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Comment Re:religeous nutcases abound again (Score 1) 726

At this point, it no longer matters which sect or religion it is committing this. its still an attack upon reason.
most of the devout fail to realize that *if* god really wanted us to worship him without reason, he would not have given us the ability *to* reason to begin with.

Faith can be a powerful thing. it can also be self destructive without a little temperance from reason.

so, I posit this: *if* god created the heavens and the earth, does it not stand to reason that he also built all those system to evolve and grow beyond their former limits? Something interesting to think about.

Comment religeous nutcases abound again (Score 2) 726

If history has taught us one thing it is this:
those who seek control always play on ignorance. the roman catholic church of the 4th and 15th centuries knew this and it looks like their modern successors are trying to do it to us again.

I think Frederick Nietzsche sums it up best: "Any species that seeks destructive behavior for its own ends does not deserve to survive".

Comment From a t-mobile customer in the USA (Score 1) 364

I happen to be a blind t-mobile customer here in the US. I can see a very good reason that t-mobile would do this.
Their infrastructure was not designed for such high loads being placed on it. these loads may cause service problems
for anyone else on that cell node. also, bandwidth is not exactly cheap anywhere you go.

As a blind customer with a smartphone, I have no need to download videos. podcasts (audio only) are far smaller and can be transferred
from my mac at home to my phone easily. with 32 GB available on my micro SD card, I can store as much media as I will
need. Thus I am not using Bandwidth to transfer these on t-mobile's network and thus am not limiting another user's ability to use the service.

Frankly, its common sense. if you want to view a video on your phone, get it via broadband and watch it offline. it will cost you
a lot less and save the rest of us from having to pay higher fees for your hoggishness.

Comment stupid scriptkiddie (Score 1) 429

this guy was't a "haockavist", he was nothing more than a script kiddie or a "bot herder"
Also, I'd really like to see his credentials as an IT security expert. I find it rather amusing
that he was caught so fast (it usually takes out government months to find someone like this).

so, there are three primary possibilities here:
1. he was incredibly stupid and bragged to everyone about it
2. our government suffenly got a lot smarter
3. this is a diversion (unlikely).

in any case, it appears out government views the wikileaks scandal as more of a first amendment issue than anything else
(note that the wikileaks founder is only wanted on a sex charge).

Comment all I can say is.... good luck! (Score 1) 184

I really know what this kid is going through. back in 1995, I was declared deceased, only I didn't find out until I went in 15 days later to fill a prescription.
At that point, I found out that my insurance had been canceled, and that the medication I needed would not be filled. This was apparently only the
tip of the iceberg. within 2 weeks, my bank account was closed, my credit terminated and my SSI gone. it took me three months and a lot
of pressure from the local news media before social security owned up to the mistake. it was a further year before I could get a bank account
(the credit reporting databases kept reporting me as deceased).

here's the real kicker: I happen to be blind.

sooo, imagine the hellish nightmare this kid was going through. it is comparable to what I went through 15 years ago.

Comment always cutting corners (Score 1) 165

well,
yet another example of companies and individuals trying to maximize their profit margins, usually at the expense of safety. it used to be that such materials were transported only by U.S.N.R.C. couriers. I guess that some manufacturers figured they'd save a few dollars in shipping. now we have a possible radiation hazard loose on the general public. at least they haven't started with dangerous biologics yet (or have they?).

Comment the appeals process continues? (Score 1) 267

well,
it looks like its on to the stat supreme court. I am not sure about the money issues, but getting a conviction for malicious prosecution would definitely work in the favor of others who are currently being victimized for much the same thing. here is hoping that you win. I find the lower courts ruling that the evidence gathered was insufficient to be way out of line with known rules of law and logic. anyway, good luck in getting this matter resolved.

Comment Re:Ha your great medicare (Score 1) 174

hmmmm.
its a little more involved than that. I use a mac here and had instant accessibility from the OS without having to spend an$1,000 (hello freedom scientific!). In fact, any devices for the disabled (no matter the disability) can cost anywhere from 4 to 100 times what the standard consumer electronic equivalent can (like a $400.00 microwave that talks when the same unit that doesn't costs less than $80 at your local wal*mart). That $200.00 PDA can cost the blind person about $1,200 with the modifications made to a standard PDA (about $20.00 in parts and a few changes in the onboard software).
The above is primarily why the disabled are seeing benefits (even if unintended) from devices like the iPad and other display devices (at substantially lower costs). The above is also why most state governments go broke trying to help their disabled clients.
I happen to be blind. I paid just under $1,000 for my mac. what I would have spent on a comparable windows machine? $1,000 for the computer, $250 for the windows OS, $1,000 for the text to speech software (windoweyes or jaws). frankly, my mac is a better deal. now i I can find a braille display that won't cost me a years worth of my fixed income in one shot ($6,000)!.

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