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Compared to a computer, a human is utterly incompetent to operate any heavy machinery. The reaction times and accuracy just aren't there, and never will be. That makes you comparatively dangerous, no matter how 'law abiding' you might be. And the damn law can distract you from actually driving the car. You're too busy looking in the mirror for the cops, talking on the phone while shaving, when you rear end the guy stopped at the light.

Weatherbird II is thus certain to become a lightning rod in the argument forming around how to respond to global warming. On one side are "engineers," people convinced that we must work our way out of the climate crisis by engaging in planet-scale efforts like sequestering carbon, unfurling orbital sunshades, tossing dust high in the atmosphere to block sunlight, or moving wholesale to nuclear power to eliminate coal-based emissions. On the opposite side are individuals -- call them "druids"-- who are equally convinced that the only sensible option is reduce our human planetary footprint, to conserve, preserve and remediate the threatened natural environment.

I suspect in the coming years the engineer/druid debate will become highly contentious, and a lot of shouting is going to happen. Hopefully we win.

Yes, the most important racism out there is affirmative action.

Unless you can find a food source that is not transported by car into the city

There used to be something called a victory garden, a vegetable garden on one's own urban property, but some cities have tried to outlaw that.

Forgot already that George Bush issued an unheard of $8 billion in AIDS research for Africa, did we?

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/po...

Decrypting the contents may not be necessary for nefarious uses
A more reasonable issue may be people targeting US passports for thefts.

That only Republicans use FUD to get votes?

Democrats: Vote or we’ll kick your ass
http://nypost.com/2014/10/30/d...

VP Biden Says Republicans Are ‘Going to Put Y’all Back in Chains’
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/po...

Democrats ‘Shame’ Voters With Mailers
http://online.wsj.com/articles...

http://m.espn.go.com/general/story?storyId=11253545&city=losangeles&src=desktop

I'm glad I didn't post that example from anywhere near Wasco, CA, Jacksonville, FL, or Staten Island, NY.

Hey, I wonder who's in that black van outsi...

*^%^#%$^*@& NO CARRIER

Egalitarianism

Wage gap myth:

http://www.consad.com/content/reports/Gender%20Wage%20Gap%20Final%20Report.pdf

Majors by Gender: Is It Bias or the Major that Determines Future Pay?

There Is No Male-Female Wage Gap

The Gender Pay Gap is a Complete Myth

Gender pay gap is not what activists claim

Equal pay statistics are bogus because they don’t compare like with like

Fair Pay Isn’t Always Equal Pay

Wage Gap Myth Exposed -- By Feminists

5 Feminist Myths That Will Not Die

The Wage Gap Myth

Don’t Blame Discrimination for Gender Wage Gap

The pay inequality myth: Women are more equal than you think

Women Now a Majority in American Workplaces

Labor force participation rate for men has never been lower.

Share of Men in Labor Force at All-Time Low

Women In Tech Make More Money And Land Better Jobs Than Men

Female U.S. corporate directors out-earn men: study

Female CEOs outearned men in 2009.

Women between ages 21 and 30 working full-time made 117% of men’s wages.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, single women between 22 and 30 years old earn an average of $27,000 a year. That’s 8% more than comparable men.

Workplace Salaries: At Last, Women on Top

Young Women’s Pay Exceeds Male Peers

The 15 Jobs Where Women Earn More Than Men

Women aged between 22 and 29 earn over £10 per hour on average, compared to men their same age who earn just under this amount.

Young women now earn more than men in UK

The post office has a variety of problems. Commercial mail discounts are not the most significant among them and in fact an increasing amount of their business comes from junk mail overall. On an operational basis the USPS is profitable. The biggest problem they face is that mail volume has fallen by 20% in the last 10 years and is showing little sign of stopping. People simply don't send as many letters as they once did thanks to email and other new technologies. The USPS is a shrinking business but since they in actuality are a government agency they aren't truly given the freedom to behave like one. They are forced to serve unprofitable locations, they cannot close unnecessary post offices, they are limited in their ability to reduce their workforce, etc.

What? they are a government agency but not given the freedom to act like one? And yes, they have closed or are closing unnecessary post offices.

