chuck kottke

> #4 is Leonard's idea - I have to say as well it's a pretty cool idea, and would level the playing field a bit between incumbents and new office-seekers. #3 is my thought on how to deal with the negative ads that are mostly emotionally charged lies, at least some sort of vetting by a group of citizens that are chosen at random would help. Honest and accurate are subjective terms; what makes more sense? > LOL - well, perhaps this is the reason for Occupy - people have lost their homes, hence they're trying to send a message that they need some help to get them through a rough patch? I'm not sure the same scams were perpetrated in Wellington as were being done by our corporate "banks" here though...:thinking: If times were better, none of this would be necessary - I am glad there are occupiers everywhere, given the state of affairs in the world today.

Where on earth is Rudy? He seems to have disappeared! Maybe the abominable snowman got him?:P He's been consumed by a runaway snowball rolling down Bascom hill?

Hi:)

Hm, one wonders exactly who they are, and why they are doing this... If operatives were to try and do anything to a movement to discredit it, this would surly be one way to achieve just that. It's a shame the truth can't be told, it seems considering the possibility of what does often happen within movements is somehow shameful? :dozey: This in the land of free speech.. But if it is part of the protest movement, I can only say that they are making a mistake. The American Flag is symbolic of many things, but especially it is symbolic of the rights we cherish as citizens, and public property shouldn't be simply broken into and vandalized - that's just wrong - it's the property of all of us, not the target where the real problems lay. >The facts remain, the crime of the century perpetrated by many in power, and the criminals remain in seats of power, revolving between firms and government. Are we to simply ignore the obvious, and allow corruption to eat up our nation and the world? I think not. I visited my neighbor today, and he and I take polar opposite political views on many things, but we both agree on the need for inclusion of the underlying missing rules, currently lacking in our system: 1.) Limit the political contribution to a candidate's race to an amount affordable by all citizens - under $200. Nothing over or outside this at all, and no corporate money. 2.) Campaigning can start no sooner than 9 months before an election. 3.) A panel, composed of citizens selected at random, to pre-screen all political messages before their air for honesty and accuracy of their content. 4.) When elected, those new representatives must relinquish all campaign funds to either pay off the debt, or pay into the general coffers. No more war-chests. 5.) Term limits - 2 terms maximum. 6.) Once an officeholder is out of office, they are permanently barred from any lobbying or consulting jobs.

Is the foldable car in your future? The Foldable Car: Coming to a Parking Spot Near You | Hybrid Reality | Big Think When you're leaving work, heading home to the neighborhood, a thousand houses long, finding the transportation solution that offers commutability to and from the rail passenger boarding zones is a must - and thus, the self-folding compact may play a leading role in our future!

:laugh3: MX stands for XM, as in the first experimental radio stations in the U.S. were all XM stations. And therein lies a clue. A broadcast was heard as far away as Mars, PA from Madison. It's all there in Davidson's book. That's the ticket! Audio Drugs! :elephant::woodstock:

:rolleyes: Face it - you were hoping they would, so you could trounce on the movement. We know you .1%'ers. :P One might liken it to the historic Boston mob, just shy of revolutionary times. True, it is the non-violent movements that gain the most traction with the public, & it is hard to have sympathy with those turning to violence - except for the fact that there may be operatives in the crowd, stirring up violence to make the movement look bad - that does happen as well. Actions are one thing, but the reality remains the same - gross income inequities are untenable, the buying of elections by the highest bidders is obscene in a democracy.

You can look at the bridge and steamy cheese plants here: Painting From Life: March 2010 Plus some fantastic wildlife art!

You can simulate all the sensory inputs from here. First, take cardboard, wet it and boil it. Place that pan in your freezer compartment, and visualize that cold cardboard-smelling steam rising from factories. Then, take some cheese - mozzarella, cheddar, pepper jack - heat that up, and place it next to the steamy cardboard. And take a whiff. Snow - basically the frosty crust in the freezer, but super-fine and soft. And the water part - it's like a big marsh / wetland with a river flowing into it. Alright, I'll try and find a picture.. somewhere... :thinking::laugh3:

Welcome, what's new in Albania?

