or do stupid things like requiring a degree for a job position.
Do you know why we do this?
Once upon a time, before many/.'ers were born, companies used to have job candidates for many positions take aptitude tests of one sort or another, to determine whether they knew enough (or were bright enough to learn) to do the job.
Then someone decided that aptitude tests like that were discriminatory. So they were made illegal.
So, companies switched to requiring High School Diplomas.
Up until the time that high schools started graduating people who couldn't read.
So companies upped the ante to requiring Bachelor's Degrees.
Which is where we are now. My guess is that within the decade, the number of college graduates who can't read/spell/learn will cause the businesses looking to raise the ante to Master's Degrees.
I know people who paid similar tuition, had no help from their parents and worked part time jobs during school. Combined with co-op education, they were able to graduate debt free.
I know people like that too. Myself, my wife, my kids.
Yes, it's possible to get a college education without being in debt for the rest of your life.
The program was scaled back drastically after it came out that most of the companies weren't providing any real training at all and were just using these people as free labor. Shocking, huh?
Unfettered, unregulated capitalism at work.
It's intriguing that you consider a government program to be an example of "unfettered, unregulated capitalism".
And PR of China has no territory dispute with Russia, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Laos, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, North Korea andPakistan.
You put Pakistan in twice.
That aside, they don't have a territorial dispute with any of these entities yet. The operational word is "yet"...
My county has about 25 miles of an interstate through the northern section where almost NO ONE in the county lives. Maybe 1% of the county population regularly uses that road. If the county residents were suddenly tasked with the cost of the maintenance on that section of interstate our county taxes would probably double. Do you think most people in the county would vote for that? Nope, hardly any of us ever use that road. Goodbye freeway system.
Luckily the Interstate system is actually paid for and maintained at the State level, not the local level.
Isn't there the question of whether this is unconstitutional here in America? I mean, didn't Obama sign it without it being passed by Congress?
A Treaty signing is meaningless in the USA. A Treaty is NOT binding until it has been ratified by the Senate.
So, no, the fact that Congress didn't approve it in advance is meaningless, since they're not supposed to.
On the other hand, it has no force until the Senate approves it (which it will, almost certainly - there are enough Dems in bed with Hollywood to pass it on their own, even ignoring the Reps who would approve it).
The federal government, in the case of America, cannot print money. It can borrow money, even from those with the power to print it, but it cannot print money itself nor can it order the printing of money. Period.
From the US Constitution, Section 8 (Powers of Congress):
To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof,
Yep, looks like the US Government can, if it chooses, print money.
There is little point in trying to cross the Atlantic when all you have is a tiny inflatable boat.
William Bligh and 17 other men were dumped into the middle of the ocean in a 23 foot open boat.
No navigational instruments, and only enough food and water to provide ~1 ounce of bread per day per man for the voyage.
They managed to travel 3600 miles to safety. Took them less time than it took Columbus to reach the New World from Spain...
So, yes, if all you have is a tiny inflatable boat, and really need to get somewhere far away, it's possible to do it, with nerve, skill, and a bit of luck.
The difference is that with Americas it was only the journey that was dangerous and expensive, once you had arrived you had plenty of uncharted and fertile land at your hands and could make a self sustained living pretty easily.
Which no doubt explains why several early ventures failed, why the Pilgrims almost starved to death, why the Donner Party ate each other, etc.
No, going three months travel away from what you are used to isn't easy, even if the air is breathable at the other end.
With all respect to SpaceX, their rocket right now replicates what NASA did 55 years ago.
Umm, no.
55 years ago, we had ZERO ability to put anything into orbit.
50 years ago, we could put a 1 ton spacecraft into LEO.
Falcon 9 puts 10 tons into LEO.
Yes, Saturn V was more powerful. Ditto Shuttle. Even Saturn 1B.
On the other hand, all three of those were immensely more expensive than a Falcon 9 launch.
Plus there's Falcon 9 Heavy, which will push more mass to LEO than anything short of Saturn V (which we can't make anymore).
Some things are just too hard.
And some things are constrained by the Outer Space Treaty, which prevents private individuals from actually claiming those rocks and exploiting them, even if they were so inclined.
