Indeed... we are animals like all the rest no different than the others save we live in a sea of language and all that entails. Once we expand the ability of these other beings to communicate in a rich language space the differences get shockingly small. Koko loves kitty, want good banana. Koko is beautiful gorilla. Not human, but so close its scary, particularly when uneducated poachers are slaughtering gorillas for trinkets, their hands and feet and sometimes bush meat. In this sitatoin, who is the wild beast and who is the intelligent species indeed?
Not sure if you realize this but you have it Bass Ackwards. An incorrect definition of tool was originally defined on the presumption that only human beings had the mental chops to reorganize their environment using rational capability and tools. With growing research we find that a number of species demonstrate a native and shocking intelligence comparable if not equal to human beings. The late great African Grey Parrot, Alex had the intellectual development of a 5 year child, and could perform simple math, make logical deductions, understood symbolic representation and could identify by name several dozen distinct items in his play space.
Elephants, Cetaceans, Birds (specifically parrots, crows and jays), higher primates (i.e great apes), and cephalopods (and to a lesser degree wild dogs, cats and pigs) demonstrate a wide variety of traits indicating high intelligence including language, symbolic reference, puzzle/problem solving, invention, tools making and using, strategy and superb long term memory. More than a couple of these animals already qualify as sentient, it would be an exiting project to bring all of these species to full intellectual development, we know the genes responsible for taking us from ape to man. It seems to me, having distinctly different but equal intelligences working with us, could prove to be very useful. Particularly in diverse colonies off world. if we're going to preserve consciousness why stop with just our own, and if there are wiser beings watching us, waiting for us to demonstrate some semblance of social maturity, wouldn't such an act demonstrate our good intentions? Our growing maturity and responsibility? All interesting ideas.
What's the old proverb? Don't shit where you eat! Would seem the folks in charge haven't heard it. We strip mine the oceans at the same time we use them for toilets. That's okay, the jellyfish are gonna do really well. They have put up with every cataclysm for most of the last billion years, We aren't even a speed bump in that kind of biological staying power. Other ocean going species will have a harder time of it.
Sorry guys, but you need to park that expanded self opinion someplace. Life on the planet is just fine. Hell, after the big asteroid hit, the earth was blasted, smothered, roasted, frozen, and left in the dark for month or years. Ten million years later an the diversity was extraordinary. We're the endangered species, and yeah we'll take out a slew of vertebrates with us.
Yeah, here a map to an area outside San Bernadino, with tract house built DIRECTLY ON the San Andreas fault. In fact here's a site, and you can travel over the entire Google Map with the San Andreas fault superimposed on the map here.
I'm pretty sure if they're willing to sell you a 3 bedroom delux ranch style sitting on the San Adreas fault, pretty much anything goes
Indeed, those silly liberals and their global warming and evolution... why are we even talking about that when real issues, conservative issues, like protecting sperm cells from morning after pills and preparing for the Rapture demand all of our immediate attention!!!
Sorry if that stings... point I'm trying to make is that the blind adherence to ideology based less on information, and more on protecting some beloved epistemology, is not logic, is not rational, and it doesn't mean just because you kowtow to the Laffer Curve every morning that you are somehow better informed or less superstitious than a whole bunch of other people.
The worlds a big place, there's plenty of room for points of view, in fact if you consider each point of view lives inside a perfectly valid perspective, just not necessarily yours, you can discover a great deal. You can see some things very well from some perspectives, and other things not so much. That's why its good to listen to a lot of people from different points of view and hear what they have to say. Many views are richer and clearer than just one, that's logic. If all you have to say is I'm right and you're wrong, then thank you, you make it abundantly clear and obvious that your point of view is noise and not signal. Try letting a little fresh air into that head, let some of that funk out.
By the way, this goes equally to liberal zealots, religious zealots, pretty much zealots as a whole. The whole us vs them mentality, is stupid arguing for its own existence, and the tool that has been used to manipulate the American public with great efficiency for the last 30 years. You would think people would begin to notice getting their chains yanked that way, but no, the unwashed masses just keep knee-jerking. It would be entertaining if it wasn't so pitiful.
