In today's news...

[Tassadar]

Re: In today's news...

Republican morality police do something stupid while in a Hooters, and act like witless dildos, to the surprise of no one. Funny (satirical) story though.

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[Mind Flayer]

Re: In today's news...

Author Tom Clancy dies earlier today on October the 2nd at the age of 66. Always liked a lot of his books, very sad he's gone. They didn't publish a cause of death, so I can't really tell everyone that part, but I'm sure they'll tell what it was sooner or later.

 

[XSI]

Re: In today's news...

I'll just leave this here

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Israeli prime minister making a fool of himself again in the UN with paranoid delusions and thinly veiled threats of unjustified wars
Nothing new or special

Edit: Also, Obama administration is petty about the shutdown

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Essentially, they're shutting down public open air monuments to cause as much discomfort for the people in what appears to be a political strategy to get people to blame the republicans.
Basically, putting fences around places to 'shut them down' when they're just eyecandy and don't need attendants.
WW2 veterans plan to go in anyway because this is all very silly and childish

Can't America just lock both sides in a room together with nobody allowed to leave until they agree or something? This is all so very very silly

 

[Newbie]

Re: In today's news...

I'll just leave this here

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Israeli prime minister making a fool of himself again in the UN with paranoid delusions and thinly veiled threats of unjustified wars
Nothing new or special

Edit: Also, Obama administration is petty about the shutdown

You must be registered to see the links

Essentially, they're shutting down public open air monuments to cause as much discomfort for the people in what appears to be a political strategy to get people to blame the republicans.
Basically, putting fences around places to 'shut them down' when they're just eyecandy and don't need attendants.
WW2 veterans plan to go in anyway because this is all very silly and childish

Can't America just lock both sides in a room together with nobody allowed to leave until they agree or something? This is all so very very silly

This seems to be a very right wing site, and I can find absolutely nothing resembling an about section or FAQs or sources. The point of the article seems to be that since the memorials were barricaded the president must have set the order, which is an assertion I find laughable.

That being said, this whole thing is horseshit.

 

[XSI]

Re: In today's news...

This seems to be a very right wing site, and I can find absolutely nothing resembling an about section or FAQs or sources. The point of the article seems to be that since the memorials were barricaded the president must have set the order, which is an assertion I find laughable.

That being said, this whole thing is horseshit.

Left, right, like it matters when they're both acting like a bunch of spoiled brats. They really are trying hard to blame the other side instead of actually trying to fix the problem

And on those memorials

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People are getting paid to protest against/in favour of whatever(Note: not protesting the WW2 vets actually going in). According to the comments, it's also 15$ an hour and not a flat fee of 15$

I still think this entire situation is best watched with circus music in the background. So I'll leave everyone with this

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[Tassadar]

Re: In today's news...

Left, right, like it matters when they're both acting like a bunch of spoiled brats. They really are trying hard to blame the other side instead of actually trying to fix the problem

And on those memorials

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People are getting paid to protest against/in favour of whatever(Note: not protesting the WW2 vets actually going in). According to the comments, it's also 15$ an hour and not a flat fee of 15$

I still think this entire situation is best watched with circus music in the background. So I'll leave everyone with this

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Except that's.... Not really what's happening. Those nitwits were hired by corporate groups to protest against the shutdown in general because the places they work for won't profit while the shutdown is in effect, not just the WW2 vets being let through the barricades to visit monuments, and it's really pretty much just the GOP being a bunch of unreasonable childish dipshits that's the cause of the shutdown in the first place. When one side consistently refuses to compromise or have any discussion while the other makes even token efforts of outreach, it's a tough sell to say both are at fault. The Democrats aren't exactly being MUCH better or handling the situation with much grace, but in the grand scheme of things it's mostly the Tea Party being blatant puppets of the US health insurance industry that's the root of the problem, since they're the most prominent group who are against the Affordable Care Act.

 

[XSI]

Re: In today's news...

Eh, the way I heard it, both sides are being a bunch of insufferable children about the matter, and both refusing to compromise on anything at all.

Either way, more news, from just now.

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Shots fired near US capitol
Happened a few minutes ago, more info will probably come soon.

Edit: Woman got shot, unarmed, child in the backseat. Cop fail.

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[XSI]

Re: In today's news...

And finally some good news

Switzerland may just decide to give every adult living there an unconditional income of 2500 Francs/month, if the vote passes. Rumours of this have been floating around for a while now.

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Since there aren't enough jobs to go around and the rich only get richer while the poor get poorer, the people are taking action and calling for binding referenda that would provide everyone with enough money to live off. This is democracy in action, while the US is bickering about a budget with elected officials who may or may not ignore their election promises, the Swiss are capable of directly calling for a vote on a topic and they can personally vote on them.
Using this system, the Swiss get stuff done, rather than postponing things again and again or letting things fall to the bottom of the pile.

The timing of the vote has yet to be announced, pending official guidance from the government.

