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but (semi) seriously, this guy thinks he found something like a lichen on mars

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6969396/

would terra-forming Mars potentially wipe out an indigenous species, and would Earthers that were desperate enough for another place to live even care?

Yeah, full federal funding of $21 million ( http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/02/AR2009120201955.html ) would certainly have a greater impact then California's $3 billion ( http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6384390/ ).

Hey, dumbass, Social Security isn't 'social uplift', it's a damn insurance program. That's right, folks, on the right 'social uplift' is getting paid back the money you paid the government.

So when you loan someone five dollars, and they pay it back, the person who paid it back just donated to charity. Or if you make an a health insurance claim because you got cancer, your insurance company just 'helped out cancer sufferers'. They 'uplifted' you.

In non crazy-world, of course, social uplift is when you actively try to make the poor non-poor, not when you pay out on insurance.

We don't functionally spend any money on social uplift at least not at the national level. Possibly the HOPE grant and the FHA to some extent and some other things like that, but it's very small.

This is because the right insists on making all social programs exist solely in the form of insurance. You have to pay into Social Security to get any out, you have to pay into unemployment to get any back, you have to pay into Medicare to get any out (Except a tiny part which you can get anyway.) None of those actually help the very poor, who haven't 'banked' any benefits to start with.

Most of the stuff aimed at the very poor is simply to keep them alive. It's stuff like free food in the form of food stamps and free school lunches. (Which, um, we just cut.) And Medicaid, which is funded by the Federal government.

There is no national 'uplift' program designed to get people out of total poverty. At all.

Secondly, we do spend more on the DoD than Social Security. We like to keep adding to the DoD budget during the year, whereas we don't add to Social Security. The original 2010 budget had $678 billion for social security and $664 billion for the DoD. But then, tada, a war supplemental provided another $37 billion, although 'only' about $33 billion of that is for the DoD.

Look at that. The DoD 'wins'. And that happens every year.

Why is the parent modded troll? there are valid reasons for wanting leaded solder.

That is very noble of them to make this available in hopes of "more developers utilising the Microsoft process for developing software".

Unfortunately without an explanation this will go over most people's heads. It's one thing my boss likes to poke fun at...

To "utilise" something is to use it for something other than its intended purpose.

While searching for a good reference, I found this one to be appropriate.

I do not understand this whole thing. The slide touted in your link as the epitome of what is wrong with PowerPoint slides (what does a complicated diagram have to do with presentations?) looks very useful. It illustrates many relationships between the many elements involved, and illustrates how ANSF, for example, has no effect on the economy or infrastructure or vice versa.

Admittedly there is too much information in it, it should be split in 2 for showing institution interactions and concepts, and strength of relation should be shown by line thickness.

I routinely deal with very similar charts for biochemistry and intracellular signaling. They are a godsend for those times when you get lost and forget which element does what, and with complicated systems I get lost every 5 minutes.

If he was getting enough kickbacks to be investigated, the shoebox is probably the red herring stash. High enough to make it look like they recovered what he hadn't spent, but nowhere near what he stashed elsewhere. So now they stop looking for money, he pays a fine or goes to jail for a bit, and retires with his stash of green.

Now that I think about it, a few years in jail is a good substitute for decades of hard work, when the end result is retiring in an impoverished nation and living like a king. If your hobbies involve things you can do in a jail cell, it's even more attractive.

And you're forgetting they look in the freezer too. After that, they'll be tossing the whole freezer, not just opening it up and saying "nothing but food".

More than that, the last three popes have spoken ex cathedra in favor of the Theory of Evolution. For catholics, that's it. That's like god saying it.

That these women-stoning gay-killing "victims" have any motives other than living in total harmony with gaia is like telling a democrat chicago politician that he earns enough money and doesn't need bribes.

Incidentally Iran unveiled it's "ambassador of death" today. Isn't that a coincidence ? Well, actually it might potentially even be a coincidence. Still, it says something about them ...

