The way things are going, the punishment for actual piracy and stealing a boat-load of DVD's and selling them on the blackmarket, will be less than the average Torrent downloader gets.
She had the following on herself -hand drawn map of downtown Jerusalem -Arabic stickers on laptop -"Fuck Star of David" pic on phone -passport stamps from Arab countries -various Arab publications -photos condemning Israeli military action in Gaza
Unless her name was Ms. McGyver, I don't see how posession of any of these items is a threat to anyone or anything. And unless there was a good reason to shoot the laptop, these folks were simply acting like dicks with too much power and too much paranoia. (A common complaint amongst guards the world over, mind, not just Israel.)
If you can't tell the legitimate threats, from the bullshit ones, then you're going to fuck up your job sooner or later.
And in their case, a fuck up means people could die.
I sure as hell hope that you never wind up on a jury for *anyone*.
Your experience may vary, but in my dealings with Americans about 30% of people think like this gentleman. They are more concerned with punishment for moral abuses or perceived wrongdoings than with what they would call "technical legalities"
Except you do, in certain circumstances. Usually involving child pornography laws in some fashion. And possibly other cases involving bizarre twisted applications of anti-terror laws.
Instead of taking the Japanese model, where every single genital shot is reduced to blocky 16x16 pixalation (though they bizarrely get around this by using demonic/alien tentacles where possible) they should use the blocky pixalation on faces (there will never be the equivalent of a porn star in China. Too much shame and the possibility of life imprisonment.)
Home made porn, without faces, can then be sold on the black market without running the dubious risk of trying illegal imports where you're never sure what you're going to get.
I mean, can you imagine the poor Chinese guy who got 2 Girls 1 Cup on High-Def by accident? "This is what Westerners find sexy? I am glad we are communist china"
That show is touched by darkness, Ambassador. I see it as a blemish that grew over time.
I could warn you, of course, but you would not listen. I could kill you, but someone else would watch it in your place. So, I do the only thing I can. I go.
Oh, if it was a review you wanted? A word or two, about the special itself? Well, take this, for what little it will profit you.
As I look at you, I see a great hand reaching out of the darkness, trying to blot out the moviescreen. The hand is your hand.
And I hear sounds--the sounds of billions of people calling your name, telling you "NO!! DON'T LOOK!! CLOSE YOUR EYES!!!"
There's a proverb in some european languages which translates roughly as: "you don't worry about a thief in the backyard when your house in on fire".
Very true. But a neighbour may worry about both the thief in his neighbours yard, and the fact that his neighbours house is on fire.
This massive biometric database sets a bad precedent which will no doubt be followed by other countries, who will point to Israel and say "See? No one in Israel is complaining about it."
Sometimes, I think all of our countries are in a race to the bottom.
One possible answer to your question, is that there is no shortage of people who genuinely want to live in the "end times". There are several reasons why this is so, but I tend to think it's because their faith is particularly weak, and a big visible Revelations style conflict would go a long way to strengthening their faith.
Now, I'm not saying that you're one of these nuts. But if you move in "Wacko Christian Right" circles (your phrase, not mine) then it's possible you've met some people who think like this.
A representative sampling can be found in the collected posts of fundamentalists, which can be found at www.fstdt.com
(e.g. Quote# 67376)
"Biometric passports are established throughout Europe since years back."
As an Irish citizen currently living in Belgium, I have to say I don't think this is true. I don't know a single person in either country with a biometric passport.
If McCain / Palin had won the election, I might agree with you. But I don't think the Democrats are going to go to war on a third front. Two is bad enough.
"Only an idiot would fight a war on two fronts. Only the heir to the throne of the Kingdom of Idiots would fight a war on twelve fronts." -- London Mollari.
I was running a similar experiment. And my pet cat Heisenberg befriended the Rubber Duck, a Nigerian prince, a Ukrainian boyband, and various sundry inanimate objects from other similar experiments.
I know what you mean. My first thought reading through the post, was "Oh, maybe they put a sort of treadmill en-route to make the number of steps less than the required amount to reach home" and then I got to the "pull the legs off bit".
I guess I don't have the amorality in me, to make it as a real scientist.
What happened to giants of the community like Feynmann, and the way he treated his ants?
Google did not act when there were images of the prophet in its search results, or offensive images from shock sites, or when Bush was made to look like a chimp. Bowing to pressure like this only re-inforces the belief that "new" media, as well as "old" media, has a liberal bias.
Suppose my dog has rabies. And right now, we can't cure rabies. But it makes him dangerous. What do we do? Lock him up till we can find a cure? Or put him to sleep?
I know dogs aren't people, but some people are dogs.
Though you were modded down, I agree with you. And while I liked a lot of what Ron Paul stood for, I tended to prefer Dennis Kucinich who's a very different candidate in many ways. (Not just party affiliation.) But I also knew both of them would never get anywhere, because they were both outside the status-quo-maintaining system.
Slashdot Mirror
The way things are going, the punishment for actual piracy and stealing a boat-load of DVD's and selling them on the blackmarket, will be less than the average Torrent downloader gets.
She had the following on herself -hand drawn map of downtown Jerusalem -Arabic stickers on laptop -"Fuck Star of David" pic on phone
-passport stamps from Arab countries -various Arab publications -photos condemning Israeli military action in Gaza
Unless her name was Ms. McGyver, I don't see how posession of any of these items is a threat to anyone or anything.
And unless there was a good reason to shoot the laptop, these folks were simply acting like dicks with too much power and too much paranoia. (A common complaint amongst guards the world over, mind, not just Israel.)