If the comet came within a whisker of hitting us before, there's a not-insignificant chance it'll do so in the future. It's got an earth crossing orbit with an inclination that intersects our own orbit. If it's been broken up (as claimed in the original article) there's an even better chance that one of those (big) fragments is gonna whack us on the next go around.
Consider Apophis (the asteroid). In 2029 it's gonna come uncomfortably close to the earth. In 2036 (I think) there's a chance that it'll hit us. (I think this scenario will repeat into the future with decreasing probabilities). Now imagine that, instead of a single body, it was a stream of fragments "a million kilometers long". I think the chance of impact would go way up.
The assumption that the length of its orbit is an even multiple of 1 year is what allows you to believe this. If, instead, it's orbit were, say, 500 years and 2.7 days long, it'll be about 270,000 years before it came close again. And it wouldn't be close enough then for a collision if it were only a million km long. For it to be a threat in my hypothetical, you'd be waiting about 125 million years.
Note that in the above hypothetical case, it won't even come into viewing distance again for another 370+ years, much less be a threat to us.
Note that there are more orbits where it won't come back this way for a VERY long time than there are orbits where it'd be back on its next pass....
The fact that Shoemaker-Levy hit Jupiter was more a result of it being in orbit around Jupiter (as opposed to being in orbit about the Sun and happening to pass Jupiter close on two subsequent orbits) than anything else. Note that there's no indication that this comet (even if it existed) is in orbit around Earth.
I never bought many hardcovers, both due to price and space. But the price, combined with DRM, has driven me to Baen's webscriptions [webscription.net]. Isn't it odd that it's the rightwing/libertarian publisher that offers the 'best' ebook pricing today? DRM free ebooks(available in rtf & html even!) that you can read on a computer with no additional software but your web browser? Very good!
Wha'ts odd about it? Neither "right wing" nor "libertarian" imply monopoly pricing, rather the reverse.
That said, Baen is the first place I check for new eBooks. I like DRM-free eBooks. And I don't have a problem with their prices.
And when I buy a DRM-laden eBook, the first thing I do is crack the DRM so I have an unencumbered ePub.
1million miles/15 miles per gallon = 66666 Gallons of fuel (rounding off that last 0.7 gallon) 66666 is the postal code of the beast! And that's quit a lot of fuel.
It's $200K or so per year. Verizon's coffee budget is likely an order of magnitude or two larger than that.
The reasons I want ebooks includes that I DO have so many physical books that I need the space, that I have a tendency to end up working away from home for months at a time and a nook/kindle/computer can carry a LOT of books for the space it takes.
This is exactly why I have one. Works wonderfully well for both purposes (travel and reducing accumulation of tons of paper in the house).
My current policy is to buy it as an eBook if it's available....
You can bet Penguin just lost any future output from that author, and I'll take more bets that other authors in their stable are now thinking about moving on.
I suspect you're right. I also suspect that I won't be buying any more books from Penguin....
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Do you know why we do this?
Once upon a time, before many /.'ers were born, companies used to have job candidates for many positions take aptitude tests of one sort or another, to determine whether they knew enough (or were bright enough to learn) to do the job.
Then someone decided that aptitude tests like that were discriminatory. So they were made illegal.
So, companies switched to requiring High School Diplomas.
Up until the time that high schools started graduating people who couldn't read.
So companies upped the ante to requiring Bachelor's Degrees.
Which is where we are now. My guess is that within the decade, the number of college graduates who can't read/spell/learn will cause the businesses looking to raise the ante to Master's Degrees.
And won't that be fun?
Haven't paid with a credit card, have you? Or a debit card? Or a check?
All three of them have a delay between the time you swipe the card and the money is transferred to the recipient. Usually of more than a day.
I know people like that too. Myself, my wife, my kids.
Yes, it's possible to get a college education without being in debt for the rest of your life.
It's intriguing that you consider a government program to be an example of "unfettered, unregulated capitalism".
You put Pakistan in twice.
That aside, they don't have a territorial dispute with any of these entities yet. The operational word is "yet"...
Luckily the Interstate system is actually paid for and maintained at the State level, not the local level.
Either that, or students tend to be poor enough that they have to borrow, and adults tend to be smart enough not to run up debt unnecessarily....
The President doesn't need Congressional Approval to sign a Treaty (see Kyoto, which was signed, but not even submitted for ratification by Clinton).
