There is no overestimating the security of not being able to access a network. Presuming it's firewalled, if you can't access it, you can't intentionally do anything to it. You have to wait for them to come to you.
Cables will always be more reliable than wireless. The question is application. If you have a box on a table, you don't need wireless. If you have a laptop that you want to move around with, than wireless makes sense.
New homes are wired with Cat-5e and fiber-optic and they are well justified in doing this. You can run a completely wireless telephone system as well. But it still isn't as simple and robust as having a phone jack or two in every room (especially when the power goes out).
The way Colbert packages his criticism is impossible to retort. He simply amplifies what you say in order to criticize you and makes it plain how absurdly ridiculous it is.
No question about it... Colbert bombed in that room. But I thought it was funnier than snot. I also know that Colbert walked into a room of real power brokers and bitch slapped ALL of them (except Helen Thomas). Scalia seemed to be the only one laughing, that's probably because nobody can fire him.
I would have LOVED to be a fly on the wall to see the tirade that GW threw after Colbert's monologue. I'm eagerly awaiting the response from the right wing. I really don't think they have a response for Colbert. The only way to fight comedy is to with comedy. And honestly... conservatives aren't funny.
Well, I take that back. People will laugh at what conservatives say... but it's not funny. It's just mean. When conservatives laugh with each-other it's just a way of saying "I'm an asshole too".
a) Why did Bush abandon his post at the same time that the Air Force was instituting mandatory drug testing. We know President Bush was a cocaine user at one time in his life due to the carefully worded denials with regard to the statue of limitations.
Yes, and why doesn't the Republicans apply the same standards to "their own". When Clinton was implicated in smoking a joint (overseas in a country where it was legal) the press went nuts. When GW made his "statue of limitations" denial, the "liberal" press collectively shrugged and moved on.
b) Who did Daddy Bush pay off to get little George bumped to the top of the list when his test scores were sub-standard. GW Bush took a position from some guy who deserved it. That guy likely ended up in Vietnam.
GW is a deeply flawed individual. So was Clinton. But the distinction is that Clinton is a flawed man with MERIT!!!! How does a man with such a deeply troubling past, terrible school record, terrible business record, terrible military service record, terrible driving record end up being president of the United States. And exactly what kind of example does this send to America's youth?
a) You can consistently screw up all your life and achieve the highest office so long as your Daddy's lackey's follow you around and fix everything for you.
b) Be like me and screw around instead of paying attention to what you're doing.
They said it was reproduction of an actual document. The secretary said the document was faked as this was not how they typed things. But that she believed the content was real. She would know as she would have typed the document.
Colonel Killian was sucker punched. Rove was cunningly masterful, as usual. No doubt Satan will have him at hell's poker table once his time is up on Earth.
BTW, I would beg you to apply the same journalistic standards to every Clinton scandal except the Monica Lewinsky issue. At the end of the day, they were all conjecture and all dead ends. Even the Jennifer Flowers issue that started it all was a fake. Flowers named their first meeting place as a hotel that had not even been built yet. The girl was a wackjob serial liar. The press did not care because they wanted their story. And they never bothered cleaning up after their BS because they were always hot on the trail of the next BS scandal being spoon fed to them by the right wing.
What's your big idea of how to handle Iran, now that they seem dead set on getting nuclear weapons?
The intent and the capability of making nuclear weapons are two separate issues. The experts say they are a good 20 years away. We have a little time to work the issue diplomaticaly. There is no crisis concerning Iran. There is only a President who has popularity numbers lower than Hoover and is desperately trying to find an issue to get himself out of the cellar. Hmm... reminds me of the conditions "pre-9/11".
Regarding the economy, Wall St looks at things from the investors standpoint. Yes, investors are doing well. The adherents of vodoo economics claim that this effect will "trickle down" to the shrinking middle class. The truth is that unions are being busted, health care costs are going up, wages are stagnant and you aren't counted as unemployed once your benefit check runs out. The actual "employment" numbers are calculated with surveys and models predicting the number of individuals who are "self employed" (regardless of whether self employment pays the rent).
