Yeah, half the time the Bible is talking about Man (as in mankind, sorry ladies). Some people want to make the earth gentler for humans, some people miss the trees that used to be a part of their neighborhoods growing up. There's also a set of (seemingly) contradictory 'orders': subdue nature (terraform the earth) and at the same time, do not destroy the earth. I imagine that makes four groups: some people leaning towards the former, some leaning towards the latter, some preferring a course of moderation, and people who do not ascribe to the Bible.

But in this case, I highly doubt these ants pose a challenge. Remember, the human race, when ant-agonized (lol) enough to see something as a problem, tends to go nuclear on it...which means either bringing back DDT if the ants suddenly start eating people, or having scientists formulate something in labs that will probably make DDT look like a fire-cracker in comparison (and result in substantial loss of wildlife...). Thankfully, we aren't anywhere near that point. Removal methods are purely mechanical, and someone will probably start spraying the normal ant-removal chemicals with, I don't know, sugar, which will have them start working again.

Still, humanity....curious what happened here to breed such psychopaths. You'd think that the Earth had gone to great lengths to make the angriest, most genocidal species it could breed...

Mental note: if / when I go totally insane, and need some quick cash to jump start my career in super villainy, purchase near-field scanner & Raspberry PI model B unit with battery, as well as directional antenna and signal booster. Then hide it in the bushes across the way from where the postal workers unload the trucks, and stop by daily to pick up the 'leads.'

Actually, disperse several units at foreign postal offices, and employ WAP signals to push data to the internet. Use PGP to encrypt packages, and post to NNTP servers, in some alt.binaries.* group for later retrieval. No sense getting caught.

Hmm. Might take some work to perfect....but I think I can work out a plan good enough to purchase a small island, and possibly get started on a hidden base. Still, airfields are expensive, yo.

Nonsense. They don't want control, they want to make a mockery of life. And they've been succeeding at it.

Who the f*ck needs half this sh*t anyways? Every metric in the universe says it's increasing complexity, increasing costs, decreasing happiness, shortening lifespans, and overall sucking. What do I really want in life, my own tropical island filled with attractive girls around my own age who think I am awesome, or the ability to read serial numbers off a discarded piece of paper at 30 feet? Because I know which one I am likely to have, and the girls are not it. And I like technology. But this is an idiotic application of it.

Go find out what's lurking on Titan's surface. That's a good use of technology. Then find a way to transport humans there without killing them, destroying the planet, or spending a decade or so each way. We need to search the entire universe for life before we start worrying about this kinds of things.

The funny part is thinking that there are only three possible states of society: moving towards something better, stagnating, and regressing towards something less palatable. Very black and white thinking, to put your mind in a box, and believe that only one outcome is possible for the future.

Even more so to believe that there are not, in theory, several very different and not at all connected models for what a future society could look like.

The new police vehicles, with all the trimmings, would argue otherwise. Tax-wise, the population density of the local area is sky-rocketing, and I believe the local government continues to rake in a fortune. The Lexus dealership down the way, and the giant Roman Catholic church (and I mean big) seems to indicate that not only are people flush with money, but they are parting with it.

On the other hand, this particular local government is responsible for, as I said, attempting to use eminent domain for some back-alley deal with a developer, said attempt resulting in the descent of a fair portion of the populous upon the local government to 'voice their opinions.' Somehow the idea of selling off the fair grounds used for horse shows did not go over well with the local population, of which a frightening number seem to own horses. My personal belief is that the local government was imported from somewhere else, and that they are acting as they would anywhere else, power-grabbing, philandering, lying, grafting, etc. and that it's only when they manage to bump into something that they stop. I do not think I am alone in this belief, and their actions seem to provide plenty of evidence to support it: they are, frankly, not representative of the people they are, for lack of a better word, ruling. That eminent domain action, a minor thing anywhere else, is a huge red card in this area.

Well, that depends on where you want to be. Do you want to be on the bleeding edge of technology, the leading edge of technology, the middle of technology, the 'value' of technology, or behind the curve of technology? Each position requires different investments.

Bleeding edge means you are using stuff that probably no one else is using, and can rock the market / world / whatever, but you are also bleeding cash like a hemophiliac who has been hit by by a cannon.

Leading edge means you are using stuff that only a handful of others are using, and others look to you being now where they want to be in the future if only they had the money / talent / executives with vision / techs with the rights skills.

