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If the website redirects to an iframe (I thought these got phased out in like HTML4???) and tries to install malware, and there is no user interaction involved... what exactly is the browser doing?

Being really stupid...
http://antivirus.about.com/od/virusdescriptions/p/Blackhole-Exploit-Kit.htm

On that note, noscript, greasemonkey w/ script, and any addon that allows the blocking of the iframe tag should keep you safe, but then again how often do you visit mysql.com? :)

> Like .bash_history ?
Nobody reads the 2000 page *nix manuals anymore, I guess?

why does the FDA allow homeopathy, chiropractic, reiki, and Scientology?

In the case of homeopathy, it's a stupid 1930s law:

Because of their long use in the United States, the U.S. Congress passed a law in 1938 declaring that homeopathic remedies are to be regulated by the FDA in the same manner as nonprescription, over-the-counter (OTC) drugs, which means that they can be purchased without a physician's prescription. Today, although conventional prescription drugs and new OTC drugs must undergo thorough testing and review by the FDA for safety and effectiveness before they can be sold, this requirement does not apply to homeopathic remedies.

Even so, they do exert whatever control they are allowed over dietary supplements and homeopathic products. The internet is full of angry homeopathic victims who blame the FDA for pulling their favorite water or sugar pill.

As for the chiropractic profession, the FDA simply has no jurisdiction. Reiki and Scientology are religions.

I'd personally love to see all medical claims on products under the jurisdiction of the FDA, but I live in a superstitious society.

Thermometer readings are not subject to interpretation.

Thermometer readings are subject to all kinds of errors and probelms. Painting the box they are mounted in the wrong color, mounting the box in an asphalt parking lot. No louvers on the box. One of the columnists for Analog did an article talking about how NOAA had messed up the installations of many of their sites.

But that's only the tip of the iceberg. Thermometers are not involved in the vast majority of temperature readings today. Most are satellite based. It wasn't but a dozen years ago I remember seeing a peer-reviewed article talking about the MIScalibration of the satellite temperature measurements and what the new, correct algorithm ought to be. Temps went up a few degrees overnight, as I recall.

And, of course, thermometers were involved in NONE of the temperature "measurements" prior to their invention, which was, globally speaking, very recent. From this:

"What can be considered the first modern thermometer, the mercury thermometer with a standardized scale, was invented by Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit in 1714."

And before that, the earliest thermoscope with any calibration was just 1612:

"In 1612, the Italian inventor Santorio Santorio became the first inventor to put a numerical scale on his thermoscope. It was perhaps the first crude clinical thermometer, as it was designed to be place in a patient's mouth for temperature taking. "

Anything that talks about temperatures prior to 1700 in any objective way is using some proxy measurement. You certainly didn't think that someone who says he knows what the temperature of the planet was 10,000 years ago was actually quoting a NOAA measurement, did you?

hmm if this About article is true then you're right:
http://entrepreneurs.about.com/b/2004/04/28/reader-mail-starting-a-video-rental-business.htm

Devil's Advocate mode initiated

Imagine you are a parent of an attractive 14 year-old girl, and you

.. whore her out every weekend. Or you frequently beat/abuse her. She wants to talk with someone she knows well and trust about it, and the teacher is the one person she both knows, and trust to handle it discreetly.
But, she is not allowed to talk to any teacher privately, and she can't make herself talk about it to some complete stranger either.

What then?

From wikipedia:

Most sexual abuse offenders are acquainted with their victims; approximately 30% are relatives of the child, most often brothers, fathers, mothers, uncles or cousins; around 60% are other acquaintances such as friends of the family, babysitters, or neighbours; strangers are the offenders in approximately 10% of child sexual abuse cases.

And, from this page (general abuse, not sexual abuse specific):

In 2007, more than one-half (57 percent) of all child abuse cases and reports made to CPS agencies came from professionals who came in contact with the child, including teachers, lawyers, police officers, and social workers.

From your post:

To suggest that teachers need PRIVATEcommunication with students that neither their parents nor employers can know what is said between them is simply insanity.

I would say it would be simply obvious, not insanity. To follow your logic all the way through, no one should have any private communication to any person below 18 years of age.

End question : Are you still so certain that no teacher should ever have private communications with a student?

