I drive a lot in Germany, it is a joy to drive there because there are no speed traps, as a consequence people obey the law _more_ because the traffic signs mean something, you see a sign for 100kph then you go 100 because the road or conditions will not allow that speed (god help you if you get a ticket because you really fucked up). In the US most speed signs fall in the "overticket" category, the interstate highways were designed for 75MPH cruising not 55 or 65, an lots of little towns get a large amount to money from tickets from speed traps - the town should just tax approriately to support themselves instead of creating speed traps which, if anything, discourage safety and erode respect for the law.

We are - we are at the tipping point? how do you know? When the economy starts to recover interest rates will go up and so will tax income, the reason we are running a deficit is because people are unemployed, not paying taxes and collecting benefits, the deficit was much smaller before the recesssion even with the bush tax cuts and war spending and it went up because people stopped paying taxes because they didn't have a fucking job and the government had to pay them unemployment - when people get jobs the deficit goes down (as it has been for the past several years! but nobody mentions that) - we are running a smaller deficit now than we did two years ago, this will continue as employment improves - this is standard fucking stuff, but people keep repeating this nonsense about spending, people need to get a clue.

perfectly true - except for the fact that the "family" can borrow money at a rate below inflation and can print money at will - there is no comparison between family finances and a goverment that controls its own money - what a crock of shit

Insightful? - well fuck me, people are idiots -low interest rates mean people _want_ to loan you money, Greece has _high_ interest rates because they are tied to the euro and people are unsure whether they will have enough euros to pay their debt, wheras in the US we have low interest rates because people need a safe place to put their money where they know they will be paid back, if fact rates are so low we pay less servicing our "exploding debt" than we did 10 years ago when nobody cared about the debt - amazing how people commenting about debt and interest rates (like comparing the US goverment to dad with a credit card) are so stupid that they don't understand the basics - yes I said stupid there is no excuse after years of recession.

"Consequently, if you run into a law that infringes on your right to keep or carry arms in any way, shape or form, you've found an unconstitutional law." Are nukes OK? because it would be cool to have one, rocket launchers and grenades are cool too - you are correct about the definition of Militia, in the south every white male of fighting age was meant to be in one - to supress a slave uprising should one arise.

google "second amendment slave revolt" - in any event we had the second amendment, if it was put in place to preserve our freedom against an oppressive goverment how did that work out in the south before 1860? piss poor if you ask me, slavery is as oppressive as it gets and it was only overturned by a fucking army from the north, not a buch of freedum lovers with guns living in Alabama.

I was reading about the history of the 2nd ammendment - what was funny is that the second amendment wasn't put in to prevent a takeover by an oppressive government, it was put in to _preserve_ an oppressive goverment - the slave states wanted the gun provision put in so they could keep their state run militas, which were in place to prevent slave revolts - funny how it has been twisted around.

I think a better business model would be: 1) nudge near earth astroid into collision course with earth 2) submit ransom note 3) profit!

I am sure, yes some businesses do not have patent portfolios to threaten other companies if they entice their employees to work for them, but they do things like collude on pricing - screwing the consumer, buy out competetors so the employees have no other company to work for, or divvy up markets - captialism is great, except when it isn't in their own interest - face it, most large companies are assholes, and the most beautiful thing is when little people stand up for the rights of big companies to be assholes - they got to love that.

+1 - people should be aware that what Jobs did was standard operating procedure for large companies

You are spot on - I don't know if this employer attitude is really a leftover from slavery or not, but it sure feels that the employer is entitled to all the profit and that employee is, in effect property of the employer, even the langage is skewed this way "Joe belongs to Fred" instead of "Joe works in Fred's organization" - in this case it just pisses the employer off that the employee was profiting from a similar realtionship.

Isn't that the rate on credit cards? - I guess the goverment, or private individuals should sue banks for the 14% (or more!) intrerest on credit cards

Just to point out the real isse is not income it is _wealth_ - that is what matters to the rich, the 0.1% own 40% of the nation's wealth, the top 1% owns 60% and the top 10% owns 80% a true progressive system would be set up so your tax bill is based on your wealth, not income - because one huge reason you pay taxes is so that the goverment will protect your property. Put in other terms, I could be a billionare and have _no_ income, but I would still own a significant chunk of the nation's economy.

Where do you get that we have more processing power with an add in than a mammalian brain the number I get is that the human brain is estimated at 100 million MIPS for a 1500 cc brain running at something like 100W - however you slice it (MIPS/cc or MIPS/W) I don't see how a $50 card gets anywhere near the performance of a 1.5 cc mammalian brain estimated at 100000 MIPS

These dangerous fantasies people have about stopping multiple home invaders with their glock or fighing off a government takeover are insane - what is wrong with these people and their delusions? - rarely is any home invason stopped by a firearm, you would think you would read about this in the local paper once in a while - and as for the government takeover, the last thing I would want if I was an insurgent is a firearm, I am a physicist, I could cause more mayhem by going shopping for the right stuff at home depot than I every could with an AK47, having an assault weapon would just out me as an insurgent