I do provide an answer. I can provide dozens of successful nations working as I described, and working well. You'll find them in Europe and Asia (not China, think Japan or South Korea). It's been proven to my satisfaction that the way you describe things working is false in practice, and that collecting taxes and using that to provide a minimum standard of living and safety net (things such as universal health care and education) for the worst off in society is a better way to run things. Moreover, it's the morally superior way to do things, as it recognizes the humanity and dignity of everyone, not just the wealthy or the lucky.
You say it as if there is something wrong with that. Sorry, you owe your success and productivity to the society that allowed you to come into existence and be successful and productive, and you are going to pay back into that society and to future generations and to the less fortunate. Ideally everyone would do this willingly, but, well there are too many people like you for that to work.
I have three different neighbors that generously provide me with strong wifi signals, or the slightly more inconvenient option of walking out into the world with my laptop or smartphone to find an open WAP.
You didn't address open wifi or mobile adhoc networks. And the point of freenet is that it keeps me from getting strikes in the first place. If I keep all my illegal activity hidden they can't file complaints against me, I can't get strikes, and I can't get blacklisted.
Lofty goals. This isn't enforceable, legally or practically. Three strikes and you get kicked off the internet? How? Will I have a chip in my arm that keeps my router from working? Even if they were somehow able to blacklist me from every ISP how would they stop me from using freely available Wifi? How will they shut down Freenet? How will they stop me from burning CDs and just handing it to my friend?
If you're an American, you can't get much farther away than that. I think the antipode for much of the US is in the South Indian Ocean, somewhat near Australia, might even be the closest populated land if you disregard Antarctica.
Their battery claims are definitely more accurate than any other company I've bought products from. My Macbook Pro can get 8+ hours if I am just taking notes at lowest brightness with wifi turned off. Surfing the web at medium brightness gets closer to 7 so it seems like they actually do make an effort to report their battery life during real world conditions and not some theoretical maximum under next to zero use.
It looks like a nice device on which to play Go. You wouldn't have to worry about pieces being moved or storing the game and continuing later. Although playing with real stones on a real board is nice just because of the tactile experience.
There is no way your 400$ HP comes with a screen the same quality as found on an iMac. It also probably isn't an all in one design, which is worthwhile for some people.
And there is another school of thought that says that the health care "industry" (and to a lesser extent pharmaceuticals) cannot be run ethically with a for-profit model. Everyone will need health care at some point in their lives, you don't have a choice, well, you could choose to die. It's not an economic question, it's an ethical question. Everyone should have the same standard of health care, and society should pay for it collectively. It's the only way it can be done fairly and ethically.
EA destroys and corrupts whatever it touches. A developer being bought by EA is the kiss of death for all their franchises, IMO. The classic example is Westwood Studios and a series that was very dear to me, Command & Conquer.
At least we'll always have new versions of Madden!
I think the price is still in the "greed" range, and it's not acceptable. Songs should be 10-25 cents, TV show episodes 50 cents to 1 dollar, and movies less than 5 dollars. Their competition is free, regardless if it's technically illegitimate, which means they need to do better with price then they are now, and they need to make more content available, for more platforms, without DRM, at higher qualities, and make it available at the same time it's released on other distribution channels (Theaters, broadcast)
I don't pay for cable, and I wouldn't even if I could just purchase the channels I want. I only watch 1-3 shows. I want to watch them on a computer because I don't actually have a normal TV with a cable jack. I also don't want to wait from the time they air on TV to when the network decides to put it on their website (if they ever do). So my choices are: download illegally, wait, or just not watch it. Guess what I pick? FOX and FX could solve this problem by putting the shows on the web at the same time they air on TV, then at least they'd be getting ad revenue from me. As is they get absolutely nothing until I buy the DVDs--which is rare.
The sense of entitlement is sickening. No business has a right to make profit, and I certainly don't have to "recpect" their revenue stream. This generation grew up wanting certain things, the dinosaurs in the content industries refused to adapt and now people are used to getting music, movies, and games they want for free. There are now millions of people who will go their entire lives without purchasing much content, and they were created by the greed and incompetence of the RIAA/MPAA and friends.
Is the 13" MacbookPro or Macbook really that much different than the Eee in terms of portability? Yes, it's more expensive, but we're talking about Apple and they're always a little more expensive because it's a higher quality product. The 13" MBP is very thin and light, it's not sub-12 inches but it travels well in bags or backpacks, if you want a highly portable computer that runs OS X, Apple already makes one.
