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Valatan's profile

User Info:

Name: Jerry Schirmer
User type: Default
User ID: 54
User since: January 13, 2005
User last visit: 10:44PM on September 07
Homepage: http://valatan.blogspot.com
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Bio:

We're leaving together
But still it's farewell
And maybe we'll come back
To earth, who can tell
I guess there is no one to blame
We're leaving ground (leaving ground)
Will things ever be the same again
It's the final countdown...
The final countdown
Ooh oh

We're heading for Venus (Venus)
And still we stand tall
Cause maybe they've seen us
And welcome us all (yeah)
With so many light years to go
And things to be found (to be found)
I'm sure that we'll all miss her so
It's the final countdown...
The final countdown
The final countdown (the final countdown)
Ooh ooh oh

The final countdown
Ooh oh
I'ts the final countdown
The final countdown
The final countdown (the final countdown)
Ooh
It's the final countdown
We are leaving together
The final countdown

Past Posts:

Valatan has posted 155 links and 849 comments on Alkaline Earth since January 13, 2005.

Recent Comments: (Select Last [10] [50] [100] [All])

2010 May 24 09:54 (#4209.12758):
I"m in, by the way.

2010 Apr 18 10:44 (#4207.12751):
Sadly, it seems that MLB has realized how horrible this is before I had a crack at it.

2010 Apr 02 12:31 (#4203.12740):
Define your terms there, TWIT-B. The problem of time is a complicated, complicated thing. It appears that time has been monodriectional and non-cyclical dating back to the big bang. However, the low-entropy nature of the universe immediately after the big bang has been something that has confused people for a long time, as there is no real a priori reason why the beginning of time should be especially low-entropy. And of course, there's no evidence for anything that happned between t = 0 and t = 10^-43 seconds, so all sorts of crazy scenearios, even involving circular time systems, could have happened there. Roger Penrose is trying to push something like that now.

2009 Dec 17 06:32 (#4191.12714):
also, these

2009 Nov 18 05:08 (#4191.12697):
Which, now that I think of it, isn't graffiti definitionally unlawful?

2009 Nov 09 06:31 (#4188.12685):
NC: I know that you're just pointing out a specific example, but the main point of the mandate is to prevent a free-rider-type problem. If you have a system that gurantees you insurance if you desire to purchase it, you need to prevent people from purchasing insurance only when they are extrmeely sick. By making everyone pay into the insurance system, you distribute the costs of health care broadly, and make it more affordable to insure people with cancer and AIDS.

If you're an individual person, you want mandates only if the costs of premiums go down with the health care bill. In particular, I would argue you want a public option that can be bought by everyone and has as broad an availibility as possible (though people do disagree on this). If the overall bill does not reduce premiums, then the insurance companies will have basically sold a lot more insurance to people, pocketed the increased profits, at the expense of the people who either choose not to have insurance, or who cannot afford it currently.

2009 Nov 01 09:50 (#4187.12683):
And this is completely correct:

Many of the policies of Portland are not that dissimilar from those of upscale suburbs in their effects. Urban growth boundaries and other mechanisms raise land prices and render housing less affordable exactly the same as large lot zoning and building codes that mandate brick and other expensive materials do. They both contribute to reducing housing affordability for historically disadvantaged communities. Just like the most exclusive suburbs.

Large lot size requirements everywhere but East Austin (where no one polices them) make housing unaffordable for very many people.

2009 Nov 01 09:47 (#4187.12682):
I agree with Nate here, but I would also argue that Austin is very, very segregated. And it's really hard to argue otherwise. And what the city could do otherwise is not structure housing codes in such a way that poorer populations get forced out to the periphery of the city.

2009 Oct 18 04:11 (#4186.12677):
Gotta love the conservative persecution complex here:

Since the egg-throwing episode, Mr. Pulliam has grown determined to keep protest signs focused on policy messages. But he has little control over the nonstudent groups, the likes of the Tea Party chapters of Dallas and Houston, that have announced plans to join his protest. Though he submitted a request for space across from the auditorium, Mr. Pulliam anticipates being pushed across campus.

“It seems that maybe the university administration,” he said, “has been letting the White House be their main client.”

2009 Oct 13 08:20 (#4184.12676):
Bolsters it, in fact.

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