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This doesn't even come close to a worst-case scenario for for solar (broken PV panels?, leaked salt?), or even a coal plant.

The problem is, the worst-case scenario doesn't define the statistical average. By definition it's an outlier. The long-term statistical averages for the other technologies are much, much worse than nuclear. Solar is about 10x deadlier than nuclear in comparison. Roofing is one of the most dangerous jobs in the U.S, with over 100 roofers per year killed from simply falling off. If rooftop solar panels become commonplace, you're probably looking at 100 additional roofer deaths per year from installation and maintenance deaths.

Coal is an absolute carnage in comparison to nucleear. Pollution from coal plants is estimated to kill 30,000 Americans each year. The WHO estimated Chernobyl will cause 4000 long-term cancer deaths, so we have 7.5 Chernobyls happening every year in our country due to our coal plants. But this bothers no one, and instead everyone is all worried about commercial nuclear power (which has never killed anyone in the U.S.).

This is just like planes are safer than cars, yet people fear plane crashes. Or white collar crime causes more economic damage than bank robbery, but sentences for bank robbers are harsher. The concentrated damage gets extra scrutiny, while the distributed damage gets overlooked. It's people's poor risk assessment and management which is killing nuclear.

I posted part of this already, but it's buried near the bottom due to the GP being downrated. Every time there's a nuclear accident, the anti-nuclear people come out in droves yelling about the "dangers" of nuclear power. If you want to talk about perspective, danger, and opportunity costs, here's the low-down:

There have been zero deaths in the U.S. associated with commercial nuclear power generation despite it producing nearly 20% of our electricity. Wind has already killed at least 13 people in the U.S. despite producing less than 1% of our electricity. All of these have been maintenance workers (the only non-maintenance death was a skydiver in Germany who flew into a turbine). So the quip about a wind turbine at sea collapsing is beside the point since that wouldn't have stopped any of these deaths. In fact I suspect it would have caused more deaths since transferring from a boat rocking in ocean swells to a stationary platform isn't exactly the safest thing to do.

Solar has a huge problem in that roofing is one of the most dangerous jobs in the U.S.. If you're imagining every house in the U.S. with solar panels mounted on the roof, you should expect probably about 100 more roofer deaths per year from installing and maintaining them. In terms of direct deaths (i.e. excluding mining and pollution), hydro actually turns out to be the most dangerous power source worldwide due to deaths from dam failures.

Over it's 50+ year history worldwide, in terms of deaths per unit of energy generated, nuclear power is the safest form of power generation man has ever invented. Yes that includes Chernobyl (a reactor design not used outside of the former USSR). If you accept the high estimate of number of expected cancer deaths from Chernobyl, it's about 4x safer than wind (the safest green technology). If you accept the low estimate, it's 125x safer than wind.

How about pollution? What most people don't realize about nuclear is that it's an incredibly concentrated power source. How much spent fuel (high-level nuclear waste, like we're trying to bury in Nevada) do you think would be produced to power a typical U.S. home for 30 years? A bit less than 10 kg, about a half liter's worth. To power the same home with solar, you'd need about 30-50 square meters of panels, and the panels have an expected lifespan of about 25-30 years. One small water bottle's worth of waste, vs 30-50 square meters of solar panels. Nuclear in the U.S. generates about 20% of our electricity, and produces ~2000 tons of spent fuel a year. That's about enough to fill one tractor trailer. One tractor trailer-full of high-level waste to provide 1/5th of the entire country's electricity for an entire year. And it's not spewed into the atmosphere like coal, it's not spread all over towns and the countryside like solar or wind. It's neatly contained in concentrated form within the nuclear plant. And all this is not even factoring in the waste reduction that can be achieved with reprocessing.

How about compared to wind? The Fukushima Dai-ichi plant which is the cause of the problem today has an overall generating capacity of 3596 MW. How big a wind farm would you need to replace it? The largest wind farm in the U.S. is Roscoe Wind Farm. 781.5 MW peak capacity, 627 turbines, covering 400 km^2. Note however that that's peak capacity - how much electricity the farm generates under ideal conditions if each turbine is running at maximum power and efficiency. In practice, the average power generation from wind farms has been about 20%-25% of peak. Be generous and go with the high 25%. So 627 turbines and 400 km^2 gives you 195.4 MW of power on average. To replace Fuku

Now let's see... how many anti-nuclear hippies died from doing too much LSD or ketamine or whatever it is they do? Probably thousands.

