I wasn't trying to be funy, I was serious. google buys hardware by the boatload, I was postulating they would bein a position to have their own hardware fabbed/manufactured when they have several billions spare change hanging around. And they could then theoretically start owning chunks of the fatpipes infrastructure. Hmm, sort of more or less what AOL did, but with google brains behind it.
As soon as google goes public and has several buhzillion dollars *free money* handed to them, they would theoretically be in a postion to own their own hardware production facilities. They could have their own server, ram, chip, harddrive facilities. Heck, they might be able to start owning chunks of the fat pipes all over for that matter.
they would then be known as GOOGZILLA!
This move to offer TB worth of storage just helps them get investor mindshare, make more loot when they go public.
Ta heck with "desktop" dominance and monopoly, they could conceivably become an "internet" monopoly.
What's it worth to "own" the information on the internet to a big degree, and to be able to access it and index it faster than anyone? What's it worth to private business and to various governments, what would they pay for that information?
How can dropping production in the face of rising demand NOT create a shortage? Just take financial cost out of the equation, just look at gallons available. Dropping production means just that,it *drops* and with more demand, people have less gallons to use over-all. Yes it will go up in price, and so will everything else in price. That will mean a steady drop in quality of living, across the board for most people. You just don't know how fast and hard it will hit, but it could conceivably get as bad as "madmax".
I honestly think we will have some serious global wars over it, and it will be heinous beyond human comprehension for the most part. In fact, we ARE having wars over it last I looked, this is just the openings of the next decade or twos wars over ownership and dominance.
I would be less skeptical of a rosy outcome if we were seeing a lot more interest in alternatives now, in better building construction, in better cars to drive, in more personal conservation and awareness-but I'm not seeing it. People by and large are waiting for government to do something about it, that and complaining about rising gas costs, and that's about it. About as far as you hear anything is people drop the noun "hydrogen". that's it, they just say "hydrogen" like it's some magic wand or something and they can just manifest up this new and exciting "hydrogen economy"..
It's nuts. I've been listening to people TALK about alternatives and a transition economy for decades, but so far, we just consume more and very few people add to the solution in any meaningful way, especially in the market place. Being a producer means you skip the 35 inch tv and the skiboat, it just isn't happeneing. Now SOME people too, I do and a lot of my friends do, but we are the exceptions, most people dismiss us as tinfoil hat, or any other negative they can think of, they prefer to remain with the mooing herds, waiting for government to save them or something.
That's why I do my personal thing, I am not waiting for government or big politicised business to do it for me, because those guys track record is too little, too late, post pone hard decisions, wait until there's a huge crisis then react like cockroaches to the stimulus. To be fair, politicians don't get elected who will tell people there's a problem, and big business only reaacts to quarterly demands, because that's what people want, something for nothing, short term maximised profits. It's called lack of leadership, as in, "we don't have any that's credible", and it's also called "greed", as in "I want all of it now, screw the future".
So, you have to lead yourself. To me that's the only viable solution of note to date. And it's also why I am pessimistic, as most people will not lift a finger to do anything except complain.
I agree, trains are more efficient. That's why in the US they have been tearing out railroad tracks and converting them to trails that only a tiny fraction of the people use, mostly for sport/entertainment in the "rails to trails" project. Feel-good-ism.
It's nuts. They were already built, the right of ways established, so we went back in time a few hundred years for efficiency, to deer trails or something. I see it as similar to them tearing out all these community sized hydroelectric dams, just short sighted without any replacements on a one to one basis (or higher really). We are replacing hydro with jet turbine engines used as generators and fueled by natural gas. Nuts.
you won't have any choice, you'll pay it
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· Score: 3, Insightful
you have two choices, live with technology and keep paying the price, or live completely raw native primitive. If you live in any industrialised world, you will not only be paying more, you'll be getting less and your standard of living will be dropping. This is inevitable now, it's going to happen, the only argument is "when". We have zero replacement for petroleum. You won't say no when the two choices are, go to work, make at least something, at least have something to eat, etc.
people seem to think it won't matter, ot that the "market" will taker care of it. what they always forget is that this oil stuff is a finite resource, we cannot make any more of it. with energy, as sophisticated as we think we are, we are still in the hunter/gatherer stage of existence. It looks snazzy and lotsa blinkenlights, but all we do is extract it, and it's running out fast. They've about exhausted any gains to be made from effieicny, because it doesn't matter if you can throw money at it, once it takes the same amount of energy to extract, refine, transport petroleum products as you can get from it, then production ceases. You can't run the energy business in a negative, and that negative leaning break -even point is rapidly approaching. people argue about that point, say it's centuries in the future or whatever, but I think you can find out it's within a decade or two and we'll have some SERIOUS problems on the old ball of mud here. Demand is going up dramatically, it is going to be so bad we WILL be seeing major wars over it, and I contend all this mid east jazz going on is directly tied to "who will own the oil for the next two decades". I don't think even the most optimistic figures show that it is possible for the bulk of the planet to have any sort of "middle class" existence like we have now, the raw materials simply do not exist, and the energy doesn't exist, and it won't exist. And this stuff is coming down hard, and fast now.
I am non complacent about it, I live rural, I try for a bigger garden every year, and I'll be adding to my personal altenate enrgy supply, and be working on transportation next. Once iot gets real expensive, the worlds rich and the worlds governments and militsaries will "own" all the good energy, joe civvies in any nation won't be getting much, and they will be working lots harder than they do now, that's for sure.
That's my opinion, but I think the data supports it.
We are IN the "good old days" now, in other words.
We had a sort of warning in the 70's, and they said we would run out sooner. Thankfully they explored, found more, and developed more sophisticated exploration and extraction techniques, but they about milked that dry now. What's left hat is "new" is at bad, expensive places to get to, and is very costly, energy-wise. There AREN'T any more, stick a pipe in the ground get a gusher fields left, the kinds that fueled the rise of industrialised west and japan, and built those strong economies. That stuff is gone, we used it up already..
there's a lot...
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· Score: 2, Informative
...I like this place for the layman. The oil industry has it's own intelligence, and keeps their cards close to their cheast, but we just saw royal dutch shell a few weeks ago busted for over reporting what they claim they had-by 20%! That's an astoundingly LARGE amount of oil they claimed existed and does not exist. I have no idea if any of the other companies do it, but I sure wouldn't bet against it.
...but they cost twice as much. I have two of them, smaller, they are dual fuel electric/propane, and use ammonia/absorption with no moving parts, as opposed to normal compressors types. The alternate energy market has a lot of them. RVs and remote weekend camps are the primary customers, or like for folks living completely off grid permanently. They just cost more, but are much better energy wise, and the added benefit of you can get a big ole propane tank installed, run on electric most of the time, and switch to propane if the grid poofs on ya. Mine are made by Dometic, but there are other brands. You can get kerosene models as well, and I don't think it would be all that hard to cob job some sort of solar (heat) powered ones, either.
