Let's assume for a second that these people actually somehow wind up making it as far as putting six human beings into space. They don't necessarily have to make it to Mars, but they've gone out of Earth's atmosphere. Call me the skeptic, but I don't think these "astronauts" are going to survive (whether or not they make it to Mars, I don't know - I personally think they might be able to get close, but at most will die on landing).
So, what happens when a private company sends humans beings into space and they die? Governments around the world will put a cap on private space travel. They'll probably even write up an international treaty banning it, giving governments monopolies over space travel/technology.
Private space travel hasn't begun yet, and it'd certainly be a horrible thing if it's stopped before it starts due to some idiots with a reality TV show.
It would never pass as a constitutional amendment. Constitutional amendments get far too much press, and no one wants to risk their political career on trying to pass an amendment that is clearly, "tax the citizenry."
Then again, the constitution has pretty much been ignored by the federal government for the past century or so, and the supreme court doesn't seem to care much...
You can't use that justification (see my comment here), but you can cite section ten:
Article I, Section Ten: Section 10. No state shall enter into any treaty, alliance, or confederation; grant letters of marque and reprisal; coin money; emit bills of credit; make anything but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts; pass any bill of attainder, ex post facto law, or law impairing the obligation of contracts, or grant any title of nobility.
No state shall, without the consent of the Congress, lay any imposts or duties on imports or exports, except what may be absolutely necessary for executing it's inspection laws: and the net produce of all duties and imposts, laid by any state on imports or exports, shall be for the use of the treasury of the United States; and all such laws shall be subject to the revision and control of the Congress.
So yes, it is unconstitutional - but not for the reason you cite.
I'm not so sure about that. The first part, "No Tax or Duty shall be laid on Articles exported from any State." covers exports. Meaning, if I am the government of New Jersey, I cannot tax products being exported to New York. However, it does not stop New York for taxing imports from New Jersey. Such import taxes have been used many, many times since the founding of our nation.
We are born with, for example, freedom of speech. It does not take a government, or the work of others, to give us that right. If we lived in anarchy, I would still be able to say whatever I wanted, reguardless of the fact that there is no constitution.
The constitution does not give us out freedoms - it protects them.
"Art" is not a right. You have a right to create art - which is to say, you have the right to paint/draw/write whatever you want. That's covered by freedom of expression.
You do not, however, have the right to view art for free. If you want to go to a museum, you must pay whatever the owner is asking (which may be nothing, in which case it is free - but the argument still stands).
Software cannot be a "basic social right." By definition, software must be created by someone. Someone must do work to create software. Therefore, software is a product for a consumer.
Uhm, I guess you've never heard of ESR before. When he talks about the open source community as, "We," he really means "we." He is actually doing the work.
ESR is part of the community. He's not some teenager whining that the software doesn't work - he's a respected figure pointing out a problem in hopes that it will be recognized and fixed.
Mods (I had mod status, but I already posted a comment on this board), please mod parent down. It's adult content, with no humor or warning. Parent is trolling, not being funny. And, more seriously, like others have stated - people read slashdot at work, and can get in serious trouble for that content.
I have a great plan. We'll be able to give tax cuts, not cut any services/government projects, and have even greater programs than before! What is this miracle, you might ask?
It's called the "Not Spending Three Hundred Dollars on a Toilet Seat" plan.
But in all seriousness, a lot of the money we pay in taxes is wasted - and by wasted, I don't mean spent on programs which aren't "necessary", but I mean just plain wasted. The $300 toilet seat was a while ago, but things like that still go on. Government projects overpay, and government officials abuse their free perks-of-office (such as flying around the country on Air Force One on campeign trips...).
I've never understood the "football is a sissy version of rugby" line. American football is a lot more violent than rugby. For example:
Rugby: Play gets tackled, they must let go of the ball.
Football: Player gets tackled, uses his body to maintain control of the ball. Result: ten 300 pound men jumping on top of him.
If American Football is so much of a sissy sport, why are people constantly being taken off the field with broken legs, head injuries, and crushed limbs, even WITH the protective armor?
I was watching NASA TV last night, and the curreny thinking is that the bedrock was not formed by wind deposits. They're currently hypothosizing water or volcanic means of creation.
I never said the United States doesn't have socialist leanings. However, when comparing the United States and Canada, it's obvious that Canada is far more socialist than the US.
The thing is, in the United States, even if you have someone where like New York City, which is very densely populated, you still have to lay pipe connecting these big cities across the country. If you've ever looked at a map of the major United States backbones, you'll see how insanely long these pipes need to be - they have to travel for hundreds of miles, and much of the time they're going through sparcely populated land, where no profit can be made.
