Selective use of data can convince you of anything if you desperately want to be convinced of that (which is why climate change is still a debate)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L...
So, for example
UK firearm deaths (per 100,000 of population): 0.25
US: 10.30
ie, you're 40 times more likely to get killed by a gun in the US than in UK, but sure.. believe what you like.
No, its not ironic. One misplaced hyphen does not invalidate his point.
Consistency is easy when there is a single non-distributed database. That's not always possible and even if when it is possible its not always desirable because it is an inherent bottleneck. I agree many many companies pretend that they're facebook and end up with NoSQL for stupid reasons (hey, if my website ends up with a 100,000,000 active users then a single db won't cut it...) but there are situations where availability is more important than consistency. Funnily enough, one of them is banking.
> How could these not be important for banking is beyond me.
It's not that they're not important, its just that they are not the *most* important thing. Banks care about making money for themselves more than they care about anything else:
Banking transactions are generally not ACID. I'm sure the multi-trillion dollar banking industry are all complete idiots compared to the AC on
> That is the nature of competition.
In a situation with dozen's or hundreds of competitors it is, but without government enforcement cartels develop naturally and quickly (unless one company thinks it can bankrupt the others and become a monopoly). It's far more likely Nicaragua and Panama will come to an agreement.
> uses a laser to harden liquid plastic
ie http://www.3dsystems.com/quick... the tech that i was writing software for 20 years ago..
> you can load in any material you want.
well, sure, it just won't make anything. I mean you *could* load the machine with fucking coca cola if you wanted, but its not going to give you a part.
To actually make something you need a photosensitive resin with very precise material properties. Back in the day that stuff cost $300/litre
> By assuming that the process of memory is non-lossy
What a fucking strange way to start. Memories are recursive, really old memor s you don't directly remember, you remember remembering.
Yeah, he has a AlthoughYouShouldHaveAlreadyRealizedThatExceptionFactory
> But never give control of the printing press to politicians.
The current system gives a ton of control to politicians. Modern states are pretty much never constrained from doing what they want to do for lack of money. When's the last time you heard them say: no we can't go to war, it will cost too much ? As well as allowing them to spend money however they want, the current system allows them to *not* do the stuff whenever they don't really want to (eg when it would only benefit a group with no political power such as single parents or the disabled) by claiming its too expensive.
If the government invented the money instead of the bankers that would eliminate the need for taxation which would get rid of the main excuse for the government to keep tabs on everybody and everything. The IRS would disappear completely for instance. I strongly recommend http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Gr... . I did a couple of years of economics at university but this was a real eye-opener.
> this lenient justice system
Now there's a statement. If the US justice system is lenient, can you point me at one that is not ?
The US incarcaration rate is 750/100000, in western europe its 100/100000. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I...
The US jails a larger proportion of its population than sizeable nation ever. In that respect it's the least free country in the course of human history due to its extraordinarily non-lenient justice system.
Anyone can sue for anything but having a strong case is another thing. People's religious beliefs can include any random nonsense and no business could operate if it had to pander to whatever people can think of. You make the responsibilities clear at the start then if they take the job they are agreeing to do the work. If a muslim got a a job in a pork processing plant then claimed his religious beliefs prevented him from handling pigs, well.. get another job.
Most of what you say I agree with but:
> A good bit of the code is actually somewhat amateurish
Citation needed. Or, to put it less politely, are you out of your fucking mind ? Stuxnet is the most advanced piece of malware ever discovered, and it worked. I don't believe you have access to the original source code so, can you justify this comment in any way ?
So, you believe the NSA hardly ever fucks up. Fascinating, and who told you this exactly ?
So, just before I rightly get modded into oblivion, I made a simple plugin for all my fellow beta-haters:
http://rareformnewmedia.com/-s...
Real Users never use the Help key.
