Self repairing machines maybe science fiction now, but so were cell phones with internet browsers in 1995
The EU also has spent billions of dollars on a brain mapping/simulation project as well.
If that ever gets significant progress it wouldn't be too far fetched for machines to self diagnose and self repair.
The difference between the buggy and whip and auto makers is the automakers still required people to work.
I think the question should be asked when will automation be good enough to exclude any human input. Even the engineers and artists will be out of job.
I heard a VR software developer say "People overestimate technological change for a year, but under estimate change when you talk about a decade."
Something to that effect...
So its worth to give a bit of thinking on what happens when machine learning is good enough to eliminate current jobs and all possible jobs after that.
Besides who is going to foot the bill to retrain all 14 million truck drivers when Google self driving cars are good enough? I highly doubt they are all going to be robot repairmen.
Hrm... I take it you haven't tried the product yet or watched the reaction of people who have used it.
I'm a child of the 90's so I used to play those VR games for a dollar for 5 minutes in the arcades and have to agree those were pretty shitty.
However, the Oculus Rift is something else to behold.
I own a dev kit and I actually get "Oh shit" moments in the Rift playing the roller coaster demos. Regular games don't do that for me. I get vertigo playing Minecraft in the Rift when I am high up building something. Regular Minecraft doesn't do that.
When I play Euro Truck Simulator 2 in the Rift I find myself looking left and right and checking my mirrors just like I drive a car in real life. I even look out the window to look at the scenery. Without the Rift I don't do that.
And this is a low rez version without positional tracking.
Its not a gimmick and its not going away. 2 billion dollars says its not going away. Even if you hate Facebook you can invest in one of the other kickstarters like AntVR and use their product.
I've been participating in the RiftMax shows and it reminds me of the scene in Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex where they are in a virtual chat room on the net.
One a side note. If your significant other doesn't allow you 30 minutes of me time uninterrupted then you are going to have a rocky relationship.
When my special something is reading a book. I leave her alone unless its an emergency. (Also she has a bad habit of watching TV shows ahead of me on hulu so if I bother her she will start saying spoilers).
When I'm on the computer she does the same.
I just make sure at a certain time I turn the computer off and spend some time with her before we go to bed.
We generally watch the Daily Show and Colbert Report and then head to bed.
Actually... I have an Oculus Rift and have to say I don't use it more than 30 minutes to an hour at a time.
Mostly because a lack of a killer app at this point (Skyrim with special drivers comes close, but I think Star Citizen will be the app everyone has to get VR because its amazing just sitting in the hanger looking at the 3d screens sitting in your ship's hanger that pop out at you).
Anyways... If you can't find 30 minutes to an hour a day to enjoy some me time then I would argue that there is something wrong with your life.
I don't have kids personally but I have dealt with families that do and basically unless you go to bed when the kid does, you should have at least 30 minutes to enjoy the experience.
Basically I spend 30 minutes alone playing games. Then maybe an hour watching TV with the significant other and then to bed to get 8 hours of sleep.
If not, then I would argue, you are going to have stress management issues in your life and no one wants that.
So yeah... The Oculus Rift is amazing. Most of the demos are short games so I haven't spent six hour with it in a sitting, but demos like Titans of Space really take my breath away.
Also the rollercoaster demo made me go "Oh shit!" out loud. Only happened once since successive rides had me knowing I would be ok, but no non-Oculus Rift game has ever made me fear for my safety.
Its something that even non-video game players can get a kick of it.
Anyways, I own one and its amazing. The only problem with it is that I'm going to have to buy an expensive computer to play the 1080p and the lack of games for it right now.
Once both of those issues are resolved. I think we are seeing a revolution.
the whole 'female audience' thing is very likely to be utter fucking bullshit.
In Japan it is.
If you go to Japan and notice a bunch of old ladies reading comics, chances are you seeing the Yaoi section. (I went holy shit and started l started laughing when I realized it was true what they said when I walked through a store in Akihabara once)
Truth be told, not all Yaoi is pornographic. I'd wager the majority of it isn't in Japan. They have a weird sense of things. Like maid cafes and host clubs, they get off on subtle things like "dead Japanese parent syndrome" (where the plot of the story is the kids parents have died releasing them from their obligations... strange how so many Anime and Manga's have that plot line)
Anyways, my point is, that the stuff English speakers google is probably pornographic because that is what they expect from Japan while in reality Japan isn't all about sex.
