C'mon, how's e-voting going to replace the week-long entertainment that re-iterates how hilarious democracy is?
Although the NI Assembly elections are nearly more fun, throw in a good dose of sectarianism into the PR-STV system. Woohoo, get the popcorn!
(Sorry, to clarify, democracy seems to work best and is much, much, nicer than, oh, dictatorships, Soviet Russia, etc. But Irish democracy is, well, a bunch of chancers combined with a bunch of ineffectual wellwishers.)
Boy have I used up my cynicism quota for this month!
I'm sure the populations are the same both ways about e-voting. The majority don't know anything / give two hoots, a minority support their party rigging the elections and another minority love to cry out about civil liberties etc etc and kick up a fuss.
(I'm not trying to belittle that last group - but lets face it, most people worrying about things like e-voting are 'activists' - the main population are sit-on-their-arsists)
Our government are still morons for getting into this situation (just over a month before elections and they call off a plan which they plugged wholeheartedly for, affecting the entire democratic process?!) so I say they're of roughly equivalent IQ to the US govt. (Of course, our govt. didn't start a mess like the I-word)
...it's a directive, and as such, must be implemented in national law, fulfilling certain stipulations. Those aside, there's a reasonable amount of leeway, and various States end up producing somewhat different legislation. So any theories as to what implications may result from this directive are theoretical (hence the word theories).
The eight countries mentioned comprise less than half the EU, even before enlargement this weekend.
While some EU countries ignore various directives, they quite often get in trouble, eventually at least. Ireland, where I am, is shortly to get in deep doodoo over non-compliance with environmental issues (Not enough special areas of conservation (SACs), and not protecting the few we have). In theory, the State may end up having to fork out millions until they sort out the issues (They've already been given a LOT of time).
EU directives, laws, etc. are supra-state in nature, not just vague international stuff, so can't be ignored indefinately. The EU is an extra layer of governance above national governments, despite not being federal.
Surely its celebrating the accession of 10 new EU members (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Czech Rep., Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Malta and Cyprus on May 1st) swelling us to the largest organised group of people on the earth after India and China?
I'm sure our country isn't so egotistic to celebrate a usual (even if rare) event such as the EU presidency.
For entire seasons even! It's too long now since I've seen any (ohhh... 1996 perhaps) so I can't remember which season it was, perhaps 2/3/4 that region. I think it was around the Borg cliffhanger it improved? Or was it then that it went downhill? Lousy memory - at least I'll be able to enjoy TNG all over again when I'm finished being a student and have money to buy the DVDs.
Man, there was some REALLY BAD episodes of TNG of course (despite my liking it as a whole). Remember the Riker flashbacks episode? Cringe.
DS9 as a whole can probably be regarded almost as highly as TNG - but it had more padding with rubbish eps. I do consider that DS9 had some particular episodes and character interactions on occasion that were A1 material. Garak the 'tailor', him and Bashir. Bashir and O'Brien's camaraderie was great too - there was some good episode(s?) where they were stranded on dodgy planets and struggled to avoid being killed or dying. I loved that episode that warned about the way the homeless, unemployed and lower classes were in danger of being treated in the US. (Of course, being from Europe I guess it just let me indulge in the whole self-righteousness delusion). There was some great stuff with the Klingons being at war with the Federation again. The toady Quark was a great character. Sisko was hilarious when he got angry, especially once his hair migrated! Man, it was only onscreen, but he did the whole 'in a minute I'm going to rip you apart limb from limb with my bare hands'.
I'll stop now, despite having avoided trek in all forms for at least 5 years, I remember why I used to be a Trekkie.
> Some of us can even spell correctly without help.
Well, the original perpetrators of the English language might disagree that anyone in the US can spell correctly.:o)
Fortunately, here in Ireland, we get to abuse the English language as much as we like, and if criticised, just point out that it's not our natural language:o)
They have to save the bullets for May Day... Policing the E.U. enlargement ceremony, anarchists, socialists, hippies, inebriated patrons of Temple Bar's pubs...
