Stossel on Regulations

A recent John Stossel column about his attempt to open a lemonade stand "by the book" in New York City just about has to be read to be believed:

Here's some of what one has to do:
-- Register as sole proprietor with the County Clerk's Office (must be done in person)
-- Apply to the IRS for an Employer Identification Number.
-- Complete 15-hr Food Protection Course!
-- After the course, register for an exam that takes 1 hour. You must score 70 percent to pass. (Sample question: "What toxins are associated with the puffer fish?") If you pass, allow three to five weeks for delivery of Food Protection Certificate.
-- Register for sales tax Certificate of Authority
-- Apply for a Temporary Food Service Establishment Permit. Must bring copies of the previous documents and completed forms to the Consumer Affairs Licensing Center.

Since the whole process  would have taken over two months, Stossel sold lemonade anyway, although he was sure to place a legally-required fire extinguisher on the table when he did.

-- CAV

--- In Other News ---

As part of a slide show explaining what a "search bubble" is -- something the folks at DuckDuckGo make a point of not placing its users into -- there is a headline from The Onion that aptly skewers the problem with tailor-made searches: "Area Woman Prefers to Get Same Advice from as Many People as Possible". So-called "personalized search" too easily slips into "baked-in confirmation bias",  and, at least the way it is being done now, I'd call it a bug, and not a feature.

A tech writer, reacting to the computing world apparently having to re-learn lessons already learned and forgotten in the past, discusses some innovative software from the 1970s and then utters the same thought I have often had regarding countless modern user interfaces: "The user is expected to learn all these widgets and how to use them and what they mean (intuitive my ass) and then whenever they need to do something they just do it repeatedly."

Heh! A blogger does an image search for iPad case and concludes, "Dude, It's a Laptop You Want, not an iPad". The writer notes: "Basically, people want cases that (a) prop the screen up and (b) have a keyboard. The thing is, we already have a gadget that does these two things. It's called a laptop."