My rant gland seems to be jammed. I can't get a reaction more intense than "weary eye-roll", even at the thought of President Santorum.
Please advise.
I dunno about anyone else but I get myself a gleeful little chortle when I think about President Santorum.
That shit would be awesome!!!
Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on March 22, 2012, 03:46:53 PM
My rant gland seems to be jammed. I can't get a reaction more intense than "weary eye-roll", even at the thought of President Santorum.
Please advise.
There's no cure. You have to live with this vicious handicap. The Rant Gland gets blocked up when people have indulged in Slack™ abuse for more than 90 days or so, and once it's blocked up, it bloats right the fuck up, and puts pressure on the rage gland. This causes you to suffer from outrage deficiency, and in it's terminal phase, you take up golf & spend more time at the office. On the Johnson account. While hitting refresh.
Fortunately, they make a pill for that. It's the little red ones, and while they don't
cure you, you
won't care. Side effects may include an increase in television watching, brain hemmorage, impotence, and a complacent acceptance of evil. As your doctor about it. If he won't prescribe it, he doesn't care enough about your well-being.
What if I only get a little bit mad, and drink plenty of water? Wouldn't the resulting homeopathy hateopathy have a notciable effect?
Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on March 22, 2012, 03:57:42 PM
What if I only get a little bit mad, and drink plenty of water? Wouldn't the resulting homeopathy hateopathy have a notciable effect?
No.
But if I got mad and peed in a jug, and had a trucker hurl it at you out of his truck's driver-side window, all of your problems would be solved.
But let me ask you: When you go out on the weekend, do you truly wallow in the FABULOUS, or are you just going through the motions?
"Going through the motions"? Surely not!
But that's not the same as an inability to rant, is it?
Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on March 22, 2012, 04:04:00 PM
"Going through the motions"? Surely not!
But that's not the same as an inability to rant, is it?
No, I was just asking questions for diagnostic purposes. I am relieved to hear you haven't fallen prey to ennui. The problem is, you East coast spags have too much cool shit around you. It ain't good for you. Look at Stella...She lives in a town that I found has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO, and she blasts out weirdness at a pressure not normally permitted by OSHA.
Maybe the rant thing is a product of 8 years of ranting. Maybe you've blown an o-ring, and the pressure just bleeds off, instead of building up for a classic hate-shitting.
Or maybe you just stopped looking around. I mean, why rant about Santorum - who is NOT going to be president, btw - when there's Pinks and Greys and all manner of mind-numbing stupidity all around you? And that IS the purpose of ranting, of course...To prevent your mind from going numb.
I mean, hell...I've been ranting for decades, and I don't stop because I CAN'T stop. If I stopped for even a minute, Arizona would have me firmly in its clutches, and I'd probably join the Rotarians. Horrible, horrible.
But I'm STILL mad, and I'm still ranting, and I'm still SHITTING HATE on account of these fuckers around me have never gotten weird enough for me, and on account of I'M. STILL. HERE.
You know, I once wrote a rant - in 2009, I believe - at Kai's request, about logging on to a dead carrier.
And here we are.
Hmm.
I think I'll go stare at a blank screen until drops of blood appear on my forehead.
Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on March 22, 2012, 04:19:55 PM
Hmm.
I think I'll go stare at a blank screen until drops of blood appear on my forehead.
That usually works for me.
Nobody ever said keeping your sense of outrage was gonna be easy. Discordianism is not something that gets delivered to you via your monitor. It is not something you can order as a pre-packaged, shrink-wrapped product (when it is, cancel Christmas, cause it's OVER). It is not something you READ. It is something you PARTICIPATE in.
Or not. Maybe it's just the next phase of the interbutts, sort of like how TV became "reality TV", and suddenly Kim Kardashian is someone whose marriage matters to everyone.
I cringe at the very notion. I'd rather blow up in glorious fuckbattery, as some members have recently done, than to suddenly find myself Viewing the board index of Principia Discordia.