But making humans is one of the few things humans excel at and enjoy!

9 months+ to produce one? And in over 96% of the cases, only one?
And you call this efficiency?

Read up on the Law of Armed Conflict.

"Specific protection applies to medical units or establishments; transports of wounded and sick personnel; military and civilian hospital ships; safety zones established under the Geneva Conventions; and religious, cultural, and charitable buildings, monuments, and POW camps. However, if these objects are used for military purposes, they lose their immunity. If these protected objects are located near lawful military objectives (which LOAC prohibits), they may suffer collateral damage when the nearby military objectives are lawfully engaged."

Effectively, what the LoAC states is that military targets may be (reasonably) lawfully engaged, whether they're absolutely discrete bases or in the middle of a schoolyard. The only reason a combatant places these facilities together is to act as a human shield and discourage attack on the basis of conscience.

Seems most people who have posted think insurance tends not to cover it.
http://deafness.about.com/cs/hoth/a/hearingaidprice.htm
You know the average cost of an *uncomplicated* birth in the US is about $7,000, medicaid or not.

Umm... first of all, as a libertarian and supporter of very much of what Ron Paul advocates right now?

I thought Ron Paul was a strict Constitutionalist. Maybe you've never bothered to read the document, but the USPS is mandated in there. The other Teabaggers don't give two shits about the Constitution (Palin, Bachmann, etc.), and those are the real Teabaggers, not Paul. They've successfully co-opted the Tea Party movement, so they're not just people rallying under that label, they really do represent that label, or else Tea Party events wouldn't have them appearing there. Also, you can't be a libertarian and a Teabagger. While there are some things they sorta agree on, Teabaggers want a fundamentalist religious government; true libertarians are fundamentally opposed to religion in government. Also, Teabaggers are big supporters of government-run medical insurance, but they want the guvmint [sic] to stay out of it: http://politicalhumor.about.com/od/funnypictures/ig/Teabagging-Pictures/Government-Out-of-My-Medicare.htm

why not outlaw all the mail-slots in people's front doors?

Different rules for different locales. In my current subdivision, all the houses have mailboxes next to the front door of the house. The mailman stops at the end of the street and walks to every door. In my previous subdivision, all the mailboxes were in a single giant box bolted to the sidewalk at the end of the street. The mailman only made one stop at each giant box, and the residents had to walk themselves to the central mailbox to get their mail (a lot of apartments are the same way, except there's a single wall of boxes for the whole complex). I haven't seen curbside boxes since I left the East coast, but the key in every case is uniformity. You can't have a subdivision with giant boxes at the end of every street, but then one or two morons who have to be different and have their own box at the end of the curb. You can't have a subdivision with boxes at the curb, but then one or two morons who want a box next to their front door. It has to be the same within every locale.

My garbage pickup company doesn't specify how many inches from the curb I have to leave my trash out for them, for them to pick it up....

Your garbage company also doesn't have to worry about the trash containers being different sizes and shapes, because they require you to use the container they give you, the exact same container all your neighbors have. They don't make a rule about it because they provide the trash can. The USPS doesn't provide your mailbox and install it for you, you have to do that yourself (or your home builder), so they have to set standards. Also, your garbage company (if it's like my company) has a nice truck with a giant mechanical arm that can reach out and grab containers without having to worry about a few inches here and there. The mailman has to use a human arm, which is much smaller and has much less reach. Finally, the USPS is a Federal institution, so any rules they make are necessarily going to be Federal law. The local garbage company (or city garbage service) is local, so any rules are either going to be binding to customers of that company, or residents of that municipality (depending on if your trash collection is private or government-run as mine is).

More importantly? People who want to distribute advertising flyers shouldn't be made into criminals because they're trying to save money on postage by hand-delivering the materials themselves.

No, they should be made into criminals for littering. No one wants your stupid flyers.

Right now, they're told they should "rubber band or other affix the materials to a front door-knob". I actually did this sort of work once, trying to help promote my wife's housecleaning business, and I can tell you it triples the time and effort required to canvas a neighborhood, vs. being able

Uh, no.
The 20% is of the DEFICIT amount, not the whole budget. IOW, had something like this been in place under W, when he started running 100 b deficit, assume that CONgress would not pass a bill to allow deficits. Then 20% of the deficit amount is subtracted from the budget i.e. 20 billion cut in W's early deficits. After that, CONgress can make plans no how to adjust the budget as they see fit. The reason to make it weak is so that politics will not play games.

