Not the question becomes - what caused the housing bubble? The answer is too easily-available credit was extended to people who should have not received mortgage loans.
Yes, but not completely. Prolonged, artificially low interest rates meant that buying power was increased. This led to high demand, and higher prices. If I can afford $2000 / month mortgage, and the mortgage that $2k will buy at 7% is, say, $220,000 or so, but at 5% will cover a mortgage of $300,000 or so (forgive the approximate math, I'm not about to drag out a financial calculator), it's no wonder that prices floated higher than they rationally should have. Add to that the irrational behavior buyers indulged in such as bidding wars for properties, and you have a perfect storm of property value inflation.
All rights are human inventions. To pretend otherwise is meaningless.
Perhaps. Some would argue that true human rights are an inherent part of being human, but let's not quibble over your assertion. What I wish to point out is that "rights" as the US describes them and "rights" as socialists describe them are fundamentally different, and this goes to the heart of the healthcare debate.
A right as understood in the US is a freedom. Rights here tends to recognize the empowerment and to a certain degree sovereignty of the individual, and as a result, a right is normally described as a limit on the government's power. I have the right to speak freely. I have the right to peaceably assemble. I have the right to run for office. I have the right to vote government in and out of office. I have the right to travel. I have the right to bear arms. I have the right to refrain from testifying against myself. I have the right to conduct commerce.
These rights cost nothing in and of themselves. They are a natural extension of who we are and what we are capable of doing. What we do with them is up to us.
Socialists tend to define a right as a benefit the government is obliged to provide the individual (or rather to society at large, which is essentially a collection of individuals), such as healthcare. Ultimately, being a tangible thing, there is a question of supply and cost. As much as you would like to deny it, there are large problems with government-provided healthcare that relate directly to supply and cost. France is struggling with fiscal issues in its healcare system, and shutting down hospitals. Cancer patients (who can afford it) from Canada have come to the US so they can be seen in a couple weeks rather than several months.
I just got off the phone with HP customers service, and boy, am I pissed. I ordered 5 new laptops a week ago, and no one can tell me where the hell they are.
I think that's true. It's a Doestoevskian state really. The problem with depression isn't depression, it's dealing with the idiots that aren't depressed.
Interesting. I was just reading the Idiot I don't know if you mean to link Dostoyevsky -> idiot -> what is a "healthy" view of the world and society -> who is the real idiot, but if you did that was brilliant.
Stop spilling our secret information. Just because you posted AC doesn't mean we don't know who you really are. We'll be by shortly to speak with you personally.
Yours Truly,
- MitBH
(No need for me to post AC - nobody messes with me now that I have a black helicopter.)
By "body", I was referring to bones, muscle, tendons, and other mechanical pieces. By "mind", I am referring not just to the gray lump of matter that makes up the brain, but the thoughts it holds, from which flows the dedication, discipline, and other aspects of mental toughness required to compete at any significant level. One could make the argument that it's all just chemistry and electricity up there, but I don't feel that adequately describes the mind.
Don't tell that to the PGA. Boys don't always like playing against girls, because there is a chance they could lose to a girl. Remember all the male golfers who bailed out of some tourney because Anika Sorrenstam (I think) decided to enter?
Their big brave egos couldn't handle it.
I don't think that womens' sports exist simply to give women a level playing field. Part of the reason is to stop them from embarrassing guys.
I think the problem is that the sports world will have to define more precisely what qualifies as male or female for the purposes of competition.
As a separate issue, this topic reminds me of a joke I heard once.
After twenty years of marriage, a wife sits her husband down and tells him she has a confession to make. He steels himself for what he thinks he is about to hear, but instead of admitting an affair, she tells him that she was originally born male, and had gender reassignment surgery before they met.
Visibly shaken, the husband stares at his wife, trying to comprehend the magnitude of what she has confessed.
"So," he says, "all these years... "
"Yes, she says, "I meant to tell you before now, I was just so afraid that you would be angry with me and leave me" she sobbed.
"Angry? Of course I'm angry" he snapped. "This is the deepest betrayal possible. All these years, and you've been hitting from the women's tees."
Since it is taking place in the courts, wouldn't it be a matter of public record, and therefore in the public domain? Next/. headline: RIAA's swan song goes Open Source!
If your body, for whatever reason, allows you to outperform others without the interference of artificial performance-enhancing substances, congratulations. You win.
What this whole argument has thus far ignored is the fact that athletes need at least as much if not more mental strength and inherent talent than physical strength. What she has accomplished has at least as much to do with her mind as her body.
