Things are enough of a powder-key economically this sort of thing to get out-of-hand in a big way.
China and America are co-dependent but at cyber-cold-war. Russia just recently gave the middle-finger to the U.S. with Snowden and we refused to meet with each other. The two primary powers that emerged after the last world war are no longer at the top so there is an open gap for who's next: the U.S. who no one wanted to mess with is overstretched, underfunded, and there is no better president to have at the helm if you want a war with the U.S. than one who has not achieved much militarily other than social reform and withdrawal, is on the edge of economic shambles due to decades of overspending much more than the stock market and media would lead you to believe, and whose party's voting constituents aren't in favor of a war, and Russia, who turned into a mafia-run state with former KGB at the helm that are unable to elicit much nationalism- much less a military power it used to be, doing the equivalent of selling its military assets on ebay for years.
Mass executions from chemical attack or otherwise are not the reason we are getting involved. This is a power struggle. Some big players (Clinton comes to mind) in U.S. Democratic party are set on cleaning up the Iran/Syria/Lebanon area, and Republicans are always up for a war. But, I'm afraid they will get more than they bargained for.
Sorry to be cynical and bring politics into this, but I hope that U.S. liberals respond the way they did to Bush to Obama with this strike.
Comedians, the media, etc. accused Bush of an adjust war for someone that used a chemical attack on his own people because there were no found WMD's even though there was evidence of a chemical attack.
Now we are going in again to try to save things. Will Obama come out as a hero? Probably. Should he? Well if he should, Bush needs to get some slack finally.
Don't get me wrong- I think we should do something. But when I hear we are going to do another 3 day bombing run, it's just like Iraq all over again, except this time it's who the Democrats want to bomb. Isn't there an answer that doesn't involve bombing? What are we, Germany in WWII?
> These desks are the norm in every office here in Denmark and I am always baffled that it is some kind of esoteric thing worthy of debate in America.
No company I've worked in within the U.S. has had a standing desk or even an adjustable-height desk that I can remember. It's a rare sighting for most.
In the U.S. cubicles are the norm, and their desk height isn't usually adjustable.
As for ergonomics, in the past few years I was working for a large institution owned by an even larger company that was all well-funded, and even their ergonomic team (yes, they had one) was completely inadequate. When I asked if they would assist me with recommendations for simple monitor and macbook stands, they stuttered and then suggested outlandishly expensive equipment ($3000 USD) just for a monitor stand! That would never be paid for as part of our team budget. So, when I told them this, they just said, "Then try Amazon." They never came by to measure me or ask me any relevant questions to help. It was a total farce. I ended up using books to lift my monitor and laptop to the correct position.
So basically, yes it seems esoteric here and products are pushed that are too damn expensive. I'm glad that you and your crew have nice desks. Thanks for the link and pic.
Not sure this is fair. The government isn't crazy like Deputy Minister Helpmann in Brazil. It really is trying to do its job. Imagine if every American football coach had to announce his play to the other team. What purpose would there be in it? So, there needs to be a system in place that helps keep secrets. But, the question is how should those that expose secrets be dealt with? No one wants to deal with those exposing state secrets because they are doing it to no one in particular, and aren't being seen as actively trying to help terrorists. That is the problem and that is the reason we are comparing things to the movie Brazil here.
Growing up in the U.S., we were all taught the history of our country, which included Benedict Arnold. But very few see a parallel to Benedict Arnold in Snowden. They cannot see how someone whose main claim to fame in the press has been, "They are watching you!" has exposed state secrets. Neither do they think Julian Assange is Benedict Arnold. Julian is just posed as a well-meaning but much misled Australian hacker that probably got framed in a rape case and is on the run, like a modern day Frank Abagnale, but with state secrets instead of fake checks.
The fact is, our governments need respect in order to keep secrets better, but prosecuting and hunting down these people is not the answer, neither are other "control" techniques. They just need better security. If they had better security, I for one would respect the fact that they said, "Oops! I guess I left the playbook in front of the press tent. I guess I should keep it on my person at all times."
Currently working for a company that doesn't offer LTD, and it scares me whenever I think about not having it, but not enough to buy it on my own. It's definitely a major plus.
The other way around. Israel wants more U.S. involvement. And did you notice that Israel recently bombed Lebanon in retaliation? http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-23806767
Things are enough of a powder-key economically this sort of thing to get out-of-hand in a big way.
China and America are co-dependent but at cyber-cold-war. Russia just recently gave the middle-finger to the U.S. with Snowden and we refused to meet with each other. The two primary powers that emerged after the last world war are no longer at the top so there is an open gap for who's next: the U.S. who no one wanted to mess with is overstretched, underfunded, and there is no better president to have at the helm if you want a war with the U.S. than one who has not achieved much militarily other than social reform and withdrawal, is on the edge of economic shambles due to decades of overspending much more than the stock market and media would lead you to believe, and whose party's voting constituents aren't in favor of a war, and Russia, who turned into a mafia-run state with former KGB at the helm that are unable to elicit much nationalism- much less a military power it used to be, doing the equivalent of selling its military assets on ebay for years.
Mass executions from chemical attack or otherwise are not the reason we are getting involved. This is a power struggle. Some big players (Clinton comes to mind) in U.S. Democratic party are set on cleaning up the Iran/Syria/Lebanon area, and Republicans are always up for a war. But, I'm afraid they will get more than they bargained for.