patrick.net

It's scary that our government has made enough laws to "legally" do just about anything. Too much government for my taste.

I saw that moon picture of the plane also. That solves it for most of us I think. Could be why so much interest I'm going to the moon again by several nations. The giant moth picture is obviously photoshopped. Geez, some people are so gullible!

bob2356 says

Anne Frank wasn't deaf, dumb, or blind and wasn't born until 1929. WTF are you talking about?

http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/anne-frank

If I must explain further, it relates to previous poster absurdity "Henry Ford creating the Mustang".

Vicente says

If I must explain further, it relates to previous poster absurdity "Henry Ford creating the Mustang".

I forgot there are still a few patnet posters left with a sense of humor. Not many, but a few. Usually people who post absurd shit any more believe it.

jazz music says

Can anybody, other than AF, suggest specific tactics for regaining civil liberty and real representation?

Expatriate.

At the risk of giving away state secrets:

1. FortWayne is an actual military base. It's scheduled for decommission because there are too many guns there.

2. SoftShell is code for an 8 digit grid where several conventional warheads are targeted. Just say 'Jazz Music' on the right frequency and it's a done deal.

3. New Renter is an embedded agent deep in the heart of Canada eh. One slipped puck and it will be a frosty go time.

4. Patnet and other such extremist blogs are scheduled for 'decommissioning' in 2356, so get your comments in now.

Good to see your paying attention:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/theymadeamerica/whomade/ford_hi.html

Howdy There says

My belief is that small increases to minimum wages will have minimal impact either negative or positive. A large increase will be damaging. Minimum wages are mostly an aid to slow the race to the bottom.

Well, if they'd been indexed to inflation and their upward progression had not been stopped in 1980, they'd be at about $17 per hour now. A gradual upward movement would have been much better, as businesses who couldn't make the grade would have weeded out more slowly - we're so far behind now that it will be a shock for small business. Large corps - who cares?

Howdy There says

3. New Renter is an embedded agent deep in the heart of Canada eh. One slipped puck and it will be a frosty go time

Where else would you expect to find a migrating bird in summer?

Paralithodes says

If Bill Gates' income and your income both doubled next month, "income
inequality" would grow substantially. You would have a significantly smaller %
of the pie. Perhaps you would prefer to give up your increased standard of
living relative to your income doubling because it's not "fair" that someone
else with more than you also doubled their income, but regardless, the pie did
not shrink.

Why do people always talk about "fairness" when discussing income/wealth inequality?? The problem isn't fairness. The problem is that the economy doesn't work when inequality gets to levels like we see now.

It's not a moral concern--it's pragmatic.

bob2356 says

I'm talking about the sentence "every single possible development/outcome is prescribed apriori in the rule book." The only word that could possibly used substituted (at least that would make reasonable sense) is beforehand. That is neither the definition nor the intent of a priori.

That might be the only "word" that could possibly be substituted, one-word for one-word only. But it is not the only concept that could be substituted. Another phrase could be substituted making the use of a-priori valid (or at least not quite invalid as you imply). Think out of your 1-for-1 word replacement box and perhaps you can allow yourself to discuss the actual substance of the argument rather than diverting from it via your expert pedantry.

jazz music says

Expatriate to where?

The south of france was my first choice, followed by austrolasia, and now working on Italy. France isn't the highest for civil liberties ( a lot better than the US at this point) or representation, but with enough postcard scenery, sunny beaches, fine food and wine you can have a certain moral flexibility.

bob2356 says

The south of france was my first choice

Nice choice!

That dumbing down of America video is filled with bs and lies. Not that there aren't any hints of partial truths a near facts.

I wonder if the guy that made the film by chance is a product of an American private schools. If he's from public schools, it is an indictment of public school education.

Some right wingers are going to believe that shit, such as Fort Wayne.

TYpical.

Instead of daring to understand his point, you question the slightly exaggerated way he made it.

National Association Of Rapists ?

(Geez .. I always thought it stood for National Association of Rodents ...).

Now I'm all confused.

I wonder what the commission was on the child?

jazz music says

cop out.

Withholding consent through vote abstention is a political strategy based on Noam Chomsky's ideas about manufacturing or engineering our consent through the false political choices we are presented.
You continuing to support the unchanging scam by making your "choice" of which candidate YOU want to work against the peoples interest and give away the national treasure to corporate interests…..now that is a cop out.
Try to vote against the interests of Goldman Sachs and the Banking Cabal or Northrup Grumman and the War Pigs, which candidate do you pick?

