BS.
The primary goal of Terrorism is to cause terror in the population.
The goal of causing terror in the population is to get them to do stupid, craven things, like give up freedoms, start wars, abandon civility.
Actually if you look back historically, there is always a political objective behind terrorism. In bin laden's case, it's getting us out of the middle east. Bin Laden doesn't care if we "Give up our rights". Nor does he really want us going to war with him, all he wants is us out of the middle east, and all the Jews dead.
Terrorism isn't the 'primary goal', it's a method to get to the eventual political goal. The political goal of terrorism in Iraq is to get us out of there. The political goal of terrorism on the US is for us to change our foreign policy in the middle east. I realize by looking at your profile that you are a "Bush Basher", but rather then rehashing the same points/groupthink everyone else spits out, go read some history.
If the alert system was actually there to alert the public, it would've gone up _before_ the arrests were made and gone down again a bit after the arrests were made (you know, when the threat has been reduced by arresting a bunch of evil terrorists). As it was, they only bothered to 'alert the public' after the matter, and at that point they put it up to it's highest level even though they said they had no evidence to suggest there would be any further attacks.
Ever think the attacks were scheduled for tommorow instead of today? It would go along with the whole 9/11, 7/11, 3/11 thing.
Honestly what is the goal behind terrorism? Has it done anything for their cause besides rain more crap down on the people they claim they are fighting for?
The main goal as far as the US is concerned is to push the US out of the middle east. Bin Laden specifically stated his goal was to get the US to stop propping up dictators in the middle east, supplying weapons to Israel, and basically, to stay out of their business.
Terrorism typically works on an invading force, especially when that force is relucatant to kill civilians. Once the price in blood is too high, the invading force will usually pull out. It has worked in the past.
If you want to understand what Bin Laden wants, read his Fatwah. Here is a brief part of it from wikipedia:
1998 Fatwa
In February 1998, another Fatwa was issued that was signed by Osama bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri and others.
Published on the 23rd February in the Al-Quds Al-Arabi independent newspaper, it lists three grievances:
* U.S. occupation of the Arabian Peninsula
"First, for over seven years the United States has been occupying the lands of Islam in the holiest of places, the Arabian Peninsula, plundering its riches, dictating to its rulers, humiliating its people, terrorizing its neighbors, and turning its bases in the Peninsula into a spearhead through which to fight the neighboring Muslim peoples.
If some people have in the past argued about the fact of the occupation, all the people of the Peninsula have now acknowledged it. The best proof of this is the Americans' continuing aggression against the Iraqi people using the Peninsula as a staging post, even though all its rulers are against their territories being used to that end, but they are helpless."
* U.S. devastation of the Iraqi people and humiliation of their Muslim neighbors
"Second, despite the great devastation inflicted on the Iraqi people by the crusader-Zionist alliance, and despite the huge number of those killed, which has exceeded 1 million... despite all this, the Americans are once again trying to repeat the horrific massacres, as though they are not content with the protracted blockade imposed after the ferocious war or the fragmentation and devastation. So here they come to annihilate what is left of this people and to humiliate their Muslim neighbors."
* U.S. support of Israel
"Third, if the Americans' aims behind these wars are religious and economic, the aim is also to serve the Jews' petty state and divert attention from its occupation of Jerusalem and murder of Muslims there. The best proof of this is their eagerness to destroy Iraq, the strongest neighboring Arab state, and their endeavor to fragment all the states of the region such as Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Sudan into paper statelets and through their disunion and weakness to guarantee Israel's survival and the continuation of the brutal crusade occupation of the Peninsula."
"The International Islamic Front for Jihad against the U.S. and Israel has issued a crystal-clear fatwa calling on the Islamic nation to carry on jihad aimed at liberating holy sites. The nation of Muhammad has responded to this appeal. If the instigation for jihad against the Jews and the Americans in order to liberate Al-Aksa Mosque and the Holy Ka'aba Islamic shrines in the Middle East is considered a crime, then let history be a witness that I am a criminal."
the correct response when a person questions and disagress with their government on policy matters is to lobby for change, work to get it altered, bitch about it to raise awareness, etc.
Sure, if that change is reasonable. With many of these people, who are so infatuated with communism and socialism, why don't they move to one of the shit-hole countries that believes in the same garbage?
The stupid mouth breather redneck response is to tell them to move. Like in the nam days, a lot of people were against the war. The redneck response was bumperstickers, like this famous one "if you don't [picture of heart] america get your [picture of a donkey] out".