You're also tracked by your mobile phone - pretty comprehensive - they know what area you're in - from an area of countryside - to within a few blocks in cities with smaller cells.
Not only that, but the mobile phone co.s have details of your bank account (even pre-paid if you use ATM top-ups as most do in Ireland now). They know who you've called, for how long, who's called you, when you have your phone off or on. There's no guarantee your conversations or txt msgs aren't logged.
Yep - big brother has been here a while folks. Not only that, but most western governments are only becoming *more* authoritarian than anything else. 1984 eat your heart out. Regardless of conspiracy theories or tin-foil-hattery, there's reasonable implications for all of us as regards identity theft, false prosecution (why bother having a trial if all the evidence is seemingly against you). Already opponents of western govt.s have had all these facilities used against them. No-one trusts their govt.s policy-wise - why trust them with big-brother tech?
the UK has TWICE the coverage of international news compared to the US!
Although, having seen domestic US TV in the States - I'm not surprised. Switch the 5 mins of local news we get here in Ireland/UK with 5 mins international 'roundup' and you wouldn't be far off!!!
I believe the right to free speech is guaranteed by the E.U.
People can bring cases to the European Court of Human Rights - even to allege their own govt. has denied them their rights. It's been quite popular with various people in Northern Ireland.
I'm guessing legal groups are happy for the whole debacle to continue. After all it's a win-win situation for lawyers. Argh!!! Ghagh!!! The only thing coming close to my dislike for senseless legal stuff is insurance companies. They are what clever people set up instead of casinos - they make much more money - the house still always wins, but the expected return for punters is less - and in the case of motorists - they HAVE to place bets!!!
You are right - I was recently surprised to read that here in Europe, despite having many many many times more passenger travel by rail than the US, we fail quite badly on freight. It's something like 8% averaged across the EU. Compared to I think, 30% or more in the US.
In Ireland it's something like 3% or less - but our government is doing their best to ensure we are as car-dependant, if not more so than the US. (They've turned light-rail into a dirty phrase by sabotaging Dublin city centre to build one - slowly and badly!!!) A recent survey suggested Irish drivers drove 3000 miles per year on average than US drivers - I am VERY skeptical though. (We must indeed be one of the richest countries then - with the amount spent on petrol - not to mention drink!!!)
Russia are involved in a lot of ESA work (and have been for 15 years apparently), as well as working with their Soyuz launch vehicle for many European probes. ESA are currently planning a Soyuz launch pad at Europe's launch site in Kourou, French Guiana.
The article also made no mention of SMART-1, the 'ion-drive' probe heading to the moon. It will be taking various readings and photos - in of course, higher detail than some previous endeavours. Wonder if they'll photograph the US moon landing sites? (Even apart from satisfying the skeptics - it'd be kinda cool to see new aerial shots of the sites!)
Russia are not (yet) members of the ESA. In the last week, Greece and Luxembourg were granted membership - the effort is growing. Members contribute an amount based on GNP, with a corresponding proportion of contracts and research being offered to that member.
Efforts are widely distributed - even my own (relatively small) University in Ireland has a number of researchers working on ESA stuff!
Don't pay any attention to this article
on
Methane on Mars?
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· Score: 1
Hmmm... judging by some new titles, game developers too think that guts are the way to go. Lots of 'em, and as realistic as possible.
Don't tell me our kids aren't going to be semi-deranged from the combination of video-games, TV, internet and school environment as they stand at present.
Theft? Hah. What goes around comes around. I like having roads, public transport, school system, health system, public utilities, civic services (police, fire, army), thank you very much!
There's a whopping huge amount of money needed for all this stuff, not to mention the government running the show, innumerable executive arms and bodies for doing this and that. Guess what, petrol prices in Ireland are about 4 times that in the US due to tax - and WOW, the country runs just fine! (Unemployment is 4% - and minus 'blackspots' with social problems, virtually nil)
Anti-trust regulation is just like taxes, it is done for the greater good. In an ideal world it wouldn't have to be 'enforced', but people are remarkably opposed to parting with their money even should it be going to that which is helping them.
