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Look at all these countries I used to own
Feds: We Can Freeze Megaupload Assets Even if Case Dismissed
[Quote]:
The United States government said Friday that even if the indictment of the Megaupload corporation is dismissed, it can continue its indefinite freeze on the corporation’s assets while it awaits the extradition of founder Kim Dotcom and his associates.
Norvig vs. Chomsky and the Fight for the Future of AI | Tor.com
[Quote]:
When the Director of Research for Google compares one of the most highly regarded linguists of all time to Bill O’Reilly, you know it is on. Recently, Peter Norvig, Google’s Director of Research and co-author of the most popular artificial intelligence textbook in the world, wrote a webpage extensively criticizing Noam Chomsky, arguably the most influential linguist in the world. Their disagreement points to a revolution in artificial intelligence that, like many revolutions, threatens to destroy as much as it improves. Chomsky, one of the old guard, wishes for an elegant theory of intelligence and language that looks past human fallibility to try to see simple structure underneath. Norvig, meanwhile, represents the new philosophy: truth by statistics, and simplicity be damned.
Worth reading in its entirety, I thought.
Quote
He who builds a better mousetrap these days runs into material shortages, patent-infringement suits, work stoppages, collusive bidding, discount discrimination–and taxes.”
– H. E. Martz
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As Social Sites’ Shares Fall, Some Hear Echo of 2000
[Quote]:
Several companies that were supposed to be the foundation of a new Internet era plummeted this week as analysts and investors downgraded their dreams. There were instant echoes of the crash of 2000, when the money stopped flowing, the dot-coms crumbled and Silicon Valley devolved into recriminations and lawsuits.
Shares of Facebook stumbled to a new low Friday after its first earnings report revealed a murky path to any profit that would justify its lofty valuation. The heavily promoted $100 billion company on the eve of its May debut is now a $65 billion company and persistently headed south.
Zynga, the social games company that uses Facebook as a platform, was battered even worse on Thursday, leaving its value at less than a quarter of its peak last winter. Netflix, which is trying to move from physical discs to streaming video, and the coupon company Groupon have also been under severe pressure, leaving them at a fraction of their recent worth.
That’s what they call “justis”.. cos it just is the way it is cos we say it is.
Sadly, not terribly different from the way Mr. Putin runs things these days.
I don’t consider any country that still has a King and Queen to be a democracy.
itspast: Funnily enough, there are not many democratic countries around the world, and looking at European monarchies, they tend to be more democratic than for example the US.
And the “non-democratic” bits are mostly results of not the King or Queen’s behaviour but that of business and government having a lovefilled breakfast.
Y’know…it’s quite interesting how often I say to people that X country is doing a bad thing and there is a response (usually from that place) like “Well your country is pretty sucky too, so there!”
This isn’t what I consider reasoned debate.
1) I compared the justice system in the U.S. with that in Russia. There is a disturbing tendency for both of these countries to more vigorously prosecute people who are political or industrial enemies. (Don’t get me started about the gulag of U.S. prisons, either). Both of these countries are, ostensibly, democracies and we could have an interesting discussion about that, although it was actually irrelevant to my comment.
2) Your point is incorrect. Democracies may indeed have a King, or as in the case of Canada, U.K., etc. a Queen. In Elizabeth II’s case she is a figurehead head of state, i.e. constitutional monarch, a celebrity in charge of ceremonial stuff and tourist attractions. It is how we avoid all this messy presidential election race.
Democracy is how the government is elected. One person, one vote, regional delegates belonging mostly to parties, first past the post. Our prime minister has more actual power to do stuff than the President of the United States, he is leader of the parliamentary party with the most votes in the legislature. Also, incidentally, an elected delegate for a particular area, i.e. parliamentary representative.
3) There are many types of governance. Every system has its weirdness, often derived from ancient history. For example, the U.S. system of primary elections and delegates to a party convention seems antiquated and prone to corruption, or at least is not the same across the country. Why can it not be properly democratic? Well, because (I am told) it would require some sort of major constitutional change and no-one wants to do that because they might not like the result…which is actually my reply to your point.
Practice safe government. Use a kingdom.
To me, it’s a sign that people are not ready for Democracy when they still want a King. I’m not sure the US is really ready when incumbents are reelected so easily in this country. Don’t even ask me about Russia.
Another example is Wisc. where the people actually said they didn’t want the responsibility of a recall election.
FYI, The US is not a democracy. It is a Democratic Republic. This makes corruption understandable.
Sue is right. European royalty are figureheads of state. They are placeholders, having no power but holding that bizarre ceremonial role, playacting the role of ultimate ruler constitutionally, which ensures that no-one else can actually have supreme power. Strangely (to Americans) it works. Itspast would do well to understand this before casting unkind aspersions. By the way, excellent play on words, John. True too.