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Comment Re:A is not A anymore (Score 2, Informative) 294

So was I. No one really expected that result (not even the initiators of the initiative).

Oh and you are of course right that we have expirienced similar tendencies before. After the second world war the largest group of immigrants to switzerland were the italians. Today they are pretty well respected and integrated. At the time however the xenophobia peaked in an initative from James Schwarzenbach which wanted to limit foreign workers in Switzerland to 10%. In the year 2000 there was again such an initiative to limit it to 18%. Both of these initiatives were turned down in a public vote.
When comenting on the problems of integration Max Frisch said (freely translated) "We wanted workers, but human beings were arriving".

Comment Re:A is not A anymore (Score 2, Informative) 294

I am as much ashamed of the minarets ban as any straight thinking swiss. However I think it would be fair to point out that switzerland was the first european country to grant universal suffrage to its people in 1848.
Also I would like to point out that if other european countries would allow a popular vote on minarets I would not bet much money that the outcome would have been different there. Europe (altough not switzerland in particular) does absorb the bulk of migrating muslims. This sometimes leads to problems when the different cultures do clash and a growing sense of uneasieness in the genaral population. Especialy if real problems (lack of jobs for immigrants, tolerance on forced marriage) are not aknwledged by the politicians.
It is worth noting that the ban was only on minarets (as you pointed out correctly) I don't think that a ban of mosques would have passed. Still the ban as it stands now weakens the foundation of our democracy and I hope it will be nullified as soon as possible.

Comment Re:there won't be ban (Score 2, Insightful) 294

This is true. The actual law has not yet been created. This mandate may have found a majority only because the initiators played the "think of the children" card. I'm pretty sure some of the more lazy people in the parliament din't take the time to really go into the details yet. They just agreed with the general idea that we need an enforcable system to prevent children from getting M rated games. Of course this does make them look pretty bad especially since several members and even the Federal Minister warned them that the mandate is aiming at a total ban even for adults. Still I think this won't pass as a law in the end. And as pointed out even if it does we as the people can force a public vote on it (of course that won't be a cakewalk to win because the generation 45+ does not "get" games). Just pointing out that it is not time to freak out yet.

Comment What about the monitor (Score 1) 555

My biggest problem when upgrading my system is usually the monitor. For example I really like the display of the new iMacs. How can I buy a similar standalone Monitor without resorting to industry standard Displays that cost 1500$. Is there any good comparison for new displays available online?

Comment Re:Safety Critical (Score 1) 913

I'm sure your aunt would be just as much confused if she drove cars with an on/off button all her life, but this weird car has a key, like a house key, and you need to do something non-trivial with it!

Of course she would have been. But the point is that at the very least I would expect a rental car to have a manual on board. A short introduction is in the interest of the car rental company anyway. Who knows what someone who has never driven a car with an automatic gearbox may do to the thing.

Submission + - German buys stolen data on alleged tax evaders (guardian.co.uk)

Boldoran writes: From the Article:

Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, signalled her government's readiness today to purchase stolen secret Swiss bank account data on 1,500 alleged tax evaders from an informant. The informant, who used to work at the Swiss arm of the British bank, HSBC, has offered to sell the data to the government for €2.5m ($3.4m) Experts say the information, which is contained on a CD, could reap up to €200m (£278m) in tax revenue.

Thomas Sutter, the spokesman for the Swiss Bankers Association, cautioned Germany over acquiring "stolen property". He said he did not believe that the German government "would want to be seen as the recipient of stolen goods".


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Review: Mass Effect 2 331

Mass Effect debuted a little over two years ago to almost universal praise, getting high marks for the rich story, endless exploration options, and entertaining gameplay. Despite the game's success, BioWare listened closely to player feedback, promising to revamp the parts of the game that needed improvement while developing the sequel. They didn't hesitate to refine the elements they wanted to keep and do away with the ones they didn't. The result is a familiar, but much more streamlined experience. Rather than being a shooter with a great story added in, Mass Effect 2 a great story that often has you shoot things. Read on for the rest of my thoughts.

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