I suspect that law might be tied to Washington's self-defense laws. In Washington, it's pretty easy to get a concealed carry permit, the state has forbade local municipalities from passing gun control legislation that disagrees with the state laws, and most importantly, they have long had on the books a law very similar to the 'stand your ground' law recently passed in Florida. Basically, you don't have to even try to think about escaping a dangerous situation -- if you're in danger, and you're armed, you can shoot. They've had that on the books for a LONG time, iirc.
I can see specificially mentioning you can't resist unlawful arrest, taking those laws into account. You don't want people shooting at cops, even if they're innocent. Of course I suppose that's assuming most cops aren't jackbooted thugs. Whoops. I can think of a number of 'standoffs' or 'sieges' or whatever the media wants to call them at the time, in which citizens DID shoot back, lots of people died, and in the end the police were at fault. FFS, they mistook a BABY for a GUN at Ruby Ridge.
I'd wonder why, honestly -- steel's much heavier, and would increase shipping costs dramatically.. and I believe that steel is still currently more expensive than aluminum.
Although Aluminum prices have been skyrocketing over the past few years. They're about 3 or 4 times higher than 3 years ago last I checked O_o
My father started working at a company in 1985 for the very nice rate of $15 / hour. Awesome pay back in the mid 80's for a new hire (he was a truck driver).
When the company shut its doors in 1999 (which incidentally, broke all sorts of laws and the contract they ahd with the union. The only people that made out well were.. shock, the 3 CEO's, who had huge severance packages. Most of the workers heard that the company shut down via the local news) -- he was only making about $17 / hour.
$17 an hour for a trucking job these days is good money for a new hire.
$15 in 1985 money is about $26 in 2005 money.
It's essentially like this the nation across, through just about any industry you might want to check out.
The minimum wage was set at $5.15 in 1997. The buying power of a minimum wage employee is at the lowest it's been in 51 years (maybe more, not positive).
Median 4-person family income HAS been, iirc, keeping ahead of inflation... however, I'd say it's a safe bet that more and more 4-person families have both adults working than in past years. It's said all over that it's more and more common for one, and from my own observations I can say it is.. though I have no real numbers to back that up.
Now that I'm sufficiently pissed off I'm going to go get some beer and play some goddamned video games. Beats bread and circuses. And thankfully since I have to work so much just to pay for food, rent, and a means of transportation, I won't really have time to think about this too much more -- golly gosh that could lead to an angry and dissatisfied proletariat!
True, but there's also salaried employees that work -less- than 40-hour weeks and yet recieve the same pay that they would as if they were hourly and worked 40 hours.
But I'm not arguing with you -- by and by large you're right.
Really, the big thing here is.. any time you here the words "mandatory" and "overtime" within 5 minutes of eachother, grab some Astroglide.
Money completely aside, working 60 hours a week is bullshit. If you figure 8 hours a night for sleep, that leaves 52 hours in the week for you to... eat, shower, and do whatever else you may want to do. Breakdown is 60 hours on the clock, 56 hours asleep, roughly maybe 14 hours for eating/cleaning, 38 hours for 'you'.
Oh, but then there's travel time to and from work. For me, a half hour each way. And gotta make sure you get there early! 7 more hours gone.
31 hours to do what you please, compared to 60 hours doing what your company wants you to do. And people look at me weird when I bitch about working -- not about WORK, my current job, but simply about working in principle.
Still, if I were salaried, I'd probably make as much as I am now. That's the thing.
Though I get your intention -- often, salaried employees DO get shafted with overtime. Sometimes not. Happens with hourly employees too.
OSHA says we can't work more than 66 hours in 1 work week, but if we work 5 days, ending at the split between work weeks, and then 5 days immediately afterwards.. well that's 120 hours straight of working, but since it's technically over 2 work weeks it's OK.
Money aside, everything aside, I think we can all agree.
The point is, no, only the CEO-salary 'does fine' if they stop working forever.
