the KKK's speech with a history of the civil war. Not to mention that something like 'hate speech' is almost entirely subjective,
Yeap, what can be called "hate speech" is entirely subjective. And I disagree with any and all laws making "hate speech" illegal. By making them illegal all you do is drive them underground. Instead what's needed to fight "hate speech" is to debate on the merits, or lack thereof, and the facts, or lack thereof. If those making such speechs won't participate then it just goes to show they don't have much to stand on. I support the KKK, NAZIs, Nation of Islam, and any other group in their exercise of free speech even though I may disagree with what they say.
Tell that to those in Bosnia and Iraq who have to live with DU, Depleted Unranium.
Sheer nonsense. The radioactivity in these zones is no worse than average. The word "depleted" in "depleted uranium" should tell you something, yet I keep hearing these clueless claims all the time, mostly from tree-hugging hippies and people who have no clue what they're talking about nor any sort of qualifications to back up their assertions.
If you had bothered to read the articles I linked to you'd of read one was of a doctor not tree huggers who were concerned about cancer caused by DU and the other was a vet who served in Iraq.
I don't see what DU has to do with anything I've said.
It has a lot to do with what you said: "We can't control what goes on in Africa without invading them". Du isn't created in Africa, it's created in the US, and the UK. If the US readily spreads radioactive waste, which is what depleted uranium is, how in the world can the US expect other to not do so too? Same with nuclear weapons. Th eonly nation to ever use one does what it can to prevent other nations from developing thier own, unless it's an ally. The US gets on these countries for violating the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty yet the US violates it too. Part of the treaty was those nations that had them had to reduce and eventually get rid of those they had. Instead of getting rid of them or reducing the muber Bush wants to make more, those "bunker busters". There's even some calls for the US to use them against Iran. I'm still waiting to all of those stockpiles of WMDs Bush insisted Saddam had and now as Yogi Berra said, "it's deja vu all over again" as regards Iran.
Don't try to say the US can't control what other countries do, that's all Bush and Co are trying to do, tell others what they can do. They then throw a fit if their will isn't obeyed.
They should just be exterminated? They almost were and now you want to quibble about some seeking justice?
As for the health effects of the mining, they're bad in African nations because nobody there cares about the health of the workers, but in modern nations all reasonable safety precautions are taken. We can't control what goes on in Africa without invading them, so I don't see what you expect us to do about it. Not that it's relevant anyway, since we weren't discussing africa to begin with.
Why can't it? It's trivially obvious that it's more expensive, on average, to have insurance than to pay costs out of pocket because the insurance companies have to profit somehow. However, most of us can't possibly afford the worst-case medical bills that could arise and be covered by insurance if we were unlucky enough to need it.
This is exactly why I believe medical accounts should be available for workers, taxpayers, to cover the cost of routine health care cost then have catastrophic coverage for other things. One reason healthcare cost are high is because of insurance and paperwork. If people were to pay for thier own healthcare they'd pay much more attention to the costs, and all of those people working on that paperwork has to be paid as well.
I don't know about you, if you've been been in such a situation, but I can emphatically say I'd rather be ignorant to my situation than aware of it like I am. I am a survivor of a Traumatic Brain Injury, TBI I suffered when I was hit by a moving van while riding my bike after classes in college. I was a Computer Engineering major, however because of my injury my memory is bad. While I recall many things others I don't. For instance while in rehab I tried to do a simple physics exercise any first semester student should be able to do after a few weeks but I couldn't do it. Next I tried a simple one variable integral and I couldn't do it either. Eventually I was able to start taking classes again however it didn't take long before I found out it was hard for me to remember something from class just a few weeks earlier. I'd take the first semester class in a sequence like Java then a few weeks later when the second semester class started it would be a struggle for me to recall what I learned during the first semester. I used to have pretty good memory but not now. I had dreams of what I wanted to do but now I don't think I could ever achieve them. I'd rather be ignorant of this than to know it.