No need to resort to ad hominem. Even an objective comparison of safety supports nuclear over green technologies.

There have been zero deaths in the U.S. associated with commercial nuclear power generation. Wind has already killed at least 13 people in the U.S. Solar has a huge problem in that roofing is one of the most dangerous jobs in the U.S. If you're imagining every house in the U.S. with solar panels mounted on the roof, you should expect probably about 100 more roofer deaths per year from installing and maintaining them. In terms of direct deaths (i.e. excluding mining and pollution), hydro actually turns out to be the most dangerous power source worldwide due to deaths from dam failures.

Over it's 50+ year history worldwide, in terms of deaths per amount of energy generated, nuclear power is the safest form of power generation man has ever invented. Yes that includes Chernobyl (a reactor design not used outside of the former USSR). If you accept the high estimate of number of expected cancer deaths from Chernobyl, it's about 4x safer than wind (the safest green technology). If you accept the low estimate, it's 125x safer than wind.

Here are a couple of articles I googled and found. http://upgrd.com/matthew/seattle-restaurant-bans-tsa-agents.html and http://news.travel.aol.com/2011/02/23/restaurant-bans-tsa-agents/

I'm guessing it's been a while since you checked, since AOL for broadband is free. It's basically an advertising platform. And since you're right that it's only old people - and worse, old people born before a certain date - that's not exactly a viable business plan.

• Account information
• Answer to your security question
• Phone number

1. Go to http://bill.aol.com/
2. Sign on with the primary screen name that you created when you registered your AOL account. Type the answer to your account security question and click "Continue."
3. Click "Cancel my billing" in the right panel under the "I want to" heading.
4. Click "How do I cancel my paid member account or convert it to a free member account" in the right panel, under "Frequently Asked Questions."
5. Follow the on-screen instructions to send the cancellation request. It can be done through an electronic cancellation request online, by fax or mail.

Tips & Warnings

• To cancel by phone, call (800) 827-6364, or send a fax to (703) 433-7283.
• Send a cancellation request form to:
  AOL Inc.
  PO Box 65100
  Sterling, VA 20165-8800

  Source: http://www.ehow.com/how_5955872_cancel-aol-dial_up-service.html

LOL, a blogger at Tactical IP quipped that "One-Way Public Relationship" sounds like a patent for "Total Stalker Dude." Seriously, though, this patent application seems to be going a bit too far.

I guess you never used AOL and saw all the ads and shit. I guess you don't know that AOL sold plenty of personal info to advertisers not even counting leaks. If you don't want the AOL of today to sell your personal information you must opt out.

Though I can imagine many other applications for the technology at the heart of this patent, the activity of seeking a life partner solely based on that person's resemblance to a celebrity seems doomed to failure at least 90% of the time. Of course, I suppose the helpfulness of this particular application depends on whether the user is looking for "Mr. Right" or just "Mr. Right Now."

I'm glad Google and the EPO made this arrangement. This is a rational and inventive approach to the deadlock over translation. Now, hopefully, plans for a unified European patent system can finally move forward.

If I were you I would consult a patent litigation attorney or other patent professional, to learn more about your legal options. Sometimes a request for reexamination can invalidate an issued patent. If a challenger can prove that a patent holder didn't actually "invent" the item it has patented, then that may serve as a basis for invalidation of a patent. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem likely that you can sue on the basis of patent infringement, since you never patented your program. But there are ways to challenge issued patents. And, in the future, you might consider applying for patents on your inventions. By the way, Microsoft's acts are not "patent troll" behavior. In common usage of the term, a "patent troll" is a company that doesn't make its own products, but purchases patents owned by inventors, and then sues (usually large) corporations that have used the technology protected by the patents it purchased.

What a shame; it may spell the death of open source, if companies start mining such projects and applying for patents on them. It seems like this trend has only two significant likely results: either more programmers will start patenting their software, or opposition will mount to the point that software patents will be eliminated. It will be interesting to see which side wins in this issue.

