If you don't like being dependent on the utility for your electric power, generate your own. You also have control your power consumption. Those are two forces that could change the market for electric power.

The Washington Post cites this incident as a reminder that Java has become an Internet security menace.

You can read about Java as the Internet security menace in the link above, but first you need to enable Java Script to read the article.

The poll showed 43 percent of Republicans and 67 percent of Democrats say humans have evolved over time, compared with 54 percent and 64 percent respectively four years ago.

43% + 67% = 100% but 54% + 64% > 100%

To add to the confusion and misunderstanding, percents are broken down into not well defined other percents.

Article provides good examples of how many people don't understand basic science, basic math, and effective communication skills.

Would a technological analogy to releasing GMO plants be releasing a (for profit) computer virus? We can't depend on an AVG environmental virus scanner or the for profit corporation that sold the GMO to repair our damaged environment after all of the oranges (or other species) are infected/damaged with genetic programming side effects.

Who does code reviews on GMO's???

You have summed up the general public mentality well.

It's inconvenient to be more efficient and there must be an easier short term solution that does not crimp my glutenous lifestyle like sugar beets or corn or something.

The elephant in the room is efficiency. For example, if we increased our efficiency 2X then our energy sources would go twice as far. Increasing efficiency would mean changing our lifestyles to consume less.

Changing lifestyles for greater efficiency would include:
Turn the AC a few degrees more toward the ambient temps.
Ride a bike or walk vs drive a 2 ton car.
Public transportation such as trains or buses.
Drive a car that gets 50+MPG vs 25MPG.
Urban planning for reducing the distance between work and home.

Energy efficiency is the first thing we should evaluate and fix - not the energy sources. Its disturbing how we ignore the affect of our glutenous lifestyle when discussing energy and its a major component.

To you "smart" means having a self-contained computer probably because you work with computers. To a mechanical engineer "smart" may mean it has pulleys and to a dietitian "smart" may mean it has high fiber. To an economist "smart" may mean a good investment.

By your definition "smart watch" would be better stated as "computerized watch" because that phrase contains more facts.

Using "smart" to describe something is really "dumb" because its too general. It diminishes the facts from being communicated and that's why I'm opposed to its use and it annoys me to see it being used to describe so many things.

"Smart" is another overloaded buzz word that works well for marketing but is too vague to use to describe a city. Did you really mean to use more descriptive word such as efficient, effective, informative, or economical?

When I hear discussion about powering the US with renewable energy but see innefficient energy usage it sounds like morbidly obese people discussing the newest buffet in town.

I remember seeing a news blurb over thanksgiving holiday about no waiting or groping in security lines if your riding the train. It seemed odd to have planes locked down while trains were wide open.

I had one grope with airport security recently. They failed to detect a long pointy object (pen) in my cargo pant pocket.

TSA seems ineffective at security.

Electrical power source is not from the breaker panel. The breaker panel is the last step of power distribution. Power is sourced from a power plant. The weak links as we start to use more Electric Vehicles are power generation (millions of EV) and distribution system (5 EV charging simultaneously) - not the 200A breaker in each house.

For example, your speedometer will work up to 140MPH but chances are your tires, engine, or transmission wont, so that "loud bang" you hear when trying to go 140MPH in your car will be a tire exploding.

Do those of you that think you can draw 200 amps from your residential electric service also think that your car can go the highest speed that's printed on the speedometer?

I am interested in how the battery becomes AC to be distributed. It must be an impressive inverter to go along with the large battery.

Its always amazes me that so few people understand fundamental concepts about the energy that they use. The reporter probably just assumed that the battery is directly connected to the town grid.

ants are causing a lot of damage to electrical devices in Texas: http://urbanentomology.tamu.edu/ants/exotic_tx.cfm