The bulk mail and so on is insignificant other than if they are not making money, they simply need to increase the rates a bit. But they lower the rates for businesses sending spam and up the private postage fee which is declining. Now, you really do not need to be the headmaster at the University of Austin (* the best accounting school last I checked) to see a disconnect here. Let me spell it out, Business rates are too low and private rates are too high. If they did something about that, they would have both business and private customers again.

It's not that government "can be part of the answer". Government HAS to be part of the answer. I agree that except on very small scales, government owned ISPs are probably not the best idea. But large ISPs without any government oversight is probably an even worse idea. There are certain industries (postal services, utilities, infrastructure, communications services) that simply will not work effectively on a large scale without a significant amount of government involvement and oversight.

I disagree on the industries that do not work well without government but that is neither here nor there. Government does not have to be part of the answer, if they weren't involved in the first place, they wouldn't need to be involved in the answer either. Companies like Comcast, Time Warner, ATT/SBC got their big jump in being large ISPs because they had the government give them monopolies in other areas in which they now piggyback their internet service offering onto. With very little effort, existing government regulation can be used to solve problems like net neutrality and so on. We already have consumer protection laws on the books about not receiving what you are being charged for. We already have these large telecoms receiving benefits for broadband roll outs and if they block or limit any services, their access doesn't meet broadband definitions. What is needed is strict enforcement of existing regulation and perhaps a little consolidations or inter-agency abilities with existing government agencies.

That said if the citizens of my local town wanted to have municipal gigabit ethernet controlled by the local government and collectively voted to indicate they were fine with the cost of doing this, I cannot think of a logical reason to prohibit it either. If the local telecom/cable monopolies aren't providing what people want they should be able to utilize their government to make it happen.

Governments who can tax people not wanting the service in order to fund it should never be in competition with private entities. The correct way for the town to get gigabit Ethernet is to bid out access to right of ways provided a certain coverage area on specific types of lines. Treat it like a cable company or the telephone company in which a company does the roll out and then leases the lines at cost to competitors or provides the service together

The benefits NEVER outweigh the risks.
I stand by the statement, taking the selfies was an optional choice, and of course the only way to stop nude selfies from leaking, is not to take them. Video chat, disposable cameras, and numeorus other ways to do it exist if you are interested in minimizing risk. She and the others were lazy and thought they were safe.
Also, there is no luck. What we call luck is actually statistically probability. As for JLaw's excuse, that healthy relationship wasn't healthy. There is a little thing people forget called self control. You know that thing where you don't look at anyone at all and be patient. That if sificant other isnt there you don't do anything? That thing that existed for centuries.
. As for her, she could have mailed actual pictures via secure mail. And she assumes that texting them was more secure? There is no security on the internet nor privacy. There is just how hard it is to break into it. And apple loves security by obscurity.
She's angry they got released and knows no one will get punished. She knows they damaged her image and destroyed her wholesomeness. The question I ask is this: Why is her having naked pictures of herself (or of the celebs) a bad thing?
http://abcnews.go.com/Primetim...
Pornography has grown into a $10 billion business — bigger than the NFL, the NBA and Major League Baseball combined — and some of the nation's best-known corporations are quietly sharing the profits. According to Adult Video News, an estimated 11,000 hard-core porn movies are produced in the United States annually, many of them in California's San Fernando Valley, where modern porn was born. The fappening didn't damage her image in the slightest. The vanity fair article did. It made her look foolish, naive and clueless. My wish now is that no one is ever caught.

Looks like it has already started to go that way. Not that I'm in any position to know if it is a valid concern or not, I just happened to see the story with a picture of Jesse Jackson... In fact, I'm going AC for this one just in case my comment is misunderstood.

for a police line-up what can the authorities do? http://abcnews.go.com/US/obese...

Write about the 2 lesbians that went to the sperm bank and we given a black man's sperm accidentally.

Now that's something I can riff off all day long. http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireS...

That's because you are an asshole.

Write about the 2 lesbians that went to the sperm bank and we given a black man's sperm accidentally.

Now that's something I can riff off all day long.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireS...

