Posts
Thousands of bridges at risk of freak collapse | Fox News: "Major roadways used by thousands of U.S. drivers cross over "fracture critical" bridges -- a term meaning that if a single, vital component of the bridge is compromised, it is at risk of collapse."
"Because the bridge's key structures lacked redundancy, where if one piece fails, there is another piece to prevent the bridge from falling, when the gusset plate broke, much of the bridge collapsed."
Saturday, May 25, 2013
Friday, May 24, 2013
Attorney General Holder says 4 American citizens have been killed in drone strikes since 2009 | Fox News
Attorney General Holder says 4 American citizens have been killed in drone strikes since 2009 | Fox News: "Attorney General Eric Holder says four American citizens have been killed in drone strikes since 2009."
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
3D Printing is Way Scarier Than Plastic Guns
3D Printing is Way Scarier Than Plastic Guns: "Technology is evolving at an accelerating rate and we really have no chance of keeping up with it - not legally, not legislatively, not socially, not strategically, and not at all. The best we can do is position ourselves to quickly adapt to change - it is the only guaranteed part of our reality."
"There are 3D printers that print in wood (a mixture of wood particles and binding agent that dries as wood) ceramic, carbon fiber, bronze, iron, steel, cellulose, human tissue (certain body parts for human transplant are grown using 3D printed frameworks)"
"you can find all kinds of CAD/CAM files for all kinds of gun parts, bomb parts, bazooka parts, rocket launcher parts and other deadly weapons online. These are computer files, like songs or movies or documents or images, they cannot be protected or digitally rights managed (DRM) any better than the entertainment industry has done with its intellectual property. A file is a file, if someone wants to copy it - it will be copied. You can't tell what the file contains unless you open it and, most importantly, there is no way to ban or prohibit the transfer of files. In this case, the genie is out of the bottle, you can't put the toothpaste back in the tube, the ship has sailed - the files are out there."
"The replacement part was printed on demand. The spare part would have to have been manufactured in advance, stored on a shelf, picked, packed and shipped. Rent would have been paid on the real estate the physical spare part occupied and it would have to be kept in stock during the entire useful life of the particular stroller design.
Go have a look at an average manufacturing facility and see how much real estate and other resources are used storing parts that may break sometime in the future. Now multiply this by everything ever made in a factory and you start to see the kind of economic impact 3D printing may have. How about 3D printers in sterile environments (like Hospitals) creating specialized instruments for surgery (robotic or other)?"
"When high-speed laser printers became economical for people to have at home, they did not start printing counterfeit books - but the nature of printed material changed forever. That is exactly what is going to happen here. Some things will be 3D printed, others will not. Some things will be cheaper or better in 3D printed at home, others will be better 3D printed by companies like Shapeways, and still others will be printed in factories because it is more cost-effective to do so."
"There are 3D printers that print in wood (a mixture of wood particles and binding agent that dries as wood) ceramic, carbon fiber, bronze, iron, steel, cellulose, human tissue (certain body parts for human transplant are grown using 3D printed frameworks)"
"you can find all kinds of CAD/CAM files for all kinds of gun parts, bomb parts, bazooka parts, rocket launcher parts and other deadly weapons online. These are computer files, like songs or movies or documents or images, they cannot be protected or digitally rights managed (DRM) any better than the entertainment industry has done with its intellectual property. A file is a file, if someone wants to copy it - it will be copied. You can't tell what the file contains unless you open it and, most importantly, there is no way to ban or prohibit the transfer of files. In this case, the genie is out of the bottle, you can't put the toothpaste back in the tube, the ship has sailed - the files are out there."
"The replacement part was printed on demand. The spare part would have to have been manufactured in advance, stored on a shelf, picked, packed and shipped. Rent would have been paid on the real estate the physical spare part occupied and it would have to be kept in stock during the entire useful life of the particular stroller design.
Go have a look at an average manufacturing facility and see how much real estate and other resources are used storing parts that may break sometime in the future. Now multiply this by everything ever made in a factory and you start to see the kind of economic impact 3D printing may have. How about 3D printers in sterile environments (like Hospitals) creating specialized instruments for surgery (robotic or other)?"
"When high-speed laser printers became economical for people to have at home, they did not start printing counterfeit books - but the nature of printed material changed forever. That is exactly what is going to happen here. Some things will be 3D printed, others will not. Some things will be cheaper or better in 3D printed at home, others will be better 3D printed by companies like Shapeways, and still others will be printed in factories because it is more cost-effective to do so."
James E. Causey - Are you safer owning a gun for home protection?
