Its really no big deal. The vast majority of RFID chips are simply read-only, because thats the bottom of the line cheapest way to go. The card is "pinged" with a radio-field, and the chip burps out its serial number. No over write. No virus attack potential. Nothing of interest... Sure you can spoof these by putting a different tag in its place - oh yay, you've done the same cleverness as peeling a price sticker from a different product.
Read/Write tags are a step up in cost. They range from 20 bytes to 256 bytes of data with a 10 digit serial number. Some brands support encrypted encoding formats. There is a trivial one byte "access key code" that prevents a Writer from writing to an RFID tag if this "access key code" byte doesnt match. Its really more of an accident prevention mechanisim (so you dont accidentally overwrite an ExxonSpeedPass if it was put in a WalMart system).
Encryption of the "Writable" tags is the responsibility of the application. Since you only have 20 bytes (on the more common, cheaper tags) there isnt much you can do anyway as the number of permutations at 20! is low enough for most script-kiddies to crack. When you start getting upto 256 bytes, then sure it makes absolute sense to encrypt the contents. But, when you're at that price level, you're already considering the hardware that can encrypt at the signal level.
Every state has a "Fair Use Tax" that says anything purchased must be sales-tax collected. For example, here in NJ, if I purchase a newspaper on the ride home from NYC, I am supposed to declare it and perhaps pay sales tax on it to NJ.
Ridiculous - and obviously not enforced in most cases. However in some common cases it IS enforced (try purchasing a new car out of state and see what a pain the state will be on sales tax).
Why shouldnt items purchased via web be taxed? Its no different than calling a retailer in a different state to make a purchase. Sales tax is due in that transaction - so why not via http?
Many posters point out that the sales tax due on the sale of items is subject to State level taxation, not federal, so the IRS really isnt interested in knowing if you sold BeanieBabies without declaring it as income. I've often thought about sheltering pre-tax corporate revenue into a foreign (personal) account via paypal. The idea seemed too simple so I hesitated to pursue it (doh!).
Despite this being a 'federal' issue, the issue is scary in that it will set a precedent for state govts to force similar handovers of sales data. Since its clearly demonstratable that eBay/PayPal has detailed records of sales transactions, and that eBay/PayPal has reasonable knowledge of the locale of the Seller, Buyer, and ShipTo, that proper sales tax can/should be collected, as would any other retailer. Yes, its the responsibility of the seller to know/resolve the sales tax collection issue, but, its not a stretch to say that eBay/Paypal is 'sheltering' non-payers, and so be compelled to hand over records.
I agree. Good point. Wal*Mart isn't a civics organization - they can sell whatever they wish, and exclude whatever they wish. If you dont like their product line, then shop elsewhere. Whinning about how you wish democratic principles upon capitalist markets is pointless.
The article is crap. More clueless acedmia. Hello - did anyone at this prestigous institute actually TRY to write a virus for the RFID tag? The article implies they might have. But, frankly, i doubt it - as an RFID tag has about 256 bytes of capacity. Wow, what horrible evil virus could be unleashed in 256 bytes.
Fouling up sloppy backend SQL code is one thing. Implying that my infected cat will slow to a crawl, barf up pr0n-storm hairballs and begin all night cries of "Viagra! Cialis!" because of its RFID tag is just rediculous.
One year from today, you will goto search the web via MSN for "Linux" and you will get prompted "Before we return the results to you, we will need to verify that the copy of Windows you are running is Genuine Microsoft - click OK to install this ActiveX component"
Ugh! So you submit. Refresh the page. Now you get the automatic "Windows Service Upgrades" that flood your bandwidth for 2 hours making your internet connection unusable. So you submit and wait.
Several hours later, and several reboots, you return to searching for "Linux". This time you get prompted to "sign in with MS Passport to ensure your privacy and security of results". You submit and comply, and click through. OOps, you'll need another round of automatic Windows Security Update Emergencies. Wait. Reboot.
