Watch and learn my dear, this is how you make peace, not war.
They just want their fallen comrade, not to destroy all. And bring
her home to get the respect she deserves. Oh, and punish those
who did it to her.
Yeah I expected Slimy’s reply to her question. The strong/weak
excuse. Thing is, sooner or later the weak gets sick of it and does
something about it. And like so many strong tyrants, they get
complaisant, lazy and sloppy, then someone stronger moves in,
in this case The Empire, but they don’t the have greed like the core.
Ah, but the Empire does “have greed”. They’re in the game to make a buck just like everyone
else. The difference is the Empire practices enlightened “greed” (self interest, really).
They recognize the fact that the whole “stronger preying upon the weaker” schtick ultimately reduces the return from transactions. In the long run transactions which are fair to both sides maximizes returns – for BOTH sides! It is possible to build a highly
functional ethos solely out of laziness and selfishness a long as it is ENLIGHTENED
laziness and selfishness. Enlightened self interest will allow – encourage really –
treating others well because it knows that such is the path to maximum benefit FOR
ONESELF! I do not have to give a tinker’s dam about another to treat them well.
I merely have to recognize the path which – in the long run – maximizes the benefit to
me. Not only does it maximize benefit, it allows me to act honorably while maximizing
benefit to me. It doesn’t get better than that.
That’s basically the classical libertarian assumption.
Everybody acts in their own “enlightened self-interest”
and magically that leads to optimum results for every
one.
Only it doesn’t. Long term problems that need to be solved
for the sake of everybody or their grandchildren, but every
single person thinks that it should be handled by someone
else.
Actually, it’s not some “libertarian assumption”. I derived said ethos 40 years ago and
have lived by the principle of enlightened sloth and self-interest ever since. Truly
enlightened sloth and self-interest will seek to solve problems (that they are aware of
and that they can contribute to a solution) whenever they can, recognizing that said
problems are likely to bite them in the ass if they do not. There are a multitude of problems
which are utterly beyond my capacity to affect. That said, I consume less than half the
electricity the power company reports as the norm for my area. I use approximately
1/3rd the water. I do not conserve out of any great love of the earth or fear of climate
change. I do it because it saves me money on my utility bills. I try to fix problems as soon
as I become aware of them so that they do not get worse. I try very hard to do things
right the first time so that I do not have to do them over. An enlightened lazy person will do
things as quickly as is consistent with doing them right so that they do not have to spend
more time doing something they do not like than is necessary. Hell! I obey the traffic laws
because that is the best way to keep from seeing flashing lights in my rear view mirror – AND
to avoid paying fines AND to avoid having my insurance go up. Enlightened laziness and
selfishess really does work!
Sure, it’s how you be prosperous, but not at the cost of your people.
And that’s the big difference, The Empire prospers, their members
prospers, everyone is happy. The tyrants just want them to prosper
and to hell with everyone else, I think it’s should be called the
“eat cake” syndrome.
Interstellar trade is entirely a Catian-based corporation, for now. At the moment,
it’s working capital is provided by the selling of shares and private bonds. Since
it is just beginning, it is heavily in debt, most of which is held by Imperial citizens.
The only Navy involvement is security. General security is part of the Navy’s
core mission, so no charge. If a freighter wants an escort, it has to pay for it, but
that will, for now, probably be a Dogishuan escort ship.
Any Imperial citizen can invest, even school children have formed clubs to buy shares.
The Navy’s main source of income is asteroid mining and refining and the selling
of the resulting materials, and in-space research and manufacturing. Since there
never were civilians involved in these areas, it’s not a problem.
All Navy income is placed in Imperial coffers, most is added to the Navy budget.
Some is sent to the Kingdoms, keeping taxes low.
The Empire does control the purse strings.
More will be explained later in the comic.
There’s to things to keep in mind if they’ll ever do it:
1st with enough ridiculously cheap transportation aka
grav ships you can easily disrupt any economy with
asteroid mining (wouldn’t really work in the forseable
future of the real world because transportation costs
are “astronomical”.
The Empire might consider weaponizing this; but they
really should be aware of the potential consequences.
2nd: if you’re interested in how to NOT privatizes a
government run service, you should take a closer look
on what Germany did to their postal/telephone services
and especially the train network (or communal water
supply or waste disposal – we really do have a knack
for these kind of mistakes)
Why would they want to privatize mining? It would be a huge loss
of income for the Empire, resulting in increased taxes for
everyone. Most citizens are fine with the situation as it stands.
Remember, they see how much they are paying in taxes every time
they make a purchase – it’s right there on the receipt. Makes it
difficult to raise taxes.
And since there are no corporate taxes, it’s impossible to raise
hidden taxes, as there aren’t any to raise.
I thought one of the primary assumptions of the Empire’s
economic system is that the private sector is by default
more efficient and generally better at anything they do then
a governmental institution?