Depending on which news network you check depends on what you are told... At this point I feel the major news media is covering up the fact he was contagious since Wednesday of last week by either saying his symptoms started later or that he has been in the hospital since Sunday.
The person arrived here on the 20th. I have read some articles saying he started showing symptoms on Wednesday Sept 24th and that he went to the Hospital (the same hospital that has been readying itself to handle Ebola) he was then sent home with Antibiotics. He then came back several days later VIA ambulance because his condition worsened.
“After arriving in the U.S. on Sept. 20, the man began to develop symptoms last Wednesday and initially sought care two days later. But he was released. At the time, hospital officials did not know he had been in West Africa. He returned later as his condition worsened.”
http://www.stripes.com/news/us...

Failure 1: They never asked him and he never divulged he was from Liberia?
Failure 2: They misdiagnosed the issue as a common cold or bacteria infection.
Failure 3: will they really be able to trace everyone if he went somewhere in public while showing symptoms (he must have gone somewhere to get the antibiotic prescription filled, how many people in CVS, Rite-Aid etc. got exposed?)

Failure 4: They are assuming he will divulge even people who may be here illegally living with his friends or family. Most likely these people will not seek medical treatment nor be reported for fear of deportation they may finally report to the hospital when critically ill but in the interim they are an exposure risk to the general public.
Failure 5: The hospital was not using any Tyvex suits, booties, face masks, etc when treating this patient on Friday. They were using no EBOLA precautions. This article from the New York Times also contradicts completely the BS being spread through NBC news that just washing your hands will prevent contracting Ebola. Two problems with that are that washing your hands will not stop ebola if you came in contact with infected fluids or someone with ebola you can’t just wash it off. Secondly this study here proves americans do not wash their hands enough
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/s...
Here is the CDC recommendations to the hospitals which this hospital DID NOT FOLLOW until the patient came back
http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/p...

The CDC list was revised after the doctors below spoke out about the initial precautions CDC recommended which were gloves and paper mask!

“But Dr. Michael V. Callahan, an infectious disease specialist at Massachusetts General Hospital who has worked in Africa during Ebola outbreaks, does not think it is wrong for hospitals to opt for more protective equipment.
The minimal precautions recommended by the C.D.C. “led to the infection of my nurses and physician co-workers who came in contact with body fluids,” Dr. Callahan said. “I understand the desire to maintain absolute protection in U.S. hospitals.”
Dr. Justin Fairless, an emergency physician in Tulsa, Okla., said that health care workers in Africa “are wearing the highest level of protection, but the C.D.C. recommendation lets us go down to the lowest level of protection.”
Dr. Fairless is considering buying his own air-purifying respirator to pair with a head-to-toe coverall. “I am not comfortable going to see an Ebola patient wearing a paper mask that doesn’t cover my entire face,”

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08...

After the article CDC recently revised their recommendations to this:

To reply to my own post, I did a bit more research:
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/e...

This story says that the person didn't start having symptoms until well after his flight. It's doubtful he contaminated the plane at all. So it's just him and his close contacts from when he started to become show symptoms.

--PM

As a rabid nature and wildlife photographer. this took be aback for a minute. After some quick Google'ing, the intent of the new regulation makes sense. Here's an ABC print story: http://abcnews.go.com/Entertai.... A quick quote from the story: "Professional and amateur photographers will not need a permit unless they use models, actors, props; work in areas where the public is generally not allowed; or cause additional administrative costs, the agency said in a release." I've got no problem with this whatsoever. SteveB

There is no trial or sentence for Contempt. They just lock you up until you comply.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contempt_of_court#In_use_today
One guy spent 14 years behind bars.
http://abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=8101209

BBB seems to be like the various state medical and dental boards, a group-help thing that suppresses complaints for members.

No, BBB is far worse.

Medical and dental boards are at least state sanctioned and have some level of certification and verification involved; you have to actually have a degree and a license to become a member. BBB, on the other hand, will happily sell you an A- rating for a nonexistent business called "Hamas" (yes, after the terror group), or take $395 to upgrade your listing from C to A+ overnight.

The real problem is that millions of consumers, especially seniors, look to BBB as some beacon of fairness and respectability. People will threaten to "call the BBB" as if they're part of FTC or some other government agency and can actually step in and take enforcement action or correct a perceived wrong. This is absolutely bogus, and that message needs to get out as far and wide as possible. When I was working retail 20 years ago and someone would say they were going to "call the BBB" over something, we'd hand our phone across the counter and ask if they wanted the phone book (nobody ever took us up on the offer).

