Teh interesting (non-PHL-related) news stub thread

[Mjting]

too much conservatism in this country. im not too worried about it it tho. i mean, how the fuck are they gonna track each and every person who has it? i mean, they cant stop me from downloading hentai now can they?

[Twin-Skies]

too much conservatism in this country. im not too worried about it it tho. i mean, how the fuck are they gonna track each and every person who has it? i mean, they cant stop me from downloading hentai now can they?

Silly legislators. Don't they know that....

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On another note, I found an interesting column on why we should pay taxes. The guys makes some pretty valid points.
http://www.daylightatheism.org/2009/04/t...l#comments

The centerpiece of the libertarian rhetorical strategy is to refer to taxation as theft, robbery, slavery. I've heard these epithets and others like them many times. It's easy to see what purpose this serves: to make your concerns seem more important, it helps to refer to them not as bloodless policy differences, but as raw issues of justice. "The government is stealing from innocent people!" is a lot punchier and packs more emotional heft than any proposal, no matter how passionately worded, to simplify unnecessary regulations and cut down on bureaucratic red tape.

But this overheated claim is being asked to bear far more weight than it can possibly support. Of all the libertarian policy proposals out there (many others of which I agree with), the equation of taxation with theft is the least defensible. The fallacies in this should be obvious to a moment's thought, but some people seem unwilling to take that moment, so I'll go over them again in this post.

Libertarians say that taxation is like theft because it takes property from the unwilling. What they ignore, time and time again, is the crucial role of democratic consent. Taxes are not arbitrary impositions decreed by a faceless government. Rather, taxes are the dues we pay in exchange for membership in a society and access to all the services it offers.

The situation can be compared to a private club that charges a membership fee in exchange for providing benefits and amenities to its members. Obviously, the club is within its rights to charge whatever price it believes fair in exchange for this. If you believe the price is too high, you're free to renounce your membership and leave the club. What you're not free to do is to refuse to pay, but demand that you still be allowed to sit in the club and use its facilities. Nor are you free, if the club doesn't offer this option, to decide that you only use some of its services - only the swimming pool, say, but not the sauna or the tennis courts - and should therefore have the right to pay a prorated membership fee. But these options, clearly absurd in this thought experiment, are the same ones libertarians claim they have a right to exercise in the real world.

The analogy of the club can be transferred in a precise way to society as a whole. Society is the club, and taxes are the membership dues we pay in exchange for the services it provides. If you don't want to pay, if you dislike its terms, you can leave that society and seek another one. But you are not free to unilaterally demand that society rewrite its terms to favor your particular preferences.

Going hand-in-hand with the fallacious equation of taxation to theft is another libertarian fallacy: the belief that a free market is the natural state of affairs and will spontaneously arise if only the economy is left to itself. This is wrong. A free market is a kind of infrastructure, and like all other infrastructure, it requires investment to create and effort to maintain.

As centuries of history show, the natural state of an unregulated economy is not free competition, but stifled and constrained competition. Large, established powers, if given the chance, will do everything they can to suppress competition - whether through means fair or foul. From medieval guilds to industrial robber barons, the tactics are always the same: seizing the distribution channels, the infrastructure, the intellectual property, or the sources of raw material. Governments want to control vital resources in the name of national security; industry groups may take a hand in designing regulations that make it all but impossible for new players to enter the field. Outright intimidation, fraud and violence are often used against those who refuse to play along.

[Mjting]

Well, If the Phils. were like other WWAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYY better developed and run countries, i might be forced to hide or delete my hentai. but then again....since this is the Phils. we're talking abt.....oh well, same shit, different day....

[Twin-Skies]

Well, If the Phils. were like other WWAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYY better developed and run countries, i might be forced to hide or delete my hentai. but then again....since this is the Phils. we're talking abt.....oh well, same shit, different day....

other WWAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYY better developed and run countries aren't as convservative when to porn in the first place, given it's considered a protected form of free speech.