On the other hand, if taxes are that bad and the gov partly
replacing them with mining income is such a win for everybody,
it probably would be better to set taxes to zero and just increase
the asteroid mining accordingly.
Don’t want to flood the market with raw materials. No, taxes are
necessary. Believe me, a total tax load of 25% of end consumption
is extremely low, compared to any in the real world.
No income tax, no property tax, no corporate taxes, no paperwork
expenses for keeping up with a convoluted tax code…
It’s not a VAT. A VAT is added whenever value is added to a product,
complicating every transaction with added paperwork and record
keeping at every step on its way to the final consumer.
A sales tax is nothing, and has no effect anywhere along the line of
manufacturing and delivery. It only shows up when the retailer pushes
the “Sale” button on the cash register. There is no paperwork with its
related expenses. At the end of the day the retailer makes his deposit
in the bank, the bank deducts 20% from the total and transfers it to
the Empire’s account. Anonymously. No one in government even knows
where the money came from. Great for privacy.
That’s pretty much like it works here.
(Sorry for confusing the terms)
(If you leave out all the complicating bits …)
If you buy stuff you need in creating your products, you don’t pay the tax
you’d had to pay if you’re intending to consume it, that’s why many online shops
name two different prices: one for end consumers and one for companies.
And look at how Denmark let its postal service go ‘private’. Funny how the bosses wonder why they loose
marketshares when they up the prices and lower service.
In my youth the mailman came by 6 days of the week, you could pay things via him, send and receive packets
via him, he provided some ‘overwatch’ on elderly citizens by checking on their wellbeing (and possibly
ensuring said wellbeing for being there to talk to), and numerous other small aspects like mail being a
day-to-day thing. Now?
The price to send a letter have skyrocketed, so have packet prices (once it was cheaper to send a packet via
mail, now, most of the operators in the danish market is cheaper (and faster(!)) than PostNord. In fact, most
of today’s operators have ‘popped up’ AFTER the government sold out the mail service.
Like Jan said, if you privatize infrastructure the people often end up having to pay more
for less, and it usually stays a monopoly for quite some time even after being sold to
a private company.
I know of far too many examples where they claimed “privately run is always better”
only to make things actually worse.
Like Cities outsourcing their water supply and disposal to a “private public partnership”
only to find out way too late that the “private partner” really screwed them over sideways.
But as I said: I think on this we can agree to disagree.
I will never claim that “privately run is always better”.
But privately run has better protections for the citizen.
We’ve beaten this horse before, when Bil Goram arrived on Earth.
No more.
Privately run, within boundaries and laws set up.to protect the individual and society as a whole,
THAT is how capitalism works. The problem is, when socialism is mentioned in conjunction with
capitalism, everybody tends to freak out. The problem is, a certain degree of socialism IS needed
for the US society and, yes, even the government, to function. For example, the highways, waterworks
and sewage systems, are all run by the government, although private contractors do the actual
maintenance, repair and expansion of these same systems. Electricity, communications and data
lines, again, are primarily run by the government, but the services areprovided by “private” contractors.
In a nutshell, a pure libertarian society would implode, just as the Soviet Union did, although, it would
likely happen much faster than it took for the USSR.
China APPEARS to be trying to find a workable balance, but are currently stumbling in the dark,
as, with their population size, a democratic republic similar to the US, would be very difficult
to set up, especially with the cultural and political baggage that they have.
Single party government systems lead to stagnant thinking without innovation, and dual
party systems seem to evolve into being two sides of the same coin. But, too many parties
tend to lead to similar issues as a pure libertarian system. A fine balance would need to be
established to allow for open debate and innovation, similar to either the English or Israeli
Systems.
None of these systems are perfect, nor SHOULD they be. There should ALWAYS be room for
improvement and change. As societies, cultures and technologies change, so to should the
Governments that they are a part of, but it should be in sync with the changes that occur
naturally, and not forced or suppressed, or else revolutions or civil wars can and will, occur.
Overall, it takes a c he balance of differing governing, societal and cultural inputs to manage
and create a workable society/government.
I hope that this isn’t violation if any rules here, but I suspect that these are observations most
of us have on a subconscious level, but our personal ideologies prevent the majority from
voicing these self same observations.
This is why I chose an Imperial monarchy.
It can be the best system, but only IF you have a moral, honest
and intelligent chief with an equally moral, honest and
intelligent supporting staff. Having a telepathic dragonfly
companion who loves you unconditionally helps, too.
If your leadership is honest, moral and intelligent,
every systems is the best.
One problem is how to pick’em. Dynasties only work for
like two generations – even under ideal circumstances
(have a look at family run big companies – they usually get
problems after two or three generations)
Appointing your successor is equally problematic. Maybe the
first leader makes the right choice, maybe even the next.
In the long run?
But if you say “power corrupts” – your best bet still is to
limit the power, that’s why modern democracies try to
separate parliament, administration and law system.