Back on topic, there are tons of not-entirely-substantiated anecdotes of Yelp behaving this way as well. I wish someone would catch them in the act like ABC news got BBB on camera.

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/alibaba-chinese-company/story?id=25591454

"Alibaba -- open sesame. Alibaba -- 40 thieves," Ma said. "Alibaba is not a thief. Alibaba is a kind, smart business person, and he helped the village. So...easy to spell, and global know. Alibaba opens sesame for small- to medium-sized companies. We also registered the name AliMama, in case someone wants to marry us!"

A brief summary of the winners is here.

Damn that's not a good sign then.

Our puritanical culture condems sexual entertainment. I don't agree: I think hiring a prostitute is much more fun than watching a violent movie or attending a loud concert. However, to each his own.

Damn that's not a good sign then.

Yet someone else on slashdot without a clue spreading a myth. https://disneyworld.disney.go....

Terrorists did not take away our freedoms. They were only successful in killing 2,996 people and causing about $19 billion in property damage. We gave our own freedoms away.

And in more doublespeak, Obama shared this with us today:

“We carry on because as Americans we do not give in to fear. Ever."

Nope. Americans never give into fear. We also don't allow virtual strip searches at airports, we don't allow the federal government to spy on our private cellular communications, and we guarantee all political whistle-blowers immunity from criminal charges.

Indeed. It's striking when Americans care more about Ray Rice than we do about methods of tyranny that would make the Stasi cream themselves.

Bread and circuses, and so forth.

This kind of people have government-approved full access to the (potentially naked) selfies of all underage girls of the entire world, celebrity or not, and they surely abuse of it. And are supported for doing that.

These film were stored in North Carolina. It is actually illegal there to predict sea level rise. There is some question about whether the law makers there banned the prediction of sea level rise or the banned sea level rise itself. But anyway these NASA scientists need to tread carefully in North Carolina.

Total bullshit on the part of the media.
You've got to learn to not believe what reporters say. Read the actual bill.
http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/...

"The Commission shall direct the Science Panel to include in its five-year updated assessment a
comprehensive review and summary of peer-reviewed scientific literature that address the full
range of global, regional, and North Carolina-specific sea-level change data and hypotheses,
including sea-level fall, no movement in sea level, deceleration of sea-level rise, and
acceleration of sea-level rise. When summarizing research dealing with sea level, the
Commission and the Science Panel shall define the assumptions and limitations of predictive
modeling used to predict future sea-level scenarios. "

The first version of the bill was the one that the news picked up and, well, just plain made up bald-faced lies about.
Here it is:
"Historic rates of sea-level rise may be extrapolated to estimate future rates of rise but shall not include scenarios
of accelerated rates of sea-level rise unless such rates are from statistically significant,
peer-reviewed data and are consistent with historic trends. Rates of sea-level rise shall not be
one rate for the entire coast, but rather the Commission shall consider separately oceanfront and
estuarine shorelines."

See the part about not including 'acccelerated rates of sea-level rise"? That's the controversial part of the bill. By taking the most extreme sea-level rise predictions, some sea-side community was announcing a need for huge sums of money to prepare for the "predicted rise". The bill was simply saying that you had to use peer-reviewed data and historical trends.

I don't have a problem with the legislature requiring both historical and peer-reviewed data for predictions of sea-level rise, and I cannot imagine any scientist having a problem with that.

These film were stored in North Carolina. It is actually illegal there to predict sea level rise. There is some question about whether the law makers there banned the prediction of sea level rise or the banned sea level rise itself. But anyway these NASA scientists need to tread carefully in North Carolina.

Phelps is like 7 feet tall, extremely active, very muscular and was taking both legal and not-so-legal supplements. You can't equate the nutrition needs of someone working out 2+ hours a day doing high-impact strength and endurance training with your average person.

Not just that, but swimmers blow an incredible amount of calories just maintaining body heat while in the water.

How about by fixing this??? - Sept 2000: Court OKs Barring High IQs for Cops

I don't necessarily like knowing cops have this information but so long as there's rules over the collection (see above) I'm okay with this.

