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Comment Re:why has he decided to accept it now? (Score 3, Informative) 295

It was made in the same decade as Starship Troopers, The Phantom Menace, the Look Who's Talking sequels, Highlander II, and let's include Supernova since it was actually reproduced in the '90s, although not released until 2000. Let's not forget Lucas' destroying the original Star Wars trilogy, changing A New Hope so that Greedo shot first.

There were far worse movies made in the 90s.

Then it's a good thing Battlefield: Earth was released May 10, 2000, and not in the 1990s.

The official nominees were Battlefield Earth, Freddy Got Fingered, Gigli, I know Who Killed Me, and Swept Away.

I guess Superbabies: Baby Geniuses 2 was too awful to acknowledge.

Comment Re:"Conclude?" (Score 2, Informative) 165

"Conclude" means "bring to an end." They might have concluded treaty negotiations, but they didn't conclude a treaty (except to the extent that this new treaty may replace an old one, which is clearly not what was meant). And concluding negotiations doesn't imply either agreement or disagreement, so the headline should probably read "US and Russia agree to arms control treaty."

This is incorrect. The headline uses the word "conclude" correctly.

"Bring to an end" is one of the many meanings of conclude. The one being used here is "to bring to a decision or settlement; settle or arrange finally: to conclude a treaty."

This use is not only correct, it is the dictionary example of this particular meaning.

Comment Re:93-0 margin (Score 1) 457

Or even as simple as: You get 200k/year based on the % of votes you were there for. Show up for 5 votes out of 100, you get 10k.

But the point is, we shouldn't have to pay senators anything. The money should be a symbol of gratitude for their service.

Then you intentionally limit Senate candidates to those who can do without a source of income for six years. They'll either be filthy rich, or really open to taking bribes (real bribes, not just "campaign donations").

A legislature skewed even more towards the wealthy and corrupt, just what we need.

Comment Old technique, but it works (Score 5, Informative) 107

The sterile insect technique dates to the 1950s, and has been used with great success in suppressing the screw-worm (eradicated in the US in 1982). An animal infested with screw worm maggots can die simply from the tissue damage as the maggots "screw" into their flesh. It's one of the few species against which there is an intentional attempt at extermination, and I can't disagree with it.

The technique inspired the Nebula Award-winning science fiction story The Screwfly Solution. In the story, the technique does not so much go wrong as horribly right.

Comment Re:For domestic use only (Score 1) 83

Ask yourself: why care of the targets know they're being watched?

Firstly, when the enemy knows that you're watching, he can attempt to deceive you.

Secondly, if the enemy can reliably know when he is being watched, then he can also reliably know when he is not being watched and is thus free to do whatever he wants.

Comment Re:So... the solution is more nukes? (Score 1) 213

It'd be like if during the cold war we built up trillions and trillions of barrels of oil as an 'emergency war stockpile' and now are releasing it - we wouldn't be bothering much with drilling for oil at the moment.

The US stockpiles a significant quantity of oil in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. However, it is nowhere near a trillion barrels (a trillion barrels is something like 120 years of US oil consumption).

Comment Re:Explained by a Simple Formula (Score 1) 944

“Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies.” — Marx (Groucho)

'I got $25 from Reader's Digest last week for something I never said. I get credit all the time for things I never said. You know that line in You Bet Your Life? The guy says he has seventeen kids and I say: "I smoke a cigar, but I take it out of my mouth occasionally"? I never said that.' -- Interview with Roger Ebert in Esquire magazine (7 March 1972)

That politics quote is frequently attributed to Groucho Marx, but I don't see any reliable source for when and where he said it, and doubt he did.

Comment Re:Johnny Cab (Score 1) 609

I heard the 911 call about the "out of control" 120mph Lexus mentioned in the article on the radio last week, and all I could think was "why didn't that dumb motherfucker turn the key and shut off the fucking engine?" Years ago, I had the accelerator linkage on my Datsun 280Z freeze at full throttle because a screwdriver I left in the works. I was only "out of control" for about a second and a half before I shut the engine off and pulled over. People are fucking idiots.

I hate to interrupt your self-righteous ranting, but that Lexus didn't have a key to turn. It was push-button. Many owners don't know how to disable the engine while driving, and this guy was driving a loaner he was unfamiliar with.

Now, if you had said he should have put it into neutral, you'd have a point. But as it is, you're the idiot.

Comment Re:What would happen... (Score 2, Informative) 210

I thought the new destroyers were also nuclear.

DDG-51 destroyers are Arleigh Burke class. There's 55 of them so far; none are nuclear powered.

Rep. Gene Taylor made some noise about canceling the Zumwalt/DDG-1000 class (gas turbine-powered) in favor of a nuclear Burke variant, but it hasn't happened.

Wasn't there a big show of the all nuclear carrier group that could go around the world with having to refuel?

What you are referring to is 1964's Operation Sea Orbit. You need more than a carrier and two missile cruisers to make up a carrier strike group. Nuclear-powered destroyers and supply ships were not built, and the all-nuclear Navy never materialized.

Since the last nuclear cruiser was decommissioned in 1999, the only nuclear vessels in the US Navy are aircraft carriers and submarines.

Comment Re:The sole purpose of government is politics. (Score 1) 1057

That was to keep us from confusing him with his relative, John Adams. Same for George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush. I'm not aware of any case of being able to confuse Barack Obama with any other Barack Obama we've had in the White House.

Of course that's true, but that wasn't the point. The post I replied to said "I don't recall any of the other 43 presidents ever being referred to with anything other than an initial for their middle name." John Quincy Adams is a counter-example. FDR often gets the full Delano as well.

That and the conservative lunatic fringe dragged out his middle name as if it meant something sinister, or had anything whatsoever to do with the man himself. After that it has become some form of code-word for the lunatic fringe, and thus associated with them.

Of course they do, and I'm not arguing against that. I'm just saying that referring to a president's middle name is not a unique occurrence.

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