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Slashdot should stop the Iran bashing already

So, when the Iranian government imposes yet another new repressive measure to build on its existing repressive measures against the Iranian people that result in death, mutilation, torture, and other atrocities, your concern is that people on Slashdot don't criticize - don't say harsh things against the Iranian government? I think there is a word for that, Mr. Liberty.

If you think the Iranian government is for peace, you aren't listening carefully.

All Iran is saying,
is give cutting people into pieces a chance.

Iranian Women Prisoners Detail Torture

Iran as continual regional menace
Iran's Menace in Azerbaijan
15,000 Elite Iranian special-ops 'head' to Syria ---- Iran confirms it has forces in Syria ...
Gulf states lash out at Iran 'interference'

The six members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) said in a statement that Tehran's actions were threatening regional security and stability.
The GCC said it "rejects and denounces" Iran's "continued interference" in their internal affairs and Tehran must "immediately and completely stop these actions and policies that increase regional tension and threaten security and stability".

Iranian Bomb Suspects 'Targeted' Israelis, Thai Police Say
Report: Turkey thwarts Iran weapons shipment to Hezbollah
      Why Hezbollah is sitting on 40,000 rockets and missiles ...
            Iran and Hezbollah: The Balance of Power Shifts in Lebanon
Afghanistan war logs: Iran's covert operations in Afghanistan
Iran Steps Up Threats to Rub Out Israel

Discussing the record of Iran's actions and behavior doesn't constitutes "warmongering."

Think about the "2 million euro per alleged job":
France has to 'make' the optical cable, test it, deploy the mobile test equipment, the existing ducts have to be cleaned out, new larger pits may have to be created/expanded, vans, trucks have to be used to move trained teams around France.
For all the unique telco skill sets you have a few extra jobs that add up and spend in small communities and big cities as they move around France and upgrade.
Add in backhaul needs, the exchange upgrades, back up power, suburban roll out, isolated communities, mountains...
As for providing "free" broadband nationwide - existing and new telcos will provide their cheap/expensive plans on the new network, like in S Korea or Australia - you have optical to your home, you "pay" for any telco at any speed/data/package you or your business needs.
As for "want to set up shop in that place or not" - Who cares, France will have optical in place for generations of users, what France uses it for is for France to decide.
If people are happy with online gaming, VOIP, telemedicine, telecommuting or just HD renting movies - France has the upgrade in place and anyone with a need or vision can run with it.
Other parts of the world will have rust belt coaxial, optical to the node, ADSL upgrades and city wide non compete clauses to 'fix' up over time.
France will be moving on in the digital age just like it did with heavy engineering, aerospace and now networking.
The world is moving beyond the basics of gas, electricity, water, rail, ports, bridges and paved roads ...
How does the "2 million euro per alleged job " look with the 'private' sector spending?... you think the average existing private big national telco is all lean and modern?
"So you think the NBN is expensive?"
http://www.abc.net.au/technology/articles/2013/02/14/3690222.htm
That ~$20 billion Australian telcos spend keeping their network running for property, plant and equipment" (PPE) over 10 years.
ie most countries are already paying out billions to the keep basic copper and optical working every year making a national optical rollout look not so expensive :)

CSIRO suggests 100 square kilometres of algal ponds

A tiny fraction of our existing stock of algae lakes, algae rivers, etc.

Count this river out, though

I also wondered if the CO2 could be used directly by filtering the particles out and feeding the exhaust has through greenhouses. You would need hundreds of kilometres of greenhouse obviously.

Better still: algae ponds - being more primitive (with lower specialized morphology), the rate of conversion to biomass higher. Additional minor advantage: even if only slightly, CO2 dissolves in water - easier to contain than in a pure greenhouse.

As one effect of the introduction of carbon tax in Australia: such projects become viable.

Long time though until such projects would become mainstream, even if (quoted from the last link):

CSIRO suggests 100 square kilometres of algal ponds could provide all of Australia’s fuel needs

(100 sq.km = a square 10 km on the side. The size of the brown coal deposit being mined in open pit fashion in Latrobe valley: 50 km long, between 8 and 16 km wide > 400 sq km)

I also wondered if the CO2 could be used directly by filtering the particles out and feeding the exhaust has through greenhouses. You would need hundreds of kilometres of greenhouse obviously.

