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| 2007/3/23-27 [Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast/Iraq] UID:46063 Activity:nil |
3/23 "Iran nabs British sailors in Iraq waters"
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070323/ap_on_re_eu/british_troops_iran
War against Iran is coming.
\_ War is coming because Iran just committed an act of war? |
| 2007/3/23-27 [Science/Space] UID:46064 Activity:nil |
3/23 What exactly is heavy water, how do you get it, and how does it
produce the bomb? I keep hearing about Iran and heavy water but
I have no chemistry fu and I don't understand how you can magically
turn water molecules into the bomb.
\_ Heavy water is D2O instead of H2O. What is "D"? It's just
hydrogen with an extra neutron in it. D2O has less neutron
absorbtion cross-section, so reactors which use D2O as a moderator
have more neutrons available for longer. SPECULATION: Because
more neutrons are available for longer, perhaps it's possible
to convert more U238 into plutonium in the reactor, which
is prime bomb-making material. END SPECULATION. Deuterium is
also a component in the more powerful hydrogen bomb.
\- there is nothing special about heavy water. it is just
norweigian propaganda. it was the voss water of the 1940s.
it's kinda like what norweigan VOSS WATER is today.
all this talk about fast and slow neutrons is just
marketing. --radiation lab employee
norweigian propaganda. it was just a 1940s drink that became
popular in germany. it's kinda like what norweigan VOSS WATER
is today to with the paris hilton crowd. all this talk about
fast and slow neutrons is just viral marketing chain reaction.
--radiation lab employee
\_ The PSOs are on their way to your office as you read this. |
| 2007/3/23-27 [Politics/Domestic/President/Clinton, Politics/Domestic/President/Bush] UID:46065 Activity:kinda low |
3/23 L.A. Times leans right. Notice how the top 3/4's of the story spews so
much irrelevant chaff, focusing on how Reagan/Clinton/Dubya fired
most/all attorneys when they came to power. Only toward the end do you
get: "When you have a transition between presidents - especially
presidents of different parties - a U.S. attorney anticipates that you
will be replaced ... the unwritten, No. 1 rule ... is that once you
become a U.S. attorney you have to leave politics at the door."
http://tinyurl.com/2na94k (latimes.com)
The perversion of truth -- especially the willful, disingenuousness
attitude that permeates the Republican Party today -- disgusts me.
\_ I think most politicians are like that. Except guys like Nader
who cannot get elected.
\_ Seriously, do you really believe one party is all beauty and nice
and the other the sole benefactor of all evil? They are the same.
The Democratic party is absolutely in no way shape or form ethically
or morally superior to the Republicans. You have one party with two
names. And btw, how dare the LAT actually tell it's readers that
all USAGs expect to be replaced? Let's not tell anyone anything
that might soften the political damage to the evil Bush even if it
is the truth and relevant to the story.
\_ Answering your first two lines: No. I think both parties are
guilty of stupidity and petty politics designed to keep them-
selves in power; this is the nature of our current political
system. That said, the Bush Admin has done so in a much more
blatant and egregious manner. I expect corruption, but I would
prefer some decorum and a modicum of circumspection along the
way. The current firings are simply insulting. -!op
\_ You have Democratics currently in office in positions of
great power, even holding Chair positions who were caught red
handed in bribery scandals, in land scams, in having $90k in
cash stuffed in their fridge, using the IRS to punish
political enemies, etc, etc, ad nauseum. Don't come on here
and try to tell me the Bush Admin is more blatant and
egreious about anything. I don't find bribery, theft, fraud,
and fridge stuffing to be less corrupt or more circumspec or
providing more decorum than what the Bush admin has done with
the USAG firings. In comparison the USAG thing is trivial BS
and I find it ridiculous and insulting anyone cares *at all*
about this compared with everything else going on in *both*
parties. Do any of the things I mentioned about the Dems
upset you at all? Or would they only be worth mentioning if
they were Republicans? And hey, how about stuffing that Iraq
funding bill with Democratic pork? That's cool, too, huh?
Take off the blinders.
\_ What part of "both parties of are guilty of stupidity and
petty politics" and "I expect corruption" didn't you get?
Jail anyone, Dem, GOP, or Ind. who's engaged in corruption,
bribery, or abuse of power. How can your outrage over
Dem corruption not spill over into the arena of egregious
abuse of the US Atty system to punish political enemies?
Before pointing out the mote in my eye, howzabout dealing
with the beam in your own?