The regular guy becomes homeless, pulling food and shelter from.. not friends or family as you can't always count on that, and not the government because they don't really help, but from homeless shelters.
As opposed to working a single year as a CEO and living better for the rest of your life than most working-class folks.
Seriously. 7mil over 70 years = 100k a year. Compare that to the guy making 30-50k a year losing his job. WORLD of difference. That's why, succeed or fail, they'll always be OK. They'll always be more comfortable, even if they only work 1 year, than their workers.
Let's say average trench-working yearly earnings are about 50k. Easy number to play with. And CEO would be 7.5 mill. Easy number again.
That CEO is 'worth' 150 such employees to the company.
Of course that 7.5 mill I would wager is simply salary -- not fringe benefits, not payed trips to vacation spots to speak with some obscure CEO of some company in a completely different field that ends with nothing but a tan, no stock options.
Mr. CEO loses his job. Oh no, he doesn't get to buy 5 new yachts. He doesn't get to pal around with his old money-grubbing friends. He's not as powerful or rich.
Mr. Workingman loses his job.
He fucking starves to death.
You see, in the former, you don't HAVE to work ever again. You only do because you're interested in greater wealth and power. In the latter, you either work or die.
"Hmm. The department costs too much in overtime, but we can't cut it or work won't get done and people will notice more problems since I took over. I know I'll show how much in Fringe Benefits we are saving by exhausting our current workforce rather than adding more headcount!"... you must work where I do!
I'm not sure why I put up with 60 hour weeks, when I detest even working 40 hours a week.
I mean, I could be SO MUCH BETTER at video games than I am now.. if not for all that time wasted making money.
"while they maintain that an absolute ban on smacking children is appropriate and use the "you wouldn't smack an adult" argument"
How stupid. Of COURSE I'd smack an adult. The difference being it'd be a close-fisted smack -- a punch, if you will -- while it would be merely a smack for a child. Since they're so much smaller. And cry louder.
Sounds to me like someone needs to smack the NPSCC. Kinda like that whole pie-ing fad that was going on for a while, except in this case, bumrush their speaker and just *smack*. Er. And then run, because that's assault.
I've always felt there should be a "they just had it coming" exception for assault, personally..
"Reform isn't a mental shortcut, its a good idea to encourage correct communication in a language with world-wide significance. If the Anglosphere could promulgate a change in spelling, it will improve commerce and reduce misery for students around the world. It isn't just an American thing, it's a rational thing."
Didn't you get that memo?
This is America, buddy. Our GOAL is to CAUSE misery for not just students, but ALL people, all around the world.
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! Put up with our language, and love it. We're too stubborn and have too much money for you to really do anything about it. Lots of people speak Chinese? Spanish? Hey, that's great.. lots of *poor* people.
I kid, but that's actually what it boils down to -- it's our language, we're in control, YOU deal with it. Any attempts to seriously legitimize Spanish as a language in America on more than a local level will meet with dismal failure for that very reason. We don't want to have to learn Spanish. Hey, I tried and I can't. My mind simply doesn't work in a way that allows me to learn languages -- nor can I program. Same issue, I believe -- they're similar. Expressing a particular thought via means aside from my base language. It escapes me. And frankly, that's not my problem. It's only a problem if I move or travel in non-English speaking countries -- and if I move there, while I'd certainly be glad to meet English speakers, I DEFINATELY would not be so god damned arrogant to expect that, even if I brought my million closest friends, that the culture should adapt to us simply because we are many. Cultural invasion = terrible. Yes, even if it's the Americanization of other cultures (though that more often is a different boat, as while the Mexicanation of America is not always legal, and is being pushed upon the majority, usually the Americanization of other nations is due to the population's desire for things distinctly American, which left unchecked can really kinda wreck up their own culture).
English is like.. it's like Othello. The game, not the play. A minute to learn, a lifetime to master. You with me?