I remember the Dead Carrier Wave, Dok. And thank you! :lulz:
I remember the East Coast having lots of rage-inducing shit, in spite of the cool shit. Like when the plows would come and push six foot piles of snow on the sidewalk and I'd have to walk in traffic. In sandy slush that was still pretty slippery. With a baby stroller.
I mean, it ALL sucks, right?
Truth be told, New England had a beautiful winter, unseasonably warm. I think the only major snowstorm was on Halloween, and I was in New Orleans that day.
It's been an awesome winter! I didn't have to get on the roof once. Never lost power.
It's hard to get worked up over shit I can't control these days. So I, personally, have been channeling my energy into shit I can control, or at least have some significant sway. It may not be posting on the internet. But it also isn't doing nothing.
*shrug*
I don't know what to do with the Winter, or the Spring, or with my life.
usually, I decide, and something happens
what do? At loose ends. Maybe, oh maybe. Places to go.
Quote from: What's-His-Name? on March 22, 2012, 04:47:01 PM
It's been an awesome winter! I didn't have to get on the roof once. Never lost power.
It's hard to get worked up over shit I can't control these days. So I, personally, have been channeling my energy into shit I can control, or at least have some significant sway. It may not be posting on the internet. But it also isn't doing nothing.
*shrug*
Pretty sure I never accused anyone of doing nothing. Pretty sure I was talking about PD.
People talk about maybe, and places to go. I think they may not understand maybe OR places. I know places.
Quote from: Doktor Howl on March 22, 2012, 04:52:11 PM
Quote from: What's-His-Name? on March 22, 2012, 04:47:01 PM
It's been an awesome winter! I didn't have to get on the roof once. Never lost power.
It's hard to get worked up over shit I can't control these days. So I, personally, have been channeling my energy into shit I can control, or at least have some significant sway. It may not be posting on the internet. But it also isn't doing nothing.
*shrug*
Pretty sure I never accused anyone of doing nothing. Pretty sure I was talking about PD.
Meh, who cares about nothing happening. No thinking, no doing. Nothing.
Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on March 22, 2012, 04:43:39 PM
Truth be told, New England had a beautiful winter, unseasonably warm. I think the only major snowstorm was on Halloween, and I was in New Orleans that day.
That usually means the next winter is going to be a bitch.
New Orleans on Halloween? Fun, but didn't
something at least piss youoff? Parking lot vomit?
When Team Vodka assembles, riff raff take flight.
Quote from: Nigel on March 22, 2012, 04:53:47 PM
Quote from: Doktor Howl on March 22, 2012, 04:52:11 PM
Quote from: What's-His-Name? on March 22, 2012, 04:47:01 PM
It's been an awesome winter! I didn't have to get on the roof once. Never lost power.
It's hard to get worked up over shit I can't control these days. So I, personally, have been channeling my energy into shit I can control, or at least have some significant sway. It may not be posting on the internet. But it also isn't doing nothing.
*shrug*
Pretty sure I never accused anyone of doing nothing. Pretty sure I was talking about PD.
Meh, who cares about nothing happening. No thinking, no doing. Nothing.
I care.
Hell, I was just out in the smoking area, thinking about how a few of us here have pretty good lifestyles. We have it better than 95% of America, I think, though we're certainly not 1%ers. And it occurred to me that there is no good reason everyone shouldn't have it as good as me. Or LMNO. It occurred to me that there IS enough to go around. There is NO sane reason that anyone should work their asses to the BONE, and
still have to sweat the house note.
Of course, there IS a reason. It's just not a sane one. It's that 3 million people have $7,980,000,000,000 worth of other peoples' stored work, and the people that worked, 302,000,000 people, get to keep a whopping $20,000,000,000 to divide amonst themselves.
How the fuck does a 1%er even NOTICE how much money they have? They get almost 30,000,000 dollars a year, AVERAGE (and that's not distributed in a linear fashion...most of that is actually in the top tenth of a percent), for doing FUCK ALL.
