I agree with the Federal tax. It's even possible to do away with all income tax by paying a federal sales tax. This would also solve the problem of "rich people getting out of paying taxes" and "tax evasion"... not to mention "illegal aliens come and work for cash, take advantage of our welfare system, and don't pay income tax".
Texas does not have state income tax. We pay a higher sales tax than most I've seen (8.25 percent on non food items, excluding "impulse buys" like candies and sodas) but don't have the income tax. If every state did this and/or the federal government did this, it could increase the money the government receives.
Everybody spends money. The more money you make, the more money you spend. Erego, the rich pay more in taxes instead of less while the poor pay less in taxes instead of more.
I was just telling my wife and kids a couple of weeks ago that it would be impossible for me to ever sit trial in front of a jury of my "peers." Primarily because my peers are more technical and knowledgeable than the general public. In my experience, even when a technical and knowledgeable person were not going to try to get out of jury duty, most lawyers will disqualify them because they are knowledgeable. This is also why lawyers don't serve on jurys, they are automatically disqualified.
I met an artist (Fox Elipsus: http://www.elipsus.net/) that told me he hates selling on iTunes because he only gets like 10 cents a song. He's got 3 albums he made himself. He actually told me that he'd rather people pirate his songs than buy them on iTunes, but he sells them there because people buy them there. He even told me if I couldn't afford to buy his music the day of his show, he would tell me where I could download them (pirate) for free. His goal is to get his music out there. I even have a signed CD cover from him saying I could upload all of his music to torrent sites:D.
The majority of the books I get are in the 500+ page ranges. The latest book by Brandon Sanderson that I read was 1001 pages and a great read. He is the one finishing Jordan's Wheel of Time and a great author in his own right. He's written 2 stand alone books, 1 trilogy, 4 books in a youth series, finishing the last 3 of Wheel of Time, and has written his first book in his own epic fantasy (The Stormlight Archives... Book 1 is The Way of Kings). Other than the youth books, no short books here.
Sure they can screw this up, primarily because they already have...
The ATT 3G service listens in at 850Mhz and 1900Mhz while T-Mobile listens in at 1700Mhz and 2100Mhz. This is the reason 3G iPhones won't work 3G on T-Mobile and the Nexus One will not work 3G on ATT.
Basically, the T-Mobile phones will work for now, but when upgrade time comes, must switch to ATT phones. The phones are not interchangeable. Within 2 - 5 years ATT can just "no longer support T-Mobile phones" and force everybody else to upgrade that hasn't already. Then, if they're smart, they'll rework the cell towers for T-Mobile to utilize the ATT frequencies. Otherwise, put out phones that listen on all 4 3G bands for GSM. These are the only two ways to possibly bring any better network out of this.
Personally, I started reading books by an author (Brandon Sanderson) specifically BECAUSE he put some of his work online. At the time it was only 3 chapters of his book Mistborn: The Final Empire, but since then he's put an entire book (Warbreaker, which I have the.pdf of) online.
To this day, I personally own all 12 of his released books 8 of which are in hardcover. I respect a move like this and am willing to support who I think is a great author. If I didn't like his work, I would not have bought the book and that would have been the end. The same applies here. I'd get the book and if it's good, and/or highly beneficial, I'd order a copy for my book shelves. Maybe I'm the exception because I like to have collections and prefer physical books to e-materials every time.
All of the articles related to this that I've looked through so far are assuming religiosity, but it's not. The bill is NOT to protect creationists. It's to protect scientists that are studying Intelligent Design.
Intelligent design is the proposition that "certain features of the universe and of living things are best explained by an intelligent cause, not an undirected process such as natural selection." It is neo-creationism, a form of creationism restated in non-religious terms.
Also, the documentary "Expelled, No Intelligence Allowed" goes through the aspects of intelligent design and the discrimination that occurs in the scientific culture, which is what this bill is trying to protect against.
Of course, it would be better if you could truthfully claim to be from Texas. Texans aren't usually viewed as "American" but as a separate entity around the world. It's usually ok to be Texan even where it's not ok to be American.
Honestly, didn't think about it...