As to why don't they use stirlings? Again, cost, no one knows about them, etc. We alreadyhave a trmendous amount of tech we could use with this whole energy problem, but people opt for what ever is cheapest and fastest, most people think short term with most of their decisions, even their homes they buy with 20 year notes-they only want to live there long enough to re-sell, make some profit and move on. There's no long term thinking going on much of any place now. If people can't get an immediate pay back, they don't want it. They will either wait for government to do it for them, or they are believing fools like rush limbeau and making like a professional ostrich. There's your two main types of folks now.
WAY simplistic
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Out of Gas
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· Score: 5, Interesting
"public transportation" DOESN'T produce, package, or deliver your food to the stores and restaurants you frequent. Nor does it in the US-or any place else. The goods you all buy at the stores, from clothes to Cds to various hardware to..whatever--inevitably is reflected cost wise with the price of petroleum-and it's availability.
You don't even need a book, a simple two line graph will suffice. One graph shows world wide demand-that is going UP. Another graph line shows production-that will be going down as fields leave their "peak" where it's the cheapest to extract in terms of BTU's --> in to get BTU's -- out. Those lines will cross, then go in opposite directions, and the result is quite literally madmax, the movie, in spades.
In most fields outside the middle east, it's passed peak, and even the big fields in the middle east it's getting closer.
Those lines more or less cross within 15 years most places, some places earlier, other places later, but short of them developing some extremely energy efficient extraction techniques, and especially something that doesn't require high pressure water injection, we will be enscrewed.
BUT, the hard choices will not be made until it's too late to do much about it. We should already be using a significant proportion of the worlds petroleum energy to mass produce alternative enrgy devices, instead, we are using only a tiny fraction, waiting for the Mr. Fusion back yard perpetual motion machine generator.
Nuts, but there ya go.
I also think the "proven reserve" numbers aren't accurate, I think it's less in the middle east than what they say, but slightly more in the arctic circle. And there's some more to be gained in the gulf of mexico, etc, currently off limits to drilling, but once fuel gets to be about 5$ a gallon in the US, you won't find many people who give a care where we drill, unlike now when it's still fatcity and cheap and no one really is hurting yet-easy to complain OR ignore the problem as long as you are well fed, comfy, and want for naught. Once that changes, we could see what are euphemistally called in history books "major social changes".
Stuff can happen FAST, too, I personally paid 10$ a gallon for two gallons max back in the OPEC embargo days. And it doesn't matter how much you whine about it when it happens, scam or no scam, you pay, or walk. And with the current middle east situation, chaos theory says-you don't know, the whole dang place over there could el kaboom any day. No one can say it won't, you can't say it will, but the posibility is there for major war to seriously disrupt supply, and that would effect everyone in any nuymber of ways, irregardless if they are an urban bicycle/mass transit rider or not.
We are just way too dependent on oil, our entire economies revolve around it.
Heck, I just came in for a breather, about to go back outside and climb onto a diesel powered tractor, without that diesel, I can't work. PERIOD. Multiple that by another billion guys around the planet, one way or the other everyone goes to work, and diesel and gas make it happen. We simply cannot replace it, even by a massive switch to coal, can't be done now.
cable also has a bad habit of destroying your TV whenever there's a thunderstorm. I know a lot of people who switched to satellite TV from that reason and expensive lesson. Of course satellite isn't immune either, but it seems to be less of a problem.
I'm of mixed opinion on this whole deal. One, I can't afford satellite tv, always gotten over the air, if I can get even one channel clear that's good enough for me, I mainly use it to catch local news and weather and the odd movie, but it's not a priority to me. Cable is never available in the country (at least not anyplace I ever lived). All my "spare" money goes to have just a wired landline POTS and dialup internet. That combo runs me 70$/month now. I use a cell for 99% of my voice communication. I am SURE yuou could have just a pure broadband wired access for that 70$ or cheaper,anyplace suburban or urban, BUT, it is *never* offered in rural areas. I've looked into the alternatives myself, and it's expensive as heck to get started as a wireless internet service provider, I certainly couldn't afford to start one. NO ONE is gonna run the cable, wires, fiber, whatever you want to name for millions of people who live rural. It's just not happening anytime soon, if ever, because that's even WAY more expensive. That leaves some sort of wireless. Cell phone data wireless is hideously expensive, big start up costs, slow speeds, etc. Satellite internet is even worse, 500$ to one grand just to get started, upfront cost. So that ain't happening much.
It doesn't leave much more right now. So, maybe this is a good idea, I just don't know. I DO know I'll appreciate whomever offers me broadband, especially if I can beat the 70 clams a month I have now for decades old technology.
And the sucky part is, the telco has fiber up to two miles away, the nearest switching box or whatever it's called,I asked them and that's what they said, but they are in no hurry to string it down the street, and man, I think they are missing the boat, because they could then offer voice, video on demand, internet, you name it, and people would buy it, especially if they would finance the installation cost over a year or two to most people. Once again they are gonna shoot themselves in the foot by not *quite* going that last step to offer quality, 21st century products, and the wireless guys will scoop up their market. The sat TV guys already are in that area. I'd say they have 50% penetration around here judging by the amount of small dishes you see.
I also hope this new wifi rural wireless doesn't interfere with shortwave, I am an enthusiast on it, love my shows and broadcasts I can get with a medium priced radio and a few dollars scrap wire for an antenna..
not sure on fc2, but on fc1 xmms won't play mp3's. What I did was just trash it, then went and got the latest version from xmms.org, the mp3 plugin, etc. That worked ok, listening to a live stream right now on it.
No idea on rhythmbox player though, I never use it. And unlike the 7 series, I couldn't get mplayer to work *at all*. I'm sure that's just my problem, but something was always borked with it when I tried it several times.
Let me see if I can find this funny rant with a buncha practical howtos on playing sounds and dvds and whatnot....
It's a common slang term for walmart because most of the product comes from china.That's just data. People all over use that term. Get over yourself, did I tell people to NOT go buy a flashlight there? NO, I said it was a good place to go get that flashlight, which means those employees benefit if they do.
government does require warranties on meatspace products. they don't require differing written warranties, but they DO require implied warranties. I posted a link to it just last week in another thread. Here, I'll do it again, this time to just a general overview and not the actual laws:
Implied Warranties Implied warranties are created by state law, and all states have them. Almost every purchase you make is covered by an implied warranty.
