Anti Same-Sex marriage, Paul calls himself "strongly pro-life" and anti-abortion
This is the one thing that is somewhat evangelical, but so what if his position is to remove all power from the federal state? Then he can't say boo about any of those issues, it's up to the states (as it should be).
People get that confused about Palin too, even though she also is against abortion she has said before in an interview that it should be up to regions to decide about abortion for themselves.
Anti-Civil Rights Act
In the case of same-sex marriage and civil rights laws, this is the reason we're a republic and not a democracy. The majority shouldn't be able to vote to prevent minorities from gaining the same level of citizenship in whatever form that takes. And that is definitely one of the roles of the federal gov't.
Paul has asserted that he does not think there should be any federal control over education and education should be handled at a local and state level.
That's not evangelical. That's common sense, when you look at the hash the feds have made of education. That's $40m that could be going to students or even weed for the needy, all money better spent than paying a bunch of buerocrats to dictate how education is to be handled exactly the same from beverly hills to the inner city of NYC. Her's a thought, perhaps different regions have different approaches that would better serve students. Break up the NEA and send that money out to the states for education that makes sense.
Access to public education is the cornerstone of civilization. Given how much schools rely on federal funding I don't understand how you could think this is "common sense". Libertarianism is built upon the literacy and education of civilization. This would be killing the golden goose in the worst sense.
Anti-EPA
I am a staunch environmentalist and think the EPA is past its prime, too much absurd regulation.
I disagree completely. I think the problem is the EPA has no teeth.
I finally became convinced that the theory of creation actually had a much better scientific basis than the theory of evolution, for the creation model was actually better able to explain the physical and biological complexity in the world... Science has startled us with its many discoveries and advances, but it has hit a brick wall in its attempt to rid itself of the need for a creator and designer.
I am deeply suspicious of his scientific methodology if he finds the evidence for intelligent design to be greater than that for evolution.
When writing our rest services the first thing we considered was how to prevent users from accessing other users data. I don't understand how this could happen to a bank with credit card data. It's ridiculous.
While the "impracticality" of putting it online is a bald-faced lie, I can see why they don't want to. If Cardinal Richelieu can find a reason to hang a (wo)man is three sentences the mainstream media will have no problem finding lots of political hay in 24,000 emails. Especially with someone as controversial and, ah, differently spoken as Mrs. Palin.
Is it ethical? You could make an argument that only Alaskans should really be concerned with how Governor Palin acted in an official capacity. She's a public figure, but unless she actually runs for president I'd say that these emails serve more as a distraction than as newsworthy.
Both the telecos and regulators already have deal with this setup for phone lines. Remember back in the 90s when Aol and NetZero and all the rest would set you a disk a week to hook up to their service? The tricks are well know to both sides by now. As always it will be a matter of who gets appointed to enforce the regulation.
He didn't say left or right or Republican or Democrat just corporatist. You used his comment on terrorism laws eroding our freedom as a shibboleth to avoid taking his comment at face value.
While I think the author is being a bit alarmist, I agree with his definition of an intellectual more than yours.
As an example, memorizing dates of all the battles leading up to the battle of Hastings is not intellectual. However, knowing how those earlier battles affected the battle of Hastings itself is intellectual and is hard to do if you don't know the chronological order well.
Or if you prefer the sound bite version, you have to know the rules before you can bend them effectively.
I work in advertising and from what I've seen it doesn't work either of those ways.
If an advertiser approaches Google or Facebook what is sold is not user profiles, but clicks on the advertiser's ad(If you're branding you might buy impressions, but we're talking about selling a widget). All the data Google and Facebook collect is not what they give out to advertisers, but they use it to determine what ads to show to you.
They enjoyed close ties to gov't because they bought them using money from stifled competition through anti-competitive practices. The gov't became involved after the market had already failed.
The parent poster's points are valid, Theodore Roosevelt made a name for himself by trust busting. Growth during these times was made by exploiting new found resources along the frontier. The USA was not a considered a powerhouse of "new ideas and innovations" by the rest of the world until after the first and second world wars.
Vote for someone without a (D) or (R) next to their name. You register to vote already right?
