The market will cure all. I'm still boggled by the literally TWO choices I have for a reliable ISP.
What makes you think there's a local market for ISPs? Your local government has already decided there won't be one. They've already picked the two winners for you, like a big brother looking out for your interest.
Before you blame the market, make sure there is one to begin with.
Anything other than a general interest topic (like the 1960s, ideas about the American West, or fairy tales) isn't an option.
These are TERRIBLE subjects for engineers. Do you really want someone that enjoys deep, scientific analysis to suffer trying to analyze the 1960s, or the American West, or fairy tales?
And analyze he will! Or fail trying.
Some engineers simply won't put up with all the fuzzy thinking that's permitted in the humanities. They'll try to become social scientists first before writing the first sentence.
Remember, they're going to be engineers designing million dollar structures and systems. People MAY DIE if these engineers make a mistake. They need to know the science first. They need to understand their area thoroughly before proceeding.
Now you come along and ask them to engineer a paper about an enormous subject like the 1960s. Just how do you expect to them to be able to do that?So, in their desperation, they give you a mediocre paper back or nothing at all.
Remember your audience. You're not dealing with poets.
I was reading this report on the BBC website earlier today, and I thought then that there is always the possibility that there is a flaw in the study method itself. As the study looks at self-reported health issues, you could also draw the conclusion that people in the US are more aware of health problems than the British.
By "aware" you could also mean "alive".
Many of the diseases listed can cause death in a short period of time. Those that don't live long tend not to be around to report. That biases the study.
One possible conclusion, then, is that Americans tend to survive longer with these diseases than those in the UK.
If twice as many people in the US report living with cancer than in the UK, for example, that might mean that twice as many people with cancer in the UK die. That's not far from the truth, actually.
"the United States spends more on health care than any other industrialized nation"
Wait, I thought the free market and privatization was supposed to make things cheaper? While state-run systems like the British NHS were supposed to be horribly inefficient and expensive?
You're confusing price with spending. Prices can go down, but spending can still go up if people have more money to spend. Higher spending does not imply higher prices.
That said, the US system isn't a completely free market system. There are huge government subsidies (forced spending through taxation). Subsidies nearly always raise prices.
Here's some interesting figures concerning per capita government spending:
United States: $5,267 on health care/ $2,364 is government spending. Canada: $2,931 on health care / $2,048 is government spending. France: $2,736 on health care / $2,080 is government spending.
So you see the US government is already providing a huge amount of "free" healthcare.
Since there can be no practical competition to a land line phone provider
Bah. Cellphones are a counter-example. I have no land line and use cell phones for my phone service.
What you might have meant is that wire-based communication is a kind of natural monopoly. But even that allows for some competition. Consider for example how cable is now offering telephone service.
Stop with this foolish deregulation before it's too late....
Nah. What we REALLY need is to deregulate public rights of way. Local governments decide who will and who won't be allowed to run wire from telephone pole to pole or in pipes underground. They're the biggest barriers to competition because they essentially make it illegal by preventing alternatives.
And why? Because they get up to 5% of the GROSS revenues of the company that they give the monopoly to.
Local government is in it for the money as much as the corporations are.
The same sort of thing happens in wireless communication, though to a less extent.
But for a good contrast between regulated and unregulated rights of way, compare the explosion in development of devices in the unregulated 2.45gHz band to all other bands.
At#8, the Guardian notes that by the 9th century Muslim astronomers knew the Earth was round and had measured the circumference. The writer conveniently omits to mention that more than a thousand years before, the greek philosopher Eratosthenese has already done that.
And I think we both know why there are these sorts of omissions.
We're the dumb, racist, white Europeans that need to be lied to so we end up with the "correct" multicultural world view.
It's not about the truth. It's about propaganda. And the Guardian is right there to help spread a lie.
"The windmill was invented in 634 for a Persian caliph "
The moslems only attacked Persia in 638. It seems to me that at least one of these inventions have nothing to do with Islam.
Well that's what happens when you create an exhibit less for informative purposes than for educating all those awful, close-minded westerners. Who cares if the information is false? There's a political goal here. Not an educational goal.
Anyway, it's interesting that these inventions stopped a little after 1300 -- right after the expansion of Islam stopped.
Islam invents the way Microsoft invents, apparently. "Embrace and extent" and all that.
Sorry, still don't buy it. Considering the experiment is (unfortunately) impossible, we'll have to go about another way to prove or disprove the role of genetics in our behaviour.
1) Our genes control our gender. 2) Testosterone production is mostly a function of gender. 3) An increase in testosterone level increases the chance for violent behavior.