The most common type of implied warranty--a "warranty of merchantability," means that the seller promises that the product will do what it is supposed to do. For example, a car will run and a toaster will toast.
Another type of implied warranty is the "warranty of fitness for a particular purpose." This applies when you buy a product on the seller''s advice that it is suitable for a particular use. For example, a person who suggests that you buy a certain sleeping bag for zero-degree weather warrants that the sleeping bag will be suitable for zero degrees.
If your purchase does not come with a written warranty, it is still covered by implied warranties unless the product is marked "as is," or the seller otherwise indicates in writing that no warranty is given. Several states, including Kansas, Maine, Maryland,
Massachusetts, Mississippi, Vermont, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia, do not permit "as is" sales.
If problems arise that are not covered by the written warranty, you should investigate the protection given by your implied warranty.
Implied warranty coverage can last as long as four years, although the length of the coverage varies from state to state. A lawyer or a state consumer protection office can provide more information about implied warranty coverage in your state.
---this is why they don't "sell" you software, they "license" it, and in the fine print it is most prominent that it has no fitness for purpose, or merchantability, etc.
That's the part that is a scam, IMO,it's leaglistic legislated snakeoil fraud, and needs to change. It's like GM offering cars "for license" instead of "for sale", and because they got 100 yards mileage on them driving them on and off transporters before they get to the dealers saying they are "used" and "Licensing" them to you for big money "as is". That would be stupid and a scam, and it's the same with software that they "license" but everyone on the planet can see they "sell".
And if you are saying "too bad, that's the contract they click agree on", then I agree, that's why I think it should be outlawed,the law NEEDS to be changed, maybe from a serious major class action suit, because it's a freeking sale, and it needs at a minimum implied warranties like every other product out there. I'm just the kinda guy gonna call a spade a spade, that software is sold. there's free software, then there's for-sale software, everyone knows the difference. They can legal mush mouth it all they want to, it's still sold, that's how most people treat it and think of it, so it needs a warranty, for merchantability and fitness of purpose and so on.
That's why I always check multiple sources as well.
If you have that interview-the link-I'll be happy to send it to him with the reference. I'd have to go back and re view the film to see it myself. I think he's big enough to admit that something he says is erroneous. He handles a ton of data, I'm impressed with his memory,in that he makes so few mistakes. He's bound to make mistakes, same as anyone else. I've corrected him one time on another issue and I heard him address it on his show, several years ago now, he corrected it.
All in all I think he does an outstanding job. My major beef with him is he has *too much* energy, he over talks guests a lot.
What you want doesn't seem to exist. if you only want to drop a few dollars on something practical, especially for camping and for reading and writing, I'd suggest rethinking the notebook and pen, and for around 10-15$ you can get a headlight/flashlight thing that you slip on your head, they have LED bulbs, run for days on some AAA or AA batteries. Chinamart has several models on the rack, easy to find there or most other department store. I have two of them, great for working and keeping your hands free, comfortable enough to sit down and read books (or write in a journal) with if there's no other lighting available.
Really, the next best option is just get an real old cheap used laptop, like some old 50$ pentium one or something. Transfer every days notes to a floppy and snail-mail it to yourself with a postcard, daily, then you have a backup if the laptop borks on you. Just make sure it has a decent battery. Don't think of it as a computer, just call it a portable keyboard equipped electronic typewriter for taking notes that's a lot cheaper than the other one you looked at.
But I still like the headlamp/ dead trees storage combo as the cheapest and best. The headlamp will satisfy geek gadget urges and it actually is quite practical, and the dead trees notebook is cheap and effective.
....indicate to people *before* you give them an account that firewalls and anti virus and keeping systems patched are all good ideas? Just slap ask them if they have a firewall and anti virus already, before you take their money and turn them loose on the net? Is it that hard to mention that before you finalise the contract with them? Or do you do that. I'm not trolling, just want to know what your normal procedure is. How about their email, can't you just send out an email with links to various firewalls and whatnot, or even offer them a courtesy CD their first month that have some programs on them, and tell them to use it first? Something like that? I mean, to joe consumer, their ISP is their first layer of networking administration, seems like it is at least partly the responsibility of the network guys to help educate and protect their users/clients.
I'm asking because I have NEVER been questioned by an ISP if I had a firewall, etc, just seems a critical point that they neglect. Hmm, I have to think way back now, I've had 6 ISP accounts since 95, 3 mom and pops, 1 from a rural community telco, and 2 big nationals. After you pay them or arrange for service and to get billed, the next step is just --> "what user name do you want,OK,that will be your email addy too, now what do you want for a password, OK, thankew, here's your account, buh bye and thanks for shopping at...." Never one time by any of those companies have I been asked, or recommended to have a firewall, or anything else security related for that matter.
both IS a good idea. And also instant karma justice, ie, go armed, like we are supposed to, protect your own self and property right at the exact time they are threatened. What the analogy to being armed is on the internet I don't know, but it would be nice to be able to have more proactive self defense.
he's paying him back. He's showing him that it's much better to not get your computer hosed in the first place, so he IS paying his dad back for his education, in exact kind. Adults can be wrong, but there's no easy way to point this out to them, in a father/son situation. And it worked according to the post, when his father realised what a PITA it is, what it really costs,both in cash in what might be done to his machine or credit card or other personal info, or how he could be used by a malicious zombie-running blackhat, etc, and how easily preventable it was,so he learned something useful and practical.
I think a lot of people honestly do not know that the primary reason they might get hacked is not to get their personal information, but to use their machine to distribute hacked warez and spam email and kiddie porn. So, it's much better to do what it takes to help people understand the ramifications of their actions-or non actions, and to perhaps take a more critical look at the software they are running. To me, it's like a traffic ticket (paying to have your machine cleaned and fixed), you are SUPPOSED to learn something (stop being a no-nothing lamer) about your behavior driving your car (computer) on the public road (internet).
Once people are REALLY aware of it, then they have a chance to correct the problem. If you can't get their attention in the first place, they won't ever learn. Sometimes it takes a fine to do that.
I FULLY support ISPs or private network admins yanking access to the network from infected machines. They don't do it enough, IMO, and if it happens to me because my machine gets hosed and zombied and I don't deal with it in a timely manner, then too bad for me, too. I'd rather be told about it if I don't know myself, and losing your net access is both protecting the innocents, and getting your attention for a problem. And if THAT then kept being pushed back up the food chain to the vendors, where they had to code better, release less often, and be forced to offer products good enough they could be warrantied, then I'm all for that, too.
It shouldn't take 20 years to come up with a more secure out of the box operating system that is network capable, is the real bottom line, no matter which one you are talking about.
