Physicists can, for example, tell you how fast a given object will accelerate when a force is applied to it.

Social scientists cannot tell you how each individual person will respond to an incentive, but they can tell you roughly how a certain percentage of a population will respond; knowing that is enough to influence the behavior of a group of people.

Apparently it isn't so much about not wanting to have babies earlier, it's more about "all the good men are married or gay". Once a person (man or woman) is out of school it becomes increasingly difficult to find a spouse; moving into higher income brackets makes it much more difficult - mostly you need to wait for the mid-life crisis to free some up through divorce.

That's kind of the question though. A huge amount of carbon is tied up in the Earth's crust. Some gets pulled down into the mantle, some gets released. From what I've read that cycle is in balance. So why wouldn't the carbon in the limestone stay there without tectonics?

Same stupid off topic post in every thread. What a moron.

Citizens United wasn't about donating to campaigns; it was about spending money separate from the campaign organization (i.e. Freedom of Speech). Congress certainly could limit how much individuals, corporations, unions, etc. can spend on political messages. But neither side wants to kill that goose.

Those two are not mutually exclusive. A Republic is one form of Democracy. I suppose you could have a Democracy that isn't a Republic though (democratically elected Monarchy?).

Of course we've all heard the argument that "Democracy" means direct governing by the people without elected representatives. That's one form of Democracy, Republic is another. It's most accurate to say the United States is a federation of semi-autonomous states which are themselves Republics.

NASA's LADEE ends it's mission to explore the Moon's atmosphere, and Space-X docks at the ISS.

Where are all those who keep saying the US has lost it's interest in Space?

If it was a fine the Supreme Court would have struck down the law. But they recognized Congress' authority to impose taxes, so the law stands.

I'm having trouble understanding how grain that is fit for human consumption isn't good enough to feed cattle, many of which spend most of their days out in the fields eating grass off the ground.

Depth of Field isn't an all or nothing thing. Thegoal is being able to control it so you can create the image you want. Love a picture that's sharp corner to corner? Great! Want a picture that emphasizes the subject and blurs the background or vignettes the corners? That's great too!

This being slashdot, I think it's appropriate to discuss the technical aspects of photographic lenses. You might even learn something by reading it with an open mind.

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(defun pronounce ("Des Moines") "Death Moans")

They wouldn't want to offend Russia, because Russia would stop the flow of gas they're siphoning off.