they're coming back into style because gas taxes are effectively at a maximum
Fuel taxes are not even close to a maximum in the US. Cross into Canada and fill up your gas tank, you'll pay a lot more in taxes. And no you can't say that's because gas in Canada is expensive. Canada is the biggest exporter of oil to the US, Mexico is the number 2 provider of oil. Fact is is the US has low fuel taxes compared to other countries.
a large percentage of the people in US jails (at least in California) are gang members. They continue operating in the gangs while in jail, and once they get out, they keep doing illegal gang related activities. Gangs haven't penetrated Canada and Australia the same way they have here.
And what are the gangs for? A lot is for controlling drugs. Making drugs legal will reduce their violence and crime activities. Rational people would think politicians would have learned this lesson from Prohibition, which made organized crime powerful.
I hate how 'vengeance' has become a dirty word; and yet if you have been the victim of a crime, surely it is a basic human need.
No it isn't a basic human need. Because of an accident, that was not an accident, I survived a Traumatic Brain Injury. I was hit by a moving van while riding my own bike after my classes in college. Witnesses said the driver was weaving all over the road and it was only a matter of tyme before he hit someone. While I wanted him to pay I do not wish the hell that my life became on him. I am not that sadistic.
And what if the person who you took your vengeance on was innocent, should he or she exercise the same vengeance on you? If the person's dead oops, it's too late. All that leads to is might makes right.
We have 17 year olds, here in Australia, who can kill people, and get 2.5-3 years for it, in a youth training centre. The police do their job. The lawyers do theirs. Every other part of the system works; except the judges.
If your judges aren't doing their job, or you don't like how they're doing it either change the laws or fire the judges.
You could also use jury jullification against laws you think are bad. I was called up to show for jury duty twice and both tymes I was hoping I'd be picked to serve on a jury where I could use jury nullification, such as a drug possession or trafficking case.
Unlike most people, I don't have such a big issue with lawyers; because I say to any judge who reads this, that I know where the fault with the system really is. It isn't with them, judges. It's with you.
What are you doing to change the system? If nothing you're part of the problem.
Gov't run options usually start out better, but as funds get syphoned off and miscellaneous 'provisions' attached, after 20 or so years you are stuck with a massive problem.
Government doesn't run power or phones. They are private corporations that are merely regulated, not run. That gives you the advantages of both a free market (electricity is bought and sold all across the U.S.)(phone calls are available from AT&T or Sprint or MCI or Skype or whatever)
Ah but power is not a free market, cell phone service is a relatively free market though. I can service from any of a number of providers but I only have one choice as to whom I get power from. That is unless I install my own generation capacity, but I can't install that wind turbine I was looking at.
No you're right, and I too am tired of the hyperbole. However Massachusetts has something almost as bad. Due to a shortage in Mitt Romney's government-run healthcare, they are starting to ration care, turning-away people are considered too old. i.e. No better than the insurance companies... may, worse than them (you can say "no" and not buy insurance).
And Romney's a Republican. What I rarely ever hear, as when Ron Paul was on Larry King's show (which he occasionally is), is allowing insurance companies to sell health insurance across state lines. The one power the feds have they aren't using. I see commercials saying how some states only have a couple of choices as to who provides insurance but instead of saying policy issuers should be able to sell across state lines they say a public option is needed.
Not only that but they don't say anything about giving people who buy insurance on their own the same tax breaks as employers who offer insurance.
Where we, you and I, disagree is in who owns the infrastructure. I have absolutely no problem with the local, say city, government owning the infrastructure if there is a monopoly. But I would require them to have open access, and let businesses compeat with each other for the services the infrastructure can deliver. Comcast can use the same stuff as ATT and Mom and Pop ISP. Local not federal governments.
You left out steps. For instance the first step was not the government announcing plans to lay fiber. The first step was asking TDS to lay the fiber. It was only after TDS refused to lay fiber when the citizens voted to lay the fiber.
TDS sued.
At that point the city government could have simply exerted its power, and threatened TDS - "Drop the lawsuit, else we will revoke your exclusive license which will allow another competitor like Verizon or Comcast to enter this city."
