tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post6680015361796093019..comments2024-03-19T05:35:07.296-07:00Comments on CONTRARY BRIN: Recent history and the next electionDavid Brinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comBlogger94125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-84363056186696039942016-05-08T17:18:55.326-07:002016-05-08T17:18:55.326-07:00onward
onwardonward<br /><br />onwardDavid Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-71157804808883352782016-05-08T16:09:16.291-07:002016-05-08T16:09:16.291-07:00"Guys, learn to recognize when he's just ...<i>"Guys, learn to recognize when he's just in snarl mode."</i><br /><br />There's a time when he's not?<br /><br />Then again, we're talking about someone who seems to think Romania, Wallachia, and Transylvania are all the same place and have been throughout history, and that Vlad Tepes was actually a historical vampire named Dracula, so...Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11903687674146271189noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-20292304387996975652016-05-08T07:42:52.811-07:002016-05-08T07:42:52.811-07:00Furry: Did you feed it lately? ;)
Rob H.Furry: Did you feed it lately? ;)<br /><br />Rob H.Acacia H.https://www.blogger.com/profile/07678539067303911329noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-4517248509917923982016-05-08T05:02:17.621-07:002016-05-08T05:02:17.621-07:00Today, Australia's PM called a "double di...Today, Australia's PM called a "double dissolution" election. (Where the entire Senate is dismissed for re-election. Not just half. Every seat in both houses up for election.)<br /><br />After around a month of media speculation, we look forward to an eight week campaign. Starting now, vote in July.<br /><br />It's about six hours into the election proper and I'm already sick of it.<br /><br />No idea how you guys cope.<br /><br />--<br /><br />[TV news has been hovering over the ritual of the PM asking the Governor General's permission to call an election. None seemed to care about the madness that both men started from their official second residences down the street from each other in Sydney, where they actually live, flew back to Canberra on separate RAAF VIP jets to their official primary residences, where they don't live, so that the PM could then visit the GG's residence to ask for an election.]<br /><br />--<br /><br />Re: Meeses,<br /><br />Wireless :- Interference. Something borking the bluetooth freqs.<br /><br />Optical :- Surface reflection. You using the mouse on a shiny new surface? Or else, just the optical sensor gets dirty or old.<br /><br />Old mechanical type :- Dirty rollers.Paul451https://www.blogger.com/profile/12119086761190994938noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-56456608548830090722016-05-07T21:34:45.702-07:002016-05-07T21:34:45.702-07:00Mouse tracking jerkily lately, re my iMac. Anyone ...Mouse tracking jerkily lately, re my iMac. Anyone with a suggestion?David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-58894518539152347672016-05-07T18:26:58.147-07:002016-05-07T18:26:58.147-07:00Completely off topic
I read the Three Body Proble...Completely off topic <br />I read the Three Body Problem and the Dark Forest - just getting interesting so I went to buy the third book - and it's not out yet!!<br /><br />I have read quite a few new writers recently - and I have NOT found any that have become "buy automatically" duncan cairncrosshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14153725128216947145noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-79893005215311142582016-05-07T17:05:55.791-07:002016-05-07T17:05:55.791-07:00Whoever it was, they learned the lesson of Newspea...Whoever it was, they learned the lesson of Newspeak from George Orwell's 1984.Hendrik Boomhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03664840145177541236noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-37833712635718714722016-05-07T17:03:46.020-07:002016-05-07T17:03:46.020-07:00Whoever it was, they learned the lesson of Newspea...Whoever it was, they learned the lesson of Newspeak from George Orwell's 1984.Hendrik Boomhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03664840145177541236noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-24129563649550209152016-05-07T15:56:24.178-07:002016-05-07T15:56:24.178-07:00(1) No offense was meant to Ioan & any other l...<br /><br />(1) No offense was meant to Ioan & any other lurking Carpathians, just pointing out that Vlad, Babar, Celeste, Vlad & their similarly aristocratic ilk are hardly a democratic precedent;<br /><br />(2) Primate troop size is both finite & subject to the classic 'green monkey' out-group exclusion, meaning that our ongoing cultural 'fetishisation of the other' is also finite;<br /><br />(3) That, and many of the older US Democratic Party machines were notorious for both corruption & voter fraud, especially in Chicago (where the Obamas earned their political chops) during the various Daley years.<br /><br />http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/06/national/06chicago.html?_r=2&<br /><br />http://www.nbcnews.com/id/28141995/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/t/illinois-has-long-legacy-public-corruption/#.Vy5vptUrKJc<br /><br /><br />Bestlocumranchnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-88838242938870462592016-05-07T14:56:22.357-07:002016-05-07T14:56:22.357-07:00@Dr. Brin - "I find the assertion of widespre...@Dr. Brin - <i>"I find the assertion of widespread deliberate vote fraud on the demo side implausible for many reasons."