The man said that the Sergeant was supposed to be there, he was running from the CIA, and had to speak to him. We responded that Sergeant didn't exist. The man then bolted and ran away from us. It kind of shook my world, and I can't stop thinking... did I just ensure the destruction of mankind, by running this guy off?
No, it was quite the opposite. Sargent Darling was the one who had the launch codes and was supposed to press the red button, but he got cold feet and ran away. Thanks to you, he was never caught and we all survived.
The problem with the word "liberal" is that it can be used for any position in the political spectrum.
To some people, a "liberal" is someone who believes the government should take care of people who have been left behind someway in the economic process, the unemployed, the homeless, those who are at a disadvantage in some way. Under that point of view, Cuba should be considered one of the most "liberal" regimes in the world.
To other people, a "liberal" is someone who believes in liberty, in letting everyone do their own thing, in a minimalist government.
The SSRI:s also took away my fear and care for consequences (maybe they weren't a perfect fit for me?), so I'd often go into 7-11 to steal stacks of ready made meals that I distributed to homeless drug addicts.
The funny thing is that if those homeless were addicted to the same SSRI:s that made you steal it would create a positive-feedback system...
Seriously, maybe your "liberal" thoughts weren't too precise to begin with. Perhaps the solution to homelessness caused by drug addiction should be to cure the addiction instead of feeding the homeless.
To cure the addiction, the "conservative" way would be to punish drug addicts enough that no one would dare to try to use drugs. The "scientific" way would be to find what happens inside the brain that causes some people to become addicted to drugs.
what we need is a tablet that's a wee bit larger, has full current PC power (or greater) has a touch screen with full multi-touch and gestural support (precluding the need for a mouse), a detachable keyboard, and a full set of interfaces
You know that what you just described is a desktop computer, right?
the Chinese government has no interest in protecting IP rights, especially those of American companies, since it ultimately seeks to undermine the American economy by devaluing it
You are assuming that protecting IP rights will help the interests of American companies. That implies the analyses of the *AA must be correct. A very big IF.
What I don't understand is this 35% corporate income tax. Isn't income tax supposed to be progressive, i.e. those who earn more pay a higher percentage?
A corporation is not a physical person, ultimately all the profits either go to reinvesting or get paid as dividends to people.
How do they account for the different shareholders? This means Bill Gates has the same 35% tax subtracted from the amount that go to his dividends as some poor widow whose only income is from a few shares her late husband left in his will.
Probably because the dead-simple tasks, such as "resize an image" have always been extremely primitive and clumsy-feeling to the point of being downright broken when compared with Photoshop
Wow, if clicking on the image -> scale menu is "extremely primitive and clumsy-feeling to the point of being downright broken", then I wonder how Photoshop does it? A telepathic interface, maybe? Photoshop knows instinctively what size I want the picture to be and reshapes it without any command from me?
Your argument seems pretty desperate, like you are grasping at straws to find some shortcoming in Gimp. If you need to do it, then it seems like Gimp has improved to the point of being a serious contender to Photoshop by now. Good to know that.
Switzerland is essentially self-sufficient in copper
some day plastic will cost as much as copper does today. Then plastic will be recycled. But the intermediary steps between now and then will be hell...
for the next 2 years while this is in effect, the online music services will be raising their prices to milk the system.
Probably yes, and that would show how stupid they are.
If I were a teenager, I wouldn't really care about the subsidy. All I would want to know is what I'd be getting for my money. If I had to spend 25 euros on a 50 euros card to get 20 euros worth of music I wouldn't do it.
As usual, the taxpayer gets fucked. And the music companies, even with the subsidy, will get less than what they would if they had reasonable prices.
Religious extremism is merely a tiny subset in the world of extremism
It may be a subset, but I wouldn't think it's tiny.
Extremists are necessarily people of deep beliefs, and that's exactly what you need to be religious. Given the amount of people doing proselytism, it's probable that every people with a mindset that accepts a deep belief will have met religious preachers of many sects, one of which will influence him.
"Hey Red Bull, I've got a *great* idea for a promotional stunt!"
"Yeah? What is it?"
"Sign this NDA and I'll tell you!"
"An NDA? Go away, kid, you bother me."
In promoting events, having a reputation is the most important part. A simple googling will tell you that Red Bull is better known than Daniel Hogan by three orders of magnitude. Perhaps someone hasn't been working enough on building his reputation.
That's true only where there there aren't any truly needy people to start with.
The "homeless" people in the USA or Western Europe are those who chose that way of life. They chose not to have to respond to pesky bosses or wives, so they can live freely. They could flip burgers or wash cars instead, but they would have to give up on their perceived liberty.
People who are really starving to death do not live in the USA. Those are the people you'll find somewhere in Africa, where no one has iPods.