Ah finally. Refresh the web page, get the results, but the page contains a new "WVA" [Windows Vista Animation] embedded advertisement. IE7.3 automatically steps in and downloads Windows Media Master 13.666, which requires your Passport, and another set of "Security Updates".... WindowsMediaMaster13 includes a new set of DRMs that actually prevent you from installing ANY applications that would alter your machine's security state, and thus save those precious 99cent MP3 downloads. The side-effect will be to prevent you from ever installing Linux on that HardDrive. Period.
Submit. Wait. Get your answers. "Where do you want to go today?"
When writing code, do you find the pre-requisite of english a hinderance to writing solutions to problems? European spoken-language is part of the design of nearly any modern programming language - ie , "FOR/NEXT", , "SELECT * FROM"... which then requires at least a little understanding of English in order to make sense of what the keywords are suggesting.
Yes fellow SlashdotWeenies, I know that when executed/compiled these 'words' are symbolized and purely arbitrary - but, arbitrary as they are, an arabic webpage from al-jezzera.com still has english HTML tags.
So the question, open to anyone who doesnt speak english as their native-tongue, is: Does the english-oriented structure of programming languages present a hinderance to how you would conceptualize a problem and how you would write code to solve that problem?
I'm disgusted with the high cost of content, and furious with the over-zealous DRMs that are already present in DVD usgage. Clearly it will be worse with HDTV - its entirely likely that I simply wont bother to upgrade to HD format. You may say "oh but you wont be able to watch ANYTHING", I'll say "so what?"
I suspect that internet-based on-demand video is going to be the preferred alternative to CATV/HDTV for enough people that DRM restrictions will be eased in order for the hardware mfg's to remain competitive. Or, if the legal restrictions prevent them, the HDTV implementation will be inconsequential and eventually die like OS2.
Lets say that the real question is wether or not Google, and other search engines, can be construed as being politically active? Say the Bush admin finds that 87% of all politically related searches wind up at some Democratic/leftist site. By extension they file suit that Google should be subject to political lobbying regulations. At that point, Google/searchengines could fight the case, or could agree to settle by simply not showing political oriented web pages in results.
" Pathetic. I am much more willing to give my business to those companies that can take a stand."
If a company witholds their funding because it may offend someone, they've already made their stand. Your opening statement tried to make some moral high ground, but its really a thinly veiled "...if the company sees it my way then I'll do business with them".
"Religious extremism come in many flavors folks, and if we are not careful, we are going to lose our edge. Remember, this country is only a couple hundred years old" - Well said. You sound like a religous extremist with a chip-on-your-shoulder running loose in the streets yelling "The end is near! Fear! Doom!"
Create a small second partition on your hdd, say 30mb.
write a script to generate interesting sounding documents "RT29831098.DOC" etc. populate the files with totally random data.
write a small text file on your "main" partition "keygen.txt", fill it with sequential dates and random 20 digit strings. It will look like a one time cipher pad.
hide your 2nd partition.
Now you have something to giggle about while you spend 90 days in jail.
My-oh-my how we whine about the "bad" chinese govt for not allowing their citizens access to crap news sites like CNN. Yet we all shop at Walmart, or Target, who imports so much of their retail items from China.
My-oh-my how we wiggle the accusing finger while wearing the "Made in China" t-shirts. Frankly, the truth is that we really dont care what they do in China, so long as the products remain cheap. I dont care - I have enough problems right here to deal with - Corporate News Censorship is greater than any US govt censorship.
Having been to China, I can tell you that most ppl there dont care either about what sites they can or cant access. A kilometer out of the cities is rural poverty that shocked me even in the light of India or Nepal. These chinese ppl would much rather have clean water, and a sewage system. Maybe hope for rural electricity!
In a perverse way, economic exploitation isnt so bad. The drive to sell more products to the west begrudgingly forces infrastrucure improvements. It draws more ppl to the cities where clean water and sewage exist. I'm not calling for "greed is good" posters, but, doing no business with china would have the tangible effect of setting back the population of worker lifestyle.
