In theory (not necessarily reality, hence inflation) there is a finite amount of wealth in the world. (read money) So what builds wealth for some ALWAYS takes wealth from someone else. Back to inflation... Governments and people try "creating" more wealth, but this just results in the devaluation of all existing wealth to achieve equilibrium.
Also of note is the fact that ethanol is a good way to keep having fuel when we run out of fossil fuels, but it still takes carbon that otherwise wouldn't be in the atmosphere and puts it there. I thought that was what we're trying to avoid, no?
Lastly, if increased food prices are GOOD for poor people why do poor people starve? Seems like if they are all growing food like you assume they wouldn't be starving to death. But that's just my silly affinity for facts.
The very fact that you have the time and opportunity to spend on the internet tells me that you have more than you need. (As do I) So do you really believe what you are saying or does it just make you feel good? You simply can't claim to believe something like that without it changing entirely the way you live your life. There's probably some single parents in your area that need help (your extra time) and access to the internet (why not yours?) But you're too busy telling everyone on/. that having more than you need is wrong to help them at the moment.
I'm not saying your views are wrong, I'm not trying to insult you personally, I just hate hypocrisy. And beliefs like the ones you're espousing are not things you argue with people, they're the ones YOU ACT ON if you believe them. Mother Theresa believed as you claim to, she changed a LOT more peoples' minds on issues of human rights and suffering than you will ever do... And one is hard pressed to find any bit of wasted time in her life or any bit of extra possessions that were not essential to her existence.
I know it makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside to say you think this way, just try to remember that the next time a drunk on the street is asking for your help, and ask yourself "Do I really BELIEVE all that crap about people dying in the gutters? Or do I want to go home and read/. instead of taking this guy to a hotel and getting him cleaned up, fed, and to a good counselor?"
Better living conditions come when people ACT, not when they simply "believe" something.
Actually most of those things have less emission waste than diesel... He is probably prematurely gunking up his engine. but as far as gaseous waste he's most likely not doing any worse than running straight diesel. I had a diesel volkswagen that would go 40 miles on a gallon of canola... it smelled like french fries.
also of note is the simple fact that diesel engines are so much more efficient than gasoline engines. For comparable power, a diesel engine will push a small car at least twice as far as a gasoline engine. In trucks the difference is not so pronounced because of their larger aerodynamic drag... Not until you get into heavy hauling situations where you're once again fighting the sheer weight of the vehicle much more than the air resistance. Also, diesels have fewer moving parts and typically will run at least 5-10 times as many miles as gasoline engines in similar applications. I've seen a 1991 Dodge D350 with 700,000 miles on it, and it still gets over 20 miles to the gallon.
One last thing before I leave this thread... Why do you feel the need for name calling... we were having a relatively civil discussion (heated yes, but not juvenile as you have now made it)
Look... 1. Do you know the difference between the school board and the PTA... It's a rather large difference. 2. YOU ARE WRITING THEM A CHECK AND THEY KNOW IT. 3. You've never voiced your concerns as an adult to your school district. You said so yourself. 4. Do you understand the definition of frugal? It has nothing to do with "responsive to concerns" 5.Fine, you don't want them advertising... at least HELP find a way around it. Or would you rather they just gave up hiring good teachers and keeping the schools clean, buying fuel for the buses? Schools aren't like the federal government, they have to pay for things with real money. 6. In my district (I have no idea about others around the country) a ballot measure was required to allow the schools to use advertising dollars. It passed how is this "against the wishes" of the community? 7. The computers were donated because Raytheon wanted a tax write off. Our district already had a fully stocked computer lab. In addition this deal was put before the community in a Town Hall meeting. The people in the community who gave a shit and showed up had a say in whether/how the deal went down.
Serious question here: are you actually suggesting that the schools just quit paying their bills that the advertising allows them to pay? Because YOU obviously don't want to provide that money through your property taxes.
Oh and seriously quit saying PTA... The PTA doesn't make any of the decisions that you claim to be concerned about, the school board does. Your ignorance is truly wearing me out. Respond if you'd like, but I won't be reading it.
