Only suckers (or principled individuals) paid taxes on their computer equipment in the last 10 years.
Even if you order a physical item from out of state, say on the net, you're still paying taxes. Say you order a computer from Newegg and they ship it FedEx. FedEx still has to pay the state fuel tax. FedEx pays the tax then includes it in the cost of shipping. FedEx also has to pay property tax as a part of doing business.
Of course, this might all be a moot point since rising fuel costs are going to close the gap between Shipping Costs (the alternative tax) and local Sales Tax.
The local store has to pay those rising fuel costs too, and so does the shopper. This is something I think about, as I'm on disability and don't work I have to watch my expenses and with rising fuel costs I'll be driving less than I already do.
The problem with repealing income tax in favor of higher sales taxes is that middle and lower income individuals have to spend a larger percentage of their income on day to day living requirements than higher income individuals do.
The problem with income tax is that it discourages working and earning. The plus of having no income tax is it leaves more money to be invested which creates more and better paying jobs. As for sales tax, it not need be a problem, don't tax essential things like clothing, food, housing, and medicine.
So can you cite a reliable source for this story? It still sounds like an urban legend that has been contoured to fit Mr Lovins political theories.
University of Maryland Listserv has a message with the part from Lovins' "Natural Capitalism". Both provide the message and the book provide the sources they got the info from:
"Cheng, F.Y. 1963. Deterioration of thatch roofs by moth larvae after house
spraying in the course of a malaria eradication programme in North Borneo.
Bull. WHO 28:136-137."
"Conway, G.R. 1969. Ecological aspects of pest control in Malaysia, pp.
467-488 in Farvar, M.T. and J.P. Milton, eds. The Careless Technology.
Natural History Press, New York, NY."
"Harrisson, T. 1965. Operation cat drop. Animals 5:512-513."
Try googling for just "thin egg shells lead" instead of leaded gas
Ok, I used leaded gas because that's what you used. Dropping "gas", wow too many results. Try thin egg shells lead birds OR eagles OR falcons, some of the first results were about fish eggs. The second result is from University of Southern California, The Brown Pelican which blames their "population decline and the threat of extinction" on DDT but says nothing about lead. Going through 8 pages of results looking for science or university, college, links I didn't find any saying or suggesting lead had anything to do with thin egg shells. You may wonder why I only checked science or educational links. That's because I wanted scientific links. Ah, here's one although how qualified it is I don' know. Anyway here's what ScienceMaster says on the influence of lead:
"In addition to the adverse effects of DDT, bald eagles also died from lead poisoning as a result of feeding on hunter-killed or crippled waterfowl containing lead shot and from lead shot that was inadvertently ingested by the waterfowl. (In 1991, a 5- year program to phase out the use of lead shot for waterfowl hunting was completed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.)"
I don't discount heavy metals and other things can affect egg shells, however I also think DDT does as well. I also believe spraying DDT to exterminate mosquitoes, and exterminating them, does have unforeseen cascading effects. Such as killing parasitic wasps, which allows their prey wood eating caterpillars to increase their population.
Perhaps I've been going through this the wrong way as I don't oppose controlling mosquitoes, what I oppose is how they are controlled and what causes their numbers to increase. Studies, including a United Nations study, concluded mosquito populations increase where dams are built. And the economic reasons for dams have been shot down as well. Dams cost more than they were originally sold as costing and the benefits are less than they were sold for. The study Incidence of malaria among children living near dams in northern Ethiopia: community based incidence survey" shows the incidence of malaria in children is significantly higher, sevenfold, near dams than away from them. WCD To Study Brazil's Tucurui Dam and Amazon/Tocantins River Basin says dams are "creating a vast reservoir in which disease-bearing mosquitoes breed". Methods of controlling mosquitoes, other than not creating places they can breed, are available. Though not used alone, bats can help control mosquitoes. As can birds, frogs, and lizards. From University of Florida:
as for the alcohol bit, i tend to think that, with alcohol and smoking, both do NOT get outlawed only because of the vested business interest and traditional practice of consuming it. I do think that it should be outlawed (at least to some degree).