[Mjting]

ah, sorry i didn't elaborate further, i meant that IF those way better countries would indeed enforce the banning of hentai and stuff, i would really be hiding already, since the chances of getting caught is way higher than here, where its almost like zero percent...AT BEST

[Twin-Skies]

French raid pirate ship, US seeks to freeze assets

MOMBASA, Kenya – The U.S. and its allies battled Somalia's pirates on two fronts Wednesday, with French forces seizing a bandit mother ship and Washington seeking to keep the marauders from their spoils. A U.S. freighter that escaped a pirate bombardment of gunshots and grenades steamed into Kenya's Mombasa port Thursday with an armed Navy guard.

One pirate issued a new threat to "slaughter" Americans, and Tuesday's assault on a second U.S. cargo ship, the Liberty Sun, underscored the outlaws' ability to act with impunity despite international naval operations against them and mounting concern worldwide over how to end the escalating attacks off the Horn of Africa.

Pirates bombarded the U.S.-flagged Liberty Sun with automatic weapons fire and rocket-propelled grenades, but its American crew of about 20 successfully blockaded themselves in the engine room and warded off the attack with evasive maneuvers.

The ship, carrying food aid for hungry Africans — including Somalis — was damaged "pretty badly" on its bridge, a U.S. official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the record about the ship.

Windows were blown out and the crew had to put out a small fire, the official said, but they were still able to navigate. By the time the USS Bainbridge arrived five hours later, the pirates were gone.

Meanwhile, French naval forces launched an early-morning attack on a suspected pirate "mother ship" 550 miles east of Mombasa and seized 11 men, thwarting an attack on the Liberian cargo ship Safmarine Asia, the French Defense Ministry said. No one was injured.

The ministry said the vessel was a larger ship that pirates use to allow their tiny skiffs to operate hundreds of miles off the coast.

French Foreign Ministry spokesman Christophe Prazuck said a French helicopter in the area heard a distress call from the Safmarine Asia. He described the seized ship as a small, noncommercial vessel carrying fuel, water and food supplies.

The 11 pirates, believed to be Somalis, were being held on the Nivose, a French frigate among the international fleet trying to protect shipping in the Gulf of Aden.

France has been proactive against pirates for at least the past year, intervening to save three of its ships and spearheading a Europe-wide anti-piracy force called Atalanta. French politicians have sought to have other European countries take greater action against pirates.

Three Somali pirates in the French city of Rennes faced judicial investigation after being captured in a hostage rescue Friday. Several other pirates also have been in French custody since last year.

In Washington, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton announced new diplomatic efforts to freeze the pirates' assets and said the Obama administration will work with shippers and insurers to improve their defenses against pirates, part of a diplomatic initiative to thwart attacks on shipping.

"These pirates are criminals, they are armed gangs on the sea. And those plotting attacks must be stopped," Clinton said at the State Department.

Clinton did not call for military force, although she mentioned "going after" pirate bases in Somalia, as authorized by the U.N. several months ago.

She said it may be possible to stop boat-building companies from doing business with the pirates.

The measures outlined by Clinton are largely stopgap moves while the administration weighs more comprehensive diplomatic and military action.

She acknowledged it will be hard to find the pirates' assets. But she wants the U.S. and others to "explore ways to track and freeze" pirate ransom money and other funds used in purchases of new boats, weapons and communications equipment.

"We have noticed that the pirates are buying more and more sophisticated equipment, they're buying faster and more capable vessels, they are clearly using their ransom money for their benefit — both personally and on behalf of their piracy," she said. "We think we can begin to try and track and prevent that from happening."

Clinton said the administration will also call for immediate meetings of an international counterpiracy task force to expand naval coordination.

The U.S. plans to send an envoy to an April 23 conference on piracy in Brussels. The U.S. will also organize meetings with officials from Somalia's largely powerless transitional national government as well as regional leaders in its semiautonomous Puntland region to encourage them to do more to combat piracy.