I live in Brazil and paid $44.23 for 169 kWh, that would be $154.15 against your $78.28 for 589 kWh. Sales tax (state) here is 18% of the total, federal tax is 23.6%, then there's the city tax of 6.5%, and 8.5% "sectorial charge" tax, whatever that might be.
Cost of energy alone is R$0.31143 / kWh according to what's printed on the bill, at R$1.66 / US$ that would be 18.76 cents / kWh before taxes. In a country where some 90% of all electricity comes from hydro power that's pretty much, compared to what you pay in Texas where, presumably, utilities have to pay a heavier fuel cost.
Run off into the night screaming about the evils of third world socialism. If, at least, we had the benefits of Scandinavian socialism...
Yeah I hate how high taxes and over regulation created those third world countries...
Have you actually ever visited a third world country?
I live in Brazil where sales tax is around 25% for food, for "luxury" items it could reach 70% of the final price. In order to dock at a Brazilian harbor, a ship has to fill over 140 different documents with a total of over 900 different questions.
In other words, you are absolutely correct. High taxes and over regulation are, basically, the cause of many countries being poor.
Trade secrets are the antithesis of most IP law. Once an idea's "out there", the protection disappears, as it should.
That's why NDAs exist. If he had previously had Red Bull sign a contract agreeing to keep his ideas secret, then I would have nothing against him suing them for breach of that contract.
OTOH, if you tell someone "hey, listen to this, I had this great idea" you shouldn't complain if they use your idea. After all, you don't know, they may have come to that idea independently.
Contract law is good enough and strong enough for businesses, only lawyers profit from aggressive IP law interpretations.
It is arguable that NEP was similar to such a system, although it is not obvious that they are the same
No, NEP was neo-capitalism, it was introduced when the fully communist economic system collapsed. The state of things the GP suggested was classical socialism, where everybody gets what they need and everybody contributes with what they can.
NEP was introduced when the Soviet leaders realized that the average person's vision of their needs and capabilities does not add up in the end. Too many people feel they should get more than what they are contributing to the system.
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The man said that the Sergeant was supposed to be there, he was running from the CIA, and had to speak to him. We responded that Sergeant didn't exist. The man then bolted and ran away from us. It kind of shook my world, and I can't stop thinking... did I just ensure the destruction of mankind, by running this guy off?
No, it was quite the opposite. Sargent Darling was the one who had the launch codes and was supposed to press the red button, but he got cold feet and ran away. Thanks to you, he was never caught and we all survived.
The problem with the word "liberal" is that it can be used for any position in the political spectrum.
To some people, a "liberal" is someone who believes the government should take care of people who have been left behind someway in the economic process, the unemployed, the homeless, those who are at a disadvantage in some way. Under that point of view, Cuba should be considered one of the most "liberal" regimes in the world.
To other people, a "liberal" is someone who believes in liberty, in letting everyone do their own thing, in a minimalist government.
The SSRI:s also took away my fear and care for consequences (maybe they weren't a perfect fit for me?), so I'd often go into 7-11 to steal stacks of ready made meals that I distributed to homeless drug addicts.
The funny thing is that if those homeless were addicted to the same SSRI:s that made you steal it would create a positive-feedback system...
Seriously, maybe your "liberal" thoughts weren't too precise to begin with. Perhaps the solution to homelessness caused by drug addiction should be to cure the addiction instead of feeding the homeless.
To cure the addiction, the "conservative" way would be to punish drug addicts enough that no one would dare to try to use drugs. The "scientific" way would be to find what happens inside the brain that causes some people to become addicted to drugs.
what we need is a tablet that's a wee bit larger, has full current PC power (or greater) has a touch screen with full multi-touch and gestural support (precluding the need for a mouse), a detachable keyboard, and a full set of interfaces
You know that what you just described is a desktop computer, right?
The best you can compare is what VHS did to the film industry. A few obscure independent movie makers is all that you have left.
And all this because of piracy. Right?
You joke, but unauthorized copies are causing losses to the film industry.
After all, who would pay to watch shitty remakes when you can download the original?
the Chinese government has no interest in protecting IP rights, especially those of American companies, since it ultimately seeks to undermine the American economy by devaluing it
You are assuming that protecting IP rights will help the interests of American companies. That implies the analyses of the *AA must be correct. A very big IF.
What I don't understand is this 35% corporate income tax. Isn't income tax supposed to be progressive, i.e. those who earn more pay a higher percentage?
A corporation is not a physical person, ultimately all the profits either go to reinvesting or get paid as dividends to people.
How do they account for the different shareholders? This means Bill Gates has the same 35% tax subtracted from the amount that go to his dividends as some poor widow whose only income is from a few shares her late husband left in his will.
Oracle will kick Microsoft out of the meeting when they integrate OpenOffice with their database system.
Personally, I'm no big fan of Oracle but there's no way any of Microsoft's DBMSs could hope to compete with it.
