His point is that there are monitors that are designed to work fine in portrait mode. Their primary intended mode is landscape, but it's not like portrait is completely ignored as a possible option by manufacturers. It's largely based on which type of panel the monitor uses, and since you didn't mention that, here's the differences:

TN Panels generally have horrible viewing angles and generally bad color representation (relative). IPS Panels generally have much better viewing angles and colors but cost more to produce.

Most high quality IPS based monitors have viewing angles in the ~170 degree range (landscape) or ~90-110 degree range (portrait).

TN Panels have other advantages like faster refresh rate (for the gamers) and generally being cheaper to produce, so most people have these just due to the cheap factor and they are good enough for a good portion of the population.

TL;DR: TN panels suck for portrait while IPS panels are much better for it, and since most people use monitors in landscape anyway, they see less need for the more expensive IPS panel based monitors.

I'm not saying Uber is a great company. Though I'd say they are innovative (applying a basic internet principle, i.e. P2P where the peers are the drivers/customers, to a real life thing such as a taxi service).

Terrible company or not, I fail to see where/how the regulations actually apply. Again, probably because I don't fully understand what all they do (aside from what I've mentioned).

While I agree that the taxi industry is not the illuminati, I don't understand how Uber is a commercial vehicle for hire. Then again, I might not fully understand the extent of what Uber does that's applicable under law.

My understanding is that they offer a service through an app & the Internet that allows people to schedule another (basically) random person to drive them somewhere for a fee. Then Uber takes the fee, takes their percentage, then gives the driver their percentage. The driver can only do that after they register with Uber which is effectively Uber hiring the driver.

What I see Uber has done that is an issue is the actual "hiring the driver" part as that is what makes them "like a taxi company".

If I made an app for the exact same thing, but charged drivers to use the portion of the app that they needed (where riders would get to schedule a pickup for free and pay the fee at the end through Paypal or something), effectively an "in-app purchase" for both of them, I don't see where I'd be a commercial vehicle for hire.

Like, I'd be making money on every transaction since it uses my app, and my app's purpose is solely to connect riders to drivers, but I wouldn't be the one supplying the vehicles or drivers.

I can see how it's a grey area however.

Crazy.

We need to change public opinion about nuclear then. Thorium reactors are the future (or Fusion if we get a breakthrough that makes it possible then a lot more viable).

Wind power generation pulls energy from the motion of the air. Air/Wind is what moves Heat around the atmosphere, thus managing it's distribution. Converting that to energy to fight AGW is asinine. Plus it's not sustainable/consistent (i.e. wind isn't in a location 100% of the time).

Solar isn't efficient or cost effect enough yet (as your Germany example shows) to be worth it, and although that could change in the future, I'm not holding my breath for it. Plus although it's mostly consistent (aside from clouds), it isn't sustainable 24/7.

Geothermal is good but only in certain locations and we don't know what potential pitfalls it has (think what fracking has caused, but with heat and lava although Geo isn't nearly as extreme as Fracking is).

I honestly only see Nuclear Fission/Fusion as a viable, sustainable, and cheap/abundant energy source for the near (20-100 years) future.

What if someone funds them switching over? i.e. subsidizes a conversion from coal to renewables so the only thing they lose is money lost during the time it'd take to do that.

This is incidentally part of my plan, although I hadn't considered going to current coal power plants and offering this. I thought from a more competitive perspective.

Yes! When you consider that your actions will affect every life to come after you, both in direct and indirect ways, forever to come, nothing is quite as important.

Wonderful. That's gonna give me more reasons to push for this. Thanks! Your letters will be a great resource, as is this post.

Yes. I'm still working some of them out, but my goal is to have this on it's way by 2034. I know it's a long time, but relative to when we'll need it and how reasonable a request such a thing is, it's soon.

My plan is to get enough funds to get past one of the major hurtles. Specifically, the initial cost. From my research, Thorium reactors generally cost a lot to build, but after that, regular maintenance/upkeep is relatively cheap in comparison. If I can find a way to actually cover the building costs, that will give major incentive to power companies (who are natural monopolies anyway) to do the other heavy lifting (connecting it to the grid, permits, generally what power company do in this case).

The other major hurdle will be the US laws against this and general US views on Nuclear power. That will be harder to change and I'm still working that out. Thankfully I have time to brain storm on it.

Oh, it goes a wee bit beyond that.

"MARK MY WORDS...! This drill, will open a hole in the universe. And that hole will be a path for those behind us. The dreams of those who have fallen! The hopes of those who will follow! Those two sets of dreams weave together into a double helix, drilling a path towards tomorrow! And THAT'S Tengen Toppa! That's Gurren-Lagann! My drill is the drill, that creates the HEAVENS!"

- Simon; Episode 27 - Tengen Toppen Gurren Lagann English Dub

This really hit me. I don't know why. "The dreams of those who have fallen! The hopes of those will follow!" really puts it in perspective for me.

I will do it.

This is one of my primary goals in life. Get nuclear more accepted in the US, then start building Thorium reactors across the country.

Soon

I'm just going to hazard a guess and say that the cardinal directions have to do with the magnetic field of the body itself. At least, that's what I always thought growing up.

i.e. If we were to go to Mars, we'd define the poles as North and South (not sure if there are specific characteristics or if we just pick randomly), then define East/West based on that.

This comet probably doesn't have a magnetic field though.

East. Now in space.

Right, I left the question way too open ended. I mean based on what we currently define as Republican & Democratic parties. Possibly even counting when they flipped ideologies (i.e. Republicans used to be liberal while the Democrats conservative).

I think that's actually another perfect example of the problem. All of those people died in the 19th century. It is time for real change.

If I had the mod points....

+1 to this. I voted purely Green & Libertarian (aside from where there was no option for such choices and depending on the specific issues). Then I saw my state's election results and realized how pointless it was for those two parties to even exist.

Has there ever even been someone voted to a major political office (i.e. Senator, House Representative, or Governor of a state) that wasn't R or D?

I experienced the full brunt of voter stupidity when a relative of mine asked me who I was voting for, then proceeded to tell me she always voted for Republicans if she didn't have any knowledge about the candidates and she never bothered studying the issues to have that knowledge.

I believe that displays a perfect example of the problem.

Well that was an amazingly detailed post. Thank you. If I had mod points and could use them, you'd get them.

Overall, after reading all of that along with what you yourself have said, it seems that you are saying the assertion that it's not a choice is baseless, but regardless of whether it's a choice or not, the more important issue is our acceptance of homosexuals.

I agree with that. I'm personally of the mind that homosexuality is wrong (that's my personal moral choice), but that they should be treated no differently than the rest of humanity. I'm sure everyone has lied at some point in their life. I don't see it differently. I'm also pro same sex marriage interestingly due to the financial considerations.

Overall, I'm pro freedom-to-do-as-we-wish as long as people are taught the responsibility that goes along with such things. i.e. abortion, guns, same sex marriage, etc.

i.e. I don't think it's right that people do it, but I don't think they should be treated as they are for what they do.

Strawman. You said, "you'd best do it using correct grammar." No mention of what sounds good when said verbally, or of what people would normally say & understand it as.

Grammatically, that is correct. I'm not saying I didn't typo. I did. However, it's grammatically correct and has the same meaning both ways. There is no real difference aside from the irrelevant one of how it sounds when said. This is the internet. We're not saying any of this. We are typing it.

Remember, we were all pushed head-first out of someone's vaginal tract. Why are we acting so dignified?