It's funny you mention Franklin, because he gave away the secrets to many of his inventions when he felt they would be hugely beneficial to society (like the Franklin stove).
In fact it is precisely BECAUSE OF PATENTS that inventions and creative works are withheld, kept secret, and locked up.
Don't know how patents work, do you? You can have a secret, or you can have a patent. Can't have both. For example, Coca-Cola's formula is an industry secret; if it had been patented, others would have been prevented from copying it by law, but it would have expired after a relatively short time at which point hundreds of copies could have easily been made just reading the patent.
Can I say L O L? It was common for a regional call-- maybe just to the next city-- to cost 50 cents a minute. Now, most people don't even pay per minute for these calls anymore, and those few who pay for long-distance domestic calls pay 10 cents or less. If your prices went up, it was a local (and temporary) phenomenon.
I find people who think we have anything like a free market in the USA quite entertaining. The "rich are getting richer" because they know how to play the web of anti-free-market regulations to their benefit. How does the small businessman get ahead when he has to untangle this web without the resources that the corporations and their lobbyists have? When Warren Buffett talks about taking the rich more, he laughs because he STILL won't pay any taxes. But he won't have to worry about any competition from small-business upstarts anymore, as they will be paying through the nose and their enterprises will fail before they even start.
Oil is a commodity, and depending on its grade, it has a set price on the open market; ex: Brent crude. Oil companies can make about the same amount of money no matter where they sell. The "anti-government, corporatist loving conservatives" you're talking about (you forgot "fascist" and "Christian Fundamentalist") want the US government to allow more drilling because, like we learned in grade school, increasing supply exerts downward pressure on prices. It's a world market, so of course much of that oil is sold overseas... but last time I checked, the USA was part of the world so prices go down here, too. They might not go down as much as people expect, because they don't all understand it's a global market, but they WILL go down if production increases significantly.
In short, I'm waiting for your non-straw-man rebuttal of increasing supply pushing down prices of a commodity.
This is a list of all the anti-counterfeiting measures in US currency. People still take fake bills because they just don't bother to check.
Fiber Embedded Paper. The paper used to print our currency has tiny threads of fibers embedded into the paper. If the bill has no tiny fibers of red and blur embedded into the paper, it is probably a fake bill. Embedding fibers into the paper is one of anti-counterfeiting measures used to make it harder to make fake currency.
Border Scroll. On the edges of a bill are fine lines in a scroll shape. The thin, fine lines are sharp and clear on an authentic bill. If you try to use a scanner and printer on your home computer to print your own money, the border art will appear blurry and the lines will run together.
Security Thread. A security thread is embedded into the paper money and runs from the top to the bottom of the bill. It is printed with the currency amount. When held over an ultraviolet light the security thread will glow red. The security thread is one of the ten anti-counterfeiting measures that work the best to stop people from making fake money and devaluing our currency.
Color Shifting Ink. On the $100 bill, a color shifting ink made with metallic flakes is used. On the $100 logo, the ink color will shift from black to green depending on the angle you are holding the bill.
Microprinting. Microprinting involves printing in such a tiny font that it simply appears as solid lines but when viewed under magnification you can read the printing. Microprinting is an ant-counterfeiting measure that makes it extremely hard, if not impossible, for the average person to print fake money at home.
Serial Numbers. Printing serial numbers on currency makes it harder for counterfeiters to forge fake money. In a large batch of fake currency, the counterfeiters may be forced to use the same serial number on all the bills making it easier to spot the fake bills. On fake bills, the serial numbers may not be evenly spaced or sized which is a dead give away that the bill is fake.
Watermark. A watermark is embedded into the paper during the actual process of printing the paper. A watermark is very hard if not impossible for most counterfeiters to accurately replicate. A watermark is one of the ten anti-counterfeiting measures used to easily distinguish real currency from fake currency.
Paper Color. The Yellow and Greenish colored hues used paper money makes bills hard to duplicate at home. A counterfeiter will have a hard time trying to duplicate the color scheme of an actual bill.
Yes, actually. If we keep equating black folks with "low income" then we continue treating them as victims. These people are being victimized because they are poor, not because they are black. Their fates are no longer in the hands of racists, but power-hungry politicians and their elite cohorts.
