" While the goal is not impossible, it's unlikely to be met under current political conditions, which have rendered us unable to take significant action against climate change for more than half a century." That sounds very sad....but let's be clear on this.
"Current political conditions" sounds an awful like "Those fucking stupid Republicans and Trump won't go along with the plan!"...when in reality the facts or the "current political conditions" and "political conditions for the last half century" are/have been:
- Kyoto ENTIRELY failed to address/regulate China or India (for...reasons). - the world's largest emitter is CHINA - double that of the US* - and it is growing the fastest as well. China's increase over the last decade alone was 60% of the world's increase. - the US has - despite disregarding International Kum-Bay-Yah handholding promise-sessions - decreased it's CO2 emissions. In fact the US leads other countries (it's just behind the EU collectively) in reductions. (https://www.forbes.com/sites/rrapier/2017/10/24/yes-the-u-s-leads-all-countries-in-reducing-carbon-emissions/#4a376eb73535) - the countries that HAVE signed such agreements are largely failing to reach the goals they promise, even though the Paris agreement had the most modest targets ever.
Essentially, the "political conditions" are that the Climate Agreements are do-nothing SJW virtue-signaling, while the country pointed at as an international pariah is ACTUALLY improving significantly. The worst emitter in the world is now hailed as "leading the fight against climate change!"
cf The Emperor's New Clothes, I guess?
*don't give me "but...but...per capita emissions are lower in China!" First, it's an absolute problem, not a per capita problem. We don't talk about per capita CO2 levels. Per capita is West-hating ecomarxist apologists' desperate to find a way to blame the US for everything. If you want to talk about per capita CO2 output, then let's compare per capita PRODUCTIVITY (PPP) vs per capita CO2 production. Hint: China's an even-worse culprit in that context.
"Once again, the watery inhabitants of the Third Planet have assaulted our Beloved Homeland.
25 Years ago, their attacks began, first with a suicidal crash, second with a landing that our Illustrious General Grogooglebarg (may his essences swim forever) disabled only moments after touchdown.
We have managed over these years to maintain a strong success rate, with more than half their attacks being diverted, disabled, or destroyed before tainting our Red Fundament.
Recently, some of their attack craft have landed and continued to roam. Those responsible for disabling these craft have been sequentially sacked until we've found the right Tentacle for the job! I believe I can say with confidence they have all been terminated finally.
Unfortunately, however, the grim news of another lander cannot be refuted.
The only way this could possibly get worse would be if this new attack craft actually drilled into Mother Mars, violating her sacred surface.
Because people in New York (generally; but this applies to most big cities in the US) are arrogant idiots. And lawyers.
If you didn't strictly constrain people from crossing ONLY when permitted, people would be crossing the streets everywhere. If you could step out in front of a reasonably-slowly moving car and score a $1 mill lawsuit, there are lots of people that would - and already do anyway.
Not to mention, having then to look for foot traffic literally everywhere, means drivers wouldn't get that important text sent.
I know it's an archaic idea, but it'd be refreshing to see non-partisan action from the government actually dealing with predatory business practices.
Then again, the US gov't in 2018 can't seem to even stop robocalls (something everyone generally agrees is astonishingly annoying), so they're fucking useless.
I don't know that they do. I run 2/3 of them (never heard of PB) and I get the usual shit ton of ads. I know someone who, running only ublock because I made him do it, NEVER gets ads on YouTube. Never. It's astonishing, but somehow I suspect he's fallen through some database crack in the system. Maybe he's not the only one?
It may not scale UP well, but for all those reasons it might scale down better. No, it may never be adequate for human flight, but surely in 2018 the advantages of solid-state, silent, efficient electrical propulsion of drones should be obvious?
You do understand that living in rural areas means you get some things (dark skies, less traffic, imo a generally better quality of life) and don't get others (night life,, multitudes of things to do, corner coffee shops, the best broadband)?
"If an elderly but distinguished scientist says that something is possible, he is almost certainly right; but if he says that it is impossible, he is very probably wrong." -https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/arthur_c_clarke_100793
It's pretty sad that a guy that used to be the poster-child for science education and the limitless possibilities of the future has become essentially nothing more than a strident leftist mouthpiece. cf from Bill Nye Saves the World https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
...and I've used Sleepyhead. I certainly appreciate it, but nobody "relies" on it - all the machine settings are available on the unit and Sleepyhead basically just displays info. It's very cool.