But you have no idea if they are following those rules at all. Police have a long history of flagrantly violating such rules:
http://sacramento.cbslocal.com...
http://www.thenewsherald.com/a...
http://articles.courant.com/20...

And using their position to rape and murder:
http://abcnews.go.com/Primetim...
http://time.com/3159146/oklaho...
http://articles.courant.com/20...

Access to 1 weeks worth of data would allow the public as a whole to see how they are being monitored. The few criminal investigations that may be impacted pale in comparison to the overwhelming public right to know what the police are up to.

I also figured out that intelligence was a liability, and I've still seen very few environments where that wasn't true, and all of those only well after childhood.

Intelligence isn't a liability. Trying to tell other people they are wrong all the time is a liability. Telling people, "I am smarter than you, so you are wrong" is a liability.

You don't have to tell people you are smarter directly. I spooked the hell out of a girlfriend who had a crazy 3 on 5 off (with other kinks in the pattern) schedule because, after 2 weeks, I had it figured out and when we were making plans for something next week, I told her when she was working and when she was free: "how'd you know that?" "Well, you're working tomorrow and it's time for the 4 week long break..." "I only know my schedule by looking it up..." "Oh...."

People who perceive you are smarter (whether you are, or not) will often treat you as a threat. http://abcnews.go.com/Business...

Icahn has called CEOs the survivors of the corporate world, but says it's the "survival of the unfittest": "[The CEO] would never have anyone underneath him as his assistant that's brighter than he is because that might constitute a threat. So therefore, with many exceptions, we have CEO's becoming dumber and dumber and dumber."

Actually many (not all) of the policemen and policewomen in the U.S. are ex military. They've been trained on the equipment that was donated to the police departments. What we should be asking is why have we come to a time/place that we think we need a swat team knocking on a door for an eviction, or even a low profile drug related arrest.

Actually you would go in with SWAT too, when the person you're invading the house of is ex-military.

Alright, why don't you tell us what actually happened?

Alrighty then:

Under cross examination, however, Detective Matt Goeckel conceded that Bravo had an iPhone 4 which did not have Siri capability and there was no proof that Bravo had asked Siri for suggestions on disposing of a body. The detective said the image on Bravo's phone was a "cached photo."

The defense also pointed out that Bravo and Aguilar were not roommates.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/defense-denies-accused-killer-asked-siri/story?id=24958781

is that they're talking about exceptions, and not simply getting rid of the massive regulations that have killed businesses for years.

We now have state inspectors go through out trash cans looking for light bulbs. We will not, ever, be in a position to negotiate an exemption.

It would be amusing to see someone file a lawsuit - at the federal level - for equal protection violations. A class action lawsuit, with the class being everyone who is not eligible for the exemption. Or maybe a RICO lawsuit, since this is certainly affecting interstate commerce.

It wouldn't be the first time a government agency in California has been sued for RICO violations. And certainly won't be the last.

Please watch the great 30 For 30 episode Jordan Rides the Bus . Even I, as a Chicagoan that grew up in the Jordan era, was surprised at how good Jordan got at baseball. It seems at the end he had quite a few game winning hits. It seemed there was no guarantee he'd be called up to the majors in 95, but any question of that was nixed with the baseball strike that year. I don't think a lot of people knew how much he improved. Even his main man Spike Lee made jokes about Jordan - with a commercial about his struggles with "the wicked double-A curveball..."

Hell, watch most 30 For 30. The 16th Man is as good as most movies out now.

Similar anecdote here, but a DOT engineer in our state was forced out when he complimented his agency on their response to a major storm. After the (predictable) public outcry, along with some lawyers offering to take up the case as he may not have even violated the rules, they doubled-down on ruining this guy's life by revealing things from his past disciplinary record that had already been addressed in order to try and vilify him in the press.

Moral: Even if you have only nice and helpful things to say, don't say anything at all.

There isn't any real due process in federal felony cases, pedo or otherwise.

What ought to happen is the cops/DA/AG show up with a warrant / subpeona / etc to gather evidence, find a suspect, build a case or drop it if one cannot be made, and make an arrest on the charge in question. If the case goes through, a trial happens with an impartial judge and jury.

