... it would be a tax cut, even for those with good accountants (but maybe not for those with the best accountants).
Let's examine that claim a bit...
Centuries ago, it was possible for the elites to claim "divine right of kings" and maintain their fiefdoms based purely on a supposed mandate from God. Taxes could be levied on the poor, while exempting the elites, because God wanted it that way. Today, the masses will not accept this. A "divine right of robber barons" is not going to pass the sniff test, so the elites must be able to at least make a plausible case that the state operates in the interests of the masses, not just a privileged few. Costs to run the country, and defend its existence need to take account of that reality.
The above reality being recognized, let us look at where the federal taxes levied go, and which uses of taxes you want abolished.
First, I assume you wish to abolish the (supposedly separately funded) social security and Medicare programs. With most businesses having eliminated their own employee pension schemes, this is the main unavoidable contribution they must still make. It means, of course, not just no retirement benefits (no problem: the wealthy can afford their own pensions) but also such expensive entitlements as disability insurance, Medicare and Medicaid among other entitlements Medicare is horrendously expensive, partly for reasons that have to do with the way health care is structured in the US. (Unlucky if you are one of the individuals who finds it impossible to get privately funded replacements, such as because of preexisting conditions.) It is just conceivable that you could eliminate these programs over time. After all, individuals also bear some of the cost. There is no way the masses would accept an abrupt removal of their benefits, though, so reductions in the cost to business would have to be a slow process..
With that out of the way, we can examine where the main federal taxes go.
By far the biggest is the military. I would argue that these costs could be hugely cut back, though only with a big short-term hit to the economy. What is needed is a small standing army and air force, together with a minimal nuclear deterrent. There is no way the elites would permit this, however. Their ability to project power globally relies on the current bloated monster.
You have federally funded education initiatives like the Head Start program, training and placement for unemployed, and grants for low income college students. Individually, these are not too expensive, but collectively they command a measurable proportion of the budget. I would personally not favor eliminating most of these, and I think acceptance of the system is impaired by doing so, but I concede eliminating them is possible.
I believe food stamps are funded from regular taxes, not social security, so these need to be considered separately. Yes, they could be axed. Some children would die, and more would be mentally and physically damaged by malnutrition, but that is not the elites' problem.
There is government support for scientific research. Outside of that with military applications, it is actually not a huge amount of money.
There are regulatory authorities to ensure things like food safety and disease control. While business would probably like to see them go, as complying with regulations costs them money, I personally think for most purposes they need to stay.
There is infrastructure spending, such as on the roads. You could replace this with a system of toll roads, as in Europe in centuries past.
Veteran's benefits could be eliminated, but the outcry from the masses would make this quite untenable
Overall, I agree with the theory that much smaller and cheaper government is feasible. I do not think it can be done in practice unless (i) you can convince the population at large that programs to benefit the bulk of the population should be eliminated for the benefit of big business and the rich; and (ii) you can convince the elites that their global ambitions need to be forgone for the benefit of everyone else. I think you have a tough task ahead.
This is a very American attitude, though not by any means limited to the US.
If people want nation states, they need institutions to run them, and defense forces to enforce their existence. Most people do seem to want this, and they do not pay for themselves.Part of Trump's appeal is emphasizing the tribalism that underlies the desire for borders.
I am totally out of sympathy with the attitude that says: "I want the nation state with the benefits that accrues to me personally. However, I would be stupid, as a wealthy individual with access to sleazy accountants, to pay my share, because I can force the burden onto the middle class and the poor." The analogous attitude in business is that "there is a fiduciary duty to maximize shareholder value, and any kind of actions within the limits of the law that we can take to achieve this are not only acceptable but mandatory."
Remember these are paper losses. Trump is the quintessential crooked American businessman, with shady accountants who will find a way to cook the books to his advantage. The profits will have been transferred into tax exempt trusts. Only the losses remain where they belong.
No, see the highly rated post above. There is no bug. The fact that there are problems after issuing that command is a coincidence. The server just coincidentally was hit by cosmic rays around the same time. Other reports of the same problem are similar coincidences. The systemd OS is just as perfect as the Microsoft operating system it takes its inspiration from.
Why can't I have a "show how big a folder is" in Google Drive?
