Fakes are only allowed for the food not being sold advertised.

Motor oil could be used as syrup when advertising pancakes, but not when advertising maple syrup.

He referred to Netflix "shooting itself in the foot" and did not mention only the price increase. There was also the spin-off of mail delivery to Qwikster, leaving Netflix as a streaming-only operation. The net effect, combined with their public statements about the future, showed that Netflix management considers DVD-by-mail to be a dead model and was willing to abandon it immediately.

Also, it has been reported that Netflix mail costs are 20-times more expensive than their streaming costs. The reported change in their studio contracts is about 10x.

I've worked in the (same) office since 1997 and I don't get lunch, beers, or t-shirts either.

I do, however, get to sit in traffic for 40 to 60 minutes a day.

You are correct, it will cause local cooling and require 30 to 200 years of time to "recharge" after a 30 to 50 year production life for the geothermal site.

See the PDF in this comment.

At What Time Scale Are Geothermal Resources Renewable?"

The answer appears to be, "it depends". The problem appears to be that any given geothermal installation becomes unusable after a period of time. Shallow systems recharge in 30 years after 30 years of operation. Deep systems need a few hundred years after 50 years of operation.

Why DARPA and not NASA?

DARPA has money. NASA does not.

Amateur filmmakers can afford a $35,000 compact car, but not a $5,000 generator? (Honda's 6500 watt, 52 db model)

I have been having the same thoughts. I don't agree with their position entirely. I think the lower/broader tax plan is a great idea, and the balanced budget amendment is totally unworkable. Still, they are doing exactly what they said they'd do when elected.

More significantly, it appears that they can't be strong-armed by party leadership on the issue. They want significant cuts and won't agree to a plan that doesn't provide that.

People complain about spineless politicians. People complain about the two party system. The alternative is right unfolding right now. This block of representatives is, for practical purposes, a third party. They aren't voting with the Democrats or the national Republican leadership, they're voting their own way.

I agree, the "Lucas is greedy" bit is far overblown. Yes, he makes a ton of money. But he doesn't live like Donald Trump, even though he easily could. From all accounts, he has a rather modest lifestyle for someone of his wealth. He pours the money into what he likes: making films. He seems to enjoy it from the macro level, and isn't so good at the details.

Plus, a lot of people overlook the influence of his former wife, Marcia. She edited Graffiti, Scorsese's Taxi Driver, and all three in the original Star Wars trilogy. For the prequel trilogy there was no studio or editor who could force hard decisions on Lucas.

Working in the field of transportation safety research (including distraction) my observation is that people over-estimate the control of the device as a problem (punching in the phone number), and under-estimate the mental resources dedicated to the task (the conversation). This is why radios, fast food, and other "distractions" don't generally produce the same level of effect as cell phones.

It doesn't make a lot of resources to push the button (assuming you already know how to operate the device) or shove a cheeseburger in your mouth. This is why hands-free shows the same level of distraction as hand-held phones, and both are worse than other tasks.

As to why in-car conversations are less of a problem than cell conversations... no one has any convincing proof. One is the difference between self-paced and forced-pace tasks. Others theorize a "day dreaming" state in which the person dedicates a lot of mental resources to put themselves into the remote conversation. Adults are the best at safely maintaining in-car conversations. Teenagers are significantly more dangerous with other teens in the vehicle.

Your comment about your father-in-law is interesting, and (in my opinion) a great example of distraction. He isn't operating a gadget, he is getting lost mentally. This is the issue with phones.

Where I live the local politicians get paid very little for the amount of hours they put in. I think this is rather unfortunate because it limits political office to people who don't need to work full time. Usually retirees or the spouse of someone who makes a lot of money.

Those who serve on advisory committees get paid nothing at all (although it is only about 5 to 15 hours a month). The city is usually begging for volunteers to fill positions on the committees. And the committees are where a lot of decisions actually get made (the politicians can always go against the committee's recommendation, but seldom do).

Of course, there is the perception that everyone must be corrupt or have some nefarious agenda. Otherwise, why would someone volunteer their time to make their community a better place?

If it is near your house, then you are a citizen of the jurisdiction that controls the road. Likely city or county, possibly state. Go to your city/county council and politely ask the engineer for the data that supports the speed limits. They usually have information on traffic count, visibility distance, or road design speed to justify the speed limit. Sometimes not.

My city has a few areas that were set in the 1960s because somebody wanted people to slow down near their house, or whatever. People just accepted it for decades. Looking into it, we have no current justification, and we are changing them.

A word of caution: doing the work of actively participating, sitting through meetings, writing letters, etc. may make you cynical towards people who simply bitch in online forums.

This is correct. The State of Minnesota has already starting studying this issue. It has been a topic for transportation planners for several years

http://www.dot.state.mn.us/newsrels/11/04/18mbuf.html

In my opinion, there are serious privacy concerns with the system. In order to provide road condition/safety information and perform congestion pricing it tracks location constantly. The study isn't concerned with privacy as an implementation issue, although previous surveys have noted there could be a problem with public acceptance.

No, it is not. Have you ever driven a semi truck? They are not tax exempt. Off-road equipment can use tax exempt fuel. Farm tractors and bulldozers. The fuel contains a dye and law enforcement will check fuel tanks for the presence of the dye. In my state the fines start at $2,000 for using off-road fuel in an on-road vehicle.

There is a remedy, it's a lawsuit. See eBay v. Craigslist

Put whatever you like in a contract, it's still going to take a court to enforce it.