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User: jwhitener

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  1. Re:Stupidity Is Winning on Measles Cases Top Last Year's Total · · Score: 1

    The anti-vax movement didn't pick up steam on its own. Like a lot of the misinformation about all sorts of things lately, it is being systematically perpetuated by hostile foreign governments.

    See https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/pdf/10.2105/AJPH.2018.304567

    Google 'russian anti-vax'. Racial divides, climate change 'debates', 'fake news'. Anything that is unhealthy and disruptive to western democracies is being actively pushed and inflamed by Russia.

  2. Re:Something missing in the head on Measles Cases Top Last Year's Total · · Score: 1

    "there's a strong resurgence in conspiracy theories in general. It's social media spreading...."

    Social media is the tool. But a lot of the rise in conspiracies, "everything is fake news", anti-vax, anti-science, etc, can be directly laid at the feet of Russia. They are very effectively hijacking social media and pushing about every harmful narrative they can to try to weaken and destabilize western democracies.

    https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/pdf/10.2105/AJPH.2018.304567

    I don't know how to make this happen, but we've got to find a way to counter misinformation faster in social media. And/or prevent hostile governments from being able to use it altogether. But that would likely be a game of whack'a'mole, so I'm not sure how to counter it.

  3. Re:Something missing in the head on Measles Cases Top Last Year's Total · · Score: 1

    [quote]So why is the anti-vaxxer movement so heavily tied in many countries to the especially affluent, highly educated? [/quote]

    Russia. Search for 'russia antivax'. Like messing with US politics, Russia is pushing dozens of unhealthy narratives at western democracies, seeking to weaken and destabilize them.

    https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/pdf/10.2105/AJPH.2018.304567

  4. if the reports of Russian meddling I've seen are accurate, the scale of it was so small

    Every single US intelligence agency has stated that the interference was targeted, significant, and way more intrusive than in prior elections.

    I don't think you can evaluate the effect it had based on dollars spent alone.

  5. Every single US intelligence agency has explicitly defined the ways in which Russia is 'meddling'. The head of Homeland Security has given several interviews in which the meddling was described in details.

  6. Re: Minimum Wage is a Poor Form of Welfare on After Amazon Increases Worker Wages, Whole Foods Responds By Cutting Worker Hours (theguardian.com) · · Score: 1

    Without a strong minimum wage, reflective of the cost of living differences in areas of the country, all UBI is going to do is subsidize the profits of companies with tax payer money, that either will not, or cannot, provide a living wage.

    Wallmart would absolutely love it, if they could pay their workers 1 cent an hour and let tax payer money cover their employees cost of living.

    You have to start with a near living wage level minimum wage, and let the market decide which goods and services can continue to be produced at prices that consumers are willing to pay. If the minimum wage was 17 per hour, and your latte goes from 4.95 to 9.95 (it won't... but lets just say for the sake of argument) there are probably some coffee shops that will go out of business. And that is perfectly fine. If a business can't produce a product that people want, while paying their workers a wage that lets them house and fed themselves, that business shouldn't exist.

    UBI is something that should be used to address the wealth and income inequality, after the basic floor of a minimum wage is established. It should be 'icing on the cake', not the cake.

  7. Re:About that... on Europe is Using Smartphone Data as a Weapon To Deport Refugees (wired.co.uk) · · Score: 1

    I think it's crazy that some groups would rather spend their resources fighting a voter ID requirement than helping people who don't have an ID get one. In my opinion the only reason to do this is they know the ID requirement will reduce voter fraud.

    I think it is crazy to think that in-person voter fraud is a problem we need to solve. What percent of non-citizens would be willing to risk a felony in order to cast 1 vote in an election? According to election officials pretty much everywhere, the answer is next to zero.

    You think an illegal immigrant is going to risk going to jail by voting?

    So, make it harder for millions of citizens to vote by requiring IDs that often cost money, in order to stop a TINY amount of in-person voter fraud.

    I think it is crazy that people don't believe Republicans when the openly admit on camera that voter ID laws are going to help them win. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/04/07/republicans-should-really-stop-admitting-that-voter-id-helps-them-win/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.c6effabb1459

    It has nothing to do with stopping voter fraud, and everything to do with making a few percent of likely dem voters, not be able to vote. In tight races, closing a few voting stations making the lines longer, ID laws, keeping the day a Tuesday instead of a day off for most people, etc. All of this is designed to help Republicans win.

    If you don't see that, you are willfully ignorant.

  8. Re:Now that it's dead... on FCC Won't Delay Vote, Says Net Neutrality Supporters Are 'Desperate' (arstechnica.com) · · Score: 1

    At least until a new administration is elected in 2020.

