The government wants to easily track your movements, and easily be able to stop your movements on the slightest whim. When they say "national security," they mean "state security."
IANAL but I would be surprised if owning a passport falls under the category of a "privilege." I don't believe the U.S. government can deny a citizen a passport except for statutory cause, such as an outstanding warrant or similar court order against the applicant. If they can't turn you legally deny you a passport without due process, then it seems to me a legal right, not a "privilege."
America has also got rid of pennies insofar as they are not accepted by coin-operated machines such as vending machines and parking meters. This has been true as far as I can remember (into the 1970s). It makes pennies especially useless. Dollar coins have never caught on for the same reason.
I am pretty sure the Earth is losing mass if you count the atmosphere. Gas molecules in the atmosphere have a velocity distribution based on their temperature. Way up at the high end of the bell curve are some with speed exceeding 11.2 km/s. And some portion of those are moving in a direction where they won't collide with the earth's surface, so, goodbye! My understanding is that light gases in the upper atmosphere (H2, CH4) are most susceptible to this because they can receive impulses from collisions with heavier molecules, and in the rarefied upper atmosphere they are less likely to be deflected earthward due to a subsequent collision. This model was described to me in Astronomy 101, literally, as the prevailing theory why Mars has a thin atmosphere and Mercury and the Moon have none. (Venus ostensibly still has an atmosphere for the same reason Earth does: large mass so high escape velocity.) I am very surprised to not see it even considered in the "balance sheet" since I'd expect it to massively outweigh the mass equivalent of solar heat retained.
The Chinese have nuclear weapons and you don't see the Western World freaking the fuck out about that. Why is that? Because for all of their flaws the Chinese actually behave like adults in the global community.
That, and China is a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council. In my mind that carries more weight toward "acting like an adult" than the contrasts you attempted to draw between China and Iran.
Thank you for a though-provoking post. However in the geologic near term I am convinced the human race can adapt to things like natural glaciation or Yellowstone erupting (I am not so sure we can adapt to man-made climate change but that is a separate flame war). In the geologic long term when issues like the Sun boiling off the oceans become real, it will be10^9 years from now. Things can change so much that not only will there be time for new species to evolve to sentience, but there will actually be time for a second Carboniferous period to *replenish* the earth's supply of fossil fuels. Let me remind you that 10^9 years ago, life on Earth was single-celled. That far in the future, all bets are off.
Prosecuting someone for a device that "could have been built" (if only the suspect had things like a motive, and the materials) is like slapping me with a paternity suit for all the girls I "could have got pregnant" (if only they would have sex with me).
Let's face it: this guy's crime was not downloading information on bombs and ricin. His crime was downloading said materials while having a Middle Eastern name.
I don't see why social media should be treated differently than any other media with respect to jurors. It's simple: don't expose yourself to prejudicial opinions or information. Adding "social media" to the list of sources that can contaminate a jury just shows that judges know their business. Nothing to see here, move along.
As I understand it, Citzens United enables *indirect* and unlimited corporate donations to candidates through a money laundering technique called "PACs" (political action committees). The corporation or union donates to the PAC and the PAC then directly funds the candidate. There is a legal barrier between the PAC and the candidate in that the candidate has no direct control of the PAC. For example the candidate can't decide what advertisements the PAC will create or where it will broadcast/display them. To me it seems like a shell game that gives the appearance that candidates aren't under corporate patronage, but actually requires that they are (since it is hard to get elected without PAC support).
I think it has to do with the fact that in a democracy there is always a big chunk of the population that is just wrong on something basic and important. Capital punishment. Abortion. Gun control/gun rights. I can see copyright/censorship going the same way and becoming a "wedge issue."
Yes, and the probability of both happening is (probability of laptop eaten by dog ) x (probability of cloud going dark). If the product of those two probabilities is higher than you can accept then you need to add another redundant storage mechanism. For most people the probability of both local and cloud storage failing at the same time is so low they can just accept the risk.
The possibility that a cloud service can go offline quite suddenly should be a major factor in your decision whether to use the service at all, and the extent to which you'll rely on it. The customer agreement for Amazon Web Services is better than I might expect because it says they will notify you if the service goes dark, but that might be small comfort if you are not prepared for a sudden migration.
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Please do not feed this troll
Damages, hell, they should sue for injunctive relief to stop the airline interfering with citizens' right to travel!
The government wants to easily track your movements, and easily be able to stop your movements on the slightest whim. When they say "national security," they mean "state security."
IANAL but I would be surprised if owning a passport falls under the category of a "privilege." I don't believe the U.S. government can deny a citizen a passport except for statutory cause, such as an outstanding warrant or similar court order against the applicant. If they can't turn you legally deny you a passport without due process, then it seems to me a legal right, not a "privilege."
