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User: fredmosby

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  1. Re:Not Scrapped Yet... on New Overtime Rules Have Short Shelf Life · · Score: 1

    For me minimum wages work out pretty well. I live near the border between Idaho and Washington. Idaho has a minimum wage of $5.15. Washington has a minimum wage of $7.16. So the prices for things where I live in Idaho are lower. But I can work in Washington and make more money to spend on those lower priced items. I was still annoyed to return to my parents house in central Idaho and find that the price of gas at $1.80, where I live it's $2.10, stupid west coast hippies.

  2. Re:So... we need space industry on Top 25 Censored Media Stories of 2003-2004 · · Score: 1

    If the space elevator gets built the power satellites will become viable. That would largely solve the main problem with solar. Which is the inconsistent power output. A solar power satellite in geostationary orbit would only be in shadow a few hours out of every year.

    The problem is that a space elevator won't be viable for at least 10-20 years. The cost of oil could have skyrocketed by then. Furthermore it might turn out that constructing carbon nano-tubes of the required strength is not technologically viable in which case power satellites might never be viable. We shouldn't sit around waiting for future technology when we have a perfectly good solution right now.

  3. Re:I can't believe #1 is on Top 25 Censored Media Stories of 2003-2004 · · Score: 1, Insightful

    What's so surprising about the current administration supporting nuclear power? In todays world nuclear is the only real alternative to coal and oil.

    The Bush administrations plan to end dependancy on foreign oil is far more realistic than Kerrys plan to fund research in 'alternative' energy sources. His administration opposes coal, oil, nuclear, and hydroelectric. That only leaves wind and solar power which do not produce consistent power. Currently there is no economically viable way of storing power, so making America dependent on solar or wind would dramatically increase the cost of power.

  4. Re:In a perfect world... on Mozilla Usage Doubles in 9 Months · · Score: 1

    The first would be removing IE so the person has to manually install it from the CD or download it after install.

    So you're saying that in a perfect world things would be inconvenient for most users?

  5. Re:3rd party accessory I'd like: mounting options! on Apple Introduces New G5 iMac · · Score: 2, Informative

    According to this page the new iMac has an optional VESAmount so it can easily be mounted in various configurations.

  6. Re:No matter.. on First Plasma on the Levitated Dipole Experiment · · Score: 1

    There have been many industrial accidents that have killed thousands of people. There was an incident in India where a chemical leak killed 3,800people. In California a Dam burst killing an estimated 450 people. A naval disaster involving a ship full of explosives killed over 2,000 people. The Great Smog of 1952 killed over 4,000 people. Over 1,500 people died on the Titanic.

    Chernobyl caused 31 deaths not including cancer. Because of the nature of cancer is hard to estimate the number of people who died from cancer caused by the Chernobyl disaster. My quick google search showed reports predicting between 20,000 and 100,000 deaths due to cancer. Which placed the eventual overall death toll much higher than any of the other disasters listed, however it should be noted that tobacco results in hundreds of thousands of deaths a year in the U.S. alone and has no benefit to society, yet it is widespread. I think that looking at the overall risks people take in daily life the increased danger from using nuclear power is not substantial, and it would have many positive impacts for society.

  7. Re:Only for people who could see at some time on Need A New Retina? Look No Further · · Score: 1

    Of coarse in a lot of situations people being born blind could be prevented with genetic screening. Although I suspect that for some reason that solution would be more controversial.

  8. Re:It's time to let the Hubble go on Farewell To Eyes Above And Below · · Score: 2, Informative

    The X-33 was canceled because they couldn't keep the composite fuel tanks from leaking. They had to change the design to aluminum tanks, which lowered the payload because they weigh more. When NASA evaluated the new design they said no thanks.

  9. Re:Too bad for Britain (and Americans?) on ESA To Study Human Hibernation · · Score: 1

    I thought the drug immunization thing was designed to just work against the addiction, not the effects of the drug.

  10. Unless of coarse it's hibernating. on ESA To Study Human Hibernation · · Score: 1

    no text, just the title

  11. Re:All NEW cars on NTSB Recommends Black Boxes For All Cars · · Score: 1

    That is a drop in earnings, not a loss. That means that consumers aren't seeing as much of a benefit from the companies investment decisions, but they are still seeing some benefit. Besides the article is mainly about small business insurance, it doesn't even mention automobile insurance.

  12. Re:All NEW cars on NTSB Recommends Black Boxes For All Cars · · Score: 1

    But if they have lower rates for good drivers they may be able to attract more good drivers to their company. They could increase their number of customers without a proportional increase in the pay-outs for accidents.

  13. Re:All NEW cars on NTSB Recommends Black Boxes For All Cars · · Score: 2, Insightful

    But if they jack up the rates of bad drivers maybe they can lower my rates.