How does that NOT piss someone off?
Quote from: Doktor Howl on March 22, 2012, 05:09:16 PM
Quote from: Nigel on March 22, 2012, 04:53:47 PM
Quote from: Doktor Howl on March 22, 2012, 04:52:11 PM
Quote from: What's-His-Name? on March 22, 2012, 04:47:01 PM
It's been an awesome winter! I didn't have to get on the roof once. Never lost power.
It's hard to get worked up over shit I can't control these days. So I, personally, have been channeling my energy into shit I can control, or at least have some significant sway. It may not be posting on the internet. But it also isn't doing nothing.
*shrug*
Pretty sure I never accused anyone of doing nothing. Pretty sure I was talking about PD.
Meh, who cares about nothing happening. No thinking, no doing. Nothing.
I care.
Hell, I was just out in the smoking area, thinking about how a few of us here have pretty good lifestyles. We have it better than 95% of America, I think, though we're certainly not 1%ers. And it occurred to me that there is no good reason everyone shouldn't have it as good as me. Or LMNO. It occurred to me that there IS enough to go around. There is NO sane reason that anyone should work their asses to the BONE, and still have to sweat the house note.
Of course, there IS a reason. It's just not a sane one. It's that 3 million people have $7,980,000,000,000 worth of other peoples' stored work, and the people that worked, 302,000,000 people, get to keep a whopping $20,000,000,000 to divide amonst themselves.
How the fuck does a 1%er even NOTICE how much money they have? They get almost 30,000,000 dollars a year, AVERAGE (and that's not distributed in a linear fashion...most of that is actually in the top tenth of a percent), for doing FUCK ALL.
How does that NOT piss someone off?
Minor thread drift, but why isn't anyone doing something like this here?
Oh, yeah, it's america. Never mind.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/mar/16/greece-on-breadline-cashless-currency
Quote from: Anna Mae Bollocks on March 22, 2012, 06:07:45 PM
Quote from: Doktor Howl on March 22, 2012, 05:09:16 PM
Quote from: Nigel on March 22, 2012, 04:53:47 PM
Quote from: Doktor Howl on March 22, 2012, 04:52:11 PM
Quote from: What's-His-Name? on March 22, 2012, 04:47:01 PM
It's been an awesome winter! I didn't have to get on the roof once. Never lost power.
It's hard to get worked up over shit I can't control these days. So I, personally, have been channeling my energy into shit I can control, or at least have some significant sway. It may not be posting on the internet. But it also isn't doing nothing.
*shrug*
Pretty sure I never accused anyone of doing nothing. Pretty sure I was talking about PD.
Meh, who cares about nothing happening. No thinking, no doing. Nothing.
I care.
Hell, I was just out in the smoking area, thinking about how a few of us here have pretty good lifestyles. We have it better than 95% of America, I think, though we're certainly not 1%ers. And it occurred to me that there is no good reason everyone shouldn't have it as good as me. Or LMNO. It occurred to me that there IS enough to go around. There is NO sane reason that anyone should work their asses to the BONE, and still have to sweat the house note.
Of course, there IS a reason. It's just not a sane one. It's that 3 million people have $7,980,000,000,000 worth of other peoples' stored work, and the people that worked, 302,000,000 people, get to keep a whopping $20,000,000,000 to divide amonst themselves.
How the fuck does a 1%er even NOTICE how much money they have? They get almost 30,000,000 dollars a year, AVERAGE (and that's not distributed in a linear fashion...most of that is actually in the top tenth of a percent), for doing FUCK ALL.
How does that NOT piss someone off?
Minor thread drift, but why isn't anyone doing something like this here?
Oh, yeah, it's america. Never mind.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/mar/16/greece-on-breadline-cashless-currency
Cottage industry & barter.
That's pretty bad.