James E. Causey - Are you safer owning a gun for home protection?: "Statistics bear out that there is a 50% chance that the gun is taken over,"
"you don't know if that burglar is the kid down the street or a street person who is just hungry"
If 50% are really able to take the gun then the "innocent" burglar must be quite rare. :-/
"My research showed that a gun owner was 43 times more likely to shoot and kill a family member than that he'd shoot and kill anybody else"
That confuses the tool with the outcome. The useful statistic would be how much gun ownership affects the number of innocent people killed.
"you don't know if that burglar is the kid down the street or a street person who is just hungry"
If 50% are really able to take the gun then the "innocent" burglar must be quite rare. :-/
"My research showed that a gun owner was 43 times more likely to shoot and kill a family member than that he'd shoot and kill anybody else"
That confuses the tool with the outcome. The useful statistic would be how much gun ownership affects the number of innocent people killed.
Monday, May 20, 2013
Big government means permanent scandals | The Daily Caller
Big government means permanent scandals | The Daily Caller: "“Part of being president is there’s so much beneath you that you can’t know because the government is so vast.”
In other words, the government is too damn big."
"It also never dawns on the Axelrods or the Obamas that there is so much beneath them in the country that they can’t know anything about, from civil society to the health care sector. The events they seek to micromanage are so often beyond their competence.
But when we give the federal government the power to look at our private financial transactions, listen to our phone calls and regulate political speech, we shouldn’t be surprised when those powers are abused. Neither should we be surprised when those powers expand, with the government even inserting itself into Americans’ prayers."
"If we had a truly limited government, like the one the Founders designed, this wouldn’t be as much of a problem. There just aren’t a lot of tools for Chicago politicians in Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution. A smaller government would also be easier to manage — people might even be able to keep track of what’s going on inside of it."
In other words, the government is too damn big."
"It also never dawns on the Axelrods or the Obamas that there is so much beneath them in the country that they can’t know anything about, from civil society to the health care sector. The events they seek to micromanage are so often beyond their competence.
But when we give the federal government the power to look at our private financial transactions, listen to our phone calls and regulate political speech, we shouldn’t be surprised when those powers are abused. Neither should we be surprised when those powers expand, with the government even inserting itself into Americans’ prayers."
"If we had a truly limited government, like the one the Founders designed, this wouldn’t be as much of a problem. There just aren’t a lot of tools for Chicago politicians in Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution. A smaller government would also be easier to manage — people might even be able to keep track of what’s going on inside of it."
Residents of Colorado neighborhood chase down man they thought sexually assaulted children | Fox News
Residents of Colorado neighborhood chase down man they thought sexually assaulted children | Fox News: "Residents angry that police had not warned them about sex assaults of children took matters into their own hands, chasing down a man they thought was the attacker, pelting him with rocks and leaving him with a bloody face"
"Police said the mob grew to about a half-dozen people as residents learned of the chase and joined in."
"We went through the right channels in contacting the police but there hasn't been much response,"
"police only had a vague description of the suspect"
It only took at half-dozen people to make a dangerous mob! Beating up an innocent man is a better response?!?!
"Police said the mob grew to about a half-dozen people as residents learned of the chase and joined in."
"We went through the right channels in contacting the police but there hasn't been much response,"
"police only had a vague description of the suspect"
It only took at half-dozen people to make a dangerous mob! Beating up an innocent man is a better response?!?!
How Government Killed the Medical Profession | Cato Institute
How Government Killed the Medical Profession | Cato Institute: "The designers of these systems believed that standardized classifications would lead to more accurate adjudication of Medicare claims.
What it actually did was force doctors to wedge their patients and their services into predetermined, ill-fitting categories."
"each procedure code was assigned a specific value, by a panel of experts, based supposedly upon the amount of time and labor it required. It didn’t matter if an operation was being performed by a renowned surgical expert—perhaps the inventor of the procedure—or by a doctor just out of residency doing the operation for the first time. They both got paid the same."
"the hospital is incentivized to attach as many adjunct diagnostic codes as possible to try to increase the Medicare payday"
"This coding system leads inevitably to distortions in epidemiological data [the information medical professionals use to track ailments across different regions and populations]."
"Being pressured into following a pre-determined set of protocols inhibits clinical judgment, especially when it comes to atypical problems. Some medical educators are concerned that excessive reliance on these protocols could make students less likely to recognize and deal with complicated clinical presentations that don’t follow standard patterns. It is easy to standardize treatment protocols. But it is difficult to standardize patients."