But of course, don't let me appear racist. Hereby I testify :
1) there are no gays in Iran
2) islam does not call for stoning, nor does any contemporary muslim call for stoning and execution for gays. And it most certainly is not the case that all islamic scholars, of all 4 schools agree on the stoning and killing
3) if any of these statements appear to have anything to do with religion, that's a mistaken impression. I certainly do not claim that either on seeks to kill, or one clearly ignores allah's wishes, which obviously means you're not a muslim. This isn't true, of course, but it would be doubly true if all contemporary religious schools were to agree that this is so. But of course it's not true.
4) all these guys want is peace and harmony for all mankind in gaia. Amen.
5) that peace they want obviously makes forcing Jews to drop their defenses the good and moral thing to do, after all, anything else would be racist, now wouldn't it

He's talking about the fact that some facial-recognition software works better on lighter-skinned people.

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/34514093/ns/technology_and_science-tech_and_gadgets/

Sounds fairly reasonable, kinda like a traffic ticket: Enough to sting and make you think twice, but a reasonable amount.

Only depending on the country. What does a CEO care about a $100, $250, or even a $1000 ticket?

I like the Euro style tickets. More you make, more it'll cost you. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38660951/ns/world_news-europe/

I can even download the hot pics of my favorite celebrity to which i received a link from these chinese guy."

You don't even need to get a link from a Chinese guy. Just searching for your favorite celeb will get you infected.

I got hit with that fake "Virus on the PC" warning and "scanner" by looking for Christina Hendricks photos. I even got it from a hobby electronics blog site once.

It didn't get too far because I run under a user account on XP.

I read your Wikipedia link, and while Project Echo demonstrated solar sail effects, it wasn't used as a solar sail. From what I can tell, it was more of an unwanted side-effect than anything:

"As far back as 1960, photon pressure played orbital soccer with the Echo 1 thin-film balloon in orbit, pushing its orbit around with astonishing force until the balloon's skin shattered. The shards were then flung far and wide by sunlight." Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8291710/

there is not a single example of anyone who had their privacy infringed because of the tags.

Other than the cases of people's tags' movements being used against them in divorce proceedings and stuff? http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20216302

Oh wait, as long as the privacy goalposts can be moved at a whim, there is not a single example of anyone who had their privacy infringed because of the tags.

Obsolete 2TB spinning platter device = $99.99
New hotness 640GB flash device = $14,500.00

There's nothing really stopping the availability of high capacity SSDs except cost.

Oh, well then... There's nothing really stopping me from being the next Governor of California. Jump on the bandwagon for my inevitable victory!

"Some controversy erupted on March 9, 2001 after an Anonymous Coward posted the full text of Scientology's "Operating Thetan Level Three" (OT III) document in a comment attached to a Slashdot article. The Church of Scientology demanded that Slashdot remove the document under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. A week later, in a long article, Slashdot editors explained their decision to remove the page while providing links and information on how to get the document from other sources.[13] That article, posted on March 16, 2001, is still one of the ten most visited stories on the site, with just over 350,000 hits.[12]

The defensiveness by the moderators always seems to for force / couch position Assange in posts as the underdog ( and not as the Traitor Taliban supporter he is).
Lets try to understand that in 2001 the suppression was about religion and cash flow not about illegally obtained documents where callousness to redact names has a clear obvious measurement of death to those the named in the documents. This blistering laziness and slothfulness of course would be supported by most engineers (were all lazy bastards at heart right?) however in Asanges case HE puts at substantially higher risk the troops fighting against terror and Sharia Law http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharia_law In case any one has doubt how unfriendly these people are to the press, freedom and the west consider

1) News of today's Taliban Sharia Murder objective http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/08/17/killed-attack-iraqi-army/?test=latestnews
2) The 275,000 mostly relevant hits on Google for "sharia+stoning" http://www.google.com/search?q=sharia+stoning&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