\_ The part where you find firing a few USAG worse than
stuffing $90k in your fridge *and* *still* *keeping*
*your* *seat*. I'd like to see a URL that says why
they were fired and not from a NYT op/ed piece. Show
me a reliable source that says they were fired for not
punishing political enemies. You continue to weigh
(R) ethical violations much heavier than (D) ethical
violations even when the actual events don't match up
like that. Example: Which is worse ethically? Canning
a few prosecutors who server at your whim and aren't on
the same political page (and understood the deal when
they accepted the job) or stuffing bribe money in your
fridge as an elected representative of the American
people at the highest levels of government? Go ahead
and say the fridge stuffing isn't as bad and we can stop
right there. The firing is just hard ball politics and
although unfortunate for the guys sacked, TS. It's a
political event. The fridge stuffing is a felony. How
is that investigation going, huh? It's not. The guy
will be in office until he retires 'honorably'. *That*
is truly sickening.
\_ For the love of G_d, get this: They're both bad.
\_ of what now?
\_ "God". for some level of
orthodoxy among jews, to
write the name of god on
anything that might be erased,
destroyed, damaged, etc, is
profane.
\_ But God is not the name of
god.
\_ ...than to open it and
remove all doubt.
\_ KNEEL BEFORE YAHWEH
\_ For the love of YAHWEH, get this: They're both bad.
I appreciate that you're frustrated that the fridge
investigation has faltered (and yes, it should be
investigated fully), but it's not being held up
just because Congress is investigating Presidential
abuse of power (i.e., firing USAtys for not pursuing
political opponents). If fridge-stuffer is guilty of
accepting bribes, jail his ass. If AG fired the US
Atys because they wouldn't persecute the opposition,
can his ass. Also, didn't the FBI say they had
Jefferson on video taking a bribe? Then they should
arrest him for it! Right now, there appears to be
more evidence of dickery in the White House than in
Jefferson's fridge!
\_ I guess I don't understand why this is a story. Almost every
president fires all the attorneys and replaces them with their own.
W decides to just replace a few. Therefore W is bad? huh?
\_ He decided to replace a few on the basis that they weren't using
their power to hound and harrass the political opposition. An
across-the-board replace wouldn't have raised eyebrows;
demanding loyalty oaths to The Leader is another thing entirely.
\_ Why do you think they normally fire them all? To get loyal
ones. Duh. I see no difference.
\- a company can close a plant and open one a town over.
but they still cant fire all the black people.
you are allowed to hire who you want. you can
fire them for incompetence or if they are not
"getting with the program" but the program cannot
be political prosecutions. a second issue is the
be partisan prosecutions. a second issue is the
"cover up". at this point there is probably nobody
guilty of a legal crime in the executive branch, but
certainly people can be tried in the court of
public opinion for being mendacious, unprincipled
sacks of shit. it is reasonable to hypotheteize
"ALBERTO has made the DOJ a wing of the white
house" ... i think people are free to hold that
against BUSHCO just like they are free to hold
CLINTON being a serial adulterer against him.
much of this turns on the relatively simple distinction
between political and partisan. the doj can have
poltical priorities like going after sodomites and
drug fiends instead of antitrust, but it cannot be
a partisan enforcer like a party whip of chairman who
withhold appointments or $$$ from you. this is not
an especially subtle argument.
\_ I guess you're welcome to hold it against him if you
like. Seems pointless to me, there are pleanty of
actual things he's done wrong to hold against him.
Your "firing the black people" analogy is obviously a
completely false analogy. But, still. You think it's
morally superior to fire everybody, then only rehire
white people? I would argue the opposite. If you only
want to get rid of a few people, don't make everyone go
through the unemployment ringer.
\- you cant hire "only white people". yes, i commented
early on it is odd congress is fixating on this
when there is katerina incompetence, iraq
incompetence, not catching osama, the plutocrati-
zation of society etc. at least w.r.t. to the
iraq war, congress feels they have "clean hands"
here. and of course the dems are in agenda control.
you're also caught in the "93 > 8" mentality.
\_ No crap. You also can't only fire black people.
That's why this is a false analogy, as I noted.
Also: So, 93 < 8? Must be that "new math." :)
\_ Obtuse little fucker.
\_ I don't think it's morally superior. It think it's
Better Form. It implies an understanding that the
appearance of propriety, while not sufficient in
and of itself, is necessary.
\_ Another way to say this is "The first is easier
to prove." I can't argue with that, I just don't
see any moral difference.
\_ Out of curiousity, so you see a moral diff
between this and, oh, using postage to send
mail out as Socks the Cat?
\_ Had to look that one up. Yes, there's a
difference. I can't see anything wrong at
all with using postage to send out mail as
"Socks the Cat."
