I think if I had a family, I would have paid my $75. Who exactly is the cheap-ass here?
If a family member dies after you had stopped paying their life insurance premium, do you think the insurance company is still going to pay out? Would you call them callous if they didn't?
I don't see why this is modded flamebait. Libertarians (not all, but many) complain about taxes and offer the idea of a world where everyone is responsible for themselves as a utopia. Well, guess what, it isn't always a utopia--not for everyone.
It goes all the way down the line in TN, believe me. It's not like someone who is willing to riot in Nashville over an income tax is going to go back home and accept a big local or county tax bill either. Many areas of TN don't even have local or county taxes (all the city or county income comes from fines, business taxes, etc.).
That's why these anti-government tea party types always crack me up. They want to abolish all taxes and get the government off their backs. But are they prepared to fight their own fires, police their own criminals, repair their own roads, etc.? Usually they don't even think about that. All they can think about is that slightly bigger paycheck, or not having to pay that modest tax bill each year.
This is Tennessee we're talking about. Any attempt to do that would be met by a rally of tea-partiers calling you a socialist. Got to keep the government off our backs, you know.
Yeah, I forgot to pay my car insurance this year. After I had an accident, the insurance company refused to pay to fix my car, even though I offered to make good on it. Those callous bastards!
Ironically, Tennessee is a state that steadfastly refuses to pass an income tax and in which any talk of raising taxes is met with crazy uproar. They had an actual riot back in 2001 when the state tried to introduce an small income tax.
This same guy who complained that the firefighters didn't save his house would probably be the first in line to scream like a girl if anyone dared propose a tax increase to pay for a fire station.
Once again, there is no free lunch, rednecks. If you want something, the money has to come from somewhere. If you want the government "off your back" then fine, but be prepared to fight your own damn fire.
Re:Never thought I would defend Iran, but...
on
Stuxnet Worms On
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· Score: 1
No, no, it's just resting.
Re:Never thought I would defend Iran, but...
on
Stuxnet Worms On
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Sadly, the CIA has a long history of irresponsible actions, so I wouldn't rule them out. The funny thing is that many of the researchers who have looked at this have seen evidence that the worm started out with much more conservative safeguards to keep it from spreading. But at some point some of these were removed. It's been suggested that the first version (from 2009) might have missed its intended target, leading the writers to adopt a more aggressive approach (leading to the spread of it outside its target area). Even now it has a "three strikes" and a time limit safeguards, likely intended to limit its spread.
nd then you swallow WHOLE the claim that Iran was hit hard by stuxnet... a claim made by WHO? Verified by who?
Symantec made this crystal clear in their white paper on the worm. Or do you think that Symantec is in the tank for Iran?
As for your rant about amateurs being able to write this worm, it's quite clear you haven't taken even a cursory look at it. Everyone who knows anything about worms who's looked at it has acknowledged that this is the most sophisticated piece of malware they've ever seen. This wasn't written by some script kiddie in his mom's basement.
What amazes me is that you are paranoid to believe western governments can lie
It amazes me that you think they don't.
Re:Could be any number of people
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· Score: 1
The bizarre claim that Iran did this to themselves is by far the silliest claim I have yet heard on Stuxnet. I can understand arguing for China, Britain, or even Russia. But arguing that Iran sabotaged *itself* reminds me of old lynching victim death certificate bit: "Victim suffered a broken neck, 20 gunshot wounds, and was severely burned. Cause of death: Suicide."
Re:Never thought I would defend Iran, but...
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· Score: 2, Insightful
I think Occam's Razor usually applies to suspects too. And in this case the most obvious suspect, with the most to gain by far, is Israel. There is even some evidence in the code that this is the case, and the Israeli government itself has openly acknowledged that it has extensive cyber-warfare plans.
