Stupid people, news, etc.

[H]

Well, as a professor told me years ago "A college diploma doesn't mean you're smart, it just means you're educated. Big difference."

My grandfather's term for this was "educated fools."

[OldAirmail]

tl;dr

A note on the Target $4.6 million jury award.

I mentioned this to a fellow employee and he said that it was good idea to him. He said that Target probably makes that much money in five minutes, and will never even notice it.



This kind of attitude ties in with another common misconceived notion - Tax the BIG Corporations.

The idea being that big businesses aren't paying their fair share of the taxes, so hit them with higher taxes to punish them for all the years that they haven't been paying their fair share.



Not only is it justified, but if THEY pay more, WE won't have to pay so much in taxes. Right?

Well.... don't start spending your tax savings just yet.

Big, or almost ANY, business don't pay taxes. Not in the sense that you mean it.



How about we try this - ExxonMobil, or BP, should be taxed higher so that we can help the poor. Good idea, right?

From now on Big Oil Co. has to pay 10 cents more on the profit from EACH gallon/liter of gas/petrol that they sell.

Um..... What do you think is going to happen at the pump?



Not only are YOU going to pay that money in higher prices, BUT the poor (remember them?), who driver the older gas guzzlers will be paying even more than you BECAUSE of those old gas guzzlers.

I mean that you may be getting 100 miles on 5 gallons (or whatever) of fuel, but they are getting 100 miles on 10 gallons of fuel in that old worn out car which is the best that they could afford.

"Oh, poor baby! Maybe we should tax the auto makers so we can give new, fuel efficient, cars to the poor."

Stupidity is the only perpetual motion mechanism in the universe.



So, Target, isn't going to miss a measly $4.6 million.

Sure.

ANYTHING that affects the "bottom line", WILL be passed on to the consumer.



But, HAY!, we can pass laws to prevent companies from making BIG profits!

That has been tried before.

Countries, like China, have done that in the past.

But when did China's economy start to grow? When did they start to become one of the most powerful countries in the world?

Only when the Chinese government let companies make what profits they could, did those companies build themselves into the success that they are today.


Inequity is a sharp sword. If we try too hard to balance on it's edge we may do more harm to those we want to protect.

[Anthindelahunt]

You have hit the nail on the head OAM.

Anthin.

[H]

My one remaining uncle, quite some while retired, was a unionized steel mill worker. When they went on strike for higher wages, I told my uncle they weren't winning anything in the long run: their company would just increase their sale prices and, within six months or so, they would be back in the same respective position; then, the companies using their product would increase their prices and on and on. However, the rest of us with no income increase would notice the higher prices even more.

[OldAirmail]

I need to apologize.


In the past I've made fun of people taking selfies.


Please forgive me.


Selfies CAN be a good, and life saving thing.

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Photo bomb: Syrian rebel accidentally blows himself and his comrades up by taking a selfie with a phone rigged to an explosive

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWVCzQ8_GuU[/youtube]

[H]

I need to apologize.
In the past I've made fun of people taking selfies.
Please forgive me.
Selfies CAN be a good, and life saving thing.

Wow! There's a comparison of life to a race in the New Testament -- and these fellows had a photo finish...

H

[OldAirmail]

Weapons of Mass Destruction

Remember how Saddam Hussein kept playing cat and mouse games with the UN inspectors? And in the end it turned out that he didn't have much of anything, just a little gas here and there?



So now we have a guy planting three or four bombs. Trying to kill and maim.

And now these same people who complained about finding next to nothing in Iraq are playing up.... Weapons of Mass Destruction!

Chelsea Bombing Suspect Ahmad Rahami Charged With Using Weapons of Mass Destruction


BTW - Weapons of Mass Destruction - is a nuclear, radiological, chemical, biological or other weapon that can kill and bring significant harm to a large number of humans or cause great damage to human-made structures

Did this bomber have "nuclear, radiological, chemical, biological" packed in his bombs?



Our society is like little children - we have to make everythng "bigger" and "badder".

[H]

But, OldAirmail, their thought is that if it destroys mass, it's a weapon of mass destruction...

[FlexibleFlier]

"Stupid kills, but not enough to really matter." ~Anonymous

[OldAirmail]

But, OldAirmail, their thought is that if it destroys mass, it's a weapon of mass destruction...

8-)

You're right. That's probably how they think.

But they still loose.

Conservation of mass, akin to Conservation of energy, states that mass in an isolated system is neither created nor destroyed by chemical reactions or physical transformations.

[Hawkeye07]

Teen Sues Parents for Posting Childhood Photos on Facebook

As far as incriminating social media posts go, you might assume sharing pictures of your own child is safe territory. But it led to legal trouble for one Austrian couple when their 18-year-old daughter slapped them with a lawsuit for refusing to remove hundreds of embarrassing baby photos, The Local reports.

The teen, whose name has not been released to the public, claims the over 500 childhood pictures posted to the social networking site without her consent violate her privacy. "They knew no shame and no limit—and didn’t care whether it was a picture of me sitting on the toilet or lying naked in my cot—every stage was photographed and then made public" she told The Local. "I'm tired of not being taken seriously by my parents."

She alleges that she had repeatedly asked her parents to take down the photos in the past, but to no avail. When she turned 18, she was officially allowed to take legal action. Her father insists that he has the right to share images because he’s the one who took them.

About 700 of her parents' "friends" currently have access to the photos on Facebook. This case is the first of its kind in Austria, but as more children of Facebook over-sharers reach legal age, it could start to become more of an issue.

France has already taken a hard stance on the matter: Under the country’s privacy laws, parents could face a year in prison or a roughly $50,000 fine if sued by their kids for sharing photos without their permission.

[H]

But, OldAirmail, their thought is that if it destroys mass, it's a weapon of mass destruction...

You're right. That's probably how they think.
But they still lose.
Conservation of mass, akin to Conservation of energy, states that mass in an isolated system is neither created nor destroyed by chemical reactions or physical transformations.

I can understand their outlook there -- the problem's not being isolated...

[OldAirmail]

Thanks, Hawkeye, thanks H for the contribution.

[OldAirmail]

Ironic


From the US National Library of Medicine / National Institutes of Health

Moderate sleep deprivation produces impairments in cognitive and motor performance equivalent to legally prescribed levels of alcohol intoxication

RESULTS—After 17-19 hours without sleep, corresponding to 2230 and 0100, performance on some tests was equivalent or worse than that at a BAC of 0.05%. Response speeds were up to 50% slower for some tests and accuracy measures were significantly poorer than at this level of alcohol. After longer periods without sleep, performance reached levels equivalent to the maximum alcohol dose given to subjects (BAC of 0.1%.)

We've all heard something to this effect over the years. So why do we now see this headline?

Medical Interns Could Work Longer Without A Break Under New Rule

The group that sets the rules for medical residents proposed scrapping the 16-hour limit for interns, doctors in their first year of on-the-job training after finishing medical school. The new rule would let these new doctors work for as many as 28 hours at a stretch.

[H]

Maybe they want a doctor's performance to reach a staggering level...