Self description WIN!

Oblig XKCD too!

Idiot.
Reject those socialist police and firefighters next time you are robbed or your house is burning. Health care should be synonymous with safety from grievous personal and property harm. Society has an investment to protect.

Most other nations recognize this, but, for some reason, people like you have decided to hold up here in the states.
Plz either change your mind, move away, or at least shut up while the responsible and compassionate hard working professionals among us try to help. kthxbye

THERE. ARE. FOUR. LIGHTS!

Sarah Palin?

Yes, because that worked so well for Encarta. "Real Business" models have no way of encompassing the intrinsic motivation to share your knowledge with others. We all want to do it. People here are even bitching that they aren't allowed to (for free). What makes you think that changing a socially motivated author/editor population into workers will make them work more or better? [CITATION NEEDED]

Damn, all I use mine for is backups...

Talk about looking a gift horse in the mouth.

Your couple hundred dollars of investment can be handled the way you describe. To extend the period of time in which a large donation has effect, there has to be some sort of structure. If that's a lawyer handing out million dollar checks every year for a thousand years, then great. He can just sit on a big ole pile of cash in his storage room and hope there's never a fire...

In reality though, the "gamble" you are griping about is the structure that ensures the longevity of the fund. The objective isn't to improve American as an economic power, though that may be a result, the objective is to provide solutions to the entire world. I'm certain we'd (Americans) love to buy Nike's from Congo rather than China. I'm pretty sure we like Nigerian oil. Africa has a lot to offer, but the process of setting up infrastructure in a place where basic health concerns are so great is not an easy one. Charities have been trying to solve that problem for decades now. The primary issue that most note? Not enough funding... Now Gates/Buffett have tried to make a near-inexhaustible source from which this funding can come. If you are having a hard time with the way they handle the money, make a billion dollars, contribute half, then tell them what you think. 'Til then, shut up with the pedantry and nitpicking.

You, sir, are my hero.

If you can pick between them, it's not an effective monopoly.

What does that even mean? That sounds like you are saying the God you believe in has no measurable influence on the world we live in. If that's the case, how is your god more than imaginary? If god is more than imaginary and has some influence on our world, then said influence MUST be measurable (as defined by the word 'influence'). If we can measure something, then we can generally predict it (According to the determinists).

Your less-than-subtle attempt to insult women and draw a parallel of unpredictability fails on so many levels I don't know where to start.

I also take exception to your claim that your god knows better than we do. That sounds a lot like Thomas Aquinas's plea to the definition of god... That "logic" was even dropped by the Church last century.

The point is that the ability to adapt without outside assistance precludes the need for the original creation event. If an organism can adapt and roll with the changes, who needs God to help? The Creationists seem to forget that point when attempting to hybridize the two points of view. Either it happened with your God, or it didn't. If there is a possibility it didn't, then the God hypothesis is overly complex.

Ever played F.E.A.R.? AI doesn't just have aim on it's side, those bastards use legit tactics and coordinate against you.

Why not model it on the Judge/Jury arrangement? a core of trained individuals with the ability to remain cool while responding to a 911 call leading a posse of lesser-trained recruited citizens who couldn't give a care about the "fraternal brotherhood" or the "thin blue line" or whatever... makes cover-ups a pain and generally defuses situations like this. If the situation truly calls for a paramilitary force, call in the nat guard... That's keep M-16s out of my face at the World Series and generally calms the public's distrust for those in uniform.

That said, my brother is a cop and not all of them are this way. He doesn't think citizens should be allowed to "interfere" with police actions while they happen (and I somewhat agree), but I have yet to hear a sound explanation for the police's distrust for video surveillance. Anyone else heard something that makes sense and still lets the cops be the good guys?

I like how you didn't address the need for evidence, just changed the topic to the Randi Challenge. Moraelin has you on this one BAG, the concept you are trying to describe requires a verified EFFECT to be measured before any speculation can be made as to CAUSE.

We need to see the psychic that can read a mood through wall or read the mood of trained actors who can manage their subtle body language to remove the know effect of "reading" things like posture and eye movement. Once know causes have been removed, and effects can be demonstrated, then you can posit this "aura" or whatever...

I believe in symmetry, so the last digit MUST be 3.

And THAT's how you do theoretical physics folks... (at least the easy first bit)