Look closely at the numbers and you'll see a lot of smoke and mirrors. The truth is that from the "mythical little guys's" perspective this economy stinks. It stinks even more when people who don't work for dividend checks pay only 15% while you have to pay both FICA and income tax on your hard earned money.
Saddam Hussein got oil out just fine during the embargo via both smuggling and oil for food. The fact that he chose to build palaces with it can hardly be put at the feet of Bill Clinton. The fact that the man was STILL in office instead of overthrown by a Shiite uprising in the South can be laid at the feet of Colin Powell and GHW Bush Sr.
There is a fundamental truth that one must accept in the world. You cannot solve everyone's problems. But you can try to not make them worse.
It's also possible that those ancient people were a little more clever than we believe with their "primitive" tools. It is highly probably that they had better mastery of "primitive" tools than we do and knew a few tricks or two that we are not aware of.
There is an anecdote about the "power" needed to raise the heads on Easter Island. Many people have speculated that some "greater" technology must have been lost or that aliens must have done the job. Than one day some numksull tells this BS to the locals. They take a crew of 3 guys with levers and raise one the fallen heads.
Modern people are way to into their power tools. We don't appreciate the inventiveness of need and the ability to make due with the tools at hands. The fact that some technology is not evidenced may simply mean that it was abandoned for a better one or that needs simply changed. And maybe it's simply that we haven't built enough stone block pyramids to learn the correct skills and lessons that lead to efficieny.
The Egyptians did not START with the great pyramid. They started with smaller structure and doubtless they learned a few things along the way. If Archaeologists want to learn how to repeat the feat, they should consider building more pyramids instead of writing more books.
Social Security has a MASSIVE surplus and it needs someplace to invest it's money. Congress has a voracious need to borry money to mean general fund obligations and it's cheaper to borrow money from a trust fund than to incur debt from external entities.
The fraud comes in when you include FICA revenues in for the caluculation of the deficit. The real deficit is quite a bit higher when you consider what the federal government owes to the Social Security Trust fund.
If the Congress and the President can get it's financial house in order and pay down the debt (along with the debt service obligations), than the looming crisis is really a non-issue. But Bush seems really motivated to MAKE the crisis happen and then pretend he wants to stave it off with a plan that would DOUBLE the obligations of Social Security in the short term.
In actuality, the Republicans are the ones enacting this plan by slashing taxes while hiking spending. The "bankrupty" comes when Social Security asks for some of the money back from the Treasury and they cannot oblige because of the massive debt service payments on the GW Bush mega-debt.
At what point will the Laffer Curve drooling syncophants actually LOOK at the data and find out that cutting income/captial gains taxes does NOT increase revenue unless you accompany it with a hike in FICA taxes? If the Bush tax cuts are "stimulate revenues" why does Bush keep pulling off bigger and bigger deficits every year?
They call that the full faith and credit of the United States of America. And god help the world if it ever fails because EVERYTHING is based upon it.
By the way, if you think those treasury bonds are useless, I'll offer you 10 cents on the dollar for any you possess. And if you think paper is useless, I'll take everything in your wallet at 5 cents to the dollar.
The existence of a monument is not nullified by the lack of a civilization to build it.
That having been said, this guy has yet to prove it's a monument. But if he finds a stone facade buried under dirt in the shape of a step pyramid, you can rest assured the rest of the archaeologists will INVENT a civilization in the most convenient time period to account for it.
Let the guy dig with his volunteers. If he comes up empty handed, than that says something. If he find a pyramid, than you can try to identify the civilization that built it.
What is amazing to me is that a people who are recognized to have chariots are not credited with the ability to lash some oxes together to harness some REALLY effective pulling power. What is more amazing is that archaeologists who talk about Egypt as an "advanced" society with Chariots somehow could not apply the principle of the wheel to freight transportation.
