If they are so patriotic... as they profess to be when they run for office - why not execute them when they leave office? Wouldn't that bring about a whole different kind of dynamic? Worth pondering all the wide spread changes that would cause. Given the stakes and how many die as a result of their actions (even the small ones) it doesn't feel barbaric at all.
Most Important: a modern election process. rank voting, ON PAPER. If volunteers to do the counting can not be found, if they can't wait for results, then democracy is not important.
While in office, they can only have 1 income. no investments, 401k, etc.
No Lawyers can be elected to office. (do you know the ones in firms tend to help their firms become specialists in the laws they write?)
Why not just put in the crazy ideals:
Politician Pension Plan for life + they can never work for another person ever again; or be a consultant.
A Parliamentary system. they are superior.
Limit the congressional seat CAP when it was originally designed to SCALE with the population - based upon the common sense that the more people a rep represents the more removed from them they become. This would also make corruption more difficult because you'd have to buy off a LOT more politicians, their individual power would be less, and their constituents would know them better. The creation of the cap gave them more individual power; one can totally see why they actually did it. This can apply to a parliament system as well.
In such debates it is likely that the right argument is not even being presented; when setup with emotionally irrational person(s) in a debate, the whole process is sabotaged from the start. False Dilemma; its unlikely the right argument will be presented at all.
Religion, it is NOT only about gods. Libertarians these days cling to an unfounded belief in a process that will magically result in some form of "realistic" utopia - its a supernatural "market force" that will bring it about. It is religion; doesn't matter what the data says - the ideology (dogma if you will) is mindlessly followed like the christian flat earthers.
Parent post is right about moral goals. Broad missions statements provide the foundation one can always refer back to when figuring out the details. They need to exist in law far more often as a broad guide on the intent rather than pure technical writing which can technically be logically twisted to the opposite of the intention. Now if in practice the moral goals do not work most of the time, that is a time to reconsider them or limit their scope, not emotionally cling to them. The thing with the fanatics is the mission statement becomes an all consuming universal truth.
NetFlix can just implement their apps without using HTML5 video. Most their uses are on devices with custom apps for each (which I believe are HTML GUIs with a hacked in video player.)
There is no reason they must be web based on the desktop - they have custom apps for everything else. NetFlix won't abandon HTML5 just because they won't get their way; they'll work around it just as they do TODAY.
Plus we have all this BS fake outrage they try to gin up on cell phone tower activation etc.
WTF? Why would you disable cell use? the networks are weak and bring themselves down anyhow. Besides, we never had a sustained attack over a period of time (you could say 9-11 was) so why bother AFTER the event? These things are once off types of events. Yes, there were two bombs but they were so close together in timing it is easily within the margin of error and blocking the network wouldn't happen for minutes at best.
Cheap radios exist that are probably easier to hook into; as well as pagers, and some Andriod phone could go off when the network is shut off... that is, if the battery didn't go dead 1st. Hasn't anybody ever heard of FUSES? self contained timers? Pre-cell phone technology? You'd think people would have a better grasp on technology in 2013 but it appears we are probably worse than the 1960s except we can fee smug with our magical cell phones. It may as well be magic because these teens have no more understanding of the stuff they are using. Some don't even know about batteries! It's "broke" or "worn out" or "old" is the explanation that led to me questioning them some teens and finding out it was just a dead battery.
Sort of. Nothing stops nutcases completely and nothing that would stop sane attacks is politically realistic here.
If spending some money would help, we'll not do it unless it involves the increasing the police state. Trash cans that don't turn into big pipe bombs is a minor precaution and not that unreasonable and don't increase the police state. Have you seen the costs some cities put into these public trash cans?? I've seen concrete street corner obelisks that cost $10,000! (increased accidents too)
So I'm serious about doing something about it, but I don't it won't solve the problem. This was a minor thing which makes me think another redneck did it. A serious level headed person would have made it far more effective use of the trash cans. I'm waiting to hear it is a pipe bomb and similar to the MLK day one that didn't go off - unlikely same person but this one learned from that one.
More could be done by simply NOT releasing so many details to the press so every idiot knows what not to do. They'll probably give enough details to know why 1 didn't go off. Hell, a level headed person might even think about framing somebody with a "failed" one (while a smart one wouldn't take the risk.)
Simply because somebody breaks the law is not an argument for not having any law in the 1st place. Now for drugs... a HUGE number of people break the laws and if this were a democracy the representatives would reflect the citizens better.
Most transactions are within the regulated systems and it is not a big deal until a significant number of transactions happen. You do realize food labels were a heavily fought battle or pollution??
