Pakistan arrests C.I.A. informants in bin Laden raid

[grumbler]

Hell, the US invaded a 9th century country back in 2003 and still hasn't been able to uplift it.

  Missouri is tenth-century, isn't a country, and wasn't invaded in 2003.  You got the non-uplifted part right.

[Martinus]

Back to the topic at hand, rather than a retarded-comment-in-response-to-racist-quip-turned-into-a-AI-nerd-circle-jerk this thread has become, I don't see anything wrong per se with Pakistan arresting the informants - you never want your own military personnel selling state secrets to foreign powers, even if they are your allies.

The Pakistanis' fault lies in not cooperating at the government/agency level, but can't blame them for rooting out traitors.

I can blame them very much for considering Bin Laden's location a state secret.

Which is exactly what I said. Can you read?

[Razgovory]

Hell, the US invaded a 9th century country back in 2003 and still hasn't been able to uplift it.

  Missouri is tenth-century, isn't a country, and wasn't invaded in 2003.  You got the non-uplifted part right.

Gee Grumbler, you really got me there.  Whatever will I do in the face of your incisive wit?

[The Minsky Moment]

Which is exactly what I said. Can you read?

I thought that Pakistani government's current official position is that they didn't know Bin Laden was in country.  These arrests are inconsistent with that position, because if the government wasn't responsible for Bin Laden's safe haven and didn't know anything about it, then by definition that information cannot be a state secret. 

[Admiral Yi]

Which is exactly what I said. Can you read?

Your post was much longer than mine, and contained a number of assertions which were inconsistent with the part I agreed with.

[garbon]

Is that really true though? Do you understand modern technologies well enough for you to recreate them, or 9th century Vikings(you'd be better off in Byzantium methinks) to reverse engineer them?

I think most people(well most educated people) could punch out a bunch of major theoretical break-throughs(gravity, gene theory, heliocentrism, bits and pieces of the calculus, etc) but wouldn't be able to do much with those- it would still fall to 9th century scientists to figure out a use for them.

I think Twain's Connecticut Yankee had far more success in recreating his world than is realistically possible(accepting for a moment the possibility of time travel itself).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lest_Darkness_Fall

I've no idea what the actual story is like, but the wiki summary makes it sounds like typical AH crap that overreaches.

[Camerus]

Which is exactly what I said. Can you read?

I thought that Pakistani government's current official position is that they didn't know Bin Laden was in country.  These arrests are inconsistent with that position, because if the government wasn't responsible for Bin Laden's safe haven and didn't know anything about it, then by definition that information cannot be a state secret.

Exactly.   Not to mention they've also been receiving a truckload of US money for their "co-operation" up to this point.

[dps]

With Slargos to guide them, it would probably take the Vikings till the 25th Century to develop indoor plumbing.

[Slargos]

With Slargos to guide them, it would probably take the Vikings till the 25th Century to develop indoor plumbing.

If I somehow conjure up the magicks to live until the 25th century, that's a price I'm willing to pay.

[jimmy olsen]

Is that really true though? Do you understand modern technologies well enough for you to recreate them, or 9th century Vikings(you'd be better off in Byzantium methinks) to reverse engineer them?

I think most people(well most educated people) could punch out a bunch of major theoretical break-throughs(gravity, gene theory, heliocentrism, bits and pieces of the calculus, etc) but wouldn't be able to do much with those- it would still fall to 9th century scientists to figure out a use for them.

I think Twain's Connecticut Yankee had far more success in recreating his world than is realistically possible(accepting for a moment the possibility of time travel itself).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lest_Darkness_Fall

I've no idea what the actual story is like, but the wiki summary makes it sounds like typical AH crap that overreaches.

It's time travel, not AH.

The guy's a college professor and the education given at a liberal arts college at the beginning of the 20th century was a broad one. And it's not like he never failed. He couldn't get gunpowder right.

[garbon]

It's time travel, not AH.

The guy's a college professor and the education given at a liberal arts college at the beginning of the 20th century was a broad one. And it's not like he never failed. He couldn't get gunpowder right.

And yet he keeps alive a resurgent Ostrogothic kingdom preventing the Dark Ages.

[grumbler]

And yet he keeps alive a resurgent Ostrogothic kingdom preventing the Dark Ages.

  Are you sure you read the book?  That's not what happens.

The book is well known because it was one of the early time-travel stories that actually used history and science in its makeup, and because DeCamp's whimsical writing style makes it very accessible, for a fantasy book.  Some people may not like it, but it won't be because the main character "keeps alive a resurgent Ostrogothic kingdom preventing the Dark Ages."

[DGuller]

That sounds like an interesting book.  This may be the book I will read this year.

[Eddie Teach]

It's time travel, not AH.

They're not mutually exclusive. The Guns of the South and 1632 for instance.

[Razgovory]

And yet he keeps alive a resurgent Ostrogothic kingdom preventing the Dark Ages.

  Are you sure you read the book?  That's not what happens.

The book is well known because it was one of the early time-travel stories that actually used history and science in its makeup, and because DeCamp's whimsical writing style makes it very accessible, for a fantasy book.  Some people may not like it, but it won't be because the main character "keeps alive a resurgent Ostrogothic kingdom preventing the Dark Ages."

That seems like a fair description based on the book if I recall correctly.  He helps create a stable Ostrogoth Kingdom in Italy (with the help of Belisarius).  Mostly though the use of modern political tricks and methods.  The book is kinda pulpy, but still a classic in the genre.