Salmon populations don't only have dams to contend with, but also chemical pollution, which throws off their sense of direction, so they can't even find their way back to breed.

The problem is that we require too much energy and water. Americans are used to over-consumption. We live beyond our means on a routine basis, and waste routinely, as well. Why else would we be in an energy crisis, credit crisis, landfill crisis?

The public as a whole won't give up overconsumption by choice. So why not municipalize all the power, put caps on energy and water consumption (on a per household/family size basis) with large fees for overshooting, and clamp down on credit and institute mandatory, do-able repayment programs for those really in the hole, as well as enforce recycling programs? And make graywater recycling part of new home builds, for feeding lawns and non-edible plants...

Yes, for a few years people will complain, and loudly, but then they'll get used to it. And they'll find that their energy and water bill is cheaper. That they have more money and less debt. I live in Alameda, where we use a fraction of the amount of gas that we do of electricity, but our gas bill is always twice that of our electric bill. Alameda power has been run by the city for well over a century, and is 80% clean and sustainable. While everybody around us complains about their electric bills, Alamedans enjoy inexpensive, sustainable power. Of course, even though our electricity is cheap, we still try to conserve energy in our house.

Of course, this would be a comprehensive solution that would cut into corporate profits, so it's hard to see how state and national lobbies would let this kind of thing happen. It would also be unpopular with the public, as I'm sure replies here will show, but in a decade almost everyone would be grateful.

Maybe she wanted to say a public goodbye to her father, since everybody else was. Regardless of how you feel about MJ or the family, all kids should be allowed to say goodbye to their dead parents without it being scrutinized.

I can't even read to the end of these things anymore, because I'm so angry about it, and feel so helpless. I'd really like for somebody to write an article about what can be done about this kind of thing. What can be done? It's so depressing.

That doesn't look like hypersexualizing a teen to me.

It just looks like fashion.

*shrug*

This kind of photo shoot happens with young 16- and 17-year-old models all the time. It's high fashion - it's meant to evoke an emotion or a mood, while showcasing the clothing on the models. That the boots take center stage is precisely the point of the photo. That someone would call them "hooker boots" and for that to be widely repeated and embraced shows the disconnect between the general public and the world of fashion, going in both directions.

But those who are not familiar with fashion or high fashion photography will jump all over it, especially when the subject is a well-known Disney star, as opposed to, say, Monika Jagaciak (a quite well-known, 15-year-old model who has done some extremely provocative shoots, far moreso than anything Miley Cyrus has done).

I have to ask - is sexuality integral to fashion? And is acknowledging sexuality a bad thing for teens, or is it something we'd just rather wasn't there? Is it because people are worried about older men (aka "pervs") being turned on by provocative pictures? Or is it because we are uncomfortable with acknowledging that turning 18 is a pretty darned arbitrary marker of adulthood?

One thing is for sure - this all is great publicity for Elle Magazine.

Anybody who remembers the connection between Netscape and Mozilla knows that the project didn't ultimately lose to Microsoft. Firefox is as popular - if not slightly more - than Internet Explorer.

The thing that will decide whether Chrome topples Microsoft is whether Google can convince manufacturers to deploy the Chrome system with their machines. And whether Microsoft will develop Chrome-friendly versions of its popular Office products. Open Office is definitely an alternative, but it's not nearly as good as MS Office (even though MS Office has its own problems), and probably never will be.

Anyway, time will tell. I'm skeptical that MS can be toppled by Google in this area, and I think this may end up being a giant money suck for Google.