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Piggybacking off newtboys comment. Mylar balloons, are the one thing i find more than anything else, when i'm hiking off trail in nature. Those things never break down.

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I always thought they were singing "piggyback rider".

Seems to be you can't really add senses without infringing upon our already existing ones. In his case he uses some of his hearing "bandwidth" to perceive colour. Maybe one day we'll be able to wire in completely new senses, but I don't imagine that will be soon.

Tbh, I consider us all to be psuedo-cyborgs because of our phone apps not in spite of them. We are all almost always connected with a wealth of utilities at our finger tips, some of which you could say broaden our senses. Do we need to implant microchips in our brain when carrying a device that fits in your hand is just that much more convenient - and you can opt out at any time. I think we are heading to headsupdisplays and truly hands-free interfacing. Does that make it more of a part of us than it is already? I'm not so sure tbh. Whats the advantage of putting it under your skin when it'll still be piggybacking off existing senses?

Anyway, transhumanism is fascinating. I hope we survive long enough.

>> ^marbles:

[S]ince companies can gain a market advantage by piggybacking on government infrastructure and making political deals, then it leads to oligopolies where the consumers are given false choices at inflated prices in their goods and services.
I'm not sure why the words "government" or "political" are in there. Companies can gain advantage by piggybacking on some other company's infrastructure, and the infrastructure's owner can make exclusivity agreements, which then lead to oligopolies where the customers are given false choices at inflated prices.

You even provided some non-governmental examples:
>> ^marbles:
Think Verizon/AT&T, Comcast/Time Warner, Energy providers, etc.

I suppose there are public electricity generation companies, but I don't remember the US government ever having a cable TV or wireless phone company.
>> ^marbles:
The USPS is self-sufficient? The USPS has several billion dollar deficits every year. To stay in business it has to "borrow" money from the US Treasury each year.

Two things. One, it's hard to find companies who didn't have losses in the last few years, and two the USPS's finances are being artificially deflated by a policy foisted on them by Congress.

That aside, self-sufficiency in this case means that nobody's taxes go to the post office. They're getting unusually cheap debt because they can borrow money using the US government's credit rating, but that doesn't cost anyone in higher taxes.

Keep in mind, this is the USPS borrowing from the Treasury. In terms of the national debt, it's an asset, not a liability. Maybe you're right, and the USPS will run up a huge debt, and then default, but I don't think so.

As for the big rant about debt and inflation, I'm too tired to run through the economics right now, but this whole story about debt & inflation is vastly, vastly overblown. Yeah, it could be a problem, maybe in 2030, and only then if we never end the Bush tax cuts, but otherwise it's just another scare tactic to make you do something that's against your own interests.

>> ^NetRunner:

First, the Post Office has been self-sufficient since the 80's. Your paycheck has nothing to do with it, unless you buy postage from the USPS.
Second, there's a difference between "inefficiency", and mandated universal service. What you describe is the latter.
And a third point to @blankfist's gung-ho praise of private carriers, all the packages I've gotten this year from Fedex were sent by Fedex's SmartPost, where they hire the USPS to do terminal delivery for them, because they can do it more efficiently.
Ditto for DHL and UPS. It's been a while since someone other than a USPS mail carrier brought me a package.
As confrontational as all that sounds, I don't really have any particular attachment to seeing government be in the mail delivery business. I don't really see any point in the universal service requirement on snail mail anymore, either.
I'm game for upgrading to something like Finland's universal service for broadband internet, since keeping us all connected via an information network is why we had a government-subsidized post office in the first place.
If you guys sign on for that, I'm all for cutting the Post Office loose.


FedEx and UPS will fly USPS mail from point A to point B. USPS will deliver the last leg of Fedex and UPS parcels in certain areas. It works both ways. They all touch each other's junk.
But the enforced monopoly on private mail creates an oligopoly in the package delivery market. This is the greater evil of government enforced monopolies. Monopolies don't lead to ingenuity, resourcefulness, or efficiency. So markets, that are seemingly free, will emerge around the government controlled one. And since companies can gain a market advantage by piggybacking on government infrastructure and making political deals, then it leads to oligopolies where the consumers are given false choices at inflated prices in their goods and services. Think Verizon/AT&T, Comcast/Time Warner, Energy providers, etc.

