US cable news is to news, as professional wrestling is to wrestling. A lot of sound and fury and no substance. Good fun though. More entertainment products than information products.
> Well, apparently the majority of the public very much disagrees with you
No. Only the majority of cable news watching segment (for whom long form journalism is too much work). The total cable news viewership counts aren't anywhere near total public numbers.
> Really? A Dell services contractor working on Sharepoint was the only one who could build a front end? Really? This is supposed to be impressive? I've never interviewed someone from Dell's services division, but I have interviewed countless employees of IBM's services division. If they are any indication, then Dell's service division is not exactly the cream of the crop.
That is all you could come up to discredit him? That he worked with Dell... even though you never even had contact with anyone from Dell's services division?... because you didn't like IBM guys? (and I assume you have never taken a job because you needed one or that the pay was good or because of some other convenience?... insisting that all your future colleagues pass your personal judgment of intelligence, before you can accept the offer?) Other stuff in the article were not more useful for you to make a determination on whether he was capable & upstanding? Stuff like...
- “That kid was a genius among geniuses,” says the NSA staffer. “NSA is full of smart people, but anybody who sat in a meeting with Ed will tell you he was in a class of his ownI’ve never seen anything like it.” - had impressed NSA officials by developing a backup system that the NSA had widely implemented in its codebreaking operations. - frequently reported security vulnerabilities in NSA software - “But if you had a guy who could do things nobody else could, and the only problem was that his badge was green instead of blue, what would you do?” - also once nearly lost his job standing up for a coworker who was being disciplined by a superior.
You jest. But the fate that awaits his aunt is probably to be sent to an insane asylum or otherwise removed from the palace, assuming she is also not labelled a co-conspirator and later executed, depending on her level of political activeness so far.
> If you are paying attention you will note that the NSA does not engage in that sort of oppression, at all.
What made you think I implied any of that? And I did not need a tutorial on Stasi. I was answering a specific post about how the said group members kept morale.
No one serious would suggest that NSA is Gestapo or Stasi yet, except maybe as a hyperbole or as a slippery slope argument. But they did do things they should not have. And they will manage to rationalize to themselves... because they are human beings. We all like to tell ourselves that we are moral beings... even as the world would judge us otherwise.
Another problem with your argument is that it is inline with the common argument made against Snowden. It goes like this: Since Snowden is not like Mandela or King, and did not want to go to jail, he is not a hero or patriot. Your implicit argument is on the other end of this spectrum: Since NSA is not quite up to Gestapo or Stasi level, what they did was not evil or isn't something they ought to be ashamed of.
> Facts aren't advocacy. - If you punish ordinary opposing views in debate you aren't committed to free speech.
If you mean mere down modding... that is free speech... ergo, you seem to want free speech for yourself, but not for others. That isn't really free speech.
I don't know about the Gestapo. But I watched interviews with ex-Stasi who continued to believe that they did what needed to be done and hence were patriotic. No second thoughts.
> there might be a small relationship in certain nations, but not worldwide
Backup that claim... empirically.
> They don't even reach the level of western high school students even when compared against PHD's.
Nonsense. I know plenty of Asian PhDs. They are plenty creative. I schooled in Asia (Yes, they taught by rote... but education does not begin or end in school alone) and got a US PhD. My dissertation was considered fairly innovative by my mentors. My Asian friends in similar circumstances performed just as well. We got plenty of smart and creative American students as interns into our departments. But to compare the problem solving abilities of a trained researcher with a PhD against a high school student is just absurd.
Perhaps you are a programmer who has to deal with PhDs who reluctantly get programming jobs due to market and academia realities? They were not natural programmers and they were not particularly trained for the task in their PhD (even CS) and take quite a while to settle in. So you make these silly sweeping statements without any objective data to support it?
I could program better and better solve tech problems than the CS professor we worked with. That does not mean I was smarter or more creative than him. He was an award winning professor who forwarded CS theory. He just never bothered himself with low level tech stuff, while I needed to because that paid my bills.
Well. I don't think you are a troll. I think you are just way off. So I will respond.
> can we not manage to deal with this one, simple, irritation?
Nope.
> This is an honest question; I simply do not understand why we're holding out on this one guy, when we've sent in Seal Team Six to give people who have done less in economic damage severe and sudden lead poisoning and then dumped their body uncermoniously in the ocean where it'll never be found.
