Yeah, but the 'standing' argument only really works when the judge wants to dismiss a case. Standing is a really nebulous concept, and just like playing the Commerce Clause game, it can be as narrow or wide as the official using it wants it to be.
So they are replacing easily identified and robust mechanical controls with a touchscreen technology that has been falling by the wayside because it is unreliable?
Who wants to bet this is actually a case of some manufacturer having old inventory or excess capacity they need to justify and made some kind of deal to offload these terrible devices by using them in cheap cars.
Next, in 2018 or so, mechanical controls will be the "in" thing only found on nicer cars...
Sadly those gullible people are also to blame for why the red light cameras were attractive as a revenue stream in the first place. If people just sat down and said "hey, we do not like taxes, but that is how services are funded" instead of buying into the "taxes are stealing from me!" BS then such sneaky ways of keeping books in the black would not be necessary in the first place.
I mostly agree with that assessment, except the time part. While it is getting a lot of press latetly, it could be argued that things were actually MUCH worse in the past. Judges have been getting better about sticking to actual law, where as they used to be even worse about 'well of COURSE we did not mean that!'.
America is God's chosen country, and as a chosen people with an exceptional destiny manifested for them, we have more rights than those dirty foreigners. If God had meant them to have the same rights, he would have made them be born here to people who were citizens of european ancestry.
On the other hand, are you (or are other people) ok with being singled out for surveillance, or for that matter, ok with tax money going to such a dragnet?
Something I am trying to track down but so far have found only really long legal texts... do the police require a court order to conduct 24/7 surveillance? Undercover work does not, but the 24/7 stakeout seems to be in a bit of a grey (or at least hard to track down) area.
Without details there are all sorts of possible reasons, including they only 'suspected' he was an undocumented immigrant, or the person was covered under one of the 'not a high priority' cases where if the person is caught doing something else they are worth deporting but simple knowledge of their existence does not justify the cost involved.
One tricky part is that "no one" part. While most audiophiles just parrot what the community says, there are actually people with extra hearing resolution who really can differentiate. They are kinda like the people who can tell from taste what year and location a wine is from, unusual but they exist.
On the other hand, all the people involved in both the revolutionary war and the war of 1812 are long dead, and Americans have a well deserved reputation for short historical memories. For over 200 years the American population has pretty much taken for granted that war is something fought elsewhere and have lived with no serious threat, much less visible scars of, local attacks. Look how freaked out the US got over 9/11. Three buildings, ~4000 people, the US population went crazy. Go to France, Germany, England, pretty much anywhere in Europe and you will find echos of much larger devastation.
Why does this matter? The people in the US have a well deserved reputation for being rather loud mouthed about how tough they would be if they were in other people`s shoes. The horrors of actual local war are just too abstract, too fictional, too "other". Chances are in a real situation like what France faced, overwhelming force completely crushing your military, leveling your cities, and then having to choose between slaughter and fighting something they can not win,... while the idea of fighting to the end might seem romantic, it gets a lot less so when you are actually living with the consequences AND it is happening to your own town.
Or if you want to to be less cynical, that $200M goes back to their economy and thus tax payers, while the $10M is gone. Not quite that simple of course, but a representative`s job is to do what benefits the people they are representing, and "here is a pile of money as long as you invest it back into the local economy" is kinda doing exactly that.
On that scale? Yes. The money involved here (so jobs and supplies) is probably more then a lot of small businesses will go through during their entire existence.
There are some pretty big "if" and "maybe" in there though. SpaceX has made some rather bold projections and claims while not having actually done them yet. Since many of the incumbents made similar predictions when they were new and have since backed off as they built up a track record, the smart (as opposed to idealogical) money is on SpaceX discovering the same problems other did and eventually scaling back to produce something which, while still a step forward, is not the huge leap people hope it will be. The industry on the whole will return to slow incremental improvements with SpaceX simply being another player, which I believe is a good thing but not a game changer.