In the US alcohol was outlawed but it didn't work, and neither does the War On Drugs. Before Prohibition a major source of funding for government was taxes on alcohol and tobacco, but with Prohibition the income tax became the major funding. As for consumption of marijuana, hemp, it enjoyed wide consumption though not by smoking it. Prior to hemp being made illegal via the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 it was used in different commercial, industrial, and medical applications. A pack of lies was told to congress, such as marijuana made users violent, in order to get them to outlaw hemp. Hemp was a source of biomass, cellulose, for making plastic. Henry Ford build an auto on his Iron Mountain Estate that not only used plastic made from hemp but was also fueled with alcohol made from hemp. Now research is going on for Bioplastic. Rudolph Diesel, the inventor of the diesel engine, designed his engine to run on biodiesel, fuel made from the oil of plants like vegetables. Among those he used was peanut and hemp oil. Biodiesel is relatively easy to make, only needing vegetable oil and lye as the consumables though Diesel used straight oil. In the mid 1930s MIT published a study that concluded an acre of hemp produced more fiber for making paper than an acre of forest. MIT says of hemp "Hemp has been one of the most significant crops for mankind up until this last century." Thomas Jefferson may of wrote the "Declaration on Dependence" on hemp paper. Whether he did or not he was a farmer who grew hemp on the farm. And doctors used hemp as a drug treatment. Hemp seeds are also one of the highest nutritional foods. Hemp is also an excellent fiber source to make cloth from. The painter's canvas originally was made from cannabis, hemp.
As for outlawing any drug, whether alcohol, marijuana, or anything else, I disagree with all such laws. The only things that should be outlawed are things that harm others. There should be no victimless crimes! And someone drinking alcohol and or smoking marijuana in their living room isn't harming anyone else, except children who have to breath the smoke, in which case the smoker can step outside.
What part of FABLE do you think doesn't mean fiction?
Who says it's a fable, you and a few others? The link you provided doesn't even prove it's a fable. It says parts are true but then to dispute cats being dropped says "but I'm not so sure about the cats eating the geckoes". I have been a cat carer for more than 35 years and I've had cats I took care of bring me all sorts of animals dead and alive including snakes and lizards, and geckos are a species of lizard.
There is far more evidence pointing to leaded gas being the culprit for thin eggs.
Don't you find it odd that all the other countries that still use DDT haven't seen egg thinning?
Not if leaded gas is not responsible for thin egg shell I don't find it odd I didn't find info, however if leaded gas is responsible I find it very odd I didn't find anything. As for other countries not having any data, it's not surprising, many nations are more concerned about clothing, feeding, and housing their citizens. Many people only live on a subsidence level, they can't afford to pay for scientific research.
Even if DDT somehow manage to double the weight of a hornet nest, if a house had almost enough hornets nests to collapse the roof by weight, the house would be uninhabitable anyway.
Yea like third world nations have and can afford US building codes. Why build a home with a bamboo thatch roof when instead you can build one with concrete?
in general, the side effects of the commonly abused medications is quite scary, such that if you actually know the thing (tm) then you wouldn't try them at all =)
There are a lot of casual users of marijuana, and they know what it does which isn't much at all. Actually hemp, aka marijuana, was made illegal because it was a potential threat to some wealthy and power industrialists' companies.
in addition, drug abusers often do things while under the influence of the substance, and these acts are quite often harmful to others
Like the most widely used drug, alcohol. When someone causes harm or commits a crime under the influence of these others they should be treated the same way as those drunk, have the books thrown at them.
"News Corp continues to talk directly with Yahoo on reaching a deal without Microsoft."
Why would News Corp burden itself with a known untrusted partner like M$. Look at what News Corp achieved with Myspace in a very short time.
