You're responding to a statement I didn't make. I said that taxation reduces a person's productivity, because their earnings are going to some other goal than their own goal. Sorry, I misunderstood your statement. I thought you were referring to cigarettes specifically, not a generality.
If the product is harmful enough, people won't use it. Tell that to drug addicts and alcoholics. Normally, I don't care what people do to their own bodies. But when they start doing things that cost me money as a taxpayer and possibly harming me or others, that's when I want to government to step in. I don't necessarily want such things to be illegal, but there's usually a happy medium between anarchy and nanny-state (i.e. their should be disincentives or restrictions).
Your argument would have carried more weight had you linked to statistics showing a correletion between obesity and lifetime health care costs. You're completely right. But alas, I'm lazy and figure that common sense would suffice. I just think it's dangerous drawing a conclusion about something that affects universal policies based on a single personal experience.
And since "currently, our government wastes so much money on stupid wars and other things it probably doesn't make much of a difference" maybe we should join the civilized world and enact universal health care? Don't really disagree with you there.
And how is that relevant to the discussion? Or are you saying that the less productive should be forced by law to be more productive, in order to support your personal beliefs? If people at your work are lazy and take breaks, complain to your boss. Don't force the government to make a universal change just because you won't go to your boss to fix your own problems. I was just responding to the argument that taxing cigarettes somehow reduces productivity. It doesn't really seem to be the case in my experience. Getting people off of cigarettes seems to me like it would increase productivity (i.e. they don't HAVE to take smoking breaks to be productive) if anything. Taxing them gives more incentive for people to quit. BTW, I don't have a problem with lazy people at work. Hell, I'm one of them (I really should be working right now). The only reason I would want the government to make a universal change for a product is if the product is harmful (especially to people who aren't even using it) and if it causes universal health problems throughout the nation.
I know this is cliche at this point, but you are using anecdotal evidence, not statistical data here. You provide one example where smoking and dying of emphysema is a "good" thing for society. I doubt this is always or even generally the case.
I'm not sure about society in general, but smokers and fat asses do raise the cost of health insurance for the rest of us people who take of their bodies. At best they provide a small economic break for the federal government, but currently, our government wastes so much money on stupid wars and other things it probably doesn't make much of a difference.
Taxing a product is not "forcibly taking away" anything. By your reasoning, the government is forcibly taking away our food, clothes, and pretty much any item we buy.
And really, who's fault is it that someone is not productive unless there is a drug in their bloodstream? I think smokers are generally less productive, seeing they have to take breaks to go outside multiple times a day.
A trimester is three months, so there are four trimesters in a year, and you also forgot to add the 3 trimesters of pregnancy.
4*21 + 3 = 87, So we're looking at an abortion after the 87th trimester
Normally, I would have to ask you to turn in your nerd badge, but I realize it's not fair to expect a slashdotter to know about something that involves a woman's body.
GT4, a simulation? seriously? yeah, it's a bit more realistic than your average racer, but i really find it too bad that top gear didn't go for some decent driving sim... those half sim, half arcade games on consoles aren't even close to being a sim... He means Grand Turismo 4 not Grand Theft Auto 4. I think the developers really focus on simulation for the GT series. GTA definately has the mix arcade/sim feel.
You know you can use the shift key to capitalize letters right? You seem to know where the "." and the "," keys are as well, the "'" key is relatively close to them. Really. Just try it. It's not that difficult.
ill tell you what is hypocritical. what is hypocritical is delegating your hobby to pass the time to the hands of a company which is bent on just making you pay continually and doing that by regularly introducing stuff that will make whatever you did obsolete, a thing of the past, zero, nada, zilch, leaving only memories. You've failed to mention why that's hypocritical. Care to explain? Also saying WoW only leaves you with only memories is not really true. Especially in a game that involves social interaction. If you're not a total jackass to people over the internet, you can actually make friends. I know it's insane, but it can happen.