I could use that for communicating to my wife and daughter yes, but most of my online friends are on yahoo or irc. It would be great if Pidgin could port over. I'd always be on my IM then.
If we didn't have an unlimted text plan, you're right we wouldn't text.
We both have smart phones, but still use text due to ease of use. I haven't found a good IM interface yet for Android.
I personally have used 384 text messages so far this cycle (Ends on 3/26).
Daughter's used 759
Wife: 422.
I think we pay something like $20 for unlimited text messaging. Since VZW charges in and out, that puts us at 1.27 cents per message so far with still 16 days to go in our cycle. We do pretty well. Again, if I wasn't paying for text message plan, we'd have 0 text usage. I've also got unlimited data and hit typically 300 - 500 MB a month but like knowing that I can do more.
I don't disagree with some of your ranting (text messaging being so expensive for one) but I don't think that my plan prices are complicated at all. The VZW reps were very up front about all fees and what was required for the phones I wanted. They answered all of my questions and gave me a breakdown of charges before I signed the contract. All of the reps I've dealt with (different reps in 2 stores and various on the phone) have been very nice and forthcoming with information. Sometimes all you have to do is ask. Also, the phones clearly state that they require whatever data package. I do not agree with the multimedia phones having a data package, but that's a rant for another day.
I just don't see that as true. Let me give you a breakdown of my 4 line family plan:
I have a base price of $110. This is for 1400 minutes and unlimited cell phone talk (any provider) and unlimited text messaging and 10 "Friends and Family" numbers that you can call free.
The price is then $10 per additional line, so an extra $30 bringing my total to $140.
Now, the cheapest voice plan, without text messaging, is 200 minutes for 29.99. This does not include friends and family. Multiply that by 4 and you get almost $120 but only 800 minutes. I personally can use 300 - 500 minutes no problem, even outside of my friends and family and other cell phone usage.
To make it more fair, my daughter can send/receive 100 text messages a day (and more... she's a teen what do you expect...). Add 20 cents per text to that 29.99 plan and you're WAY over what I'm paying.
Let's look at the CHEAPEST voice and text plan: 59.99 for 450 minutes and unlimited text messaging. For 2 phones, that would be $119.98. For 2 phones, I'm paying $120 and getting 1400 minutes to share instead of 900 minutes each. If I use 600 minutes and my wife uses 300 minutes, we'd still hit the 900, but I'd now be charged an overage. Also, cheapest plans don't include Friends and Family or free to any cell phone.
At 3 lines, I'm looking at $179.97 for still LESS minutes, less features, and MORE money than my family plan where I'd be paying $130.
Also, a side note, family plans are all billed by line. The primary line is charged the base price ($110 in my case) and the additional lines are all charged $10 for access. We share minutes and everybody has unlimited text messaging, unlimited calling to any cell phone in the US, and most of the numbers called by the other 3 in my plan are either cell phones or on the friends and family. Sure I could pay a lot less for fewer minutes, but I like the fact that the majority of my family's calls don't rack up minutes. Drop too much and they start to take minutes.
Also note, This comparison was using a higher level of service (more minutes and features) than the minimum used for individual lines. Using the same, or similar, features makes even 2 lines more economical than individuals.
TFA says the reason seems to be that the 20 yr old community college student has ties to the middle east, including visiting often and having family in egypt.
Never heard of Osho, will have to look that one up. I encourage my kids to learn about various religions and decide what's best for them. Do I agree with some? No, but ultimately it's their decision. Once they are of legal age, in whatever country or society we happen to be in at the time, it's no longer my decision what they do. Even in America, most parents cannot stop their teens from learning about, or even practicing some of these other religions.
I believe in open access to information, including information I don't agree with. Once my children are mature enough, in my opinion, or old enough, according to the legal statues of society, to be accountable for the information, it's not my job to keep them from it. I will gladly have discussions, or debates, with them about anything they want. If I don't know anything about it, well then I guess they will either teach me, or I'll go learn it on my own so that I can have the discussions with them. Will I try to persuade them to my line of thinking? Absolutely. Will I be mad and/or disown them if they don't agree with me, or believe in or practice something I don't agree with? No. They are my children.
