In fairness, the outrage isn't that the "non-initiated" talk about climate change, its that people lacking even a layman's knowledge of the field ignore or dispute settled science because it is inconvenient for other ideologies they hold.
One does not need to be a climate scientist to recognize a con game when one sees it. A con is a con, and is recognizable as such by anyone with the capacity for critical thinking and regardless of the cons' theme/subject or who the "marks" are.
In this case, people like you are the "marks".
It's the same con that those in government have been using for ages. Use any perceived "emergency" as a means of expanding government power and scope, remove more wealth from individuals, and reduce freedom while increasing government control. If those in power currently have no "emergency", they fabricate one. A frightened population is easy to manipulate & control.
Remember what Rahm Emanuel said; "Never let a good emergency go to waste."
Nothing for a politician equals the rush of masses of people begging them to "save" them, and willing to happily sacrifice their freedoms as well as others' freedoms, increase their dependency on government, increase governments' size, scope, and power, while they happily sacrifice an ever-growing percentage of the fruits of their labors and the hopes for their children to have a more prosperous life than they did (while demanding that everyone be forced at gunpoint to join them), only to ultimately result in financing their own bondage.
Oops, forgot to add that in the case of N. Korea, you are mostly correct. However, with a starving population and severely-limited economic strength, don't discount desperation with N. Korea.
MAD doesn't apply to states like Iran or North Korea, so your logic fails.
And why not? Are you so naive to believe that those leaders are actually suicidal maniacs, the likes of which we haven't seen since... well... I'm not even sure.
Here's where your logic fails: those who seek power, be it religious, political or otherwise, don't like to lose it. Not in elections and certainly not by bombs.
Religious zealots like AhmaNutjob in Iran are no different than Jim Jones, David Koresh, or any of a thousand other religious zealots through history that have taken actions that, from the outside, would appear totally illogical and suicidal in order to fulfill religious prophecies and such.
True-believing religious zealots act on their beliefs regardless of if that may result in their own or others' deaths. This is one of the defining behaviors of religious zealotry.
I'd have thought that since/. as a general rule takes such a dim view of theocracies, that most here would understand that illogical, suicidal actions are often the result of such theocracies being in control.
Fuck it, it's a free country and we can choose to believe what we want, right or wrong.
Hello, that's precisely the point! Thank you!
The government wants to take away the freedom (that "free country" bit) to choose to not send your kids to a public school, to believe that yourself or someone of your own choosing can do a better job than the local public school with gangs and drugs and mediocre teachers.
The politicians get campaign contributions and other re-election assistance in exchange for highly union-friendly teacher's union contracts the public at large who pays for it would never agree to, but end up paying for, as the politicians are spending someone else's money. If people can simply walk away from the system, that hurts both the unions and the politicians, and limits their ability to siphon money out. They want to keep people locked in.
The U.S. Government (U.S. capitol-ism) is a business with all the implied stakeholders that defines crony-fascism.
FTFY to more-accurately reflect reality. BTW, it isn't limited to one political party either, so this is not a partisan attack. A pox on both their houses in this case.
As a college educated individual in a STEM discipline, I'd feel perfectly confident with homeschooling in science or math courses. Have me try to teach a history class and the results would be comical at best.
So, because you find it too difficult to do the work to put together a competent lesson plan in History, nobody else can?
he idea that John Q. Public, with nothing more than a textbook for the class,...
In what world is "John Q. Public" limited to only "a textbook for the class"? There are tons of sources for course material, lesson plans, etc etc in nearly every conceivable subject and at nearly every level, many if not most done by those with Masters and PhD's.
Some notable stats: among homeschooling fathers, ~32% have "Some College/No Degree" or less. Mothers do slightly worse with ~33% having the same education level. If we include through BA/BS (which is unlikely to be in something relevant to teaching) the numbers are even more stark. At a time when we are demanding more of our teachers, are we also going to say that a few classes at the community college is sufficient to teach high school calculus?
Source [ed.gov]
Never mind the stats you quote are from the Federal Dept. of Education, and with the government's track-record of "massaging" data and stats making those numbers not entirely trustworthy, what about the stats (graduation rates, literacy/math skills, etc etc) for what all the wonderful Masters and PhD's have accomplished for all our massive spending sunk into public education? Shouldn't we then have the best education results if we've got such brilliant public school educators, if the fact of the teachers having a Masters or PhD is the determining factor in how good the results are?
Nobody is saying that having specific education in a subject doesn't help someone who teaches, all other things being equal, but it's not necessary, not by a long shot.
Between the Dept. of Ed's "one size fits all" policies and mandates, the NEA and teacher's unions advocating only for better pay and benefits for teachers with politicians who are spending other people's money and will be out of office before the results catch them up, but none of them advocating for or really caring at all for the students, it's small wonder that a modest effort by reasonably-intelligent parents who have the motivation of actually loving the child and wanting the best for them routinely for the majority far exceeds the results of the average public school education...your personal experiences, political ideologies, contempt for most people's intelligence and ability, and biases notwithstanding.
Having met "homeschool parents" (I was homeschooled for a bit, growing up) I can honestly say that no matter how shitty the schools are, they are far and away better than most homeschoolers.
Hey look!
I can wave my hands around on Slashdot and make unsubstantiated and broad generalizations based on nothing more than anecdotal evidence that may or may not even be true.
I blame the fact that most Americans have no idea why their rights are important, or what life would be like without those rights. We are already starting to get our feet wet with this, but people need to be tossed in head first before they really understand the issues.
I remember a political text I read years ago in which the author was of the opinion that every democracy should experience a few years (or decades, as is wont to happen) of fascism to both fully appreciate the value of what's been lost as well as to learn what stupid mistakes to avoid next time around...
No generation of people, once their freedom has been lost, has ever recovered that freedom during that generation. The only hope at that point is to pass to the next generation a love and desire for freedom such that they rise up to defeat those who prevent it's flourishing.
If you RTFA you would have seen that the original source was the Sydney Morning Herald, to which Fox dutifully provided a link, and which provided additional information. Fox managed to report the news without contradicting the original source or adding its own speculation, something few American media (I hesitate to use 'news') sources seem to be capable of these days.