Obama offers the American public the policy of surrender and blame America first. He has no plan for Iraq other than surrender, despite the success we've been having recently. I'm sorry, your regurgitation of conservative punditry is not adequate. You need to use the word "surrender" at least twice per sentence when describing Obama's exit plan to make the other side seem like a bunch of pussies.
Last time I checked, Obama doesn't want American soldiers in Iraq to hold up white flags and then allow themselves to be help captive by insurgents. If you have legitimate reasons for not voting for Obama, then be my guest and vote for the candidate that will continue the policies that have brought the U.S. to where it's at now. However, you look like a complete, biased idiot when you use inaccurate and sensationalist words like "surrender" to describe a candidates policies.
So all the people who have become rich after being born non-rich in a capitalistic society are deluding themselves? Are the non-rich people who have emigrated to another country of their liking from a capitalistic society (that allowed them to leave) also delusional? Last time I checked non-rich people in the U.S. can still go home and have a little bit of free time to watch Jerry Springer. I'm not sure what you are defining slavery as, but your definition seems pretty loose and most likely wrong.
Slavery is a step up from living on the streets homeless and hungry (or being beaten to death) That's a pretty outrageous claim. I've never been on the streets, nor have I been a slave, but I would imagine not having freedom to do anything sucks ass pretty hard. "I'd rather die on my feet then live on my knees" comes to mind.
Shitty work conditions and slavery are two extremely different things.
Atheism is also a religious belief (in this case, the choice to believe there is no God). Why should this belief be given any special treatment when compared to Christianity or Islam or Hinduism? Who was asking to get special treatment? The GP never said anything about atheists getting "special treatment." So much for objectivity.
If you really believe it, how could you not tell people about it? You need to have the understanding that not every one has the same mentality to you. Just like a Christian would be annoyed if a Muslim told them that they are going to burn in agony for eternity because they don't have the same beliefs. Also, there are different ways of trying to tell people about your religion without looking like a used-car salesman. Unfortunately, fear is a great motivator and Christians will continue using it because it works.
Leaving race out of the issue, how many republicans do you think would vote for someone named Barack Hussein Obama. A name that rings with the sounds of two recent so called enemies. Dear god, I hope this is not a significant reason why people won't vote for a candidate. Someone please tell me that my fellow Americans aren't this fucking stupid. People, if you disagree with Obama's politics, fine...vote for someone else. But for the love everything holy, please don't base your base your vote on something so insignificant.
Anyone who actually plays the drums can spot this as garbage from planets away. It isn't even set up like a real set Damn, I never would have guessed. Well, at least the guitars are still completely identical to real-life guitars.
But get much more complex than that (plants, dumb fish, etc) and at that point I wouldn't be fine with it) I'm with you on that. If our brave leader says that humans and fish can coexist peacefully, then I say we at least give them a chance...unless they taste good.
So every time a game doesn't come out for the Wii, we are going to have to see it broadcasted in the title? Are slashdotters so stupid that they can't deduce which consoles are missing from a list of a whopping 3 consoles?
Not only am I suspicious that this isn't an MMO, I'm also worried about whether it's truly free. I think Nexon makes the types of games where you have to pay for the good items. So while this game may be technically free to play, don't be surprised if you only get a handgun and have to pay real cash to get your AK-47.
Actually, compared to the rest of the world's politicians, Obama and the other democratic candidates actually lean towards the moderate-conservative side. Personally, whether the candidates are liberal are conservative is not important to me at this point. The important thing is the direction that the U.S. is heading. If you like the direction, vote for McCain because he has the most similar policies as the current president.
By the way, just because one small magazine said that Obama had the most liberal votes for ONE YEAR doesn't mean he is the most liberal Senator. Also, your attempt to smear Obama is pretty pathetic. It's almost Jack Thompsonesque. You might as well have said "Obama is more liberal than Pol Pot, who is responsible for massacring millions of people." It doesn't mean hes going to do something similar or worse. Your divisive attitude is quite disgusting.
