It may be a false dichotomy, but I've got to say (even as a die-hard "conservative") that if it actually happens, merit pay for teachers the single most awesome thing I've heard coming out of the White House in around a decade.
(you forget, conservatives love pissing off the unions.:)
Our water supply is not "limited" in any meaningful sense of the word, given the state of modern technology and engineering. All that Man has wrought pales in comparison to the vastness of the oceans.
Now, our fresh-drinkable-water supplies in places that they can be effectively used for agriculture, industry, or residential populated areas, sure, that's an entirely different story altogether.
There is value(read: profit) in artificial scarcity. By reducing the consumer's expectations you can get them to pay more for the same service. Profit is good for the economy(in theory).
In bullshit theory, sure. In real economic theory, however, this setup is horribly inefficient, as it significantly reduces the consumer surplus. Of course, the government can't tax something quite so intangible as such a benefit to society...
Most of the time when a lab "observes" an interesting particle they don't actually detect it, they just detect all the crazy debris that it produces when it explodes^W decays.
Well, in some sense, the 'republican' form of a democratic republic (don't confuse it with the Republican party, mind you, though they do share some of the sentiment sometimes)... in this form of government the People elect representatives, ideally men of Principle, and then the representatives will do what they think is best for the country. Meanwhile, in the "democratic" form of the democratic republic, people are elected to office to implement The Will Of The People. (This fits more neatly with the US Democrat party's philosophy, and is closer to the purest "democracy" where everyone votes on everything).
So, there is some room in political philosophies for politicians to say "No, I don't care what the opinion polls say this week, we're doing this because it's what we should do". For example, if you will recall the 2004 US presidential election, you might recall talk of how John Kerry was a big "flip-flop".
Finally, one might worry that this democratic-esque angle of a democratic republic is prone to a variety of weaknesses, such as inviting undue manipulation of public opinion through propaganda and lies, or by rewarding people who are excessively Pragmatic and have no Principles.
This particular case, however, is not likely to be evidence of any positive traits of the "republican" aspect of a democratic republic.
Roadside bombs, airline hijackings, waltzing into a hospital with a machine gun - not exactly rocket science. Taking out satellites, on the other hand....
Tangentially related anecdote. I had a friend who was in school, said he "couldn't afford health insurance". One night he had some random really bad gastrointestinal distress, and was tossing and turning in bed. He, ah, apparently twisted a particularly sensitive part of his anatomy around, which is really not good, and had to have surgery and have one of them removed. Not very fun. Also, was going to run him something like $10 grand.
In short, always have health insurance - at least the catastrophic health insurance, anyway. Especially if you "can't afford" health insurance, because that's exactly when you need it most. Yes: sometimes this may mean a reduction in lifestyle, or an increased debt burden.
This has been a 30-second break for Good Advice. We now return you to your regularly scheduled flame-war.
I dunno. I'll look into having some, eventually (some time after the mid-twenties). Why? My grandmother just died of cancer (originally breast cancer), her sister is fighting breast cancer, my aunt just got diagnosed with breast cancer and is at serious risk of croaking in a year or two, my grandfather... well, okay, the smoking and alcohol and photographing atmospheric nuclear bomb tests got to him first, and he didn't die of cancer, but.... Really nasty family genetic disposition towards it, see?
(I'm still betting on heart disease to take me out in the end, though, barring WWIII).
And if you think that's bad, then you had better pray that you get old and die before we become like the Netherlands, where, if you're old enough, they'd rather just kill you up front than spend a dime of government money to keep you alive.
Seriously. Go read about it at many of the sites linked to here. I especially liked the part where
More than 10% of senior citizens who responded to a recent survey, which did not mention euthanasia, volunteered that they feared being killed by their doctors without their consent.
What happened to the 80 billion worth of printers, loggers, paper mills, transport, and fish-wrappers?
That's the savings! Stuff you no longer have to do! What, is there some moral imperative to waste as much effort and resources doing something as possible these days? You don't help the economy by hanging on to the past.
Granted, the claims that they actually will save that much are somewhat specious, but still!
What you are talking about is assisted suicide turning into euthanasia by putting undue pressure on those with terminal illnesses to choose death early to stop being a burden to society. I see where you are coming from. I don't know if it will ever get that far, but I can see your point.
Many old people now fear Dutch hospitals. More than 10% of senior citizens who responded to a recent survey, which did not mention euthanasia, volunteered that they feared being killed by their doctors without their consent. One senior-citizen group printed up wallet cards that tell doctors that the cardholder opposes euthanasia.
Unfortunately, this is not Star Trek, where we can just point some magical energy beam at something and "vaporize" it, rendering it harmless. We have to deal with Real Physics here, especially energy constraints. How much energy does do you think it takes to boil a few hundred kilograms of iron? Do you think we have anything remotely like that which we could feasibly launch into orbit? What do you think happens when it inevitably cools?