Each political party is already a PAC. Right now, they can contribute to pols as they see fit. I would rather stop it right away. I would prefer that each party run their own ads, but have to acknowledge the ads.

I would urge you to re-read the 14th. There is nothing wrong with what I put in both of these.

As to the 60 y.o. item, I will point out that shortly, I would qualify for it. And to be honest after seeing the damage that reagan did to our nation, I would almost argue that nobody OVER age 70.
Finally, how will this hurt the nation?

This shouldn't be up to any political party. The USPS is supposed to operate as an independent agency, separate from all three branches of the federal government.

I'm curious as to how this will play out. It seems to me that pushing their hand to the point of actually cutting back on services might backfire on the USPS. Many people will quickly realize that their lives would go on just fine without a steady stream of junk mail arriving daily to their homes.

According to this article (accuracy unknown), the postal service has actually been profitable for the last several years:

Under federal law, only the Postal Service can handle or charge postage for handling letters. Despite this virtual monopoly worth some $45 billion a year, the law does not require that the Postal Service make a profit -- only break even. Still, the US Postal Service has averaged a profit of over $1 billion per year in each of the last five years. Yet, Postal Service officials argue that they must continue to raise postage at regular intervals in order make up for the increased use of email.

The postal service is way way WAY too critical to leave in the hands of a company that cares nothing about quality and everything about profits.

I'm sure it will be quite safe in the hands of the government. As it sits it is already about profits. The USPS is a quasi-governmental agency that is theoretically self funding through the sale of postage and services. It may not be out to function as an investor driven business with quarterly growth, but its not a tax sinkhole nor a charity/non-profit organization.

Quick read: http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/consumerawareness/a/uspsabout.htm, the last two sections are relevant.

So the spleen is the seat of emotions after all?

http://altmedicine.about.com/cs/anxietydepression/a/EmotionsTCM.htm

Then forget the Zoloft, gimme my strawberry-banana yogursicle.

How about Phoenix, AZ? It's in a different time zone from the entire rest of the state, half the year.

And let's not forget the other unusual time zones, all over the world.

How about Phoenix, AZ? It's in a different time zone from the entire rest of the state, half the year.

And let's not forget the other unusual time zones, all over the world.

Everyone is free to express time in terms of GMT: You, your business contacts, your boss, etc. If you find it useful, do it! Many people already do. The vast majority of people have never been inside an airplane and have no need for such silliness.

If you're going to switch to a universal time, then technically you should use UTC.

"UTC was used beginning in the mid-twentieth century but became the official standard of world time on January 1, 1972."

http://geography.about.com/od/timeandtimezones/a/gmtutc.htm

You're not a true Christian who believes in the word of God.

And odds are, you aren't either. There are reportedly 38,000 Christian denominations. On the face of it there's about a 0.0026% chance you're actually a member of the 'winning' denomination. Remember, this is a blind grab. The only people that know which one got it right are God, and the people that actually got it right and are chillin' with God right now. And that's assuming the 'winning' religion is a Christian based faith (also assuming there is only one winner, since that is what the Christian based faiths claim.) Your odds are actually much lower, unless we're lucky and only Christians compete against each other, and Buddists and Islamics get their own 'Heaven'. At those odds I'd much rather spend my life not being a total douchbag telling others that I'm better than they are because the invisible sky man I believe in is the one that actually exists. I'd rather spend my life being good to people and enjoying the here and now, rather than living my life in some restricted way on the slim, slim, slim chance that it might get me something good after I die. The only God I see fit to be believed in is a God that doesn't give a damn what religion you follow, as long as you live a good life and aren't a total douche to everyone around you. But hey, that's me, you keep living your pipedream.

Sorry about your loss, but maybe you shouldn't have given him chocolate - it's very toxic to dogs, along with onions, grapes and raisins.

>>I wouldn't describe many of the founding fathers as particularly religious.

Many of the founders disagreed with you.