I daresay they got the idea of light built chariot and wagon wheels from carved solid rollers. Why would the Egyptians suddenly become so mind numbingly ignorant where it concerned carrying heavy things.
Yes Imhotep... we travel at great speed on wheels. But instead of using round things, we'd rather use sledges on sand for extra heavy things. And using an ox, or horse that is WAY more powerful than a man... no that is a bad idea. Lets use a dozen humans instead at greater cost where one OX would have done the job.
It's not quite the same thing as slavery. It is 100% evident that Egyptians were certainly involved in laboring. At the same time, that would not prevent the Egyptians from being a little more demanding of "ethnic minorities" including religious dissidents and conquered peoples.
And just like ANY insurance plan, the benefits are paid with a combination of current contributors who are not collecting and the securities purchased with the contributions of beneficiaries. In this case, the Social Security Trust Fund loans money to the general government fund. It sounds like one hand borrowing from the other, but you have to consider it a bargain when you look at what it would cost to borrow that money elsewhere.
The only real threat to Social Security is the rampant irresponsible spending occuring for the last 6 years that is adding Federal debt outside of the trust fund. When the baby boomers retire in mass, the Federal Government will no longer be able to borrow from the fund, they have to get over that hump. The debt service incurred from the Bush administration is not helping this.
Not to worry, elect some Democrats and they'll save the Republican bacon (yet again). This is the way things go. Democrats stabilize the nations finances, than Republicans come in to cut taxes on wealthy people and create more work for Democrats.
The fact that the giza plateau complex is built in the image of the constellation Osiris (Orion) leads some to believe that these Pyramids had a more "celestial" purpose than housing the dead. Some find it more likely that they are more like apartments for the gods.
Let's not forget that most of the really great discoveries are found by amateurs and nutjobs. The experts cannot be everywhere.
The skepticism in the archaeological community is understandable, but there are being a little overbearing. All their models depend on having civilizations that create monuments, not monuments being evidence for civilizations. One need only examine the work of Shockley in regard to the Sphinx to see how aggressive the pros can get when their models are challenged.
Now, the really great discoveries do come from amateurs and wackos. But only a few. Most of them are just plain wrong. So the experts are kinda right to express heavy skepticism. But I agree, let the man finance his dig. If he uncovers more and more cut stone blocks, the archaeologists will be eating humble pie, especially that Zawari guy who has consistently chewed Shockley's ass off and has to be "THE GUY" who discovers everything in Egypt now.
The evidence for a lost "pre-civilization" keeps growing. We have found tobacco in ancient Egyptian tombs and a curious correlation of various mega-lith complexes around the world built in the image of the various signs of the Zodiac. If this is indeed a pyramid, it could be yet another in this pattern (along with the Pyramids in China). I don't think this the work of Aliens. It's just the work of an ancient civilization that rose, kept it's secrets too close to the vest then died off. And perhaps it WAS the Atlantians and Plato just did not have his details straight. The odds of various pre-cultures spontaneously deciding to build their mega-liths using a unique Zodiac sign over thousands of years is pretty low.
Capitalism is just a temporary state imposed by nation states. Without regulation captilalism rapidly devolved into feudalism as the leading actors consolidate and secure their positions such that their is no need to compete. Once there is no need to compete, only a select few benefit from the system, at that point economies wither and die such that their only point is to serve that elite few.
If you would like to live in a state like China, I suggest you go move there. China is succeeding because our leadership sold out to international corporations that saw more money in selling out the American middle class than they did in real patriotism.
China is what the lassei-faire would like to turn the US into. A slave state governed by elite individuals while the rest are mired in misery.
You do not free slaves by trading with the slavemasters. In fact, you end up enslaving yourselves. The sooner we ban China imports, the better off we will be in the end.
And actually, I think my job application was screwed when I wrote that I had a bachelors in Computer Science.