So, whats so bad about greed and their own censorship?
I did not say that you directly 'measure the angles' to the satelite. I stated that sucessfully receiving the transmission of a satelite ("heard from" in posting) produces a circle of possibilities where the receiver would have to be in order to rcv that signal. That is directly an angular measurement - ie to rcv the signal you must me within 15 degrees of its antenna.
Receiving multiple satelite signals creates overlaps in arcs. The central point of the overlapping arcs is your position.
"The position is determined by examining the time differences between the received signals" and another poster claimed that "time of flight" is used to establish your position. That is not entirely accurate. Phase relationships between two satelite timing signals, and a progressive error-reduction scheme in receiving of the time stamps is used to determine position in the centimeter/millimeter range.
GPS satelites work essentially the same was as celestial navigation (sailing). You note the time and angle to a star. That produces a very large circle of possible locations where that star could be seen, at that time. Then you do the same with another star, which will also give a large area of location solutions - but there will be a narrow overlap where someone could see both stars, at the given angles, at the given time. Now, you do the same with a third star. You've narrowed your position on the earth to square miles.
With further degrees in accuracy of angular measurement, and time you can further reduce it to square yards... feet... inches. More stars make for faster solutions. All you need is local time & clear skies!
The same works with GPS satelites. Instead of visually seeing them, you detect them with a radio signal. Since they're geo positional, once you have "heard" from a satelites its the same as sighting a star. With three satelites "heard" you have a narrow overlap of solutions. The "magic" of GPS is that you dont need the variable of local time - its encoded into the radio signal. So now you have a completely self contained solution. The "millitary" aspect of GPS is simply adding variable length encryption to the time signal - such that the time stamp's accuracy affects the solution set of positions (less accurate the timestamp, less accurate the location).
To deploy GPS on mars, you'd need at least 3 satelites above the horizon at any given time. An ideal solution is to deploy 1 satelite every 15 degrees along the equator, and every 15 degrees around the pole - making a mesh. In practice thats way too expensive, so you make assumptions about working area (north/south hemisphere), approx range of latitude/longitude, and set up the "Lookup Table" to coorespond to lapses in date/time of coverage. Six to eight satelites would give "working coverage" to one hemisphere....thought you'd like to know.
"Two mice (Frankie and Benjy) escaped from Earth before the premature termination of its programme. They had belonged to an Earthling known as Trillian. They were rather keen to remove Arthur Dent's brain to reveal the ultimate question, which they had devoted a lot and time and money to finding."
A truly Good Corporate citizen wouldnt hold a press release to disclose that they are doing something minimal. Giving out "free wifi" to people without the basic necessities is thinly guised marketing.
Finding "something to bitch about" doesnt really apply here. There are MANY companies that have already sent support to Louisianna without calling attention to it. My sister's company, my neighbor's company - they've already sent staff to help out with grunt work. Thats admirable as it is really selfless. The company is paying the staff and expense while they're out doing nothing related to the company's goals.
What great guys they are at T-Mobile! Reaching out with free wifi. I'm touched. Its a great marketing move, and during the next catastrophe they can plan ahead and hand out free 6oz bottles of water with a "T-Mobile" label.
At really big emergencies, they can give out free "T-Mobile" blankets
For the next terrorist attack, they can hand out bandages with "T-Mobile" subtly stitched in.
In the book "Spy Catcher" (late 80s) an ex-MI5 guy writes the various ways they used to read the contents of letters without opening the envelope. One clever was was to use a long, thin strip of bamboo to "twirl" the letter around inside the envelope and read it as it was 'scrolling' by.
Other, easier ways include spraying the envelope with automotive-freon. The envelope becomes transparent while wet, and within seconds the freon completely evaporates.
Other inventive ideas: Use a strand of high quality fiber optics to have a peek inside.
Point being, wouldnt it be far more sensible to NOT include the PIN ?!?! Duh.
