The problem there is that propulsion systems are still improving and the nearest planet is still a over a year away. During which time there's massive radiation exposure to worry about. A new propulsion system that would halve that would drastically reduce the problems of radiation sickness and death on the voyage.
As far as extra solar system planets go, or even ones further out, even a relatively minor improvement on efficiency could result in decades or even centuries being taken off the transit time.
Yes, but what about asteroid-based habitats at the Earth-Moon La Grange points? You did not address that. The push to achieve those goals will accelerate propulsion system development and interplanetary ship design.
For instance, an appropriately sized mostly water-ice & methane asteroid (which are common & plentiful) could be hollowed out for use as transport and provide it's own fuel, and the composition itself serve as radiation shielding.
There's no bold thinking in space exploration any longer, at least as far as US national space policies and programs go. It's become all PC and risk-averse bureaucrats playing political games and fighting over fiefdoms. Hopefully, private space concerns can step up to fill this void, if government can be kept from hamstringing them too much. Something I'm not optimistic about, considering the history and current trends.
Not exactly sure which planet you believe to be so much better than Earth. It may have some problems, but I'd still choose it over living on any other celestial body I'm aware of.
How about practically any other planet or even a space habitat, if Earth finds itself in the path of an extinction-level size asteroid, for instance?
How about capturing some asteroids of the proper composition/size/direction/speed and steer them to La Grange points and turn them into habitats?
It's the spin-off benefits, like plentiful & cheap power, rare metals, rapid & major disruptive technology advances, etc etc, that TPTB are not ready to allow us to have, for much of their control over the population is control over resources and technology combined with artificial scarcity. The last thing a ruling class wants is for people to not need to or have to depend on them. Keeping mankind out of space and confined under the ruling class's control is definitely one of the motivations.
TPTB are comprised of people who so much live for power, that they would much rather risk mankind's extinction than them losing any significant amount of power & control, and/or having it shift to someone/somewhere else. When they can see that they *will* lose control/power if they *don't* move ahead, that's when we will see progress towards distributing our eggs among more than a single basket.
Haven't we grown out of "the ends justify the means" yet?
Human nature being what it is, that's something that people never learn until they suddenly wake up one day and find *they've* just been deemed an "obstacle" to some government "end" which must be removed. Of course by then it's a little too late.
People are shit. People in government are shit on warp drive with afterburners. Why should or would anyone think allowing corrupt, power-hungry, arrogant, and greedy government shits (yes, even your guys) more and more powers and more and more of *our* money to use against us is a good idea?
Want to know what would go a LONG ways towards fixing lots of things wrong with both the government overstepping and the economy and make the rest not directly affected easier to rein in?
Look up the US "Depression of 1920-21" (without quotes). President Warren G. Harding slashed government size and spending by nearly half. This was a leading factor that put the "roar" in the "Roaring Twenties" that saw fantastic growth and economic expansion.
Having a much smaller government without endless government buildings filled full of bureaucrats trying to micro-regulate everything under the sun, and that doesn't control as much wealth or distort the markets so badly, makes it much easier for citizens to assure accountability and make corruption that much harder to hide.
Hard for some seriously-disturbed government hack to build a "Star Trek"-esque "Information Dominance Center" and spy on everyone including Granny and her nine cats if the agency has just barely enough resources and manpower to perform it's limited and accountably-authorized duties in a legal and constitutional manner and still meet payroll.
Just like fire, one must limit the amount of "fuel" (powers, scope, size, budgets, etc) one allows any government, or like fire, one will be consumed when it grows out of control as we are seeing happen in the US.
Starve the beast. Before it eats everything and everyone. This isn't a partisan political issue. It's a civil rights issue for every US citizen regardless of ideology, race, religion, or politics. If the US goes totalitarian, it's going to also be a huge problem for the rest of the world.
Not to Godwin, but imagine what a Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, or Mussolini could and would do with the natural and economic resources of the US and it's military/industrial/intelligence complex.
That's what the world has to look forward to if things don't dramatically change in the US, and soon, because that's the direction the US is heading rapidly.
The only reason the US did not sign the UN Mine treaty is because they could not get an exemption for the border between NK and SK. The US mines can be disarmed or activated remotely and the mines can be easily detected and removed.
Just please tell me they do not have IP addresses...
It's OK.
Just think of them as forming a whole new gaming type:
Advice to developers: Contact NSA. They'll be happy to provide unlimited funding for this.
Null program, there, AC.
Like the NSA hasn't had their own at-a-distance bi-directional systems for years, in fac&2@Y&UIjoi)(*vhMPYyNM^thequickbrownfoxjumpsoverthelazydog@t4%*(5GUJ[Hj9}8.Ruy45YCv
Can't you just see the hilarity that would ensue if a passenger (or nearly all passengers for extra "Keystone"-factor) urinated into a >100ml container
Interesting! I hadn't thought about it before, but why are people allowed to fly? A typical adult human body is a container for 45-50% liquid by weight. If you really want to get liquids on a plane, a baby is the way to go which may have up to about 75%.
It illustrates the typical logic-fail rampant throughout the premises and policies of the entire US domestic security apparatus as they've been presented to the public.
That's simply because the very last thing the current domestic security theater (of which the TSA is only one part) really exists for is to catch foreign terrorists or enhance airline/train/bus passenger safety.
