They photograph your license plate at all manual toll collection points too.
Could you not surround your license plate with some extremely high intensity IR LED's...and use that to blind the cameras...while keeping your plate perfectly readable by human eyes?
If you pass through more than one toll gate, they can determine your average speed between the toll gates, and if it's over the average posted limit, they can send you a ticket. If they have a picture of you driving at both check points, then they have proof it was you speeding.
As I'd mentioned earlier...why not just ditch the electronic toll pass altogether...and just pay cash?
Then, they don't have as easy a way to track you at all...
Some of us would rather have a society where everyone had a Nissan Micra, rather than one where a few people had Porshces and the rest walked, or at least a society where people thought of that as a worthwhile goal.
So, you penalize the people with smarts, that work hard to succeed...and make the pay for those that can't or are lazy?
If I can't keep my means that I have worked for all my life so far.....and I have to use most of it to support others and 'give' them an undeserved lifestyle up to what I have left to afford. Where exactly is the incentive for ME to keep working my ass off? Heck, a smart person would see that doing so, is a waste of time...and soon...everyone is trying to have the life 'given' to them, and at some point...there is no one left to work to support the moochers.
Is that really what you want?
Life isn't fair, and not everyone is born with equal gifts (I'll never be an NBA star).....not everyone has the drive to succeed....why should those that do, be forced to give to those who don't or won't?
Just because you can, doesn't mean everyone else can. A multi-millionaire can spend $1000 on a meal, the person cleaning the dishes in the restaurant's kitchen can't.
Well, not everyone is entitled to luxuries...which a kindle certainly would be....
If $200 is too much for your discrecionary spending...then don't even think of trying to buy one, till you can figure a way to make more money and afford one.
I'm certainly NOT rich by a long stretch...but $200 can easily be spared by me at any time. And I'm definitely not in the minority here in the US....just middle to upper middle class.
That's one of the answers that one one will seem to look at.
Let's throw out the old tax code.....all of it.
Start with setting rates (even if you want to keep a progressive scale and not go flat tax, which I do favor in form of doing only a national sales tax, but I digress)....and remove ALL deductions. None for expenses for businesses, none for having kids in the house, none for mortgages...none for anything.
That way, you can set the rates, and know exactly what you owe, and the US can know exactly what is coming in.
Heck, with that...everyone could save money for tax filing as that it would be so simple, anyone can fill out the forms and pay.
It would also take the govt. out of the business of trying to alter behavior by tax....which I don't think the govt. should be in the business of doing to begin with.
But say for corporations. Take away all deductions and have a corp tax of 15% or so maybe...no more, no less....
Why should anyone have to "cope" with being someone else's punching bag?
Well, physical violence crosses a boundry from just being a bully....and putting someone down, calling names..etc. There are already laws against physical violence.
That being said...if as a kid someone hits you, hit them back with everything and anything you can grab. It will certainly keep them from going after you again, like others have said on here....since you will no longer be a 'soft target'.
Yes, boys fight....it is part of growing up...sad but true.
But as I said..there is already punishment and rules for physical violence...but calling names or doing stupid shit on the internet....no, I don't think we need to criminalize it. That path can go way too far, way too fast.
I hate to see the day when it is against the law to call someone a fuckwad, either to their face, or on a web forum.
So, after thousands of years, we should outlaw kids being kids? Geez, this has been what kids do since the end of time...why are kids not able to cope anymore? It certainly should not be a crime....it is the nature of kids and part of growing up.
Funny, I learned to ignore bullying quite early on...that led fairly quickly to.being accepted by a large.swath of kids.
Part of growing up is learning to deal with adversity and what in general can be a.cruel world that doesn't give a shit about your precious self esteem....part of this experience is learning to grow your skin a bit thicker, and learn the only person you should really care about their thoughts of you...is yourself...
Well, good scotch...along with beer and/or some shooters. Also, buying a friend or a girl some drinks too...pretty easy to do if you're not drinking well brands....even in New Orleans where it is cheap, you can easily piss away $200 on a bar tab, with a good tip included.
My 4GB Ipod Nano does just fine for music. You don't need to take 100 GB of music with you. Sure it's nice to be able to, but hardly necessary. It used to be nice to have a CD walkman, and maybe bring a long a couple extra CDs. With this you can easily bring along 20 albums without carrying anything extra.
Depends. My nano, is great for the gym...as that I only listen to about 1.5 hours a day on it...easily enough every week or so, when recharging to change the music.
