tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post1359347240816437372..comments2024-03-18T21:52:45.757-07:00Comments on CONTRARY BRIN: Shifting Foundations...David Brinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comBlogger60125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-16196136380417269582016-06-02T19:11:29.701-07:002016-06-02T19:11:29.701-07:00LOL. Saw that. He didn't have to say a word. I...LOL. Saw that. He didn't have to say a word. I Just Said NO.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14910555718688406054noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-69146443117527972582016-06-02T19:07:33.834-07:002016-06-02T19:07:33.834-07:00I would not rule out a Libertarian candidate, if t...I would not rule out a Libertarian candidate, if there was one with a decent chance of winning. The entrenched Republican & Democratic Oligarchies would strongly oppose it.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14910555718688406054noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-54395221782469997772016-06-02T18:57:57.504-07:002016-06-02T18:57:57.504-07:00I am an Engineer. My brother is a Geophysicist. My...I am an Engineer. My brother is a Geophysicist. My success as an Engineer depended on Solid Scientific Principles,Practices & Methods and Accurate Data. <br />(I was an EE & a Chemist prior)<br />I don't know how you came to the wrong conclusion that Engineering & Science are matters of opinion.<br />(Are you in Sales/Marketing,BTW?)Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14910555718688406054noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-17259492364412656582016-06-02T18:46:10.417-07:002016-06-02T18:46:10.417-07:00I implied nothing about subjectivity. Facts are fa...I implied nothing about subjectivity. Facts are facts.<br />Conclusions drawn from Interpretation of Incomplete sets of Facts can & do vary.<br />I do not claim any monopoly of the facts. I make claims based upon a necessarily limited fact base, receive feedback which either strengthens or weakens my claim, increasing my fact base. I am never, nor ever claim to be right in most areas, especially outside my specialty. I am wrong to a greater or lesser degree, depending on the topic. But each iteration hopefully brings greater understanding. This blog is challenging for me because it leans far left of other sources I have been frequenting. When I say "agree to disagree" it means that there is not enough consensus (subjective or otherwise) to have a meaningful discussion. Debate would be futile given constraints of time & effort. I'd rather learn what I don't know than persuade what I do know.<br />When it comes to politics, too often I must choose the Least Worst candidate. And even then, there are policies or traits or actions that I would oppose. But a Choice must be made despite conflicting information & opinions. I am compelled to choose Trump because I Cannot Stand Clinton or Sanders the same way I Cannot Stand Obama now and for the past 8 years. Foreign policy, Domestic policy, Everything. I have spent a lot of time trying to figure out how an American President can possibly be so bad, and yet he continues to shock me when I thought it can't get worse.<br /><br /> Simplified, I'm supporting the most anti-Obama candidate. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14910555718688406054noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-24210442585169791862016-05-31T11:30:28.095-07:002016-05-31T11:30:28.095-07:00onward
onward
onward<br /><br />onward<br /><br /><br />David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-28857710566554060262016-05-30T16:22:50.152-07:002016-05-30T16:22:50.152-07:0069 percent of households said they were “living co...69 percent of households said they were “living comfortably” or “doing okay,” up from 62 percent in 2013. Improvements were across the board. For households headed by someone with a high school diploma or less, 61 percent felt this way, up from 53 percent in 2013. For college graduates, the gain was to 80 percent from 77 percent. Saving also has increased. The number of households saving was up 9 percentage points over 2013. Only 15 percent of households reported spending more than their income.<br /><br />So why all the downer gloom?<br />1) The skyrocketing aggrandizement of a top oligarchy has still seized most of the benefits of our hard work and economic recovery.<br /><br />2) Media have pushed gloom relentlessly because it sells, but also because it is an essential polemical ploy of the far-left and the entire-right. Both of whom are mad.