It's about incrementally extending, expanding, and strengthening control over people and every aspect of their lives, including even their thoughts & beliefs, by government.
This is not related to any particular political party or ideology. This is the elite ruling class in D.C. of both parties. These people don't see the world the way most people see it (as it's been spun to them for decades), as differing parties with differing ideologies battling. They see the few who rule (themselves) and everyone else that either submits or dies.
Once the hammer falls, so to speak, you're either already one of "them" or you can choose to submit or fight and possibly die. The internment camps will be filled with people of all ideologies and political parties...anyone who is already on a government list, who might resist, object, or present any potential to become a possible future threat.
Think "Hunger Games"...you're either already part of the elite ruling class by holding an existing position and/or by birth/marriage/familial relations etc, or you're not and never will be regardless of former political party and/or ideological/religious beliefs.
They view people in general as sheep. A rancher would never think to invite one of his herd into the house for Sunday dinner unless said herd-member WAS dinner. (other possible reasons are not relevant to my post and I leave to the perverts...you know who you are!)
You only say that because you are not the subject of profiling. If you were regularly harassed for no reason other than the color of your skin, or your country of origin, you'd understand why profiling is a horrible crime. It's directly contrary to the presumption of innocense on which any actual justice system must be founded.
So you're saying that if one is searching for KKK/Aryan Brotherhood/Skinheads, that one has to spend time/resources to stop/question/search blacks or it's a "horrible crime"? Or if searching for NBPP members, one has to stop/question/search whites?
Suspects are typically described by appearance, such as "white male, mid-30s, approx. 6 ft tall, wearing jeans and red T-shirt" as an example. Do you think including "white male" in the description is a "horrible crime"?
Because the aircraft themselves on your theoretical open-carry flights could be used as weapons just like the aircraft on other flights?
I don't think they're too worried about "terrists" hijacking a twin-engine Beechcraft or even a Cessna Citation or Gulfstream and turning it into a kinetic WMD.
It takes an aircraft on the size/mass scale of a 4-engine passenger jet to be effective as a kinetic WMD. Otherwise, it's simply another small plane crash.
I don't know of many private charter services operating 4-engine passenger jets.
Their quantum mother slaps them when they try to chew on the quantum foam.
Like quantum redheaded stepchildren that ate too much quantum lead paint from their quantum cribs when they were quantum babies filling their quantum diapers with quantum poo!
Cleric: "And the Lord spake, saying, "First shalt thou take out the Holy Pin. Then, shalt thou count to three. No more. No less. Three shalt be the number thou shalt count, and the number of the counting shall be three. Four shalt thou not count, neither count thou two, excepting that thou then proceed to three. Five is right out. Once at the number three, being the third number to be reached, then, lobbest thou thy Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch towards thy foe, who, being naughty in My sight, shall snuff it."
On topic, I'd like to see a phone app along somewhat similar lines to ride-sharing and flight-booking combined, only with private charter flight services, to coordinate people traveling to/from the same or near-enough locations to share costs and save money and time, not to mention one's civil rights.
The more popular it becomes the more flight volume for the charter services in frequency and flights seated to capacity, and therefor charter services whose aircraft are in the air with full seats earning money steadily and reliably have the ability to negotiate larger bulk fuel contracts, tires, engines and other parts, etc etc at lower costs. All those lower average costs plus competition will tend to lower passenger fees.
Heh, instead of a "flash-mob", one could have a "flash-flight", minus the groping! Groups of otherwise unrelated individuals from random backgrounds suddenly booking a charter flight together as a group might throw some wrenches into TLA surveillance/data algorithms.
You could choose the flight that irradiates, strip-searches, and cavity-searches all passengers, or choose an "open-carry" flight, smoking, non-smoking...whatever.
Wouldn't it be nice, since this is supposed to be the "land of the free" and all, to have a choice!?!?
You're right -- liquids over 100ml are still not permitted through the checkpoint.
Can't you just see the hilarity that would ensue if a passenger (or nearly all passengers for extra "Keystone"-factor) urinated into a >100ml container (besides the onboard holding tank) while in-flight, let it be known to the attendants/crew, and video recorded what happens?
So sick of the security theater. Even a good number of the people who, up till a couple of years ago, have been supportive of the TSA silliness are waking up and becoming ever-more disillusioned, angry, and disgusted. Hopefully enough will finally awake to change things sooner rather than later.
I say that, instead of putting all those TSA employees out of work, we simply re-task them to a more useful and productive role in society.
Picking up litter along all public roads, streets, and highways. Hell, have 'em clean alongside passenger railway lines, too. Take away their security toys and give them trash bags, buckets, rakes, & brooms. They wouldn't even need to change the agency initials.
"Trash and Sanitation Authority"
Has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?
I bet those fleets of nifty huge TSA SUVs and armored vehicles can move a lot of litter!
I'd even thank them for their hard work in that case, unlike now. At least it would be a respectable and useful job that actually benefits everyone and the environment at the same time it puts low-skilled people in stable jobs. It could also be a way to immensely reduce inmate recidivism rates by transitioning paroled prison inmates through such a job to a non-criminal, employed, and productive life with hope & opportunity.
First, note the name of the court. Second, consider the surveillance Google et al would like to discuss.