This is a ruse. As was terrorism. The executive branch is now pretty much a complete second government, answerable to nobody save the president, and nowadays, I'm not at all certain the President isn't given his morning orders just like everyone else. Which begs the question, who's actually calling the shots, but I'll leave that to brighter minds than mine.
Those in charge are tightening a noose, and make no mistake our collective necks are just now feeling the pinch. Our Constitution hangs in tatter, and the Bill of Rights might as well be printed on toilet paper for all they're now worth. We can stand here, watching them building the wall brick by brick or we can all stand up and shout "Mr. Obama, tear down this wall!!!"
The issue is and has always been magnitude. Human beings are just piss poor at gauging real threat. We gobble up oat bran then pack burgers away like they're going out of style. Silly Rabbit... We worry obsessively about terrorism, something that's killed what, 10,000 U.S, citizens maybe in the last century? By the way, this isn't to ignore the fact there are places like Israel where terrorism is a real problem (both the terrorism coming in and going out.) Then we shake in our boots over air travel (the safest means to get from here to there) and are blithely mowed down by the hundreds of thousands by our cars and driving through traffic
The universe is a real threat and its worth the ridiculously small investment globally to protect ourselves from the worst possible extinction threats. That said, global climate change threatens to; devastate our infrastructure, food availability, promote the spread of tropical diseases, impact global political and economic stability and change the very shape of the land we live on. Over then next century humanity will choose whether to live on primarily land or water. Threats from deep space are a popcorn fart in a hurricane by comparison. We need to stop being lead by our phobias and begin getting straight about what we're facing as a collection of cultures and as a species.
To paraphrase Dickens, "It is the best of times, it is the worst of times..." We stand at the crossroads and only sane, sober, logical choices will now call the day. Its time to forget about the boogeymen. Slap or governments back into shape. And most important, inform the wealthy and powerful that in the face of threatened billions, their wealth and power are delusions. Dangerous delusions. Its time to do what is best for all of us, and not a vanish few who think the world is their oyster.
Hydro has been investigated to death. It will never provide more than a fraction of the nation's power needs and has significant environmental problems of its own. There are a huge number of exciting energy and fresh water technologies showing up. Great ideas that beginning to not only look feasible, but profitable. Check out this month's article on Cold Fusion in Discover magazine. It seems a number of breakthroughs in CF including a theory as to what is actually happening is getting a very good reception from applied physicists. There is solid evidence that anchored lighter than air win turbines could harvest 100x more power than ground based wind turbines. Solar cells have passed 33% efficiency, and new technologies promise cheap ubiquitous solar collection on an infinitude of surfaces. OTECs placed around the world in deep water along the equator could produce huge electrical energy, vast amounts of fresh water, and equally vast supplies of seafood (diverse ocean based aquiculture.) This doesn't even mention that being on the equator, they would be perfect launch sites for space traffic. We can even take the energy we produce now and us it to generate hydrogen, methanol, and petroleum directly from water and CO2 in the atmosphere giving us unlimited supplies of carbon neutral fuel. By the way, anyone who's worked with sodium hydroxide knows how much water is can suck out of the air. Solar powered portable water supplies wll soon be sent to the driest places in Africa to save millions of lives. When we look for solutions to making the world a richer place, rather than how can "I" enrich "Myself" to the world's detriment, we all become richer.
We now have the means in our grasp to resolve the many problems facing humanity, however it would demand giving up petty political bickering, religious conflict, national self interest, but most of all prying the white knuckled, crypt keeper death grip of the bankers and mega-corporations from our governments and and financial resources. A very few men of vision and courage, backed by global regions and working in concert could forever transform what was possible for being human, but we'd all have to stop being obsessed with our pasts or some silly apocalypse and focus instead on the future. Perhaps even a future worth living in for all people.
Crack it loose, and tug boat it to north Africa... no storms!, at the same time you can just let the depressed neighborhoods break off (wink,nod) and there's your urban renewal all in one shot!
First person to laugh at Ghengis when he repeats your Rooti Tooti Fresh and Fruiti order finds out how hard it is to get a waffle iron out of the back of your throat!
