There isn't that big of a difference between 85 and 95 octane fuel. Sure the price is slightly higher for 95 octane fuel. But the difference isn't that big.
Taxation is a big issue. But that does not change what the end customer pays for his/her fuel. If you bring taxation in to the mix then you would have to also make a more thorough comparison of the two economies. What is your income? How much do you pay in taxes? Cost of living? Sales tax? What do you get in return for your taxes? Health care? Pension?
It is all about how detailed your analysis is. Even with all things condisidered. As a rough estimate I would say that Finns pay on avarage about 15-30% more than a relative US consumer.
> "And large distances." > COmpared to what? Rhode Island. PLease finland is tiny. > Finalnd: > 338,145 Sqr Kilometer > US > 9,161,930 Sqr Kilometer
Population: Finland 5,265,926
US 298,869,502
Thus population density for Finland: 15.6 persons/km^2
US: 32.6 persons/km^2
So distances should be smaller in the US. Between population centers that is.
So to do your shopping and what not you shouldn't have to drive further than here. OK. Maybe if you visit relatives on the other side of the country you would have to cross larger distances. And then you would fly anyway. But I think we were talking about normal commutes and other day to day activities here.
All that aside I personally don't have to drive long distances. My commute is about 12 kilometers. Takes about 12 minutes. And I could take the bus (2 EUR/trip). Or ride a bike. Or walk. (If I really wanted to) But I need my car for work.
So does Finland and many other nations around the world.
I always found it rather amusing the way people in the US bitched about "high" fuel prices. BOO HOO.
This morning here in Tampere,Finland the price was 1.42 EUR/l for 95 octane (6.843 USD/gal for SI-unit impaired). This about average for the whole of Finland. Combine this with the fact that due to idiotic taxation Finland has the oldest cars in EU. (Not counting former soviet bloc). And cold winters. And large distances. Then you will have some understanding of how much it sucks to have these fuel prices.
Stop complaining until your gasoline prices are as high as this. Although when the US has $6 gas we will probably have to pay 12.
What is the price of fuel ethanol again?
Within the next year fuel ethanol will be cheaper than gasoline almost everywhere. If current trends continue. They probably will not continue due to increased use of ethanol.
But within 5 years ethanol will the fuel of choice. And until they can manufacture hydrogen fuel cells and hydrogen in sufficient quantities for sufficient prices I don't imagine that this will change. Maybe in the next 20 years. Maybe by then we will have fusion reactors. (Yeah right!!)
You don't even have to be intuitive or know the person very well. Just observant enough.
A little while ago I saw this magician on tv who was playing rock,paper,scrissors with a bunch of people. And he ALWAYS won.
The whole show was about him reading peoples body language and using peoples mental processes to his advantage to do things that on the surface look amazing. But they were nothing more than the result of a trained eye and a good working knowledge of how people think and process information.
I have forgotten the name of the magician. Sorry. I think that he was british. At least the show was. If anyone can remember the name I would appreciate it.
There are TONS of Free Software projects that Need Your help. You can impose deadlines on yourself. And you probably should if that is the way your mind works. Just make sure that missing the self imposed deadline has some real repercussions. No cafeine for a month or something like that.
Seriously though. Get A Life. Find A Wife. Have some children. Watch them grow. Go with the flow. Try to remain sane til then.
Children can easily fill your empty hours. They are the most challenging programming (education) project you are likely to have ever worked at.
> So what is all this "Land of the free" I keep hearing about?
Not true anymore. If it ever was. See McCarthyism or other examples from the history of civil rights in the US.
I think that the verse continues as "Home of the Brave".
Not true either. See how squeamish the US people get when soldiers die in wars and occupations that their elected government chose to enter.
Here's a hit from the big clue stick: If you don't like the government that you have then don't re-elect it! And I'm not just talking about the president that you have over there. I'm talking about all of the elected officials.
I must say things are not any better here in Finland. Our former Prime Minister resigned because she leaked confidential information during her election campaign. She was elected anyway to the European parliament after her resignation.
People should realise the power that they have and make responsible decisions when voting.
The subject says it all. That's my whole home setup. No DSL. No WLAN. No modem.
