Doing some moderation and getting extremely pissed off by the endless maundering of (presumed) Americans about some internal political matters. Someone called Kerry Dubyah is contesting with someone called John Bush for the leadership of some body called POTUS (sometimes a related position called FLATUS is also brought into the "debate" to confuse matters. this post seems to be related to the gigolos/ babotchkas that the contestants use/ are used by. I think.)
I'm wishing for a moderating flag like "Parochial Politics" that would come at a level like "-99", so that such comments could be killed off at source, leaving the interesting (to nerds - this is "News for Nerds, stuff that matters" after all) stuff like the trolling, the flamebaits and the actual technical stuff where people can find it without wading through the dross. Might be able to get rid of the Iraq dross through the same method.

But how to put this forward to the "system" as a proposal? Still can't find a place to post such suggestions/ requests.

The idea is not /quite/ comparable to moderation though - things can move up and down a scale in the moderating system, but I envisage this as being more like a permanent flag. Sort of like the "green beard" method described by W.D.Hamilton.

For those that think that adding my as a foe is a good thing, I smile at their foolishness. I just add them to my friends list.

Two more this month have fallen into this little quirk of mine. I never much figured out why people "hate" others enough to be bothered to actually put them on a Foe List.

Love you guys. ;-)

To the few people that have added me as Friends recently, thank you. I know it isn't much, but it is all I have to offer. Please don't feel diminished by the fact that I also add my freaks as my friends, as that is in no way a reflection of who you are.

To everyone else...... HI

I have long been trying to advocate community based text books, using the Creative Commons type license. Imagine the combined intellect of all the worlds teachers contributing to a systematic learning collection of textbooks.

I am positive that the books would be much cheaper to produce. And as a bonus each student would be able to write notes( in them ) and keep the text for as long as needed. Perhaps even giving each student the entire course on a CD, to help prevent DeadTree versions.

It would prevent both Right wing and Left wing people from undue influence in the material, and the long term ability to cross check facts and provide alternate viewpoints.

I am not sure how this would play out with the teacher's unions and the school districts though

WHY would the Democrats put Jimmy Carter up criticizing Bush's record? He sure didn't do a good job when HE had the chance.

In fact, If I recall the economy of Jimmy Carter was called Stagflation. High Unemployement, High interest, high taxes, no growth economy under his watch.

In fact, Militant Islam got a foothold in Iran under his watch. In fact, terrorism got a foot hold under his watch. Remember the Iranian hostage crisis? Remember the botched attempt at a rescue.

In fact, the moral of the US was much worse when HE was president. Why anyone would listen to him is beyond me.

I just found the best site for pictures of Boobies. A must see for everyone who likes Boobies. They have pictures of all sorts of Boobies for you to look at.

http://www.rit.edu/~rhrsbi/GalapagosPages/Boobies.html

Saw this news item posted on slashdot:

http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/01/23/1738250&mode=thread&tid=126&tid=95&threshold=-1

Thought it was interesting conceptwise. That was, until I realized that the membership was secret to start with. To join, you must be invited, to be invited, you must know someone who has joined, to know who has joined you must be a member, a form of catch-22.

Then I realized all it takes is one bastard to ruin the whole "Trusted Network of friends. I then understood that the whole idea would be broken in a matter of days.

What a bunch of elitist morons. Hey wait, that is redundant.

Or as they say on slashdot.

Hippy Gnu Beard.

Lets start off by examining one of the scores from one of my posts.

(Score:0, Insightful)

Since I start off with a +1 on all my posts, this seems a bit .... Weird. I have been moderated DOWN for being insightful?

A close look at the score table below will explain how this happens.

Starting Score: 1 point
Moderation -1
    30% Insightful
    70% Overrated

30% think it is insightful, and 70% overrated. Since I am thinking that Slashdot rounds the numbers to the nearest 10% so that I have one "Insightful" and two Down mods, the last being "Overrated" for a total of three.

The "Overrated" mod is kind of funny to me. It means that the post has at least SOME interest, just not enough to rate it up, but not really worth modding down, except that is exactly what they are doing.

So this week has Turkey day on Thursday, where we eat enough turkey to sleep for a week afterwords. The magical chemical that makes one sleepy is Tryptophan (or does it?). It is, however, a neat little amino acid.

http://www.chemie.fu-berlin.de/chemistry/bio/aminoacid/trp_en.html

Eating Turkey which contians elevated levels of Trytophan is probably NOT the cause for all the sleepy heads on Friday.

http://www.ehso.com/ehshome/FoodSafety/foodtryptophan.php

So, what is the cause? Probably over eating and all the alchohol consumed. But what is Thanksgiving except an excuse to eat and drink too much?

A nice bottle of Merlot, and a Chardonnay (for those that don't like real wine) will be on my table, as well as sparkeling cider for those that don't like alchohol and the kids.

