck shit up. "Looking for UFOs" is just AOL-Speak for "Shit, I got caught being a dick and I need an excuse, quick!"
You should be able to take her in another year or so, if you train hard.
This is a perfect example of why you should always quote all the way up the chain to the very top-level parent. I'm browsing at +4, and dude, that sounded SICK SICK SICK.
Oh my god, fake post?!? Quick, someone hack Slashdot and deface the site!!
Screw the people... they're easy to replace. But planes cost money!
Seriously folks. Get some freaking perspective. These measures aren't to save you from the evil AQ terrorists (who've hit the continental US ONCE in the past 500 years), but to make the sheeple feel safe, and to pump lots of money into defense contractors and security product makers. Really, were I intent on causing death and destruction, I'd walk into an airport on a friday evening and toss some AP grenades into the air. Or I'd pack a shipping container full of C4 and old uranium from Russia and set it off in one of the many, many unprotected seaports. Or I'd find a nightclub, or a church, or a sporting event, or an ANYTHING. Do you see the pattern? Catch the key word? ANYTHING. It does't matter how many billions you blow on security, how invasive you are... there is ALWAYS a loophole, a weakness, a way. And that's exactly what the government is counting on. An unlimited source of fear, and fear is the tool. Today it's airports, next it's shipping, sporting events, libraries, coffee shops... they just have to pick one, make you afraid of it, and then spend the next 5 years pumping money into the industry in the name of Freedom(tm) and National Security(tm).
The key to understand is that THIS is how the Terrorists Win (tm). Not by blowing up a nightclub, or crashing a plane. The key word is "Terror", hence "Terrorists". A "Terrorist" is one who causes terror, and by causing terror, he wins. Some guys crash planes into buildings 4 years ago, and everyone is still afraid. They've won.
The battle is not over planes or money, the battle is over Terror. You make them more afraid of you, than you are of them. That's how you win. And you do that not by blowing the shit out of unrelated countries, but by undermining their base, making them weak, to the point where they know if they hit you, they'll have no support at all.
For example, "Hmm, Saudi Arabia, looks like you're closely allied with AQ to us. So, until you stop funding and stamp out AQ, we're not buying any more oil from you. Yes, it will hurt, but we'll find other suppliers, and this is the price we pay for sticking to our values".
So, let me predict how this particular issue will go. Govt: We want to see you nekkid! Sheeple: No, we will protest! Govt: Ok, we reluctantly agree to restrict our NekkidViewer to people who really, really deserve it. Sheeple: Yay! We've won! Government of the People, baby!
Meanwhile, no-one cares that their library records are recorded by the government, that there's a national biometric database, or cameras on every street corner. The government isn't stupid enough to think that we'll actually let them see us nekkid. It's just a carrot to dangle to the sheeple, to distract them from the real objective. And it helps keep eyeballs away from the real issue. After all, how many people would rather read about NekkidView than biometrics?
Todays score:
Terrorists: 1
Government: 1
People: 0
Have a nice day.
Vader may have said it first, but I'll say it best:
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!
[g'damn lameness filter]
+1 Gentlemanly. I salute you, Sir.
Yeah, I tried it, but I think there's a bug with the weather service. It keeps coming up with these really weird high numbers followed by an "F". I know the number is wrong, because I just came in from outside, and it's only about 16C.
I'll just sit there and bounce my foot up and down on the ground!
So, let's review:
Nuclear Weapons: The US and their allies have them. Most of the rest of the world, excepting what's left of Russia, doesn't.
US thinking: Anyone else having nuclear weapons is bad. We will stop anyone from having them, no matter what we have to do or who we have to kill.
Problem: Finding them is hard, hiding them is easy, and taking them away from people is exceptionally difficult.
Now, let's look at Space Weapons (should this be approved and fast-tracked):
US has them. The rest of the world doesn't.
US thinking: Anyone else having Space Weapons is bad. We will stop anyone from having them, no matter what we have to do or who we have to kill.
Problem: What problem? Launch facilities are easy to find, it's easy to use Space Weapons to destroy launch facilities, and we can keep doing it as much as we want.
Upsides: Every launch facility becomes a valid target. What if Al Quada took over one and launched their own weapon? Why does China need a launchpad, they still wear sandals! It must be for Evil. India? They still wear sheets on their head! We'll convince them otherwise. And, once every launch facility is either destroyed or locked down, with US troops monitoring all activity and US inspection and approval required to launch anything, suddenly the civilian telecommunications market is owned by US corporations who can launch at will.
Oh, look, outstanding military might and unprecedented control of the economy, AND we get to tell everyone it's for their own safety. How convenient.
Face it, once they get those weapons up their, the first thing they're going to be designed to do is not to snipe some suspected operative or scare North Korea. They'll be designed to destroy any possible launch site for other countries to get their weapons into space. Even if they're sucky first-gen weapons, once they're there, the US gains a huge advantage. Other countries will try to adapt, perhaps build armoured launch facilities, but they'll always be behind because the easiest way to kill a satallite is with another satallite. Killing them from the ground is hella-hard.
