--Surveillance cameras in stores snap facials of EVERY transaction.
--Scanner hidden in drawer reads serials off notes (or, for other conspiracies, reads antenna ID in bill strip).
--Information is sent to local/regional Fed Deposit branch. Bills in-circulation-database checked for unauthorized bills (not officially ordered, or those that are supposed to be in foreign markets suddenly reappearing local to the US, or those that circuited through several high-tech nations)
Did you know that in around 1996 or so there was a show "Color of Money" on PBS about creation, circulation, tracking, and destruction of paper notes? One European country named had/has a law requiring ALL businesses to at or by the close of business deposit ALL paper notes. These are scanned for bogus/counterfeit/unauthorized-in-circulation (say, stolen) bills/notes. The store/merchant is matched TO those notes. ANY suspicious transactions are matched to the stores' ON-SITE security/surveillance cameras.
Now, WHO says bills are not TRACEABLE? Next time you go to Sears, Mervyn's, Macy's, Federated, Target, Kohls, Costco, et cetera, ask yourself how many of those cameras are tapped by FISA-wielding agencies, how many have souped-up/enhanced zoom and audio, and how many bills are dusted for DNA (probably targeted neighborhoods, or random/roving targets), and how many are in databases for global authorities to scan when THEIR reciprocal interagency targets are detected.
There probably ought to be a new Terms of Usage suit to demand that users who favorably rate or rank products get discounts. There should be a system to verify the tracking previously mentioned to ensure that those who case a favorable uptick in product sales GET those discounts for sales they caused.
There BETTER be an at-will re-rate/de-rate option, too, so that if one initially favorably rates a product and then later experiences an problem can re-rate or de-rate the product, AND still keep their discounts and bonuses. Considering how unscrupulous some manufacturers can be, it stands to reason that networking AND verification should be PARAMOUNT to prevent undeserved sales of products.
Also, when the facebook (or other stores' sponsoring sites' members) rate products, if they are linked to each other, they should know (by choice) when collectively they like or dislike a product, why, what they'd do to fix it, etc. Sort of like the Flixster Movies application on Facebook. But, it needs to be set up with check boxes, radio buttons and free-form text entry fields. There should be a watchdog group to ENSURE that disgruntled manufacturers, resellers and middle-men/women don't have the opportunity to "bury" a bad product review and pretend nothing bad ever happened.
AND, MOST importantly, the reviewers should be indemnified and held harmless from content in their review. They should be warned about libel/defamation/submission of known-false information, etc, and encouraged to be HONEST in their complaints, ideally with screenshots. Might (re)teach the public to regain its skills learned in school (compare/contrast/exposition/description/etc.)
We have a plethora of SHITTY, undeserving, over-hyped, and unnecessary products out there, wasting resources, although these products generate jobs. But, scrupulous screening and rating of products would be an "artificial" form of competition to prevent or deter the introduction of parasitic, shitty, dangerous, or patent/copyright-infringing products or services.
I wonder how long it will be before the US decides that Musharraf is no longer a friend of the US and decides to "regime change" him in the name of "fair and free and democratic elections". Bhutto wants him to retire as commander of the military if he is going to certify his presidency, but Musharraf put her under 30-day house arrest, with potential for release in oh about 3 days. If she behaves i suppose.
GHB might make an interesting weapon to the DOD, assuming that "blowback" or traceback could be eliminated in advance. Imagine the local mayhem and lethargy if no one could trust their water supply or food chain. The various "wars" the governments wage will have long-standing repercussions if these cretins never grow up, if they perpetually aim to rule the whirled.
I didn't know GHB in part of our cell structure. Didn't know athletes were doping with it, either.
Mwo??? Available at Facebook?
on
Fedora 8 Released
·
· Score: 4, Funny
I wonder how long ballmer will be throwing chairs because one of his favored investments is giving away/make freely available an operating system he'd like to suffocate.
He is probably going to have a cozy little chat with one young Mr. Mark Zuckerberg. But, he'll start out easy. Won't throw REAL chairs in his office, but maybe lawn or bean-bags first.
Mark: (seeing chairs break the speed of light for the first time...) DUDE! Aurora Boralis, up close!