Parliament develops and passes laws, administration
executes and enforces these laws – and the judges keep
everybody on the straight and narrow.
Not a single person or group should ever be allowed to
pilot all three.
And of course the elections should be fair and well informed.
You’d have to limit the damage doable by spin doctors and the
like someway.
I guess they are going to send my wife home, I called her doctor
and is going to see her next week. She’s on breathing treatments
to help her expel the gunk in her lungs on top of a couple of antibiotics.
Yaa! another machine…
Oh sure it’ll help my nerves etc… I’m just worried about her
and how stubborn she is, and this is the second time she’s
fallen and broke a bone in the last 10 years. A major one.
Last time I was away in another town and she had to call
my sister to let me know (just can’t dial 911 i guess) I had
to drive 30 miles to get home and then she argued with me
about going to the hospital!
In times of stress she reverts to the same 19 year old girl I married so long ago.
Always worries the small stuff and not what’s important, It’s like worrying about
the bill while you’re bleeding out.
It’s hard to explain but my wife suffers from the strangest phobia, there’s a name
for it but it’s basically the fear OF fear, anything scares her or embarrasses her she’s
afraid of it forever, so at 58 she’s got a crap-ton of “phobias”. Including cops and
EMTs. Teasing her or joking around has to be done very carefully or she panics.
PC, I just checked and that “Girl Power” comic is now north of 15K with the #2 comic
barely 1/5th of that at 1032. Your buddy, “Two Kinds” is #3 at 870. Definitely something “odd” going
on with one comic at FIVE TIMES its nearest competitor. Were I a cynic I might be
tempted to suspect something hinkey going on. But since I am not a cynic . . . 😉
I follow that one too, but I rarely vote. I love cheesecake as much as
the next guy, but it’s not enough to get my vote. I’m more of a story
guy than just pretty pictures.
Oh sure, she’s the biggest reason I follow it, the things that
gal does and says just cracks me up, General: “what stops
you from using your powers?” Sydney: “well being riddled
with bullets for one.” I had to wipe down my monitor after
reading that, and stop taking drinks while reading too.
I suspect a bug in the site’s code. Something like adding all the votes not only
to the comic voted for but also to the first comic on the list under
some combination of conditions. It could not be all the time or the votes for
number one would be even higher. This started during last month. I don’t
remember it at the beginning of January. Of course, somebody at TWC
needs to look at what changed in their code in the last month.
That is, I suspect a programing bug rather than an attempt to game the voting.
TWC uses a monitor to watch how many times anyone votes using the IP
address and MAC address. You are tracked by that using a cookie that their
system creates in your temp folder, so if you go back and try to re-vote it kills
that vote. there’s ways around it including browser scripts, so I don’t doubt
there’s someone or more doing just that. It’s just not your turn?
I just went over to Grrlpower and seen this:
Psychie
February 2, 2023, 5:25 pm | Reply
Yeah, there is a big difference between bragging and just stating a fact. Considering how long Grrl Power has been floating around the single digits of top web comics
Maybe it’s something stupid along the lines, if you happen
to get another vote at the exact millisecond they reset the
scores, you keep your last month’s votes?
Stuff like that happens easily enough all the time.
I have no idea which will be first.
Perhaps it is the first to get votes after the reset to zero for everyone.
Note Twokinds has a reasonable number of votes and is number two.
It certainly is popular. I stand by bad coding over bad action.
If anyone has an account with TWC, please, ask them to look into this.
When I voted this morning I checked the standings at TWC. GP is north of 16K i.e. OVER TEN
TIMES the 2nd place strip. Twokinds is in 2nd @ just over 1,300 and the apparently spicy
strip is around 1,200 in 3rd. 2nd and 3rd places are more than TWICE the 4th place strip.
I’m no mathematician but there has to be something hinkey going on. Two something hinkeys
actually. Today is only the third day of counting and one comic is trending an ORDER OF MAGNITUDE
higher than its nearest competitor? And how are the 2nd and 3rd place strips running more than TWICE #4? From 4th place down things look like you’d expect. TGW is comfortably at #7
so if PC is okay with it so am I. But there is something decidedly odd going on in 1st and
then in 2nd and 3rd places. Somebody has figured out a way to game TWC’s system. Two ways,
actually. Ain’t right!
Just got an (unintentionally hilarious) call. Caller ID read “Possible Telemarketer”. When I
answered, the guy on the other end launched into a spiel or some police related fund to elect
(I’m paraphrasing here) “the right kind of candidates”. So I asked the guy what percentage of
the funds raised would actually go towards electing said candidates. When he hesitated I let
him know that I understand how things work and that fundraising costs need to be covered. I
then, again, asked what percentage of the funds raised would actually go towards the stated
purpose of the fundraisng. He advised me that it was not a set percentage but the goal was
to have enough left over to actually contribute to somebody’s campaign. I started laughing and
said ” Left over?! LEFT OVER?!” Then I went on laughing. He said he’d put my number on the
do-not-call list and hung up. Left over?!?! Oh, and if anybody is wondering we are a long way from
any election.
