Biodiesel is essentially harvested solar energy, packaged in chemical form, with an efficiency that is probably comparable to solar panels. Worse, sunlight and resources devoted to growing grass is sunlight and resources not growing food. We can, and will, grow some of our fuel, but at nowhere near the scale, nor at the same energy return, as oil.
Biofuel is one answer, but it's a small one-word, vaguely apologetic answer lost in the din. You want to generate energy? Think "nuclear."
In the US, huge chunks of farmland are devoted to growing food to feed to animals which we then eat. If we're making an efficiency argument, the vegetarians win. There's something on the order of a 10 or 20 to 1 energy loss in eating the animal instead of the plants directly.
Nuclear is a good idea, but here in the US we have way too many left-over fears of Chernobyl and 3 Mile Island to be rational any more. Also: every US power plant is custom-built, rather than in France where they've got a standard plan. The last nail for nuclear is that about 50% of the current supplies are from decommissioned Soviet era nukes - we're running out of those rapidly, so we'd need to open new mines in a hurry.
Fraud was rampant prior to that change, with some people claiming MANY kids. After the new rule went into effect, approximately nine MILLION children disappeared. Funny how you didn't see any pictures on the milk cartons...
The summary blows "give me a reason to buy" out of the water. When all new media (heck maybe even live TV) have these hidden flags toggled on, you'll have your good reason shoved down your throat.
I've got no mod points, so I'm responding that you're right on target.
Plus there's been several stories of people fired for political bumper stickers because the company owner didn't agree (it's always right wing bosses firing left wings employees too...).
Care to provide some support for that claim? Or does it not need support since anyone who doesn't worship the DNC is automatically evil and doesn't need any proof before crucifying them?
Hmm- Google gives me over 300K hits for "employee fired for political bumper sticker" - admittedly, most of the hits are for the same Kerry story, but there are a few hits for "CEO looking for Obama stickers in parking lot" to enhance the case.
And there might be a very very easy way to prove or disprove that statement. If it is human error, than the same incident should occur throughout all brands with approx. the same level of occurrence.
In the case of the Audi 5000s, it turned out that all of the 'sudden acceleration' drivers had the same demographic - a white female in her late 40s - early 50s. As a sibling post points out, the fact that it seems concentrated among Toyotas could also indicate a commonality among Toyota buyers.
Why are you telling the waiter your mum's maiden name?
Actually, one of the more common cases in the credit fraud is among relatives. One person in a family has decent credit, and another member - not so good. Siblings are somewhat common, while aunts and cousins are less so.
Having data that's part of public record being made into the 'secret question' is pretty bad. Some questions aren't so public (like 'where did you meet your spouse?'), but the whole system is based off of the ability to start these lines of credit - or criminal arrests - with the use of 'secret questions' just means that the crime is easier if the criminal knows you.
My brother just got out of four years of jail for a crime he DID commit. Unfortunately, some bozo gave my brother's name when he got arrested, so now my brother has an "AKA" on his rap sheet.
While "Identity Fraud" is a step up from "Identity Theft", it still poses it as a problem of the victim. In car theft, you are out one car. Did you leave it unlocked? Did you park in a bad side of town? It's somewhat your problem.
In "Identity Theft", you are often nowhere near the crime, or really had no way to stop it. Underpaid waiter writes down your visa number and expiration date while you pay your bill - bam! Someone calls the bank knowing your mother's maiden name and your grade school - bam!
Yet somehow, it's your fault.
Identity fraud is better - someone has been busy defrauding people - it's not you. By moving it away from the word 'theft' to 'fraud', it puts people in a different frame of mind, like forgery and such where the victim really has no chance of stopping it from happening.
But: identity fraud is still different from credit fraud, and the press seems to like lumping them together. We already have laws on the books for when someone defrauds a bank claiming to be you, yet the current debate and billing systems still put it in YOUR lap. As soon as we get a good consumer lobbyist in place, we'll get the laws changed to make the banks take responsibility when someone lies to them, instead of you being responsible for cleaning up the mess.
Ok, that last one was a bit of a fantasy. Sorry about that.
The argument here is that even though they did not claim to be engineers in this report, by it's format and quality it could be implied that it was written by an engineer, which does the public no good. Especially since the original report from the engineering firm was presumably written by a civil PE specializing in transportation, not, you know, a computer scientist with no experience in this field.
I talked to a Civil Engineer and I think that THIS is the concern that should have been more well-voiced in the article. Non-professional write-ups like these are not only viewed by actual engineers, but often by elected officials who have no engineering or technical background, but rely on those experts for advice. These officials usually have the final say, and a 'well written' (but wrong) report in those hands can be a menace.