So no, I don't have a problem, as a christian, with other religions being taught, or even my religion being taught as mythology. I do think that if parents don't want specific religions to be taught to their children, they should be able to remove the children from the class during that lesson.
As to the pledge of allegiance, the phrase is "under God" not "one God", being a law respecting an establishment of religion in general, I disagree. I don't recall ever seeing a law pertaining to the pledge of allegiance. And as for the main 3 religions (Islam, Jewish, and Christianity as a whole) they all worship the same God. I also believe that if you do not wish to say "under God" then don't say it. But your "God" could be anything, including your computer, if you so desired.
Oh, forgot to mention, the First Amendment says "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof" Saying "one nation, under God" in the pledge does not create a law respecting an establishment of religion, nor does it prohibit the free exercise thereof. (Same source as above)
I'm curious, how does it violate the constitution? I assume you're speaking of separation between church and state, but this is not strictly a constitutional ideal. It was created by Thomas Jefferson in a writing about his interpretation of the first amendment. The first amendment did not originally differentiate the religion as the first amendment does now.
Some people talk about schools, and them teaching religion, and yet most schools will teach greek and roman mythology. These were religions, why don't people have a problem with them? Why only with christianity?
My daughter had to learn this year about jewish religions, muslim religions, and some of the mythology of old. I would only have a problem with this if they did not also teach some christianity. Fortunately for the school, they did touch on christianity but not as much as the others. My thought behind this is that if they can teach one religion, why not be able to teach them all?
In the US there are 5 time zones, not counting Alaska or Hawaii. They are Eastern, Central, Mountain with DST, Arizona (Mountain without DST), and Pacific.
There are also multiple cities in some of the areas.
I do agree with you however about the lack of need for larger lists. In the CentOS 5.5 install I've just done, there is only an option for Chicago for Central, my state capital (Austin) isn't an option, but I don 't much care as long as I can set the time zone. Unless I'm mistaken, it should still be possible to set the time zone based on the actual time zone (CST6CDT or GB), this also would remove "nationalistic pride" and just increase the utility.
But in California, you have to have a teachers certificate to homeschool your kids. We homeschooled in TX for a year and I think it was great, but kids wanted to go back into public school. Something like this, they wouldn't have that option.
And it's stereotypical attitudes like this that cause kids to believe that's their fate in life and live up to it. I believe the mantra "whether you say you can, or you say you can't, you are right." That's why I require of my kids to do their best in everything they do. I expect perfection out of myself.
That being said, as another poster mentioned, it's VERY easy to get 4 UNexcused absences. My daughter had 8 in the first half of the year, and she's a straight A student.
An absence is only considered "excused" if there is a doctor's note, and only for the time of the appointment, or otherwise specified by the doctor's note. Which means my daughter has only had 3 excused absences out of 12 so far this year. We don't go to the doctor anytime we have a cold. We try not to go to the doctor at all. That means anytime my kids throw up or have a fever, they stay home and in bed. These are UNexcused absences because they didn't go to a doctor.
Maybe it's a bit more lenient in CA, but I would suspect that they would be "asking" my daughter to carry one of these. I might be inclined to "borrow" it from her and activate it at 8PM at the school, or at a bar, or somewhere nefarious while my daughter is at home.
In the OP situation, the only time to suggest changing the password is on the way out the door. After the door has closed, I agree it's too late. Before the door closes though, they cannot claim you are trying to get unauthorized access. You're merely reminding them that you, at one point in time, had access.
The company I work for now had all the same passwords as the previous admin, who had left more than a month before. My first day was spent accessing and changing all server passwords. My first week was spent learning the layout and going back into logs to see if the previous admin had been in. I wish I could say all companies are like that, or even all admins are. I was a little concerned when I first came in that they hadn't changed passwords.
I understand that. Which is why I also teach them that doing something as damaging as taking out a knee is reserved for real threats, not a school bully.
I teach them first and foremost to not fight when at all possible. I personally have not ever been in a real fight outside of sparring matches in martial arts and "play fighting" with my family (brothers and cousins mostly). I do understand the concern of too much violence when it's not warranted, and strive to teach my children the difference.
