I don't think it's about price. I believe it's about capacity. Population is growing -- in SF it's growing a lot -- but SFO and LAX are at capacity. California needs another option for moving people between LA and the Bay Area since it's not possible to fly more planes.
This. Regional and state-wide transit is all connected. The high speed rail project also includes regional upgrades like the electrification of Caltrain.
2 hours and 40 minutes from downtown SF to downtown LA by train beats flying once you factor in transport to and from airports, security checks etc. Not to mention that SFO and LAX can't increase capacity to follow demand. The high speed rail project makes a ton of sense.
You're comparing apples and oranges. The TV licenses are funding for the public broadcasters to provide programming. They do not go towards laying cables into people's home for cable tv reception and do not fund cell phone towers. It is quite irrelevant to bring into this issue.
In American terms: The TV license pays for PBS programming, it's not a subsidy for Comcast to lay cables.
Any well-rounded company needs a mix of "rockstars" who push the newest fads and try to work out complex solutions (even if the problem is not always complex) and "get shit done" people who makes sure the release is ready by Friday morning no matter what. I've found that these two types of developers compliment each other well -- if there's mutual respect.
BSE/Mad Cow fears. Because of the BSE outbreak in the UK in the 80s (and the various smaller outbreaks later) the US authorities were scared shitless at some point. So if you've lived 5 or more years in Europe you're banned from donating blood forever.
Not sure I understand the logic... Quarantine for a set period I can understand, but banning for life makes little sense. After all there are many blood donors in all European countries and we don't all end up with mad cow disease when we receive blood transplants.
For comparison: After having lived in the US you are banned from giving blood in Denmark for 1 _month_
All Europeans are also banned from giving blood for forever. I'm a very recent transplant to the US from Denmark. I was a regular blood donor in Denmark and checked up on the US regulations before moving here. Even wrote the local blood bank because I didn't believe that the "if you've lived more than 5 years in Europe, you can't give blood ever" was for real. Sadly, the rule is very much real.
The blood bank was also annoyed but there's nothing they can do. I'd write my representative, but as a non-citizen I don't have one.