Thank both of you (and not the AC) for 'getting it', and double "boo" to the AC for getting the use of 'molting' barely correct.
Molting is almost never used for the shedding of fur; it is usually used for the shedding of exoskeletons and feathers, but the loss of fur is almost always referred to as simply 'shedding'.
The press release makes it clear that it is molded after PLoS ONE: 'Scientific Reports will publish original research papers of interest to specialists within a given field in the natural sciences.
In other words, in the event of any patent litigation regarding VP8.. then at least one entity will have its license to use VP8 revoked.. and in the event that Google is found to be infringing, EVERYONE will have their license revoked.
Both seem quite fair. If I decide to pick a fight with Google claiming that VP8 is encumbered, then Google will cut of my right to use that product. If it is later decided that Google doesn't really have the right to use VP8, then of COURSE everyone loses access.
The second issue is simply the law at work - Google doesn't even have to revoke the licenses since they're null anyway. The first issue is definitely a few notches down from any definition of 'free', and definitely is 'revokable'.
because that is not what prison is for. The legal system is there to punish people for things that they have done, not a place to put people who might do something.
I don't believe the book is closed on 'the purpose of prison'. While there is the school of thought that it's to "punish people", I'd hate to think that our goal is simply to 'get even'. Are we to PUNISH the person, or REFORM the person?
If the person is simply punished but doesn't change their behavior, then prison essentially becomes a 'barter system' where someone trades their time for a crime. We make a decision as a culture that certain crimes are worth a certain price, and criminals decide whether or not the cost (multiplied by the percent chance of getting prosecuted) is worth it.
If the purpose is to REFORM the person, then our goal as a culture is to give the person a time-out and hopefully the tools to behave differently the next time.
Sadly it seems that the "punish" people theory is winning out. Due to budget problems, most prisons do nothing at all with the prisoners until their release. Because of overcrowding, they're released quickly anyway.
Disclaimer: my younger brother has been in and out of jail several times in his life, almost entirely for drug crimes. His last stay was for four years, and it was the FIRST time he was given any drug counseling or treatment. He was previously not eligible because other inmates with more years and more stays had priority. This should be the last time he goes in.
Moreover the 'figures' that the lawyers cites as saying Assange should be executed have no actual authority in the US. They cite Sarah Palin and Mike Huckabee, neither of whom hold political office and (I'm guessing - and hoping) will not have any official political power in the near future.
Given recent events in Arizona, I would say that these figures have some impact in who gets assassinated^Wexecuted.
Seriously: the implication is that Palin and Huckabee are PUBLIC figures that have expressed political inclinations in the past and present, and have also publicly come out against Assange.
If I knew that my public detractors also had a serious shot at becoming judge/jury/executioner as is the POTUS, I'd point them out as well.
Is that actual mail volume or number of accounts? Yahoo is the default email provider for AT&T DSL accounts, so that might skew things. How many people use their ISP-provided email accounts?
Now? The Democrats folded like a cheap suit, gave the Republicans what they had been calling for for 15 years, and suddenly the Republicans hate the idea of a mandate.
To be accurate, the Republicans are voting in whatever way makes the current administration look the worst, or lines their (friends') pockets the best. There were well over 100 Republican-sponsored amendments to this health-care plan, many of which were then railed against by the Republicans and their supporters. The "Death Panels", for example, started as a simple Republican-sponsored plan where a person could consult with a doctor for end-of-life planning and have it covered. Within a few weeks it was vilified by the very party that proposed it.
The article stated that a big driver for continuing the search at current energies is that Fermilab is right on their heels and might find the Higgs first if they take a break for a year.
Fermilab has been constantly at the mercies of federal funding games. Without the 'isn't that pretty?' aspect that NASA can sometimes generate, they receive even less respect. And without a spread of suppliers like the military and NASA has, the support in Congress can be weak at the best of times. Add in the Flat-Earthers winning the House, and I think we'll see even less from Fermilab in the next few years.
(Disclaimer: I used to live a mile from the lab and had lots of neighbors who worked there.)
There was a time when the algorithm for testing Microsoft keys was that the sum of the digits was divisible by 7 (I think).
There was a time when I found that the Microsoft keys were interchangeable among products. I was able to install Windows 95 using the license key from Microsoft Works, I think.
Alaska balances their budget by taking more federal dollars than the other states. They are the number one recipient of federal pork.
