I'm not american, so I don't really get the two party thing. In the UK we have more choices of who to vote for, so a third party vote isn't as idiotic, but I agree completely with his statement that people who don't vote are idiots. As far as I'm concerned if you didn't vote, you lose the right to complain about who wins or loses. You had your chance to make a difference, if you chose to not vote then you just have to put up with the choice of other people.

In reply to this comment by ant:
Prove it. ;

In reply to this comment by pumkinandstorm:
In reply to this comment by ant:
You too. We don't want to lose you. ;

In reply to this comment by pumkinandstorm:
In reply to this comment by ant:
OK. ;

In reply to this comment by pumkinandstorm:
In reply to this comment by ant:
Grow one. :

In reply to this comment by pumkinandstorm:
In reply to this comment by ant:
That shiny thing behind you looks like a wing.

In reply to this comment by pumkinandstorm:
In reply to this comment by ant:
Any. Or maybe a winged fairy?

In reply to this comment by pumkinandstorm:
In reply to this comment by ant:
Nice mugshot. You look like a princess? Which one? :

A princess??? Really? Who?


Ahhhh, must be my new crown that is making you think royal thoughts. ; A winged fairy - now THAT would be fun! I could fly and grant wishes. :


Haha! It does, doesn't it? : Now I just need a matching wing for the other side.


A little magic fairy dust makes anything possible. : I'll throw some your way too so that you can be a flying ant.


Just stay away from frogs...




No worries....frogs turn into princes for me. ;


Haven't you ever read the story "The Frog Prince"? Everyone knows that if you kiss a frog it will turn into a prince. Just remember that when you're about to be eaten Mr "winged" ant!

In reply to this comment by ant:
You too. We don't want to lose you. ;

In reply to this comment by pumkinandstorm:
In reply to this comment by ant:
OK. ;

In reply to this comment by pumkinandstorm:
In reply to this comment by ant:
Grow one. :

In reply to this comment by pumkinandstorm:
In reply to this comment by ant:
That shiny thing behind you looks like a wing.

In reply to this comment by pumkinandstorm:
In reply to this comment by ant:
Any. Or maybe a winged fairy?

In reply to this comment by pumkinandstorm:
In reply to this comment by ant:
Nice mugshot. You look like a princess? Which one? :

A princess??? Really? Who?


Ahhhh, must be my new crown that is making you think royal thoughts. ; A winged fairy - now THAT would be fun! I could fly and grant wishes. :


Haha! It does, doesn't it? : Now I just need a matching wing for the other side.


A little magic fairy dust makes anything possible. : I'll throw some your way too so that you can be a flying ant.


Just stay away from frogs...




No worries....frogs turn into princes for me.

This should've been higher up, but better late than never:

http://lyrics.wikia.com/The_Rural_Alberta_Advantage:Two_Lovers

Two lovers stuck in a sweet embrace,
Hoping to never move or change,
In the lost love and dust of a summer home,
Two people growing up and getting old.

And in the light of a thousand eyes,
I never want to lose you tonight.
And all the lovers are civilized,
But they'll never be the one just to hold you tight.
And if I ever hold you again,
I'll hold you tight enough to crush your veins.

I hope your heart's good and strong,
If you find yourself in my arms.
I hope your heart's good and strong,
If you find yourself in my arms.

Two lovers stuck in a sweet embrace,
Hoping to never lose the race,
As the wind travels into the little bones,
From a mouth speaking screaming in hushed tones.

And if I fly away to the coast,
Your face it haunts me more than most.
And if I ever hold you again,
I'll hold you tight enough to crush your veins.
And you will die and become a ghost,
And haunt me 'til my pulse also slows.

I hope your heart's good and strong,
If you find yourself in my arms.
I hope your heart's good and strong,
If you find yourself in my arms.
I hope your heart's good and strong,
If you find yourself in my arms.