I feel your pain, but it is actually a hard problem. Folders do not exist in Drive. They are just the result of a specialized search. Having files locatable using tags associated with them, and all files being stored all over the globe provides some pretty cool capabilities. A single item typically is stored in several different places, for redundancy and speed of access reasons. The same file can also exist in many different "virtual locations" at the same time, with an individual deciding where it best fits in their own hierarchy (possibly several places for the same individual for cases where a traditional filesystem would use links).
However, it does suck when you really do wish they behaved like real folders. It would be fiendishly difficult, when tags change, or even files renamed, moved or deleted, to maintain indexes for each individual user of the items in their own Google Drives.
It should be designed in such a way that kids can actually make the exhibits work, not just tell them how it works. All other considerations are secondary. However, dramatic comparisons like an IBM 350 disk unit displayed alongside a modern mSATA drive will also make an impression.
I can imagine something like this being effective in the lab and when new, but I wonder how long it takes for its performance to degrade. It presumably relies on very sensitive chemical reactions which assume zero contamination. After a few minutes exposed to street pollution, does it still work? Even if my concerns in this area are well founded, the technology will still be useful, but I am pretty skeptical about it becoming a standard smart phone feature.
How democratic the US may be in practice is a complex question. The biggest problem (greater than voter apathy) is the way the electorate is misinformed and manipulated.
When people face a hefty fine for not voting, as in Australia, it is not surprising that voter turnout is high,
I cannot help wondering if your post is a clever troll. Universal suffrage (in my view a condition for true democracy) in the US dates back to the Voting Rights Act of 1965. If you take a more narrow view of a "democracy" as allowing all males meeting certain property requirements to vote, then the US was not the first.
Whether the US is celebrating another well-run year is open to debate. It is possible to argue for or against that proposition.
The argument against most medical advances revolves around improbable failures. Meanwhile, people die, go blind and lose their legs because they are using inferior, outdated treatments.
The device being discussed in this article is clearly preferable to purely manual methods that may need to be applied when the patient's mental faculties are impaired by a severe glucose imbalance (or even when the patient has entered a coma). Might faults in the hardware or programming result in accidents? Yes, but the risk/benefit analysis clearly favors its use.
I would add that there is a crying need for much more research into the impact of the microbiome on autoimmune diseases, such as diabetes. There is tantalizing evidence that type 1 diabetes may be curable for some individuals simply by modifying the gut bacteria.
Contrary to what the FA suggests, some experiments with fecal transplants to treat various other conditions have been done. Although most available data is anecdotal, there is evidence that they could be the best treatment for obesity, and a possible cure for type 1 diabetes and other auto immune conditions. See, for instance, some views of Dr. Jeffrey Gordon
This is all very interesting. However, there is no indication of when the sticks will become generally available. Their website indicates that they intend to create 1000 sticks shortly for use by selected customers. It is difficult to know how real this is, actually.
I think an even bigger problem is how the decision makers are chosen. I seriously doubt the best minds and organizers end up controlling these critical military programs. I can tell you from experience that sycophants are normally not very effective at anything other than empire building.
First, I do not accept that deceleration would necessarily be impossible. If you can accelerate, then pointing the thrust in the opposite direction will allow you to slow down. Granted, your "brake" may take a few months to be effective, but that does not mean it is unfeasible.
More interestingly, I am not convinced faster than light communication is impossible. I appreciate the arguments around causality, but I think it is just one of those things like infinity that we cannot get our heads around. I can imagine quantum entanglement established prior to departure being used to send signals at the time of arrival (in both directions, and possibly with minimal power requirements). I can also imagine this proving to be impossible.
... if Watson learned the Gangnam Style moves by watching videos, and independently decided when using them is appropriate, that would be extremely significant. I am assuming that is not the case. However, with advances taking place in deep learning, AIs may be doing just that in a few years.
For the benefit of other sarcasm impaired readers:
I do not favor criminalizing sexual activity between consenting adults, whether monetary inducements are involved or not.
I am not a advocate either of FGM or Saudi Arabia's laws on sexual activity.
I was drawing a parallel between blanket criminalization of prostitution and blanket criminalization of all sexual activity outside marriage to try to make the point that an activity not always being consensual is not a sufficient justification for banning that activity in all cases.
