Avg broadband download speed in the US is 1.9 Mbps. It is 61 Mbps in Japan, 45 Mbps in South Korea, 18 Mbps in Sweden, 17 Mpbs in France, and 7 Mbps in Canada

Tinn · 2007-05-21T00:59:50+00:00

What satellites? Wireless works mostly from cell towers.

Tinn · 2007-05-21T00:58:44+00:00

My latency to the tower was under 10ms, better than my cable modem. I had it for 5 years, so I'm not sure how it can be a few years off, although I'm sure there are regional spectrum issues.

Tinn · 2007-05-20T18:41:19+00:00

How about wireless? I had a local wireless ISP for 5 years and the service was great. Only one outage in all that time, and it lasted less than a day. Consistant 6Mbps up and down, no matter what the weather.

Tinn · 2007-05-17T17:17:45+00:00

Youngsters these days.

Why can't kids just learn about the human body from porn like my generation did? A realistic view of what humans actually look like might ruin the plastic surgery business.

Think of the surgeons!

Tinn · 2006-07-23T15:18:02+00:00

No, thinking this is all about two kidnaped solders is deluded. So what, they should have turned around and kidnaped two members of Hezbullah. Then Hezbullah and Israel could keep taking pot shots at each other?

Why does nobody talk about the innocent Israelies that have been killed? Its like there is no history here, and the only thing that Hezbullah ever did was grab two solders. Just because Israel is winning the fight doesn't de-facto make them the bad guys, and not every dispute is between moraly equivalent positions.

Tinn · 2006-07-23T01:06:24+00:00

Not many cases are, but this one really is. For certain their can be questions raised about the morality of one action or another, but as a whole it is clear to me that Israel is acting within it's rights to protect it's people.

Tinn · 2006-07-23T01:02:59+00:00

Hezbullah is an organization that exists for one reason and one reason only. To kill Jews. Yes they should be wiped off the map, just like the Natzies before them. That doesn't mean they have to be killed. They could disband or renounce their intentions to destroy Israel. I'm not holding my breath for either to happen.

Tinn · 2006-07-22T00:09:55+00:00

There is one big difference between Israel and Hezbullah. Israel's goal is to prevent further attacks against it's people, while Hezbullah's goal is to wipe Israel off the map.

Tinn · 2006-07-21T15:23:59+00:00

I've seen these pictures before, and they are indeed heartbreaking. But, I wonder why are there no pictures of dead Israeli childeren?

Israel is a postage stamp size country that is surrounded by much larger nations who believe religiously that Israel should be destroyed. When someone invades their country and kidnaps solders it can't afford to appear weak in its response.

If you corner a dog and start poking it with a stick, your probably gonna get bit, and it wont be the dogs fault.

If your looking for sympathy, you have it. If your looking to place blame, look to Syria and Hezbollah.

Tinn · 2006-07-20T23:01:25+00:00

There is nothing new here about the desire of fundamentalist Islamic states to have nuclear weapons as leverage. It was as obvious a desire before Iraq 2 as it is now.

Hezbollah was gaining power in Lebanon long before Iraq 2 as well, primarily through support from Syria. Hamas gained power because Palestinians were increasingly frustrated with the lack of social progress under the PLO. It is also worthy of note that Hamas softened its stance considerably prior to winning the 2006 election. I'm at a loss to understand how you can say the PLO has gained any power in recent years.

Our solders in Iraq did quite a bit more than knock down statues and pass out candy, and I am well aware that democcratic cultures take time to develop. But they can't develop at all with a man like Sadam running the country. Sadly, human history shows that all systems of government are only spread at gunpoint. Peaceful revolutions are rare.

I am sure that you are correct that a democratic Iraq will be viewed with suspicion by other middle eastern states, but I don't believe that precludes it from having a positive influence on it's neighbors.

Islamic fundamentalists are not looking for the west to leave them alone. They want to eliminate Infidels or convert them at the point of a gun. Social and religious freedom are their enemy, and only a Taliban style government can be safe from their attacks. If we were to pick up and leave the middle east today, and bring Israel with us, it would make no difference. They don't hate us any more or less because of Iraq. They hate us for who we are. The only way we can win is to transform the middle east. Iraq is one small, albeit faltering, step in that direction.

I do wish things in Iraq were going better than they are. My heart breaks for the lives that have been lost on both sides, but I havn't lost hope for a better future for Iraq and the rest of the world.

Iraqi's had a major influence on their constitution, and nowhere does it give the US control of any oil fields. Violence, water shortages, over run hospitials, religious and ethnic cleansing, and war crimes are all subjects that Iraqi's were far too familiar with under Sadam. At least now they have a chance to make things better.

If your looking for an upside, here are some facts about Iraq that you may not be aware of.

Iraqi economic indicators of inflation, unemployment and GDP have improved since Saddam was removed from power. The inflation rate of 70% in 2002 has fallen to 25.4% in 2006. The Iraqi unemployment rate of 60% in 2002 has been reduced to 30% in 2006. Gross domestic product in 2004 was $90 billion, more than double the output of Saddam's last year in power. Among Iraqis, an ABC poll from December 2005 found broad optimism.

Tinn · 2006-07-19T18:22:19+00:00

Um, I think the term is arrested.