Seriously, that would be enough. If enough Green, or Libertarian, or independent candidates got votes then the party lines of the respective parties would adjust garner more votes in those areas. If you vote in a D or R no matter what they do then they have no incentive to do anything differently.
If you do it right you might even make money from publicity. I'd be interested in such a license and any game that made encouraging fan-made content such a priority. And not just in the "I want people to write free mods for my game" kind of way, but the "I want to expand my fictional universe" kind of way.
Here here sir! The monarchy has the education, blood, and divine right besides. Giving the unwashed rabble any power in this "democracy" experiment is doomed to fail!
A person's ability to use a given product is definitely a consideration in the quality of that product. Some users' experience in trying to use the product was poor, therefore they gave it a poor rating.
If the "product" is an mp3 copy of a Lady Gaga album then the ratings are valid because they couldn't receive the item as the terms of the sale agreed.
Even if the "product" is a license to listen to digital reproductions of a Lady Gaga album then the ratings are still valid because their inability to actually use their purchased license is still a consideration in the quality of the product.
So GCHQ’s spectrum manager wrote this letter on official letterhead in March and somehow released or leaked it. The GCHQ claims it was not an official document, and insinuates as a ham operator the spectrum manager was trying to further his own hobby's agenda. The UK ham operators lobbyist group "Ban Power Line Technology" has a copy of this "unofficial" letter and is using it to prove that this technology is damaging the public good, but nothing is "official". How convenient for the GCHQ.
Ironically, i could easily see this having the opposite effect that the GCHQ is hoping for. I think more people care about having privacy in their home than inconveniencing ham operators.
Why is this idle? We only idly wonder at controversial and arguably ineffective security procedures being followed to the letter? Especially when "I was just following orders" are the dirtiest words a lackey can speak?
[mild snark]So it's news now that a mainstream Republican candidate doesn't completely disparage the "intellectual elite" and actually reads books critically enough to write reviews?[/snark]
I'll root for Newt insofar as he'll bring at least a little intellectual criticism to the circus of the next presidential election. Maybe that's wishful thinking though. The Republican party has resisted any such change to their policies preferring instead to mold the man to the party. Hopefully they learned the lesson from McCain of trying to shoehorn moderate candidates into neocon stances. Who knows though.
Obama was not the worst candidate by far. In fact I would dare say he was the best candidate. he had great potential.
Now as for a supposedly liberal president I would agree he is not up to par with some of the other potential presidents that were on the field at the time. Hard to say though because it seems to be that the party makes the man(or woman) these days when it comes to the high offices and not the other way around.
So you want me to put my mp3s(I hope) in the cloud. Will you provide useful features beyond a simple store, like automatic synching to my phone and PC? Will you let me use multiple accounts from anywhere like Steam, or will you lock it down to a single account per computer like BNet? Will you let me add my own files to my library like Steam or will it be limited to purchased offerings from Google like BNet?
Basically will you create something new and dangerous to the old publishers that will corner the marketshare, or will you create an also ran with the features that are safe for publisher control to be maintained?
It's ironic to me that the largest supporters of nuclear tend to be libertarians, and that the reason nuclear is so safe is because of stringent regulation.
Are they? I don't know if I believe that. Nuclear needs to be heavily regulated and subsidized to be viable on a large scale. That doesn't fit the American Libertarian Party's policies at all. I would have more respect for the Libertarian Party if they do indeed take that position as I see ideological compromise lacking in the party.
These results don't seem very shocking.
Obviously, making troll posts gets you modded down more often than up.
Logged in users are more often modded down on a troll because they start at a higher score and are more visible. It is not a maliciousness or zealotry on the part of moderators.
Your observation about modding up up-voted posts is interesting and I have noticed it as well. When I first got mod points I was "cautious" about spending them and only wanted to up-vote posts I was sure were good. As I learned more about how points were granted I started to focus on up-voting posts that hadn't been voted on and caused a lot of "3" posts. Now I don't have as much time as I used to so I do a mix of both. I wonder if other users have followed a similar pattern.