Better still: algae ponds - being more primitive (with lower specialized morphology), the rate of conversion to biomass higher. Additional minor advantage: even if only slightly, CO2 dissolves in water - easier to contain than in a pure greenhouse.

As one effect of the introduction of carbon tax in Australia: such projects become viable.

Long time though until such projects would become mainstream, even if (quoted from the last link):

CSIRO suggests 100 square kilometres of algal ponds could provide all of Australia’s fuel needs

(100 sq.km = a square 10 km on the side. The size of the brown coal deposit being mined in open pit fashion in Latrobe valley: 50 km long, between 8 and 16 km wide > 400 sq km)

By the way, if it turns out that C. Diff is the culprit, then a solution is at hand. Don't read this within 30 minutes of eating: Probiotic Bomb

Teaching some sort of computer literacy at an early age, however crass a marketing strategy, is probably preferable to the recent push to have economics taught to primary school students in Australia. I cannot imagine a worse strategy than to indoctrinate children with the economic fallacies of endless resources and growth.

NSW in Australia has just survived a heat wave where there was recorded 50 degree Celsius in some of the bush towns. Where I lived, it hit 46 degree which is the highest temperature ever recorded

And just a bit further north it's all tornado's and flooding http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-01-27/live-wild-weather-queensland-calls-in-army/4486270

have any evidence of that, idiot?

He's right. Maybe the majority of Ozzies doesn't, but the Ozzie politicians want to be just like US, mostly the bad part. And, if Ozzies do nothing about, it is the politicians that matter.

* Remember David Hicks? Schapelle Corby had more support from the Howard govt then him.
* Remember Gillard's reaction to Assange's Cablegate? Mastercard used it as a pretext for cutting the transfer of donations to Wikileaks.
* Have you heard of serious "cyber terror" threats in Australia? Gillard says you should be very afraid of it, give away some of you rights and have that "cyber security centre" operational (doesn't matter that the budget for the centre may or may not exists, Roxon - the AG - just can't wait to use the "scare" to push some laws)
* Wonder how the Australia's seat on UN Security Council is seen by its major trading partner, the one that kept Australia sheltered from GFC? Potential sycophancy ... would they be right, who's ass Australia is most likely to kiss?

These pointer lasers are controlled items in many places because, aside from the obvious general hazard, morons deliberately point them at aircraft cockpits. Only occasionally do the fools get identified but it warms the cockles of my heart when they do: I am an amateur astronomer and have also been involved in the airborne end of this stupidity.

why does it need anything else? use a quality meat with the right amount of fat and it will all form together and the proteins will do the binding. Of course, some sort of seasoning can be put in there as well, but a good beef burger can (should?) be made with nothing but meat. egg and/or breadcrumbs are not necessary and usually end up with a dry burger if you're not careful. e.g. http://www.abc.net.au/tv/cookandchef/txt/s2632115.htm

Measurements on the great barrier reef have shown a temperature increase of 2 degrees since the 60's, and they are expecting another 2 by 2050, which is largely regarded as the temperature needed to kill it off. Already outside a reasonable range for the fauna that live in the area, which are migrating down the coast. If this were to happen over millennia the reef would probably migrate south, but at this rate of change it can't propagate quickly enough.

See http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-01-18/warming-to-put-oceans-and-reefs-in-hot-water/4470104

"Alarmists" are often climate scientists. "Denialists" seem frequently to be corporate funded loons with no expertise in the area. But even if both sides were equally populated by people of the same calibre I would still think it was worth trying to switch to alternatives ASAP to avoid the risk.

Think about it - if someone said "do this, or there is a 50% chance your house will burn down" you would do 'this', even if 'this' was quite expensive. After all, most people do exactly 'this' when they buy home insurance, and the chance is way lower than 50%.

Bullshit.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-01-17/howard-adds-voice-to-us-gun-control-debate/4469482

http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2012/07/24/3549931.htm

National Broadcaster's Interactive Map

Actually, since the boy has stated in interviews that he wants to leave France and go to college abroad, the press is not that ecstatic.

