Plan B Forum

I liked it too BSG, but I didn't see much standing up for the little guy (or robbing from the rich to give to the poor), more championing the rights of the nobility against idiotic royalty. Now granted the earl (or whatever) of Loxley did appear to be fairly benevolent, but I doubt all those who joi...

Free, Simpson5215? Google is a charity that gives stuff away? No, you "pay" for the information in the same way you pay for NBC's and other ntetwork's programming, by enduring the advertising streaming into your computer when you access their site. Miles-- If I choose to use them I exercise due dill...

No one, certinly not me, is saying the woman should not have used common sense, or that she may be largely, or even entirely, responsible for what occurred. But the question is, shouldn't google also have to use the same common sense and not provide walking directions which require the user to walk ...

Big RR wrote: Moral responsibility Gob? Certainly. And the justice system sometimes does step in when people do not live up to their moral responsibilities. But to criminalize immoral actions is not the answer. But surely injury due to immoral actions deserves recompense? Recompense? Quite likely; ...

Well at least two of the beatles; the other two are indisposed and cannot tour (and i can't really blame them; concerts are supposed to be live performances).

Miles--so you are saying that google has no responsibility for ascertaining that the directions it gives are safe, or even effective? Why?

Moral responsibility Gob? Certainly. And the justice system sometimes does step in when people do not live up to their moral responsibilities. But to criminalize immoral actions is not the answer. Indeed, promoting persona responsbility to protect onself when one doesn't know one's partner well is. ...

My guess is that the smell from the ants was formic acid (I remember this from the giant ant movie "THEM", see movies do teach some things). Formic acid often accompanies fermentation processes as a byproduct of the sugar metabolism/breakdown. It is not particularly toxic as i recall, and imparts a ...

Just to use food and drug safety regulations as an example, aren't we in essence telling people that they are not comopetent to decide for themselves what is good for them and what isn't? (And to a large extent, that's true, I'm sure millions of people would still be buying the snake oil that used ...

Perhaps, but then the devil excretes some mighty tasty shite.

My understanding is that, as commonly used, vegetables ar eplants that are cultivated for eating at least part of the plant, stem, leaves, or roots. I think potatoes clearly fall into that definition and most people would consider them vegetables. Fruits (like apples) and nuts (like almonds) are edi...

Crackpot--mushrooms are indeed, fungi, but they are commonly classed as vegetables, and are a good part of many vegetarian diets. You wouldn't call them meat or animal products, would you? Tyro--it is tasty many times (look a blue cheese), and some of it makes a pretty potent antibiotic (one of the ...

So yes, selt belt laws are a means of protecting people from their own stupidity. So is a lot of safety regulation. No, the majority of safety regulations save us from the stupidty of others--very few laws are enacted to protect us from ourselves. I recognize the slippery slope of couching the argu...

What would you classify mushrooms as Tyro?

And congrats to Hatch--the dish looks delicious.

rather than have the buyer incur them repeatedly on deals that fell through, or for multiple prospective buyers of a single house to repeatedly pay for the same title search, inspection, appraisal, etc. I don't know in the UK, but here in the US a title search would be rquired prior to the issuance...

Maybe, after all they have all the secret information they need to secretly convict and secretly sentnence him. Dean Wormer, inventor of double secret probation, would be proud.

My guess is that he thought it was a dead dog laying in the road and he planned to run over or straddle it, but those plans changed when he say it was a child. As for "short by inches", it doesn't say how many--could easily have been several hundred inches; but I have no doubt he had to brake sudden...

I have a lot of respect for Cleese for doing that.

BigRR, I've got no problems legislating simple easy fixes that can save lives when it is something like a seat belt or a helmet (and in my statements above I was referring to bike = bicycle helmets, which typically are not mandatory) not motorcycle helmets, although the same rationale applies. Do t...

My younger daughter walked off an elevator in a museum when she was 2 or 3, and I saw her as the door closed. It was an express elevator to the main floor (4 floors below) and I set the land sped record running back up the stairs (probably about 8 floors worth considering the high ceilings th museum...