The world cheers if Seal Team Six caps pirate kidnappers or OBL. However, the world has already decided who the good guy is in Snowden vs. NSA. I suggest you read some publications and polls outside US for a change. It's not hard. You have Internet access.
Even the pressure on Hong Kong and Russia to extradite him cost US reputation, let alone your hare-brained ideas of assassination. Even US cannot wipe away globally popular icons. Not to mention the fact that the Russians have better radars (can't drop in ST6) than Pakistan:-).
I know the economy is tough. You aren't applying for a job at the offices of Peter King or Michelle Bachmann, are you?
> he wants to be a martyr
Whatever gave you that idea? He never said that. Don't let your imagination run wild to support your fevered fantasies. He asked for a pardon.
> What about making him a martyr is so unappealing
The international backlash. A few years ago, I would have also said: The Fifth Amendment.
> this isn't a moral judgment on whether he's right or wrong
Oh, I think you are well past making moral judgments.
> When a hungry bear takes a run at you
On what planet is he a hungry bear? He is not even deciding what articles get published now. The journalists are doing that. Next, you will be calling on capping them too, I guess.
Do you think that if a dissident fled a third world country to US and exposed secret service overreach of his country to NY Times, would you say that the said country ought to cap him too?
> he's done more damage economically than they have
He did? I thought that the "Ha Ha. We can do whatever we want because no one is ever going to find out" attitude that is damaging the economy.
If we find out tomorrow from a Chinese dissident that Beijing has commandeered Huawei gear for espionage, would that be the dissident's fault or Beijing's, for lost sales?
> why aren't we doing our signature move on this guy?
Wow. Just wow.
> but we're all thinking it.
No. I'd say, just a few people like you, at least over here.
> how do you think all those Jews got exterminated? They voted for Hitler. And then they stopped talking. They let the government do whatever it wanted
Who is the Hitler here again? You mean if only Germans rabidly demanded for more assassinations like you, Nazis would not be in power?
Anyway, you parade around with a "Cap Snowden" banner in the real world and lets see how people will speak up... to you anyway.
> The government comes and squishes free speech because it's unpopular... but then here you are, doing the same damn thing.
Ah, the irony. The fascistic lady who calls for extra legal assassination of a non-violent dissident who leaked information to respected journalistic institutions thinks her free speech is in question because she got... oh! the horror... down-modded. Do you even know what free speech is?
Calm down lady. NSA overreached. This is not a subjective opinion. The guy who wrote the patriot act authorizing NSA thinks so. The guy who invented the WWW also thinks so. There are enough US Senators and Congressman who voiced support for him, even though everyone wishes it never needed to come to this in the first place.
Now, as a civilian, I could not care less if US wiretaps diplomats and presidents of other countries. But the point of these leaks is to puncture holes in the argument that the reason we need to tolerate global electronic surveillance apparatus and a domestic Soviet style surveillance state, is to defend us against terrorism. Greenwald and others are demonstrating that it is not the case.
As an outsider, perhaps, one of the problems is that the US system of background checks is pervasive? Here, in a developing country, no one checks for that sort of thing and going to prison in a protest is a badge of honor anyway. How do arrest records look in HR screening over there, these days? I suppose things will change if protest arrests get frequent enough.
> I've graduated from med school about 9 years ago
I graduated from medical school (Asia) 13 years ago, but don't practice. I pursued other STEM interests in academia since.
> I still remember organic chemistry just as if I've closed the book yesterday.
I can't say that, even though I topped the class with the only perfect score in Chemistry/Organic Chemistry in pre-med that year.
> But if you ask the patient for the box and have a look at the active ingredient name, you can immediately place it in one of the major groups. At least you will not confuse a pain relief drug with a psychotrope or an anti-hypertensive.
I am not sure what that has to do with organic chemistry. I identify drug classes from my training in pharmacology, not from my training in organic chemistry, or even biochemistry (although, it does explain the mechanism of actions).
> It's just as useful as most of the disciplines studied in medical school.
I certainly did not feel that way, even though I would agree organic chemistry is one of those foundational things you learn and I felt happy studying it. I just do not find myself exercizing it when I look at drugs. I really don't think all that much about the structure of the drug molecules, the strength of the bonds etc often. Perhaps, you and I lump different things under organic chemistry. When I think organic chemistry, I think of carbon chemistry, not drug classes.
> once they are out of sight they simply stop the car and carjack someone with a different car to get away
Real world isn't GTA. What fraction of car chases involve the subject changing cars, by carjacking no less? Easier to just look for the device in the rear, the only place it can realistically stick at, and yank it off, than acquire another vehicle.
