dusqi

If I had $1000, I wouldn't even be able to pay for a month's mortgage :P If I had $10,000,000 - I would invest it and live off of the interest for the rest of my life. Approximately $100k/year after tax and inflation.

The clouds article you quote was published in 2001. Its predictions have been taken into account in IPCC publications since then, which still predict a problem of CO2 induced global warming. Interestingly, clouds may also produce positive feedback which would send the climate change into overdrive, and so there have been prominent scientists (e.g. from Oxford University) suggesting that the warming might be 12oC rather than 3oC. I doubt that you can view this New Scientist article, since you have to be a subscriber (my university is), but here's the link anyway: http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg18324575.600 - here is a quote: So, the take-home message is: don't rely on clouds to save the day... Edit: also, you say "the world hasn't warmed this century" - I don't know where you got that from, but I'm not sure that I believe it - and even if it is true, the "century" has only lasted 8 years so far. (see various myths here: http://environment.newscientist.com/cha ... th/dn11462 )

I'm not sure that I agree with what some people are saying, that without the internet they'd suddenly start getting out more. If you have the type of personality that likes staying in for long periods on the computer, I doubt that that would suddenly change if the internet disappeared. I predict that who already spend a lot of time on the internet would just spend longer playing consoles, watching TV, and maybe reading books.

I'd love to do jury duty! I've read lots of research about how juries are really stupid and make bad decisions, or decisions based on bad evidence. I'd like to see it first hand.

I think there's an interesting dichotomy between kids growing up faster in some social areas (drink, drugs, looking older), but not other 'mature' areas (being responsible, contributing to society). I am fine with kids growing up quicker, as long as they take on the responsibilities of being older also. I think that the problem is that kids are basically useless to society until they're at least 18 years old. In the past, kids used to do useful things at a younger age, and that gave them a sense of self-worth, a sense that they had a place in the world, and some self-respect. People that have self-respect don't act like celebrities.

Er, I've never heard of a single "tree hugger" who doesn't support recycling. So I don't know where you pulled that little factoid from. Regardless, although I imagine that you can find one or two groups of people who are against recycling, I strongly doubt that you can find a study or poll that finds that environmentalists as a whole are against recycling.

I am surprised and disappointed, given all of those recommendations. I also don't have such a high opinion of doctors and other medical professionals that I would consider them pillars of society. They are intelligent and hard working, but in the end they're just in it for themselves like everyone else is. A lot of people in the medical field are there for their own benefit, but don't you dare declare every doctor selfish. I am saying that the distribution of selfish people is just as high in doctors as it is in the general population. Therefore, my argument is that because doctors really aren't pillars of society any more than any other profession is, denying someone on the basis of a criminal offence that was a one-off and has been more than made up for is not justified.

Duke paper says between 10% and 30% impact of sun. IPCC says 20%. That leaves 80%. Yes, in the past the sun correlated higher with temperatures. This gives even more credence to man-made global warming, since it makes the recent lack of correlation more surprising. Yes, there is debate as to exactly how climate change will occur. The models are complicated. There will be areas (such as the interior of greenland) that are colder. However, the fact remains that the global temperature is rising.

Myth: http://environment.newscientist.com/cha ... ge/dn11650 And yes, it is the same article 3 times. If people would read the article, then we would all be saved a lot of ignorance.

Video says: - CO2 lags temperatures - myth: http://environment.newscientist.com/cha ... hange.html - Sun causes global warming - myth: http://environment.newscientist.com/cha ... hange.html - Plants use CO2 - No one said that CO2 is all bad. But there's too much. It's about the gradient. Can you only see things in black and white?? - Man only has a small effect compared to natural sources - myth: http://environment.newscientist.com/cha ... hange.html "30 years later, a lot of people might be apologising for the stories they're running today" - presumably he's referring to himself.

Exactly. (I had to write a freakin 12 page research paper about how Global Warming was false.) >.< Anyways, Global Warming is fiction, and yes, we do create a lot of carbon, but so does the earth itself. And the more carbon we produce, the more it helps trees. (No I'm not saying we should have carbon parties and stuff and just release it, ) but studies showed, that what we think is Global warming, may actually me a phase in the Earth. Scientists have seen that about like 1,100 years ago, the Earth was extremely warmer than it is now, but then it cooled down, and went into a mini ice age, we are now coming out of that mini ice age, which is why the temp. is going up, but if the Earth could handle it before, it could handle it now. I also have several other reasons, but they're toooooo long for me to write here so. :P Myth: http://environment.newscientist.com/cha ... hange.html

Gravity is a theory also. Go and jump off of a building. (When you do, you'll also learn that evolution and "Survival of the Fittest" is also a theory ;) )

I am surprised and disappointed, given all of those recommendations. I also don't have such a high opinion of doctors and other medical professionals that I would consider them pillars of society. They are intelligent and hard working, but in the end they're just in it for themselves like everyone else is.

