No, they just disagree with your assertion that people jailed for marijuana possession have been unjustly imprisoned in a travesty of justice. Not everyone believes marijuana use is a harmless vice with zero consequences.
I believe Parent's point is that even in a consensus based system such as you speak of, there isn't actually real consensus. Parent said 80%. I'll say 51%. You asked how this system is any worse. I don't believe this system will necessarily lead everyone to become involved in government. There's always going to be people who refuse to be part of the solution. This is part of the reason our current system has this appearance of the 1% imposing their will on the rest. All the lobbying money in the world couldn't save a politician in campaign with 100% voter registration and 100% voter turnout. The reason why the rich can bully the poor is partly because the rich tend to be politically proactive as opposed to reactive. A consensus system might help us get that 100% involvement, and it might not, but this system probably has the advantage there.
What happens when a decision must be made but a consensus cannot be reached? I believe in a strong president who has many powers because I believe that the president must ultimately lead alone rather than seek consensus on every issue. How does a consensus based system work in situations where a decision must be made, but cannot be made due to a stalemate? How does a consensus based system prevent knee-jerk reactions?
Also, I simply don't trust that the average man knows enough to make an intelligent decision regarding every issue. I am a bit of an elitist, old school Republican. I believe that learned men and woman ought to lead the nation, not the common clay so to speak. The vast majority of private citizens likely lack the background knowledge to have worthwhile input, but do have the passion to form a judgment. I think that road to tyranny and suppression you mentioned can still be reached in this system if the consensus wills it. Really, doesn't a consensus system rely on the assumption that the participants are mostly reasonable moderate thinking people who are tolerant of dissenting opinions?
Ron Paul may be an intelligent, thoughtful man, but he's wrong. And he's been wrong for the 30 years that I've listened to his rants. He has never offered a solution for anything that wasn't based on the assumption that the free market will automatically pick up the slack.
Education is not managed at federal level. It's still done at state and local level. Visit the Department of Education website and learn about their mission. http://www2.ed.gov/about/overview/focus/what_pg3.html#doesnot
First of all, public education is managed mostly at the state and local level. The Department of Education has a larger mission including minimizing the effects of economic and racial disenfranchisement and, yes, providing federal aid. People who would like the DoE shutdown should at least learn about what DoE does. I'm with you on DHS, but especially TSA.
Local public schools don't do the job without federal assistance. One of the missions of the Department of Education is to ensure that disadvantaged kids can get an education. In many places, disenfranchisement is very bad, enough to prevent entire groups of kids from getting an education without help. DoE also handles federal student aid. How does a local board of education do that? In fact, public schools have it very bad right now. I myself have bought things for a classroom that I took for granted back when I was a student. I'm not talking about buying notebook paper and scissors. I'm talking about buying soap, paper towels, and printer paper for the teacher to use. According to the DoE, it only contributes nearly 11% to the total budget of primary and secondary schools. It still falls mostly on states and municipalities to handle education. While it's fun to say it's the federal government that's failing out public schools, it seems it's the state and local governments that have failed.
I'll go ahead and say it. Ron Paul is a delusional idiot. What Ron Paul envisions for modern America is an America of the late 1700s, a system and way of life that had a different reality that what we face today under entirely different conditions. Just because it worked well in 1812, doesn't mean it will work well in 2012. His utopia is nothing more than the fantasy of an overly nostalgic mind as possible to implement at Karl Marx's own utopia. Seriously, Ron Paul stopped being amusing in the 80s when he was claiming there wouldn't be a drug problem if drugs were just made legal.
Sadly, the idiots who'd like to see this end will boldly tell you that they get their weather from the evening news and not the federal government. I suggest you make a car analogy.
Because this is the UNITED STATES of America, and as such we actually are in this together. Ergo, it would be nice if states cooperated for the common good, and even nicer if states like North Dakota understood better what it means to them to have a state like California producing as much wealth for the nation as it does.
Would you go into a little more detail please? I've been curious about the Zune HD and Windows Phone UIs, I'm mostly an iOS user now. The iOS interface has become cumbersome to me as I've installed more software. I'm now running 6 full screens of apps. I use folders, but I can only keep 12 apps in any one folder. I prioritize placement of my most used apps to the leftmost screens and use folders to group apps based on common purpose (socializing, listening to music, shopping, accounting, etc). I still end up with apps scattered around, and I still find myself navigating a lot more than I'd like in order to get to anything past the first screen. I can't think of a better solution on iOS. Typographical user interfaces appeal to me. I feel like I'm faster on them. That Start Menu in WP7 looks like it can become a cluttered mess really fast.
