Its Good Cop / Bad Cop and both have similar goals or must give in to the same masters.
Some people pick the bad cop and some pick the good cop while some realizing they are both "bad" choose neither and just get what the rest decide upon. Its TRUE that the modern GOP has been hijacked by horrible people and it SHOULD be clear that they have been the bad cop of the pair for over a generation. Unfortunately, we have many Stockholm syndrome types as well as just plain suckers who confuse the bad cop with the good cop.
The hope of those who choose the good cop is that there will be a progression over the long term for the better; but this hope I think is largely unfounded and is just that-- wishful thinking. When it comes down to it, the good cop has most of the same goals but won't most as fast or be as painful; possibly throw you a bone or two while still screwing you in the end.
I choose the lesser of two evils; but not out of some dellusion that the good one is actually good-- just slightly better. It won't change until the citizens become ACTIVE and start THINKING in majority numbers - and are willing to back it up with force since we'd soon find out just how much democracy we have when we choose to actually use it.
I am serious... however, one has to come up with a measure of success before something can be called a failure. Argumentative types (clever fools) will claim anything they want is a failure by setting their own success levels to meet whatever their goal is; possibly being inconsistent as well.
Field of Dreams got it wrong: If people want it, somebody will build it.
The problem is one of regulation. Internet gambling is not regulated and therein is the problem. Corporations (and their websites) can outmaneuver the governments in the 'free' market and obviously in the black market (the more 'free' the market the more it resembles a black market; clearly not to the extreme ends of the analogy.) Mostly, government is upset that they can not TAX (aka regulate) internet gambling and the competing USA gambling interests are not happy either...
I wonder if the ban can hold. The WTO dictates the USA has no sovereignty on such things (they won't openly say it) and so the WTO is punishing the USA for this ban. Last I heard was the WTO was going to involve the media by allowing some nations to violate our copyright as punishment for going against the WTOs ruling against our nation's right to block unregulated gambling.
- Question: When are we going to realize there is a population level where there are not enough viable jobs to go around?
Existing proven nuclear power is fine by me; except for the BIG PROBLEM that it COSTS TOO MUCH MONEY. The reason people don't hear sanity that often anymore is because the media focuses on opposing nutcases and leaves out reasonable less entertaining voices.
I'm happy to see some sanity posts on/. on nuclear power; democracy now is the only place where I have heard sanity and the 2 mainstream sides.
Nuclear power is unproven as far as the super-duper next generation promises that have been made for over a decade (at least) without any proven results. Alternative power and grid storage technology is proven and CAN PAY OFF long term; sure it has high starting costs-- but they PAY OFF, nuclear NEVER HAS! (and never will-- you'll have to actually prove it before I believe it can.)
As far as scare tactics-- I bet the coal industry has been ironically helping greens to bash nuclear...
Humans consistent? What EVER made you think that? Besides, if you think connecting BLACK people to apes is no different than white people -- well-- I'm glad you are so clueless; it shows that we are making some progress in regards to race.
For the ignorant: Racism is still fading out in the USA, sure, it'll never die off (just like the creationists...) Only a generation ago there were HUGE race issues going on; the majority were alive during those times. Worse than ANY swear word-- racism and minority slurs carry a TON of taboo and irrational behavior. Its in fashion to attack, censor, and persecute racists and many think its their turn for equity in addition to people being "hip" and doing their part to try to stamp out racism; its easy self-righteous behavior in a society with very few majority shared positions that strongly held (and popular.)
I oppose any censorship; however, I can understand the herd behavior; especially in the USA. Private censorship is constitutional... Idealistic goals are just that-- goals; one never completely achieves them. Its reasonable to argue for some exceptions; that is, breaking of the ideal as opposed to completely legitimizing exceptions.
Expecting old dogs to learn new tricks when the major changes occurred during the last generation is expecting too much.
I've seen many primate looking humans in my days but the Obamas are far from it. Bush on the other hand actually fit so well that many people besides myself made the connection before seeing somebody else do so (; Bush being a nitwit probably helped as well.)
Geoengineering - too risky. We have extremely limited scientific understanding of everything; especially fluid dynamics!!/. usually punishes me for daring to say science is ignorant; the dominant religion here is that science knows everything and those who criticize must be religious in a different way.
We have the best guess on climate change now; we are far from knowing the ramifications of purposely tweaking with the biosphere. Its an act of desperation that many are unwilling to risk because it could lead to bigger troubles. Its not like the planet is going to die--- we'll be on record as the worst disaster on earth; sure, but some life WILL continue. Should we risk killing more just to save some humans - who caused all the damage? Things to ponder.
CO2 trading is not a bad idea; don't get me wrong. I'm merely pointing out the realistic issues involved. Money/credit/debt itself is a virtual item that is heavily traded and relied upon as well as extremely abused. It is not like we've not entered into such situations in the past... It CAN work but it won't be pretty (and could go bust later) and also similarly, there are likely better alternatives with less political influence.
The good aspect to CO2 trading is that its lifespan should not be that long so the gradual increase in corruption will not last for long; unlike commodities like OIL, or virtual items like currencies. If they are going to do it, it should be 1 level removed like money is-- nations that inflate their CO2 values lose trading value as happens to money (excluding the US Dollar.) At least this gets the system to in fight in a constructive way. It also will help 3rd world nations value their carbon sinks instead of developing them (aka destroying them.)
A simple flat TAX with supporting tariffs against nations who don't properly TAX carbon would be the best solution and indirectly achieve some of the same benefits. The corruption will be more centralized but not necessarily easier to fix or any lower. At least the public can spot who to blame easier than the market solution; which ALSO has no method for feedback (Vote with your $ is pure BS and is not democratic.)