He just wants to leave France to avoid high income taxes, like the rest: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-01-07/depardieu-checks-out-new-russian-homeland/4454706

France, top rate: 75%. Russia, flat rate: 13%.

It seems that Russia has the last laugh on all of our "In Soviet Russia . . ." jokes.

Stephan Lewandowsky: Well, I think if you're driven by ideology rather than evidence then by an act of projection you have to accuse scientists of being religious in order to justify your own denial I think.

To put it into context it is taken from here: http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/scienceshow/climate3a-who-denies3f/4381756#transcript

If you know nothing of Gillard and what she has done there is some hilarious reading in store. Backstabbing, scandals, lies, There will be no carbon tax under a government I lead.

Do check out her 'misogynist' speech. I've never seen a politician go so low.. just when you thought that Pauline Hanson had set the bar low she manages to dig a little deeper. Which is such a pity as Gillard had the perfect opportunity to demonstrate that a female can lead this country just as well as any man but has ended up only in proving that anyone can get to the top of the public service using the same method upon which the rest of the public service is infamous for.

Here's a recent one: http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/gillard-may-be-forced-to-pull-the-teaparty-tony-lever/

There are comments around slashdot that Assange won't really have much effect on Gillard. It's that 'much' which is the kicker. Have fun reading. Be thankful you're not in the middle of it :P

Color me puzzled...

How does he intend to campaign from the Ecuadorian embassy in London?

And more to the point, isn't he persona non grata in his own country? As in, subject to being expelled to the US should he go there?

Nice.

Some background to this recent picture, for the non-locals.

It's also quite plausible that you can die - it has happened before. People get lost, they run out of fuel, they don't have water, the temperature easily gets up into the 40-50C range and - dead.

This happened only last month when two guys working on a station got their 4WD bogged 10 miles from the homestead and tried to walk back under the hot sun. One of them died from heat and dehydration.

This could actually help apple maps users. Jam their GPS signal if they're using Apple Maps. Maybe the user would actually read road signs rather than blindly following their phone? http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-12-10/apple-maps-strands-motorists-looking-for-mildura/4418400

If you need a fresh dictator then Mohamed Morsi is shaping up quite nicely in Egypt.

http://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/stories/3633447.htm

Examines the past 100 years of Australian climate data. Very interesting program and good to show to anyone who needs convincing that warming has already been taking place.

What if it's a false positive?

Also, for those who think this is extremely unlikely and automatically believe DNA evidence is some sort of slam-dunk:

Teenager wrongly accused of rape (and imprisoned) because of DNA contamination (fortunately, it was picked up in this case)

DNA evidence contamination leads to review of 7,000 cases The police in Victoria are reviewing 7,000 cases involving DNA evidence after they had to withdraw murder charges in a high profile cold case. Police now say they deeply regret having charged a man with the murders of Margaret Tapp and her daughter Seana, at their home in 1984. They charged Russell Gesah two weeks ago, but since then problems have emerged with the DNA evidence.

DNA rape sample procedures 'not adequate' Adam Scott, from Devon, was held for a couple of months after being accused of raping a woman in Manchester. The charges were dropped when it emerged a DNA sample had been contaminated at LGC Forensics.

Police Fear 'Serial Killer' Was Just DNA Contamination A notorious German serial killer known as "the Phantom of Heilbronn" might not exist. Police believe DNA evidence which pointed to a 15-year trail of crimes across Germany was a case of contaminated cotton swabs.

Aerosolized Vaccine as an Unexpected Source of False-Positive Bordetella pertussis PCR Results etc.

Our number one export apparently, in terms of money spent. And yet, we can't actually have democracy at home.

Of course. You exported it all; nothing remains for domestic use. Besides, who said that the US government wants democracy for the USA? All US Presidents in last century ruled like kings. Temporary kings, but kings nevertheless - with their own court, with their own budget for fun vacations, with their own Praetorian Guard, with their secrets, and with their complete lack of responsibilities. And with the army that obeys them.

How much of a banana republic do we need to become before the UN starts to intervene

Lower than Zimbabwe. The USA will be already aflame by then, so the UN will not have a chance to save the country (not that they could anyway.)

and forces us to be monitored by their people to make sure we have a fair election?

