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User: lonecrow

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Comments · 498

  1. Re: The way they play the "copyright" card on Supreme Court To Hear Aereo Case · · Score: 1

    Because otherwise local sydney cable companies would have to license the shows themselves. If people in sydney want to watch these shows, thats a potential market to sell.to

  2. Re: Herpin' the Derp on Ford Exec: 'We Know Everyone Who Breaks the Law' Thanks To Our GPS In Your Car · · Score: 1

    Right. People forget that corporations exist.at.the pleasure of the electorate. You have the power to yank their charter at anytime. If they try to.sue you for it, change the law so they cant. The only.real power is political power. If mega corps have too much power its because you were tricked into giving it to them.

  3. Re: in other words... on The Quiet Fury of Former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates · · Score: 2

    I read his point as being that democracy is messy and inefficient and his job as a warlord would be a lot easier if everyone would just sit down, shut up and do as they were told. He is exactly the kind of person you should worry about. Personally I don't care if the trains run on time if I have to give up my political voice in trade. Civilian rule is better then the alternative. So how about we let you play with your tanks and you let the inefficient electorate set the political goals. Grow up and deal with it Gates. If you can't we will have to get out the gulitine again.

  4. Re: Fret not on Woman Fined For Bad Review Striking Back In Court · · Score: 1

    The fact that you dont get my point about street lights is kinda the point. Something that on the surface impedes my freedom " a red light" actually provides more freedom. Without street lights I would have to stop at every intersection to check.for oncoming traffic. I am in Canada which has a single payer health insurance system. (A system that most Canadians would kill to defend and I am truly sry you guys disnt get for yourselves). I understand that you would view it has a liberty reducing socialism like a red light. But I view it as liberty increasing. Firstly health insurance is very affordable because risk is spread as wide a possible. This increaes my financial freedom. Second, preventitive measures and harm reduction programs abound. This increses my freedom from infection from others. We have no destitution created because of someones lack of acces to affordable health. This increases my freedom from fear because of less crime. We spend less then you for health care and get way better outcomes. So I am free from getting screwed by a for profit insurance company. Free from getting sub-standard care because I dont earn enough. But I do hear you that you dont want government to fund laws you dont like. Welcome to democracy, if enough other people like those laws they get funded. This doesnt mean government is broken, it just means democracy works. Deal with it.

  5. Re: Fret not on Woman Fined For Bad Review Striking Back In Court · · Score: 3, Insightful

    It might be fun for you to take a vacation to a country with no building codes, no food inspectors, no labeling laws, no noise bylaws, no courts to enforce contracts, and all the other "freedom surprresing" rules. Then you should read Hobbs, Mills, and Locke so that you understand exactly why it is that we are more free with street lights then without. One could easily argue that a red street light is a gross violation of your liberty by the gubberment. But do your really want to live in a city without street lights? If you want to discuss the nuances of spefic laws and how balance between personal liberty and common good, there are many people who would love to have that talk. And they would respect your views. But if all you say is that all government and taxes are bad, you will quite rightly be dismissed as an idiot not worthy of listening to. This is the proplem with the tea party. All the valid viewpoints of the right are lost in the noise of all the nonesense.

  6. Re: best point to be made here on Lead Contractor On Health-Care Web Site Led By Execs From Troubled IT Company · · Score: 0

    They exist. Corporate culture starts at the top. Thats why CEO get the big bucks right? I have worked in well run government departments and bad, ditto for private sector organisations. What made the difference was the culture. In "groups" that put group reputation ahead of short term personal gain, the better the output. If your leaders or managers appear more interested in their personal gain and appear to care little for the quality of the output, then the whole place sucks and so does there work. All their work, you can feel it in the lobby on the helpline, or when you talk to a salesmen. The reverse is also true, when there is genuine ethical leadership the whole organization rocks and you can feel it everywhere. With that in mind you can understand why the repugs create self-fufilling reality. How well do you think government employees perform.when.their political masters are constantly saying how much suck amd that "you are the problem". Not to mention when they themselves are caught witheir hand in the cookie jar. So, it starts with the electorate. Choose ethical, dedicated, self-sacrificing leaders and you will have good government. Hmmm...actually this whole "individual always above the group", and anything collectove being.villified,.means your.probably doomed to have bad leadership public and private. Accept in that one instituion that makes a science of encoraging hive thinking and group above individual, the USA military.

