Free Republic

“By insisting (as any country can) that products sold in China must adhere to local as well as international standards, China makes sure that Chinese inventions get built into high-tech products sold here. That means there is a Chinese voice in which products succeed or fail in China. And products that succeed in China have a much higher chance of succeeding globally.”

The article isn’t about laying claim to what has been invented, it is about making sure they control or at least strongly influence future developments.

“What’s the frequency Kenneth?”

I think freepers should apply for a z visa with the name of their representative and senators who vote for shamnesty then run against them using their own name.

KKR is also looking at the Texas Electric Utility TXU. Could potentially be the biggest LBO in history.

Meaning that greater than 99% of its radioactive potential has already expired, and for the ~1% that could split, any given atom has a 50% chance of splitting sometime in the next 4.5 billion years (or another way to think of this is that 50% of the ~1% left will split sometime in the next 4.5 billion years. In other words, a whole lotta nothin' has happened in the last ten years. Or another way of saying this is that it not siginficantly more radioactive than the dirt in your front lawn.

Lieberman will not lose CT. He will likely lose the Dem primary, but will then run as an independent and win, most likely with a majority, not just a plurality.

Like most of the nutroots, I just don't see it as a big deal. I guess they can finally claim to have 'won' (against a democrat) but there will be no change in who actually votes in the Senate.

North Korea is a cult, not a country. All this saber rattling is about Kim overcoming his personal inadequacies. The solution is to threaten Kim personally. As long as this builds him up, both internationally and domestically, it will continue. When it threatens his ability to enjoy young girls, it will end.


Try to get reasonably good satellite or other intelligence of his where abouts then launch (conventional) submarine launched ballistic missiles at where ever he lays his head at night. When the 'international community' goes nuts over an act of war, simply deny it. "Wasn't us. Someone else's unannounced missile test probably just went awry."

It would be interesting to see a dollar for dollar comparison. (I know, trained pilots and ground crew support are expensive, but let's just look at the planes). 2 F-22's at $130 mm each. 14 or 15 F-16 at $16mm each. Who wins?

Now, if indeed over a dozen F-16s are superior to a pair of F-22's, that doesn't mean the F-22 shouldn't be built. But it is an interesting thought exercise.

But we also should keep in mind that there are other tangible costs...for instance, I don't know whether a pair of F-22s or 14 F-16s win in air to air...but I can guarantee that the 14 F-16s can do more/better CAS and interdiction.

Why does the media keep dropping words? It is like the illegal in front of immigrant...it just keeps falling away! It isn't like they are searching for people who talked about how smart their children are (intelligence) or their IQ.

ping!

They are just building the concrete lawn art that Americans won't build!

It is interesting to note that most of the grapes were 'chosen' (meaning particular varieties affiliated with particular regions) during the medieval warm period. In other words during an earlier warmer era. Lets face it...people in 1100 weren't putting bordeaxs up for 30 years before they became drinkable.

The scale of the wells isn't near sufficient to meet the needs for full scale EOR (enhanced oil recovery...the pumping liquefied CO2 into the ground to displace oil/NG). What this article is really about, and doesn't really say, is about the effect of a different type of coal plant. Virtually all coal plants today light their coal on fire to create steam to generate electricity. There is a different process called Fischer-Tropsch (FT) which consists of oxidizing rather than combusting coal (subtle difference, I know) to release what are called syn gases (synthetic). This is how during WWII the germans turned coal into liquid fuels...turn the coal to gases, condese the energy rich gases into liquid fuels. What is being talked about here is seperating the gas streams and lighting it on fire in a combined cycle generator, similar to what could be used in a natural gas fired power plant.

The advantage is that coal is the most carbon intense major fuel. About 80% of the CO2 could be seperated in the gas streams as relatively pure CO2 rather than sent up the smokestack. When burning coal, there isn't a way to capture that CO2 with anything approaching economical means.

This article is about what we do with all that CO2 when the next FutureGen type coal plants start propagating.

IT'S ALL BUSH'S FAULT!!!!!

