Gun crime in the UK is going up. But the question would be - was this directly due to handguns being outlawed, or are there other factors to consider? Can you prove a direct correlation? What about the massive amount of guns that started moving across Europe after the Soviet Union fell apart?
Gun crime (and injuries and deaths) in the UK is still significantly lower than in countries where guns are commonly available for legal purchase.
In the UK it is legal for "law-abiding citizens are allowed to defend themselves" - you are allowed to use "reasonable force". Very few people ever get prosecuted for using "unreasonable force".
Personally I am glad that our school kids don't have to carry weapons just to go down to the sweetie shop.
Buddy, it sounds like you've never had to face violence and think about it. I have. I didn't like it but I've not turned into a bitter vigilante as a result and I think that's probably a good thing for me and the society I live in. I don't want bloody vengeance. If it's good enough for Gandhi and Jesus Christ and a whole bunch of other folks people seem to respect, it's good enough for me. I think you're full of hot air. As they say, put up, or shut up. Tell me your story.
Thanks but no thanks pal. I'd not carry a gun even if I was allowed, and I'll vote against any law that says people should be able to carry guns. We have too many guns in the UK as it is, and I don't think the solution to violence is enabling everybody to hurt each other even more.
If you could get those teenagers found, I'd not turn round to the police and say "please kneecap them". I don't think that will solve the problem. I think that way you end up with somebody who is less likely to get a job because they are disabled, I will have to pay their disability support and hospital fees for the next 30 years out of my taxes, and they are more likely to be a drain on society rather than a positive contributor, they are more likely to turn into a f*cked-up psycho of an adult.
If punishment is required, punish them with something that helps the local neighbourhood rather than costs the neighbourhood money. Get them to do some community improvement work.
No buddy, I am saying people, building a community that looks out for each other (because alas there will always be at least a few idiots), is the solution.
5 years ago I was cycling home down a side street in London back to where I lived in one of the not so rich parts of town (Hackney) and 4 teenagers ran up to me and dragged me off my bike, kicked me in, and demanded my wallet. Luckily a woman in a flat overlooking the road saw what was going on and shouted down to tell the kids to stop, and I shouted up for her to call the police. The kids got scared and ran off with my bike (incidently, for the first time in my life, I'd like to say "thank you Nike!" - when I was a teenager Doc Martins and steel toe capped boots were the fashion - I am so happy troubled teenagers prefer soft padded trainers for kicking people in the head these days, probably saved me a lot of damage). I got up just as a Hells Angel kind of guy came past on a motorbike and I flagged him down and asked him to chase the kids - well I started climbing on the back before he could say no! and he spotted the kids going into a dark housing block stairwell. For some mad reason I chased them in, and I think they were so suprised to see me, combined with the fact that I was covered in blood and swearing at them and my friendly biker was outside pointing his headlight in and revving the bike engine, that they let go of the bike and I marched outside (phew, laptop and other valuables still in the panniers). Friendly biker drove his bike alongside me until I was back on the big roads and by chance a French couple were cycling past and stopped to check out I was ok and agreed to cycle home with me.
When I got back I reported the incident to the police, and got myself sorted out at the local hospital.
The police had CCTV footage of a lot of the above - but they said the footage was too poor to make a positive identification.
So there ya go. CCTV didn't stop the crime in progress, and it was completely useless to catch anybody afterwards. What saved me from getting completely beaten up, helped retrieve my possessions, and got me home afterwards was a random mix of good hearted locals and passers by.
Keep talking to your neighbours and help people you see in trouble, one day it could be you. I don't know any of the names of the people who helped me - but thanks to all of these kind strangers. Don't rely on CCTV, even when they've put it in, it might be useless.
... that this "global terrorist organisation" that George Bush and Tony Blair have imagined after watching too many James Bond movies is nothing more than a loosely connected rabble of disaffected extremists who've picked a brand name to make themselves seem bigger and more scary?
