But, Poor Boy can choose when to buy a car, in other words, when he pays the tax. With income tax, it's taken before he gets a dime. Also, the Fair Tax proposal that's presently before the House, which addresses instituting a national sales tax and abolishing income tax, specifically exempts USED items from being taxed. So, Poor Boy has the option to buy a pretty nice used car that's tax-exempt.
But, I'm with you 100% on eliminating SUV subsidies and offshore tax shelters. If you want to read more about the Fair Tax bill, go to http://thomas.loc.gov/ and type Fair Tax into the Word/Phrase search box.
Perhaps you'd like to read this article: http://www.alternet.org/story/11548/
Mass murder is often a matter of opinion and many other cultures perceive the West and, particularly the United States as having gotten away with mass murder, for decades. So, a great many people don't see Sept 11th as a terrorist act but a long-overdue comeuppance for a perennial bully.
They claimed that when he was let go, it was because the location of the shipping and receiving department may have been compromised. Is this reasonable? If they have only a single shipping and receiving department, there must be an awful lot of people who don't work for Microsoft and know where it is. Plus, a big truck driving towards a building is pretty much a dead giveaway. Maybe if they were trying to keep the location of the PRINT SHOP a secret, I could find the pretext for firing him reasonable, but this, are far as a "breach of security" is concerned is pretty much bullshit.
Really? I have DSL with Bell Sympatico here in Toronto, Ontario and they've steadfastly claimed that they cannot provide DSL service with phone service.
I spoke about power because you were talking about nuclear energy but it goes beyond that. My remark about cold fusion was just to illustrate the folly about waiting for breakthroughs. Thirty years ago, I read that we'd have TVs the thickness of a finger that could be hung on the wall like a painting and cheap, ubiquitous, non-polluting fusion energy for our homes and cars in "5 to 10 years". Well, the TVs are not quite there yet but the fusion energy is still a long ways off. As far as your statement about "not subsidizing", what would the cost of both electricity and cars if they'd never been subsidized - and if all current subsidies were rescinded? I like to call the prevailing attitudes that I see all around me the "credit-card" mentality - push the true costs off into the future until the burden becomes unbearable, then do something about it. This is fine, if the burden falls only on you but it doesn't, does it? This is a side-effect of the Petroleum Age. Plentiful oil, and all the things we could make from it, lowered the bar so low that, in one or two generations, we lost sight of what the true cost of living for so much of human history really was. I don't want a return to the existence of nasty, brutish, and short - and that's why I live the way that I do, and why I'm constantly seeking a better way - one that doesn't displace the problem elsewhere. And, no, conservation is NOT the wrong answer. Conservation gives you more time to find another way because it extends your existing resources. "Some day" we'll have unlimited power - I do believe that but, that day is not here and it's not likely in my lifetime. But, I'm not just talking about power, I'm talking about EVERYTHING. If we were wasting only one or two resources, it wouldn't be so bad but, in general, we've done our damnedest to exploit every resource we can find with little thought to the future. Look, in little more than a hundred years, we've managed to do more damage to the environment than in all of human history combined.
I didn't bring up horses. That must have been raised in an earlier post, and, for a large city, is
a horrible idea. Nor did I suggest that we go back to the 1700's. But, even if nuclear power turns out to be the non-polluting, safe panacea it's touted to be, the cost of building enough reactors will still be in the hundreds of billions. And, it won't fix the biggest problem of all - a general unwillingness to do the little things early on that will cost us dearly in the not-so-long run. And, waiting for technological advancements before changing our behaviour is what got us to this point in the first place. What breakthroughs are you hoping for? Cold fusion?
Don't forget that there are plenty of vested interests who, if they're aren't the ones to come up with a new idea or can't control or profit from it, they'll do their damnedest to prevent it from being adopted. And this is hardly a new phenomenon - read up on Edison vs Tesla and their fight over DC vs AC power.
I've tried for 15 years to take the view that attitudes will change but the complaints of my friends and colleagues are still the same - electricity costs too much!! ( Compact fluorescents? Maybe replace 30 yr old fridge?) Gas costs too much!!! ( Perhaps that Eagle Talon isn't the best choice to drive you the 15 miles to work) Look at this heating bill!!! ( Er, 30 min shower at full blast not a factor? How about turning off the water when you don't need it).
