Sorry if someone has already posted this, I didn't see it in any of the popular comments while browsing.

I'm a sysadmin and I use something similar for my networks that's free. It's a Linux based firewall for complete idiots called Untangle. (I don't work for them or contribute to the project.) They have an "app" (also one of the free ones) that runs adblock on everything that passes through the device.

Take any old crappy PC, buy a NIC ($10-$20 investment), burn Untangle to a CD. It's a typical Next->Next->Next->Finish sort of installation, it will overwrite the OS though, so make sure your old crappy pc doesn't have any files you need. There are a bunch of apps, but for this project you just want the free version of their adblocker.

It runs in passthrough mode, so it is super-simple. You can tack on other firewall apps if you feel like it, and the interface is really idiot-proof. Actual Linux nerds are probably pulling their hair out at the waste of resources, but even a crappy old PC isn't going to suffer under this UI.

I used to run a much smaller ferris wheel. We only had 40 cars, 8 people per car. Even so, we had to very carefully balance the weight of people to opposing cars. The entire thing had very limited torque, it only took about 1,000 lbs without an equal weight on the opposite side for us to lose control of the wheel. It would spin on it's own, eventually reaching equilibrium.

To load the whole thing, you had to load 1 set of cars "light" with just a few people, then the opposite side, then one set ahead of that, then one set behind the other set. It actually took a fair amount of training to transition from "20 cars light" to "40 cars heavy." Most of the operators were not skilled enough, and we even lost control of the wheel once when I took a day off. The entire park staff had to turn out and turn the wheel by hand (yes, I'm almost sorry I missed it).

I'm sure such a large wheel will have much more torque, but it will be interesting to see how they load it.

A carbon trade system could be workable (I do not claim to be the originator of this idea).

The article states that we have an 80% chance of not permanently screwing up the world if we only dump 565 gigatons more of carbon into the atmosphere.

Divide that up to all nations based on their current carbon emissions. The US and China combined for instance would be allowed to 'print' 226 gigatons of carbon credits.

Anyone who adds carbon to the atmosphere will be required by their government to purchase the requisite amount of carbon credits. Initially the only supplier will be the Treasury, but more suppliers would emerge. New carbon credits could be "printed" and sold by anyone who permanently sequesters carbon.

The price of burning carbon would eventually come to include the price of sequestering it. I realize that this fantasy would never happen, but it is at least workable as a theory, and builds on the existing "carbon credits" idea already in place.

Sorry, but you are incorrect in your assumption again. Please allow me to explain one of the more egregious uses of HFT.

HugeAssCo Inc. places an order for 500,000 shares of WidgetCo stock using normal means, at the price of $1.20/share. 0.04 seconds before the trade is executed, an HFT trader sees this trade incoming, and buys 500,000 shares of WidgetCo stock at $1.20/share, raising the price to $1.201/share, with the trade finishing 0.02 seconds before HugeAssCo's trade goes through. HugeAssCo Inc. now pays $600,500 for their stock instead of $600,000. HFT trader sells their stock 0.02 seconds later, and makes a profit of $500. Repeat this as many times per second as necessary.

Effectively, the HFT trader just used their faster response time to steal $500 from HugeAssCo, although it was through perfectly legal means.

Dunbal, I don't think you understand the latency required to do HFT.

A great deal of their advantage comes from housing their computers as close as possible to the stock trading computers. The gov't allows them to store and connect their equipment so closely, giving the HFT traders an unfair advantage. If the gov't wanted to stop it, they would simply say: "Nope! Go put your servers somewhere else!"

HFT would become unprofitable for many of the most abusive uses overnight.

For the curious, Scripps Contact Info from their website:

Corporate Headquarters:
312 Walnut Street
2800 Scripps Center
Cincinnati, OH 45202
Phone: 513-977-3000
Fax: 513-977-3024

E-mail Contacts:
Feedback: corpcomm@scripps.com
Corporate Communications: corpcomm@scripps.com
Human Resources: askHR@scripps.com

I'm sure they would love to hear what you have to say!

Even assuming these tests provided useful information on a wide spectrum of genetic disorders (they don't), I don't trust my current or future health insurers enough to have this information known.

They would gladly leave me in the street to die if I discover that I will develop a health condition one day.

I've had 16 different responses from people telling me that I'm wrong. That it isn't calories in vs. calories out. They then go to list things that affect the total number of calories the body spend.

I hate to tell you this, but I already knew that things could have an effect on the number of calories your body spends. That's what I meant by "calories out." It's not a fixed amount. Sleep, exercise, diet, genetics, environment, your childhood, your mood, and a number of other factors can change "calories out." Your best bet is to manage your "calories in." You have 100% control over that. Let me present you with a simple logic exercise:

Weigh yourself. Wait one month. Weigh yourself again. Did you lose weight? If yes, keep doing what you're doing. If no, reduce calories. Repeat until desired weight.

Yes, I read what it's trying to tell me.

"We're not going to give you any hard data, and because the scientific article is behind a paywall, you're shit out of luck. What we WILL give you instead is one more excuse that you can use to rationalize how fat you are. We realize that anything that shifts the blame off of your bad diet and worse exercise routine will make you feel better about yourself. We're going to pass up this opportunity to tell you that that calorie difference between a well rested individual and a tired one is probably only a few hundred calories, and instead make it seem like there's nothing you can do about it."

I wish I could see these numbers myself instead of getting a vague: "This may affect obesity" in the summary.

Much more useful would be: "We have determined with 95% certainty that this behavior is responsible for a 20% higher BMI when other factors are ruled out."

Your weight is a result of calories in vs. calories out.

Nothing else.

Yes, disrupting your sleep patterns may affect the "calories out" department slightly, but that is not what is making you fat. It is food that is making you fat. If you have some kind of magical body that violates the law of conservation of energy, please let the scientific community know immediately, otherwise it's time to put down the sandwich.

Dear Representative:

We should not go to war over a cyber crime that does not cost the lives of American Citizens. We should not go to war over drugs, we should not go to war over oil prices, we should not go to war over a conflict that is unlikely to cost American lives. We are not the world police, we do not have a morally superior nation, our way is not the only correct way.

We should go to war to save American lives. Including the lives of our soldiers. I understand that it is not always easy to determine when a situation is going to result in the deaths of Americans, and in those cases I'd like you to pursue diplomatic means until you determine that there is a clear and present danger to American lives that outweighs the risk of death you intend to inflict upon our soldiers.

Thank you,
-Daryen.