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.

5 acres of swamp an hour west of Lauderdale will run you probably $2 mil, if you can find a bargain. =8-0

That's the kind of info I need.

I want to make a decision with as much solid info as is practical.

Yep, it needs Fred.

Everything's better with Fred.

I am proud to report the Kook (Kucinich) is dead last on my list.

At the top is Hunter, and I can definitely live with that.

Wish Fred was on the scale.

I guess its not as bad as I thought. Other than the flat panel displays, I was sort of hoping phasers, transporters, and warp drive would have been priorities.

Of course, those got all the glory, but the real useful things would have been the ships’ artificial gravity systems (which presumably allow inertial dampening) and the matter/antimatter power systems.

You know its all Bush’s fault we don’t have these things...

Of all the cool gadgets in Star Trek that could have seen reality, we end up with a crude version of the medical scanner.

Hopefully, such a plan is offered at a competitive rate in your state

An HSA, combined with some sort of catastrophic-level care insurance, would be perfect for me.

I don't go to the doctor unless I injure myself and I'm not on prescription medications.

Actually, with an HSA, I'd probably visit the doctor more.

I'm curious how the HSA's work in terms of payment - I assume that the government somehow monitors that you spend only on medical expenses. Do you get a special checkbook just for medical purposes, or do you have to declare everything to the IRS? Will physicians give you a discount for paying by cash (out of the HSA) generally?

Why stop offering it if they still have to pay for it? That makes no sense.

They want to reduce their costs, not keep their costs up

Generally speaking, the high costs of insurance for companies is not because of the healthy single people, but by the chronically sick and those with families.

If they don't make up for the difference, then the competition who does offer health insurance will hire away all the employees. However, for most people, the compensation required to obtain their own health insurance, and thus retain the employee, is far less than that employees fractional share of the corporate health insurance policy.

At my small company of 20 people, our premiums are double because of two individuals - one lady has a sick child that requires ongoing surgery, and another has a chronically ill wife. The rest of us, and the company, are all paying extra for that.

Furthermore, while many companies are having trouble paying health care costs, the real issue is that the premiums are unpredictable, other than that they will go up. Companies can deal with high costs that are stable, but when the premiums are hiked significantly every 3-5 years, budgeting becomes difficult, and then most companies spend more money trying to find a different insurance company every 3-5 years, which adds cost on top of the premiums. Then you add the cost most employers incur of dedicated employees to help the staff sort out the paperwork and regulations to deal with the insurance company, and there are quite a few costs that can be reduced by simply giving the employee an equivalent cash compensation.

Interesting.

Corporations could completely remove themselves from the healthcare issue - just stop offering it and compensate their employees commensurately.

As a healthy single man, I’d actually prefer to self-insure if my company gave me the money they’re using to pay my premiums.

And the french (and much of Europe) do jail you for certain types of politically incorrect comments.

This not only is a non-issue for the 'Rats, but they're positively envious of this power.

hyphonated = hyphenated

Zachary Trayes-Gibson

Why would a man have a hyphonated name?

Same syndrome here in Cleveland, where the morons keep re-electing Kucinich even though he ran the city into bankruptcy while mayor.

This is supposedly the image in question

Thanks Billhilly.

I didn’t start until my last year in college (when I certainly should have known better). I really had it more or less under control for about 10 years - just smoking when I drank, and occassionally on the weekends. Back then I usually didn’t finish a pack and ended up tossing it.

About 4 years ago I was in a relationship that got progressively more stressful. My smoking increased with the stress (actually making the situation worse for both of us). When we finally broke up last year, I was addicted. I’ve “quit” so many times that I lost count, but this time feels different, and I’m ready now. I’m just shy of 40, so I’m hoping I can undo the 15 years of damage before my body starts slowing down due to age.

I’ve already noticed some of the wrinkles on my face starting to fade - that’s reason enough to keep off the death sticks.

Congratulations FarmerW. I have a couple of days on you - it will be three weeks Thursday night at 9pm.

That site helped me a lot too - especially the pictures.

Good luck to you.

Cleveland passed a similar measure, but it hasn’t been enforced yet.

Of course, this is the land that elected Kucinich to represent them, so we’re not exactly the IQ capital of the U.S.

Lucky for me, I finally managed to quit (2 weeks, 3 days, 19 hours and 50 minutes ago), and I will admit, its easier to quit when most places have gone smoke free.

Still, I think I’d prefer to still be addicted than to see my fellow citizens vote away freedoms.

Thank you.

I’m a gas engine guy - don’t know much about diesels.

The article mentions that the diesel needs to run lean to optimize the catalyst.

Anyone know what that means in terms of performance for diesels?

Welcome back Tony.

We missed you.

"It seems to represent an idealized version of a country that is far from ideal right now,” she said

Is it really possible logically to idealize something that is already ideal? By definition, don't you idealize things that aren't ideal? So what's her point?

And just when does she thing the country was ideal? When the President was boinking interns and anything else that moved? When the booming economy was a sham waiting to burst? When we were throwing cruise missiles around and invading small countries that we still haven't left? When the first couple were surrounded by death and destruction? Yeah baby, those were the days.

If it dropped and shattered on a carpeted floor, she must have some seriously high ceilings.

Perhaps it hit something on the way down, like the edge of a table.

If its going to save the state $9b per year, and its going to cost the industry about $9b to implement, then how about the state come up with the money to pay for this mandate. After the first year, they'll be "making" $9b/year extra, right? They'd be no worse off the first year.

Or could it be that those savings are exaggerated?

There’s a certain irony in the fact that the same people who insist that we let all the criminals and the insane loose into the general population, also insist that businesses somehow should be able to discern who these individuals are. Yet if a business does choose not to serve a customer, the first words out of the same people’s mouths is “discrimination”.

Hey, $40 million is cheap. Gravity wells don’t just grow on trees ya know.

Wal-Mart doesn't play this game, if you plan to sue them you better be right, rich and have 7 years to spare. Wal-Mart will break you emotionally and financially. I don't blame them either

I read somewhere that Wal-Mart isn't just the largest retailer - they're larger than their next three competitors combined.

I don't mean to infer that one shouldn't sue a corporation just because they are large and powerful. However, playing with fire generally leads to one getting burnt.

He is actually saying things. It is refreshing to see a mainstream candidate (even if unannounced) write in a way that is devoid of political newspeak psychobabble - no vacuous rhetoric, no worthless platitudes

Reminds me of our own CongressmanBillyBob, and its long overdue in the public arena.

Let me be the first to welcome our digital overlords.

However, if you look at your history, Bryan, you'll wonder: If no more than a scant few hundred IRA Provo thugs could obtain enough weapons (including fully automatic weapons, blackmarket or smuggled into Ireland) to keep several THOUSAND British troops busy for decades in a SMALL island nation with VERY strict disarmament laws, how much more mayhem could be committed in a country as large as ours and with borders as porous as ours are allowed to be?

Excellent point.

I’m not optimistic, but here’s hoping the French prove me wrong.