My examples of an unresponsive school date mainly from the last time I was forcibly involved with a school, when I attended. Either a. you were only involved in education when forced, or b. That was the only time the school was unresponsive to your concerns. Therefore either; aa. You have not been involved without being forced OR bb. The school listens to you now.
When you're a taxpayer you're a wallet, preferably without a voice. If you had ever cared to try and voice your opinions to the board you would know that this simply isn't true with regard to school districts at large.
And then there's your idea that I'm telling you to pay whatever "tax grabs". That's not what I've been saying at all. I want your activism however it's aligned, I never gave you an agenda, I just said that if you care enough to complain you should care enough to get involved. Whether your desires are that the school spends less money or builds a space ship, or plants a hemp garden doesn't matter to me at this point. What matters to me is that instead of insulting people that are trying to be frugal by selling advertising to bring in enough money, you could be offering alternative solutions at your local school board meetings.
Oh and let's talk about your double standard! Your "alternate" school was doing great things by being frugal, but these public schools are doing something evil when they try to find an alternative revenue stream to taxation? Look back about 50-60 years (or more if you'd like) the amount of money that goes to schools has not kept pace with inflation (not talking about college here). Your generation pays less for education than the generation before it. Public schools have to be much more frugal now than ever. The average class size has been going up for 30 years. Teachers' salaries (adjusted for inflation) have been going down for that entire period of time. So... extrapolating a little bit teachers get paid less to do more work, schools still don't have enough money without selling advertising. Man I'm sure glad public schools don't have to be frugal! More and more kids have single parents or two parents with full time jobs. Putting strain on schools now to not only educate children but to parent them as well. The federal government mandates programs to provide poor students with free or reduced cost lunch, but does not fund this in any way. The district I live in a few years ago got a donation of some outdated computer equipment. We didn't have enough busses to get all the kids home (there were several bus routes that kids had to wait at school until one of the busses had dropped 1 load of kids off.) The school found another school in the state that needed some computers and they traded computers for 2 buses. Those bastards to waste our tax money by not spending it on those two buses!
so you've never been actively involved in oversight of a public school? Which is your right. I'm not berating you for "not forking out" I'm berating you for the attitude 'I have no way of oversight' when you obviously have never been to a school board meeting to participate in the oversight that the VOLUNTEER school board is waiting for from the community. You want a check box on your taxes or an online form... sorry but this isn't facebook, it's the real world, you have to do real world things to get real world results. It's a lot easier to complain on/. than it is to be a responsible citizen. I don't care about your money nearly as much as your hypocrisy to say blindly that you have no way of effecting change in your local public schools exposes the fact that you simply haven't tried. One determined citizen can make a world of change but those people try first. Spending 10 minutes in a voting booth every year or two doesn't make a responsible citizen in a representative government. And since you have cited nothing but "money that [you're] withholding" as opposed to actually trying to change the way the school is run.
What is so horrible about the way the school in your area is run? Are there any concrete examples that you have without going out and researching it now? I don't think so, because you would have brought that up already, you haven't made one single remark about how in actuality your local district is run. Do you even know who the board members are and what they care about? Who did you vote for in the last school board election and have they been effective?
Or is all your bitching just a case of your prejudice against all governmental bodies coming out? And you don't actually care about educating the next generation enough to be their voice and protector. Do you just want to feel smart on/. and whine about the "government" that you have "no control" over?
And please let's not try to back track now It's already apparent that you don't go to board meetings and you don't know anything that you haven't seen in the newspaper about how the local schools are doing. I hope to heaven that you don't have a child attending those schools though. Parents like you make the rest of us have to work a lot harder to get the children a good solid education.
I'm not claiming to be perfect or have perfect grasp of all or even of this issue. But I know my school board and I have the superintendents phone number. My son will be starting school in 3.5 years and I want to make sure he gets a good education when he does. It's my responsibility.
The school district I live in is over 400 square miles and one of the largest by population in my state. And I have seen multiple instances where 1 single parent has caused enormous changes to the way the district is run. The only difference between that parent and the thousands of other parents in the district is willingness to do something. To be the "people" in "We the people". So when you represent yourself as so appalled at how terrible the public schools are run all I have to say is what have you tried to do about it other than vote against money that the school is asking for? Oh and before we get into how important and busy everyone is the person I was talking about was truly a single parent with 3 children and a more-than-full time job. And then my mother who volunteered for so many years had 4 children and a full-time job.