Anyone remember the jingle: "BALL Park FRANKS... They PLUMP when you cook'em.. BOOM-BOOM-BOOM"?
I guess if Franklin dicked around with a Tesla coil (were he around to do so) his franks would have plumped and boomed like shot heard round the whirled. He'd need an alchemist to cures that woe and ail..
Umm, Chekov was the navigator, usually, except when he filled in for Spock (I'm only covering STTOS).
Sulu was on the helm. But, I'll allow that you've been tuned into STTOS in another timeline, where things were different. Maybe a BETTER Earth than the one I'm on.
That explosion was a rift in the fabric of the space-time continuum, caused by that one Ken Starling-- a Santa Cruz's beach boardwaklin', pot-smoking, industrialist, con, investor, and wannabe space traveler, trying to shoot down these threads, but he set to the wrong era and instead shot down a temporally displaced crater that intersected the Earth and another Earth.
He was also trying to ensure the installation of that being in the ovulum orifice in DC, that Vidiian, wraped in Kazon skin, cocooned by Talosian reconstructive techniques, and brought here by Gary Seven by mistake, which escaped and avoided the draft to Vietnam and... well, you get it...
I don't want to get into quantum navigation and such...
I suppose in UNIX/Linux think, one-thing-for-one-function rules. No point in making a bidet also double as:
-- a washing machine, -- coffee pot -- rice cooker -- jewelry soaker -- paint brush cleaner -- denture cleaner
Metaphorically, these are "shit jobs" a lot of people don't want to do. I guess nobody wants the bidet to become confidant, probably because it would be full of shit and talkin' shit, be shit hot, and hot shit... and be full of bling, to boot. And, it might out-brew the shit out of Starbucks...
Maybe it's based on an axiom or edict or something out of Japan, from years ago and maybe still at play about why the US won't see some of the best, exotic things from Japan which is: "One, they wouldn't aPPRECIATE it, and two... THEY DON'T DESERVE IT..."
Hehehe. Well, that's what I heard in 1992, when my brother brought home from Japan a Panasonic console which he bought maybe around 1990 or 91. AT the time, it was hot, but better stuff eventually (or, in short order) came along.
When I bought a Sharp V402-sh in Dec 2004 in Tokyo (from Vodafone), it had my attention because it had an analog TV, which was very damned sharp and clear and I got a little over 1 hour constant TV time, maybe 2+ talk, and several days of stand by. Here, the goddamn carriers CRIPPLE the software (My Samsung A900+ from Sprint has a shitty calendar which won't let me back-enter items I want to remember. So what it's not a planner, per se, but I CAN enter items for NOW and forward. Assholes. What engineer thought of THAT?).
Anyway, the 402SH only cost me some ONE YEN. Why? Because, according to the Yodabashi salesman, it was "obsolete". I told him, Hell, in the US, people might KILL for this phone. STILL, in the US, we have no analog TV phone. I used to taunt the local SF phone dealers and several offered me money for the phone. I told them it would be cheaper to just fly to Tokyo and live in a hostel for a week or two and tour Akihabara or Tokyo and bring back some samples.
Hell, over there, there were street-side and mall-hall bins filled with mockups of the phones. they opened/closed/clicked and FELT like real phones. These weren't the insulting cheap shit you see in CompUSA for people to "handle". These could be used as props in HD-filmed shows.
It Japan, depending on the dealer (but I could in Yodabashi) one can test the phones for clarity, delay, and feel. Just pick a phone and you can make calls. Heck, my salesman spent about 45 minutes giving me details and features of the 402-SH. I was impressed with the customer service.
As a parting tease, I told him that I knew WHY we in the US won't ever get as fast or even SEE the phones sold in Asia and Europe: "One: Americans wouldn't appreciate it. Two... They don't DESERVE IT!" He smiled but hadn't laughed, apologetically. Then he said, "Some people feel that but we try not to say that." (I think he felt it was an embarrassing thing.)
"I want a female Jander Pannell [wikipedia.org]. No more having to cook, no more having to clean, no more crack whores ripping me off..."
Well, if you're a programmer, get WITH it. Get CRACKED whores... or hackable ones. Then you're in charge again. Then it can inject you with its love (I left gender out...)...
