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That’s some of the worst wannabe Cory Doctorow edge lord crap writing I’ve ever read. I’m surprised the author was able to resist the urge to use the word “sheeple”.

Yes, but in basically every single circumstance if you have room for 1000m of dirt, you have room for another 1000m of runway, which is even safer.

This is the reality - most airports run their runways “to the fence” for some variation of “to the fence”. If they could reasonably have a thousand extra feet of runway they’ll add that, as it supports more operations and doesn’t really hurt.

Some of them even move around the recommended touchdown point depending on other factors, if the runway is extra long.


It if supporting each customer costs them, say, $2.50

It isn’t dismissive, it’s blatant astroturfing.

Does it? Remember when Walmart sold made in the USA products exclusively? Hint: It was before Sam Walton died.


That is the point. The heirs have ruined the business by pissing on the founder's grave.


No, THE most useful advice is not to take legal advice from cops.


How do you think the police will give bad advice, if you call them up and ask what to do?


There are countless examples of police not knowing the law.

If you talk to them in person, it should be to get an idea of what they'll do, which may or may not have something to do with what's legal.

If you want legal advice, ask a lawyer with experience in the relevant area.


You don't want legal advice. You know where your stolen bike is, so you call the police. I think that's the usual process.

Probably they will verify that the bike is yours, and retrieve it, or they will say that they don't have the resources.

Are people imagining that the police will say that you can go take the bike, but then turn around and arrest you for theft?

Of course, if the police tell you "finders keepers; it's in the Constitution", then you can seek legal advice.


No. The police will offer you the option to come to the police station and fill out a report so you can get a police report number for your insurance claim. Nothing else will happen.

Police don’t usually investigate petty crimes.


> Are people imagining that the police will say that you can go take the bike, but then turn around and arrest you for theft?

People are imagining the police will tell you that you can't steal it back, when legally you can.

After all, it's the police's job to keep the peace. And things are more peaceful if I'm not busting up thieves' hideouts all guns blazing like Rambo.


I’m also imagining the police telling you that you can do something that is actually illegal, and then you get prosecuted for it. “The cops said it was ok” may not be an adequate defense.


A cop telling you it's okay to do something, and then getting arrested for it, might be one of the only times you can correctly claim entrapment.


So all Jessie Pinkman's got to do is ask the under cover police if it's okay to sell them meth and then they can't be arrested for it?

Entrapment is reserved for the police going above and beyond, eg "sell me meth or I'll kill your dog" where it can be argued that the entrapped normally would not do the crime.


Apparently there is “entrapment by estoppel” in which a government official tells you an act is legal when it isn’t. They have to be acting as a representative of the government, though; undercover cops wouldn’t count.

I still wouldn’t be very excited to try this defense in court.


> So all Jessie Pinkman's got to do is ask the under cover police if it's okay to sell them meth and then they can't be arrested for it?

No, this is about on duty police in uniform saying it's okay.


Don't you know the other rule of drug dealing? If you ask an undercover cop if they're an undercover cop, they have to tell you the truth? it's against the rules for them to lie about it.


That's a reasonable suspicion (though I think a lot of the contrarian comments are just people who want to complain about the police).

Working with that suspicion, especially given that this is HN, police saying "don't go steal it back" might still be very good advice, regardless of legal right.

For example (referring back to a scenario earlier in thread), I'm imagining a techbro crew, all jumping into one of their Teslas, and rolling up on misguided urban youth turf.

There's already a lot of misunderstanding and animosity, both ways, between stereotypes. And someone's attempt at "show of force" just escalated it. So, who will escalate the stupid further, and stab or draw a gun first.


They aren't even required to know the law.


> How do you think the police will give bad advice

the police will give you any advice, good or bad. They're not legally responsible for anything they said to you, as long as they're not telling you to commit a crime (in which case, if they did they will deny it).

You can still call 'em up of course - but don't 100% just trust their words blindly.


At this point in the US, it seems we are far better off asking ChatGPT or Claude than the average police station.


Ages ago when I tried calling the police...

"We cannot answer legal questions, please seek a lawyer for advise."

I don't do anything terribly interesting, so this was almost certainly not an issue actually worth paying $200 for a lawyer to answer.


Depends on how well they do their job, it's not hard to imagine them saying "file a report" and then ignoring it.


We have hundreds of years of examples of the blessed free market failing to do exactly that.

If the free market had it's way we'd still be under the yoke of Standard Oil and Ma Bell.

One key element of a free market is the "well informed consumer". How is the consumer supposed to be informed about what new cutting edge chemicals are toxic, for instance?


For the hundreds of years of examples, we have not had an interconnected network with information available to almost every human on the planet.


Information is good, but it doesn't automatically imply that you have an actionable path in getting what's legally yours. Besides that, the Internet hasn't nearly eradicated the inherent information and attention asymmetry between consumers and companies employing people full time to make sure they end up on top for every interaction you have with them.

Consumer protection regulations, especially those regarded trading and credit, cast a very long shadow (ray of sunlight?) you're possibly unaware of, but still immensely benefit from.

Obviously there are diminishing returns and unintended/negative effects to consumers too sometimes, but throwing protections out completely in favor of a "pure free market" doesn't do these asymmetries justice.


Not a free market project. Funded by the US military.


and quite a lot of research institutes around the world


It's very easy to argue against when the people that most want to violate the rules have congress in their back pocket. I personally prefer being actually able to breathe the air and not work 70 hours a week with no benefits.


Please don't trivialize peoples stuggles by offering pithy anecdotes.


I read his comment as an attempt to add nuance; people paralyzed from the neck down have various experiences. For example, in this study [1], only 12% of those with tetraplegy rated their quality of life as poor or very poor

[1] https://www.termedia.pl/Quality-of-life-in-patients-with-tet...


> Please don't trivialize peoples stuggles by offering pithy anecdotes.

I think you're mistaken, I didn't trivialize anything.

If anything's being trivialized, it was the value of quadriplegic people, who some internet rando blithely declared as all being incapable of having a "fulfilling life."


The average American barely knows how to turn their TV on and off. Switching inputs is a scary prospect. Having rabbit ears on your tv is also def a social status signaling thing.


> Having rabbit ears on your tv is also def a social status signaling thing.

That's what I've long suspected. No wonder it's a great opportunity to save/waste money :)

Supposedly in some social classes and age groups, broadcast TV is literally unheard of, with Best Buy promoting TV antennas accordingly ("free cable!") and people suspecting it's a scam or illegal.


to be fair, if you heard about a free tv online streaming service you might assume their business model is suspicious?

broadcast is kinda uniquely positioned.


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