There aren't too many rednecks here in NYC. As for being a 'mouth breather', maybe you should not check AC and show your racist face to the world?
Lame then, lame now. Disagreeing with the government on issue x,y or z doesn't mean you still can't love your country and want to see it fixed.
If you are so ideologically tilted twards communism, or so in love with the Islamists, and hate Americans, why not move the fuck out?
In other words, you are a stupid redneck. Why don't you grow up, try working puzzles or something to increase your IQ, and maybe take a laxative.
The assumption that anyone who doesn't agree with your point of view must have a low IQ shows your lack of intellectual capability.
The parent comment is so intellectually devoid and redundant.
Just in time for U.S. Mid-Term Elections
This is just in time for US midterm elections? Who are you kidding, by November this will have been long forgotten. Hell, most Americans will forget about it by next week if they don't by the end of the day. This also isn't a good political strategy for primaries, since it will drive the left more to the left, and the right more to the right. That is bad for those in office.
I realize you want to demonize the US government because your president of choice isn't in office, but you don't need to make up grand consperacy theories involving large parts of the federal government.
Both conservatives and liberals have a lot to dislike without the need to make up stuff.
More people die of Cancer than AIDS, but we don't ignore AIDS because of that. A lot more people die of Heart Disease than AIDS, yet AIDS gets a lot more attention.
Maybe they should just face the truth and rename the 'alert level' system to 'scare-the-shit-out-of-the-public-to-push-our-poli tical-agenda-o-meter'
And what is the "political agenda" you are going to claim they are advancing? Are you so cynical that you don't think they might have an 'alert system' just to alert the public?
When psychologists refer to gaming (and internet) addiction as being akin to gambling addiction they are referring to the fact that both gaming and gambling addictions are behavioural addictions; that is, they are addictions that have no chemical component in the way that drug addictions have. However they still produce similar effects on the reward system of the brain.
I would think that part of the pull of a gambling addiction is the need to 'win back' what you've lost. In World of Warcraft you can't win back what you've lost (Time, money). So at least you come to a point where you can say "Nothing good can come of this in the real world". With gambling there is always the hope for that one big "win".
As for internet addiction, I probably spend 10 hours a day online (including work.). Even on my days off I probably log at least 8 hours. Am I addicted?:)
Honestly, I'm thankful for that. The LAST thing I want to be is one of those people who lives and breathes on a videogame. It's scary to think that it's so addicting; I have to wonder why, though? There's nothing physical there to draw you in. It isn't like alcohol or nicotine. Is it the social aspects? Being able to completely control your surroundings, as you can't in real life? What is it about a videogame like WoW or Everquest that sucks people in so completely that it makes them ignore friends, family, and real life?
For some it's competition. If you are familiar with WoW's PvP system, or how end game raiding guilds compete it's easy how someone who is into competition can get hooked. It's a 'fake' type of competition too, as it doesn't rely on the fast twitch skills a counter strike or quake player needs.
For others it's the social aspect. Dealing with people in WoW is much easier for some people then it is in real life.
E-Fame can do it also, if you are known in game by pretty much all of the 12,000 people on your server, it can have a powerful pull on you.
Lastly, some people who are guild leaders or officers think the guild *NEEDS* them to be there. While that may be true in some cases, most end game raiding guilds can survive losing anyone.
That 40% number was ripped from the daedalus project . I also doubt it's accurate since people who fill out that survey or seek help are more likely to be addicted then those who don't.
MMO addiction is nothing like a Gambling addiction. In MMO addiction you may have issues of identifying with your character, but you don't have the same harmful financial damage that a gambling addiction will cause.
Quitting MMO's is fairly easy, or at least it was for me. I just deleted WoW, and that was it. I still keep in touch with my guild via their website, which was really my only reason for playing twards the end, along with e-fame.
The problem with PC gaming is nothing good is coming out. I made the mistake of buying battlefield 2, and Quake 4 and liked neither of them. Then there was UT 2003, which had gameplay that wasn't as enjoyable as as the original Unreal Tournament.
Seriously, I've just stopped buying new PC games, the only one I've bought really recently was World of Warcarft. I'm not buying another FPS unless a demo comes out ahead of time, and it's damn good.
So what am I playing? Since I quit WoW, it's mostly Counter Strike 1.6 (and yes, I have source) and Unreal Tournament with a few friends. If you can give us something worthwhile that plays better than the old games, we will gladly buy it.
If there is a love, why don't they help in writting Ruby bindings for Cocoa??
It's not really love, it's just them looking at Ruby on Rails, and being pissed off because Ruby on Rails is like their own product WebObjects, except it doesn't suck.