Where the hell is Captain Braxton from the Federation Timeship Aeon when we need him. Ah, he's and Janeway are probably discussion the finer points of alternative slipstreams, conduits, and such.
I say this president is a Vidiian, wraped in Kazon skin, cocooned by Talosian reconstructive techniques, and brought here by Gary Seven by mistake. It escaped and avoided the draft to Vietnam and bided its time until its masters from another part of the uniwerse installed it as occupant of the alienated, umm, alien nation ovulum office.
I was not an altar boy, and resisted becoming one. I'd "hear things", nothing I can nor would want to put my finger on. But, after receiving the uniform and doing a dry-run practice at the altar after school, I turned in my uniform and told my mom, grandmother, and teacher I didn't want to become one. Not for any REAL sexual misconduct fears (some/many who've attended Catholic schools can attest to rumors of or actual perversions, but I can't), but because it just didn't resonate or feel right for ME to become an altar boy and become that closely connected to the religion.
Sorry about the false "TMI". But, that WAS funny, and you should've been scored funny. I would if I had the mod rights, but as I've already commented on this thread/topic I cannot.
If Tesla's coil caused the problem, then Russia should sue for damages. And win. In the mean time, Russia should build a new coil, based on what IS known.
A good 350-year setback might do humanity some good, slow things down? Miniature Tesla bombs might make good at-sea weapons. But, trillions of fish will be disoriented (or, as some of the "misedumacated" military personnel prefer to say: "disorientated")...
Since we have spaceships brought up, maybe Tunguska crater was the "free end" of a wormhole wagging its tail? Several "annular centers" might exist? Like crater face?
I can suck to be an altar boy or in the company of unscrupulous priests, lay people and just about any adult, usually male, if they can't mate/date with their own age groups, or at least anyone older than a minor, is not an invalid, and is not in a shotgun wedding.
Not to take away from the dangers of the GHB drug, but I for one hope that 'Merkuns stop production of GHB-like offspring who become presidents. The presence or prevalence of harmful, street-level drugs depends on the fecklessness or recklessness of a given administration, down to local police action. But, since nobody wants to be bombed for messing with the drug trade, only seasonal, PR, or token busts seem to be made. Any SERIOUS incursions into drug trade and profits will come at a high price -- to the users as well as any administration and all law enforcement involved.
Not that *I* would want it, but the US (or, rather those who are "movers and shakers") probably sees itself losing clout. It might appeal to them to create a "consortium" other than, say, NAFTA and other regional orgs. OTOH, the US is all too willing to "go it alone" if people/countries don't want to fear being 'tarnished' by association with a particular US-based agenda. Maybe the US could/would brag if its own currency stands up to the Euro.
But, paper to paper, and coin to coin, I liked the Japanese currency when I was spending it for three months. I'm tired of looking at the SAME OLD DEAD men who are HARDLY reflective of the US of today. The US needs to start reflecting its own localized diversity by honoring those who ALSO helped build this country. Other countries have satellites, buildings, recent (I hope worthwhile) current or ex presidents/premiers/etc. We're stuck with descendants whose parent FLED their homelands, invaded another, and don't show on the currency many who were blown up in caves, fell from bridges, and broke their backs laying railroad tracks (think Asian, Mexican, African American). So much for a diverse, sensitive country. But, I suppose there'd be insurrection if faces of other colors were put on the bills. I bet that would make ONE HELLUVA presidential platform/topic.
Honestly, I haven't yet looked up "paedobot". Not sure what it is or might mean if it shows up in my company's IT surfing logs. I guess i could wikipedia it and find out...
But, as for raping an organic being... not good. If it's a pure, out and out machine, like a bicycle, go for it. If it's been programmed to FEEL, know right from wrong, communicate, and defend itself, then basically it's expected to ACT like or interact WITH humans, then it should be respected. If it is able to express awareness and self-preservation, or doesn't reject the notion of self-preservation, self-derived or instructed, then it should be respected. Raping, beating, taunting, or destroying it would be a no-no.
But, if it's a submarine, and you're the only sentient being aboard it, and you KNOW it's about to unleash a nuclear disaster, then, by all means KILL the fucker. Doesn't matter which country owns it. If it's a war machine, it should NEVER be accorded sentience nor allowed to assert nor discover it. Some things should be implements, and some things not in the weaponry category should be explored.
