Slashdot Mirror

Actually, it's even older than that: There's apparently a Sumerian tablet from 1900 BCE with a fart joke. Aristophanes also was well known for writing fart jokes.

Now although there is are some poll numbers in this article, I'm linking this article for it's other content.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/01/us-russia-putin-idUSBRE8A01HA20121101

And yes, many Chinese believe that the censorship is good for them, or at least that is what they say, I though have never heard a Russian say the same.

Aluminum is flammable - get a good roaring fire going (a distinct possibility on a warship) and bad things happen..

Belknap was severely damaged in a collision with John F. Kennedy on 22 November 1975 in heavy weather off the coast of Sicily. A fire broke out on Belknap following the collision, and during the fire her aluminium superstructure was melted, burned and gutted to the deck level. -- This fire and the resultant damage and deaths, which would have been less had Belknap's superstructure been made of steel, drove the US Navy's decision to pursue all-steel construction in its next major classes of surface combatants

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Belknap_(CG-26)

"US Navy request raises issue about aluminum ships [Mar 16, 2010] ... The U.S. Navy is seeking an analytical tool to predict problems with aluminum-hulled ships just months before it is due to announce the winner of the Littoral Combat Ship competition involving such a ship."
http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/03/16/navy-aluminum-idUSN1513314120100316

"Cracks plague Ticonderoga-class cruisers [Dec 9, 2010] ... it’s an issue that is plaguing all 22 cruisers in service: cracks in the aluminum superstructure ... The problem, according to the Naval Sea Systems Command, is the aluminum alloy used in the superstructure of the cruisers, which have steel hulls."
http://www.navytimes.com/news/2010/12/navy-cracks-plague-ticonderoga-class-cruisers-120910w/

Not so sure about the people who get to live in places where a couple missiles rain from the sky every so often.

...you mean, like Israel?

Israel says 79 rockets fired at it from Gaza
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/24/us-israel-violence-idUSBRE89N09U20121024

Gartner: Android to beat Windows by 2016.

Google's Android operating system will be used on more computing devices than Microsoft's Windows within four years, data from research firm Gartner showed on Wednesday, underlining the massive shift in the technology sector.

At the end of 2016, there will be 2.3 billion computers, tablets and smartphones using Android software, compared with 2.28 billion Windows devices, Gartner data showed.

The NY Times reports that the Kewaunee Power Station will close early next year because the owner is unable to find a buyer and the plant is no longer economically viable driven by slack demand for energy and the low price of natural gas. âoeThis was an extremely difficult decision, especially in light of how well the station is running and the dedication of the employees,â says Dominion CEO Thomas F. Farrell II. âoeThis decision was based purely on economics.â When Dominion bought the plant from local owners in 2005, it signed contracts to sell them the electricity, a common practice, but as those contracts expire, the plant faces selling electricity at the lower rates that now dominate the energy market. Other companies have also reported falling revenues, although they may not be on the verge of closing reactors because they are in regions where the market price of electricity is higher. The closing, which did not catch many in the industry by surprise, highlights the struggle of the U.S. "nuclear renaissance." A decade ago, the nuclear industry talked about a nuclear renaissance due to rising fossil fuel prices and concerns about meeting greenhouse gas emissions, but the nuclear revival did not occur in the United States as the cost of fossil fuels like natural gas fell and the federal government has been slow to put a price on carbon. "A number of nuclear units won't run their 60-year licensed lives if current gas price forecasts prove accurate," says Peter Bradford, a former member of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. "The determining factor is likely to come at the point at which they need to decide on a major capital investment."

Bullshit. Oh, and you forgot Mitt Romney's actions-that-speak-louder-than-lies position on coal plants in your rush to make this a Democrat-only political football.

Coal is taking a hammering because they compete in exactly the same areas a natural gas. Natural Gas is at an all-time low in price and an all-time high in availability.

Two independent financial firms say the Marcellus isnâ(TM)t just the biggest natural gas field in the country â" itâ(TM)s the cheapest place for energy companies to drill.

