I would rather see a law about how ALL nations (and I mean all, not just Iran and North Korea) should be strictly forbidden to have any kind of nuclear weapon. That yes, seems to me a real threat to the planet.
What makes some arbitrary border from a UN resolution better?
I humbly recognize you're totally right sir, let's hope Iran considers the UN resolution that forbids them to have nuclear weapons completely arbitrary so that the forces get balanced in the region and Israel can finally stuck it's ass inside it's pants and get put back to the hole their came from as soon as their neighbours are not afraid of nuclear retaliation and can freely engage in a conventional war against them (I understood from your post that taken something by force it's totally acceptable, right?)
We just love the arbitrary bullying of our neighbors and the display of force instead of diplomacy here in Europe, you know!
Well, no doubt Israel has the right to exist... inside the borders stated in the 1947 UN resolution, not in the way it exists now, illegally occupying practically 2x more territories from it's neighboring countries by the use of force !
Where in the all story you see them talking about any robot shooting at the laptop?
If it indeed had explosives and if shooting it indeed would set them off, it would blow the shooter ! That's why you can't still find any reference to it in any protocol !
Please give me a single reference where in any modern world (modern being after XV century) police or military forces protocol, says that you should soot an object suspect of harboring explosive charges !
That's ridiculous. And in fact the details the grandparent stated really give the big picture here, since I was also wondering why the heck would the police shoot a laptop... 3 times. Now I understand what's going on. Fascism has got these kind of attitudes.
Well, at least they didn't shoot the owner of the laptop... I guess she was the wrong colour and nationality for them to just don't care about the consequences of shooting an innocent... this time.
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
No, I'm correct, you are mistaken two legal terms. You are talking about the constitution here, not about the civil laws. And I was referring to the laws!
The government is not forced to make a referendum about a law...
Changing the constitution (or the terms of the Lisbon treaty) is also not permitted. To do so, many countries (including mine) demand a majority of 2/3 in the constituent assembly and then the agreement of the Constitutional Court.
And it's exactly how the government systems of all the Western world work practically everywhere (including USA). The government is not forced to make a referendum about a law (needing the vote from the people), they only have to do it if they want, otherwise, as long as the constituent assembly of the country chooses so by majority, the law passes. And sincerely this is the good way, you cannot be making referendums about everything, you choose the government and then should let them decide according to the big picture, otherwise it would be chaos.
Just imagine if you had to do a referendum about paying taxes... which part do you think it would win in any country of the western world (perhaps with the sole exception of Northern Europe) ?
That is exactly what the Lisbon treaty will amend, from now on the EU can pass laws and not having them rectified in every single country of the EU in order for them to apply, and that's a good thing cause some countries (coff, coff, Poland, coff, coff), where abusing the system systematically and asking for monetary compensation every time they had to approve something, even when they where in agreement with it.
Freedom includes the risk of losing as well as the possibility of winning.
Oh brother. We have a name for that in here... it's called "brain washing". People ARE the state. The state must also help them in times of need. We don't want a society full of greedy people that think only about themselves. This is a country and we all have to make for it. And "making for it" in here, doesn't mean putting flags in our window and joining the army. It means contributing so that the other can also feel happy to live here. After all, do you want to make us all a favor and compare the murders and violent criminality in USA vs Europe? C'mon, do it... amuse us.
Or, you can turn your life over to a government with the promises of all your needs being taken care of from cradle to grave. All you have to give them is... everything.
Everything? The state in here pays for most of my education (not all, and "we the people" are against that, since now we have to pay €980 per year in the faculty and we are not liking it a bit). The state pays when I need to get medical treatment. The state pays (for some time until you can get another job) when I get fired or my company goes bankrupt. The state pays for my retirement salary. In return I pay taxes! But I don't have to pay medical insurances, I don't have to make retirement plans. I pay directly to the state and the state pays directly to me... no, we don't feel the need to make some Insurance companies CEO rich with our money for them to act as a middleman in a system that doesn't need a middle man. It's just another scheme to make the rich richer and you in your country are pretty good at falling for it.
The problem, for admirers of this system such as yourself, anyway, is that Europe itself is starting to question such an arrangement. People are beginning to wonder why they can't have a good medical care system without massive government expenditures. They're starting to wonder just why it's necessary to be paying so much in taxes.
