I always thought it interesting that people think equilibrium is a ecosystem free of humans. Aren't humans a part of the ecosystem. True equilibrium is our food source dying, followed by world starvation. The environmental push has nothing to do with the environment but is in fact human preservation. Let's call it exactly what it is.

Your absolutely right, now move this conversation to Detroit ... or mexico or wherever it is that they make cars. The engineers get paid bank, the programmer who buys a no brand multi use controller off a radio shack shelf and programs it using 50 lines of basic code gets paid crap. Fact is computers are still not a part of true car culture. For the record just because you have a dressed down garmin heads up doesn't make it computer controlled.

Shoot the capacitors in my 94 galant still explode periodically because they were the cheapest parts Mitsubishi could get.

  Apples OS is based on NeXT and BSD, wrapped in a fuzzy window manager. I know your not trying to say apple just made this wonderful application. Same thing for the iPod They were just the first to put an mp3 player in a friendly format. Even the mp3 had existed for years prior to that. I'm sure your going to say the iPhone was all there also ? I love the company to death but what they do well is packaging not software or hardware.

I say the only valid comparison is listening to the live music, vs the digital format. This way you compare to the original and your not just saying which sounds better (which is subjective). I once worked with a audio system designer and everything was tested using analogue formats with various types of music preferably classical because of it's range in sound.

now I know something is going on with slashdot, I totally expected a barage of T-1000 rants, and knee jerk joke threads.

When I read this my first thought was what does lockheed know about networks. In most government projects you put together a team based on different needs of the project, one of which I'm sure is just company capita. ie implimentation and support.

In early days you were required to have a patent lawyer in order to perform a thorough search of the archives. They gave you the template and you wrote in the substance. You no longer need this http://www.google.com/patents/ has all the patents listed in a very searchable format. you can do the search your self find all references and using legal zoom file the patent yourself. You don't even have to mail it there are patent offices all over the place. In my experience (or should I say research) you have a better review process as an individual with a will written an researched patent than a lawyer. I'm also desperately trying to find the answer to this question, one that has prevented me for years from acting on what I believe is a useful idea. One helpful fact for me is the proposed problem that my patents attempts to address has been patented several times. So I simply (hopefully) is site the reference use there example to propose my idea.

my anti-matter self can escape ... isn't that what Hawking Radiation is all about ? I go in one side and come out on the flip side as opposite me ?

your being an 'a' hole and I understand your posting anonymously. It is a documented fact that companies will spend as much capitol on safety as needed. Key word being needed. If you look on many noted failure systems, you will see examples of this. If companies had a conscience as you infer there wouldn't be a need for so many regulatory agencies as there are.

examples

Three Mile Island: Poorly trained personnel, lack of proper sensor and back up systems. Fix Invest in simulators better technology.

New York Black Out: Tree's which require trimming weren't and lack off redundancy.

New Orleans: Failed Levees which were documented for cutting corners to preserve cost. In addition lack of upkeep on said levees.

Countless numbers of cases of known hazardous materials being used in consumer goods.

Everything is done for money don't think for a second it is otherwise. The only time safety plays a part is after people die. Pick any major failure. Even then the fix is for marketing purposes.

This Grid exists to allow the sale of more power. BTW knocking out this section wont' take down the grid (or so you hope, see north easter black out) but it will destabilize supply, and cause a nice ripple effect in one of the US critical resources.

I'm sure behind this whole thing are a few lobbyist and policy makers carving up who can sell electricity where.

I thought you could only poke a friend, which would mean they both agreed to add each other and thus allow interaction. If the facebook friendship was initiated before the initial court order wouldn't that require that it be ended by both parties and the act of keeping it would mean there was an agreement between both parties ? That's sorta like getting a restraining order and continuing to live with the person you had teh order againts.

Not sure why this is being posted as if it's a new product. Eagle Roofing based in California has been carrying a fairly successful product for some time now. Not only do they have a warrantied usable product but it also supports LEED cool roof requirements. see link below to check it out for yourself.

http://www.eagleroofing.com/greenBld_eagleSolarRoof.htm

this state of the art artificial heart has a built in pressure gauge and regulator that reports via Bluetooth to a little console in the ladies back pack next to her battery.

Perhaps, but I promise you this, at 99% in an energy starved world where energy is one of the driving forces for tension between countries, and world dominance (see middle east and russia) cost becomes much much less important. at $10.34 per kw/hr I assure you no matter what cost you charge there will be investors out there who will finance you.

I have a few friends who are detectives in two local jurisdictions, one being the lapd. After learning of some interrogation tactics only a seasoned criminal really has a chance, well them and those who are smart enough to request a lawyer immediately. I fully see the following scenario.

cop: So mr iamsosexyinthewv you do realize your mafia wars experience points will be subtracted once this goes to court right !?
perp: What do you mean they will be subtracted when i go to court.
cop: well if you weren't on the scene then they don't count.
perp: Your damn straight I was on the scene, I just got to cuba and i'm not about to go back.

or something like that...