Americans generically, not you specifically. I am American myself and I've been complaining for years.
most of the atrocities against the Constitution would likely have happened regardless of who had power simply because the government will use any excuse it has to gain power
Agreed! Before Bush Clinton was already on that road. There was Nixon, and before him FDR. The earliest example I know of or can recall goes back to Andrew Jackson, when he said of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court "John Marshall has made his decision, now let him enforce it." This was when the Supreme Court made a ruling against him in the 1830s.
I can only read the story, but I think calling the mayor and every police official about his wife's harassment charge was probably not only useless but detrimental to his cause
So, you wouldn't escalate a complaint if you were being harassed? If the first police officer did nothing you wouldn't want to talk to a supervisor? Not only would I want to do that but if nothing happened eventually I'd want to scream about it at the top of my lungs.
The King giveth and the King taketh away a limited monopoly to one corporation which in turn pays a large recurring premium for this right. The East-India corporation springs to mind, but the Italians and the French had similar models, back in the 17th century.
Which one, the Dutch East India Company or the British East India Company? It's good to see someone else on/. knows of the first company(ies) granted corporate charters.
You know, a state-protected oligopoly is hardly "hyper-capitalism".
Of course it is. Capitalism is an ownership model, not a market model.
Read Adam Smith's, the father of capitalism, "The Wealth of Nations" sometime. Capitalism is both an ownership and a market model. It calls for voluntary exchanges between people, which is what a free market is.
Running lines and installing equipment has got to be easier in a much higher density area like Japan.
I seriously doubt population density has anything to do with the US lagging other countries in broadband. From The State of Broadband Internet Access "Clearly Iceland, Finland, and Canada have low population densities, but better access to broadband than countries such as the United States - Birthplace of the Internet, Australia, Japan, etc."
Also see this post of mine about how after being asked to install broadband in a city in Minnesota and refusing to do so a cable company tried to sue the city for doing it itself.
We should immediately begin crowding all citizens of the US into 10% of the land mass in order to achieve Japan's population density so we can reduce these costs. California would be good.
Last I read, even in large cities like LA and NYC broadband isn't available everywhere. If true, the problem isn't that people are too spread out. More like it's because there are monopolies controlling broadband. Lat year there was an article on/. about how after the city of Monticello, Minnesota asked the Bridgewater cable company to offer broadband and the company refused the people of the city voted to have the city build the infrastructure itself. Bridgewater then sued the city.
f you know anything about Steve Jobs, then you would know that he did toss a 100-page contract into the garbage can in front IBM's representatives and demanded a five-page contract instead.
I've never heard of this but if so then I applaud Jobs.
This reminds me of the EU constitution the French voted down. It was several hundred pages. But the Constitution of the USA fits on only a couple of pages. If something requires so many pages how are people supposed to understand it all?
When you have someone offering you much more then your companies worth...you take it run and never look back. Especially with the bad economy.
Before the economy went south Sun's stock was selling above $20. Today it was trading below $9. Virtually every corporation has seen the same thing. Smart investors buy low and sell high, not the opposite.
A few years ago I read an article in a business magazine saying something like this. The writer proposed Apple, Redhat, and Sun merge.
then they would be a very interesting Server-Desktop combo.
Apple already does both the desktop and servers. It would add expenses to port OS X to SPARC for servers and keep Intel for Desktop/portable computers. That plus software companies wouldn't want to create another software port. Adobe took years to release a universal/Intel compatible Photoshop CS, and when they did it was only 32 bit, whereas CS for Windows comes in both 32 and 64 bit versions.
The perverse incentives in the Kyoto Protocol were especially concerning.
What's even more perverting is that countries in Europe and elsewhere use biofuel to reduce their emmissions. A lot of that biofuel is made from palm oil which is imported from Indonesia. And how does Indonesia get it? The Bog Barons raze rainforest and drain the bogs to grow palm. This causes more CO2 to be released than if petroleum was used for fuel. That "New Scientist" article explains it pretty good.
How much more? I doubt there is a major difference even in the worst case (compared to other major sources of CO2 emission), and there are many other good reasons why replanting trees is a good idea in general.
First, notice I said "I support stopping deforestation and support planting more trees" so I obviously believe it's a good idea to plant trees. So on to "how much more?" Do more research until science figures out what trees to place where, how to plant them, and what the effects will be.