You'd see it get chaotic in meatspace if any manufacturer were allowed to sell "caveat emptor" products with no government required warranty, of course they would skip doing quality work then, because there would be very little risk to them. It's time software played by the rules every other manufactuer has to play by, especially if they demand IP ownership and patents and huge profits. They want it treated like a normal product, swell, but let the law treat THEM like any other product as well.
are all ripoffs of "the first car" and therefore we shouldn't drive them because they are illegal, and so on.
Seriously, if he actually claims it was stolen, he needs to be sued. I hope it happens. It's a unix like system, that's it. there's really only a few basic ways to make an operating system work, they all mimic themselves more than they are different. Well, I guess so anyway. You click on stuff it goes do something, or you type commands it goes do something. I know that is simplistic, but really, you got your two ways to go about things with a computer.
You can also see the anti free software forces of e-vile are getting desperate. the end users consumers (joe business community I mean more specifically) are at the crossroads of admiting that tools are for working in your *regular business*, that working and business is not "just" the tool. That's the major difference between closed source and propietary/for sale and open source/freely distributable and free.
What that does to the software "industry" is up for grabs now, but I can speculate that tool costs are dropping fast,all the way to free, and anyone depending on just selling tools better think and rethink of another way to make full time money at that. USE the tools, improve the tools, do some work with the tools, but the tools in and of themselves are mostly free/cheap now and the trends are for that to continue. One of them there paradigm altering periods in history.
... it gets progresssively easier the lower you set your sites. Easier to get in an independent or third party candidate at the state and lower level.
Richard Mack in Utah is looking real good, he actually has a credible chance and is vowing to do all he can to return to constitutional government. he has a good track record, he's the sheriff that beat the feds on the brady bill in court, among some other accomplishments. And he has a coalition now, I think 4 of the third parties are endorsing him.
Look at his information, research it yourself. That's what I have done, because I like to see if there are backups for the bits and pieces that make up "the news". He pulls his stories and articles, etc from press services anyone can access. All he does is collate them. He doesn't just make stuff up. Now what you might do with it may be different, but I think you'll find all his articles are verifiable.
man, this is the US, you need some electricity. And if you live where the grid goes down (I lose mine twice a week average, even if it's a short time it poofs, I am the very last hookup on a string of the grid), you need backups. I am NOT gonna let a freezer full of food go bork because it's "non green" power. I am GONNA get some water from the well if I need it.
I'm doing more than 99% of the people out there to make some clean power, we only drive ONCE a week,in a real old vehicle that most people would have scrapped, kept it running, and it works fine, I produce a ton of organic food,I heat primarily with good ole wood, a renewable resource, burned in a very tight clean burning stove, I recycle, buy almost every other product I have used,eeek out using a computer built in 96,and rebuild/recycle/give away as many older ones as I can to poor kids and keep them old boxes out of the land fills, and lots more stuff,and I still get ranked?
gee, thanks man
NO, not moving into the hive termite cities. I am not a borg, and I won't be assimilated. Agenda 21 can bite my ass. I lived like that for almost 20 years, I grew up rural, tried the cities, gave it a fair shot, but,nope,moved back rural and gonna stay here. Cities came about as trading centers, most of them evolving around waterways/ports, major river crossings, etc. They are not as necessary for those purposes any more. Now they are artificially maintained, at heinous energy costs, every single teeny tiny thing that humans need has to be shipped in to them, doubling the cost, quadrupling the complexities. They are NOT green. Just because you have mass transit doesn't make cities "green". Far from it. Cities are gross energy hogs, they have nothing whatsoever to do with living lightly on the land.
People are free to live there, enjoy them,obviously millions do,but I choose different, it suits me better, I can live more peaceful, closer to real nature, and I live pretty simply and cheaply compared to most americans. I don't need the discovery channel being shown on a 35 inch screen, and call that "green" to make myself feel good, all I need is to walk outside, and there it really is "green".
especially the back grounds on some of the key players. There's some additional you can look at. Google for a cult called "the family", and see some linkages there. Then there's the huge mass of evidence of governmental insiders having prior knowledge and/or involvement in the events aropund 9-11, the first WTC attack, and in the OKC attack. One of my favorite archives on 9-11 is at infowars.com. At one of his mirror sites, prisonplanet.tv, you can find downloadable videos he (alex jones, talk show guy) has made for a cheap monthly fee, many hours of them. I have one called "9-11, road to tyranny", really excellent. They might even be found on the P2P networks, but I never looked, and he allows free copying and sharing of his vids, unlike most others. He only charges a minimum fee on his own site to cover bandwith, but if you already got it, you can share free. It's very eye opening, You show it to people, and a lot of them will go into one of those "paradigm shifting" modes.
We need to do whatever we can to wake people up, it's too vital to "not" do it.
... My lai established the precedent that lower ranks don't have to follow illegal orders, and torturing people is illegal. It just is. Even calling them "detainees" and not prisoners of war is illegal as far as I am concerned.
What goes around comes around, this governments complete bungling and arrogance is gonna keep biting us in the ass for decades now.
Thanks for the good article , I hadn't seen it yet. It's amazing how much stuff is out there. I still want to get to the bottom of 9-11, I don't want to be sidetracked into iraq, I already suffered through JFK getting whacked and the perps walking, then MLK, then RFK , then the lie of Nam, the Liberty cover up and a dozen others. This stuff has GOT to stop with the rogue shadow government goons ruling the US or we are quite *screwed*. There are WAY too many smoking guns showing their where white guys in suits and uniforms tied to 9-11 somehow, that's the REAL scandal now.
... have to keep looking back in history to see what we really do. Iraq with saddam was really our mess to begin with. we set him up and supported him. As it was in other places, the example of the shah in iran being a good one, or like noriega in panama, etc. We keep letting these high level connected ones create these messes, then when it explodes in their face, we allow them to "solve" the problems.
The technique is called the heglian dialectic. they create a problem, they get the reaction they want from the target audience, they they offer their solution to the problem. We keep rewarding the guys who cause the problems in the first place basically.
I think saddam was a murderous tortuing goon, and the guys who helped set him up and keep him in power should not be allowed to deal with it, they should be in prison. and that's about the whole flock of neocons in this administration, and the drugged out morons in the last administration, and then back to the same morons we have now who got their starts in poppys and regans administrations. wheels within wheels, the guys we were warned about from eisenhower in his retirement speech. To say they are machiavellian is an understatement.
We are nuts to keep electing these people and then we "elect" these private people right along with them indirectly to become the kings handlers, and they constantly mess up, and it's beyond criminal from my POV. We shouldn't reward them., no matter what they say in their think tanks. YES we need to look out for the US best interests, and to my mind, we could get a good start by stopping/ceasing the cycle of "create crisis/profit from crisis" we have gotten into with these so called "leaders".
