Buying in the States was Re: HP analyzer probes

From: Fred N. van Kempen <waltje_at_pdp11.nl>
Date: Wed Jun 30 13:57:06 2004

On Wed, 30 Jun 2004, der Mouse wrote:

> Actually, no, I haven't. I don't even own a working television,
> haven't for decades.
Good stuff. Gives you lots of time for more interesting hobbies,
such as dragging 400-lbs computers around. I do have two TV's (and
all that comes with it), but only for my girlfriend, and for watching
DVDs.

> > things from one province to another.
> What are you smoking - and where can I get some?
Probably part of our (Dutch) national export? :)

> > The opposite is true in Canada and most other countries. You also
> > have to do everything in two langauges (by law, no less!).
>
> Only in rather special circumstances are you required by law to do
> anything in both languages. (The major circumstance is if you're a
> government; I'm not aware of any others, though they may well exist.)
> Except for governments, in Québec, using any language other than French
> is not required by law; outside Québec, I am not aware of any laws
> requiring the use of any particular language.
Most European countries have a "federal" (== national) taxing system,
which includes sales tax. Revenue from that flows back to teh various
provinces ("states") by ratio of their industry numbers. So, provinces
with little commercial activity will get less of that total revenue
than a busy province, such as North Holland (in which Amsterdam lies.)

This makes sense: that same total sales tax is "brought in" by that
same industry, so the division is more or less fair.

> > I found that they frequently refused to speak English to other
> > Canadians from outside of Quebec since they expected them to be able
> > to speak in French.
>
> Some of the more arrogant language bigots do. Everywhere has its
> arrogant bigots - yes, including the US. Fortunately, language bigotry
> is fading here.
THis happened to me, too.. sorry, Mouse. They do seem to have a
problem with American-sounding people (like me, since I sound like
an American, not a Dutchie ;-)

--f
Received on Wed Jun 30 2004 - 13:57:06 BST