alanjjohnstone
Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Another article to read for those interested in this thread on roboticshttp://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/features/robot-revolution-gathers-pace–but-at-what-cost-to-jobs-10037115.htmlRobots – ranging from giant welding machines in car plants to 3D printers – are currently used in only 10 per cent of the manufacturing jobs that they could perform. Within a decade that figure will rise to 25 per cent. Much of this growth will be led by South Korea, Germany, Japan and the United States. But among the nations set to be in the vanguard of this automation revolution is the UK, with the introduction of greater numbers of robots expected to lead to labour savings of 21 per cent, and their deployment in up to 45 per cent of automatable activities.Michael Zinser, a BCG partner, said: “For many manufacturers, the biggest reasons for not replacing workers with robots have been pure economics and technical limitations. But the price and performance of automation are improving rapidly. Within five to ten years, the business case for robots in most industries will be compelling.” In car manufacturing, a spot welding robot costs £5.25 an hour to operate compared to £16.40 for a worker. In electronics assembly, a small robot costs £2.65 an hour to do a job that a human must be paid £15.70 to perform.Harvard academic Justin Reich, an expert on the impact of technology, put it: “Robots and AI will increasingly replace routine kinds of work – even the complex routines performed by artisans, factory workers, lawyers and accountants. I’m not sure that jobs will disappear altogether, though that seems possible. But the jobs that are left will be lower paying and less secure than those that exist now.”
It was a comment placed on a blog that featured this reporthttp://mikenormaneconomics.blogspot.com/2014/12/richard-werner-can-banks-individually.htmlI think it is evidence if the bank create money theory is correct, it is just a glorified "pyramid" or "Ponsi" scheme in the sense that could pay the IOU by writing another…and pay the second IOU by writing another…and again and again…until eventually i am forced to legally redeem one of the IOUs and have to default…and it all collapses…The only debt free money is new wealth created by labour…But i really only guessing since never trained in economics much less banking theoryThe Daily Kos also reported the report explaining more simply the actual experiment http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/01/13/1357390/-Creating-money-out-of-thin-air
I found this of interest ..Ukrainian draft dodgers flee to Russia…albeit a suspect source…Putin…but i lke the theory…sit out a war in comfort paid for by your "enemy"…http://russia-insider.com/en/2015/02/09/3265i wonder if it is all just a statistical ruse…All the rebels will possess Ukrainian passports (except the directly annexed Crimeans) and could be classed as draft dodgers.
The US considering supplying lethal defensive weapons to Ukraine http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-31279621can i ask just what are these ategories? I understand anti-aircraft missiles are defensive but the rebels are not using any air power so it is rather spurious to suggest it will have any effect on the actual fighting…As far as i know, only the Ukrainian government is otherwise it be proof of Russian direct complicity, something they decline to at this moment admit. Supplying AA would mean foreseeing Russian escalation to actual air attacks and bombing. So help me out ….what other defensive weapons are there? Does he mean land mines?…an indiscriminate form of self – defence? So what are the other types of lethal defensive weaponry?
I read this comment
Quote:If I write up and sign a negotiable IOU and give it to, then I too have created negotiable debt out of nothing. When banks do that, we call that negotiable bank debt "money".But there are some forms of money that can be used to discharge debts, but are not themselves debts for anything else. They are accepted in exchange for goods and services, and for the discharge of debt, merely out of some combination of social convention and legal requirement.The fact that I can manufacture a personal debt out of thin air does not mean that I possess the power to manufacture the means of discharging that personal debt out of thin air. And the same is true of commercial banks as well. They can create an account for you and credit it with any given dollar amount. But that balance in that account represents a debt of the bank that you can collect on any time you want by demanding the form of money that is issued by the central bank. And the commercial bank cannot manufacture that form of money.Published on the Dissident Voice website an article on the Magna Carta and the Forest Charter…not particularly contemporary but did get an opportunity to provide links to our websitehttp://dissidentvoice.org/2015/02/the-greater-and-better-charter/
I saw the claims that it was an aircraft but they are unverified and like so many other theories rely on non-expert "experts". The BUK is not designed to make actual impact but to explode soon as it is in proximity of its target…What are "bullet-holes" from canon-fire can easily be interpreted as shrapnel effect…the actual ballistic foresics i think would be easy to establish scientifically. But i think you are right about a reluctance to name the perpetrator whether Russian or Ukrainian as it would force everybody's hand. We already see a reticence to admit war crimes by Ukraine…Its use of cluster ammunition and various civilian targets hit such as buses, refusal to permit humanitarian aid ….the fog of war is convenient to hide behind…My opinion, personally, it was Russian forces acting on behalf of the rebel forces believing it to be a Ukrainian transport plane…(or simply a cock-up).. German journalists investigation seems to have tracked down the unit and provided circumstantial proof…but what do i really know…Intelligence is all about lying and the best spies are the best liars…. If we do go to a hot shooting war i think it will be treated de facto that it was the Russians …even the Devil Incarnate Putin himself will be identified as who pulled the trigger…Already the Americans are conducting campaign to show he is a crazy by releasing intelligence report from yonks back that he has a minor affliction of Aspergers. Merkel seems to have had a good record of keeping Germany out of NATO wars …Libya and Syria (but not Afghanistan)…and they have the most to lose…as does Italy…Although the conditions for war are created by capitalism…the actual touch-paper for its outbreak is often lit by mis-calculation…And any American involvement even military supplies other than egging on from the sidelines would ignite it, imho.But we could have a English/Russian/Ukrainian statement on war right now to circulate on the net…At this moment of time the web is still accessible to us to do so….but i foresee it being effectively shut-down in a conflict….As happened to the North Korean internet in the recent cyberwar.The best scenario for workers, both Russian and Ukrainian is that the border is re-drawn and everything settles down again. But if NATO places missiles there …it will be the equivalent of the Cuban Crisis for Moscow….My worry as i have expressed is that the situation is not being perceived by workers as the serious threat to world peace as it should be….