"It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ. For this very reason peoples of other faiths have been afforded asylum, prosperity, and freedom of worship here."
--Patrick Henry - The Trumpet Voice of Freedom: Patrick Henry of Virginia, p. iii.

"The general principles on which the fathers achieved independence were the general principles of Christianity. I will avow that I then believed, and now believe, that those general principles of Christianity are as eternal and immutable as the existence and attributes of God."

--John Adams wrote this on June 28, 1813, in a letter to Thomas Jefferson.

"God who gave us life gave us liberty. And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of the Gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with His wrath? Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that His justice cannot sleep forever; That a revolution of the wheel of fortune, a change of situation, is among possible events; that it may become probable by Supernatural influence! The Almighty has no attribute which can take side with us in that event."
--Thomas Jefferson - Notes on the State of Virginia, Query XVIII, p. 237.

These quotes and lots more are found here http://christianity.about.com/od/independenceday/a/foundingfathers.htm

Reminds me of this guy and his water+naptha stuff
http://inventors.about.com/od/wstartinventions/a/water_fuel.htm
http://www.epa.gov/etv/pubs/600r980035.pdf

As a European commenting on our domestic policy, you apparently aren't getting the full story or are choosing to ignore it.

Everybody knows the explosion of the deficit has nothing to do with Obama

Oh, but it does. The president must sign or veto each spending appropriation. And Obama has approved and encouraged plenty. Wikipedia can show you that since Obama has entered office the rate at which the debt is growing has increased substantially.

You blame defense spending for all our woes. Defense spending is still high, but not historically out of line for the past 50 years and it is set to decrease in the next few years. Well, except for interest on debt, which is stupidly high.

You know what else costs a gigantic pile of money? Entitlements. Here's another picture for you that is showing what is happening on that side of things. Note that historically it is only increasing. At least defense spending had had a cut once in a while, but entitlements are not sustainable at their current growth rate. But don't worry. Obama has nothing to do with this. It's just a coincidence that we use the word "Obamacare". Really.

So no, Obama isn't the only one to blame. It is insane to think that he is. But saying that he has nothing to do with the problem at all is similarly pathetic.

To say it in a analogy: If you have ordered something a restaurant, its not an option to say: "oh, i just dot pay this and dont eat it". Thats what they [the Tea Party] suggested.

That is not at all what the TP wanted to do. They wanted to cut spending so that we were still meeting debt obligations but cutting back on everything else. Your analogy is flawed. What the TP wants is to order dinner at a restaurant but then leave off the expensive dessert at the end so that they can afford to pay the entire bill.

Espey examined 101 different studies and found that in the short-run (defined as 1 year or less), the average price-elasticity of demand for gasoline is -0.26. That is, a 10% hike in the price of gasoline lowers quantity demanded by 2.6%. In the long-run (defined as longer than 1 year), the price elasticity of demand is -0.58; a 10% hike in gasoline causes quantity demanded to decline by 5.8% in the long run.

So next time you go spouting off, make sure the facts actually back up your argument. Oh, I forget, conservatives create don't need no stinkin' facts - they make up their own when convenient.

Living without rent or a mortgage to worry about would give a vast amount of flexibility. Spending $300k-500k of that million on a nice house would still leave you with a very comfortable amount to live on, and outgoings that basically only need to cover food and fuel - it might not keep you in Ferraris and hookers for long, but for someone whose wishes simply stretch to a secure, relaxed life, an extra million would be plenty.

A high school grad can only expect to earn $1.2million in their lifetime, and even someone with a masters degree only averages $2.5m. When you consider the extra investment opportunities that come with a rapid influx of cash like that, rather than a lifetime trickle, and that the GP said it would be nice on top of their current salary, I'd say it'd be a fine way to retire.

I suppose artists should be celebrating getting 0.00029c per play

Yeah you're golden...except for the hundreds of thousands you'll spend on lawyers trying to convince a jury that you don't infringe. Especially when both the Judge and the jury members probably still believe you have to have annual internet cleanings.

