The easy way would be to have different tax rates depending on the cost and/or type of the good.
An example rate schedule might include:
Groceries: Exempt
$0-50: 2%
$50-100: 4%
$100-1000: 6%
$1000-10000: 10%
Automobile < $30000: 6%
Automobile 30,000-100,000: 10%
Housing: < $200,000: 5%
etc

This is not an endorsement, I don't like the idea of replacing income taxes with consumption taxes, but this is a way to make a progressive consumption tax. The problem is, however, that once someone is wealthy enough, they don't have to buy their goods within your borders. They'll buy the $500,000 yacht somewhere that won't tax them for it.
--
JimFive

I know you're going for funny but I just found out that you can train a goldfish to ring a bell for food.

This is true.

But you can try to figure out why professions that attract women pay less than professions that attract men. Are the professions attractive to women really "worth less" than the ones that attract men or is there a bias in society that leads to the discrepancy?

The data seems to show that there are at least two distinct issues involved in gender wage discrepancies. One being the overall lower value placed on jobs that are primarily held by women while the other is the approximately 7% discrepancy when you "compare apples to apples". You can't address gender wage discrepancies without at least investigating these things. Now, it may be that professions that attract women really are less valuable over all than those that attract men. However, it's possible that women are being actively discouraged from more valuable professions.

Denying the discrepancy is unhelpful.
--
JimFive

In order to rent the vehicle it would have to be registered (have a license plate) and would no longer be able to be sold as new. The real issue with the "test drive" event is that in Iowa only dealers can have unregistered vehicles on the road. I suspect this is true in many/most states.

You might want to check on if they have a "per bag" rate (probably unadvertised). My parents switched after they found out about it and save quite a bit every month.
--
JimFive

The thing that bugs me the most is when the driver in front of me stops at the yield before the roundabout because someone is approaching (not in) the roundabout from the left or just got in the roundabout from the right. The whole point is that you can get on the roundabout AND the person to the left can get on the roundabout at the same time. It's not a one car at a time thing.
--
JimFive

Isn't the entire point of this article, and nutrition research in general, that we don't have a clue what constitutes "a well balanced diet". It's all very cute and snarky to say "eat right and exercise" but when the topic is "What does it mean to eat right?" it isn't a very useful response.
--
JimFive

There is (approximately) the same amount of energy on both sides of the lens (presumably a small loss into the lens itself). If you measure that energy directly off of the lens on both sides there won't be much difference (you can touch both sides of the lens without getting burnt), but because the direction of the energy has changed, the density of the energy at the focal point is higher than at the lens. So, there is more energy per square mm at the focal point, and presumably less energy per square mm in the area around the focused light than in the ambient area unaffected by the lens shadow (I wonder if that is measurable).
--
JimFive

Walkers can stop instantly, Cyclists take a bit longer. In addition, there is a much longer time window for the car and pedestrian to see and avoid each other at a driveway than there is for a car and a cyclist.

Cyclists are, generally, safer on the road than on sidewalks. Drivers see and stop for road traffic, not for sidewalks. By being in the road, a cyclist is where the drivers are looking. In addition, sidewalks have many more crossing intersections than roads do. Every driveway crosses the sidewalk, but none of them cross the road.

It should also be noted that in many places bicycles are forbidden from being ridden on the sidewalks.

The truly important thing is for everyone to follow the rules. Cyclists on the road must stop at stop signs, not pass on the shoulder, signal turns and stops, etc. And the cars around them should treat them respectfully, move over to pass, don't pass and turn, don't honk, etc. Cyclists on the sidewalk are pedestrians and should act as such, ride more slowly, cross in crosswalks, wait for cross signals and traffic, etc. Additionally, cyclists transition from sidewalk to road (pedestrian to vehicle) should do so safely and should not do so for convenience (don't pop up on the sidewalk to avoid traffic and then pop back onto the road).

--
JimFive

Reading your links makes me happy that I don't live in North Carolina.
--
JimFive

You seem to be implying that we can never know anything about diet because each specific case differs from the general case. That seems to be a fairly pessimistic attitude regarding the ability of experimental science to tease out commonalities and processes in human biology.
--
JimFive

You realize that the existence of school lunch standards does not preclude the parent from packing a lunch for their children, right? The school lunch program is not shoving food down the kids' throats. If you want your kid to have whole fat, white milk, then pack it for them.

I do agree that the standards are wrong in places, maybe in lots of places, but the existence of those standards doesn't take away parental choice and responsibility.
--
JimFive

And encourage miscreants to find ways to remotely disable the camera.

I actually agree with your statement, missing camera footage should be treated as destroyed evidence (which, as I understand it, is treated as if it would support the other side). But there is potential for abuse on the other side, also.
--
JimFive

Threading helps, too. It is a huge pain to try to follow a conversation on an unthreaded comment system.
--
JimFive

I agree with this, I would very much like to be able to use a preferred, threaded client with offline capabilities.
--
Jimfive