Are you really that stupid? Or do you just post drivel like this on/. for kicks?
Sears chooses to make a profit by buying clothing items in bulk and selling them individually at a higher price, while the Mafia chooses to make a profit by not burning down people's businesses in exchange for money. Neither is less or more evil than the other...
How you can equate a retailer to a organized criminal organization is beyond belief. I'd like to argue with you, but I'm afraid it would short out the two brain cells that remain in your head
You are kind of right -- the individual states have some ability to restrict interstate trade today.
The whole problem arose with the 21st amendment, which repealed the Prohibition (of alcohol).
You can read it here: http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constituti on.amendmentxxi.html
Basicially the problem is with the second section: "The transportation or importation into any state, territory, or possession of the United States for delivery or use therein of intoxicating liquors, in violation of the laws thereof, is hereby prohibited."
Basically, some counties and towns in the US are "dry", and the 21st Amendment lifts Federal bans on liquor, but allows the states to regulate the importation and distribution of liquor.
Activist courts have "embraced and extended" these rules to cover other things, like cigarettes. The precedent set by these laws, however, has allowed for all sorts of questionable laws like "Use Taxes" to be created by individual states.
Because the 21st Amendment is an amendment to the Constitution that is contrary to the original constitution, it makes the interpretation very complicated. The real problem is that the high courts are unwilling to take these cases, because government has greatly expanded as a result of the revenue generated by these laws.
Vermont used to have a cigarette tax dramatically lower than the New York levy.
It used to be fairly common for NYS Tax Agents to sit in the parking lots of the gas stations or tobacco shops around the Vermont border or in Bennington and record the license plates of New Yorkers who stopped in to buy a few cartons. The New Yorker would get bill from the tax department to the address on his vehicle registration.
That's not what the state thinks. States have been applying sales & use taxes to auto purchases for years.
If there was no legal basis to collect taxes on out of state sales, than there would be NO car dealerships in downstate NY. Everyone would go to Jersey to escape the sales taxes.
In most states you need nothing to get a restraining order, and this is frequently abused. Restraining orders are commonly used as weapons in divorce and workplace disputes.
My brother worked at a fast food place where his coworkers managed to get a strict assistant manager fired by obtaining restraining order and calling the cops on him.
I think the restraining order "process" needs to be fixed before we have automated enforcement. Judging by the poor track record of automated traffic violation systems (robot radar, stoplight cameras) I would anticipate this restraining order thing to be a nightmare.
With a free press, you have the option of paying attention to media outlets that aren't in the hands of politicans and corporate types.
A free and informed press has nothing to do with responsibility or public interest. Its about publishing what you want.
By your standards, abolitionist newspaper editors in the 1850s should have been squashed, as they openly advocated holding the law in contempt and taking the property of southern farmers.
Breaking the law and hurting farmers was certainly not in the public interest -- it led to a bloody civil war!
The only places that can really migrate to Linux en-masse are places like call-centers where computers are used for specific and rigid purposes.
Larger enterprises look at and think about the "savings", but when you compare the training costs, hassle and resistance that most users will feel, you're not saving anything.
The places that have successfully transitioned to Linux (federal labs, Burlington Coat Factory, City of Largo, small companies) were either established Unix shops already or started with small or completely disorganized IT organizations.
I wouldn't hold your breath. Cox only communicates in Welsh, so only the other 3 people who read Welsh can really be exposed to and snotty rationalizations
You're missing the point completely. I don't have a beef with cops -- hell, I have enough cops and firemen in my family to protect a small city.
But cops are expensive. A city like Philadelphia probaly has something like 5-7 thousand police.
The actually needed all of those cops in the 40's, when Philly was an industrial boom-town and half the cops walked their beats. Today, after a quarter of the population left for the suburbs, they could easily run just fine with 20-25% fewer cops.
Cops are usually the biggest wastes in municipal spending... typically police have 20 or 25 year retirements @ 50% pay, so their effective annual salary after benefits and pension contributions is something like $160k+overtime.
