That just happened to go to a major democratic player. Get real. Oh, that's right - now that the investment banks all collapsed the US government needs to be in the venture capital business...along with the mortgage business, the car business, etc.. Helloooooo USSA!
Yep, coal is still king and will be for a looooong time. It's cheap and ubiquitous and once it starts burning its STAYS burning when the sun goes down, the wind dies and the waves calm. Ironic that the greenies doomed our planet to heat death back in the 80's with their stupid "no nukes" movement. I love the law of unintended consequences...
Ok, so the government says to the telecoms "We need access to prevent terrorism, don't worry it's all ok." The telecoms say "Ummm, ok. You're the government so it's not like we can say no, and I guess we don't want any more planes crashing into buildings and stuff." Now the government is saying "Oh, remember when we said not to worry, it's all ok? Well, it's not ok after all." Now the telecoms are all like "WTF?!?!"
It's the same thing as when the white house said to the CIA "Torture those terrorists because they might know about a really bad terror plot. It's really important. Trust us, it's ok" So the CIA guys go "okey dokey, one waterboarded terrorist coming up". Now the government is all like "Um, sorry it wasn't ok. Now we're going to prosecute you CIA guys" and the CIA guys are like "WTF?!?!?"
Seriously, it's not the telecoms, it's the government. End of story. Our government doesn't have a freaking clue one way or the other. It's either torturing terrorists or giving them sympathy cards.
The article is about as noncommittal as you can get. Basically they say geo-engineering might work and/or it might be a bad idea. At least they had the sense to bash the idea they tested a while back to dump iron into the ocean to sequester carbon. Geo-engineering is a bad option made worse by inaction on the fundamental problem: excess CO2 emission. With China and India ramping up their CO2 emissions as fast as they can, the task might be worse than futile. Unforeseen consequences of geo-engineering schemes could make matters far, far worse than they already are. Additionally, the cost to produce whatever technology is utilized would be prohibitive when applied on a global scale - bad enough to crush the economies of the entire world if sufficient taxation to fund the plan is implemented.
Any scheme that does not put major CO2 reduction at the heart of the plan is doomed to failure. Worse, these cockamamie save-the-world schemes that give every moron the warm and fuzzies always fail to mention that we don't get a "do-over" if it goes wrong. Geo-engineering is a terrible idea. Grab-your-rifle-and-storm-the-capital terrible. Reduce CO2 first and do nothing else.
After reading most of the posts, I began hoping that I had submitted an article to which NOBODY would make a serious comment. You went and ruined it, you bastard.
The pirate party's goals are too narrow. What the US needs isn't a political party solely devoted to IP and patent issues. What the US needs is a viable national 3rd party devoted to restoring a government for the people, by the people, ruled by the constitution. The issues that concern the pirate party would be covered if copyright went back to being a means for contributing to the public good i.e. copyrights that actually expire and go into public domain instead of perpetually feeding a corporations coffers. Rolling back corporate influence in government and lawmaking would result in an environment more conducive to IP fairness and privacy by default.
Oh, for God's sake this neurotic fingernail chewing has to stop. Any energy used to create electricity MUST, by the laws of physics, come from somewhere else. Sorry kiddies, but there is no magic wand to make energy appear without some consequences. Grow up.
By choosing to shoot down any and all alt-energy methods, you thereby choose to continue burning fossil fuels as the major method of electricity generation, which is also the majority source of carbon and old school pollution.
It's time to put on your big-boy pants, recognize we have a problem that needs solutions NOW and be willing to deal with the consequences. The second worst thing we could do, next to "nothing", is pick a single new method to pursue. We need to try them all to see what works, what the problems are, etc.. The answer will probably be a mix of new technologies.
We've become a nation, no a WORLD of spoiled whiners. Man up, take some fucking responsibility and DO something. Spoiled whining children should be spanked.