NCLB is not conservative legislation. It's progressive legislation put in place by a Republican. NCLB increased federal control; that is a fact. We have a President who is arguably more left-wing than W, yet NCLB remains in place. If the left was honest about harmful meddling like NCLB, it would have pressured Obama to do something about it rather than suddenly going silent on it.
The modern education system as you see it today didn't exist until the early 1950s, when we achieved the milestone of having more than half of all adults in possession of a high school diploma.
And then the Federal government took control, which is right about when public education started going downhill.
Of course, you know what happened next: The South resisted, as they always have, and we had to send the National Guard in to put a gun in the face of the arrogant asshats and desegregate the schools.
Segregation is a different matter. You are being disingenuous by lumping segregationists in with those who simply don't want bureaucrats in Washington dictating one-size-fits-all policy to their local schools. People who want their kids to be properly educated and want to have a say about it are not racists.
So that individual states can ban the teaching of evolution and institutionally ignoring climate change?
I stopped reading here, because I've already heard enough from people like you who have an agenda other than actually improving education. I don't know why, when increasing federal power had reduced in worse schools, you think that doing more of the same is going to work.
I can guarantee that the answer isn't more federal government control. Since the early 20th century, we're ceded more and more control over education to the federal government, and our schools are worse. That's not just a post hoc argument... I recognize that other federal programs also contribute, like the structure of the welfare system that encourages broken homes.
Are you kidding? Even if the turnout for local elections was high-- which it rarely is-- you're talking about competing with only a few hundred or maybe a thousand or two. Even in a Senate election in a low-population state, you're competing with hundreds of thousands or MILLIONS. Why do you hate democracy?
I'm a little late responding, but aspartame breaks down in a warm environment into other substances, one of them being formaldehyde. That's the only one I'm really concerned about at the moment; I'm actually not totally buying into the other claim that artificial sweeteners actually make you fatter by messing with your metabolism.
I'm pretty sure we didn't lose Desert Storm, and the Korean War ended in stalemate. Saddam Hussein is dead, and a democratic government is in place in Iraq. Bin Laden's dead and a democratic government is in place in Afghanistan, so I'd have to call that a "win" although it doesn't seem like one.
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It's funny you mention Franklin, because he gave away the secrets to many of his inventions when he felt they would be hugely beneficial to society (like the Franklin stove).
Don't know how patents work, do you? You can have a secret, or you can have a patent. Can't have both. For example, Coca-Cola's formula is an industry secret; if it had been patented, others would have been prevented from copying it by law, but it would have expired after a relatively short time at which point hundreds of copies could have easily been made just reading the patent.
Can I say L O L? It was common for a regional call-- maybe just to the next city-- to cost 50 cents a minute. Now, most people don't even pay per minute for these calls anymore, and those few who pay for long-distance domestic calls pay 10 cents or less. If your prices went up, it was a local (and temporary) phenomenon.
I find people who think we have anything like a free market in the USA quite entertaining. The "rich are getting richer" because they know how to play the web of anti-free-market regulations to their benefit. How does the small businessman get ahead when he has to untangle this web without the resources that the corporations and their lobbyists have? When Warren Buffett talks about taking the rich more, he laughs because he STILL won't pay any taxes. But he won't have to worry about any competition from small-business upstarts anymore, as they will be paying through the nose and their enterprises will fail before they even start.
In short, I'm waiting for your non-straw-man rebuttal of increasing supply pushing down prices of a commodity.
"Elevated" could be "by 1".
I'm sure the decisions made by the Bush administration over three years ago are still holding him back.
This is a list of all the anti-counterfeiting measures in US currency. People still take fake bills because they just don't bother to check.
Fiber Embedded Paper. The paper used to print our currency has tiny threads of fibers embedded into the paper. If the bill has no tiny fibers of red and blur embedded into the paper, it is probably a fake bill. Embedding fibers into the paper is one of anti-counterfeiting measures used to make it harder to make fake currency.
