"It seems like every government in the world has something equal to our Social Security Number being used for national identification.
In Australia the Tax File Number (TFN) is similar to the US SSN. However your TFN is used for tax purposes only, not as a catch all national ID. In no way is it connected to passports, drivers licenses, medicare card, ect. In fact it's illeagal to ask for it except for very specific uses.
The US was initially against the creation of Isreal, it's preference was to create a UN protectorate when the British were due to withdraw. Israel unilaterally decared itself a state the day the British withdrew leading to the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. The US became a strong supporter during the cold war because it saw Israel as a useful pawn in pretty much the same way it saw Saddam as a useful pawn against Iran.
The whole sorry mess of the middle east is about strategic control of the Persian Gulf during (and after) the cold war. Control of the Persian Gulf also grants control of much of the oil supply from the Middle East as opposed to the more difficult task of controling the actual oil fields.
The same thing is at play around the (land locked) Caspian sea because the US and Russia both need to find a friendly path for their pipelines.
Israel labels 95% of all Lebonese as terrorists. From what I have read all the passports were stolen from people living in Israel, the Israeli government has their details (which were modified). Mossad are not interested in "finding out" who did it. Australia, the UK, France, Germany, and Ireland are all supporters of Israel, what benifit do they gain from pointing the finger at Israel?
With the Georgian thing you had Putin strenuosly and IMHO convincingly denying the claim (maybe not in the US media), Israel are simply ignoring this in the hope it will go away.
Sigh, look up the origin of that slogan. It comes from the well known tabacoo "scientist" and all round anti-science propogandist Fred S Singer who falsely claimed to be quoting Tim Wirth. Your politics is allowing you to be played like a fiddle by lobbyists who think of you as nothing more than a useful idiot. If I am wrong then simply point to ANY climate scientist who has made that statement.
"When was the last time you find any plastic that can last 10 years under the sun?"
My plastic garbage bins have spent at least a decade out in the Aussie sun. A lot of plastic that you find in throw away stuff these days has been deliberately engineered to be bio-degradeable due to pollution concerns in the 80's. The older non-biodegradable stuff has formed a large "islands" in the North Pacific and North Atlantic.
"The break-even time for nuclear is over a decade, and it's pretty long for hydro projects too. So why do we insist that solar has to turn a profit Real Quick Now?
It's important if you want Joe Home-owner to shell out the initial investment, not so much if it's a corporation setting up a plant to generate hundereds of megawatts. That being said TFA claims this design uses 1/50th the amount of silicon crystal which is the expensive part in existing cells. Not only would it be a lot cheaper to make the new cells but the new cells nearly doubles the efficientcy of existing ones, meaning you only need to buy half as many cells.
If they can get the up front cost to power a house by solar down to 1/4 - 1/3 of the current price then all of a sudden Joe Home-owner is going to become very interested.
"I always suspected the Ecological Stalinists want us to go back into the caves."
That comment got me wondering as to who exactly are these guys and are they connected in any way....
Kevin Kelly is the founding executive editor of Wired magazine, and a former editor/publisher of the Whole Earth Catalog.
Stewart Brand is an American writer, best known as editor of the Whole Earth Catalog (ding!). He founded a number of organizations including The WELL, the Global Business Network, and the Long Now Foundation. Brand also served as a member of the board of Directors of the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
They sound like a couple of rich old hippies, OTOH the impressive list of sponsers of the Global Business Network make for an interesting read.
"Is that the IPCC's plan to stop global warming, reducing our life to as much as possible short of executing unwanted polluters?"
Jebus how far can you strech something to suit your politics. The IPCC is a scientific review panel, if you want to attack the international politics of climate change by linking them to concentration camps you should at least know the acronym you are looking for is the UNFCCC.
"He goes and lives in Dharavi for a few weeks and describes his experiences from a micro and macro point of view."
All the time knowing he can fly home whenever he wants.
30yrs ago as a young married guy with one kid I lived on what American's call a trailer park, I worked 60hr weeks as a day labourer on nearby farms which still did not pay enough to live in a rented house. I lost count of the number of tourists I told to go fuck themselves after they had remarked to me what a "carefree lifestyle" I had.
Dude, there is nothing simple about arches and roof's please take a look at the history of acrhitecuture. You have some valid points in your rants about copyright and patents but they are totally obscured by your zealotry.