Now of course, there are any number of ways to dismiss this if you REALLY want to believe that Israel wasn't involved (and it's always possible that they weren't). But you can do that with any case, no matter how clear-cut. I can make the same argument that O.J. Simpson never killed anyone (maybe it was just someone making it LOOK like he did it, there were probably other people with some reason to kill Ron and Nicole too). But is that the logical conclusion or just wishful thinking on my part because I don't want to believe that O.J. did it?
All I know is that if I were a soldier getting shot at, and my gun jammed because some hippie insisted that it be manufactured in some environmentally-friendly way, I would be pretty pissed off. It's one thing that my "energy efficient" front-loader washer sucks ass at washing my clothes compared to my old traditional washer. It's quite another thing if my helmet can't stop a round because someone at the Pentagon thought it would be a good idea to go with an environmentally-friendly ceramic instead of titanium.
Never thought I would defend Iran, but...
on
Stuxnet Worms On
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· Score: 3, Insightful
I don't think this is just one of those "Look at Iran, making some outlandish crazy new allegation!" thing (like it was when Ahmadinejad tried to claim there were no homosexuals in Iran or blamed the U.S. Government for 9-11). Considering the very disproportionate hit they took of these infections, the obvious suspects (those who would benefit most from their nuclear program taking a hit), the precision of the targeting of the virus (two very specific models of Seimens PLC's), the impressive sophistication of the worm, etc. I hardly think it's some tin-foil hat conspiracy theory for them to assert that it was a "western power" (most likely Israel or the U.S.) behind this worm.
Sending men to another planet in our solar system is MUCH more analogous to a Columbus or Magellan style journey than any interstellar journey. We have boats probably capable or doing it (or at least plans for such boats), we done it before on a smaller scale, and doing it would only be a logical extension of what we've already done in sending men to the moon. Journeying to another solar system would be more analogous to Christopher Columbus going to Ferdinand and saying "I'm taking my sailing ships to Pluto tomorrow, I'll be back in a week."
Vision and fantasy are different things. Vision is saying "I know we can develop the technology to do this thing, and here is how we're going to do it!" then working hard to realize that vision. Fantasy is saying "someone" at "some point" is going to invent "something" to make it happen, with no idea how this something is going to work and no plans on how to even begin actually developing this "something."
Presumably, so would a probe send to this planet. Assuming we were actually trying to put it in orbit, and we're not just throwing it there as fast as we can (straight line, no braking, full speed). There would be braking, altering the trajectory, etc. I simplified the math, but even so, you're talking extremely impractical time frames and distances. As another poster pointed out, even at Helio's top speed, it still travels at less than 1/5000th the speed of light.
Probably the best bet is to copy it from visiting aliens, if any ever bother to visit.
I guess it would be nice to probe THEM for a change. And we could always use a baited field to lure them out. I suggest a trailer park filled with meth-addled hillbillies.
The numbers are truly staggering. I remember my grade school teacher telling us that we would probably one day live to see spaceships traveling to other solar systems. I think now what a silly statement that was, but as a kid I was all "Yeah! Let's go!" All the Star Trek and Star Wars probably didn't help with the popular understanding either (not that they were meant to).
Dave Goldberg, coauthor of A User's Guide to the Universe, took a more optimistic approach. In a blog post, he assumed an average travel speed of 92 percent of the speed of light
That is one HELL of an assumption. Considering that the fastest space vehicles ever created took 3 months to travel a mere 8 light *minutes* (somewhere around one-16000th the speed of light), the assumption that we will ever reach even a significant fraction of the speed of light with a vehicle created anytime in the conceivable future is a bit of an overstretch to say the *least*. At the speed of the Helios probes, that journey to this planet would take over 300,000 years, BTW. So even McConville's 180,000 year estimate is a bit optimistic.
And that's not even throwing in the navigation difficulties (that's going to require some epically precise calculations), the damage such a long trip would inflict to the craft with radiation and micrometeorites, the need for braking when you get there, etc.
