Oil floats on water. What also floats on water? Witches! Software developers are invariably male (just look at slashdot). Men are not witches. Thus software developers do not float.
So, to determine whether to tax it (non-IT) or not tax it (IT), throw it in the ocean (or Black Sea). If it drowns, it is IT, so don't tax it. If it floats, clean it up and send the bill to BP.
My point is not whether the electoral system was abused in this case. My point is that the system is open to abuse.
What is the purpose of the rules that surround the electoral process? Is it not to give legitimacy to the winner? If the rules can be legally abused in such a way as to detract from the legitimacy of the victor, then aren't the rules failing?
South Carolina uses an open primary system where any registered voter can vote in the Democratic primary, not just registered Democratic Party members.
Is it possible that thousands of Republicans decided to vote for Alvin Greene not because they want him to be their next Senator, but because he is such a hopeless candidate that he will be crushed by the Republican nominee?
On the face of it, this open primary system seems open to abuse. If you vote for candidate A in the primary, and he wins the primary to move onto the general election ballot, shouldn't your vote be "locked in" to support him in the general election?
Ya it's too bad that guys that work hard and innovate like Sergey Brin are not in any way financially rewarded in America.
OTOH when a kid can inherit 9 billion bucks tax free when his dad dies in 2010, I agree that kinda kills any financial incentive that kid had to contribute anything to humanity and he'll probably just spend the rest of his life consuming rather than producing.
Fund it the way the other trillion+ dollars in spending over revenue is funded: Borrow the money from China. When China eventually asks for the money back, print a few trillion dollar bills and hand them over. Jokes on them, very few stores will be able to cash a trillion dollar bill.
How do ballistic missile subs help China liberate a country with resources it needs?
If China wants to prevent another country from intervening in some war of conquest that China starts, all China has to do is to publicly say "We have several hundred ICBMs with nuclear warheads that we will shoot at all your major population centers if any of your military forces stand in our way of conquering county . We are deadly serious."
The rest of the world is then faced with the choice of allowing China to swallow up whatever country it has chosen to conquer, or take the nuclear armaggedon end-of-life-as-we-know-it path. Which path do you prefer?
" According a 2009 report..., 2.4 billion of the world's population lives in 'water-stressed' countries such as China and India"
The combined population of just China and India is about 2.36 billion... So only 40 million people outside of China and India live in water-stressed countries? I would have thought that the population of the countries of just the Sahara desert region would exceed 40 million.
Given that countries can be geographically large with distinctively different regions, and moving huge quantities of water around can be quite difficult, I'm not sure that the term "water-stressed" should even be applied to a country as a whole. There are areas of the USA that are water stressed (Southern California comes to mind) and other areas that are not.
The purpose of measuring this new and exciting disaster is to be able to use it as a reference point for the magnitude of future disasters.
Suppose you determine that the BP2010 disaster had a flow rate of 10K barrels per day for 60 days before capping, and takes 3 years to cleanup for a cost of 2 billion dollars. When the next blowout occurs and you determine its flow rate is 20K barrels per day, you'll be able to roughly assess the expected cost of the disaster per day in which you are unable to stop the flow.
On Slashdot, we'll be able to discuss the Texaco2015 blowout in units of 3xBP2010, or 1/10th of a BP2010, etc.
Because if we don't they can blame any further failures on somebody else.
They are already blaming someone else. BP is blaming Transocean. Transocean is blaming Halliburton. Halliburton is blaming... Actually I think Halliburton has a blanket immunity from any wrongdoing ever so they don't even need to bother with the formality of pointing a finger.
BP has made a profit of 5.5 billion this quarter. It is only natural that all that is forfiet to pay for the accident. That is how the free market works.
The free market actually works like this: BP takes 10 million of that profit and uses it to buy enough congressmen to pass laws that limit their liability. They take another 50 million and buy lawyers to tangle up for a couple decades whatever legal cases do get thrown at them.
BP has done the math and concluded that the way to maximize profit is to buy politicians (which really means buy voters to get those politicians reelected) and lawyers rather than take prudent steps to ensure safety. That's the free market at work.
Are you in favor of bringing back prohibition? Tens of thousands of Americans are killed every year by drunk drivers (leaving hundreds of thousands of grieving widows and orphans behind), tens of thousands more die of alcohol related diseases, and millions of battered and bruised children and spouses will attest to the terrible reality of living with an abusive drunk.
Lotteries are anti-socialist and anti-capitalist. From a socialist perspective, lotteries make millions of people poorer in order to make a few super-rich, rather than spreading wealth around more evenly. From a capitalist perspective, lotteries make people wealthy at random rather than based upon their productivity.
I don't think we can afford it, but that's another story.
So long as China is willing to loan the USA hundred of billions of dollars every year to fund weapons programs to help contain China, why not?
