FreeflyChile

A couple of quick thoughts: 1) is this with all games or only 1 or 2? 2) do you have the xbox sitting vertically or horizontally? Try switching the position 3) is it in an enclosed space? Those things are notorious for overheating and while overheating shouldn't cause the problem you describe, who knows..

So, basically, Americans are better at fighting and not getting killed than other countries?

A month ago the Russians apparently have a failed SLBM test that results in a spectacular light show in Norway. Now we get an (admittedly, user-contributed) article in Pakistan about how it was a US experiment that has caused an incredibly harsh winter for the entire northern hemisphere. /edit to clarify for those who don't click the link that the article is on a Pakistani website. This is old news: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0319262/

The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists was founded in in 1945 by scientists and engineers from the Manhattan Project. So what do you think – does the apparent nuclear program of Iran, DPRK’s two alleged nuclear tests, ending of START, and the renaissance in nuclear energy (w/accompanying reprocessing risks) mean the clock should be moved closer to midnight? Or why not? /Marg I have a few questions about this (that I didn't see from a quick scan of some of the links Marg posted): 1) What does the time actually mean? As in, I know that this group moving the clock closer to midnight means they feel there's an increased likelihood of nuclear annihiliation, but what does 3 minutes mean vs. 4 minutes or 5 minutes? 2) If the clock is to indicate 'catastrophic destruction' - shouldn't really only the changes made by the 'heavy hitter' countries matter? If Pakistan has 1 nuke, and they use it, it sucks for the target but it's not catastrophic to humanity. 3) If full-scale, Fallout 3-style nuclear war happens, will one of these guys have the dedication to stay at the office and change the clock to midnight?

In this case, how would that discourage prosecutors? In criminal cases it's not "Prosecutor v Defendant" it's "State v. Defendant" so ultimately the state (and taxpayers) would have to pay jurors. And you don't think prosecutor's crappy records would haunt their careers? Not really. I have friends who work for the prosecutor's office in Chicago and they are hardworking individuals that truly believe in what they do - and I am certain there are more like them. However, i've also heard the story of the 'lifer' at the prosecutor's office, the kind that don't ever move up because of sheer mediocrity but also don't get fired because of how hard it is to get rid of someone in a government job. In my opinion, those are the people that are most likely to abuse their power or not adhere to the way the system is supposed to be. Plus, prosecutors already make a lot less than lawyers in the private sector. Combine that with the sheer volume of cases they get, and the pressure to prosecute that will come from their bosses all the way up to the mayor's office, and pretty soon it's really not worth it to anyone to decide to become a prosecutor. So, you'll end up with either a) a shortage of prosecutors - leading to the hiring criteria being lowered and more of the 'lifer' types to get in or b) the cost of hiring and retaining prosecutors increasing dramatically.

I generally believe that human life is worth more than animal life. That said, my dog died a long time ago and there are people that are alive who I would not lose sleep over if I could switch the situation.

Some people say time is money. If that's even remotely true, doesn't a "rich man" pay more for being in jail for one day than a "poor man"? Seems to me that for some crimes, increased fines for "the rich" actually does make sense. $100 to a millionaire is nothing. To a guy on minimum wage it's a hell of a lot. To me that's like saying that it's unfair that a rich guy waiting to pay a toll is actually paying more than the poorer guy waiting the same amount of time because time is money. In my mind there's a distinction between actively TAKING something from someone and denying them the possibility to get it in the first place. To me, a penalty where the actual loss is the same (not potential gain) is the fairest. So maybe a fine is not optimal because to a rich guy a $100 fine is nothing whereas to the minimum wage earner it's a lot - but it's fair. The punishment is objectively fitting the crime for all. Since that is not really a deterrent to some as much as others then doing things like revoking licenses or jail time may help approach the goal of the law more than a fine and remain fair. 2 hrs for a rich guy = 2 hrs for a poor guy in terms of time. Plus, it's easier to tell EVERYONE - you get a DUI or speed or whatever, and this is the punishment FOR ALL.

In this case, how would that discourage prosecutors? In criminal cases it's not "Prosecutor v Defendant" it's "State v. Defendant" so ultimately the state (and taxpayers) would have to pay jurors.