Couldn't this article have managed to say that the amount of electricity generated has more than doubled since pre-war?

Perfect? No. A heck of a lot better for most Iraqis? Yes. A little worse for Saddam's priveleged few, ie those with secure state civil service jobs in the 'water sector'? Yes, and I can quite comfortably live with that.

The fwench need get Getz to ride their rails.

I take it you weren't in the Third Infantry Division. Only they are the Dog Face Soldiers, not the whole Army. And they say it with pride.

If I was mayor/President of the MTA:

I would sue the union for economic damages. The strike cost was estimated at $400 million per day. I would sue the union for that plus treble damages. $1.2 billion dollars per strike day to be used to offer financial relief to damaged business, reduce the general tax burden and increase the starting pay of police officers to equal that of transit workers. And I would dock 10% of striking workers pay until it was paid in full.

The day they went on strike I would have taken out full page ads in all 3 NY dailies: "Now hiring: Train operators, booth operators, bus drivers and mechanics. Excellent pay, great benefits" and immediately started replacing them. I would bet that the 90% plus of striking workers would be back on the job in no time flat. And any new hires would be kept at the expense of the last to come back to work...those replaced before returning to work would be SOL.

Just a few comments, not directed at anyone in particular.

Natural corks have 2 problems:

Corking (TCA) is a from the sterilization process of the cork prior to bottling. Has very little to do with aging. A few months (in the supply chain) and it can ruin a wine. The only reason aging matters is that a ruined 1986 you've been babying for 15 years hurts a lot more to lose than the Beaujolais Nouveau you picked up yesterday.

A crumbled cork isn't "corking" but it can ruin a wine. As the article states, if it crumbles on removal the pieces can be fished or filtereed out without damaging the wine. But if it fails as a seal before its time, the wine will be ruined.

One of the issues with natural cork is its availability...the wine industry outside of Europe has boomed. 30 years ago, California produced much much less, the Aussies barely existed never mind the Chileans etc. The number of bottles corked each year has exploded. Note none of these areas are known for planting cork oak trees...most of it still comes from Portugal and parts of Spain. It takes about 10 years between harvests, and more than that before the first. Natural cork production has not come close to keeping up with the international growth of the wine industry. This leads to using smaller corks (1.5 inches vs 2.75 inches) and a general degradation of quality of the cork from more frequent than ideal harvests. I don't expect the percentage of TCA corked wines to increase, but I would bet that more and more naturally corked bottles will fail and crumble.

Quite simply, some type of alternative closure is a must...not for all wines, but at least for some. If more wine is sold in boxes (or more specifically, plastic bags inside boxes) and more wine is Stelvin (aka screw capped) than that would alleviate a lot of the pressure on natural cork. But something has to give. My own experiences with synthetic corks have been good; I've never had the breathing problems mentioned in the article, but I missed the whole first generation of synthetic corks. As with anything, expect the technology to improve. I expect that plastic bags, screw caps and synthetic corks all to grow as the sealing device for wines. In fact, I'd be willing to bet that in not too long, you'll commonly see single serving wines in something approaching a 16 oz soda bottle. And while Opus One won't ever be sold that way...it is a good thing that you'll be able to get a decent everyday wine for cheap.

Doesn't Canuckistan's create long waiting lines for expensive equipment like MRI's? My understanding is that there is a significant waiting list. How many people with possible head injuries had to sit by waiting for an MRI for this test in the socialist paradise?

ERF, your are willing to accept inorganic methane, but not oil? Given inorganic methane, time, and pressure (ie deep in the earth) you will have oil derived inorganically...ie inorganic oil.

Getting to CH4 inorganically is a much harder step than putting that CH4 under pressure and it forming longer hydro-carbon chains. That is what NGLs (natural gas liquids, like propane and butane) are...light oils (short chains)

And as you've established, inorganic CH4 is present. From there it is a very small, easy and probable step to inorganic oil.

This, of course, is not an argument that the primary or even substantial source of our crude is inorganic in origin, only that it is possible, and a whole 'nother set of unaddressed questions needs to be asked to determine organic and inorganic proportions.