Wrong. 1st, actually in my country (Portugal) and in Greece, we turned left now. In the other countries that turned a bit right. They turned right not because they feel they are paying to many taxes for getting all that you describe... they turned a bit right because they are starting to question all the benefits they are giving to illegal immigrants. And I cannot say that they are wrong, because after all, one thing is contributing to someone that is in your country to develop it-self and the country, and plans to have a future there and to make it a better place to their children. Another is to provide all that to people that just come there to get the most out of it and then leave after some years. And all the security problems that we are having because of that. In my country for instance, it's pretty easy for a foreigner to immigrate here, they just have to get a job and they can stay. After 10 years of work, they get nationality. But I don't want them, unless they are legal or legalize themselves immediately! After all, give me one good reason for someone not to be willing to be legal if they can, unless they intend to participate in criminal activities or not to have a job and stay begging all the time in the streets?
They're starting to wonder why starting a business has to be a bureaucratic nightmare.
Wrong again. You can create a business here, in less than 1 hour in the internet ! I'm quite sure it beats your country hands down in that.
Well, the last civil war they had was about "Shall we continue to enslave people or not.", so something as simple to understand to Europeans as a basic practice of living in society that is "You shall not let anyone die just because they are not rich and can't pay for medical treatment." may very well not apply in the USA.
Since he was Russian and the original name is in Cyrilic, different Languages "translate" the name differently. In Portuguese and French (for instance), it's Zamiatine (we don't have Y in the Portuguese alphabet).
Actually I'm a big fan of Orwell, but after reading We from Zamiatine. I must say that Orwell, was at least "heavily inspired" (not to say an harsher word), by the much less know work of Zamiatine.
Well, doesn't this resemble in some way the IE problem with windows?
In fact it looks even worst, Windows didn't forbid you to install a new browser, Apple is simply blocking the synchronization with the Palm based on what graounds exactly?
And also today, on a side story, Apple lawyers told Microsoft to stop their Laptop hunters adds... err, hasn't Apple been doing that for the past 3 years or so? This is completly stupid.
I think in a pair of years it will be time for the EU to impose some sanctions on Apple like it did to Microsoft, it's time someone puts them in their place.
Well, unfortunately there are LOTS of crippled people in many African nations because of landmines or because of mutilation (some conflicts are so savage that they actually mutilate the civilian population in order for them not to be able to handle a gun).
Now tell me, do you see them getting fat?
No, because they have very little to eat... and they surely don't have any Coka-Cola or any sweets.
So, sorry if I don't believe all that crap that so many obese people constantly tries to sell... if you are obese, even for people that don't have the time/physical conditions that allows them to exercise more, it's because of their own self control. Eat less and mostly, eat better!
BTW, I'm Portuguese not Catalan so I think I'm kind of exempt on this one... unless of course you want to state the Portuguese is also a dialect of Castilian.
because it teaches consumers that they need not vote with their wallets... which means that eventually, all market inefficiencies will require regulation, with its attendant costs.
This teaches consumers they should vote at the bailout in the elections. Sorry for the reality check, but voting with your wallet simply doesn't work when it comes to such big companies. Want an example: eBay ! They keep pushing sellers around with obscene policies (which are the ones that pay them), but sellers cannot do anything about it. Thankfully that cannot push us as far as non EU countries (like Australia where PayPal is mandatory), since we have market regulations (they cannot oblige us to use their banking services, so they were not able to do the same in UK).
Same goes for mobile companies charges. Starting this Wednesday, maximum price per SMS while roaming will be 0,11 Euros + VAT, instead of the 0,50 to 0,80 Euros they where asking before and why? Roaming market is small, no companies rely on roaming users to give their bulk income, so they can just push us around since they know we don't really have an alternative company to turn to... so, here it comes regulation, a good thing.
Another example, air fare prices. Until about one year ago (like I think it happens in most of the world), the companies just advertises the ticket without any taxes and charges... results, you saw lots of 1 Euro flights that ended up at 50 Euros when you actually had to pay... what could you do about it? Nothing! All the companies did it! So, the EU commission ended up that practice, so now you can actually compare the real costs of flights and choose the cheapest one for you.
The list goes on and on. Practically all the Europeans are for market regulation as long as it's done in a reasonable way. In the end, it always ends up benefiting the costumer.
Just imagine how much the phone companies are winning with all the roaming crap, it's doesn't cost nearly as much as they want us to believe.
Sincerely I really appreciate the market regulation we have in the EU, I think it's a great thing for the consumer. Starting next month the phone companies will be able to charge the maximum of 0,13 EUR per SMS (VAT included) sent while in roaming (in here we never pay for received SMS, in or out the country), well, it's great, but the most absurd is that the plan I have now makes me pay 0,167 EUR per SMS sent inside my own country!
I'm sure EU didn't make this 0,13 EUR price without reason, it's surely enough to pay the home operator and the abroad one their actual service charges and still give them some profit, so just think for a while how much this guys are earning.