In a big, old & declining city like Philly, you probably have a police force designed for the boom days of the industrial past. (ie too big)
You're just plain wrong about the federal push for a lowered BAC percentage:
http://www.madd.org/stats/0,1056,4588,00.html
With the help of MADD,.08 became federal law in October 2000, requiring states to pass a.08 BAC per se law by October 1, 2003, or face the withholding of 2 percent of their federal highway construction funds. States without the law by this date will lose an additional 2 percent of highway funds each year until 2006. Passing the law before October 1, 2007 allows the return of withheld highway funds to those states that did not pass the law before October 1, 2003.
The national speed limits were around until 1995 or so; its still a valid example of coercion.
There are thousands of other examples, from Medicare funding formulas to police funding initiatives.
A service plan repairs damage due to defects in materials & workmanship for a specific term. They do not cover stolen property, accidentially damaged property or acts of god.
Insurance policies "make you whole" after some unforseen circumstance occurs. Your car insurance covers your liabilities in the event of an accident or other event. It does not fix your broken timing belt or leaky radiator.
Your best bet is to buy a quality product that doesn't break, or buy things that you can afford to replace if the need arises. Typically the dolts who bought service plans when I was a salesman were either into conspicuous consumption (ie expensive == good) or were simply not very bright.
Bush and his people aren't stupid, they just have a very selective set of morals.
The whole purpose of the Iraq invasion was to remove everybody's enemy. As long as Saddam's Iraq existed as a state, the various powerful ethnic and religious factions in the region were united by a common bad guy: Iraq. (I'm talking about governments, not the man on the street)
With the Iraqi distraction removed, the Arabs and Persians will continue doing what they do best: fight with each other.
While the Shittes and Sunnis are busy killing each other in the Middle East, they won't be killing Americans on US soil. US & British companies will also play the factions against each other to get better oil deals.
You're just looking at modern colonialism, which is a necessary evil to finance the outragous costs and inefficiencies in our sprawling post-urban society.
Don't by an extended warranty from a retailer. Ever.
When I worked at a CompUSA in college several years ago, Warrantech warranties were sold at a 75% margin, which translates into a major ripoff.
If you feel that you need an extended warranty, buy one directly from the manufacturer. I don't know about Sharp, but Toshiba and IBM offer comprehensive service plans that include 24hr turnaround service for about half of what a third party warranty costs.
Not at all -- that was an attempt to illustrate how cyclic variations in climate can take place without any human intervention at all.
There has been no 10,000 year equilibrium... there have been a number of glacial advances & retreats since the end of the last ice age 2-3 million years ago.
After the last glacial advance, North American land features like the great lakes were carved out by rapidly retreating glaciers about 10,000 years ago.
Humans were around during that period, but had no way of impacting the climate. And while Native American, Dutch and English settlers were in North America during the 1600's and 1800's, they didn't urbanize enough to have significant effects on the climate.
The problem with your argument is that even if human activity is accelerating cyclic processes, those activities are not creating them. We could abandon the modern economy completely and still face disasterous climate change in 100 years instead of 50.
Now you are changing the subject. Nobody disputes the fact that human activity has a directly measureable impact and localized climate. Anyone whose been on the Long Island sound can appeal to that. (The heat from LI creates a thermal wall that blocks the breeze)
There's a big jump between that and creating lurid, movie studio projections of impending doom. (Pending more research $$$ from the gov't, of course)
"Modern" urbanization in has been going on for some time, at least 200 years. Yet from 1930-1975, the earth became progressively cooler.
Slashdot Mirror
Are you really that stupid? Or do you just post drivel like this on /. for kicks?
How you can equate a retailer to a organized criminal organization is beyond belief. I'd like to argue with you, but I'm afraid it would short out the two brain cells that remain in your head
You're a real genius, aren't you.
I suppose that if the western nations stop burning fossil fuels, and instead move that combustion to Asia, everything will be fine.
