That's a nice hack, but the computer isn't really "off". It's
a vampire device. To be fair though, the C64 probably vampired if you left
the "power brick" plugged in. You could, however, unplug the brick
and get true fast-boot from zero power consumption. If you can do that
with Windows 7, then maybe (big maybe) it might be worth giving up XP.
Some form of public funding for elections
might be the answer. Eliminate all private contributions.
I say, limit spending to ONE 2010 CPI inflation adjusted
dollar per registered voter. A constitutional spending
limit might be enough, if it's low enough so that even
the weakest candidates could raise it.
Oh, and all these 5-4 decisions? The SCOTUS isn't
doing its job. They've been completely politicized for
quite some time. Constitutional issues should almost never
be split. Maybe there should be 1 or 2 dissenters in most
cases. At least there should be 1 dissenter, just to play
devil's advocate; but split decisions? Absolute, utter ball-dropping,
failure to perform your duty, NONSENSE!!!
OK, we've simply established our respective sides
here. The court will decide. In fact, the legal
system is in the process of deciding and IIRC it's actually
going to a jury.
Not to put words in your mouth, or hang a label on you; but
you sound like a Libertarian partisan.
The Liberty dollar strikes a certain cord of civil disobedience,
which is a time honored tradition. I wonder if the defendant
in this case knew that going in, or if he just made a mistake.
In order for a campaign of civil disobedience to succeed, it has
to reach some kind of critical mass. At the time being, it doesn't
look like "sound money" has gained traction in the way that "stop the war"
or "equal rights for Blacks" or even "equal rights for gays" has.
I know I'm not on the bandwagon.
IANAL, but I believe it all hinges on the definition of "current money".
If it doesn't hinge on that phrase, then why are the "generic silver rounds"
sold by other dealers not being confiscated? I think the Liberty Dollar
people would have been fine if they had not used the word "Dollar" or the dollar sign.
I'm not sure how "current money" differs from "legal tender", AFAIK they have
the same legal meaning for this purpose.
Before you go acusing Google of doing Evil (TM), think.
If they don't do this, some troll will. The troll will lose,
but Google will waste a lot more money defending against it.
This is why IBM takes out so many patents too. Most of them
are "defensive" patents.
We (that being everybody except the USPTO) could agree not to take
out any more software patents, and the industry would breathe a collective
sigh of relief. Trouble is, it only takes a few bad apples to spoil
that approach. It's the same reason Communism didn't work.
You're probably referring to the "Liberty Dollar".
Issuing a competing, aka "complementary" currency is not illegal!
See, Ithaca hours, the Matole Petole, and a number of others.
What made the Liberty coins illegal was that they had
too close a resemblance to actual US currency, and were being
advertised in ways that might lead people to believe they were
legal tender. There may have been some other frauds revolving
around the organization that sold them also.
The fact that they minted silver (and maybe gold too, I don't
recall) didn't make them illegal. The aforementioned Petole
is silver, and nobody bothers them. They don't try to pass their
coins off as valid US currency though, just 1.0 oz. fine silver.
Nothing illegal about that.
The other day, over a Mexican Coca Cola (real sugar), I said
to my companion something along the lines of "drink up, this is
the ONLY benefit of Free Trade for the common man".
The US has done everything to make real sugar more expensive,
shoving all the HFCS at us. Mexican Coca Cola via NAFTA really
is the only tangible benefit I can think of from all this Free Trade
multinational corporate nonsense. And if you think about it, it's
not really a benefit at all since before the corn lobby captured
Congress, we used to mix up Coca Cola with real sugar on THIS side
of the border.
So. I stand corrected. Still no real benefit to the current
Free Trade regime.
I was curious about Concorde replacements a while
back and researched some of the Soviet fighters. Unfortunately
they tend to have short ranges at top speed. If they could just
increase the fuel capacity of a two-seater, they'd have a Concorde
substitute. The ticket would probably be a lot more though, since
you've got one plane and one passenger.
If you don't have the range for a trans-Atlantic hop, having
supersonic capability isn't too useful in the US. You're not allowed
to fly supersonic over land here because of the boom.
Maybe it'll sell in some other country where the uber-wealthy
have a shorter distance to travel, and no noise restrictions.
I've been at "megacorps" twice.
Both times by acquisition.
With so few megas, and so many minis, why
bother? Just look for a good job. Sooner or
later the megacorps will acquire your employer.
Then you can decide if you actually like the
megacorp.
I always think about this during disasters too.
