Slashdot Mirror

Your information is out of date, according to this BBC article:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-19622330

Which cheered me up no end, considering that I'm 40 myself.

-Jar

Write up on the BBC about this.

Mod parent up.

The BBC article he's referring to is here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-19659801
...and more specifically on the topic, here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12597245

Mod parent up.

The BBC article he's referring to is here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-19659801
...and more specifically on the topic, here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12597245

Getting straight talk is great, but you need to have an expected context or folks might be overly sensitive and reject the message.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-19335267

Online behavior is closer to New York frankness than what we usually get face-to-face, and that's good, like you suggest. But then there's a large contingent who go overboard or are just venting their spleens rather than being sincere about their criticism. Weeding out that chaff is the trick.

Sea pirates are clearly a much stronger source of global cooling than Napster 'pirates'.

Busted in Somalia. Pirates attacked ships off the Somali coast 151 times in 2011, once for each Pokemon in the original Game Boy games.

perhaps it's the value plundered by the pirates.

BBC estimates the 2011 plunder at $146 million.

We do have a bit of a problem with patriotism :s

Sounds like we should send Nigel Farage to give you a pep talk.

The video did not cause gmail to be blocked any more than the video caused terrorist attacks against US embassies.

The video did not cause a terrorist attack on the US embassies but you would have to agree it gave the people planning the attacks some really good cover from citizens that might have been unwilling under normal circumstances to storm United States embassies, right? The video was used in the attacks as a device. Likewise, you could call the video "the straw that broke the camel's back" or a bigger piece of the picture for Iran's blockage of Gmail but to say it played no role is purely speculation. Do you have an alternative theory or is it simply just a hunch? Do you speak Farsi? Are you situated in Tehran, roaming about and getting a feeling for the climate of the people? No? You're just sitting comfortably at your desk halfway across the world? So how do you know the video caused no unrest?

I mean, yes we joke that Iranian government is terribly inept, but would they really be so thick as to think blocking gmail had any meaningful impact on those who created/supported the video?

I thought the purpose was to punish Google for allowing the video to be uploaded at all (and it still remains in lengthy trailer format for most of the world's population to view). The government picked a length of time that they felt would cause an exodus of users from Gmail to another provider -- hopefully a local one that dishes up information without resistance to the Iranian government. More importantly, one that is not associated as the web host of "Innocence of Muslims" trailers.

The video is just serving as a gigantic red herring. More likely Iran had a real purpose behind the brief blockade, and throwing "The Video" out there as a reason is an attempt to distract from that reason.

Then what was it? Sure, relations with the US are strained. Sure, their currency just hit an all-time low against the dollar. But calling this a "red herring" requires you to tell us what the real purpose was. Otherwise there's a pretty simple cause and effect in my mind: Google still lets Americans watch movie trailer so therefore Iran government gives its citizens a reason not to use Google services. What is so abnormal about that logic? It makes about as much sense as US does not like Iranian Government so US places trade embargoes on all of Iranian goods, companies and services.

in business class.

"In one of the most extreme cases, it [Dubai] reported a man being held after poppy seeds from a bread roll were found on his clothes."

Dubai wants tourism and convention business, but their draconian drug paranoia makes this aspiration ridiculous. How many of the attendees to this conference will be harassed or even imprisoned I wonder? I know this is old news, but any chance I get I take the opportunity to share this BBC article concerning Dubai's absurd reactionary jailing of innocent visitors. I have been there (It's nothing special, people.) But now I shudder to think that I had my OTC allergy medicine with me. I would not go back to Dubai on a bet.

The idea of having an internet conference there is like planning a human rights conference in Damascus. But, I guess since the organizers want anything but transparency, it makes for a terrible logic.

What nonsense! By my impeccible logic, I am sure that if you remove guns from society then criminals using guns will suddenly choose to become outstanding citizens. Obviously, guns corrupt people's minds and once they are removed we can all live happily ever after.

What's that, ol' chap? Knife crime?

