Items tagged with "" on the iVirtua Community

The biggest way the e-book will fail will be if companies can't integrate it into PC's -- and if companies can figure out a way to make it long-term readable.

The e-book concept could be... ridiculous, and then perfectly normal at the same time. There's no need for these new devices to come out, just for books, when we already have outstanding market dissipation with another device that can already do it -- the PC. The only thing that you really need is a legible, eye-friendly color combination and lighting arrangement, and support for "audio books."

E-books are just a natural part of media evolution -- but there'll be nothing to replace paper books, I think. And that's a good thing. There's nothing quite like book shops and libraries -- and they can live in peace with computers.

Not at all. If you seriously think that the CIA or the NSA kills with no reason, you're an idiot. Of course, we've already established that, so what's new? The weather in China?

Not at all. If you seriously think that the CIA or the NSA kills with no reason, you're an idiot. Of course, we've already established that, so what's new? The weather in China?

I think religion is about as "real" as Harry Potter books. Mainly what convinces me is this: God gave mankind our intelligence, our logic, and our reasoning ability. That's what differs us from the "beasts," or other animals (according to the Bible).

I can't see air, but I can feel it, and through various other methods of detection, I can affirm that it is, in fact, there. So I believe in air. I can't see gravity, but as certain as I am on the ground right now, I can observe that there is a force keeping me on the ground called gravity. Other instruments can re-affirm this, so I believe in gravity.

But I can't see God. I can't hear him, I can't feel him, I can't smell him and I certainly can't taste him. No one has observed God on a phased-array radar, a mass-spectrometry device, microwave EM filter, or any other kind of detection device. I can't detect God with anything. I can't detect him with my limited human perception, nor can I detect him with humanity's most advanced and sensitive detection equipment.

Not only that, but I have a real problem with the fact that, if you try to "test" God (jumping off a cliff expecting God to save you), God will let you fall because attempting to prove God is a big no-no. So let's recap.

1.) We cannot detect "God" with ANYTHING.
2.) We cannot attempt to get "God" to reveal himself.

With those two statements, we're basically prevented from... ever determining, beyond any reasonable doubt, that God is real. That's why Christianity, and every other religion is taken on "Faith." And I have no "faith" in something that I cannot see and cannot prove.

I think, that as a logical and reasonable human being, that that's my perogative, to not believe in something that I can't detect. That's a pretty reasonable perogative on my part. But the Bible says I'm going to get sent to Hell for what is a very reasonable assertion. I have a real problem with that mentality.

Fortunately, I don't believe in God... Heaven... or Hell. So. About that.

I doubt that will ever happen.

And I have no problem with the CIA -- I would love to someday work for them as an operations officer, when my career in the Air Force is over.

It never was a democracy, and never should be! It's a representative democracy, or "Republic." Where citizens cast votes for lawmakers who represent their views. If their view is in the minority, so too are are their votes -- and the opposing, popular view (and votes) will make it to the actual lawmaking seat.

See, if we were fascist, Bush probably wouldn't just let himself get "voted" out of office in a year. I'm not praising Bush, but I am decrying the far, Far, FAR left extremist view that America has become some sort of "fascist" government comparable to Nazi Germany. Trillions missing? That's easy. Bush isn't the sharpest knife in the bunch.

The Patriot Act... you've got to be kidding me. It isn't unconstitutional -- otherwise... the Supreme Court would've probably had it under their scrutiny at LEAST once -- but it passed. Many Congressmen, even Republican ones, were wary of the Patriot Act UNTIL it included clauses to protect civil liberties. Have you ever READ the Patriot Act? If so, can you point me to WHERE it's unconstitutional? I've got Notepad and it's got this handy search feature, and you've clearly got access to a computer that can copy and paste text -- so please. Indulge me. Why, if the Patriot Act is "unconstitutional," has the currently Democrat-controlled Congress not repealed it? Why has it never been brought to scrutiny by the Supreme Court?

As for your "alternative media," your website quotes the 600,000+ civilian death toll in Iraq. It's not that high -- Iraq Body Count.org has the count at between 65,000 and 75,000 casualties, some of which are the result of irresponsible insurgency, not the evil United States. I trust Iraq Body Count.org because they've got a database which lists EVERY CASUALTY. Their name, the date of their death and even how they died. If I so chose, I could correspond those names and dates with real events. Did Information Clearing House? Apparently not -- which brings into question it's credibility on other issues. I've read some articles on that site, and I haven't read any of their sources -- because their sources aren't listed.

I'm glad you know what you're talking about, and I'm glad you know where to get your information, too.

What's funny is that no, President Bush cannot "just declare martial law at anytime." There has to be a state of "public emergency" first... and that can't be declared unless there is actually a state of public emergency. Fancy that.