The point is that no private organization could ever cause as much destruction and injustice as government -- it's just not logically possible. Even when government employs coercion (wrongly) on behalf of a private organization, it is government that ultimately holds the key, not the private organization.
PRO:TIP
Poor credit ratings can hurt a person far worse than a IRS audit can these days. Why?
Because employers, apartments, housing, cars, and to some regard school is now determined by your credit.
(not that its harder to hire people with good credit these days, but its still considered a black mark)
And credit is purely a three corporation deal not handled by the government.
So if they wanted to for some unknown reason, they could blackball you from ever getting a good job again unless you play by their rules.
So yes, they seem to have reserved a special right in that regard when it comes to your well being.
Also health insurance... Companies have been leveraging the threat of going without health insurance for some time. Its one of the reasons many people put up with employee abuse when it comes to forcing them to do things beyond the scope of the original agreement.
Its not said, but it weighs on everyone's mind when they think about saying "no" to unreasonable demands of an employer or when thinking about taking a new job from a non-corporate who doesn't give benefits.
If there was universal healthcare in the states like France or Canada, then employers would have a harder time forcing employees into doing things they'd unethical things or simply the fear of not being able to pay medical bills.
If you're going to put the resources in place to do encryption at your end, why not just put the backup there too?
Simply keeping everything in house at one location does not protect from acts of god or bad luck.
Fires, floods, and theft happen.
A really good backup system includes off site backup somewhere in the loop.
This doesn't mean you have to use the cloud to do it.
You could have a simple system with someone taking backup tapes to a different office or something, or even taking encrypted hard drives to a safety deposit box.
Pointless. A simple 40mm bofors (cheap as hell) or a properly set up AA Gatling will do the job far, FAR better against boat swarms. At the same time they are far cheaper, integrate into system with self-auto corrective targeting based on radar signature of gun's own shells, do not require a heavy supply of energy and have significantly fewer points of failure.
Technically, using wooden hull ships with broadsides iron cast muzzle loaded cannons are cheaper even still, but you don't see modern navies using them.
The key threat the US navy is thinking about is either:
A. Missiles B. Suicide boats
AND
All while in "friendly" harbors.
Using a Gatling gun in such an environment would cause problems so to say if someone fired a missile and they had to shoot it down over civilians because not all the bullets hit the target.
A laser would be far much more accurate without worrying about hitting anything else that happens to be nearby.
What are even several hundred thousand, or millions, of civilians going to do against just a few tanks and bombers? You can't defeat a bomber by dog piling it.
One of the funny stories in Egypt was the ones where a can of spray paint could defeat a multi-million dollar tank.
Actually it was a WW2 tactic where you would just throw smoke bombs at a tank and force them to unbutton, but the tactic remains the same. If a tank can't out their optic ports, they are basically blind and the only way to see where they are going is to open a hatch.
Rape is a serious crime in any society, including societies with no concept of a difference in rights based on gender, and even in matriarchal cultures.
What?! What?! What?!
Are you saying all those right winged religious persons saying its women to blame for rape don't exist? (Islam and Christian)
(Google "women to blame for rape" for your sources)
Laws of intent seem rather dubious to me simply because one can craft any intention out of anything innocent.
"If you give me six lines written by the hand of the most honest of men, I will find something in them which will hang him." -Cardinal Richelieu (disputed tho)
The point of this quote is that authoritarian figures can simply take anything you do or say and make a crime out of it with intent:
You bought a gun. Well, maybe you are planning to kill a politician with it?
You have a chemistry set in your house. Well, maybe you were planning to make drugs with it?
You have encryption on your computer. Well, maybe you were planning on hiding illegal activity?
See where I'm going with this. It is simply your word against theirs. No one can read your mind to see if you are telling the truth, so they are simply accusing you of something that you haven't done but could possibly do. How can you defend against that?
