Comments for Untamed Wilds http://thomaswebb.net Human ecology, human action and human nature Thu, 09 Feb 2012 21:54:06 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 Comment on The Yeller Menace by Thomas J. Webb http://thomaswebb.net/2012/02/09/the-yeller-menace/comment-page-1/#comment-1940 Thomas J. Webb Thu, 09 Feb 2012 21:54:06 +0000 http://thomaswebb.net/?p=1129#comment-1940 Here's another post illuminating this guy's stupidity: http://freethoughtblogs.com/dispatches/2012/02/09/pete-hoekstras-dumb-campaign-ad/ Here’s another post illuminating this guy’s stupidity:

http://freethoughtblogs.com/dispatches/2012/02/09/pete-hoekstras-dumb-campaign-ad/

]]> Comment on Matt Yglesias’ Run-of-The Mill Specieism by Justin N http://thomaswebb.net/2011/08/16/matt-yglesias-run-of-the-mill-specieism/comment-page-1/#comment-1884 Justin N Tue, 16 Aug 2011 22:28:26 +0000 http://thomaswebb.net/?p=1106#comment-1884 If one way of life (cars, kids, suburbia) is objectively harmful to our biosphere's continued survival, I'm entirely okay with subsidising the alternative. Of course, since I'm child-free, take the bus and live in an apartment (and also outraged at all the subsidies that parents get), you may take this comment as appropriately self-serving.s If one way of life (cars, kids, suburbia) is objectively harmful to our biosphere’s continued survival, I’m entirely okay with subsidising the alternative. Of course, since I’m child-free, take the bus and live in an apartment (and also outraged at all the subsidies that parents get), you may take this comment as appropriately self-serving.s

]]> Comment on Matt Yglesias’ Run-of-The Mill Specieism by Thomas J. Webb http://thomaswebb.net/2011/08/16/matt-yglesias-run-of-the-mill-specieism/comment-page-1/#comment-1883 Thomas J. Webb Tue, 16 Aug 2011 20:20:46 +0000 http://thomaswebb.net/?p=1106#comment-1883 I should also point out that my previous post deals with another subsidy for having children - education. I should also point out that my previous post deals with another subsidy for having children – education.

]]> Comment on Taxpayers are Assholes by Thomas J. Webb http://thomaswebb.net/2011/08/04/taxpayers-are-assholes/comment-page-1/#comment-1866 Thomas J. Webb Fri, 05 Aug 2011 18:47:27 +0000 http://thomaswebb.net/?p=1070#comment-1866 I think religious schools prove my point. If you're a for-profit company or non-profit without other sources of income than tuition itself, you can't compete with free except on the high-end. So there are secular prep schools. Parochial schools are able to have better prices because they tend to be money-losing operations designed to evangelize. There's little money currently in providing cheap, secular private education (other than online schools) but I believe with my idea there would be. There would even be space for teachers offering individual classes a la carte. About inequalities brought on by fee for service, are you talking about for private or public schools? State funds would have to cover what parents aren't able to. More competition may benefit the rich more than it would benefit the poor, but I contend it would benefit the poor and that that is all that matters. It shouldn't take much money at all to provide quality education, so rich people are mostly going to pay extra so their kid can go to a school with a better gym, a better pool and tastier cafeteria food. They and poorer parents may even take their kids to the same private school, but with the former paying extra for some sort of a "premium" package that includes foreign field trips and tutors (first degree price discrimination) I think religious schools prove my point. If you’re a for-profit company or non-profit without other sources of income than tuition itself, you can’t compete with free except on the high-end. So there are secular prep schools. Parochial schools are able to have better prices because they tend to be money-losing operations designed to evangelize. There’s little money currently in providing cheap, secular private education (other than online schools) but I believe with my idea there would be. There would even be space for teachers offering individual classes a la carte.

