[quote who="Alstein" reply="36" id="3389844"] This is not some massive plan that would bankrupt the government. [/quote] FYI: Nothing is ever some massive plan to bankrupt the government. And yet our government is bankrupt. Funny how that works, isn't it? It's almost as if all these magic programs grow beyond their purpose and in an uncontrolled fashion..
[quote who="Alstein" reply="36" id="3389844"] The amount of revenue required for this would be around $5-6 billion. That's not a huge amount of the budget, and some welfare spending could be taken out of the budget to help pay for it. It could be done with a tax hike of about 1 or 2% on the top 1% of Americans, or a small drop in military spending. In addition, that revenue would generate revenue for two reasons a) A baseline would encourage c
[quote who="GeomanNL" reply="239" id="3389602"] Quoting Frogboy, reply 238How much, as a percent, of the carbon put into the atmosphere each year is generated by humans? That, my friend, is the wrong question to ask! What you should ask is: how much carbon can we put into the atmosphere? Because if we can ... we will ... in our quest for fuel and energy. We burn about 8 billion tons of carbon-based fuels each year. Who know, when we go o
[quote who="Roloccolor" reply="19" id="3389598"] The whole concept of replacing human work with a machine is nothing else than misanthropic. Even though some call it efficient i call it unsocial thinking or greedy bullshit. [/quote] Fuck the wheel and the plow and the cotton gin and harvesting equipment. I do my shit by hand. Goodbye polio vaccine and smallpox vaccine and life expectancy into the 80s. We a
[quote who="Alstein" reply="14" id="3389529"] The downside is if corporations do enough of this, the poor will revolt because it will be in their best interests, and everyone loses. People use the hand they're dealt. Then you get an overreaction in the other direction. And yes, corporations can lose big- all it takes is a citizenry that is willing to throw out the rule of law because they see it as worthless. When folks see the law as worthless, they ar
[quote who="Alstein" reply="12" id="3389500"] Also, if corporations get screwed over by laws, it will ultimately be their own fault. If the poor use the power of laws for their own economic advantage or flat-out wealth redistribution, how is that different than corporations using lobbyists? At the very least, it's not any worse morally.[/quote] Feel good laws like the minimum wage distort the system in such a way that it hurts the poor and it hurts small businesse
[quote who="smeagolheart" reply="248" id="3389460"] You are able to differentiate between wingdings?[/quote] Not in the slightest, but I can tell there difference between 1.30 a and 1.30 b . So I'll know if I have th
I think part of the larger "problem" with minimum wage vs. automation is that in the long run the minimum wage is irrelevant. So many of those jobs (like in this case) are going away. The ever increasing rate of technological change means that if it's profitable to replace that $15/hour employee with a machine today it'll be profitable to replace an $8/hour employee relatively soon with the same machine. It'll probably only take a few years for it to come down in
This gets back to your Atlas Shrugged quotes from another post. The government, run by these (admittedly well intentioned) thoughtless advocates, will eventually just pass a real life version of Directive 10-289. Cause remember kids, you don't need to think through the ramifications of your beliefs/policies/choices, you can just use the power of government to fix the problems caused by your last good idea at a later date! Brilliant!
[quote who="FuzzyGold" reply="246" id="3389439"] Instead how about using letters? First beta version would be 1.40A, 1.40B, etc. Then when it's final make it 1.40[/quote] I don't give a shit if they use wingdings. I just want to be able to differentiate which version of the beta I actually have without playing guess games by looking at tech trees or fixed spells or what have you.
[quote who="StevenAus" reply="14" id="3389304"] It is a different time from the 1930s, and there are a lot of positive things happening, if you avoid the doom and gloom merchants (the mainstream media). And worrying about all the worst possible scenarios isn't really beneficial or productive. If it happens, it happens. Why reduce one's own happiness today for something that might never happen, and even if it did, there would be nothing one could do about i
I'll take 3 of Candidate #2 if you're buying. One to be on mission, one to be constantly ready to go, and a third to rotate through to keep wear and tear down and to allow for greater overall "Get the f*** out of dodge" capacity. If you're feeling generous I'd also take a few of #6 for convoy and/or area scouting duty.
