Passenger airline traffic has the potential to disperse a world wide plague more deadly than all past wars combined. It is another issue which is shrouded by deliberate blindness as the cure would be very disruptive.

Actually the cross bred polar bear, brown bear has been studied and well documented. It occurred due to a hunter being charged with killing a polar bear with the hunter insisting it was a brown bear which was legal to take. Genetic testing clearly proved that the cross bred bear existed. The theory is that the wealthy used to keep private zoos in the 19th century and that one or two of these bears were created in captivity and either escaped or were released into the wild. From that point on nature simply kicked in and these bears mated with wild bears. The best policy in dealing with these cross bred bears is never, ever, find one.

People are not acting up about being spied upon because most of us have known it was going on for quite some time.

Few libraries could hope to compare to Project Gutenberg. Although books must be free of copyright to be on the site that is not such a disadvantage. Somewhere at around 1920 the use of the English language became rather crude whereas before radio and television were highly present the use of language was quite superior. Often the books of the earlier period were vastly superior to the expensive books now in book stores. But for those that insist we do need an electronic lending library that releases current materials. If we include a 14 day auto delete function as well as a good anti-copy scheme an electronic library could be as fair to publishers as the ink and paper routine.
                Most people who read a lot still like paper and ink which means there is something lacking in electronic screens or electronics.
                  If anyone wants a block buster product idea how about an electronic score sheet for musicians such that a foot pedal could do the page changes as on plays. Imagine if we could store our sheet music in a screen like device and select the tune to play and turn the page with a foot pedal. And for another item how about a device that can listen to a tune and then write the melody as sheet music in the requested key and clef? Imagine using an FM radio that can be transcribed for any instrument at the push of a button. Want to be a billionaire?

We have a basic conflict with our schools and our thought processes. The nonsense doctrine is put forward that we must include all young people and we must not have any of them lost to the school system. So what does a teacher or school official do when confronted by the fact that there are kids that are mean, unreasonable, and with savage desires and actions? Dare we to toss the punk out on his or her ear? That would force us to admit that the system is not for everyone. We wait a bit until we start tossing kids out of the educational system by things like the price of college etc..
                  The second point is that we are so anti violence that kids can not defend against bullies very well or in some cases the victims have an almost robotic programming that will not allow them to deal with a bully. Frankly the best way to deal with a bully is to beat them down so badly that they will quake in fear over the thought of ever offending you again. If they are stronger use tactics, weapons, or several strong friends to kick them half to death. On a junior high campus the message spreads really quickly that bullies get hurt bad in ways for which the suffering will tend to last them for decades.

The problem with surveillance now is that we can catch more criminals than we can afford to catch. It seems as if the US has way too many people who live outside the law or at least turn to crime occasionally. But every time we catch a criminal the cost beats us over the head. Catch another heroin dealer and there goes 40K a year just for his prison sentence and lord knows how much for police and courts. Then to top it off when we release these folks their lives are screwed up and one way or another some kind of welfare will have to be given to keep them from rotting on the sidewalks. Then we also have the children and mates of these folks who also are very likely to end up in poverty and crime as well. So the more spying we do and the more catching we do the poorer society becomes.
                    Then we get to stamp the label of monster upon ourselves as we confront the effect of criminal justice. Certainly we can not use prisons without providing medical care to inmates. But we still have honest, working poor, who are denied medical care. In a way that forces us to provide socialized medical care of some sort. In the end the only way out of this loop is to have a population that is devoutly religious. Faith does work to limit crime.

From time to time bicycle thieves get caught. And we really can't lock them all up for long periods due to cost restraints. A very long probation sentence with community service thrown in and the probation fees could discourage that kind of thief. For example ten years of probation with 12 hours a week of approved community service and a $100. per month probation fee might cut the mustard. Also a life time denial of a driver's license might help.

I hope that Wikileaks can continue to get information to the public. I suspect that government agents have infested WikiLeaks in every way they can and wonder if Wikileaks can still function.

Tesla has won the game at this point. The death knell of GM, Chrysler and Ford rings loudly. Ford will have some life due to the F150 line of pickup trucks until Tesla or some other new outfit comes online. The big three resisted real progress and have effectively committed suicide. Toyota is strong enough to have a chance at survival but most imports will fail. Idea like the new Fiat import are way too late and frankly the quality of former Fiats speaks against any likelihood of current success. The public has had enough of over priced junk that costs a fortune to keep up and running. Tesla got the message and as the prices of Tesla models drop they will dominate the market for decades.