The city should have opened the right of way so any business that wanted to use it to deliver broadband could. They should have told TDS they were going to allow other businesses to use it then said "the early bird gets the worms." Watch the prices drop when there's real competition.
Based on the officer's statements he did have probable cause for the arrest: the dog alerting in combination with his evasive and uncooperative attitude, it would lead a reasonable person to think he was hiding something.
3) He is clearly being a jerk (second video 0:00-0:45) he repeatedly asks the officer questions and then when the officer is calmly trying to respond to them he asks another one.
Asking what the charges are is being a jerk? Maybe in the Soviet Union or NAZI Germany but this it the USA, the land of freedom. I tell you what, if you like how the officers treated this guy I'm sure Cuba or Zimbabwe will take you in. But in the land of feedom that is unacceptable.
Not knowing how laws work and then resisting a valid arrest and not liking the consequences is stupid.
What valid arrrest? They never said what he was being arrested for, nor did they give him his Mirand warning. That was no valid arrest.
Police officers do not want to wrongly arrest people, by resisting (not getting out of the car) he gave them exactly what they wanted, a reason to arrest him.
Oh really? How many unarmed people have police shot? How many officers helped that high school girl in CA while she was being raped by a bunch of people?
The presence of competition has not resulted in the lower cost, higher quality service that free-market boasters have claimed it would.
Prices have dropped, in industries where there is competition. How much did you pay for your first computer? How much for your last? The first IBM PC cost thousands of dollars, you go to Best Buy today and buy one for less than $1000. A netbook only costs $250, an expandable tower with KVM will set you back $500. If you ever have to have Lasik surgery you will pay less than what it cost 10 years ago, prices today are half those of 10 years ago. For other surgeries, it's cheaper today to fly to India or China for surgery than what the same surgery cost in the US, yet the care and quality is just as good.
Where is this world of yours where prices haven't dropped? I want to stay away.
The most recent and current example of this is deregulation of power in Texas and California.
I don't know about Texas but when was power deregulated in California? And don't say in the 1990s, what CA did then was not deregulation, some regulations were removed but others were added. One such regulation was that power distribution companies could not raise their prices, but power generators could. Another regulation was that electrical generators could not also transmit the power.
Really? When was the last tyme a corporation had it's charter revoked? After 20 year Alaskans are still waiting for Exxon to pay them yet Exxon still exists. Corporations exist far beyond many humans. How many 100 year people do you know? That's how old IBMis. Exxon is almost as old.
Monticello will be screwed, but won't other towns and hamlets now have case law on their side?
Only Minnesota towns and hamlets. The rulings where TDS lost were all state courts not federal. Sure places in other states can try to use the MS rulings but it doesn't mean they'll be effective.
in summary, Microsoft was fined 500 million Euros ($800 million) which was I believe the largest fine anywhere ever at the time
In the 3 months ending on 30-9-09 Microsoft made $7.346 Billion in profits so in effect MS's fine was only a week or two's profit. That's a get out of jail free card. To MS paying the fine is only a part of business, they made much more.
TDS likely didn't think there was a market for it until the city took action.
The city asking for the company to install broadband should of been a big hint. It wouldn't have taken much effort after that to canvas the city asking people if they wanted broadband. I'd say the fact the company only did anything after the city decided to do something they refused to do says they don't care about the people at all.
They sued because they felt using bond money to fund infrastructure like internet service is unconstitutional competition.
No, they sued because they didn't want competition for a service they didn't even provide. The city asked them for it but they refused. It's not the first tyme and I doubt it'll be the last.
All the while, TDS was rolling out their own network.
According to more than one article TDS only started rolling fiber after the city started and TDS took action against the city.
I'm surprised GIMP doesn't do what you want.. I love it.
I print photos and while GIMP is fine for online work it lacks what many print artists demand. Like high colour bit depths. GIMP only offers 8 bits per colour channel, 24 bit total. PhotoShop does 32 bits per colour channel Supposedly GIMP 2.6 works with 16 bits per colour channel but in practice it doesn't. For professional prints CYMK is needed. That's comes standard in PS, GIMP requires a plug-in. GIMP also lacks other thing pro print photographers need. The digital darkroom forum at photo.net has some discussions on what photographers think of GIMP. Some like it, mostly for online work, and others don't like it because it does not do what they want or need.
