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Maybe now we can get back to political debate.
John, There isn’t a thread in the world that goes past 50 post that's worth a shit! And, those are all the, don’t get into politics people. Aside from the patent infringements... Although the shrub is one of my least favorites. I think he had a great speech on TV the other night. A few weeks late but very nice none the less. bill
Good point; talk about redundant and repititous, I read the same exact lines in thirty posts until I gave up when my eyes crossed. Not to mention it was a tempest in a teapot. Of course Goerge gave a good speech; they have seen the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow; already they have suspended all enviromental regulations for building and transport for the indefinate future; something they were drooling over for years. Regards JR
hahaha... good point. In my shallow little world I'd be happy just to see 2.00 gas again!
We should have a pool; 2.50c by what date?
The prices of gas over here are from about $1,23 - $1,42 per liter, depends of the type. One gallon is 3,785 l, and price for one gallon is about $5...
I have argued this point with many here in the U.S.; over in Europe they pay well over 3.00$ a gallon for gas. Why should they subsidise us?
In Italy around June, gas was 1.25 euro/litre with the dollar and metric conversion you get 6.00 a gallon. Its been 4.00 - 4.50/ gallon for the past 10 years there. makes no sense to me other than everything is imported and in the US we do drill for some of our own oil. Do you think our gas prices should equal the rest of the world? Today in Rochester gas is down to 2.84 in the cheap spots. I say 2.50 by Oct 21. Now theres a shot in the dark!
in pricing btwn Europe and the US accounted for, perhaps, the European nations tax gasoline at an even higher rate than the US does? I don't know the answer. Mike
I don't know the whole answer either. I do think it is taxed higher and a friend of mine told me it was tied to the dollar. That part made sense when the dollar was stronger than the lire or Euro. Now that the dollar is weaker I thought I would see a more normal fuel price there, not so it went up more. I'm waiting to meet the new richest man in the world. The guy who invents the new battery that hold twice the charge and is 1/4 the size/weight of deep cell lead acid. When you can run a car, truck, plane and boat for a week on a single charge the folks with oil are going to get to keep it all! bill
The gas is taxed to a greater extent than it is here. It pays for the citizens to have health care and schooling and retirement. Not bad haah? The rich people hate it.
I could afford ten dollar gas if I didnt have to pay for health insurance.
I don't know how much of a step forward electric cars (or hybrids) really are.... to recharge your batteries....most folks are going to be hooking up to con-ed (your local utility)... and how does con-ed generate electricity? By burning dinosaur remains... or... perhaps a nuke... seems that we should be, at the federal level, encouraging decentralized power generation.... from the likes of windmills, geothermal, sun and etc. instead of spending 300 t0 400 billion to secure the oil fields... it would be far cheaper to wean ourselves off of the dino remains. I have some land upstate PA... about 30 miles from my mountaintop is a wind mill farm (with several dozen units operating)... and I just always think that, perhaps, this should be done on a grand scale. though, interestingly, there was significant opposition to the wind mill farm by area residents. cheers, msl
Hey-Hey!!!, Hey Bill, just to clear up one thing: there is *NO* patent to infringe upon. This ongoing issue with Mike has very little to do with what sort of design I choose to base my E-Linear modifications on. Remember one of his posts a while back, it is a 1948 design. He is no fool, he knows that there is no protection offered to the design. Patent a TX winding, and you must put its content and winding methods down for public inspection. I wish it had ben patented, all of them, because it would have expired and the record would still be a matter of public record. As it is one must destroy an original, working device. Mike's descriptions of the troubles involved with taking apart burnt ones is enough make me wary of that process. It is more about blood, and how much can be spilled. Do you really think that winning the Jute war when Andre was removed from the scene changed Mike's way of doing business? Or his propenisty to fight over a loss of face? Have you ever seen Mike carry on a public disagreement with anybody over a technical issue w/o calling into the fight everything else he could lay his hands on? It's OK, 'cause after all the BS he has subjected me to, like publishing my email on his MQ site w/o permission, I would not cry if some of his blood spilled. My request for contact is an indication that I would rather see a negotiatd settlement, one which both of us will be able to live with. What I want and what I need and what I am likely to get are three diferent things afterall. cheers, Douglas
Insurance companies and government agencies are two institutions that I have no faith in, none whatsoever. My aunt-in-law needed hip replacement surgery a couple years ago. She lives in a country that covers all health care, but basically that means they just let you die. They offered her crutches, told her to stay in bed. For people that have heart conditions, they don't pay for heart surgery, not even angioplasty. So those with cholesterol conditions are given aspirin to thin the blood, that's it. People who might live to 80 will die there at 50 because of heart conditions. The thing I thought was impressive wasn't the government funded health care, that part sucked. What impressed me was that doctors and surgeons worked at reasonable rates. They are just as qualified as American doctors, and the implants and equipment available are just as good too. But, comparing prices to average wages there, instead of charging several years pay, they charged basically a few months pay. Public assistance gave you nothing except aspirins and band-aids but you could save a few months and get good quality care. I paid for hip replacement surgery for this aunt and it cost $4000.00 USD. The implant was a nice German part and the doctors and care was excellent.
How to reply to this. The remnants of the old U.S.S.R. would seem to be a poor example of how to run government. Lets try Sweden instead. There you would not only get your hip replacement for less than 4000$ but you would; at the age of 80, have a nice comfortable place to live and the knowledge that all your years of work were respected and honored and that some silver-spoon baby wasn't living like King Midas on the backs of your working relatives. While you worried wether the local doc-in-the-box would give you a couple free samples of medication so you wouldn't need to dip into your food budget to pay for medicine.
I don't know anything about Sweden. But I agree with you that socialism is a poor way to run a government. In theory it would be fair, but the human element makes it a problem because the whole society gets bogged down in sloth.
What do you base that on? U.S.S.R. was a totalitarian state so they don't qualify. Cuba is boycotted so they cannot expect to be self-sufficient and forget about China; they are stuck with 5000 yrs of family baggage. How about Canada? Or Switzerland?
Don't forget about the sponge baths given by the Swedish Bikini Team while you're being fed Bon-Bons.