Edit: Also, they're preparing for a defensive war

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[XSI]

Re: In today's news...

Welcome to censorship, courtesy of corporate protection of 'copyrights' and 'protected data'

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Pushed by some big names, this would essentially mean they can copyright stuff, and then if it's copyrighted, your browser won't be able to play it.
This would then open the door to copyrighting everything else, and then you can only see what they want you to see.

Basically, it's essentially SOPA/whatever alphabet barf they tried, but they don't have to pass it as a law, they'll just set the enforcement as an industry standard and enforce it themselves. If they manage to push this through, the internet is pretty much going to be limited to just what they agree to show. Luckily, plenty of people are working to try to stop this, and it's not going to happen any time soon yet. Something similar has happened before but since nobody wanted to use it, it got dropped. The solution is simple, be aware of what you're using and go for the open source and non-DRM versions.

A Web where you cannot cut and paste text; where your browser can't "Save As..." an image; where the "allowed" uses of saved files are monitored beyond the browser; where JavaScript is sealed away in opaque tombs; and maybe even where we can no longer effectively "View Source" on some sites, is a very different Web from the one we have today. It's a Web where user agents—browsers—must navigate a nest of enforced duties every time they visit a page.

 

[Unknown Squid]

Re: In today's news...

Switzerland may just decide to give every adult living there an unconditional income of 2500 Francs/month, if the vote passes. Rumours of this have been floating around for a while now.

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(Reuters) - Switzerland will hold a vote on whether to introduce a basic income for all adults, in a further sign of growing public activism over pay inequality since the financial crisis.
A grassroots committee is calling for all adults in Switzerland to receive an unconditional income of 2,500 Swiss francs ($2,800) per month from the state, with the aim of providing a financial safety net for the population.
Organizers submitted more than the 100,000 signatures needed to call a referendum on Friday and tipped a truckload of 8 million five-rappen coins outside the parliament building in Berne, one for each person living in Switzerland.
Under Swiss law, citizens can organize popular initiatives that allow the channeling of public anger into direct political action. The country usually holds several referenda a year.
In March, Swiss voters backed some of the world's strictest controls on executive pay, forcing public companies to give shareholders a binding vote on compensation.
A separate proposal to limit monthly executive pay to no more than what the company's lowest-paid staff earn in a year, the so-called 1:12 initiative, faces a popular vote on November 24.
The initiative's organizing committee said the basic income could partly be financed through money from social insurance systems in Switzerland.
The timing of the vote has yet to be announced, pending official guidance from the government.

This kind of thing really interests me. I'm far far from an expert on economic matters or such things, but for years now I've had this imagined notion of an alternative welfare system involving a flat rate "Living Allowance", that unlike "Job Seekers Allowance" would still apply on top of work earnings.

I'd always assumed there's probably some crippling flaw in the concept that I wouldn't know of due to fecking convoluted economic systems, but to see a country actually seriously putting it on the table as an potential thing to enact, is kinda exciting.

One of the big problems with Job Seekers Allowance (that's the UK name for it), is that whilst providing that "safety net" it's easy to argue that it's actually a rather big disincentive to work. Using myself as an example, I've found that most of the work I do (frequent but periodic contract work) barely puts me any better off than if I wasn't doing it at all. There have genuinely been times where taking a short term work offer has actually lost me money overall. Most of the time I am literally taking these jobs merely for the tiny self respect payout, and to try and mitigate the stigma of being on government benefits.

Now the amount that this Swiss referendum is looking to give people, looks a little crazy to me, but then I don't know the country too well, and I tend to have a biased porpers perception of money and living standards. But regardless, very interesting. There are countless implications I simply am not qualified to comment on, but I am very curious to see where this goes.

 

[MrMe]

Re: In today's news...

2500 francs is £1,719.92
1 swiss franc is about 70p at the moment

Found this site for a cost of living comparison.

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Cost of living is about 30% higher, taking 30% away from £1720 gives £1204.
That's still more than the average UK monthly wage, far more than the £280 pm you'd get on jobseekers.

 

[Unknown Squid]

Re: In today's news...

Nice little bit of research there. Also, given that living in London is a fair bit more expensive than most of the rest of the UK, the cost of living figure could probably be up to a 40% difference. Although I guess that may be the same story in Geneva compared to other parts of Switzerland?

For the last few years I've been living on roughly £6000 per year, as an average. Which is where I was coming from with what I said about finding the amount of money they're talking about giving out unconditionally, to feel like quite a lot, personally. That said though, such a minimalist budget is hardly normal here. Still, if I suddenly found myself handed that kind of money, I'm not sure where the incentive to find work and earn any more would come from. I may well be misunderstanding part of what the referendum is suggesting or how it would work. It didn't give too many details in that article.

 

[XSI]

Re: In today's news...

