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  1. Gulf of Mexico Dead Zone on The Mystery of Oregon's 'Dead Zone' · · Score: -1

    I'm not sure if agriculutural run-off is the Oregon culprit, but it most certainly is in the case of the Louisiana Dead Zone in the Gulf of Mexico. Every summer we get a zone about the size of Delaware that supports no life. Now granted it is only one segment of the water column that has the problem, yet still this is a massive man made disaster. Think of all the fertilizer that Joe and Betty Farmer dump into their soil each year. Think of all the mega farms, all the mom and pops, all of the planted acerage in the area that is drained by the Mighty Miss'sip. ALL of that nitroginous waste collects in run-off water that concentrates into the Mississippi River. By the time it is dumped out into the Gulf (and our man made levees do play a roll in this) the concentrations can be fairly high. The extra nitrogen leads to growth in types of algaes and water plant life that blooms. It then dies, and rots. This rotting eats up the O2 which devestates the wildflife living in those waters.

    If Oregon is facing a similar problem I say good luck. Try telling farmers in other states that what they do hurts sea water thousands of miles away from them. Sadly, we don't stand a chance here on the Gulf Coast. No senator or congressman would shoot themselves in the foot by telling farmers to change their ways. Pandering to farmers is what they do best. In the mean time we get a deadzone. Thanks ConAgra, thanks ADM and thanks those who feed this dead zone. Oh well, guess with hurricanes and all getting the headlines the will to help us out has long since vanished...

  2. Pointy years on Voyager 1 Passes 100 AU from the Sun · · Score: -1

    aliens with pointy years

    Yes because here on earth we have normal "earth" years, but the alien visitors have "pointy" years... Must make them much, much older?

  3. Hates freedom! on An Older, Larger Universe · · Score: -1

    Infact, anyone who wants to leave this universe is clearly unpatriotic anyway.

    Exactly! Not only unpatriotic... but they hate freedom as well.

  4. Japanese WOMEN, yes on Americans Are Seriously Sick · · Score: -1

    Japanese women live much longer than Japanese men. Karoshi, death by overwork, still happens. Diabetes, heart disease and others are still a rising problem among Japanese men. The go out drinking with the boss to ass kiss on a nightly basis still goes on. Check any Japanese subway station at midnight on any night of the week to see the "Salaryman Shuffle" as I call it. This is the staggering home of the druken suits as they prepare for another 12-14 hour day. And oh, much of that 12-14 hour day is spent shuffling paper and waiting for the boss to leave. Boss can't leave early cause he'll look bad, and no one can leave before the boss. So by the time the boss has left everyone has taken part in the "Look how late we're all working" charade. The Japanese do not work harder than the U.S. as can be seen in any productivity data. They work long hours yes, but not "smart" hours. They also have a socialized health care system where many doctors complain loudly that the most common "sickness" they see in the Emergency Room is a cold. Kid you not. I taught many doctors and pharmaceutical researchers English and they all agreed that the common cold was the number one reason for visits to the emergency room. But that's another healthcare discussion....

  5. Sick nouveau riche on Americans Are Seriously Sick · · Score: -1

    ..going to bring lower prices to the consume is a fairy tale.

    Actually, I'd say bringing a noun to a verb is a fairy tale...
    On a serious note, the boosts in U.S. production that we have seen in the last 15 years are certainly at the workers' (blue and white collar alike) expense. "Crack"Berries, cellphones, Nextel walkie-talkies, email, voice mail, pagers and the like are nothing more than electronic shock collars to keep the sheeple working. All work and no play makes Jack a middle management yes man... Sad that that has become a goal in the U.S. Until Americans can stop burning themselves out just to buy tacky Hummers, diamond Rolex watches, fake breasts, Botox, nouveau riche country club memberships and other useless consumerist crap we'll always have this problem. Happiness=money=buy more crap. America is so fixated on social climbing through salary that it's... sickening, really.

  6. Calendar is in Time out! on Google Calendar · · Score: -1

    The calendar is timing out as of 7:15 a.m. central. Guess they're getting working a few things out.

  7. Viral bling on Viruses Engineered to Construct Batteries · · Score: 2, Funny

    They added a bit of gold for the desired effects.

    Everyone knows a good lookin' virus needs to sport a little bling!

