Water Nazi's

meushi

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I don't know enough about Microsoft but if a company invents a superior product and patents it and everyone prefers it over anything else out there than that company will shread over anyone else in that area of production.
Except if you are a patent troll with a few billions stashed away for legal fees, you cannot get involved in a patent fight with Microsoft and expect to win. For what it is worth, I believe that software shouldn't be patentable as in the current situation they are both patented and copyrighted. It is even against the patent regulations to patent a software method. You cannot win a patent fight against a company that successfully patented the used of letters to write words, the use of words to write sentences, the use of sentences to write a paragraph and so on.

For what it is worth, here comes a short list of "innovative patents" granted to Microsoft after 2000:
-double click (20+ years of prior art)
-using xml to store a document (XML is an open standard that was developed to store documents, obvious and 10+ years of prior art)
-various components of the OpenGL2 specification (OpenGL is an open standard used in the 3D field, Microsoft went to all the committee meetings and patented everything that was discussed during those meetings)

The USPTO and its equivalents worldwide are broken beyond belief, the employees are paid on the amount of patents granted.

It may appear to have a monopoly. As long as everyone plays with their own earned capital + investors all is free. Someone smarter than Bill Gates may not have come around yet to invent something better. After all its better than Linux or Mac right?

Software companies dictate their products mostly around Windows because it is the most popular with the people and not because they have to. If I invented and patented a grow box better and cheaper than Vance's with say a secret electromagnetic superthrive injector it may appear that I now have a monopoly over bonsai training containers for a while until Vance came out with something superior to mine. In the mean time a new technology in soil that makes my injector units work even better may start taking allot of business away from the overpriced Bonsai soil companies. It may not seem fair to some who are not as creative as me, but it is free.

Survival of the fittest is a natural law that will always spring back when bent and in sometimes an ugly way.

Look at the findings of the state vs Microsoft. Microsoft admitted to price fixing and a whole lot of anti-competitive behavior.

For example until very recently, OEMs couldn't ship a desktop/laptop machine without Windows and keep their OEM status license-wise. Shipping a single desktop/laptop machine without Windows meant that they needed to pay full license price for all the shipped machines. Now this poses an interesting problem for enterprises that have volume licensing in place: they pay the product twice, which in essence makes it a Microsoft tax.
 

Vance Wood

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Man, ya'll can go from chatting water conservation to hating in 15 minutes. Judging from the current line of discussion I don't think there's any chance the hate well will run dry anytime soon.

That's what's so bazzar about you guys on the left. Any time someone comes up with something, or talks about something, or even suggests something that puts your side of the argument in a bad light it's hate. What's with that? You will jump up and down with praise when people accuse this guy or that guy of being a Nazi, you're more than happy to associate with the likes of Ha-mas, Chavez, Castro, and Ahmadinezhad and applaud their hatred for this country and their hatred for Israel. That's not hate? You ought to look in a mirror once in a while and see if it is not the kettle calling the pot black.

Here is the difference. People that think like me will argue what the left has to say, what the left is doing, what the left has done, and what the left intends to do. We argue ideas, trends, and history. The guys on the left argue our right to say these things calling it hate speech, Nazis, criminals and so on. Instead of arguing details you try to pass laws that limit or suppress our rights to discuss these things. You have never heard me say I think people like you are not worthy of the protection of the first amendment, though I believe in your own naive and misguided way you are trying to destroy it.
 
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Vance, don't forget we are also racist for being against illegal immigration.

:rolleyes:
 

Vance Wood

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Vance, don't forget we are also racist for being against illegal immigration.

:rolleyes:

You are of course correct. The thing that bothers me on an intellectual level is one question: What is there about the word illegal they don't understand? Please correct me if I am wrong, but when something is illegal it is against the law is it not? So in essence we are racists, zeno-phobes, Nazis, hate mongers and generally very naughty people for wanting our government to enforce the law.

