DUPE! dupe dupe, dupe of earl, dupe dupe, dupe of earl...
US the largest polluter??
on
Global Dimming
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· Score: 1
The US is the biggest individual country in terms of CO2 production, yes. But in terms of total pollution, I'm not sure you can back that up. But if you have the data, I'd be interested in seeing it.
Oh, I'm also interested in what environmental laws Bush has relaxed, if you have some reliable information on that I would like to see it. I'm genuinely curious.
"Of course most right-wing appologists will tell you that the Iraqis are backward people who are not capable of carrying out a democratic election by themselves. To those people I say: have a look at your own elections. Bush's appointment wasn't without scandal."
WHAT??!!
If anything, the right-wing types are the ones talking about "liberating and democratizing" the middle east. Your steriotype is 180 degrees out of phase.
Actually, there was a big congressional battle in the US about whether the reconstruction money show be a grant or loan. Congressional Democrats and some moderate Republicans wanted the majority of the money to be in the form of loans, which would need to be paid back. The Bush administration wanted the money to be grants since they were asking other countries to forgive debt, it would be a little nonsensical to make the US money loans. (Even if the other countries loaned it to a fallen dictator)
The point was that it wouldn't be kosher to ask others to do something that the US wasn't willing to do. Obviously oil exports would be one way for Iraq to pay of those loans.
Now the France and Germany are saying that they are willing to forgive debt, I'm willing to bet that Bush may let them bid on some of these contracts. Basically, he used the capture of Saddam and the contract bids to leverage the forgiveness of Iraqi debt.
That's how it looks to me anyways.
"Computers should make life easier, and simplify complex tasks...Insisting that computers SHOULD be hard to use is totally missing the point of the benefit of computers."
I'm not insisting that computers be impossible for normal people to use. I'm simply pointing out that Parent's expectations that the computer will simply be able to make all of the choices for you is silly. But fundamentally you can't just expect computers do to it all for you without having SOME input, with flexibility and choices being inversely proportional to ease of use.
KISS
Individual empowerment is a great thing and being well rounded is important, but sometimes we are better off specializing and not trying to do everything for ourselves. Instead of trying to turn the PC into a "toaster" we might consider just making the toaster instead, and leaving the PC to those for whom making these choices is not a waste of time. To each his own.
"No, the real question is: if the average computer user in 50 is as clueless as today, will the computer be smart enough to help them figure out what they need to do? 50 years is plenty of time to develop a smarter computer that's relatively weak by the standards of it's time. If we have not done so by then, then programming and it's related fields are not progressing."
I call BS. It will never be feasible to anticipate everything possible thing user might want to do, nor would it be worth their time to try. The point is that ultimately computers are just tools that help people accomplish what they want to do. And, like any general purpose tool, a PC requires a certain amount of training and education simply because of its complexity.
OTOH there are simple computers all over the place that are only programmed to do one thing. They are immensely easy to use and reliable They are simple and relatively reliable precisely because they only engage in tasks that the designer intended them to do; that is they limit choice to certain predefined options. I'm thinking things like ATM's and certain consumer electronic devices.
The point is that fundamentally there is a trade of between complexity and easy of use.
If you want flexibility and the ability to innovate, then complexity and choice making is the price you have to pay, and that "price" is education.
Maybe most PC users today don't need that complexity, thats fine. They can have their Xbox, MSN TV, AOL for the PS/3 etc. The problem is that the PC is fundamentally a general purpose machine, and no matter how many help screens and dialogs you have, you will never be able to turn that general purpose PC into something as simple as your TiVO or Discman.
"Your solution is not simple (can your grandma set it up?)"
No, but under his solution grandma isn't supposed to set it up, it's the ISP that does. The problem with SPAM isn't that we get some, (except maybe for the parent trying to filter porn) its the sheer volume of junk and the bandwidth it consumes.
I favor RMX records (with bayesian side client filters) because it requires the least amount of change to the system. It's is useful incrementally, so you don't have to upgrade the whole system at once. ISP's and users who use the system get benefits, but it doesn't break the system for those who do not add RMX records to their domain. Here is a good link, i believe it was sited in a recent slashdot story.
http://www.mikerubel.org/computers/rmx_records/
Stock options are supposed to align the goals of a company with the goals of management. Thus they have incentive to do what is best for shareholders, not just to pad their own salaries. What would you prefer to base the salary of the CEO types on?
Pardon my ignorance, but the terrorists/gorilla fighters the US is fighting are not signatories to the Geneva Convention(ie, they aren't a "real" army belonging to a signatory nation). As such does the US have to honor the convention with respect to forces that have not signed it and are not bound in any way by such convention?
What does the Geneva Convention say about this?
"Son, we are building execution machines in Guatanamo NOW. Courtesy of Haliburton. The ovens are firing up, and I am screaming NOW before they get the idea that I would make a nice souffle."