Yeah, but this is Slashdot.
Many if not most here act like they'd prefer getting their information from, and would put more stock in, the unhinged rantings of Baghdad Bob that were found scrawled on a wall inside some ghetto crackhouse, than they would hearing even the most well-done and bias-free story from Fox News. I'll even bet that most of these same people also think of themselves as being tolerant, except that they only tolerate hearing facts and opinions they agree with, and seek to shout-down, ridicule, and otherwise silence any opposing viewpoints or opinions.
That being said, being a WW2 aviation buff, I nearly squealed like a young girl myself when I read that upwards of *70*(!!!) WW2 Spitfires in crates were being unearthed.
Might it have been cooler if they found a cache of Horton Ho-229s or Focke-Wulf TA-183s?
Sure.
But this is *still* awesome, with a double-helping of awesome-sauce!
You're assuming that the TSA agents are checking to make sure that's 10 pounds of cocaine and not 10 pounds of semtex.
How about ten pounds of weaponized Anthrax?
That's enough to kill several hundred thousand people, maybe even a million or more, depending.
There's a video I saw somewhere where a radical Islamic cleric is talking about smuggling Anthrax across the Mexican border by paying Mexican drug cartels and coyotes, where he mentioned that a few pounds could kill 300,000 Americans.
Sleep well, fellow citizens! The high level of security at the southern border combined with thorough TSA security at our airports, train, and bus stations means there is almost no danger whatsoever.
These security-theater idiots in the DHS and TSA remind me of the steward trying to control & calm the fleeing passengers abandoning the luxury starship in the movie "The Fifth Element" that starred Bruce Willis, screaming at the top of his voice "REMAIN CALM!! as the computer voice counts down to the big KABOOM! The last shot showing the steward showed him flat as a pancake on the deck, having been trampled flat.
under the cover story of being a grassroots movement.
See, that's part of the disinformation campaign being waged by those wishing to expand government power in an attempt to discredit and silence opposition. This stuff about the Koch brothers financially supporting the movement is BS. It's Saul Alinsky tactics straight from "Rules for Radicals" which he wrote after joining Al Capone's gang to learn effective tactics, which should say a lot about those who use such tactics.
There's a TEA Party headquarters and meeting hall near my location. I can tell you that they are definitely grass-roots, as they are constantly struggling to keep the doors open and surviving on what local people contribute. The place is falling apart. They get no money or logistical support for their operations from any outside entities. They're always trying to raise money in various common ways (bake sales, car-washes, etc etc) to stave off the next financial crisis (lease payments, building maintenance & utility bills, etc).
You keep using this "anger" term like it's unreasoned and unreasonable anger, that it's violent, or that citizen anger when freedoms are being destroyed is inappropriate.
There has never been a violent incident nor a single arrest at any TEA Party event. That right there disproves most of those allegations. If you want to see that type of destructive, unreasoned, and violent anger, look at the OWS protests and labor union protests. There's some *really* scary and violent hatred and anger. I would feel perfectly safe bringing small children to a TEA Party event, but I would not feel safe even as an adult male at any OWS/labor union protests.
If anger by a group puts you off, then you should be scared witless by the OWS and union people.
It's been an interesting conversation. I respect you for your reasoned & respectful responses, and I hope that's reciprocated. I hope I've provided an example of the kind of reasoned and sane opposition that's more the norm, but gets such horrid treatment in the mainstream media.
BTW, I really do recommend reading "Rules For Radicals" by Saul Alinsky. Once you have, you will not look at this struggle in the same way.
The fringe enviro-kooks also hate all the power sources currently in use, and yet we continue to use them...
Except that the EPA is attempting to shut down many of them (like coal-fired power plants) by continually lowering their emission standards they must meet and raising their costs until they fold, all because of environmental policies driven by those "enviro-kooks", many of whom work at the EPA and were appointed by the current administration.
If they Guantanamo'd some asshole that was trying to get the TSA disbanded by passing around a petition for some idiotic anti-TSA referendum vote or grabbing some elected office to do it, I'd applaud. People are too stupid to be allowed to set airline security policies with a vote by a bunch of Walmart-shopping, trailer-trash mouth-breathers.
Screw your self-centered "freedom" bullshit. I want to be sure I and my family are safe when we fly.
OMFG!!!!
[facepalm]
We're frickin' DOOMED!!
I bet you purchased the Best Buy extended warranty for your replacement keyboard too, didn't you?
You're defending the terrorists, so YOU must be a terrorist too!
So, I suppose that organizing voters, asking people to sign petitions to have referendums etc. passed, running for office with disbanding the TSA as a major policy plank, and other normally-legal political activities to ultimately have the TSA disbanded through the voting process could be considered "material support of terrorism"?
Because, after all, if the TSA is disbanded, it would (in the government's twisted logic) be a victory for the terrorists. Right?
J. Random Fed - "You're attempting to circulate a petition to put a measure on the ballot and/or running for office to have the TSA disbanded? Assume the position...you're being charged with providing material support for terrorism. No, you don't get a lawyer or trial under the NDAA and Patriot Acts. No, you get no call. Ever again."
Makes you wonder if, just maybe, Timothy McVeigh was simply ahead of his time.
The argument that it's not as bad as totalitarianism, feudalism or slavery has never been used before. I've never heard it and it's a wonderful argument. You're a genius. Why not take the rest of the day off?
Well, since it's also better than Socialism, Fascism, or Communism, do I get TWO days off?
So because fringe enviro-kooks have a problem with anything other than reverting to bronze-age living nothing is viable.
Well, yes. Pretty much. That's the way it's worked in the real world so far, as they've had the numbers and the voices to accomplish just that.
Unless you want to remove their voting rights, censor, imprison, or kill them to remove their ability to influence policy by their votes and their ability to speak and protest freely.
Which do you favor to remove their ability to influence policies that every other citizen has? Should we start filling the FEMA camps or just start digging mass graves? Talk about "shovel-ready projects", at least that would be nightmarishly-true, unlike the "porkulus" spending.
