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	<title>Comments on: Update on the asteroid census</title>
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	<link>https://habitablezone.com/2011/09/29/update-on-the-asteroid-census/</link>
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		<title>By: VelociraptorBlade</title>
		<link>https://habitablezone.com/2011/09/29/update-on-the-asteroid-census/#comment-6529</link>
		<dc:creator>VelociraptorBlade</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Sat, 01 Oct 2011 02:36:28 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://habitablezone.com/?p=4053#comment-6529</guid>
		<description>I shall take that advice to heart.  Mayhaps someday I could use it to my advantage.  NeoCarnegie FTW!!!</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I shall take that advice to heart.  Mayhaps someday I could use it to my advantage.  NeoCarnegie FTW!!!</p>
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		<title>By: ER</title>
		<link>https://habitablezone.com/2011/09/29/update-on-the-asteroid-census/#comment-6467</link>
		<dc:creator>ER</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Fri, 30 Sep 2011 12:16:06 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://habitablezone.com/?p=4053#comment-6467</guid>
		<description>No, the technology I used, Geographic Information Systems, was routinely used to map and manage various spatially distributed resources important to municipal operations. They relied on it for a variety of government functions, and they knew exactly how it worked, and that it was effective.

But the purpose of redistricting/reapportionment is to isolate or consolidate voter blocks, to dilute or concentrate constituencies to ensure or deny them political power.  The idea that a computer algorithm that didn&#039;t know or care what your race, income, or political affiliation was was going to draw simple, rational and fair commission district boundaries was not what they wanted to hear.

By the way, this has nothing to do with political party.  Both sides do it and are both equally guilty of abusing it. Regardless of ideology, politicians are all primarily businessmen or lawyers. They talk a lot about freedom, enterprise, and justice, but all they really care about is getting their way and maximizing their profit.

VRB, if you ever learn anything from this board, let it be this: whoever controls the economic power, has the political power. Sure, it sometimes works both ways, but as a rule, money beats guns every time.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>No, the technology I used, Geographic Information Systems, was routinely used to map and manage various spatially distributed resources important to municipal operations. They relied on it for a variety of government functions, and they knew exactly how it worked, and that it was effective.</p>
<p>But the purpose of redistricting/reapportionment is to isolate or consolidate voter blocks, to dilute or concentrate constituencies to ensure or deny them political power.  The idea that a computer algorithm that didn&#8217;t know or care what your race, income, or political affiliation was was going to draw simple, rational and fair commission district boundaries was not what they wanted to hear.</p>
<p>By the way, this has nothing to do with political party.  Both sides do it and are both equally guilty of abusing it. Regardless of ideology, politicians are all primarily businessmen or lawyers. They talk a lot about freedom, enterprise, and justice, but all they really care about is getting their way and maximizing their profit.</p>
<p>VRB, if you ever learn anything from this board, let it be this: whoever controls the economic power, has the political power. Sure, it sometimes works both ways, but as a rule, money beats guns every time.</p>
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		<title>By: VelociraptorBlade</title>
		<link>https://habitablezone.com/2011/09/29/update-on-the-asteroid-census/#comment-6463</link>
		<dc:creator>VelociraptorBlade</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Fri, 30 Sep 2011 06:11:49 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://habitablezone.com/?p=4053#comment-6463</guid>
		<description>Lemme guess - they just sat there slack-jawed, dumbfounded and awed by someone who knows science, right?</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Lemme guess &#8211; they just sat there slack-jawed, dumbfounded and awed by someone who knows science, right?</p>
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		<title>By: ER</title>
		<link>https://habitablezone.com/2011/09/29/update-on-the-asteroid-census/#comment-6434</link>
		<dc:creator>ER</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Fri, 30 Sep 2011 01:34:51 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://habitablezone.com/?p=4053#comment-6434</guid>
		<description>Astronomically, you make assumptions about the homogeneity (or lack of it) of a population, or you try to model its variation, and then you sample it, making statistical extrapolations based on those models.  After all, no one has ever actually counted all the stars in the galaxy.

The census people probably do the same thing, but if there&#039;s power or money involved, the results are bound to be challenged.  

You should see how popular my suggestion (to the County) was to reapportion commission district boundaries by purely statistical methods (a standard technique in regional geography).</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Astronomically, you make assumptions about the homogeneity (or lack of it) of a population, or you try to model its variation, and then you sample it, making statistical extrapolations based on those models.  After all, no one has ever actually counted all the stars in the galaxy.</p>
<p>The census people probably do the same thing, but if there&#8217;s power or money involved, the results are bound to be challenged.  </p>
<p>You should see how popular my suggestion (to the County) was to reapportion commission district boundaries by purely statistical methods (a standard technique in regional geography).</p>
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		<title>By: TB</title>
		<link>https://habitablezone.com/2011/09/29/update-on-the-asteroid-census/#comment-6433</link>
		<dc:creator>TB</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Fri, 30 Sep 2011 01:03:45 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://habitablezone.com/?p=4053#comment-6433</guid>
		<description>Yeah, it&#039;s not really clear to me how they manage to figure out that they&#039;ve discovered a given percentage of anything.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Yeah, it&#8217;s not really clear to me how they manage to figure out that they&#8217;ve discovered a given percentage of anything.</p>
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		<title>By: ER</title>
		<link>https://habitablezone.com/2011/09/29/update-on-the-asteroid-census/#comment-6432</link>
		<dc:creator>ER</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Thu, 29 Sep 2011 23:42:28 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://habitablezone.com/?p=4053#comment-6432</guid>
		<description>&quot;It&#039;s like a population census, where you poll a small group of people to draw conclusions about the entire country,&quot; 

If this is the same Breitbart I think it is, I&#039;m surprised he hasn&#039;t taken issue with that statement.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s like a population census, where you poll a small group of people to draw conclusions about the entire country,&#8221; </p>
<p>If this is the same Breitbart I think it is, I&#8217;m surprised he hasn&#8217;t taken issue with that statement.</p>
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