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| 2006/9/2-4 [Transportation/Bicycle] UID:44248 Activity:nil |
9/2 http://www.ixibike.com Chainless, greaseless, compact, lightweight bicycle \_ A rubber belt instead of a chain?!!! This does not strike me as an improvement. \_ upsides: less/no lube needed, quieter, lighter, easier to replace, cleaner. downsides: list them, lazy-motd-person \_ Belt drive, as with most "innoviations" in bicycling, is not a new concept. The downsides are obvious; you have to use internal hub gearing, which is extremely limited compared to chain gearing systems, and belts are far more likely to fail than chains. -tom systems, and belts are far more likely to fail than chains. Oh, and I don't think there's any way the full belt system is lighter than the full chain system. -tom |
| 2006/9/2-7 [Reference/Military] UID:44249 Activity:moderate |
9/2 Only 44 years left to cut global green house emissions in half to
avoid global warming effects.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20332352-601,00.html
\_ "The Government keeps throwing up the costs of action but totally
ignores the costs of inaction." This also applies to our govt's
attitude.
\_ I believe in Global Warming like I believe gun control works.
\_ In countries were firearms are illegal, there are few gun
deaths so obviously gun control doesn't work.
\_ Yup. The following stats deminstrates exactly how gun control
\_ demonstrates
doesn't work:
"In the UK there are about, 100 firearms deaths a year in
the recorded crime statistics, about double that number in
Canada and, under 50 in Japan. The figure in the United
States is more than 10,000. Even adjusting for population,
this is a huge difference."
http://www.polfed.org/0703firearms-and-police.pdf
Population for each country (2003 figures), and firearms
deaths a year per million people:
UK: 60,441,457 1.7
Canada: 32,805,041 6.1
Japan: 127,417,244 < 0.4
US: 295,734,134 >33.8
\_ Now post Switzerland, where gun ownership is common.
\_ For kicks I looked up the breakdown of firearms deaths in
the US. When you pull out the suicides and the gang
killings the rate drops to about 24 with more than 2/3rds
of the remaining listed as "unknown". So the death rate
for normal citizens in the US is anywhere between 8 and
24 on this scale which is still higher than other countries
in the West but our country is much safer in other ways and
you still have the right to defend yourself and others
here unlike in the UK, for example.
\_ I hope there's a riot in your neighborhood and you
find yourself needing a gun. Trusting the same government
that you want out of your bedroom with your gun rights.
Why don't we ban cars, since they "kill" more people
than guns. I'm glad there are bean counters like you
who have so much faith in police (who your cohorts
in the 4th estate often villify and crucify). There
are so many people who saved by guns every year, but
no one keeps track of those. Go ahead, be a victim.
\_ I consider myself to be a liberal. To me that means
the government needs to stay the fuck out of both
the bedroom and the gun locker. To agree with one
of these and not the other is not a liberal position;
I just wanted to point that out. -!pp
\_ Checked out the other crime stats? So you're less
likely to get shot (which was already a small chance)
and a lot more likely to get robbed, raped, beat up,
mugged, burgled(sp?) and just about every other thing.
It would be interesting to see the same stats for the
US with gang-on-gang drug related shootings removed.
\_ I don't know about other countries, but when I was in
Japan, women felt comfortable walking around alone late
night in most parts of the country except maybe in the
Sinjuku area. It's also common for druken men to fall
asleep on sidewalks, and wake up the next morning with
their suitcases intact. People left their Lexus outside
convenient stores with the engine running. And so on.
their briefcases intact. People left their Lexus
outside convenient stores with the engine running. And
so on.
\_ Try that in Europe.
\_ UK or another Eurpoean country?
\_ I was thinking UK in particular since they're
so well known for their anti-gun laws and the
most similar of all these countries to the US.
\_ I don't know about other countries, but women in Japan
feel comfortable walking around alone late night in most
parts of the country, except maybe in the Sinjuku area.
\_ Is it worse in Europe than in the US?
\_ Good comparison. The U.K's violent crime
rate is lower than the U.S.'s. -tom
\_ That wasn't the question. What has
happened to the crime rate in the UK over
time as they have enacted laws to
eliminate gun ownership? The answer, as
you know, is other violent crimes have
gone up. Let's try apples to apples
discussions instead of trying to "win"
with rhetorical games, eh?