Blimey! Well, by my impeccible logic, I am sure that if you remove knifes from society...

Not 100% sure that people's willingness to pay for music and their godawful tastes in the same are related. To use an analogy from the literary world, there are literally thousands of nasty, badly written slashfics on the internet that anyone can read for free, yet Fifty Shades of Shite is the best selling book of all time
No, really - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-18618648.
It makes you weep, really it does.

If you communicate via webmail or sms then there are already third parties (the organisations and people who provide those services) who can read your communications, and if the messages are not encrypted then there are several more places along the route where the content can be captured.

It is courting disaster to conduct confidential or government business via domestic webmail, sms or any services that are not accountable, auditable and vetted, and hosted by companies that are subject to UK law.

The fact that people within government departments and political parties gossip/leak, whether inadvertantly or deliberately, doesn't make it a good idea to conduct government business on hotmail or gmail or chat. It means that the existing regulations and laws are not being observed. The sanctions and remedies in those cases are already available and it's the responsibility of officials and politicians to enforce this, *not* to try to get around it by conducting public business in secret.

The fact that the Brown family's intimate private affairs were leaked or stolen makes for a very good illustration. Those thefts came from his *personal* affairs, not from government departments. In another instance the Sunday Times managed to access his *personal* legal and bank files. ref: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-14119225

The BBC are hardly any better. Whilst the BBC for generations has had a good reputation - in Scotland, the BBC are showing themselves to be a state broadcaster and at every opportunity take the unionist cause (which incidently is way off their charter). Over the last year, Scots have been subjected to TV shows about "how good it is to be British" and "why the UK is great for Scotland" which are not shown south of the border.

They have been cutting back coverage of the Scottish referendum for independence and have been accused of dirty tricks and biased reporting in the lead up to the 2014 referendum.

It's incredible since the BBC is also paid for by Scots (though a mandatory tax called the TV Licence). Scotland is hoping to be the first country to become independent without a drop of blood being spilt.

It is good to see how onions can change the world.

BBC has this story about the onion story http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/19620411

Peter Glazebrook talking about his amazing onion: 'I should think it could feed a thousand people. It would certainly do for a lot of hotdogs.'

It is good to see how onions can change the world, even Iran. ;)

Iran claims to have already produced drones using info from the US drone they captured a while back .

True, Assange may have fallen victim to bad luck and a couple of women scorned.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11949341">http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11949341
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11049316
http://www.euronews.com/2012/08/16/julian-assange-and-wikileaks-timeline-of-events/

The sex happened less than a month after the public release of Afghan war documents, and the warrant for his arrest was initially canceled the day after it was issued (20-21 August 2010), for the implied reason of lack of evidence.

Within 10 days, the case is taken over by a different Swedish prosecutor (Marianne Ny), who reopens the case, Assange is questioned by police in Stockholm (31 August 2010) and 3 months later (20 November 2010) an international arrest warrant is issued for his arrest in the UK. Marianne Ny) tells AFP that overturning another prosecutor's decision was "not an ordinary (procedure), but not so out of the ordinary either".

Then we have had all the bureaucratic shenanigans in the UK with Assange handing himself in, appealing to the high court, getting bail subject to house arrest, and then acquiring political asylum with Ecuador but no actual way out of the country.

There is suggestion, but not proof, that "US diplomatic pressure" was brought to bear behind the scenes to have the case reopened by a different prosecutor. The recent release of the Afghan War Diaries would at the very least have made Assange, and those around him, an active CIA observation target.

Regardless of the morality or legality of his actual actions, my point is that due to his "political crime" of wikileaks, it behoves US interests to have the man behind bars, regardless of what he is actually charged with, or in which country. There is also the question that if it where not for his fame/infamy, that the case may never have been reopened. My suggestion is that if Assange was just an unknown average Joe, there is a reasonable probability that in practice the case would have been dropped and he would now be free. But "Assange + Afghan War Diaries" means he his now effectively under house arrest in the Ecuadorian embassy.