Quote from: Anna Mae Bollocks on March 22, 2012, 06:07:45 PM
Quote from: Doktor Howl on March 22, 2012, 05:09:16 PM
Quote from: Nigel on March 22, 2012, 04:53:47 PM
Quote from: Doktor Howl on March 22, 2012, 04:52:11 PM
Quote from: What's-His-Name? on March 22, 2012, 04:47:01 PM
It's been an awesome winter! I didn't have to get on the roof once. Never lost power.
It's hard to get worked up over shit I can't control these days. So I, personally, have been channeling my energy into shit I can control, or at least have some significant sway. It may not be posting on the internet. But it also isn't doing nothing.
*shrug*
Pretty sure I never accused anyone of doing nothing. Pretty sure I was talking about PD.
Meh, who cares about nothing happening. No thinking, no doing. Nothing.
I care.
Hell, I was just out in the smoking area, thinking about how a few of us here have pretty good lifestyles. We have it better than 95% of America, I think, though we're certainly not 1%ers. And it occurred to me that there is no good reason everyone shouldn't have it as good as me. Or LMNO. It occurred to me that there IS enough to go around. There is NO sane reason that anyone should work their asses to the BONE, and still have to sweat the house note.
Of course, there IS a reason. It's just not a sane one. It's that 3 million people have $7,980,000,000,000 worth of other peoples' stored work, and the people that worked, 302,000,000 people, get to keep a whopping $20,000,000,000 to divide amonst themselves.
How the fuck does a 1%er even NOTICE how much money they have? They get almost 30,000,000 dollars a year, AVERAGE (and that's not distributed in a linear fashion...most of that is actually in the top tenth of a percent), for doing FUCK ALL.
How does that NOT piss someone off?
Minor thread drift, but why isn't anyone doing something like this here?
Oh, yeah, it's america. Never mind.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/mar/16/greece-on-breadline-cashless-currency
They do Stella http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local_exchange_trading_system
but it probably interferes with all that worship of the mighty dollar thing that seems so popular over there [and pretty much everywhere else, come to that]
Quote from: MMIX on March 22, 2012, 06:16:27 PM
Quote from: Anna Mae Bollocks on March 22, 2012, 06:07:45 PM
Quote from: Doktor Howl on March 22, 2012, 05:09:16 PM
Quote from: Nigel on March 22, 2012, 04:53:47 PM
Quote from: Doktor Howl on March 22, 2012, 04:52:11 PM
Quote from: What's-His-Name? on March 22, 2012, 04:47:01 PM
It's been an awesome winter! I didn't have to get on the roof once. Never lost power.
It's hard to get worked up over shit I can't control these days. So I, personally, have been channeling my energy into shit I can control, or at least have some significant sway. It may not be posting on the internet. But it also isn't doing nothing.
*shrug*
Pretty sure I never accused anyone of doing nothing. Pretty sure I was talking about PD.
Meh, who cares about nothing happening. No thinking, no doing. Nothing.
I care.
Hell, I was just out in the smoking area, thinking about how a few of us here have pretty good lifestyles. We have it better than 95% of America, I think, though we're certainly not 1%ers. And it occurred to me that there is no good reason everyone shouldn't have it as good as me. Or LMNO. It occurred to me that there IS enough to go around. There is NO sane reason that anyone should work their asses to the BONE, and still have to sweat the house note.
Of course, there IS a reason. It's just not a sane one. It's that 3 million people have $7,980,000,000,000 worth of other peoples' stored work, and the people that worked, 302,000,000 people, get to keep a whopping $20,000,000,000 to divide amonst themselves.
How the fuck does a 1%er even NOTICE how much money they have? They get almost 30,000,000 dollars a year, AVERAGE (and that's not distributed in a linear fashion...most of that is actually in the top tenth of a percent), for doing FUCK ALL.
How does that NOT piss someone off?
Minor thread drift, but why isn't anyone doing something like this here?
