Comment Re:Inspiring and selfless (Score 1) 242
I don't think you can really say they are true counter-examples because different forms of government are best for different cultures/people. Germany makes a multi-party system work.
Comment Re:Inspiring and selfless (Score 1) 242
Germany does. It forces their political parties to listen to ideologies other than their own and work together in order to get elected.
Submission + - The Cost of US Security
Hugh Pickens writes writes: "The Atlantic reports that as we mark Osama bin Laden's death, what's striking is how much he cost our nation and how little we've gained from our fight against him. By conservative estimates, bin Laden cost the United States at least $3 trillion over the past 15 years, counting the disruptions he wrought on the domestic economy, the wars and heightened security triggered by the terrorist attacks he engineered, and the direct efforts to hunt him down. "What do we have to show for that tab," ask Tim Fernholz and Jim Tankersley. "Two wars that continue to occupy 150,000 troops and tie up a quarter of our defense budget; a bloated homeland-security apparatus that has at times pushed the bounds of civil liberty; soaring oil prices partially attributable to the global war on bin Laden's terrorist network; and a chunk of our mounting national debt." In 2004 bin Laden explicitly compared the US fight to the Afghan incursion that helped bankrupt the Soviet Union during the Cold War. "We are continuing this policy in bleeding America to the point of bankruptcy," said bin Laden adding that that every dollar spent by al-Qaida in attacking the US has cost Washington $1m in economic fallout and military spending. Considering that we've spent one-fifth of a year's gross domestic product--more than the entire 2008 budget of the United States government--responding to his 2001 attacks, he may have been onto something."
Submission + - Hungary Grants Personhood to Fetuses (euractiv.com)
Nanosapien writes: Hungary's new constitution, in addition to being drafted on the iPad, includes an amendment granting full personhood rights to fetuses from the moment of conception in "a eulogy to the country's Christian roots and past greatness". Also of note was allowing parents the ability to cast votes on behalf of their children, rewarding families who have more children.
Comment Re:Ma Bell Stifled Innovation? (Score 1) 354
I believe the same scientist there who made the magnetic tape also invented a rudimentary optical network as well, which was also buried because they saw it as a threat.
I'm trying to find the exact article, but Wired magazine published an article about that research being stifled.
Comment Re:please stop (Score 1) 703
You're right... They're not hackers. They're HACKERS ON STEROIDS!
Miniature Human Livers Grown In Lab 154
Zothecula writes "In the quest to grow replacement human organs in the lab, livers are no doubt at the top of many a barfly's wish list. With its wide range of functions that support almost every organ in the body and no way to compensate for the absence of liver function, the ability to grow a replacement is also the focus of many research efforts. Now, for the first time, researchers have been able to successfully engineer miniature livers in the lab using human liver cells."