But there are lots of things that are enjoyable and not bad for you. For instance, last weekend I was invited to a thing where a bunch of people gather out on a beautiful farm in the country and fire off model rockets.
Gosh, 30 years ago I did this, built and launched model rockets, mostly Estes or Centauries. In today's security driven society I'd be wary of buying the kits and engines, Ds, never mind launching them.
At the moment, you're better off "investing" in a new sports car or computer, you will make a better profit off them than that new home.
The problem with this is that if you don't buy and own your own home you are renting from someone else in which case you are paying their morgage plus profits. And unless you were foolish and got an ARM, Adjustable Rate Mrogage, or some short term morgages like ballon morgages your morgage payment stays the same however rent goes up.
Factor in the interest paid over the life of the loan
Interest paid on your morgage is tax deducable.
the opportunity cost from not investing that money in something that earns interest.
A home is an investment, it's an investment in the future. And because rent rises in the long term you pay less for housing. Also if your home is bigger than you need and you've got a bedroom you don't need then you can rent it out and make more money. Currently I rent an apartment, from my sister. The apartment is one of four in a house that was converted to apartments and the plan right now is that when my sister has built up enough equity in the building she will sale it to me. I can then pay the morgage from the rent I collect and have some left over to invest or spend myself. And I will invest it.
and don't count the 2004-2005 years when people went nuts and drove up prices without a shift in the factors which should determine the price.
Obviously timing makes a hell of a big difference. If there is a real estate boom it is wise to go ahead and rent while waiting for the boom to crash. But then once it has crashed go ahead and buy as long as the area still makes economic sense to stay in, for instance how does the employment n the area look? Are jobs being lost. are they being created, or is it stagnat? And how does the pay for jobs look?
Sure it's easy to look at the real estate boom then crash some areas have had but that's only part of the story.
Well suppose you were a solider, trained in soldier stuff. Obviously, there have been no classes on torture in your training.
If you didn't have any classes on torture in basic training your DIs, Drill Instructors, didn't do their job. Though it was a long tyme ago I went through this type of training when I went into the army. Throughout training one of the things that was costantly being brought up was that a soldier had to evaluate orders and if it was wrong, such as torture and shooting unarmed people, then they were supposed to refuse to follow the order. Not only did I do that but I also told sergents and my LT if I thought an order was stupid, then I'd explain why and offer an alternative. Of course "24" wasn't around then. What I found ironic in a sense is that many of us in my unit loved to watch the daytime soap "General Hospital" when we were able to.
Apparently not one that you've had any success participating in.
There isn't one period! The closest to having a free market in the US is the underground economy. Most legal businesses have some sort regulatory atmosphere they operate in. About the only ones that don't are internet based businesses however even they may be regulated, and it looks like there will be more regulations. Some states are trying to have sales tax for online purchases for instance. Governments see it as just another method of gaining power and raising taxes.
An Atheist Jew is basicly a person who doesn't belive in god or the mysticle afterlife but belives in the principles offered by the religion.
One sentence in the wiki article really caught my attention, "Much recent Jewish theology makes few if any metaphysical claims". This may be true for Jews but the study of the Tree of Life, Kabala, is getting to be popular. Even the singer Madonna is studying it. Some 20 years ago I did myself and I knew some who were getting into it deeply.
I'm sorry to hear about the accident, coma, and position you find yourself in today. Often the support of having a religion like one of the hebrew faiths is that you can trick your mind into beliving there is a purpose outside our existance. It helps some to cope but does nothing for others. Someone once said religion is a crutch for the weak, If you need one, take it.
Thanks. Yea I sometimes wish I were religious. I could then say I'm putting it, my problems and life in the hands of "God", as a way of coping. However I'm inclined to say that's just a form of copping out. Having said that my former Buddhist beliefs, especially in reincarnation, kept me from committing hari kari, sepaku, or some other ritualistic suicide. I'd think that even if I know longer believe in reincarnation but it was true then I'd have to come back and go through it all over again. Forget logic, rationality, or reason, they couldn't touch this irrational fear.