Crimes should be things that actually happened after the fact or in progress. Yes the cops should stop a person who is trying to commit a crime and yes they should prosecute them for the action itself, but if you can convict a person on the intent to commit a crime are basically condemning the good majority of citizens who would never in their life commit such a crime.
So if your local newspaper (or popular website like say yahoo news) printed a giant first page story saying " is a pedophile" you'd be perfectly fine with that?
I wouldn't but, if you think about it, even local civil courts are an extension of the federal government (indirectly) and one could construe that when a court finds someone guilty of libel, they are in fact restricting someone freedom of speech (even if it is lies).
I mean take this phrase for example:
"The president is an idiot!"
Which you and I know is covered under the first amendment even though its not really quantifiable true (I think he's quit a smart man actually but anways...)
Whats the difference between that and:
"My neighbor is an idiot"
Why would that be wrong to publish in a newspaper and not the president one? This is more of an ethics debate I guess, but you can call someone a pedophile and believe it to be true even though there is no empirical truth to the matter. I mean people said, Micheal Jackson was a pedo, and it actually seemed socially acceptable to say this in public even though there was no truth to the mater.
Where do you draw the line? And do you want government involved especially when there is groups out there that would love to sue the pants off anyone who dare criticize them? (say Scientology libel and slander cases)
No. Which is why rich persons or corporations have been known to force people to settle out of court because they know they couldn't afford a protracted legal battle even if they won the case.
Anonymous might demolish a genuine bad guy, or they might destroy the life of some innocent teenager.
FFS! People need to stop treating Anon as some organized group.
If a flash mob helped a lady across the street in LA and another lynched a man in New York, would you consider them the same group of people?
Serioiusly, its just like old time lynchings they used to have in the old days when a bunch of people got together and doled out random justice... Often picking the wrong person to extract it on (like the time a bunch of laid of car workers in Detroit killed a Korean man because they were pissed off at Japanese carmakers in the 1980's).
The funny thing about your statement is, there are grassroots and smaller parties who would fit 80 percent of Americans more than the Republicans or Democrats do but they seem to be totally unaware of it.
Time for a history lesson...
In a first past the post two parties will always dominate. Doesn't matter what names or their policies are, but a 3rd party always has math against it.
Oddly enough the two oldest democracies that are still around today went with FFP because voting had never really been tried before (UK and the USA) while the more newer ones have gone with other forms such as proportional representation (like Germany and Israel). This was that as new countries were being formed or overthrowing their old monarchies, they realized that the FFP was flawed in someways as they could see how it was in the countries that had it (usually looking at the UK) and being more modern times (1890 through 1950s) they went with PR, IRV or STV (single transferable vote) in which 3rd parties get a greater voice in government and the change of a 3rd party actually becoming a 1st or 2nd party is greater (like the German Greens or the Israeli lukid).
So if you want change... Real change with 3rd parties, you need to change the constitution. Of course the vested parties won't really be too keen on that but from my understanding a few states passed STV last year in some local elections so you'll start seeing 3rd parties on grassroots levels in some places.
Its not that hard to create a fake profile on FB. Even a person of the opposite sex than you.
A really neat trick is to put yourself in a relationship with the fake person and then have fake public love conversations to make other females think you are a normal guy. Then fake your alter ego cheating on you and then set your status to single.
Then you'll get sympathy from all the real females...
Not that I know anything about this though....
But seriously, it wouldn't be too hard to fake your gender on FB. Especially in a country where everyone basically dresses the role.
Many jokes of that time period and area were always word of mouth (for obvious reasons) and many jokes ended up being reworded for the leaders and country it involved. Since there was no official publication of the jokes (as that would be treasonous) no one knew that they were copying each other until the after the 1990's.
example
Honecker and Mielke are discussing their hobbies. (both historical persons in charge of the Stasi in East German) Honecker: "I collect all the jokes about me that are in circulation." Mielke: "Then we have almost the same hobby. I collect those who bring the jokes into circulation."
"Comrade Brezhnev, is it true that you collect political jokes?" â" "Yes" â" "And how many have you collected so far?" â" "Three and a half labor camps."
