"Fission is cheap and clean if done well, but with past waste disposal practices waiting to bite us on our collective bums in the future and certain incidents like that one in the Ukraine 18 years ago in the public memory, I don't think we can afford to risk it. "
Fission is a good source of power today. The waste disposal, at least for irradiated fuel, is not such a bad things. When 15 years of 2000MW production fits into a large swimming pool, I really don't think that is so bad. Try cramming all the CO2 and other byproducts of coal, oil, or natural gas into such a small space. At least with nuclear, the waste doesn't float around in the atmosphere.
As for Chernobyl, that was Soviet tech, while running an experiment gone wrong. They did not have a containment dome, and the reactor used a different moderator to control the reactivity.
Things have come a long way since Chernobyl and TMI, and what is required in the US should not be compared to something different in other nations.
Some of the key votes in the UN against the war came from countries that had contracts set up and economic interests in keeping Saddam in power. Whether they agreed that Saddam was a bad man, or that he posed a threat, France, Germany, and Russia saw that it was in their best interests to oppose the war.
If the US had billions of dollars up for bid and France was attacked, I would hope that we would choose the right thing to do and realize that dealing with a vicious dictator was a bad gamble.
Even if Windows did not come with IE, Outlook, WMP, etc, it would still cost more than $20. Enough people are willing to pay $100-$300 for WinXP and XP Pro.
Simply put, Windows is the operating system that the masses choose, because it is relatively easy to use and understand, and powerful enough for most users.
I like that when I get a printer, camera, CD Burner, etc, all I really have to do is plug it in, and maybe go through an installation wizard.
Maybe my experience with Linux was not so good, but it is difficult when the harware and OS do not work well together on the first try and you have to configure and troubleshoot.
It isn't a matter of all men being one way or all women being another.
The generalization is that men, on average, are more technically minded than women. When selling in volume, you go with what will be correct 8 out of 10 times.
I doubt this has anything to do with biology. Women are just as capable as men, they just don't (in general) have as much interest.
This reminds me of a radio commercial I hear trying to encourage young people to finish high school.
where "Those who graduate high school, on average, earn 40% more than non-high school graduates. Some earn even more."
I wonder if all these dumbed down anti-drug, pro high school graduate, get help for your baby, etc. ads seem condescending to me because I am not their target audience.
OTOH, I sometimes feel that they would have the opposite effect if I was still in my teens (don't smoke or you'll die a horrible death, get cancer, and you support terrorism). Now, they just plain annoy me.
I did a switch to cable - while keeping my dish - but then I dropped cable.
I noticed right away, with cable, that the sub 100 channels (analog) are pretty bad for picture quality. They seemed fuzzy and not nearly as clear.
The basics with cable cost me $44 a month. Dish was cheaper for the mid package + locals. Dish also offers HDTV, which my local cable company does not. And with the new receiver, I get integrated over the air signals, both HDTV and analog.
I am glad dish has stood up to the content regime, even if it was to protect their profits, control, or bandwidth. In this case, it worked out ok for the consumer, and will probably help keep rates in check.
If they had no desire to acquire WMDs, like nukes, then why were they hiding banned machinery that could be used to make refine Uranium into weapons grade U235. I heard about Iraquis coming forward that were told to hide, even bury, certain equipment.
Iraq did support terrorists. They offered to pay $25k to the families of suicide bombers. That sounds like support to me. They may not have supported Al Qaeda, but there is more than one terrorist organization around.
North Korea has a fomidable military, and the people of NK will fight if necessary. Any war with NK would be devastating. We negotiate and talk with NK, because the repercussions from fighting are not a desirable option.
Iraq was becoming more formidable, had aspirations to gain WMDs, supported terrorists, and was relatively easy to stop. We have lost less than 1000 troops so far, most after the actual fighting. The Iraqis lost relatively very few people, less than would have been killed if Saddam was left in place.
So what if oil was one of the reasons for liberating Iraq. The US can not be expected to be the police of the world, we don't have the resources to take on every genocidal and oppressive government. The rest of the UN nations share that responsibility. In this instance, it was in the interests of the US to remove Saddam.
"...after inspectors discovered a 6" hole through the cement in the reactor head, which left the core exposed."
Davis-Besse had some pretty severe corrosion on its reactor head, which ate through some of the Alloy 600 (carbon steel) metal. Beneath the approximately 6" of carbon steel, there is a stainless steel shell. This shell was not eaten through by the boric acid, as it is normally exposed to boric acid by design. Part of the stainless shell was exposed when the corrosive boric acid and other wastage was removed.
The core was not exposed. And the reactor head is NOT made of cement.