<br /><br />3) Snarling feels great! Self-righteous anger offers a far better drug high than contingent, tentative optimism and determination to negotiate pragmatic, steady reforms.<br /><br />4) There is still real pain. The fact that we have not made jobs for the lower middle class, creating high velocity money through - say - infrastructure repair, is entirely and 100% the fault of the Republican Party. Even the Trumpists know this in their hearts. They are not republicans anymore... bless their boiling confederate hearts.<br /><br />https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/good-news-for-the-middle-class/2016/05/29/b485c9b6-242a-11e6-aa84-42391ba52c91_story.htmlDavid Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-8334203024457914532016-05-30T14:44:28.994-07:002016-05-30T14:44:28.994-07:00"Badiou Studies"? Is it real or is it a ..."Badiou Studies"? Is it real or is it a very elaborate hoax like those website about the dangers of dihydrogen monoxyde or supporting the threatened Californian mountain octopus? <br /><br />btw. I don't like the postmodernist jargon but they got something. Think gender studies and how they portrait gender as a flexible cultural construct (here in Italy gender studies are a bogeyman for the rightwing culture warriors...can we name them Social Injustice Warriors?). Very post modern and all. Then a conservative (both politically and in writing style) guy like David Weber has his main character in Safehold, Nimue Alban/Merlin Athrawes, being a woman's mind uploaded in a man's cyborg body...and s/he first gets aroused while swimming with naked men and later has even sex in a male body with a woman... stuff that in the Golden Age wouldn't have been published outside avant-garde stuff like Burroughs or Dangerous Visions.Marinonoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-61827399618530146142016-05-30T01:45:50.521-07:002016-05-30T01:45:50.521-07:00Does not appear to have hit the US news
http://ww...Does not appear to have hit the US news<br /><br />http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/libertarian-party-chair-candidate-strips-on-stage-during-national-convention-a7055751.htmlduncan cairncrosshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14153725128216947145noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-68711872059177552722016-05-29T18:29:48.405-07:002016-05-29T18:29:48.405-07:00This may be the year that the Libertarian party ma...This may be the year that the Libertarian party makes a real move, having nominated two ex-Republican governors in a real stab at the party with the biggest potential for mass-desertions, this summer. And speaking as the only sci fi author to speak at several LP conventions, I wholly approve. Oh, I disagree with the Randian-Rothbardian oligarch-loving VERSION of libertarianism that's dominant, at present. But that leaning may help bring in funding from the Koch brothers and others fleeing Trumpism. And I surely would love to see the LP candidate in national debates.<br /><br />No I am not proposing them as a genuinely plausible alternative for governing. But refugees from the GOP self-immolation in a pyre of insanity should ponder voting LP down the line. These guys may be a bit crazy, but at least they aren't science-hating feudalist confederate carnival barkers.<br /><br />http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/29/politics/libertarian-party-nominee-vote/David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-73313285661806763542016-05-29T18:29:29.685-07:002016-05-29T18:29:29.685-07:00A guide to the almost-endless list of conspiracy t...A guide to the almost-endless list of conspiracy theories espoused by Donald Trump.<br /><br />http://www.npr.org/2016/05/24/479331275/a-guide-to-the-many-conspiracy-theories-donald-trump-has-embraced<br />David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-1893793631260449462016-05-29T17:35:34.606-07:002016-05-29T17:35:34.606-07:00Stephen