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I wasn't trying to be funy, I was serious. google buys hardware by the boatload, I was postulating they would bein a position to have their own hardware fabbed/manufactured when they have several billions spare change hanging around. And they could then theoretically start owning chunks of the fatpipes infrastructure. Hmm, sort of more or less what AOL did, but with google brains behind it.
As soon as google goes public and has several buhzillion dollars *free money* handed to them, they would theoretically be in a postion to own their own hardware production facilities. They could have their own server, ram, chip, harddrive facilities. Heck, they might be able to start owning chunks of the fat pipes all over for that matter.
they would then be known as GOOGZILLA!
This move to offer TB worth of storage just helps them get investor mindshare, make more loot when they go public.
Ta heck with "desktop" dominance and monopoly, they could conceivably become an "internet" monopoly.
What's it worth to "own" the information on the internet to a big degree, and to be able to access it and index it faster than anyone? What's it worth to private business and to various governments, what would they pay for that information?
How can dropping production in the face of rising demand NOT create a shortage? Just take financial cost out of the equation, just look at gallons available. Dropping production means just that,it *drops* and with more demand, people have less gallons to use over-all. Yes it will go up in price, and so will everything else in price. That will mean a steady drop in quality of living, across the board for most people. You just don't know how fast and hard it will hit, but it could conceivably get as bad as "madmax".
I honestly think we will have some serious global wars over it, and it will be heinous beyond human comprehension for the most part. In fact, we ARE having wars over it last I looked, this is just the openings of the next decade or twos wars over ownership and dominance.
I would be less skeptical of a rosy outcome if we were seeing a lot more interest in alternatives now, in better building construction, in better cars to drive, in more personal conservation and awareness-but I'm not seeing it. People by and large are waiting for government to do something about it, that and complaining about rising gas costs, and that's about it. About as far as you hear anything is people drop the noun "hydrogen". that's it, they just say "hydrogen" like it's some magic wand or something and they can just manifest up this new and exciting "hydrogen economy"..
It's nuts. I've been listening to people TALK about alternatives and a transition economy for decades, but so far, we just consume more and very few people add to the solution in any meaningful way, especially in the market place. Being a producer means you skip the 35 inch tv and the skiboat, it just isn't happeneing. Now SOME people too, I do and a lot of my friends do, but we are the exceptions, most people dismiss us as tinfoil hat, or any other negative they can think of, they prefer to remain with the mooing herds, waiting for government to save them or something.
That's why I do my personal thing, I am not waiting for government or big politicised business to do it for me, because those guys track record is too little, too late, post pone hard decisions, wait until there's a huge crisis then react like cockroaches to the stimulus. To be fair, politicians don't get elected who will tell people there's a problem, and big business only reaacts to quarterly demands, because that's what people want, something for nothing, short term maximised profits. It's called lack of leadership, as in, "we don't have any that's credible", and it's also called "greed", as in "I want all of it now, screw the future".
So, you have to lead yourself. To me that's the only viable solution of note to date. And it's also why I am pessimistic, as most people will not lift a finger to do anything except complain.
I agree, trains are more efficient. That's why in the US they have been tearing out railroad tracks and converting them to trails that only a tiny fraction of the people use, mostly for sport/entertainment in the "rails to trails" project. Feel-good-ism.
It's nuts. They were already built, the right of ways established, so we went back in time a few hundred years for efficiency, to deer trails or something. I see it as similar to them tearing out all these community sized hydroelectric dams, just short sighted without any replacements on a one to one basis (or higher really). We are replacing hydro with jet turbine engines used as generators and fueled by natural gas. Nuts.
you have two choices, live with technology and keep paying the price, or live completely raw native primitive. If you live in any industrialised world, you will not only be paying more, you'll be getting less and your standard of living will be dropping. This is inevitable now, it's going to happen, the only argument is "when". We have zero replacement for petroleum. You won't say no when the two choices are, go to work, make at least something, at least have something to eat, etc.
people seem to think it won't matter, ot that the "market" will taker care of it. what they always forget is that this oil stuff is a finite resource, we cannot make any more of it. with energy, as sophisticated as we think we are, we are still in the hunter/gatherer stage of existence. It looks snazzy and lotsa blinkenlights, but all we do is extract it, and it's running out fast. They've about exhausted any gains to be made from effieicny, because it doesn't matter if you can throw money at it, once it takes the same amount of energy to extract, refine, transport petroleum products as you can get from it, then production ceases. You can't run the energy business in a negative, and that negative leaning break -even point is rapidly approaching. people argue about that point, say it's centuries in the future or whatever, but I think you can find out it's within a decade or two and we'll have some SERIOUS problems on the old ball of mud here. Demand is going up dramatically, it is going to be so bad we WILL be seeing major wars over it, and I contend all this mid east jazz going on is directly tied to "who will own the oil for the next two decades". I don't think even the most optimistic figures show that it is possible for the bulk of the planet to have any sort of "middle class" existence like we have now, the raw materials simply do not exist, and the energy doesn't exist, and it won't exist. And this stuff is coming down hard, and fast now.
I am non complacent about it, I live rural, I try for a bigger garden every year, and I'll be adding to my personal altenate enrgy supply, and be working on transportation next. Once iot gets real expensive, the worlds rich and the worlds governments and militsaries will "own" all the good energy, joe civvies in any nation won't be getting much, and they will be working lots harder than they do now, that's for sure.
That's my opinion, but I think the data supports it.
We are IN the "good old days" now, in other words.
We had a sort of warning in the 70's, and they said we would run out sooner. Thankfully they explored, found more, and developed more sophisticated exploration and extraction techniques, but they about milked that dry now. What's left hat is "new" is at bad, expensive places to get to, and is very costly, energy-wise. There AREN'T any more, stick a pipe in the ground get a gusher fields left, the kinds that fueled the rise of industrialised west and japan, and built those strong economies. That stuff is gone, we used it up already..
...I like this place for the layman. The oil industry has it's own intelligence, and keeps their cards close to their cheast, but we just saw royal dutch shell a few weeks ago busted for over reporting what they claim they had-by 20%! That's an astoundingly LARGE amount of oil they claimed existed and does not exist. I have no idea if any of the other companies do it, but I sure wouldn't bet against it.
anyway, here ya go http://dieoff.org/
Best named website on the net if ya ask me
the best article off that site, for my loot, is
http://dieoff.org/page224.htm
...but they cost twice as much. I have two of them, smaller, they are dual fuel electric/propane, and use ammonia/absorption with no moving parts, as opposed to normal compressors types. The alternate energy market has a lot of them. RVs and remote weekend camps are the primary customers, or like for folks living completely off grid permanently. They just cost more, but are much better energy wise, and the added benefit of you can get a big ole propane tank installed, run on electric most of the time, and switch to propane if the grid poofs on ya. Mine are made by Dometic, but there are other brands. You can get kerosene models as well, and I don't think it would be all that hard to cob job some sort of solar (heat) powered ones, either.