What really happens:
The evidence is gathered illegally and a warrant comes after the fact (if at all)
From whatever evidence they get, IP addresses etc, a fall guy is found that may or may not be the perp
The cops are sent in SWAT style, even if this is an unarmed person charged with a nonviolent offense. Or you know, a baby sleeping in a crib. Either one works.
If the fall guy wasn't killed during the raid, he is arrested and held without bail.
The DA shows up with the charge in question, plus a dozen other dubiously related charges, all of which are the same action but purport to violate the law in some microscopically different way, which total up to an effective life sentence (35 years might as well be infinity years if you're charged at age 40)
After that, it breaks up a bit:
If you're nonwhite, the DA offers a plea bargain from 35 years down to 15.
If you're white and poor, the DA offers a plea bargain from 35 years down to 12.
If you're white and middle class, the DA offers a plea bargain from 35 years down to 5.
If you're white and rich, the DA tells you to buy the next round at L'Espalier, and that you'll have to say you're sorry (without admitting fault in the matter).
Your lawyer tells you to take the deal, because the conviction rate in this county is over 90%, and if you go to trial, the penalty will more than double.

Funnily enough, ABC was exactly the network I had in mind as I wrote my previous comments. We get the ABC nightly news bulletin shown on our own BBC News channel, and sometimes the degree of dumbing down, "patriotic" chest-thumping, and overtly biased commentary literally makes my cringe. It's awful. Maybe that's just the main bulletin and some of its other content is better?

ABC has a few good shows. For example: http://abcnews.go.com/ThisWeek... is considered one of the cornerstone shows for official pronouncements of policy. Very official, but more in depth similar to the more bland shows on the BBC. Martha Raddatz who is the Senior Foreign Affairs Correspondent for ABCNews was considered so good that people joked she won the Vice Presidential debate in 2012 (she was the moderator and did a fantastic job cutting through the BS with two very seasoned politicians). But no, what you see is pretty reflective of the ABCNews.

As for the BBC I agreed with you above the BBC is better. We have something like the BBC, PBS NewsHour.

Out of genuine curiosity, what would you consider to be "good" and reasonably neutral news media in the US?

Those two tend to negatively correlate in the USA media. The better the source the more likely it is funded by an organization with an agenda or appeals to a narrow segment of the electorate. PBS NewsHour (TV), that I mentioned above or the Washington Post. The two newswires Reuters and AP are both good and neutral. http://www.nationaljournal.com... But mostly the better sources aren't neutral. The Wall Street Journal does some fantastic coverage but it represents the Republican establishment it isn't neutral. http://www.foreignaffairs.com/ represents the opinions of the State Department. Stratfor is terrific but tends to represent the CIA. On the left the Nation is very good but they only claim to represent the most progressive 10%...

but I can't imagine that anyone I know who takes an interests in these kinds of political issues wouldn't be aware that not everyone in the world uses a parliamentary system of government. I expect most who have had any significant discussions about the US at least understand the general separation of powers idea at the executive/legislature/judiciary level, even if they don't necessarily know the intricacies of your legislative structure and so on.

They don't. It is frankly amazing. Though the UK may be better than the rest of Europe. But for example I was discussing legal stuff with a UK guy who was quite knowledgeable who was shocked that Presidents regularly used their power to pardon. They also didn't understand state vs. federal law and how few and specific federal crimes are. That just about everybody in jail is in jail at the country and state level and this has nothing to do with Obama. Try and keep your ears open for this as you listen to critiques of the USA over the next year. You'll frequently hear people upset with Obama about issues that are state issues, or things that come from congress...

For example, it's taken until the Obama administration for anyone to even try implementing universal healthcare. That is something many (though of course not all) in Europe would consider a basic requirement for any civilised society in the 21st century.

That's not true. Harry Truman tried and failed, Lyndon Johnson tried and failed. Richard Nixon tried and failed. Bill Clinton tried and failed. And that's just presidents. In congress there were probably several dozen important attempts.

But who in mainstream US politics is arguing for, say, reform of working conditions?

The minority leader in the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi argues fo

Um, JUST NO. I really don't know where you might have gotten that idea, but it's false.

You write, " I hope you'll be pleasantly surprised when you discover that the rocket caches that were found were not given to Hamas militants, but instead were handed off to the Palestinian Authority government, which promptly destroyed them."