Science and engineering are not matters o...Stephen<br /><br />Science and engineering are not matters of opinion <br />At some stage the rubber hits the highway and Kipling's "Secret of the Machine" takes over<br /><br />But remember, please, the Law by which we live,<br /> We are not built to comprehend a lie,<br />We can neither love nor pity nor forgive.<br /> If you make a slip in handling us you die!<br /><br /> duncan cairncrosshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14153725128216947145noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-33869547753365949522016-05-29T17:19:07.431-07:002016-05-29T17:19:07.431-07:00Stephen B I appreciate your courteous effort to re...Stephen B I appreciate your courteous effort to reframe the debate, but I will not play along. Your portray it as between to separated political mind-sets. I know better. I am not a person of the left. I despise many of the same lefty antics that you do, but I can see plainly that the Blue or Union America simply CONTAINS some lefty twits. Meanwhile, the Gray or confederate wing of this re-ignited civil war CONSISTS of stunning lunacy. That is a difference great enough to require that I pick sides.<br /><br />This despite the fact that no one alive touts Adam Smith more vigorously online than I do. The simple fact is that U.S. market enterprise and flat-competitive capitalism do not only better across democratic administrations, but vastly better, under every single conceivable metric. And that includes the rate of change of deficit spending. See:<br /><br />http://davidbrin.blogspot.com/2014/06/so-do-outcomes-matter-more-than-rhetoric.html<br /><br />Your portrayal of scientists is straight out of the Fox-Saudi playbook, as whimpering conformist lemmings, following "grants" and ideological sameness. And thus you reveal that you know no scientists, who are by far the most competitive (and smartest and most knowledgeable) humans our species ever produced. Sci-tech is responsible for half of the wealth that Americans accumulated since 1945, yet ingrates buy into an insulting War on science that serves oligarchs, but has ensured that the fraction of US scientists who are in the GOP has dropped from 40% to 4% and plummeting.<br /><br />Same is true for every single knowledge caste in American life. Name... an... exception.<br /><br />The fact that you would take at face value the fact free rantings of DT does not equip you to credibly diss science.<br /><br />"We both see the same thing but somewhere between Perception & Cognition, we Diverge to Opposite Conclusions."<br /><br />Yes, I can see you believe that. Exactly as campus lefty postmodernists say the same thing. Everything is subjective!!! Yippee! That is the mantra at both political extremes, faced with the fact that their dogmas are unsupported by facts. (e.g. not a single supply side economic prediction ever came true. Once. Ever.)<br /><br />Sorry. There are indeed such things as facts.<br />David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-37296771497764688612016-05-29T17:03:00.259-07:002016-05-29T17:03:00.259-07:00And so the Conclusion is clear.
We both see the sa...And so the Conclusion is clear.<br />We both see the same thing but somewhere between Perception & Cognition, we Diverge to Opposite Conclusions.<br />That is a very common limitation of Human Nature.<br />Let's agree to disagree.<br />Then move on beyond political vicissitudes.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14910555718688406054noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-23618360511260977082016-05-29T16:52:51.738-07:002016-05-29T16:52:51.738-07:00Thank you for pointing out my lack of more effort ...Thank you for pointing out my lack of more effort to assess the verity of Trump's rhetoric.<br />I've spent hundreds of research-hours since 2012 accumulating, disseminating & criticism of Obama and his political ilk.<br /><br />Their positions in scientific endeavours are only a portion of their positions in other areas.<br /><br />When I asserted earlier in this thread that My Own Bias is Crystal Clear, Solid & Unapologetic, I would hasten to add that Conservative mindset in the Sciences is frustratingly Stupid. I take time daily to post some sense to counter this, perhaps in futility, but I persist.<br /><br />Allow me to insert a quote from Eisenhower here; "Government funded Science is more Political than Scientific." I would greatly appreciate your response to this.<br /><br />It may very well be that we will never come to terms politically.<br />Let's just accept that fact.<br />Let's set our sights beyond politics and build a foundation of understanding on the bedrock of Science, rather than trying to build a future on the shifting sands of political ideology.<br />Much gratitude & thanks.