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Comment Re:Adblock... (Score 1) 319

I like this scheme because it allows me to help fund the websites which I enjoy and visit. A good website with good content is expensive, and if the site maintainer cannot make money, then those sites will go away or become less good. I'm happy to spend a few bucks a month knowing that it goes to the sites I like.

I hate advertising too, but I know enough economics to know that if everyone is a freeloader then the whole system goes to hell.

Comment Re:Ads (Score 1) 319

If Google ONLY does evil, then I assume that in your universe "good" companies are a rhetorical and theoretical device but cannot possibly exist? The money that Google donates is evil? Giving free-except-for-ads email is evil? Providing services for schools and non-profits is evil? Pushing back against over-broad governmental requests is evil?

Comment Re:It's all about Taxes (Score 1) 706

Partisan policy aside, the government wants us to want them to regulate the nets.

Hmm, I'm pretty sure I already pay taxes on my FIOS line, so I'm not sure what you're talking about.

I don't know what the government wants (and since it's made up of many thousands of people with differing opinions, I'm sure there is no one answer), but I want the government to regulate the ISPs (not the whole net) because the ISPs have amply demonstrated that when left on their own, they do a really really bad job. Verizon, Comcast, and the others have nobody else to blame for this; they caused it by their own actions.

Comment Re:Ted Cruz is Already Attacking Net Neutrality (Score 1) 706

Interesting. The Obamacare of X analogy is great.

Great indeed. So Obamacare has increased both the quantity and quality of health care for the poor, kept prices down (or at least not increased them faster than before), and is not a large burden on the US budget. By any reality which doesn't call our president a muslim from Kenya, it's a runaway success. I only wish Net Neutrality could be so successful.

Comment Re:People buy stuff without understanding is... (Score 1) 321

So buy her a chromebook or something else (mostly) bulletproof.

I shouldn't have to be a mechanic to own a car, or be a doctor to manage my blood pressure, so others shouldn't need to be an IT guru to read email, watch cat videos, and chat with friends on facebook. If computers need years of training, that means that we as IT folk have failed. (And so far, we have failed.)

Comment Re:And now the opposite view. (Score 1) 553

Which is why companies DO NOT WANT real critical thinking skills.

They want people who think like they do and who come to the same conclusions that they do based upon the same information that they have.

That doesn't follow. Pepsi wants us to buy more Pepsi, but nothing about their behavior says that they want us to think like they do. For those of you who are older, the "Pepsi Challenge" was hardly scientific but was still a reasonable attempt. And why would H&R Block want us to not use critical thinking skills? Why does the local supermarket care what I believe? Actually, most companies want to hire people who can think, because they are better at making money for the company.

Now, if you had said used "religions" rather than "companies" then you'd have a pretty strong case.

Comment Re:What is critical thinking? (Score 4, Interesting) 553

"We oppose the teaching of Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) (values clarification), critical thinking skills and similar programs that are simply a relabeling of Outcome-Based Education (OBE) (mastery learning) which focus on behavior modification and have the purpose of challenging the studentâ(TM)s fixed beliefs and undermining parental authority."

We shouldn't challenge student's fixed beliefs? Or undermine parental authority? Those sound like usual and desired outcomes of critical thinking skills.

Outcome-Based Education means, as far as I know, "teaching; then testing for those skills". It's not perfect (nothing is) but I'm not sure what the complaint is.

And I'll admit that "focus on behavior modification" sounds like a code phrase. You seem to like this statement; could you translate it into language that I can understand? Because you complained about the interpretation but did not explain how that interpretation doesn't come from those words. Actually, that paragraph sounds like it was written by people who have no idea what "Higher Order Thinking Skills" or "Outcome-Based Education" mean but are pretty sure they're designed to turn kids against their parents somehow? Or am I mis-interpreting it too?

Comment Re:They're not astronauts, they're ballast. (Score 2) 77

Since the results of "define astronaut", "a person who is trained to travel in a spacecraft", don't appear in the wiikpedia page at all, you may be completely wrong. Otherwise, though, nice off-topic anti-google rant.

While I see a big difference between crew, scientists, and paying passengers, once I put aside my incredible envy of anyone who can leave this small rock I've got to admit that they all deserve the term "astronaut". Wow!

Comment Re:And we're surprised why? (Score 1) 392

I didn't say government should be involved in any dispute between companies, so where do you come off claiming I advocate its involvement in all such disputes?

The solution is for government to take actions to eliminate its need for further involvement, .... It was not the local government that dealt with the mess, it was the Pennsylvania Insurance Department which should have prevented the issue 26 years ago.

I'm very confused about whether or not you believe government should get involved here? Or maybe you are saying that it should be involved in THIS dispute but not any other?

Regardless, the point I was replying to was the contention that you could avoid a corporation which misbehaved, but not government. The UPMC-vs-Highmark is a clear example that anyone with BCBS insurance in western PA (I have Anthem BCBS through my employer) is disadvantaged by UPMC. I can affect my government (a little bit and sometimes); I can have no effect on UPMC (even though my wife works for them). Government is led by people that I help elect; UPMC is led by the people who make it the most money and they make more money by behaving IMO badly.

Comment Re:And we're surprised why? (Score 4, Insightful) 392

You really don't believe me? Wow.

Pittsburgh. UPMC has decided that Highmark (and thus all Blue Cross/Blue Shield insurers) can no longer use their facilities because Highmark is threatening UPMC's near-monopoly status in Western PA. UPMC is trying to crush all competition in this area.

If you think being able to vote for the people and policies in government is worthwhile, why does your city have the problems you have described?

So you dislike the government but believe that it should be used to solve every company-vs-company dispute? Huh. No, the local government is finally trying to clean the mess up but they can't really do much to interfere with private contracts between companies. Turns out that anti-competitive behavior is mostly legal, and the state and federal governments haven't gotten involved.

These problems exist because being anti-competitive is a good way to make money. Seriously, you are blaming a company-vs-company problem on the government... how does that make any sense? If I get mugged, I should blame the police and not blame the mugger?

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