I do a lot of work for different churches. They seem to think god needs flashy computers
Before the internet took off, mid '90s, and became popular I met this couple who started a hosting and isp business and they designed and hosted websites for a number of churchs.
Twisted for political gain. The democrat part likes to be called the democratic party to place some underlying opinion that the other parties aren't democratic and they are. But this is just a play on words to gain momentum and proof to what you are saying.
Well TJ was both a Democrat and a Republican, his party was the Democrat Republicans or some such name. The other main party of those tymes was the Whig Party. The Democrat Republicans were big on state rights and politics being local. The Whigs though wanted a strong federal government.
Ever heard of an athiest Jew. Your morality is likey passed off from some belife in a god even if you don't belive it yourself. Athiest Jews are prime examples of this. I would say you might be too.
Not specifically I haven't heard of an Atheist Jew, but as I've heard of Jews For Jesus, and Sabbatai Zevi, a Jew For Allah, I'm not surprized if there are atheistic Jews. Now as for my own beliefs and religious background, though I'm Roman Catholic, that what my mother is and religion is maternal based, at a young age I converted to Buddhism mentally but kept reading about other religions even taking comparative religion classes in college. So I have not believed in any supreme diety since I was little, no Buddhism doesn't have one. I did believe in a soul or spirit though. However this all changed more than 10 years ago, when I had an accident. After I came out of the coma though I recalled what I previously believed I no longer did believe them. I've been through more than 10 years of trying to meditate and pray and I no longer even believe in a soul or spirit.
the existence of property tax alone demonstrates that society retains some stake on all real estate.
I'm a bit tired now but I can answer this. Property taxes pay for local services. These include firefighting, law enforcement, and public schools. If you don't won't pay property taxes then you can pay for these services yourself. I doubt however you'll get many others to agree with you, anarchy hasn't been shown to work yet.
My parents' generation (now 50) was told that if they didn't stop driving their gas guzzling cars NOW, the majority of the world would be desert by the time their children (me) reached 20. I'm a bit over 20 now, and the precipitation levels in the semi-arid area in which I live have been, while not record highs, quite a bit higher than in the previous decade.
I'm only a few years younger than your parents. And while growing up in Florida from late spring to early fall you could almost set your watch by the rain. Where I lived if it was not already raining I'd see a wall of water at 6 pm approaching me outside facing the right direction, generally southward. The rain may only last a few minutes, or it could last a few hours, but it rained everyday. Now weeks can go by without any rain.
Why, I don't know, it may be something entirely cyclical or it may be warming, but the weather in Florida is much different now than when I was growing up there.
This is of interest not just because this indicates that warming is not good for crops,
There's another reason Global Warming isn't good, especially for crop. At least one study has shown poison ivy not only grows faster when CO2 is higher but it is also a more potent irritant. Other studies have shown some trees grow slower in CO2 rich environments.
I was womdering if I'd see something in that FoxNews article but not a thing was said of it. The Gore family used to own, if Al Gore doesn't still own it, stock in Oxidental Petroleum. They were big stockholders.
100+ years should be enough time for your ascendants to relocate.
Yes, 100 years should be plenty of tyme to relocate, but why should anyone have to? And for some, it's not the next 100 years, it's this winter that's important. Take the Inuits inhabiting the Artic Circle. Those in Nunavut, Northen Canada, depend on ice to hunt during the winter. They'll go out onto the ice to hunt and fish, they've been doing it centuries and it's part of their culture. However now, they can no longer depend on the ice to be strong enough to hold their weight and all it takes is a few minutes in freezing water to die.
I fully agree that people should be free to dispense their estate however they like. What I don't agree with is the notion that their children have a right to that estate.