Slashdot Mirror
That's true! I've seen people "making babies" in the shelf aisles of libraries way too many times.
Correction, MS's customers burned every version of Windows except ME when that piece of shit OS came out.
I know this is cliche at this point, but you are using anecdotal evidence, not statistical data here. You provide one example where smoking and dying of emphysema is a "good" thing for society. I doubt this is always or even generally the case.
I'm not sure about society in general, but smokers and fat asses do raise the cost of health insurance for the rest of us people who take of their bodies. At best they provide a small economic break for the federal government, but currently, our government wastes so much money on stupid wars and other things it probably doesn't make much of a difference.
Taxing a product is not "forcibly taking away" anything. By your reasoning, the government is forcibly taking away our food, clothes, and pretty much any item we buy.
And really, who's fault is it that someone is not productive unless there is a drug in their bloodstream? I think smokers are generally less productive, seeing they have to take breaks to go outside multiple times a day.
If only the cake was a lie...
A trimester is three months, so there are four trimesters in a year, and you also forgot to add the 3 trimesters of pregnancy.
4*21 + 3 = 87, So we're looking at an abortion after the 87th trimester
Normally, I would have to ask you to turn in your nerd badge, but I realize it's not fair to expect a slashdotter to know about something that involves a woman's body.
yeah, it's a bit more realistic than your average racer, but i really find it too bad that top gear didn't go for some decent driving sim... those half sim, half arcade games on consoles aren't even close to being a sim... He means Grand Turismo 4 not Grand Theft Auto 4. I think the developers really focus on simulation for the GT series. GTA definately has the mix arcade/sim feel.
Last time I checked, Obama doesn't want American soldiers in Iraq to hold up white flags and then allow themselves to be help captive by insurgents. If you have legitimate reasons for not voting for Obama, then be my guest and vote for the candidate that will continue the policies that have brought the U.S. to where it's at now. However, you look like a complete, biased idiot when you use inaccurate and sensationalist words like "surrender" to describe a candidates policies.
Hey most /.'ers know everything this is to know about a vagina. We just learn about them through books and pr0n instead of experience.
So all the people who have become rich after being born non-rich in a capitalistic society are deluding themselves? Are the non-rich people who have emigrated to another country of their liking from a capitalistic society (that allowed them to leave) also delusional? Last time I checked non-rich people in the U.S. can still go home and have a little bit of free time to watch Jerry Springer. I'm not sure what you are defining slavery as, but your definition seems pretty loose and most likely wrong.
Shitty work conditions and slavery are two extremely different things.
Remind me to bring my own controller if I ever come over to play Xbox games with you.
If you shat a dime instead, then I would be impressed. Otherwise, your skill is useless.
So every time a game doesn't come out for the Wii, we are going to have to see it broadcasted in the title? Are slashdotters so stupid that they can't deduce which consoles are missing from a list of a whopping 3 consoles?
Don't RTFA? You're new here aren't you? You might as well tell Bush "Don't be a good president."
Not only am I suspicious that this isn't an MMO, I'm also worried about whether it's truly free. I think Nexon makes the types of games where you have to pay for the good items. So while this game may be technically free to play, don't be surprised if you only get a handgun and have to pay real cash to get your AK-47.
You say liberal like it's a bad thing.
Actually, compared to the rest of the world's politicians, Obama and the other democratic candidates actually lean towards the moderate-conservative side. Personally, whether the candidates are liberal are conservative is not important to me at this point. The important thing is the direction that the U.S. is heading. If you like the direction, vote for McCain because he has the most similar policies as the current president.
By the way, just because one small magazine said that Obama had the most liberal votes for ONE YEAR doesn't mean he is the most liberal Senator. Also, your attempt to smear Obama is pretty pathetic. It's almost Jack Thompsonesque. You might as well have said "Obama is more liberal than Pol Pot, who is responsible for massacring millions of people." It doesn't mean hes going to do something similar or worse. Your divisive attitude is quite disgusting.