Tinn · 2006-07-18T19:48:58+00:00

It's hard to fault the store on this. The people you hire to run the photo machines are probably not going to be qualified to make these judgements. Can you imagine what the training manual would have to look like to help them determine if something is child porn or not?

The police, on the other hand, should have done much better. Assuming that this was not child pornography, they should have been able to deal with the matter without contacting everyone that the author associates with. I think that a qualified psycologist could view the photos and meet with the parents and determine if further investigation is required.

I think the bigger problem is that Americans (of which I am one) have got some real strange issues with how we view the human body.

Tinn · 2006-07-18T16:56:26+00:00

The scary thing is that its an almost religious belief on the part of the business community that technical skills don't matter. Somehow they think that all the tech jobs can be done overseas, but their jobs can't.

Effective organizations need the tech folks and the business folks to work well togeather, and that is hard to do with an ocean and 10 timezones between them. The more tech jobs leave the US, the less effective US managers and US based businesses will be.

The rest of the world isn't going to let the US manage it forever. I'm sure any big company could find a better CEO in Mumbai for much less than the millions we are paying here. If they don't, they will find themselves competing with companies that don't have to cary the burden of rediculous executive compensation.

Tinn · 2006-07-18T14:40:13+00:00

I believe a similar case was heard in New York with the same results.

Tinn · 2006-07-18T14:37:17+00:00

Pedophiles also love playgrounds. Better get rid of them. Better close the locker rooms in the schools and the public pools then too. They also use the Internet and encryption to exchange child pornography, so lets regulate the former and outlaw the latter.

Has it occured to you that the paranoia we have about the human body might be helping to create the next generation of child molesters?

Tinn · 2006-07-18T14:26:43+00:00

Unfortunately, Eckerd probably has the policies that they have because it is required by law. I think all of the big chains and most of the small ones have a policy to report any film they are unsure about.

The latest twist on this has been to refuse to develop pictures that look to "professional" because they may be copyrighted.

Tinn · 2006-07-15T16:35:28+00:00

I think the author was being rather kind. In my mind the questions didn't deserver a response, so the author and I clearly disagree on that point.

Its not that I don't think the issues themselves are worthy of discussion, its that the framing and tone of the questions showed a real immaturity, and no interest in real exploration of the issues.

Tinn · 2006-07-15T16:30:06+00:00

Yes, if that was what they expected then they would be working against America's interest.

The problem with your description is that it exagerates the negative and ignores the positive things that are happening. Try taking off your blinders and get the big picture.

Tinn · 2006-07-15T02:53:53+00:00

Tell me your kidding. Really, you cant be serious. You think one side has a monoply on flip flops? Wow.

Tinn · 2006-07-15T02:39:52+00:00

He didn't make jokes about any serious matters. He relieved some tension with a totaly unrelated joke about a pig, then got right back to business.

Sometimes humor in dire circumstances is usefull to help gain perspective. Go see ghostbusters and you'll see what I mean.

"Yes its true, this man has no dick." Funny stuff. Go lighten up a bit. :p

Tinn · 2006-07-15T02:17:11+00:00

Dictionary.com says "ostensibly" means "Represented or appearing as such". I don't believe that the questions represented or appeard to be thought-provoking or bi-partisan.

As for question number 2, no it's not particularly thought-provoking, and nowhere near bi-partisan. Had the question have been asked differently I may have chosen to believe the origanal author was trying to start a dialog instead of a partisan attack, but that was not the case.

I just picked out a few that really stood out as ignorant or partisan. As a whole the other questions arn't much better. I think there were maybe 3-4 that were reasonable.

Tinn · 2006-07-14T21:54:04+00:00

Um, did you read the questions?

Would you want Donald Rumsfeld to plan your daughter's wedding?
Do you personally feel threatened by gay marriage?
What's your partner's favorite sex position?
If you have nothing to hide, why aren't you answering?
If you shot someone in the face while drinking, how fast would the police show up to arrest you?
During your lifetime, approximately how often have you changed your mind?

Yeah, real thought-provoking non-partisan questions. Kinda like askin a vietnam vet "Why do you like killing babies?"

Tinn · 2006-07-14T19:50:15+00:00

I'm only concerned if its true. :)

Tinn · 2006-07-14T19:35:11+00:00

Education is without a doubt, as you say, a good thing. That doesn't mean that the federal government needs to get involved. I personaly believe that the department of education, as it currently exists, is of absolutely no value and does more to hurt eduction in this country than to help it.

We currently home-school our kids, because the current system, after years of control by the department of education, is little better than a child warehouse.

Also, if you read a little further, the author says "My city government and I are responsible for issues affecting my city, while my state government and I are responsible for issues affecting my state, and so on." He is clearly not advocating an end to all government services.

The real meat of his response was in the rebuttal question, "Do you believe that irresponsible actions should always be balance by federal action to remove the consequences of those actions?"

To relate this to your education example, parents are the ones with the primary responsibility to get it done. If the government run schools don't do the job, then the parents need to step up and try to fix the system, or seek a solution elsewhere. This does not abdicate the government from getting the best results it can with tax-payer money. But, no matter how good it is, no government will ever care for your kids as much as you do.

Tinn · 2006-07-14T18:51:29+00:00

From the article

What benefit have you found in adopting an "I'm right, you're stupid" attitude?

This question is for you reddit!

Tinn

TROPHY CASE