However, for my car...and especially on trips, or even sitting in the office, I never know what I'll be in the mood to listen to.
That's where my iPod 160GB comes in. It houses *most* of my music collection...and a few videos, and podcasts. It is my radio station......and I like to be able to listen to whatever I own at any time the mood strikes me. This is especially true of traveling....I don't want to have to plan what I want to take or watch with me...hell, I have enough trouble remembering to pack enough clothes that match and toothbrush when traveling. I don't need to have to plan for all my entertainment needs too.
It is the device everyone should have, so sales for these devices (including apps) are skyrocketing. It is something that you can flounder around with, peer pressure... Because the non-essential money is spent on these luxury items, no money goes towards the things that are within the home (like furniture, carpets, appliances etc. - again a generalization). Just look around, all I see are furniture stores (and the likes) close all over the place.
I'm not sure I understand your first point....you said it is a device "everyone should have". Where do you get that? A smart phone, hell, just a cell phone is a luxury. No one needs that to live.
And, why a problem with luxuries? If you can afford a Porsche, why not get one and be happy? Not everyone can afford one, and certainly no one needs one. But no reason to get mad that they exist for the pleasure of those that can afford them.
The problem is...that some how, everyone thinks they're entitled to nice things, luxury items. I'm sorry, but you can't fix "stupid". If people are poor and can't figure out that food and shelter (and looking for a better job, education, etc) are more important that *bling*, then well...that's their problem. And you can't legislate fixing idiocy.
The US, at least..is supposed to be a place with equal opportunity to succeed, but you gotta figure what YOU are going to do with your opportunities....based on your starting position in life. It is tougher for some than others....but that's just life, always has been that way.
If you can afford nice things...more power to you. If you can't and want them..then you have to have enough adult thinking about you...to defer immediate gratification, and do the hard work and sacrifice it takes to attain the level of income that allows you to afford nice things.
But, no one is entitled to just have nice things....sadly, too many people out there have an unjustified sense of entitlement.
With respect to the CBS article you posted, bashing Republican cost cutting measures:
The 2012 budget proposal for food and farm programs also includes a decrease of almost $457 million, or 31 percent, from an international food assistance program
While sad, I don't have a problem with this. Sure, in times of plenty, nothing wrong with the US helping out other countries...but when times are tough, it IS the duty of our government to try to look out for its own citizens first. And that money could go to our own domestic issues like food for the poor. I don't see a problem with this at all.
Republicans who wrote the bill said the cuts in domestic food programs are taken from excess dollars in those accounts, and participants won't see a decrease in services.
Hey, if they've cutting waste...and all, I've no problem for that. It always sounds bad when you just say "oh no, they're cutting $$ for the poor programs....if they're cutting waste, duplications, red tape costs and other wasted overhead (not to mention fraud)...when what's the problem there? The article says they always run these programs over the past years with reserve funds left over.
Perhaps, rather than fund these things all at once at the beginning of the year...why not fun them quarterly, that way you could see more what the cost trends are for that year, and adjust the budget accordingly?
Of course there are 2x sides to every argument, but from the link you posted, these cuts don't seem like a bad idea?
I'm reasonably sure that within a few weeks there will be a version of Cyanogen that will run on it just fine. For the technically savvy it will be a cinch to install and get a vanilla Android device.
I'd originally thought this too...however, this Kindle Fire doesn't have the microSD card capability that the nook color does.
So, you can't boot from external media, that will make it quite tough to 'hack' into....that and the Fire only has like 8GB of internal memory...which is gonna get small quickly without external memory available (hence, their plan to have you keep most everything you want for content on the Amazon Cloud).
I'm definitely on a wait and see on the Fire to see if anything non-Amazon can be done with it.
In the meantime...nook colors can be had used on craigslist and ebay for about $150 plus shipping...easy and well documented to transform into a full blow android tablet with cyanogenmod7.
Not only is the price of everything at the grocery store rising, you go to the bank and they're slapping new fees on everywhere
Well, time to do some life changes...to combat this, and it isn't that hard.
1. If you bank is raising fees for things like debit card usage....try shopping for a new bank (not all of them are doing this), and/or stop using debit cards. Carry cash, use a check, or do a credit card but ONLY charge enough that you can pay off in full each month.
