Why would it have to come with a card? Here in the UK we have the NHS as you say, but you don't need any ID to use it. Anyone can walk in to any doctors surgery or hospital for treatment without having to 'prove' anything. Your medical records are held by your own GP, but if you visit another GP (on holiday, for example) or hospital then they wouldn't usually require your records, so it's not a problem.
This is exactly how it should be - isn't helping the sick one of our obligations as a society? If they want to come over from abroad and use our doctors then who cares? The cost of this is nothing compared to our stupid illegal wars - in fact treating the poor who can't afford treatment in their own countries that aren't civilised enough to provide universal free healthcare is an honourable act of charity - I certainly don't object to my taxes being used to pay for it. What person with morals could?
Well for one thing, why should a policeman ask who I am unless I am committing a crime? Here in the UK you don't have to tell them if they ask for no reason. ID cards would mean you are a criminal if you do this, which is precisely why I will refuse to carry one. I think enough people think this way to make the scheme unenforcable.
> No. Only one member of the Council is appointed by the > government that I elected; the others are appointed by > other member governments that I did not elect.
Are you even thinking about what you're saying? I vote for one MP - the others are beyond my control. Wait! My God! The UK government is run mostly by people I did not elect!!! Of course it is, and are the various EU institutions. It's exactly the same.
I don't like how much power the comission and council have and I'm not saying the EU is perfect, but I get tired of Daily Mail readers spouting nonsense. The EU is the only mechanism by which we can compete in the modern world and it needs more power if anything else. I'm looking forward to the day we have an EU army, for example. The world needs another superpower for balance, and we can only do this as part of a more united Europe.
In the end it's the EU that's making us greener, regenerating our deprived areas, telling us we can't lock people up willy-nilly and taking a dim view of our dodgy illegal wars. I'd have them over our current government any day.
Justifying high usage of oil because of low population density is nonsense. It's because of an overdependance on oil that Americans have to travel so much - if you had sensible city planning and people lived close to their place of work rather than in miles of endless suburbia then they wouldn't need to travel in the first place.
As for your point about not agreeing that global warming is man-made, well, you can bury your head in the sand, but I tend to go with the opinion of the vast majority of climate experts over yours.
Climate change isn't even doubted outside the US. Don't Americans realise that even questioning it makes them a laughing stock to the rest of the world? It would be like the government here (the UK) claiming that the world is flat or something. Your government sounds like it is from the dark ages, and that's not trolling, it's how the world sees it.
Indeed. This site is very good at explaining all of this (and seeing where you are compared to famous political figures): http://www.politicalcompass.org/
I never used to think that (male) circumcision would even happen in the West for non-religious people until I saw an episode of 'Sex And The City' where one of the awful women in that was actually surprised that one of her men was 'uncut'.
I mean... WTF? What the hell do Americans do this for? Here in the UK I don't know a single person who has been circumsised (well, maybe I do, but from my time in the gym I can tell there can't be many). Why did it start happening in the US when it doesn't happen elsewhere? Does anyone know?
Well how about *all* countries use taxes to cut emissions? Once even a relatively small proportion of the world imposes huge tariffs on goods from companies that don't produce goods in countries with a 'green' tax, the world will be falling over itself to get on board. Problem solved.
Of course 'green' taxes and regulations at this level work - they are arguably one of the better effects of the EU. Without EU-side co-operation we probably wouldn't have a lot of the pressure on industry to be green that we have today. Well, if it wants to sell to any EU countries...
A lot of people have privacy concerns, and that's fair enough. However, there is an upside to this system. Think of all the junk that people don't recycle properly or just throw onto the street. Well, now those people can be tracked-down and fined. At last we may see an end to litter and dumped TV sets at the side of the road.
I think the system could work quite well. There needs to be some easy way of registering that you sell something to someone else (who has to authorise the change obviously), or recycling centres and other official disposal agents can transfer items. Otherwise your item can be linked to you and it's your responsibility. If they can do this while satisfying privacy concerns then I'd be 100% behind the scheme.
Well it could be like car registration - when you sell something it's up to *you* to register the fact on some sort of Web site or form. I can't see a problem with this, and it means that if someone I sell my car to goes and kills someone with it then it's not my problem.
Perhaps, but she got a rather nice leaving bonus didn't she? In fact I think it was more than $21 million in severance.. not too shabby.
How much will the French employees get I wonder, even if the French mayor gets *all* his demands?
It always amazes me that US workers actually defend companies that can fire employees for no particular reason. In the UK I know that they have to jump through hoops to get rid of me (for anything but gross misconduct), and that's exactly how it should be.