I'll agree with you about the softwood lumber tariff, but the BSE scare you must at least admit is slightly different. The US has a very large beef industry, and since the period from infection to symptoms is years, you can hardly fault the US government for wanting to wait. Does the US need to end the ban eventually, sure, but you can just say it was one animal and therefore it's no big deal, because it effects the price everyone else is paid. You have much the same situation with GMO crops between the US and EU.
The fall of the dollar has the effect of driving out foreign investment, not the other way around. What a low dollar would do is lower a trade deficit, all other things being equal. However, most of the US's trading partners have kept lowering their currency, thus the US isn't seeing much of a fall in the trade deficit.
I dare say that a lot of problems with the American society and education are more a problem of social expections and norms than a problem of insufficient resources.
"Who knows, maybe one day, democratic, affluent India and (dare I say it) China will be exporting their call-center and IT jobs back to the US."
"In the late '40s, a single blue-collar job could support a whole family."
Yes, but look at what our expectations were. How many cars did that family own, what about housing, carpet, furnishings, clothing, meals cooked and prepared by someone else (restaurants). It is still possible to support a family of 4 on one income, but dont expect a big screen TV, 3 cars, big house etc. I'm not saying that women entering the workforce didn't affect the labor pool, but let's have some honesty here
If most people used these technologies, then spam wouldnt be a problem, the problem is that many clueless isps and users don't like spam, but they haven't bothered to fight it much either.
No store will regularly be able to beat pricewatch.
Stores have overhead that website's don't have.
What stores offer is instant gratification that is hard for mail order type businesses to offer.
"The government is us and the private interests are corporations, not people."
Actually, both the govenment are corporations are a small group of people (government officials and management)exercising power on behalf of the larger group (citizens and shareholders).
"And sometimes I wish I could send people like you to a place where private interests are free to operate without government (people's) oversight...someplace like Afghanistan where warlords operate their private fiefdoms similarly to the old feudal system. That's what pure private property rights gets you."
See, you have it backwards. What the prior poster is arguing against is a tragedy of the commons. Rule of law (government) NEEDS to exist to enforce the private property, or you have anarchy. Which is what you have in afghanistan, not private property. The problems there stem from the fact that the government has not been able to effectively enforce said private property rights. Lawslessness prevails.
Government has to exist, i don't think the property rights people are arguing that, but they don't what the govenment owning everything, because that gives the government even more power than it needs to do its defined job. (which, in the vein of the previous poster, is to guarantee individual rights.) Yet another arguement in the social balance controversy.
" I did acknowledge in my post that it is possible to create wealth. But this only accounts for part of a rich man's fortune, and I would argue that it is a relatively small part in most cases."
It's the only fair metric to use if you think it is totally justified for the US to produce and consume more than anyone else whilst raping the planet senseless. Which, I think you will find, most non-US citizens do not.
Well what metric would you prefer we use then?
per capita discriminates against countries that have already traded higher population growth (or any growth at all) for a higher standard of living.
Its not that they are using so much more, but their (relative) population is lower.
No matter what you pick as a metric, you can argue about its percieved fairness.
At someone taking a class on introductory statistical modeling, what you are saying rings very true. "The earth is warming", isn't a good reason to adopt Kyoto. The question is, what damage would be done with vs. without Kyoto (net benefits), and what are the costs of actually implementing it.
Slashdot Mirror
DUPE! dupe dupe, dupe of earl, dupe dupe, dupe of earl...
Oh, I'm also interested in what environmental laws Bush has relaxed, if you have some reliable information on that I would like to see it. I'm genuinely curious.
WHAT??!! If anything, the right-wing types are the ones talking about "liberating and democratizing" the middle east. Your steriotype is 180 degrees out of phase.
Actually, there was a big congressional battle in the US about whether the reconstruction money show be a grant or loan. Congressional Democrats and some moderate Republicans wanted the majority of the money to be in the form of loans, which would need to be paid back. The Bush administration wanted the money to be grants since they were asking other countries to forgive debt, it would be a little nonsensical to make the US money loans. (Even if the other countries loaned it to a fallen dictator) The point was that it wouldn't be kosher to ask others to do something that the US wasn't willing to do. Obviously oil exports would be one way for Iraq to pay of those loans. Now the France and Germany are saying that they are willing to forgive debt, I'm willing to bet that Bush may let them bid on some of these contracts. Basically, he used the capture of Saddam and the contract bids to leverage the forgiveness of Iraqi debt. That's how it looks to me anyways.
KISS Individual empowerment is a great thing and being well rounded is important, but sometimes we are better off specializing and not trying to do everything for ourselves. Instead of trying to turn the PC into a "toaster" we might consider just making the toaster instead, and leaving the PC to those for whom making these choices is not a waste of time. To each his own.