"ok, then i'll find the architect who designed your house"
Actually if you buy a spec home from a builder they do have copyright on the plans. If you pay an architect to draw up your ideas as a plan then you hold the copyright. In the first case the builder uses the copyright to stop you from taking the plan to a competitor who can build it cheaper because he doesn't employ architects. In the second case nobody cares, you are free to choose your prefered builder.
I don't like the current state of affairs, but in what fantasy land do you expect investors to sink $100M into a movie and then give it away? Childish arguments like the one in your sig do nothing but provide the MAFIAA with the ammunition to make even more draconian laws.
The issue of mandatory filters in Oz is a good cop, bad cop routine to neuter religious zealots who occasionally hold the balance of power in the senate. The endless inquiries are indeed intended to give the impression of "doing something". Thes inquiries have been going on now for at least a decade regardless of who is in power and IMHO will never come into force. The current independent senator who's votes this legislation was intended to buy has gone cold on the idea since his own anti-abortion sponsers were added to the proposed blacklist.
Most sane Aussie (and I believe most of the MP's / senators, including Conroy) realise it's unworkable and will never become the law of the land. But as you say this does not stop them from appering to "do something" in order to garner votes and distract from real issues.
I like many other Aussie's will continue to ignore this crap until something concrete actually happens, at which point the culprits will find themselves out of a job.
Interesting, I've never taken notice of my own state of mind at the time but will do so in the future. I have experienced vivid audio and visual hallucinations after 3 days with no sleep. I also get something I call "brain snaps" when I am sleep deprived and close my eyes, it's a brilliant flash of white light accompanied by a very loud crack that sounds like an arc welder making contact.
Thanks for the link. Skinner did some brilliant experiments but unfortunately he went around promoting the political idea that behavioural modification (especially of children) could make a better world. That trait is now immortalised as Principal Skinner in the Simpsons.
Of course what the people who disparged him failed to acknowledge is that schools and churches have always practised behavioural modification in one form or another.
"as the CRU emails show, they have been disparaged and shut up at every possible point."
Bullshit, what the emails show is private scientific discorse and frustration at a well funded campaign to politically discredit and obfuscate their work. Do you not find it curious that only one or two emails over a ten year period can be twisted to suit your claim?
Yeah right, all the funding for climate science comes directly from the Al Gore foundation for world domination. This foundation has single handedly managed to corrupt every credible scientific institution on the planet and has hacked into all Earth facing sattelites so that they spew data that suits their evil plans. - For the love of science, GROW UP!
"There is not such a huge difference in the amount of money scientists receive for one result versus the opposite result"
Some people have very strange ideas of what constitutes a get rich quick scheme. The IPCC has less than 10 paid staff and operates on a budget of $5-6M/yr sourced from a large number of politically diverse nations. Virtually all of that money is spent on airfares and conference facilities. No scientist has ever recieved a dime for the tedious review work they do putting the repots together.
Thanks for the link, it's a great summary of the history. Naomi Oreskes has done a good job of tracking down the tabacoo scientists and creationists who's anti-science propoganda often gets quoted word for word here on slashdot. Unfortunately her work gets very little MSM attention.
For those who still think Al Gore invented AGW in 2005, here's a 1958 video from Bell Labs on the subject.
"Plus, the moon is slightly less likely to have the dust devils that have been graciously dusting off the panels."
It's also less likely to have dust suspended in a vacum above the ground, just design the moon rover so it doesn't kick sand in it's own face. Maybe something high tech like mud gaurds over the wheels
"There's no reason to post shit that is obviously fake."
On the contrary, it will attract a lot of comments, some from people who believe it and some from those who don't. Compared to other sites a disproportionately high number of those comments will be from people who actually know what they are talking about and have the evidence to back it up. Those comments demonstrate to readers the true meaning of skepticisim and even those who already practice the art can learn a great deal from them, just as I have learnt something from you today without having RTFA. Of course being a practising skeptic I'm not just taking your word for it, I did do a bit of googling before posting this.:)
Slashdot Mirror
"It seems like every government in the world has something equal to our Social Security Number being used for national identification.
In Australia the Tax File Number (TFN) is similar to the US SSN. However your TFN is used for tax purposes only, not as a catch all national ID. In no way is it connected to passports, drivers licenses, medicare card, ect. In fact it's illeagal to ask for it except for very specific uses.
