Free Republic

Maybe someday we’ll have a president who has the courage to face down the public-sector unions.

I’m not being flippant, but why don’t you and some of your neighbors pool your money and invest in starting an independent gas station to compete?

Heck, form a gasoline co-op store like those food co-ops that are all over the place these days.

Ya know. I’ve never been one to really boycott actors. I guess I expect high school dropouts who make a living pretending to be someone else to be shallow airheads and spew mindless senseless dialog in public - in a way, that’s their job, and I respect those who do it well and entertain me. I don’t take their rambling seriously, even though others may. Maybe I’m too tolerant of idiots, but I live in Dennis Kucinich’s district, so they’re all around me.

But directly helping a foreign dictator to make propaganda? That crosses a line as far as I’m concerned - the same one Jane Fonda crossed.

I’ve said this before, I think.

If we really cared about Mexicans, we would force them all to go back to their own country so they would fix the problems there which cause them to flee.

As long as the Mexican government is allowed this safety valve of immigration to the U.S., there will never be enough pressure for that government to reform.

If Mexico was a repressive totalitarian state, then things might be different, but right now, IMHO, all they need is a little watering on their own cactus of liberty.

For example the penalty for murdering a spouse with the intention of collecting insurance is different from the penalty given for say rage killing--eg finding out that the spouse has been unfaithful

At least in your example, there is reason to treat the two crimes differently. In the former, there is a certain cold calculation - one has to decide that the value of the taken life is less than the monetary gain to the perp. Then, one has to plan such a deed (presumably trying not to be caught). One assumes that the killer is fully aware of the consequences of their actions and yet decides to carry them out anyhow, and purely for financial gain.

In a rage killing, you could have an isolated case of a person so overwhelmed with emotion, that they react without thinking, possibly not intending to kill, but using excessive force being blinded by anger. There's no intent or forethought involved, and probably not much consideration of the consequences. Plus, a jury can understand being so angered that a person could lash out - the jury may even sympathize with the killer, where its difficult to find sympathy in one who plans a murder for financial gain.

Just my thoughts...

Can anyone who knows about the history of these vessels answer a question?

I read the clipper’s domination of the China trade came to an end because the Suez canal was built, giving the slower steam ships access to China via a shortcut because the clippers weren’t able to navigate the canal.

Was this because the clippers were too big? I’m just sort of curious why they didn’t use the steam vessels to tow the clippers through the Suez and let them do what they did best for the rest of the route.

It's not just a matter of being strong. One of the things that kills people is rapid acceleration. When a heavy object strikes a light object, the light object experiences much more acceleration. That's an unavoidable fact of Newtonian physics.

I agree with what you said, and it is technically accurate, but it might be more clear to say "deceleration" rather than "acceleration".

Just a suggestion. Its all relative.

Modern urethane auto paint (at least in the aftermarket) uses a technology very similar to super glue (isocyanates).

This could be a cool car paint if it could be developed, or heck, any coating for that matter.

Plus, if it’s strong enough to replace welding in some circumstances, it could revolutionize assembly of all sorts of products.

What happened to her dress? It looks like it originally had a collar and someone ripped it off.

I didn't notice. I was distracted by her enormous....jewelry.

Yes, smelting aluminum is extremely energy intensive. That’s why many of the major aluminum producers have been in places like Quebec or British Columbia, located nearby to major hydroelectric facilities. That’s despite the fact that the bauxite comes from the other side of the world.

I wonder how the energy intensity differs for "virgin" aluminum as opposed to remanufacturing the resulting aluminum oxide back into the pellets. I'm sure there would always be demand for new aluminum sources for vehicles under this scenario, but at some point, most of the production would be aluminum oxide back to pellets.

Lots of great comments on this thread. I don't know what the result of this research will be, but the thought of driving in clean, silent, vehicles fueled by non-volatile expendables is pretty attractive, even if the cost is higher than gasoline.

Drivetrains for electrics are generally lighter (not counting batteries) than their IC counterparts, have great torque from a start, and need minimal maintenance. Then there's the lack of need for oil changes, coolant, and lots of other things that leak and pollute and far fewer moving parts that aren't trying to contain explosions.

Two things I am curious about...

Could any of the water that occurs as a byproduct of combustion be used in the aluminum/hydrogen process?

How reactive are those pellets to the humidity in ambient air, such as in Florida?

Unless and until this becomes law, rather than a recommendation, and drivers are ticketed for slowing down the Fast Lane, the practice will continue unabated.

It is the law in many states. Here in OH, the law is a little vaguely worded, but essentially says that you should be in the rightmost lane available.

However, its a lot easier and lucrative (and probably fun, comparatively) for law enforcement professionals to sit on the side of the road and wait for a speeder to go past that it is to actually get out and enforce the laws that would improve traffic flow.

There’s something really wrong about an angry socialist. You’re not supposed to be angry while you get rich by giving things you don’t own away

Excellent comment.

It sounds like the foam is the outer “skin” of the fuel tank.

I always wondered why they didn’t wrap the foam in some sort of a thin layer to help hold it on should the foam crack or losen - something like Mylar. I guess it would add weight, but then a bit less cargo capacity would be preferable to losing another shuttle.

Where is “on the web”?

If your car is stolen, should you be arrested for putting your car where it might be stolen?



I'm not saying the downloaders aren't guilty. However, I would liken it to the WOD - sure, you can go after the kids buying bags of pot for personal use. You might even make a small dent in demand if you devote huge amounts of resources.

Problem with music, is that the demand for illegal downloads is essentially the same demand they're trying to market to. They can't risk killing demand, like the government tries to do when going after drug users.

Granted, many file sharing utilities default to sharing what is on your drive, as well as allowing downloads, but in every one I've seen, sharing is disable-able.

I may not understand the law, but if I own the rights to a tune that I have legally purchased, while it may be technically illegal to download an identical copy off the web, it certainly leaves room for argument since what I own the rights to use and what I am downloading are digitally identical.

In contrast, there is no question that providing content to others for free or for profit is illegal.

RIAA controls the legal source of supply, they should be concentrating on the supply side.

Plus, in any industry, if you tick off enough of your customers, you end up getting regulated. I think that should be the last thing the RIAA would want, considering how close they've come to having the government step in due to the content of what they're selling.

What they're doing is probably legal, but its bad business, IMHO.

Somebody should tell this hypocrite ‘be thankful we don’t assign camera crews to follow you for days or weeks on end, documenting your life, then editing it all to make you look ridiculous’.

Except editing would not be required to make MM look ridiculous. He has a gift.

Shouldn’t the RIAA be going after those putting the songs on the web for free, not those who download them?

does not wash off the blood of hundreds of thousands (perhaps millions) of people from his hands

Sorry Jeff, but if you want to talk about the blood of millions, your socialist friends are the only players in that league.

For two students from Madrid and Casablanca, Morocco

So two foreign nationals are on the dome of the statehouse with backpacks in an obviously off-limits area.

I wonder why law-enforcement was so concerned...

I appreciate everyone’s advice. I have an early morning tomorrow, so I’m hitting the hay, but I’ll be back to check on the thread first thing in the morning.

As always, FReepers are the best source of truth on any subject.

I just checked Realtor.com.

My little two story house in Cleveland that’s worth maybe 1$100k looks like a mansion in comparison for what I could get for 4x the price down there.

But hey, if the compensation is commensurate, then that makes all the difference.

I just want to go in with my eyes open.