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    One reason I don't vote Republican

    From watching the news and reading what people are writing here and elsewhere, I get the sense that the Republican party doesn't want my vote. I am the descendant of Asian immigrants, generally socially conservative, pro-gun, and support lower taxes. I should be in the (R) camp instead of...
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    Palin is more of the same of Bush Administration

    I had severe doubts about Palin after listening to Charlie Gibson interview her, but now I am absolutely convinced that Sarah Palin must not become Vice President. If McCain dies and she becomes President, I think we can expect more Bush Administration tactics. An article in the New York...
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    Hurrican Gustav - Storm of the Century???

    I'm listening to reports on the BBC now. They are saying that Gustav is Category 4 and literally flattened parts of Cuba like a Pancake. Now I've read that the levies aren't fully repaired, and they are supposed to withstand a Category 3. Hypothetically, the storm hits New Orleans, is...
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    New 2009 Acura TL spy photos

    http://jalopnik.com/398977/200...abitat-the-golf-course The grille still looks like a ridiculous big grin, but the rest of the car looks good to me. The character line that follows the door handles is still there. The rear fender has a shoulder that kind of reminds me of the FCX Clarity...
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    Honda Global Small Hybrid spy shots!

    http://www.vtec.net/news/news-item?news_item_id=776084 From the pictures it looks like the car is about the same size as a Prius. Note the Accord-like 6-point grille, alloy wheels, and turn signals mounted on the rear view mirrors. The resemblance to the FCX Clarity and Prius is pretty...
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    Fuel Cell camp and Plugin Hybrid camp are both wrong

    I think that Fuel Cell cars and Fuel Cell Hybrids, backed by massive wind & solar farms (and maybe nuclear) are the future. Current technologies have problems: Plugin Hybrids like the Chevy Volt use a battery pack for local driving, and a gasoline engine to recharge the battery pack during...
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    Recommend a new compact car

    Requirements: Manual transmission, 4 door sedan, decent fuel economy (about mid-30s on highway), reliable & safe. Main use will be commuting 12-20 miles/day + weekly shopping trips. Would like to spend under 20k, preferably 18k or less incl. all costs. Looking at Honda Civic, Mazda3...
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    Is there any reason NOT to use Windows XP automatic update?

    I'm just wondering what would happen if automatic update gave Windows a bad patch and screwed everything up. This is probably unlikely but I am feeling a bit paranoid today.
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    Windows Live OneCare scanner located HMTL:Bankfraud.M

    Windows Live OneCare informed me that my computer has HTML:Bankfraud.M on it. The program purged Bankfraud.M from my system and says that everything is fine. What is Bankfraud.M? I can't find any good description of it on an english website. Some foreign language sites say that it is a...
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    The Anti-Peace sentiments of some in a small Minnesota town

    Link In short: A bill before Congress would create a Peace Department to encourage non-violent dispute resolution both at home and abroad. A woman's group in MN pursuaded their town council to endorse the bill. Others in the town were extremely upset and demanded that the council rescind...
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    China successfully destroys satellite with balistic missile

    CNN Link This leaves me wondering what, if anything, can be done to secure the GPS system and vital communications links. I am sure that countries currently hostile to the United States are watching this event with great interest. Being able to disable the GPS system would be a great...
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    Teaching versus attacking

    As I am sure all of you are aware, P&N often becomes very heated, with debates often degenerating into personal insults and flame wars. I often find myself disagreeing with people in real life about many of the same topics: the war on terror, Israel/Palestine, taxation, abortion, and social...
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    CentCom: Iraq slipping towards chaos

    NYTimes report I invite everyone to take a look at the slide entitled "Iraq: I&W of Civil Conflict." It is clear that this war is not about terrorism, and is more about sectarian violence. CentCom notes that the Iraqi government and police are significantly ineffective. Iraqis are busy...
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    Product Idea: Pentium "Final Edition"