If its global warming that you are hawking, you don't change what you are selling because the guy in minnesota is having the worst winter ever.
Minnesota is having it's worst winter? AHAH!!! What a laugh, thanks. I live in Minneapolis, Minnesota and this winter has been mild. I'm getting ready now to plant my garden. I've been here almost 10 years and the coldest it got was a few years ago. When I first came here, to visit my sister for Christmas, it was warmer here than in Florida where I lived. Snow mobile sellers and other winter industry players payed for billboard ads asking "God" to send snow. There was very little of it, most of the ground was grass.
I seem to remember Al Gore stating that when CO2 levels increase, so does the temperature. So are CO2 levels increasing or not? If they are, then call it "Global Warming". Changing the term to "Climate Change" sounds, to me, like a child who keeps adding on to his "story" every time he's caught in a lie.
It's called climate change and not global warming because while the earth as a whole is supposed to be warming in specific areas it can actually cool. It makes no sense to say warming when some places will have lower temperatures.
Yes and that stuff about drinking 8 glasses of water a day is garbage
Shove you head in the water and it can be bad.
from my understanding fluoride actually acts to reduce IQ among other things (such as brittle bones)
I don't know about fluorine reducing IQ but it can cause fluorosis, which as one of the photos shows can cause the mouth and teeth to be stained, and cause brittle bones. What happens is that fluorine replaces calcium in the bones which weakens them. I don't know the validity of it but it's been suggested that that's why the elderly break their hips and other bones easily.
*remove regulatory barriers to the development of nuclear power, 3rd generation designs are of sufficient safety and can serve to take the burden off of fossil fuels in regard to energy.
You say destroy subsidies to industry then you say the above. If not for subsidies nuclear power would not exist. The freemarket CATO institute published an article originally from Forbes entitled "Hooked on Subsidies" that goes over the cost of energy and shows nuclear power is too costly and would not be profitable without subsidies. If left strictly to the market nuclear power plants would not be built, not even in China, France, India, or Russia.
The actual problem with the CO2-certificates is that they are not reduced every year and they get it for free.
Cap and trade can do this. Cap how much can be emitted then auction off permits to emit. If an entity emits more than they have permits for they either have to buy more from those willing to sale or they pay a fine. Then each year the cap is lowered. Of course the devil is in the details, Europe was gung ho with cap and trade but they haven't been able to get it to work right. Also there's a problem with deforestation, deforestation in the Amazon and in Indonesia are big contributors to emissions. Perhaps those who want more permits can pay to preserve forests and or reforest areas. Another problem, Bush came out against Kyoto because it didn't limit every nation, is that some nations will not accept emission limits. China has now surpassed the US as the largest emitter of greenhouse gases.
conditions. Shifting away from our current very complicated tax system toward one that both functions to discourage wasteful consumption and simplifies the tax code [eliminating many tax loopoles in the process] may actually offer an overall economic benefit outside of the environment its self.
I and others have proposed as much. I'd like to abolish individual income taxes and replace it with consumption (sales) and pollution taxes and usage fees. That is at the federal level. At the state and local levels property taxes can also be used.
Shelf ice is like an ice cube in your coke. If the ice melts the coke level will neither rise nor fall. And the same thing happens when you are playing with large ice cubes in an ocean.
True, melting ice doesn't raise sea level however thermal expansion does. There's also the ice on land, when it melts it runs to the sea which does raise sea level.
if we replant the forests, what are the terrible, terrible consequences?
While I support stopping deforestation and support planting more trees, science is all over the park as to whether planting trees will actually absorb more CO2 than what is emitted do to their planting. Some research shows more CO2 is emitted from planting trees than the trees will absorb. I think more research should be done.
Slashdot Mirror
You buy a home to live in, not to be used as an investment, asshole.
Actually you, well maybe not you specifically, buy a home to both live in and as an investment.
Falcon
Americans generically, not you specifically. I am American myself and I've been complaining for years.
most of the atrocities against the Constitution would likely have happened regardless of who had power simply because the government will use any excuse it has to gain power
Agreed! Before Bush Clinton was already on that road. There was Nixon, and before him FDR. The earliest example I know of or can recall goes back to Andrew Jackson, when he said of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court "John Marshall has made his decision, now let him enforce it." This was when the Supreme Court made a ruling against him in the 1830s.
