Deaths versus shootings...are you really that stupid as to not be able to tell the difference?
I'm not sure what you're on about with that question. You said 4,000 people/year die from being accidentally shot by children. Those would be shooting deaths. What is the difference you're talking about?
The very first link returned by your Google search says that almost 3,800 people died from unintentional shooting deaths in the six years from 2005 through 2010. That's about 633 per year. So no, 4,000 or so people in the US do not die every year because they're accidentally shot by children.
Most of the people accidentally shot by children are other children. According to this report, 98 kids under 18 died from accidental shootings in 2010, and 85% of them (83) were shot by other children.
the people who buy it generally buy it because the bundle costs less with cable than it does without, or they are dumbasses who dont realize how to watch their shows online.
People who watch all of their shows online are a tiny fraction of viewers in total, and people who don't share your attitudes in this regard aren't "dumbasses"; they just have different preferences and priorities than you have.
who gives a f*k? cable television is something noone cares about... and anyone who does is a dumbass... this is the age of the internet.
This, of course, is hyperbolic nonsense, as reflected by the numbers. As of 2012, the top ten cable tv providers in the US had a total of over 59 million subscribers. Perhaps someday no one will give a "f*k" about cable tv, but today is not that day.
In all likelihood, except for a very limited number of military-grade equipment (and sometmes even then) the widgets are probably made on the same assembly line in China.
Apparently, you have no familiarity with Federal Acquisition Regulations, and just like to make stuff up that will make all the equally uninformed folks here nod their heads wisely.
It was only after they had stopped the vehicle and actually questioned the guy that gave them further reasonable suspicion to search his vehicle, and find that he was guilty of another crime.
Well, actually the police said they smelled marijuana as they were approaching the vehicle, so they had reasonable suspicion before they even talked to the driver.
But why will they get new customers when they have actual competition who have lower prices? Ie, Hulu or Amazon or itunes?
Hulu Plus is $8/month, and has advertising. Sorry; ads I can get on cable. Amazon Prime is $79/year ($6.67/month), but recent tv shows and movies aren't free ($2 to $3 per episode). Amazon has less content than Netflix (by a factor of about 2), but has more, recent TV shows. As far as "more movies than are watchable in one lifetime" -- it isn't the quantity, it's whether they have what you want to see. I like foreign movies and TV shows, and the selection on Netflix is pretty good; I don't really know how Amazon is in this regard, but the unsubstantiated rumor is, not so great. As for iTunes, I have no insight.
There are various state and federal mandated benefits that must be provided to workers who work 35+ hours a week
The only federally mandated benefits I'm aware of, aside from the impending ACA regulations, are social security, medicare, COBRA, unemployment insurance, and workers compensation insurance and those have nothing to do with the number of hours worked. Some states require disability insurance, and that is not dependent on hours worked. Of course, the only ones that cost the employee nothing are workers comp and unemployment. The astute reader may have noticed that none of these benefits actually do anything for the employee until the employee either retires, loses his job, gets injured, or works past Social Security "full retirement" age.
The federal government does not require employers to provide vacation time, holidays, sick time, or any other form of paid leave regardless of the number of hours worked. The only federally mandated leave is Family and Medical Leave, which is unpaid.
On the other hand, there are long-standing requirements for health care benefits, ACA aside. Basically, this means that if an employer chooses to offer health insurance, that insurance must cover certain specific conditions. But until the ACA employer mandate takes effect, employers are not required to offer insurance at all, and if they do offer insurance, they can make up any eligibility rules they want, including minimum hours/week.
Many posters seem to have missed the part of the story that said the rate increase applies to new customers only. I suppose that some existing Netflix subscribers may quit as a result of this based on general principles or a feeling that existing subscribers will eventually feel the bite, but this is not the same sort of general price increase that caused people to drop the service in droves last time around. Personally, I don't much care either way; I like the service, and $2.00 a month is 'way below the noise floor.
If you're going to quit, you must be an existing customer, which means you won't see a rate increase. Are you going to quit as a statement of principle?
A game in which the spectators are able to scream at the top of their lungs, throw cups of beer at the officials, blast air horns, toot vuvuzelas, and/or wave fun noodles while the contestants are trying to concentrate on scoring points. Golf, tennis, and bowling are examples of competitive games that could be considered sports if one or more of these elements were present.
