-Kle.

Didn't we already know that?
-Kle.

-Kle.

BTW, do these things really qualify as "Mega Turbines"?
-Kle.

"What the hell is a "digital smart grid"? Maybe Obama should have consulted with his CTO before using terms like "digital smart grid.""

Yeah, he made it sound silly, but it's actually a worthwhile goal (though not one that it's within the President's powers to achieve).

The current grid is old and not terribly flexible, as it's largely designed for load-sharing between large centralized providers. It isn't very good for things like residential alternative energy producers feeding back in efficiently, and it would be better if it was.
-Kle.

Here, let me make this shorter for you:

Nothing good.
-Kle.

I love New Orleans, and it was my Mom's home town. However, it really needs Netherlands-style ocean defenses, and nobody seems willing to pay for them. The other issue is that every time this happens, the Delta towns get more-or-less erased, and nobody seems to care. I suspect we should probably buy people out, and make most of the delta and bayou into a Federal wetlands wildlife park, but nobody's going to like that.
-Kle.

Oh, come on - it's somehow sillier than Canada's "Civic Holiday" or the UK's "Bank Holiday" ?

My greatest problem with holidays is that Leap Day isn't one.
-Kle.

In what way do those things not go together? You've just described pretty much the entire Middle Ages...

I agree that the whole "women as utility appliance" thing is loathesome, it certainly isn't unusual in fiction or real life. Isn't this movie basically just a shoot 'em up? Women are unfortunately almost always just objects in them - I don't expect much plot or philosphy from that sort of movie.

Joining the chorus on 5th Element - it was a surprisingly faithful adaptation of French "manga", and that stuff pretty much always has ridiculously simplistic, moralistic, nonsense endings. Anime is pretty much the same way, but you don't mind that. I'd say just watch 5th Element in the same way you watch Anime, and enjoy it for the good parts, w/o worrying about the weak philosophy.
-Kle.

I don't know about that. The folks who wrote that episode really had no inkling of how a nuclear reactor works (nor electricity, for that matter), but even in their silly explanation, I see no reason why Owen wouldn't still be undead, just radioactive now.
-Kle.

At least it made some sort of sense...
-Kle.

-Kle.

It doesn't need to, the uselessness of race as a valid concept is implicit on the face of it.

Please provide an example of an instance where "race" is meaningful, and it can't be replaced by "ethnicity".
-Kle.

I'm pretty sure that another standard trope that will never happen is transcendence into beings of pure energy... Damn, but I hate that puritan crap.
-Kle.

Nah, it's under the "graven images" clause.
-Kle.

There was an architect years ago who used to do vaguely similar tromp l'oiel buildings...
-Kle.

The thing is, this is quite strongly driven by the bigotry of the "intelligentsia". I find that people in the SF community (for example) are much more likely to be prejudiced towards religious folks than vice-versa. Perhaps we should be working on this, instead of happily pushing away and alienating the majority of the population? Telling kids "you're an ignorant, primitive redneck because you go to church with your parents" isn't really a good way to interest them in a rationalist world-view.

@capnrob:
"You just gotta roll with it, sometimes, or else you go all John Brunner."

It's true that it's easy to think this way, but the fact is that the Marching Morons doesn't ever actually happen. Look at how long ago Brunner was writing, for example. Oddly enough, things are actually generally better now than in the '60s and early '70s. Elitism is all well and good (I'm an elitist bastard myself) but you have to take into account that it's a load of bullshit, or your thinking gets all screwed up.

@Moff:
"Getting Bush and his ilk out of office may be akin to treating a symptom, and not actually fighting the disease."

You've hit the nail right on the head, and it'd be a minor symptom at that. However, people would rather have a convenient "ultimate evil" scapegoat than do any actual work or examine whether they might be part of the problem, too.
-Kle.

It is a political concept, not a scientific one.

The same can be said for racism, as generally used - the proper term is bigotry.
-Kle.

If it makes you feel any better, I beat you to it by about an hour...
-Kle.

There's a flourocarbon (IIRC) fluid that works as an oxygen carrier that's used for very deep-sea diving. The divers aspirate their lungs full of it so that the lungs don't collapse at depth. Seems creepy as hell, but it actually works.
-Kle.

-Kle.

Um, they're in a star's gravity well...
Maybe "would require microgravity for construction" ?
Or, maybe not, since they have their own gravity.
-Kle.

Bone has really poor resistance to penetration per weight.
-Kle.

Right, but desalinization *is* easy, it just costs money (though you can do it in a low-yield manner for free).

Your point about cheap energy is right on target, but you miss how that overwhelms the water issue. If we don't have cheap energy, we can't support the world population anyway. Dead people don't need water.

As for the "brackishness" issue; what, now you're worrying about luxuries like flavor? That doesn't really fit into a water-scarceness scenario.
-Kle.

I wouldn't be so proud of LucasArts HQ, either...

-Kle.

Not really, making fresh water is absurdly trivial.

"3. China doesn't hesitate to use genetic engineered food. This can't be done in United States because people reject it. "

You're confusing us with Europe.
Most processed food in the US contains some GM products.
-Kle.

If you're going to insist upon making political jibes, could you please, please, go read some history so that the jibes make sense? The US has been in enormously worse situations vis-a-vis war and economy in the past, and the current situation is vanishingly unlikely to result in a change of our form of government.

Criticism is more effective when it is accurate and germane.
-Kle.

Sure, but your point (which I agree with) seems to be that the original was crap.

So, what's to lose? I suggest not watching it.
-Kle.

Amongst many other things, yes.
-Kle.

Okay, that's at least less silly. "in the middle of a nuclear war" tends to sound like the missiles have been launched, but haven't hit yet.
-Kle.