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Stories and comments across the archive that link to foxnews.com.

Comments · 3,415

  1. Wind Energy works, just ask Denmark by soren100 · · Score: 2, Interesting · on Avalanche Effect Demonstrated In Solar Cells

    Right now, and for the last 20 years, wind and solar have been huge money-losers, and only exists BECAUSE of the massive subsidies. If we subsidized wind or solar at a level to get useful output levels, we'd spend literally trillions more per year. Nice try, troll. Countries like Denmark have had tremendous success with alternative energy sources such as wind power. Currently about 20% of the energy used in Denmark comes from wind power, and there is about a $5 billion market in exporting turbines. Currently over a third of the wind turbines used worldwide are built by Danish manufacturers such as Vestas.

    On windy days, Denmark actually generates "too much" power from wind (about 40%) so they are working on an electric car system to act as a "sink" to dump the excess energy. (currently the hydroelectric generating facilities in Norway and Sweden are used to smooth out the changes in energy production from wind)

    The wind power project has been such a success that Denmark is currently planning to double its offshore wind farms, after studies showed that it would not harm the environment. The current goal is to increase wind power to 30% of total output by 2025.

  2. Re:You've got to be kidding me! by Ethanol-fueled · · Score: 1 · on Feds Now Allowed To Use Internet

    Our friends at the FBI are apparently understaffed and ignorant, according to a whistleblower of possibly middle-eastern descent. Now's the time to [redacted] and schematics of [redacted]. Allahu Akbar!

    Also, some brave freedom fighterchucked eggs at Ballmer.

  3. Re:Population Control & Modern Views by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0 · on Estimated World Population to Pass 6,666,666,666 Today

    Now just last week my uncle sent me an e-mail that was along his thinking of people should have to have a license to have children. They should have to pass tests demonstrating they can provide food shelter clothing water all the basic life necessities before they can start to procreate. This would require a source of income to sustain a child æ he also has said that criminal record and health history should be taken into consideration. He linked an unfortunate story and was perhaps half joking. This reminds me of the person who called Planned Parenthood asking if he could leave money to be used expressly for aborting black babies.
  4. Population Control & Modern Views by eldavojohn · · Score: 4, Insightful · on Estimated World Population to Pass 6,666,666,666 Today

    You may not realize that only a 80 years ago, the population of the Earth was only around 2 billion. I think it was in Billions and Billions by Carl Sagan that I was first exposed to this idea that poverty and illiteracy could be linked to high birth rates. Since then I have read articles by Paul and Anne Ehrlich as well as Collapse by Jared Diamond. I had been exposed to the Chinese way of economically pressuring citizens to have only one child. I ignorantly thought this was a form of extreme fascism.

    But a key difference at that time was I was still Catholic.

    One of many reasons for divorcing myself from Catholicism was its stance towards birth control. Iâ(TM)m not talking abortion (or âoebaby killingâ as some of them like to refer to it)â"Iâ(TM)m talking about preventative measures like condoms and Plan B. For some reason, the Vaticanâ"the organization that is the Catholic Churchâ"took it upon itself to stop the use of preventative measures. In pre-industrial times, this may have been advantageous to a religion and even a people. However, as it stands now this attitude results in a powder keg leaving the populace open to drought, famine, disease and brutal warfare (probably as a result of the famine) to keep the human population in check. Just look at the enterovirus (EV71) in China.

    I think a lot of the responses are going to be along the lines of what Iâ(TM)ve said so far; that if we donâ(TM)t start to pay attention to population and think of non-intrusive non-immoral ways to keep it in check then weâ(TM)re in some serious trouble. Instead, Iâ(TM)d like to relay some views Iâ(TM)ve heard from people quite close to me on this issue. Iâ(TM)m not sure if this will become a political issue in the near term but I know that, at least in the United States, there are people with conflicting views.

    A close friend of mine who is a Christian and a bit conservative voiced concern that the United Statesâ(TM) population growth is lagging behind many other countries. Many of the Western countriesâ"such as those in Europeâ"are also lagging behind those of Muslim nations like Turkey and several others in the Middle East & Africa. He claimed (or âoefear mongeredâ if you will) that if the current trend continued the end state of the world would most certainly be Muslim Dictatorships everywhere. I would like to quickly point out that I do not share his ideas in this Christian Vs Muslim war he believes has been going on since the crusades. I am merely relaying what many conservative Christians in the world are probably subconsciously thinking.

    Now just last week my uncle sent me an e-mail that was along his thinking of people should have to have a license to have children. They should have to pass tests demonstrating they can provide food shelter clothing water all the basic life necessities before they can start to procreate. This would require a source of income to sustain a child ⦠he also has said that criminal record and health history should be taken into consideration. He linked an unfortunate story and was perhaps half joking.

