Uber acts as a payment processing system and hub for finding customers. They are independent contractors.

Can he leave Star Trek alone then?

There’s ways to violate the spirit of everyone of those restrictions. And Uber does it all. Sorry. My point still stands. If it was that clear, then there wouldn’t be a class-action lawsuit right now contending that Uber drivers are, in fact, employees.

The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of the potato.

This is a good thing.

Uber and Lyft drivers are not “sole proprietors” or “business owners” in the way that they have classically been. Only in a very strict legal sense. In essence, they’re workers. When business owners have a business, they don’t rent their things out to others so others can make a profit. There is a price that the…

There’s nothing wrong with changing your mind. The problem revolves around why, and everything Hillary has done to “evolve” on issues suggests her motive is political expediency. Sanders has changed his mind in the course of this campaign, specifically on the issue of racial justice, in which he’s placing a greater…

I’ve yadda-yadda’d the universe, too.

Unless you find some way to heat the greenhouse at night, it’s going to lose that heat as soon as the sun goes down. Which means, in higher latitudes, in mid-afternoon, in the winter time. That’s not a sufficient amount of sunlight (or temperature) to grow a lot of things. Although that might be good for some plants,…

This is an odd comment to see from two years ago, after Netflix programming got gold at the Emmy’s for their shows.

That’s more dedication to getting it right than I’d be willing to commit, then. I live in Texas and tried year-round growing in a greenhouse, and it didn’t work out so well. Some plants, which are staples in Texas (like okra), need more climate control than even a greenhouse in winter can provide.

That depends on where you were at. If you were in a place that had a year-round grow season where you could basically grow anything you want in the climate, all year round, then, yeah, that would be something that would be preferable. Most places do not have that kind of climate. In the United States, at least.

Well, for one, that would make the farms seasonal. Part of the draw of vertical farming is that you can theoretically grow anything you want. If you just have a large greenhouse, you’ll still have to control the climate, which is going to be the bulk of the energy used. Even if lights, especially LEDs, are used, it…

Yeah, I know. I just don’t think vertical farms are a cover, though. I do not think any university has a working vertical farm... in the United States, as far as I’m aware, anyway.

AFAIK, the vertical farms that do exist are commercial operations that mainly grow lettuce or some other useless vegetable.

Re: Boyd; I’m not sure who that is! My username comes from Joseph Schumpeter.

There’s give and take. For all the acreage we use, it does a lot to destroy the environment (especially with the kinds of chemicals we apply in large-scale agriculture.) Not only that, but the system as it is is extremely vulnerable to failure. These e. coli outbreaks are one example, but another is what happens when…

Most “vertical farms” that exist these days don’t rely on any sunlight. They rely on growlights (which we can thank marijuana growers for helping us refine.) Sunlight itself isn’t necessarily needed; you just need some spectrum of light from a lightsource that’s adequate for whatever you’re growing.

“A flopped-over traffic cone”

So... it’s a Gameboy.