On top of that our wonderful government wants to pay for these illegals to have health care, something most of us, if we have it, have to pay exorbitant co-pays for, free education in their native languages, drivers licenses and even voting rights!

We work all of our lives for Social Security, which they tell us is in financial trouble, yet they want to give this to all of the illegals. Now I suppose this is hate? I don't know how, it is simply being critical of the people who want to nail the deck chairs to the deck of the Titanic so they wont slide off when the ship goes vertical before going down.

Oh and I almost forgot something: They try to get around the term "Illegal" by changing the title, term, name or aroma to, and this is really good; "Undocumented Immigrants". Now in the real world if you have undocumented income you could, and probably will, face the wrath of the IRS. Because in the real world undocumented means illegal. If it were not so, the term undocumented would have no meaning within the parameters where it might be used.
 
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greerhw

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It pisses me off to go into Home Depot anymore, there in broad daylight all the product row signs are now english on the top and spanish on the botom. Let them find the crap they're looking for by roaming around the store like I do.........

Harry
 

Vance Wood

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It pisses me off to go into Home Depot anymore, there in broad daylight all the product row signs are now english on the top and spanish on the botom. Let them find the crap they're looking for by roaming around the store like I do.........

Harry

That's because they hire so many "undocumented aliens" that can't read English, or speak it, but because there are so many of them taking these jobs they have to use Spanish or get less than something done. Is that hate or reality?
 

Bill S

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You are of course correct. The thing that bothers me on an intellectual level is one question: What is there about the word illegal they don't understand? Please correct me if I am wrong, but when something is illegal it is against the law is it not? So in essence we are racists, zeno-phobes, Nazis, hate mongers and generally very naughty people for wanting our government to enforce the law.

On top of that our wonderful government wants to pay for these illegals to have health care, something most of us, if we have it, have to pay exorbitant co-pays for, free education in their native languages, drivers licenses and even voting rights!

We work all of our lives for Social Security, which they tell us is in financial trouble, yet they want to give this to all of the illegals. Now I suppose this is hate? I don't know how, it is simply being critical of the people who want to nail the deck chairs to the deck of the Titanic so they wont slide off when the ship goes vertical before going down.

Oh and I almost forgot something: They try to get around the term "Illegal" by changing the title, term, name or aroma to, and this is really good; "Undocumented Immigrants". Now in the real world if you have undocumented income you could, and probably will, face the wrath of the IRS. Because in the real world undocumented means illegal. If it were not so, the term undocumented would have no meaning within the parameters where it might be used.

Thank You! Vance Right on the money. Unfortunately this new administration is putting us all in that hand basket that Harry used to ask about. Redistribution of wealth - let the worthless B*%$ta&ds make themselv'es usefull or go home, or starve. My charity starts at home or I starve because i have to take care of my 4 yr old daughter, nobody is doing anything for me but me, every one else wants me to sacrifice - sacrifice this!
 
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Hey Four MM,
Ya know with a little ingenuity you can TEE off just above the water meter valve,, (provided you own your house) ;).. UH UH not to say that I would;). Its hard for the meter to read the water
that's not flowing through it.
KJ
 

bisjoe

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I spent 17 years working for a California water district, including the droughts of 1975 and 1987 which required mandatory rationing as is in effect there now. When the water supply comes from specific sources such as reservoirs/lakes that are filled with mountain snow runoff, the quality of that water is great but when the winter brings no snow there is going to be a shortage. People build homes with big lawns in a climate that is close to being a desert, then get upset when they are asked to conserve to get through a crisis.

Water rights law is one of the most difficult to understand but the amount of time, money and work involved in acquiring additional water supplies is a nightmare. Most if not all water agencies are working on it anyway, in fact Las Vegas wants to run pipes from the Mississippi!

TreeKiller64, your idea is not only illegal but they would catch it when you called to report the sinkhole
at the curb from cutting into the line. The only shutoff between the water main and the meter valve is at the tap into the main, requiring that one dig up the street to get to it.