As to why don't they use stirlings? Again, cost, no one knows about them, etc. We alreadyhave a trmendous amount of tech we could use with this whole energy problem, but people opt for what ever is cheapest and fastest, most people think short term with most of their decisions, even their homes they buy with 20 year notes-they only want to live there long enough to re-sell, make some profit and move on. There's no long term thinking going on much of any place now. If people can't get an immediate pay back, they don't want it. They will either wait for government to do it for them, or they are believing fools like rush limbeau and making like a professional ostrich. There's your two main types of folks now.
"public transportation" DOESN'T produce, package, or deliver your food to the stores and restaurants you frequent. Nor does it in the US-or any place else. The goods you all buy at the stores, from clothes to Cds to various hardware to..whatever--inevitably is reflected cost wise with the price of petroleum-and it's availability.
You don't even need a book, a simple two line graph will suffice. One graph shows world wide demand-that is going UP. Another graph line shows production-that will be going down as fields leave their "peak" where it's the cheapest to extract in terms of BTU's --> in to get BTU's -- out. Those lines will cross, then go in opposite directions, and the result is quite literally madmax, the movie, in spades.
In most fields outside the middle east, it's passed peak, and even the big fields in the middle east it's getting closer.
Those lines more or less cross within 15 years most places, some places earlier, other places later, but short of them developing some extremely energy efficient extraction techniques, and especially something that doesn't require high pressure water injection, we will be enscrewed.
BUT, the hard choices will not be made until it's too late to do much about it. We should already be using a significant proportion of the worlds petroleum energy to mass produce alternative enrgy devices, instead, we are using only a tiny fraction, waiting for the Mr. Fusion back yard perpetual motion machine generator.
Nuts, but there ya go.
I also think the "proven reserve" numbers aren't accurate, I think it's less in the middle east than what they say, but slightly more in the arctic circle. And there's some more to be gained in the gulf of mexico, etc, currently off limits to drilling, but once fuel gets to be about 5$ a gallon in the US, you won't find many people who give a care where we drill, unlike now when it's still fatcity and cheap and no one really is hurting yet-easy to complain OR ignore the problem as long as you are well fed, comfy, and want for naught. Once that changes, we could see what are euphemistally called in history books "major social changes".
Stuff can happen FAST, too, I personally paid 10$ a gallon for two gallons max back in the OPEC embargo days. And it doesn't matter how much you whine about it when it happens, scam or no scam, you pay, or walk. And with the current middle east situation, chaos theory says-you don't know, the whole dang place over there could el kaboom any day. No one can say it won't, you can't say it will, but the posibility is there for major war to seriously disrupt supply, and that would effect everyone in any nuymber of ways, irregardless if they are an urban bicycle/mass transit rider or not.
We are just way too dependent on oil, our entire economies revolve around it.
Heck, I just came in for a breather, about to go back outside and climb onto a diesel powered tractor, without that diesel, I can't work. PERIOD. Multiple that by another billion guys around the planet, one way or the other everyone goes to work, and diesel and gas make it happen. We simply cannot replace it, even by a massive switch to coal, can't be done now.
cable also has a bad habit of destroying your TV whenever there's a thunderstorm. I know a lot of people who switched to satellite TV from that reason and expensive lesson. Of course satellite isn't immune either, but it seems to be less of a problem.
I'm of mixed opinion on this whole deal. One, I can't afford satellite tv, always gotten over the air, if I can get even one channel clear that's good enough for me, I mainly use it to catch local news and weather and the odd movie, but it's not a priority to me. Cable is never available in the country (at least not anyplace I ever lived). All my "spare" money goes to have just a wired landline POTS and dialup internet. That combo runs me 70$/month now. I use a cell for 99% of my voice communication. I am SURE yuou could have just a pure broadband wired access for that 70$ or cheaper,anyplace suburban or urban, BUT, it is *never* offered in rural areas. I've looked into the alternatives myself, and it's expensive as heck to get started as a wireless internet service provider, I certainly couldn't afford to start one. NO ONE is gonna run the cable, wires, fiber, whatever you want to name for millions of people who live rural. It's just not happening anytime soon, if ever, because that's even WAY more expensive. That leaves some sort of wireless. Cell phone data wireless is hideously expensive, big start up costs, slow speeds, etc. Satellite internet is even worse, 500$ to one grand just to get started, upfront cost. So that ain't happening much.
It doesn't leave much more right now. So, maybe this is a good idea, I just don't know. I DO know I'll appreciate whomever offers me broadband, especially if I can beat the 70 clams a month I have now for decades old technology.
And the sucky part is, the telco has fiber up to two miles away, the nearest switching box or whatever it's called,I asked them and that's what they said, but they are in no hurry to string it down the street, and man, I think they are missing the boat, because they could then offer voice, video on demand, internet, you name it, and people would buy it, especially if they would finance the installation cost over a year or two to most people. Once again they are gonna shoot themselves in the foot by not *quite* going that last step to offer quality, 21st century products, and the wireless guys will scoop up their market. The sat TV guys already are in that area. I'd say they have 50% penetration around here judging by the amount of small dishes you see.
I also hope this new wifi rural wireless doesn't interfere with shortwave, I am an enthusiast on it, love my shows and broadcasts I can get with a medium priced radio and a few dollars scrap wire for an antenna..
No idea on rhythmbox player though, I never use it. And unlike the 7 series, I couldn't get mplayer to work *at all*. I'm sure that's just my problem, but something was always borked with it when I tried it several times.
Let me see if I can find this funny rant with a buncha practical howtos on playing sounds and dvds and whatnot....
OK, here it is, how to get the damn things to work!
It's a common slang term for walmart because most of the product comes from china.That's just data. People all over use that term. Get over yourself, did I tell people to NOT go buy a flashlight there? NO, I said it was a good place to go get that flashlight, which means those employees benefit if they do.
FTC warranty info
From that page, scroll down some:
Implied Warranties
Implied warranties are created by state law, and all states have them. Almost every purchase you make is covered by an implied warranty.
The most common type of implied warranty--a "warranty of merchantability," means that the seller promises that the product will do what it is supposed to do. For example, a car will run and a toaster will toast.
Another type of implied warranty is the "warranty of fitness for a particular purpose." This applies when you buy a product on the seller''s advice that it is suitable for a particular use. For example, a person who suggests that you buy a certain sleeping bag for zero-degree weather warrants that the sleeping bag will be suitable for zero degrees.