>Capitalism is the only system ever created where wealth is a renewable resource for everyone regardless of economic class as long as they are willing to work and/or come up with an idea, skill, or invention that's useful to someone else.
>Capitalism has raised more people from poverty worldwide than any other system ever created.
>Capitalism has allowed more people to live in freedom than any other system ever invented.
>Capitalism has allowed the US to provide more humanitarian assistance to those in need both domestically and around the world than any other system or country in history.
Sorry, but as bad as you may think Capitalism is, it's still light-years ahead of any other system ever tried. Ask some former residents of former Soviet satellite states about your ideas. I'd stay out of arm's reach when you do, however.
Oops. Sorry for the copy/pasta character-encoding bloopers at the end. I wrote that a while back and saved it as plain text with KWrite. I guess Mozilla/FF and KDE/KWrite don't play well together character-encoding-wise on FreeBSD in copy/paste operations. I shall have to stay alert in future.
Once more.
Obama and the Progressives' idea of compromise:
----
Obama & Progs - "Let me put this in your mouth"
TEA - "HELL NO!!"
Obama & Progs - "C'mon, let me!"
TEA - "HELL NO!!"
Obama & Progs - "Ok then, compromise with me...just the tip."
TEA - "HELL NO!!"
Obama & Progs - "SEE!?!? Those TEA Party Terrorists are all inflexible Right-Wing nutcase ideologues that won't compromise even a tiny bit, and they're all racist homophobe gay-bashers too!!!"
I'm more concerned with the angry populist culture that's become so widespread in our society...
Maybe there is good reason to be angry. The Progressive politicians in both parties seem determined to keep taking ever more of people's freedom and wealth to waste on their own agendas that have little to do with what the people want. This is not unreasoned anger, nor strictly "populist", as in being driven purely by emotion and media, and not fact.
Reasoned people are standing aside, out of politeness or lack of motivation, while those with anger (which blocks any reason) dominate our public discourse and decision-making.
I disagree. I believe that "reasoned people" are the ones standing up, *finally*, after being too quiet for far too long while the nation has devolved from a century of slowly-encroaching Progressive ideology and policies that have caused massive damage to every aspect of American culture and society, as well as huge encroachments on freedom and a near-abandonment of the Constitution and the principles set forth by the founders.
You are an engaged person; how do you see this working? We all have our opinions; what if we all follow your example. If everyone is so angry and certain, how will any decision be made? Sometimes we all are wrong; how can people so angry and certain learn from each other? How do you foresee this working as a society?
How does the lamb "learn" from the wolf that seeks to eat it? How would the lamb "compromise" with the wolf? There are people called Progressives that, by their own admissions and statements, seek to destroy the very principles of liberty & freedom on which the nation was founded. There is no reasoned debate possible, just as there is no reasoned debate possible between the lamb and the wolf. It's exactly the same as trying to reason and negotiate with people who view it as their holy duty to kill everyone that is not them. There is no middle ground here. There is no compromise possible. There is only defeating those who seek to destroy, kill, and enslave.
You may find this amusing as well as instructive:
Obama and the Progressivesâ(TM) idea of compromise:
â"-
Obama & Progs â" âoeLet me put this in your mouthâ
TEA â" âoeHELL NO!!â
Obama & Progs â" âoeCâ(TM)mon, let me!â
TEA â" âoeHELL NO!!â
Obama & Progs â" âoeOk then, compromise with meâ¦just the tip.â
TEA â" âoeHELL NO!!â
Obama & Progs â" âoeSEE!?!? Those TEA Party Terrorists are all inflexible Right-Wing nutcase ideologues that wonâ(TM)t compromise even a tiny bit, and they're all racist xenophobic homophobe gay-bashers too!!! THEY MUST BE SILENCED!!!â
Even Moses and Jesus had doubts. Even Goethe and the founders of our nation. Are you wiser?
I make no claims to wisdom, but I understand a fact is a fact, and truth is truth. Those you refer to were dealing mostly with questions of spirit, not of cold, hard, facts. The founders wanted freedom, their doubts were in how best to secure that freedom, which they settled among themselves well enough to create a country with the most individual freedom of any nation ever in history. I would recommend reading "The 5,000 Year Leap" by W. Cleon Skousen, and again, "Common Sense" by Thomas Paine.
If Keynes, who began writing a century ago, is the closest you get to modern economics, you are missing almost all of it.
No, *I'm* not missing it, those in the Federal Government who follow Keynesian style economic principles in their governance are missing it. That's the point!
"The first principle is that you must not fool yourself -- and you are the easiest person to fool."
Here's a few quotes for you:
"From principles is derived probability, but truth or certainty is obtained only from facts." - Tom Stoppard
"When one admits that nothing is certain one must, I think, also add that some things are more nearly certain than others" - Bertrand Russel
"If we insist on being as sure as is conceivable... we must be content to creep along the ground, and can never soar." - John Henry Newman
"Those who stand for nothing, fall for anything." - Alexander Hamilton
And if you really want to learn, don't go to school on Internet forums or think you can be wise without learning from others; take a course from a real professor!
I did not receive my education from the internet. There was no such thing as the internet when I graduated. Nearly all the professors in US history and economics taught with an ideological/political agenda that had little to nothing to do with actual facts or history. Just because someone has some letters after their name and some tenure does not mean they posses wisdom, true understanding, or that they are unbiased or without an agenda.
I have arrived at my conclusions through boldly questioning nearly everything (to the everlasting annoyance & frustration of all my teachers and professors).
Why is it so vital to you to attempt to cause me to doubt what I've spent most of a lifetime learning and came to know to be true? To turn it back on you, what makes you so certain that I am wrong? Are you not guilty of the same blindness, near-religious fanaticism, populism, and inflexibility with which you attempt paint me?
It reminds me of the husband caught by his wife with another woman in their marital bed, who told his wife; "Are you going to believe me or your lying eyes?".
I am as certain in my beliefs as it is possible to be, as I have questioned them repeatedly and found them to hold true.
No, my certainty arises from historical fact and examples that have repeated themselves through history. That, and a belief that men ARE capable of ruling themselves, and do not require a group of "elites" to determine what is in their best interests and enforce their determinations by force.