Well, it is unless Ubuntu or one of the other Linux distros finally make that hurdle across the final 5% or 1% of making things 'just work' that seems to elude open source developers.
Dude, I just downloaded Ubuntu today. I made the install CD which they brag is also a "live CD" so I can boot straight into Ubuntu to see how well it works. Well, I tried it out on two different PC's, and it crashes when I use firefox on either of them. I should have known a OS named after some African wouldn't work.
John C. Dvorak is unbiased, and he's way ahead of all of us on this one! He was talking about these hoaxed photos back in 2004. This is just like when he predected Apple would move to Intel. Why don't people listen to John? He can see the future...It's obvious he is big internet Jesus.
So it wasn't that the Europeans were better or superior. They just had a superior environment in which to develop.
God forbid! Nobody could be superior to anyone else!
Lets face it, European culture was superior which led to their technical advantage. Why do people ignore the truth? Does it hurt that badly to say one culture is inferior to another?
Take a look at the middle east today, what does that shithole have on western culture?
The truth is the white man had superior techonolgy, and that gave them a huge edge in winning. I realize it's in vouge nowadays to pretend American Indians were some super advanced society that we ruined, but in reality they were a primitive bunch of people who lost their land to people coming from a superior culture.
If you wonder what America would be like today if it had never been colonized, take a look at Africa.
Who'd turn off their iPod full of Rammstein just to answer a phone call from your Dümass friend? Seriously, though, if I buy a device for the purpose of listening to music, I don't want anything to stop it to answer a phone.
Odds are it wouldn't interrupt your music, except maybe with a chime to let you know someone is calling. Then you could look at the caller ID to see if you want to interrupt your MUSAK to talk to whoever it is.
What's with this whole "one piece stop shop" MP3 phone obsession anyway?
Carrying around 3-4 devices sucks. Take it from someone with a 2 hour commute.
Slashdot Mirror
BS. The primary goal of Terrorism is to cause terror in the population. The goal of causing terror in the population is to get them to do stupid, craven things, like give up freedoms, start wars, abandon civility.
Actually if you look back historically, there is always a political objective behind terrorism. In bin laden's case, it's getting us out of the middle east. Bin Laden doesn't care if we "Give up our rights". Nor does he really want us going to war with him, all he wants is us out of the middle east, and all the Jews dead.
Terrorism isn't the 'primary goal', it's a method to get to the eventual political goal. The political goal of terrorism in Iraq is to get us out of there. The political goal of terrorism on the US is for us to change our foreign policy in the middle east. I realize by looking at your profile that you are a "Bush Basher", but rather then rehashing the same points/groupthink everyone else spits out, go read some history.
If the alert system was actually there to alert the public, it would've gone up _before_ the arrests were made and gone down again a bit after the arrests were made (you know, when the threat has been reduced by arresting a bunch of evil terrorists). As it was, they only bothered to 'alert the public' after the matter, and at that point they put it up to it's highest level even though they said they had no evidence to suggest there would be any further attacks.
Ever think the attacks were scheduled for tommorow instead of today? It would go along with the whole 9/11, 7/11, 3/11 thing.
Osama has mod points. :(
I approve of your fatwah iggy.
I exsuce the other guy for briniging in to question your IQ
Awesome.
Honestly what is the goal behind terrorism? Has it done anything for their cause besides rain more crap down on the people they claim they are fighting for?
The main goal as far as the US is concerned is to push the US out of the middle east. Bin Laden specifically stated his goal was to get the US to stop propping up dictators in the middle east, supplying weapons to Israel, and basically, to stay out of their business.
Terrorism typically works on an invading force, especially when that force is relucatant to kill civilians. Once the price in blood is too high, the invading force will usually pull out. It has worked in the past.
If you want to understand what Bin Laden wants, read his Fatwah. Here is a brief part of it from wikipedia:
1998 Fatwa
In February 1998, another Fatwa was issued that was signed by Osama bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri and others.
Published on the 23rd February in the Al-Quds Al-Arabi independent newspaper, it lists three grievances:
* U.S. occupation of the Arabian Peninsula
"First, for over seven years the United States has been occupying the lands of Islam in the holiest of places, the Arabian Peninsula, plundering its riches, dictating to its rulers, humiliating its people, terrorizing its neighbors, and turning its bases in the Peninsula into a spearhead through which to fight the neighboring Muslim peoples. If some people have in the past argued about the fact of the occupation, all the people of the Peninsula have now acknowledged it. The best proof of this is the Americans' continuing aggression against the Iraqi people using the Peninsula as a staging post, even though all its rulers are against their territories being used to that end, but they are helpless."
