SUWUTI!

Its a good thing you know exactly what removing energy from a localized marine environment will result in. To the best of my knowledge even the PhD's in the field don't know - because it hasn't been done.

You watch Jurassic Park? Read the book?

No. Now they just quote directly from the latest top gear.

Small enough that slowing down currents and water motion for several miles might screw with the local marine life... or alter the gulf stream... or erode the ocean shelf.. who knows the exact affects?

Aside from making it illegal to boat anywhere nearby.

First off these are by no means perfect solutions themselves. They're expensive for the power generated, are subject to the whims of nature and of course, could affect surrounding nature in unforeseen ways. What happens when you cause large dead spots in the ocean or wind currents? Have any real life tests been performed?

Personally I don't like the idea of off shore power generation, I'm sure it would expand and screw up the laws for sailors and the sea. Not to mention the large zones a few miles off shore that would be off limits to the public.

You also forgot to mention nuclear power, which beats everything else atm. If power companies want to experiment with this stuff i say go for it, but to realistically solve power needs with reliability America needs to get its nuclear ass in gear.

I was born and raised in Manassas, VA - I never heard of or saw this IBM building... how long ago was this?

If women hear about this...

Next argument:
"You don't really love me!"
"Baby you know I do!"
"Prove it! You, me and my sister are going down to the machine tomorrow!"
*Uh oh*

If women hear about this... Next argument: "You don't really love me!" "Baby you know I do!" "Prove it! You, me and my sister are going down to the machine tomorrow!" *Uh oh*

They don't need to shell out billions to build their own plant, just funding to have a 3rd party foundry build thier chips. Most manufacturers (intel, nvidia etc) sell off their old fabs when after a few generations for RAM production etc. Hell AMD recently spun off its fabrication division due to lack of funds. Now they just contract to (globalfoundries?) for their chips. http://arstechnica.com/hardware/news/2008/10/and-then-there-was-one-amd-spins-off-foundry.ars Wish I knew what kind of price penalty you take by having another company handle that stuff for you in several quantities of say 10,000 - 100,000 and 1,000,000 chips. I'll bet if you make bulk orders it isnt bad, fabs are probably just happy to keep the machines running before they're obsolete.

Alright, I'll admit this is bad. But why the "panic" over something that so far only has the "potential" to do massive harm? What about HIV and other STD's that are roaming free across the land infecting hundreds of thousands of people a year?

... Viruses mix with other viruses now? When did that start happening?

How did this wall of text get first post?