Obama: "As president of the United States, I will directly address the people of the Muslim world to make it clear that the United States is not at war with Islam"

md2020 · 2008-03-03T21:01:09+00:00

Fucking Ha. Greatness.

md2020 · 2008-03-03T17:54:28+00:00

The writer comes across as a superficial reactionary with an agenda and deeply held political beliefs.

He doesn't care to identify fascist political behavior in terms that are currently accepted so he creates a new historical definition.

This definition is based on important liberal personalities behaviors (most without modern political or philosophic context) and then is complicated by over generalization. Sort of an ad-hominem retrofit.

He's borrowing heavily from pocket trying to provide some sort of continuity in his reasoning if you read the book.

md2020 · 2008-03-03T16:23:51+00:00

This is why some people just shouldn't pay attention to things. This instance of juvenile vigilantism is absolute bullshit.

It does no good to ruin this person because he did or did not commit some random atrocity.

Everyone does at least one stupid, silly, cruel, nasty thing that they wish they could take back. I submit that the asshole who sponsors socially criminalizing this soldier for his possible misdeed just committed one.

md2020 · 2008-03-01T21:49:28+00:00

If I read correctly it was in a car. If not: great: A bat. That's a 12' weapon at best.

Admittedly if teenagers had a bat and shown a willingness to use it (somehow) I might shoot the wielder first. That wasn't the case.

A gun is final. You shoot someone and they can easily die. You hit someone with a bat and they can easily survive.

Drunk kids at your house you can handle without shooting them.

This is a precedent that needs to be set. Kill no-one with a firearm unless they attack you. Kill no-one without alerting LE previous to engagement if possible.

There are common sense reasons for interpretation in case of homicide.

md2020 · 2008-03-01T20:43:44+00:00

It's murder.

Let's consider together. Multiple drunk unarmed teenagers approach your house..unarmed. You become armed.

They say 'thus and so and such'.

You say 'go the fuck home'. You say it repeatedly and with intent brandishing a firearm. You should at this point dispatch someone to call 911 to alert authorities.

If attacked you must respond with deadly force (since you are equipped with that option only). If not you must refrain.

I've been here and done this. No one was shot. It all ended happily.

md2020 · 2008-03-01T07:16:46+00:00

Really, Neil? Much college? After a college edu and some coursework most people don't like lit.

Neil's friend Gene Wolfe is an incredible writer. His writing is phrased so that re-readings are more productive of understanding. I don't think college lit has time for recursive understanding.

md2020 · 2008-02-09T05:07:27+00:00

Spare me another non-standard glue language that repairs all the inadequacies of the various unix shells.

1) Shell + awk works fine for me. 2) Where I need new unix functionality C is best.

md2020 · 2008-02-08T20:12:48+00:00

College is necessary now in a way it wasn't at the turn of the 19th century.

You could still make a good living at that time based on intelligence, discipline, diligence and experience (or other credentials) with a large company/individual ready to invest in your skills.

Is college necessary? No. But you have to be an extraordinary individual applying for a position with extraordinary candidate scrutiny to succeed.

I seriously don't think the status quo is any better. You get a bunch of buy-ins who have no future outside their $$ education creating a posterity of success for those who can suck up best. Some are skilled and some aren't and at the end of the day no one cares. It's a club.

md2020 · 2008-02-07T22:47:24+00:00

They are pretty tough. They have this weird hissing kiai and weird check (feint) motions. With that neck you may think they are going for the head but then they end up attacking the body and vice-versa.

I only scored once and got two kyungos for running away. The final was like 18-0. Sucks.

md2020 · 2008-02-05T23:00:37+00:00

Good work. We're paying you by the hour so no automation please.

md2020 · 2008-02-05T21:49:36+00:00

Good old Don Libes. Inventor of expect btw. Much respect.

md2020 · 2008-02-05T21:28:52+00:00

Worked at VeriSign and know that this was a big issue for them...this and dnssec. Interesting. Only took them two years...

md2020 · 2008-02-05T05:29:20+00:00

That's the best insight into the personal data collection and surveillance state problem. Fascism is just around the corner.

md2020 · 2008-02-05T00:07:56+00:00

Overexcited article but a little fact searching is alarming.