The vast majority have some form of coverage. This is the first Google hit and says 85%. Of the 46 million who didn't, 10 million were not citizens, 14 million were eligible for coverage under Medicaid or SCHIP but had not actually applied, and over 14 million made more than $50k/yr (and so could presumably afford coverage). Those numbers come from some Census data and a Blue Cross study, and there may be some overlap among groups, but they should give you some idea of the general numbers. In short - about 90% are covered, a nontrivial portion of those who are not could afford to buy insurance but choose not to, and some would not be covered at all under any plan.

I'd like to know what the MPG on the 6-speed manual version is."

Probably no better. This isn't 1981. Today's 6 and 7 speed automatic transmissions are efficient. They usually equal, and occasionally beat the manuals in some cases. Check out the current mustang for example, the auto and manual get the same mileage in city, and the auto gets 2mpg more than the manual on the hwy. On the V8 version, the manual pulls ahead slightly on the hwy, but the automatic beats it in the city. on the new premium model Boss 302, the automatic beats the manual on both city and hwy by several mpg.

So, really, manuals are just "for fun" now. for people who "want to feel like they're really driving the car". Basically, for people who learned on a manual and have a superiority complex about it.

source: http://mustangs.about.com/od/fuelmileagestatistics/a/2012-Ford-Mustang-Epa-Gas-Mileage-Estimates.htm

Yeah, the same way you "lost privacy" when they first installed metal detectors. And luggage scanners. And security cameras.

Enough already. Either give a good reason why your privacy is more important than airline security, or go find a new topic to complain about.

Let us break it down then... How many terrorist attacks have we really gotten on American soil? Let's assume (outrageously I would probably say) that every year, there is an attack on the scale of 9/11. 3,000 people tragically died that day, and lets assume that happens EVERY YEAR (crazy right?). With 300,000,000 people in the US, the odds of this affecting you are, frankly, quite small. Even if you take a 100 year lifespan, we are talking about a 1% chance of you EVER being a victim (Compare this with the risk of dying in a car accidents for an interesting perspective :). With that said....

There are currently 1,430,895 US active duty military in this country.
The oath these fantastic men and women take, says nothing about making American citizens safe.

I, (NAME), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.

With 85,600 military personnel deployed in Iraq, the 103,700 in Afghanistan, and many more in other countries risking their lives and personal security (and families, really) to defend the constitution... what are YOU willing to give up for the same cause? Would you be willing to take the extremely small percentage chance YOU personally will be affected by terrorist activity in order to defend our constitution? Or are you going to give up your rights written directly in the constitution in order to hide behind the idea of (false) security?

Is that a good enough reason? (Now... how can I mod myself up so people stop asking stupid questions? :)

You forget that NASA, being a government agency, can't sit on research and inventions; it goes to the benefit of all of us.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/space/5893387/Apollo-11-moon-landing-top-15-Nasa-inventions.html
http://space.about.com/od/toolsequipment/ss/apollospinoffs.htm

At what point does the soldiers responsibility become to defend the Constitution of the United States against *all* enemies, foreign and domestic, even if those enemies are the President and the appointed officers?

When he thinks that he is likely to be vindicated instead of spending 10 years busting bricks in Leavenworth for insubordination. Fun fact, willfully disobeying a lawful order of superior commissioned officer during time of war is punishable by death or such other punishment as a court-martial may direct:http://usmilitary.about.com/od/punitivearticles/a/mcm90.htm -- usually the CM settles on Leavenworth (there hasn't been an execution in the US military since the 60s).

Folks on /. are keen on mocking the "I was following orders" defense but forget to include the flip-side of "we will send you to jail for not following orders".

If the humidity is low from the beginning it might work fine, and setting up a system using evaporation of water can be very effective. In reality that method has been in use in some areas of the world for a long time. Way before the use of modern air conditioning units as seen here.

Lemme think a second. The EU has a population of roughlty 400 million. The US has a population of roughly 350 million. So - the EU has about 14% more population than the US. Roughly speaking, of course.

Anyway, I said "the size of a US state". Let's see what we get with sizes.

On the European side, we have the top five:
Russia: 6,592,771 square miles
Turkey: 302,535 square miles
Ukraine: 233,090 square miles
France: 211,209 square miles
Spain: 194,897 square miles

On the American side, we have the top five:
Alaska: 663,267 sq mi
Texas: 268,580 sq mi
California: 163,695 sq mi
Montana: 147,042 sq mi
New Mexico: 121,589 sq mi

With the exception of Russia, roughly ten times the size of Alaska, all of your nations are about the size of a US state.