What the home does have is: Two kids. (soon to be 3 & 4) A wife.
Those three take all of the little time & most of the money I have. The little money that is left is saved for house of our own. And there is no home setup that could be better than those three.
It truly is sad that the Constitution did not go through. And largely due to internal politics in those countries that did not pass it that had nothing to with the constitution.
Most of what is in the constitution is already in force through a large number of treaties. EU parliament should have more power so that the Council of ministers cannot dictate policy.
The whole patent affair is a sad tale of the failure of democracy in Europe. EU parliament dismisses an unjust directive. Council disregards it. They disregard the voice of the people. Which basically what the Parliament is in EU.
Democracy has been failing in US recently. And now it is failing in EU. Big business is running more and more the legislative process. And the manufactured consent of the masses keeps most of the voting public indifferent to issues of importance. E.g Tony Blair is still in office although the war in Iraq was founded on a lie. I will not even begin about G.W.B.
Maybe EU should fall apart if it cannot function properly. Lobbyist are dictating the directives. Voice of the people has been forgotten.
Maybe what the world needs is less legislation and more value driven courts.
I already know that my MEP is going to vote against this outrage.
We already have that in Finland. Except for the online bit.
Almost all people of Finland get a prefilled tax form by snailmail. All you have to do is look it over. If you have nothing to add you don't have to do anything. Which is something like 60-80% of the people.
Which reminds me I have to return mine next week...
It would be nice if you could do that online. But then again how do you make it secure enough that no one can sabotage other peoples taxes. I would not want my neighbor doing my taxes for me.
In Finland you could use the HST card. (electronic id-cards)
I don't think so. If they wait a while before uncoupling from the us dollar and couple it with a more stable currency like the euro, then it could be the top heavy US economy that falls. Because then the Chinese banks would stop buying US treasury bonds and start buying european ones instead. IMHO that would be the smart thing for them to do. They cannot simply float the currency because of all the uncertainty and speculation it would bring.
All this will accomplish is to further inflame nations of the world against US. The arrogance of US government is astounding. Not too long ago they spoke about working with foreign nations. And now they do this?? I don't think it will take too long (20-30 years) for the US is reduced to a second rate nation. Much like the British Empire was reduced to a bunch of nations pining for former glory.
Just look at the US budget deficit. This will only make it grow further. Do you know what country is right now the funding most of US governments loans? Chinese Banks.
China will become the next super power. And there is little to be done about it. There is so much funding from all around the world going to China right now that this will be almost inevitable. I only hope that ethical business will force China to adopt a more human rights conscious form of government.
What US needs to do is take a big peace of humble pie and work with other nations. Using scare tactics goes only so far. And with the advent of global war on terrorism, a form of terror in itself, and people constantly living in fear because of mass media pouring gasoline on the fire, this cannot last very long. The people will get tired of this. No super power/empire has lasted. They all fall down. This only one form of corruption that is evident before such a fall. I guess the time has come for United States to fall. See the Roman Empire's demise because of corruption of leadership. See fall of Soviet Union because of it's corruption. See fall of British Empire. The corruption is evident there too although in different form. The British Empire mostly collapsed because it could not evolve with the times.
It is about upholding the international treaties that US has signed. Treaties about human rights and what not.
I agree with you about the colonialism and it's aftemath. It is disgusting. And it is even more disgusting when you think about what is currently being done by corporations. They continue the colonialism in a new capitalist form. And what country is doing most of the exploitation. You guessed it! Your dear old US of A. I'm not saying that Europeans are not doing it. They are. And it is just as disgusting. It's just that most of the money goes to US based corps.
About WW2: the US did not get involved until Japan attacked it directly. US was supporting UK but not doing anything on the military front. It was only until US citizen began dying that it "rode to the rescue" of Europe.
About Europe not doing anything: What about countless conflicts that European nations have helped negotiate peace treaties for? Oh, yeah. It's not helping unless someone dies in the process. Sending troops to enforce peace is not the best way of getting results. Lasting results. Has US fixed any of the problems in Afganistan or Iraq or Somalia by sending troops? No. Except maybe get rid of government that US helped put in place. US is really only cleaning up messes that it was responsible for in the first place. Remember Osama? Trained by the US. Saddam Hussein got his WMD from US. Afganistan. Ok. Some of the blame for Afganistan belongs to Russia/USSR.
