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stripeypants
Joined: 24 Feb 2013
Posts: 4741
Location: Land of the Grumpuses
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 Posted: Wed Jul 03, 2013 8:28 am Post subject: |
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I want to fight to make Halloween a national holiday. I would get in on that protest.
CANDY CORN FOR ALL! STATE RUN DECOR SHOPS!
And laws regulating how many pounds of candy dentists are allowed to buy off children.
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fritterdonut
Joined: 24 Jul 2012
Posts: 1462
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| Posted: Wed Jul 03, 2013 11:55 am Post subject: |
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http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/edward-snowden-saga-bolivia-accuses-europe-of-kidnapping-bolivian-president-in-forcing-evo-morales-plane-to-land-in-vienna-8682610.html
| Quote: | Bolivia has accused Austria of “kidnapping” their president after refusing to allow a plane carrying Evo Morales into their airspace amid suggestions NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden was on board.
“We're talking about the president on an official trip after an official summit being kidnapped,” Bolivia's ambassador to the United Nations in New York, Sacha Llorenti Soliz, told reporters in Geneva on Wednesday.
“We have no doubt that it was an order from the White House,” ambassador Llorenti said. “By no means should a diplomatic plane with the president be diverted from its route and forced to land in another country.”
Bolivia has also accused European states of an “act of aggression” and “an offence against the whole Latin region” over the affair and has asked for a crisis meeting of South American leaders after officials expressed outrage at Mr Morales' treatment. |
I find it highly amusing how much effort their putting into getting their hands on Snowden. I hope he manages to find political asylum somewhere soon.
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The Thirties dreamed white marble and slipstream chrome, immortal crystal and burnished bronze, but the rockets on the covers of the Gernsback pulps had fallen on London in the dead of night, screaming. - William Gibson, The Gernsback Continuum |
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WheelsOfConfusion
Joined: 09 Jul 2006
Posts: 14388
Location: Unknown Kaddath
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| Posted: Wed Jul 03, 2013 12:18 pm Post subject: |
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| Really? I find it amusing that Snowden's name is being used to scratch at scabby wounds in international relations. |
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mouse
Joined: 10 Jul 2006
Posts: 21238
Location: under the bed
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| Posted: Wed Jul 03, 2013 1:57 pm Post subject: |
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| Michael wrote: | I want to see someone fighting against any public displays for thanksgiving because, despite living there, they _really_ hate America.
That would take some balls at least  |
well, i understand there are some indian reservations where you don't want to make too big a deal of thanksgiving.
although it's not because they hate america, it's because they're mad at the pilgrims for stealing it.
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Adyon
Joined: 27 May 2012
Posts: 1221
Location: Behind my Cintiq
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| Posted: Thu Jul 04, 2013 5:17 pm Post subject: |
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18 year old kid (now 19) has been in prison for months after a sarcastic (yet horrible) comment was taken as a threat, even after investigation has yet to uncover anything.
http://www.cnn.com/2013/07/02/tech/social-media/facebook-threat-carter/index.html
| Quote: | Carter, who is currently on suicide watch in Comal County Jail near San Antonio, Texas, has been locked up since February. He faces a charge of making terroristic threats, a felony that could theoretically bring a sentence of up to eight years.
In February, Justin, then 18, and a friend were arguing on Facebook with someone else over the online video game "League of Legends."
"Someone had said something to the effect of 'Oh you're insane. You're crazy. You're messed up in the head,'" Jack Carter told CNN affiliate KVUE in Austin . "To which he replied 'Oh yeah, I'm real messed up in the head. I'm going to go shoot up a school full of kids and eat their still-beating hearts.'"
Jack Carter said his son followed the claim with "LOL" and "J/K" -- indicating that the comment wasn't serious.
Jack Carter says that, as a parent, he understands why authorities are so vigilant about threats of school violence.
"I definitely see the need to investigate such claims. Absolutely," he said. "But at some point during the investigation there has to be some common sense." |
This one feels a bit more updated too.