About inequalities brought on by fee for service, are you talking about for private or public schools? State funds would have to cover what parents aren’t able to. More competition may benefit the rich more than it would benefit the poor, but I contend it would benefit the poor and that that is all that matters. It shouldn’t take much money at all to provide quality education, so rich people are mostly going to pay extra so their kid can go to a school with a better gym, a better pool and tastier cafeteria food. They and poorer parents may even take their kids to the same private school, but with the former paying extra for some sort of a “premium” package that includes foreign field trips and tutors (first degree price discrimination)

]]> Comment on Taxpayers are Assholes by Justin N http://thomaswebb.net/2011/08/04/taxpayers-are-assholes/comment-page-1/#comment-1863 Justin N Fri, 05 Aug 2011 06:59:01 +0000 http://thomaswebb.net/?p=1070#comment-1863 Huzzah for removing a subsidy on having kids! FSM knows there's plenty of those. I'm still unconvinced that competition is the way to save the schools, though. The level of educational competition we have right now seems to basically give parents the right to keep their kids selectively ignorant (by sending them to religious schools). I'm all for modernizing our approach to education, as the current one is a pretty terrible vestige of our early-industrial past, but I also want to be sure that the children of our society learn things. Also, how do you deal with educational inequities if you have a fee-for-service model? School districts have huge enough disparities in quality without linking their revenues directly to the means of area parents. Huzzah for removing a subsidy on having kids! FSM knows there’s plenty of those.

I’m still unconvinced that competition is the way to save the schools, though. The level of educational competition we have right now seems to basically give parents the right to keep their kids selectively ignorant (by sending them to religious schools). I’m all for modernizing our approach to education, as the current one is a pretty terrible vestige of our early-industrial past, but I also want to be sure that the children of our society learn things.

Also, how do you deal with educational inequities if you have a fee-for-service model? School districts have huge enough disparities in quality without linking their revenues directly to the means of area parents.

]]> Comment on Write Runes on Your Computer by Low Key http://thomaswebb.net/my-code/write-runes-on-your-computer/comment-page-1/#comment-1801 Low Key Thu, 16 Jun 2011 05:58:35 +0000 http://thomaswebb.net/my-code/write-runes-on-your-computer/#comment-1801 They worked. Thanks for doing that. They worked. Thanks for doing that.

]]> Comment on Mac OS X vs. My Keyboard by Low Key http://thomaswebb.net/2007/09/16/mac-os-x-vs-my-keyboard/comment-page-1/#comment-1799 Low Key Wed, 15 Jun 2011 17:40:12 +0000 http://pinkboi.net/?p=105#comment-1799 For reasons of consistency, the mac uses the same keys you would use in the terminal for moving to the beginning and end of text which is ctrl-a and ctrl-e. This is true of emacs as well. The tab stuff annoys me as well and I haven't found a solution. I've pretty much decided that I'm moving to Linux at home. As soon as I can find a Photography workflow for Linux that works as well as Aperture, OS/X is out of here. For reasons of consistency, the mac uses the same keys you would use in the terminal for moving to the beginning and end of text which is ctrl-a and ctrl-e. This is true of emacs as well. The tab stuff annoys me as well and I haven’t found a solution. I’ve pretty much decided that I’m moving to Linux at home. As soon as I can find a Photography workflow for Linux that works as well as Aperture, OS/X is out of here.

]]> Comment on The Truth if a Shifty Bitch by mary http://thomaswebb.net/2010/06/21/the-truth-if-a-shiftless-bitch/comment-page-1/#comment-1792 mary Thu, 02 Jun 2011 01:31:58 +0000 http://thomaswebb.net/?p=867#comment-1792 Pitiful!! Pitiful!!

]]> Comment on The Truth if a Shifty Bitch by Michael http://thomaswebb.net/2010/06/21/the-truth-if-a-shiftless-bitch/comment-page-1/#comment-1711 Michael Tue, 22 Jun 2010 12:39:52 +0000 http://thomaswebb.net/?p=867#comment-1711 Very Shakespearean, yet also quite N.W.A. Very Shakespearean, yet also quite N.W.A.

]]> Comment on My Proposal – EcoTax by Soil Pill « Thomas J. Webb's Biotech and Food Science Blog http://thomaswebb.net/2010/01/18/my-proposal-ecotax/comment-page-1/#comment-1696 Soil Pill « Thomas J. Webb's Biotech and Food Science Blog Sun, 20 Jun 2010 02:03:13 +0000 http://thomaswebb.net/?p=639#comment-1696 [...] I blogged about my idea of EcoTax, which turns out to be very similar to Henry George’s idea, though with important [...] [...] I blogged about my idea of EcoTax, which turns out to be very similar to Henry George’s idea, though with important [...]

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