They also cut the voice fees to acceptable levels, and in 2 years we shall not pay for received call while abroad and made calls must be charged by the second (at their maximum imposed cap rate per full minute divided by 60):D
So, all in all, market regulation can be a very good thing if done properly.
Well, the right comparison would be with the USA presidential elections of 2000, not 2004 where some higher powers in US forbid the recounting of the votes (if, it's such a democratic country and if there was plenty of time until the new president actually would take charge and if you had nothing to hide, what was the problem of recounting the votes?)
And yes, Bush didn't turn out the dogs against the people in the manifestations when he was 1st elected president... but Nixon did, against peaceful students (they were not even protesters at the manifestation) made in Ohio, America when Nixon ordered the invasion of Cambodia.
All in all, in my country we have a saying: "If you have a glass roof, don't throw stones at your neighbor."
I also have serious doubts that the election in Iran was completely free, but in the west we are being manipulated by the communication.
I was curious about Moussavi and I checked his background before the elections. The wikipedia article about him was quite detailed. Moussavi was quite a dark character, prime minister since 1981 to 1988, arrived in the power by directly supporting Komeni massacre of thousands of revolution dissidents (with many references to being involved in those same massacres as well). During his mandate as prime minister and according to the NGO's acting in the region at the time was responsible for strictnening the sharia law (this is, increased the penalties to whoever broke the sharia laws) and implemented the most restrictive measures to free speech since the revolution. At the end of it's mandate, ordered the execution of 30000 dissidents of the regimen (in 1988).
Suddenly after the Western media starter covering the manifestations in Iran, all the dark passages of Moussavi past disappeared from his wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mir-Hossein_Mousavi
Seems that someone is very interested in covering for Moussavi bloody past... probably because he may be a sanguinary... but he is probably a sanguinary that will be subservient to the west.
Very well Japan. Now please stop slaughtering whales to fulfill your stupid shamanistic beliefs in natural cures and we will love you again (and while you are at it, stop using rhinoceros horn powder as well).
Well, I work with CERN, although not directly at the facilities and I can tell you that yes, it doesn't run in that period because the electricity is much higher.
The accelerator takes months to warm up and begin the experiments and it needs to cool down after running them. That cool down phase is on winter because the electricity is of much higher price at that time (this is not some village in Minnesota, this is in Switzerland and due to everyone having the heating on in winter, the electricity price is much higher in that period).
If it wasn't like that, we could just let it cool down during Summer and take 3 months of vacations and analyse the results on the beach instead of stopping the all thing in winte and having to take shifts during the summer to keep it running.
So bottom line: Although it is not shut down just because it's winter, it has to be shut down at specific intervals and we shut it down in winter because of much higher electricity costs, otherwise, if it was just a question of preference, we would shut it down in the summer.
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Naa, they are just making a joke, to make USA see how idiot it is to have patents like multitouch, double-click, drag and drop, etc ...
I would rather see a law about how ALL nations (and I mean all, not just Iran and North Korea) should be strictly forbidden to have any kind of nuclear weapon. That yes, seems to me a real threat to the planet.
I think the Chinese should call good ol' Steve and ask how to do it.
Just imagine, one big happy App Store China.
What makes some arbitrary border from a UN resolution better?
I humbly recognize you're totally right sir, let's hope Iran considers the UN resolution that forbids them to have nuclear weapons completely arbitrary so that the forces get balanced in the region and Israel can finally stuck it's ass inside it's pants and get put back to the hole their came from as soon as their neighbours are not afraid of nuclear retaliation and can freely engage in a conventional war against them (I understood from your post that taken something by force it's totally acceptable, right?)
We just love the arbitrary bullying of our neighbors and the display of force instead of diplomacy here in Europe, you know!
Well, no doubt Israel has the right to exist ... inside the borders stated in the 1947 UN resolution, not in the way it exists now, illegally occupying practically 2x more territories from it's neighboring countries by the use of force !
If it indeed had explosives and if shooting it indeed would set them off, it would blow the shooter ! That's why you can't still find any reference to it in any protocol !
That's ridiculous. And in fact the details the grandparent stated really give the big picture here, since I was also wondering why the heck would the police shoot a laptop ... 3 times. Now I understand what's going on. Fascism has got these kind of attitudes.
Well, at least they didn't shoot the owner of the laptop ... I guess she was the wrong colour and nationality for them to just don't care about the consequences of shooting an innocent ... this time.
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
No, I'm correct, you are mistaken two legal terms. You are talking about the constitution here, not about the civil laws. And I was referring to the laws!
The government is not forced to make a referendum about a law...