Maritime experts say military force alone cannot solve the problem because the pirates operate in an area so vast as to render the flotilla of international warships largely ineffective. And with ships legally unable to carry arms in many ports, the world has struggled to end the scourge.

The Gulf of Aden, which links the Suez Canal and the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean, is the shortest route from Asia to Europe. More than 20,000 ships cross the vital sea lane every year. It is becoming more dangerous by the day.

In 2003, there were only 21 attacks in these waters. In less than four months this year, there have been 79 attacks, compared with 111 for all of 2008, according to the International Maritime Bureau.

Somali pirates are holding more than 280 foreign crewmen on 15 ships — at least 76 of those sailors captured in recent days.

On Wednesday, pirates released the Greek-owned cargo ship Titan and Greek authorities said all 24 crewmen were in good health. The ship was hijacked March 19.

The assault on the Liberty Sun delayed a reunion between freed American sea captain Richard Phillips and the 19 crewmen of the Maersk Alabama he helped save in an attempted hijacking last week. Phillips had planned to meet his crew in Mombasa and fly home with them Wednesday, but he was stuck on the Bainbridge when it was diverted to help the Liberty Sun.

The Liberty Sun arrived safely in Mombasa Wednesday night accompanied by a U.S. Navy vessel, according to the cargo ship's operator, New York-based Liberty Maritime Corp.

The company did not name the naval vessel, but it was likely the Bainbridge. A U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the press about the matter said earlier that the Bainbridge was traveling with the Liberty Sun to port.

The Liberty Sun arrived in Mombasa early Thursday and the Bainbridge was expected soon.

The Alabama's crew left without Phillips Wednesday, arriving at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., on a chartered plane.

"We are very happy to be going home," crewman William Rios of New York City said. But "we are disappointed to not be reuniting with the captain in Mombasa. He is a very brave man."

A pirate whose gang attacked the Liberty Sun claimed his group was targeting American ships and sailors.

"We will seek out the Americans, and if we capture them, we will slaughter them," said a 25-year-old pirate based in the Somali port of Harardhere who gave only his first name, Ismail.

"We will target their ships because we know their flags. Last night, an American-flagged ship escaped us by a whisker. We have showered them with rocket-propelled grenades," said Ismail, who did not take part in the Liberty Sun attack.

No good chaps - that is not an Onion article. France has apparently begun military actions in Somalia in retaliation against the pirates.

"I fart in your general direction!"

[Sforza]

http://www.sankakucomplex.com/2009/04/15...rnography/

You might want to check out the rather lengthy comment section, mostly by Philippine readers of Sankaku. It mirrors a lot of the discussion this issue. Mind you, the site is generally NSFW because of the banner ads.

[Twin-Skies]

@Sforza

There's a lot of resentment coming from the pinoys there for having such idiots as our legislators

Wanna bet this CONgressmen probably never saw an actual anime in their entire lives?

[Shintetsu]

Facepalm again.

These dumbasses don't even exactly know what they're banning. They've generalized the use of the term 'Hentai' to all kinds of animated pornography. Like hell do they even know what Hentai literally means, and what the word does represent. Neither do they have a firm idea of what form of 'Hentai' they should ban in the first place.

They're generally saying that (their term)Hentai=Child porn. Bullshit.

Prieto-Teodoro, one of the authors of the measure, said the bill penalizes the offenders who sell, offer, advertise, and promote child pornography; and have been found to possess, download, purchase, reproduce, or make available child pornography materials with the intent of selling or distributing them.

Even the law they want to pass has its own faults. Primarily, not knowing that which they should really ban, and that the mere POSESSION of said 'child porn' will get you jailed if the pulis patola that caught you says that you have the intention of selling/promoting/distributing it. Like ooh, I have this pic in my cache from a site that has an ecchi ad. Oh shit, am I going to jail?

"Once the picture of child victim is flashed either on the Internet or video clip, the picture is open for the entire world to see. The child loses his or her privacy and innocence which can never be restored," Antonino-Custodio said.