I used game programming (tetris spin offs) in my 1st C programming class; students were more motivated and while they did not cover as much material as a traditional college programming course using C - they were extremely well prepped for the college courses after left high school. In fact, I think they understood the basics better than many CS grads I see today (who can graduate without having used a 2D array or pointers.) I had them come back and say that it helped them more than AP classes in other topics. (It was not an AP class; AP tests are crap; coincidentally, I don't think they could have passed the AP test. I left out terminology for basic concepts and PROCESS. The PROCESS is everything: you don't program, you test & debug.)
When I was a child, I was one of the few lucky ones who had LOGO integrated into school. It wasn't exactly game making-- however, it was a kind of creation game along the lines of the SIM games but far more abstract and open. We also hooked legos to the computer. In public school; in the 80s! I STILL recommend MINDSTORMS and the CHILDREN's MACHINE by Papert - the books behind the method.
PLAYING, exploring, and fostering curiosity are the largest benefits not marketing by exploiting a current fad/trend/celebrity trying to be hip.
No, its a MONEY grab for some people (and power can come from the money.)
OIL the #1 traded commodity in the world. It is what supports the over-sized populations of the world (despite 1/3 still being starved.)
So, CO2 becomes a #2 commodity; pushing smaller ones like Coffee down a slot. As OIL gets phased out - other items will end up on the list and many will re-order in more moves than probably ever have occurred before industrialization. The change will create a lot of troubles as people tend to expect things to stay the same or simply wish them to do so.
CO2 trading is going to involve plenty of fraud, as does any of the heavily traded commodities around the world. We have nations working to mislead the world about their supplies of oil, rigging supply, and WARS... Its potential for abuse is much higher since it is more of a virtual market item (a bit harder to have a war over it...) It is some odd form of TAX but highly profitable in a direct way, as opposed to indirect profit (corruption and legit use) by TAX. The biggest problem with replacing a tax/fee or fine with a "market solution" should be clear for reasonable people in the last few years. Zealots come up with ways to profit from doing needed things, you won't pay for air, water, climate but they come up with tricks to get you to pay for them; economics + psychology. Pollution credits as a way to clean the air and water becoming property which raises in value as free sources are lost...
Gore was for it, now he is for anything but wants something that will work ASAP so he's for stronger measures for coal.
How about subtle patterns to caching, encryption / protocol timing, or just using a form of public key encryption to save hints for cracking encryption? The hints could be saved openly somewhere and probably go years without detection... make them hidden... Could be compiler work.. the tool chain is a great place to insert things that developers wouldn't notice.
Anybody remember when the fbi made a deal with the major anti-virus tools to have their software be ignored? I do.
Citing supporting info does not necessarily make it right either... That's a nothing statement; I can argue "not necessarily" for most topics, even in the hard sciences!
You don't have much experience with soft science do you? Hobbies of mine, plus I'm quite aware of the philosophy of science. Objective studies? ha. getting a proper test setup and honest numbers is intractable problem in itself. I've worked in government; I see how numbers are skewed for political ends. Compare states, cities, nations? sure- but their populations differ...
1st we'd have to TRY applying some social science ideas and see what happens-- although even then, economy etc impacts it. Whatever the vice-law policy is going to skew any results (drugs, sex.)
Sure-- pick MURDER as an example... forgetting that MOST criminals are NOT murders. Lets set up the whole system based upon an extreme case in the minority...
Good thinking...not!
Knowing when somebody is "cured" is NEVER going to be solved that well either. I ask you - when does somebody "LEARN THEIR LESSON" by serving X years in prison? How long a punishment is enough to deter crime? You do realize that a HUGE number (if not vast majority) of criminals don't plan on getting caught? You think the USA criminal COLLEGE system produces people who are more or less likely to repeat? My 2 friends who went there instead of college learned a whole lot about crime; 1 went honest, the other got into higher level crime (and disappeared.)
Your murder example most likely has to be an exception; being in jail for life is probably a reasonable thing to deter people. (you have studies?) Their prison time can be humane and productive; essentially putting a muzzle on them because they may bite others. Some murders are clear mental cases- not likely to ever get out. We have murders who get out in 7 years... some we barbarically execute even though they are innocent (especially in Texas.) So.. we should have a FIX time period in ALL cases? self defense? accidental?
You think people LEARN from being put in prison? HA!
I don't mind paying taxes. But I DO suffer higher taxes because we jail more people than any nation on earth. We beat the Police State Iron Curtain USSR years ago. Jail costs more than college.
You think a schizophrenic should be in jail? I knew one - sometimes he was crazy and someday he might do something; he has drugs that keep him functional; although, he is a potential risk without them. Since he's NOT done a crime he is free-- but after he does one; you'd put in in jail. I'd likely treat him and stick him back out on drugs again. (not talking murder)
Another point: If somebody kills once how can you logically assume they can kill again?? A Vet may have killed dozens of people...
Funny how the USA has to deal with similar issues... but China-- they were supposed to be communist! They couldn't even keep the capitalist flame under control for a generation and its a wild fire already. The USA managed to go longer; but we in many ways are in the same boat anyhow... (for the religious zealots; surely you can now acknowledge a simple fire == capitalism analogy after the recent banking/credit/insurance mess. )
Slowing or absorbing into something that itself is not that harmful is a much better idea! Aerogel is a brilliant idea!
I was thinking more along the lines of some sort of gun shooting bullets of something harmless... aerogel would be perfect. similar complex issue of proper aiming and avoiding using up all the fuel.
Another idea would be to use some sort of ION drive or something to try to stay in orbit; power source would be a problem and I'm not sure there are enough ions out there to do enough to counter a movement. Too bad the amount of power needed for a really strong magnetic pulse makes that unlikely as well (although it would have more range than a big block of aerogel.) Much of the stuff up there is partially magnetic... doesn't take much to mess up an orbit.
