What if this anonymous speaker turns out to be the staff of his political opposition? Certainly election law comes into play. Does that change anything for you?

Not in the least, for two reasons:

1) That still means that we have someone prosecuted for exercising their first amendment rights (the FEC doesn't get a pass on "Congress shall make no law ... abridging the freedom of speech"), pretty much exactly what dnaumov described (even if not quite as gruesome of an outcome likely), and...

2) Rational adults should accord anonymous internet trolls the level of credibility they deserve - ie, none in the absence of proof.

Identifying a person as the speaker is not a criminal prosecution.

And I repeat - Do you suppose Hadley just wants a new penpal?

My logic does not say that. You cited an example of criminal prosecution for expressing an opinion. That is not free speech.

"Illinois Supreme Court: Comcast Must Identify Anonymous Internet Commenter"

So, uh... Do you suppose this case went all the way to the ILSC because Bill Hadley wants to send him a sternly-worded rebuttal?

Nice try, but I've kept both mice and rats as pets.

"Picking them up against their will" does not equate to hanging them by their tails until they go limp from exhaustion.

They'll get over picking them up by the tail. That doesn't mean you dangle the toddler by its arms until it passes out from the effort.

keep in mind that for *this* experiment... some harmful method *must* be used... i think!

Why? "Frustration" (or even plain ol' fatigue) has absofuckinglutely nothing to do with "depression" (on the short term).

The entire premise of this experiment centers on the idea that giving up in a hopeless situation somehow magically forms a biochemical parallel to a long-term human disease state. Sorry, but no, they don't.

I have no problem with animal testing. This, however, amounts to torturing animals just because one particular subset of well-paid sadists can write it off as some debased form of "science".

Ah, moving the goalposts I see. Good sophistry. Recall you stated it was the "expected norm" not "allowed by law"

Agreed - Now finish the quote and put those goalposts back where you found them: "...as opposed to a transgression of allowed powers".

Transgression: infringement or violation of a law, command, or duty.

In fairness, though, you may not have gotten the reference to an obscure portion of US law, "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." So I'll give you a pass on that one. ;)


And the NSA is the best known, most well funded and apparently most thorough spy agency in the world.

That the NSA does its job better than SIS has no bearing on the situation - It does, however, matter than the NSA got spanked for doing what SIS had - and still has - explicit permission to do.

Also, most if not all languages have libraries that can handle accurate timing very well.

I would consider t-SQL and *.NET pretty major languages, that completely fail to handle leap seconds.

I hope you recognize the biiig difference between "allowed by law" and "the NSA has ignored the law".

Which country has the most oppressed people? Microland or Macroland?

You've left out a host of peripheral issues beyond body counts. "Living" means more than merely continuing to draw breath.

Which country arrests people for finding a shotgun in their flowerbed and immediately turning it in, because that proves possession? Which country allows the police to hold citizens for 28 days (and non-citizens forever) without charge? Which country doesn't allow criticizing absurd religious beliefs? Which country has a 100% surveillance state as the expected norm, as opposed to a transgression of allowed powers?

Which country has a culture of allowing the citizens to fight back in their own defense (even against the government itself, although only under exceptional circumstances), rather than making it a crime to accidentally injure your attacker?

You enjoy your safety. I'll enjoy my freedom. If I wanted to live in the UK, I would move.

I have exactly two non-stock apps installed on my phone - Chrome, and Adblock. I don't need a native client for my bank or Twitter or Facebook or Slashdot or anything, for that matter, that does nothing more than save me from opening Chrome and going to a particular URL.

I just don't understand the appeal of "we have an app for that" - Why would I ever want to give a company more access to my data than they already have, and let them drain my battery faster, when I don't need to?

The Rosetta mission operates out of Darmstadt, Germany.

And it also raises interesting questions about ownership [...] But what about things that aren't created with labor - that simply exist (e.g. water). Who should own the water?

Not nearly as "interesting" of an issue as you might want to to pretend. Does enough rain fall on your quarter-acre of land to keep you alive? No? fucking move!

Simple as that, really.

And yes, before you ask, the plants on my land make enough oxygen to keep me alive, and wood to keep me warm, and (hypothetically) enough food to keep me fed. Nothing abstract or "interesting" about it. Do you own a plot of land that can keep you alive, or don't you?

So we build desalination plants. And then it rains. Then what? Do you pay to keep those plants running--remember that those plants cost money to run.

Yes, you do! You live in the middle of a fucking desert! This drought will eventually end, but you will have another one. More importantly, even without the drought, you already had your neighbors to the North ready to tar and feather you due to rainwater collection restrictions and river passthrough quotas.

You choose to live in a place with no water. You have the fifth largest economy in the world. You bail yourselves out of your current self-inflicted disaster - And then yes, you maintain that solution for next time.

Most people die, prior to 67.

No, they don't. (National Vital Statistics Reports, Vol. 63 No 7, November 6 2014).

Over half of Americans will not only collect SS, they will do so for longer than a decade.

If that's your approach to buying things, I hope you're not in charge of purchasing anything expensive.

For the sort of things I do have a say in buying, SLAs matter a hell of a lot more than the pricetag on the box.

For half a million in maintenance per year (and yes, I realize that counts as relatively low), I don't care if you need to hire a minimum wage lackey solely to pick his nose and take my calls, just make damned sure someone picks up that phone.