On the two monitor thing, I ran them for years and LOVED it.
Same here. Years ago I was set up with dual monitors using Windows and Paint Shop Pro. A few months ago I bought a new LCD monitor I connected to my MBP, but I returned it. I've been looking at getting an HP LP2475w which has gotten good reviews from photographers. It may not be an Ezio, La Cie, or NEC monitor but it doesn't come with their price tags either. It's actually one of the cheapest LCDs with an H-IPS panel, currently about the best panels for graphics and photography.
Meanwhile I am writing this on a Mac, which I was free to choose,
I too am typing this on a Mac, which I freely switched to.
by your definition Microsoft doesn't have a monopoly. But tell that to the EU.
Strictly speaking Microsoft does have a monopoly. If that is not acceptable see what other law dictionaries say.
Falcon
If you didn't get it when I said I'm typing this on a Mac, I'm not MS fanbous, if you look at my previous statements about MS you'll see I oppose MS business tactics.
The real question though is, if it makes sense to switch why doesn't everyone do it?
You have to know an alternative exists before you can use it, that is unless someone else sets it up for you.
As you've pointed out, people wont switch unnecessarily.*
No I said people shouldn't switch unnecessarily, not that they don't. Some will upgrade if not switch even though they don't need to. A lot of software companies depend on that, software upgrades.
If open office is a perfect substitute for office, and if its switching costs are equivalent or lower than those of switching from office 2003 to office 2007 (a logical inference of your earlier points) why have we not seen a massive migration away from the expensive commercial product?
Besides the reason above there's FUD. Even of those who have heard of Open Office, I'd bet most think it can't do all they need or want to do. A big complaint I've heard is that the person wants compatibility and Open Office isn't compatible. Personally I have not found that to be true. I had one problem opening a Word 2007,.xdoc, document and someone else suggested I install the newest version. After I did the doc opened fine. However I have not opened complex spread sheets or documents using a lot of macros.
Also it's not all about ease of use or compatibility either. If that was it then people would be using WordPerfect Office or Lotus SmartSuite. Simply MS used anti-competitive business tactics.
It's your choice to upgrade or not, if you don't want to then don't. Others want to so they can.
Seems to me that, although there will always be a place for bleeding-edge distros, its about time for mainstream, end-user focussed distros like Ubuntu to grow up a bit and settle down to a more sedate lifecycle, with a couple of years between major OS updates (just like MS and Apple) and concentrate on keeping their application repositories up-to-date.
Then switch to a distro more to your liking. You want your freedom to get what you want but you would deny others their freedom.
Linux was originally a UNIX clone, before Mark Shuttleworth got hold of it. So to me it makes more sense for Linux to resemble BSD than Windows. Canonical have had to do some fairly unnatural things to force Linux to resemble Windows to the degree that they have.
It still is. However if you want more people to use it them you need to make it easier to use, and that's what Mark Shuttleworth has done.
Of course elitists don't want more people using Linux.
By one definition, data on Google Docs is more 'available' than data on a physical drive in my office. Since he former is only available when I'm at work, whereas the Google Doc is available from home, from work, or from any arbitrary location with Web access.
Documents will be just as available on my own server connected to the net. Even better I have 3 external drives I can take with me, so I don't even need net access. Google Docs don't beat that. Then when I do gain net access I could use rsync to synchronize my laptop and server.
More importantly to me, on Google Docs, someone else is managing backups and upgrades.
Seeing as I'm not aways connected, being available is what's important to me. At least I can keep my data with me, but if my docs are stored on Google's servers and I don't have access I won't have my docs. And I don't like depending on others for the safety of my data. I tried that once and lost about 500GB of data.
Slashdot Mirror
they're coming back into style because gas taxes are effectively at a maximum
Fuel taxes are not even close to a maximum in the US. Cross into Canada and fill up your gas tank, you'll pay a lot more in taxes. And no you can't say that's because gas in Canada is expensive. Canada is the biggest exporter of oil to the US, Mexico is the number 2 provider of oil. Fact is is the US has low fuel taxes compared to other countries.