Essentially this problem has been figured to be prohibitive long ago and it will take a lot more progress before we can realistically solve it; possibly many generations from now. I doubt that we'll ever get to the point where 1 nation can afford to clean while another intentionally dirties the sky (sooner or later there will be war in space-- we already leverage it heavily enough to provoke that now. )
People need to think deeper than just the inherited customs and traditions they were born into. Otherwise, we do not have much hope of progressing as a species. (No, I don't have a positive outlook on our future... and NO, we have not progressed in tens of thousands of years-- take a modern baby and raise them in a "primitive" time and they'd come out no different; no less violent, no less potentially intelligent.)
Prison is a matter of necessity in SOME cases-- its purpose is to prevent the anti-social members of society from breaking the rules of society. Even primitive pack animals will expel (or kill) a member who is too damaging to the group structure.
Prison as a punishment is NOT necessary. Unfortunately, social science has not gotten far enough to undo popular cultural BELIEFS... yet. Christian based religions are culturally biased against their own teachings. So one can't expect much change anytime soon.
Wiping history of the names of criminals is quite foolish for academic and government needs; however, it does make sense to do so for the general populace. People are unfair, judgmental, and quite quite irrational so for a "cured" criminal or "payed up" criminal the knowledge continues to plague them for probably the rest of their lives. A good argument can be made for keeping the general public unaware and having some compassion for the criminal (something americans do not understand; I've likely lost most of them already.)
Sure, one could say that a pervert needs to be known... but if they are treated as the mental cases that they are; they will NOT get out of the system until they are actually treated - not some meaningless time period in a cage! Its SICK how we use terms like corrections and reformed in a culture that doesn't believe in it. We make it economic-- you PAY your debt to society with time and/or money; like it was a trade. It is not.
Errors always happen; its human run. If you want to start harming former criminals simply for the sake of potential future crimes you are entering a line of reasoning that easily can be extended into lots of unpleasant areas (and already is.) The reason we have free speech that is near absolute is because splitting hairs always ends up being abused. Therefore, the right to be reformed (ignoring that the public doesn't believe in reform - "can't teach an old dog new tricks") comes into conflict with the right to free speech. Something for some judges to weigh in on time to time...
I have no direct experience with the system, I know people who have: Childish behavior labeled as adult; mental cases labeled as criminal; untreated pedophiles let free or not even convicted...to repeat it! (as an illness, its much easier to be diagnosed than it is to be convicted. false positives are also not as harmful...)
One big problem in this government is that ANYTHING can be made into law and the only way to deal with conflicts against higher laws is to enter the legal system at your own risk and costs. Nobody gets in office by trashing stupid laws because those laws only harm a minority and the rest of us don't care unless it impacts us.
Guns are to terrorize enemies of the nation; foreign and domestic. Not hunting. Not literally for self defense either. Simply owning a gun puts you in more danger; if under threat, you are in more danger if you have a gun and they do too. If you look at all like a minority, Never use a gun! Even in self defense (well, unless your a woman.)
-- Liberals and conservatives are more marketing labels than anything like their previous intended meanings-- which were vague and quite subjective to begin with. Politically, a 2D grid model makes sense, the left/right theory is a false dilemma.
Then you have the big players of OPEC demanding that oil must be payed in USA Dollars. This made the dollar the new GOLD in a sense; but in another sense it made OIL into the new GOLD. The USA can get away with crazy shit because its currency is in a position that never existed before. It also means that Saudi Arabia has more than just 6% of the USA economy it also holds the currency a float. Iraq went to the Euro. bad move. Iran was next on the list and if it were not for the CIA leaked report Cheney might have got his way... (anybody remember how the media was ramping up in the same way with some of the same lines just a few years ago? I often wondered how far it would have gone without the CIA leak...)
As the world moves off oil and is forced to move from oil and the dollar gets weaker-- or even if it gets stronger-- it is already undermined and exploited so that it is quite overvalued. This is going to be a bumpy transition that was likely never contemplated when we were screwed into dumping the gold standard for sort term (generational) gains. War doesn't leave any side unharmed, the economic war the USA has conducted for generations does not come without costs and we are experiencing some now and will much more later on. I don't think most the experts know how to deal with this mess; other than the ones who know how to profit from a predictable downfall and could be contributing to a solution (but they don't get to be successful for doing the right thing do they?) I suppose the USA could become an even bigger casino for mega investors and that could keep things going a little longer?
My bet is China takes the lead. They've positioned themselves quite well so far, they even have been economically invading nations like we used to do-- (see Minegolia, watch Guana become unstable in the next decade...) China's money is strong. The EU is better.. I suppose, but its not china...
As far as the next GOLD, I'd aim for WATER since OIL is on its way out. (I totally think Pickens wanted water rights more than wind power.) Water pollution continues; I expect poor management to be encouraged as well.
Beck is no journalist. Many of the so-called journalists we have today are embarrassing; anybody can call themselves one and act anyway they want while the real journalists do nothing to defend their profession resulting in their own degradation. Its all entertainment now and that is why the measure is only ratings and nothing else.
Van Jones was NOT an issue to touch. It was a waste of time and not all that much of a fringe opinion either... not that he was strongly or openly taking a position on it. He left to avoid the mess that was manufactured and that was HIS mistake. He was THE MAN for green jobs, so clearly taking him out would undermine recovery as well as please non-green corporate interests - both perfectly aligned with the goals of FOX "news."