Falcon
I can only read the story, but I think calling the mayor and every police official about his wife's harassment charge was probably not only useless but detrimental to his cause
So, you wouldn't escalate a complaint if you were being harassed? If the first police officer did nothing you wouldn't want to talk to a supervisor? Not only would I want to do that but if nothing happened eventually I'd want to scream about it at the top of my lungs.
Falcon
The King giveth and the King taketh away a limited monopoly to one corporation which in turn pays a large recurring premium for this right. The East-India corporation springs to mind, but the Italians and the French had similar models, back in the 17th century.
Which one, the Dutch East India Company or the British East India Company? It's good to see someone else on /. knows of the first company(ies) granted corporate charters.
Falcon
You know, a state-protected oligopoly is hardly "hyper-capitalism".
Of course it is. Capitalism is an ownership model, not a market model.
Read Adam Smith's, the father of capitalism, "The Wealth of Nations" sometime. Capitalism is both an ownership and a market model. It calls for voluntary exchanges between people, which is what a free market is.
Falcon
Running lines and installing equipment has got to be easier in a much higher density area like Japan.
I seriously doubt population density has anything to do with the US lagging other countries in broadband. From The State of Broadband Internet Access "Clearly Iceland, Finland, and Canada have low population densities, but better access to broadband than countries such as the United States - Birthplace of the Internet, Australia, Japan, etc."
Also see this post of mine about how after being asked to install broadband in a city in Minnesota and refusing to do so a cable company tried to sue the city for doing it itself.
Falcon
We should immediately begin crowding all citizens of the US into 10% of the land mass in order to achieve Japan's population density so we can reduce these costs. California would be good.
Last I read, even in large cities like LA and NYC broadband isn't available everywhere. If true, the problem isn't that people are too spread out. More like it's because there are monopolies controlling broadband. Lat year there was an article on /. about how after the city of Monticello, Minnesota asked the Bridgewater cable company to offer broadband and the company refused the people of the city voted to have the city build the infrastructure itself. Bridgewater then sued the city.
Falcon
f you know anything about Steve Jobs, then you would know that he did toss a 100-page contract into the garbage can in front IBM's representatives and demanded a five-page contract instead.
I've never heard of this but if so then I applaud Jobs.
This reminds me of the EU constitution the French voted down. It was several hundred pages. But the Constitution of the USA fits on only a couple of pages. If something requires so many pages how are people supposed to understand it all?
Falcon
When you have someone offering you much more then your companies worth...you take it run and never look back. Especially with the bad economy.
Before the economy went south Sun's stock was selling above $20. Today it was trading below $9. Virtually every corporation has seen the same thing. Smart investors buy low and sell high, not the opposite.
Falcon
A few years ago I read an article in a business magazine saying something like this. The writer proposed Apple, Redhat, and Sun merge.
then they would be a very interesting Server-Desktop combo.
Apple already does both the desktop and servers. It would add expenses to port OS X to SPARC for servers and keep Intel for Desktop/portable computers. That plus software companies wouldn't want to create another software port. Adobe took years to release a universal/Intel compatible Photoshop CS, and when they did it was only 32 bit, whereas CS for Windows comes in both 32 and 64 bit versions.
Falcon
... after all, why not? They know how to make a profit.
Redhat couldn't manage it. As of the close of the stockmarket today Redhat's market capitalization was $3.54B whereas Sun's was $6.32B
Falcon
not be taken literally
Maybe it was supposed to be figurative but another place would have been better to use.
Falcon
The perverse incentives in the Kyoto Protocol were especially concerning.
What's even more perverting is that countries in Europe and elsewhere use biofuel to reduce their emmissions. A lot of that biofuel is made from palm oil which is imported from Indonesia. And how does Indonesia get it? The Bog Barons raze rainforest and drain the bogs to grow palm. This causes more CO2 to be released than if petroleum was used for fuel. That "New Scientist" article explains it pretty good.
Falcon
How much more? I doubt there is a major difference even in the worst case (compared to other major sources of CO2 emission), and there are many other good reasons why replanting trees is a good idea in general.
First, notice I said "I support stopping deforestation and support planting more trees" so I obviously believe it's a good idea to plant trees. So on to "how much more?" Do more research until science figures out what trees to place where, how to plant them, and what the effects will be.