Up-voting posts that have been all ready marked is "easier" because your attention has already been drawn to it. Also, because moderators are encouraged to up-vote more than down-vote, you're more likely to see the OP or the reply up-voted rather than down-voted which would result in more 3's. That's something I've seen less of in general, down-voting already up-voted posts, and I think it is overall a good thing encouraging both opinions to be expressed.
I think the point is still valid. The bias is there, but recognizing the bias is important in auditing the system. Slashdot is the only site I visit, outside a few small forums, where I see both conservative and liberal opinions consistently modded up. I have often seen series of comments replying to each other where they are both modded up. People complain about "groupthink", but the distinct cliques are more prominent in slashdot than one overall groupthink. I'm concerned about the place becoming like Digg or Reddit where a single voice dominates the discussion, but I don't think it's happened yet.
If there's one common thread of Slashdotters it's reveling in being a contrarian. It's a defensive mechanism of being an outsider in society at large, and a useful skill in a fast moving field like technology.
I think it is sometimes abused; I've seen mediocre comments, IMO, modded up with this trick. However, overall it is a symptom of a good habit; giving credence to views you may not agree with at first blush.
My refusal to give General Electric (or any other corporation) my money has zero consequences. They do not send employees with guns to raid my wallet, audit my bank account, or throw me in prison. Furthermore if enough people feel the same as me, the corporation will go bankrupt and disappear (see Montgomery Wards, Commodore, Circuit City, UPN, and so on).
They would if they didn't have to follow the rule of law enforced by the government.
Now try that with the Congress or State Legislature. Refusal to give money is not a wise course of action. They have a monopoly over your money, your property, your liberty, your life, and the use-of-force to make you submit to their will.
To live in industrial society you must pay taxes. Places where you don't have to pay taxes are generally not nice places for the majority of the people that live there.
I consider corporations to be far more democratic. Every time I spend a dollar (or not) I am casting a vote to keep the corporation afloat, or drive them into nonexistence.
In a democracy everyone gets one vote. In a corporation only a few people with money really matter.
Slashdot Mirror
Anti Same-Sex marriage, Paul calls himself "strongly pro-life" and anti-abortion
This is the one thing that is somewhat evangelical, but so what if his position is to remove all power from the federal state? Then he can't say boo about any of those issues, it's up to the states (as it should be).
People get that confused about Palin too, even though she also is against abortion she has said before in an interview that it should be up to regions to decide about abortion for themselves.
Anti-Civil Rights Act
In the case of same-sex marriage and civil rights laws, this is the reason we're a republic and not a democracy. The majority shouldn't be able to vote to prevent minorities from gaining the same level of citizenship in whatever form that takes. And that is definitely one of the roles of the federal gov't.
Paul has asserted that he does not think there should be any federal control over education and education should be handled at a local and state level.
That's not evangelical. That's common sense, when you look at the hash the feds have made of education. That's $40m that could be going to students or even weed for the needy, all money better spent than paying a bunch of buerocrats to dictate how education is to be handled exactly the same from beverly hills to the inner city of NYC. Her's a thought, perhaps different regions have different approaches that would better serve students. Break up the NEA and send that money out to the states for education that makes sense.
Access to public education is the cornerstone of civilization. Given how much schools rely on federal funding I don't understand how you could think this is "common sense". Libertarianism is built upon the literacy and education of civilization. This would be killing the golden goose in the worst sense.
Anti-EPA
I am a staunch environmentalist and think the EPA is past its prime, too much absurd regulation.
I disagree completely. I think the problem is the EPA has no teeth.
I finally became convinced that the theory of creation actually had a much better scientific basis than the theory of evolution, for the creation model was actually better able to explain the physical and biological complexity in the world... Science has startled us with its many discoveries and advances, but it has hit a brick wall in its attempt to rid itself of the need for a creator and designer.
I am deeply suspicious of his scientific methodology if he finds the evidence for intelligent design to be greater than that for evolution.
When writing our rest services the first thing we considered was how to prevent users from accessing other users data. I don't understand how this could happen to a bank with credit card data. It's ridiculous.
