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12/24 |
2013/6/13-8/13 [Politics/Foreign/Asia/China, Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast] UID:54693 Activity:nil |
6/13 NSA NSA NSA!!! http://www.businessinsider.com/nsa-prism-keywords-for-domestic-spying-2013-6 \_ I am shocked, *SHOCKED* that the NSA spies on foreign and US citizens and foreign governments. This Snowden guy must have been born yesterday to think he is revealing anything of import. \_ Most people seem to have been surprised by this. \_ Most people are idiots, but in general the attitude of the general public seems to be indifference. \_ http://tinyurl.com/nsa-obama-poll "It is clear that revelations about NSA surveillance programs have damaged Obama's standing with the public" |
2009/9/3-12 [Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast, Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast/Iraq] UID:53328 Activity:nil |
9/3 Bad news for global warming problem: 'BP Makes "Giant" Oil Find in Gulf of Mexico' http://www.csua.org/u/ozl (finance.yahoo.com) \_ The US produces over 8 million barrels a day now. This find "could contain over 1 billion barrels," and "it could be the second half of the next decade before the find is producing." Peak oil isn't about running out of oil--it's about taking too long to bring new production online to be able to meet the demand curve. -tom \_ I see. Then maybe it's not that bad of a news for global warming problem. -- OP \_ The really bad thing for global warming is when conventional oil fields decline enough to make heavy crude and oil sand production economically feasible. That won't save us from peak oil, but it will dump a whole bunch of extra greenhouse gas into the atmosphere. -tom \_ Coal. We have lots of it and it is cheap. That is what we should be worried about. \_ Yes, coal-to-gas has similar (worse) issues. -tom \_ just stop the gulf stream, instant ice age. |
12/24 |
2008/11/14-26 [Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast, Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast/Iraq] UID:51971 Activity:nil 75%like:51954 |
11/12 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7650415.stm lulz, Pirates have spokesmen now? \_ we should Bailout the pirates |
2008/11/12-14 [Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast, Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast/Iraq] UID:51954 Activity:nil 75%like:51971 |
11/12 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7650415.stm lol, Pirates have spokesmen now? \_ everyone has spokesmen. \_ http://marketplace.publicradio.org/segments/working/pirate.html paints a different picture of piracy. |
2008/1/7-10 [Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast, Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:48897 Activity:low |
1/7 'Iranian boats "provoke" US Navy ships in Hormuz: CNN' http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080107/ts_nm/usa_iran_ship_dc \_ Why is 'provoke' in quotes? You don't think their actions were a provocation? \_ If Iranian battle ships are sailing as clost to our border as we are, you bet we'll provoke them as well, haha. Now go back to work. \_ 12 miles, kids. It's the law. International law. Outside 12 miles you're in international waters and free to float. \_ I just copied the title verbatim from the web page. -- OP |
2007/10/5-9 [Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast] UID:48249 Activity:low |
10/5 http://tinyurl.com/2aahwq (pensacola news journal) "Police have said he arrived at the airport carrying a Dora the Explorer doll, hoop earrings and a jar of petroleum jelly." \_ I really, really didn't need to read this. \_ He has no regard to the girl's health. He should've brought KY jelly instead of petroleum jelly. \_ Obviously he wasn't planning to use condoms ... What an asshole. |
2006/11/2 [Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast/Iraq, Politics/Foreign/Asia/India, Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast] UID:45088 Activity:nil |
11/02 Just FYI, here's the Heritage Foundation's study about who military recruits are. http://www.heritage.org/Press/Commentary/ed112905a.cfm \_ I like how they're "better educated than the national average" Given that being a member of the armed forces has standards at all and being a member of the country doesn't... why is this at all an interesting result? |
2006/10/7-10 [Politics/Domestic/911, Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast, Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast/Iraq] UID:44717 Activity:nil |
10/7 I've been watching HBO's Rome series (about 80% historically accurate, 20% gratuitous), so this Robert Harris NYT OpEd piece struck home: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/30/opinion/30harris.html |
2006/3/27-29 [Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast] UID:42461 Activity:nil |
3/27 "Polar melting could raise sea levels six meters by 2100: study" http://csua.org/u/fc9 (Yahoo! News) \_ That's sooo last week! (was in friday's SF Comical) \_ Well, before that happens, the Gulf Stream will stop or even reverse because of decreased salinity fucking with the convection currents in the Atlantic. Goodbye, habitable Europe... \_ that would be neat. |
2006/2/2-4 [Science/GlobalWarming, Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast] UID:41670 Activity:nil |