Also, I expect to see MORE attacks on Obama being racist. Its a clear posturing tactic to shield future attacks that could be labeled as race bating or even just plain racism. The more racist Obama is the more ok it is to be racist to obama; aside from the fact many closet racists fear minorities are taking over and infecting the culture and gene pool. I know some of these people; they are not racist in a conventional sense, and they'd be about the same if Obama was white -thing is, they are simpletons so his race or his name or his birthplace are highlighted because they are obvious differences. I've seen them say bigoted things with joy after the latest Obama is a racist talking point made them feel safe to do so. Its not rational behavior, but rational is not something that applies to at least 1/3 of the USA.
Its a FALSE argument to claim alternatives can not work because they can't provide constant power. There is a whole world of power storage solutions out there being completely ignored OR people are simply ignorant. It could be come an industry on some level or be a completely private industry where anybody with the tech could buy power and sell it back later for a profit.
We can leave the market to handle load balancing. Look at flywheel power storage, flow batteries, hydro power storage, or even fuel cells. These and new technologies will provide methods to balance the load and possibly help fund power storage technologies that will end up in other applications.
Its possible there will be smaller scale cheap solutions for use by block or by building. For example: Heating/cooling is the largest thing we need and while it is not all electric (cooling is almost all electric) it does use a lot of power. We can store hot and cold cheaply and easily as well as insulate against wasting it. I'm not talking about cutting usage like that is another problem, its part of distributing load balancing the load AT THE SOURCE instead of just at the power company. Heat storage, cooling storage refilled when it can be. Sure, electric is a problem NOW but it might not be forever... and if it is, there is still a grid storage industry.
Not Anonymous but you are taking the cowardly position while claiming it is smart to do so. Just want to you acknowledge that you are on the cowards side; smart or dumb its still cowardly.
People will force the technology of war forward by coercion or conquest. Yes this IS how it works.
A road side bomber is smart right? Low tech and quite effective against the USA. But thats not ok, while remote control missiles are fine?
What about the Robot Loophole? You fool with error rates while ignoring the real issue- errors are excused by shifting blame; much more tricky than the chain of command and contractor games we've had the last 7 years.
This does not mean we should not SLOW the advancement of such technology until forced to do so. This stuff is advancing for PROFIT not really by need.
I'm a life long American. I know more than you about them; however, I was trolling. Bigger issue is-- if there was no human cost what would stop war? Our empathy? Being informed?
Harsh criticism is often misunderstood and ignored. One doesn't have to be unamerican, Iranian, or a terrorist to bash aspects of the USA. Even so, who they are doesn't rule out any truths being communicated by them (if there are any.)
I laughed during both Ahmedinejad's speeches - I don't think he laughs at himself.
Infotainment is not serving its role as the "4th estate" and is hurting the nation to help the bottom line; short term business thought common today despite recent events. Its function is not business. It can't be government... so we let it fate decide.com
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Ok; although, I am not required to present alternatives when criticizing almost anything.
A fool may know everything about horses but buys a cow to ride on.
Poor Richard’s Almanac. There were a couple of them but I wrote down the best ones as I found them; I once had a compilation book of his Almanacs. Didn't keep duplicate variations unless I liked them better (generally shorter and broader is better to me.)
Correct; however, the USA generally thought this way for generations not just since the Regan revolution or Bush regime. Arrogance just made it more overt.
The game has changed; nations are not the dominant powers any longer.
Linux means freedom and liberty to many. Its odd for linux to miss the boat on this one and even worse to ban the choice. "We don't ____ here" is something for Microsoft to say.
There is no reason the management of the networks couldn't involve multiple parties. DSL in many places is required to allow competing ISPs over the same connection. Then there wouldn't be the usual contract temporary monopoly corruption process. Or, the government could provide cheap/free business access-- then have those run the last mile in a more conventional setup. (still more competition since the geek on the block would incorporate and become an isp just for their own internet and have to offer it to others.)
Franklin has a few horse/cow quotes along the same line. This is not the best one. He often tries clever ways of describing a FOOL; not just with this example but in other quotes. Given the circles he spent time in (and the time period,) one can see how he detested 'educated' fools.
Everybody does foolish things, even when "informed" about the topic-- but a fool does it more than normal. I would argue that to be a fool this has to be a common pattern in most areas-- not limited to just 1 or 2. For example: as a group, the American "news" media are fools.
Robots have bugs and glitches requiring timely patches and PRODUCT recalls. They are too complex to blame anybody and when they are free to decide more on their own much of the blame will be gone as well. It'll be like blaming microsoft for your computer sucking. bugs happen.
Blue screen of DEATH gets a new meaning.
Perhaps at this point, we'll finally get investigation on whether quality control really exists or if errors are not a form of planned obsolescence... since there would be additional incentive and a human cost (that is, in lives not wasted user time... err, literally, not metaphorically "wasted lives" troubleshooting buggy software.)
Seriously, this only illustrates how ethics and courage are not part of the empire mindset; just window dressing. This is how fat lazy cowards can take over the world. On the grander scale, its no different than traditional cultures going up against the Spanish, Romans etc- who's goal was conquest and not the honor of a risky act of sacrifice. (Relatively, from their perspective they all like to paint the situation the same way no matter how ridiculous it may appear relative to their opposition. Our military "heroes" will get undo respect for their hard job of playing a video game involving fellow humans.) For those who hadn't thought about the issues decades ago-- its about time you start to awaken to an age where human cost/risk can be ruled out for a rich aggressor - I'm not referring to leadership which has long/often been unaware but the society initiating such attacks. Americans would attack everybody if it didn't cost them anything personally; that IS the reality. Guess the best solution is global economic entanglement...
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Its Good Cop / Bad Cop and both have similar goals or must give in to the same masters.