That seems like a pretty cut and dry proof that genetics plays a big role in at least violent behavior.
To date, there heve been exactly zero scientific studies that point to a genetic component of personality, including the famous twins studies of the late 1990s.
What about violent behavior?
Testosterone production is obviously controlled by genetics. And we have plenty of evidence that testosterone is involved in violent behavior.
Are you really suggesting there are no studies that link gender to genetics or violence to testosterone?
Having said all of that, one thing that a lot of self-styled libertarians seem to gloss over is the inherent advantage that government confers upon corporations, specifically corporate personhood and all of the stuff that falls out from that, and the fact that corporations exist without fear of any kind of real punishment for criminal acts.
Ah, but unions are genuine, legal, corporations. In theory, they're "not for profit", but can anyone deny that the union doesn't exist for the purpose of increasing the income of it's members?
And don't forget that union corporations have plenty of exemptions that business corporations don't. Things like anti-trust laws and anti-monopoly laws don't apply to unions.
And recently, Former Governor Davis in California near the end of his term actually signed into law a limit to union liability for damages. A union corporation can only be liable for up to $100,000.
and the fact that corporations exist without fear of any kind of real punishment for criminal acts.
LOL. The association between unions and organized crime is well-known.
The difference between us is that I'm not a scared little monkey who willingly sacrifices EVERYTHING out of fear of some overrated boogeyman.
You're exactly that. You're willing to sacrifice the Brooklyn Bridge (spared from attack because of spying) out of fear that someone might listen in on a conversation to Iraq or Afghanistan.
This is exactly why we have a little law called FISA. And FISA is why the domestic spying program is a problem, because under FISA the domestic spying program is illegal. FDR wasn't really subject to FISA because FISA was passed in 1978.
But the constitution trumps FISA. FISA can't take powers away from the president that he is granted under the constitution.
And the "domestic spying" HAS caught at least one guy. Iyman Faris's plan to destroy the Brooklyn Bridge was discovered through monitoring his phone calls.
Americans is one of the most ethnocentric nations in the world. Look at your media, mostly white people. Do Americans watch movies made in other nations? Not much. Do you see minority male actors in romantic leads? Hardly ever. Do you see a white male in almost every movie, regardless of location or story? Almost always.
#1 "White people" isn't an ethnicity. #2 The United States is a mix of cultures. There are very few places that can match the diversity of the USA. #3 Where are you from? I suspect your society is much less homogeneous.
Differences in mean IQ among various races are a fact.
Sure, there's lots of debate about the causes. It's entirely possible that something as simple as a change in diet (going from corn-based southern USA cousine to fish rich asian, for example) could negate any differences, but the difference has been measured and is real.
Maybe the solution is to get the government to give kids more/better food. Would that really be so bad?
It's very irritating that people are so afraid to talk about this. Nothing will change and people will needlessly suffer because we're afraid to talk about these differences.
Funny- I had exactly the opposite reaction. For my marriage, we need the stability of being able to depend on my paycheck- and I've completely soured on the idea of private industry EVER being able to provide that kind of stability ever again.
The neat thing about working for the state is that you also get to vote. That means cutbacks by the powers that be are much less likely since they depend on your vote.
Every election becomes an opportunity to vote yourself more security or money.
So you're right about E=mc^2 being easy for people to remember, but in a way that's a shame, because it shouldn't be taken as anything like his greatest work.
Personally I wish more emphasis would be placed on his discovery that magnetism is actually a relativistic effect.
I don't think many people realize just how close relativity is to them in a simple electromagnet.
enough weapons of mass destruction, and did we find enough terrorists by eavesdropping innocent citizen's phones that the most important left to do is bash NSA on having persistent cookies vs session ones?
Slashdot Mirror
The market will cure all. I'm still boggled by the literally TWO choices I have for a reliable ISP.
What makes you think there's a local market for ISPs? Your local government has already decided there won't be one. They've already picked the two winners for you, like a big brother looking out for your interest.
Before you blame the market, make sure there is one to begin with.
Anything other than a general interest topic (like the 1960s, ideas about the American West, or fairy tales) isn't an option.
These are TERRIBLE subjects for engineers. Do you really want someone that enjoys deep, scientific analysis to suffer trying to analyze the 1960s, or the American West, or fairy tales?
And analyze he will! Or fail trying.
Some engineers simply won't put up with all the fuzzy thinking that's permitted in the humanities. They'll try to become social scientists first before writing the first sentence.
Remember, they're going to be engineers designing million dollar structures and systems. People MAY DIE if these engineers make a mistake. They need to know the science first. They need to understand their area thoroughly before proceeding.
