At least we aren't going to extremes or anything like that. After all, by your own method (taken to the same extreme), its A-OK to kill your wife as long as you pay the kill-your-wife tax.
I'm not arguing about big stuff that should or should not be illegal, but talking specifically about sin taxes. There is no sin tax on killing your wife, it's already illegal. What I'm arguing is trying to influence society through taxes rather than laws - it's an underhanded way to go about it. What you will end up with is folks voting taxes on activities they don't do, whether or not they object to it ethically - simply as a revenue source. Say you like doing something not a lot of other folks enjoy? Tough tuckus, pay your video game tax!
The other respondent addressed your math, so I'll hit the ideology -
I used to think sin taxes were a decent idea - but think deeper about what would get sin taxed by the majority of Americans as things they don't want society to promote. So, here's a new picture: No taxes on gasoline because we love our big cars. Big taxes on gay couples, because that's not how God wants them to be. Taxes on drugs, maybe alcohol, probably not fatty processed foods (since that's what most people eat...). You'll end up with a mishmash of arbitrary taxes on arbitrary goods simply because enough people think they are good or bad, and really not significantly different from making them illegal in the first place. Sin taxes do not significantly effect the use of the goods taxed, it's just another form of punishment (vs fines or jail time). I do not want to live in a society where everybody gets to directly vote on behaviors that they feel should be promoted or suppressed.
You can see this with cigarettes. Legal, taxed to death, and common in public *until* laws came into place restricting where you can and cannot smoke.
My (universally unpopular) opinion is that the ease of operating a motor vehicle and subsequent driver laziness/inability leads directly to accidents and deaths. I simply don't think that the "average driver" is good enough for the task at hand.
Of course this has nothing to do with slushboxes - plenty of excellent drivers use them regularly... I spose I'm off topic here.
You're either with us or you're with the terrorists!! er... the communists!!!.... er.... socialists? Shit, who do we hate this week? There can be no moderation! Moderation is compromise! We don't compromise with the termulists!
I keep letting my mod points expire before doing anything worthwhile with them, but this is pretty much what's going on. Bring detailed info to the folks that have to make the decision. If they ignore the information and it causes problems, they are liable. They probably expected the HOA wouldn't drop the coin on having their documents reviewed by a PE. They don't have to ignore the report if they can discredit it.
It absolutely takes more skill to drive a manual than an automatic. That's why somebody that starts automatic has to 'learn' manual, but the reverse doesn't apply. Once you've gotten the muscle memory down and the feel for when you need to shift, there's really not much difference to driving either transmission.You've got the muscle memory, so you don't notice the switch. Take somebody that's never driven a manual and put them behind the wheel and you'll see it's pretty clear there is a skill that must be learned. Most folks that drive manuals don't do it for the gas mileage (there's been negligible difference for years), they don't do it for the price (especially if you buy used where manuals usually demand a premium), they do it for control. With no torque converter there is consistent power delivery every time. With no hydraulic/electric/howeveric shifting mechanism, shifting is absolutely predictable. Sure, if you drive the same automatic transmission often enough, you can "tell" it when to shift, but the level of control simply isn't there.
"Defensive driving" is a bad term. Folks drive slow and ignorantly and call themselves defensive drivers. They drive passively and let traffic happen to them rather then make themselves flow with it. Call it "proactive driving." It's something they pound into motorcyclists: Read traffic, identify potential threats, plan ahead and act accordingly. Know what is around you and where your potential escape routes are. Know when you need to open up the throttle to get past something and when you need to lay off and give more space. Know the area you're driving through - Residential you watch out for kids and pets. Deer prone you slow down. There's a whole heap of information that drivers know but don't employ when they're passively commuting from point A to B. Sure they'll react if something gets in their way, but they won't be looking out to try to anticipate the problem in the first place.
Yeah, I pretty much agree with what you say, but I've gotten into some... discussions... with friends of mine who drive passively but claim it's defensive simply because they're going slower than traffic.
Not exactly true... Mercury does indeed rotate with respect to the sun - 3 rotations for every 2 revolutions. It's rotation is tidally synchronous, but it is not tidally locked like our Moon is to Earth. So, while you may find a comfy spot at one of the poles, you certainly wouldn't want to head anywhere toward the middle.
When a child picks up the text of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and reads the word "nigger" I want them to take offense. Not to take offense at Mark Twain but more so to take offense to and own up to this great country's tortured past and to vow that this will never happen again. This use of a word as a marker of hate and denigration simply because of the color of a person's skin -- and the widespread cultural acceptance of it! If your child never learns the horrible results of that scenario than your child may one day find themselves as a part of that scenario.
