I hope you were being sarcastic. ... because it does have a car chase scene. It actually involves an automobile. Yeah, an Automobile.

There is another way around this...
It depends on the number of speakers you are using to entertain your guests. You only have to pay the ASCAP fees if you are using more than 3 speakers. Silly, I know, but this is the line for non-jukebox atmosphere music. So a store, with only a stereo playing (only two speakers) does NOT have to pay ASCAP fees. If that same store had a quadraphonic setup, they would have to pay.

I only learned about this when the owner of three retail shops I was handling the S&R for, was approached to start paying ASCAP fees for the music (We would play CDs in the stores) we played in the background. The rep said we owed X amount for one store, but the other store had to pay no fee. When we asked why, he told us. The rep watched while I was told to remove one of the speakers in the main shop. At that point, he changed the paperwork to reflect that we owed X up to that date, and were not required to pay ASCAP fees as long as we had 3 or fewer speakers connected to each music source. Of course, this was in the 90's.

Wow.

I'm to blame for the presidents I did not elect.
I'm to blame for the wars I did not fight in.
I'm to blame for the economic policies I disagree with.
I'm to blame for the economic expansionism I don't want to be happening.
I'm to blame for the Military Industrial Complex that Eisenhower warned my grandparents and parents about.
I'm to blame for most of the wealth being in the hands of the smallest population demographic.
I'm to blame?
I'm an Average American.

I don't like the way things are. I believe that we proved once before that it took a Revolution to attempt to make things right, and that is what it is going to take to make it right again. Of course, what was a good idea to start with, is now a set of rules that are argued to be needed, just because they are there. Sometimes it is incredible how ardently a rule is argued to be needed, and the strength of the argument is based on how OLD the rule is.

The 2nd Amendment (IE a change to that Constitution so many people wave around and say should not be changed) protects the people with the right to bear arms crap. I'm sorry. That Amendment was put in when there was no police force, no army, a need to shoot your dinner before you ate it, and an occasional need to shoot the indigenous people when they got upset at our invasion. Thus, the need to protect every citizen's right to keep and bear arms. Times have changed. We don't need the 2nd amendment any more.

The 16 amendment brings taxes into bear. We started the country because we were being taxed without being represented. This is why there was no Income Tax before the 16th amendment. Now, once again, we are not being represented for our taxes. That means there is legal precedent to support a revolution.

The 18th amendment dealt with prohibition. Taking away Alcohol from the people. The 21st amendment proved that NONE of these amendments are sacred, and any or all could be repealed... in the repealing of the 18th amendment.

Did you know that with a cell phone, every citizen could now potentially vote on every issue? This means we do not even NEED a Congress anymore. The creation of our Constitutional Republic here (it's not a democracy) was done because at the time it was impossible for each Citizen to represent himself (women couldn't vote then). Now, this is not the case. It IS possible for each citizen to represent him or herself, and vote. I'm not saying it WOULD work immediately, I am saying that it is POSSIBLE now. Does this mean that Congress will be dissolved? Absolutely not.

What I don't like, is how people outside the US of A blame me. I'm held accountable for the actions of my government, when the ability to change my government was removed from my hands long before I was ever born. The only option I have available to me, is to join in a revolution. There would never be enough people to be able to make the changes necessary within the system. The Patriot act is already in place. Now, anyone who opposes the government enough, can be whisked away as a "terrorist". But it is still all MY FAULT! If I travel, I'll get shit on, because I'm an American. That pisses me off. Not because my government is great, but because the person giving me shit (aka, the parent I am replying to) is too fucking stupid to see that the problems my government is causing, have nothing to do with me. I am not making policy, I am not enforcing policy. I am not even agreeing with policy. But if I speak up, I get ignored. If I get too loud to ignore, I'll be put away.

You do not blame the cashier at the corner store, if the potato chips are stale (or just taste bad). You do not blame the cashier at the corner store if the "thing" you just bought there breaks. People still do though. People are ignorant, and they lash out at the most available target. The easier the target is to hit, the more likely they will try to hit it. it gives them some satisfaction knowing they had a person and a face to vent at, and they never stop to consider the effect of their venting on that individual. Am I considering the effects of my venting on you? Yup. No one that has anything to do with policy making in this American government is reading your comment. Your comment was directed at people who can do NOTHING to change any of the points you make. That makes you a fucking idiot, and an asshole... not me, the Average American.