If you can't tell the legitimate threats, from the bullshit ones, then you're going to fuck up your job sooner or later.
And in their case, a fuck up means people could die.
I sure as hell hope that you never wind up on a jury for *anyone*.
Your experience may vary, but in my dealings with Americans about 30% of people think like this gentleman.
They are more concerned with punishment for moral abuses or perceived wrongdoings than with what they would call "technical legalities"
Such is why we don't prosecute victims of crime
Except you do, in certain circumstances. Usually involving child pornography laws in some fashion. And possibly other cases involving bizarre twisted applications of anti-terror laws.
spend a few bucks and ship porn on DVD to a random address in China.
If you're worried about getting someone in trouble? Send it to a political figure. Or a chief of police.
Instead of taking the Japanese model, where every single genital shot is reduced to blocky 16x16 pixalation (though they bizarrely get around this by using demonic/alien tentacles where possible) they should use the blocky pixalation on faces (there will never be the equivalent of a porn star in China. Too much shame and the possibility of life imprisonment.)
Home made porn, without faces, can then be sold on the black market without running the dubious risk of trying illegal imports where you're never sure what you're going to get.
I mean, can you imagine the poor Chinese guy who got 2 Girls 1 Cup on High-Def by accident?
"This is what Westerners find sexy? I am glad we are communist china"
That show is touched by darkness, Ambassador.
I see it as a blemish that grew over time.
I could warn you, of course, but you would not listen.
I could kill you, but someone else would watch it in your place.
So, I do the only thing I can. I go.
Oh, if it was a review you wanted? A word or two, about the special itself?
Well, take this, for what little it will profit you.
As I look at you, I see a great hand reaching out of the darkness, trying to blot out the moviescreen.
The hand is your hand.
And I hear sounds--the sounds of billions of people calling your name, telling you "NO!! DON'T LOOK!! CLOSE YOUR EYES!!!"
or thieves like you could stop leeching music from everyone else who pays for it.
I'll only leach from people who haven't paid for it then. Fair?
There's a proverb in some european languages which translates roughly as: "you don't worry about a thief in the backyard when your house in on fire".
Very true. But a neighbour may worry about both the thief in his neighbours yard, and the fact that his neighbours house is on fire.
This massive biometric database sets a bad precedent which will no doubt be followed by other countries, who will point to Israel and say "See? No one in Israel is complaining about it."
Sometimes, I think all of our countries are in a race to the bottom.
One possible answer to your question, is that there is no shortage of people who genuinely want to live in the "end times". There are several reasons why this is so, but I tend to think it's because their faith is particularly weak, and a big visible Revelations style conflict would go a long way to strengthening their faith.
Now, I'm not saying that you're one of these nuts. But if you move in "Wacko Christian Right" circles (your phrase, not mine) then it's possible you've met some people who think like this.
A representative sampling can be found in the collected posts of fundamentalists, which can be found at www.fstdt.com
(e.g. Quote# 67376)
"I've seen this Vshael guy, he really is 7' tall green and adorned with tusks."
My evil twin.
I'm blue and cuddly, like Skull Theodore Troll.
I have no idea. But I suspected a personal vendetta at one point.
I'm more interested in why meta-moderation doesn't appear to be addressing the problem. Oh well.
"Biometric passports are established throughout Europe since years back."
As an Irish citizen currently living in Belgium, I have to say I don't think this is true. I don't know a single person in either country with a biometric passport.
Bizarrely, I think he'd rather die than pass himself off as a Jew. Or shave his beard.
How is it out of context?
He said on multiple occasions that he hoped the US acted against Iran.
e.g. (06/15/09 on Fox News, obviously) "I hope that we will act" http://www.youtube.com/v/aDeJKl4h3Sg
"I don't even think that McCain would have gone into Iran."
Did you not see him singing "Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran" on Sunday morning TV?
He seemed positively eager at the thought.
If McCain / Palin had won the election, I might agree with you. But I don't think the Democrats are going to go to war on a third front. Two is bad enough.
"Only an idiot would fight a war on two fronts. Only the heir to the throne of the Kingdom of Idiots would fight a war on twelve fronts." -- London Mollari.
"We don't do this, under any circumstances"
And we would believe them
Because they said the same thing about spying on Americans.
Or torture.
Shall we go on?
Yes, it worked so well with the Witchfinder Generals being paid a penny a witch.
I was running a similar experiment. And my pet cat Heisenberg befriended the Rubber Duck, a Nigerian prince, a Ukrainian boyband, and various sundry inanimate objects from other similar experiments.
doncha know...
I know what you mean.
My first thought reading through the post, was "Oh, maybe they put a sort of treadmill en-route to make the number of steps less than the required amount to reach home" and then I got to the "pull the legs off bit".
I guess I don't have the amorality in me, to make it as a real scientist.
What happened to giants of the community like Feynmann, and the way he treated his ants?
Though not terribly surprising, I suppose.
Google did not act when there were images of the prophet in its search results, or offensive images from shock sites, or when Bush was made to look like a chimp. Bowing to pressure like this only re-inforces the belief that "new" media, as well as "old" media, has a liberal bias.
Suppose my dog has rabies. And right now, we can't cure rabies. But it makes him dangerous. What do we do?
Lock him up till we can find a cure? Or put him to sleep?
I know dogs aren't people, but some people are dogs.
Though you were modded down, I agree with you. And while I liked a lot of what Ron Paul stood for, I tended to prefer Dennis Kucinich who's a very different candidate in many ways. (Not just party affiliation.) But I also knew both of them would never get anywhere, because they were both outside the status-quo-maintaining system.