If the weapons that are developed fail to contain China, then surely the threat of debt repudiation will keep them in line. As Donald Trump once said, "Owing someone a million dollars gives them power over you. Owing someone a trillion dollars gives you power over them."
You can demonstrate your support for Matt and Trey, and your opposition to this violent intimdation, by wearing a T-shirt with the image of Mohammed every day for the rest of your life.
If they don't follow the teachings of Christ, then they're not Christians. They can call themselves "Christians", but that doesn't make them Christians.
However, I would like to add that at this time this Russian bribery situation is an alleged crime, not a proven one. If the source of the alleged evidence of wrongdoing is the Russian government, then I really don't know what to believe, since I don't believe that they have a lot of integrity or credibility in law enforcement.
US Navy Seals shot and killed 3 pirates last year. The pirates had attacked a US flagged merchant ship carrying humanitarian aid to Africa, and abducted the US captain and held him hostage for several days.
Pirates have been hijacking vessels of all kinds off the horn of Africa in recent years and I believe this has resulted in the deaths of both pirates and civilians on the targeted ships, along with the loss of freedom for the many hostages taken.
While I think that the Pirate Party of Canada does not endorse the hijacking of ships off Africa, that's only because having "Canada" (implies: good, friendly, peaceful, harmless) in the name has greater weight than the word "Pirate" (which implies: lawless, greedy, violent, dangerous).
About a dozen Americans were killed by the Hiroshima atomic bombing. They were PoWs (airmen captured when they were shot down in raids on Japan).
When Americans are taught about the bombing, is that ever mentioned, that they nuked their own soldiers? I'm not taking a position that it is right or wrong to drop bombs that kill your own soldiers in the pursuit of the greater goal, but it would seem appropriate to recognize the sacrifice that was made and honor the dead.
The U.S. can change its mind and policy at any time. The U.S. can ignore this unilateral declartion at any time. Or the U.S. can just violate it without any legal consequences because there is no authority that can force the U.S. to comply with it.
I don't know how many man-years of time were spent developing this new policy or how it was paid for, but I'm gonna guess "lots" and "my taxes".
Slashdot Mirror
Oil floats on water.
What also floats on water? Witches!
Software developers are invariably male (just look at slashdot).
Men are not witches.
Thus software developers do not float.
So, to determine whether to tax it (non-IT) or not tax it (IT), throw it in the ocean (or Black Sea).
If it drowns, it is IT, so don't tax it. If it floats, clean it up and send the bill to BP.
QED.
My point is not whether the electoral system was abused in this case. My point is that the system is open to abuse.
What is the purpose of the rules that surround the electoral process? Is it not to give legitimacy to the winner? If the rules can be legally abused in such a way as to detract from the legitimacy of the victor, then aren't the rules failing?
South Carolina uses an open primary system where any registered voter can vote in the Democratic primary, not just registered Democratic Party members.
Is it possible that thousands of Republicans decided to vote for Alvin Greene not because they want him to be their next Senator, but because he is such a hopeless candidate that he will be crushed by the Republican nominee?
On the face of it, this open primary system seems open to abuse. If you vote for candidate A in the primary, and he wins the primary to move onto the general election ballot, shouldn't your vote be "locked in" to support him in the general election?
Ya it's too bad that guys that work hard and innovate like Sergey Brin are not in any way financially rewarded in America.
OTOH when a kid can inherit 9 billion bucks tax free when his dad dies in 2010, I agree that kinda kills any financial incentive that kid had to contribute anything to humanity and he'll probably just spend the rest of his life consuming rather than producing.
But the problem is how to fund it.
Fund it the way the other trillion+ dollars in spending over revenue is funded: Borrow the money from China. When China eventually asks for the money back, print a few trillion dollar bills and hand them over. Jokes on them, very few stores will be able to cash a trillion dollar bill.
Without "The South" GWB would not have been the Worst President Ever.
Based on voting patterns I would say there are statistical differences of populations in various regions of the USA.
How do ballistic missile subs help China liberate a country with resources it needs?
If China wants to prevent another country from intervening in some war of conquest that China starts, all China has to do is to publicly say "We have several hundred ICBMs with nuclear warheads that we will shoot at all your major population centers if any of your military forces stand in our way of conquering county . We are deadly serious."
The rest of the world is then faced with the choice of allowing China to swallow up whatever country it has chosen to conquer, or take the nuclear armaggedon end-of-life-as-we-know-it path. Which path do you prefer?
" According a 2009 report..., 2.4 billion of the world's population lives in 'water-stressed' countries such as China and India"
The combined population of just China and India is about 2.36 billion... So only 40 million people outside of China and India live in water-stressed countries? I would have thought that the population of the countries of just the Sahara desert region would exceed 40 million.
Given that countries can be geographically large with distinctively different regions, and moving huge quantities of water around can be quite difficult, I'm not sure that the term "water-stressed" should even be applied to a country as a whole. There are areas of the USA that are water stressed (Southern California comes to mind) and other areas that are not.