That might be something to look out for, a combined Myspace/Yahoo!. Though I'd prefer Yahoo! to remain independent, I can see News Corp doing something good. My 1 concern would be making it lean conservative, however after it acquired 21st Century Movies the movie studio released some "liberal" or environmental movies such as "The Day After Tomorrow".
Ecosystems are complex things and killing all the insects is such a huge thing that it's going to have some complex repercussions.
Because of that complexity, to disrupt an ecosystem a chemical doesn't mean needing to kill everything, all it takes is to remove one crucial element to do so, just as removing a Keystone from an arch or dome will bring the whole thing down.
Sure, but how does the opposing council know unless they subpoena records... I mean... she could just lie in court, and without records her perjury would basically be impossible to discover.
Ah but how would they know she handed over all the records? If she's going to lie she could just as easily destroy records. And why does she have any reason to lie? The only reason I see for any of this is to shut her up.
there is a surprising number of people who would currently support the sentiment that "George W. Bush should be taken out back and shot" (but Cheney goes first)
Agreed, the only political body who has lower approval ratings is congress. The Democrats got elected on the promise to end the Iraqi war and other things the Bush admen is doing. However they haven't done squat.
At the present there does not seem to be anybody willing to actually try that, and it seems highly unlikely that anybody will be willing to try that.
If for one reason or another Bush and Cheney were removed from office Nancy Pelosi would become president. How many would like that?
Coupled with the fact that such a person is quite likely to fail
If someone doesn't care whether they live or die they could be successful.
So what's the problem? Cats always land on their feet, so a cat drop isn't the issue...
In ecological systems everything has an effect, you damage one part and the whole is damaged. For instance other than cats I wonder what other animals were affected, such as birds and butterflies. Birds because they eat insects as well as end up beings sprayed on as well. Butterflies because they too are sprayed yet they provide the vital service of pollination which is how some plants propagate or reproduce. Try growing corn without any means of pollinating the crop.
DDT didn't cause the thinning. It's still banned though, because people fear global warming and other such nonsense.
"In the 1950s, the World Health Organization (WTO) dropped DDT on the island of Borneo to control mosquitoes, resulting in two unexpected events. First, homes collapsed under the weight of hornets' nests that died and hardened from the DDT; and second, and more troubling, there was an outbreak of bubonic plague because the DDT affected the island's animal nutrient cycle. Small animals (lizards, insects, etc.) became sluggish, while larger animals such as cats ended up with toxic levels of DDT from consumption of smaller creatures. Eventually, all the cats died, leading to an increase in the rat population and an outbreak of bubonic plague. The WTO's solution--which worked--was to airdrop cats to deal with the rat problem, which, in turn, addressed the bubonic plague problem."
Amazing how someone can mention DDT spraying in Sri Lanka and yet fail to mention that Sri Lanka resumed spraying but the mosquitoes had developed resistance to DDT
"In the 1950s, the World Health Organization (WTO) dropped DDT on the island of Borneo to control mosquitoes, resulting in two unexpected events. First, homes collapsed under the weight of hornets' nests that died and hardened from the DDT; and second, and more troubling, there was an outbreak of bubonic plague because the DDT affected the island's animal nutrient cycle. Small animals (lizards, insects, etc.) became sluggish, while larger animals such as cats ended up with toxic levels of DDT from consumption of smaller creatures. Eventually, all the cats died, leading to an increase in the rat population and an outbreak of bubonic plague. The WTO's solution--which worked--was to airdrop cats to deal with the rat problem, which, in turn, addressed the bubonic plague problem."
And what of unintended consequences of DDT spraying?
"In the 1950s, the World Health Organization (WTO) dropped DDT on the island of Borneo to control mosquitoes, resulting in two unexpected events. First, homes collapsed under the weight of hornets' nests that died and hardened from the DDT; and second, and more troubling, there was an outbreak of bubonic plague because the DDT affected the island's animal nutrient cycle. Small animals (lizards, insects, etc.) became sluggish, while larger animals such as cats ended up with toxic levels of DDT from consumption of smaller creatures. Eventually, all the cats died, leading to an increase in the rat population and an outbreak of bubonic plague. The WTO's solution--which worked--was to airdrop cats to deal with the rat problem, which, in turn, addressed the bubonic plague problem."