Really? I still update my Droid too, and it's gotten slower and slower. It's now at the point that the UI lag is so noticeable that it's no longer worth it to me to use the Droid. I just upgraded to iOS 5 on my iPhone 4 and it's no slower. I'm still holding out for a new Droid, but I'm waiting to see if Windows Phone offers me anything. Like you, I've had just about everything, but I did have Blackberry and didn't have a Palm based mobile.
Re:What he took away is more precious than given
on
Steve Jobs Dead At 56
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· Score: 1
The point is, Steve Jobs brought this technology to the people. Xerox created many great things. And all of those great things would have languished in a dark room were it not for people like Steve Jobs. Engineering is fine, but it's useless if not accessible. Steve Jobs greatness lay in his ability to place human needs before engineering whilst still preserving great engineering. That's not an easy task. He was a brilliant architect. Sure, I can find prior art to probably everything Apple has ever made, but it's about the totality of product from inception to delivery. Look at the notes on a guitar. They are all there for you to play, and every guitarist has played them already, but then someone comes along and finds an order of notes that creates amazing music. That's what Steve Jobs did.
How does one buy any gadget without trying it? I've bought phones that cost more based solely on user demo videos posted online, reviews, and in-store one-to-one contact with the device. I don't own an iPad currently, but I know exactly what I would be getting into already.
This is true, but I heard a rare bit on insight from a cable news pundit today, in essence: Steve Jobs is very particular attention to details. He dwells on things like color and whether headphones should have a small clasp to help keep them neat. Steve Jobs is the kind of person who knows when to veto cost savings in favor of design. Tim Cook is a numbers guy. He's surely a capable business leader, but will he have that extra talent an the guts that Steve Jobs had...
I initially fell for @Home when I had finished creating my avatar and was brought to a hi-rez modern designed apartment flat with a beautiful photorealistic coastal view. My fantasy is to have virtual meeting places like those I saw in cyberpunk literature. I think it's about time I am able to log into a virtual environment that can be anything I and my friends want. I'm former big city dweller and I miss the snow. It would be wonderful to spend a few hours with friends in a virtual brownstone with huge Chicago style windows that give me a view of snow outside. @Home seemed at once like it would offer just that. But I was disappointed as soon as I tried to get down to those docks I saw from my virtual balcony -- I couldn't do it. Smallworlds allows me to create my urban winter wonderland. Second Life too. However, these are both extremely cartoony.
Ultimately, Home doesn't appeal to me simply because in order to enjoy it, I must lock myself down to the console and a TV. In my particular use case, when I am hanging out virtually, I am at my computer, and I am watching my TV simultaneously. And obviously, my social network consists of far more than PS3 owners. In fact, I believe I only have three other friends in total who own PS3s. Home can never be more than a casual break from gaming or a curiosity to sample IMO, at least not for my crowd.
So your arguing Google needs my real name in my profile in case I meet a girl?
No. As you said, it should be between two people. What I am arguing is that it is reasonable that social net users might prefer to deal in real identities and some level of user verification versus pseudo-anonymity. I think a social network should supply users with tools to help them better decide whether to interact with a new "friend". Essentially, the system lets everything through, but empowers the user to filter to their heart's content. A real name, or even age, can be helpful to a user who doesn't want to interact with a specific person or a specific type of person. I mention the latter because I believe, and correct me if I'm wrong, that Facebook has some provisions for blocking children from predators. But maybe Facebook should drop the real name requirement anyway. Several of my friends have substituted their real names for pseudonyms without problems.
I'm not sure I even care about a social network like Facebook monetizing my info and activities at this point. Were I to take a serious stand on privacy, I wouldn't start with social nets. Instead I'd start with my smartphone, my grocery store which datamines my purchases, my state government which sells my info, and my creditors. Facebook is a business, and I am using their service. I'm actually more concerned about my usenet ISP's log of my activities.
Yes, actually. Look at the average age of a congressman or senator, and look at their own personal experience using computer technology. If that doesn't tell you something, look at the number of politicians, even relatively net-savvy young politicians like Anthony Weiner, and see the mistakes they make online. The very best legislators only possess the ability to think deeply and logically when presented with information they can read. The worst just go with the mood. Reasoned arguments about policy should be made to legislators because you can be sure the reactionaries and the lobbyists will be making their own advocacy arguments.
