Nope. It’s a different novel, by a different author, in a different way. Margaret Atwood is a much better writer, in my opinion, but Frederick Rich’s book is, nonetheless, a real page-turner in a way that if you start reading it in the evening, get ready for a sleepless night.

Also , for fuck’s sake!

Moderate R are an endangered and disappearing species. And even if you find one, you’d be safe to assume they’re “moderate” rather than moderate.

I’ve read somewhere else a book recommendation, and after having read it I can recommend it to you:

“Christian Nation” is an alternate history novel by Frederick Rich about the USA turned into a wholly fanatical theocracy with the necessary amendments to the constitution for it to be lawful and everything else.

From the description in one of those online book-selling websites:

“They said what they would do, and we did not listen. Then they did what they said they would do.”

So ends the first chapter of this brilliantly readable counterfactual novel, reminding us that America’s Christian fundamentalists have been consistently clear about their vision for a “Christian Nation” and dead serious about acquiring the political power to achieve it. When President McCain dies and Sarah Palin becomes president, the reader, along with the nation, stumbles down a terrifyingly credible path toward theocracy, realizing too late that the Christian right meant precisely what it said.

In the spirit of Philip Roth’s The Plot Against America, one of America’s foremost lawyers lays out in chilling detail what such a future might look like: constitutional protections dismantled; all aspects of life dominated by an authoritarian law called “The Blessing,” enforced by a totally integrated digital world known as the “Purity Web.” Readers will find themselves haunted by the questions the narrator struggles to answer in this fictional memoir: “What happened, why did it happen, how could it have happened?”

Edit: I’ve read it in epub format on my phone.

Love your comment and especially your Edit. You really had me there at first, heh.

Back in time, a long time ago, when I was 19 and spent about a year traveling abroad, I learned that a bidet in the bathroom isn’t a standard everywhere. Couldn’t understand why.

Is there a Badass Pic Award wherever they have to compete?

Same with F for Facebook!

Don’t remember right now. Been reading a couple of Israeli news sites in English, al-Jazeera, and some other news sites, so whatever I say to you now might be misguided. Anyway, as far as I recall right now it wasn’t speculation.

Well, the fact that most of them went back to Gaza makes me doubt that previously quoted number.

In any case, I hope Hamas gets an obliterating hit and can’t recover, and that Israel remembers that not all Gaza is Hamas, so this is over as soon as possible with no more innocent lives lost.

Just answering to the first question: As of today, according to Israeli media, that number is quite off.

Yep. I never use sms nor other messaging systems save for WhatsApp. Not that I’m a fan of it since it was bought by Facebook, but it is what everybody here uses, and it works quite well, reliably, and has an interesting set of features.

I somehow envy your optimism.

Thanks a lot for that link. I am a hardcore science fiction nerd, yet I had never crossed paths with that one. Indeed relevant in this debate, too.

Only n00bs build their own kernel, OS, compiler, and coding language, and they already have that program built in. Cool people create their own universe, with different laws of physics and constants, then they make it act as a whole computing entity capable of anything, it then creates a simulation in which we discuss this stuff.

Same principle as with cassettes/music tapes.

Same principle as with cassettes/music tapes.

There still are. I bought mine a year and a couple of months ago and it has FM radio and a 3.5 mm jack. And it’s a great phone.

I had an old Moto phone with an FM radio that worked without headphones, although it was stated that with headphones plugged in reception would be much better (which was true). My current phone (a Moto one too) has FM radio, and I use it.

I never had a phone without FM radio. It’s one of the features I actually want in my phone.

Not that I like it, and I really do like certain Linux distros, but in my case I have to use some software that runs well on Windows and isn’t available under Linux. Alternatives aren’t as good, and the versions I need don’t run well (or not at all) on WINE. As far as proprietary OSs go, I find Mac OS much better than windows, both in general user interface, integration and how smooth it runs and feels, but as a choice it’s even more expensive than Windows. Better, yes, but more expensive.

When/if the software I need find under Linux I’ll stop using windows, I guess.

This one is just one answer to your question. I’m sure there might be some more.