As to significant digits, I'm sure you're right... I think my biggest problem is the idea of turning the entire data set into one number... I have a great suspecion of over simplification. I've seen that go horribly wrong in many situations.

An example you might be aware of was the 2008 credit crunch. Part of the issue there was that the banks had abstracted ALL risk in an investment to a single number. They had an equation that you'd key all the variables into and it would output a risk number.

Anyway... to get that figure required a lot of assumptions... certain variables and market properties were assumed to be a given... for example they assumed the market would always go up. Over time it does of course... or at least has always done so. However... whether your investments can survive the system crashing for a significant duration before recovering is another matter.

So that is just a general bias I have. I don't trust that sort of reduction. I'm struggling to think of any instance that I know really well where it didn't turn out to be very foolish.

As to weather instruments being better calibrated... not historically. Keep in mind they were for local weather and part of the reason they struck so many stations of the list was that they were getting temperature readings from certain stations that they didn't trust so they scrapped the station entirely.

Even in modern times I wouldn't be surprised if the stations are off by a degree one way or the other. It doesn't matter for the actual use of the station if it is off a degree. They wouldn't notice or care. If it says it's 86 degrees instead of 85 or 87... who's going to know or care?

Only the climate scientists are going to care about that and that's not why those stations were installed or why they're maintained.

As to denier. You either stop using that term or you're outing yourself as someone that has only interest in the political argument.

It would be like me referring to warmists as "grand wizards" or something. If you'll let me identify you with the KKK then I'll accept your attempt to associate me with Nazis. Otherwise I reject the term as a pathetic political ploy and any attempt to maintain the terminology will be taken as a declaration that you want to play political games. At that point, I'm 100 percent politics with you and will ignore any scientific argument utterly.

It gives me a genuine thrill of pride that you would think so... Really.

Ever had someone try to insult you but they know so little about you that they accidentally complimented you? Always amusing.

Thanks. :)

You don't know how much time I spend. I can make no more than 50 posts in a day and very rarely hit that limit.

how long do you think it takes me to make a post on this site?

Average posts per day is something like 25... when I get dog piled by fucktards and feel like slapping them around I could hit 50 in a day but that's rare.

25 posts... how long does that take you?

How illiterate are you that 25 posts seems like a full day's work to you?

And I love that you hypocritical fuckwits think you can judge me when no one can audit your stupid asses. I'm convinced there are far fewer of you than it seems and its just the same couple fucktards posting as AC over and over again.

Drill sergeants are a given so that's a zero sum game. The military is not replacing drill sergeants with anything.

They would sooner get rid of infantry than replace their non-coms.

The military doesn't take that view. The marines especially have the notion that EVERY member of the marines is a "rifleman" first... which means universal fitness is mandatory. Not only that but competence with their rifles is required... it doesn't matter what you actually do most of the time. You must master that first and maintain that skill. Look at them.

There are no fat marines.

The army a bit looser on that but for a lot of reasons I won't get into, they're not going to tolerate big fat dudes. It literally offends large portions of the military to even contemplate it.

New recruits... sure. But they work you until you're fit.

Cost, live human feedback, live adaptability, proven effectiveness of existing methods...

You know... just the really obvious things that anyone could cite if they thought about it for at least 2 full seconds.

According to the military, that isn't the problem. Apparently the current generation is more willing to kill than any prior generation that they kept records for... WW1's generation had a really hard time actually intentionally shooting someone.

Even up to Vietnam it was quite common for US soldiers to intentionally miss.

The military is saying the problem is not that people are sissies so much as they're fat and weak. So they've shifted a lot of the training from bits where they key up people's killer instincts and instead spend that time running laps and doing push ups.

I can send you reports from the marines and army. They're very happy with the "grit" of the men showing up to serve. They're just annoyed out how out of shape they are.

I saw "when nerds BBQ"... Not when nerds make tedious and generally not very rewarding texas smokers less of a pain in the ass.

""oh...it's Karmashock. Cognitive dissonance is your deal. Nevermind. Carry on.""
That looks like someone judging my post by some record I have left behind of previous posts.

I have no problem with people that actually log in doing that. That's fine. But ACs are fucking hypocrite trash when they do it.

... so one example of one insurance company losing its non-profit status means that they are all greedy and driving up costs of insurance?

Never mind taht if you go into a hospital without insurance they charge MORE than if you had insurance.

That implies that the costs are not coming from the insurance companies but rather from the hospitals.

Nearly all the money goes to the hospitals. Have you looked at a hospital bill recently? THAT is what is driving up costs. The hospital bills themselves.

Now why are hospital bills going up? many complex reasons... basically none of which has anything to do with insurance.

Really... and all the election polls were accurate?
http://www.yourememberthat.com...

Election polls are frequently wrong. The republicans in 2012 thought they were going to win as I remember.

There is so much evidence that you're choking on stupidity:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/...

Your argument would require that the polls all agree with each other... but they don't. Every election cycle we have polls that are all over the place.

Are some of them going to be right? Sure... will a shotgun hit a target with some pellets?... easy to do when you blast out bird shot.

... I'm not arguing that about smoking... I'm just not sure why i would do that in the first place.

Smoking is not something I do... I've gone to places that do it and frequently it is really hard for me to see what all the fuss is about. Maybe that's just me and everyone else is nuts for smoked meat.

It strikes me a bit like the california oak wine thing. There was this point in the California wine industry where they they thought having an oaky flavor was a plus. So they'd literally put oak wood chips in the wine while it fermented and aged. Needless to say... it made the wine taste gross but a lot of people thought it was more sophisticated or something because it tasted like wood.

The smoke thing is kind of similar... you've got people picking the right kind of wood they want to have smoke their meat... they want the smoke to really impart a flavor on the meat...

Why do I want any of these things? Since when do I want to taste burnt wood in my meat? The hell. And I'm pretty sure liquid smoke is the grossest thing ever.

I'm also not a fan of dry rub. I think they do that in texas because they smoke everything but I prefer a proper marinade ideally.

I do a lot of asian fusion stuff. I just mess around... people seem to like it and above all I stay interested.

You got one thing straight... I do like fighting idiots... its so easy!

Often my forum wars feel like this to me:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

And I'll point out that there's only so much work for me because there aren't enough people helping me keep back the green tide. :D

Its a sunday morning... and I'm in my underwear slapping fools around between games of "Dirty Bomb" until a store opens where I need to run an errand... then I'm off to a big 4th of july themed party that is on the 5th for no reason.

That's my day. :P

More ACs telling me how I should behave!

Tell me AC... how do you behave on this site. Can you show me your record here?

Yes you can or no you're another hypocritical shithead?

LOG IN or don't presume to judge those that do.

... a drill sergeant could just push your arm into the correct position and call you a grab-asstic piece of amphibian shit until you get it straight.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

This reminds me of those tablets they were handing out to school children on the notion that it improves education... and isn't just a great way to play angry birds. Which is exactly what happened to the Los Angeles Unified version of that little genius ploy.

I don't know. I'm all for exoskeletons... in the military and otherwise. But telling me it teaches people how to shoot in the military seems like a solution to a problem that we already have a better solution for... no?