So for data nerds like me I like to dig into it, but the fact that I slept 7 hours 3 minutes last night with 4 wakeups vs 6 hours 52 minutes the night before with 6 wakeups really isn't critical information in any way.
And let's be honest: as much as I'm a tech-head, me "using the data" to fuck around with the settings on my machine is about as likely to kill me as NOT 'using the data" to fuck around with the settings on the machine.
At $85 million per plane, that probably resulted in several hundred aircraft that were supposed to be purchased, never being bought - far more than will ever be brought down in combat.
I've thought for years that US elections would be far more compelling and less open to gaming if each year, people were randomly selected like a draft for "OK you can vote in the next 2 week period" rather than the primitive 'everyone has to vote today' system.
You could even make it reasonably anonymous, like the draft system does, by doing it by birthday. Either you have a 2 week span after your birthday to vote for any candidate up for election the coming November election deadline, or they do a date-randomizing, so for example everyone with birthday of Jan 3 would vote this year on....Aug 28th (or whatever).
The idea that he wasted everyone's time is non-trivial.
I wonder if there's a reasonably-obvious case for fraud here - with penalties at least for the time / cost of all the various cities and staffs, and (best) if it resulted in a federal block on whatever tax giveaways were offered at those new locations? (Or would that be a Bill of Attainder?)
I mean, does anyone really believe it's COINCIDENCE his houses are 6 miles from the new locations? Does he have a lot of other houses in other candidate cities?
Honestly, if people who live on facebook and spend 6+ hours a day on TV would grow increasingly depressed and kill themselves, how is that a loss for Humanity?
I don't dislike them personally, but c'mon: what are those - likely tens of millions, if not hundreds of millions world wide - contributing?
....is anything he does NOT strident virtue-signaling?
I'd submit that the general public are smarter than politicians give them credit for. As news media has devolved into echo-chambers of obvious bias & winner-picking, with less and less actual simple reportage and more of a piranha-like frenzy to chase after whatever just popped up on twitter, people have naturally devalued "the media" commensurately.
Major media firms FINALLY understand that the internet isn't their enemy, and that streaming is a way to deliver their content? Great.
Major media firms balkanize the shit out of it, trying to build their own little walled gardens assuming every idiot out there wants to pay $15/mo to access their crappy content? Ha ha ha,....no. A-pirating we'll go.
My favorite is when Network TV tries to **charge you** for the shit they put on air for free. I guess I can see the idea if they are streaming it commercial free, but then the price should be about the $0.025 in ad revenue they'd have gotten from your eyeballs on broadcast TV. In most cases I've see it's charge-per-episode AND there are ads.
...but we need to actually consider REALLY PUNISHING people?
I mean, these identity thieves, assuming they're of the vanishingly small % that ever get caught or prosecuted, are going to spend maybe 18 months in a relatively cushy orange-is-the-new-black low security facility?:
How is that IN ANY WAY a deterrent? It wouldn't be to me, if I decided that's how I wanted to make $.
And remember, jail isn't just about rehabilitating people (personally, i don't think you can; you can teach them to constrain their behaviors, but the behaviors/drives are still there), it's about PUNISHING and DETERRING crime.
Maybe we should take a nod from Hammurabi: if you're clearly convicted of this, cut off a hand. I guarantee you the incidence would drop.
"...right to seclusion and peaceful enjoyment of my property..."
I don't believe there is any such right.
If you want to live in absolute seclusion, go live in a country that has no meaningful airforce. I'm sure you can find reasonably-priced, remote property in Zaire. No sonic booms at all. Enjoy.
"it wasn't possible for Zuckerberg to appear before all parliaments"
Funny, he seems to have the time to court nearly every country's MARKETS, but not to speak to their government. What, he's got a lot of paperwork to do?
He had the time to basically wander across America on his apologia tour https://www.nytimes.com/2017/0... (that was turned into an hilarious meme https://mashable.com/2017/09/2...). But not for, say, the democratically elected representatives of a major western government to speak with him?
Slashdot Mirror
Right, because the people in the Los Angeles Weststide are somehow Republicans? Did you notice even Orange County went Democrat this election?
You mean like my post was full of, with links?
" While the goal is not impossible, it's unlikely to be met under current political conditions, which have rendered us unable to take significant action against climate change for more than half a century."
That sounds very sad....but let's be clear on this.
