The UK for example. They get 10-12 billion pounds per year from tobacco taxes, and they estimate that smoking related costs to the NHS are about 1.5 to 3 billion.
OK, so I estimate smokers cost the NHS 20-25 billion. Why should "they" estimate better than anybody else?
Given the behavior I see in multiplayer games and forums, I'd say it's not violent content that destroys empathy.
It's anonymity and the lack of consequences for bad behavior.
Considering the recent events in Afghanistan, I beg to disagree, in part. Lack of consequences, yes. If you can kill people under the orders of your church and with the tacit approval of the government of your country, that's surely an incentive to bad behavior.
About anonymity, I'm not so sure. There seems to exist people who enjoy broadcasting to everyone how obnoxious they are.
Exactly! Piracy is a victimless crime, like trying to punch someone in the dark only to find there's nobody there.
FTFY. If you punch someone in the dark, the punchee is certainly a victim. If you copy something which you never had the intention to buy, no one is the worse for it.
New dino species but still no direct link between us and the apes. I mean we've been searching hard haven't we? The only reasonable conclusion is that there is no link!
Huh? What do you mean? The Bible Belt is full of such links!
Oh, I see. What you mean is that rednecks are a more primitive life form than apes. Well, I guess you are right...
Now, it is true that the tallest bird that ever lived (the Giant Moa) was 13' tall, rather taller than a T Rex. This is important as a heavy weight on the top of tall spindly legs is going to generate rather different loads than a heavy weight much closer to the ground.
The Moa had a mass estimated at less than 300 kg, while T.Rex had a mass estimated at 5.5 to 7 tons, 25 times heavier.
I find it easier to believe the T.Rex was a slow plodder carrion eater, rather than the Olympic sprinter hunter some people claim.
The IRA and other non-Muslim terrorists have been inactive of late, let's concentrate on the real danger.
I know the terrorist themselves believe they are exempt of their own stupid rules, but they cannot afford to let everyone be exempt.
If everyone starts burning Qurans the terrorists will have lost.
The proper response to Muslim extremism isn't moderation, that's not in their dictionary, they don't understand it. The only way to talk to fanatics is to defeat them.
Look at Japan before and during WWII. Everyone tried to negotiate with them and they kept advancing. Give them the tip of your fingernail and they will want your arm. It was only when the US bombed them to submission, including nuclear weapons, that they gave up.
Today Japan is a prosperous democratic country. They talk to the USA as equals, and often win. But you don't see Japanese wearing kimonos on the street, they wear "western style", meaning modern, clothes.
Japan is the perfect example on how fanaticism can be beaten. Japanese culture today coexists perfectly with western culture, people in the USA and Europe read manga and learn ju-jitsu, the same way as people in Japan watch Hollywood films and listen to rock and roll.
Instead of trying to prove I'm not a terrorist by being harassed by the TSA goons, I propose a much better way to prove I'm not a terrorist:
I will burn a Quran before boarding the airplane
I know, it's April 1st, but I'm serious.
How can anyone believe that the proper response to burning a book is to kill ten innocent people halfway around the world? Those fucking morons are way beyond savage, it's not as Kipling said "Your new-caught, sullen peoples, Half-devil and half-child.", those savages are one-hundred-percent devil.
(Homebrewing is legal, but if he vaporizes the beer, he'd be halfway towards making whisky, and that would be illegal!)
Illegal where, paleface? Possession of beer, not to mention brewing, is illegal in all countries ruled by theocratic Muslim laws. Home distillation is perfectly legal where I live. There are all kinds of laws at different places.
The wiser UFO buffs only claim the phenomenon is worthy of serious investigation, NOT that it is definitely aliens driving ships. The "extraordinary claims" saying of Sagan is ill focused, if not an outright fallacy.
In this case, the "extraordinary claim" is that there is anything unusual in UFOs, worthy of serious investigation. Serious investigation costs money, there are more urgent needs for that money.
I have seen two UFOs, which I quickly debunked by looking at them with binoculars. The first was a silvery flying thing, with a roundish shape. Using the binoculars I saw it was a toy helium balloon carried by the wind. The other UFO I saw was a bright light moving in random ways over a hill at sunset. With the binoculars I saw it was Venus, it seemed to be moving because there was a brush fire at the other side of the hill and the rising hot air caused refraction of the light.
There are gazillions of different ways that things may appear unusual to us on a day to day basis. To attribute any importance to such trivial sights is ridiculous.
WTF is wrong with people? Is there some sort of selection bias that people uncreative enough to survive a trudge through 4 years of undergraduate studies are two retarded to design failsafe systems?