And the President can make all the "executive agreements" he likes. Without a controlling law (passed by Congress), they don't mean a hill of beans.
A few Supremes back in the New Deal caved, you mean?
Or did you forget the ruling that said that growing food for your own livestock on your own land came under the Interstate Commerce Clause?
Don't kid yourself.
The Constitution has been ignored when convenient for far longer than the last ten years.
A Treaty signing is meaningless in the USA. A Treaty is NOT binding until it has been ratified by the Senate.
So, no, the fact that Congress didn't approve it in advance is meaningless, since they're not supposed to.
On the other hand, it has no force until the Senate approves it (which it will, almost certainly - there are enough Dems in bed with Hollywood to pass it on their own, even ignoring the Reps who would approve it).
For the most part, "modern" stuff hasn't been around long enough to see whether it stands the test of time.
Frankly, picking a book/movie/whatever for a "best of all time" list that is only four or five years old is silly...
From the US Constitution, Section 8 (Powers of Congress):
To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof,
Yep, looks like the US Government can, if it chooses, print money.
William Bligh and 17 other men were dumped into the middle of the ocean in a 23 foot open boat.
No navigational instruments, and only enough food and water to provide ~1 ounce of bread per day per man for the voyage.
They managed to travel 3600 miles to safety. Took them less time than it took Columbus to reach the New World from Spain...
So, yes, if all you have is a tiny inflatable boat, and really need to get somewhere far away, it's possible to do it, with nerve, skill, and a bit of luck.
Which no doubt explains why several early ventures failed, why the Pilgrims almost starved to death, why the Donner Party ate each other, etc.
No, going three months travel away from what you are used to isn't easy, even if the air is breathable at the other end.
Umm, no.
55 years ago, we had ZERO ability to put anything into orbit.
50 years ago, we could put a 1 ton spacecraft into LEO.
Falcon 9 puts 10 tons into LEO.
Yes, Saturn V was more powerful. Ditto Shuttle. Even Saturn 1B.
On the other hand, all three of those were immensely more expensive than a Falcon 9 launch.
Plus there's Falcon 9 Heavy, which will push more mass to LEO than anything short of Saturn V (which we can't make anymore).
And some things are constrained by the Outer Space Treaty, which prevents private individuals from actually claiming those rocks and exploiting them, even if they were so inclined.
3.6x10^17 gigawatts. Give or take a couple percent.
The assumption that the length of its orbit is an even multiple of 1 year is what allows you to believe this. If, instead, it's orbit were, say, 500 years and 2.7 days long, it'll be about 270,000 years before it came close again. And it wouldn't be close enough then for a collision if it were only a million km long. For it to be a threat in my hypothetical, you'd be waiting about 125 million years.
Note that in the above hypothetical case, it won't even come into viewing distance again for another 370+ years, much less be a threat to us.
Note that there are more orbits where it won't come back this way for a VERY long time than there are orbits where it'd be back on its next pass....
The fact that Shoemaker-Levy hit Jupiter was more a result of it being in orbit around Jupiter (as opposed to being in orbit about the Sun and happening to pass Jupiter close on two subsequent orbits) than anything else. Note that there's no indication that this comet (even if it existed) is in orbit around Earth.
You have evidence that the government is restrained by the Constitution and the FOIA?
Wha'ts odd about it? Neither "right wing" nor "libertarian" imply monopoly pricing, rather the reverse.
That said, Baen is the first place I check for new eBooks. I like DRM-free eBooks. And I don't have a problem with their prices.
And when I buy a DRM-laden eBook, the first thing I do is crack the DRM so I have an unencumbered ePub.
Do you work for Penguin?
You seem awfully incensed over the possibility that this "unknown author" might be more wronged than wrong....
It's $200K or so per year. Verizon's coffee budget is likely an order of magnitude or two larger than that.
This is exactly why I have one. Works wonderfully well for both purposes (travel and reducing accumulation of tons of paper in the house).
My current policy is to buy it as an eBook if it's available....
I suspect you're right. I also suspect that I won't be buying any more books from Penguin....
Of course, if my house catches fire, all my paper books go up in smoke.
My ebooks, on the other hand, are completely unaffected.