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Comment: Evil government! (Score 3, Informative) 368

by thule (#38523964) Attached to: Insects Rapidly Becoming Resistant To GM Corn
How is Monsanto evil in this case? One of the big reasons cited in the article for farmers abusing the BT corn is the market price of corn is very high. Not mentioned in the article is the reason why it is so high. My cousin informed me that he is going to sell off the bit of corn they don't use for cash this year. Why? The government has been subsidizing the corn/ethonal in at least three different ways, exaggerating the price. Why wouldn't a farmer plant and sell of as much as he can and cash in on the high prices? The only reason they are able to do this in the first place is the high yield of corn crops since the 1960's (150-200 bushels and acre compared to only 50/acre years ago). Would we even consider burning corn in our cars if we were not able to realize current yields? If the government wasn't distorting the price, then normal supply in demand would limit the interest in planting too much corn and flooding the market.

Comment: Google is showing confidence! (Score 1) 162

by thule (#36664974) Attached to: Google To Rebrand Blogger & Picasa For Google+ Integration

I am sure there will be Facebook fans for sometime to come. I am sure that G+ won't take out Facebook. Facebook could implement the same controls that G+ has. G+ doesn't have Farmville, I'm sure that will hurt it by some people's standards. I don't worry about the integration with the rest of Google. It just tells me that Google is really very confident in their G+ product. The integration just makes sense. It is pretty obvious where they will integrate it further (e.g. Google Reader). G+ is a huge play for Google. It just feels better than anything they've done in the space so far.

Start your own circle

Comment: Re:GigaGaga (Score 1) 160

by thule (#36536914) Attached to: Weird Al Says "Twitter Saved My Album"

I dunno, to me she seems incredibly thin skinned. I found a thoughtful essay critiquing Gaga. Check it out for a different perspective: The Case Against Lady Gaga. One of the more interesting parts of the critique is that *she* named her fans "little monsters". Odd. Another point is her subtle slam at Madonna because many people (including me) felt her new single was very similar to Madonna's "Express Yourself" in both theme and sound. She took that pretty personally. If she was true to her character I don't think she'd care what people thought.

I look at most of her stuff and It seems to me that she isn't doing anything new. Michael Jackson created new ways to dance. Gaga's stuff just seems like a bad imitation, but that is just my impression, I don't really follow pop music. When I'm listening to music it is usually 80's alternative. :)

Comment: Re:I'd be open to it, but good luck with everyone (Score 1) 430

by thule (#35499506) Attached to: Robert X Cringely Predicts More Mininuke Plants
The tsunami busted the capability to pump cooling.

The fuel exposure is not exposure to the atmosphere, it is when the water inside the core drops below the end of the fuel rods. The water dropped below the fuel rod because they couldn't cool the core so they released the steam into the building which decreased the internal pressure. The released steam has high amounts of hydrogen that blew up when exposed to a spark (or other ignition source). As far as I know, the reactor core itself has not be breached! The press has not been very helpful in reporting what is going on. When they say "radiation" we have no idea what they are talking about. Are they talking about nitrogen isotopes in the steam? If so, this posses little threat to the local population since the isotope is so radioactive that is quickly goes away within seconds. It is hard to say because the news reports just say "the radiation spiked."

Comment: Dam break (Re:Number 1 containment is intact) (Score 1) 752

by thule (#35466748) Attached to: Nuclear Emergency Declared At 2 Plants In Japan
I haven't heard many reports of the dam break due to the earthquake:

Dam breaks in northeast Japan, washes away homes: Kyodo

The dam already caused serious damage, and we are all worried about what could happen with the reactor? At least they have a plan A, B, C with a reactor. How do you stop a dam break? I would rather have a reactor in my back yard than a dam.

Comment: 5-10 percent? Not bad (Score 1) 182

by thule (#35237372) Attached to: National Broadband Map Shows Digital Divide
That doesn't sound that bad to me. One of the most rural areas I have recently visited has fiber to the house. The service is provided by the telephone co-op. The co-op claims they can provide 100mbit service if you want it. This is a farm area and the population density is very, very low, but they have fiber!

He who lives without folly is less wise than he believes.

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