Category: Law

How Breath Alcohol Analysis Works

Leave a comment

Alcohol shows up in the breath because it gets absorbed from the mouth, throat, stomach and intestines into the bloodstream. Alcohol­ is not digested upon absorption, nor chemically changed in the bloodstream. As blood circulates through the lungs, some of the alcohol moves across the membranes of the lung’s alveoli, into the air stored within the lungs. Because the alcohol concentration in the breath is related to the concentration in the blood, an approximate measurement can be identified when using a simple ratio formula of breath alcohol to blood alcohol which is 2100:1. This means that 2100 milliliters of alveolar air will contain the same amount of alcohol as 1 milliliter of blood

The Reason American Executive Sam Altman Carries a Blue Backpack Wherever He Goes

1 Comment

Sam Altman, the Chief Executive Officer of OpenAI which is the organization that created ChatGPT and GPT4, carries a small light blue backpack virtually everywhere he goes. This backpack serves a single function, to act as a remote detonator if ChatGPT and/or GPT4 suddenly becomes rogue and starts causing immense damage to human beings and society as a whole (e.g. causing self-driving vehicles to purposefully crash etc.). Because artificial intelligence has yet to be developed to the level that OpenAI has achieved, it is unknown as to the full potential benefits as well as risks and harms artificial intelligence may develop as more data sets are fed into it in an attempt to increase and expand upon what has already been accomplished. Despite this glaring risk, many teams around the world are working to create and improve different variations of artificial intelligence

The Etymology of the “AR15” Firearm and the Civilian AR15 vs the Military AR15

2 Comments

Contrary to popular belief, the civilian version of the AR15 firearm is not an assault rifle, nor does the “AR” portion of the name stand to represent the term “assault rifle”. The AR15 is named as such because it was the 15th design (e.g. the “15” portion of “AR15”) of a firearm originally manufactured by ArmaLite (e.g. the “AR” portion of “AR15”), an American firearms manufacturer which has manufactured and sold the AR15 since 1959, with the firearm first being developed in 1956. The civilian version of the AR15 firearm became available to consumers from 1963 onward. The primary difference between the militarized model and the civilian model, being the function to enable automatic fire. Once the function of automatic fire is enabled, the AR15 is considered a militarized assault rifle

The Reasons Public Bathroom Stalls Do Not Touch the Ground

2 Comments

The reason commercial and industrial buildings have bathroom stalls which do not reach the floor is multifaceted. The design of doors which do not touch the ground provides a myriad of benefits including being easier to clean for custodial staff (e.g. reaching all areas with mop and bucket or pressure washer etc.), providing emergency access for first responders (e.g. elderly person who is unfamiliar and becomes confused thus falling down, an unconscious person who has suffered a health issue, wanted person hiding from law enforcement etc.), acting as a deterrent for unintended uses (e.g. using illicit drugs, consuming alcohol underage, sexual intercourse etc.), providing better air circulation between stalls so that odors do not linger, and limiting the spread of bacteria which reside upon the floor. In addition to these main reasons, it is additionally more cost effective as less material is used and the same door size fits and can be used for virtually all establishments, it is easier to escape from if a lock jams occurs, and toilet paper can be shared between stalls

The Minimum Salary Within the U.S. National Basketball Association

1 Comment

As of 2023, the minimum salary of a U.S. National Basketball Association professional player is $953,000 per year, which equates to $220.00 – $330.00 per hour as players work 60 – 90 hour work weeks (e.g. basketball game of 2 – 3 hours, post game interview of 1 – 2 hours, training of 3 – 4 hours etc.)

