I'll ask the same questions I posed to the Libertarian candidate:
Would you approve of, and what would you think would be the results of, the following election reforms:
1. Abolition of electoral college, president is elected by simple popular vote.
2. Federal mandate that electoral votes from a state be split proportional to the popular vote within that state. (e.g. if California splits 60-40 Kerry-Bush, then their electoral votes are split 60-40 as well). This helps move away from the very brittle "all or nothing" electoral system, where as few as 1 fraudulent or defrauded vote can change the outcome of the national election for president.
3. Constitutional amendment granting naturalised citizens the eligibility to run for president or vice president. This would allow for the 2008 ticket for the new political party, C.O.P. (Cast Of Predator) to field Arnold Schwartzeneggar and Jesse Venutra as their presidential ticket.
Lastly a question: is the democratic system as instituted in the United States hopelessly mired in a two-party stranglehold, leaving corporate interest in defacto charge of the discussion? Is legal election reform necessary, or even possible?
"Hey, Republicans, don't even bother worrying so much about getting to the voting booths. It's in the bag, as the polls show! So sit back and watch the returns on FOX news, don't bother yourself with voting!"
one part of me wants to say: why not? isn't this how all workers should be paid? at some point, the bidder will reach a price which is no longer worth it 'to them' and so they will go do something else. theoretically, lower worker wages should result in lower prices for everybody.
but the other part of me realizes: that (1) if business owner A can pay his workers less money, that usually means more profit for business owner A, not lower prices, especially in "non-competitive" fields for reasons of monopoly or necessity, and (2) most workers in the US at least are required to get specialized degrees, usually a 4-year degree, so it's not so easy to stop under-bidding and go find other work.
It is not necessarily the failure rate of "Windows", it is the failure rate of "Windows" as affected by running likely shoddily-written programs on it in non-user mode.
Re:I want to help the beatles
on
Beatles vs Apple
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· Score: 2, Funny
Total Votes: 65725 Chris Matthews %14 Zell Miller %86
I would vote Zell Miller, if for no other reason than that he apparently can call down fire and brimstone from the heavens to smite those who oppose him.
If you know a kid is going to steal a coke, is it okay to put poision in that coke?
I think a better analogy is: if you know a kid is going to steal a coke, is it okay to put laxatives in that coke, along with a sign on the coke saying "if you didn't pay for this it has laxatives in it"?
Would you approve of, and what would you think would be the results of, the following election reforms:
1. Abolition of electoral college, president is elected by simple popular vote.
2. Federal mandate that electoral votes from a state be split proportional to the popular vote within that state. (e.g. if California splits 60-40 Kerry-Bush, then their electoral votes are split 60-40 as well). This helps move away from the very brittle "all or nothing" electoral system, where as few as 1 fraudulent or defrauded vote can change the outcome of the national election for president.
3. Constitutional amendment granting naturalised citizens the eligibility to run for president or vice president. This would allow for the 2008 ticket for the new political party, C.O.P. (Cast Of Predator) to field Arnold Schwartzeneggar and Jesse Venutra as their presidential ticket.
Lastly a question: is the democratic system as instituted in the United States hopelessly mired in a two-party stranglehold, leaving corporate interest in defacto charge of the discussion? Is legal election reform necessary, or even possible?
here's a short page on import tariffs. I was talking about import tariffs for IP, not export tariffs, which are rare but they do exist. For example there is a US ad valorem export tariff on raw lumber of 5%.
The more I think about your comment, though, perhaps an export tariff on IP is a very interesting topic, which I have not actually even thought about. Thanks for an interesting perspective!
Another thing is, about "radiogram analysis" and "accounting data" -- they are not really IP, yet this type of "labor" is imported more and more. I'd be interested in ways of basic protectionism there -- not crippling, evil kinds of protectionism, just some basic fairness kinds of measures.
Tagline as it reads on IMDB: "Murder. Blackmail. Temptation. Redemption. It's been a busy week."
Tagline as it should read: "Murder. Blackmail. Temptation. Redemption. And J-Lo's Ass."