Oh, yeah, it's america. Never mind.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/mar/16/greece-on-breadline-cashless-currency
They do Stella http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local_exchange_trading_system
but it probably interferes with all that worship of the mighty dollar thing that seems so popular over there [and pretty much everywhere else, come to that]
The problem isn't the dollar.
And barter economies leave you with the standard of living of, say, your average 1300 CE English yeoman.
Quote from: Doktor Howl on March 22, 2012, 06:24:33 PM
Quote from: MMIX on March 22, 2012, 06:16:27 PM
Quote from: Anna Mae Bollocks on March 22, 2012, 06:07:45 PM
Quote from: Doktor Howl on March 22, 2012, 05:09:16 PM
Quote from: Nigel on March 22, 2012, 04:53:47 PM
Quote from: Doktor Howl on March 22, 2012, 04:52:11 PM
Quote from: What's-His-Name? on March 22, 2012, 04:47:01 PM
It's been an awesome winter! I didn't have to get on the roof once. Never lost power.
It's hard to get worked up over shit I can't control these days. So I, personally, have been channeling my energy into shit I can control, or at least have some significant sway. It may not be posting on the internet. But it also isn't doing nothing.
*shrug*
Pretty sure I never accused anyone of doing nothing. Pretty sure I was talking about PD.
Meh, who cares about nothing happening. No thinking, no doing. Nothing.
I care.
Hell, I was just out in the smoking area, thinking about how a few of us here have pretty good lifestyles. We have it better than 95% of America, I think, though we're certainly not 1%ers. And it occurred to me that there is no good reason everyone shouldn't have it as good as me. Or LMNO. It occurred to me that there IS enough to go around. There is NO sane reason that anyone should work their asses to the BONE, and still have to sweat the house note.
Of course, there IS a reason. It's just not a sane one. It's that 3 million people have $7,980,000,000,000 worth of other peoples' stored work, and the people that worked, 302,000,000 people, get to keep a whopping $20,000,000,000 to divide amonst themselves.
How the fuck does a 1%er even NOTICE how much money they have? They get almost 30,000,000 dollars a year, AVERAGE (and that's not distributed in a linear fashion...most of that is actually in the top tenth of a percent), for doing FUCK ALL.
How does that NOT piss someone off?
Minor thread drift, but why isn't anyone doing something like this here?
Oh, yeah, it's america. Never mind.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/mar/16/greece-on-breadline-cashless-currency
They do Stella http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local_exchange_trading_system
but it probably interferes with all that worship of the mighty dollar thing that seems so popular over there [and pretty much everywhere else, come to that]
The problem isn't the dollar.
And barter economies leave you with the standard of living of, say, your average 1300 CE English yeoman.
So you end up trading a pot of beans for some dried beans so you can make more beans?
I've been in the US my whole life and I've never heard of LETS.
Quote from: Anna Mae Bollocks on March 22, 2012, 06:36:53 PM
So you end up trading a pot of beans for some dried beans so you can make more beans?
Well, the guy in the article paid what he needed by doing some electrical work. This is where we run into Henry David Thoreau's error.
The parts he used to make the repairs had to be manufactured. The resins, wire, molded parts, etc, that go into a simple relay all take a manufacturing base that cannot be managed on barter, simply because of the necessary complexity of the manufacturing processes.
So you can coast for a while, using a barter system...Until the parts to repair the machines run out. Then, overnight, you are back in the middle ages.
Quote from: Doktor Howl on March 22, 2012, 06:39:56 PM
Quote from: Anna Mae Bollocks on March 22, 2012, 06:36:53 PM
So you end up trading a pot of beans for some dried beans so you can make more beans?
Well, the guy in the article paid what he needed by doing some electrical work. This is where we run into Henry David Thoreau's error.
The parts he used to make the repairs had to be manufactured. The resins, wire, molded parts, etc, that go into a simple relay all take a manufacturing base that cannot be managed on barter, simply because of the necessary complexity of the manufacturing processes.
So you can coast for a while, using a barter system...Until the parts to repair the machines run out. Then, overnight, you are back in the middle ages.
