As you say, lack of evidence has bupkis to do with people's faith. They believe despite the total lack of evidence, not because evidence exists.
There are so many historical holes in the Bible that Christian apologists have spent more than a millennium trying to explain them away. And people still believe.
A certain percentage of the population has an innate need to believe what cannot be proven. I think this is a feature of humanity, not a bug.
It's a big country: there are a _lot_ of local police doing good work, and it's hard, usually dull, sometimes quite dangerous work.
It's a big country: there are a _lot_ of federal employees doing good work, and it's hard, usually dull, sometimes quite dangerous work.
My point is that the local cop on the street is every bit as much a government bureaucrat as some FDA regulator in Washington. A government agent is a government agent, and the "small government/law & order" types seldom are willing to admit that.
In fact, there are records of ocean hurricanes going back to the 17th century. Remember your freshman statistics class? You don't need to record every single data point for the data to be useful. Maybe not as useful as current satellite data, but certainly enough be useful when determining patterns.
And if you are convinced that the US government and its courts will not turn a blind eye to criminal acts by federal employees, please review the revelations about NSA criminal and unconstitutional activities published by Edward Snowden for a recent striking example.
Not just federal employees. We see local cops getting away with murder a couple of times a week it seems.
Assuming it was when the first weather satellite was launched in 1960, we've had 55 years of data
Bad assumption. There is storm data (and damn good data) going back to the 1850s.
Thinking people didn't record storm data prior to satellites is like thinking that there was no data on human body temperature until the invention of the digital thermometer.
The climate does change. It changed when humans were still in the stone age and it will be changing when humans are memories in the fossil records.
It is really impressive the way a bunch of Java programmers and tech support guys become smarter than all the climate scientists as soon as there is a story on Slashdot that mentions climate change.
"All those damn scientists are just wrong, and I know this because I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and Al Gore is fat."
The only things I could think of to do if I was suddenly wealthy is a)get a $2500 gaming PC so I can max out the new games, and b) get a Suzuki G-48W Gregoire Maret signature chromatic harmonica (http://www.suzukimusic.com/harmonicas/g48w/).
The rest I'd turn over to my wife and daughter to do with as they please. Other than that, I'm already pretty satisfied.
It doesn't matter how much "benefits" the ruling class chose to trickle down on us. We didn't get the choice to forgo the alleged benefits and keep the money - just as we didn't get to opt out of the draft into the military and "service" in VietNam, along with the "benefits" accruing from that adventure.
I see your problem. The benefits don't trickle down from the ruling class. They don't "trickle down" from anywhere. They are shared. If anything, in US late-stage capitalism, the benefits trickle UP to the financial elite.
A group of people pulling together will always be stronger than one person pulling. I will bet you eventually come to understand this: Ayn Rand was wrong, maybe even deluded. She was a sociopath who had daddy-issues and lied to you. You might as well base your political views on Lord of the Rings than Atlas Shrugged.
I'll never get back the amount I paid (allegedly) "into the fund" on just THAT part of the money they took from me
No, you'll probably get back much more.
Why not? These parasites sucked down OVER HALF MY PAY for DECADES.
I love how the techbro libertarians exaggerate the amount of money "the parasites" have taken from them without ever acknowledging the benefits they have enjoyed, and the privilege they have gained from those benefits. They all believe they earned every cent from their natural talent and the sweat of their own brow.
Instead of driving to work in the morning, they probably hack their way through the jungle with a machete.
If you don't know the market price, how can you not believe me?
I don't need to know the exact number of stars in the universe to know for sure that you don't know the exact number of stars in the universe.
This is simple. "Market price" is unknowable outside of a "free market" and a free market has never existed in human history. How can you say you are willing to pay a price that you cannot possibly know?
Texas ranks in or near the bottom 20% in the nation in education and access to health care, and its poverty level puts in 46th (out of 50), in between Arkansas and Alabama. It has the highest uninsured rate in the nation. It leads all other states in the number of executions of innocent people. Texas has the highest percentage of children who don't have any access to health care.