Yes, I read it and it's bullshit. How simple does it need to be? Use tax credits to make green tech more attractive than fossil fuel based energy. Doesn't get any simpler than that - you give the market incentives and the market does the rest. Anything else creates a drag on the economy and administrative overhead. Sorry, we really DON'T need more government to do every little thing because government is the worst, most inefficient way to accomplish anything except the production of bullshit.
The easiest and cheapest way to encourage the growth of green tech is via tax credits. Make solar, wind, hydro and nuclear so attractive you'd be crazy to build any other kind of generating station. Make it so companies buying green power get tax credits. Make it so much more profitable to make and use green energy that the market embraces it. No need for expensive government investment in shaky new tech - the market takes care of all the R&D. Incentives are the way to go. Carbon markets are bullshit.
You're absolutely right. The only bright spot is the fact that this new service will force more competition. Comcast, like many cable providers, was built on exclusive contracts with municipalities. Once they go into the wireless business that advantage disappears as they suddenly begin competing with telecoms, even on their "home turf".
These corporations operate in a predictable fashion according to their environment in order to maximize profits. Good old fashioned competition changes that environment to the advantage of the consumer.
Blind, unquestioning faith is not science. To assert that the debate is closed is anti-scientific and ultimately very dangerous. YOU may be certain, a large number of people may be certain, but ongoing criticism and debate is the hallmark of real science. How certain are lemmings that they are heading in the right direction just before they plunge over the cliff? Groupthink is not science. Consensus is not science. Arrogance and hubris are not science. Science is only useful as a process insofar as it is capable of yielding to additional data or new ways of looking at existing data. You should be very, very skeptical of anyone who claims to be so certain as to need no further inquiry.
Thank you. There is an increasing amount of resistance from scientists concerned about the religion of climate change. Anyone who voices dissenting opinions are shouted down and dismissed, their credentials and even their sanity questioned. I fail to understand why it's necessary to have a PhD in climatology to even be allowed to participate in the discussion. Real science is about free and open dialog and what has been happening about climate issues is anything but free.
It's extremely alarming that there is no longer any scientific debate about the existence of global warming, it's causes, it's effects or what to do about it.
More disturbing still is that geo-engineering schemes are being proposed and even tested (iron seeding of the ocean), as if the science is settled and the solutions are simple. Frankly, this is so far fetched that any attempt to put a geo-engineering scheme into practice at this point should be cause for armed insurrection.
Agreed. Privacy in communications is the basis of free society. Placing anything and everything on the internet vastly expands a governments' ability to keep tabs on people.
Back in the day, gentlemen did not read each other's mail. With the advent of various technologies that barrier has been progressively lowered. Wiretapping POTS lines used to require special judicial approval, but it *was* given for a variety of reasons. These days the NSA (and equivalent agencies in other countries) routinely scan internet traffic to the point where the smart assumption is that you have NO privacy.
Freedom is dangerous in that people can abuse their freedoms to commit crimes. We continue to trade those freedoms for perceived security while the definition of crime becomes broader. The logical end is that all freedoms will eventually be lost in order to control ever-expanding categories of "crime".
A darknet is nothing more than the digital equivalent of a public house where people gather for discussion safe from government interference - a combination of the rights to free speech and to peaceably assemble.
Hopefully it will soon be far worse. The combination of arrogance and incompetence displayed by their lawyers is astounding. They usually fold before setting a precedent so you have to think there's some sort of ulterior motive.
He's beating the pants off of us in "negotiating". As you cited, he threw an atomic hissy fit, got the oil he wanted by promising not to play with nukes anymore, then went immediately back to developing nukes to gain leverage for the next round of "negotiating". The main problem is that they will keep any of the promises they make, hence negotiation is ultimately useless. Albright was and is an idiot; Kim never gave a good god damn about respect. It's all about power and always will be.
Kim Jong Il is definitely not a nutjob. North Korea's internal politics are a pressure cooker like few on the planet. He's extremely smart, politically savvy and extremely ruthless. He learned at the feet of a master - his father - and successfully transitioned to power when it was widely expected he would fail. This is a man that thinks nothing of starving millions (as happened in the late '90's) of his own people if it suits his political needs. North Korea has survived for over half a century by using it's massive military to threaten the South and has played public opinion in South Korea like a violin.