How can you justify staying out of ICC? It's function is to uphold the same ideals that US seems to hold dear. It's International Crime Court. It goes after Criminals. Oh, I get it. It's criminal only when North Korea, Somalia, Sudan or any other country does it but it's ok when US does it.
Or how can you justify using what ever reason to torture, to kill noncombatants and violate all kinds of human rights? All of which US has done recently and continues to do.
Who is saying ICC will disband? It should by all means be a permanent Court. ICC will go after others besides US. I can understand US reasoning behind not joining ICC. It is just that the implications of those reasons are horrific. Human rights violations are systematic and approved by the chain of command. Even if the approval is passive.
I don't hate US by the way. US should just play by the rules that it has agreed to in international treaties. ICC is the oversight for those treaties.
I really don't hate US. There are some very bright people over there. It's just that the masses are stupid. And unfortunately they are the ones that decide who gets elected. And there is nothing in the news about US investing in education lately. Just the opposite. Instead US has increased military spending. US military budget is the largest in the world IIRC.
<flamebait> US is a good example how even democracy can fail. US is supposed to be for the people by the people. Instead it is for the special interests by the easily manipulated people. </flamebait>
Modern chemical weapons, e.g. aerosol bombs, can just as devastating as small nuclear devices in an urban setting. They aren't called WMD for nothing.
They are easier to produce and I am amazed that they haven't been used yet in a large scale terrorist attack.
I'm also amazed that the terrorists have not attacked the US infrastructure. Cut power lines, communications. You would do much more damage to to the US economy in the short term than by doing what they have done. In the long term current tactic could be more beneficial since US uses a lot more money to run its military and becomes the international "bad boy".
Have you checked the political climate of Israel lately? Most of the parties are religious parties.And even tho Likud is not a religious party as such, it is heavily allied with religious parties. Religious parties hold majority of Knesset(Yes, I included Labour party and Likud in that calculation)It is true that Israel is a democracy but theocratic nevertheless.
Of pure theocracies Iran is a good example.Saudi Arabia not so much. Israel even less so. But all are theocratic. I you want to continue this discussion, please e-mail me. Google for my e-mail address.
If american jews are non-violent then why is US supporting the theocratic Israel?
That's right, it's because the american jewish community is bankrolling the US presidential candidates and other political figures.And for the record genocide must not be allowed to happen ever again anywhere anytime by anyone to anyone. This includes silent genocide. Subversion of a race of people by oppression and "inclusion" in the "greater good".
Israel would have ceased to exist long time ago if it were not for the US involvement. US needs to step down from leading the peace negotiations and let some other non-involved nation handle it. And continue the peacetalks until an agreement is reached despite ANY bombings/killings on either side and then both sides need to enforce the agreement as best they can. There also needs to be a democratic Palestinian state and a permanent arbitration council between Israel and Palestenian state. Truth and Reconciliation commission like in South Africa would not be a bad idea either. This is not likely to happen though. US will keep holding peace talks and US and its citizens will send money and arms to Israel. Arabic nations and their citizens will do the same for the other side. Extremists will halt the peace process again and again with new bombings resulting in reflex "precision strikes".
This is true of many current conflicts. There are too many vested inrests to keep the conflicts running for a long time. The idea of a international weapons tax of even 1% to finance UN's peace efforts is not likely to happen either, because of the vested US interests.
These vested interest will not simply go away. My solution would be a grassroots effort by the people of the world to buy all weapons manufacturing companies of the world and make them stop affecting public policy for starters. E-mail me if you are interested in getting it started. E-mail: rammer+buyweapons (at) ipi.fi
For example: There were some heretics about in 8th century AD. So the priest then thought of a solution to the problem. Two birds with one stone. Kill the heretic. Take his/her heart and perform a "miracle".
A slight of hand is all that is needed. It's not even that difficult to do. Illusionists can do extraordinary things even if you stand right next to them (My favorite kind of illusionism).
I for one prefer the explanation I just gave and not the one usually given.