You're partly right, those letters will never get to a bank employee, but as an employee of one of those companies that opens the letters for several banks, I can tell you that at least with us, we're obligated to capture any and all correspondence customers send in to us and provide it to the banks with the rest of the data. So the wood shims and roofing tiles will just piss off the wrong people, but any actual message you put in there will get to the bank, and a sudden spike in correspondence volume will get noticed.

I also disagree about raising bank costs being fruitless. If banks start charging people a monthly fee while paying 0% interest, most people will just pull their money out and bank somewhere else. Hopefully they'll go to a local bank or credit union instead, but they could always just store piles of cash in a safe at home. No business can insulate itself from increases in input costs by simply raising the price they ask customers to pay -- doing that loses you sales, and winds up costing you money.

>> ^L0cky:

Warning, party pooping.
The mail will never reach any employee of a bank, let alone a banker. It goes to a data collection warehouse.
People with already crappy jobs working for a sub contractor who do nothing but open envelopes all day and sort their contents will be the ones who will have to bin all your wooden shivs and messages.
On top of that, your local (probably unionised) mailman will have to lug around this extra mail on his/her collection round.
Nice sentiment, but poor in execution
Also, right now I don't see an effective end goal in trying to increase the banks' costs. We pay all their costs anyway, through charges or bailouts.

>> ^Lawdeedaw:

They complain about Wallstreet greed---but isn't mainstreet evil too? (@NetRunner and @dystopianfuturetoday) The 99% must change first, me thinks... (P.s., I will still respond to the other thread--hopefully tonight. This comment was just a musing of mine.)


The 1% wrecked the entire world with their greed, economically and physically. The 1% have all the power. This guy ultimately works for one of them (because we all do), and is trying to make a living under a system of incentives that they created.

If he wants to eat, he needs money. If he needs money, he needs to work. If he wants to work, he has to do what someone else tells him to do. If he tries to just go get the food without first getting money, men with guns will come to toss him in jail. (You know, liberty freeberty)

In this case, they probably give him bonus incentives that are designed to marry his self-interest to the 1%'s objectives as profiteers. They probably pay out a bonus for keeping insurance payouts below a certain target, which pits his self-interest against his ethical duty to be fair and honest with home owners.

The fact that the net result of such a bonus is that it results in some less than ethical dealings that boost the company's bottom line is a feature, not a bug. Best of all, the 1% have plausible deniability if someone does get caught. After all, they didn't tell him to behave in an unethical manner.

So that's why the 1% needs to change first.

If you're open to some skepticism about liberty capitalism, then a more subtle observation I'd make is that there sure seem to be a ton of situations in our society where doing the wrong thing brings you a reward, but doing the right thing usually loses you money. Seems worth re-examining how we do things to see if maybe we can't make it just a little easier for people to do the right thing.

Try to imagine yourself in the Cretaceous Period. You get your first look at this "six foot turkey" as you enter a clearing. He moves like a bird, lightly, bobbing his head. And you keep still because you think that maybe his visual acuity is based on movement like T-Rex – he'll lose you if you don't move. But no, not Turkeyraptor. You stare at him, and he just stares right back. And that's when the attack comes. Not from the front, but from the side, from the other two raptors you didn't even know were there. Because Turkeyraptor's a pack hunter, you see, he uses coordinated attack patterns and he is out in force today. And he slashes at you with this – a six-inch retractable claw, like a razor, on the middle toe. He doesn't bother to bite your jugular like a lion, oh no … he slashes at you here [makes slashing motions below child's chest] or here … [above the groin] or maybe across the belly, spilling your intestines. The point is … you are alive when they start to eat you. So you know … try to show a little respect.