How do they access AOL?

What with the DOJ's brief arguing that isolated genes are unpatentable, Myriad's chances of success on the merits of its case seem increasingly remote. I know some patent law practitioners reading this blog may hate hearing it, but I think that this is the right position. In any case, I hope this issue still goes up to the SCOTUS and the Court grants cert, because I'm looking forward to reading that opinion.

What do you call these then? They look like ISPs to me:

http://free.aol.com/thenewaol/plan_choice.adp
http://www.getnetscape.com/ (AOL owns Netscape ISP)

Though the patent law system certainly has seen problems with junk patents in the past, I don't think it's quite fair to say that the recent spike in patent grants necessarily means more junk patents. New USPTO Director David Kappos has made great strides in improving efficiency at the office, which also recently hired more examiners and won the right to keep more of its revenue (which had previously been siphoned off by Congress). This influx of money and talent has unquestionably contributed to the increase in the patent grant rate. Kappos has also voiced a commitment to improving patent quality. Let's hope he follows through.

Gosling rightly points out that, whether or not one approves of the patent law system, it is nonetheless the governing system, and anyone wishing to compete or survive in contemporary corporate culture must incorporate IP protection into the company strategy. Not only are patents critical defensively, but they can also serve as quite a powerful (and often lucrative) asset if patent enforcement measures ever need to be taken.

There's no option to subscribe. Heck, do they even still have an AOL client?

Click the download link, and you can get to AOL v9.5, starting at $9.99/mo.

I can show you very ugly mainstream sites in the "Western" Internet too: AOL or MSN.

As for non advertisement sites, Japanese ones tend to have much less clutter. Ever read around the Japanese Wikipedia? A typical article looks like this, which is much less frills then the English counterpart (e.g. much less images, and that's pretty common for Japanese sites).

maybe you missed this?

http://smallbusiness.aol.com/2010/07/06/the-iphone-is-ruining-my-life/

not such a small problem for the interviewed,

Actually, this has happened: a sports stats company (STATS, Inc) created a service to send live basketball scores to mobile devices, and the NBA sued based on copyright of the scores. Initially the court sided with the NBA, but it was overturned on appeals. http://legal.web.aol.com/decisions/dldecen/nba.html

Facebook seems to have gotten big mainly by chance. like being the only bacteria in the pietry dish. The only savvy they had was realizing the peitre dish was available and rushing to get there first.

You're right, no one ever thought of social sites before Facebook.

Since the biggest Toyota runaway story has turned out to be a problem exists between seat and pedals situation... is this all hype with no science behind it?

And this happen only with Toyota? This would imply one of three things:
-People who buy Toyotas are worse drivers than other makes.
-Toyota has human engineering flaws which make them hard to control.
-There is really a flaw and behavior of expert drivers testing doesn't trigger it.

Hint:Steve Wozniack, co-founder of Apple, says it's software and he can demonstrate the flaw with his Prius on demand.

Since the biggest Toyota runaway story has turned out to be a problem exists between seat and pedals situation... is this all hype with no science behind it?

It sounds like someone just pulled an excuse out of the "BOFH excuses file" (clickety clickety) :

"BOFH excuse #254:

Interference from lunar radiation"

Since the biggest Toyota runaway story has turned out to be a problem exists between seat and pedals situation... is this all hype with no science behind it?

Skeptics of Sikes also cite the 911 tape that was released shortly after the incident. During the tape, the dispatcher repeatedly told Sikes to put the car in neutral in order to stop it from accelerating. Sikes did not comply with her instructions or the instructions of the officer on the scene who told him to do the same thing via his public address system as they tore down the highway.... Sikes claimed he thought that would "flip the car."

Beyond the call itself, the Associated Press reports that Sikes's car was equipped with a brake override system, something that should have slowed the car down once he stomped on the brake pedal.

That's nothing, the guys at Myth-busters lit a match by shooting a bullet that just barely grazed the top of it. I'd like to see someone do that shooting from the hip!

