Skeptical about …
http://forum.skeptic.za.org/general-skepticism/another-wonder-of-gps-technology-or-not/?action=dlattach;attach=957;image
… because how would a satellite know if your house has a tv in it, unless the tv also broadcasts some signal or the other.
ETA: Not my bill, by the way. >:D
The satellite does not track your TV, it tracks your licence. Tracking anything in my study is quite an achievement.
Are you being serious? Does the licence transmit something? Mine’s just a piece of paper! ??? ???
Even so, the SABC still has to detect a TV to draw any conclusions. If they don’t detect a licence in a house, it may well be that there is no TV either.
Rigil
All this means is that they know who has a TV license, and their addresses. If they happen to stand outside your house they can tell if you have a TV license or not by checking their database for addresses in the general vicinity of a person holding a GPS, and seeing if you’re one of them.
They are deliberately trying to make this sound scarier than it is.
it may well be that there is no TV either.
I have a distaste for their “guilty until proven innocent” ways. I bought a TV, big deal, that doesn’t mean I watch any broadcast TV. However I must still have a TV license until such time as I’ve proven that I had the reception equipment in the TV removed by a “qualified technician”. All this so that I can fund stuff like SABC propaga… I mean news.
I wonder whether, under our new and liberal constitution, you are required to let a TV license inspector into your house without a search warrant.
I refuse to buy a TV licence as a matter of principle. Not only do I not watch SABC’s crap, I don’t see why the SABC, as a commercial entity, should be given an advantage in the form of a coerced handout from the public which its competitors do not enjoy.
I think so too. Its like they are using the terms “GPS and GSI” like a crystal healer would “energy and quantum”.
Interesting point, that. 
Rigil
Well, we all have to fight the system in our own special way. 
Or bailouts for SAA, Eskom, SAPO, Transnet, Telkom…
And then there are still those who believe the best thing for this country is nationalising mines. And not just dolts either, I had a frightening conversation with a friend a while ago who seems to have swung from idealising Rand-like anarchy to Castro-like top-down management: “For the people”. It seems some people just can’t hold a middle-ground opinion.
Apparently, a libertarian party is about to be founded in South Africa, and may participate in next year’s election. I may well vote for them; I don’t really know who else I would want to vote for, apart from the Dagga Party. 
There was a Libertarian Party (LP) in SA as long as 30 years ago already. It fell apart in the late 90s (IIRC) owing to too many irrelevant squabbles about what Ayn Rand really meant, and it was succeeded by another flash-in-the-pan party with a strong libertarian bent calling itself the KISS Party (Keep It Straight and Simple). That one, too, died in short order as a result of a similar failure to herd cats.
Perhaps you’re thinking of the Ubuntu Party? If so, you ought to know that its founder, Michael Tellinger, is a total conspiracy- and UFO nut who also buys wholesale into several other irrationalities*. While that doesn’t mean his heart’s not in the right place, it does leave one to wonder where his head’s at in terms of how he means to realise his cultish and frankly unrealistic visions.
'Luthon64
*On a side note, it may well be selection/confirmation bias talking, but it seems to me that strong libertarian and equally strong woo-woo convictions tend to go hand-in-hand. Maybe it’s because one common way of dodging criticism of one’s cherished woo-woo beliefs is to assert one’s right to believe freely without any external infringement, and so libertarianism is really just an extended defence of offbeat notions. But I’m merely speculating.
The more I think about it I like the Libertarian ideas. But I also think it is one of those things
that work better on paper than in real life, like communism. But it would be interesting if you could run
the experimant to see how it works.
Maybe we can do a reality program, where we create a self sufficient community run on Libertarian principles.
Back at the end of Apartheid there was a book out called “The Solution” I think. The authors proposed a many “canton” system, where every one would make it’s own rules and govern itself. People would then “vote with their feet”. The borders would not be set, the owners on a border can decide to join the one or the other. This way, well run cantons or states, would grow. You can then have a Boere staat around Orania, a taxfree state or a communist one and so on. The heads of the cantons would then take turns to be the president of the country.
Maybe another one of those ideas that sound good on paper but it really made sense to me.
Back at the end of Apartheid there was a book out called "The Solution" I thinkThat was Leon Louw's book I believe of the Freemarket Foundation. There's a lot to say for the Swiss Canton system. It's worked for centuries although I don't think we have a libertarian mindset in this country at all....it's all about control here; statism, communism and totalitarianism is where it's due to end up. As I recall the borders are set but can be amended if two cantons get something like a 2/3 majority. The national govt has only 5 depts. Can anyone on this site name (no Googling!) the Swiss head of state?
Miss Emma N. Tahler of the Fondue Party?
That’s always the problem with libertarians.
and it was succeeded by another flash-in-the-pan party with a strong libertarian bent calling itself the KISS Party (Keep It Straight and Simple). That one, too, died in short order as a result of a similar failure to herd cats.
And that is another problem with libertarianism in general: they are by definition not herd animals.
Perhaps you’re thinking of the [url=http://www.ubuntuparty.org.za/p/home.html]Ubuntu Party[/url]? If so, you ought to know that its founder, Michael Tellinger, is a total conspiracy- and UFO nut who also buys wholesale into several other irrationalities[b]*[/b]. While that doesn’t mean his heart’s not in the right place, it does leave one to wonder where his head’s at in terms of how he means to realise his cultish and frankly unrealistic visions.
Don’t know about this one. Libertarians are often conspiracy nuts. Mistrust government enough, and you will believe any dark tales about the government.
I do not necessarily want a libertarian party to win an election, mind you. But I think we can do with a libertarian voice in government. If they ever look like they are going to win an election, I may well start voting against them.
However, at the moment we are in far more danger of a naive and ultimately rather repressive nanny state, or ending up with the likes of Julius Malema as president.
Rigil, Emma is now married to Vaulter von Bankencuckootoblerone.
Brianvds, please don’t get me wrong. In principle I also identify strongly with libertarian values. I suspect that most individuals raised in modern secular liberal democracies would do likewise. The problem is basic human nature where inevitably some individuals will constantly jockey for strategic advantage/status/position at the expense of others, and/or attempt to arrogate laissez-faire for themselves alone, all the while denying it to others. In such circumstances, minimalist government leaves the door wide open to abuses by Big Business. On the other hand, too much government usually impedes all growth (other than its own) and also usually results in increasing government abuses.
Unfortunately, nobody’s yet figured out the magic formula. Maybe there isn’t one because humanity is too volatile in its pursuits.
'Luthon64
Penn from Penn and Teller, is a big libertarian, I never really took them seriously until I heard him speak about it.
I’ve often wondered about that chocolate. For instance, is it really made from cow’s milk or is it simply an ozonolytic product of Switzerland’s vast natural reserves of bistoblerene.
The unusual shape of the boxes can at least be easily explained by considering that any other cardboard format would leave the candy severely sterically hindered.
tobleryl
C =O
/
tobleryl
Consequently, Toblerone boxes are often called iupacs.
Rigil
;D
There’s another theory concerning the familiar Toblerone shape. Every Swiss chocolate vendor allegedly carries a secret stash of Toblerone that’s in the shape of a normal slab and subtly relabelled “Toblerzero”. (“Tobler” is Swiss mountaintop slang for a sharp poke.) However, said secret stash is for sale only to people known to be Swiss citizens who have been sworn to silence, as identified by their greenish-brown lederhosen and unintelligible speaking manner. The Toblerone known to outsiders is a directed Swiss assault on the rest of humanity. Its aim appears to be to quite simple: spreading cleft palates.
'Luthon64