You take out your frustration at the American Government on every available American. I'm taking out my frustration on you.

Paranoid or not, he is right.

I mean, it was only recently that the drug companies were looked at closely, and were informed to cut back on the freebies that they have been pushing for decades on the doctors. Is it no surprise that when you would go see your doctor, and he was taking notes with a Pfizer pen on a Pfizer clipboard, and the whiteboard on the wall had a Pfizer logo... as did the lamp, and the stick-notes, and the pad of lined paper, his coffee mug, the jar that holds the tongue depressors, the tongue depressors themselves, the lollypop wrappers... was it any wonder you were prescribed a Pfizer drug? Not in the slightest.

Of course, there are the Pfizer sponsored three-day seminars (fully paid for) that the Doctors get to attend, and practice getting rid of their Hook/Slice at. The regular lunches paid for by the Pfizer rep for the doctor and his staff... I do regular work at a cardiologist's office here in town. One of the Drug reps brought in a box of chocolates that required a handtruck to wheel into the office. Not one word of English was on that "box" of chocolates (french). I've been there when a rep brought in lunch for the Doctors and staff. Not a few plastic bags with takeout boxes... several waitstaff from the restaurant with actual places and silverware... and they stuck around to clean up as well.

This was the norm up until very recently. It is still the norm in many places, it has just been cut back some when the Feds woke up and realized what was going on. So now a large portion of the perks are disposable. You might see fewer logos (although the charts and diagrams and even just the pictures on the walls are all Rep gifts) but that was just a switch away from leaving evidence of their gifts behind.

However, it was in the Doctor's best interests to prescribe a drug to take care of a symptom. This was of course, instead of prescribing a drug to take care of the PROBLEM. A cold will take the same amount of time with or without drugs. Don't forget to take your decongestant, and your expectorant, and your anti-histamine though. Get rid of those nasty symptoms of the cold... leave the cold there. It was in the Doctor's best interests to prescribe a Pfizer drug if at all possible. This would keep his office stocked in all those extra materials he needs (pens, paper, clipboards, flashlights, etc, etc.)

So, remember. Just because you are paranoid, does not mean they actually aren't out to get you.

No links, no citations. You do your own research on this last one. The medical community has known for decades the effects of B17 on cancer. The earlier it is used, the more damage is repaired, and the less chance the cancer has of returning. There is no money in curing cancer though. Curing cancer would put half of the Medical Establishment out of business. Thus... there is no cure for cancer. Funny how animals in the wild don't get cancer. Sure, if we take animals out of the wild and put them in a zoo, alter their diet and habitat, some will develop cancer. But there is huge money in TREATING cancer. There is no money in curing it.

So, back the fuck off with your implications that a crack and meth addled mind is the only kind that can see the drug companies, and therefore the doctors for what they really are.

Just a note.

Hydrogen does not equal Fuel Cell. Sure, you can use a Hydrogen fuel cell... but that is not the only way to use Hydrogen.

Did you know...
You can power a gasoline engine on straight hydrogen, if you advance the timing enough? Hydrogen gas fed into the cylinder... works wonders.
You get hydrogen by running a DC current through water. It is that simple. Drop a 9volt battery in a glass of water. Watch bubbles form at each terminal. One side, the bubbles are Oxygen. The other side, Hydrogen.
There are improved electrolysis techniques which are making the possibility of hydrogen production on-the-fly feasible. This means that it is not only conceivable, but attainable to have a personal transportation vehicle, with an internal combustion that used to run on gasoline, that now runs on water.

Yep.

Put water (or urine, or any H20 based liquid) into the gas tank, the water is converted on the fly to Oxygen and Hydrogen, the Oxygen is bled off into the atmosphere and the Hydrogen is burned as fuel. Not only would your exhaust be free Oxygen and water vapor, but you would CLEAN the air as you drove through it... because if the way that Hydrogen burns.

No Fuel Cell involved. Just thought you should know.