We had people run hoses from their neighbor's back yard faucet, even they got caught since the neighbor's bill went up and we did investigate thoroughly.
 
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Any law that keeps people from infringing on others rights is a good one. All other laws are by products of a nanny state or have alterior motives. I am not convinced that water rationing is a viable regulation. If water companies were all entirely private they might figure out a way to obtain more water for their customers. Higher demand for water, well gotta figure out how to get it so we can make more money. Problem with government is that they are not a true market entity. A government employee never has any incentive to work harder. They get payed the same no matter what and they never get fired. Same thing with politicians if they are good at telling lies and have good media backing.

Everyone needs to stop paying income taxes and storm the capitol in protest. It will never happen in our brainwashed playstation 2 generation in the up and coming. Things will get worse simply because of this next generation (now 10-20 years old) of kids. Our new voting pool to be. And then their kids. Each generation gets worse because of a government run educational system. This is how it happens (progression into socialism) and I am pretty freaked out about it.

This is one of the drawbacks of a centralized Democracy (and you thought a democracy was the best form of government). As someone said once and I can't remember who. "A democracy is 2 wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner".

The compromise in a Constitutional Republic is that there are states under a very simple common law constitution giving more power to each state, a non centralized government. If you do not like the laws in the state you live in you are free to move to a state with better ones. This is being robbed more and more by an ever increasing centralized government. Marijuana laws are a good example of this.

Historically this has been the demise of every great country, don't think the USA is immune. I am shure the Romans thought the same way as we do in their time.
 

meushi

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So in essence we are racists, zeno-phobes, Nazis, hate mongers and generally very naughty people for wanting our government to enforce the law.
No, just because the Republican Party is very selective about which law they want to be applied.

We work all of our lives for Social Security, which they tell us is in financial trouble, yet they want to give this to all of the illegals. Now I suppose this is hate? I don't know how, it is simply being critical of the people who want to nail the deck chairs to the deck of the Titanic so they wont slide off when the ship goes vertical before going down.
Most of the financial troubles of social security comes from the government borrowing trillions from its surpluses in the past, including the recent past. If you have a problem with not getting a pension you saved for, be pissed at the previous administration for massively tapping into it when they knew they would never be able to pay back.

People build homes with big lawns in a climate that is close to being a desert, then get upset when they are asked to conserve to get through a crisis.

Exactly my position on this. By giving some of them unmetered water, we actually reward stupidity and punish personal responsability.

If water companies were all entirely private they might figure out a way to obtain more water for their customers. Higher demand for water, well gotta figure out how to get it so we can make more money.

Expect a massive spike in water prices if your wish is met. You can't wish a new easily accessible water table into existence. A proposal made over here to limit the price hike was to have two separate water feeds, a limited one for drinking water at a higher price and one for everything else (not drinkable) at a lower price.

This is one of the drawbacks of a centralized Democracy (and you thought a democracy was the best form of government). As someone said once and I can't remember who. "A democracy is 2 wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner".

The compromise in a Constitutional Republic is that there are states under a very simple common law constitution giving more power to each state, a non centralized government. If you do not like the laws in the state you live in you are free to move to a state with better ones. This is being robbed more and more by an ever increasing centralized government. Marijuana laws are a good example of this.

Historically this has been the demise of every great country, don't think the USA is immune. I am shure the Romans thought the same way as we do in their time.

This is actually the drawback of every single form of government. There will never be a form of government that can't be seen as "wolves and a sheep discussing what's on the menu"... it is a basic human trait to consider one's own wishes to be the law. No government is even worse, as it becomes the wishes of "he who has no qualms about killing, raping and pillaging" that become the law.

And for what it is worth, the Roman Empire fared well until the Ottomans invaded them in 1453. The Western Roman Empire had been decadent for some time when Rome fell, but Rome hadn't been the capital of the empire for some time.
 