Far from some Spielberg-like ILM production house operating in Dr. Evil's secret volcano (see, err, heck I've forgotten which Bond movie, the one with Little Nellie), actually the videos are knocked up by a couple of spotty radicalised teenagers in the backroom of an internet cafe in downtown Kabul. Who in return get to hang out with a bunch of extremists who tell them they are doing vital work, that Western civilisation is about to crumble into the sea as a result, let them fire off a few rounds from a couple of AK47s in the hills and tell them that they are part of the gang now. We just put up with London Underground taking the litter bins out and asking us to take our rubbish home with us.
Forgive the cynicism but after the British authorities declared the country I'm in (the UK) to be on it's "most critical" alert status after a couple of idiots drove a flaming vehicle into a pillar in Glasgow airport, staggered out on fire and promptly got punched out by passers by and off duty coppers, the level of hype is starting to get wearing. We've just finished with 40 years of the IRA blowing up chunks of our country and killing rather a lot of people and nobody felt the need to issue "most critical" warnings then.
You are suggesting a 300 year sentence? wow, how long do people live in your place?
My understanding is that in the USA, sentences can be put back to back, is that true? so if you did ten things that were worth a ten year sentence you'd get a hundred years?
If so, what's the point of issuing sentences over 75 years or so? why not just say "until you're dead, no remission"? Genuine question rather than flamebait, can anybody enlighten me to the legal thought behind what seems a bit silly on the surface. As somebody else has said, it seems a case of being hung for a sheep instead of a lamb - if you're gonig to be in prison for all your life, then you might as well commit loads more crimes. If you're gonig to jail for 100 years, then there is no incentive for soembody not to commit more crimes, surely?
"both of those movies, Saw and Hostel, received "R" ratings in the U.S., considered restricted for 17 and up.
So why shouldn't Manhunt 2 receive the comparative rating (for games) of "M" for Mature, which is also identically restricted to 17 and up?"
Because the UK might have a different cultural approach than the USA? Just because a USA ratings authority decides on how to rate movies and video games doesn't mean the UK has to follow the same guidelines. UK is not part of the USA...yet... (still waiting to see if Gordon Brown is as desperate as Tony Blair to be Goerge Bush's poodle).
The USA still has some quite different cultural norms to the UK - my impression is that it's a country where violence and gun culture is more tolerated. Your authorities are more comfortable with graphic violence than ours, I think. Whereas the US seems to be more puritanical about displays of the human body (e.g. the Janet Jackson flashing her breast episode).
Fair play, well corrected. Though if we were being pedantic, we could get into all sorts of discussions about the original post, there are some who might consider Edinburgh and not Birmingham as Great Britain's second city. I am sure some Welsh folks might put in an argument for Cardiff as well:-)
However, I've never understood why geeks, so concerned about writing precise code, are satisfied with poor spelling and grammar. It would seem that they of all people would understand that if you write poor code then misunderstandings can occur.
I don't believe all these people got police clearance to take these photos. I'd suggest you're making a bigger issue out of the whole situation than really exists. Though I sympathise with your concern about creeping legislative powers.
Incidently, the name of the country is "Great Britain" not "Great Briton".
Well said. Over here in the UK it's called Nimby-ism - Not In My Back Yard (which suggests the expression might have come from over the pond).
People have to grow up and realise throwing away stuff has consequences. Well done to BC for taking responsibility of their own rubbish rather than messing up some third world country with it.
As an aside, I heard that its becoming more profitable to recycle scrap than to mine for some metals, is this true? As in, it's cheaper to melt down and process X weight of processor boards to get 100 grams of gold than it would be to dig Y tons of ore out the ground, crush it, pour in cyanide, dispose of the toxic waste, etc.. Can you comment?
I suppose by your logic you see Iraq as an example of a success, then? A well armed populace sorting out their own problems and fighting off foreign forces, different groups attempting to "retake power"? I assume you defend the rights of the Iraqi people to own their own weapons?
Seems like a bit of a mess out there to me and that things would be better sorted out by unarmed people talking their way through their problems rather than shooting their way through them. You may remember that revolutions have also happened peacefully (e.g. former Soviet republics).
I think Iraq is a fine example of what happens when a heavily armed populace try to sort out their own problems.
f'sure, point taken, I was picking up on the tone of the post and the fact he noted "stupid games". This suggested to me that the poster had a low opinion of sports in general...
oooh, somebody had a hard time on school sports days....