Concorde was the first plane I'd ever been on, and it was all quite exciting for me as a 15 year old. It was a lucky break - I was working for a small telecoms company during my school summer holiday and they hit some sales target or other. The reward was lunch for *all* staff on Concorde.
I still have the ticket - Heathrow to Heathrow. It was great fun - got to visit the cockpit and was treated like a king. Every flight I've been on since has been 'economy'.. the first one was a real disappointment. 'Where's the Champagne?!'. Pah.
Reading through all of the comments on this story, I am struck by how many people have said this. Why is the US so paranoid about people seeing their kids naked? The number of people who get off on it is *very* small, and the number that actually do anything about it is smaller still.
Does anyone with a kid drive them around in their car? Congratulations, that's thousands of times more dangerous than any dodgy perverts. We all need some perspective - there seems to be some sort of mass hysteria over this issue. If you get a chance I would recommend watching the Brass Eye special on paedophiles (http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000066N T9/) to illustrate how much society is over-reacting.
I think there is a problem here in the UK with nudity, but it's worse in the US. It is bizarre and just plain wrong that you can be arrested for being naked in public. This is the case though, and as a result nudity is seen as something dirty and perverted.
I wouldn't have a problem in this airport scanner as far as being seen naked goes, much as I wouldn't object to my girlfriend going through it either. I also prefer to be naked when swimming or on the beach, but I wouldn't class myself as a 'naturist'. It is absurd that people don't feel comfortable with this, and 100% down to social conditioning. I say bring on the nakedness! Once people get used to it and realise that we're all the same underneath, perhaps society will improve.
The rest of the album is pretty good, although you may be thrown by the first track where he sings about love. On a NIN album!? It is good stuff though.
The single is quite radio-friendly, and I'm not enough of a snob to think that is a bad thing. If it gets people into NIN then it can only be a good thing. When I first heard The Downward Spiral I thought it was just a load of noise, but I got to like it thanks to Pretty Hate Machine being more accessible. Now I like TDS more of course, but people need that entry point.
Anyway, kudos to Trent for releasing the Garageband file. Top man.
Magnatune (http://www.magnatune.com/) is another site that does this, although it is even better as you can pay what you think the album is worth, rather than a set price.
There's quite a lot of different genres on there - check it out.
3960 seems pretty reasonable compared to the cost of doing it in a car? What would that be - a couple of grand for a decent second hand car, couple of hundred for tax, another few hundred for insurance, a few thousand for petrol and a little bit more for maintanance.
Sounds like a good deal to me. Of course it should be cheaper (I favour free public transport for all paid for by a 2% increase in income tax, but I digress...). Privatisation of public transport is almost as morally wrong as privatising health care...
You could make the same argument about LPG fuel, yet it seems to have been rolled out here in the UK just fine. Of course not every petrol station does it, but there are enough to be pratical for every day driving.
LPG is more like petrol than electricity of course, but the principle of getting it into traditional refulling points is the same (in fact recharging points would be easier as you don't need underground tanks).
As an aside, it astounds me that more people don't use LPG. The government here pay half the cost of converting your car (about 500 quid), then it's about a third of the price of petrol. I guess people are just lazy or sceptical...
Is it reasonable to expect Americans to be paid a premium just because of where they live?
If a job can be done for $10 in some foreign country, it should be done for $10 in the USA.
Wait - that doesn't sound as nice does it? What's the problem? Ah, things cost so much more in the US do they? So people earn more? Oh. Funny how there is a reason for everything, when you think about it.
Pah. My phone has had GPS for more than a year (with my A920 before it) already.
All of this 'where is my nearest ATM' stuff is old hat. 2G phones needed to use triangulation and the results were sometimes way off, but my phone usually gets it down to about 2 or 3 metres in towns and cities. As for this 'Am I close to my friends' thing, well, that would be cool. I'd use it. With the 'always on' 3G connection and in-phone GPS, it sounds like anybody with the time and Java skills could do it...
Slashdot Mirror
Why would it have to come with a card? Here in the UK we have the NHS as you say, but you don't need any ID to use it. Anyone can walk in to any doctors surgery or hospital for treatment without having to 'prove' anything. Your medical records are held by your own GP, but if you visit another GP (on holiday, for example) or hospital then they wouldn't usually require your records, so it's not a problem.