Since China transitioned from a closed economy and withdrew much of it's overt support, North Korea has successfully used seemingly insane threats as negotiating leverage to obtain international aid many times. Because of China's residual support for the regime and their legitimate fear of massive numbers of refugees crossing the border, as well as resistance by (probably North supported) elements in South Korea it has been politically impossible to call North Korea's bluff. This is perhaps the one thing that could successfully break the back of the regime and initiate change in the North.
If it were possible to "pull the plug" on international aid and enlist China to stare down the North's military threats the regime would probably collapse, but it's unlikely China could be induced to do so given the flood of refugees they would inevitably have to handle.
Hence the "insanity" continues with no end in sight.
Agreed. A primary characteristic of addiction is damage to the self. The first step is for the guy to admit there's something wrong. If you're really a friend, write the guy a letter saying you're worried about him and get as many of his friends sign it as possible. Give it to him, tell him you're concerned and then step back. Be there for him, ask if he needs anything, invite him out whenever possible to give him an opportunity to make the choice to step away, but otherwise let him make his choices on his own. The reasons for addiction are complex - there's often some underlying need that isn't being dealt with and the mmo takes the place of dealing with it. In the end he has to decide to face his problems and you can't force him to do it. If he fails out, gets expelled, whatever; unfortunately that may be what it takes for him to realize he needs to make a change. He may need to take time off from school in order to deal with it.
On the bright side, you aren't finding used needles or little plastic baggies so it could be a lot worse.
I wonder why so many people think you should allow "friends" to go to hell with themselves. That sounds more like a casual acquaintance than a friend.
Slashdot Mirror
That just happened to go to a major democratic player. Get real. Oh, that's right - now that the investment banks all collapsed the US government needs to be in the venture capital business...along with the mortgage business, the car business, etc.. Helloooooo USSA!
Big reservoirs also mean morons living in the desert get to water their nice big green lawns every day!
Yep, coal is still king and will be for a looooong time. It's cheap and ubiquitous and once it starts burning its STAYS burning when the sun goes down, the wind dies and the waves calm. Ironic that the greenies doomed our planet to heat death back in the 80's with their stupid "no nukes" movement. I love the law of unintended consequences...
The basic question is this: why bother with these things? So mall cops don't have to do any actual walking? Total waste of time.
Ok, so the government says to the telecoms "We need access to prevent terrorism, don't worry it's all ok." The telecoms say "Ummm, ok. You're the government so it's not like we can say no, and I guess we don't want any more planes crashing into buildings and stuff." Now the government is saying "Oh, remember when we said not to worry, it's all ok? Well, it's not ok after all." Now the telecoms are all like "WTF?!?!"
It's the same thing as when the white house said to the CIA "Torture those terrorists because they might know about a really bad terror plot. It's really important. Trust us, it's ok" So the CIA guys go "okey dokey, one waterboarded terrorist coming up". Now the government is all like "Um, sorry it wasn't ok. Now we're going to prosecute you CIA guys" and the CIA guys are like "WTF?!?!?"
Seriously, it's not the telecoms, it's the government. End of story. Our government doesn't have a freaking clue one way or the other. It's either torturing terrorists or giving them sympathy cards.
The article is about as noncommittal as you can get. Basically they say geo-engineering might work and/or it might be a bad idea. At least they had the sense to bash the idea they tested a while back to dump iron into the ocean to sequester carbon. Geo-engineering is a bad option made worse by inaction on the fundamental problem: excess CO2 emission. With China and India ramping up their CO2 emissions as fast as they can, the task might be worse than futile. Unforeseen consequences of geo-engineering schemes could make matters far, far worse than they already are. Additionally, the cost to produce whatever technology is utilized would be prohibitive when applied on a global scale - bad enough to crush the economies of the entire world if sufficient taxation to fund the plan is implemented.