2/2 For those interested in the http://latimes.com "about 10% [of oil imports are from the Middle East]" vs. the doe.gov link, according to this other doe.gov link from the the http://factcheck.org URL, it's very likely that the L.A. Times reporter should have written "about 10% of domestic oil consumption depends on imports from countries from the Middle East", as someone else wrote. http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/mer/pdf/pages/sec1_15.pdf The math works out about right with the "60.0%" net imports of petroleum figure from the above PDF. I don't want to go through the math because the ~ 22% number from yesterday was crude oil, while the PDF is for petroleum (crude oil + refined petroleum + whatever) and the 60.0% is for net imports (includes U.S. exports I suppose). Are you asleep yet? |
2005/12/12-14 [Science/GlobalWarming, Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast] UID:40974 Activity:nil |
12/12 http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-1920074,00.html "Israel's armed forces have been ordered by Ariel Sharon ... to be ready by the end of March for possible strikes on secret uranium enrichment sites in Iran, military sources have revealed. ... Since Israel destroyed the Osirak nuclear reactor in Iraq in 1981, 'it has been understood that the lesson is, don't have one site, have 50 sites', a White House source said. ... 'If we opt for the military strike,' said a source, 'it must be not less than 100% successful. It will resemble the destruction of the Egyptian air force in three hours in June 1967.'" \_ An Israeli air force attack is the one thing that won't happen. \_ "We'll nuke you if we have to!" \_ They should annex some land while they're at it. That worked out real well for them last time. \_ You do realize why they did that and why it has, in fact, worked out well? Oh wait. This is motd. Nevermind. \_ Gaza worked out well??? \_ Do you realize *why* Israel annexed Gaza? |
2005/10/20-22 [Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast, Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast/Iraq] UID:40198 Activity:nil |
10/20 Partial transcript of Powell's number one while Powell was Sec State http://news.ft.com/cms/s/c925a686-40f4-11da-b3f9-00000e2511c8.html "Under Secretary of Defense Douglas [inaudible], whom most of you probably know Tommy Franks said was the stupidest blankety blank man in the world. He was. Let me testify to that. He was. Seldom in my life have I met a dumber man." \_ This guy? http://www.defenselink.mil/bios/feith_bio.html |
2005/10/6-9 [Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast, Politics/Domestic/President/Bush, Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:40005 Activity:nil |
10/6 Bush: "The militants believe that controlling one country will rally the Muslim masses, enabling them to overthrow all moderate governments in the region, and establish a radical Islamic empire that spans from Spain to Indonesia." Replace a few words and you get the original Bush/neocon plan for spreading democracy in the Middle East. Neat trick! \_ Have you ever heard of the psychological term "projection"? 90% of what comes out of that guys mouth is explained by it. \_ He and his gang of cronies may be a bunch of lying, incompetent fuckwits, but you need to seriously consider looking up the term "empire". Or maybe that's one of your few words... -John |
2005/6/21-23 [Politics, Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast] UID:38232 Activity:nil |
6/21 World's first solar sail in jeapardy: http://csua.org/u/cge \_ Does it say anything about the reliability of Russia's ballistic missile? Or is that an outdated missile model no longer used by the military? |
2004/4/23 [Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast] UID:13349 Activity:nil |
4/23 This country is the biggest threat to world peace. Anything else pales in comparison. Shut the fuck up. \_ Agreed, let's vote him out!! \_ You fool! Don't you know this country could destabilize the middle east for years to come?! \_ you mean destabilize it enough that terrorist wouuld come over to the US and fly planes into our buildings? already happened \_ Why do you hate America? |
2003/12/10 [Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast, Reference/Military] UID:11389 Activity:nil |
12/9 Bush continues to win "hearts and minds" in the Middle East" http://www.csua.org/u/57q \_ yeah. Afghan is in the Middle East. They are Arabs too... besides, Muslim == Arabs == terrorist. With such strong conviction, we will prevail. \_ "... if noncombatants surround themselves with thousands of weapons and hundreds of rounds of ammunition and howitzers and mortars in a compound known to be used by a terrorist we are not completely responsible for the consequences." If I read this right, I think the Army is saying:" those kids are playing around with these ammo, thus, they deserved it." \_ Uhm, no. More like, "It's not our fault." \_ Didn't work for the FBI at Ruby Ridge either. |
2003/10/30 [Politics/Domestic/Election, Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast] UID:10861 Activity:nil |
10/29 Here it is. Dean in '04. No one cares about anything but the royal mess we're making out the Middle East: http://csua.org/u/4ue \_ Dream on. It's about the economy, stupid. \_ Hey, you know what? Fuck you. I feel so much better now. Thanks. \_ Yeah, it is: "And despite a quicker pace of recovery, 41,000 jobs were lost in the third quarter to bring the number of jobs lost since President Bush took office to 2.6 million." (Reuters) |
2003/8/26 [Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast] UID:29465 Activity:nil |
8/26 http://www.memri.org/bin/latestnews.cgi?ID=SD55603 \_ This has got to be some kind of joke. |
2003/3/28 [Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast, Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast/Iraq, Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:27891 Activity:insanely high |