I have spent considerable time researching from historical sources as close to original sources as possible, if not original sources & documents themselves.
Take a course in real, modern economics.
What do you mean by "real, modern economics"? If you mean Keynesian economics, I've found Keynesian theories to be complete bunk. I dismiss Keynesian economics completely as fantasy designed to allow those with wealth & power to continue to pump the economy with repeating bubbles for their own gain, and at the expense of everyone else.
If you are angry, you won't think clearly. If people are getting you riled up, they are manipulating you. It's an old tactic: If people are angry, they won't listen to anyone and reason is defeated; it's a good way to manipulate masses of people -- get them pissed at your enemy.
That, I believe, is the cause of the problem, "In Nothing We Trust."
I am not "angry" in the sense you mean. I simply have little time or patience for fools or "useful idiots". Particularly those determined to remain fools and tools. Life is too short.
In the US, Progressives, Communists, and Socialists have been working to destroy the fabric of our society that unites us for over 100 years. This is fact, and they themselves say as much. This undermining is a large factor in the general disaffection in the US.
See how many of these goals from the "Ten Planks of the Communist Manifesto":
1. Abolition of private property and the application of all rent to public purpose.
The 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution (1868), and various zoning, school & property taxes. Also the Bureau of Land Management.
2. A heavy progressive or graduated income tax.
Misapplication of the 16th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, 1913, The Social Security Act of 1936.; Joint House Resolution 192 of 1933; and various State "income" taxes. We call it "paying your fair share".
3. Abolition of all rights of inheritance.
We call it Federal & State estate Tax (1916); or reformed Probate Laws, and limited inheritance via arbitrary inheritance tax statutes.
4. Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels.
We call it government seizures, tax liens, Public "law" 99-570 (1986); Executive order 11490, sections 1205, 2002 which gives private land to the Department of Urban Development; the imprisonment of "terrorists" and those who speak out or write against the "government" (1997 Crime/Terrorist Bill); or the IRS confiscation of property without due process.
5. Centralization of credit in the hands of the State, by means of a national bank with State capital and an exclusive monopoly.
We call it the Federal Reserve which is a credit/debt system nationally organized by the Federal Reserve act of 1913. All local banks are members of the Fed system, and are regulated by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).
6. Centralization of the means of communication and transportation in the hands of the State.
We call it the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and Department of Transportation (DOT) mandated through the ICC act of 1887, the Commissions Act of 1934, The Interstate Commerce Commission established in 1938, The Federal Aviation Administration, Executive orders 11490, 10999, as well as State mandated driver's licenses and Department of Transportation regulations.
If the structure is resisting 1G and holding in 1Atm, I think we have that pretty much solved down here on earth, no fancy engineering needed.
It's not the engineering, for which, as you state, the engineering principles are well-established, it's the materials themselves that would see a great cost-savings from being manufactured from materials that are already out of the gravity well. Whether we're talking aero-gel, water, or stainless-steel, a ton of mass is a ton of mass, and it's still cheaper when you don't have to launch them up out of a gravity well.
Never minding the structural strength needs or lack of them, there's still a use for denser materials for radiation protection. With asteroid material, one could form a fairly radiation-safe shell using powdered rock and water with a reflective skin. Or even just use a hollowed-out asteroid.
Or even create something on a much grander scale, like the alien ship from "Rendezvous With Rama" and "Return To Rama" by the late Sir Arthur Charles Clarke, CBE, FRAS, Sri Lankabhimanya, (16 December 1917 â" 19 March 2008). RIP Sir. You inspired multiple generations to think and imagine beyond our wildest dreams, and even invented the concept of communication satellites in 1945, before we'd even taken our first steps into the great void. I am privileged to have shared some portion of temporal space and a home-planet with such a man.
I'm sad that the "Rendezvous With Rama" movie project was canceled. It might have greatly expanded the scale on which most people imagine things and sparked more inspiration, imagination, dreams, and enthusiasm for space among the general public. Besides, done right, it would have been a kick-ass film with a story written by one of the greatest minds and greatest story-tellers of our time.
That's why I started with "if you are interested in modest acceleration". Your rotation-for-pseudo-gravity needs can be conveniently handled by materials with good tensile strength(their stiffness sucks; but ropes, cords, cables, straps, and the like get truly impressive tensile strength per unit weight). Only if you fancy a trip into an atmosphere, or swift changes in velocity do you really need heavy structural durability...
The rotation/spin velocity in certain cases may well have to be able to be started/stopped in time periods that require comparatively high structural strength and rigidity, particularly in cases where we're talking about an entire space habitat/ship or a large section of the habitat/ship. They may also need to accept stresses from things docking/undocking as well, where you're talking about masses with Earth weights of many, many tons. Picture things like the spaceship "Discovery" and the Earth-orbiting space station, both from the Stanley Kubrick film "2001: A Space Odyssey".
Granted that structures that remain in space don't need to combat a constant gravity field, but there is still plenty of call for comparatively high strength and rigidity for many structural needs. That makes having the ability to create however much or little that's needed there in space a huge cost savings over boosting the mass up from Earth or even the Moon.
I look forward to a day far in the future where most of humanity resides off-Earth, with only a billion or two humans or less remaining on Earth, and much of the planet returned to a pastoral, natural state. These are the first baby-steps toward that goal.
Absolutely not. The reason the ADA recommendations are ignored is because they don't work, and they're more likely to lead to poor blood sugar control than not. The whole point of his advice is that it leads to better blood sugar control with less insulin need, which means less profit for sales of insulin by pharmaceutical companies with large campaign contribution war-chests.
FTFY
Just as with many laws and regulations governing hairdressers/beauticians/manicurists, they are designed to limit competition by putting up barriers to entry and/or protect established businesses' profits and business models.
This is one of the reasons that the power and scope of government must be limited if we are to have anything remotely resembling freedom. If government has the power to do something, there will be someone trying to influence the politician(s) involved for their own gain. People in the US ~235 years ago understood this.
Tragically, many today have never been taught this basic truth.