* U.S. devastation of the Iraqi people and humiliation of their Muslim neighbors
"Second, despite the great devastation inflicted on the Iraqi people by the crusader-Zionist alliance, and despite the huge number of those killed, which has exceeded 1 million... despite all this, the Americans are once again trying to repeat the horrific massacres, as though they are not content with the protracted blockade imposed after the ferocious war or the fragmentation and devastation. So here they come to annihilate what is left of this people and to humiliate their Muslim neighbors."
* U.S. support of Israel
"Third, if the Americans' aims behind these wars are religious and economic, the aim is also to serve the Jews' petty state and divert attention from its occupation of Jerusalem and murder of Muslims there. The best proof of this is their eagerness to destroy Iraq, the strongest neighboring Arab state, and their endeavor to fragment all the states of the region such as Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Sudan into paper statelets and through their disunion and weakness to guarantee Israel's survival and the continuation of the brutal crusade occupation of the Peninsula."
"The International Islamic Front for Jihad against the U.S. and Israel has issued a crystal-clear fatwa calling on the Islamic nation to carry on jihad aimed at liberating holy sites. The nation of Muhammad has responded to this appeal. If the instigation for jihad against the Jews and the Americans in order to liberate Al-Aksa Mosque and the Holy Ka'aba Islamic shrines in the Middle East is considered a crime, then let history be a witness that I am a criminal."
the correct response when a person questions and disagress with their government on policy matters is to lobby for change, work to get it altered, bitch about it to raise awareness, etc.
Sure, if that change is reasonable. With many of these people, who are so infatuated with communism and socialism, why don't they move to one of the shit-hole countries that believes in the same garbage?
The stupid mouth breather redneck response is to tell them to move. Like in the nam days, a lot of people were against the war. The redneck response was bumperstickers, like this famous one "if you don't [picture of heart] america get your [picture of a donkey] out".
There aren't too many rednecks here in NYC. As for being a 'mouth breather', maybe you should not check AC and show your racist face to the world?
Lame then, lame now. Disagreeing with the government on issue x,y or z doesn't mean you still can't love your country and want to see it fixed.
If you are so ideologically tilted twards communism, or so in love with the Islamists, and hate Americans, why not move the fuck out?
In other words, you are a stupid redneck. Why don't you grow up, try working puzzles or something to increase your IQ, and maybe take a laxative.
The assumption that anyone who doesn't agree with your point of view must have a low IQ shows your lack of intellectual capability.
The parent comment is so intellectually devoid and redundant.
Just in time for U.S. Mid-Term Elections
This is just in time for US midterm elections? Who are you kidding, by November this will have been long forgotten. Hell, most Americans will forget about it by next week if they don't by the end of the day. This also isn't a good political strategy for primaries, since it will drive the left more to the left, and the right more to the right. That is bad for those in office.
I realize you want to demonize the US government because your president of choice isn't in office, but you don't need to make up grand consperacy theories involving large parts of the federal government.
Both conservatives and liberals have a lot to dislike without the need to make up stuff.
I have no confidence in the UK, USA or even the Australian government. I suggest you question everything they do, and all that they report as fact.
Why don't you move then?
More people die of Cancer than AIDS, but we don't ignore AIDS because of that. A lot more people die of Heart Disease than AIDS, yet AIDS gets a lot more attention.
Maybe they should just face the truth and rename the 'alert level' system to 'scare-the-shit-out-of-the-public-to-push-our-poli tical-agenda-o-meter'
And what is the "political agenda" you are going to claim they are advancing? Are you so cynical that you don't think they might have an 'alert system' just to alert the public?
When psychologists refer to gaming (and internet) addiction as being akin to gambling addiction they are referring to the fact that both gaming and gambling addictions are behavioural addictions; that is, they are addictions that have no chemical component in the way that drug addictions have. However they still produce similar effects on the reward system of the brain.
:)
I would think that part of the pull of a gambling addiction is the need to 'win back' what you've lost. In World of Warcraft you can't win back what you've lost (Time, money). So at least you come to a point where you can say "Nothing good can come of this in the real world". With gambling there is always the hope for that one big "win".
As for internet addiction, I probably spend 10 hours a day online (including work.). Even on my days off I probably log at least 8 hours. Am I addicted?