    Please focus on the midterms. We need state and federal seats to gain back control BEFORE the 2020 census. Because a census year means district redrawing (gerrymandering) and basically sets who controls Congress for the next 10 years.

    Plus, if Congress were blue in 2018, I bet impeachment proceedings would begin immediately over things like nepotism.

  9. Re:Doesn't matter on Security Problems Are Primarily Just Bugs, Linus Torvalds Says (iu.edu) · · Score: 1

    If you read the whole article, you'll see that your attitude is exactly what Linus' was railing against.

    You can word it the way you want. If it's not secure, it's not secure.

    Translating your wording into Linus' thinking:

    You can word it the way you want. If it's not usable, it's not worth anything.

    His point was that people were breaking things in the kernel in order to 'fix' security bugs. And he stated something like "if it is a broken piece of crap, no one will use it, so who cares how secure it is then?".

  10. Re:That's an interesting statement to make now on Massive Government Report Says Climate Is Warming and Humans Are the Cause (npr.org) · · Score: 1

    It is a false assumption, likely pushed by lobby groups and other propaganda agencies, that reducing our use of fossil fuels will increase the costs of goods and services.

    I think we should just all say "prove it or shut up" every time some AC or other user posts made up bs like that.

    Wind and solar are already cheaper than coal. This isn't science fiction. No need to speculate. We have proof. We have countries overseas that are already using mostly renewable energy and their costs have not doubled, or whatever the favorite made up number is by deniers.

  11. Re:"Telemetry" on Munich Plans New Vote on Dumping Linux For Windows 10 (techrepublic.com) · · Score: 1

    The first page of google search results for linux as2 edi had vendor supported solutions available on linux...
    https://www.dcs-is-edi.com/edi-systems/sterling-commerce/integrator-formerly-g-i-s/linux-and-gis/

    Maybe I'm missing something more suitable in your response.

    I work with windows and linux servers, and I haven't found anything that is widely used that won't run on Linux, and is supported by a vendor. Particular specialized applications might be windows only of course. But not any big "internet level" size services.

  12. Re: Another reason why cash is garbage on In a Cashless World, You'd Better Pray the Power Never Goes Out (mises.org) · · Score: 1

    Correlation causation

  13. Re:When the New York Times is whining... on EPA Announces Repeal of Major Obama-Era Carbon Emissions Rule (nytimes.com) · · Score: 1

    Why aren't they making better choices so that a higher power doesn't have to step in and mandate?

    If my state and your state share a river, and I dump all my waste into the river, right at the state line so it flows down into your state, what is my incentive to stop? You could sue me, but in what court? My state's courts could ignore your state's laws.

    Things like the environment/pollution/radio and tv frequencies, etc, don't respect state boundaries and shouldn't be in the hands of the states.

  14. Re:Coal is dead on EPA Announces Repeal of Major Obama-Era Carbon Emissions Rule (nytimes.com) · · Score: 1

    Coal jobs have been steadily declining due to automation, and latter decreased demand, for the last 100 years. Nat Gas is just a little dip in a very long overall trend. http://gregor.us/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/US-Coal-Mining-Employment-1900-2016-MSHA-series-e1487808914791.png

  15. Re:Ecology Always Wins on Carbon-Emitting Soil Could Speed Global Warming, Warns 26-Year Study (theguardian.com) · · Score: 1

    complain on economic costs

    That is an often repeated assumption that going 'green' is going to cost a lot of money. There is zero evidence for it, but there is evidence for the opposite. Wind and solar energy is now cheaper than energy derived from coal. And that is not even adding on all the external costs of dirty fossil fuels (health impacts, foreign wars, climate change, etc).

  16. Re:Flawed premise on Google and Facebook Failed Us (theatlantic.com) · · Score: 1

    Google is very much is a gatekeeper of information. The vast majority of people use Google search to look things up, and Google highly curates the result set.

    Every tried searching for copyrighted material? Google clearly states at the bottom of search pages that they have removed results based on x,y,z.

    Ditto with a ton of stuff, that is dependent on the laws of the country you live in.

    Do you remember what Google search was like when it just came out? You could search for 'how to do x', and it would return a list of real people's websites, hobbyists, small sites, with real people discussing the issue you wanted to look up. Now Google returns a list of 'big corporate sites' only, because that was their solution to people gaming their system to rank up spam/ad sites.

    Ditto with news results. The only ones that make the "top 10"-type lists of news articles are big corporate companies. You aren't seeing a lot of good, smaller news sources.

    And don't get me started on how horrible Google's Youtube ad decisions have been. Overnight they basically de-monetized a ton of independent media sources. If that isn't a form of Gatekeeping, I don't know what is.