    Are either of these ideas the future? Is the idea of a procreation license issued by the state an unfortunate reality? Is it my friend wrong to push to close the âbirth rate gapâ(TM) between West and East?

    Personally, all I can do is rail for education worldwide for all and, with that, the power to do what is right for us and the future of our children.
  5. Correction by Descalzo · · Score: 1 · on Senate Proposal To Clarify 'State Secrets' Doctrine

    ...Carter got them to accept Israel as a neighbor and an Israeli/Palestinian peace deal if it passed a referendum. Hamas saying they accept Israel is quite a bit different than actually accepting. Based on past experience, and based on explicit language in Hamas' charter, Israel would be very wise to doubt their sincerity.

    A little voice inside me wants to believe them, or at least for Israel to take them at their word. But another little voice inside me answers, "Haven't they tried this before?"

  6. Re:Even Simpler... by Scudsucker · · Score: 1 · on Senate Proposal To Clarify 'State Secrets' Doctrine

    So, you can't see anything that President Obama, as he's re-sending Secretary Of State Carter back to have another friendly sit-down with Hamas

    Great idea, since Carter got them to accept Israel as a neighbor and an Israeli/Palestinian peace deal if it passed a referendum. See what happens when you actually (*gasp*) talk to people? But I'm sure you wont let anything as silly as facts interfere with your little hit piece on Obama.

    The Dems need to look past their pathological Bush hatred

    Bush has broken international and domestic law, four Constitutional Amendments, suspended habeas corpus even though we've suffered neither invasion nor rebellion, tortured people and gotten 10,000 Americans killed through his gross incompetence. If you aren't upset by that, you're either grotesquely ignorant or a sick tool. Which one are you?

    Ah, so you're saying that we CANNOT trust a politician (the president, whose job is to head up the executive branch, which runs the sorts of operations in question) to use good judgement and keep the appropriate information from leaking out and damaging foreign relations or getting people killed, but you're willing to trust 400 politicians to exercise that judgement flawlessly?

    Not a problem for a country that minds its own business. You don't see Al Queda trying to fly planes into buildings in Sidney or Toronto.

    Do you mean people like Democrat rep. William Jefferson, caught with tens of thousands in bribe cash in his freezer, and who is not only still in office, but who might be considered to be a somewhat compromised keeper of sensitive information... and so Nancy Pelosi re-assigns him to committee that oversees the department of Homeland Security.

    Of course you also know that Pelosi stripped him of his assignments when the news broke, right? Which is more than Republicans have done for the dozens of Republicans accused of equal or worse wrongdoing. Hell, House Republicans rewrote ethics rules to allow Tom Delay to retain his leadership position when he faced incitement. As for Jefferson, he hasn't been convicted and was (unfortunately) re-elected to office, so he had to be put somewhere.

    He's only still in office because Pelosi didn't want the stain of having to go through the process of kicking him out damage the politics on her side of the aisle.

    I wish they had. Republicans would be hard pressed not to vote to expel Jefferson, and then would be put on the spot if the House then investigated crimes committed by Republican politicians.

    f course, she would scream (and has, and does) for that sort of action if it's her political opponents exhibiting anything like that very same behavior.

    You mean Nancy "impeachment is off the table" Pelosi? I see we're at the part of the conversation where you just make shit up.

    Or perhaps you're suggesting that Bill Clinton's ham-fisted handling of Bin Laden and Al Queda in the wake of the Cole incident, embassies, etc.

    Ah, yes, the good old Clinton rules: whatever you do, it's the wrong thing. When he bombed Al Queda's aspirin factory, he was wagging the dog. Now he's at fault for not hitting them hard enough.

    Only because he insisted on seeing an attack on a naval vessel in a foreign port, and attacks on our embassies, as criminal matters.

    That's funny. All of our successes in fighting terrorism have come from treating them as criminal matters. All of our failures in fighting terrorism have come from treating them as military matters.

  7. Re:Medical 'insurance' is an extended warranty by falconwolf · · Score: 1 · on Bill Prohibiting Genetic Discrimination Moves Forward

    Even in Canada and the UK, which conservatives love to hold up as shameful examples of The Evils Of Socialism, you'll find millions of satisfied customers who wouldn't dream of going back to a private system.

    "Canada's Expectant Moms Heading to U.S. to Deliver". While some Americans, US citizens, go to Canada to buy drugs Canadians come to the US for surgery.

    The solutions are simple. Allow more choice and allow people huge tax deductions for their choices.