11) Wave my penis around and then smash the hard drive with it. (Absolutely pulverizes the drive, and is great way to destroy multiple drives at once, but requires two hands and a firm grip.)
It's not a "new" one. It's a refurb. The last one I got back had gummy marks from scotch tape on the back, apparently from the last unlucky owner. The bastards didn't even properly clean the exterior. Before that, the one we got back had an optical drive that ran slow as shit, and resulted in a noticeable slowdown in loading games, cut-scenes, transitions, etc. The unit we have is due to go back to Microsoft for the 3rd fucking time in the past six months. There are no civil words that truly describe the depth of my loathing for Microsoft and its products.
I know, I've tried. I'm in therapy now where I'm taking an organically derived substitute for DMHO. CH3-CH2-OH contributes to your feeling of well-being, the formula for making it is not proprietary, and it is commonly available although difficult to find in anywhere near a pure form.
National healthcare as proposed is not the best option, and we shouldn't adopt it here in the US because it would bankrupt us. There are better alternatives that keep costs minimal while ensuring good care, which is a big part of the question. It would be less problematic to have taxpayers subsidize the uninsured if the cost of doing so were lower, and the government-sponsored option coexisted with the private sector. Now if you really want to cut healthcare costs, support tort reform. Both Dems and Repubs are to blame for lack of progress there (that's what happens when you have a government full of lawyers, elected by lawyers' money), although Repubs are the the biggest opposition.
No, just a civilian. However, I do have 2 cousins in law enforcement, one of whom works undercover. I can say from personal observation that the truth of what they do on a day-in, day-out basis is the exact opposite of the tin-foil hat, anti-cop, authority-paranoia rants that pervade our beloved slashdot. Not to say abuses don't happen, or that all cops are good, but what this woman is doing is begging for trouble. This "secret" info she makes public might just embarrass a few cops, or destroy a sting operation. It might result in a father and husband being shot dead in an ambush. It might result in his kids being shot in a drive-by.
Slashdot Mirror
"This powerstation is now the ultimate battle in the Universe."
Not the question becomes - what caused the housing bubble? The answer is too easily-available credit was extended to people who should have not received mortgage loans.
Yes, but not completely. Prolonged, artificially low interest rates meant that buying power was increased. This led to high demand, and higher prices. If I can afford $2000 / month mortgage, and the mortgage that $2k will buy at 7% is, say, $220,000 or so, but at 5% will cover a mortgage of $300,000 or so (forgive the approximate math, I'm not about to drag out a financial calculator), it's no wonder that prices floated higher than they rationally should have. Add to that the irrational behavior buyers indulged in such as bidding wars for properties, and you have a perfect storm of property value inflation.
All rights are human inventions. To pretend otherwise is meaningless.
Perhaps. Some would argue that true human rights are an inherent part of being human, but let's not quibble over your assertion. What I wish to point out is that "rights" as the US describes them and "rights" as socialists describe them are fundamentally different, and this goes to the heart of the healthcare debate.
A right as understood in the US is a freedom. Rights here tends to recognize the empowerment and to a certain degree sovereignty of the individual, and as a result, a right is normally described as a limit on the government's power. I have the right to speak freely. I have the right to peaceably assemble. I have the right to run for office. I have the right to vote government in and out of office. I have the right to travel. I have the right to bear arms. I have the right to refrain from testifying against myself. I have the right to conduct commerce. These rights cost nothing in and of themselves. They are a natural extension of who we are and what we are capable of doing. What we do with them is up to us.
Socialists tend to define a right as a benefit the government is obliged to provide the individual (or rather to society at large, which is essentially a collection of individuals), such as healthcare. Ultimately, being a tangible thing, there is a question of supply and cost. As much as you would like to deny it, there are large problems with government-provided healthcare that relate directly to supply and cost. France is struggling with fiscal issues in its healcare system, and shutting down hospitals. Cancer patients (who can afford it) from Canada have come to the US so they can be seen in a couple weeks rather than several months.
It all comes down to freedom vs. free ride.
I just got off the phone with HP customers service, and boy, am I pissed. I ordered 5 new laptops a week ago, and no one can tell me where the hell they are.
I think that's true. It's a Doestoevskian state really. The problem with depression isn't depression, it's dealing with the idiots that aren't depressed.
Interesting. I was just reading the Idiot I don't know if you mean to link Dostoyevsky -> idiot -> what is a "healthy" view of the world and society -> who is the real idiot, but if you did that was brilliant.
Stop spilling our secret information. Just because you posted AC doesn't mean we don't know who you really are. We'll be by shortly to speak with you personally.
