Radical views corrolate with poor grammar, both because of the poor education received by the radicals, resulting in their departure from social norms, and because of differences in regional heritage. So, we'd have to preprocess everything with a grammar checker, and we all know how successful that'd be.
Actually, I have a collage education with a grounding in the classics and logic, as well as a Bachelors Degree plus some Masters work. I also happen to have a keyboard at work that has keys that stick occasionally.
That and a boss who doesn't appreciate Slashdot.
You seem to be dismissing my statement merely on the basis of a dropped 'o'. Whatever.:)
By the way, I'm not a radical... Even though I was born in Berkeley, California.:)
In the "Second Amendment" site linked above, it sees the words militia, violent and gun. The software would need to not just search for instances of those words, but identify their meaning in the sentance.
Right. And, AFAIK, there isn't a good, or even a really bad, semantic checker anywhere. English is far to multivariable a language to provide such an easy solution.
Speaking of lying, what about all the promises that Census information was confidential? Are they allowed to simply ignore promises when it's convienent.
Yep. It's known as 'making campaign promises'.
Politicians make (and don't keep them) all the time.
I'm not... The government does at it sees fit with little to no reaction from the populace, becuase the sheep out there think that their elected representatives know best.
While I think that this is a laudable idea, there are a few problems with it:
Bread and circuses - Once the people find themselves able to vote themselves largess, we go down the same road that the Romans did. Not that this is really that different from the road we are currently going down.
Voter Interest - There is no good way to guarantee voter interest. Unless there was a major decrease in voter apathy, under this system, we would still have a representative government, it would just be that each representative spoke for fewer people overall.
Under Heinlein's system, the incentive to vote was there because you had actually shown the interest and motivation to earn the vote that you had.
Voter ignorance - Let's face it. Most people don't understand how government works, they don't understand how the budgetary process works, in fact, most people can just do enough math to balance their checkbooks.
To counteract this, there would have to be a service that described legislation in clear, concise, and above all, non-partisan terms.
Again, it's a laudable goal, but one I don't think that we are anywhere close to seeing.
Would hiding out in the Texas Air National Guard during a war still count as service?
Actually, the Service in Heinlein's Starship Troopers assigned you where they thought you belonged, according to the tests you had passed. There was no indication of favoritism, although that was probably because that wasn't the topic that Heinlein was trying to cover.
See, this book isn't about an interstellar war, though that is the backdrop for it. The book, I believe, was intended as a social commentary. I won't say exactly on what, my views may differ from yours; read the book yourself to find out. It's worth it.
Incidentally, why do theaters and stage staff insist on colored lights? Why can't you simply illuminate actors and musicians with white lights? It's distracting having people with one side of their head blue and the other side red -- or their whole head blue, except when it's Blue Man Group.
Mood.:)
For example, a Negative Green Filter makes standard florescent lights appear more light 'natural' daylight.
Other filters provide different moods, red for rage or jealousy, green for envy (or seasickness), and so on.
It's my belief that, someday, America will find it's own Martin Bell, and that such a person could begin to restore credibility to politics. But that is not today. Today, the best the US can hope for is damage control. And, frankly, I don't blame anyone for thinking that's a futile exercise in itself.
America needs it's own Screaming Lord Sutch before it can have a Martin Bell.
As long as they don't endorse one candidate over another, I think it's fine. I know that there is a rule about campaigning within so many feet of a polling station, but I can't remember what it is.
Back when I was in collage, we were planning on giving away free beer coupons for Student Goverment elections... But we couldn't find a local bar to sponser it...:)
Getting three distinct groups to align is even harder than getting two groups to agree, which means less gets done. In my book, the fewer laws that get passed mean the least amount of damage done.
Amen, brother!:)
Heinlein proposed the idea of a house of the government whose entire job was to repeal laws passed by the other house. The idea was to keep the bad laws off the books.
Unfortunately, that harkens back to the days of poll taxes, literacy tests, and 'grandfather' clauses used to keep minorities from voting in years past.
I do agree that people should know who is running, but it shouldn't be a requirement to vote.
The result: A 16.7 Million Color Programmable Spotlight, for $500US.
Definately something I'm showing to my theater friends. Considering what regular spotlights (plus all the gels) cost these days, and considering their electric bills, I think they would be willing to shell out $500 to try one of these things...
