Still reading it, it's rather long, but well written. It's actually the best academic paper I've seen in a while and think their highlighting it was a good move.

I'd like o read your critique of Nobots when I get it finished, it touches on a few of the same things.

Logging is sustainable, so long as the trees are replanted and it isn't done in old growth forests or in an area that would endanger species; we're going through one of the largest mass extinctions the Earth has seen, mostly from habitat destruction, and man is almost 100% responsible.

But there's nothing whatever wrong with tree farms.

Reading it now.

The real question is who is behind this?

I'm betting it's this guy.

Google is all about cloud computing

I guess I won't need to build a new PC after all, then, because Google and the NSA already get too much data from me, the creepy fucks. Considering some of the things I google for I'm probably on some list already.

Let me know when I can do this without "the cloud." I don't like not having control over my own data and processes.

I'd have to buy or build a new computer. Neither of the two old towers will take more than a gig, and I'm not going to add any to this notebook, too much of a PITA.

All the old computers do what I need them to so it'll be a while before that happens. I guess if I needed this functionality I'd have to spend a few hundred bucks.

Speaking of it doing what I need, I guess I should get back to work on that book (yep, that's why I haven't been here much lately).

You said that criminals are getting more murdeous when the numbers don't support your assertion. Policing is of course dangerous, but from what I see in the newspapers (and police deaths, accidents, and injuries almost always get reported in the media) I'd say the most dangerous part of your job was writing speeding tickets on the side of the interstate. We had so many police fatalities in Illinois that state law now says you have to move to the left if there's a police car parked on the shoulder with its lights on.

Police officer isn't even in the top ten list of dangerous jobs.

As to assaults, I have no numbers but I'd wager a civilian has a much larger chance of being assaulted by a criminal than a cop does. You'd have to be crazy to assault a man armed with a gun and a taser.

He was trying to make a point that criminals are getting deadlier, when there were only 10 more deaths in 2010 than 2000. The last few police deaths I've heard around here are accidental deaths caused by negligent drivers; from what I read, writing a speeding ticket on an interstate is pretty damned dangerous.

I'm not saying there job isn't dangerous, it certainly is, but it's not in the top ten most dangerous.

So you think collusion and price fixing should be legal?? You, sir, are talking utter nonsense.

The answer to why police have become more militaristic is because criminals have become more murderous against cops.

Sorry, officer, but you're full of shit. 160 police officers died in 2010, a 37% increase from 2009. Ten years earlier 150 died. That's out of 794,300 cops. And remember, those are all deaths including squad car wrecks.

To put that in better prospective, 774 construction workers died in the US in 2010.

Being a cop is a hell of a lot safer than being a construction worker.

Here's a little hint, Officer Moore: you might want to google before making a fool of yourself.