in the olden days we used linux and mozilla when if it wasn't windows or i.e. it was nothing. i filed taxes on paper. as the web goes closed and unfree, innovators have to open up new greenfields
if mozilla dies, the open web is over. mozilla has been the champion of the open web through two browser monopolies and the five minutes in between. without them, all that is left is a the internet archive and wikipedia, neither of which can hold the web open.
That's weird. Google maps seems to prefer to direct me on a kilometres long detour than to take a simple u-turn into an empty driveway. They do seem to have rules about u-turns, they just don't make sense.
i think we agree on the facts and disagree on the interpretation. smoking rates have gone down because the goverment has tried to eradicate it. so far, without a ban. it has been pretty successful. this doesn't say much about the success of a ban, but a lot about the government's ability to protect us from ourself.
the effectiveness of bans is far from univocal (which you see to admit by using a condition which would let you move the goalposts whenever i find a counter argument), and a ban on new nicotine products today would be completely different from the ban on alcohol in 1920s America. success doesn't have to be 100% for it to be good policy either, as the ban on murder shows.
pretty easy. governments took an oppositional attitude to it. they made it easier to get information about the cons and (at least as importantly) harder to get information about the pros. amongst other things.
saying that there's a "lack of prohibition" in cigarettes is kinda missing the point. the fact that one particular approach to discouraging a disapproved substance failed, doesn't mean another approach isn't being tried and - as you note - even successfully.
> 1. i thought the idea of banning something died with the "war on drugs".
no, I never saw that memo. I'm in favor of banning many things, including but not limited to the (literal) murder trade. I'm pretty sure you are too. and the fact that people still buy murders doesn't make anyone argue that murder should be legalised.
and if you want something benign, how about partially hydrogenated vegetable oil?
> 3. how about cars?
well, at this point I'd be happy trying the licence and regulate approach. at the moment, licensing is a farce and government thinks making roads more dangerous is how you make them safer. but that's a whole nother hn thread.
I've heard from people who stopped buying cigarettes once they had to come out in olive green packaging. I guess whatever works right? It can be a pretty minor benefit, but as long as the net is in the right direction.
yes, the worst thing about the hitman trade is that it's unregulated so you can't get your money back if they kill you instead since the other guy offered a better rate. better to legalize it so these disputes can be resolved in court. and to keep regulations to a minimum so the industry can continue to innovate exciting new options.
i completely agree that the ban on murder for hire has been a total failure and should be rescinded immediately.
But i think there's a big difference between government regulation of what informed adults can put in their body, and what corporations can do in the pursuit of profit. Regulating the latter is reasonable, and has a heading in the US Constitution in something like tobacco, since its not local.
well, surely the definition is something like telling the market a product exists and/or creating that market.
which I think is quite reasonable.
it's the stuff people do and call it marketing and advertising that is dishonest - trying to make people want something despite it not being in their best interest.
once upon a time, I think we trusted businesses because we saw most business was honest. and now much less so, since we see most business is dishonest now.
What are ladyfinger bananas, if not non-cavendish bananas available in supermarkets (so cultivated) in southeast Australia (so outside of southeast Asia)?
Sure, they're more expensive than cavendish so i only take them when regular bananas are unavailable. But they're functionally non-cavendish bananas available in a place they aren't native.