Obamacare has many parts to it, but as with many things (such as interstates), it's a trade off. The state agrees to how the fed wants something done and in exchange, the fed gives it a big ol' wad of cash.
It's entirely possible for a state to build their section of an interstate differently... but then the fed won't give them any money for it. There's been a few cases of interstates not built to the fed spec and, as a result, the state has to pay for it entirely.
You ever been to a wedding? That marriage certificate thing they have to sign, and the guy who says "By the power vested in me by the state of..."? That's the civil aspect of it. It just happens to be something where, traditionally, we combine civil and religious all in one big party. Plenty of people get married with zero religion involve. And while it's possible to have a purely religious marriage, it holds no civil rights so you never see it done because it's not recognized outside of the church.
I imagine driver licenses work much the same. If New Jersey decides everybody gets a license when they turn 18 even if they haven't taken any written or practical test, then other states can choose not to accept NJ driving licenses as valid. Thus if you got caught with a NJ license in another state, they could charge you as driving without a license.
**NOTE: As far as I know, New Jersey does not just give everyone a license at 18. They have to find it in a Crackerjack box first.
Watching a movie on Netflix is entertainment. Going to the movies with friends is a social event.
I also prefer paper books for non-linear reading (such as textbooks), in which you may be flipping around between various pages a lot. Paper books also have the advantage of not needing batteries and holding up a little better to moisture, sunlight exposure and other factors that can shorten the life of electronics.
There's two or more different markets... the problem is that the retailers are trying to treat them as one market.
Why go to the movies when you can watch it online? Why go to theater or a sports arena when you can see it on TV? Why go sightseeing when you can use Google Street View?
Some things are just better in person. Personally, I find a book store much easier to browse a category of books when I'm not looking for something very specific. I also find paper books much easier to flip through randomly to get a sense of the structure and content of the book than the electronic counterpart.
I agree with what you say about adding value to it... make book stores more than just a store.
Get a MicroSD card and install Cyanogenmod on it. The Nook can dual-boot to the uSD card without any sort of modding or rooting. I do it and switch between the B&N version of Android and Cyanogenmod depending on what I want to do.
**This is with a Nook Color. I don't know if the newer tablets can do it.
I think you missed the second half of that first sentence. "to the scale that corn does". Which generally means "less"
Corn requires space between rows and between plants, algae can be packed in tighter. Also, algae would be significantly easier to scale vertically in layers compared to corn which often grows six to ten feet tall.
Other advantages of algae over traditional crops (IE: corn) that a quick Google provides: 1) More tolerant of lower water quality or salt water (which we have in HUGE abundance but most crops can't tolerate without expensive refining) 2) Not limited to seasonal cycles. Algae can be harvested daily (obviously you have to leave enough to grow back for the next day) 3) Algae could be used to turn sewage or other waste into fuel (or food)
The big disadvantage you list about not understanding it is true of corn. Netflix has a great documentary (How Things Work or somesuch) that includes an episode on corn. We have a corn laboratory buried DEEP in the ground that stores and experiments with different strains of corn. The reason it's buried so deeply is to minimize the risk of it making it's way to the wild because it could.... we have no idea.
Your own link lists Sharpie under "protected trademarks frequently used as generic terms" with the definition that "these names are still widely known by the public as brand names, and are not used by competitors"
However, it's using algae to produce it rather than corn. Even if it doesn't burn as cleanly as ethanol, it has a number of potential advantages:
1) Algae doesn't require chemical fertilizers, pesticides, etc to the scale that corn does. All of those chemicals have a HUGE environmental impact, comparable with burning fossil fuels 2) Algae has the potential to be much more space efficient... much higher output per acre, so fuel/transport costs to harvest it is significantly lower 3) Algae is much easier to produce closer to where the fuel will be consumers, such as near cities (related to #2), again lowering transport costs 4) Algae can be produced in places that are otherwise undesirable and doesn't compete with food crops, such as deserts, oceans, salt flats, etc. Many of these undesirable locations might still be close to where it's needed, so this doesn't necessarily contradict the transport costs mentioned above. 5) Less risk of a typo accidentally telling people that you need to go pick up porn for you mother.
We might not be to that point yet, but we might have been past it by now if we put the same money into it that goes into corn.
