New Testingstan

Yeah.

Straha wrote:According to Facebook Bear just passed away.

What happened?

Um, lots of things can do that too. That's what birth certificates, passports, driver's licence, bankcards, student cards, concession cards etc do.

It's been very convenient to have one single card as a standard form of identification. I use it to travel, to do my taxes, to do any kind of government paperwork... From my perspective*, it seems odd not to have a specific ID card. Everything else sounds like a kludge.

* informing, not trying to convince

Bounty wrote:

Um, lots of things can do that too. That's what birth certificates, passports, driver's licence, bankcards, student cards, concession cards etc do.

It's been very convenient to have one single card as a standard form of identification. I use it to travel, to do my taxes, to do any kind of government paperwork... From my perspective*, it seems odd not to have a specific ID card. Everything else sounds like a kludge.

* informing, not trying to convince

My perspective as well.

Bounty wrote:

Straha wrote:According to Facebook Bear just passed away.

What happened?

=> http://bbs.stardestroyer.net/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=158856

Short story : he passed away in his sleep from a heart attack.

Damn. I knew he was not well, but that's just harsh.

At least it was quick, and he didn't suffer. Thats about the best we can all hope for.

I suppose so. Though it seems he wasn't feeling well in his last days, for reasons obvious in retrospect.

He's had health struggles for years though hasn't he?

RIP bro.

Yeah. Pretty severe, though preventable ones. Diabetes IIRC, among other things.

Ugh. If I see that fucking badger or whatever the fuck it is that's digging in our yard and killing our grass staring at me through my window one more time, I am going to borrow one of my friends .22s and hunt it the fuck down.

Oxymoron wrote: => http://bbs.stardestroyer.net/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=158856

Short story : he passed away in his sleep from a heart attack.

Oh wow, that's saddening to read about and he seemed like he was suffering for many years, judging from his sometimes almost garbled postings (and he seemed more articulate in the early to mid 2000s). What the heck happened?

I just read in the SDN thread that Bear was only 43. That's seriously fucking depressing. I didn't really interact with him nearly as much as you guys did, but it was still sad as hell to watch his posts get more and more incoherent as his illness got worse. My condolences to his family.

I liked Bear, his posting style was fun to read and though I didn't really know him beyond that, it's one less colourful thing in my world.

uraniun235 wrote:Most (all?) states' Department of Motor Vehicles will issue a non-license ID card, including to minors.

I think part of the problem is that a state ID is already considered sufficient identification for many purposes, so if I already have my driver's license card, why should I have to carry a federal ID card?

The problem with that is that Licenses/ID cards are state run, and because of that, there are fifty different processes for what is supposed to be a single national ID card, which can cause trouble if you have to switch states. Depending on the state the process can be anywhere from simple to needlessly complex, and the requirements for switching over/getting a new card vary from just presenting the old (plus maybe social security) to surrendering the old card, bringing in social security, birth certificate, passport, two to four proofs of residence and more. I found this out the hard way when I moved from Wisconsin to Illinois and discovered they had very different and much more stringent ways of running their state ID.

And even then, it doesn't count as valid identification for all things. You still need a social security card to get a job, a birth certificate to get a backup SS or passport, etc. I'm all for bundling it all together under one nationally run system if it gets rid of even a few of the ID-related headaches I've had to go through.

Whomever thought of tying voting rights to an ID you can only get from specific scattered agencies that are only open during regular working hours and whose single most famous feature is absurdly long wait times, and wasn't coming from a stance of deliberate disenfranchisement, I seriously question how hard they think things through.

But... election fraud... illegals... voting... NOBAMA!

look if you can't drive 2 hours to the dmv that's only open on the 5th wednesday of the month from 2-3pm i don't think you're taking it very seriously

ps those are the actual hours and days of some dmv offices

Just got back from watching World War Z. It's a deliciously fun action/disaster movie that shares absolutely nothing with the book except for a few names... which is what I expected it to be, so aside from one single moment of strained suspension of disbelief, I wasn't disappointed.

