No, they will continue to extract it in order to make plastics and other things out of it instead of fuel.

When I worked at a US Geological Survey office that also archives all the US Govt satellite and aerial imagery, there was a memo that was sent out around 1993 or so. All research projects had to show how they were helping the study of global climate change. If they didn't, they were candidates for having their funding cut. The only exceptions were the ones that were being paid by external agencies or governments. So NASA is researching it for the same reason other agencies are: they have some expertise that can be useful and the funding keeps other projects alive.

Especially since the B and the V sound the same to some native Spanish speaking people.

The key phrase is: non-military discretionary spending. Medicare, Social Security, interest on the national debt, Federal pensions, entitlements, etc. are all considered "mandatory spending", not discretionary. It is also about 2/3 of all Federal spending. The discretionary stuff is what most of the political fighting is over and it isn't what is driving the increase in the debt. Yes, the percentage of that remaining 1/3 that's being spent on NASA has gone down in part to the expansion of government since the 60's. If NASA could spend that $18 billion without having to scatter it across a huge number of Congressional districts, they might be able to use what they have more effectively. Until then, they need a better excuse for pork spending on NASA instead of some other pet project.

You can now throw all your piss jugs out at Bill's place or at MSFT HQ.

And they'll pull out a chart or some sort of pamphlet that shows the "correct" way of having a computer set up. Of course this is usually something that's impractical with the desk layout and any number of different things. I eventually got used to the progressive lenses that were prescribed to me, but I've found that for computer work, I use the "distance" part of the lenses and end up looking over the top of them for up close work because that's easier than using the "near" part of the progressive lenses. I also just keep them at work and have regular glasses for home. They also said that I'd need one pair of those if I ever did anything like use a recliner for watching TV. IMHO, they probably look better than bifocals, but they're not as useful due to the blurry spots.

Even if the words are 100% correct, it doesn't mean that the translation makes sense. A while ago another employee decided that instead of sending the text for a screen to our translation team, they would just use google or bing translate. Not long after they did that, a co-worker in México called me laughing hysterically. He said what they had for the machine translated Spanish for "Orders in Queue" actually meant "Commands in the ass".

And a big reason that they're much dirtier than when they're brand new is due to people not following their manufacturers' maintenance schedules and skip doing periodic checks & operations in order to save a few bucks here & there.

It isn't so much the diet as it is the will of the person to change their behavior. They need to get their mind focused on a goal and decide to not live the way that they did in the past. I used to be over 300 pounds and tried a few things over the years that didn't help very much. I'd get on a big project and gain the weight back again because I was eating crap food and was always at my desk. I had some heart rhythm problems one day and to help diagnose the problem, my doctor had me wear a heart monitor for a week. After hearing about this, my mom and my older sister drove 1000 miles (some of it through a blizzard) to take care of me. After that, I swore that I'd never put my mom through that again and I wasn't going to be the lardass carted off to the hospital in an ambulance ever again. Monitoring my food intake via smartphone apps has been a huge help in addition to making what I eat at home instead of going out or eating pre-packaged stuff. I'm nearly 100 pounds down from my max weight and would be doing better if I could just stop doing stupid things that limit my ability to exercise (hell, I didn't know that shoes could be considered "worn out" before all the tread was off the bottom and that you can mess up your legs trying to run with them - but I do now. :) ). I do creep up from time to time, but as long as the trend is going down, I'm happy. It's nice to hear "hey, man, you're getting skinny" from time to time, but I still have more to lose and until I'm at my goal, I'm still a lardass that needs to work at losing weight.

So if your friend wants a doctor to prove to him that a particular diet plan to work, then it doesn't sound to me like he's had a "I have change, or I'm going to fucking die" moment. I hope he comes to that realization before he has any serious problems and can get to a healthy weight.

That already exists: http://www.webmd.com/diet/alli... If the first time you take it and then eat a really greasy meal (fried chicken, pizza, ribs, onion rings, etc), the next trip to the toilet will be a surprise. It will look like the Exxon Valdez ran around in the toilet bowl, but with globs of orange fat floating in the water instead. Also, when one feels and hears a rumble deep in your guts, it is time to find a bathroom as quickly as possible, because as Jim Lahey would say "the express shit train is all greased up and ready to leave the station".

Have you had your doctor calculate the amount of calories that you need to maintain your existing weight? If so, shoot for 500 calories below that and as long as that is above 1000 calories for the day, you should lose weight. The 1000 lower limit is often considered the point at which the body goes into "starvation mode" and can start storing fat (although a friend went on a 600 calorie a day diet for a few weeks to try address his diabetes and lost a bunch of weight in the process).

Don't worry. You will be middle aged one day.

Does he require his employees to be paid overtime? Is he leading by example or just rattling on about the government should force other people to do?

then reduce the amount of padding so the users won't try to use their head as a weapon and change how the fundamentals are taught.

Not if one is so bored that you're falling asleep while cruising across the prairie.