Among Texas' other poor rankings are 50th for the EPA's toxic exposure score, 47th for total toxic chemicals released into waterways, 46th for cancer-causing chemicals released, 45th for developmental toxins released, and 49th for reproductive toxins released. So, when you say "diverse ecosystems" I assume you mean there are some places you can live and get cancer and some places you just cannot live.
Texas ranks 50th (out of 50) for greenhouse emissions.
In summary, poverty, poorly educated people, sick kids and an environment disaster not to mention the climate that you mention putting Texas near the bottom of the comfort index rankings do not add up to Texas being a "nice place to live". The highly-touted "Texas Miracle" is a lie.
And here are some unretouched photos of people Texas has elected governor:
And the current governor believes a U.S. military exercise in the region is really an all-out invasion by Obama and the US government to take over Texas. Or, he just says that to pander to his pig-ignorant electorate.
I'm sorry friend, but Texas is a shit-hole. My thoughts and prayers go out to everyone who lives there. In Jesus' name.
I don't understand, please help me. We are receiving subsidies, while at the same time paying for subsidies?
Yes. We all pay for the subsidies, but not everyone uses goods and services to the same extent. Think of it like health insurance. I've paid for health insurance all my adult life (more than 30 years) and have barely used it. So, I'm paying to subsidize people who need those services. It evens out the costs, so that someone who needs a heart transplant can get one and I'm partly paying for it even though I don't need a heart transplant.
It is best seen in universal, single payer health care, where the actual price of services gets evened out the most.
I barely put 1500 miles a year on my car, but I pay for interstate roads and potholes getting fixed and bridges getting built like everyone else.
BTW, you said that you don't believe that I am willing to pay the market price, when I stated that I am. That is calling me a liar.
No, I'm not calling you a liar. I'm saying you don't know the market price, so you're unable to make the statement true. You're not trying to deceive anyone but yourself, so you're not a liar. Just lacking the facts to make your statement true.
Firstly, effectively calling me a liar marks you as a cad.
I'm not calling you a liar (or at least not an "effective" one). I'm saying you don't have a clue as to what the "market price" of anything would be.
Secondly, you assert that pretty much everything I consume is heavily subsidized. To the point where I am getting a heck of a deal, receiving goods and services that exceed in value and cost what I pay for them. As I am an average joe, most of the country must be getting the same benefit. My question is, where the hell is all the money coming from to pay the difference?
From all of us, of course. The part you don't seem to get is that without subsidies, there would be a lot of the stuff you want and need that would be completely out of your price range. How much would you be willing to pay for a medication that would save your life? Or your wife's life? Or your kid's? Would you mortgage the house? Of course you would. If your wife was dying of cancer and an operation or treatment would give her an additional few years, would you pay a million dollars? Five million? Well, we've just set the demand half of the equation.
Subsidies perform a function people don't want to talk about: they make a wide basket of necessities available to a lot of people. It evens things out a little bit. And that's good because living in a society where some people have a lot and most people have very little is not very pleasant, even if you are one of the "haves". I've been to such countries and they are not good places to live.
UNLESS the subsidies are distributed by a government corrupted by corporate power and wealth. Which they are in the US. In that case, they have the opposite effect, which is why we need to have strict campaign finance laws and overturn Citizens United.
- If I could get decent internet (at a decent price) I could work from the ranch, sell off the California townhouse, and live for a year on less than it costs to live in CA for a month. (Or retire and live comfortably on my savings, investments, and Social Security - which would crap out in a few years on the Soviet Left Coast.)
Man complaining about "the Soviet Left Coast" plans to retire comfortably collecting Social Security, using Medicare and sucking off the government teat.
Rural phone subsidies have been around forever. They recently got expanded to broadband. We're all taxed (technically "fees") on our phone bills (and soon internet I believe) to pay for this stuff.
There are techbro libertarians around here who are still pissed that the federal government built the interstate highway system so that moochers can drive their cars across the country. So don't be surprised about this being late Sunday night Slashdot front page fodder.