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2013/0703/Justin-Carter-case-How-one-man-s-Facebook-banter-is-another-s-threat/(page)/2
| Quote: | Carter’s father tells NPR that his son has been traumatized in jail – seriously assaulted and put in solitary confinement because he’s been depressed. Attorney Flanary says that Carter could eventually pursue a federal civil rights lawsuit for being wrongfully arrested and detained.
The legal process has failed at several points along the way, Flanary says. Carter was arrested before police confirmed that the Facebook post genuinely came from his computer – a step that’s usually routine before even suspected child pornographers are arrested, he says. Police searched his house and found no guns or other threatening material. And it appears that they didn’t look at the context of the Facebook post before arresting him.
Flanary says that prosecutors have since subpoenaed that information from Facebook but haven’t produced anything along those lines yet.
Flanary also says the small screenshot originally sent by the tipster includes a negative comment against Carter, and that context was not included in the arrest warrant and indictment materials. |
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WheelsOfConfusion
Joined: 09 Jul 2006
Posts: 14388
Location: Unknown Kaddath
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| Posted: Thu Jul 04, 2013 6:31 pm Post subject: |
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http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=can-southern-us-cut-coal
| Quote: | The EPA rules require new and existing coal- and oil-fired plants to reduce air pollutants – including mercury, arsenic, chromium, nickel, hydrochloric acid and hydrofluoric acid, among others – by 2015. Fine particles and sulfur dioxide emissions also must be reduced.
Nationwide, 40 percent of all coal-fired burners covered by the new standards will need upgraded pollution controls, the EPA estimates.
Those upgrades will cost utilities $9.6 billion, but the health benefits in 2016 alone from the reduced pollution range from $37 billion to $90 billion, according to the EPA. |
How's that for a healthcare overhaul? |
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stripeypants
Joined: 24 Feb 2013
Posts: 4741
Location: Land of the Grumpuses
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| Posted: Thu Jul 04, 2013 9:31 pm Post subject: |
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| mouse wrote: | | Michael wrote: | I want to see someone fighting against any public displays for thanksgiving because, despite living there, they _really_ hate America.
That would take some balls at least |
well, i understand there are some indian reservations where you don't want to make too big a deal of thanksgiving.
although it's not because they hate america, it's because they're mad at the pilgrims for stealing it. |
There are people outside of reservations who don't celebrate it either, or who use it solely as a day for having a lot of food and ignore everything else about it. Not because of a lack of interest in patriotism, but because they don't want to simplify history in such a way as to ignore the horrible genocide.
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Arc Tempest
Joined: 27 Jan 2007
Posts: 5316
Location: Oregon
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WheelsOfConfusion
Joined: 09 Jul 2006
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Mindslicer
Joined: 04 Sep 2006
Posts: 2545
Location: North of the People's Republic of Massachusetts
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| Posted: Sat Jul 06, 2013 4:00 pm Post subject: |
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| WheelsOfConfusion wrote: | http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=can-southern-us-cut-coal
| Quote: | The EPA rules require new and existing coal- and oil-fired plants to reduce air pollutants – including mercury, arsenic, chromium, nickel, hydrochloric acid and hydrofluoric acid, among others – by 2015. Fine particles and sulfur dioxide emissions also must be reduced.
Nationwide, 40 percent of all coal-fired burners covered by the new standards will need upgraded pollution controls, the EPA estimates.
Those upgrades will cost utilities $9.6 billion, but the health benefits in 2016 alone from the reduced pollution range from $37 billion to $90 billion, according to the EPA. |
How's that for a healthcare overhaul? |
And the Big Dig was only going to cost $2.8 billion. |
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kame
Joined: 11 Jul 2006
Posts: 2580
Location: Alba Nuadh
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| Posted: Mon Jul 08, 2013 12:17 pm Post subject: |
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| Mindslicer wrote: | | WheelsOfConfusion wrote: | http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=can-southern-us-cut-coal
| Quote: | The EPA rules require new and existing coal- and oil-fired plants to reduce air pollutants – including mercury, arsenic, chromium, nickel, hydrochloric acid and hydrofluoric acid, among others – by 2015. Fine particles and sulfur dioxide emissions also must be reduced.