Well, seriously, bullying is a significant and traumatic issue, so I do sympathise with you pal if you had a hard time at school. But don't write off all sports. Keep an open mind and maybe you'll find something which works for you, makes you friends, keeps you fit. Plenty of folks do. One of my best mates at school was "the fat kid" - he left to go to university completely hating sports, came back 3 months later having had a go at scuba diving and loved it. 6 months later and the guy was in great shape, active member of the club, was a heck of a lot lighter, and had a great girlfriend.
Just because you don't like traditional school sports, don't write them all off.
That gives quite a different story from the one you originally reported - a lot of what you claim in your original post isn't declared here in your reference.
Ask for a shower, explain that you want to cycle in, it's good for you, you'll be more healthy and fit so take less sick days off so it'll be better for your boss.
You could mention it being good for the planet but of course like most places it's likely your boss will look at you like you're some kind of acid crazed hippy and refuse to consider the idea. Which is commonplace, and why we're so screwed up on the planet right now. I'll bet your boss would be more interested in shelling out 30,000 for tarmac for half a dozen new parking places than plumbing in a shower facility. I got to admit I am lucky, I work at a university where they do provide showers, and being open to ideas actually back you for cycling. We even can claim a mileage rate for cycling places for busines, in the same way that car drivers get their rate.
Give it a go though, you might get lucky, and hey, even if you manage to cycle for four weeks either side of the hot/cold weather, well your body will love you for doing that 2 months a year cycling. That'll be a few hundred kilometres working your body out rather than sitting on yer backside eating doughnuts!
Good on you for considering the hybrid car as well. If we all do our bit we'll hit the tipping point eventually. Heck, even this discussion wouldn't have happened 30 years ago.
Alas no, never heard of it. I'm in the UK. I take it you're in the USA.
"I speculate that Fantomas knows about the incident very well - because otherwise he would not know that it can be portrayed, and has been, in a racist way. This does not change that it was a real incident.
If this is true then it is FUD on his part, to obscure a real and factual incident."
I'm afraid you're wrong. I hadn't heard about it, so I guess that means by your logic, my statement wasn't FUD. Your posting supports my position, as you made the comment that this incident hadn't been reported in national newspapers. If it wasn't in a national newspaper, and by implication, in online national newsfeeds, how would I have known about it? I see there was a riot in Ondiep and somebody died. Thank you for the reference.
Alas we also have riots in Europe, and police also shoot people dead here as well on occasion. Improvements are definitely required. As a European I know this.
I'm also aware that all media has a bias - it looks like the only articles written about this incident seem to be by the right wing press, so I am reading it through their viewpoints. It would be nice to read a variety of reports, and particularly the police/authority reports, to get some sense of balance. I am afraid to say that in the UK we have a range of biased journalists and it is wise not to believe everything they say, or at least to understand their perspective. I am guessing this is universally true. Without doing some research, I find it hard to understand the perspective of the people writing about this incident you report. Perhaps you can help by providing background information on the resources. Some of them are explicitly anti-immigration and anti-Islam so I'd expect a certain angle to be taken.
"With this, they don't need to know English to comply"
My word sir, you Yankees are becoming more like the true heirs to the British Empire as every day passes! Well said sir, Johnny Foreigner is a semi-savage, and can't speak a word of the King's English (or President, or whatever you colonists have these days). Don't be fooled by his suit, you'll find it's a cheap imitation and close examination will prove that the buttons on the cuffs are fake and the pockets have been cut at the wrong angle. Shine a torch in their faces, and shout in God's own language NICE and LOUD and SLOWLY. They'll understand then, by George!
Grown in India for hundreds of years, now the rights to grow it in the USA are owned by a US company. You grow it in USA, you have to pay the patent owning company. How can such behaviour be permitted? Your system is really broken.
People may want to buy more ecologically sound, low powered, cheaper machines, but they are subject to external pressures.