And as for the news companies... ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company, NBC is "owned" by NBC Universal, CBS is owned by... themselves... and Fox News is THE ONLY news media company that you brought up that is actually owned by News Corporation. It's ultra-liberal competitor, CNN, is owned by AOL-Time Warner. Good to know that extremist liberals who call the conservative Bush Administration "fascist" actually know what they're talking about. I hope Robert Greenwald didn't make that mistake on his documentary.

Anyone who can categorize the current US system or government into "Fascism" is off their knocker. Badly off.

I think it's about damn time some of these facts started coming to light. I don't have a problem with Macs, or the Macintosh platform -- quite frankly, I think that that's the way personal computing needs to be done, where a company offers and sells a computer where it controls the hardware and the software, and integrates the two for a better customer experience. I think that Apple does this very well...

...but where they fail, is where they backpedal on their own words. Steve Jobs, in 1997, made his most profound keynote in Apple's most desperate hour. He got to a point in his keynote where he began to talk about "meaningful relationships," he began with that of Microsoft, who, in addition to purchasing $150 million worth of non-tradeable stock, ported Internet Explorer and Microsoft Office to the Mac, making it a viable business platform.

And Steve said, quote; "We need to get over this notion that in order for Apple to win, that Microsoft has to lose."

It's rather amazing, the turnaround that has taken place...

If you're paranoid, yes you can put it that way. But, as I can see it... there are several large media corporations , none of which are particularly good and most of which put a liberal spin on things. Most every fascist government had control of the single media outlet, so if our government did, you can bet it'd be pretty conservatively biased. Of course, we have Viacom, CBS, News Corporation and AOL-Time Warner -- which would indicate... competition. Which didn't exist in real fascist states.

As for military contracting... I fail to see how that's indicative of a fascism. Again, the military/government doesn't control the corporations it contracts for military technology, these companies have to compete with one another to get the contract -- and the military's business. Even if Fascist countries did this -- there's no question as to why, it makes a ton of sense. Companies profit, and the military gets some incredibly cool and more importantly, combat-effective technology.

Because we're not idiotic extremists, we're a stable and civilized nation, and we know that in one year, we will be able to re-elect our leaders getting rid of this so-called fascist government.

One nice thing about this "Fascist" government is that they more or less give a shit about the military. Which I'm a member of.

I wouldn't begin to think that I could comment on other countries based on news alone. I don't see why everyone thinks they should for America.

This is ridiculous.

I'm an Atheist myself, but you're taking two existential arguments and claiming one to be right and the others to be backward and primitive. Earth to dumbass: You can't call a large portion of American's primitive and small-minded because they believe in Christianity. It's a tremendously influential religion that, contrary to popular Atheist belief, needs to be respected because it cannot be debunked. You can't disprove what you can't prove -- and that's the argument that religion as a whole rests upon. Do you seriously believe that theories like the Big Bang and Evolution can disprove the existence of a God? You're nuts. The Judeo-Christian God is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent. How are you going to say that this omnipotent (there is nothing this God cannot do) and omniscient (there is nothing this God does not know) God didn't simply use the knowledge and ability that he possessed to create the Universe, using a Big Bang-like explosion as a tool, and Evolution as another?

Science can't defeat Christianity. Likewise, Christianity cannot overcome Atheism founded on science. But to call Christians ignorant based on loose scientific theories is just ignorant. Yeah, 48% are believers -- calling them sheep and "explaining a lot" about Americans is about as bullshit-filled as it gets. Don't stoop to that level.

As for the war, you're completely missing the point. It isn't Christian vs. Muslim, though many prominent Christian institutions view it as such -- it's a genuine war on unbridled terrorism that has gone too far. Are we the bad guys? Christ no. People blame the United States for everything because it's easy -- clearly we bungle when terrorists blow themselves up in crowded marketplaces to kill two Marines. It's our fault that 50,000 civilians are dead in Iraq, despite our keen interest in avoiding civilian casualties. This can be seen in footage from aircraft bombing videos, or in our extensive training in terms of Laws of Armed Conflict...

Most people don't even know. It's just easy to criticize America. Which is fine, I'll keep on serving the USAF despite that somewhat annoying fact. However, calling 48% of Americans ignorant due to their beliefs in Christianity and basing this statement on scientific claims really shows the true hypocrit, and the true ignorance, in this thread.

I love this country and would die defending it. People who hate this country for what our elected government does over the course of five years can go to hell.

We're not behind. To even suggest that is a pretty ignorant statement.

Engineers? Post your numbers. Where did you hear that we have fewer engineers than "almost every country?" Seriously, that would amaze me, because engineering is a huge aspect of American higher education. And what kind of engineers? Civil Engineers? Chemical Engineers? Computer Engineers? Software Engineers?

Secondly, imports versus exports? A lot of the stuff we import is American-made in other countries. Whether or not you agree with outsourcing... it's happening... and it's tremendously helpful to our economy.