the mud-throwing has begun

"Hydro - The most efficient kind, Build a Dam on a river"
I agree with that. Unfortunately its limited to certain areas.

"Nuclear - Fission of course, it will still keep us out of the dark for another 20 years until we develop tethered Wind generators"
but fission takes a long time to build, plan and bring forth the energy it took to make. So its a long term, and not a short term sollution.

"The problem is the number of battery recharge cycles. This is around 500."
Theoreticly but its much much ower in reality. Partly because of errors but also because of wrong usage.

he names a monopoly as an excuse but hey whats in a name*

*answere: the worst widespread OS in modern history .... In fact the "o" in OS can be left out.

"Oh, and not all communists are left-wing."
That is debateble. If a communist is a self-proclaimed communist then yes. Otherwise you have an uncommon definition for left. But to your defence its a stupid generalisation anyway.

I share BW's feeling of hatred towards the art classes as well btw. Such things should only be done voluntarely. I was lucky enough not to have philosophy.

"How so? Even if it doesn't serve any direct practical purpose, it can still broaden your mind. If there's one thing we don't need, it's narrowminded or mentally inflexible people."
Well, its perhabs to complicated for my english vocabulary but here it comes. There are many good things about learning something let us try to debate a few important ones.

practical purpous
Not knowing something you should about a subject can lead to a wrong immage or narrowminded people as you describe but it doesn't necessarely go the other way around. Knowing something doesn't mean you can think broad about a certain subject. I can learn what smilies IC currently has but if I never see nor use them its practicly useless. You could argue it brings "insight" and method to learn, wich brings me to another point but I'll post about it later when I have more time.

age and devellopement
You devellop your mind by learning. It is prooven to a certain extend(not scientificly i.m.o. but ok) or lets say it is semi-prooven that people without education potentially have lower IQ's. Again here you don't know were it stops or begins and if it is true the other way around. Personally,I believe keeping your mind busy with wathever thinking excercise will keep your mind sharp later on. Starting with an education when you are little however is a different matter but I wasn't talking about that.

I'll post the rest later like "insight and method to learn".

"neither israel nor iran have nuclear warheads that strong to cause that amound of EMP"
Israels nuclear arsenal is partly secret. Thermalnuclear boms give less emp I thought? Could be wrong.

Anyway, I was talking longterm. They only have to make one or 2 of the bigger nukes for this purpous.

@firewing:
"don't be fools, no legitmate administration can use nuclear weapons in a conflict. the worlds reaction would be extreme and nobody can risk that."
read my post above and argue about the different points then.

@skoe:
"I don't think it'd be that severe"
only shielded electronics will survive in about 1/2 of the globe dependant where you fire it. How can't it be that severe?

On a more serious note, and despite my surprise, I have to admit I got the same feeling sometimes. I would tell you stalin/hitler/nero/jacktheripper is a goodlooking peacfull warm guy who would never hurt a fly if you were my boss and I need promotion and don't give a damn even if he was my neighboor. I would analyze the cost/gain factor like I do with anything. I analyzed rather then sympathized with others emotions. Out of self intrest I don't bring this forth in RL. So maybe this thread proves me an answere as well.

8: (<-double point) yes you can.

5: how many people were interrogated
6: In what country?
7: was it taken by you?

you mean the "pakt van staal en kolen"?