From a better source:

"But three crucial issues remained (and still remain): Spyker must deliver the cash, the Swedish government must guarantee a loan, and Spyker Chairman Vladimir Antonov must leave the company."

Many more details:

"The Antonovs were not allowed to start a branch of their Baltic bank Snoras in Britain.The British financial supervisory authority rejected the application, due to the Antonov's nasty reputation for being reluctant to cooperate with the authorities and their general uncommunicativeness.

It is still unclear why the oligark Vladimir Antonov was gunned down and seriously wounded in Moscow in March. But the Antonovs have operations in the harbour in Kaliningrad (former Königsberg), which is notorious for being controlled by the Russian mafia. Kaliningrad is one of the main harbours for shipping guns and drugs to western Europe. In Russia, it is assumed that the attempted assassination is linked to a struggle for power over the operations in Kaliningrad.

No Russian journalists dare to comment on the Antonovs on camera, but off the record they claim that the family has links to shady arms deals.

The Antonovs own a bank in Panama, known as a tax haven. It is not unusual for wealthy Russians to use banks in tax havens for money laundry operations, according to TV4."

Cash for clunkers true cost was $24,000 per vehicle. But I don't see a lot of mustangs on the roads
Here are a couple programs that are sieving money.
Or how about a war at home?
Or the ever popular Medicare

Don't laugh, but AOL has awesome dial-up. I'm sure the majority of us have actually used AOL's dial-up at some point.

1972 Super Beetle: 1850lbs http://forum.rigsofrods.com/index.php?topic=5870.0
1977 MGB Roadster: 2416lbs http://www.mgbmga.com/tech/mgb4(2).htm
1965 International Scout: 3956lbs http://www.4wdonline.com/International/Scout.html

2008 Yaris: 2405lbs http://blogs.motortrend.com/6238178/miscellaneous/top-10-slowest-vehicles-recently-tested-by-motor-trend/index.html
2006 Mazda MX-5 2410lbs http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mazda_MX-5
2009 Ford Explorer 4460lbs http://autos.aol.com/cars-Ford-Explorer-2009/available-trims

I think these generally compare with the cars you listed. In general our cars are quite a bit heavier then you'd think. The weight is in the frame of the car and has metal to move the force of accidents around the passenger compartment, and to adsorb the force of impacts by crumpling. All of the plastic and fiberglass is in the exterior panels which have never been structural. Thanks to technology gained in recent years, people walk away from pretty impressive collisions in modern cars. The numbers show us that our cars are many times safer today then they were back in the day.

.7 deaths per 1000 vehicles in 1979 to .2 deaths per 1000 vehicles in 2001 http://www.scienceservingsociety.com/p/161.pdf
Over the last 10 years the number of collisions has stated fairly constant between .15 and .18 per 100 vehicles. http://www-fars.nhtsa.dot.gov/Main/index.aspx

Look at this shill at AOL for DRM. Typical DRM Whore!

The world ain't black and white.

Especially not when Microsoft publishes pictures in Poland. Then all the black is taken out.

And any handler can claim his dog "hit" on something as well, and use that as probable cause to confiscate the loot. And if someone was to loudly protest the confiscation of their money at some "random courtesy checkpoint", the cops can just shoot you and claim you made a "threatening furtive gesture" or were "interfering" or "resisting some lawful order" or anything else in cop CYA speak they dream up.

  The point being made was, in some areas the cops use this "dog drug hit" BS as an excuse to outright rob people and get away with it or for intimidation to get people to confess to something else or whatever. They even go so far as to terrorize school kids with these dogs inside the schools. It's a con more than anything else. And it can be even worse than that for some people with phony dog-police type work

For legitimate rescue, I think dogs are great, useful, for most anything else as it intersects police work...starts to get wonky quickly.

    Of course I am also in favor of ending the retarded prohibition laws, because they just cause more harm than good. If a 200 dollar day coke or smack or whatever habit was legal, it might cost all of two bucks, and I don't think there'd be much in the way of crime associated with it like it is today. It would still be technically "bad" IMO, the habit and what it does to people, but we as a society would get rid of a lot of the vast collateral damage associated with it being illegal.

Who needs Pandora?
 
  AOL Radio has a ton of marvellous channels, believe it or not.