They have a smaller shoreline than Texas so the wealthy owners are worried, in Texas they probably have plenty of places to choose from. In addition, shipping lanes and commerce ports are also closer together because of the smaller area. Any changes will be met with FEAR, if you've ever known a small to mid sized business owner they fear everything that could impact them.
There is a documentary on the fishing limits; hinted at how their senator worked.... he knew it was stupid but didn't want to go into a fight with them when they'd just shoot themselves in the feet resulting in them learning the hard way and him representing their foolishness. I figure wind worked something like this as well... along with the wealthy land owners, whole towns of TOURISM worried citizens... It is not just wealthy sailors, it's all the people who RENT sail boats, the resorts with views, the towns with beaches... They all FEAR any changes - even if the things would be out of view from shore.
This isn't just rich people; they have a grassroots effort as well as some astroturf - the inland and courageous citizens will just have to overpower them.
FYI: Texas is a big welfare state that wouldn't best Mexico if it wasn't supported by the productive states. The lack of regulations doesn't make the state a net earner... Now if they owned that oil instead of let a small group claim it... and dodge taxes maybe texas would contribute some $ for a change. Meanwhile most of New England pays far more to the feds than they get in return, so they should feel entitled to FREE wind farms because they've more than payed for it. Also, Texas schools suck and well, a whole lot more. Disclaimer, I've never been in either region.
If you regulate an industry, ALL must do it. There is no cheap alternative because it is mandatory. The free market isn't going to do it because taking the risk is worth pennies to most consumers who are NOT thinking of all the potential risks involved if they even are aware of a couple of the long list of risks.
Making people do something across the board always raising BS opposition but when it is applied uniformly (it usually is) there is no impact on the market (because the added costs are usually too low to matter, especially for large markets.)
Obviously, there are issues of making it FAIR and uniform in this age of global markets and we are not properly addressing these issues because of the propaganda and the resulting dysfunction. Most states lose income from sales tax and regulations because of their interstate commerce limitations. Either fix that or give up and raise revenue by other means.
Oh, BTW, drug lords are "job creators" who are not deterred by a war being waged against their business (can you get more severe than regulating the business is illegal? yeah, you can wage an unconstitutional war against it.) Somebody will want the money bad enough to provide the service to those willing to pay. The only real factor is how many customers will pay what it costs to support the industry. The regulations can be far more severe.
It doesn't matter what you think of President or our collapsing system - the people are to blame for the BS that is in the "news". Bomb proof public trash cans?? they exist but we won't pay for them... that would raise taxes. We'd like them and somebody can get points for saying we need them but we won't pay for it and if we do we'll throw out whomever is responsible for spending our money. Even this is just a side issue:
If people weren't such drama queens there would be no point in performing such acts. Stuff happens and a lot more in other places in the world; oh, there is a much larger world beyond North America. 2 people died, some were hurt. nothing important to see, move on. More likely somebody you know will be hurt in their car tomorrow... but you all are not giving it a second worth of thought.
Plastic casings underground should last forever until disturbed. Glass cables can handle decades - they'd maybe add some more in 30 years. The cables should last longer than that. The network gear on the ends needs upgrading but the glass doesn't need to be changed - you going to find something faster than light in a glass fiber?
What changes are the devices and their use of light over the glass. Maybe diameter or material changes at some point to allow more or other kinds of light... but the speed is the same, the bandwidth might change but the old cables still work just fine on the new gear.
Don't back down; you were correct, having doubts because you are a thinking person is used against you by the overly confident ignorant ethnocentric Americans. Expanding to compensate for misunderstanding is a waste of time because you are arguing with somebody who believes in a farce and is unaware of the rest.
There are plenty of studies which show US students (for a long time now) are the most confident but they are average in their skill evaluations... the result is adults who will game your wise insecurity possibly without even knowing it because they are so overconfident. I am a native; I am well versed in false confidence. It even comes out in the style in which the people speak here.
An old definition of fool (promoted by Ben Franklin) is somebody who doesn't know that they know nothing... the opposite of which is the beginning of wisdom.
I highly recommend http://politicalcompass.org/ because it is the best metaphor and does a good job dispelling the binary metaphor (or 1 dimensional spectrum) that trap people's thinking. It helps highlight the power of words and metaphors when it is impossible to discuss real politics in overly simplistic concepts. As simple as not being able to see something in 2D using only 1D (please nobody nerd out and talk holograms and linear algebra.)
A century of propaganda against Unions plus a few organized crime stories have made the word Union as bad or worse than Socialist in the USA.
Agents are individualized Union reps. Much more costly, wasteful, and powerless - they only with high demand individuals; who have some power.