No matter how many back-up systems you have, stupid people will always find a way to fuck it up.
the runway had been freshly repaved and had no grooving on the new pavement
there was heavy rain shortly before
one of the plane's engines thrust reverser wasn't working
the pilot didn't put the engine with the failed thrust reverser on idle
If any one of those facts hadn't happened there wouldn't have been an accident. It was the combination of all five of them that caused the crash.
If only the runway had been a little longer, if only it hadn't rained, if only the runway were grooved, if only the thrust reverser were working, if only the pilot had followed the correct procedure for landing with a failed reverser.
"Social services" have not put this country in debt, despite the common meme.
If you look at the 2010 federal budget, you'll see that social security cost $695 billion and health care cost $743 billion. If $1.438 trillion does not contribute to put the country in debt then nothing does, there is no item costing more in the budget.
As for taxing the rich, it works only up to the point when they move out of the country. Then you start complaining about outsourcing and wondering why corporations prefer to invest overseas instead of paying the taxes in your country.
How ironical, TFA says "making it difficult for Microsoft's mobile phone software to show videos from YouTube".
This coming from the company who grew up on "embrace and extend" practices. Today the only reason why I have dual boot is because some websites that I must access will not work on any Linux browser.
Idiot, you obviously don't know anything about computer programming. The Art of Computer Programming is all about CONCEPTS. If you want a book to hold your hand the entire time, stick to books 'for dummies'. You are clearly the target audience for such books.
May I recommend to you the "Wooosh for Dummies" book?
Slashdot Mirror
(but note that some programming languages simply lack the non-short-circuiting operators altogether, e.g., python).
>>> def istrue(): print 'true'; return True
>>> def isfalse(): print 'false'; return False
>>> if isfalse() or istrue(): print 'yes'
false
true
yes
>>> if istrue() or isfalse(): print 'yes'
true
yes
>>> if istrue() | isfalse(): print 'yes'
true
false
yes
>>>
The UK for example. They get 10-12 billion pounds per year from tobacco taxes, and they estimate that smoking related costs to the NHS are about 1.5 to 3 billion.
OK, so I estimate smokers cost the NHS 20-25 billion. Why should "they" estimate better than anybody else?
It had some value to you otherwise you wouldn't have spent the time downloading it, installing it and playing it
Some value, yes, but I would never buy it at the asked price. It's not worth that much to me.
If "Tron: Legacy" is new content then why cannot I make a "Steamboat Willie: Legacy" film?
That link you posted is very suspicious, to say the least. Look at the key sentence:
"Van Baal and colleagues created a model to simulate lifetime health costs for three groups of 1,000 people"
You can create a model to simulate any effect you want. That's what's called in technical language "pulling numbers out of your ass".
A ShavedOrangutan (1930630) with a hair loss problem and a diminished sex drive.
Now that's a image that will clear the mind.
Well, that description fits most fundamentalist Christians I know.
Given the behavior I see in multiplayer games and forums, I'd say it's not violent content that destroys empathy.
It's anonymity and the lack of consequences for bad behavior.
Considering the recent events in Afghanistan, I beg to disagree, in part. Lack of consequences, yes. If you can kill people under the orders of your church and with the tacit approval of the government of your country, that's surely an incentive to bad behavior.
About anonymity, I'm not so sure. There seems to exist people who enjoy broadcasting to everyone how obnoxious they are.
Exactly! Piracy is a victimless crime, like trying to punch someone in the dark only to find there's nobody there.
FTFY. If you punch someone in the dark, the punchee is certainly a victim. If you copy something which you never had the intention to buy, no one is the worse for it.
It doesn't beg the question. It RAISES the question.
OK, then I CALL the question. The debate is closed.
What remains to be seen is, even if they find the recorders, will they have readable data?
It's not easy to protect equipment against two years under 4000 meters of water.
New dino species but still no direct link between us and the apes. I mean we've been searching hard haven't we? The only reasonable conclusion is that there is no link!
Huh? What do you mean? The Bible Belt is full of such links!
Oh, I see. What you mean is that rednecks are a more primitive life form than apes. Well, I guess you are right...
Now, it is true that the tallest bird that ever lived (the Giant Moa) was 13' tall, rather taller than a T Rex. This is important as a heavy weight on the top of tall spindly legs is going to generate rather different loads than a heavy weight much closer to the ground.
The Moa had a mass estimated at less than 300 kg, while T.Rex had a mass estimated at 5.5 to 7 tons, 25 times heavier.
I find it easier to believe the T.Rex was a slow plodder carrion eater, rather than the Olympic sprinter hunter some people claim.
The IRA and other non-Muslim terrorists have been inactive of late, let's concentrate on the real danger.