Currently there's debate in Africa on whether to spray with DDT or not to spray. There are doctors and scientists who support bans on DDT and those who support the use of DDT.
Exception that's not actually what happened. DDT wasn't banned in the US until 1972, and yet some developing countries (Sri Lanka is the most widely used example) had already suspended spraying as a Malaria control measure in the 60's, as the mosquitoes had developed resistance to DDT, presumed to be from agricultural spraying. Wikipedia [wikipedia.org] has a reasonable (if short) summary.
There were two other unforeseen consequences of spraying with DDT: " In the 1950s, the World Health Organization (WTO) dropped DDT on the island of Borneo to control mosquitoes, resulting in two unexpected events. First, homes collapsed under the weight of hornets' nests that died and hardened from the DDT; and second, and more troubling, there was an outbreak of bubonic plague because the DDT affected the island's animal nutrient cycle. Small animals (lizards, insects, etc.) became sluggish, while larger animals such as cats ended up with toxic levels of DDT from consumption of smaller creatures. Eventually, all the cats died, leading to an increase in the rat population and an outbreak of bubonic plague. The WTO's solution--which worked--was to airdrop cats to deal with the rat problem, which, in turn, addressed the bubonic plague problem."
For instance, you are not "free" to walk into my house and stab me. You are also not free to send your kid into a public school with my kid, where he or she may wind up infecting other students with otherwise preventable diseases such as TB or worse, without first being administered certain vaccines.
Well I didn't say I should be able to walk into your house. By doing so I would be violating your rights. Nor did I say children should not be vaccinated, that's exactly why I said there are vaccines available without Thiomersal, people could get their children vaccinated without it.
In theory I could say "[insert name here] should be taken out back and shot" and that is fine
There is 1 person in the US that it is not legal to say they should be shot or otherwise killed, the person who sits in the Oval Office. The Secret Service can come down hard on anyone who threatens the president.
Falcon
PS: SS, er Secret Service, I'm not saying the current occupant should be, I'm just pointing out it's illegal to threaten him.
They let the side effects of Vioxx slip because of testing that didn't go to the prescribed length, but Vioxx was a useful drug. The problem is that Merck advertised Vioxx in such a way that it was used "off label" much more widely than it should have been. It was effective in significantly reducing intense chronic pain for certain things, such that the people that could use it were willing to deal with the side-effect risk because life would have been disabling pain without it.
You hit it right on the head here. So long as a person knows the risks involved they should be able to take any drug they want, there should be no need for any prescription. That includes "street drugs".
Slashdot Mirror
Only suckers (or principled individuals) paid taxes on their computer equipment in the last 10 years.
Even if you order a physical item from out of state, say on the net, you're still paying taxes. Say you order a computer from Newegg and they ship it FedEx. FedEx still has to pay the state fuel tax. FedEx pays the tax then includes it in the cost of shipping. FedEx also has to pay property tax as a part of doing business.
Of course, this might all be a moot point since rising fuel costs are going to close the gap between Shipping Costs (the alternative tax) and local Sales Tax.
The local store has to pay those rising fuel costs too, and so does the shopper. This is something I think about, as I'm on disability and don't work I have to watch my expenses and with rising fuel costs I'll be driving less than I already do.
FalconThe problem with repealing income tax in favor of higher sales taxes is that middle and lower income individuals have to spend a larger percentage of their income on day to day living requirements than higher income individuals do.
The problem with income tax is that it discourages working and earning. The plus of having no income tax is it leaves more money to be invested which creates more and better paying jobs. As for sales tax, it not need be a problem, don't tax essential things like clothing, food, housing, and medicine.
