they still had a little aristocratic doubt in the back of their minds, and put this ridiculous electoral college system in place. an arostocratic hedge. a little doubt in the power of democracy. a fuck up
al gore should have rightfully been president of the united states in 2000, and for all that you can accuse al gore of potentially screwing up (what, too much environmental regulation?), there's nothing he could have done to the usa as bad as what gw bush did. our economy, our international image, our own faith in our govt to protect our freedoms, torture, preemptive war, etc
of course, i understand in reality the chance of getting rid of the ec is incredibly difficult, its too entrenched. but maybe at least we can, on a state by state basis, convince the states that ec votes should be awarded proportional to popular vote, like maine and nebraska do now (i think). so texas will suddenly cough up a bunch of democratic votes, but so will new york suddenly cough up some republican votes. isn't it necessary that we star thinking less partisan? is it fair to people in austin that texas is viewed as a republican block? is it fair to people in upstate new york that new york is viewed as a democratic block? don't these people's voices deserve equal share in the vote for president?
of course, if texas passed such a law, but not new york, or new york passed such a law, but not texas, this obviously skews results for republicans or democrats. in which case, you'd still need to make sure the key swing states that traditionally, now, deliver breadbaskets of electoral votes for one party or another, all start delivering proportionally on the same presidential election, so it would have ot happen in one 4 year span
incredibly difficult still, but doable. and do we another gw bush presidency to convince you it needs to be done?
for every slashdot post, you seem to have a sizeable commentary devoted to nitpicking word choice or spelling
WHU FUCKING CARES
for every slashdot post, you seem to have a sizeable commentary devoted to discussing the acceptability of the topic
WHO FUCKING CARES
seriously, some of you need to shut. the. fuck. up. its mediocre to obsess over grammar and topic adequacy
its not mediocre to occasionally pick the wrong word or spell it wrong or not have proper punctuation. really. its not mediocre to have a cool story on a guy's tesla hobby rather than LINUX UTILITY GOES VER 3.4! really
now just die already, adequacy nazis and grammar nazis. your minds are mediocre, the filth you post is way below concerns about messy informal communication and odd topics
and blood bank: inject their own previously extracted, concentrated red blood cells back into themselves before the run/ bike (with the subsequent increase in clot risk, of course)
of course, why can't climbers do this as well? take all of the illegal things they do in sports and apply it legally. of course, they are raising their risk of death with some of these body modifications, but at a lower, controlled risk than that from climbing a mountain without any body preparation at all
regardless, any climber should spend time running marathons in the high alps or the high sierra to increase red blood cell production naturally, if you are not genetically a sherpa
if enough people have that attitude, all countries rot, except for one, which then rots under the weight of all you spineless freeloading scumbags piling on
the legislature still represents the will of the people
but you just don't understand that, because you think "major party" is some sort of abstract concept of oppression, rather than what it is: the fucking will of the fucking people
you are cynical, ultranegative, helpness, and uneducated, and prone to hysterical conclusions about the society you live in and how it really works
you fucking cite SOUTH PARK, jesus christ. you apparently like to telegraph your lowest common denominator thinking and expect what, respect?
you are one step above a slave, by your own thinking
if democratic societies fail, and they do, they do through the thinking of people just like you: the perfect cowered helpless sniveling worm
when an autocrat rises in a democratic society, and begins to chip away at its democratic institutions, he depends upon the common man to do nothing about it, for reasons THAT ARE YOUR EXACT SAME THOUGHT PROCESSES
your government, worm, is an extension of your will, REALLY
go ahead, refute that
when you do, you do it for reasons that are failures of your own retarded thinking, and become part of the fucking problem
depend upon your defeatist attitude to make sure opposition is muted
i mean seriously, wtf: "all that has been done is to teach the politicians that they need to sneak this through the next time"
really? all of our representatives are programmed androids? they aren't people like you and me?
"Yet it takes only one passing vote to put it on the books forever"
forever? seriously?
