States are an (unfortunately decreasingly effective) barrier against tyranny. Concentrated political power is a bad thing, and states diffuse power. States also serve as alpha testing sites, where stupid ideas can ruin just one state instead of ruining the whole nation.
Building roads ? Historically government has been the best way to do this...
In cities, roads historically were created by the passage of people and other animals, and wheeled vehicles, over dirt. Government only became involved when roads started to be paved. The same was also true of roads between cities, although some post roads were established by the government. Only with the popularity of automobiles did state and eventually federal government become the dominant force in large scale road projects. There's really very little if any evidence comparing private and government built large scale road projects where the conditions and the historical time are close enough to make a comparison valid. One thing the government is effective at is seizing land for road building.
Roads in new developments are privately built within the limits of government regulations. When the development is completed, road ownership is usually turned over to the government which in turn provides maintenance. Often, this is bundled together with government-provided sewage service.
And we all benefit when everybody can use the road without paying for use.
Well of course! The road fairy provides free road construction and maintenance.
Just because the payment for road use isn't direct doesn't mean that the payment isn't being made by someone. Taxes pay for government roads. A private road owned by a business is paid for by the business, and the business charges its customers a higher price than it would if it didn't have to pay for the road. A private residential road is paid for by the residents, and is the one case where there's no payment at all by non-resident users. I assume your intention is to point out that "user pays" is so great a nuisance that it is rejected for the great advantage of unrestricted access to most roads. The point is valid, and although technology could make possible billing the user, the advantages of doing that are probably outweighed by disadvantages like loss of privacy.
I made 2 points. One is that the meanings of some political terms have very little relation to the root word to which they would seem to be tied. The other is that "populism" is a political philosophy not just created by gathering together a group of popular issues, but by gathering together a group of popular leftist political issues.
Historically, the ideas and political bent of the Populist Party can be traced through time and remain relatively steady as a populist ideology. By understanding the historical Populist Party, some understanding can be gained of the ideological direction of modern populists.
Joining the EU was a monumental (if Fabian) decision and was just about as irreversible as the decision to exit. Was the decision to join ever voted on? In every country?
Joining the EU has proven to be a stupid decision, if your values include safety, freedom, and financial health not damaged by rioting Greeks.
It would help if people who post on political subjects knew the meaning of the words they use in American English.
Socialism is public ownership or control of the basic means of production, distribution, and exchange, with the avowed aim of operating for use rather than profit, and of assuring to each member of society an equitable share of goods, services, and welfare benefits. (Funk and Wagnalls, emphasis added.) Socialism is not like, man, having a good society with a lot of social people having parties
Communism is (1) a social system characterized by the communal sharing of goods and services, and may further mean (2) a theory of social changed conceived by Marx, directed to the ideal of a classless society; as developed by Lenin and others it advocates seizure of power by a conspiratorial political party, maintenance of power during an interim period by stern suppression of internal opposition, centralized ownership of almost all productive property and the sharing of all the products of labor, and commitment to the ultimate goal of a world-wide communist state. (Funk and Wagnalls) Communism is not people sharing and living in communes.
Note that the primary difference between socialism and communism is that in communism the violent expansion is not hidden.
Populism has a narrow meaning, and refers to the members of the Populist (or People's) Party first active in the United States in the 1890s. The policies of the party included an income tax, government ownership of railroads, deliberate inflation of the money supply and free coinage of silver, all far left by the standards of the day. By extension, the word populist may be taken to mean a leftist political stance purporting to be advantageous to a (presumed very numerous) group in or below the lower-middle class. (Summarized from several dictionaries, emphasis added). Populism is not a set of political ideas chosen for their popularity alone.
Modern higher education outside of technology is indoctrination into a one-world leftist philosophy. History, when taught, is heavily biased to fit that mold. The highly educated are highly mindwashed.
Europe prior to WWI had 2 groups of countries each bound to protect its members militarily, which meant that any war would trigger fighting across the continent.
Post WWII was different. Western Europe faced a common enemy of communist countries, trade and travel throughout western Europe was easy, and all the western European countries felt pretty friendly toward each other.
Far more Americans died in automobile accidents during the Vietnam War than died in the war. That did not make it not a war. The intention of Islam is to conquer the world, and you're a fool to ignore that fact.
There are more forms of war than tanks and uniformed armies, and Islamists know they would be wiped out in a conventional unlimited military conflict. That is why they have chosen to invade with one un-uniformed combatant at a time, draining the economies of victim countries and occasionally engaging in violent outbreaks to generate an atmosphere of fear.
The danger is that the EU will have a lower standard of living when it no longer has Great Britain to feed off of. Britain also needs to protect itself from the influence of murderous Islam which is infesting Europe.
One of the famous mathematicians of the 1800s was proud that his work had no practical applications. (Sorry, I don't remember which one.) Lots of mathematical work seems that way, yet his work and much else that seemed useless at the time is now essential for fields like cryptography.
