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Comment Re:Space X (Score 1) 40

And why would you think Russians are any less capable of building space vehicles than Americans?

I was not implying that they are less capable (In spite of a recent string of bad luck) but the media frenzy that would follow such an unfortunate event would presumably have such an effect and force congress to react to angry demands that they should "do something about it" and it may even lead to "serious" studies as to why America may be starting to fall behind in such endeavors. "If 'merican astronauts are gonna get killed being launched into space, then gosh darnit' it should be 'merican rockets that they get killed in!"

Comment Tracks on the Moon are Not Safe From Decomposition (Score 1) 167

"There is compelling evidence [that] fine particles of moondust, when sufficiently charged-up, actually float above the lunar surface. This could create a temporary nighttime atmosphere of dust ready to blacken spacesuits, clog machinery, scratch faceplates (moondust) is very abrasive) and generally make life difficult for astronauts."
http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2008/17apr_magnetotail/

If this is the case then SETI may be wasting their time looking for any kind of ancient tracks in the dust on the moon.

Comment It would cause other problems (Score 2) 725

Such a calendar scheme would have some interesting repercussions for countries such as Germany. Germans do not get Monday off of work if the 25th of December falls on a Saturday. which means that they could also forget about ever getting the first of January or several other holidays off if such a calendar system were to cause current holidays to fall on weekends. Perhaps they would have to adopt the Anglo-Saxon practice of taking a following Monday/Tuesday off which would essentially end up shifting entire holidays by two days in their perspective?

Comment Why not give them what they ask for? (Score 1) 294

Perhaps the best way to deal with the Taliban for the next several years is to deny Afghanistan access to all modern technology. No transport, medical, communication, industrial, agricultural, textile, (especially) military - absolutely nothing. We could start by taking out what little electricity they already have so in about a week most cellphones and computers will become useless. I realize that this may sound cruel but in the long run it may be what is needed to drive the Taliban out once and for all.

Comment Re:Punish unjust copyright claims (Score 1) 287

Even if it were punishable (which is probably already is) there would be little or no effect as most people negatively affected by such behavior do not have the resources to sue in court as the large media corporations do. This is just another tool to be used along with SLAPP lawsuits.

Comment Re:That bank would be bankrupt fastly (Score 1) 344

The whole thing is designed so that people must have debt in order to beg the banks for more debt. It's absolutely crazy

I have noticed this myself. Now that I have almost completely paid off my credit cards and am actually starting to save money saved my credit score has actually gotten worse. Just thinking about it gives me a headache.

Comment Re:That bank would be bankrupt fastly (Score 5, Interesting) 344

Now, about the real problem. Why is everybody so concerned about their credit worthness?
You must be from Europe. Over the past 20 years in the USA (and I think Canada) a person's credit worthiness is everything. Both positive as well as negative information is reported and not having a decent credit score can negatively impact your quality of life. It is not at all uncommon for potential employers to investigate prospective employees' credit scores. As an American I find these increasingly intrusive trends in the US quite disturbing as it all seems to somehow fall under employers' rights to "free speech" as everything seems to be a "public record" these days. What the US needs are EU style data protection laws.

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