Woman In the death stoning queue for tomorrow http://scj.msnbc.com/id/38146472/ns/38149201
Couple confirmed stoned to death on 8/16 http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/08/16/taliban-stone-couple-adultery-afghanistan/

This is the normal operating procedure for thoes targeted by the FOA's Friends of Assange

3) Support of everything Islam http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/08/17/ground-zero-church-archdiocese-says-officials-forgot/
4) Despised New York Governor David Paterson puts his foot into it. The man who's party hates him draws another target on him regarding him being Anti Islamic http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38740806/ns/politics-more_politics/
The friend of my enemy is Assange. Asange could only be thought of as good friend to Islam Sharia terrorists and those who plan to turn a handsome profit from the coming war. Yes were at war now, but you aint seen nothing yet with the likes of Asange running free loose and supported by his army of media pimps.

We've seem to forgotten 911 and forgotten you can not come to a mediated peace with folks who think of you as nothing better than a dog to be stoned to death. Folks who expressed no outrage at 911 and call us too thin skinned for wanting named redacted, or a mosque to go elsewhere, or not supporting the corruption and perversion of our government to debt and phobias delusional psychosis about bei

1 sex act per day with one partner is greater than 1 sex act per week with a different partner each week.

I can answer this for you.

"NO."

Remember that study that was done a few years ago where highschool students across the country were asked questions like "do you think freedom of speech should be limited?" and "does the press have too much freedom of the press?". An overwhelming number of students (the future of the country, yadda yadda yadda) stated things siding with restricting freedom of the press and limiting free speech.

This country has no sense of the liberties they are supposed to value. It only knows platitudes and threats. That's why the market for yellow ribbon stickers on the back of SUVs is booming and criticizing anything that the government or military says or does is responded with some variation on "you want the terrorists to win?!" or "this is America! Love it or leave it!".

source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6888837/
source: http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2005-01-30-students-press_x.htm

One in three U.S. high school students say the press ought to be more restricted, and even more say the government should approve newspaper stories before readers see them, according to a survey being released today.

The survey of 112,003 students finds that 36% believe newspapers should get "government approval" of stories before publishing; 51% say they should be able to publish freely; 13% have no opinion.

Asked whether the press enjoys "too much freedom," not enough or about the right amount, 32% say "too much," and 37% say it has the right amount. Ten percent say it has too little.

This is not the same study, but has similarly sad results:

source: http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/news.aspx?id=19031

The First Amendment Center has conducted the annual survey since 1997. This year’s survey, being released to mark both annual Constitution Day (Sept. 17) activities and the sixth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, also found:

        * Just 56% believe that the freedom to worship as one chooses extends to all religious groups, regardless of how extreme — down 16 points from 72% in 2000.
        * 58% of Americans would prevent protests during a funeral procession, even on public streets and sidewalks; and 74% would prevent public school students from wearing a T-shirt with a slogan that might offend others.
        * 34% (lowest since the survey first was done in 1997) think the press “has too much freedom,” but 60% of Americans disagree with the statement that the press tries to report the news without bias, and 62% believe the making up of stories is a widespread problem in the news media — down only slightly from 2006.
        * 25% said “the First Amendment goes too far in the rights it guarantees,” well below the 49% recorded in the 2002 survey that followed the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001, but up from 18% in 2006.

Lies lies lies lies lies lies lies. Don't believe a word of it, not a single one.

SEC failed to catch Bernie Madoff because the system is corrupt, they have enough people, the problem is what KIND of people they have. You can increase their manpower by a factor of a million and if they still get the kind of people they have there now, they will not end up catching any Madoffs.