The middle of technology means you are not quite leading the pack, but you are also not in the value area either. If the value people were running Windows 2000, you'd be running Windows XP, the leading edge people would be running Vista, and the bleeding edge people would be running 7 betas.

The value people are in the proverbial sweet spot, but also dangerous place, of getting really great deals on hardware / software for pennies on the dollar, but being incapable of moving out of there without paying a lot. They are also in danger of becoming obsolete very easily.

And then there's the behind the curve people who are behind the curve. These are the people still running Windows 98 SE, and do not see the utility in upgrading. They may realize excellent ROIs, but their skills are not being upgraded, and if / when the hardware / software they rely on proves inadequate, they may have a steep learning curve / bill ahead of them.

Don't believe me? Look at Google, Microsoft, etc. -> these companies bleed cash at times. Their employees are given access, if stories are correct, to the tech armory and the company safe, and told to, within certain guidelines, be on the bleeding edge. If they want a SSD, chances are they will have one. If they want the latest video card, it's there. And so on.

As for you, perhaps the best recommendation might be a LUG. Social groups, even for techs, allow for updates of methods and designs.

My apologies for grammar / spelling. Haven't had the morning tea yet.

No, no, no. You need to be heavy with faux rage about 'those speeders driving nicer cars than you who need to be punished' and how clipping the yellow lights to sub-microsecond timings somehow accomplishes this. It's best if you work the jealousy in by invoking some sort of inner strike present during someone's long forgotten high school years: "Those rich bastards driving their BMWs and Benzs totally deserve to get hit for driving through yellow lights. They could have hit someone! I was once out, minding my own business, and this guy, in a BMW, drive through a yellow light, and almost hit me!" - include a non-verifiable personal anecdote that no one will question, but many people will quietly side with, with because it confirms their bias.

But on a non-sarcastic note, yes, in PA, as well as other places, the yellow light timings are insane. Some days, it really does seem like your local government is waging war on the populace, a veritable Napoleon hell-bent on uncovering every pet peeve of the citizenry and mandating its usage 3 times a day.

Not really. Think about it: businesses want website work done by the cheapest bidder. Who are the cheapest bidders? Well, there are hobby programmers, professional programmers doing some moonlighting, and a mega-ton of amateur / foreign programmers. The amateurs are unaware of the legal issues surrounding repurposing an image from Google Images...and foreign programmers do not care, as their country probably laughs at the idea of copyright violations. All this so some business, that 'really is going to make it big, honest,' can have a 40-page eCommerce website with the latest wizbang technologies for under $200.

It's kind of like when that guy offers to sell you a new Apple MacBook Air for only $200...and you buy it. You know that there's something funny about the situation, you know that $200 is awfully low for a website / new MacBook Air, but you figure, hey, I'm getting a great deal, and if I don't ask any questions, maybe I can get away with this. But deep down inside, you know that what you bought is probably 'hot' or that someone got royally screwed to get you that deal. But better them than you, right?

So where does this leave this company? Well, if the police are involved, they're going to get fined. They're protesting that they didn't know...but like a 'hot' MacBook Air, chances are they 'knew,' but chose not to 'know.' I believe there is actually something...some law...that the police have that covers this situation...doesn't come immediately to mind, but it does cover these kinds of circumstances.

Now, I could be wrong. They could have paid top dollar over what the local professional firms are charging, and got screwed. Or they could have just relied on it being a common business practice (safety in numbers) as a defense if it ever came up.

Disclaimer: I am a deeply bitter web developer, who has seen idiocy both in my own work, and in the actions of others.

Perhaps I should have been clearer -> it's easier for two parties to whip up a means of encryption than it is for a third party to decrypt it.

At the end of the day, brute-forcing one-time pads with predictive heuristics still requires some time; mutate the encryption fast enough, and by the time the message is decrypted, it's worthless.

Now of course, you're going to point out, what about keyloggers, telepaths, aliens, double-agents, etc. Which mean nothing if two parties are actually honestly trying to keep communication encrypted.

All this without touching on the idea that censorship is dumb. It's a bad idea, embraced by bad people, to do horrible things, to other bad people.

What's the perfect way, of course, to get around any encryption? Well, log everyone's thoughts since child-birth; lie to them about being free, and when they discover the truth (they will), deep hypnosis to have them lie to themselves about the truth. You have the key, since you have all of their thoughts, right there, on the proverbial paper, but chances are, when they discover the truth, they'll probably kill themselves; the execution planned for them is probably sweetly embraced at that point, as the totality of their life being an utter lie is too much to take.