<br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14910555718688406054noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-9586950551638917412016-05-28T18:20:52.520-07:002016-05-28T18:20:52.520-07:00 Trump has had business dealings with many peers a... Trump has had business dealings with many peers and companies, etc. Almost no one who has doned business with him does so a second time. That is most telling.David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-73151390238040806492016-05-28T18:20:36.748-07:002016-05-28T18:20:36.748-07:00"Trump is the only candidate that Muslim fana..."Trump is the only candidate that Muslim fanatics rant against."<br /><br />The same reason that Bin Laden wanted Bush 2 to win against Kerry, having an idiot in charge of your enemy is a major advantageduncan cairncrosshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14153725128216947145noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-9458844681310296062016-05-28T18:10:23.124-07:002016-05-28T18:10:23.124-07:00Stephen Beres:
Yes I've seen Trump rallies tu...Stephen Beres:<br /><i><br />Yes I've seen Trump rallies turn violent by anti-Trump protestors.<br /></i><br /><br />You mean when those ant-Trump protestors hit the goons in the fist with their chins or the backs of their heads?<br /><br /><i><br />Ever see Trump supporters crash Clinton or Sanders rallies? Burn American flags? Riot & attack Clinton or Sanders supporters? Set police cars on fire? Me neither. <br /></i><br /><br />Ever see Clinton or Sanders have dissenting voices forcibly removed from their rallies, and then have those dissenters beat up while in the process of being escorted out? Me neither.<br /><i><br />The more I see the behavior of Trump opponents, the stronger becomes my support for Trump. <br /></i><br /><br />Funny, the more I se the behavior of Trump <b>supporters</b>, the stronger becomes my opposition to Trump.<br /><br /><i><br />Sorry to hear about your blindness to the gap between Trump & Mussolini. Trump is far more like Churchill or Teddy Roosevelt. <br /></i><br /><br />I missed the newsreel shots of the goose-stepping and seig-heiling at Churchill and Roosevelt events.<br /><br /><i><br />Trump & Netanyahu have been close friends for at least a decade. <br /></i><br /><br />That's not a good thing, but it makes sense. Netanyahu is a bully too.<br /><i><br />Trump is the only candidate that Putin has respect for. Trump is the only candidate that Muslim fanatics rant against.<br /></i><br /><br />Trump is the only candidate that Western Europe is terrified of.LarryHartnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-10149410277645982522016-05-28T17:31:22.074-07:002016-05-28T17:31:22.074-07:00Hi Larry
"I don't see daylight between T...Hi Larry<br /><br />"I don't see daylight between Trump and Mussolini."<br /><br />I do lots!<br />Mussolini was actually extremely competent compared to the Donald,<br /><br />"He made the trains run on time" - The Donald has only shown that he can shout at people and waste money duncan cairncrosshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14153725128216947145noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-81788586563160877442016-05-28T16:04:11.324-07:002016-05-28T16:04:11.324-07:00Mr Beres you are well-spoken and welcome here. But...Mr Beres you are well-spoken and welcome here. But seriously, notice that your support for DT is based upon your perception of his "strength." I note that you make no effort to assess the verity of his statements... which is almost nil. <br /><br />Seriously, almost nothing that he says is actually actually true. But the American right, which once supported science via intellects like Barry Goldwater, has been schooled in recent decades to hate factualness with a livid passion.<br /><br />Nor the acerbically immature style of his strength, based on demeaning and insulting all opponents, which is diametrically opposite to the style of strong democratic leaders like both Roosevelts or the founders or Lincoln. He proclaims he is a "negotiator." No he does not know the meaning of the word.<br /><br />I'd mention inconsistency, that nearly every position he now touts is opposite to those he maintained five years ago, but his supporters have made clear that they could not care less.<br /><br />Now let me surprise you. I actually like Trump better than any other GOP politician today. At least he is not a toady to Rupert Murdoch and his priorities are not precisely those of promoting oligarchy at the expense of the American middle class... which has been the absolute and sole purpose of every single other Republican office holder for two decades, ever since Dennis Haster (role model for all boys) staged his coup against Newt Gingrich.