"Current political conditions" sounds an awful like "Those fucking stupid Republicans and Trump won't go along with the plan!" ...when in reality the facts or the "current political conditions" and "political conditions for the last half century" are/have been:
- Kyoto ENTIRELY failed to address/regulate China or India (for...reasons).
- the world's largest emitter is CHINA - double that of the US* - and it is growing the fastest as well. China's increase over the last decade alone was 60% of the world's increase.
- the US has - despite disregarding International Kum-Bay-Yah handholding promise-sessions - decreased it's CO2 emissions. In fact the US leads other countries (it's just behind the EU collectively) in reductions. (https://www.forbes.com/sites/rrapier/2017/10/24/yes-the-u-s-leads-all-countries-in-reducing-carbon-emissions/#4a376eb73535)
- the countries that HAVE signed such agreements are largely failing to reach the goals they promise, even though the Paris agreement had the most modest targets ever.
Essentially, the "political conditions" are that the Climate Agreements are do-nothing SJW virtue-signaling, while the country pointed at as an international pariah is ACTUALLY improving significantly. The worst emitter in the world is now hailed as "leading the fight against climate change!"
cf The Emperor's New Clothes, I guess?
*don't give me "but...but...per capita emissions are lower in China!" First, it's an absolute problem, not a per capita problem. We don't talk about per capita CO2 levels. Per capita is West-hating ecomarxist apologists' desperate to find a way to blame the US for everything. If you want to talk about per capita CO2 output, then let's compare per capita PRODUCTIVITY (PPP) vs per capita CO2 production. Hint: China's an even-worse culprit in that context.
Seriously, what's your malfunction? Meds run out?
From the desk of his Imperiousness Qwerrfygrum:
"Once again, the watery inhabitants of the Third Planet have assaulted our Beloved Homeland.
25 Years ago, their attacks began, first with a suicidal crash, second with a landing that our Illustrious General Grogooglebarg (may his essences swim forever) disabled only moments after touchdown.
We have managed over these years to maintain a strong success rate, with more than half their attacks being diverted, disabled, or destroyed before tainting our Red Fundament.
Recently, some of their attack craft have landed and continued to roam. Those responsible for disabling these craft have been sequentially sacked until we've found the right Tentacle for the job! I believe I can say with confidence they have all been terminated finally.
Unfortunately, however, the grim news of another lander cannot be refuted.
The only way this could possibly get worse would be if this new attack craft actually drilled into Mother Mars, violating her sacred surface.
STAY BRAVE, MARTIANS! We will triumph!"
Because people in New York (generally; but this applies to most big cities in the US) are arrogant idiots. And lawyers.
If you didn't strictly constrain people from crossing ONLY when permitted, people would be crossing the streets everywhere. If you could step out in front of a reasonably-slowly moving car and score a $1 mill lawsuit, there are lots of people that would - and already do anyway.
Not to mention, having then to look for foot traffic literally everywhere, means drivers wouldn't get that important text sent.
I know it's an archaic idea, but it'd be refreshing to see non-partisan action from the government actually dealing with predatory business practices.
Then again, the US gov't in 2018 can't seem to even stop robocalls (something everyone generally agrees is astonishingly annoying), so they're fucking useless.
I don't know that they do.
I run 2/3 of them (never heard of PB) and I get the usual shit ton of ads.
I know someone who, running only ublock because I made him do it, NEVER gets ads on YouTube. Never. It's astonishing, but somehow I suspect he's fallen through some database crack in the system. Maybe he's not the only one?
It may not scale UP well, but for all those reasons it might scale down better.
No, it may never be adequate for human flight, but surely in 2018 the advantages of solid-state, silent, efficient electrical propulsion of drones should be obvious?
You do understand that living in rural areas means you get some things (dark skies, less traffic, imo a generally better quality of life) and don't get others (night life,, multitudes of things to do, corner coffee shops, the best broadband)?
This seems pretty obvious.
As long as she used the one in her home, I guess it would be ok?
I mean, at least half of you MUST think that's ok (or you're hypocrites).
The other half must condemn her for this (or you're hypocrites too).
"It will be more productive, they said."
It was, they just didn't say for whom (HINT: Look at the 3 and 5 year trends for MSFT Stock)
"If an elderly but distinguished scientist says that something is possible, he is almost certainly right; but if he says that it is impossible, he is very probably wrong."
-https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/arthur_c_clarke_100793
It's pretty sad that a guy that used to be the poster-child for science education and the limitless possibilities of the future has become essentially nothing more than a strident leftist mouthpiece.
cf from Bill Nye Saves the World
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
Yes, that's serious. Not satire.