Apart from the small percentage of hackers/enthusiasts who play with computers because they like computers, the majority of people use computers to achieve goals - be it to write their work documents, play games, edit photos etc. They will buy the machines that can run the software to do these jobs.
I can't see the big software players reducing the power requirements of their software as it upgrades. Microsoft Office 2015, Photoshop v.27, and World of Warcraft 2015 are going to need more rather than less power and people will be forced to buy more powerful machines.
"Ten years ago I owned 2 desktops, and 1 laptop. Today I own 4 laptops and 3 desktops"
I think regularly using 7 computers makes you pretty hardcore and in the minority. I'd say the majority of people who own a computer (which is not 100% of the population over aged 10), have just one computer, or share one in some manner across their household.
Probably a few have "their old computer in a cupboard" because they can't believe that their expensive personal purchase of ten years ago is worth nothing or they can't work out how to recycle it.
I think the majority of people will purchase whatever carries out the functions they need to achieve, which is likely to be email/web browsing/office work/games/movies. If the platform is laptop or desktop, they'll go for it.
"You can argue that the Linux world is actually more visibly attuned to the consumer market, while Windows is more like Communism - the State of Gates decides what the factories will make, and the end users put up with what they are given."
Interesting, is this some kind of Inverse Godwin's Law? "Any slashdot article will eventually end up with a defence of the free market and a declaration that the opposition are ungodly communists?"
You could equally argue that Windows represents the perfection of the US free market system (being slightly American in origin) and the linux alternative represents dodgy euro-socialism...
Slashdot Mirror
Not forever. Just until terrorists blow up the power plant
What about Iceland then? it's not spent any money on going into Iraq and nobody's blowing up their geothermal plants...
Nobody's stopping you leaving buddy... I believe there are 8 flights a day UK ->USA. What's keeping you?
Gun crime in the UK is going up. But the question would be - was this directly due to handguns being outlawed, or are there other factors to consider? Can you prove a direct correlation? What about the massive amount of guns that started moving across Europe after the Soviet Union fell apart?
Gun crime (and injuries and deaths) in the UK is still significantly lower than in countries where guns are commonly available for legal purchase.
In the UK it is legal for "law-abiding citizens are allowed to defend themselves" - you are allowed to use "reasonable force". Very few people ever get prosecuted for using "unreasonable force".
Personally I am glad that our school kids don't have to carry weapons just to go down to the sweetie shop.
Buddy, it sounds like you've never had to face violence and think about it. I have. I didn't like it but I've not turned into a bitter vigilante as a result and I think that's probably a good thing for me and the society I live in. I don't want bloody vengeance. If it's good enough for Gandhi and Jesus Christ and a whole bunch of other folks people seem to respect, it's good enough for me. I think you're full of hot air. As they say, put up, or shut up. Tell me your story.
Thanks but no thanks pal. I'd not carry a gun even if I was allowed, and I'll vote against any law that says people should be able to carry guns. We have too many guns in the UK as it is, and I don't think the solution to violence is enabling everybody to hurt each other even more.
If you could get those teenagers found, I'd not turn round to the police and say "please kneecap them". I don't think that will solve the problem. I think that way you end up with somebody who is less likely to get a job because they are disabled, I will have to pay their disability support and hospital fees for the next 30 years out of my taxes, and they are more likely to be a drain on society rather than a positive contributor, they are more likely to turn into a f*cked-up psycho of an adult.
If punishment is required, punish them with something that helps the local neighbourhood rather than costs the neighbourhood money. Get them to do some community improvement work.
No buddy, I am saying people, building a community that looks out for each other (because alas there will always be at least a few idiots), is the solution.
I am saying CCTV is not the solution.
