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Maybe we should use switch grass.

Ten times as many gallons / ton, and grows like the weed that it is!

This sounds like a war machine trying to make another war,

True, it sounds like a part of a modern "Operation Northwoods". http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=92662&page=1 This could be an even better reason to invade/bomb/disappear someone than terrorism.

there's a 17 yo kid in GA that recently got a mandatory 10 year sentence for receiving a blowjob from a 15 yo girl.

I think you're talking about Genarlow Wilson. IMHO, he got completely shafted. There's a great article about him. Were I in the DA's district, I'd be rounding up an impeachment petition right now. It's a fucking travesty.

You want somethign even more fscked up? In georgia, two minors having sex is a misdameanor, but having oral is a felony. Read this: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/eticket/story?page= wilson Sad....so sad.

No, you couldn't, because people wouldn't buy a million cars in a day.

Way to misunderstand the English language.

Way to misuse the English language.

even so, a million cars is only about 21 days of sales

And to think that you insulted me, when by your own numbers (5.9 million/year), it's ~62 days. Unless you're switching back and forth between "America" and "World" without stating that you're doing so.

you assume people are idiots. You act like they're just going to watch fields go dry one by one while twiddling their thumbs.

Given you as an example, that's a pretty safe assumption.

Lovely -- is this how you respond to all arguments? By, instead of addressing the issue, focusing on insulting the questioner? You're going to go far in this world, let me tell you...

That's exactly what we did in the 1960's as US oil production peaked and fell while consumption continued to climb. This led to our vulnerability to the OPEC oil price shocks in the 1970's.

Which, while the US went through a recession from the '73-'74 embargp, collapsed on itself under pressure from new non-OAPEC supplies coming online (and, not to mention, a few OAPEC countries (such as Iraq), wanting for cash, began violating the embargo), leaving OPEC as a whole with diminished importance in the world market. Throughout the 70s, they tried to maintain high prices, but this collapsed in '79 when Saudi Arabia, facing the fact that OPEC was now producing less than half of the world's supply, opened its taps wide. The results of the embargo were such a blow to them that they haven't attempted any such embargo since, despite it having the desired effect in the west. Afterwards, the US established the Strategic Oil Reserve to prevent even the active collaboration of exporters to not pose as much of a threat to the US.

Now, please explain how this applies to New Zealand natural gas production. Namely, are you expecting the fields to actively collaborate and shut down all at once to protest... oh, let's just say, the plight of the Kakapo?

Heck, the same thing happened again in the 90's: business interests fought energy-efficiency standards for buildings in the name of "consumer demand", and now we are looking at having to import LNG in order to heat them.

Leading to the natural gas shocks of the 00's... oh wait, that's right, that never happened. I'm actually glad to see natural gas being used more for heating than oil. In a way, proportionally higher consumption of gas is *good* for the environment, because many producers have historically just flared the stuff. Higher prices justify storage and export.

Designs available during that same period would need little or no heat. Why didn't we use those designs? Because people are idiots, QED.

Gotcha -- all of the world's knowhow, and all of the world's markets, and all of the world's investors, all collectively idiots. Only you and your compatriots are brilliant enough to see the truth. Good to see that you don't harbor any delusions of grandeur or anything.

25 Wh/kg will get you 4 kWH out of 160 kg. That's plenty for driving around the neighborhood (12 miles @ 200 Wh/mi)

200 Wh/mi might be appropriate if you're vehicle is light and modern (I've looked at the numbers for converted vehicles, and they're not exactly stunning), but even still, 12 miles is nothing. The biggest complaint about the EV1 was its 75-150 mile range. The average commute in the US is 16 miles each direction. Significant numbers of people just won't buy a car with that kind of range.

When they wear out, you replace them with carbon-foam backed lead-acid at 260 Wh/kg.

Ah, good. You replace them with something that only exists in the lab (Firefly didn't even get the patent on them 'till a year ago) Now if you'll excuse me, I need to take my Skycar over to the launch pad for

I used to live over his back fence, and he's talked me through a couple of his ideas.

I think the term featurephone might apply, but really it's just a purty phone, but no Treo or 6800. Different market.