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Texas does not have state income tax. We pay a higher sales tax than most I've seen (8.25 percent on non food items, excluding "impulse buys" like candies and sodas) but don't have the income tax. If every state did this and/or the federal government did this, it could increase the money the government receives.
Everybody spends money. The more money you make, the more money you spend. Erego, the rich pay more in taxes instead of less while the poor pay less in taxes instead of more.
hulu? netflix?
Just a thought... but shouldn't you put the emphasis on NOT instead of IS OK? It could be misunderstood....
I was just telling my wife and kids a couple of weeks ago that it would be impossible for me to ever sit trial in front of a jury of my "peers." Primarily because my peers are more technical and knowledgeable than the general public. In my experience, even when a technical and knowledgeable person were not going to try to get out of jury duty, most lawyers will disqualify them because they are knowledgeable. This is also why lawyers don't serve on jurys, they are automatically disqualified.
I met an artist (Fox Elipsus: http://www.elipsus.net/) that told me he hates selling on iTunes because he only gets like 10 cents a song. He's got 3 albums he made himself. He actually told me that he'd rather people pirate his songs than buy them on iTunes, but he sells them there because people buy them there. He even told me if I couldn't afford to buy his music the day of his show, he would tell me where I could download them (pirate) for free. His goal is to get his music out there. I even have a signed CD cover from him saying I could upload all of his music to torrent sites :D.
The majority of the books I get are in the 500+ page ranges. The latest book by Brandon Sanderson that I read was 1001 pages and a great read. He is the one finishing Jordan's Wheel of Time and a great author in his own right. He's written 2 stand alone books, 1 trilogy, 4 books in a youth series, finishing the last 3 of Wheel of Time, and has written his first book in his own epic fantasy (The Stormlight Archives... Book 1 is The Way of Kings). Other than the youth books, no short books here.
The ATT 3G service listens in at 850Mhz and 1900Mhz while T-Mobile listens in at 1700Mhz and 2100Mhz. This is the reason 3G iPhones won't work 3G on T-Mobile and the Nexus One will not work 3G on ATT.
http://gigaom.com/2010/01/11/att-nexus-one-3g/
Basically, the T-Mobile phones will work for now, but when upgrade time comes, must switch to ATT phones. The phones are not interchangeable. Within 2 - 5 years ATT can just "no longer support T-Mobile phones" and force everybody else to upgrade that hasn't already. Then, if they're smart, they'll rework the cell towers for T-Mobile to utilize the ATT frequencies. Otherwise, put out phones that listen on all 4 3G bands for GSM. These are the only two ways to possibly bring any better network out of this.
To this day, I personally own all 12 of his released books 8 of which are in hardcover. I respect a move like this and am willing to support who I think is a great author. If I didn't like his work, I would not have bought the book and that would have been the end. The same applies here. I'd get the book and if it's good, and/or highly beneficial, I'd order a copy for my book shelves. Maybe I'm the exception because I like to have collections and prefer physical books to e-materials every time.
Intelligent design is the proposition that "certain features of the universe and of living things are best explained by an intelligent cause, not an undirected process such as natural selection." It is neo-creationism, a form of creationism restated in non-religious terms.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intelligent_Design
Also, the documentary "Expelled, No Intelligence Allowed" goes through the aspects of intelligent design and the discrimination that occurs in the scientific culture, which is what this bill is trying to protect against.
(not as bad as venus actually though, surprisingly)
I think he was referring to the "surprising" portion of the comment... the part in parenthesis
Of course, it would be better if you could truthfully claim to be from Texas. Texans aren't usually viewed as "American" but as a separate entity around the world. It's usually ok to be Texan even where it's not ok to be American.
Honestly, didn't think about it... I could use that for communicating to my wife and daughter yes, but most of my online friends are on yahoo or irc. It would be great if Pidgin could port over. I'd always be on my IM then.
If we didn't have an unlimted text plan, you're right we wouldn't text.
We both have smart phones, but still use text due to ease of use. I haven't found a good IM interface yet for Android.
