maybe, but this is Voyager man, no one did that before and yeah, it's pretty cool.

Okay, I can on one hand understand the lack of love for the dear Senator. With the other, let us not miss an advantage to press an issue that till now did not seem important to our Surveillance Lady in Waiting. Finally a Senator gets a first hand taste (and let's assume it really happened*) of getting spied on and she's pissed off. Now she wants warrants and oversight so let's help in that direction to the full extent of what it means to have your privacy assaulted.

I think it is sad that one of the privileged needs to be affected before they react with more then a sniff. It would be grand if our elected officials actually cared a damn for the people they represent, but I for one welcome her "outrage" and hope she uses it to tighten privacy laws and get tough on those who ignore our Constitutional rights.

* all this noise of whether it was a real drone, it was made up, or did or did not carry a camera is plain stupid. If it happened then good, she got a taste of the future and does not like it. If it was fake or trumped up so she can cited a "legitimate" reason for her outcry, who cares. The story is her enlightened position.

A good prosecutor will already know the answer to a question put to a hostile witness. Of course he knew the answer, he needed to hear it from the head of a government agency that was engaging in actions that seemingly went against the 4th amendment. The only sad result is that Clapper was not quickly hauled back and either fired or arrested for perjury thus re-enforcing the adage that there are some in government that are too big to arrest or call to question the legalities of their actions.

Clapper does not protect this country, he protects his ass, his job, and his agency. His loyalties are screwed up.

Till now I thought to give you the benefit you were not a fan boy of the NSA, but after readying your comments I can see I was wrong. As meanpun correctly states, it was a lie. In a situation of being under oath there is not dual stream, there is but one, telling the truth otherwise the whole system of justice is a sham. Clapper was asked a question, the intent of the Senator is not the issue, the question was legitimate on its own merits and required a truthful answer.

To repeat, his answer could have been to say "I plead the fifth", "I cannot answer due to national security" or more directly, "I will not answer the question". He could have just said yes, which would do little to undermine national security (as we already knew the answer), instead, he lied. You try to justify his action by some lame idea that there is "private" data and secrets that must not be told. Bullshit. His lie and your justification do more to undermine the Security of this country then had he admitted the truth. Some in power, they feel they are above the law, above the framework of would holds this country together. That is seriously wrong thinking.

The problem with that commentary is that is establishes a premise that what the NSA was doing was "legal" and in the interest of national security. It would seem those two issues are in doubt. More and more information has come to light showing that the PRISM program did little to nothing to effect or stop Islamic Terror actions in this country. The foundation that the program was within the bounds of the Constitution are also very uncertain with a few high placed parties indicating it was not.

Sen. Wyden may have been grand standing a little, but Clapper had an opportunity to either plead the 5th if he wanted to protect the program or tell the truth. The question was clear and since the fact of PRISM was already known, Clapper would not have revealed anything more then the surface. In the end, he lied to protect, not this precious program, but to protect his own ass. A lie first followed by dissimulation (lie, confuse, forget) was and is the political way to not get fired (or arrested) assuming you are "To Big to Fail"

Only for the 99%

I almost never buy from Walmart, but that is a deal to hard to pass up. My old system does not have enough power to run a modern graphics card and I miss playing Flight Sim. Yeah, I thought about getting a new power supply, but perhaps it's time to retire my 10 year old system to server status. Thanks for the tip.

Oh the irony...oh the humor in your post. 2nd Amenders getting all robust about how in America (my country) wez gotz the rights to carry gunz and shoot em (at furners if need be), but we don't make the guns?

Is it the EU plan to keep sending guns over to us in the hope we all just shoot each other then later on they can "help" us rebuild.

Haven't figure out if your post makes me laugh, cry, or just feel that the world is just a little fucked up.

The whole climate Warming or Change issue reminds me of the old story of four blind men meeting an elephant for the first time. One feels its truck and says "An elephant is a snake", another man feels the leg and say "An elephant is like a tree trunk". The third feels an ear and exclaims "An elephant is like a leaf and the fourth, having not moved in time says, just before getting crushed by its feet, an Elephant is like a huge rock". What they perceive is just a part of the whole and when put completely together becomes something quite different.

I will accept that mankind has effected the overall climate of the planet. I say this not as a Scientist, but as a reasonably intelligent human that understands when you shit in your own house, something stinks. How bad it sticks is not the issue. The issue is why keep shitting in the house if there are better alternatives like using an outhouse or bathroom. The Earth is very big, very complex and we have only scratched the surface of what we understand about how it works. We are the four blind men and I think it may take time to get the complete picture of what is in the room.

In the mean time, is it so bad to think we could just stop shitting in our own home, do something about the stink and maybe make living here a more pleasant experience? I would think Capitalistics could figure out all sorts of ways to make money cleaning up our shit instead of just making more air spray to cover up the smell.

I'll mod myself off topic, but thank you for posting this summary and comment. I've looked into series and will plan to buy them. I also agree that time travel can be a good tool to help in moving a plot along or setting a good story. Science Fiction is not always about the science, but how science effects the characters. According to the Parent, we should not have FTL, beam weapons, aliens, or the rest of the milieu that makes up the world of SciFi. Me, I can take a reasonable suspension of belief (Helix, by Eric Brown comes to mind) if a good tale is told.

so now parody and sarcasm is just trolling?

So your view is that Duck Dynasty is intellectually superior? The post was not so pompous as spot on. We, as in citizens of the US, glorify idiots and ridicule shows that might make us think (either through humor or drama). We enjoy the dumb, because it makes us feel superior. Each year the bar gets lower so yes, we are close to Bread and Circuses.

Touche' Well played for I had forgotten that reference.

The interesting part of the slim article was the part left out. Why did not not perform as well on some of the games. There was not much detail on that issue. I'm not familiar with the poorly played game, but I would guess they introduce a level of visual complexity that overwhelms the AI?

Other than that, simply astounding accomplishment.

Don't trust computers if your name is Jarvis.

In the greater context I think the post is trying to make the same thought, AI's that use visuals to make decisions may not be trusted with human life.