I had a long conversation with a man I consider brilliant (at least in the area of causing people to be extraordinary.) I listened to him speak about "Being Nice" as distinct from being gracious or compassionate. We (most folks) be nice so people will like us, so people will think well of us, as a function of social survival. The people who're truly dedicated to the greatness of others, are to a person, not nice. Watch professional coaches, when they need to be supportive they are, when the need to apply brute force to knock the crap loose, they do, when the thing that is required to make a difference is, in your face rage, they will be in your face shouting. The funny thing is that nice people garner like. The hard-ass straight-up people who would rather take a spit in the eye and make you rise to the occasion than all the kind words under heaven, garner rabid dedication and respect.
We've raised a generation of young people who are for the most part spoon fed, almost utterly protected from concerns about self esteem, in a world wrapped in nerf and sanitized for their convenience. That was very nice for this generation of adults, but I'm not at all certain we've done our children or our society any great favors. Perhaps its easier when you make people dependent on authority, so they acquiesce as a matter of habit, herd animals. Personally I think there is healthy place between crazed individualists and social drones. I fear we aren't currently at anything resembling the sweet spot.
You think the number of reporters, journalists, and news writers in the United States is fewer than 10,000? I thought I was understating by perhaps an order of magnitude.
Actually some woods burn much better than others. Certain corks and barks are terrible at burning. One might also consider a composite, a laminate of wood and biodegradable plastics that would be light, very strong, and function well in a server environment. One would need to include a foil layer inside for noise isolation and conductive pads for grounding, but other than that, its doable.
One other possibility might be a wood/carbon fiber/polymer paste that can be cured into a super hard, light, biodegradable material. The cool part is that you could 3D print your computer chassis. Imagine all the cool (literally cool) exotic passive and active subsystems you could incorporate into a printed chassis. This would be a very exciting possibility. Hmmm maybe I just came up with this summers Maker Project!
This is the price of allowing 10,000 independent journalistic voices to be consolidated into 2 or 4 mega-media-conglomerates who's infotainment is supposed to pass for a free and responsible forth column. What we now call news is to free journalism, what the grocery weekend throw away is to journalistic press. The current media is selling you ideas and opinions. It is paid for and owned by its corporate sponsors, so they will be the source of your information. Anyone who isn't getting news from outside of the United States (and from diverse sources) would be better served reading their toilet paper, in the end it will perform the same job.
Nobody who reads "REALITY" is by any means surprised by any of this, or the really shocking things our government is doing. In the debates, where were the questions regarding the gutting of the constitution or the fact that the President now has a license to kill? Where were the questions about the government printing trillions of dollars to "FAKE" the existence of an economy? Or even the questions about all our trade partners quietly working out new trade routes that exclude the use of dollars? Boys and girls, the fan and the schist are on the verge of close embrace, and ours news hasn't bothered to mention our emperor is prancing about buck nekid!!! I hope y'all have your emergency supplies well stocked... I suggest dehydrated food myself.
After suing the appropriate folks £1990 for gross negligence and improper handling of vital personal records, the cost will still ultimately be £10 for the documents.
This is a classic red herring. Yes, some entitlements on the backs of a middle class in decline need to be revisited and some are just silly. The problem is that the most egregious entitlements are going to administrators, people who already have retirements in hundreds of thousands of dollars (some even in the millions... see UC Regents.) Mostly, people in the public sector have basic pensions. This only an affront now because American Corporations disappeared the existence of pensions in the private sector in the 80s. Up until then it was normal for a person to spend 20-30 years working with the same company, and for that company by giving that employee a reasonable retirement.
In the 80s corporations gave up any idea of loyalty or obligation to their workers and turned them into a simple resource like any other raw material to used and discarded at will. So now workers are saying "Why should these people get pensions when I don't have one?" Its a good question. The answer is that that wealthy people at the top of the financial pyramid are enjoying your pension. The some of several thousand of those pensions bought one person a lovely home in the Hamptons and another a 120 foot yacht. So by all means push that government worker over the edge and illiminate their pensions. It will allow the Republicans to cut taxes and ultimately feed that saving to the same wealthy folks who are now enjoying your pensions, why shouldn't they have them all.
Or maybe instead, its time to demand your pension back. Demand that corporations treat their employees like human beings who might have some additional life worth living after they retire.