FalconSo can you cite a reliable source for this story? It still sounds like an urban legend that has been contoured to fit Mr Lovins political theories.
University of Maryland Listserv has a message with the part from Lovins' "Natural Capitalism". Both provide the message and the book provide the sources they got the info from:
"Cheng, F.Y. 1963. Deterioration of thatch roofs by moth larvae after house spraying in the course of a malaria eradication programme in North Borneo. Bull. WHO 28:136-137."
"Conway, G.R. 1969. Ecological aspects of pest control in Malaysia, pp. 467-488 in Farvar, M.T. and J.P. Milton, eds. The Careless Technology. Natural History Press, New York, NY."
"Harrisson, T. 1965. Operation cat drop. Animals 5:512-513."
Try googling for just "thin egg shells lead" instead of leaded gas
Ok, I used leaded gas because that's what you used. Dropping "gas", wow too many results. Try thin egg shells lead birds OR eagles OR falcons, some of the first results were about fish eggs. The second result is from University of Southern California, The Brown Pelican which blames their "population decline and the threat of extinction" on DDT but says nothing about lead. Going through 8 pages of results looking for science or university, college, links I didn't find any saying or suggesting lead had anything to do with thin egg shells. You may wonder why I only checked science or educational links. That's because I wanted scientific links. Ah, here's one although how qualified it is I don' know. Anyway here's what ScienceMaster says on the influence of lead:
"In addition to the adverse effects of DDT, bald eagles also died from lead poisoning as a result of feeding on hunter-killed or crippled waterfowl containing lead shot and from lead shot that was inadvertently ingested by the waterfowl. (In 1991, a 5- year program to phase out the use of lead shot for waterfowl hunting was completed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.)"
I don't discount heavy metals and other things can affect egg shells, however I also think DDT does as well. I also believe spraying DDT to exterminate mosquitoes, and exterminating them, does have unforeseen cascading effects. Such as killing parasitic wasps, which allows their prey wood eating caterpillars to increase their population.
Perhaps I've been going through this the wrong way as I don't oppose controlling mosquitoes, what I oppose is how they are controlled and what causes their numbers to increase. Studies, including a United Nations study, concluded mosquito populations increase where dams are built. And the economic reasons for dams have been shot down as well. Dams cost more than they were originally sold as costing and the benefits are less than they were sold for. The study Incidence of malaria among children living near dams in northern Ethiopia: community based incidence survey" shows the incidence of malaria in children is significantly higher, sevenfold, near dams than away from them. WCD To Study Brazil's Tucurui Dam and Amazon/Tocantins River Basin says dams are "creating a vast reservoir in which disease-bearing mosquitoes breed". Methods of controlling mosquitoes, other than not creating places they can breed, are available. Though not used alone, bats can help control mosquitoes. As can birds, frogs, and lizards. From University of Florida:
It seems that if states just did away with all taxes except for income tax, the tax system would be simpler and more fair.
Yea, let's tax work that way we can discourage people from working. The only fair taxes are sales and use taxes.
FalconJust raise the specter of national security and every judge in the country (especially the Supreme Court) will roll over as always.
Actually the USSC didn't roll over in the José Padilla (prisoner) case. The USSC also upheld Habeas Corpus in Hamdi V Rumsfeld.
Falconas for the alcohol bit, i tend to think that, with alcohol and smoking, both do NOT get outlawed only because of the vested business interest and traditional practice of consuming it. I do think that it should be outlawed (at least to some degree).