If you are not "Of the Body" (one of the elite power brokers and their cronies & minions instead of Landru, in this case) then your are "Foreign", QED.
This administration refers to whistleblowering as "betrayal". Not betrayal of the US and it's people and/or the constitution, but betrayal of the power-elite and politicians working together to gradually enslave the nation and eventually the world, if not stopped.
This has nothing to do with (R) or (D). Both are nearly equally guilty. They only fight over things that inflame, anger, polarize, and keep the people divided against each other. It's Kabuki theater designed to distract from what the other hand is doing.
How about we at least temporarily pause the "Two Minute Hate" BS and argue and fight about Trayvon, immigration, abortion, Obamacare, gay marriage, etc etc etc, *AFTER* we take care of the assholes that are trying to put chains, gags, slave-collars, and anal-probe huggies on *ALL* of us, mmkay?
Besides, you'd be better be nice. Some of the TFA's Atlas's close relatives may be armed and patrolling and manning checkpoints in and around your neighborhood before too long.
"In Soviet US, droids look for YOU!"
You know what's even worse than "Skynet"-style AI-controlled armies of "Terminator"-style cyborgs/robots?
Government/human-controlled armies of "Terminator"-style cyborgs/robots.
At least an emotionless AI has no concept of enjoying other's suffering/pain, or blind and illogical hatred, revenge for revenge's sake, lust for power, wealth, and domination, or any of a thousand other similar negative human thoughts/feelings/behaviors.
How long do you think that the US government would continue to even pretend to acknowledge individual rights, Rule of Law, or any limits at all set by the US Constitution, if they had a functional robotic army and didn't have to worry about the human US military fracturing if ordered to attack US citizens en-masse? The speed of their deciding our fate would rival that of Skynet's.
Why does it even need a box? If it's an advanced robot all it should need is a plane ticket and some cab money.
Heh, nice!
As we all (should) know;
"I could while away the hours, conferrin' with the flowers Consultin' with the rain. And my head I'd be scratchin' while my thoughts were busy hatchin' If I only had a brain. I'd unravel every riddle for any individ'le, In trouble or in pain. With the thoughts you'll be thinkin' you could be another Lincoln If you only had a brain. Oh, I could tell you why The ocean's near the shore. I could think of things I never thunk before. And then I'd sit, and think some more. I would not be just a nothin' my head all full of stuffin' My heart all full of pain. I would dance and be merry, life would be a ding-a-derry, If I only had a brain."
-That's why.
Whether one is talking about hardware or wetware, no matter how "advanced", without the *software* they are both about equally as much an "automaton" as a $5 wrench.
Considering the scale and the/. predilection for car analogies, perhaps a better comparison would be more like equaling the ability of the latest experimental computerized high-tech car engine to hop a red-eye flight and a cab.
Are you seriously suggesting we try to occupy the US and liberate it from its government?
Just assist and support the people in the US who are trying to curtail the out-of-control US government whenever and however you can with whatever can help.
The US government has been steadily growing and hardening itself against control by the citizenry and expanding its' scope & power beyond constitutional limits for ~100 years. It won't be overcome by a change simply between (D) & (R). The pendulum must swing back toward constitutional first-principles and a government that is small enough, and local enough, to be controllable by the citizens.
The American people, on the whole, have a long history of being basically good, relatively peaceful, and generous people. The US government, on the other hand, has grown far too large & powerful and has long ago lost any legitimate claim to actually represent the will or the character, spirit, or beliefs of it's citizens.
From a friendly/neutral foreign perspective, it would be far more beneficial internationally for the smaller-government crowd in the US to prevail, as a smaller, less-powerful US Federal government that is more open and accountable to its' citizens and has more effective oversight would sharply curtail the international bullying and "dirty games & tricks" the US government has been playing, and increasingly plays, against even those the US government call "allies" and their peoples & interests.
If these fools name some hapless piece of drifting interplanetary space debris "Trayvon" in their misguided attempt to glorify a dead, racist, drug-abusing, violent criminal thug, how long until there's an IGG funding drive for development of a "Zimmerman" missile to destroy it?
Kind of a long way to go (in multiple senses of the phrase) to get people interested in space again, isn't it?
I think these people have had far too much time on their hands for far too long.
No. The reaper has an operational altitude of 50,000 feet. You might somehow get a hobbyist RC plane more than half that high, but to then chase down and hit the reaper? No way, forget it. Even a Stinger missile can only get around half that high.
The only practical way for people with no missiles or fighter jets to counter drones like the Reaper in anything other than a passive way (hiding/obscuring the targets) would be to find and track the military satellites that relay control signals, and then target them with jamming/hacking/etc.
Perhaps a very powerful and tightly-focused MASER aimed at the sats, if they can acheive accurate enough tracking, might burn out the satellite radio relay/C&C receiver front-ends and turn them into space junk. That would take an extremely powerful MASER, however. Not a large number of suitable power sources commonly available in most of the remote/primitive areas, or even many of the relatively more modern areas, that the drones and ALQ. typically operate in.
If they can beam a sufficient level of broadband RF noise, concentrated in the band that the drone uplinks to the sat on at the sat, it may be able to jam the uplink signal from the drone by overloading the sat receiver front-end.