\_ Okay, then what about the christmas card
list "scandal". That warranted 140 hours
of testimony UNDER OATH to determine that
nothing improper happened. Is there a
moral difference between that possible
impropriety and this?
\_ Seesh, are you just going down a list
a dem talking points, trying to prove
I'm some rep stooge? I can't even
find this story, just dem blogs
whining about it. I never said the
lame-o Rep attempts to get Clinton
were ok, so get off it.
\_ Are you saying, though, that the
firing of the USAs was proper, and
therefore should not be looked
into? That's what you seem to be
saying with "I guess I don't
understand why this is a story."
I think you may be too short for
this discussion.
\_ Sheesh, sorry I'm too young for
you. Somehow pulling out old D
talking points I don't recall
that then saying I'm too "short
for this discussion" seems
amazingly lame though. I'm done.
\_ I'm saying the firing was
standard enough politics to not be worth looking into. I don't like
hardball politics to begin with, so I'm not going to say firings were
'proper,' but they aren't unusual. The Dems are playing lame-o gotcha
games with Bush, just like the Rs did with Clinton. Niether case was
worth the time and money.
\- do you know what united states attorneys do?
\_ So do you prefer the last 6 years of 0 oversight out of congress?
What you call "gotcha games" is what most people call "Congress's
job".
\_ They were unusual _because_ they were firings singling out very
specific individuals on the basis of "performance issues" after all
8 received good evaluations. The LCD here is suspect. And then
they're unusual in that the AG lied in his testimony on the subject.
\_ We've come full circle, just read from the top for replies to
these posts.
\_ I think that the difference in morality
between two different acts of corruption is
a complicated matter of ethics that has been
wrestled with for thousands of years.
\_ Let's see if the American people agree with you or not. I think
the Democrats obviously think they have a winner here or they
would not be pushing so hard. |
| 2007/3/23-27 [Computer/SW/Languages/C_Cplusplus] UID:46066 Activity:nil |
3/23 In C#, are there pre-defined strings for class names and method names,
like __FUNCTION__ in C? Thanks. |
| 2007/3/23-27 [Politics/Domestic/California/Arnold] UID:46067 Activity:nil |
3/23 http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2007/04/02/8403410 An interview with the Governator. "Does the GOP get this [global warming]? No. There are people in both parties who don't get it, but I would say I have a tougher time selling those things to the Republicans." \_ Arnold- expert climate scientist \_ Of course, if you're a Republican most likely the belief "maximum growth forever" is encoded somewhere in the lowest layers of your brain. Anything that challenges that belief is automatically rejected like tissue from a donated organ ... Just like trying to convince an evangelical Christian about the validity of evolution. Facts are useless. This is true regardless of whether human caused global warming is true or not -- it just can't be true even if it is true. \_ A corrallary is that Republicans tend to be against federal spending and subsidies, unless said federal spending creates a direct benefit to them - c.f. "Cadillac Desert" and the history of water development in the American West. \_ Wow, neat! You have a URL that backs that up? \- i am not an above poster, but "the records" clearly show at the federal level divided vs single party rule is a better predictor of spending than "ideology. i dunno if DD > RR or RR > DD [probably varies by admin], but RD and DR < RR, DD [where DR = dem president, rep congress]. it might be interesting to see if "structure over ideology" holds true over all the states or if in some states ideology wins out, say goldwater legacy in AZ etc. ok tnx. --psb |
| 2007/3/23-27 [Computer/SW/Security, Computer/SW/Unix] UID:46068 Activity:nil |
3/23 hey root can you turn 'PINGS' to soda.csua back on?
thanks
\_ Hey, root, can you disable this h0zer's motd-editing cron-job pls?
\_ and what's up with crippling traceroute? It needs setuid to
function.
> traceroute scotch
traceroute: icmp socket: Operation not permitted |
| 2007/3/23-27 [Transportation/Car/Hybrid] UID:46069 Activity:nil |
3/23 Another type of hybrid car: engine + compressed air:
http://www.theaircar.com |
| 2007/3/23-27 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:46070 Activity:nil |
3/23 http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/070323/economy.html?.v=9 Realtors report Feb 07 existing-home sales increase 3.9% from Jan 07. Fine print: Feb 06 - Feb 07, 3.6% drop nationwide, West down 9.6%. Fine print 2: Jan 07 was so bad it made Feb 07 look good. Fine print 3: Raw numbers (not seasonally adjusted), Jan 07 - Feb 07 saw a 6.5% drop for the West |
| 2007/3/23-26 [Recreation/Dating, Recreation/Interesting, Recreation/Media] UID:46071 Activity:nil Cat_by:auto |
3/23 Best CAPTCHA ever
http://hotcaptcha.com
\_ wow this rules.