  7. Re:And you expected something else...? on California's Surreal Retroactive Tax On Tech Startup Investors · · Score: 1

    And if you want to live in a sane less politically polarized, less gun toting, less religious fanatic, less devil take the hind most place with beaches and skiing then you move to Vancouver, B.C.

  8. Re:better idea.. on Alleged ZeuS Botmaster Arrested For Stealing $100M From US Banks · · Score: 1

    Recruiting for cyber-warfare

  9. Someone didnt get the joke on Congressman Introduces Bill To Ban Minting of Trillion-Dollar Coin · · Score: 1

    Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.) clearly lacks an understanding of monetary policy if he thinks that the trillion dollar coin idea is anything other then a joke. Can he also propose a bill blocking the president from writing an executive order requiring all citizens report for immediate gender re-assignment surgery.

  10. Re:Nothing to worry about on UK Milk Supply Contains New MRSA Strain · · Score: 1

    Not necessarily. The resistance could be passive, not require energy, and not impact survival in the absence of methicillin.

  11. Re:It's not black and white on Former Anonymous Spokesperson Indicted · · Score: 1
  12. Re:link = trafficking? on Former Anonymous Spokesperson Indicted · · Score: 1

    The term everyone is looking for is Criminal Solicitation:
    http://definitions.uslegal.com/c/criminal-solicitation/

    I am not saying that posting this link was Criminal Solicitation, but I am sure some lawyer could argue it was.

    Which makes me wonder why they don't charge all those people who encourage suicide. Suicide is illegal in most states isn't it? So if someone posts "Go ahead bump yourself off", then I think someone could successfully argue that they encouraged an illegal act.

    In this case the analogy I would use is that he stood in the middle of a riot and handed out maps to hardware stores with crowbars.

  13. Re:Ah, so there we go.... on UN Summit Strikes Climate Deal Promising "Damage Aid" To Poor Nations · · Score: 1

    Funny that you should characterize climate change as a plot against the oil companies. If you check the position papers of the petroleum industry associations you will find that not only do they understand climate change, they also admit their carbon from their products are part of the cause.
    http://www.api.org/environment-health-and-safety/climate-change.aspx

    In addition to the petroleum industry itself, the worlds largest insurance companies, who's entire business is based on determine fact and risk, have long acknowledged climate change and its mankind's role in accelerating it.
    http://www.munichre.com/corporate-responsibility/en/management/environment/climate-protection/default.aspx

    So if the petroleum industry and insurance (banking) industries are part of the same conspiracy with scientists...perhaps it is not a conspiracy?

    Perhaps the only conspiracy are pundits making a money by exploiting a niche? You can launch a site expressing some counter factual, our counter cultural position and you will be guaranteed a small but loyal audience by people who get a sense of self-worth by being "outside" or "bucking the trend" or a "rebel" or whatever.

  14. Re:Automation and unemployment on A US Apple Factory May Be Robot City · · Score: 1

    Where is the bright shiny future where robots do all the work and people get to spend their time in arts, education and leisure?

  15. Re:I'm served just fine by the free Google Apps on Google Axes Free Google Apps For Businesses · · Score: 1

    I agree with everything you said, however....I work with a variety of non-profits and I always set them up with Google Apps. For the most part this works out but in every case there have been some staff that insist that they get MS Office. Some times I am able to show them how to do what they are attempting with Google Docs, but there have also been many times where the apps are just not feature rich enough. (mostly the spreadsheet).

    So if by charging Google can accelerate improvements to the apps, then it will be a good deal.

  16. Re:Python VS PHP on Python Creator Guido van Rossum Leaves Google For Dropbox · · Score: 1

    The only handicap? How about being able to easily switch between Dropbox accounts? Say by right-clicking the tray icon and choosing a different account. The current method of switching accounts is unreasonably cumbersome.

  17. Ditto in Canada (naturally seeing how our laws are based on the UK common law tradition)

  18. It never ceases to amaze me how most people have no idea how the money supply works. So maybe a simple explanation is in order.

    Think of the money supply as shares in the company called "the economy". If the economy grows but the number of shares stays the same, then each share is worth more. This is called "deflation". It is deflation because the value of a unit of money has increased so you need less of it then before to buy goods and services (eg. prices fall).

    So the goal of the Fed is to increase the money supply in step with the growth in the economy. Since this requires making predictions about how much the economy will grow they occasionally get it wrong. For example, if they predicted that the economy will grow by 10% they will increase the money supply by 10% so that prices stay the same. If they do this and the economy does not grow at all, then they have accidentally diluted the value of each unit of money and this is reflected as prices going up. (eg Inflation)

    Most western central banks (the fed, the bank of Canada,etc,etc,) don't plan to keep prices the same. They actually target and plan for a 2% inflation rates. The want to increase the money supply slightly ahead of the growth of the economy. The do this for one reason, to introduce flexibility in the labour market.