The US was initially against the creation of Isreal, it's preference was to create a UN protectorate when the British were due to withdraw. Israel unilaterally decared itself a state the day the British withdrew leading to the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. The US became a strong supporter during the cold war because it saw Israel as a useful pawn in pretty much the same way it saw Saddam as a useful pawn against Iran.
The whole sorry mess of the middle east is about strategic control of the Persian Gulf during (and after) the cold war. Control of the Persian Gulf also grants control of much of the oil supply from the Middle East as opposed to the more difficult task of controling the actual oil fields.
The same thing is at play around the (land locked) Caspian sea because the US and Russia both need to find a friendly path for their pipelines.
Israel labels 95% of all Lebonese as terrorists. From what I have read all the passports were stolen from people living in Israel, the Israeli government has their details (which were modified). Mossad are not interested in "finding out" who did it. Australia, the UK, France, Germany, and Ireland are all supporters of Israel, what benifit do they gain from pointing the finger at Israel?
With the Georgian thing you had Putin strenuosly and IMHO convincingly denying the claim (maybe not in the US media), Israel are simply ignoring this in the hope it will go away.
"the science is settled?"
Sigh, look up the origin of that slogan. It comes from the well known tabacoo "scientist" and all round anti-science propogandist Fred S Singer who falsely claimed to be quoting Tim Wirth. Your politics is allowing you to be played like a fiddle by lobbyists who think of you as nothing more than a useful idiot. If I am wrong then simply point to ANY climate scientist who has made that statement.
"When was the last time you find any plastic that can last 10 years under the sun?"
My plastic garbage bins have spent at least a decade out in the Aussie sun. A lot of plastic that you find in throw away stuff these days has been deliberately engineered to be bio-degradeable due to pollution concerns in the 80's. The older non-biodegradable stuff has formed a large "islands" in the North Pacific and North Atlantic.
"All these idiots working on solar panels when what is really needed is overcast panels to get power from gloomy days when you use more light bulbs."
Yeah, but try telling that to those silly Germans.
"so it is still tied to oil. Becoming cheap and widely popular may do more harm than good I fear."
I for one hope this does maximum harm to the wallets of coal luddites such a Senator Inhofe and his corporate pay-masters.
"The break-even time for nuclear is over a decade, and it's pretty long for hydro projects too. So why do we insist that solar has to turn a profit Real Quick Now?
It's important if you want Joe Home-owner to shell out the initial investment, not so much if it's a corporation setting up a plant to generate hundereds of megawatts. That being said TFA claims this design uses 1/50th the amount of silicon crystal which is the expensive part in existing cells. Not only would it be a lot cheaper to make the new cells but the new cells nearly doubles the efficientcy of existing ones, meaning you only need to buy half as many cells.
If they can get the up front cost to power a house by solar down to 1/4 - 1/3 of the current price then all of a sudden Joe Home-owner is going to become very interested.
"I always suspected the Ecological Stalinists want us to go back into the caves."
That comment got me wondering as to who exactly are these guys and are they connected in any way....
Kevin Kelly is the founding executive editor of Wired magazine, and a former editor/publisher of the Whole Earth Catalog.
Stewart Brand is an American writer, best known as editor of the Whole Earth Catalog (ding!). He founded a number of organizations including The WELL, the Global Business Network, and the Long Now Foundation. Brand also served as a member of the board of Directors of the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
They sound like a couple of rich old hippies, OTOH the impressive list of sponsers of the Global Business Network make for an interesting read.
"Is that the IPCC's plan to stop global warming, reducing our life to as much as possible short of executing unwanted polluters?"
Jebus how far can you strech something to suit your politics. The IPCC is a scientific review panel, if you want to attack the international politics of climate change by linking them to concentration camps you should at least know the acronym you are looking for is the UNFCCC.
"He goes and lives in Dharavi for a few weeks and describes his experiences from a micro and macro point of view."
All the time knowing he can fly home whenever he wants.
30yrs ago as a young married guy with one kid I lived on what American's call a trailer park, I worked 60hr weeks as a day labourer on nearby farms which still did not pay enough to live in a rented house. I lost count of the number of tourists I told to go fuck themselves after they had remarked to me what a "carefree lifestyle" I had.