If I represent the one that did this to you
Then can away the part that represents the thing that scarred you
I say, Get up, stand up, get up, stand up, get on it
Yessir, I am no longer who you thought this one would be

We end up around the mountain that I climb to lose you
I said, I said give me the business that business could work through,
I say, Ask me but all my wisdom departed
Tell me but all my wisdom departed
But help please at least answer me this,
Answer me, answer me

What's the business, yeah
Don't take my life away
Don't take my life away

From a distance, yeah
Don't take my life away
Don't take my life away

I'm a victim, yeah
Don't take my life away
Don't take my life away

I'm addicted, yeah
Don't take my life away
Don't take my life away

If you just press your fingers down under my skin (Go on and do it)
Lift up, dig up, lift up, dig up and bleed for me
I say, I'll bleed if you ask me
I'll bleed if you ask me
That's when, that's when, he said no

What's the business, yeah
Don't take my life away
Don't take my life away

From a distance, yeah
Don't take my life away
Don't take my life away

I'm a victim, yeah
Don't take my life away
Don't take my life away

I'm addicted, yeah
Don't take my life away
Don't take my life away

I'm addicted, yeah
From a distance, yeah
I'm a victim, yeah
What's the business, yeah

I'm addicted, yeah

(instrumental)

What's the business, yeah
What's the business, yeah

@bareboards2

Cognitive dissonance much, Gale?
It's childish to think any precinct would punish or reprimand its officers for ENFORCING THE LAW.

Stop pretending like you don't understand perfectly well the logic for the "for-profit corporation" thing.