Border Scroll. On the edges of a bill are fine lines in a scroll shape. The thin, fine lines are sharp and clear on an authentic bill. If you try to use a scanner and printer on your home computer to print your own money, the border art will appear blurry and the lines will run together.
Security Thread. A security thread is embedded into the paper money and runs from the top to the bottom of the bill. It is printed with the currency amount. When held over an ultraviolet light the security thread will glow red. The security thread is one of the ten anti-counterfeiting measures that work the best to stop people from making fake money and devaluing our currency.
Color Shifting Ink. On the $100 bill, a color shifting ink made with metallic flakes is used. On the $100 logo, the ink color will shift from black to green depending on the angle you are holding the bill.
Microprinting. Microprinting involves printing in such a tiny font that it simply appears as solid lines but when viewed under magnification you can read the printing. Microprinting is an ant-counterfeiting measure that makes it extremely hard, if not impossible, for the average person to print fake money at home.
Serial Numbers. Printing serial numbers on currency makes it harder for counterfeiters to forge fake money. In a large batch of fake currency, the counterfeiters may be forced to use the same serial number on all the bills making it easier to spot the fake bills. On fake bills, the serial numbers may not be evenly spaced or sized which is a dead give away that the bill is fake.
Watermark. A watermark is embedded into the paper during the actual process of printing the paper. A watermark is very hard if not impossible for most counterfeiters to accurately replicate. A watermark is one of the ten anti-counterfeiting measures used to easily distinguish real currency from fake currency.
Paper Color. The Yellow and Greenish colored hues used paper money makes bills hard to duplicate at home. A counterfeiter will have a hard time trying to duplicate the color scheme of an actual bill.
That's kind of the basic principle of currency: scarcity. But now we listen to Keynesian bankers who control our wealth.
Once I get my mouse-o-copter and dog-o-copter off the ground, I plan to recreate every Tom and Jerry cartoon with live aerial action.
Yes, actually. If we keep equating black folks with "low income" then we continue treating them as victims. These people are being victimized because they are poor, not because they are black. Their fates are no longer in the hands of racists, but power-hungry politicians and their elite cohorts.
And then the Federal government took control, which is right about when public education started going downhill.
Segregation is a different matter. You are being disingenuous by lumping segregationists in with those who simply don't want bureaucrats in Washington dictating one-size-fits-all policy to their local schools. People who want their kids to be properly educated and want to have a say about it are not racists.
I stopped reading here, because I've already heard enough from people like you who have an agenda other than actually improving education. I don't know why, when increasing federal power had reduced in worse schools, you think that doing more of the same is going to work.
I can guarantee that the answer isn't more federal government control. Since the early 20th century, we're ceded more and more control over education to the federal government, and our schools are worse. That's not just a post hoc argument... I recognize that other federal programs also contribute, like the structure of the welfare system that encourages broken homes.
Are you kidding? Even if the turnout for local elections was high-- which it rarely is-- you're talking about competing with only a few hundred or maybe a thousand or two. Even in a Senate election in a low-population state, you're competing with hundreds of thousands or MILLIONS. Why do you hate democracy?
Perhaps, if they're in the majority. What, you don't like democracy now?
There seem to be a lot of people doing that. Hint: it's largely not the businessmen who want to sell us stuff.
Can anyone explain why "black residents" in particular would have to move to Oakland? Is high-tech threatening to the high levels of melanin?
Excuse me, but what bigoted statement did I just make?
Here you go. As if banning everything the authoritarians DON'T want you to eat isn't fundamentally the same as forcing you to eat specific things.
I'm a little late responding, but aspartame breaks down in a warm environment into other substances, one of them being formaldehyde. That's the only one I'm really concerned about at the moment; I'm actually not totally buying into the other claim that artificial sweeteners actually make you fatter by messing with your metabolism.
Still playing the race card, eh?
I guess there are now 102 uses for a dead cat.
The fact that they aren't being covered in the mainstream media?
I'm pretty sure we didn't lose Desert Storm, and the Korean War ended in stalemate. Saddam Hussein is dead, and a democratic government is in place in Iraq. Bin Laden's dead and a democratic government is in place in Afghanistan, so I'd have to call that a "win" although it doesn't seem like one.