Your numbers look reasonable to high. One thing you seem to have forgotten is furniture/desks. Of course, the desks in my highschool were 30 years old when I went through for the most part.
This is a reason why I think private schools are part of the answer. They are so much more efficient in educating kids.
Oh, and for those who ask "what about special education", that can be handled through different funds. Or specialized schools might pop up.
Why do they tax military/federal pay? Wouldn't it be cheaper to simply not tax that income and pay less?
I think that taxes should be consolidated to one source and kept as simple as possible. Many people like the idea of a sales tax, as they believe that to be the easiest/fairest to administer. Some would prefer an income tax. Heck, a flat percentage would make figuring taxes much easier.
I saw a troubling trend when I was in high school. When I started, administrativly there was: 1 principal 1 vice-principal 1 Secretary 2 Counselors ~40 teachers
When I graduated, there were: 1 principal 6 vice-principals 3 secretaries 8 counselors 4 "security guards" (I called it welfare for former college football players). ~45 teachers. This was pre-columbine.
How would offering vouchers to everybody for the education of their kids amount to welfare for the rich? If my parents had been able to afford it, they would probably have sent me to a private school. Some of the other kids in the neighborhood went to a private religious school, but that was subsidized by the church.
Despite the subsidation by the church, that school's students managed to outperform the public school just down the block(that I went to) despite spending less than half per student.
Umm, nope. Bush doesn't believe that increased governmental control will help the situation. There are a number of "doc in a box" type places popping up to treat minor illnesses and injuries. They often don't take insurance, which cuts a huge amount of overhead. You are seen the same day, and the cost was $12-20 were I went. At that price point, the insurance doesn't matter, as most co-pays are greater then that.
Ultimately, if medical "insurance" is returned to being just that, something you don't expect to use except in exceptional circumstances, costs could be substantially reduced. Customers would activly look for the best deal. That's the idea behind the health care savings plans.
I, on the other hand, am a completely informed Bush supporter. I don't think that the kyoto treaty is worth it, being designed more the "equalize" economies than to reduce global warming.
Landmine anti-proliferation restricts our military's options. We have remote controlled mines that we can turn on and off at will, bombs that can set up a minefield from 50,000 feet, mines that will deactivate after a relatively short period of time.
As for Bush's popularity with the rest of the world, I dont' really care. I care about what he will do with/for the USA.
On the other hand, our litigus system needs to be reformed. Rising healthcare costs are more than just litigation however. People are living longer, more conditions are being treated, the average age of the population increasing.
I don't agree with Bush on many topics. However, I don't believe that Kerry and Edwards will take us in the right direction. I'm voting for Badnirak this time, even though I think that he's a bit of a loon.
I thought it was that Canada negotiates lower prices for prescription medicines, not that they actually put funds into buying the drugs.
This site says that the drugs are cheap in canada due to price controls and bulk buying.
The problem with this is that they base the price on the per unit production cost, not including research/development/certification costs. For a reasonable return, the company has to make it up somewhere, mainly in the USA. Drugs in the USA are cheaper once the generics make it to market.
It's not just Isreal. They view our very culture as overbearing and anti-Muslim. And unless we want to roll back over 200 years of progress in women's and religious rights, we can't change that.
I agree that our meddling, an artifact of cold war policies, has really messed up the region. However, giving in to the terrorists is not the answer. The ultimate palestinian objective is the elimination of Isreal, not reclamation of some lands or self rule. They want to push the jews into the sea (or kill them). We would be next. Heck, look at France and Spain. They're both being threatened with even more terrorist activity in "exchange" for more concesions.
It's an ugly situation. I think that pushing for democracy(with respect for minorities) and human rights, while maintaining honorable and consistant relations with other countries.
That's easy: 1) We're rich 2) We're powerful 3) Various leftovers of the cold war
Honestly, we're not the only ones targeted. There were some groups that went after the French, some German, and Indian that I know of. Sometimes being an American in a hostage situation helps, sometimes harms. I just want the choice of whether I wave my passport.
The problem with the RSA Blocker tag is that if the terrorist bomb reader is looking for TAg 0F 13 27... the "blocker" tag answers "Yes", like it does for any number. Or the question of why their machine doesn't work when you're around comes up. Unpleasant.
This is a little too high-level for theives. I'm more worried about kidnappers and terrorists. There are plenty of poor american tourists, and plenty of rich non-american tourists.
And how long would it take for that encryption to be cracked or leaked? Remember, the terrorists have links to various governments that we'd theoretically be giving the details on how to read the passports to. Passports last 10 years. Current anti-terrorist stuff is to hide your passport where it isn't easily found, as americans are targeted.
Oh the horror! You think you have it bad? Every base that I've been on has had a school ON the base.
