Posts by 3410
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Wow. Have you ever seen a more disingenuous bunch than the House Republican leadership today?
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MP,
Well, whatever you like, but I can't see how physical scarcity has anything at all to do with this. Good ideas are also in short supply, and are therefore valuable.As far as life-plus-70 goes though, I agree; that's b.s.
I suspect we're a little bit at cross-purposes, and in fact not in as much disagreement as it appears. Anyway, thanks for the chat. :)
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Copyright's not just about making money, but also about control of usage.
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Putin is rearing his head into Alaskan airspace
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Since we're solving the world's problems here, may I just say,
Enough! of the Global credit crisis.
Enough! of shitty mainstream media.
Enough! of war.Ah, that feels better. I'm off for a coffee.
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Matthew, your arguments are rather confused. Case in point:
__A more appropriate comparison might be building a house. If you decide to do that, and then rent it out, you would expect to continue receiving benefit for that, essentially forever.__
Yes, you would. But the supply of land is finite.
The point is that if you create a house or an artwork, you should, normally, be able to retain the income from it. The Supply of land has as much to do with this as does the supply of pencils.
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... most artists have enjoyed a comfortable living throughout history...
I really think that's very untrue. I'd go so far as to say that "most artists", throughout history, have earned nothing or vitually nothing for their works.
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Goodness knows I wouldn't do my job for free. But I don't expect to get paid for it forever, unless I do it forever.
Matthew, I think you're comparing apples with oranges. Creating artworks is not like paid employment. You earn from the result, not from the work that goes into it.
A more appropriate comparison might be building a house. If you decide to do that, and then rent it out, you would expect to continue receiving benefit for that, essentially forever.
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1. Heavy objects and light objects fall at the same rate
I don't know about this one. I mean, it's clearly untrue as it stands. but is there seriously anyone who thinks that, say, a duvet and a block of cheese weighing the same amount would, on a windy day, hit the ground at the same time? Surely not.
It's a remarkably curious example of "things that aren't true", since the proposition intended to demonstrate that what is "common sense" is sometimes not true in fact, is itself perhaps the most famous example ever of a demonstrator of the same thesis (specifically that heavier things fall faster than lighter things).
Is it supposed to be this complicated?
3. No two democracies have ever warred with each other
Even if it was true, it's the always implied corollary that "if every state was a democracy, there'd never be any war" which seems a very dangerous non sequitur, since the next step is "if we make everyone become democracies, there'd never be any war". Didn't they do this one on the Daily Show or something last week? [update: yeah, John Stewart discussed this with Tony Blair].
if someone can up up a blue one, I'll be a happy man
I'll nominate:
"Some women are unable to orgasm" -
canings and strappings
Luxury! At [redacted] boarding school we had death squads of seniors armed with cricket-balls-in-pillow-cases. Properly inflicted canings and strappings were a walk in the park, by comparison.