Interstellar space is a big VAST empty that few people appreciate. When I was a kid, all the science fiction and popular misinformation made it sound like the next solar system started right at the edge of our own. It was only when I got older that I realized that our solar system is just a tiny dot in a huge sea of lonely empty. The scale of distances between solar systems is difficult for the human mind to even appreciate.
Slashdot Mirror
Would it have been "empathy" to fuck over the 100 people who paid *their* fees just to save this lazy fuck's cat?
Yes I do. But most Tennesseans don't.
I think if I had a family, I would have paid my $75. Who exactly is the cheap-ass here?
If a family member dies after you had stopped paying their life insurance premium, do you think the insurance company is still going to pay out? Would you call them callous if they didn't?
I don't see why this is modded flamebait. Libertarians (not all, but many) complain about taxes and offer the idea of a world where everyone is responsible for themselves as a utopia. Well, guess what, it isn't always a utopia--not for everyone.
It goes all the way down the line in TN, believe me. It's not like someone who is willing to riot in Nashville over an income tax is going to go back home and accept a big local or county tax bill either. Many areas of TN don't even have local or county taxes (all the city or county income comes from fines, business taxes, etc.).
That's why these anti-government tea party types always crack me up. They want to abolish all taxes and get the government off their backs. But are they prepared to fight their own fires, police their own criminals, repair their own roads, etc.? Usually they don't even think about that. All they can think about is that slightly bigger paycheck, or not having to pay that modest tax bill each year.
What taxes? Many rural areas in TN barely have any taxes at all. No taxes = no fire service.
This is Tennessee we're talking about. Any attempt to do that would be met by a rally of tea-partiers calling you a socialist. Got to keep the government off our backs, you know.
Yeah, I forgot to pay my car insurance this year. After I had an accident, the insurance company refused to pay to fix my car, even though I offered to make good on it. Those callous bastards!
Ironically, Tennessee is a state that steadfastly refuses to pass an income tax and in which any talk of raising taxes is met with crazy uproar. They had an actual riot back in 2001 when the state tried to introduce an small income tax.
This same guy who complained that the firefighters didn't save his house would probably be the first in line to scream like a girl if anyone dared propose a tax increase to pay for a fire station.
Once again, there is no free lunch, rednecks. If you want something, the money has to come from somewhere. If you want the government "off your back" then fine, but be prepared to fight your own damn fire.
No, no, it's just resting.
Sadly, the CIA has a long history of irresponsible actions, so I wouldn't rule them out. The funny thing is that many of the researchers who have looked at this have seen evidence that the worm started out with much more conservative safeguards to keep it from spreading. But at some point some of these were removed. It's been suggested that the first version (from 2009) might have missed its intended target, leading the writers to adopt a more aggressive approach (leading to the spread of it outside its target area). Even now it has a "three strikes" and a time limit safeguards, likely intended to limit its spread.
Symantec made this crystal clear in their white paper on the worm. Or do you think that Symantec is in the tank for Iran?
As for your rant about amateurs being able to write this worm, it's quite clear you haven't taken even a cursory look at it. Everyone who knows anything about worms who's looked at it has acknowledged that this is the most sophisticated piece of malware they've ever seen. This wasn't written by some script kiddie in his mom's basement.
It amazes me that you think they don't.
The bizarre claim that Iran did this to themselves is by far the silliest claim I have yet heard on Stuxnet. I can understand arguing for China, Britain, or even Russia. But arguing that Iran sabotaged *itself* reminds me of old lynching victim death certificate bit: "Victim suffered a broken neck, 20 gunshot wounds, and was severely burned. Cause of death: Suicide."
I think Occam's Razor usually applies to suspects too. And in this case the most obvious suspect, with the most to gain by far, is Israel. There is even some evidence in the code that this is the case, and the Israeli government itself has openly acknowledged that it has extensive cyber-warfare plans.