Yes, it sounds a bit close. The higher ups have had these conversations a few times. Generally this happens when suitable land isn't available elsewhere, or the civilians decide to build next to the base for whatever reason. It looks like there's enough seperation between the actual buildings so that a force with semi-modern weapons would be able to target discriminatly. If a war ever happened in the states, the building might have to be hardened on that side, and you don't want to be out on a playground anyways when bombs are dropping.
What I was talking about however is the incidents of the terrorists using children and women as human shields, as in actually firing from behind them. Housing militants in mosques and schools, as well as storing arms in them. That's alot worse than having a school and a reserve base within a block of each other.
I'd guess understanding the low level operations, but that quickly becomes like predicting the weather, as you can't keep track of all the variables. They were probably hoping to be able to mostly seperate the various chains, but the reduced count means that each gene has that much more to do.
Actually, they were combatants, it's just that they were low level and agreed to not participate in those types of activities, which they then violated.
The answer to why we don't have a glut of 'pretty people' is that the standards tighten or change, and an 'ugly' person is often able to compensate in other areas.
Think of 'pretty' as certain physical features falling with a range. As the population fits within that range more, the range shrinks or shifts.
1: Natural selection (reduction in the gene pool) is an important process in evolution 2: Mutation occurs naturally, but there are some signs of 'directed mutation' in single cell life. Kinda like Newton's law of gravity, there's more going on behind the scenes. 2a: Useful genes do tend to be passed on 2b: Yes, they're rare, but that's why major evolution is typically slow. Fast evolution tends to be paired with savage selection & enviromental stress. 3: Evolution doesn't describe a start to life. There are various theories that incorporate the theory of evolution into them, but they're all just theories. Mostly they take dinsaurs and fossil records to say that if an outside power interveined, it probably wasn't a *BLAM* and life forms more or less as we know them (including humans) are around.
And maybe coding for photosynthesis and the support structures for a plant (as opposed to single cell) requires a large number of genes. I've also heard that plants tend to have huge numbers of redundent genes.
So you're going to dub the latest britney album to Russian/Egyptian/Chinese?
Well, it'd probably sound better...
There are many times that they subtitle instead of dubbing. And just like you have hoards of Anime fans who don't understand a word of Japanese who think that it's heresy to watch an Anime that's dubbed instead of subtitled, I'm sure that there are watchers of american films who prefer the original actor's voices. Not to mention they probably know more english.
Actually, the Geneva convention requirements for a uniform could be satisfyed by having requirements for wear with some patches or something. There are also exemptions for counting militia type fighters who 'don't have the chance' to organize and get uniforms. A Baseball cap could count.
The Taliban don't count because: 1) They're not a signer 2) They're a previously organized group, and had plenty of time to get some sort of uniforms 2a) The US revolutionary army managed to get uniforms, were the Taliban poorer than we were in 1776? 3) They were mostly foreign to Afghanistan 4) Deliberate usage of civilians and protected sites in an attempt to protect their forces
On the other hand, we mostly treated them as POW's. The only real problem is the lack of allowed communication(I think they should of had it) and the duration of holding them. The conventions assumed that both governments would still exist at the end of the conflict, and that you'd have strong national ties.
They're a poor fit for the current situation. Something like a third of the prisoners released from Gitmo have been found to have involved themselves with terrorism/freedom fighting again. For them the conflict isn't over. This in and of itself is enough to not release them, even without a trial. You don't have to release POW's until the end of the conflict, unless other factors intervene that renders the POW uncapable of further fighting anyways.
Well, you take the expansion of the definition of "robot" to mean any microprocessor controlled mobile mechanical device. If you look at many of these "robots", you find that they're more wonders of doing more with less than intelligent or complex programmed behavior. The robo-vac? Psedeu-random movement with a cliff & bump sensor. It runs over a room enough to be statistically unlikely to miss a spot, but it does it at a cost of covering most spots multiple times.
Um, hasn't anybody noticed this? We're digging up hydrocarbons (mostly Hydrogen & Carbon), burning them, and now we're talking about burying the resulting CO2 while letting the H2O go free.
The Oceans will flood! We'll run out of the Oxygen we need to breathe! (I'm being a little sarcastic).
I've read in a couple of places that the average oxygen content of the atmosphere has dropped a little. I'd rather go nuclear than with these CO2 burying power plants.
Well, the first step would be to stop pumping the stuff out and use our "organic" oil instead. Ethanol and Biodiesel are examples of attempts at this. Both are much cleaner of contaminents present in ground oil like sulfer. Biodiesel is probably the better alternative.
Slashdot Mirror
Your numbers look reasonable to high. One thing you seem to have forgotten is furniture/desks. Of course, the desks in my highschool were 30 years old when I went through for the most part.