You can converse very, very easily, and be understood without much difficulty, with very, very bad english. Basically, if you can get a noun, and a verb, and pronounce them somewhat close to correct -- you can communicate with others! And if you can spell phonetically in english? You can also be understood! Yes, not clearly -- but enough to communicate. You can even throw together a poor understanding of the language and poor spelling of the language, and STILL you can be understood.
But, no.. striving to be 100% grammatically correct at all times, never breaking any of the myriad rules and exceptions of the English language? That's a pipe dream. Give it up. I did. I've found that although there are times you will want to be as flawless as possible, generally it's more important to just have a basic grasp of the rules, and a firm grasp of what sounds pleasing to the ear. Sometimes, what is grammatically correct sounds like shit. Truth. And sometimes, a point can be more clearly made by incorrectly constructed sentences.
It's not like you have to learn 360 seperate symbols and their meanings.
And it is true -- it's easy, very easy, to add new words to the language. You can noun verbs, and verb nouns, and turn anything into an adverb or adjective.. and nor must you figure out what gender a new word should be. You just.. spell it. And say it. And thus is a new word born.
I'm one of the 'fortunate few'. So's my dad. Actually, in several ways.
I'm immune to poison ivy. I can't remember the last time I got bit by a mosquito. In the past 4-5 years, I've had less than a half-dozen 'bug bites' in total.. most of those being spiders I assume. It's a different kind of bite. Though I go trouncing through the woods quite often, and rarely remember any kind of repellant, I've only once ever had a tick touch my skin -- and it was a very, very large one. And it was crawling, not biting. It had at least a full hour in which to find a tasty spot to bite, but never did.
The downside? While I've not yet had the misfortune, my dad, for many years, had fairly corrosive sweat. As in, the inside of his wrist watch's band would become severely pitted after a single year of wear. The outside? Fine. Just the inside was bad.
And my mother, and her father, both couldn't wear wrist watches. The batteries -always- died after a week to a month. Sounds weird, but I've seen it happen at least a dozen times. Buy watch, watch dies, replace battery, battery dies, return+exchange watch, battery dies, replace battery, battery dies. I use a pocket watch:p
Sadly, my sister inhereted none of that cool stuff.
Ladies, walk right this way and you will recieve some quite favorable genes. Possibly several times.
Re:Pills that treat every major disease costs $0.2
on
The Cost of the iPod
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· Score: 1
Let me play the world's tiniest violin for Big Pharm.
My father recently was prescribed a new drug -- he's got bone cancer. It's not common in the least, though over the past 5 years there have been a ton of advances in treatment (kinda amazing really). That means there's not a ton of research specifically for it (it's not breast cancer or anything right?), and the drugs aren't near as mass-produced (which drops the cost).
This new drug -- at the moment I can't honestly remember if it was chemo, or a steroid, or what -- costs $15,000 for a 1-month supply.
That's USD, too. Not pesos. Work that out. 500 bucks a day. Thank god for insurance, right? Frankly, I'm not sure about you, but in my mind.. that's kinda retarded. I know there's reasons, but 15 grand? Shit man, 500 bucks of COKE in a day'll kill you.
but "Office Space" is truly a work of genius. It's barely even a movie about an office. It's more about the battle with an absolute lack of motivation and work ethic, the pitfalls of trying to scheme your way out of the daily grind.
Also, it's about avoiding federal POUND ME IN THE ASS prison.. which is something we all can identify with.
"The "freedom" of a car culture is actually a big myth mostly due to car advertising and not knowing nay better. A good transit system that goes everywhere and is supplemented by taxis is actually much more liberating to get anywhere fast, avoid traffic, not have to park, lends itself to more community and less drive through sprawl, and much healthier for the bits of brief exercise one gets inbetween."
The freedom of a car culture is this.
When I lived in the south, when I got stressed out, or upset by something, I could get into my car.
5 minutes and I would be in the middle of nowhere. Cotton to the left, cotton to the right, and nothing but empty road in front of me. And behind me. there was a particular interesection of 3 roads that, literally, could have been the least populated place on the planet. This was the meeting point of barely-paved roads that intersected the more 'main' back roads, which themselves were rarely used because they long ago were superceded by highways, and because they extend from an urban area out into the most unimaginably rural areas for hours and hours and hours.