    Any real-world examples of a system like this actually working?

    There are no real-world examples of a free market in health care.

    Falcon
  8. Re:Once the government's bitch, evermore their bit by WindowlessView · · Score: 1 · on Google Turns Over Data on Suspected Pedophiles In Brazil

    That's funny, because I've seen people protest right outside the White House, and right outside Congress all the time. They're never fenced in or any such nonsense.

    Well, it certainly is comforting to have an experienced observer like you on the scene to give everyone the skinny about what's really going on in the country. However for people who prefer to have their reportage from people who don't have their heads in the sand they need only do the most basic Google searches. Here are a few of many, many examples and they don't even include all the abuses by local and state agencies, particularly those that need to justify their lucrative homeland security funding.

    http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/01/04/INGPQ40MB81.DTL&type=printable http://www.aclu.org/freespeech/protest/11419res20030923.html http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/21/washington/21protests.html

    And, oh, oh, Fox News so IT MUST be true!

    http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,96474,00.html

    Next time, try again, but without the lies so much.

    Don't worry, that appears to be only one of several statements you have made that have come back to bite your ass today.

  9. Re:That's outrageous by master_p · · Score: 1 · on Administration Claimed Immunity To 4th Amendment

    I think it's telling that in general, almost nobody wants to secede from the United States. If the country were to go downhill to enough of an extent that this changed, I'd support secession as a remedy if enough people in a given state or area wanted it (and if it wasn't just so they could continue slavery or something like that).
    Recently, an ad depicted USA without California. Guess what? there was a public outcry from US citizens, because you don't want a piece of your land to be taken from your country!!! same goes for Serbia/Kosovo, but for Serbia/Kosovo you support the opposite view.

    I don't entirely disagree with you on this point. But you must realize that, to a Muslim, politics is part of religion.
    They are not after USA for religious reasons, but for political reasons.

    Hey, the problems of the world are myriad, and we're never going to solve them all to anyone's satisfaction. I just brought up some examples that seemed relevant to our discussion here.
    The world's serious political problems are less than your fingers, as we speak. Yet you only try to solve some of them.

    A bunch of people believed that garbage a hundred years ago, and it never led to anything good. Markets are, so far, the best economic system we have. Failing to recognize that marks you as a pseudointellectual.

    The better societies of Sweden, Germany, Switcherland etc (where social democracy is applied) strongly disagree with you. You failed to justify how the "best" system, as you claim, produces 50 million poor people (that's 1/6 of the US population), tent cities etc.

    We don't have tent cities in my country, and we are one of the worst economies of Europe...

  10. Re:Ooops! by interiot · · Score: 1 · on Armed Robots Not Actually Gone From Iraq

    55 comments so far, and nobody has mentioned welcoming our robot overlords? It's true that the meme is getting a bit old (even Fox news has picked it up — quite the death-knell), but that's never stopped Slashdotters before.

  11. Re:$30 billion? by Culture20 · · Score: 1 · on Bush Cyber Initiative Aims To Monitor, Restrict Access To Federal Network

    people with a skin color that is different than ours And who would they be? We've got ever color in the world, including the only blue-skinned folk:
    http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,317564,00.html
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XV0I6Q70Yw
    http://www.blueman.com/
    Yeah, I know, the Smurfs are French, but they're communist, so that's the only reason you don't see them in the U.S. ;)
  12. Makes sense. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0 · on African Americans and the Video Game Industry

    Niggers are too dumb to create video games but are quite good at stealing and being lazy. Therefore, it is only natural that there would be an abundance of niggers playing stolen video games all day (when they're not busy beating their children to death with the controllers).

  13. Re:Impressive Credentials! by yuna49 · · Score: 1 · on The Dead Sea Effect In the IT Workplace

    OT

    I wonder what happened to those engineers who designed the "Big Dig" tunnel that collapsed in Boston two years ago. Here's what happened to their employers Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff:

    BPB paid a $407 million settlement, but in return,

    "Under the settlement, Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff will not face criminal charges in the deadly Interstate 90 tunnel ceiling collapse in July 2006. Milena Del Valle, 39, of Boston, was crushed by 26 tons of concrete as she and her husband drove to Logan International Airport.

    The deal also does not bar the consortium from receiving future government contracts. Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff was paid more than $2 billion to manage the project."

    See http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,324985,00.html (emphasis mine).

    You know which company is still facing potential criminal liability (involuntary manslaughter)? The family-owned business that made the adhesives, Powers Fasteners.

  14. Check your numbers by Dire+Bonobo · · Score: 1 · on US Army "Scams" Service Members to Test Their Spam Gullibility

    Compare that to kids in the average US city, where 50% do not graduate high school.