    Prices of bread and cars can go up and down in response to supply and demand. Wages are a little tougher to deal with. People don't like wages going down (even if you prove that purchasing power stays the same). So a 2% inflation rates automatically lowers wages by 2% a year. If times are good wages go up, if not they stay the same (which is to say, go down by 2%).

  19. Re:Did we really need a study for this? on Brain Disease Found In NFL Players · · Score: 1

    Up here in Canada the "evidence" from previous versions of these studies have lead to much stricter rules governing head protection and illegal hits in junior sports. In general we think of young people as being very resilient to overcoming injury, these studies showed that a concussion at age 10 can begin a process that can lead to very serious issues in mid life.

    So ya we need these studies to provide hard evidence to conventional wisdom. Mostly because some peoples conventional wisdom is not so conventional.

  20. Re:Speaking of phoney ... on Congressional Committee Casts a Harsh Eye On Vaccination Science · · Score: 1

    2. The US deaths from gangs ... and deaths from drunk driving

    Also, different styles of health care delivery can effect seemingly unrelated issues. In our single payer system in Canada we understand that if we can prevent drug abuse from happening or help people get off drugs sooner then we can avoid higher health care costs later. Smaller drug trade means less gang related violence and less trauma center treatment of gun shot wounds.

    As for the driving more then others. Perhaps that means that your civil planning authorities are not giving enough weight to citizen health when they approve communities geared more towards driving then walking.

    The crux of the matter is that you can't on the one hand say that the "Nanny State" is bad for personal liberty and your willing to put up with the negative consequences of not having a nanny state. Then turn around and deny the negative consequences as an "unavoidable" skewing of the data because your "unavoidable" differences.

    Just suck it up and admit that you understand the pros and cons and are either happy or unhappy with the balance.

    The French are willing to put up with 10 times the food related deaths as the USA for the sake of their love of certain foods. So stop being a coward and stand up for your principal that it is every man for himself and if you don't live as long as least you lived free.

  21. Re:Congress Sucks on Congressional Committee Casts a Harsh Eye On Vaccination Science · · Score: 1

    No. Not enough said. Did you notice the R in front of their title? Congress is a reflection of the electorate. If you disagree with crap like this then it is your responsibility to raise the level of awareness in your community so that congress is a reflection of a better informed electorate. You have to counter the misinformation so prevalent around us.

    Throwing up your hands and giving up will solve little and is just surrender to the ignorant.

  22. Re:good on UK Government Mandates the Teaching of Evolution As Scientific Fact · · Score: 1

    You say that you teach Biology in a Christian School and you say you teach "Evolution" rigorously. Do you yourself understand and hold the process of evolution by means of natural selection to be a true account of the process that lead to life on earth and its continued development?

    Or do you teach biology while believing that the earth is 6,000 years old and all the critters where created by...god (whether you think of god as an anthropomorphized being with a long beard or just some sort of cosmic super being.

    I am truly interested and not baiting.

  23. Re:Austrailia != Free Country on Google Found Guilty of Libel For Search Results In Australia · · Score: 1

    Agreed. If I tell Google that "In my opinion all of Yahoo's pages were defamatory please take them down." I would expect them to tell me to sod off. If on the other hand I sent them an order from a judge ordering Google (and other named websites) to stop linking to those pages. Then Google can fight with the courts.

    It strains my imagination that anyone would think that I or anyone else could tell Google to remove someone's content.

  24. Re:The holy grail on Police Raid Home of 9-Year-Old Pirate Bay User, Seize "Winnie the Pooh" Laptop · · Score: 1

    The holy grail of the middleman is to set himself up to be the gate keeper of an essential good or service. Nice choice of words considering the biggest gate keeping extortionist of them all, the pope.

  25. Re:Quick... on Global Warming On Pace For 4 Degrees: World Bank Worried · · Score: 1

    Because scientists are ALWAYS correct. Hell we have hard enough time predicting the weather beyond 5 days in the future. What leads me to trust these predictions 50 years from now?

    Actually I am pretty impressed with how accurate the 5 day forecast has become. When I was a kid (70's) the 3 day forecast was frequently wrong and the next day forecast was only had about a 50% confidence.