:) It is essentially a book. Perhaps I should have mentioned that. You can get hard copies from the usual places.
It has a fascinating chapter on the tally stick system which was used in Europe for 700 years, with only 0.4% price inflation per year on average. All credit (ie. money) was a claim on actual existing wealth and could be issued by anyone who had the wealth to back it. I wonder if some kind of eTally system might be part of the answer.
Congress was granted the authority to protect works of art & science for the sake of their authors.
Not so:
"To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries."
The end was to promote progress. Securing rights for the artists is just the means. While I agree with most of what you say it's important to to keep the order of things in mind. Confusion on this point is the Copyright Cartels' main weapon.
False. The GSU raided his compound and found nothing, after 14 hours of looking.
committed fraud
What fraud?
and tax evasion
What tax evasion? The reason he left the US is (according to Jeff Wise) to avoid a law suit over someone who died while 'aerotrekking' with his company. McAfee says it was to lower his taxes (which is not the same as tax evasion).
He had guard dogs that bit people off his property.
You made this up.
His neighbor put out poison on his own property
You made this up.
McAfee confronted his neighbor
Some time before the murder, if it happened at all.
McAfee killed his neighbor
Oh really?. If the police thought this there would be a warrant for his arrest.
He then began running before the murder was even public
McAfee claimed to have buried himself in the sand to hide from a police search of his home. He claims he hung around for days. All we know for sure is the police didn't find him.
chased around town by the cops for unlicensed drug manufacture, posession of an unlicensed firearm and suspicion of making crystal meth.
I live in Belize so have been taking an interest in this story. The facts seem to be that the police raided his mainland compound on an 'anonymous tipoff' of a meth lab. They found no meth or any other illegal drugs. There was a lab where McAfee says he was making an anti-bacterial cream from local plants. There was talk of charging him with making antibiotics without a license but it seems that has been dropped. A number of guns plus ammo was found on the compound but valid licenses for them were produced. A single unlicensed bullet gets a mandatory five years here. Raids for guns and drugs do not require a warrant (or at least that's what the police think). You can imagine how that can go. McAfee claimed the raid was at the behest of a local politician to whom he had refused a 'campaign donation'. This is entirely plausible. The police cut off the heads of his dead dogs (CNN confirms) to retrieve the bullets with which he euthanised them after they were poisoned. Belize recently took delivery of a ballistics microscope from Canada. A number of McAfee's associates are in custody. His British bodyguard and his wife (recently arrived from the UK) for unlicensed gun possession. Also the owner and license-holder of said gun for lending it without permission. Overall my view is that McAfee is only half-crazy. I reserve judgement on the murder but note that it is not unusual for white expats to be murdered in their homes by crackheads and the like.
Correct, though the rest of your post is too extreme. One good punch to the solar plexus and the bully will become your best friend if they are young or leave you alone if they are older. No need to go psycho on them. That's been my experience anyway.
I visited Catalunia for a week. I had no problems in Barcelona. Outside Barcelona I met two or three people who expressed some degree of distaste at being addressed in Spanish, the aforementioned waiter being the most extreme. Those people preferred to speak English than Spanish even though they were obviously much better at the latter than the former.
So an anecdote, sure. I was counterpointing the 'foreigner's love it when you speak their language' cliché, not trying to do down Catalunia. It's an excellent place, you just have to tune in to local sensibilities like anywhere.
BTW I am British not Spanish.
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand that as agricultural regions shift poleward even slightly, the amount of arable land favorable to crop-growing will greatly increase.
That seems rather a complacent assumption to me (I am not a rocket scientist). While northern lands may warm up there is no guarantee that rainfall patterns there/then will be conducive to agriculture. There is also the effect of day lengths on some species to consider. Probably a bunch of other variables too (I am not a botanist). We may well end up with a cornflake glut but no coffee or orange juice to drink with them. The bad possibilities outnumber the good, it seems to me.
the radicals are given free reign by a populace that refuses to stand up to them.
Not universally true: AP report There seems to be increasing opposition to the nutters in islamic countries, despite the severe hazard to one's health in doing so.
The Endochronic Properties of Resublimted Thiotimoline by Isaac Asimov. A spoof chemistry paper which he told Campbell to publish pseudonymously in case it prejudice his upcoming thesis examination. Campbell used his real name, his examiners asked about it, and still gave him his doctorate.
Not sure what 'mess' is referred to in the title but I sidestepped the issues I met with Baldur's Gate by running it in its own X-server on a separate VT. As I recall it just took a simple script to start the server and the game, and one extra command to make the mouse cursor less fugly. My main desktop remained completely undisturbed and just an Alt-F7 away. A little polish and this approach could be a good general solution, no?
Once a politician starts relying on the religious voters, he'll have to support a religion-driven agenda or risk being denounced as a turn-coat and kicked out of office - for a religious voter is a jealous voter.