*Forces*? Hmm. I can't think of too many americans who would cheerfully embrace such a development. The reaction is likely to be somewhat different.

What the BBC is reporting is not quite what was offered. The ABC quotes Mr Lord as:

"Huawei is willing to offer complete and unrestricted access to our software source code and our equipment in such an environment," he said. "And in the interests of national security, we believe all other vendors should be subject to the same high standard of transparency."

The reference to "such an environment" is an industry funded organisation dedicated to vetting this stuff.

The exercise is nothing more than a PR spin. Huawei knows full well that the other players will neither want to fund a centre that effectively lets a competitor back into the race nor subject their own code to such scrutiny and risk rejection. He is the local face of Huawei so he has to say these things, but they will not change anything.

I agree that McKinnon should not be sent to the US but IMO May has set a precedent which she will regret. Look what she said

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/10/16/mckinnon_extradition_decision/print.html

In a statement to Parliament on Tuesday, Theresa May said that long-running extradition proceedings against the 46 year-old Asperger's Syndrome sufferer would be withdrawn on medical and human rights grounds. Psychiatrists warned that the Scot was likely to attempt suicide and was not strong enough to withstand the stress and trauma of a US trial and likely imprisonment.

May told Parliament there was "no doubt" McKinnon was seriously ill as a result of Aspergers and depression and at a "high risk of ending his life". She said that after taking careful advice from medical and legal experts she has decided withdraw extradition proceedings.

So if you can convince a doctor that you are a credible suicide risk if extradited, you will not be executed. Now this is problematic as the main target of the extradition act was Islamist terror suspects. Islamists are famously willing to kill themselves for the cause and it seems highly likely they will be able to pass the 'credible suicide risk if extradited' test that the McKinnon case seems to have set as a bar to extradition.

So is it right that McKinnon gets tried in the UK and most likely sentenced to time served? Absolutely, he is fundamentally harmless. Is it also right that the same thing happens to much more dangerous Islamists? No, not at all.

May has done the typical politician thing of solving a short term problem whilst creating a long term one which is probably more serious. It would actually better if she'd pardoned McKinnon or used some sort of discretionary power to block the extradition in a way that won't stop the extradition of people like Abu Qatada or Abu Hamza, Babar Ahmad and Talha Ahsan. The credible risk of suicide test most likely will and I believe she will discover it was a tactical mistake to institute it.

This is a point that David Rivkin has been trying to make, though the media are too busy crowing about the UK "standing up to the US" to listen to it.

http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2012/s3612398.htm

RACHAEL BROWN: US lawyer David Rivkin was a White House Counsel for presidents Reagan and Bush.

He says the Home Secretary's decision is laughable and could set a dangerous precedent.

DAVID RIVKIN: Under that argument, why do you even arrest anybody?

A person would say "If you arrest me and put me in a British prison, I'm going to kill myself."

RACHAEL BROWN: He says the extradition treaty has become a political football.

DAVID RIVKIN: We live in a world where individuals in one country can carry out crimes against another country.

We're supposed to work on this in a co-operative fashion, we're supposed to respect each other's judicial system.

RACHAEL BROWN: And the treaty could get even more complicated.

Theresa May again.

THERESA MAY: I have decided to introduce a forum bar.

MPs: Hear, hear.

THERESA MAY: This will mean that where prosecution is possible in both the UK and in another state, the British courts will be able to bar prosecution overseas if they believe it is in the interests of justice to do so.

SHAMI CHAKRABARTI: It's a great day for compassion and common sense.

RACHAEL BROWN: Shami Chakrabarti directs the human rights group, Liberty.

SHAMI CHAKRABARTI: It's a future where we will see discretion to consider where alleged activity took place, and where people who are accused of doing things in Great Britain get the opportunity to be tried in Great Britain.

RACHAEL BROWN: It's the same argument that was tested in the recent case of terrorism suspects Babar Ahmad and Talha

Regardless China will always cut costs where it can then lie through their teeth about it. Chinese cars recalled over asbestos concerns

Indefinite detention qualifies as torture. In civilized countries.

Indefinite detention is the accepted norm in military conflicts - you can be held until the conflict is over. So, I'm afriad you are quite wrong there. It is also used in many countries to keep very dangerous prisoners behind bars.

