*facepalm* Donald Trump can say anything and still get elected. Saudi Arabia can kill a man in their consulate and suffer no political consequences. Uber can lie, cheat, and commit manslaughter without losing any business. People won't lift a finger to stop these institutions if it means they are slightly inconvenienced. I bet a TV executive could mow down 50 people in broad daylight and if the protest required people to miss their favorite TV show, nobody would attend.
Really fascinating article. Where do you see the $.06/gallon tax number? The chart at the end shows "Fuel-related costs" as 18 cents per gallon and "Mileage-related costs" as 210 cents per gallon. But not all those costs go into the tax. I don't see a number in Section 5 "Conclusion."
The CO2 section has estimates of 5 cents, 12 cents, and 72 cents per gallon depending on the climate models chosen and the estimate of the economic impacts. I also found interesting that they say less than a penny per gallon is required to cover road maintenance. That sounds crazy since my state is constantly borrowing Federal money for rain maintenance.
It is hard to put a number to the long term health effects of pollution, but it is out there. I've seen articles estimating how many more people will get lung cancer or asthma for each ton of coal burned. Estimating the cost of CO2 emission is probably even harder. Suppose that in 50 years the beaches of Florida are underwater, the Outer Banks of NC are gone, the Sahara desert has expanded, England is colder, and just for fun lets assume that Siberia is now a tropical paradise.;-) I cannot imagine accurately estimating the cost of that, especially when the models for when and what the effects will be are still in flux.
I think the standard Slashdot reply is to point out that they are cost-effective if negative externalities (CO2 emissions, pollution) are included. But often they are not.
The appraiser will walk through the house and make sure nothing obvious is wrong (which the inspector already does much more thoroughly), measure the size of the rooms (which is already a matter of public record, and also easy to do yourself), and then calculate a price based on comparable recent sales nearby.
I agree with you that too many appraisers don't do their jobs. I constantly hear stories about appraisers doing just the above, or even less. I've seen them not even go inside, or completely miss rooms, list basements as unfinished when they aren't, or not know the rules for when a room counts toward the total square footage. I don't understand, because the job seems really easy to me. I have seen mirror image houses, with the same level of finish in the basement areas, showing significantly different square footage.
But with that said, I would rather that real estate agents blacklist the lazy ones than to eliminate the field entirely.
He didn't abandon it. He held his position so long that there was a government shutdown. Congress never submitted him a spending bill that didn't include tax increases. He thought a government shutdown was not appropriate, so he compromised and signed the bill congress gave him rather than veto it.
America elected a president on one promise, but a congress on another. Somebody was gonna lose. I wonder if he had decided to stand his ground, let the government shutdown, and force congress to either change or override his veto -- would have done better or worse in the eyes of the public? Ultimately, his real mistake was apologizing. Since then, presidents have learned never to apologize. Blame, deflect, even lie - but never apologize.
There's plenty of similarity. Just like physical property, patents, trademarks, and copyrights can be bought and sold. Each grants the owner with unique rights. Sounds a lot like property to me. In the United States, property-like rights for patents and copyrights originate in the US constitution, which says "[The Congress shall have power] to promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries.” The courts have consistently ruled for over 100 years that this includes the ability to buy and sell them.
America's religious and racial diversity prevents it from ever getting that far without a civil war first. So it would implode internally and lose the power to project force in any meaningful way.
There is a market solution to the loot box problem: stop buying the stupid loot boxes. Better yet: Educate your kids not to buy the stupid loot boxes.
Every generation of kids has to face an addiction. When I was growing up, it was Magic: The Gathering AKA "cardboard crack." College students or graduates would spend significant their disposable income on randomized card packs, waiting to get that rare card so they could show-off to their friends. I remember one group of guys who had been in community college for several years, constantly skipping class to play Magic. They were stuck in time, just barely passing a few classes per semester due to their addiction.
Then it became video games. What was it before that? Baseball cards maybe? I think we need to teach our children to recognize this. Introduce them to the economics of it before the addiction can get a hold on them.
a commentator who said, "Most Americans would answer the protest 'no blood for oil' with 'why not?"
(Which Bush? Which war? I assume you are referring to Operation Desert Shield, under George Bush Jr, in 2003.)
A commentator may have said that, but it is not true. Americans did not think invading Iraq was about oil. At the time, oil prices were very low so such motivation would have been weak. They were convinced that Saddam Hussein was developing nuclear weapons, that he was behind the 9/11 attacks, and that he held a store of chemical weapons. The public wanted revenge for 9/11 and were willing to attack whatever strawman the government assigned the blame to. They knew from experience in the prior war in 1991, that oil prices were not going to go down.
It always seemed to me that autonomous submarines would be super useful for military offense. A submarine that doesn't need humans inside can be smaller, faster, quieter, cheaper, and more maneuverable. They could recharge from solar or tidal power, or have nuclear batteries that last decades. But most frighteningly: what if they contained nuclear weapons? You could position them all over the world, nearly undetectable, imminently ready to strike. Port cities are vulnerable yet also valuable.
