Treaties and law don't empower the winners. Life is an endless struggle for power and wealth. If they can be got the methods do not matter, and our current fetish for law is but window dressing.
One day, we will lose and a fit replacement will conquer. The idea that the few decades since WWII invalidate the lessons of thousands of years of human history is silly and vain in the extreme.
"The problem is, these people aren't REALLY morons."
Well, yes, most of them are. The South was used as a dumping ground by the Crown, the dumped embraced their shittiness ("narcissism of small differences") and thus we have the most backward zone of the US in its self-perpetuating glory.
The solution to the barrier posed by ancient texts in old languages is NOT TO USE them, and in the case of fiction not to teach it at all as it's a waste of time compared to straight narrative. Don't ruin the originality of the work by propagating altered versions, just skip it entirely.
If someone is so weak-minded that they require fiction to get their attention, getting their attention won't be any use and they may as well go back to pushing a broom or serving burgers.
"How we did worse things to the indian population than Hitler did."
Citation sorely needed for the "worse" part. Looks like ordinary conquest and the methods used were the only effective way to win by conquest. None of that was "wrong" at the time, and it bears reminding that conquest was normal and acceptable worldwide.
Government should run locked-down machines and give their users orders to conform to proper security standards.
We should remember that Federal employment is desirable, that anyone who has a job is fortunate, and that if they don't like their marching ORDERS they can get the fuck out.
The UCMJ provides for punishment for military personnel, and IMO we should run ALL Federal employees under a military-style chain of command and under military regulations. Don't like to serve the public as a professional?
We should force all government users to run secure operating systems in a secure manner, hammer the shit out of those who don't.
Federal employee unions would be an obstacle, so government should be structured to weaken collective bargaining by outsourcing. Just as military contractors are now required to obey the UCMJ in some theaters of war, Federal contract employees could be both held accountable yet outsourced so they can be shitcanned.
American culture isn't vapid, but most Americans are and will remain so. Culture "happens", but takes refinement to appreciate.
Train the masses to compete in the global workforce, and those who want "culture" can seek it as a hobby.
Bubba in the trailer park doesn't care about culture and is easily kept happy by bread and circuses, so give him those. He deserves to be ruled by his betters and will be, even if his betters aren't very nice people. Trying to interest the masses in culture is a fools errand.
There really is no reason to bother teaching that book at all. IMO many books are simply re-inflicted on succeeding generations of students because they were inflicted on previous generations. I enjoyed it, but my now-ancient generation has nothing in common with its successors. It didn't do me any good in terms of obtaining future employment, nor did reading any fiction. 1800s history itself is becoming more and more distant every year, hence less useful to anyone but specialists.
(Recent) history and science are much better uses of precious educational time and scarce resources. We need to fit workers to compete in the world economy. Literature and the arts should be left to those who are enthusiasts and enjoy them as hobbies. There is no time for hobbies without a JOB.
Trouble with specifying lube is that if it isn't mil-spec it might be ChiCom mystery goo that eats bearings. In many cases a Suitable Substitute would do.
The US needs to scale back. We don't need to go on Jihad for democracy, or for anything else.
We don't need to project power in Asia. We can leave situations to the people who fucking LIVE THERE.
We can redirect our interests to Central and South America.
We can let the peoples of the Middle East kill each other. We ignored many world problems before and we can do it again.
We should become isolationist, look to benefit our general population instead of the rich, and if China wants to eat Taiwan for breakfast, ALLOW nature to take its course.
""As we see it there are two major benefits. First, it's easier to put buildings on existing train tracks than to demolish the tracks and build regular building foundations."
Then don't fucking build regular foundations. Drill appropriate holes for reinforced concrete pillars, then set your structure of choice atop them. Less roadbed to remove, the remainder can be left in place, and the valuable rails recycled for steel or even used in weldments.
...would get the job done with tough structures that would be cheap, versatile, transportable, and settable by crane on permanent foundations.
That said, the reason container housing hasn't taken off is the form-factor of containers which is dictated by the form-factor of what transports them.
The idea of moving living quarters about urban areas basically for shits and grins is fucking stupid, there is no nice way to put it.