If unable to have consensual sex for money with a lonely 75-year-old, Zolicoffer can no doubt fall back on more socially acceptable occupations like muggings or pushing drugs outside school. Besides, how is one to know whether a 27-year-old woman is making a voluntary choice to have sex. Sex outside marriage needs to be made illegal (as in Saudi Arabia) to ensure that no woman is ever pressured into sex against her will. The loophole of a woman providing sexual favors without charging money for it needs to be closed.
TFA also mentions in passing that it is now handling 439,000 passengers a day against 100,000 a week originally specified. My own view is that being able to accommodate a 20+ fold increase in volume over original specification, without a total system replacement, suggests the design was not terrible. Would using older, established designs for the system have allowed such expansion? It might, indeed, provide some support to the original developers' view that the design would end up widely adopted.
The Appeals Court entering a simple decision, finding for or against the Plaintiff, would have ended proceedings (actually, not quite: there are additional games that can be played should such a mistake occur). This is not in the best interests of the litigation industry. The Appeals Court is supposed to find any reasonable excuse to draw out the proceedings.
While normally such a case would have been expected to drag on for generations, this one was wrapped up surprisingly quickly. Uniloc filed suit in 2003, received the $388 million jury award by 2009. The judge overruled the award. However, in 2011, the Appeals Court reinstated but with the proviso that a new trial was needed because the basis under which damages were calculated were flawed. Thus far, all very normal. Then, in March 2012, Uniloc and Microsoft agreed a confidential settlement! Personally, I cannot imagine what the lawyers were thinking. The settlement cost them a fortune.
Anyway, the net result is that invalidation of the patent helps Microsoft not one bit. They already capitulated years ago.
Using proxies to bypass government mandated restrictions on Internet use is illegal in some other authoritarian countries. Why should be UK be any different?
I can see it now. After 90 minutes to check in and a breakdown of the scanner at security, the TSA agent informs you that the audio analyzer detected you being agitated and, for safety reasons, they will not allow you to fly.
I can assure you that the hardware Alpha Go runs on is well capable of handling other tasks. It is true that single programs will probably always tend to be specialized. It is better to keep the AI that excels at Go separate from the one that is a superior driver than a human, and from the one that does medical diagnosis better than a human. No reason they have to be, just better engineering.
Alpha Go is significant. The primary way it developed from a good Go player to one superior to humans was by studying the games of others and by experimentation, playing versions of itself to develop a superior knowledge of the best patterns. This is highly applicable to other applications that you would consider more useful.
At this point, there are still some things humans do better than AIs. Dealing with imperfect knowledge is a challenge slowly being overcome. Partnering with unpredictable humans is difficult (that is why self driving cars are tricky). The areas where humans beat AIs are steadily becoming fewer.
Slashdot Mirror
Quite so. I understand DARPA long ago funded an effort to design such a network. It is a pity that it was, apparently, never actually deployed.
Let's examine that claim a bit...
Centuries ago, it was possible for the elites to claim "divine right of kings" and maintain their fiefdoms based purely on a supposed mandate from God. Taxes could be levied on the poor, while exempting the elites, because God wanted it that way. Today, the masses will not accept this. A "divine right of robber barons" is not going to pass the sniff test, so the elites must be able to at least make a plausible case that the state operates in the interests of the masses, not just a privileged few. Costs to run the country, and defend its existence need to take account of that reality.
The above reality being recognized, let us look at where the federal taxes levied go, and which uses of taxes you want abolished.
First, I assume you wish to abolish the (supposedly separately funded) social security and Medicare programs. With most businesses having eliminated their own employee pension schemes, this is the main unavoidable contribution they must still make. It means, of course, not just no retirement benefits (no problem: the wealthy can afford their own pensions) but also such expensive entitlements as disability insurance, Medicare and Medicaid among other entitlements Medicare is horrendously expensive, partly for reasons that have to do with the way health care is structured in the US. (Unlucky if you are one of the individuals who finds it impossible to get privately funded replacements, such as because of preexisting conditions.) It is just conceivable that you could eliminate these programs over time. After all, individuals also bear some of the cost. There is no way the masses would accept an abrupt removal of their benefits, though, so reductions in the cost to business would have to be a slow process..