The best thing about the E.U. is that it is devised by our elected govt's who have to watch their backs, but it is free enough to take the hard decisions, do what is in the best interests of people.
90 days to sell a version of Windows minus WMP. AND they must ensure there's no disincentive to those buying it (e.g. negligably cheaper, or more expensive all told).
120 days to provide FULL documentation on Windows code interfaces? EXPLICITLY to help their competitors have a level playing field on the Windows platform?
The precedent set by this and implications for the future?
OW! I think it hurts a LOT. Plus being 'ordered' to do stuff really dents the pride and knocks the wind out of them.
The implication too is, "we could have gone for 10% of revenues", watch yourself.
Media player being bundled costs the consumer money even if they don't want it. It also allows Microsoft to further leverage its market position once WMP is ubiqitous! As for the 'orders' on API documentation? Woohoo.
Microsoft is the perfect example of how capitalism needs a tight rein for it to work to the benefit of people, not big corporations!
This is true. I lived in Asia for a few years, ate some of the most discusting things on the planet out of street stalls (usually I was really drunk), now, nothing bothers my iron gut, as I have quite the worldly bacteria living in there, takes care of just about everything.
Nahh... that's the worms doing the dirty work for you.
Slashdot Mirror
C'mon, how's e-voting going to replace the week-long entertainment that re-iterates how hilarious democracy is?
Although the NI Assembly elections are nearly more fun, throw in a good dose of sectarianism into the PR-STV system. Woohoo, get the popcorn!
(Sorry, to clarify, democracy seems to work best and is much, much, nicer than, oh, dictatorships, Soviet Russia, etc. But Irish democracy is, well, a bunch of chancers combined with a bunch of ineffectual wellwishers.)
Boy have I used up my cynicism quota for this month!
Would be more accurate.
I'm sure the populations are the same both ways about e-voting. The majority don't know anything / give two hoots, a minority support their party rigging the elections and another minority love to cry out about civil liberties etc etc and kick up a fuss.
(I'm not trying to belittle that last group - but lets face it, most people worrying about things like e-voting are 'activists' - the main population are sit-on-their-arsists)
Our government are still morons for getting into this situation (just over a month before elections and they call off a plan which they plugged wholeheartedly for, affecting the entire democratic process?!) so I say they're of roughly equivalent IQ to the US govt. (Of course, our govt. didn't start a mess like the I-word)
...it's a directive, and as such, must be implemented in national law, fulfilling certain stipulations. Those aside, there's a reasonable amount of leeway, and various States end up producing somewhat different legislation. So any theories as to what implications may result from this directive are theoretical (hence the word theories).
The eight countries mentioned comprise less than half the EU, even before enlargement this weekend.
While some EU countries ignore various directives, they quite often get in trouble, eventually at least. Ireland, where I am, is shortly to get in deep doodoo over non-compliance with environmental issues (Not enough special areas of conservation (SACs), and not protecting the few we have). In theory, the State may end up having to fork out millions until they sort out the issues (They've already been given a LOT of time).
EU directives, laws, etc. are supra-state in nature, not just vague international stuff, so can't be ignored indefinately. The EU is an extra layer of governance above national governments, despite not being federal.
Surely its celebrating the accession of 10 new EU members (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Czech Rep., Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Malta and Cyprus on May 1st) swelling us to the largest organised group of people on the earth after India and China?
I'm sure our country isn't so egotistic to celebrate a usual (even if rare) event such as the EU presidency.
Could someone fix the posting?
...install the system on a dead badger.
For entire seasons even! It's too long now since I've seen any (ohhh... 1996 perhaps) so I can't remember which season it was, perhaps 2/3/4 that region. I think it was around the Borg cliffhanger it improved? Or was it then that it went downhill? Lousy memory - at least I'll be able to enjoy TNG all over again when I'm finished being a student and have money to buy the DVDs.