Reminds me of "Entrapment" starring Sean Connery and Xeta-Jones. The movie was so awful, so they kept showing shots of Xeta-Jones's derrier, as if to say, "yes, we know this movie is a pile of dog poo, but hey! here's another shot of Xeta-Jones's ass! don't ask for your money back, please..."
I've been working on the idea a bit for a couple of years (somewhere in my comment history it lurks, I am sure...).
One possible way to determine fair value for IP would be to auction the IP and see what the competitors would pay for it. E.g., how much would GM or VW pay for a new heat-resistent, low aerodynamic drag plastics formula that Ford researchers in [Country X] came up with? How much would Bayer pay for the new pharmacology study from Bristol-Meyers-Squibb researchers in [Country Y]?
For things like "looking at a radiogram and analysing it for fractures" we already know the market price -- it is what the average customer is paying. Right now, the hospitals and insurance companies are pocketing the difference.
That's the other thing with outsourcing. Is it really resulting in lower prices (which it has to do to not destroy the economy)?
several problems though, of course
on
Is IP Property?
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· Score: 1
enforcement being a chief one. how do you tariff what is ostensibly random FTP traffic, or what could be co-workers chatting on the phone about the latest cricket scores as much as what they think of the radiogram?
in the end it is about importing labor. not goods, not IP. but labor is not something which can be measured too accurately, and would be self-reported even less.
even so, such a measure would perhaps give corporate boardrooms something to think about when they are weighing the issue of outsourcing.
right now they are getting something for nothing by outsourcing -- large stockholders are (almost rightly) pushing for outsourcing to happen, as the labor savings can be quite large. right now the only pushbacks are things like quality, customer service ratings, and so on. if there were tariff cost pushbacks there could be some interesting discussions.
for example, if Ford wanted to outsource construction of its cars to Korea, the boardroom discussion would involve shipping costs, import duties, and so on, which eventually outweight the labor savings in some cases.
but if, for example, Ford wanted to outsource design or materials engineering of its cars to Korea, the boardroom discussion would not involve shipping costs, import duties, and so on. The primary discussion would be quality of designs and labor costs.
having it both ways
on
Is IP Property?
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· Score: 3, Insightful
to me it is more interesting that many law-makers want intellectual property treated as 'real' property for certain purposes, yet not treated as real property for others.
if IP were 'real' property it should be subject to value-based tariff when it enters the country. this might keep things like drug research, materials research, heck, analysing radiograms in the US instead of being exported as labor and imported as... thin air.
I'd be much more agreeable to strict IP laws if my 'real' job were treated with the same 'IP is real property' menality.
In the US, conservatives believe in a conservative interpretation of the Constitution, and liberals believe in a liberal interpretation of the Constitution. That's where the names come from. The stuff about corporations and people... most of that is the illusory side effect of our system of 2 political parties (Dem and Rep). It is convenient, but not entirely accurate, to call one liberal and the other conservative.
So... how do I take my existing NES cartridges and rip the ROM from them for legal emulation goodness? No matter how you slice it, downloading the ROMs from the internet is against the law (in the US at least), whether you own the cartridges or not. I'd like to rip my cartridges before they die completely.
# Incongruity between what might be expected and what actually occurs: "Hyde noted the irony of Ireland's copying the nation she most hated" (Richard Kain).
There are more ways to use irony than simply "The use of words to express something different from and often opposite to their literal meaning." One of my favorites, and a technique I employ quite often, is Socratic irony: "Profession of ignorance and of willingness to learn as one interrogates another on the meaning of a term."
Don't forget "situational" or "dramatic" irony, either.
when picking between 2 liars, it is bound to happen that a liar will win. so we pick the liar we dislike the least, because voting for the 3rd guy, even if he is a bastion of truth, increases the likelihood that the liar we dislike the most will win.
Slashdot Mirror
I'll ask the same questions I posed to the Libertarian candidate:
Would you approve of, and what would you think would be the results of, the following election reforms:
1. Abolition of electoral college, president is elected by simple popular vote.
2. Federal mandate that electoral votes from a state be split proportional to the popular vote within that state. (e.g. if California splits 60-40 Kerry-Bush, then their electoral votes are split 60-40 as well). This helps move away from the very brittle "all or nothing" electoral system, where as few as 1 fraudulent or defrauded vote can change the outcome of the national election for president.
