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Comment how ironic (Score 0) 161

I have no issue with Assange being on this. His goal was ALWAYS about getting knowledge out there. Now, he may be a rapists, but that is a different issue.
However, I take issues with both Manning and Snowden.
Manning's goal was NOT to release information because he opposed what was going on. His reason was because he was mad at the US because he was gay and was about to be booted out. With that said, the information that he release was about some of our illegal doings. As such, he should not be punished for this, but, he is no hero.

Snowden is a whole other creature from these two. He worked on a number of NSA systems. He was aware of what was going on. Cool. I worked on some of these, BUT, it was all low-level stuff, not the high levels that he had. I was aware that it was POSSIBLE to do the things that we have done. When he spoke about the spying on Americans, I was actually good with that. NSA had congressional oversight that was removed by the GOP back in 2005. I was against that because I knew that they did that so that their friends could go to work and do much more than what they were allowed to. That is why Congressman Udall kept hinting at what was going on.
BUT, when he told how NSA spies on the outside world, he became a traitor. America set up NSA to spy on what other nations, terrorists and foreign elements do. We need to know what is going on out there. It is the same thing that ALL NATIONS DO. Yes, EVERY NATION HAS THIS GOING ON. Now, NSA has greater capabilities because we have top ppl in there. In addition, we have worked with many nations to not only spy for us, but also to give them the information. Everyone that we work with, which includes all of the west, KNOWS what we are up to. In addition, we, and UK, have tought others how to do this counting on sharing of information. That is why AQ has not been successful in attacking the west for over 10 years. France happened because all of these nations hold back from spying everywhere, and once terrorists became aware of how we do things, then they could evaded the net. All they had to do was simply avoid certain comm channels that went between nations. By doing that, the evaded the net.
France's attack success can be blamed partially on Snowden. He made it possible for those terrorists to evade the net. In fact, a big reason why so many are going from Europe to ISIS is because ISIS now knows how to avoid detection and instead focuses their recruiting efforts throughout europe and other locations in which they are not going to be interrupted.
How many of you have kids? Do you have a 15-16 y.o. in which the girls want to go marry a terrorists and 'fight for freedom'? Of course, when those girls marry, they are not just property, but ISIS killed a number of them, and their infant kids, so that they were not a burden when they moved from one location to another.
Of course, your boy was not murdered. Just put on the front line with little to no training and told to take on western trained troops. IOW, they were cannon fodder.

Sorry, but this is not what I would want for my kids. And sadly, Snowden makes it possible.

Comment Re: Gamechanger (Score 2) 514

Neither is a 10 KWH battery with something like an AC, or electric heat.
However, if you have a decently insulated house, then it will hold the temp for quite sometime.
In addition, a solar system, combined with a low energy using geo-thermal HVAC will reset the temps in the daytime.

Comment this is musk only bad idea. (Score 1, Interesting) 514

Seriously, the man is a genious, but batteries for homes is not that good, unless it is possible for utility to control them as well. At the very least, Tesla should make available server software that utility can interact with home batteries when owner allows. In seasonal weather with high demands and when solar can be blocked via clouds or length of day, it is best to allow utility to control when to charge them , or buy from them.

Comment Corporations are people too (Score 4, Insightful) 226

Except without all that silly permanence when things go wrong.

As long as the founders played the corporation game right, they have no personal liability at stake. A corporation is just like a person, except that when a corporation violates a law which would burden it for life, or financially destroy it, it magically disintegrates leaving the real people who ran it into the ground clean and unencumbered by their wrongdoing.

There are good reasons for the existence of corporations; this isn't one of them.

Comment 25% deflation? Amateurs, I tell you! (Score 5, Informative) 253

Losing 25% year on year in the Peso looks like kid's stuff in the devaluation game. They need a *real* currency to lock in year on year decreases of more than 50%. And that's why they've turned to Bitcoin!

4/15/2014 = $496
4/15/2015 = $223

It's not as fun as lighting cigars with $100 bills, but it's just as productive!

Comment Re:Most electric cars are powered by burning coal (Score 1) 280

Even the most inefficient modern coal plants are significantly more efficient than an internal combustion engine.

The added bonus of electric cars is that, as the power generation shifts to less polluting sources (we hope), the electric car will become less polluting over time. The ICE powered car, however, will likely decrease in efficiency and increase the amount of pollutants it expels over time.

As for coal power, most of the electric cars in the US are located in CA, OR, and WA. Those states are primarily powered by natural gas, hydro, and nuclear power plants. Less then 15% of their energy comes from coal.

Comment Re:Show me the math on the Tesla. (Score 1) 280

I would be skeptical as well, however the Tesla is very easy to check. From the top link on Google:
"[the range of the Model S] 85 kWh battery pack is 265 miles"

  86,000Wh x 3.41 BTU/Wh / 265 miles = 1107 BTU per mile

I'm going to say that their claim is "accurate" based on a very simplistic level. As you point out, there are efficiency losses in generation, transmission, and charging.

Now, if you use the EIA rates (http://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.cfm?id=667&t=3) for power generation, it's more like 10 BTU/Watt, which puts the tesla up to 3300 BTU per mile (ballpark), and still doesn't include transmission or charging losses. Of course, whether you're burning coal for that 10BTU or allowing fissile decomposition for that 10BTU makes a pretty big difference in the type of pollution you're going to have as a byproduct. (that's another argument, of course).

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