The purpose of measuring this new and exciting disaster is to be able to use it as a reference point for the magnitude of future disasters.
Suppose you determine that the BP2010 disaster had a flow rate of 10K barrels per day for 60 days before capping, and takes 3 years to cleanup for a cost of 2 billion dollars. When the next blowout occurs and you determine its flow rate is 20K barrels per day, you'll be able to roughly assess the expected cost of the disaster per day in which you are unable to stop the flow.
On Slashdot, we'll be able to discuss the Texaco2015 blowout in units of 3xBP2010, or 1/10th of a BP2010, etc.
Why do we let them control this?
Because if we don't they can blame any further failures on somebody else.
They are already blaming someone else. BP is blaming Transocean. Transocean is blaming Halliburton. Halliburton is blaming... Actually I think Halliburton has a blanket immunity from any wrongdoing ever so they don't even need to bother with the formality of pointing a finger.
BP has made a profit of 5.5 billion this quarter. It is only natural that all that is forfiet to pay for the accident. That is how the free market works.
The free market actually works like this: BP takes 10 million of that profit and uses it to buy enough congressmen to pass laws that limit their liability. They take another 50 million and buy lawyers to tangle up for a couple decades whatever legal cases do get thrown at them.
BP has done the math and concluded that the way to maximize profit is to buy politicians (which really means buy voters to get those politicians reelected) and lawyers rather than take prudent steps to ensure safety. That's the free market at work.
They are planning to use the LHC to create a small black hole and drop it into the gusher to suck up all the oil.
I think that would silence the critics of both the LHC, the oil drilling industry, and Apple's restrictive rules about apps!
Are you in favor of bringing back prohibition? Tens of thousands of Americans are killed every year by drunk drivers (leaving hundreds of thousands of grieving widows and orphans behind), tens of thousands more die of alcohol related diseases, and millions of battered and bruised children and spouses will attest to the terrible reality of living with an abusive drunk.
Lotteries are anti-socialist and anti-capitalist. From a socialist perspective, lotteries make millions of people poorer in order to make a few super-rich, rather than spreading wealth around more evenly. From a capitalist perspective, lotteries make people wealthy at random rather than based upon their productivity.
I don't think we can afford it, but that's another story.
So long as China is willing to loan the USA hundred of billions of dollars every year to fund weapons programs to help contain China, why not?
If the weapons that are developed fail to contain China, then surely the threat of debt repudiation will keep them in line. As Donald Trump once said, "Owing someone a million dollars gives them power over you. Owing someone a trillion dollars gives you power over them."
You can demonstrate your support for Matt and Trey, and your opposition to this violent intimdation, by wearing a T-shirt with the image of Mohammed every day for the rest of your life.
If they don't follow the teachings of Christ, then they're not Christians. They can call themselves "Christians", but that doesn't make them Christians.
Actions speak louder than words.
As a former HP employee myself, I concur.
However, I would like to add that at this time this Russian bribery situation is an alleged crime, not a proven one. If the source of the alleged evidence of wrongdoing is the Russian government, then I really don't know what to believe, since I don't believe that they have a lot of integrity or credibility in law enforcement.
“A proof is a proof. What kind of a proof? It's a proof. A proof is a proof. And when you have a good proof, it's because it's proven.”
-Jean Chretien, Prime Minister of Canada
I'll wait for Netcraft to confirm that, if you don't mind.
US Navy Seals shot and killed 3 pirates last year. The pirates had attacked a US flagged merchant ship carrying humanitarian aid to Africa, and abducted the US captain and held him hostage for several days.
Pirates have been hijacking vessels of all kinds off the horn of Africa in recent years and I believe this has resulted in the deaths of both pirates and civilians on the targeted ships, along with the loss of freedom for the many hostages taken.
While I think that the Pirate Party of Canada does not endorse the hijacking of ships off Africa, that's only because having "Canada" (implies: good, friendly, peaceful, harmless) in the name has greater weight than the word "Pirate" (which implies: lawless, greedy, violent, dangerous).
Spock: He is intelligent, but not experienced. His pattern indicates two-dimensional thinking.
About a dozen Americans were killed by the Hiroshima atomic bombing. They were PoWs (airmen captured when they were shot down in raids on Japan).
When Americans are taught about the bombing, is that ever mentioned, that they nuked their own soldiers? I'm not taking a position that it is right or wrong to drop bombs that kill your own soldiers in the pursuit of the greater goal, but it would seem appropriate to recognize the sacrifice that was made and honor the dead.
The U.S. can change its mind and policy at any time. The U.S. can ignore this unilateral declartion at any time. Or the U.S. can just violate it without any legal consequences because there is no authority that can force the U.S. to comply with it.
I don't know how many man-years of time were spent developing this new policy or how it was paid for, but I'm gonna guess "lots" and "my taxes".
and the cables are scared shitless
Fear is the mind killer. And the colon cleanser?