we've gotta stop those evil terrorists no matter the plot, i mean, first hijackings, then air plane crashes, dirty bombs, anthrax...now, yep you've guessed it, they've gone so far as to use graphics libraries...

i dont know about you guys, but right now im more afraid of the people that are suposedly saving us from terrorists than i am of the terrorists...i mean, the odds of me being hit by a terrorist attack seem far less than the odds that they'll kick in my door to save the world from me...

our collective silence has paid for this, enjoy...

active X is for terrorists

Mike the Usurper wrote:
] Well it's that time again. Time for John Ashcroft to look
] like he's doing something (or is it Tom Ridge in charge of
] these things now? I can never tell they look the same,
] although my guess is that Ridge isn't as inept as Ashcroft)
] and we're now back to condition Orange.
]
] How we got there looks something like this. 18 months ago 19
] guys demonstrated just how much of a joke US airline security
] was and killed over 3000 people. If their timing had been
] better and their aim, they could have killed 25,000, and I
] think that's what their target number was, but they're
] terrorists and pretty much botched it. This is not to say
] what happened wasn't bad, but that it could have been much
] much worse.
]
] Somehow, this national tragedy catapaulted a man singularly
] unsuited for such a job into the role of national saviour.
] And watching GW Bush at the National Cathedral, all I could
] think was, he looks like a televangelist. He's wearing this
] powder blue tie, and sounding like he's about to call for an
] amen.
]
] Fast forward to now. We've spent billions of dollars bombing
] Afghanistan, and failed to find the person who was behind the
] airplane attack. We have spent billions more and alienated
] every other first world country with the exception of Great
] Britain removing from power someone who there is no question
] was a despot, but obviously without any idea how to fill the
] void left by removing him.
]
] In the meantime, nothing has been rebuilt in Afghanistan,
] which may actually be in even worse shape than when we started
] (brutal theocracy vs brutal tribal warlords?) and the Iraqis
] are even angrier. The oil fields are safe, but we can't seem
] to figure out how to do basic things like provide water and
] electricty in places that, before we sent in the tanks, had
] them.
]
] To put this another way, we kicked the Taliban out of
] Afghanistan and left it to the warlords, and have kicked
] Saddam out of Iraq, but what's showing up there now looks
] surprisingly like the Taliban. I'm not saying we should have
] left these guys where they were, but it seems to me that a
] good rule for foreign intervention, and one that we only
] followed from about 1940 until 1953, and even then we managed
] to slip up pretty often, is the first rule for doctors, "do no
] harm."
]
] So now, the guys we didn't catch have blown up a bunch of
] buildings in Casablanca and Saudi Arabia, and now I can't park
] my car at the airport? How does this make anyone safer?
]
] Allow me to pose another conundrum to you, since I'm talking
] about airports. Rather than spread things out and so minimize
] the damage if it does strike,... [ Read More (0.2k in body) ]

RE: Condition: Orange

] A single cog sets off a chain reaction that sets
] component parts of a Honda Accord in elaborate and
] orchestrated motion. Quite unlike any car commercial
] you've likely seen.

This is a _very_cool_ car commercial.

'boards - Screening Room - QuickTime

Elonka wrote:
] ] This VisualRoute Server provides a graphical traceroute
] ] from this server to any other network device you choose,
] ] useful for pinpointing network connectivity problems and
] ] identifying IP addresses. To trace back to your computer,
] ] just press the button with your IP address below. To
] ] trace to any other network device, enter the host name or
] ] URL below and press Enter.
]
] Requires Java. Watch a visual trace route appear, overlaid
] against a map of the world, as it runs a tracert to far away
] domains (for example, try bbc.co.uk for England, or
] yellowpages.com.au for Australia).

VERY cool! Thanks Elonka! :)

RE: Visual Trace Route

Decius wrote:
] ] This model predicted the CD sales of RIAA members to
] ] within thirty million dollars (less than one-quarter of
] ] one percent) given the performance of the economy in
] ] 2002, as a function of nineteen other similarly-sized
] ] corporate sales, and the performance of the RIAA three
] ] previous years.
]
] In other words, piracy is not impacting sales. (Note: This is
] extremely unlikely to be a conspiracy theory. The people that
] run these companies do NOT get this.)

I did a panel at Dragon*Con 2 years ago during Napsters heyday that clearly demonstrated CD sales were NOT being impacted by the P2P networks. In fact, gross revenues had increased by over $2,000,000,000 over the previous year. No - definitely no conspiracy theory here - these were RIAA's own sales figures from their web site.

The RIAA would just as soon blame P2P networks and make up bogus claims to have legislation passed then look at their own antiquated business model as the real problem. Any "loss" of revenue they are experiencing right now is because we are in a double dip recession, but of course its just easier to blame "those damned kids" and their P2P clients.

Someone pull out the clue sticks.

Laughing Boy

RE: Analysis of RIAA revenue figures versus overall economy

] The Senate agreed Tuesday to lift a 10-year-old ban on
] the research and development of low-yield nuclear
] weapons. The vote was a boost to the Bush
] administration's goal of expanding the U.S. nuclear
] arsenal.
]
] The Senate voted 51-43 to table and thus kill
] an amendment to keep the ban in place.
]
] The ban prohibits the research and development of nuclear
] weapons with an explosive force of 5 kilotons of less.
] That is one-third the power of the nuclear bomb used at
] Hiroshima in August 1945.
]
] "Don't think low-yield, think small apocalypse," said
] Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I. "There is no military need today.
] What we do here will be emulated by other countries. That
] is the nature of world leadership."
]
] But Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., said the ban means
] scientists cannot even start developing new weapons.
]
] "With many of the new and emerging threats in the world,
] we cannot afford to be ill-prepared," he said.

