As I recall, Tone Loc used to do the wild thing on telco networks.
83 karma · joined January 2, 2009
I maintain that 90% of the union whining we are subjected to is nothing more than propaganda for obvious peoples' benefit.
I think the coach of a football program making a huge sum is different from the administrator of a college - for one thing, elite football coaching talent is in short supply. The supply of executives who can lead a university is not. Last I checked there are plenty of executives cooling their heels golfing etc.
However I could be convinced to hold football/basketball coaching salaries way down as part of a movement to de-professionalize college athletics by sending the coaches who are really using college athletics as a way to huge salaries to the pros. The way it operates now is simply absurd, especially given that elite level players receive none of the spoils of filling stadiums during the prime athletic years of their lives.
Back directly on topic, the problem with administrators making huge multiples of professors is it is attracting the wrong kind of people, i.e. profit maximizers who figure out how to funnel increasingly large sums of money into their own pockets. As an example consider the activities of the UC Regents: http://www.metroactive.com/features/diploma-mills.html
Having administration who are paid like landed gentry while professors and grad students are paid peanuts and students have to engage huge amounts of debt relative to their expected future earnings IS THE PROBLEM.
Just because you CAN use software for something doesn't mean you SHOULD use software for it.
Actually since users don't want to seem to pay for base SN functions, Zynga will probably more likely be the type of company the Facebooks of the world will look to buy since they have in fact figured out a monetization strategy for SN.
Anyway if I had my say, I wish the car industry was less Madison Avenue, and more Silicon Valley. Why aren't car prices decreasing? Why can't I easily swap out parts myself? There needs to be a rethink and it can't occur as long as .gov is propping up the existing edifice.
p.s. there is some good design done in the US but I'm talking high level here.
Yes, computers are infinitely better at rule-based computation than animals. No, they cannot pass simple tests of consciousness that a mouse can, and theres really no prospect of it happening because a better algorithm is created; fact is, animals and even insects don't think based on algorithms. Algorithms are models of the real world, not the real thing.
Being conscious means using ones eyes/ears/mouth/nose/skin to feel, hear, smell, speak to interact with the world around you. It means having agency and not just checking a set of pre-written rules in order to decide what to do next. Its a biological system that enables that.
AI will never come from digital machines.
Also, arguably if the trains are used to move goods they can get trucks off the road and really decrease road maintenance costs. If you look into the wear and tear vehicles make on pavement, each extra pound is exponentially more damage. Trucking companies actually are heavily subsidized by the road infrastructure but nobody notices it ;)
I do wonder if we need high speed trains. Regular trains might be a better long term bet.
Anyway one thing I'd like to mention that never gets highlighted is that buses are BY FAR the cheapest public transportation solution. Its not sexy but the good old fashioned bus is great since it can use the road infrastructure already built whereas trains need right of way and a lot of construction before they can be used.
It may be "reasonable" to engage in fraud when the government is enabling it - but its not honest. Hopefully our country can come to a point in the future where being honest is viewed as the "reasonable" thing to do.
It works just fine and no need to get the thousands of ISPs that exist involved, which is incredibly messy.
The last few years have been particularly disgusting. People competed to get ever-bigger and fancier houses, cars, and various toys that they really did not need.
Its time to start spending only what we earn as a nation, and individually.