tom

Comment Threads

• Elderly Cynic commented on Unforeseen Consequences and that 1929 vibe
  Yes, but it was worse than that. Not merely did she sell off much (most?) of our publicly-owned industry, with no tendering and at (secret) discounted rates, to USA corporations which eventually shut them down, she also (illegally) did much the same to our world-leading and profitable agricultural research. It's not fair to put ALL the blame on her, as those had been the objectives of the Department of Total Incompetence for some time, and it did and has done the same to most of our IT industry, both before and after her....
• Greg Tingey commented on Unforeseen Consequences and that 1929 vibe
  Yeah ( mostly) look up "Rothamsted" for explanations .......
• Damian commented on Unforeseen Consequences and that 1929 vibe
  Seriously, religion is a category largely invented by Christians in the Middle Ages. I wanted to follow up this point when I had time, partly because I think most people responding in this thread misunderstood it. It's an entirely non-controversial statement of cultural history. Many concepts and distinctions that we make are very definitely modern western concepts and distinctions. Some are part of how we deal with the world on an individual level so we're inclined to see them as obvious. The way we define "self" or a "person", for instance, is a modern western understanding of this concept[1]. And...
• Charlie Stross commented on Unforeseen Consequences and that 1929 vibe
  After reviewing all the various viewpoints on the MacDonalds coffee lawsuit, I've got a simple conclusion: Yes. MacDonalds were at fault. But not specifically for serving the coffee too hot — you can't make coffee without the liquid at some point being dangerously hot. MacDonalds were at fault for serving coffee in a hazardous container; easily crushable between knees, entire lid had to be removed to permit drinking, etc. We all know that you can serve coffee in a flimsy waxed cardboard cup with no lid. Or you can serve it in a cardboard cup with a corrugated sleeve (for...
• Greg Tingey commented on Unforeseen Consequences and that 1929 vibe
  It's the same dynamic that applies when a theist questions onus and thinks an atheist must disprove the existence of their deity of choice, so you'd think people would know it better but apparently not. At this, current time, most of the theists know perefctly well that they are asking the impossible, but would rather use some combination of: (a) Score cheap points from the ignorant, who do know no better ... (b) Gain time in the aregument to put further distractions into the "argument" ... (c) simply lie, anyway, & hope that they are not found out....