I doubt that efforts to jam the drone from receiving the sat downlink would work due to the very directional nature of the drone's sat downlink antenna(s) that point (physically and/or electrically/electromagnetically) up at the sky, not at the ground. It would take far, far too much power.
According to my old mate Tetley, it's the circular theory of politics; go far enough to the right (or left) and they eventually meet.
Spot on.
The paradigm spectrum is not Right -- Left.
It is Anarchy -- Tyranny.
Right & Left are both to be found nearer the Tyranny end of the scale the more wealth, power, and control either achieves.
The US has moved quite far along the path towards Tyranny in the last 100 years, and particularly rapidly in the last 15-20 years regardless of (R) or (D) control. Obama not only continuing, but often greatly expanding, nearly all the government constitution-overstepping legal contortions and rights-ignoring/trampling and privacy-invading programs and policies, that everyone including Obama was screaming about under Bush, is a great example.
She may not learn as much or be as challenged, but take a deep breath and live with that.
How about you take a deep breath and live with the fact that your existing system is a complete train wreck and people who love their children donâ(TM)t want to participate in your continuing failure?
I think that about sums it up.
Agreed.
Something you may find interesting; A copy of the text of an eighth-grade test circa 1895.
http://www.salina.com/1895test/ (Google also shows a working link to the document available directly from Kansas State Dept. of Education as.PDF)
Heading:
"Examination Graduation Questions of Saline County, Kansas
April 13, 1895 J.W. Armstrong, County Superintendent Examinations in Salina, Cambria, Gypsum City, Assaria, Falun, Bavaria, and District No. 74 (in Glendale Twp.) READING AND PENMANSHIP - The Examination will be oral, and the Penmanship of Applicants will be graded from the manuscripts."
I don't think a majority of college grads these days could pass the above-linked test. Yet those with power over public schools want to go further down the same path and throw ever-more money into a system that's resulted in a decades-long history of utter failure to educate better.
Fascism is definitely _not_ socialism. It also has little to do with racial superiority.
[snip]
You are confusing Nazism and fascism; they were different.
I understand there are differences in the underlying ideological dogmas.
Point is, it mattered little to the millions of individual people *both* have killed, which particular flavor of authoritarian tyranny it was that murdered them...this time. The end result for individuals unfortunate enough to be under either political/social ideologies' power is nearly identical. In that way the differences between socialism/fascism/communism are distinctions without a difference to the common man.
Bullets, machetes, poison gas, intentional starvation, etc etc, don't feel any differently to the individuals of a systematically oppressed/targeted/scapegoated population group depending on the ideologies or races of the thugs and murderers involved.
Whatever the encryption is, you can bet your bottom dollar bill that the NSA is at least two decades ahead of it.
That's why, if you want it really secure, you leverage their own security.
Hack an NSA/TLA network, and store your encrypted data right alongside of their data.
You could hide your data on Obama's Blackberry servers, or on Gen. Alexander's, Valerie Jarret's, or Clapper's machines.
For extra happy-fun-time, make sure to include some CP, bestiality, and snuff films in separate files/folders, and then out them publicly. Sauce for the gander.:)
The US government has by their own actions declared a de-facto no-rules, no-laws, screw-the-Constitution, all-out cyber-war...not only against every other government including supposed US "allies", but their own citizens as well. History teaches that the dues incurred for such hubris always get paid.
This has been planned for the past 15 years now just like the Iraq war was. U.S. and Britain (primarily) won't miss their chance even though there is more evidence to counter the claim Assad used chemical weapons. They're manufacturing evidence.
The Elites need the Syrian pipeline and this is their chance to take it.
(Did I mention the U.S. and NATO have been funding the destabilization of Syria for the past four years?)
Next stop: Iran
You're close, but think bigger. Much bigger.
The global interests have decided that it's time for global change. They want the "Age of America" as a top superpower finished and over with. They want a major global power-shift.
The only way outside of natural disasters/pandemics that major and sudden global changes happen is through world war.
World War 3 is what is being staged here. Russia has already sent a fleet to the area. Both Russia and China have warned the US not to strike Syria. The US will be facing Russia, China, Iran, and much of the Middle East and others with an over-extended and exhausted US military. The US doesn't come out of that well.
The US Dollar is about to collapse. They've been running the printing presses at warp speed to maintain a rough status-quo while they make preparations. They see a war as not only the only way, but the preferred way, out of the somewhere-north-of ~$17T debt (that's admitted to), while simultaneously taking the US out of the top-global-superpower club and allowing martial law to be declared in the US and massive domestic political/societal changes made via the barrels of guns.
Hang on boys and girls.
Shit's about to get real after Obama strikes Syria.
I firmly believe it will be the "Archduke Ferdinand" moment that starts a world war and signals the end of the US as a top superpower, and the end of constitutional civil liberties as we've known them for the people in the US.
Slashdot Mirror
The problem there is that propulsion systems are still improving and the nearest planet is still a over a year away. During which time there's massive radiation exposure to worry about. A new propulsion system that would halve that would drastically reduce the problems of radiation sickness and death on the voyage.
As far as extra solar system planets go, or even ones further out, even a relatively minor improvement on efficiency could result in decades or even centuries being taken off the transit time.
Yes, but what about asteroid-based habitats at the Earth-Moon La Grange points? You did not address that. The push to achieve those goals will accelerate propulsion system development and interplanetary ship design.