While the "impracticality" of putting it online is a bald-faced lie, I can see why they don't want to. If Cardinal Richelieu can find a reason to hang a (wo)man is three sentences the mainstream media will have no problem finding lots of political hay in 24,000 emails. Especially with someone as controversial and, ah, differently spoken as Mrs. Palin.
Is it ethical? You could make an argument that only Alaskans should really be concerned with how Governor Palin acted in an official capacity. She's a public figure, but unless she actually runs for president I'd say that these emails serve more as a distraction than as newsworthy.
Both the telecos and regulators already have deal with this setup for phone lines. Remember back in the 90s when Aol and NetZero and all the rest would set you a disk a week to hook up to their service? The tricks are well know to both sides by now. As always it will be a matter of who gets appointed to enforce the regulation.
He didn't say left or right or Republican or Democrat just corporatist. You used his comment on terrorism laws eroding our freedom as a shibboleth to avoid taking his comment at face value.
Corporatism definitely crosses party lines in our gov't.
While I think the author is being a bit alarmist, I agree with his definition of an intellectual more than yours.
As an example, memorizing dates of all the battles leading up to the battle of Hastings is not intellectual. However, knowing how those earlier battles affected the battle of Hastings itself is intellectual and is hard to do if you don't know the chronological order well.
Or if you prefer the sound bite version, you have to know the rules before you can bend them effectively.
I work in advertising and from what I've seen it doesn't work either of those ways.
If an advertiser approaches Google or Facebook what is sold is not user profiles, but clicks on the advertiser's ad(If you're branding you might buy impressions, but we're talking about selling a widget). All the data Google and Facebook collect is not what they give out to advertisers, but they use it to determine what ads to show to you.
They enjoyed close ties to gov't because they bought them using money from stifled competition through anti-competitive practices. The gov't became involved after the market had already failed.
The parent poster's points are valid, Theodore Roosevelt made a name for himself by trust busting. Growth during these times was made by exploiting new found resources along the frontier. The USA was not a considered a powerhouse of "new ideas and innovations" by the rest of the world until after the first and second world wars.
Vote for someone without a (D) or (R) next to their name. You register to vote already right?
Seriously, that would be enough. If enough Green, or Libertarian, or independent candidates got votes then the party lines of the respective parties would adjust garner more votes in those areas. If you vote in a D or R no matter what they do then they have no incentive to do anything differently.
If you do it right you might even make money from publicity. I'd be interested in such a license and any game that made encouraging fan-made content such a priority. And not just in the "I want people to write free mods for my game" kind of way, but the "I want to expand my fictional universe" kind of way.
Here here sir! The monarchy has the education, blood, and divine right besides. Giving the unwashed rabble any power in this "democracy" experiment is doomed to fail!
A person's ability to use a given product is definitely a consideration in the quality of that product. Some users' experience in trying to use the product was poor, therefore they gave it a poor rating.
If the "product" is an mp3 copy of a Lady Gaga album then the ratings are valid because they couldn't receive the item as the terms of the sale agreed.
Even if the "product" is a license to listen to digital reproductions of a Lady Gaga album then the ratings are still valid because their inability to actually use their purchased license is still a consideration in the quality of the product.
So GCHQ’s spectrum manager wrote this letter on official letterhead in March and somehow released or leaked it. The GCHQ claims it was not an official document, and insinuates as a ham operator the spectrum manager was trying to further his own hobby's agenda. The UK ham operators lobbyist group "Ban Power Line Technology" has a copy of this "unofficial" letter and is using it to prove that this technology is damaging the public good, but nothing is "official". How convenient for the GCHQ.
Ironically, i could easily see this having the opposite effect that the GCHQ is hoping for. I think more people care about having privacy in their home than inconveniencing ham operators.
Why is this idle? We only idly wonder at controversial and arguably ineffective security procedures being followed to the letter? Especially when "I was just following orders" are the dirtiest words a lackey can speak?
[mild snark]So it's news now that a mainstream Republican candidate doesn't completely disparage the "intellectual elite" and actually reads books critically enough to write reviews?[/snark]
I'll root for Newt insofar as he'll bring at least a little intellectual criticism to the circus of the next presidential election. Maybe that's wishful thinking though. The Republican party has resisted any such change to their policies preferring instead to mold the man to the party. Hopefully they learned the lesson from McCain of trying to shoehorn moderate candidates into neocon stances. Who knows though.