I'm not picking on Slashdot here...

I'm picking on the originator of this "news" story.

Yahoo Answers.

http://answers.yahoo.com/

And that is just one. Granted, it's been around for a while... but there is Tech support there, and it is all provided freely. No one is getting paid for the help they give out.

So either the author of this one has been very ignorant of what has been out there for this kind of support, and been ignorant for years... or people are just stupid, regardless of the position they hold in life.

So... the share of the market that is using Windows has dropped from 88% to 87.9%? Oh... don't forget the 10% that OSX has.

Which open standard are they going to adopt? Or are they going to create a new one, like MS did with Silverlight?

Before the concern to reach that "ever-growing crowd that's not win32-based", that same Ever-growing crowd is going to have to start worrying about Virus infections, Spyware, and Malware. If that Ever-growing crowd becomes a viable option for the majority... those scumbags who are targetting windows machines for destruction will be targetting the new contenders.. those Ever-growing users of non win32-based machines.

But, you don't see that, just like you don't see your real numbers. 2 percent does not decide how things are going to go. 10% only get to decide how the world runs, because they have all the money. 10% of non-windows users don't get to decide how the software trends shift.

Locutus of Borg
7 of 9 of Borg
Microsoft of Borg ... seems to fit in perfectly with the grammatical precedents set up by the television show that introduced and defined "Borg".

Sorry. Correcting the grammar on a "Microsoft of Borg" reference is a major fail. Turn in your geek card at the door please.

"Eurodollars are deposits denominated in US dollars at banks outside the United States, and thus are not under the jurisdiction of the Federal Reserve.Consequently, such deposits are subject to much less regulation than similar deposits within the United States, allowing for higher margins. There is nothing "European" about Eurodollar deposits; a US dollar-denominated deposit in Tokyo or Caracas would likewise be deemed Eurodollar deposits. Neither is there any connection with the euro currency. Typically the term is only used for US dollars in European banks, but technically the term could be used for US dollars deposited at any non-US bank account.

More generally, the "euro" prefix can be used to indicate any currency held in a country where it is not the official currency: for example, euroyen or even euroeuro."

Ok. So much for the 'slang' theory then. I mean, it was a nice theory and all, but the term "Eurodollar" is not slang. Or rather, if it is slang, it is slang you can spend, save, deposit, and move around from bank to bank. That's some pretty powerful slang. That is also some pretty well-defined slang. That is also slang that is universal in it's usage. Hmmm.. seems like that "slang" is sounding more and more like an official term. I mean, there is apparently regulation specific to the Eurodollar. Hmm... Regulation that pertains to specific slang? LOL.

At any rate, don't be ignorant. More to the point, don't go out of your way again to PROVE your ignorance.

Work on your short attention span. You have no idea what a long post is, if you think that my previous post was long.

Sure, many Americans prove their ignorance in referring to the Euro as the Eurodollar. However, your assumption that they are doing this because they assume everything is a dollar and you just add dollar to the end of a currency to make it real.. is just fucked up. You hear people mistakenly call the Euro a Eurodollar, because these same ignorant Americans have heard that term Eurodollar in the mainstream media... probably more often than they ever hear about the Euro. Every American financial program might make mention of the American Dollar in Foreign Markets... which is the Eurodollar.

So then the problem comes for those people, in that they have no idea why some idiots that run international banks would even begin to think that calling one the Euro and the other the Eurodollar would NOT lead to some confusion. These same people who make the mistake... these same young Americans who mistakenly call the Euro something it is not, do not go around tacking the word Dollar onto OTHER currencies, like you STILL SEEM TO THINK. They did not just tack the word Dollar onto the word Euro. They are misusing a term.

Why do so many Americans make this mistake? Like I said, the Eurodollar is a unit of American Currency. We hear about it on the news... flipping channels... etc. It is in the papers, and on blog sites. 569,000 results in a google search for "Eurodollar". Why would people from other countries make this mistake? you STILL labor under the misunderstanding that "Eurodollar" is just some made up word. If you don't like people making this mistake, petition to have the Euro called something else. Petition to have it called something that is not already too close to an American unit of currency. The Eurodollar existed long before the Euro.