For instance, an appropriately sized mostly water-ice & methane asteroid (which are common & plentiful) could be hollowed out for use as transport and provide it's own fuel, and the composition itself serve as radiation shielding.
There's no bold thinking in space exploration any longer, at least as far as US national space policies and programs go. It's become all PC and risk-averse bureaucrats playing political games and fighting over fiefdoms. Hopefully, private space concerns can step up to fill this void, if government can be kept from hamstringing them too much. Something I'm not optimistic about, considering the history and current trends.
Strat
Not exactly sure which planet you believe to be so much better than Earth. It may have some problems, but I'd still choose it over living on any other celestial body I'm aware of.
How about practically any other planet or even a space habitat, if Earth finds itself in the path of an extinction-level size asteroid, for instance?
How about capturing some asteroids of the proper composition/size/direction/speed and steer them to La Grange points and turn them into habitats?
It's the spin-off benefits, like plentiful & cheap power, rare metals, rapid & major disruptive technology advances, etc etc, that TPTB are not ready to allow us to have, for much of their control over the population is control over resources and technology combined with artificial scarcity. The last thing a ruling class wants is for people to not need to or have to depend on them. Keeping mankind out of space and confined under the ruling class's control is definitely one of the motivations.
TPTB are comprised of people who so much live for power, that they would much rather risk mankind's extinction than them losing any significant amount of power & control, and/or having it shift to someone/somewhere else. When they can see that they *will* lose control/power if they *don't* move ahead, that's when we will see progress towards distributing our eggs among more than a single basket.
Strat
Haven't we grown out of "the ends justify the means" yet?
Human nature being what it is, that's something that people never learn until they suddenly wake up one day and find *they've* just been deemed an "obstacle" to some government "end" which must be removed. Of course by then it's a little too late.
People are shit. People in government are shit on warp drive with afterburners. Why should or would anyone think allowing corrupt, power-hungry, arrogant, and greedy government shits (yes, even your guys) more and more powers and more and more of *our* money to use against us is a good idea?
Want to know what would go a LONG ways towards fixing lots of things wrong with both the government overstepping and the economy and make the rest not directly affected easier to rein in?
Look up the US "Depression of 1920-21" (without quotes). President Warren G. Harding slashed government size and spending by nearly half. This was a leading factor that put the "roar" in the "Roaring Twenties" that saw fantastic growth and economic expansion.
Having a much smaller government without endless government buildings filled full of bureaucrats trying to micro-regulate everything under the sun, and that doesn't control as much wealth or distort the markets so badly, makes it much easier for citizens to assure accountability and make corruption that much harder to hide.
Hard for some seriously-disturbed government hack to build a "Star Trek"-esque "Information Dominance Center" and spy on everyone including Granny and her nine cats if the agency has just barely enough resources and manpower to perform it's limited and accountably-authorized duties in a legal and constitutional manner and still meet payroll.
Just like fire, one must limit the amount of "fuel" (powers, scope, size, budgets, etc) one allows any government, or like fire, one will be consumed when it grows out of control as we are seeing happen in the US.
Starve the beast. Before it eats everything and everyone. This isn't a partisan political issue. It's a civil rights issue for every US citizen regardless of ideology, race, religion, or politics. If the US goes totalitarian, it's going to also be a huge problem for the rest of the world.
Not to Godwin, but imagine what a Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, or Mussolini could and would do with the natural and economic resources of the US and it's military/industrial/intelligence complex.
That's what the world has to look forward to if things don't dramatically change in the US, and soon, because that's the direction the US is heading rapidly.
Strat
It gives me the impression that they are megalomaniacal and power crazy.
Oh pshaw!
It's not at all like a "Dr. Evil's evil control room" at all!
I'll wager you won't find even a single "shark with a frickin' laser beam" anywhere.
Not sure about the "mini-Me's".
See? What's to worry about?
I'm certain it had to be built like that to properly enslav^W^W^W^W^W^Wprotect the nation.
Strat
Actually, the whole damn story reminds me of an old film about an American military coup: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_days_in_may [wikipedia.org]
All we need now, is a new Senator Joe McCarthy at the helm . . .
2000, 2004, 2008, & 2012. Done and done. With a little Mao, Stalin, & Mussolini thrown in on both.
In two main flavors.
We have the (D)ick-flavored one now. We had the (R)ectum-flavored one last time.
But don't throw away your vote. The wrong lizard might get in.
Strat
It's OK.
Just think of them as forming a whole new gaming type:
"MMOMS" - Massively Multiplayer Online Mine Sweeper"
"Clippy" would be so proud...
See? Just a game. Nothing to fret over.
"Happiness is a warm cluster-bomb."
Strat
Advice to developers: Contact NSA. They'll be happy to provide unlimited funding for this.
Null program, there, AC.
Like the NSA hasn't had their own at-a-distance bi-directional systems for years, in fac&2@Y&UIjoi)(*vhMPYyNM^thequickbrownfoxjumpsoverthelazydog@t4%*(5GUJ[Hj9}8.Ruy45YCv
#NO CARRIER
It illustrates the typical logic-fail rampant throughout the premises and policies of the entire US domestic security apparatus as they've been presented to the public.
