"mmmark" has gggood cccomments. American engineers have no troubles (except for NASA and its subcontractors maybe) working in all kinds of mixed units. I'm used to seeing pressures expressed in psi, Pascals, bar, inches of mercury, inches of water, atmosphere, etc. You deal with them all and it's no biggee.

As for the kilogram standard... I am in favor of anything that removes this from the custody of the French. There is no telling when they might get invaded again and lose control of the kg prototype, Think what could happen if that were to fall into the hands of the wrong people! Now who is going to invade Australia? The New Zealanders? not likely...

Yeah, the story does sound a little harsh, but I'd really like to hear the other side of it. I would not be surprised if teh kid is a royal brat and the teacher(s) just exclaimed something in despair, sick of dealing with him. Let's hear the other side. Something tells me the kid is just a wuss who can't take it as well as he gives it out. His statement really smacks to me of something his parents told him to say, as well. I smell greedy parents with a sheister lawyer!

I'm always a little troubled at the ethics issues in ads for products (or pictures on the packaging) that don't show the *real* product that people are buying. Yeah, it's accepted in the industry and has been for years, but it still strikes me as a sham.

"america, america" needs to loosen the bone a little. Oriental culture is different from Western culture and sometimes the contrast makes things amusing (in both direstions!)

I'm quite sure that Japanese parody Americans in humor and media as well -- more power to them! There certainly are stereotypes regarding Americans, and they are free to pick at it with funny news items and bits from US culture. So roosen up and don't be so sensitive!

Straight talk from Sid.

Ahhh, Mao, purveyor of that wonderful "Great Leap Forward".

Wouldn't it be cool if (in Mao garb!) she tried to block a tank or something in a military parade, echoing the patriot who did the same during the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests? I'll bet she'd "disappear" even more quickly! The Red Chinese have no humor for people who don't toe the line.

Hah hah Alex... at least your sense of humor has not been scrubbed away.

Sweet ad! In those days, people were not the wussies they have become today. Back then, firearms were understood to be *useful tools*, not feared malevolent entities with minds, wills, and actions of their own.

The original poster's (Alex) modern conditioning is belied by his original choice of words ("killed by" rather than "killed with"). His word choce was probably unintentional, but reflects the anti-gun bias all over the media today. Someone in 1904 probably would not have made the same mistake. I'm guessing Alex is probably in his Twenties and doesn't realize that he has been thought-conditioned.

The same sort of subtle information coditioning is prevalent in every newstory that reports "an SUV losing control and mowing down pedestrians". Clearly, the SUV didn't lose control, but rather the driver. The Media (biased against SUVs for several reasons) almost always prefers to demonize the vehicle, rather than the inattentive driver. Similar demonizing of inanimate objects by the thought police, just a different "baddie".

For the record,
1. I don't own an SUV or even like them.
2. I don't own a gun, but I support free ownership of them for all willing non-felons.

Hah, this is too funny! I wonder how many motorists this encourages to roll the windows down and turn up the radio or just blare their horns? It's just sweet revenge upon the sweegee moochers that infest our cities.

Can anyone recommend (ISBN or Amazon link would be nice) a good English translation of the Divine Comedy with gobs of footnotes to explain obscure 14th c. references? Thanks!

When my wife and I drove from NY to NC last year to buy furniture (a sweet deal ... try it), we noticed a similar line of demarcation. The "sweet tea line" correlates well with the "grits line","stick of butter in every dish served line", and probably the "diabetes and heart disease lines" as well.

We love iced tea, but always drink it sans sugar. Most places offered it both ways (and it was quite good), but they'd always try to refill you with sweet tea.

THe kid from the "surrogate" is going to grow up feeling a little less special than the other. These people are pretty twisted...

Anyhow, man was given dominion over the animals for just this sort of purpose.

These things would revolutionize personal transit -- just like the Segways did!

A follow up... Do people who are completely blind ever get 2 phony eyes?

Sounds like something for Art Bell to discuss.

So if you are a grown adult, how come they need changing occasionally? What are they made out of and how do they wear out?