3/28 News of Foreign Sources: * Morale of US troops start to budge. Troops start to avoid certain color of candies as believed they bring bad luck * Some units of US troops' rations are reduced due to supply issue * 8 civilian death 33 injured in latest US bomb raid \_ Rather than posting from "Foreign Sources", how about you state where you got each bit of news, with a URL if it was from the web? Anyone can make shit up and post it on the motd. Also, I know anti-American propaganda and American defeatism isn't the only thing "Foreign Sources" are publishing yet I note that's the only thing you are posting. Sources would increase credibility. \_ Keep this up. Some (but by no means all) of this I haven't heard about, particularly after Al-Jazeera got shut down. Even the Guardian has been curiously monotonous about its coverage. -- ulysses \_ they will bring the 70,000 sunni kurds from the north. \_ Those damn green M&Ms. Gonna get laid? In this desert? Lying sacks of sugar. \_ That's funny. The army here ride these 40 year old 3-gear monsters that weigh a ton. Says something about how well they built them that they're still in use. -John \_ Did they report about those 40,000 gorillas from Brazil that Hitler is training to storm the Maginot Line, or the Gulf War Virus? \_ I hope the military equipped the soldiers with Linux. \_ I think you're joking but all of that equipment will need some sort of rudimentary operating system. Most of it is probably Wind River stuff but just imagine an army powered by M$ equipment....wait some recent news is starting to make sense... \_ "Windows: Famous for stranding billion-dollar battleships at sea." http://csua.org/u/bdc \_ They will all ride bike. \_ http://www.militarybikes.com/military.html \_ That's funny. The army here ride these 40 year old 3-gear monsters that weigh a ton. Says something about how well they built them that they're still in use. -John \_ Maybe they just can't afford new ones? Example, "It says something about the T-55 that it's still in use". \_ The paratroopers aren't as good as the old American and British bikes (I used to have a 35 yr old Raleigh) but they are still better than what passes for a "rugged" mtb these days. \_ Yes, keep posting. We want to know. |
2003/3/21 [Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast] UID:27784 Activity:nil |
3/21 We've taken the first step towards the extermination of the muslim race from the middle east. Bravo! This will make the middle east safe for the Israeli settlements. And more room for expansion! \_ Hi trollboy. Extermination? *laugh* Uhm, got a url? Oh, I know, you think the news reports of tanks driving across empty terrain are all faked out in Nevada. Do you think they're using the same sets they used to fake the moon landings too? Is your Earth still flat? Oh yeah, obKillTheJews! |
2003/2/2-3 [Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast, Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast/Iraq] UID:27282 Activity:very high |
2/2 I'm about to buy a magazine subscription. I'm trying to decide between: Harpers, The New Yorker, Harper's Bazaar, Vanity Fair, and The Economist. Any opinions/suggestions? \_ Sign your post. This was one of the better motd threads! \_ liberal! \_ hm... more of an indictment than a suggestion. But thanks! -op \_ The Economist is pretty damned conservative. They are totally in favor of bombing Iraq, w/ or w/o the UN. \_The Economist seems like somewhat of an odd duck in that selection. \_ you mean it doesn't suck? yeah, i agree. \_ Quite amusing. I used to subcribe to three of those (Harpers, The New Yorker, and The Economist). It really depends on what you're into. 1) The New Yorker -- nowhere near as good as in Tina Brown's days, but stil worth reading for (a) the cartoons and (b) Seymour Hersch' occasional exposes. \_ I can't speak for current New Yorker, but Tina Brown era was, relatively speaking, pretty bad. Brown sold issues because she was good at hyping the magazine, but not much else. 2) Harper's -- give you nice warm fuzzies if you're a midwestern small college, Madison Wisconsin-educated, Prairie Home Companion-listening type. The articles tend to be good, if a bit self-righteous, plus you get to read Lewis Lapham's monthly whinings. 3) The Economist -- I've been a subscriber to this since I was seventeen. I joke that it's an excellent British humour magazine. Still, it has good international reporting, plus has in-depth analyses of a specific country or business or trend every few weeks. An excellent way of knowing what's going on in the rest of the world, especially if you tend to feel your intelligence insulted by Time or Newsweek or the like. \_ Agreed. I used to read it exclusively for the news and ignored the bits about business and the economy. Its politics are refreshingly obvious, which makes them easy to ignore. --erikred If you want more details, email me -coganman \_ I subscribe to the same three as coganman, but I am letting my New Yorker subscription lapse, as half of it is about the New York art scene, which I am not interested in. The other half has some gems, but not worth wading through, imho. Harpers _ is consistently good, comes once a month and can be read in one sitting. The Economist is always well written, but often about quite esoteric subjects: how interested are you in the exchange rate of the Ringgit, for example, which they seem to write about every week. The Economist comes weekly and is quite dense, expect to spend 3-4 hr/wk reading it. It is also relatively quite expensive. You should add Atlantic Monthly to your list, btw. -ausman \_ the new yorker has had some really interesting middle east and afghanistan articles lately \_ I second the Atlantic Monthly