I'm thinking: I can't post a picture of the city where I live, because... I don't live in a city! :laugh3: And if anyone wants to see GB.. the nearest burg of any notoriety.. picture, a place with lots of steam rising from factories, the smell of paper making and cheese, the lake.. & a bridge where you can look down at it all. It's like anywhere USA. With snow and cheese.

Immune to addictions? Well, nobody's immune to the possibility of one, but that doesn't necessarily mean that MX = RX, any more than rated R = rated M or rated X! :P Anyhow, to people in the medical profession, I suppose everything starts looking like RX.. :laugh3: I still like the mobile missile launcher theory myself... Or the number theory.

Do I really know what I am thinking? There's thousands of neurons with ion exchange waves running their length, synaptic ends sending messenger chemicals across barriers, all the neural networks in the brain working, and then responding, coordinated with light-induced responses in the retina of the eye, images to be flipped around, all that going on and then some! Plus, it's hard to know where original thought begins and where thoughts of others end, not to mention all the experiences affecting how the brain is folded and which areas are enhanced, modified through learning experiences, plus it's all affected by time of day, body chemistry, maybe even this caffeine in the Matte' and Tea I just quaffed down! :lol: Nevah mind, my mind is on overdrive...

Obviously, the MX stands for many things. The MX missile system, a billion-dollar boondoggle the U.S. Government sunk a small fortune into, while ignoring the plight of citizens. And it also stands for 1010 from Roman numerals, which if the base 10 number were seen as binary it would then be re-translated as 10 in decimal. Running this one more time through the binary-to-decimal converter produces 2. And since there are 4 digits in the first decimal number, deep thought had considered the combination of both as 42, just moments before the Earth was destroyed to make way for the great interstellar superhighway, or Milky Way (not to be confused with the Appian Way).. And MX may stand for many other things, some which can be considered on other pages of the Encyclopedia Galactica's brief annotated index. :P

Venice, the city-state. :P

Welcome!:sunny::elephant::woodstock: :elmo::cooky::elmo::cooky::elmo:

:rolleyes:Sleep!

Zucchini

... I was just thinking, when someone's on needles and pins, you know, like loosing their home or rationing the last bean on the shelf, I think that's not just hard on that one family, it's hard on the whole community, country, and world. We're all in this together, unrestricted market forces can be both cruel and destructive to the social fabric that is necessary for us to be strong together and able to reach new heights; weakening that fabric allows a lot more to slip through than just one or two. We've gotta have heart. :heart:

YES!:rolleyes: :laugh3:

The result of the murky loans and economic shock, millions have lost their homes - Occupy Brooklyn members rallied in defense of those being foreclosed on today, direction action taken to disrupt and discredit the auctioning of foreclosed homes in Brooklyn neighborhoods:Occupy Wall Street | NYC Protest for World Revolution

I think it could work. An income tax checkoff of $50, offered as a voucher in lieu of income taxes, for each voter to then offer to political candidate of choice for funding their campaigns, and a maximum additional donation of $100 to candidate of choice, and no outside money allowed. The thing is this - to keep them honest and get them off their dependency on the big money donors, there has to be enough incentive to do so and make the candidates actually represent we, the people. If such a system were able to offer 2X what they currently get to run their campaigns, and if the outside money were kept out, then they wouldn't feel threatened so much by reform measures and our voices would take center stage, instead of the dog-and-pony show we're given now - they say all the right things, and do what those with the most money want when in office. But that has to be coupled with ending the lobbying jobs when they're out of office, and monitoring the lobbyists with a citizen go-between, or else the collusion is inevitable. It's a tricky thing to get a cat to work for us, but it's possible if we're the ones with the tuna to offer. Getting that to happen will be another hurtle, but better for us all (including the plutocrats, since they're not immune to the instability and problems created by such rampant corruption. King Midas' touch tells a lesson there.) Will it be salient with others, what other checks and balances to include?

I know Arabic dance, music, oud playing, but your language remains a mystery to me. Great potential in making the economy grow, for there to be prosperity for all - I know it is possible, I do hope it happens. :heart:

Fremantle, in Western Australia

7F, or -14C , but the days ahead look warm!! (all things being relative, for us, anything above freezing is warm here!). :laugh3: