OP ED-"Little Timmy Wants to Know Why Nobody Likes Airplanes Anymore?

[carusoam]

We're going to need to define the word reads....

At 1048 posts, the key players enjoy reading and writing.

The other 997 MS members, probably not as much.

Agreement, still seems to be elusive....

Anybody watch Aljazeera news? Any comments?

Best regards,

-a-

[carusoam]

Scott,

I wrote a nice eloquent response...

Then my IPad ate it...

I'm still trying to decide which side to support. Left vs. Right...

Which source of information is better for me. ABC, CBS, NBC vs. Fox...

USA Today vs NYT...

This is similar to the construction of the discussion of which Mooney is best for me.

What is nice about MooneySpace is there room for all opinions, theories and ideas.

People have patience and restraint here. Probably because there is so much to gain by maintaining one's composure.

So much to lose by losing one's composure.

I still don't understand why we would have a thread on MS for this particular topic. There are so many important topics in the world, disease, gay rights, equality, insurance, health care, and corporate greed etc...

We all honor it, by allowing it thread space.

There are a handful of people that have read every thread on MS, including 1000 posts not related to Mooneys.

Your side is calling me a whiner?

I'm leaning towards the other side now.

Which side is the North East banker on?

He was making the most sense to me.

Doing the best I can, with what I have...

Best regards,

-a-

[carusoam]

On AlJazeera news...

I was at a friend's house the other day. His care giver was watching the news on that channel. It was covering the spread of Ebola in North Africa. It spent some time on the wars in that area. Lots of Toyotas acting as military machines...

Interesting video that doesn't usually make it to US television...

So I asked you about your thoughts on AlJazeera. Mostly, because I was interested in your thoughts.

I was expecting a reply from somebody that would mention it is funded by a U.S. candidate or something like that.

I'll still be here, until I can't fly a Mooney anymore...

Best regards,

-a-

[flyboy0681]

Yes Tom. You are really well read. I understand your frustration with how great the US could be if they just didn't have uneducated folks like me obstructing all the progress. Again Tom I understand that you are a really really smart guy.

My problem with reading those writings, is that, in so doing, I see that the information is wrong and consistent with the beliefs of a socialist. The further afield views are baseline Socialistic worldviews and this individual is not down with that. In short, I am inclined to not want to read what is povided to me by those that I am diametrically opposed to. It is fairly clear through this thread who is an arrogant ass and who isn't.

 

Wouldn't a well rounded person read text from both sides of an argument, massage the information and come to their own conclusion based upon the information presented instead being drawn to read only material that is consistent with their position? 

 

I have read a lot on both sides of the climate change argument and it's helped me formulate my own personal view, which is, that while the billions of internal combustion engines that have been produced over the past 120 or so years has helped to increase carbon in the atmosphere (not to mention millions of emission belching factory smoke stacks), we are probably also in a natural warming cycle and the combination of both is lending itself to the current condition. Nowhere will you find me writing that Al Gore is to be taken seriously or that right-wing deniers are totally off their rockers (although I wish they would at least consider the evidence instead of instantly denying it as a matter of course). As always, the answer is usually found somewhere in the middle.

[flyboy0681]

If you believe the government is there to make it better, you are not a moderate, you are a Socialist.

I didn't make that a bad word. History did.

 

 

As the resident "socialist" here (which I do not consider myself), yes I do feel that there are some aspects of government which is here to make our lives better - much better - than what they would be without a government.

 

You have made your opinion loud and clear that you are not in favor of any government intervention or program (or very little), and my hat is off to you for feeling so strongly in your convictions. I've also written here about federal departments that I feel have absolutely no place, such as Dept of Education, among a dozen others. Agencies (other than defense) which I feel are necessary are the CDC, FAA and FDA, to name a few. Again I bring up the argument of how many people in this country get sickened from an e coli outbreak each year. A half dozen? What would it be without the FDA overlooking the food supply? Remember the e coli outbreak a few years ago from Strawberries illegally imported into the US from Mexico and fed to San Diego area school kids? Would you rather have the Mexican system?

[flyboy0681]

Switched it up from Global Warming eh? It's climate change. Good for you-reading a lot about it. Here is a shocker-Another massive scheme to punish the US citizens and create massive taxes.

Better get your moderate EPA on those belching smoke stacks. They are obviously falling down on the job again.

So does all your reading say the earth is warmer due to man made air pollution? Carbon Dioxide is the problem and taxes are the cure.

Please download a video of polar bears crying and dying and the polar ice caps melting...super for effect.

Maybe the architect of ObamaCare was right. American voters ARE STUPID.

I am just Conservative

 

Exactly to my point Scott. You are looking only at one side of the argument and have no gumption nor interest in broadening your mind on the subject. It's not man made and that is that - end of argument.

 

You asked "So does all your reading say the earth is warmer due to man made air pollution?". Didn't you read what I wrote? If not, here it is again: I feel it's caused by 150 years of man made pollutants combined with a natural warming cycle. Who is putting words in the others mouth now?

 

FWIW, the term "global warming" went out about a decade ago. Climate change is more appropriate because warming is causing changes to the climate itself, ranging from colder winters in some areas and hotter, drier summers in others. To think that the winters in Moscow are now a balmy 60 degrees is being disingenuous and - quite frankly - naive.

[DaV8or]

Yes and no. High capacity lines in India has helped build their outsourcing industry by leaps and bounds. If they didn't have the capacity to handle it, they would have failed in their efforts to become the worldwide center of software development and all of those American programmers may still have been employed. The same goes for their call centers, if their infrastructure was not in place, that call you made to Delta Airlines may have actually been picked up in Atlanta.

 

Actually, the India situation is sort of an industrial internet situation. Do the engineers and tech support people all do this work from their homes, or do they come into sort of central work place? In the case of the software engineers, does the speed of data transmission really matter that much? I believe the internet we have available to most Americans is sufficient to do both of these jobs.

 

I agree that it is important for a country to have internet service in place because it can be used for employment like this. I question whether or not it needs to be the very fastest broadband known? There is a belief among some people that our country is at some sort of disadvantage because of this "internet gap" between us and the world's socialist countries. That somehow, just because their citizens have super speedy internet at home, they will leap frog us in the technology sector. I don't see it. I think it more likely that they just have more internet garbage pumped to and from more devices in their homes than we do.

 

I'd love to have even better internet here at the house because I'm an online gamer, but I don't think I'll be getting fiber optic anytime soon. It seems the internet providers are just fine with us being right where we are.

[flyboy0681]

Actually, the India situation is sort of an industrial internet situation. Do the engineers and tech support people all do this work from their homes, or do they come into sort of central work place? In the case of the software engineers, does the speed of data transmission really matter that much? I believe the internet we have available to most Americans is sufficient to do both of these jobs.

 

 

 

A most thought provoking response. While speed is part of their revolution, the amount of data that can be transmitted is more important. In case you haven't read about it, radiology is a big item that's been offshored in recent years. Many American hospitals are transmitting CT and PET scan results to (hopefully American trained) radiologists in India. If they had to use a 9600 baud modem instead of fibre optic lines, the images would take days to transmit instead of seconds.

 

In one of those "now I've seen it all" moments, I saw a report of a new revolution taking place in India. There are actually fast food restaurants here in the US that are experimenting with remote order taking. A camera is pointed at the car and a guy in India is actually taking the food order in real time and entering it into the system. Not only that, the guy in India is looking at multiple images on the screen of several different restaurants that he's servicing at the same time.

[DaV8or]

I consider myself a conservative and vote Republican nearly all the time and I too am concerned about the direction our country is headed, but I can see great advantages to government involvement in areas other than just the military. I would say that I'm a moderate conservative, others on the right are fast to throw out names and draw lines in the sand. To them I'm likely one of the problems. Not very constructive.

 

To the ones that seem to want to tear down the government and restrict it's duties to just managing the state militias I guess, I'm not really sure, but I wonder what in their view, the ideal role of the Federal government is? What powers should they, or shouldn't have? Imagine a world where Obama is just a community organizer in Kenya and all the progressives, liberals and socialists have moved out to Sweden and you have it all your own way, What would they have the Federal government of the USA do and why?