I will be carving the bird using the "Presentation" method described HERE

http://www.eatturkey.com/foodsrv/manual/serve7.html

I sharpen my own blades, so the knife will be sharp. Nothing is more dangerous than a dull knife. So take the time to sharpen those dull knives.

http://www.diabetic-lifestyle.com/articles/oct01_cooki_1.htm

http://www.taunton.com/finecooking/pages/c00150.asp

Having work in many kitchens, I can sharpen a blade from very dull to very sharp on a Steel in about 1 -3 minutes. Only on the worst blades, ones with nicks and such do I ever sharpen on a grinder.

Pumpkin, Pecan, and lemon meringue pie are for dessert. Nobody likes Mincemeat Pie, except me, so I don't get my favorite for another year.

I will be making my own yeast rolls using a family recipe from France. They are so simple, yet so good.

Anyway, hoping you and yours have a very nice Thanksgiving. Take time to reflect on all the things you really are thankful for.

Hey Bethanie,

Your tag line is famous. I now predict that it will become the next Slashtroll line.

1. Imagine ....
2. Overlords ....
3. Natalie Portman ...
4. "Do you want fries with that"
5. ????
6. Profit

http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/10/28/1710229&mode=thread&tid=137&tid=184&threshold=0

I must be facinated by the whole moderation process. But I have noticed something quite recently. That is not that many articles are getting moderated. And the ones that are moderated remain at 3 or 4 longer than ever.

It makes me wonder if the moderation system is starting to fail or if the SlashDudes have changed the parameters.

I have seen several posts that were RIGHT on target or just plain funny stuck at 1. That is another thing, I don't see many +2s anymore either.

Anyway, it is anecdotal evidence at best; my observations. Nothing scientific or anything.

I have been so tired lately it isn't even funny. Physically, not sleepy. Yet right now, I am sleepy tired, and it is just after 1:00pm.

It isn't like the job of a geek is all that hard. it isn't. The hardest part is lifting equipment on occasion.

I have tried the working out, eating better stuff to no avail, except that it makes me MORE tired. I have had a checkup, and my health is okay.

I just don't get it. Can I get a nap with those fries?

I will be most likely holding my nose tomarrow as I vote in the Recall of Greyout Davis. I don't want any chance of that idiot or his Racist Clone in office on Weds.

Ahhhnold is going to get my vote (Voting early, often). It looks like it is going to be tight.

If it wasn't tight I would have voted for the Porn Starlett, just to waste my vote, and show my contempt for the whole Election process. (I view the whole thing as rigged anyway).

As for the allegations against AHHHNOLD of womanizing, groping or otherwise crude behavior, if this monkey is the best they can come up with, they are really hurting.

http://us.news1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/rids/20031006/i/r1346780462.jpg

Seriously, when I saw the woman, I though "Planet of the Apes", and no makeup required. If Arnold did grope this woman, he really DOES need to be locked up, for INSANITY.

This should be interesting.

Okay, here is where things get interesting.

We should be taxing the crap out of things that are harmful to society, and untaxing things that are actually GOOD for society.

Is having an income good? If so, why are we taxing it?

Think what would happen if we taxed PORNO instead? or Drugs? Or Prostitution? or whatever. Taxing stuff that makes society better is just plain STUPID.

I wouldn't be opposed to a sales tax on Internet purchases, in the current wacky tax/spend system we have today. But here is how I would set it up.

Any Purchase made by or through a internet source or destination inside the USoA would be taxed at a FLAT rate, to be evenly divided among the origination and destination states.

For instance, Ma&Pa Internet Sales INC, sells me a $100 pair of gold plated plastic spoons. They are in Texas, and I am in South Dakota (not really). Texas and South Dakota get 1/2 of the collected sales tax. Let us say that sales tax is 4% that would mean SD and TX would both get $2 each.

Now, if I were in say London, M&P would still collect 4% tax. Tex would get $2, and the other $2 would go to some other fund.

If on the otherhand, M&P were in London instead, that is a tricky issue. I think Import duties and other such restrictions would then apply.

Okay, so I see a post today on some more smart card privacy invasion. This time data tracking who goes where using Public Tramsportation in London.

This time, I can't help myself, and hint that I am one of those WEIRDOS that actually believes in the Bible.

The question is though, would this and should this one aspect of my life affect what others think of topics not even related?

In other words, does the fact that I actually believe in something bigger than myself, affect my ability to comment insightfully or otherwise on topics outside that relm?

Does this totally change how people see me? Not that I really care. I think it is something people should know, because it is important to me.

I should point out that I am not a Luddite either. Since I can remember, I have been facinated with technology, and gadgets and such.

However, I also see the amalgamation of technology coming together in a way where a single entity could control most every aspect of our lives.

This is something I am watching very carefully.