  8. Take these discs... on Your Digital Inheritance? · · Score: -1

    I did have my best friend jokingly reach on top of his armoir and show me a handful of cd-roms. Laughing, he said, "Ok, so God forbid something happens... make sure you get these out of here. I'm giving you my collection." After just getting on high blood pressure meds I guess the thought crossed his mind.

  9. Made with Pride in the USA on The Man Who Said No to Wal-Mart · · Score: -1

    Now I'm not trying to start some patriotic rant here, just pointing out something I remember from the old Wal-Mart. Anyone else remember the days of the red, white and blue star shapes that were all over Wal-Mart with the phrase, "Made with Pride in the USA"? It was almost cult-like. You couldn't escape it. Seems that after Sam Walton died everything changed to made in China. And speaking of made in China, I read in a different article that spoke of how in China Wal-Mart gets all the Chinese factories to out "cheap" each other to see who can make the cheapest product. As if they aren't paid little enough in China, Wal-Mart is actually encouraging lower wages there. Of course, that's what happens in free markets (or emerging attempted "free" markets). But at the end of the day is cheap, plastic crap really worth the hordes of cash we are dumping on China? Does quality matter anymore? Can we protect our manufacturing sector? Should we protect this sector? And should we be selling our debt to China just so we can buy more crap... from China?

  10. They left out on 1001 Islamic Inventions · · Score: -1

    Hookas and hashish...

  11. Murder rates on Bill Could Restrict Freedom of the Press · · Score: -1

    Honest citizens who do not break the law on the other hand, and so when firearms are made illegal it leaves the criminals armed and the honest citizens unarmed. This is hardly an ideal state of affairs.

    Take a look at Japan's murder rate. Handguns are outlawed there. Yes, yes the Yakuza carries guns, but that's harldy "all" the criminals in Japan. In Japan you don't have people being murdered for "dissin'" someone as we do here in the States. Does this mean their model will work for us? When we have something on the order of 10,000+ handgun deaths a year compared to about 1,000 for UK and less than 100 for Japan it may be time to consider why we have such problems. Education, raise your children right... yeah, yeah we hear about that all the time. What about the reality of how gun availabilty plays into all this?

    ... .. --.

  12. From a financial magazine... on The Most Dangerous Bacteria · · Score: -1

    Anyone else notice how the article states big names like Wyeth, Roche and Eli Lilly have backed off from research in this area while Pfizer has always stayed focued on such work. The article seems to be saying buy Pfizer, sell others... This is Forbes after all, and it seems they are clearly trying to make Pfizer look good.

  13. Win or be fired on Microsoft Claims Worlds Best Search Engine Soon · · Score: -1

    You get the feeling that the Neil Holloway knows that if he's wrong about the six month victory he'll lose his job so might as well say such broad statements... he'll be right or fired.

  14. 100% chance? on Yahoo! Bans "Allah" in Screen Names · · Score: -1

    If you get down to it, even if you use birth control prevent the union of sperm and egg that would have occured- you just prevented a human life.

    That only works if the egg is present and you have 100% certainty that one sperm will penetrate the egg, begin fertilization and gestation will occur. To say that birth control prevents a human life seems to suppose quite a lot of other actions were bound to occur. Birth control may prevent what would have been a fertilization. To say "you just prevented a human life" seems to be overstating quite a bit.

  15. Re:VIC20 on What Was Your First Computer? · · Score: -1

    I just loved my cassette "drive" on my VIC20. At the time it sure seemed cool... The text adventure games that had me sailing pirate ships or breaking into nuclear reactors do seem a little less engaging than WoW and Half Life 2 though. But being 10 it beat the crap out of hand held Mattel Football and Adventure People.

  16. Suicide bestseller on Internet Suicide Pacts Surge in Japan · · Score: -1

    Suicide in Japan is viewed so differently than it is in America it's difficult to describe. A great deal most likely stems from the "Seppuku" of the warrior class in feudal Japan. Suicide has long been seen as a noble way to pay for one's failures, or to gain honor even in death. Recently, a top selling book in Japan was a book called something like the Suicide Manual. It listed about 100 different ways to kill yourself, detailing the pain involved and the time it would take. I think part of the allure was the creative ways it listed to commit suicide and not so much that everyone wanted a manual "just in case." Among the most interesting methods I found was that by drinking a whole bottle of soy sauce, one would die. It was noted that this was a very painful way to die. Today jumping in front of Bullet Trains still happens... and in the 1970s a very famous author, Mishima, commited old style samurai seppuku on the steps of a public building in Tokyo.