Actually, the "Balance of Payments" among the states shows a nice trend; with a few exceptions (such as Texas), the more Federal funds a state RECEIVES, the "redder" (aka Republican-leaning) it is.
Probably not a 'cause/effect' issue; it's likely that states with high populations tend to be high producers, and those high populations also tend Democratic.
However, it's also tragic that the states which tend to scream "small government" the loudest also tend to be the ones that benefit the most from its size, and would scream even louder if those funds were reduced.
Charge consumers per byte of data they send/receive. Yes, it sucks if you are a bandwidth hog, but its really the only fair solution.
They'll need to find a fair way of subtracting the 'base load' of an internet connection. If I unplug the LAN side from my router, there's still a steady stream of traffic coming to my DSL modem. Port sniffers, etc., looking for holes in my setup. Also: if my IP lease runs out and I get the address previously held by someone with a lot of torrent traffic, I get all of requests for his info.
I'll accept a "bill-per-bit" arrangement as long as my ISP can: 1) deduct the bits I didn't request, and 2) give me a real-time way of checking my current bit-balance. I'll take SMS, email, whatever; just don't make me call someone.
... HOWEVER, the email we all received includes a link that permits each of us, as an individual, to OPT OUT of the settlement. By opting out, we, in effect, each, individually, make the statement that "these lawyers do NOT represent ME, and I accept no blame or responsibility for this shyster-enriching settlement, nor am I satisfied with its outcome."
I've looked - to completely opt-out (identified as "Exclude Yourself"), it appears you have to mail a letter. No quick link as in 'unsubscribe me'.
My kid's class has a half dozen of those big exercise balls. For the more fidgety kids, sitting on the ball at their desk allows them a little wiggle so they can let their minds do what they want. Nobody falls down, and not every kid benefits from the "ball-chair", but it helps certain kids a LOT.
Face it: most office chairs allow at least a rotation axis. If your desk chair didn't rotate a little you'd spend a LOT of time fighting the chair. By allowing a little freedom of movement, you can work with the tool and not against it.
Re: Amtrak. Very little transit is self-sufficient, economically: mass-transit or personal. In the case for an airport, a city may spend many dollars building roads to and from an airport, provide security, and so-on. This money is rarely collected directly back from the airport via the airline tickets, but the city expects that the net economic benefit to itself will be best due to tourism, etc. Thus, in their own way, airports are subsidized.
Roadways are another example: roads are built using tax dollars, usually derived from a general fund and not distinct from gas taxes. The roads are built under the premise that allowing people to get where they want will be a net-positive economically for the area.
No mass-transit system I can think of survive solely on fares. Amtrak has the added curse that many routes and stops were added during its inception purely for political pork; a legislator's vote for initial and continued Amtrak funding could be best assured by giving the train a stop in their district. If you've ever taken Amtrak, you'd know that many of the stops are in the middle of nowhere - some trains carry more than the town population.
Slashdot Mirror
In the US, huge chunks of farmland are devoted to growing food to feed to animals which we then eat. If we're making an efficiency argument, the vegetarians win. There's something on the order of a 10 or 20 to 1 energy loss in eating the animal instead of the plants directly.
Nuclear is a good idea, but here in the US we have way too many left-over fears of Chernobyl and 3 Mile Island to be rational any more. Also: every US power plant is custom-built, rather than in France where they've got a standard plan. The last nail for nuclear is that about 50% of the current supplies are from decommissioned Soviet era nukes - we're running out of those rapidly, so we'd need to open new mines in a hurry.
Fraud was rampant prior to that change, with some people claiming MANY kids. After the new rule went into effect, approximately nine MILLION children disappeared. Funny how you didn't see any pictures on the milk cartons...
I've got no mod points, so I'm responding that you're right on target.
Plus there's been several stories of people fired for political bumper stickers because the company owner didn't agree (it's always right wing bosses firing left wings employees too...).
Care to provide some support for that claim? Or does it not need support since anyone who doesn't worship the DNC is automatically evil and doesn't need any proof before crucifying them?
Hmm- Google gives me over 300K hits for "employee fired for political bumper sticker" - admittedly, most of the hits are for the same Kerry story, but there are a few hits for "CEO looking for Obama stickers in parking lot" to enhance the case.
And there might be a very very easy way to prove or disprove that statement. If it is human error, than the same incident should occur throughout all brands with approx. the same level of occurrence.
In the case of the Audi 5000s, it turned out that all of the 'sudden acceleration' drivers had the same demographic - a white female in her late 40s - early 50s. As a sibling post points out, the fact that it seems concentrated among Toyotas could also indicate a commonality among Toyota buyers.
