Wish I had some mods points. That was a perfect reply.

So people of wealth and means will be subject to the horrific process of policing for profit and be able to force change instead of ignoring it because to them the fines are equivalent to their meal that night instead of groceries for a month for a poor person.

Traffic fines are the number one most regressive system we have in the US. Outrageous fines is a huge trap for poor people because while they are generally law abiding citizens they simply can't pay them and get caught in a never ending cycles of fines/suspensions/warrants/etc. Most courts offer no alternatives to paying the fine like community service etc. The best they will do is offer some payment plan through a for profit company.

Of course, you would never see such a system in the US because the poor are the only ones who gain something in that scenario and we all know about how the ruling class feel about them.

If they can figure out all of the other objects I would assume sensing white/red/blue flashing lights and pulling over wouldn't be an issue.

The legal aspect of this is kind of cool when you think about it. If you are being pulled over for a BS reason (lane drift/illegal lane change/following to close/etc) you have a mountain of data to bring to court to refute the claim.

The most interesting thing to me will be the ability to handle a traffic jam situation where the car needs to get to an offramp but no one will honor the signal and let them in which is the case in most metro areas. You *have* to be a jerk to get things done sometimes.

I have adaptive cruise control and a lot of other technologies that projects like this use (lane assist, blind spot warning backup camera/radar etc) and I can honestly say it has made me a much worse/lazy driver. I find myself constantly relying on these solely instead of a check on my natural abilities. This is with me consciously knowing relying on them is a really bad thing.

My anecdote may not apply to all but it certainly concerns me to the point of wanting to not use it. It reminds me of people in Oregon traveling to other states who have no idea how to pump gas because they do it for you by law there.

They work great though and it would be awesome to actually be able to only rely on them but I worry about the hybrid approach because they are merely driving aids at this point and I can see people using them as pseudo automated cars and the long term negatives outweighing the positives.

Pointing out that MJ is relatively safe (from accidental overdose) after decades of propaganda showing it to be a "dangerous" drug and comparing it to other "dangerous" drugs is a pretty important message.

Especially when you drop alcohol underneath the really nasty stuff.

It's making a really valid point. You put alcohol abuse up against MJ and the others for long term health affects you will probably see smoking climb the chart and fight alcohol for top run while MJ stays the same.

Really, it's what happens when you politicize a topic. All of the facts fly out the window and it becomes special interest and ideology.

It's the epitome of Colbert's 'truthiness' about the way he feels in his gut about the facts.

You say that like it's a real thing with alcohol.

The reality is that the needle pretty much swings right or left.

"we are working as fast as we can to re-enable the 207 million phones disabled in last nights vicious attack on 'merica"

It's a good thing bitcoin will be there to show people what the stability of a crypto currency looks like:

http://bitcoincharts.com/chart... .

Yup no one there lost anything, but I guess when the "free market" bends you over it's ok because.....

That was kind of my whole point. Sure a bank could literally say that but they wouldn't because the whole FDIC system is there to prevent the need.

There hasn't really been a banking hack to that scale but I'll bet anything they have mitigation plans in place to make sure it does not affect that confidence I spoke of above.

If one of these exchanges tried to operate openly and got insurance (if they could) then people would be a lot more secure because the insurer would make damn sure they are doing things as close to perfect as possible.

"Jumping out of the frying pan and into the burner" adequately describes your position.

Currency is at its basis is valued in confidence. By that measure bitcoin not very competitive with almost any currency in the world.

My dollar means nothing to me because it can't be counterfeited and/or anonymously transmitted. It matters because when I head to the dealership to buy a car the value doesn't go down by 40% while I am finishing the paperwork, and also because when I go to the bank to withdraw it they *can't* say "sorry we got hacked, follow our twitter feed for updates".

Uhhh, no it's their broad statute that covers fraud:

"419. Any person who by any false pretence, and with intent to defraud, obtains from any other person anything capable of being stolen, or induces any other person to deliver to any person anything capable of being stolen, is guilty of a felony, and is liable to imprisonment for three years.
                                  If the thing is of the value of one thousand naira or upwards, he is liable to imprisonment for seven years.
                                  It is immaterial that the thing is obtained or its delivery is induced through the medium of a contract induced by the false pretence.
                                  The offender cannot be arrested without warrant unless found committing the offence
"

The parent to yours was spot on. The fraud associated with bitcoin et al; is no different than any other really. It's just the globalization of it and the semi-anonymity that makes it ripe for abuse. That's why the whole thing is so silly when people point out the lack or regulations and centralization as a benefit. It's the main neon sign drawback.

Police want to be able to (without warrant or cause) track you, record you, search you, go through your cell phone, and whatever else the fancy at the moment but once there is the slightest attempt at any monitoring or oversight of the police they go apeshit about their rights and their safety.

It's so backwards it's almost a parody of the intent of the constitution and government accountability.

You may be the stupidest registered user I have had to deal with.

Those headlights coming at you at 11PM might be a smoker, drunk person, or drug addict. Pick one.

Fight your tobacco cause you idiot, BTW a lot of really hardcore smokers are ex drug and alcohol users, tell those horrific people they should go back to alcohol and/or drugs because "ewww it stinks".

And someone modded you up? WTF?