Strange things happen. Yes. Is God(TM) behind them? No. I for one believe that humanity is in the middle of a transition from a superstitious state (gods/spirits/magic) to a scientific state (knowledge/theories/fact). It will still take about a thousand years or so. But eventually all religions will be abandoned or transformed to a insignificant minority. Just think of the change that has happened in the last hundred years. A lot still needs to change before religion can truly start to disappear though. Religions still provide a control method for a large part of the population that simply does not exist otherwise. Ethics should be a compulsory subject in all elementary schools.
1. Solaris has this in recent versions. man fssnap
Now for what I think Linux needs in a feature that has been in Solaris for a long time. To implement commands: pcred pflags pmap psig pstop ptree pwdx pfiles pldd prun pstack ptime pwait
Some of these are not really needed but pwait is needed. I know that a kernel patch is available but it is not in the current 2.4.x series and think it is not in 2.5.x series. I really wish that someone would get it in before 2.6.0.
They do have a bank account with swift codes and everything. And I thought that the bank transfers within the euro zone have to be priced similarly no matter if it crosses borders.
And here in Finland bank transfers are free (almost) so... You should be able to make a bank transfer for free to them.
Then again, I just checked with by bank and it costs 7 EUR to make European bank transfer. And the minimum amount is 50 EUR.
So you can make a donation even if you don't have a credit card. It'll just cost you a bit more.
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There isn't that big of a difference between 85 and 95 octane fuel. Sure the price is slightly higher for 95 octane fuel. But the difference isn't that big.
Taxation is a big issue. But that does not change what the end customer pays for his/her fuel.
If you bring taxation in to the mix then you would have to also make a more thorough comparison of the two economies.
What is your income?
How much do you pay in taxes?
Cost of living?
Sales tax?
What do you get in return for your taxes?
Health care?
Pension?
It is all about how detailed your analysis is. Even with all things condisidered. As a rough estimate I would say that Finns pay on avarage about
15-30% more than a relative US consumer.
> "And large distances."
> COmpared to what? Rhode Island. PLease finland is tiny.
> Finalnd:
> 338,145 Sqr Kilometer
> US
> 9,161,930 Sqr Kilometer
Population:
Finland
5,265,926
US
298,869,502
Thus population density for
Finland:
15.6 persons/km^2
US:
32.6 persons/km^2
So distances should be smaller in the US.
Between population centers that is.
So to do your shopping and what not you shouldn't have to drive further than here.
OK. Maybe if you visit relatives on the other side of the country you would have to cross larger distances.
And then you would fly anyway.
But I think we were talking about normal commutes and other day to day activities here.
All that aside I personally don't have to drive long distances.
My commute is about 12 kilometers. Takes about 12 minutes.
And I could take the bus (2 EUR/trip).
Or ride a bike.
Or walk. (If I really wanted to)
But I need my car for work.
>Sweden already have it.
So does Finland and many other nations around the world.
I always found it rather amusing the way people in the US bitched about "high" fuel prices.
BOO HOO.
This morning here in Tampere,Finland the price was 1.42 EUR/l for 95 octane (6.843 USD/gal for SI-unit impaired).
This about average for the whole of Finland.
Combine this with the fact that due to idiotic taxation Finland has the oldest cars in EU. (Not counting former soviet bloc).
And cold winters. And large distances. Then you will have some understanding of how much it sucks to have these fuel prices.
Stop complaining until your gasoline prices are as high as this.
Although when the US has $6 gas we will probably have to pay 12.
What is the price of fuel ethanol again?
Within the next year fuel ethanol will be cheaper than gasoline almost everywhere. If current trends continue.
They probably will not continue due to increased use of ethanol.
But within 5 years ethanol will the fuel of choice.
And until they can manufacture hydrogen fuel cells and hydrogen in sufficient quantities for sufficient prices I don't imagine that this will change. Maybe in the next 20 years. Maybe by then we will have fusion reactors. (Yeah right!!)
You don't even have to be intuitive or know the person very well. Just observant enough.
A little while ago I saw this magician on tv who was playing rock,paper,scrissors with a bunch of people.
And he ALWAYS won.
The whole show was about him reading peoples body language and using peoples mental
processes to his advantage to do things that on the surface look amazing.