Actually, one of the more common cases in the credit fraud is among relatives. One person in a family has decent credit, and another member - not so good. Siblings are somewhat common, while aunts and cousins are less so.
Having data that's part of public record being made into the 'secret question' is pretty bad. Some questions aren't so public (like 'where did you meet your spouse?'), but the whole system is based off of the ability to start these lines of credit - or criminal arrests - with the use of 'secret questions' just means that the crime is easier if the criminal knows you.
My brother just got out of four years of jail for a crime he DID commit. Unfortunately, some bozo gave my brother's name when he got arrested, so now my brother has an "AKA" on his rap sheet.
While "Identity Fraud" is a step up from "Identity Theft", it still poses it as a problem of the victim. In car theft, you are out one car. Did you leave it unlocked? Did you park in a bad side of town? It's somewhat your problem.
In "Identity Theft", you are often nowhere near the crime, or really had no way to stop it. Underpaid waiter writes down your visa number and expiration date while you pay your bill - bam! Someone calls the bank knowing your mother's maiden name and your grade school - bam!
Yet somehow, it's your fault.
Identity fraud is better - someone has been busy defrauding people - it's not you. By moving it away from the word 'theft' to 'fraud', it puts people in a different frame of mind, like forgery and such where the victim really has no chance of stopping it from happening.
But: identity fraud is still different from credit fraud, and the press seems to like lumping them together. We already have laws on the books for when someone defrauds a bank claiming to be you, yet the current debate and billing systems still put it in YOUR lap. As soon as we get a good consumer lobbyist in place, we'll get the laws changed to make the banks take responsibility when someone lies to them, instead of you being responsible for cleaning up the mess.
Ok, that last one was a bit of a fantasy. Sorry about that.
The argument here is that even though they did not claim to be engineers in this report, by it's format and quality it could be implied that it was written by an engineer, which does the public no good. Especially since the original report from the engineering firm was presumably written by a civil PE specializing in transportation, not, you know, a computer scientist with no experience in this field.
I talked to a Civil Engineer and I think that THIS is the concern that should have been more well-voiced in the article. Non-professional write-ups like these are not only viewed by actual engineers, but often by elected officials who have no engineering or technical background, but rely on those experts for advice. These officials usually have the final say, and a 'well written' (but wrong) report in those hands can be a menace.
Thank both of you (and not the AC) for 'getting it', and double "boo" to the AC for getting the use of 'molting' barely correct.
Molting is almost never used for the shedding of fur; it is usually used for the shedding of exoskeletons and feathers, but the loss of fur is almost always referred to as simply 'shedding'.
Guyminuslife - excellent extension of the joke.
Of course. Molded. Covered with fur, I'm sure.
Both seem quite fair. If I decide to pick a fight with Google claiming that VP8 is encumbered, then Google will cut of my right to use that product. If it is later decided that Google doesn't really have the right to use VP8, then of COURSE everyone loses access.
The second issue is simply the law at work - Google doesn't even have to revoke the licenses since they're null anyway. The first issue is definitely a few notches down from any definition of 'free', and definitely is 'revokable'.
I don't believe the book is closed on 'the purpose of prison'. While there is the school of thought that it's to "punish people", I'd hate to think that our goal is simply to 'get even'. Are we to PUNISH the person, or REFORM the person?
If the person is simply punished but doesn't change their behavior, then prison essentially becomes a 'barter system' where someone trades their time for a crime. We make a decision as a culture that certain crimes are worth a certain price, and criminals decide whether or not the cost (multiplied by the percent chance of getting prosecuted) is worth it.
If the purpose is to REFORM the person, then our goal as a culture is to give the person a time-out and hopefully the tools to behave differently the next time.
Sadly it seems that the "punish" people theory is winning out. Due to budget problems, most prisons do nothing at all with the prisoners until their release. Because of overcrowding, they're released quickly anyway.
Disclaimer: my younger brother has been in and out of jail several times in his life, almost entirely for drug crimes. His last stay was for four years, and it was the FIRST time he was given any drug counseling or treatment. He was previously not eligible because other inmates with more years and more stays had priority. This should be the last time he goes in.
Moreover the 'figures' that the lawyers cites as saying Assange should be executed have no actual authority in the US. They cite Sarah Palin and Mike Huckabee, neither of whom hold political office and (I'm guessing - and hoping) will not have any official political power in the near future.
Given recent events in Arizona, I would say that these figures have some impact in who gets assassinated^Wexecuted.
