cactoblasta

Reply to Crime and Punishment in Current Events Stardock Forums

Case one: This one's interesting. I suspect that if your evidence laws are anything like those in my country, what the officer did was an illegal search. But, he also caught criminals in the commission of a crime that should be punished. I would probably find the smugglers guilty, even if the evidence the officer found was thrown out of court. Sentence? I don't know. That would depend on what the normal penalty is for this kind of find. I'd also be inclined to have the officer sent bac

Reply to …It is time to discuss….DEATH!!!! (or at least combat) in Elemental Dev Journals JoeUser Forums

I'd like to see combat kept fairly simple. If you're planning on a MoM style tactical map for combat, you can create enough variation for the attacks themselves through attack/defence/hitpoints and a handful of special abilities/civ 4 style promotions. King's Bounty is a recent game that did simple combat pretty well. King's Bounty had attack types, but if there's other parts to the game I'd rather each part was reasonably easy to pick up. Complicated only equals fun for people with l

Reply to Liberalism is Immoral in Politics JoeUser Forums

You could equally say conservatism is immoral, because it entrenches selfishness, encourages a denial of common purpose, and leads to the alienation of the poor for no net benefit. It's no coincidence that a good social net of some sort (even if it's just bread and circuses) has been a hallmark of every stable government.

Reply to We've Got Nine Years in Politics JoeUser Forums

The decline of the US dollar is interesting. Just a few years ago an Australian dollar would buy 70 US cents. Now they're reaching parity, and it can't all be laid down to the mining boom. Effective regulation of the financial sector has left Australia more or less untouched by the GFC. By mining boom i mean the spiralling demand in China and India for minerals such as coal, iron/steel, aluminium, rare earths etc. This has helped the US too.

Reply to Fair Taxation in US Domestic Stardock Forums

tl;dr - every good sharehouse is a social democracy. Taxation doesn't even come into it.

Reply to Fair Taxation in US Domestic Stardock Forums

Who stays where depends not on salary, but on who's prepared to pay the most. It may be that Paddy likes his space, so will pay for it. Peter might like small rooms (people do). Access to a room is most logically, and most commonly, based on who puts the highest value on it. It's a commercial decision, not a civic one. And that's the flaw - although the sharehouse is a prison, the fact these people have lives outside the house means that their sense of connectivity is likely to be outs

Reply to Kurdish mag sparks wrath by urging Jews to return in War on Terror JoeUser Forums

I did write a long post, but I decided against it. Basically, this is why I can't argue with you: [quote]Perhaps Jews chose to live in the middle-east because in the middle-east the main enemy is very weak compared to Germans or Americans?[/quote] I'm just not as pessimistic as you about the future. I don't think there'll be another Holocaust for Jews. You do. It's a major difference, and I suspect it's why we'll never be able to agree about Israel and the nature of the Middle

Reply to Kurdish mag sparks wrath by urging Jews to return in War on Terror JoeUser Forums

Interesting. I'm familiar with the basic concept behind Nizo's view - hatred of the Other is a very popular unifying technique, particularly in the Middle East - but I'm still enough of a fan of Machiavelli to think it depressing, disappointing and ultimately counterproductive. [quote]It is true. Jews (and Israelis) thrive on being different, being their own, and being hated. It has nothing to do with what or who they are, but with the simple fact that due to the hatred they remained

Reply to Can Someone Name an Efficient Government Program? in Politics JoeUser Forums

The Australian Postal Service is a government-owned corporation. It's efficient enough to be self-funding and make a profit while not having been allowed to raise the price of postage for years. [quote]The US military are really fantastic.[/quote] I'd say they're more effective than efficient. Like all militaries, they could do with really good auditors, and I don't mean ruthless by that, I mean good. People who understand the difference between spending money on body armour,

Reply to Kurdish mag sparks wrath by urging Jews to return in War on Terror JoeUser Forums

It's a very canny political move. If the Kurds get Israeli support, they can tell Iraq to stick it. Inviting Israeli citizens to take residence is a good option. Even Turkey might have to reconsider their position if they accidentally kill the region's most belligerent nation's citizens. [quote] "If every Arab country allowed the Jews to return, ensured their safety and gave them back their land, Palestinian refugees would be able to return to their territory be

Reply to So many reasons to be against government controlled health care… in Politics JoeUser Forums

Would you really support federally funded healthcare if it was combined with tax reform? I thought you had more arguments against it than who was paying for it. Also, as majority owner of your company, aren't you already paying a bundle for healthcare that could be coming directly to you in profits? It may be that you'd earn more if you were paying for healthcare through taxes rather than as a requirement of having employees.