They don't want anybody with real understanding of technology. They want people who will parrot their selling points regardless of how inane or stupid they are. I once got into an argument with a CompUSA salesman over the merit of refilling cartridges on an Epson vs an HP. He claimed that you could not refill HP cartridges because they were disposable and you could risk damaging them. But you COULD refill EPSON because the cartridges didn't have print heads in them. Such shocking gaps in reason always floor me because reason has no effect on people who could believe something like this.
Anyone who answers no to that question is very clearly a liar.
I went through one of those stupid tests twice. The first time I tried to be honest. The second time I tried to say what they wanted me to say.
In the end, I think the tests were meaningless. I think they were just an excuse to exempt candidates they do not want without exposing themselves to accusations of discrimination.
This isn't THE missing link between sea and land animals. But it is yet another example of a phenomenon you can see throughout the animal kingdom.
Critics of evolution point to so called "intermediate structures". That somehow anatomical features have no value in a state of evolution, therefore they could not be selected under Darwin's own models. They ignore the little thing called the natural world. If you look closely you can see fish that hold their "water" to crawl around on land and tree dwelling animals like squirrels and snakes that glide from their perches to the ground. There are primitive animals in the sea with basic photo-receptors and other rudimentary sensory apparatus. All intermediate forms are out there ready to be viewed.
One primitive forms of these anatomical structures appear, it is no stretch to see that enhanced versions provide the animal with a greater capability and hence natural selection.
How about a body orbiting a star directly (not orbiting another planet) that within a certain percentage of round and orbiting within xxx degrees along the solar elliptic.
We know what the speculators think of GMs near term value. But is the second largest employer in the United States (only recently being eclipsed by Wal-Mart). The brand, the factory and it's assets have tremendous value and they are only a bankruptcy proceeding away from shedding all those pesky pension and healthcare obligations (unfortunately).
No, GM has lost billions in past years and they will likely lose billions in the future. GM is just to big to fail, they have too many assets and some one will be brought in at some point to put them in order. Nor can anyone come in and effectively "take over" GM. The company is just plain too big. They would wreck whatever is left in the process of integration.
Slashdot Mirror
There is no overestimating the security of not being able to access a network. Presuming it's firewalled, if you can't access it, you can't intentionally do anything to it. You have to wait for them to come to you.
Cables will always be more reliable than wireless. The question is application. If you have a box on a table, you don't need wireless. If you have a laptop that you want to move around with, than wireless makes sense.
New homes are wired with Cat-5e and fiber-optic and they are well justified in doing this. You can run a completely wireless telephone system as well. But it still isn't as simple and robust as having a phone jack or two in every room (especially when the power goes out).
The way Colbert packages his criticism is impossible to retort. He simply amplifies what you say in order to criticize you and makes it plain how absurdly ridiculous it is.
No question about it
I would have LOVED to be a fly on the wall to see the tirade that GW threw after Colbert's monologue. I'm eagerly awaiting the response from the right wing. I really don't think they have a response for Colbert. The only way to fight comedy is to with comedy. And honestly
Well, I take that back. People will laugh at what conservatives say
Two issues to touch on:
a) Why did Bush abandon his post at the same time that the Air Force was instituting mandatory drug testing. We know President Bush was a cocaine user at one time in his life due to the carefully worded denials with regard to the statue of limitations.
Yes, and why doesn't the Republicans apply the same standards to "their own". When Clinton was implicated in smoking a joint (overseas in a country where it was legal) the press went nuts. When GW made his "statue of limitations" denial, the "liberal" press collectively shrugged and moved on.
b) Who did Daddy Bush pay off to get little George bumped to the top of the list when his test scores were sub-standard. GW Bush took a position from some guy who deserved it. That guy likely ended up in Vietnam.
