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Yeah, must be a bitch with all those northern roads that no longer have any markings on them at all by spring...oh wait, we have lines that seem to last just fine now under heavy plowing.

I doubt you do actually. Especially given stories like this.

It is an epoxy based paint that is more reflective than paint used in years past. should last six to seven years.

UDOT will conduct nightly lane closures between 600 North in Salt Lake City and 10600 South in Sandy. They'll cover up the lines nightly and lay down the new paint in small groves - about 1/8 of an inch deeper than the old paint. They hope it will help the paint stick better when snow scrapes over the top of it.

Note that they're making grooves in the road and putting the paint, in a pretty thick layer in those grooves. Obviously, the smart road stuff would probably work similarly since something that sticks out gets scraped faster. But if a dumb and durable epoxy based paint lasts about seven years, then that probably is an upper limit on how long your smart stuff is going to last in significant winter conditions with snow plows.

There's other doodads that fare worse than lines, for example, road reflectors, raised, reflective studs stuck on a road.

Knox lawyer argued "'lascivious exhibition of the genitals or pubic area'" [as defined in the child porn statute] meant that the girls had to be nude - wearing clothing meant that that genitals and pubic area were clearly not exhibited. The Court disagreed and held that there was no nudity requirement in the statute: "the statutory term "lascivious exhibition of the genitals or pubic area," as used in 18 U.S.C. - 2256(2)(E), does not contain any requirement that the child subject's genitals or pubic area be fully or partially exposed or discernible through his or her opaque clothing."

Several speakers at an L.A. police seminar I attended a few years back laughingly admitted that the largest collection of child porn in the country is in the hands of cops, who edit and publish it in sting operations. There is at most, they say, a small cottage industry among civilians in which pictures (most of them vintage) are traded.

The truth is that true research in this area is impossible, given that it's illegal to look at anything that is or might be child pornography. As a result, nobody knows exactly what child pornography is, what forms it takes, where it is, how much of it exists -- or even if it exists. We seem happy that nobody knows: That way we can take our fantasies, project them onto phantom demons (the child pornographers) and feel righteous.

Russia would be interested too.
Russia's already got more nukes than it knows what to do with. (Or than it knows where they are. Oops.)

call a friend on the mainland
There are approximately six people in Taiwan who would sell nuke tech to China (which is, after all, the country that keeps shooting missile "warning shots" at them). Besides, China also already has the Bomb, and doesn't need 1960s-era fuse technology (look for the phrase "quite dated"). Much more likely that the stuff would get sold to Japan (though they're understandably touchy about the whole nuclear thing still) or S. Korea, in which case the US probably wouldn't mind too much; but the biggest use of all would be for Taiwan to start building a couple missiles of its own, which is why you'll see that now China is (predictably) kicking up a fuss about the whole thing. After all, they want ALL US arms sales to Taiwan to stop, because they want Taiwan defenseless.

It looks like the story was preemptively spread mainly to convince China that nothing actually had happened (per a cursory reading of this), especially in light of recent developments in Taiwanese mid-range missile technology (which I did not know about). Think that's about the best I can do to explain...

That's so close to the truth it's scary. http://kutv.com/topstories/local_story_221191929.h tml

http://kutv.com/local/local_story_047192232.html/ ... draw the conclusions/comparisons that you want with Turkey.

In 1979 "The Logical Song" by SuperTramp was my theme...and I was 14.
So what is so new about this? Some doctor needs to be published and put a name to this thing.

When I was young, it seemed that life was so wonderful,
a miracle, oh it was beautiful, magical.
And all the birds in the trees well they'd be singing so happily,
joyfully, playfully watching me.
But then they sent me away to teach me how to be sensible,
logical, responsible, practical.
Then they showed me a world where I could be so dependible,
clinical, intellectual, cynical.

There are times when all the world's asleep,
the questions run so deep, for such a simple man.
Won't you please, please tell me what we've learned?
I know it sounds absurd, please tell me who I am?
...

This isn't about not maturing, but wishing that he wasn't forced to mature so young,
and wanting to go back to a simpler time.

Today kids are kept from learning a lot of things that would get them ready for adulthood.
I mean please...removing swings and other equipment from playgrounds because they're too dangerous?

http://kutv.com/health/local_story_086170456.html

In an effort to shield children from anything dangerous while they grow up, parents and other adults
fail to prepare children for the real world. And any public institution (read schools) that doesn't
conform to this complete "safety" policy for children get sued out of existence or can't afford insurance.

Growing up, I thought my generation would be smart enough to avoid the dumb things my parents' generation
did to shield us kids from life. Unfortunately my generation is screwing it up even worse.

It's no wonder so many people have "psychological neoteny" but I doubt the explanation is as simple as TFA says.

"Those large trucks on the Interstate that you see every day have a weight limit of about 65,000 lbs."

Here's a link http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,600155076,00 .html to a story of an explosion caused when a semi overturned and caught fire in a canyon about 35 miles from my home. It occurred last Wednesday. The semi was hauling 38,000 lbs. of explosives. Not one person died! That stretch of highway is highly-travelled and pretty dangerous on its own without exploding vehicles. If you look at the images of the road, you'll likely agree that it's quite an amazing thing that no one died. Nearly the entire semi and trailer were gone. The explosion left a crater about 20 to 35 feet deep and 60 to 80 feet wide.

Here is another link http://kutv.com/topstories/local_story_226191800.h tml to a Salt Lake TV station that received a video taken by someone travelling on the highway during the explosion. (The streaming video worked quite well on my Mac - Tiger & Safari - , so I'm pretty sure it'll work for most anyone)

I plan to give those truckers an even wider berth from now on.

The fumes apparently escaped the pipes, and the heater was nearby (a fairly common thing). The story (with a picture even!) is here. Other versions can be found by typing "toilet" into Google News.

I found CmdrTaco's headline (or did it come from the submitter?) to be very cynical... until I remembered I work in television news. I constantly have to dumb down any and every story about technology (usually the latest Windows virus) that we run.

That reminds me of another amusing anecdote. A few weeks ago, our competition's consumer reporter did an "investigation" into war-chalking and wireless security. (Video available online.) All week long they were running promos about how people can magically break into your private life, even if your house is physically secure.

The report was basically the reporter following a group of war-chalkers around, then confronting the unsuspecting victims.
Office manager Laura really hadn't thought how public her private wireless network might be.
"It says we're connected," noted Bill.
"Oh my! So, you're online with my computer system? They've broken in, Bob. They've broken into our computers from down the street," said Laura.

...scientists are predicting Southern California could be in for a major earthquake this spring or summer.