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Government subsidy causes inflation (a devaluation of currency). Which causes the apparent price of things to rise. When people talk about say paying more for water in this case you have to remember that everything is relative. The consumer has more choices, there is more competition (keeps prices down) and most importantly the purchasing power of the dollar is retained.

When people say "I remember when my water bill was 5 dollars a month way back when" That is mostly because the dollar has lost value and not so much supply and demand. True, workers wages were less as well and one could argue therefore that each individuals standard of living remained constant, but this is not what we see. We instead see extreem spikes and valleys in standard of living. The middle class is enticed to take the most financial risk from easy credit and has the highest risk of being layed of when the false bubble collapses. At the same time price deflation begins it's natural coarse the government creates a stimulus driving the dollar down more. This is what destroys the working middle class in any society.

This is actually the drawback of every single form of government. There will never be a form of government that can't be seen as "wolves and a sheep discussing what's on the menu"... it is a basic human trait to consider one's own wishes to be the law. No government is even worse, as it becomes the wishes of "he who has no qualms about killing, raping and pillaging" that become the law.

You are a sharp man and you are correct. Even our "new" form of government back in 1776 had flaws and perhaps no matter what you do a country will always move toward socialism.

Take a caveman alone in the wilderness. He would need to be completely self reliant and would have to work hard to survive. But survive for what purpose? He would have complete freedom, no one would be able to tell him what to do but for what? He would get lonely and perhaps seek out others. He may join a tribe of other cavemen. All tribes or groups have a leader, the strongest and most charismatic usually. This is the most basic form of government. The rest of the tribe looses some freedom at the gain of companionship and peer appreciation. Individualism decreases in the tribe to perpetuate the collective group as a whole and as a by product increases the power of the leader regionally. This is a basic commune. Individual specialty is lost for collective mediocrity. The tribe then may become powerful enough to invade land occupied by other tribes via their "military".

So what do you do? In the USA's case, individual freedom was restored after we broke from England, but we had to steal someone's land to create this country. We robbed the Native Americans individuality to create ours.

Perhaps it always comes down to either be the one in control, or be controlled or be alone.

I'm just waxing philosophical here.
 

Graydon

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It pisses me off to go into Home Depot anymore, there in broad daylight all the product row signs are now english on the top and spanish on the botom. Let them find the crap they're looking for by roaming around the store like I do.........

Harry

Ever as Marco how he feels about the use of Italian and English in his homeland?
 

greerhw

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Ever as Marco how he feels about the use of Italian and English in his homeland?

No I never have, but he speaks four languages, so he's pretty comfortable where ever he goes.
The last thing I read a while back that English will become the universal language. I sponser a child in Uganda and he is learning to read and write in English, I think that's great.

Harry
 

M.B.

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Iraqi refugees in Sweden

Mandy Clark reports from the Swedish city, Sodertalje, which has taken in more Iraqi refugees than the entire United States

/Emil

Because the Inn is full. We're already full up with MILLIONS! Sorry.
How bout we make some room and ship 9,000 immigrants back south of the border and you can ship the Iraqi refugees you took in here. I guess I should say future immigrants instead of refugees. Once they get here they rarely, if ever, return home.
Mary B.
 
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Every American should read 'Cadillac Dessert' by Marc Reisner. It discusses in pretty good detail the story of water policy in the American West.

All people, even those in the well-watered East should never assume that water is abundant. Look to recent droughts in the Southeast for an example. To add to the complexity, water is a legal commodity just like anything else which is bought and sold. Because of this, the Great Lakes states have been working feverishly to hammer out a Great Lakes Compact. The goal of this is to prevent the piping of Great Lakes' water to the West!

We are very fortunate to be able to get out of bed in the morning and step directly into a shower, or get a drink of water in the middle of the night. Like so many things, we take it for granted and begin to see it as a right. But safe, potable water is actually scarce and we have a tendency to feel victimized when we are forced to conserve.
 
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