And, once the US has spy sats and killbot sats in orbit and doesn't have to risk US lives to exert their will.. well, we've seen how the CIA likes to use unmanned drones to execute suspected AQ operatives. Personally, I wasn't aware that the CIA had the right to execute people, let alone in foreign countries, let alone without fair trial... but hey, what do I know, I'm just a Canuck.
For those of you who say "No, we'd never do that..." I point out that Operation Iraqi Liberation has killed 1600 US troops and (averaging estimates) 100,000 Iraqis, and you reelected the fucker who lied to you about it... and only now is the mainstream Thought Police (sorry, Media) starting to do a few little stories here and there about hippy liberals unhappy at all the death. If Vietnam was any guide, it'll be another 3 years before hardcore stories of the suffering and death are regular fare on TV, the cows start to moo, and the politicians get ready for the next election by pulling out the troops. So, how bad do you think it's gonna be when NO US citizens will die when they launch an attack? There's a reason that there is very little foreign media shown in the US. They can't be controlled. If there's only US media, and they show what they're told, who's to tell that the latest Space Bombardment killed 100,000 Koreans? And if no-one tells and all you get is spin, who's to stop the Politburo from blowing up whoever they want?
No, you don't. As usual, running a Windows box will now require the regular sacrifice of small children to power it's unholy needs.
Hey everyone! Breaking news!! Nothing has changed!!! More at 11!!!!
+2 funny, +2 insightful!
Oh, I guess CleverNickName doesn't have any mod points today. He must be too busy working on his new book, "I am not Wesley", soon to be followed by "No, I'm still not Wesley, go fuck yourself Nimoy!"
Actually, I heard that getting wet for electronic devices is a common occurance among the females of the species. Admittedly, it can be dangerous when they come to prefer them to the biological alternative, but shorting out the batteries to the metal casing usually takes care of that after one application.
However, getting electronic devices wet is probably a Bad Idea. Stabbing them with your screwdriver just makes it worse. Which, coincidentally, is also true when it comes to the female of the species.
And before someone makes a dirty joke about that, I'll point out that if you are equipped in such a way that "screwdriver" immediately reminds you of such equipment, perhaps you should keep it to yourself and hope none of the girls tell their friends.
On the other side of the rockies, however, things suck.
10 years ago, there was snow up to my waist for at least 4 months out of the year. Last year, I had to shovel exactly twice, and realistically I coud have used a broom to sweep aside the white dust that passes for snow.
Unfortunately, while the climate change has spared us from hours of chopping away at icy chunks of snow that barricade us inside our houses, it hasn't stopped the bloody cold weather. So, now all those plants that used to get covered by a few feet of snow to protect them, are now exposed to the -40C weather with an extra -20C on the wind chill.
Oh, and once it warms up (which it hasn't finished doing yet), then there's no snow to melt... so all the farmers have no water, the wells are at all-time lows, the soil is crap because there isn't a heavy water flow to move nutrients around and pull out all the poisons, and the North Saskatchewan (which I live right next to) is a barren brown sludgepile. It should be a raging torrent right now, fresh with water from the foothills streaming down so hard it makes whitecaps... instead, I think half the current is created by the output from the waste water treatment plant.
But yeah, global warming is great. Unless you live in Kansas. In which case, I guess God is punishing us for something.
You bastard! I had that fucking deer right in my sights on my second monitor, just killing time reading /. waiting for it to get out from behind that tree so I could get a clean headshot, and now I spewed Jolt all over my monitors and scared it off!!!
Every time I hear ya'll talk about "those who hate freedom" and it is considered valid grounds for killing ... every time someone says "if you don't like it, leave!"... every time a school board notices that their children don't meet their minimum standards, so they drop their standards... every time elected officials stand in their governmental buildings and pray to their deity... every time a government branch considers company profit above what is right... every time Bush speaks...
I say it whenever any of the above occur in such a way as to give me a headache, and now, thanks to this, I have to say it again...
"We let you people have nuclear weapons???"
Since when does this crap count as a "pimped out rig"? Really, from the look of it, it's a stock alienware case (which, nowadays, I can do down to my local IT vendor and get something remarkably close for $75CDN) with a graphic on the side. Oooooh, wow, check out the l33t rig! Oh, my GAWD, you PREINSTALLED the STAR WARS DESKTOP THEME too? I'm totally sold! Can I please give you my money and wait 4-6 weeks for delivery??? Can I buy 10, in case they become a collectors item?
Worst. "Mod". Ever.
I'd have some respect for it if it was something a little more hardcore. Light sabre that shoots out from the 5 1/4" bay if your biometric doesn't scan right. A nice custom case shaped like a stormtroopers helmet. Hell, even a nicely cut out side panel with back lighting. This? This is a fuckin ironed-on graphic. Ooooh, wow.
Of course, we all know the best Star Wars mod ever was the Millenium Falcon PC. Now, we know what the lamest was too.
Thanks Slashdot.