look, your attitude is part of the problem
a legislature is a representation of the will of the people. does the people's will get warped? absolutely. does it get betrayed? absolutely. but not all the time, and not forever. if the right thing is ever going to get done, defeatist attitudes that accept bullshit, like yours, must be destroyed just as much as bad legislators need to be brought down
yeah, really: you're part of the problem
ultranegative, ultracynical attitudes are the beginning of acceptance of the crap you complain about
focus on a pointless statement in an offhand conversation, and keep repeating it over and over, getting louder all the time, the whole week, with a huge grin on your face, like its a hilarious joke
ask them to come in your office and sit down, ask them to close the door in a very soft whisper, and then stand up, displaying an obvious erection in your pants
in the company restroom, stand next to them while they are urinating, even if there are ten open urinals, and make sure to pee a little on their shoes, making emotionless blank eye contact while doing so
sit silently in a meeting for the longest time, with a slightly pained expression, then excuse yourself, and, outside of the room but within earshot/ plain view, starting crying loudly and hysterically like a wounded child
in no time you will be deriving the respect and affection you deserve
it will be many, many moons before we'll be able to synthesize these elements relatively cheaply via radioactive decay or find some relatively cheaply exploitable extraplanetary source
meanwhile, you will have bought her something genuinely rare, valuable, and expensive, which is what a diamond ring is suppose to symbolize in a relationship as an investment
meanwhile, diamonds are the symbols of monopoly, conflict, and falsely inflated value. which is not the symbol of love in a relationship you or her are looking for (although perhaps a valid symbol for many relationships out there, there's a joke in there somewhere, ehem)
sure, there's all the convoluted diamond market, debeers monopoly explanations, but that's like saying no one can buy marijuana because its illegal
if i want to get a diamond, why can't i pay $5 and go get one the size of my fist? its just carbon. that i can't do that right now, seems absurd to me, and even more absurd, that we should still be digging this stuff up and considering it valuable
its hard to tell the difference without a good sniff
and besides, if you wanted to make sure it wasn't trotted out again for another christmas, wouldn't you hide it some place disageeable and avoidable like a skull too?
if we all rode bikes, yes, that would be a better world
it would also be a better world if we all sang campfire songs instead of wage war
except for the small fact that both scenarios are impossible
i'm not here to destroy your sense that the world cannot be improved, i'm here to tell you that the way you think it should be improved is logistically impossible, that certain truths about this world, while very ugly and regrettable, are also insurmountable, and all you can do is accept
anyone who looks at a world of people on bikes has their heart in the right place, but not much of a head on their shoulders. so don't lose heart, just grow a brain and keep the heart
keep working for a better future. just know what avenues of work are going to bring fruit, and which are wastes of time
"On behalf of the few educated and unbiased people present"
this instantly tells me you are extremely biased. as for "educated", unless you are talking about the hard sciences, this word means "indoctrinated into the clique"
everyone is biased. the intelligent person is always on the guard for the bias they have, and admit and accept they have some unidentified bias. in such a way, they form opinions that are about as unbiased as possible, by constantly being on guard against it
meanwhile, someone who is convinced they are magically incapabable of bias, for whatever idiotic reason, is leading forth with their biases on full display for everyone, utterly blind to how biased they are
that's you
the problem with saying that everyone is prejudiced and this is a bad thing is that it requires some sort of magical, omnipotent adjudicator of bias and prejudice somewhere. no such person or magical machine exists. as such, yes, we are prejudiced and baised in small and large ways, and this is just the way it is, and the way it will always be, and no one can ever do anything about that, so you just accept it as a fact of life, and it is not a problem to fix, but simply a fact of life to get used to
and, here's the real powe rof democracy: everyone's biases and prejudices balance out
meawhile, this sort of aristocratic opinion that there is an "us" few who are unbiased and fit for rule and a "them" who are hopelessly prejudiced and unfit for democracy is about as UNDEMOCRATIC and fascist an attitude as possible
you should try living in some place like china, where they know the common man is unfit, and only a speicla class of technocrats is fit for rule
in some superior future, google moderator itself is our government
what i mean by that is, the citizens govern themselves via internet technology that groups, edits, and resolves the important issues and what to do about them, no representational system needed
Slashdot Mirror
and your doubt will be fruitful and hav a point
otherwise, you still need to believe in democracy
churchill: "It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried."
they still had a little aristocratic doubt in the back of their minds, and put this ridiculous electoral college system in place. an arostocratic hedge. a little doubt in the power of democracy. a fuck up
al gore should have rightfully been president of the united states in 2000, and for all that you can accuse al gore of potentially screwing up (what, too much environmental regulation?), there's nothing he could have done to the usa as bad as what gw bush did. our economy, our international image, our own faith in our govt to protect our freedoms, torture, preemptive war, etc
of course, i understand in reality the chance of getting rid of the ec is incredibly difficult, its too entrenched. but maybe at least we can, on a state by state basis, convince the states that ec votes should be awarded proportional to popular vote, like maine and nebraska do now (i think). so texas will suddenly cough up a bunch of democratic votes, but so will new york suddenly cough up some republican votes. isn't it necessary that we star thinking less partisan? is it fair to people in austin that texas is viewed as a republican block? is it fair to people in upstate new york that new york is viewed as a democratic block? don't these people's voices deserve equal share in the vote for president?
of course, if texas passed such a law, but not new york, or new york passed such a law, but not texas, this obviously skews results for republicans or democrats. in which case, you'd still need to make sure the key swing states that traditionally, now, deliver breadbaskets of electoral votes for one party or another, all start delivering proportionally on the same presidential election, so it would have ot happen in one 4 year span
incredibly difficult still, but doable. and do we another gw bush presidency to convince you it needs to be done?
