Maybe you don't, but I certainly do.

It is the same setup as the Iraq war:
- all the experts agree
- if you don't support it, you're a terrorist
- sudden alarmism because of unrelated events (9/11 for iraq, the al gore movie for this)
- exaggerated claims (mushroom clouds vs new york under water)
- scaremongering
- ignore evidence that shows that the conclusions were assumed


I don't know much about climate or the statistics behind it. And I didn't know anything about WMDs or the intelligence business. But I know something about human motivations and in both cases, I could smell the BS a mile away.

People like .Net because MS offers tools to allow point & click programming. This means more people can do it and companies can lower wages.

In the same vein, computers and quickbooks allow more people to do accounting and lowers wages. Before this, a company needed an experienced accountant and a couple of assistants. Now all they need is a part time person to do the same work.
We should stop supporting computers.


(just in case it escapes you, I'm being facetious)

Is that the same greed that is causing laptop manufacturers to cut prices and add on more features? And why would laptop manufacturers be more greedy than lawnmower manufacturers? And if they can charge higher prices just because they're greedy, why would they stop at this particular price? Why can't they just charge $10,000 per laptop battery?

Are you sure it has nothing to do with battery size, heat dissipation requirements, logistics, safety requirements, FCC certification costs, etc? Have you looked at all the variables and set your political preferences aside?

but you weren't worried when the government got permission to do wiretaps without a FISA order?

I'm sorry, but where did the parent poster say that he supported any of the things you accuse him of supporting? Oh, you're one of those people who just assume that just because I oppose the pepsi party, I must be with the cocacola party.
How old are you?

By showing that some common game-theoretical problems are so hard that they'd take the lifetime of the universe to solve, Daskalakis is suggesting that they can't accurately represent what happens in the real world.

Hayek showed that about 50 years ago:
"The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know about what they imagine they can design." (The Fatal Conceit, p. 76)

Unfortunately, there is a lot of designing going on right now.

The heart rate monitors give you a reading of calories burnt. While I don't know if they are accurate, I do know they are more accurate than the reading from a machine.

I assume, have to do with the fact that advertisers are subhuman vermin who would sell their own grandmothers for a nickle

Have you ever sent your resume to someone asking for a job? Yes? Congratulations, you are an advertiser trying to sell your services.

A boat floating in a harbor has some percentage of its total mass below the water. When the tide comes in, the boat rises up. When the tide goes out, the boat sinks back down. But there is no change in the amount of boat mass above and below the water! The only thing that affects whether the boat goes deeper into the water or not is if additional mass is added, removed, or a hole is punched in the bottom. Governments are well known for punching holes into the titanics of industry, though.

If that logic is correct, there should be no problem imposing a 10,000% tax right? After all, it will be the same for all ISPs, so it will be ok.

Hint - like all taxes, it raises the prices and some consumers will not be able/want to pay.

Here is a comparison of life expectancies between the US and Europe.

For unadjusted life expectancy, the U.S. ranks #14 out of 16 countries, but for the adjusted standardized life expectancy, (adjusted for the effects of premature death resulting from non-health-related fatal injuries) the U.S. ranks #1.

Doesn't Airbus outsource as well?
If I'm not mistaken, they manufacture/assemble in over 5 different countries.

So, let's hear it for mindless peddling of stupid ideas that are based on arbitrary political boundaries.

And who decides what a "social network" is?

I wonder when we'll receive calls for govt. regulation of websites to keep it safe for children.

Here is an interesting piece about corporations and their incentives to protect their reputations.

It is not about IT (it is about insurance companies in Nazi Germany), but provides a very good insight nonetheless.

There is no question that many Chinese people are not paying Microsoft for the products they use.

But I fail to understand the fixation with the trade deficit that many people have - do you also worry about people in Illinois pirating windows and hence the trade deficit between IL and WA? If not, why should one arbitrary political boundary matter more than another?

Don't forget all the clerks and typists who lost their jobs due to the computer; hope you "spoke out" for them.