Comments (21) Jump to Comments Form

1. 

   believecommonsense said, 2 months ago

   Davies is representing that sometimes elusive notion of humanity … that medical care is a human need, not a benefit associated with a job. We don’t just live in an economy, we live in a society. appreciate it, Davies

2. 

   fennec said, 2 months ago

   BCS, check out the last issue of Science (vol. 325, pg. 1272). You’ll find it really interesting, I promise!

3. 

   nomad2112 said, 2 months ago

   … . z z z z z Z Z Z Z Z Z z z z z z … …

4. 

   DrCanuck said, 2 months ago

   fennec, short synopsis so I can decide if it’s worth some time?

5. 

   NoFearPup said, 2 months ago

   [Libs are God.]

6. 

   HUMPHRIES said, 2 months ago

   ^babblepup.

7. 

   fennec said, 2 months ago

   Abstract of paper:
   Positive Interactions Promote
   Public Cooperation
   David G. Rand,1,2* Anna Dreber,1,6* Tore Ellingsen,6 Drew Fudenberg,3 Martin A. Nowak1,4,5†
   The public goods game is the classic laboratory paradigm for studying collective action
   problems. Each participant chooses how much to contribute to a common pool that returns benefits
   to all participants equally. The ideal outcome occurs if everybody contributes the maximum
   amount, but the self-interested strategy is not to contribute anything. Most previous studies have
   found punishment to be more effective than reward for maintaining cooperation in public goods
   games. The typical design of these studies, however, represses future consequences for today’s
   actions. In an experimental setting, we compare public goods games followed by punishment,
   reward, or both in the setting of truly repeated games, in which player identities persist from round
   to round. We show that reward is as effective as punishment for maintaining public cooperation
   and leads to higher total earnings. Moreover, when both options are available, reward leads to
   increased contributions and payoff, whereas punishment has no effect on contributions and leads
   to lower payoff. We conclude that reward outperforms punishment in repeated public goods
   games and that human cooperation in such repeated settings is best supported by positive
   interactions with others.

8. 

   ezdeb said, 2 months ago

   Isn’t it just amazing what an intelligent response you get from the rightie posters?

   zzzZZZZZzzzz: (my fellow americans’ needs bore me until I can actually rouse myself enough to ridicule them)

   LibsRGod: Well, thanks! That’s your response to the idea of national unity after 9/11/01?

   My opinion? the president should just jettison republicans from the healthcare debate and pass a bill that progressives like. The administration has compromised on the public option, on single payor, on subsidies for insurance companies and on other issues. The republicans promise in return to…..insult the effort, make no meaningful proposal of their own, jeer and make up impossible rumors to slow down the process, and drum up fear of shadows to frighten people. Why should we not just pass what we want, and leave them to stew about it? They’re stewing plenty right now, and any attempt to compromise is met with screams of socialist and nazi.

   So why not design it, pass it and do the best for Americans? Republicans just want it to go away, and that’s not good enough anymore.

   There is no reasonable input from people like “Joe” Wilson, Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich, Rush Limbaugh, or their followers, Anandy, NoFear and zzzzzZZZZZzzz Nomad.

   Sez I!

9. 

   believecommonsense said, 2 months ago

   fennec, thanks, I’ll look for that issue

10. 

    DrCanuck said, 2 months ago

    Thanks for the abstract, fen’. Prisoners’ Dilemma in reverse!

11. 

    dtroutma said, 2 months ago

    The problem I have with the 9/11 fervor - it was only based on finding someone to hate- basic human (Judeo-Christian-Muslim) thinking, sadly. I also believe the more flies with honey than vinegar goes back to the ancient Greeks (actually, likely to early hominids)- we’re slow learners indeed.

12. 

    David said, 2 months ago

    This toon is so one-sided and shows that the author has the exact same attitude that keeps us from ever being united.