I personally have used 384 text messages so far this cycle (Ends on 3/26).
Daughter's used 759
Wife: 422.
I think we pay something like $20 for unlimited text messaging. Since VZW charges in and out, that puts us at 1.27 cents per message so far with still 16 days to go in our cycle. We do pretty well. Again, if I wasn't paying for text message plan, we'd have 0 text usage. I've also got unlimited data and hit typically 300 - 500 MB a month but like knowing that I can do more.
I don't disagree with some of your ranting (text messaging being so expensive for one) but I don't think that my plan prices are complicated at all. The VZW reps were very up front about all fees and what was required for the phones I wanted. They answered all of my questions and gave me a breakdown of charges before I signed the contract. All of the reps I've dealt with (different reps in 2 stores and various on the phone) have been very nice and forthcoming with information. Sometimes all you have to do is ask. Also, the phones clearly state that they require whatever data package. I do not agree with the multimedia phones having a data package, but that's a rant for another day.
I just don't see that as true. Let me give you a breakdown of my 4 line family plan:
I have a base price of $110. This is for 1400 minutes and unlimited cell phone talk (any provider) and unlimited text messaging and 10 "Friends and Family" numbers that you can call free.
The price is then $10 per additional line, so an extra $30 bringing my total to $140.
Now, the cheapest voice plan, without text messaging, is 200 minutes for 29.99. This does not include friends and family. Multiply that by 4 and you get almost $120 but only 800 minutes. I personally can use 300 - 500 minutes no problem, even outside of my friends and family and other cell phone usage.
To make it more fair, my daughter can send/receive 100 text messages a day (and more... she's a teen what do you expect...). Add 20 cents per text to that 29.99 plan and you're WAY over what I'm paying.
Let's look at the CHEAPEST voice and text plan: 59.99 for 450 minutes and unlimited text messaging. For 2 phones, that would be $119.98. For 2 phones, I'm paying $120 and getting 1400 minutes to share instead of 900 minutes each. If I use 600 minutes and my wife uses 300 minutes, we'd still hit the 900, but I'd now be charged an overage. Also, cheapest plans don't include Friends and Family or free to any cell phone.
At 3 lines, I'm looking at $179.97 for still LESS minutes, less features, and MORE money than my family plan where I'd be paying $130.
Also, a side note, family plans are all billed by line. The primary line is charged the base price ($110 in my case) and the additional lines are all charged $10 for access. We share minutes and everybody has unlimited text messaging, unlimited calling to any cell phone in the US, and most of the numbers called by the other 3 in my plan are either cell phones or on the friends and family. Sure I could pay a lot less for fewer minutes, but I like the fact that the majority of my family's calls don't rack up minutes. Drop too much and they start to take minutes.
Also note, This comparison was using a higher level of service (more minutes and features) than the minimum used for individual lines. Using the same, or similar, features makes even 2 lines more economical than individuals.
TFA says the reason seems to be that the 20 yr old community college student has ties to the middle east, including visiting often and having family in egypt.
Never heard of Osho, will have to look that one up. I encourage my kids to learn about various religions and decide what's best for them. Do I agree with some? No, but ultimately it's their decision. Once they are of legal age, in whatever country or society we happen to be in at the time, it's no longer my decision what they do. Even in America, most parents cannot stop their teens from learning about, or even practicing some of these other religions.
I believe in open access to information, including information I don't agree with. Once my children are mature enough, in my opinion, or old enough, according to the legal statues of society, to be accountable for the information, it's not my job to keep them from it. I will gladly have discussions, or debates, with them about anything they want. If I don't know anything about it, well then I guess they will either teach me, or I'll go learn it on my own so that I can have the discussions with them. Will I try to persuade them to my line of thinking? Absolutely. Will I be mad and/or disown them if they don't agree with me, or believe in or practice something I don't agree with? No. They are my children. So no, I don't have a problem, as a christian, with other religions being taught, or even my religion being taught as mythology. I do think that if parents don't want specific religions to be taught to their children, they should be able to remove the children from the class during that lesson. As to the pledge of allegiance, the phrase is "under God" not "one God", being a law respecting an establishment of religion in general, I disagree. I don't recall ever seeing a law pertaining to the pledge of allegiance. And as for the main 3 religions (Islam, Jewish, and Christianity as a whole) they all worship the same God. I also believe that if you do not wish to say "under God" then don't say it. But your "God" could be anything, including your computer, if you so desired.
