An interesting statistic from one of the posters in the above story: "Actually in 64% of the home invasion cases between 2008 and 2010 in North Carolina; the invaders execute any innocent unarmed residents found in the home." Cooperating with the intruders seems to be a bad idea.

http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/10553140/ A 14-year-old Henderson boy calmly described in a 911 call how he shot an intruder in a home invasion last week.

Just remember, if you eat your dog, don't eat the liver! (Arctic explorers found that one out the hard way).

Sigh. "Inorganic" simply means that the arsenic isn't bound up with carbon compounds; "organic" arsenic is bound with carbon. The arsenic in the juice occurs naturally in apples, is concentrated by the trees, and has nothing to do with the orchards or farming; apple seeds are famously sources of arsenic, and should not be eaten. There is no feasible way of removing the arsenic from the juice. Furthermore, as any doctor could tell you, dosage makes the poison. In small amounts, such as from juice, the body copes with stuff like arsenic quite nicely. It's when you overwhelm the kidneys and liver that you get into trouble.

It's simple: Power. The "left" thinks - and probably rightfully - that like the Brownshirts, the followers of Mao, and the hacks of the Communist Party in the USSR - they will be the ones left to implement the power structure over the rest of us.

It's simple: Power. The "left" thinks - and probably rightfully - that like the Brownshirts, the followers of Mao, and the hacks of the Communist Party in the USSR - they will be the ones left to implement the power structure over the rest of us.

Unfortunately, given modern technology, we can no longer afford to let things build up in other nations and wait for them to attack us. (Heck, realistically, we haven't been able to do that since Theodore Roosevelt). Our enemies are not going to come marching up to the border in red coats playing fife and drum; they're going to attack our ships and planes, attack our finances, attack our computer systems, attack us with viruses and bacteria, attack our food supply, and smuggle weapons into our cities. If you look carefully at the actual history of the invasion of Iraq, it was demonstrable that Saddam was at the very least allowing Al-Qaeda terrorist camps to operate in Iraq. The risk was simply too great that he would give then WMD's.

I would appreciate, some time, a knowledgeable column on the realities of the "smart grid" and smart metering. There is a great deal out there in the trade journals (I'm an EE, myself) but it never seems to filter down to the street level. The reality is that the utilities aren't interested in "spying" on anyone; however they do need to reduce costs. One important aspect of reducing costs, which also increases safety, is to increase the resolution of the control systems and gather data not just from substations but down to the end user. This enables the utilities to fine tune their generating capacity and reduce the "overhead" margin that they have to carry so that the system isn't overwhelmed during peak load times.

Get real. These are low-power transmitters, and you get far more from your cell phone, your house Wi-Fi, and the near-by FM radio transmitters.

Get real. These are low-power transmitters, and you get far more from your cell phone, your house Wi-Fi, and the near-by FM radio transmitters.