As another poster mentioned, we do have privatized prisons, and a quick google of "privatized prison scandals" will bring up this article about a private prison that was paying kick-backs to the local judge in exchange for a higher youth incarceration rate. As a red state citizen, I just hope that this kind of corruption doesn't make its way to where I live*.
* Yes, it was a blue state, but people where I live are all about privatization and strict enforcement of the law.
Doesn't stop anybody from "owning a few favors" and never repaying them.
What a great idea. I'm going to quit my job, run for office, do the exact opposite of what the people who paid for my campaign want me to do (or at least fight the encumbants to see if I can squeeze a small amount of reform by), and then try to find a job to replace the one I won't be going back to on election day. Of course, that will be tough, because most job openings will be working for the people I pissed off, or those who envy them enough to support all the same policies.
But it would be worth it for a decent retirement package.
I think you'll find that the position lends itself to corruption.
Yet America does not try to fix the position, so that it becomes less corrupted... we live with it and pray for a person who isn't as corruptible as the last.
We have produced many campaign finance reform laws. Unfortunately, the Supreme court has overturned the most recent one, saying that bribery is really just a constitutionally protected way of saying "I like you. Do what I want and I'll give you money". It helps when your choice is between someone who screams "corruption is as American as apple pie, and Jesus wouldn't give these people money if he didn't want them in charge", and someone who whimpers "corruption is good and all, but maybe we should consider a minor reduction in the amount of it".
Of course we also have the choice to vote for the guy in the tin foil hat, or the friend of a friend whom no one else has ever heard of, because he never made enough money to advertise that he was running.
It's never a wise idea for voters to give all the control to one party. In fact I think we should try to restore the 1700s political system, where parties did not exist. Maybe make it illegal to be an affiliate of a party, once you enter the Legislature?
Exactly, but with preferential voting, so that the intention of the voters is more closely represented.
It's only temporary, sounds like NASA still have plans for their own platform in the future. And even if that didn't happen, why do you care in the end whether it happens in your own country or not? Especially in the context of something like space exploration, we should be focusing on humanity as a whole and not just individual countries. I can understand slightly being proud of your own country, but in the end it makes about as much sense as supporting sports teams.
I don't want to start telling my son "You can be anything, as long as you move to a less backward country, like Russia, China, India, Ecuador, Japan, Iran or Malaysia."
Someone modded this down, and I'm curious if it is because the correct names of the two largest political parties in America are not all that relevant, or if this was an attempt at censorship. Anyway, I've got plenty of karma, so I'm going to repost it.
All that aside, it's the Democrat party, people. Not the Democratic party.
"Democrat Party" is a political epithet used in the United States instead of "Democratic Party" when talking about the Democratic Party.[1] The term has been used by conservative commentators and members of the Republican Party in party platforms, partisan speeches and press releases since 1940.[2]
He's not making the yearly income claim or extrapolation and that extrapolation and it isn't based of counting a larger time period of earning as earned in a shorter time period so your scenario is just irrelevant stupidity.
Can you rephrase that a little more coherently, please?
"Democrat Party" is a political epithet used in the United States instead of "Democratic Party" when talking about the Democratic Party.[1] The term has been used by conservative commentators and members of the Republican Party in party platforms, partisan speeches and press releases since 1940.[2]
The math does work out, but the logic does not. Did he really spend three months writing that book, or did it take longer? Will the book still be making money six months from now? Will the model still perform nearly as well when the novelty has worn off?
This is like someone running around the office on payday yelling "In the last hour, I got paid $1500, at this rate, I'll be making 3 million dollars a year. Yippee!".
Apparently he hasn't seen very many movies either (this is where I thought you were going). In most movies, the love interest is just a reward for the main character. They meet, she doesn't like him, he eventually says and does the right things, they go out, they get in a fight, and then, in the movie climax (no pun intended), he defeats the bad guy and she flies crotch-first into his arms.
Nah. They're just trying to make it so that developers do not have an either/or decision; they develop in flash and then crank out an auto-generated HTML5 version*. It's embrace and extend all over again.
* Of course, I am curious if, like Embrace and Extend, this will involve being 90% compatible, but always having a slight monkey-wrench so that people who don't go with the 800LB gorilla will always assume that the little guy is to blame when their standards-compliant implementation does not look as good as the proprietary counterpart... </tinfoilhat>
As argument go, "RoI" is about as meaningful and logical as "grace of God". Reagan has managed to herald a world in which technocrats are more religious than theocrats.
What matters is: which option reduces suffering?
The second isn't an option. Maybe if the majority of the country did something that we currently are not doing, then it may become one, but our current priorities are as follows:
2/3 of the government spending are in social security and military spending. Failure to increase spending is seen as a cut, and cuts are entirely unacceptable.
Tax increases are unacceptable.
Penalize people republicans don't like. You say art museums are getting a dollar per year from every US citizen? That has to be cut to zero...same for sesame street.
Maybe we can make less photocopies or something. We got a buck fifty from those artsy-fartsy types, save a couple of bucks on office supplies and maybe we can use that to pass a new tax cut, which will stimulate the economy and fix the...