  17. Re:Alliance Refinery on Police Restrict Public Photography · · Score: -1

    It is a true story and I have tried to have my -1 score explained to me... over a year ago. Apparently I made one comment that was downmodded 14 times. One comment, and I live with a -1 for all my posts... so be it.

  18. Alliance Refinery on Police Restrict Public Photography · · Score: -1

    While south of New Orleans taking landscape pictures of oak trees in a pasture I was approached by a sheriff's deputy. Come to find out I was across the highway from the Alliance Refinery (Of course I knew it was there, can't miss it... just didn't think anything of it).
    "Did you take any pictures of the refinery?"
    "No, I'm shooting pictures of the trees out in the pasture."
    "I need to see some identification. I need to call this into the FBI."
    While standing next to the highway with the 'wtf' feeling I kept thinking I couldn't believe this was happening. In south Louisiana talking back to the cops is always a sure fire way to spend your day in the local lock up, so I was keeping quiet. The officer gets out of his cruiser and begins to explain he needs to take the camera and film. At this point I bring up a lesser known creation in these parts, the Bill of Rights.
    To which he says... "Yes I understand, but the Patriot Act adresses a lot of that."
    Fantastic. I wind up telling the officer repeatedly I did not take any pictures of the refinery, just the trees... in fact the clouds were breaking perfectly at the moment, could I please take some shots... Sure he says. Alright, Mr., you're gonna need to leave now... yes, you can keep your camera.

  19. Re:Definitely won't detract on Stanford Classes Now Available on iTunes · · Score: -1

    I rather doubt they'd consider me on par with a Stanfor graduate

    Not being able to spell the institution might tip them off...

  20. Re:A transcript on UK Cold War Era Nuclear War Plans Revealed · · Score: -1

    The BBC announcement sounds worlds better than what Dubbya might say on a pre-recorded sound clip. "Nuk-a-lar war is upon us. We face many external threats from abroad. Times is tough." At least the BBC understands grammatical structure and rules...

  21. Re:QWERTY, DVORAK, ABCDEF on New Keyboard Has Just 53 Keys · · Score: -1

    Ah, it's an earthlink page! No finer source for myth-debunking :) If the layout was designed to prevent jamming, then perhaps certain keys were spaced to prevent too rapid of use... thus less jamming.... in a sense, slowing the typist down.

  22. Good writing on Randomly Generated Paper Accepted to Conference · · Score: -1

    What I love is the first line... we have not received any reviews yet for you paper You paper written by computer! We no care! All you paper are belong to us....

  23. Really? on Computer Program Makes Essay Grading Easier · · Score: -1

    With such a broad, sweeping statement as "I know," I would be interested in how you know this? Are you a teacher that skims only for keywords? Perhaps you're married to one that does? If you "know" how this is done, are you basing your knowledge on one teacher you "know?" Pretty big claim to "know that all they do is skim for keywords."

  24. To Teach on Computer Program Makes Essay Grading Easier · · Score: 0, Insightful

    As a history teacher myself, my first thought was why on earth would any teacher want to abandon their students' writings to to a computer program? There is no possible way a programmer would have near enough time to fill that software with all the nuance of the written word. And far worse, what does the program do when it encounters an original thought? If someone approaches the problem with a solution unexpected by the program would it get a poor grade simply based on not being what the professor is looking for? I see answers that are different from what I expected on tests and it is refreshing and exciting to see students formulate their own ideas. That's the whole point! How can you possibly program something to react to what it is not expecting to see? Aside from the whole program grading pitfalls, what kind of teacher could possibly want to willingly take their fingers off the pulse of their students? Essay writing is one of the strongest academic bonds between teacher and student and to relegate that to computer work shows a desire to divorce oneself from the student. What meaningful comments and feedback can a teacher really give about a paper they have never read?? All in the name of saving 200 hours of reading... Ahhh yes... he has to publish! Publish 1st, students 47th.

  25. Dubya on U.S. to Require Passport To Re-Enter Country · · Score: -1

    Well, for one, maybe you failed to notice that W. got elected President... twice... Somewhere in Texas a village is missing its idiot...