Honestly, I'm thankful for that. The LAST thing I want to be is one of those people who lives and breathes on a videogame. It's scary to think that it's so addicting; I have to wonder why, though? There's nothing physical there to draw you in. It isn't like alcohol or nicotine. Is it the social aspects? Being able to completely control your surroundings, as you can't in real life? What is it about a videogame like WoW or Everquest that sucks people in so completely that it makes them ignore friends, family, and real life?
For some it's competition. If you are familiar with WoW's PvP system, or how end game raiding guilds compete it's easy how someone who is into competition can get hooked. It's a 'fake' type of competition too, as it doesn't rely on the fast twitch skills a counter strike or quake player needs.
For others it's the social aspect. Dealing with people in WoW is much easier for some people then it is in real life.
E-Fame can do it also, if you are known in game by pretty much all of the 12,000 people on your server, it can have a powerful pull on you.
Lastly, some people who are guild leaders or officers think the guild *NEEDS* them to be there. While that may be true in some cases, most end game raiding guilds can survive losing anyone.
Don't lie, you are in it for the epics.
That 40% number was ripped from the daedalus project . I also doubt it's accurate since people who fill out that survey or seek help are more likely to be addicted then those who don't.
MMO addiction is nothing like a Gambling addiction. In MMO addiction you may have issues of identifying with your character, but you don't have the same harmful financial damage that a gambling addiction will cause.
Quitting MMO's is fairly easy, or at least it was for me. I just deleted WoW, and that was it. I still keep in touch with my guild via their website, which was really my only reason for playing twards the end, along with e-fame.
The problem with PC gaming is nothing good is coming out. I made the mistake of buying battlefield 2, and Quake 4 and liked neither of them. Then there was UT 2003, which had gameplay that wasn't as enjoyable as as the original Unreal Tournament.
Seriously, I've just stopped buying new PC games, the only one I've bought really recently was World of Warcarft. I'm not buying another FPS unless a demo comes out ahead of time, and it's damn good.
So what am I playing? Since I quit WoW, it's mostly Counter Strike 1.6 (and yes, I have source) and Unreal Tournament with a few friends. If you can give us something worthwhile that plays better than the old games, we will gladly buy it.
If there is a love, why don't they help in writting Ruby bindings for Cocoa??
It's not really love, it's just them looking at Ruby on Rails, and being pissed off because Ruby on Rails is like their own product WebObjects, except it doesn't suck.
It's only a matter of time before they open source OS X and everything else they have software wise, Apple is a hardware company.
Here is a great card game for WoW players.
Well, it is unless Ubuntu or one of the other Linux distros finally make that hurdle across the final 5% or 1% of making things 'just work' that seems to elude open source developers.
Dude, I just downloaded Ubuntu today. I made the install CD which they brag is also a "live CD" so I can boot straight into Ubuntu to see how well it works. Well, I tried it out on two different PC's, and it crashes when I use firefox on either of them. I should have known a OS named after some African wouldn't work.
True 'unbiased' reporting is a myth.
John C. Dvorak is unbiased, and he's way ahead of all of us on this one! He was talking about these hoaxed photos back in 2004. This is just like when he predected Apple would move to Intel. Why don't people listen to John? He can see the future...It's obvious he is big internet Jesus.
So it wasn't that the Europeans were better or superior. They just had a superior environment in which to develop.
God forbid! Nobody could be superior to anyone else!
Lets face it, European culture was superior which led to their technical advantage. Why do people ignore the truth? Does it hurt that badly to say one culture is inferior to another?
Take a look at the middle east today, what does that shithole have on western culture?
Shhhhhhh, don't hurt their feelings!
The truth is the white man had superior techonolgy, and that gave them a huge edge in winning. I realize it's in vouge nowadays to pretend American Indians were some super advanced society that we ruined, but in reality they were a primitive bunch of people who lost their land to people coming from a superior culture.
If you wonder what America would be like today if it had never been colonized, take a look at Africa.
Or are you stuck on a bus or a train somewhere?
Two trains from NJ to NY, then two or three subways, then a five block walk or a bus ride if the weather is really bad.
Who'd turn off their iPod full of Rammstein just to answer a phone call from your Dümass friend? Seriously, though, if I buy a device for the purpose of listening to music, I don't want anything to stop it to answer a phone.
Odds are it wouldn't interrupt your music, except maybe with a chime to let you know someone is calling. Then you could look at the caller ID to see if you want to interrupt your MUSAK to talk to whoever it is.
What's with this whole "one piece stop shop" MP3 phone obsession anyway?
Carrying around 3-4 devices sucks. Take it from someone with a 2 hour commute.
and there is Cranky Geeks! which is basically silicon spin with crappier guests.