That's simply because the very last thing the current domestic security theater (of which the TSA is only one part) really exists for is to catch foreign terrorists or enhance airline/train/bus passenger safety.
It's about incrementally extending, expanding, and strengthening control over people and every aspect of their lives, including even their thoughts & beliefs, by government.
This is not related to any particular political party or ideology. This is the elite ruling class in D.C. of both parties. These people don't see the world the way most people see it (as it's been spun to them for decades), as differing parties with differing ideologies battling. They see the few who rule (themselves) and everyone else that either submits or dies.
Once the hammer falls, so to speak, you're either already one of "them" or you can choose to submit or fight and possibly die. The internment camps will be filled with people of all ideologies and political parties...anyone who is already on a government list, who might resist, object, or present any potential to become a possible future threat.
Think "Hunger Games"...you're either already part of the elite ruling class by holding an existing position and/or by birth/marriage/familial relations etc, or you're not and never will be regardless of former political party and/or ideological/religious beliefs.
They view people in general as sheep. A rancher would never think to invite one of his herd into the house for Sunday dinner unless said herd-member WAS dinner. (other possible reasons are not relevant to my post and I leave to the perverts...you know who you are!)
Strat
You only say that because you are not the subject of profiling. If you were regularly harassed for no reason other than the color of your skin, or your country of origin, you'd understand why profiling is a horrible crime. It's directly contrary to the presumption of innocense on which any actual justice system must be founded.
So you're saying that if one is searching for KKK/Aryan Brotherhood/Skinheads, that one has to spend time/resources to stop/question/search blacks or it's a "horrible crime"? Or if searching for NBPP members, one has to stop/question/search whites?
Suspects are typically described by appearance, such as "white male, mid-30s, approx. 6 ft tall, wearing jeans and red T-shirt" as an example. Do you think including "white male" in the description is a "horrible crime"?
Strat
Because the aircraft themselves on your theoretical open-carry flights could be used as weapons just like the aircraft on other flights?
I don't think they're too worried about "terrists" hijacking a twin-engine Beechcraft or even a Cessna Citation or Gulfstream and turning it into a kinetic WMD.
It takes an aircraft on the size/mass scale of a 4-engine passenger jet to be effective as a kinetic WMD. Otherwise, it's simply another small plane crash.
I don't know of many private charter services operating 4-engine passenger jets.
Strat
Their quantum mother slaps them when they try to chew on the quantum foam.
Like quantum redheaded stepchildren that ate too much quantum lead paint from their quantum cribs when they were quantum babies filling their quantum diapers with quantum poo!
Strat
Obligatory movie quote:
Cleric: "And the Lord spake, saying, "First shalt thou take out the Holy Pin. Then, shalt thou count to three. No more. No less. Three shalt be the number thou shalt count, and the number of the counting shall be three. Four shalt thou not count, neither count thou two, excepting that thou then proceed to three. Five is right out. Once at the number three, being the third number to be reached, then, lobbest thou thy Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch towards thy foe, who, being naughty in My sight, shall snuff it."
On topic, I'd like to see a phone app along somewhat similar lines to ride-sharing and flight-booking combined, only with private charter flight services, to coordinate people traveling to/from the same or near-enough locations to share costs and save money and time, not to mention one's civil rights.
The more popular it becomes the more flight volume for the charter services in frequency and flights seated to capacity, and therefor charter services whose aircraft are in the air with full seats earning money steadily and reliably have the ability to negotiate larger bulk fuel contracts, tires, engines and other parts, etc etc at lower costs. All those lower average costs plus competition will tend to lower passenger fees.
Heh, instead of a "flash-mob", one could have a "flash-flight", minus the groping! Groups of otherwise unrelated individuals from random backgrounds suddenly booking a charter flight together as a group might throw some wrenches into TLA surveillance/data algorithms.
You could choose the flight that irradiates, strip-searches, and cavity-searches all passengers, or choose an "open-carry" flight, smoking, non-smoking...whatever.
Wouldn't it be nice, since this is supposed to be the "land of the free" and all, to have a choice!?!?
Strat
You're right -- liquids over 100ml are still not permitted through the checkpoint.
Can't you just see the hilarity that would ensue if a passenger (or nearly all passengers for extra "Keystone"-factor) urinated into a >100ml container (besides the onboard holding tank) while in-flight, let it be known to the attendants/crew, and video recorded what happens?
So sick of the security theater. Even a good number of the people who, up till a couple of years ago, have been supportive of the TSA silliness are waking up and becoming ever-more disillusioned, angry, and disgusted. Hopefully enough will finally awake to change things sooner rather than later.
I say that, instead of putting all those TSA employees out of work, we simply re-task them to a more useful and productive role in society.
Picking up litter along all public roads, streets, and highways. Hell, have 'em clean alongside passenger railway lines, too. Take away their security toys and give them trash bags, buckets, rakes, & brooms. They wouldn't even need to change the agency initials.
"Trash and Sanitation Authority"
Has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?
I bet those fleets of nifty huge TSA SUVs and armored vehicles can move a lot of litter!
I'd even thank them for their hard work in that case, unlike now. At least it would be a respectable and useful job that actually benefits everyone and the environment at the same time it puts low-skilled people in stable jobs. It could also be a way to immensely reduce inmate recidivism rates by transitioning paroled prison inmates through such a job to a non-criminal, employed, and productive life with hope & opportunity.