"all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing" keep doing nothing... it's been working so well for our children for the last 30 years.
I don't know about your locale, But my mother spent 12 years of her life in school oversight as a volunteer school board president. The board cared about the STUDENTS and had to make difficult decisions with very little support from the community. People just didn't care to be involved, they wouldn't pass the taxes to pay for a new school when we were having to run a three track school year (basically three separate "schools" using the same facilities). I spent nearly my entire young life going to school board meetings that were open to the public and seeing the same 10 - 15 parents in there for OVER 10 YEARS. And these were not the same parents that complained that the school "doesn't listen" and has no "oversight". Sorry but you actually have to get off your butt and get involved to have an effect.
If the schools in your area are not accountable to the parents (that care enough to get involved and actually GO to the board meetings) then I feel sorry for you. But the school district I live in is supremely supported by volunteers and community involvement. We have commercial food service in the school, I don't like it and when my son is going to school I will take care of his lunch. BUT... We have commercial lunches because the community refused to pass appropriation for more food service workers, yet still expects an inexpensive lunch to be provided for the students. If that isn't the absolute epitome of "community oversight" than tell me what is? Is taxing you without allowing you to vote on it better? Not to mention that most of the people that work at public schools could go somewhere else and do the same exact job and get paid a lot more money (not just teachers, drivers, administrators, mechanics, maintenance people... EVERYONE.)
This is in no way a double dip. If anything the public is trying to double dip. "Don't push cost of living taxes on me but I expect my kid to get lunch for free too." The reason any governmental body works a certain way in a democratic society is the people. There's no getting around it. If people cared enough they would take action. Sadly people don't care about their childrens' educations enough, and the few that do send their kids to private schools. Private schools are not better because they cost money, private schools tend to be better because the parents give a shit.
If people were willing to pass the tax measures that schools ask for than schools wouldn't be resorting to these kinds of things. The problem is simple, voters don't want to pay for schools, schools have to prostitute themselves to commercial interests because they still have to pay their bills whether the voters want to or not.
And the vast majority of the American Southwest is completely unoccupied by people or farms or really much of anything. Wow can you show me that "VAST majority" cause it's hard as hell to find flat land out here that's not protected habitat or in a Reservation.
That would have to be studied, of course, but we're talking about a relatively small area of the American Southwest, which is mostly high desert. As someone who lives in the American Southwest... desert isn't what you see in Wile E. Coyote people, desert just has to do with rainfall The American southwest is home to some many protected animals/plants and habitats. Also we're not talking about 92 square miles, we're talking about 92^2 square miles, over 8000... This is not a relatively small area, that's a state.
Actually, a study was done recently (with a summary published in Discover magazine about 2-3 months ago) that confirms that only a 10-15% or so increase in efficiency is required for the long-distance transmission and that the study's authors, all experts in the field, felt that this was possible by 2020. The only problem is that this efficiency needs to be in the TRANSPORT mechanism, who's gonna foot the bill to replace every major transmission line in the country? Have you noticed the price of copper and aluminum lately?
If you have a brick and mortar store, it stays put and your sales taxes don't change from one sale to the next, only when the governments change them, and so it's a simple matter of looking up the tax on a chart or reloading the cash register. This is why I built my store out of wood...
This is exactly what I was thinking, I don't have the manpower to deal with New Yorkers any more if this law is enforcible. A New York shipping address will simply not be validated if shipping something to New York requires me to collect more taxes and file another form every month/quarter/whatever.
Not just cornfields, How about the mountains where pop density is about 1:100 sq.miles. My parents house got phone service for the first time in 1995, (it was built in the 70's).
I had mastered about 60% of high school history and geography from various Carmen Sandiego games when I was in elementary school. "Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego" was my favorite. I remember getting to World History in 10th grade and realizing that I had already learned much of the material from "Carmen".
mod parent up +++ Why does no one understand this simple fact? insurance companies make a profit. That's what they do! The average american with health insurance WILL spend more on insurance than insurance EVER pays out on their health care.