It is irrelevant whether it is intuitive to you or me. The only thing that matters is whether it is intuitive to a preponderance of programmers. Every programming language has its fans. By your logic, that means every programming language is intuitive because someone, somewhere finds it a joy. It is a relative term. Which mainstream programming languages do you feel are less intuitive than C++? And why? A good part of C++11 standard was to make it more consistent and easier to use. Is C++ the only language you know well?... such that you are unable to see it in context?
> IMHO, C++ is a simple, flexible, intuitive, and powerful language
> simple
By exactly what standards is C++ a simple language? Other than Perl, can you name several more complicated languages than C++?
> flexible
Fine. It is.
> intuitive
How is C++ intuitive? There are plenty of articles explaining the gotchas of C++. Have you read them?
> powerful
The most abused adjective in reference to programming languages. I don't think I have seen *any* general purpose programming language that has not described as powerful.
C++ is powerful. Python is powerful etc. Just not in the same way.
> The problem is, most programmers don't.
So it isn't simple or intuitive. It's the programmer syndrome. Of course my UI/API is simple and intuitive... because I get it. The only way others would not get it is because they are stupid.
> So often, I end up working on spaghetti code written 5 years ago by someone who, for example, thinks inheritance is the solution to all problems, and that private member variables are for sissies.
This is different - perhaps needlessly complex use of C++. So these programmers don't get OOP or good design patterns. That's not what people complain about when they talk about C++ being complicated though.
For the record, I don't hate C++. I like what it has done with C++ 11. But simple and intuitive are the farthest things from it.
It's unlikely that such a backdoor, should it exist, would be coded so obviously, since the source is published. Instead, it would more likely be in the form of a subtle buffer overflow that results in previlige escalation or such, such that when found, it could simply be labeled as a bug rather than an backdoor... plausible deniability.
Exactly what I was thinking. There are plenty of FOSS GUI automation tools (Eg: AutoIt) and libraries (Eg: pywinauto) for most of the popular languages that this is much easier to do entirely in software. I get it. He wanted a cute project. But he cannot possibly pitch this as utilitarian. The article calls it a "low-tech approach". Building robots isn't.
Now, if he made a hobby robot that flips pages of an actual book and took photos, I might be more curious.
Also, Hindu men rarely wear traditional attires in the west. Even in India, the hindus (not to be confused with Sikhs, who do more commmonly wear traditional garments, especially headgear) who still wear turbans are mostly rural types.
You are entitled to your posts. But the people who modded your flippant, entirely insight-free post as +5 insightful should be hit repeatedly with a clue bat.
> Maybe the guy ate one to many airport bean burritos and had a methan riddled fart trapped in his pants that set off the detector.
You clearly did not RTFA. The guy did not have breakfast and had not eaten for over 18 hours by the time he was done. It was also indicated that it might have been the bed bug spray he used.
The documents concerning this are expected to be included in them.
“The pretext [given by Washington] for the spying is only one thing: terrorism and the need to protect the [American] people. But the reality is that there are many documents which have nothing to do with terrorism or national security, but have to do with competition with other countries, in the business, industrial and economic fields," Greenwald said on Tuesday.
> Since its already a cancerous cell line, how can we be sure its actually useful.
It's the wrong question. After 62 years and 74,000 scientific papers, the cell line is not just useful, it's legendary. Every biology and medicine student reads about it in their text books.
> Wouldn't successful cancer treatments destroy it altogether?
It's a cell line. It's in labs (all over the world), not in a live person any more.
> Maybe instead of relying on one particularly incredible replication subject shouldn't have stopped us from trying to find more...
No one stopped from trying to find more. HeLa is not the only one. It's the first and the most popular one. Natural immortal cell lines are just very rare.
Slashdot Mirror
US cable news is to news, as professional wrestling is to wrestling. A lot of sound and fury and no substance. Good fun though. More entertainment products than information products.
> Well, apparently the majority of the public very much disagrees with you
No. Only the majority of cable news watching segment (for whom long form journalism is too much work). The total cable news viewership counts aren't anywhere near total public numbers.
> Really? A Dell services contractor working on Sharepoint was the only one who could build a front end? Really? This is supposed to be impressive? I've never interviewed someone from Dell's services division, but I have interviewed countless employees of IBM's services division. If they are any indication, then Dell's service division is not exactly the cream of the crop.