You're probably not going to be building lens-concentrated photovoltaics in the Mojave. Some sort of solar concentrator design (with the big tower in the middle that they aim the sun at with mirrors) or the more-experimental solar chimney designs are better bets and generally much more cost-effective.
If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. If it stops moving, subsidize it.
A tax on auto insurance? That's a regressive one. Oh, do they want more uninsured drivers on the road? Lovely. I can see how everybody wins with that proposal.
I signed up for it, using the web UI... set the address to the address of my office (easy enough to find anyway) and my icon's been sitting there the past 3 weeks. Ooh, comma, wow.
Slashdot Mirror
(you forget, conservatives love pissing off the unions. :)
Especially if it's 20 vacuum cleaners each.
Weirdo.
Now, our fresh-drinkable-water supplies in places that they can be effectively used for agriculture, industry, or residential populated areas, sure, that's an entirely different story altogether.
Meh. Whatever.
In bullshit theory, sure. In real economic theory, however, this setup is horribly inefficient, as it significantly reduces the consumer surplus. Of course, the government can't tax something quite so intangible as such a benefit to society...
Most of the time when a lab "observes" an interesting particle they don't actually detect it, they just detect all the crazy debris that it produces when it explodes^W decays.
Well, in some sense, the 'republican' form of a democratic republic (don't confuse it with the Republican party, mind you, though they do share some of the sentiment sometimes)... in this form of government the People elect representatives, ideally men of Principle, and then the representatives will do what they think is best for the country. Meanwhile, in the "democratic" form of the democratic republic, people are elected to office to implement The Will Of The People. (This fits more neatly with the US Democrat party's philosophy, and is closer to the purest "democracy" where everyone votes on everything).
So, there is some room in political philosophies for politicians to say "No, I don't care what the opinion polls say this week, we're doing this because it's what we should do". For example, if you will recall the 2004 US presidential election, you might recall talk of how John Kerry was a big "flip-flop".
Finally, one might worry that this democratic-esque angle of a democratic republic is prone to a variety of weaknesses, such as inviting undue manipulation of public opinion through propaganda and lies, or by rewarding people who are excessively Pragmatic and have no Principles.
This particular case, however, is not likely to be evidence of any positive traits of the "republican" aspect of a democratic republic.
Roadside bombs, airline hijackings, waltzing into a hospital with a machine gun - not exactly rocket science. Taking out satellites, on the other hand....
All the more reason for you to helpfully offer to put them down, eh?
In short, always have health insurance - at least the catastrophic health insurance, anyway. Especially if you "can't afford" health insurance, because that's exactly when you need it most. Yes: sometimes this may mean a reduction in lifestyle, or an increased debt burden.
This has been a 30-second break for Good Advice. We now return you to your regularly scheduled flame-war.
(I'm still betting on heart disease to take me out in the end, though, barring WWIII).
Seriously. Go read about it at many of the sites linked to here. I especially liked the part where
-- http://opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=95000390
Are you in the Bay Area? Do you take Great West insurance? Are you accepting new patients?
You confuse open source in the general case with Wikipedia. Just because you can change it, doesn't mean anyone else will ever see it or care. :)
That's the savings! Stuff you no longer have to do! What, is there some moral imperative to waste as much effort and resources doing something as possible these days? You don't help the economy by hanging on to the past.
Granted, the claims that they actually will save that much are somewhat specious, but still!
Do some research into euthanasia in the Netherlands. It's gone that far.
-- http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=95000390
moral of the story: don't post on slashdot when you have the ful and can't think tstraight.
There's no judge, you idiot. This is an out-of-court settlement.
Unfortunately, this is not Star Trek, where we can just point some magical energy beam at something and "vaporize" it, rendering it harmless. We have to deal with Real Physics here, especially energy constraints. How much energy does do you think it takes to boil a few hundred kilograms of iron? Do you think we have anything remotely like that which we could feasibly launch into orbit? What do you think happens when it inevitably cools?
You're probably not going to be building lens-concentrated photovoltaics in the Mojave. Some sort of solar concentrator design (with the big tower in the middle that they aim the sun at with mirrors) or the more-experimental solar chimney designs are better bets and generally much more cost-effective.
A tax on auto insurance? That's a regressive one. Oh, do they want more uninsured drivers on the road? Lovely. I can see how everybody wins with that proposal.
(Well, okay, sometimes they're using WEP or ROT13 or memfrob, but in general...)
So. Uhm. He probably shouldn't help either.
I signed up for it, using the web UI... set the address to the address of my office (easy enough to find anyway) and my icon's been sitting there the past 3 weeks. Ooh, comma, wow.