If I'm fishing in my pants to figure out what all the "fur" is about... that means I have been away from it for far too long.

God crashed a multi-billion dollar research craft into Mars?

You're an anonymous coward posting on a website. How on Earth are your comments any more informed or calculated than mine?

Like I said, until Boeing or Airbus actually make official statements supporting your claim, I'm going to err on the side of caution. Simply because being wrong at 35,000 feet and moving at 500+ mph is an environment extremely unforgiving of mistakes.

I've seen enough Japanese websites to know they have the technology, experience, and expertise to be contracted for exactly that.

Ohhh, and I'm not opposed to the death sentence either.

If a Pharma exec falsifies scientific reports and commits outright fraud that causes the death of dozens of people over the period of a few years, I see no difference between him and serial killer.

Fry the bastard.

Yeah, like a hell of lot more deaths. It would become far more expensive because insurance would be needed against the lawsuits.

Pharma kills enough people each year apparently playing by the rules. Yet when some get caught doing it through gross negligence and fraud, they don't get punished because of the too big to fail theory in Washington.

No, we need far more regulation of Pharma. With lengthy prison sentences for executives that are proven to knowingly put patients at risk.

I don't think they are suggesting the actual harvesting of Panda blood.

Seriously. Jesus Fucking Christ. You could put a male and female Panda in there with a bottle of Wine, Viagra, and an ounce of the finest weed, and they still won't fuck . It's a well known fact that the species is on the verge of extinction simply because they don't have a tremendous urge to procreate.

Any serious interest in this will be synthesized, and if it's required to be grown in an animal, we will probably use modified rabbits. If you look away for two seconds with those bastards, they already multiplied in the cage.

I was going to say much the same.

The context that we are in a metal tube flying 500+ mph at ~35k feet in the air deserves to be considered.

Apparently nobody can prove anything either way, but a smart person would err on the side of caution.

I turn off all the wireless capabilities of my devices while flying the entire time. Whatever electromagnetic radiation is being given off a PSP is short range, and not much different than a portable CD player, or DVD player. I'm not afraid of my cell phone in airplane mode. Gee, wonder why they chose that name for the function?

Wireless technologies like cell phones, Bluetooth, and wireless transmission standards are designed to saturate the spectrums they operate in. Especially, technology we have now, as that is how it obtains the speeds that it does. Cell phone technology is designed to operate up to the point of saturation as well. I have absolutely no idea how interference in those spectrums affects any equipment on a plane at all. Only the designers and manufacturers do, of which, I have not heard a peep from.

So until they say I can use the equipment that way, I'm perfectly fine leaving it shut off.

It's either that, or me saying that I'm smart and informed enough to risk a failed landing because I want my fucking Android tablet operating while we land so I can get the high score in Angry Birds.

Future?

I'm a pot smoker now if you think one or two times a year makes me a pot smoker. If you're referring to habitual use to the overall detriment of my livelihood, family, and friends, then you sound like one of those people who think legalizing gay marriage will head to marriage between men and animals.

Just because somebody has a drink once or twice a year does not, in any way, shape or form, guarantee they will become alcoholic.

I've heard the theory that the brain can only produce so many neurotransmitters in its lifetime (pleasurable chemicals), but I was referring to the fact the receptors themselves become incapable of reacting to the chemical regardless of how much is present.

I really wish a neuroscientist would chime in her. I'm just working off experiences I've had with some addicts and information related to me through different channels.

Would be nice to get some confirmation either way.

In any case, I would like to reiterate again, that this must be election by the patient with informed consent. If China is using this as a form of punishment to prevent recidivism, then that is a gross violation of human rights.

Please don't misunderstand me. At no point was I suggesting this be a forced procedure. It must be the choice of the addict to undergo the procedure with informed consent.

If crimes are committed to support the drug habit, then either prosecute those crimes with appropriate punishments (excluding this procedure), or offer assistance to the addict, which at some point, may include a serious discussion about the procedure itself.

Then as a patient it would be kind of stupid to elect to have the surgery. At no point was I supporting surgery without patient election.

My only point was that from my understanding the pleasure center of the brain was going to die anyways, at least in the cases of meth addiction.

Well, in this case, the patient is just doing it to themselves depending on the situation.

What I understand about meth and brain chemistry is that over time a meth addict is saturating the pleasure center of their brain. The structures that pick up the neurotransmitters actually become damaged or less effective over time.

This is why a lot of meth addicts will say the only way they can feel happiness is with the drug. Recovered meth addicts often complain that they have very serious issues feeling happy anymore.

How long that takes to heal, I dunno.

The end result of disabling the pleasure center may be inevitable. At least doing it in the beginning may be a way to get them stop completely and literally save their lives and increase the overall quality from a health standpoint alone. They may become emotionless, but can still live otherwise.

Just my two cents. I'm not a doctor. Just know some very unfortunate recovered drug addicts that have more in common with Vulcans now than humans.

What the fuck I want to know is why my Internet provider, my natural gas supplier, my power company, etc. needs my fucking SSN for "security" purposes?

My job? I get it. That's for tax reporting purposes. My bank? It's so the government can audit me and they can report as well.

The power company? Whey the fuck do you need my entire social?

It's not for security purposes. It's to have a single UID for the 3 credit reporting agencies that collect more information on US citizens than most companies combined. In fact, a lot of that information is for sale.

It's not the SSN being disclosed that is the problem at all. It's the fact that it is used to aggregate information that should be no one's fucking business in the first place.

If the SSN did not exist, it would just be your driver's license number instead.

Welll..... what we fought so hard for, and so many of us have died for, was the idea of freedom. That includes privacy and anonymity. It was not more than a hundred years ago or so that people had real privacy and became pretty upset when somebody violated it. Was considered very rude and improper.

I would say that we have a deep tradition of privacy, that it's a basic human right, and that our Constitution supports it.

However, our current government has clearly said, "fuck all that liberty shit". Whatever information we can get, in any way we can get it, we are going to do in the name of either profit or national security. Pick an excuse.