Madoff case is so outrageous: Harry Markopolos is the whistle-blower who uncovered Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme 10 years before the rest of the world learned of the biggest financial crime in history. ...
It was exactly as I had warned the government of the United States approximately $55 billion earlier. And as I stood in the lobby of that dojo, my sense of relief was replaced by a new concern. The piles of documents I had in my possession would destroy reputations, end careers, and perhaps even bring down the entire Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the government's Wall Street watchdog -- unless, of course, the government got to those documents before I could get them published. I grabbed my kids and raced home. - go to this link, there is a video there

more videos

--

Don't believe the hype. It is not about not having enough people, it is the system that exists that is completely captive, the SEC needs to be disbanded for corruption.

--
But I am libertarian, I don't actually care about some people losing their money because they are stupid, I am more concerned that government is part of the corruption scheme and it is helping the thieves.

Part of the scandal that she didn't want him fired as he had already settled the harassment charges with her. The pictures I saw showed very attractive actress back in her 30s (she is 50 now). She was hired for marketing and networking. ("HP paid her up to $5,000 per event to greet people and make introductions among executives")

She reported unwanted advances and that uncovered a forged dinner reimbursement with her that was why he was ousted. (He probably was with another woman but claimed it was her so he could get dinner reimbursed.) She says she was "surprised and saddened" that Hurd lost his job. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38611219/ns/business-us_business/

but at this point the only way that is going to happen is if the earth explodes and my ashes get distributed through space.

Not true. We could create a huge generational spaceship in orbit with the following:

• nuclear propulsion
• artificial gravity
• deflector shield

Of course it would cost trillions of dollars, but it would be a huge step towards colonization of other planets and star systems.

Who DOESNT set their facebook as friends-only?

I think the question should be "Why doesn't everyone set their Facebook settings as friends-only?"

The problem according to this article is that if your friend makes their friends list public while you have kept yours private, your friendship is still public. And as you friend more and more friends, the odds that you have such a friend (one who spills the beans) increases.

-- Related: On Facebook Friends' Privacy Settings Matter Much

My point was that its a moral/philosophical debate, not a logical one

The fact that you differentiate between the two is the root cause of the problem.

If you upload your mental state to a computer, are you still human?

If you were asking honestly, then I'd just reply "That's the whole point - if you 'aren't you' anymore, then the upload wasn't successful."

The problem is that, for many of us who are used to the concept, it sounds like "if man was meant to fly he would have been born with wings, you should ride the train like God intended", or Leon Kass's argument that extending human life beyond it's natural bounds would mean that we are no longer human.

One thing you got right is that he is a rich Saudi. So, we should have invaded Saudi Arabia, not Afghanistan.

Bin Laden was a CIA asset when Bush Sr. was head of the CIA.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article1245.htm
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3340101/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegations_of_CIA_assistance_to_Osama_bin_Laden

Really, anyone who thinks there is any justification of us invading either Iraq or Afghanistan is a fool, or worse. Support Obama in his murderous adventures because he didn't start the wars-- you are worse than a fool.

This statute does not apply to unapproved medications. It applies only to copyright in sound recordings, the subject of the article. President Obama's DEA, on the other hand, has decided not to enforce Prohibition against states' medical cannabis programs while Obama remains President. These are two cases in which the Congress or the executive branch has power to regulate something but delegates it to the several states.

I read this and thought: "really? security concerns over the BlackBerry network?". Then I figured out that the "security concerns" were that it is too secure for them because they like to reserve the right to eaves drop and lay the smackdown when they feel appropriate.

Of course, they the government of the UAE doesn't need this capability. You have no rights in the UAE (unless you're part of the royal family kleptocracy).

The government can throw you in jail for any reason, and torture you for any reason. Think about that before you visit.

There are some gruesome videos of one of the princes torturing some poor schlub.

http://www.uaetorture.com/

Hoooo boy, the old "Masters of the Universe" theory.

No, just no.

If these guys were so smart we wouldn't be having problems with stock market crashes. If they really were good at what they did it would be their CLIENTS getting rich...not just them.

Also, they ALL consistently get their asses kicked by random stock pickers.