The course of history shows that as a government grows, liberty decreases. - Thomas Jefferson
Slashdot Mirror
In fairness, the outrage isn't that the "non-initiated" talk about climate change, its that people lacking even a layman's knowledge of the field ignore or dispute settled science because it is inconvenient for other ideologies they hold.
One does not need to be a climate scientist to recognize a con game when one sees it. A con is a con, and is recognizable as such by anyone with the capacity for critical thinking and regardless of the cons' theme/subject or who the "marks" are.
In this case, people like you are the "marks".
It's the same con that those in government have been using for ages. Use any perceived "emergency" as a means of expanding government power and scope, remove more wealth from individuals, and reduce freedom while increasing government control. If those in power currently have no "emergency", they fabricate one. A frightened population is easy to manipulate & control.
Remember what Rahm Emanuel said; "Never let a good emergency go to waste."
Nothing for a politician equals the rush of masses of people begging them to "save" them, and willing to happily sacrifice their freedoms as well as others' freedoms, increase their dependency on government, increase governments' size, scope, and power, while they happily sacrifice an ever-growing percentage of the fruits of their labors and the hopes for their children to have a more prosperous life than they did (while demanding that everyone be forced at gunpoint to join them), only to ultimately result in financing their own bondage.
Strat
Oops, forgot to add that in the case of N. Korea, you are mostly correct. However, with a starving population and severely-limited economic strength, don't discount desperation with N. Korea.
Strat
Religious zealots like AhmaNutjob in Iran are no different than Jim Jones, David Koresh, or any of a thousand other religious zealots through history that have taken actions that, from the outside, would appear totally illogical and suicidal in order to fulfill religious prophecies and such.
True-believing religious zealots act on their beliefs regardless of if that may result in their own or others' deaths. This is one of the defining behaviors of religious zealotry.
I'd have thought that since /. as a general rule takes such a dim view of theocracies, that most here would understand that illogical, suicidal actions are often the result of such theocracies being in control.
Strat
Judging by an ever-growing number of /. posts and submissions, I'm not sure this will noticeably change anything.
Strat
Fuck it, it's a free country and we can choose to believe what we want, right or wrong.
Hello, that's precisely the point! Thank you!
The government wants to take away the freedom (that "free country" bit) to choose to not send your kids to a public school, to believe that yourself or someone of your own choosing can do a better job than the local public school with gangs and drugs and mediocre teachers.
The politicians get campaign contributions and other re-election assistance in exchange for highly union-friendly teacher's union contracts the public at large who pays for it would never agree to, but end up paying for, as the politicians are spending someone else's money. If people can simply walk away from the system, that hurts both the unions and the politicians, and limits their ability to siphon money out. They want to keep people locked in.
Strat
The U.S. Government (U.S. capitol-ism) is a business with all the implied stakeholders that defines crony-fascism.
FTFY to more-accurately reflect reality. BTW, it isn't limited to one political party either, so this is not a partisan attack. A pox on both their houses in this case.
Strat
As a college educated individual in a STEM discipline, I'd feel perfectly confident with homeschooling in science or math courses. Have me try to teach a history class and the results would be comical at best.
So, because you find it too difficult to do the work to put together a competent lesson plan in History, nobody else can?
he idea that John Q. Public, with nothing more than a textbook for the class,...
In what world is "John Q. Public" limited to only "a textbook for the class"? There are tons of sources for course material, lesson plans, etc etc in nearly every conceivable subject and at nearly every level, many if not most done by those with Masters and PhD's.
Some notable stats: among homeschooling fathers, ~32% have "Some College/No Degree" or less. Mothers do slightly worse with ~33% having the same education level. If we include through BA/BS (which is unlikely to be in something relevant to teaching) the numbers are even more stark. At a time when we are demanding more of our teachers, are we also going to say that a few classes at the community college is sufficient to teach high school calculus?
Source [ed.gov]
Never mind the stats you quote are from the Federal Dept. of Education, and with the government's track-record of "massaging" data and stats making those numbers not entirely trustworthy, what about the stats (graduation rates, literacy/math skills, etc etc) for what all the wonderful Masters and PhD's have accomplished for all our massive spending sunk into public education? Shouldn't we then have the best education results if we've got such brilliant public school educators, if the fact of the teachers having a Masters or PhD is the determining factor in how good the results are?
Nobody is saying that having specific education in a subject doesn't help someone who teaches, all other things being equal, but it's not necessary, not by a long shot.
Between the Dept. of Ed's "one size fits all" policies and mandates, the NEA and teacher's unions advocating only for better pay and benefits for teachers with politicians who are spending other people's money and will be out of office before the results catch them up, but none of them advocating for or really caring at all for the students, it's small wonder that a modest effort by reasonably-intelligent parents who have the motivation of actually loving the child and wanting the best for them routinely for the majority far exceeds the results of the average public school education...your personal experiences, political ideologies, contempt for most people's intelligence and ability, and biases notwithstanding.
Strat
Having met "homeschool parents" (I was homeschooled for a bit, growing up) I can honestly say that no matter how shitty the schools are, they are far and away better than most homeschoolers.
Hey look!
I can wave my hands around on Slashdot and make unsubstantiated and broad generalizations based on nothing more than anecdotal evidence that may or may not even be true.
But hey, if it fits the political group-think...
Strat
No generation of people, once their freedom has been lost, has ever recovered that freedom during that generation. The only hope at that point is to pass to the next generation a love and desire for freedom such that they rise up to defeat those who prevent it's flourishing.
Strat
If you RTFA you would have seen that the original source was the Sydney Morning Herald, to which Fox dutifully provided a link, and which provided additional information. Fox managed to report the news without contradicting the original source or adding its own speculation, something few American media (I hesitate to use 'news') sources seem to be capable of these days.
Yeah, but this is Slashdot.
Many if not most here act like they'd prefer getting their information from, and would put more stock in, the unhinged rantings of Baghdad Bob that were found scrawled on a wall inside some ghetto crackhouse, than they would hearing even the most well-done and bias-free story from Fox News. I'll even bet that most of these same people also think of themselves as being tolerant, except that they only tolerate hearing facts and opinions they agree with, and seek to shout-down, ridicule, and otherwise silence any opposing viewpoints or opinions.
