Registered: Jul 2000
Location:
Posts: 3034

Originally posted by dick-richardson:
Given the technology America has, one has to wonder why we're still in a representative republic when we could pull off direct democracy. We could do it, and we could make it as easy as clicking the polls here at VC. Big issues would be: what stays local vs. what is national (national decisions are much to expansive to be effective), security issues (making sure Jim Bob really is Jim Bob, and that Jim Bob didn't vote 1500 times), etc..

Ultimately, technology doesn't have much to do with it. A representative republic was chosen because of the potential pitfalls of direct democracy. The originating opinion here expresses it fairly well, as does this. Of course, you could always read the Federalist Papers to get the original perspective.

Not quite sure how I feel about quoting freerepublic.com.

Registered: Jul 2000
Location:
Posts: 3034

Originally posted by ToolkiT:
Oh no! when will the US finaly use a world wide standard (in anything for that matter.. )

We use them when there's a reason to use them or no reason not to use them, e.g. soft drinks in liter/2L/3L bottles since there was no previous equipment that had to be retooled or replaced.

I guess the market in the US is big enought they can get away with using their own standard....

Or businesses are just not willing to lose investments in existing equipment which still works.

Ironically the US standard are lot of the times worse than the worldwide standard...

By what objective measure are they 'worse'? They're just different.

Registered: Oct 2000
Location: Aberdeen, SD
Posts: 2531

quote:

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Originally posted by Toby
Ultimately, technology doesn't have much to do with it. A representative republic was chosen because of the potential pitfalls of direct democracy. The originating opinion here expresses it fairly well, as does this. Of course, you could always read the Federalist Papers to get the original perspective.

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Abortion: Darwinism at its finest.

Registered: Feb 2000
Location:
Posts: 1571

polluters

quote:

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Originally posted by Matthew Nichols


I'm sorry, and I don't mean to offend any non-Americans, but foreigners have this odd assumption that America is full of pollution. America is a very clean country, cleaner than its been in a long time, and I'm a bit tired of people from other countries thinking we have rivers full of sludge and that we mow down every tree we see.

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Registered: Oct 2000
Location: Aberdeen, SD
Posts: 2531

Re: polluters

quote:

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Originally posted by yardie
Car-dependent California is a disaster.

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Abortion: Darwinism at its finest.

Registered: Feb 2000
Location:
Posts: 1571

Why o Why

quote:

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Originally posted by sdoersam


As screwy as this may sound, the US uses a different system for rating octane than the rest of the world, so the ratings my not be that different. 87 octane in the US is about 91 octane else where. You can see it explained a little bit here. And you always thought the USA liked to inflate its ratings...

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Registered: Apr 2001
Location: Atlanta, GA
Posts: 708

Re: Why o Why

quote:

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Originally posted by yardie


This is going waay of topic...But why does the US have to do everything differently from the rest of the worl? WHy do they use CDMA instead of GSM? Why are they using Fahrenheit instead of Celcius..why is Capital spelt Capitol?

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Registered: Jul 2000
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Posts: 3034

Originally posted by dick-richardson:
How about a democratic vote on existing laws whereby 2/3 (or 3/4 or 5/7...) of the voting population is required to strike a law from the books?

Nah...only make passing new laws that restrictive. Make removing laws simple.

I admit I have a healthier appreciation for our representative republic after reading your links, but I still dislike the bureaucratic sludge our representatives voted into place.

The only solution to this is to organize to get people who will change this trend elected. Vote Libertarian.

Each year we move inexorably toward Socialism because uneducated consumers want the benefits paid for by Capitalism to be protected by the government.

Ahem...but under total democracy, those uneducated consumers will suddenly have a direct influence on public policy. Think about it.

Registered: Jul 2000
Location:
Posts: 3034

Re: Why o Why

Originally posted by yardie:
This is going waay of topic...But why does the US have to do everything differently from the rest of the worl?

Why exactly does it bother anyone? If everyone in the world did things exactly the same, seems like it'd be a rather bland and boring place.

WHy do they use CDMA instead of GSM?

Umm...the US has CDMA, TDMA, and GSM (albeit on a different frequency than elsewhere due to various factors). In a couple years, TDMA and GSM will be functionally the same thing with EDGE. Of course, maybe by then Europe will have gone to CDMA2000 and will be complaining that we're not using that.

Why are they using Fahrenheit instead of Celcius..

I use both sometimes. Conversion isn't that difficult.

why is Capital spelt Capitol?

It's not. Capital and Capitol are two different things. Capital is either a material investment, an uppercase letter, or a city/town which serves as the seat of government. Capitol is a building where the government conducts its business.

