From: Eeyore on 4 Nov 2006 10:20 unsettled wrote: > Eeyore wrote: > > jmfbahciv(a)aol.com wrote: > >> "T Wake" <usenet.es7at(a)gishpuppy.com> wrote: > >> > >>>When people I know go to [Insert European Destination Here] on Holiday, they > >>>will often shop for things as well. > >>> > >>>Isn't it strange. > >>> > >>>Also, we actually do have shopping malls here in Europe. > >>> > >>>What a wonderful world we live in. > >> > >>Think about how mobile people how work are. When they > >>go visit a foreign for their jobs, they experience new > >>foods, products, etc. They bring back enough and their > >>neighbors see the stuff or taste it. So now they would > >>like to have some. The next time a friend of theirs goes > >>to that country, he a grocery list. Eventually when the > >>authors of the list go on vacation, part of the constraint > >>of their plans is go somewhere so they can stock up on X > >>product. > > > > > > There's no real need to do that in the UK since we have the ingredients for most > > world cooking available in the shops here. > > I never was able to find buttermilk in any shop or > "supermarket." Probably because there's little demand for it. I've not even sure what it is ! What do you use it for ? You can certainly buy it online. http://www.goodnessdirect.co.uk/cgi-local/frameset/detail/408254.html Graham
From: Eeyore on 4 Nov 2006 10:22 unsettled wrote: > Eeyore wrote: > > unsettled wrote: > > > >>Interestingly people like Eeyore also tend to believe that > >>new drugs are simply riped off older drugs, so all is well > >>in their little world. > > > > > > *Some* of them are. > > > > Graham > > Congratulations, you're beginning to see the > light. Please don't stop there. I've nevr had any illusions about the matter which you would know if you actually read what I wrote instead of intentionally misinterpreting / misrepresenting it. Graham
From: Spehro Pefhany on 4 Nov 2006 10:46 On Sat, 04 Nov 06 13:34:16 GMT, the renowned jmfbahciv(a)aol.com wrote: .. > >REally? For shopping, it's recommended to avoid the entire Tsim Tsa Tsui tourist ghetto with all the unmarked prices on plastic-wrapped electronics and brightly-lit rip-off high pressure shops. They regularly pull all kinds of shenanigans. It's not worth the risk, and even if you save a few percent (perhaps just the sales tax) they might sell you a used item for a new price, swap items while they are wrapping it up, sell you something with a useless warranty etc. The fixed price shops like Fortress and City Chain are nothing special in price or selection, IMO, although if you're in the market for a $5K+ watch, there are only a few places worldwide that are comparable (South Florida maybe comes close). Price aside, you might find later models of shoes, cameras or watches than you would elsewhere. I like the big Japanese-run department stores in Causeway Bay for miscellaneous items. There are some fun electronics (parts and tools) shops in the Shum Shui Po working class district. >How about labor? Can you still buy stuff cheaper >if the thingie involves labor? I'm thinking of custom-made >suits and shoes. HK has a GDP per capita that is almost as high as the US average, and downtown commercial and office (and residential) rents that are comparable to, or higher than, Manhattan. C. bought a very nice custom-tailored suit from a famous HK ladies' place about 20 years ago (three fittings, IIRC it took about a week), and some expensive copies of a shirt for her dad. Most of the tailors there seem to be Indians these days and are aiming more down market and hard sell. You can probably still save a bit, if you know where to go, but hotels are not especially cheap, so if you have to stay an extra few days you'd better save a a fair bit of money). A lot of HK residents seem to pop over the border to the "wild west" Shenzhen and get clothes made, where labor is maybe 1/5 the cost. Quality of everything from fabric to thread to "notions" should be specified, AFAIUI (or bring your own). There's a truly appalling 8 or so story shopping mall called "Lo Wu Commercial Centre" that's just across the SAR boundary from the KCR terminus. Extremely aggressive touts, grossly overinflated asking prices and dubious merchandise, but deals are possible for the canny. There are a couple of entire floors of tiny shops with seamstresses and a few larger places that do foot massage and pedicures. I avoid that place like the plague (and the whole (relatively) crime-ridden main train station