Is being a smartass and not adding anything of value, not even your opinion, even lamer than that AND completely useless? Absolutely. Please remove yourself from the gene pool, preferably with a pair of bolt cutters.

If "completely personalized" is what SPAM is like in 20 years, then we will have totally and completely FAILED -- and I'll likely not have even one email account anymore. Sorry, not buying it; in 20 years, we'll have (hopefully!) criminalized SPAM to the point where no one will DARE to do it -- if I have ANYTHING to say about it, that is.

To date, it's been impossible to "cure" pedophiles. It's not that they're "mentally ill" (except in the social sense, i.e., society at large considers it "sick") it's a brain-wiring issue. Thusfar the only way we, as a society, has been able to deal with people who have the miswiring of their brains, is to lock them away and otherwise do all that is possible to ensure they're never left alone with children.

Would I view or appreciate cartoon child porn? No.
Do I think drawing, viewing, or posessing such material is in extremely poor taste and very much ill-advised? You bet I do.
Do I think such material constitutes the same offense as actual child porn and those drawing or posessing it should be prosecuted as such? Absolutely NOT. Apples and oranges.

I'm not sure what you're responding to here.. but I don't agree with you. What do you do about kids? Tell them they can't ride a bicycle on the street until they're old enough to drive? Do you really expect a 5 year old to go to some special class and pass a bunch of tests? What about people on low or fixed incomes? While it's true that some of us are more serious about it as a sport and spend $$$ on it, many people ride casually or ride because they can't afford any other transportation. What you're proposing would invite beaurocratic shenanigans that would end up raising the price of being a cyclist out of the range of everyone except people who have money and don't NEED to ride a bicycle. It's as preposterous an idea as they come. What's next, requiring training and licensing for rollerblades and skateboards?

Looks like batteries of this design are on a par energy-density-wise with Lithium-Ion, and have an estimated life-span of 15 years (although I couldn't find a charge-discharge cycle figure). How expensive are these to produce compared to other chemistries, I wonder?

Some of you are discussing using a flywheel. Does anyone have some data on the efficiency of that technology versus using this type of battery? My first thought would be that coming up with bearings for a flywheel that can handle the mass of the wheel yet be as close to frictionless as possible would be difficult and expensive to develop and then later to maintain.

We can change that.

We can change that. Between where I live and Davis, California, there is nothing but freeway, but there is a bike lane connecting the two over the causeway that is off to the side, protected by concrete guards and a fence. Cyclists use it every day.

You're a fucking JERK, then.

That's an absolutely insane idea. It would make cycling as costly for the casual rider as driving a car, and it would make it impossible for a kid to ride a bike, which is WHY this hasn't already been done.