Only in America (cont'd) NB

[Sybarite]

Only in America (cont\'d) NB

Two extracts from the Stella awards :

1) A woman sued Mazda cars for at least $150 000 for not giving clear instructions on how to fasten a seat belt.

2) Another woman sued American Express for $ 2 000 000 for the emotional distress resulting from her running up a $ 950 000 bill which she couldn't pay. They ought to have known that she was unstable and a complusive spender.

John

 

[CharlesM]

Re: Only in America (cont\'d) NB

You know, we are quick to knock Americans, and I am one of those that knock but there are some things that they do do well....


Nautical charts for free since the taxpayer has already paid....

Sensible approach regarding ships radio licences....

Charles

 

[Romeo]

Re: Only in America (cont\'d) NB

"You know, we are quick to knock Americans, and I am one of those that knock but there are some things that they do do well....


Nautical charts for free since the taxpayer has already paid....

Sensible approach regarding ships radio licences...".


Not much compared to global warming and global war mongering is it?

 

[ubuysa]

Re: Only in America (cont\'d) NB

Sadly it's not only in America anymore. The stupidity of allowing "no win, no fee" here will lead to the same nonesense. The "compensation culture" it breeds which leads people to assume that somebody else is always at fault, without accepting any personal responsibility, is a recipe for disaster.

Tony C.

 

[andyb]

Re: Only in America (cont\'d) NB

Read somewhere about a guy who had just collected his brand new Winebago, anyway he's driving down the interstate, switches on the cruise control, AND CLIMBS IN THE BACK TO MAKE HIMSELF A COFFEE!!
obviously crashes, and succsesfully sues the manafactuer, becuase it did not mention this in the owners manual.

Also a women sued a large department store after she tripped over a wayward child and broke her leg. she claimed the store should have made facilties for such badly behaved minors. she won her claim.
By the way, it was her child

 

[Romeo]

Re: Only in America (cont\'d) NB

Ah the power of the internet knows no bounds when it comes to perpetuating urban myths.

 

[andyb]

Re: Only in America (cont\'d) NB

I'm a rural myth actually! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[Sybarite]

Re: Only in America (cont\'d) NB

http://www.madisonrecord.com/news/newsview.asp?c=132341
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/12/19/INGB8AA7L01.DTL

Up to you to judge the reliability of the source...

John

 

[Lightnup]

Re: Only in America (cont\'d) NB

"Not much compared to global warming and global war mongering is it?"

Robbie - Global warming is a myth. And if two of the most well-known buildings in the U.K. are ever reduced to rubble by terrorists, killing several thousand in the process, as happened in America, then let's talk about your views of "war mongering."

 

[snowleopard]

urban myths

[ QUOTE ]
By the way, it was her child

[/ QUOTE ]

here's an interesting fact: if you take your dog to the vet and he bites you during the consult, you can sue the vet as he/she is considered to be responsible for the animal.

another though on a shakier legal footing, is that vets can legally treat humans but doctors can't treat animals.

(these aren't urban myths, we have 2 vets in the family)

 

[LittleShip]

Re: Only in America (cont\'d) NB

"Robbie - Global warming is a myth."

Oh Yes,........................you wish?

 

[andyb]

Re: urban myths

Definatly true on the vet front, a couple of years ago i had the vet out to castrate my horse, anyway he and the assistant where having a tough time holding the bugger, so I climbed in to help, only to be told that I could not help, as if I was injured I could sue the vet.

 

[CharlesM]

Re: Only in America (cont\'d) NB

>>- Global warming is a myth<<

This is one of the scariest attitudes around. Really sounds like some kind of ostrich bury the head movement which allows you to continue polluting our planet without a second thought.

Surely you cannot deny humans are responsible for the increasing CO2 in the atmosphere?

See the article on the Dimming Sun http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4171591.stm to see what effect the increased CO2 would do to our planet if it was not for the particulate matter (also thanks to human pollution) in the air.

<<Not much compared to global warming and global war mongering is it? >>

Although the Americans are not interested in Kyoto, and are on average, consuming 7 times the sustainable level - the UK is not much better. The UK has commited to Kyoto and improving on CO2 (and other) emissions, the average Jo is still consuming between 3 and 4 times the sustainable level.

Charles

 

[snowleopard]

Re: Only in America (cont\'d) NB

look here (scroll down to the last pic

 

[catmandoo]

Re: Only in America (cont\'d) NB

you only need one major volcano eruption to make human emissions look like a piss in the ocean

 

[BrendanS]

Re: Only in America (cont\'d) NB

A very simplistic arguement. The volcanic emissions have an effect for a short while, the human emissions are sustained over hundreds of years and increasing.

 

[ubuysa]

Re: Only in America (cont\'d) NB

[ QUOTE ]
volcanic emissions have an effect for a short while

[/ QUOTE ]

Now that IS simplistic. The odd puff from Etna might be short lived, but the earth is a volvanic cauldron and in the geolocical past there have been many eruptions (the Decca Traps in India for example) that were so massive that they were climate altering. Evidence is emerging that the major species extinctions that we use to separate the periods in the geolocical record are mostly volcanic in origin. Sorry, but in the long term I'm with catmandoo.

Tony C.

 

[BrendanS]

Re: Only in America (cont\'d) NB

I wasn't talking about if volanoes could alter climate, but about emissions from volcanoes compared to man made emissions.

"The short answer is as follows: As a long-term average, volcanism produces about 5X10^11 kg of CO2 per year; that production, along with oceanic and terrestrial biomass cycling maintained a carbon dioxide reservoir in the atmosphere of about 2.2X10^15 kg. Current fossil fuel and land use practices now introduce about a (net) 17.6X10^12 kg of CO2 into the atmosphere and has resulted in a progressively increasing atmospheric reservoir of 2.69X10^15 kg of CO2. Hence, volcanism produces about 3% of the total CO2 with the other 97% coming from anthropogenic sources. For more detail, see Morse and Mackenzie, 1990, Geochemistry of Sedimentary Carbonates."

anthropogenic sources are human sources by the way.

http://volcano.und.nodak.edu/

If you want to talk about long term effects of volcanoes, the same site has some interesting reading