 

Then I'd like to know if there was ever a time in American history, from the Revolution to now, when the Federal government was ideal and just right? Why was it so great? Why did we change it and how do they believe it is we got to where we are now? If things were going great, why did the American people of the time, feel great desire to change?

 

The thing of it is, the world is ever changing and the founding fathers knew this. That is why they gave us a minimal Federal government with the provisions to modify it and change it as we might see fit in the future. Pretty clever idea, to have adaptive government to fit the needs of the future. To restrict the government to a strict set of minimalist rigid guidelines in an ever changing world seems counter intuitive.

[flyboy0681]

MAYBE THEY NEED TO OUTSOURCE BECAUSE THE GOVERNMENT IS MANDATING THAT FLIPPING BURGERS IS A CAREER PATH AND WARRANTS $15-$20 BUCKS AN HOUR...

MINIMUM WAGE. WHAT A JOKE. SUPPLY AND DEMAND SHOULD DICTATE WAGE.

 

Well Scott, you would set the U.S. back 75 years. Supply and demand for flipping burgers would yield a fifty cent an hour wage.

[DaV8or]

A most thought provoking response. While speed is part of their revolution, the amount of data that can be transmitted is more important. In case you haven't read about it, radiology is a big item that's been offshored in recent years. Many American hospitals are transmitting CT and PET scan results to (hopefully American trained) radiologists in India. If they had to use a 9600 baud modem instead of fibre optic lines, the images would take days to transmit instead of seconds.

 

In one of those "now I've seen it all" moments, I saw a report of a new revolution taking place in India. There are actually fast food restaurants here in the US that are experimenting with remote order taking. A camera is pointed at the car and a guy in India is actually taking the food order in real time and entering it into the system. Not only that, the guy in India is looking at multiple images on the screen of several different restaurants that he's servicing at the same time.

 

Again though, these are industrial solutions and for them to work, it implies that the operators in America must have the same internet capability. In other words, they get what is needed to get the job done installed. What I'm trying to get at is how does providing super fast broad band internet to every household in South Korea for example, really improve that country's tech standing in the world? How does it give them an edge? The way I see it, industry here in the US has great internet when it really needs it. The rest of us don't really need it, so we don't have it.

[flyboy0681]

 

 

Then I'd like to know if there was ever a time in American history, from the Revolution to now, when the Federal government was ideal and just right? Why was it so great? Why did we change it and how do they believe it is we got to where we are now? If things were going great, why did the American people of the time, feel great desire to change?

 

The thing of it is, the world is ever changing and the founding fathers knew this. That is why they gave us a minimal Federal government with the provisions to modify it and change it as we might see fit in the future. Pretty clever idea, to have adaptive government to fit the needs of the future. To restrict the government to a strict set of minimalist rigid guidelines in an ever changing world seems counter intuitive.

 

Further to your (excellent) point, if the federal government interferes so much and stifles American industry to the point of strangulation, how in the world did we ever get to this point? From developing miracle drugs to taking computers that used weigh a few tons to fit into the palm of your hand? Just like you, I wonder what this country would really look like if the feds really tightened the clamps to the point that some say it did and still does.

[flyboy0681]

 What I'm trying to get at is how does providing super fast broad band internet to every household in South Korea for example, really improve that country's tech standing in the world? 

 

It doesn't, it's a byproduct of what's available to industry and makes for great streaming at home without those damned "buffering" messages.

[DaV8or]

MAYBE THEY NEED TO OUTSOURCE BECAUSE THE GOVERNMENT IS MANDATING THAT FLIPPING BURGERS IS A CAREER PATH AND WARRANTS $15-$20 BUCKS AN HOUR...

MINIMUM WAGE. WHAT A JOKE. SUPPLY AND DEMAND SHOULD DICTATE WAGE.

 

Sadly, for many Americans, fast food is a career path. Due to globalization, technology, increasing population and competition, good paying jobs that ordinary people with basic eduction can do, is shrinking all the time. The middle class is shrinking and with it will come the ruin of our country. The thing to remember as you push people further and further down the economic ladder with lower and lower wages is, crime requires no formal education, is easy to learn with on the job training and the capital needed to get into business can be as little as zero. A sustained middle class is needed for a healthy America.