If your purchase does not come with a written warranty, it is still covered by implied warranties unless the product is marked "as is," or the seller otherwise indicates in writing that no warranty is given. Several states, including Kansas, Maine, Maryland,
Massachusetts, Mississippi, Vermont, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia, do not permit "as is" sales.
If problems arise that are not covered by the written warranty, you should investigate the protection given by your implied warranty.
Implied warranty coverage can last as long as four years, although the length of the coverage varies from state to state. A lawyer or a state consumer protection office can provide more information about implied warranty coverage in your state.
---this is why they don't "sell" you software, they "license" it, and in the fine print it is most prominent that it has no fitness for purpose, or merchantability, etc.
That's the part that is a scam, IMO,it's leaglistic legislated snakeoil fraud, and needs to change. It's like GM offering cars "for license" instead of "for sale", and because they got 100 yards mileage on them driving them on and off transporters before they get to the dealers saying they are "used" and "Licensing" them to you for big money "as is". That would be stupid and a scam, and it's the same with software that they "license" but everyone on the planet can see they "sell".
And if you are saying "too bad, that's the contract they click agree on", then I agree, that's why I think it should be outlawed,the law NEEDS to be changed, maybe from a serious major class action suit, because it's a freeking sale, and it needs at a minimum implied warranties like every other product out there. I'm just the kinda guy gonna call a spade a spade, that software is sold. there's free software, then there's for-sale software, everyone knows the difference. They can legal mush mouth it all they want to, it's still sold, that's how most people treat it and think of it, so it needs a warranty, for merchantability and fitness of purpose and so on.
That's why I always check multiple sources as well.
If you have that interview-the link-I'll be happy to send it to him with the reference. I'd have to go back and re view the film to see it myself. I think he's big enough to admit that something he says is erroneous. He handles a ton of data, I'm impressed with his memory,in that he makes so few mistakes. He's bound to make mistakes, same as anyone else. I've corrected him one time on another issue and I heard him address it on his show, several years ago now, he corrected it.
All in all I think he does an outstanding job. My major beef with him is he has *too much* energy, he over talks guests a lot.
What you want doesn't seem to exist. if you only want to drop a few dollars on something practical, especially for camping and for reading and writing, I'd suggest rethinking the notebook and pen, and for around 10-15$ you can get a headlight/flashlight thing that you slip on your head, they have LED bulbs, run for days on some AAA or AA batteries. Chinamart has several models on the rack, easy to find there or most other department store. I have two of them, great for working and keeping your hands free, comfortable enough to sit down and read books (or write in a journal) with if there's no other lighting available.
Really, the next best option is just get an real old cheap used laptop, like some old 50$ pentium one or something. Transfer every days notes to a floppy and snail-mail it to yourself with a postcard, daily, then you have a backup if the laptop borks on you. Just make sure it has a decent battery. Don't think of it as a computer, just call it a portable keyboard equipped electronic typewriter for taking notes that's a lot cheaper than the other one you looked at.
But I still like the headlamp/ dead trees storage combo as the cheapest and best. The headlamp will satisfy geek gadget urges and it actually is quite practical, and the dead trees notebook is cheap and effective.
....indicate to people *before* you give them an account that firewalls and anti virus and keeping systems patched are all good ideas? Just slap ask them if they have a firewall and anti virus already, before you take their money and turn them loose on the net? Is it that hard to mention that before you finalise the contract with them? Or do you do that. I'm not trolling, just want to know what your normal procedure is. How about their email, can't you just send out an email with links to various firewalls and whatnot, or even offer them a courtesy CD their first month that have some programs on them, and tell them to use it first? Something like that? I mean, to joe consumer, their ISP is their first layer of networking administration, seems like it is at least partly the responsibility of the network guys to help educate and protect their users/clients.
I'm asking because I have NEVER been questioned by an ISP if I had a firewall, etc, just seems a critical point that they neglect. Hmm, I have to think way back now, I've had 6 ISP accounts since 95, 3 mom and pops, 1 from a rural community telco, and 2 big nationals. After you pay them or arrange for service and to get billed, the next step is just --> "what user name do you want,OK,that will be your email addy too, now what do you want for a password, OK, thankew, here's your account, buh bye and thanks for shopping at...." Never one time by any of those companies have I been asked, or recommended to have a firewall, or anything else security related for that matter.
seems that should change sometime....
both IS a good idea. And also instant karma justice, ie, go armed, like we are supposed to, protect your own self and property right at the exact time they are threatened. What the analogy to being armed is on the internet I don't know, but it would be nice to be able to have more proactive self defense.
he's paying him back. He's showing him that it's much better to not get your computer hosed in the first place, so he IS paying his dad back for his education, in exact kind. Adults can be wrong, but there's no easy way to point this out to them, in a father/son situation. And it worked according to the post, when his father realised what a PITA it is, what it really costs,both in cash in what might be done to his machine or credit card or other personal info, or how he could be used by a malicious zombie-running blackhat, etc, and how easily preventable it was,so he learned something useful and practical.
I think a lot of people honestly do not know that the primary reason they might get hacked is not to get their personal information, but to use their machine to distribute hacked warez and spam email and kiddie porn. So, it's much better to do what it takes to help people understand the ramifications of their actions-or non actions, and to perhaps take a more critical look at the software they are running. To me, it's like a traffic ticket (paying to have your machine cleaned and fixed), you are SUPPOSED to learn something (stop being a no-nothing lamer) about your behavior driving your car (computer) on the public road (internet).
Once people are REALLY aware of it, then they have a chance to correct the problem. If you can't get their attention in the first place, they won't ever learn. Sometimes it takes a fine to do that.
I FULLY support ISPs or private network admins yanking access to the network from infected machines. They don't do it enough, IMO, and if it happens to me because my machine gets hosed and zombied and I don't deal with it in a timely manner, then too bad for me, too. I'd rather be told about it if I don't know myself, and losing your net access is both protecting the innocents, and getting your attention for a problem. And if THAT then kept being pushed back up the food chain to the vendors, where they had to code better, release less often, and be forced to offer products good enough they could be warrantied, then I'm all for that, too.
It shouldn't take 20 years to come up with a more secure out of the box operating system that is network capable, is the real bottom line, no matter which one you are talking about.
You'd see it get chaotic in meatspace if any manufacturer were allowed to sell "caveat emptor" products with no government required warranty, of course they would skip doing quality work then, because there would be very little risk to them. It's time software played by the rules every other manufactuer has to play by, especially if they demand IP ownership and patents and huge profits. They want it treated like a normal product, swell, but let the law treat THEM like any other product as well.
are all ripoffs of "the first car" and therefore we shouldn't drive them because they are illegal, and so on.
