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Comment Re:My Issue Is... (Score 1) 1698

I don't get this line of arguement. I don't ask insurance to feed and maintaine myself or my car. The only time I contact either is a "Uh-oh" situation. My few medical run-ins have resulted in horrendous bills that require months or years to repay. Calling the current system "competetive" is laughable, everyone I know (Doctors included) hates it, but nobody knows how to make it better.
That being said, my faith in the government to fix things is shaky at best.

Comment Re:Strikers Vow (Score -1, Troll) 1698

"I rely on me to provide for me."

O rly? You produce all the oxygen you inhale, all the water you drink, all the protein you ingest, and all the thermal input your body needs to maintain its optimum temperature? You travelled back in time, conceived yourself in a test tube from a loop of pure DNA, and built singlehandedly a robot butler to train your younger self in the ways of Bat-Fu while you build a secret underwater city? In business, you are a heroic self-creator, never requiring so much as a single customer, supplier, manager, assistant, trainer, mentor, regulator, or partner, while you design perpetual electrostatic motors powered by raw condensed inspiration? If the entire world around you were to vanish, you'd exist in a bubble of anti-temporal stasis through the sheer energy of your indomitable will?

It's possible!

Or, it's also possible that you exist as one person among many in a healthy social ecosystem who share resources, do things for the good of all, and support each other with compassionate aid when times get hard, but haven't yet realised this.

Comment Re:Does not change the basics. (Score 1) 235

RT another FA:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/07/03/wind_power_needs_dirty_pricey_gas_backup_report/

(or download the full report - but that is payware).

Historical analysis shows regular five-day long calm periods across the whole of europe - ten day long calms every couple of decades. Oh, and typically in winter - so high demand time. That is across an area much more than "a few hundred clicks".

"Clean" peak load tech, like pumped storage hydro, simply doesn't have the capacity to cover that kind of gap.

The report also makes the point that nice clean gas gen capacity is too expensive (if only to be used occaisionally) and not necessarily good at being turned on and off regularly. The likely (only economic) backup for wind will be cheap and dirty fossil fuel kit - making the overall solution a lot dirtier.

Either that, or the lights start to go off on a regular basis. There are plenty of (reasonably welel developed) places in the world where that happens now, so we know what happens then - local backup through thousands upon thousands of small (cheap & dirty) diesel generators...

Wind simply isn't reliable enough for base load. Until someone solves the "storing electricity" problem. Somewhat ironically, I reckon the best hope for that will turn out to be creating artificial long chain hydrocarbons (from atmospheric CO2). Liquid hydrocarbons are very very energy dense, and we already have lots of knowledge and infrastructure for storing and transporting them efficiently.

Comment I assume this virus is for getting revenge (Score 3, Insightful) 586

Seriously, you gotta be a real ass to do something like this to someone.

It's this sort of thing that will give governments an excuse to try and control the net even more and give companies a reason to close up their hardware and in the end most people end up with less freedom.

The net was nice before every tard was on it waiting to be exploited.

Comment Re:Cancer risk? (Score 1) 620

Meh, perhaps I didn't make it clear enough. I just want to try it with pair of RF shielded boxers. I don't care about the metal detector, I'll let them try to figure out why it's going off and why their scanner does not work. Last time I read the rules, they did not have anything banning silver threaded underwear. It's not banned, nor dangerous, therefore they must let me pass. Blank stares and shrugs should answer any other questions sufficiently.

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