I’m not sure if the same trick is tried in your country,
but a while back there was a public campaign warning
us to never, ever speak the word “yes” in a conversation
with a potential telemarketer.
Supposedly, some of them were using these answers
in crafting “audio prove” that you agreed to some contract
or the other.
Some radio show even turned the issue into some kind
of challenge, calling people, telling them to never answer
“yes” on any question.
Of course immediately followed by something like “are
you ready?” or “did you understand the rules?”
Ooh, Sneaky! “I understand the rules.” “I am ready.”
Also, along those lines, beware of answering “What is the day before today called?” with
anything other than Monday, Tuesday, etc. Answer “Yesterday”, and your answer can be
truncated to be just “Yes”.
That’s been around since I was young, they figured out years ago
how to spot that, mismatched background noises, sudden changes
in the vocal tones, etc… Any attorney worth anything can request
such a recording to be tested.
I was just fooling around with sound “bites” like that and just using
the Windows ’98 “sound recorder” I was able to turn a minor starlet’s
voice and mine into a conversation. Yes I deleted it, even I thought it was
real at first, but you can tell if you listen none of my words had background
noises and hers had many different ones.
Yeah. I’m not too sure about how well this scheme would actually
play out.
I think the base idea is that most people don’t have a capable in their
back pocket and rather prefer not to go to court over some $20 newspaper
abo or $100 bill for kitchen supplies.
They probably call the company first, or better yet (from the con’s view)
have their son/granddaughter/husband/mother call in to clear it up.
So if the “sales talk” sounds just plausible enough at first glance they
might get away with it often enough.
That’s why I never answer “Yes” until I am certain of the caller’s identity. Caller ID helps
because it alerts to possible spam or telemarketers but when the person asks if they are
speaking “my name” I respond with “Possibly. How may I help you?” I am old fashioned and
somebody I don’t know addressing me by my full given name (“Bill” is the short form and
not for “William”) both irritates me and alerts me that the caller doesn’t really know me for
all their affected familiarity. I grew up using ” Sir” and “Ma’am” and addressing people as
“Mister so-and-so” or “Mrs” or now “Ms”. I like formality. When some scammer starts calling
me “Billy” I cut them off sharply and advise them to call me “Mister”. When they turn around
and address me me as “Mister Billy” I know they are bullshit artists and advise them to
abort the call. Manners are the grease that lubricates society. In my book being overly familiar
is just plain bad manners and I do not tolerate it if I do not have to.
International soft- and hardware support seems to be bent
on being overly (I mean, really, REALLY overdoing, at least to
my taste) polite – by also always addressing everybody by
first name.
Still not really used to this – but hey … as long as they do solve
my problems …
Rather wavy too, my hair after riding my motorcycle for a while,
would look worse than Taritha’s when I took my helmet off.
Just went everywhere like a living thing all it’s own! And pissed…
President Elect Toxic Deplorable Racist SAH Neanderthal B Woodman Domestic Violent Extremist SuperStraight
The Imperial troops are evac-ing civvies from the area prier to
the attack on the bunker, why not join in and help? I wouldn’t
be surprised if Sally didn’t take over once the bunker is just a
smoking pile, I can just imagine the response by some to that
however.
I expect chief among those upset will be those
who are make the most under the current system.
She doesn’t seem too happy with things as they
are. Either way change is coming.
Watch and learn my dear, this is how you make peace, not war.
They just want their fallen comrade, not to destroy all. And bring
her home to get the respect she deserves. Oh, and punish those
who did it to her.
Yeah I expected Slimy’s reply to her question. The strong/weak
excuse. Thing is, sooner or later the weak gets sick of it and does
something about it. And like so many strong tyrants, they get
complaisant, lazy and sloppy, then someone stronger moves in,
in this case The Empire, but they don’t the have greed like the core.
yeah, the strong always rule over the weak and say its nature.
Then when someone STRONGER comes along they cry foul.
The level of cooperation a species is capable of seems to
be what really makes the difference between animals and
human-like sentience.
You can’t go to space if you can’t built a spaceship.
And you can’t built a spaceship if you’re species isn’t
able to split that task into bits small enough for an
individual to actually handle.
The key to this differentiation of labor is cooperation.
Ah, but the Empire does “have greed”. They’re in the game to make a buck just like everyone
else. The difference is the Empire practices enlightened “greed” (self interest, really).
They recognize the fact that the whole “stronger preying upon the weaker” schtick ultimately
reduces the return from transactions. In the long run transactions which are fair to
both sides maximizes returns – for BOTH sides! It is possible to build a highly
functional ethos solely out of laziness and selfishness a long as it is ENLIGHTENED
laziness and selfishness. Enlightened self interest will allow – encourage really –
treating others well because it knows that such is the path to maximum benefit FOR
ONESELF! I do not have to give a tinker’s dam about another to treat them well.