Now you come along and ask them to engineer a paper about an enormous subject like the 1960s. Just how do you expect to them to be able to do that?So, in their desperation, they give you a mediocre paper back or nothing at all.
Remember your audience. You're not dealing with poets.
I was reading this report on the BBC website earlier today, and I thought then that there is always the possibility that there is a flaw in the study method itself. As the study looks at self-reported health issues, you could also draw the conclusion that people in the US are more aware of health problems than the British.
By "aware" you could also mean "alive".
Many of the diseases listed can cause death in a short period of time. Those that don't live long tend not to be around to report. That biases the study.
One possible conclusion, then, is that Americans tend to survive longer with these diseases than those in the UK.
If twice as many people in the US report living with cancer than in the UK, for example, that might mean that twice as many people with cancer in the UK die. That's not far from the truth, actually.
"the United States spends more on health care than any other industrialized nation"
Wait, I thought the free market and privatization was supposed to make things cheaper? While state-run systems like the British NHS were supposed to be horribly inefficient and expensive?
You're confusing price with spending. Prices can go down, but spending can still go up if people have more money to spend. Higher spending does not imply higher prices.
That said, the US system isn't a completely free market system. There are huge government subsidies (forced spending through taxation). Subsidies nearly always raise prices.
Here's some interesting figures concerning per capita government spending:
United States: $5,267 on health care/ $2,364 is government spending.
Canada: $2,931 on health care / $2,048 is government spending.
France: $2,736 on health care / $2,080 is government spending.
So you see the US government is already providing a huge amount of "free" healthcare.
Bah. Cellphones are a counter-example. I have no land line and use cell phones for my phone service.
What you might have meant is that wire-based communication is a kind of natural monopoly. But even that allows for some competition. Consider for example how cable is now offering telephone service.
Stop with this foolish deregulation before it's too late....
Nah. What we REALLY need is to deregulate public rights of way. Local governments decide who will and who won't be allowed to run wire from telephone pole to pole or in pipes underground. They're the biggest barriers to competition because they essentially make it illegal by preventing alternatives.
And why? Because they get up to 5% of the GROSS revenues of the company that they give the monopoly to.
Local government is in it for the money as much as the corporations are.
The same sort of thing happens in wireless communication, though to a less extent.
But for a good contrast between regulated and unregulated rights of way, compare the explosion in development of devices in the unregulated 2.45gHz band to all other bands.
At#8, the Guardian notes that by the 9th century Muslim astronomers knew the Earth was round and had measured the circumference. The writer conveniently omits to mention that more than a thousand years before, the greek philosopher Eratosthenese has already done that.
And I think we both know why there are these sorts of omissions.
We're the dumb, racist, white Europeans that need to be lied to so we end up with the "correct" multicultural world view.
It's not about the truth. It's about propaganda. And the Guardian is right there to help spread a lie.
Shameful.
For 50 points, complete the following sentence: The crusades were a response to...
(hint: starts with a J, ends with an "ihad")
They were also a response to the persecution of Christians by Muslims in the Middle-East.
The middle-east was once full of Christians. Christian Monasticism actually began in Egypt, for example.
When Islam came, the more passive Christians were easily subjugated.
"The windmill was invented in 634 for a Persian caliph "
The moslems only attacked Persia in 638. It seems to me that at least one of these inventions have nothing to do with Islam.
Well that's what happens when you create an exhibit less for informative purposes than for educating all those awful, close-minded westerners. Who cares if the information is false? There's a political goal here. Not an educational goal.
Anyway, it's interesting that these inventions stopped a little after 1300 -- right after the expansion of Islam stopped.
Islam invents the way Microsoft invents, apparently. "Embrace and extent" and all that.
Sorry, still don't buy it. Considering the experiment is (unfortunately) impossible, we'll have to go about another way to prove or disprove the role of genetics in our behaviour.
1) Our genes control our gender.
2) Testosterone production is mostly a function of gender.
3) An increase in testosterone level increases the chance for violent behavior.
That seems like a pretty cut and dry proof that genetics plays a big role in at least violent behavior.
To date, there heve been exactly zero scientific studies that point to a genetic component of personality, including the famous twins studies of the late 1990s.
What about violent behavior?
Testosterone production is obviously controlled by genetics. And we have plenty of evidence that testosterone is involved in violent behavior.
Are you really suggesting there are no studies that link gender to genetics or violence to testosterone?
Having said all of that, one thing that a lot of self-styled libertarians seem to gloss over is the inherent advantage that government confers upon corporations, specifically corporate personhood and all of the stuff that falls out from that, and the fact that corporations exist without fear of any kind of real punishment for criminal acts.