    The Register is reporting that the Tulsa core Xeon isn't getting much attention because it is based on the much criticized Netburst architecture. The Register Tulsa is a dual-core netburst chip with a gargantuan 16MB shared L3 cache. Each core has its own 1MB L2 and runs at 3.4 GHz...
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    Gay marriage: No compromise possible?

    http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/19/magazine/19ANTIGAY.html?pagewanted=print I'm from a fairly conservative part of Pennsylvania, and I've found this to be more or less true. I just don't understand how many conservative Christians, the vast majority of whom are nice, generous, and ordinary...
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    Donald Trump: freedom tower design is $#(*&!

    http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/05/18/wtc.trump/index.html With all the partisan bickering going on, I thought everyone would find this funny :D Basically Donald Trump wants to throw out the current freedom tower plans and rebuild the twin towers... but bigger versions. This is what he had to...
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    Is it possible to change a person's personality?

    I have a 17 yr old sibling who is going to college next year. He's a bit smarter than I am and more outgoing, but he is also usually terribly disorganized. His room is usually a mess, with books and papers piled everywhere, school supplies lying on the floor, clean laundry unfolded, etc. He...
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    Have an unopened iPod 4G 20GB on my desk. Should I keep it?

    I got a free iPod (and NOT through one of those pyramid schemes) 4G 20GB. I was going to sell it, but after being unable to find a local buyer, I am thinking about keeping it. For those of you who own digital music players, does the iPod live up to the hype? Should I keep it?
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    New cell phone. I feel like James Kirk.

    Got one of these Samsung x475 mobile phones today. It replaces a Nokia 3595 candybar type phone I had for about a year and a half. Every time I flip the phone open I feel like saying, "beam me up, Scotty." :o This thing is amazing. It's as thin as my old Nokia and about 2/3 the mass.
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    I always talk to myself and don't think it's wierd. I see people on the street doing the same and I think they're nuts.

    I often wonder around muttering to myself if I'm thinking about a difficult concept or planning something new. My mom always found this strange when I was a kid, but I wasn't psychotic or anything so I guess she shrugged it off. Now when I walk around the streets and I see people talking to...
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    Women & Academia - choosing between family and tenure

    http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/08/opinion/l08women.html For those of you who don't have or want a NYTimes account, here is the complete letter: I have no problem with women in academia, and I've had a good number of excellent women professors, but letters like this really irritate me...
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    Recommend me a quiet hard drive

    What happened: (1) Had a WD Caviar SE 40 GB that was originally whisper quiet but recently started making constant high pitched noises. (2) RMA'd the drive and got replacement refurb from WD. It has the same problem! Just not as loud. (3) Am currently running off an almost 5 yr old...
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    Help, HDD making periodic high pitched noises

    I have a Western Digital WD400JB Caviar SE. My computer started making a really loud high pitched noise a few days ago and it has been driving me nuts. I switched to my auxiliary drive and the noise went away. I switched back to the WD and the noise came back. I did this 3 times to make...
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    Installed replacement cooler, thermal paste & compound left on CPU - harmful?

    Fan went south on my CPU cooler and I had to replace it today. I was able to get all the thermal paste off the CPU die, but some of the gray thermal compound that melted around the die and got onto the CPU package wouldn't come off (left sort of a gray/dark brown stain). I tried using...
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    Ideas for next Star Trek series? How about 'The Adventures of Captain Kruge'!

