Actually, I would argue that it is more expensive in the countries alligned with us, AU, especially from what I've heard. Easy access does not equal cheap.

and those laws being recently granted (especially the ones about plants... monsanto, anyone) makes them inarguably fact? I think it is my right in this country, at least it used to be, to dispute those. design does not fit into the category of 'patentable right'. sure, some people did it first and better, but is a internable combustion engine a patentable thing? Or a piston? Who knows, according to your definition of utility. the laws are broke, fight to change them rather than apologize on slashdot.

mod up

if he knew a slashdot post rolled over quicker

You hit the nail on the head with on word, premise. Our current economics are based on premises that do not exist, the first being Mr. Adam Smith's of equal knowledge at all times of every sector. That does not exist, nor does a 'free market' economy. Sure, free market 'economies' have existed on a local scale during localized periods of time. The idea of running a global market economy based on 16-17-18 century premises astounds me. You are completely right, sir, and I only wish more people would attack the fast trading ideals. I think the traditional markets have become worthless in their valuation abilities, and that failure will only lead to more global crashes as the 'wealth' realized in those markets fails. To qualify, I do own stocks on the global exchanges, most of whose stock price is lower than what I believe their actual value is. But the system is set up to fail, based on premise. I also have capital invested in people that are completely divested from the system, and where I live, that means that I have time and money with people that can grow their own food, people that have enough land that supports livestock or more importantly, game populations, and more importantly know how to use/manage it. Unfortunately, I believe that I am a very small proportion of the US population that knows how to use/manage guns when our financial system totally crashes. However, if Mr. Cuban can find and field dress a squirrel when my/his kids need dinner, he will be welcome in my neck of the woods.

There is a huge difference between diabetes and deaf. I almost had my pancreas removed, and know how it feels. However, especially in early child development, communication with parents has been shown to be incredibly neurologically important. They are not necessarily 'forcing' a disability on the child, they are enabling the child to learn linguistic skills at the early age where it matters for brain development. I am not necessarily arguing with you, but I think the deaf parents do have a good basis for their point of view. Their kids are not diabetic from age one, they are communicating differently than the parents at age on (which certain evidence has shown puts them at a huge disadvantage to develop well, however only if they do have parents that are there and taking care of them). If it were a child with no parental prospect, I would certainly agree with you.

Since when did the bill of rights apply to consumers and not producers? When you qualify things as 'normal life as possible' you negate the realization that disabled people do not have a 'normal life' - as is constructed by society. I for one will do whatever I can to help people unable to function, for whatever reason, in completing daily activities. E.g., wheelchair onto the bus, blind woman across the street, point a deaf person to the braille in a large office building (and yes, I have done all of those things in the past year or so). To argue, however, that society must be reconstructed to cater to the least capable is disingenuous at best, and represents a complete misunderstanding of biological and social infrastructure. Somehow for several thousand years humans have, in their current state, survived pretty well without government involvement in getting disabled 'peaceful traders' up supermarket stairs. I am going to visit my 90 year old grandma this weekend as usual, and will welcome her discussion about the 'ADA sucks and has changed things in a negative way'. Her words, and she has said that repeatedly for several years. If you can 'hear fine' but you need subtitles to not 'miss a word' of some content you are watching, have you not thought that perhaps you either don't hear fine, or that the content deserves repeating? My grandma for one, does not need you driving up her costs because you weren't sure if you heard Daenerys tell her Khal that she loved him like the sun or the moon.

How do you explain the quest for a northwest passage, then?

I dosed some homework yesterday too, when my dog and I shared the external usb hardrive from which I am running xubuntu. seriously though, (currently) and some other version from on a 2008 hp mini for over a year. minor video and audio issues, but was able to solve as a new user relatively quickly with a bit of google searching and forum digging. more time than grandma would spend, but i am a nerd so it was fun for me and didn't take up too much of my time. I also learned a lot. Other than occasionally dropping my external HD and causing a failure, which I have been able to fix with a reboot or reinstall (backing up important lab and work data so unless i drop while in the lab, not a big problem) it has been exemplary. slightly worried about the affect I've had on the USB hard drive, yet i probably will stick with linux on my next desktop.

Wayne!! You speak Cantonese!!!

When I see stories about the pervasiveness of the internet and its efficacy in aiding distribution of internationally sourced drugs, I wonder why the easy dissemination of electronic information hasn't been implemented by any global organizations to provide testing and certification of drug manufacturers. For example, a global group such as the WHO could provide an opt-in service where a manufacturer submits to testing and receives either a rating or pass/fail type of certification regarding the quality and purity of their drugs. I think most above-board manufacturers would even pay for or split the fees to obtain widely respected approval.

I am not a chemist and can not speak to what the cost of such testing would be, however I would imagine that dealing with established generic drugs it could be accomplished at a fraction of the money spent by the FDA on granting their approvals. US pharmaceutical companies would obviously be opposed to such a system, but in cases like this international oversight may be a catalyst for shifting the focus of drug manufacturers from maximal profit to providing effective, high quality drugs at prices more representative of market cost.

While I do agree with you, and I think that type of high level vetting is important for certain uses, most journal articles really do not need it. I am a ecologist and do research, and when I run into problems with theories I am incorporating into experimental design I find that my colleagues and even sometimes undergraduates are far more useful to go to than the editorial staff of any of the major journals. The internet has evolved into an unbelievably fast and easy tool for creating, disseminating, and locating information, but I fear that it has also contributed to the decline of the basis of a university; that is, working with other people to create your own interpretation of information and arriving on a consensus of what is correct enough to be used in further research. Personal responsibility has gone by the wayside, if you make a mistake based of false information, then I think it is your (or my, when I do it) fault for not fully understanding or properly inspecting that information.

"It's coming from shows: what they make playing shows..." - Is that not the definition of a perfomer? I happily pay good money to see good music (I do live in a town that is renowned for good live shows, MPLS, but). The industry is changing. Check out the latest City Pages article about Soundstage. A similar example to look at is Louie CK. He released his latest on a pay what you want, and did pretty well. The problem that you are talking about is that people making shitty music, yet supported by studios, made money. In my neck of the woods, if you make good music, I will pay money to watch you play. I don't care that every lame-ass up and comer that only gets air time because of their affiliations is being hurt. Go pine somewhere else, and get off of my old growth white pine and oak forest lawnl.

No, but do wonder what conference he was at as I have been looking for him.

Yes but change your frame of reference, and they are the exact same thing.