Any scheme that does not put major CO2 reduction at the heart of the plan is doomed to failure. Worse, these cockamamie save-the-world schemes that give every moron the warm and fuzzies always fail to mention that we don't get a "do-over" if it goes wrong. Geo-engineering is a terrible idea. Grab-your-rifle-and-storm-the-capital terrible. Reduce CO2 first and do nothing else.
Good point. This, like dental implants, is destined to be a high end treatment for the wealthy. Po' folks will have to do with dentures.
Every dentist does this at least once.
Next.
Oh, I know it's impossible, but a man can dream, can't he?
This is why I don't want my personal information in any database anywhere.
After reading most of the posts, I began hoping that I had submitted an article to which NOBODY would make a serious comment. You went and ruined it, you bastard.
The pirate party's goals are too narrow. What the US needs isn't a political party solely devoted to IP and patent issues. What the US needs is a viable national 3rd party devoted to restoring a government for the people, by the people, ruled by the constitution. The issues that concern the pirate party would be covered if copyright went back to being a means for contributing to the public good i.e. copyrights that actually expire and go into public domain instead of perpetually feeding a corporations coffers. Rolling back corporate influence in government and lawmaking would result in an environment more conducive to IP fairness and privacy by default.
No it isn't. You must suffer from some sort of adolescent apocalypse obsession. Wipe off the goth makeup and stop being so emo, it's annoying.
Oh, for God's sake this neurotic fingernail chewing has to stop. Any energy used to create electricity MUST, by the laws of physics, come from somewhere else. Sorry kiddies, but there is no magic wand to make energy appear without some consequences. Grow up.
By choosing to shoot down any and all alt-energy methods, you thereby choose to continue burning fossil fuels as the major method of electricity generation, which is also the majority source of carbon and old school pollution.
It's time to put on your big-boy pants, recognize we have a problem that needs solutions NOW and be willing to deal with the consequences. The second worst thing we could do, next to "nothing", is pick a single new method to pursue. We need to try them all to see what works, what the problems are, etc.. The answer will probably be a mix of new technologies.
We've become a nation, no a WORLD of spoiled whiners. Man up, take some fucking responsibility and DO something. Spoiled whining children should be spanked.
Yes, I read it and it's bullshit. How simple does it need to be? Use tax credits to make green tech more attractive than fossil fuel based energy. Doesn't get any simpler than that - you give the market incentives and the market does the rest. Anything else creates a drag on the economy and administrative overhead. Sorry, we really DON'T need more government to do every little thing because government is the worst, most inefficient way to accomplish anything except the production of bullshit.
The easiest and cheapest way to encourage the growth of green tech is via tax credits. Make solar, wind, hydro and nuclear so attractive you'd be crazy to build any other kind of generating station. Make it so companies buying green power get tax credits. Make it so much more profitable to make and use green energy that the market embraces it. No need for expensive government investment in shaky new tech - the market takes care of all the R&D. Incentives are the way to go. Carbon markets are bullshit.
You're absolutely right. The only bright spot is the fact that this new service will force more competition. Comcast, like many cable providers, was built on exclusive contracts with municipalities. Once they go into the wireless business that advantage disappears as they suddenly begin competing with telecoms, even on their "home turf".
These corporations operate in a predictable fashion according to their environment in order to maximize profits. Good old fashioned competition changes that environment to the advantage of the consumer.
Blind, unquestioning faith is not science. To assert that the debate is closed is anti-scientific and ultimately very dangerous. YOU may be certain, a large number of people may be certain, but ongoing criticism and debate is the hallmark of real science. How certain are lemmings that they are heading in the right direction just before they plunge over the cliff? Groupthink is not science. Consensus is not science. Arrogance and hubris are not science. Science is only useful as a process insofar as it is capable of yielding to additional data or new ways of looking at existing data. You should be very, very skeptical of anyone who claims to be so certain as to need no further inquiry.
Thank you. There is an increasing amount of resistance from scientists concerned about the religion of climate change. Anyone who voices dissenting opinions are shouted down and dismissed, their credentials and even their sanity questioned. I fail to understand why it's necessary to have a PhD in climatology to even be allowed to participate in the discussion. Real science is about free and open dialog and what has been happening about climate issues is anything but free.