Wow, if clicking on the image -> scale menu is "extremely primitive and clumsy-feeling to the point of being downright broken", then I wonder how Photoshop does it? A telepathic interface, maybe? Photoshop knows instinctively what size I want the picture to be and reshapes it without any command from me?
Your argument seems pretty desperate, like you are grasping at straws to find some shortcoming in Gimp. If you need to do it, then it seems like Gimp has improved to the point of being a serious contender to Photoshop by now. Good to know that.
some day plastic will cost as much as copper does today. Then plastic will be recycled. But the intermediary steps between now and then will be hell...
Great. Now let's get to the next step: getting affluence without consuming resources.
Not me. I bet it'd be pretty boring.
In Saudi Arabia a man would have his right hand amputated if caught stealing.
Do you think having both arms and legs amputated is a more just punishment?
Probably yes, and that would show how stupid they are.
If I were a teenager, I wouldn't really care about the subsidy. All I would want to know is what I'd be getting for my money. If I had to spend 25 euros on a 50 euros card to get 20 euros worth of music I wouldn't do it.
As usual, the taxpayer gets fucked. And the music companies, even with the subsidy, will get less than what they would if they had reasonable prices.
You forgot:
1962 Uganda
1964 Bolivia
1965 Rhodesia
1967 Greece
1967 Bolivia
1971 Uganda
1971 Bolivia
1973 Chile
1974 Portugal
1975 Angola
1975 Mozambique
1979 Uganda
1980 Bolivia
1980 Zimbabwe
1983 Grenada
1985 Uganda
1989 Panama
1989 Poland
1989 Czechoslovakia
1989 Bulgaria
1989 Romania
1989 Yugoslavia
1992 Albania
1992 Peru
1994 South Africa
After all, there's no doubt that any regime change anywhere in the world was sponsored by the CIA, right?
Tell them Open Office comes from Oracle.
This will surely get your computer rid of rabbits.
It may be a subset, but I wouldn't think it's tiny.
Extremists are necessarily people of deep beliefs, and that's exactly what you need to be religious. Given the amount of people doing proselytism, it's probable that every people with a mindset that accepts a deep belief will have met religious preachers of many sects, one of which will influence him.
In promoting events, having a reputation is the most important part. A simple googling will tell you that Red Bull is better known than Daniel Hogan by three orders of magnitude. Perhaps someone hasn't been working enough on building his reputation.
That's true only where there there aren't any truly needy people to start with.
The "homeless" people in the USA or Western Europe are those who chose that way of life. They chose not to have to respond to pesky bosses or wives, so they can live freely. They could flip burgers or wash cars instead, but they would have to give up on their perceived liberty.
People who are really starving to death do not live in the USA. Those are the people you'll find somewhere in Africa, where no one has iPods.
I live in Brazil and paid $44.23 for 169 kWh, that would be $154.15 against your $78.28 for 589 kWh. Sales tax (state) here is 18% of the total, federal tax is 23.6%, then there's the city tax of 6.5%, and 8.5% "sectorial charge" tax, whatever that might be.
Cost of energy alone is R$0.31143 / kWh according to what's printed on the bill, at R$1.66 / US$ that would be 18.76 cents / kWh before taxes. In a country where some 90% of all electricity comes from hydro power that's pretty much, compared to what you pay in Texas where, presumably, utilities have to pay a heavier fuel cost.
Run off into the night screaming about the evils of third world socialism. If, at least, we had the benefits of Scandinavian socialism...
Have you actually ever visited a third world country?
I live in Brazil where sales tax is around 25% for food, for "luxury" items it could reach 70% of the final price. In order to dock at a Brazilian harbor, a ship has to fill over 140 different documents with a total of over 900 different questions.
In other words, you are absolutely correct. High taxes and over regulation are, basically, the cause of many countries being poor.
That's why NDAs exist. If he had previously had Red Bull sign a contract agreeing to keep his ideas secret, then I would have nothing against him suing them for breach of that contract.
OTOH, if you tell someone "hey, listen to this, I had this great idea" you shouldn't complain if they use your idea. After all, you don't know, they may have come to that idea independently.
Contract law is good enough and strong enough for businesses, only lawyers profit from aggressive IP law interpretations.
No, NEP was neo-capitalism, it was introduced when the fully communist economic system collapsed. The state of things the GP suggested was classical socialism, where everybody gets what they need and everybody contributes with what they can.
NEP was introduced when the Soviet leaders realized that the average person's vision of their needs and capabilities does not add up in the end. Too many people feel they should get more than what they are contributing to the system.
Two problems with that scheme:
1) If everybody got all their necessities for free, then who would have any need to get an income?
2) If everybody got all their necessities for free, then who would be able to sell anything in order to get an income?
What you proposed was tried in Soviet Russia and quickly abandoned