...and I've used Sleepyhead. I certainly appreciate it, but nobody "relies" on it - all the machine settings are available on the unit and Sleepyhead basically just displays info. It's very cool.
So for data nerds like me I like to dig into it, but the fact that I slept 7 hours 3 minutes last night with 4 wakeups vs 6 hours 52 minutes the night before with 6 wakeups really isn't critical information in any way.
And let's be honest: as much as I'm a tech-head, me "using the data" to fuck around with the settings on my machine is about as likely to kill me as NOT 'using the data" to fuck around with the settings on the machine.
It's greatest vulnerability? Its own cost.
At $85 million per plane, that probably resulted in several hundred aircraft that were supposed to be purchased, never being bought - far more than will ever be brought down in combat.
I've thought for years that US elections would be far more compelling and less open to gaming if each year, people were randomly selected like a draft for "OK you can vote in the next 2 week period" rather than the primitive 'everyone has to vote today' system.
You could even make it reasonably anonymous, like the draft system does, by doing it by birthday. Either you have a 2 week span after your birthday to vote for any candidate up for election the coming November election deadline, or they do a date-randomizing, so for example everyone with birthday of Jan 3 would vote this year on....Aug 28th (or whatever).
The idea that he wasted everyone's time is non-trivial.
I wonder if there's a reasonably-obvious case for fraud here - with penalties at least for the time / cost of all the various cities and staffs, and (best) if it resulted in a federal block on whatever tax giveaways were offered at those new locations? (Or would that be a Bill of Attainder?)
I mean, does anyone really believe it's COINCIDENCE his houses are 6 miles from the new locations? Does he have a lot of other houses in other candidate cities?
An American company lets regulators from a country that FINES YOU IF YOU USE THE WRONG WORDS FOR THINGS (ie not using French) review it's moderation.
Honestly, if people who live on facebook and spend 6+ hours a day on TV would grow increasingly depressed and kill themselves, how is that a loss for Humanity?
I don't dislike them personally, but c'mon: what are those - likely tens of millions, if not hundreds of millions world wide - contributing?
Thanks, that was very informative!
....is anything he does NOT strident virtue-signaling?
I'd submit that the general public are smarter than politicians give them credit for. As news media has devolved into echo-chambers of obvious bias & winner-picking, with less and less actual simple reportage and more of a piranha-like frenzy to chase after whatever just popped up on twitter, people have naturally devalued "the media" commensurately.
Major media firms FINALLY understand that the internet isn't their enemy, and that streaming is a way to deliver their content? Great.
Major media firms balkanize the shit out of it, trying to build their own little walled gardens assuming every idiot out there wants to pay $15/mo to access their crappy content? Ha ha ha, ....no. A-pirating we'll go.
My favorite is when Network TV tries to **charge you** for the shit they put on air for free. I guess I can see the idea if they are streaming it commercial free, but then the price should be about the $0.025 in ad revenue they'd have gotten from your eyeballs on broadcast TV. In most cases I've see it's charge-per-episode AND there are ads.
...but we need to actually consider REALLY PUNISHING people?
I mean, these identity thieves, assuming they're of the vanishingly small % that ever get caught or prosecuted, are going to spend maybe 18 months in a relatively cushy orange-is-the-new-black low security facility?:
How is that IN ANY WAY a deterrent? It wouldn't be to me, if I decided that's how I wanted to make $.
And remember, jail isn't just about rehabilitating people (personally, i don't think you can; you can teach them to constrain their behaviors, but the behaviors/drives are still there), it's about PUNISHING and DETERRING crime.
Maybe we should take a nod from Hammurabi: if you're clearly convicted of this, cut off a hand. I guarantee you the incidence would drop.
"...right to seclusion and peaceful enjoyment of my property..."
I don't believe there is any such right.
If you want to live in absolute seclusion, go live in a country that has no meaningful airforce.
I'm sure you can find reasonably-priced, remote property in Zaire. No sonic booms at all. Enjoy.
"it wasn't possible for Zuckerberg to appear before all parliaments"
Funny, he seems to have the time to court nearly every country's MARKETS, but not to speak to their government. What, he's got a lot of paperwork to do?
He had the time to basically wander across America on his apologia tour https://www.nytimes.com/2017/0... (that was turned into an hilarious meme https://mashable.com/2017/09/2...). But not for, say, the democratically elected representatives of a major western government to speak with him?