Oh, boy. Dirt floors and rancid meat. :x
But they're keeping it at about 50% cash and 50% barter...that wouldn't help?
Quote from: Doktor Howl on March 22, 2012, 06:39:56 PM
Quote from: Anna Mae Bollocks on March 22, 2012, 06:36:53 PM
So you end up trading a pot of beans for some dried beans so you can make more beans?
Well, the guy in the article paid what he needed by doing some electrical work. This is where we run into Henry David Thoreau's error.
The parts he used to make the repairs had to be manufactured. The resins, wire, molded parts, etc, that go into a simple relay all take a manufacturing base that cannot be managed on barter, simply because of the necessary complexity of the manufacturing processes.
So you can coast for a while, using a barter system...Until the parts to repair the machines run out. Then, overnight, you are back in the middle ages.
You know I don't think that anyone anywhere ['cept maybe a few weirdo idealists who really, really, haven't thought it through properly] is suggesting that it would be a really cool thing to just power down the grid and walk off into some hippy dippy sunset. But like it or not we need to be looking for new and innovative ways to maintain ourselves as a species.
Quote from: Anna Mae Bollocks on March 22, 2012, 06:44:30 PM
Quote from: Doktor Howl on March 22, 2012, 06:39:56 PM
Quote from: Anna Mae Bollocks on March 22, 2012, 06:36:53 PM
So you end up trading a pot of beans for some dried beans so you can make more beans?
Well, the guy in the article paid what he needed by doing some electrical work. This is where we run into Henry David Thoreau's error.
The parts he used to make the repairs had to be manufactured. The resins, wire, molded parts, etc, that go into a simple relay all take a manufacturing base that cannot be managed on barter, simply because of the necessary complexity of the manufacturing processes.
So you can coast for a while, using a barter system...Until the parts to repair the machines run out. Then, overnight, you are back in the middle ages.
Oh, boy. Dirt floors and rancid meat. :x
But they're keeping it at about 50% cash and 50% barter...that wouldn't help?
As long as you can afford to manufacture or import parts, etc.
Which isn't looking good, in Greece's case.
Quote from: MMIX on March 22, 2012, 06:46:55 PM
Quote from: Doktor Howl on March 22, 2012, 06:39:56 PM
Quote from: Anna Mae Bollocks on March 22, 2012, 06:36:53 PM
So you end up trading a pot of beans for some dried beans so you can make more beans?
Well, the guy in the article paid what he needed by doing some electrical work. This is where we run into Henry David Thoreau's error.
The parts he used to make the repairs had to be manufactured. The resins, wire, molded parts, etc, that go into a simple relay all take a manufacturing base that cannot be managed on barter, simply because of the necessary complexity of the manufacturing processes.
So you can coast for a while, using a barter system...Until the parts to repair the machines run out. Then, overnight, you are back in the middle ages.
You know I don't think that anyone anywhere ['cept maybe a few weirdo idealists who really, really, haven't thought it through properly] is suggesting that it would be a really cool thing to just power down the grid and walk off into some hippy dippy sunset. But like it or not we need to be looking for new and innovative ways to maintain ourselves as a species.
Running back 700 years or so isn't "new and innovative".
And it's not like anyone would "Power down & walk away from the grid". They'd stare helplessly as it fails from things like worn out contactors and relays.
Thing is, you honestly CAN'T run an industrialized nation without some universally accepted means of exchange.
And, as I said, money isn't the problem today. Money has worked since Croessus stamped the first coin. The problem is that we aren't regulating the people that handle the money.
Plus there's the people who just like to fuck with everything and get their slice of the pie (ie, the whole pie).
I'm trying to imagine what would happen if a very large chunk of the population just STOPPED accepting US dollars as "a universally accepted means of exchange" and just printed up something else.
It would still be money.
But somehow I don't think it ends well.
Probably not. I recall this coming up here before, and there were attempts before, but they failed or something happened.