5 years ago I was cycling home down a side street in London back to where I lived in one of the not so rich parts of town (Hackney) and 4 teenagers ran up to me and dragged me off my bike, kicked me in, and demanded my wallet. Luckily a woman in a flat overlooking the road saw what was going on and shouted down to tell the kids to stop, and I shouted up for her to call the police. The kids got scared and ran off with my bike (incidently, for the first time in my life, I'd like to say "thank you Nike!" - when I was a teenager Doc Martins and steel toe capped boots were the fashion - I am so happy troubled teenagers prefer soft padded trainers for kicking people in the head these days, probably saved me a lot of damage). I got up just as a Hells Angel kind of guy came past on a motorbike and I flagged him down and asked him to chase the kids - well I started climbing on the back before he could say no! and he spotted the kids going into a dark housing block stairwell. For some mad reason I chased them in, and I think they were so suprised to see me, combined with the fact that I was covered in blood and swearing at them and my friendly biker was outside pointing his headlight in and revving the bike engine, that they let go of the bike and I marched outside (phew, laptop and other valuables still in the panniers). Friendly biker drove his bike alongside me until I was back on the big roads and by chance a French couple were cycling past and stopped to check out I was ok and agreed to cycle home with me.
When I got back I reported the incident to the police, and got myself sorted out at the local hospital.
The police had CCTV footage of a lot of the above - but they said the footage was too poor to make a positive identification.
So there ya go. CCTV didn't stop the crime in progress, and it was completely useless to catch anybody afterwards. What saved me from getting completely beaten up, helped retrieve my possessions, and got me home afterwards was a random mix of good hearted locals and passers by.
Keep talking to your neighbours and help people you see in trouble, one day it could be you. I don't know any of the names of the people who helped me - but thanks to all of these kind strangers. Don't rely on CCTV, even when they've put it in, it might be useless.
CCTV in Hackney didn't help me....
... that this "global terrorist organisation" that George Bush and Tony Blair have imagined after watching too many James Bond movies is nothing more than a loosely connected rabble of disaffected extremists who've picked a brand name to make themselves seem bigger and more scary?
Far from some Spielberg-like ILM production house operating in Dr. Evil's secret volcano (see, err, heck I've forgotten which Bond movie, the one with Little Nellie), actually the videos are knocked up by a couple of spotty radicalised teenagers in the backroom of an internet cafe in downtown Kabul. Who in return get to hang out with a bunch of extremists who tell them they are doing vital work, that Western civilisation is about to crumble into the sea as a result, let them fire off a few rounds from a couple of AK47s in the hills and tell them that they are part of the gang now. We just put up with London Underground taking the litter bins out and asking us to take our rubbish home with us.
Forgive the cynicism but after the British authorities declared the country I'm in (the UK) to be on it's "most critical" alert status after a couple of idiots drove a flaming vehicle into a pillar in Glasgow airport, staggered out on fire and promptly got punched out by passers by and off duty coppers, the level of hype is starting to get wearing. We've just finished with 40 years of the IRA blowing up chunks of our country and killing rather a lot of people and nobody felt the need to issue "most critical" warnings then.
You are suggesting a 300 year sentence? wow, how long do people live in your place?
My understanding is that in the USA, sentences can be put back to back, is that true? so if you did ten things that were worth a ten year sentence you'd get a hundred years?
If so, what's the point of issuing sentences over 75 years or so? why not just say "until you're dead, no remission"? Genuine question rather than flamebait, can anybody enlighten me to the legal thought behind what seems a bit silly on the surface. As somebody else has said, it seems a case of being hung for a sheep instead of a lamb - if you're gonig to be in prison for all your life, then you might as well commit loads more crimes. If you're gonig to jail for 100 years, then there is no incentive for soembody not to commit more crimes, surely?
"both of those movies, Saw and Hostel, received "R" ratings in the U.S., considered restricted for 17 and up.
...yet... (still waiting to see if Gordon Brown is as desperate as Tony Blair to be Goerge Bush's poodle).
So why shouldn't Manhunt 2 receive the comparative rating (for games) of "M" for Mature, which is also identically restricted to 17 and up?"
Because the UK might have a different cultural approach than the USA? Just because a USA ratings authority decides on how to rate movies and video games doesn't mean the UK has to follow the same guidelines. UK is not part of the USA
The USA still has some quite different cultural norms to the UK - my impression is that it's a country where violence and gun culture is more tolerated. Your authorities are more comfortable with graphic violence than ours, I think. Whereas the US seems to be more puritanical about displays of the human body (e.g. the Janet Jackson flashing her breast episode).
