Posts by tussock
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Hard News: Dilemmas: the drug-driving ad…, in reply to Ian Dalziel,
Hardly edifying stuff...
We're social animals, we care about ourselves because we're useful to others, we care about others because of how they make us feel about ourselves.
Telling a mate you need them to not die, because they're good to have around, that's a fine way of getting them to care about themselves enough to, you know, not die just right now.Having kids usually settles people into a risk-averse life, because it's super obvious how much they need you, and how good they feel when you help them out, which makes you feel good about yourself for being there. Give or take for all the angst.
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Thanks, Russell, for following this along.
Great to see serious work being done, handy now we're not the first that there's a chance to learn from others and people are doing just that. We'll hopefully be pardoning and quashing convictions on possession in a few years, and then even supply because they weighed the dirt stuck on the roots as well.
Maybe even run the odd medical trial instead of relying on wishful thinking. It's like a possible future of using science to minimise harm instead of racist and crushing laws ruining people's lives to "protect", well, something nebulous about gateways.
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For those struggling to understand Trump.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissistic_personality_disorder
Read. Really. The thing where he likes NK is just that they have these parades where tens of thousands of people salute dear leader in synchronisation, and he would like that for himself.
He's not a stupid man, nor actually inconsistent, he just has a different outlook on what is good in life, and it is those rallies where they make the crowds look big by stuffing them in a small building, united by giving them matching gear and flags at the door, and all cheer him when he walks in.
That's being president, for Trump, and you're all just jealous losers if you suggest otherwise. All the meetings and whatever, yeah, he makes it up as he goes along, that photo was all him on the front page everywhere and how good is that! Woo, president! Biggest inauguration ever. Boo ya. Unf. </tinyflag>
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Read an interesting tidbit on the spectrum the other day.
Where was that ... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gyrification
People with autism have more folds in the brain, here and there, which results generally in a thinner layer of neurons (as they only live at the surface of the brain, so more surface thins them out) and more connectivity between them, so more of the brain is able to work together on ... anything, at the same time.
Not always in a good way, either. :)
Specifically, different patterns appear in the [...]. These areas relate to working memory, emotional processing, language, and eye gaze, and their difference in location and level of gyrification when compared to a healthy human brain could explain some altered behaviors in autistic patients.
"Healthy" indeed, Neurotypical bias if anyone wants to edit. :D
But yeah, along with the brain being more connected, it's also a tad slow at a few things, because the different folding messes up the typical optimised connections there, and trying to involve the whole brain doesn't really help.
So, uh, that's just, you know, people on the spectrum are not kidding. We can get really good at things we can focus on, and are really bad at a bunch of social stuff neurotypicals usually take for granted. For reals.
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Used to be a thing that not everyone had to go to school at all, because there didn't seem to be much use for more people who could read, write, and do basic arithmetic. For a start, people who could read and write were rich, some of them could even afford pepper, and how would things even get done down on the manors if everyone could read and write and be rich?
But it turned out, not just with primary education that reading and writing for the entire population in every occupation was incredibly powerful, primary education was enough to solve farming for instance, quickly reducing the labour requirements by about 90% while dramatically raising outputs, even in the armed forces it worked such that once one country tried it every country either kept up or was quickly dominated by military force.
But that it was the same again with secondary education in the arts, culture, sciences, and mathematics, even sadly tinged with the racist nationalism of the time, not having that was bad for your culture and country in a big way, because those racist nationalists were good at stuff, including being an effective army, despite their racist nationalism.
It's the same with tertiary education, of course; law, medicine, economics, the sciences, sociology, advanced mathematics, engineering, data management, having a surfeit of people with those skills in every area of society would make us immensely powerful and rich compared to the world of our parents, and we're on the way already as more and more people are doing just that.
Yes, it's hard to imagine taxi drivers and check out operators in world of full of lawyers and doctors (he says, ironically). But just because you can't imagine a world where everyone is better educated than you and I, doesn't mean it won't be completely amazeballs and kick everyone else's ass, just like it has every other time this has happened in the past.
Honestly, it's a bit like people being worried about how the remaining shit jobs that no one really wants to do might go away. That's not a bad thing, in the past that has always turned out really well for everyone.
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Legal Beagle: Election 2017: the Special…, in reply to linger,
Cheers, linger (p3). Apparently I was comparing the final count with the projected final count, in which the left did a bit better than projected. Duh. :)
It's a pretty solid result for the left, and for the right. Very similar turnout for both as 1996 (~34% of enrolled voters each), only with a reduced centre vote. Have to expect the next one to be a huge left swing to whichever parties are left in the mix for 2020 if National goes in here again.
Out of interest, anyone know how many people are cut of the enrolled list each three years for convictions now, and how many get back on in time?
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Oh, it's such a long story, but here's a summary in a comment. (1.4 first divisor, because) alt.history of no threshold!
