have any of you seen this? land of the free indeed. outrageous!

[Mark E. Hurling]

I actually don't know who he is save for he did something to do with space for tv in america (if even that is true), it was more of a general statement more akin to the mountain sage living a humble existence in solitude whilst 'having all the knowledge of the universe and no interest in exploiting it' than a specific person who i don't care anything about - he may as well be Patrick Moore for all i care.

OK then. You are correct about Sagan, he was on TV in the US in the 80's with a show titled Cosmos. That's where the billions and billions line comes from. But he was no Anchorite living a hermetic existence on some mountain top. I don't necessarily think he was a bad guy, just not quite as pure as the wind driven snow as you might think.

[Mark E. Hurling]

You make him sound like a bad person. By marketing himself, he inspired a hell of a lot of people. If I didn't read Cosmos, I wouldn't have ever thought of majoring in physics in the first place.

People like him should be our leader.

Gene McCarthy tried running for President as the philosopher king in the 1968 election. Much good it did him or anyone else. That wily old Texan LBJ did for him right good and proper with more than a little help with Daddy Daley of the Chicago Machine. Another cloud gatherer. He'd have been right amongst the Occupants along with George McGovern who ran shortly thereafter. But he was a sky pilot.

[Carlos Daniel]

[Mark E. Hurling]

I'm not going on a prolonged Saga-bashing rant here, but I always liked the 70's series Connections with James Burke better. No doubt the history geek in me. Tracing the lineage of ideas, systems, and devices just drew me in. It just struck me as more down to earth, so to speak.

[Eric K]

The Civil War has some tough law and actions to parse through. I thought about using it as an example, but the conundrums associated with foreign nation and sovereign soil, it seems to me got a little muddled. Likewise with Lincoln's suspension of the Democrat convention in Indiana during the 1863-1864 election champaign enforced by Federal troops. Then there's the farce of a trial that got Mary Surraut hung. Her "trial," sentencing, and execution always seemed to me a railroad of "justice" from start to finish and Stanton seemed more concerned with getting everyone dead and quiet than all else. The rest of them were up to their eyballs in the plot. But the so-called "evidence" used to convict her by military tribunal, AFTER THE WAR WAS OVER AND THE PEACE WAS SIGNED, has left a bad taste with me the more I have learned about it.

I'm not suggesting that legal conduct during the Civil War was above reproach, I'm only trying to convey that I prefer the precedent that only during times of actual war, confined to the battlefield, where civilian courts are unable to function, as opposed to just during a general period of war (or psuedo-war), or whenever it happens to be convenient for congress to declare a suspension of habeas corpus.

[tertius]

- he may as well be Patrick Moore for all i care.

Patrick Moore played the xylophone.

[Eric K]

Erik, do you feel my interpretation of the bill is correct, as I interpreted it above? If I'm wrong, I want to know it, and I'm not deeply familiar with the various bits of law the bill cites, and under which the Executive may detain individuals.

It seems to me that the bill implies that the battlefield -may- be treated as extending to US soil, in that it forces the military to take charge of the trial and imprisonment of anyone, caught here or abroad, that fits the definition contained there-in. The implication is that if the person is caught in the US, and the military must deal with them, ergo the battlefield must include the US, as it is only on the battlefield that the military has the right to imprison or try individuals (who aren't enlisted US citizens). This is somewhat circuitous logic, but that's the law for you.

Sorry, tertius, I missed your post somehow.

Yes, it appears that the current wording protects U.S. citizens, but that an amendment may amount to revocation of that protection. I was speaking specifically to the precedent of such a concept. I'm even wary of leaving the option open to indefinitely detain non-citizens, because it seems to be a niche that could be expanded and I personally believe that the right to fair and public trial is essential in order for the U. S. to maintain any semblence of a moral justice system. Even for heinous criminals like international terrorists.

[OCG]

Wait, given pi is an infinite number, then isn't it possible that any series of real numbers could conceivably be contained within it?

[Eric K]

Wait, given pi is an infinite number, then isn't it possible that any series of real numbers could conceivably be contained within it?

That's the point of the comic. There used to be a website that would tell you where your birthday was in pi (there might still be a website like this). Because it's infinite (and irrational), every possible sequence of numbers will be in there somewhere...

[OCG]

Hey, anybody up for a website that will tell you where your social security number is in pi?