That being said, being a WW2 aviation buff, I nearly squealed like a young girl myself when I read that upwards of *70*(!!!) WW2 Spitfires in crates were being unearthed.
Might it have been cooler if they found a cache of Horton Ho-229s or Focke-Wulf TA-183s?
Sure.
But this is *still* awesome, with a double-helping of awesome-sauce!
Strat
You're assuming that the TSA agents are checking to make sure that's 10 pounds of cocaine and not 10 pounds of semtex.
How about ten pounds of weaponized Anthrax?
That's enough to kill several hundred thousand people, maybe even a million or more, depending.
There's a video I saw somewhere where a radical Islamic cleric is talking about smuggling Anthrax across the Mexican border by paying Mexican drug cartels and coyotes, where he mentioned that a few pounds could kill 300,000 Americans.
Sleep well, fellow citizens! The high level of security at the southern border combined with thorough TSA security at our airports, train, and bus stations means there is almost no danger whatsoever.
These security-theater idiots in the DHS and TSA remind me of the steward trying to control & calm the fleeing passengers abandoning the luxury starship in the movie "The Fifth Element" that starred Bruce Willis, screaming at the top of his voice "REMAIN CALM!! as the computer voice counts down to the big KABOOM! The last shot showing the steward showed him flat as a pancake on the deck, having been trampled flat.
We're doomed, aren't we?
Strat
under the cover story of being a grassroots movement.
See, that's part of the disinformation campaign being waged by those wishing to expand government power in an attempt to discredit and silence opposition. This stuff about the Koch brothers financially supporting the movement is BS. It's Saul Alinsky tactics straight from "Rules for Radicals" which he wrote after joining Al Capone's gang to learn effective tactics, which should say a lot about those who use such tactics.
There's a TEA Party headquarters and meeting hall near my location. I can tell you that they are definitely grass-roots, as they are constantly struggling to keep the doors open and surviving on what local people contribute. The place is falling apart. They get no money or logistical support for their operations from any outside entities. They're always trying to raise money in various common ways (bake sales, car-washes, etc etc) to stave off the next financial crisis (lease payments, building maintenance & utility bills, etc).
You keep using this "anger" term like it's unreasoned and unreasonable anger, that it's violent, or that citizen anger when freedoms are being destroyed is inappropriate.
There has never been a violent incident nor a single arrest at any TEA Party event. That right there disproves most of those allegations. If you want to see that type of destructive, unreasoned, and violent anger, look at the OWS protests and labor union protests. There's some *really* scary and violent hatred and anger. I would feel perfectly safe bringing small children to a TEA Party event, but I would not feel safe even as an adult male at any OWS/labor union protests.
If anger by a group puts you off, then you should be scared witless by the OWS and union people.
It's been an interesting conversation. I respect you for your reasoned & respectful responses, and I hope that's reciprocated. I hope I've provided an example of the kind of reasoned and sane opposition that's more the norm, but gets such horrid treatment in the mainstream media.
BTW, I really do recommend reading "Rules For Radicals" by Saul Alinsky. Once you have, you will not look at this struggle in the same way.
Strat
The fringe enviro-kooks also hate all the power sources currently in use, and yet we continue to use them...
Except that the EPA is attempting to shut down many of them (like coal-fired power plants) by continually lowering their emission standards they must meet and raising their costs until they fold, all because of environmental policies driven by those "enviro-kooks", many of whom work at the EPA and were appointed by the current administration.
Strat
If they Guantanamo'd some asshole that was trying to get the TSA disbanded by passing around a petition for some idiotic anti-TSA referendum vote or grabbing some elected office to do it, I'd applaud. People are too stupid to be allowed to set airline security policies with a vote by a bunch of Walmart-shopping, trailer-trash mouth-breathers.
Screw your self-centered "freedom" bullshit. I want to be sure I and my family are safe when we fly.
OMFG!!!!
[facepalm]
We're frickin' DOOMED!!
I bet you purchased the Best Buy extended warranty for your replacement keyboard too, didn't you?
Is it something they put in the water?
Strat
You're defending the terrorists, so YOU must be a terrorist too!
So, I suppose that organizing voters, asking people to sign petitions to have referendums etc. passed, running for office with disbanding the TSA as a major policy plank, and other normally-legal political activities to ultimately have the TSA disbanded through the voting process could be considered "material support of terrorism"?
Because, after all, if the TSA is disbanded, it would (in the government's twisted logic) be a victory for the terrorists. Right?
J. Random Fed - "You're attempting to circulate a petition to put a measure on the ballot and/or running for office to have the TSA disbanded? Assume the position...you're being charged with providing material support for terrorism. No, you don't get a lawyer or trial under the NDAA and Patriot Acts. No, you get no call. Ever again."
Makes you wonder if, just maybe, Timothy McVeigh was simply ahead of his time.
Strat
The argument that it's not as bad as totalitarianism, feudalism or slavery has never been used before. I've never heard it and it's a wonderful argument. You're a genius. Why not take the rest of the day off?
Well, since it's also better than Socialism, Fascism, or Communism, do I get TWO days off?
Strat
So because fringe enviro-kooks have a problem with anything other than reverting to bronze-age living nothing is viable.
Well, yes. Pretty much. That's the way it's worked in the real world so far, as they've had the numbers and the voices to accomplish just that.
Unless you want to remove their voting rights, censor, imprison, or kill them to remove their ability to influence policy by their votes and their ability to speak and protest freely.
Which do you favor to remove their ability to influence policies that every other citizen has? Should we start filling the FEMA camps or just start digging mass graves? Talk about "shovel-ready projects", at least that would be nightmarishly-true, unlike the "porkulus" spending.
Strat
I'm sorry you have no excuse for capitalism, but it is what it is.
Capitalism needs no "excuse", TYVM.
From one of my posts a couple days ago.
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=2805043&cid=39777445
>Capitalism is the only system ever created where wealth is a renewable resource for everyone regardless of economic class as long as they are willing to work and/or come up with an idea, skill, or invention that's useful to someone else.
>Capitalism has raised more people from poverty worldwide than any other system ever created.