Yes, complaining about the permitting process is
a favorite sport. When 50,000 die someplace else
and fewer than 100 die here in a similar event,
then you understand what it's all about. OTOH, how
many deaths are caused because people are homeless
and/or don't have health care because permitted structures
are more expensive? Death due to disaster is easily
measured so the permitting process looks like a winner.
Deaths due to opportunity cost are more difficult to
measure, so we just don't know.
Unfortunately, this is Haiti. The point is moot. They've had a hard enough
time keeping a stable government and figuring out how to
deal with their limited resources. They should be so lucky
someday, to get to the point where they are complaining about
the permitting process.
I use an old Acer AT kb because of the
fat enter key, and no Windows key, which
just gets in the way for me even on Windows.
The insert key is one of the few complaints,
sometimes causing me to switch modes when editing
text. I'd be quite happy if the six keys above the
arrow keys were moved to where the last 6 function
key are. I never use the function keys. Then,
I could put a trackpad and mouse buttons where the
rectangle is. That, IMHO, would be the perfect
keyboard.
Unless I'm actually in the business
of trading with the Chinese, can anybody give me one good
reason not to drop all traffic from their IPs
right at the router?
I don't think I'd miss anything from there except
spam. I bet many Fortune 500 companies wouldn't either,
and if they had a business unit that needed to communicate
with China, they could set up a special link for that.
The rest of your network doesn't need access.
It's kind of a step backwards to have to think about
national borders on the 'net; but if they're going to
behave this way, that has a cost. We'll just go back
to a "placing a call there requires some extra code and
expense" mentality.
Slashdot Mirror
If it's a battle of proxies, rather than a battle of proxy wars, it might not be so bad.
That's a nice hack, but the computer isn't really "off". It's a vampire device. To be fair though, the C64 probably vampired if you left the "power brick" plugged in. You could, however, unplug the brick and get true fast-boot from zero power consumption. If you can do that with Windows 7, then maybe (big maybe) it might be worth giving up XP.
Thanks to multicore we are finally getting computers that can keep up with even the fastest of us,
And yet, they still don't boot up as fast as a C64.
Some form of public funding for elections might be the answer. Eliminate all private contributions. I say, limit spending to ONE 2010 CPI inflation adjusted dollar per registered voter. A constitutional spending limit might be enough, if it's low enough so that even the weakest candidates could raise it.
Oh, and all these 5-4 decisions? The SCOTUS isn't doing its job. They've been completely politicized for quite some time. Constitutional issues should almost never be split. Maybe there should be 1 or 2 dissenters in most cases. At least there should be 1 dissenter, just to play devil's advocate; but split decisions? Absolute, utter ball-dropping, failure to perform your duty, NONSENSE!!!
Poor NBC. They can't even hold the title of "biggest jerks" for more than a week. Congratulations, CBS, the new champs.
OK, we've simply established our respective sides here. The court will decide. In fact, the legal system is in the process of deciding and IIRC it's actually going to a jury.
Not to put words in your mouth, or hang a label on you; but you sound like a Libertarian partisan.
The Liberty dollar strikes a certain cord of civil disobedience, which is a time honored tradition. I wonder if the defendant in this case knew that going in, or if he just made a mistake. In order for a campaign of civil disobedience to succeed, it has to reach some kind of critical mass. At the time being, it doesn't look like "sound money" has gained traction in the way that "stop the war" or "equal rights for Blacks" or even "equal rights for gays" has. I know I'm not on the bandwagon.
No. It's illegal if it might be confused for, or is being passed as, official US currency.
Ithaca hours are paper. So are store coupons, and if you think about it they're a form of currency backed by product discounts.
I had seen the Liberty Dollars before, and yes they look "fakey" to me, and probably to most Slashdotters.
Now... to somebody with an IQ of 100 or less... well, maybe they'd be fooled.
In any event, the US Mint does a pretty good job of explaining how the LDs, in essence, used the "trademarks" of legal US currency.
IANAL, but I believe it all hinges on the definition of "current money". If it doesn't hinge on that phrase, then why are the "generic silver rounds" sold by other dealers not being confiscated? I think the Liberty Dollar people would have been fine if they had not used the word "Dollar" or the dollar sign. I'm not sure how "current money" differs from "legal tender", AFAIK they have the same legal meaning for this purpose.
The US Mint explains their PoV here.
Before you go acusing Google of doing Evil (TM), think. If they don't do this, some troll will. The troll will lose, but Google will waste a lot more money defending against it.
This is why IBM takes out so many patents too. Most of them are "defensive" patents.
We (that being everybody except the USPTO) could agree not to take out any more software patents, and the industry would breathe a collective sigh of relief. Trouble is, it only takes a few bad apples to spoil that approach. It's the same reason Communism didn't work.