I phrased it wrong, what I meant is that people should be able to decide for themself who their inheritors will be, whether it's their children, charity, the government, or someone/thing else. I'm not married and don't have children but even if I did if I were to die wealthy I'd either have a foundation setup much as Bill Gates did or I'd leave it to another foundation or charity that was supporting something I believe in, such as Cultural Survival.
Well you have some reason for caring about people coming to harm, so there's some kind of "irrational" morality there; call it what you will.
No, it's rational to care for others and not wanting harm to come to them. It's called reciprocity, the more people are concerned about others the less likely they are to harm others. Not that they won't but there's less of a chance they will. I don't want to harm others and I don't want them to harm me. And as more care science and society improves. For instance though maybe not all do many become doctors because they care about others. Others invent to improves lives. Still others go in to social services to improve specific peoples' or groups of peoples' lives.
Oh, I missed this when I posted my first reply, which is okay as it is a totally separate issue:
We'd probably have to dredge up some Siberian or Mongolian farmer who just happens to be the closest living relative to the very first people to cross the landbridge, and give all of North America and South America to him.
Maybe you don't know but the first inhabitants of the Americas DID NOT cross the Siberian, Alaskan land bridge from Asia to the Americas. The Americas had populations of people before the land bridge existed. Monte Verde, Chile dates from 12,500 BP (Before Present) which dates it 1,000 years before the land bridge, the Land Bridge being dated to 11,500 BP. Sp the fact is is people populated the southern most part of the Americas before the land bridge in the north existed.
the government can still take a goodly chunk of it (in the form of income taxes if nothing else -- nearly all gifts qualify as income).
As of a couple of years ago what a person could give as a gift or inheritance tax free was $600,000. It was only amounts over this that was taxed. Though I'm no expert I know of this because I was told it by my sister who is a Certified Public Accountant, CPA, and her husband who is a Certified Financial Planner, CFP. Actually at this tyme of year, she works 16 hours a day 5 days a week preparing taxes. She does my taxes, I don't work and I'm on disability, and because of her job preparing others thier taxes she usually files one or two extensions on filing my taxes and doesn't have them ready 'til about August.
Any issue surrounding the dispensation of property when I die is between me and the feds. My offspring, should I have any, have ZERO claim to it, no rights whatsoever. Their offspring doubly so...
That's part of the problem, government should have nothing to do with who you leave or don't leave your property, real or not, to. The only tyme gov should get involved is when there is a dispute between different parties as to your will.
Inheritance is just a holdover from the feudal system, and it's a stupid one.
Why should I bust my ass to become wealthy so I can make it easier for my children when gov can take it away? If gov's are going to take it away I should just let the gov take care of my children as well. That thought just makes me shudder. Anything other than allowing people to choose their inheritors is nothing more than stealling from Paul to pay Peter.
in the energy market in the US? Free market means no govt subsidies: a market that is separate from govt. No money from, no influence over. I agree that the politics on both sides (all sides maybe?) are all guilty of the same thing. But is there any hope for free market to actually happen? Cynically I think not.
There is no free market, in energy or any other legal market, in the US or anywhere else in the world. What we have now is the Corporate Aristocracy Thomas Jefferson warned of.
On polarization. It is remarkable how many discussions on Slashdot end up in the same controversies: Microsoft/Linux Firefox/Opera(/IE) Christianity/Atheism(/other religions) Republicans/Liberals.
Ah, it just goes to show how far we went from the USA's founding for a Republican to be ashamed of being a Liberal. My favorite Founding Father, Thomas Jefferson was both a Liberal and a Republican. He believed in liberty, eg liberal, and small government. Unfortunately the popular meanings of words have been twisted so they no long mean what they used to mean.
Slashdot Mirror
If we're going to live in a culture that makes "work" the primary activity of life, you goddamn-well better do something you really want to be doing.
In other words, work to live not live to work!