Even last summer's blackout only caused a change of about 2 months in the behaviour of most of my friends. And that's the real problem - our tendency to be shortsighted - and widespread nuclear power and technological breakthroughs won't fix that.
There's another reason why Microsoft, and other companies fear open source - it makes it much more difficult to play the game of "block that kick".
A company with deep pockets can buy out a smaller rival who has a disruptive technology and either profit from it themselves or sit on it until they can figure out what to do with it.
Having something that could wreck your business model that you can't control and that can be used or enhanced by anyone anywhere in the world means that they have to spend a lot more time and money into research, marketing and FUD.
What's wrong with having an environment you can enjoy? And, your statement about the Seinfeld lifestyle versus the Little House on the Prairie ( or that of Native Americans ) only makes sense if you eliminate the personal automobiles from the equation. If you look at what the resources that goes in to the manufacture of an automobile, both now and throughout the history of the industry, you'll see that the environmental costs have been huge.
The real problem that we're facing is that we are too slow to change. A hundred years of living in the Age of Petroleum has given us an unrealistic view of the true costs of survival. Had all of North America embraced a lifestyle more geared to conservation back during the Oil Embargo of the '70s, we'd be sitting pretty right now. But, we've become enamored of the SuperSized life and there is no longer an easy way to support that kind of living. I don't know enough about nuclear power to say whether or not mass construction is a good idea but again, even if it is as safe and as efficent as its proponents would have us believe, it's another Band-Aid over the true problem - the refusal to learn how to live within our environment in a sustainable fashion.
Well, well, it seems that it's not ONLY posts that are Linux-negative that get modded down. The M$ofties appear to give as good as they get. And that saying a lot.
I live near in between several well-to-do neighbourhoods in Toronto. Most families here have at least 2 cars and I'd say that 50% of them have at least 1 SUV. Also, this city has had a housing boom that's now in its 3rd year and a lot of people who were displaced from other industries have gotten into construction and home renovation. So what have those who are doing well driving? Either a truck or van ( usually secondhand but a goodly number of new ones as well ) for work and for play, a brand-spanking new, upscale SUV such as an Escalade, Infiniti FX, or Murano.
Since they started offering bounties leading to the arrest of crackers, then they should pay those who find and/or fix bugs in their Operating Systems.
And the amount paid should reflect the potential severity of the bug.
This is only fair - they've foisted themselves on computer users for decades, have profited HANDSOMELY
and for all the supposed world-class programmers and
software architects, for all their much-touted focus on Trustworthy Computing (TM), they still let boneheaded bugs that could affect MILLIONS of users slip through.
If they can find the money to spend on "independent" testing to showcase how superior their products are, then they can damn well pay up when someone else cleans up their mess.
Does anyone know if their TCO calculations take into the account the millions of man-hours spent re-installing, removing viruses, worms, etc, evaluating and installing 3rd party software to do what their OS cannot but should do?
And you know what, that's perfectly OK. Windows made its headway in the server market in the same way, chipping away at the low-end and making its way onto the midrange as enhancements were made. Since a move from big iron Unix to Linux is easier than moving to Windows, Linux will get the enhancements it needs to compete. If you doubt this, then ask yourself why IBM would bother pushing Linux so aggressively when they already have a better OS with a larger installed base on the high-end hardware.
I totally agree. And, of course, we need to give Microsoft enough time to "innovate" an operating system stable and secure enough to run those flying cars.
If you discount Northern Ireland, the number of homicides-by-firearms is exponentially LESS than that of the United States by any measure. And, teaching respect for firearms won't do much to avoid school shootings - you'd be better off teaching greater respect for life or tolerance for your fellow man.
If someone is pissed-off to the point of wanted to kill someone, the only thing that "respect for firearms" will accomplish is more killing.
The problem is, in politics, there are usually a significant number of groups who deliberately muddy the relatively simple situations in much more complex ones.
I'm not saying that this is the case here. In fact, I don't know much about this case at all but since you want to paint those who favor simplifying situations ( although it may not always be appropriate) as retarded, I am curious to know what your opinion is of those who deliberately muddy the waters to suit their own agenda.
I'm all for open source, but would you even be able to understand it? When SAP released their database as open source, the complaints about the code quality ( or lack thereof) were widespread.
of course, what I consider to be the biggest problem with spam still remains: the sheer number of message s which must be accepted and filtered. Does anyone have any idea what the real cost of spam is in terms of dollars, bandwidth and time?
When I first came to North America in the mid 70's, I was sure that the United States and Canada were the two most advanced countries in the world in just about every way. Sometime in the last 15 years, I began to have doubts and the more time passes, the more certain I become that not only have many countries caught up to us, we are falling behind in nearly all the most significant ways.
To be perfectly honest, Islam, if practiced according to the teachings of Mohammed, is very tolerant. The problem is that most religions fail in living up to the letter of their ideals.
Slashdot Mirror
But, Poor Boy can choose when to buy a car, in other words, when he pays the tax. With income tax, it's taken before he gets a dime.
Also, the Fair Tax proposal that's presently before the House, which addresses instituting a national sales tax and abolishing income tax, specifically exempts USED items from being taxed.
So, Poor Boy has the option to buy a pretty nice used car that's tax-exempt.
But, I'm with you 100% on eliminating SUV subsidies and offshore tax shelters.
If you want to read more about the Fair Tax bill,
go to http://thomas.loc.gov/ and type Fair Tax into the Word/Phrase search box.
Perhaps you'd like to read this article:
http://www.alternet.org/story/11548/
Mass murder is often a matter of opinion and many other cultures perceive the West and, particularly the United States as having gotten away with mass murder, for decades. So, a great many people don't see Sept 11th as a terrorist act but a long-overdue comeuppance for a perennial bully.
They claimed that when he was let go, it was because
the location of the shipping and receiving department may have been compromised. Is this reasonable? If they have only a single shipping and receiving department, there must be an awful lot of people who don't work for Microsoft and know where it is.
Plus, a big truck driving towards a building is pretty much a dead giveaway. Maybe if they were trying to keep the location of the PRINT SHOP a secret, I could find the pretext for firing him reasonable, but this, are far as a "breach of security" is concerned is pretty much bullshit.
Really? I have DSL with Bell Sympatico here in Toronto, Ontario and they've steadfastly claimed that they cannot provide DSL service with phone service.
I spoke about power because you were talking about nuclear energy but it goes beyond that. My remark about cold fusion was just to illustrate the folly about waiting for breakthroughs.
Thirty years ago, I read that we'd have TVs the thickness of a finger that could be hung on the wall
like a painting and cheap, ubiquitous, non-polluting
fusion energy for our homes and cars in "5 to 10 years".
Well, the TVs are not quite there yet but the fusion energy is still a long ways off.
As far as your statement about "not subsidizing", what would the cost of both electricity and cars if they'd never been subsidized - and if all current subsidies were rescinded?
I like to call the prevailing attitudes that I see all around me the "credit-card" mentality - push the true costs off into the future until the burden becomes unbearable, then do something about it.
This is fine, if the burden falls only on you but it doesn't, does it?
This is a side-effect of the Petroleum Age. Plentiful oil, and all the things we could make from it, lowered the bar so low that, in one or two generations, we lost sight of what the true cost of living for so much of human history really was.
I don't want a return to the existence of nasty, brutish, and short - and that's why I live the way that I do, and why I'm constantly seeking a better way - one that doesn't displace the problem elsewhere.
And, no, conservation is NOT the wrong answer. Conservation gives you more time to find another way because it extends your existing resources.
"Some day" we'll have unlimited power - I do believe that but, that day is not here and it's not likely in my lifetime. But, I'm not just talking about power, I'm talking about EVERYTHING.
If we were wasting only one or two resources, it wouldn't be so bad but, in general, we've done our damnedest to exploit every resource we can find with little thought to the future.
Look, in little more than a hundred years, we've managed to do more damage to the environment than in all of human history combined.
There's another reason why Microsoft, and other companies fear open source - it makes it much more difficult to play the game of "block that kick".
A company with deep pockets can buy out a smaller rival who has a disruptive technology and either profit from it themselves or sit on it until they can figure out what to do with it.
Having something that could wreck your business model that you can't control and that can be used or enhanced by anyone anywhere in the world means that they have to spend a lot more time and money into research, marketing and FUD.
What's wrong with having an environment you can enjoy? And, your statement about the Seinfeld lifestyle versus the Little House on the Prairie ( or that of Native Americans ) only makes sense if you eliminate the personal automobiles from the equation.
If you look at what the resources that goes in to the manufacture of an automobile, both now and throughout the history of the industry, you'll see that the environmental costs have been huge.
The real problem that we're facing is that we are too slow to change. A hundred years of living in the Age of Petroleum has given us an unrealistic view of the true costs of survival.
Had all of North America embraced a lifestyle more geared to conservation back during the Oil Embargo of the '70s, we'd be sitting pretty right now.
But, we've become enamored of the SuperSized life and there is no longer an easy way to support that kind of living. I don't know enough about nuclear power to say whether or not mass construction is a good idea but again, even if it is as safe and as efficent as its proponents would have us believe, it's another Band-Aid over the true problem - the refusal to learn how to live within our environment in a sustainable fashion.
Once again, I've exposed the true colors of the Micro$ofties. Wassamatter, Bill-lickers? Don't dish it if you can't take it.
Well, well, it seems that it's not ONLY posts that are Linux-negative that get modded down. The M$ofties appear to give as good as they get.
And that saying a lot.
I live near in between several well-to-do neighbourhoods in Toronto. Most families here have at least 2 cars and I'd say that 50% of them have at least 1 SUV.
Also, this city has had a housing boom that's now in
its 3rd year and a lot of people who were displaced from other industries have gotten into construction and home renovation.
So what have those who are doing well driving? Either a truck or van ( usually secondhand but a goodly number of new ones as well ) for work and for play, a brand-spanking new, upscale SUV such as an Escalade, Infiniti FX, or Murano.
Maybe if you posted as a registered user and not a cowardly AC, you might get modded differently. Oh yeah, why don't you use your "secure" web browser to find out the worldwide dollar figure for all the Windows vulnerabilities. And here's one to add to your list:
Which operating system permitted a virus to destroy the data and BIOSes of over one million computers?
And you know what, that's perfectly OK. Windows made
its headway in the server market in the same way, chipping away at the low-end and making its way onto
the midrange as enhancements were made.
Since a move from big iron Unix to Linux is easier than moving to Windows, Linux will get the enhancements it needs to compete.
If you doubt this, then ask yourself why IBM would bother pushing Linux so aggressively when they already have a better OS with a larger installed base on the high-end hardware.
I totally agree. And, of course, we need to give Microsoft enough time to "innovate" an operating system stable and secure enough to run those flying cars.
If you discount Northern Ireland, the number of homicides-by-firearms is exponentially LESS than that of the United States by any measure.
And, teaching respect for firearms won't do much to avoid school shootings - you'd be better off teaching greater respect for life or tolerance for your fellow man.
If someone is pissed-off to the point of wanted to kill someone, the only thing that "respect for firearms" will accomplish is more killing.
And the purpose of Windows XP SP 1 and 2 were what exactly? And all of those Windows Update advisories and patches?
The problem is, in politics, there are usually a significant number of groups who deliberately muddy the relatively simple situations in much more complex ones.
I'm not saying that this is the case here. In fact, I don't know much about this case at all but since you want to paint those who favor simplifying situations ( although it may not always be appropriate) as retarded, I am curious to know what your opinion is of those who deliberately muddy the waters to suit their own agenda.
So lie. I've given false info to several sites over the years. What's the big deal?
I'm all for open source, but would you even be able to understand it? When SAP released their database as open source, the complaints about the code quality ( or lack thereof) were widespread.
In Soviet Russia, Mosix clusters YOU!!!
(
No reason why they couldn't. According to this page:
http://www.daemonology.net/bsdiff/, this util is already in Gentoo.
of course, what I consider to be the biggest problem
with spam still remains: the sheer number of message s which must be accepted and filtered.
Does anyone have any idea what the real cost of spam
is in terms of dollars, bandwidth and time?
When I first came to North America in the mid 70's, I was sure that the United States and Canada were the two most advanced countries in the world in just about every way.
Sometime in the last 15 years, I began to have doubts and the more time passes, the more certain I become that not only have many countries caught up to us, we are falling behind in nearly all the most significant ways.
To be perfectly honest, Islam, if practiced according to the teachings of Mohammed, is very tolerant. The problem is that most religions fail in living up to the letter of their ideals.