What kind of regular cleaning do these require to stay at peak efficiency?

My impression is that this country has a lack of focus with this unless the general population feels threatened. Maybe it's my perspective that didn't really live through this first-hand, but it seems like the American drive to be the first and leaders in everything tech-related from WW2 through the cold war has dissipated somewhat. As an engineer (degree only, no practice) and now a patent lawyer - I think this stuff is really cool and hope that more attention goes to the development of these technologies. It also seems to be a no-brainer long-term, but with everything going on economically, it's tough to convince people to take any additional hits shorter-term to make it happen.

The USNA football team has destroyed Westpoint's for the last 7 years... and will hopefully do it again tomorrow afternoon!

On Illinois drivers license numbers, the last number of the second set of 4 numbers and the first number of the third set of 4 numbers are the last 2 digits of your year of birth. for example, for some such as myself born in 1978... xxxx-xxx7-8xxx

Not true - I had a social security number for a long time before being a citizen. I don't remember if it was issued when we came to the US or when I became a US resident (I was too young to concern myself with that at the time).

He sees you when you're sleeping and awake... wiretapping???

We're whalers on the moon, we carry a harpoon...

I agree that from this it doesn't seem like race had anything to do with it - but shouting the race card in a racially charged community is a sure way to get everyone involved against to you tread VERY lightly. Not agreeing with it, just saying it's a possible outcome of playing that card.

I did a quick search and did not find anything about this: To DSE or others familiar with the industry.. is there a best time of the year to buy a camera w/r/t new models? Are new models traditionally released at around the same time? The reason I ask is that 6 months ago, the CX100 was $600, and now it's retailing closer to $500...and I'd assume will continue to drop as the model ages. I am looking to get one of these but am in no real hurry, so I can afford to wait. Of course, I want to get one before the model is discontinued, though. Is there a way to find out when the model will no longer be made so that I can shop around at that point? Thanks!

Hey, I’m interested in hearing what you and others think … and why. Long-term – my opinion the biggest threat to American security is the decline in the value of education. It seems that for some it’s become “cool” to be dumb or anti-education and something of which to be proud. As much as one might hold dear the Jeffersonian farmer ideal (& he was neither dumb, anti-education, nor did avoid spending time abroad in places like France, so that’s mythologized as well), that ideal as source of power left us over a century ago. Other nations will surpass us. Our investment in public education in the late 1800s and early 1900s may be the most significant reason why the US became the wealthy superpower in the latter half of the 20th Century. (One can argue whether destruction of Europe in WWII was necessary but not sufficient, I would argue that without the investment in education, we would not have been able to take advantage that the state of Europe at the end of WWII offered the US.) And altho' it is still something of a specialist novelty and *not* a deterministic indicator at this time, the first Americans are starting to get PhDs at Chinese Universities, e.g., Lora Saalman. /Marg The anti-intellectualism/anti-education thing is interesting to me because on the one hand, I do think that there is a certain amount of how 'cool' it is to be dumb. However, and maybe this is my living-in-Chicago, having-gone-to-law-school, not-really-knowing-any-high-schoolers perspective (not trying to be elitist, but probably sounding like it...), is that movement still prevalent? Does it have the legs that it once did? It seems like now 'nerd' culture is in - TV and movies seem to emphasize this a bit. Given the knowledge needed to work the internet (facebook, etc), the 'regular guy' can't help but learn with all that information readily available - even if by accident, right? Also, operating the 'regular' things we use in life - computers, iphones, MP3 players, cable boxes/dvrs, video games, televisions, etc. require a greater level of sophistication than before...and the person that deliberately tries to remain ignorant nowadays gets left behind. Is this just wishful thinking on my part? Just a thought.