'What's next, will Scientologists have to wear yellow, six-pointed stars on our clothing?'

Bill Engvall has a sign for you to wear.

AOL is a subsidiary of Time Warner, formerly known as AOL Time Warner, which also has subsidiaries such as Time Inc., Warner Bros Entertainment, etc. To learn more about the history of commerce, go to your nearest Internet.

A H2 is something that APPEARS to do well off road, but in reality it does not. Plus, when parts come flying off of your offroading vehicle (and if you are doing real off roading, THEY WILL FLY OFF) replacing those parts on a old 4Runner is cheaper than a H2.

So, his analogy is valid. A offroad nerd can get much more out of a 1st gen 4Runner than an H2, in the same way an IT nerd can get more out of a non-4GB card than the twit that likes to drop $800/month on his gaming system.

Take this link with a grain of salt, but apparently the 2008 H2 is a pretty damn good offroad vehicle (comparable to the 2008 4Runner) - http://autos.aol.com/gallery/top-10-off-road-suvs

HUMMER H2 (with optional air suspension) Ground Clearance: 9.7" Approach Angle: 42.8 degrees Departure Angle: 40.0 degrees

The toughest-looking SUV on the market is also one of the most capable off-roaders out there. The impressive H2 can climb a 60 degree grade -- a feat even a mountain goat would appreciate.

I guess the ships that go through the gate will be called Gate Ship 1, Gate Ship 2, etc.???

The problem there is this only works if one controls the _entire_ URL.

I had pages on AOL's FTP/webspace since its inception through AOL's ``sunsetting'' those services --- unfortunately, I published a number of papers which had links to http://members.aol.com/willadams so all the printed copies are out of date since there's no way to update them to http://mysite.verizon.net/william_franklin_adams/

It's this sort of thing which makes the MLA's decision to omit hard-coded URLs from their references....

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/03/11/mla

But that's ignoring the problem.

William

No kidding. I've seen as many NEWS outlets online and on TV making a bigger deal out of things on this than they needed to be.

US 'very concerned'about Swine Flu
WHO Raises Alert Level on Swine Flu
WHO raises its pandemic alert level on swine flu

Weigh in amongst the items in the online news, which match some of the same goings on in the print and video media on the subject.

If it's not sensationalized, it's not news, it seems.

What's innovative about the Aptera? They're only combining technologies already seen elsewhere. Even the form factor has been done before, more or less, in the distant past :)

You're right, but many new technologies are about new combinations of technologies seen elsewhere. And the form has indeed been done before, postwar-Messerschmitt KR200 comes to mind although there were many. However, no one has gotten the form in a compelling package before (at least to me), all the previous ones felt and were marketed as cheap man's transit rather than toward gas efficiency. Plus, charging the Tesla takes forever, something that just isn't easily overcome plus at speed, the mileage of the Tesla drops dramatically (and to be fair, all cars suffer) however they can't really afford less range. If you've ever seen the review on top gear:
http://video.aol.com/video-detail/top-gear-reviews-the-tesla-roadster/4052367588

Aptera's first model actually is all electric, like the Tesla. It just doesn't interest me though. And I think the hybrid can go 60km before needing the engine to keep charge. The engine is nicer than towing it.

More seriously, the reciprocating ICE is a Bad Idea(tm); the best option IMO would be a small turbine ala 1960s Chrysler designs (tested and working designs, I might add) with a generator integrated into the turbine, using a series hybrid design. The turbine has vastly greater efficiency than an ICE (the most efficient ICE is a diesel container ship engine the size of a house -- at about 50% efficient) and the high RPMs are a perfect match for a generator.

Correct me if I'm not wrong, but isn't 50% efficiency the greatest theoretically efficiency of a carnot cycle engine? Diesel, as an established technology is nice because it can run on a variety of things, algae biodiesel if that ever takes off. However, don't turbines tend to be expensive because of precision required? Smaller turbines are coming down in price... There are companies that are investigating stirling engine, which should not be a bad mating for a hybrid.

