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What does experience prove? No president went into office experienced as a president. On the other hand, Kerry has been in the Senate for how many years?

What if it was a bad experience? Do you continue to trust a CEO who nearly bankrupts your company, just based on the quantity of experience he has? It isn't quantity that matters, lost one, it's quality.

As far as hypocrisy goes.. how about "No child left behind," which is subsequently underfunded? The "Patriot Act" which strips us of civil liberties and is now finally being subjected to judicial review?

Magic oil pixies.. haha.

Well as someone who has done a load of research into alternative energy, I'll go into my rhetoric.

Maybe Kerry was talking about alternative fuels, in an under-the-breath sort of way.

There is no energy crisis, only a control crisis. The oil companies have a vast system of refineries, pipelines, tankers and etcetera set up and switching to anything else would make all of that expensive equipment scrap. They don't want to break free from oil until it's tapped to the last drop.

Diesel engines work on a compression cycle with fuel that won't ignite unless it's exposed to such a heat that it explodes, and so diesel engines compress air until it reaches the proper temperature and then inject fuel which subsequentally explodes. Rudolph Diesel invented and tested this engine with vegetable oil - and the engines today will still run (much more cleanly I might add) on vegetable oil. The problem with this is that vegetable oil will solidify/gel at lower temperatures and so the fuel delivery system would need to be modified. If you subject vegetable oil (even waste oil from fryers) to an easy process that many people do in their back yards, you can get a derivitive that is free of the fats in vegetable oil that is commonly called biodiesel. So petroleum diesel fuel is totally replacable, if you can get a supply chain up for it. That is a problem.. oil isn't an abundant element in even the oil-rich crops, so will it tax the food supply? No.. it can come from algae, which can be grown with brackish water in even a desert environment where land is vast, unoccupied, and cheap. So a biodiesel supply chain can, and likely will, replace diesel fuels. I believe it can be done cost effectively too with properly designed equipment. Biodiesel mixes readily with petro-diesel, never requires engine or fuel system delivery modifications on vehicles manufactured after 1993 (corrodes rubber fuel lines), and burns way cleaner.

Gasoline is a bit of a different issue. Probably the best fuel to replace it is ethanol (alcohol) except for the fuel efficiency difference. You lose about 15-30% of fuel economy. Ethanol is loads cleaner and burns cooler. It will burn in any gasoline engine with minor mods to the fuel delivery system. With a carbeurated engine this would mean replacing the jets and increasing fuel flow. With a fuel injected system it's a modification in the chip that controls injection, a lot of vehicles are already set up as multifuel engines (for exportation to places like Brazil where ethanol fuel is common) and the drivers don't even know. Ethanol is derived from sugar rich crops like grains, corn, fruit, potatoes, sugar beets and sugar cane. What a lot of people don't realise is that you can also get ethanol from cellulose (wood, wheat stalks, grass, etc - one of the most abundant resources on earth). The fermentable elements are locked in by a type of "glue" though and you need to process it with acid before they are unlocked. A breakthrough in this field was made by Purdue University (USA) who genetically modified a micro-organism that will break down the cellulose and ferment it in one easy step! They are providing it to a select few manufacturers on a leasing basis, and it is being tightly controlled because environmental contamination would be a terrible problem (since the thing eats what is practically everywhere). Right now demand for ethanol isn't high except for a drink, so this hasn't caught on. If there were demand enough for fuel, it sure as hell would and since it's such an efficient process and uses an abundant and cheap raw product, it would be very cheap to buy on a mass market. Much cheaper than gasoline.

The main advantage to biofuels is the low emmisions. They burn so much cleaner that engine life is dramatically increased to about 150-300% of what it would be with carbon rich petroleum fuels.

I think that the change that is needed to modify the market is so widespread that no one will be able to do it without vast financial funding. It spans multiple markets and it just isn't feasible now, even though it'd be loads better for everyone but the Middle East.

I've heard arguments both ways for the media. I think they report whatever is popular to keep ratings up. People don't want to turn on the TV and hear something they don't like.

Make a song, at least one minute long, which is classical themed and sounds fun.

All formats acceptable, but try to keep under 1.5mb. If you save as mp3 or ogg you can keep under that limit by saving in a lower bitrate or in mono.

EDIT: deadline extended due to forum downtime.

The reason the 25 year old is held responsible is because, like you, he should see the maturity difference and the violation of the trust placed in him and turn it down. There are laws in place so that if there is only a 2-4 year difference (varies by state) statutory rape laws are not applicable.

In short, she's still sleezy but he's equally sleezy and legally able to be tried as an adult.

Whoa! I'm not a comic reader, but the artsy/bizarre style is appealing to me.

http://mensa.dk/testiq.html

Harder, non-english language, pattern only test. I made a 121, and apparently it takes a 130 to pass, but I can't read it.

This is probably very close to the real thing, it's timed and while it starts out easy a few are extremely difficult.

It's more a case of the vast majority of them not being mature enough to think for themselves, I think.

Judging by the teen pregnancy rate, I don't know how you could disagree. The ones who are mature enough should be smart enough not to get caught.

Nostradamus:

Spoiler

Maybe you should check out a book back home..

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and if that doesn't help..

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What beverage are Germans famous for?  8)

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I finished it the other day and thought it was a great game but..

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Grain has to be ground before you can ferment it, I was racking my brain trying to figure out a way to do it before I finally just put it in there.