There is no >>>>>need to live on the fucking coast in vulnerable-yet-valuable-enough-to-move structures.
Build valuable structures out of steel and concrete, which are easy to recycle. Leave them in place for hundreds of years. If they become obsolete for some reason, abandon them if the land is not valuable enough to justify demolition. If the sea covers them, they will provide a breeding ground for sea creatures.
Whoever thought the "buildings on rails" idea had any merit should have been beaten to death on the spot for such spectacular stupidity, likewise anyone who doesn't get WHY the idea was stupid. Not "gently corrected", but smashed like the victims in various Liveleak videos.
Don't run an insecure operating system. One thing people forget about government employees is that they can be given fucking orders to change, and they don't have to fucking like it. You can literally tell people to "do it and shut up".
For example, when the USAF went from green screen Unix terminals to Windows, snivelling wasn't an option. Obey orders or be punished.
If security is ever taken seriously, issue orders to change, fry those who refuse, end of story.
"If someone had my Android phone, they'd have full and free access to my gMail account, PayPal account, online photo albums, social networking accounts, address book (including the non phone portion such as Google Contacts) and so much more. And for many of my friends, it would also be unrestricted access to their home and/or work computer. "
Good thing none of those are at risk if you lose your phone or it gets stolen...
Slashdot Mirror
Treaties and law don't empower the winners. Life is an endless struggle for power and wealth. If they can be got the methods do not matter, and our current fetish for law is but window dressing.
One day, we will lose and a fit replacement will conquer. The idea that the few decades since WWII invalidate the lessons of thousands of years of human history is silly and vain in the extreme.
"The problem is, these people aren't REALLY morons."
Well, yes, most of them are. The South was used as a dumping ground by the Crown, the dumped embraced their shittiness ("narcissism of small differences") and thus we have the most backward zone of the US in its self-perpetuating glory.
The solution to the barrier posed by ancient texts in old languages is NOT TO USE them, and in the case of fiction not to teach it at all as it's a waste of time compared to straight narrative. Don't ruin the originality of the work by propagating altered versions, just skip it entirely.
If someone is so weak-minded that they require fiction to get their attention, getting their attention won't be any use and they may as well go back to pushing a broom or serving burgers.
"How we did worse things to the indian population than Hitler did."
Citation sorely needed for the "worse" part. Looks like ordinary conquest and the methods used were the only effective way to win by conquest. None of that was "wrong" at the time, and it bears reminding that conquest was normal and acceptable worldwide.
"Yes, it only needs an old man in the sky to make the delusion perfect."
If the old man in the sky will reward us, we don't need to concern ourselves AT ALL with the state of a world that's slated for destruction anyway.
Government should run locked-down machines and give their users orders to conform to proper security standards.
We should remember that Federal employment is desirable, that anyone who has a job is fortunate, and that if they don't like their marching ORDERS they can get the fuck out.
The UCMJ provides for punishment for military personnel, and IMO we should run ALL Federal employees under a military-style chain of command and under military regulations. Don't like to serve the public as a professional?
We should force all government users to run secure operating systems in a secure manner, hammer the shit out of those who don't.
Federal employee unions would be an obstacle, so government should be structured to weaken collective bargaining by outsourcing. Just as military contractors are now required to obey the UCMJ in some theaters of war, Federal contract employees could be both held accountable yet outsourced so they can be shitcanned.
That's because our culture is bitterly anti-knowledge. Our masses enjoy shiny objects, but not being bothered with how they work.
Our government will remain fucked up because most of our people deserve that.
American culture isn't vapid, but most Americans are and will remain so. Culture "happens", but takes refinement to appreciate.
Train the masses to compete in the global workforce, and those who want "culture" can seek it as a hobby.
Bubba in the trailer park doesn't care about culture and is easily kept happy by bread and circuses, so give him those. He deserves to be ruled by his betters and will be, even if his betters aren't very nice people. Trying to interest the masses in culture is a fools errand.
There really is no reason to bother teaching that book at all. IMO many books are simply re-inflicted on succeeding generations of students because they were inflicted on previous generations. I enjoyed it, but my now-ancient generation has nothing in common with its successors. It didn't do me any good in terms of obtaining future employment, nor did reading any fiction. 1800s history itself is becoming more and more distant every year, hence less useful to anyone but specialists.
