I appreciate that you so polite in explaining your sig to the troll. I have seen you sig for years, and the meaning was plainly obvious to me once I had seen a few other "Soviet Russia" jokes. Kudos to you.

Mod parent up. Someone may have already mentioned elsewhere on this page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge's_law_of_headlines

Patrilineal endogamy [*] is not an Islamic doctrine.....

Thank you Jamuna for this interesting post. There is an awful lot of complaining on this site about how it has deteriorated over the years. Perhaps. But I still love reading Slashdot because there are still a lot of damn smart comments.

- jw

Well, to be specific, I think you're talking about the representative from Colorado (Diana DeGette) who introduced a bill in November to do it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Removal_of_cannabis_from_Schedule_I_of_the_Controlled_Substances_Act#2012_Bill

But really now - how likely is this to pass? I think not very. Anybody know anything I don't?

Link to the image? I'd like to see it!

Don't you mean PGP, as in Pretty Good Privacy? Otherwise, let me know what GPG is...

http://www.lmgtfy.com/?q=gpg

Sorry, you're right - I was being lazy. I did look on Wiki for GPG, but not closely enough. The GNU Privacy Guard entry didn't jump out at me.

Don't you mean PGP, as in Pretty Good Privacy?

Otherwise, let me know what GPG is...

"700 question in 22 hours"

      -->There's an app for that!

Is it too much to ask the Republicans to simply acknowledge the science? Then they could *join* a healthy debate with the Democrats.

I happen to agree with you that some (but not all) of the suggested solutions being proposed are untenable. But with the Republicans saying "wha wha wha - we can't hear you!!" it is difficult to have a reasonable discussion.

Your original post was marked "+3 Funny" when I first saw it.

So when I read it and saw your horrific hypothesis, I assumed you were joking - Poe's Law and all*.

But good lord! I think you actually believe it. Let me guess: Do you also wonder why Christians have a bad reputation?

Listen, do you have any idea how irresponsible this is? Because it sounds to me like you're suggesting that sick and ill people simply pray to Jesus and forego going to a doctor at all. WTF?

Grow up.

______ _______
*Poe's Law states:
"Without a winking smiley or other blatant display of humor, it is impossible to create a parody of Fundamentalism that SOMEONE won't mistake for the real thing."

Anyone else ever read Michael Chrichton's book Congo?

I remember thinking it was a little silly, but nowadays it seems like his most prescient novel.

Fair enough. Perhaps I'm guilty of believing this:

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/the_new_corporate_world_order_20110419/

          "General Electric, which was bailed out by taxpayers and which stored so much of its profit abroad that it paid no taxes for the past two years, was forced to tighten up, but while cutting its foreign workforce by 1,000 it cut a far more severe 28,000 in the United States."

Oh, is Truthdig too liberal for you? It is quoting from a Wall Street Journal article:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704821704576270783611823972.html

Though unfortunately, I don't have a subscription, so I can't read their full article.

Not a troll at all, and of course you're right. It was late last night & I didn't think that one through.

"People don't deserve service for free just because they're ineffective workers."

Dude!! WTF? The parents point is that poor people (and by the way, what the hell is an "ineffective" worker?) ARE NOT getting stuff for free. They pay a portion of their money in taxes just like everyone else. [disregarding for the time being that some companies - like GE - don't pay any taxes at all.]

Serious question though: What size antenna would some(thing) need to hear our radio signals at a distance of 22ly?

I seem to recall from reading somewhere (Physics of Star Trek?) about this. The gist is that this is a non-trivial problem, requiring an antenna unfathomably wide to catch such a weak signal.

Maybe there's an occasional super neat hack, like galaxy/gravitational lensing. But there's no aiming that.

Anyway, maybe we'll catch someone knowledgable about this... Chime in!