It has been explained to me this way: "The Republicans are on the right like our conservative party, whereas the Democrats are on the right like our conservative party.".
Just remove the airbags and install real seat belts.
CAUTION: This only refers to the United States (presumably the poster's home). In the civilised world, air bags are designed to supplement seat belts, not replace them, and are much safer than US airbags (unless you are not wearing a seatbelt.)
But now that Obama's in charge and he's making them 10x worse, they're all for it.
Seriously? More likely now the liberals have found they have another conservative government, and its business as usual, they have given up. Must be depressing. It was either this or risk President Palin. What could you do? McCain seemed like a nice rational guy, but 75 years old.
Taxes are for funding the govt services we all need...that should be it...period.
Interesting assertion, but the use of bold font and spelling out "period" for emphasis is no substitute for a reasoned argument, which appears to be missing from your post. It is the equivalent of attempting to win a debate by yelling louder.
The problem is that governments must choose how to raise the taxes * needed to pay for health, education, pensions, roads etc. What mix of income, consumption, property taxes etc is the best mix? Taxes distort the market, changing behaviour, and its preferable to do that in a good way. Taxes are unavoidable, so why not put them where they do the least harm, or even good? You have to choose something.
( *though some gov'ts are doing a remarkable jpb of avoiding that - like US and Greece)
All they need is to withdraw from the NPT. Iran has a perfect right to develop nuclear weapons, and a very plausible reason of deterring foreign invasion, given what happened to Iraq. Why pretend not to have a nuclear program when nobody believes you? At least they could take the "no comment" approach that Israel has.
You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means. “any definition of irony... must include this, that the surface meaning and the underlying meaning of what is said are not the same."
Slow (or speed) the Earth's revolution around the Sun until it takes 360 (or 372) days. Problem solved.
There is always some idiot suggesting an over-engineered impractical solution. Why move the orbit when it would be so much easier to slow (or speed) the Earth's rotation about its own axis, and achieve the same end. The day would be slightly longer, but since hours and minutes would be replaced by millidays, nobody will notice.
That would be unacceptable to anybody who celebrates a Sabbath on a certain day of the week on every 7th day.
I suppose by that logic such a person would be unable to travel around the world, thus losing or gaining a day. Maybe they get around it by believing in a flat earth, like the guys who wrote those laws. How else do they cope?
Europe converted... It's not about us being stupid, it's about us having a stable system that works and being asked to give that up for something that would result in an inferior outcome.
Forget Europe. Look at Australia as a more comparable model, and evidence of how easy it can be. Individual Americans are not at all too stupid to adapt, but somehow there has grown a collective stupidity in American politics that makes even the most sensible change more difficult. This is the same reason you are still stuck with pennies, but have to stuff banknotes into a vending machine for lack of $1 and $2 coins.
For a slightly more sane solution than rackmounting at home, consider the HP microserver. Very low power (12W CPU), small, quiet, cheap, server grade, no Windows tax, holds four pluggable 3.5" drives plus optical (which some people swap for a 5th HDD for RAID5.)
Licensing is not enough. If IT techs are going to make anywhere near as much money as plumbers and electricians, we need laws prohibiting anyone from repairing or installing their own computer.
In this stupid nanny-state of Australia, I cannot even (legally) replace a faulty GPO (power outlet) or leaking tap in my own home without paying $100 callout plus $90/hr (bloody mining boom), so why should that tradie be allowed to run Windows Update without paying an IT nerd to do it?
The point is that if you trust your cell phone to be a 2nd authentication factor for your banking, you've contracted out your security to [the dumbest customer service rep at] your mobile carrier.
Worse. The thief just needs your mobile phone and account numbers (e.g. stolen from mailbox, or trash) to port your number within minutes without any human approving it. The names on the accounts do not even need to match. Two-factor authentication by SMS is almost worthless in Australia.
So instead of complaining, why don't you go to the AGM, and run for committee? Change the rules. Stack the meeting with your friends from the building, and get them to run too. Do a coup-de-ta.
Good points. Pixar do real family movies - appealing to just about everyone, including kids too young for Star Wars. But I don't see why battles and death are taboo for kids. Much easier to explain and deal with than the violent crime that fills so many other movies. Even a 4yo can understand the concepts of war and death in battle. There is nothing overly graphic in Star Wars.
If this has anything to do with those stupid prequels, then this is a bad joke, as those movies are complete trash.