In Japan, South Korea, et. al, there aren't as many long-and-profitless pipes.
The Canadian government subsidizes broadband, making it less expensive (of course, Canadian citizens have to pay taxes to support their socialist government, so...).
And as for the Tokyo landline thing, I'd venture a guess that it's probably because landlines aren't much used in Japan anymore. But that's only a guess, I could be completely wrong on that one.
Don't forget, location matters. Everyone always talks about how cheap (compared to the United States) broadband is in Japan, for example. Well, of course it is! In Japan, everything is closer together, meaning less line required to get broadband into the home, meaning less costs for the company, meaning lower prices.
The same goes from state-to-state, and area-to-area. Areas with higher population density will generally have less expessive broadband than areas where the population is spread out.
Everything in DC is incredibly expensive, but not enough to account for that big of a difference...was your access in your room? I had to go down to the business center and plug in there...
I recently stayed at the Hyatt Regency hotel in Washington D.C; They've got a nice gig going of charging $10 (or was it 15? I can't remember) for 15 minutes of wired access. Of course, staying there for 4 days, I had no real choice but to connect at least once.
Classic example of "the customer has no choice, so he'll pay whatever we charge."
Your every-day consumer doesn't give a crap about DRM, crippled software/audio, or anything else, for that matter. Your average consumer doesn't even know about crippled CDs.
They'll get away with this, because most comsumers are dolts.
For all those whiners...
on
Telstar 4 is Down
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
For all of you who keep asking, "What is telstar?" - here's the results of a Google:
The only difference is that Microsoft is a monopoly. In the United States, monopolies have to play by different rules than other corperations. This is an example of them abusing their power - by default, IE is set to search via MSN. Many people don't know the differences between search engines, and will leave it as MSN.
Microsoft is using this to their advantage, creating an anti-competitive tool.
Slashdot Mirror
Let's assume for a second that these people actually somehow wind up making it as far as putting six human beings into space. They don't necessarily have to make it to Mars, but they've gone out of Earth's atmosphere. Call me the skeptic, but I don't think these "astronauts" are going to survive (whether or not they make it to Mars, I don't know - I personally think they might be able to get close, but at most will die on landing).
So, what happens when a private company sends humans beings into space and they die? Governments around the world will put a cap on private space travel. They'll probably even write up an international treaty banning it, giving governments monopolies over space travel/technology.
Private space travel hasn't begun yet, and it'd certainly be a horrible thing if it's stopped before it starts due to some idiots with a reality TV show.
It would never pass as a constitutional amendment. Constitutional amendments get far too much press, and no one wants to risk their political career on trying to pass an amendment that is clearly, "tax the citizenry."
Then again, the constitution has pretty much been ignored by the federal government for the past century or so, and the supreme court doesn't seem to care much...
You can't use that justification (see my comment here), but you can cite section ten:
Article I, Section Ten:
Section 10. No state shall enter into any treaty, alliance, or confederation; grant letters of marque and reprisal; coin money; emit bills of credit; make anything but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts; pass any bill of attainder, ex post facto law, or law impairing the obligation of contracts, or grant any title of nobility.
No state shall, without the consent of the Congress, lay any imposts or duties on imports or exports, except what may be absolutely necessary for executing it's inspection laws: and the net produce of all duties and imposts, laid by any state on imports or exports, shall be for the use of the treasury of the United States; and all such laws shall be subject to the revision and control of the Congress.
So yes, it is unconstitutional - but not for the reason you cite.
I'm not so sure about that. The first part, "No Tax or Duty shall be laid on Articles exported from any State." covers exports. Meaning, if I am the government of New Jersey, I cannot tax products being exported to New York. However, it does not stop New York for taxing imports from New Jersey. Such import taxes have been used many, many times since the founding of our nation.
Whoops. The only problem with acronyms is that typos kill the whole thing.
"AFAIK, YHBT"
AFAIK, HTBT.
We are born with, for example, freedom of speech. It does not take a government, or the work of others, to give us that right. If we lived in anarchy, I would still be able to say whatever I wanted, reguardless of the fact that there is no constitution.
The constitution does not give us out freedoms - it protects them.
"Art" is not a right. You have a right to create art - which is to say, you have the right to paint/draw/write whatever you want. That's covered by freedom of expression.
You do not, however, have the right to view art for free. If you want to go to a museum, you must pay whatever the owner is asking (which may be nothing, in which case it is free - but the argument still stands).