Here's an example: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/paul-farrells-commentary-chimp-99-champ-makes-monkey-of-wall-street

Here is another, newer, one: http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/Dispatch/market-dispatches.aspx?post=1548081

So please, stop with the "knowing what buttons to push" stuff. Most of these guys are WORSE, or arguably no better, at their job than a chimpanzee would be.

Where did you attach the electrodes? In the ear? I think I'll have to try this since I'm not sure what sort of ingame use it would have except to maybe give you a sense of actually turning or moving as one with your ingame avatar.

Another sensory input I remember is sonar readings, 360 around, for divers through their tongue. Obviously not something for a pick up & play, pass the controller multiplayer game but as a specialized thing, an alternative vision sense, I would really be interested in a game that utilized that.

Hell, between that, the ear electrodes, and the heart rate/pressure and other lie detector (right?) sensors and a pair of headphones, you're looking at a decent VR-esque system. Sure you could have them glasses with tiny monitors but I think it would encourage the out of body feel by not having your eyes and brain either pick apart a rendered scene or connect to a real life images. It would have to feel very abstract.

Yeah well, They're catching up.. Yet another nail in our coffin

I was thinking of one of these incidents in Iraq.

My comment was not meant to denigrate the troops. Clearly it is an established fact that suicide car bombings are a real threat (don't need to supply links to support that notion, do I?) but unfortunately the fact that a large amount of civilians get killed at checkpoints is an established fact as well. Hence, I understand the desire to find a non-lethal technical approach to disable vehicles.

For your sake I hope that Iraq calmed down enough so you won't end up in a situation where you have to make split second life and death decisions.

And, just in case you're wondering, yes, all EOF incidents are investigated.

I expect nothing less.

Be safe.

So far, it's been a scorcher for folks all around the world. So it might come as no surprise that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has released a report revealing 2010 having the record for warmest June, warmest April to June and warmest year to date. The announcement said 'Each of the 10 warmest average global temperatures recorded since 1880 have occurred in the last fifteen years. The warmest year-to-date on record, through June, was 1998, and 2010 is warmer so far.' So far we are even surpassing 1998's records which held the warmest year (despite directly contradicting reports). It certainly seems the scads of winter precipitation we enjoyed were no indication of how we would swelter through our summer this year. Will 2010 turn it around or are we set to break more records?

Aside from that, I'm not really interested in making comments on this anymore because I'm so sick and tired of the armchair idiocy that follows (and somehow gets moderated up). Prediction: Not even 300 scientists from 48 countries and NOAA are going to convince everyone that global warming is real. At this point, I think it's just going to get worse.

Maribor, Slovenia per Msnbc.com: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38439213/ns/technology_and_science-security/

But we don't put terrible paintings in museums (modern art notwithstanding) to "gives context to the goodness". We forget it and remember the stuff worth remembering.

False. We put the early works of great painters in museums all the time. Look, here's an article about how some Ansel Adams negatives could be worth 200 million dollars because they are "images that didn't fit in anywhere, that show he is trying to discover his voice, to fully realized Ansel Adams masterpieces.""

That is EXACTLY the same thing as showing how we went from crude games to more sophisticated ones.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38441360/ns/world_news-south_and_central_asia/

How is he a criminal if Wikileaks released this information outside of US jurisdiction? Also, both wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have led to the needless deaths of thousands of Americans, hundreds of American allies, and hundreds of thousands of civilians. People I care about have been maimed and killed 'over there.' Isn't that blood upon the hands of the US government and the American people who put them in power? Lastly, this undermines your assertions: "An ongoing Pentagon review of the massive flood of secret documents made public by the WikiLeaks website has so far found no evidence that the disclosure harmed U.S. national security or endangered American troops in the field." http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38417666/ns/world_news-south_and_central_asia/

Please explain how what Wikileaks posted could plausibly lead to more lives lost than either the Iraq or Afghan wars? I've seen estimates in the hundreds of thousands civilian deaths for each war. Also, how do you reconcile your point of view with the fact that "An ongoing Pentagon review of the massive flood of secret documents made public by the WikiLeaks website has so far found no evidence that the disclosure harmed U.S. national security or endangered American troops in the field." http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38417666/ns/world_news-south_and_central_asia/

I can show you very ugly mainstream sites in the "Western" Internet too: AOL or MSN.