Falcon
a large percentage of the people in US jails (at least in California) are gang members. They continue operating in the gangs while in jail, and once they get out, they keep doing illegal gang related activities. Gangs haven't penetrated Canada and Australia the same way they have here.
And what are the gangs for? A lot is for controlling drugs. Making drugs legal will reduce their violence and crime activities. Rational people would think politicians would have learned this lesson from Prohibition, which made organized crime powerful.
Falcon
I hate how 'vengeance' has become a dirty word; and yet if you have been the victim of a crime, surely it is a basic human need.
No it isn't a basic human need. Because of an accident, that was not an accident, I survived a Traumatic Brain Injury. I was hit by a moving van while riding my own bike after my classes in college. Witnesses said the driver was weaving all over the road and it was only a matter of tyme before he hit someone. While I wanted him to pay I do not wish the hell that my life became on him. I am not that sadistic.
And what if the person who you took your vengeance on was innocent, should he or she exercise the same vengeance on you? If the person's dead oops, it's too late. All that leads to is might makes right.
Falcon
We have 17 year olds, here in Australia, who can kill people, and get 2.5-3 years for it, in a youth training centre. The police do their job. The lawyers do theirs. Every other part of the system works; except the judges.
If your judges aren't doing their job, or you don't like how they're doing it either change the laws or fire the judges.
You could also use jury jullification against laws you think are bad. I was called up to show for jury duty twice and both tymes I was hoping I'd be picked to serve on a jury where I could use jury nullification, such as a drug possession or trafficking case.
Unlike most people, I don't have such a big issue with lawyers; because I say to any judge who reads this, that I know where the fault with the system really is. It isn't with them, judges. It's with you.
What are you doing to change the system? If nothing you're part of the problem.
Falcon
Gov't run options usually start out better, but as funds get syphoned off and miscellaneous 'provisions' attached, after 20 or so years you are stuck with a massive problem.
How about that $200 Billion Broadband Scandal? Private businesses took taxpayer money then pocketed it.
Falcon
Government doesn't run power or phones. They are private corporations that are merely regulated, not run. That gives you the advantages of both a free market (electricity is bought and sold all across the U.S.)(phone calls are available from AT&T or Sprint or MCI or Skype or whatever)
Ah but power is not a free market, cell phone service is a relatively free market though. I can service from any of a number of providers but I only have one choice as to whom I get power from. That is unless I install my own generation capacity, but I can't install that wind turbine I was looking at.
Falcon
draft me into the army to die in Iraq,
Neither can city government. Or state government.
No you're right, and I too am tired of the hyperbole. However Massachusetts has something almost as bad. Due to a shortage in Mitt Romney's government-run healthcare, they are starting to ration care, turning-away people are considered too old. i.e. No better than the insurance companies... may, worse than them (you can say "no" and not buy insurance).
And Romney's a Republican. What I rarely ever hear, as when Ron Paul was on Larry King's show (which he occasionally is), is allowing insurance companies to sell health insurance across state lines. The one power the feds have they aren't using. I see commercials saying how some states only have a couple of choices as to who provides insurance but instead of saying policy issuers should be able to sell across state lines they say a public option is needed.
Not only that but they don't say anything about giving people who buy insurance on their own the same tax breaks as employers who offer insurance.
Where we, you and I, disagree is in who owns the infrastructure. I have absolutely no problem with the local, say city, government owning the infrastructure if there is a monopoly. But I would require them to have open access, and let businesses compeat with each other for the services the infrastructure can deliver. Comcast can use the same stuff as ATT and Mom and Pop ISP. Local not federal governments.
Falcon
You left out steps. For instance the first step was not the government announcing plans to lay fiber. The first step was asking TDS to lay the fiber. It was only after TDS refused to lay fiber when the citizens voted to lay the fiber.
The city should have opened the right of way so any business that wanted to use it to deliver broadband could. They should have told TDS they were going to allow other businesses to use it then said "the early bird gets the worms." Watch the prices drop when there's real competition.
Falcon
the status quo and a thorough belief in free markets and all
There is no free market. Why do socialists equate what we have with a free market?
