It's nice and snappy on my $200 netbook...

WTF? Of all the anti-US drivel on slashdot, this is some of the stupidest. Tipping is custom, not corruption. It isn't for the right to get access to government service, it's something done in private businesses.

Two party system is wonderful. Take a look at the recent election Greece, where the far left party forms a nonsensical coalition of the far-left and far right. Or in England, where party that received the most support is kept out of power by a similar coalition.

And the economy of Europe is being pulled up by Northern/European counties? Have you read a paper in the last year or two? Europe's economy is in the shitter and going down.

Is the US not getting things done? It has the highest rate of worker productivity, the economy is growing, it has the largest manufacturing economy in the world by a large margin, top colleges are basically all US, Nobel prize winners are more US than elsewhere, government patent filings are mostly US, and the US has won the world series for like 20 years in a row. The lack of government subsidizing of ethernet to some bumfuck exurb is just a sign that the US doesn't treat broadband as an inherent right of being a citizen, and personally I would agree.

WTF? If you want a super portable game machine, buy a gameboy.

That's a good point. I also mentioned arbitrarily factoring and refactoring subroutines and I did not state clearly enough that i was suggesting using the tool mentioned in the article to confirm your code was giving a false result.

aye!

If everyone used it then we'd all be spartacus.

What I was implying also in my parent post was using the tool the article is about to confirm your code had reached the ambiguous level.

Absolutely- if you were the only one using the tool.

Write a version of pretty-printer that rerenders your code into a different style.

Have a lexicon of mipelled words for each "personality".

Another lexicon of variable names.
a vs inta vs int_a vs x.

Refactoring and unfactoring for subroutines.

Run the comments through google translate and back to english.
ukrainian
japanese
chinese

Synonym and antonym substitution in the comments.

The mind dances at the possibilities to mess with this algorithm.

Western Europe, where 5% of the global population thinks they are most of the world...

Nonsense. Every carrier offers a bring-your-own-phone plan, and T-Mobile doesn't offer a discount, they just don't offer a subsidized phone option at all. WTF why are you ranting about something you clearly know nothing about?

That's pretty trivial and already occurs.

The convention center effectively gets no signal due to the way it was constructed anyway and so the major brands have repeaters inside the hotel while the minor brand phone's don't work.

DFW Hyatt is a good example of this. If you are not on Verizon- good luck using your phone inside the convention center downstairs.

So you are actually asserting that taxes after the money has been taxed once are unfair?
In the face of all the taxes that we have to pay after we've paid income tax and social security premiums which I removed from the list ( might have missed a couple )