Not so, apparently:
Once someone becomes a leader of the high RWAs' in-group, he can lie with impunity about the out-groups, himself, whatever, because he knows the followers will seldom check on what he says, nor will they expose themselves to people who set the record straight. Furthermore they will not believe the truth if they somehow get exposed to it, and if the distortions become absolutely undeniable, they will rationalize it away and put it in a box. If the scoundrel's duplicity and hypocrisy lands him on the front page of every daily in the country, the followers will still forgive him if he just says the right things.
AV would've given more voice to the parties supporting PR
If so the Tories would never have agreed to the referendum on it. Passing AV would have enabled PR opponents to say 'you've got it, shut up now' forever, while enjoying something very close to the status quo. In a decade or two perhaps pressure will have increased sufficiently for real reform to take place.
Every word, every gesture, their condescension, their posture, in fact every fibre of their being indicated that normal people were not their customers.
I had exactly the same experience at a similar emporium in Washington DC. I thought perhaps I should have worn a dark suit instead of shorts and a Hawiian shirt, but maybe it's just spook culture.
Instead, over 2/3rds of the population decide they didn't want [AV PR]
I'm an expat, partly for the reasons we are discussing, so I didn't vote. But I would have voted against, not because I don't want PR but because AV is not it. If AV had passed there would be no chance of ever getting a real PR system adopted.
there is a standing army behind the value of the American dollar.
So if someone refuses to accept my dollars I can call in an airstrike on them? I think not. Perhaps you are suggesting that if a country refuses to take your dollars for their oil (or accepts anything else) you can call in an airstrike on them and just take their oil. That certainly seems to be the foundation of US foreign policy and indirectly the reason non-Americans value the dollar. The reason Americans value the dollar, besides habit, is surely that their government will accept nothing else in payment of taxes.
Slashdot Mirror
tl;dr
:) It is essentially a book. Perhaps I should have mentioned that. You can get hard copies from the usual places.
It has a fascinating chapter on the tally stick system which was used in Europe for 700 years, with only 0.4% price inflation per year on average. All credit (ie. money) was a claim on actual existing wealth and could be issued by anyone who had the wealth to back it. I wonder if some kind of eTally system might be part of the answer.
Crap, should have checked the link. This one works:
Harald Haas - Money Upside Down
I think readers of this thread will find this (pdf) thesis very interesting. I stumbled upon it while looking for works by Frederick Soddy.
Congress was granted the authority to protect works of art & science for the sake of their authors.
Not so:
"To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries."
The end was to promote progress. Securing rights for the artists is just the means.
While I agree with most of what you say it's important to to keep the order of things in mind. Confusion on this point is the Copyright Cartels' main weapon.
I proved you wrong.
No, to do that you have come up with evidence that you didn't make it up. Specifically what you claim, not just some vague reference to poisoned dogs.
What proof do you have that McAfee didn't believe Faull put poison on his own property for the purpose of killing McAfee's dogs?
Only McAfee's statements. I don't have proof that unicorns don't exist either.
You asked for the truth. I gave it.
Speculations are not facts, no matter how plausible you think they are, and you should not peddle them as truth.
A Sun reader calls me illiterate...
The dogs were apparently poisoned.
That Faull put out the poison on his own property is made up by you.
Show me a credible source that makes that claim. Even the Sun does not.
McAfee is a drug dealer
False. The GSU raided his compound and found nothing, after 14 hours of looking.
committed fraud
What fraud?
and tax evasion
What tax evasion?
The reason he left the US is (according to Jeff Wise) to avoid a law suit over someone who died while 'aerotrekking' with his company. McAfee says it was to lower his taxes (which is not the same as tax evasion).
He had guard dogs that bit people off his property.
You made this up.
His neighbor put out poison on his own property
You made this up.
McAfee confronted his neighbor
Some time before the murder, if it happened at all.
McAfee killed his neighbor
Oh really?. If the police thought this there would be a warrant for his arrest.
He then began running before the murder was even public
McAfee claimed to have buried himself in the sand to hide from a police search of his home. He claims he hung around for days. All we know for sure is the police didn't find him.
The rest is not in dispute.
This whole post is false or inaccurate and/or pure speculation.
Or are you claiming some inside info not available to the rest of us?
To leave China, you need an exit visa.
Not according to a Chinese co-worker of mine (in the UK). That was ten years ago, mind.
chased around town by the cops for unlicensed drug manufacture, posession of an unlicensed firearm and suspicion of making crystal meth.
I live in Belize so have been taking an interest in this story. The facts seem to be that the police raided his mainland compound on an 'anonymous tipoff' of a meth lab. They found no meth or any other illegal drugs. There was a lab where McAfee says he was making an anti-bacterial cream from local plants. There was talk of charging him with making antibiotics without a license but it seems that has been dropped.
