- run4yourlives2 parentThe US was literally created the same way.
- I do find it hilarious how we always defend our illogical likes whenever they are pointed out directly.
There is a very slight product difference in any luxury experience. It adds to the experience after all. However this is meaningless in the overall comparison. You don't drink drip coffee anymore because you love the other experience. It's obviously not "gross" because you were drinking it just fine before you were exposed to espresso. Maybe at some point you'll become disillusioned in being a coffee snob and then go back to drip. It happens.
This isn't unique to you or coffee. You could say pretty much exactly the same thing about whatever brands/hobbies I'm into and I'd feel exactly like you do: that my preference was justified by more than pure emotional connection. In reality, our choices as consumers are 90% emotional, which is why advertising works so well after all.
- I'm pretty sure it violates multiple laws in various jurisdictions to be on 'vacation' while not being on vacation.
- I just find it to be a lot of smoke hanging around for nothing to be burning.
These whales had been living in that pool for years and had even given birth without issue. Seems rather strange timing to all of a sudden have a mystery 'toxin' bring two of them down, particularly with the pool testing clean after their deaths.
- They were poisoned. After living an the aquarium for years, right before this "vote" came to the park board.
Not a lot of direct evidence, but a shitload of smoke.
- >2 Belugas just died in captivity at that aquarium -it wasn't environmentalists who killed them, it was the aquarium.
Considering that the last report confirmed that the Belugas had been poisoned by a foreign substance, I wouldn't be so confident in that statement.
- I think it depends on how you define "intelligence". And to be honest, I don't really think we have a good definition for the various things that encompass what it means to be "intelligent".
- It saddens me that a perfectly valid question is downvoted into grey here.
- You're missing nothing.
Saying "waiting for a lower tax rate" is just a nice way of saying "never". There is no good reason a corporation would bring offshore cash back unless they absolutely have to. The whole point of putting it there in the first place is to isolate it.
Unless something changes dramatically that makes the current practice really unfavourable to them, there should be no expectation that corporations are actively looking to use this money and are simply waiting for the "best time".
- It's not that they don't exist, it's that you don't have the POS being widespread enough to support it in a common way.
The Interac system in Canada is pretty much a given for any vendor that has a cash register. That automatically makes every single bank card into a direct debit card. You can choose to use it if you want of course, but it's default for all bank accounts, really.
- Check out credit unions. I'm with Coast Capital and pay zero for fees at regular bank machines. "Private" atm fees do cost, yes. Tangerine and PC financial also offer no fee options too, but I'm not sure to what extent.
- You are correct in all of this, of course, but cash can always be kept for backup even in societies that are mostly cashless.
The issue of "un banked" can be distinctly American too, actually. Given the extent of social programs in Can/EU, even the nearly homeless have bank accounts, because government funds are pushed directly into accounts, and it's more secure/timely than receiving a physical cheque. Not having a simply checking account is a very rare thing in Canada.
- Given that I've personally bought Cuban cigars with my Amex card last Christmas as gifts, I'm pretty sure your assertion is false.
It's more likely the case that an American credit card holder cannot buy them, even when he is in Germany, because he's subject to American laws, as I would be if I took a box into the US and started selling them.
- I'm not sure what you are looking for. OP linked a cashless society to being the cause of government control. This is false. Government can exert control already in a cash-based society to a sufficient degree. It's more a style of the government in question than the tech used.
- I'm Canadian, so not only can I buy Cuban cigars, I can buy them in a store down the street with my debit card. (A real debit card that connects directly to my account, not just a prepaid credit card.) Regardless though, making an illegal purchase isn't a very good reason to argue for cash; in fact you may have more luck changing the dumb laws if people are truly hurt by them.
The US definition of a "debit card" is massively different than the Canadian one. For us, our bank card is the debit card. The same one I use to take money out of my account at an ATM is the same one I can use to buy a $1 coffee.
Why some banks do charge outrageous fees, thanks to the free market there is a healthy market and many banks in Canada are now fully virtual or offer next to no fees.
Just because a system is poorly designed in one locale does not mean the idea itself is flawed, just that it should be implemented in an improved way.
