Solving the Problem of "Cat Demands": A Proposal

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around various problems that participants find bothersome, along with proposed solutions. Topics include environmental concerns, internet spam, vehicle regulations, and humorous takes on pet behavior. The scope includes conceptual and exploratory reasoning, as well as some technical considerations related to programming and server performance.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Conceptual clarification
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • One participant suggests limiting heavy vehicles to a maximum speed of 55 MPH to reduce foreign oil demand and CO2 emissions.
  • Another participant proposes a tax reform to make advertising less tax-deductible as a means to reduce advertising.
  • Multiple participants humorously suggest extreme solutions to the issue of cats demanding attention, including "killing the cat," which is later challenged as ineffective.
  • A participant raises the problem of unifying gravity with other fundamental forces but does not provide a solution.
  • Several participants discuss the issue of internet spam, proposing a penny charge per email to deter spammers and suggesting improvements to email security and processing delays.
  • One participant humorously suggests that the solution to slow servers is to "cry," while another emphasizes the need for programmers to optimize their code for hardware efficiency.
  • There is a mention of snail mail spam and a humorous suggestion about using a mouse to deal with it, linking it back to keeping a cat occupied.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express a range of humorous and serious viewpoints on various problems, with no clear consensus on the proposed solutions, particularly regarding the issues of spam and vehicle regulations. The discussion remains unresolved with multiple competing views present.

Contextual Notes

Some solutions proposed are humorous or exaggerated, and the discussion includes speculative ideas without definitive conclusions. The effectiveness of the suggested solutions is not established, and participants express uncertainty about certain claims.

Who May Find This Useful

Readers interested in humorous takes on everyday problems, discussions about environmental policy, internet issues, and programming efficiency may find this thread engaging.

Ivan Seeking
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Describe a problem that bugs you and what you would do about it.

I mentioned one of my favorites before:

Goal: Provide motive to reduce the demand for foreign oil. Reduce CO2 emissions. Make the roads safer for responsible citizens who drive small, fuel efficient vehicles.

Solution: Treat all vehicles over 4000 Lbs or so - to include large SUVs and heavy trucks, as many states do tractor-trailors - limit all heavy vehicles to a maximum speed of 55 MPH, and limit travel to the rightmost lanes only on highways and freeways.

Issue 2:
Cat bugs me to death until he or she gets whatever he or she wants.

Solution: Do whatever the cat says. :redface:
 
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Goal: Reduce advertising.

Solution: The tax-code already includes a separate column for 'advertising'. Make it not 100% tax deductible.

Issue 2:
Cat bugs me to death until he or she gets whatever he or she wants.

Solution: Kill the cat.
 
Smurf said:
Issue 2:
Cat bugs me to death until he or she gets whatever he or she wants.

Solution: Kill the cat.

This answer is incorrect since the procedure would have to be repeated at least nine times to be completely effective. In the meantime the cat would find a way to kill you. Ivan's answer is correct.
 
problem: gravity, the electroweak nuclear, and strong nuclear force aren't unified

solution: :confused:
 
Problem -- Internet spam.

Solution -- Charge everybody a penny to send an e-mail over the Internet. Since most of us send and receive about the same amount of e-mail, the net cost would be a wash for us. But spammers send bzillions of e-mails, so now they would be having to pay good money to bug people...
 
Ivan Seeking said:
Describe a problem that bugs you and what you would do about it.

I mentioned one of my favorites before:

Goal: Provide motive to reduce the demand for foreign oil. Reduce CO2 emissions. Make the roads safer for responsible citizens who drive small, fuel efficient vehicles.

Solution: Treat all vehicles over 4000 Lbs or so - to include large SUVs and heavy trucks, as many states do tractor-trailors - limit all heavy vehicles to a maximum speed of 55 MPH, and limit travel to the rightmost lanes only on highways and freeways.

Issue 2: <<--- :smile:
Cat bugs me to death until he or she gets whatever he or she wants.

Solution: Do whatever the cat says. :redface:


ISSUE number 3: What number am I thinking?

Patty patty buke buke - 82? WRONG
Eleanor gee I think your swellanor- 40? WRONG
Morton town USA -212? WRONG
Jackorino - 2? WRONGGGGGGGGG.

The correct answer is 134, 134444.

BYE BYEEEEEEEEE
 
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Problem -- Understanding Cyrus' post:

cyrusabdollahi said:
ISSUE number 3: What number am I thinking?