Falconthe KKK's speech with a history of the civil war. Not to mention that something like 'hate speech' is almost entirely subjective,
Yeap, what can be called "hate speech" is entirely subjective. And I disagree with any and all laws making "hate speech" illegal. By making them illegal all you do is drive them underground. Instead what's needed to fight "hate speech" is to debate on the merits, or lack thereof, and the facts, or lack thereof. If those making such speechs won't participate then it just goes to show they don't have much to stand on. I support the KKK, NAZIs, Nation of Islam, and any other group in their exercise of free speech even though I may disagree with what they say.
FalconTell that to those in Bosnia and Iraq who have to live with DU, Depleted Unranium.
Sheer nonsense. The radioactivity in these zones is no worse than average. The word "depleted" in "depleted uranium" should tell you something, yet I keep hearing these clueless claims all the time, mostly from tree-hugging hippies and people who have no clue what they're talking about nor any sort of qualifications to back up their assertions.
If you had bothered to read the articles I linked to you'd of read one was of a doctor not tree huggers who were concerned about cancer caused by DU and the other was a vet who served in Iraq.
I don't see what DU has to do with anything I've said.
It has a lot to do with what you said: "We can't control what goes on in Africa without invading them". Du isn't created in Africa, it's created in the US, and the UK. If the US readily spreads radioactive waste, which is what depleted uranium is, how in the world can the US expect other to not do so too? Same with nuclear weapons. Th eonly nation to ever use one does what it can to prevent other nations from developing thier own, unless it's an ally. The US gets on these countries for violating the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty yet the US violates it too. Part of the treaty was those nations that had them had to reduce and eventually get rid of those they had. Instead of getting rid of them or reducing the muber Bush wants to make more, those "bunker busters". There's even some calls for the US to use them against Iran. I'm still waiting to all of those stockpiles of WMDs Bush insisted Saddam had and now as Yogi Berra said, "it's deja vu all over again" as regards Iran.
Don't try to say the US can't control what other countries do, that's all Bush and Co are trying to do, tell others what they can do. They then throw a fit if their will isn't obeyed.
FalconSorry, I don't have any sympathy for aboriginals.
They should just be exterminated? They almost were and now you want to quibble about some seeking justice?
As for the health effects of the mining, they're bad in African nations because nobody there cares about the health of the workers, but in modern nations all reasonable safety precautions are taken. We can't control what goes on in Africa without invading them, so I don't see what you expect us to do about it. Not that it's relevant anyway, since we weren't discussing africa to begin with.
Tell that to those in Bosnia and Iraq who have to live with DU, Depleted Unranium. Veteran To Talk About Depleted Uranium . Army Personnel Tested For Depleted Uranium .
FalconWhy can't it? It's trivially obvious that it's more expensive, on average, to have insurance than to pay costs out of pocket because the insurance companies have to profit somehow. However, most of us can't possibly afford the worst-case medical bills that could arise and be covered by insurance if we were unlucky enough to need it.
This is exactly why I believe medical accounts should be available for workers, taxpayers, to cover the cost of routine health care cost then have catastrophic coverage for other things. One reason healthcare cost are high is because of insurance and paperwork. If people were to pay for thier own healthcare they'd pay much more attention to the costs, and all of those people working on that paperwork has to be paid as well.
FalconI don't know about you, if you've been been in such a situation, but I can emphatically say I'd rather be ignorant to my situation than aware of it like I am. I am a survivor of a Traumatic Brain Injury, TBI I suffered when I was hit by a moving van while riding my bike after classes in college. I was a Computer Engineering major, however because of my injury my memory is bad. While I recall many things others I don't. For instance while in rehab I tried to do a simple physics exercise any first semester student should be able to do after a few weeks but I couldn't do it. Next I tried a simple one variable integral and I couldn't do it either. Eventually I was able to start taking classes again however it didn't take long before I found out it was hard for me to remember something from class just a few weeks earlier. I'd take the first semester class in a sequence like Java then a few weeks later when the second semester class started it would be a struggle for me to recall what I learned during the first semester. I used to have pretty good memory but not now. I had dreams of what I wanted to do but now I don't think I could ever achieve them. I'd rather be ignorant of this than to know it.