It's extremely alarming that there is no longer any scientific debate about the existence of global warming, it's causes, it's effects or what to do about it.
More disturbing still is that geo-engineering schemes are being proposed and even tested (iron seeding of the ocean), as if the science is settled and the solutions are simple. Frankly, this is so far fetched that any attempt to put a geo-engineering scheme into practice at this point should be cause for armed insurrection.
Agreed. Privacy in communications is the basis of free society. Placing anything and everything on the internet vastly expands a governments' ability to keep tabs on people.
Back in the day, gentlemen did not read each other's mail. With the advent of various technologies that barrier has been progressively lowered. Wiretapping POTS lines used to require special judicial approval, but it *was* given for a variety of reasons. These days the NSA (and equivalent agencies in other countries) routinely scan internet traffic to the point where the smart assumption is that you have NO privacy.
Freedom is dangerous in that people can abuse their freedoms to commit crimes. We continue to trade those freedoms for perceived security while the definition of crime becomes broader. The logical end is that all freedoms will eventually be lost in order to control ever-expanding categories of "crime".
A darknet is nothing more than the digital equivalent of a public house where people gather for discussion safe from government interference - a combination of the rights to free speech and to peaceably assemble.
Hopefully it will soon be far worse. The combination of arrogance and incompetence displayed by their lawyers is astounding. They usually fold before setting a precedent so you have to think there's some sort of ulterior motive.
He's beating the pants off of us in "negotiating". As you cited, he threw an atomic hissy fit, got the oil he wanted by promising not to play with nukes anymore, then went immediately back to developing nukes to gain leverage for the next round of "negotiating". The main problem is that they will keep any of the promises they make, hence negotiation is ultimately useless. Albright was and is an idiot; Kim never gave a good god damn about respect. It's all about power and always will be.
Kim Jong Il is definitely not a nutjob. North Korea's internal politics are a pressure cooker like few on the planet. He's extremely smart, politically savvy and extremely ruthless. He learned at the feet of a master - his father - and successfully transitioned to power when it was widely expected he would fail. This is a man that thinks nothing of starving millions (as happened in the late '90's) of his own people if it suits his political needs. North Korea has survived for over half a century by using it's massive military to threaten the South and has played public opinion in South Korea like a violin.
Since China transitioned from a closed economy and withdrew much of it's overt support, North Korea has successfully used seemingly insane threats as negotiating leverage to obtain international aid many times. Because of China's residual support for the regime and their legitimate fear of massive numbers of refugees crossing the border, as well as resistance by (probably North supported) elements in South Korea it has been politically impossible to call North Korea's bluff. This is perhaps the one thing that could successfully break the back of the regime and initiate change in the North.
If it were possible to "pull the plug" on international aid and enlist China to stare down the North's military threats the regime would probably collapse, but it's unlikely China could be induced to do so given the flood of refugees they would inevitably have to handle.
Hence the "insanity" continues with no end in sight.
Agreed. A primary characteristic of addiction is damage to the self. The first step is for the guy to admit there's something wrong. If you're really a friend, write the guy a letter saying you're worried about him and get as many of his friends sign it as possible. Give it to him, tell him you're concerned and then step back. Be there for him, ask if he needs anything, invite him out whenever possible to give him an opportunity to make the choice to step away, but otherwise let him make his choices on his own. The reasons for addiction are complex - there's often some underlying need that isn't being dealt with and the mmo takes the place of dealing with it. In the end he has to decide to face his problems and you can't force him to do it. If he fails out, gets expelled, whatever; unfortunately that may be what it takes for him to realize he needs to make a change.
He may need to take time off from school in order to deal with it.
On the bright side, you aren't finding used needles or little plastic baggies so it could be a lot worse.
I wonder why so many people think you should allow "friends" to go to hell with themselves. That sounds more like a casual acquaintance than a friend.