Falcon
Mankind has a remarkable ability to adapt to change. The creatures of this earth also adapt to change.
Yes, humans can adapt and so can those creatures. However those creatures need tyme to adapt.
I have seen figures saying more will be spent to ATTEMPT to stop warming than will be spent adapting to the change.
And I've seen figures that are the opposite of yours, that it will cost less to try to stop change than it will to adapt.
Falcon
If its global warming that you are hawking, you don't change what you are selling because the guy in minnesota is having the worst winter ever.
Minnesota is having it's worst winter? AHAH!!! What a laugh, thanks. I live in Minneapolis, Minnesota and this winter has been mild. I'm getting ready now to plant my garden. I've been here almost 10 years and the coldest it got was a few years ago. When I first came here, to visit my sister for Christmas, it was warmer here than in Florida where I lived. Snow mobile sellers and other winter industry players payed for billboard ads asking "God" to send snow. There was very little of it, most of the ground was grass.
Falcon
I seem to remember Al Gore stating that when CO2 levels increase, so does the temperature. So are CO2 levels increasing or not? If they are, then call it "Global Warming". Changing the term to "Climate Change" sounds, to me, like a child who keeps adding on to his "story" every time he's caught in a lie.
It's called climate change and not global warming because while the earth as a whole is supposed to be warming in specific areas it can actually cool. It makes no sense to say warming when some places will have lower temperatures.
Falcon
Yes and that stuff about drinking 8 glasses of water a day is garbage
Shove you head in the water and it can be bad.
from my understanding fluoride actually acts to reduce IQ among other things (such as brittle bones)
I don't know about fluorine reducing IQ but it can cause fluorosis, which as one of the photos shows can cause the mouth and teeth to be stained, and cause brittle bones. What happens is that fluorine replaces calcium in the bones which weakens them. I don't know the validity of it but it's been suggested that that's why the elderly break their hips and other bones easily.
Falcon
*remove regulatory barriers to the development of nuclear power, 3rd generation designs are of sufficient safety and can serve to take the burden off of fossil fuels in regard to energy.
You say destroy subsidies to industry then you say the above. If not for subsidies nuclear power would not exist. The freemarket CATO institute published an article originally from Forbes entitled "Hooked on Subsidies" that goes over the cost of energy and shows nuclear power is too costly and would not be profitable without subsidies. If left strictly to the market nuclear power plants would not be built, not even in China, France, India, or Russia.
Falcon
it for one.
Humans need water too but too much can still kill you.
Falcon
The actual problem with the CO2-certificates is that they are not reduced every year and they get it for free.
Cap and trade can do this. Cap how much can be emitted then auction off permits to emit. If an entity emits more than they have permits for they either have to buy more from those willing to sale or they pay a fine. Then each year the cap is lowered. Of course the devil is in the details, Europe was gung ho with cap and trade but they haven't been able to get it to work right. Also there's a problem with deforestation, deforestation in the Amazon and in Indonesia are big contributors to emissions. Perhaps those who want more permits can pay to preserve forests and or reforest areas. Another problem, Bush came out against Kyoto because it didn't limit every nation, is that some nations will not accept emission limits. China has now surpassed the US as the largest emitter of greenhouse gases.
Falcon
conditions. Shifting away from our current very complicated tax system toward one that both functions to discourage wasteful consumption and simplifies the tax code [eliminating many tax loopoles in the process] may actually offer an overall economic benefit outside of the environment its self.
I and others have proposed as much. I'd like to abolish individual income taxes and replace it with consumption (sales) and pollution taxes and usage fees. That is at the federal level. At the state and local levels property taxes can also be used.
Falcon
Shelf ice is like an ice cube in your coke. If the ice melts the coke level will neither rise nor fall. And the same thing happens when you are playing with large ice cubes in an ocean.
True, melting ice doesn't raise sea level however thermal expansion does. There's also the ice on land, when it melts it runs to the sea which does raise sea level.
Falcon
if we replant the forests, what are the terrible, terrible consequences?
While I support stopping deforestation and support planting more trees, science is all over the park as to whether planting trees will actually absorb more CO2 than what is emitted do to their planting. Some research shows more CO2 is emitted from planting trees than the trees will absorb. I think more research should be done.
Falcon
No, he wanted an independent India, which is what India is, so he won.
Falcon