Man, there was some REALLY BAD episodes of TNG of course (despite my liking it as a whole). Remember the Riker flashbacks episode? Cringe.
DS9 as a whole can probably be regarded almost as highly as TNG - but it had more padding with rubbish eps. I do consider that DS9 had some particular episodes and character interactions on occasion that were A1 material. Garak the 'tailor', him and Bashir. Bashir and O'Brien's camaraderie was great too - there was some good episode(s?) where they were stranded on dodgy planets and struggled to avoid being killed or dying. I loved that episode that warned about the way the homeless, unemployed and lower classes were in danger of being treated in the US. (Of course, being from Europe I guess it just let me indulge in the whole self-righteousness delusion). There was some great stuff with the Klingons being at war with the Federation again. The toady Quark was a great character. Sisko was hilarious when he got angry, especially once his hair migrated! Man, it was only onscreen, but he did the whole 'in a minute I'm going to rip you apart limb from limb with my bare hands'.
I'll stop now, despite having avoided trek in all forms for at least 5 years, I remember why I used to be a Trekkie.
> Some of us can even spell correctly without help.
:o)
:o)
Well, the original perpetrators of the English language might disagree that anyone in the US can spell correctly.
Fortunately, here in Ireland, we get to abuse the English language as much as we like, and if criticised, just point out that it's not our natural language
They have to save the bullets for May Day... Policing the E.U. enlargement ceremony, anarchists, socialists, hippies, inebriated patrons of Temple Bar's pubs...
You're also tracked by your mobile phone - pretty comprehensive - they know what area you're in - from an area of countryside - to within a few blocks in cities with smaller cells.
Not only that, but the mobile phone co.s have details of your bank account (even pre-paid if you use ATM top-ups as most do in Ireland now). They know who you've called, for how long, who's called you, when you have your phone off or on. There's no guarantee your conversations or txt msgs aren't logged.
Yep - big brother has been here a while folks. Not only that, but most western governments are only becoming *more* authoritarian than anything else. 1984 eat your heart out. Regardless of conspiracy theories or tin-foil-hattery, there's reasonable implications for all of us as regards identity theft, false prosecution (why bother having a trial if all the evidence is seemingly against you). Already opponents of western govt.s have had all these facilities used against them. No-one trusts their govt.s policy-wise - why trust them with big-brother tech?
Or longer... it's not done yet... the date given is possibly (probably?) optimistic!
Hmmm... Interesting. France and Canada have a similar ratio of national and international stories to the US!
The German Google news has a whopping huge ratio of entertainment to news!
However, India and Australia are WAY low on National news! (Even the UK despite the highest proportion of international news has more national news)
That's all folks, I'm sick of waiting 5 hours for each page to load up (even if it is subst minutes hours)...
the UK has TWICE the coverage of international news compared to the US!
Although, having seen domestic US TV in the States - I'm not surprised. Switch the 5 mins of local news we get here in Ireland/UK with 5 mins international 'roundup' and you wouldn't be far off!!!
Google News (UK) does not have the news item in the full list of "sci-tech" news...
Suspicious?
I believe the right to free speech is guaranteed by the E.U.
People can bring cases to the European Court of Human Rights - even to allege their own govt. has denied them their rights. It's been quite popular with various people in Northern Ireland.
I'm guessing legal groups are happy for the whole debacle to continue. After all it's a win-win situation for lawyers. Argh!!! Ghagh!!! The only thing coming close to my dislike for senseless legal stuff is insurance companies. They are what clever people set up instead of casinos - they make much more money - the house still always wins, but the expected return for punters is less - and in the case of motorists - they HAVE to place bets!!!
You are right - I was recently surprised to read that here in Europe, despite having many many many times more passenger travel by rail than the US, we fail quite badly on freight. It's something like 8% averaged across the EU. Compared to I think, 30% or more in the US.
