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DavidV

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Everything posted by DavidV

  1. Read my One Minute Case For Strict Civil Liability of the Justice System.
  2. USA annual GDP is about $15 trillion. USA nuclear weapons program: total cost about $10 trillion dollars. USA aircraft carriers: $22 billion lifetime cost * about 80 since 1922 = $1.7 trillion Apollo program: $170 billion (2005 dollars)
  3. The Large Hadron Collider cost $9 billion USD and was built specifically because physicists expected something like the Higgs to be discovered. It's sort of like making a giant effort to land on the moon - while relying only on mathematical models to predict that the moon will be there to land on. It's quite possible that this will be the only fundamental particle to be discovered in our lifetimes.

  4. "A change in perspective is worth 80 IQ points." - Alan Kay

  5. What would the world would be like if we did not expose minors to any politics or religion before 18?

  6. In 2003, I founded Objectivism Online as a community for Objectivism. Now in 2012, I am founding the Free Capitalist Network (freecapitalists.org) to provide services for free-market intellectuals and entrepreneurs. The first service I am providing is free blog hosting - YourBlog.FreeCapitalists.Org Check it out here: FreeCapitalists.org
  7. The forum software has been updated. Let me know if you find any issues.
  8. "Our very real medical crisis has been the product of massive government intervention, state and federal, throughout the century; in particular, an artificial boosting of demand coupled with an artificial restriction of supply. The result has been accelerating high prices and deterioration of patient care. And next, socialized medicine could easily bring us to the vaunted medical status of the Soviet Union: everyone has the right to free medical care, but there is, in effect, no medicine and...

  9. On my way to Moscow via Aeroflot. Very glad they upgraded from Antonov to Boeing since my last flight in 1990.

  10. Laptop bags in China advertise that they are "TSA-friendly." Of course there is no TSA in China nor any other group of thugs banning fluids, removing laptops, forcing you to strip, or groping travelers. But the whole world has to put up with TSA's security theatre because so many people travel through the Amerikan militarized zone.

  11. Dinner tonight was Sarah's coconut cabbage fish head soup with lychee for desert.

  12. I'm going to Instanbul, Turkey June 10-16. Any suggestions for interesting things to do while there?

  13. That is wrong. The proper function of a judicial system is to provide restitution for harms. Even if all people were perfectly moral and perfectly rational, there would still be disagreements about contracts and tort claims (accidental damages.)
  14. "The trouble with fighting for human freedom is that one spends most of one's time defending scoundrels. For it is against scoundrels that oppressive laws are first aimed, and oppression must be stopped at the beginning if it is to be stopped at all." — H. L. Mencken

  15. "There are many who find a good alibi far more attractive than an achievement. For an achievement does not settle anything permanently. We still have to prove our worth anew each day: we have to prove that we are as good today as we were yesterday. But when we have a valid alibi for not achieving anything we are fixed, so to speak, for life." --Eric Hoffer

  16. "Generals gathered in their masses Just like witches at black masses Evil minds that plot destruction Sorcerers of death's construction In the fields the bodies burning As the war machine keeps turning Death and hatred to mankind Poisoning their brainwashed minds Oh lord yeah! Politicians hide themselves away They only started the war Why should they go out to fight? They leave that role to the poor Time will tell on their power minds Making war just for fun Treating people just like pawns...

  17. As far as I can tell, my router cannot handle multiple PPTP connections behind the NAT. Anyone know which firmware does?

  18. Any border "secure" enough to keep people out will inevitably be used to keep them in.

  19. In the West, smoking has been so marginalized and excluded from the circles I normally participate in that I almost forgot it existed. But in China 63% of Chinese men smoke cigarettes. I think most people know it's harmful, but they do it anyway. It's crazy that people consider it acceptable to be addicted to a deadly drug which they must consume every hour or go insane from withdrawal.

  20. With Entity Framework Code-First Migrations, I can add/update a property in a class file, run my unit tests, and my database schema gets automatically updated to reflect my code changes. It's pretty awesome.

  21. I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain. -Frank Herbert

  22. "Lacking an external focus, the mind turns inward on itself and creates problems to solve, even if the problems are undefined or unimportant. If you find a focus, an ambitious goal that seems impossible and forces you to grow, these doubts disappear." --Timothy Ferriss

  23. Just installed a USB 3.0 ExpressCard in Sarah's laptop. Under $10. Kind of jealous that I can't do that for my MacBook.

  24. FYI: You can reach me via my Google Voice number: 214-659-1775 thanks to Talkatone, which allows me to have a working USA phone number in China.

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