    You have a very strange idea of the "average US city", since the current high school completion rate is 86%.

    That number includes GEDs; since the military number does as well, it's deceptive to do otherwise. If you want to exclude GEDs, you get 71% for civilians and 71% for the latest batch of army recruits.

    Perhaps you got your 50% figure here, which was talking about rates in a minority of cities, excluding GED. Cherry-picking that minority of cities and comparing that to GED-inclusive rates is, obviously, rather disengenuous.

     

    The Army is certainly a lot smarter than the general population.

    You seem terribly certain of a claim you have no evidence for. Let's look for some, shall we?

    The average IQ of an enlisted man in 1998 was apparently 105, based on comparison to a 1980 test. Thanks to the Flynn Effect, IQ in 1998 should average 105 on a 1980 test, meaning the IQ of US military recruits appears to be totally average.

    I'm sorry if that interferes with your self-aggrandizing, pro-military chest-thumping, or with the self-aggrandizing, anti-military chest-thumping of the people you're getting irritated by, but the simple fact of the matter is that evidence suggests military folk and civilian folk are just as smart as each other. Rather than "dumb grunts" or "dumb civvies", the only lack of intelligence here appears to be on the part of those making the ill-informed stereotypes.
  15. Re:In before.... by cain · · Score: 1 · on US Army "Scams" Service Members to Test Their Spam Gullibility

    (replying to self)

    I've found a few more stats.

    Until recently, the US Army required that 90% of its enlistment class be high school graduates. In 2003, 94% percent of new recruits did have a high school diploma. That's fallen steadily since the war began though. In 2007, it's fallen to to about 71% of new recruits. So the army used to have a better high school graduate rate than the general population, but that is no longer the case. It is still better than the rate from the 17 worst US cities, which is lower than 50%, but again - why use the worst possible case for comparison, when the average seems a more natural one?

  16. Re:Why is everything about "bias"? by Lendrick · · Score: 3, Informative · on Ask Skewz.com Founder About Detecting Media Bias

    Case in point:

    skews.com has this article rated as "liberal" -- it looks to me like it's just the result of a (somewhat alarming) study on education. This article here appears to have been labeled "conservative" just because it came from Fox News.

  17. Re:Losing my faith in politics by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0 · on The Man Who Guards Clinton's Wikipedia Entry

    As a non-Yankee, I disagree. Obama is the best choice since he has more integrity and honor than the others and has shown that he can fight without being divisive and isn't afraid to confront issues that most politicians are too PC to dare.

    Clinton, OTOH, is the worst choice. She has shown herself to be at least as divisive as Bush, and has shown herself to be in the same reality distortion truthiness field that Bush in in (remember Bosnia and her 35 years experience?). The only difference between Bush and Clinton is the Clinton is smart and devious while Bush is an idiot. On this front, Clinton is closer to Cheney. Ms. Clinton, SHAME ON YOU!!!!! (do you *really* want to hear that sort of dirty politics for 4 more years?). As for Bill, I have no idea what happened to him, but this is not the same guy that ran the US so well. I guess either Ken Starr messed him up pretty badly or his time out of office changed him. But if I were a Yank, I wouldn't vote for "the new Bill Clinton" either. Bill is still better than Hillary, but since Hillary plans second fiddle to no-one, anyone holding out hope that Clinton will bring the US back to it's 1990's glory days is just dreaming. SHAME ON YOU!!!!!

    McCain, OTOH, appears to be a Regan Republican. Hawkish, but willing to work with "the evil empire" and has worked across the aisle to bring forward legistation (e.g. McCain and Obama have worked together in the past on several occasions). He'll harm the US economy, the way Regan did, but he'll at reduce the damage that Bush/Cheney did to the US internationally. He definitely has more honor than Clinton, which is something sorely lacking in the US right now. Notice that several time, he defended Obama when Clinton tried to go dirty ( http://embeds.blogs.foxnews.com/2008/03/28/mccain-defends-obama-over-wright-flap/ ).

    So from an outsider's perspective:
    Obama >> McCain >>>>>> Clinton > Bush/Cheney

  18. China's Payback for UNOCAL by SRA8 · · Score: 1 · on China Could Be Another Hurdle In MS Yahoo Bid

    China wants payback for us blocking their UNOCAL buyout.

  19. Re:Censorship by VJ42 · · Score: 5, Interesting · on China's Battle to Police the Web

    Being a Brit, I love comparing US news sources to others around the world, including those of our "enemies", and I regularly find that news sources from the USA are very introverted compared not only to the BBC, but even Al Jazeera and Chineese State news are more outward looking (even if somewhat biased). It's not just the news of our enemies either I look at other allies news, they too are less introverted than their US equivilents. And it's not that you can't produce quality news from around the world, compare the versions of CNN:
    http://www.cnn.com/
    http://edition.cnn.com/

    But who would think to put "edition" at the beginning of a URL?

