I wouldn't necessarily agree with that. Muhammad was a military leader and a statesman, and the Koran basically dictates how every aspect of society should operate. Christianity had the benefit of being an outsider religion that eschewed direct temporal power. "Render unto Caesar..." The authors of the New Testament went out of their way to make it clear they were just talking about Jewish religion stuff and posed no threat to the Roman rulers so as to avoid persecution. It is this separation of authority that allows for open thought and independent inquiry. This is why science and democracy were (re)born in western nations. Neither the Islamo-statists nor the god-kings of the far east allowed for dissent or independent thought.

Most all early scientists or natural philosophers were Christians. But the Christianity they practiced is very different from modern Christian fundamentalism. Christian fundamentalism is a recent invention of the United States.

We can't trade with such people. Hell, if they don't even allow math we can't even keep ledgers. So they would still blame western governments for imposing sanctions.

To be honest, it seems like the best solution, is, as you say, stop fighting them. All we ever wind up doing is accidentally killing a bunch of civilians and breeding more jihadis. You guys want a caliphate? Fine. Knock yourselves out. We'll be over here with our blackjack and hookers.

The only problem is we still need their damn oil. Please, Elon Musk, save us from dependence on these assholes' oil. The sooner we can find a replacement for middle eastern oil and/or their oil runs out, the better.

Except for the whole beheading and murdering thing, these guys sound like cartoon villains. I'm just stunned that such a people can rally support. How socially and in every other way clueless must a jihadi be to think signing up with these guys is a good idea and that they will build a stable, functioning government and society?

Well said.

But I don't bother posting anonymously because it's not like they don't know who I am, anyway.

See, that's why he said "let's not even talk about the F-22."

That is one thing the Supremes have actually stood up for. They generally decide well on 1st amendment issues.

Latest UN figures say population will top out in 2050 at about nine billion and then decline, with most growth now in Africa and parts of Asia. As education levels rise (particularly amongst women) fertility rates go down. Much of the developed world is not reproducing at replacement rates.

Overpopulation is a red herring.

Actually, no one (outside the agency) knows what the NSA's mandate really is. Their charter was signed in secret by Truman and classified. The Senate Intelligence Committee had to beg and plead to eventually be allowed to see it.

Um, no. In the United States we have the first amendment.

Indeed. When the government bans Tor, we can complain about our free speech rights, and there's a pretty good chance we'd win. Say what else you will about the US government and Supreme Court, but they pretty much always come down on the side of free speech. You can say about any damn thing you want in this country in any damn way you want.

But we all know the first amendment is only about the government not being able to ban speech. Unless comcast gets regulated as a utility or common carrier, they can ban whatever they want on their network.

Just thinking about the Zetas sends a chill down my spine. I hope the wave of drug legalization that's sweeping the US will cut off their profits.

Thank you so much, that's very informative!

Is there a good way to calculate how much RAM you need? I'm considering ZFS for my next server build. It'll be around 10TB.

Well, they're two different things. "Open source" is a design methodology. "Free software" is a social movement. I try my hardest to use only FOSS. I say that from my windows computer at work. But hey, I take my ultrabook with debian on it just about everywhere I go.

Ummmm...I'm not unemployed and am doing rather well for myself. I taught myself to code starting with BASIC in elementary school. I went for a master's in electrical engineering specializing in computer architecture so I could really get into the hardware, which gave me a much better understanding of software.

Anyway, glad you're doing well. I've always said that when I retire I'm going to go back to school and finish that physics degree.