But they were nothing more than the result of a trained eye and a good working knowledge of how
people think and process information.
I have forgotten the name of the magician. Sorry.
I think that he was british. At least the show was.
If anyone can remember the name I would appreciate it.
There are TONS of Free Software projects that Need Your help.
You can impose deadlines on yourself. And you probably should if that is the way your mind works.
Just make sure that missing the self imposed deadline has some real repercussions.
No cafeine for a month or something like that.
Seriously though. Get A Life. Find A Wife. Have some children. Watch them grow. Go with the flow. Try to remain sane til then.
Children can easily fill your empty hours. They are the most challenging programming (education) project you are likely to have ever worked at.
Don't get me wrong. I'm totally opposed to war. But if you start something you had better finish it properly.
Iraq is on the brink of civil war. Despite what the British and US governments say. And you are pulling out ??!?
You're forgetting the little bit about slavery. Your thirteenth amendment was ratified as late as 1865.
> So what is all this "Land of the free" I keep hearing about?
Not true anymore. If it ever was. See McCarthyism or other examples from the history of civil rights in the US.
I think that the verse continues as "Home of the Brave".
Not true either. See how squeamish the US people get when soldiers die in wars and occupations that their elected government chose to enter.
Here's a hit from the big clue stick:
If you don't like the government that you have then don't re-elect it!
And I'm not just talking about the president that you have over there.
I'm talking about all of the elected officials.
I must say things are not any better here in Finland.
Our former Prime Minister resigned because she leaked confidential information during her election campaign.
She was elected anyway to the European parliament after her resignation.
People should realise the power that they have and make responsible decisions when voting.
The subject says it all. That's my whole home setup.
No DSL.
No WLAN.
No modem.
What the home does have is:
Two kids. (soon to be 3 & 4)
A wife.
Those three take all of the little time & most of the money I have.
The little money that is left is saved for house of our own.
And there is no home setup that could be better than those three.
I for one think that RMS has a point here.
Linux would be nothing but an obscure kernel on Linus's hard drive if not for GNU tools.
Remember that Linux is still just the kernel.
And most of what we know as "Linux" are the GNU programs that run on it.
It is true that RMS has an ego bigger that his head.
But he is unyielding when it comes to free software.
Not one to sell out like some others.
It truly is sad that the Constitution did not go through. And largely due to internal politics in those countries that did not pass it that had nothing to with the constitution.
Most of what is in the constitution is already in force through a large number of treaties. EU parliament should have more power so that the Council of ministers cannot dictate policy.
The whole patent affair is a sad tale of the failure of democracy in Europe. EU parliament dismisses an unjust directive. Council disregards it. They disregard the voice of the people. Which basically what the Parliament is in EU.
Democracy has been failing in US recently. And now it is failing in EU. Big business is running more and more the legislative process.
And the manufactured consent of the masses keeps most of the voting public indifferent to issues of importance. E.g Tony Blair is still in office although the war in Iraq was founded on a lie.
I will not even begin about G.W.B.
Maybe EU should fall apart if it cannot function properly. Lobbyist are dictating the directives.
Voice of the people has been forgotten.
Maybe what the world needs is less legislation and more value driven courts.
I already know that my MEP is going to vote against this outrage.
Do you??
We already have that in Finland.
Except for the online bit.
Almost all people of Finland get a prefilled
tax form by snailmail. All you have to do is look it over. If you have nothing to add you don't have to do anything. Which is something like 60-80% of the people.
Which reminds me I have to return mine next week...
It would be nice if you could do that online.
But then again how do you make it secure enough that no one can sabotage other peoples taxes. I would not want my neighbor doing my taxes for me.
In Finland you could use the HST card. (electronic id-cards)
I don't think so. If they wait a while before
uncoupling from the us dollar and couple it with a more stable currency like the euro, then it could be the top heavy US economy that falls.
Because then the Chinese banks would stop buying US treasury bonds and start buying european ones instead.
IMHO that would be the smart thing for them to do. They cannot simply float the currency because of all the uncertainty and speculation it would bring.
All this will accomplish is to further inflame nations of the world against US. The arrogance of US government is astounding. Not too long ago they spoke about working with foreign nations. And now they do this??