The Marcellus could contain "almost half of the current proven natural gas reserves in the U.S," a report from Standard & Poorâ(TM)s issued last week said.

http://www.ohio.com/news/break-news/reports-marcellus-shale-reserves-larger-and-cheaper-to-develop-1.344086

Geology.com has reports of super-sized fields that are turning up there.

Output from the Marcellus - a rich seam of gas-bearing rock that straddles Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio and West Virginia - has jumped nearly ten fold since 2009, flooding pipelines and playing a central role in pushing futures prices to ten-year lows earlier this year.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/15/us-energy-natgas-marcellus-idUSBRE89E12B20121015

Local radio up in the Eastern West Virginia Panhandle has run stories about the switch from coal to natgas and the jobs issue. It starts with people who've been in the coal business for generations complaining about losing jobs -- then finishes with THOSE SAME PEOPLE saying they moved over to natgas jobs that PAY MORE and ARE SAFER. They just had an emotional tie to the coal, which has employed their families for generations which took some getting over.

People may bitch about fracking, but it doesn't hold a candle to the environmental damage caused by mountaintop removal and coal mining. Coal mining is also one of the single most dangerous jobs in the country.

The coal isn't going anywhere. It'll still be there if we ever need it. But pure economics is driving the industry to natural gas and coal is the primary loser -- and rightfully so. It is more expensive to produce, more dangerous to both the producers (miners) and end users (people who breathe), more difficult to transport in quantity (can't use pipelines), cleaner (natgas doesn't leave coal dust messes in homes that use it for heat) and all-around substandard to natural gas.

This is capitalism and the free market at work, baby. Or are you one of those planned-economy socialists longing for the good-old days of Marx, Lenin and Mao?

Demand from Apple went from 15 million to 1,5 million panels and they are in the process of eliminating Samsung as a supplier completely. They have invested in Toshiba plants for a reason. There is also an indication that the reason that Foxconn have invested in Sharp had something to do with Apple. Although I'm more convinced it has something to do with their IZGO panels then AppleTV.

That Samsung "terminated" the LCD contract has zero impact as Apple wanted to eliminate them from the process anyway and seeing how steadily demand dropped (1,5 million are peanuts if you take into account how many products have LCD panels) that process was already underway. The only thing here is that Samsung can save a little face.

So is this pure PR or even damage control. And it is understandable, if a big client like Apple announced it takes it business elsewhere as a company you gonna take a hit.

For the first time - and I'm saying this from the perspective of having used Windows from before it could network - I think you're right. The GUI change of Windows 8 is dramatic enough that a user retraining effort/cost will be incurred, plus there will be a hardware cost, plus licensing costs. If you're running a shop with more than a dozen systems...no, scratch that: Everybody should seriously look at whether they're willing to continue on the path of buying new Windows stuff because Microsoft says they have to.

The big question: Is the U.S. economy going to provide us with the income to meet Microsoft's demands for expenditures? I don't see anybody doing anything about the inequitable nature of free trade; that is, I still see other countries rigging their currency exchange rates to ensure that the United States is not competitive, and I still see U.S. corporations - to include Microsoft - prioritizing "shareholder value" and the CEO's pay over the longevity of the corporation itself and America herself. Further, I still see the banks and America's HNWIs using the oil and gasoline commodities markets as the vehicle from which they can levy their own private taxes - which means the cost of living in America will continue to rise. And as America's jobs continue to go offshore, that means the ability of offshore nations to outbid America for food raised and grown in America will continue to increase.

Finally, there are plenty of efforts underway to export U.S. shale gas as well as refined fuels such as gasoline and diesel...and there are moves underway to export U.S. crude oil. What does that mean? That means we will not be able to bring manufacturing back to America by using our own cheaper energy to offset the offshore labor made cheaper by rigged currency exchange rates.

My point is stupid policies - forced oil addiction, voodoo economics, inequitable free trade, and deregulation - have decimated our manufacturing and service sectors...savaging the bottom of our tax base while cutting taxes at the top. That means we're becoming third-world; we need to - as individuals, and as businesses - look at cutting costs.

One way is getting off of the Microsoft permanent upgrade cycle. Our leaders won't save us...they're owned by the 0.01% who are getting fatter and wealthier by destroying America. You and I - Main Street - must look to saving ourselves.

