Extension seems more likely. Like what happened to copyright. A few major patent holders see that their most profitable patents are near expiration and lobby for an extension, then another, and another. I'm surprised it hasn't happened yet. Technology companies have as much to lose as to gain, but pharmacuticals... patents are pure profit to them.
I troll a religious forum where the operators believe that masturbation is cheating on your future wife/husband. Never underestimate the strangeness of religion.
Penile cancer. Anal, throat or tongue cancers also a possibility, depending on route of infection. But rarer... HPV is best suited to infect the cells of the cervix, and that's where it's the most damaging.
Penile cancer can mean amputation, so it probably scares some men more than the possibility of death.
The circumcision claim is disputed. There was a study on it some time ago, but it had some serious flaws - it didn't run long enough, so it's likely that the pain of a not-yet-healed scar would have reduced sexual activity during part of the trial. The researchers responsible ended the tests early claiming they felt obliged to circumcise everyone, hardly standard scientific practice.
And there is always the possibility of rape. My standard response to the religious types relies on this: "You may trust your daughter, but do you trust her future husband and all of his previous relationships?"
This is why the religious objection has now shifted from purely moral to the quack defence. They joined forces with the anti-vaxers to claim that the vaccines now cause every condition known to modern medicine, and a few that aren't.
Every major religion, and almost every minor one, makes premarital sex a serious offense and adultery one of the most serious of all. Most of them threaten some form of ultimate punishment for it, in this life or the next. If telling people not to have sex could stop STIs, those pathogens would have been obsolete a millenia ago.
Then: "If you have sex, you WILL almost certainly end up with a baby you must take care of for eighteen years."
Now: "If you have sex you... well, you may end up with an STI, but it's unlikely, and even if you do the common ones are treatable."
All evacuation tests should include a $100 award to the first 10% of people to reach the safety point, plus a couple of disruptive people like mothers fighting against the flow of traffic to reunite with seperated children. It's more realistic then.
Because America - at least the northern half, some parts of the southern continant are infamous for their slums - has running water and sanitation. That provides a lot of resistance to disease. They also have the best medical researchers in the world. The food supply has a significent excess of calories. I think the biggest problem in the event of famine would be political - in the event that production somehow got cut to the point that there was actual starvation, the obvious approach would be to introduce rationing, but this goes against the free-market princibles currently popular.
I'm not so sure. There are a lot of regions already suffering frequent freshwater shortages. Some US states, even. The six day war was fought in large part over contested water supply. The only way to get enough water may be desalination and distribution systems, which are very expensive.
The virus won't. Medical care will. If the drugs to treat it cost even $200... even the most poverty-stricken in the US can probably get that together in such desperate circumstances, but that's a lot of money for a third-world peasant.
The explodyness is just to simple issues of partial pressures of gas. Just an extreme case of the bends. All you need to do is drag the thing up very slowly - trap it in a cage, put cage on rope, wheel it up over the course of weeks. Still might not survive - it's biochemistry may have evolved to function properly only at very high pressures - but at least it won't explode.
Actually, the US would just use police force to stop you. They have police snipers on helicopters. Calling in the military would by excessive, legally problematic, and embarassingly respectful to the claimed independence.
Try a little experiment for me, please:
1. Commit a serious crime. Make sure everyone knows it was you.
2. Retreat to your freehold land. Order the police not to come in and arrest you. Try to look smug. It's your land, after all.
3. After the police send a swat team in and hit you with a taser in, try to sue the arresting officers or police department for trespass. See how far you can get.
4. Bonus points: When they come to arrest you, defend your land with lethal force. See how that turns out.
Whatever the legal situation says, the true owner of land is always the government - because they have Men With Big Guns to enforce the law. The only exception I can think of would be regions with no functioning government, when the land is owned by whoever can afford the Men With Big Guns to guard it.
Participating in an online came could be taken as an agreement to abide by the rules of that game, including those governing means of taking one's property. In which case it could only be counted as robbery by any stretch if a person used means outside of the game rules - ie, cheating. Plenty of ways to do that, from credential-theft to DoSing the opposing players in PvP. Fraud perhaps as well, but only if it takes place outside of the accepted rules of the game - there are some games (EVE is famous for it) where dodgy dealing is part of the appeal, and in-character con artist considered a perfectly legitimate career choice and endorsed by the game operators.
Slashdot Mirror
To allow for panic. Drills are nice and orderly - but when the smoke starts coming out the air vents, that orderly evacuation might become a stampede.
Extension seems more likely. Like what happened to copyright. A few major patent holders see that their most profitable patents are near expiration and lobby for an extension, then another, and another. I'm surprised it hasn't happened yet. Technology companies have as much to lose as to gain, but pharmacuticals... patents are pure profit to them.