I don't think it will take too long (20-30 years) for the US is reduced to a second rate nation. Much like the British Empire was reduced to a bunch of nations pining for former glory.
Just look at the US budget deficit. This will only make it grow further. Do you know what country is right now the funding most of US governments loans?
Chinese Banks.
China will become the next super power. And there is little to be done about it. There is so much funding from all around the world going to China right now that this will be almost inevitable.
I only hope that ethical business will force China to adopt a more human rights conscious form of government.
What US needs to do is take a big peace of humble pie and work with other nations. Using scare tactics goes only so far. And with the advent of global war on terrorism, a form of terror in itself, and people constantly living in fear because of mass media pouring gasoline on the fire, this cannot last very long. The people will get tired of this. No super power/empire has lasted. They all fall down. This only one form of corruption that is evident before such a fall. I guess the time has come for United States to fall.
See the Roman Empire's demise because of corruption of leadership. See fall of Soviet Union because of it's corruption. See fall of British Empire. The corruption is evident there too although in different form. The British Empire mostly collapsed because it could not evolve with the times.
How is ICC about giving up sovereignty?
It is about upholding the international treaties that US has signed.
Treaties about human rights and what not.
I agree with you about the colonialism and it's aftemath. It is disgusting. And it is even more disgusting when you think about what is currently being done by corporations. They continue the colonialism in a new capitalist form. And what country is doing most of the exploitation.
You guessed it! Your dear old US of A. I'm not saying that Europeans are not doing it. They are. And it is just as disgusting. It's just that most of the money goes to US based corps.
About WW2: the US did not get involved until Japan attacked it directly. US was supporting UK but not doing anything on the military front. It was only until US citizen began dying that it "rode to the rescue" of Europe.
About Europe not doing anything: What about countless conflicts that European nations have helped negotiate peace treaties for?
Oh, yeah. It's not helping unless someone dies in the process. Sending troops to enforce peace is not the best way of getting results. Lasting results. Has US fixed any of the problems in Afganistan or Iraq or Somalia by sending troops?
No. Except maybe get rid of government that US helped put in place. US is really only cleaning up messes that it was responsible for in the first place. Remember Osama? Trained by the US. Saddam Hussein got his WMD from US. Afganistan. Ok. Some of the blame for Afganistan belongs to Russia/USSR.
How can you justify staying out of ICC?
It's function is to uphold the same ideals that US seems to hold dear.
It's International Crime Court. It goes after Criminals.
Oh, I get it. It's criminal only when North Korea, Somalia, Sudan or any other country does it but it's ok when US does it.
Or how can you justify using what ever reason to torture, to kill noncombatants and violate all kinds of human rights?
All of which US has done recently and continues to do.
Who is saying ICC will disband? It should by all means be a permanent Court. ICC will go after others besides US. I can understand US reasoning behind not joining ICC. It is just that the implications of those reasons are horrific. Human rights violations are systematic and approved by the chain of command. Even if the approval is passive.
I don't hate US by the way. US should just play by the rules that it has agreed to in international treaties. ICC is the oversight for those treaties.
I really don't hate US. There are some very bright people over there. It's just that the masses are stupid. And unfortunately they are the ones that decide who gets elected. And there is nothing in the news about US investing in education lately. Just the opposite. Instead US has increased military spending. US military budget is the largest in the world IIRC.
<flamebait>
US is a good example how even democracy can fail.
US is supposed to be for the people by the people.
Instead it is for the special interests by the easily manipulated people.
</flamebait>
I beg to differ.
Modern chemical weapons, e.g. aerosol bombs,
can just as devastating as small nuclear devices in an urban setting. They aren't called WMD for nothing.
They are easier to produce and I am amazed that they haven't been used yet in a large scale terrorist attack.
I'm also amazed that the terrorists have not attacked the US infrastructure. Cut power lines,
communications. You would do much more damage to to the US economy in the short term than by doing what they have done. In the long term current tactic could be more beneficial since US uses a lot more money to run its military and becomes the international "bad boy".
Because all nations must accept ICC for it to have any validity.
Because US is not an exception or above criticism.
Because US has a strong military presence all over the world.
