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User: nickmalthus

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  1. Re:Rubbish! on US Forces Ready To Strike Syria If Ordered · · Score: 1

    Does anyone really belive Assad would want to drag the US, the greatest military in history, into his war with a chemical weapons attack? He already has Russian support and the war is a stalemate in his favor. How many mideast wars does the US have to engage in before people wake up to the reality that we fight for empire and not in defense of our country?

    "If there be one principle more deeply rooted than any other in the mind of every American it is that we should have nothing to do with conquest." --Thomas Jefferson

  2. Re: You may not want to admit it ... on Edward Snowden Files For Political Asylum In Russia · · Score: 5, Informative
  3. Meet in the middle on China Says Serious Polluters Will Get the Death Penalty · · Score: 1

    When free trade with China was originally promoted it was always promised China would become more like America with open markets and civil liberties. But I believe the opposite is true with America becoming more like China. Some examples are exemption of clean water act for oil and gas exploration, promotion of the keystone tar sand pipeline, and monsanto protection act. While these crony capitalism arrangements would not be surprising in China they are becoming more frequent here. Abolition of labor unions, total government surveillance of all communication, widespread incarceration, and glorification of militarism are other areas where America appears to be moving towards totalitarianism. Wlll someday the scale tip and will China become more progessive than America?

  4. Ellison must have been a big fan of the game

  5. Return of the guilded age on Intel Streaming Media Service Faces An Uphill Battle for Bandwidth · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Monopolies and trusts are back in style along with egregious wealth disparity. Why compete when you can collude.

  6. To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts on Ask Personal Audio's James Logan About Patents, Playlists, and Podcasts · · Score: 1

    The intent of patent and copyright laws is "to promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts". Certainly back in the 18th century when the Constitution was written access to information, resources, and research specialists was limited and costly. Now in the 21st century, with global economics focused on knowledge and service sectors, these assets are extremely abundant. Would the progress of Science and the Arts be better served by eliminating legal barries to innovation, such as patents, and letting the market decide which unencumbered producers survive? If not, why not?

  7. portable pc on Dell's New X18: 5 Pounds, 18 Inches · · Score: 1

    I like the concept of a portable pc vs. a laptop. I don't travel as much as I used to and didnt want to spend 1500 on a decent laptop. Instead, I bought a 1080p 22 inch acer led, a itx fm2 motherboard, 16gb ram, AMD 4ghz 4 core APU, a ssd, and a 1tb hard drive all in compact mini-itx case. All of this plus a keyboard fit in a large backpack. Now it is heavy, takes a few minutes to assemble and disassemble, and does not have battery backup but I feel the increased productivity and price per performance is well worth it.

  8. Personalized Tattoos on Motorola Developing Pill and Tattoo Authentication Methods · · Score: 1

    Maybe the electronic tattoos can be personalized, allowing a user to project a retro "holocaust concentration camp ID number" type vibe.

  9. Overly complicated on Motorola Developing Pill and Tattoo Authentication Methods · · Score: 1

    Instead of focusing on ergonomics they should simply force the user to wear a cattle ear tag. After all, cattle is what the government and corporate America think we all are.

  10. Keep your eyes on the real criminals on Internet Payment Processor Liberty Reserve Accused of Laundering $6 Billion · · Score: 1

    I find it ironic that the attorney general and law enforcement agents got all worked up about a six billion dollar scheme while the federal reserve corporation pumped out trillions of dollars to mask banker fraud and said bankers have yet to face signficant regulator oversight and proscecution. It is kind of like those small yappy dogs you see in peoples yards chained to a short leash. So excited to serve and protect but restrained by their master.

  11. Re:We're from the government, and here to help you on Google Unable To Keep Paying App Developers In Argentina · · Score: 0

    Only time will tell if Argentina's monetary policies further the interest of the Argentinian people. Bear in mind that central banks like the federal reserve corporation are creating money from thin air at zero percent interest rates with no end in site for years. There is no reason for banks to solicit investment from the free market when they can just go to the central bank to print more money. Additionally there is marginal benefit for people to save money in a bank with near zero interest rates. Who knows what the long term effects will be of this major shift in investment and glut of global currencies? If a global economic collapse is imminent can Argentina be blamed for try to isolate itself in preparation?