The "point" to me sounded like a bunch of bullshit cyberspeak about how the internet is going to turn government into a big drum circle where we all join hands and sing songs of peace and love.
Believe it or not, without the internet and blackberries, the protests in Tunusia and Egypt would not have gained the traction it did.
Now it seems that you are referring to the situation in the USA, but that is a bit more complicated than going into the streets and throwing rocks as most people are invested into the system and have no need to go into the streets to throw rocks.
". The reason for Gitmo is that we are effectively capturing enemy combatants that we cannot properly give Geneva Convention protections to because they do not fight in uniform, nor do they have a sovereign entity that can guarantee punishment for their illegal activities or failing that, who will feel the need or desire to protect our own imprisoned troops in exchange for protection of their imprisoned troops."
After WWII, German officers were hanged for not giving French and Soviet resistant fighters due process under the Geneva conventions. In their defense, the Germans said "They weren't wearing uniforms."
"If you don't like the laws of the country don't visit it. Ignorance of the law is never innocence."
The problem is that it seems the US believes the opposite is true. That if you commit an action on foreign soil that is legal there but illegal in the US, that you must come to the US and face trial even if you weren't a US citizen to begin with.
At least that is what some politicians are calling for...
"Wikileaks' supporters could raise a billboard encouraging support of Wikileaks' mission."
In the USA, the majority of billboards worth a hoot are owned by Clearchannel, who I have a feeling would not allow a pro-Wikileaks billboard to be posted.
Also, in that regard, do you think Mubarak would even consider stepping down if the Egyptians posted a billboard? I think not. Hence, the 'illegal' protests in the street.
Slashdot Mirror
Self repairing machines maybe science fiction now, but so were cell phones with internet browsers in 1995
The EU also has spent billions of dollars on a brain mapping/simulation project as well.
If that ever gets significant progress it wouldn't be too far fetched for machines to self diagnose and self repair.
The difference between the buggy and whip and auto makers is the automakers still required people to work.
I think the question should be asked when will automation be good enough to exclude any human input. Even the engineers and artists will be out of job.
I heard a VR software developer say "People overestimate technological change for a year, but under estimate change when you talk about a decade."
Something to that effect...
So its worth to give a bit of thinking on what happens when machine learning is good enough to eliminate current jobs and all possible jobs after that.
Besides who is going to foot the bill to retrain all 14 million truck drivers when Google self driving cars are good enough? I highly doubt they are all going to be robot repairmen.
Hrm... I take it you haven't tried the product yet or watched the reaction of people who have used it.
I'm a child of the 90's so I used to play those VR games for a dollar for 5 minutes in the arcades and have to agree those were pretty shitty.
However, the Oculus Rift is something else to behold.
I own a dev kit and I actually get "Oh shit" moments in the Rift playing the roller coaster demos. Regular games don't do that for me. I get vertigo playing Minecraft in the Rift when I am high up building something. Regular Minecraft doesn't do that.
When I play Euro Truck Simulator 2 in the Rift I find myself looking left and right and checking my mirrors just like I drive a car in real life. I even look out the window to look at the scenery. Without the Rift I don't do that.
And this is a low rez version without positional tracking.
Its not a gimmick and its not going away. 2 billion dollars says its not going away. Even if you hate Facebook you can invest in one of the other kickstarters like AntVR and use their product.
I've been participating in the RiftMax shows and it reminds me of the scene in Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex where they are in a virtual chat room on the net.
This is going to be big.
One a side note. If your significant other doesn't allow you 30 minutes of me time uninterrupted then you are going to have a rocky relationship.
When my special something is reading a book. I leave her alone unless its an emergency. (Also she has a bad habit of watching TV shows ahead of me on hulu so if I bother her she will start saying spoilers).
When I'm on the computer she does the same.
I just make sure at a certain time I turn the computer off and spend some time with her before we go to bed.
We generally watch the Daily Show and Colbert Report and then head to bed.
Actually... I have an Oculus Rift and have to say I don't use it more than 30 minutes to an hour at a time.
