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User: gtall

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  1. Re:"Popularly-backed military coup"? on Egyptian Authorities Detain French "Spy" Bird Found With Tracker · · Score: 2

    Morsi made a mockery of democracy by placing his cronies and MB people in every position of power he could. It was clear that he was aiming, not at running Egypt, but rather establishing an everlasting dynasty of the MB.

  2. Re:It's not a coup. on Egyptian Authorities Detain French "Spy" Bird Found With Tracker · · Score: 5, Interesting

    More specifically, the choice in Egypt was between Morsi and a representative of the old regime. Hell, Stalin could win an election like that.

    Then Morsi showed his true colors. He went to work putting his people in as many positions of power as he could even down to local level. Bad news for him was that most of these were incompetent. It became clear Morsi still was working with the old MB line: one man, one vote, one time. When that became too apparent to ignore, and given the economy was getting worse and worse, the people got fed up and walked into the all too welcoming arms of the military. The people thought the military was the only organized group strong enough to counter the MB.

    Just as an example of the bone-headedness of Morsi, he put as head of the monuments in Luxor the very guy who led a terrorist attack against foreigners there. At that point, the people realized he had no economic sense because that certainly wasn't going to encourage tourism which was a big part of the Egyptian economy. He also wouldn't do anything to prevent the MB from antagonizing the Christians which were 10% of the pop. His views on women only drove home what King Abdullah of Jordan said of him, Morsi has no depth. (Incidentally, he also said Erdogan of Turkey thought of Democracy as bus, when he reaches his destination, he is going to get off. His destination will be a theocracy...I give him 10 years and another failed theocracy will be born.)

  3. Re:FP on Egyptian Authorities Detain French "Spy" Bird Found With Tracker · · Score: 3, Interesting

    This is the middle east, it wouldn't matter how educated they are. The educated elite of Saudi Arabia believe the same fantasies about Israel. They tend to believe there is an Iranian behind every grain of sand.

    The problem is Islam. It promotes itself over everything. That leaves the pop. unprotected from the plots and stories of the Imams and mullahs. So given a choice between what their local mosque is saying and what an educated world view would tell them, they'll believe the mosque every time. Mind you, the same thing happens in some Christian churches in the U.S. where even something as science is regularly "exposed" as a web of lies. That G-d fellow is one strange dude, burying those dinosaurs bones all over the place. What mystifies me is how She got the oil down there.

  4. Re:FP on Egyptian Authorities Detain French "Spy" Bird Found With Tracker · · Score: 1

    Apparently in this case, the military government said it wasn't an Israeli plot. I don't doubt that government would distract the pop., but they are more likely to use the U.S. as the kicking ball given that the last thing they need is to tick off the Israelis.

  5. Re:Oh, really? on Why One Woman Says Sending Your Kid To Private School Is Evil · · Score: 4, Informative

    Socialism won't fix bad parents, no matter how much of other people's money you give them.

    Money isn't the biggest problem, behavior is. More money for bad schools could help, but it won't fix parents. Poverty is more than lack of money, it is an ethos which is pernicious. It tells kids they can never get ahead. Giving out more money won't fix that problem, it won't instill a work ethic. The generations of families on assistance is testament to that.

    That said, the U.S does a poor job of lifting those that have a good work ethic out of poverty. The Democrats are in thrall of the teachers unions, so it is impossible to fix bad schools from that direction. The Republicans figure if you aren't rich, it is your own damn fault, so we cannot expect any help from that direction.

  6. Re:why not work for wall street? on Particle Physicists Facing Insane Competition For Work · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Excuse me, the 60's are calling you back. Advances in cancer therapy with radiation, physicists involved. Guessing since this is slashdot, you are a male and stand a significant chance of prostate cancer in your dotage. There are other cancers for which it works.

    And those naughty physicists who thought up quantum mechanics? Maybe you didn't get the memo, it's used in all the latest devices.

    Lasers? Those naughty physicists again. Damn, they're everywhere.

    GPS systems...damn, there they are again.

    Jesus, grow a brain.