I merely have to recognize the path which – in the long run – maximizes the benefit to
me. Not only does it maximize benefit, it allows me to act honorably while maximizing
benefit to me. It doesn’t get better than that.
That’s basically the classical libertarian assumption.
Everybody acts in their own “enlightened self-interest”
and magically that leads to optimum results for every
one.
Only it doesn’t. Long term problems that need to be solved
for the sake of everybody or their grandchildren, but every
single person thinks that it should be handled by someone
else.
Actually, it’s not some “libertarian assumption”. I derived said ethos 40 years ago and
have lived by the principle of enlightened sloth and self-interest ever since. Truly
enlightened sloth and self-interest will seek to solve problems (that they are aware of
and that they can contribute to a solution) whenever they can, recognizing that said
problems are likely to bite them in the ass if they do not. There are a multitude of problems
which are utterly beyond my capacity to affect. That said, I consume less than half the
electricity the power company reports as the norm for my area. I use approximately
1/3rd the water. I do not conserve out of any great love of the earth or fear of climate
change. I do it because it saves me money on my utility bills. I try to fix problems as soon
as I become aware of them so that they do not get worse. I try very hard to do things
right the first time so that I do not have to do them over. An enlightened lazy person will do
things as quickly as is consistent with doing them right so that they do not have to spend
more time doing something they do not like than is necessary. Hell! I obey the traffic laws
because that is the best way to keep from seeing flashing lights in my rear view mirror – AND
to avoid paying fines AND to avoid having my insurance go up. Enlightened laziness and
selfishess really does work!
I wasn’t talking about you personally.
And I’m not bringing counter examples here, or this
would become another unwanted discussion.
Please feel free to go and search for them yourself.
Sure, it’s how you be prosperous, but not at the cost of your people.
And that’s the big difference, The Empire prospers, their members
prospers, everyone is happy. The tyrants just want them to prosper
and to hell with everyone else, I think it’s should be called the
“eat cake” syndrome.
One question: the Navy seems to be in charge of interstellar
trade and there’s no plans to “privatize” that sector, right?
That means, interstellar “infrastructure” is run by the government,
while local streets are privately owned?
What’s the reasoning for this?
Interstellar trade is entirely a Catian-based corporation, for now. At the moment,
it’s working capital is provided by the selling of shares and private bonds. Since
it is just beginning, it is heavily in debt, most of which is held by Imperial citizens.
The only Navy involvement is security. General security is part of the Navy’s
core mission, so no charge. If a freighter wants an escort, it has to pay for it, but
that will, for now, probably be a Dogishuan escort ship.
Any Imperial citizen can invest, even school children have formed clubs to buy shares.
The Navy’s main source of income is asteroid mining and refining and the selling
of the resulting materials, and in-space research and manufacturing. Since there
never were civilians involved in these areas, it’s not a problem.
All Navy income is placed in Imperial coffers, most is added to the Navy budget.
Some is sent to the Kingdoms, keeping taxes low.
The Empire does control the purse strings.
More will be explained later in the comic.
I think eventually the mining will be privatized?
There’s to things to keep in mind if they’ll ever do it:
1st with enough ridiculously cheap transportation aka
grav ships you can easily disrupt any economy with
asteroid mining (wouldn’t really work in the forseable
future of the real world because transportation costs
are “astronomical”.
The Empire might consider weaponizing this; but they
really should be aware of the potential consequences.
2nd: if you’re interested in how to NOT privatizes a
government run service, you should take a closer look
on what Germany did to their postal/telephone services
and especially the train network (or communal water
supply or waste disposal – we really do have a knack
for these kind of mistakes)
Why would they want to privatize mining? It would be a huge loss
of income for the Empire, resulting in increased taxes for
everyone. Most citizens are fine with the situation as it stands.
Remember, they see how much they are paying in taxes every time
they make a purchase – it’s right there on the receipt. Makes it
difficult to raise taxes.
And since there are no corporate taxes, it’s impossible to raise
hidden taxes, as there aren’t any to raise.
I thought one of the primary assumptions of the Empire’s
economic system is that the private sector is by default
more efficient and generally better at anything they do then
a governmental institution?
On the other hand, if taxes are that bad and the gov partly
replacing them with mining income is such a win for everybody,
it probably would be better to set taxes to zero and just increase
the asteroid mining accordingly.
Don’t want to flood the market with raw materials. No, taxes are
necessary. Believe me, a total tax load of 25% of end consumption
is extremely low, compared to any in the real world.
No income tax, no property tax, no corporate taxes, no paperwork
expenses for keeping up with a convoluted tax code…
I know that 25% VAT and nothing on top of this is low.
(We have 20% ourselves – but you really don’t want to
know what else we pay in addition to that)
It’s not a VAT. A VAT is added whenever value is added to a product,
complicating every transaction with added paperwork and record
keeping at every step on its way to the final consumer.