Oh, forgot to mention, the First Amendment says "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof" Saying "one nation, under God" in the pledge does not create a law respecting an establishment of religion, nor does it prohibit the free exercise thereof. (Same source as above)
I'm curious, how does it violate the constitution? I assume you're speaking of separation between church and state, but this is not strictly a constitutional ideal. It was created by Thomas Jefferson in a writing about his interpretation of the first amendment. The first amendment did not originally differentiate the religion as the first amendment does now.
Some people talk about schools, and them teaching religion, and yet most schools will teach greek and roman mythology. These were religions, why don't people have a problem with them? Why only with christianity?
My daughter had to learn this year about jewish religions, muslim religions, and some of the mythology of old. I would only have a problem with this if they did not also teach some christianity. Fortunately for the school, they did touch on christianity but not as much as the others. My thought behind this is that if they can teach one religion, why not be able to teach them all?
As for separation of church and state: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Separation_of_church_and_state_in_the_United_States
Someone once said... if you quote south park in a political discussion, your argument is invalid.
I for one agree though, the 2 party system is broken.
In the US there are 5 time zones, not counting Alaska or Hawaii. They are Eastern, Central, Mountain with DST, Arizona (Mountain without DST), and Pacific.
There are also multiple cities in some of the areas.
I do agree with you however about the lack of need for larger lists. In the CentOS 5.5 install I've just done, there is only an option for Chicago for Central, my state capital (Austin) isn't an option, but I don 't much care as long as I can set the time zone. Unless I'm mistaken, it should still be possible to set the time zone based on the actual time zone (CST6CDT or GB), this also would remove "nationalistic pride" and just increase the utility.
But in California, you have to have a teachers certificate to homeschool your kids. We homeschooled in TX for a year and I think it was great, but kids wanted to go back into public school. Something like this, they wouldn't have that option.
And it's stereotypical attitudes like this that cause kids to believe that's their fate in life and live up to it. I believe the mantra "whether you say you can, or you say you can't, you are right." That's why I require of my kids to do their best in everything they do. I expect perfection out of myself. That being said, as another poster mentioned, it's VERY easy to get 4 UNexcused absences. My daughter had 8 in the first half of the year, and she's a straight A student. An absence is only considered "excused" if there is a doctor's note, and only for the time of the appointment, or otherwise specified by the doctor's note. Which means my daughter has only had 3 excused absences out of 12 so far this year. We don't go to the doctor anytime we have a cold. We try not to go to the doctor at all. That means anytime my kids throw up or have a fever, they stay home and in bed. These are UNexcused absences because they didn't go to a doctor. Maybe it's a bit more lenient in CA, but I would suspect that they would be "asking" my daughter to carry one of these. I might be inclined to "borrow" it from her and activate it at 8PM at the school, or at a bar, or somewhere nefarious while my daughter is at home.
In the OP situation, the only time to suggest changing the password is on the way out the door. After the door has closed, I agree it's too late. Before the door closes though, they cannot claim you are trying to get unauthorized access. You're merely reminding them that you, at one point in time, had access. The company I work for now had all the same passwords as the previous admin, who had left more than a month before. My first day was spent accessing and changing all server passwords. My first week was spent learning the layout and going back into logs to see if the previous admin had been in. I wish I could say all companies are like that, or even all admins are. I was a little concerned when I first came in that they hadn't changed passwords.
I understand that. Which is why I also teach them that doing something as damaging as taking out a knee is reserved for real threats, not a school bully. I teach them first and foremost to not fight when at all possible. I personally have not ever been in a real fight outside of sparring matches in martial arts and "play fighting" with my family (brothers and cousins mostly). I do understand the concern of too much violence when it's not warranted, and strive to teach my children the difference.