Are the researchers also going to have test subjects interact with a non-realistic human-shaped robot to see how they react to it, to compare with the realistic looking one?
Exactly. That's why they should create Bender! Sure, it would have the side-effect of being awesome, and making slashdot's front page once every three weeks, but it would also promote science, or whatever that article is supposed to be about.
Treating them like an adult ("why do you say that Windows is a load of pigs' livers?") will maybe get them to respond to the question in an adult-sense (come back, Eric Berne...) but life's too short.
Just don't respond, add them to your ignore list and do something more productive.
I agree. The approach in the article might work for some trolls, but only those who have an agenda related to the topic being discussed in some way. Goatse trolls. How do you respond to that? "Yes, it's ok you like stretched arseholes and bowel lining. Thank you for sharing?!?!" Or anti-semitic/racist comments? Seriously, 'don't feed the trolls' is still the best advice in most cases.
True. Part of the advice is to assume the position that the troll is "a little bit right", and then try to get them to admit the same for you...I can't see too many situations where that would be a preferable outcome.
OP: While I agree that some Jews probably did deserve to be shoved in a furnace, would you agree that many did not?
I wish I had mod points. Staring at a blank surface for three minutes lowers self esteem.
Staring at a mirror for three minutes lowers self esteem.
I wonder how many of them spent three minutes thinking "how much am I paying to be at this school?"
Speak for yourself Quasimodo.
Nice contribution. I thought maybe you were a school-member who went into a jock-rage at the thought that I may be putting down your school, but your comment history shows that you just like being a douche.
, if they say they have WMDs they have WMDs, screw the sources.
You do realize that Saddam regularly made public television broadcasts in Iraq saying he had WMD and threatening to use them if Iran attacked... RIGHT?
I wish I had mod points. Staring at a blank surface for three minutes lowers self esteem. Staring at a mirror for three minutes lowers self esteem. I wonder how many of them spent three minutes thinking "how much am I paying to be at this school?"
Slashdot Mirror
As another poster mentioned, we do have privatized prisons, and a quick google of "privatized prison scandals" will bring up this article about a private prison that was paying kick-backs to the local judge in exchange for a higher youth incarceration rate. As a red state citizen, I just hope that this kind of corruption doesn't make its way to where I live*.
* Yes, it was a blue state, but people where I live are all about privatization and strict enforcement of the law.
Doesn't stop anybody from "owning a few favors" and never repaying them.
What a great idea. I'm going to quit my job, run for office, do the exact opposite of what the people who paid for my campaign want me to do (or at least fight the encumbants to see if I can squeeze a small amount of reform by), and then try to find a job to replace the one I won't be going back to on election day. Of course, that will be tough, because most job openings will be working for the people I pissed off, or those who envy them enough to support all the same policies.
But it would be worth it for a decent retirement package.
I think you'll find that the position lends itself to corruption.
Yet America does not try to fix the position, so that it becomes less corrupted... we live with it and pray for a person who isn't as corruptible as the last.
We have produced many campaign finance reform laws. Unfortunately, the Supreme court has overturned the most recent one, saying that bribery is really just a constitutionally protected way of saying "I like you. Do what I want and I'll give you money". It helps when your choice is between someone who screams "corruption is as American as apple pie, and Jesus wouldn't give these people money if he didn't want them in charge", and someone who whimpers "corruption is good and all, but maybe we should consider a minor reduction in the amount of it".
Of course we also have the choice to vote for the guy in the tin foil hat, or the friend of a friend whom no one else has ever heard of, because he never made enough money to advertise that he was running.
It's never a wise idea for voters to give all the control to one party. In fact I think we should try to restore the 1700s political system, where parties did not exist. Maybe make it illegal to be an affiliate of a party, once you enter the Legislature?
Exactly, but with preferential voting, so that the intention of the voters is more closely represented.
It's only temporary, sounds like NASA still have plans for their own platform in the future. And even if that didn't happen, why do you care in the end whether it happens in your own country or not? Especially in the context of something like space exploration, we should be focusing on humanity as a whole and not just individual countries. I can understand slightly being proud of your own country, but in the end it makes about as much sense as supporting sports teams.
I don't want to start telling my son "You can be anything, as long as you move to a less backward country, like Russia, China, India, Ecuador, Japan, Iran or Malaysia."
(But FWIW, I can agree with most of your point)
How do you get around, dragging such a huge penis everywhere?
I have mine carried by a custom-built robot, programmed in assembly, using punch-cards with the holes punched out by the telekinetic power of my...
Robot: EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE, EXTERMINATE!
...
People Screaming: The robot has gone mad, why has this abomination been allowed to live?
I've got to go...
People Screaming: Oh the humanity, look what it's doing to the incredibly well-endowed man with the stack of punch cards!
You think Americans are ready to start shooting their fellow Americans?
Have you ever seen this place? The real question is "do you think Americans are ready to take an interest in politics?"
Someone modded this down, and I'm curious if it is because the correct names of the two largest political parties in America are not all that relevant, or if this was an attempt at censorship. Anyway, I've got plenty of karma, so I'm going to repost it.