So when this still image of a 'fictional hentai character' getting bukkake'd by a bunch of dirty old men, she loses her privacy (assuming that she has a life) and innocence which can never be restored. (oh, the [fictional]horny office lady? Riiight.)

"Adults indulging in child pornography either by purchasing, viewing or producing them, should be subjected to the most severe punishments,"Antonino-Custodio said.

Oh right, right, viewing. That's good, a big slice of the Filipino Male Population goes to jail, thus turning the country into a penal colony, where all who watch/have/bought 'Hentai' go to die. That is, assuming that they even have the muscle or the will to make that happen.

I'd like to say more, but I have trouble staying on the topic because of personal resentment, and I'm posting off-topic as well, so I'll shut up.

The problem is CHILD PORNOGRAPHY, dipshits. If you pass this lame excuse of a law, one more step and you'll probably be banning all forms of Pornography, then force every male of the country to become catholic priests.

Oh shit, one of them CONgressmen might see this and think that it's a good idea.

[Twin-Skies]

They're assuming that there's a direct, causational link between the proliferation of hentai and actual child abuse. The problem is, there is none.

[NiX]

The key part there is "with the intention of distributing blah blah." downloading is fine.

[Shintetsu]

That being said, it's easy for them to display 'intent'. Like if someone in your YM list asks for it, or you upload it to a file hosting site for a forum for example, that'll get you jailed.

Not to mention them thinking that H=CP.

[Twin-Skies]

Stephen Hawking Hospitalized
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/04/...wking.html

LONDON (AP) -- Stephen Hawking, the British mathematician and physicist famed for his work on black holes, was rushed to a hospital Monday and was seriously ill, Cambridge University said. Hawking has been fighting a chest infection for several weeks and was being treated at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge, the university city northeast of London, the university said.

''Professor Hawking is very ill,'' said Gregory Hayman, the university's head of communications. ''He is undergoing tests. He has been unwell for a couple of weeks.''

Later in the afternoon, Hayman said Hawking was ''now comfortable but will be kept in hospital overnight.''

The illness had caused Hawking to cancel an appearance at Arizona State University on April 6.

Hawking, 67, gained renown for his work on black holes, and has remained active despite being diagnosed at 21 with ALS, (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), an incurable degenerative disorder also known as Lou Gehrig's disease.

For some years, Hawking has been almost entirely paralyzed, and he communicates through an electronic voice synthesizer activated by his fingers.

Hawking was involved in the search for the great goal of physics -- a ''unified theory'' -- which would resolve contradictions between Albert Einstein's General Theory of Relativity, which describes the laws of gravity that govern the motion of large objects like planets, and the Theory of Quantum Mechanics, which deals with the world of subatomic particles.

''A complete, consistent unified theory is only the first step: our goal is a complete understanding of the events around us, and of our own existence,'' he wrote in his best-selling book, ''A Brief History of Time,'' published in 1988.

In a more accessible sequel ''The Universe in a Nutshell,'' published in 2001, Hawking ventured into concepts like supergravity, naked singularities and the possibility of a universe with 11 dimensions.

He announced last year that he would step down from his post as Lucasian Professor of Mathematics, a title once held by the great 18th-century physicist Isaac Newton. However, the university said Hawking intended to continue working as Emeritus Lucasian Professor of Mathematics.

''Professor Hawking is a remarkable colleague. We all hope he will be amongst us again soon,'' said Peter Haynes, head of the university's Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics.

Brian Dickie, director of research at the Motor Neurone Disease Association, said only 5 percent of people diagnosed with ALS survive for 10 years or longer.

[atdsutm]

lol at the philippines,

just because it is was drawn or not real live motion doesnt mean its childish.

[Twin-Skies]

The good doctor may want to take the opportunity to have his brain transplanted to a stronger, sturdier, near-immortal body. Like this fellow over here...



Today class, we're going on a field trip to study the singularity found in black holes. Now just let my tech priests load up my personal Hadron Collider, and we'll be off...*