Do that with mass transit. Get to a deserted intersection in the middle of nowhere to watch a sunrise.
I can get in my car, point myself in a direction, and just go. Somewhere. Nowhere. It doesn't matter. There's no timetable, no fare, no stinking bum coughing on my shoulder. i can blare music and scream. i can smoke. i can stop, jump out and check out a frog jumping across the road -- "COME ON KREMIT YOU CAN DO IT!" I can stop and help a turtle out who was injured by a collision with another car. i can steal a log that's sitting in the middle of the road. if i leave for work late, i can speed to make up for it. i don't have to worry about the bus being slowed by people asking directions, or a half dozen handicapped passangers having to make use of the lift. i can't take my dog out for a cruise in the country on public transportation. i can't take public transportation to go hunting. i can't go shopping and buy more than i can carry in one trip and use public transportation. i can't transport a couch with public transportation.
and most of all, i can't take public transportation through the local high school cheerleading squad's bikini carwash. MY GOD, MAN!
"Take a look at Australia sometime. It's of comparable size to the US, with even worse population density problems, and is investing large amounts of money in its rail network.".... yes, an extra 2 million square miles is absolutely nothing.
and australia's population density problems are not like america's. australia is more or less a crust of urban areas and a huge empty desert.
in america, our urban areas are pretty spread out.. and by and by large people from one city don't need commute to another city. it's hours away. that's a vacation or a business trip.
and most people going on vacation may not live in the city, anyway. why commute for an hour or two, to get on mass transit, travel for an hour or two, and wind up saving maybe.. an hour or two, BUT you don't have your own car to get around?
retarded.
99% of public transportation in the US is retarded. Check out Philly and Pittsburg's wonderful systems -- that nobody uses, because they're slow and filthy, and are constantly losing money. Somehow that means the rest of the state gets taxed to subsidy them I must have slept through why that makes sense.
there's too many stops. the distances are too great. and if you build a simple 2-point bullet train? everyone will have to commute for a fair amount of time to get to either end of it. and it'll wind up as expensive and as crowded and as cluttered with TSA and checkpoints as the airlines anyway.
what's faster, driving your own car or taking the bus... driving your own car.
what's faster, driving your own car or taking the train... taking the train.
now try and commute 20-30 miles to work on a train that stops a few times every mile along the way -- since obviously everyone needs to ride the train. it'd take, oh, i don't know. 3 hours?
Don't forget that smokers are less susceptible to certain.. biological? or was it chemical? mighta been anthrax even!
Icky nasty weapons.
So just think. If we ever get hit with a real nasty terr'rist attack, maybe we'll finally be rid of all these pesky non-smokers. FINALLY I GET TO SMOKE IN A MOVIE THEATER!
Better yet: Replace 'bogus information' with 'goatse.cx'
Nothing like tricking someone into looking at ol' goatse --- except tricking someone into spending millions and millions of dollars to look at ol' goatse.
I'm sorry, but Al Gore TRULY IS an idiot. Any and all jokes to be made at his expense, should be.
The man got himself lost in the woods outside DC.
Woods. Outside DC.
You could set an 8-year old loose in the middle of those woods without saying a word and they could find their way out. If you can walk IN A STRAIGHT LINE, it's only a few hours until you'd walk onto a major highway.
And he got lost.
The man can't walk in a straight line.
There's no way anybody should ever listen to anyone who can't even walk in a mostly-straight path through the woods for an hour or two. Come ON.
Slashdot Mirror
I suspect that law might be tied to Washington's self-defense laws.
In Washington, it's pretty easy to get a concealed carry permit, the state has forbade local municipalities from passing gun control legislation that disagrees with the state laws, and most importantly, they have long had on the books a law very similar to the 'stand your ground' law recently passed in Florida.