Yet Rim took a hit to the stock price when the iPhone was announced. Perhaps a whole lot of people know something you'll not admit.

Not to mention you post safely AC, which shows just how confident of your predictions you really are! Always safe to predict the future when no-one knows later if you are wrong.

Any thoughts why the society you see as so disfuctional is so fabulously successful on this front?

Yes. First of all, it's largely an illusion; crimes are being perpetrated in your general direction, you just fail to notice - you kept paying the excise tax on your phone bill, right? Ever catch on that it was being levied for the Spanish American war? That's just the tip of an iceberg of abuse you've been paying coin to all your life. Secondly, the overall stats are averages, and while some segments of society are indeed very robbery/mugging "personal" crime free, that is not true of the least fortunate levels of society, who are suffering as the resources they need, are all being spent on other levels of society. Thirdly, to say that a nine strap beating is better than the ten, eleven, and fifteen strap beatings others are receiving, is in no way sufficient to discredit the idea that no beating at all is the target, and that reducing from 9 is still the way you want to go to get there.

The US is chock full of injustice. For instance, there's this guy. Just because it hasn't crossed your path, doesn't mean it isn't out there, that it isn't pervasive, that it isn't important. it just means you're not paying attention. You've bought the cool aid, and you're happy to drink it. I'm not. I truly believe you are living in an imaginary world, in the sense that things are not what you think they are. That goes for most of the middle class.

This thing probably got caught up in a general order to obscure ALL nuclear plants.

It's a really lame little plant, with barely any fuel. The white thing is a metal containment dome, attached to a 3-story or 4-story research building. It's about 4 stories tall. They give tours; you can look down into a pool of water to see the glowing blue core. It's called the Pinanski Energy Center.

Attacking this plant would do nothing of any real interest, though some idiots would surely freak out. The radiation source is deep below ground and really weak.

Most of the obscured area is just a parking lot. The research building extends to the northwest of the white reactor; they are attached. The area to the southwest is a parking lot for that building and the adjacent ones. The area to the northeast is a parking lot for the gym, which you can see with the white rectangle on the roof. The farthest west obscured area is a pedestrian overpass at the 3rd-floor level that runs between two unrelated buildings, the physics building (north) and engineering building (south). Most everything in the area is 4-story.

There are far more interesting things on campus that a person could attack, starting with the dorms!

You can find pictures on the web, including a lame attack by ABC news.

http://www.uml.edu/maps/pinanski.htm
http://www.uml.edu/student-services/disability/ada services/north_campus/pinanski_hall.html
http://abcnews.go.com/Primetime/LooseNukes/story?i d=988778

How do they explain away the layer of iridium rich clay (around the world) from around the time of the mass extinction. Current theory says it's vaporized impact material.

Easy, that is explained here (search for iridium)

Current global warming problems are explained here

(Disney's on the HD-DVD side, BTW)

(Disney's on the HD-DVD side, BTW)

Snake Like Sharks? Virgin Kamodo Dragons? We better find that source of radiation...I'm just saying...

Scientists announced in December in the journal Nature that Flora the Kimodo had fertilized the eggs herself without any male help, in a process culminating in parthenogenesis or "virgin birth"

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=2818923

Excellent observation. The provision as it was written would have barred companies from encouraging or providing mechanisms for their customers to contact legislators regarding issues of import - unless, of course, said company "registered" with the government and reported all activities and expenditures. And that is a massive free speech problem. Nobody wants to construct a reporting mechanism, legislators know that. It's much easier to simply stop trying to engage in advocacy.

"The evidence will show that this recount was rigged, maybe not for political reasons, but rigged nonetheless," Prosecutor Kevin Baxter said. http://www.abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=28 06718

The potential problems caused by a thorough investigation into the ramifications of our broken election system might be a bit more than the prosecution wants to take on. That doesn't mean the election system isn't seriously flawed. My OP point was that we need to take off the blinders and deal with the flaws, and that means first admitting that we have a problem.

... and not CNN. I suppose if we had a respectable voter turn out, then big media might think we would find election fraud newsworthy. I guess the president just isn't as important as "American Idol".

