Other then the fact that the guy ordered the TV from Amazon, what's the connection to computers, software, the Internet and all the rest of the technologicawocal world that Slashdot's supposed to have made it its goal to cover?

Is the news that UPS screwed up?

"Stand on Zanzibar" by John Brunner was pretty relentlessly depressing and not just in a worldwide sort of way.

No one in the story was happy or had any reason to be happy or had any hope of being happy. Ever. Till the end of time. Even an end to war turned out to be depressing.

Made "The Road" seem like a carefree romp across the countryside.

I think I understand.

If the U.S. were a one-party nation everything would be just fine. Not to put too fine a point on it but has this "one party" thing worked out well in other countries?

Of course the Concorde will be replaced. Or at least its function will be replaced and Branson's venture may, or may not, have what it takes.

Also, I have serious reservations about supersonic anything that doesn't carry bombs. So far the technology's just not there to build supersonic aircraft for civilian use at a price that's not nuts where as Branson might have the makings of much faster travel at a lower price.

As, or perhaps more important, it's not an all-or-nothing proposition like a civilian supersonic exective jet. Branson can sell joy rides at a profit, which he's already doing. That helps amortize the cost of a satellite launch capability which sets the stage, maybe, for a long distance, ballistic passenger/package service. When it absatively, possilutily has to be there in ninety minutes or less Branson Ballistic delivers!

With a supersonic zeckujet you have lots of previous work to draw upon but you have the hurdle of building a commerically-viable supersonic, multi-passenger jet to overcome. So far, no one's managed that trick or even come close. It just may that bypassing the atmosphere is easier then going through it.

I wonder when Branson will announce the intent to start a passanger service?

Ever since the Concorde was grounded there hasn't been anyway for the uber-rich to get from here to there faster then us proles. I'm pretty sure there are folks who'd pay more then a few dollars to get from New York to Paris and back with time left over to flog their yacht crew for letting the boat get wet.

What do you mean "letting"?

Government-funded education is, by it's nature, a political institution heir to all the compromises inherent to politics and the sport of changing, political winds. The assumption that all supporters of government-funded education make is that they'll be the ones directing public education since to think otherwise requires consideration of the possibilty that there are shortcomings to the idea and then those have to be dealt with. Much easier to simply assume that nothing objectionable will ever occur in public education and secretly keep your fingers crossed that it doesn't.

Well, the unacceptable inevitable is occurring and what's the response? Mostly name-calling. Religious people are stupid or insane or whatever other tedious bit of school yard invective those unwilling to accept the political nature of public education can conjure.

So there's no "letting" going on here but a perfectly legitimate outcome. Don't like the outcome? Maybe it's time to rethink government's role in education.

Get arrested in Japan and see what a wonderfully advanced, democratic state, dedicated to individual rights, Japan looks like then.

Beyond that though a nation doesn't have to be tyrannical to enact civilian disarmament. But is there a single nation that is (or was) tyrannical that didn't impose civilian disarmament?

By your reasoning citizens in those countries should be denied the option of driving a car as well.

Rights aren't predicated on the expertise of those who exercise them but whether they exercise them in a lawful manner by not infringing the rights of other citizens.

...and Chicken Little's problems was, no proof.

And the standard of evidence isn't "until a piece hits you on the head" but something approximating the standard in science, i.e. verifiable and verified predictions. The various substitutes - encouraging mass hysteria by claiming that catastrophic, global warming is so imminent that too much in the way of talk is dangerous or claiming that there's a consensus among scientists - will work for a while but sooner or later the substitute loses its credibility. After all, it's not the real thing.

That's what's happening. The various substitutes are losing their hold and the credence accorded the case for catastrophe is dropping.

I am comforted though that the Club of Rome's predictions were conclusively disproven in fact. I'll let the principles take care of themselves.

I wonder about the long-term viability of such jobs.

Inasmuch as wind power is utterly dependent on subsidies that means the jobs are dependent on the political fortunes of the "green" lobby and the various parasitic, private sector entities that feed off their political power, the industry would disappear if the influence of the "green" lobby declines.

It doesn't happen every day but there are more then a few cases of industries, no longer viable or no longer viable in America, using political power to maintain themselves only to see their subsidies zero out when their political power wanes.

The psychtric diagnoses and barrage of invective may now commence.

Of course the problem's that there's no profit motive. Saints may be admirable but you just can't count on them showing up when and where they're needed. The profit motive, all frantic claims to the contrary notwithstanding, is everywhere.

Ah, there's no demand for education and you worked hard to get an education. Got it.

I'm pretty sure the only explanation for that contradiction is that you're better then most people. Lucky you and lucky us for having your around to act as an unrequested role model.

If you were a free enterprise education provider you'd last about fifteen minutes.

If you don't give a fuck how good your education solutions are they'd better be better then those offered by people who do give a fuck because if they aren't, you're gone. You see, the guy who does give a fuck is going to do a better job then you at something - advertising, distribution, educational efficacy - and you become a case history of how not to run a business. Seeing as how you don't give a fuck it should be pretty easy to run you out of the market.

Oh, and countries with the socialist education model generally have a pretty shitty education system because there's no incentive to be any better.

When you come across the exceptions, after your hyperventilation and excitment subsides, be sure to take plenty of pictures and swipe some stationary. It's a temporary aberration. Reversion to the mean occurs just as soon as the individual, or the tiny cohort, responsible for the unlikely phenomenon of a good, socialist education system is elbowed out of the way by the political forces that are part and parcel of every socialist solution for everything. Including education.

By the way, very impressive moral compass. I'm guessing that's what causes you to believe you're smarter and better then the people with whom you're forced to share a planet.

The reason to keep reinventing the wheel is because reinventing the wheel costs lots of money.

The monopolistic nature of the public education system means that customer demands - the parents - can be ignored. So, we've got a textbook industry that can ignore cost and can ignore efficacy, since their customer is the school district, but can't ignore political fads.

If you want textbooks to get relentlessly better and relentlessly cheaper then the people who are urgently concerned about the safety and effective education of the kids - parents - have to assume direct control over education.

That's in the process of happening with the spread of charter schools, vouchers, parental trigger and tax credits but we're only just now getting to the point that those changes are starting to impact education. But another two to three years should see the monopolistic complacency of the public education system shattered as the nature of public education, and the costs of that nature, are more widely understood as they stand in contrast to the alternatives.

If Europeans want to pay $9/gallon for gasoline that imposes no responsibility on America to follow suit and it certainly doesn't make $9/gallon gasoline a good idea.

Fortunately, that day will never come.

It's impossible to "fully fund" public education because however much funding public education gets the result will be that it's not enough. The proof is in this question: how much money constitutes "all the money they need"?

The answer, never given explicitly, is always "more".