It's a bit of hyperbole. I think he's saying he was "fired" because he's been spending so much time dealing with this that he doesn't have the time or energy left to do the job.
Trademark exists to prevent consumer confusion. It seems like trademarking something already in use by someone else is just a big ol' recipe for confusing ready to be put in the oven.
I think the issue goes beyond them just using the same name. From the summary:
"'The video for their marketing campaign was particularly creepy for me, as even my age and personality didn’t escape the level of detail spent on creating this doppelganger (they used a paid actor of course)."
It sounds like they intentionally made it resemble him as closely as possible. It's sort of like those dollar store markers that are "Sharple" brand in a script that makes it look almost identical to "Sharpie", mostly just to confuse people into getting your knockoff.
"We have seen and heard your sincere concern about our recent youth employment initiative and take your feedback very seriously. We deeply regret if we hurt Turner Barr. This was never our intention when we set up our "Around the World in 80 Jobs" contest. We clearly see that Turner is an inspiration to many people. We feel there should be more of such initiatives that inspire people to live their dreams and achieve their ambitions. Unfortunately, we moved forward with a name and contest that clearly upset Turner and his community. We sincerely apologize for that mistake.
When Turner contacted us about his concern, and we understood the full situation, we immediately engaged with him to try to make things right. Unfortunately, we have been unable to find common ground so far.
Most of all, we are sorry that an initiative we truly care about - youth unemployment - has been negatively received."
I wouldn't worry too much about missing 3D movies. Whenever I've gone to one, it's been a really cool 10 second 3D logo animation before the movie starts and then the rest of the movie just looks like a waste of money. (Which isn't really all that different from how most 2D movies look these days).
Once in a while, after a long day of staring at my monitors, sometimes my eyes will go out of focus slightly and it will appear slightly 3D depending what's on the screen.
I usually couldn't see any flicker at 60Hz and never above 72Hz. Most of the ones with apparent flicker were older monitors that usually had a perpetual burnt capacitor smell lingering around them.
When we first got LCDs in high school (circa 2004), I still had all CRTs at home. I found the LCDs hard to focus on for more than fifteen minutes at a time. However, once I switched to using LCDs everywhere (home, school and work), the problem went away. Now the only time LCDs give me an issue is if the backlight is just too dim and even that I get used to if I use the monitor long enough.
I find it to be much more of a problem using someone else's keyboard because the key spacing is never the same.
I'm okay with most ads, as long as there's no music/video/flashing/excessive animation/pop-ups/pop-unders/scrolling/etc. I don't mind them tracking me within a site (IE: NewEgg displaying ads for stuff someone from my IP has previously looked at). However, when I see ads for something I looked at on NewEgg popping up on every site I visit, that just feels like stalking. I don't want the Walmart Greeter following me into Target, Sears and Big Lots just so he can keep trying to hand me the Flyer of the Week.
He also seems to have trouble telling the difference between the Web and the Internet. Browsers are half the game of the Web, but just more car in a traffic jam of the Internet.
They do have a lot of power when it comes to defining the user experience of the web, but the cool thing about browsers is that it's relatively easy for a programmer (or group thereof) to split off and make their own how they want it, so browser makers have a fair amount of incentive to give users what they want. It won't necessarily be easy, but with all of the major players pushing to follow the standards better, it's probably a lot easier now than it was for Firefox to break on the scene a decade or so ago.
I fear the point went so far over your head you didn't even hear the whoosh. Israel may be mostly Jews, but not all Jews are in/from Israel. Gypsies have done pretty well surviving without having their own country, as have many other groups that have been largely persecuted. My entire point is that Israel has done some shitty stuff but you can't blame "Jews" any more than you can blame "Muslims" for 9/11 or "Christians" for the Inquisition. "Jews" and "Israel" are not one and the same no matter how much people seem to think they are. There's plenty of Jews living elsewhere in the world with little or no ties to the country of Israel.
There's plenty that Israel has done that could be considered crimes beyond survival. However, "Israel" and "Jews" are only slightly more synonymous than "Muslims" and "Iraq".
Slashdot Mirror
Obamacare has many parts to it, but as with many things (such as interstates), it's a trade off. The state agrees to how the fed wants something done and in exchange, the fed gives it a big ol' wad of cash.