In the US alcohol was outlawed but it didn't work, and neither does the War On Drugs. Before Prohibition a major source of funding for government was taxes on alcohol and tobacco, but with Prohibition the income tax became the major funding. As for consumption of marijuana, hemp, it enjoyed wide consumption though not by smoking it. Prior to hemp being made illegal via the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 it was used in different commercial, industrial, and medical applications. A pack of lies was told to congress, such as marijuana made users violent, in order to get them to outlaw hemp. Hemp was a source of biomass, cellulose, for making plastic. Henry Ford build an auto on his Iron Mountain Estate that not only used plastic made from hemp but was also fueled with alcohol made from hemp. Now research is going on for Bioplastic. Rudolph Diesel, the inventor of the diesel engine, designed his engine to run on biodiesel, fuel made from the oil of plants like vegetables. Among those he used was peanut and hemp oil. Biodiesel is relatively easy to make, only needing vegetable oil and lye as the consumables though Diesel used straight oil. In the mid 1930s MIT published a study that concluded an acre of hemp produced more fiber for making paper than an acre of forest. MIT says of hemp "Hemp has been one of the most significant crops for mankind up until this last century." Thomas Jefferson may of wrote the "Declaration on Dependence" on hemp paper. Whether he did or not he was a farmer who grew hemp on the farm. And doctors used hemp as a drug treatment. Hemp seeds are also one of the highest nutritional foods. Hemp is also an excellent fiber source to make cloth from. The painter's canvas originally was made from cannabis, hemp.
As for outlawing any drug, whether alcohol, marijuana, or anything else, I disagree with all such laws. The only things that should be outlawed are things that harm others. There should be no victimless crimes! And someone drinking alcohol and or smoking marijuana in their living room isn't harming anyone else, except children who have to breath the smoke, in which case the smoker can step outside.
FalconWhat part of FABLE do you think doesn't mean fiction?
Who says it's a fable, you and a few others? The link you provided doesn't even prove it's a fable. It says parts are true but then to dispute cats being dropped says "but I'm not so sure about the cats eating the geckoes". I have been a cat carer for more than 35 years and I've had cats I took care of bring me all sorts of animals dead and alive including snakes and lizards, and geckos are a species of lizard.
There is far more evidence pointing to leaded gas being the culprit for thin eggs.
This is the very first tyme I heard, or read, leaded gas was the culprit for thin eggs. Googling "thin eggs" "leaded gas" does not return one link. So I Googled "thin egg shells" "leaded gas" and come up with 2 results, one being a newspaper. The other one, from the University of Chicago, does not dispute DDT as the cause of thin eggs and about leaded gas only says Prevention > cure (where there is good information). E.g., ban (substitute for) DDT, leaded gas.[.doc] Do you have any links, scientific, saying leaded gas has anything to do with thin egg shells?
Don't you find it odd that all the other countries that still use DDT haven't seen egg thinning?
Not if leaded gas is not responsible for thin egg shell I don't find it odd I didn't find info, however if leaded gas is responsible I find it very odd I didn't find anything. As for other countries not having any data, it's not surprising, many nations are more concerned about clothing, feeding, and housing their citizens. Many people only live on a subsidence level, they can't afford to pay for scientific research.
FalconEven if DDT somehow manage to double the weight of a hornet nest, if a house had almost enough hornets nests to collapse the roof by weight, the house would be uninhabitable anyway.
Yea like third world nations have and can afford US building codes. Why build a home with a bamboo thatch roof when instead you can build one with concrete?
Falconin general, the side effects of the commonly abused medications is quite scary, such that if you actually know the thing (tm) then you wouldn't try them at all =)
There are a lot of casual users of marijuana, and they know what it does which isn't much at all. Actually hemp, aka marijuana, was made illegal because it was a potential threat to some wealthy and power industrialists' companies.
in addition, drug abusers often do things while under the influence of the substance, and these acts are quite often harmful to others
Like the most widely used drug, alcohol. When someone causes harm or commits a crime under the influence of these others they should be treated the same way as those drunk, have the books thrown at them.
FalconM$ is talking but is Newscorp really listening.
It appears News Corp may want Yahoo! for itself:
"News Corp continues to talk directly with Yahoo on reaching a deal without Microsoft."
Why would News Corp burden itself with a known untrusted partner like M$. Look at what News Corp achieved with Myspace in a very short time.
