Slashdot Mirror

we can do it better, but overall it's still the best bang for the buck (calculating the waste output, and handling of said waste output, into the buck) that we have.

How is nuclear power the best choice? We don't even have a way to deal with the waste.

I'm hopeful that when we do get around to building new reactors, they'll be of a more modern and efficient design than the ones running currently.

Where are these designs? And not just general hand waving but actual designs. And doing more research into new designs don't count, the same energy and money put into alternative resources may come out with better things.

Sorry, Falcon, but solar, wind, wave, hydro and all the other renewables won't cut it at our current consumption levels (see the link at the end).

So your news link beats my science links?

A nearly-as-bad downside is the fact that the footprint for enough of a solar or wind farm to replace a coal plant means you're eating up many times more real estate with concrete and metal than the coal plant did, and I've no desire to pave the planet.

Did you even read the Sciam article? Or the Wind Atlas?

So the big objection to coal power (which also pertains to combustion engines; cars) is that we're running out of the power source and there's not more we can get or make.

My biggest issue with coal, and nuclear power, is that it is dirty. If you're going to bring up carbon capture and storage, show one such plant in operation that actually works.

and then there's the limited-fuel-resources-from-few-suppliers drawback as well

Now I'll admit here the US doesn't need to worry about running out of coal, there's hundreds of years of coal in the US alone. As stated above though it's dirty. And not just the burning of coal but the mining as well. Mountain Top removal is probably the dirtiest mining there is, though uranium mining comes close. And underground mining isn't any better, healthier, or safer. It causes Black Lung as well as other health problems. There are a number of underground fires in coal mines, the Centralia mine fire in Columbia County, Pennsylvania has been burning since 1962.

However, with only a few thousand nuclear plants, eventually, powering the US

We don't need more centralized power, we need more distributed power. Nor do we need to devote land for just one purpose, which nuclear power requires. With wind gennies, generators, farmers can lease small plots, or use as their own, to erect a genny. This would create a second source of income for farmers. One of the biggest problems with wind farms are all the NIMBYs, such as the ones fighting siting wind farms off the coast of Cape Hatteras. The Mid-Atlantic Coast Could Supply 330 gigawatts of Electricity, from Cape Cod to Cape Hatteras, alone according to researchers at University of Delaware. Meanwhile 4 Nuclear Power Plants in California had a capacity of 4 gigawatts in 2005. That comes to 1 gigawatt per power plant, whereas the wind potential off the Mid Atlantic comes to 330 nuclear power plants.

[ whether things are necessities... ]

Nor is steak(or any meat for that matter)

Hardly. A pure carb diet is very unhealthy, and a great ticket to obesity and diabetes.

I'm highly skeptical of that claim. I've never seen any evidence that avoiding meat causes weight gain. From what I can dig up, apparently being a vegan not only does not cause diabetes, it's actually an effective treatment for diabetes. Oh yeah, and vegetarianism is a treatment for obesity. Read this summary from the American Dietetic Association and see if you can find any evidence in it that abstaining from meat results in weight gain. Also, my sister is the only one in my family who is a vegetarian, and guess what: she's also the only one who isn't overweight. (Yes, I'm overweight. Not by a lot, but I am.) I've seen a few overweight vegetarians, but honestly, being overweight is less common from my experience, and apparently studies agree with that.

Eating meat is simply not necessary to maintain a healthy weight. Eat a reasonable, healthy diet with reasonable portions, and exercise some, and you should be fine. If you have a medical problem, that's different and you may need to spend some cash to pay for a special diet, but for most people with weight problems, the cause is behavioral and not medical. Many forms of exercise are free, and eating reasonable portions instead of overeating would actually save you money.

Also, for what it's worth, there isn't really any reason you can't have a little meat and still eat for very cheap. Buy meat in bulk and go for the cheap cuts of meat, and you can get the prices down under $1.00/lb sometimes. In fact, in general, you can eat pretty healthy for pretty cheap. For example, try pricing skim milk compared to 2% or whole milk sometime. The skim milk is cheaper. The real reason most people spend too much on food is that they're going for convenience foods, which are often double or triple the price.

Using mice can cause Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. Now, which one is more dangerous?

I'll agree that if you have the normal American slackass desk-job, losing muscle mass might be a problem. But keep in mind that mining is still a very physical job, and so loss of muscle mass may not be as big of a problem.