Paleontology? Toy makers, movie makers, and vast hordes of children love dinosaurs. For some children, interest in dinosaurs leads to an interest in science generally.
Paleontology leads directly into study of evolution and helps damage mythologies such as religion. (Is that why you're so sensitive?) If you are so interested in preventing the waste of resources, do something to prevent colleges from teaching their students how to provoke riots.
As long as we're going to continue this silly discussion, it should be noted that if the proper materials are used overheating is not a problem. Iron, for instance, melts at 1538 C, and at well below that temperature it is radiating far more energy than it is receiving from the sun.
In IEEE 754-1985, 0^0 may be represented as 01111111111111111111111111111111 binary in single-precision float, although other representations are acceptable. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_754-1985
If your work for an oil company produces too many dry wells, you're fired and/or the company fails. Competence is valued.
If your work in climate prediction is accurate or wildly wrong, nobody knows in your lifetime, but if panicked pronouncements bring in lots of funding you get a promotion. Competence is irrelevant.
Nobody reads through millions of patents looking for product ideas to steal.
Quite untrue. There are plenty of thieves willing to steal anything that isn't adequately protected. Read E. H. Armstrong's biography, or how someone tried to take Murray Leinster's front projection system.
Technology Review has become a haven for some of M.I.T.'s worst leftist professors. It's only been a few years since the front cover was the Black Panther's "Kill Whitey" raised fist, and it hasn't improved since then.
See also: people of all races are the same, men are the same as women, taxation doesn't hurt business, Karl Marx was a good person.
Two can play that game.
Invalid and dishonest generalizations serve no good purpose.
I'm a Keith Laumer fan, but I have trouble imagining a Bolo story as an effective film. Most good robot films have robots that are in some measure humanoid (https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2015/11/the-100-greatest-movie-robots-of-all-time.html). A Bolo is essentially an intelligent tank, even the huge Continental Siege Units, and an essential part of the stories is what the Bolo is thinking. It would require a lot of voiceover narration to reveal the Bolo's motivation or explain the plot.
I would dearly love to see the Bolo story "Final Mission" made into an effective and successful film; I just don't see how it can be done.
Slashdot Mirror
States are an (unfortunately decreasingly effective) barrier against tyranny. Concentrated political power is a bad thing, and states diffuse power. States also serve as alpha testing sites, where stupid ideas can ruin just one state instead of ruining the whole nation.
In cities, roads historically were created by the passage of people and other animals, and wheeled vehicles, over dirt. Government only became involved when roads started to be paved. The same was also true of roads between cities, although some post roads were established by the government. Only with the popularity of automobiles did state and eventually federal government become the dominant force in large scale road projects. There's really very little if any evidence comparing private and government built large scale road projects where the conditions and the historical time are close enough to make a comparison valid. One thing the government is effective at is seizing land for road building.
Roads in new developments are privately built within the limits of government regulations. When the development is completed, road ownership is usually turned over to the government which in turn provides maintenance. Often, this is bundled together with government-provided sewage service.
Well of course! The road fairy provides free road construction and maintenance.
Just because the payment for road use isn't direct doesn't mean that the payment isn't being made by someone. Taxes pay for government roads. A private road owned by a business is paid for by the business, and the business charges its customers a higher price than it would if it didn't have to pay for the road. A private residential road is paid for by the residents, and is the one case where there's no payment at all by non-resident users.
I assume your intention is to point out that "user pays" is so great a nuisance that it is rejected for the great advantage of unrestricted access to most roads. The point is valid, and although technology could make possible billing the user, the advantages of doing that are probably outweighed by disadvantages like loss of privacy.
Populist, not populous.
I made 2 points. One is that the meanings of some political terms have very little relation to the root word to which they would seem to be tied. The other is that "populism" is a political philosophy not just created by gathering together a group of popular issues, but by gathering together a group of popular leftist political issues.
Historically, the ideas and political bent of the Populist Party can be traced through time and remain relatively steady as a populist ideology. By understanding the historical Populist Party, some understanding can be gained of the ideological direction of modern populists.
For all practical purposes, modern politicians treat oaths like toilet paper.
Joining the EU was a monumental (if Fabian) decision and was just about as irreversible as the decision to exit. Was the decision to join ever voted on? In every country?
Joining the EU has proven to be a stupid decision, if your values include safety, freedom, and financial health not damaged by rioting Greeks.
It would help if people who post on political subjects knew the meaning of the words they use in American English.
Socialism is public ownership or control of the basic means of production, distribution, and exchange, with the avowed aim of operating for use rather than profit, and of assuring to each member of society an equitable share of goods, services, and welfare benefits. (Funk and Wagnalls, emphasis added.) Socialism is not like, man, having a good society with a lot of social people having parties
Communism is (1) a social system characterized by the communal sharing of goods and services, and may further mean (2) a theory of social changed conceived by Marx, directed to the ideal of a classless society; as developed by Lenin and others it advocates seizure of power by a conspiratorial political party, maintenance of power during an interim period by stern suppression of internal opposition, centralized ownership of almost all productive property and the sharing of all the products of labor, and commitment to the ultimate goal of a world-wide communist state. (Funk and Wagnalls) Communism is not people sharing and living in communes.