You're making the very dangerous assumption that people are all good and wholesome. We aren't, we're shades of grey. Not convinced? Look at any elementary school and see how awful some kids can be to others. It may only be every now and then and they usually get over it pretty quick, but us 'grown ups' only go to war every now and then as well (and usually we get over it pretty quick). You simply can't ignore that people are naturally competitive if not somewhat violent. You make something inconceivable and *somebody* will conceive it. Unfortunately, now they have no historical backdrop to compare it against and see how awful it really can be.
yes, Apple has actual products... Consumer products which are very much the fashionable and "in" thing to have - driven primarily by hype and marketting. Apple has been amazingly adept at staying ahead of the curve (how many of us saw the iPad being a big thing? I sure didn't...), but time will come when they falter and lose their prime spot as a big consumer brand. Are they on more solid ground than AOL? Certainly - but AOL had actual products too. They sold internet access. Overpriced and slow internet access, but they sold it well and were *huge* because it was the thing to get. Just like iProducts are today. You're looking at a $300 billion perceived value for a company that counts it's revenue two orders of magnitude lower than that... There is a long way to grow to make sure all of those investors end up getting their money's worth.
On the flip side, support for versions of MacOS X drops off damn quick. So, here's another anecdote. Visiting family, they're all out of the house and I need to print something. Find their old-ish but not quite ancient iBook. Sweet, should do the trick. Plug it in to the printer... Not recognized. Download driver software... Requires OSX 10.5 or newer. If this was one piece of hardware I wouldn't fret, but I see a great deal of hardware and software packages that support the newest two versions of OSX only - dropping off the pre-installed OS on hardware only three to four years old. A similar thing had happened shortly after 10.2 came out, with 10.0 and 10.1 support falling off and no way around it besides upgrading the OS. There was a time when I was a big Mac fan - and we typically lauded the longevity of the Apple systems we used and would poke fun at the perceived forced upgrades from Microsoft - but in all this time with OSX and hit and miss version support from software and hardware vendors, Windows XP is still broadly supported.
How many Apple sales are simply because a user is forced into an upgrade due to unsupported operating systems (as above) or un-upgradeable hardware? It's great from a business point of view, but time may come when people catch on to how much money really ends up going into their computer purchases that might not be necessary.
Tens of thousands of blocks, but how many do they spend implementing their CPU cores? Could be using multiple FPGAs or a very very simple CPU core... I'm more intrigued by the blurb about Intel and ARM developing CPU/FPGA chips - could be a lot of fun with (hopefully) a lot lower cost than a Virtex.
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if they actually gain one the US will be forced to plant 3 carrier groups off their coast and bomb them into submission
Why?
At least we aren't going to extremes or anything like that. After all, by your own method (taken to the same extreme), its A-OK to kill your wife as long as you pay the kill-your-wife tax.
I'm not arguing about big stuff that should or should not be illegal, but talking specifically about sin taxes. There is no sin tax on killing your wife, it's already illegal. What I'm arguing is trying to influence society through taxes rather than laws - it's an underhanded way to go about it. What you will end up with is folks voting taxes on activities they don't do, whether or not they object to it ethically - simply as a revenue source. Say you like doing something not a lot of other folks enjoy? Tough tuckus, pay your video game tax!
Hopefully he's in Washington dealing with *federal* matters rather than in Texas getting involved in *state* matters.
The other respondent addressed your math, so I'll hit the ideology -
I used to think sin taxes were a decent idea - but think deeper about what would get sin taxed by the majority of Americans as things they don't want society to promote. So, here's a new picture: No taxes on gasoline because we love our big cars. Big taxes on gay couples, because that's not how God wants them to be. Taxes on drugs, maybe alcohol, probably not fatty processed foods (since that's what most people eat...). You'll end up with a mishmash of arbitrary taxes on arbitrary goods simply because enough people think they are good or bad, and really not significantly different from making them illegal in the first place. Sin taxes do not significantly effect the use of the goods taxed, it's just another form of punishment (vs fines or jail time). I do not want to live in a society where everybody gets to directly vote on behaviors that they feel should be promoted or suppressed.
You can see this with cigarettes. Legal, taxed to death, and common in public *until* laws came into place restricting where you can and cannot smoke.
My (universally unpopular) opinion is that the ease of operating a motor vehicle and subsequent driver laziness/inability leads directly to accidents and deaths. I simply don't think that the "average driver" is good enough for the task at hand.
Of course this has nothing to do with slushboxes - plenty of excellent drivers use them regularly... I spose I'm off topic here.
Stupid libertarian nutter - don't you understand?
You're either with us or you're with the terrorists!! er... the communists!!!.... er.... socialists? Shit, who do we hate this week? There can be no moderation! Moderation is compromise! We don't compromise with the termulists!
I keep letting my mod points expire before doing anything worthwhile with them, but this is pretty much what's going on. Bring detailed info to the folks that have to make the decision. If they ignore the information and it causes problems, they are liable. They probably expected the HOA wouldn't drop the coin on having their documents reviewed by a PE. They don't have to ignore the report if they can discredit it.
A friend of mine got her PE license but never got the official stamp from the engineering board. This way she's never tempted to sign off on anything!
But it's DIRTY and I don't want it in my neighborhood! That's why I just pour my automotive antifreeze on my driveway. Clean and good-smelling!
The Greater Good!
30MPG out of your 240sx? Damn, I'm doing something wrong :(
It absolutely takes more skill to drive a manual than an automatic. That's why somebody that starts automatic has to 'learn' manual, but the reverse doesn't apply. Once you've gotten the muscle memory down and the feel for when you need to shift, there's really not much difference to driving either transmission.You've got the muscle memory, so you don't notice the switch. Take somebody that's never driven a manual and put them behind the wheel and you'll see it's pretty clear there is a skill that must be learned. Most folks that drive manuals don't do it for the gas mileage (there's been negligible difference for years), they don't do it for the price (especially if you buy used where manuals usually demand a premium), they do it for control. With no torque converter there is consistent power delivery every time. With no hydraulic/electric/howeveric shifting mechanism, shifting is absolutely predictable. Sure, if you drive the same automatic transmission often enough, you can "tell" it when to shift, but the level of control simply isn't there.
"Defensive driving" is a bad term. Folks drive slow and ignorantly and call themselves defensive drivers. They drive passively and let traffic happen to them rather then make themselves flow with it. Call it "proactive driving." It's something they pound into motorcyclists: Read traffic, identify potential threats, plan ahead and act accordingly. Know what is around you and where your potential escape routes are. Know when you need to open up the throttle to get past something and when you need to lay off and give more space. Know the area you're driving through - Residential you watch out for kids and pets. Deer prone you slow down. There's a whole heap of information that drivers know but don't employ when they're passively commuting from point A to B. Sure they'll react if something gets in their way, but they won't be looking out to try to anticipate the problem in the first place.
... discussions... with friends of mine who drive passively but claim it's defensive simply because they're going slower than traffic.
Yeah, I pretty much agree with what you say, but I've gotten into some
Not exactly true... Mercury does indeed rotate with respect to the sun - 3 rotations for every 2 revolutions. It's rotation is tidally synchronous, but it is not tidally locked like our Moon is to Earth. So, while you may find a comfy spot at one of the poles, you certainly wouldn't want to head anywhere toward the middle.
Are the democrats or the republicans the witches this time? I can never keep up with who to hate anymore :(
When a child picks up the text of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and reads the word "nigger" I want them to take offense. Not to take offense at Mark Twain but more so to take offense to and own up to this great country's tortured past and to vow that this will never happen again. This use of a word as a marker of hate and denigration simply because of the color of a person's skin -- and the widespread cultural acceptance of it! If your child never learns the horrible results of that scenario than your child may one day find themselves as a part of that scenario.
Not sure how that could be better written!
You're making the very dangerous assumption that people are all good and wholesome. We aren't, we're shades of grey. Not convinced? Look at any elementary school and see how awful some kids can be to others. It may only be every now and then and they usually get over it pretty quick, but us 'grown ups' only go to war every now and then as well (and usually we get over it pretty quick). You simply can't ignore that people are naturally competitive if not somewhat violent. You make something inconceivable and *somebody* will conceive it. Unfortunately, now they have no historical backdrop to compare it against and see how awful it really can be.
Hey, somebody else *did* watch Under Siege 2!
...For what it's worth, the USA doesn't have the resources to build F-22s either ;)
Holy crap that was five years ago??
I need to get out more.
yes, Apple has actual products... Consumer products which are very much the fashionable and "in" thing to have - driven primarily by hype and marketting. Apple has been amazingly adept at staying ahead of the curve (how many of us saw the iPad being a big thing? I sure didn't...), but time will come when they falter and lose their prime spot as a big consumer brand. Are they on more solid ground than AOL? Certainly - but AOL had actual products too. They sold internet access. Overpriced and slow internet access, but they sold it well and were *huge* because it was the thing to get. Just like iProducts are today. You're looking at a $300 billion perceived value for a company that counts it's revenue two orders of magnitude lower than that... There is a long way to grow to make sure all of those investors end up getting their money's worth.
On the flip side, support for versions of MacOS X drops off damn quick. So, here's another anecdote. Visiting family, they're all out of the house and I need to print something. Find their old-ish but not quite ancient iBook. Sweet, should do the trick. Plug it in to the printer... Not recognized. Download driver software... Requires OSX 10.5 or newer. If this was one piece of hardware I wouldn't fret, but I see a great deal of hardware and software packages that support the newest two versions of OSX only - dropping off the pre-installed OS on hardware only three to four years old. A similar thing had happened shortly after 10.2 came out, with 10.0 and 10.1 support falling off and no way around it besides upgrading the OS. There was a time when I was a big Mac fan - and we typically lauded the longevity of the Apple systems we used and would poke fun at the perceived forced upgrades from Microsoft - but in all this time with OSX and hit and miss version support from software and hardware vendors, Windows XP is still broadly supported.
How many Apple sales are simply because a user is forced into an upgrade due to unsupported operating systems (as above) or un-upgradeable hardware? It's great from a business point of view, but time may come when people catch on to how much money really ends up going into their computer purchases that might not be necessary.
...Google might then decide means that I actually want to search for not just foo but also foob and fooc. But I wasn't interested in any of those!
Come on now, everybody is interested in foob.
Not so!!
Fly, with difficulty. Land, with certainty. Fly again, no.
Tens of thousands of blocks, but how many do they spend implementing their CPU cores? Could be using multiple FPGAs or a very very simple CPU core... I'm more intrigued by the blurb about Intel and ARM developing CPU/FPGA chips - could be a lot of fun with (hopefully) a lot lower cost than a Virtex.