"Posted 22 November 2016 - 04:30 PM
Scratch that I just read about the Magnificent mini autoguider system and they were talking about the software and how it works with Windows 10 and PhD blah blah blah. I will check out that Ontario one.
Edited by View2, 22 November 2016 - 04:37 PM."
This is a quote from someone on Cloudynights. There's a fair number of people on CN that can't be bothered with information that ventures outside the scope of their initial enquiry. I was thinking about politics and closed-mindedness. At the risk of oversimplifying political discourse and overemphasizing a seemingly trivial forum post response, it seems to me that a sign of an eroding democracy is the rise of idiocy and a general disregard for those who not only hold different political opinions but who are engaging in activities that one person is not. The "other" becomes everyone except for me, my family, and my like-minded "friends" who are doing exactly the same thing I'm doing in exactly the same way. Ruling a country of self-absorbed, closed-minded people who despise those who are doing anything that would suggest that their approach is inadequate requires non-democratic systems.
In a totalitarian regime, it's fine for the citizens to hate each other and engage in occasional violence because the state can always step in and assert power. In a way, both the regime and unruly citizenry will tend to "deserve each other". The state can exist in a continual crisis mode and justify horrible actions. In this way, pessimism towards fairness and equality become the norm, almost a required attitude.
When the moderators on CN claim that they don't allow political discussions, I do know what they mean. But in a real sense, such statements are meaningless and quite arbitrary. There are tons of generalizations about "Orientals" and women on CN, but no one seems to care unless someone responds in an appropriately outraged or disappointed manner. Usually the moderators' silence speaks volumes here in terms of "aiding and abetting" people who are routinely racist and sexist. Unfortunately, instead of these moments being potential "teaching" or healing opportunities, the threads are locked or removed (or both). Such actions create an atmosphere where the person who is rightly objecting to some reprehensible comment is in some ways being "punished" for speaking out.
[Later: I don't want to make this a permanent feature of this blog, but here's a review from Newegg...
[reply to Anonymous' post below...(I figured out that if you post anything important in the response that Blogger deletes it immediately....thus:)
I have some seemingly long-winded comments in response that have to do with the importance of theory and the connections between selfish societies and the slippery slope to Auschwitz.
But since the internet does not encourage meaningful discussion about important matters, let me quote TS Eliot:
“Half the harm that is done in this world is due to people who want to feel important. They don't mean to do harm; but the harm does not interest them. Or they do not see it, or they justify it because they are absorbed in the endless struggle to think well of themselves.” ]
Or I guess another way to put it is that I'm not so much interested in whether there is racism, but I'm much more interested in the questions of HOW and WHY? Most people can't get to these questions because they are either justifying racism or denying it (I see these positions as equivalent), or they are spending all their time trying to prove its existence. The latter activity can be an intellectual trap.
Pros: -holds 2 HDDs
-looks classy/minimalistic
-no issues with read/write speed so far
-easy to install/swap HDDs
Cons: -no RAID hardware
-does not completely silence HDD sound
Overall Review: Took a risk because there were no reviews and it's coming from Hong Kong, but for the price and my use case: Does the job I purchased it for since I'm already using Windows "software RAID" for redundancy and not sure if I trust myself to set up hardware RAID. Will update if I notice my HDD lifetime is reduced or it fails. Can hear the slightest hum from it, but I can't imagine a system that silences it completely."
(my use of bold, red, and underline)
This is quite common online. This constant disparagement of products coming from China, Hong Kong, or less commonly, Taiwan.
What risk did this reviewer take? Oh, you want to justify it in a hundred different ways, but the fact is is that the reviewer is not going to say something like, 'Took a risk because... it's coming from Germany." ]