SHIRE!!!
BAGGINS!!!
hang your head in shame, "nerds", that no one has posted this yet
one thing they do that is ecologically harmful is that they make ELECTRIC CARS
now we have adequacy nazis
for every slashdot post, you seem to have a sizeable commentary devoted to nitpicking word choice or spelling
WHU FUCKING CARES
for every slashdot post, you seem to have a sizeable commentary devoted to discussing the acceptability of the topic
WHO FUCKING CARES
seriously, some of you need to shut. the. fuck. up. its mediocre to obsess over grammar and topic adequacy
its not mediocre to occasionally pick the wrong word or spell it wrong or not have proper punctuation. really. its not mediocre to have a cool story on a guy's tesla hobby rather than LINUX UTILITY GOES VER 3.4! really
now just die already, adequacy nazis and grammar nazis. your minds are mediocre, the filth you post is way below concerns about messy informal communication and odd topics
you are most probably sane
if you are certain of your sanity, you very well coudl be insane
sarcasm is an outward expression of doubting that which is said with certainty
and so in the end the act of doubting yourself is the only grasp any of us have on our sanity
long live sarcasm
when it came to cheaters in sports, they'll do things like dope with epo
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erythropoietin
and blood bank: inject their own previously extracted, concentrated red blood cells back into themselves before the run/ bike (with the subsequent increase in clot risk, of course)
of course, why can't climbers do this as well? take all of the illegal things they do in sports and apply it legally. of course, they are raising their risk of death with some of these body modifications, but at a lower, controlled risk than that from climbing a mountain without any body preparation at all
regardless, any climber should spend time running marathons in the high alps or the high sierra to increase red blood cell production naturally, if you are not genetically a sherpa
your government is your responsibility
what a piece of shit
if enough people have that attitude, all countries rot, except for one, which then rots under the weight of all you spineless freeloading scumbags piling on
the legislature still represents the will of the people
but you just don't understand that, because you think "major party" is some sort of abstract concept of oppression, rather than what it is: the fucking will of the fucking people
you are cynical, ultranegative, helpness, and uneducated, and prone to hysterical conclusions about the society you live in and how it really works
you fucking cite SOUTH PARK, jesus christ. you apparently like to telegraph your lowest common denominator thinking and expect what, respect?
you are one step above a slave, by your own thinking
if democratic societies fail, and they do, they do through the thinking of people just like you: the perfect cowered helpless sniveling worm
when an autocrat rises in a democratic society, and begins to chip away at its democratic institutions, he depends upon the common man to do nothing about it, for reasons THAT ARE YOUR EXACT SAME THOUGHT PROCESSES
your government, worm, is an extension of your will, REALLY
go ahead, refute that
when you do, you do it for reasons that are failures of your own retarded thinking, and become part of the fucking problem
fucking loser
depend upon your defeatist attitude to make sure opposition is muted
i mean seriously, wtf: "all that has been done is to teach the politicians that they need to sneak this through the next time"
really? all of our representatives are programmed androids? they aren't people like you and me?
"Yet it takes only one passing vote to put it on the books forever"
forever? seriously?
look, your attitude is part of the problem
a legislature is a representation of the will of the people. does the people's will get warped? absolutely. does it get betrayed? absolutely. but not all the time, and not forever. if the right thing is ever going to get done, defeatist attitudes that accept bullshit, like yours, must be destroyed just as much as bad legislators need to be brought down
yeah, really: you're part of the problem
ultranegative, ultracynical attitudes are the beginning of acceptance of the crap you complain about
i don't accept this bullshit
by your words, YOU DO
change your retarded atittude, pronto
focus on a pointless statement in an offhand conversation, and keep repeating it over and over, getting louder all the time, the whole week, with a huge grin on your face, like its a hilarious joke
ask them to come in your office and sit down, ask them to close the door in a very soft whisper, and then stand up, displaying an obvious erection in your pants
in the company restroom, stand next to them while they are urinating, even if there are ten open urinals, and make sure to pee a little on their shoes, making emotionless blank eye contact while doing so
sit silently in a meeting for the longest time, with a slightly pained expression, then excuse yourself, and, outside of the room but within earshot/ plain view, starting crying loudly and hysterically like a wounded child
in no time you will be deriving the respect and affection you deserve
you know what? this is a good thing
having your life taken away by a teenager yakking on their cellphone is a much greater impingement on your freedom
that rare and valuable also implied price stability?
