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User: ahodgson

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  1. Re:Treason on Missouri Legislation Redefines Science, Pushes Intelligent Design · · Score: 1

    Like gun control laws. Or laws that declare the 4th amendment invalid. Or laws defining "free speech zones". Or laws that declare that you have to pay certain companies for services or go to jail.

    Pretty much all these assholes do is violate the Constitution.

  2. Re:Have you ever met Temperance Brennan? on Paleontologist Jack Horner Answers Your Questions · · Score: 1

    Micheala fell for Jack ... there's hope still.

  3. Re:Our water for your oil. on NASA: Huge Freshwater Loss In the Middle East · · Score: 1

    We already do it! Exporting food basically is exporting water.

  4. Re:Welp on NASA: Huge Freshwater Loss In the Middle East · · Score: 2

    The thing about the Saudis is that their population has grown from a few million to around 30 million in like 60 years, all funded by oil wealth.

    They also know that the oil will eventually run out. They sort of want to find some way of feeding everyone after they have nothing left to trade for food.

    I kind of think they're screwed, but they at least are looking forward to the future and trying to do something to avoid the cliff.

    The water problem is a population problem, globally. Egypt had a stable population of between 2.5 and 5 million people for thousands of years. Now they're closing in on 90 million.

  5. Re:Time for a public jobs program on HR Departments Tell Equifax Your Entire Salary History · · Score: 4, Funny
  6. Re:dental insurance ? on HR Departments Tell Equifax Your Entire Salary History · · Score: 1

    You did. They need your inflated drug prices to pay for everyone walking into the emergency room who can't pay a dime but who they have to treat by law.

  7. Re:We need better / quicker schooling / training on Recession, Tech Kill Middle-Class Jobs · · Score: 2

    Economically that could work. Except for the coming resource and energy shortages.

    Unfortunately, if you look at communities where this is already done (any community with a very high welfare rate, such as native reservations), the social problems that it causes are hard to overlook.

    Ultimately people need meaning in their lives and getting everything for free doesn't fill that. They need to do meaningful work.

  8. Re:As intended. on Recession, Tech Kill Middle-Class Jobs · · Score: 1

    The middle class is the working and taxpaying class. Losing the middle class leaves a few rich people and a lot of desparate poor.

  9. Re:Will this discourge US evolution denialism? on Turkey's Science Research Council Stops Publication of Evolution Books · · Score: 2

    They'll probably want to go to war with Turkey for stealing their ideas.

  10. Re:US thinks it is ruler of world on Canadian Court Rejects US Demand For Full Access To Megaupload Servers · · Score: 1

    By who? Both parties are perfectly happy with the power trip.

  11. Re:Yeah, but we're very productive on US Near Bottom In Life Expectancy In Developed World · · Score: 1

    Canada as well.

  12. Re:inequality on US Near Bottom In Life Expectancy In Developed World · · Score: 1

    I see that claim all the time, that healthier food is more expensive, but you know, it's just not true. Healthy food is actually pretty cheap, certainly when compared to any fast food or factory packaged crap. I guess if you only eat potato chips, then maybe.

    It takes time and effort to prepare and doesn't taste as good as junk food, though. And that's why people eat the crap.

  13. Re:sigh on Man Charged With HIPAA Violations For Video Taping Police · · Score: 1

    Yeah right. Arrest a cop. Get shot by 40 other cops 8 seconds later. Good luck with that.

  14. Re: Roman Empire on America's Real Criminal Element: Lead · · Score: 3, Informative

    As I understand it, between 400 and 900 AD Scotland was invaded and largely conquered by invaders from Ireland. The Picts were largely annihilated or absorbed. So really the "Scots" the Romans new didn't get civilized, they got wiped out.

  15. Re:What about attractiveness? on Study Claims Human Intelligence Peaked Two To Six Millennia Ago · · Score: 1

    Even the malnourished helots would put 95% of Americans to shame. Spartan citizens themselves would be like professional athletes (albeit with much worse health care).

  16. Re:Does *any* industry start a new union anymore? on Ask Slashdot: What Would It Take For Developers To Start Their Own Union? · · Score: 2, Insightful

    You're already paying for that. You don't think it really costs thousands of dollars a day to stay in a hospital, do you? Of course not. Your insurance pays that so that the hospital can afford to treat everyone without insurance who walks in the door, which they are forced to do by the government.

  17. The GM bondholder screwover and the lack of any action on the MF Global / JP Morgan grand theft of over a billion dollars says yes. This government does not value any private property rights unless you are big campaign contributor. And then they act surprised when no one wants to invest in the US.

  18. Re:The math doesn't work on Ask Slashdot: What Stands In the Way of a Truly Solar-Powered Airliner? · · Score: 1

    This could work well in conjunction with electrified rail, where most of the power comes from external facilities. Regenerative braking also helps.

  19. Re:Simple... on Are We Getting Smarter? Rising IQ Scores In the Twenty-First Century · · Score: 4, Funny

    Watching Honey Boo Boo.

  20. Re:Post bigotry here on US House Science Committee Member: Evolution Is a Lie From Hell · · Score: 1

    There was no Canada, per se, at the time. You started the war. Yes the Brits burned the white house. Good times.

  21. Re:But that's not the real problem. on To Encourage Biking, Lose the Helmets · · Score: 1

    Doubt it. The same assholes that cause all the problems won't have any problem driving without a license.

  22. Re:Wait a second there hypocritical one.. on Kentucky Lawmakers Shocked To Find Evolution In Biology Tests · · Score: 1

    There are a number of promising theories as to how life could have begun on earth. I'm fairly certain we will eventually discover at least one way that works to allow basic replicators, that pass information between generations in a way that allows them to evolve, to arise.

    As to what created "everything". Well, that is a mystery. And one I hope we can solve, because that might give us a nice way out from entropy. But attributing it to God doesn't actually answer the question. Because God also would then need to be created somehow.

  23. Re:Wait a second there hypocritical one.. on Kentucky Lawmakers Shocked To Find Evolution In Biology Tests · · Score: 1

    I realize arguing with you is pointless. However,

    What I am saying is that there is no other "theory", in the scientific sense, that explains all of life. Evolution explains everything.

    I have no trouble saying to people who don't get that that they are wrong. Entrusting one's belief system to stories created by bronze-age peasants is not a valid way to describe the world.

    I can't help that people find comfort in those stories and wish to cling to their beliefs. I fully understand why they do so. Those beliefs give them comfort in the face of their mortality. It doesn't make the beliefs valid, however, without incredible evidence that simply does not exist.

  24. Re:Be smug. Cue the "stupid hillbilly" lines on Kentucky Lawmakers Shocked To Find Evolution In Biology Tests · · Score: 1

    Nobody blames Bush for the .com or the housing bubble

    He certainly had a hand in the housing bubble. He failed to oversee the Fed. And his administration actively fought States in the courts who were trying to prevent big banks from exploiting their citizens with subprime and ALT-A mortgage offerings.

  25. Re:Wait a second there hypocritical one.. on Kentucky Lawmakers Shocked To Find Evolution In Biology Tests · · Score: 1

    There are no alternate scientific theories to evolution. So there's nothing else to teach. Evolution is it. It's how life developed. Every single species on the planet, along with every fossil of an extinct species, is a sample of evolution.

    The debates in science are more along the lines of 'hmm, I wonder if animals are more closely related to fungus or plants, and does any recent work help clear up when and how we diverged'. And of course, trying to figure out how the very first replicators got going to kick the whole process off. But there are several possible theories for that too. None of which include 'god did it'.