Best Buy may not be Shangri La, but in many rural and semi-rural parts of the U.S., it's the nearest and best place to actually find a wide selection of electronics.
You've correctly identified one of the central mysteries of Christian faith. It is impossible to believe that someone who created and manages that large of a system gives a rat's ass what happens to you or me.
no retailer, ANYWHERE, pays sales taxes on purchases you make
That may be true somewhere, but it isn't true in Illinois. Quoting the Illinois Department of Revenue: "Sales tax is a combination of “occupation” taxes that are imposed on sellers’ receipts and “use” taxes that are imposed on amounts paid by purchasers. Sellers owe the occupation tax to the department; they reimburse themselves for this liability by collecting use tax from the buyers."
And, 35 ILCS 120/2 "A tax is imposed upon persons engaged in the business of selling at retail tangible personal property...".
In Illinois, at least, sales tax is quite clearly imposed upon the retailer, and not the retail purchaser. On a related note, when I was running a small business in Illinois I contacted the DOR and asked if I was obliged to collect sales tax from my customers. They advised me that I was under no obligation to collect sales tax, my only obligation was to pay it.
For some strange reason, people have come to think of "God" as some deity's proper name.
Because God wouldn't tell us God's proper name. When Moses asked "What should people call you?", God answered "I AM THAT I AM. Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, `I AM hath sent me unto you.'" (King James, Exodus 3:14)
Since "The Immortal State of Existence" was kind of a long name, and "I am" was awkward to use in conversation, we shortened it to: God.
To foreigners, a Yankee is an American.
To Americans, a Yankee is a Northerner.
To Northerners, a Yankee is from the East.
To Easterners, a Yankee is from New England.
To New Englanders, a Yankee is from Vermont.
And in Vermont, a Yankee is somebody who eats pie for breakfast
Christianity as it's practiced in the USA is a very weird and disturbing mix of fundamentalist religion and politics.
Perhaps that is so, but your further statements weaken your argument by showing your own bias.
After all, you can go into any typical American "evangelical Christian" (aka fundamentalist) church
Repeat after me: evangelism != fundamentalism. There are evangelicals who are not fundamental. And there are fundies who aren't particular evangelical. Evangelism is the process of spreading what you believe. Fundamentalists share a certain set of beliefs. They are not mutually requisite characteristics; neither are they mutually exclusive.
Specifically, I am an evangelical preacher who is decidedly not fundamental. My churches (two) are, I imagine, reasonably typical American evangelical Christian churches.
and they'll preach about how the USA needs to wage wars in various countries,
I have never preached the need to wage war, for or against anything. Period.
how you (the congregation) needs to vote for these particular politicians,
Any preacher, of any stripe, who does this in the US risks losing his church's 501(c)3 status. The IRS takes a dim view of PACs pretending to be churches.
how we need to worship The Invisible Hand, how rich people are better people than the rest of us because God has blessed them with so much money and "success", etc.
For an excellent example of a fundementalist evangelical mega-church pastor who specifically denounces these ideas, read "Radical" by David Platt..
Now obviously, not all Christians in America believe this crap, but the numbers of fundies has actually outgrown the number of "mainstream" Protestants in the USA,
Citation, please. Here, I'll loan you one. According to [something I just found on the Internet], of the five largest denominations in North America, only one, the Southern Baptist Convention, fits your stereotype. The fastest-growing denominations are LDS, Assemblies of God, the Roman Catholic church, and the Orthodox Church in America. None of these fit your image, either.
and they are a very strong political force (esp. since they are so politically involved, unlike most other religions).
The question isn't how politically involved the churches are as corporate entities. The question is how politically involved are the members. The most recent POTUS have been (in reverse order): UCC, UMC, SBC, Episcopalian, PCUSA, SBC, and Quaker. Only SBC comes close to fitting your stereotype, and I doubt you'd describe Bill Clinton or Jimmy Carter as the war-mongering money-loving elitists that so upset you.
Please: 1) don't confuse evangelism with TV-broadcasting, money-loving, success-preaching fundamental evangelicals. 2) Don't believe that fundies control the US religious landscape any more than you should believe that FOX news controls the political landscape, and 3) Don't believe everything you see on TV about Americans, or Christians.
I would say that Star Trek is classic science fiction, while star wars is a space western . . . the action flick rather than an examination of the human condition.
Wow. Star Trek was designed, pitched, and produced as a space western. IIRC, Roddenberry called it "Wagon Train to the stars."
I'd have to exactly and precisely disagree with you -- Star Trek is a space western, Star Wars is classic science fiction.