By the same token, we're treading a gray area. Humans ARE machines. We're just organic, as if that somehow makes us better, different, or more deserving of rights. If a soldier is raping or brutalizing non-uniformed, presumed non-combatants, (I'm not talking about people defending their home turf, and I certainly don't call home-/at-home defenders 'insurgents' or 'cowards' or 'enemy combatants') then, by all means arrest or kill such soldiers who rape, kill, mutilate or go off making up their own missions. By the SAME token, the command authority FOR those soldiers (human or machine) and their sources of information should likewise be held accountable and subjected to the same rigors AND horrors experienced by non-excessive or even aggressive soldiers' pains.
That was dangerously off-topic, but given todays climate, delving into machines and sentience should NEVER exclude humans as being machines. If you can be ordered around and you say, "yessir!, how high, siR? kill WHICH ONES, sir? Aye, siR. Nuke'm. Nuke'm TWICE. Aye, SIR!" then you too are just a machine-- in the category of needing to be closely monitored.
Slashdot Mirror
It's NOT untraceable. Here's one way:
--Surveillance cameras in stores snap facials of EVERY transaction.
--Scanner hidden in drawer reads serials off notes (or, for other conspiracies, reads antenna ID in bill strip).
--Information is sent to local/regional Fed Deposit branch. Bills in-circulation-database checked for unauthorized bills (not officially ordered, or those that are supposed to be in foreign markets suddenly reappearing local to the US, or those that circuited through several high-tech nations)
Did you know that in around 1996 or so there was a show "Color of Money" on PBS about creation, circulation, tracking, and destruction of paper notes? One European country named had/has a law requiring ALL businesses to at or by the close of business deposit ALL paper notes. These are scanned for bogus/counterfeit/unauthorized-in-circulation (say, stolen) bills/notes. The store/merchant is matched TO those notes. ANY suspicious transactions are matched to the stores' ON-SITE security/surveillance cameras.
Now, WHO says bills are not TRACEABLE? Next time you go to Sears, Mervyn's, Macy's, Federated, Target, Kohls, Costco, et cetera, ask yourself how many of those cameras are tapped by FISA-wielding agencies, how many have souped-up/enhanced zoom and audio, and how many bills are dusted for DNA (probably targeted neighborhoods, or random/roving targets), and how many are in databases for global authorities to scan when THEIR reciprocal interagency targets are detected.
UNTRACEABLE my eye.
Think:
http://www.visualanalytics.com/solutions/criminalInvestigation.cfm
http://www.visualanalytics.com/solutions/informationAccess.cfm
Although the FBI and other acronym-agencies may have rolled their own, gone with Oracle or IBM, or just licensed mods of Visual Analytics.
VA is a POWERFUL and kewl tool. But, it can be scary, too.
There probably ought to be a new Terms of Usage suit to demand that users who favorably rate or rank products get discounts. There should be a system to verify the tracking previously mentioned to ensure that those who case a favorable uptick in product sales GET those discounts for sales they caused.
There BETTER be an at-will re-rate/de-rate option, too, so that if one initially favorably rates a product and then later experiences an problem can re-rate or de-rate the product, AND still keep their discounts and bonuses. Considering how unscrupulous some manufacturers can be, it stands to reason that networking AND verification should be PARAMOUNT to prevent undeserved sales of products.
Also, when the facebook (or other stores' sponsoring sites' members) rate products, if they are linked to each other, they should know (by choice) when collectively they like or dislike a product, why, what they'd do to fix it, etc. Sort of like the Flixster Movies application on Facebook. But, it needs to be set up with check boxes, radio buttons and free-form text entry fields. There should be a watchdog group to ENSURE that disgruntled manufacturers, resellers and middle-men/women don't have the opportunity to "bury" a bad product review and pretend nothing bad ever happened.
AND, MOST importantly, the reviewers should be indemnified and held harmless from content in their review. They should be warned about libel/defamation/submission of known-false information, etc, and encouraged to be HONEST in their complaints, ideally with screenshots. Might (re)teach the public to regain its skills learned in school (compare/contrast/exposition/description/etc.)