Chomsky and Hedges.
http://www.truthdig.com/tag/chris+hedges

Paralithodes says

Rejecting the foundation of a formula is the same as rejecting "math" in your thinking?

Are you saying that the formula inputs are not true? Are we arguing whether or not income inequality is growing? That is the foundation of the formula.

jazz music says

Well that ain't good enough. Go back, get real and come up with something.

We can become like Cuba.

Paralithodes says

indigenous says

If that is happening, by math the size of the rest of the pie is shrinking.

not my quote

It could have been worse, he could have made her listen to his old records over and over.

jazz music says

Engineers and MBA types would do well to seek self-awareness regarding their own limitations. When they master their discipline they get a lot of positive feedback which engenders arrogance, shallowness, contempt for humanity, and a whole slew of child-like traits, which are not accidentally dumb.

Troll much?

If you're serious, jazz music, my suggestion is to form your own community, an organized militia to combat government excesses. First off, these excesses would be martial law imposed by not national guard or anything. It would be by either homeland security types who've been thoroughly brainwashed and/or selected for obedience to authority and acceptance of official propaganda. Or it would be private mercenary forces employing soldiers from other nations like te Balkans or Eastern Europe. This is the ultimate expression of corporate force, with corporate policy influencing government to bring in corporate troops to enforce corporate law. And it will all be very "legal" under a permanently suspended Constitution.
But a large organized militia would have a good chance of fighting back. Use the Darknet to set it up and verify membership rigorously.

New Renter says

bob2356 says

The south of france was my first choice

Nice choice!

I liked it, I'll be glad to get back one day.

With an 80% majority vote, they may be able to force the owners to sell at a loss.

jazz music says

Rick Steves has a nice series of DVDs making it easier to plan one's tourism. I got the France-Benelux disc and started planning. If you've ever experienced moving to a far corner you've never been before, even within USA, it's an odd adaptation

I don't know, still looks like if it's tuesday it must be Belgium. If I visit a country I pick a place and plant myself there. I didn't vacation in France I lived there. I have residency still. I'm going to be doing residency leading to citizenship in Italy starting in 2016 becoming my retirement.

jazz music says

Apologies if the remark is seen as simple "trolling," but it's a thought that should be aired more often.

You really think engineers in general are that arrogant? Do you watch a lot of TV or something?

jazz music says

The benefit in mentioning personal hazards of accolades we get from industry is awareness that praise tends to pull us into accepting lies and myths of meritocracy, the nobility and righteousness of the powerful, the diminished, even laughable importance of your fellows. You are motivated to want to obey, conform, produce, compete, so that you may aspire to consume conspicuously imitating your masters as seen on TV. (who have it all)

You are confusing R&D with Sales&Marketing.

jazz music says

I agree with you that corporations will soon have their own armed forces. They have before and they will again have them.

They already do:

https://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/Pinkerton_National_Detective_Agency.html

http://www.insidermonkey.com/blog/the-9-largest-private-armies-in-the-world-what-are-they-fighting-for-179460/?singlepage=1

Most of the lands of the world that are considered "civilized" are indeed less violent than they've ever been as the book Science of Fear demonstrates. That's not necessarily the case in countries that are in perpetual destabilization mode however.

On the side note, the abortion dividend is kicking in. The babies that have been aborted in U.S. in the last 40 years didn't grow up in disfunctional environment which is associated with pathway to criminality and we are seeing the trees of peace cement their roots.

bob2356 says

That is neither the definition nor the intent of a priori.

He didn't know the meaning of the term "straw man" either, if you remember. I wouldn't waste excess time on trying to correct him -- he just won't get it:

http://realestate.patrick.net/?p=1238673&c=1060205#comment-1060205

bob2356 says

A priori is a concept of relating to what can be known through an understanding of how certain things work rather than by observation.

Doesn't that describe a board game under pre-set rules? What can possibly happen in a board game is a priori knowledge. There is no meteor strike in the board game unless there is a rule allowing meteor strike. There is no invention in the game that is not known to the game designer. Real life has no designer.