I know the terrorist themselves believe they are exempt of their own stupid rules, but they cannot afford to let everyone be exempt.
If everyone starts burning Qurans the terrorists will have lost.
The proper response to Muslim extremism isn't moderation, that's not in their dictionary, they don't understand it. The only way to talk to fanatics is to defeat them.
Look at Japan before and during WWII. Everyone tried to negotiate with them and they kept advancing. Give them the tip of your fingernail and they will want your arm. It was only when the US bombed them to submission, including nuclear weapons, that they gave up.
Today Japan is a prosperous democratic country. They talk to the USA as equals, and often win. But you don't see Japanese wearing kimonos on the street, they wear "western style", meaning modern, clothes.
Japan is the perfect example on how fanaticism can be beaten. Japanese culture today coexists perfectly with western culture, people in the USA and Europe read manga and learn ju-jitsu, the same way as people in Japan watch Hollywood films and listen to rock and roll.
Instead of trying to prove I'm not a terrorist by being harassed by the TSA goons, I propose a much better way to prove I'm not a terrorist:
I will burn a Quran before boarding the airplane
I know, it's April 1st, but I'm serious.
How can anyone believe that the proper response to burning a book is to kill ten innocent people halfway around the world? Those fucking morons are way beyond savage, it's not as Kipling said "Your new-caught, sullen peoples, Half-devil and half-child.", those savages are one-hundred-percent devil.
(Homebrewing is legal, but if he vaporizes the beer, he'd be halfway towards making whisky, and that would be illegal!)
Illegal where, paleface? Possession of beer, not to mention brewing, is illegal in all countries ruled by theocratic Muslim laws. Home distillation is perfectly legal where I live. There are all kinds of laws at different places.
The wiser UFO buffs only claim the phenomenon is worthy of serious investigation, NOT that it is definitely aliens driving ships. The "extraordinary claims" saying of Sagan is ill focused, if not an outright fallacy.
In this case, the "extraordinary claim" is that there is anything unusual in UFOs, worthy of serious investigation. Serious investigation costs money, there are more urgent needs for that money.
I have seen two UFOs, which I quickly debunked by looking at them with binoculars. The first was a silvery flying thing, with a roundish shape. Using the binoculars I saw it was a toy helium balloon carried by the wind. The other UFO I saw was a bright light moving in random ways over a hill at sunset. With the binoculars I saw it was Venus, it seemed to be moving because there was a brush fire at the other side of the hill and the rising hot air caused refraction of the light.
There are gazillions of different ways that things may appear unusual to us on a day to day basis. To attribute any importance to such trivial sights is ridiculous.
WTF is wrong with people? Is there some sort of selection bias that people uncreative enough to survive a trudge through 4 years of undergraduate studies are two retarded to design failsafe systems?
No matter how many back-up systems you have, stupid people will always find a way to fuck it up.
Take this accident for instance:
the pilot didn't put the engine with the failed thrust reverser on idle
If any one of those facts hadn't happened there wouldn't have been an accident. It was the combination of all five of them that caused the crash.
If only the runway had been a little longer, if only it hadn't rained, if only the runway were grooved, if only the thrust reverser were working, if only the pilot had followed the correct procedure for landing with a failed reverser.
Where do you think "the rich" are going to go to avoid taxes?
How about Monaco?
"Social services" have not put this country in debt, despite the common meme.
If you look at the 2010 federal budget, you'll see that social security cost $695 billion and health care cost $743 billion. If $1.438 trillion does not contribute to put the country in debt then nothing does, there is no item costing more in the budget.
As for taxing the rich, it works only up to the point when they move out of the country. Then you start complaining about outsourcing and wondering why corporations prefer to invest overseas instead of paying the taxes in your country.
It's candy, FYI.
Still dangerous, it will make your kid hyperactive
How ironical, TFA says "making it difficult for Microsoft's mobile phone software to show videos from YouTube".
This coming from the company who grew up on "embrace and extend" practices. Today the only reason why I have dual boot is because some websites that I must access will not work on any Linux browser.
I, for one, welcome our new nano-nana overlords!
Well, I guess it's good-bye then.
Readers beware: it's actually a map of Uranus.
no, unless "U" are an Asian girl suffering from an extreme case of digestive malfunction
Idiot, you obviously don't know anything about computer programming. The Art of Computer Programming is all about CONCEPTS. If you want a book to hold your hand the entire time, stick to books 'for dummies'. You are clearly the target audience for such books.
May I recommend to you the "Wooosh for Dummies" book?
Reading this on an iPhone gives you an article about a photo, without the photo.
Look, kid, a phone is for talking, OK? What do you want to see pictures on a phone for?