NOTE: Ahead of the expected misconstruing of what I'm saying; the Antarctic is considered a desert due to it's very low rainfall. However, if there is more fresh water rain -- that could be creating the ice, or when we have many icebergs calving that are the size of Rhode Island -- that means the ice gets broken up or sloughs off, creating a spreading.

The ice may also be very thin. More or less ice doesn't automatically mean anything -- and I don't KNOW the facts, I'm just throwing down reasons for what we see. It's very likely this does NOT mean the Antarctic got cooler.

Citation please!

Agreed. The "spreading out" of thin ice might just be due to a lot of ice falling off the Antarctic and more precipitation -- if it were cooler, you'd have less.

This might a good "negative" feedback mechanism that reduces overall infrared absorption -- at least in Antarctica, but likely not enough to curb the trend.

But those who say " we need more research" before affecting someone's profits -- well, they will think this proves something.

This is part of spoken English.

That horrible stuff the teach in English class in school is not spoken or read outside of Pedants and English Teacher forums.

3X Less is equivalent to 1 / 3X. It's like saying 33.333% !

As far as questionable English goes, this can't be better than not any Double Negatives.

People are 90% bacteria.

When we are born -- it's not just genes we get, there is likely a whole scaffolding system from the Mother that passes on Mitochondria to protein based information. It seems the search for intelligence has been too reductionist to JUST DNA and not looking at the embryonic stage where environment and mother switch on and off different components and equip the baby with a complex immune system, GI tract. It's like saying a "computer" is smart based just on the CPU and not paying attention the what programs were installed.

And it translates to MORE REVENUE for police departments have moved away from "protect and serve" to "find that revenue".

Fines are supposed to discourage a certain behavior. And in the case of the poor, the fines are not reduced based on income -- they are a higher percentage of that person's income. The theory of discouragement is therefore false because the poor get a greater penalty relative to the rich, and they also are fined more frequently. Guilt or Innocence meet equal punishment as well, if not more so for the costs involved if you go to trial to prove innocence in the vain attempt to get rid of an automatic fine.

The police don't like you that day; you get a fine. That's all that matters.

While I get what you are saying as far as "research" it's kind of like saying; "We can't know how to treat Agent Orange damage if we don't keep spraying Agent Orange -- there won't be enough data."

Fracking is a transition tech -- it's getting the last bits of natural gas and that's fine. But if we spent more money pushing the alternative energy -- which WILL EVENTUALLY be cheaper, we speed the day and time when it's more viable.

The environment and mankind will be better off on alternative energy so why are we dragging our feet on that while making excuses for the BAD STUFF somehow getting better? It makes no sense and that's not being "entrenched" on a point of view. Solar and Wind are the future -- there is no good excuse to wait.

And I'm not 100% against fracking -- I just recognize it as a stop gap measure.

A Chinese Snowden would never reveal his name.

However, if he went to the US for refuge, money could change hands and we might hand him over. Because money is free speech over here and all that.

So on balance; no better and no worse to be a whistleblower.

It's funny, but even though it seems like a "momma state" issue that they block access to a website, I can't imagine someone suing a company for what the NSA or FBI did and being successful.

Police using heavy handed techniques and traffic lights to procure revenue in your area? Good luck with that.

We have this impression of China as a place where the state does what it wants without repercussions -- but this court case tells me that I've got to reevaluate that image. It's not the China of 20 years ago.

Our Supreme Court is fascist. I fully expect them to uphold the "we got an anonymous tip" and provide a hole a truck can drive through with all this "NSA metafile information that won't ever be used against you..."

And off the record, we see here you visited a certain bunny ranch in Vegas, we'd like to see a larger number on next years budget in the appropriations committee.

The threat posed by the Silk Road is orders of magnitude less than "anonymous" evidence in FBI court cases. This is the morning before we wake up to a boot on our neck --- and I don't that's hyperbole.

Is that like Plausible BS -- or am I using a too technical word here?

I always figured that the "illegally gained intelligence" whether it be to get rid of a politician or someone affecting the status quo, would be an "anonymous tip" or "via great sleuthing."

This great sleuthing never occurs if it's a bank or someone politically connected -- strange.

... are about Frankenstein's monster. They can be really awesome stores, but they are can be summed up with changing the name of the Doctor.

So it's really all anti-science, science fiction. Why isn't he anti Fossil Fuel studies? Not sure. But if you are looking for a villain we all have our "go to" groups. And I think you can almost describe the shift in attitudes of any age by saying if most of the villains in the movies are corporate, state, scientist, religious institution, third world,.. and the like. We define ourselves by who we most often blame.

I blame Michael Crichton , mostly.

Whoosh the humor went over my head, or "Whoosh!" the sound of a hundred NASA rocket scientists groaning at bad science in movies?

No, the T-1000 was a liquid metal. Due to it's heat conduction (we can assume from the metal) it would conduct heat and thus not create a protective gas layer.

Now if you want to start talking about Armageddon's bad physics, we could be here all day.