Whatever the case, engines for hybrids can be smaller because peak loads are on the electrical motors. And most of the extra mpg in European cars (even between the same US vs European models) come from the simple fact that they are using smaller engines with less displacement - for instance, Mercedes C class here starts at 3.0 (3 liter displacement) while in Germany I have seen 1.6 liter models with an obvious increase in gas mileage.

We already have a more efficient way of coupling a small gasoline engine to the ground than using a big complicated transmission and long drivetrain like we use on a car, it's called a motorcycle with a sequential gearbox and a chain drive.

Heh, I was just looking at some shaft driven bicycles today (they're a bit less efficient, but have other benefits).

I thought the Invisible Market Fairy was supposed to handle this??!?!

Isn't this how the internet began? Independant, competing companies all competing to produce a cohesive, compatible online environment? Why is that model not working now?

It's always hard to find references that aren't to a political blog, but here's one. I'm sure your Google works if you want others.

The administration also will propose long-term compensation restrictions even for companies that don't receive government assistance, Obama said.
Those proposals include:
- Requiring top executives at financial institutions to hold stock for several years before they can cash out.
- Requiring nonbinding "say on pay" resolutions -- that is, giving shareholders more say on executive compensation.
- A Treasury-sponsored conference on a long-term overhaul of executive compensation.

When Europe starts warning us against becoming too socialist, you've got to wonder. I still find the "make vets pay for own war wounds" thing so astounding that crap like this hardly rates.

Ah I suppose I hadn't thought of that. Sexism is pretty bad.

Well polygyny goes back thousands of years. Semites, descendants of Shem, which both Arabs and Hebrews are believed in a man being able to have up to 4 wives. But only if then man could take of of them, and in some cases a man would take a second, third or fourth wife if the previous wives did not bare him a child. Actually that's what happened with the split between Arabs and Hebrews. Abraham was a Semite married to Sarah. She didn't bare him a child so she gave her slave Hagar, yes they had slaves, to him so Hagar would bare him a child. Hagar bore him Ismael. Only after Ishmael was born did Sarah bare him a child too, Isaac. Then Sarah forced Abraham to send Hagar and Ishmael away. So, Arabs descended from Ishmael and Hebrews from Isaac.

However the Middle Eastern tribes weren't the only cultures who practiced polygyny. It was practiced in what's present day China and other places. As for polygamy where both males and females could have more than one spouse, that I know of it was only practiced by one or more Indian tribes in South America. The Zoe or The Marrying Tribe of the Amazon had both sexes marrying more than one spouse.

Falcon

Oh ha ha. GP didn't want a picture of a citation. here is what he's looking for.

AIM has let you send free text messages for ages. Is there any difference between this service and the one Google was just forced to close down?

There's always the initial, hysterical article about how Obama is doing something oh-so-terrible (e.g. killing net neutrality).

Perhaps the part that would have killed net neutrality was removed because so many complained.

Remember all those complains about the stimulus package being full of pork?

The stimulus package is pork.

Falcon

In any case, this isn't like 1994 when people did not know how to download software. Right now, people download stuff all the time, from chat programs to games and utilities, and wallpapers, songs, and more. None of that is bundled, but people manage fine. Same thing with browsers.

No, users do not know how to download software, any more than they did in 1994. Most of those things you listed are available in a web-based form (e.g. chat, games, virus scan, radio, etc. etc.) and people are accustomed to jumping through the extra hoops you have to jump through to avoid downloading and installing new applications (e.g. using a web-based e-mail service instead of setting up a POP3/IMAP client).

I mean, Paint is bundled with Windows, but that hasn't stopped anyone from making their own paint programs, now has it?

How many can you name, that an average user has heard of? Paint Shop Pro is the only one I can think of, other than Photoshop and GIMP.

warrentless wiretaps of ALL calls, domestic and international.

http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2008/12/first-interview-nsa-whistleblower

http://video.msn.com/video.aspx?mkt=en-US&brand=msnbc&vid=297abdd5-d0dc-4617-a6c9-c482fa316b59

They copied EVERYTHING, INDISCRIMINATELY, FROM EVERYBOSY, and then passed a 'law' giving the telecoms retroactive immunity.

http://video.aol.com/video-detail/countdown-12209-fmr-nsa-agent-communications-rights-ignored/2733120647/descr