The difference in theory is the addition of the "political crime" and the difference in practice is that he is effectively imprisoned.

The fact that he has spoken at length in multiple speeches against this film, without one word in support of the concept that even hateful speech is Free Speech and protected in America.

Let me guess, you get all your news from Fox News and Youtube?

I say that because he you are completely wrong.

Here are a two news sources you may want to check out.

http://www.csmonitor.com/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world/us_and_canada/

They won't stop. They will demand we hand him over so they can slowly behead him and post that on the internet then drag his body though the streets and hang it from some bridge.

That's an interesting story (covered quite well on the BBC unusually http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4888080.stm) but my faith in /.'s editorial staff is intact. The article you link to are about mice with various genes missing - it's an engineered lab mouse mdoel. The mice in the story here regenerate naturally. MRL mice are a disease model - and carry a lupus like disease - ie autoimmune disease-bad news (I'm not sure whether that's because of the missing p21 gene but it's quite possible. Disentangling that from the regenerative abilities is going to be tough - and they haven't managed it yet by the looks of things).
The fact these mice do this naturally, with no other ill-effects, is much more important in terms of making an impact on human health.

But foundations still slide off their houses.. or something :)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-19725952

Being a Brazilian living in Europe since 2005, my opinion is yes, there is some inefficiency but that is not the problem. France and Germany also have corruption and all the inefficiency you want. I see Brazil as an exploited country which still has chains tying it to serve more developed countries.

So what font should you choose on your web site ? I note some research that Making things hard to read 'can boost learning'; so should I use a serif or sans-serif font for my web site ? I suppose it depends on the purpose of my web site.

Let's not forget that the "ally" of the US, Saudi Arabia, executes people for sorcery.

Israelis are systematically killing Palestinians to take their land, and doing so with biblical justifications.

The Israelis have killed fewer Arabs than the Arabs in surrounding nations.

Hama massacre
1970: Civil war breaks out in Jordan

Bush the Younger referred to the war on terror as a "Crusade."

A figure of speech, not a declaration of Holy War - the United States has no provision for that.

There's no way of telling how many innocent Iraqis and Afghans have been killed by Christian soldiers because of their beliefs. . .

The total dead in Iraq during the US invasion, occupation, and prior to departure is something on the order of 120,000 people killed. Of those, the vast majority were killed by Shia death squads and Al Qaeda terrorists. So, Muslims killed far more Muslims for purely religious reasons than any possible number killed by the Coalition forces. This is especially true since the Coalition soldiers would have only generally killed people directly engaged in terrorism or combat. So, the number killed by Coalition soldiers (who were of many different faiths, including Islam) only for being Muslim is probably very small, next to nothing.

but some elements of the U.S. Military have certainly encouraged the mass murder of innocent civilians based on the fact that they were Muslims: http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012/09/lawsuit-total-war-islam/

You do realize that was 1 (one) man, right? Describing that 1 (one) man as "elements of the US Military" is a pretty extravagant description.

If anything, I think the religious killings by Christians and Jews are probably greater in number than those by Muslims. They aren't reported on in the same way - if you live in the U.S., you'll never see the U.S. or Israel accused of genocide by the media - but they're there whether you hear about them or not.

You're joking?

Tears of Jihad - These figures are a rough estimate of the death of non-Muslims by the political act of jihad

Other than in the case of the attack on the US diplomat (which it seems fairly certain was a premeditated attack upon him by a group that wanted him dead for their own reasons using the protests as cover) the fatalities have been amongst the people protesting/rioting. It's perhaps somewhat noteworthy that the ordinary people in Benghazi stormed the militia bases of groups they held responsible for the attack on the diplomat which they found intolerable (as well as generally being bossed around by them) http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-19680785.

