That was a very interesting read. Wish I had mod points today.

"We came up with a plan to increase competitiveness and innovation," an administration spokesman said, "but we discovered that the process had already been patented, so we had to cancel the project."

...Tivo will receive the minimum sum of $215 million over six years...

Tivo still thinks they'll be around in six years?

So the physicists who hate the term "God particle" are crazy religious nut jobs having crises of faith? I didn't know so many pysicists were "religious nut jobs".

Finally, some common sense on this. Not only is there the question of water, but also whether a planet has a magnetic field which protects atmospheric loss to it's sun's solar wind. Yes, the term "Earth like" is overused.

Another overused term is "God particle".

Wish I could mod this up. This is, no doubt, the reasoning behind the move.

I made a calendar almost exactly like this in the fifth grade.

I think this one has about as much chance of getting adopted as mine did.

You've completely missed the point. You ignored the fact that I went from a 14mpg vehicle to a 24mpg vehicle (I don't care what the EPA says, my Century gets 24mpg). So, estimating from your spreadsheet, over 120,000 miles I will produce about 6 tons less CO2 than if I had kept my other vehicle. I've lowered my carbon footprint. Admittedly not as much as if I had bought a Prius, but the Prius would have cost six times as much.

My point was not that people should not buy Priuses. If anyone really wants a Prius, and can afford it, go for it. My point is that they don't HAVE to buy a Prius to make a positive environmental impact.

If you're buying a Prius just to make a statement about how you feel about the environment (and to feel like you're better than other people), then you are no different than the guy who buys a Hummer because he feels insecure about the size of his penis.

If lowering your carbon footprint is your concern, you don't have to spend a lot of money on an electric car to do it.

Purchase a recycled car. What's that? It's what most people call a used car. That's not recycling you say? Well, it's similar to recycling in that no energy was expended, or pollution ejected, or resources depleted in some manufacturing process to get you in a set of wheels. It's cheaper too. Naturally, you'll want to look for a vehicle with better fuel mileage that pollutes less as well.

I'm happy driving around in my used, $4,900, ten-year-old Buick. It's paid for, and has fuel economy that is 10mpg better than my last car.

Ha! Go join your friends in Al Qaida, you hippie! ;-)