Phi for All

It'd be pretty sweet to wake up and find out Dennis made me a McGlone sandwich for breakfast without having to turn on the lights. Or not.

It'd be pretty sweet to wake up and make breakfast without having to turn on the lights.

Natural selection *is* a part of evolution, just not the only mechanism.

If its Moon to Earth rarity exceeds its Moon to Earth weight due to gravitational acceleration difference and you can find a buyer, I would say yes.

When it comes to transportation, please keep in mind all the varied climates and the sheer size of our national terrain. Very few countries are anything like us in those terms. As Pangloss mentioned, in areas of high density and similar climate, like our northeast coastal area, trains are a big part of daily life. Out west in Colorado where I live, you could fit most of those northeastern states into our one state with room to spare, yet we don't have half the population of just New York City. The northern parts of Colorado get generally colder while the southern parts border on the deserts of New Mexico and are generally warmer. It's tough to design cost-effective rail transportation that can service such limited populations and varied climates. And let's not forget the differences in terrain. Our mountains are quite different from those in east coast states. But we do have a problem with our vehicular reality. We buy cars based on if they could handle the few times we have many passengers, when the reality is we use them primarily by ourselves. The US auto makers have spent billions over the years convincing the male population that the car you buy signals to women how big your penis is, so having a sub-sub-compact just for commuting is not going to be easy to sell. I'd like to see some enterprising business (probably with the help of the feds) offer a full electric like for limited lease, possibly with the provision that you could drive it to an airport (or train station) or wherever and leave it there for the next guy. You would join a member service and be able to commandeer any available EV offered by the service and pay for the time you use. This would definitely take some time to accomplish but there's never been a better time to break out of old inefficient patterns.

I think Congress is making another big mistake in this bailout. I'm hearing from all kinds of folks who, though glad to be paying less for gas, are suddenly realizing that big oil is still able to turn a nice profit charging 40% of what we paid this summer. Even more backlash ahead for infernal combustion and the robber LeBarons at Chrysler, GM and Ford.

I'm insane in the brain on a train into Spain but the strain is a drain on a plane to Bahrain (in the main, I'm still plain old Miss Jane Charlemagne; if there's rain I'll abstain - makes me vain - what a pain!).

I feel the way bascule does with one difference. I don't *want* to see the big three fail, but I don't want to prop them up artificially either. Remember in 1969 when they claimed retooling for sub-compacts would bankrupt them, in response to the VW Bug? When Datsun and Toyota came into the market in 1970, Ford and GM suddenly changed their tune and had the Pinto and the Vega within another year. I think if we say no to bailout, the tune will change again. If we say yes, it'll be the same old song and dance.

Whoa, I was wondering where you were! I didn't hear anything about Tokyo burning so my next guess was a woman. Grats to you and Gemma. And welcome back, you big scaly mutant.

Ooooh, maglev trains. This is the 21st century, after all. Elevated maglev train systems are available now.

Probably magnetic rings dissolved in the oil from a snake.

It is not intractable. Science has the capacity to recognize a better explanation, unlike beliefs which are often sacred and too fragile to withstand scrutiny. Certainly not all of them, but perhaps some, and that's a very good thing. Mmmmm, the theory of Altoids.

Try the other Google links. That was just the first. Hey, that was a one-time thing. Blike brought the grape juice, swansont had some radium and it was ecoli's art history book.... Oh, thanks a LOT. I bought that on tape and now you've ruined it. How about a spoiler warning next time? Mmmmmmm, opium. Tell Laura about radiation curing allergies, then watch the fun ensue. That reminds me of a story. I used to have a television medium but now I have a television wide. Define "station". Mmmmmm, burned stake! There are microbes in the drain of your artificial rain thingy. You produce food for them when you pee there. Come on, you know you do.

I chose the Helix Nebula as my avatar 4 years ago (and haven't changed it since) for many reasons. It looks like an eye (I), it has many Phi (Golden Mean) ratios, it's there for All to see (but only if they know where to look), and being 690 light years away puts it in my favorite position. And, of course, it's called The Eye of God. I never forget my galaxy-sized ego.

Are we looking at their immense population or the fact that they limit the number of children couples are allowed to have?

Decision-making would take so long no one would ever get anything done. We'd all be standing around saying, "One one hand, it would be good to...."

That's a little off-topic, isn't it? And though this thread is two years old, I just paid $1.51/gallon for gas today, which is about a dollar less per gallon than I was paying when this thread was started. What's your point, HenrryWilson?

Are you talking about the human inhabitants? If so, on one hand it would be bad because of limited resources. On the other hand it would be good because it would eventually force us off-planet to find more resources. "In general" is usually too broad a qualifier for scientific questions.

That's because we don't get jealous when you post on other forums, we don't expect flowers, and we don't pout when you don't call us the next day. And mostly because you remember *our* anniversary. Happy fourth anniversary! Which actually is the flower anniversary.

Keyboards and cell phones would be smaller and less expensive, but gloves would cost a fortune.

Good or bad for what?

TalkOrigins is a great place to start if you haven't found it already, especially if you're looking for answers to questions typically asked by the scientifically illiterate minority, as Ophiolite so aptly names them.

Definitely part of the problem, but as you say it's not the simple answer. The labor unions were the inspiration for PACs and the type of lobbying we see in DC today. I think too many old policies are colliding with new processes and the ambivalence of the convenience-minded public is allowing too many profit driven managers free reign when it comes to business practices. Changes are happening too rapidly for huge corporations to cope with. Lets let them fail and see what innovative new models can do for us.

I agree that these businesses should fail if they can't manage themselves properly. As long as worker's pensions are safe, some unemployment can be tolerated. Smaller corporations will be formed and employment will rise again. But I still contend that the free market model can't function properly when corporations get so big they can affect regulations through their lobbyists *and* influence public perception with their media ownership. The right to petition is unfairly augmented when a corporation has that much leverage. It is certainly the fault of the citizens that they don't exercise their right to petition more than the PACs and lobbyists, but what chance do we stand against the kind of spin and clout that can be brought to bear by a huge conglomerate driven only by becoming even bigger?

Thanks for that. Exactly. And I think these mega-corps are savvy enough to see this, profit-driven enough to exploit it, and powerful enough to sway the government and the people into believing they can't be allowed to fail. Do you believe they *aren't* pushing the stories about how many millions will lose their jobs if the bailout doesn't happen? As Pangloss mentioned, if you're Honda or BMW or Toyota, the companies that have supplied the best quality most cost-effectively in completely domestic facilities, and seem to put their customers a few rungs above where the US auto makers put them, you've got to be wondering why you aren't more highly thought of. And whether it's worth trying to compete in a market that's stacked against you for some reason.