"The US Government has specifically said that those who work in sensitive areas are not to visit WikiLeaks, and have warned all employees and contractors. The reason is pretty simple. If you explicitly agree not to do something as a condition of employment, and you do it anyway, then you probably aren't a very trustworthy person."
So the simple reason is that it's a purely arbitrary test to see if you follow nonsensical rules?
"Investment is rewarded, with inflation and economic growth..."
Well, that seems like a problem to me. Having our society based perpetually on a "growth" economy seems unrealistic in the long term. At some point we will outstrip all available resources and cause a collapse. Better, it would seem, to be honest about our instantiation on a world with finite resources, and tie our money directly to one of those concrete finite resources. And if that tempers economic growth and people have to deal with that, then it seems like a feature not a bug.
"If Thaddeus Stevens could think of a legally binding way to make everyone free their slaves he's certainly given the clear impression that he'd do it."
"So you think the US can stop you from purchasing wine while in Italy on vacation?... No, but that's an absolutely fucking retarded comparison. 1). Purchasing wine is not illegal in the US or Italy. 2). The transaction occurs on Italian soil, therefore the participants are subject to Italian law."
So do you think this bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives last year (HR 313: criminalize any drug activity by U.S. citizens overseas, even if legal in the foreign country) is valid or not?
"Err, with rare exceptions, most national laws apply to people (citizens, residents, and visitors) within the national borders, but don't apply to people currently residing or visiting a different country. As a quick example, it's illegal for U.S. citizens, residents, and visitors to possess marijuana while in the U.S., but it's not against U.S. law for them to possess marijuana while in the Netherlands..."
But the U.S. House of Representatives did pass a bill last year to reverse exactly that.
"Fun" is generally a bullshit word people use when they can't narrow down what they're really talking about.
"The guy who invented Minecraft (Markus "Notch" Persson) didn't just create a giant virtual world in which you could make stuff, he made it challenging. When Will Wright created the Sims, he didn't just make a game about living in a virtual house. He made it difficult to live successfully. That's why both of those franchises have sold millions of copies. The fun factor..."
Both of those examples sound more like "productive challenge" than "fun".
NY Times article has more information than the top link, e.g.: "Iron Dome has successfully intercepted more than 300 rockets fired at densely populated areas, with a success rate of 80 to 90 percent, top officials said."
So a bit lower percentage. Yet I'm skeptical of even that, because we have no independent verification, and officials are incented to cheerlead/bluff for things like this. Also note that it was about half paid for by the U.S. to the tune of about $900 million.
"Then we can just have them fight our wars for us, between each other and we don't get human casualties on either side."
Maybe you're joking, but enough people honestly believe this to say -- This is one of the top, ludicrously insane myths among the geek set.
If people are willing to die for a cause, or if they feel life is not worth living without principle or resource X, then they will not stop fighting until they are dead. Simple as that. War is the final extremity, when all agreements break down, and one side is convinced that only extermination will stop the other side. QED.
Case study: Apparently a few years ago Penn State veterinary college had a few suicide attempts. Now they don't fail anyone, but they push them out the door and let the state board exam do it. (The loss of 8 years time and expense apparently being the preferred option, I guess.) Or so I'm told.
They'll never even be in the running for a knowledge-sector job. The end game for the high schools is this: Just push them out the door regardless of the situation they're in. Thereafter they'll land in a college remedial math class, and then it's that community college's job to inform them that they're a hopeless basket case who doesn't have a prayer of getting a college degree.
"'Rest assured, all of us hold all students to the same academic standards, but when it comes to measuring progress, we have to consider that students start at different points,' Wright said."
All kinds of horrible, weaselly reasoning by this particular education board (surely they are a product of their own education system). But to focus just on the quote above: Is the goal of an educational system to (a) measure progress, or (b) achieve subject-mastery? The latter is something useful, while the former is mostly just wankery. If (b) is the goal, and retaking the subject by same or different means is indicated, then so be it. The opposite approach is what produces rooms full of hopeless, mathematical basket cases in college remediation classes.
Slashdot Mirror
"In all cases, something else will replace a failed business--it always does."
Now, that's just flat-out religious belief. Places like Detroit or other pure ghost towns serve as counterexamples.
"The US Government has specifically said that those who work in sensitive areas are not to visit WikiLeaks, and have warned all employees and contractors. The reason is pretty simple. If you explicitly agree not to do something as a condition of employment, and you do it anyway, then you probably aren't a very trustworthy person."
So the simple reason is that it's a purely arbitrary test to see if you follow nonsensical rules?
"Investment is rewarded, with inflation and economic growth..."
Well, that seems like a problem to me. Having our society based perpetually on a "growth" economy seems unrealistic in the long term. At some point we will outstrip all available resources and cause a collapse. Better, it would seem, to be honest about our instantiation on a world with finite resources, and tie our money directly to one of those concrete finite resources. And if that tempers economic growth and people have to deal with that, then it seems like a feature not a bug.
