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Comment Re:Thank you - just PR for his presidential run. (Score 4, Interesting) 385

Two: He also prevented it from passing cloture by unanimous consent, which is really silence. The chair asks a variation of "Without objection, so ordered" and if everyone is silent, it passes. There are no up/down votes, so no up/down vote is recorded

Now people are going to vote yea or nay, and THAT will be on the record for the next election.

Forcing the jackasses to go on the record as to whether or not they support the bill, rather than allowing them plausible deniability on whether or not they would have voted for it is actually a fantastic thing, particularly after the John Oliver interview of Edward Snowden, which basically makes it pretty obvious that the government gets to see you dick/boob picks if the bill is passed.

Comment Re:Now if only the rest of the country would follo (Score 1) 545

Our current vaccination rate for measles is not really adequate which allowed an introduced infection to spread a bit and even find a second epicenter due to travel. However, we do have a sufficient immunization rate that it died out fairly quickly. The empirical evidence proves that.

If you are correct, why isn't measles spreading in a big wave across the country right now? Most of the population has never had the measles.

It's not spreading all over because infected people from hot zones like the Philippines are not really doing a lot of traveling to the U.S., and, as I said, after onset of symptoms, people self-quarantine, and after an outbreak, people avoid other people they don't personally know, and avoid large gatherings of people where transmission is more likely.

Vaccination is not 100% effective, but strong border controls on people traveling from hot zones and strict quarantine rules are 100% effective.

Can't have an outbreak without a patient zero...

Comment Re:Now Germany! (Score 2) 100

What enemy is on Greeces border?? Turkey is a Greek ally, they are pledged to defend each other

Russia does not border with Greece, but Kaliningrad is right near to Germany, just a quick hop over the Baltic

Turkey and Greece are both members of NATO but, while being NATO member states have still almost gone to war! The border is still full of land mines.

Comment Re:How would nukes exert force on an asteroid? (Score 1) 150

In atmosphere, nukes produce blast because of high energy x-rays igniting atmosphere. This won't happen in space.

So how would letting off a nuke near or on an asteroid produce reaction and change the course of the asteroid?

Basically, the x-rays will ignite the surface of the asteroid instead. If the material in the asteroid is sub-optimal for this purpose, there have been designs of turning a nuclear bomb into a kinetic weapon that should work in this regard. Basically the bomb sits in an x-ray reflective shell, and when the bomb explodes, the x-rays bounce around the shell before the exploded bits of the bomb destroy it and exit an aperture. At the end of the aperture is a large, dense block of x-ray absorbing material. This material is vaporized by the x-rays and is all traveling in a similar direction as the x-rays were all going in that general direction. This plasma moving at relativistic speeds then slams into the target like a nuclear shot gun blast. IIRC, this design was built for using nuclear bombs against space ships and it was estimated that it could direct 95% of the energy of the bomb at the intended target.

Thanks, thats a nice explanation!

Comment Re:It's a PR campaign (Score 1) 190

people do insane things. all the time. if your argument depends upon how someone you don't know is perfectly sane and rational, your argument sucks

Ah-hah, that means the FBI must admit he has a perfect defense. If he did it, he was insane at the time.

The glove doesn't fit. You must acquit. Why would Chewbacca live on Endor?

Chewbacca lives on Endor because he is a closet paedophile; Ewoks can pass as prepubescent Wookies!

Comment Re:call me skeptical (Score 1) 190

Wouldn't it be a simple matter to check the flight data recorder to see if the engine in question actually did what the FIB (intentionally written that way) said it did?

You might miss out on the opportunity to plead guilty to a crime you didn't commit in order to take a short cut through an otherwise long and expensive legal process. I believe this is called a 'plea bargain' where the US legal system accepts your blatant lie in exchange for improving their case closed statistics. Ie a corrupt practice.

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