The only reason this ISP is so cheap is that, like any other government project, it's being funded by your tax dollars. (Note that their website says it's being paid for through bonds---well, guess where the money to pay off bonds comes from? Taxes the city collects. Municipal bonds are nothing more than deferred taxation.) I could sell you Internet service for $0.01/mo if I could just steal money to make up the difference, too.
Time Warner is one of the scummier cable companies* (they're a government-granted monopolist, like all cable companies, so they get no support from me), but something like this is something that should be opposed---if "city-owned" ISPs start catching on, you can say goodbye to private ones. Who's going to be able to compete against a company who can undercut competition by lowering their prices and making up the difference with public funding? And just wait until the city starts passing ordinances or engaging in other shenanigans to limit competition with their ISP. That's almost always what happens when governments own businesses that compete with private businesses. Being the holders of a monopoly on legitimate force, they can't resist.
Oh, and since this is government-owned, has anyone looked into whether or not this company will be forcing filtering or anything else heinous on their customers?
So not only has this family suffered through this tragedy, but now they're being exploited by people who want to censor the Internet as the poster child for new censorship laws. I only wonder how long it took for these people to find the "perfect case" to hold up in whatever new assault they're planning on the Internet.
Regulation is not going to be perfect ever, as we all learned in junior high, and have learned continuously since then. Still, I'd rather have an overly cautious and slow moving bureacracy investigating medicines and treatments than just hoping big pharmecuticals listen to their conscience. Mostly because they have none. Oversight is definitely needed.
Did you read the article I linked to in an earlier post? They give actual numbers as to how many people have been killed by this "overly cautious" bureaucracy trying to protect them---30,000 in the case of a drug called propranolol, as just one example. Ever heard of a bad drug killing 30,000 people?
than just hoping big pharmecuticals listen to their conscience. Mostly because they have none. Oversight is definitely needed.
I read the Thalidomide parts and skimmed some of the other paragraphs, and she kept talking about "agression". So I clicked on the book cover. Here's an exertp of the blurb on the flyleaf:
I know what the book is about; I've actually read the whole book.
Dr. Ruwart shows us how to transcend these win-lose scenarios by systematically applying the win-win tactics to our social interaction that have proves so successful in our personal lives. HEALING OUR WORLD is the first book to integrate the common elements of our Judeo-Christian heritage, the personal self-responsibility of the Aquarian Age, and the political self-responsibility of the worldwide libertarian movement. "The Easy Way Out" os the realization that others do not create our global harmony and abundance any more than they create our inner peace and enrichment; our reactions to others determine our fate.
So, libertarian views on government, Judeo-Christian view on morality, and "Aquarian Age" views on personal responsibility. Sorry, I don't generally take advise from schizophrenics.
Riiight... Well, when you're ready to act like an adult instead jamming your fingers in your ears because you're hearing something that challenges your current world view, we can continue this debate.:)
In the meantime, if you want to understand what the big deal with "aggression" is, feel free to read "The Gun in the Room" by Stefan Molyneux. Of course, if you'd like to just dismiss that guy out of hand, too, some people think he's the leader of some sort of cult, so feel free to just point to that and ignore the substance of the essay.
But it takes years for ANY therapeutic treatment to get approval for human trials, even the most minor of drugs.
That... was my point. How many people are dying because the government wants to keep people safe? I guess dying of natural causes because of the nonexistence of a cure is better than dying from a drug prematurely brought to market...
Oh, and remember Thalidomide?
Hey, that book chapter I posted above even has a section about this: It's called, "The Illusion of Protection: Thalidomide."
Not at all. I posted the full source above, but I'll excerpt the important part to demonstrate my point: "Aspirin deforms the unborn young of almost every animal species but humans and could not be marketed today if it had to go through FDA evaluations." In other words, its beneficial effects never would have been demonstrated because it would have been rejected before it even made it to human trials.
Gotta love the FDA. How long has this technology been around before they finally approved the first human tests of it? Did you know that if current FDA regulations had been in place at the time, neither penicillin nor aspirin would have ever been approved for human use?
Even if they succeed in 5-10 years, you can count on it taking another decade to reach the market, courtesy of your government. If it ever does: If the modern regulation regime had been around when they were invented, both aspirin and penicillin never would have been approved due to safety concerns.
Am I the only one who thinks that all these recent doings---Australia's plans, plus this and this, and now this story---are part of a coordinated effort to finally take control of the Internet?
The universe is thought to have formed about 13.7 billion years ago. So even if light started travelling toward us immediately after the Big Bang, the farthest it could ever get is 13.7 billion light-years in distance.
Part of me says that would be nice for software developers. a PE license. I've just seen too much amateurish work done by developers that ahve been doing it long enough to know better. Having an apprenticeship wouldn't hurt either.
Something to correct bad coders early in their career.
Yes, clearly making it illegal to code without the permission of some cartel^W "professional organization" is the solution.
It appears to be blocking the IE user agent only if the "Accept-Encoding" header is missing -- something I presume differentiates the real IE from the AVG "IE".
