Sounds like it's high time time to start a VPN provider in SeaLand

This, though maybe not in SeaLand.

The first country that offers verifiably secure email and VPN services to the world will enjoy an economic boom and the love of billions. And if it's a country like Iceland, it could go a long way toward making them wealthy. And if the US decides to invade Iceland, then at least the gloves can come off and the world can declare the United States a rogue state. But I don't see that happening, because at some point, if the rest of the world really starts to turn sour on the US, you'll start to see things change over here. But as long as we have to cover of the EU and Asia as our allies, the US spymasters can pretend that all is well. But with every week there's a new revelation about a president of a free country having their email hacked by the NSA, maybe we're closer to a worldwide shunning than we think.

I'd gladly pay for secure email that I knew was beyond the reach of the upskirting creeps in the NSA. And I would love to be able to pay a place like Iceland, Finland, etc for that privilege.

No one who values freedom, economic, social or just the freedom to not be watched, should be quiet about this. Me, I've become a one-issue voter thanks to the revelations about what the NSA is up to. Any legislator who voted against reining in those bastards is now on my list to support any opponent who will vote to put a stop to ubiquitous surveillance in the US.

The good news is it grows hair. The bad news is you now have pubic hair on your head.

It's not only inhuman. It's also really inefficient for the marketplace.

If you want growth and a really successful private sector, a more even distribution is optimal. Because the money that's concentrated up at the top is less likely to circulate, slowing the "velocity of money".

So if you really want a successful "free market", then you really want to break up that concentration of wealth in so few hands.

After a point, it gets hard to spend massive wealth. There are only so many $20,000 wristwatches and $20million private jets you can buy.

Capitalism is hurt by money sitting in a pile. It is helped when it moves from person to person.

the world is clearly on a path to not giving a crap. Sure there are little treaties here and there, but with India and China ramping up and coming into the first world, anything present countries do will be quickly outpaced.

You need to look more closely at what's been going on in China regarding renewable energy. They're taking it very seriously and putting a lot of money and resources into it.

They may not be ready to sign on to the West's timetable, but they are far from "not giving a crap". I think an argument could be made that because they are a centralized society, that they will probably be ahead of the US in this area within half a dozen years.

What part of what I said is "over the top"?

I can give you a citation for the Barrett 50-cal sniper rifle and ammo being legal to own and in most states, carry. And the article above is citation of the illegality of the drone and camera.

I'm sorry you're so uneducated that you think libertarianism is a religion.

Not a religion...a superstitious cult. They lack the moral system that is required to be a religion.

If we eliminated energy companies tomorrow

Nobody said anything about "eliminating energy companies".

I just said we shouldn't ignore climate change.

By the way, you should know that the energy companies are certainly not ignoring climate change. In fact, they are using the climate change model for their own corporate planning and R&D.

I believed "Markdown and Pandoc" to be a work of 16th century French literature.

I'm pretty sure those are the names of the defensive tackles for the Browns.

Just tape a handgun to your drone. Then maybe you can get the NRA to cover your legal costs and Republicans to fight for you in Congress.

A Barrett M82 .50 caliber semi-automatic sniper rifle with 60,000 rounds of ammo is legal, but a quadracopter with a webcam isn't?

I could make a case that there's something a little out-of-whack in the good ol' USA.

Yes, that's the only way, and fortunately that's not going to happen. When all is said and done, if you could give people a choice between driving their cars and economic growth now, and a few degrees warmer temperatures and a few feet of sea level rise, they are going to prefer driving and growth

Maybe you shouldn't speak for anyone but yourself.

I'll bet the same argument was once made when it came to not just shit in the street but to dig a hole out back.

And the bit about "economic growth" is bullshit. The only "growth" that ignoring climate change guarantees is that of the bank accounts of a handful of energy companies.

Global warming is inevitable and we better just learn to live with it.

Did you learn to live with a 640k limit on address space? It appears as though you have learned to live with a very dim view of humanity's ability to innovate. "Solar energy isn't any good and we just need to learn to live with it" and, "Internal combustion engines are here to stay and we just need to learn to live with it" and, "Pumping toxic chemicals into the ground water under extreme pressure is how we're going to keep the lights on and we just need to learn to live with it".

I will never understand why there is a small but vocal cadre of tech nerds who for some reason believe that we have reached the absolute zenith of technological innovation when it comes to energy, but will gladly engage you in a discussion of the best types of interstellar drives to power ships for colonization of deep space.

You don't know what you're talking about.

We need to let the educators of Texas and South Carolina vet these lessons to make sure there's no pro-gay, pro-Darwin or pro-Marxist agenda.

I mean, what are we worried about here, that these lessons are going to make tech education in the US for K-12 worse?

while the potassium is in Kazakhstan.

And bananas.

Its not pure carbon, you get all the useful trace elements and minerals as well trapped in the carbon matrix and the ash.

It's got what plants need!

But does it have electrolytes?

Humus survives ice ages and periods of global warming

It also makes a delicious dip!

It makes me a little gassy.