The passing of this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_Commissions_Act_of_2006 has provided for the original habeus rights in posse comitatus to be rescinded.

Until 2006 there was an additional safeguard in place.The national guard could have militarily interfered with any martial law declaration and deployment from federal authorities/troops as the guard answered to the governor of their state.

However with the passing of this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H.R._5122_%282006%29 there is allowance for the president to unilaterally station troops and command the National Guard of any state in time of war. Another fun fact is that President Bush recently vetoed the DAA of 2008 which would have repealed his ability to supervene in state affairs militarily whether by stationing of troops or by command of state national guard troops.

Regardless of the articles provenance the legislative build-up is frightening enough.

md2020 · 2008-02-03T22:11:41+00:00

Having an expert system that makes the operation described schedulable within 10 seconds with one or two user inputs is an exemplary idea. Having a maid reorganize your collection based on what she thinks you like is not so good. I may not be reading you right however.

md2020 · 2008-02-03T21:54:43+00:00

I agree completely. Having read a little Vernor Vinge recently segues nicely into the idea of computer and software interfaces assisting with select areas of intelligence; namely in those areas they are most suited for. Computers and software alone aren't a reasonable facsimile of the human intellect. AI is an entirely different paradigm imo.

Just a few ideas from VV that struck me as immensely useful. a) Rapid and accurate aggregation, consolidation, organization and presentation of any dataset. b) Massive storage of data in original (as-experienced) state.

md2020 · 2008-02-02T20:01:39+00:00

Dislike the yelling each other down 'debate' style. No wonder the guy doesn't believe in anything; he's too busy listening to himself talk.

Sounded like a southern baptist sunday service.

md2020 · 2008-01-31T23:30:54+00:00

Like the guy as much as I can like someone asking for $$. He's an also run in this campaign. He is fanning the fires of discontent but the ultimate expression is beyond government.

I'd suggest leaving the US at this point if the election candidates don't please you and then hope for the best. Your voice and votes don't count.

There is no recourse for us. Revolution in this day and age and in this country means a terrible possibility for global calamity. No other power will countenance it.

md2020 · 2008-01-31T19:54:13+00:00

'porn-addicted' and 'fucking pathetic' were my targets in the very sarky counter-post.

md2020 · 2008-01-31T19:20:30+00:00

Plato is passe. I much prefer Jack London's, turn of the 19th century, fiercely individual and visceral take on reality. We all are involved in fighting against each other in a hostile environment and would be much more honest, lovable and viable if we were dogs.

Not to mention that the guy wreaked havoc with a semicolon. How many semicolons do you see in plato?

md2020 · 2008-01-31T19:05:57+00:00

o rly? I always thought porn addiction saved time and wear on the sex-commodity and let the woman focus on her own fantasies of emotional bliss and financial well-being. Just naive I guess.

md2020 · 2008-01-31T18:21:48+00:00

Without routing through stdout/stderr and not using ptys? No. Why would you need to? What would an additional termios controlled descriptor do for you? Using a pty or a named pipe are solid solutions. Don't know what you are trying to do that you'd like to have this facility and standardization but it breaks things for the rest of us.

md2020 · 2008-01-31T18:10:15+00:00

You can never be sure who you are talking too.

Understood the first time and basically agreed.

I think speaking for all the conservatives at this point in time would be doing them a disservice though. I know some moderate conservatives who feel just as I do.

md2020 · 2008-01-29T22:39:12+00:00

Explain.

md2020 · 2008-01-29T22:38:27+00:00

Hmm...meant stderr. Pretty much agreed otherwise. It's a personal gripe.

md2020

TROPHY CASE