\_ is it just me, or is the 'male' version
\_ is it just me, or is the 'male' version broken.
\_ It is just you. Though the author has kind of a strange idea
as to what constitutes a "cute guy." Think twink. |
| 2007/3/23-26 [Uncategorized] UID:46072 Activity:nil |
3/23 So why no Terror Alerts lately? Is it because they stopped regularly
torturing new "confessions" out of KSM? |
| 2007/3/23-27 [Industry/Jobs] UID:46073 Activity:low |
3/23 My boss just gave his 2 weeks and his boss is freaking out a bit. What
is the ideal amount of time to wait before asking for a raise?
\_ Are you going to ask your boss or his boss?
\_ His boss.
\_ Don't ask for a raise. Ask for his job and salary (which is almost
certainly at least 35% higher than yours). Explain how you're
prepared to take over, ready to move up, solve problems, and the
time is right. The one thing all managers want to hear is that
someone else has solved their problem for them. Be that solution.
Don't be the money grubber who adds to his woes asking for a raise
with the implied threat of quitting if you don't get it.
\_ I agree with the ask for your bosses job part, but you are
kidding yourself if you think the average manager makes at
least 35% more than their line subordinates. 15-20% is more
like it.
\_ I think this depends on many variables. I do know that
I saw my old boss' paycheck once and he made 35%
more than I did at the time and I was one of the higher
paid people underneath him. A lot depends on your
organization, though. Some have 40 levels of management
and in some you report directly to the CEO.
and in some you report directly to the CEO. I doubt
my current boss makes 35% more than I do, but she's
relatively inexperienced. I had a really senior manager
once who charged to some of my tasks and based on
the burn rate he made a lot more than 35% more than I
did. He had been in his job for 40+ years and I think
his high salary was one reason he was the casualty
of a layoff.
\_ In year 2000 I (engineer) made $90k and my immediate boss (VP
Engineering in a startup) made $150k.
\_ Do you think it is typical that a line engineer is
supervised by a VP? |
| 2007/3/23-27 [Recreation/Dating] UID:46074 Activity:nil |
3/23 Why does this make me so uncomfortable:
http://generationsoflight.com/generationsoflight/html/PurityBall.html
\_ Maybe it's this line:
"Would you pledge your virginity to your father?"
http://www.generationsoflight.com/generationsoflight/html/News.html
\_ I bet half of its members are also members of NAMGLA. Why else
would they keep the moms out of the process? |
| 2007/3/23-25 [Politics/Foreign/Asia/China] UID:46075 Activity:nil |
3/23 Chinese Burning Man
http://jonlogan.phanfare.com/album/208729
\_ How do the Chinese keep from getting frostbite when they run
around naked and high on all that ice? |
| 2007/3/23-27 [Politics/Domestic/California, Politics/Domestic/President/Bush] UID:46076 Activity:nil |
3/23 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1805580/posts "a 'dramatic shift' in political party identification since 2002, when Republicans and Democrats were at rough parity. Now, 50% of those surveyed identified with or leaned toward Democrats, whereas 35% aligned with Republicans." Do we need to reweight polls with the updated party identification #'s? \_ Don't forget the I's, which are growing quite a bit. |
| 2007/3/23-26 [Recreation/Food/Alcohol, Recreation/Food] UID:46077 Activity:nil |
3/23 Wow, German judge approves wife-beating based on Koran
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070322/wl_afp/germanyjusticeislam_070322132641
\_ Anyone have background on this? Sounds like the judge is playing
provocateur.
\_ And in other news in the march of Sharia, Target has some cachiers
who won't ring up pork products.
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/breaking_news/16925919.htm
\_ I don't understand why anyone would be this afraid of pork. The
Korean says don't eat it, not fear it.
Koran says don't eat it, not fear it.
\_ Is that the same Target where fundie pharmacists refused to
dispense birth control? |
| 2007/3/23-27 [Reference/Law/Court] UID:46078 Activity:nil |
3/23 "WASHINGTON - Attorney General Alberto Gonzales approved plans to fire
several U.S. attorneys in a November meeting, according to documents
released Friday that contradict earlier claims that he was not closely
involved in the dismissals."
http://www.philly.com/philly/hp/news_update/20070323_ap_documentsshowgonzalesokdfirings.html |
| 2007/3/23-26 [Uncategorized] UID:46082 Activity:nil |
3/23 Is mail down? I cannot receive/send any mail. |
| 5/17 |