That might be something to look out for, a combined Myspace/Yahoo!. Though I'd prefer Yahoo! to remain independent, I can see News Corp doing something good. My 1 concern would be making it lean conservative, however after it acquired 21st Century Movies the movie studio released some "liberal" or environmental movies such as "The Day After Tomorrow".
FalconSecondly DDT isn't like mercury, it doesn't just accumulate in a predator's body and work its way up the food chain, it leaves the body.
You'd better let the EPA you know more than they do because they have DDT as a Persistent Bioaccumulative and Toxic (PBT) Chemical.
Ecosystems are complex things and killing all the insects is such a huge thing that it's going to have some complex repercussions.
Because of that complexity, to disrupt an ecosystem a chemical doesn't mean needing to kill everything, all it takes is to remove one crucial element to do so, just as removing a Keystone from an arch or dome will bring the whole thing down.
FalconSure, but how does the opposing council know unless they subpoena records ... I mean ... she could just lie in court, and without records her perjury would basically be impossible to discover.
Ah but how would they know she handed over all the records? If she's going to lie she could just as easily destroy records. And why does she have any reason to lie? The only reason I see for any of this is to shut her up.
Falconthere is a surprising number of people who would currently support the sentiment that "George W. Bush should be taken out back and shot" (but Cheney goes first)
Agreed, the only political body who has lower approval ratings is congress. The Democrats got elected on the promise to end the Iraqi war and other things the Bush admen is doing. However they haven't done squat.
At the present there does not seem to be anybody willing to actually try that, and it seems highly unlikely that anybody will be willing to try that.
If for one reason or another Bush and Cheney were removed from office Nancy Pelosi would become president. How many would like that?
Coupled with the fact that such a person is quite likely to fail
If someone doesn't care whether they live or die they could be successful.
FalconActually, this is fairly simple. We know that vaccines work - case in point, the smallpox vaccine.
I never said vaccines don't work.
Denying that you present a definite health risk to society by not being vaccinated against communicable diseases is illogical and dangerous.
Neither did I say vaccines shouldn't be given. Instead I specifically stated there were vaccines without Thiomersal.
FalconSo what's the problem? Cats always land on their feet, so a cat drop isn't the issue...
In ecological systems everything has an effect, you damage one part and the whole is damaged. For instance other than cats I wonder what other animals were affected, such as birds and butterflies. Birds because they eat insects as well as end up beings sprayed on as well. Butterflies because they too are sprayed yet they provide the vital service of pollination which is how some plants propagate or reproduce. Try growing corn without any means of pollinating the crop.
FalconI think he meant communicable diseases, asshat--er--falcon, or whatever.
Ok asshole, er unique, prove I'm spreading communicable diseases.
FalconDDT didn't cause the thinning. It's still banned though, because people fear global warming and other such nonsense.
"In the 1950s, the World Health Organization (WTO) dropped DDT on the island of Borneo to control mosquitoes, resulting in two unexpected events. First, homes collapsed under the weight of hornets' nests that died and hardened from the DDT; and second, and more troubling, there was an outbreak of bubonic plague because the DDT affected the island's animal nutrient cycle. Small animals (lizards, insects, etc.) became sluggish, while larger animals such as cats ended up with toxic levels of DDT from consumption of smaller creatures. Eventually, all the cats died, leading to an increase in the rat population and an outbreak of bubonic plague. The WTO's solution--which worked--was to airdrop cats to deal with the rat problem, which, in turn, addressed the bubonic plague problem."
FalconAmazing how someone can mention DDT spraying in Sri Lanka and yet fail to mention that Sri Lanka resumed spraying but the mosquitoes had developed resistance to DDT
How about mentioning what happened in Borneo:
"In the 1950s, the World Health Organization (WTO) dropped DDT on the island of Borneo to control mosquitoes, resulting in two unexpected events. First, homes collapsed under the weight of hornets' nests that died and hardened from the DDT; and second, and more troubling, there was an outbreak of bubonic plague because the DDT affected the island's animal nutrient cycle. Small animals (lizards, insects, etc.) became sluggish, while larger animals such as cats ended up with toxic levels of DDT from consumption of smaller creatures. Eventually, all the cats died, leading to an increase in the rat population and an outbreak of bubonic plague. The WTO's solution--which worked--was to airdrop cats to deal with the rat problem, which, in turn, addressed the bubonic plague problem."