"I'm an individual" each sheep cries as they move towards the cave... blinded by overconfidence unable to actually question the presented reality the wolf presents. That is the USA today. Growing up in the culture it is difficult for them to realize and foreigners can't be trusted, they just resent our freedom... we're #1. we're #1...
That can't be said enough. wish i had points. I LIVE in the USA and it's so much worse having to live with their ignorance as it tears up the once great nation (or that is what I was taught, maybe it never was all that great.)
The two parties are a good cop/bad cop act. They both must please their bosses by screwing you. The difference is that one is the bad cop and sadly some people are Stockholm Syndrome types and mistake them for the good cop; these people are Republicans. The people who are aware can feel SMUG and secure (and even smarter) knowing they are not being fooled, as they "help out" the good cop so he can help them...
My question is, which one is more stupid? the masochist one or the gullible one? The good cop can get you a plea where you only get half the punishment (but still are punished) so is that good? From 1 perspective, yes. from another... half time in fuck-me-in-the-ass prison is too much time for a crime you didn't commit.
Rationalizing people caught in the trap will just dismiss people who point out the emperor has no clothes as fools. "Of course politicians lie, that is how one succeeds in politics." Dismissing: perfect, the enemy of good.
What we must learn to do is how to effectively counter these rationalized defenses instead of merely state all the same imperfection arguments that, even when cogent, are lumped into the same old defense mechanisms and dismissed.
How we get out of the trap once we know we are stuck inside it? - that is another problem I don't have an answer for. You don't get out of the interrogation room by yourself. 3rd parties are like protestors that don't make the news unless they are beat down and slandered.
Not necessarily. College is extremely open ended to the professors and has been historically. It should continue in the way it was in the past which is what made it so desirable in the 1st place.
There is no proof modern technology of any kind has benefited college; in fact, nearly everybody says college students are worse today than in the past and as far as the colleges themselves, the only changes have been more diversity and more technology. As far as the students... the society has changed, culture, diet, norms, mores... there is a huge list to choose from from the student side.
I found that some masters courses were more about making you think a certain way and go about learning things a certain way than it was about the topic itself. Evaluation was weak but mostly based upon you just making thru the exercise. Some experiences are just that-- exercises/experiences. Don't limit the learning into the typical classroom situation. Physical education is just this kind of thing; I'm completely opposed to it being in college and I find the attempts to normalize it (with exams etc.) completely ridiculous.
I've never been against reprocessing spent fuel instead of storing it; I've not seen the numbers on this being effective but I believe that Carter banned it for safety reasons and if there wasn't anything else to it then it wouldn't have stayed after the industry ran out of new fuel some time ago (they import it now, or get it from discarded bombs.)
I don't care about passive "safe" designs. Retrofits that cost less than 1 billion (new plant) might be of interest. The error rate is not good enough; melt downs are NOT the only problems. Solving 1 problem doesn't fix everything. PR is the only really competent skill we seem to have. COST is also a problem, is it practical to spend more on nuke power when Solar is cheaper TODAY? The 10 years it takes to build one of those new $1 billion plants, solar will be much cheaper and likely with grid storage or baseline from other sources. We have jet turbines today that burn gas some use biogas and they start up extremely quickly - they don't have huge lag times... nor do they require massive corporate welfare during their whole existence.
BTW, IAEA is also the industry advocate. I wonder how long tobacco could have gone if the FDA was run by them.
Oh, so you don't have proof of a working Thorium Reactor then? Thought so. I've been hearing about these wonder reactors... as long as fusion. Nothing has happened yet. It could be a decade before anything workable is proven enough for others to build them.
Flying cars do exist but are totally impractical even if they work to some degree. Those have been almost promised since the 1950s. I know some baby boomers who've given up on science because every airhead dream they grew up with wasn't solved by science like they thought were promised; oddly, these people got big on religion (which hasn't delivered anything tangible...ever?)
The solution to all our problems (which are largely caused by technology) is more new technology just 5 years away from market! No, I'm not cynical as much as I'm realistic. We need working solutions yesterday not typical press releases promising a 5 year window... Solar beats nuclear TODAY; jet turbine power can do baseload TODAY. Grid storage solutions exist TODAY. Will the transition cost more? Yes, no matter what you transition to but it needs to start yesterday and ramp up quickly.
Nobody wins a war. Both sides lose in a war. We lost the cold war as well; our victory is in the form of prolonged collapse which is ongoing. Using fear to rob the populace of their money and freedom is as old as humans. Reagan and Thatcher are crooks; well Reagan is a corporate spokesperson who wasn't aware of what he was doing but that is no excuse. At least most the UK is not totally clueless about Thatcher unlike the USA where Reagan is a prophet (and like other prophets, many of the followers don't seem to actually know anything about them.)
