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Comment Re:How about? (Score 1) 189

The local big box store has a receptacle for toner cartridges. Hit Best Buy, chuck them in there, call it done, the end.

I had a lot of toner cartridges as well, but no use in keeping them. They are not going to appreciate in value, and as time goes on, that toner cartridge format will be used by fewer printers, so might as well dispose of them properly (and properly isn't the trash can.)

I'd likely waste more $$ on gas packing up and driving to a Best Buy to drop off a single cartridge, than would be saved by recycling.

And as other posters say..what guarantee is it that BB is recycling them in some fashion?

Some things are trash, and crap like this isn't worth my time to drive all over town trying to find a specialized bin to toss it in. I'm not going to keep 3-4 different trash cans taking up limited room in my kitchen to sort shit out, why would I drive all over town to throw out one toner cartridge.

My taxes/fees pay for garbagemen to pick crap up and haul it off. Why not use them for what they are there for?

Comment Re:Taxi licenses are crazy expensive (Score 1) 334

You miss the point, the state is the one guaranteeing the limited monopoly.

When did the State ever guarantee that they would maintain the medallion program and/or refrain from issuing new medallions? Scarcity of medallions is hardly a natural right, and laws instituting artificial scarcity are subject to change. If anyone over-payed for a medallion under the false assumption that the current state of artificial scarcity was guaranteed to last they have no one but themselves to blame. The only compensation owed here is to those who were unjustly prohibited from operating taxis due to the State's medallion requirements.

Comment Re:Efficient allocation of capital (Score 1) 230

If the amount of labor needed to produce one person's worth of goods and services is less than one person's worth of effort, then you are going to have people sitting around doing nothing.

Fortunately, there is no upper bound on "one person's worth of goods and services". If nothing else, leisure time (i.e. sitting around doing nothing, or at least nothing "productive") is a perfectly legitimate good and can expand to absorb any excess. Every time this has happened in the past, however, people managed to find other things to strive for—goods and services which were previously out of their reach, as well as new goods and services which they now have the leisure time to invent.

Comment Re:Hmmm .... (Score 3) 78

The problem is that it gives a false sens of security. Your favorite bank can now fire those two last skilled people and get 10 more dumb indians (note: not all indians are dumb) to piss off shitty code. Just run their "CodePhage magic" and you still have a software full of holes (but a little less than if you didn't run it.)

The problem is just that now that you have fired those two people that knew what they were talking about, you're just clueless about what is going on.

Comment Re:Prime Scalia - "Words no longer having meaning" (Score 1) 591

If you aren't from here, haven't grown up here, live here, then you are talking out of your ass.

The oppression and racism thing ended down here back in the 60's. You just don't see that here anymore and no..the Stars and Bars for my lifetime has not been use or seen as something for oppression. It was a backdrop for a Lynyrd Skynyrd concert, nothing more than that level of southern pride thing.

You speak as an outsider that knows nothing of life down here in the SE USA.

Comment Re:The Majority Still Has Follow the Constitution (Score 5, Insightful) 1083

If they [rights] do not come from God, then they are simply a social construct...

This is where you are wrong. There are formulations of rights which are neither mere social constructs nor based on religion—which is, in the end, just another variety of social construct. My preference is the one based on the legal concept of estoppel, which can be summarized as the logical principle that one cannot rely on incompatible claims within the same argument. For example, one cannot consistently argue that one has the right to act in a certain way toward others while simultaneously claiming that those affected lack the right to reciprocate. Either everyone has the right or no one does. If the right exists then the first party infringed on it and deserves the punishment; if not, then neither the original action nor the response infringes on anyone's rights.

In this case there is the additional complication that "the right to marry" is really referring to a number of different aspects of the law, not simply the right to hold a marriage ceremony and consider oneself married but also power of attorney, visitation rights, joint taxation, common ownership of property, etc. However, the gender of the two parties is irrelevant to all of these legal considerations; there is no reason whatsoever that the law should permit e.g. visitation rights to a couple composed of a male and a female, but deny them to a couple composed of two males or two females.

If certain individuals of a religious persuasion wish to consider homosexuality a sin, fine. They don't have to practice it themselves, or even associate with those who do. But there is certainly nothing in the Bible which would require anyone to deny that the relationship exists, or to refuse such couples equal rights under the law. This ruling is about the law, not religion.

Comment Re:Prime Scalia - "Words no longer having meaning" (Score 2) 591

The Confederacy flag always was a horrible symbol of oppression. People just got a little reminder of just what it actually stands for. I guess some of them don't like the real face of the Confederacy [cnn.com] so much.

As someone that has grown up in the south and is more than a few years old...no, that is not the case.

This uproar and associated meanings with the Rebel Battle Flag is a recent occurrence. I grew up with it and it was never that way....it was a backdrop for a Lynyrd Skynryd concert, or the top of the General Lee. Harmless symbols of southern pride.

