People are well aware of the danger of matches, and of the two kinds of matches (safety / traditional) all brands are similar. They aren't well aware of the significantly greater danger of some brands of these toys.
I don't know the detail of the law, but I think you can still buy one of these dangerous toys -- but you'd need to import it yourself, and it needs to be clear that you don't intend to resell it. (The regulations are called "trading standards", they're rules for retailers.) This is how things like cheap Android development boards are imported, since they don't meet the criteria for shielded electronics etc.
Would governments ban hoverboards (or other fun yet somewhat less safe devices, like bicycles) if it was determined there were savings to be made to universal health plans? Does the public good of tax savings/resources outweigh individual choice of risks?
What about universal fire fighting service? Which is probably more relevant, since the BBC article references two fires in two weeks in London due to these devices.
Bicycles are considered healthy, and are slightly subsidised (reduced tax if bought through your employer to use to cycle to work).
People not paying them back is probably a result of the huge increase in tuition fees, and the increased interest rate of the new loans.
My 2004 loan was ~£1k fees per year, plus ~£4k living costs, so £20k in total, at (currently) 0.9% AER. This would be paid back in 30 years assuming a constant salary of just £26000.
A student now, with £9k tuition fees plus the same living costs, would have £52k of debt at 3% AER. They would need a constant salary of £46k to pay it off in 30 years, which is less common.
Plus the government just changed the terms of the newer loans (which is terrible! No bank would be allowed to do this) meaning most students still won't pay it off, but will pay back more of the interest.
Almost right, but the third rail system is mostly south of the river. North of the Thames you will find overhead electric on almost all routes (including commuter routes, London Overground etc).
Unadulterated bullshit. I drove taxis for 3yrs, the oldest one I drove was 5yo, it had 1.2 MILLION kilometres on the clock.
Which country/city were we discussing? Because the only time I've heard a London cab driver say "kilometers" was when he was spouting racist bullshit about Poland.
The maximum age of a black cab in London is 15 years, so they are indeed often the oldest vehicles around. Before 2013, they could have been even older.
I tried some insects, from a company in England that sells them. (Possibly http://www.buggrub.com/ )
Ants tasted particularly bacony. I was a bit disappointed that almost everything we bought was really small and dried -- I'd have liked to try something with a decent amount of meat on it (at least as much meat as a prawn).
It made for a somewhat different dinner party, anyway. It was hosted by a vegan friend, who was vegan for environmental reasons, so felt that insects were OK.
Also, what the BBC does is interesting: they're not allowed to promote any particular brand, so where there's no option but to use an item with a logo (like a battery in an educational program) the logos are covered up with plain stickers.
Product placement has been going on for years. Who remembers I, Robot?
In 2005, there was an invited speaker at university who had a startup which could change the placed product. He played a scene from a soap, then played it again with all the actors t-shirts showing a brand, the logo on the fridge, groceries, etc -- all changed with a little video processing.
This way the production company can use a different sponsor for the DVD release, or the rerun in 10 years time, or whatever, without having to re-shoot the scene.
Broadly, it's - who lives here, and how are they related? - how big is the house, and is it owned or rented? - what is your age, ethnicity, education, origin, religion? - are you healthy, do you have a job and what kind? - how do you travel to work?
They don't ask for income, or any identity numbers.
Knowing how many bathrooms are in the house is useful for planning water usage, and tracking poverty or overcrowding (no / shared bathroom).
That's quite a long paragraph for a good system of consumer protection laws! Although the problem sounds like enforcement.
EU countries tend to have an official regulator (either an industry group or the government). The regulator can handle complaints made to them, or perhaps act without a complaint.
I know the UK best, so I'll give two examples.
"Trading Standards" (local government) will challenge businesses with false measurements, inaccurate ingredients on food etc. This can end in court or jail for a wilful or repeat offender. I think they also ensure the minimum "fit for use" periods are upheld -- a TV should last several years, no matter what the manufacturer's warranty said.
The Advertising Standards Authority (industry body) will decide whether a magazine advert is misleading. The result is the advert won't be printed again, and the company responsible will probably get some bad press.