- Thankfully, there is a good amount of space between money under mattresses and a government controlled economy. Your comment is a giant straw man. Canadian and EU systems are private ones and the government has little or no power to directly intervene, short of law enforcement.
The idea that eliminating paper is some sort of boogeyman from Revelations is about as silly as the idea that holding on to your Glock allows you defend your rights against a corrupt government. Neither actually offer any type of protection against these particular issues.
Unless you are wandering around with $20K in cash everyday, your bank account is still subject to the very things you seem to be afraid of. The only thing that changes in a mostly cashless society is your access to your bank account. If the government is going to freeze your account, it matters little if you have a chip card or need to go to the teller.
Thankfully, we in the west have moved most of the management of this to the private sector, and require things like warrants before any real action is done. That can and is an issue at times, but has little effect on the day to day implementation of one method over another.
- Throwing this thing up in the air will have more chance of success in achieving orbit than anything you build in KSP for the first 30 hours of play time though.
- It has 1969 pieces. Seriously? Who worked that one out? Kudos.
- "ahead of the West"
Ahem, ahead of the US, really. Canada and the EU can be cashless already, with chip cards and direct bank withdrawal at the POS a reality for 99.99% of merchants.
- It's smart, but that also struck me... this is the USA we're talking about.
I used to be able to enter that country with a driver's licence and a hello. Amazing how things have changed.
- So basically a "super generous" company in the US is basically the average of the rest of the western world.
That's pretty amazing in and of itself.
- You don't force businesses to pay directly, you set up a government benefit (payroll tax) that is then used to fund things like mat/pat leaves.
Here in Canada, we get a year that can be divided in different ways. Almost everyone takes it when they have kids, so it's the norm. We pay for it (60% salary to a hard max IIRC) through "Employment Insurance" which is basically a jointly funded payroll tax. Employers can choose to top up if they want. Some do.
Honestly, I can't imagine any other way of getting through that first yet without this set up.
- This is literally right from your link:
>"Bob Ward, of the Grantham Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, added: “Peter Wadhams has made predictions of the imminent disappearance of summer Arctic sea ice which have not been fulfilled, but the evidence still shows a rapid decline."
One guy missing a prediction isn't reason to dismiss the entire line of thought. All the evidence in the article shows the trend pretty clearly. Wadhams being aggressive in his prediction is not the story.
- No, no scientists have ever considered the multitude of factors and variables that make up climate in their approach to trying to isolate what might be causing changes. Not even for a split second.
Someone just coughed on a passing car's exhaust fumes and blamed it for the warming earth, and we all just went with that.
- Call me when you support increased military spending. Because that's what it'll take, and that's one of the few things Canadians universally don't think is all that important.
- That's exactly what they do in Vancouver, actually. To various degrees of effectiveness.
- It's been a long transition, yes. So long, that 4-5 years ago, developing a new application in 3.X was a non starter. Hence, 2.7.
Now, you have 2.7 apps that are very mature, stable and reliant on lots of little things. Okay, big job.
Now let's throw another wrinkle into this. You can pay good money to develop your next feature, or to port your system to 3.x. One adds real value to your customers and improves your bottom line. One lets you say you are on 3.x and gets nods of approval from random programmers.
What do you think a business is going to do? Exactly.
When will we eventually port? Sometime shortly after 3.x becomes the overall standard. THIS is actually what we are seeing right now, which is great, but that hasn't been the case up until the last year or so.
>Any technology that lives long enough eventually has to transition its customer base.
While true, this costs money, time, and effort. So you better be damn well sure there is a good ROI that is something more than "This code that nobody but programmers see is more elegant and properly structured".
There's a reason banks are still using COBOL after all...
- Alex Fraser has cables on the outside, and the same issues, if not worse.
- I'd imagine the size of the bridge itself might be a factor. The two in question in Vancouver (Alex Fraser/Port Mann) would dwarf the Zakim bridge (that's what I'm assuming you are talking about).
I suppose an engineer would have more input on this though, I really don't know too much about bridge design.
- Serious Answer: Because some of us have some rather large perfectly working systems written in 2.7 and using lots of different libraries that moving to 3 is a major project requiring a good amount of time and effort.
Not all of us have hobby-sized projects on the go.