A number of guns plus ammo was found on the compound but valid licenses for them were produced. A single unlicensed bullet gets a mandatory five years here. Raids for guns and drugs do not require a warrant (or at least that's what the police think). You can imagine how that can go.
McAfee claimed the raid was at the behest of a local politician to whom he had refused a 'campaign donation'. This is entirely plausible.
The police cut off the heads of his dead dogs (CNN confirms) to retrieve the bullets with which he euthanised them after they were poisoned. Belize recently took delivery of a ballistics microscope from Canada.
A number of McAfee's associates are in custody. His British bodyguard and his wife (recently arrived from the UK) for unlicensed gun possession. Also the owner and license-holder of said gun for lending it without permission.
Overall my view is that McAfee is only half-crazy. I reserve judgement on the murder but note that it is not unusual for white expats to be murdered in their homes by crackheads and the like.
The only way to deal with them is bash them.
Correct, though the rest of your post is too extreme. One good punch to the solar plexus and the bully will become your best friend if they are young or leave you alone if they are older. No need to go psycho on them.
That's been my experience anyway.
I visited Catalunia for a week. I had no problems in Barcelona. Outside Barcelona I met two or three people who expressed some degree of distaste at being addressed in Spanish, the aforementioned waiter being the most extreme. Those people preferred to speak English than Spanish even though they were obviously much better at the latter than the former.
So an anecdote, sure. I was counterpointing the 'foreigner's love it when you speak their language' cliché, not trying to do down Catalunia. It's an excellent place, you just have to tune in to local sensibilities like anywhere.
BTW I am British not Spanish.
And yet you just might find that the server is pleased at your effort.
Yeah, unless you're speaking Spanish to a Catalunian. That waiter got so angry another member of staff had to serve me.
Science is not impartial.
What?!! It had damned well better be.
No. Science is, and should be, strongly biased in favour of the facts.
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand that as agricultural regions shift poleward even slightly, the amount of arable land favorable to crop-growing will greatly increase.
That seems rather a complacent assumption to me (I am not a rocket scientist). While northern lands may warm up there is no guarantee that rainfall patterns there/then will be conducive to agriculture. There is also the effect of day lengths on some species to consider. Probably a bunch of other variables too (I am not a botanist). We may well end up with a cornflake glut but no coffee or orange juice to drink with them. The bad possibilities outnumber the good, it seems to me.
the radicals are given free reign by a populace that refuses to stand up to them.
Not universally true: AP report
There seems to be increasing opposition to the nutters in islamic countries, despite the severe hazard to one's health in doing so.
A 16:10 display is two A4 pages side by side.
Actually, no. Two A4 pages sides by side (aka A3) is still root 2 : 1, or roughly 14:10.
The Endochronic Properties of Resublimted Thiotimoline by Isaac Asimov.
A spoof chemistry paper which he told Campbell to publish pseudonymously in case it prejudice his upcoming thesis examination. Campbell used his real name, his examiners asked about it, and still gave him his doctorate.
Not sure what 'mess' is referred to in the title but I sidestepped the issues I met with Baldur's Gate by running it in its own X-server on a separate VT.
As I recall it just took a simple script to start the server and the game, and one extra command to make the mouse cursor less fugly. My main desktop remained completely undisturbed and just an Alt-F7 away. A little polish and this approach could be a good general solution, no?
What's your favourite verse from Leviticus?
Once a politician starts relying on the religious voters, he'll have to support a religion-driven agenda or risk being denounced as a turn-coat and kicked out of office - for a religious voter is a jealous voter.
Not so, apparently:
AV would've given more voice to the parties supporting PR
If so the Tories would never have agreed to the referendum on it. Passing AV would have enabled PR opponents to say 'you've got it, shut up now' forever, while enjoying something very close to the status quo. In a decade or two perhaps pressure will have increased sufficiently for real reform to take place.
Every word, every gesture, their condescension, their posture, in fact every fibre of their being indicated that normal people were not their customers.
I had exactly the same experience at a similar emporium in Washington DC. I thought perhaps I should have worn a dark suit instead of shorts and a Hawiian shirt, but maybe it's just spook culture.
Instead, over 2/3rds of the population decide they didn't want [AV PR]
I'm an expat, partly for the reasons we are discussing, so I didn't vote. But I would have voted against, not because I don't want PR but because AV is not it. If AV had passed there would be no chance of ever getting a real PR system adopted.
there is a standing army behind the value of the American dollar.
So if someone refuses to accept my dollars I can call in an airstrike on them?
I think not. Perhaps you are suggesting that if a country refuses to take your dollars for their oil (or accepts anything else) you can call in an airstrike on them and just take their oil. That certainly seems to be the foundation of US foreign policy and indirectly the reason non-Americans value the dollar.
The reason Americans value the dollar, besides habit, is surely that their government will accept nothing else in payment of taxes.