  20. Re:Isn't silver bad for you???? by Zonk+(troll) · · Score: 1 · on China to Use Silver Iodide & Dry Ice to Control the Weather

    Isn't Silver Iodide bad for you, specifically your skin? I know there's this concoction (that has silver) that if you take too much of it turns your skin blue and is irreversible.

    If china pumps a ton of this stuff out, this will obviously get into the drinking water and then the athletes will drink that water as well as the local citizens and so you get blue skinned Chinese and athletes! Is this what you're referring to? That guy drank and rubbed "colloidal silver" on his skin which turned it skin blue over time. Here is a more recent article about him.
  21. Re:doesn't add up by clarkkent09 · · Score: 4, Informative · on Nuclear Scanning Catches a Radioactive Cat On I-5

    It has, just hasn't been widely reported. According to this article, there are about 600 radiation scanners deployed around the country and the rate of false positives is so high that the guy in charge of the Homeland Security Dept. nuclear office says they are pretty useless in practice:

    http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,257004,00.html?sPage=fnc/specialsections/homelandsecurity

  22. Re:HAHA by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0 · on Questions Arising On Mercury In Compact Fluorescents

    Thanks for the thinking-impaired redeck troll perspective. You may want to go here for all your 'information' needs from now on.

  23. Re:Its about damned time... by Copid · · Score: 1 · on US House Rejects Telecom Amnesty

    For instance, they are quick to come to muslim's defense for any perceived slight, but should a christian suffer the same thing (which happens a lot more often) they are silent.
    Where do people get this shit? Seriously? I suppose it's part of the bizarre persecution complex that Christians seem to have in this country, but a quick look at the ACLU's web site shows that your statement is nonsense. That was the second result in a Google search for "ACLU support Christian" right after somebody's rant about how the ACLU doesn't support Christians. Those examples are easy to come by. Hell, the ACLU filed a friend of the court brief supporting Rush Limbaugh at one point.

    I'll grant that they come to the defense of Christians less frequently than other groups, but might that be because Christians essentially run the entire country and aren't usually in need of a lot of defending?
  24. Re:Its about damned time... by ArcherB · · Score: 1 · on US House Rejects Telecom Amnesty

    You answered it yourself.

    You asked a loaded question, I asked a loaded question.
    You answered with the same response your loaded question deserves. My question came from a political cartoon I read. You seem to think that the only reason we needed to go into Iraq was WMD's. No matter what we found there, you will not be happy until we find WMD's. It's as if you are saying that if WMD's were found in Iraq, suddenly you'd support the war there and sing the praises of GWB. We know that's not true as WMD's have been found in Iraq, just not in the numbers that we thought we'd find. HERE is the actual NGIC report (PDF warning) stating that over 500 weapons have been found. That's not really the point. I assume you have hated GWB since the election in 2000 that you think he stole from the honorable Al Gore. No matter what Bush does, you are going to oppose him. You sit here and say that GWB lied and should be impeached and arrested for treason or whatever because there were no WMD's found in Iraq.

    Personally, I don't care about WMD's. I care about the people that were filling up those mass graves. Which brings me back to that political cartoon. Soldiers are digging up the skeletal remains of women and children in a mass grave. Toys and bones litter the ground. Standing next to where this work is going on is a guy in a shirt with a peace symbol on it saying, "Where are the WMD's?" That was my point. YOU are that guy. No matter what atrocities are found in Iraq, no matter how terrible the horrors we rescued those people from, you will be the guy standing there screaming "Where are the WMD's!??!"

    I asked you if you cared about the people of Iraq. You asked me when I stopped beating my wife. My question was valid. Your's was bullshit.

    So, I ask again. Do you or do you not care about the people in Iraq? With all that was found over there, you still do not support the war. Is there anything, ANYTHING at all that could be found over there that would make you say, "maybe going into Iraq wasn't such a bad thing after all"? It's evidently not mass graves. It's not rape rooms or torture chambers. It's not actual weapons of mass destruction. So what could possibly change your mind? Anything?

    So, these are valid questions, you should honestly answer them or prove to people like me that your opposition to the war is based on petty politics, not facts and not humanity.

  25. Look what he's up to today... by daveschroeder · · Score: 1 · on US Plans "Disposable" Nuclear Batteries

    The Radioactive Boy Scout in more recent times...and he ended up going to jail.