And to your other post, you stupid troll, I did not specify a country and you're cherrypicking. That is trolling.

We've already seen that Australia uses it, but so do Japan, UK, US, Sweden (and Sweden), Norway, and many other countries one generally considers part of the civilized world. Looks like you don't quite have this right.

In light of unprovoked invasion of these countries (instead of KSA),

The invasion of Afghanistan was greatly provoked - - 9/11 - perhaps you've heard of it? Afghanistan hosted Al Qaida even to the point of integrating it into the government. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia had nothing to do with 9/'11 as a government. So, you don't have this right.

the evidence of double-tap attacks on reporters and civilians,

On innocent civilians or reporters? Not so much.

executions by drone and whatever they call "collateral damage" is all that is required to make that statement valid.

The attacks by drones are attacks, not executions. You've been wrong in the particulars, and in general.

You're THE idiot. . . . you stupid troll . . . you're cherrypicking. That is trolling. . . Last, but not least, FOAD.

I guess you aren't a fan of civil discourse.

Whoever marked this "Troll" clearly doesn't know about what's been preoccupying Australian news over the last week. (Answer: Navel-gazing, as usual, only this time it involves dirty personal attacks against the PM.) In context, this was a good point.

For the benefit of those who are unaware, here's the brief summary: Julia Gillard's father died a couple of weeks ago, and right-wing radio-shock-mouthpiece Alan Jones (for the non-Australians, or even non-Sydneyites, he's roughly the Australian equivalent of Rush Limbaugh: moderate-sized but dedicated following, and self-parody to everyone who doesn't listen to his show) decided to use that in a very insensitive cheap shot at the PM. The remarks were made at a private function, but of course, nothing is private in the Internet era. Alan Jones has since issued a sincere, rambling semi-notpology.

The point being that the PM's PR people are currently enjoying a grace period where personal attacks are Not Cool. The PM herself is, of course, probably not enjoying the fact that her father just died.

On the other hand, Underground screened last night. From that perspective, this is the best of all times to go on the offensive. It's unfortunate that the two events coincided, but there's not a lot you can do about that.

Woah, this must be how Russel Howcroft feels.

I'm not the person you were replying to, but were you referring to that university of sydney research paper talking about a ~30% reduction? (http://sydney.edu.au/news/84.html?newsstoryid=9507). One of the authors speculated that this was due to mandatory helmet laws and not enough infrastructure, but never actually researched the cause. And he's been known to beat these drums in the past.

There's some issues with that paper that you might be interested in: http://www.abc.net.au/environment/articles/2012/07/18/3546884.htm

Seems that when you take the ageing population into account, there's actually an 8% increase.

cycling has seen a dramatic per capita decline since the introduction of MHL

This is an interesting examination of the data that I presume you are referencing - http://www.abc.net.au/environment/articles/2012/07/18/3546884.htm

Briefly, total cycling is up but it looks like per capita trip length is down. The assumption is that it is most likely MHL and lack of infrastructure. However, once you account for the aging of the population, that drop disappears and the impact of MHL goes with it.

I saw this on "The New Inventors": http://www.abc.net.au/tv/newinventors/txt/s2423228.htm QuietWave QuietWave uses a 100% organic rubberised material to dampen the transfer of sound through a wall, floor, ceiling or door. For more information about QuietWave, contact the following: www.acoustica.com.au/

Japan's NTT just sent a petabit per second over fiber. How can mere mortals hope to cope, having a measly 400 Gbps? We should be talking tens of terabits, at least.

India is bracing for a massive surge in type 2 diabetes, with credible estimates putting the number of sufferers in the next 20 years at more than 100 million.

It is a frightening phenomenon that threatens to overwhelm the country's health system, according to a leading diabetes specialist in India.Between them, India and China now have more than half of the world's type 2 diabetics.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-07-23/obesity-produces-diabetes-epidemic-in-india/4148616

The above jibber-jabber you replied to is siding with Iran even though he didn't say so.

By implying that a new "Hitler" could rise out of the West while all the signs are pointing towards the Middle East and the surrounding area - Iran, Pakistan, Yemen, Egypt, Libya.