Yeah, I remember some guy with silver dollar type alternative currency a few years ago. It never got off the ground.
This page looks a little flakey, but it says they got arrested.
http://www.kevinalfredstrom.com/2009/06/alternative-currency-now-a-crime/
Quote from: Doktor Howl on March 22, 2012, 06:52:36 PM
Running back 700 years or so isn't "new and innovative". And it's not like anyone would "Power down & walk away from the grid". They'd stare helplessly as it fails from things like worn out contactors and relays.
So since the current model of production [both human and technological] is generally regarded to be unsustainable for the planet and our species in the medium to long term now would be a good time to start assessing "new and innovative" production techniques and exchange systems before we run out of time to do anything but run forward 700 years into extinction.
Quote from: Doktor Howl on March 22, 2012, 06:52:36 PMThing is, you honestly CAN'T run an industrialized nation without some universally accepted means of exchange.
Yes, you are absolutely right but I would question whether that exchange medium needs to be hard currency in the traditional sense.
Quote from: Doktor Howl on March 22, 2012, 06:52:36 PMAnd, as I said, money isn't the problem today. Money has worked since Croessus stamped the first coin. The problem is that we aren't regulating the people that handle the money.
However this I totally disagree with. Money in its conventional contemporary sense has long since changed from being an exchange medium into being something more akin to gambling chips. You can deal in "futures" you can access huge varieties of "products" which banks and other financial institutions are willing to sell you. Just think of it for a minute - they are willing to sell you money and to monetize "risk". Keep thinking about it. Where did the 1% get their money from. Was it from making things that people want and selling them to the people who wanted them? Well for some of them that may have been part of the picture. But extreme wealth, and also extreme poverty, come from the manipulation of the system by those who can afford it to the detriment of those who are priced out of the game. Currency speculation, insider trading, property bubbles. Its no good bitching about the way the world wags and then refusing to look at areas which patently need attention.
Posted by: The Freeky of SCIENCE! « on: Today at 07:47:29 PM »
Quote
Plus there's the people who just like to fuck with everything and get their slice of the pie (ie, the whole pie).
So wouldn't the long term development of a system which actually made reciprocal trade a key part of the financial system be at least worth thinking about?
Posted by: Anna Mae Bollocks « on: Today at 07:54:52 PM »
QuoteI'm trying to imagine what would happen if a very large chunk of the population just STOPPED accepting US dollars as "a universally accepted means of exchange" and just printed up something else.
It would still be money.
But somehow I don't think it ends well.
Well it wouldn't just happen like that you know. I think that your statement really begs the question of what "money" actually is. Why would an exchange system which actually values real things, washers, hammers, services which people are prepared to exchange their own things for not be preferable, or end well?
Posted by: The Freeky of SCIENCE! « on: Today at 07:57:44 PM » Insert Quote
QuoteProbably not. I recall this coming up here before, and there were attempts before, but they failed or something happened.
Yeah there's a thread somewhere about who owns money or something.
And since currently it is a state monopoly it is hardly surprising that they get pissy when someone else tries to muscle in on their scam. :wink:
Quote from: MMIX on March 22, 2012, 08:36:13 PM
Quote from: Doktor Howl on March 22, 2012, 06:52:36 PM
Running back 700 years or so isn't "new and innovative". And it's not like anyone would "Power down & walk away from the grid". They'd stare helplessly as it fails from things like worn out contactors and relays.
So since the current model of production [both human and technological] is generally regarded to be unsustainable for the planet and our species in the medium to long term now would be a good time to start assessing "new and innovative" production techniques and exchange systems before we run out of time to do anything but run forward 700 years into extinction.
Barter tends to run MORE wasteful than the current system. And hell, for that matter, pollution today is NOTHING compared to where it was 100 years ago.
Quote from: Doktor Howl on March 22, 2012, 09:59:52 PM
Barter tends to run MORE wasteful than the current system. And hell, for that matter, pollution today is NOTHING compared to where it was 100 years ago.