Knowledge is power, and science as an institution makes no bones about who gets it. That's why the Dark Ages happened, and why we're just one major disaster or war away from it happening again.

Sorry, but no. The Dark Ages happened as a result of the fall of Rome and the invasions of barbarians, and the Muslim conquests.

Mohammed & Charlemagne Revisited: The Epilogue
The Truth about Islamic Crusades and Imperialism
The Church Educates Europe

Pharmaceuticals spend billions developing new versions of dick hardening pills, while research into HIV, cancer, and other serious quality of life diseases languish.

Languish at their current high levels of research funding? HIV and cancer research seem to do especially well.

Curing a patient means denying yourself all that profit from name-brand life-saving drugs. I could come up with a hundred more examples from every industry in every country worldwide -- but you get the point.

I think the point is that you have an exaggerated sense of what is possible - the "Man on the moon syndrome", maybe? Modern medicine offers wonders, but it isn't even close to being able to cure everything. If anything the trend is the reverse - there are more and more antibiotic resistant diseases. Finding new ones that work is expensive, time consuming, and filled with all manner of difficulties posed by law and regulation. Changing social mores drop various former barriers to the spread of disease. The future of medicine, especially where infectious disease is considered, looks a bit grim at the moment.

Will humans lose the battle with microbes?

The difference is in China if you're in the wrong faction[1] and get caught for corruption you get _executed_.

Those in the right faction are probably untouchable, but you better be sure you stay in the right faction ;). Anyway in most countries being in the right faction makes you safe from the law too (unless you really really screw up).

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/19/china-corruption-executions-idUSL3E7IJ0H720110719
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/23/business/global/china-mobile-executive-sentenced-to-death-over-bribes.html?_r=0

Maybe this guy was in the right faction since he only got 15 years (not sure how many of those years he'll actually serve out):
http://edition.cnn.com/2012/09/23/world/asia/china-wang-lijun-verdict/index.html

[1] just being in the Party doesn't make you bulletproof.

If you think the 128K is low, then the amount paid to the other workers must be even more dismal. Read this:

http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2012/10/15/the-billionaires-next-door/

The writer quotes Google ex-CEO Eric Schmidt with regard the income "polarization" at top IT companies: "Many tech companies solved this problem by having the lowest-paid workers not actually be employees. They're contracted out."

So, basically, these "cool" companies are income-wise pretty much like the Greek democracies of ancient times. On one hand you have the citizens, adult males, and then the rest, including the chidlren, women and slaves. Of course, a typical corporation is even worse than such a flawed "democracy", being run like a Communist Party.

First off, people need to know that being a legit cab in NYC costs a million bucks.

The referenced article argues that "hey it is a decent 5% return on your investment"... sounds like a typical wall street tout pumping a stock. A "5% return" on an investment wouldn't require you to work 8 hours a day to get it.

Based on complaints of availability, the denial to use modern apps, the spike in that graph of medallion licenses... something is going to "pop".

I have no idea what I am talking about. I live in California and get pissed off if the driveways to the acres-large parking lots I use are not conveniently aligned for my use...

I know that tin foil is now available in new Holiday Colors, but you can occasionally put your new hat away.

Cash for Clunkers was not a plot by the overlords to ruin the used car market. It was designed to clear out the excess inventory of the automakers in an stalled market. Whether you believe it was worth the money is a value-judgement: it cost $2.9 billion, replaced ~700k cars as you said, and put the assembly lines of GM, Toyota and Ford nearly immediately back to work. After which they claim to have had a record year at GM.

As for the impact to the used car industry, the Reuters summary of the industry study stated:

--The US used cars market had total revenue of $237.9 billion in 2009

And this report shows there is a gap in the 3-5 year old used car availability:

http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20120829/RETAIL04/120829883/gm-sees-its-cpo-sales-flat-this-year-industry-sales-up-5

But between GM, Ford and Toyota, they'll sell more used cars in a year than were destroyed. It's simply not the devestated market that Conservative Talk Radio would have one believe.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/05/idUS208328+05-Apr-2011+BW20110405

He also apparently tries to sell Nokia's Finnish HQ building, and has sold 500 mobile phone patents for $20 million to an unknown USA company called "Vringo" that used to sell video ringtones but is now focusing on sueing ZTE with Nokia's patents: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/08/idUS97477+08-Oct-2012+HUG20121008. This Vringo previously sued Apple for $700 million (probably with other patents, not Nokia-related), so maybe Vringo rather than Nokia is going to extract <insert_pinky_in_mouth>1 BILLION DOLLARS</extract_pinky> from it.