Changing the constitution (or the terms of the Lisbon treaty) is also not permitted. To do so, many countries (including mine) demand a majority of 2/3 in the constituent assembly and then the agreement of the Constitutional Court.
Just imagine if you had to do a referendum about paying taxes ... which part do you think it would win in any country of the western world (perhaps with the sole exception of Northern Europe) ?
That is exactly what the Lisbon treaty will amend, from now on the EU can pass laws and not having them rectified in every single country of the EU in order for them to apply, and that's a good thing cause some countries (coff, coff, Poland, coff, coff), where abusing the system systematically and asking for monetary compensation every time they had to approve something, even when they where in agreement with it.
Freedom includes the risk of losing as well as the possibility of winning.
Oh brother. We have a name for that in here ... it's called "brain washing". People ARE the state. The state must also help them in times of need. We don't want a society full of greedy people that think only about themselves. This is a country and we all have to make for it. And "making for it" in here, doesn't mean putting flags in our window and joining the army. It means contributing so that the other can also feel happy to live here. After all, do you want to make us all a favor and compare the murders and violent criminality in USA vs Europe? C'mon, do it ... amuse us.
Or, you can turn your life over to a government with the promises of all your needs being taken care of from cradle to grave. All you have to give them is... everything.
Everything? The state in here pays for most of my education (not all, and "we the people" are against that, since now we have to pay €980 per year in the faculty and we are not liking it a bit). The state pays when I need to get medical treatment. The state pays (for some time until you can get another job) when I get fired or my company goes bankrupt. The state pays for my retirement salary. In return I pay taxes! But I don't have to pay medical insurances, I don't have to make retirement plans. I pay directly to the state and the state pays directly to me ... no, we don't feel the need to make some Insurance companies CEO rich with our money for them to act as a middleman in a system that doesn't need a middle man. It's just another scheme to make the rich richer and you in your country are pretty good at falling for it.
The problem, for admirers of this system such as yourself, anyway, is that Europe itself is starting to question such an arrangement. People are beginning to wonder why they can't have a good medical care system without massive government expenditures. They're starting to wonder just why it's necessary to be paying so much in taxes.
Wrong. 1st, actually in my country (Portugal) and in Greece, we turned left now. In the other countries that turned a bit right. They turned right not because they feel they are paying to many taxes for getting all that you describe ... they turned a bit right because they are starting to question all the benefits they are giving to illegal immigrants. And I cannot say that they are wrong, because after all, one thing is contributing to someone that is in your country to develop it-self and the country, and plans to have a future there and to make it a better place to their children. Another is to provide all that to people that just come there to get the most out of it and then leave after some years. And all the security problems that we are having because of that. In my country for instance, it's pretty easy for a foreigner to immigrate here, they just have to get a job and they can stay. After 10 years of work, they get nationality. But I don't want them, unless they are legal or legalize themselves immediately! After all, give me one good reason for someone not to be willing to be legal if they can, unless they intend to participate in criminal activities or not to have a job and stay begging all the time in the streets?
They're starting to wonder why starting a business has to be a bureaucratic nightmare.
Wrong again. You can create a business here, in less than 1 hour in the internet ! I'm quite sure it beats your country hands down in that.
Well, the last civil war they had was about "Shall we continue to enslave people or not.", so something as simple to understand to Europeans as a basic practice of living in society that is "You shall not let anyone die just because they are not rich and can't pay for medical treatment." may very well not apply in the USA.
I can only see positive things about all your points.
Actually, I believe it was an Apple Keynote presentation.
Since he was Russian and the original name is in Cyrilic, different Languages "translate" the name differently. In Portuguese and French (for instance), it's Zamiatine (we don't have Y in the Portuguese alphabet).
Actually I'm a big fan of Orwell, but after reading We from Zamiatine. I must say that Orwell, was at least "heavily inspired" (not to say an harsher word), by the much less know work of Zamiatine.
When is someone posting the extended version of LoTR box in 720p at PirateBay please?
In fact it looks even worst, Windows didn't forbid you to install a new browser, Apple is simply blocking the synchronization with the Palm based on what graounds exactly?
And also today, on a side story, Apple lawyers told Microsoft to stop their Laptop hunters adds ... err, hasn't Apple been doing that for the past 3 years or so? This is completly stupid.
I think in a pair of years it will be time for the EU to impose some sanctions on Apple like it did to Microsoft, it's time someone puts them in their place.
Now tell me, do you see them getting fat?
No, because they have very little to eat ... and they surely don't have any Coka-Cola or any sweets.