It's entirely possible for a state to build their section of an interstate differently... but then the fed won't give them any money for it. There's been a few cases of interstates not built to the fed spec and, as a result, the state has to pay for it entirely.
You ever been to a wedding? That marriage certificate thing they have to sign, and the guy who says "By the power vested in me by the state of..."? That's the civil aspect of it. It just happens to be something where, traditionally, we combine civil and religious all in one big party. Plenty of people get married with zero religion involve. And while it's possible to have a purely religious marriage, it holds no civil rights so you never see it done because it's not recognized outside of the church.
Newsflash: Nerds care about political issues too. Not just technology.
I imagine driver licenses work much the same. If New Jersey decides everybody gets a license when they turn 18 even if they haven't taken any written or practical test, then other states can choose not to accept NJ driving licenses as valid. Thus if you got caught with a NJ license in another state, they could charge you as driving without a license.
**NOTE: As far as I know, New Jersey does not just give everyone a license at 18. They have to find it in a Crackerjack box first.
Watching a movie on Netflix is entertainment. Going to the movies with friends is a social event.
I also prefer paper books for non-linear reading (such as textbooks), in which you may be flipping around between various pages a lot. Paper books also have the advantage of not needing batteries and holding up a little better to moisture, sunlight exposure and other factors that can shorten the life of electronics.
There's two or more different markets... the problem is that the retailers are trying to treat them as one market.
Why go to the movies when you can watch it online? Why go to theater or a sports arena when you can see it on TV? Why go sightseeing when you can use Google Street View?
Some things are just better in person. Personally, I find a book store much easier to browse a category of books when I'm not looking for something very specific. I also find paper books much easier to flip through randomly to get a sense of the structure and content of the book than the electronic counterpart.
I agree with what you say about adding value to it... make book stores more than just a store.
I never saw any value in a celebrity signing something. The sole exception being if you can use that signature to get a credit card in their name...
Get a MicroSD card and install Cyanogenmod on it. The Nook can dual-boot to the uSD card without any sort of modding or rooting. I do it and switch between the B&N version of Android and Cyanogenmod depending on what I want to do.
**This is with a Nook Color. I don't know if the newer tablets can do it.
I'm still waiting for us to find the five-star system from Firefly. We could use dozens of plants and hundreds of moons to terraform.
I think you missed the second half of that first sentence. "to the scale that corn does". Which generally means "less"
Corn requires space between rows and between plants, algae can be packed in tighter. Also, algae would be significantly easier to scale vertically in layers compared to corn which often grows six to ten feet tall.
Other advantages of algae over traditional crops (IE: corn) that a quick Google provides:
1) More tolerant of lower water quality or salt water (which we have in HUGE abundance but most crops can't tolerate without expensive refining)
2) Not limited to seasonal cycles. Algae can be harvested daily (obviously you have to leave enough to grow back for the next day)
3) Algae could be used to turn sewage or other waste into fuel (or food)
The big disadvantage you list about not understanding it is true of corn. Netflix has a great documentary (How Things Work or somesuch) that includes an episode on corn. We have a corn laboratory buried DEEP in the ground that stores and experiments with different strains of corn. The reason it's buried so deeply is to minimize the risk of it making it's way to the wild because it could.... we have no idea.
Your own link lists Sharpie under "protected trademarks frequently used as generic terms" with the definition that "these names are still widely known by the public as brand names, and are not used by competitors"
"This hydrochloric acid is guaranteed to rid your skin of blemishes. They'll simply... burn away"
However, it's using algae to produce it rather than corn. Even if it doesn't burn as cleanly as ethanol, it has a number of potential advantages:
1) Algae doesn't require chemical fertilizers, pesticides, etc to the scale that corn does. All of those chemicals have a HUGE environmental impact, comparable with burning fossil fuels
2) Algae has the potential to be much more space efficient... much higher output per acre, so fuel/transport costs to harvest it is significantly lower
3) Algae is much easier to produce closer to where the fuel will be consumers, such as near cities (related to #2), again lowering transport costs
4) Algae can be produced in places that are otherwise undesirable and doesn't compete with food crops, such as deserts, oceans, salt flats, etc. Many of these undesirable locations might still be close to where it's needed, so this doesn't necessarily contradict the transport costs mentioned above.
5) Less risk of a typo accidentally telling people that you need to go pick up porn for you mother.