These are all just examples of the terror of the creeping RAS syndrome!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAS_syndrome
(RAS=Redundant Acronym Syndrome)
Fair play, well corrected. Though if we were being pedantic, we could get into all sorts of discussions about the original post, there are some who might consider Edinburgh and not Birmingham as Great Britain's second city. I am sure some Welsh folks might put in an argument for Cardiff as well :-)
However, I've never understood why geeks, so concerned about writing precise code, are satisfied with poor spelling and grammar. It would seem that they of all people would understand that if you write poor code then misunderstandings can occur.
"Great Britons second city, and there is quite literally a zero tolerance to photos"
This can't be true because a quick look on the internet shows lots of photos of Birmingham.
http://flickr.com/search/?q=birmingham&w=all
Including a photo of the Council House from 2007.
I don't believe all these people got police clearance to take these photos. I'd suggest you're making a bigger issue out of the whole situation than really exists. Though I sympathise with your concern about creeping legislative powers.
Incidently, the name of the country is "Great Britain" not "Great Briton".
Well said. Over here in the UK it's called Nimby-ism - Not In My Back Yard (which suggests the expression might have come from over the pond).
People have to grow up and realise throwing away stuff has consequences. Well done to BC for taking responsibility of their own rubbish rather than messing up some third world country with it.
As an aside, I heard that its becoming more profitable to recycle scrap than to mine for some metals, is this true? As in, it's cheaper to melt down and process X weight of processor boards to get 100 grams of gold than it would be to dig Y tons of ore out the ground, crush it, pour in cyanide, dispose of the toxic waste, etc.. Can you comment?
I suppose by your logic you see Iraq as an example of a success, then? A well armed populace sorting out their own problems and fighting off foreign forces, different groups attempting to "retake power"? I assume you defend the rights of the Iraqi people to own their own weapons?
Seems like a bit of a mess out there to me and that things would be better sorted out by unarmed people talking their way through their problems rather than shooting their way through them. You may remember that revolutions have also happened peacefully (e.g. former Soviet republics).
I think Iraq is a fine example of what happens when a heavily armed populace try to sort out their own problems.
f'sure, point taken, I was picking up on the tone of the post and the fact he noted "stupid games". This suggested to me that the poster had a low opinion of sports in general...
oooh, somebody had a hard time on school sports days....
Well, seriously, bullying is a significant and traumatic issue, so I do sympathise with you pal if you had a hard time at school. But don't write off all sports. Keep an open mind and maybe you'll find something which works for you, makes you friends, keeps you fit. Plenty of folks do. One of my best mates at school was "the fat kid" - he left to go to university completely hating sports, came back 3 months later having had a go at scuba diving and loved it. 6 months later and the guy was in great shape, active member of the club, was a heck of a lot lighter, and had a great girlfriend.
Just because you don't like traditional school sports, don't write them all off.
Good luck!
That gives quite a different story from the one you originally reported - a lot of what you claim in your original post isn't declared here in your reference.
Ask for a shower, explain that you want to cycle in, it's good for you, you'll be more healthy and fit so take less sick days off so it'll be better for your boss.
You could mention it being good for the planet but of course like most places it's likely your boss will look at you like you're some kind of acid crazed hippy and refuse to consider the idea. Which is commonplace, and why we're so screwed up on the planet right now. I'll bet your boss would be more interested in shelling out 30,000 for tarmac for half a dozen new parking places than plumbing in a shower facility. I got to admit I am lucky, I work at a university where they do provide showers, and being open to ideas actually back you for cycling. We even can claim a mileage rate for cycling places for busines, in the same way that car drivers get their rate.
Give it a go though, you might get lucky, and hey, even if you manage to cycle for four weeks either side of the hot/cold weather, well your body will love you for doing that 2 months a year cycling. That'll be a few hundred kilometres working your body out rather than sitting on yer backside eating doughnuts!
Good on you for considering the hybrid car as well. If we all do our bit we'll hit the tipping point eventually. Heck, even this discussion wouldn't have happened 30 years ago.