As for non advertisement sites, Japanese ones tend to have much less clutter. Ever read around the Japanese Wikipedia? A typical article looks like this, which is much less frills then the English counterpart (e.g. much less images, and that's pretty common for Japanese sites).

1. Coal plants emitted 44.7 tons of mercury in 2008.
2. Coal causes 30,000 deaths every year
3. Coal shortens another 24,000 lives a year.
4. Coal pollution has increased 16% since 1992.
5. Coal emits 25% of global carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels.

Google, it is your friend. Logic, you can learn it. Math, it has power, doesn't follow politics and can free your mind. Quit being a tool and open your damn mind already.

A video about it from the Today Show: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891/vp/34172096#34172096

Guess what? It's almost ALWAYS cheaper to keep an old car that's serviceable. Gas is too cheap and cars are too expensive. That applies to hybrids and non-hybrids alike.

Fair point. These really are too different issues.

Price compared to hybrid: you're mostly right, the price range as 14,360 -$23,350; I misread. So it was 9k instead of 10k; that doesn't fundamentally change anything.

When you make up your numbers, compare cars that aren't comparable, ignore the used hybrid market, or compare a used vehicle to a new hybrid, it's very easy to make hybrids look much more expensive than they are. It's also misleading and dishonest.

You raise a valid point in that the comparisons weren't apples-to-apples. So let's look at some hard numbers by comparing two comparable models of 2006 Honda Civic, bought at Kelly Blue Book values and using current gas prices.

For our base number, we'll assume 12000 miles a yaer. Your used Civic hybrid is rated at 50mpg, while your used Civic non-hybrid is rated at 30/40 for an average of 35 mpg. Some simple math tells us the hybrid uses 240 gallons a year, while the non-hybrid uses 343 gallons.

We'll eyeball the current average price per gallon at 2.80 from the following link, to arrive at the annual gas cost below: http://blogs.consumerreports.org/cars/gas_prices/

Hybrid: $672/year
Non: $960/year
Annual Gas Savings:
288 (960-672)

I assume we can agree on these base figures? So now let's look at used car prices.

Hybrid: ~14,800 LX Sedan AT (most directly comparable by feature): $12,650

So that's $2150 more for the used hybrid over the used base model. The annual savings in gas is 288; 2150/288 = 7.5 years to recoup the extra money you spent on the hybrid.

It's more drastic in the case of a new car. Let's look at the 2010 civic very briefly (calcs were quick and dirty, but I think no major mistakes that significantly affect the outcome. Numbers taken from Honda web site; mpg is averaged.) : 23800 for civic hybrid- 45 mpg - $788/yr gas; 15655 for civic lx - 30mpg - $1120/yr gas. Annual gas savings of hybrid: $332. It would take you 24 years to make up that price difference in gas savings, or for the frequent driver a mere 288,000 miles.

Which brings me back to my original point: hybrids aren't worth the extra money you spend on them, as you'll rarely recoup that cost. And in the case of buying comparable new cars, you likely will *never* recoup the cost.

Now I need to bookmark this comment so I don't have to do the math a third time when the subject next comes up ;)

Guess what? It's almost ALWAYS cheaper to keep an old car that's serviceable. Gas is too cheap and cars are too expensive. That applies to hybrids and non-hybrids alike.

Fair point. These really are too different issues.

Price compared to hybrid: you're mostly right, the price range as 14,360 -$23,350; I misread. So it was 9k instead of 10k; that doesn't fundamentally change anything.