2. Food...well, stop eating out so often. Stop buying prepackaged, frozen or highly processed foods in the grocery store. Do something like I do weekly, look at the grocery store fliers that come out on like Wed or Thurs...see what is on sale, and base your menus around that!! Shop only on the outside of the grocery stores (veggies/fruit, meats, dairy, etc). Plan and COOK your own food. With planning, it isn't that bad, can be cheaper per meal, and definitely more healthy. I like to pick out Sunday as a 'cook day'...I cook 3-4 main courses and sides...maybe even just grill a few things like chicken, etc....and can use that during the week for quick meals (heat, chop and wrap in pita bread with a quick yogurt sauce)..so that you don't get tired eating the same thing all week long.
And for God's sake...get over not eating leftovers...hell, some things actually get better with age in the fridge (spag sauce for instance).
Anyway, it isn't that hard to get around these things, if you're just not too lazy to move money around and look for bargains, and be a bit more domestic on the weekends.
. In this economy, a lot of people don't have a spare $200 to spend on a shiny new toy.
If you can't afford a mere $200 for a computer like product...then you definitely have better things to do with your life, like study and look for a better JOB.
If you're a broke college student, this doesn't apply...but, if you're a grown adult, still wearing a nametag and asking "if you want fries with that"...you seriously have made some vocational errors. By this time in life, you should have enough money put back for the lean times, and maybe a little for a cheap toy like this from time to time....if not, then you seriously need to examine your life up till now, and try to get on a plan to do something about it.
I mean, hell....you can drink $200 in a bar one night pretty easily....$200 in this day in time, is not a lot of money...it doesn't go as far as it used to in the old days...
No, there shouldn't be any requirements for private businesses....let them do as best as they can in the market.
To encourage jobs IN the US, however, I'd say the Feds could lower taxes to corporations, for every documented US citizen they hire to give incentive and make it easier to hire US citizens.
However, for Federal contracts, ESPECIALLY those coding for DoD, NASA, etc...they should be mandated to use ONLY US citizens...which they generally do anyway since most of those jobs require some level of security clearance, and you pretty much gotta be a US citizen to get one.
I don't see any problem at all, with jobs like this that are funded with US taxpayer money, to be mandated to go ONLY to US citizens. Both for fiscal reasons, as well as for security ones.
But for the private sectore...no, don't legislate or regulate it for US jobs...but give highly fiscal incentive to do it, through tax cuts, etc.
All private industry cares about is cost/profit, so make it easy to do business here in the US through less regulations/red tape, and less tax for hiring US.
I mean, you get in..and first thing...someones changed the radio station.
Someone before you was sweaty and/or smelly...
No one has emptied out the ashtray in forever...
And..where do you keep your stuff? I carry a lot of myself around with me in my car...I don't wanna have to cram all of that into a backpack and carry it all everytime I change cars (mp3 player/CD's, radar detector, darts [soft time and steels] in case I go hit a bar with a board, my lottery tix, various sun glasses....etc).
As if that weren't the standard setting for desktop these days...
Not any any place I've worked..or at home.
I mean, no need to turn a desktop off...no need to conserve battery, just usually a screen saver that locks when you go away.
But never heard of turning a monitor off before on a desktop....? Can't see a good reason for doing it...the inconvenience I'd think would outweigh any slight perceived savings in energy cost...
The lack of back-talk may have been partly due to the fact that some employees got cocks forced down their throats.
Well, not likely 'forced'...but if the little lady wanted a promotion over the other girls in the office...doing that voluntarily isn't.....err...wasn't a bad idea exactly.
Slashdot Mirror
Could you not surround your license plate with some extremely high intensity IR LED's...and use that to blind the cameras...while keeping your plate perfectly readable by human eyes?
As I'd mentioned earlier...why not just ditch the electronic toll pass altogether...and just pay cash?
Then, they don't have as easy a way to track you at all...
No picture that way....and no tracking you at all that way.
So, you penalize the people with smarts, that work hard to succeed...and make the pay for those that can't or are lazy?
If I can't keep my means that I have worked for all my life so far.....and I have to use most of it to support others and 'give' them an undeserved lifestyle up to what I have left to afford. Where exactly is the incentive for ME to keep working my ass off? Heck, a smart person would see that doing so, is a waste of time...and soon...everyone is trying to have the life 'given' to them, and at some point...there is no one left to work to support the moochers.
Is that really what you want?
Life isn't fair, and not everyone is born with equal gifts (I'll never be an NBA star).....not everyone has the drive to succeed....why should those that do, be forced to give to those who don't or won't?
Well, not everyone is entitled to luxuries...which a kindle certainly would be....
If $200 is too much for your discrecionary spending...then don't even think of trying to buy one, till you can figure a way to make more money and afford one.