Yeah, but if you have to hold down a full time job, then your school is hurting. Worse, if you have to commute, have a relationship... you're just doomed. You should go to school when you're going to school and if you're trying to feed yourself, cloth yourself and keep a roof over your head at the same time, I can imagine the vast majority of people failing out very early in the game. This is particularly so with the insane tuitions now being charges and I don't see them going down any time in the foreseeable future.
I'm sorry but the problem you're describing is a cultural one and not the problem with schools affirmative action. The public schools are failing everyone almost equally. Sadly, our media has made our young men great consumers, pandering to what tickles their ADHD fancies, but its not saying stay in school, get a good education, become a scientist or and engineer. Look at "Jersey Shores" the message is clear, be a big stupid mook, listen to hip hop, party and get drunk all night every night, and score as many dumb chicks as you can bag and make millions of dollars.
Don't blame girls for being more mature and responsible (its that whole parenting thing...) women know that whatever happens, when the babies come, they will be holding the bag, and so we are wired to take care of business. The only thing tying men down is culture, and our culture has gotten messed up by appealing to their bassist instincts to sell them products.
Helping the underdog isn't and will never be a bad thing. You just have to make sure that as the underdog changes, the new guy on the bottom gets a fair shot as well.
Wait a minute, so you say you got viscously mauled by the school loan system. And now, at a time when we desperately need more engineers and scientists, you're saying you're good with letting the next generation get mauled to death (and make no mistake, between the banks, the fact you can't default on an educational loan, and the fact that Universities have turned getting a degree into a very lucrative business... at least for the regents)... you're saying we should just cannibalize the entire next generations middle class and sell them into indentured servitude for the duration of their entire working lives.
Bravo, well done. the fact that you sold your first born seems to indicate you're intent to sell everyone elses as well. Hey we gotta get past this "Got mine, 'F' the rest of y'all" mentality. Besides being just creepy, when things get really bad here (and we are running this train off the rails as we speak), the rest of the world is just gonna point and shake their heads as we lay here and bleed. Growing a conscience, might not be such a bad idea, eh?
Slashdot Mirror
Indeed... we are animals like all the rest no different than the others save we live in a sea of language and all that entails. Once we expand the ability of these other beings to communicate in a rich language space the differences get shockingly small. Koko loves kitty, want good banana. Koko is beautiful gorilla. Not human, but so close its scary, particularly when uneducated poachers are slaughtering gorillas for trinkets, their hands and feet and sometimes bush meat. In this sitatoin, who is the wild beast and who is the intelligent species indeed?
Not sure if you realize this but you have it Bass Ackwards. An incorrect definition of tool was originally defined on the presumption that only human beings had the mental chops to reorganize their environment using rational capability and tools. With growing research we find that a number of species demonstrate a native and shocking intelligence comparable if not equal to human beings. The late great African Grey Parrot, Alex had the intellectual development of a 5 year child, and could perform simple math, make logical deductions, understood symbolic representation and could identify by name several dozen distinct items in his play space.
Elephants, Cetaceans, Birds (specifically parrots, crows and jays), higher primates (i.e great apes), and cephalopods (and to a lesser degree wild dogs, cats and pigs) demonstrate a wide variety of traits indicating high intelligence including language, symbolic reference, puzzle/problem solving, invention, tools making and using, strategy and superb long term memory. More than a couple of these animals already qualify as sentient, it would be an exiting project to bring all of these species to full intellectual development, we know the genes responsible for taking us from ape to man. It seems to me, having distinctly different but equal intelligences working with us, could prove to be very useful. Particularly in diverse colonies off world. if we're going to preserve consciousness why stop with just our own, and if there are wiser beings watching us, waiting for us to demonstrate some semblance of social maturity, wouldn't such an act demonstrate our good intentions? Our growing maturity and responsibility? All interesting ideas.
Its krill or be krilled
What's the old proverb? Don't shit where you eat! Would seem the folks in charge haven't heard it. We strip mine the oceans at the same time we use them for toilets. That's okay, the jellyfish are gonna do really well. They have put up with every cataclysm for most of the last billion years, We aren't even a speed bump in that kind of biological staying power. Other ocean going species will have a harder time of it.
Infinite minus 5...
