Except, no, it is not a phone, aside from a very limited subset of its functions. It is a phone-enabled internet tablet, a nearly full-fledged turing machine that you can do nearly anything you want with it, especially if you are wishing to root it. It has as much power as a 2000's 1000-1200$ desktop computer, with a capacitive touchscreen, blistering solid-state memory, many different integrated wireless communication protocols (wifi, bluetooth, cell), and who knows what else, all at your fingertips in a pocket form factor for 600 bucks.

But sure, think of it as a phone if you can't conceive better.

Good attitude, but you should take it just a bit farther. Don't want something public? Don't do it! Someone'll know eventually, and time is running out before humanity tends towards total information awareness.
As a side bonus, you can feel good about yourself, because you're not worrying about someone learning something you did - you just have to cope with everything you do.
Why are westerners so dissociated in what they do and what they wish to be?

Actually, Iran does not hold anti-Israeli rhetoric. Rather, just as how you don't call atheists "anti-theists", Iran simply does not recognize the existence of a State of Israel. The basics of their logic being, Israel's creation being totally illegitimate (look up the Balfour declaration, and the subsequent uprooting of Palestinians from their lands and then wrongful appropriation of these lands by Israelis), there is no reason at all to recognize that state.

This. I've encountered the same problem on Last.fm. I only pay 3$ a month for unlimited music, so I figured I might contribute something like an extra 20-30$ a month to the artists I stream most during that period.

But while most of them give their music for free on collective sites like 8bitpeoples.com, I've found no way to give targeted donations to certain artists which I enjoy most, save from following the last.fm link to "buy on itunes/amazon"... but how much will iTunes/amazon collect, and then their publishers, and then who knows what else... so so far I've avoided donating while I work out the problem. Why do artists not provide us with a way to give them straight, targeted, pure-profit donations?

Actually they did, and the best in-your-face part is that Osama Ben Laden warned us explicitely in one of his tapes circa 2001. Can't be bothered to find the text (though it's everywhere), but basically he was saying Now what you're going to do is overextend yourself and fall harder than you ever had. But the elite were whipped into a rage (or more plausibly saw some profit in that manufactured war) and decided to convince the people to overextend anyways.

And here we are.

I've actually found a mantra which is quite useful for this exact purpose. Whenever I'm talking/thinking and I'm about to say/think "I'm right", I automatically replace it with the more elaborate construction "I dare hope that I'm right" and then mentally append a list of reasons why I think that's the case (to be revised according to further information).
Helps me remain critical yet non-judgmental. YMMV, but I dare hope it works :)

Talking about this - anyone know of a good current/next-gen phone with such a forward facing camera? I was looking for an open internet tablet/smartphone, which I planned to use solely with wifi (no plan with a carrier at all). Having a camera so I can videochat in google voice (or any other videoconferencing program) would be a definite plus but I haven't seen one in any android or maemo phone...

Yep, but I don't think the russians had any.
Or else, they somehow feel the need to remind the U.S. that they still got them?

Except if the goals of these police corporations are virtually indistinguishable from the wishes of the state that lets them thrive. The resulting intimate meshing of corporations and government is then called fascism.

Hmm... and load the really big yacht in the really big interior pool of an international cruise ship?

Not anymore.

There is no difference in a perfect emulation and the original. Unless the brain is actually the most efficient computing machine theoritically possible (which it is not) then we will eventually be able to beat its efficiency.

Information theory disagrees. Any turing-complete machine can eventually run an emulation of the human mind, and with enough processing power do it at real-time or faster speeds.

But who are you to tell other people which drugs they should have a legitimate right to contain in their bodies? If it is a clear-headed decision for their own benefit, you shouldn't be allowed to deny them the right.

I, for one, welcome our eternal, digitally reproduced robot overlords.

I, for one, do not welcome our automated tomato-growing overlords.
The next step is growing humans, and harvesting them for power!
Someone has to stop this!