  7. Re:I never understood the principle. on Syria: a Defining Moment For Chemical Weapons? · · Score: 1

    The real issue is the multiplier effect of terrorists getting a chem weapon as opposed to a good old fashioned bomb. A good old fashioned bomb is heavy and its effects are localized. Let a chem weapon go in a high rise and there will be much more death to go around. Also, chem weapons have limited battlefield usefulness, winds tend to dissipate the gas too fast. They are mainly purely people killers, people what tend to congregate in housing communities packed together for that sardine effect so loved and cherished by your basic Islamo-Fascist. Last we checked, the Ba'ath party was a Fascist party, its originators modeled it on Hilter's Nazi party. The Ba'ath party isn't big on the Islamo-Fascists seeing them as contender for power. Mind you, if the Sunni Islamo-Fascists in Syria had access to chem weapons, they'd think nothing of using them against the Alawites or their Christian supporters. Now we see that it isn't only the Sunni who get a thrill out of chemming their opponents like Saddam, Alawite is an branch off Shi'ism, and the Iranians were perfectly fine with Assad using chem weapons against his Sunni pop.

  8. Re:I suspect he's wrong. on Neil deGrasse Tyson Says Private Business Will Not Open the Space Frontier · · Score: 2

    To be a physicist, one has to actually do physics. Does anyone know what physics Musk has done after dropping out? Recently?

  9. Re:Whoever takes over will have a hard time on Elop Favored By Gamblers As Microsoft's Next Chief Executive · · Score: 0

    No, what Microsoft needs is to go away and die quietly in corner. Then the rest of the computing world can get to the task of undoing all the damage they've done with their proprietary protocols, file formats, creation of an eco system that interoperates with nothing else, stacking "standards" committees, etc.

  10. Re:Kevin Turner = massive exodus on Elop Favored By Gamblers As Microsoft's Next Chief Executive · · Score: 1

    "MBA infection"...that's just too good...made my whole day.

  11. Re:The tradition will be carried on... on Elop Favored By Gamblers As Microsoft's Next Chief Executive · · Score: 1

    Gates wasn't stupid? This is the man who built MS's sclerotic culture that made them the powerhouse of innovation they are today. And there was nothing stopping Billy from telling Ballmer that smartphones were real and that Apple wasn't to be taken lightly. He could have realized that the tech was finally available for tablets but somehow this never got communicated to Ballmer. And he might have realized that Windows 8 was something only marketing executive could love, but that must have gotten lost in translation.

  12. Re:Tim Cook? on Elop Favored By Gamblers As Microsoft's Next Chief Executive · · Score: 2

    Cook's been in charge...what...about 2 years? Apple was destined to have reduced marketshare ever since Samsung and their fellow travelers decided to ape them at just about every turn. That had nothing to do with Jobs and/or Cook. In fact, you could argue that Jobs saw it coming by throwing sueballs around. Let's give Cook a bit more time. It takes years to develop a new product, and if Jobs had so much in the pipeline, Apple would have coughed up a new one by now. Maybe it was the iWatch, but as soon as the rumor started, Samsung was right there saying Me Too, Me Too...and they are supposed to punt their iWatch Sept. 4 if memory serves.

    Being a visionary is good thing, but it isn't always apparent. Jobs is recognized now as one, but he wasn't when he retook Apple, or rather NeXT took Apple. In fact, he was derided a lot. It took him a good 10 years before Apple started generating really good new products. Up until that time, he spent his time refurbishing old products.

  13. Re:Tim Cook? on Elop Favored By Gamblers As Microsoft's Next Chief Executive · · Score: 1

    Yeah? Take a look at my comment history and then try to call me a MS apologist.

  14. Re:Fine with me on Elop Favored By Gamblers As Microsoft's Next Chief Executive · · Score: 1, Funny

    Hear, hear!! If Elop could to do MS what he's done to Nokia, I'd be a happy camper.

  15. Re:Tim Cook? on Elop Favored By Gamblers As Microsoft's Next Chief Executive · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Stock price doesn't mean diddley squat. GE is immense and their stock price isn't great but they do very well in their markets.

    And this visionary thing is overrated, Apple isn't going to produce a groundbreaking device in a new market for them every three years. No company can does that.

  16. Re:Product lauch, or concept demo? on Samsung's Smart Watch Coming September 4th, Without Flexible OLED Screen · · Score: 1

    Wow, a wearable concept device!!! That sounds metaphysical. "Hi Harry, what are you doing there?"..."Oh, hi Larry, I'm confused, do we live to be or be to live? This wearable concept device keeps coming up with 'The mist falls steeply, the trees abide.' I don't get it."

  17. Re:As usual. on Measles Outbreak Tied To Texas Megachurch · · Score: 2

    I like it. It is easy to spot non-immunized people, they are the ones that glow green.