Unless you specify the parameters of what you actually mean by "barter system" then there is no way of assessing your claim. And 100 years ago we didn't have a barter system, we had pretty much an unrestrained capitalist production system. We still do except that now increasing amounts of the production is done in the far east without benefit of boring old labour laws to protect the workforce and western standards of pollution control to protect the planet. But then we have Exxon and BP and Three Mile Island and Chernobyl, and industrial strength radioactivity was not a real big problem 100 years ago.
Quote from: MMIX on March 22, 2012, 10:54:50 PM
Quote from: Doktor Howl on March 22, 2012, 09:59:52 PM
Barter tends to run MORE wasteful than the current system. And hell, for that matter, pollution today is NOTHING compared to where it was 100 years ago.
Unless you specify the parameters of what you actually mean by "barter system" then there is no way of assessing your claim. And 100 years ago we didn't have a barter system, we had pretty much an unrestrained capitalist production system. We still do except that now increasing amounts of the production is done in the far east without benefit of boring old labour laws to protect the workforce and western standards of pollution control to protect the planet. But then we have Exxon and BP and Three Mile Island and Chernobyl, and industrial strength radioactivity was not a real big problem 100 years ago.
Two unrelated things, my bad:
1. Barter system: I do for you, you do for me. I fix your wiring, you do my taxes.
2. No, what we had was a horribly polluting coal/wood industrial base. In New York in the late 19th century, at Hunter's Point, people would get off the train and then fall over dead, from clouds of toxic gasses coming off the mills. We also managed to kill a great lake. And oil pollution is nothing new: It happens occasionally with ships and rigs. It happened as
the normal way of doing business in American waterways from 1910-1930. As far as radiation goes, radon was EVERYWHERE. We're still dealing with that, a century later.
3. I'm 100% on board with you about labor & pollution standards in reference to "offshoring". Slave labor and insane pollution in China made your Iphone. And my plasma screen. But we can pretend we're all eco-friendly, because it's not in our immediate back yard. This is yet another pitfall of unrestrained capitalism.
I have managed to decongest my hate glands. Only problem now is that all the backed-up hate-pus has festered and is coming out in a long stream of incomprehensible howling that looks like I've been smashing slugs with a salt-mallet onto my keyboard. All I can manage is a few sentences of GO FUCK YOURSELVES before I find myself curled up in the fetal position in a pile of used tissues.
Quote from: navkat on March 22, 2012, 11:09:30 PM
I have managed to decongest my hate glands. Only problem now is that all the backed-up hate-pus has festered and is coming out in a long stream of incomprehensible howling that looks like I've been smashing slugs with a salt-mallet onto my keyboard. All I can manage is a few sentences of GO FUCK YOURSELVES before I find myself curled up in the fetal position in a pile of used tissues.
Sounds like you need to kick somebody's ass.
Quote from: MMIX on March 22, 2012, 08:36:13 PMPosted by: Anna Mae Bollocks « on: Today at 07:54:52 PM »
QuoteI'm trying to imagine what would happen if a very large chunk of the population just STOPPED accepting US dollars as "a universally accepted means of exchange" and just printed up something else.
It would still be money.
But somehow I don't think it ends well.
Well it wouldn't just happen like that you know. I think that your statement really begs the question of what "money" actually is. Why would an exchange system which actually values real things, washers, hammers, services which people are prepared to exchange their own things for not be preferable, or end well?
Of course it wouldn't happen just like that. As far as what "money" is, it's whatever people collectively accept as currency. And you've ansered why it wouldn't end well yourself:
QuotePosted by: The Freeky of SCIENCE! « on: Today at 07:57:44 PM » Insert Quote
QuoteProbably not. I recall this coming up here before, and there were attempts before, but they failed or something happened.
Yeah there's a thread somewhere about who owns money or something.
And since currently it is a state monopoly it is hardly surprising that they get pissy when someone else tries to muscle in on their scam. :wink: