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I don't mean to suggest that any of the conspiracy theories are accurate, but the BBC did, in fact, report WTC 7's collapse before it happened. They've basically admitted as much:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/theeditors/2007/03/part_of_the_conspiracy_2.html

See also: https://archive.org/details/bbc200109111654-1736

The BBC erroneously reported the collapse at 4:53 p.m., as acknowledged in the above-linked article. The actual collapse occurred at 5:20 p.m., as confirmed by FEMA: http://www.fema.gov/pdf/library/fema403_ch5.pdf

At the time of the BBC's report, however, WTC 7 had been on fire for some time, and was already in danger of imminent collapse, so I don't find it too hard to believe that they simply made an honest mistake in the midst of all the confusion.

A plumber will take the offcuts and old pipes and fittings to be recycled -- it's easily worth their time. The same for many other trades -- and they'll all have relatively small quantities.

The law in the UK requires the scrap metal buyer to be registered, photocopy and store an identity card / passport, and not pay by cash, but electronically (or by cheque). These stricter requirements were only introduced about a year ago, and I haven't heard of as much railway cable theft since then... maybe it worked!

See also http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22148611

Presuming these plumes are not one off events, couldn't we send an orbiter there to sample the plumes to at least get some idea of the chemistry of Europa's ocean, if not possibly outright detect signs of life?

Yes, and according to the BBC article NASA researchers hope to do just that. However, Europa Clipper is expensive and long way off. They are hoping that a European probe due to launch in 2022 (like that is close) will do the job even though is not intended to go over the poles, which is where the plumes were seen.

Switzerland's problem is that it's grown wealthy off the back of dirty money.

That is, it's banks have obtained large amounts of money from everyone from Nazi looters through to money stolen by common theft, through to the much more benign tax avoiders and evaders.

This money has been used to invest and bankroll Swiss firms, which is why Switzerland has been able to grow other major firms like Nestle over the years and is what allows Switzerland to have disproportionate corporate punch in the world.

Most nations are willing to turn a blind eye most of the time because although it's a problem for them, a rational cost/benefit analysis has to be performed and most of the time it's more hassle trying to argue a political solution and implement it than it's worth.

But since the recession that's changed, countries are desperate for every penny they can find, a few hundred million or a few billion owed to the tax authorities is a non-issue in boom times relative to the lower hanging fruit they can go after back home instead but when the financial crisis hit and as it has dragged on for so long all the low hanging fruit have been plucked, and suddenly even mere hundreds of millions held abroad are worth going after.

So at this point financially hit countries like the US, UK and much of Western Europe now put the Swiss in their sites, and it becomes an ultimatum for the Swiss at this point - start giving up the criminally held tax, start giving up the tax evaders, or we'll put hefty financial transaction taxes on monetary transfers in and out of your country, or we'll start picking through your nation's companies with a very fine comb looking for fines we can leverage against them.

This is why the Swiss have allowed their banks to start submitting to US tax deals and so forth because the alternative is much less pleasant (e.g. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-20907359).

Swiss data centres would be no different - they'd be perfectly solid and safe until they become a measurable problem to a major Western nation or two and as with Swiss banks you'd see a slow erosion from complete secrecy, to allowing warrant based requests for data, to general access to information deals and support for cease and desist orders.

At best therefore they'd be a temporary solution. But if they were willing to host the likes of The Pirate Bay I'd wager that solution would be very temporary indeed given the lobbying power of the MPAA/RIAA and the priority with which the likes of the US would hence pursue such an issue with the Swiss.

There was less personal privacy in pretty much all spheres of life under communist rule, before you even begin considering personal liberty, and the economic system was a failure to boot.

The Collapse of Communist Economic Theory - APRIL 01, 1961

Factory managers in Russia are examined once a year on political theory. To hold his job, a manager must qualify anew every year in "Dialectical and Historical Materialism," and in "The History of the Communist Party." His compulsory reading list includes 64 official textbooks, plus 93 selections from Lenin, 11 from Engles, 24 from Marx, 13 from Stalin, 14 from Khrushchev, and one from Mao Tse-tung. It is easy to imagine what happens to Russian production when every factory manager is occupied with these predetermined studies as the prime vehicle of his bureaucratic advancement.

Every factory manager has but one aim in life—to make this month’s production quota. His entire career, and all his incentive bonuses, are based on annual quota accomplishment. On this score, another reputable American economist reported: "The incentive system also encourages falsification of records, the hoarding of labor and supplies, and numerous unusual activities such as working employees on a Sunday and giving them a day off in the following month"

This general pattern of phony quota-making has resulted in a broad panorama of totally unreliable production statistics from every sector of the Bolshevik economy.

Russian labor is regimented in a measure which kills all striving for excellence. Trained workers are in short supply in every line of production, and in-plant incentives often are discouraged by meticulously designed production norms delivered by Gosplan, Moscow, for every factory operation.

Communist China is still in business, so to speak, despite the pervasive surveillance of its police state. Why?

China's rising GDP and economic miracle (Follow link to see graph)

The seeds of China's rapid economic growth since the 1990s were first planted back in 1978 when the Communist Party started to introduce capitalist market principles, initially in the agricultural sector.

There is an open question about how long Europe will be able to continue under its current arrangements. They are facing long term problems with their economies, social policy, and demographics. European governments have been shown to engage in spying as well.

The US government substantially worsened the housing bubble by one set of actions, and slowed the recovery by others. Politics prevented reforms that could have stopped the government intervention leading to the first problem, and is directly resulting in the second.

That's BS. I can agree that there is a revulsion against anything different, i.e. something that goes against the moral norm. In ancient Rome and ancient Greece homosexuality was openly and accepted until the Christian fundamentalist took over. You see the "revulsion to homosexuality" because Christianity took whole Europe over for over 2000 years with their dogma that homosexuality is "sin". But before that nobody cared about homosexuality and was even openly practices.

> For example, one of the most successful arguments has been homosexual rights are similar rights for black people, and civil rights for black people - indeed even the elimination of slavery - had deep religious roots and motivation.

Eh, no. Religion was always used to enforce and justify slavery and to suppress woman and black rights.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/history/slavery_1.shtml

Historical records show that Islam and Christianity played an important role in enslavement in Africa. The Arab-controlled Trans-Saharan slave trade helped to institutionalise slave trading on the continent. And during the age of expedition, European Christians witnessed caravans loaded with Africans en-route to the Middle East.

For many of these early European explorers, the Bible was not only regarded as infallible, it was also their primary reference tool and those looking for answers to explain differences in ethnicity, culture, and slavery, found them in Genesis 9: 24-27, which appeared to suggest that it was all a result of sin.

In the Genesis passage, Africans were said to be the descendants of Ham, the son of Noah, who was cursed by his father after looking at his naked form. Moreover, in Genesis 10, the Table of Nations describes the origins of the different races and reveals that one of the descendants of Ham is Cush - Cush and the Cushites were people associated with the Nile region of North Africa.

In time, the connection Europeans made between sin, slavery, skin colour and beliefs would condemn Africans. In the Bible, physical or spiritual slavery is often a consequence of sinful actions, while darkness is associated with evil. Moreover, the Africans were subsequently considered heathens bereft of Christianity

wouldn't be surprised if the ultra-orthodox Jews and the Muslims got together and traded tips.

Don't forget the right-thinking people of Stornoway who are trying hard to keep the queers away.

Stornoway High Church consulted on a split after the General Assembly voted in May for a proposal that would allow gay men and women to become ministers.

If they let them in, there'll be Harry Potter books in the schools next. Mark my words!

Panspermia is the concept of taking one in a trillion odds of a shot hitting the target and firing that shot a trillion times. I'm not particularly advocating for it, but it has at least some basis in plausibility.

We know that rocks from others planets can and do get shot out by meteor impacts on a routine basis as some have landed on Earth. We know that these impacts shoot out large quantities of rocks at a time into space at random directions. We also know that gravitational currents can help objects naturally move between planets.

We also know that bacteria can survive being left in outer space for years at a time. We know that the interior of a meteorite does not particularly heat up upon re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere. We know that bacteria are found inside of rocks inside the Earth when we look for them.

Now I'm not going to get into life (bacteria etc) evolving and everything that goes with it. I'm certainly not saying that Panspermia has any evidence of having ever occurred. I'm simply saying that the idea of Panspermia has at least some plausibility as a delivery mechanism for bacteria like life that had already evolved on it's own.

THAT case was just a stupid case of ignoring scientific criticism for profit.

Of course, that would never happen anywhere else.

They are just thieves, people change with time. I've just read this : http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-25142557 and this guy seemed much too far gone, but apparently not.
"roll over and take it from those people who repeatedly demonstrate their desire to hurt others"
Putting them in jail is not rolling over and taking it.

For a man perhaps not yet -- but you did see this one right? http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-25178299

There are already fungi that eat plastic. But just like wood doesn't get digested that fast, neither is plastic going to be digested that fast even if the fungi become widespread.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/1402533.stm
http://aem.asm.org/content/77/17/6076

Yes, it goes to the sewage treatment plant. And /then/ it (or some of it) goes in to the ocean: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16709045 http://ec.europa.eu/environment/integration/research/newsalert/pdf/272na2.pdf (you'll find more with Google).

Wouldn't they be charged import taxes?

Play.com is^H^Hwas in Jersey, one of the small islands between Great Britain and France. It's a "Crown Dependency" of the UK, roughly comparable to the US Virgin Isles. It's not part of the EU. There was a loophole, where low-value items imported into the UK weren't charged VAT. Jersey is also considered part of the UK for postal prices, so the postage cost was the same for a business there as in, say, Manchester.

That led to Play.com and others selling DVDs and CDs to the UK, until April 2012 when the loophole was closed, and January this year when they shut down the Jersey warehouse.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-jersey-20953357

(Guernsey and the Isle of Man are the other two tax havens in the British Isles, although we have plenty more spread around the world.)

Amazon.co.uk, .de, etc are already based in Luxembourg, to avoid as much tax as possible while remaining within the EU.

Amazon is a terrible place to work, at least in the UK. They treat their staff appallingly. The BBC did a report as well.

Victorian working conditions are returning.

If you're willing to go back far enough, then certainly everyone is. This article provides a mathematical answer to the question of whether Jesus was descended from King David. Spoiler: Everyone in the Holy Land at the time of Jesus would be.

The whole idea is that the chemical weapons are destroyed FIRST...they are being destroyed AT SEA, not "destroyed" by simply dumping them into the ocean.

The fact that the other blog entries hosted at the same site as TFA include:

- Rihanna Displays Illuminati Hand Gesture at Latest Music Award Performance

- SSDI Death Index: Sandy Hook 'Shooter' Adam Lanza Died One Day Before School Massacre?

- 15 Citizens Petition to Secede from the United States

- Will U.S. Troops Fire On American Citizens?

- Illuminati Figurehead Prince William Takes the Stage with Jon Bon Jovi and Taylor Swift

- Has the Earth Shifted â" Or Is It Just Me?

- Mexican Government Releases Proof of E.T.'s and Ancient Space Travel ...should give you a hint as to the veracity of the content. (And yes, I realize it's simply a blog site with a variety of authors and content.)

As should the first comment, from "LibertyTreeBud", saying:

"Why not add it to some new vaccine? Or, perhaps add it to the drinking water and feed it to the live stock? These creatures will do anything for profits. Lowest bidder mentality rules."

What "creatures", exactly? The international organization explicitly charged with the prohibition and destruction of chemical weapons? What alternatives are people suggesting, exactly?

If you want a real article discussing this situation factually, not the tripe linked in the summary, see: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-25146980

Thank you for your personal definition but I will go with the dictionary one thanks.

I said, "A currency is simply something that is generally accepted in exchange for goods and services. "

The dictionary says:
currency
1. something that is used as a medium of exchange; money.
[snip]
I think my statement is a fair paraphrasing of the dictionary definition and is certainly what i think of when i think of the concept of "currency". I would say that you are the one redefining the term by trying to limit it to concepts with which you are familiar. The world has seen a great many objects most of us would see as strange used as currency. Salt, squirrel pelts, sea shells, and giant stones up to 12 feet in diameter. And yes, in ancient Egypt, beer was even used as currency.

I really hate this "let's make it difficult to communicate just so I can trick others into misunderstanding what I mean and make it look like I've won an argument" shit that has been disgorged from the ugly end of US politics. You can be a better person than that.

Ditto. You jumped in in the middle of a conversation I was not having with you. I'm not clear on what you were objecting to and why, and you have yet to explain it. If you want me to address a specific objection you will have to state it clearly and forthrightly. As of now you're just playing games and being deliberately obtuse. Not to mention hypocritical in trying to accuse me of being anything less than forthright in the face of your semantic games.

If you object to the word "currency" being used to describe Bitcoin you're going to have to come up with something pretty convincing, as all the evidence is stacked against you. If you object to something else, you're going to actually explain what that is.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-east-wales-25134289

Using some simple math, with over 4% of the worldwide population using Bitcoin, the value of 1 BTC should settle somewhere between $20,000.00 and $500,000.00

There will only be 21,000,000 bitcoins ever made.
There are roughly 314,000,000 people in the U.S.
The average worldwide salary is $1,480.

21M / 314M = 0.06687898089172
0.06687898089172 / $1,480 = 0.0000451885006

$1 = 0.00004518 BTC
1 BTC = $22,129.52

With a worldwide population of 7,127,000,000.

21M/7.127B=0.00294654132173
0.00294654132173/$1,480=0.0000019909063

$1 = 0.00000199 BTC
1 BTC = $502,283.80

IIRC, the research which found plastic bags will last for "hundreds of years" was in fact looking at plastic bottles.

That's my recollection too, in my case gained from here (about 10 minutes in):

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03b2zbk

(That plays in the UK, but I've no idea if it'll work in whatever corner of the planet you're in)

Specifically it's referring to Polyethylene Terepthalate (are you old enough to remember Terylene? If so, that's the stuff. If not, good for you).

Maybe, but you stil won't get to use it when the bluray drive craps out. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-25087517

Apple aren't the greatest company, but at least they can make an occasional product that doesn't fail immediately.

Do you people have to do this *every* time? If somebody suggested a PS4 you would link to their DOA failures, if somebody suggested an iPhone it would probably be Apple Maps. Yes virtually every product has some failing, we get it and it doesnt add anything to the conversation, it is just needless trolling.

Amazon factories are probably no worse than a typical UK call center... http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-12691704

Like this?

Apple aren't the greatest company, but at least they can make an occasional product that doesn't fail immediately.

There was an interesting article on BBC site about the referendum in Switzerland. It ended :

Switzerland's system of democracy means citizens can call nationwide votes on issues that concern them.(*)

I considered that interesting because such explanation means also that all other citizens in old democracies in the West cannot really do anything on issues that concern them - such concept is foreign to them i.e. requires an additional comment. Seems like the whole concept about letting people decide is gone from Western democracy - the only thing we directly decide is what asshole is holding office and in US even this does not hold true as many presidential campaigns show and gerrymandering in lower layers of democracy ensure.

* - The full article is here.

Looks contrived to me.

How can it be contrived when it's something that actually happens from time to time?

The latest example in my country was this one. As it happened there was never any real problem that caused it, only panic buying by people thinking that there might be a strike soon.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-17552395

Others have happened because of actual strike action. Because of fires at refineries, and because of heavy snow fall. There are many examples. But I'm not going to make a list, you can Google it yourself if you're interested.

It is more like the neighbors discovering the kid was being abused by his parents. As long as they didn't know it was happening, it was a happy neighborhood.

Not at all. The information wasn't being used to hurt anyone which is why child abuse is such a silly comparison.

Only if you rather have ongoing child abuse instead of truth.

No one got hurt, if you must compare it to child abuse, it would be the angry father in his wife beater T-shirt yelling at the kid because he thought he might be doing something wrong and the neighbors crying abuse when they hear him yelling and start assaulting him.

I swear, don't over dramatize this as no one got hurt and no property was destroyed until after the reveal and the protests started. You sound just like those idiots who burned down a pediatrics office/house/whatever the hell happened- mistaking the title for a pedophile.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/4719364.stm

May well need a good reason to be in posession of any in UK as Organised crime fears cause ban on 500 euro note sales http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8678886.stm. Often get odd looks when using a UK £50 note!

The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot, a 30-minute "behind the scenes" written and directed by 5th Doctor Peter Davison...

It's got everyone. Including cameo appearances by Peter Jackson and Ian McKellen (~13:00)...

Currently airing on BBC's Red Button and soon to be on demand on iPlayer at http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b03lv3mj/The_Five(ish)_Doctors_Reboot/ is The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot a self parody by the former Doctors.

I've been having plenty of discussions on the topic. It's funny, as Switzerland is probably the country that needs something like this the least. The median salary is around 75,000 USD, and although there is no global minimum salary in the law, there are sectorial conventions. The salary for a supermarket cashier starts at around $4,000 USD per month, but a gardener with technical training, for instance, will not earn less that $4,600.

It's also one of the few where citizens can change their constitution easily and directly, i.e. one of the few where this could ever happen. It won't happen this time (according to the polls), although many voters I talked to just disagree with the number, not the principle.

The BBC has a nice article on it, showing the minimum and maximum salaries, and of course the ratio, for a few major Swiss companies. If you want to learn more about the direct aspects of Swiss democracy, the federal government publishes some information in English.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-23475584

The BBC is about as reliable a source as you can get.

Eve Online is the only MMO that has been able to keep me interested in playing for more than a few months at a time. It doesn't have any elves or dragons. It's not built around a film franchise or a beloved series of books. It is unique in that the content created by the game developers plays second fiddle to the content created by the players themselves. It has vibrant player corporations (guilds) based around third-party websites like Something Awful and Reddit (see also: Fweddit and Brave Newbies); which leads to in-game drama aka content creation. It offers high-stakes PvP, in that when you die; your ship explodes and the winning player loots your wreck (corpse) taking whatever valuables survived the explosions. It also allows you to scam your fellow players; which is fairly unique among games. It regularly makes mainstream news for it's large fleet fights and huge losses. And, you're allowed to use your money to buy in-game currency if you are so inclined. I should note that your characters do not level and you don't earn XP or experience points for killing stuff in-game. Instead, your characters earn points that apply to in-game skills in real-time whether you are logged in or not. Eve Online, because spaceships.

Eve Online is the only MMO that has been able to keep me interested in playing for more than a few months at a time. It doesn't have any elves or dragons. It's not built around a film franchise or a beloved series of books. It is unique in that the content created by the game developers plays second fiddle to the content created by the players themselves. It has vibrant player corporations (guilds) based around third-party websites like Something Awful and Reddit (see also: Fweddit and Brave Newbies); which leads to in-game drama aka content creation. It offers high-stakes PvP, in that when you die; your ship explodes and the winning player loots your wreck (corpse) taking whatever valuables survived the explosions. It also allows you to scam your fellow players; which is fairly unique among games. It regularly makes mainstream news for it's large fleet fights and huge losses. And, you're allowed to use your money to buy in-game currency if you are so inclined. I should note that your characters do not level and you don't earn XP or experience points for killing stuff in-game. Instead, your characters earn points that apply to in-game skills in real-time whether you are logged in or not. Eve Online, because spaceships.

So are you saying that orders for "Currywurst mit Pommes" or döner are no longer heard on the streets of German cities, or from the fine soldaten of the Bundeswehr, American army, and other NATO allies when given the opportunity for that or other such local food?

I take it that you lack familiarity with the habits of soldiers? Or are you just being over sensitive about something? In either case I think you are showing a failure of imagination since the KGB or GRU would have been able to develop a suitable menu and assist in preparing such trucks if it had been an actual plan rather than a tongue in cheek comment.

As to obesity, Europe is catching up.

RIP: Kadir Nurman

So, because it's possible to pay for parking in a few places with conkers, you think conkers are a currency?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-24162228

( Conkers are the seeds of the horse chestnut tree. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conkers )

... automation was behind this? http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-25032380

Apparently they interbred quite a bit and continued for thousands of years.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-25020958

People roamed in those times, as settled farming hadn't come around yet.

The Forum in Beijing Bridget Kendall chairs a wide-ranging discussion in Beijing about the internet in China: does the rise of digital communication empower the Chinese individual or the state? How is the social media explosion changing the nature of Chinese society? How much is free expression really curtailed by the Great Firewall of China and the recent legislation aimed at curbing the spread of 'rumours' on the net? And is the ability to share the minutiae of their lives online making the young in China politically apathetic? http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01kdgtr Airs views from both government spokes persons and those using the internet as to what the people want, need and are allowed.

Tell me about it, in the UK a Policeman was let off doing 159mph as he was the "creme de la creme of drivers". They completely ignored the fact that other drivers have no ability to deal with people driving at over twice the expected speed on a motorway.

This happened to me on a dual carriageway (70mph limit) - I looked in my mirror and saw a car in the distance and estimated that I had enough time to pull out and overtake the lorry. By the time I'd started indicating and pulling out, a Nobel was on top of me - based on the distance covered he must have been doing about 140mph.

and padlocked themselves in a gym bag.

In case anyone thinks bob_super is making that up: "The death of MI6 spy Gareth Williams, whose body was found in a padlocked sports bag, was probably an accident, police have said." http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-24927078

Or it's simply a honeypot.

Or some bizarre ultra-libertarian performance art.

Still wouldn't be as bizarre or outlandish as the time in 2006 that Loyalist Michael Stone attempted to enter the Stormont Assembly in Northern Ireland and assassinate the leaders of Sinn Fein, then claimed that it was "performance art".

That's not the impression the BBC article gives me. Indeed, it says:

Typing "child pornography" in to Google's search engine now brings up a set of search results that include warnings that child abuse imagery is illegal.

The first three links are all related to reporting disturbing images or seeking help if you think you or someone you know has a problem with child porn.

The first link is an advert that links to a Google statement about protecting children from sexual abuse. The next link directs you to the Internet Watch Foundation, where you can report criminal online content, and a link to Stop it Now advises users how they can get help and advice.

The remaining search results are mainly news stories from around the world reporting on child pornography.

So Google are now engaging in government-directed manipulation of search results covering the discussion of child sex abuse images.

Combined with Google mapping tech... http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-24934790

Cats do not do that. Oddly they do not understand property laws. They do understand their own laws.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-22567526

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-24934790

Blame Canada!

In the standard operating procedure, the drone recovery team was killed by missiles as part of the double tap strategy.

A guy on the French version (Koh Lanta, it's called) did indeed die. The season was cancelled. It was a massive scandal, where the on call doctor committed suicide.

It did not increase ratings, and it caused a lot of pain an heartache.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-22001163

"Overall crime rate in UK and Germany (far better comparison to the US than Sweden) are higher than in the US."

Not true any more. This idea was based on data from over a decade ago. Nowadays the UK is far more peaceful than the US, and seems to have the lowest levels of crime it's possibly ever had in modern history. It's now one of the more peaceful nations in Europe and Europe on average does much better than the US:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-24566994

Even where the UK does have high figures (i.e. sexual offences) a lot of that is historical too (i.e. offences from the 60s, 70s, 80s) only now coming to light and being reported so high figures there doesn't mean you're likely to suffer sexual assault nowadays.