CaptainPanic

I'd be very surprised indeed if that car was ever on the US market. In those days, Americans were driving around in cars the size of a continent. But let's get the discussion back onto lighting.

The Corporate world constantly influences the government to make new laws - it's called lobbying. The Corporate world constantly tries to kill competition through lobbying, and they have created obsolescence through regulations many times before. Those people in the movie of the OP are effectively saying that they do not want certain kinds of lobbying anymore... but they're probably motivated to say that by just another lobby group. It's hypocritical. (Or did you think there's no multi-billion industry with its own lobby behind the energy saving lights?) By the sound of it, your "new" energy saving lights are practically antique. Energy saving light bulbs with a 'warm up time' of less than a second have been on the market for at least 5 years, if not 10. The life time of the newer lights is really remarkable, isn't it? Citroen 2CV? 50.9 mpg. In production from 1948 until 1990.

Siderney_Mello_Pops

Freedom of speech ≠ Freedom to insult Just because there is no law that enforces some tolerance doesn't mean you can behave like an asshole.

I would have thought that this is similar to "not making the wish" which was explicitely excluded from the possible options. If you do not make the wish, don't you effectively wish not to make a wish?

Funny that you're thinking that you need to keep the foreigners physically out of your country when the Chinese are simply buying the USA at a distance. Priorities, priorities, man.

First year students would typically devote over 50% of their time to mathematics and general physics... both of which are a continuation of where the previous education left the students. Topics would be: - differentials, integrals - linear algebra - trigonometry - etc. It sucks to be a 1st year student, but the excitement when you actually understand all of it is well worth it.

What a silly and shortsighted video. So many times have we bought new products because the old ones became obsolete for some reason. And very often, that is a policy invented by industry to force more products upon us. And we call that "Economic Growth". And we are happy when our economy grows. It is a good thing. And now a government does the same. And now it is "Evil"?? If industry invented light fittings that wouldn't fit incandescent bulbs (like the halogen lamps), and the only fittings one would be able to buy at some point were the new ones, then there would be no protest... and incandescent lights would vanish without a trace. (This happens especially often in the consumer electronics, or software, where compatibility might be dropped just like that, forcing people to get new products to replace old ones which aren't broken...). The video is a dumb protest against something that is very common, but normally orchestrated by industry rather than a government.

I love secondhand bookstores. All the useless marketing is gone! They don't have contracts that say that some books must be on the central tables, or the middle shelves, and some only at the bottom shelve in the back of the shop. A secondhand bookstore is just a real mixture of all that literature has to offer: good and bad. And very often, you can also find great classics by pure chance, which might be difficult if you allow a person or a computer with a commercial interest to guide you. I choose by title or author, then I read the text on the back, then I pick a few pages at random and see the style. After I found a few books like that, I make a final selection based on a feeling (which I cannot define). 9 out of 10 books are really good. And if a book sucks, I only paid 20% of the new price anyway. Of course, it helps to start searching in the right section of the shop.

Personally, I like to meet new people every now and then, and I don't mind to start the conversation myself. I'm not shy. It gets easier as you grow older (when I was younger, it used to make me really nervous). It depends a bit on my own mood though... sometimes I am happy to sit with my friends, and we just happen to be in a bar together with people we do not know. Sometimes, I am even looking forward to meeting new people. I have even gone out alone a few times, which forces you to meet new people (or be lonely in a bar full of people - the saddest thing ever). But everything heavily depends on opportunity. - type of bar: lounge bar, regular bar, loud music - position of people: sitting, standing, facing you, or with their back to you - other people: are people already in a conversation - etc. For example: I really hate lounge-bars, because everybody is sitting down, and it makes it very difficult to approach people! Maybe in a few situations, it's possible to just sit down near other people (and enter their 'social space', allowing you to join in conversation), but most often it is impossible. I also hate loud music. Since it takes quite some effort to say anything at all, you don't get a lot of time to interest someone to talk to you. Casual chit-chat just does not justify the massive effort you have to put into talking screaming into someone's ear... and I suck at pickup lines that do the job in 1 sentence. But there are plenty of places that are perfect.

swansont, you're ignoring the point I am trying to make, and to make it worse, you post a link that does nothing but mock the OP and myself. I'm a little disappointed.

Please put the word "believe" or "imagine" every time you want us to imagine stuff. It's not too often on this forum we're asked to believe or to imagine. It is easy to forget.

We're not at the peak of evolution. We're just at the top of the food chain, and the masters (although quite careless) of our planet. That's something different though.

Do you actually know any Muslims yourselves, or do you just pick this up on FOX News? Is there any statistical analysis behind this remark, or is it just your opinion? Mind you, I quote you, but quite a few other people in this thread might as well answer the question too (it's not personal)... I just cannot be bothered to list everybody that I disagree with. And anyway, why should Muslims oppose terrorism in their ranks, and why shouldn't Americans oppose things in their ranks, like being the most polluting society in the world, which also costs millions of lives? I suggest that you guys make a list of priorities... be objective about it... and note that "Islam" probably won't even be in your top-10 of threats to the USA.

Although I risk derailing the actual topic now: isn't contrast more important than the actual sensitivity of the eye? Since we're talking about gaming, shouldn't this be about how enemies can stand out the most in different settings? My humble apologies if I take this discussion in the wrong direction.