The biggest danger to humans, imo wouls be silica dust -- either clogging and destroying needed equipment or giving miners the moon equivelent of "black lung". I'm not sure how mines on earth solved this, but it seems to me that the troublem would be harder to control in 1/6th earth gravity.

Here's a metal you might find particularly useful, xmas2003:

Lithium carbonate

Remember what the nice doctor said? "Comics are not reality." You don't want to have to go back to the hospital, do you?

Say it to yourself a few times: "Comics are not reality. Comics are not reality." That's a good boy, we're all friends here, no one's going to hurt you. Just put the comic down and lets go for a walk outside in the fresh air, OK?

My son has some fine-motor-control problems. He *absolutely flunked* the Bender Figures test, and his handwriting has not improved at all in the 12-15 years since then. It has been a big problem for him. He's in college now, having taken a few years off, and the school accomodates him be requiring his instructors to allow him to type everything, etc. But some day he's going to exit into the Real World, and he won't get that kind of help.

So as the parent of someone whose problem seems incorrectable, I'm really interested in hearing what's worked for you, if anything, and how you've managed to adapt to what the world expects of you.

Thanks!

Somewhat offtopic, but a lot of people who believe that they have Raynaud's have something else (like acrocyanosis). Anyway, the result is the same: cold, blue hands. Worst part about having acrocyanosis is that it makes it really difficult to put the moves on the wife during the winter - she doesn't want my hands anywhere near her!

Yes, even water is toxic.

Just like taking too much flouride is toxic, drinking too much water *will* kill you.

Just goes to prove that anything done without moderation will kill you.

Ask any doctor, "The Dose Makes the Poison".

Did you know that the "q" in qmail stands for "queer"??? That's SO cool!!!

Top results for one-letter google searches as of Sat May 17
a : Apple
b : B'Tselem, The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the ...
c : CNET.com
d : D-Link Systems, Inc.
e : Welcome to E! Online
f : Welcome to F-Secure, Securing the Mobile Enterprise
g : G*Loomis
h : H-Net, Humanities & Social Sciences Online
i : Yahoo!
j : J-???
k : KDE Homepage - Conquer your Desktop!
l : LEXPRESS.fr : l'info au quotidien. L'actualité économique, ...
m : 3M Worldwide
n : SBC Pacific Bell Knowledge Network Explorer : Online Learning : ...
o : www.oreilly.com -- Welcome to O'Reilly & Associates -- computer ...
p : Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
q : Q4music.com - The World's Greatest Music Magazine Online
s : GNU's Not Unix! - the GNU Project and the Free Software ...
t : AT&T
u : The whatUseek Network
v : Welcome to Bobby WorldWide
w : Welcome to the White House
x : Netscape.com
y : Yahoo!
z : HealthAtoZ - Your Family Health Site

My Bio 1001 professor told me that ALL soap is antibacterialogical.

I would also question whether all soaps are antibacterial. Dial, for instance, has the active ingredient triclocarban, which has been used as an antiseptic since the 60s. While that's common in many soaps, not all soaps (particularly "natural" soaps) have it, or something like it.

According to HealthAtoZ.com, over 75% of liquid soaps and almost 30% or bar soaps are indeed antibacterial. While this is a lot, it's far from saying "ALL soaps are antibacterial" (or antibacterialogical, for that matter).

--

If you've read any of the low carb diet books (eg, Protein Power, Dr Atkins Diet) they can tell you all kinds of tales of hyperinsulinemia and many related ills coming from a high carb diet.

Of course, what they don't tell you is how dangerous these faddish high-protein diets are.

Avoid simple carbs with high glycemic index, sure. But the protein mania is simply unhealthy. Your caloric intake should still be mostly clean-burning carbohydrates. Best way to lose weight is still to get up off your ass and exercise.

(Exception: the protein focused diet can be useful as a temporary measure in adult onset diabetes, to sort of "reset" the insulin regulation mechanism. Otherwise, forget it - it's a very unhealthful practice.)

You are severely misinformed. Juvenile-onset diabetes is never caused by a poor diet... it is caused by a genetic disorder affecting the pancreas. I don't know about you, but I'm not going to blame my friend's internal organs dying within the first ten years of life on diet...

Do not compare Eczema (an annoyance) with Juvenile-onset Diabetes. You just show your ignorance. Please check this link for more information about type 1 (Juvenile-onset) diabetes.