4/17    Just a thought.  Say we select a small percentagle of the population
        (e.g. 100000 people) with representations from all walks of life
        (scientists, engineers, doctors, chefs, plumbers, nannies, ...) except
        bad guys, transport them to a distant earth-like planet with abundant
        natural resources, and take away all man-made objects (machines,
        clothes, books, medicines, all tools, ...)  How long will it take for
	...

4/22    Costco is selling "Bluetooth Capable Premium Digital Hearing Aids" for
        $1999.99 a pair.  My Bluetooth cell phone headset is maybe $30 for one
        ear.  Why does hearing aid cost so much?
        \_ Medical insurance?
        \_ Does $2000-your medical deductible = $30?
           \_ How come insurance companies allow such rip-offs?
	...

2/12    An AIDS/HIV cure via a bone-marrow transplant:
        http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,491509,00.html
	...

1/15    Now that Steve Jobs and Patrick Swayze are sick with
        pancreatic cancer, is pancreatic cancer going to become
        a cause celebre and get lots of research funding,
        far beyond what is actually justified by the magnitude
        of the actual problem?
        \_ they have Elton John doing benefits, not Jimmy Buffet.
	...

10/14   I don't understand this whole AIDS walk BS. Instead of saying
        "I'm going to walk X miles, can you donate $1 per mile?" why
        don't they just simplify it and say "Give me whatever $ you got"?
        Why make it so complex? Sheesh
        \_ Because charity events get more people involved in asking for
           money.  Duh.  -tom
	...

4/14    Political correctness over science
        http://csua.org/u/l9y
        \_ I think you have it exactly backwards; the Red Cross' position is
        \_ I think you have it exactly backwards; the FDA's position is
           fear-mongering over science.  -tom
           \_ Oh, classification as high-risk isn't science?
	...

7/21    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Cold_War_pilot_defections
        This week's food for thought, brought to you by People's
        Republic of Berkeley: Did you know that many US pilots defected to
        communist Cuba?  South Korea pilots defected to communist
        North Korea? Iran<->Iraq pilots defected to each other?
        W Germany pilots defected to E Germany? Taiwan/ROC pilots
	...

9/30    "Amanda Knox Acquitted of Murder"
        http://gma.yahoo.com/amanda-knox-is-innocent.html
        WTF?
        \_ Why do you hate America? Your date must be wrong too...
           \_ I don't.  I also thought WTF when the hikers were convicted in
              Iran.  -- OP
	...

9/5     "Report: Castro blasts Ahmadinejad as anti-Semitic" - Yahoo! News:
        http://www.csua.org/u/rji
        "HAVANA - Fidel Castro criticized Iranian President Mahmoud
        Ahmadinejad for what he called his anti-Semitic attitudes and
        questioned his own actions during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962
        during interviews with an American journalist he summoned to Havana to
	...

2/20    Ok serious question, NOT political.  This is straight up procedural.
        Has it been declared that we didn't find WMD in iraq? (think so).
        So why did we go into iraq (what was the gain), and if nobody really
        knows, why is nobody looking for the reason?
        \_ Political stability, military strategy (Iran), and to prevent
           Saddam from financing terrorism.
	...

2/11    Iran declares itself a nuclear nation today:
        http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100211/ts_afp/iranrevolutionanniversary
        \_ Hurry up Kim Jun *THE THIRD*, you're way behind!
        \_ Iran also packed tens of thousands of rural poor onto buses,
           drove them into Tehran, and had them pose for pro-gov't. rallies
           by promising food, drink, and prizes, then declared themselves
	...

7/30    http://www.naomiklein.org/articles/2009/07/capitalism-sarah-palin-style
        \_ Who is this article for? The people I know who spend/consume the most
           aren't anyone in their 30s or 40s, but the high value items, like
           boats, rvs, (and the petrol they use, etc) are all being bought by
           retiring boomers who are completely out of touch with reality, esp
           since now we discuss reality  in media the bboomers as a whole do
	...

7/24    Another plane crash in Iran in two weeks.
        http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090724/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_iran_plane
        In both times the planes were Russian-made, and in both times they
        blamed U.S. sanctions.  Why don't they blame the Russian govt for
        cutting funding for manufacturers that make spare parts (as mentioned
        at the end of the article) that would have actually made a difference
	...

4/21    Hey Dr. jblack, turns out not only were the lying, they
        tortured people to make their case:
        http://news.yahoo.com/s/mcclatchy/20090422/pl_mcclatchy/3217245
        \_ And in other news, stress positions and waterboarding prevented
           another terrorist attack.  So much for the meme that torture doesn't
           work.
	...

4/20    Ok, I am not a Jew hater.  In fact, most of my so-called "white"
        friends turned out to be Jews.   And I am fortunate to have
        \_ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UeBZiz_Dks
           \_ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3Xiy5aK3AU&NR=1
        opportunity to work with whole bunch Israelis and working with them
        has been an absolute pleasure.  HOWEVER, I just failed to understand
	...

4/20    Ok, I am not a Jew hater.  In fact, most of my so-called "white"
        friends turned out to be Jews.   And I am fortunate to have
        opportunity to work with whole bunch Israelis and working with them
        has been an absolute pleasure.  HOWEVER, I just failed to understand
        why people got offended by the speech by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.  In my
        relatively neutral point of view (I am an Asian),  most of what he
	...