] Ten Reasons Why You Should Never Accept a Diamond Ring
] from Anyone, Under Any Circumstances, Even If They Really
] Want to Give You One

Ten reasons why you should never accept a diamond ring

Fukuyama argues that the United States, like Japan and Germany, has been a high-trust society historically but that this status has eroded in recent years. This well-researched book provides a fresh, new perspective on how economic prosperity is grounded in social life.

Trust: Human Nature and the Reconstitution of Social Order

] Not only was BlackBoxVoting.org pulled down, but ALL of
] the documents, databases and programming for approximately
] 500 pages of material, most of which did not relate to Diebold at
] all, was confiscated. Dozens of web pages were pulled down which
] had nothing whatever to do with the disputed information. AIT Inc.
] has indicated that it believes it has the right to pull down the entire
] web site including unrelated pages. AIT Inc. is now prohibiting Bev
] Harris or Black Box Voting from accessing any of her own files, even
] for the purpose of removing them.

If these allegations are correct, there could be another interesting DMCA court case in here...

[IP] yet another misuse of dmca? Black Box Voting files confiscated

] Patriot Act II would give the government broad powers to
] seize documents and force testimony without a court
] order, expand use of the death penalty and make it harder
] to be released on bail. None of these tools are necessary
] to fight terrorism, and each threatens to infringe on the
] civil liberties of Americans.
]
] The most troubling part of the new plan is the call for
] expanding government access to private data, allowing
] federal agents to issue subpoenas for private medical,
] financial and other records, without a court order. The
] lack of judicial oversight removes an important check on
] government misconduct. Record holders would be required
] to comply, or face prison, and would be barred from
] telling anyone about the subpoena.

Patriot Act, Part II - Fucking Insane

... In a nation that flaunts its capacities to produce and consume, much of the culture's heat now lies with the ability to cut, paste, clip, sample, quote, recycle, customize and recirculate.

[Sad...whatever happened to coming up with original ideas? - Nano]

Beyond File-Sharing, a Nation of Copiers

Rattle wrote:

] Who? What is the string you are holding on to in order to
] keep calling this commercial speech..

Apparently there was something in their timeline about a consulting position at a competitor. However, it was dated in 2004, so its not clear what the nature of the relationship is and when it began, or even if it exists or if its a joke.

] ] It is this harm, coupled with the safety of these
] ] academic institutions and their constituents (primarily,
] ] students and faculty) that mandated Blackboard take a
] ] very careful and measured stance. Recognizing that
] ] this is a crime with potentially very harmful results,
] ] we took a position to protect our clients.
]
] Careful and measured, eh?

So, was the section of your complaint that intentionally confused computer source code with long distance access codes the careful part, or the measured part?

] ] Blackboard recognizes that the Hacker Community plays
] ] an integral role in assisting technology companies in
] ] improving their offerings, most notably around security.
] ] I thought the user community might find this
] ] clarification of value.

Backpedal, Backpedal, Backpedal, as fast as we can. Gosh we didn't think anyone cared about that silly little amendment.

RE: politechbot.com: Blackboard responds to criticism of Interz0ne lawsuit

"I doubt if the average American knows enough about Canada to make a reasoned assessment, what the pros and cons might be," said Waller. "There's really an abysmal level of ignorance about Canada in the United States so I don't know what conclusions you can reach."

From a historical perspective, there hasn't been a real push by Americans for annexation since the 19th century, he added. "

The recommendation of this article is obvious troll bait, but I'll respond anyway.

Most Americans view their country as being better then other countries. Canada in particular is viewed as being silly because, other then being "better then" Canadians, Americans don't really see themselves as being otherwise different, so whats the point?

Thats actually a good question. The fact is that Canada is really two countries: 1. British North America. 2. French North America.

Either identity in and of itself would be a lot more interesting then what Canada has got. Being British means something significant culturally which Americans try very hard not to be. (Ever wonder WHY Americans spell colour wrong?? It was intentional and deliberate.) Being French is even more so obviously not being American.

But, in order to maintain national cohesion, Canada, in the last 40 years, and tried very hard to eliminate these cultural identities. If not for this effort, Canada would not exist, and the economic implications of that would be bad for everyone concerned. The new national identity that replaces the old two is one which is scarcely 30 years old. It simply doesn't have enough history or uniqueness to present a real solid creed that people can identify as being "not American."

Of course, most people OUTSIDE the United States hold the two countries in a very different light. Mostly this is because, again, Americans tend to view themselves as being better then other cultures. Other cultures respond to this with resentment. So, liking Canadians is a way to identify with what you like about American culture without having to sacrifice your resentment.

On the other hand, what this professor is afraid to say is that the 38% of Americans who support "annexing Canada" are simply being bumptious. The fact is that if the U.S. "annexed" Canada the Repubicans would never win another election and the U.S. would loose a powerful associate in international relations, with no real economic benefit for either side as the border is fluid anyway.

--

In rereading this I should add that this view of Canada is quite Euro-centric. Immigration policies in the last 20 years have had a dramatic impact on the country's cultural makeup, and the Native Americans in Canada are increasingly politically savvy and culturally significant. Canada is, in fact, at the very start of a melting pot phase which could make the traditional french/english dichotomy insignificant. Its also possible that these people are simply using Canada as a generational stepping stone toward moving into the US. It will take several generations for this to play out and it will be interesting to see what differences (if any) emerge between the two countries over that time. I think that the amount of diversity that currently exists in Canada has the potential to produce some very interesting results verses the slowed diversification of the US, where the dominant English culture strongly resists threats. Unfortunately, the results of this are measured in generations and may not be apparent in my life-time.

Should the US annex Canada?