Romney/Ryan: Their faiths say that abortion is wrong and they want to change the rules so even if you aren't a member of their respective religions, you have to live by those rules.

Untrue: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/10/us-usa-campaign-romney-abortion-idUSBRE89901X20121010

At Reuters.

Maybe Tech execs like the idea of wiping out all electronic records of everything they have ever done when they switch jobs? Especially when they use other people's money to do it?

Well, looking around the internets finds that the article and summary are in this case rather poor. Fortunately there are better sources, in this case a good Reuters article:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/09/21/us-monsanto-lawsuit-idUSTRE78K79O20110921

In Bowman's case, he planted Roundup Ready seeds as his first-crop in each growing season from 1999-2007 and did not save seed in compliance with licensing agreements. But he also purchased commodity seed from a local grain elevator for a late-season planting, or what is known as a "second-crop."

The farmer applied glyphosate to his second soybean crops and was able to identify herbicide-resistant plants, from which he then saved seed for subsequent years of second-crop planting, according to the court documents.

So this is really a case over both patent exhaustion and contract law. It's interesting that the seed selection step is the same process that got Percy Schmeiser in trouble.

This is horrible! Please tell us this won't affect Colleen Lachowicz's campaign for the Senate!

No new refineries in the US, and yet refinery capacity is nearly at an all-time high.

It's about quality, not quantity.

"Capacity" is inherently about quantity.

There are no new refineries being built because we've been improving the existing ones so much.

I wonder who else really believes that? When one actually looks at refineries built in the past 45 years, it is remarkable how little has been done. There's a simple explanation. Regulation has driven up the cost of building a new plant so much that it is cheaper to expand an existing plant than to build a new plant of the same capacity.

Consider this, there's apparently only one refinery in North Dakota at Mandan, ND. That refinery processes almost 60,000 barrels of oil a day. In comparison, the state is producing over half a million barrels of oil a day. That's almost a factor of ten difference between production capacity in the state and refining capacity in the state. I just don't buy that it's somehow cheaper (outside of regulatory considerations) to funnel all that oil down to a distant refinery operating near capacity rather than opening up a refinery near the location on cheap land to add value prior to moving the oil elsewhere.

I'm pretty certain this is why gas prices went up in CA. Nothing like a refinery fire to reduce output to CA and our silly gas laws make it impossible to import from other states.

When this first happened I watched and noticed no difference in prices. I guess it finally caught up with us.

Actually we have overpopulated Wyoming. It might not seem that way when you're standing there, looking at the vast empty spaces, but that land has use and is used, to provide food amongst other things, even if those other things are just useless other species. A world in which the only animals live on farms and the only vegetation is corn, wheat and rice is not really a world worth living in, no matter how long you spend in your parents' basement. There is a given amount of space and resources available on Earth, and we are over using them. The only truly sustainable country is Cuba.
China for a while showed what sustainability would look like... This will change as technology changes but we don't have that technology now.

Jobs just berated employees when he felt their work was sub-standard, "auto company founder Soichiro Honda was famous for striking employees when he was displeased with them." http://www.japanintercultural.com/en/blogs/default.aspx?blogid=151

As a lesson for :"when will Apple decline now that Jobs is gone", insiders note that Honda started putting out boring accountant-driven car designs just after the retirement of the last few of the engineers who could personally remember being taken to task by Mr. Honda. http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/02/us-honda-idUSTRE82100M20120302

They both grow in dirt (organic and conventional), they are the same plant, they don't, on balance, have more or less of anything than the rest of the fruits and vegetables

Aside from the fact that your claim is completely, utter and demonstrably false, it neglects to take into consideration that most of the soil on commercial farms in the U.S. has not only been depleted of essential trace elements but has also been so thoroughly abused and mismanaged over the years that even the basics need to be supplemented by appliying synthetic fertilizers.