I don't believe you are. You don't pay the market price for food, gas for your car, electricity, the mortgage on your house, health care, education. I don't know what you think the "market price" for something is, but you're not paying it for anything important in your life except maybe if you have to hire a lawyer, and everybody who hires a lawyer thinks they're getting raped.
I'm not at all sure that if you saw the "market" price for things you'd be very happy about it.
There has never been a free market. Not once, ever, for anything. They don't exist in nature and can not exist in societies.
Slashdot Mirror
As you say, lack of evidence has bupkis to do with people's faith. They believe despite the total lack of evidence, not because evidence exists.
There are so many historical holes in the Bible that Christian apologists have spent more than a millennium trying to explain them away. And people still believe.
A certain percentage of the population has an innate need to believe what cannot be proven. I think this is a feature of humanity, not a bug.
It's a big country: there are a _lot_ of federal employees doing good work, and it's hard, usually dull, sometimes quite dangerous work.
My point is that the local cop on the street is every bit as much a government bureaucrat as some FDA regulator in Washington. A government agent is a government agent, and the "small government/law & order" types seldom are willing to admit that.
Yes, there are.
In fact, there are records of ocean hurricanes going back to the 17th century. Remember your freshman statistics class? You don't need to record every single data point for the data to be useful. Maybe not as useful as current satellite data, but certainly enough be useful when determining patterns.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
Not just federal employees. We see local cops getting away with murder a couple of times a week it seems.
Nope.
http://www.stormsurge.noaa.gov...
Bad assumption. There is storm data (and damn good data) going back to the 1850s.
Thinking people didn't record storm data prior to satellites is like thinking that there was no data on human body temperature until the invention of the digital thermometer.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
It is really impressive the way a bunch of Java programmers and tech support guys become smarter than all the climate scientists as soon as there is a story on Slashdot that mentions climate change.
"All those damn scientists are just wrong, and I know this because I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and Al Gore is fat."
That was my favorite Who album.
And don't think we aren't grateful for that.
You misunderstand. I am planning on building it myself. I figure for $2500, I'll be able to build a $5000 gaming rig.
The only things I could think of to do if I was suddenly wealthy is a)get a $2500 gaming PC so I can max out the new games, and b) get a Suzuki G-48W Gregoire Maret signature chromatic harmonica (http://www.suzukimusic.com/harmonicas/g48w/).
The rest I'd turn over to my wife and daughter to do with as they please. Other than that, I'm already pretty satisfied.
I see your problem. The benefits don't trickle down from the ruling class. They don't "trickle down" from anywhere. They are shared. If anything, in US late-stage capitalism, the benefits trickle UP to the financial elite.
A group of people pulling together will always be stronger than one person pulling. I will bet you eventually come to understand this: Ayn Rand was wrong, maybe even deluded. She was a sociopath who had daddy-issues and lied to you. You might as well base your political views on Lord of the Rings than Atlas Shrugged.
Libertarianism: IT'S A COOKBOOK!
Did I call it or did I call it?
No, you'll probably get back much more.
I love how the techbro libertarians exaggerate the amount of money "the parasites" have taken from them without ever acknowledging the benefits they have enjoyed, and the privilege they have gained from those benefits. They all believe they earned every cent from their natural talent and the sweat of their own brow.
Instead of driving to work in the morning, they probably hack their way through the jungle with a machete.
I don't need to know the exact number of stars in the universe to know for sure that you don't know the exact number of stars in the universe.
This is simple. "Market price" is unknowable outside of a "free market" and a free market has never existed in human history. How can you say you are willing to pay a price that you cannot possibly know?
Texas ranks in or near the bottom 20% in the nation in education and access to health care, and its poverty level puts in 46th (out of 50), in between Arkansas and Alabama. It has the highest uninsured rate in the nation. It leads all other states in the number of executions of innocent people. Texas has the highest percentage of children who don't have any access to health care.
http://educationblog.dallasnew...
http://www.texasobserver.org/t...
http://dfw.cbslocal.com/2013/0...
http://watchdogblog.dallasnews...
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/...