We have a plethora of SHITTY, undeserving, over-hyped, and unnecessary products out there, wasting resources, although these products generate jobs. But, scrupulous screening and rating of products would be an "artificial" form of competition to prevent or deter the introduction of parasitic, shitty, dangerous, or patent/copyright-infringing products or services.
I wonder how long it will be before the US decides that Musharraf is no longer a friend of the US and decides to "regime change" him in the name of "fair and free and democratic elections". Bhutto wants him to retire as commander of the military if he is going to certify his presidency, but Musharraf put her under 30-day house arrest, with potential for release in oh about 3 days. If she behaves i suppose.
GHB might make an interesting weapon to the DOD, assuming that "blowback" or traceback could be eliminated in advance. Imagine the local mayhem and lethargy if no one could trust their water supply or food chain. The various "wars" the governments wage will have long-standing repercussions if these cretins never grow up, if they perpetually aim to rule the whirled.
I didn't know GHB in part of our cell structure. Didn't know athletes were doping with it, either.
http://mirror.facebook.com/fedora/linux/releases/
I wonder how long ballmer will be throwing chairs because one of his favored investments is giving away/make freely available an operating system he'd like to suffocate.
He is probably going to have a cozy little chat with one young Mr. Mark Zuckerberg. But, he'll start out easy. Won't throw REAL chairs in his office, but maybe lawn or bean-bags first.
Mark: (seeing chairs break the speed of light for the first time...) DUDE! Aurora Boralis, up close!
Anyone remember the jingle: "BALL Park FRANKS... They PLUMP when you cook'em.. BOOM-BOOM-BOOM"?
I guess if Franklin dicked around with a Tesla coil (were he around to do so) his franks would have plumped and boomed like shot heard round the whirled. He'd need an alchemist to cures that woe and ail..
Umm, Chekov was the navigator, usually, except when he filled in for Spock (I'm only covering STTOS).
Sulu was on the helm. But, I'll allow that you've been tuned into STTOS in another timeline, where things were different. Maybe a BETTER Earth than the one I'm on.
That explosion was a rift in the fabric of the space-time continuum, caused by that one Ken Starling-- a Santa Cruz's beach boardwaklin', pot-smoking, industrialist, con, investor, and wannabe space traveler, trying to shoot down these threads, but he set to the wrong era and instead shot down a temporally displaced crater that intersected the Earth and another Earth.
... well, you get it...
He was also trying to ensure the installation of that being in the ovulum orifice in DC, that Vidiian, wraped in Kazon skin, cocooned by Talosian reconstructive techniques, and brought here by Gary Seven by mistake, which escaped and avoided the draft to Vietnam and
I don't want to get into quantum navigation and such...
How much modification to turn a bidet (like from Panasonic, et al) into a robot?
http://www.bidet.com/panas.htm
I suppose in UNIX/Linux think, one-thing-for-one-function rules. No point in making a bidet also double as:
-- a washing machine,
-- coffee pot
-- rice cooker
-- jewelry soaker
-- paint brush cleaner
-- denture cleaner
Metaphorically, these are "shit jobs" a lot of people don't want to do. I guess nobody wants the bidet to become confidant, probably because it would be full of shit and talkin' shit, be shit hot, and hot shit... and be full of bling, to boot. And, it might out-brew the shit out of Starbucks...
Maybe it's based on an axiom or edict or something out of Japan, from years ago and maybe still at play about why the US won't see some of the best, exotic things from Japan which is: "One, they wouldn't aPPRECIATE it, and two... THEY DON'T DESERVE IT..."
Hehehe. Well, that's what I heard in 1992, when my brother brought home from Japan a Panasonic console which he bought maybe around 1990 or 91. AT the time, it was hot, but better stuff eventually (or, in short order) came along.
When I bought a Sharp V402-sh in Dec 2004 in Tokyo (from Vodafone), it had my attention because it had an analog TV, which was very damned sharp and clear and I got a little over 1 hour constant TV time, maybe 2+ talk, and several days of stand by. Here, the goddamn carriers CRIPPLE the software (My Samsung A900+ from Sprint has a shitty calendar which won't let me back-enter items I want to remember. So what it's not a planner, per se, but I CAN enter items for NOW and forward. Assholes. What engineer thought of THAT?).