In Ireland it's something like 3% or less - but our government is doing their best to ensure we are as car-dependant, if not more so than the US. (They've turned light-rail into a dirty phrase by sabotaging Dublin city centre to build one - slowly and badly!!!) A recent survey suggested Irish drivers drove 3000 miles per year on average than US drivers - I am VERY skeptical though. (We must indeed be one of the richest countries then - with the amount spent on petrol - not to mention drink!!!)
Russia are involved in a lot of ESA work (and have been for 15 years apparently), as well as working with their Soyuz launch vehicle for many European probes. ESA are currently planning a Soyuz launch pad at Europe's launch site in Kourou, French Guiana.
The article also made no mention of SMART-1, the 'ion-drive' probe heading to the moon. It will be taking various readings and photos - in of course, higher detail than some previous endeavours. Wonder if they'll photograph the US moon landing sites? (Even apart from satisfying the skeptics - it'd be kinda cool to see new aerial shots of the sites!)
Russia are not (yet) members of the ESA. In the last week, Greece and Luxembourg were granted membership - the effort is growing. Members contribute an amount based on GNP, with a corresponding proportion of contracts and research being offered to that member.
Efforts are widely distributed - even my own (relatively small) University in Ireland has a number of researchers working on ESA stuff!
It's just a whole load of hot air...
Hmmm... judging by some new titles, game developers too think that guts are the way to go. Lots of 'em, and as realistic as possible.
Don't tell me our kids aren't going to be semi-deranged from the combination of video-games, TV, internet and school environment as they stand at present.
Theft? Hah. What goes around comes around. I like having roads, public transport, school system, health system, public utilities, civic services (police, fire, army), thank you very much!
There's a whopping huge amount of money needed for all this stuff, not to mention the government running the show, innumerable executive arms and bodies for doing this and that. Guess what, petrol prices in Ireland are about 4 times that in the US due to tax - and WOW, the country runs just fine! (Unemployment is 4% - and minus 'blackspots' with social problems, virtually nil)
Anti-trust regulation is just like taxes, it is done for the greater good. In an ideal world it wouldn't have to be 'enforced', but people are remarkably opposed to parting with their money even should it be going to that which is helping them.
The best thing about the E.U. is that it is devised by our elected govt's who have to watch their backs, but it is free enough to take the hard decisions, do what is in the best interests of people.
Money - direct into the EU central budget.
Cha-ching. Thank you MS.
Hey US folks, lobby your govt. It's open season on that $50 billion cash pile!
Just kidding - this is a quite serious issue, and affects how other companies behave in the future too.
90 days to sell a version of Windows minus WMP. AND they must ensure there's no disincentive to those buying it (e.g. negligably cheaper, or more expensive all told).
120 days to provide FULL documentation on Windows code interfaces? EXPLICITLY to help their competitors have a level playing field on the Windows platform?
The precedent set by this and implications for the future?
OW! I think it hurts a LOT. Plus being 'ordered' to do stuff really dents the pride and knocks the wind out of them.
The implication too is, "we could have gone for 10% of revenues", watch yourself.
Media player being bundled costs the consumer money even if they don't want it. It also allows Microsoft to further leverage its market position once WMP is ubiqitous!
As for the 'orders' on API documentation? Woohoo.
Microsoft is the perfect example of how capitalism needs a tight rein for it to work to the benefit of people, not big corporations!
> The EU commision is composed by people suggested by the national governments, and approved as a whole by the EU parliament.
> There is no "single point of failure" like with the US president.
Well, apart from the directly elected European parliament that is...
Sure it's low turnout for electing MEPs, but the US presidential election turnout is pretty poor too is it not?
This is true. I lived in Asia for a few years, ate some of the most discusting things on the planet out of street stalls (usually I was really drunk), now, nothing bothers my iron gut, as I have quite the worldly bacteria living in there, takes care of just about everything.
Nahh... that's the worms doing the dirty work for you.