GW is a deeply flawed individual. So was Clinton. But the distinction is that Clinton is a flawed man with MERIT!!!! How does a man with such a deeply troubling past, terrible school record, terrible business record, terrible military service record, terrible driving record end up being president of the United States. And exactly what kind of example does this send to America's youth?
a) You can consistently screw up all your life and achieve the highest office so long as your Daddy's lackey's follow you around and fix everything for you.
b) Be like me and screw around instead of paying attention to what you're doing.
They said it was reproduction of an actual document. The secretary said the document was faked as this was not how they typed things. But that she believed the content was real. She would know as she would have typed the document.
Colonel Killian was sucker punched. Rove was cunningly masterful, as usual. No doubt Satan will have him at hell's poker table once his time is up on Earth.
BTW, I would beg you to apply the same journalistic standards to every Clinton scandal except the Monica Lewinsky issue. At the end of the day, they were all conjecture and all dead ends. Even the Jennifer Flowers issue that started it all was a fake. Flowers named their first meeting place as a hotel that had not even been built yet. The girl was a wackjob serial liar. The press did not care because they wanted their story. And they never bothered cleaning up after their BS because they were always hot on the trail of the next BS scandal being spoon fed to them by the right wing.
What's your big idea of how to handle Iran, now that they seem dead set on getting nuclear weapons?
The intent and the capability of making nuclear weapons are two separate issues. The experts say they are a good 20 years away. We have a little time to work the issue diplomaticaly. There is no crisis concerning Iran. There is only a President who has popularity numbers lower than Hoover and is desperately trying to find an issue to get himself out of the cellar. Hmm... reminds me of the conditions "pre-9/11".
Regarding the economy, Wall St looks at things from the investors standpoint. Yes, investors are doing well. The adherents of vodoo economics claim that this effect will "trickle down" to the shrinking middle class. The truth is that unions are being busted, health care costs are going up, wages are stagnant and you aren't counted as unemployed once your benefit check runs out. The actual "employment" numbers are calculated with surveys and models predicting the number of individuals who are "self employed" (regardless of whether self employment pays the rent).
Look closely at the numbers and you'll see a lot of smoke and mirrors. The truth is that from the "mythical little guys's" perspective this economy stinks. It stinks even more when people who don't work for dividend checks pay only 15% while you have to pay both FICA and income tax on your hard earned money.
Saddam Hussein got oil out just fine during the embargo via both smuggling and oil for food. The fact that he chose to build palaces with it can hardly be put at the feet of Bill Clinton. The fact that the man was STILL in office instead of overthrown by a Shiite uprising in the South can be laid at the feet of Colin Powell and GHW Bush Sr.
There is a fundamental truth that one must accept in the world. You cannot solve everyone's problems. But you can try to not make them worse.
It's also possible that those ancient people were a little more clever than we believe with their "primitive" tools. It is highly probably that they had better mastery of "primitive" tools than we do and knew a few tricks or two that we are not aware of.
There is an anecdote about the "power" needed to raise the heads on Easter Island. Many people have speculated that some "greater" technology must have been lost or that aliens must have done the job. Than one day some numksull tells this BS to the locals. They take a crew of 3 guys with levers and raise one the fallen heads.
Modern people are way to into their power tools. We don't appreciate the inventiveness of need and the ability to make due with the tools at hands. The fact that some technology is not evidenced may simply mean that it was abandoned for a better one or that needs simply changed. And maybe it's simply that we haven't built enough stone block pyramids to learn the correct skills and lessons that lead to efficieny.
The Egyptians did not START with the great pyramid. They started with smaller structure and doubtless they learned a few things along the way. If Archaeologists want to learn how to repeat the feat, they should consider building more pyramids instead of writing more books.
Social Security has a MASSIVE surplus and it needs someplace to invest it's money. Congress has a voracious need to borry money to mean general fund obligations and it's cheaper to borrow money from a trust fund than to incur debt from external entities.
The fraud comes in when you include FICA revenues in for the caluculation of the deficit. The real deficit is quite a bit higher when you consider what the federal government owes to the Social Security Trust fund.