Software cannot be a "basic social right." By definition, software must be created by someone. Someone must do work to create software. Therefore, software is a product for a consumer.
Free speech is a right. Software is a commodity.
Uhm, I guess you've never heard of ESR before. When he talks about the open source community as, "We," he really means "we." He is actually doing the work.
ESR is part of the community. He's not some teenager whining that the software doesn't work - he's a respected figure pointing out a problem in hopes that it will be recognized and fixed.
Mods (I had mod status, but I already posted a comment on this board), please mod parent down. It's adult content, with no humor or warning. Parent is trolling, not being funny. And, more seriously, like others have stated - people read slashdot at work, and can get in serious trouble for that content.
That kind of makes sense, since Slashdot is pretty much the opposite of playboy:
Playboy: "I just read it for the articles..."
Slashdot: "I just read it for the pictures..."
I have a great plan. We'll be able to give tax cuts, not cut any services/government projects, and have even greater programs than before! What is this miracle, you might ask?
It's called the "Not Spending Three Hundred Dollars on a Toilet Seat" plan.
But in all seriousness, a lot of the money we pay in taxes is wasted - and by wasted, I don't mean spent on programs which aren't "necessary", but I mean just plain wasted. The $300 toilet seat was a while ago, but things like that still go on. Government projects overpay, and government officials abuse their free perks-of-office (such as flying around the country on Air Force One on campeign trips...).
I've never understood the "football is a sissy version of rugby" line. American football is a lot more violent than rugby. For example:
Rugby: Play gets tackled, they must let go of the ball.
Football: Player gets tackled, uses his body to maintain control of the ball. Result: ten 300 pound men jumping on top of him.
If American Football is so much of a sissy sport, why are people constantly being taken off the field with broken legs, head injuries, and crushed limbs, even WITH the protective armor?
I was watching NASA TV last night, and the curreny thinking is that the bedrock was not formed by wind deposits. They're currently hypothosizing water or volcanic means of creation.
Actually, I read cops first. I guess the SCO suit, the RIAA, and the patriot act are all starting to mess with my mind...
I never said the United States doesn't have socialist leanings. However, when comparing the United States and Canada, it's obvious that Canada is far more socialist than the US.
This is OT.
The thing is, in the United States, even if you have someone where like New York City, which is very densely populated, you still have to lay pipe connecting these big cities across the country. If you've ever looked at a map of the major United States backbones, you'll see how insanely long these pipes need to be - they have to travel for hundreds of miles, and much of the time they're going through sparcely populated land, where no profit can be made.
In Japan, South Korea, et. al, there aren't as many long-and-profitless pipes.
The Canadian government subsidizes broadband, making it less expensive (of course, Canadian citizens have to pay taxes to support their socialist government, so...).
And as for the Tokyo landline thing, I'd venture a guess that it's probably because landlines aren't much used in Japan anymore. But that's only a guess, I could be completely wrong on that one.
Don't forget, location matters. Everyone always talks about how cheap (compared to the United States) broadband is in Japan, for example. Well, of course it is! In Japan, everything is closer together, meaning less line required to get broadband into the home, meaning less costs for the company, meaning lower prices.
The same goes from state-to-state, and area-to-area. Areas with higher population density will generally have less expessive broadband than areas where the population is spread out.
Everything in DC is incredibly expensive, but not enough to account for that big of a difference...was your access in your room? I had to go down to the business center and plug in there...
I recently stayed at the Hyatt Regency hotel in Washington D.C; They've got a nice gig going of charging $10 (or was it 15? I can't remember) for 15 minutes of wired access. Of course, staying there for 4 days, I had no real choice but to connect at least once.
Classic example of "the customer has no choice, so he'll pay whatever we charge."
You're kidding, right?
Crippled CDs. Region-encoding.
Your every-day consumer doesn't give a crap about DRM, crippled software/audio, or anything else, for that matter. Your average consumer doesn't even know about crippled CDs.
They'll get away with this, because most comsumers are dolts.
For all of you who keep asking, "What is telstar?" - here's the results of a Google:
h tml
http://roland.lerc.nasa.gov/~dglover/sat/telstar.
The only difference is that Microsoft is a monopoly. In the United States, monopolies have to play by different rules than other corperations. This is an example of them abusing their power - by default, IE is set to search via MSN. Many people don't know the differences between search engines, and will leave it as MSN.
Microsoft is using this to their advantage, creating an anti-competitive tool.