Strat
"Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court"
First, note the name of the court. Second, consider the surveillance Google et al would like to discuss.
If you are not "Of the Body" (one of the elite power brokers and their cronies & minions instead of Landru, in this case) then your are "Foreign", QED.
This administration refers to whistleblowering as "betrayal". Not betrayal of the US and it's people and/or the constitution, but betrayal of the power-elite and politicians working together to gradually enslave the nation and eventually the world, if not stopped.
This has nothing to do with (R) or (D). Both are nearly equally guilty. They only fight over things that inflame, anger, polarize, and keep the people divided against each other. It's Kabuki theater designed to distract from what the other hand is doing.
How about we at least temporarily pause the "Two Minute Hate" BS and argue and fight about Trayvon, immigration, abortion, Obamacare, gay marriage, etc etc etc, *AFTER* we take care of the assholes that are trying to put chains, gags, slave-collars, and anal-probe huggies on *ALL* of us, mmkay?
Strat
[News that matters...]
Robot gets unboxed.
How about someone unboxing a full-size, fully-functional "Atlas" like *this*?
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/807/mech.png/
Would that qualify as "news that matters"?
Besides, you'd be better be nice. Some of the TFA's Atlas's close relatives may be armed and patrolling and manning checkpoints in and around your neighborhood before too long.
"In Soviet US, droids look for YOU!"
You know what's even worse than "Skynet"-style AI-controlled armies of "Terminator"-style cyborgs/robots?
Government/human-controlled armies of "Terminator"-style cyborgs/robots.
At least an emotionless AI has no concept of enjoying other's suffering/pain, or blind and illogical hatred, revenge for revenge's sake, lust for power, wealth, and domination, or any of a thousand other similar negative human thoughts/feelings/behaviors.
How long do you think that the US government would continue to even pretend to acknowledge individual rights, Rule of Law, or any limits at all set by the US Constitution, if they had a functional robotic army and didn't have to worry about the human US military fracturing if ordered to attack US citizens en-masse? The speed of their deciding our fate would rival that of Skynet's.
"Give me a plasma rifle in the 40-watt range."
Strat
Why does it even need a box? If it's an advanced robot all it should need is a plane ticket and some cab money.
Heh, nice!
As we all (should) know;
"I could while away the hours, conferrin' with the flowers
Consultin' with the rain.
And my head I'd be scratchin' while
my thoughts were busy hatchin'
If I only had a brain.
I'd unravel every riddle for any individ'le,
In trouble or in pain.
With the thoughts you'll be thinkin'
you could be another Lincoln
If you only had a brain.
Oh, I could tell you why The ocean's near the shore.
I could think of things I never thunk before.
And then I'd sit, and think some more.
I would not be just a nothin' my head all full of stuffin'
My heart all full of pain.
I would dance and be merry, life would be a ding-a-derry,
If I only had a brain."
-That's why.
Whether one is talking about hardware or wetware, no matter how "advanced", without the *software* they are both about equally as much an "automaton" as a $5 wrench.
Considering the scale and the /. predilection for car analogies, perhaps a better comparison would be more like equaling the ability of the latest experimental computerized high-tech car engine to hop a red-eye flight and a cab.
Strat
Just assist and support the people in the US who are trying to curtail the out-of-control US government whenever and however you can with whatever can help.
The US government has been steadily growing and hardening itself against control by the citizenry and expanding its' scope & power beyond constitutional limits for ~100 years. It won't be overcome by a change simply between (D) & (R). The pendulum must swing back toward constitutional first-principles and a government that is small enough, and local enough, to be controllable by the citizens.
The American people, on the whole, have a long history of being basically good, relatively peaceful, and generous people. The US government, on the other hand, has grown far too large & powerful and has long ago lost any legitimate claim to actually represent the will or the character, spirit, or beliefs of it's citizens.
From a friendly/neutral foreign perspective, it would be far more beneficial internationally for the smaller-government crowd in the US to prevail, as a smaller, less-powerful US Federal government that is more open and accountable to its' citizens and has more effective oversight would sharply curtail the international bullying and "dirty games & tricks" the US government has been playing, and increasingly plays, against even those the US government call "allies" and their peoples & interests.
Strat
[US Gov In MiB "Bug" Voice]: "Your proposal is acceptable."
Strat
If these fools name some hapless piece of drifting interplanetary space debris "Trayvon" in their misguided attempt to glorify a dead, racist, drug-abusing, violent criminal thug, how long until there's an IGG funding drive for development of a "Zimmerman" missile to destroy it?
Kind of a long way to go (in multiple senses of the phrase) to get people interested in space again, isn't it?
I think these people have had far too much time on their hands for far too long.
"Space Madness" has obviously taken hold of this group. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZCiZpph9jo
Strat
No. The reaper has an operational altitude of 50,000 feet. You might somehow get a hobbyist RC plane more than half that high, but to then chase down and hit the reaper? No way, forget it. Even a Stinger missile can only get around half that high.
The only practical way for people with no missiles or fighter jets to counter drones like the Reaper in anything other than a passive way (hiding/obscuring the targets) would be to find and track the military satellites that relay control signals, and then target them with jamming/hacking/etc.
