Are you sure about that? (notice the generic sounding question )

Was it a requirement for posting a question here to read what you wrote?

LostDutchman is right, there have been a large number of conflicts since the second world war (I take it that's where your "80 years" came from); I would hardly call it a peaceful period. Now, you can argue that your life and the lives of those around you aren't being affected by these conflicts, but even then that's doubtful.

I mean, even if your countrymen aren't being killed (either invading other countries, supporting others during their invasions, or being invaded themselves), remember that the weapons used in these conflicts still have to come from somewhere: the US, European countries, Russia, Israel, etc. are major weapons producers and exporters. So, in effect, those are large amounts of resources that are being used to fill the pockets of weapons manufacturers, instead of improving society as a whole (and sometimes with the population's own tax money to boot). Also, if your country is anywhere near a war zone, it's also likely it will have to deal with an influx of refugees at some point in time.

The second case: posts that are not on topic for a thread should not be counted towards payment. So, posts that are on topic and otherwise constructive count, regardless of the forum section.

Hmm, I like turn based strategy games like Master of Orion, Civilization, and so on; does that make me a turn based strategist?

I know what that is... I'd just add Space Empires V to that list (and probably limit Master of Orion to I and II).

I think it was the leader of Malaysia that complained about pretty much the same thing when the USSR disbanded, basically saying that most countries' defense against the US' hegemony was the threat of defecting to the other side, and that now that was no longer a possibility.

Still, I'd hope that the spectrum of possible choices was broader than just "monopoly" and "oligopoly"; perhaps one of those "virus" will finally break out one day.

Do you like Mario as well? If so, then you might like this: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=677929.0.

Yeah, such revolutionary regimes are what he/others call a "virus" that could spread if you let them; that is, serve as an example for others to follow, and end up unraveling the whole system of US control if you leave them be. Cuba and Vietnam are very clear examples of this; Cuba somehow managed to survive to this day, despite the US' efforts, but Vietnam wasn't so lucky, unfortunately.

But it doesn't follow that because he criticizes the US' role in all this, he is of the opinion that the country not existing would make for a better world. As I said, it could easily be the case that someone else would step up to fill the role; the US is powerful, but not particularly special otherwise - it's a country like any other. The imperialist tendencies are there for sure, but they are the same that existed in any of the previous empires.

Are you sure that is Chomsky's opinion? I know he frequently bashes the US, and in my view, rightly so; but for all it's wrongdoings, the US is an imperial power like any other has been throughout history. That is, if it wasn't the US doing it, some other powerful country would be doing it. In fact, I remember him saying something to this effect at least on one occasion (I'll post the video, if I remember what it was ).

That's not really very helpful either; I'd bet most Israelis are as brainwashed as Americans, though in their case, the government can more easily twist the situation to influence their population, given the continuous conflict they're in.

In the end, this whole situation would probably be more easily solved if it wasn't for the US' imperialist mentality, and the profit motive of weapons manufacturers (I guess having live targets for your weapons' demonstrations is a plus for some).

I think your choices are missing Mexicans, Cubans, Australians, "Kiwis", whomever it is that comes from Antarctica, and too many others to include here.


So, did you take a wrong turn somewhere?

Well, whether or not she thought it was for her own profit/salvation/morality/whatever, she had been repeatedly warned not to do it, and apparently kept doing it. And this is obviously not just about the "have a blessed day", so she likely had more control over it than that.

And it seems they are considering stepping up the offensive. I guess they don't learn, do they?

I was just now listening to the White House Press Secretary condemn Hamas' rocket fire against Israeli civilians, and express support for the Israeli operation in Gaza, stating they have a right to defend themselves - completely omitting they are "defending" themselves against mostly unarmed Palestinian civilians, while being the occupying power...

What do you guys think about the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement? Do you think it would at least help spread awareness of what is going on, perhaps leading to increased pressure on Israel to move towards a peaceful settlement? Or is that too much to hope for?

I'm under the impression that there are some affordable 3d scanners out there, but I haven't really looked into it yet to be honest. On the other hand, you have plenty of models you can download from the net, in sites like thingiverse, for example:

Mario and Bowser - http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:338542
Mario figurine stand - http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:231246
Yoshi - http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:211601
Mario - http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:27678



I haven't checked all the models, but they seem to be fairly high quality, and should be printer ready. Have fun.

I don't think Firefox's performance is significantly different from Chrome's, at least as far as I've kept up to date. For example, here are the results of the latest "Web Browser Grand Prix" from Tom's Hardware http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/chrome-27-firefox-21-opera-next,3534-12.html.


So, Chrome and Firefox? (if that is the Tor Browser you're talking about)

One of the reasons whistleblowers are seen as having shady backgrounds, is the usual character assassination that goes on in these cases; if you can't attack the message, attack the person.

Other than that, remember that whistleblowers and the people they leak the information to, need to have been able to be in a position to acquire that information in the first place, and that is a "behind the scenes" view that most people are not used to seeing, except maybe in movies.

If you had actually read the article before posting, you'd know what these are for.


And also:


So, no C&C Tesla Coil like direct application yet, unfortunately.

Well, alexrossi is on the default trust list, so his negative feedback (or positive) has far more effect; that is, everyone who is using the default trust list will see UpDown with the red trust warning. It's not enough to have positive trust to be able to do this to another user.

I'm not sure I like your perfect world all that much; "I didn't like your joke... you're fired" doesn't seem to me to do much for job security.

As for this particular case, yeah, she probably pushed the limits a bit too far; she had previously been warned not to do it, and there are probably laws against that type of thing in the work place, particularly when dealing with costumers. She is the "public face" of the bank after all.