They bombed Serbia TV. They bombed Al Jazeera until Qatar toes the line. The put Iran's Press TV off the air. Now it is Russia's RT time. http://rt.com/op-edge/230315-rt-responds-lucas-munich/
Quote:I think we could do a bit more of ostracism. I’m quite happy to say that if anyone puts a CV on my desk, and on that CV I see they worked at RT or Sputnik or one of these things, that CV is going into the bin and not into the intro. We would not have accepted it during the Cold War that people could move from working for Pravda, or Izvestia, or TASS, and then into jobs in Western media. Far too many people see a job at RT as the first stage on a career ladder. It’s not. It’s the last stage on a career ladder. It’s like working as a PR person for a tobacco company, but even worse. And only then would I start looking at regulatory things — and there are things we can do on a regulatory side. We have a regulated media space. In my own country, Ofcom is complaining to RT about its lack of balance. So, there are things we can do but I think those things are the last resort, not the first resort."This in the week that a US tv anchor admitted fantasising about a so-called attack on him in Iraq and CNN admitting they were indeed knowingly fed stories by the intelligence agencies to spread for them. As a disclaimer, i'm no fan of RT and agree their choice of op-ed is pretty dismal but little different from FOX
Today, Ukraine…Tomorrow, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia …I used to admire the Independents anti-Iraq War stance but in recent years, it has grown to be perhaps the most war-mongering. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/russias-growing-threat-after-ukraine-fears-grow-that-baltic-states-could-be-vladimir-putins-next-targets-10032378.html Hammond said. “This man has sent troops across an international border and occupied another country’s territory acting like some mid-20th century tyrant. We do not see any reason to tolerate this kind of outrageous and outdated behaviour…" No, not Blair or Bush.Is diplomacy always schizophrenic?Germany’s Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung newspaper reported today that German intelligence estimated up to 50,000 soldiers and civilians had been killed during the conflict….these statistics are simply not making headlines
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-31246808 1.A government fund to be set up to cover the costs of security at synagogues2.Fresh research on identifying and explaining anti-Semitic language3. Guidance for teachers on how to handle the Middle East conflict in the classroomDare i say what the Daily Express would say if Muslims asked for those demands. We can see the underlying motive for 2…to include anti-zionist and anti-Israel language to be classed as anti-semitic . In 3 , well just who is going to define the guidelines…i'm sure Hamas and Hezbullah input won't be on the cards, quite rightly, but i am sure the MPs Friends of Israel will influence it. I suppose with 1 the reason can be justified that there is less synagogues to protect. But even in the country i live…two Jewish potential targets i have seen have government protection , one an actual police box at the entrance. But surely the figures for attacks or threatened attacks mean mosques deserve protection…And why
"it's not, any more than to criticise Israel is to be anti-semitic."You are, of course, right here since the well publicised CST statistics of anti-semitic attacks on Jews do not include those committed by pro-Israeli British Jews against other Jews who happen to be critics of Israel, such as this one. But i would consider the deliberate suppression of such details to be anti-semitic in the sense of it purposefully trying to present an image of one agreed position of Jewish support for Israel and refusing to acknowledge other Jewish political positions contrary to the majority one. It stereotypes and creates a caricature of Jewish people. http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/watch-arsonists-torched-car-salford-7808421
I hardly see the need for secularists to make use of Christian imagery as in its Pontius Pilate analogy""You seem unable to identify this movement in political terms."And i said the exact same about the letter….it is an open letter to the Left and Far Left it is called but even so it can recognise that " activists from our left movements (not those from the right) are being decimated"…and again "It targets ordinary people and the left at large" so who are those is it aimed at…are we supposed to guess…And i think it is more to the point when it rightly says "a far-right movement that masquarades as a religious one"…and it fails to even name them…Does the non-homogeneous Muslim Brotherhood equate with ISIS? Boko-Haram?…When it comes to statistics what is always ignored that it is by far muslims being slaughtered by the Islamists. And when did i last hear of the Lords Resistance Army being offered as an example of christianity terror? It is rare to see a mention of the Serbian Orthodox Church role in the massacres of Bosnian muslims. Or Catholic Church priests in Rwanda slaughters. Criticism of religion and specific religions is very valid…only if it is done across the board as is necessary to offer a materialist explanation of it… ….Catholicism for instance can be singled out as anti-woman, (and Ireland as a theocratic state for much of its existence)…judaism, too regarding many jewish customs…Hinduism…Inhuman executions?…just look at the botched bible-belt executions in the US…Suppression of human rights …several countries in Africa offering religious justifications for continuing the criminalisation of homosexuality and wanting the death sentence for it…Both Freedland and Galloway actually agreed, there should be no league table or hierarchy of victims. I agreed with the sentiments of the open letter, as i said, but i would not have signed it the way it is phrased….my original criticism still stands…its a bad letter with dubious text.i said the analogy with Munich was badly chosen…and i'll add the Spanish Civil War reference , too, doesn't add to its clarity …both you and i were obliged to read between its lines…
