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Author: Robert SneddonRobert Sneddon
Date: Dec 26, 2008 15:37
In message news4.newsguy.com>, whitroth rcn.com>
writes>
>I've often wondered about duck weed. That would be aquaculture of course,
>but the stuff reproduces amazingly. If you skim if off a pond, it will be
>back the next day.
I recall seeing pictures of aquaculture operations based on growing
water hyacinths for fuel running backing in the 1980s. The channels were
fed with grey water from sewage plants, rich in nutrients. An automated
barge harvested the fast-growing hyacinth plants, dewatered them between
rollers and baled the resulting foliage. I don't know how it did as far
as being commercially viable but since I've never heard any more about
it I suspect it turned out to be a failure in the long run.
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Author: just.a.newbiejust.a.newbie
Date: Dec 26, 2008 13:57
On Dec 23, 12:39 am, "Dan Goodman" iphouse.com> wrote:> As long as we're discussing politics, let's discuss the future....
>
> What will the major US parties be a century from now?
The Trans-Atlantic Tunnel Party, the Free Mars Party, and the Toga
Party.
GeekGirl
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Author: Karl JohansonKarl Johanson
Date: Dec 26, 2008 12:26
"Keith F. Lynch" KeithLynch.net> wrote> David Friedman daviddfriedman.nopsam.com> wrote:>> I suspect most of us are using GUI systems where different editing
>> programs work about the same way, controlled mainly by the mouse not
>> by an arbitrary set of key commands.
>
> Having to constantly move one's hands off the keyboard would make
> editing painfully slow. Also, how many commands can really be stuffed
> into one mouse?
All of them.
Karl Johanson
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Author: SethSeth
Date: Dec 26, 2008 11:43
In article dimetrodon.demon.co.uk>,
Brett Paul Dunbar dimetrodon.demon.co.uk> wrote:>In message panix3.panix.com>, Keith F. Lynch
>KeithLynch.net> writes>>The government ought to avoid proprietary formats. Actually,
>>*everyone* should avoid proprietary formats on websites. Plain HTML
>>has a perfectly good facility for tables. What are they afraid of?
>>Saving too much disk space? That the "wrong" people might be able to
>>read the tables?
>
>A dedicated spreadsheet format is easier to maintain as the spreadsheet
>can be set up to automatically calculate dependent variables while html
>is a presentational format and all the values would have to be entered
>manually.
For a value of "manually" corresponding to "hit the export-as-csv
button".
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Author: SethSeth
Date: Dec 26, 2008 11:42
In article news3.newsguy.com>, whitroth rcn.com> wrote:>Seth wrote:
>> The shape of the curve is arguable. I'd say it's near-linear at very
>> low rates (when it doesn't affect behavior), and has a negative second
>> derivative at higher rates (when it discourages taxed behavior).
>
>So, then, what behavior was discouraged in the forties and fifties, when the
>top tax bracket in the US was 90%%, or later, when JFK lowered it to 70%%?
The behavior of taking your income as cash income and paying taxes on
it, rather than sheltering it in various ways in order to avoid paying
taxes.
Seth
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Author: SethSeth
Date: Dec 26, 2008 11:41
In article panix2.panix.com>,
Keith F. Lynch KeithLynch.net> wrote:>> The whole idea behind the Laffer curve is that taxes _don't_ operate
>> in a vacuum, but affect the behavior of people.
>
>Right. I'm disturbed by the implication in many discussions of the
>Laffer curve that the ideal is to maximize tax revenues, as if the
>government were a farmer and the people were cattle to be milked.
The typical discussion I've seen is to claim that a given policy is on
the "too-taxed" side of the maximum, hences revenues would be
increased by lowering tax rates.
Seth
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Author: SethSeth
Date: Dec 26, 2008 11:37
>In article newsfarm.ams.highwinds-media.com>,
>David Friedman daviddfriedman.nopsam.com> wrote:>>In article news3.newsguy.com>, whitroth rcn.com>
>>wrote:
>>>>> Not true. And as someone who literally grew up in a neighborhood crashed by
>>> blockbusting and redlining (north Philly, in the fifties and early
>>> sixties),
>>
>>Don't those go in opposite directions? "Blockbusting," at least as I am
>>familiar with the term, meant blacks moving into white neighborhoods.
>>From the perspective of whites living there who didn't like it, it was
>>an evil conspiracy by real estate agents or some other malevolent actors
>>to get one house sold to a black family, in order that other whites
>>would sell and move out.
>
>The point being that the whites would sell up cheaply _to the estate
>agents_, property in a non-segregated block being considered for some ...
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Author: SethSeth
Date: Dec 26, 2008 11:19
In article <0e0mk41b6b4f84se8aagi2i6phk5b5noad@ 4ax.com>,
David V. Loewe, Jr charter.net> wrote:>On 18 Dec 2008 20:53:23 -0500, "Keith F. Lynch" KeithLynch.net>
>wrote:>>David Loewe, Jr. mindspring.com> wrote:>>or when getting a job,
>
>You must be taxed properly.
I got lots of jobs in the 1970s and 1980s without showing
government-issued ID. They had no problem withholding taxes.
>>or opening a bank account.
>
>You must be taxed properly.
On a non-interest-bearing account, how much tax is "properly"?
Anyway, the bank has no problem withholding ("backup withholding") for
someone who isn't properly identified, or who the IRS has claimed
didn't properly pay taxes.
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Author: SethSeth
Date: Dec 26, 2008 11:13
In article panix3.panix.com>,
Keith F. Lynch KeithLynch.net> wrote:
>Or are employers just weeding out people with massive debts and lots
>of unpaid bills?
They weed out people who default on their bills.
>I remember when US banks paid significant interest. I moved my money
>to a non-interest-bearing account when the interest I was getting fell
>below the fee for having an interest-bearing account. I think the
>interest rate was then something like a quarter of a percent, and has
>fallen further since then.
ING Direct pays me 2.716%%. HSBC pays 3%%. Everbank is paying 3.16%%
(more for the first year).
Seth
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Author: SethSeth
Date: Dec 26, 2008 11:00
In article 4ax.com>,
David Loewe, Jr. mindspring.com> wrote:
>Moreover, I just don't see having to show "papers" when flying to be a
>giant step into the implied fascist mode (implied by quoting the
>standard movie line of the Gestapo checking IDs).
Maybe it's only a small step. A lot of small steps gets the same
distance as a few large ones.
> I don't have to show ID much elsewhere
I do. Taking an inter-city train or bus is a big change. I used to
be able to rent a hotel room with a credit card; so long as they knew
I could pay for it, they were satisfied. That changed a few years
ago; merely having mid-5-figures credit available for a low-3-figures
rental no longer suffices.
I've opened bank accounts without ID (but they wouldn't let me make
withdrawals until they could verify). I've gotten jobs without
showing ID (though not recently).
> I guess my point is that it doesn't seem as pervasive as Keith
>would seem to want us to believe.
It's a lot more pervasive than it used to be.
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