A sales tax is nothing, and has no effect anywhere along the line of
manufacturing and delivery. It only shows up when the retailer pushes
the “Sale” button on the cash register. There is no paperwork with its
related expenses. At the end of the day the retailer makes his deposit
in the bank, the bank deducts 20% from the total and transfers it to
the Empire’s account. Anonymously. No one in government even knows
where the money came from. Great for privacy.
That’s pretty much like it works here.
(Sorry for confusing the terms)
(If you leave out all the complicating bits …)
If you buy stuff you need in creating your products, you don’t pay the tax
you’d had to pay if you’re intending to consume it, that’s why many online shops
name two different prices: one for end consumers and one for companies.
That’s a sales tax, not a VAT. A VAT is imposed whenever value is added
to a manufactured product, hence the name: Value Added Tax.
And look at how Denmark let its postal service go ‘private’. Funny how the bosses wonder why they loose
marketshares when they up the prices and lower service.
In my youth the mailman came by 6 days of the week, you could pay things via him, send and receive packets
via him, he provided some ‘overwatch’ on elderly citizens by checking on their wellbeing (and possibly
ensuring said wellbeing for being there to talk to), and numerous other small aspects like mail being a
day-to-day thing. Now?
The price to send a letter have skyrocketed, so have packet prices (once it was cheaper to send a packet via
mail, now, most of the operators in the danish market is cheaper (and faster(!)) than PostNord. In fact, most
of today’s operators have ‘popped up’ AFTER the government sold out the mail service.
Ah, the benefit of competition and private enterprise!
That’s what it’s all about.
It doesn’t always work out in RL, though.
Like Jan said, if you privatize infrastructure the people often end up having to pay more
for less, and it usually stays a monopoly for quite some time even after being sold to
a private company.
No system is perfect, but private ownership is almost always
better. There are more protections for the customer than with
a government-run system.
Agree to disagree on that one.
I know of far too many examples where they claimed “privately run is always better”
only to make things actually worse.
Like Cities outsourcing their water supply and disposal to a “private public partnership”
only to find out way too late that the “private partner” really screwed them over sideways.
But as I said: I think on this we can agree to disagree.
I will never claim that “privately run is always better”.
But privately run has better protections for the citizen.
We’ve beaten this horse before, when Bil Goram arrived on Earth.
No more.
Privately run, within boundaries and laws set up.to protect the individual and society as a whole,
THAT is how capitalism works. The problem is, when socialism is mentioned in conjunction with
capitalism, everybody tends to freak out. The problem is, a certain degree of socialism IS needed
for the US society and, yes, even the government, to function. For example, the highways, waterworks
and sewage systems, are all run by the government, although private contractors do the actual
maintenance, repair and expansion of these same systems. Electricity, communications and data
lines, again, are primarily run by the government, but the services areprovided by “private” contractors.
In a nutshell, a pure libertarian society would implode, just as the Soviet Union did, although, it would
likely happen much faster than it took for the USSR.
China APPEARS to be trying to find a workable balance, but are currently stumbling in the dark,
as, with their population size, a democratic republic similar to the US, would be very difficult
to set up, especially with the cultural and political baggage that they have.
Single party government systems lead to stagnant thinking without innovation, and dual
party systems seem to evolve into being two sides of the same coin. But, too many parties
tend to lead to similar issues as a pure libertarian system. A fine balance would need to be
established to allow for open debate and innovation, similar to either the English or Israeli
Systems.
None of these systems are perfect, nor SHOULD they be. There should ALWAYS be room for
improvement and change. As societies, cultures and technologies change, so to should the
Governments that they are a part of, but it should be in sync with the changes that occur
naturally, and not forced or suppressed, or else revolutions or civil wars can and will, occur.
Overall, it takes a c he balance of differing governing, societal and cultural inputs to manage
and create a workable society/government.
I hope that this isn’t violation if any rules here, but I suspect that these are observations most
of us have on a subconscious level, but our personal ideologies prevent the majority from
voicing these self same observations.
This is why I chose an Imperial monarchy.
It can be the best system, but only IF you have a moral, honest
and intelligent chief with an equally moral, honest and
intelligent supporting staff. Having a telepathic dragonfly
companion who loves you unconditionally helps, too.
If your leadership is honest, moral and intelligent,
every systems is the best.
One problem is how to pick’em. Dynasties only work for
like two generations – even under ideal circumstances
(have a look at family run big companies – they usually get
problems after two or three generations)
Appointing your successor is equally problematic. Maybe the
first leader makes the right choice, maybe even the next.
In the long run?
But if you say “power corrupts” – your best bet still is to
limit the power, that’s why modern democracies try to
separate parliament, administration and law system.
Parliament develops and passes laws, administration
executes and enforces these laws – and the judges keep
everybody on the straight and narrow.
Not a single person or group should ever be allowed to
pilot all three.
