Tax ID == SSN - it still doesn't solve the actual issue of using it (TID or SSN) as authentication, whereas all it is is identification material. And yes, banks DO have the right to demand your SSN, as does your employer, your retirement fund, and any other company where you may make, store or transport money, as they have to report that to the IRS. While insurance companies (and doctors offices) can't use HIPAA to require your SSN (look up the 837P and I specs - SSN is explicitly not required and may not be required), most still put it on their form. Just write "NOT GIVEN - CALL ME" and have yet to be called about it in 10 years of doing so.

Vacations: Vacations should begin with a 2 week minimum, and increase with the time vested with the company. Not only does it help employees let off steam and recuperate away from the company, but it will also help the company to discover weaknesses in the overlap in employee skills. It will also serve to remind employees that they are not irreplaceable. No one in a corporation, from janitor to CEO is irreplaceable. (Emphasis mine)

And force employees to TAKE IT. I had 3+ weeks of vacation, but really didn't have much of a change to take it until towards the end of my career at my previous job. I'm now one week into my new job, and about to take a week off, and the managing partner is insisting I take it. That is awesome.

Uh... yeah, and then try copying that to another machine. Or comparing it for differences to see what you messed up that's causing some service not to work. On linux - diff -r /etc /backup_drive/2012-09-01/etc - oh, I messed up the dhcp.conf! Duh!

Backing up Linux is SUPER EASY, it's all text, and therefore comparable, compressible, clone-able. Windows is all binary and junk. That said, Windows prevents you from doing some stupid things (like putting a gateway outside of your netmask) because you have to use the GUI to make those changes, so it's not all roses on the Linux side.

And make people retake the driving test, not just pay a fee to renew it before it expires. You should have to re-take the full test every 5 years or lose your license. People would be a lot more cognizant of the actual rules and how to properly drive!

http://epic.org/privacy/hiibel/

Actually, you can be detained by police, if you are anywhere near (their definition) a crime. They can hold you for up to 48 hours with no explanation given, except that they want to hold you in case you committed a crime. It's sick what this country has come to.

Yes, so my son, who is allergic to eggs (and we didn't know, or feed him eggs, until he was 18 months old), would have DIED with the flu vaccine injection, which he would have taken at between 6 and 12 months of age. Thanks for pretending to kill my firstborn. His allergy is considered moderate (not mild, as his kindergarten teacher found out when, after being given a muffin that no one told us about, he proceeded to throw up all over his bed, while sleeping, several hours later, after complaining about a tummy ache). I am half way to pulling him from school anyways as they just don't take allergies (except nuts) seriously.

Parents are the end-all arbiter of our kids situation - not the school, not the President, and not some scientist who lives in a perfect world where everyone is free from disease. Thankfully, we didn't give him the flu vaccine. Our doctor has told us, directly and point blank, had we done so he would be dead. And we didn't know until after he had a rash from eating a few eggs we fed him that we even found out about the allergy (after professional testing).

Luckily, the other vaccines are, for the most part, non-allergenic.

So... we give it to the kid well after the "primary method of transmission" for what reason? It's 2 months, 4 months, etc.. after the transmission!

Yup - because he got to go to this thing called "college", the lucky guy. My family couldn't afford to send me to college, and with the unreal cost, I ended up leaving after a year (mostly involuntarily, because I wasn't prepared for it, and since my family was poor we didn't know how to prepare me for it), and getting back in at this point is crazy - it's way too expensive.

Because Apple doesn't care if you load Linux - they're a hardware company (well, user experience company, but anyways). You've already bought their hardware and software. But Microsoft, which has the x86/x64 non-Mac world by its balls, is a software company, so they will do things that strategically make non-Windows software harder. So a similarly-capable Acer, as an example, is going to be more locked down than your Mac.

Hence, I'm slowly finding myself thinking of buying Mac hardware again, even given the higher-than-I-need quality (and price).

Indeed, thank goodness in most places you don't have to COLLECT, just pay it. See, the problem is, at least in my state (Colorado), I have so many different possible combinations of tax nexuses I'd have to account for, but Google (and in fact everyone but Apple) can't calculate them correctly based on their address (because they don't have mine, and can't use it if I give it to them). So someone from the same city as me (so state + city + county + bus district and entertainment districts taxes) gets charged the same flat rate by Google (and others) as someone from the Springs (for whom I would only need to collect state, in fact, collecting the others is technically a no-no). So rather than have Google collect the wrong amount, I just set them to collect the state level tax for CO residents, and if they are in a common nexus with me I pay it out of my own profit. Annoying, but legal (and more legal than collecting too much tax), and easier than trying the impossible (get Google to use a proper tax database).

Personally, I'm all for a flat federal sales/use tax that gets redistributed back to the states based on census population or something similar.

They don't do allergy testing until the kids have already had a reaction, so it's kinda hard for a 6 month old to know that, or his/her parents. We talked to our doctor about having our 2nd kid tested when our first already had allergic reactions, and she said, "Doesn't matter, insurance won't pay for it unless the specific kid reacts." My kid would be dead if we had done the flu vaccines in him.

In your society, my oldest would be dead. He had an unknown-at-the-time egg allergy. Pretty severe - a single cupcake at the local school ended up with him vomiting that night all over his bed. While he was still asleep. Luckily we smelled it pretty quick and he didn't re-aspirate any. And the flu vaccine is recommended for 6 months, at which point no one does any allergy testing unless there's _ALREADY BEEN_ a response. He didn't get egg (or anything with egg in it) until he was around 18 months old, at which point we took him in, they tested and found he was allergic. But if that had been _injected into him_, he would be dead.

Parents are the ULTIMATE arbiter for what happens to their children - get your high horse out of my family and my life.

Hahaha, I'm sorry, that's so funny. In *emergency situations*, hospitals are required to give you sufficient treatment so you won't die. But once you're stabilized, they can (and do) kick you out on the street. You may be maimed, you may need meds for further treatment that you can't afford, but you're alive, which is all that's required.

You know, it's not unrealistic. It's GUARANTEED the gov't will use the mass media (and has already), but as of yet no nuclear disaster on continental US soil...