The only real difference between "protectionism" and "investment" is which side of the windfall you are on.
The French government wants taxpayer money to go to local companies in order to benefit its people and grow local capabilities. This is actually pretty good economic policy and while it does mean a larger budget for a project is needed, it also means that said budget directly benifits the economy rather then enriching another country`s economy at the cost of your own.
It is also possible that since we are closer to mass (as opposed to specialized) demand, more R&D will go into finding new combinations of materials. Plastics are an area where a fairly small amount of tweaking (and a REALLY large search space) in process and ingredients can result in really different capabilities and price points. So that is an area I really could see a significant shift in the near future.
I should note that I am not accusing them of issues, just that it will be interesting to see how these potentially conflicting use cases pan out in reviews.
While a good guide, the interesting question will be, how well does it represent the needs of markets that 3D printers (specifically the 'big names') are expanding into? One thing I found lacking in reviews a few years back was that they came from the perspective of people who were interested in the devices for their own sake, which put certain weights on issues like calibration and tinkering that would be very different from hobby to hobby. This made them great reviews for some segments but less helpful for others. These reviews and discussions tended to mark the 'big brand' (in so far as there are any) devices poorly since ease of use 'ready to go'ness was not a priority while difficulty in tinkering with said devices (which is less of a concern to other hobbies) was a heavily weighted drawback.
There is an opportunity cost here though. 3D printers have been around for decades and have just gone through a massive price drop relative to their capabilities. This will probably continue, but if one has an actual use (even if it is a hobby) and can get something out of having one, well, every year you spend waiting for something better to come along is a year that you are losing out on that capability. Given that human lifespans are pretty damn finite, the tradeoff may or may not be worth it.
Slashdot Mirror
Yeah, but the 'standing' argument only really works when the judge wants to dismiss a case. Standing is a really nebulous concept, and just like playing the Commerce Clause game, it can be as narrow or wide as the official using it wants it to be.
So they are replacing easily identified and robust mechanical controls with a touchscreen technology that has been falling by the wayside because it is unreliable?
Who wants to bet this is actually a case of some manufacturer having old inventory or excess capacity they need to justify and made some kind of deal to offload these terrible devices by using them in cheap cars.
Next, in 2018 or so, mechanical controls will be the "in" thing only found on nicer cars...
Sadly those gullible people are also to blame for why the red light cameras were attractive as a revenue stream in the first place. If people just sat down and said "hey, we do not like taxes, but that is how services are funded" instead of buying into the "taxes are stealing from me!" BS then such sneaky ways of keeping books in the black would not be necessary in the first place.
I mostly agree with that assessment, except the time part. While it is getting a lot of press latetly, it could be argued that things were actually MUCH worse in the past. Judges have been getting better about sticking to actual law, where as they used to be even worse about 'well of COURSE we did not mean that!'.
America is God's chosen country, and as a chosen people with an exceptional destiny manifested for them, we have more rights than those dirty foreigners. If God had meant them to have the same rights, he would have made them be born here to people who were citizens of european ancestry.
I would love to see a judge who ruled US protections do not apply have someone use that logic on them.
On the other hand, are you (or are other people) ok with being singled out for surveillance, or for that matter, ok with tax money going to such a dragnet?
On the other hand, none of this crap would have been necessary if they had simply gotten a court order either.
Something I am trying to track down but so far have found only really long legal texts... do the police require a court order to conduct 24/7 surveillance? Undercover work does not, but the 24/7 stakeout seems to be in a bit of a grey (or at least hard to track down) area.
Without details there are all sorts of possible reasons, including they only 'suspected' he was an undocumented immigrant, or the person was covered under one of the 'not a high priority' cases where if the person is caught doing something else they are worth deporting but simple knowledge of their existence does not justify the cost involved.
One tricky part is that "no one" part. While most audiophiles just parrot what the community says, there are actually people with extra hearing resolution who really can differentiate. They are kinda like the people who can tell from taste what year and location a wine is from, unusual but they exist.