America has also got rid of pennies insofar as they are not accepted by coin-operated machines such as vending machines and parking meters. This has been true as far as I can remember (into the 1970s). It makes pennies especially useless. Dollar coins have never caught on for the same reason.
It should read, "What's left of your online privacy is not worth a six-pack of marshmallow fluff."
if only there were a moderation option, "-1 too disgusting even for Slashdot"
OK, I'm a nitwit, this is in TFA but I missed it first time around. It was very brief. That's what I get for skimming TFA without reading every word.
I am pretty sure the Earth is losing mass if you count the atmosphere. Gas molecules in the atmosphere have a velocity distribution based on their temperature. Way up at the high end of the bell curve are some with speed exceeding 11.2 km/s. And some portion of those are moving in a direction where they won't collide with the earth's surface, so, goodbye! My understanding is that light gases in the upper atmosphere (H2, CH4) are most susceptible to this because they can receive impulses from collisions with heavier molecules, and in the rarefied upper atmosphere they are less likely to be deflected earthward due to a subsequent collision. This model was described to me in Astronomy 101, literally, as the prevailing theory why Mars has a thin atmosphere and Mercury and the Moon have none. (Venus ostensibly still has an atmosphere for the same reason Earth does: large mass so high escape velocity.) I am very surprised to not see it even considered in the "balance sheet" since I'd expect it to massively outweigh the mass equivalent of solar heat retained.
Because China has publicly proclaimed that they will not be the first to use nuclear weapons under any circumstances. That is a more restrained policy than that of the United States, which only exempts non-nuclear states from nuclear attack, and does not rule out a first strike.
That, and China is a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council. In my mind that carries more weight toward "acting like an adult" than the contrasts you attempted to draw between China and Iran.
You do realize there has been no USSR since 1991, don't you?
All right, why not Syria then?
Thank you for a though-provoking post. However in the geologic near term I am convinced the human race can adapt to things like natural glaciation or Yellowstone erupting (I am not so sure we can adapt to man-made climate change but that is a separate flame war). In the geologic long term when issues like the Sun boiling off the oceans become real, it will be10^9 years from now. Things can change so much that not only will there be time for new species to evolve to sentience, but there will actually be time for a second Carboniferous period to *replenish* the earth's supply of fossil fuels. Let me remind you that 10^9 years ago, life on Earth was single-celled. That far in the future, all bets are off.
Prosecuting someone for a device that "could have been built" (if only the suspect had things like a motive, and the materials) is like slapping me with a paternity suit for all the girls I "could have got pregnant" (if only they would have sex with me).
Let's face it: this guy's crime was not downloading information on bombs and ricin. His crime was downloading said materials while having a Middle Eastern name.
This is a bill in the Hawaii state legislature, as TFS clearly says.
Actually Facebook is forcing users to do essentially that, so your wish is one big step closer to coming true. I feel safer already.
I don't see why social media should be treated differently than any other media with respect to jurors. It's simple: don't expose yourself to prejudicial opinions or information. Adding "social media" to the list of sources that can contaminate a jury just shows that judges know their business. Nothing to see here, move along.
This attitude is exactly why the two-party system in the U.S. is a total failure.
As I understand it, Citzens United enables *indirect* and unlimited corporate donations to candidates through a money laundering technique called "PACs" (political action committees). The corporation or union donates to the PAC and the PAC then directly funds the candidate. There is a legal barrier between the PAC and the candidate in that the candidate has no direct control of the PAC. For example the candidate can't decide what advertisements the PAC will create or where it will broadcast/display them. To me it seems like a shell game that gives the appearance that candidates aren't under corporate patronage, but actually requires that they are (since it is hard to get elected without PAC support).
Well of course they're not objectively wrong. But they're wrong! Wrong, I say! :-)
I think it has to do with the fact that in a democracy there is always a big chunk of the population that is just wrong on something basic and important. Capital punishment. Abortion. Gun control/gun rights. I can see copyright/censorship going the same way and becoming a "wedge issue."
Yes, and the probability of both happening is (probability of laptop eaten by dog ) x (probability of cloud going dark). If the product of those two probabilities is higher than you can accept then you need to add another redundant storage mechanism. For most people the probability of both local and cloud storage failing at the same time is so low they can just accept the risk.
... 5) Profit!
The possibility that a cloud service can go offline quite suddenly should be a major factor in your decision whether to use the service at all, and the extent to which you'll rely on it. The customer agreement for Amazon Web Services is better than I might expect because it says they will notify you if the service goes dark, but that might be small comfort if you are not prepared for a sudden migration.