That's because there was a law that specifically forbade the companies from doing this. There is no law requiring side-loading of applications. And of course, the car manufacturers still keep information secret to make repairs difficult.
I don't get how this is a monopoly...If it was such a terrible deal for software vendors then why do they persist in using Apple's platform?
They are a monopoly because software vendors persist in using the platform even if they don't want to. They feel they have no choice. If an entire industry (software development) surrenders to one company's absurd demands, then that company is holding a loooot of power. Enough to be considered a monopoly. That's how Microsoft was branded a monopoly in the 90's: Clearly there were dozens of other options. It's just that Microsoft had so much dominance they were effectively a monopoly.
IMHO, the situation where everyone has a device in their pocket with almost total vendor lock-in is unacceptable in a capitalist economy, even if you don't call it monopoly. Those of us who lived through the PC era saw what happened when IBM held a lock on the industry. As soon as Compaq made the first IBM clone, thus loosing control from IBM, the industry expanded exponentially. That kinda happened when Android came out, but Google is doing juuust enough to stay a little bit open and avoid that monopoly label (for now).
Market share and ubiquity are different, and that does matter when determining if a company is a monopoly. I really wish game consoles were being investigated: lock-in is bad for business and consumers. It has pissed me off for 30 years that it is so hard to write code for consoles. I was part of the DS hacking community and it was awesome. Back when most people had flip phones, my modded DS was $50 PDA with a web browser, dictionary, organizer, MP3 player,... Technology was set back years by locking people out like that.
The point to remember is that limitations imposed by theoretical physicists are tentative at best. Remember, physics without empirical evidence isn't science and isn't necessarily reflective of reality
The example you gave is not theoretical physics, it was based on empirical evidence available at the time. There was no theoretical reason one could not have a 1 farad capacitor that smaller than the empire state building. There was just no material known at the time capable of storing that much capacitance.
I bet this is one of the consequences of Musk stepping down as Chairman. The new board probably found BFR unprofessional because of the subtle meaning and forced him to rename it.
Slashdot Mirror
You mean "Figure 2. Fuel Taxes for Selected Countries, 2004?" There is no $.06 cent per gallon number in that chart.
Defend what? The whole thread has been philosophy.
...so I still use FaceBook...
*facepalm*
Donald Trump can say anything and still get elected. Saudi Arabia can kill a man in their consulate and suffer no political consequences. Uber can lie, cheat, and commit manslaughter without losing any business. People won't lift a finger to stop these institutions if it means they are slightly inconvenienced. I bet a TV executive could mow down 50 people in broad daylight and if the protest required people to miss their favorite TV show, nobody would attend.
Really fascinating article. Where do you see the $.06/gallon tax number? The chart at the end shows "Fuel-related costs" as 18 cents per gallon and "Mileage-related costs" as 210 cents per gallon. But not all those costs go into the tax. I don't see a number in Section 5 "Conclusion."
The CO2 section has estimates of 5 cents, 12 cents, and 72 cents per gallon depending on the climate models chosen and the estimate of the economic impacts. I also found interesting that they say less than a penny per gallon is required to cover road maintenance. That sounds crazy since my state is constantly borrowing Federal money for rain maintenance.
It is hard to put a number to the long term health effects of pollution, but it is out there. I've seen articles estimating how many more people will get lung cancer or asthma for each ton of coal burned. Estimating the cost of CO2 emission is probably even harder. Suppose that in 50 years the beaches of Florida are underwater, the Outer Banks of NC are gone, the Sahara desert has expanded, England is colder, and just for fun lets assume that Siberia is now a tropical paradise. ;-) I cannot imagine accurately estimating the cost of that, especially when the models for when and what the effects will be are still in flux.
I think the standard Slashdot reply is to point out that they are cost-effective if negative externalities (CO2 emissions, pollution) are included. But often they are not.
The appraiser will walk through the house and make sure nothing obvious is wrong (which the inspector already does much more thoroughly), measure the size of the rooms (which is already a matter of public record, and also easy to do yourself), and then calculate a price based on comparable recent sales nearby.
I agree with you that too many appraisers don't do their jobs. I constantly hear stories about appraisers doing just the above, or even less. I've seen them not even go inside, or completely miss rooms, list basements as unfinished when they aren't, or not know the rules for when a room counts toward the total square footage. I don't understand, because the job seems really easy to me. I have seen mirror image houses, with the same level of finish in the basement areas, showing significantly different square footage.
But with that said, I would rather that real estate agents blacklist the lazy ones than to eliminate the field entirely.
Then he won, and immediately abandoned it.
He didn't abandon it. He held his position so long that there was a government shutdown. Congress never submitted him a spending bill that didn't include tax increases. He thought a government shutdown was not appropriate, so he compromised and signed the bill congress gave him rather than veto it.
America elected a president on one promise, but a congress on another. Somebody was gonna lose. I wonder if he had decided to stand his ground, let the government shutdown, and force congress to either change or override his veto -- would have done better or worse in the eyes of the public? Ultimately, his real mistake was apologizing. Since then, presidents have learned never to apologize. Blame, deflect, even lie - but never apologize.
none of which bears any similarity to property.