Then you're not using social networking to their fullest, and not even the way most people use social networking sites like Facebook. I do use online social networking for my offline friends. Just because we know each other offline doesn't mean we see each other everyday. My circle of offline friends spans multiple states. People build relationships on social nets, often romantic relationships. At some point, maybe not initially, real names should be known. So, perhaps the rule is: the deeper the level of interaction over a social net, the more important it is that pseudoanonymity be traded for confirmed identity. Maybe this is achievable doing something as basic as a social net allowing its users to hide their real name to specific groups of online members, basically separating friends from "friends".
I still call bullshit on this. As we all know, different professional fields and settings require different standards for written communications. When this story first came about, the researchers made the same claim about women and men writing differently, but they only looked at casual writing. I seriously doubt they could analyze a legal memorandum or a complaint, or an academic thesis in a scientific field, or a military communication, or even an RFC, and accurately determine the author's gender. I'm still not convinced their findings are true for even casual communications.
I know for a fact that all those reviews for the Three-Wolf-Moon shirt are true. I felt the power of 3 wolfpower during last month's full moon. Nothing could quench my thirst but 1 gallon, 128 fl oz of Tuscan whole milk.
You're also aware that China is amidst developing the word's largest megacity, redefining the urban sprawl by creating a singular city larger than Wales? Funny, I always wanted to live in Neo Tokyo then Night City. I'm not sure any of my cyberpunk fantasies involved China as a major player.
But that's not profit. That's total cost of ownership which would include maintenance costs. Unless I really on my car for making money, meaning my car is used in my business for more than transporting me to work, then where's the opportunity for profitability? It seems that, at best, you can hope for really good savings by investing in a good combination of the right car and the right automobile insurance.
Chicago has a very good public transportation system. That's not just accidental. There are cities attempting to copy Chicago and NYC, but most of the time it's been a mix of lack of knowhow combined with very large capital costs. Public support often isn't the issue. If you read around, cities are perplexed as to how to best implement a mass transit system that's actually worthwhile, and it's only worthwhile if it's highly tuned. In fact, I'd love to see a videogame sim devoted to it, but then I have geek love for mass transit.
Slashdot Mirror
No, they just disagree with your assertion that people jailed for marijuana possession have been unjustly imprisoned in a travesty of justice. Not everyone believes marijuana use is a harmless vice with zero consequences.
And kill anyone with an aspirin allergy. :)
I believe Parent's point is that even in a consensus based system such as you speak of, there isn't actually real consensus. Parent said 80%. I'll say 51%. You asked how this system is any worse. I don't believe this system will necessarily lead everyone to become involved in government. There's always going to be people who refuse to be part of the solution. This is part of the reason our current system has this appearance of the 1% imposing their will on the rest. All the lobbying money in the world couldn't save a politician in campaign with 100% voter registration and 100% voter turnout. The reason why the rich can bully the poor is partly because the rich tend to be politically proactive as opposed to reactive. A consensus system might help us get that 100% involvement, and it might not, but this system probably has the advantage there.
What happens when a decision must be made but a consensus cannot be reached? I believe in a strong president who has many powers because I believe that the president must ultimately lead alone rather than seek consensus on every issue. How does a consensus based system work in situations where a decision must be made, but cannot be made due to a stalemate? How does a consensus based system prevent knee-jerk reactions?
Also, I simply don't trust that the average man knows enough to make an intelligent decision regarding every issue. I am a bit of an elitist, old school Republican. I believe that learned men and woman ought to lead the nation, not the common clay so to speak. The vast majority of private citizens likely lack the background knowledge to have worthwhile input, but do have the passion to form a judgment. I think that road to tyranny and suppression you mentioned can still be reached in this system if the consensus wills it. Really, doesn't a consensus system rely on the assumption that the participants are mostly reasonable moderate thinking people who are tolerant of dissenting opinions?
Ron Paul may be an intelligent, thoughtful man, but he's wrong. And he's been wrong for the 30 years that I've listened to his rants. He has never offered a solution for anything that wasn't based on the assumption that the free market will automatically pick up the slack.
Education is not managed at federal level. It's still done at state and local level. Visit the Department of Education website and learn about their mission. http://www2.ed.gov/about/overview/focus/what_pg3.html#doesnot
First of all, public education is managed mostly at the state and local level. The Department of Education has a larger mission including minimizing the effects of economic and racial disenfranchisement and, yes, providing federal aid. People who would like the DoE shutdown should at least learn about what DoE does. I'm with you on DHS, but especially TSA.