I'm certainly NOT rich by a long stretch...but $200 can easily be spared by me at any time. And I'm definitely not in the minority here in the US....just middle to upper middle class.
Let's throw out the old tax code.....all of it.
Start with setting rates (even if you want to keep a progressive scale and not go flat tax, which I do favor in form of doing only a national sales tax, but I digress)....and remove ALL deductions. None for expenses for businesses, none for having kids in the house, none for mortgages...none for anything.
That way, you can set the rates, and know exactly what you owe, and the US can know exactly what is coming in.
Heck, with that...everyone could save money for tax filing as that it would be so simple, anyone can fill out the forms and pay.
It would also take the govt. out of the business of trying to alter behavior by tax....which I don't think the govt. should be in the business of doing to begin with.
But say for corporations. Take away all deductions and have a corp tax of 15% or so maybe...no more, no less....
Well, physical violence crosses a boundry from just being a bully....and putting someone down, calling names..etc. There are already laws against physical violence.
That being said...if as a kid someone hits you, hit them back with everything and anything you can grab. It will certainly keep them from going after you again, like others have said on here....since you will no longer be a 'soft target'.
Yes, boys fight....it is part of growing up...sad but true.
But as I said..there is already punishment and rules for physical violence...but calling names or doing stupid shit on the internet....no, I don't think we need to criminalize it. That path can go way too far, way too fast.
I hate to see the day when it is against the law to call someone a fuckwad, either to their face, or on a web forum.
What ever happened to 'sticks and stones'?
So, after thousands of years, we should outlaw kids being kids? Geez, this has been what kids do since the end of time...why are kids not able to cope anymore? It certainly should not be a crime....it is the nature of kids and part of growing up.
Part of growing up is learning to deal with adversity and what in general can be a.cruel world that doesn't give a shit about your precious self esteem....part of this experience is learning to grow your skin a bit thicker, and learn the only person you should really care about their thoughts of you...is yourself...
Well, good scotch...along with beer and/or some shooters. Also, buying a friend or a girl some drinks too...pretty easy to do if you're not drinking well brands....even in New Orleans where it is cheap, you can easily piss away $200 on a bar tab, with a good tip included.
Whew..but be careful on that drive home....*burp*
Depends. My nano, is great for the gym...as that I only listen to about 1.5 hours a day on it...easily enough every week or so, when recharging to change the music.
However, for my car...and especially on trips, or even sitting in the office, I never know what I'll be in the mood to listen to.
That's where my iPod 160GB comes in. It houses *most* of my music collection...and a few videos, and podcasts. It is my radio station......and I like to be able to listen to whatever I own at any time the mood strikes me. This is especially true of traveling....I don't want to have to plan what I want to take or watch with me...hell, I have enough trouble remembering to pack enough clothes that match and toothbrush when traveling. I don't need to have to plan for all my entertainment needs too.
I'm not sure I understand your first point....you said it is a device "everyone should have". Where do you get that? A smart phone, hell, just a cell phone is a luxury. No one needs that to live.
And, why a problem with luxuries? If you can afford a Porsche, why not get one and be happy? Not everyone can afford one, and certainly no one needs one. But no reason to get mad that they exist for the pleasure of those that can afford them.
The problem is...that some how, everyone thinks they're entitled to nice things, luxury items. I'm sorry, but you can't fix "stupid". If people are poor and can't figure out that food and shelter (and looking for a better job, education, etc) are more important that *bling*, then well...that's their problem. And you can't legislate fixing idiocy.
The US, at least..is supposed to be a place with equal opportunity to succeed, but you gotta figure what YOU are going to do with your opportunities....based on your starting position in life. It is tougher for some than others....but that's just life, always has been that way.
If you can afford nice things...more power to you. If you can't and want them..then you have to have enough adult thinking about you...to defer immediate gratification, and do the hard work and sacrifice it takes to attain the level of income that allows you to afford nice things.
But, no one is entitled to just have nice things....sadly, too many people out there have an unjustified sense of entitlement.
While sad, I don't have a problem with this. Sure, in times of plenty, nothing wrong with the US helping out other countries...but when times are tough, it IS the duty of our government to try to look out for its own citizens first. And that money could go to our own domestic issues like food for the poor. I don't see a problem with this at all.
I'd originally thought this too...however, this Kindle Fire doesn't have the microSD card capability that the nook color does.
So, you can't boot from external media, that will make it quite tough to 'hack' into....that and the Fire only has like 8GB of internal memory...which is gonna get small quickly without external memory available (hence, their plan to have you keep most everything you want for content on the Amazon Cloud).