\_ Rhetorical games? This sub-thread
started with someone claiming that
"other crime stats" showed that you
were "much more likely to get
robbed, raped...." That's simply
false. -tom
\_ Show us UK crime stats since WWII
on a per capita basis. Let's see
if they go up or down. And no,
this thread started with global
warming and got thread jacked way
at the top by some troll but I was
happy to play along.
\_ I'd rather get beaten up by a guy
armed with a wooden stick than shot
in the head with a bullet.
\_ Except crime stats for places with
concealed carry laws are lower
than places where firearms are
illegal. So you'd really rather
get beat by a guy with a bat or
possibly still be shot in the head
with gun, since firearms laws
won't keep him from having a gun
anyway, than be left alone by the
same guy because he doesn't know
if you'll shoot him dead if he
attacks you.
\_ If the idea behind carrying a
handgun is to deter violence,
doesn't it make more sense for
the weapon to *not* be
concealed? It seems to me that
the chances of a handgun
stopping a crime from happening
are *much* higher when the gun
is a ludicrously oversized
hand-cannon strapped to
someone's hip in plain sight,
rather than a more practical
smaller handgun tucked in the
jacket.
\_ Not really, because when
concealed, you never know
what you're facing. Every
person you might attack or
anyone else around *might*
shoot you for it. But when
everyone is required to
show what they're carrying
you know in advance what the
situation is, how many and
what type of weapons and who
has them before deciding
who, if anyone, and when
you'll attack. Concealed
carry doesn't mean everyone
is carrying. It means they
*can* if they want to. Not
everyone does.
\_ Uhhh...I wasn't saying
anything about not
allowing concealed carry.
I'm saying that if you
were, say, a female at
night in a dangerous area,
you're better off with a
.44 magnum in a hip
holster than with a
night in a dangerous
area, you're better off
with a .44 magnum in a
hip holster than with a
weapon that gets drawn
*during* a crime that
you actually end up
using.
\_ Do you have any idea how
hard it is to get a
concealed weapon permit??
\_ Depends on where you
are. There's a bunch
of really friendly
towns in Texas. In CA
yes it is basically
impossible. What does
that have to do with
concealed carry making
for safer streets or
not?
\_ It shows that your
whole argument is
moot since the only
people who can get
permits are FBI
or DEA agents.
\_ Entirely untrue.
CA is not the
entire nation.
\_ If everyone
is packing
then you will
have the Old
West: shoot
first and ask
questions
later. Likely
more
ambushes, too. |
| 2006/9/2-5 [Politics/Domestic/California, Politics/Domestic/911] UID:44250 Activity:nil |
9/2 Protest over Pluto's demotion ... The "Size doesn't matter" sign I
think captures all the theonion glory of the story (note, it's
NOT a theonion story, or at least CNN doesn't think it is):
http://tinyurl.com/epvlx |
| 2006/9/2-6 [Uncategorized] UID:44251 Activity:nil |
9/2 How do you find "quality" head-hunters?
\_ Flip a coin. They all suck. They have no talent and they are
generally pretty stupid. That's why they are head-hunters.
\_ Luck. A big problem is they all work for the employer, not for
you. Once they find you a job they'll never see you again but they
need to maintain a good relationship with their employer
friends/clients. You're the product, not the customer.
\_ What he said. I've found the few decent (personally and
professionally) ones I know both among big placement firms
and indie shops. Get referrals, avoid anyone who calls
himself a "headhunter", be wary when anyone tries too hard
to be your buddy, and remember, they want to make a buck too.
My mom is a placement agent for culinary/hospitality staff, and
seems to have built a pretty good rep (yeah, yeah, stfu) so if
you want I can put you in touch with her for some general
tips. -John
\_ Maybe the OP is trying to hire someone, not looking for a job.
\_ Maybe but for most that would be a mistake since that
isn't how this industry works for non-execs. |
| 2006/9/2-5 [Uncategorized] UID:44252 Activity:nil |
9/2 Color Changing Spoons:
http://www.addedtouchstore.com/prodinfo.asp?number=1152U&s=ga
http://lsus.shop.com/op/~COLOR_CHANGING_SPOONS_SET_OF_3-prod-10703520
Great gift for people with kids. |
| 2006/9/2-5 [Uncategorized] UID:44253 Activity:nil |
9/2 Inflation calculator:
http://www.westegg.com/inflation |
| 2006/9/2-4 [Uncategorized] UID:44255 Activity:nil |
9/2 How many of you webmasters are using TypeKey APIs? How's the
experience so far? Use it or avoid it?
\_ password management typepad authentication openid sitekey? |