Here are some more links relevant to the topic

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The only way such a basic income is sustainable is if the country is closed to immigrants, as immigrants would be a large drain on such a system.
It has many pros and cons, but one thing I like about it is that it can boost the economy, as now everyone will always have something to spend, so there is always a market there for companies to sell things to the people. A stable market as a solid foundation for the economy is not a bad idea, especially after 2008.

It also means that people can try to innovate and start a small business of their own without fear of being homeless if it fails, after all, they will still have their basic income. If the business fails, they might lose it, but at least they won't lose everything they own.
Through supply and demand, wages for jobs will also rise, as a job that does not offer anything reasonable will simply not be filled, whereas without basic income the people will be forced to get just any job just to survive, and employers(Often of big companies) treat workers like shit because they know if the worker quits, they'll just get someone else. With a basic income for all, they'll have to actually treat their workers well, or they won't get any.
It basically just shifts the people from 'Got to survive so we must stress out 5 days a week and try to fit our own lives in wherever we don't have work' to 'I'm alive, and will stay alive. I'll find a job so that I can afford more of what I want to do, or something I enjoy doing.'

Edit: And some stuff from the US

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[XSI]

Re: In today's news...

Posting some more US shutdown clownery

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US gov tries to shut down privately owned park, and spends more money shutting down places than it would have cost keeping them open.
This would be amusing if it was told like it was a joke, but apparently they're actually doing that.

Edit: Just now saw it's from the third. Have some Science news instead.
----

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NASA figures out 3d printed rocket parts are perfectly fine for use.

In little more than a month, Marshall engineers built two subscale injectors with a specialized 3-D printing machine and completed 11 mainstage hot-fire tests, accumulating 46 seconds of total firing time at temperatures nearing 6,000 degrees Fahrenheit while burning liquid oxygen and gaseous hydrogen.
“We saw no difference in performance of the 3-D printed injectors compared to the traditionally manufactured injectors,” said Sandra Elam Greene, the propulsion engineer who oversaw the tests and inspected the components afterward. “Two separate 3-D printed injectors operated beautifully during all hot-fire tests.”

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Psychotherapy via Internet found as good as or better than face-to-face

And

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Artificial human ear grown in lab

Edit2:

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North Korea calls Switzerland refusing to sell ski lifts a serious human rights abuse.
Because clearly they needed those ski lifts.

 

[XSI]

Re: In today's news...

Some more stuff on the shutdown

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People are ignoring it because government is trying to also shut down private businesses and volunteers looking for lost hikers.
Government responded to this by posting armed guards in front of said business to force away all potential costumers.
This is getting absolutely retarded

Also, another message on it by a friend which I did not check for facts, since it's 2:30AM and I'm tired

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Basically, more political games, less actually trying to figure out how to best run the country, and flat out saying the entire shutdown was planned by a bunch of rich assholes who didn't want to pay taxes, or deal with this 'democracy' thing.

 

[XSI]

Re: In today's news...

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Due to NSA spying among other things, the main internet controlling and advancing institutions are turning their backs on the US government.

The idea is to move to a more international system which is not controlled by the US

 

[XSI]

Re: In today's news...

You've probably already heard the result of the US government with their debt ceiling(Last minute deal, happening delayed), what you may not have heard is someone snapping right after it and talking about the freemasons

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She was taken to a hospital as people assume it's a mental problem she had, none seem to have asked her what's up with the weird stuff.

A video from Fox News where they interview an ex-navy SEAL about the US government

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The guy basically says the government is trying really hard to push people to commit violent acts so they can fight back and claim self-defence, as well as them attempting to create situations to declare martial law in a power grab(Which would apparently render the constitution useless)
Basically, ex-SEAL says government is just being a bunch of dicks

And an EU initiative to give everyone a basic income, much like the Swiss proposal

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Worth giving a look, it would be likely to end the economic crisis going on, if a good way to implement it could be found

 

[Tassadar]

Re: In today's news...

It's on Fox News. It's false. People have been saying the same thing for decades, and it hasn't happened yet. People who believe the government is out to get them are just like people who believe in the apocalypse, they need it to feel like they aren't irrelevant.

 

[Newbie]

Re: In today's news...

It's on Fox News. It's false. People have been saying the same thing for decades, and it hasn't happened yet. People who believe the government is out to get them are just like people who believe in the apocalypse, they need it to feel like they aren't irrelevant.

That actually makes a great deal of sense; both are hoping for the fall of the current state of affairs to have a chance to prove themselves from scratch.

 

[XSI]

Re: In today's news...

Yeah, a lot of people want the existing system to fall, for many reasons. So of course these people will start looking for signs that it's falling. That does not mean it will fall though.

Also, EU passing totalitarian laws to... 'prevent the rise of totalitarian ideologies'

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Good job EU, becoming what you claim to be fighting. In short, any support for 'bad' ideologies(Read: Things they disagree with) is to be condemned and if possible made criminal.
Aside from trying to force people to not have bad opinions, they're trying to push schools to teach children that all multiculturalism is good(Even when every of science kind that looks into it shows it is not)
Thought police go!