i don't think gold's enormous price fluctuations have convinced people to stop buying gold
if something is rare, its rare. no price fluxuation is going to change that fact
like an iridium or palladium or rhodium ring
it will be many, many moons before we'll be able to synthesize these elements relatively cheaply via radioactive decay or find some relatively cheaply exploitable extraplanetary source
meanwhile, you will have bought her something genuinely rare, valuable, and expensive, which is what a diamond ring is suppose to symbolize in a relationship as an investment
meanwhile, diamonds are the symbols of monopoly, conflict, and falsely inflated value. which is not the symbol of love in a relationship you or her are looking for (although perhaps a valid symbol for many relationships out there, there's a joke in there somewhere, ehem)
for 10 minutes, and she had her blinker on the whole time
it made me so angry, at a stop light i got out my car and beat the shit out of her
not really
but i think you might know the feeling
why are diamonds still considered precious?
don't we have the technology to make them cheap?
sure, there's all the convoluted diamond market, debeers monopoly explanations, but that's like saying no one can buy marijuana because its illegal
if i want to get a diamond, why can't i pay $5 and go get one the size of my fist? its just carbon. that i can't do that right now, seems absurd to me, and even more absurd, that we should still be digging this stuff up and considering it valuable
its fruitcake
its hard to tell the difference without a good sniff
and besides, if you wanted to make sure it wasn't trotted out again for another christmas, wouldn't you hide it some place disageeable and avoidable like a skull too?
can they turn feel good fluff journalism into biodiesel?
"i'm drinking my morning coffee and... they can turn my coffee waste into fuel! awww..." **hugs**
anyone actually interested in solving the energy crisis?
did you believe it was possible to participate in the tomfoolery and yet still stand in remove of it and criticize it?
is the world leader in creepy technology
http://blogs.ft.com/rachmanblog/2008/12/covered-in-internet-slime/
in all seriousness though: exactly what is wrong with the idea one DEMOCRATIC world government?
i think its our future. and a good one
but you don't have brains
if we all rode bikes, yes, that would be a better world
it would also be a better world if we all sang campfire songs instead of wage war
except for the small fact that both scenarios are impossible
i'm not here to destroy your sense that the world cannot be improved, i'm here to tell you that the way you think it should be improved is logistically impossible, that certain truths about this world, while very ugly and regrettable, are also insurmountable, and all you can do is accept
anyone who looks at a world of people on bikes has their heart in the right place, but not much of a head on their shoulders. so don't lose heart, just grow a brain and keep the heart
keep working for a better future. just know what avenues of work are going to bring fruit, and which are wastes of time
"On behalf of the few educated and unbiased people present"
this instantly tells me you are extremely biased. as for "educated", unless you are talking about the hard sciences, this word means "indoctrinated into the clique"
everyone is biased. the intelligent person is always on the guard for the bias they have, and admit and accept they have some unidentified bias. in such a way, they form opinions that are about as unbiased as possible, by constantly being on guard against it
meanwhile, someone who is convinced they are magically incapabable of bias, for whatever idiotic reason, is leading forth with their biases on full display for everyone, utterly blind to how biased they are
that's you
the problem with saying that everyone is prejudiced and this is a bad thing is that it requires some sort of magical, omnipotent adjudicator of bias and prejudice somewhere. no such person or magical machine exists. as such, yes, we are prejudiced and baised in small and large ways, and this is just the way it is, and the way it will always be, and no one can ever do anything about that, so you just accept it as a fact of life, and it is not a problem to fix, but simply a fact of life to get used to
and, here's the real powe rof democracy: everyone's biases and prejudices balance out
meawhile, this sort of aristocratic opinion that there is an "us" few who are unbiased and fit for rule and a "them" who are hopelessly prejudiced and unfit for democracy is about as UNDEMOCRATIC and fascist an attitude as possible
you should try living in some place like china, where they know the common man is unfit, and only a speicla class of technocrats is fit for rule
in some superior future, google moderator itself is our government
what i mean by that is, the citizens govern themselves via internet technology that groups, edits, and resolves the important issues and what to do about them, no representational system needed