The Legality of Retail Stores Demanding to See a Purchase Receipt

1 Comment

It is illegal for a private company (e.g. Walmart etc.) to demand to see a customers receipt at the point of leaving the premises (e.g. Walmart greeter demanding to see customer receipt as they leave the store) however the private corporation does have the legal authority to detain a customer due to “shopkeeper’s/merchant’s privilege” as long as reasonable suspicion has been met (e.g. customer refusing to show a receipt while leaving with product in hand etc.). Reasonable suspicion deems that the retailer must have a reasonable belief, based upon specific facts, evidence, and circumstances, that the customer has committed theft. For this reason, randomly selecting customers (e.g. customer with no product in hand leaving the store etc.) to show a receipt without any suspicion is problematic. Membership retail establishments (e.g. Costco or Sam’s Club etc.) can demand to see proof of membership as well as proof of receipt because when members sign up they agree to specific terms and conditions. Refusal to comply with store policy may result in consequences, up to and including being denied future entry and/or membership termination

The Correlation Between International Conflict and the White Supremacist Movement

1 Comment

Throughout U.S. history, there has always remained a correlation between the aftermath of conflict and vigilante and revolutionary violence connected to the White Supremacist movement. Surges of Ku Klux Klan membership align more closely with veterans of combat and the aftermath of war than they do with anti-immigration, populism, economic hardship, or any of the other political factors experts have traditionally relied upon to explain sudden spikes of membership affiliation. White supremacist activity always have a direct link to post war periods, including notable individuals such as George Lincoln Rockwell who was a World War II veteran and founder of the American Nazi Party, Richard Butler who was also a World War II veteran and founder of the Aryan Nations, Louis Beam who was a Vietnam War veteran and Grand Dragon of the Klux Klux Klan, and Timothy McVeigh who was a Gulf War Veteran and responsible for the Oklahoma City bombing of 1995

U.S. Presidents Who Participated Within the Practice of Slavery

2 Comments

10 of the first 12 U.S. presidents owned slaves, with the only exclusions being the 2nd president John Adams and the 6th president John Quincy Adams, the son of John Adams. George Washington owned an estimated 200 – 600+ slaves, Thomas Jefferson owned an estimated 200 – 600+ slaves, and Zachary Taylor owned an estimated 300 slaves. The U.S. president with the least number of slaves, not including presidents who did not own slaves, is a tie between the 8th president, Martin Van Buren and the 18th US president, Ulysses S. Grant, each owning one slave. It should be noted, 12 U.S. presidents owned slaves at some point in their lives, however of these 12, 8 owned slaves while in office. The last U.S. president to participate within slavery whilst still in office was Zachary Taylor, and the last U.S. president to own an enslaved person at any time was Ulysses S. Grant. The last person enslaved by a U.S. president was William Andrew Johnson, who was enslaved by the 17th U.S. president, Andrew Johnson. It is believed that Johnson paid $500.00 for William Andrew Johnson’s mother, which equates to $19,348.46 as of 2023 when accounting for inflation using the base year of 1850, 10 years after Johnson’s first slave purchase and 15 years before he became president of the U.S.

The Universal Income Tax Bracket of U.S. Hedge Fund Managers

1 Comment

The highest paid hedge fund managers and public equity managers are taxed at 15% which is much lower than virtually all other public income tax rates, because of the U.S.’ income tax code, specifically the “carried interest” provision which states that the income of a hedge fund and/or public equity manager is subject to the tax rate of capital gains, even though unlike normal capital gains, hedge fund managers and public equity managers are not required to risk their own financial capital, as they use the capital of their clients. This law is within U.S. income tax legislation because of the incredible lobbying effort of the private sector financial industry. Since 2006, every democratic president, including Barrack Obama, has strived to close the carried interest legislative loophole. The bill designed to strike down this provision passed the House twice, but consistently falls short of being passed as a bill into law due to pressure from the financial industry, a powerful collective who help raise record amounts of financial capital for the campaigns of members of U.S. politicians

The Fashion Police of North Korea

Leave a comment

In North Korea, music that is not state approved is illegal, international telephone calls are illegal, smiling in public upon the anniversary of Kim Il Sung’s death is illegal, and perhaps most bizarre, leather coats are illegal, with this last law passed in December of 2021 to dissuade North Korean citizens from imitating Kim Jong Un who wore a black cow hide coat in public on numerous occasions. This style of black leather coat became massively popular after Kim wore it in news media coverage in 2019 and because of this, imitation coats have become more readily available in North Korea. Surprisingly, fashion police are employed by the North Korean state to patrol and search for anyone wearing this style of garment as well as to search and help take down companies found manufacturing the coat