Mostly because a lack of a killer app at this point (Skyrim with special drivers comes close, but I think Star Citizen will be the app everyone has to get VR because its amazing just sitting in the hanger looking at the 3d screens sitting in your ship's hanger that pop out at you).
Anyways... If you can't find 30 minutes to an hour a day to enjoy some me time then I would argue that there is something wrong with your life.
I don't have kids personally but I have dealt with families that do and basically unless you go to bed when the kid does, you should have at least 30 minutes to enjoy the experience.
Basically I spend 30 minutes alone playing games. Then maybe an hour watching TV with the significant other and then to bed to get 8 hours of sleep.
If not, then I would argue, you are going to have stress management issues in your life and no one wants that.
So yeah... The Oculus Rift is amazing. Most of the demos are short games so I haven't spent six hour with it in a sitting, but demos like Titans of Space really take my breath away.
Also the rollercoaster demo made me go "Oh shit!" out loud. Only happened once since successive rides had me knowing I would be ok, but no non-Oculus Rift game has ever made me fear for my safety.
Its something that even non-video game players can get a kick of it.
Anyways, I own one and its amazing. The only problem with it is that I'm going to have to buy an expensive computer to play the 1080p and the lack of games for it right now.
Once both of those issues are resolved. I think we are seeing a revolution.
the whole 'female audience' thing is very likely to be utter fucking bullshit.
In Japan it is.
If you go to Japan and notice a bunch of old ladies reading comics, chances are you seeing the Yaoi section. (I went holy shit and started l started laughing when I realized it was true what they said when I walked through a store in Akihabara once)
Truth be told, not all Yaoi is pornographic. I'd wager the majority of it isn't in Japan. They have a weird sense of things. Like maid cafes and host clubs, they get off on subtle things like "dead Japanese parent syndrome" (where the plot of the story is the kids parents have died releasing them from their obligations... strange how so many Anime and Manga's have that plot line)
Anyways, my point is, that the stuff English speakers google is probably pornographic because that is what they expect from Japan while in reality Japan isn't all about sex.
The point is that no private organization could ever cause as much destruction and injustice as government -- it's just not logically possible. Even when government employs coercion (wrongly) on behalf of a private organization, it is government that ultimately holds the key, not the private organization.
PRO:TIP
Poor credit ratings can hurt a person far worse than a IRS audit can these days. Why?
Because employers, apartments, housing, cars, and to some regard school is now determined by your credit.
(not that its harder to hire people with good credit these days, but its still considered a black mark)
And credit is purely a three corporation deal not handled by the government.
So if they wanted to for some unknown reason, they could blackball you from ever getting a good job again unless you play by their rules.
So yes, they seem to have reserved a special right in that regard when it comes to your well being.
Also health insurance... Companies have been leveraging the threat of going without health insurance for some time. Its one of the reasons many people put up with employee abuse when it comes to forcing them to do things beyond the scope of the original agreement.
Its not said, but it weighs on everyone's mind when they think about saying "no" to unreasonable demands of an employer or when thinking about taking a new job from a non-corporate who doesn't give benefits.
If there was universal healthcare in the states like France or Canada, then employers would have a harder time forcing employees into doing things they'd unethical things or simply the fear of not being able to pay medical bills.
If you're going to put the resources in place to do encryption at your end, why not just put the backup there too?
Simply keeping everything in house at one location does not protect from acts of god or bad luck.
Fires, floods, and theft happen.
A really good backup system includes off site backup somewhere in the loop.
This doesn't mean you have to use the cloud to do it.
You could have a simple system with someone taking backup tapes to a different office or something, or even taking encrypted hard drives to a safety deposit box.
Pointless. A simple 40mm bofors (cheap as hell) or a properly set up AA Gatling will do the job far, FAR better against boat swarms. At the same time they are far cheaper, integrate into system with self-auto corrective targeting based on radar signature of gun's own shells, do not require a heavy supply of energy and have significantly fewer points of failure.
Technically, using wooden hull ships with broadsides iron cast muzzle loaded cannons are cheaper even still, but you don't see modern navies using them.
The key threat the US navy is thinking about is either:
A. Missiles
B. Suicide boats
AND
All while in "friendly" harbors.
