protect their developers' creations.

So, you think it's ok just to steal his money? That video is as much his as it is theirs. You're suggesting that all the money should go to Nintendo. Why the blatant double standards?

A bunch of anti-vax types on my FB page were posting articles about how schoolchildren showed that plants that were grown with microwave water didn't grow, with side-by-side illustrations.

Snopes debunked it by repeating the experiment.

Until I see confirmations of the experiment, I am highly skeptical.

Note the security officers escorting the villain in the picture here...

ALL men.

Because, you need BIG STRONG ARMS to pull the trigger on a recoil-less phaser rifle.

I guess if a woman had been in the security detail, the villain wouldn't have escaped and the movie would have ended too quickly.

Basic answer?

It's too late- we are screwed.

Real answer? Get the human population down to about 3 billion and live with a lot of freedom and prosperity. Continue down the same path and look at rationed water, cramped living quarters, lower quality food. And when we do have something bad, we'll have a tremendous die off.

Look- wind power has now been shown to reduce the winds (and affect the climate). And seriously... DUH? You are extracting huge amounts of energy from the wind- it's going to affect the winds.

Dump huge amounts of heat into the environment (in this case) is just another case of an organization externalizing their costs on the rest of society.

That heat is going to have an effect. There will be a cost. But the company dumping the heat is getting the benefit for "FREE".

Don't sell it as "free" and I won't bitch.

Not that I disagree with you, but since there is a very widespread ideal notion of what Star Trek was, it seems like someone would have the vision to try to make that ideal real.

But no, let's just take some generic Hollywood pablum, stick some names from a popular franchise on it so it will sell, and leave the thinking for someone else.

Dear Moderators,

"Troll" does not mean "I disagree with the expressed opinion". Consider posting an intelligent reply instead.

Yeah, I thought the first one was a mildly entertaining adventure movie, but not Star Trek.

I'll only go see this one if I decide to shell out $20 for an evening of mild entertainment. More likely I'll stay home and watch the Harry Potter movies.

If you're concerned with chauvinism, you should have noticed that ToS was a parable about an international crew under the benevolent command of an American captain, who occasionally had to yank the Russian's chain to keep him under control.

Well, that should work out well for them; I mean, it's not like Florida is filled with geriatrics who find everyone under the age of 50 to be suspect, right?

I know it's a joke, but it should be kept in mind that people who retire to FL generally don't stop in the northeast corner of the State. They go on south a ways....

They actually put them in far too much, giving the false impression there is still a scientific controversy, when there isn't.

This combines with the problem of accredation. Most of the 'MSM' is far too sloppy with checking sources. Writing "Side A says - Side B says" is an easy formula for a story, and makes the writers look wise and fair (at least in their own minds), It gets worse when they don't really look at Side B's backgrounds as well as their claims. (please note that I am including Fox News in the MSM, and in fact they have a very bad record in claiming people have degrees and positions they in fact do not, (and in my opinion, just to make an argument from authority.)).

In most Christian sects, believing that the people you disagree with are all personally motivated by Satan and all willing to deliberately lie to make their arguments against the faith is not standard doctrine, but a heresy. (Basically, the most extreme form of Manichaeism*, as seen by the Roman Catholics, Russian or Greek Orthodox, or many main stream protestants such as the Methodests or Lutherans). The common claim by deniers that the consensus on AGW is deliberate fraud is actually more similar to them being the hidden fanatics within the faith who want an inqusition right damn now to purge all the eeevilll from the secular world., while the pro-man made side is more like the regular churches in play nice with others mode (like the RC before the counter reformation, to some extent).

* i'm not taking sides here on whether all you Manichis out there are right or wrong about the whole Gnostic thing, just that some pretty nasty things have happened starting from people who want nice clear lines between right and wrong, and end up being willing to make false accusations to get them.

I've never been to Paris, but I can gather enough data to show it exists.

That's nice, but I don't follow your point. Paris is easy to observe. Global climate change is much trickier. Are you saying you have enough data to (dis)prove AGW?

In either case, you'll require some sort of evidence of that otherwise you have no credibility.

The 40 hours was completely as a result of labor laws. Other than farm work, it had little to do with productivity.

With high productivity machinary, people work 70 hour weeks all over the world today where they lack our labor laws.

Labor scarcity will peak between now and 2030 due to retiring boomers in america, china, and europe. But automation trends will probably counterbalance that trend from 2020 onwards.

If we set hard limits world wide that you could only work humans 32 hours a week, then (short of robots), we would get by on 32 hours a week.

70 hour weeks exist only to maximize profits by the wealthy class.

Upper level managers have a long history of removing lower level managers however. And a lot of it has been technology based.

Managers make more money, so automating their processes results in a higher payoff.

Oh yeh, and keep in mind our tax treatment of human workers vs robot workers.

Human workers == higher taxes. (social security, unemployment, compliance costs, workplace safety costs)

Robot workers == reduced taxes. (capital expense-- depreciate). And down to about $22,000 now. (As little as $2000 for the ones they are going to use at Foxxconn and are using in the noodle shopes).