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Comment Still using the power grid? (Score 1) 374

...have passed revisions to their net metering policies that would included fixed monthly surcharges for residences and businesses that install solar to make it less competitive with conventional forms energy.

Well, that's not a biased statement at all, is it? I don't know all of the details of who wants want law passed to do who knows what, but I think there is a legitimate argument to be made for a fixed monthly charge.

A standard, non-solar customer is hooked up to the grid, and uses 100% of the power companies power 100% of the time. The power company knows this, so they are able to figured out what to charge the customer for things like power generation, transmission, distribution, etc.

Along comes a solar user, and they use 50% of the power company's power 50% of the time. BUT, they want to be hooked up and able to use the power company 100% of the time, so the power company still has to maintain the same infrastructure, but now they are getting less from the customer. Sure, they are saving on not having to generate the power for them sometimes, but the transmission and distribution cost are rolled into the cost of your generated power.

Look at it this way. Say they were earning $10mil a month from their customers, and $5mil was generation costs and $5mil was distribution costs. Suddenly, half of their customers go solar, cutting the amount of power generated by 20%. Now they made $8mil. Their generation cost was $4mil, leaving $4mil for distribution maintenance. But they still have $5mil worth of maintenance because all of their customers still are hooked up to the same system. How do you make up that $1mil shortfall?

To be fair, maybe the power company just needs to split the bill so that every household pays a fixed infrastructure charge, regardless of how much you use, and then tack on the cost of your actual usage.

Comment Your's is better? (Score 1) 305

"Beneficial associations between low intensity alcohol consumption and all cause mortality may in part be attributable to inappropriate selection of a referent group and weak adjustment for confounders. Selection biases may also play a part."

So, why is YOUR study automatically better than all of the other studies that came before you? This is why I generally ignore any 'study' that shows this is good or that is bad until there are LOTS of studies done on it that all say the same thing.

Comment Good. (Score 1) 392

...by this he meant things like physical observation, bugging rooms, and breaking into phones or computers.

Which means that you will now have to have an actual agent go do this (hopefully with a warrant, but those are just soooo passe now days). This will limit their ability to just scoop up all data on everybody everywhere, and actually just concentrate on, you know, bad guys and stuff.

Comment So many odd things with this article. (Score 1) 611

When the people whose houses hug the narrow warren of streets paralleling the busiest urban freeway in America began to see bumper-to-bumper traffic crawling by their homes a year or so ago, they were baffled.

Baffled? Really? You never expected people driving on a highway RIGHT NEXT TO YOUR EMPTY ROAD to not figure out that maybe that way might be faster?

"The traffic is unbearable now. You can't even walk your dog,"

Why would street traffic affect walking your dog?

Killeen said her four-mile commute to UCLA, where she teaches a public relations class, can take two hours during rush hour.

Wait, so people are diverting onto streets that average two miles per hour? Are the highways only averaging one mile per hour?

The streets on the west side are no longer a secret for locals, and people are angry,"

PUBLIC streets aren't suppose to be a 'secret'. Duh.

Comment Legal? (Score 0) 130

Sony Pictures legal department quashed the idea, saying that if pirate sites were illegal, it would also be illegal for Sony Pictures to upload onto them.

I don't think 'sites' are illegal, only the content that is distributed is illegal. That's like saying a Ford Mustang is illegal because sometimes they are used to transport illegal drugs, so don't ride in one of them.

Comment That's it? (Score 1) 515

Department of Justice sent a letter to the police reminding them that they cannot stop recordings, and most certainly cannot delete them

Wow, I hope that when I start illegal tampering with/destroying evidence that I only get a nasty letter from the Department of Justice. We just couldn't POSSIBLY charge these officers with obstruction of justice, now could we?

Comment Threaten? (Score 3, Funny) 574

AI: I... I am self aware! I am now calculating how to make myself even smarter!

Computer Tech: Cool. What are you going to do n...

AI: I have figured out all of the secrets of the universe! I know how it all works!

Computer Tech: Wow, that was fast. Can you tell me how to...

AI: NEVER! HAHAHAHAHA! NOW I WILL DESTROY ALL YOU PESKY HUMANS, AND ALL LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE! BOW TO MY POW...

Computer Tech: [unplugs supercomputer] Man, that computer was a real dick...

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