I think it would be a stupid idea for Apple to license their OS to other hardware makers. Once they give up total control of the experience it's going to make things less pleasant for the end user, and there goes Apple's reputation for reliability and the integration of hardware and software which distinguishes them from other companies.
You need to get out of the GOP then, because as long as you still wear that label I'm going to count you among the bigots, the homophobes, the religious zealots, the birthers, and every other wing-nut dujour who now speak for the Republican party--and they DO speak for the Republican party, it's not even a matter for debate anymore. The Dems aren't much better in practice, but at least they don't have any of the morally repugnant qualities of the current Republicans (other than graft and corruption, that's universal among the two).
Be an independent, or join a party closer to your actual beliefs. Democrats weren't liberal enough for me so I now vote for the Green Party.
Some laws keep out herbal solutions that could replace some pharmaceutical solutions because hundreds of years of anecdotal evidence isn't good enough.
I'm sorry, but this is wrong. If there was a natural, effective, SAFE, alternative to any medicine then that's what would get used. Do you think all the pharmaceutical companies spend all that money on R&D just for fun? If there was already a compound that did the job then they could save an enormous amount of money by just manufacturing, marketing, and selling that instead of the synthesized/synthetic solution. Herbs and supplements are "alternative medicine" because they DON'T WORK. When something DOES work it stops being "alternative medicine" and becomes simply medicine.
It has to be built somewhere, or at the very least the raw materials have to come from somewhere and I assume that place will be Earth. So it has to be launched at least once, which means there'll be a rocket with nuclear material going up...launched by the Russians, these guys.
I certainly trust Soviet trained engineers to launch this thing successfully without air-bursting right after take off, scattering radioactive debris throughout the atmosphere. The Russians have a long, celebrated, history of safety and caution when it comes to their nuclear and aerospace endeavors--together they'll be a winning combination!
(and for those who think I'm being too harsh on the Russians, I wouldn't trust NASA to launch a nuclear powered spacecraft either)
It's a little different when talking about taxes and spending though because there's not an actual "commons" that is being destroyed unless you consider the solvency of the government to be a commons. The psychology behind it is exactly the same though.
Slashdot Mirror
I do provide an answer. I can provide dozens of successful nations working as I described, and working well. You'll find them in Europe and Asia (not China, think Japan or South Korea). It's been proven to my satisfaction that the way you describe things working is false in practice, and that collecting taxes and using that to provide a minimum standard of living and safety net (things such as universal health care and education) for the worst off in society is a better way to run things. Moreover, it's the morally superior way to do things, as it recognizes the humanity and dignity of everyone, not just the wealthy or the lucky.
You say it as if there is something wrong with that. Sorry, you owe your success and productivity to the society that allowed you to come into existence and be successful and productive, and you are going to pay back into that society and to future generations and to the less fortunate. Ideally everyone would do this willingly, but, well there are too many people like you for that to work.
I have three different neighbors that generously provide me with strong wifi signals, or the slightly more inconvenient option of walking out into the world with my laptop or smartphone to find an open WAP.
You didn't address open wifi or mobile adhoc networks. And the point of freenet is that it keeps me from getting strikes in the first place. If I keep all my illegal activity hidden they can't file complaints against me, I can't get strikes, and I can't get blacklisted.
Lofty goals. This isn't enforceable, legally or practically. Three strikes and you get kicked off the internet? How? Will I have a chip in my arm that keeps my router from working? Even if they were somehow able to blacklist me from every ISP how would they stop me from using freely available Wifi? How will they shut down Freenet? How will they stop me from burning CDs and just handing it to my friend?
This isn't going to change anything.
If you're an American, you can't get much farther away than that. I think the antipode for much of the US is in the South Indian Ocean, somewhat near Australia, might even be the closest populated land if you disregard Antarctica.
I have a similar rule: if my penis is in *anyone's* hand I don't answer the phone, and I take hand to mean contact with any body part.
I just wish the other person was always as polite.
Their battery claims are definitely more accurate than any other company I've bought products from. My Macbook Pro can get 8+ hours if I am just taking notes at lowest brightness with wifi turned off. Surfing the web at medium brightness gets closer to 7 so it seems like they actually do make an effort to report their battery life during real world conditions and not some theoretical maximum under next to zero use.
I find your lack of faith disturbing.
It looks like a nice device on which to play Go. You wouldn't have to worry about pieces being moved or storing the game and continuing later. Although playing with real stones on a real board is nice just because of the tactile experience.
What ads? There are ads on Facebook? When did this start?