Anyway, the 402SH only cost me some ONE YEN. Why? Because, according to the Yodabashi salesman, it was "obsolete". I told him, Hell, in the US, people might KILL for this phone. STILL, in the US, we have no analog TV phone. I used to taunt the local SF phone dealers and several offered me money for the phone. I told them it would be cheaper to just fly to Tokyo and live in a hostel for a week or two and tour Akihabara or Tokyo and bring back some samples.
Hell, over there, there were street-side and mall-hall bins filled with mockups of the phones. they opened/closed/clicked and FELT like real phones. These weren't the insulting cheap shit you see in CompUSA for people to "handle". These could be used as props in HD-filmed shows.
It Japan, depending on the dealer (but I could in Yodabashi) one can test the phones for clarity, delay, and feel. Just pick a phone and you can make calls. Heck, my salesman spent about 45 minutes giving me details and features of the 402-SH. I was impressed with the customer service.
As a parting tease, I told him that I knew WHY we in the US won't ever get as fast or even SEE the phones sold in Asia and Europe: "One: Americans wouldn't appreciate it. Two... They don't DESERVE IT!" He smiled but hadn't laughed, apologetically. Then he said, "Some people feel that but we try not to say that." (I think he felt it was an embarrassing thing.)
"I want a female Jander Pannell [wikipedia.org]. No more having to cook, no more having to clean, no more crack whores ripping me off..."
Well, if you're a programmer, get WITH it. Get CRACKED whores... or hackable ones. Then you're in charge again. Then it can inject you with its love (I left gender out...)...
I thought a decompiler can see the code, that is if the cracker/hacker HAS the relevant decompiler. So, how 'expert'are these so-called experts?
"inflammable"?
Why, that is UNpossible!
Where the hell is Captain Braxton from the Federation Timeship Aeon when we need him. Ah, he's and Janeway are probably discussion the finer points of alternative slipstreams, conduits, and such.
I say this president is a Vidiian, wraped in Kazon skin, cocooned by Talosian reconstructive techniques, and brought here by Gary Seven by mistake. It escaped and avoided the draft to Vietnam and bided its time until its masters from another part of the uniwerse installed it as occupant of the alienated, umm, alien nation ovulum office.
SHITE! Mistakenly left off the "t".
I was not an altar boy, and resisted becoming one. I'd "hear things", nothing I can nor would want to put my finger on. But, after receiving the uniform and doing a dry-run practice at the altar after school, I turned in my uniform and told my mom, grandmother, and teacher I didn't want to become one. Not for any REAL sexual misconduct fears (some/many who've attended Catholic schools can attest to rumors of or actual perversions, but I can't), but because it just didn't resonate or feel right for ME to become an altar boy and become that closely connected to the religion.
Sorry about the false "TMI". But, that WAS funny, and you should've been scored funny. I would if I had the mod rights, but as I've already commented on this thread/topic I cannot.
If Tesla's coil caused the problem, then Russia should sue for damages. And win. In the mean time, Russia should build a new coil, based on what IS known.
A good 350-year setback might do humanity some good, slow things down? Miniature Tesla bombs might make good at-sea weapons. But, trillions of fish will be disoriented (or, as some of the "misedumacated" military personnel prefer to say: "disorientated")...
Since we have spaceships brought up, maybe Tunguska crater was the "free end" of a wormhole wagging its tail? Several "annular centers" might exist? Like crater face?
This time it won't be so "windy" in Arizona. Either they will put up wind breaks, or the flags will be made of steel.
And, at the end, you face all kinds of fibrous and "gelatenous" flotsam in a fantastic brownout in an self-contained swamp.
And, if you recall:
http://feminist.org/news/newsbyte/uswirestory.asp?id=6327
I can suck to be an altar boy or in the company of unscrupulous priests, lay people and just about any adult, usually male, if they can't mate/date with their own age groups, or at least anyone older than a minor, is not an invalid, and is not in a shotgun wedding.