Some people pick the bad cop and some pick the good cop while some realizing they are both "bad" choose neither and just get what the rest decide upon. Its TRUE that the modern GOP has been hijacked by horrible people and it SHOULD be clear that they have been the bad cop of the pair for over a generation. Unfortunately, we have many Stockholm syndrome types as well as just plain suckers who confuse the bad cop with the good cop.
The hope of those who choose the good cop is that there will be a progression over the long term for the better; but this hope I think is largely unfounded and is just that-- wishful thinking. When it comes down to it, the good cop has most of the same goals but won't most as fast or be as painful; possibly throw you a bone or two while still screwing you in the end.
I choose the lesser of two evils; but not out of some dellusion that the good one is actually good-- just slightly better. It won't change until the citizens become ACTIVE and start THINKING in majority numbers - and are willing to back it up with force since we'd soon find out just how much democracy we have when we choose to actually use it.
Join a credit union or keep taking it in the ass.
I am serious... however, one has to come up with a measure of success before something can be called a failure.
Argumentative types (clever fools) will claim anything they want is a failure by setting their own success levels to meet whatever their goal is; possibly being inconsistent as well.
Field of Dreams got it wrong: If people want it, somebody will build it.
The problem is one of regulation. Internet gambling is not regulated and therein is the problem. Corporations (and their websites) can outmaneuver the governments in the 'free' market and obviously in the black market (the more 'free' the market the more it resembles a black market; clearly not to the extreme ends of the analogy.) Mostly, government is upset that they can not TAX (aka regulate) internet gambling and the competing USA gambling interests are not happy either...
I wonder if the ban can hold. The WTO dictates the USA has no sovereignty on such things (they won't openly say it) and so the WTO is punishing the USA for this ban. Last I heard was the WTO was going to involve the media by allowing some nations to violate our copyright as punishment for going against the WTOs ruling against our nation's right to block unregulated gambling.
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Question: When are we going to realize there is a population level where there are not enough viable jobs to go around?
Subject posts must be short and are skimmed. Titles that are somewhat vague should draw in more readers.
You are being Myopic not a "wag" (what is that?)
Grammar is as over rated as physical presentation.
end of statement;
Existing proven nuclear power is fine by me; except for the BIG PROBLEM that it COSTS TOO MUCH MONEY. The reason people don't hear sanity that often anymore is because the media focuses on opposing nutcases and leaves out reasonable less entertaining voices.
I'm happy to see some sanity posts on /. on nuclear power; democracy now is the only place where I have heard sanity and the 2 mainstream sides.
Nuclear power is unproven as far as the super-duper next generation promises that have been made for over a decade (at least) without any proven results. Alternative power and grid storage technology is proven and CAN PAY OFF long term; sure it has high starting costs-- but they PAY OFF, nuclear NEVER HAS! (and never will-- you'll have to actually prove it before I believe it can.)
As far as scare tactics-- I bet the coal industry has been ironically helping greens to bash nuclear...
Humans consistent? What EVER made you think that? Besides, if you think connecting BLACK people to apes is no different than white people -- well-- I'm glad you are so clueless; it shows that we are making some progress in regards to race.
For the ignorant: Racism is still fading out in the USA, sure, it'll never die off (just like the creationists...) Only a generation ago there were HUGE race issues going on; the majority were alive during those times. Worse than ANY swear word-- racism and minority slurs carry a TON of taboo and irrational behavior. Its in fashion to attack, censor, and persecute racists and many think its their turn for equity in addition to people being "hip" and doing their part to try to stamp out racism; its easy self-righteous behavior in a society with very few majority shared positions that strongly held (and popular.)
I oppose any censorship; however, I can understand the herd behavior; especially in the USA. Private censorship is constitutional... Idealistic goals are just that-- goals; one never completely achieves them. Its reasonable to argue for some exceptions; that is, breaking of the ideal as opposed to completely legitimizing exceptions.
Expecting old dogs to learn new tricks when the major changes occurred during the last generation is expecting too much.
I've seen many primate looking humans in my days but the Obamas are far from it. Bush on the other hand actually fit so well that many people besides myself made the connection before seeing somebody else do so (; Bush being a nitwit probably helped as well.)
Geoengineering - too risky. We have extremely limited scientific understanding of everything; especially fluid dynamics!! /. usually punishes me for daring to say science is ignorant; the dominant religion here is that science knows everything and those who criticize must be religious in a different way.
We have the best guess on climate change now; we are far from knowing the ramifications of purposely tweaking with the biosphere. Its an act of desperation that many are unwilling to risk because it could lead to bigger troubles. Its not like the planet is going to die--- we'll be on record as the worst disaster on earth; sure, but some life WILL continue. Should we risk killing more just to save some humans - who caused all the damage?
Things to ponder.
CO2 trading is not a bad idea; don't get me wrong. I'm merely pointing out the realistic issues involved. Money/credit/debt itself is a virtual item that is heavily traded and relied upon as well as extremely abused. It is not like we've not entered into such situations in the past... It CAN work but it won't be pretty (and could go bust later) and also similarly, there are likely better alternatives with less political influence.
The good aspect to CO2 trading is that its lifespan should not be that long so the gradual increase in corruption will not last for long; unlike commodities like OIL, or virtual items like currencies. If they are going to do it, it should be 1 level removed like money is-- nations that inflate their CO2 values lose trading value as happens to money (excluding the US Dollar.) At least this gets the system to in fight in a constructive way. It also will help 3rd world nations value their carbon sinks instead of developing them (aka destroying them.)
A simple flat TAX with supporting tariffs against nations who don't properly TAX carbon would be the best solution and indirectly achieve some of the same benefits. The corruption will be more centralized but not necessarily easier to fix or any lower. At least the public can spot who to blame easier than the market solution; which ALSO has no method for feedback (Vote with your $ is pure BS and is not democratic.)
