Neither preservatives nor flavor enhancers cause obesity. They may be unhealthy to eat for other reasons but when it comes to overweight problems it is calories that count.

That's bullshit. Environmentalists have for ages supported investments in public transportation. Basically for every new rail or subway line ever constructed you have had loads of people supporting it. You are the one who have decided to not hear that and all the thousands of suggestions from environmentalists on how to get rid of our oil dependence. The first step is to ensure every city has a functioning public transportation system with high coverage so that people can travel efficiently without having to drive. The second step is to encourage people to use it by lowering fare prices and increasing the price on driving using tolls on congested roads. Employers should get tax rebates if, say more than 20% of all employee time is worked from home. Make it easier for people to live close to work so they dont have to drive 40 km each way every day.

There are many more ideas out there, practical stuff that can easily reduce carbon emissions. The green movement are absolutely not just a bunch of whiners but are definitely offering suggestions to the problems.

Great explanation! The 8% interest rate should be compared to the yield the capitalist can expect on other types of investments. Currently, there is absolutely nothing you can invest in to receive such a high return with so low risk. The lender, who is using the capital to finance education and also is shouldering the risk, has to be sure that the investment in education pays off with an cumulative income until retirement that is so much higher than what would be attained without education that the loan can be amortized and the student can have a significantly higher standard of living. Otherwise it makes no sense to make the investment.

Are you serious about that 8.5% figure? The annual interest rate is 8.5%? That is about 6 times higher than my student loans and about 3 times higher than my apartment loans. Do you really have to take loans at loan sharks to pay for tuition. With that kind of interest you'd be a fool to choose to study.

Actually it is called "guilt by association" also known as Reductio ad Hitlerum :). People come up with dog Latin phrases all the time.

There is no need to nitpick. The phrase copying error is commonly used to describe the process in which dna changes structure over generations. An error is a mistake.

I see no problem with isp level filtering as long as it is opt-in. I'd image many parents would gladly pay extra to have the isp filter out some of the naughtiness from the internet connection their children uses. If some parents want to minimize the chances their children will be exposed to goatse and other even more deranged porn fetishes that is their right. It could also be much more efficient than client-side filtering at the end point which is only effective if the parent is more technically savvy than their child which is not always the case. However, it should be opt-in, not opt-out. And it doesn't need to be government mandated - the "free market" should be able to solve it by itself. Lots of concerned parents would freely purchase isp filtering if it was available as a product and everyone could be happy.

Can any math pro explain what practical uses solving nonlinear least squares equations have? The Wikipedia page is to high-brow for me. :)

To make it easier for humans to anthropomorpize them. Robots are supposed to serve the same tasks as ordinary people so it makes sense to let them have human features to make it easier for humans to interact with them.

Untrue. Lt Cmdr Data was a male android capable of intercourse with a woman and "fully functional." Dr Soong who created him and his android siblings always intended for them to serve as his sons. Androids can have gender determinations just as they can have other animalistic attributes.

I call "citation needed" on that one. It would be breaking news if new research showed that prion diseases were that widespread. It is not something a conspiracy among scientists could silence.

And shooting idiots like you in the brain can stop you from reproducing. Doesn't mean it is ethical or even legal.

Is that a rhetorical question? The answer is because that is the way the law (DMCA) is written.

Actually, Sweden is even worse with only 12% female graduates in computer science related degrees. The situation is similar in all the Nordic countries. Those countries also happen to have the highest gender equality rating in the world (discounting some feminist crazies who believe the situation for women in Sweden is just as bad as in Afghanistan). It actually seems that the more freedom women get, the more inclined they are to choose gender stereotyped careers. Maybe on average more men prefer technology and more women prefer nursing? What's so inherently bad about that?

But I really think that statement should be qualified with "bloodiest, most devastating conflict involving only Americans." The Indian genocide, World War II, Vietnam War and possibly even the Iraq Wars were deadlier. Non-American causalties should also be counted in body counts.