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Re: [luv-talk] : Global warming and survivalism (fork from Linux != Poltics)
by Peter Ross 28 Apr '14

28 Apr '14

From: "Jason White" <jason(a)jasonjgw.net> > Peter Ross <Petros.Listig(a)fdrive.com.au> wrote: > >> Of course,just that the government has not the numbers in an elected >> senate. >> >> The demand to "obey" a perceived "mandate given by the Australian >> people" is bullying. > > The rhetoric is most likely intended to reinforce support for Coalition > policies among voters, and thereby to exert political pressure on the > opposition. Did I say bullying? ;-) People cast their vote for all sorts of reasons, never more than 50% for a specific item. E.g. only a small minority voted for Abbott's Direct Action, there is more support for the carbon tax: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/fairfaxnielsen-poll-v… The most likely outcome will be no policy in place at all, which is only preferred by 11% of the people according to this poll. It is in stark contrast to this (I would call this a mandate if it would be a result of a referendum): The Age-Nielsen poll of 1400 voters found that Australians overwhelmingly wanted to see Australia meet the nation's commitment to cut emissions by 5 per cent by 2020 based on year 2000 levels. Even the PM is clearly unpopular, as polls constantly show. Maybe the unpopularity has something to do with his constant righteous arguing about "mandates". Regards Peter

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Re: [luv-talk] : Global warming and survivalism (fork from Linux != Poltics)
by Peter Ross 28 Apr '14

28 Apr '14

From: "Trent W. Buck" <trentbuck(a)gmail.com> > Peter Ross wrote: >> I expect a "normalised" society to be a bureaucratic one and not a >> creative one. Genetic selection criteria or modification will >> amplify this problem, I suspect. > > I'm really awfully glad I'm a Beta, because I don't work so hard. It's a while ago that I read Huxley.. Which category are our current leaders? Really Alpha? I wonder whether it is possible to "design" a society where creative Betas are having a reasonable input and Alpha are restraint to listen to them. The current Australian leadership, at least, reminds me of an elected "absolute monarchy" (maybe that's the reason for the Dames and Knights;-) After election the leader is free to ignore all science and reason. I found it amusing when this weekend Palmer disputed Abbott's "mandate" to get rid of climate tax and mining tax. Abbott should do some counting, Palmer reckoned. E.g. the number of seats in the Senate. Abbott would love to have an Ermächtigungsgesetz: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enabling_Act_of_1933 I know, in every discussion is a return to Hitler. Maybe Australia today is a rerun of history as a farce. I just do not like sequels. Always look on the bright side of life.. whistle whistle Peter

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Re: [luv-talk] Global warming and survivalism (fork from Linux != Poltics)
by Peter Ross 27 Apr '14

27 Apr '14

From: "Trent W. Buck" <trentbuck(a)gmail.com> > Andrew McGlashan wrote: >> On 24/04/2014 4:57 PM, Peter Ross wrote: >> > From: "Jason White" <jason(a)jasonjgw.net> >> >> I think the idea for human enhancement of intelligence, though, would be >> >> to increase IQ biologically if appropriate means (genetic selection of >> >> children,gene therapy, drugs or whatever) were available. >> > >> > I do not think we have appropriate social mechanisms to do this reasonably >> > well. The selection/improvement criteria would be hijacked pretty quickly >> > to clone an army of "desired subjects". >> > >> > Anyway, I know a few people who are not "fully normed". They are among the >> > most fascinating people I met. >> > >> > I just spent a weekend with a "borrowed" child camping with us. He is very >> > difficult, according to many. >> > >> > I ignored half of the advice and we all had a pretty good weekend with him! >> > >> > In your "grand plan" he would not exist, maybe.. >> >> What a great story Peter, thank you. >> >> I'm also against /master/ race science too > > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin%27s_law > > Eugenics does not necessarily mean "I am a Nazi", I agree with that, and I do not suspect this here on the list. Sorry if it sounded that way. I remember a song line (translated into English): "How crazy is the man who thinks he is normal";-) Just pick randomly a few artists, scientists or other people of public interests and look up their life. There is a lot "craziness" and behaviour "we do not approve". To a certain extend I expect a "normalised" society to be a bureaucratic one and not a creative one. Genetic selection criteria or modification will amplify this problem, I suspect. Regards Peter

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Linux != Poltics
by Brent Wallis 26 Apr '14

26 Apr '14

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Playing LP's with a laser pickup ?
by Rohan McLeod 25 Apr '14

25 Apr '14

Assembled cognoscenti; I was recently discussing the depressing fact that playing vinyl LP's with even the lightest 'needle-head' seemed to involved wearing out the signal. The sound guy I was talking to seemed to recall some experimentation with an interferometric laser surface gauge; and I (wrongly as it turned out) was under the impression that a commercial product, existed but it cost > $100K. A bit of googling has turned up: http://www.elpj.com/ at about $15K to $20K; anyone ever had any experience with such things ? - I should emphasise this is just idle curiosity as I have nether the money, or the LP's to play on such a device ! regards Rohan McLeod

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Re: [luv-talk] Global warming and survivalism (fork from Linux != Poltics)
by Peter Ross 24 Apr '14

