I am unable to explain how dis-appetizing this ending choice of phrasing was.

This may be the first textual diet suppressor.

This very topic is discussed in "Entertaining Physics" printed first in 1912. And I'm sure it has been discussed even earlier.

Mathematically it's an example of a degenerate orbit with one zero semi-axis, and the orbital period can be simply calculated from Kepler's laws.

What's more interesting, it even holds true if you do not move through the center of the Earth! For example, a train from any place on Earth to any other place on Earth will move all by itself and always arrive at destination in about 45 minutes (neglecting the oblateness of the Earth and need to compensate for Coriolis forces and friction) if you put it inside a completely straight tunnel.

Bing! Wrong.

Each financial transaction over NFC includes a cryptographic signature. All the attacks on NFC basically involve signal interception and/or retransmission. The next generation of NFC systems will include distance-bounding protocols to combat even that possibility.

I'm was an H-1B and I came to the US for a salary that put me in the top tax bracket. My job description included development of critical medical systems.

H1B is simply an employment visa, that could be used for many purposes. There actually are no other options, even for highly qualified professionals (L1 requires corporate relationships, B1-in-lieu-of-H is extremely rare and Green Card processing takes way too much time).

Usually, "epoxy" around the edges of a BGA chip is neither an anti-hacking attempt nor a light-proofing attempt. It's called underfill, and its chief purpose is to increase mechanical strength and make the bond more durable than tiny bare solder balls would be on their own.

Uhm... Aphids ARE multicellular.

Erm... Monsanto GM modifications are open source. The sequence of nucleotides and the method of their insertion is clearly described in these patents: https://www.google.com/patents... , https://www.google.com/patents... and other related patents. Feel free to use them, they are expired as of the last year.

If the reporter thinks it's the first example of horizontal gene transfer then they should go and study molecular biology. It's not even the first example of an animal stealing genes from another kingdom! The bacteria-originated genes were even found in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... - a model organism in biology.

No, homeschoolers do NOT outperform schools. There are NO studies comparing the outcomes of homeschooling and public schools. All the current assessments are based on self-selected tests administered by _parents_.

That's an argument from absurdity. You see, we have a framework of mutually agreed obligations (we call the "laws") and a process to change them. They are not perfect but they are much better than nothing.

And the framework that you propose quite demonstratably leads to a fucking mess. Yet you persist on forcing it upon everyone. Why? Are you a communist or something?

Nope. There's a complete exemption for the first $100k of income (plus rent and cost of living). And then tax credits are good for ANY amount. And the US income taxes are on the low side in the developed world.

And how is that different from the fast Internet connection?

You want another example? I have lots! Last month my council decided to fund a new park. By your standard it should be a commercial park with fee paid each time you step inside. You see, not everyone will use this new park!

Not true. My new housing development paid quite a bit of money to connect to the electric grid. Once the connection fee was paid (about 4 years) the monthly electricity bill went down. So yes, it happens a lot. So your argument fails.

Certainly. IF the buildout was financed from taxes then everyone is entitled to the same low fee. However, what if it was financed only by the initial subscribers? What should be done in this case?

I lost my five star while Uber's rider ratings were still leaking, because a driver went to the wrong location, and felt that I should walk seven blocks to meet them, and when I said no, they felt that that was worth a one-star.

According to Uber's customer service staff, they even confirmed that as the reason, but Uber still feels that the rating should stand, because as a rider, I should not have the expectation of being picked up within a mile of my location.

My impression of Uber's customer service is rather poor, as a result.

Without knowing the scale you can't tell ANYTHING about it. This might as well be a granite countertop (they are about 10x more radioactive than the surrounding items).

The truth is: getting a radiation sickness is HARD. Even when you work near the actual radioactive materials. Getting a heightened cancer risk is easier, but even that risk is too small to worry about. And given the amounts of radioactivity that has escaped from Fukushima I have exactly ZERO worries about it.