We all know. "Hail Hydra."

Which is why I said "globally". He's left for the U.S., but the comment you replied mentioned needing to go to Europe to find a true "leftist". The U.S. as a whole is decidedly Right from a global perspective. As I said -- Democrats (from this global perspective), are Center-Right, Republicans (again, from this global perspective) are Right to Far Right. Bernie is left enough of the common Democrat to maybe make it back to Center or even slightly Left, but would not be considered "leftist".

I also disagree with your perception of Obama's actual policies and actions (as opposed to his rhetoric). Going solely from what he personally has done as President (i.e. primarily continuing and extending the policies George W. Bush set into place, defending the need for Patriot Act powers), he'd probably be hailed as the best Republican president we've ever had if he had an "R" by his name.

[1] Electrical energy is created by burning fossil fuels in a power plant at 40% efficiency, followed by transmitting it to your house at 93% efficiency, and using it in an electric vehicle at 92% efficiency, providing a total efficiency of around 34% for an electric vehicle. Crude oil refineries operate at 75% efficiency, and gasoline distribution might cause another 6% energy loss. Since internal combustion engines are only 20% efficient, total efficiency would be around 14%. Assuming that the natural gas and oil to power our vehicles comes from the same well, we can directly compare these efficiencies, and thus conclude that electric vehicles are significantly more efficient.

I pulled it long ago from the sources cited in that footnote (along with all the car analogies used here on Slashdot). 6 years old, but I dont' think ICEs have changed much in that time.

From my discussions with people in other areas, it seems that by global standards, most Democrats are Center-Right (and Republicans even further Right than that, though honestly not that far off in the majority of their platform - the large parts neither party ever really talk about). I will agree that Sanders is likely at least Center, if not slightly Left, but in many places, that still wouldn't make him a "leftist". He'd still be "centrist".

Response to your OT thought: It's still probably a net gain, mostly because gas-powered personal vehicles are just horribly inefficient. Consider this: it is more efficient to use the gasoline intended for your vehicle in a full-size gasoline-fueled power plant, generate electricity, send that electricity across power lines across long distances and incur lossage there, store it in a battery, incurring additional lossage, then use that to power an electric vehicle. All of those extra losses are still more efficient than just using the gasoline directly.

So, let's look at electric car usage (which, as noted, is more efficient than a gas car). The average EV uses around 30 kWh for 100 miles. Helpfully, this is pretty close to the average daily usage for an American home, which is around 30kWh as well. Average driving is ~33 miles a day. Given that your major usages for power are likely to be heating or cooling related (e.g. refrigeration, A/C, washer/dryer), I don't think minor increases from a larger TV and such will match the significant difference of reducing the initial consumption by 1/4.

I don't understand your concluding points.

Assume two power supplies with identical efficiency measures (say, 95+). One is intended for a maximum output of 600 Watts, the other for a maximum output of 1200 Watts. I'm drawing 500 Watts. Shouldn't they have nearly identical amounts of total heat output and efficiency? I'm not sure about the "die quicker" part as well, but that's a separate piece.

Now assume I have a fixed budget, and can get one of 2 PSUs that fit my budget: Option 1 is a 1200 Watt unit that's below the 75+ rating, and Option 2 is a 600 Watt unit with a 95+ rating. From my understanding, as long as I'm drawing under that 600 Watts, the lower wattage PSU should be more efficient. That's the whole point of the rating. Are you saying that simply because it has more overhead, the higher wattage PSU will be significantly more efficient for some reason at lower outputs?

You... don't watch any TV shows, do you.

And what about product placement in the show itself? Watching your favorite characters drinking Brand drinks while using Brand computer, and wearing Brand clothing, while discussing how much they like Brand OtherProducts. In the background there's a couple billboards and posters that they can digitally replace ads on so even if you watch re-runs 10 years later there's current ad campaigns in it. That's spliced in. Good luck getting your automatic filter to pull that out.

Unless a single independent split both parties (e.g. if the Libertarian candidate did what they say they want to do: "attack the Dems from the Left and the Republicans from the Right"), in which case they might win overall. Say they got 40% of each party's vote (20% of the total from each side). 40% total, leaving 30% for each establishment candidate.

Also, if any independent can activate a majority of the currently apathetic voters, they can beat both establishment candidates without even splitting the party votes.

I think a huge part of his popularity is that he won't conform entirely to the Republican Party consensus. The Republican Party hasn't been putting up leaders recently, they've been putting up committee-groomed figureheads. He's willing to stand his ground, speak his mind, and have differences with the main party platform. Not being a religious nutcase may be a large portion of that. It also means he appears like he'll be conservative fiscally, but more centrist on social issues, which is something many Republicans have been missing in the modern party. Or so I've heard from Republican friends, anyway.

As much as I enjoy a cheap shot at Fox News, it's more likely that Moderate Republicans haven't had a candidate they really like in years, so they need to evaluate all of them and switch between candidates constantly to find someone vaguely close to what they want.

The world doesn't need to end for it to be the end of the world.

Bee Keepers don't need to regulate temperature in any way. The bees do that for themselves (in the wild as well as in keeper's hives). They do need enough honey to make it through the winter, though.

Your lack of understanding comes from a flawed premise. Common Core is not a Federal thing. It is being run by a coalition of states. They had educators create guidelines for what students should know at various grade levels. Educators (good ones, even) joined in on this effort (which contradicts your point) -- most teachers, since there's no recognition as you noted, genuinely care about teaching kids, and give a ton of their time freely in pursuit of that goal. This was just another place they could do that.

Common Core does not directly stipulate curriculum or implementation. The vast majority of problems with "Common Core" are not with the Common Core itself, but the poor implementation of Common Core guidelines by For-Profit companies like Pearson, or how those guidelines were adopted by state legislatures (which generally consisted of "We'll buy this company's books and curricula and tests, and then have every school use them and if students don't do well we punish the teachers").

Steal has a definition. Specifically "the wrongful or willful taking of money or property belonging to someone else with intent to deprive the owner of its use or benefit either temporarily or permanently." Downloading without permission is not stealing, as you have no intention of depriving the owner of the use or benefit of the property. It is a copyright violation. That's why it's charged under the DMCA.