This is a reason why I think private schools are part of the answer. They are so much more efficient in educating kids.
Oh, and for those who ask "what about special education", that can be handled through different funds. Or specialized schools might pop up.
Why do they tax military/federal pay? Wouldn't it be cheaper to simply not tax that income and pay less?
I think that taxes should be consolidated to one source and kept as simple as possible. Many people like the idea of a sales tax, as they believe that to be the easiest/fairest to administer. Some would prefer an income tax. Heck, a flat percentage would make figuring taxes much easier.
I saw a troubling trend when I was in high school. When I started, administrativly there was:
1 principal
1 vice-principal
1 Secretary
2 Counselors
~40 teachers
When I graduated, there were:
1 principal
6 vice-principals
3 secretaries
8 counselors
4 "security guards" (I called it welfare for former college football players).
~45 teachers.
This was pre-columbine.
How would offering vouchers to everybody for the education of their kids amount to welfare for the rich? If my parents had been able to afford it, they would probably have sent me to a private school. Some of the other kids in the neighborhood went to a private religious school, but that was subsidized by the church.
Despite the subsidation by the church, that school's students managed to outperform the public school just down the block(that I went to) despite spending less than half per student.
Umm, nope. Bush doesn't believe that increased governmental control will help the situation. There are a number of "doc in a box" type places popping up to treat minor illnesses and injuries. They often don't take insurance, which cuts a huge amount of overhead. You are seen the same day, and the cost was $12-20 were I went. At that price point, the insurance doesn't matter, as most co-pays are greater then that.
Ultimately, if medical "insurance" is returned to being just that, something you don't expect to use except in exceptional circumstances, costs could be substantially reduced. Customers would activly look for the best deal. That's the idea behind the health care savings plans.
I, on the other hand, am a completely informed Bush supporter. I don't think that the kyoto treaty is worth it, being designed more the "equalize" economies than to reduce global warming.
Landmine anti-proliferation restricts our military's options. We have remote controlled mines that we can turn on and off at will, bombs that can set up a minefield from 50,000 feet, mines that will deactivate after a relatively short period of time.
As for Bush's popularity with the rest of the world, I dont' really care. I care about what he will do with/for the USA.
On the other hand, our litigus system needs to be reformed. Rising healthcare costs are more than just litigation however. People are living longer, more conditions are being treated, the average age of the population increasing.
I don't agree with Bush on many topics. However, I don't believe that Kerry and Edwards will take us in the right direction. I'm voting for Badnirak this time, even though I think that he's a bit of a loon.
I thought it was that Canada negotiates lower prices for prescription medicines, not that they actually put funds into buying the drugs.
This site says that the drugs are cheap in canada due to price controls and bulk buying.
The problem with this is that they base the price on the per unit production cost, not including research/development/certification costs. For a reasonable return, the company has to make it up somewhere, mainly in the USA. Drugs in the USA are cheaper once the generics make it to market.
It's not just Isreal. They view our very culture as overbearing and anti-Muslim. And unless we want to roll back over 200 years of progress in women's and religious rights, we can't change that.
I agree that our meddling, an artifact of cold war policies, has really messed up the region. However, giving in to the terrorists is not the answer. The ultimate palestinian objective is the elimination of Isreal, not reclamation of some lands or self rule. They want to push the jews into the sea (or kill them). We would be next. Heck, look at France and Spain. They're both being threatened with even more terrorist activity in "exchange" for more concesions.
It's an ugly situation. I think that pushing for democracy(with respect for minorities) and human rights, while maintaining honorable and consistant relations with other countries.
That's easy:
1) We're rich
2) We're powerful
3) Various leftovers of the cold war
Honestly, we're not the only ones targeted. There were some groups that went after the French, some German, and Indian that I know of. Sometimes being an American in a hostage situation helps, sometimes harms. I just want the choice of whether I wave my passport.
The problem with the RSA Blocker tag is that if the terrorist bomb reader is looking for TAg 0F 13 27 ... the "blocker" tag answers "Yes", like it does for any number. Or the question of why their machine doesn't work when you're around comes up. Unpleasant.
This is a little too high-level for theives. I'm more worried about kidnappers and terrorists. There are plenty of poor american tourists, and plenty of rich non-american tourists.
And how long would it take for that encryption to be cracked or leaked? Remember, the terrorists have links to various governments that we'd theoretically be giving the details on how to read the passports to. Passports last 10 years. Current anti-terrorist stuff is to hide your passport where it isn't easily found, as americans are targeted.
Oh the horror! You think you have it bad? Every base that I've been on has had a school ON the base.