That is all you could come up to discredit him? That he worked with Dell... even though you never even had contact with anyone from Dell's services division? ... because you didn't like IBM guys? (and I assume you have never taken a job because you needed one or that the pay was good or because of some other convenience?... insisting that all your future colleagues pass your personal judgment of intelligence, before you can accept the offer?) Other stuff in the article were not more useful for you to make a determination on whether he was capable & upstanding? Stuff like...
- “That kid was a genius among geniuses,” says the NSA staffer. “NSA is full of smart people, but anybody who sat in a meeting with Ed will tell you he was in a class of his ownI’ve never seen anything like it.”
- had impressed NSA officials by developing a backup system that the NSA had widely implemented in its codebreaking operations.
- frequently reported security vulnerabilities in NSA software
- “But if you had a guy who could do things nobody else could, and the only problem was that his badge was green instead of blue, what would you do?”
- also once nearly lost his job standing up for a coworker who was being disciplined by a superior.
Forbes just put out a counter balancing piece that refutes that narrative.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2013/12/16/an-nsa-coworker-remembers-the-real-edward-snowden-a-genius-among-geniuses/
You jest. But the fate that awaits his aunt is probably to be sent to an insane asylum or otherwise removed from the palace, assuming she is also not labelled a co-conspirator and later executed, depending on her level of political activeness so far.
I don't understand. Are you suggesting that McCain lost because he was a creative thinker?
> If you are paying attention you will note that the NSA does not engage in that sort of oppression, at all.
What made you think I implied any of that? And I did not need a tutorial on Stasi.
I was answering a specific post about how the said group members kept morale.
No one serious would suggest that NSA is Gestapo or Stasi yet, except maybe as a hyperbole or as a slippery slope argument.
But they did do things they should not have. And they will manage to rationalize to themselves... because they are human beings. We all like to tell ourselves that we are moral beings... even as the world would judge us otherwise.
Another problem with your argument is that it is inline with the common argument made against Snowden. It goes like this: Since Snowden is not like Mandela or King, and did not want to go to jail, he is not a hero or patriot. Your implicit argument is on the other end of this spectrum: Since NSA is not quite up to Gestapo or Stasi level, what they did was not evil or isn't something they ought to be ashamed of.
> Facts aren't advocacy. - If you punish ordinary opposing views in debate you aren't committed to free speech.
If you mean mere down modding... that is free speech... ergo, you seem to want free speech for yourself, but not for others. That isn't really free speech.
I don't know about the Gestapo. But I watched interviews with ex-Stasi who continued to believe that they did what needed to be done and hence were patriotic. No second thoughts.
> I personally reject the assertion that math scores predict future success
Who cares about your personal opinions? There is data to show that you are WRONG.
http://www.psychologicalscience.org/index.php/news/releases/early-spatial-reasoning-predicts-later-creativity-and-innovation-especially-in-stem-fields.html
> there might be a small relationship in certain nations, but not worldwide
Backup that claim... empirically.
> They don't even reach the level of western high school students even when compared against PHD's.
Nonsense. I know plenty of Asian PhDs. They are plenty creative. I schooled in Asia (Yes, they taught by rote... but education does not begin or end in school alone) and got a US PhD. My dissertation was considered fairly innovative by my mentors. My Asian friends in similar circumstances performed just as well. We got plenty of smart and creative American students as interns into our departments. But to compare the problem solving abilities of a trained researcher with a PhD against a high school student is just absurd.
Perhaps you are a programmer who has to deal with PhDs who reluctantly get programming jobs due to market and academia realities? They were not natural programmers and they were not particularly trained for the task in their PhD (even CS) and take quite a while to settle in. So you make these silly sweeping statements without any objective data to support it?
I could program better and better solve tech problems than the CS professor we worked with. That does not mean I was smarter or more creative than him. He was an award winning professor who forwarded CS theory. He just never bothered himself with low level tech stuff, while I needed to because that paid my bills.
> wake up sheeple!
Shh! Quiet
> Justice department has a big basket of puppies waiting in the office to give to Julian [Assange] if he just drops by by next week.
More like they are waiting for an year, by when they will grow into ferocious Dobermans and Pitbulls and hunt him down.
Well. I don't think you are a troll. I think you are just way off. So I will respond.
> can we not manage to deal with this one, simple, irritation?
Nope.
> This is an honest question; I simply do not understand why we're holding out on this one guy, when we've sent in Seal Team Six to give people who have done less in economic damage severe and sudden lead poisoning and then dumped their body uncermoniously in the ocean where it'll never be found.