Among Texas' other poor rankings are 50th for the EPA's toxic exposure score, 47th for total toxic chemicals released into waterways, 46th for cancer-causing chemicals released, 45th for developmental toxins released, and 49th for reproductive toxins released. So, when you say "diverse ecosystems" I assume you mean there are some places you can live and get cancer and some places you just cannot live.
Texas ranks 50th (out of 50) for greenhouse emissions.
In summary, poverty, poorly educated people, sick kids and an environment disaster not to mention the climate that you mention putting Texas near the bottom of the comfort index rankings do not add up to Texas being a "nice place to live". The highly-touted "Texas Miracle" is a lie.
And here are some unretouched photos of people Texas has elected governor:
http://cdn2-b.examiner.com/sit...
http://www.highwaygirl.com/hwg...
And the current governor believes a U.S. military exercise in the region is really an all-out invasion by Obama and the US government to take over Texas. Or, he just says that to pander to his pig-ignorant electorate.
I'm sorry friend, but Texas is a shit-hole. My thoughts and prayers go out to everyone who lives there. In Jesus' name.
Yes. We all pay for the subsidies, but not everyone uses goods and services to the same extent. Think of it like health insurance. I've paid for health insurance all my adult life (more than 30 years) and have barely used it. So, I'm paying to subsidize people who need those services. It evens out the costs, so that someone who needs a heart transplant can get one and I'm partly paying for it even though I don't need a heart transplant.
It is best seen in universal, single payer health care, where the actual price of services gets evened out the most.
I barely put 1500 miles a year on my car, but I pay for interstate roads and potholes getting fixed and bridges getting built like everyone else.
No, I'm not calling you a liar. I'm saying you don't know the market price, so you're unable to make the statement true. You're not trying to deceive anyone but yourself, so you're not a liar. Just lacking the facts to make your statement true.
I'm not calling you a liar (or at least not an "effective" one). I'm saying you don't have a clue as to what the "market price" of anything would be.
From all of us, of course. The part you don't seem to get is that without subsidies, there would be a lot of the stuff you want and need that would be completely out of your price range. How much would you be willing to pay for a medication that would save your life? Or your wife's life? Or your kid's? Would you mortgage the house? Of course you would. If your wife was dying of cancer and an operation or treatment would give her an additional few years, would you pay a million dollars? Five million? Well, we've just set the demand half of the equation.
Subsidies perform a function people don't want to talk about: they make a wide basket of necessities available to a lot of people. It evens things out a little bit. And that's good because living in a society where some people have a lot and most people have very little is not very pleasant, even if you are one of the "haves". I've been to such countries and they are not good places to live.
UNLESS the subsidies are distributed by a government corrupted by corporate power and wealth. Which they are in the US. In that case, they have the opposite effect, which is why we need to have strict campaign finance laws and overturn Citizens United.
Refreshing honesty.
Man complaining about "the Soviet Left Coast" plans to retire comfortably collecting Social Security, using Medicare and sucking off the government teat.
Not shocked.
There are techbro libertarians around here who are still pissed that the federal government built the interstate highway system so that moochers can drive their cars across the country. So don't be surprised about this being late Sunday night Slashdot front page fodder.
They tried that, but people kept stealing the wires out of the trailer park and selling it to buy meth and ammo.
Thoughts and prayers.
I don't believe you are. You don't pay the market price for food, gas for your car, electricity, the mortgage on your house, health care, education. I don't know what you think the "market price" for something is, but you're not paying it for anything important in your life except maybe if you have to hire a lawyer, and everybody who hires a lawyer thinks they're getting raped.
I'm not at all sure that if you saw the "market" price for things you'd be very happy about it.
There has never been a free market. Not once, ever, for anything. They don't exist in nature and can not exist in societies.
I mistook my sock for a wife once.
Seriously though, the dude wrote some great stuff on human perception of music and the brain's processing of musical information.
http://www.oliversacks.com/boo...
Plus, he was kind of a badass:
https://rhystranter.files.word...
http://media.jrn.com/images/b9...
It's sad when one of these bright lights goes out.