    Just after 9/11 I beheld something I had never seen before and have never seen since…Americans acting like Americans. They forgot their Democrat/Republican arguments. They forgot their warm-squishy Politically Correct notions and became Americans again. It was a great time…a great few days. Sadly, a few days was all.

    The dust had hardly settled when we happily divided ourselves back up against each other just like clockwork. Our government got right back to doing what it did best…robbing us blind while we fight against each other.

    They are still doing it today.

    This ‘toonist obviously doesn’t get it.

13. 

    cdward said, 2 months ago

    I wonder about this whole “United We Stand” business. It seems to me most of our history has been rather divided. From the very beginning, the tension between slave and non-slave states was palpable. The Civil War happened when things reached their inevitable snapping point, but despite the outcome, the division never stopped. I sometimes wonder if it might have been better for Lincoln to say, “If you want to go, go.” That way, there would be two countries, each taking their own political route. Not sure what the outcome would have been, but at least Republicans could have their place and Democrats could have theirs – and then they could start bickering amongst themselves. Just wonderin’.

14. 

    motivemagus said, 2 months ago

    Check out Harry Turtledove’s “alternate history” works, cdward. He’s a historian by training who meticulously researches periods, and then plays with them. Starting with “How Few Remain,” he launched a series where the North lost the South, and what happens up through WWII. Very intriguing.

15. 

    DrCanuck said, 2 months ago

    Thanks for that reference, motive’, I love stuff like that.

16. 

    cdward said, 2 months ago

    Rats! I wanted to write that book! Instead, I’ll get it from the library. Thanks for the tip, motive.

17. 

    motivemagus said, 2 months ago

    No prob. Turtledove has written scores of such books, all very well researched. I should have mentioned that How Few Remain launches a series of books, which has, let’s see, something like seven more books. All very good.
    He’s a good guy, too.

18. 

    striper77 said, 2 months ago

    According to Bryan Fischer, AFA Director of Issue Analysis
    The White House has now conceded that Rep. Joe Wilson was exactly right when he accused President Obama of lying when Mr. Obama denied that illegal aliens would be covered under the government takeover of health care.
    Wilson knew that every attempt to deny coverage to “undocumented immigrants” had been voted down by Democrats, and that there was no verification method or enforcement mechanism in place to keep them from getting taxpayer-subsidized health insurance.
    Last night, the White House caved, releasing a statement saying that the administration is now backing a proposal that says, “Verification will be required when purchasing health insurance on the exchange,” and specifically mentions the SAVE program (Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements) that states currently use to make sure illegals don’t consume taxpayer-funded benefits that are reserved for legal residents.
    The bottom line here is that if Rep. Wilson hadn’t “called out” the president, this concession never would have occurred. It turns out that everybody who supports sound immigration policy but who condemned the Congressman – including House Republicans that forced Wilson to apologize publicly - now owes him an apology. Don’t hold your breath waiting for that to happen.

19. 

    Corosive Frog said, 2 months ago

    Cdward; Mottoes and titles are often ironic. The period of japanese history that saw WWII and the a-bombs is called showa (“era of enlightened peace”) Canada’s motto is “Ad mare usque ad Mare” (from sea to sea) when in fact, we have three oceans and are now trying to get a grip on the arctig ,our forgotten ocean.

20. 

    DrCanuck said, 2 months ago

    Hey, CF, keep up. The Canadian motto was changed years ago in popular usage (although not formally) to “From sea to sea to sea.”

    And it was “A MARI USQUE AD MARE.” You live in Quebec and don’t speak French? How can this be?

21. 

    Corosive Frog said, 2 months ago

    Some quebeckers don’t speak french, especially the natives in the north since the federal government- who wasn’t bilingual until the Trudeau years- takes care of indian affairs. There are also some WASPs in the western part of Montreal. The separatists hate them!

    I’m the complete opposite; I don’t live in Quebec but I speak french. I’m an acadian living in New-Brunswick.