Seriously, if he actually claims it was stolen, he needs to be sued. I hope it happens. It's a unix like system, that's it. there's really only a few basic ways to make an operating system work, they all mimic themselves more than they are different. Well, I guess so anyway. You click on stuff it goes do something, or you type commands it goes do something. I know that is simplistic, but really, you got your two ways to go about things with a computer.
You can also see the anti free software forces of e-vile are getting desperate. the end users consumers (joe business community I mean more specifically) are at the crossroads of admiting that tools are for working in your *regular business*, that working and business is not "just" the tool. That's the major difference between closed source and propietary/for sale and open source/freely distributable and free.
What that does to the software "industry" is up for grabs now, but I can speculate that tool costs are dropping fast,all the way to free, and anyone depending on just selling tools better think and rethink of another way to make full time money at that. USE the tools, improve the tools, do some work with the tools, but the tools in and of themselves are mostly free/cheap now and the trends are for that to continue. One of them there paradigm altering periods in history.
... it gets progresssively easier the lower you set your sites. Easier to get in an independent or third party candidate at the state and lower level.
Richard Mack in Utah is looking real good, he actually has a credible chance and is vowing to do all he can to return to constitutional government. he has a good track record, he's the sheriff that beat the feds on the brady bill in court, among some other accomplishments. And he has a coalition now, I think 4 of the third parties are endorsing him.
http://www.mediabistro.com/articles/cache/a46.asp
there's more, but for an ac and one who is quick with the tin foil hat common troll response, one is enough for you.
Improve your googling skills please
Look at his information, research it yourself. That's what I have done, because I like to see if there are backups for the bits and pieces that make up "the news". He pulls his stories and articles, etc from press services anyone can access. All he does is collate them. He doesn't just make stuff up. Now what you might do with it may be different, but I think you'll find all his articles are verifiable.
man, this is the US, you need some electricity. And if you live where the grid goes down (I lose mine twice a week average, even if it's a short time it poofs, I am the very last hookup on a string of the grid), you need backups. I am NOT gonna let a freezer full of food go bork because it's "non green" power. I am GONNA get some water from the well if I need it.
I'm doing more than 99% of the people out there to make some clean power, we only drive ONCE a week,in a real old vehicle that most people would have scrapped, kept it running, and it works fine, I produce a ton of organic food,I heat primarily with good ole wood, a renewable resource, burned in a very tight clean burning stove, I recycle, buy almost every other product I have used,eeek out using a computer built in 96,and rebuild/recycle/give away as many older ones as I can to poor kids and keep them old boxes out of the land fills, and lots more stuff,and I still get ranked?
gee, thanks man
NO, not moving into the hive termite cities. I am not a borg, and I won't be assimilated. Agenda 21 can bite my ass. I lived like that for almost 20 years, I grew up rural, tried the cities, gave it a fair shot, but,nope,moved back rural and gonna stay here. Cities came about as trading centers, most of them evolving around waterways/ports, major river crossings, etc. They are not as necessary for those purposes any more. Now they are artificially maintained, at heinous energy costs, every single teeny tiny thing that humans need has to be shipped in to them, doubling the cost, quadrupling the complexities. They are NOT green. Just because you have mass transit doesn't make cities "green". Far from it. Cities are gross energy hogs, they have nothing whatsoever to do with living lightly on the land.
People are free to live there, enjoy them,obviously millions do,but I choose different, it suits me better, I can live more peaceful, closer to real nature, and I live pretty simply and cheaply compared to most americans. I don't need the discovery channel being shown on a 35 inch screen, and call that "green" to make myself feel good, all I need is to walk outside, and there it really is "green".
especially the back grounds on some of the key players. There's some additional you can look at. Google for a cult called "the family", and see some linkages there. Then there's the huge mass of evidence of governmental insiders having prior knowledge and/or involvement in the events aropund 9-11, the first WTC attack, and in the OKC attack. One of my favorite archives on 9-11 is at infowars.com.
At one of his mirror sites, prisonplanet.tv, you can find downloadable videos he (alex jones, talk show guy) has made for a cheap monthly fee, many hours of them. I have one called "9-11, road to tyranny", really excellent. They might even be found on the P2P networks, but I never looked, and he allows free copying and sharing of his vids, unlike most others. He only charges a minimum fee on his own site to cover bandwith, but if you already got it, you can share free. It's very eye opening, You show it to people, and a lot of them will go into one of those "paradigm shifting" modes.
We need to do whatever we can to wake people up, it's too vital to "not" do it.
... My lai established the precedent that lower ranks don't have to follow illegal orders, and torturing people is illegal. It just is. Even calling them "detainees" and not prisoners of war is illegal as far as I am concerned.
What goes around comes around, this governments complete bungling and arrogance is gonna keep biting us in the ass for decades now.
Thanks for the good article , I hadn't seen it yet. It's amazing how much stuff is out there. I still want to get to the bottom of 9-11, I don't want to be sidetracked into iraq, I already suffered through JFK getting whacked and the perps walking, then MLK, then RFK , then the lie of Nam, the Liberty cover up and a dozen others. This stuff has GOT to stop with the rogue shadow government goons ruling the US or we are quite *screwed*. There are WAY too many smoking guns showing their where white guys in suits and uniforms tied to 9-11 somehow, that's the REAL scandal now.
... have to keep looking back in history to see what we really do. Iraq with saddam was really our mess to begin with. we set him up and supported him. As it was in other places, the example of the shah in iran being a good one, or like noriega in panama, etc. We keep letting these high level connected ones create these messes, then when it explodes in their face, we allow them to "solve" the problems.
The technique is called the heglian dialectic. they create a problem, they get the reaction they want from the target audience, they they offer their solution to the problem. We keep rewarding the guys who cause the problems in the first place basically.
I think saddam was a murderous tortuing goon, and the guys who helped set him up and keep him in power should not be allowed to deal with it, they should be in prison. and that's about the whole flock of neocons in this administration, and the drugged out morons in the last administration, and then back to the same morons we have now who got their starts in poppys and regans administrations.
wheels within wheels, the guys we were warned about from eisenhower in his retirement speech. To say they are machiavellian is an understatement.
We are nuts to keep electing these people and then we "elect" these private people right along with them indirectly to become the kings handlers, and they constantly mess up, and it's beyond criminal from my POV. We shouldn't reward them., no matter what they say in their think tanks. YES we need to look out for the US best interests, and to my mind, we could get a good start by stopping/ceasing the cycle of "create crisis/profit from crisis" we have gotten into with these so called "leaders".