You are kind of right -- the individual states have some ability to restrict interstate trade today.
i on.amendmentxxi.html
The whole problem arose with the 21st amendment, which repealed the Prohibition (of alcohol).
You can read it here: http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitut
Basicially the problem is with the second section:
"The transportation or importation into any state, territory, or possession of the United States for delivery or use therein of intoxicating liquors, in violation of the laws thereof, is hereby prohibited."
Basically, some counties and towns in the US are "dry", and the 21st Amendment lifts Federal bans on liquor, but allows the states to regulate the importation and distribution of liquor.
Activist courts have "embraced and extended" these rules to cover other things, like cigarettes. The precedent set by these laws, however, has allowed for all sorts of questionable laws like "Use Taxes" to be created by individual states.
Because the 21st Amendment is an amendment to the Constitution that is contrary to the original constitution, it makes the interpretation very complicated. The real problem is that the high courts are unwilling to take these cases, because government has greatly expanded as a result of the revenue generated by these laws.
Vermont used to have a cigarette tax dramatically lower than the New York levy.
It used to be fairly common for NYS Tax Agents to sit in the parking lots of the gas stations or tobacco shops around the Vermont border or in Bennington and record the license plates of New Yorkers who stopped in to buy a few cartons. The New Yorker would get bill from the tax department to the address on his vehicle registration.
That's not what the state thinks. States have been applying sales & use taxes to auto purchases for years.
If there was no legal basis to collect taxes on out of state sales, than there would be NO car dealerships in downstate NY. Everyone would go to Jersey to escape the sales taxes.
In most states you need nothing to get a restraining order, and this is frequently abused. Restraining orders are commonly used as weapons in divorce and workplace disputes.
My brother worked at a fast food place where his coworkers managed to get a strict assistant manager fired by obtaining restraining order and calling the cops on him.
I think the restraining order "process" needs to be fixed before we have automated enforcement. Judging by the poor track record of automated traffic violation systems (robot radar, stoplight cameras) I would anticipate this restraining order thing to be a nightmare.
The law is written by people, all of whom have external interests that don't align with the public interest.
A free and unhampered press is the people's only way to counter the enourmous power that money and influence yields.
With a free press, you have the option of paying attention to media outlets that aren't in the hands of politicans and corporate types.
A free and informed press has nothing to do with responsibility or public interest. Its about publishing what you want.
By your standards, abolitionist newspaper editors in the 1850s should have been squashed, as they openly advocated holding the law in contempt and taking the property of southern farmers.
Breaking the law and hurting farmers was certainly not in the public interest -- it led to a bloody civil war!
Fuck Vonage.
Try cancelling the service... its harder than AOL. I've been getting chargebacks for months since I don't have time to wait 45+ minutes on hold.
In Korea, only old people play Dance Dance Revolution
The only places that can really migrate to Linux en-masse are places like call-centers where computers are used for specific and rigid purposes.
Larger enterprises look at and think about the "savings", but when you compare the training costs, hassle and resistance that most users will feel, you're not saving anything.
The places that have successfully transitioned to Linux (federal labs, Burlington Coat Factory, City of Largo, small companies) were either established Unix shops already or started with small or completely disorganized IT organizations.
I wouldn't hold your breath. Cox only communicates in Welsh, so only the other 3 people who read Welsh can really be exposed to and snotty rationalizations
You're missing the point completely. I don't have a beef with cops -- hell, I have enough cops and firemen in my family to protect a small city.
But cops are expensive. A city like Philadelphia probaly has something like 5-7 thousand police.
The actually needed all of those cops in the 40's, when Philly was an industrial boom-town and half the cops walked their beats. Today, after a quarter of the population left for the suburbs, they could easily run just fine with 20-25% fewer cops.
Wifi is more productive than police.
Cops are usually the biggest wastes in municipal spending... typically police have 20 or 25 year retirements @ 50% pay, so their effective annual salary after benefits and pension contributions is something like $160k+overtime.