There is no left or right. It is the French assembly's seating arrangement from centuries ago. http://politicalcompass.org/
Oh, and "job creators" are not one step removed from "the creator" - they are false demigods. If people want to buy it, somebody will supply it... even if its illegal. You'd think illegal drugs couldn't exist given the religion preached on mainstream media and our politicians today! Those drug lord "job creators" are under attack (in a "war" on their business) and yet their industry is booming...
Storm troopers can't aim. Ever see star wars? Even the droids don't shoot straight. Hell, the jedi are so bored they block shots that would actually miss them -- about a third the time. The force must be a magnet for laser blasters because everything other target gets less action.
Generally speaking, the more wealth a person has the LESS hard they work to earn it.
Hard earned super wealth? Total BS propaganda for suckering actually hard working people into feeling sympathy. Also, even lazy people feel THEY are hard working.. most everybody is going to identify with such phrasing.
Just think of it in terms of math: Say you work 70 hours per week on a hard stressful difficult job that shortens your lifespan and burdens your health. Say you get $1000 for that week of hard labor. Compare that against somebody who makes $100,000 doing the exact same thing. For the amount "earned" the high wage earner is actually working less for the money. This is just 1 way to view it. What is defined as hard labor is a whole other topic.
One could say their job is more important so they earn more. Well, that is unrealistic too. Nobel prize winners (in the sciences) are more important and likely worked harder to get to that level. They don't get paid much for the significantly more important work they do for the human species.
Consumption Taxes are inequitable. Not to say they couldn't be done equitably; they could. An equitable income tax can be done; the flat % tax is one method (but totally unrealistic in a dysfunctional democracy.) Since the accumulation of great wealth permits unwarranted levels of power that are a great threat to civil societies (especially governments,) one can't allow private entities to gain too much power - just as government design tries to separate and balance the powers, the private sector needs to be balanced and limited or it'll corrupt government just as an overly powerful executive can push around the other branches and harm the effectiveness of a government. How this problem can not be obvious to everybody baffles me; we live in an age where governments are subject to external powers (HSBC being immune from the law, being a recent example.)
Siri is genius. Saves battery life for some bandwidth usage which is less of an issue over time than battery life. Audio recognition will eat up as much CPU cycles as you can throw at it and the software is still evolving. Placing such a feature on server farms and mainframes ensure the best experience and trouble free seamless upgrades. Eventually, it'll work well enough and fast enough to run locally.
The intelligent features that leverage your personal information will provide an excuse to hand that info to a 3rd party... the incentive to port it locally disappears when all that extra information that makes it "smart" is no longer sent. While it is possible Apple would be willing to give that information up and some battery life; someday when technology permits.
GOOGLE WILL NEVER do it. They are all about gathering as much about you as possible and keeping it forever even if they don't have any use for the information at the time.
We the people have democratically run services that work reliably and cheaper than privatized alternatives. Yet in this age of corporate controlled messaging, we are not allowed to let our democracy manage anything new because private dictatorships are the only allowed solution... Anybody speaking reasonably is labeled a Marxist - ironic that a nation that professes democracy (representative; shut up trolls) and the letting people govern themselves is opposed to it in everything except the few established footholds.
In the last decade, we even have popular successful programs under attack like Social Security, Medicare and the USPS - despite extremely high public approval. Some foolish citizens have allowed their water and roads to be privatized despite the fact every example shows those to end up costing more.
Monopoly situations can't be free markets (water, sewer, roads, power, phone.) Privatized essential services can't perform as well (police, fire, power, SS, healthcare.) These are places where the public can collectively run them better; that is, where the majority of the voting public isn't retarded and elects traitors who sabotage the peoples' government. (Perfect example is the GOP in 2006 with the USPS.)
I seem to be the only person upset that the IAEA is also the an industry lobbyist. Unless we allow fuel reprocessing, the USA is out of nuclear fuel. We used to have the most but now we import it because we used it up. Peak nuclear fuel has happened already. I don't know when the next peak is; but I doubt prices will ever drop and solar power is already cheaper today (excluding grid storage costs... which is something we should invest in heavily.)
I've seen a bit of business corp culture and I've seen a bit of political management culture. They both waste big time; they are different and yet similar... Both are perception rackets, except one you have input (theoretically) and the other only short-term investors do.