ABC News also has the story, along with a picture of the defendents. I can't put my finger on it, but they don't appear to be stereotypical Bush operatives.

http://abc.go.com/daytime/theview/

It's basically a bit*h fest for women.

giving the populace the chance to vote

Because that worked SO well in Palestine, Lebanon, and the rest of the places where people got to vote and immediately voted for more terrorists. Maybe in 20 years the countries we propped up will use the weapons we gave them against us and we'll try again and make the exact same mistakes we made 20, 40, and 60 years ago with the Shah, bin Laden, and Saddam.

their parents are part of the wrong religious sect

Yeah, none of that happens now that America "fixed" Afghanistan.

http://www.nickjr.com/

http://disney.go.com/disneychannel/playhouse/mmch/

what we can't be sure of, is was this kid looking at pictures at all

Fixed that for you.

I mean, the guy has an internet connection and gigs of pr0n, and he goes out and gets a Playboy? Nuff said.

Actually he admits to looking at legal porn:

Nevertheless, Matthew did have an embarrassing confession. He had been sneaking peaks at adult erotic photos on the family computer. "I got the Web site from a bunch of friends at school. [It was] just adult pornography...Playboy-like images."

"Matt finally was allowed to plead to a lesser charge (namely, sharing a Playboy magazine with friends) and just barely escaped being labeled a sex offender for the rest of his life." barely escaped being labeled a sex offender for the rest of his life? if you read carefully: FTA: "While the prosecution deal offered no jail time for Matthew, he would still be labeled a sex offender."

Here http://abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=2791529&page=1 is an interview with the DA of this case.
Very interesting read.

Quote:

"JIM AVILA: So there was a huge amount of evidence that in fact, this kid was not involved in a sex crime. And yet, your office and
you yourself continue to believe and put him through two years of hell, because you continue to believe despite lie detector
tests, court psychiatrist reports, a report from the computer expert who said it could have come from anywhere...you
continue to say..."

NDREW THOMAS: (Overlap) Well...

JIM AVILA: ...that he did it.

ANDREW THOMAS: Well, I...again, I...I'm not sure that that's totally right. But you gotta...

JIM AVILA: (Overlap) Halfway right?
"

Occasionally it's even worse once you're in the courtroom.

Prosecutors, police and lawmakers all seem to be making the assumption that computer owners should be responsible for everything that is sent to and from the Internet. Yet, we have average people with little knowledge of computer security who are using hard to secure Windows computers. A large percentage of all Windows computer have been infected by spyware or browser hijackers or have had back doors placed in them my hackers or the malware itself. A recent New York Times article was titled the Attack of the Zombie Computers Is Growing Threat. It says that "botnet programs are present on about 11 percent of the more than 650 million computers attached to the Internet". Most of those zombie computers are probably spewing out spam for porn, pump-and-dump stock schemes, or illegal activities such as phishing schemes that steal peoples charge card numbers or passwords. Should those 70 million Windows computer owners around the world also be arrested and sentenced to years or decades in prison?

Last night on ABC, on TV, I saw a 20/20 segment about "Prison Time For Viewing Porn". In that case a teenage boy was facing the possibility of 90 years in prison because several child porn files that were found on the family computer. Police pounded on the door of their Phoenix home at 6:00 a.m. and seized the family computer. The sixteen-year-old boy offered to take a lie detector test and passed the test, but prosecutors continued to press charges. A computer expert later looked at the hard drive and found more than 200 infected files and back doors that allowed hackers to access the family computer from remote locations. Most likely someone else used the insecure Bandy family computer as a place to store the files which they did not dare store it on their own computer.

I have heard that many computer repair people spend much of their time removing spyware from computers belonging to people who complain that computers are running slowly. Prosecutors and police should take into account that these people were not using a more secure operating system such as MAC OS X, Linux or BSD. However, security problems or other misleading circumstances can occur when using Mac, Linux, or BSD. For instance, I use Linux and when I find an interesting website with various interesting Linux, ham radio, solar energy or nutrition related files, I occasionally use the wget command to download most of what is on that web page. I latter frequently am surprised to discover that the wget command also downloaded hundreds of pictures of New England covered bridges or family photos too. I most would most likely not notice if child porn photos had also automatically been downloaded into an obscure subdirectory.