>Capitalism has allowed more people to live in freedom than any other system ever invented.
>Capitalism has allowed the US to provide more humanitarian assistance to those in need both domestically and around the world than any other system or country in history.
Sorry, but as bad as you may think Capitalism is, it's still light-years ahead of any other system ever tried. Ask some former residents of former Soviet satellite states about your ideas. I'd stay out of arm's reach when you do, however.
Strat
Oops. Sorry for the copy/pasta character-encoding bloopers at the end. I wrote that a while back and saved it as plain text with KWrite. I guess Mozilla/FF and KDE/KWrite don't play well together character-encoding-wise on FreeBSD in copy/paste operations. I shall have to stay alert in future.
Once more.
Obama and the Progressives' idea of compromise:
----
Obama & Progs - "Let me put this in your mouth"
TEA - "HELL NO!!"
Obama & Progs - "C'mon, let me!"
TEA - "HELL NO!!"
Obama & Progs - "Ok then, compromise with me...just the tip."
TEA - "HELL NO!!"
Obama & Progs - "SEE!?!? Those TEA Party Terrorists are all inflexible Right-Wing nutcase ideologues that won't compromise even a tiny bit, and they're all racist homophobe gay-bashers too!!!"
----
Again, apologies.
Strat
I'm more concerned with the angry populist culture that's become so widespread in our society...
Maybe there is good reason to be angry. The Progressive politicians in both parties seem determined to keep taking ever more of people's freedom and wealth to waste on their own agendas that have little to do with what the people want. This is not unreasoned anger, nor strictly "populist", as in being driven purely by emotion and media, and not fact.
Reasoned people are standing aside, out of politeness or lack of motivation, while those with anger (which blocks any reason) dominate our public discourse and decision-making.
I disagree. I believe that "reasoned people" are the ones standing up, *finally*, after being too quiet for far too long while the nation has devolved from a century of slowly-encroaching Progressive ideology and policies that have caused massive damage to every aspect of American culture and society, as well as huge encroachments on freedom and a near-abandonment of the Constitution and the principles set forth by the founders.
You are an engaged person; how do you see this working? We all have our opinions; what if we all follow your example. If everyone is so angry and certain, how will any decision be made? Sometimes we all are wrong; how can people so angry and certain learn from each other? How do you foresee this working as a society?
How does the lamb "learn" from the wolf that seeks to eat it? How would the lamb "compromise" with the wolf? There are people called Progressives that, by their own admissions and statements, seek to destroy the very principles of liberty & freedom on which the nation was founded. There is no reasoned debate possible, just as there is no reasoned debate possible between the lamb and the wolf. It's exactly the same as trying to reason and negotiate with people who view it as their holy duty to kill everyone that is not them. There is no middle ground here. There is no compromise possible. There is only defeating those who seek to destroy, kill, and enslave.
You may find this amusing as well as instructive:
Obama and the Progressivesâ(TM) idea of compromise:
â"-
Obama & Progs â" âoeLet me put this in your mouthâ
TEA â" âoeHELL NO!!â
Obama & Progs â" âoeCâ(TM)mon, let me!â
TEA â" âoeHELL NO!!â
Obama & Progs â" âoeOk then, compromise with meâ¦just the tip.â
TEA â" âoeHELL NO!!â
Obama & Progs â" âoeSEE!?!? Those TEA Party Terrorists are all inflexible Right-Wing nutcase ideologues that wonâ(TM)t compromise even a tiny bit, and they're all racist xenophobic homophobe gay-bashers too!!! THEY MUST BE SILENCED!!!â
----
Strat
Even Moses and Jesus had doubts. Even Goethe and the founders of our nation. Are you wiser?
I make no claims to wisdom, but I understand a fact is a fact, and truth is truth. Those you refer to were dealing mostly with questions of spirit, not of cold, hard, facts. The founders wanted freedom, their doubts were in how best to secure that freedom, which they settled among themselves well enough to create a country with the most individual freedom of any nation ever in history. I would recommend reading "The 5,000 Year Leap" by W. Cleon Skousen, and again, "Common Sense" by Thomas Paine.
If Keynes, who began writing a century ago, is the closest you get to modern economics, you are missing almost all of it.
No, *I'm* not missing it, those in the Federal Government who follow Keynesian style economic principles in their governance are missing it. That's the point!
"The first principle is that you must not fool yourself -- and you are the easiest person to fool."
Here's a few quotes for you:
"From principles is derived probability, but truth or certainty is obtained only from facts." - Tom Stoppard
"When one admits that nothing is certain one must, I think, also add that some things are more nearly certain than others" - Bertrand Russel
"If we insist on being as sure as is conceivable... we must be content to creep along the ground, and can never soar." - John Henry Newman
"Those who stand for nothing, fall for anything." - Alexander Hamilton
And if you really want to learn, don't go to school on Internet forums or think you can be wise without learning from others; take a course from a real professor!
I did not receive my education from the internet. There was no such thing as the internet when I graduated. Nearly all the professors in US history and economics taught with an ideological/political agenda that had little to nothing to do with actual facts or history. Just because someone has some letters after their name and some tenure does not mean they posses wisdom, true understanding, or that they are unbiased or without an agenda.
I have arrived at my conclusions through boldly questioning nearly everything (to the everlasting annoyance & frustration of all my teachers and professors).
Why is it so vital to you to attempt to cause me to doubt what I've spent most of a lifetime learning and came to know to be true? To turn it back on you, what makes you so certain that I am wrong? Are you not guilty of the same blindness, near-religious fanaticism, populism, and inflexibility with which you attempt paint me?
It reminds me of the husband caught by his wife with another woman in their marital bed, who told his wife; "Are you going to believe me or your lying eyes?".
I am as certain in my beliefs as it is possible to be, as I have questioned them repeatedly and found them to hold true.
Strat
If you have clear answers, something is wrong.
No, my certainty arises from historical fact and examples that have repeated themselves through history. That, and a belief that men ARE capable of ruling themselves, and do not require a group of "elites" to determine what is in their best interests and enforce their determinations by force.
I have spent considerable time researching from historical sources as close to original sources as possible, if not original sources & documents themselves.
