Fair enough. As for me, I alternate between the Eastern Caribbean and the U.S., and feel much more free in the former than the latter, both economically and socially.
That's only the case if you believe the hype that the U.S. is the world's most free country. Sure, it's a reasonably free and pleasant country, but Americans, even libertarian ones, seem to have this strange tendency to think that only darkness and chaos lie beyond the border, and that's not so.
Americans' seeming disinclination to emigrate in search of a better life is all the more strange in that they're (almost) all descended from people who did exactly that, in most cases not many generations ago.
This. For those who aren't familiar with it, Moodle is a learning management system that was started by Martin Dougiamas as part of his PhD research into how open source software could support a particular type of instructional design. It's become the main open source alternative to commercial behemoths like Blackboard, and a number of prominent universities have adopted it.
When you're ready to provide that different model for academic publishing (and pay for the transition and support for its administration), please let us know. Until then you're just another asshole telling people how they ought to act against their own interests, and against the quite valuable prevailing model of academic publication.
The prevailing model is valuable only to commercial publishers, and their interests are the only ones who are threatened by open access. Good riddance!
We need a different economic model to pay for the service of editing and coordinating peer review. Maybe that cost ought to be covered by a journal submission fee. Hardcopy publication is now officially not needed, nor should we be paying hardcopy publishing companies just for the right to view the online published information. That's rubbish, and it's harmful to the progress of knowledge.
The different model is that academics do this as part of their commitment to service. What's in it for them is that, since reputation is the coin of the academic realm, by serving on editorial boards their own status as an expert is promoted. There are already plenty of journals that work this way. Hard copy is oldthink, let those few readers who want to kill trees to read a journal use print on demand.
If I can instantly watch anything I want without having to muck about with file sharing, that's good news, at least for me. I've been saying for a while I'd willingly pay more for Netflix if it had everything available by streaming. I've become accustomed to watching TV on my schedule rather than the TV's, and I don't want to go back to the bad old days.
You're defining al-Shabaab, a theocratic government, as a corporation, then saying, "See? That's what corporations are like!" Now I may not like big corporations, but that doesn't hold water.
As for your use of "capitalism", I'm not familiar with your definition of the word, since most people these days use the term to refer to a free market. Corporatism is not capitalism, because in the former corporate and government decision makers cooperate for mutual advantage, whereas with capitalism government is either non-existent, or else too small to be an effective collaborator. Actually, corporations wouldn't even exist in a truly free market, since they are creations of the state that confer on owners a state entitlement of limited liability for their actions.
However, I agree with your assessment of corporate executives when it comes to their looking out for themselves rather than shareholders. Of course, the same is true of decision makers in government and the electorate they ostensibly serve.
Churchill also said, "The best argument against democracy is a five minute conversation with the average voter." Anyway, Somalia isn't a good example. They don't have corporations, they have al-Shabaab. Even I wouldn't say corporations are that bad.
Totally with you on fascism. That's why I get sort of annoyed when people call the system found in the West "capitalism". It's not, it's corporatism -- also known as fascism, although that term carries baggage that doesn't currently apply to the West.
Be careful what you wish for. There are a few counties in Maryland that skew everything toward making the state look rich, but outside that zone it's basically an underdeveloped Southern state.
It gets mentioned every time because it's a good point. I'm an educational technologist with a six year old, and I say that acclimatizing little kids (and their families) to that kind of lock-in is a bad idea. Besides, there's no pedagogical reason to dump this kind of technology into an elementary school -- SmartBoards yes, but this... no.
Also fair. Somewhere I have an edition of 1984 that has an interesting afterward from Erich Fromm comparing "doublethink" with the way one is supposed to behave toward inconsistency while working for a big corporation.
Anyway, while I may find that government is the greater of two evils, that doesn't mean I love corporations.
It's obvious what's going on here. The Interior Department, which under Bush/Cheney took cocaine and hookers from drilling, other oil and other energy corps who are supposed to pay (minimal) royalties to the Department, is totally corrupt. That is the agency that pretended to regulate BP and other drillers, allowing the Mocambo blowout to poison the Gulf last year (and generally, in less reported ongoing operations).
Slashdot Mirror
Now that's a good reason to buy one!
Perhaps you should try the Journal of Universal Acceptance instead?
Let's just hope this isn't from Mrs. Malda!
Fair enough. As for me, I alternate between the Eastern Caribbean and the U.S., and feel much more free in the former than the latter, both economically and socially.