Why can't more Americans be properly educated? I dunno. You didn't know that the Eurodollar was a valid currency. I'd call that ignorant. You assumed incorrectly that people are just tacking the word Dollar onto other currencies, and you show MORE ignorance in making that assumption. I'd attend to your own ignorance, before you start making issues with other people's ignorance.

The Eurodollar...
"On February 28, 1957, the sum of $800,000 was transferred, creating the first eurodollars. Initially dubbed "Eurbank dollars" after the bank's telex address, they eventually became known as "eurodollars" as such deposits were at first held mostly by European banks and financial institutions." ...predates the Euro...
"The name euro was officially adopted on 16 December 1995.[6] The euro was introduced to world financial markets as an accounting currency on 1 January 1999, replacing the former European Currency Unit (ECU) at a ratio of 1:1. Euro () coins and banknotes entered circulation on 1 January 2002."

So any confusion created by the two names, is strictly the fault of whomever decided on calling the Euro... the Euro. Whomever decided to name that unified currency the "Euro" knew full well there was already a Eurodollar on the books, and had been for going on 40 years. Thus, if the people who created this currency have no problem with the confusion, why do you?

You go on to add the word "dollar" to other currencies, as if someone had just tacked the word "dollar" onto the Euro because they were too ignorant NOT to. You don't even acknowledge the fact that Eurodollar was a word in and of itself before you were born. No one says Pounddollar. Sure, you might hear reference to Pound Sterling... but I've yet to see honest-to-goodness Silver threads in any British pound note. But Pounddollar isn't a word, and no one uses it... because your thinking that the word Eurodollar is just some ignorant use of the word Euro with the word dollar tacked on, is wrong. Did you know what the currency of Australia is? It is also called the Dollar. It is NOT interchangeable with the US Dollar, although they do share a name... well, not interchangeable, without first applying an exchange rate... just like any currency to currency transaction.

But people are not just dollartacking the word dollar onto other dollarwords. That is just dollarwrong. Dollarpeople are not ignorant of the Euro, or too dollarwrapped up in the fact they are Americans and all dollarcurrency is just a dollar in disguise. Sure, dollarpeople might get mixed up because there is the Euro, and there is the Eurodollar. I don't blame them. I blame the idiots that named it the "Euro".

Oh, and a side note, I was thinking of creating a personal transportation device that operates on an 8-legged mode of transportation. I was gonna call it the Cool Automatic Robot-walker... or call it a CAR for short. You don't think there will be any confusion with existing products, do you? I mean, these are both transportation devices...

Payday loan services are being shutdown across the country because of how unethical they are with their interest pricing. Pawn shops are notorious for selling broken and grossly overpriced merchandise. Pawnshops claim to just be recouping their money that they paid out for the item... but that glosses over the fact that they determined BEFORE they agreed to even take the item, what the grossly overinflated price would be AFTER they had the item. If they paid out less, they would have to recoup less.. but that is not a business model they wish to assume.

Um.... how can any of us "do the math" and figure out what your percentage is? Sure, you stated that your price is only 1 coin difference... but a 1 coin difference from WHAT price? I mean, if the item sells for 101 and you are paying 100 to people who need a quick fix... that means your 1 coin difference is now... 1 percent? Oh.... if the item you are buying, you buy for 10, because it typically sells for 11... doesn't that mean your percentage would be 10%? So, your data is a bit incomplete.

I don't understand the need for an Auction house, as opposed to a Store. I mean, I realize there is an "Economy" in the game... but why? Why is there not a store where you go to sell your loot, and where everything was for sale? I mean, the point of the Auction house was two fold... right? It was to be a place where you could find the items you did not want to actually play the game to get, as well as a place for you to find a sucker to buy something from you for more than they should. Well, why can't that be a regulated store? If items are to be allowed to be sold, that must usually be found by playing the game... then why not just sell those items at a store instead? Oh what... that is a bad idea because there would then be an unlimited number of those items available to anyone with the money? Hello... Auction house?

"play the auction house".... sure... let's all go get on our machines, and load up this fantasy and hack-n-slash game with the magic and the monsters... and then instead spend the time "playing the auction house" like it is the stock market and your kids are starving. It isn't even an Auction house. It is a Flea Market.

