Sorry, without ad revenue, what precisely WILL pay for free content on the web? The magic pixies? It'll be a barren commercialised wastelands of porn sites and the BBC.
Does the draft exclude gay people in the US, since they don't like them in the army normally? What about hugely obese people? There's some motivation to get the obesity problem sorted out for the goverment;)
Roughly 140 cosmonauts (not all Soviet; some were from various Eastern Bloc countries); 4 deaths.
Roughly 227 astronauts; 14 deaths (18 if you count Apollo 1 and an X-15).
But yep, the USSR killed more on the ground.
I don't understand why, precisely. The astronauts/cosmonauts know they're doing something dangerous, every time they go up. Just as those involved in supreme sports know, those who fight in wars (and don't even get a chance to opt out) know... About 2 or 3% of people who've gone (or tried to go) into space have died. Everyone KNOWS it's dangerous.
I severely doubt that the shuttle was grounded because of danger to astronauts; rather, it was grounded because space-shuttles are expensive (and probably, at this stage, irreplacable; they're down to three now, and if they hadn't had a lot of spare parts lying around, they'd be down to two). Apollo 1 and 13 didn't delay that programme very long...
That's because Ariane 4s were so incredibly reliable; who'd have guessed they'd mess up the Ariane 5 software? (AMong other things, it apparently sent out signals to control fins it didn't have; it was more or less a copy of the Ariane 4 one)
I wondered about that; considering how common nuclear weapons control system failures are becoming (a computer in Cheyenne Mountain decided there was a nuclear attack underway a few years back, and a Russian computer told Yeltsin that a Norweigan weather balloon was a nuke). But I assume there were'nt any proper ICBMs on board, and they almost certainly wouldn't be armed if they were there...
As far as I can see, all major political parties and groups in the US are rightist. In Ireland, our most economically right wing party (Progressive Democrats) is still a fair bit left of the American Democrats. And we're lucky enough not to have ANY socially right wing parties (except Christian Solidarity, who've never had anyone in government).
Ah, but in this case it was a rocket specifically designed for delivering such devices.
That said, I'm more or less in favour of nuclear weapons; the US and SU would have wiped each other, and the rest of the world, out, without the threat of mutually assured destruction.
What will they think of us as a civilisation; that we launch this craft packed with messages of friendship and names of random people and things on a device designed to kill millions of people?
Actually, in my country (Ireland), and also in the UK and a number of other European countries, we have freedom to deny the holocaust and such as much as we like. I've never heard anyone do it, tho;) In practice, the law in Germany and France is outdated, and probably causes more trouble than it prevents.
The UN says that Ireland has the free-est speech in the world; we don't ban much, apart from the usual child porn and incitement to hatred.
Sorry, Europe under Sharia law? Where'd that come from? I can imagine the US falling under crazy fundamentalist christian law, but you realise Europe has been getting more and more secular for decades (to the extent that some right-wing Americans deride it as atheist; not true; the UK is the only country with very high levels of atheism for the moment, sadly). And you realise that many middle eastern countries aren't under Sharia law, right?
In Europe, we have the freedom to criticise anything our governments do to an unlimited extent, and to be as unpatriotic as we want to, and to advocate revolution if we want to. The Americans are getting increasingly nervous about doing those things, tho for the moment that seems to be social pressure more than government pressure.
And you can be arrested, imprisoned indefinitely without trial, tortured (by European, UN and Israeli definitions of the word) and executed, all in secret. You can be searched without warrant, and soon it may be illegal for you to TELL anyone you've been searched. All under the patriot act. None of these things can happen to me (unless I pay the Free World a visit). That's freedom for you.
I'm not saying that blogs are a solution to China's problems.
But China and its people (or at least those in the cities) ARE getting richer. It'll be the world's biggest economy soon enough. And yet the regime shows no signs of crumbling. Don't expect it to do so just because of knowledge that the outside world is different; there has to also be the knowledge that the outside world is BETTER. I'm sure lots of Americans now, consumed in paranoia, would prefer to live under a safe, prosperous, totalitarian regime (that is after all the way America has been headed for the last few years, with huge public support).
No, I don't think blogs will make an improvement. But they won't hurt. And they'll help the rest of the world find out what's gonig on in there.
Don't be silly; they're nothing like communist. They wave red flags and have a few vague labour laws; that's about it. They're totalitarianist-capitalist.
No, it's quite a good idea. It makes it easier for people living under a somewhat repressive regime to voice their views, and harder for said regime to censor them. Sounds like A Good Thing to me...
Really? Can you be legally imprisoned indefinitely, tortured and executed in secret and without trial? Do they have an abusive prison camp whose policy is that "mock execution is not encouraged"?
But who'd make the call who was a human rights violator? Would the US's torturers in Guantanamo and Iraq be counted (yes, it is torture. It's torture as defined by the UN, EU, and even the Israeli supreme court)?
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Sorry, without ad revenue, what precisely WILL pay for free content on the web? The magic pixies? It'll be a barren commercialised wastelands of porn sites and the BBC.
Does the draft exclude gay people in the US, since they don't like them in the army normally? What about hugely obese people? There's some motivation to get the obesity problem sorted out for the goverment ;)
There's a very good Australian film on this general subject, "The Castle", though in that case it's the government seizing porperty for its own ends.