[flyboy0681]

Sadly, for many Americans, fast food is a career path. Due to globalization, technology, increasing population and competition, good paying jobs that ordinary people with basic eduction can do, is shrinking all the time. The middle class is shrinking and with it will come the ruin of our country. The thing to remember as you push people further and further down the economic ladder with lower and lower wages is, crime requires no formal education, is easy to learn with on the job training and the capital needed to get into business can be as little as zero. A sustained middle class is needed for a healthy America.

 

More excellent points. People that shoot from the hip and make blanket statements such as "pay people what the market will bear" don't think things out carefully enough. Like I said, if market conditions prevailed and the minimum wage was abolished, flipping burgers would result in wages less than a dollar. That may be fine for the citizens of Iowa, but down here that wouldn't go far. And make no mistake, if McDonald's could hire a cook for $.50 an hour, they would still charge the current prices in order to maximize their profits.

[rob]

So all this talk has me wondering what you all think about all this seismic activity in Kansas and Oklahoma. There were two quakes this last week that were better than a 4.0, with the stronger of the two being around a 4.8 I believe.

Denton, Texas, which is home to a metric crap ton of oil money, has outlawed Fracking. Other cities are considering the same.

What say you, Mooneyspace? Is Fracking to blame for sudden and dramatic increases in strengths and numbers of quakes?

[DaV8or]

In one of those "now I've seen it all" moments, I saw a report of a new revolution taking place in India. There are actually fast food restaurants here in the US that are experimenting with remote order taking. A camera is pointed at the car and a guy in India is actually taking the food order in real time and entering it into the system. Not only that, the guy in India is looking at multiple images on the screen of several different restaurants that he's servicing at the same time.

 

This solution makes absolutely zero sense to me and if any fast food chain in America ever tried this, they would be dead in the water in a month. The last thing any American, particularly the guy that has to eat at these kind of places because he lost his job to outsourcing, wants to do, is order a hamburger (a particularly American product) from a guy in India!!! I suspect these stores would be burned to the ground in certain areas and nobody would shed a tear.

 

The jobs that really need to be out sourced is the job of the corporate CEO. These over paid buffoons come up with ideas like this that often run a company into the ground at no risk to themselves. There are lots of successful CEOs running foreign companies that could be hired to run American companies at a fraction the cost and do just as well. Dismantle an old boy's network? That is a fantasy to be sure.

[DaV8or]

More excellent points. People that shoot from the hip and make blanket statements such as "pay people what the market will bear" don't think things out carefully enough. Like I said, if market conditions prevailed and the minimum wage was abolished, flipping burgers would result in wages less than a dollar. That may be fine for the citizens of Iowa, but down here that wouldn't go far. And make no mistake, if McDonald's could hire a cook for $.50 an hour, they would still charge the current prices in order to maximize their profits.

 

Actually, they would never go that low. There is a natural minimum wage and that is defined at the point where the employee says to the store owner, "Screw your job, I'd rather join the ranks of criminals than work for you. You don't pay me enough to even pay my bills!" Even if all the socialist entitlement programs were eliminated, choosing not to work legally is always an option. Trust me, having lived in Oakland, CA for 20 years, it is in our interest to have as many people in your community lawfully employed.

[flyboy0681]

 Trust me, having lived in Oakland, CA for 20 years, it is in our interest to have as many people in your community lawfully employed.

 

Having worked in Oakland for many years, I fully agree.

[DaV8or]

So all this talk has me wondering what you all think about all this seismic activity in Kansas and Oklahoma. There were two quakes this last week that were better than a 4.0, with the stronger of the two being around a 4.8 I believe.

Denton, Texas, which is home to a metric crap ton of oil money, has outlawed Fracking. Other cities are considering the same.

What say you, Mooneyspace? Is Fracking to blame for sudden and dramatic increases in strengths and numbers of quakes?