"On more than one occasion I have seen patients develop dramatic postoperative bruising and bleeding because of protocol-mandated therapies aimed at preventing the development of blood clots in the legs after surgery. Had these therapies been left up to the clinical judgment of the surgeon, many of these patients might not have had the complication."
"Sometimes—as in the case of John Natale of Arlington, Illinois, who began a 10-month sentence in November because he miscoded bills on five patients upon whom he repaired complicated abdominal aortic aneurysms—the penalty can even include prison."
"A June 2012 survey of 36,000 doctors in active clinical practice by the Doctors and Patients Medical Association found 90 percent of doctors believe the medical system is “on the wrong track” and 83 percent are thinking about quitting. Another 85 percent said “the medical profession is in a tailspin.” 65 percent say that “government involvement is most to blame for current problems.” In addition, 2 out of 3 physicians surveyed in private clinical practice stated they were “just squeaking by or in the red financially.” "
What it actually did was force doctors to wedge their patients and their services into predetermined, ill-fitting categories."
"each procedure code was assigned a specific value, by a panel of experts, based supposedly upon the amount of time and labor it required. It didn’t matter if an operation was being performed by a renowned surgical expert—perhaps the inventor of the procedure—or by a doctor just out of residency doing the operation for the first time. They both got paid the same."
"the hospital is incentivized to attach as many adjunct diagnostic codes as possible to try to increase the Medicare payday"
"This coding system leads inevitably to distortions in epidemiological data [the information medical professionals use to track ailments across different regions and populations]."
"Being pressured into following a pre-determined set of protocols inhibits clinical judgment, especially when it comes to atypical problems. Some medical educators are concerned that excessive reliance on these protocols could make students less likely to recognize and deal with complicated clinical presentations that don’t follow standard patterns. It is easy to standardize treatment protocols. But it is difficult to standardize patients."
"On more than one occasion I have seen patients develop dramatic postoperative bruising and bleeding because of protocol-mandated therapies aimed at preventing the development of blood clots in the legs after surgery. Had these therapies been left up to the clinical judgment of the surgeon, many of these patients might not have had the complication."
"Sometimes—as in the case of John Natale of Arlington, Illinois, who began a 10-month sentence in November because he miscoded bills on five patients upon whom he repaired complicated abdominal aortic aneurysms—the penalty can even include prison."
"A June 2012 survey of 36,000 doctors in active clinical practice by the Doctors and Patients Medical Association found 90 percent of doctors believe the medical system is “on the wrong track” and 83 percent are thinking about quitting. Another 85 percent said “the medical profession is in a tailspin.” 65 percent say that “government involvement is most to blame for current problems.” In addition, 2 out of 3 physicians surveyed in private clinical practice stated they were “just squeaking by or in the red financially.” "
The Minimum Wage Delusion, and the Death of Common Sense | Cato Institute
The Minimum Wage Delusion, and the Death of Common Sense | Cato Institute: "Workers who retain their jobs are made better off but only at the expense of unskilled, mostly young, workers who either lose their jobs or can’t find a job at the legal minimum."
Electoral College Was Framers' Antidote to Popular Vote | Cato Institute
Electoral College Was Framers' Antidote to Popular Vote | Cato Institute: "The Framers meticulously crafted an electoral model that reduced sectionalism and reinforced minority rights. Instead, popular voting would favor regions with high voter density and large states over small. “One man, one vote” may be the rallying cry of a democracy; but that is not our form of governance.
We are a constitutional republic; political outcomes are not always determined by majority rule. … For example, it takes two-thirds of Congress to override presidential vetoes, approve treaties, impeach a president, or expel a member of Congress."
We are a constitutional republic; political outcomes are not always determined by majority rule. … For example, it takes two-thirds of Congress to override presidential vetoes, approve treaties, impeach a president, or expel a member of Congress."
At Last, Justice for Locked-in Juveniles? | Cato Institute
At Last, Justice for Locked-in Juveniles? | Cato Institute: "Children who end up in juvenile courts often do not get due process protections like written complaints presenting the charges against them … or meaningful assistance of counsel"
“They languished over long weekends without proper hearings, were not read their Miranda rights and received crucial court documents just before hearings, if they received them at all …”
"students were jailed for infractions as minor as talking back to teachers or wearing socks that violated school dress codes.
“Some students had been shipped 80 miles to a juvenile detention center without probable cause or legal representation.” "
“They languished over long weekends without proper hearings, were not read their Miranda rights and received crucial court documents just before hearings, if they received them at all …”
"students were jailed for infractions as minor as talking back to teachers or wearing socks that violated school dress codes.
“Some students had been shipped 80 miles to a juvenile detention center without probable cause or legal representation.” "
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