    And check out the mug shot...

    Police say that Hahn's face was covered with open sores, possibly from constant exposure to radioactive materials.

    Yikes.

  26. Look what he's up to today... by daveschroeder · · Score: 1 · on US Plans "Disposable" Nuclear Batteries

    The Radioactive Boy Scout in more recent times...and he ended up going to jail.

    And check out the mug shot...

    Police say that Hahn's face was covered with open sores, possibly from constant exposure to radioactive materials.

    Yikes.

  27. Re:And? by techpawn · · Score: 3, Informative · on FBI Hid Patriot Act Abuses

    Admiral Fallon, can be added to the list.
    I love that we put an Admiral in charge of a land war. Granted, he may have been a genius about the art of modern evolving warfare. But Fallon claimed ongoing misperceptions about differences between his ideas and U.S. policy where making it too difficult for him to operate.
  28. Re:Please stay on topic by ArcherB · · Score: 1, Flamebait · on Israelis Sue Government For Laser Cannons

    That means the only hope is for Israel to stop it, but I'm not too hopeful that will happen. They have, repeatedly. Then some angry young man kisses his wife and kids good-bye, straps a bomb/ball-bearing vest to his chest, finds a place where a bunch of teenagers are hanging out and then blows the place up in a deliberate attempt to kill as many kids as possible and derail any peace process that has been building for any amount of time. Of course, then you see Palestinians dance in the streets, shoot guns in the air and hand out candies to passing cars. Israel has every right to respond in any way they see fit for as long as they like and they will still be in the right. There is no reason to EVER blow up a pizza parlor full of kids, or shoot up a high school, attack a college cafeteria with a back-pack bomb, or any of the MANY attacks where the target is innocent civilians, including... or ESPECIALLY women and children. Also, note that all these attacks are celebrated by the so-called "innocent and peace loving" Palestinian people and the terrorists called heroes and martyrs. Sorry, but with a track record like that, Israel will always be in the right.

    What about the Jews attacking the innocent Palestinians... Google "Pallywood" and watch the video.

    It's like the old saying goes

    There will be peace in the Middle East when the Palestinians love their children more than they hate the Jews. When that happens, and it won't in our life times, you'll have your peace. Not a second before.
  29. Re:Which method? by Rei · · Score: 5, Insightful · on Should Scientists Date People Who Believe Astrology?

    A) The phrase is "cue up", not "queue up".
    B) While the Wired article wasn't focused on men vs. women, Slashdot naturally had to put that twist on it. I mean, what kind of scientist would be a woman? What a silly concept! (As though huge numbers of men don't believe in all sorts of kooky things. No, it's apparently only weak-minded women who fall for pop-culture nonsense.)

    Yes, more women believe in astrology then men -- but not by a huge margin. Women are a mere 5% more likely than the population as a whole to believe in astrology. On the other hand, men are 9% more likely than women to believe in UFOs. And why stop at gender? There's a much stronger correlation between being a Democrat and believing in astrology (14%) than being a woman and believing in astrology. Should we have framed the question in terms of political parties? Was the goal to be insulting?

    Lastly, while we're talking about pseudoscientific delusions designed to make people feel better, they give a free pass to people who believe silly things that are "religious beliefs". As a society, we always defer to that. But why? A delusion is a delusion. It's not as though religious beliefs are harmless or anything, judging from history -- quite the opposite, really. Why are we saying it's okay to believe as they do -- to think you have an imaginary friend in the sky who loves you very much, and when you die, you get magically transported to a happy place to live with him -- simply because there are so many of them in the US?

    Yes, I dared mentioned the elephant in the room.

  30. Re:I see your fear and raise you Brazil ! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1 · on British Airport Will Require Fingerprints From Domestic Passengers

    Call. Full Gattica! Woo-hoo!
    (Fail! Someone's already called you on the GATTACA spelling error.) But I'll forgive that, because I can RAISE! Even Fox News has stopped pretending! Remember the Cold War, when only the commies did that shit? Yeah, me too. Oldthinkers unbellyfeel Amsoc. Sucks to be us.
  31. Re:Calling Captain Obvious by Nonesuch · · Score: 4, Insightful · on Chicago Links School Cameras To Police

    It's the guns, stupid!
    There are no (legal) handguns in Chicago.
    It's the callous disregard for human life, stupid!


    The Chicago police and video cameras don't prevent crime, they commit crime. And then do it again. And again.