I used game programming (tetris spin offs) in my 1st C programming class; students were more motivated and while they did not cover as much material as a traditional college programming course using C - they were extremely well prepped for the college courses after left high school. In fact, I think they understood the basics better than many CS grads I see today (who can graduate without having used a 2D array or pointers.) I had them come back and say that it helped them more than AP classes in other topics. (It was not an AP class; AP tests are crap; coincidentally, I don't think they could have passed the AP test. I left out terminology for basic concepts and PROCESS. The PROCESS is everything: you don't program, you test & debug.)
When I was a child, I was one of the few lucky ones who had LOGO integrated into school. It wasn't exactly game making-- however, it was a kind of creation game along the lines of the SIM games but far more abstract and open. We also hooked legos to the computer. In public school; in the 80s! I STILL recommend MINDSTORMS and the CHILDREN's MACHINE by Papert - the books behind the method.
PLAYING, exploring, and fostering curiosity are the largest benefits not marketing by exploiting a current fad/trend/celebrity trying to be hip.
No, its a MONEY grab for some people (and power can come from the money.)
OIL the #1 traded commodity in the world. It is what supports the over-sized populations of the world (despite 1/3 still being starved.)
So, CO2 becomes a #2 commodity; pushing smaller ones like Coffee down a slot. As OIL gets phased out - other items will end up on the list and many will re-order in more moves than probably ever have occurred before industrialization. The change will create a lot of troubles as people tend to expect things to stay the same or simply wish them to do so.
CO2 trading is going to involve plenty of fraud, as does any of the heavily traded commodities around the world. We have nations working to mislead the world about their supplies of oil, rigging supply, and WARS... Its potential for abuse is much higher since it is more of a virtual market item (a bit harder to have a war over it...) It is some odd form of TAX but highly profitable in a direct way, as opposed to indirect profit (corruption and legit use) by TAX. The biggest problem with replacing a tax/fee or fine with a "market solution" should be clear for reasonable people in the last few years. Zealots come up with ways to profit from doing needed things, you won't pay for air, water, climate but they come up with tricks to get you to pay for them; economics + psychology. Pollution credits as a way to clean the air and water becoming property which raises in value as free sources are lost...
Gore was for it, now he is for anything but wants something that will work ASAP so he's for stronger measures for coal.
How about subtle patterns to caching, encryption / protocol timing, or just using a form of public key encryption to save hints for cracking encryption? The hints could be saved openly somewhere and probably go years without detection... make them hidden... Could be compiler work.. the tool chain is a great place to insert things that developers wouldn't notice.
Anybody remember when the fbi made a deal with the major anti-virus tools to have their software be ignored? I do.
Citing supporting info does not necessarily make it right either... That's a nothing statement; I can argue "not necessarily" for most topics, even in the hard sciences!
You don't have much experience with soft science do you? Hobbies of mine, plus I'm quite aware of the philosophy of science. Objective studies? ha. getting a proper test setup and honest numbers is intractable problem in itself. I've worked in government; I see how numbers are skewed for political ends. Compare states, cities, nations? sure- but their populations differ...
1st we'd have to TRY applying some social science ideas and see what happens-- although even then, economy etc impacts it. Whatever the vice-law policy is going to skew any results (drugs, sex.)
Sure-- pick MURDER as an example... forgetting that MOST criminals are NOT murders. Lets set up the whole system based upon an extreme case in the minority...
Good thinking...not!
Knowing when somebody is "cured" is NEVER going to be solved that well either. I ask you - when does somebody "LEARN THEIR LESSON" by serving X years in prison? How long a punishment is enough to deter crime? You do realize that a HUGE number (if not vast majority) of criminals don't plan on getting caught? You think the USA criminal COLLEGE system produces people who are more or less likely to repeat? My 2 friends who went there instead of college learned a whole lot about crime; 1 went honest, the other got into higher level crime (and disappeared.)
Your murder example most likely has to be an exception; being in jail for life is probably a reasonable thing to deter people. (you have studies?) Their prison time can be humane and productive; essentially putting a muzzle on them because they may bite others. Some murders are clear mental cases- not likely to ever get out. We have murders who get out in 7 years... some we barbarically execute even though they are innocent (especially in Texas.) So.. we should have a FIX time period in ALL cases? self defense? accidental?
You think people LEARN from being put in prison? HA!
I don't mind paying taxes. But I DO suffer higher taxes because we jail more people than any nation on earth. We beat the Police State Iron Curtain USSR years ago. Jail costs more than college.
You think a schizophrenic should be in jail? I knew one - sometimes he was crazy and someday he might do something; he has drugs that keep him functional; although, he is a potential risk without them. Since he's NOT done a crime he is free-- but after he does one; you'd put in in jail. I'd likely treat him and stick him back out on drugs again. (not talking murder)
Another point: If somebody kills once how can you logically assume they can kill again?? A Vet may have killed dozens of people...
Funny how the USA has to deal with similar issues... but China-- they were supposed to be communist! They couldn't even keep the capitalist flame under control for a generation and its a wild fire already. The USA managed to go longer; but we in many ways are in the same boat anyhow... (for the religious zealots; surely you can now acknowledge a simple fire == capitalism analogy after the recent banking/credit/insurance mess. )
Slowing or absorbing into something that itself is not that harmful is a much better idea! Aerogel is a brilliant idea!
I was thinking more along the lines of some sort of gun shooting bullets of something harmless... aerogel would be perfect. similar complex issue of proper aiming and avoiding using up all the fuel.