BTW, its not entirely a typo either. The word "apriori" is frequently used in data base and knowledge base computing, as in "apriori algorithm." That's how a priori knowledge is incorporated into computer algorithms.

bob2356 says

I'm not talking about your post I'm talking about the sentence "every single possible development/outcome is prescribed apriori in the rule book." The only word that could possibly used substituted (at least that would make reasonable sense) is beforehand. That is neither the definition nor the intent of a priori.

"Beforehand" not in the temporal sense, but in the sense of "how things work as preset." The rule book does not exhaustively describe all possible outcomes among N player in a multi-branching tree map, but it sets the rules and these rules encompass all that can happen in the game; there is no surprise beyond the rules. The rule book fully describes all the game works, and provides the logic basis for what can happen in the game. "A priori" is the precise description of the game circumstances, and how it differs from the real world.

jazz music says

Harsh reality is if engineers were so smart their pay compression would have been overcome over the last 50+ years. Doctors organized very successfully and now they make double what engineers make; MINIMUM. Immigration policy protects doctors. Doctors have lobbies. Engineers work real hard, get praise and laid off. Can you blame management for condescending when engineers allow themselves to be led around like children?

Doctors have a recession proof job. Engineers dont.

jazz music says

Harsh reality is if engineers were so smart their pay compression would have been overcome over the last 50+ years. Doctors organized very successfully and now they make double what engineers make; MINIMUM. Immigration policy protects doctors. Doctors have lobbies. Engineers work real hard, get praise and laid off. Can you blame management for condescending when engineers allow themselves to be led around like children?

Engineers need better lobbyists. Other professions lobby or otherwise move the goalposts themselves to make it harder for newcomers.

Originally, if you wanted to be Certified Financial Planner, all you had to do was say so (this is back in the 80s). Over the years, they added the test, and then they started adding more and more requirements so fewer people could join the club. Now you have to take a "capstone" class and you have to have 2 full years of work experience, even if you would have qualified under the old regulations automatically (e.g. if you were a lawyer, you could become a CFP basically just by taking the test, which many people who know a lot about finance could probably pass without studying).

Similarly, the California Association of Realtors did the same thing. Previously if you were a lawyer, you automatically qualified to be a broker. Now, you have to have work experience as a realtor in order to become a broker, even if you could have the other requirements waived.

These sorts of changes entrench existing members and make it harder for noobs. The engineers haven't done a good job of this, but the AMA is awesome at it, and so are certain other organizations.

Call it Crazy says

"as a result of a supplier quality issue,"

That's what happens when GM insists on lowest bid and demands the lowest bidder cuts costs repeatedly. It's how they have operated for years while blaming their inferior cars on high pension costs. Idiots. Fucking business school grads.

jazz music says

You think there are a lot of engineers on TV?

Actually I have no idea, I cut the cord a few years ago. Too much money for too many commercials.

jazz music says

Evidently engineers don't realize that others see them as out of step with normal people.

What's normal then?

Jesus freaks?
Gun nuts?
Hippies?
WASP country club types?
Cat people?
Realtors?
jazz music says

Once you get "above" the troops it really is sales, marketing, customer relations especially. Everything hinges on a successful pitch, technology is rarely the key.

Look at Adobe many key technologies they sell were acquired free from NASA.

Perhaps but did Adobe add any value to the products? Are they more user friendly? More reliable? Greater compatibility among platforms?

He didn't have to go on CNN. He's doing fine on FOX.

Fuck you Army! The Navy will have the Marines kick your asses.

jazz music says:"Dumb-down of population has progressed very far."

George Carlin:
" They don’t want a population of citizens capable of critical thinking. They don’t want well informed, well educated people capable of critical thinking. They’re not interested in that. That doesn’t help them. Thats against their interests."

"Thats right. They don’t want people who are smart enough to sit around a kitchen table and think about how badly they’re getting fucked by a system that threw them overboard 30 fucking years ago. They don’t want that!"

"You know what they want? They want obedient workers."

I will always vote for Republicans & Democrats.

He will get his boots, Iranian boots.
Unfortunately Iran is best positioned to handle the Iraqi situation at this time.
Time to reshuffle political allies in the middle east.

bgamall4 says

Bill Kristol wants boots on the ground in disintegrating Iraq, a nation he helped to disintegrate through regime change neocon doctrine.

HEY YOU says

Fuck you Army! The Navy will have the Marines kick your asses.

The Air Force has most of the big toys: