Then you had better get ready to pay your own way.

Really? Make that comparison then. Do you like it?

But the rest of your spew is populist crap. There is no way to "pick comparable countries" because different policies will lead to different outcomes and the countries become not comparable. Compare U.S. in 1900 with Mexico in 1900. Look at the different policies and practices over the years and make the same comparison in 1950 and 2000. Compare Rhodesia and South Africa in 1979 then compare again in 1990, 2000 and 2010. See what happens when you change policies and practices in order to limit inequality? Compare China in 1970 vs. China in 2010. See what happens when you change policy and practice to instead let accomplishment be its own reward?

Look at U.S. policies and practices in 2000 compared to 1900. The expected outcome by 2100 is not good. It's probably time to get out and let the "occupy WS" find their own way.

Don't like food stamp allowable lists? Forget food stamps then. There should just be a cafeteria where they can get food. Plain sustenance food, and plenty of it. Nobody should go hungry.

And nobody should waste my sustenance. Absolutely there should be a list of allowed goods purchasable with food stamps. And the penalty for repeated violation should be no more food stamps - either as a recipient or as a store. If I'm helping somebody, I get to set the terms.

And there should not be any school vouchers beyond what the non-local gov't would pay anyway. Non-local gov't has no business taking or providing money for school. You use my money? I get a voice. As long as they take my money I will fight just like any rational actor to leverage their action to my intended outcome as much as possible.

Research? Sounds like it is finally getting back to normal after the distortions in the last half of the 20th century. If you pay for it, you can choose it. If YOU don't like what THEY spend THEIR money on, YOU should pay for what YOU like using YOUR money.

If you want to give larger handouts, then you give them. As long as you force me to give them, you have to take what you get.

Maybe we can just send them all to Antarctica until they learn better. All of them, from all over the world. All that bloviating will keep the windmills going even if it doesn't manage to thaw the icecap.

Yes, that's nearly exactly what they believe. Of course they will mostly deny this, but have no explanation for their inability to follow their own claims to this logical conclusion.

They suffer from cognitive defects that man is not an animal that clawed its way to the current pinnacle of evolution and because of that first defect they also fail to understand that man is not all-knowing and all-powerful. This causes them to assume that we know all the answers about what is supposedly right or wrong with the planet, and that everything wrong is caused by and can be fixed by man.

A lot of these mental issues can be directly traced to malnutrition of the brain, caused by denial of the facts that eating meat was crucial for intellectual development and that without eating meat, it is far more expensive or even impossible to get all the nutrients required for a healthy brain.

This. However s/password/passphrase/ and I don't use google docs but similar propagation.

My text file also contains credit card account and phone numbers in case I need to cancel a card, routing and account numbers for if I need to set up direct deposit or other EFT, my kids social security numbers, and other similarly confidential reference information. I've even at times (not currently) kept a regularly needed signing cert in the file as my backup.

I've tried many of the desktop password apps. But I've been doing my text file for about 20 years and nothing else is nearly as useful -- flexible and with ubiquitous availability.

I recommend also to print a copy every now and then, with a date, sealing it up in an envelope or two, and keeping it with important "should I die or be incapacitated" papers (such as your will), replacing and shredding the older version.

Write the date also on the envelope. The dates are so it is easy to tell which is the most recent in case multiple copies are found (e.g. a copy with your lawyer and a copy in the fireproof safe in the basement that is updated more frequently). The envelope(s) are to tell if someone has compromised the passwords so seal it up however makes you comfortable depending on who has access and how often you check (and update).

I was hoping for somebody to say that!

Oh, where are mod points when I need them...

'want' is the source of value or sometimes can even be used synonymous with value.

But that is not an argument against intrinsic value but rather proves intrinsic value. One subset or type of value is intrinsic value.

Intrinsic value is that value or want of something for itself, rather than for its exchange value.

Some people buy gold because they think it is pretty and they like to adorn themselves with it. Some people buy gold because it is a necessary component. Both are examples of the intrinsic value of gold.

Exchange of labor is one purpose.

More generally that purpose is for any exchange in general, thus avoiding problems caused by missing coincidence of wants.

Another purpose is to store value, such as from my labor now to protect myself against a future time when I am unable to labor.

Another purpose is as an aid in accounting, such as in determining the relative value of various labors I might perform, directly useful in determining if I would rather have someone to do a job for me or do it myself. Or in simple bookkeeping, money being one of those revolutionary ideas along with double-entry accounting which revolutionized business record keeping. Both of those are key factors enabling specialization, a certain amount of which is highly beneficial for all of society as well as individuals.

Those three purposes are essentially all concerned with the 'now' uses of money. The fourth is as a standard of value over time, to enable comparison and choice not only between items now but between now and the past or the future.

A little ditty that used to be taught to help children remember the purpose of money: "Money is a matter of functions four: a medium, a measure, a standard, a store." Meaning a medium for the exchange of value, a measure of value, a standard of value, and a store of value.

If only!

When setting up new job direct deposit in 2008 and another in 2012 they BOTH insisted not only on a paper form, but on a voided paper check attached to it! Uh, I use a bill pay service, I don't write my own checks. I don't know if it was HR/payroll department requirement or the payroll processor (don't remember who it was for the 2008 company, but currently it is ADP, talk about stuck in the dark ages...).

I'm just glad that everything else will accept my routing and account numbers without the paper check. For example, on a mortgage refi closing they offered me an annual rebate if I agreed to let them direct draft payments from my account. They wanted a paper check. When I didn't have one, they told me I could wait until the closing was processed and the mortgage showed up on the website, and I could sign up there for automatic payments.

But I am getting heartily sick of having to sign and return paper forms! A few places allow fax, and a very few allow scan and email for anything with legal implications. Where is my legally recognized digital signature???

Hello, 1.5 decades ago was the turn of the 21st century, not the 20th...

On your fanless PC, if you have a keyboard you can probably to bring up a text console. Might be easier than coming via ssh from another system, and works even without a live network. Sometimes also and etc. Note that distro's can and some do disable that text console in favor of X, but most will leave at least one console on F1.

You could also disable X from auto-starting.

I've been trying for over 10 years to get the cable company to hook me up. Right after the Comcast acquisition AT&T pamphletted the neighborhood and solicited pre-orders but didn't ever install.

AT&T traded my area off to CableOne and CableOne wouldn't do it.

I'm less than 400ft by right-of-way from the CableOne pedestal. One other property in between. They won't do it.

CableOne sent me a flyer early last year with an offer to sign up but wouldn't take my order, "please contact our sales office." I did, they said they couldn't do it.

They took my order and my money last fall, then the day before the scheduled install they called and cancelled. They couldn't do it.

I've even offered to run the cable myself if they will hook it up. They won't do it.

Just before Thanksgiving I signed up for 20Mb/s DSL instead.

On Jan 18th I received another flyer in the mail from CableOne wanting me to sign up. Think they'll do it now?

I don't. I won't believe they will run cable 400 feet to hook me up until I see action.

Getting them to run cable thru an entire neighborhood?

Good luck with that.