Local public schools don't do the job without federal assistance. One of the missions of the Department of Education is to ensure that disadvantaged kids can get an education. In many places, disenfranchisement is very bad, enough to prevent entire groups of kids from getting an education without help. DoE also handles federal student aid. How does a local board of education do that? In fact, public schools have it very bad right now. I myself have bought things for a classroom that I took for granted back when I was a student. I'm not talking about buying notebook paper and scissors. I'm talking about buying soap, paper towels, and printer paper for the teacher to use. According to the DoE, it only contributes nearly 11% to the total budget of primary and secondary schools. It still falls mostly on states and municipalities to handle education. While it's fun to say it's the federal government that's failing out public schools, it seems it's the state and local governments that have failed.
I'll go ahead and say it. Ron Paul is a delusional idiot. What Ron Paul envisions for modern America is an America of the late 1700s, a system and way of life that had a different reality that what we face today under entirely different conditions. Just because it worked well in 1812, doesn't mean it will work well in 2012. His utopia is nothing more than the fantasy of an overly nostalgic mind as possible to implement at Karl Marx's own utopia. Seriously, Ron Paul stopped being amusing in the 80s when he was claiming there wouldn't be a drug problem if drugs were just made legal.
Sadly, the idiots who'd like to see this end will boldly tell you that they get their weather from the evening news and not the federal government. I suggest you make a car analogy.
Because this is the UNITED STATES of America, and as such we actually are in this together. Ergo, it would be nice if states cooperated for the common good, and even nicer if states like North Dakota understood better what it means to them to have a state like California producing as much wealth for the nation as it does.
Would you go into a little more detail please? I've been curious about the Zune HD and Windows Phone UIs, I'm mostly an iOS user now. The iOS interface has become cumbersome to me as I've installed more software. I'm now running 6 full screens of apps. I use folders, but I can only keep 12 apps in any one folder. I prioritize placement of my most used apps to the leftmost screens and use folders to group apps based on common purpose (socializing, listening to music, shopping, accounting, etc). I still end up with apps scattered around, and I still find myself navigating a lot more than I'd like in order to get to anything past the first screen. I can't think of a better solution on iOS. Typographical user interfaces appeal to me. I feel like I'm faster on them. That Start Menu in WP7 looks like it can become a cluttered mess really fast.
Really? I still update my Droid too, and it's gotten slower and slower. It's now at the point that the UI lag is so noticeable that it's no longer worth it to me to use the Droid. I just upgraded to iOS 5 on my iPhone 4 and it's no slower. I'm still holding out for a new Droid, but I'm waiting to see if Windows Phone offers me anything. Like you, I've had just about everything, but I did have Blackberry and didn't have a Palm based mobile.
The point is, Steve Jobs brought this technology to the people. Xerox created many great things. And all of those great things would have languished in a dark room were it not for people like Steve Jobs. Engineering is fine, but it's useless if not accessible. Steve Jobs greatness lay in his ability to place human needs before engineering whilst still preserving great engineering. That's not an easy task. He was a brilliant architect. Sure, I can find prior art to probably everything Apple has ever made, but it's about the totality of product from inception to delivery. Look at the notes on a guitar. They are all there for you to play, and every guitarist has played them already, but then someone comes along and finds an order of notes that creates amazing music. That's what Steve Jobs did.
Sorry, how does one try any gadget without buying it.
How does one buy any gadget without trying it? I've bought phones that cost more based solely on user demo videos posted online, reviews, and in-store one-to-one contact with the device. I don't own an iPad currently, but I know exactly what I would be getting into already.
This is true, but I heard a rare bit on insight from a cable news pundit today, in essence: Steve Jobs is very particular attention to details. He dwells on things like color and whether headphones should have a small clasp to help keep them neat. Steve Jobs is the kind of person who knows when to veto cost savings in favor of design. Tim Cook is a numbers guy. He's surely a capable business leader, but will he have that extra talent an the guts that Steve Jobs had...
I initially fell for @Home when I had finished creating my avatar and was brought to a hi-rez modern designed apartment flat with a beautiful photorealistic coastal view. My fantasy is to have virtual meeting places like those I saw in cyberpunk literature. I think it's about time I am able to log into a virtual environment that can be anything I and my friends want. I'm former big city dweller and I miss the snow. It would be wonderful to spend a few hours with friends in a virtual brownstone with huge Chicago style windows that give me a view of snow outside. @Home seemed at once like it would offer just that. But I was disappointed as soon as I tried to get down to those docks I saw from my virtual balcony -- I couldn't do it. Smallworlds allows me to create my urban winter wonderland. Second Life too. However, these are both extremely cartoony.