Okay, I get extortion angle. I get the freedom-of-information angle. I even get the protect-the-community angle.
But why does the website have tags? Who really needs to sort the suspects by hotness? http://florida.arrests.org/tagged.php?flag=Hottie
With these mobile car apps, the phone connects to a server that then sends secret numerical keys to the car in order to authenticate itself,
So the combination is... one, two, three, four, five? That's the stupidest combination I've ever heard in my life! The kind of thing an idiot would have on his luggage!
... That fact that his IP address was the offending IP Address was enough probable clause for an Arrest Warrant.
Not remotely.
But was it sufficient for a search warrant (which seems to be more on point than an arrest warrant)? That is, if the cops have reason to believe that a particular location (without regard to any person) is involved in illegal activity, is that sufficient to search that location? And, can we agree that IP number and ISP DHCP log files provide a reason to believe that a particular location is involved?
Just because it's known to be satire doesn't mean that you're not going to be found to be harming somebody.
Yes, it does mean precisely that. RTFA.
[Section 528.5(a)]:... any person who knowinglly and without consent credibly impersonates another actual person through or on an Internet Web site or by other electronic means for purposes of harming, intimidating, threatening, or defrauding another person is guilty of a public offense...
[Section 528.5(b)]: For purposes of this section, an impersonation is credible if
another person would reasonably believe, or did reasonably believe,
that the defendant was or is the person who was impersonated.
So, no, if it is known to be satire, then you cannot be guilty of this particular offense.
Slashdot Mirror
(Barring something like P=NP that would imply everything in P is NP hard)
That would be cool. I know, let's make a movie about the consequences of P=NP!
I think that the Minivan has joined Wales as effectively an SI unit. link
I see your mistake. You consulted the "List of Unusual Measurements." You should have consulted the "List of Unusual Measurements That Fall From The Sky." Hmm. Still not there, though.
So was Circuit City at one time.
So was Radio Shack. Get off my lawn.
You've correctly identified one of the central mysteries of Christian faith. It is impossible to believe that someone who created and manages that large of a system gives a rat's ass what happens to you or me.
Yet, He does.
Happy Easter.
That may be true somewhere, but it isn't true in Illinois. Quoting the Illinois Department of Revenue: "Sales tax is a combination of “occupation” taxes that are imposed on sellers’ receipts and “use” taxes that are imposed on amounts paid by purchasers. Sellers owe the occupation tax to the department; they reimburse themselves for this liability by collecting use tax from the buyers."
And, 35 ILCS 120/2 "A tax is imposed upon persons engaged in the business of selling at retail tangible personal property ...".
In Illinois, at least, sales tax is quite clearly imposed upon the retailer, and not the retail purchaser. On a related note, when I was running a small business in Illinois I contacted the DOR and asked if I was obliged to collect sales tax from my customers. They advised me that I was under no obligation to collect sales tax, my only obligation was to pay it.
For some strange reason, people have come to think of "God" as some deity's proper name.
Because God wouldn't tell us God's proper name. When Moses asked "What should people call you?", God answered "I AM THAT I AM. Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, `I AM hath sent me unto you.'" (King James, Exodus 3:14)
Since "The Immortal State of Existence" was kind of a long name, and "I am" was awkward to use in conversation, we shortened it to: God.
To foreigners, a Yankee is an American.
To Americans, a Yankee is a Northerner.
To Northerners, a Yankee is from the East.
To Easterners, a Yankee is from New England.
To New Englanders, a Yankee is from Vermont.
And in Vermont, a Yankee is somebody who eats pie for breakfast
From TFA:
From http://www.khanacademy.org/ :
How is Javascript the first language if they are already teaching Python?
If therapy can be done remotely, it can be outsourced.
"Hello, my name is ... Peggy. How are you feeling today?"
Oracle was actually hoping for astronomical numbers. By asking for only stratospheric numbers, they were hoping to appear reasonable by comparison.
The previous President was named George W. Bush. There is no "Jr", because his name differs from his fathers, George H. W. Bush.
Christianity as it's practiced in the USA is a very weird and disturbing mix of fundamentalist religion and politics.
Perhaps that is so, but your further statements weaken your argument by showing your own bias.
After all, you can go into any typical American "evangelical Christian" (aka fundamentalist) church
Repeat after me: evangelism != fundamentalism. There are evangelicals who are not fundamental. And there are fundies who aren't particular evangelical. Evangelism is the process of spreading what you believe. Fundamentalists share a certain set of beliefs. They are not mutually requisite characteristics; neither are they mutually exclusive.