Because US widely uses its military power for monetary gain for its corporations.
Because US has recently committed atrocities that need to be addressed in ICC.
For UN to have any credibility to deal with international security issues US must accept the ICC.
Any tool that can be used, should be used to force US accept the ICC.
Have you checked the political climate of Israel lately?
Most of the parties are religious parties.And even tho Likud is not a religious party as such, it is heavily allied with religious parties. Religious parties hold majority of Knesset(Yes, I included Labour party and Likud in that calculation)It is true that Israel is a democracy but theocratic nevertheless.
Of pure theocracies Iran is a good example.Saudi Arabia not so much. Israel even less so. But all are theocratic. I you want to continue this discussion, please e-mail me. Google for my e-mail address.
If american jews are non-violent then why is US supporting the theocratic Israel?
That's right, it's because the american jewish community is bankrolling the US presidential candidates and other political figures.And for the record genocide must not be allowed to happen ever again anywhere anytime by anyone to anyone. This includes silent genocide. Subversion of a race of people by oppression and "inclusion" in the "greater good".
Israel would have ceased to exist long time ago if it were not for the US involvement. US needs to step down from leading the peace negotiations and let some other non-involved nation handle it. And continue the peacetalks until an agreement is reached despite ANY bombings/killings on either side and then both sides need to enforce the agreement as best they can. There also needs to be a democratic Palestinian state and a permanent arbitration council between Israel and Palestenian state. Truth and Reconciliation commission like in South Africa would not be a bad idea either. This is not likely to happen though. US will keep holding peace talks and US and its citizens will send money and arms to Israel. Arabic nations and their citizens will do the same for the other side. Extremists will halt the peace process again and again with new bombings resulting in reflex "precision strikes".
This is true of many current conflicts. There are too many vested inrests to keep the conflicts running for a long time. The idea of a international weapons tax of even 1% to finance UN's peace efforts is not likely to happen either, because of the vested US interests.
These vested interest will not simply go away. My solution would be a grassroots effort by the people of the world to buy all weapons manufacturing companies of the world and make them stop affecting public policy for starters. E-mail me if you are interested in getting it started.
E-mail: rammer+buyweapons (at) ipi.fi
The problem is that using fuel cells is much more energy efficient than using hydrogen in internal combustion engine.
Commanderette Zircon: His ass is on BACKWARDS!
President Skroob: Why didn't anyone tell me my ass was this big?
For example: There were some heretics about in 8th century AD. So the priest then thought of a solution to the problem. Two birds with one stone. Kill the heretic. Take his/her heart and perform a "miracle".
A slight of hand is all that is needed. It's not even that difficult to do. Illusionists can do extraordinary things even if you stand right next to them (My favorite kind of illusionism).
I for one prefer the explanation I just gave and not the one usually given.
Strange things happen. Yes. Is God(TM) behind them? No.
I for one believe that humanity is in the middle of a transition from a superstitious state (gods/spirits/magic) to a scientific state (knowledge/theories/fact). It will still take about a thousand years or so. But eventually all religions will be abandoned or transformed to a insignificant minority. Just think of the change that has happened in the last hundred years.
A lot still needs to change before religion can truly start to disappear though. Religions still provide a control method for a large part of the population that simply does not exist otherwise. Ethics should be a compulsory subject in all elementary schools.
Just to correct a mistake:
1. Solaris has this in recent versions.
man fssnap
Now for what I think Linux needs in a feature that has been in Solaris for a long time. To implement commands:
pcred pflags pmap psig pstop ptree pwdx pfiles pldd prun pstack ptime pwait
Some of these are not really needed but pwait is needed. I know that a kernel patch is available but it is not in the current 2.4.x series and think it is not in 2.5.x series. I really wish that someone would get it in before 2.6.0.
They do have a bank account with swift codes and everything. And I thought that the bank transfers within the euro zone have to be priced similarly no matter if it crosses borders.
And here in Finland bank transfers are free (almost) so...
You should be able to make a bank transfer for free to them.
Then again, I just checked with by bank and it costs 7 EUR to make European bank transfer.
And the minimum amount is 50 EUR.
So you can make a donation even if you don't have a credit card. It'll just cost you a bit more.