I call BS. It will never be feasible to anticipate everything possible thing user might want to do, nor would it be worth their time to try. The point is that ultimately computers are just tools that help people accomplish what they want to do. And, like any general purpose tool, a PC requires a certain amount of training and education simply because of its complexity.
OTOH there are simple computers all over the place that are only programmed to do one thing. They are immensely easy to use and reliable They are simple and relatively reliable precisely because they only engage in tasks that the designer intended them to do; that is they limit choice to certain predefined options. I'm thinking things like ATM's and certain consumer electronic devices.
The point is that fundamentally there is a trade of between complexity and easy of use. If you want flexibility and the ability to innovate, then complexity and choice making is the price you have to pay, and that "price" is education.
Maybe most PC users today don't need that complexity, thats fine. They can have their Xbox, MSN TV, AOL for the PS/3 etc. The problem is that the PC is fundamentally a general purpose machine, and no matter how many help screens and dialogs you have, you will never be able to turn that general purpose PC into something as simple as your TiVO or Discman.
No, but under his solution grandma isn't supposed to set it up, it's the ISP that does. The problem with SPAM isn't that we get some, (except maybe for the parent trying to filter porn) its the sheer volume of junk and the bandwidth it consumes. I favor RMX records (with bayesian side client filters) because it requires the least amount of change to the system. It's is useful incrementally, so you don't have to upgrade the whole system at once. ISP's and users who use the system get benefits, but it doesn't break the system for those who do not add RMX records to their domain. Here is a good link, i believe it was sited in a recent slashdot story. http://www.mikerubel.org/computers/rmx_records/
Read the article again, they are specifically forbidden from doing any such thing. Go and break those rules tech support!!
Stock options are supposed to align the goals of a company with the goals of management. Thus they have incentive to do what is best for shareholders, not just to pad their own salaries. What would you prefer to base the salary of the CEO types on?
But are they protected by the Endangered Species Act if they are not native to the US? *grin*
Pardon my ignorance, but the terrorists/gorilla fighters the US is fighting are not signatories to the Geneva Convention(ie, they aren't a "real" army belonging to a signatory nation). As such does the US have to honor the convention with respect to forces that have not signed it and are not bound in any way by such convention? What does the Geneva Convention say about this?
Care to back that one up????
... Adjusts tinfoil hat.....
The fall of the dollar has the effect of driving out foreign investment, not the other way around. What a low dollar would do is lower a trade deficit, all other things being equal. However, most of the US's trading partners have kept lowering their currency, thus the US isn't seeing much of a fall in the trade deficit.
"Who knows, maybe one day, democratic, affluent India and (dare I say it) China will be exporting their call-center and IT jobs back to the US."
Yes, but look at what our expectations were.
How many cars did that family own, what about housing, carpet, furnishings, clothing, meals cooked and prepared by someone else (restaurants).
It is still possible to support a family of 4 on one income, but dont expect a big screen TV, 3 cars, big house etc.
I'm not saying that women entering the workforce didn't affect the labor pool, but let's have some honesty here
If most people used these technologies, then spam wouldnt be a problem, the problem is that many clueless isps and users don't like spam, but they haven't bothered to fight it much either.
No store will regularly be able to beat pricewatch. Stores have overhead that website's don't have. What stores offer is instant gratification that is hard for mail order type businesses to offer.
Well i dont know, do they?? Have you ever used redhat's "enterprise support"?
When did Redhat do that??
Actually, both the govenment are corporations are a small group of people (government officials and management)exercising power on behalf of the larger group (citizens and shareholders).
"And sometimes I wish I could send people like you to a place where private interests are free to operate without government (people's) oversight...someplace like Afghanistan where warlords operate their private fiefdoms similarly to the old feudal system. That's what pure private property rights gets you."
See, you have it backwards. What the prior poster is arguing against is a tragedy of the commons. Rule of law (government) NEEDS to exist to enforce the private property, or you have anarchy. Which is what you have in afghanistan, not private property. The problems there stem from the fact that the government has not been able to effectively enforce said private property rights. Lawslessness prevails. Government has to exist, i don't think the property rights people are arguing that, but they don't what the govenment owning everything, because that gives the government even more power than it needs to do its defined job. (which, in the vein of the previous poster, is to guarantee individual rights.) Yet another arguement in the social balance controversy.
Care to back that up with some statistics??
Read "The Road to Serfdom". F.A. Hayek
Well what metric would you prefer we use then? per capita discriminates against countries that have already traded higher population growth (or any growth at all) for a higher standard of living. Its not that they are using so much more, but their (relative) population is lower. No matter what you pick as a metric, you can argue about its percieved fairness.
At someone taking a class on introductory statistical modeling, what you are saying rings very true. "The earth is warming", isn't a good reason to adopt Kyoto. The question is, what damage would be done with vs. without Kyoto (net benefits), and what are the costs of actually implementing it.