This is relevant how?
On the other hand, all the people involved in both the revolutionary war and the war of 1812 are long dead, and Americans have a well deserved reputation for short historical memories. For over 200 years the American population has pretty much taken for granted that war is something fought elsewhere and have lived with no serious threat, much less visible scars of, local attacks. Look how freaked out the US got over 9/11. Three buildings, ~4000 people, the US population went crazy. Go to France, Germany, England, pretty much anywhere in Europe and you will find echos of much larger devastation.
Why does this matter? The people in the US have a well deserved reputation for being rather loud mouthed about how tough they would be if they were in other people`s shoes. The horrors of actual local war are just too abstract, too fictional, too "other". Chances are in a real situation like what France faced, overwhelming force completely crushing your military, leveling your cities, and then having to choose between slaughter and fighting something they can not win,... while the idea of fighting to the end might seem romantic, it gets a lot less so when you are actually living with the consequences AND it is happening to your own town.
Or if you want to to be less cynical, that $200M goes back to their economy and thus tax payers, while the $10M is gone. Not quite that simple of course, but a representative`s job is to do what benefits the people they are representing, and "here is a pile of money as long as you invest it back into the local economy" is kinda doing exactly that.
On that scale? Yes. The money involved here (so jobs and supplies) is probably more then a lot of small businesses will go through during their entire existence.
There are some pretty big "if" and "maybe" in there though. SpaceX has made some rather bold projections and claims while not having actually done them yet. Since many of the incumbents made similar predictions when they were new and have since backed off as they built up a track record, the smart (as opposed to idealogical) money is on SpaceX discovering the same problems other did and eventually scaling back to produce something which, while still a step forward, is not the huge leap people hope it will be. The industry on the whole will return to slow incremental improvements with SpaceX simply being another player, which I believe is a good thing but not a game changer.
The only real difference between "protectionism" and "investment" is which side of the windfall you are on.
The French government wants taxpayer money to go to local companies in order to benefit its people and grow local capabilities. This is actually pretty good economic policy and while it does mean a larger budget for a project is needed, it also means that said budget directly benifits the economy rather then enriching another country`s economy at the cost of your own.
Every generation is the worst generation. Now if you do not mind me, I have to go patrol my lawn....
(ironic aside, I actually have involved a shotgun and worries about kids on my lawn)
A well thought out post touching on the complexity in dealing with a contentious issue.
What exactly are you doing on slashdot?
Crap, I am out of mod points. Good links.
A wizard did it! No, wait, this is slashdot... ahm.. electric universe!
It is also possible that since we are closer to mass (as opposed to specialized) demand, more R&D will go into finding new combinations of materials. Plastics are an area where a fairly small amount of tweaking (and a REALLY large search space) in process and ingredients can result in really different capabilities and price points. So that is an area I really could see a significant shift in the near future.
I should note that I am not accusing them of issues, just that it will be interesting to see how these potentially conflicting use cases pan out in reviews.
While a good guide, the interesting question will be, how well does it represent the needs of markets that 3D printers (specifically the 'big names') are expanding into? One thing I found lacking in reviews a few years back was that they came from the perspective of people who were interested in the devices for their own sake, which put certain weights on issues like calibration and tinkering that would be very different from hobby to hobby. This made them great reviews for some segments but less helpful for others. These reviews and discussions tended to mark the 'big brand' (in so far as there are any) devices poorly since ease of use 'ready to go'ness was not a priority while difficulty in tinkering with said devices (which is less of a concern to other hobbies) was a heavily weighted drawback.
There is an opportunity cost here though. 3D printers have been around for decades and have just gone through a massive price drop relative to their capabilities. This will probably continue, but if one has an actual use (even if it is a hobby) and can get something out of having one, well, every year you spend waiting for something better to come along is a year that you are losing out on that capability. Given that human lifespans are pretty damn finite, the tradeoff may or may not be worth it.