Is it unthinkable that this is infact similar to the Occupy movement and is being smeared greatly. As western protesters direct their ire at the WTO and/or other such institutions they feel represent a problem. This becomes western embassies in the case of arab nations. Their ire, of course, is misguided in both cases. The institutions originate from us as individuals facilitating them, but nobody wants to be told they have to change their ways to fix things and so readily accepts that somebody or something else is to blame. The media continues painting the disaffected as borderline lunatics rather than explaining to everybody the nature of the problems we face. Partly this is because it's not really in their interest to divest the truth and partly because many people that work in the field either don't understand it or could not explain it in a TV friendly way even if they did. None of this is helped by the fact most (if not all) institutions become corrupt eventually over the course of time.

Alternatively if we follow the corruption angle this is being done at the behest of a certain group or groups to lower western opinions of muslims. Paying Imams to rabble rouse and get their congregations to protest (with the wonderful pretext of some shitty movie, but they didn't riot over soutpark's portrayal of Mohammed, just some movie made by an egyptian. great for rousing crowd though) and then have the media misrepresent the protest. Which frankly they don't even need to be told to do, they always try and make things look more than they are. So if there's 50 people protesting they will likely get them all in shot up close so it looks like a bigger crowd. Unless they wish to downplay the protest as in NYC in which case they'll get as few in shot as possible. Why would anybody want to lower the average western opinions of muslims? Given that certain groups seem hell bent on creating WW3 it's hardly a stretch that they'd do such things.

Both scenarios are plausable and not mutually exclusive even. Bereft of sufficient information I believe neither. I do however view them as possibilities on the a greater footing than the official narrative the simplistic media feeds us.

Also note that some of the issues on the Tumblr blog are not real either. So those should be dropped from consideration too, right?

If you can show they're not real, sure. However, when the BBC carries it as a news story, where maps in the UK are missing entire well-known towns (Shakespeare's birthplace, Stratford-upon-Avon, for example), and others are moved miles out of place, it shows that it really is a widespread issue. This is really basic stuff.

Apple had to launch maps in a beta state

Which, as they've stated they simply didn't renew the agreement with Google, increasingly looks like their own fault.

there simply is no other way to start improving it rapidly or really at all.

I'd be interested to hear how they will gather user feedback on individual mistakes, as from searching I cannot see any mechanism by which it's possible to provide that feedback with creating a Tumblr account and hoping Apple look at it. What they should have done in the first place, is:

a) Swallow their pride and renew Google Maps for another year or two, then
b) Pay a decent amount of money for proper maps from the myriad of mapping organisations that have accurate data.

Well, since you are rolling out your own private definitions of words it's pretty fucking hard to communicate here isn't it? Of course you have no idea what I'm talking about if you are going to redefine everything at the drop of a hat.

My statements were based on standard definitions of republic, monarchy, and theocracy.

Republic (recall I was speaking of a specific definition of republic):

a state in which the head of government is not a monarch or other hereditary head of state.

Monarchy

a state or nation in which the supreme power is actually or nominally lodged in a monarch.

And in turn, a monarch has as it's first definition a hereditary ruler of a country, second as an absolute ruler. Both apply to North Korea.

Theocracy:

a form of government in which God or a deity is recognized as the supreme civil ruler, the God's or deity's laws being interpreted by the ecclesiastical authorities.

This is a little stretched, but it's worth noting that the previous rulers of North Korea, Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il are worshiped to a degree with numerous shrines, portraits, and frequent tributes (a "cult of personality"). And Kim Jong-un does interpret the wishes of his father and grandfather, so he's taking the role of ecclesiastical authority.

Iran already tried to address this by forging certificates for man-in-the-middle attacks.

It's not illegal in Belgium

Yes it is. Please read the link I provided, or you can use Google to find hundreds of other references.

It was a ban on burkas. Yes, it's ridiculous, but it is not illegal to wear masks in Belgium. It was a ban on religious clothing that obscures a face, particularly forced upon women. But the amount of burkas used in Belgium is probably at a minimum.

Italy or Spain.

Italy and Spain have local bans. For instance, obscuring your face in public is illegal in Barcelona.