1.
Asshole cops write you a ticket [cause your car is 1/2 an inch too far from the curb]

2.
You either pay the fine or go to court or ignore it.
~~~
1.
You pay the fine.
The "state" [Can you even define what the state is Gale?] receives revenue.
2.
You go to court.
Your public defender makes a deal with the "state". You pay a reduced fine.
The state receives revenue.
[Or worse, you have to defend yourself. You lose. You pay even larger fine.]
3.
You ignore it.
The court issues a bench warrant.
You're pulled over [for not wearing a seat belt or something] and are arrested immediately.
You post bail.
The state receives revenue.

The prison industrial complex, just like like the military industrial complex, is in the business of generating revenue.

Stop trying to deny/sugar coat it so you can justify your delusions about the purpose of it.

Don't get me wrong - heroin is a terrible, terrible drug. I know a lot of people who are on methadone now because of heroin. Though, I've lost more people to methadone than heroin itself. Which is an entire long-winded conversation about drugs and our government. That being said if you choose to tangle with heroin that is your own fault. I've never injected it out of pure fear that I'd become addicted to it and snorting even just a little bit will fuck you up heavily for an hour or two. If you're gonna do it just snort a line 1/4 of a coke line and see how you like it. You'll probably hate the nodding as well as I did. There are many drugs out there that are amazing that are non-addictive, that make you think about everything and see the beauty that is your world and our universe. I'm looking at you LSD and mushrooms! I love you guys!



>> ^entr0py:

I think quite a lot of us have had the experience of finding we like alcohol or pot, then overdoing it a bit, and learning the lesson that it's best not to overdo it. That's almost to be expected when you're young. Heroin doesn't afford that opportunity. If you ever go far enough to overdo it, it will likely be a struggle taken at huge personal cost. If you win, it will only cost you all of your money and a few years of your life. If you lose, you die.
Unlike pot and alcohol, I have never known anyone who could use heroin on a regular basis and keep their life together. But I have seen it slowly destroy a few lives, and cause their families tremendous anguish in the process. Like Ron Paul, you might think none of us would choose to go down to the drugstore and try some heroin, because we're not idiots. But the thing is, almost all of us were idiots at one point in our lives.
Of course, imprisoning people for use or possession alone is still a terrible idea. It seems like the most compassionate response is rehabilitation, with methadone clinics as a last resort for those who are hopelessly addicted.

I think quite a lot of us have had the experience of finding we like alcohol or pot, then overdoing it a bit, and learning the lesson that it's best not to overdo it. That's almost to be expected when you're young. Heroin doesn't afford that opportunity. If you ever go far enough to overdo it, it will likely be a struggle taken at huge personal cost. If you win, it will only cost you all of your money and a few years of your life. If you lose, you die.

Unlike pot and alcohol, I have never known anyone who could use heroin on a regular basis and keep their life together. But I have seen it slowly destroy a few lives, and cause their families tremendous anguish in the process. Like Ron Paul, you might think none of us would choose to go down to the drugstore and try some heroin, because we're not idiots. But the thing is, almost all of us were idiots at one point in our lives.

Of course, imprisoning people for use or possession alone is still a terrible idea. It seems like the most compassionate response is rehabilitation, with methadone clinics as a last resort for those who are hopelessly addicted.

This is what i was thinking.



>> ^messenger:

Dan Gilbert doesn't understand Daniel Bernoulli's theory. He has over simplified it and removed the value of expected utility. Poor people make much better usage out of a lottery winning than rich people do. This utility value has to be factored into any equation placing a value judgment on an investment, even a lottery ticket.
When Dan insults lottery players, from a strictly numbers point of view, he's right, of course, but playing the lottery is not a strictly numbers kind of game; it's about utility. He doesn't take into account the actual value of winning and losing to the people who play.
Here's a demonstration of the difference utility adds to the simplistic equation of expected value:
You bet on a coin toss against an outstandingly wealthy opponent. If you win, your opponent will instantly triple your net worth, including your cash, assets, and salary. If you lose, you lose everything, including your job and employability.
The odds of winning are .5, and the reward is 3. Multiply these together, and you get 1.5, which means that you are getting 2:1 on your money. Looks good on paper. But of course not even economists would play this game --not even if the reward were raised to x10 or x100-- because the consequence of losing everything, though less in monetary value than the reward, is unthinkable, even compared to the relative gains from having x100 your wealth. The expected utility to you of your first "net worth" far exceeds the utility that the second and third would give you, so it's a bad bet.
Back to the lottery: if you lose a dollar, you don't noticeably lose any economic power, even if you play every week and lose $52/year. In other words, you lose a negligible amount of utility. You may even get $52 worth of enjoyment out of waiting for the results to come up, talking about it and bonding with your pool of coworkers, or daydreaming about the good life and getting distraction from the reality of your trailer park McJob life. But if you win something big, it will instantly end all money troubles for you and your whole family, maybe for generations to come. In other words, massive utility. It's not a stupid decision at all to buy a lottery ticket if you factor in utility.
Edit: Oh, and now that I've actually watched to the end, I see that someone in the Q&A made one of my points, but they both still missed the boat on the strictly financial utility of losing $1 to winning millions when you're poor.

>> ^xxovercastxx:

Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything - all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart. - Steve Jobs

Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything - all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart. - Steve Jobs

If there was really this 65% land-slide of conservative opinion, why didn't you take back the senate too?

Simple math. The Senate has a total of 100 seats. Before the 2010 mid-term, the Democrats held 57 of those seats, and the Republicans only held 41 (with 2 Independants). In order for the GOP to "take the Senate" they would need to obtain 10 senate seats to have a simple majority. That kind of swing is almost unprecedented in the Senate. It just was really unlikely. The house has had volatile swings in the past, but the Senate is generally pretty stable. Considering the GOP had to win in liberal bastions like Delaware, New York, Barbara Boxer's seat, and so on I'd say they did pretty good. And it has to be said the GOP shot itself in the foot when it refused to back tea party types like Angle or O'Donnel. They were long shots sure, but refusing to help them at all when they are the only game on the ground isn't smart either. In the end, Democrats lost their veto-proof majority in the senate, complete control of the House, huge numbers of state governorships and massive numbers in state legislatures across the country. To quote Obama - they got shellaqued.

BS to claim everyones mad at Obama particularly when they stay home in droves showing their disdain for the entire system.

The turnout was quite high. The people who stayed home were Democrats, and largely because they have had to admit that their policies are utterly failing and that their golden boy is to blame.

And the best part of the election is that Mr. Doofus hiself - Alan "Insane" Greyson - lost in a landslide. So long, Mr. Doofus. You will not be missed and America is better for losing you.