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Ted Kennedy has died

nytimes.com

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Re: Ted Kennedy has died

#51

Post by akd »

spking wrote: post #39
akd wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Useless companies which simply take from the productive sectors of the economy are also the rule, with the few amazing companies being the exception. You can't have a new Google or Voting Rights Act every week.

The difference here is that any exchange with a useless company is on a voluntary basis, whereas any exchange with the government is completely compulsory. If I don't give Useless Company X my money, they go out of business for not adding enough value. If I don't give my money to the government, they garnish my wages, put liens on my house and put me in prison, and continue to run inefficiently whilst piling up massi…

I'm not quite sure as to what your preferred alternative is. You excoriate Kennedy for not having had a "real job," so the mere fact that he is a Senator, rather than the way he conducts himself as a Senator, is what gets your goat. So you would prefer not to have a Senate?

Re: Ted Kennedy has died

#52

Post by unalone »

sho wrote: post #48
sho wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What? I was showing him how to do it! Man people sure are happy on the down-arrow today.

The period is common practice on some sites. I think it originated with Metafilter?

It loses something when comments are voted up and down and not shown in descending order, but the sentiment is still nice.

Re: Ted Kennedy has died

#53

Post by akd »

unalone wrote: post #47
spking wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The difference here is that any exchange with a useless company is on a voluntary basis, whereas any exchange with the government is completely compulsory. If I don't give Useless Company X my money, they go out of business for not adding enough value. If I don't give my money to the government, they garnish my wages, put liens on my house and put me in prison, and continue to run inefficiently whilst piling up massi…

Both of you, stop it. There is a place for both government and the free market in society. An unchecked free market is insanely unstable; an unchecked government is controlling and corrupt. To suggest that entrepreneurs are largely wasting money is as wrong as suggesting that politicians are leeches. spking: Implying that Ted Kennedy didn't fight hard every day of his life in politics is as cruel and stupid as sugges…

Actually, unalone, I think your quip is correct... I think entrepreneurs are largely wasting money, and politicians are mostly leeches. But it's the exceptions that make the whole enterprise worthwhile -- one Google makes up for the money wasted by literally 10,000 startups. And one Ted Kennedy makes up for several hundred leech politicians. It's why both professions, if you intend to do them well, are among the most important in our society.

Re: Ted Kennedy has died

#54

Post by stevoski »

fauigerzigerk wrote: post #27

So you're posting this here just in case hackers don't read newspapers?

Right on. Those of us outside the states just don't care that one of your politicians died - unless he was a competent computer expert. I come here for "Hacker News", not political death notices.

Shall I post here when a long-serving New Zealand politician dies?

Re: Ted Kennedy has died

#55

Post by sho »

unalone wrote: post #52
sho wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What? I was showing him how to do it! Man people sure are happy on the down-arrow today.

The period is common practice on some sites. I think it originated with Metafilter? It loses something when comments are voted up and down and not shown in descending order, but the sentiment is still nice.

Oh, I see, thanks for the explanation.

My character was U+3000, "ideographic space", in case anyone's interested.

Re: Ted Kennedy has died

#56

Post by rms »

fauigerzigerk wrote: post #27

So you're posting this here just in case hackers don't read newspapers?

Please don't post "not Hacker News" comments. It makes for extremely uninteresting reading. Now the first thing anyone sees when they click on the comments for this story is this boring thread.

http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Re: Ted Kennedy has died

#57

Post by spking »

unalone wrote: post #47
spking wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The difference here is that any exchange with a useless company is on a voluntary basis, whereas any exchange with the government is completely compulsory. If I don't give Useless Company X my money, they go out of business for not adding enough value. If I don't give my money to the government, they garnish my wages, put liens on my house and put me in prison, and continue to run inefficiently whilst piling up massi…

Both of you, stop it. There is a place for both government and the free market in society. An unchecked free market is insanely unstable; an unchecked government is controlling and corrupt. To suggest that entrepreneurs are largely wasting money is as wrong as suggesting that politicians are leeches. spking: Implying that Ted Kennedy didn't fight hard every day of his life in politics is as cruel and stupid as sugges…

unalone: Having a strong opinion about something (or someone, in this case) doesn't make me tasteless or a douche. And frankly, the issue isn't whether or not Ted Kennedy fought "hard every day of his life in politics". Pirates fight very hard every day in their lives of theft. I'd say get off your high horse, but I think instead that you should enjoy your false sense of superiority. Clearly, it gives you great pleasure.

Re: Ted Kennedy has died

#58

Post by akd »

stevoski wrote: post #54
fauigerzigerk wrote: post #27

So you're posting this here just in case hackers don't read newspapers?

Right on. Those of us outside the states just don't care that one of your politicians died - unless he was a competent computer expert. I come here for "Hacker News", not political death notices. Shall I post here when a long-serving New Zealand politician dies?

Yes, you should. The voting buttons will determine the fate of the story.

Re: Ted Kennedy has died

#59

Post by rogerthat »

TomOfTTB wrote: post #23
idlewords wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is Ted Kennedy's lesson for the world? From my perspective, the guy was a career politician and part of an unpleasant dynastic trend in American government. How would the world be different had Kennedy not lived?

Especially this one. I'm hesitant to comment on this because this article really doesn't belong here. But the fact remains Ted Kennedy left a woman for dead after driving his car into a body of water. He didn't contact the authorities when it happened, he instead went back to his hotel. When at his hotel (and I take this quote from the Wikipedia entry) he... "According to his own testimony, Kennedy swam across the 50…

"You hypocrite! First remove the beam out of your own eye, and then you can see clearly to remove the speck out of your brother's eye." - Early Hacker

Re: Ted Kennedy has died

#60

Post by plinkplonk »

stevoski wrote: post #54
fauigerzigerk wrote: post #27

So you're posting this here just in case hackers don't read newspapers?

Right on. Those of us outside the states just don't care that one of your politicians died - unless he was a competent computer expert. I come here for "Hacker News", not political death notices. Shall I post here when a long-serving New Zealand politician dies?

"Shall I post here when a long-serving New Zealand politician dies?"

Ahh but you aren't going to get the upvotes to get it onto the HN front page. HN membership is dominated by Americans. No harm in that really except for stuff like this.

As an Indian, I don't particularly care to have US politics / news of the demise of sundry USA politicians on the HN front page either, but the "intellectually interesting" filter is wide enough to allow this kind of thing to happen occasionally. I think of it as static on an otherwise clear channel, and wait for it to pass.

As long as there are enough people to upvote these stories, I don't think there is anything anyone can do about it. Just wait for it to drop off the front page.

But otoh, perhaps the non USA contingent on HN should vote up the news of the death of some non US politician and keep it on the front page? Maybe one of the communist bosses of China when he goes to the big Party Office in The Sky.

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