Not sure what your reply actually means but to stick to the Boy Scouts, enjoy this music clip https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSwjuz_-yao
Several things just don't make a coherent statement. I find it rather vague which diminises is effect …Identify the Left and what exactly it is being criticised…In fact it makes no reference to any anti- anti-imperialist analysis, i was obliged to read that in between the lines. Making an argument that the Left are acting equates to appeasement like Munich simply isn't valid , imo, as is the Postius Pilate washing my hands description. I did not refer to this statement as islamophobic…i simply stated we as a party have not made an official pronouncement on political islamism (which i don't disagree with you about it) but that the campaign against it has created a political atmosphere where all muslims are being tarred with the same brush, and overlaps with the supposed security risk with immigration, taking in political refugees and as you raised on another issue…imams being barred from political advice on how to vote when it was perfectly acceptable in the past for priests to intervene in elections. …….Its not new …but it ihas been gradually building up and the fact that one report by a Jewish organisation gains more coverage than the the day in day out anti-muslim attacks …or that a minor passing remark by some "brown-skinned" occupants in a car to army cadets get front page coverage…or that planned terrorist attacks against mosques are not considered terrorism …An atmosphere of hatred is being built and i notice it targetted very often on one particular religion…and on another thread i gave an example that merely ordering an halal meal on a plane, is now legally notified to the authorities. The fact this weekend Prince Charles is seen given sympathy to the Christian refugees as if they are the only religious minority being singled by Al Qada/ISIS for special treatment …i could go on …Islamophobia is prejudice and i don't think anybody denies it….and we may debate it is growing but we can't deny it is widespread already….EDL, Perdiga are only outward expressions …..and the politicians and media feed it …Merkel might be criticised on many issues but she certainly been more outspoken against it than Cameron.
Sarda,not sure if you have heard about the Socialist Sunday School movement but a brief overview here. I think a lot better than the God and Country paramilitary Scouts. (i'd also recommend the credo of Woodcraft Folk before the Scouts http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Woodcraft_Folk ) http://socialismoryourmoneyback.blogspot.com/2013/05/sunday-sermon-teach-your-children-well.html 1. Love your school companions, who will be your co-workers in life.2. Love learning, which is the food of the mind; be as grateful to your teachers as to your parents.3. Make every day holy by good and useful deeds and kindly actions.4. Honour good men and women; be courteous to all, bow down to none.5. Do not hate nor speak evil of any one; do not be revengeful, but stand up for your rights and resist oppression.6. Do not be cowardly. Be a good friend to the weak, and love justice.7. Remember that all good things of the earth are produced by labour. Whoever enjoys them without working for them is stealing the bread of the workers.8. Observe and think in order to discover the truth. Do not believe what is contrary to reason, and never deceive yourself or others.9. Do not think that they who love their country must hate and despise other nations, or wish for war which is a remnant of barbarism.10. Help to bring about the day when all nations shall live fraternally together in peace and prosperity [Look forward to the day when all men and women will be free citizens of one community, and live together as equals in peace and righteousness ILP version]DeclarationWe desire to be just and loving to all our fellow men and women, go to work together as brothers and sisters, to be kind to every kind of living creature and to help to form a New Society with Justice as its foundation and Love its Law. The Verse Version1. Always love your schoolmatesMake happy those in sorrowThe children of today will beThe citizens of tomorrow.2. To parents and to teachersBe grateful and be kindFor we should all love learning(Which nourished the mind)3. Let every day be holyBy doing some good deed;To all do kindly actionsWhatever be their creed.4. Be just and fair to all men,Bow down or worship none.Judge man by what he tried to do,Or has already done.5. Hate not, and speak no evil,Stand up for what is right,And do not be revengeful,But 'gainst oppression fight.6. Try not to be a coward,But always help the weak,Whatever path of life you're in.For love and justice seek.7. All good things gathered from the earth,By toil of hand and brain,Instead of going to the few,The workers should retain.8. Speak (the) truth at all times,And try not to deceive,And what opposes reasonWe ought not to believe.9. Love all the races of mankind,Abolish war and strife;That we may reach the higher plainsOf our intended life.10. Look forward to the day when menAnd women will be free;As brothers and as sisters liveIn peace and unity