Shutting out Google / YouTube is not the only thing Iran is doing.

Iran is also banning Female Students from taking courses in 77 subjects, including English Literature, Nuclear Science, Sociology, Philosophy

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-09-22/iranian-women-banned-from-77-university-courses/4275764

It's a totally fucked up world under Islam and more often than not the "new Hitler" will come from a fucked up world, not from places like the West.

dafuq /. rates this jibber jabber response 5 insightful? Is this fox & friends? You should look into white supremacist hate groups increasingly infiltrate US armed forces, and police forces. Don't pretend its in the USA interest to establish womens rights in the middle east, nor that the USA gives a damn about the well-being of anyone in the middle east, except Israel. USA does not give a damn about a bunch of brown people in the middle east. When someone tells you "they hate us for our freedom", learn to recognize a crock of shit when you see one. Dont forget the ethnic cleansing in Sarajevo and other crimes against humanity in the Balkans. Damn right a new Hitler will rise in the west. Free press is dumbed down to levels rivaling WW2 Germany's propaganda machine with a thoroughly distracted and plain stupid general public when it comes to global politics. Ron Paul has at least one thing right: we need to stop screwing around in the middle east and get the hell out of there. ie stop stealing resources (wrecking target country's infrastructure with bombs, loading them with debt from post-war infrastructure repairs, then accepting discounted oil as repayment) - that's the wrongheaded neo-con way. They like to imagine themselves as "hawks". "Scheming weasel" would be more appropriate words describing them (no offense to real wild weasels).

The above jibber-jabber you replied to is siding with Iran even though he didn't say so.

By implying that a new "Hitler" could rise out of the West while all the signs are pointing towards the Middle East and the surrounding area - Iran, Pakistan, Yemen, Egypt, Libya.

Shutting out Google / YouTube is not the only thing Iran is doing.

Iran is also banning Female Students from taking courses in 77 subjects, including English Literature, Nuclear Science, Sociology, Philosophy

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-09-22/iranian-women-banned-from-77-university-courses/4275764

It's a totally fucked up world under Islam and more often than not the "new Hitler" will come from a fucked up world, not from places like the West.

I don't completely trust studies either. For me, the main thing that matter are what I *do* trust (e.g. axioms, conclusions derived from first principles) and what I can do with the options before me.

Its reasonable to deduce from first principles that organic food has similar inherent nutrition (Vitamins, minerals) compared to non-organic. This is because (assuming non-GMO crops), both types of food grew using similar genetic processes. However, organic food has less pesticide residue. As pesticides are mostly toxins that affect humans too, this has the effect of lowering the *overall* nutrition of non-organic food.

This study backs up this conclusion :...
http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2012/09/04/3581865.htm
http://med.stanford.edu/ism/2012/september/organic.html

The non-organic food most probably had better yields. But if I can obtain organic food at an affordable price, the per-hectare crop yield becomes immaterial -- for me, organic is better as its toxins are fewer.

Unfortunately, the same can be said of the experiments led by Monsanto to prove the innocuity of their GMOs.

Fresh water will not polute the soil and is sustainable

You can't "water away" salinity, the rising water table _is_ the problem.
eg: Salinity in Australia

That post on Skeptical Science is a joke. Or might as well be, for all the factual content it contains.

For example, their facetious narrowing of the problem domain to "95% of active climate researchers actively publishing climate papers". There's the "no true Scotsman" argument for you. Then -- this is really rich -- they go on to cite Naomi Oreskes' thoroughly discredited essay on "consensus", as if it really meant something. But wait! There's more! THEN they actually claim (talk about lying by omission!) that Benny Peiser "retracted his criticism of Oreskes survey", and as evidence they give a paragraph taken out of context.

Peiser did retract ONE specific criticism of Oreskes' paper. [pdf] But he has far more than just that one... it wasn't even a very important one. He did not retract his criticisms (plural). Skeptical Science's attempt to give the impression that his multiple criticisms were retracted is yellow journalism of the first order.

THEN they play straw-man, citing a survey that asked scientists "Do you think human activity is a significant contributing factor in changing mean global temperatures?" What is wrong with that? What is wrong is the fact that a great many scientists believe that land-use changes has has MORE effect on climate than CO2. So this survey is completely useless in determining how many agree about CO2-based warming.