So are values such an interest paid to the bank, and income from stocks not pre-filled?
Nope. You get the blank forms from the government, W-2 (employer statements containing income and withholding numbers), and statements from banks and investment firms. Employers and banks and such are required by law to deliver the tax statements by the end of January each year, but it's not uncommon for financial institutions to be significantly late (this is a popular reason for the filing of extensions). Lots of opportunities for transpositions and transcription errors as you manually copy numbers from one form to another. Must be really fun for people who suffer from dyslexia.
I've been filing my taxes electronically for years, and quite frankly, I can't remember whether the IRS and California Franchise Tax Board are even sending me the instruction booklets and blank forms any more (which would be fine, as they would just go directly into the trash).
Who said anything about an ideal "free" society?. Society is not based upon the idea of depriving people of their rights, but it is at least partially based upon discouraging behavior that works against the goals of society. You seem to have "rights" and "human behavior" a little confused. I'm pretty sure there has never been a Constitutionally or statutorily guaranteed right in the USA for average citizens to commit murder.
strict Constitutionalists in the U.S. believe the Constitution brooks no amending, somehow it was born of immaculate conception and henceforth shall remain ever as is until fossilized.
No. Strict Constitutionalists don't have any problem with amending the Constitution by the Constitutionally established processes. They do, however, have a problem with ignoring the Constitution.
It always amuses me when people who raged against depriving one class of people of their rights (see Proposition 8), are so eager to deprive another class of people of their rights. And please -- resist the temptation to go off on an off-topic rant about human rights. I voted against Prop 8.
If you're getting refunds, you have too much withheld, and are giving the government an interest-free loan.
$500 refund means an average "loan" of $250 for the year. At today's interest rates, that means I lose about $2.00 over the course of the year. Kind of gets lost in the noise when your total taxes exceed $20K.
Better that taxes cause a little pain. It reminds me once a year how screwed up our tax system is. If they make it too easy, people will forget about how much is being skimmed off their paychecks.
I'd mod you up if I hadn't already commented. Turbo Tax makes the process pretty painless, but looking at that "total taxes paid" figure is always an eye-opener.
so you never get tempted to spend the government's money.
You know, I really don't object to having to pay taxes, but I have never considered it to be "the government's money", because they wouldn't get any of it unless I worked hard to have it available for them in the first place. The annual tax-filing fiesta is really the only time I get a meaningful look at how much I pay for the government services I receive. Well, mostly the government services received by those less fortunate than me, but that's OK; I'd rather be paying for services I don't use than be dependent on those services. I'd rather go through the filing process and be aware of the total bill, than to have it done automatically and be blissfully unaware. Looking at the deductions on my paycheck just don't have the same impact as crunching the numbers and looking at the annual total.
I figured my taxes manually and filed via snail mail for many, years. Then one year I had a dyslexic moment and entered the amount for excess social security withholding on the wrong line (I think it was the line for Railroad Retirement?). The chaos that ensued and the degree of difficulty involved in assuring the IRS that I wasn't trying to cheat, convinced me that it was worth the small cost of Turbo Tax to make sure it never happened again. For the past 5 years I've e-filed and received both Fed and State refunds in February.
the Republicans only too willing to attribute it to the the Evil Obama
This little gem is in Section 14219 of the "Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008". You may recall that the Democrats controlled both the House and the Senate back then. So maybe attributing it to the Evil Obama isn't that far off the mark.
And yet, some sci-fi authors have shown amazing technology foresight. In the dystopian novel "Shockwave Rider" (1975), John Brunner coined the term "worm" to describe a malicious program that propagates itself through a computer network. And though he failed to predict the smartphone, his protagonist uses public phone terminals to hack government computer systems and create new identities for himself. Really, a remarkable book.
Slashdot Mirror
Deaths versus shootings...are you really that stupid as to not be able to tell the difference?
I'm not sure what you're on about with that question. You said 4,000 people/year die from being accidentally shot by children. Those would be shooting deaths. What is the difference you're talking about?