Bottom line if you want to pay 3X as much for your food buy organic.

Yes, sometimes there's a 200% (or greater) premium for organic produce but in many cases, it's more like 25 to 50%. A more useful metric would be determine the value that buying organic adds, and that depends on the item. For example, the growing methods for conventional and organic tropical fruit (pineapples, mangos, bananas and avacados come to mind) likely don't differ much if at all; it's about the auditing, certifying/verification. etc. In other cases, (peaches, strawberries, leafy greens), it's common-knowledge that the quantities of pesticide resides in convenionally-grown varieties are through the roof (no doubt a non-issue for a shill such as yourself but for those of us watching our health or that of our children, it's something we might want to take into consideration). Of course, these are the very same items that often require exhorbitant premiums like you stated - but you get what you pay for (where have we heard that before?).

And don't forget, we can't feed the world's population organically. Can't be done!

This is a partial truth which ignores the bigger picture (which, of course, at the end of the day, means it's still a lie): doing things the way "Big Ag" currently does them, yes, you're right: organic farming simply can't be scaled up and achieved using the wasteful, petroleum-dependent methods and practices that are currently employed (as I said above, the dirt just won't allow it). Nope; you'd have to change how you go about it (imagine that).

For those who aren't paid shills and have a genuine interest in the subject, I suggest looking through some of the following:

http://www.thedailygreen.com/healthy-eating/latest/organic-foods-benefits-460110-5

http://eartheasy.com/blog/2011/10/7-ways-organic-farms-outperform-conventional-farms/

http://www.reuters.com/article/2007/07/10/us-farming-organic-idUSN1036065820070710

http://environment.about.com/od/healthenvironment/a/organicfarming.htm

http://www.worldwatch.org/node/4060

http://youngagropreneur.wordpress.com/

http://theurbanfarmingguys.com/our-story

http://seedstock.com/2012/02/01/wisconsins-future-farm-sustainable-cow-powered-aquaponics/

http://bioponica.org/

Pretty much this. I was no fan of George W. Bush by the time his second term came around but I don't think I would ever sincerely use his poor impropmtu public speaking as a serious point against him (jokes, sure). There are plenty more substantial, and significantly less petty, things you can not like about a president.

It's because of things like this that I don't watch the news/speeches/debates - I read them instead if I can. I may not get the live feed, but if I can find a transcript I prefer it since it helps to trim away a slice of the appeal to emotion bullshit. I don't care how puppy-dog-eyed he got and sincerely addressed the audience while making bold body gestures to accent the point. I don't care how raucously the audience cheered and applauded. WHAT - THE - FUCK - DID - HE - SAY?

Non-sequitor:
I also despite news articles ABOUT debates. They're almost never news articles, but ambiguous profile pieces.

X made a good showing and pushed Y to the ropes on key issues with strong attacks. Y, however, maintained a strong presence and reinforced their backing.

The FUCK does something like that even mean? I don't think you'd get away writing a sports article that only vaguely mentions that "some good things happened to one team and some bad things happened to the other" so why does it pass for a presidential debate?

Really, high school type horseshit like this.

... or another form of power is a sin.

I cannot find the right words to say how much this offends me. There are plenty of other places to get carbon that does not mean driving up the cost of food for everyone else, especially in poorer countries, like what has happened with corn/maize.

--
BMO

Meh, we just plant more beets or cane.
There's no shortage of sugar in the world, so its not like you are taking food out of people's mouth.

Further, US style high-surgar diets being exported to poor countries is very harmful.

In these countries, traditional healthy diets, made up of grains, beans, vegetables, fresh fruit and animal products are being replaced by more processed and junk foods high in saturated fats, salt and sugar.

Batteries may turn out to be the best use for excess sugar, since the alternative would be eating it.

Link

Assange mocks Obama via video at U.N. event

UNITED NATIONS | Wed Sep 26, 2012 11:24pm EDT (Reuters) - WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, speaking via a choppy video feed from his virtual house arrest in London, lashed out at U.S. President Barack Obama on Wednesday for supporting freedom of speech in the Middle East while simultaneously "persecuting" his organization for leaking diplomatic cables.