Pretty picture to look at here: http://goeurope.about.com/od/europeanmaps/l/bl-country-size-comparison-map.htm

Three of those 4 languages are of very little use unless you don't mind being confined to western Europe.

French is useful outside of Western Europe too.

While Dutch kids spend those 12+ hours a week learning geographically confined languages like Dutch, French and German, native English speaking kids have 12+ extra hours a week to learn more useful things, and still be able to communicate more effectively and with more people than someone who is fluent in Dutch and speaks some French, German and English. American kids can take classes like art, drama, debating, literature etc. and play in the school band. Do you think kids who are forced to study three foreign languages have time for this?

In the last PISA ranking, Dutch kids outscored American kids in all categories, despite being disadvantaged with 12+ hours a week of "learning less useful things" (i.e. languages). To be fair, PISA checked only reading, maths, and science, which, like language learning, are typical "left brain" subjects.

Worse still, try to find an adult who still knows those foreign languages (other than the same basic English half the world speaks) a few years after their graduation.

I work with Dutch adults who are equally fluent in English, German|French, and Dutch. They're in their 40s and 50s, and have graduated from school for more than a few years. I didn't even have to try to find them.

The telephone was invented by Antonio Meucci, an Italian. Alexander Graham Bell, himself, was Scottish, though he'd been in the US for four years when he did his telephony work.

Velcro is Swiss.

The nuclear bomb, I'll give you, though of the key people on the Manhattan project, Fermi and Segre were Italian, Teller, Wigner and Szilard were Hungarian, Bohr was Danish, Frisch was Austrian, Block as Swiss, Fuchs, Peierls and Franck were German. But at least Oppenheimer, Bohm and the finance was American.

You don't really have anything to worry about until you start stock-piling weapons. Think Waco Texas or Ruby Ridge. Start collecting guns on a compound, you might draw the attention of the feds, and it might be bad for you.

If all you do is talk, you will be mocked. Like Sharron Angle, when she suggested using second-amendment remedies to take out Harry Reid. The whole point of democracy is we don't need an armed insurrection to change things. The War on Drugs, TSA, DUI checkpoints all continue because people don't care enough to vote against them. You might care, but most people are at least ok with the war on drugs. (note: DUI checkpoints are a state issue, which is different). If people cared to the point they were willing to fight for them, then things would change.

False, sorta. What you are talking about is the UCMJ (Uniform Code of Military Justice), which is an overlay of sorts, but takes precedence over any civil cases.

To use your example, if they commit a robbery in Virginia Beach, the can/will be tried under the UCMJ first. Should the case not be heard under the UCMJ, then state or city can pick it up. Take a look at Article 122 for Robbery.

Kit it up a notch, such as armed robbery or murder, then they can and will be tried under the UCMJ. The punishment will be carried out under the UCMJ, and the state/city cannot touch it, this gets into that whole "cannot be tried for the same crime more than once" thing, Article 14 has the details. What's more is that any retired service member is still able to be tried under the UCMJ, they can be brought back to active service then tried in a military court (Article 2, sections 1, 4, 5)

Windows 95 introduced the start menu.

Which is rip off of the old Apple menu. And Windows 3.1 was a (very ugly) rip off of the original Mac desktop interface

"Mac desktop interface" and _every_ other desktop interface is a rip off of Xerox desktop from 1960s! Matter of fact, both atknison and jobs dudes had a tour of xerox and they saw the original desktop interface there, and once Atkinson got back, he started to implemented Lisa which was a copy of Xerox desktop.

Xerox also invented the mouse. And bunch of other crap that apple (and everyone else) just ripped off.

I'm sick of stupid apple fanboys claiming that apple invented the wheel and bread slices.

Apple is just another evil corporation run by assholes.

This meme belongs in the trash with the One-Button Mouse meme.

Here's the real scoop; but I doubt if you have the brain cells to care.

Oh, and Xerox did NOT invent the mouse. Douglas Engelbart did.

Canadians are trying to use "Canadian" issued credit cards for purchases in U.S., especially on-line.