Ultimately, Home doesn't appeal to me simply because in order to enjoy it, I must lock myself down to the console and a TV. In my particular use case, when I am hanging out virtually, I am at my computer, and I am watching my TV simultaneously. And obviously, my social network consists of far more than PS3 owners. In fact, I believe I only have three other friends in total who own PS3s. Home can never be more than a casual break from gaming or a curiosity to sample IMO, at least not for my crowd.
So your arguing Google needs my real name in my profile in case I meet a girl?
No. As you said, it should be between two people. What I am arguing is that it is reasonable that social net users might prefer to deal in real identities and some level of user verification versus pseudo-anonymity. I think a social network should supply users with tools to help them better decide whether to interact with a new "friend". Essentially, the system lets everything through, but empowers the user to filter to their heart's content. A real name, or even age, can be helpful to a user who doesn't want to interact with a specific person or a specific type of person. I mention the latter because I believe, and correct me if I'm wrong, that Facebook has some provisions for blocking children from predators. But maybe Facebook should drop the real name requirement anyway. Several of my friends have substituted their real names for pseudonyms without problems.
I'm not sure I even care about a social network like Facebook monetizing my info and activities at this point. Were I to take a serious stand on privacy, I wouldn't start with social nets. Instead I'd start with my smartphone, my grocery store which datamines my purchases, my state government which sells my info, and my creditors. Facebook is a business, and I am using their service. I'm actually more concerned about my usenet ISP's log of my activities.
Yes, actually. Look at the average age of a congressman or senator, and look at their own personal experience using computer technology. If that doesn't tell you something, look at the number of politicians, even relatively net-savvy young politicians like Anthony Weiner, and see the mistakes they make online. The very best legislators only possess the ability to think deeply and logically when presented with information they can read. The worst just go with the mood. Reasoned arguments about policy should be made to legislators because you can be sure the reactionaries and the lobbyists will be making their own advocacy arguments.
Then you're not using social networking to their fullest, and not even the way most people use social networking sites like Facebook. I do use online social networking for my offline friends. Just because we know each other offline doesn't mean we see each other everyday. My circle of offline friends spans multiple states. People build relationships on social nets, often romantic relationships. At some point, maybe not initially, real names should be known. So, perhaps the rule is: the deeper the level of interaction over a social net, the more important it is that pseudoanonymity be traded for confirmed identity. Maybe this is achievable doing something as basic as a social net allowing its users to hide their real name to specific groups of online members, basically separating friends from "friends".
I still call bullshit on this. As we all know, different professional fields and settings require different standards for written communications. When this story first came about, the researchers made the same claim about women and men writing differently, but they only looked at casual writing. I seriously doubt they could analyze a legal memorandum or a complaint, or an academic thesis in a scientific field, or a military communication, or even an RFC, and accurately determine the author's gender. I'm still not convinced their findings are true for even casual communications.
I know for a fact that all those reviews for the Three-Wolf-Moon shirt are true. I felt the power of 3 wolfpower during last month's full moon. Nothing could quench my thirst but 1 gallon, 128 fl oz of Tuscan whole milk.
Thank! Looks a bit like SimCity to me. I'd have been happy even with just a subway sim. I'll check it out.
You're also aware that China is amidst developing the word's largest megacity, redefining the urban sprawl by creating a singular city larger than Wales? Funny, I always wanted to live in Neo Tokyo then Night City. I'm not sure any of my cyberpunk fantasies involved China as a major player.
But that's not profit. That's total cost of ownership which would include maintenance costs. Unless I really on my car for making money, meaning my car is used in my business for more than transporting me to work, then where's the opportunity for profitability? It seems that, at best, you can hope for really good savings by investing in a good combination of the right car and the right automobile insurance.
Chicago has a very good public transportation system. That's not just accidental. There are cities attempting to copy Chicago and NYC, but most of the time it's been a mix of lack of knowhow combined with very large capital costs. Public support often isn't the issue. If you read around, cities are perplexed as to how to best implement a mass transit system that's actually worthwhile, and it's only worthwhile if it's highly tuned. In fact, I'd love to see a videogame sim devoted to it, but then I have geek love for mass transit.