You know of The Law of Unintended Consequences don't you?
And what of unintended consequences of DDT spraying?
"In the 1950s, the World Health Organization (WTO) dropped DDT on the island of Borneo to control mosquitoes, resulting in two unexpected events. First, homes collapsed under the weight of hornets' nests that died and hardened from the DDT; and second, and more troubling, there was an outbreak of bubonic plague because the DDT affected the island's animal nutrient cycle. Small animals (lizards, insects, etc.) became sluggish, while larger animals such as cats ended up with toxic levels of DDT from consumption of smaller creatures. Eventually, all the cats died, leading to an increase in the rat population and an outbreak of bubonic plague. The WTO's solution--which worked--was to airdrop cats to deal with the rat problem, which, in turn, addressed the bubonic plague problem."
Currently there's debate in Africa on whether to spray with DDT or not to spray. There are doctors and scientists who support bans on DDT and those who support the use of DDT.
FalconException that's not actually what happened. DDT wasn't banned in the US until 1972, and yet some developing countries (Sri Lanka is the most widely used example) had already suspended spraying as a Malaria control measure in the 60's, as the mosquitoes had developed resistance to DDT, presumed to be from agricultural spraying. Wikipedia [wikipedia.org] has a reasonable (if short) summary.
There were two other unforeseen consequences of spraying with DDT: " In the 1950s, the World Health Organization (WTO) dropped DDT on the island of Borneo to control mosquitoes, resulting in two unexpected events. First, homes collapsed under the weight of hornets' nests that died and hardened from the DDT; and second, and more troubling, there was an outbreak of bubonic plague because the DDT affected the island's animal nutrient cycle. Small animals (lizards, insects, etc.) became sluggish, while larger animals such as cats ended up with toxic levels of DDT from consumption of smaller creatures. Eventually, all the cats died, leading to an increase in the rat population and an outbreak of bubonic plague. The WTO's solution--which worked--was to airdrop cats to deal with the rat problem, which, in turn, addressed the bubonic plague problem."
FalconFor instance, you are not "free" to walk into my house and stab me. You are also not free to send your kid into a public school with my kid, where he or she may wind up infecting other students with otherwise preventable diseases such as TB or worse, without first being administered certain vaccines.
Well I didn't say I should be able to walk into your house. By doing so I would be violating your rights. Nor did I say children should not be vaccinated, that's exactly why I said there are vaccines available without Thiomersal, people could get their children vaccinated without it.
FalconHer banking / financial information would indicate who she paid off to get access to information.
What does how she got the info matter as long as it was legal? And why would she pay for any info? There's plenty of free info out there.
Falconor, at least, lying counts as perjury
I was questioned once in a deposition and I was sworn in under oath.
FalconIn theory I could say "[insert name here] should be taken out back and shot" and that is fine
There is 1 person in the US that it is not legal to say they should be shot or otherwise killed, the person who sits in the Oval Office. The Secret Service can come down hard on anyone who threatens the president.
Falcon
PS: SS, er Secret Service, I'm not saying the current occupant should be, I'm just pointing out it's illegal to threaten him.They let the side effects of Vioxx slip because of testing that didn't go to the prescribed length, but Vioxx was a useful drug. The problem is that Merck advertised Vioxx in such a way that it was used "off label" much more widely than it should have been. It was effective in significantly reducing intense chronic pain for certain things, such that the people that could use it were willing to deal with the side-effect risk because life would have been disabling pain without it.
You hit it right on the head here. So long as a person knows the risks involved they should be able to take any drug they want, there should be no need for any prescription. That includes "street drugs".
Falcon