I am against stem-cell research on the grounds that it should not be federally funded. Why should taxpayers subsidize Medical Industry research? Derived medical benefits will be patented and licensed by the corporation.
Subsidizing stem-cell research on the promise of cure-all-for-anything is no different than subsidizing hyper-drive research at Lockheed. Surely they'll tout the benefits of how great life will be once we "unlock the secrets of greater-than-light-travel". Snake Oil! Subsidizing stem-cell research fuels greed in the medical industry, breeds false hopes on the supporters of such legislation, heaps expense on the ordinary joe, and has very little accountability.
When I get bored on slow afternoons, I'll go thru my cookies and delete anything unexpected. Then I'll flip the read-only flag on some, and when I'm feeling malicous, I'll alter the cookie contents - change some bytes, add some garbage...
Sometimes its fun to watch sites puke from corrupted cookies.
The decision to nuke Hiroshima was appropriate given the circumstances of war. For anyone who seems so 'horrified' at this atrocity, recall that the Japan and Germany initiated the war. Recall that Japan and Germany created a war against humanity with INDUSTRIAL genocide.
Recall that Germany was furiously working on the nuke - if things had been differently, London and Moscow would have been targeted.
Recall that millions of civillians and millitary personel were killed as part of the axis war plans .
I would have been angry if the allied powers had a means to immediately end the war, even at great civillian loss, and chose not to use it for fear of later slashdot-weenies whinning about being "nice" during a war.
I've been to the countries occupied by Japan during the 30s and 40s, and the people to this day go out of their way to say "thanks" for the US millitary efforts sixty years ago. Phillipines, China, Indonesia, Australia...
Slashdot Mirror
Its really no big deal. The vast majority of RFID chips are simply read-only, because thats the bottom of the line cheapest way to go. The card is "pinged" with a radio-field, and the chip burps out its serial number. No over write. No virus attack potential. Nothing of interest... Sure you can spoof these by putting a different tag in its place - oh yay, you've done the same cleverness as peeling a price sticker from a different product.
Read/Write tags are a step up in cost. They range from 20 bytes to 256 bytes of data with a 10 digit serial number. Some brands support encrypted encoding formats. There is a trivial one byte "access key code" that prevents a Writer from writing to an RFID tag if this "access key code" byte doesnt match. Its really more of an accident prevention mechanisim (so you dont accidentally overwrite an ExxonSpeedPass if it was put in a WalMart system).
Encryption of the "Writable" tags is the responsibility of the application. Since you only have 20 bytes (on the more common, cheaper tags) there isnt much you can do anyway as the number of permutations at 20! is low enough for most script-kiddies to crack. When you start getting upto 256 bytes, then sure it makes absolute sense to encrypt the contents. But, when you're at that price level, you're already considering the hardware that can encrypt at the signal level.
(Yes, I write code dealing with RFID tags)
-Mike
Every state has a "Fair Use Tax" that says anything purchased must be sales-tax collected. For example, here in NJ, if I purchase a newspaper on the ride home from NYC, I am supposed to declare it and perhaps pay sales tax on it to NJ. Ridiculous - and obviously not enforced in most cases. However in some common cases it IS enforced (try purchasing a new car out of state and see what a pain the state will be on sales tax). Why shouldnt items purchased via web be taxed? Its no different than calling a retailer in a different state to make a purchase. Sales tax is due in that transaction - so why not via http?
Many posters point out that the sales tax due on the sale of items is subject to State level taxation, not federal, so the IRS really isnt interested in knowing if you sold BeanieBabies without declaring it as income. I've often thought about sheltering pre-tax corporate revenue into a foreign (personal) account via paypal. The idea seemed too simple so I hesitated to pursue it (doh!).