</i><br /><br />At every material level (that is, absolutely any step that might involve counting a vote), in New York City at least, there must be at least one Democrat and one Republican who monitor the outcome and verify the process. There's no way to make things completely fair - people die, and don't tell the Board of Elections about it - people move (often), and don't notify the Board - the notifications get sent in 5 different languages, and often in quasi-English that makes no sense, listing addresses that don't exist, or they get drunk and file crazy garbage - the Board struggles to handle real world people, who often do goofy things that make it hard to count their votes. But they try hard.<br /><br />There's a reason why Guiliani and Bloomberg were both Democrats who converted to Republicans to become mayor - it's a convoluted system at the district level, but the voting apparatus in NYC is fair (and is tested so often, at so many levels, by so many players from so many positions that this testing keeps it fair).donzelionhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05991849781932619746noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-73454017576835659602016-05-07T14:50:29.198-07:002016-05-07T14:50:29.198-07:00@Laurent - "I believe the "liberal bias&...@Laurent - <i>"I believe the "liberal bias" in the news always had to do with that pesky liberal bias that reality has (credit Paul Krugman)."</i><br /><br />Perhaps. Most 'progressives' are 'conservative' in some respect (that is, cautious, fact-checking, challenging fanciful claims and seeking evidence before making judgments). The "conservative" faction in America though has taken healthy skepticism to the realm of unhealthy disdain for evidence itself. The difference would be between the scientist who doubts a theory, and requires evidence and testing before endorsing it, vs. the evangelist who doubts God, and overcomes those doubts through rigorous action, including denouncing other doubters. <br /><br />Facts themselves are apolitical, but fears are themselves 'facts' (they exist, and their existence matters).<br /><br /><i>"Radio and tv news used to be judged on their reputations for integrity and getting the real story."</i><br />I'm cautious about the nostalgia effect (again, the conservativism in my progressivism). For millions of homosexuals in the 1920s, they were never 'the story' - for African Americans in the 1880s. The Spanish War and the War of 1812 were media creatures, and the press of the 1800s was scandal-riddled and conspiratorial (the Catholics are coming! the darkies are raping our white women!)<br /><br /><i>"There is no modern day equivalent to Walter Cronkite."</i><br />Perhaps Jon Stewart served as our neo-Cronkite "voice of decency." That tells us a lot about who we are, rather than the role that either Cronkite or Stewart played in our social psyche.<br />donzelionhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05991849781932619746noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-27235591646347918792016-05-07T14:32:08.775-07:002016-05-07T14:32:08.775-07:00* "By increasing inequality the Neoliberals h...<b>*</b> "<i>By increasing inequality the Neoliberals have opened the door</i>"<br /><br />True: allowing inequality to increase was the baby boomers' original political sin (yeah, I'm blaming my parents' whole generation: sue me). As I'm fond of reminding people: when the Berlin Wall fell, the per capital GDP of East Germany was at 70% of West Germany's: not <i>that</i> far behind and had the concentration of wealth then been at its pre-keynesian level, the average east-european worker would have been significantly <b>richer</b> than her western counterpart.<br /><br />Western nations didn't outlast the USSR become capitalism is awesome: they outlasted the USSR because during most of the cold war their political elites curbed down income inequality. Rich heirs often whine about regulations and redistributive policies, but to be blunt, without these, their children would most probably be either dead or the enslaved rape-toys of some revolutionary commissar by now.Laurent Weppenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-54899475298556786032016-05-07T13:29:50.954-07:002016-05-07T13:29:50.954-07:00Check out shale gas reserves in western Europe, es...Check out shale gas reserves in western Europe, esp. Romania.<br />http://www.economist.com/news/business/21571171-extracting-europes-shale-gas-and-oil-will-be-slow-and-difficult-business-frack-futureJumperhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11794110173836133321noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-44498319796663183822016-05-07T12:40:33.862-07:002016-05-07T12:40:33.862-07:00Hmm. Troop sizes are larger than I thought, up to ...Hmm. Troop sizes are larger than I thought, up to 150 according to Wikipedia. That's more than I can handle in my human sphere.Jumperhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11794110173836133321noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-64323685350451398732016-05-07T12:37:29.590-07:002016-05-07T12:37:29.590-07:00Tom, that's an interesting question. I would g...Tom, that's an interesting question. I would guess that slowly increasing the troupe size over multiple generations might help, as opposed to sudden increases in size. 400 years to go from 15 to 40?Jumperhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11794110173836133321noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-69260874529469988222016-05-07T12:20:16.613-07:002016-05-07T12:20:16.613-07:00Guys, learn to recognize when he's just in sna...Guys, learn to recognize when he's just in snarl mode.David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-68507614944703360022016-05-07T11:33:10.154-07:002016-05-07T11:33:10.154-07:00Locum,