Maybe they are all kid's movies. You watched the first set as a kid, and the second as an adult. Of course they did not meet your expectations. As a kid it is easier to appreciate the wonders in a movie while ignoring flaws. If you want polished perfection, these are not the movies you are looking for.
That's not just a troll. The drones get much bigger headlines (just outside the USA?) for blowing up wedding parties and other civilians, than for killing enemies, even though they hopefully do the latter more often. I was going to comment about blowing up allied border posts, but that particular massacre was done by piloted planes. So are drones really the problem? Are drone pilots any more detached from the carnage than the WWII high-altitude incendiary bomber crews?
As for civilian use, we could use a couple of these for aerial shark patrols. Not too dangerous flying over the ocean. They could even be armed with a.50 cal gun.
Well how the hell would *you* explain the concept of an atmosphere to X-thousand-BC sheep-herders and farmers?
I'd tell them the earth is flat, and the sky is blue because it is a dome holding back the waters. I'd tell 'em there was light on the first day, but the sun and stars did not come until the third day. Just to mess with their heads and see how gullible they were. But I'm an evil old sod.
News flash: Christianity is only 33% of the world belief, so just by that measure, most of the world doesn't believe in the contents, making it a work of fiction in their view.
That's unfair to Christians, most of whom know it is fiction too. They only need read as far as the sixth verse of the first book where God unambiguously creates the sky dome to hold back the waters above. Even creationist extremists begin to fumble and look away at this stage.
Sure, it starts with cute & cuddly camera-wielding robots. But in a couple of years they will announce a brilliant cost-saving measure - use retired military robots from the Demilitarised Zone.
Slashdot Mirror
It has been explained to me this way:
"The Republicans are on the right like our conservative party, whereas the Democrats are on the right like our conservative party.".
Just remove the airbags and install real seat belts.
CAUTION: This only refers to the United States (presumably the poster's home). In the civilised world, air bags are designed to supplement seat belts, not replace them, and are much safer than US airbags (unless you are not wearing a seatbelt.)
But now that Obama's in charge and he's making them 10x worse, they're all for it.
Seriously? More likely now the liberals have found they have another conservative government, and its business as usual, they have given up.
Must be depressing. It was either this or risk President Palin. What could you do? McCain seemed like a nice rational guy, but 75 years old.
Taxes are for funding the govt services we all need...that should be it...period.
Interesting assertion, but the use of bold font and spelling out "period" for emphasis is no substitute for a reasoned argument, which appears to be missing from your post. It is the equivalent of attempting to win a debate by yelling louder.
The problem is that governments must choose how to raise the taxes * needed to pay for health, education, pensions, roads etc. What mix of income, consumption, property taxes etc is the best mix? Taxes distort the market, changing behaviour, and its preferable to do that in a good way. Taxes are unavoidable, so why not put them where they do the least harm, or even good? You have to choose something.
( *though some gov'ts are doing a remarkable jpb of avoiding that - like US and Greece)
There is not a single country in Asia that does not import oil.
Saudi Arabia imports oil!? Kazakhstan? Brunei? Iran, Iraq, Kuwait ...
Unless you count olive oil, somebody needs a geography lesson.
All they need is to withdraw from the NPT. Iran has a perfect right to develop nuclear weapons, and a very plausible reason of deterring foreign invasion, given what happened to Iraq. Why pretend not to have a nuclear program when nobody believes you? At least they could take the "no comment" approach that Israel has.
Edison would have loved LEDs and hated CFLs. LEDs are always DC and CFL always AC inside.
Hmm... See subject, see proposal, see Irony
You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.
“any definition of irony... must include this, that the surface meaning and the underlying meaning of what is said are not the same."
See also.
Slow (or speed) the Earth's revolution around the Sun until it takes 360 (or 372) days. Problem solved.
There is always some idiot suggesting an over-engineered impractical solution.
Why move the orbit when it would be so much easier to slow (or speed) the Earth's rotation about its own axis, and achieve the same end.
The day would be slightly longer, but since hours and minutes would be replaced by millidays, nobody will notice.
That would be unacceptable to anybody who celebrates a Sabbath on a certain day of the week on every 7th day.
I suppose by that logic such a person would be unable to travel around the world, thus losing or gaining a day. Maybe they get around it by believing in a flat earth, like the guys who wrote those laws.
How else do they cope?
Europe converted ... It's not about us being stupid, it's about us having a stable system that works and being asked to give that up for something that would result in an inferior outcome.