1996: Christian Coalition (5) and ALCP (2) were discarded, National + NZFirst loses majority, leaving either National + Christian or Labour + Alliance choice for NZFirst. Winston went right because negotiations were simpler with one party, and then the Shipley govt. happened.
National 41, Labour 35, NZ First 16, Alliance 12, ACT 8, Christian 5, ALCP 2, United 1.1999: Christian Heritage (3), Future NZ (1), and ALCP (1) are discarded. No great change, Labour + Alliance + Green majority cut to 8 from 24.
Labour 48, National 37, Alliance 10, ACT 9, Greens 6, NZ First 5, Christian 3, Future NZ 1, ALCP 1, United 0+1.2002: Outdoor Rec (2), Christian Heritage (2), Alliance (1), and ALCP (1) are discarded. Interesting government, Labour + Progs + United majority cut from 4 to 0, but there's a pile of centre parties to play the issues on, probably Outdoor Rec give them back the 4 seat majority.
Labour 50, National 25, NZ First 12, ACT 9, United 8, Greens 8, Progressive 2, Christian 2, Outdoor 2, Alliance 1, ALCP 1.2005: Destiny NZ (1) is discarded. No change in Labour + NZFirst + Green majority, the seat went to National. Most likely, many more minor parties would still exist without the threshold, ALCP, Alliance, Christians, likely splitting both wings a bit more, though National recovering the racist vote helped them anyway.
Labour 50, National 47, NZ First 7, Greens 6, United 3, Māori 3+1, ACT 2, Progressive 1, Destiny 1.2008: NZ First (5) is discarded. Boom. National + ACT + United Majority cut from 2 to 0. Māori Party or NZ First needed for a majority, and National + NZ First + Māori are a majority. Very different first term for the National party government most likely, probably no way to bolt together a Labour government.
National 55, Labour 42, Greens 8, NZ First 5, ACT 5, Māori 3+2, Progressive 1, United 1.2011: Conservative (3) is discarded. National + ACT + United majority lost, many options exist for National majority on bills, but NZ First is the most likely option I can see for government.
National 57, Labour 33, Greens 14, NZ First 8, Conservative 3, Māori 2+1, Mana 1, ACT 1, United 1.2014: Conservative (5) and Mana (2) are discarded. National + ACT + United majority lost again. Again, almost certainly National + NZ First government, give or take for that having been the government previously and how that affects voting.
National 57, Labour 30, Greens 13, NZ First 10, Conservative 5, Māori 2, Mana 2, ACT 1, Unitied 1.2017: TOP (3) and Māori (1) are discarded. Maybe Mana still exists after being a voice for the left in government, who knows, maybe some party survives in the centre instead of the constant implosions outside parliament. Probably the swing left gives us a Labour + Green + NZFirst, though a National + NZFirst government only lost four seats. Again, speculative depending how people actually vote.
National 54, Labour 45, NZ First 9, Greens 8, TOP 3, Māori 1, ACT 0+1.
Basically, we get right wing neoliberal governments because of this, and always have. Winston has also played the "I'll go with the biggest party" card a few times to try and eliminate the competition from the centre, and I'm not sure that works for him if there's no threshold to help kill them off. -
So, uh, NZ First lost 675 votes after specials were counted. Difference of opinion in what counts as a clear intention to vote for a party? I guess a lot got excluded in the official count for everyone and they just didn't get many specials to top it back up.
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Speaker: The Government lost the election, in reply to linger,
Uh, just to note, a lot of people's Electorate Votes are more important than their Party Vote, certainly in previous elections, the representation of the Māori Party, Mana Party, United Future, and ACT were dependant on them winning electorate seats for most of their existence.
Few less this time, but their lack of representation also comes down to people's Electorate Votes (the Labour-Green electorate deal got rid of United Future, for instance).
I'm not sure it's 10% of people in that situation, but given that 96% of people who answer surveys agree they are not already dead while doing so, it's probably close enough. As long as we have the 5% threshold, some people's electorate votes will remain more important than their party vote.
Your electorate vote is also important for getting a local MP who isn't a terrible person sometimes, which might be a nice thing for some people.
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Hard News: Media Take: The selling of…, in reply to Ian Dalziel,
He means he voted National and is upset they won't be able to do whatever they want for the next three years. He owns like six houses, man, what if there's a CGT? Trouble! That's what.
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9 possible governments? I count more.
National - NZF coalition.
National minority, NZF for C&S.
Labour - Green - NZF coalition.
Labour - Green coalition, NZF for C&S.
Labour - NZF coalition, Green for C&S.National - Green coalition.
National minority, Labour for C&S.
National minority, Green for C&S.
Labour minority, Green - NZF for C&S.Or, I guess, a few with NZF or Greens abstaining on C&S for National minority. Or, Labour - NZF getting ahead of National for Greens to abstain on C&S.
Lots of minority government positions possible. Only ones seem impossible are National - Green, and of course National - Labour because it makes people vote for Nazis or something.