  17. Re:Yes, FB is anti-Trump on Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg Rejects Trump Bias Claims (bbc.com) · · Score: 1

    I assume you know that Facebook is tailoring what you see specifically based on you, your friends, and what you like/dislike, right?

    My conservative relatives on Facebook ONLY see positive things about Trump and negative things about Hillary. It is a thought bubble. To a lesser extent, even Google searches are tailored to what they think you want to see, which can include political likes/dislikes.

  18. Re:Why just the Russian ads? on Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg Rejects Trump Bias Claims (bbc.com) · · Score: 1

    The FBI, CIA, NSA, and other intelligence and law enforcement agencies must all be biased against Trump as well. None of them have singled out any other countries as having as large an influence in our politics as Russian. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foundations_of_Geopolitics

  19. Re:To be unfair... [Re: To be fair...] on Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg Rejects Trump Bias Claims (bbc.com) · · Score: 1

    They intentionally supported him to promote instability, because they knew he would be divisive. As long as the US is in turmoil, we are far less effective in world politics.

    "In the United States:

    Russia should use its special services within the borders of the United States to fuel instability and separatism, for instance, provoke "Afro-American racists". Russia should "introduce geopolitical disorder into internal American activity, encouraging all kinds of separatism and ethnic, social and racial conflicts, actively supporting all dissident movements – extremist, racist, and sectarian groups, thus destabilizing internal political processes in the U.S. It would also make sense simultaneously to support isolationist tendencies in American politics."[2]"

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foundations_of_Geopolitics

  20. Re:No words. on Systemd Named 'Lamest Vendor' At Pwnie Security Awards (theregister.co.uk) · · Score: 1

    I just tried on Redhat and Ubuntu and could add a user with zero in front as well. Hmm.

  21. Re:Almost as bad as the news section being all wap on Opinion: Google Unleashes Terrible New Update For Google News Upon the Net · · Score: 1

    The google news app on my phone is bad as well. The tech section is basically just advertisements for products, disguised as articles. Science isn't much better. This is what happens when one entity is both supposed to provide unbiased information as well as please advertisers, as well as provide access to shopping search results.... no, no possibility of a conflict of interest there...

  22. Re: That's what is supposed to happen on Mayors of 7,400 Cities Vow To Meet Obama's Climate Commitments (theguardian.com) · · Score: 1

    All the countries with better and cheaper education systems have theirs centrally funded and managed. It seems like your problem is not enough government, not too much.

    The problem with small government is that it is too easy to corrupt. People like to present a false dichotomy of large vs. small, but there is such a thing as the right size too.

    I lean left on most issues, but a conservative once told me "you might think you like the idea of centrally controlled education system, until an election happens and you end up with a far right religious congress controlled by zealots who ban teaching evolution in all 50 states with one new law...".

    My initial reaction was... well, our electorate would never let that happen. But after seeing trump get elected.. I don't have as much faith in the electorate as I once did.

    I think I'd still rather see a Federally guided, centrally planned, education system. But that scenario the conservative presented to me did make me think.

  23. Re:Does this predict ruling? on Supreme Court Partially Revives Travel Ban, Will Hear Appeal (bloomberg.com) · · Score: 1

    You are wrong.

    Intent always matters, otherwise Judges would have no real power to strike something down that was obviously attempting to bypass the laws, just by using careful wording.

    Judges really are there to use judgment. Not just process words as if they were a programming language.

    Likewise, juries are there to determine fuzzy areas as well. Law often says things like "a reasonable person would X". A jury or judge has to decide if X was 'reasonable'.

    See the recent court rulings against political gerrymandering in certain states. On paper, the districts were drawn up with reasons x,y,z, which would be legal on their own. However, a judge saw that these districts were very neatly drawn around primarily Black communities. He/She used Judgment and basically said, "Oh come on, you can say x,y,z but I know you are doing 'A'".

  24. They do eat animal products though, like Milk/Cheese, Eggs, Honey, etc..

    It would be interesting to see larger studies of vegans. There are a few, like: http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/89/5/1627S.full - scroll down or search for "POTENTIAL NUTRITIONAL SHORTFALLS". There were 5 deficiencies. I wonder if vegetarians do not have those deficiencies because they consume some types of animal products.

  25. Re:Eliminate cashiers on Amazon Plans Cuts to Shed Whole Foods' Pricey Image (bloomberg.com) · · Score: 1

    I'd rather get out faster with self-checkout, but have employees available to help me find things, or be knowledgeable about the products.

    I hate going to places like Home Depot or Lowest and wandering around trying to find someone. But once i get what I need, I'm more than happy to skip the lines and just scan it myself.