We might not be to that point yet, but we might have been past it by now if we put the same money into it that goes into corn.
It's a bit of hyperbole. I think he's saying he was "fired" because he's been spending so much time dealing with this that he doesn't have the time or energy left to do the job.
Trademark exists to prevent consumer confusion. It seems like trademarking something already in use by someone else is just a big ol' recipe for confusing ready to be put in the oven.
I think the issue goes beyond them just using the same name. From the summary:
"'The video for their marketing campaign was particularly creepy for me, as even my age and personality didn’t escape the level of detail spent on creating this doppelganger (they used a paid actor of course)."
It sounds like they intentionally made it resemble him as closely as possible. It's sort of like those dollar store markers that are "Sharple" brand in a script that makes it look almost identical to "Sharpie", mostly just to confuse people into getting your knockoff.
Apparently from Adecco:
"We have seen and heard your sincere concern about our recent youth employment initiative and take your feedback very seriously. We deeply regret if we hurt Turner Barr. This was never our intention when we set up our "Around the World in 80 Jobs" contest. We clearly see that Turner is an inspiration to many people. We feel there should be more of such initiatives that inspire people to live their dreams and achieve their ambitions. Unfortunately, we moved forward with a name and contest that clearly upset Turner and his community. We sincerely apologize for that mistake.
When Turner contacted us about his concern, and we understood the full situation, we immediately engaged with him to try to make things right. Unfortunately, we have been unable to find common ground so far.
Most of all, we are sorry that an initiative we truly care about - youth unemployment - has been negatively received."
I wouldn't worry too much about missing 3D movies. Whenever I've gone to one, it's been a really cool 10 second 3D logo animation before the movie starts and then the rest of the movie just looks like a waste of money. (Which isn't really all that different from how most 2D movies look these days).
Once in a while, after a long day of staring at my monitors, sometimes my eyes will go out of focus slightly and it will appear slightly 3D depending what's on the screen.
I usually couldn't see any flicker at 60Hz and never above 72Hz. Most of the ones with apparent flicker were older monitors that usually had a perpetual burnt capacitor smell lingering around them.
When we first got LCDs in high school (circa 2004), I still had all CRTs at home. I found the LCDs hard to focus on for more than fifteen minutes at a time. However, once I switched to using LCDs everywhere (home, school and work), the problem went away. Now the only time LCDs give me an issue is if the backlight is just too dim and even that I get used to if I use the monitor long enough.
I find it to be much more of a problem using someone else's keyboard because the key spacing is never the same.
I'm okay with most ads, as long as there's no music/video/flashing/excessive animation/pop-ups/pop-unders/scrolling/etc. I don't mind them tracking me within a site (IE: NewEgg displaying ads for stuff someone from my IP has previously looked at). However, when I see ads for something I looked at on NewEgg popping up on every site I visit, that just feels like stalking. I don't want the Walmart Greeter following me into Target, Sears and Big Lots just so he can keep trying to hand me the Flyer of the Week.
He also seems to have trouble telling the difference between the Web and the Internet. Browsers are half the game of the Web, but just more car in a traffic jam of the Internet.
They do have a lot of power when it comes to defining the user experience of the web, but the cool thing about browsers is that it's relatively easy for a programmer (or group thereof) to split off and make their own how they want it, so browser makers have a fair amount of incentive to give users what they want. It won't necessarily be easy, but with all of the major players pushing to follow the standards better, it's probably a lot easier now than it was for Firefox to break on the scene a decade or so ago.
I fear the point went so far over your head you didn't even hear the whoosh. Israel may be mostly Jews, but not all Jews are in/from Israel. Gypsies have done pretty well surviving without having their own country, as have many other groups that have been largely persecuted. My entire point is that Israel has done some shitty stuff but you can't blame "Jews" any more than you can blame "Muslims" for 9/11 or "Christians" for the Inquisition. "Jews" and "Israel" are not one and the same no matter how much people seem to think they are. There's plenty of Jews living elsewhere in the world with little or no ties to the country of Israel.
There's plenty that Israel has done that could be considered crimes beyond survival. However, "Israel" and "Jews" are only slightly more synonymous than "Muslims" and "Iraq".
"Its not like he's a Muslim terrorist"
Or, you know, any other bomb-wielding terrorist?