Sorry guys, but you need to park that expanded self opinion someplace. Life on the planet is just fine. Hell, after the big asteroid hit, the earth was blasted, smothered, roasted, frozen, and left in the dark for month or years. Ten million years later an the diversity was extraordinary. We're the endangered species, and yeah we'll take out a slew of vertebrates with us.
Yeah, here a map to an area outside San Bernadino, with tract house built DIRECTLY ON the San Andreas fault. In fact here's a site, and you can travel over the entire Google Map with the San Andreas fault superimposed on the map here.
I'm pretty sure if they're willing to sell you a 3 bedroom delux ranch style sitting on the San Adreas fault, pretty much anything goes
Fill the skyscrapers with helium to lift Manhattan Island!!!
Indeed, those silly liberals and their global warming and evolution... why are we even talking about that when real issues, conservative issues, like protecting sperm cells from morning after pills and preparing for the Rapture demand all of our immediate attention!!!
Sorry if that stings... point I'm trying to make is that the blind adherence to ideology based less on information, and more on protecting some beloved epistemology, is not logic, is not rational, and it doesn't mean just because you kowtow to the Laffer Curve every morning that you are somehow better informed or less superstitious than a whole bunch of other people.
The worlds a big place, there's plenty of room for points of view, in fact if you consider each point of view lives inside a perfectly valid perspective, just not necessarily yours, you can discover a great deal. You can see some things very well from some perspectives, and other things not so much. That's why its good to listen to a lot of people from different points of view and hear what they have to say. Many views are richer and clearer than just one, that's logic. If all you have to say is I'm right and you're wrong, then thank you, you make it abundantly clear and obvious that your point of view is noise and not signal. Try letting a little fresh air into that head, let some of that funk out.
By the way, this goes equally to liberal zealots, religious zealots, pretty much zealots as a whole. The whole us vs them mentality, is stupid arguing for its own existence, and the tool that has been used to manipulate the American public with great efficiency for the last 30 years. You would think people would begin to notice getting their chains yanked that way, but no, the unwashed masses just keep knee-jerking. It would be entertaining if it wasn't so pitiful.
This is a ruse. As was terrorism. The executive branch is now pretty much a complete second government, answerable to nobody save the president, and nowadays, I'm not at all certain the President isn't given his morning orders just like everyone else. Which begs the question, who's actually calling the shots, but I'll leave that to brighter minds than mine.
Those in charge are tightening a noose, and make no mistake our collective necks are just now feeling the pinch. Our Constitution hangs in tatter, and the Bill of Rights might as well be printed on toilet paper for all they're now worth. We can stand here, watching them building the wall brick by brick or we can all stand up and shout "Mr. Obama, tear down this wall!!!"
The issue is and has always been magnitude. Human beings are just piss poor at gauging real threat. We gobble up oat bran then pack burgers away like they're going out of style. Silly Rabbit... We worry obsessively about terrorism, something that's killed what, 10,000 U.S, citizens maybe in the last century? By the way, this isn't to ignore the fact there are places like Israel where terrorism is a real problem (both the terrorism coming in and going out.) Then we shake in our boots over air travel (the safest means to get from here to there) and are blithely mowed down by the hundreds of thousands by our cars and driving through traffic
The universe is a real threat and its worth the ridiculously small investment globally to protect ourselves from the worst possible extinction threats. That said, global climate change threatens to; devastate our infrastructure, food availability, promote the spread of tropical diseases, impact global political and economic stability and change the very shape of the land we live on. Over then next century humanity will choose whether to live on primarily land or water. Threats from deep space are a popcorn fart in a hurricane by comparison. We need to stop being lead by our phobias and begin getting straight about what we're facing as a collection of cultures and as a species.
To paraphrase Dickens, "It is the best of times, it is the worst of times..." We stand at the crossroads and only sane, sober, logical choices will now call the day. Its time to forget about the boogeymen. Slap or governments back into shape. And most important, inform the wealthy and powerful that in the face of threatened billions, their wealth and power are delusions. Dangerous delusions. Its time to do what is best for all of us, and not a vanish few who think the world is their oyster.