By abandon do you mean rolling out an all electric RAV4?

Sure, they're dropping one line of car, their little eQ minicar. But that doesn't mean they are dropping electric all together. They've just realized that the technology isn't there quite there yet. And they are planning on having 21 hybrid versions of their vehicles by 2015.

In other words they moved too fast on the all electric cars for some markets and are backing off for now until the technology catches up with the ideas.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/24/us-toyota-electric-idUSBRE88N0CT20120924

Actually, I do.

Obama sent a few marines to Tripoli, and stationed ships in the area. This is worlds apart from a recent president who engaged in an unprovoked takeover of a sovereign country in the middle east about a decade ago, which is what the grandparent who I was replying to implied to have wanted. The Libyan people didn't need our troops there to take care of the extremist militia there--and did a better job of it than our military would have.

Knowing that this and the many similar plans would have been a Stasi wet-dream didn't help.

Well... something needs to be done!!! It is unacceptable that Europe falls behind Iran in providing a clear internet for its citizens.

</sarcasm>

yeah well, you know.. "The problem of rotting grains and the poor going hungry lies in the system itself"...

It's not illegal in Belgium

Yes it is. Please read the link I provided, or you can use Google to find hundreds of other references.

It was a ban on burkas. Yes, it's ridiculous, but it is not illegal to wear masks in Belgium. It was a ban on religious clothing that obscures a face, particularly forced upon women. But the amount of burkas used in Belgium is probably at a minimum.

Italy or Spain.

Italy and Spain have local bans. For instance, obscuring your face in public is illegal in Barcelona.

Actually, it's only illegal in public buildings, such as markets and libraries, which your link itself lists quite clearly. You can still walk outside while having your face obscured.

So basically, your "many EU countries" is "France". Belgium's law will likely have little consequence, and it seems that the Barcelona law is a protection of public buildings. Not that Turkey is the pedestal of civil rights, but they also had a similar ban as Barcelona (until at least very recently).

Denmark also have a ban on masks, but only during demonstrations and other large crowds. The usual freedom was previously abused heavily by activists to destroy property rather than actual demonstrate. The rationale is that if you are really interested in your message, you will have no issue showing your face at a public demonstration.

But most of these laws seems to be a form of Islamophobia than an actual crackdown on civil liberties, which seems to be collateral damage. There was even talk about banning burkas in Denmark, until politicians realised only 5 people in the whole country wore them, and they were ethnic Danes who had converted to Islam. The cases might even be similar in most other EU countries. Like the Swiss ban on Minarets. Ridiculous.

It's not illegal in Belgium

Yes it is. Please read the link I provided, or you can use Google to find hundreds of other references.

Italy or Spain.

Italy and Spain have local bans. For instance, obscuring your face in public is illegal in Barcelona.

You think food gets thrown away near where it's needed?

Yes, most definitely

We should pick someone we hate, and wind them up and point them in that direction.

Seriously, those idiots are not storming a US embassy because they are upset about a Youtube video, they are storming it because it's a US embassy, and 9/11 was a convenient excuse to celebrate by storming an embassy.

According to Reuters http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/13/us-usa-libya-attack-idUSBRE88B1C620120913 and the Wall Street Journal http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444517304577653680320732176.html?mod=googlenews_wsj, the Libya attack was planned in advance.

The film "caused" nothing. Islamists CHOSE violence, which reflects on their Superstition, not the film.

That's like saying that shouting "Fire!" in a crowded theater did not cause the subsequent injuries and deaths - theater goers chose to trample those people.

There is a very real burden of blame and responsibility on the creator of the movie, which was clearly created to be inflammatory.
From its production values, that was clearly not free speech nor art - that was flamebaiting.
An act of verbal violence, hoping to incite a response of actual violence from some group of religious fanatics somewhere.

There being plenty of such groups around the world, just waiting for an excuse to commit acts of violence against those they perceive as enemies, Nakoula's film is no different than a football hooligan vandalizing a pub of the opposite team's fans right before the big game.
Saying that the original act didn't cause the riots afterwards is ignoring the evidence of a very clear chain of cause and effect.