The world cheers if Seal Team Six caps pirate kidnappers or OBL. However, the world has already decided who the good guy is in Snowden vs. NSA. I suggest you read some publications and polls outside US for a change. It's not hard. You have Internet access.
Even the pressure on Hong Kong and Russia to extradite him cost US reputation, let alone your hare-brained ideas of assassination. Even US cannot wipe away globally popular icons. Not to mention the fact that the Russians have better radars (can't drop in ST6) than Pakistan :-).
I know the economy is tough. You aren't applying for a job at the offices of Peter King or Michelle Bachmann, are you?
> he wants to be a martyr
Whatever gave you that idea? He never said that. Don't let your imagination run wild to support your fevered fantasies. He asked for a pardon.
> What about making him a martyr is so unappealing
The international backlash. A few years ago, I would have also said: The Fifth Amendment.
> this isn't a moral judgment on whether he's right or wrong
Oh, I think you are well past making moral judgments.
> When a hungry bear takes a run at you
On what planet is he a hungry bear? He is not even deciding what articles get published now. The journalists are doing that. Next, you will be calling on capping them too, I guess.
Do you think that if a dissident fled a third world country to US and exposed secret service overreach of his country to NY Times, would you say that the said country ought to cap him too?
> he's done more damage economically than they have
He did? I thought that the "Ha Ha. We can do whatever we want because no one is ever going to find out" attitude that is damaging the economy.
If we find out tomorrow from a Chinese dissident that Beijing has commandeered Huawei gear for espionage, would that be the dissident's fault or Beijing's, for lost sales?
> why aren't we doing our signature move on this guy?
Wow. Just wow.
> but we're all thinking it.
No. I'd say, just a few people like you, at least over here.
> how do you think all those Jews got exterminated? They voted for Hitler. And then they stopped talking. They let the government do whatever it wanted
Who is the Hitler here again? You mean if only Germans rabidly demanded for more assassinations like you, Nazis would not be in power?
Anyway, you parade around with a "Cap Snowden" banner in the real world and lets see how people will speak up... to you anyway.
> The government comes and squishes free speech because it's unpopular... but then here you are, doing the same damn thing.
Ah, the irony. The fascistic lady who calls for extra legal assassination of a non-violent dissident who leaked information to respected journalistic institutions thinks her free speech is in question because she got... oh! the horror... down-modded. Do you even know what free speech is?
Calm down lady. NSA overreached. This is not a subjective opinion. The guy who wrote the patriot act authorizing NSA thinks so. The guy who invented the WWW also thinks so. There are enough US Senators and Congressman who voiced support for him, even though everyone wishes it never needed to come to this in the first place.
Now, as a civilian, I could not care less if US wiretaps diplomats and presidents of other countries. But the point of these leaks is to puncture holes in the argument that the reason we need to tolerate global electronic surveillance apparatus and a domestic Soviet style surveillance state, is to defend us against terrorism. Greenwald and others are demonstrating that it is not the case.
Or this...
Chart to sort by Passmark rank
and check the CPU one as well.
> My first PC occupied the entire first floor of the Science building
Does not sound at all like a *Personal* Computer :-).
As an outsider, perhaps, one of the problems is that the US system of background checks is pervasive? Here, in a developing country, no one checks for that sort of thing and going to prison in a protest is a badge of honor anyway. How do arrest records look in HR screening over there, these days? I suppose things will change if protest arrests get frequent enough.
> I've graduated from med school about 9 years ago
I graduated from medical school (Asia) 13 years ago, but don't practice. I pursued other STEM interests in academia since.
> I still remember organic chemistry just as if I've closed the book yesterday.
I can't say that, even though I topped the class with the only perfect score in Chemistry/Organic Chemistry in pre-med that year.
> But if you ask the patient for the box and have a look at the active ingredient name, you can immediately place it in one of the major groups. At least you will not confuse a pain relief drug with a psychotrope or an anti-hypertensive.
I am not sure what that has to do with organic chemistry. I identify drug classes from my training in pharmacology, not from my training in organic chemistry, or even biochemistry (although, it does explain the mechanism of actions).
> It's just as useful as most of the disciplines studied in medical school.
I certainly did not feel that way, even though I would agree organic chemistry is one of those foundational things you learn and I felt happy studying it. I just do not find myself exercizing it when I look at drugs. I really don't think all that much about the structure of the drug molecules, the strength of the bonds etc often. Perhaps, you and I lump different things under organic chemistry. When I think organic chemistry, I think of carbon chemistry, not drug classes.