If the Congress and the President can get it's financial house in order and pay down the debt (along with the debt service obligations), than the looming crisis is really a non-issue. But Bush seems really motivated to MAKE the crisis happen and then pretend he wants to stave it off with a plan that would DOUBLE the obligations of Social Security in the short term.
In actuality, the Republicans are the ones enacting this plan by slashing taxes while hiking spending. The "bankrupty" comes when Social Security asks for some of the money back from the Treasury and they cannot oblige because of the massive debt service payments on the GW Bush mega-debt.
At what point will the Laffer Curve drooling syncophants actually LOOK at the data and find out that cutting income/captial gains taxes does NOT increase revenue unless you accompany it with a hike in FICA taxes? If the Bush tax cuts are "stimulate revenues" why does Bush keep pulling off bigger and bigger deficits every year?
They call that the full faith and credit of the United States of America. And god help the world if it ever fails because EVERYTHING is based upon it.
By the way, if you think those treasury bonds are useless, I'll offer you 10 cents on the dollar for any you possess. And if you think paper is useless, I'll take everything in your wallet at 5 cents to the dollar.
The existence of a monument is not nullified by the lack of a civilization to build it.
That having been said, this guy has yet to prove it's a monument. But if he finds a stone facade buried under dirt in the shape of a step pyramid, you can rest assured the rest of the archaeologists will INVENT a civilization in the most convenient time period to account for it.
Let the guy dig with his volunteers. If he comes up empty handed, than that says something. If he find a pyramid, than you can try to identify the civilization that built it.
Lets face it, if it doesn't spring from Zawari's brain
What is amazing to me is that a people who are recognized to have chariots are not credited with the ability to lash some oxes together to harness some REALLY effective pulling power. What is more amazing is that archaeologists who talk about Egypt as an "advanced" society with Chariots somehow could not apply the principle of the wheel to freight transportation.
I daresay they got the idea of light built chariot and wagon wheels from carved solid rollers. Why would the Egyptians suddenly become so mind numbingly ignorant where it concerned carrying heavy things.
Yes Imhotep
It's not quite the same thing as slavery. It is 100% evident that Egyptians were certainly involved in laboring. At the same time, that would not prevent the Egyptians from being a little more demanding of "ethnic minorities" including religious dissidents and conquered peoples.
And just like ANY insurance plan, the benefits are paid with a combination of current contributors who are not collecting and the securities purchased with the contributions of beneficiaries. In this case, the Social Security Trust Fund loans money to the general government fund. It sounds like one hand borrowing from the other, but you have to consider it a bargain when you look at what it would cost to borrow that money elsewhere.
The only real threat to Social Security is the rampant irresponsible spending occuring for the last 6 years that is adding Federal debt outside of the trust fund. When the baby boomers retire in mass, the Federal Government will no longer be able to borrow from the fund, they have to get over that hump. The debt service incurred from the Bush administration is not helping this.
Not to worry, elect some Democrats and they'll save the Republican bacon (yet again). This is the way things go. Democrats stabilize the nations finances, than Republicans come in to cut taxes on wealthy people and create more work for Democrats.
The fact that the giza plateau complex is built in the image of the constellation Osiris (Orion) leads some to believe that these Pyramids had a more "celestial" purpose than housing the dead. Some find it more likely that they are more like apartments for the gods.
Let's not forget that most of the really great discoveries are found by amateurs and nutjobs. The experts cannot be everywhere.
The skepticism in the archaeological community is understandable, but there are being a little overbearing. All their models depend on having civilizations that create monuments, not monuments being evidence for civilizations. One need only examine the work of Shockley in regard to the Sphinx to see how aggressive the pros can get when their models are challenged.
Now, the really great discoveries do come from amateurs and wackos. But only a few. Most of them are just plain wrong. So the experts are kinda right to express heavy skepticism. But I agree, let the man finance his dig. If he uncovers more and more cut stone blocks, the archaeologists will be eating humble pie, especially that Zawari guy who has consistently chewed Shockley's ass off and has to be "THE GUY" who discovers everything in Egypt now.