Basically, you don't have to even try to think about escaping a dangerous situation -- if you're in danger, and you're armed, you can shoot. They've had that on the books for a LONG time, iirc.
I can see specificially mentioning you can't resist unlawful arrest, taking those laws into account. You don't want people shooting at cops, even if they're innocent.
Of course I suppose that's assuming most cops aren't jackbooted thugs. Whoops.
I can think of a number of 'standoffs' or 'sieges' or whatever the media wants to call them at the time, in which citizens DID shoot back, lots of people died, and in the end the police were at fault. FFS, they mistook a BABY for a GUN at Ruby Ridge.
Was he foreign? Was he running?
Then he's guilty of the heinous crime against the crown, "running while foreign".
Here in the states we have a similar law, but foreign's too hard to spell so we call it "running while brown".
I never knew that.
I'd wonder why, honestly -- steel's much heavier, and would increase shipping costs dramatically.. and I believe that steel is still currently more expensive than aluminum.
Although Aluminum prices have been skyrocketing over the past few years. They're about 3 or 4 times higher than 3 years ago last I checked O_o
Hell, in the UK, defending yourself from attackers with a firearm is a serious offense!
On that note..
My father started working at a company in 1985 for the very nice rate of $15 / hour. Awesome pay back in the mid 80's for a new hire (he was a truck driver).
When the company shut its doors in 1999 (which incidentally, broke all sorts of laws and the contract they ahd with the union. The only people that made out well were.. shock, the 3 CEO's, who had huge severance packages. Most of the workers heard that the company shut down via the local news) -- he was only making about $17 / hour.
$17 an hour for a trucking job these days is good money for a new hire.
$15 in 1985 money is about $26 in 2005 money.
It's essentially like this the nation across, through just about any industry you might want to check out.
The minimum wage was set at $5.15 in 1997. The buying power of a minimum wage employee is at the lowest it's been in 51 years (maybe more, not positive).
Median 4-person family income HAS been, iirc, keeping ahead of inflation... however, I'd say it's a safe bet that more and more 4-person families have both adults working than in past years. It's said all over that it's more and more common for one, and from my own observations I can say it is.. though I have no real numbers to back that up.
Now that I'm sufficiently pissed off I'm going to go get some beer and play some goddamned video games. Beats bread and circuses. And thankfully since I have to work so much just to pay for food, rent, and a means of transportation, I won't really have time to think about this too much more -- golly gosh that could lead to an angry and dissatisfied proletariat!
True, but there's also salaried employees that work -less- than 40-hour weeks and yet recieve the same pay that they would as if they were hourly and worked 40 hours.
But I'm not arguing with you -- by and by large you're right.
Really, the big thing here is.. any time you here the words "mandatory" and "overtime" within 5 minutes of eachother, grab some Astroglide.
Money completely aside, working 60 hours a week is bullshit. If you figure 8 hours a night for sleep, that leaves 52 hours in the week for you to... eat, shower, and do whatever else you may want to do.
Breakdown is 60 hours on the clock, 56 hours asleep, roughly maybe 14 hours for eating/cleaning, 38 hours for 'you'.
Oh, but then there's travel time to and from work. For me, a half hour each way. And gotta make sure you get there early! 7 more hours gone.
31 hours to do what you please, compared to 60 hours doing what your company wants you to do. And people look at me weird when I bitch about working -- not about WORK, my current job, but simply about working in principle.
Nope I'm hourly.
Still, if I were salaried, I'd probably make as much as I am now. That's the thing.
Though I get your intention -- often, salaried employees DO get shafted with overtime. Sometimes not. Happens with hourly employees too.
OSHA says we can't work more than 66 hours in 1 work week, but if we work 5 days, ending at the split between work weeks, and then 5 days immediately afterwards.. well that's 120 hours straight of working, but since it's technically over 2 work weeks it's OK.
Money aside, everything aside, I think we can all agree.
Overtime is some bunk shit.
The point is, no, only the CEO-salary 'does fine' if they stop working forever.