Actually, it's only illegal in public buildings, such as markets and libraries, which your link itself lists quite clearly. You can still walk outside while having your face obscured.

So basically, your "many EU countries" is "France". Belgium's law will likely have little consequence, and it seems that the Barcelona law is a protection of public buildings. Not that Turkey is the pedestal of civil rights, but they also had a similar ban as Barcelona (until at least very recently).

Denmark also have a ban on masks, but only during demonstrations and other large crowds. The usual freedom was previously abused heavily by activists to destroy property rather than actual demonstrate. The rationale is that if you are really interested in your message, you will have no issue showing your face at a public demonstration.

But most of these laws seems to be a form of Islamophobia than an actual crackdown on civil liberties, which seems to be collateral damage. There was even talk about banning burkas in Denmark, until politicians realised only 5 people in the whole country wore them, and they were ethnic Danes who had converted to Islam. The cases might even be similar in most other EU countries. Like the Swiss ban on Minarets. Ridiculous.

If you pass this bill don't fall into the same trap as the UK. Only allow degrees accredited by Universities with a proven academic record, and not any "overseas branches". Even reputable Universities can be tempted by overseas operations, and it is much harder to deal with after the event after the event.

I realised that it might not be obvious what I'm talking about. Some "low end" educational establishments just become a means to buy a visa rather than teaching the students to any reasonable degree.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-19536269

"We decided to start a project called Ground Truth, and this was really to build our own maps from scratch. We would start with licensed data and we would find whatever we could where we could get full rights to the data and improve it from there." ...

"The firm sent cars fitted with special nine-lens cameras along roads recording panoramic photos as they went.

But Google's computers also analyse the images to identify street signs, speed limits, addresses, business names, rights of way at road junctions and other information. Human operators then check over each area to correct mistakes before the data is incorporated into the maps."

If you pass this bill don't fall into the same trap as the UK. Only allow degrees accredited by Universities with a proven academic record, and not any "overseas branches". Even reputable Universities can be tempted by overseas operations, and it is much harder to deal with after the event after the event.

" LITERATURE PRIZE: The US Government General Accountability Office, for issuing a report about reports about reports that recommends the preparation of a report about the report about reports about reports.

REFERENCE: "Actions Needed to Evaluate the Impact of Efforts to Estimate Costs of Reports and Studies," US Government General Accountability Office report GAO-12-480R, May 10, 2012. "

Its a shame the guys who did this didn't get a mention: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-18247680
It had a been a subject of great debate a amongst my friends - other stouts not doing this was a point of confusion for a long time! (which of course lead to more testing....)

I'm not sure if this is helpful, but the BBC ran an article on hearing aid hackers earlier this year:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-18690973

The software engineer mentioned in the article runs a blog here

Actually, if you read http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-18709232 you'll see that Apple were not the first, just the one the majority of people remember.

Also if you want further details: http://www.dailytech.com/Analysis+Neonode+Patented+SwipetoUnlock+3+Years+Before+Apple/article24046.htm.

Depends how far you want to go back though.

About here oughta do it...

Thing is, it wasn't the GMO crops that are reputed to give you the cancer. It's the pesticide. Now, class, for 10 bonus points, who didn't know pesticides are dangerous?

True, but the GMO crops are what enables farmers to spray pesticides directly onto the crops. It sounds to me like nature is working this out for everyone, anyway: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-19594335

Some GMO crops are modified for resistance to herbicides, permitting, but not requiring more use of chemicals.
Other GMO's are modified to resist the pests themselves, thus permitting less chemicals to be used.
A third group of GMO's are modified for reasons completely unrelated to herbicides or pesticides.

Thing is, it wasn't the GMO crops that are reputed to give you the cancer. It's the pesticide. Now, class, for 10 bonus points, who didn't know pesticides are dangerous?

