How many ways are there to answer the same question? Sooner or later a couple of people are going to have the same thought about something, it's not plagiarism, it is nature. There are finite ways of expressing the same concept. That's where I see the big failing of these services like TurnItIn happening; sooner or later their databases will be so huge there's no way to NOT plagiarize something. You can't account for it and you can't prevent it. I think the larger issue is being completely ignored: does the student actually understand what he/she is talking about? Or are they just trying to pass the course with minimal effort?

We should make it so Congress only gets paid when they actually accomplish something, make them work on commission. /pipedream

And yet they are anyway. It's government, they're all accountable to someone. They shouldn't be acting like they're in competition with each other.

Did you miss the part where it said "civilian agency?"

Your statement is not congruent with reality.

lol, I ask myself that question every day...

Hmm, maybe you're just too subtle.

Close-minded, paranoid, irrational, non-critical thinking people are the reason we are in this mess. You poor, poor bastard. My family is much the same. Very old, very entrenched, and very unresponsive to new ideas. All I can say is keep arguing, use logic, and above all don't drop to their level. Sooner or later their views fall apart.

And thank you for being a rational human being.

There are no sides to take, this isn't an argument. The evidence is there, mounting by the truckload. Those who choose to deny that evidence at this point are akin to denying that nighttime is dark and should be treated accordingly.

Records and averages are not the same thing.

You obviously don't read much of anything.

How many consecutive "local anomalies" will it take for you to acknowledge a distinct pattern of increasing dynamism?

The variability of the Sun is about .1% over an 11 year cycle; insignificant and not enough to classify the Sun as a "variable" star, astronomically speaking. Good try though.

Incorrect. Greenhouse gases inhibit the release of heat back into space, i.e., they insulate the planet. They do not, in and of themselves, produce heat.