Registered: Oct 2000
Location: Aberdeen, SD
Posts: 2531

quote:

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Originally posted by Toby
Nah...only make passing new laws that restrictive. Make removing laws simple.

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Abortion: Darwinism at its finest.

Registered: Feb 2001
Location: Greenville, SC
Posts: 172

Gas dropped all the way to $1.10 yesterday, and there is even a station in town that occasionally sells all grades at the same price. Right now they have premium for an unbelievable $1.15!!!

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Galley

Registered: Sep 1999
Location: Sydney Australia
Posts: 1883

quote:

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Originally posted by Toby
Originally posted by ToolkiT:
Ironically the US standard are lot of the times worse than the worldwide standard...

By what objective measure are they 'worse'? They're just different. [/B]

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location:
Posts: 3034

Originally posted by ToolkiT:
Without going into too much detail:
Metric vs miles/yard/feet etc. -> the metric system is a lot easier to calculate with...

*shrug* It really depends on what one is used to. Perhaps knowing neither, it might make a decent case, but there's already a lot of existing things that would have to be redone.

Celcius vs fahrenheit -> freezing in celcius is below 0, makes more sense to me... Kelvin would be even better since is is SI, but K to C is K-273, very easy.. also like metric C is easier to calculate with..

Perhaps, but then there would be a lot of recipes that would have to be rewritten.

PAL vs NTFC -> PAL has a clearer picture (though a slightly lower refresh rate, but IMHO the better picture quality justifies that)

Oog, I think the refresh rates of TVs are way too low as is. "Clearer" or "better" still sounds subjective to me, though.

110V vs 240V -> it used to be 220V but they found out that higher is better..

This still doesn't address why it's 'better'?

Registered: Feb 2001
Location:
Posts: 268

back on topic:

regular unleaded gas was $1.95 two months ago.
today it was $1.28.

me ->

Registered: Sep 1999
Location: Sydney Australia
Posts: 1883

quote:

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Originally posted by Toby
Originally posted by ToolkiT:
Without going into too much detail:
Metric vs miles/yard/feet etc. -> the metric system is a lot easier to calculate with...

*shrug* It really depends on what one is used to. Perhaps knowing neither, it might make a decent case, but there's already a lot of existing things that would have to be redone.

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Registered: Mar 2001
Location: Out of my skull, back in five minutes
Posts: 1435

Re: Re: Miradu

quote:

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Originally posted by Yorick
[B]I'm currently paying between $1.51 and $1.55 a gallon. The highest it got was $1.70.

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Registered: Feb 2001
Location: Greenville, SC
Posts: 172

I guess I shouldn't tell you that the station outside my place is selling regular for $1.06, and a new station in the next town is selling it for an incredible 84 cents!

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Galley

Registered: Apr 2001
Location: 'braska
Posts: 211

Website for Gas Prices

Just thought I would let everyone know about a website I found last summer.

gaspricewatch.com

They rely on volunteer "spotters" to update local gas prices. It generally works better in metro areas where more people are spotting, compared to the sparse population density of Nebraska, where I live.

You can also set up a custom Avantgo Channel with your "my stations" page. That way, you always have relatively current information.

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location:
Posts: 3034

Originally posted by ToolkiT:
not completly true... a decimal system is easier since there is a fixed order.

Yeah, but it's still a fixed order that you have to learn. Millimeter, centimeter, decimeter, meter, decameter, hectometer, kilometer, etc.

while there are x feet in a yard, y yards in a mile etc etc.

I've never met a person who thinks of miles in terms of how many yards there are in a mile (actually I know of very few people who even use yards on a regular basis unless they're talking about football).

off course there have to be a lot of systems redone...

Which is exactly why they haven't been. There has yet to be a really compelling reason.

true change -> work.... inevetable..

OK, you're obviously only interested in platitudes. What exactly is objectively better about my being able to get 482.7 km out of a tank of gas instead of 300 miles? What's objectively better about getting 10.2 KPL instead of 24 MPG?

I don't know the technical details, but I guess with a higher voltage you can generate more power...

Well, yeah, but why bother on things that'll never use it? I've got both in my house, but only the appliances that actually need that much power have 220/240 outlets (water heater, washer, dryer, etc.).

Registered: Jul 2000
Location: Beverly, MA
Posts: 125

Here in the North Shore of Boston, I am paying around $1.67 per gallon for 87 octane gas. My '94 Camry gets pretty good gas mileage, so it doesn't bother me too much. Plus I only have a 15 minute drive to work.

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