Dude, there is nothing simple about arches and roof's please take a look at the history of acrhitecuture. You have some valid points in your rants about copyright and patents but they are totally obscured by your zealotry.
"ok, then i'll find the architect who designed your house"
Actually if you buy a spec home from a builder they do have copyright on the plans. If you pay an architect to draw up your ideas as a plan then you hold the copyright. In the first case the builder uses the copyright to stop you from taking the plan to a competitor who can build it cheaper because he doesn't employ architects. In the second case nobody cares, you are free to choose your prefered builder.
I don't like the current state of affairs, but in what fantasy land do you expect investors to sink $100M into a movie and then give it away? Childish arguments like the one in your sig do nothing but provide the MAFIAA with the ammunition to make even more draconian laws.
The issue of mandatory filters in Oz is a good cop, bad cop routine to neuter religious zealots who occasionally hold the balance of power in the senate. The endless inquiries are indeed intended to give the impression of "doing something". Thes inquiries have been going on now for at least a decade regardless of who is in power and IMHO will never come into force. The current independent senator who's votes this legislation was intended to buy has gone cold on the idea since his own anti-abortion sponsers were added to the proposed blacklist.
Most sane Aussie (and I believe most of the MP's / senators, including Conroy) realise it's unworkable and will never become the law of the land. But as you say this does not stop them from appering to "do something" in order to garner votes and distract from real issues.
I like many other Aussie's will continue to ignore this crap until something concrete actually happens, at which point the culprits will find themselves out of a job.
Interesting, I've never taken notice of my own state of mind at the time but will do so in the future. I have experienced vivid audio and visual hallucinations after 3 days with no sleep. I also get something I call "brain snaps" when I am sleep deprived and close my eyes, it's a brilliant flash of white light accompanied by a very loud crack that sounds like an arc welder making contact.
Thanks for the link. Skinner did some brilliant experiments but unfortunately he went around promoting the political idea that behavioural modification (especially of children) could make a better world. That trait is now immortalised as Principal Skinner in the Simpsons.
Of course what the people who disparged him failed to acknowledge is that schools and churches have always practised behavioural modification in one form or another.
I had a look at some of those before posting but couldn't find the one I was thinking of. :(
"as the CRU emails show, they have been disparaged and shut up at every possible point."
Bullshit, what the emails show is private scientific discorse and frustration at a well funded campaign to politically discredit and obfuscate their work. Do you not find it curious that only one or two emails over a ten year period can be twisted to suit your claim?
Yeah right, all the funding for climate science comes directly from the Al Gore foundation for world domination. This foundation has single handedly managed to corrupt every credible scientific institution on the planet and has hacked into all Earth facing sattelites so that they spew data that suits their evil plans. - For the love of science, GROW UP!
"There is not such a huge difference in the amount of money scientists receive for one result versus the opposite result"
Some people have very strange ideas of what constitutes a get rich quick scheme. The IPCC has less than 10 paid staff and operates on a budget of $5-6M/yr sourced from a large number of politically diverse nations. Virtually all of that money is spent on airfares and conference facilities. No scientist has ever recieved a dime for the tedious review work they do putting the repots together.
Good post, may I be so bold as to predict the response - Oh no, its making well reasoned arguments
Thanks for the link, it's a great summary of the history. Naomi Oreskes has done a good job of tracking down the tabacoo scientists and creationists who's anti-science propoganda often gets quoted word for word here on slashdot. Unfortunately her work gets very little MSM attention.
For those who still think Al Gore invented AGW in 2005, here's a 1958 video from Bell Labs on the subject.
"Plus, the moon is slightly less likely to have the dust devils that have been graciously dusting off the panels."
It's also less likely to have dust suspended in a vacum above the ground, just design the moon rover so it doesn't kick sand in it's own face. Maybe something high tech like mud gaurds over the wheels
"There's no reason to post shit that is obviously fake."
:)
On the contrary, it will attract a lot of comments, some from people who believe it and some from those who don't. Compared to other sites a disproportionately high number of those comments will be from people who actually know what they are talking about and have the evidence to back it up. Those comments demonstrate to readers the true meaning of skepticisim and even those who already practice the art can learn a great deal from them, just as I have learnt something from you today without having RTFA. Of course being a practising skeptic I'm not just taking your word for it, I did do a bit of googling before posting this.
No that was Macgyver for making a solar powered watch out of a toothpick and a stale marshmellow.