Cyclists also pay for roads via sales and property taxes in Washington, probably reasonably close to their proportional use of same. Cyclists are more likely to use city streets over state highways (and aren't allowed on Interstates at all), occupy a considerably smaller footprint than an automobile, and impact the road surface considerably less, if at all, given their light weight.
Also they prevent the free flow of other traffic by moving slowly and they run up huge costs by getting killed and needed emergency response teams to clean up after them.
Every gram of carbon dioxide you emit while cycling was previously fixed directly from the atmosphere by a plant or alga. If you didn't re-emit it, the food you would have eaten would rot instead, and the same CO2 would be released by bacteria. Even if that food had never been grown, the plant or alga that grew in its place would have eventually decayed, emitting the same CO2.
You are missing the secondary costs. These are things like the oil burnt by machinery to turn the soil, plant the seeds, pull up the plants, process and package the plants, deliver them to supermarkets, and the gas you burn cooking them.
The "stuff that matters" is that Americans elected that kind of people to make laws based on his knowledge. Don't worry, probably have more clue than the rest.
And there is the real problem. People are elected into positions of responsibility not because they can do the job, but because they read good speeches.
In an ideal world, we would be able to eliminate CO2 from our atmosphere completely. And ultimately, if we as a species are going to survive, we need to do that. But in the here and now, we have to do the best we can. And cars produce way more of that poison than anyone on a bicycle. The Congressman is just an ignorant jackass who has no understanding of how our biosphere works.
Wow! Either you are trolling or you have no understanding of how plant life works.
I was complaining about the US's war crimes, or don't they count as crimes if your own country does it?
When has the US been found guilty of war crimes by any authority? Note: left wing journalists in the British yellow press don't count.
That depends on what you call an authority because the US ignores the ICC. There have been plenty of incidents that would be classes as war crimes if other countries carried them out.
Ah yes, because standing by and doing nothing while innocents are being slaughtered somehow lets you claim a clear conscious. Dictators and tyrants count on people like you to turn a blind eye to atrocities and genocide as it lets them get away with murder by the million.
I was complaining about the US's war crimes, or don't they count as crimes if your own country does it?
A country that uses torture as an interrogation technique should not consider itself civilized.
Never drop context, which in this case is the 3000+ deaths of September 11, 2001.
How many people died as a result of the US reaction to the 3000+ deaths of September 11, 2001? How many of those dead had no involvement whatsoever in the September 11, 2001 attacks?
The quote about how the US is similar to a child torturing ants with a magnifying glass really sums the situation up for me. As someone in Europe I see the US forcing their way into war after war to justify having a military that has grown out of all control. A country that uses torture as an interrogation technique should not consider itself civilized.
Harsh. It may be convenient to group people into nice neat categories eg. "All CEOs are terrible people with no feelings", but in reality the world is a much more varied place.
Good CEOs have to put the company above their personal feelings. If they can't do this they will strangle their company to death by making terrible decisions. On some level being a terrible person is part of the job.
I've worked in a company where the CEO could not separate his personal feelings from work duties. When the money ran out he could not cut costs anywhere, he could not even retire off staff that got to retirement age. All his so called friends got lazy and only looked out for their own interests because they knew they could get away with it. If you were there you would love a good old fashioned sociopath CEO, at least they will fire 5 people to save 50.
I've no idea if the guy you responded to really was Theo de Raadt or not but you sir are a total jerk.
If you don't like OpenBSD and OpenSSH then don't use them. You don't have to abuse people who give away great stuff to the whole world for free. If you are so sure you can do better than OpenBSD then go and do it.
I can't say for sure but I can say some _SERIOUS_ work in OpenBSD was funded by a huge multinational with no real interest in software. They needed the work to be open source for regulatory reasons and they explicitly didn't want their company name on that work.
So some big companies do give back for their own reasons.
He doesn't want to buy one. It's his house and his money, he can buy what he likes.
No, what the guy said was that "no Windows computers allowed." Not that he doesn't buy Windows computers. With that sort of wording, it sounds less like a personal preference and more like oppression of the other residents of the home. Will this guy seriously kick out family members/roommates who choose to use Windows?
He can do what he likes in his own house. The rest of the story is about what he should buy with his 10k insurance money, not about his fascist tendencies towards those who live in the same house.
If I don't want people smoking crack in my house does that somehow make me unreasonable? It's the same thing except windows messes your mind up more.
I know this attitude is rather popular on slashdot, but grow up. Every operating system has it's uses, Windows included.
He doesn't want to buy one. It's his house and his money, he can buy what he likes. He didn't tell you what model of car to buy, or where to buy groceries.
Or are you saying that everyone that hasn't gone out and brought a windows license should 'grow up' and go buy one? You are the worst astroturfer ever.
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Read speeches well.
I really meant 'read good speeches', as in the writers of these speeches are the real talent.
But if you are saying that reading a prepared speech well is a skill then I do agree with you.
I don't think we should pay tax on gas, I think we should pay it on road use, and bicyclists should too. Everyone should pay their fair share.
That's a fair system but would you really want a government tracking device on your car or bike reporting exactly when and where you go?
The 2nd point could be refuted by cyclists having fewer long-term medical expenses due to increased well-being.
A dead taxpayer doesn't pay.
Plenty of cyclists have zero long-term medical expenses due to them getting killed.
And even assertion 1 is faulty.
Cyclists also pay for roads via sales and property taxes in Washington, probably reasonably close to their proportional use of same. Cyclists are more likely to use city streets over state highways (and aren't allowed on Interstates at all), occupy a considerably smaller footprint than an automobile, and impact the road surface considerably less, if at all, given their light weight.
Also they prevent the free flow of other traffic by moving slowly and they run up huge costs by getting killed and needed emergency response teams to clean up after them.
