If we're talking about a computer driven truck there certainly could be enough time. It depends on how powerful of a system it has and whether or not it is continuously monitoring all of its surroundings to begin with.

You ask a good question about your motivation to pay more taxes to support a more socialistic system, with no perceived benefit.

I would propose that you, and I as tax payers, would benefit. Society is constantly changing, and if you hadn't noticed in the US we seem to be incarcerating more and more people on a daily basis. The money for those prisons doesn't just fall from heaven like the mana of old. Poverty breeds crime like almost nothing else, and the future trend appears to be continued growth of poverty while the middle class dwindles. One way or another we are going to be paying more taxes to deal with the problems that poverty breeds, and prisons and crime is just part of that.

So the question really becomes, can we reduce the ill affects of poverty on society by adopting a more socialistic system for the same or cheaper cost than simply treating the symptoms? And that's strictly the money side of things, what would be the dollar value of lowering the chance of becoming the victim of crime? Or knowing that you can take a risk on starting your own business, or chasing some other dream, without exposing your family to being destitute should you fail?

A good stand mixer is multipurpose because it can be used for a variety of tasks. It can whisk, it can mix, and it can knead. Those are things it can do without fancy attachments, using attachments it can do a whole range of other things.

Not that it matters, I was just pointing out the silliness of a such a poorly worded quote. Maybe it was a mis-quote.

That does seem excessive. Mine uses half a cup more water than rice, unless it's brown rice which needs half a cup extra or something. The thing uses a thermostat I believe to determine when the rice is done so no timers are needed. It basically boils the water and as soon as it detects the temperature climbing past the boiling point, signifying the water has all boiled off, it reduces the temp to the keep warm setting. I wonder if there are types of rice for which this wouldn't be sufficient, not that it matters in the USA the stores typically only have a couple varieties for sale.

Vaccination is good on the whole, I don't argue against that. I do not see my right to life as being greater than another persons right to medical self determination. I wouldn't force someone to give me a kidney, blood transfusion, or bone marrow let alone be vaccinated to preserve my life.

The solution being used for vaccinations is unproductive for similar reasons as you cited for my example. By excluding the unvaccinated children from school you force them into homeschooling. Homeschooling, while it can be done well, frequently just leads to a deeper level of indoctrination. The parents are making decisions you don't agree with and so the solution is to punish the child and ensure they'll likely receive an even worse education? What do you think will happen when they grow up and have children of their own? After being forcibly ostracized as children they will simply be even more deeply entrenched in whatever points of view and beliefs that led their parents to not vaccinate them. I would rather foot the bill for a duplicate school system just to handle unvaccinated kids than exacerbate the problem by forcing them into homeschooling.

The quote was something about serving a single purpose. Each of those things really only has one purpose.

Thanks for the link.

I wish they had studied more than just MMR. At least the Febrile Seizures are essentially just an extra expense since they don't cause any long term issues and aren't damaging on their own. But that is an important thing to know and be aware of.

Honestly it doesn't matter to me if this is being caused by use Humans or not. The real question is should we attempt to do something to slow down or stop the global warming? If the answer is yes, then we need to start working on that and a prime place to start is the factors that we can control, such as CO2 emissions. Playing the blame game at this point is a waste of time and effort.

I like Alton Brown but I'm curious how he justifies things like knives, ovens, stoves, refrigerators, freezers, can openers, tongs, oven mits, and any number of other things by that rule.

For me a better guideline has been how often you use something. The less frequently you use it compared to the portion of your space it consumes the higher priority it should have when organizing a garage sale.

I'm not sure how a rice cookers interface can be that complicated. Mine has an on/off button and keep warm. You put in rice and water in the appropriate ratio, press the on button, and then go do whatever the hell you want for the 15 minutes to an hour it takes to finish. The timer it takes depends on how much rice you put in and what type, brown rice taking the longest in my experience.

In my experience cooking rice on the stovetop sucks. It needs constant tending and is easily burned if you get distracted at the wrong time. My wife thought it was a silly thing to purchase at the time until we had used it exactly once. Perfect rice every time you use it, with the bonus that you can safely focus on other tasks while the rice cooks. And even once the rice is done cooking you can keep on doing other things until you can get to the rice because the cooker won't burn the rice.

For me this whole issue is less about religous freedom and instead about being free to make your own medical decisions. At what level of risk do we draw the line and violate another persons right to making their own medical decisions in favor of lowering our risk of catching an infectous disease?

How about if we look at a different scenario for a bit. Statistics have shown that violent crime is more often perpetrated by those of lower income, in heavily urbanized areas, and from single parent homes. What would you think of a proposal to deny social benefits to a pregnant single mother who refuses an abortion and lives below some arbitrary income level in a similarly arbitrary geographic region? I would hope that you find that proposal insane and unworkable. I feel much the same way about forcing anyone into any medical procedure or face being ostracized from important parts of society.

Do you have any links for that study. I found reference to a study done in Oregon regarding this but couldn't actually find the name of the study or anything. The article I read failed to mention any increased risk of complications. The only risks it discussed was what you would obviously expect given that the child goes longer without the vaccination, and that they might not finish the vaccination schedule.

Depending on your lifestyle I think the additional risk from taking longer to accomplish all the vaccinations can largely be negated. For kids who get farmed out to daycares and or travel extensively it is obviously more critical that they be vaccinated as quickly as possible. My own kids though have a stay at home Mom and don't have a lot of contact outside the home until Kindergarten.

I was overseas when they made a big push to take a relatively untested Anthrax vaccine. This was after it was determined that the enemies we were fighting weren't using Anthrax, and that the attacks (mailings) had all been to politicians and such. There was a lot of rah rah'ing over how important it was to take the vaccine as military members. I turned it down because they couldn't tell us anything about possible long term side affects. When talking about it with others no one seemed to have opted to take it.

Defending your child to me, is more about ensuring that they are treated fairly and justly than about protecting them at all costs from any punishment or accusation, just or not. In a hypothetical case where I agree that the accusation and punishment is entirely fair and just, I will still be there to verify all of that and that the punishment is carried out appropriately, that is still defending my child.

All that said though it is also important to teach a child that their luck in the criminal justice system, should they stray that way, is very much dependant upon having the best lawyer and or friends in high places. That is of course a different but equally important lesson. Teaching a child to ignore reality is a dangerous thing.

I would opine that given pretty much any justice system currently in existence that the accused should always have an advocate to defend them. The prosecution should always have to prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt and it is the defending counsels job, as well as the judge, to see to it that the prosecution is kept honest and does their job. Even in cases where the accused has admitted guilt the punishment is nearly always a range options, and defending counsel in that case advocates for a lighter sentence to try and ensure the punishment fits the crime.

In no case should a child be left to stand alone against adults making accusations regardless of the truth of those accusations.