The evidence for a lost "pre-civilization" keeps growing. We have found tobacco in ancient Egyptian tombs and a curious correlation of various mega-lith complexes around the world built in the image of the various signs of the Zodiac. If this is indeed a pyramid, it could be yet another in this pattern (along with the Pyramids in China). I don't think this the work of Aliens. It's just the work of an ancient civilization that rose, kept it's secrets too close to the vest then died off. And perhaps it WAS the Atlantians and Plato just did not have his details straight. The odds of various pre-cultures spontaneously deciding to build their mega-liths using a unique Zodiac sign over thousands of years is pretty low.
No they mean the thetans, you know the ones that Xenu brought to earth to murder and brainwash into thinking that they are mole people.
Errr... gotta go, I'm feeling flu-like symptoms. Catch ya ajijdoijh ja;ijjdjijijisjijijjpppo89hnvnj....
Capitalism is just a temporary state imposed by nation states. Without regulation captilalism rapidly devolved into feudalism as the leading actors consolidate and secure their positions such that their is no need to compete. Once there is no need to compete, only a select few benefit from the system, at that point economies wither and die such that their only point is to serve that elite few.
If you would like to live in a state like China, I suggest you go move there. China is succeeding because our leadership sold out to international corporations that saw more money in selling out the American middle class than they did in real patriotism.
China is what the lassei-faire would like to turn the US into. A slave state governed by elite individuals while the rest are mired in misery.
You do not free slaves by trading with the slavemasters. In fact, you end up enslaving yourselves. The sooner we ban China imports, the better off we will be in the end.
And actually, I think my job application was screwed when I wrote that I had a bachelors in Computer Science.
They don't want anybody with real understanding of technology. They want people who will parrot their selling points regardless of how inane or stupid they are. I once got into an argument with a CompUSA salesman over the merit of refilling cartridges on an Epson vs an HP. He claimed that you could not refill HP cartridges because they were disposable and you could risk damaging them. But you COULD refill EPSON because the cartridges didn't have print heads in them. Such shocking gaps in reason always floor me because reason has no effect on people who could believe something like this.
Anyone who answers no to that question is very clearly a liar.
I went through one of those stupid tests twice. The first time I tried to be honest. The second time I tried to say what they wanted me to say.
In the end, I think the tests were meaningless. I think they were just an excuse to exempt candidates they do not want without exposing themselves to accusations of discrimination.
This isn't THE missing link between sea and land animals. But it is yet another example of a phenomenon you can see throughout the animal kingdom.
Critics of evolution point to so called "intermediate structures". That somehow anatomical features have no value in a state of evolution, therefore they could not be selected under Darwin's own models. They ignore the little thing called the natural world. If you look closely you can see fish that hold their "water" to crawl around on land and tree dwelling animals like squirrels and snakes that glide from their perches to the ground. There are primitive animals in the sea with basic photo-receptors and other rudimentary sensory apparatus. All intermediate forms are out there ready to be viewed.
One primitive forms of these anatomical structures appear, it is no stretch to see that enhanced versions provide the animal with a greater capability and hence natural selection.
How about a body orbiting a star directly (not orbiting another planet) that within a certain percentage of round and orbiting within xxx degrees along the solar elliptic.
We know what the speculators think of GMs near term value. But is the second largest employer in the United States (only recently being eclipsed by Wal-Mart). The brand, the factory and it's assets have tremendous value and they are only a bankruptcy proceeding away from shedding all those pesky pension and healthcare obligations (unfortunately).
No, GM has lost billions in past years and they will likely lose billions in the future. GM is just to big to fail, they have too many assets and some one will be brought in at some point to put them in order. Nor can anyone come in and effectively "take over" GM. The company is just plain too big. They would wreck whatever is left in the process of integration.