And of course the elections should be fair and well informed.
You’d have to limit the damage doable by spin doctors and the
like someway.
I guess they are going to send my wife home, I called her doctor
and is going to see her next week. She’s on breathing treatments
to help her expel the gunk in her lungs on top of a couple of antibiotics.
Yaa! another machine…
At least they seem willing to discharge her into your care,
that’s something, right?
Oh sure it’ll help my nerves etc… I’m just worried about her
and how stubborn she is, and this is the second time she’s
fallen and broke a bone in the last 10 years. A major one.
Last time I was away in another town and she had to call
my sister to let me know (just can’t dial 911 i guess) I had
to drive 30 miles to get home and then she argued with me
about going to the hospital!
In a way, her having her own mind and being able to speak
it is better than the opposite.
Of course it’s not always easy to deal with it …
From personal experience, true words.
In times of stress she reverts to the same 19 year old girl I married so long ago.
Always worries the small stuff and not what’s important, It’s like worrying about
the bill while you’re bleeding out.
It’s hard to explain but my wife suffers from the strangest phobia, there’s a name
for it but it’s basically the fear OF fear, anything scares her or embarrasses her she’s
afraid of it forever, so at 58 she’s got a crap-ton of “phobias”. Including cops and
EMTs. Teasing her or joking around has to be done very carefully or she panics.
Yeah, I know how that is. A couple of drainage holes in my neck have reopened
and have been slowly draining again. This sucks big time.
Yeah I had the same last year, what was bad was they were on my belt-line.
PC, I just checked and that “Girl Power” comic is now north of 15K with the #2 comic
barely 1/5th of that at 1032. Your buddy, “Two Kinds” is #3 at 870. Definitely something “odd” going
on with one comic at FIVE TIMES its nearest competitor. Were I a cynic I might be
tempted to suspect something hinkey going on. But since I am not a cynic . . . 😉
That they’re leading by such a wide margins isn’t actually the problem
even more so since it’s only the 2nd day of the month.
What’s really “fishy” is the fact that they practically started 14k votes
ahead of anybody.
So, either they have a lot of really, really eager fans – who for some reason
only vote once per month – or something’s not right.
(if they had tens of thousands of eager fans, why do so few of them vote
outside of the 2h window PC noticed?)
I follow that one too, but I rarely vote. I love cheesecake as much as
the next guy, but it’s not enough to get my vote. I’m more of a story
guy than just pretty pictures.
I kinda like Sidney and of course the weird OP orb thingies of her.
Sometimes it gets too over-the-top even for me, though.
Oh sure, she’s the biggest reason I follow it, the things that
gal does and says just cracks me up, General: “what stops
you from using your powers?” Sydney: “well being riddled
with bullets for one.” I had to wipe down my monitor after
reading that, and stop taking drinks while reading too.
I suspect a bug in the site’s code. Something like adding all the votes not only
to the comic voted for but also to the first comic on the list under
some combination of conditions. It could not be all the time or the votes for
number one would be even higher. This started during last month. I don’t
remember it at the beginning of January. Of course, somebody at TWC
needs to look at what changed in their code in the last month.
That is, I suspect a programing bug rather than an attempt to game the voting.
Except that GP wasn’t number one last month, it ended as number two.
Twokinds was number one, and it was unaffected.
TWC uses a monitor to watch how many times anyone votes using the IP
address and MAC address. You are tracked by that using a cookie that their
system creates in your temp folder, so if you go back and try to re-vote it kills
that vote. there’s ways around it including browser scripts, so I don’t doubt
there’s someone or more doing just that. It’s just not your turn?
I just went over to Grrlpower and seen this:
Psychie
February 2, 2023, 5:25 pm | Reply
Yeah, there is a big difference between bragging and just stating a fact. Considering how long Grrl Power has been floating around the single digits of top web comics
Maybe it’s something stupid along the lines, if you happen
to get another vote at the exact millisecond they reset the
scores, you keep your last month’s votes?
Stuff like that happens easily enough all the time.
I have no idea which will be first.
Perhaps it is the first to get votes after the reset to zero for everyone.
Note Twokinds has a reasonable number of votes and is number two.
It certainly is popular. I stand by bad coding over bad action.
If anyone has an account with TWC, please, ask them to look into this.
When I voted this morning I checked the standings at TWC. GP is north of 16K i.e. OVER TEN
TIMES the 2nd place strip. Twokinds is in 2nd @ just over 1,300 and the apparently spicy
strip is around 1,200 in 3rd. 2nd and 3rd places are more than TWICE the 4th place strip.
I’m no mathematician but there has to be something hinkey going on. Two something hinkeys
actually. Today is only the third day of counting and one comic is trending an ORDER OF MAGNITUDE
higher than its nearest competitor? And how are the 2nd and 3rd place strips running more than
TWICE #4? From 4th place down things look like you’d expect. TGW is comfortably at #7
so if PC is okay with it so am I. But there is something decidedly odd going on in 1st and
then in 2nd and 3rd places. Somebody has figured out a way to game TWC’s system. Two ways,
actually. Ain’t right!