With that out of the way, we can examine where the main federal taxes go.
Overall, I agree with the theory that much smaller and cheaper government is feasible. I do not think it can be done in practice unless (i) you can convince the population at large that programs to benefit the bulk of the population should be eliminated for the benefit of big business and the rich; and (ii) you can convince the elites that their global ambitions need to be forgone for the benefit of everyone else. I think you have a tough task ahead.
This is a very American attitude, though not by any means limited to the US.
If people want nation states, they need institutions to run them, and defense forces to enforce their existence. Most people do seem to want this, and they do not pay for themselves.Part of Trump's appeal is emphasizing the tribalism that underlies the desire for borders.
I am totally out of sympathy with the attitude that says: "I want the nation state with the benefits that accrues to me personally. However, I would be stupid, as a wealthy individual with access to sleazy accountants, to pay my share, because I can force the burden onto the middle class and the poor." The analogous attitude in business is that "there is a fiduciary duty to maximize shareholder value, and any kind of actions within the limits of the law that we can take to achieve this are not only acceptable but mandatory."
Remember these are paper losses. Trump is the quintessential crooked American businessman, with shady accountants who will find a way to cook the books to his advantage. The profits will have been transferred into tax exempt trusts. Only the losses remain where they belong.
No, see the highly rated post above. There is no bug. The fact that there are problems after issuing that command is a coincidence. The server just coincidentally was hit by cosmic rays around the same time. Other reports of the same problem are similar coincidences. The systemd OS is just as perfect as the Microsoft operating system it takes its inspiration from.
I feel your pain, but it is actually a hard problem. Folders do not exist in Drive. They are just the result of a specialized search. Having files locatable using tags associated with them, and all files being stored all over the globe provides some pretty cool capabilities. A single item typically is stored in several different places, for redundancy and speed of access reasons. The same file can also exist in many different "virtual locations" at the same time, with an individual deciding where it best fits in their own hierarchy (possibly several places for the same individual for cases where a traditional filesystem would use links).
However, it does suck when you really do wish they behaved like real folders. It would be fiendishly difficult, when tags change, or even files renamed, moved or deleted, to maintain indexes for each individual user of the items in their own Google Drives.
It should be designed in such a way that kids can actually make the exhibits work, not just tell them how it works. All other considerations are secondary. However, dramatic comparisons like an IBM 350 disk unit displayed alongside a modern mSATA drive will also make an impression.
I can imagine something like this being effective in the lab and when new, but I wonder how long it takes for its performance to degrade. It presumably relies on very sensitive chemical reactions which assume zero contamination. After a few minutes exposed to street pollution, does it still work? Even if my concerns in this area are well founded, the technology will still be useful, but I am pretty skeptical about it becoming a standard smart phone feature.
How democratic the US may be in practice is a complex question. The biggest problem (greater than voter apathy) is the way the electorate is misinformed and manipulated.
When people face a hefty fine for not voting, as in Australia, it is not surprising that voter turnout is high,
I cannot help wondering if your post is a clever troll. Universal suffrage (in my view a condition for true democracy) in the US dates back to the Voting Rights Act of 1965. If you take a more narrow view of a "democracy" as allowing all males meeting certain property requirements to vote, then the US was not the first.
Whether the US is celebrating another well-run year is open to debate. It is possible to argue for or against that proposition.
The argument against most medical advances revolves around improbable failures. Meanwhile, people die, go blind and lose their legs because they are using inferior, outdated treatments.
The device being discussed in this article is clearly preferable to purely manual methods that may need to be applied when the patient's mental faculties are impaired by a severe glucose imbalance (or even when the patient has entered a coma). Might faults in the hardware or programming result in accidents? Yes, but the risk/benefit analysis clearly favors its use.
I would add that there is a crying need for much more research into the impact of the microbiome on autoimmune diseases, such as diabetes. There is tantalizing evidence that type 1 diabetes may be curable for some individuals simply by modifying the gut bacteria.
... I wonder if the driver survived the aftermath when her father saw what she did to his car. I doubt if the insurers are going to cover the loss.