Your post reminded me of this:

From people on the street: Q: Do you have change? A: Yes, I do. (and continue on my way)

The Point Break one was a bit over the top. They usually do a pretty good job of explaining the science behind it. I like the early (first season) better, but they are still a lot of fun. I have more fun with the silly banter (How do you attach a microphone to a duck? Duck tape!). My favorite "guest" is retired FBI explosives guy Frank Doyle. (While the junior mythbusters were mixing nitroglycerine: "Why are you standing over there Frank? Because I don't want to blow up") Off the top of my head: Exploding Pants Cement Mixer Blow Up My Parent's Car Hot Water Heater Tow Truck Cable Are Elephants Afraid of Mice? Getting Out of a Sinking Car (that was really creepy) JATO on a Chevy Impala (both the one in the first episode and the revisit) All Time: Chicken Gun Revisit. After proving that there isn't any more energy in a frozen chicken than a thawed one, they came back to it in a later episode and made their own reinforced windows and found the penetration of the frozen one was way more. The expression on Adam's face (they didn't show the damage until later) was priceless. "Well, that's definitely a result". I love the pancaking car one. I think it's also the one where they try and tear the top off a car by driving it under a truck and test the myth of the car in the desert from the commercial, where they drop the car from a helicopter and then outrace the falling car with the car on a dragstrip.

Oh, clearly not! That was their lame attempt at a cover story and a huge logic hole since lots of people besides "FBI chick" should have figured that out nearly instantly. I just mentioned it because I thought that was what the aliens were after in the original series, right?

It had moments, but overall I'd say it moved WAY too fast for the first episode. There were numerous logic problems. For instance, how exactly did "mom" find "motorcycle boy" in the middle of the city while cell phone service is inoperative and the biggest panic attack since 9/11? If the "V" are here for water, then why park their ships over cities rather than, i don't know, maybe that 3/5th of the surface of the planet covered by WATER? How did the "resistance" figure out the reptilian nature of the "V"? Oh sure, "Mr. Exposition" comes on screen and and explains in great detail for five minutes what's going on, but how did he figure that out? BTW, thanks for saving the production company from having to show us anything actually cool by just freekin' talking about it. Show #1 sould have been all about the "wonder" of "V" showing up with just a hint of a subtext of evil lurking behind the scenes. Instead, what we got was it all laid out for us with virtually no mystery left to tune in for. I have a feeling that the backstory part will be fleshed out more fully in the future, but the reveal of the partner and the black guy as aliens came too soon. Also, really, if the one alien guy really wants to show these aliens are bad, wouldn't it take a simple showing up at a news station going 'I'm an alien and this is what they're here for' to get it going? I don't think that the aliens are here for water - in the preview for the season, the FBI woman goes "why haven't they just killed us all - they must need us" - and previews i've read say that this plot is deeper than that (because really it doesn't fly anymore in this day and age - an advanced race that needs water can just go to the asteroid belt or other planets and get as much of it as they need without having to brainwash or fight a resistance). I thought about the 'cities' thing too. I think that on one hand, you'd want to approach slowly so that the inhabitants know you aren't hostile. The flipside of that is that if they've been observing humanity, they'd certainly know that we're very quick with the trigger finger. A way to make sure we're not going to nuke them as soon as they're seen is to park over each of the biggest cities in the world - you can't kill the ship without taking out the city below. Also, my thought on this (and with the ships in independence day too) - is that whatever power/thrust/anti-gravity device they use to fly their ships would likely be hazardous to the health of those directly below.

Actually, to me, that is one of the least far fetched ideas. If the one of the "V" strategies for taking over a planet was to hover over and study them, they would need a visual cloaking skin on their ships so as to blend in with the ever changing sky conditions. The same technology that could be used for visual cloaking could be used to project images. In fact, the US has worked on this sort of thing since WWII (believe it or not). I'm not question that it's far fetched or impossible - but WHY would you want that feature? I think your last paragraph helps explain it. I also had the problem that it moved too fast, but given the short leash shows get before cancellation, it probably doesn't have the luxury of developing a well-thought out story without some immediate viewer gratification.

I liked the premiere.. it certainly has a lot of potential. QUASI-SPOILER ALERT I think the revelation of the sinister aliens and the hint of their true form is a bit too quick for me. I would have liked them to draw that out a bit. Also, the revelation of some 'regular' people being aliens came a bit too fast. END SPOILER ALERT One thing I was wondering - what engineering decision results in the bottom of a spaceship being a gigantic TV screen?