Now of course, there are any number of ways to dismiss this if you REALLY want to believe that Israel wasn't involved (and it's always possible that they weren't). But you can do that with any case, no matter how clear-cut. I can make the same argument that O.J. Simpson never killed anyone (maybe it was just someone making it LOOK like he did it, there were probably other people with some reason to kill Ron and Nicole too). But is that the logical conclusion or just wishful thinking on my part because I don't want to believe that O.J. did it?
All I know is that if I were a soldier getting shot at, and my gun jammed because some hippie insisted that it be manufactured in some environmentally-friendly way, I would be pretty pissed off. It's one thing that my "energy efficient" front-loader washer sucks ass at washing my clothes compared to my old traditional washer. It's quite another thing if my helmet can't stop a round because someone at the Pentagon thought it would be a good idea to go with an environmentally-friendly ceramic instead of titanium.
I don't think this is just one of those "Look at Iran, making some outlandish crazy new allegation!" thing (like it was when Ahmadinejad tried to claim there were no homosexuals in Iran or blamed the U.S. Government for 9-11). Considering the very disproportionate hit they took of these infections, the obvious suspects (those who would benefit most from their nuclear program taking a hit), the precision of the targeting of the virus (two very specific models of Seimens PLC's), the impressive sophistication of the worm, etc. I hardly think it's some tin-foil hat conspiracy theory for them to assert that it was a "western power" (most likely Israel or the U.S.) behind this worm.
Sending men to another planet in our solar system is MUCH more analogous to a Columbus or Magellan style journey than any interstellar journey. We have boats probably capable or doing it (or at least plans for such boats), we done it before on a smaller scale, and doing it would only be a logical extension of what we've already done in sending men to the moon. Journeying to another solar system would be more analogous to Christopher Columbus going to Ferdinand and saying "I'm taking my sailing ships to Pluto tomorrow, I'll be back in a week."
Vision and fantasy are different things. Vision is saying "I know we can develop the technology to do this thing, and here is how we're going to do it!" then working hard to realize that vision. Fantasy is saying "someone" at "some point" is going to invent "something" to make it happen, with no idea how this something is going to work and no plans on how to even begin actually developing this "something."
Presumably, so would a probe send to this planet. Assuming we were actually trying to put it in orbit, and we're not just throwing it there as fast as we can (straight line, no braking, full speed). There would be braking, altering the trajectory, etc. I simplified the math, but even so, you're talking extremely impractical time frames and distances. As another poster pointed out, even at Helio's top speed, it still travels at less than 1/5000th the speed of light.
Where the lakes are made of petroleum and the mountains are made of gold!
In 40 years we'll get "This is my first program!" in response.
I guess it would be nice to probe THEM for a change. And we could always use a baited field to lure them out. I suggest a trailer park filled with meth-addled hillbillies.
The numbers are truly staggering. I remember my grade school teacher telling us that we would probably one day live to see spaceships traveling to other solar systems. I think now what a silly statement that was, but as a kid I was all "Yeah! Let's go!" All the Star Trek and Star Wars probably didn't help with the popular understanding either (not that they were meant to).
That is one HELL of an assumption. Considering that the fastest space vehicles ever created took 3 months to travel a mere 8 light *minutes* (somewhere around one-16000th the speed of light), the assumption that we will ever reach even a significant fraction of the speed of light with a vehicle created anytime in the conceivable future is a bit of an overstretch to say the *least*. At the speed of the Helios probes, that journey to this planet would take over 300,000 years, BTW. So even McConville's 180,000 year estimate is a bit optimistic.
And that's not even throwing in the navigation difficulties (that's going to require some epically precise calculations), the damage such a long trip would inflict to the craft with radiation and micrometeorites, the need for braking when you get there, etc.
Interstellar space is a big VAST empty that few people appreciate. When I was a kid, all the science fiction and popular misinformation made it sound like the next solar system started right at the edge of our own. It was only when I got older that I realized that our solar system is just a tiny dot in a huge sea of lonely empty. The scale of distances between solar systems is difficult for the human mind to even appreciate.