How can law makers, police, prosecutors and child protection supporters seriously suggest holding people accountable for what is found computers without outlawing the use of Windows first? Furthermore, where I live the local cable companies provide their customers with broadband routers which are wide open to being used by nighbors by default. The telephone company where I live provides wireless routers which by default use insecure WEP encryption method. About half of all wireless networks do not have any security enabled and many of the others just use WEP or are still using the defalt SSID and password. Many people also do not use antivirus software, spyware removal software, properly secured firewalls or the latest security updates. Even with Windows security patches installed there are frequently unpatched zero-day exploits out there such as the one for Word documents that Microsoft failed to patch earlier this week on "patch Tuesday." How can police and lawmakers seriously suggest holding people accountable for what is on people computers in these circumstances.

And, this isn't the only case where this has happened before (2003)

http://abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=2682730&page=1
I thought people knew by now that it is the poor that are generous.

I know many people don't carry forward a balance, but 115 million Americans do. So the odds of people being in consistent credit card debt are pretty high.

If someone wanted to go all-out cash, Best Buy and other retailers still take checks. Not an option for everyone, but it's true.

But yeah, no argument that spending more than you make is the root of the problem.

And ofcourse according to the Bush administration those people didn't have any freedom and couldn't enjoy the things we had here. Amazing how much of the official stories turn into pure falsified information whenever you're coming into contact with information residing from someone who actually lives in the region itself...

Well said. As many on Slashdot know, there are few things more important, or a greater demonstration of freedom, than playing games like Medal of Honor and Call of Duty, unless it is playing soccer or other sports. It is difficult to call Iraq during Saddam's rule anything but a "paradise" for everyone, from children to those of privilege, and even to Saddam's own family, like son-in-law Hussein Kamel . I don't know why everyone on Slashdot doesn't understand that. Maybe with a bit more education....

You are talking as if all the consoles were easily available to people who want them. This is not the case. The Wii and PS3 are selling out everywhere. Nintendo has less of a problem with production than Sony does so obviously it is going to sell more consoles.

There is no contradiction here. Nintendo has less of a problem with production, but they also seem to have vastly larger demand than Sony, so in the end, it's harder to get a Wii even though Nintendo produces a lot more consoles than Sony.

http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/story?id=2771492&page=1

You are talking as if all the consoles were easily available to people who want them. This is not the case. The Wii and PS3 are selling out everywhere. Nintendo has less of a problem with production than Sony does so obviously it is going to sell more consoles.

It will be really interesting to see how the PS3 sells once Final Fantasy XIII is released. Keep in mind, the Xbox was "inchworming along" until it started to get major exclusive hits (e.g. Halo).

It will be interesting how the end of this life cycle plays out as well. There is already a huge difference in graphical capabilities between the 360/PS3 and the Wii. Obviously, graphics != gamplay. But a good game with great graphics is better than a good game with mediocre graphics. This gap will only widen as developers figure out how to use the 360/PS3 hardware. Of course, the Wii will always have its unique controller and price point. And if they sell enough consoles early and a lot of third party developers get on board....the snowball might become an avalanche that can't be stopped.

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=2 762445&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312

life in muslim america

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=2 762445&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312

Happens in Real Life already.. no beer required, just a phone and a husky voice.

Fast food workers torture co-worker

Is ABC news credible enough?