Obama was not the worst candidate by far. In fact I would dare say he was the best candidate. he had great potential.
Now as for a supposedly liberal president I would agree he is not up to par with some of the other potential presidents that were on the field at the time. Hard to say though because it seems to be that the party makes the man(or woman) these days when it comes to the high offices and not the other way around.
Oh my god is that brutal.
I don't have a fondness for the man, but to mark this as funny seems a quite spiteful.
Why is this in idle?
Wow I think that's the first time I've ever asked that question.
So you want me to put my mp3s(I hope) in the cloud. Will you provide useful features beyond a simple store, like automatic synching to my phone and PC? Will you let me use multiple accounts from anywhere like Steam, or will you lock it down to a single account per computer like BNet? Will you let me add my own files to my library like Steam or will it be limited to purchased offerings from Google like BNet?
Basically will you create something new and dangerous to the old publishers that will corner the marketshare, or will you create an also ran with the features that are safe for publisher control to be maintained?
It's ironic to me that the largest supporters of nuclear tend to be libertarians, and that the reason nuclear is so safe is because of stringent regulation.
Are they? I don't know if I believe that. Nuclear needs to be heavily regulated and subsidized to be viable on a large scale. That doesn't fit the American Libertarian Party's policies at all. I would have more respect for the Libertarian Party if they do indeed take that position as I see ideological compromise lacking in the party.
These results don't seem very shocking.
Obviously, making troll posts gets you modded down more often than up.
Logged in users are more often modded down on a troll because they start at a higher score and are more visible. It is not a maliciousness or zealotry on the part of moderators.
Your observation about modding up up-voted posts is interesting and I have noticed it as well. When I first got mod points I was "cautious" about spending them and only wanted to up-vote posts I was sure were good. As I learned more about how points were granted I started to focus on up-voting posts that hadn't been voted on and caused a lot of "3" posts. Now I don't have as much time as I used to so I do a mix of both. I wonder if other users have followed a similar pattern.
Up-voting posts that have been all ready marked is "easier" because your attention has already been drawn to it. Also, because moderators are encouraged to up-vote more than down-vote, you're more likely to see the OP or the reply up-voted rather than down-voted which would result in more 3's. That's something I've seen less of in general, down-voting already up-voted posts, and I think it is overall a good thing encouraging both opinions to be expressed.
I think the point is still valid. The bias is there, but recognizing the bias is important in auditing the system. Slashdot is the only site I visit, outside a few small forums, where I see both conservative and liberal opinions consistently modded up. I have often seen series of comments replying to each other where they are both modded up. People complain about "groupthink", but the distinct cliques are more prominent in slashdot than one overall groupthink. I'm concerned about the place becoming like Digg or Reddit where a single voice dominates the discussion, but I don't think it's happened yet.
If there's one common thread of Slashdotters it's reveling in being a contrarian. It's a defensive mechanism of being an outsider in society at large, and a useful skill in a fast moving field like technology.
I think it is sometimes abused; I've seen mediocre comments, IMO, modded up with this trick. However, overall it is a symptom of a good habit; giving credence to views you may not agree with at first blush.
My refusal to give General Electric (or any other corporation) my money has zero consequences. They do not send employees with guns to raid my wallet, audit my bank account, or throw me in prison. Furthermore if enough people feel the same as me, the corporation will go bankrupt and disappear (see Montgomery Wards, Commodore, Circuit City, UPN, and so on).
They would if they didn't have to follow the rule of law enforced by the government.
Now try that with the Congress or State Legislature. Refusal to give money is not a wise course of action. They have a monopoly over your money, your property, your liberty, your life, and the use-of-force to make you submit to their will.
To live in industrial society you must pay taxes. Places where you don't have to pay taxes are generally not nice places for the majority of the people that live there.
I consider corporations to be far more democratic. Every time I spend a dollar (or not) I am casting a vote to keep the corporation afloat, or drive them into nonexistence.
In a democracy everyone gets one vote. In a corporation only a few people with money really matter.