Take a course in real, modern economics.
What do you mean by "real, modern economics"? If you mean Keynesian economics, I've found Keynesian theories to be complete bunk. I dismiss Keynesian economics completely as fantasy designed to allow those with wealth & power to continue to pump the economy with repeating bubbles for their own gain, and at the expense of everyone else.
If you are angry, you won't think clearly. If people are getting you riled up, they are manipulating you. It's an old tactic: If people are angry, they won't listen to anyone and reason is defeated; it's a good way to manipulate masses of people -- get them pissed at your enemy.
That, I believe, is the cause of the problem, "In Nothing We Trust."
I am not "angry" in the sense you mean. I simply have little time or patience for fools or "useful idiots". Particularly those determined to remain fools and tools. Life is too short.
In the US, Progressives, Communists, and Socialists have been working to destroy the fabric of our society that unites us for over 100 years. This is fact, and they themselves say as much. This undermining is a large factor in the general disaffection in the US.
See how many of these goals from the "Ten Planks of the Communist Manifesto":
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Communist_Manifesto ...have already come to pass:
1. Abolition of private property and the application of all rent to public purpose.
The 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution (1868), and various zoning, school & property taxes. Also the Bureau of Land Management.
2. A heavy progressive or graduated income tax.
Misapplication of the 16th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, 1913, The Social Security Act of 1936.; Joint House Resolution 192 of 1933; and various State "income" taxes. We call it "paying your fair share".
3. Abolition of all rights of inheritance.
We call it Federal & State estate Tax (1916); or reformed Probate Laws, and limited inheritance via arbitrary inheritance tax statutes.
4. Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels.
We call it government seizures, tax liens, Public "law" 99-570 (1986); Executive order 11490, sections 1205, 2002 which gives private land to the Department of Urban Development; the imprisonment of "terrorists" and those who speak out or write against the "government" (1997 Crime/Terrorist Bill); or the IRS confiscation of property without due process.
5. Centralization of credit in the hands of the State, by means of a national bank with State capital and an exclusive monopoly.
We call it the Federal Reserve which is a credit/debt system nationally organized by the Federal Reserve act of 1913. All local banks are members of the Fed system, and are regulated by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).
6. Centralization of the means of communication and transportation in the hands of the State.
We call it the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and Department of Transportation (DOT) mandated through the ICC act of 1887, the Commissions Act of 1934, The Interstate Commerce Commission established in 1938, The Federal Aviation Administration, Executive orders 11490, 10999, as well as State mandated driver's licenses and Department of Transportation regulations.
If the structure is resisting 1G and holding in 1Atm, I think we have that pretty much solved down here on earth, no fancy engineering needed.
It's not the engineering, for which, as you state, the engineering principles are well-established, it's the materials themselves that would see a great cost-savings from being manufactured from materials that are already out of the gravity well. Whether we're talking aero-gel, water, or stainless-steel, a ton of mass is a ton of mass, and it's still cheaper when you don't have to launch them up out of a gravity well.
Never minding the structural strength needs or lack of them, there's still a use for denser materials for radiation protection. With asteroid material, one could form a fairly radiation-safe shell using powdered rock and water with a reflective skin. Or even just use a hollowed-out asteroid.
Or even create something on a much grander scale, like the alien ship from "Rendezvous With Rama" and "Return To Rama" by the late Sir Arthur Charles Clarke, CBE, FRAS, Sri Lankabhimanya, (16 December 1917 â" 19 March 2008). RIP Sir. You inspired multiple generations to think and imagine beyond our wildest dreams, and even invented the concept of communication satellites in 1945, before we'd even taken our first steps into the great void. I am privileged to have shared some portion of temporal space and a home-planet with such a man.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRUrIYKP944&NR
I'm sad that the "Rendezvous With Rama" movie project was canceled. It might have greatly expanded the scale on which most people imagine things and sparked more inspiration, imagination, dreams, and enthusiasm for space among the general public. Besides, done right, it would have been a kick-ass film with a story written by one of the greatest minds and greatest story-tellers of our time.
Strat
That's why I started with "if you are interested in modest acceleration". Your rotation-for-pseudo-gravity needs can be conveniently handled by materials with good tensile strength(their stiffness sucks; but ropes, cords, cables, straps, and the like get truly impressive tensile strength per unit weight). Only if you fancy a trip into an atmosphere, or swift changes in velocity do you really need heavy structural durability...
The rotation/spin velocity in certain cases may well have to be able to be started/stopped in time periods that require comparatively high structural strength and rigidity, particularly in cases where we're talking about an entire space habitat/ship or a large section of the habitat/ship. They may also need to accept stresses from things docking/undocking as well, where you're talking about masses with Earth weights of many, many tons. Picture things like the spaceship "Discovery" and the Earth-orbiting space station, both from the Stanley Kubrick film "2001: A Space Odyssey".
Granted that structures that remain in space don't need to combat a constant gravity field, but there is still plenty of call for comparatively high strength and rigidity for many structural needs. That makes having the ability to create however much or little that's needed there in space a huge cost savings over boosting the mass up from Earth or even the Moon.
I look forward to a day far in the future where most of humanity resides off-Earth, with only a billion or two humans or less remaining on Earth, and much of the planet returned to a pastoral, natural state. These are the first baby-steps toward that goal.
Strat
Absolutely not. The reason the ADA recommendations are ignored is because they don't work, and they're more likely to lead to poor blood sugar control than not. The whole point of his advice is that it leads to better blood sugar control with less insulin need, which means less profit for sales of insulin by pharmaceutical companies with large campaign contribution war-chests.
FTFY
Just as with many laws and regulations governing hairdressers/beauticians/manicurists, they are designed to limit competition by putting up barriers to entry and/or protect established businesses' profits and business models.
This is one of the reasons that the power and scope of government must be limited if we are to have anything remotely resembling freedom. If government has the power to do something, there will be someone trying to influence the politician(s) involved for their own gain. People in the US ~235 years ago understood this.
Tragically, many today have never been taught this basic truth.
The course of history shows that as a government grows, liberty decreases. - Thomas Jefferson
Strat