You're probably referring to the "Liberty Dollar".
Issuing a competing, aka "complementary" currency is not illegal! See, Ithaca hours, the Matole Petole, and a number of others.
What made the Liberty coins illegal was that they had too close a resemblance to actual US currency, and were being advertised in ways that might lead people to believe they were legal tender. There may have been some other frauds revolving around the organization that sold them also.
The fact that they minted silver (and maybe gold too, I don't recall) didn't make them illegal. The aforementioned Petole is silver, and nobody bothers them. They don't try to pass their coins off as valid US currency though, just 1.0 oz. fine silver. Nothing illegal about that.
Far less water than that is proven deadly. Google around for the "hold your wee for a Wii" contest. Really sad.
In Soviet Russia, first the women get you, then the power gets you, then you brew the sugar into cheap vodka, then the vodka gets you.
There. You fixed that for me.
The other day, over a Mexican Coca Cola (real sugar), I said to my companion something along the lines of "drink up, this is the ONLY benefit of Free Trade for the common man".
The US has done everything to make real sugar more expensive, shoving all the HFCS at us. Mexican Coca Cola via NAFTA really is the only tangible benefit I can think of from all this Free Trade multinational corporate nonsense. And if you think about it, it's not really a benefit at all since before the corn lobby captured Congress, we used to mix up Coca Cola with real sugar on THIS side of the border.
So. I stand corrected. Still no real benefit to the current Free Trade regime.
Oooops! Dropped one. For what period of time did it achieve 100%?
Hmmm... actually, it looks like they are working on that
He bolted out of bed and carefully defused the alarm clock before it went off, after concluding that... it was a bomb.
He went to shave, but before turning it on decided to throw the razor out the window after concluding that... it was a bomb.
He decided not to make toast after concluding that the toaster was...
Better not drive, he thought...
Got on a bus. There was a guy with a radio. He called 911. Got off the bus before the police arrived though.
Arrived at school. Reported science fair project as possible bomb.
Police showed up at school. Hey? Are you the guy who called 911?
I was curious about Concorde replacements a while back and researched some of the Soviet fighters. Unfortunately they tend to have short ranges at top speed. If they could just increase the fuel capacity of a two-seater, they'd have a Concorde substitute. The ticket would probably be a lot more though, since you've got one plane and one passenger.
If you don't have the range for a trans-Atlantic hop, having supersonic capability isn't too useful in the US. You're not allowed to fly supersonic over land here because of the boom.
Maybe it'll sell in some other country where the uber-wealthy have a shorter distance to travel, and no noise restrictions.
I've been at "megacorps" twice. Both times by acquisition.
With so few megas, and so many minis, why bother? Just look for a good job. Sooner or later the megacorps will acquire your employer. Then you can decide if you actually like the megacorp.
Is this a story about outsourcing or pot legalization?
Should the respective sides haul out their canned pro/anti stands for one issue, the other, or both?
I always think about this during disasters too. Yes, complaining about the permitting process is a favorite sport. When 50,000 die someplace else and fewer than 100 die here in a similar event, then you understand what it's all about. OTOH, how many deaths are caused because people are homeless and/or don't have health care because permitted structures are more expensive? Death due to disaster is easily measured so the permitting process looks like a winner. Deaths due to opportunity cost are more difficult to measure, so we just don't know.
Unfortunately, this is Haiti. The point is moot. They've had a hard enough time keeping a stable government and figuring out how to deal with their limited resources. They should be so lucky someday, to get to the point where they are complaining about the permitting process.
I use an old Acer AT kb because of the fat enter key, and no Windows key, which just gets in the way for me even on Windows.
The insert key is one of the few complaints, sometimes causing me to switch modes when editing text. I'd be quite happy if the six keys above the arrow keys were moved to where the last 6 function key are. I never use the function keys. Then, I could put a trackpad and mouse buttons where the rectangle is. That, IMHO, would be the perfect keyboard.
You should have inferred direct trade. Sorry I can't stick in all those extra words. If I did, my posts would read like legislation.
Unless I'm actually in the business of trading with the Chinese, can anybody give me one good reason not to drop all traffic from their IPs right at the router?
I don't think I'd miss anything from there except spam. I bet many Fortune 500 companies wouldn't either, and if they had a business unit that needed to communicate with China, they could set up a special link for that. The rest of your network doesn't need access.
It's kind of a step backwards to have to think about national borders on the 'net; but if they're going to behave this way, that has a cost. We'll just go back to a "placing a call there requires some extra code and expense" mentality.