But waitasec, didn't you say previously that Hamas is the governing body in Gaza? I know somebody said that. So you're saying that returning the rockets to Hamas wasn't giving them to Hamas? Or are you saying that the Hamas political entity won't pass Hamas ordinance on to the Hamas military entity?

And would you happen to have one of those shiny citations for the part where you say that Hamas "promptly destroyed them"? (Oh, I guess that may just be semantics though, because certainly firing them at Israel would lead to the ultimate destruction of the rockets, so I guess we're all good here.)

I'm a bit credulous when it comes to news reports, yes, so I "fell for that" as you say:

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/chief-alarmed-rockets-put-gaza-site-24685070

UNITED NATIONS â" Jul 23, 2014, 9:02 PM ET Associated Press

The U.N. secretary-general on Wednesday said he was "alarmed" to hear that rockets were placed in a U.N.-run school in Gaza and now "have gone missing," and he demanded a full review of such incidents.

...
On Tuesday, UNRWA reported a second incident, saying it found rockets hidden at a vacant school during a regular inspection. "UNRWA staff were withdrawn from the premises, and so we are unable to confirm the precise number of rockets," its statement said. "The school is situated between two other UNRWA schools that currently each accommodate 1,500 internally displaced persons."

...
"Even more alarming were reports that in the first case, officials with the United Nations returned these weapons to Hamas, a listed terrorist organization, once Israeli officials discovered their location," he said. ["he" being Canada's Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird]

And then I happened across this article:
http://www.worldtribune.com/2014/07/23/un-acknowledges-facilities-gaza-used-store-hamas-rockets

The UN Relief and Works Agency has reported at least two incidents in which its schools were used for the storage of rockets amid the war with Israel. In both cases, the UN refused to confiscate the rockets and instead asked Hamas to retrieve the weapons.

So what do you think? When the "UNRWA staff were withdrawn from the premises, and so we are unable to confirm the precise number of rockets," who was it who took posession of those rockets? Why was UNRWA staff withdrawn?

And when a news report says, as it often does, that news media were barred (by Hamas) from the site of a blast, do you think it's because Hamas doesn't want them showing the Israeli shell that hit the location, or the Hamas rocket that went astray and hit a Gaza schoolhouse instead of an Israeli schoolhouse?

Here is one example.

Presuming that this isn't happening is like presuming we never bury anyone alive, even though things like this happen.

The question is not whether these things are happening, but how prevalent they are.

I found nothing definitive, but here's what I gather (using US as baseline since we're talking American football):

My results are inconclusive but my best guess is that linebackers are modestly larger and stronger ((26% & 111%) proportionally to average men, versus men to women (18% & 94%).

Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B...
http://www.exrx.net/Testing/We...
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What...
http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/...

how did this happen?

http://abcnews.go.com/Internat...

...to end drug prohibition since at least 1996, on both practical and 10th Amendment grounds. Statists love the "War on Drugs" because it gives them more ways to control people.

Meanwhile, President Obama, the first president who openly admitted to using illegal drugs, has cracked down harder on medical marijuana and other uses of "choom" far harder than Bush ever did.

First, let me say that I was talking about workplace harassment. I failed to specify that in my comment.

When I say that the organization is the first responder, I don't mean they're the first, last, and only. People can always call the police (or file a lawsuit), and obviously if your organization covers for harassers then that's the next step. But escalating to the courts is expensive, time-consuming, embarrassing, often bad for your career, and nowhere near certain. Even in severe cases, the police often don't take rape seriously. It seems like the best we can do is have a multi-tiered system of shared responsibility.

About 4 or 5 years ago, all the broadcast TV in the US changed over to a digital format, and the digital format includes HDTV broadcasts. If you have an HDTV and an antenna, and you live in a place where you can receive the signals, you can get the HDTV of all the broadcast networks over the air (OTA) with no cable.

It has been reported that Comcast re-compresses the digital HDTV streams, cramming them into a smaller digital channel in their cable system, in order to fit more channels in. This leads to reduced quality in the picture you view on Comcast compared to the OTA HDTV broadcast. I don't know about other cable systems. Here is one such report, though it seems to be specifically about other non-OTA HD channels (where the FIOS broadcast was used for comparison).