The USPS is self-sufficient? The USPS has several billion dollar deficits every year. To stay in business it has to "borrow" money from the US Treasury each year. ("Borrow" because it'll get paid back right?) So... where does the Treasury get it's money from? *cough* ... Taxes?!?! Ok, so technically it isn't using tax money because really that money was spent a looong time ago with how the government has it's own deficits (in the trillions!).
Basically when the USPS brags that they don't get tax payer money, it's at best a misnomer. It's actually far worse. The USPS has to "borrow" money from the US treasury, who has to "borrow" money from the Federal Reserve. And since the Federal Reserve doesn't actually have any "reserves", it magically creates the money, which debases the currency, which causes inflation. So everyone does end up paying for the deficit, only it's with an invisible tax of lost purchasing power of their money, i.e. prices go up. Yet the "debt" holder still collects interest from the tax payers and can even demand payment in full which would probably lead to confiscation of public assets and/or selling of public assets to private companies. So the reality is the USPS does cost the tax payer. The tax payer pays the deficit. Twice. Plus interest. That's why public debt is such a dangerous matter. And also why most of the debt in the world is illegitimate.

Tags for this video have been changed from 'GT5, crash, glitch' to 'gran turismo 5, crash, physics, piggyback' - edited by xxovercastxx

>> ^residue:
Brosef, what's wrong with the around the back through the legs palm-spit piggybacker??


Nothing if you're a Bromo.

Brosef, what's wrong with the around the back through the legs palm-spit piggybacker??

Maddow - like most biased pundits - has a bad habit of taking things out of context and being stupid. It is pretty obviou the Beck quote was a jibe and not meant to be a serious claim that "XYZ snowstorm disproves Global Warming". A lot of people have been making jibes of that nature, but - as Beck said - I have not seen anyone (so far) try to make a scientific argument about it. It is smacktalk. And quite frankly, the Warmers deserve it. Their arguments have been falling apart, and they need to realize they have lost the popular as well as the scientific debate.

Frankly, I think Maddow is desperate. Her ratings aren't just bad. They're non-existent. As of last week her average was under 960K viewers. Becks are over 3 million. If she doesn't turn it around she may get cancelled. I think there's blood in the water, and Maddow is trying to gin up ratings by piggybacking on Beck with a stupid manufactured 'fight'. To accomplish it she is whoring away her ethics with bogus misquotes. M'eh. Par for the course in that business.

I'd say neither ignorance nor lying. I attribute it, likely, to mental health problems! She really shouldn't be allowed to roam the streets for her own safety!

In reply to this comment by MikesHL13:
Thanks. Those full interviews on TDS were great. It was incredible how she avoided the questions. I was torn - whether it was ignorance or she was a liar.

In reply to this comment by brycewi19:
Here's the rest of the interview to piggyback Mike's submission:
http://www.videosift.com/video/TDS-Jon-Stewart-interview-with-Betsy-McCaughey-part-1
http://www.videosift.com/video/TDS-Jon-Stewart-interview-with-Betsy-McCaughey-part-2

Bam!

This lady is a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!

Thanks. Those full interviews on TDS were great. It was incredible how she avoided the questions. I was torn - whether it was ignorance or she was a liar.

In reply to this comment by brycewi19:
Here's the rest of the interview to piggyback Mike's submission:
http://www.videosift.com/video/TDS-Jon-Stewart-interview-with-Betsy-McCaughey-part-1
http://www.videosift.com/video/TDS-Jon-Stewart-interview-with-Betsy-McCaughey-part-2

Bam!

This lady is a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!

Here's the rest of the interview to piggyback Mike's submission:
http://www.videosift.com/video/TDS-Jon-Stewart-interview-with-Betsy-McCaughey-part-1
http://www.videosift.com/video/TDS-Jon-Stewart-interview-with-Betsy-McCaughey-part-2

Bam!

This lady is a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!

Tags for this video have been changed from 'mascot piggyback track fail hurdle blind' to 'mascot, piggyback, track, fail, hurdle, blind' - edited by SlipperyPete