Yes and no. See, I am very interested in what will happen if / when socialized medicine manages to make its full debut in the US.

Why, you ask? Well, there has been a long-standing argument about whether or not the US medical patient has been subsidizing the developmental costs of those drugs...and whether the rest of the world's citizenry has gotten to ride for free as a result. On one hand, you have the pharms, who have political lobbyists, IP trickery, loads of scams, but occasionally some novel drugs coming out; on the other hand, you have host governments claiming that pharms are overcharging for new drugs, benefiting from basic research on the public's dime, etc.

If socialized medicine takes place in the US, and new drug research drops off a cliff, then we have a fair idea that the US medical patient was, in fact, subsidizing the rest of the world, and that, the prices charged by the pharms were possibly, on some level, aside from whatever inefficiencies and graft taking place, necessary (for lack of a better word). Up until now, we've only heard that the pharms have been raping us, and that socialized medicine will save the day; perhaps it's because I'm a programmer, but I am curious as to those odd end cases or exceptions where that might not be true. The above scenario, of course, comes with many caveats, so getting a simple yes or no, in the even that the US actually does run that way, may take a fair amount of analysis.

'Tis quite alright. In the future, the public internet (what's left of it) will only run encrypted data-streams. That's ultimately where this is headed. And since encryption is easier to make than decryption....well, the censors will always be on the losing side. Eternally.

The real fun part will be, of course, if / when humanity runs into other sentient lifeforms out in the universe. I'm sure that they will, of course, naturally have chosen similar schemes for controlling information within their own populations, as well as limiting reproductive choices, and implementing artificial castes. And that when they gaze upon what our great planet has invented, the very jewel of our solar system, the fruits of brightest minds and the labor bought off the backs of millions of straining peoples, they will acknowledge that we truly are just like them, and worthy to open trade negotiations / some sort of alliance. When our drones are flying over enemy territory, our borders, even our homeland itself, we are telling those with peering, but hidden eyes far up in the heavens exactly the kind of freedom America stands for. And they will know, like in all our broadcasts and films, that when they wish to pay homage to our wonderful civilization, exactly which building to visit and which leader they should strike up a conversation with.

But...but...the law says they have to offer a locally competitive salary that-*snort* yeah, it was pretty much proven bullsh*t recently. Surprising that it took a leftist (hah) think-tank (haha) looking at economics (basic supply and demand) to realize that if the wages for STEMs have remained stagnant this past decade, there can't be a shortage. It's soooo blindingly obvious, yet apparently the legislature, which is being told to ram through that bill at top speed (did it go through, anyone?), needs a think-tank to tell them it's going in the wrong direction.

Why not remove the market from the house of law? The two are not meant to mix, you know.

“I come in peace,” it said, adding after a long moment of further grinding, “take me to your Lizard.”

          ”It comes from a very ancient democracy, you see”

          “You mean, it comes from a world of lizards?”

          “No,” said Ford, who by this time was a little more rational and coherent than he had been, having finally had the coffee forced down him, “nothing so simple. Nothing anything like so straightforward. On its world, the people are people. The leaders are lizards. The people hate the lizards and the lizards rule the people.”

          “Odd,” said Arthur, “I though you said it was a democracy.”

          “I did,” said Ford. “It is.”

          “So,” said Arthur, hoping he wasn’t sounding ridiculously obtuse, “why don’t the people get rid of the lizards?”

          “It honestly doesn’t occur to them,” said Ford. “They’ve all got the vote so they all pretty much assume that the government they’ve voted in more or less approximates to the government they want.”

          “You mean they actually vote for the lizards?”

          “Oh yes,” said Ford with a shrug, “of course.”

          “But,” said Arthur, going for the big one again, “why?”

          “Because if they didn’t vote for a lizard,” said Ford, “the wrong lizard might get in. Got any gin?”

          “What?”

          “I said,” said Ford, with an increasing air of urgency creeping into his voice, “have you got any gin?”

          “I’ll look. Tell me about the lizards.”

          Ford shrugged again.

          “Some people say that the lizards are the best thing that ever happened to them,” he said. “They’re completely wrong of course, completely and utterly wrong, but someone’s got to say it.”

Ganked from: http://www.craigsirk.com/Craigsirk/archives/2005/07/the-hitchhikers-guide-to-the-galaxy.html