Fear the worm!

Bravo. Bravo.

Bra-freakin-vo!

Origin probably still exists as an entity... It's just owned by E.A.

I hope they don't find any Cobalt Thorium G!

Actually you are incorrect. The onus of proof is on God... Proof of his existence and handiwork surrounds you, but you, like the ancient Israelites in the bible, stubbornly refuse to believe even though you have seen.

I hope you're being sarcastic here.... because if you are serious you have a major lack of intellectual understanding in what it means to believe in a deity... The works of J.R.R. Tolkien and Douglas Adams are fiction - and they claim to be fiction. You might consider the Christian bible to be fiction as well, but it was written by LOTS of different people who claimed to be serious about what they were writing over the course of (perhaps) two thousand years or more and demonstrates a remarkable consistency across all those years and authors.

While we are on the subject, maybe I should ask: Just what proof WOULD be necessary for you to believe in God? Seriously... if God DOES exist... how would you EXPECT him/her/it to reveal itself to you?... How are you going to verify that the credentials of the ALL MIGHTY are legit?

That was not a threat of violence, dork... merely illustrating the absurdity of true democracy.

On the child labor issue... Before you throw around your pompous attitude, you might consider broadening your horizons and expanding your mind a little bit. The world is a bit bigger than your (likely) urban/suburban city life experience. Your idea of child labor, I'm guessing, is a pretty narrowly defined concept - where tiny children are forced to work in sweat shops essentially as slaves to make the expensive shoes and what-not Americans buy.

I find the slave-like exploitation of children deplorable - as I'm sure you do. But I know of lots and can imagine many more scenarios in which something we both might call 'child labor' is simply a way for a family to survive where they live. Keep in mind, also, the historical perspective. Both my parents worked on their respective family farms growing up... does that make my grandparents evil child-slave drivers? Absolutely not!

There are also ALL KINDS of scenarios in which I think it would be VERY BAD and immoral for a parent to have a child laboring to help support his or her family... The difference between you and me is: I know I am not smart enough to decide for every situation if it's good or bad. You think you are. I think things like this should be left up to the child's parents. You think you are smarter than the child's parents and should make the decision for them in all situations.

What I said was 'child labor' - that is, a child working for a wage or other form of compensation, given the consent and/or guidance of his or her suitable and responsible parent(s) is not INHERENTLY evil or immoral. It may very well be, but it is not necessarily so... and I don't think we need laws to restrict it. Why?

If you found out, say, your favorite beverage was made by slave-like child labor, would you buy it anymore? No! Neither would I... and I think most other people in our nation today would do the same.... the beverage company goes out of business, problem solved.

Allow me to retort in reverse order of your points.

It's called a 'republic', trust me you wouldn't like the alternative democracy (what the majority says, goes) because if I wanted to I could probably convince a majority of the people that we need to shoot you in the head just because you are ugly, and it would be entertaining for the rest of us.

I don't see you suffering any negative consequences for me living my life the way I see fit... and when I look out the window the environment still appears to be there and it appears to be in generally good shape.

I'm not sure what Interstate highways have to do with energy production... and I PROMISE you... a nuclear power plant could indeed be built by private entities with no need for government backed loans... if the government didn't make it so it were impossible to do it otherwise.

I do NOT agree that some government restrictions on free trade are necessary. 'Child labor', as you call it is not inherently evil. What if a family is poor and they need extra money? Is it evil for a farmer's children to work in the field?

On the subject of corporate welfare (tax breaks to oil companies and such) I agree with you... Government has little or no business ensuring one industry succeeds over another. Blaming Cheney for that is sophistry... as your messiah, Obama, has had more power than Cheney ever had for a few years now.... and nothing much has changed.

How do I account for evil corporations that cause damage?... Simple. If I don't like what a company is doing or what it stands for or what it sells I don't buy what they sell. If I feel passionately enough about it I convince others to do the same. Eventually... the evil corporation will cease to exist. Problem solved.