I think it also has something to do with Canadian customs, as they are quite serious about requiring you to pay duties on most of the stuff that crosses into Canada, so many on-line merchants decided not to bother figuring out how they can clear their shipment.

Before I joined a Canadian company, I've never heard phrases like "Oh, it should clear Customs Brokers in a day or two"... ;) See, e.g., http://canadaonline.about.com/cs/customs/a/shopshipcanada_2.htm

Paul B.

100% Safe? Really? I guess there is some magical property of marijuana smoke that heals your lungs as you inhale it. Awesome.

It is far better for you than the crap they are allowed to put in normal cigarettes:

http://quitsmoking.about.com/cs/nicotineinhaler/a/cigingredients.htm

It is certainly not 100% safe when smoked but breathing fumes from burning anything is bad for you. Just breathing in fumes from burnt paper will probably give you cancer if you do it often enough.

It is on the hand far safer when eaten and since the original poster did not say anything about how it had to be consumed to be 100% safe they might have a point, although they certainly could have put it better.

They even do it in the military.

Males:
http://usmilitary.about.com/od/army/l/blfitmale17to21.htm

Females:
http://usmilitary.about.com/od/army/l/blfitfem17to21.htm

You need 60 points per event to pass. Since the charts dont mean much to most people I'll break it down some.

Males must do 42 pushups, 53 situps, and run 2 miles in 15:54
Females must do 19 pushups, 52 situps, and run 2 miles in 18:54
(2 min each for pushups and situps. Numbers are for those in the 17 to 21 age group. Results are similar through the spectrum I believe though.)

Frankly, I dont think sex should ever matter in most situations. If you want a physically strenuous job, you should be able to accomplish it. It is not MY fault you can't.

They even do it in the military.

Males:
http://usmilitary.about.com/od/army/l/blfitmale17to21.htm

Females:
http://usmilitary.about.com/od/army/l/blfitfem17to21.htm

You need 60 points per event to pass. Since the charts dont mean much to most people I'll break it down some.

Males must do 42 pushups, 53 situps, and run 2 miles in 15:54
Females must do 19 pushups, 52 situps, and run 2 miles in 18:54
(2 min each for pushups and situps. Numbers are for those in the 17 to 21 age group. Results are similar through the spectrum I believe though.)

Frankly, I dont think sex should ever matter in most situations. If you want a physically strenuous job, you should be able to accomplish it. It is not MY fault you can't.

"...the Germans organized Operation Sunshine, which was a plan to storm the apartment building. The terrorists discovered the plan by watching television."

absolutely does not mean that there was ever a time in human history that healthy 30 year olds were just spontaneously dropping dead.

Apart from now, you mean?

Iraq and Afghanistan Casualties:

• Ages 18-21 -- 28.2% (1,325) of the deaths
• Ages 22-24 -- 23.7% (1,108) of the deaths
• Ages 25-30 -- 25.6% (1,198) of the deaths
• Ages 31-35 -- 10.4% (486) of the deaths
• Over 35 -- 12.1% (566) of the deaths

http://usmilitary.about.com/od/terrorism/a/iraqdeath1000.htm

On the upside, $10M a day is going mostly to our military industrial complex, which pumps some money into the economy.

Um, no, that's what's known "Broken Window" economics.

Pretty much spot on. :) I don't think anything criminally damaging to her would be released, and I doubt we'll find much in there that could possible compete with all the things she's said and done in plain view already.

She's a complete moron, yet she has a very big platform to broadcast her bizarre and ridiculous comments, complete fabrications (e.g. death panels), and general face-palm-inducing idiocy, such as her apparent inability to speak in coherent sentences. I used to think George W. Bush was rather painful to listen to, but Palin takes it to a whole new level of agony.

Germany invent? You are believing your own myths. The English invented the Jet engine. The US invented the liquid fueled rocket. The V2 was a scaled version of Goddards work. Germans just weaponized it. Even things like the swept back wing where in broadly known. It is funny but the US had such an odd inferiority complex after the war that it boasted the importance of the German contributions. Probably justify bringing any scientists or engineers to the US after war and just trying every man and women in German for genocide. If you look at other fields the US Invented the transistor and integrated circuit. As far as renewable energy Hydro and Windmills have been around so long that it is in the who knows. Solar well that was France and the US.
http://inventors.about.com/od/sstartinventions/a/solar_cell.htm
  I will give you the internal combustion engine, cars, and a lot of chemistry but other than that... Not so much.
I will be kind and leave out the other "inovations" that Germany has contributed to the 20th century.

