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Comment Re:I never liked those state/city incentives (Score 1) 149

...

I'm sure that it's some bizarre, pestilential outside influence which has banned community ownership of teams (save for the grand-fathered-in Greenbay Packers) and required that a minimum percentage of a team be owned by a single individual.

No, no. It's patriotism. Community ownership is COMMUNISM, and totally un-American. It says right there in the Bible and the Constitution, that the individual profit is sacred. Besides, no fat-cat wants to live in Green Bay, where you get sucked dry by 12 pound vampire mosquitoes in summer and get your nads frozen off in winter.

Comment Re:The dealership model is broken (Score 1) 149

True... However the dealership model is one of the few decent middle class jobs creator in the country that doesn't require a lot of education and/or certification.

Direct sale just means more profit to the big auto makers (Their price will not be lowered) and less people will benefit from the auto economy.

Not just that, but warranty and aftermarket maintenance are performed by the dealerships as well. Without a dealership presence in the state, if your car is busted, then you are just out of luck, or you have to have your car shipped to the manufacturer to get it fixed.

I'm pretty sure that a factory owned retail outlet would provide pretty much the same level of service as an independently owned dealership.

Comment Re:The dealership model is broken (Score 2) 149

>True... However the dealership model is one of the few decent middle class jobs creator in the country that doesn't require a lot of education and/or certification.

It used to be, but sadly that is no longer true. The owner makes good money, and so do the parts manager, shop manager and sales manager. Sales droids, for the most part, don't make a living wage and don't last very long, with the exception of maybe 10% of them. Parts guys don't make squat. The mechanics make a good middle-class income, but that work needs to be done anyway whether at the dealership or a private shop. Also, being a mechanic these days takes an AA degree and lots of certifications.

If car companies owned the retail outlets, it would all be pretty much the same, except the owner wouldn't be getting rich. If one guy owns half the Ford dealerships in the state, how is that better than Ford Motor Co. owning them?

Comment Re:Crichton is an idiot. (Score 2) 770

>"Science requires only one investigator who happens to be right, "

The one investigator publishes a paper, his work is confirmed by many others, he wins the Nobel Prize, and a new consensus is created. This differs from one loud voice who disagrees with the current consensus. For a handy metric for differentiating the two, see John Baez's Crackpot Index.

Comment Re:Gotten? (Score 4, Informative) 770

It is proper English. It is the difference between the active and passive voice. "He was sick, but he got well." "He was sick, but he has gotten well." The difference is actually tangentially related to the story subject. When I was in university [mumble] decades ago, all scientific papers for publication, and by extension all term papers, were required to be written in the third person past passive voice. This was thought to appear more objective. Printing costs for scientific journals drove the change to active voice, because, in English, that voice uses fewer words. Now that journals are largely electronic, printing costs are less of an issue, leaving aside Dilbert's PHB's concern about using up electrons. Active voice may also be more readable, particularly for those being taught by teachers who say things like, "Me and him went to the store."

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