Wouldn't it be easier to reduce emissions as recommended by every decent scientist for decades? I am tired of all the oddball solutions that are being put forward instead of a mature response to the problem. The leaders and voters get to avoid the hard decisions because they believe the magic solution is just around the corner. We need to face up to the problems we have created and work towards solving them, not looking for the "magic" solution that will make all the bad news go away.

Forget all the science, the diets and the theories. Americans are fat, generally, because they stuff as much food in their mouths as they physically can. Then they eat more. They are greedy. American culture is based on enjoying as much of life's pleasures as conspicuously as possible to demonstrate your success. It's cultural and is all based on the "winners take all" and "success is good" mentality that has made America the best place in the world to live. However, it comes at a price.

We expect science to continually review and examine the data and findings, but we expect facts to be facts. When scientists take money from special interests and present bold faced lies, that's corruption.

I travel with a Macbook Air, HP Laptop, a kindle, a blackberry and a ipod. All have their functions. I'd like to leave the HP behind, at 8lbs it's a pig, but I need a PC for work.

The same companies can set up in Anguilla, be outside the US, have no corporate tax, have real tax treaties and IP treaties, and go to the beach after lunch. Fiber to the US, low latency connections, stable economic situation and no need to rely on the boat owner to keep the thing afloat.
Handled properly, they would have much less hassle.

> Filling such a high capacity battery inside of five minutes requires an incredibly high current.
Ultra-capacitors. Charge up all day, release that to the car in minutes.
Or - one battery in car, one on charge.
There's always a solution.

After many years of failed theories on the right way to make it happen, Feed In Tariffs have been recognized as the only successful way to incentivize RE projects. However, no-one knew solar would plunge in price so abruptly as it did recently. The uptake of the offers has been exceptional.
It will stabilize and solar will see continuous adoption everywhere, especially where electricity is expensive.
The idea that the adoption of solar punishes the poor is a bit like saying building libraries punishes the poor because they read less. Not everything directly affects everyone the same way, that isn't possible. Consider an example relevant to my location. If you have a job working for a company that is going under because of the operating costs, mainly energy, then encouraging that company to invest in solar pv would help to ensure that person had a job for the future. The family also benefits.
Everyone benefits from policies that increase energy security, encourages inovation and develops intelectual property. Renewal Energy is the next (current?) technology race, ignoring it could be a mistake that will have lasting repercussions.

I hear this same argument all the time here in Anguilla where I live. "we don't want solar unless it reduces the cost of electricity for the poor man".
It's nonsense because solar is not going to drop the wholesale price of electricity, the differential from the price of NG or Nuke is never going to be substantial enough. Electricity in America is very very cheap. There is little point in trying to reduce the cost further, it is mostly administration charges at this stage.

The reason countries like the USA and other are promoting solar is because it is a renewable source. OIl and other fossil fuels are filthy and news of their imminent demise is not exaggerated. They will run out. America has a responsibility as a first world nation to reduce emissions.

Turning to renewable sources allows more time before the end of oil and for the technologies to develop. You can't expect we can transition once there is a crisis. Unless we start now and incentivize the use of RE, we will never get to a point where we can manage without fossil fuels. Great strides are being made and the discovery of grid based storage at economical cost will be a game changer.

Another reason to promote RE sources is energy independence. If countries that are not in the Middle East could survive on domestic production and renewable sources, the politics of the world would change dramatically, and the price of energy would drop, spawning another economic boom. At present, the US public is crying about high gasoline prices caused by geopolitical issues, but at the same time complaining about subsidies for renewable sources aimed at developing solutions to this issue. And blaming Obama for both.

Let's make this very clear. Oil will get more and more expensive until it runs out, the planet will warm in the mean time from CO2, and there will be instability in the Middle East and Venezuela. Or you can believe the Forbes and Fox News stories that tell you the opposite.

I live in a country that has probably the highest electricity costs in the world, 43c/KWh, unlimited sunshine, and refuses to allow people to install solar. Figure that policy out. Very soon we will not be a viable state because of high energy costs, but there is still no vision or will to move out of the dark ages.

Be glad you at least have the right to install solar or wind or whatever.

I use a three interface linux box with Shorewall http://www.shorewall.net/MultiISP.html
as the firewall software. Shorewall allows you to do Multi-ISP routing but does not do dynamic routing so you have to restart the software to change the routing. Dynamic routing based on link quality of very hard to do properly.

They don't deserve to be taken, they WANT to be taken. I work in audio and the people who can pay someone to put in a home theater are not happy to be told not to buy "oxygen depleted molecular aligned copper" cable to make the digital sound crisper - they WANT to think they have some special item so ridiculously expensive for what it does that the average Joe cannot afford it.
If they really wanted the best sounding equipment, they would buy professional gear, which is what the music is recorded with.
They don't, they want the most esoteric, bullshit laden nonsense that the magazines are pushing.
However, HDMI sucks and just doesn't work, so anything that offers a better solution and has widespread support is welcome.
But the idea that it will be popular in a year is stupid, there are no devices with this interface> It will take years to get mass adoption and be accepted.

>People actually watch the oscars?
People actually watch TV anymore?

"Although these offences involve cartoon characters it is nonetheless serious"
Emm...really? Did they get an interview with the victim? The family of the victim?
Can the victim testify?
How would he confront his accuser...the mind boggles.

Are you seriously trying to tell me that if the Simpson's animators draw Lisa getting out of the bath naked, they will go to jail? For a line drawing of an imaginary figure? How specific is the law that they can determine when the animation became pornographic?

I'm sure i have seen episodes where you see Bart naked - I guess anyone who watched that eposide goes to jail, all 20M people? That would be a big jail.

So it's not the creator of the content they jail, it is the person who looks at it? OMG, how stupid. If I am watching a cable channel and there is a poster on the wall of the scene showing a naked child, I have to turn myself in at the local constabulary, and report anyone else in the room that might have seen the program? How far can this be taken?

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

the courts need to raise the standard for proof of this crime. Just because there is CP on a computer should not be considered enough to prove the owner of the computer put it there. Computers, especially home computers running Windows, are inherently insecure and able to operate autonomously, subject to outside control without the owners knowledge. I can't think of any other possession we are less in control of, which is probably why there is no real analogous precedent for the courts to relate to.
The courts need to require that the prosecutor can show the owner DID download the material with knowledge, not just that it was there. The requirement for proof should be something like correlating an online conversation to a request for the material or carrying it on a DVD, purchasing it with the offenders card, something that shows it could not have been automated.
There is the potential for severe miscarriages of justice with the lax standard for proof presently employed which will inevitably lead to abuse and misuse of power. Once prosecutors have a slamdunk way to leverage a confession that will use and abuse it. All they have to do in ANY case is to look for a piece of CP on the defendant's computer, even if that has nothing to do with the case. No-one wants to go to jail for that and will confess to any other crime, even if they are not guilty. Look at the present case against prosecutors for manufacturing evidence if you don't believe they would do this. "there is no freestanding right not to be framed."