Just got an (unintentionally hilarious) call. Caller ID read “Possible Telemarketer”. When I
answered, the guy on the other end launched into a spiel or some police related fund to elect
(I’m paraphrasing here) “the right kind of candidates”. So I asked the guy what percentage of
the funds raised would actually go towards electing said candidates. When he hesitated I let
him know that I understand how things work and that fundraising costs need to be covered. I
then, again, asked what percentage of the funds raised would actually go towards the stated
purpose of the fundraisng. He advised me that it was not a set percentage but the goal was
to have enough left over to actually contribute to somebody’s campaign. I started laughing and
said ” Left over?! LEFT OVER?!” Then I went on laughing. He said he’d put my number on the
do-not-call list and hung up. Left over?!?! Oh, and if anybody is wondering we are a long way from
any election.
I’m not sure if the same trick is tried in your country,
but a while back there was a public campaign warning
us to never, ever speak the word “yes” in a conversation
with a potential telemarketer.
Supposedly, some of them were using these answers
in crafting “audio prove” that you agreed to some contract
or the other.
Some radio show even turned the issue into some kind
of challenge, calling people, telling them to never answer
“yes” on any question.
Of course immediately followed by something like “are
you ready?” or “did you understand the rules?”
Ooh, Sneaky! “I understand the rules.” “I am ready.”
Also, along those lines, beware of answering “What is the day before today called?” with
anything other than Monday, Tuesday, etc. Answer “Yesterday”, and your answer can be
truncated to be just “Yes”.
Most people they challenged were of course able to
keep it up for quite some time – but eventually the
radio guys were always successful.
“Wel, you did handle that quite well, didn’t you?”
“Yes.”
That’s been around since I was young, they figured out years ago
how to spot that, mismatched background noises, sudden changes
in the vocal tones, etc… Any attorney worth anything can request
such a recording to be tested.
I was just fooling around with sound “bites” like that and just using
the Windows ’98 “sound recorder” I was able to turn a minor starlet’s
voice and mine into a conversation. Yes I deleted it, even I thought it was
real at first, but you can tell if you listen none of my words had background
noises and hers had many different ones.
Yeah. I’m not too sure about how well this scheme would actually
play out.
I think the base idea is that most people don’t have a capable in their
back pocket and rather prefer not to go to court over some $20 newspaper
abo or $100 bill for kitchen supplies.
They probably call the company first, or better yet (from the con’s view)
have their son/granddaughter/husband/mother call in to clear it up.
So if the “sales talk” sounds just plausible enough at first glance they
might get away with it often enough.
That’s why I never answer “Yes” until I am certain of the caller’s identity. Caller ID helps
because it alerts to possible spam or telemarketers but when the person asks if they are
speaking “my name” I respond with “Possibly. How may I help you?” I am old fashioned and
somebody I don’t know addressing me by my full given name (“Bill” is the short form and
not for “William”) both irritates me and alerts me that the caller doesn’t really know me for
all their affected familiarity. I grew up using ” Sir” and “Ma’am” and addressing people as
“Mister so-and-so” or “Mrs” or now “Ms”. I like formality. When some scammer starts calling
me “Billy” I cut them off sharply and advise them to call me “Mister”. When they turn around
and address me me as “Mister Billy” I know they are bullshit artists and advise them to
abort the call. Manners are the grease that lubricates society. In my book being overly familiar
is just plain bad manners and I do not tolerate it if I do not have to.
International soft- and hardware support seems to be bent
on being overly (I mean, really, REALLY overdoing, at least to
my taste) polite – by also always addressing everybody by
first name.
Still not really used to this – but hey … as long as they do solve
my problems …
Anytime I answer the phone they start out with “How
you doing today” I hang up, seems they are told to
do that to appear friendly.
BUSTED! Good job Bill, I would of loved to see that guy’s face when you said that! HEHEH…
She’s home, and already cranky :p
She’s a redhead, isn’t she?
You have interesting times ahead.
Not a redhead, part American Indian, Blackfoot.
Truth be told I’M a redhead, or was before age and chemo took
most of it away lol.
Rather wavy too, my hair after riding my motorcycle for a while,
would look worse than Taritha’s when I took my helmet off.
Just went everywhere like a living thing all it’s own! And pissed…
“why are your men working with Imperial Marines?”
(Cpt Mike just points UP)
((Sally silently sez “oh….”))
The Imperial troops are evac-ing civvies from the area prier to
the attack on the bunker, why not join in and help? I wouldn’t
be surprised if Sally didn’t take over once the bunker is just a
smoking pile, I can just imagine the response by some to that
however.
I expect chief among those upset will be those
who are make the most under the current system.
She doesn’t seem too happy with things as they
are. Either way change is coming.