Actually, the earthquakes we are currently discussing have NOTHING to do with the New Madrid seismic zone... It is an entirely different set of known faults in central Arkansas - over a hundred miles away from the general edge of the New Madrid zone.

These same faults have been active before... in the early 1980s and again around 2001. The magnitude 4.7 we had the other day was the largest we've had in the state since something like 1969... and the largest recorded quake this particular fault system has ever produced. I didn't even know the fault was there until the 2001 activity.

I live about 20 miles away from the epicenter of of the 4.7. It gave me quite a jolt the other night as I was browsing slashdot. Sounded like a gigantic bomb had exploded miles away then a fraction of a second later the shock-wave hit. It's a strange sensation to have the supposedly solid ground move underneath your feet.

I, myself, have a very difficult time believing the drilling activities have anything to do with these earthquakes.... as the faults were active LONG before any drilling activity took place here, therefore it will be difficult to prove a causation relationship.

No offense, pixelpusher220, but I don't know how to say this other than: You, and others like you, are ignorant. With you, things are always the fault of somebody else... the evil conservatives... or whomever happens to disagree with your politics. There are basic laws of economics involved with energy production. Laws. Like gravity... Congress could pass legislation all day long changing the law of gravitation, but you will note that it is a particularly stubborn physical law.

The reason oil, natural gas, coal, etc. are our chief means of energy production at this time is because... They are inexpensive relative to other means. Economics! You can subsidize other means of production until the cows come home and it's not going to make any difference in the long run. Ultimately, the free market WILL win. Period. No exceptions.

Do you have some philosophical belief that people should use a particular 'kind' of energy? Fine! I'm happy for you! It's your job to convince them, not force them. Go into the freaking lab yourself! Invent something that makes more economic sense than pumping free, usable, natural, made-by-the-Earth, just-sitting-there-waiting-for-us-to-use-it stuff out of the ground and you will have my complete attention. Until then, leave me the hell alone! Don't think that because you have some philosophical belief that you have the right to forcibly take my money, and others, and use it to invent your invention... or force us to abide by your belief! Use your own damn money or convince investors to invest!... But let people do it of their own free will!

And, get off my lawn!

I'm sure that would work GREAT in a hospital setting where a nurse keying in data has to jump up and run down the hall to a patient who is crashing..... and then gets fired because she forgot to log herself out on 3 occasions. /sarcasm

"Gas can potentially corrupt results"

Yes it can... especially on a first date.

Methinks, perhaps, you misunderstand the principles of mechanics... and conservation of energy laws. In theory, in principle, and in reality it is impossible to build a machine that is 100% efficient therefore a perpetual motion machine is impossible.

I had a debate with a friend (a global-warming alarmist) a while back on the same issue... I couldn't make him understand the concept.

We know that Venus' surface temperature is VERY hot, and he had always been TAUGHT that it was because the Venus atmosphere is largely CO2... runaway greenhouse effect. The levels of CO2 may very well play a part in the planet's higher temperature, but it's much, much more complicated than that... and it's inappropriate to make an apples-to-apples comparison with CO2 levels in the Earth's atmosphere.

First, Venus' atmosphere is composed of about 97% CO2 (at the surface)... as opposed to Earth's *****0.039%*****. It's going to take a LOT of convincing to talk me into believing even a 1% increase in CO2 levels are going to make a hill of beans difference to our climate... let alone a thousandth or millionth of a percent over the next few centuries! Second, Venus' atmosphere is IMMENSELY more dense that that of the Earth.

We could certainly stand to learn more from Venus... Unfortunately, it seems Mars is much more en vogue to people these days and we have limited experimental data from our sister planet. All these 'global warming' comparisons to Venus are inappropriate at least until (or especially because) we don't actually have much hard experimental data geared toward that end.

HOTTEST years on record? Seriously? Guess it depends on what one's definition of 'on record' means.

http://www.nationalreview.com/planet-gore/256079/only-9099-last-10500-years-warmer-2010-brian-bolduc?sms_ss=facebook&at_xt=4d1e4b285524a4d4%2C0