> once they are out of sight they simply stop the car and carjack someone with a different car to get away
Real world isn't GTA. What fraction of car chases involve the subject changing cars, by carjacking no less? Easier to just look for the device in the rear, the only place it can realistically stick at, and yank it off, than acquire another vehicle.
It is irrelevant whether it is intuitive to you or me. The only thing that matters is whether it is intuitive to a preponderance of programmers.
Every programming language has its fans. By your logic, that means every programming language is intuitive because someone, somewhere finds it a joy.
It is a relative term. Which mainstream programming languages do you feel are less intuitive than C++? And why?
A good part of C++11 standard was to make it more consistent and easier to use. Is C++ the only language you know well?... such that you are unable to see it in context?
> IMHO, C++ is a simple, flexible, intuitive, and powerful language
> simple
By exactly what standards is C++ a simple language? Other than Perl, can you name several more complicated languages than C++?
> flexible
Fine. It is.
> intuitive
How is C++ intuitive? There are plenty of articles explaining the gotchas of C++. Have you read them?
> powerful
The most abused adjective in reference to programming languages. I don't think I have seen *any* general purpose programming language that has not described as powerful.
C++ is powerful. Python is powerful etc. Just not in the same way.
> The problem is, most programmers don't.
So it isn't simple or intuitive. It's the programmer syndrome. Of course my UI/API is simple and intuitive... because I get it. The only way others would not get it is because they are stupid.
> So often, I end up working on spaghetti code written 5 years ago by someone who, for example, thinks inheritance is the solution to all problems, and that private member variables are for sissies.
This is different - perhaps needlessly complex use of C++. So these programmers don't get OOP or good design patterns. That's not what people complain about when they talk about C++ being complicated though.
For the record, I don't hate C++. I like what it has done with C++ 11. But simple and intuitive are the farthest things from it.
It's unlikely that such a backdoor, should it exist, would be coded so obviously, since the source is published. Instead, it would more likely be in the form of a subtle buffer overflow that results in previlige escalation or such, such that when found, it could simply be labeled as a bug rather than an backdoor... plausible deniability.
Exactly what I was thinking. There are plenty of FOSS GUI automation tools (Eg: AutoIt) and libraries (Eg: pywinauto) for most of the popular languages that this is much easier to do entirely in software. I get it. He wanted a cute project. But he cannot possibly pitch this as utilitarian. The article calls it a "low-tech approach". Building robots isn't.
Now, if he made a hobby robot that flips pages of an actual book and took photos, I might be more curious.
Also, Hindu men rarely wear traditional attires in the west. Even in India, the hindus (not to be confused with Sikhs, who do more commmonly wear traditional garments, especially headgear) who still wear turbans are mostly rural types.
You are entitled to your posts. But the people who modded your flippant, entirely insight-free post as +5 insightful should be hit repeatedly with a clue bat.
> Maybe the guy ate one to many airport bean burritos and had a methan riddled fart trapped in his pants that set off the detector.
You clearly did not RTFA. The guy did not have breakfast and had not eaten for over 18 hours by the time he was done. It was also indicated that it might have been the bed bug spray he used.
> You know, you gotta milk that cow!
Maybe, they will include a level for that finally.
Just wait 1-2 weeks. The next batch of revelations is due to start in about a week.
Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/08/07/us-usa-security-snowden-brazil-idUSBRE97600L20130807
The documents concerning this are expected to be included in them.
“The pretext [given by Washington] for the spying is only one thing: terrorism and the need to protect the [American] people. But the reality is that there are many documents which have nothing to do with terrorism or national security, but have to do with competition with other countries, in the business, industrial and economic fields," Greenwald said on Tuesday.
Source: http://rt.com/news/journalist-thousands-snowden-documents-143/
So, no concrete evidence yet; but it is coming soon.
> Since its already a cancerous cell line, how can we be sure its actually useful.
It's the wrong question. After 62 years and 74,000 scientific papers, the cell line is not just useful, it's legendary. Every biology and medicine student reads about it in their text books.
> Wouldn't successful cancer treatments destroy it altogether?
It's a cell line. It's in labs (all over the world), not in a live person any more.
> Maybe instead of relying on one particularly incredible replication subject shouldn't have stopped us from trying to find more...
No one stopped from trying to find more. HeLa is not the only one. It's the first and the most popular one. Natural immortal cell lines are just very rare.