There is no way your 400$ HP comes with a screen the same quality as found on an iMac. It also probably isn't an all in one design, which is worthwhile for some people.
And there is another school of thought that says that the health care "industry" (and to a lesser extent pharmaceuticals) cannot be run ethically with a for-profit model. Everyone will need health care at some point in their lives, you don't have a choice, well, you could choose to die. It's not an economic question, it's an ethical question. Everyone should have the same standard of health care, and society should pay for it collectively. It's the only way it can be done fairly and ethically.
EA destroys and corrupts whatever it touches. A developer being bought by EA is the kiss of death for all their franchises, IMO. The classic example is Westwood Studios and a series that was very dear to me, Command & Conquer.
At least we'll always have new versions of Madden!
I think the price is still in the "greed" range, and it's not acceptable. Songs should be 10-25 cents, TV show episodes 50 cents to 1 dollar, and movies less than 5 dollars. Their competition is free, regardless if it's technically illegitimate, which means they need to do better with price then they are now, and they need to make more content available, for more platforms, without DRM, at higher qualities, and make it available at the same time it's released on other distribution channels (Theaters, broadcast)
Then I'd start buying.
Does that price include the root kit?
I don't pay for cable, and I wouldn't even if I could just purchase the channels I want. I only watch 1-3 shows. I want to watch them on a computer because I don't actually have a normal TV with a cable jack. I also don't want to wait from the time they air on TV to when the network decides to put it on their website (if they ever do). So my choices are: download illegally, wait, or just not watch it. Guess what I pick? FOX and FX could solve this problem by putting the shows on the web at the same time they air on TV, then at least they'd be getting ad revenue from me. As is they get absolutely nothing until I buy the DVDs--which is rare.
The sense of entitlement is sickening. No business has a right to make profit, and I certainly don't have to "recpect" their revenue stream. This generation grew up wanting certain things, the dinosaurs in the content industries refused to adapt and now people are used to getting music, movies, and games they want for free. There are now millions of people who will go their entire lives without purchasing much content, and they were created by the greed and incompetence of the RIAA/MPAA and friends.
It's one of the core principles of Libertarianism!
Is the 13" MacbookPro or Macbook really that much different than the Eee in terms of portability? Yes, it's more expensive, but we're talking about Apple and they're always a little more expensive because it's a higher quality product. The 13" MBP is very thin and light, it's not sub-12 inches but it travels well in bags or backpacks, if you want a highly portable computer that runs OS X, Apple already makes one.
I think it would be a stupid idea for Apple to license their OS to other hardware makers. Once they give up total control of the experience it's going to make things less pleasant for the end user, and there goes Apple's reputation for reliability and the integration of hardware and software which distinguishes them from other companies.
You need to get out of the GOP then, because as long as you still wear that label I'm going to count you among the bigots, the homophobes, the religious zealots, the birthers, and every other wing-nut dujour who now speak for the Republican party--and they DO speak for the Republican party, it's not even a matter for debate anymore. The Dems aren't much better in practice, but at least they don't have any of the morally repugnant qualities of the current Republicans (other than graft and corruption, that's universal among the two).
Be an independent, or join a party closer to your actual beliefs. Democrats weren't liberal enough for me so I now vote for the Green Party.
Some laws keep out herbal solutions that could replace some pharmaceutical solutions because hundreds of years of anecdotal evidence isn't good enough.
I'm sorry, but this is wrong. If there was a natural, effective, SAFE, alternative to any medicine then that's what would get used. Do you think all the pharmaceutical companies spend all that money on R&D just for fun? If there was already a compound that did the job then they could save an enormous amount of money by just manufacturing, marketing, and selling that instead of the synthesized/synthetic solution. Herbs and supplements are "alternative medicine" because they DON'T WORK. When something DOES work it stops being "alternative medicine" and becomes simply medicine.
It has to be built somewhere, or at the very least the raw materials have to come from somewhere and I assume that place will be Earth. So it has to be launched at least once, which means there'll be a rocket with nuclear material going up...launched by the Russians, these guys.
I certainly trust Soviet trained engineers to launch this thing successfully without air-bursting right after take off, scattering radioactive debris throughout the atmosphere. The Russians have a long, celebrated, history of safety and caution when it comes to their nuclear and aerospace endeavors--together they'll be a winning combination!
(and for those who think I'm being too harsh on the Russians, I wouldn't trust NASA to launch a nuclear powered spacecraft either)
It's a little different when talking about taxes and spending though because there's not an actual "commons" that is being destroyed unless you consider the solvency of the government to be a commons. The psychology behind it is exactly the same though.