Another idea would be to use some sort of ION drive or something to try to stay in orbit; power source would be a problem and I'm not sure there are enough ions out there to do enough to counter a movement. Too bad the amount of power needed for a really strong magnetic pulse makes that unlikely as well (although it would have more range than a big block of aerogel.) Much of the stuff up there is partially magnetic... doesn't take much to mess up an orbit.
Essentially this problem has been figured to be prohibitive long ago and it will take a lot more progress before we can realistically solve it; possibly many generations from now. I doubt that we'll ever get to the point where 1 nation can afford to clean while another intentionally dirties the sky (sooner or later there will be war in space-- we already leverage it heavily enough to provoke that now. )
People need to think deeper than just the inherited customs and traditions they were born into. Otherwise, we do not have much hope of progressing as a species. (No, I don't have a positive outlook on our future... and NO, we have not progressed in tens of thousands of years-- take a modern baby and raise them in a "primitive" time and they'd come out no different; no less violent, no less potentially intelligent.)
Prison is a matter of necessity in SOME cases-- its purpose is to prevent the anti-social members of society from breaking the rules of society. Even primitive pack animals will expel (or kill) a member who is too damaging to the group structure.
Prison as a punishment is NOT necessary. Unfortunately, social science has not gotten far enough to undo popular cultural BELIEFS... yet. Christian based religions are culturally biased against their own teachings. So one can't expect much change anytime soon.
Wiping history of the names of criminals is quite foolish for academic and government needs; however, it does make sense to do so for the general populace. People are unfair, judgmental, and quite quite irrational so for a "cured" criminal or "payed up" criminal the knowledge continues to plague them for probably the rest of their lives. A good argument can be made for keeping the general public unaware and having some compassion for the criminal (something americans do not understand; I've likely lost most of them already.)
Sure, one could say that a pervert needs to be known... but if they are treated as the mental cases that they are; they will NOT get out of the system until they are actually treated - not some meaningless time period in a cage! Its SICK how we use terms like corrections and reformed in a culture that doesn't believe in it. We make it economic-- you PAY your debt to society with time and/or money; like it was a trade. It is not.
Errors always happen; its human run. If you want to start harming former criminals simply for the sake of potential future crimes you are entering a line of reasoning that easily can be extended into lots of unpleasant areas (and already is.) The reason we have free speech that is near absolute is because splitting hairs always ends up being abused. Therefore, the right to be reformed (ignoring that the public doesn't believe in reform - "can't teach an old dog new tricks") comes into conflict with the right to free speech. Something for some judges to weigh in on time to time...
I have no direct experience with the system, I know people who have: Childish behavior labeled as adult; mental cases labeled as criminal; untreated pedophiles let free or not even convicted...to repeat it! (as an illness, its much easier to be diagnosed than it is to be convicted. false positives are also not as harmful...)
One big problem in this government is that ANYTHING can be made into law and the only way to deal with conflicts against higher laws is to enter the legal system at your own risk and costs. Nobody gets in office by trashing stupid laws because those laws only harm a minority and the rest of us don't care unless it impacts us.
Guns are to terrorize enemies of the nation; foreign and domestic. Not hunting. Not literally for self defense either. Simply owning a gun puts you in more danger; if under threat, you are in more danger if you have a gun and they do too. If you look at all like a minority, Never use a gun! Even in self defense (well, unless your a woman.)
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Liberals and conservatives are more marketing labels than anything like their previous intended meanings-- which were vague and quite subjective to begin with. Politically, a 2D grid model makes sense, the left/right theory is a false dilemma.
Then you have the big players of OPEC demanding that oil must be payed in USA Dollars. This made the dollar the new GOLD in a sense; but in another sense it made OIL into the new GOLD. The USA can get away with crazy shit because its currency is in a position that never existed before. It also means that Saudi Arabia has more than just 6% of the USA economy it also holds the currency a float. Iraq went to the Euro. bad move. Iran was next on the list and if it were not for the CIA leaked report Cheney might have got his way... (anybody remember how the media was ramping up in the same way with some of the same lines just a few years ago? I often wondered how far it would have gone without the CIA leak...)
As the world moves off oil and is forced to move from oil and the dollar gets weaker-- or even if it gets stronger-- it is already undermined and exploited so that it is quite overvalued. This is going to be a bumpy transition that was likely never contemplated when we were screwed into dumping the gold standard for sort term (generational) gains. War doesn't leave any side unharmed, the economic war the USA has conducted for generations does not come without costs and we are experiencing some now and will much more later on. I don't think most the experts know how to deal with this mess; other than the ones who know how to profit from a predictable downfall and could be contributing to a solution (but they don't get to be successful for doing the right thing do they?) I suppose the USA could become an even bigger casino for mega investors and that could keep things going a little longer?
My bet is China takes the lead. They've positioned themselves quite well so far, they even have been economically invading nations like we used to do-- (see Minegolia, watch Guana become unstable in the next decade...) China's money is strong. The EU is better.. I suppose, but its not china...
As far as the next GOLD, I'd aim for WATER since OIL is on its way out. (I totally think Pickens wanted water rights more than wind power.) Water pollution continues; I expect poor management to be encouraged as well.
Beck is no journalist. Many of the so-called journalists we have today are embarrassing; anybody can call themselves one and act anyway they want while the real journalists do nothing to defend their profession resulting in their own degradation. Its all entertainment now and that is why the measure is only ratings and nothing else.
Van Jones was NOT an issue to touch. It was a waste of time and not all that much of a fringe opinion either... not that he was strongly or openly taking a position on it. He left to avoid the mess that was manufactured and that was HIS mistake. He was THE MAN for green jobs, so clearly taking him out would undermine recovery as well as please non-green corporate interests - both perfectly aligned with the goals of FOX "news."