Despite this being a 'federal' issue, the issue is scary in that it will set a precedent for state govts to force similar handovers of sales data. Since its clearly demonstratable that eBay/PayPal has detailed records of sales transactions, and that eBay/PayPal has reasonable knowledge of the locale of the Seller, Buyer, and ShipTo, that proper sales tax can/should be collected, as would any other retailer. Yes, its the responsibility of the seller to know/resolve the sales tax collection issue, but, its not a stretch to say that eBay/Paypal is 'sheltering' non-payers, and so be compelled to hand over records.
I agree. Good point. Wal*Mart isn't a civics organization - they can sell whatever they wish, and exclude whatever they wish. If you dont like their product line, then shop elsewhere. Whinning about how you wish democratic principles upon capitalist markets is pointless.
The article is crap. More clueless acedmia. Hello - did anyone at this prestigous institute actually TRY to write a virus for the RFID tag? The article implies they might have. But, frankly, i doubt it - as an RFID tag has about 256 bytes of capacity. Wow, what horrible evil virus could be unleashed in 256 bytes.
Fouling up sloppy backend SQL code is one thing. Implying that my infected cat will slow to a crawl, barf up pr0n-storm hairballs and begin all night cries of "Viagra! Cialis!" because of its RFID tag is just rediculous.
One year from today, you will goto search the web via MSN for "Linux" and you will get prompted "Before we return the results to you, we will need to verify that the copy of Windows you are running is Genuine Microsoft - click OK to install this ActiveX component"
Ugh! So you submit. Refresh the page. Now you get the automatic "Windows Service Upgrades" that flood your bandwidth for 2 hours making your internet connection unusable. So you submit and wait.
Several hours later, and several reboots, you return to searching for "Linux". This time you get prompted to "sign in with MS Passport to ensure your privacy and security of results". You submit and comply, and click through. OOps, you'll need another round of automatic Windows Security Update Emergencies. Wait. Reboot.
Ah finally. Refresh the web page, get the results, but the page contains a new "WVA" [Windows Vista Animation] embedded advertisement. IE7.3 automatically steps in and downloads Windows Media Master 13.666, which requires your Passport, and another set of "Security Updates".... WindowsMediaMaster13 includes a new set of DRMs that actually prevent you from installing ANY applications that would alter your machine's security state, and thus save those precious 99cent MP3 downloads. The side-effect will be to prevent you from ever installing Linux on that HardDrive. Period.
Submit. Wait. Get your answers. "Where do you want to go today?"
When writing code, do you find the pre-requisite of english a hinderance to writing solutions to problems? European spoken-language is part of the design of nearly any modern programming language - ie , "FOR/NEXT", , "SELECT * FROM"... which then requires at least a little understanding of English in order to make sense of what the keywords are suggesting.
Yes fellow SlashdotWeenies, I know that when executed/compiled these 'words' are symbolized and purely arbitrary - but, arbitrary as they are, an arabic webpage from al-jezzera.com still has english HTML tags.
So the question, open to anyone who doesnt speak english as their native-tongue, is: Does the english-oriented structure of programming languages present a hinderance to how you would conceptualize a problem and how you would write code to solve that problem?
I'm disgusted with the high cost of content, and furious with the over-zealous DRMs that are already present in DVD usgage. Clearly it will be worse with HDTV - its entirely likely that I simply wont bother to upgrade to HD format. You may say "oh but you wont be able to watch ANYTHING", I'll say "so what?" I suspect that internet-based on-demand video is going to be the preferred alternative to CATV/HDTV for enough people that DRM restrictions will be eased in order for the hardware mfg's to remain competitive. Or, if the legal restrictions prevent them, the HDTV implementation will be inconsequential and eventually die like OS2.
Lets say that the real question is wether or not Google, and other search engines, can be construed as being politically active? Say the Bush admin finds that 87% of all politically related searches wind up at some Democratic/leftist site. By extension they file suit that Google should be subject to political lobbying regulations. At that point, Google/searchengines could fight the case, or could agree to settle by simply not showing political oriented web pages in results.