#1 Air Transportation Taxes (just look at how much you were charged the last time you flew)
#2,3,4 Biodiesel Fuel Taxes #3 Building Permit Taxes #4 Business Registration Fees
#5 Capital Gains Taxes #6 Cigarette Taxes #7 Court Fines (indirect taxes) #8 Disposal Fees
#9 Dog License Taxes
#10 Drivers License Fees (another form of taxation)
#11 Employer Health Insurance Mandate Tax
#12 Employer Medicare Taxes
#14 Environmental Fees
#15 Estate Taxes
#16 Excise Taxes On Comprehensive Health Insurance Plans
#19 Federal Unemployment Taxes
#20 Fishing License Taxes
#21 Flush Taxes (yes, this actually exists in some areas)
#22 Food And Beverage License Fees
#23 Franchise Business Taxes
#24 Garbage Taxes #25 Gasoline Taxes #26 Gift Taxes #27 Gun Ownership Permits #28 Hazardous Material Disposal Fees #29 Highway Access Fees #30 Hotel Taxes (these are becoming quite large in some areas) #31 Hunting License Taxes #32 Import Taxes
#33 Individual Health Insurance Mandate Taxes
#34 Inheritance Taxes
#35 Insect Control Hazardous Materials Licenses
#36 Inspection Fees #37 Insurance Premium Taxes #38 Interstate User Diesel Fuel Taxes #39 Inventory Taxes
#40 IRA Early Withdrawal Taxes #41 IRS Interest Charges (tax on top of tax) #42 IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax) #43 Library Taxes
#44 License Plate Fees #45 Liquor Taxes
#46 Local Corporate Taxes #47 Local Income Taxes #48 Local School Taxes #49 Local Unemployment Taxes #50 Luxury Taxes
#51 Marriage License Taxes
#52 Medicare Taxes #53 Medicare Tax Surcharge On High Earning Americans Under Obamacare
#54 Obamacare Individual Mandate Excise Tax (if you donâ(TM)t buy âoequalifyingâ health insurance under Obamacare you ill have to pay an additional tax)
#55 Obamacare Surtax On Investment Income (a new 3.8% surtax on investment income)
#56 Parking Meters #57 Passport Fees
#58 Professional Licenses And Fees (another form of taxation)
#59 Property Taxes #60 Real Estate Taxes #61 Recreational Vehicle Taxes
#62 Registration Fees For New Businesses
#63 Toll Booth Taxes
#64 Sales Taxes #65 Self-Employment Taxes #66 Sewer & Water Taxes #67 School Taxes
#68 Septic Permit Taxes
#69 Service Charge Taxes
#70 Social Security Taxes
#71 Special Assessments For Road Repairs Or Construction
#72 Sports Stadium Taxes
#75 State Park Entrance Fees
#76 State Unemployment Taxes (SUTA)
#77 Tanning Taxes (a new Obamacare tax on tanning services)
#78 Telephone 911 Service Taxes
#79 Telephone Federal Excise Taxes
#80 Telephone Federal Universal Service Fee Taxes
#81 Telephone Minimum Usage Surcharge Taxes
#82 Telephone State And Local Taxes
#83 Telephone Universal Access Taxes
#84 The Alternative Minimum Tax
#85 Tire Recycling Fees
#86 Tire Taxes
#87 Tolls (another form of taxation)
#88 Traffic Fines (indirect taxation)
#89 Use Taxes (Out of state purchases, etc.)
#90 Utility Taxes
#91 Vehicle Registration Taxes
#92 Waste Management Taxes
#93 Water Rights Fees
#94 Watercraft Registration & Licensing Fees
#95 Well Permit Fees
#96 Workers Compensation Taxes
#97 Zoning Permit Fees

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Your position is unrealistic. The one thing most noticable about these taxes is that most of them are FIXED amounts. So they fall heavily on the poor, are burdensome to the middle class, but are miniscule to the wealthy. Almost all of them are extremely regressive taxes.

Moving gold or large amounts of dollars from your basement when the country goes to hell doesn't happen. Over and over, wealthy people have had to leave their physical wealth behind when they fled for their lives.

So put it in electronic banks? Well -that "wealth" can be invalidated by an over turn in the government and new policies with the stroke of a pen. That also happens all the time in less stable countries.

It is very much in the wealthy segment's self interest to promote a stable happy society where they are currently based.

Most people don't need a lot of money to be non violent. Give them 3 squares, a roof over their head, some entertainment and a couple grand of spending money a year and they will never be a problem.

Once they lose faith in the system and lose hope, they are capable of anything. It is in every one's self interest to avoid letting people get to that state.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...

I know the people- rich and poor- are happier in Scandinavian countries where the inequality is lower and taxes are higher.

China is making huge investments in their military. It is just obscured by low labor costs. They can build an aircraft carrier for half (or less) the cost the united state does. I think china is preparing for war or at least to be able to back down the U.S. in their corner of the world.

Their economic policy is really just warfare without guns too. I think china has a massive superiority complex laying over a foundation of an even more massive inferiority complex. Bad combination.

Keep in mind that if you pay rent- you pay property tax. It's hidden in the rent, but you are still paying it. And it's a huge proportion of your income.

So only the homeless or people living in areas with no or low property taxes don't pay property tax.