The USSR was not a third world country, by any streach of the imagination.
Correct. By defination, (the US's defination, of course) the US and it's immediate allies were the 'first world', whereas the USSR and it's immediate allies were the 'second world'.
It was the more or less unallied, developing nations that were defined as 'third world'.
1) In general, instruction is better at private school. Not because the teachers get paid more, because they don't (they actually make less than their public school counterparts on average), but because in general the kids are better behaved and this is more likely to attract teachers dedicated to teaching and not getting a paycheck and 3 months off a year.
Also, teachers who can't teach don't last as long. The teachers union has a lot more difficulty fighting private schools vs public schools.
so... keep the representative democracy, but get rid of the duopoly.
Exactly! That's part of why American politics is boring. The two parties make a show of disliking each other, but that's all it is.
British politics is much more interesting to watch... The parties actually hate each other, and preach nailing members of the other parties to the wall with industrial bolters.
That, and they had Screaming Lord Sooch (sp?), head of the Monster Raving Loony Party. Now, that was fun to watch.
Whenever I hear someone complain about the government, the first thing I ask is, "Did you vote?"
If the answer is no, then I tell them that they have no 'right' to complain, as they decided not to participate in the process. Even if they vote for the losing candidate, or a fringe candidate, the fact that they took the time to participate in the process shows that they care enough to be allowed to complain...
Big if... I remember plenty of Capcom games with terrible load times. Now, that was probably because of the hardware more than the software, but having to wait half a minute for the latest round of a fight game to load seems a bit much to me... (Yes, I have no patience at all...)
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Radical views corrolate with poor grammar, both because of the poor education received by the radicals, resulting in their departure from social norms, and because of differences in regional heritage. So, we'd have to preprocess everything with a grammar checker, and we all know how successful that'd be.
:)
:)
Actually, I have a collage education with a grounding in the classics and logic, as well as a Bachelors Degree plus some Masters work. I also happen to have a keyboard at work that has keys that stick occasionally.
That and a boss who doesn't appreciate Slashdot.
You seem to be dismissing my statement merely on the basis of a dropped 'o'. Whatever.
By the way, I'm not a radical... Even though I was born in Berkeley, California.
In the "Second Amendment" site linked above, it sees the words militia, violent and gun. The software would need to not just search for instances of those words, but identify their meaning in the sentance.
Right. And, AFAIK, there isn't a good, or even a really bad, semantic checker anywhere. English is far to multivariable a language to provide such an easy solution.
so what is the point of this article?
:)
To display the utter futility of filtering software by showing how they filter out those who argue about them?
It can't block the porn, but it can keep those awful psychopathic, raving, criminal politicians away from the kids. Way to go!
The census is so 1700's. Today, we could do a statistical sampling and have more accurate results.
IIRC, the Constitution calls for an actual enumeration of the population. A statistical sampling would not provide this.
Speaking of lying, what about all the promises that Census information was confidential? Are they allowed to simply ignore promises when it's convienent.
Yep. It's known as 'making campaign promises'.
Politicians make (and don't keep them) all the time.
I'm not... The government does at it sees fit with little to no reaction from the populace, becuase the sheep out there think that their elected representatives know best.
But I'm not bitter...
Bread and circuses - Once the people find themselves able to vote themselves largess, we go down the same road that the Romans did. Not that this is really that different from the road we are currently going down.
Voter Interest - There is no good way to guarantee voter interest. Unless there was a major decrease in voter apathy, under this system, we would still have a representative government, it would just be that each representative spoke for fewer people overall.
Under Heinlein's system, the incentive to vote was there because you had actually shown the interest and motivation to earn the vote that you had.
Voter ignorance - Let's face it. Most people don't understand how government works, they don't understand how the budgetary process works, in fact, most people can just do enough math to balance their checkbooks.
To counteract this, there would have to be a service that described legislation in clear, concise, and above all, non-partisan terms.
Again, it's a laudable goal, but one I don't think that we are anywhere close to seeing.
Would hiding out in the Texas Air National Guard during a war still count as service?
Actually, the Service in Heinlein's Starship Troopers assigned you where they thought you belonged, according to the tests you had passed. There was no indication of favoritism, although that was probably because that wasn't the topic that Heinlein was trying to cover.
