I don't think that is the reason at all. I have always used no-contract pre-paid phone service. I save money, with no strings attached. There are good choices for anyone who cares, but most people choose the dumb option. Why? Beats me. The problem is that most of the people signing up for these contracts, are also eligible to vote, leading directly to our $17 trillion national debt.

Sometimes you do. Exactly a century ago, in May of 1914, Britain and Germany were each others biggest trading partners. By August they were killing each other by the millions.

Sure, conflict with China is possible, but with the USSR it was seen as almost inevitable. The USSR had a goal of global communism, and a view for the future of the world very much in conflict with the West. China has no territorial claims outside of Taiwan (which both the US and Taiwan itself acknowledge to be part of China) and a handful of disputed islands. They have no significant ideological differences with the rest of the world, and certainly no ideology that they are trying to push on others. I lived in China for several years, and learned to speak the language. Chinese people like Americans. They don't see us as enemies or even rivals. But they do feel like we consider China inferior and that we don't respect them. I don't think that is true, but that is how most people in China see it. They see their space program as a way to win that respect. But they don't see it as a contest for dominance.

Highly unlikely. The Soviet Union had ICBMs targeted at American cities, armored divisions in Germany, and a leader who said "We will bury you." It was legitimately seen as a threat. China makes the toys we buy at Wal-Mart.

If you can demonstrate how to derive energy from a glass container in an oxygen atmosphere, then there is a Nobel Prize waiting for you in Stockholm. If it was really so easy to "eat" glass, or even cellulose, then life would have evolved a way to do it eons ago.

No way ... unless you are using liquid nitrogen for your heat sink. Even a perfect Carnot cycle isn't going to give you efficiencies that high. Maybe they mean "60% of perfect CC" rather than "60% = (electrical energy out)/(fuel energy in)".

For stationary residential use, you could run the thing on cheap natural gas (rather than expensive gasoline) and use the waste heat to warm your house. It would be personalized cogeneration.

Disclaimer: Yes, I realize that outside North America, natural gas isn't cheap.

... and if he had no tattoos, he would still be alive today. He had a tattoo of a skull and serpent that was shown to the jury during the sentencing phase of his trial. The jury was also shown his Iron Maiden posters. That, plus his incompetent attorney, may be why he got death instead of life imprisonment.

The guy was no saint. Neither is anyone else on death row. But that doesn't mean they are guilty, and it certainly doesn't mean it is okay for them to die for lack of saintliness. This guy was executed, not because he was guilty, but because he was poor and stupid.

Instead of using a random lottery to select your customers, wouldn't it make more sense to simply raise your prices until demand falls to meet supply? Or, alternatively, add some space for more tables, so supply rises to meet demand?

Me too. But that was the 1970s, not the 80s. Using punch cards in 1983 was idiotic.

Why the sarcasm? Do you actually think it isn't true? Low birth weight, folic acid deficiency, and lead exposure are all correlated with low IQ and criminality.

No one involved in the process has any interest in streamlining it. Lawyers make millions off each case. Politicians can win votes by being "pro-death" without the risk of being responsible for killing an innocent person, since they will be retired by the time anyone convicted on their watch is actually executed. Death penalty opponents will try to throw any monkey wrench into the process, and even death penalty advocates need to be able to point to the "due process" to rebut claims that innocent people are being executed.

Who gets to decide what is "circumstantial"? Cameron Todd Willingham was executed based on his own confession and "solid" evidence from arson investigators. Except the "confession" was fabricated by a fellow inmate that was paid to cooperate with prosecutors (and later tried to retract his testimony), the arson investigators were not using modern techniques, and Willingham's attorney was too incompetent to challenge them. It looked like an open-and-shut case at the time, but many people now believe that Texas killed an innocent man.

Permanent incarceration will also protect the innocent. The innocent would be far better off if the billions spent every year to execute a handful of criminals was instead spent on long term crime prevention: better schools, lead abatement, and better prenatal nutrition.

Because when you take a life, you cannot give it back if you find out that you made a mistake. Cameron Todd Willingham was executed in Texas in 2004. More modern analysis of the evidence has led many to believe that he was innocent. Oops.

I would sign up in a heartbeat. I travel a lot, and sometimes return to find unpaid bills from months ago.

What paper mail are you receiving that you care who reads? Mine is 98% junk, and an occasional bill from a company too stupid to implement e-billing.