I could go on, but I see no need. That page is the biggest pile of half-truths and implied untruths that I have seen in a long time.

http://www.abc.net.au/tv/goodgame/episodes/date_2012_Tuesday21August2012.htm (today's episode) on gaming.

Japan would have you believe that "there's nothing more to see here" but that simply isn't true. http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2012/s3532725.htm

http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/stories/2012/07/19/3549280.htm

... to work out that there is definetely something fishy going on with the whole extradition story.

To begin with when both woman when to the police station to "report" Assange what they stated was NOT that they were raped but instead that he REFUSED to use a condom and they wanted to confirm with the police if they had the power to force him to take a STD test. Pure and simple! Now the police officer that took their statements called the prosecutor and, given the nature of the inquire, it already starts to sound a bit fishy. When the woman were told that they will issue an arrest warrant for Assange one of them REFUSED to continue with the statements and also even REFUSED to sign what had already been said. It sounds to me that it's pretty obvious that the public prosecutor that was called from that police station informed "someone" that they might had something on Assange.

There is so much to this it's hard to consolidate in a short coment but I would suggest watching this documentary on the subject:

http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/stories/2012/07/19/3549280.htm

I don't buy for a second that the woman were raped. And given all the evidence already presented in Sweden I don't think anyone does. The question has got to be related to something else, not even Kadafi had a RED Notice put on him, not even the Syrian president, it's an orange notice, but hey, he refused to use a condom, that's seems justified!

Can I suggest you watch this: http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/stories/2012/07/19/3549280.htm

That's simply not true. The best places to live are canada, australia or northern europe.

e.g. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World's_most_livable_cities or http://money.msn.com/family-money/the-worlds-15-best-places-to-live/ etc.

Strange, they missed Melbourne off that list. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-08-14/melbourne-remains-worlds-most-liveable-city/4198294

Australia is consistently near the top of all Quality of Life and other measurements, along with Canada and New Zealand.

Here is the latest:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-08-14/melbourne-remains-worlds-most-liveable-city/4198294

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quality-of-life_Index

http://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/

Do a bit of research and make sure you find the best place to live, not just for yourself but your family, your kids futures and their kids.

Disclaimer: I was born in Australia and moved to New Zealand.

Note that Australia is pretty hostile to immigration and it can be tough even for white people to get in.

Confirmed - if you don't find an employer to sponsor you, the wait period is forever-and-a-day.

Some other things: most livable cities + Melbourne still on top

However, don't forget most expensive cities for expats

If you have kids, no matter where you immigrate, good chances to be a nightmare for a period of 1-4 years - a no-no if your kids are past the primary school age.

Southern Europe may mean: Italy, Spain, Greece - Italian and Greek expats communities are pretty common, Spaniards not that much in English speaking countries.
Anyway, European countries have rather high population densities and good public transport coverage. US, Australia (and Canada??) are countries with huge suburban sprawls, owning a car is almost survival level (don't expect a shopping centre just as you exist your place and don't expect frequent buses in suburbs). Of course, if you are lucky (and find a good paid job) you may be able to afford to rent in central areas, but don't bet on it.

India - hmmmm... if you can think of a very busy market day (or a festival day) but forget about the fun, you'd have a pretty good idea on how the everyday streets in India look like (at least the case in major IT centres).
The car traffic is insane, a continuous rush hours except 4-5 hours during the night. Nobody seems to follow any other rule but "I want to go where I need" and nobody seems to care about incessant honking - I was under continuous stress my week in India, my brain interpreted the honking as "you are in immediate danger" (until I get adjusted to the idea they are using it just to signal their presence). Frequently, cars and motorcycles will even use footpaths to overtake. Malaria is a risk; one may (or may not) get adjusted with the food.
Power outages (of smaller scale than the recent major ones) are frequent - my experience: almost daily, of 3-15 minutes duration. If you have kids, I would strongly advice you against... otherwise, if you have a big adventurous spirit, why not?

China? Do you speak mandarin (for the mainland China)? What about Cantonese (for Honk Kong)? If neither, maybe it's not such a good idea