Myth: http://environment.newscientist.com/cha ... hange.html Also: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7327393.stm

Yes, it is true. No, you shouldn't reduce your carbon footprint, because no one else will until there is an incentive to do so. You should encourage your government to create these incentives.

Based on my very limited understanding of physics, ultimately the universe is limited by the smallest quantum unit of distance. So, there is no infinity in terms of the potential positions of atoms, so eventually dividing by two does get to 0. A similar thought experiment is the fly stopping a train experiment. A fly can momentarily stop a train, even one going at 100mph. When the fly hits the train, the fly's motion slows down, until it bounces back. But in order to bounce back, at some point the fly has to be going at 0mph. That means that it has stopped the train for an infinitesimally short amount of time.

There's probably a point to make about the difference between ignoring from weakness, and ignoring from strength. If you feel like you're making a conscious choice to ignore someone because you're above the situation, then that's ignoring from strength. If you feel like you're ignoring them because there's nothing else you can do, but it's actually getting you riled up, then that's ignoring from weakness - and bullies love that because they feel dominant and powerful. The difference between the two is really just down to self-confidence and self-esteem. My practical advice: - I like the ideas of talking to someone higher up than the teacher (head of year or headteacher - nothing says "I am serious" better than this), and talking to an older friend/brother/sister if you have one. You do have to watch out for reputational effects that might happen if teachers try to intervene badly, so you could start by just asking them to make a serious effort to watch out for bullying for a few weeks, so that they can formulate a good strategy for tackling it. Most students have teachers that they "respect" more than others - in many schools this is physical education teachers. One strategy could be to get the headteacher to ask the respected teacher to talk to the bully in private. Then the bully is more likely to listen. - Try to be open to friendships with other people also, don't end up hating everyone in school just because of a bully. Although you might think that everyone thinks you're a loser, most kids probably don't notice that you get picked on and even more don't care - they just want nice friends. - If the bullying is leading to more general self-esteem issues (where you start to think that someone bullying you reflects badly on your character and not just badly on the bully), then firstly you should remind yourself that it shouldn't, and secondly you should consider what you could change to make yourself feel better. That could be learning a martial art - but learn it in order that you feel self-confident, not to actually fight people with (but rather on the basis of "if I wanted to, I could fight him and win"). Really though, it can be anything that makes you feel good about yourself - it's hard to worry about a bully if all you're thinking about is programming a cool computer game, or playing a musical instrument. Related to this second point, is that if you're having trouble finding friends at school, you should consider other places to find friends - such as out-of-school activities. This type of fall-back is great because it reminds you that not "everyone" wants to bully you, and so it gives you that self-confidence to ignore bullies from strength. - It gets better over time! I noticed the difference dramatically after highschool, when you start properly mixing with people that aren't all disgustingly immature.

I don't know anyone at my university (in the UK) that doesn't use Facebook - there were a couple of people that resisted it for a few years, but they caved. Events are organised and promoted on it, student issues are debated on it, pictures of events are put on it. It's easier to send a Facebook message because you don't have to work out their student e-mail address. You can also send messages to multiple people just like in e-mail. Now that we finished undergrad, it's a way to see how others you knew are doing in the 'real world'. I like to see what kind of jobs people got. [shameless plug] I also run an application (MyPersonality) that helps to pay my student bills: http://www.facebook.com/apps/applicatio ... 2490151219

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Any country with more than a few hydrogen ICBMs is on an equal footing. None of them would allow themselves to be seriously attacked by another country without firing them off. That would end in mutual destruction, so no country would attack them in the first place.

Better start caring about money then, because 1) a house is very expensive to buy and maintain and bringing up children is expensive, 2) partying, playing in a band, and bringing up a family requires having spare time, which if you work for 45 hours a week can be extremely limited, 3) scenic views are very expensive because it suggests a house in a country area rather than an urban or suburban area

- Finish PhD at 25 - start my own company at 25 - meet girl between 25 and 30 - sell company and retire at 30, marry girl and start having kids - 30+ do research for public good and own satisfaction. - see the world, make kids smart, change the world. (timescales are flexible)

I almost wish the Republicans had another term so that we could keep track of how they're doing with that :lol:

Because while European countries were slowly doing their best to wean themselves off of oil, America was burying its head in the sand and insisting that it was every American's right to buy a SUV.