But Fox News just told me this week that Christianity is not a religion (and therefore not subject to the 1st Amendment wall between church & state).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PH09hgb7DQ
^ And click on: "What's the difference between Windows RT and Windows 8?"
"If Thaddeus Stevens could think of a legally binding way to make everyone free their slaves he's certainly given the clear impression that he'd do it."
Extremist!
I wonder if this is correlated or even causality related to older people having a much-reduced circle of close friends?
[slick salesman voice] This is not your grandchild's looping mechanism! [/slick salesman voice]
Re: "it manages to create a complicated maze with out the use of a loop"
... of one of these articles saying "that's not life", instead of teasing dummies with visions of bug-eyed aliens dancing everywhere under creation.
For the claim that Carl Sagan wanted to nuke the frickin' moon.
^ Always the last resort of someone who's incapable of any valid counterargument.
"So you think the US can stop you from purchasing wine while in Italy on vacation?... No, but that's an absolutely fucking retarded comparison. 1). Purchasing wine is not illegal in the US or Italy. 2). The transaction occurs on Italian soil, therefore the participants are subject to Italian law."
So do you think this bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives last year (HR 313: criminalize any drug activity by U.S. citizens overseas, even if legal in the foreign country) is valid or not?
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/112/hr313
It's "throwing your vote away" because of rudimentary game theory, as summarized in Duverger's Law.
"Err, with rare exceptions, most national laws apply to people (citizens, residents, and visitors) within the national borders, but don't apply to people currently residing or visiting a different country. As a quick example, it's illegal for U.S. citizens, residents, and visitors to possess marijuana while in the U.S., but it's not against U.S. law for them to possess marijuana while in the Netherlands..."
But the U.S. House of Representatives did pass a bill last year to reverse exactly that.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/06/us-drug-policy-war-congress_n_998993.html
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/112/hr313
The site you link to actually says this, prior to the supposed, unseen "lunge":
"By the time Holliday started videotaping, LAPD officers were already beating King."
"Fun" is generally a bullshit word people use when they can't narrow down what they're really talking about.
"The guy who invented Minecraft (Markus "Notch" Persson) didn't just create a giant virtual world in which you could make stuff, he made it challenging. When Will Wright created the Sims, he didn't just make a game about living in a virtual house. He made it difficult to live successfully. That's why both of those franchises have sold millions of copies. The fun factor..."
Both of those examples sound more like "productive challenge" than "fun".
http://deltasdnd.blogspot.com/2009/05/its-not-just-about-fun.html
Mod this up. It's fascinating!
I completely agree.
NY Times article has more information than the top link, e.g.: "Iron Dome has successfully intercepted more than 300 rockets fired at densely populated areas, with a success rate of 80 to 90 percent, top officials said."
So a bit lower percentage. Yet I'm skeptical of even that, because we have no independent verification, and officials are incented to cheerlead/bluff for things like this. Also note that it was about half paid for by the U.S. to the tune of about $900 million.
"Then we can just have them fight our wars for us, between each other and we don't get human casualties on either side."
Maybe you're joking, but enough people honestly believe this to say -- This is one of the top, ludicrously insane myths among the geek set.
If people are willing to die for a cause, or if they feel life is not worth living without principle or resource X, then they will not stop fighting until they are dead. Simple as that. War is the final extremity, when all agreements break down, and one side is convinced that only extermination will stop the other side. QED.
I suppose the real fools are those paying for the security, incarceration, investigation, and overtime being accrued here.
Case study: Apparently a few years ago Penn State veterinary college had a few suicide attempts. Now they don't fail anyone, but they push them out the door and let the state board exam do it. (The loss of 8 years time and expense apparently being the preferred option, I guess.) Or so I'm told.
Will the system collapse due to this? I dunno.
They'll never even be in the running for a knowledge-sector job. The end game for the high schools is this: Just push them out the door regardless of the situation they're in. Thereafter they'll land in a college remedial math class, and then it's that community college's job to inform them that they're a hopeless basket case who doesn't have a prayer of getting a college degree.
http://hechingerreport.org/content/for-community-college-students-who-struggle-with-arithmetic-some-solutions_3047/
"'Rest assured, all of us hold all students to the same academic standards, but when it comes to measuring progress, we have to consider that students start at different points,' Wright said."
All kinds of horrible, weaselly reasoning by this particular education board (surely they are a product of their own education system). But to focus just on the quote above: Is the goal of an educational system to (a) measure progress, or (b) achieve subject-mastery? The latter is something useful, while the former is mostly just wankery. If (b) is the goal, and retaking the subject by same or different means is indicated, then so be it. The opposite approach is what produces rooms full of hopeless, mathematical basket cases in college remediation classes.