Using a Gatling gun in such an environment would cause problems so to say if someone fired a missile and they had to shoot it down over civilians because not all the bullets hit the target.
A laser would be far much more accurate without worrying about hitting anything else that happens to be nearby.
Hanging for bribery? A little harsh don't you think?
The Chinese don't think so.
Well.... They shot him rather than hanged, but I suppose its close enough.
What are even several hundred thousand, or millions, of civilians going to do against just a few tanks and bombers? You can't defeat a bomber by dog piling it.
One of the funny stories in Egypt was the ones where a can of spray paint could defeat a multi-million dollar tank.
Actually it was a WW2 tactic where you would just throw smoke bombs at a tank and force them to unbutton, but the tactic remains the same. If a tank can't out their optic ports, they are basically blind and the only way to see where they are going is to open a hatch.
Thats when you get them.
Rape is a serious crime in any society, including societies with no concept of a difference in rights based on gender, and even in matriarchal cultures.
What?! What?! What?!
Are you saying all those right winged religious persons saying its women to blame for rape don't exist? (Islam and Christian)
(Google "women to blame for rape" for your sources)
Never been to Ireland nor London, so, at this point, I don't have logic, just random ramblings.
*whoosh*
That seems wrong to me.
Laws of intent seem rather dubious to me simply because one can craft any intention out of anything innocent.
"If you give me six lines written by the hand of the most honest of men, I will find something in them which will hang him." -Cardinal Richelieu (disputed tho)
The point of this quote is that authoritarian figures can simply take anything you do or say and make a crime out of it with intent:
You bought a gun. Well, maybe you are planning to kill a politician with it?
You have a chemistry set in your house. Well, maybe you were planning to make drugs with it?
You have encryption on your computer. Well, maybe you were planning on hiding illegal activity?
See where I'm going with this. It is simply your word against theirs. No one can read your mind to see if you are telling the truth, so they are simply accusing you of something that you haven't done but could possibly do. How can you defend against that?
Crimes should be things that actually happened after the fact or in progress. Yes the cops should stop a person who is trying to commit a crime and yes they should prosecute them for the action itself, but if you can convict a person on the intent to commit a crime are basically condemning the good majority of citizens who would never in their life commit such a crime.
So if your local newspaper (or popular website like say yahoo news) printed a giant first page story saying " is a pedophile" you'd be perfectly fine with that?
I wouldn't but, if you think about it, even local civil courts are an extension of the federal government (indirectly) and one could construe that when a court finds someone guilty of libel, they are in fact restricting someone freedom of speech (even if it is lies).
I mean take this phrase for example:
"The president is an idiot!"
Which you and I know is covered under the first amendment even though its not really quantifiable true (I think he's quit a smart man actually but anways...)
Whats the difference between that and:
"My neighbor is an idiot"
Why would that be wrong to publish in a newspaper and not the president one? This is more of an ethics debate I guess, but you can call someone a pedophile and believe it to be true even though there is no empirical truth to the matter. I mean people said, Micheal Jackson was a pedo, and it actually seemed socially acceptable to say this in public even though there was no truth to the mater.
Where do you draw the line? And do you want government involved especially when there is groups out there that would love to sue the pants off anyone who dare criticize them? (say Scientology libel and slander cases)
Does this also happen in the USA?
No. Which is why rich persons or corporations have been known to force people to settle out of court because they know they couldn't afford a protracted legal battle even if they won the case.
Anonymous might demolish a genuine bad guy, or they might destroy the life of some innocent teenager.
FFS! People need to stop treating Anon as some organized group.
If a flash mob helped a lady across the street in LA and another lynched a man in New York, would you consider them the same group of people?
Serioiusly, its just like old time lynchings they used to have in the old days when a bunch of people got together and doled out random justice... Often picking the wrong person to extract it on (like the time a bunch of laid of car workers in Detroit killed a Korean man because they were pissed off at Japanese carmakers in the 1980's).
Comcast-NBC Deal Accidentally Protects Internet?
I couldn't help but reword this in my head as:
"Sudetanland-Germany deal accidentally protects Poland?"