Perhaps a very powerful and tightly-focused MASER aimed at the sats, if they can acheive accurate enough tracking, might burn out the satellite radio relay/C&C receiver front-ends and turn them into space junk. That would take an extremely powerful MASER, however. Not a large number of suitable power sources commonly available in most of the remote/primitive areas, or even many of the relatively more modern areas, that the drones and ALQ. typically operate in.
If they can beam a sufficient level of broadband RF noise, concentrated in the band that the drone uplinks to the sat on at the sat, it may be able to jam the uplink signal from the drone by overloading the sat receiver front-end.
I doubt that efforts to jam the drone from receiving the sat downlink would work due to the very directional nature of the drone's sat downlink antenna(s) that point (physically and/or electrically/electromagnetically) up at the sky, not at the ground. It would take far, far too much power.
Strat
According to my old mate Tetley, it's the circular theory of politics; go far enough to the right (or left) and they eventually meet.
Spot on.
The paradigm spectrum is not Right -- Left.
It is Anarchy -- Tyranny.
Right & Left are both to be found nearer the Tyranny end of the scale the more wealth, power, and control either achieves.
The US has moved quite far along the path towards Tyranny in the last 100 years, and particularly rapidly in the last 15-20 years regardless of (R) or (D) control. Obama not only continuing, but often greatly expanding, nearly all the government constitution-overstepping legal contortions and rights-ignoring/trampling and privacy-invading programs and policies, that everyone including Obama was screaming about under Bush, is a great example.
Strat
Agreed.
Something you may find interesting; A copy of the text of an eighth-grade test circa 1895.
http://www.salina.com/1895test/ (Google also shows a working link to the document available directly from Kansas State Dept. of Education as .PDF)
Heading:
"Examination Graduation Questions of Saline County, Kansas
April 13, 1895
J.W. Armstrong, County Superintendent
Examinations in Salina, Cambria, Gypsum City, Assaria, Falun, Bavaria, and District No. 74 (in Glendale Twp.)
READING AND PENMANSHIP - The Examination will be oral, and the Penmanship of Applicants will be graded from the manuscripts."
I don't think a majority of college grads these days could pass the above-linked test. Yet those with power over public schools want to go further down the same path and throw ever-more money into a system that's resulted in a decades-long history of utter failure to educate better.
Strat
Fascism is definitely _not_ socialism. It also has little to do with racial superiority.
[snip]
You are confusing Nazism and fascism; they were different.
I understand there are differences in the underlying ideological dogmas.
Point is, it mattered little to the millions of individual people *both* have killed, which particular flavor of authoritarian tyranny it was that murdered them...this time. The end result for individuals unfortunate enough to be under either political/social ideologies' power is nearly identical. In that way the differences between socialism/fascism/communism are distinctions without a difference to the common man.
Bullets, machetes, poison gas, intentional starvation, etc etc, don't feel any differently to the individuals of a systematically oppressed/targeted/scapegoated population group depending on the ideologies or races of the thugs and murderers involved.
Strat
Whatever the encryption is, you can bet your bottom dollar bill that the NSA is at least two decades ahead of it.
That's why, if you want it really secure, you leverage their own security.
Hack an NSA/TLA network, and store your encrypted data right alongside of their data.
You could hide your data on Obama's Blackberry servers, or on Gen. Alexander's, Valerie Jarret's, or Clapper's machines.
For extra happy-fun-time, make sure to include some CP, bestiality, and snuff films in separate files/folders, and then out them publicly. Sauce for the gander. :)
The US government has by their own actions declared a de-facto no-rules, no-laws, screw-the-Constitution, all-out cyber-war...not only against every other government including supposed US "allies", but their own citizens as well. History teaches that the dues incurred for such hubris always get paid.
Strat
This has been planned for the past 15 years now just like the Iraq war was. U.S. and Britain (primarily) won't miss their chance even though there is more evidence to counter the claim Assad used chemical weapons. They're manufacturing evidence.
The Elites need the Syrian pipeline and this is their chance to take it.
(Did I mention the U.S. and NATO have been funding the destabilization of Syria for the past four years?)
Next stop: Iran
You're close, but think bigger. Much bigger.
The global interests have decided that it's time for global change. They want the "Age of America" as a top superpower finished and over with. They want a major global power-shift.
The only way outside of natural disasters/pandemics that major and sudden global changes happen is through world war.
World War 3 is what is being staged here. Russia has already sent a fleet to the area. Both Russia and China have warned the US not to strike Syria. The US will be facing Russia, China, Iran, and much of the Middle East and others with an over-extended and exhausted US military. The US doesn't come out of that well.
The US Dollar is about to collapse. They've been running the printing presses at warp speed to maintain a rough status-quo while they make preparations. They see a war as not only the only way, but the preferred way, out of the somewhere-north-of ~$17T debt (that's admitted to), while simultaneously taking the US out of the top-global-superpower club and allowing martial law to be declared in the US and massive domestic political/societal changes made via the barrels of guns.
Hang on boys and girls.
Shit's about to get real after Obama strikes Syria.
I firmly believe it will be the "Archduke Ferdinand" moment that starts a world war and signals the end of the US as a top superpower, and the end of constitutional civil liberties as we've known them for the people in the US.
Strat