Falcon
Based on the officer's statements he did have probable cause for the arrest: the dog alerting in combination with his evasive and uncooperative attitude, it would lead a reasonable person to think he was hiding something.
Since when is being uncooperative an admission of guilt? Since when is it a sign of hiding something? If you have nothing to hide, you have everything to fear.
Falcon
3) He is clearly being a jerk (second video 0:00-0:45) he repeatedly asks the officer questions and then when the officer is calmly trying to respond to them he asks another one.
Asking what the charges are is being a jerk? Maybe in the Soviet Union or NAZI Germany but this it the USA, the land of freedom. I tell you what, if you like how the officers treated this guy I'm sure Cuba or Zimbabwe will take you in. But in the land of feedom that is unacceptable.
Not knowing how laws work and then resisting a valid arrest and not liking the consequences is stupid.
What valid arrrest? They never said what he was being arrested for, nor did they give him his Mirand warning. That was no valid arrest.
Police officers do not want to wrongly arrest people, by resisting (not getting out of the car) he gave them exactly what they wanted, a reason to arrest him.
Oh really? How many unarmed people have police shot? How many officers helped that high school girl in CA while she was being raped by a bunch of people?
Falcon
The presence of competition has not resulted in the lower cost, higher quality service that free-market boasters have claimed it would.
Prices have dropped, in industries where there is competition. How much did you pay for your first computer? How much for your last? The first IBM PC cost thousands of dollars, you go to Best Buy today and buy one for less than $1000. A netbook only costs $250, an expandable tower with KVM will set you back $500. If you ever have to have Lasik surgery you will pay less than what it cost 10 years ago, prices today are half those of 10 years ago. For other surgeries, it's cheaper today to fly to India or China for surgery than what the same surgery cost in the US, yet the care and quality is just as good.
Where is this world of yours where prices haven't dropped? I want to stay away.
Falcon
The most recent and current example of this is deregulation of power in Texas and California.
I don't know about Texas but when was power deregulated in California? And don't say in the 1990s, what CA did then was not deregulation, some regulations were removed but others were added. One such regulation was that power distribution companies could not raise their prices, but power generators could. Another regulation was that electrical generators could not also transmit the power.
Falcon
Really? When was the last tyme a corporation had it's charter revoked? After 20 year Alaskans are still waiting for Exxon to pay them yet Exxon still exists. Corporations exist far beyond many humans. How many 100 year people do you know? That's how old IBMis. Exxon is almost as old.
Falcon
I don't know which sounds better, a local government beholden to the population or the corporate aristocracy, uhm...
Falcon
No TDS lost every battle but still won the war/
Monticello will be screwed, but won't other towns and hamlets now have case law on their side?
Only Minnesota towns and hamlets. The rulings where TDS lost were all state courts not federal. Sure places in other states can try to use the MS rulings but it doesn't mean they'll be effective.
Falcon
in summary, Microsoft was fined 500 million Euros ($800 million) which was I believe the largest fine anywhere ever at the time
In the 3 months ending on 30-9-09 Microsoft made $7.346 Billion in profits so in effect MS's fine was only a week or two's profit. That's a get out of jail free card. To MS paying the fine is only a part of business, they made much more.
Falcon
TDS likely didn't think there was a market for it until the city took action.
The city asking for the company to install broadband should of been a big hint. It wouldn't have taken much effort after that to canvas the city asking people if they wanted broadband. I'd say the fact the company only did anything after the city decided to do something they refused to do says they don't care about the people at all.
Falcon
They sued because they felt using bond money to fund infrastructure like internet service is unconstitutional competition.
No, they sued because they didn't want competition for a service they didn't even provide. The city asked them for it but they refused. It's not the first tyme and I doubt it'll be the last.
All the while, TDS was rolling out their own network.
According to more than one article TDS only started rolling fiber after the city started and TDS took action against the city.
Falcon
I'm surprised GIMP doesn't do what you want.. I love it.
