Abi @ 26 - Don't get me wrong - there are many shitty jobs and lousy managers out there.
Abi @ 28 - Government restrictions on firing employees does smooth out the economic curves - on both ends. You lose less jobs in a recession, but you gain fewer in a boom. It's a tradeoff, and neither good nor bad. It just is.
Neil @ 29 - my experience arguing with libertarians is that they don't see corporations has having concentrated power. It's as if they are color-blind to corporations.
I'm very much in favor of health-care reform. I think the broken US system extracts a heavy cost on our economy, freedom and all the things Abi mentions.
I am a bit concerned about the employment protection statement. Although I'm in favor of unions, the inability to fire people leads to slower economic growth. If you can't easily get rid of somebody, you are more reluctant to hire. So too much employment protection (for some values of "too much") has a cost of its own.
Yeah, I am concerned about Blue Dog Democrats. Not enough to think that they are going to block the bill. They may get some cosmetic amendments (explicitly banning "death panels" or whatever) but I suspect enough of them will vote "aye" to move the bill.
But that's just my opinion, so I could be wrong.
I may be an incurable optimist (pun intended?) but I'm not worried that we won't get health care reform. The Democrats have enough of a majority that a reasonable facsimile of the current bill will go through. (This doesn't mean we should slack off on efforts to promote it - all politicians need encouragement to do the right thing.)
The Democrats may lose a couple of seats in Congress come 2010, although even that requires the Republicans to find some competent candidates.
Well, I got into an online argument here, and somewhat regret it. I do think that the people on the board are authentic, but:
1) Seriously distrustful of any government
2) Uniformed
3) Certain of their views
I mean, one commenter said, "show me the language in the bill where you can pick your doctor."
It's not in the bill, I replied. Since you can pick your doctor now, and the bill doesn't retract that right, logically you still have the right.
"Not good enough - it's not an innumberated right. Therefore..."
Impervious to logic.
Yeah, I vote for "successful promotion." It was weird enough for you to talk about, thus getting free publicity, but not offensive.
Jim - thanks for the info. I thought it was quick, just didn't know how quick.
General flu question - what is the incubation period from infection to symptoms?
I just got back from Cozumel (which is nowhere near the epicenter of the infection, I know) a week ago today. So, at what point would I consider myself clear - at least from that trip?
(Yeah, mild case of hypochondria working here - sorry.)
Terry Karney - I've never shot a Carcano so I defer to your expertise.
Regarding the magic bullet - one other thing people forget is that Kennedy's car was on a downslope. "Deally Plaza" is an impressive name for what's really a small strip of grass where two city streets feed into a railroad underpass.
A few thoughts. First, everybody calls the Carcano a bad weapon. Maybe it's not the best in the world, but it shoots accurately enough. Second, Oswald was chronically broke, chiefly because he didn't want to work. So he had to buy what he could afford.
This guy (Joe W.) makes P. T. Barnum look bashful.
Chaper 1 of Tabback's novel looks okay, although I'm not sure I'd have gone with the Biblical introduction.
Charging street-parked cars would be a pain in the neck in the short-to-medium term. In the long term, I could see parking meters becoming pay-as-you-go electrical outlets.
My understanding that another problem with Sterling engines is that they don't throttle well. To get them to run at a higher RPM requires changing the heat of combustion - which is harder to do then just throw more fuel in like in an internal combustion engine.
But if your Sterling engine is attached to a generator, RPM is constant - load on the prime mover is expressed as torque.
The other factor in lifeboats was (is) "cause of sinking." If you're in a storm, launching a lifeboat is very difficult.
One of the many unusual factors in Titanic's sinking was the very calm seas that night.
Josh Jasper - I hadn't heard of him until this post, but I put Carl Drega into Google got several hits on the first page defending his actions.
John @ 21 - thanks for fixing that link.
CJColucci @ 10 and MacDonald @ 11 - I am one of a group of people who review self-published and very small press stuff at POD People. From that site, there are links to other reviewers of self-published books.
My apologies if this is off-topic or excessively self-promotional.
My vote is for literate but serious idiot.
Scalzi @ 17 - Like iUniverse? Good question. One would hope that HarperCollins would actually like, edit the books and otherwise do some screening.
Not sure I should be holding my breath on that...
| Year | Number of comments posted |
|---|---|
| 2009 | 9 |
| 2008 | 13 |
| 2007 | 68 |
| 2006 | 14 |
Total: 104 comments. View all these comments on a single page.
The most recent 20 comments posted to Making Light by Chris Gerrib:
Show all comments by Chris Gerrib.