...and is well worth the few casualties the Islamists inflict.

That's what they said!
Only their rationalization is a bit different. But they are completely with you on the "few casualties" part.

If _I_ attack Superstition that makes me not PC and a Bad Man.

If you are actually after a positive result you shouldn't "attack" their superstition. Don't stoop to that level.
Instead, expose it. Both to reason and to the truth.
Superstition, religious or otherwise, is a house of cards trying to support the entirety of the Universe.
It collapses on its own as soon as anyone starts prodding it instead of praising it.

Well, have some Superstition direct from the source! In your face, by their choice.

http://www.nowtheendbegins.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/us-ambassador-christopher-stevens-killed-body-dragged-through-streets-by-muslims-islam-religion-of-peace-2.jpg

You are letting your emotions cloud your judgement. Looking at humanitarian effort, you are seeing violence and hate.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/13/us-libya-ambassador-assault-idUSBRE88C02Q20120913

Meanwhile, Stevens, 52, had been found by local people and taken, unrecognized, to a hospital, around 1 a.m. A doctor failed to revive him and pronounced him dead of smoke inhalation.

When there's a _major_ piece of legislation (like a landmark decision: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_landmark_court_decisions_in_the_United_States) on the docket, the spotlight is on you, and the President and your party are breathing down your neck to "fall in line" (like this: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/02/us-obama-healthcare-idUSBRE8310WP20120402), THAT's when she'll be tested. So far, she walks the party line on cases that matter.

Renewable energy is expensive and no country has as yet installed anything in the way of the infrastructure require to use them on more than a small scale

Germany gets ~25% of its energy from renewables.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/26/germany-renewables-idUSL6E8IQIA720120726

And no comments from anyone at Google and Acer...

No comments from Google Tokyo or Acer Taiwan. Google (Mountain View) could make a statement about it soon enough. Given the timing of this, I'm guessing Google HQ has not had time to analyze what happened yet.

Though, Acer not commenting isn't unusual - Google could've told them to not mention anything about it publicly, or else they'll lose it as well. After all, what happens inside the OHA is probably covered by many NDAs (like Honeycomb source code).

Great point. You mean equal opportunity like this?

Gotta love those "peace loving muslims" don't you?

Right, because American's never kill people for no good reason or even no reason at all.

I mean...really? You go apeshit crazy, right and kill people over a fucking film?!?!

The people who made The Last Temptation of Christ got death threats.

I mean hell...the guys they murdered weren't even involved in the film.....

And the American Muslims and Americans mistaken for Muslims killed in hate crimes had nothing to do with terrorism.

You're right, those Libyans are Batshit Crazy. But no more so than many Americans. They just had better access to bombs and guns.

My local paper printed a cartoon that was less than kind to Christians. There were weeks worth of letters complaining about it, and demanding they sack the artist.

You're a lying idiot trying to ignore how close your own precious Christians are to the Muslims you despise.

I know you don't want to believe how easy anybody can be incited to violence, but they can be.

If you think that writing nasty letters to the editor is equivalent of murdering the US Ambassador and other consulate staff then you must be a Muslim.

As part of the deal with Yahoo, there are incentives for Alibaba to list its shares by December 2015. The company has said there is no timetable for a listing. This year, Alibaba took its Alibaba.com unit private.

Alibaba is private as is its subsidiary, Alibaba.com. I don't know anything about the company, but it appears that they aren't in a situation where puffery would be punished. Maybe they are as big as they claim, but one needs to keep in mind that they don't have a lot of incentive to tell the truth.

[...]tons of money to have their own servers set up across the street from a major exchange with a special dedicated fiber going straight to them as they pay off said exchange.

All major exchanges are providing or are going to provide a co-location service, i.e. the servers directly hosted in the exchange datacenter.
Plus it's not only stock exchanges, but also for instance commodities).

"Pandora still far away from turning a profit"

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/07/us-pandoramedia-idUSTRE8261C520120307

http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/05/spotify-is-said-to-profit-from-its-subscribers-but-lose-more-luring-them/

"Media Decoder recently looked at the books of Spotify and Pandora, two of the most popular digital music services, and noted that both companies â" despite having very different business models â" wind up paying most of their revenue in music royalties."