Yes, it sounds a bit close. The higher ups have had these conversations a few times. Generally this happens when suitable land isn't available elsewhere, or the civilians decide to build next to the base for whatever reason. It looks like there's enough seperation between the actual buildings so that a force with semi-modern weapons would be able to target discriminatly. If a war ever happened in the states, the building might have to be hardened on that side, and you don't want to be out on a playground anyways when bombs are dropping.
What I was talking about however is the incidents of the terrorists using children and women as human shields, as in actually firing from behind them. Housing militants in mosques and schools, as well as storing arms in them. That's alot worse than having a school and a reserve base within a block of each other.
That's where it's almost more effort to make it so that you can't replace the language.
I'd guess understanding the low level operations, but that quickly becomes like predicting the weather, as you can't keep track of all the variables. They were probably hoping to be able to mostly seperate the various chains, but the reduced count means that each gene has that much more to do.
Actually, they were combatants, it's just that they were low level and agreed to not participate in those types of activities, which they then violated.
The answer to why we don't have a glut of 'pretty people' is that the standards tighten or change, and an 'ugly' person is often able to compensate in other areas.
Think of 'pretty' as certain physical features falling with a range. As the population fits within that range more, the range shrinks or shifts.
1: Natural selection (reduction in the gene pool) is an important process in evolution
2: Mutation occurs naturally, but there are some signs of 'directed mutation' in single cell life. Kinda like Newton's law of gravity, there's more going on behind the scenes.
2a: Useful genes do tend to be passed on
2b: Yes, they're rare, but that's why major evolution is typically slow. Fast evolution tends to be paired with savage selection & enviromental stress.
3: Evolution doesn't describe a start to life. There are various theories that incorporate the theory of evolution into them, but they're all just theories. Mostly they take dinsaurs and fossil records to say that if an outside power interveined, it probably wasn't a *BLAM* and life forms more or less as we know them (including humans) are around.
And maybe coding for photosynthesis and the support structures for a plant (as opposed to single cell) requires a large number of genes. I've also heard that plants tend to have huge numbers of redundent genes.
So you're going to dub the latest britney album to Russian/Egyptian/Chinese?
Well, it'd probably sound better...
There are many times that they subtitle instead of dubbing. And just like you have hoards of Anime fans who don't understand a word of Japanese who think that it's heresy to watch an Anime that's dubbed instead of subtitled, I'm sure that there are watchers of american films who prefer the original actor's voices. Not to mention they probably know more english.
Actually, the Geneva convention requirements for a uniform could be satisfyed by having requirements for wear with some patches or something. There are also exemptions for counting militia type fighters who 'don't have the chance' to organize and get uniforms. A Baseball cap could count.
The Taliban don't count because:
1) They're not a signer
2) They're a previously organized group, and had plenty of time to get some sort of uniforms
2a) The US revolutionary army managed to get uniforms, were the Taliban poorer than we were in 1776?
3) They were mostly foreign to Afghanistan
4) Deliberate usage of civilians and protected sites in an attempt to protect their forces
On the other hand, we mostly treated them as POW's. The only real problem is the lack of allowed communication(I think they should of had it) and the duration of holding them. The conventions assumed that both governments would still exist at the end of the conflict, and that you'd have strong national ties.
They're a poor fit for the current situation. Something like a third of the prisoners released from Gitmo have been found to have involved themselves with terrorism/freedom fighting again. For them the conflict isn't over. This in and of itself is enough to not release them, even without a trial. You don't have to release POW's until the end of the conflict, unless other factors intervene that renders the POW uncapable of further fighting anyways.
Well, you take the expansion of the definition of "robot" to mean any microprocessor controlled mobile mechanical device. If you look at many of these "robots", you find that they're more wonders of doing more with less than intelligent or complex programmed behavior. The robo-vac? Psedeu-random movement with a cliff & bump sensor. It runs over a room enough to be statistically unlikely to miss a spot, but it does it at a cost of covering most spots multiple times.
I don't think that it'll reach 10x the price. Long before that happens alternate fuels will start taking over.
But yeah, as the price rises new sources will become economical.
Um, hasn't anybody noticed this? We're digging up hydrocarbons (mostly Hydrogen & Carbon), burning them, and now we're talking about burying the resulting CO2 while letting the H2O go free.
The Oceans will flood! We'll run out of the Oxygen we need to breathe!
(I'm being a little sarcastic).
I've read in a couple of places that the average oxygen content of the atmosphere has dropped a little. I'd rather go nuclear than with these CO2 burying power plants.
Well, the first step would be to stop pumping the stuff out and use our "organic" oil instead. Ethanol and Biodiesel are examples of attempts at this. Both are much cleaner of contaminents present in ground oil like sulfer. Biodiesel is probably the better alternative.