On the other hand, if we had given the same support to the Arab nations surrounding Israel, or the Palestinians, the conflict would have been over with.
The Israelis would have been relocated 100 miles to the West...
Florida laws are interesting when it comes to homes...they have protections so that you can not loose your home in legal action. That is one reason why so many elites have multi-million dollar homes in Florida.
I remember reading an article that stated this when discussing the assets of some of the Enron execs.
I totally agree. This is an attemp to make it easier to raise taxes. Legislators will not be concerned about the held pay if they can't pass a budget, since they can simply raise taxes to do so. In fact, there is now more of an incentive to raise taxes rather than practice fiscal conservatism and financial responsibility.
Tobacco and oil are probably opposed because they realize they are easy targets than nobody feels sorry for, where taxes will be levied on them to support totally unrelated programs.
Teachers are probably for this because it will be easier for politicians to be irresponsible and wasteful without impacting the school budget.
Just as people accepted that the tobacco tax would "benefit children", they will probably bite on this as well. The last tobacco tax was levied without a plan on where the money would actually go to and how it may help out. It was a money grab.
True...until the advertising calls you out by name, maybe even pops up your picture, or emulates a voice of someone you know so you would be forced to look.
Hey Jim, Jim Smith! Are you satisfied with the hemmerhoid cream you've been using?
In the US, sales tax varies by state, and sometimes even city/county. It is around 5-8% in most parts of the US.
I would rather see the sales tax as an add on so I know what the retailer is charging before the government gets their cut.
Our gasoline taxes are always included in the advertised price. Gas is about $1.70 a gallon right now. $.18 is included as federal tax and another $.184 is state. Then there is also sales tax (7.25% where I live). With everything included, most people don't realize how much they are paying in taxes per gallon (over 25%).
Point is, keeping the tax separate from the price of the item makes it stand out more and is a good thing.
The difference is we know that copyright laws are wrong. They are too long (life + 75, 95 years for corporations). The penalties are excessive beyond any semblance of actual damages or reasonable penalties. The law itself is gray on what rights we do have, and what is fair use.
The music industry has practices market control and price manipulation.
Given that, I side with the 60 million+ file swappers and they have my sympathy, not the RIAA.
Cingular uses Sim Cards...I bought my phone over the internet because it was otherwise not available in the US and went with Cingular because they are the only ones that use Sim Card that I could find (not AT&T or Verizon). I don't know what T-Mobile uses since they weren't around when looking.
Also, IIRC, Cingular was the only major carrier that supported number portability. They seem to be the most open to true competition.
The game was getting too easy for me, and then I turned the difficulty to the maximum setting. It helps a lot.
As far as henchman controls go, you can at least tell your henchman to stay a distance away from you, or to use a ranged weapon and stay out of combat.
I actually don't use a henchman. You don't need to with most of the classes. You can bash open chests, use knock (even as a cleric with the right discipline), or use a weapon that can knock as well.
The pathing could use some fine tuning. That is the only thing that I found frustrating about the game.
I have just started the second game and the difficulty is a bit higher than the first (even at normal level).
NWN was never designed to be a large party control game. The intent was to make a game in which you can control 1 player with many options, have a henchman, and possibly a familiar or pet. It was also designed to allow multiplayer, even though the modules officially released are for 1 player, which is the largest segment of the market.
Mr. Vidal seems to concentrate his focus on one administration. The reality is that this power grab is not owned by one particular party. Democrats want their share of control, just like Republicans. Both parties have entitlement systems and power systems which are designed to further the goals of the elite, the politicians, and their financial backers.
The rights of corporations often trump the rights of individuals. Just look at the recent laws on the books...if they were reversed so corporations could also be fined not per song per use per day, but per person ripped off, colluded against, lied to, and per person they commit fraud against - at the exact same rate individuals pay per song, per offense, per unauthorized use...you would see laws get changed and fines more representative of real damages...or maybe they would just change their practices as would the public (if both were liable for $150000xYxZ.
The point is, while the Bush administration scares me, so does the other side of the isle. The only ones I am not so fearful of are the ones with (I) or (L) or something else next to their names, other than (R) or (D).
Slashdot Mirror
"Fission is cheap and clean if done well, but with past waste disposal practices waiting to bite us on our collective bums in the future and certain incidents like that one in the Ukraine 18 years ago in the public memory, I don't think we can afford to risk it. "
Fission is a good source of power today. The waste disposal, at least for irradiated fuel, is not such a bad things. When 15 years of 2000MW production fits into a large swimming pool, I really don't think that is so bad. Try cramming all the CO2 and other byproducts of coal, oil, or natural gas into such a small space. At least with nuclear, the waste doesn't float around in the atmosphere.