The very first link returned by your Google search says that almost 3,800 people died from unintentional shooting deaths in the six years from 2005 through 2010. That's about 633 per year. So no, 4,000 or so people in the US do not die every year because they're accidentally shot by children.
Most of the people accidentally shot by children are other children. According to this report, 98 kids under 18 died from accidental shootings in 2010, and 85% of them (83) were shot by other children.
the people who buy it generally buy it because the bundle costs less with cable than it does without, or they are dumbasses who dont realize how to watch their shows online.
People who watch all of their shows online are a tiny fraction of viewers in total, and people who don't share your attitudes in this regard aren't "dumbasses"; they just have different preferences and priorities than you have.
who gives a f*k? cable television is something noone cares about... and anyone who does is a dumbass... this is the age of the internet.
This, of course, is hyperbolic nonsense, as reflected by the numbers. As of 2012, the top ten cable tv providers in the US had a total of over 59 million subscribers. Perhaps someday no one will give a "f*k" about cable tv, but today is not that day.
In all likelihood, except for a very limited number of military-grade equipment (and sometmes even then) the widgets are probably made on the same assembly line in China.
Apparently, you have no familiarity with Federal Acquisition Regulations, and just like to make stuff up that will make all the equally uninformed folks here nod their heads wisely.
Dr. Sheldon Cooper is sufficiently successful that we can laugh at him for being crazy.
He isn't crazy; his mother had him tested, remember?
Here are some cereals that should be OK for a Paleo diet.
A big source of my aversion is that they are actors pretending to be geeks.
OMFG! A television show wherein actors pretend to be something they aren't in real life? How did we come to this deplorable state?
Obligatory Oatmeal
Pre-Snowden this would be called a conspiracy theory, now it actually sounds fairly reasonable.
Heh. No, it actually still sounds like a conspiracy theory.
It was only after they had stopped the vehicle and actually questioned the guy that gave them further reasonable suspicion to search his vehicle, and find that he was guilty of another crime.
Well, actually the police said they smelled marijuana as they were approaching the vehicle, so they had reasonable suspicion before they even talked to the driver.
But why will they get new customers when they have actual competition who have lower prices? Ie, Hulu or Amazon or itunes?
Hulu Plus is $8/month, and has advertising. Sorry; ads I can get on cable. Amazon Prime is $79/year ($6.67/month), but recent tv shows and movies aren't free ($2 to $3 per episode). Amazon has less content than Netflix (by a factor of about 2), but has more, recent TV shows. As far as "more movies than are watchable in one lifetime" -- it isn't the quantity, it's whether they have what you want to see. I like foreign movies and TV shows, and the selection on Netflix is pretty good; I don't really know how Amazon is in this regard, but the unsubstantiated rumor is, not so great. As for iTunes, I have no insight.
There are various state and federal mandated benefits that must be provided to workers who work 35+ hours a week
The only federally mandated benefits I'm aware of, aside from the impending ACA regulations, are social security, medicare, COBRA, unemployment insurance, and workers compensation insurance and those have nothing to do with the number of hours worked. Some states require disability insurance, and that is not dependent on hours worked. Of course, the only ones that cost the employee nothing are workers comp and unemployment. The astute reader may have noticed that none of these benefits actually do anything for the employee until the employee either retires, loses his job, gets injured, or works past Social Security "full retirement" age.
The federal government does not require employers to provide vacation time, holidays, sick time, or any other form of paid leave regardless of the number of hours worked. The only federally mandated leave is Family and Medical Leave, which is unpaid.
On the other hand, there are long-standing requirements for health care benefits, ACA aside. Basically, this means that if an employer chooses to offer health insurance, that insurance must cover certain specific conditions. But until the ACA employer mandate takes effect, employers are not required to offer insurance at all, and if they do offer insurance, they can make up any eligibility rules they want, including minimum hours/week.
Many posters seem to have missed the part of the story that said the rate increase applies to new customers only. I suppose that some existing Netflix subscribers may quit as a result of this based on general principles or a feeling that existing subscribers will eventually feel the bite, but this is not the same sort of general price increase that caused people to drop the service in droves last time around. Personally, I don't much care either way; I like the service, and $2.00 a month is 'way below the noise floor.
I'll be in the first wave myself.