FalconBut there are lots of things that are enjoyable and not bad for you. For instance, last weekend I was invited to a thing where a bunch of people gather out on a beautiful farm in the country and fire off model rockets.
Gosh, 30 years ago I did this, built and launched model rockets, mostly Estes or Centauries. In today's security driven society I'd be wary of buying the kits and engines, Ds, never mind launching them.
FalconAt the moment, you're better off "investing" in a new sports car or computer, you will make a better profit off them than that new home.
The problem with this is that if you don't buy and own your own home you are renting from someone else in which case you are paying their morgage plus profits. And unless you were foolish and got an ARM, Adjustable Rate Mrogage, or some short term morgages like ballon morgages your morgage payment stays the same however rent goes up.
Factor in the interest paid over the life of the loan
Interest paid on your morgage is tax deducable.
the opportunity cost from not investing that money in something that earns interest.
A home is an investment, it's an investment in the future. And because rent rises in the long term you pay less for housing. Also if your home is bigger than you need and you've got a bedroom you don't need then you can rent it out and make more money. Currently I rent an apartment, from my sister. The apartment is one of four in a house that was converted to apartments and the plan right now is that when my sister has built up enough equity in the building she will sale it to me. I can then pay the morgage from the rent I collect and have some left over to invest or spend myself. And I will invest it.
and don't count the 2004-2005 years when people went nuts and drove up prices without a shift in the factors which should determine the price.
Obviously timing makes a hell of a big difference. If there is a real estate boom it is wise to go ahead and rent while waiting for the boom to crash. But then once it has crashed go ahead and buy as long as the area still makes economic sense to stay in, for instance how does the employment n the area look? Are jobs being lost. are they being created, or is it stagnat? And how does the pay for jobs look?
Sure it's easy to look at the real estate boom then crash some areas have had but that's only part of the story.
FalconWell suppose you were a solider, trained in soldier stuff. Obviously, there have been no classes on torture in your training.
If you didn't have any classes on torture in basic training your DIs, Drill Instructors, didn't do their job. Though it was a long tyme ago I went through this type of training when I went into the army. Throughout training one of the things that was costantly being brought up was that a soldier had to evaluate orders and if it was wrong, such as torture and shooting unarmed people, then they were supposed to refuse to follow the order. Not only did I do that but I also told sergents and my LT if I thought an order was stupid, then I'd explain why and offer an alternative. Of course "24" wasn't around then. What I found ironic in a sense is that many of us in my unit loved to watch the daytime soap "General Hospital" when we were able to.
FalconApparently not one that you've had any success participating in.
There isn't one period! The closest to having a free market in the US is the underground economy. Most legal businesses have some sort regulatory atmosphere they operate in. About the only ones that don't are internet based businesses however even they may be regulated, and it looks like there will be more regulations. Some states are trying to have sales tax for online purchases for instance. Governments see it as just another method of gaining power and raising taxes.
FalconAn Atheist Jew is basicly a person who doesn't belive in god or the mysticle afterlife but belives in the principles offered by the religion.
One sentence in the wiki article really caught my attention, "Much recent Jewish theology makes few if any metaphysical claims". This may be true for Jews but the study of the Tree of Life, Kabala, is getting to be popular. Even the singer Madonna is studying it. Some 20 years ago I did myself and I knew some who were getting into it deeply.
I'm sorry to hear about the accident, coma, and position you find yourself in today. Often the support of having a religion like one of the hebrew faiths is that you can trick your mind into beliving there is a purpose outside our existance. It helps some to cope but does nothing for others. Someone once said religion is a crutch for the weak, If you need one, take it.
Thanks. Yea I sometimes wish I were religious. I could then say I'm putting it, my problems and life in the hands of "God", as a way of coping. However I'm inclined to say that's just a form of copping out. Having said that my former Buddhist beliefs, especially in reincarnation, kept me from committing hari kari, sepaku, or some other ritualistic suicide. I'd think that even if I know longer believe in reincarnation but it was true then I'd have to come back and go through it all over again. Forget logic, rationality, or reason, they couldn't touch this irrational fear.