3. Constitutional amendment granting naturalised citizens the eligibility to run for president or vice president. This would allow for the 2008 ticket for the new political party, C.O.P. (Cast Of Predator) to field Arnold Schwartzeneggar and Jesse Venutra as their presidential ticket.
Lastly a question: is the democratic system as instituted in the United States hopelessly mired in a two-party stranglehold, leaving corporate interest in defacto charge of the discussion? Is legal election reform necessary, or even possible?
... it won't play resident evil 4, so who cares anyway?
The Fork in the Road: A Political Morality Play in One Act
"Hey, Republicans, don't even bother worrying so much about getting to the voting booths. It's in the bag, as the polls show! So sit back and watch the returns on FOX news, don't bother yourself with voting!"
one part of me wants to say: why not? isn't this how all workers should be paid? at some point, the bidder will reach a price which is no longer worth it 'to them' and so they will go do something else. theoretically, lower worker wages should result in lower prices for everybody.
but the other part of me realizes: that (1) if business owner A can pay his workers less money, that usually means more profit for business owner A, not lower prices, especially in "non-competitive" fields for reasons of monopoly or necessity, and (2) most workers in the US at least are required to get specialized degrees, usually a 4-year degree, so it's not so easy to stop under-bidding and go find other work.
Shouldn't that read, they'll turn my name and address over as soon as the appropriate government agency comes with its subpoena?
I was actually thinking of changing ISPs anyway. A P2P-friendly ISP? Who woulda thunk it.
It is not necessarily the failure rate of "Windows", it is the failure rate of "Windows" as affected by running likely shoddily-written programs on it in non-user mode.
Yes, but Who would win the 'duel'?
Total Votes: 65725
Chris Matthews %14
Zell Miller %86
I would vote Zell Miller, if for no other reason than that he apparently can call down fire and brimstone from the heavens to smite those who oppose him.
If you know a kid is going to steal a coke, is it okay to put poision in that coke?
I think a better analogy is: if you know a kid is going to steal a coke, is it okay to put laxatives in that coke, along with a sign on the coke saying "if you didn't pay for this it has laxatives in it"?
Would you approve of, and what would you think would be the results of, the following election reforms:
1. Abolition of electoral college, president is elected by simple popular vote.
2. Federal mandate that electoral votes from a state be split proportional to the popular vote within that state. (e.g. if California splits 60-40 Kerry-Bush, then their electoral votes are split 60-40 as well). This helps move away from the very brittle "all or nothing" electoral system, where as few as 1 fraudulent or defrauded vote can change the outcome of the national election for president.
3. Constitutional amendment granting naturalised citizens the eligibility to run for president or vice president. This would allow for the 2008 ticket for the new political party, C.O.P. (Cast Of Predator) to field Arnold Schwartzeneggar and Jesse Venutra as their presidential ticket.
Lastly a question: is the democratic system as instituted in the United States hopelessly mired in a two-party stranglehold, leaving corporate interest in defacto charge of the discussion? Is legal election reform necessary, or even possible?
what is that dude doing to the giant penguin doll... that's just wrong...
and there he went and knocked the camera off its mount. sweet!
of course, all of this pre-supposes that tariffs (import or export) are things that should be done.
The Case For Free Trade of course offers another opinion.
here's a short page on import tariffs. I was talking about import tariffs for IP, not export tariffs, which are rare but they do exist. For example there is a US ad valorem export tariff on raw lumber of 5%.
The more I think about your comment, though, perhaps an export tariff on IP is a very interesting topic, which I have not actually even thought about. Thanks for an interesting perspective!
Another thing is, about "radiogram analysis" and "accounting data" -- they are not really IP, yet this type of "labor" is imported more and more. I'd be interested in ways of basic protectionism there -- not crippling, evil kinds of protectionism, just some basic fairness kinds of measures.
Warning, Gigli link.
Tagline as it reads on IMDB: "Murder. Blackmail. Temptation. Redemption. It's been a busy week."