Note that the primary difference between socialism and communism is that in communism the violent expansion is not hidden.
Populism has a narrow meaning, and refers to the members of the Populist (or People's) Party first active in the United States in the 1890s. The policies of the party included an income tax, government ownership of railroads, deliberate inflation of the money supply and free coinage of silver, all far left by the standards of the day. By extension, the word populist may be taken to mean a leftist political stance purporting to be advantageous to a (presumed very numerous) group in or below the lower-middle class. (Summarized from several dictionaries, emphasis added). Populism is not a set of political ideas chosen for their popularity alone.
Modern higher education outside of technology is indoctrination into a one-world leftist philosophy. History, when taught, is heavily biased to fit that mold. The highly educated are highly mindwashed.
Europe prior to WWI had 2 groups of countries each bound to protect its members militarily, which meant that any war would trigger fighting across the continent.
Post WWII was different. Western Europe faced a common enemy of communist countries, trade and travel throughout western Europe was easy, and all the western European countries felt pretty friendly toward each other.
Far more Americans died in automobile accidents during the Vietnam War than died in the war. That did not make it not a war. The intention of Islam is to conquer the world, and you're a fool to ignore that fact.
There are more forms of war than tanks and uniformed armies, and Islamists know they would be wiped out in a conventional unlimited military conflict. That is why they have chosen to invade with one un-uniformed combatant at a time, draining the economies of victim countries and occasionally engaging in violent outbreaks to generate an atmosphere of fear.
The danger is that the EU will have a lower standard of living when it no longer has Great Britain to feed off of. Britain also needs to protect itself from the influence of murderous Islam which is infesting Europe.
Those are footprints, not cankle impressions.
One of the famous mathematicians of the 1800s was proud that his work had no practical applications. (Sorry, I don't remember which one.) Lots of mathematical work seems that way, yet his work and much else that seemed useless at the time is now essential for fields like cryptography.
Paleontology? Toy makers, movie makers, and vast hordes of children love dinosaurs. For some children, interest in dinosaurs leads to an interest in science generally.
Paleontology leads directly into study of evolution and helps damage mythologies such as religion. (Is that why you're so sensitive?) If you are so interested in preventing the waste of resources, do something to prevent colleges from teaching their students how to provoke riots.
As it was in the beginning
Is now and ever shall be
Unix without end
And Windows abend..
Nope, "undocumented sperm recipient."
As long as we're going to continue this silly discussion, it should be noted that if the proper materials are used overheating is not a problem. Iron, for instance, melts at 1538 C, and at well below that temperature it is radiating far more energy than it is receiving from the sun.
In fact, black body radiation in the Earth's orbit is temperate.
http://space.stackexchange.com/questions/7827/whats-the-typical-temperature-of-a-satellite-orbiting-the-earth
In IEEE 754-1985, 0^0 may be represented as 01111111111111111111111111111111 binary in single-precision float, although other representations are acceptable. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_754-1985
If your work for an oil company produces too many dry wells, you're fired and/or the company fails. Competence is valued.
If your work in climate prediction is accurate or wildly wrong, nobody knows in your lifetime, but if panicked pronouncements bring in lots of funding you get a promotion. Competence is irrelevant.
Sell it to the Six Flags company.
The choice is kill or be killed. Muslim loonies aren't going to stop murdering just because we pretend they aren't murderers.
"Advances" in women's rights
Quite untrue. There are plenty of thieves willing to steal anything that isn't adequately protected. Read E. H. Armstrong's biography, or how someone tried to take Murray Leinster's front projection system.
There's a different Pepe that's appropriate to Venezuela. He comes from Warner Brothers.
Technology Review has become a haven for some of M.I.T.'s worst leftist professors. It's only been a few years since the front cover was the Black Panther's "Kill Whitey" raised fist, and it hasn't improved since then.
See also: people of all races are the same, men are the same as women, taxation doesn't hurt business, Karl Marx was a good person.
Two can play that game.
Invalid and dishonest generalizations serve no good purpose.
I'm a Keith Laumer fan, but I have trouble imagining a Bolo story as an effective film. Most good robot films have robots that are in some measure humanoid (https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2015/11/the-100-greatest-movie-robots-of-all-time.html). A Bolo is essentially an intelligent tank, even the huge Continental Siege Units, and an essential part of the stories is what the Bolo is thinking. It would require a lot of voiceover narration to reveal the Bolo's motivation or explain the plot.
I would dearly love to see the Bolo story "Final Mission" made into an effective and successful film; I just don't see how it can be done.