I do a lot of work for different churches. They seem to think god needs flashy computers
Before the internet took off, mid '90s, and became popular I met this couple who started a hosting and isp business and they designed and hosted websites for a number of churchs.
FalconTwisted for political gain. The democrat part likes to be called the democratic party to place some underlying opinion that the other parties aren't democratic and they are. But this is just a play on words to gain momentum and proof to what you are saying.
Well TJ was both a Democrat and a Republican, his party was the Democrat Republicans or some such name. The other main party of those tymes was the Whig Party. The Democrat Republicans were big on state rights and politics being local. The Whigs though wanted a strong federal government.
FalconEver heard of an athiest Jew. Your morality is likey passed off from some belife in a god even if you don't belive it yourself. Athiest Jews are prime examples of this. I would say you might be too.
Not specifically I haven't heard of an Atheist Jew, but as I've heard of Jews For Jesus, and Sabbatai Zevi, a Jew For Allah, I'm not surprized if there are atheistic Jews. Now as for my own beliefs and religious background, though I'm Roman Catholic, that what my mother is and religion is maternal based, at a young age I converted to Buddhism mentally but kept reading about other religions even taking comparative religion classes in college. So I have not believed in any supreme diety since I was little, no Buddhism doesn't have one. I did believe in a soul or spirit though. However this all changed more than 10 years ago, when I had an accident. After I came out of the coma though I recalled what I previously believed I no longer did believe them. I've been through more than 10 years of trying to meditate and pray and I no longer even believe in a soul or spirit.
Falconthe existence of property tax alone demonstrates that society retains some stake on all real estate.
I'm a bit tired now but I can answer this. Property taxes pay for local services. These include firefighting, law enforcement, and public schools. If you don't won't pay property taxes then you can pay for these services yourself. I doubt however you'll get many others to agree with you, anarchy hasn't been shown to work yet.
FalconMy parents' generation (now 50) was told that if they didn't stop driving their gas guzzling cars NOW, the majority of the world would be desert by the time their children (me) reached 20. I'm a bit over 20 now, and the precipitation levels in the semi-arid area in which I live have been, while not record highs, quite a bit higher than in the previous decade.
I'm only a few years younger than your parents. And while growing up in Florida from late spring to early fall you could almost set your watch by the rain. Where I lived if it was not already raining I'd see a wall of water at 6 pm approaching me outside facing the right direction, generally southward. The rain may only last a few minutes, or it could last a few hours, but it rained everyday. Now weeks can go by without any rain.
Why, I don't know, it may be something entirely cyclical or it may be warming, but the weather in Florida is much different now than when I was growing up there.
FalconThis is of interest not just because this indicates that warming is not good for crops,
There's another reason Global Warming isn't good, especially for crop. At least one study has shown poison ivy not only grows faster when CO2 is higher but it is also a more potent irritant. Other studies have shown some trees grow slower in CO2 rich environments.
FalconAl Gore political types who are the worst offenders of global warming ( http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,257958,00.html
I was womdering if I'd see something in that FoxNews article but not a thing was said of it. The Gore family used to own, if Al Gore doesn't still own it, stock in Oxidental Petroleum. They were big stockholders.
Falcon100+ years should be enough time for your ascendants to relocate.
Yes, 100 years should be plenty of tyme to relocate, but why should anyone have to? And for some, it's not the next 100 years, it's this winter that's important. Take the Inuits inhabiting the Artic Circle. Those in Nunavut, Northen Canada, depend on ice to hunt during the winter. They'll go out onto the ice to hunt and fish, they've been doing it centuries and it's part of their culture. However now, they can no longer depend on the ice to be strong enough to hold their weight and all it takes is a few minutes in freezing water to die.