Forget Europe. Look at Australia as a more comparable model, and evidence of how easy it can be. Individual Americans are not at all too stupid to adapt, but somehow there has grown a collective stupidity in American politics that makes even the most sensible change more difficult. This is the same reason you are still stuck with pennies, but have to stuff banknotes into a vending machine for lack of $1 and $2 coins.
all you have to do is require the most important thing we deal with to become metric: gasoline purchases.
I read that this happened in the US when gasoline hit $1/gallon, but they eventually went back to imperial again. An urban legend?
For a slightly more sane solution than rackmounting at home, consider the HP microserver.
Very low power (12W CPU), small, quiet, cheap, server grade, no Windows tax, holds four pluggable 3.5" drives plus optical (which some people swap for a 5th HDD for RAID5.)
http://blog.thestateofme.com/2011/05/14/review-hp-microserver/
http://www.silentpcreview.com/HP_Proliant_MicroServer
http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/us/en/sm/WF05a/15351-15351-4237916-4237918-4237917-4248009.html
http://forums.overclockers.com.au/showthread.php?t=905262
If 8TB is full, you need to stop the obsessive collection of warez/pr0n/torrentz you are never likely to watch again.
Licensing is not enough. If IT techs are going to make anywhere near as much money as plumbers and electricians, we need laws prohibiting anyone from repairing or installing their own computer.
In this stupid nanny-state of Australia, I cannot even (legally) replace a faulty GPO (power outlet) or leaking tap in my own home without paying $100 callout plus $90/hr (bloody mining boom), so why should that tradie be allowed to run Windows Update without paying an IT nerd to do it?
My attention was caught by "the country's stockpile of radioactive plutonium.".
So what are they going to do with the stable isotopes?
The point is that if you trust your cell phone to be a 2nd authentication factor for your banking, you've contracted out your security to [the dumbest customer service rep at] your mobile carrier.
Worse. The thief just needs your mobile phone and account numbers (e.g. stolen from mailbox, or trash) to port your number within minutes without any human approving it.
The names on the accounts do not even need to match.
Two-factor authentication by SMS is almost worthless in Australia.
So instead of complaining, why don't you go to the AGM, and run for committee? Change the rules.
Stack the meeting with your friends from the building, and get them to run too. Do a coup-de-ta.
Good points. Pixar do real family movies - appealing to just about everyone, including kids too young for Star Wars.
But I don't see why battles and death are taboo for kids. Much easier to explain and deal with than the violent crime that fills so many other movies.
Even a 4yo can understand the concepts of war and death in battle. There is nothing overly graphic in Star Wars.
If this has anything to do with those stupid prequels, then this is a bad joke, as those movies are complete trash.
Maybe they are all kid's movies. You watched the first set as a kid, and the second as an adult. Of course they did not meet your expectations.
As a kid it is easier to appreciate the wonders in a movie while ignoring flaws. If you want polished perfection, these are not the movies you are looking for.
I thought your footnote was going to tell me WTF an HOA is.
That's not just a troll. The drones get much bigger headlines (just outside the USA?) for blowing up wedding parties and other civilians, than for killing enemies, even though they hopefully do the latter more often.
I was going to comment about blowing up allied border posts, but that particular massacre was done by piloted planes. So are drones really the problem?
Are drone pilots any more detached from the carnage than the WWII high-altitude incendiary bomber crews?
As for civilian use, we could use a couple of these for aerial shark patrols. Not too dangerous flying over the ocean. They could even be armed with a .50 cal gun.
Well how the hell would *you* explain the concept of an atmosphere to X-thousand-BC sheep-herders and farmers?
I'd tell them the earth is flat, and the sky is blue because it is a dome holding back the waters.
I'd tell 'em there was light on the first day, but the sun and stars did not come until the third day. Just to mess with their heads and see how gullible they were.
But I'm an evil old sod.
You can see planetaria and museums anywhere, but only the United States has this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creation_Museum
News flash: Christianity is only 33% of the world belief, so just by that measure, most of the world doesn't believe in the contents, making it a work of fiction in their view.
That's unfair to Christians, most of whom know it is fiction too. They only need read as far as the sixth verse of the first book where God unambiguously creates the sky dome to hold back the waters above. Even creationist extremists begin to fumble and look away at this stage.
Sure, it starts with cute & cuddly camera-wielding robots.
But in a couple of years they will announce a brilliant cost-saving measure - use retired military robots from the Demilitarised Zone.
http://spectrum.ieee.org/robotics/military-robots/a-robotic-sentry-for-koreas-demilitarized-zone