  32. Re:Simple solution - send someone dying from cance by kalel666 · · Score: 1 · on Will Mars be a One-way Trip?



    Quick, somebody call Patrick Swayze!

    http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,335210,00.html/

  33. Re:Why not do it like AZ? by Chuck_McDevitt · · Score: 1 · on Daylight Saving Time Wastes Energy
    No daylight is also bad for you: You need daylight for vitamin D production.

    http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/09/050922014720.htm

    http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,257921,00.html

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daylight_saving_time

  34. Re:Opposed to *mandatory* HPV vaccine by John3 · · Score: 1 · on Researchers Discover Gene That Blocks HIV

    The link you provide says that "Both the Family Research Council and the group Focus on the Family support widespread (universal) availability of HPV vaccines but oppose mandatory HPV vaccinations for entry to public school." HPV, like AIDS, is mostly associated with certain behaviors (sex outside of marriage between one man and one woman and illegal intravenous drug use). Most young people have sex for the first time at about age 17, but do not marry until their middle or late 20s. This means that young adults are at risk of unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) for nearly a decade. Just to keep it fair and balanced, Fox News reports reports similar statistics (via the CDC). So "sex outside of marriage between one man and one woman" seems to be common enough to put forth the argument that vaccinations should be mandatory.

    The fundies say they support the vaccine, but with limits that ultimately dilute the effectiveness. I admire their stand against premarital sex, but they are keeping their heads in the sand when they ignore the fact that children (including their own) are having sex without parental approval. The children are not going to ask to be vaccinated, so the government needs to step in to address the public health issue (6 million new cases each year).

  35. Re:If he thinks the policy is stupid... by idontgno · · Score: 2, Insightful · on Military Steps Up War On Blogs

    I think our GIs have better things to spend their time on than trying to distill truth from the "facts" vomited by malcontents and partisan hacks.

    I agree wholeheartedly! That's why I wonder why those "malcontents" and "partisan hacks" aren't being blocked, just honest bloggers.

  36. Re:A curse I've had to live with . . . by tomhudson · · Score: 3, Interesting · on Hans Reiser and the "Geek Defense" Strategy

    Sure it makes sense. Most people have an over-inflated idea of how intelligent they are - the majority claim they're more intelligent than the average person - which simply can't be true.

    Then again, the majority of Americans believe that God created human beings: 45% believe god did it within the last 10,000 years, and a further 38% believe that god guided it over the last million years (intelligent design). Only 13% believed in Darwin's theory of evolution.

    Contrast that with what people believe just north of the border - only 22% agree that god created humans within the last 10,000 years. 59% believe in evolution.

    In this set of findings Iceland, Denmark, Sweden and France, 80 percent or more of adults accepted evolution; in Japan, 78 percent of adults did. Turkey, on the other hand, had results akin to the US. Kind of telling, I would say ...

  37. Re:Apostrophes by thx1138_az · · Score: 1 · on Half-Petaflop Supercomputer Deployed In Austin

    According to this Fox News story that broke only few days ago even this massive super computer can't handle apostrophes.

  38. Re:Strange quote... by darkmeridian · · Score: 1 · on Child-Suitable Alternatives To Passwords?

    You'll be responsible if this happens to your sister, right?

  39. Re:Thank God by ScentCone · · Score: 1 · on Fidel Castro Resigns

    Could I get a link for that please?

    Just takes some Googling. Apparently this spat has been evolving for a while.

  40. Great idea! by urcreepyneighbor · · Score: 1 · on Is This the Future of News?

    You work, I get paid! Fan-fucking-tastic!

    I'd normally add a "zing!" to the end of this post to make it clear it's supposed to be funny, but since this model is actually being exploited... well, it's not funny... just sad.

    Fox (save the bashing, it only makes you seem like a brainwashed, meme-spewing twit) is doing the same thing, too. They call it (IIRC) "uReport". So, CNN isn't alone in this.

    Here's the deal: if a news outlet wants to profit from your work, demand credit and/or a slice of the pie. Give the bastards nothing for free. Even if Ainsley Earhardt or Molly Henneberg asks real nice, be firm! ;)

  41. Great idea! by urcreepyneighbor · · Score: 1 · on Is This the Future of News?

    You work, I get paid! Fan-fucking-tastic!

    I'd normally add a "zing!" to the end of this post to make it clear it's supposed to be funny, but since this model is actually being exploited... well, it's not funny... just sad.

    Fox (save the bashing, it only makes you seem like a brainwashed, meme-spewing twit) is doing the same thing, too. They call it (IIRC) "uReport". So, CNN isn't alone in this.