The regular guy becomes homeless, pulling food and shelter from.. not friends or family as you can't always count on that, and not the government because they don't really help, but from homeless shelters.
As opposed to working a single year as a CEO and living better for the rest of your life than most working-class folks.
Seriously. 7mil over 70 years = 100k a year. Compare that to the guy making 30-50k a year losing his job. WORLD of difference. That's why, succeed or fail, they'll always be OK. They'll always be more comfortable, even if they only work 1 year, than their workers.
Let's say average trench-working yearly earnings are about 50k. Easy number to play with. And CEO would be 7.5 mill. Easy number again.
That CEO is 'worth' 150 such employees to the company.
Of course that 7.5 mill I would wager is simply salary -- not fringe benefits, not payed trips to vacation spots to speak with some obscure CEO of some company in a completely different field that ends with nothing but a tan, no stock options.
So what.
Mr. CEO loses his job. Oh no, he doesn't get to buy 5 new yachts. He doesn't get to pal around with his old money-grubbing friends. He's not as powerful or rich.
Mr. Workingman loses his job.
He fucking starves to death.
You see, in the former, you don't HAVE to work ever again. You only do because you're interested in greater wealth and power.
In the latter, you either work or die.
"Hmm. The department costs too much in overtime, but we can't cut it or work won't get done and people will notice more problems since I took over. I know I'll show how much in Fringe Benefits we are saving by exhausting our current workforce rather than adding more headcount!" ... you must work where I do!
I'm not sure why I put up with 60 hour weeks, when I detest even working 40 hours a week.
I mean, I could be SO MUCH BETTER at video games than I am now.. if not for all that time wasted making money.
"while they maintain that an absolute ban on smacking children is appropriate and use the "you wouldn't smack an adult" argument"
How stupid. Of COURSE I'd smack an adult. The difference being it'd be a close-fisted smack -- a punch, if you will -- while it would be merely a smack for a child. Since they're so much smaller. And cry louder.
Sounds to me like someone needs to smack the NPSCC. Kinda like that whole pie-ing fad that was going on for a while, except in this case, bumrush their speaker and just *smack*. Er. And then run, because that's assault.
I've always felt there should be a "they just had it coming" exception for assault, personally..
"Reform isn't a mental shortcut, its a good idea to encourage correct communication in a language with world-wide significance. If the Anglosphere could promulgate a change in spelling, it will improve commerce and reduce misery for students around the world. It isn't just an American thing, it's a rational thing."
Didn't you get that memo?
This is America, buddy. Our GOAL is to CAUSE misery for not just students, but ALL people, all around the world.
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! Put up with our language, and love it. We're too stubborn and have too much money for you to really do anything about it.
Lots of people speak Chinese? Spanish? Hey, that's great.. lots of *poor* people.
I kid, but that's actually what it boils down to -- it's our language, we're in control, YOU deal with it.
Any attempts to seriously legitimize Spanish as a language in America on more than a local level will meet with dismal failure for that very reason. We don't want to have to learn Spanish. Hey, I tried and I can't. My mind simply doesn't work in a way that allows me to learn languages -- nor can I program. Same issue, I believe -- they're similar. Expressing a particular thought via means aside from my base language. It escapes me.
And frankly, that's not my problem. It's only a problem if I move or travel in non-English speaking countries -- and if I move there, while I'd certainly be glad to meet English speakers, I DEFINATELY would not be so god damned arrogant to expect that, even if I brought my million closest friends, that the culture should adapt to us simply because we are many. Cultural invasion = terrible. Yes, even if it's the Americanization of other cultures (though that more often is a different boat, as while the Mexicanation of America is not always legal, and is being pushed upon the majority, usually the Americanization of other nations is due to the population's desire for things distinctly American, which left unchecked can really kinda wreck up their own culture).
Not exactly.
English is like.. it's like Othello. The game, not the play. A minute to learn, a lifetime to master. You with me?
You can converse very, very easily, and be understood without much difficulty, with very, very bad english.