A veritable rogue's gallery of evil corporations I already refuse to do business with, for various other reasons. Now I can add another reason to the list.
The only thing surprising here is that Comcast isn't one of them.
That's not the right question. The correct question is whether or not the government has ever actually followed that, or any of the other attempts to keep a check on its power. (It hasn't.)
Slashdot Mirror
The only reason this ISP is so cheap is that, like any other government project, it's being funded by your tax dollars. (Note that their website says it's being paid for through bonds---well, guess where the money to pay off bonds comes from? Taxes the city collects. Municipal bonds are nothing more than deferred taxation.) I could sell you Internet service for $0.01/mo if I could just steal money to make up the difference, too.
Time Warner is one of the scummier cable companies* (they're a government-granted monopolist, like all cable companies, so they get no support from me), but something like this is something that should be opposed---if "city-owned" ISPs start catching on, you can say goodbye to private ones. Who's going to be able to compete against a company who can undercut competition by lowering their prices and making up the difference with public funding? And just wait until the city starts passing ordinances or engaging in other shenanigans to limit competition with their ISP. That's almost always what happens when governments own businesses that compete with private businesses. Being the holders of a monopoly on legitimate force, they can't resist.
Oh, and since this is government-owned, has anyone looked into whether or not this company will be forcing filtering or anything else heinous on their customers?
* That honor probably goes to Comcast.
So not only has this family suffered through this tragedy, but now they're being exploited by people who want to censor the Internet as the poster child for new censorship laws. I only wonder how long it took for these people to find the "perfect case" to hold up in whatever new assault they're planning on the Internet.
So they're blocking everyone, including people "over 18," from accessing so-called "over 18" websites?
Oh, right, it's the U.K.. They've been treating all of their subjects as children for decades now...
Now there's a surprise. So is this the change people were hoping for?
Did you read the article I linked to in an earlier post? They give actual numbers as to how many people have been killed by this "overly cautious" bureaucracy trying to protect them---30,000 in the case of a drug called propranolol, as just one example. Ever heard of a bad drug killing 30,000 people?
And the government has a conscience?
I know what the book is about; I've actually read the whole book.
Riiight... Well, when you're ready to act like an adult instead jamming your fingers in your ears because you're hearing something that challenges your current world view, we can continue this debate. :)
In the meantime, if you want to understand what the big deal with "aggression" is, feel free to read "The Gun in the Room" by Stefan Molyneux. Of course, if you'd like to just dismiss that guy out of hand, too, some people think he's the leader of some sort of cult, so feel free to just point to that and ignore the substance of the essay.
That... was my point. How many people are dying because the government wants to keep people safe? I guess dying of natural causes because of the nonexistence of a cure is better than dying from a drug prematurely brought to market...
Hey, that book chapter I posted above even has a section about this: It's called, "The Illusion of Protection: Thalidomide."
Not at all. I posted the full source above, but I'll excerpt the important part to demonstrate my point: "Aspirin deforms the unborn young of almost every animal species but humans and could not be marketed today if it had to go through FDA evaluations." In other words, its beneficial effects never would have been demonstrated because it would have been rejected before it even made it to human trials.
Chapter six of Healing Our World: The Other Piece of the Puzzle by Dr. Mary J. Ruwart.
Gotta love the FDA. How long has this technology been around before they finally approved the first human tests of it? Did you know that if current FDA regulations had been in place at the time, neither penicillin nor aspirin would have ever been approved for human use?
Got any substantive evidence of this? Or is this just parroting one of the campaign's feel-good slogans?
Already getting ready to make excuses for when he doesn't do nearly as much as he promised, aren't we now?
Right... agree with us or we don't care. Sounds like blind faith, not reality.
Almost two hours into the Obama presidency...
Still waiting for all that change...
So was this the change we need? The one everyone was hoping for?
Even if they succeed in 5-10 years, you can count on it taking another decade to reach the market, courtesy of your government. If it ever does: If the modern regulation regime had been around when they were invented, both aspirin and penicillin never would have been approved due to safety concerns.
So was this the change we need? The one everyone was hoping for?
Am I the only one who thinks that all these recent doings---Australia's plans, plus this and this, and now this story---are part of a coordinated effort to finally take control of the Internet?
Better than a one-year membership in a jelly of the month club...
Idiots!
Yes, clearly making it illegal to code without the permission of some cartel^W "professional organization" is the solution.
So you want to make it so that IT workers have to be licensed in order to work?
No, it raises questions about the viability of this particular company.
It appears to be blocking the IE user agent only if the "Accept-Encoding" header is missing -- something I presume differentiates the real IE from the AVG "IE".
A veritable rogue's gallery of evil corporations I already refuse to do business with, for various other reasons. Now I can add another reason to the list.
The only thing surprising here is that Comcast isn't one of them.
Um, wow. So NASA has finally caught up to nineteenth-century industrial design techniques.
That's not the right question. The correct question is whether or not the government has ever actually followed that, or any of the other attempts to keep a check on its power. (It hasn't.)