In a big, old & declining city like Philly, you probably have a police force designed for the boom days of the industrial past. (ie too big)
You're just plain wrong about the federal push for a lowered BAC percentage:
http://www.madd.org/stats/0,1056,4588,00.html
The national speed limits were around until 1995 or so; its still a valid example of coercion.
There are thousands of other examples, from Medicare funding formulas to police funding initiatives.
USAA varied alot from other insurers then. Generally comprehensive covers acts of god (deer hits, hail), fire, theft, etc.
That's nothing new. Why do you think we have mandatory speed limits and .08BAC drunk driving limits?
Federal coercion is the norm these days.
Instead of buying the extended warranty, he should have saved the $50 and paid someone to enter that Free iPod thing.
And of course all of this is absurd. Rapists face lesser penalties than DVD downloaders.
Service Plans != Insurance
A service plan repairs damage due to defects in materials & workmanship for a specific term. They do not cover stolen property, accidentially damaged property or acts of god.
Insurance policies "make you whole" after some unforseen circumstance occurs. Your car insurance covers your liabilities in the event of an accident or other event. It does not fix your broken timing belt or leaky radiator.
Your best bet is to buy a quality product that doesn't break, or buy things that you can afford to replace if the need arises. Typically the dolts who bought service plans when I was a salesman were either into conspicuous consumption (ie expensive == good) or were simply not very bright.
Bush and his people aren't stupid, they just have a very selective set of morals.
The whole purpose of the Iraq invasion was to remove everybody's enemy. As long as Saddam's Iraq existed as a state, the various powerful ethnic and religious factions in the region were united by a common bad guy: Iraq. (I'm talking about governments, not the man on the street)
With the Iraqi distraction removed, the Arabs and Persians will continue doing what they do best: fight with each other.
While the Shittes and Sunnis are busy killing each other in the Middle East, they won't be killing Americans on US soil. US & British companies will also play the factions against each other to get better oil deals.
You're just looking at modern colonialism, which is a necessary evil to finance the outragous costs and inefficiencies in our sprawling post-urban society.
This isn't a technology issue, and has nothing to do with "getting it" or not getting it.
The fact is there are three types of people as far a government is concerned:
- Those in power
- Those who put powerful in office
- The rest of us
Federal government exists to serve Federal government, and to a lesser extent the people and companies who support the people in power.
Contrast the DC area to the rest of the country -- the metro Washington area is a boomtown as the once powerful cities in the Northeast crumble.
Don't by an extended warranty from a retailer. Ever.
When I worked at a CompUSA in college several years ago, Warrantech warranties were sold at a 75% margin, which translates into a major ripoff.
If you feel that you need an extended warranty, buy one directly from the manufacturer. I don't know about Sharp, but Toshiba and IBM offer comprehensive service plans that include 24hr turnaround service for about half of what a third party warranty costs.
Not at all -- that was an attempt to illustrate how cyclic variations in climate can take place without any human intervention at all.
There has been no 10,000 year equilibrium... there have been a number of glacial advances & retreats since the end of the last ice age 2-3 million years ago.
After the last glacial advance, North American land features like the great lakes were carved out by rapidly retreating glaciers about 10,000 years ago.
Humans were around during that period, but had no way of impacting the climate. And while Native American, Dutch and English settlers were in North America during the 1600's and 1800's, they didn't urbanize enough to have significant effects on the climate.
The problem with your argument is that even if human activity is accelerating cyclic processes, those activities are not creating them. We could abandon the modern economy completely and still face disasterous climate change in 100 years instead of 50.
Now you are changing the subject. Nobody disputes the fact that human activity has a directly measureable impact and localized climate. Anyone whose been on the Long Island sound can appeal to that. (The heat from LI creates a thermal wall that blocks the breeze)
There's a big jump between that and creating lurid, movie studio projections of impending doom. (Pending more research $$$ from the gov't, of course)
"Modern" urbanization in has been going on for some time, at least 200 years. Yet from 1930-1975, the earth became progressively cooler.