[quote who="WOM" reply="8" id="3389113"] Think about the drug gangs in east LA. They would shift from drugs to food and water, and they are already armed to the teeth.[/quote] Depending upon the time horizon I don't know that it would matter. Cities would become graveyards in weeks. Those gangs would not be able to corral a significant amount of food before the population of the city tore through it, even if the gangs were able to kill and collect every day
[quote who="StevenAus" reply="9" id="3389243"] Well, I am one for thinking that it's not going to happen, for reasons I won't explain here, not because they are not valid, but because a lot of people wouldn't believe the efficacy in them. Remember, what you focus on is what you tend to get, so focus on love and acceptance and not fear. Note it is a Fact that you make your own luck by focusing on positive stuff, look what Brad has achieved over the last 20 ye
[quote who="Replicators" reply="82" id="3388900"] Quoting davrovana, reply 79Replicators you are just being a troll. Modders could not have made either of the DLCs in an afternoon, that's a clueless assessment. Why don't you lose the bellyaching and make a mod yourself? I was referring to the loot, spells pack. Within 1 day of release of the Skyrim Creation Kit, there were more "Loot", and spells added to the game w/ mods than there
[quote who="Replicators" reply="76" id="3388736"] Imagine, Bethesda's only DLCs for Skyrim were "Patch 1.5", Weapons Pack, Loot Pack, Spells Pack, etc...[/quote] Imagine if Bethesda had a history of selling tiny content DLC in between large, paid expansion packs that significantly added to the game. Good thing Stardock isn't going that route... Thank god they haven't released a significant expansion pack that greatly altered and improved t
Why doesn't the beta version update with each round of fixes? 1.31, 1.32, 1.33 or whatever? This way it's easy to tell which version you have when you launch the game.
He's not afraid of his mistakes either. Notice he hasn't corrected it. Or maybe he just can't find the edit button. He probably keeps clicking the quote button thinking he's hitting edit (like the rest of us). [e digicons]O:)[/e]
I'm curious about the background driving this post. Care to share?
[quote who="Alstein" reply="77" id="3387244"] That said, I think some government regulation is necessary to preserve the free market. Free markets either end up in equilibreum or some form of failed market- you need governments to push things towards equilibreum, and to handle externalities. [/quote] I agree. The problem is we don't have this now in the US. We have regulation for the sake of favors designed to benefit particular groups. Or we have
[quote who="Jafo" reply="74" id="3387222"] It's the cost of 'qualification' that costs. Education is free. It only requires a thirst for knowledge...[/quote] You and your pithy one-liners! Another good point, but unfortunately we (at least the US, I don't know enough to speak intelligently on other countries) are a society where the qualification is just as important as the education.
[quote who="Alstein" reply="72" id="3387205"] My issues with inequality and wealth- folks like Brad are the folks who should be encouraged- I just feel the way American society is becming, we'll have fewer Brads. Sometimes help and "handouts" can be good investments. The university Brad went to- going there was a government handout in a sense, public education is subsidized. [/quote] The question though is what is going to cause fewer "Brads
[quote who="Jafo" reply="70" id="3387140"] Quoting Kantok, reply 71I pretty sure that the only rich people in this thread started out as poor, There's a 'throw away line' in itself.....well....certainly an un-based assumption that is pure conjecture. These forums are quite 'universal' in their reach...[/quote] Fair enough. I should have been more specific that I was referencing Brad, the only known rich
[quote who="ElanaAhova" reply="70" id="3387123"] Yes, the 'culture of entitlement' does exist. So many of those people born into wealthy families act as if its their birth right to be 'takers' on a scale the welfare kids can only dream of. [/quote] I pretty sure that the only rich people in this thread started out as poor, or at least what passes for poor in the western world. So I think your throw-away line missed its mark, to say the least.
[quote who="the_Monk" reply="197" id="3386477"] Lack of what apps specifically? How many apps do you need that do the same thing? [/quote] I used to hate when people criticized Android early on about it's lack of apps. I would use the same arguments as these. Afterall, how many note taking apps do you need (for example)? Now that the Android ecosystem has matured quite a bit, I have a different perspective. The quantity of apps isn't