I doubt if President Shrub understands the US economy any better than my goldfish - he's obviously not very bright (judging from many of the things he's said and done over the last few years) and has the attention span of a gnat.
The big problem with this is that, to work well, markets require perfect knowledge which, generally due to collusion, is never actually available. Why do you think insider trading is both popular and profitable?
You should have included a side-order of lime pickle - a really hot one, in case the vindaloo didn't already burn a whole through your stomach. The Kingfisher might've put it out, though.
Anyone who believes that (and I know you aren't one of them from the contents of your post) should read Peter Singer's recent book "The President of Good and Evil" - I'm just reading it for the secod time. Singer's basic theme is, if I understand him correctly, that Bush is morally bankrupt, as his moral statements have no internal consistency or external justification.
How would I apply it to this discovery? The same way I always do, by going for the simplest explanation. I find that notions of intelligent design multiply assumptions, especially when compared to explanations which involve evolution and natural selection.
I have no trouble at all in positing light-sensitive cells (a mutation) which evolve over aeons into eyes through natural selection. On the other hand, I have enormous difficulty with the notion of a creator. Despite listening carefully to theologians and fundamentalist crackpots for the last 40 years, I have heard no arguments for a supreme being that can't be shot down in flames in seconds. If you doubt this, you should read David Hume's "Twelve Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion." It's an oldy but a goody, and I like to re-read it every five years or so.
As I alluded to earlier, once you start believing that the world rests on the backs of 4 elephants, which stand on the back of a turtle (or in a supreme being which exists outside time and space for that matter), it's turtles, all the way down.
We have a significant number of them demanding equal time in Australia as well, unfortunately. From what I've observed, our education system is in the same kind of trouble as America's, just not as far along, which I believe explains it. I don't understand how an intelligent, well-educated person could possibly swallow creation "science".
This is just bullshit. This is precisely the way we do things in Australia, and I would claim that our system is far less prone to electoral fraud, and in fact more honest, than most of the systems in use in the US.
And I _still_ believe this even though we just re-elected a despicable right-wing lying weasel as Prime Minister against all my hopes.
The main reason that condoms are only 98% (or whatever) effective is because sometimes they're faulty, or they fall off or tear (I speak from experience... ), even when correctly used. It's quite likely they're equally effective at preventing transmission of STDs, and fail for the same reasons.
I didn't actually enjoy Latin (although 40 years later I appreciate the opportunity of having been able to do it - as far as I know it's no longer taught at high school in Australia), in fact for many years one of my proudest achievements was the F ( 20%, iirc) I earned for Intermediate Latin (this roughly translates to year 10 in modern terms). Perverse, I know, but I was young and foolish.
I've just remembered something my high school Latin teacher said (over 40 years ago) - when he took a holiday in Spain, he managed to communicate with the locals in Latin.
I think the parent post was comparing corruption and inefficiency rather than the actual way the governments work (or fail to), in which case there probably isn't a great deal of difference.
> if you are in Austria you can download this, otherwise, sorry, move on.
I hope this is only a typo. Despite statements by one of your recently deceased ex-presidents (and he had the twin excuses of being an actor, and beginning to suffer from senile dementia), there is a bigger difference than two extra letters between 'Austria' and 'Australia'. Just for a start, we're in a different hemisphere, we don't speak German, and we don't have much in the way of snow-capped mountains and singing nuns.
About the only thing we have in common is that both countries keep electing disgusting demagogues from the radical right to lead us (although, to be fair to "Honest" John, at least he isn't an apologist for National Socialism... yet).
This just confirms what I've always believed anyway - that conservatives generally don't have a particularly firm grasp on reality. Otherwise, they wouldn't be conservatives.
> I wonder how many of the violent protestors were planted by the cops - it seems to be increasingly common.
It's not more common at all, there's just been a bit of a gap since they last had to do it. The police (and other agencies) used to regularly plant provocateurs in the demonstrations against the Great Military Adventure in Vietnam 35 years ago.
Slashdot Mirror
Yep. And proud of it.
Here in Australia, at least, we compare things _to_ each other, as well as _with_ each other. I'm pretty sure both usages are correct.
> To compute is to do math.
Not quite. That's arithmetic. Mathematics is a bit different.
Don't worry, his replacement will certainly be even worse (if that's possible).
Yeah, lobster used to be poor people's food here in Australia, too. Personally, I never touch the stuff (I don't like the way they get cooked alive).
I doubt if President Shrub understands the US economy any better than my goldfish - he's obviously not very bright (judging from many of the things he's said and done over the last few years) and has the attention span of a gnat.
The big problem with this is that, to work well, markets require perfect knowledge which, generally due to collusion, is never actually available. Why do you think insider trading is both popular and profitable?
You should have included a side-order of lime pickle - a really hot one, in case the vindaloo didn't already burn a whole through your stomach. The Kingfisher might've put it out, though.
This reminds me of a Dilbert cartoon where the outsourced function came full-circle. It's probably where he got the idea.
> Bush makes "moral stands"
Anyone who believes that (and I know you aren't one of them from the contents of your post) should read Peter Singer's recent book "The President of Good and Evil" - I'm just reading it for the secod time. Singer's basic theme is, if I understand him correctly, that Bush is morally bankrupt, as his moral statements have no internal consistency or external justification.
How would I apply it to this discovery? The same way I always do, by going for the simplest explanation. I find that notions of intelligent design multiply assumptions, especially when compared to explanations which involve evolution and natural selection.
I have no trouble at all in positing light-sensitive cells (a mutation) which evolve over aeons into eyes through natural selection. On the other hand, I have enormous difficulty with the notion of a creator. Despite listening carefully to theologians and fundamentalist crackpots for the last 40 years, I have heard no arguments for a supreme being that can't be shot down in flames in seconds. If you doubt this, you should read David Hume's "Twelve Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion." It's an oldy but a goody, and I like to re-read it every five years or so.
As I alluded to earlier, once you start believing that the world rests on the backs of 4 elephants, which stand on the back of a turtle (or in a supreme being which exists outside time and space for that matter), it's turtles, all the way down.
I have two words to say to you: Occam's Razor.
Because otherwise, it's turtles all the way down.
We have a significant number of them demanding equal time in Australia as well, unfortunately. From what I've observed, our education system is in the same kind of trouble as America's, just not as far along, which I believe explains it. I don't understand how an intelligent, well-educated person could possibly swallow creation "science".
This is just bullshit. This is precisely the way we do things in Australia, and I would claim that our system is far less prone to electoral fraud, and in fact more honest, than most of the systems in use in the US.
And I _still_ believe this even though we just re-elected a despicable right-wing lying weasel as Prime Minister against all my hopes.
I think that's only the case for audio, where a 50Hz hum would be annoying.
The main reason that condoms are only 98% (or whatever) effective is because sometimes they're faulty, or they fall off or tear (I speak from experience ... ), even when correctly used. It's quite likely they're equally effective at preventing transmission of STDs, and fail for the same reasons.
I didn't actually enjoy Latin (although 40 years later I appreciate the opportunity of having been able to do it - as far as I know it's no longer taught at high school in Australia), in fact for many years one of my proudest achievements was the F ( 20%, iirc) I earned for Intermediate Latin (this roughly translates to year 10 in modern terms). Perverse, I know, but I was young and foolish.
I've just remembered something my high school Latin teacher said (over 40 years ago) - when he took a holiday in Spain, he managed to communicate with the locals in Latin.
I think the parent post was comparing corruption and inefficiency rather than the actual way the governments work (or fail to), in which case there probably isn't a great deal of difference.
> Most govt. contracts go to outfits that the purchasing agency feel most comfortable with, totally *regardless* of cost.
... the vendor who supplied the most blowjobs and nice lunches and the best quality cocaine.
Translation:
> if you are in Austria you can download this, otherwise, sorry, move on.
... yet).
I hope this is only a typo. Despite statements by one of your recently deceased ex-presidents (and he had the twin excuses of being an actor, and beginning to suffer from senile dementia), there is a bigger difference than two extra letters between 'Austria' and 'Australia'. Just for a start, we're in a different hemisphere, we don't speak German, and we don't have much in the way of snow-capped mountains and singing nuns.
About the only thing we have in common is that both countries keep electing disgusting demagogues from the radical right to lead us (although, to be fair to "Honest" John, at least he isn't an apologist for National Socialism
> No one is saying Bush supporters are "stupid".
Speak for yourself. I'd definitely say they are at least one of:
Stupid;
Deluded;
Sociopathic.
This just confirms what I've always believed anyway - that conservatives generally don't have a particularly firm grasp on reality. Otherwise, they wouldn't be conservatives.
> I wonder how many of the violent protestors were planted by the cops - it seems to be increasingly common.
It's not more common at all, there's just been a bit of a gap since they last had to do it. The police (and other agencies) used to regularly plant provocateurs in the demonstrations against the Great Military Adventure in Vietnam 35 years ago.
I think it was a joke, fyngyrz.