Does everything made out of concrete really need tensile strength? Why not change our building methods to make use of this discovery to make structures that rely more on compressive strength and that will stand the test of time?

That's exactly why Roman architecture had arches everywhere. (Since they didn't have steel, they had no choice but to rely only on compressive strength.)

As an aside, Mr. Wyden is the politician who, while running for Senate the first time, promised to run a clean, honest, upfront campaign with no negative campaigning. Immediately following this pledge, advertisements began appearing against his opponent, Gordon Smith, claiming Smith "killed a kid" in the name of corporate profits. The truth was, a teenaged employee (legally employed) at Smith's farm died in an accident, and the parents of the teen appeared soon after the negative ads in ads for Smith absolving him of responsibility and blame.

The question is, was it really one of Mr. Wyden's supporters who ran that ad, or was it a false-flag attack designed to backfire?

Guns are a primary argument because the elites fear a bunch of serfs that can defend themselves. This has been the case since the advent of any Government, often giving rise to non-elites with too much power being killed.

You seem to be implying that anti-gun folks are elitist while pro-gun folks are serfs. Given that Republican congressmen are just as obscenely rich as Democrat congressmen (and that plenty of liberals are just as dirt-poor as certain conservatives -- albeit more likely to live in an urban area) I'm not sure that implication holds.

What I don't understand is why it's so hard to find major political group that supports the whole Bill of Rights, instead of picking and choosing from it.

That's the aim of the Second Amendment. Gun ownership in general has additional uses, such as hunting and self-defense [from street crime, as opposed to self-defense from tyranny].

By the way, one thing that's helpful when trying to understand the Constitution: remember that it was written by a bunch of folks who had just completed the violent overthrow of their previous ruler. Had they been around today, every single one of them would have been labeled a terrorist.

How, pray tell, do you "store" something without having first "collected" (which is synonymous with "acquired") it?

Hey, not all of us generation Y (or whatever) folks are clueless -- I agree with Woz's quote so much, I just made it my sig!

If you're passing the cars in traffic jams on a scooter, you're breaking the traffic laws (license or not).

That would gut the usefulness of the Internet for business transactions, and would ruin Google's business model to boot

Here's the issue: YOU DON'T GET TO USE THAT KIND OF ARGUMENT as an excuse to limit Constitutional rights!

Google and the entire Internet can go fuck itself -- it's simply not important compared to the Bill of Rights!

Friend of mine got his brakes changed on a volkswagen model and an alarm started blaring off; turned out VW stuck a sensor in the brake pads that causes the alarm if it's not found, and the normal size-compatible pads from 3rd party makers didn't have the sensor.

That's not entirely true; third-party brake pads with sensors are readily available. In fact, they're so readily available that I ended up getting sensor-equipped pads for my non-sensor-equipped older VW and cut off the connectors.

Your friend's mechanic was just too lazy or incompetent to choose the right ones.

(I suppose it's possible that it might be hard to find cheap brake pads with sensors, but using cheap brake pads is a bad idea to begin with so I have limited sympathy.)

Ok, you blithering idiot, the entire point of the whole webpage was to explicitly enumerate the exceptions to that definition: namely, volunteers at non-profit private entities and public-sector entities. Magical, somehow-not-employee workers at for-profit private entities are not one of the exceptions!

You're trying to use the exceptions to disprove the rule, which is a logical fallacy.

'Course this still leaves out the folks with big honkin' radial engines...

Why, is there some reason you can't design a radial Diesel?

(Well, I'd rather have fuel lines that didn't get eaten by ethanol, but that's a pipe dream right now.)

Only if you have no imagination or mechanical skills. E85 compatible tubing does exist; just go find some that's the appropriate size to fit your engines.

I can see them checking pickup trucks at a livestock auction; that's obvious... but have you ever heard of them checking a little Volkswagen TDI, particularly one used in an urban area?

What? There exist vehicles without a lock on the gas tank?

Sure, especially old trucks that run on (500ppm sulfur) off-road Diesel. For a concrete example, my 1996 Ford Ranger (which, very unfortunately, is not a Diesel) is like that.

Just for humor: what possible career opportunities would slaves have had by being a slave? what happens when a slave says I quit?

Just for humor: what happens when an intern says "I quit?"

Answer: by doing so, that intern eliminates all his future job prospects, runs out of money, becomes homeless, and starves to death.