Contrary to what the FA suggests, some experiments with fecal transplants to treat various other conditions have been done. Although most available data is anecdotal, there is evidence that they could be the best treatment for obesity, and a possible cure for type 1 diabetes and other auto immune conditions. See, for instance, some views of Dr. Jeffrey Gordon
This is all very interesting. However, there is no indication of when the sticks will become generally available. Their website indicates that they intend to create 1000 sticks shortly for use by selected customers. It is difficult to know how real this is, actually.
I think an even bigger problem is how the decision makers are chosen. I seriously doubt the best minds and organizers end up controlling these critical military programs. I can tell you from experience that sycophants are normally not very effective at anything other than empire building.
First, I do not accept that deceleration would necessarily be impossible. If you can accelerate, then pointing the thrust in the opposite direction will allow you to slow down. Granted, your "brake" may take a few months to be effective, but that does not mean it is unfeasible.
More interestingly, I am not convinced faster than light communication is impossible. I appreciate the arguments around causality, but I think it is just one of those things like infinity that we cannot get our heads around. I can imagine quantum entanglement established prior to departure being used to send signals at the time of arrival (in both directions, and possibly with minimal power requirements). I can also imagine this proving to be impossible.
... if Watson learned the Gangnam Style moves by watching videos, and independently decided when using them is appropriate, that would be extremely significant. I am assuming that is not the case. However, with advances taking place in deep learning, AIs may be doing just that in a few years.
For the benefit of other sarcasm impaired readers:
If unable to have consensual sex for money with a lonely 75-year-old, Zolicoffer can no doubt fall back on more socially acceptable occupations like muggings or pushing drugs outside school. Besides, how is one to know whether a 27-year-old woman is making a voluntary choice to have sex. Sex outside marriage needs to be made illegal (as in Saudi Arabia) to ensure that no woman is ever pressured into sex against her will. The loophole of a woman providing sexual favors without charging money for it needs to be closed.
TFA also mentions in passing that it is now handling 439,000 passengers a day against 100,000 a week originally specified. My own view is that being able to accommodate a 20+ fold increase in volume over original specification, without a total system replacement, suggests the design was not terrible. Would using older, established designs for the system have allowed such expansion? It might, indeed, provide some support to the original developers' view that the design would end up widely adopted.
The Appeals Court entering a simple decision, finding for or against the Plaintiff, would have ended proceedings (actually, not quite: there are additional games that can be played should such a mistake occur). This is not in the best interests of the litigation industry. The Appeals Court is supposed to find any reasonable excuse to draw out the proceedings.
While normally such a case would have been expected to drag on for generations, this one was wrapped up surprisingly quickly. Uniloc filed suit in 2003, received the $388 million jury award by 2009. The judge overruled the award. However, in 2011, the Appeals Court reinstated but with the proviso that a new trial was needed because the basis under which damages were calculated were flawed. Thus far, all very normal. Then, in March 2012, Uniloc and Microsoft agreed a confidential settlement! Personally, I cannot imagine what the lawyers were thinking. The settlement cost them a fortune.
Anyway, the net result is that invalidation of the patent helps Microsoft not one bit. They already capitulated years ago.
Using proxies to bypass government mandated restrictions on Internet use is illegal in some other authoritarian countries. Why should be UK be any different?
I can see it now. After 90 minutes to check in and a breakdown of the scanner at security, the TSA agent informs you that the audio analyzer detected you being agitated and, for safety reasons, they will not allow you to fly.
I can assure you that the hardware Alpha Go runs on is well capable of handling other tasks. It is true that single programs will probably always tend to be specialized. It is better to keep the AI that excels at Go separate from the one that is a superior driver than a human, and from the one that does medical diagnosis better than a human. No reason they have to be, just better engineering.
Alpha Go is significant. The primary way it developed from a good Go player to one superior to humans was by studying the games of others and by experimentation, playing versions of itself to develop a superior knowledge of the best patterns. This is highly applicable to other applications that you would consider more useful.
At this point, there are still some things humans do better than AIs. Dealing with imperfect knowledge is a challenge slowly being overcome. Partnering with unpredictable humans is difficult (that is why self driving cars are tricky). The areas where humans beat AIs are steadily becoming fewer.