superficus

For me, it's quite simple: War is business. War makes possible to spend billions of dollars in stuff. Not only weaponry, but everything from supplies to food, petrol... it keeps the machine well-oiled and working. Particularly in the USA, War allows the government to inject money in the economy, a huge boost of capital into the big corporations that compose the military-industrial complex. In the US, to prevent crisis, to aid an stagnated economy (a lot of the US companies lose money in the US, they only make money abroad - with higher prices and lower salaries) the government starts the war machine and use the taxpayers' money to help the industries - that can give more people jobs, etc. When you put a lot of money into the economy, it generally grows, and allows more things to happen. Money brings money.Then, after the war, there goes the reconstruction - meaning lots of contracts for American corporations, new credits to foreign countries... It's such a good business!!War is excellent for the industry, it destroys lots of things and generates the need for new things. Guess who can provide those things? The companies from the same country that destroyed yours!!

I like Google because it's the search engine that helps me find everything I need. I don't ever need to use any other search engine, if it's not in Google, it's very likely to not exist. Whether that's true or not... I don't know, but it's like that for me, and learning how to use Google has proven to be extremely useful, there is almost nothing I cannot find or trace with it.I also hate when people ask lots of questions without having a look at Google first. It pisses me off a lot, as it's just the easiest thing on earth to write in Google something like "Windows XP Services" or "Far Cry tweak guide"... instead of constantly asking everyone for help with links, information, bugs, patches, etc. Don't be lazy, people, search in Google first, then ask! I also like Google Talk, it's the easiest way to speak with my girlfriend (that unfortunately lives far from me) avoiding the hassle of Windows Live Messenger - overcrowded... every time I connect my contacts just start talking to me A LOT. Google Talk is the instant messaging utility I use when I want to be connected ONLY with the people I want to speak with. It generally works fine, it's small, doesn't use much memory, the interface is something anyone can use - even older people, and the sound quality is good. Shame is not available for Linux or Mac Os X as I also use these systems.I find the translation tool EXCELLENT if you need to quickly figure something out. I do a lot of online shopping outside my home country (Spain) and mostly in the UK and Germany. No problem with the UK, but the German shops sometimes don't have information in English, so it's quite useful if I don't understand something. Also when I work as a translator I am not sure of how to write some word, or the usage of a phrase, then I look in Google (just do a normal search of my phrase) and I get the right idea (and the usual mistakes too).But the best thing Google has done for me was helping me to find out if my students are doing plagiarism. Whenever I correct an essay, if there is some phrase I don't trust - if it sounds "too good" for the student's skill - I Google it. 99% of the times just writing the exact phrase between quotes brings out the original article or essay that my students are copying. Well... it seems also that my students use Google too!!I cannot live without it, to be honest, Google is an integral part of my life - I remember using AltaVista and Yahoo ages ago, before 98, and they were fine, but not as good. Lycos had its moments, MSN has always been extremely bad. Terra was ok-ish when there was nothing else in Spanish, but... Since Google is out, I've been a user, and a very satisfied one. Now with the possibility of searching images and video it's becoming something of epic proportions. Anytime I need textures, certain motifs or clip-art, icons, etc... I just search Google Images for them. Guess what? It has all I need. Plus, it's ads are the least intrusive that exist. And some of them are even useful! I have never found ads useful but sometimes I can click on some friend's website ad-sense thing because they actually have links to things I am looking for. Way better than porn ads and online casino ads and emoticon ads and the like that plague the Internet.