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If they are so patriotic... as they profess to be when they run for office - why not execute them when they leave office? Wouldn't that bring about a whole different kind of dynamic? Worth pondering all the wide spread changes that would cause. Given the stakes and how many die as a result of their actions (even the small ones) it doesn't feel barbaric at all.
Most Important: a modern election process. rank voting, ON PAPER. If volunteers to do the counting can not be found, if they can't wait for results, then democracy is not important.
While in office, they can only have 1 income. no investments, 401k, etc.
No Lawyers can be elected to office. (do you know the ones in firms tend to help their firms become specialists in the laws they write?)
Why not just put in the crazy ideals:
Politician Pension Plan for life + they can never work for another person ever again; or be a consultant.
A Parliamentary system. they are superior.
Limit the congressional seat CAP when it was originally designed to SCALE with the population - based upon the common sense that the more people a rep represents the more removed from them they become. This would also make corruption more difficult because you'd have to buy off a LOT more politicians, their individual power would be less, and their constituents would know them better. The creation of the cap gave them more individual power; one can totally see why they actually did it. This can apply to a parliament system as well.
In such debates it is likely that the right argument is not even being presented; when setup with emotionally irrational person(s) in a debate, the whole process is sabotaged from the start. False Dilemma; its unlikely the right argument will be presented at all.
Religion, it is NOT only about gods. Libertarians these days cling to an unfounded belief in a process that will magically result in some form of "realistic" utopia - its a supernatural "market force" that will bring it about. It is religion; doesn't matter what the data says - the ideology (dogma if you will) is mindlessly followed like the christian flat earthers.
Parent post is right about moral goals. Broad missions statements provide the foundation one can always refer back to when figuring out the details. They need to exist in law far more often as a broad guide on the intent rather than pure technical writing which can technically be logically twisted to the opposite of the intention. Now if in practice the moral goals do not work most of the time, that is a time to reconsider them or limit their scope, not emotionally cling to them. The thing with the fanatics is the mission statement becomes an all consuming universal truth.
NetFlix can just implement their apps without using HTML5 video. Most their uses are on devices with custom apps for each (which I believe are HTML GUIs with a hacked in video player.)
There is no reason they must be web based on the desktop - they have custom apps for everything else.
NetFlix won't abandon HTML5 just because they won't get their way; they'll work around it just as they do TODAY.
Plus we have all this BS fake outrage they try to gin up on cell phone tower activation etc.
WTF? Why would you disable cell use? the networks are weak and bring themselves down anyhow. Besides, we never had a sustained attack over a period of time (you could say 9-11 was) so why bother AFTER the event? These things are once off types of events. Yes, there were two bombs but they were so close together in timing it is easily within the margin of error and blocking the network wouldn't happen for minutes at best.
Cheap radios exist that are probably easier to hook into; as well as pagers, and some Andriod phone could go off when the network is shut off... that is, if the battery didn't go dead 1st. Hasn't anybody ever heard of FUSES? self contained timers? Pre-cell phone technology? You'd think people would have a better grasp on technology in 2013 but it appears we are probably worse than the 1960s except we can fee smug with our magical cell phones. It may as well be magic because these teens have no more understanding of the stuff they are using. Some don't even know about batteries! It's "broke" or "worn out" or "old" is the explanation that led to me questioning them some teens and finding out it was just a dead battery.
Sort of. Nothing stops nutcases completely and nothing that would stop sane attacks is politically realistic here.
If spending some money would help, we'll not do it unless it involves the increasing the police state. Trash cans that don't turn into big pipe bombs is a minor precaution and not that unreasonable and don't increase the police state. Have you seen the costs some cities put into these public trash cans?? I've seen concrete street corner obelisks that cost $10,000! (increased accidents too)
So I'm serious about doing something about it, but I don't it won't solve the problem. This was a minor thing which makes me think another redneck did it. A serious level headed person would have made it far more effective use of the trash cans. I'm waiting to hear it is a pipe bomb and similar to the MLK day one that didn't go off - unlikely same person but this one learned from that one.
More could be done by simply NOT releasing so many details to the press so every idiot knows what not to do. They'll probably give enough details to know why 1 didn't go off. Hell, a level headed person might even think about framing somebody with a "failed" one (while a smart one wouldn't take the risk.)
Simply because somebody breaks the law is not an argument for not having any law in the 1st place. Now for drugs... a HUGE number of people break the laws and if this were a democracy the representatives would reflect the citizens better.
Most transactions are within the regulated systems and it is not a big deal until a significant number of transactions happen. You do realize food labels were a heavily fought battle or pollution??