If you really think that the DHS has caused less "government" you have some research to do. I'm not saying that your argument is totally unfounded, it's just that at least one of your premises: "DHS was an attempt at smaller government, and DHS is bad" is entirely false. This is like saying that The Patriot Act is an attempt to have less law enforcement. None of the agencies that contributed resources to the "creation" of DHS disappeared. All that really happened is that the INS got a LOT more power, a new name, as well as a presidential Cabinet post, gained some resources and responsibilities, and absorbed some other agencies.
Slashdot Mirror
In theory (not necessarily reality, hence inflation) there is a finite amount of wealth in the world. (read money) So what builds wealth for some ALWAYS takes wealth from someone else. Back to inflation... Governments and people try "creating" more wealth, but this just results in the devaluation of all existing wealth to achieve equilibrium.
Also of note is the fact that ethanol is a good way to keep having fuel when we run out of fossil fuels, but it still takes carbon that otherwise wouldn't be in the atmosphere and puts it there. I thought that was what we're trying to avoid, no?
Lastly, if increased food prices are GOOD for poor people why do poor people starve? Seems like if they are all growing food like you assume they wouldn't be starving to death. But that's just my silly affinity for facts.
The very fact that you have the time and opportunity to spend on the internet tells me that you have more than you need. (As do I) So do you really believe what you are saying or does it just make you feel good? You simply can't claim to believe something like that without it changing entirely the way you live your life. There's probably some single parents in your area that need help (your extra time) and access to the internet (why not yours?) But you're too busy telling everyone on /. that having more than you need is wrong to help them at the moment.
/. instead of taking this guy to a hotel and getting him cleaned up, fed, and to a good counselor?"
I'm not saying your views are wrong, I'm not trying to insult you personally, I just hate hypocrisy. And beliefs like the ones you're espousing are not things you argue with people, they're the ones YOU ACT ON if you believe them. Mother Theresa believed as you claim to, she changed a LOT more peoples' minds on issues of human rights and suffering than you will ever do... And one is hard pressed to find any bit of wasted time in her life or any bit of extra possessions that were not essential to her existence.
I know it makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside to say you think this way, just try to remember that the next time a drunk on the street is asking for your help, and ask yourself "Do I really BELIEVE all that crap about people dying in the gutters? Or do I want to go home and read
Better living conditions come when people ACT, not when they simply "believe" something.
You never met his wife I see...
Actually most of those things have less emission waste than diesel... He is probably prematurely gunking up his engine. but as far as gaseous waste he's most likely not doing any worse than running straight diesel. I had a diesel volkswagen that would go 40 miles on a gallon of canola... it smelled like french fries.
also of note is the simple fact that diesel engines are so much more efficient than gasoline engines. For comparable power, a diesel engine will push a small car at least twice as far as a gasoline engine. In trucks the difference is not so pronounced because of their larger aerodynamic drag... Not until you get into heavy hauling situations where you're once again fighting the sheer weight of the vehicle much more than the air resistance. Also, diesels have fewer moving parts and typically will run at least 5-10 times as many miles as gasoline engines in similar applications. I've seen a 1991 Dodge D350 with 700,000 miles on it, and it still gets over 20 miles to the gallon.
One last thing before I leave this thread... Why do you feel the need for name calling... we were having a relatively civil discussion (heated yes, but not juvenile as you have now made it)
Look... 1. Do you know the difference between the school board and the PTA... It's a rather large difference. 2. YOU ARE WRITING THEM A CHECK AND THEY KNOW IT. 3. You've never voiced your concerns as an adult to your school district. You said so yourself. 4. Do you understand the definition of frugal? It has nothing to do with "responsive to concerns" 5.Fine, you don't want them advertising... at least HELP find a way around it. Or would you rather they just gave up hiring good teachers and keeping the schools clean, buying fuel for the buses? Schools aren't like the federal government, they have to pay for things with real money. 6. In my district (I have no idea about others around the country) a ballot measure was required to allow the schools to use advertising dollars. It passed how is this "against the wishes" of the community? 7. The computers were donated because Raytheon wanted a tax write off. Our district already had a fully stocked computer lab. In addition this deal was put before the community in a Town Hall meeting. The people in the community who gave a shit and showed up had a say in whether/how the deal went down.