As for Chernobyl, that was Soviet tech, while running an experiment gone wrong. They did not have a containment dome, and the reactor used a different moderator to control the reactivity.
Things have come a long way since Chernobyl and TMI, and what is required in the US should not be compared to something different in other nations.
Some of the key votes in the UN against the war came from countries that had contracts set up and economic interests in keeping Saddam in power. Whether they agreed that Saddam was a bad man, or that he posed a threat, France, Germany, and Russia saw that it was in their best interests to oppose the war. If the US had billions of dollars up for bid and France was attacked, I would hope that we would choose the right thing to do and realize that dealing with a vicious dictator was a bad gamble.
Even if Windows did not come with IE, Outlook, WMP, etc, it would still cost more than $20. Enough people are willing to pay $100-$300 for WinXP and XP Pro.
Simply put, Windows is the operating system that the masses choose, because it is relatively easy to use and understand, and powerful enough for most users.
I like that when I get a printer, camera, CD Burner, etc, all I really have to do is plug it in, and maybe go through an installation wizard.
Maybe my experience with Linux was not so good, but it is difficult when the harware and OS do not work well together on the first try and you have to configure and troubleshoot.
Price discrimination based on Race is illegal.
Price discrimination based on location, business relationships, contracts, etc. is not.
Businesses charge different customers different prices all the time.
I think we can agree that both the republicans and democrats are repressive in their own ways. What they really care about is power and $$$.
Vote Libertarian.
It isn't a matter of all men being one way or all women being another.
The generalization is that men, on average, are more technically minded than women. When selling in volume, you go with what will be correct 8 out of 10 times.
I doubt this has anything to do with biology. Women are just as capable as men, they just don't (in general) have as much interest.
Things, however, are changing
"Remember, 50% of people are below average... "
This reminds me of a radio commercial I hear trying to encourage young people to finish high school.
where "Those who graduate high school, on average, earn 40% more than non-high school graduates. Some earn even more."
I wonder if all these dumbed down anti-drug, pro high school graduate, get help for your baby, etc. ads seem condescending to me because I am not their target audience.
OTOH, I sometimes feel that they would have the opposite effect if I was still in my teens (don't smoke or you'll die a horrible death, get cancer, and you support terrorism). Now, they just plain annoy me.
I did a switch to cable - while keeping my dish - but then I dropped cable.
I noticed right away, with cable, that the sub 100 channels (analog) are pretty bad for picture quality. They seemed fuzzy and not nearly as clear.
The basics with cable cost me $44 a month. Dish was cheaper for the mid package + locals. Dish also offers HDTV, which my local cable company does not. And with the new receiver, I get integrated over the air signals, both HDTV and analog.
I am glad dish has stood up to the content regime, even if it was to protect their profits, control, or bandwidth. In this case, it worked out ok for the consumer, and will probably help keep rates in check.
If they had no desire to acquire WMDs, like nukes, then why were they hiding banned machinery that could be used to make refine Uranium into weapons grade U235. I heard about Iraquis coming forward that were told to hide, even bury, certain equipment.
Iraq did support terrorists. They offered to pay $25k to the families of suicide bombers. That sounds like support to me. They may not have supported Al Qaeda, but there is more than one terrorist organization around.
North Korea has a fomidable military, and the people of NK will fight if necessary. Any war with NK would be devastating. We negotiate and talk with NK, because the repercussions from fighting are not a desirable option.
Iraq was becoming more formidable, had aspirations to gain WMDs, supported terrorists, and was relatively easy to stop. We have lost less than 1000 troops so far, most after the actual fighting. The Iraqis lost relatively very few people, less than would have been killed if Saddam was left in place.
So what if oil was one of the reasons for liberating Iraq. The US can not be expected to be the police of the world, we don't have the resources to take on every genocidal and oppressive government. The rest of the UN nations share that responsibility. In this instance, it was in the interests of the US to remove Saddam.
The parent post has incorrect information in it.
"...after inspectors discovered a 6" hole through the cement in the reactor head, which left the core exposed."
Davis-Besse had some pretty severe corrosion on its reactor head, which ate through some of the Alloy 600 (carbon steel) metal. Beneath the approximately 6" of carbon steel, there is a stainless steel shell. This shell was not eaten through by the boric acid, as it is normally exposed to boric acid by design. Part of the stainless shell was exposed when the corrosive boric acid and other wastage was removed.
The core was not exposed. And the reactor head is NOT made of cement.
On the other hand, if we had given the same support to the Arab nations surrounding Israel, or the Palestinians, the conflict would have been over with.
The Israelis would have been relocated 100 miles to the West...
They may have a reasonable defense here...