They have a smaller shoreline than Texas so the wealthy owners are worried, in Texas they probably have plenty of places to choose from. In addition, shipping lanes and commerce ports are also closer together because of the smaller area. Any changes will be met with FEAR, if you've ever known a small to mid sized business owner they fear everything that could impact them.
There is a documentary on the fishing limits; hinted at how their senator worked.... he knew it was stupid but didn't want to go into a fight with them when they'd just shoot themselves in the feet resulting in them learning the hard way and him representing their foolishness. I figure wind worked something like this as well... along with the wealthy land owners, whole towns of TOURISM worried citizens... It is not just wealthy sailors, it's all the people who RENT sail boats, the resorts with views, the towns with beaches... They all FEAR any changes - even if the things would be out of view from shore.
This isn't just rich people; they have a grassroots effort as well as some astroturf - the inland and courageous citizens will just have to overpower them.
FYI:
Texas is a big welfare state that wouldn't best Mexico if it wasn't supported by the productive states. The lack of regulations doesn't make the state a net earner... Now if they owned that oil instead of let a small group claim it... and dodge taxes maybe texas would contribute some $ for a change. Meanwhile most of New England pays far more to the feds than they get in return, so they should feel entitled to FREE wind farms because they've more than payed for it. Also, Texas schools suck and well, a whole lot more. Disclaimer, I've never been in either region.
If you regulate an industry, ALL must do it. There is no cheap alternative because it is mandatory. The free market isn't going to do it because taking the risk is worth pennies to most consumers who are NOT thinking of all the potential risks involved if they even are aware of a couple of the long list of risks.
Making people do something across the board always raising BS opposition but when it is applied uniformly (it usually is) there is no impact on the market (because the added costs are usually too low to matter, especially for large markets.)
Obviously, there are issues of making it FAIR and uniform in this age of global markets and we are not properly addressing these issues because of the propaganda and the resulting dysfunction. Most states lose income from sales tax and regulations because of their interstate commerce limitations. Either fix that or give up and raise revenue by other means.
Oh, BTW, drug lords are "job creators" who are not deterred by a war being waged against their business (can you get more severe than regulating the business is illegal? yeah, you can wage an unconstitutional war against it.) Somebody will want the money bad enough to provide the service to those willing to pay. The only real factor is how many customers will pay what it costs to support the industry. The regulations can be far more severe.
It doesn't matter what you think of President or our collapsing system - the people are to blame for the BS that is in the "news". Bomb proof public trash cans?? they exist but we won't pay for them... that would raise taxes. We'd like them and somebody can get points for saying we need them but we won't pay for it and if we do we'll throw out whomever is responsible for spending our money. Even this is just a side issue:
If people weren't such drama queens there would be no point in performing such acts. Stuff happens and a lot more in other places in the world; oh, there is a much larger world beyond North America. 2 people died, some were hurt. nothing important to see, move on. More likely somebody you know will be hurt in their car tomorrow... but you all are not giving it a second worth of thought.
A Monsanto exec kills more people every day.
Plastic casings underground should last forever until disturbed.
Glass cables can handle decades - they'd maybe add some more in 30 years. The cables should last longer than that. The network gear on the ends needs upgrading but the glass doesn't need to be changed - you going to find something faster than light in a glass fiber?
What changes are the devices and their use of light over the glass. Maybe diameter or material changes at some point to allow more or other kinds of light... but the speed is the same, the bandwidth might change but the old cables still work just fine on the new gear.
Don't back down; you were correct, having doubts because you are a thinking person is used against you by the overly confident ignorant ethnocentric Americans. Expanding to compensate for misunderstanding is a waste of time because you are arguing with somebody who believes in a farce and is unaware of the rest.
There are plenty of studies which show US students (for a long time now) are the most confident but they are average in their skill evaluations... the result is adults who will game your wise insecurity possibly without even knowing it because they are so overconfident. I am a native; I am well versed in false confidence. It even comes out in the style in which the people speak here.
An old definition of fool (promoted by Ben Franklin) is somebody who doesn't know that they know nothing... the opposite of which is the beginning of wisdom.
I highly recommend http://politicalcompass.org/ because it is the best metaphor and does a good job dispelling the binary metaphor (or 1 dimensional spectrum) that trap people's thinking. It helps highlight the power of words and metaphors when it is impossible to discuss real politics in overly simplistic concepts. As simple as not being able to see something in 2D using only 1D (please nobody nerd out and talk holograms and linear algebra.)
A century of propaganda against Unions plus a few organized crime stories have made the word Union as bad or worse than Socialist in the USA.
Agents are individualized Union reps. Much more costly, wasteful, and powerless - they only with high demand individuals; who have some power.