Please check the maps of the era when Bram...Locum,<br /><br />Please check the maps of the era when Bram Stoker wrote Dracula. At the time, Transylvania was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Most of the "experts" in the origin of Dracula tend to miss this point, among others.Ioannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-7490844322493352572016-05-07T11:01:06.549-07:002016-05-07T11:01:06.549-07:00@locumranch
Dr Brin has already mentioned several...@locumranch<br /><br />Dr Brin has already mentioned several times that vampires represent the aristocratic monster feared by the masses, whereas zombies represent the opposite.LarryHartnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-51662532741997849492016-05-07T09:10:22.243-07:002016-05-07T09:10:22.243-07:00This is just food for thought amid all the discuss...This is just food for thought amid all the discussions re Liberal vs Conservative or Socialism vs. Capitalism... etc... and general questions of governance.<br /><br />As I've suggested there are socio-biological issues for humans which pre-date politics, ideologies or even language itself and may be worth consideration.<br /><br />(Please, I'm only suggesting there are areas for thought here and perhaps some avenues for different ways of thinking about politics.... not that we're organizationally limited by the troop sizes of chimpanzees.)<br /><br />Zoo keepers understand that you can't keep too many apes together w/o things becoming fractious beyond manageability.<br /><br />IF:<br /><br />One was attempting to overcome that obstacle... to manage a much larger group of chimps in proximity together (larger than their normal troop size) without complete social breakdown...<br /><br />What issues would have to be addressed?<br /><br />Dominance issues?<br /><br />Resource distribution?<br /><br />Conflict resolution?<br /><br />Biological altruism and its ties to troop size? <br /><br />Again, I'm neither suggesting that we're bound by our biological roots... nor that its even possible to solve the above hypothetical<br /><br />All I'm suggesting is that there are issues which may not be resolvable w/o at least considering this sort of question.Tom Crowlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04444476865484424912noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-24561658434120550092016-05-07T08:38:52.024-07:002016-05-07T08:38:52.024-07:00addendum:
It is no surprise that Romania is the p...<br />addendum:<br /><br />It is no surprise that Romania is the purported home of Dracula, a tyrannical inbred aristocratic hemophiliac with inverted Babar-like tusks who resides in a castle only to suck the blood out of a willing & submissive proletariat.<br /><br />locumranchnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-9146651352198200772016-05-07T08:31:30.169-07:002016-05-07T08:31:30.169-07:00Whilst the Established Right demonstrates investme...<br />Whilst the Established Right demonstrates investment & ownership in the Establishment, the Alt-Right is an amorphous non-militant entity that practices disengagement -- what is colloquially known as 'ZFG' and 'Going Galt' -- because it has lost faith in establishment intent & narrative.<br /><br />Typified by the more passionate, engaged & soon to be disillusioned 'Bernie Bros', the Left's coming 'loss of faith in establishment intent & narrative' will most likely lead to a much more 'sinister' occurrence, the re-emergence of the Alt-Left's 'Red Brigades', as the only alternatives to Ultra-Nationalism's rising tide.<br /><br />The EU will then most resemble the vomit of a stray dog, following France down into undemocratic martial law (Etat d'Urgence at 7 months & counting) and religious-based civil conflict, leading yet another generation of Romanian Royalists & Babar Worshippers into the arms of another Ceaușescu.<br /><br /><br />Best<br /><br />_____<br />Besides being a beloved children's fairy story, King Babar was a frigging tyrant, albeit a benign one, explaining why Democracy never really 'took' in most of Europe because it's children have been conditioned as royalists since birth.locumranchnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-64111685311073258032016-05-07T07:20:11.360-07:002016-05-07T07:20:11.360-07:00Deuxglass,
No. Ioan is the Romanian translation o...Deuxglass,<br /><br />No. Ioan is the Romanian translation of John. I haven't been back since 2011.<br /><br />Ioannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-1393992265288675162016-05-07T06:12:28.116-07:002016-05-07T06:12:28.116-07:00David, did you see this? Creative Control - movie ...David, did you see this? Creative Control - movie trailer<br />https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VHWoX6fgEcJumperhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11794110173836133321noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-20814241925509130942016-05-07T05:23:39.765-07:002016-05-07T05:23:39.765-07:00A F Rey:
Dr. Brin, you missed my point. Mark'...A F Rey:<br /><i><br />Dr. Brin, you missed my point. Mark's argument was precisely the mirror image of yours: that the reason to elect Trump is the Supreme Court and appointing Republican appointees<br /></i><br /><br />If I may interject, I think the point is that Democrats need to recognize the importance of that aspect of an election. Not that Republicans won't. On the contrary, we have to recognize the importance and act accordingly because the Republicans already <b>are</b>.LarryHartnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-5926859363891425552016-05-07T03:11:22.599-07:002016-05-07T03:11:22.599-07:00Hi Laurent
You are right there!
But the best way ...Hi Laurent<br /><br />You are right there!<br />But the best way of preventing outside influences is to have a good improving moderately equal society<br />By increasing inequality the Neoliberals have opened the doorduncan cairncrosshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14153725128216947145noreply@blogger.com