Personal cars have a high external cost (accidents, pollution, traffic, obesity), and I don't see the correlation with wealth. Countries richer than the USA — including the one I choose to live in — have good public transport.
It's obviously not the only factor, but it is *a* factor.
Western Ukraine is somewhere I'd like to visit. I've only briefly been to Kiev but the country looks beautiful. I've also been to Atlanta. It's a city ruined by traffic. There's a beautiful park near the centre, but it was deserted, perhaps because it's inconvenient to walk to it. The downtown was empty of pedestrians, there didn't seem to be any places to eat or relax. It's a shame. No-one who lived there seemed to realise the city is named after the Atlantic Railroad, and is important because it's at the junction of two major railroads.
I'd pick Kiev over Houston or Atlanta for, say, a 6-month contract. I wouldn't want to live in any of them permanently. (I'm not sure about Seattle.)
In this case the per capita statistic is the wrong one, but it's still useful. It shows that for a American, there's a higher risk of being injured in a road accident — yes, that's because they drive more. But that's because the country is organised around driving more, which means there's little choice but to take that risk.
Given a job offer in the US and another somewhere in Europe, I could choose the one in Europe and face less chance of dying in a road accident.
I don't think hurting London would help anyone. Huge numbers of people are attracted to London, and some then move out and bring skills to the rest of the UK. London is one of the best cities in the world for this.
Start suggesting Leeds instead, and you're competing with every average city of similar size in Europe, and Leeds doesn't stand out.
(I'm an ex-Londoner, and a recent ex-resident of the UK. Most people I meet ask where I'm from, none are interested in the midlands [where I was born], most think London is an attractive place.)
This is done during the day (and the night) -- the high speed means it can fit in-between scheduled services without causing delays. Tracks are inspected either every 7 or 14 days, depending on the route.
That's a joke of a service. Fewer than one train an hour and a huge gap during the day — I'm not surprised hardly anyone uses it. The top speed is 79mph, so presumably (including stops) it's slower or similar to driving. Europeans wouldn't use a service like this, and I think we're often used as a comparison for projects like this.
If they want people to use it, make it at least every 30 minutes (preferably 20), throughout the day. Then you don't need to worry about missing a train, and aren't stuck if plans change.
Posting anon because I work in the industry; remember all of these calls have to be archived (sometimes in perpetuity) and inmates are *really* hard on phones (repairs come out of the profit). Small jails will potentially not be worth bidding at 11 cents a minute as 1 dispatch will eat 6 months revenue.
Regardless of the cost, it's not right to make the prisoners pay it. They don't pay for the guards, food, building, locks, why should they pay for a prison-grade telephone?
If you are in debt for £10,000, the creditor can't refuse repayment if you turn up with a bundle of £20 notes. That cash is legal tender for repaying any debt, so the creditor can't demand a cheque instead, or gold. They must accept cash.
There are exceptions for low-value coins, in the UK. The creditor is allowed to refuse to accept a truckload of 1p coins (1,000,000 coins), or 100,000 10p coins. Creditors must accept low-value coins for debts up to £10 (depending on the coin), but for larger debts can demand £1 or £2 coins (high value coins) or paper money.
Bitcoin is not legal tender in the UK, the same way US dollars aren't. The creditor could choose to accept repayment in either currency, but can't demand it.
Slashdot Mirror
https://git-scm.com/book/en/v2...
Sign Git commits with GPG.
It's not enforced, so you'd need a commit hook or whatever to check commits are signed.
Is the government going to seize matches now?
Matches have been known to start fires, btw.
People are well aware of the danger of matches, and of the two kinds of matches (safety / traditional) all brands are similar. They aren't well aware of the significantly greater danger of some brands of these toys.
I don't know the detail of the law, but I think you can still buy one of these dangerous toys -- but you'd need to import it yourself, and it needs to be clear that you don't intend to resell it. (The regulations are called "trading standards", they're rules for retailers.) This is how things like cheap Android development boards are imported, since they don't meet the criteria for shielded electronics etc.
Would governments ban hoverboards (or other fun yet somewhat less safe devices, like bicycles) if it was determined there were savings to be made to universal health plans? Does the public good of tax savings/resources outweigh individual choice of risks?