  12. Re:Site owners not so innocent looking. on WIPO Panel Says Ron Paul Guilty of Reverse Domain Name Hijacking · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The site owners clearly stated Ron Paul didn't even attempt to negotiate before filing his greivance, completely bypassing a free market solution he always favors over government intervention. In every one of his speeches he always bashes every function of government and only relents to the necessity of government in vague terms when pressed. As a congressman he participated in pork barrel spending for his district and his response was basically "when in Rome...". Appearantly he has no issue wielding the force of law on an unethical basis when it furthers his own personal interest. He is a hypocrite.

  13. CableCard & DLNA/DTCP-IP on Amazon Reportedly Working On Set-Top Box · · Score: 1

    Even with Internet streaming A list content choices are fewer than with a cable subscription. Hopefully the box will support DTCP-IP. SiliconDust started to support DLNA earlier this year for the HDHomerun prime which means you can finally have CableCard->HDHomeRun-> IP-> TV on any DLNA supported device in the home like a Samsung smart TV and smart phone. Even premium content can be played on DTCP-IP enabled devices like the PS3 which means the windows media server monopoly for premium content has been ended. This summer SiliconDust is going to release the HDHR4-US with h264 encoding which means lower bandwith streaming and more device support. The only downside is the lack of TV guide support altough most HTPC software already has TV guide support via the Internet.

  14. Google OpenFlow on Vint Cerf: SDN Is a Model For a Better Internet · · Score: 1

    Also during his presentation Vint Cert raved about the taste of his company's dog food.

  15. Re:So now the US is forcing foreign online purchas on US Senate Passes National Internet Sales Tax Mandate · · Score: 1

    Yeah, with all the free trade agreements in place purchasing outside the US will be even more appealing. Why buy a chinese made monitor from a US retailer when one can buy the same one for less including shipping and without taxes from a korean retailer off the internet.

  16. Corporate Taxes? on Internet Sales Tax Vote This Week In US Senate · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Interesting that Congress is focusing on tax loop holes that individuals take advantage of while leaving in place loop holes that allow corporations to hide hundreds of billions of dollars in tax havens. Equally interesting is that all these states that are groveling for additional revenue grant egregious tax breaks to said corporations in the hopes of luring their facilities for fleeting benefit until the inevitable better deal comes along. Who does Congress represent again?

  17. Re:The case was badly constructed on Supreme Court Disallows FISA Challenges · · Score: 2

    The Constitution is pretty clear that "unreasonable searches" cannot be performed "without probable cause". We can deduce the government is intercepting every electronic communication through various leaks and investigations. I think any average American would agree that these searches are unreasonable and lack probable cause. Certainly there would have been no American independence if King George had this technology.

    As for personal harm, the mere knowledge that the government is monitoring everyone's communications creates a chilling effect on the free flow of knowledge and ideas. Does anyone really want to associate themselves with political movements like Occupy Wall Street, even if they identify with their values, when they know the government is actively infiltrating and monitoring them? Has know one suffered mental anguish over expresing an opinion that may put them on a political watch list?

    These so-called conservative judges, who are protecting the use of these tools of tyranny that Stalin and Hitler would have salivated over, will be remembered in history for their inaction to combat totalitarianism is America.

  18. Pentagon Accounting Standards on There Is Plenty To Cut At the Pentagon · · Score: 4, Informative

    On September 10th, 2001 Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld announced the pentagon could not track 2.3 trillion dollars. To this day, the Pentagon cannot be accurately audited For an institution with organization and discipline as its creed this is laughable. If Congress mandated that they would not receive one penny in funding until they got their house in order this problem would be solved overnight. Unfortunately the power of fear, obstinate Militarism, and the federal reserve corporations ability to manufacture unlimited debt provides no impetus for Congress to take the necessary corrective action.