What was the deal with the salt? One book mentioned using it to cook but I never figured out a way to use the stove, she just wanted to leave. Maybe something you're saving for chapter 2?

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Main character = hotness.

Looking forward to #2, I was dissapointed when I found out that it wasn't the complete story.

[Irresponsible hard-headed idiot voter (drawing of toothless hillbilly):]

Flip flopping.. I saw an interesting political cartoon on this pasted on my government class door.

It went something like this.

Irresponsible hard-headed idiot voter (drawing of toothless hillbilly): I refuse to change my mind because of new information or current events because I know that I'm right and god is on my side.

Responsible voter (drawing of a man in a formal suit): I carefully analyze current events and new information and make my decision based on such, even if I had a different opinion in the past.

Strong, stable leader (characature of Bush): I refuse to change my mind because of new information or current events because I know that I'm right and god is on my side.

Flip-Flopping gutless Liberal (characature of Kerry): I carefully analyze current events and new information and make my decisions based on such, even if I had a different opinion in the past.

Would anyone care to explain what exactly this "electoral college" is?

Here is another link with a lot more detail and history behind the system, plus present controversy.

A lot of states are considering turning the electoral college into a representation of the states popular vote, since it isn't actually written that there must be people in the college. With a system like that, you could have a population with a 2:5 vote ratio and 7 electoral college votes, 2 for one party and 5 for the other.

Darth, your "safety valve" symbology is right on the mark. The founding fathers realized that the nation was a bunch of uneducated farmers for the most part and they wanted to be sure that no mass prejudice would affect the vote. It's mixing aristocracy in with the democratic-republic concept. In the modern day, people are much more informed and it's a poor system. At least, I'd like to believe that being more informed meant people would vote responsibly..

Kinda like this video: http://www.ebaumsworld.com/bush-bs.html

Sure, I don't know what the hell Bush is talking about in the clip, but I bet he sure as hell means it.

No, he was stalling with the first thing that came to his head while he tried to figure out what the hell "tribal sovereignity" meant. I live in the Cherokee Indian capitol, so I realize that it is the right of the Native American tribes to make and enforce their own laws as a sovereign nation within a nation... just in case anyone was wondering. That's how they can have casinos and bingo halls on their own land even though local laws prohibit it. The laws of eminent domain (the right of the state to take property with just compensation for the greater good of local society) do not apply to Native Americans, since it would be like annexing parts of Mexico, legally. It's funny how around here you'll find certain roads that take the oddest routes or sharply curve around a certain square plot of land.. because the Native American tribes learned their lesson about giving up land.

1. Not everyone posts at the forums.

2. Not everyone wants to make a game led by someone totally unexperienced, which is what I'm presuming you're going for..

Oh, I think your standard courting practices should do, really.

First, you need to make it clear to everyone you know except him that you think he's the most awesome person on earth and you want to do violate him in every way. This includes making a website with his head photoshopped onto the statue of David and threatening/harrassing anyone who has ever met him or was liked by him. This is the point where he should be made aware of your website and your crushing admiration of him. Without giving him time to respond, you should slip into his bedroom while he's away, duct tape his cat to the ceiling, and be waiting in his bed wearing all of his clothes and if possible, chewing some of his discarded gum. Congratulations, he's yours.

Good luck! We're all rooting for you.

What do I do now?

I wonder what you're gonna do to that one.

Oh man, I've been waiting for a chance to dig this out again.

No.

But there seriously is an age minimum for buying anything? That's very odd to me, living where I do (U.S.).

Porn, booze, and the Presidency.

PS: I just realised I said exactly the same as DG, and made it sound like my own idea.
Well, that's how religion works.

Ten laughing smilies in my head for you, Andail.

You have to pay to join Mensa, right? So they are a business.

No, they are an organisation. You have to pay to join many organisations, because for an organisation to thrive it needs to have meetings, and meetings need to take place somewhere where a lot of people can meet, which costs money. If the organisation ever does anything, then they have to pay for doing whatever it is that they do (be it paying for lobbyists, organized trips, charity, or whatever). Besides, that's a bold statement to make when membership is only 100,000 worldwide and you don't know what the membership fee is ($45 US a year, which isn't that steep in comparison to other organizations. It's about what you'd pay for one month of cell phone service).

A business is a profit seeking venture.

Since scoring in the top 2% of an IQ test is something not many people can do, I really don't see your scenario as valid. Although it might seem like a common thing since so many people in this thread have done well in this small test and real IQ exams, it's not. You need to consider demographic - and this is a community of people who enjoys games made up primarily of puzzles. Puzzles tend to challenge the mind and people who seek them tend to be people who are very intelligent, since they are always challenging and improving their thinking/reasoning skills. The high density of smart people is one of the reasons I really enjoy these forums.

I've been thinking about this some more, and I came to the conclusion that even though IQ tests are a poor measure of brainpower, they are a good measure of intelligence (defining intelligence as an above-average ability to think and reason). That's why there are all of the difficult "find the pattern" problems. They seem to try to avoid some of the western tendancies that DG mentioned in the Mensa test, because according to this website:

Arturo Ilano, UP business administration professor and Mensa Philippines president, said that the test sought to avoid cultural biases that stem from mathematics, reading comprehension and similar types of test.

“A figural reasoning exam is culture-free. People from the Third World countries, for instance, will not be discriminated against, regardless of the kind of education they have had. What matters really is how much you use your brain in your daily activities,” Ilano said.

Mensa means "table."

So, netmonkey too dumb for table.