Serious question here: are you actually suggesting that the schools just quit paying their bills that the advertising allows them to pay? Because YOU obviously don't want to provide that money through your property taxes.
Oh and seriously quit saying PTA... The PTA doesn't make any of the decisions that you claim to be concerned about, the school board does. Your ignorance is truly wearing me out. Respond if you'd like, but I won't be reading it.
And then there's your idea that I'm telling you to pay whatever "tax grabs". That's not what I've been saying at all. I want your activism however it's aligned, I never gave you an agenda, I just said that if you care enough to complain you should care enough to get involved. Whether your desires are that the school spends less money or builds a space ship, or plants a hemp garden doesn't matter to me at this point. What matters to me is that instead of insulting people that are trying to be frugal by selling advertising to bring in enough money, you could be offering alternative solutions at your local school board meetings.
Oh and let's talk about your double standard! Your "alternate" school was doing great things by being frugal, but these public schools are doing something evil when they try to find an alternative revenue stream to taxation? Look back about 50-60 years (or more if you'd like) the amount of money that goes to schools has not kept pace with inflation (not talking about college here). Your generation pays less for education than the generation before it. Public schools have to be much more frugal now than ever. The average class size has been going up for 30 years. Teachers' salaries (adjusted for inflation) have been going down for that entire period of time. So... extrapolating a little bit teachers get paid less to do more work, schools still don't have enough money without selling advertising. Man I'm sure glad public schools don't have to be frugal! More and more kids have single parents or two parents with full time jobs. Putting strain on schools now to not only educate children but to parent them as well. The federal government mandates programs to provide poor students with free or reduced cost lunch, but does not fund this in any way. The district I live in a few years ago got a donation of some outdated computer equipment. We didn't have enough busses to get all the kids home (there were several bus routes that kids had to wait at school until one of the busses had dropped 1 load of kids off.) The school found another school in the state that needed some computers and they traded computers for 2 buses. Those bastards to waste our tax money by not spending it on those two buses!
so you've never been actively involved in oversight of a public school? Which is your right. I'm not berating you for "not forking out" I'm berating you for the attitude 'I have no way of oversight' when you obviously have never been to a school board meeting to participate in the oversight that the VOLUNTEER school board is waiting for from the community. You want a check box on your taxes or an online form... sorry but this isn't facebook, it's the real world, you have to do real world things to get real world results. It's a lot easier to complain on /. than it is to be a responsible citizen. I don't care about your money nearly as much as your hypocrisy to say blindly that you have no way of effecting change in your local public schools exposes the fact that you simply haven't tried. One determined citizen can make a world of change but those people try first. Spending 10 minutes in a voting booth every year or two doesn't make a responsible citizen in a representative government. And since you have cited nothing but "money that [you're] withholding" as opposed to actually trying to change the way the school is run.
/. and whine about the "government" that you have "no control" over?
What is so horrible about the way the school in your area is run? Are there any concrete examples that you have without going out and researching it now? I don't think so, because you would have brought that up already, you haven't made one single remark about how in actuality your local district is run. Do you even know who the board members are and what they care about? Who did you vote for in the last school board election and have they been effective?
Or is all your bitching just a case of your prejudice against all governmental bodies coming out? And you don't actually care about educating the next generation enough to be their voice and protector. Do you just want to feel smart on
And please let's not try to back track now It's already apparent that you don't go to board meetings and you don't know anything that you haven't seen in the newspaper about how the local schools are doing. I hope to heaven that you don't have a child attending those schools though. Parents like you make the rest of us have to work a lot harder to get the children a good solid education.
I'm not claiming to be perfect or have perfect grasp of all or even of this issue. But I know my school board and I have the superintendents phone number. My son will be starting school in 3.5 years and I want to make sure he gets a good education when he does. It's my responsibility.
just one more follow-up...