It was a commercial flight. They did it becuase they were paid to do so...
Roughly 140 cosmonauts (not all Soviet; some were from various Eastern Bloc countries); 4 deaths. Roughly 227 astronauts; 14 deaths (18 if you count Apollo 1 and an X-15). But yep, the USSR killed more on the ground.
I severely doubt that the shuttle was grounded because of danger to astronauts; rather, it was grounded because space-shuttles are expensive (and probably, at this stage, irreplacable; they're down to three now, and if they hadn't had a lot of spare parts lying around, they'd be down to two). Apollo 1 and 13 didn't delay that programme very long...
That's because Ariane 4s were so incredibly reliable; who'd have guessed they'd mess up the Ariane 5 software? (AMong other things, it apparently sent out signals to control fins it didn't have; it was more or less a copy of the Ariane 4 one)
And they beat the US in a few things; they have very few manned failures.
I wondered about that; considering how common nuclear weapons control system failures are becoming (a computer in Cheyenne Mountain decided there was a nuclear attack underway a few years back, and a Russian computer told Yeltsin that a Norweigan weather balloon was a nuke). But I assume there were'nt any proper ICBMs on board, and they almost certainly wouldn't be armed if they were there...
As far as I can see, all major political parties and groups in the US are rightist. In Ireland, our most economically right wing party (Progressive Democrats) is still a fair bit left of the American Democrats. And we're lucky enough not to have ANY socially right wing parties (except Christian Solidarity, who've never had anyone in government).
I thought the disc on it included a little history of the launch.
Ah, but in this case it was a rocket specifically designed for delivering such devices. That said, I'm more or less in favour of nuclear weapons; the US and SU would have wiped each other, and the rest of the world, out, without the threat of mutually assured destruction.
What will they think of us as a civilisation; that we launch this craft packed with messages of friendship and names of random people and things on a device designed to kill millions of people?
Really? Ah, Blair won't be too keen on the new EU constitution, then; it prohibits such things. No wonder he was keen to have a referendum...
Actually, in my country (Ireland), and also in the UK and a number of other European countries, we have freedom to deny the holocaust and such as much as we like. I've never heard anyone do it, tho ;) In practice, the law in Germany and France is outdated, and probably causes more trouble than it prevents.
The UN says that Ireland has the free-est speech in the world; we don't ban much, apart from the usual child porn and incitement to hatred.
Sorry, Europe under Sharia law? Where'd that come from? I can imagine the US falling under crazy fundamentalist christian law, but you realise Europe has been getting more and more secular for decades (to the extent that some right-wing Americans deride it as atheist; not true; the UK is the only country with very high levels of atheism for the moment, sadly). And you realise that many middle eastern countries aren't under Sharia law, right?
In Europe, we have the freedom to criticise anything our governments do to an unlimited extent, and to be as unpatriotic as we want to, and to advocate revolution if we want to. The Americans are getting increasingly nervous about doing those things, tho for the moment that seems to be social pressure more than government pressure.
And you can be arrested, imprisoned indefinitely without trial, tortured (by European, UN and Israeli definitions of the word) and executed, all in secret. You can be searched without warrant, and soon it may be illegal for you to TELL anyone you've been searched. All under the patriot act. None of these things can happen to me (unless I pay the Free World a visit). That's freedom for you.
Now, what freedoms do _I_ lack?
I'm not saying that blogs are a solution to China's problems. But China and its people (or at least those in the cities) ARE getting richer. It'll be the world's biggest economy soon enough. And yet the regime shows no signs of crumbling. Don't expect it to do so just because of knowledge that the outside world is different; there has to also be the knowledge that the outside world is BETTER. I'm sure lots of Americans now, consumed in paranoia, would prefer to live under a safe, prosperous, totalitarian regime (that is after all the way America has been headed for the last few years, with huge public support). No, I don't think blogs will make an improvement. But they won't hurt. And they'll help the rest of the world find out what's gonig on in there.
Don't be silly; they're nothing like communist. They wave red flags and have a few vague labour laws; that's about it. They're totalitarianist-capitalist.
No, it's quite a good idea. It makes it easier for people living under a somewhat repressive regime to voice their views, and harder for said regime to censor them. Sounds like A Good Thing to me...
Then China can try to enforce its laws. But there's no reason outsiders have to cooperate with it...
But way LESS freedom than someone in western Europe enjoys ;)
Nothing's absolute.
Really? Can you be legally imprisoned indefinitely, tortured and executed in secret and without trial? Do they have an abusive prison camp whose policy is that "mock execution is not encouraged"?
Yep, but Vietnam doesn't PRETEND to have decent human rights. Hmm, wonder what a "substandard prison camp" is? Is guantanamo?
But who'd make the call who was a human rights violator? Would the US's torturers in Guantanamo and Iraq be counted (yes, it is torture. It's torture as defined by the UN, EU, and even the Israeli supreme court)?
MANY European nations? ;) Are you counting Bellorus as European or something?...
> The whole interrupt model needs to be thrown out and replaced with something much better. Any ideas? ;)