(Recent) history and science are much better uses of precious educational time and scarce resources. We need to fit workers to compete in the world economy. Literature and the arts should be left to those who are enthusiasts and enjoy them as hobbies. There is no time for hobbies without a JOB.
Trouble with specifying lube is that if it isn't mil-spec it might be ChiCom mystery goo that eats bearings. In many cases a Suitable Substitute would do.
Semi-OT, and note the choice of uniforms:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnPu-kk_eOA
"Unfortunately DARPA failed to realize that afterwards the robots simply sat around and watched Futurama and porn all day."
More than a few G.I.s do that now.
There is room for multiple superpowers.
The US needs to scale back. We don't need to go on Jihad for democracy, or for anything else.
We don't need to project power in Asia. We can leave situations to the people who fucking LIVE THERE.
We can redirect our interests to Central and South America.
We can let the peoples of the Middle East kill each other. We ignored many world problems before and we can do it again.
We should become isolationist, look to benefit our general population instead of the rich, and if China wants to eat Taiwan for breakfast, ALLOW nature to take its course.
Outing your parents private life like that is rude.
""As we see it there are two major benefits. First, it's easier to put buildings on existing train tracks than to demolish the tracks and build regular building foundations."
Then don't fucking build regular foundations. Drill appropriate holes for reinforced concrete pillars, then set your structure of choice atop them. Less roadbed to remove, the remainder can be left in place, and the valuable rails recycled for steel or even used in weldments.
...would get the job done with tough structures that would be cheap, versatile, transportable, and settable by crane on permanent foundations.
That said, the reason container housing hasn't taken off is the form-factor of containers which is dictated by the form-factor of what transports them.
The idea of moving living quarters about urban areas basically for shits and grins is fucking stupid, there is no nice way to put it.
There is no >>>>>need to live on the fucking coast in vulnerable-yet-valuable-enough-to-move structures.
Build valuable structures out of steel and concrete, which are easy to recycle. Leave them in place for hundreds of years. If they become obsolete for some reason, abandon them if the land is not valuable enough to justify demolition. If the sea covers them, they will provide a breeding ground for sea creatures.
Whoever thought the "buildings on rails" idea had any merit should have been beaten to death on the spot for such spectacular stupidity, likewise anyone who doesn't get WHY the idea was stupid. Not "gently corrected", but smashed like the victims in various Liveleak videos.
"This is not Armageddon, it is the way forward."
According to the Bible, the two are not mutually exclusive. :)
New Rule:
Don't run an insecure operating system. One thing people forget about government employees is that they can be given fucking orders to change, and they don't have to fucking like it. You can literally tell people to "do it and shut up".
For example, when the USAF went from green screen Unix terminals to Windows, snivelling wasn't an option. Obey orders or be punished.
If security is ever taken seriously, issue orders to change, fry those who refuse, end of story.
Different markets, different levels of investment in cable infrastructure. SC is an impoverished backwater outside of Charleston.
Time Warner Cable.
It's slow as old folks fucking, and yes I've done a personal comparison.
"The sooner they run out of oil the sooner they'll have no choice but to join modern society."
I'd settle for them losing the power that goes with oil and being less able to annoy the civilized world.
The artists don't need to "accept that the world has changed" at all. What they do is not my concern.
"Call it paykback for a lifetime of 20 bucks for an album with three worthy tracks."
Not MY lifetime. I don't pay for music. Big business doesn't give a shit about me and I return the favor.
"Because terrorists might run them,"
Because the wrong bunch might run them. KSA is a corrupt monarchy clinging to power only because the House of Saud is so vast.
"If someone had my Android phone, they'd have full and free access to my gMail account, PayPal account, online photo albums, social networking accounts, address book (including the non phone portion such as Google Contacts) and so much more. And for many of my friends, it would also be unrestricted access to their home and/or work computer. "
Good thing none of those are at risk if you lose your phone or it gets stolen...
"In other words, the IT guys who maintain these servers all have greasy hair, don't wear shirts, and are total douchebags."
Where do I apply?