I don't see why Taxi companies don't arrange with Uber and Lyft to do their dispatching anyway. The Taxi company could then dump the bulk of their office staff needed to answer the phone and dispatch cabs, then arrange with the online service for a volume discount...

Where I live, if you get paid to drive over public roads, it requires a commercial driver's license. CDL's require you to pass additional testing and medical evaluations which are not required for your average private driver. Taxi services also must be licensed and are regulated by both the state and federal laws.

My understanding of Uber and Lyft are that they allow private citizens to arrange for ride "sharing" with other private individuals. Where nothing prevents such drivers from being properly licensed for getting paid, or for Taxi companies from using the online services to find customers, that's not the point and you are likely to end up with just some plain Joe out driving for some spare change on their free time in his private vehicle.

Personally I HAVE a class B CDL with passenger endorsements because I used to drive busses so I know something about what the rules are. Uber and Lyft make no attempt to validate that the law is followed (unless they've started requiring CDL's from their drivers since last time I checked), they don't require CDL's, they don't require medical certificates, nothing. They don't enforce the rules about how long you can be on duty, or how much rest a driver is required to have. So tell me again how they protect you?

Oh that's right, they know where the money came from and where it went after they take their cut... Which *might* be of some use AFTER a crime takes place, but it's not going to protect your safety like all the CDL rules are designed too... So I suppose there is a minor deterrent to crime, but somehow I doubt that it's going to be of much help for anything else.

Look, why are you complaining about being "strong armed" by the USA? You didn't like their tactics? They where playing fast pitch hard ball and you wanted to play slow pitch softball?

IF you wish to play ball on the intelligence front, play ball. If you don't like how the USA plays, don't play with them. If you don't like the rules used by the USA, you don't have to play with them, just start your own game.

After all, it's not as if you where being threatened with violations of your sovereignty. The USA wasn't going to invade your country and just take anything and everything they wanted. They where not even threatening you with anything but withholding information.

My advice to Germany (and any other country who is in on this game) is to step up your game. Develop your own intelligence assets, do your own home work, don't be dependent on the USA for your intelligence. Put yourself into a better position so you can tell the USA to take a hike if you like. Until then, stop complaining about feeling pressured to play the game by somebody else's rules.

Yes, but this guy/gal claims to have *purchased* software and development stuff is usually free, or part of a development kit that you buy as part of your support agreements. Licensing costs are not an issue...

I feel "prompt neutron blue" all over after that day at work...

You bought a Windows LAPTOP to run database software???? Please tell me this is for a portable development and test environment and not for actually doing something?

Also, why bother with the big named SQL database offerings on a laptop? It's got to be insanely expensive to have all three of those licensed for all your cores on a laptop. Why not just use a cheaper stand in like MySQL or something that's free? Unless of course you are just doing development work and your production environment requires all these vendors.... In which case, you need to be working on getting rid of one or two of these products...

Or really good copy protection and a small customer base who doesn't mind paying you.

How American of you. I can tell you that in some countries, standing on the street corner and hailing a cab is just plain STUPID. You ALWAYS call or use a designated dispatcher. You may feel safe just finding a cab on the street here in the USA, but be careful when you leave here.

Uber/Lyft are perhaps a bit safer concerning the people involved, but there ARE risks. Drivers are NOT trained or licensed, equipment is NOT inspected and you don't know if that driver that picks you up isn't some serial killer looking for the next victim, just drank a 5th, or just is out looking for a few bucks. You don't know if you will be lost for the next hour or if the driver has slept in the last 24 hours. Not that Taxi services have the best equipment or hire the cleanest drivers, but they do at least care enough to meet the regulations and keep things reasonably safe and orderly.

Forcing people to vote in a FREE country? Um, not showing up to the polls is effectively saying "NONE OF THE ABOVE" and/or "I DON'T CARE" which is an opinion which we should be free to express. You can't force people to vote. That's nuts.

What we need are TERM LIMITS.

I suggest 12 years in elected Federal office (House, Senate, or combination of both) be the maximum any one person can serve in Congress. Of course a person could still run for president or serve in appointed positions beyond that.

Yes, this would take a constitutional amendment.... But it fixes the incumbent money advantage by forcing turnover, which also disrupts the possible corruption and influence peddling.

What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger eh?

Is that a lifetime of work or the last job of your lifetime? I got to know before I take the job, It matters to me...

No no.. You mean "Windows phone".....

I purchased mine on purpose. I also purchased my wife's I-Phone on purpose too... So there ARE people out there that know what they are buying....

Now, if you really intended to say "Windows Phone" I might be inclined to agree with you, but they are so horrible, I don't see anybody mistaking them for an I-Phone, much less a "smart" phone.

On that we fully agree... Locks only keep honest people honest, in all their various forms.

Seriously, I KNOW that "SCO Unix" was a licensed product. I actually used this platform at 3 past employers and we spent a lot of cash paying SCO for the right to install and use it in literally thousands of locations world wide.

All this "We own UNIX and you owe us for running Linux" stuff was bunk, but they did have a licensed product which they DID legally own, it just so happened that the stuff they owned didn't include Linux.

Patience Iago.....