Yours Truly,
- MitBH
(No need for me to post AC - nobody messes with me now that I have a black helicopter.)
By "body", I was referring to bones, muscle, tendons, and other mechanical pieces. By "mind", I am referring not just to the gray lump of matter that makes up the brain, but the thoughts it holds, from which flows the dedication, discipline, and other aspects of mental toughness required to compete at any significant level. One could make the argument that it's all just chemistry and electricity up there, but I don't feel that adequately describes the mind.
Don't tell that to the PGA. Boys don't always like playing against girls, because there is a chance they could lose to a girl. Remember all the male golfers who bailed out of some tourney because Anika Sorrenstam (I think) decided to enter? Their big brave egos couldn't handle it.
I don't think that womens' sports exist simply to give women a level playing field. Part of the reason is to stop them from embarrassing guys.
I think the problem is that the sports world will have to define more precisely what qualifies as male or female for the purposes of competition.
... "
As a separate issue, this topic reminds me of a joke I heard once.
After twenty years of marriage, a wife sits her husband down and tells him she has a confession to make. He steels himself for what he thinks he is about to hear, but instead of admitting an affair, she tells him that she was originally born male, and had gender reassignment surgery before they met.
Visibly shaken, the husband stares at his wife, trying to comprehend the magnitude of what she has confessed.
"So," he says, "all these years
"Yes, she says, "I meant to tell you before now, I was just so afraid that you would be angry with me and leave me" she sobbed.
"Angry? Of course I'm angry" he snapped. "This is the deepest betrayal possible. All these years, and you've been hitting from the women's tees."
Since it is taking place in the courts, wouldn't it be a matter of public record, and therefore in the public domain? Next /. headline: RIAA's swan song goes Open Source!
If your body, for whatever reason, allows you to outperform others without the interference of artificial performance-enhancing substances, congratulations. You win.
What this whole argument has thus far ignored is the fact that athletes need at least as much if not more mental strength and inherent talent than physical strength. What she has accomplished has at least as much to do with her mind as her body.
It's music to my ears.
11) Wave my penis around and then smash the hard drive with it. (Absolutely pulverizes the drive, and is great way to destroy multiple drives at once, but requires two hands and a firm grip.)
It's not a "new" one. It's a refurb. The last one I got back had gummy marks from scotch tape on the back, apparently from the last unlucky owner. The bastards didn't even properly clean the exterior. Before that, the one we got back had an optical drive that ran slow as shit, and resulted in a noticeable slowdown in loading games, cut-scenes, transitions, etc. The unit we have is due to go back to Microsoft for the 3rd fucking time in the past six months. There are no civil words that truly describe the depth of my loathing for Microsoft and its products.
Efficiency matters a lot when it comes to ROI.
Can you imagine what it would cost to fill an F-18 with Johnny Walker?
I know, I've tried. I'm in therapy now where I'm taking an organically derived substitute for DMHO. CH3-CH2-OH contributes to your feeling of well-being, the formula for making it is not proprietary, and it is commonly available although difficult to find in anywhere near a pure form.
...
Speaking of which, time to take my meds
... lies, damned lies, and statistics.
It won't cost you anything if you don't buy it. There are alternatives.
That and the exploding cement truck are the best Mythbusters episodes ever.
If you're so opposed to it, why don't you eliminate 100% of your own consumption of DHMO?
National healthcare as proposed is not the best option, and we shouldn't adopt it here in the US because it would bankrupt us. There are better alternatives that keep costs minimal while ensuring good care, which is a big part of the question. It would be less problematic to have taxpayers subsidize the uninsured if the cost of doing so were lower, and the government-sponsored option coexisted with the private sector. Now if you really want to cut healthcare costs, support tort reform. Both Dems and Repubs are to blame for lack of progress there (that's what happens when you have a government full of lawyers, elected by lawyers' money), although Repubs are the the biggest opposition.
He said "not all that radioactive", meaning only slightly, which more or less agrees with your assessment of it being "only a weak alpha emitter".
And it seems that everyone here who advocates for their own privacy seem reluctant to grant the same to people who are police.
No, just a civilian. However, I do have 2 cousins in law enforcement, one of whom works undercover. I can say from personal observation that the truth of what they do on a day-in, day-out basis is the exact opposite of the tin-foil hat, anti-cop, authority-paranoia rants that pervade our beloved slashdot. Not to say abuses don't happen, or that all cops are good, but what this woman is doing is begging for trouble. This "secret" info she makes public might just embarrass a few cops, or destroy a sting operation. It might result in a father and husband being shot dead in an ambush. It might result in his kids being shot in a drive-by.