" Pathetic. I am much more willing to give my business to those companies that can take a stand." If a company witholds their funding because it may offend someone, they've already made their stand. Your opening statement tried to make some moral high ground, but its really a thinly veiled "...if the company sees it my way then I'll do business with them". "Religious extremism come in many flavors folks, and if we are not careful, we are going to lose our edge. Remember, this country is only a couple hundred years old" - Well said. You sound like a religous extremist with a chip-on-your-shoulder running loose in the streets yelling "The end is near! Fear! Doom!"
Create a small second partition on your hdd, say 30mb. write a script to generate interesting sounding documents "RT29831098.DOC" etc. populate the files with totally random data. write a small text file on your "main" partition "keygen.txt", fill it with sequential dates and random 20 digit strings. It will look like a one time cipher pad. hide your 2nd partition. Now you have something to giggle about while you spend 90 days in jail.
Ha ha ha - what a joke. More action taken against bloggers than the perps who burned cars, churches and schools for two weeks. Seems so very "french".
My-oh-my how we whine about the "bad" chinese govt for not allowing their citizens access to crap news sites like CNN. Yet we all shop at Walmart, or Target, who imports so much of their retail items from China.
My-oh-my how we wiggle the accusing finger while wearing the "Made in China" t-shirts. Frankly, the truth is that we really dont care what they do in China, so long as the products remain cheap. I dont care - I have enough problems right here to deal with - Corporate News Censorship is greater than any US govt censorship.
Having been to China, I can tell you that most ppl there dont care either about what sites they can or cant access. A kilometer out of the cities is rural poverty that shocked me even in the light of India or Nepal. These chinese ppl would much rather have clean water, and a sewage system. Maybe hope for rural electricity!
In a perverse way, economic exploitation isnt so bad. The drive to sell more products to the west begrudgingly forces infrastrucure improvements. It draws more ppl to the cities where clean water and sewage exist. I'm not calling for "greed is good" posters, but, doing no business with china would have the tangible effect of setting back the population of worker lifestyle.
So, whats so bad about greed and their own censorship?
I did not say that you directly 'measure the angles' to the satelite. I stated that sucessfully receiving the transmission of a satelite ("heard from" in posting) produces a circle of possibilities where the receiver would have to be in order to rcv that signal. That is directly an angular measurement - ie to rcv the signal you must me within 15 degrees of its antenna.
Receiving multiple satelite signals creates overlaps in arcs. The central point of the overlapping arcs is your position.
"The position is determined by examining the time differences between the received signals" and another poster claimed that "time of flight" is used to establish your position. That is not entirely accurate. Phase relationships between two satelite timing signals, and a progressive error-reduction scheme in receiving of the time stamps is used to determine position in the centimeter/millimeter range.
GPS satelites work essentially the same was as celestial navigation (sailing). You note the time and angle to a star. That produces a very large circle of possible locations where that star could be seen, at that time. Then you do the same with another star, which will also give a large area of location solutions - but there will be a narrow overlap where someone could see both stars, at the given angles, at the given time. Now, you do the same with a third star. You've narrowed your position on the earth to square miles.
...thought you'd like to know.
With further degrees in accuracy of angular measurement, and time you can further reduce it to square yards... feet... inches. More stars make for faster solutions. All you need is local time & clear skies!
The same works with GPS satelites. Instead of visually seeing them, you detect them with a radio signal. Since they're geo positional, once you have "heard" from a satelites its the same as sighting a star. With three satelites "heard" you have a narrow overlap of solutions. The "magic" of GPS is that you dont need the variable of local time - its encoded into the radio signal. So now you have a completely self contained solution. The "millitary" aspect of GPS is simply adding variable length encryption to the time signal - such that the time stamp's accuracy affects the solution set of positions (less accurate the timestamp, less accurate the location).
To deploy GPS on mars, you'd need at least 3 satelites above the horizon at any given time. An ideal solution is to deploy 1 satelite every 15 degrees along the equator, and every 15 degrees around the pole - making a mesh. In practice thats way too expensive, so you make assumptions about working area (north/south hemisphere), approx range of latitude/longitude, and set up the "Lookup Table" to coorespond to lapses in date/time of coverage. Six to eight satelites would give "working coverage" to one hemisphere.