That didn't really work out that well for Poland...
BTW the UK referendum to do away with the US style of voting is happening in May.
The funny thing about your statement is, there are grassroots and smaller parties who would fit 80 percent of Americans more than the Republicans or Democrats do but they seem to be totally unaware of it.
Time for a history lesson...
In a first past the post two parties will always dominate. Doesn't matter what names or their policies are, but a 3rd party always has math against it.
Oddly enough the two oldest democracies that are still around today went with FFP because voting had never really been tried before (UK and the USA) while the more newer ones have gone with other forms such as proportional representation (like Germany and Israel). This was that as new countries were being formed or overthrowing their old monarchies, they realized that the FFP was flawed in someways as they could see how it was in the countries that had it (usually looking at the UK) and being more modern times (1890 through 1950s) they went with PR, IRV or STV (single transferable vote) in which 3rd parties get a greater voice in government and the change of a 3rd party actually becoming a 1st or 2nd party is greater (like the German Greens or the Israeli lukid).
So if you want change... Real change with 3rd parties, you need to change the constitution. Of course the vested parties won't really be too keen on that but from my understanding a few states passed STV last year in some local elections so you'll start seeing 3rd parties on grassroots levels in some places.
For more info: http://www.fairvote.org/
Its not that hard to create a fake profile on FB. Even a person of the opposite sex than you.
A really neat trick is to put yourself in a relationship with the fake person and then have fake public love conversations to make other females think you are a normal guy. Then fake your alter ego cheating on you and then set your status to single.
Then you'll get sympathy from all the real females...
Not that I know anything about this though....
But seriously, it wouldn't be too hard to fake your gender on FB. Especially in a country where everyone basically dresses the role.
I'm going to loose my mod points over this, but one of my interests happens to be Eastern Block humor. (Especially the Polish Eastern bloc joke about the Bank of Moscow)
Many jokes of that time period and area were always word of mouth (for obvious reasons) and many jokes ended up being reworded for the leaders and country it involved. Since there was no official publication of the jokes (as that would be treasonous) no one knew that they were copying each other until the after the 1990's.
example
Honecker and Mielke are discussing their hobbies. (both historical persons in charge of the Stasi in East German)
Honecker: "I collect all the jokes about me that are in circulation."
Mielke: "Then we have almost the same hobby. I collect those who bring the jokes into circulation."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_German_jokes
And then the Russian version:
"Comrade Brezhnev, is it true that you collect political jokes?" â" "Yes" â" "And how many have you collected so far?" â" "Three and a half labor camps."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_political_jokes
So the OP is most likley right in that he heard an East German version as you hearing a Russian version seperatley.
Believe it or not, without the internet and blackberries, the protests in Tunusia and Egypt would not have gained the traction it did.
Now it seems that you are referring to the situation in the USA, but that is a bit more complicated than going into the streets and throwing rocks as most people are invested into the system and have no need to go into the streets to throw rocks.
". The reason for Gitmo is that we are effectively capturing enemy combatants that we cannot properly give Geneva Convention protections to because they do not fight in uniform, nor do they have a sovereign entity that can guarantee punishment for their illegal activities or failing that, who will feel the need or desire to protect our own imprisoned troops in exchange for protection of their imprisoned troops."
After WWII, German officers were hanged for not giving French and Soviet resistant fighters due process under the Geneva conventions. In their defense, the Germans said "They weren't wearing uniforms."
"If you don't like the laws of the country don't visit it. Ignorance of the law is never innocence."
The problem is that it seems the US believes the opposite is true. That if you commit an action on foreign soil that is legal there but illegal in the US, that you must come to the US and face trial even if you weren't a US citizen to begin with.
At least that is what some politicians are calling for...
"Wikileaks' supporters could raise a billboard encouraging support of Wikileaks' mission."
In the USA, the majority of billboards worth a hoot are owned by Clearchannel, who I have a feeling would not allow a pro-Wikileaks billboard to be posted.
Also, in that regard, do you think Mubarak would even consider stepping down if the Egyptians posted a billboard? I think not. Hence, the 'illegal' protests in the street.