Hydro has been investigated to death. It will never provide more than a fraction of the nation's power needs and has significant environmental problems of its own. There are a huge number of exciting energy and fresh water technologies showing up. Great ideas that beginning to not only look feasible, but profitable. Check out this month's article on Cold Fusion in Discover magazine. It seems a number of breakthroughs in CF including a theory as to what is actually happening is getting a very good reception from applied physicists. There is solid evidence that anchored lighter than air win turbines could harvest 100x more power than ground based wind turbines. Solar cells have passed 33% efficiency, and new technologies promise cheap ubiquitous solar collection on an infinitude of surfaces. OTECs placed around the world in deep water along the equator could produce huge electrical energy, vast amounts of fresh water, and equally vast supplies of seafood (diverse ocean based aquiculture.) This doesn't even mention that being on the equator, they would be perfect launch sites for space traffic. We can even take the energy we produce now and us it to generate hydrogen, methanol, and petroleum directly from water and CO2 in the atmosphere giving us unlimited supplies of carbon neutral fuel. By the way, anyone who's worked with sodium hydroxide knows how much water is can suck out of the air. Solar powered portable water supplies wll soon be sent to the driest places in Africa to save millions of lives. When we look for solutions to making the world a richer place, rather than how can "I" enrich "Myself" to the world's detriment, we all become richer.
We now have the means in our grasp to resolve the many problems facing humanity, however it would demand giving up petty political bickering, religious conflict, national self interest, but most of all prying the white knuckled, crypt keeper death grip of the bankers and mega-corporations from our governments and and financial resources. A very few men of vision and courage, backed by global regions and working in concert could forever transform what was possible for being human, but we'd all have to stop being obsessed with our pasts or some silly apocalypse and focus instead on the future. Perhaps even a future worth living in for all people.
Crack it loose, and tug boat it to north Africa... no storms!, at the same time you can just let the depressed neighborhoods break off (wink,nod) and there's your urban renewal all in one shot!
First person to laugh at Ghengis when he repeats your Rooti Tooti Fresh and Fruiti order finds out how hard it is to get a waffle iron out of the back of your throat!
All that raping and pillaging! Who knew all he wanted was a decent strawberry syrup!!!
That Darwin's moldering corpse would make a better representative than Paul Broun.
I had a long conversation with a man I consider brilliant (at least in the area of causing people to be extraordinary.) I listened to him speak about "Being Nice" as distinct from being gracious or compassionate. We (most folks) be nice so people will like us, so people will think well of us, as a function of social survival. The people who're truly dedicated to the greatness of others, are to a person, not nice. Watch professional coaches, when they need to be supportive they are, when the need to apply brute force to knock the crap loose, they do, when the thing that is required to make a difference is, in your face rage, they will be in your face shouting. The funny thing is that nice people garner like. The hard-ass straight-up people who would rather take a spit in the eye and make you rise to the occasion than all the kind words under heaven, garner rabid dedication and respect.
We've raised a generation of young people who are for the most part spoon fed, almost utterly protected from concerns about self esteem, in a world wrapped in nerf and sanitized for their convenience. That was very nice for this generation of adults, but I'm not at all certain we've done our children or our society any great favors. Perhaps its easier when you make people dependent on authority, so they acquiesce as a matter of habit, herd animals. Personally I think there is healthy place between crazed individualists and social drones. I fear we aren't currently at anything resembling the sweet spot.
You think the number of reporters, journalists, and news writers in the United States is fewer than 10,000? I thought I was understating by perhaps an order of magnitude.
Actually some woods burn much better than others. Certain corks and barks are terrible at burning. One might also consider a composite, a laminate of wood and biodegradable plastics that would be light, very strong, and function well in a server environment. One would need to include a foil layer inside for noise isolation and conductive pads for grounding, but other than that, its doable.
One other possibility might be a wood/carbon fiber/polymer paste that can be cured into a super hard, light, biodegradable material. The cool part is that you could 3D print your computer chassis. Imagine all the cool (literally cool) exotic passive and active subsystems you could incorporate into a printed chassis. This would be a very exciting possibility. Hmmm maybe I just came up with this summers Maker Project!
This is the price of allowing 10,000 independent journalistic voices to be consolidated into 2 or 4 mega-media-conglomerates who's infotainment is supposed to pass for a free and responsible forth column. What we now call news is to free journalism, what the grocery weekend throw away is to journalistic press. The current media is selling you ideas and opinions. It is paid for and owned by its corporate sponsors, so they will be the source of your information. Anyone who isn't getting news from outside of the United States (and from diverse sources) would be better served reading their toilet paper, in the end it will perform the same job.