"I'm an individual" each sheep cries as they move towards the cave... blinded by overconfidence unable to actually question the presented reality the wolf presents. That is the USA today. Growing up in the culture it is difficult for them to realize and foreigners can't be trusted, they just resent our freedom... we're #1. we're #1...
That can't be said enough. wish i had points.
I LIVE in the USA and it's so much worse having to live with their ignorance as it tears up the once great nation (or that is what I was taught, maybe it never was all that great.)
The two parties are a good cop/bad cop act. They both must please their bosses by screwing you. The difference is that one is the bad cop and sadly some people are Stockholm Syndrome types and mistake them for the good cop; these people are Republicans. The people who are aware can feel SMUG and secure (and even smarter) knowing they are not being fooled, as they "help out" the good cop so he can help them...
My question is, which one is more stupid? the masochist one or the gullible one?
The good cop can get you a plea where you only get half the punishment (but still are punished) so is that good? From 1 perspective, yes. from another... half time in fuck-me-in-the-ass prison is too much time for a crime you didn't commit.
Rationalizing people caught in the trap will just dismiss people who point out the emperor has no clothes as fools. "Of course politicians lie, that is how one succeeds in politics." Dismissing: perfect, the enemy of good.
What we must learn to do is how to effectively counter these rationalized defenses instead of merely state all the same imperfection arguments that, even when cogent, are lumped into the same old defense mechanisms and dismissed.
How we get out of the trap once we know we are stuck inside it? - that is another problem I don't have an answer for. You don't get out of the interrogation room by yourself. 3rd parties are like protestors that don't make the news unless they are beat down and slandered.
Not necessarily. College is extremely open ended to the professors and has been historically. It should continue in the way it was in the past which is what made it so desirable in the 1st place.
There is no proof modern technology of any kind has benefited college; in fact, nearly everybody says college students are worse today than in the past and as far as the colleges themselves, the only changes have been more diversity and more technology. As far as the students... the society has changed, culture, diet, norms, mores... there is a huge list to choose from from the student side.
I found that some masters courses were more about making you think a certain way and go about learning things a certain way than it was about the topic itself. Evaluation was weak but mostly based upon you just making thru the exercise. Some experiences are just that-- exercises/experiences. Don't limit the learning into the typical classroom situation. Physical education is just this kind of thing; I'm completely opposed to it being in college and I find the attempts to normalize it (with exams etc.) completely ridiculous.
I've never been against reprocessing spent fuel instead of storing it; I've not seen the numbers on this being effective but I believe that Carter banned it for safety reasons and if there wasn't anything else to it then it wouldn't have stayed after the industry ran out of new fuel some time ago (they import it now, or get it from discarded bombs.)
I don't care about passive "safe" designs. Retrofits that cost less than 1 billion (new plant) might be of interest. The error rate is not good enough; melt downs are NOT the only problems. Solving 1 problem doesn't fix everything. PR is the only really competent skill we seem to have. COST is also a problem, is it practical to spend more on nuke power when Solar is cheaper TODAY? The 10 years it takes to build one of those new $1 billion plants, solar will be much cheaper and likely with grid storage or baseline from other sources. We have jet turbines today that burn gas some use biogas and they start up extremely quickly - they don't have huge lag times... nor do they require massive corporate welfare during their whole existence.
BTW, IAEA is also the industry advocate. I wonder how long tobacco could have gone if the FDA was run by them.
Oh, so you don't have proof of a working Thorium Reactor then? Thought so. I've been hearing about these wonder reactors... as long as fusion. Nothing has happened yet. It could be a decade before anything workable is proven enough for others to build them.
Flying cars do exist but are totally impractical even if they work to some degree. Those have been almost promised since the 1950s. I know some baby boomers who've given up on science because every airhead dream they grew up with wasn't solved by science like they thought were promised; oddly, these people got big on religion (which hasn't delivered anything tangible...ever?)
The solution to all our problems (which are largely caused by technology) is more new technology just 5 years away from market! No, I'm not cynical as much as I'm realistic. We need working solutions yesterday not typical press releases promising a 5 year window... Solar beats nuclear TODAY; jet turbine power can do baseload TODAY. Grid storage solutions exist TODAY. Will the transition cost more? Yes, no matter what you transition to but it needs to start yesterday and ramp up quickly.
Nobody wins a war. Both sides lose in a war. We lost the cold war as well; our victory is in the form of prolonged collapse which is ongoing. Using fear to rob the populace of their money and freedom is as old as humans. Reagan and Thatcher are crooks; well Reagan is a corporate spokesperson who wasn't aware of what he was doing but that is no excuse. At least most the UK is not totally clueless about Thatcher unlike the USA where Reagan is a prophet (and like other prophets, many of the followers don't seem to actually know anything about them.)
