Yea, I'm an older guy so I still write to my congress lady.

Not a lot of point on writing to my senators. I'm outnumbered there.

Not quibbling or sniping here.

It was actually a valid "example", not an analogy.

        aÂnalÂoÂgy
        noun: analogy; plural noun: analogies
                a comparison between two things, typically on the basis of their structure and for the purpose of explanation or clarification.
                "an analogy between the workings of nature and those of human societies"
                        a correspondence or partial similarity.
                        "the syndrome is called deep dysgraphia because of its analogy to deep dyslexia"
                        a thing that is comparable to something else in significant respects.
                        "works of art were seen as an analogy for works of nature"

The NSA really does capture and store pictures of your junk. NSA employees were capturing AND trading naked pictures of U.S. citizens.

Going overseas was the only way for him to keep the issue alive. He'd have disappeared here.

His soapbox abides.

And how awesome was it that Oliver went to russia to let him speak to a wide audience and bring the issue back to life just before the reauthorization vote in June!

I think Oliver opened with some tough stuff and Snowden didn't lose his shit and was cool-headed and intelligent enough to shift gears to the tone of the interview.

I was neutral/slightly positive on Snowden before and anti-NSA/Surveillance state. I came away from the article very positive on Snowden and wish he could get a pardon. What he did was good for the country.

These 15 minute "in depth" pieces are amazing AND effective.

But an actual interview with Snowden was amazing.

And oliver covered every angle from what I could see. He brought some reality to Snowden. And He brought some reality to us.

His humor is the sugar that makes the medicine go down.

I'm still pissed off about police officers confiscating people's houses and cars and using the money to buy margherita machines.

Aye. I speak from the perspective of a single car/bicycle house hold.

I'm pretty interested in owning an electric car when gasoline is $3.50 a gallon or higher.

It's a question of math and logic.

Yes-- you can blow $10k for capabilities you don't actually need. While you are at it, why not get the undercoating, titanium 24" wheels, self steering package, and every other option because you might need them? Drop a few grand extra for 4 wheel drive even tho all you are going to do is drive it in the city and highways in Florida or Alabama... you want to take it off road into the hill country where there are no roads or you might go somewhere in the winter where it snows regularly.

Honda Element.

I'm very tall and so my choice of cars is limited to those with high ceilings.

I've never had a fillup that didn't go over the low 11 gallon range so that's about 24 mpg. And that's with the "E" light on and the gauge on empty to get to about 11.6 gallons used.

I've gotten 300 miles per tank when I got gasoline that didn't have ethanol in it. So about 27mpg with old fashioned gasoline.

Most people don't need the range in reality. They only need it once or twice a year. They are paying a healthy premium- WAY over the cost of renting a vehicle for that once or twice a year that they need the range.

So their argument is sort of like requiring F-650's since once a year they have to carry a sheet of plywood or a piece of furniture.

The tesla is a bad example. The 85w has a range over 300 miles.

My gasoline car has a range of 250 to 265 miles (280 pure highway).

Also, it presumes the old battery has zero value. I'm not sure that's true.

There's also some math problem since a tesla owner site says

http://my.teslamotors.com/it_I...

"1. we know the cost to replace an 85 kwh battery is ~$12,000"
This is apparently with a trade in of the old battery...

Others in the same discussion mention 20 year life spans for well maintained batteries.
And others say that as long as the range exceeds 75 miles, it's usable for their daily driving needs ( so the tesla battery pack could lose 65% of it's capacity and still be fine. Some say 50 miles (which was typical of my usage for my ICE when I was working).

Just FYI...

Notch also said Minecraft would be open source someday too...

I seriously doubt that Microsoft is going to be opensourcing minecraft when it dies off or ever.

But hey! 2.5 billion dollars can change reality.

A person may have superior logical ability but poor ability to recall.

Google makes it easier to recall facts for which you only remember "pointers" to. Then you can exercise logic on them.

You can also have someone with a huge memory who is illogical and irrational.

They are independent skills.

Having a good memory helps an intelligent person when they can't access their notes, the internet, reference books, etc. It's great for trivia and for solving problem quicker.

Superpersuasiveness.

So make them cute, let them get past our defenses.. and then like children who grow into adults, they will grow into or reveal their true nature.

We really have to prepare for the worst with A.I. Stringent inability to upgrade at the least.

The reverse is true to tho. Some attempt suicide- regret it then-- but then attempt suicide again later.

It depends on the reason. Is life shitty? Just lost your child? Just got fire?

Or is your brain just shitty? Constant suicidal impulses even tho life is going well? On a drug that enhances those impulses? Always in pain? Always depressed regardless of medication? Always feel like life is pointless even when nothing is wrong?

Sometimes the problem is chemical and there is little we can do to help the people. Sometimes, it's a permanent solution to a temporary problem and we can help those people.

And as you say, sometimes attempting and really facing death makes the person realize they don't want to die.

And yea... we were going to end the surveillance program anyway... yea! That's the ticket!

And we were going to stop illegal wire taps and sneaking back doors into our commercial products.

Yea... because our girlfriend... Candice Swanepoel didn't want us too.