Alas no, never heard of it. I'm in the UK. I take it you're in the USA.
s ion_in_the_United_States_in_1990s_and_2000s
"I speculate that Fantomas knows about the incident very well - because otherwise he would not know that it can be portrayed, and has been, in a racist way. This does not change that it was a real incident.
If this is true then it is FUD on his part, to obscure a real and factual incident."
I'm afraid you're wrong. I hadn't heard about it, so I guess that means by your logic, my statement wasn't FUD. Your posting supports my position, as you made the comment that this incident hadn't been reported in national newspapers. If it wasn't in a national newspaper, and by implication, in online national newsfeeds, how would I have known about it? I see there was a riot in Ondiep and somebody died. Thank you for the reference.
Alas we also have riots in Europe, and police also shoot people dead here as well on occasion. Improvements are definitely required. As a European I know this.
I'm also aware that all media has a bias - it looks like the only articles written about this incident seem to be by the right wing press, so I am reading it through their viewpoints. It would be nice to read a variety of reports, and particularly the police/authority reports, to get some sense of balance. I am afraid to say that in the UK we have a range of biased journalists and it is wise not to believe everything they say, or at least to understand their perspective. I am guessing this is universally true. Without doing some research, I find it hard to understand the perspective of the people writing about this incident you report. Perhaps you can help by providing background information on the resources. Some of them are explicitly anti-immigration and anti-Islam so I'd expect a certain angle to be taken.
Trust me, I am in the UK, I understand the idea of people being concerned about the concept of a police state. Thankfully we still have Habeas Corpus here, something, alas, not guaranteed in the US Constitution. My bias is that I think that Habeas Corpus is a good thing.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habeas_corpus#Suspen
Mod parent down, racist BS trolling. No references. Poster has read about this in some comic and believes it without visiting Europe themselves.
"With this, they don't need to know English to comply"
My word sir, you Yankees are becoming more like the true heirs to the British Empire as every day passes! Well said sir, Johnny Foreigner is a semi-savage, and can't speak a word of the King's English (or President, or whatever you colonists have these days). Don't be fooled by his suit, you'll find it's a cheap imitation and close examination will prove that the buttons on the cuffs are fake and the pockets have been cut at the wrong angle. Shine a torch in their faces, and shout in God's own language NICE and LOUD and SLOWLY. They'll understand then, by George!
http://www.biotech-info.net/basmati_patent.html
Grown in India for hundreds of years, now the rights to grow it in the USA are owned by a US company. You grow it in USA, you have to pay the patent owning company. How can such behaviour be permitted? Your system is really broken.
People may want to buy more ecologically sound, low powered, cheaper machines, but they are subject to external pressures.
Apart from the small percentage of hackers/enthusiasts who play with computers because they like computers, the majority of people use computers to achieve goals - be it to write their work documents, play games, edit photos etc. They will buy the machines that can run the software to do these jobs.
I can't see the big software players reducing the power requirements of their software as it upgrades. Microsoft Office 2015, Photoshop v.27, and World of Warcraft 2015 are going to need more rather than less power and people will be forced to buy more powerful machines.
"Ten years ago I owned 2 desktops, and 1 laptop. Today I own 4 laptops and 3 desktops"
I think regularly using 7 computers makes you pretty hardcore and in the minority. I'd say the majority of people who own a computer (which is not 100% of the population over aged 10), have just one computer, or share one in some manner across their household.
Probably a few have "their old computer in a cupboard" because they can't believe that their expensive personal purchase of ten years ago is worth nothing or they can't work out how to recycle it.
I think the majority of people will purchase whatever carries out the functions they need to achieve, which is likely to be email/web browsing/office work/games/movies. If the platform is laptop or desktop, they'll go for it.
"You can argue that the Linux world is actually more visibly attuned to the consumer market, while Windows is more like Communism - the State of Gates decides what the factories will make, and the end users put up with what they are given."
Interesting, is this some kind of Inverse Godwin's Law? "Any slashdot article will eventually end up with a defence of the free market and a declaration that the opposition are ungodly communists?"
You could equally argue that Windows represents the perfection of the US free market system (being slightly American in origin) and the linux alternative represents dodgy euro-socialism...