There's plenty of similarity. Just like physical property, patents, trademarks, and copyrights can be bought and sold. Each grants the owner with unique rights. Sounds a lot like property to me. In the United States, property-like rights for patents and copyrights originate in the US constitution, which says "[The Congress shall have power] to promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries.” The courts have consistently ruled for over 100 years that this includes the ability to buy and sell them.
They do not want to destroy their own holy lands. That would defeat their purpose.
America's religious and racial diversity prevents it from ever getting that far without a civil war first. So it would implode internally and lose the power to project force in any meaningful way.
Toss that plant and try again.
So long as the gene doesn't spreads to the nearby plants, which we now know can happen like Glyphosate resistance did.
There is a market solution to the loot box problem: stop buying the stupid loot boxes. Better yet: Educate your kids not to buy the stupid loot boxes.
Every generation of kids has to face an addiction. When I was growing up, it was Magic: The Gathering AKA "cardboard crack." College students or graduates would spend significant their disposable income on randomized card packs, waiting to get that rare card so they could show-off to their friends. I remember one group of guys who had been in community college for several years, constantly skipping class to play Magic. They were stuck in time, just barely passing a few classes per semester due to their addiction.
Then it became video games. What was it before that? Baseball cards maybe? I think we need to teach our children to recognize this. Introduce them to the economics of it before the addiction can get a hold on them.
Hamas upgrading the rockets they bombard Israel with daily to be nuclear...
Israel and Palestine are so close they would essentially be nuking themselves.
a commentator who said, "Most Americans would answer the protest 'no blood for oil' with 'why not?"
(Which Bush? Which war? I assume you are referring to Operation Desert Shield, under George Bush Jr, in 2003.)
A commentator may have said that, but it is not true. Americans did not think invading Iraq was about oil. At the time, oil prices were very low so such motivation would have been weak. They were convinced that Saddam Hussein was developing nuclear weapons, that he was behind the 9/11 attacks, and that he held a store of chemical weapons. The public wanted revenge for 9/11 and were willing to attack whatever strawman the government assigned the blame to. They knew from experience in the prior war in 1991, that oil prices were not going to go down.
It always seemed to me that autonomous submarines would be super useful for military offense. A submarine that doesn't need humans inside can be smaller, faster, quieter, cheaper, and more maneuverable. They could recharge from solar or tidal power, or have nuclear batteries that last decades. But most frighteningly: what if they contained nuclear weapons? You could position them all over the world, nearly undetectable, imminently ready to strike. Port cities are vulnerable yet also valuable.
Oh... THAT is what the "MF" in "MFA" stands for! I thought it was something else!
Apparently I had a lack of sleep that day. Or I was just so itching to make a point about Elon stepping down as Chairman that I rushed to post.
That's because there was a law that specifically forbade the companies from doing this. There is no law requiring side-loading of applications. And of course, the car manufacturers still keep information secret to make repairs difficult.
You answered your own question:
I don't get how this is a monopoly...If it was such a terrible deal for software vendors then why do they persist in using Apple's platform?
They are a monopoly because software vendors persist in using the platform even if they don't want to. They feel they have no choice. If an entire industry (software development) surrenders to one company's absurd demands, then that company is holding a loooot of power. Enough to be considered a monopoly. That's how Microsoft was branded a monopoly in the 90's: Clearly there were dozens of other options. It's just that Microsoft had so much dominance they were effectively a monopoly.
IMHO, the situation where everyone has a device in their pocket with almost total vendor lock-in is unacceptable in a capitalist economy, even if you don't call it monopoly. Those of us who lived through the PC era saw what happened when IBM held a lock on the industry. As soon as Compaq made the first IBM clone, thus loosing control from IBM, the industry expanded exponentially. That kinda happened when Android came out, but Google is doing juuust enough to stay a little bit open and avoid that monopoly label (for now).
Market share and ubiquity are different, and that does matter when determining if a company is a monopoly. I really wish game consoles were being investigated: lock-in is bad for business and consumers. It has pissed me off for 30 years that it is so hard to write code for consoles. I was part of the DS hacking community and it was awesome. Back when most people had flip phones, my modded DS was $50 PDA with a web browser, dictionary, organizer, MP3 player, ... Technology was set back years by locking people out like that.
100% agreed! These standards agencies are behind the times and I would rather they determine the standards than a government body.
Or the backdoor must run over one of those protocols.
The point to remember is that limitations imposed by theoretical physicists are tentative at best. Remember, physics without empirical evidence isn't science and isn't necessarily reflective of reality
The example you gave is not theoretical physics, it was based on empirical evidence available at the time. There was no theoretical reason one could not have a 1 farad capacitor that smaller than the empire state building. There was just no material known at the time capable of storing that much capacitance.
I bet this is one of the consequences of Musk stepping down as Chairman. The new board probably found BFR unprofessional because of the subtle meaning and forced him to rename it.