    Here's the deal: if a news outlet wants to profit from your work, demand credit and/or a slice of the pie. Give the bastards nothing for free. Even if Ainsley Earhardt or Molly Henneberg asks real nice, be firm! ;)

  42. This is a huge step. by freedom_india · · Score: 1, Offtopic · on First Organic Molecules Found on Alien World

    This is a huge step and an advancement towards detecting alien life.
    What we consider as hot may be normal if beings exist on that planet.
    Yes, just like the 1970s Mars experiments led to inconclusive evidence of life on Mars, this too is inconclusive.
    If this doesn't speed up Astronomy studies in Europe (USA is a basket case since Bush came to power), then what else will?

    As usual this doesn't make front page news anywhere.
    Fox starts with a pleasant "Pregnant women as bombers" fear mongering: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,330415,00.html/

  43. Re:not enough info by jaymz411 · · Score: 1, Offtopic · on Making Use of Terabytes of Unused Storage

    http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,265982,00.html

  44. Re:Better login into wikipedia host asap by IPFreely · · Score: 1 · on Muslim Groups Attempt to Censor Wikipedia
    So, you have a terrorist organization that is going around killing innocent people in the streets of a foreign country and the government that is supposed to be controlling them is protecting them. All the while, the people in front of the cameras are calling for war and the destruction of a country.

    I think I'd have to agree with you there. I can certainly understand why some people might be dissatisfied with the situation.

    Seriously, the US used to have a moral high ground on these sort of issues, but those days are gone. It's all "pot, kettle, black." now.

    Some famous guy once said "Judge not, lest ye be judged" and "You see the mote in your brother's eye, but you do not see the beam in your own eye. When you cast the beam out of your own eye, then you will see clearly to cast the mote from your brother's eye." and a few other often ignored things. Maybe we can learn a thing or two from this guy? Like clean our own house before we try to clean everyone elses? I don't hate the US. I just want it to be better than it is. Recognition is the first step to redemption (followed closely by positive action).

  45. Re:Money well spend? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Flamebait · on US Pulls Plug on Low-CO2 Powerplant Project

    Not saying whether it's a good idea or not, but to put it into perspective: the entire cost of the coal project is equal to 10-11 days of expenditures in Iraq.
    It's fucking TERRORISTS like YOU that will allow the MUSLIMS to take over the world, rape your women, and spread disease. If nothing else, think of the children. Muslim women WANT TO KILL YOU! http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,327938,00.html
  46. Re:Obligatory... by cayenne8 · · Score: 1 · on A Mythbuster's Biggest Tech Headaches (and Solutions)
    "Yeah, but how many of them are on national TV?"

    Well, think what you might of Fox News, but, they do have the best looking news chicks on there!!

    Megyn Kelly, Domenica Davis and Ainsley Earhardt as a couple of examples....

  47. Re:Obligatory... by cayenne8 · · Score: 1 · on A Mythbuster's Biggest Tech Headaches (and Solutions)
    "Yeah, but how many of them are on national TV?"

    Well, think what you might of Fox News, but, they do have the best looking news chicks on there!!

    Megyn Kelly, Domenica Davis and Ainsley Earhardt as a couple of examples....

  48. Re:Godwin was an asshat by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0 · on NYC Wants to Ban Geiger Counters

    Four out of five isn't bad.

  49. Re:Perhaps a lame question by ScrewMaster · · Score: 1 · on "Hollywood" Howard Berman To Leave Internet Subcommittee

    Have you tried this one?

    That's a joke, son.

  50. Re:In archaic terms... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0 · on The iPhone Meets the Fourth Amendment

    Plus, consider that our military during times of peace consists of volunteers. They're citizens, and people just as you are. You really think most of the armed forces are going to unload their stuff on their own people, because they're ordered to do so?

    I don't worry about a military dictatorship in this country. But a Police State is another thing.

    Police officers have already demonstrated a willingness to kill civilians over trivial matters, and then rationalize it afterwards. The prosecutors that are supposed to oversee the police do not hold them accountable for their crimes.

    Radley Balko has been doing a marvelous job of researching and reporting about this.

    http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=6476

    http://www.theagitator.com/category/paramilitary-police-raids/

    http://www.theagitator.com/category/police-professionalism/

    http://www.reason.com/staff/hitandrun/143.html (scroll down)

    http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,193652,00.html

    See also

    http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/military_law/4203345.html

    http://instapundit.com/archives2/2006/11/post_685.php

    http://justiceforsal.com/

    http://joelrosenberg.livejournal.com/

    I don't know if things have always been this bad and if a communication medium like the internet is making it easer to report and read about these atrocities, or if things are genuinely getting worse. Probably both.

    But it's telling that those who believe we currently live under a fascist regime are also proponents of gun control ( http://www.reason.com/news/show/117833.html ). I'm sure it's not fascism they oppose, as long as their guy (or gal) is in power.