This is exactly how it should be - isn't helping the sick one of our obligations as a society? If they want to come over from abroad and use our doctors then who cares? The cost of this is nothing compared to our stupid illegal wars - in fact treating the poor who can't afford treatment in their own countries that aren't civilised enough to provide universal free healthcare is an honourable act of charity - I certainly don't object to my taxes being used to pay for it. What person with morals could?
Well for one thing, why should a policeman ask who I am unless I am committing a crime? Here in the UK you don't have to tell them if they ask for no reason. ID cards would mean you are a criminal if you do this, which is precisely why I will refuse to carry one. I think enough people think this way to make the scheme unenforcable.
> No. Only one member of the Council is appointed by the
> government that I elected; the others are appointed by
> other member governments that I did not elect.
Are you even thinking about what you're saying? I vote for one MP - the others are beyond my control. Wait! My God! The UK government is run mostly by people I did not elect!!! Of course it is, and are the various EU institutions. It's exactly the same.
I don't like how much power the comission and council have and I'm not saying the EU is perfect, but I get tired of Daily Mail readers spouting nonsense. The EU is the only mechanism by which we can compete in the modern world and it needs more power if anything else. I'm looking forward to the day we have an EU army, for example. The world needs another superpower for balance, and we can only do this as part of a more united Europe.
In the end it's the EU that's making us greener, regenerating our deprived areas, telling us we can't lock people up willy-nilly and taking a dim view of our dodgy illegal wars. I'd have them over our current government any day.
Justifying high usage of oil because of low population density is nonsense. It's because of an overdependance on oil that Americans have to travel so much - if you had sensible city planning and people lived close to their place of work rather than in miles of endless suburbia then they wouldn't need to travel in the first place.
As for your point about not agreeing that global warming is man-made, well, you can bury your head in the sand, but I tend to go with the opinion of the vast majority of climate experts over yours.
Climate change isn't even doubted outside the US. Don't Americans realise that even questioning it makes them a laughing stock to the rest of the world? It would be like the government here (the UK) claiming that the world is flat or something. Your government sounds like it is from the dark ages, and that's not trolling, it's how the world sees it.
> the Kyoto treaty that just happens to be rigged to do disproportionate harm to America
Umm.. like America is doing disproportionate harm to everyone else (and itself) right now? Seems fair to me.
Indeed. This site is very good at explaining all of this (and seeing where you are compared to famous political figures): http://www.politicalcompass.org/
I never used to think that (male) circumcision would even happen in the West for non-religious people until I saw an episode of 'Sex And The City' where one of the awful women in that was actually surprised that one of her men was 'uncut'.
I mean... WTF? What the hell do Americans do this for? Here in the UK I don't know a single person who has been circumsised (well, maybe I do, but from my time in the gym I can tell there can't be many). Why did it start happening in the US when it doesn't happen elsewhere? Does anyone know?
Well how about *all* countries use taxes to cut emissions? Once even a relatively small proportion of the world imposes huge tariffs on goods from companies that don't produce goods in countries with a 'green' tax, the world will be falling over itself to get on board. Problem solved.
Of course 'green' taxes and regulations at this level work - they are arguably one of the better effects of the EU. Without EU-side co-operation we probably wouldn't have a lot of the pressure on industry to be green that we have today. Well, if it wants to sell to any EU countries...
OK, I think they've got you covered: http://www.apple.com/ipodshuffle/
A lot of people have privacy concerns, and that's fair enough. However, there is an upside to this system. Think of all the junk that people don't recycle properly or just throw onto the street. Well, now those people can be tracked-down and fined. At last we may see an end to litter and dumped TV sets at the side of the road.
I think the system could work quite well. There needs to be some easy way of registering that you sell something to someone else (who has to authorise the change obviously), or recycling centres and other official disposal agents can transfer items. Otherwise your item can be linked to you and it's your responsibility. If they can do this while satisfying privacy concerns then I'd be 100% behind the scheme.
Well it could be like car registration - when you sell something it's up to *you* to register the fact on some sort of Web site or form. I can't see a problem with this, and it means that if someone I sell my car to goes and kills someone with it then it's not my problem.
> 2) Oh, and while on the dole you still get some minimum of health care.
Some minimum? The healthcare you get here in the UK is exactly the same as someone who is earning 100k a year, thanks to universal free health care.
What sort of society abandons their weak and poor to look after themselves anwyay?
Perhaps, but she got a rather nice leaving bonus didn't she? In fact I think it was more than $21 million in severance.. not too shabby.
How much will the French employees get I wonder, even if the French mayor gets *all* his demands?
It always amazes me that US workers actually defend companies that can fire employees for no particular reason. In the UK I know that they have to jump through hoops to get rid of me (for anything but gross misconduct), and that's exactly how it should be.