"Two mice (Frankie and Benjy) escaped from Earth before the premature termination of its programme. They had belonged to an Earthling known as Trillian. They were rather keen to remove Arthur Dent's brain to reveal the ultimate question, which they had devoted a lot and time and money to finding."
A truly Good Corporate citizen wouldnt hold a press release to disclose that they are doing something minimal. Giving out "free wifi" to people without the basic necessities is thinly guised marketing.
Finding "something to bitch about" doesnt really apply here. There are MANY companies that have already sent support to Louisianna without calling attention to it. My sister's company, my neighbor's company - they've already sent staff to help out with grunt work. Thats admirable as it is really selfless. The company is paying the staff and expense while they're out doing nothing related to the company's goals.
Does $ contributions count? Does being a member of the red-cross count as "doing somthing" or is it just snarky?
What great guys they are at T-Mobile! Reaching out with free wifi. I'm touched. Its a great marketing move, and during the next catastrophe they can plan ahead and hand out free 6oz bottles of water with a "T-Mobile" label.
At really big emergencies, they can give out free "T-Mobile" blankets
For the next terrorist attack, they can hand out bandages with "T-Mobile" subtly stitched in.
In the book "Spy Catcher" (late 80s) an ex-MI5 guy writes the various ways they used to read the contents of letters without opening the envelope. One clever was was to use a long, thin strip of bamboo to "twirl" the letter around inside the envelope and read it as it was 'scrolling' by.
Other, easier ways include spraying the envelope with automotive-freon. The envelope becomes transparent while wet, and within seconds the freon completely evaporates.
Other inventive ideas: Use a strand of high quality fiber optics to have a peek inside.
Point being, wouldnt it be far more sensible to NOT include the PIN ?!?! Duh.
20mg CX717 in the morning
30mg Ephedrine suppliments every 2 hrs
75mg Prozac to keep you sane
40mg Previcid to keep it all from being vomitted
Finish the day with a happy dose of 20mg Ambien
"Better Living Through Chemicals" I say. Who needs a stinkin' Food Pyramid!
I am against stem-cell research on the grounds that it should not be federally funded. Why should taxpayers subsidize Medical Industry research? Derived medical benefits will be patented and licensed by the corporation.
Subsidizing stem-cell research on the promise of cure-all-for-anything is no different than subsidizing hyper-drive research at Lockheed. Surely they'll tout the benefits of how great life will be once we "unlock the secrets of greater-than-light-travel". Snake Oil! Subsidizing stem-cell research fuels greed in the medical industry, breeds false hopes on the supporters of such legislation, heaps expense on the ordinary joe, and has very little accountability.
When I get bored on slow afternoons, I'll go thru my cookies and delete anything unexpected. Then I'll flip the read-only flag on some, and when I'm feeling malicous, I'll alter the cookie contents - change some bytes, add some garbage...
Sometimes its fun to watch sites puke from corrupted cookies.
The decision to nuke Hiroshima was appropriate given the circumstances of war. For anyone who seems so 'horrified' at this atrocity, recall that the Japan and Germany initiated the war. Recall that Japan and Germany created a war against humanity with INDUSTRIAL genocide.
Recall that Germany was furiously working on the nuke - if things had been differently, London and Moscow would have been targeted.
Recall that millions of civillians and millitary personel were killed as part of the axis war plans .
I would have been angry if the allied powers had a means to immediately end the war, even at great civillian loss, and chose not to use it for fear of later slashdot-weenies whinning about being "nice" during a war.
I've been to the countries occupied by Japan during the 30s and 40s, and the people to this day go out of their way to say "thanks" for the US millitary efforts sixty years ago. Phillipines, China, Indonesia, Australia...
How about getting the scroll wheel to work in VS6???
That would be such a productivity improvement!