    If it were up to me I'd create a series about the crew of a small Klingon bird-of-prey. They would go on covert ops missions against the Federation and Romulans, assassinate people, pave the way for less advanced worlds to be conquered, and generally do everything that Federation crews wouldn't...
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    American teenagers against freedom

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4225013.stm I don't know the true implications of this survey since the article gives few details on the locations of those surveyed and the exact questions asked, but it is disturbing nonetheless. It would be outrageous if true - what are schools teaching...
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    Rank the Star Trek (original cast) movies

    My rankings, from best to worst: 1) The Undiscovered Country (VI) - Most people seem to give II the #1 spot, but I've always liked the historic feel of VI: the peace conference with the Federation's greatest enemy, a galactic conspiracy to assassinate the Klingon Chancellor and the Federation...
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    Insurgents, meet our latest recruits

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4199935.stm Battery life seems a bit low, but I wouldn't mind having a few of these things for scouting or perimeter defense :D
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    UPS is so (*&$#!#* slow!

    From Utah to Pennsylvania, a 4.1 pound package. USPS Priority Mail: 12.15 $US with delivery time of 2 days. The postman comes every day but Sunday where I am. UPS Ground Service: 10.65 $US with delivery time of 5 business days. Upgrade to 3-day service results in significant price bump...
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    "Cut 'n Paste" trolling should be a bannable offense

    I have noticed that a lot of threads by certain individuals are nothing but verbatim "cut and paste" articles from news sources. There is often no original content, or perhaps one line of propoganda masquerading as content. As I see it, this amounts to spam and should be a bannable offense.
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    Could somebody explain to me why some people find Evolution offensive?

    Intelligent Design taught in my home state of Pennsylvania. I knew many people, some of them my good friends, who said they found the theory of Evolution to be disturbing or offensive. When I asked why, it usually had to do with disgust for monkeys and other apes and denying any human...
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    ***Official*** Sonoma launch thread

    http://www.intel.com/design/chipsets/mobile/915_fam.htm As expected, the chipset has all the goodies (PCIe, SATA, High Def Audio, DDR2). Curiously, there is a 915GMS, which is essentially a 915GM in a much smaller package (27x27mm instead of 40x37mm) specifically aimed at the extremely small...
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    Recommend me an inconspicuous backpack that can carry a notebook

    Here is what I am looking for: - Has notebook compartment - Looks ordinary and not like it was designed to carry a computer - Gray/Black or other dark color scheme, no bright colors like red, looks bad around office - No more than $50. I can't seem to find one. I checked eBags and...
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    Spire notebook backpacks - worth the $$$?

    http://www.spireusa.com/products/backpacks.htm I've heard good things about these bags, but I don't know anyone (and I haven't seen anyone) who actually uses one. I'm using a Targus carry case right now but it feels just a bit too conspicuous so I'm looking for something new.
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    NYC children subjected to secret HIV drug tests

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/pro...this_world/4038375.stm Jesus H. Christ. What kind of monster would permit something like this?
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    Senator Lincoln Chafee: Iraq conditions worse than last year

    http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOL...iraq.chafee/index.html The evidence is more clear than ever: The Bush administration screwed up in Iraq and continues to screw up big time. Our forces can't even control all of Baghdad or the highway between Baghdad and the airport :|
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    Half Life 2 resistence == Iraqi insurgency?

    I just got past the level "anticitizen one." So far I've driven civilian vehicles rigged up with guns, planted explosive barrels, stolen landmines for use against occupation troops, and used RPGs to shoot down attack helicopters. The Combine has a lot of high tech communications gear, spy...
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    Uh uh... did I see a Romulan???

    I just saw the last scene of Enterprise and the ex-Administrator is talking to a shaddowy figure. The reception on the TV was really bad and all I could see was a vulcan-like form that said "the reunification of our people is only a matter of time.. blah blah." :Q I don't remember star...
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    Best way to deal with poison headcrabs?

    Headcrabs are only slighly less annoying that the flying things in Doom 3. But poison headcrabs, what's the best strategy to deal with them?
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    Half Life 2 severe motion sickness

    I bought the Bronze HL2 package off steam last night. I loaded Counterstrike: Source and ran around a bit to test the engine on my machine. No problem. I went to bed while HL2 was downloading and when I got up at 6 I decided to play for a bit. An hour later I was feeling dizzy, getting cold...