area).. there are much nicer shopping experiences to be had in the several downtown districts such as Dongmen (pedestrian mall featuring mostly ladies clothing and accessories). Sadly, there is little in the way of guidebooks for English-speakers. The MIXC mall by the Shun Hing square (in Shenzhen, one of the top 10 tallest buildings in the world) is huge, and quite up market but there's nothing much you couldn't find in Beverly Hills, Toronto or Paris. If I want to buy an $1100 B & 0 wired telephone I don't need to go to China...) A full Olympic style skating rink on the 5th or 6th floor (quite expensive to use, several times what I normally pay). >> Compared to >>more socialist places such as the US and Europe and China their >>taxation regime is remarkably favorable, particularly to the well-off. > >If you want your country to be successful and thrive, you have >to be kind to your wealthy. > >/BAH It also helps when your defense is entirely covered by someone else (Britain or now China), there's only one level of government (and it's benign paternalistic/autocratic and well-run), an excellent and uncorrupted legal system, and when the government has a back door way of raising funds by releasing parcels of extremely expensive land through auctions. Then you can afford to have almost all health care covered by the government, extensive and high-quality bus, subway and ferry public transit, good schools and universities, government planning and subsidy of top business priorities, a fine police force, tough environmental standards, 15-16% top income tax rates, no sales taxes (aside from a few items like gasoline, cigarettes, autos and alcohol), generous deductions for lower income people, no mandatory payroll deductions, even more generous deductions for the rich, and to exempt capital gains, interest income, and offshore business profits from any taxation whatsoever. Best regards, Spehro Pefhany -- "it's the network..." "The Journey is the reward" speff(a)interlog.com Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.com Embedded software/hardware/analog Info for designers: http://www.speff.com
From: krw on 4 Nov 2006 10:51 In article <zRz2h.4036$B31.709(a)newssvr27.news.prodigy.net>, lucasea(a)sbcglobal.net says... > > "JoeBloe" <joebloe(a)thebarattheendoftheuniverse.org> wrote in message > news:iualk291t97f8404q1sh653htevg49g4s6(a)4ax.com... > > On 2 Nov 2006 18:23:32 -0800, "MooseFET" <kensmith(a)rahul.net> Gave us: > > > >>He is right. The new drug can't be the exact same chemical as the old > >>one... > > > > Bullshit. Patents get RENEWED BEFORE they expire. > > Where did you get *that* silly idea??? You might just want to go back to > insults--at least you understand those. > Actually, he's right (patents do need to be renewed) but this fact is irrelevant to the discussion. -- Keith
From: joseph2k on 4 Nov 2006 10:54
jmfbahciv(a)aol.com wrote: > In article <454B7E29.47B9698C(a)hotmail.com>, > Eeyore <rabbitsfriendsandrelations(a)hotmail.com> wrote: >> >> >>jmfbahciv(a)aol.com wrote: >> >>> <lucasea(a)sbcglobal.net> wrote: >>> >>> >and much of that in older >>> >homes that can benefit from improved insulation, if the economic >>> >benefit > is >>> >there. The rest is domestically supplied--either natural gas or >>> >already >>> >electric. For heating (warm air, hot water, and for cooking), ship the fuel to the point of use, 80% energy efficiency is easily obtainable. Burning fuel to make electricity which is later turned directly into heat is criminally inefficient with a 45% upper bound. (the limiting factor is the power plant not at end use.) >>> >Add to this the fact that much of the oil home heating will >>> >be >>> >taken up by natural gas, since it is much cheaper in most markets. And > add >>> >to this the fact that it is in the summer, not the winter, that the > electric >>> >grid is stretched to anywhere near its limit. >>> >>> No, it's not. Ours is stretched in the winter too. If everybody >>> goes to electric heating, there will black outs during the winter. >> >>Do you guys not have fireplaces any more ? > > Only for show. Are you saying that it's OK to pollute > the air for heating? > > /BAH If you are going to allow fireplaces at all, at least allow(require) them to provide a decent heat return on the fuel and pollution. The idea of allowing the pollution only for show and not allowing it for heating is extraordinarily repellant. -- JosephKK Gegen dummheit kampfen die Gotter Selbst, vergebens. --Schiller |