If you're going to quit, you must be an existing customer, which means you won't see a rate increase. Are you going to quit as a statement of principle?
Dang it, I forgot the <sarcasm> tag again.
whats your definition of a sport?
A game in which the spectators are able to scream at the top of their lungs, throw cups of beer at the officials, blast air horns, toot vuvuzelas, and/or wave fun noodles while the contestants are trying to concentrate on scoring points. Golf, tennis, and bowling are examples of competitive games that could be considered sports if one or more of these elements were present.
So are values such an interest paid to the bank, and income from stocks not pre-filled?
Nope. You get the blank forms from the government, W-2 (employer statements containing income and withholding numbers), and statements from banks and investment firms. Employers and banks and such are required by law to deliver the tax statements by the end of January each year, but it's not uncommon for financial institutions to be significantly late (this is a popular reason for the filing of extensions). Lots of opportunities for transpositions and transcription errors as you manually copy numbers from one form to another. Must be really fun for people who suffer from dyslexia.
I've been filing my taxes electronically for years, and quite frankly, I can't remember whether the IRS and California Franchise Tax Board are even sending me the instruction booklets and blank forms any more (which would be fine, as they would just go directly into the trash).
Who said anything about an ideal "free" society?. Society is not based upon the idea of depriving people of their rights, but it is at least partially based upon discouraging behavior that works against the goals of society. You seem to have "rights" and "human behavior" a little confused. I'm pretty sure there has never been a Constitutionally or statutorily guaranteed right in the USA for average citizens to commit murder.
strict Constitutionalists in the U.S. believe the Constitution brooks no amending, somehow it was born of immaculate conception and henceforth shall remain ever as is until fossilized.
No. Strict Constitutionalists don't have any problem with amending the Constitution by the Constitutionally established processes. They do, however, have a problem with ignoring the Constitution.
It always amuses me when people who raged against depriving one class of people of their rights (see Proposition 8), are so eager to deprive another class of people of their rights. And please -- resist the temptation to go off on an off-topic rant about human rights. I voted against Prop 8.
If you're getting refunds, you have too much withheld, and are giving the government an interest-free loan.
$500 refund means an average "loan" of $250 for the year. At today's interest rates, that means I lose about $2.00 over the course of the year. Kind of gets lost in the noise when your total taxes exceed $20K.
Better that taxes cause a little pain. It reminds me once a year how screwed up our tax system is. If they make it too easy, people will forget about how much is being skimmed off their paychecks.
I'd mod you up if I hadn't already commented. Turbo Tax makes the process pretty painless, but looking at that "total taxes paid" figure is always an eye-opener.
so you never get tempted to spend the government's money.
You know, I really don't object to having to pay taxes, but I have never considered it to be "the government's money", because they wouldn't get any of it unless I worked hard to have it available for them in the first place. The annual tax-filing fiesta is really the only time I get a meaningful look at how much I pay for the government services I receive. Well, mostly the government services received by those less fortunate than me, but that's OK; I'd rather be paying for services I don't use than be dependent on those services. I'd rather go through the filing process and be aware of the total bill, than to have it done automatically and be blissfully unaware. Looking at the deductions on my paycheck just don't have the same impact as crunching the numbers and looking at the annual total.
I figured my taxes manually and filed via snail mail for many, years. Then one year I had a dyslexic moment and entered the amount for excess social security withholding on the wrong line (I think it was the line for Railroad Retirement?). The chaos that ensued and the degree of difficulty involved in assuring the IRS that I wasn't trying to cheat, convinced me that it was worth the small cost of Turbo Tax to make sure it never happened again. For the past 5 years I've e-filed and received both Fed and State refunds in February.
the Republicans only too willing to attribute it to the the Evil Obama
This little gem is in Section 14219 of the "Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008". You may recall that the Democrats controlled both the House and the Senate back then. So maybe attributing it to the Evil Obama isn't that far off the mark.
And yet, some sci-fi authors have shown amazing technology foresight. In the dystopian novel "Shockwave Rider" (1975), John Brunner coined the term "worm" to describe a malicious program that propagates itself through a computer network. And though he failed to predict the smartphone, his protagonist uses public phone terminals to hack government computer systems and create new identities for himself. Really, a remarkable book.