Patty patty buke buke - 82? WRONG
Eleanor geet I think your swellanor- 40? WRONG
Morton town USA -212? WRONG
Jackorino - 2? WRONGGGGGGGGG.

The correct answer is 134, 134444.

BYE BYEEEEEEEEE

Solution -- I have no idea... :confused: :smile:
 
berkeman said:
Problem -- Internet spam.

Solution -- Charge everybody a penny to send an e-mail over the Internet. Since most of us send and receive about the same amount of e-mail, the net cost would be a wash for us. But spammers send bzillions of e-mails, so now they would be having to pay good money to bug people...

But isn't the problem that they spoof someone else's computer and make that computer send the email?
 
Ivan Seeking said:
Describe a problem that bugs you and what you would do about it.

I mentioned one of my favorites before:

Goal: Provide motive to reduce the demand for foreign oil. Reduce CO2 emissions. Make the roads safer for responsible citizens who drive small, fuel efficient vehicles.

Solution: Treat all vehicles over 4000 Lbs or so - to include large SUVs and heavy trucks, as many states do tractor-trailors - limit all heavy vehicles to a maximum speed of 55 MPH, and limit travel to the rightmost lanes only on highways and freeways.
You could drop that weight limit to 3000 lbs, if you want. That would include Jeeps. They get lousy gas mileage and aren't designed to drive at freeway speeds anyway (although driving 75 with doors and top off is a great way to dry out the carpet after a rain and clean out any litter that's found its way under the seats).

Keep the trucks and SUVs limited to those that actually use them vs all the people who drive them because they're more macho than a minivan.

It keeps manufacturers from diluting their SUV brands, as well. Ford Explorers and Chevy Blazers used to be good off-road vehicles. Now, both barely retain any off-road capability while other SUVs, like the Mercury Mountaineer, don't even pretend to be more than a big minivan. Appealling to soccer moms may increase profits for auto companies, but it steals away real SUV brands just as sure as if the company discontinued the line.
 
  • #10
berkeman said:
Problem -- Internet spam.

Solution -- Charge everybody a penny to send an e-mail over the Internet. Since most of us send and receive about the same amount of e-mail, the net cost would be a wash for us. But spammers send bzillions of e-mails, so now they would be having to pay good money to bug people...

daveb said:
But isn't the problem that they spoof someone else's computer and make that computer send the email?

Yes. Computer users would invest in better security software.

Or, revise e-mail programs to institute a 10 second delay between outputting a new e-mail. This means an e-mail sent to some 50 users would take over 8 minutes to leave your system, but how many times a day (or week) does the average person send out shotgun e-mails? It would only affect spammers, since it would drastically cut down on the number of e-mails they send out a day.
 
  • #11
berkeman said:
Problem -- Internet spam.

Solution -- Charge everybody a penny to send an e-mail over the Internet. Since most of us send and receive about the same amount of e-mail, the net cost would be a wash for us. But spammers send bzillions of e-mails, so now they would be having to pay good money to bug people...

What about mailing lists, or forums like this that could be sending thousands of reply notifications a day?
 
  • #12
Okay, okay. Points well taken. No simple spam solutions today...
 
  • #13
berkeman said:
Okay, okay. Points well taken. No simple spam solutions today...

i still get spam via snail mail, i think we should solve that problem before working on more advanced ones
 
  • #14
ice109 said:
i still get spam via snail mail, i think we should solve that problem before working on more advanced ones

The trash can works well for snail mail spam. The mouse needs some improvement. It usually just chews up the mail and leaves it on the floor instead of dragging it to the trash can.

The mouse is a solution to the problem of how to keep the cat occupied, though.
 
  • #15
Problem: Slow servers

Solution: Cry
 
  • #16
moose said:
Problem: Slow servers

Solution: Cry

The solution would be for programmers to learn about computer hardware, then write their programs to make the most efficient use of the caches and dual-core processing. Slow memory kills a lot of the advantages of a fast processor. Of course, your programs have to work on a multitude of computers, so writing a program that detects the computer's hardware configuration, and then self-modifies how the program operates to take advantage of the hardware would be kind of challenging, especially in a higher level language like C++.
 
  • #17
berkeman said:
Problem -- Understanding Cyrus' post:



Solution -- I have no idea... :confused: :smile:

That is known as McLaughlineze


It is a secret language known only to talkinghead-speak experts.

BYE BYEEEEEEE
 
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