  19. Nothing new under the Sun on Who Controls Vert.x: Red Hat, VMware, Neither? · · Score: 4, Informative

    There is precedence for this, it happened before with the Sun OpenDS and the Sun/Oracle Hudson Open Source projects. When the contest of ownership comes down to project developers and corporate lawyers the lawyers usually win the legal battle but the developers win the community battle due to forking.

  20. depends on who the perpetrator is on Hacker Behind Leaked Nude Celebrity Photos Gets 10 Years · · Score: 1

    As illegal as breaking and entering into someone's home and stealing photos from a bedroom safe.

    This isn't illegal when the government does it in mass.

  21. cablecard support on Valve's Big Picture Could Be a Linux Game Console · · Score: 1

    If it is its own distro maybe valve could get official cablecard support. There are no linux cablecard apps for secure content and microsoft is dumping windows media center. I would love to have a better alternative to renting a five year old dvr for 20 dollars a month.

  22. Re:Yes ... I see the evidence on Another Call For Abolishing Patents, This One From the St. Louis Fed · · Score: 1

    Promotion is about the rate of change, not change itself. Obviously since the Renaissance the arts and sciences have improved over time, with and without patents. The conversation now is about how patents fit into the world as it is now. America has all but abandoned tariffs, a taxation cornerstone of governments for thousands of years, in favor of global free trade. If America can jettison one form of commerce restriction why not another?

  23. Re:there's a reason for patents on Another Call For Abolishing Patents, This One From the St. Louis Fed · · Score: 1

    China has lax patent enforcement as it is and with America in trillions of dollars of debt to them I seriously doubt they will care much in violating US patent law if it furthers their interests. Foxconn is already planning on replacing most of its human workforce with robots. If they can make an iPhone with robots they can make a toaster. As I alluded to earlier the velocity of technology is a barrier enough to competitions making the need for patents obsolete.

  24. Re:there's a reason for patents on Another Call For Abolishing Patents, This One From the St. Louis Fed · · Score: 1

    Patents have always been a contract between innovators and society to promote the progress of the arts and sciences, emphasis on progress. I personally agree with the St. Louis Fed that the times have changed and patents have become more of a hindrance than an incentive for progress. Back when America first established the patent system as a part of its experimental government the economy was almost totally based on agriculture. Scientific progress was difficult as there was only a small minority of the population who had access to higher education, scientists worked in practical isolation due to communications delays and access to publications, and they also had restricted access to raw materials needed for experimentation. Contrast that with today where we live in the information age and a global economy consisting of hundreds of millions of scientist and engineers who have the entire world's knowledge at their fingertips. In the near future 3D printing technologies will change the course of manufacturing and may allow anyone to manifest pre-rendered designs into the corporeal world. With this true paradigm shift in scientific development and manufacturing can it be said with certainty that government granted and enforced monopoly on ideas that by all accounts are arbitrarily defined promote progress instead of stifle it?

    Let's also not forget about the chilling effect patents have on scientific research. A notable example of this is breast cancer research where a company patented the key genes related to breast cancer causing other researches to become concerned with legal liability.

    I also disagree that without patents there will be no innovation. As Plato wrote two thousand years ago, necessity is the mother of all invention. Innovation brings competitive advantage and that will always be rewarded by the markets.

    One may argue that patents are still needed for investment intensive research like drug manufacturing. However, today most pharmaceutical companies spend only a small percentage of their budget on R&D. If patents were abolished then an alternative means to fund expensive research would be to bolster the existing public research grants that already fund research in areas that promote aggregate societal benefit or fund X-Prize type contests.

  25. Re:Zero sympathy...none...nada...bupkis on Assange Makes Statement Calling For an End To the "Witch Hunt" · · Score: 1

    I disagree, I think personal income records should be public record if we all truly believe in the "Free Market" and allowing competition to chase profit.