Reply to This is an example of why Obama creeps me out in Politics JoeUser Forums

Most presidents seem to create brands for themselves, they just vary in effectiveness. It starts with the Obama 08 or Bush 04 or Clinton 96 or Bush 88 etc and then, if the people like it, it moves on from there. Reagan's brand was folksy but hardcore, Clinton's was sleazy, Bush was innocent yet belligerent, Obama's is charismatic and socialist-doublelite. Political branding isn't new. The advantage in the US is that branding affects the houses just as much as it affects the people. Th

Reply to Healthcare by the numbers in Politics JoeUser Forums

[quote]With rare exceptions, the 'wait' here simply involves matching the schedules of the patient, the surgeon and the operating room - unless there's a vacation or other previous commitment on the part of either the surgeon or the patient, 2 weeks or less would be typical.[/quote] Fair enough. The average wait for elective surgery in Australia is 34 days, with the slowest place (Canberra) at 74 days. <a href="http://www.news-medical.net/news/20090609/Elective-surgery-in-Canberra-a-w

Reply to Healthcare by the numbers in Politics JoeUser Forums

[quote]And the true cost of government programs is never known, so many direct and indirect costs being subsumed in other budgets, not to mention the never-counted costs of unfunded mandates.[/quote] Isn't that a problem though with the American political system, rather than single-payer healthcare? Most other countries' health systems work to budgets, which are largely spelt out in Federal/State Budgets and then their progress tracked through Annual Reports. Also, on waiting

Reply to Various political observations recently in Politics JoeUser Forums

[quote]Yes, the radioactive waste is certainly the biggest problem.[/quote] The mines aren't very pleasant either - uranium ore is no cleaner than coal, with the added bonus of toxic leakage into the aquifers.

Reply to I Quit Smoking in Life Journals JoeUser Forums

[quote]a king might take it into his head to ban smoking or drinking during a part of his reign but...kings die.[/quote] And a queen may find lesbian sex completely unbelievable, and so refuse calls to ban it. There's something to be said for a mercury/lead dosed monarchy.

Reply to The German Poor in International JoeUser Forums

[quote]They only have to use "their" money to pay for replacing furniture if they break it. Otherwise the furniture costs are extra benefits.[/quote] Is this as part of Government housing? Because that's also reasonably common in the first world. I'm surprised they don't have furnished government apartments in Ireland, too.

Reply to Various political observations recently in Politics JoeUser Forums

The Pew survey was done in conjunction with the AAAS, which publishes Science and has about a million subscribers. As Pew uses modern polling methods, and there's almost certainly engineers with subscriptions to Science/memberships in AAAS, I suspect there was a representative sample of computer scientists in the survey. Caveat - I couldn't find the actual methodology, so if you have, we'd have a better picture. [quote]But don't tell me that this lady has to live 30 miles away from wo

Reply to Blinded with science...and idiocracy in Entertainment JoeUser Forums

There's a book by a guy called David Crystal called "How Language Works" (I don't know if Americans get Penguin classics but it's worthy buying if you can get it for a couple of bucks). He reckons that electronic communication is a completely new form of human communication, joining speech, body language and the printed word. He backs it up with plenty of research, but that's irrelevant - I just thought of it when reading what you have to say. I think for a lot of people, myself inclu

Reply to Thanking God in Religion JoeUser Forums

A husband and wife in Austraslia did these recently to their daughter. She died after they killed her by refusing to give her medical attention. I'd rather religious people be ungrateful hypocrites who fuck with their kids' minds, than murderers who fuck with their kids' lives.

Reply to I Quit Smoking in Life Journals JoeUser Forums

I saw an ad for e-cigarettes recently but I've never really thought anyone actually bought them. I've always had some vague feeling they were like Nigerian bank letters, and didn't actually exist. What's the grounds for the ban? They can't be any more harmful than hand-rolled cigarettes. [quote]it's always been about unregulated pleasure[/quote] To be fair, it's the fear that people aren't smart enough to regulate their pleasure rather than the pleasure itself (except

Reply to You Can "Know" in Religion JoeUser Forums

[quote]Back on page 3 (comment 35) I reminded you of the story of the two robbers who were crucified with Jesus. You completely ignored my point there, namely that the robber had no time to do any good works yet was saved anyway (it's in Luke).[/quote] Perhaps more relevantly, he had no time to sin - he died in a state of grace after confessing to Jesus. Maybe God is lenient to those who don't have an opportunity to be good. But that doesn't mean he's not all vengeance and justi

Reply to DELETED in Everything Else JoeUser Forums

25. Obama has great hair.

Reply to Kicking the elderly to the curb in Politics JoeUser Forums

This girl sounds like she has her head screwed on right. You might need to lighten up a little. Most people who laugh after saying something don't actually mean it. It's a subtle social cue to be sure, but it's really just a way of flagging irony. For example: "The elderly should be kicked to the curb." {deadly serious expression, mad-eyed stare, set jaw} = nutter "The elderly should be kicked to the curb." {giggle, hairflip, mimed kick} = person telling a joke

Reply to The German Poor in International JoeUser Forums

That's not that much really. When I was studying I could have got $320 a fortnight, so that's $640 a month. I also had free healthcare if I wanted it (I paid for private cover). Instead I worked about 20 hours a week, which made austudy a waste of effort (there are strict reporting requirements). A room in a reasonable sharehouse at the time was about $100 a week, which left 240 a month for food, clothes, transportation - a bus pass was about $50 a month. Unemployment benefits