Djinnkitty83 wrote:The problem with that is that Licenses/ID cards are state run, and because of that, there are fifty different processes for what is supposed to be a single national ID card, which can cause trouble if you have to switch states. Depending on the state the process can be anywhere from simple to needlessly complex, and the requirements for switching over/getting a new card vary from just presenting the old (plus maybe social security) to surrendering the old card, bringing in social security, birth certificate, passport, two to four proofs of residence and more. I found this out the hard way when I moved from Wisconsin to Illinois and discovered they had very different and much more stringent ways of running their state ID.

And even then, it doesn't count as valid identification for all things. You still need a social security card to get a job, a birth certificate to get a backup SS or passport, etc. I'm all for bundling it all together under one nationally run system if it gets rid of even a few of the ID-related headaches I've had to go through.

I still think a federal ID card would wind up being functionally equivalent to a birth cert or a passport in the sense that it would just get left home unless you knew you were going to need it*, because I really don't see the states giving up their power over their own driver license cards.

Hell, I'd bet money that even with a federal ID card, it'd take a couple of decades at least to break companies and agencies of the habit of asking for a second piece of identification. I mean it's not like we'd abandon those other forms of ID, because what documentation would you submit if your federal ID card was lost or stolen?


Really the issue to me seems less like "we need a federal ID" and more like "we need to make it easier for people to be able to get legally recognized photo ID", although I'm not going to stand in opposition of a federal ID. It'd probably be super-handy for people who don't have a driver's license.

joviwan wrote:eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee my reaper kickstarter reward arrived eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Mine is on it's way. Soon...

Of course, I'm still waiting on Mantic, Sedition Wars, Mantic, Trollforged, Mantic, and Dreamforge.

uraniun235 wrote:I still think a federal ID card would wind up being functionally equivalent to a birth cert or a passport in the sense that it would just get left home unless you knew you were going to need it*, because I really don't see the states giving up their power over their own driver license cards.

Should I have added a disclaimer that getting a single, simple national ID was my ideal solution, and not one that's feasible in the foreseeable future thanks to accumulated self-interest and short-sightedness? Because that was my intent: I'd love to have a single, national ID covering all bases, but I'm not holding my breath.

Bob the Gunslinger wrote:

joviwan wrote:eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee my reaper kickstarter reward arrived eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Mine is on it's way. Soon...

Of course, I'm still waiting on Mantic, Sedition Wars, Mantic, Trollforged, Mantic, and Dreamforge.

you kicked way more things than I did. I'll cross my fingers for you.

every time i go to vote i bring my expired id card with me (which is now two addresses behind, lol) and every time am kinda surprised that they don't ask for it

with all the national news about voter id i keep forgetting all new york wants from me is my signature in the book

oooh it is already tour de france time again!

Oxymoron wrote:I would like it if the National ID and the Social Security card here were fused here. Problem being that such a thing has been attempted in the past, and, well... People have expressed a certain discomfort at the idea.

I'm not sure about that here. Mainly because it would just make identity theft even easier than it already is. Lost your wallet, better keep on top of your credit score, etc. Don't know if your SSN in France is as 'vital' as it is here, though.

Yeah, that's the main thing, I don't want to lose my wallet and wake up a month later to find someone has racked up 500k in credit card debt in my name, which is exactly what would happen the way the US system works if a SSN based national ID were issued.

Did TEO just take seriously a quote from a member of the EC judiciary member on a subject that is completely outside of the purview of the EC, and always will be unless full federalization takes place? (yeah, right. The only way unified national security happens is if Leopard 2s are parading down the Champs-Élysées) Of course they did.

Never mind that the EC Commissioner is talking about programs that are meant to secure data against commercial exploitation, and the NSA doesn't give a crap about the Data Protection Guidelines.

http://bbs.stardestroyer.net/viewtopic. ... 4#p3785344