    Insurance sucks but in all fairness the costs are really going up because of all the frivolous lawsuits which the insurance companies have to pay for. So I blame scum-bag lawyers that file those suits and the people that hire them.

  14. Bad Surprises on The World's Largest Environmental Experiment · · Score: 1

    Mega-Amazon Research Project Holds Surprises -- Good and Bad: good because it provides opportunities for 400 researchers to work on postgraduate studies in the area, bad because it's still not known if the forests absorb enough carbon to compensate the emissions caused by deforestation

    I would hope the amount of carbon absorbed was not known, otherwise there wouldn't be much need for the experiment.

  15. Re:FYI on Vaccinated Against Vices? · · Score: 1

    The drug war started out as a form of government backed opression against Mexicans (who used Marijuana), Asians (who used opium), and Blacks (who used cocaine), but has flourished into a cash cow for all sorts of industries.

    That doesn't make any sense. You're saying that the government just decided to ban drugs because it was a way of oppressing minorities. Why would they do that? How do they stand to gain from preventing minorities from using their 'drug of choice'?

  16. Re:GPS coke can? on GPS Coke Can X-Rayed · · Score: 1

    If low U.S. and E.U. food prices are causing poverty in other nations why don't those nations simply not allow the import of U.S. and E.U. food?

  17. Re:People may complain but.. on Japanese Schoolchildren to be Tagged with RFID · · Score: 1

    What if an innocent is criminally indicted based soley on their RFID tag due to a technological error or fraudulent RFID tag.

    It seems far more likely that an innocent person would be released because they could use the RFID to prove that they weren't at the scene of a crime.

  18. Re:progress, but not as we know it on Japanese Schoolchildren to be Tagged with RFID · · Score: 1

    On the other hand if all the soldiers had tracking tags physically implanted the current hostage taking problem in Iraq wouldn't be nearly as bad.

  19. maybe they have a broader defenition of wildlife on More Accusations of Scientific Abuse by the Bush Administration · · Score: 1

    it was cancelled under the justification that it would disturb the local wildlife

    It would have been built over an abandoned parking lot populated by winos and homeless people.

  20. That guy is a crackpot on Notes From 3rd Annual Space Elevator Conference · · Score: 1

    Did you read the whole page. At the bottom he says...

    We would be far better off to invest the money into more advanced propulsion systems, like those aboard the non-existent (?) TR3 black triangle. Its time this drive technology was released to the masses that paid for it in the first place ! Such propulsion systems won't just get us 62,000 miles from earth, but instead to other planets.

    If the government had a propulsion system like that they would use it for space launches.

    Anyway the study I read said it would de-ionize an area a few centimeters around the cable, because air is not that conductive, and the Ionosphere regenerates itself.

  21. Re:The fibers will still be as long as the elevato on Scientist Sees Space Elevator in 15 Years · · Score: 1

    Fibers refers to groups of nanotubes all pointing the same direction that are held together by vanderwaals bonds. If the tubes are manufactured long enough the vanderwaals forces between the tubes (which are normally week) will be strong enough to hold the tubes together with the strength required for the elevator.

    The elevator design calls for one thin ribbon composed of carbon nano tube fiber to be deployed from orbit. After the initial ribbon is put up climbers will travel up the elevator adding more layers as they go to make the elevator large enough to carry a 20 ton payload. The epoxy is required to hold the layers together.

  22. Re:Why would they stop working? on Mars Rovers on New Missions · · Score: 1

    I think what the parent post was trying to say is that nuclear waste really isn't that dangerous. The only reason people can't just leave it in containers in the desert is paranoia, not the result of actual technological problems.

  23. Re:Cost to orbit on Blimps... In... Space... · · Score: 1

    Assuming the air inside the balloon is kept at nearly the same pressure as the air outside the balloon then it's the average molecular weight of the air vs. the molecular weight of the hydrogen/helium that matters.

    Unless the composition of the atmosphere changes significantly at higher altitudes helium should still be almost as good as hydrogen.

  24. Re:Familiar pair for atheists. on Fathers of Linux Revealed: Tooth Fairy & Santa Claus · · Score: 1

    Why Science does every corner of the planet have a belief about dragons of all various sizes, yet man was 62 million years to late for Dinosaures?

    But the dragons from different cultures all look different. When westerners saw references to magical beasts they just called some of them dragons so they could use a familiar word.

  25. Re:Overseas Indian Mirror anyone? on Justice Department Censors ACLU Web Site · · Score: 4, Informative

    He is also being charged with transferring large sums of money to a terrorist organization. I'm not saying it's right that he's being charged for moderating a web board, but you're presenting just one of the charges against him and implying that he was thrown in jail solely for that reason.