<br />David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-15457704148759290472016-05-28T13:16:15.500-07:002016-05-28T13:16:15.500-07:00Dr. Brin. You are correct about my ignorance of Na...Dr. Brin. You are correct about my ignorance of Napoleon. You are correct that Putin has some similar traits with those of a mafia don, but Trump is the only candidate he has respect for. <br /><br />As for rabble-rousing, who are the rabble? Trump Opponents, clearly. The violence is instigated anti-Trump protestors <br />Ever see Trump supporters crash Clinton or Sanders rallies? Burn American flags? Riot & attack Clinton or Sanders supporters? Set police cars on fire? Me neither. The more I see the behavior of Trump opponents, the stronger becomes my support for Trump. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14910555718688406054noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-7973530616167567082016-05-28T12:52:21.751-07:002016-05-28T12:52:21.751-07:00Yes I've seen Trump rallies turn violent by an...Yes I've seen Trump rallies turn violent by anti-Trump protestors. Ever see Trump supporters crash Clinton or Sanders rallies? Burn American flags? Riot & attack Clinton or Sanders supporters? Set police cars on fire? Me neither. The more I see the behavior of Trump opponents, the stronger becomes my support for Trump. Sorry to hear about your blindness to the gap between Trump & Mussolini. Trump is far more like Churchill or Teddy Roosevelt. Trump & Netanyahu have been close friends for at least a decade. Trump is the only candidate that Putin has respect for. Trump is the only candidate that Muslim fanatics rant against.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14910555718688406054noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-78771984463488517602016-05-28T11:35:55.138-07:002016-05-28T11:35:55.138-07:00Notice the landing legs straddle bullseye perfectl...Notice the landing legs straddle bullseye perfectly.David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-21608375174140095382016-05-28T11:34:51.351-07:002016-05-28T11:34:51.351-07:00Viedo: ride the SpaceX first stage back down to a ...Viedo: ride the SpaceX first stage back down to a barge landing! https://spaceflightnow.com/2016/05/28/ride-aboard-the-falcon-9-rockets-first-stage-on-descent/<br /><br />so uttergloss cool.David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-31521159228287892002016-05-28T11:24:23.151-07:002016-05-28T11:24:23.151-07:00Mr. Beres, your inclination to make lists of good-...Mr. Beres, your inclination to make lists of good-strong leaders vs evil ones is okay but simplistic and leads you down some wrong paths. Boris Yeltsin was weak. Vladimir Putin has yet to prove he’s not a maffia don. You clearly know little about Napoleon.<br /><br />As for Trump, his rabble rousing of the mob with conspiracy theories and falsehoods and stoked caste resentments puts him in category II.<br /><br />donzel you’ve achieved no “goal.” I have always said that conspiracy theories bear some burden of proof and hence, no matter how logical and consistent and compelling, have to be treated as “minority” probabilities. Longer denizens of this blogmunity know that I have always said that. <br /><br />But when a consistent and extremely dangerous hypothesis is NEVER discussed, out of some reflex to pooh-pooh anything non-canonical or dramatic, then that’s when someone has to raise the very real and palpable possibility to general attention. <br /><br />Bandar was “fired”? How silly. Musical chairs happen in oligarchies all the time.David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-87771050541949282632016-05-28T09:46:42.176-07:002016-05-28T09:46:42.176-07:00Stephen Beres:
Trump has decades of successful, E...Stephen Beres:<br /><i><br />Trump has decades of successful, Executive Leadership skills. That's not necessarily"Authoritarian". <br /></i><br /><br />Not "necessarily" maybe, but in Trump's case it is. His defining characteristic is that he's a bully. He'll reward his toadies, but if you cross him, even in a trivial way, he'll unload on you with both barrels. That may be an effective leadership style in the sense that it cows people into following your orders, but it's not the sort of attitude I'm looking for in a president.<br /><br /><i><br />Evil or weak Leaders must resort to Authoritarianism, Force, Threat & control because they can't lead by Principles.<br />Examples: Napoleon, Mussolini, Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Saddam & most dictators in general.<br /></i><br /><br />Have you seen any Trump rallies? I don't see daylight between Trump and Mussolini.LarryHartnoreply@blogger.com