Over the last five years you people were so good, over tax cuts, WMD intelligence, the effect of global warming. We Americans didn't want to know, and you had the courtesy not to try to find out. Those were good times, as far as we knew.

But, listen, let's review the rules. Here's how it works. The President makes decisions. He's the decider. The press secretary announces those decisions, and you people of the press type those decisions down. Make, announce, type. Just put 'em through a spell check and go home. Get to know your family again. Make love to your wife. Write that novel you got kicking around in your head. You know, the one about the intrepid Washington reporter with the courage to stand up to the administration? You know, fiction!

I think there is far more danger to be had in a news media that passively accepts presented facts (Iraqi WMDs, Saddam's ties to al Qaeda, ect) and narratives (invasion of Iraq is necessary) than one that editorializes a bit but doesn't simply act as a mouthpiece for whoever is currently in power. And I disagree with the notion that all bias needs to be balanced out by other bias. That smacks of "teaching the controversy" to me.

Sorry, neither of the products you mentioned fit in the conversation. The Netgear Stora is a NAS device - hell it doesn't even have video output, while the Pandora is a handhold game system on par with the Gameboy's and such. No way is that thing going to replace a tablet, much less a computer. With enough hacking, I'm sure you could put linux on a Gameboy DS, that doesn't mean you can use it in place of your laptop.

The OC was talking about the difficulty in changing the OS on the current line of tablets with the OS installed in firmware insted of rewritable storage (micro SD or an ssd drive) and the lack of storage (16 or 32 gig micro SD), and I was pointing him to the more powerful slates (or tablets, because yes, the terms have become interchangeable) like the HP Slate 500 or Acer Iconia Tab.

OK, I'll be generous and give you this link because it's interesting that they use the words "slate" and "tablet" almost interchangeably - which actually proves that you accept the limitations of your tablet device by virtue of having to invent some new category of device that isn't any different.

OK, you're going to have to explain your logic on this. What in that (poorly written and hard to understand) article proves anything? What category of device have I invented? The terms tablet and slate have been around since the beginning of the technology. Originally, tablets were convertible laptops (revolvable keyboard or a screen that spun around and folded back on top of the keyboard) and slates were less powerful devices and had no keyboard. Now, however, they are beginning to reverse, and tablets are now becoming the low powered dedicated devices and slates the "laptop replacing" power devices with a full blown OS.

Utter, utter crap!

I can't be bothered to provide links for you but if you're interested in seeing how completely WRONG you are, go and Google devices like the Netgear Stora (1 GHz CPU raid chassis that can be installed with your own Linux distro) or Pandora (600Mhz CPU handheld gaming computer that can do surfing, email, books, video, etc.)

Maybe you have more money than common sense but I would LOVE to have one single computing device that did ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING that I need to do on a computer - but the fact is, it does NOT exist, which is why I, like just about everyone else in this world, have to carry about a certain combination of devices depending on what it is I am trying to achieve at any specific moment in time.

The fact is, the ONLY way you will ever come close to having that one single device is by having it as at least a relatively open platform such that you can put on whatever software you need on it, and change out hardware components to give you the storage capacity, memory, expandability, etc. etc. that you need.

OK, I'll be generous and give you this link because it's interesting that they use the words "slate" and "tablet" almost interchangeably - which actually proves that you accept the limitations of your tablet device by virtue of having to invent some new category of device that isn't any different.

Actually, no. Most of the ones that caused "scandals" did so because they told uncomfortable truths. Like that our Packastani "allies" were actually in cahoots with the terrorists, or that Israel wasn't even trying for peace.

My personal favorite was the one that revealed that the US was actually not all that close to, or fond of, Tunisian strongman Ben-Ali, and that his government was a laughable cesspool of corruption. He'd held onto power in part by convincing his people that he unreservedly had the US's support.

When the embarrassing truth came out for all to see, he proved unable to stop the next periodic riots. He's gone now.