Anyway, Bindeez are being banned:
http://www.bigpond.com/news/topstories/content/20071106/2082480.asp
Well, hell, just read this google search string:
http://www.google.com/search?q=priest+ghb+boys&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a
Not to take away from the dangers of the GHB drug, but I for one hope that 'Merkuns stop production of GHB-like offspring who become presidents. The presence or prevalence of harmful, street-level drugs depends on the fecklessness or recklessness of a given administration, down to local police action. But, since nobody wants to be bombed for messing with the drug trade, only seasonal, PR, or token busts seem to be made. Any SERIOUS incursions into drug trade and profits will come at a high price -- to the users as well as any administration and all law enforcement involved.
Not that *I* would want it, but the US (or, rather those who are "movers and shakers") probably sees itself losing clout. It might appeal to them to create a "consortium" other than, say, NAFTA and other regional orgs. OTOH, the US is all too willing to "go it alone" if people/countries don't want to fear being 'tarnished' by association with a particular US-based agenda. Maybe the US could/would brag if its own currency stands up to the Euro.
But, paper to paper, and coin to coin, I liked the Japanese currency when I was spending it for three months. I'm tired of looking at the SAME OLD DEAD men who are HARDLY reflective of the US of today. The US needs to start reflecting its own localized diversity by honoring those who ALSO helped build this country. Other countries have satellites, buildings, recent (I hope worthwhile) current or ex presidents/premiers/etc. We're stuck with descendants whose parent FLED their homelands, invaded another, and don't show on the currency many who were blown up in caves, fell from bridges, and broke their backs laying railroad tracks (think Asian, Mexican, African American). So much for a diverse, sensitive country. But, I suppose there'd be insurrection if faces of other colors were put on the bills. I bet that would make ONE HELLUVA presidential platform/topic.
End of meandering, pseudo off-topic response.
Honestly, I haven't yet looked up "paedobot". Not sure what it is or might mean if it shows up in my company's IT surfing logs. I guess i could wikipedia it and find out...
But, as for raping an organic being... not good. If it's a pure, out and out machine, like a bicycle, go for it. If it's been programmed to FEEL, know right from wrong, communicate, and defend itself, then basically it's expected to ACT like or interact WITH humans, then it should be respected. If it is able to express awareness and self-preservation, or doesn't reject the notion of self-preservation, self-derived or instructed, then it should be respected. Raping, beating, taunting, or destroying it would be a no-no.
But, if it's a submarine, and you're the only sentient being aboard it, and you KNOW it's about to unleash a nuclear disaster, then, by all means KILL the fucker. Doesn't matter which country owns it. If it's a war machine, it should NEVER be accorded sentience nor allowed to assert nor discover it. Some things should be implements, and some things not in the weaponry category should be explored.
By the same token, we're treading a gray area. Humans ARE machines. We're just organic, as if that somehow makes us better, different, or more deserving of rights. If a soldier is raping or brutalizing non-uniformed, presumed non-combatants, (I'm not talking about people defending their home turf, and I certainly don't call home-/at-home defenders 'insurgents' or 'cowards' or 'enemy combatants') then, by all means arrest or kill such soldiers who rape, kill, mutilate or go off making up their own missions. By the SAME token, the command authority FOR those soldiers (human or machine) and their sources of information should likewise be held accountable and subjected to the same rigors AND horrors experienced by non-excessive or even aggressive soldiers' pains.
That was dangerously off-topic, but given todays climate, delving into machines and sentience should NEVER exclude humans as being machines. If you can be ordered around and you say, "yessir!, how high, siR? kill WHICH ONES, sir? Aye, siR. Nuke'm. Nuke'm TWICE. Aye, SIR!" then you too are just a machine-- in the category of needing to be closely monitored.
Which was discovered to NOT be a Mac, cuz he was running SOME DISTRO and modified it according to:
http://www.howtoforge.com/mac4lin_make_linux_look_like_a_mac_p6
which was found to really be based on:
http://linux.softpedia.com/get/Desktop-Environment/KDE/KDM-Vista-like-Theme-25822.shtml
and
http://www.kde-look.org/content/show.php?content=31585
Talk about adding "weight" to the "body of evidence". This ought to be a meaty topic to chew on.
What's next? Scientists discover an inverse relationship between resistance to being struck by lighting the more body hair the would-be struckee has?