When you make up your numbers, compare cars that aren't comparable, ignore the used hybrid market, or compare a used vehicle to a new hybrid, it's very easy to make hybrids look much more expensive than they are. It's also misleading and dishonest.

You raise a valid point in that the comparisons weren't apples-to-apples. So let's look at some hard numbers by comparing two comparable models of 2006 Honda Civic, bought at Kelly Blue Book values and using current gas prices.

For our base number, we'll assume 12000 miles a yaer. Your used Civic hybrid is rated at 50mpg, while your used Civic non-hybrid is rated at 30/40 for an average of 35 mpg. Some simple math tells us the hybrid uses 240 gallons a year, while the non-hybrid uses 343 gallons.

We'll eyeball the current average price per gallon at 2.80 from the following link, to arrive at the annual gas cost below: http://blogs.consumerreports.org/cars/gas_prices/

Hybrid: $672/year
Non: $960/year
Annual Gas Savings:
288 (960-672)

I assume we can agree on these base figures? So now let's look at used car prices.

Hybrid: ~14,800 LX Sedan AT (most directly comparable by feature): $12,650

So that's $2150 more for the used hybrid over the used base model. The annual savings in gas is 288; 2150/288 = 7.5 years to recoup the extra money you spent on the hybrid.

It's more drastic in the case of a new car. Let's look at the 2010 civic very briefly (calcs were quick and dirty, but I think no major mistakes that significantly affect the outcome. Numbers taken from Honda web site; mpg is averaged.) : 23800 for civic hybrid- 45 mpg - $788/yr gas; 15655 for civic lx - 30mpg - $1120/yr gas. Annual gas savings of hybrid: $332. It would take you 24 years to make up that price difference in gas savings, or for the frequent driver a mere 288,000 miles.

Which brings me back to my original point: hybrids aren't worth the extra money you spend on them, as you'll rarely recoup that cost. And in the case of buying comparable new cars, you likely will *never* recoup the cost.

Now I need to bookmark this comment so I don't have to do the math a third time when the subject next comes up ;)

http://education.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/entry/socialism
http://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/american/socialism
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/socialism
http://www.collinslanguage.com/results.aspx?context=3&reversed=False&action=define&homonym=-1&text=socialism
http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/features/dictionary/DictionaryResults.aspx?refid=1861709575
http://www.yourdictionary.com/socialism
http://www.wordsmyth.net/?ent=socialism

All say that government owns the means of production. Aka government run.

Means nothing. If a resource is available in the US thats not or not timely available here, the system will pay for the patient to get care in the US. If someone wants to pay for a US service, then they are free to do that as well.

it means something if you die waiting. It means something if your town has lottery to determine who gets a family doctor. It means something if your life threatening illness is somehow classified as optional.

All of which are very real scenarios in canada.

And I've never stated that the US system was a good system. Well, it was 70 years ago or so. right now, the US lacks almost any market forces to get prices low.

I have a right to grow my own food if I like. I dont have to buy food if I dont want to. I can also pick up free food at the food bank if I wanted.

I can make clothes or get free clothes from charities. Water is free since it falls from the sky. Electricity is a commodity, not a right, but I can go off grid and make my own from wind or solar.

Which is my point. You don't have a right to those things. You don't have a right to other people's services.

You realize that eye surgery was perfected in communist Russia (almost no Russians wear glasses) and the biggest Lasik company is Canadian?

And that changes what? We get lots of things from outside the US.. the prices don't go down in other areas of healthcare.

It kind of surprises me that no one has ever taken a turtle from Texas and put it in the ocean in Florida just to see what would happen.

Well, that's my vacation plans settled.

Airline Check-in in Texas: "Two for Florida? Um, where's the other passenger?"

Me: "It's this here turtle."

On the airplane . . .

Me: "Stewardess, another Martini for me and another squid for the turtle."

Stewardess: "I think you've had enough, sir."