So, when your choice is making a living wage as the night buy doing QC for a porn site, or working at McDonalds or the corner Gas Station... you say hell yeah Fast Food because it will keep you saner?

So, when it is a choice between your kids eating and not eating, not whether or not they get an XBox, how tasty does that porn based job look now?

My current boss is a shit. I'm paid $8.25/hr to repair laptops all day long. Not just replacing boards, but replacing power adapter ports and more when necessary, as well as software issues. I'm in the US of A. Sure, being the QC for a disgusting porn site would be crap WORK compared to what I do now (satisfying work, crap wage)... but I've walked a path few choose to walk. I've seen the choice of "DO work that keeps you sane and go homeless due to lack of money" and I embraced it. I lived in a van for more than a year. I'm going back to living in it. I don't get paid enough to support living, and I don't have the schedule that allows for another job, there are no third shift jobs here, and I can't find another job. I'm not the spouse of a Marine, which is what 95% of the jobs in town are geared for, since this town is a support system for two Marine bases.

So step down from the pedestal you are on. it isn't the difference between nice and extravagant gifts that we are talking about. It isn't about an XBox or a 4 bedroom house over a 3 bedroom house... it is the choice between homelessness and a two bedroom apartment for a family of 5 (mom and dad in one, all three kids in the other). if you really think it is all about having the money to afford a new console, or making due for one more year with the old one, it is time you woke up. Some of us have to make due with $16k a year. Some of us who work those jobs that fit into your quote "I think most people have more pleasant, even though lower-paying choices." don't make a fraction of what is needed to survive... not thrive, just survive.

And do you really think working as a dish dog at Applebys or Outback or Longhorn or TGIF or any of those places is really a "more pleasant" lower paying job? How about working fast food? Again, is that more pleasant? What is your frame of reference as to Lower-paying and Higher-paying? What pay range caps the "Lower-paying" scale?

"People can't notify you of unexpected things. That's why they're called unexpected."

True.
However,
The Mythbusters team EXPECTED to blow up 500lbs of explosive.
The Mythbusters team has blown up things before.
The Mythbusters team knows that explosions create shock waves, from their previous experiences.

Now, it might be true that a show done by actual scientists would most likely be very boring. However, this does not mean that the Mythbusters team should not act responsibly and do as much research as possible beforehand. The fact that bombs have been dropped in wartime that were equivalent to this detonation, is a pretty good indication that there would exist a large number of people who would have reliable information on what *might* be expected from an explosion of this size.

So, yes, it is unrealistic to expect someone to warn you of the unexpected. However, the result that occurred was NOT outside the realm of expectation. The fire chief even states that this result was not unexpected. He made a judgment call NOT to tell people that the Mythbusters team was conducting an explosion, because he did not want to deal with the crowds. This shows very poor judgment on the part of everyone involved, since it did not occur to anyone involved to just be vague in their warning.

Sure, they didn't want to have throngs of people showing up to crowd a filming of Mythbusters. The fire chief could have easily left that detail out. Warning people that there would be a detonation about a mile away that might cause damage would have been very sufficient.

The explosion was not unexpected. (They were blowing up stuff on purpose)
The size of the explosion was not unexpected. (Bombs of this size have been dropped by the US)
The area of effect was not unexpected. (How could the chief think of warning people, if he did not expect a large area of effect?)

Your statement remains intact, and true. It just does not apply to this situation at all.

Well, your example, while tragic, is really specific... and if the electric company had known about her being dependent on the electricity to live, they probably would not have shut it off.

This is just a little indication. It is not pretty.
http://www.nliec.org/Compendium/N-188.pdf
while New England gas company did turn off service to almost 600 people in the winter of 2005/2006, only one other utility in the state followed suit.. and that was the Pascoag Electric... and 3 households. RI law states that no utility company can shut off service in the winter to "protected" people... elderly, ill, those on unemployment and those getting section 8 housing. WInter is from November 1st, to April 15.

So I guess it depends on where and who you are.

Sure, the internet might become more vital. It is still a luxury at the moment. Just like at one time, Electricity was a luxury.