The Damon thing pi***s me off.   I'm not nearly as pessimistic about Google's financial future, but it's because I'm pessimistic about humanity in general.  I know of a mutual fund that follows the stocks in Congress' retirement plans, and mirrors that.  I have to admit, it makes sense.  Socially responsible?  Not so much.  But in terms of pure numbers going up, it seems a viable strategy to me.  It's the sort of thing I would do in a heartbeat if it were just a computer game, where only computer bits get hurt.

Let's avoid politics...

The short time I was in DC, the culture was interesting.  The media really is just a tool, and you really are just a number in all the lobby games they play.  It's like sure, there is free speech and free thought in America--just that you're being manipulated every step of the way.  The NSA and CIA are even developing these elaborate machine learning algorithms to anticipate exactly how you will behave in such-and-such a scenario.  They only need to be 90% right--it's just a numbers game.  And you are just a number.  It's no secret that Facebook and Google are very heavy into machine learning.  The sheep are this big ship, and they only tilt the little rudder this-or-that way a little bit. 

The NSA has had two very powerful things on internet for a very long time now, Echelon and Spider.  Both are very powerful and can do a lot of things that most people wouldn't think are possible.

It's not just Google that has been manipulating your internet experience.  I noticed this begin during the health care disaster.  It was like an iron curtain fell onto the internet and everything started working a lot differently than it had in the past.  As just one example, you've probably never heard before that the specific reason the health care law was unconstitutional was that it was a violation of the 4th Amendment.  Government cannot seize your property.  Commanding you to turn your property over to whatever private entity you are ordered to turn it over too, or your property will be seized and given to that company, is a clear violation of the 4th ammendment.  Any mention of this was essentially erased from the internet in real time as it happened.  Attmepts to make posts stating this, the posts would never appear.  Any article mentioning it would not list in search engines, etc.  It was, almost obviously, a massive campaign to squash any dissent of the subject and prevent anyone from explaining what the actual issue was (it was a form of slavery called "indentured servitude").

Ever since then, the internet has been effectively controlled by people who decide what opinions you will see and which ones you won't see.  The software that does this is far more capable than most imagine it too be, much like the NSA's Echelon and Spider.  This is no longer a free country.

Every time someone tells me that we can trust Google I feel the urge to remind them that they have a culture where their employees feel free to use their inside knowledge to sabotage the search results of people they have a problem with.  I can't think of any other company that would tolerate that.

There was never a time when Google was honest or trustworthy.  The sooner people accept that the better.

No, there's nothing in the water.  Some people don't need justification, self-appraised or otherwise to behave like assholes.  To some it comes naturally, others were born with it, and then there are those who picked it up along the way and thought it was too darned cool not to.

In any event, they are, or become complete assholes without remorse or regret... it's a lifestyle to them.

You joined in 2005, and you're just figuring that out now?

Yea, I completed this political compass thing a few years ago. Not sure about the accuracy of this thing. As I recall, it was easy to predict where you could "push the needle" based on your response. I landed in the green slightly to the left of the purple border about 1 square below the red. Is that where a socialist  would show up on this graph?

I seriously doubt a strong advocate of Ayn Rand would truly land where you indicated below.

In any case, I thought politics where supposed to be off limits here. Nothing like breaking you're own rules, huh?   

Quoting Frogboy,

reply 41

There's a pretty big gulf between far-left and everyone else.

Reduced 95%

Original 1143 x 1060

Quoting Borg603,

reply 42

In any case, I thought politics where supposed to be off limits here. Nothing like breaking you're own rules, huh?   

Well, this is HIS site. He can do whatever he wants here - and has proven more than once that he is willing to face the consequences. Brad may be a 'nerd' but he has my respect because he speaks his mind, something so many are unwilling or even afraid to do these days.

Second, I believe this is no longer about politics, it may only seem that way. It is literally about good vs. evil, reason vs. insanity and absolute morality (where what is good and what is bad remains unchanged) vs. moral relativism (where you - and everyone else by extension - define what is good and what is bad).

Because it's a shovel...

Actually...it's a spade that's short handled....a shovel is the long one....

....but I digress....

Nope, a square mouth shovel has a short handle.... then there's the long handled shovel with a triangular head.  A square nosed spade [no elevated sides like a shovel] has a long handle.  Yup, I busted my gut using all of them when I was younger.

Also used one or two hoes as well.