I'm definitely on a wait and see on the Fire to see if anything non-Amazon can be done with it.
In the meantime...nook colors can be had used on craigslist and ebay for about $150 plus shipping...easy and well documented to transform into a full blow android tablet with cyanogenmod7.
Well, time to do some life changes...to combat this, and it isn't that hard.
1. If you bank is raising fees for things like debit card usage....try shopping for a new bank (not all of them are doing this), and/or stop using debit cards. Carry cash, use a check, or do a credit card but ONLY charge enough that you can pay off in full each month.
2. Food...well, stop eating out so often. Stop buying prepackaged, frozen or highly processed foods in the grocery store. Do something like I do weekly, look at the grocery store fliers that come out on like Wed or Thurs...see what is on sale, and base your menus around that!! Shop only on the outside of the grocery stores (veggies/fruit, meats, dairy, etc). Plan and COOK your own food. With planning, it isn't that bad, can be cheaper per meal, and definitely more healthy. I like to pick out Sunday as a 'cook day'...I cook 3-4 main courses and sides...maybe even just grill a few things like chicken, etc....and can use that during the week for quick meals (heat, chop and wrap in pita bread with a quick yogurt sauce)..so that you don't get tired eating the same thing all week long.
And for God's sake...get over not eating leftovers...hell, some things actually get better with age in the fridge (spag sauce for instance).
Anyway, it isn't that hard to get around these things, if you're just not too lazy to move money around and look for bargains, and be a bit more domestic on the weekends.
If you can't afford a mere $200 for a computer like product...then you definitely have better things to do with your life, like study and look for a better JOB.
If you're a broke college student, this doesn't apply...but, if you're a grown adult, still wearing a nametag and asking "if you want fries with that"...you seriously have made some vocational errors. By this time in life, you should have enough money put back for the lean times, and maybe a little for a cheap toy like this from time to time....if not, then you seriously need to examine your life up till now, and try to get on a plan to do something about it.
I mean, hell....you can drink $200 in a bar one night pretty easily....$200 in this day in time, is not a lot of money...it doesn't go as far as it used to in the old days...
No, there shouldn't be any requirements for private businesses....let them do as best as they can in the market.
To encourage jobs IN the US, however, I'd say the Feds could lower taxes to corporations, for every documented US citizen they hire to give incentive and make it easier to hire US citizens.
However, for Federal contracts, ESPECIALLY those coding for DoD, NASA, etc...they should be mandated to use ONLY US citizens...which they generally do anyway since most of those jobs require some level of security clearance, and you pretty much gotta be a US citizen to get one.
I don't see any problem at all, with jobs like this that are funded with US taxpayer money, to be mandated to go ONLY to US citizens. Both for fiscal reasons, as well as for security ones.
But for the private sectore...no, don't legislate or regulate it for US jobs...but give highly fiscal incentive to do it, through tax cuts, etc.
All private industry cares about is cost/profit, so make it easy to do business here in the US through less regulations/red tape, and less tax for hiring US.
I mean, you get in..and first thing...someones changed the radio station.
Someone before you was sweaty and/or smelly...
No one has emptied out the ashtray in forever...
And..where do you keep your stuff? I carry a lot of myself around with me in my car...I don't wanna have to cram all of that into a backpack and carry it all everytime I change cars (mp3 player/CD's, radar detector, darts [soft time and steels] in case I go hit a bar with a board, my lottery tix, various sun glasses....etc).
Not any any place I've worked..or at home.
I mean, no need to turn a desktop off...no need to conserve battery, just usually a screen saver that locks when you go away.
But never heard of turning a monitor off before on a desktop....? Can't see a good reason for doing it...the inconvenience I'd think would outweigh any slight perceived savings in energy cost...
Well, that's what the 6000 or so mp3's I have on my ipod are for....
There's actually people out there that pay for these streaming (or otherwise) services?
Interesting...I've yet to meet anyone that pays for subscriptions to these things.
With the free alternative...I gotta ask. Why?
Well, not likely 'forced'...but if the little lady wanted a promotion over the other girls in the office...doing that voluntarily isn't.....err...wasn't a bad idea exactly.
Winners on all sides!!
???
Is everyone where you're at running laptops or something?
Yes, the employer has to pay into the unemployment fund for each employee.
Ah yes...the good old days.
The workplace sure was more pleasant back then....and MUCH less 'back-talking'.....