Ah, but unions are genuine, legal, corporations. In theory, they're "not for profit", but can anyone deny that the union doesn't exist for the purpose of increasing the income of it's members?
And don't forget that union corporations have plenty of exemptions that business corporations don't. Things like anti-trust laws and anti-monopoly laws don't apply to unions.
And recently, Former Governor Davis in California near the end of his term actually signed into law a limit to union liability for damages. A union corporation can only be liable for up to $100,000.
and the fact that corporations exist without fear of any kind of real punishment for criminal acts.
LOL. The association between unions and organized crime is well-known.
I'm more interested in how it is you can write a message so full of exaggeration that itself qualifies as propaganda.
"engaging in the same kinds of torture that the former dictator did"
That's not propaganda?
What makes you so willing to bash the US that you would "bend" the truth?
"For the first time researchers have created a working prototype of a radical new chip design.."
Hmm. Maybe.
But this seems a lot like bubble memory to me.
And while the wiki entry doesn't mention using this for direct computation, it is indeed possible.
Intelligence is heritable and the intelligent are having fewer children than the dull.
Intelligence is aborting/abstaining/contracepting itself out of existence and leaving the world to the idiots.
The difference between us is that I'm not a scared little monkey who willingly sacrifices EVERYTHING out of fear of some overrated boogeyman.
You're exactly that. You're willing to sacrifice the Brooklyn Bridge (spared from attack because of spying) out of fear that someone might listen in on a conversation to Iraq or Afghanistan.
So there are all these instances where leaders we hold in great esteem arranged pervasive wiretaps, but what was the actual value of those taps?
An attack on the Brooklyn Bridge by Iyman Faris was stopped.
So there's at least one example.
This is exactly why we have a little law called FISA. And FISA is why the domestic spying program is a problem, because under FISA the domestic spying program is illegal. FDR wasn't really subject to FISA because FISA was passed in 1978.
But the constitution trumps FISA. FISA can't take powers away from the president that he is granted under the constitution.
And the "domestic spying" HAS caught at least one guy. Iyman Faris's plan to destroy the Brooklyn Bridge was discovered through monitoring his phone calls.
Are you kidding me?
Americans is one of the most ethnocentric nations in the world. Look at your media, mostly white people. Do Americans watch movies made in other nations? Not much. Do you see minority male actors in romantic leads? Hardly ever. Do you see a white male in almost every movie, regardless of location or story? Almost always.
#1 "White people" isn't an ethnicity.
#2 The United States is a mix of cultures. There are very few places that can match the diversity of the USA.
#3 Where are you from? I suspect your society is much less homogeneous.
Differences in mean IQ among various races are a fact.
Sure, there's lots of debate about the causes. It's entirely possible that something as simple as a change in diet (going from corn-based southern USA cousine to fish rich asian, for example) could negate any differences, but the difference has been measured and is real.
Maybe the solution is to get the government to give kids more/better food. Would that really be so bad?
It's very irritating that people are so afraid to talk about this. Nothing will change and people will needlessly suffer because we're afraid to talk about these differences.
Funny- I had exactly the opposite reaction. For my marriage, we need the stability of being able to depend on my paycheck- and I've completely soured on the idea of private industry EVER being able to provide that kind of stability ever again.
The neat thing about working for the state is that you also get to vote. That means cutbacks by the powers that be are much less likely since they depend on your vote.
Every election becomes an opportunity to vote yourself more security or money.
This is the same industry that sells Slap My Bitch Up and Been Caught Stealin then expects people to follow copyright law to the letter.
Hypocrites.
So you're right about E=mc^2 being easy for people to remember, but in a way that's a shame, because it shouldn't be taken as anything like his greatest work.
Personally I wish more emphasis would be placed on his discovery that magnetism is actually a relativistic effect.
I don't think many people realize just how close relativity is to them in a simple electromagnet.
One day wikipedia will only be available to those ISPs willing to pay to allow their customers access.
It will be like paying to watch A&E or the Discovery channel on cable or satellite dish.
enough weapons of mass destruction, and did we find enough terrorists by eavesdropping innocent citizen's phones that the most important left to do is bash NSA on having persistent cookies vs session ones?
Actually the Brooklyn Bridge terror plot was discoverd by one of the NSA wiretaps of Iyman Faris.
Cookies are easy to delete. This is hardly a "Your Rights Online" issue. Jeez
Right. You'll hear that story but the story, "Student confesses to fabricating US surveillance story [Mao's "Little Red Book"] will never be posted by the slashdot editors.
I guess they're part of the "fake but accurate" crowd.