  18. Re:Fragmentation of the "old internet" on China's .cn Domain Servers Suffer DDoS Attack · · Score: 1

    And a true democracy eventually devolves into Tyranny of the Majority.

  19. Re:Fragmentation of the "old internet" on China's .cn Domain Servers Suffer DDoS Attack · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I'm not sure what chops the current leadership has, but China's real problem is loose monetary policies and a tendency to lie to themselves using official statistics. During the West's economic meltdown, they became concerned the Chinese people would go all Falun Gong on their collective Party asses if their economy slowed significantly. And it would have had to because the West was not buying nearly as much Chineseware. So they opened the spigots from their central bank. However, they didn't count bank loans made off the books more or less in the shadow economy. These loans kept large enterprises in the money, including those dinosaurs, the State companies.

    Bad things happen when you mis-allocate investment (see U.S. economy and the housing boom). And China has been mis-allocating in very large way for a number of years. They cannot slow it very well because their Falun Gong Ass problem and the fact they do not really control their banking sector with the off-the-books loans.

    They could try increasing consumption and have been making an effort in this area. But to do that effectively, you have to give people a reason to buy now rather than saving for later. Cheap money would do that, but they are bursting at the seams with cheap money and it hasn't really increased consumption that much.

    They have another problem, they've spent a lot of time and money on creating an educated workforce. They still have a lot of un-educated workforce but they simply have too many people. The educated workforce is having trouble finding educated jobs and hence could contribute to the Falun Gong Ass problem. The new young people have high expectations.

    To make matters worse, Chinese companies believe in getting ahead at any price, and that price includes the Environment. Now they are poisoning the land. Pollution is a real drag on the economy because to fix it you must re-allocated money from other investments without any immediate return on investment. And you must knacker the state-owned enterprises which pollute in a state-sized way. To not fix it means you are poisoning your own people and that has deleterious effects on productivity.

  20. Re:The dilema ... on NSA Cracked Into Encrypted UN Video Conferences · · Score: 2

    Not really. Spying performs a vital function to keep nations from war by not misinterpreting the other side. If you have a really sharp spy capability, you don't get surprised and do something stupid.

    Just to give you an idea, during Kruschevs' tenure, he wanted to boot the allies from West Berlin, and he used the threat of putting nukes on missiles since they had just punted their satellite up there. The U.S. balked during the negotiations and the K-Man figured he'd be able to roll Eisenhower since Ike had made some weenies speeches about Berlin. So the K-Man set up a meeting. In the meantime, the The U.S. figured out they weren't actually building ICBMs and when the K-Man came to roll Ike, Ike told him to cram it. It kept W. Berlin free since the U.S.S.R was demanding not only W. Berlin but all of Germany.

    Yes, grasshopper, the world is not a bunny world and the U.S. isn't the baddest ass out there.

  21. Re:Lead, don't follow. on Microsoft Needs a Catch-Up Artist · · Score: 1

    That's not entirely true; they have a very good reputation in security research. It doesn't all make it into their products because when you are a marketing company, that's what happens. However, their research on security is published in all the major journals and conferences and it does influence the entire area.

    The only company I can think of where MS would like to starve of researchers is Google. Apple doesn't do much, Samsung can get theirs but I don't think they use many. They mainly use Apple as a bird-dog...not unlike Ballmer and Gates.

  22. Re:Good news for stockholders on Ballmer To Retire · · Score: 1

    The man is already worth about $15 Billion, if he cared about money he'd have left long ago.

  23. Re:Hormone therapy? on Bradley Manning Wants To Live As a Woman · · Score: 3, Informative

    No, he's eligible for parole in 1/3 of 35 years. He's eligible for pardon in 7 years.

  24. Re:Hormone therapy? on Bradley Manning Wants To Live As a Woman · · Score: 1

    I guess you didn't get the memo, Eric Holder has announced an initiative to reduce prison sentences and to have non-violent offenders sentenced to other penance rather than prison. Even that arch conservative Richard Viguerie is on board as well as a lot of Republican DAs.

    Mostly this is being driven by cost, prison is expensive. However, many of the proponents are well aware that sending up young non-violent offenders make them into violent offenders when they get out. I recall one conservative fellow saying that the U.S. should lock up the people society is scared of, not the people society doesn't like.

  25. Re:Good on Bradley Manning Sentenced To 35 Years · · Score: 2

    He's up for parole in 11 years (at least as theRegister reports it).