Basically, if you can get a noun, and a verb, and pronounce them somewhat close to correct -- you can communicate with others!
And if you can spell phonetically in english? You can also be understood! Yes, not clearly -- but enough to communicate.
You can even throw together a poor understanding of the language and poor spelling of the language, and STILL you can be understood.
But, no.. striving to be 100% grammatically correct at all times, never breaking any of the myriad rules and exceptions of the English language? That's a pipe dream. Give it up. I did. I've found that although there are times you will want to be as flawless as possible, generally it's more important to just have a basic grasp of the rules, and a firm grasp of what sounds pleasing to the ear. Sometimes, what is grammatically correct sounds like shit. Truth. And sometimes, a point can be more clearly made by incorrectly constructed sentences.
It's not like you have to learn 360 seperate symbols and their meanings.
And it is true -- it's easy, very easy, to add new words to the language. You can noun verbs, and verb nouns, and turn anything into an adverb or adjective.. and nor must you figure out what gender a new word should be. You just.. spell it. And say it. And thus is a new word born.
Actually... no.
:p
I'm one of the 'fortunate few'. So's my dad.
Actually, in several ways.
I'm immune to poison ivy.
I can't remember the last time I got bit by a mosquito. In the past 4-5 years, I've had less than a half-dozen 'bug bites' in total.. most of those being spiders I assume. It's a different kind of bite.
Though I go trouncing through the woods quite often, and rarely remember any kind of repellant, I've only once ever had a tick touch my skin -- and it was a very, very large one. And it was crawling, not biting. It had at least a full hour in which to find a tasty spot to bite, but never did.
The downside? While I've not yet had the misfortune, my dad, for many years, had fairly corrosive sweat. As in, the inside of his wrist watch's band would become severely pitted after a single year of wear. The outside? Fine. Just the inside was bad.
And my mother, and her father, both couldn't wear wrist watches. The batteries -always- died after a week to a month. Sounds weird, but I've seen it happen at least a dozen times. Buy watch, watch dies, replace battery, battery dies, return+exchange watch, battery dies, replace battery, battery dies.
I use a pocket watch
Sadly, my sister inhereted none of that cool stuff.
Ladies, walk right this way and you will recieve some quite favorable genes. Possibly several times.
Let me play the world's tiniest violin for Big Pharm.
My father recently was prescribed a new drug -- he's got bone cancer. It's not common in the least, though over the past 5 years there have been a ton of advances in treatment (kinda amazing really). That means there's not a ton of research specifically for it (it's not breast cancer or anything right?), and the drugs aren't near as mass-produced (which drops the cost).
This new drug -- at the moment I can't honestly remember if it was chemo, or a steroid, or what -- costs $15,000 for a 1-month supply.
That's USD, too. Not pesos. Work that out. 500 bucks a day. Thank god for insurance, right?
Frankly, I'm not sure about you, but in my mind.. that's kinda retarded. I know there's reasons, but 15 grand? Shit man, 500 bucks of COKE in a day'll kill you.
I've heard "The Office" stank/stinks..
but "Office Space" is truly a work of genius. It's barely even a movie about an office. It's more about the battle with an absolute lack of motivation and work ethic, the pitfalls of trying to scheme your way out of the daily grind.
Also, it's about avoiding federal POUND ME IN THE ASS prison.. which is something we all can identify with.
"Bottom line, free speech doesn't give people the freedom to say "kill XXX". "
Um. Yes it does.
Watch.
KILL WHITEY!
"The "freedom" of a car culture is actually a big myth mostly due to car advertising and not knowing nay better. A good transit system that goes everywhere and is supplemented by taxis is actually much more liberating to get anywhere fast, avoid traffic, not have to park, lends itself to more community and less drive through sprawl, and much healthier for the bits of brief exercise one gets inbetween."
The freedom of a car culture is this.
When I lived in the south, when I got stressed out, or upset by something, I could get into my car.