Nationwide, 40 percent of all coal-fired burners covered by the new standards will need upgraded pollution controls, the EPA estimates.
Those upgrades will cost utilities $9.6 billion, but the health benefits in 2016 alone from the reduced pollution range from $37 billion to $90 billion, according to the EPA. |
How's that for a healthcare overhaul? |
And the Big Dig was only going to cost $2.8 billion. |
Oh look, mindslicer brought his Straw Man with him. |
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Dogen
Joined: 10 Jul 2006
Posts: 11274
Location: PDX
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| Posted: Mon Jul 08, 2013 3:23 pm Post subject: |
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it's not really a free education, and I wish they'd quit calling it that. it's a variable cost loan. you go to school, graduate, then pay back 3% of your income for twenty years. so clearly not free, unless you remain unemployed for twenty years after graduation, but it's much lower cost for most people than a traditional student loan. no interest. engineers will be subsidizing art majors, but it's a great idea if they can make it work, just like income-based repayment plans for federal student loans work better for most people, because it grows or drops with your income. they'll be testing it at a couple of schools to see if it's feasible... if it works hopefully more states try it.
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Mindslicer
Joined: 04 Sep 2006
Posts: 2545
Location: North of the People's Republic of Massachusetts
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| Posted: Mon Jul 08, 2013 4:04 pm Post subject: |
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| kame wrote: | | Mindslicer wrote: | | WheelsOfConfusion wrote: | http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=can-southern-us-cut-coal
| Quote: | The EPA rules require new and existing coal- and oil-fired plants to reduce air pollutants – including mercury, arsenic, chromium, nickel, hydrochloric acid and hydrofluoric acid, among others – by 2015. Fine particles and sulfur dioxide emissions also must be reduced.
Nationwide, 40 percent of all coal-fired burners covered by the new standards will need upgraded pollution controls, the EPA estimates.
Those upgrades will cost utilities $9.6 billion, but the health benefits in 2016 alone from the reduced pollution range from $37 billion to $90 billion, according to the EPA. |
How's that for a healthcare overhaul? |
And the Big Dig was only going to cost $2.8 billion. |
Oh look, mindslicer brought his Straw Man with him. |
Nope, merely pointing out that the government doesn't have a strong track record of accurately estimating the cost of... well, anything. |
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stripeypants
Joined: 24 Feb 2013
Posts: 4741
Location: Land of the Grumpuses
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| Posted: Mon Jul 08, 2013 4:13 pm Post subject: |
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| Dogen wrote: |
it's not really a free education, and I wish they'd quit calling it that. it's a variable cost loan. you go to school, graduate, then pay back 3% of your income for twenty years. so clearly not free, unless you remain unemployed for twenty years after graduation, but it's much lower cost for most people than a traditional student loan. no interest. engineers will be subsidizing art majors, but it's a great idea if they can make it work, just like income-based repayment plans for federal student loans work better for most people, because it grows or drops with your income. they'll be testing it at a couple of schools to see if it's feasible... if it works hopefully more states try it. |
I think it is great, because if you can't get a job, you don't have to worry. And if you do, 3% is not that big. And you don't have to worry about raising money up front.
Actually, it reminds me of how social security works. I don't know if that's accurate, though.
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mouse
Joined: 10 Jul 2006
Posts: 21238
Location: under the bed
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| Posted: Mon Jul 08, 2013 4:17 pm Post subject: |
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one thing i was wondering - would this apply to older students as well? there are a lot of people who don't go to college straight out of high school - and there are some people who want to go to college when they are in their 50's or 60's. and they don't necessarily have the money to pay for it themselves. would they be able to be part of this program? or for anyone in the program - what if you die or, say, become permanently disabled, before your pay-off period is up?
man, that came out a lot more morbid than i intended....
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