See, this book isn't about an interstellar war, though that is the backdrop for it. The book, I believe, was intended as a social commentary. I won't say exactly on what, my views may differ from yours; read the book yourself to find out. It's worth it.
Incidentally, why do theaters and stage staff insist on colored lights? Why can't you simply illuminate actors and musicians with white lights? It's distracting having people with one side of their head blue and the other side red -- or their whole head blue, except when it's Blue Man Group.
:)
Mood.
For example, a Negative Green Filter makes standard florescent lights appear more light 'natural' daylight.
Other filters provide different moods, red for rage or jealousy, green for envy (or seasickness), and so on.
It's my belief that, someday, America will find it's own Martin Bell, and that such a person could begin to restore credibility to politics. But that is not today. Today, the best the US can hope for is damage control. And, frankly, I don't blame anyone for thinking that's a futile exercise in itself.
America needs it's own Screaming Lord Sutch before it can have a Martin Bell.
As long as they don't endorse one candidate over another, I think it's fine. I know that there is a rule about campaigning within so many feet of a polling station, but I can't remember what it is.
:)
Back when I was in collage, we were planning on giving away free beer coupons for Student Goverment elections... But we couldn't find a local bar to sponser it...
Getting three distinct groups to align is even harder than getting two groups to agree, which means less gets done. In my book, the fewer laws that get passed mean the least amount of damage done.
:)
Amen, brother!
Heinlein proposed the idea of a house of the government whose entire job was to repeal laws passed by the other house. The idea was to keep the bad laws off the books.
Too bad it couldn't happen in real life.
But the important thing is that the attempt was made.
It may, at this point in time, be as futile as Don Quioxte attempts to slay the giant, but this is how grass roots movements grow.
Unfortunately, that harkens back to the days of poll taxes, literacy tests, and 'grandfather' clauses used to keep minorities from voting in years past.
I do agree that people should know who is running, but it shouldn't be a requirement to vote.
The result: A 16.7 Million Color Programmable Spotlight, for $500US.
Definately something I'm showing to my theater friends. Considering what regular spotlights (plus all the gels) cost these days, and considering their electric bills, I think they would be willing to shell out $500 to try one of these things...
thunderbird? mustang? let's just hope AMD doesn't make a Yugo, or a Gremlin processor.
:)
Intel Corvair? Unsafe at any speed?
The USSR was not a third world country, by any streach of the imagination.
Correct. By defination, (the US's defination, of course) the US and it's immediate allies were the 'first world', whereas the USSR and it's immediate allies were the 'second world'.
It was the more or less unallied, developing nations that were defined as 'third world'.
1) In general, instruction is better at private school. Not because the teachers get paid more, because they don't (they actually make less than their public school counterparts on average), but because in general the kids are better behaved and this is more likely to attract teachers dedicated to teaching and not getting a paycheck and 3 months off a year.
Also, teachers who can't teach don't last as long. The teachers union has a lot more difficulty fighting private schools vs public schools.
Clinton, republican
:)
God, I hope not...
Any attempt by the US (or any other nation) to force it's views onto a non-national site is colonialism, pure and simple.
:)
Damn straight! We Americans are better at destroying native cultures than anyone else in the world, even the Brits!
The only interesting race locally is for Coroner, and that's only because some of the name calling has gotten pretty original (and downright vicious).
so ... keep the representative democracy, but get rid of the duopoly.
Exactly! That's part of why American politics is boring. The two parties make a show of disliking each other, but that's all it is.
British politics is much more interesting to watch... The parties actually hate each other, and preach nailing members of the other parties to the wall with industrial bolters.
That, and they had Screaming Lord Sooch (sp?), head of the Monster Raving Loony Party. Now, that was fun to watch.
Whenever I hear someone complain about the government, the first thing I ask is, "Did you vote?"
If the answer is no, then I tell them that they have no 'right' to complain, as they decided not to participate in the process. Even if they vote for the losing candidate, or a fringe candidate, the fact that they took the time to participate in the process shows that they care enough to be allowed to complain...
If the performance hit is fairly minimal
Big if... I remember plenty of Capcom games with terrible load times. Now, that was probably because of the hardware more than the software, but having to wait half a minute for the latest round of a fight game to load seems a bit much to me... (Yes, I have no patience at all...)
Side note: Anyone know where I can find Raiden 2?