recommendation and recommend checking out their website once in a while. \_ this has proven to be quite a hard decision. yes, I was considering adding Atlantic Monthly to my list as well. I am currently living in NYC... so the half of the New Yorker about arts in the city would actually be interesting to me. \- the economist before anything else. then the NYker. i like the NYRevBooks too. buy the Atlantic if they have a long article you are interested in. atlantic is pretty cheep. forget the rest. do you have time to read 3mags/wk? --psb \_ I read NY Review of Books online... \_ Economist is not as good as it used to be. There used to be more writings about the Ringgit, but now it is more and more like Time magazine, with a US-centric view of the world. The magazine feels more and more dominated by Yankee editors. It's not that they are necessarily wrong, it's just that I might as well watch CNN for that. Still I would take Economist over the other two, since I fall asleep reading the other two. \- well i agree the e'ist has slacked off a little. however if you want general purpose weekly where the science writing that doesnt have to remind you the nucleus consist of protons and neutrons, pick the e'ist. if you want to not only read an article about the asian currency crisis talking about the USD-ringgit exchange rate, but you want to read an article 5 years later about "new acdemic inter- preations of the asian meltdown", again this is soemthing the economist "economics focus" will write on, but others will not. TIME is written for 8th graders and the e'ist average 8th graders and colleg students, which is minute. If you read e'ist for a while and have for people who went to college. --psb analysis over time, you will find it at the same level as Larry King Live or 60 Minutes. It is the same kind packaged to different education background. You might have information there you do not find mentioned on the rest of the stuff that you read, but if you belive what \_ Yes the difference in the level of actual intelligence subscribe to USA Today only. It does not cost that much. between e'ist and time is similar to that between average 8th graders and average college students, which is minute. If you read e'ist for a while and have the attention span or concentration to compare their analysis over time, or if you examine their article on subjects you are familiar with, you will rank it the same as Larry King Live or 60 Minutes. It is the same kind of stuff packaged to different education backgrounds. You will have information there not covered on the other things that you might read, but if you belive what you read based on where it is printed, you might as well subscribe to USA Today only. It has more weight/buck. \- it's not a matter of beliving it all. the relevance is as follows. 1. the articles are shorter because the dont have to include details like "iraq, a country in the middle east, ...". 2. often they indirectly allude to stuff that will give you an extra level of understanding if you are familar with an academic approach to the topic. for examples the terrorist and the time bomb is kind of a classic from philosophy classes. if you are not familar with that, you get some appreciation of the issues taking it at face value. if you are familiar with the "trolly problem" discussion, you get some bonus material. 3. they have have some funny and semi obscure jokes that are fun, like the article "ave atque vale" some issues back. 4. in terms of subject material, there is some stuff that will be of interest to the educated classes which you will NOT see on 60min or L. KING. bright people who are not economists will not read econometrica or other professional econ journals or working papers but they may be interested now and then on interesting reasearch developments on say refinements to the neoclassical growth model, post solow, or to say a new theory about NAIRU ... obviously if you dont know what NAIRU is, like most TIME readers, this will be of limited interest. 5. the e'ist typically has better graphs, charts etc than other people because the can opt to choose more complicated graphs ... probably not an option for usa today because usa today readers would probably confused by a thermometer that read both degF and degC. --psb \_ Weekly Standard or National Review if you actually want to provoke thought. \_This comment would be funny if it weren't so sad. \_ Can you elaborate on your erudition or do you lack the pretense? \_ if you're going to use big words, you really should figure out what they mean first. -tom \_ Fascinating how every time I see criticisms of WS or NR they are ad hominem. \_ 1. The Economist 2. Nation 3. Atlantic Monthly. Honorable Mention: Harpers, Foreign Affairs |
2002/7/6 [Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast, Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast/Iraq] UID:25295 Activity:nil |
7/6 Tuskegee Airmen leader Davis dies http://freerepublic.com/focus/news/711661/posts i disagree with you. \_ Indeed. |
2002/4/3 [Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast, Recreation/Humor] UID:24313 Activity:nil |
4/3 pointless middle east politiking removed - funny stuff retained: \_ Uh yeah, whatever. Maybe we should gather at Sproul and have a rally or a sit-in for peace and send good vibes around the world. Hey, are you 420? Let's get together! |
2000/10/14-16 [Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast, Academia/Berkeley/CSUA/Motd] UID:19484 Activity:nil |
10/14 You know what, there is some MOTD in the Middle East somewhere, where they are saying the exact same things, but about the USA. \_ I doubt it. "some MOTD" = message board / chat |
12/24 |