brc

23 ms·

181.
by brc 11y ago
Yes, exactly. The largest use of computers in schools (let's stick to the educational software, even though classes may not always) By far the biggest use is in doing what computers are good at : automating manual, repetitive tasks. So
182.
by brc 11y ago
"Corporations, especially at that scale, are at best amoral." sorry, but this is just wrong. Lots of people posting and reading this work for corporations. Do bad actors exist? Sure. Are all corporations at scale amoral? You mak
183.
by brc 11y ago
Solar is a niche technology with a limited role to play. You need to double production in the day and add storage just to get 24hr supply. If you want more than 12 hours backup you need to double again. If you want 48 hours backup you ne
184.
by brc 11y ago
Well, the world is a big place, and the exclusion zones are pretty small. The ocean can take a lot of contimination. Obviously nobody wants that, but a tiny bit of somewhat radioactive water is going to dilute quite substantially.
185.
by brc 11y ago
We have no plan for cars hitting each other at highway speeds either. We just send out the fire and police to mop up and look for survivors. Every day, around the world, more people are killed and injured in vehicles than the entire hist
186.
by brc 11y ago
Well, obviously it's the former. Perhaps calling out groupthink in a parent comment is unnecessary. However I have seen many, many instances where a zero/negative growth anti-capital mindset, complete with student -level slogans
187.
by brc 11y ago
What is surprising to me is actually how small the waste is, especially compared to the amount of energy that was extracted. One mountain can be used to bury the waste. That is a tiny footprint compared to other, conventional means. Even a
188.
by brc 11y ago
"If we are serious about tackling emissions and climate change, no climate-neutral source should be ignored" Well, exactly. The most noisy and alarmist aren't interested in producing energy at all. They are only interested
189.
by brc 11y ago
I meant Occam's razor as a way of explaining why they were handed over as paper - the simplest explanation being they were intentionally making it harder. I get why the agency might print it out- but I don't get why the Clinton st
190.
by brc 11y ago
How did they get the plain text as metadata? Was the scanning equipment doing OCR and setting that?
191.
by brc 11y ago
Handling PDFs and OCR is always troublesome. But in this case, if I understand you correctly, the original source documents were PDF? That they were distributed as PDF for all the reasons you state? That doesn't apply in this case - t
192.
by brc 11y ago
How is it not easier to programmatically find/replace specific names/emails and replace with (redacted). In this day and age it takes a lot more work to print, manually redact and scan than it does to digitally redact permanently.
193.
by brc 11y ago
So what part of the submarine did they get? Or is that still classified?
194.
by brc 11y ago
It was quite a FU - I read originally they were delivered as printed emails. Not good form at all.
195.
by brc 11y ago
The real question here is why are low paid people unable to keep up with the cost of living. What is pushing the cost of living higher than a minimum wage earner can be productive for? The answer is taxes and regulations. Taxes make every
196.
by brc 11y ago
I learnt just as much working low paid jobs while studying as I did in the study. Working with people you don't like, being punctual and responsible, accepting criticism and even nearly getting fired - all good lessons. Paying people
197.
by brc 11y ago
Skilled artisanal work is by definition not low paid menial work. There's nothing wrong with people doing low paid work. Those of us who can't stand it impose our values on others. I worked a lot of manual labor while studying.
198.
by brc 11y ago
Right, if you're arrested for spying, hardly seems worth it to throw in a 'lying on visa form' charge as well. Pretty sure you're not going to get another visa if convicted.
199.
by brc 11y ago
Even the people who get replaced get some benefit in that they get access to cheaper food. Not enough to replace their income, but the point is that automation is good for humanity. Only the Luddites want to smash machines and keep a shirt
200.
by brc 11y ago
My local McDonalds is experimenting with touch screen menus. I guess automated kitchens won't be far behind. It will be a shame when such an entry level job is no longer available to teenagers to learn about doing a job and working in
201.
by brc 11y ago
Can you tell me how 'the ultra rich siphon off wealth from the rest of society?' I see this type of saying thrown around a lot, but I've never understood how those who believe it think the mechanism works, how you sequester
202.
by brc 11y ago
How many people are still alive could possibly be members of the Nazi party? It hasn't existed for 70 years. That's stupid. Asking me if I'm a spy? Has anyone ever answered yes?
203.
by brc 11y ago
I would say that a lot of issues could be solved in the US by reducing the amount of sugar in everything and reducing the amount of credit used to buy everything. Getting people healthier and saving more can never lead to bad outcomes.
204.
by brc 11y ago
By growing the income, you mean growing their productivity so they make more money. Rising minimum wage and reducing hours does the exact opposite. Decreasing a tax burden is a good idea - but decreasing the tax burden on everyone. 'T
205.
by brc 11y ago
Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland are all capitalist countries with a high economic freedom index. That the voters choose to vote themselves high taxes for the purposes of high government spending is more a function of their culture than
206.
by brc 11y ago
I was having dinner with American colleagues once. We were talking about passports or visas, and I told them about the stupid questions - are you a nazi? Are you a spy? They didn't believe me until I found a copy of the form on Google
207.
by brc 11y ago
Bretton Woods dissolvement, first Oil Crises.
208.
by brc 11y ago
You can employ a lot of janitors for the cost of running a fleet of Roombas. It's the classic case of tech being 90% there. You still would need a janitor to do the side jobs that the Roombas missed, and to keep an eye on them. Also
209.
by brc 11y ago
Sure, and tobacco and alcohol taxes only do a mild job in curbing consumption - the collectors of the excise taxes are designed and marketed to draw people in. A 'sin tax' really only operates at the margin and are -clearly- not e
210.
by brc 11y ago
Of all the taxes in the world, I have no real problem with lotteries. I can see there is an argument for needing to have clearer advertising on what the house 'take' is on the he tickets, but most people don't know how much

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