It's already happening

Cody claims teacher performance doesn't correlate with student achievement. I believe him. I don't agree with his assertions that schools are underfunded and couldn't educate poor students even with more funding.

There is even less correlation between cost per student and student performance than between teacher and student performance.http://www.npri.org/blog/does-more-spending-increase-student-performancehttp://www.reuters.com/article/2007/05/24/us-usa-education-spending-idUSN2438214220070524http://www.delcotimes.com/articles/2012/03/02/opinion/doc4f51a55f28207547363660.txthttp://www.ctpost.com/news/article/Little-correlation-found-between-per-pupil-823833.php

It is common for urban poor school districts to cost much more per student than the surrounding suburbs. Look at Kansas City or Washington DC for stark examples.

Seriously, spending more than $10,000 per year per student is a travesty. A class with 30 students should not cost $300,000 and the money is not going to the teacher!

I agree, end the war on drugs and greatly reduce parent incarceration rates.
I agree, find employment for everybody that raises them above poverty.
I agree, support family planning, pre-natal care, nutrition, and free pre-school or head start.

But, it isn't poverty exactly or school financial resources that predict student performance. It's culture. There is an urban poor culture that doesn't exist among poor rural students, and the outcomes differ. How can we change the culture that devalues education? How can we change the violence and street power culture? How can we convince people not to have children that are later neglected and abused?

The brewing equipment and expenses were paid for by the Obamas personally. The same for all White House meals (I mean the POTUS family's personal consumption, I don't know about state dinners and such): their cost is paid from the POTUS salary. The POTUS is paid pretty well by most people's standards so s/he can afford it.

See: Reuters, "Taxpayers are not footing the bill for the beer, as both the cost of the equipment and the cost of brewing the beer is paid for by the Obamas personally, the official said."

Jury instructions were: If you think that Apple has shown convincing evidence that Samsung's patents are invalid, then state that they are invalid, otherwise state that they are valid. And if you think that Samsung has shown convincing evidence that Apple's patents are invalid, then state that they are invalid, otherwise state that they are valid. The jury followed these instructions. The fandroids don't like it, many think the decisions were wrong (of course only as far as Apple's patents are concerned), and they are welcome to their opinion, but saying that the jury didn't follow jury instructions is a lie.

You're the one lying and oversimplifying things here. The jury instructions were more than 100 pages long (that does not include the questions), and clearly explained prior art and damages.

Regarding prior art, the instructions explain that :

FINAL JURY INSTRUCTION NO. 31
UTILITY PATENTS—ANTICIPATION

A utility patent claim is invalid if the claimed invention is not new. For the claim to be invalid because it is not new, all of its requirements must have existed in a single device or method that predates the claimed invention, or must have been described in a single previous publication or patent that predates the claimed invention. In patent law, these previous devices, methods, publications or patents are called “prior art references.” If a patent claim is not new we say it is “anticipated” by a prior art reference.

The description in the written reference does not have to be in the same words as the claim, but all of the requirements of the claim must be there, either stated or necessarily implied, so that someone of ordinary skill in the field looking at that one reference would be able to make and use the claimed invention.

The jury foreman was interviewed saying :
The software on the Apple side could not be placed into the processor on the prior art and vice versa. That means they are not interchangeable. That changed everything right there.
(Bloomberg)

Regarding damages, the instructions say that :

The amount of those damages must be adequate to compensate the patent holder for the infringement. A damages award should put the patent holder in approximately the financial position it would have been in had the infringement not occurred, but in no event may the damages award be less than a reasonable royalty. You should keep in mind that the damages you award are meant to compensate the patent holder and not to punish an infringer.

The foreman in another interview explained that:
"We wanted to make sure the message we sent was not just a slap on the wrist," Hogan said. "We wanted to make sure it was sufficiently high to be painful, but not unreasonable."
(Reuters, http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/08/25/us-apple-samsung-juror-idINBRE87O09U20120825)

These declarations clearly show that he didn't act accordingly to the jury instructions.