FalconI fully agree that people should be free to dispense their estate however they like. What I don't agree with is the notion that their children have a right to that estate.
I phrased it wrong, what I meant is that people should be able to decide for themself who their inheritors will be, whether it's their children, charity, the government, or someone/thing else. I'm not married and don't have children but even if I did if I were to die wealthy I'd either have a foundation setup much as Bill Gates did or I'd leave it to another foundation or charity that was supporting something I believe in, such as Cultural Survival.
FalconWell you have some reason for caring about people coming to harm, so there's some kind of "irrational" morality there; call it what you will.
No, it's rational to care for others and not wanting harm to come to them. It's called reciprocity, the more people are concerned about others the less likely they are to harm others. Not that they won't but there's less of a chance they will. I don't want to harm others and I don't want them to harm me. And as more care science and society improves. For instance though maybe not all do many become doctors because they care about others. Others invent to improves lives. Still others go in to social services to improve specific peoples' or groups of peoples' lives.
FalconOh, I missed this when I posted my first reply, which is okay as it is a totally separate issue:
We'd probably have to dredge up some Siberian or Mongolian farmer who just happens to be the closest living relative to the very first people to cross the landbridge, and give all of North America and South America to him.
Maybe you don't know but the first inhabitants of the Americas DID NOT cross the Siberian, Alaskan land bridge from Asia to the Americas. The Americas had populations of people before the land bridge existed. Monte Verde, Chile dates from 12,500 BP (Before Present) which dates it 1,000 years before the land bridge, the Land Bridge being dated to 11,500 BP. Sp the fact is is people populated the southern most part of the Americas before the land bridge in the north existed.
Falconthe government can still take a goodly chunk of it (in the form of income taxes if nothing else -- nearly all gifts qualify as income).
As of a couple of years ago what a person could give as a gift or inheritance tax free was $600,000. It was only amounts over this that was taxed. Though I'm no expert I know of this because I was told it by my sister who is a Certified Public Accountant, CPA, and her husband who is a Certified Financial Planner, CFP. Actually at this tyme of year, she works 16 hours a day 5 days a week preparing taxes. She does my taxes, I don't work and I'm on disability, and because of her job preparing others thier taxes she usually files one or two extensions on filing my taxes and doesn't have them ready 'til about August.
Any issue surrounding the dispensation of property when I die is between me and the feds. My offspring, should I have any, have ZERO claim to it, no rights whatsoever. Their offspring doubly so...
That's part of the problem, government should have nothing to do with who you leave or don't leave your property, real or not, to. The only tyme gov should get involved is when there is a dispute between different parties as to your will.
Inheritance is just a holdover from the feudal system, and it's a stupid one.
Why should I bust my ass to become wealthy so I can make it easier for my children when gov can take it away? If gov's are going to take it away I should just let the gov take care of my children as well. That thought just makes me shudder. Anything other than allowing people to choose their inheritors is nothing more than stealling from Paul to pay Peter.
Falconin the energy market in the US? Free market means no govt subsidies: a market that is separate from govt. No money from, no influence over. I agree that the politics on both sides (all sides maybe?) are all guilty of the same thing. But is there any hope for free market to actually happen? Cynically I think not.
There is no free market, in energy or any other legal market, in the US or anywhere else in the world. What we have now is the Corporate Aristocracy Thomas Jefferson warned of.
FalconIronically (perhaps) by enacting many (and many expensive) socialist measures.
What socialist measures are these?
FalconOn polarization. It is remarkable how many discussions on Slashdot end up in the same controversies: Microsoft/Linux Firefox/Opera(/IE) Christianity/Atheism(/other religions) Republicans/Liberals.
Ah, it just goes to show how far we went from the USA's founding for a Republican to be ashamed of being a Liberal. My favorite Founding Father, Thomas Jefferson was both a Liberal and a Republican. He believed in liberty, eg liberal, and small government. Unfortunately the popular meanings of words have been twisted so they no long mean what they used to mean.
Falcon