http://www.abcnews.go.com/US/HurricaneKatrina/stor y?id=1123495&page=1

Let's say you have 2 people, one with $50K and the other with $10K, and you take away $20K from the first person to give to the second person so that they both have the same amount. Now, taking into consideration human nature, what will be the motivation for the person who only has $10K to work any harder when they know they will get more money by doing nothing? And what will be the motivation for the one making $50k to CONTINUE working when they know any extra money they make from their work will simply be taken away and given to somebody else?
This is an inherent FAILURE of most communist systems. They don't take into account that the majority of the population is NOT filled with self-sacrificing ascetics eager to contribute all their dough to the great commune.
The U.S. has it's problems, but one of it's most endearing qualities, and why so many poor immigrants WANT to come here, is the availability of class mobility. They CAN make it just off their hard work. If you need examples, please see:
Chris Gardner
Oprah Winfrey
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Anna - some Mexican chic I knew through my dad who made it over here, worked by cleaning houses and selling ice cream and STILL managed send $1000 month back to her family in Mexico after her own expenses. She is now married, with kids, still working. Luckily, she got smart and stopped sending money to her ingrate family back home who would berate her when she didn't send MORE money to them.

So, please, PLEASE, don't tell me how helpless and unfortunate "poor" people are, when the biggest obstacle standing in their way is often their own lack of motivation and mistaken belief in their own inadequacy.

If you think a fake blog or website is bad, check out this article about Sony paying people to ask other people to take their picture with Sony's hot new phone. It is pretty much proof that Sony is run by assholes, who don't mind taking advantage of other people's kindness.
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/HolidayTheme/story? id=2690905&page=1
I agree, FUCK YOU SONY

They drove down a closed seasonal road by mistake and got stuck.

http://dejavu.movies.go.com/

FTFA: "Equipment made by companies such as CellAntenna that can jam or block cellular signals is used by the U.S. military in Iraq to help protect convoys traveling through known trouble spots."

Great. The US is not Iraq, and frankly, it seems the police can't be trusted with tasers. I am sure we give the military in Iraq, and federal agents, access to all sorts of other stuff I really don't want my local deputy, Jimmy-joe-bob, getting his paws on.

Frankly, this is just more FUD bullshit security theater. Cellphone jammers won't help the police one bit, and will only add to the potential for abuse/misuse by the police. This lawsuit is nothing but a ploy from a company that wants to join the halliburton gravy train. GSM can be jammed somewhat as far as I know, but my understanding (correct me if you know and I am wrong) is that CMDA/WCDMA have much more immunity to jamming. CDMA phones aren't very prevalent in Iraq, but they are here. Furthermore, this only works if you know where (within a small radius) an explosive device [that was to be detonated by cellphone] is/willbe.. so really all it encourages is either wasteful spending on useless devices, or spending on devices that will be permanently setup in "high risk" place.. which will only serve to 1: encourage the 'terrorists' to figure a way around cellphone jamming, 2: erode our rights further.

Pity about the whole dying thing, but hey, having a good chance or losing the mother or child is the natural way.

Really?

Then why are we going to quit the al-Anbar province

Quote:In a recent intelligence assessment, senior Marine Intelligence Officer in al-Anbar, Col. Peter Devlin, concluded that without a massive infusement of more troops, the battle in al-Anbar is unwinnable.


That sounds like defeat to me, but feel free to pretend otherwise.

It's all about spin. Take it the other way, say that this gives the intelligence community a new opportunity to spy on terrorist recruitment and activities.

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/AmericanFamily/story?id= 2040066&page=1

Here's the story covering it, with a partial playlist. I wonder if he remembered that, and when it's pointed out to him, how he will spin this to be the left's fault? :)

In my opinion, the israelis need to invest in far better armor and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles.

I'm curious, can you provide me with more specific data on the sort of lucrative government subsidies available to these environmental entrepreneurs? Dollar amounts in particular would be helpful, as I would be quite interested to know how they compare to a typical oil executive's salary (for instance, Exxon's Lee Raymond's, who took home a reported $51.1 million in 2005 before departing with a $400 million retirement package).

You know, I'm honestly surprised that it hasn't occurred to any of these execs how much more money they could be making as anti-oil environmentalists. (Or -- perhaps they do know, and remain in the industry solely on principle...)

OMG! Pirates! This'll teach those Ninjas good!

(About halfway through the video they start playing the Curse of Black Pearl theme song).

According to the actual article it says 8-9 other people claim to have voted for Wooten (the canidate who had 0 votes registered. Out of a town w/ a population of 80 (and with less than 50 people actually voting) that's over 20% error. Completely unacceptable

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=2646802&CMP