Score:5, Offtopic

So, to start out with, I think there's a systemic failure. I'm actually not sure where to start here, because ANY ONE of the first set of points may break the cycle, and a lot of it is interrelated.

This is a REALLY long post, so I'll put it after the break.

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This is a thought that I've actually had for a while now, but I thought I'd put it in a blog entry.

There's plenty of signs, in my opinion, that within 5 years, there will be no more Mac OS, or it will be a niche OS for developers and such. Instead, iOS will be Apple's main platform. And, Apple's target market will embrace this change.

So, you're asking, what evidence do I have for this happening? Read after the break, and you'll see my evidence. Some of this is sourced from rumors, but some isn't. It's not in any particular order, either - just because I have it listed earlier doesn't mean it's more important.

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Right now, in the US, the cellular marketplace consists of an oligopoly (one that's shrinking, even, with AT&T's attempted purchase of T-Mobile) that colludes against customers, and small carriers that can't get a foothold due to their weak coverage.

I'd like to propose a solution to that problem.

I feel that utilities should be provided by customer-owned cooperatives. This way, customers are in control of their own utility service, rather than having to take what some corporation gives them.

However, with cellular telephony, you need a strong national network to be truly successful, and the oligopoly will fight tooth and nail to screw you over with roaming fees, if you don't have your own national network. And, at a national level, a co-op loses effectiveness as far as effectively representing its customers - not to mention the costs of building out a national co-op cell network.

So, rather than try to build out one large national network, here's the idea that I've had.

Have individual local co-ops that provide service only to the local area. This won't be very effective on its own, except...

The next step is to have a national organization that all of the co-ops can join. When a co-op becomes a member, their subscribers get fairly priced roaming access on all of the member co-ops. This way, for a relatively low investment, a co-op can start up, join the network, and instantly have national access, and the entire co-op gains even more network coverage.

Obviously, the big challenge would be starting up, although that's not impossible - small carriers have been known to start up before, after all. And, until the national network is in place, roaming agreements can be made with other carriers.

Other challenges would be selecting network standards, setting roaming rate policies that are fair to all parties, and promotion.

So, does anyone want to see this happen? Especially people who have the knowledge and connections to make it happen?

So, you've probably heard the news about today's fatal shooting in Arizona, allegedly targeted at a representative that supported President Obama's healthcare plan.

I decided to post about my thoughts on this, and what it means.

First things first... something that's been making news is, the representative that was shot was on a list of representatives targeted by Sarah Palin. Targeted as in, marked with a target. In addition, one of her opponents ran an... interesting... ad that promoted an opportunity to fire a fully automatic M16, right after promoting getting her out of office. (The representative in question has been scrubbed from the hit list, and Palin has distanced herself from that.)

Hmm.

So, this has obviously sparked a huge debate over whether Sarah Palin was inciting violence, and whether she's responsible for the shooting.

Was she inciting violence? Probably. Was it a dick move? Absolutely. However, was she responsible for the shooting? Unless she pulled the trigger, or hired the shooter to pull the trigger, no. Does the First Amendment protect her speech? If not, it should. Stop blaming her, blame the shooter for the shooting. (No, I'm not a Palin supporter. I think she's batshit insane, and shouldn't be anywhere near a position of power, but that's just my opinion. She still has rights.)

Of course, all of this is assuming that the motives are correct - that the shooting was related to Palin's hit list. It does look likely, though.

I'll note that I disagree with all of the politicians in power, the modern political system that's in place, and the power that the US government has. That said, non-violent methods are far better than violent methods for solving these problems, if at all possible.

There's two ways that I'm going to take this - a discussion of rights, and my predictions of the aftermath. The two are somewhat intertwined, though.

So, let's bring up the Second Amendment. It exists to allow the populace to arm themselves against threats to their life and liberty - natural threats, external threats (other countries invading,) fellow citizens violating their rights, and the government violating our rights. When there is no other option, armament is a very, very powerful option to use to maintain our rights. And, our rights are being trampled on.

However, note the operative words there: "when there is no other option." Non-violent answers are the way to go, if at all possible, because violent answers will always trample on the rights of others, as well... (And, no, two wrongs don't make a right. If you can make positive change without wronging people, then do that instead. This isn't saying that violence is never the answer - sometimes it is - just that it's the very, very last answer. And I don't feel that it's warranted, at least not now.)

Now, for the predictions as to what will happen, from here on out.

Regardless of the actual motive, and (importantly) regardless of Palin's distancing herself from the attack, Palin's camp has been accused of causing it. Many in Palin's camp are the trigger-happy type, too. Also, this will almost certainly be used to promote stricter gun control. Which will especially include taking guns from the trigger-happy in Palin's camp. (After all, the ruling class REALLY doesn't want the craziest class that hates them to have the power to take them out.)

You can just see how well that will go down.

I believe that the inevitable outcome of this attack will be civil war, although with much fuzzier lines than before. There has been unrest brewing, and quite a few calls for it. Now, if civil war starts, this won't be battle-lines-drawn civil war like in the 1860s. We've learned way too much from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, to do that. Besides, that only works when there's two sides fighting, and I suspect that groups are going to splinter off left and right. This will involve domestic insurgencies, competing against each other. And, because of how the nation is split politically, the US Armed Forces may actually be fighting against themselves, to an extent.

We're in for an ugly next few years, no matter how this turns out, that's for sure...

So, I noticed that Jeri Ellsworth tweeted a link to a video from Dr. Tae, a "skateboarder, videographer, scientist, and teacher," with his point of view on education, what's wrong with it, and what can be done to fix it.

I was going to use Twitter to mention my thoughts about this video, but then I thought, I've got a whole lot more thoughts than would fit in 140 characters, and this would be more appropriate for a blog entry. Because this is such a long post, I'll continue after the jump.

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