Having terrorist heroes didn't (and still doesn't) stop Star Wars IV - VI being very popular...
Concorde was the first plane I'd ever been on, and it was all quite exciting for me as a 15 year old. It was a lucky break - I was working for a small telecoms company during my school summer holiday and they hit some sales target or other. The reward was lunch for *all* staff on Concorde.
I still have the ticket - Heathrow to Heathrow. It was great fun - got to visit the cockpit and was treated like a king. Every flight I've been on since has been 'economy'.. the first one was a real disappointment. 'Where's the Champagne?!'. Pah.
Reading through all of the comments on this story, I am struck by how many people have said this. Why is the US so paranoid about people seeing their kids naked? The number of people who get off on it is *very* small, and the number that actually do anything about it is smaller still.
N T9/) to illustrate how much society is over-reacting.
Does anyone with a kid drive them around in their car? Congratulations, that's thousands of times more dangerous than any dodgy perverts. We all need some perspective - there seems to be some sort of mass hysteria over this issue. If you get a chance I would recommend watching the Brass Eye special on paedophiles (http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000066
I think there is a problem here in the UK with nudity, but it's worse in the US. It is bizarre and just plain wrong that you can be arrested for being naked in public. This is the case though, and as a result nudity is seen as something dirty and perverted.
I wouldn't have a problem in this airport scanner as far as being seen naked goes, much as I wouldn't object to my girlfriend going through it either. I also prefer to be naked when swimming or on the beach, but I wouldn't class myself as a 'naturist'. It is absurd that people don't feel comfortable with this, and 100% down to social conditioning. I say bring on the nakedness! Once people get used to it and realise that we're all the same underneath, perhaps society will improve.
The rest of the album is pretty good, although you may be thrown by the first track where he sings about love. On a NIN album!? It is good stuff though.
The single is quite radio-friendly, and I'm not enough of a snob to think that is a bad thing. If it gets people into NIN then it can only be a good thing. When I first heard The Downward Spiral I thought it was just a load of noise, but I got to like it thanks to Pretty Hate Machine being more accessible. Now I like TDS more of course, but people need that entry point.
Anyway, kudos to Trent for releasing the Garageband file. Top man.
Magnatune (http://www.magnatune.com/) is another site that does this, although it is even better as you can pay what you think the album is worth, rather than a set price.
There's quite a lot of different genres on there - check it out.
3960 seems pretty reasonable compared to the cost of doing it in a car? What would that be - a couple of grand for a decent second hand car, couple of hundred for tax, another few hundred for insurance, a few thousand for petrol and a little bit more for maintanance.
Sounds like a good deal to me. Of course it should be cheaper (I favour free public transport for all paid for by a 2% increase in income tax, but I digress...). Privatisation of public transport is almost as morally wrong as privatising health care...
You could make the same argument about LPG fuel, yet it seems to have been rolled out here in the UK just fine. Of course not every petrol station does it, but there are enough to be pratical for every day driving.
LPG is more like petrol than electricity of course, but the principle of getting it into traditional refulling points is the same (in fact recharging points would be easier as you don't need underground tanks).
As an aside, it astounds me that more people don't use LPG. The government here pay half the cost of converting your car (about 500 quid), then it's about a third of the price of petrol. I guess people are just lazy or sceptical...
Is it reasonable to expect Americans to be paid a premium just because of where they live?
If a job can be done for $10 in some foreign country, it should be done for $10 in the USA.
Wait - that doesn't sound as nice does it? What's the problem? Ah, things cost so much more in the US do they? So people earn more? Oh. Funny how there is a reason for everything, when you think about it.
Queen are American?! Quick - someone had better tell them! I'm sure they'll be quite surprised.
Thankfully we have a three party system, so you can vote for the lukewarm-to-Bush-and-probably-more-so-than-they-le t-on Lib Dems.
A vote for Labour or the Tories backs Bush, and it's pointless voting for anyone smaller than the Lib Dems...
You don't have to pay anything to listen to BBC radio if you don't have a TV...
Pah. My phone has had GPS for more than a year (with my A920 before it) already.
All of this 'where is my nearest ATM' stuff is old hat. 2G phones needed to use triangulation and the results were sometimes way off, but my phone usually gets it down to about 2 or 3 metres in towns and cities. As for this 'Am I close to my friends' thing, well, that would be cool. I'd use it. With the 'always on' 3G connection and in-phone GPS, it sounds like anybody with the time and Java skills could do it...