I troll a religious forum where the operators believe that masturbation is cheating on your future wife/husband. Never underestimate the strangeness of religion.
Affordable, reliable, convenient condoms.
Penile cancer. Anal, throat or tongue cancers also a possibility, depending on route of infection. But rarer... HPV is best suited to infect the cells of the cervix, and that's where it's the most damaging.
Penile cancer can mean amputation, so it probably scares some men more than the possibility of death.
The circumcision claim is disputed. There was a study on it some time ago, but it had some serious flaws - it didn't run long enough, so it's likely that the pain of a not-yet-healed scar would have reduced sexual activity during part of the trial. The researchers responsible ended the tests early claiming they felt obliged to circumcise everyone, hardly standard scientific practice.
One night with Venus, a lifetime with Mercury. I'm sure that expression didn't originate recently.
And there is always the possibility of rape. My standard response to the religious types relies on this: "You may trust your daughter, but do you trust her future husband and all of his previous relationships?"
This is why the religious objection has now shifted from purely moral to the quack defence. They joined forces with the anti-vaxers to claim that the vaccines now cause every condition known to modern medicine, and a few that aren't.
Every major religion, and almost every minor one, makes premarital sex a serious offense and adultery one of the most serious of all. Most of them threaten some form of ultimate punishment for it, in this life or the next. If telling people not to have sex could stop STIs, those pathogens would have been obsolete a millenia ago.
Condoms. And the Pill.
Then: "If you have sex, you WILL almost certainly end up with a baby you must take care of for eighteen years."
Now: "If you have sex you... well, you may end up with an STI, but it's unlikely, and even if you do the common ones are treatable."
All evacuation tests should include a $100 award to the first 10% of people to reach the safety point, plus a couple of disruptive people like mothers fighting against the flow of traffic to reunite with seperated children. It's more realistic then.
Unknown. Try it, find out. But it still won't explode. It'll just melt.
The Mexican drug lords only wish they were in Hitler's league.
In the future, the most common surname in the US will be Duggar.
Because America - at least the northern half, some parts of the southern continant are infamous for their slums - has running water and sanitation. That provides a lot of resistance to disease. They also have the best medical researchers in the world. The food supply has a significent excess of calories. I think the biggest problem in the event of famine would be political - in the event that production somehow got cut to the point that there was actual starvation, the obvious approach would be to introduce rationing, but this goes against the free-market princibles currently popular.
I'm not so sure. There are a lot of regions already suffering frequent freshwater shortages. Some US states, even. The six day war was fought in large part over contested water supply. The only way to get enough water may be desalination and distribution systems, which are very expensive.
The virus won't. Medical care will. If the drugs to treat it cost even $200... even the most poverty-stricken in the US can probably get that together in such desperate circumstances, but that's a lot of money for a third-world peasant.
The explodyness is just to simple issues of partial pressures of gas. Just an extreme case of the bends. All you need to do is drag the thing up very slowly - trap it in a cage, put cage on rope, wheel it up over the course of weeks. Still might not survive - it's biochemistry may have evolved to function properly only at very high pressures - but at least it won't explode.
And I can't think of any other reason the manufacturers would use different labels for individual and multipack items. Hmm. Sneaky!
But what is to stop them from buying the bulk boxes? All they have to do is not enter into any contract with the manufacturer.
"It's IMHO definitely not just a gameplay matter because the baseball rules don't include paintball guns"
No, but I think you are on to an idea there.
I've seen many multipack foods with 'not for individual resale' labels on. What is the legal value of that? Could it actually be enforced?
Actually, the US would just use police force to stop you. They have police snipers on helicopters. Calling in the military would by excessive, legally problematic, and embarassingly respectful to the claimed independence.
Try a little experiment for me, please:
1. Commit a serious crime. Make sure everyone knows it was you.
2. Retreat to your freehold land. Order the police not to come in and arrest you. Try to look smug. It's your land, after all.
3. After the police send a swat team in and hit you with a taser in, try to sue the arresting officers or police department for trespass. See how far you can get.
4. Bonus points: When they come to arrest you, defend your land with lethal force. See how that turns out.
Whatever the legal situation says, the true owner of land is always the government - because they have Men With Big Guns to enforce the law. The only exception I can think of would be regions with no functioning government, when the land is owned by whoever can afford the Men With Big Guns to guard it.
Participating in an online came could be taken as an agreement to abide by the rules of that game, including those governing means of taking one's property. In which case it could only be counted as robbery by any stretch if a person used means outside of the game rules - ie, cheating. Plenty of ways to do that, from credential-theft to DoSing the opposing players in PvP. Fraud perhaps as well, but only if it takes place outside of the accepted rules of the game - there are some games (EVE is famous for it) where dodgy dealing is part of the appeal, and in-character con artist considered a perfectly legitimate career choice and endorsed by the game operators.