What about universal fire fighting service? Which is probably more relevant, since the BBC article references two fires in two weeks in London due to these devices.
Bicycles are considered healthy, and are slightly subsidised (reduced tax if bought through your employer to use to cycle to work).
People not paying them back is probably a result of the huge increase in tuition fees, and the increased interest rate of the new loans.
My 2004 loan was ~£1k fees per year, plus ~£4k living costs, so £20k in total, at (currently) 0.9% AER. This would be paid back in 30 years assuming a constant salary of just £26000.
A student now, with £9k tuition fees plus the same living costs, would have £52k of debt at 3% AER. They would need a constant salary of £46k to pay it off in 30 years, which is less common.
Plus the government just changed the terms of the newer loans (which is terrible! No bank would be allowed to do this) meaning most students still won't pay it off, but will pay back more of the interest.
Almost right, but the third rail system is mostly south of the river. North of the Thames you will find overhead electric on almost all routes (including commuter routes, London Overground etc).
In some sense the government is involved in this case, since the Church of England is the established church of England.
Several bishops sit in the House of Lords, and debate the passing of laws.
I know it's a long shot, but is it possible that the advertising agents lied slightly?
It's also possible the church lied slightly. It's good publicity, no?
And the taxis I see are 15 year[s] old
Unadulterated bullshit. I drove taxis for 3yrs, the oldest one I drove was 5yo, it had 1.2 MILLION kilometres on the clock.
Which country/city were we discussing? Because the only time I've heard a London cab driver say "kilometers" was when he was spouting racist bullshit about Poland.
The maximum age of a black cab in London is 15 years, so they are indeed often the oldest vehicles around. Before 2013, they could have been even older.
I tried some insects, from a company in England that sells them. (Possibly http://www.buggrub.com/ )
Ants tasted particularly bacony. I was a bit disappointed that almost everything we bought was really small and dried -- I'd have liked to try something with a decent amount of meat on it (at least as much meat as a prawn).
It made for a somewhat different dinner party, anyway. It was hosted by a vegan friend, who was vegan for environmental reasons, so felt that insects were OK.
Also, what the BBC does is interesting: they're not allowed to promote any particular brand, so where there's no option but to use an item with a logo (like a battery in an educational program) the logos are covered up with plain stickers.
Product placement has been going on for years. Who remembers I, Robot?
In 2005, there was an invited speaker at university who had a startup which could change the placed product. He played a scene from a soap, then played it again with all the actors t-shirts showing a brand, the logo on the fridge, groceries, etc -- all changed with a little video processing.
This way the production company can use a different sponsor for the DVD release, or the rerun in 10 years time, or whatever, without having to re-shoot the scene.
In the example you give, shouldn't the bank refund the money (they're the ones trusted to keep it) and the bank chase TalkTalk for compensation?
Fixed-line internet and phone, plus IPTV. They are also a virtual mobile operator, I don't think they've got many customers for this.
There are about 27 million households in the UK, so 4 million is a decent portion of the total market.
The UK one is here: http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/guid...
Broadly, it's
- who lives here, and how are they related?
- how big is the house, and is it owned or rented?
- what is your age, ethnicity, education, origin, religion?
- are you healthy, do you have a job and what kind?
- how do you travel to work?
They don't ask for income, or any identity numbers.
Knowing how many bathrooms are in the house is useful for planning water usage, and tracking poverty or overcrowding (no / shared bathroom).
That's quite a long paragraph for a good system of consumer protection laws! Although the problem sounds like enforcement.
EU countries tend to have an official regulator (either an industry group or the government). The regulator can handle complaints made to them, or perhaps act without a complaint.
I know the UK best, so I'll give two examples.
"Trading Standards" (local government) will challenge businesses with false measurements, inaccurate ingredients on food etc. This can end in court or jail for a wilful or repeat offender. I think they also ensure the minimum "fit for use" periods are upheld -- a TV should last several years, no matter what the manufacturer's warranty said.
The Advertising Standards Authority (industry body) will decide whether a magazine advert is misleading. The result is the advert won't be printed again, and the company responsible will probably get some bad press.
https://www.westminster.gov.uk...
https://www.asa.org.uk/About-A...
It's sugar with added pectin.
Personal cars have a high external cost (accidents, pollution, traffic, obesity), and I don't see the correlation with wealth. Countries richer than the USA — including the one I choose to live in — have good public transport.
It's obviously not the only factor, but it is *a* factor.
Western Ukraine is somewhere I'd like to visit. I've only briefly been to Kiev but the country looks beautiful. I've also been to Atlanta. It's a city ruined by traffic. There's a beautiful park near the centre, but it was deserted, perhaps because it's inconvenient to walk to it. The downtown was empty of pedestrians, there didn't seem to be any places to eat or relax. It's a shame. No-one who lived there seemed to realise the city is named after the Atlantic Railroad, and is important because it's at the junction of two major railroads.
I'd pick Kiev over Houston or Atlanta for, say, a 6-month contract. I wouldn't want to live in any of them permanently. (I'm not sure about Seattle.)
$7/gallon would be a decrease in fuel cost in Western Europe.
It's $7.90 in Germany at the moment, the EU average is around $7.60.
In this case the per capita statistic is the wrong one, but it's still useful. It shows that for a American, there's a higher risk of being injured in a road accident — yes, that's because they drive more. But that's because the country is organised around driving more, which means there's little choice but to take that risk.
Given a job offer in the US and another somewhere in Europe, I could choose the one in Europe and face less chance of dying in a road accident.
I don't think hurting London would help anyone. Huge numbers of people are attracted to London, and some then move out and bring skills to the rest of the UK. London is one of the best cities in the world for this.
Start suggesting Leeds instead, and you're competing with every average city of similar size in Europe, and Leeds doesn't stand out.
(I'm an ex-Londoner, and a recent ex-resident of the UK. Most people I meet ask where I'm from, none are interested in the midlands [where I was born], most think London is an attractive place.)
The UK inspects tracks at 200km/h: http://www.railwaygazette.com/...
This is done during the day (and the night) -- the high speed means it can fit in-between scheduled services without causing delays. Tracks are inspected either every 7 or 14 days, depending on the route.
That said, it arguably should not have been built and the money should have been spent in the North instead:
http://www.theguardian.com/new...
That's the problem with the UK: north vs south.
If both projects make economic sense, build both! Crossrail 2 is being planned at the moment. Crossrail 3 is an idea.
I found the schedule: http://riometro.org/rio-metro-...
That's a joke of a service. Fewer than one train an hour and a huge gap during the day — I'm not surprised hardly anyone uses it. The top speed is 79mph, so presumably (including stops) it's slower or similar to driving. Europeans wouldn't use a service like this, and I think we're often used as a comparison for projects like this.
If they want people to use it, make it at least every 30 minutes (preferably 20), throughout the day. Then you don't need to worry about missing a train, and aren't stuck if plans change.
Posting anon because I work in the industry; remember all of these calls have to be archived (sometimes in perpetuity) and inmates are *really* hard on phones (repairs come out of the profit). Small jails will potentially not be worth bidding at 11 cents a minute as 1 dispatch will eat 6 months revenue.
Regardless of the cost, it's not right to make the prisoners pay it. They don't pay for the guards, food, building, locks, why should they pay for a prison-grade telephone?
If you are in debt for £10,000, the creditor can't refuse repayment if you turn up with a bundle of £20 notes. That cash is legal tender for repaying any debt, so the creditor can't demand a cheque instead, or gold. They must accept cash.
There are exceptions for low-value coins, in the UK. The creditor is allowed to refuse to accept a truckload of 1p coins (1,000,000 coins), or 100,000 10p coins. Creditors must accept low-value coins for debts up to £10 (depending on the coin), but for larger debts can demand £1 or £2 coins (high value coins) or paper money.
http://www.royalmint.com/about... (NB £5, £20 and £100 coins are ceremonial).
Bitcoin is not legal tender in the UK, the same way US dollars aren't. The creditor could choose to accept repayment in either currency, but can't demand it.