We're dealing with a typical miscommunication in this thread between you and me. I think that the engineers are fully capable of fixing their broken reactor. They are the best choice to do this work, and we cannot really provide much help. They can fix piping like the best. They understand their reactor. They understand radiation dangers. They probably know exactly which pipe is still working, and which is broken. They can prioritize what needs to be fixed first. And for the coming months/years, I would leave it up to them to secure the reactor itself, and to decommission the reactors... I completely agree with you on that. However, the problem spread well beyond their reactor, and is now spilling into the ocean. All the time, you're talking about the reactor. But the OP mentioned water spilling into the sea, which is outside the reactor.

rigney, If you message is that you do not wish to get a religion 'shoved down your throat' (assuming you're American), why do you post a youtube movie about France? That seems as relevant to your local situation as a hurricane warning in Florida when there's a storm in Iceland. zapatos, Your particular choice of words suggest that you think that a majority ('many') of Muslims wants to commit acts of violence while a minority ('some') do not. I think you fully deserve to be shot down in flames, like you anticipated yourself already. But instead, I think I'll just report your post for breaking SFN rule 1c.

In post 1 you mention wars in the Middle East (which are heavily associated with terrorism for the last decade). You mention the word "islamophobia", which brings the Islam into the discussion. Then you warn your fellow countrymen. I completely agree that you carefully avoid using several words, and specifically the words 'Muslim terrorism'... but it oozes out of your post on all sides.

rigney, Talk to the Irish, British, Northern Irish and ask how much terror there was committed there in the name of Catholicism and/or Protestantism. Or how about the Basques (France/Spain)? That's not even religiously motivated... still terrorism though. Ask Sri Lankans, and find our that the Tamil Tigers are mostly Hindu/Catholic/Protestant. Definitely considered terrorism. The Colombian FARC? Terrorism. Basically, look just a little further than the local propaganda, and find out that it's complete nonsense to relate Islam to terrorism. There are (1) plenty of other religions or groups that take up arms and commit terrorism on large scales and (2) plenty of Muslims who live in peace and condemn the violence just as much as we do.

Marat, I completely agree. I hope that my initial focus on the USA has not insulted anyone - it's absolutely true that most Western democracies suffer from the same problem - certainly my own country does. Interesting point. Under normal circumstances, any public debate would be organized by either the political parties themselves or by the media (who happily go hand in hand with the politics). I have no idea who should organize the debate about how to organize a controlled revolution, like you suggest... Obviously, if you wish to discuss about the Western political ligitimacy, you must at least consider the option of a (peaceful!) revolution. I completely agree with you that it would be necessary, but I don't think it would find any support in any existing organization.

TEPCO do not have a lot of experience fixing broken and leaking nuclear reactors after an earthquake and a tsunami. They have zero experience in containing polluted water on site but outside any carefully designed equipment. Assuming that it is a good idea to keep contaminated water on site for treatment or permanent storage at a later stage, then the best experts in this case are probably some civil engineers and hydraulic engineers. I maintain that the nuclear engineers at TEPCO are very inexperienced at this kinds of problems, because until 1 month ago, they had never encountered it or trained for it... Your assumption that they have actually thought of all the possibilities cannot be proven. If the nuclear reactors were in normal operation, or would undergo any carefully planned maintenance or upgrading, then most certainly the experts would not need any input from some outsider who 'thinks outside the box'. They are within their own expertise and training. But a 10 meter high tsunami and a 9.0 earthquake moved the entire nuclear site outside of the box, which makes this kind of thinking necessary. However, it's probably the company (TEPCO) which have to open themselves to ideas from outsiders... and that'll be a huge leap, because it would admit that they actually don't know how to solve it. BP eventually did it in the Gulf. TEPCO does not (yet).

Job opportunities in almost all engineering are fine - perhaps better than almost any field. There is a lack of engineers worldwide.

Of course professionals should be consulted before any action is taken. In fact, it's professionals who should take the action, so logically they will have the decision themselves. Then explain why the problem is any more complicated than just trying to keep the water just where it is? Note that right now it leaks into the ocean, and therefore we're talking about water that is there in Fukushima, but that is not actively used for cooling. And why do you conclude that Fukushimahelp is unschooled in the science and engineering and unfamiliar with the details of the situation? He or she has only just signed up, and posts an idea which I think isn't completely unreasonable (it's certaily up there in the crazy ideas section together with "trying to cool a nuclear reactor by dumping water from a helicopter", which has already been tried).

Personally, I enjoy debating a lot, and then I often need to base my arguments on some facts. So, I talk about things that I (claim to) know. But those are often not my field of expertise. At the same time, I like to try and solve some mysteries (things I don't understand - why else would I be on this forum?). As an engineer, I am probably naturally more focussed on stuff that I do understand for work... but that's just work. And I certainly don't mind talking about women, and arguably, that's a topic I really don't understand anything about. What do you actually mean with "things they understand"?

Some doctors are very good at diagnosing patients. It may seem that he only takes your pulse, but he must pick up a lot more signals in the meantime... he certainly picks up all the human body signals, and possibly more because of years of experience.