24 Apr '14

From: "Jason White" <jason(a)jasonjgw.net> > I think the idea for human enhancement of intelligence, though, would be > to increase IQ biologically if appropriate means (genetic selection of > children,gene therapy, drugs or whatever) were available. I do not think we have appropriate social mechanisms to do this reasonably well. The selection/improvement criteria would be hijacked pretty quickly to clone an army of "desired subjects". Anyway, I know a few people who are not "fully normed". They are among the most fascinating people I met. I just spent a weekend with a "borrowed" child camping with us. He is very difficult, according to many. I ignored half of the advice and we all had a pretty good weekend with him! In your "grand plan" he would not exist, maybe.. Regards Peter

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Re: [luv-talk] Global warming and survivalism (fork from Linux != Poltics)
by Peter Ross 24 Apr '14

24 Apr '14

From: "Carl Turney" <carl(a)boms.com.au> > Too bad most voters elect parties that hide the costs from us, by > destroying the earth and saying "we'll build more desalination plants". There are places in this world.. https://icapcarbonaction.com/ets-map We still have a climate tax and Clive Palmer is less than happy with Abbott's Direct Action idea.. We are going direction Dark Ages, Rome is crumbling but we are not there yet.. Regards Peter

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Re: [luv-talk] Fwd: Global warming and survivalism (fork from Linux != Poltics)
by Peter Ross 24 Apr '14

24 Apr '14

From: "Russell Coker" <russell(a)coker.com.au> > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sovereign_states_and_dependent_territo… > > Quickly scan the above page and you'll notice the correlation between > standard of living and birth rate. What about correlation between consumption of natural resources and birth rate? Maybe we are just rabbits running out of "food" so nature tells us (with the help of the pill) to stop multiplying? Maybe nature is smarter than us, after all;-) China, fuelling our wealth: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/video/2014-04/22/c_133280627.htm Meanwhile, Ministry of Environmental Protection also says around 280 million Chinese people exposed to unsafe drinking water. The ministry reported that over 70 percent of water from lakes, and 60 percent of underground water across the country does not meet the national safety standard. "Brain-jumping" to our "pension crisis": Is it smart to work "harder" (longer) instead of really smarter and less? At the moment our economic system looks a bit like a hamster wheel: we are running faster and faster and when we pause we get mangled by it. I do not believe that this system has a long term future, actually. One day all hamsters will drop dead by exhaustion. Regards Peter

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Re: [luv-talk] Global warming and survivalism (fork from Linux != Poltics)
by Peter Ross 24 Apr '14

24 Apr '14

From: "Carl Turney" <carl(a)boms.com.au> > We can recycle all the toilet tissue and containers in the world, live > hot in the summer and cold in the winter, ban personal vehicles, go > strictly vegetarian, and we'd =still= need x Olympic swimming pools of > water and y b-double trucks of food per person per lifetime. Look at this graph: http://www.data360.org/dsg.aspx?Data_Set_Group_Id=757 Don't you agree there is _a lot_ room to improve? E.g. we can build houses that are not "hot in summer and cold in winter". It even feels better to live in them. Changing the mindset that "less is poor and more is good" is a way. > Please tell us how we can change the minds of right-wing Tea Party > members, and the devout believers that "God wants us to multiply and > will make it all OK for us if we do"? That is what the taxation of resources is about, because the only way to educate some is making them look in their wallet. As an example, the overall costs of the Morwell fire should have been paid by the mining company and so increased the price of Victorian power generated by brown coal. The electricity bill would have made some people think about our "cheap" coal and the "expensive" renewable energy. Regards Peter

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Re: [luv-talk] Patriarchy and Matriarchy put to the test
by Tim Josling 24 Apr '14

24 Apr '14

Message: 1 Date: Sun, 13 Apr 2014 15:16:36 +1000 From: Russell Coker Subject: Re: [luv-talk] Patriarchy and Matriarchy put to the test inadvertently To: luv-talk(a)lists.luv.asn.au On Mon, 7 Apr 2014 13:45:33 Tim Josling wrote: > http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1168182/Catfights-handbags-tears-t > oilets-When-producer-launched-women-TV-company-thought-shed-kissed-goodbye-c > onflict-.html _ > If we are going to look at male behavior in a mostly-male environment one example that should be considered is the Debian project. Some years ago Debian had no procedures for expelling Developers for anything other than criminal action. When some DDs didn't get along then things just became increasingly hostile until someone voluntarily left. I presume that someone who had access to the debian-private archives and little understanding of people could write an article for the Daily Mail about how a 98% male project didn't kiss goodbye to conflict, however that would be a really stupid article. In recent times DDs have been expelled for being assholes and things are a lot better. Debian is a successful project that took steps to ensure its continued success. Problem? No-one is suggesting that all men are wonderful or that all the world's problems would go away if only men ran things. > Tim, I don't expect you to consider these issues or change your opinion of women. I'm writing this for the benefit of other people who are less misogynistic than you. Again, what's with the amateur psychology and mind reading? Misogyny, cowardice, homophobia... My concern is not at all with women but with the overblown claims that all we need to do is empower women and all will be sweetness and light. Women and men both have their strengths and weaknesses. In terms of the original articles what would be more convincing would be a significant counter-example. An organization that is successfully, other than in merely gaining government funding, and is almost entirely run by and funded by women. A female Linux or Debian project for example, or a female Google - "How I got my company into the S&P500 by employing only women".

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