So, sorry if I don't believe all that crap that so many obese people constantly tries to sell ... if you are obese, even for people that don't have the time/physical conditions that allows them to exercise more, it's because of their own self control. Eat less and mostly, eat better!
BTW, I'm Portuguese not Catalan so I think I'm kind of exempt on this one ... unless of course you want to state the Portuguese is also a dialect of Castilian.
because it teaches consumers that they need not vote with their wallets... which means that eventually, all market inefficiencies will require regulation, with its attendant costs.
This teaches consumers they should vote at the bailout in the elections. Sorry for the reality check, but voting with your wallet simply doesn't work when it comes to such big companies. Want an example: eBay ! They keep pushing sellers around with obscene policies (which are the ones that pay them), but sellers cannot do anything about it. Thankfully that cannot push us as far as non EU countries (like Australia where PayPal is mandatory), since we have market regulations (they cannot oblige us to use their banking services, so they were not able to do the same in UK).
Same goes for mobile companies charges. Starting this Wednesday, maximum price per SMS while roaming will be 0,11 Euros + VAT, instead of the 0,50 to 0,80 Euros they where asking before and why? Roaming market is small, no companies rely on roaming users to give their bulk income, so they can just push us around since they know we don't really have an alternative company to turn to ... so, here it comes regulation, a good thing.
Another example, air fare prices. Until about one year ago (like I think it happens in most of the world), the companies just advertises the ticket without any taxes and charges ... results, you saw lots of 1 Euro flights that ended up at 50 Euros when you actually had to pay ... what could you do about it? Nothing! All the companies did it! So, the EU commission ended up that practice, so now you can actually compare the real costs of flights and choose the cheapest one for you.
The list goes on and on. Practically all the Europeans are for market regulation as long as it's done in a reasonable way. In the end, it always ends up benefiting the costumer.
Sincerely I really appreciate the market regulation we have in the EU, I think it's a great thing for the consumer. Starting next month the phone companies will be able to charge the maximum of 0,13 EUR per SMS (VAT included) sent while in roaming (in here we never pay for received SMS, in or out the country), well, it's great, but the most absurd is that the plan I have now makes me pay 0,167 EUR per SMS sent inside my own country!
I'm sure EU didn't make this 0,13 EUR price without reason, it's surely enough to pay the home operator and the abroad one their actual service charges and still give them some profit, so just think for a while how much this guys are earning.
They also cut the voice fees to acceptable levels, and in 2 years we shall not pay for received call while abroad and made calls must be charged by the second (at their maximum imposed cap rate per full minute divided by 60) :D
So, all in all, market regulation can be a very good thing if done properly.
And yes, Bush didn't turn out the dogs against the people in the manifestations when he was 1st elected president ... but Nixon did, against peaceful students (they were not even protesters at the manifestation) made in Ohio, America when Nixon ordered the invasion of Cambodia.
All in all, in my country we have a saying: "If you have a glass roof, don't throw stones at your neighbor."
I was curious about Moussavi and I checked his background before the elections. The wikipedia article about him was quite detailed. Moussavi was quite a dark character, prime minister since 1981 to 1988, arrived in the power by directly supporting Komeni massacre of thousands of revolution dissidents (with many references to being involved in those same massacres as well). During his mandate as prime minister and according to the NGO's acting in the region at the time was responsible for strictnening the sharia law (this is, increased the penalties to whoever broke the sharia laws) and implemented the most restrictive measures to free speech since the revolution. At the end of it's mandate, ordered the execution of 30000 dissidents of the regimen (in 1988).
Suddenly after the Western media starter covering the manifestations in Iran, all the dark passages of Moussavi past disappeared from his wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mir-Hossein_Mousavi
Seems that someone is very interested in covering for Moussavi bloody past ... probably because he may be a sanguinary ... but he is probably a sanguinary that will be subservient to the west.
Very well Japan. Now please stop slaughtering whales to fulfill your stupid shamanistic beliefs in natural cures and we will love you again (and while you are at it, stop using rhinoceros horn powder as well).
The accelerator takes months to warm up and begin the experiments and it needs to cool down after running them. That cool down phase is on winter because the electricity is of much higher price at that time (this is not some village in Minnesota, this is in Switzerland and due to everyone having the heating on in winter, the electricity price is much higher in that period).
If it wasn't like that, we could just let it cool down during Summer and take 3 months of vacations and analyse the results on the beach instead of stopping the all thing in winte and having to take shifts during the summer to keep it running.
So bottom line: Although it is not shut down just because it's winter, it has to be shut down at specific intervals and we shut it down in winter because of much higher electricity costs, otherwise, if it was just a question of preference, we would shut it down in the summer.