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Comment Re:HOWTO (Score 1) 1081

Exactly.

We can't competently confirm actual guild and have repeatedly pardoned people on death row as well has evidence that some people executed may have been executed.

Sure-- keeping an innocent person in prison for life is horrific. But killing an innocent person was a big thing the founding fathers were clearly trying to avoid.

Comment Re:Politicians will be stupid but scientists/techn (Score 1) 356

actively collecting cats and making sure all cats get fixed would have a greater reduction of bird deaths by orders of magnitude.
cats kill BILLIONS of birds a year in the united states alone.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/...

So perhaps each power plant could fund an animal patrol officers in large cities they serve.

Comment Re:Politicians will be stupid but scientists/techn (Score 1) 356

Two years ago my neighbor woke me up because the gas line broke where it entered my house. Quarter inch think steel pipe. 70 years of flexing with the climate. Could have been a huge explosion when I turned off the fluorescent light (apparently that could have caused a spark. fyi!).

And there have been some large neighborhood scale explosions over the last few years (I notice them now on the news after my incident).

The problem with gas is the same with nuclear is not the same with solar.

an aging solar power solution will simply fail to work.

an aging gas or nuclear solution (with designs in place- not the new designs) can fail spectacularly.

If they use the new smaller nuke designs which automatically fail quietly in combination with solar, it might work.

A problem with solar and nuke- is heat pollution. You are taking energy from one area and moving it to another area. The amounts are small compared to the larger climate- but .1degrees is small but can be the difference between water boiling or freezing. There are some signs that wind is having slight effects on climate too. It's extracting energy and moving it elsewhere. That seems similar to a tall forest growing in the same location tho.

Comment Re:Politicians will be stupid but scientists/techn (Score 1) 356

I know. And Nuclear is in second place for the amount of land rendered uninhabitable too!

Coal wins that, rendering multiple cities uninhabitable and with multiple Chernobyl sized areas rendered uninhabitable by coal seam fires plus ongoing smoke pollution covering huge areas.

Nuke plants- great in theory.
Nuke plants + Human Operators- an accident waiting to happen. The current average appears to be one major accident per decade.

We need to use smaller nukes with modern designs. And we need to back those up with a few reactors which will consume their waste and reduce it to much smaller quantities.

But when anyone solves the battery problem- nukes are dead dead dead and alternative energy of all kinds makes much more sense.

Comment Re:Price Controls? (Score 1) 279

Actually, parts of california (san diego) are classified as semi arid.

To your comment-

http://extras.mnginteractive.c...

It's been pretty wet since 1600. But it was pretty dry before that.

Humans don't really think on a time scale of 500 year cycles. You can have an entire civilization rise and fall during a 500 year period.

Comment Re:You don't say... (Score 1) 606

You mean the heritage of beating blacks with an inch and a quarter thick stick and then making the blacks that survive quote scripture that praises the white for beating them them? No.
You mean the heritage where judges and ministers said that blacks were ordained by god to be slaves? Again, No.

Dickenson festivals in waistcoats- sure.

Knights on shining armor at the renfest- sure.

White/asian/black/latino pride is merging so much faster than when I was growing up. But it still has a long way to go.

As far as sexual fetish pride- you show me a person whose rabidly against a particular fetish- I'll bet you dollars to donuts that person wants to or already is practicing that fetish. Be it Haggard, or The Faye's, or Republican officials, etc. etc. etc.

Let go of your hatred. Live your own life. Pass on the good things about your heritage to your children.

Comment Re:You don't say... (Score 2) 606

It's a problem in the U.S. and a part of it is the historical segregation and discrimination which reduced opportunities for black u.s. citizens. Some segments of black society here developed unproductive attitudes in response to decades of hopelessness and unfairness.

Likewise, unequal enforcement of drug laws disenfranchised many young blacks (a white arrested gets a fine and is let go- a black arrested gets a year in jail and a record- still happens- was happening in ferguson). A white girl arrested- gets her parents called while the black girls are told "trash goes in back" and arrested- same group of girls treated dramatically different.

Looking at london,
https://answers.yahoo.com/ques...
It's completely different. Fair treatment by the police, mixed race neighborhoods (less white flight), most positive attitudes.
Much more just "british citizens who have dark brown skin" and who still retain some of their national heritage from wherever they came from.

TL;DR: (as you say) While not uniquely american, the OP was clueless and I agree completely with your position.

Comment Re:You don't say... (Score 2) 606

There is a point where you need to confront and disincent certain behaviors. We have massive evidence that racism can get out of hand and result fairly quickly in beatings, death, enslavement, riots, mass murder, civil breakdown- and massive loss of potential for the targets of racism..

We already had the debate on racism and racism "lost". While the government has to tolerate and protect racist free speech, all kinds of other private organizations and businesses do not.

By kicking out the frat charter, you send a clear message that civilized society won't tolerate such behavior and being racist will have negative consequences. Plus you take away some of the financial assets racists would have had.

It's tough. I'm racist myself. Racism is insidious the way it creeps in around the edges. It destroys people's lives and harms society.

Comment Re:Price Controls? (Score 1) 279

Your point is a good one tho the situation is complex with many moving parts.

In the case of oil, they held up the price of oil for 4 years and so tremendous oversupply resulted.

For california,
It has a history of 50+ year long droughts (and some much longer in reality- just with 1-2 year breaks between 50 year spells).
Artificially low water prices due to water shipped in from several states away.
Beautiful climate that attracts a lot of people anyway.

I wonder if solar water distillation of sea water will be one answer.

Comment Re: Well, then I guess (Score 1) 284

Businesses pay property on those items as well. It's called "inventory tax".

However, they can also deduct some costs and depreciation of those assets.

Businesses pay property taxes on their offices, computers, vehicles, inventory on hand, etc.

If "mickey mouse" is a "property" that is worth 27 million dollars, then some kind of tax should be due.

While that would only free "copyrighted" properties that had lost their obvious commercial value (which would be huge), it's a start.

We really need to revert back to original shorter copyright periods reflecting human lifespans. We should not use "immortal" corporations as the baseline for copyright periods.

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