That's only the case if you believe the hype that the U.S. is the world's most free country. Sure, it's a reasonably free and pleasant country, but Americans, even libertarian ones, seem to have this strange tendency to think that only darkness and chaos lie beyond the border, and that's not so. Americans' seeming disinclination to emigrate in search of a better life is all the more strange in that they're (almost) all descended from people who did exactly that, in most cases not many generations ago.
Loser pays.
Not this.
This. For those who aren't familiar with it, Moodle is a learning management system that was started by Martin Dougiamas as part of his PhD research into how open source software could support a particular type of instructional design. It's become the main open source alternative to commercial behemoths like Blackboard, and a number of prominent universities have adopted it.
and I turned out OK.
[citation needed]
"This AIDS thing's not working." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShTjhhYN04Y
Even if that's the case, then by completing it, he's shown he deserves it. What's your point?
When you're ready to provide that different model for academic publishing (and pay for the transition and support for its administration), please let us know. Until then you're just another asshole telling people how they ought to act against their own interests, and against the quite valuable prevailing model of academic publication.
The prevailing model is valuable only to commercial publishers, and their interests are the only ones who are threatened by open access. Good riddance!
We need a different economic model to pay for the service of editing and coordinating peer review. Maybe that cost ought to be covered by a journal submission fee. Hardcopy publication is now officially not needed, nor should we be paying hardcopy publishing companies just for the right to view the online published information. That's rubbish, and it's harmful to the progress of knowledge.
The different model is that academics do this as part of their commitment to service. What's in it for them is that, since reputation is the coin of the academic realm, by serving on editorial boards their own status as an expert is promoted. There are already plenty of journals that work this way. Hard copy is oldthink, let those few readers who want to kill trees to read a journal use print on demand.
Meanwhile, for those of us who aren't into trying to control information, the public domain is where the beautiful things happen.
If I can instantly watch anything I want without having to muck about with file sharing, that's good news, at least for me. I've been saying for a while I'd willingly pay more for Netflix if it had everything available by streaming. I've become accustomed to watching TV on my schedule rather than the TV's, and I don't want to go back to the bad old days.
Right, because "warfare" isn't already sufficiently theatrical....
You're defining al-Shabaab, a theocratic government, as a corporation, then saying, "See? That's what corporations are like!" Now I may not like big corporations, but that doesn't hold water.
As for your use of "capitalism", I'm not familiar with your definition of the word, since most people these days use the term to refer to a free market. Corporatism is not capitalism, because in the former corporate and government decision makers cooperate for mutual advantage, whereas with capitalism government is either non-existent, or else too small to be an effective collaborator. Actually, corporations wouldn't even exist in a truly free market, since they are creations of the state that confer on owners a state entitlement of limited liability for their actions.
However, I agree with your assessment of corporate executives when it comes to their looking out for themselves rather than shareholders. Of course, the same is true of decision makers in government and the electorate they ostensibly serve.
Churchill also said, "The best argument against democracy is a five minute conversation with the average voter." Anyway, Somalia isn't a good example. They don't have corporations, they have al-Shabaab. Even I wouldn't say corporations are that bad.
Totally with you on fascism. That's why I get sort of annoyed when people call the system found in the West "capitalism". It's not, it's corporatism -- also known as fascism, although that term carries baggage that doesn't currently apply to the West.
Best AC comment ever.
Be careful what you wish for. There are a few counties in Maryland that skew everything toward making the state look rich, but outside that zone it's basically an underdeveloped Southern state.
It gets mentioned every time because it's a good point. I'm an educational technologist with a six year old, and I say that acclimatizing little kids (and their families) to that kind of lock-in is a bad idea. Besides, there's no pedagogical reason to dump this kind of technology into an elementary school -- SmartBoards yes, but this... no.
Also fair. Somewhere I have an edition of 1984 that has an interesting afterward from Erich Fromm comparing "doublethink" with the way one is supposed to behave toward inconsistency while working for a big corporation. Anyway, while I may find that government is the greater of two evils, that doesn't mean I love corporations.
Well, I work in the private sector myself, and... and... yeah, okay, point taken.
Sorry, but I live in the Washington, D.C. area and "Baahahahahaha.. seriously?" pretty much sums up my response also.
It's obvious what's going on here. The Interior Department, which under Bush/Cheney took cocaine and hookers from drilling, other oil and other energy corps who are supposed to pay (minimal) royalties to the Department, is totally corrupt. That is the agency that pretended to regulate BP and other drillers, allowing the Mocambo blowout to poison the Gulf last year (and generally, in less reported ongoing operations).
For what it's worth, two terms that apply to this phenomenon are iron triangle and regulatory capture.