Specifically, I am an evangelical preacher who is decidedly not fundamental. My churches (two) are, I imagine, reasonably typical American evangelical Christian churches.
and they'll preach about how the USA needs to wage wars in various countries,
I have never preached the need to wage war, for or against anything. Period.
how you (the congregation) needs to vote for these particular politicians,
Any preacher, of any stripe, who does this in the US risks losing his church's 501(c)3 status. The IRS takes a dim view of PACs pretending to be churches.
how we need to worship The Invisible Hand, how rich people are better people than the rest of us because God has blessed them with so much money and "success", etc.
For an excellent example of a fundementalist evangelical mega-church pastor who specifically denounces these ideas, read "Radical" by David Platt..
Now obviously, not all Christians in America believe this crap, but the numbers of fundies has actually outgrown the number of "mainstream" Protestants in the USA,
Citation, please. Here, I'll loan you one. According to [something I just found on the Internet], of the five largest denominations in North America, only one, the Southern Baptist Convention, fits your stereotype. The fastest-growing denominations are LDS, Assemblies of God, the Roman Catholic church, and the Orthodox Church in America. None of these fit your image, either.
and they are a very strong political force (esp. since they are so politically involved, unlike most other religions).
The question isn't how politically involved the churches are as corporate entities. The question is how politically involved are the members. The most recent POTUS have been (in reverse order): UCC, UMC, SBC, Episcopalian, PCUSA, SBC, and Quaker. Only SBC comes close to fitting your stereotype, and I doubt you'd describe Bill Clinton or Jimmy Carter as the war-mongering money-loving elitists that so upset you.
Please: 1) don't confuse evangelism with TV-broadcasting, money-loving, success-preaching fundamental evangelicals. 2) Don't believe that fundies control the US religious landscape any more than you should believe that FOX news controls the political landscape, and 3) Don't believe everything you see on TV about Americans, or Christians.
I bid you peace.
No, my first thought was internet over water pipes ...
Been there, done that.
Primes have no patterns, so why not just map sounds/beats to prime numbers?
But what will you use when you run out of primes?
a great way for gals to make a few bucks on the side.
They moved them?
I like roast chicken and prawn curry. I don't feel the need to establish one as superior.
Philistine. It's so clear which one is better, I can't imagine why you refuse to name it. Perhaps you secretly dislike both.
I would say that Star Trek is classic science fiction, while star wars is a space western . . . the action flick rather than an examination of the human condition.
Wow. Star Trek was designed, pitched, and produced as a space western. IIRC, Roddenberry called it "Wagon Train to the stars."
I'd have to exactly and precisely disagree with you -- Star Trek is a space western, Star Wars is classic science fiction.
This is what happens when a tech company gets too big and doesn't know what to focus on.
It seems to me that 3M and Xerox, among other companies, made a decent living releasing pet project after pet project.
Okay, I get extortion angle. I get the freedom-of-information angle. I even get the protect-the-community angle. But why does the website have tags? Who really needs to sort the suspects by hotness? http://florida.arrests.org/tagged.php?flag=Hottie
From TFA:
So the combination is... one, two, three, four, five? That's the stupidest combination I've ever heard in my life! The kind of thing an idiot would have on his luggage!
Why didn't he just use RFC 3514?
... That fact that his IP address was the offending IP Address was enough probable clause for an Arrest Warrant.
Not remotely.
But was it sufficient for a search warrant (which seems to be more on point than an arrest warrant)? That is, if the cops have reason to believe that a particular location (without regard to any person) is involved in illegal activity, is that sufficient to search that location? And, can we agree that IP number and ISP DHCP log files provide a reason to believe that a particular location is involved?
I don't even know what a Java Guido is!
It meant to say "Reactive HOOTERS at State & Main."
Except the Hooters restaurant in Champaign is at the corner of State & Fox.
Just because it's known to be satire doesn't mean that you're not going to be found to be harming somebody.
Yes, it does mean precisely that. RTFA.
[Section 528.5(a)]: ... any person who knowinglly and without consent credibly impersonates another actual person through or on an Internet Web site or by other electronic means for purposes of harming, intimidating, threatening, or defrauding another person is guilty of a public offense ...
[Section 528.5(b)]: For purposes of this section, an impersonation is credible if another person would reasonably believe, or did reasonably believe, that the defendant was or is the person who was impersonated.
So, no, if it is known to be satire, then you cannot be guilty of this particular offense.