5 minutes and I would be in the middle of nowhere. Cotton to the left, cotton to the right, and nothing but empty road in front of me. And behind me.
there was a particular interesection of 3 roads that, literally, could have been the least populated place on the planet. This was the meeting point of barely-paved roads that intersected the more 'main' back roads, which themselves were rarely used because they long ago were superceded by highways, and because they extend from an urban area out into the most unimaginably rural areas for hours and hours and hours.
Do that with mass transit. Get to a deserted intersection in the middle of nowhere to watch a sunrise.
I can get in my car, point myself in a direction, and just go. Somewhere. Nowhere. It doesn't matter. There's no timetable, no fare, no stinking bum coughing on my shoulder. i can blare music and scream. i can smoke. i can stop, jump out and check out a frog jumping across the road -- "COME ON KREMIT YOU CAN DO IT!" I can stop and help a turtle out who was injured by a collision with another car. i can steal a log that's sitting in the middle of the road.
if i leave for work late, i can speed to make up for it. i don't have to worry about the bus being slowed by people asking directions, or a half dozen handicapped passangers having to make use of the lift.
i can't take my dog out for a cruise in the country on public transportation.
i can't take public transportation to go hunting.
i can't go shopping and buy more than i can carry in one trip and use public transportation.
i can't transport a couch with public transportation.
and most of all, i can't take public transportation through the local high school cheerleading squad's bikini carwash. MY GOD, MAN!
"Take a look at Australia sometime. It's of comparable size to the US, with even worse population density problems, and is investing large amounts of money in its rail network." .... yes, an extra 2 million square miles is absolutely nothing.
and australia's population density problems are not like america's. australia is more or less a crust of urban areas and a huge empty desert.
in america, our urban areas are pretty spread out.. and by and by large people from one city don't need commute to another city. it's hours away. that's a vacation or a business trip.
and most people going on vacation may not live in the city, anyway. why commute for an hour or two, to get on mass transit, travel for an hour or two, and wind up saving maybe.. an hour or two, BUT you don't have your own car to get around?
retarded.
99% of public transportation in the US is retarded. Check out Philly and Pittsburg's wonderful systems -- that nobody uses, because they're slow and filthy, and are constantly losing money. Somehow that means the rest of the state gets taxed to subsidy them I must have slept through why that makes sense.
there's too many stops. the distances are too great. and if you build a simple 2-point bullet train? everyone will have to commute for a fair amount of time to get to either end of it. and it'll wind up as expensive and as crowded and as cluttered with TSA and checkpoints as the airlines anyway.
Or not?
.. driving your own car.
.. taking the train.
what's faster, driving your own car or taking the bus.
what's faster, driving your own car or taking the train.
now try and commute 20-30 miles to work on a train that stops a few times every mile along the way -- since obviously everyone needs to ride the train. it'd take, oh, i don't know. 3 hours?
mad weaksauce. MAD weaksauce.
Don't forget that smokers are less susceptible to certain.. biological? or was it chemical? mighta been anthrax even!
Icky nasty weapons.
So just think. If we ever get hit with a real nasty terr'rist attack, maybe we'll finally be rid of all these pesky non-smokers. FINALLY I GET TO SMOKE IN A MOVIE THEATER!
Better yet: Replace 'bogus information' with 'goatse.cx'
Nothing like tricking someone into looking at ol' goatse --- except tricking someone into spending millions and millions of dollars to look at ol' goatse.
That would be the Unabomber's Shack
I'm sorry, but Al Gore TRULY IS an idiot. Any and all jokes to be made at his expense, should be.
The man got himself lost in the woods outside DC.
Woods. Outside DC.
You could set an 8-year old loose in the middle of those woods without saying a word and they could find their way out. If you can walk IN A STRAIGHT LINE, it's only a few hours until you'd walk onto a major highway.
And he got lost.
The man can't walk in a straight line.
There's no way anybody should ever listen to anyone who can't even walk in a mostly-straight path through the woods for an hour or two. Come ON.