Nobody who reads "REALITY" is by any means surprised by any of this, or the really shocking things our government is doing. In the debates, where were the questions regarding the gutting of the constitution or the fact that the President now has a license to kill? Where were the questions about the government printing trillions of dollars to "FAKE" the existence of an economy? Or even the questions about all our trade partners quietly working out new trade routes that exclude the use of dollars? Boys and girls, the fan and the schist are on the verge of close embrace, and ours news hasn't bothered to mention our emperor is prancing about buck nekid!!! I hope y'all have your emergency supplies well stocked... I suggest dehydrated food myself.
After suing the appropriate folks £1990 for gross negligence and improper handling of vital personal records, the cost will still ultimately be £10 for the documents.
This is a classic red herring. Yes, some entitlements on the backs of a middle class in decline need to be revisited and some are just silly. The problem is that the most egregious entitlements are going to administrators, people who already have retirements in hundreds of thousands of dollars (some even in the millions... see UC Regents.) Mostly, people in the public sector have basic pensions. This only an affront now because American Corporations disappeared the existence of pensions in the private sector in the 80s. Up until then it was normal for a person to spend 20-30 years working with the same company, and for that company by giving that employee a reasonable retirement.
In the 80s corporations gave up any idea of loyalty or obligation to their workers and turned them into a simple resource like any other raw material to used and discarded at will. So now workers are saying "Why should these people get pensions when I don't have one?" Its a good question. The answer is that that wealthy people at the top of the financial pyramid are enjoying your pension. The some of several thousand of those pensions bought one person a lovely home in the Hamptons and another a 120 foot yacht. So by all means push that government worker over the edge and illiminate their pensions. It will allow the Republicans to cut taxes and ultimately feed that saving to the same wealthy folks who are now enjoying your pensions, why shouldn't they have them all.
Or maybe instead, its time to demand your pension back. Demand that corporations treat their employees like human beings who might have some additional life worth living after they retire.
Yeah, but if you have to hold down a full time job, then your school is hurting. Worse, if you have to commute, have a relationship... you're just doomed. You should go to school when you're going to school and if you're trying to feed yourself, cloth yourself and keep a roof over your head at the same time, I can imagine the vast majority of people failing out very early in the game. This is particularly so with the insane tuitions now being charges and I don't see them going down any time in the foreseeable future.
I'm sorry but the problem you're describing is a cultural one and not the problem with schools affirmative action. The public schools are failing everyone almost equally. Sadly, our media has made our young men great consumers, pandering to what tickles their ADHD fancies, but its not saying stay in school, get a good education, become a scientist or and engineer. Look at "Jersey Shores" the message is clear, be a big stupid mook, listen to hip hop, party and get drunk all night every night, and score as many dumb chicks as you can bag and make millions of dollars.
Don't blame girls for being more mature and responsible (its that whole parenting thing...) women know that whatever happens, when the babies come, they will be holding the bag, and so we are wired to take care of business. The only thing tying men down is culture, and our culture has gotten messed up by appealing to their bassist instincts to sell them products.
Helping the underdog isn't and will never be a bad thing. You just have to make sure that as the underdog changes, the new guy on the bottom gets a fair shot as well.
Wait a minute, so you say you got viscously mauled by the school loan system. And now, at a time when we desperately need more engineers and scientists, you're saying you're good with letting the next generation get mauled to death (and make no mistake, between the banks, the fact you can't default on an educational loan, and the fact that Universities have turned getting a degree into a very lucrative business... at least for the regents)... you're saying we should just cannibalize the entire next generations middle class and sell them into indentured servitude for the duration of their entire working lives.
Bravo, well done. the fact that you sold your first born seems to indicate you're intent to sell everyone elses as well. Hey we gotta get past this "Got mine, 'F' the rest of y'all" mentality. Besides being just creepy, when things get really bad here (and we are running this train off the rails as we speak), the rest of the world is just gonna point and shake their heads as we lay here and bleed. Growing a conscience, might not be such a bad idea, eh?