The school district I live in is over 400 square miles and one of the largest by population in my state. And I have seen multiple instances where 1 single parent has caused enormous changes to the way the district is run. The only difference between that parent and the thousands of other parents in the district is willingness to do something. To be the "people" in "We the people". So when you represent yourself as so appalled at how terrible the public schools are run all I have to say is what have you tried to do about it other than vote against money that the school is asking for? Oh and before we get into how important and busy everyone is the person I was talking about was truly a single parent with 3 children and a more-than-full time job. And then my mother who volunteered for so many years had 4 children and a full-time job.
"all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing" keep doing nothing... it's been working so well for our children for the last 30 years.
I don't know about your locale, But my mother spent 12 years of her life in school oversight as a volunteer school board president. The board cared about the STUDENTS and had to make difficult decisions with very little support from the community. People just didn't care to be involved, they wouldn't pass the taxes to pay for a new school when we were having to run a three track school year (basically three separate "schools" using the same facilities). I spent nearly my entire young life going to school board meetings that were open to the public and seeing the same 10 - 15 parents in there for OVER 10 YEARS. And these were not the same parents that complained that the school "doesn't listen" and has no "oversight". Sorry but you actually have to get off your butt and get involved to have an effect.
If the schools in your area are not accountable to the parents (that care enough to get involved and actually GO to the board meetings) then I feel sorry for you. But the school district I live in is supremely supported by volunteers and community involvement. We have commercial food service in the school, I don't like it and when my son is going to school I will take care of his lunch. BUT... We have commercial lunches because the community refused to pass appropriation for more food service workers, yet still expects an inexpensive lunch to be provided for the students. If that isn't the absolute epitome of "community oversight" than tell me what is? Is taxing you without allowing you to vote on it better? Not to mention that most of the people that work at public schools could go somewhere else and do the same exact job and get paid a lot more money (not just teachers, drivers, administrators, mechanics, maintenance people... EVERYONE.)
This is in no way a double dip. If anything the public is trying to double dip. "Don't push cost of living taxes on me but I expect my kid to get lunch for free too." The reason any governmental body works a certain way in a democratic society is the people. There's no getting around it. If people cared enough they would take action. Sadly people don't care about their childrens' educations enough, and the few that do send their kids to private schools. Private schools are not better because they cost money, private schools tend to be better because the parents give a shit.
If people were willing to pass the tax measures that schools ask for than schools wouldn't be resorting to these kinds of things. The problem is simple, voters don't want to pay for schools, schools have to prostitute themselves to commercial interests because they still have to pay their bills whether the voters want to or not.
I know, I was just commenting on the fact that the GGP made an assertion that a 92 mile X 92 mile square is 92 square miles
And I always thought that 92 * 92 = 8,464 Thanks for clearing that up!
Man I wish there was a "Over your head" mod... Almost every response to GP would be ripe.
would he be an Electronic engineer or a driver programmer? Or something else?
But they aren't the same interface elements as Photshop! So they're terrible!!!
are only uncalled for when there is no clear evidence of personal misconduct.
This is exactly what I was thinking, I don't have the manpower to deal with New Yorkers any more if this law is enforcible. A New York shipping address will simply not be validated if shipping something to New York requires me to collect more taxes and file another form every month/quarter/whatever.
Not just cornfields, How about the mountains where pop density is about 1:100 sq.miles. My parents house got phone service for the first time in 1995, (it was built in the 70's).
A-B-C-D-E-F-G...ellameno-P...next time won't you sing with me!
Education has always been most effective through the use of games. Only the delivery system is changing
I had mastered about 60% of high school history and geography from various Carmen Sandiego games when I was in elementary school. "Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego" was my favorite. I remember getting to World History in 10th grade and realizing that I had already learned much of the material from "Carmen".
mod parent up +++ Why does no one understand this simple fact? insurance companies make a profit. That's what they do! The average american with health insurance WILL spend more on insurance than insurance EVER pays out on their health care.
If you really think that the DHS has caused less "government" you have some research to do. I'm not saying that your argument is totally unfounded, it's just that at least one of your premises: "DHS was an attempt at smaller government, and DHS is bad" is entirely false. This is like saying that The Patriot Act is an attempt to have less law enforcement. None of the agencies that contributed resources to the "creation" of DHS disappeared. All that really happened is that the INS got a LOT more power, a new name, as well as a presidential Cabinet post, gained some resources and responsibilities, and absorbed some other agencies.