 

Who knows? I personally don't know enough about fracking to have an informed opinion on that. The operators of fracking operations tell us it's as safe as rain water and the folks against it tell us we will all die of cancer and have three headed children. I have heard it theorized that fracking can cause minor earthquakes and as a California native, I can tell you that a 4.0 is minor and nothing to be worried about. I doubt seriously that it could ever cause a major earthquake that causes real property damage and loss of life. Those come from miles and miles deeper in the ground and involve energy that fracking just doesn't have. Then again, I'm not a geologist. I would be far more concerned about the tainting of the underground water supply and the disposal of toxic waste from the operations than earthquakes.

 

I guess I did have an opinion on that. Still not very informed though.

[flyboy0681]

This solution makes absolutely zero sense to me and if any fast food chain in America ever tried this, they would be dead in the water in a month. The last thing any American, particularly the guy that has to eat at these kind of places because he lost his job to outsourcing, wants to do, is order a hamburger (a particularly American product) from a guy in India!!!

 

The customer doesn't know who is taking the order. They pull up and the voice says "Welcome to Taco Bell, this is Johnny how can I help you?"

 

I love when employees at Indian call centers anglicized their name. Rajeesh is suddenly Raymond and Sangeet is now Jennifer.

[flyboy0681]

Who knows? I personally don't know enough about fracking to have an informed opinion on that. The operators of fracking operations tell us it's as safe as rain water and the folks against it tell us we will all die of cancer and have three headed children. I have heard it theorized that fracking can cause minor earthquakes and as a California native, I can tell you that a 4.0 is minor and nothing to be worried about. I doubt seriously that it could ever cause a major earthquake that causes real property damage and loss of life. Those come from miles and miles deeper in the ground and involve energy that fracking just doesn't have. Then again, I'm not a geologist. I would be far more concerned about the tainting of the underground water supply and the disposal of toxic waste from the operations than earthquakes.

 

I guess I did have an opinion on that. Still not very informed though.

 

One thing that I would like to see are soil and water samples taken from homes near the sites before drilling starts. It's not enough for me to see a video of flames coming out of kitchen faucet after fracking has started. Maybe the water source already had methane in it before the drilling started and it just wasn't noticed.

[DaV8or]

The customer doesn't know who is taking the order. They pull up and the voice says "Welcome to Taco Bell, this is Johnny how can I help you?"

 

I love when employees at Indian call centers anglicized their name. Rajeesh is suddenly Raymond and Sangeet is now Jennifer.

 

Oh, they'll know. Just like they know now when they call tech support. Besides, it will be widely reported in the media. The real nagging question for me is, if they really want to maximize profit, why not just automate the process with a self serve touchscreen much like we now have at the checkout at Home Depot and some grocery stores? I hear they are already doing this in France. As a consumer, we almost expect automation and take to it well as we are a nation of DIYers. This crazy Indian order processing scheme just adds insult to injury. It's really bad idea.

[flyboy0681]

Oh, they'll know. Just like they know now when they call tech support. Besides, it will be widely reported in the media. The real nagging question for me is, if they really want to maximize profit, why not just automate the process with a self serve touchscreen much like we now have at the checkout at Home Depot and some grocery stores? I hear they are already doing this in France. As a consumer, we almost expect automation and take to it well as we are a nation of DIYers. This crazy Indian order processing scheme just adds insult to injury. It's really bad idea.

 

Actually, I was working in Foster City a few weeks ago and went to a fast food place where I did order my own meal using a kiosk. This was a first for me.

[Tom]

MAYBE THEY NEED TO OUTSOURCE BECAUSE THE GOVERNMENT IS MANDATING THAT FLIPPING BURGERS IS A CAREER PATH AND WARRANTS $15-$20 BUCKS AN HOUR...

MINIMUM WAGE. WHAT A JOKE. SUPPLY AND DEMAND SHOULD DICTATE WAGE.

 

You collect checks at the beginning of the month for contributing what to society?  Isn't it correct that your job could either be outsourced to India or replaced with a computer?  What precisely do you do that warrants society giving you enough money to buy a house, car, and half a plane?  You seem to hate people who can't defend themselves as being undeserving.  Isn't it fair that you should make the case for your own superiority?