All that aside, it's the Democrat party, people. Not the Democratic party.
No. It's "democratic party" See here
"Democrat Party" is a political epithet used in the United States instead of "Democratic Party" when talking about the Democratic Party.[1] The term has been used by conservative commentators and members of the Republican Party in party platforms, partisan speeches and press releases since 1940.[2]
They've now made it crime even to search torrent sites
Which law was that?
Thank you. My mistake. Looking over it again, I assume that the 500k figure is counting other income/income from the sale of other books?
yes, yes it does. Welcome to the new millennium. Let me catch you up:
Linux = Linux computer
PC = Windows computer
Mac = Apple Computer
Hard Drive = Windows computer owned by an idiot.
He's not making the yearly income claim or extrapolation and that extrapolation and it isn't based of counting a larger time period of earning as earned in a shorter time period so your scenario is just irrelevant stupidity.
Can you rephrase that a little more coherently, please?
All that aside, it's the Democrat party, people. Not the Democratic party.
No. It's "democratic party" See here
"Democrat Party" is a political epithet used in the United States instead of "Democratic Party" when talking about the Democratic Party.[1] The term has been used by conservative commentators and members of the Republican Party in party platforms, partisan speeches and press releases since 1940.[2]
The math does work out, but the logic does not. Did he really spend three months writing that book, or did it take longer? Will the book still be making money six months from now? Will the model still perform nearly as well when the novelty has worn off?
This is like someone running around the office on payday yelling "In the last hour, I got paid $1500, at this rate, I'll be making 3 million dollars a year. Yippee!".
Oh, come on. You know it's the developer's fault for not implementing a strong enough DRM scheme.
dogma should be challenged and removed wherever possible.
But that's just anti-dogma dogma! You're as much an unthinking drone as theists you rail against!
Just to clarify: are you joking?
Apparently he hasn't seen very many movies either (this is where I thought you were going). In most movies, the love interest is just a reward for the main character. They meet, she doesn't like him, he eventually says and does the right things, they go out, they get in a fight, and then, in the movie climax (no pun intended), he defeats the bad guy and she flies crotch-first into his arms.
Nah. They're just trying to make it so that developers do not have an either/or decision; they develop in flash and then crank out an auto-generated HTML5 version*. It's embrace and extend all over again.
* Of course, I am curious if, like Embrace and Extend, this will involve being 90% compatible, but always having a slight monkey-wrench so that people who don't go with the 800LB gorilla will always assume that the little guy is to blame when their standards-compliant implementation does not look as good as the proprietary counterpart...
</tinfoilhat>
As argument go, "RoI" is about as meaningful and logical as "grace of God". Reagan has managed to herald a world in which technocrats are more religious than theocrats.
What matters is: which option reduces suffering?
The second isn't an option. Maybe if the majority of the country did something that we currently are not doing, then it may become one, but our current priorities are as follows:
2/3 of the government spending are in social security and military spending. Failure to increase spending is seen as a cut, and cuts are entirely unacceptable.
What problem were we trying to solve again?
Are the researchers also going to have test subjects interact with a non-realistic human-shaped robot to see how they react to it, to compare with the realistic looking one?
Exactly. That's why they should create Bender! Sure, it would have the side-effect of being awesome, and making slashdot's front page once every three weeks, but it would also promote science, or whatever that article is supposed to be about.
Treating them like an adult ("why do you say that Windows is a load of pigs' livers?") will maybe get them to respond to the question in an adult-sense (come back, Eric Berne...) but life's too short.
Just don't respond, add them to your ignore list and do something more productive.
I agree. The approach in the article might work for some trolls, but only those who have an agenda related to the topic being discussed in some way. Goatse trolls. How do you respond to that? "Yes, it's ok you like stretched arseholes and bowel lining. Thank you for sharing?!?!" Or anti-semitic/racist comments? Seriously, 'don't feed the trolls' is still the best advice in most cases.
True. Part of the advice is to assume the position that the troll is "a little bit right", and then try to get them to admit the same for you...I can't see too many situations where that would be a preferable outcome.
OP: While I agree that some Jews probably did deserve to be shoved in a furnace, would you agree that many did not?
Troll: fag!
I wish I had mod points. Staring at a blank surface for three minutes lowers self esteem.
Staring at a mirror for three minutes lowers self esteem.
I wonder how many of them spent three minutes thinking "how much am I paying to be at this school?"
Speak for yourself Quasimodo.
Nice contribution. I thought maybe you were a school-member who went into a jock-rage at the thought that I may be putting down your school, but your comment history shows that you just like being a douche.
, if they say they have WMDs they have WMDs, screw the sources.
You do realize that Saddam regularly made public television broadcasts in Iraq saying he had WMD and threatening to use them if Iran attacked ... RIGHT?
Citation?
I wish I had mod points. Staring at a blank surface for three minutes lowers self esteem. Staring at a mirror for three minutes lowers self esteem. I wonder how many of them spent three minutes thinking "how much am I paying to be at this school?"
Agreed.
Imagine an encyclopedia that only contained information you already knew.
It's called a "diary"...
Oh, sorry. Diaryies contain information you may have forgotten.