Me: "Don't worry, the turtle is driving."

Just don't fly AirTran.

You need to keep up with the news. Bush didn't lie. Canada bought 550 tons of yellowcake from the post-Saddam Iraqi government. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25546334/ It was there before they took over. Guess who was in charge?

Not to mention that yellowcake being sold would be an indication that he didn't know what he was doing when he bought it.

No, it's an indication that he hadn't done anything with it yet. He knew what he was doing when he bought it, and fortunately, he didn't get the chance.

He has no means to manufacture it and was selling it,

Yeah, right. Saddam was hanged in 2006. The sale of the yellowcake was in 2008. Somehow, from the grave, Saddam Hussein was selling yellowcake to Canada.

... that's a propaganda program.

No, that would be a miracle.

Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice...

Liar liar pants on fire.

It's one thing I'm pissed off at a lot of environuts for, they have a short sighted view that is just black and white. We don't have any commercial reactors here in Australia, mainly because of the environut movements. If they wanted to do good they'd stop the crap and find out what's real and what's not.

On the other hand you have a lot of coal (85% of the electricity production plus exports). And coal by a conservative estimate kills 3 or 4 times the number of people who died due to Chernobyl each year!

Here is an estimate of the number of people whose health is affected by coal based energy production in the USA:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5174391/

So in my view the environmentalists are in fact responsible for millions of deaths due to their insistence on yet non-viable clean energy sources and their refusal of nuclear energy.

Obviously, this research is just part of the satanic one-world-government's evil population control agenda... Developed weaponized testicle gangrene, to be spread via chemtrail by the UN's black helicopters and Area 51 UFOs reverse engineered from Grey alien technology purchased through a blood-pact involving Christian fetuses illicitly harvested by planned parenthood.

What could be more logical?

(Unfortunately, the loonier grade of anti-vaxer will probably be claiming something approximately that sensible over in the pits of squalor that are NaturalNews and Whale.to. If we are super lucky, it will mutate into a rumor loony enough to, say, interfere with the eradication of polio...)

Some of the early X33 work had a lot of potential, and I remember reading about how the rocket nozzle work could be qualified as a major breakthrough. But it got scrapped.

The X-33 still has a lot of potential! Lockmart is still funding its own development the reusable lifting-body concept based on the X-33, there has been significant progress with the most difficult technical issue (i.e. developing a composite material capable of making cryogenic tanks with complex shapes), and there was any serious technology issue with the linear areospike engine (they just lacked a vehicle to put it in, once the X-33 funding wasn't renewed). IMHO, it's potentially game-changing technologies and lifters like X-33 and the DC-X that NASA's R&D resources should be focused on, instead of the the Ares program. If most of the personnel and money that was used to support the now probably-defunct Ares was instead used to continue development on the DC-X and X-33, we would have learned a lot more (even learning what doesn't work is of some value) and maybe even gotten one or two revolutionary launch vehicles out of it.

some people don't consider drinking fountain water to be as pure and healthy as bottled water

Except some bottled water brands come directly from a municipal water supply.

Is your bottled water coming from a faucet?

Some have additional filtering, some don't. I have seen bottled water in city buildings where the city has created an unmodified, bottled product for their own use and sale.

you don't really expect the government would just /let/ someone start manufacturing nuclear anything for any reason, do you?

Uh, Bechtel makes Nucular reactors. Now connect the dots and think for a minute. What is more powerful than the U.S. Government? The energy companies! Ding ding DING!

A friend of mine who does some professional photography takes some really cool pictures while "draining". There are a lot of neat places down there!

Yes there are.

But you can die in the drains - and it can happen very quickly.

Sewer gas is mostly methane but may include hydrogen sulfide, ammonia, methane, carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides. Improper disposal of petroleum products such as gasoline and mineral spirits can add to the fun. [freely adapted from the Wikipedia]

Methane is something to be feared:

Two kids among five killed by methane gas