Tagline as it should read: "Murder. Blackmail. Temptation. Redemption. And J-Lo's Ass."
Reminds me of "Entrapment" starring Sean Connery and Xeta-Jones. The movie was so awful, so they kept showing shots of Xeta-Jones's derrier, as if to say, "yes, we know this movie is a pile of dog poo, but hey! here's another shot of Xeta-Jones's ass! don't ask for your money back, please..."
I've been working on the idea a bit for a couple of years (somewhere in my comment history it lurks, I am sure...).
One possible way to determine fair value for IP would be to auction the IP and see what the competitors would pay for it. E.g., how much would GM or VW pay for a new heat-resistent, low aerodynamic drag plastics formula that Ford researchers in [Country X] came up with? How much would Bayer pay for the new pharmacology study from Bristol-Meyers-Squibb researchers in [Country Y]?
For things like "looking at a radiogram and analysing it for fractures" we already know the market price -- it is what the average customer is paying. Right now, the hospitals and insurance companies are pocketing the difference.
That's the other thing with outsourcing. Is it really resulting in lower prices (which it has to do to not destroy the economy)?
enforcement being a chief one. how do you tariff what is ostensibly random FTP traffic, or what could be co-workers chatting on the phone about the latest cricket scores as much as what they think of the radiogram?
in the end it is about importing labor. not goods, not IP. but labor is not something which can be measured too accurately, and would be self-reported even less.
even so, such a measure would perhaps give corporate boardrooms something to think about when they are weighing the issue of outsourcing.
right now they are getting something for nothing by outsourcing -- large stockholders are (almost rightly) pushing for outsourcing to happen, as the labor savings can be quite large. right now the only pushbacks are things like quality, customer service ratings, and so on. if there were tariff cost pushbacks there could be some interesting discussions.
for example, if Ford wanted to outsource construction of its cars to Korea, the boardroom discussion would involve shipping costs, import duties, and so on, which eventually outweight the labor savings in some cases.
but if, for example, Ford wanted to outsource design or materials engineering of its cars to Korea, the boardroom discussion would not involve shipping costs, import duties, and so on. The primary discussion would be quality of designs and labor costs.
Yes.
to me it is more interesting that many law-makers want intellectual property treated as 'real' property for certain purposes, yet not treated as real property for others.
if IP were 'real' property it should be subject to value-based tariff when it enters the country. this might keep things like drug research, materials research, heck, analysing radiograms in the US instead of being exported as labor and imported as... thin air.
I'd be much more agreeable to strict IP laws if my 'real' job were treated with the same 'IP is real property' menality.
In the US, conservatives believe in a conservative interpretation of the Constitution, and liberals believe in a liberal interpretation of the Constitution. That's where the names come from. The stuff about corporations and people... most of that is the illusory side effect of our system of 2 political parties (Dem and Rep). It is convenient, but not entirely accurate, to call one liberal and the other conservative.
So... how do I take my existing NES cartridges and rip the ROM from them for legal emulation goodness? No matter how you slice it, downloading the ROMs from the internet is against the law (in the US at least), whether you own the cartridges or not. I'd like to rip my cartridges before they die completely.
See this post for appropriate response.
There is indeed irony in quoting from one raving lunatic's website to rebut the statement's from another raving lunatic's website.
Er, what's ironic about about?
From Reference.com's search for 'irony':
# Incongruity between what might be expected and what actually occurs: "Hyde noted the irony of Ireland's copying the nation she most hated" (Richard Kain).
There are more ways to use irony than simply "The use of words to express something different from and often opposite to their literal meaning." One of my favorites, and a technique I employ quite often, is Socratic irony: "Profession of ignorance and of willingness to learn as one interrogates another on the meaning of a term."
Don't forget "situational" or "dramatic" irony, either.
what was edwards message? Sue your way to prosperity?
wow, you are sofa king clever. why aren't you working for FOX news?
stop rewarding the lies
when picking between 2 liars, it is bound to happen that a liar will win. so we pick the liar we dislike the least, because voting for the 3rd guy, even if he is a bastion of truth, increases the likelihood that the liar we dislike the most will win.