All this because one jackass that killed a bunch of innocent people had a picture of him holding a small version of it. Sad...but these days, it takes so very little to have the social media addicts jump on the bandwagon of the month....

Comment Re:Prime Scalia - "Words no longer having meaning" (Score 2) 591

It has always been a horrible symbol of racism, oppression and hate. What surprises me is there are still people pretending it not.

I don't know where you are from, but it has never been that in my life, nor the people I've known and grown up with all my life.

It has never been thought of or used in a racist or threatening manner growing up in the south in my experience.

It was just a common symbol of living in the south, southern pride...a backdrop at a Lynyrd Skynyrd concert...the top of the General Lee.

None of those things are racist or hateful....

I think this uproar is just caused mostly by one sad picture of that jackass that killed those innocent church goers and had one picture I"ve seen of him holding a small Rebel Battle Flag....but now it is being fanned by the 24/7 news channels (coincidentally all based in the northeast) that have to have something new to churn up the viewers, and it is the "next" bandwagon for the social medial addicted millenials to jump on board with as the next cause for some form of 'justice".

What's next? Do we mow down all symbols of the civil war? Anything confederate history related? Anything slave related?

Do we mow down the French Quarter in New Orleans? I mean, a LOT of slaves were bought, sold and owned there. What about the Thomas Jefferson? He was quite the slave owner...should we burn down Monticello? Raze the Jefferson memorial in DC? Change the money?

Where does it stop?

This rebel flag being a symbol of oppression, racism or hate is a VERY RECENT thing....if you think otherwise, you are not a very old person and have not grown up with the experience of it and knowing it of the past 50+ years.

Comment Re:Those evil enemy oppressors (Score 4, Interesting) 818

...the fact of the matter is that the Confederate Flag now represents racism to the vast majority of people.

Majority?

I hardly think so...just an overly vocal minority of folks jumping on a bandwagon.

Until a few days ago, when that jackass gunned down those innocent people in that church and later was pictured in one picture holding a small rebel flag, I would posit that the Rebel Battle Flag, the Stars and Bars meant very little to most people if at all.

But thanks to 24/7 news that just HAS to have something to churn the viewers (coincidentally enough all based in the northeast of the US), and them rallying all the social media addicted millennials that are just aching for the next cause of the day to jump on board with (only to be forgotten till the next fury to be raised over some sort of "justice")....the poor flag is being run roughshod over.

I've grown up all my life with the Rebel Battle Flag in my life and experience. It wasn't that big of a deal actually, but just something so everyday, that you saw it and didn't think twice about any hidden meaning. It was southern pride, or just a symbol of the south, a backdrop at a Lynyrd Skynyrd concert, or the top of the General Lee from the Dukes of Hazard (granted a silly show, but just shows how innocuous the flag symbol is). No one I'd ever known had any objections to it, nor had thought of it our used it in any manner that was threatening or hostile to blacks or other races or creeds. Hell, I'd never heard black friends object to it...just was an every day symbol of the south, nothing more nothing less.

But now...it is the topic of the day, and think what you may of it...the larger problem is that this thing is growing even further in what almost seems to be an attempt to rewrite or obliterate history.

This is spreading even in New Orleans, to threaten centuries old monuments....Lee Circle...and other long time landmarks named after confederate southern military heroes of their time, are being threatened to be torn down. None of these has ever been thought of by anyone as racist or threatening to anyone, yet in the rush to throw out the baby with the bathwater, historic landmarks are being threatened.

Ok...where do we stop?

Should we mow down the entire French Quarter? After all a LOT of slaves were bought and sold and used there.

How about all the monuments to Jefferson in D.C.? He was a notorious slave owner...should we burn down Monticello? Raze the Jefferson Memorial? Change the money?

Seriously....there is no need to try to obliterate historic monuments and figures. Everyone and every time has to be judged by the merits of that time. History if though of always in modern thoughts...well, stands to be erased.

History, helps us to understand ourselves and where we came from. Good, heroic folks had faults, but you don't destroy them because of those faults, keep them for the good things about them.

Being a southerner, proud of your heritage doesn't also make one a racist. You can be proud of one and enjoy the symbols and history as part of your culture while trying to forge new ways of thinking and tolerance.

They are not mutually exclusive concepts.

If people were to hold their breaths on this for 2 weeks.....it would all blow over and be forgotten. Hard to take a "majority of folks thinking this way" seriously, when it has just happened overnight practically, and will be forgotten about in a couple weeks....but the damage to history will last much longer.

Step back and take a breathe folks.

Comment More spectrum? (Score 1) 152

Perhaps the FCC should allocate more license-free spectrum for this purpose? 2.4GHz was only available because it happened to be shared by microwave ovens, which made the band less usable due to all the interference. How about finding a few more slices of bandwidth to allocate now that everyone is using it? Preferably under 3GHz due to its better penetrative properties.

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