No. The second point is complete nonsense.
Every gram of carbon dioxide you emit while cycling was previously fixed directly from the atmosphere by a plant or alga. If you didn't re-emit it, the food you would have eaten would rot instead, and the same CO2 would be released by bacteria. Even if that food had never been grown, the plant or alga that grew in its place would have eventually decayed, emitting the same CO2.
You are missing the secondary costs. These are things like the oil burnt by machinery to turn the soil, plant the seeds, pull up the plants, process and package the plants, deliver them to supermarkets, and the gas you burn cooking them.
Where do you think the carbon in the CO2 you breathe out comes from?
From cyclists, the other, other, white meat?
I'd take the room with the cyclist outside, break the glass wall with the desk, then beat the cyclist until he stopped moving.
That will teach him to ignore all the rules of the road whilst yelling abuse at all other road users. One less self-absorbed prick in the world.
I was always amused and scared at that. Running the country, doesn't know how to properly use a cigarette.
Yes he does. He just doesn't know how to tell the truth.
You can lead a moron to knowledge, but you can't make him learn.
You just won the award for the new slashdot tagline. 'News for nerds, stuff that matters' is so out of date.
The "stuff that matters" is that Americans elected that kind of people to make laws based on his knowledge. Don't worry, probably have more clue than the rest.
And there is the real problem. People are elected into positions of responsibility not because they can do the job, but because they read good speeches.
In an ideal world, we would be able to eliminate CO2 from our atmosphere completely. And ultimately, if we as a species are going to survive, we need to do that. But in the here and now, we have to do the best we can. And cars produce way more of that poison than anyone on a bicycle. The Congressman is just an ignorant jackass who has no understanding of how our biosphere works.
Wow! Either you are trolling or you have no understanding of how plant life works.
When has the US been found guilty of war crimes by any authority? Note: left wing journalists in the British yellow press don't count.
That depends on what you call an authority because the US ignores the ICC. There have been plenty of incidents that would be classes as war crimes if other countries carried them out.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_war_crimes
Ah yes, because standing by and doing nothing while innocents are being slaughtered somehow lets you claim a clear conscious. Dictators and tyrants count on people like you to turn a blind eye to atrocities and genocide as it lets them get away with murder by the million.
I was complaining about the US's war crimes, or don't they count as crimes if your own country does it?
Never drop context, which in this case is the 3000+ deaths of September 11, 2001.
How many people died as a result of the US reaction to the 3000+ deaths of September 11, 2001? How many of those dead had no involvement whatsoever in the September 11, 2001 attacks?
"But but but YOU did it too!" doesn't make it any less wrong. Nice try.
No country in Europe has ever destroyed two entire countries because a group part based in one destroyed two buildings.
I've heard of avenging a crime sevenfold but a country for a building represents vengeance carried way too far.
Are you from one of the European nations without blood on its hands? Remind me, which one is that?
No, of course I'm not. But I'm from one that learned from the mistakes of the past and after centuries of war learned to get on with its neighbors.
The quote about how the US is similar to a child torturing ants with a magnifying glass really sums the situation up for me. As someone in Europe I see the US forcing their way into war after war to justify having a military that has grown out of all control. A country that uses torture as an interrogation technique should not consider itself civilized.
Harsh. It may be convenient to group people into nice neat categories eg. "All CEOs are terrible people with no feelings", but in reality the world is a much more varied place.
Good CEOs have to put the company above their personal feelings. If they can't do this they will strangle their company to death by making terrible decisions. On some level being a terrible person is part of the job.
I've worked in a company where the CEO could not separate his personal feelings from work duties. When the money ran out he could not cut costs anywhere, he could not even retire off staff that got to retirement age. All his so called friends got lazy and only looked out for their own interests because they knew they could get away with it. If you were there you would love a good old fashioned sociopath CEO, at least they will fire 5 people to save 50.
I've no idea if the guy you responded to really was Theo de Raadt or not but you sir are a total jerk.
If you don't like OpenBSD and OpenSSH then don't use them. You don't have to abuse people who give away great stuff to the whole world for free. If you are so sure you can do better than OpenBSD then go and do it.
How many of those contribute back?
I can't say for sure but I can say some _SERIOUS_ work in OpenBSD was funded by a huge multinational with no real interest in software. They needed the work to be open source for regulatory reasons and they explicitly didn't want their company name on that work.
So some big companies do give back for their own reasons.
My, you tried to be clever there and totally failed.
I took it to mean an investor who was interested in his "angle", i.e. a con man who is just out to get what he can.
So called angel investors are not doing it for love, they are doing it for money.
He doesn't want to buy one. It's his house and his money, he can buy what he likes.
No, what the guy said was that "no Windows computers allowed." Not that he doesn't buy Windows computers. With that sort of wording, it sounds less like a personal preference and more like oppression of the other residents of the home. Will this guy seriously kick out family members/roommates who choose to use Windows?
He can do what he likes in his own house. The rest of the story is about what he should buy with his 10k insurance money, not about his fascist tendencies towards those who live in the same house.
If I don't want people smoking crack in my house does that somehow make me unreasonable? It's the same thing except windows messes your mind up more.
5 Vizio 60" tvs - $5k
5 Nexus 10 Tablets with Keyboard Folios - $2.5k
Vacation to the Bahamas - $2.5k
Come back after it's all been stolen again and repeat.
Maybe he collects them as a hobby.
Also, no Windows computers allowed in my house.
I know this attitude is rather popular on slashdot, but grow up.
Every operating system has it's uses, Windows included.
He doesn't want to buy one. It's his house and his money, he can buy what he likes. He didn't tell you what model of car to buy, or where to buy groceries.
Or are you saying that everyone that hasn't gone out and brought a windows license should 'grow up' and go buy one? You are the worst astroturfer ever.