Aren't there already several DNA library initiatives underway? I think one is called LifeTechnologies, and then there's the seed vault in Norway (I think it's Norway). There was also talks a long time ago about putting a DNA library on the moon, which obviously has not happened yet.

I have friends who are cops. It's a shitty, thankless job where you get to enjoy the worst of human behavior. Oh, and occasionally your life is on the line; risking widowing your wife and leaving your kids without a father. Many of them were soldiers who enlisted, had a gun put in their hand at 18 years old, and taught to kill other people. It's easy to see how cops can become jaded and not give a crap about rights. A lot of them are pretty nice work-a-day randos just trying to get through life like the rest of us.

That said, I think in this instance the best way to police cops is to let them police themselves by hitting them where it really hurts: personal finances. So for example, the resulting remuneration from a lawsuit where cop takes your phone and erases a video is paid for from the police pension fund. Further, that officer's personal pension is reset to zero, or halved or some other appropriate consequence. That's a pretty powerful motivator, and there will be huge pressure from within the ranks to keep their shit wired tight. I also think it would need to be very narrowly defined. The last thing we want is officers afraid to do anything for fear of losing their pension.

Let me know when they can do this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
The Earth needs more Milla Jovovich.

Unless those stars are orbiting outside the galactic plane, then I don't believe that is "actual imagery". Maybe it's a representation (based on the data) of what it would look like if you could hover above the galactic plane and look down at the black hole.

This is why this project seems strange to me. Why image our own galactic center? There's roughly 25,000 light years of dust and stars to see through. Why not image the center of a galaxy that's plane is perpendicular to us?

John Oliver did a funny yet sad piece on Fergusson, MO and police militarization. My favorite part is the two stoners in Saginaw, MI filming the sheriff's armored truck; particularly when one has a moment of clarity and wonders how bad their city really is.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

Bookmarked in the event of zombie apocalypse!

I glossed through the lengthy article and didn't see if the DA's "Moneyball" approach is working, and to what extent if it is.

I'll start this off by stating I'm non-partisan and have no particular party affiliation. That said, the AC above is being disingenuous at best.

Domestic surveillance of the American populace by the NSA as almost certainly been in place since its inception, but it didn't really come into full-force until Bush signed the order to begin domestic spying on Oct.4, 2001. (see https://www.eff.org/nsa-spying... say that its reached "new and unimagined levels" under the current administration is true, but only because the program has grown and expanded steadily since 2001.

But all of that is history to be rewritten by those with the motivation to do so, and relearned by those with short memories. As Americans, our forefathers built a nation upon the idea that we could create and maintain a country free of political tyranny; that those with power could not subjugate those without; that as humans, we have the unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; that its laws will provide justice and protection for all its citizenry; and that those citizens will be brave in the face of those who would try to take those ideas from us, and fight to preserve what we have built.

The Senate had the chance to take a stand to honor the sacrifices made by so many, and everything that we've fought and bled for 238 years; but they did not. Perhaps that is fine. Perhaps ISIS, and Al-Qaeda before them, have shown us that the idea of America is a false one. That all it takes to shake our country to its foundation is to sneak in and blow up some buildings. Maybe we were delusional in thinking that we could really ever be free? Maybe it's all been romanticized through movies, literature, and rewritten history books; and that we never really were a "land of the free and home of the brave". Maybe that's just song lyrics. Maybe it is the best form of government on the planet, or maybe that doesn't matter because it's government of and by an animal driven by greed and fear. And maybe it's always been that way since we came out of the caves.

That's what I take away from this vote, and all the other votes on all the other measures that either erode our freedoms, or prevent that erosion from happening. That it doesn't matter what we do, no form of government can overcome our failings as species.

No, WAT is "which after typically". WTF is something else entirely.

I know he's lying because he's a politician, and his lips are moving. This isn't a dems/reps thing...they're all liars, crooks, and cheats. I'm not exactly sure what he's lying about; intentions, outcomes, agenda are all possibilities/probabilities. I'm just pretty sure he's lying about something.

One of mine was when a kid called to ask how he can make washing his parents' cars easier. Tom joked and replied, mix sand and iron filings into the bucket with the wash water...they'll never ask you to wash their cars again.

I disagree with the premise that "ObamaCare" and the ACA are the same thing. When Obama introduced his framework for health care reform, it included, among other things, a single-payer system. Controversial to be sure, but a key part of the plan. The republicans focused on that and the individual mandate as their two key talking points of opposition. The former was framed as a government takeover of healthcare, and the latter as unconstitutional. The democrats dropped the former to make it more palatable, presumably thinking something is better than nothing and perhaps it will be added in time. The republicans were quick to jump on board with that probably thinking without the single-payer element, the whole thing was dead. The latter was deemed constitutional by the supreme court, breathing new life into the legislation.

While the republicans termed the whole notion of healthcare reform as "ObamaCare" as a pejorative, in my mind the ACA is actually more of an inadvertent compromise between the democrats and the republicans. It wasn't the intention of the republicans to add things in and take things out as a means of compromise. What they did, they did to kill the legislation; but it didn't work out that way. In the end, the ACA is a democrat-led effort for healthcare reform with many compromises made to please, and at the behest of, republicans.

While the republicans didn't vote for the legislation; the legislation that passed has their fingerprints all over it.

But all of this is just political theater and bullshit. If any of you think your party is "right" or fighting for and representing your interests, you are deluded and probably of only average intelligence.

Sorry, I think you mistook slashdot for some Fox News forum?

I expect we'll probably see and hear the phrase "government takeover" quite a bit from the Fox News crowd on this issue. It's obviously incendiary; designed to spread fear and disinformation to the public. It's also totally baseless. As if municipal broadband is some kind of coup? As if the "gobmint" is going to prevent ISPs from doing business in this country? As if they are going to seize the assets of ISPs in order to control the information sent to the masses? As if they needed to and haven't already been doing that since the invention of the printing press?

Oh yeah, it's a government takeover. It couldn't possibly be people fed up with high rates, poor service, and no market forces present to correct this; willing to spend their tax dollars for a different system, possibly a better system, or simply to light a fire under those in control of the current system.

Uhh...what?!

Money != speech. In fact, the United States was formed, in part, as a means of getting away from rule by monarchy/aristocracy. Our founders went to war to prevent it. But I suppose that's where we are. Maybe it's an inevitable failing of humanity that greed, not love, conquers all. After all, you get as much justice as you can afford, why should speech be any different?

But you did say "the public doesn't like what they have to say", and as we know from the article summary "The bill was modified without any opportunity for public comment." It's not like that was an accident, you know. They know full-well what the public comment would be. From the auto dealers, those they employ, and their lobbyists; we'd get: "This is bad for America!", "Think of the children!", and "This is pro-ebola!" From everyone else we'd hear "Please don't tell me how I can buy the products I want to use."

Really, this is just furthering the nail in Michigan's coffin. If Michigan residents can't buy Tesla's in their home state, they'll buy them in another. Purchasing a Tesla is statement, and a lifestyle choice. It's not a purchase of convenience. I'd fly to California and drive a Tesla back if I had to and was in the market for one. That's me taking the money I earn in Michigan and giving the sales tax on a high-dollar item to CA.

We live in an Oligarchy.

If the majority of wealthy car dealers don't want Tesla ruining their state-sponsored, protectionist, big-government, corporate-welfare free ride; they'll send an army of lobbyists to make sure none of them have to compete against one.