I print photos and while GIMP is fine for online work it lacks what many print artists demand. Like high colour bit depths. GIMP only offers 8 bits per colour channel, 24 bit total. PhotoShop does 32 bits per colour channel Supposedly GIMP 2.6 works with 16 bits per colour channel but in practice it doesn't. For professional prints CYMK is needed. That's comes standard in PS, GIMP requires a plug-in. GIMP also lacks other thing pro print photographers need. The digital darkroom forum at photo.net has some discussions on what photographers think of GIMP. Some like it, mostly for online work, and others don't like it because it does not do what they want or need.
On the two monitor thing, I ran them for years and LOVED it.
Same here. Years ago I was set up with dual monitors using Windows and Paint Shop Pro. A few months ago I bought a new LCD monitor I connected to my MBP, but I returned it. I've been looking at getting an HP LP2475w which has gotten good reviews from photographers. It may not be an Ezio, La Cie, or NEC monitor but it doesn't come with their price tags either. It's actually one of the cheapest LCDs with an H-IPS panel, currently about the best panels for graphics and photography.
Falcon
Meanwhile I am writing this on a Mac, which I was free to choose,
I too am typing this on a Mac, which I freely switched to.
by your definition Microsoft doesn't have a monopoly. But tell that to the EU.
Strictly speaking Microsoft does have a monopoly. If that is not acceptable see what other law dictionaries say.
Falcon
If you didn't get it when I said I'm typing this on a Mac, I'm not MS fanbous, if you look at my previous statements about MS you'll see I oppose MS business tactics.
The real question though is, if it makes sense to switch why doesn't everyone do it?
You have to know an alternative exists before you can use it, that is unless someone else sets it up for you.
As you've pointed out, people wont switch unnecessarily.*
No I said people shouldn't switch unnecessarily, not that they don't. Some will upgrade if not switch even though they don't need to. A lot of software companies depend on that, software upgrades.
If open office is a perfect substitute for office, and if its switching costs are equivalent or lower than those of switching from office 2003 to office 2007 (a logical inference of your earlier points) why have we not seen a massive migration away from the expensive commercial product?
Besides the reason above there's FUD. Even of those who have heard of Open Office, I'd bet most think it can't do all they need or want to do. A big complaint I've heard is that the person wants compatibility and Open Office isn't compatible. Personally I have not found that to be true. I had one problem opening a Word 2007, .xdoc, document and someone else suggested I install the newest version. After I did the doc opened fine. However I have not opened complex spread sheets or documents using a lot of macros.
Also it's not all about ease of use or compatibility either. If that was it then people would be using WordPerfect Office or Lotus SmartSuite. Simply MS used anti-competitive business tactics.
Falcon
...a new Ubuntu every 6 months?
It's your choice to upgrade or not, if you don't want to then don't. Others want to so they can.
Seems to me that, although there will always be a place for bleeding-edge distros, its about time for mainstream, end-user focussed distros like Ubuntu to grow up a bit and settle down to a more sedate lifecycle, with a couple of years between major OS updates (just like MS and Apple) and concentrate on keeping their application repositories up-to-date.
Then switch to a distro more to your liking. You want your freedom to get what you want but you would deny others their freedom.
Falcon
Linux was originally a UNIX clone, before Mark Shuttleworth got hold of it. So to me it makes more sense for Linux to resemble BSD than Windows. Canonical have had to do some fairly unnatural things to force Linux to resemble Windows to the degree that they have.
It still is. However if you want more people to use it them you need to make it easier to use, and that's what Mark Shuttleworth has done.
Of course elitists don't want more people using Linux.
Falcon
By one definition, data on Google Docs is more 'available' than data on a physical drive in my office. Since he former is only available when I'm at work, whereas the Google Doc is available from home, from work, or from any arbitrary location with Web access.
Documents will be just as available on my own server connected to the net. Even better I have 3 external drives I can take with me, so I don't even need net access. Google Docs don't beat that. Then when I do gain net access I could use rsync to synchronize my laptop and server.
More importantly to me, on Google Docs, someone else is managing backups and upgrades.
Seeing as I'm not aways connected, being available is what's important to me. At least I can keep my data with me, but if my docs are stored on Google's servers and I don't have access I won't have my docs. And I don't like depending on others for the safety of my data. I tried that once and lost about 500GB of data.
Falcon