Why? Why why WHY?? Why are we trying to develop more nuclear weapons? "low yield" weapons are not needed - the recently developed MOAB is as powerful as a low yield nuke, and doesn't have the fallout associated with it - either nuclear OR political fallout. If we use a tactical nuke in battle, thats a "green light" for every rogue nation to use them, and then all hell breaks loose. We need to keep the nuclear genie in the bottle where it belongs.

Laughing Boy

Senate OKs ending ban on nuclear research

] SAN DIEGO Rarely is an invention so unique, so
] visceral and so simple that in 15 seconds most people who
] experience it realize it could alter everyday life.
]
] But that's what happens to just about anyone who steps
] out to the back parking lot of American Technology Corp.
] (ATC) here for a demonstration of its invention called
] HyperSonic Sound (HSS).
]
] Essentially, HSS for the first time does for sound what
] the laser did for light %u2014 intensely focuses and
] channels it so it can travel great distances without
] dispersing. In the demo, a technician points a speaker
] the size of a cereal box at someone standing 100 yards
] away. Amid the din of the nearby freeway, the technician
] plays a recording of ice cubes clinking into a glass.
]
] To the listener, the sound comes across as if it were
] through headphones, totally unlike a sound blaring from a
] distant speaker over oppressive car noise. Take two steps
] to the side, out of the sound beam, and you hear nothing
] at all. Step back in, and there it is again.

EXTREME coolness! Coherent audio??? I want!

Laughing Boy

Sound technology turns the way you hear on its ear

abaddon wrote:
] Decius wrote:
] ] abaddon wrote:
] ] ] more comentary on the Jose Padilla saga, this one is a
] ] ] puletser (yeah yeah i dont spell) prize winning jurnalist
] ] ] chastising the media for not giving any coverage to the
] ] ] Padilla case...
] ] ]
] ] ] when exactly did the we all deside the government didnt
] need
] ]
] ] ] checks and balances any more...
] ]
] ] Hrm, they have since released information that provides
] ] reasonable doubt that he might have been travelling to
] ] Afghanistan to join Al'Q. Its plausable enough to warrant
] ] detaining him and trying him.
] ]
] ] Having said that, it is critical that these things be done
] out
] ] in the open. The public pressure on this is the reason they
] ] had to go public. Hopefully this will serve as a lesson in
] the
] ] future to those whose family members may be detained without
]
] ] reason. The Internet is your friend. Get as many eyes on the
]
] ] situation as possible. You now have the power to do that.
]
] he may well have actually been up to something, but how would
] we know, he isnt allowed to present his case, he isnt allowed
] a lawyer, he isnt allowed due process of any kind...the
] problem i have with the padilla case isnt that they are
] holding him, its that they are holding him without any
] rights...he's still a US citizen, and as such i can't think of
] an scenerio that would warrent striping him of his right to
] due process...
]
] secrecy is the enemy of freedom...
]
] --Abaddon

Who died and made George W. Shrub god? Why is the current administration somehow above the letter of the law? If the justice department has the goods on Padilla; if he is a terrorist, then try and fry the motherfucker. If not, let him go - AS THE LAW DEMANDS. Why is he STILL detained after nearly a year and not been charged with a crime or even allowed to speak to his lawyer? All because John Ashcroft pointed his finger and said the magic words "enemy combatant". 14 letters and the stroke of a pen is apparently all it takes to strip you and I of our constitutionally guaranteed rights.

Be very afraid...

Laughing Boy

RE: no-one cares about civil liberties or reason 1502-B why i hate people

I have a sudden craving for Bananas and an inexplicable deisre to hang from a tree by my feet...

Laughing Boy

] Chimpanzees are so closely related to humans that they
] should properly be considered as members of the human
] family, according to new genetic research.
]
] Scientists from the Wayne State University, School of
] Medicine, Detroit, US, examined key genes in humans and
] several ape species and found our "life code" to be 99.4%
] the same as chimps.
]
] They propose moving common chimps and another very
] closely related ape, bonobos, into the genus, Homo, the
] taxonomic grouping researchers use to classify people in
] the animal kingdom.
]
] Humans, or Homo sapiens to give the species its
] scientific name, are the only living organism in the
] genus at the moment - although some extinct creatures
] such as Neanderthals (Homo Neanderthalis) also occupy the
] same grouping.

Chimps genetically close to humans

] Software maker Roxio announced Monday it has acquired
] online music service pressplay for about $40 million, in
] preparation for the relaunch of a new service under the
] Napster brand name.
]
] Santa Clara-based Roxio bought pressplay for $12.5
] million in cash and approximately 3.9 million shares of
] Roxio common stock. Pressplay, based in Los Angeles, is
] the joint venture of Universal Music Group and Sony Music
] Entertainment, record companies that were seeking a legal
] alternative to Napster.
]
] Roxio bought the Napster brand on the cheap after the
] company dissolved, and appears ready to relaunch the
] brand as an online music store.
]
] "With our acquisition of Napster we obtained the most
] powerful brand in the online music space. Now, with our
] acquisition of pressplay, we have the most complete and
] scaleable legal technology infrastructure to use as a
] platform to relaunch Napster," said Roxio's chairman and
] CEO, Chris Gorog.

Napster to relaunch