[him a layin]

Representational democracy are not a true democracy and suffer from all sorts of potential corruption (especially from vested interests with money and from religious groups) and are easily manipulated (populism, gerrymanders, press bias, etc ) but they are the best we have ever come up with.  True democracy where everyone votes on every decision is not practical, true anarchism is a nice ideal but was only ever got to work the once for a short time in Spain during the civil war.  Communism and Nationalism/Fascism both devolve into dictatorships. China is ostensibly a communist success but does not count, it is imperial China disguised as communism.

In my personal opinion, the best systems around the world seem to be a capitalist representational democracy with occasional essential services socialist (something small government conservatives detest)mainly to ensure service for everyone and to avoid exploitation.  Places like Scandinavia and Australia follow that model with police, fire services, health and universities (and some public transport) government run but everything else capitalist and overall they are representational democracies.

i'm inclined to agree with you on all of this. not sure what if anything it has to do with the ostensible thread topic.

[AzCal Retred]

@ #27: "when will we dumb apes learn not to allow sociopaths to lead us"

AFAIK "humanity" has been around for 1,000,000 years or more. Women have a propensity for picking SOB's to join up with, I suppose on the theory that the possibility of eating regularly is higher when you are with the SOB. It seems to me that society as a whole follows this "rule" also. When weapons were wielded by hand and territory size determined how well you ate, this strategy likely worked well enough for 990,000 years. In modern times of leverage amplifiers like money and mass-kill projectile weapons this olde skool behavior may be less than optimal. As it's been in place 100-200 times longer, it's likely the "go to" game.

[Leofric]

'While Russia certainly seeks to promote Western candidates
sympathetic to their worldview and foreign policy objectives,
winning a single election is not their end goal. Russian active
measures hope to topple democracies through the pursuit of five
complementary objectives:
    One, undermine citizen confidence in democratic governance;
    Two, foment and exacerbate divisive political fissures;
    Three, erode trust between citizens and elected officials
and their institutions;
    Four, popularize Russian policy agendas within foreign
populations;
    And five, create general distrust or confusion over
information sources by blurring the lines between fact and
fiction, a very pertinent issue today in our country.'
  All five are exactly what is happening in this country as well . Brexit has already happened of course .Scottish independence would be another break up. I wonder who are the Russian
 ' sympathisers ' among the candidates standing in our general election !

[Racer57]

Posted by: Leofric

I wonder who are the Russian ' sympathisers ' among the candidates standing in our general election !

Exactly what part of LA HANDBUILT MOTORCYCLE SHOW do you not comprehend ?

[him a layin]

lol. this thread went off the rails on post 2. i think he's talking about politics in britain. enjoy the flow.

[axman88]

I thought it was supposed to be about what AI is good enough at doing, so humans don't have to?

But, in retrospect, I DO consider myself lucky that nobody responded to my post about a local Chicago motorcycle show.  That show also included a builder's competition.  https://motoblot.com/valhalla/   I posted that thread under "events and ride reports", so that probably made all the difference.

I have to say the word "building", like a lot of words in the English language, has been applied to a steadily wider range of activities, from designing, engineering, fabricating and assembling complex original constructions, on down to bolting on accessories guaranteed by their manufacturer to fit.

It seems unfortunate to me, that it seems a growing idea among younger folks is that ONLY machines that are "custom built" deserve respect.  It seems like many will start buying and bolting items on their bike, because it's cool, without understanding what the components were originally intended to do, or how they might affect running and reliability.  There seems to be no appreciation of the effort required to actually engineer something, and factory systems are dismissed as "crap I don't need", and hacked off without a thought.  I see the effects repeatedly in other forums I'm active on.  Stacks and CV carbs seem to show up together in a lot in threads with titles including the words "Dies with Throttle".  Other popular titles are "Cut out Baffles, Now Backfiring", and "Simplified wiring, Doesn't Run, Please Help".

I guess spare parts gotta come from someplace.

[GlennF]

I have to say the word "building", like a lot of words in the English language, has been applied to a steadily wider range of activities, from designing, engineering, fabricating and assembling complex original constructions, on down to bolting on accessories guaranteed by their manufacturer to fit.

Engineer is another one, it used to mean someone with a 4 year degree and membership in a professional body.  Now almost every IT job has engineer attached to the name, all the way down to level one support where a kid straight out of school with no qualifications doing phone support is a "Support Engineer".

With regard to custom built cars and bikes they rarely return anything like the time effort and money invested when sold.

There are exceptions, a well made SR500 Cafe bike can fetch good money for example.

[him a layin]

wait! hand-built bikes? i got this!
(no, not mine)

[GlennF]

Definitely made from renewable materials. Very ECO-friendly.

[Racer57]

With regard to custom built cars and bikes they rarely return anything like the time effort and money invested when sold.

In 1998 I had $34k in my "from the ground up build" bike. (post#19) Sold it 5 years later for $28k. I gave the dyno sheets to the buyer, so I don't remember the numbers. But they were somewhere around 120hp and 105 tq. Moving at idle when I hit the throttle it would smoke the rear from 1st to 3rd and 3ft patch in 4th.  The pure enjoyment of riding something that I could easily visualize every moving part because I had connected it to another part as I cruised, drag raced or rode the Interstates was invaluable. The labor which was extensive was the fun part, so it doesn't count.    God, I miss that f#$%er ! 

[Turbofurball]

wait! hand-built bikes? i got this!
(no, not mine)

I love it!  Hmm, I have a good 110cc pitbike engine sitting around ... no no, got too much to do already without making even more ridiculous contraptions ...

[GlennF]

Does this thing count ?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfna15r4EXM

[him a layin]

I love it!  Hmm, I have a good 110cc pitbike engine sitting around ... no no, got too much to do already without making even more ridiculous contraptions ...

do it.

[axman88]

Does this thing count ?

I saw that screw bike a while ago.  Watched the bike rotating in place around a vertical axis, and moving sideways, smoothly, and without tipping over, and appreciated the complex mechanical and programming challenge that the unique drive type represented.

Then I read the comments on the video, and noticed that the most repeated comment/ question seemed to be, "Can it move straight forwards, like a REGULAR motorcycle?"

(Explicative) Idiocracy!

[Leofric]

Posted by: Leofric
Exactly what part of LA HANDBUILT MOTORCYCLE SHOW do you not comprehend ?

You haven't been paying attention , see replies 1 to 11 inclusive, 21 to 32 inclusive !
Diversification is all the rage .