Seriously: the implication is that Palin and Huckabee are PUBLIC figures that have expressed political inclinations in the past and present, and have also publicly come out against Assange.
If I knew that my public detractors also had a serious shot at becoming judge/jury/executioner as is the POTUS, I'd point them out as well.
At what temperature does a kindle burn?
There's an XKCD in there, but why bother?
Is that actual mail volume or number of accounts? Yahoo is the default email provider for AT&T DSL accounts, so that might skew things. How many people use their ISP-provided email accounts?
To be accurate, the Republicans are voting in whatever way makes the current administration look the worst, or lines their (friends') pockets the best. There were well over 100 Republican-sponsored amendments to this health-care plan, many of which were then railed against by the Republicans and their supporters. The "Death Panels", for example, started as a simple Republican-sponsored plan where a person could consult with a doctor for end-of-life planning and have it covered. Within a few weeks it was vilified by the very party that proposed it.
Fermilab has been constantly at the mercies of federal funding games. Without the 'isn't that pretty?' aspect that NASA can sometimes generate, they receive even less respect. And without a spread of suppliers like the military and NASA has, the support in Congress can be weak at the best of times. Add in the Flat-Earthers winning the House, and I think we'll see even less from Fermilab in the next few years.
(Disclaimer: I used to live a mile from the lab and had lots of neighbors who worked there.)
The discovery of the 'flood' in PastWatch from Orson Scott Card was just a neat side story - nothing more.
There was a time when I found that the Microsoft keys were interchangeable among products. I was able to install Windows 95 using the license key from Microsoft Works, I think.
Actually, the "Balance of Payments" among the states shows a nice trend; with a few exceptions (such as Texas), the more Federal funds a state RECEIVES, the "redder" (aka Republican-leaning) it is.
Probably not a 'cause/effect' issue; it's likely that states with high populations tend to be high producers, and those high populations also tend Democratic.
However, it's also tragic that the states which tend to scream "small government" the loudest also tend to be the ones that benefit the most from its size, and would scream even louder if those funds were reduced.
They'll need to find a fair way of subtracting the 'base load' of an internet connection. If I unplug the LAN side from my router, there's still a steady stream of traffic coming to my DSL modem. Port sniffers, etc., looking for holes in my setup. Also: if my IP lease runs out and I get the address previously held by someone with a lot of torrent traffic, I get all of requests for his info.
I'll accept a "bill-per-bit" arrangement as long as my ISP can: 1) deduct the bits I didn't request, and 2) give me a real-time way of checking my current bit-balance. I'll take SMS, email, whatever; just don't make me call someone.
... HOWEVER, the email we all received includes a link that permits each of us, as an individual, to OPT OUT of the settlement. By opting out, we, in effect, each, individually, make the statement that "these lawyers do NOT represent ME, and I accept no blame or responsibility for this shyster-enriching settlement, nor am I satisfied with its outcome."
I've looked - to completely opt-out (identified as "Exclude Yourself"), it appears you have to mail a letter. No quick link as in 'unsubscribe me'.
Cyber sex is sex! You can really get pregnant, not just cyber pregnant.
Be sure to use a condom!
Of course, this woman got pregnant watching a porn film. No, really!!
My kid's class has a half dozen of those big exercise balls. For the more fidgety kids, sitting on the ball at their desk allows them a little wiggle so they can let their minds do what they want. Nobody falls down, and not every kid benefits from the "ball-chair", but it helps certain kids a LOT.
Face it: most office chairs allow at least a rotation axis. If your desk chair didn't rotate a little you'd spend a LOT of time fighting the chair. By allowing a little freedom of movement, you can work with the tool and not against it.
Re: Amtrak. Very little transit is self-sufficient, economically: mass-transit or personal. In the case for an airport, a city may spend many dollars building roads to and from an airport, provide security, and so-on. This money is rarely collected directly back from the airport via the airline tickets, but the city expects that the net economic benefit to itself will be best due to tourism, etc. Thus, in their own way, airports are subsidized.
Roadways are another example: roads are built using tax dollars, usually derived from a general fund and not distinct from gas taxes. The roads are built under the premise that allowing people to get where they want will be a net-positive economically for the area.
No mass-transit system I can think of survive solely on fares. Amtrak has the added curse that many routes and stops were added during its inception purely for political pork; a legislator's vote for initial and continued Amtrak funding could be best assured by giving the train a stop in their district. If you've ever taken Amtrak, you'd know that many of the stops are in the middle of nowhere - some trains carry more than the town population.