There is no left or right. It is the French assembly's seating arrangement from centuries ago. http://politicalcompass.org/
Oh, and "job creators" are not one step removed from "the creator" - they are false demigods. If people want to buy it, somebody will supply it... even if its illegal. You'd think illegal drugs couldn't exist given the religion preached on mainstream media and our politicians today! Those drug lord "job creators" are under attack (in a "war" on their business) and yet their industry is booming...
If people paying to follow you made you legitimate, then Scientology would be a real religion!
Storm troopers can't aim. Ever see star wars? Even the droids don't shoot straight.
Hell, the jedi are so bored they block shots that would actually miss them -- about a third the time. The force must be a magnet for laser blasters because everything other target gets less action.
citations?
If Thorium is so great, where are these "flying car" power plants?
Generally speaking, the more wealth a person has the LESS hard they work to earn it.
Hard earned super wealth? Total BS propaganda for suckering actually hard working people into feeling sympathy. Also, even lazy people feel THEY are hard working.. most everybody is going to identify with such phrasing.
Just think of it in terms of math: Say you work 70 hours per week on a hard stressful difficult job that shortens your lifespan and burdens your health. Say you get $1000 for that week of hard labor. Compare that against somebody who makes $100,000 doing the exact same thing. For the amount "earned" the high wage earner is actually working less for the money. This is just 1 way to view it. What is defined as hard labor is a whole other topic.
One could say their job is more important so they earn more. Well, that is unrealistic too. Nobel prize winners (in the sciences) are more important and likely worked harder to get to that level. They don't get paid much for the significantly more important work they do for the human species.
Consumption Taxes are inequitable. Not to say they couldn't be done equitably; they could. An equitable income tax can be done; the flat % tax is one method (but totally unrealistic in a dysfunctional democracy.) Since the accumulation of great wealth permits unwarranted levels of power that are a great threat to civil societies (especially governments,) one can't allow private entities to gain too much power - just as government design tries to separate and balance the powers, the private sector needs to be balanced and limited or it'll corrupt government just as an overly powerful executive can push around the other branches and harm the effectiveness of a government. How this problem can not be obvious to everybody baffles me; we live in an age where governments are subject to external powers (HSBC being immune from the law, being a recent example.)
Siri is genius. Saves battery life for some bandwidth usage which is less of an issue over time than battery life. Audio recognition will eat up as much CPU cycles as you can throw at it and the software is still evolving. Placing such a feature on server farms and mainframes ensure the best experience and trouble free seamless upgrades. Eventually, it'll work well enough and fast enough to run locally.
The intelligent features that leverage your personal information will provide an excuse to hand that info to a 3rd party... the incentive to port it locally disappears when all that extra information that makes it "smart" is no longer sent. While it is possible Apple would be willing to give that information up and some battery life; someday when technology permits.
GOOGLE WILL NEVER do it. They are all about gathering as much about you as possible and keeping it forever even if they don't have any use for the information at the time.
We the people have democratically run services that work reliably and cheaper than privatized alternatives. Yet in this age of corporate controlled messaging, we are not allowed to let our democracy manage anything new because private dictatorships are the only allowed solution... Anybody speaking reasonably is labeled a Marxist - ironic that a nation that professes democracy (representative; shut up trolls) and the letting people govern themselves is opposed to it in everything except the few established footholds.
In the last decade, we even have popular successful programs under attack like Social Security, Medicare and the USPS - despite extremely high public approval. Some foolish citizens have allowed their water and roads to be privatized despite the fact every example shows those to end up costing more.
Monopoly situations can't be free markets (water, sewer, roads, power, phone.) Privatized essential services can't perform as well (police, fire, power, SS, healthcare.) These are places where the public can collectively run them better; that is, where the majority of the voting public isn't retarded and elects traitors who sabotage the peoples' government. (Perfect example is the GOP in 2006 with the USPS.)
I seem to be the only person upset that the IAEA is also the an industry lobbyist. Unless we allow fuel reprocessing, the USA is out of nuclear fuel. We used to have the most but now we import it because we used it up. Peak nuclear fuel has happened already. I don't know when the next peak is; but I doubt prices will ever drop and solar power is already cheaper today (excluding grid storage costs... which is something we should invest in heavily.)
I've seen a bit of business corp culture and I've seen a bit of political management culture. They both waste big time; they are different and yet similar... Both are perception rackets, except one you have input (theoretically) and the other only short-term investors do.