Also, I expect to see MORE attacks on Obama being racist. Its a clear posturing tactic to shield future attacks that could be labeled as race bating or even just plain racism. The more racist Obama is the more ok it is to be racist to obama; aside from the fact many closet racists fear minorities are taking over and infecting the culture and gene pool. I know some of these people; they are not racist in a conventional sense, and they'd be about the same if Obama was white -thing is, they are simpletons so his race or his name or his birthplace are highlighted because they are obvious differences. I've seen them say bigoted things with joy after the latest Obama is a racist talking point made them feel safe to do so. Its not rational behavior, but rational is not something that applies to at least 1/3 of the USA.
Its a FALSE argument to claim alternatives can not work because they can't provide constant power.
There is a whole world of power storage solutions out there being completely ignored OR people are simply ignorant. It could be come an industry on some level or be a completely private industry where anybody with the tech could buy power and sell it back later for a profit.
We can leave the market to handle load balancing. Look at flywheel power storage, flow batteries, hydro power storage, or even fuel cells. These and new technologies will provide methods to balance the load and possibly help fund power storage technologies that will end up in other applications.
Its possible there will be smaller scale cheap solutions for use by block or by building. For example:
Heating/cooling is the largest thing we need and while it is not all electric (cooling is almost all electric) it does use a lot of power. We can store hot and cold cheaply and easily as well as insulate against wasting it. I'm not talking about cutting usage like that is another problem, its part of distributing load balancing the load AT THE SOURCE instead of just at the power company. Heat storage, cooling storage refilled when it can be. Sure, electric is a problem NOW but it might not be forever... and if it is, there is still a grid storage industry.
Yes I was trolling for rednecks.
Not Anonymous but you are taking the cowardly position while claiming it is smart to do so. Just want to you acknowledge that you are on the cowards side; smart or dumb its still cowardly.
People will force the technology of war forward by coercion or conquest. Yes this IS how it works.
A road side bomber is smart right? Low tech and quite effective against the USA. But thats not ok, while remote control missiles are fine?
What about the Robot Loophole? You fool with error rates while ignoring the real issue- errors are excused by shifting blame; much more tricky than the chain of command and contractor games we've had the last 7 years.
This does not mean we should not SLOW the advancement of such technology until forced to do so. This stuff is advancing for PROFIT not really by need.
I'm a life long American. I know more than you about them; however, I was trolling. Bigger issue is-- if there was no human cost what would stop war? Our empathy? Being informed?
Harsh criticism is often misunderstood and ignored. One doesn't have to be unamerican, Iranian, or a terrorist to bash aspects of the USA. Even so, who they are doesn't rule out any truths being communicated by them (if there are any.)
I laughed during both Ahmedinejad's speeches - I don't think he laughs at himself.
Infotainment is not serving its role as the "4th estate" and is hurting the nation to help the bottom line; short term business thought common today despite recent events. Its function is not business. It can't be government... so we let it fate decide.com
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Ok; although, I am not required to present alternatives when criticizing almost anything.
A fool may know everything about horses but buys a cow to ride on.
Poor Richard’s Almanac. There were a couple of them but I wrote down the best ones as I found them; I once had a compilation book of his Almanacs. Didn't keep duplicate variations unless I liked them better (generally shorter and broader is better to me.)
Correct; however, the USA generally thought this way for generations not just since the Regan revolution or Bush regime. Arrogance just made it more overt.
The game has changed; nations are not the dominant powers any longer.
Linux means freedom and liberty to many. Its odd for linux to miss the boat on this one and even worse to ban the choice. "We don't ____ here" is something for Microsoft to say.
There is no reason the management of the networks couldn't involve multiple parties. DSL in many places is required to allow competing ISPs over the same connection. Then there wouldn't be the usual contract temporary monopoly corruption process. Or, the government could provide cheap/free business access-- then have those run the last mile in a more conventional setup. (still more competition since the geek on the block would incorporate and become an isp just for their own internet and have to offer it to others.)
Franklin has a few horse/cow quotes along the same line. This is not the best one. He often tries clever ways of describing a FOOL; not just with this example but in other quotes. Given the circles he spent time in (and the time period,) one can see how he detested 'educated' fools.
Everybody does foolish things, even when "informed" about the topic-- but a fool does it more than normal. I would argue that to be a fool this has to be a common pattern in most areas-- not limited to just 1 or 2. For example: as a group, the American "news" media are fools.
Robots have bugs and glitches requiring timely patches and PRODUCT recalls. They are too complex to blame anybody and when they are free to decide more on their own much of the blame will be gone as well. It'll be like blaming microsoft for your computer sucking. bugs happen.
Blue screen of DEATH gets a new meaning.
Perhaps at this point, we'll finally get investigation on whether quality control really exists or if errors are not a form of planned obsolescence... since there would be additional incentive and a human cost (that is, in lives not wasted user time... err, literally, not metaphorically "wasted lives" troubleshooting buggy software.)
Seriously, this only illustrates how ethics and courage are not part of the empire mindset; just window dressing. This is how fat lazy cowards can take over the world. On the grander scale, its no different than traditional cultures going up against the Spanish, Romans etc- who's goal was conquest and not the honor of a risky act of sacrifice. (Relatively, from their perspective they all like to paint the situation the same way no matter how ridiculous it may appear relative to their opposition. Our military "heroes" will get undo respect for their hard job of playing a video game involving fellow humans.) For those who hadn't thought about the issues decades ago-- its about time you start to awaken to an age where human cost/risk can be ruled out for a rich aggressor - I'm not referring to leadership which has long/often been unaware but the society initiating such attacks. Americans would attack everybody if it didn't cost them anything personally; that IS the reality.
Guess the best solution is global economic entanglement...