Prior to the automobile the keeping of horses was an industry beyond imagination. It occupied untold masses of employees and also kept home owners busy caring for horses as well. Automobiles quickly devastated the huge horse industry and the total number of people required to produce and maintain automobiles was far less than what had been required for horses. Now we are seeing a situation where electric cars and automated assembly lines can replace almost 100% of all auto workers. Even repairs will fall to next to nothing with electric cars and gas stations will fall to unmanned charging stations.
          This is a continuing process in technology elimination of human labor. It is only a problem if social and economic changes do not confront what is occurring. We simply will have to pay people not to work. It can be done and it makes economic sense. Taxation will supply the pay checks and the public will spend the money they receive supporting automated businesses.
                The shock is that it will cause all of us to admit that no system of fair and just economy has ever existed. To put it all in context consider the Civil War in America. Men were free to pay a man to stand in for them to avoid combat. The equivalent is to send a robot to work for you as a surrogate. So the robot (technology) will earn while the human spends.

Philosophers tend to want to create specialized definitions and terms in order to project that philosophy so that it can be more broadly applied. I think this is what we are seeing here. In specific they mentioned slime mold and encoding and decoding. Actually slime mold is encoded with DNA and the function of the slime mold in navigating the maze reveals the decoding expressed as the function of slime mold. If our human abilities were more advanced we should be able to determine the future functional abilities or probabilities of a function by examining the DNA encoding directly rather than determining its function by observation of the slime molds activity.
                    Essentially they seek clarity on what defines computation. In this muddy world clarity is rarely available.

For those of us who are absolutely worthless and without talent this type of article provides one heck of an opportunity. You to can me a morality wizard. America has tens of thousands of such folk who make it their goal in life to judge whether actions fall within some supposed universally agreed upon mold. It is almost like having 11 items at the check out in the 10 item line at the grocery store. Some old hag will inevitably bitch that I have violated a proper rule. At that point I usually shout with glee "Praise Jesus Christ. The Lord has delivered unto me a judge of proper conduct.". No longer do i need to make up my mind about the right or wrong of an action as these self appointed moral wizards will always do it for me. I am free at last to not be bothered with having an internal debate about the morality of harming a filthy cockroach.

There may be merit in using data to get sharper students to be surrounded by other sharp students and for lesser students to be surrounded by those like themselves as well. Kids usually want to be popular and seen as up and coming types of people and using this tactic may cause students to strive to be lumped into the group of better students. I doubt that we do any favors to kids when we try to cover up the fact that everything is about discrimination. For example the first string on the football team is valued by school kids and second string or not on the team at all is a big negative. Those chosen for the first string are the boys who have demonstrated their ability on the spot. None of the potential ability nonsense is in play. It is rather like applying for a job in which there are many applicants. Usually it is what can you do for me right now that lands the job. Academics might want to try a similar tactic and clearly let the kids know that there are winners and losers in education and it is one heck of a lot more important than being popular on a sports team.

For most people any serious charges will result in financial ruin and perhaps a couple of years in jail awaiting trial. Imagine being accused of rape. If you are arrested your job is gone and perhaps your professional credentials as well. Your wife and family will probably be gone and if you can't make a very large bail your home, your car and your savings can vanish as well. So obviously for most people accused of rape and if they are really innocent it is best to talk to the cops. The next issue is whether the detectives believe you or not. Many times they don't know and will simply want the courts to sort it out. A trial is a brutal form of punishment in and of itself.
                  In the end it shakes out like this: If people said absolutely nothing to the cops they would be found not guilty a lot more often. However a lot of people would be ruined that might have converted a really bad situation into a small inconvenience simply by talking to the cops. But if you get into a situation with a corrupt or rogue cop you really will be in it up to your ears. There are cops in this world who would stick a bag of dope in your pocket and gleefully make a false arrest simply because your brother dated a girl the cop wanted etc..That stuff is a lot more common than most people think.

China and Russia both have a huge history of insane lack of regard for human rights. The Muslim states, with one or two exceptions, have been driven back into the dark ages by lack of education and fanatical, twisted versions of their religion. Russia remains so broken that crime seems to be the major industry with getting drunk as the national activity. The Muslim states are pretty much lost to civilization or even hope of civilization. China has put away much of their negative behavior and is advancing in many ways.