They are advertising one of the products that they sell...similar to Best Buy or Circuit City playing a short clip for commercial purposed.
Do you have to get a clearance to advertise (cover of album is art)? If so, ebay is in trouble too.
Florida laws are interesting when it comes to homes...they have protections so that you can not loose your home in legal action. That is one reason why so many elites have multi-million dollar homes in Florida.
I remember reading an article that stated this when discussing the assets of some of the Enron execs.
They are working a deal with hollywood for a movie, "Boiler Room 2: Back in Business".
This is all pre-movie publicity. And if they get Vin Diesel to star in it:
Profit!
(Did anybody else think of Boiler Room while reading the Hard OCP articles?)
I totally agree. This is an attemp to make it easier to raise taxes. Legislators will not be concerned about the held pay if they can't pass a budget, since they can simply raise taxes to do so. In fact, there is now more of an incentive to raise taxes rather than practice fiscal conservatism and financial responsibility.
Tobacco and oil are probably opposed because they realize they are easy targets than nobody feels sorry for, where taxes will be levied on them to support totally unrelated programs.
Teachers are probably for this because it will be easier for politicians to be irresponsible and wasteful without impacting the school budget.
Just as people accepted that the tobacco tax would "benefit children", they will probably bite on this as well. The last tobacco tax was levied without a plan on where the money would actually go to and how it may help out. It was a money grab.
P.S. I don't even smoke.
"A lot of people don't like our freedom and way of life."
Some of them work for our government and would prefer conformist sheep and big corporate donations.
True...until the advertising calls you out by name, maybe even pops up your picture, or emulates a voice of someone you know so you would be forced to look.
Hey Jim, Jim Smith! Are you satisfied with the hemmerhoid cream you've been using?
Pressure also plays a part in whether liquid water can or cannot exist.
In the US, sales tax varies by state, and sometimes even city/county. It is around 5-8% in most parts of the US.
I would rather see the sales tax as an add on so I know what the retailer is charging before the government gets their cut.
Our gasoline taxes are always included in the advertised price. Gas is about $1.70 a gallon right now. $.18 is included as federal tax and another $.184 is state. Then there is also sales tax (7.25% where I live). With everything included, most people don't realize how much they are paying in taxes per gallon (over 25%).
Point is, keeping the tax separate from the price of the item makes it stand out more and is a good thing.
The difference is we know that copyright laws are wrong. They are too long (life + 75, 95 years for corporations). The penalties are excessive beyond any semblance of actual damages or reasonable penalties. The law itself is gray on what rights we do have, and what is fair use.
The music industry has practices market control and price manipulation.
Given that, I side with the 60 million+ file swappers and they have my sympathy, not the RIAA.
Cingular uses Sim Cards...I bought my phone over the internet because it was otherwise not available in the US and went with Cingular because they are the only ones that use Sim Card that I could find (not AT&T or Verizon). I don't know what T-Mobile uses since they weren't around when looking.
Also, IIRC, Cingular was the only major carrier that supported number portability. They seem to be the most open to true competition.
The game was getting too easy for me, and then I turned the difficulty to the maximum setting. It helps a lot.
As far as henchman controls go, you can at least tell your henchman to stay a distance away from you, or to use a ranged weapon and stay out of combat.
I actually don't use a henchman. You don't need to with most of the classes. You can bash open chests, use knock (even as a cleric with the right discipline), or use a weapon that can knock as well.
The pathing could use some fine tuning. That is the only thing that I found frustrating about the game.
I have just started the second game and the difficulty is a bit higher than the first (even at normal level).
NWN was never designed to be a large party control game. The intent was to make a game in which you can control 1 player with many options, have a henchman, and possibly a familiar or pet. It was also designed to allow multiplayer, even though the modules officially released are for 1 player, which is the largest segment of the market.
Mr. Vidal seems to concentrate his focus on one administration. The reality is that this power grab is not owned by one particular party. Democrats want their share of control, just like Republicans. Both parties have entitlement systems and power systems which are designed to further the goals of the elite, the politicians, and their financial backers.
The rights of corporations often trump the rights of individuals. Just look at the recent laws on the books...if they were reversed so corporations could also be fined not per song per use per day, but per person ripped off, colluded against, lied to, and per person they commit fraud against - at the exact same rate individuals pay per song, per offense, per unauthorized use...you would see laws get changed and fines more representative of real damages...or maybe they would just change their practices as would the public (if both were liable for $150000xYxZ.
The point is, while the Bush administration scares me, so does the other side of the isle. The only ones I am not so fearful of are the ones with (I) or (L) or something else next to their names, other than (R) or (D).
Or the case could be much larger than the medium which stores the music. Think of a 3.5" case and a flash/sd sized disk inside.