True, but the GMO crops are what enables farmers to spray pesticides directly onto the crops. It sounds to me like nature is working this out for everyone, anyway: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-19594335

In related news, I just saw this: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-19594335

It sounds like roundup and GM crops are rapidly nearing the end of their useful life with the weeds becoming naturally resistant to the stuff. If true, this whole discussion is probably moot.

Evidence for progress seems a bit thin. Even a very senior Cardinal has said that the Catholic Church is 200 years behind the times.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-19453974

You know what has also become Roundup resistant? Giant ragweed.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-19585341

How about giving away a free voltmeter to any student from a 3rd world nation who passes the edX course "Circuits and Electronics"?

6002x "Circuits and Electronics", an online version of the MIT introductory electronics course. This was an exact copy of the MIT course, taught by an MIT professor, and was just as hard as the original course. Same material, same difficulty, online format.

Some of the 7,000 graduates were from 3rd world nations. For example, this article talks about a class of high-school students in Mongolia:

I'm reminded of William Kamkwamba, who built a wind-powered generator and was able to bring electricity to his village. His Ted talk is pretty interesting.

Mr. Kamkwamba had nothing. He built his windmill from scratch after learning the principles of electricity from books in the local library. He built his own circuit breaker by winding wire onto nails driven into wood.

His task would have been so much easier if he could have measured continuity, or the output voltage of his generator.

Most of the modern world is based on electronics - measurements, actions, communications, and so on. Having the tools and understanding would allow people to repair broken equipment and machinery, to take pieces from ewaste and hook them together in new ways, and generally have better life opportunities.

Supplying 5,000 students (a generous estimate) would cost only $10,000.

Here is the contact page for edX.

I'm sure the reports of suicide nets and riots are all lies.

>Again, if you remember, when the story of suicides came to slashdot, people here quickly did the sensible thing and compared the suicide rate per 100,000 people: Foxconn vs China as a whole. Result, Foxconn employees commit suicide significantly less often than the average Chinese person.Some people just can't cope with large numbers and don't get the logic that any group of hundreds of thousands of people will have multiple suicides in the group.>Riots? You mean the 7 new employees that were out for a meal and had a fight with the owner of a restaurant. And a bunch of their colleagues joined in. Nothing to do with the factory or working practices. Just a brawl in a company town.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-18363929Now, even if these things you mention weren't lies and distortions, you'd then have to consider that Foxconn don't just manufacture for Apple, but many other brands. You undoubtably own products made by Foxconn in China.

Your liking for one smartphone over another causes you to ape and repeat the exposed liar Mike Daisey. How pathetic is that. Meditate on it for a while. Is this really the kind of as person you want to be?

The only Liar here is you.

Anti-Suicide Nets - http://www.dailytech.com/Foxconn+Installs+AntiSuicide+Nets+at+Its+Facilities/article18877.htm
Riot - http://www.dailytech.com/Foxconn+Installs+AntiSuicide+Nets+at+Its+Facilities/article18877.htm

Please don't reply to my posts your willingness to distort the truth for your shiny Apple I find distasteful.

One thing you're missing is the condition of the data. Unfortunately, it's not very good, especially temperature data.

And one thing you're missing is that there are multiple sources of data from independent methods of measurement, with data analysis being done by multiple independent groups around the globe. This is not simply one single data set that is ambiguous; there is everything from balloon measurements to satellite infrared, and even gravity measurements of the thickness of polar ice taken by satellites.

Most notably, there is the Berkeley independent reanalysis of temperature data ("Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature"), which was done explicitly to try to address the claims of bias in the data: http://berkeleyearth.org/ . This is the work of which climate skeptic Anthony Watts said--before the results were released-- "I will believe this study", and which, as it turns out, shows results that pretty much lie exactly on top of the graph produced from the NOAA data, the NASA data, and even the CRU data. (see the comparison here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-15373071 )

There are gaps, there are insturmentation issues, there are siting issues

All of which are addressed.

, and, the 800lb gorilla in the room, there's just the simple fact that climate changes happen in geologic time frames, and we literally don't have any direct measurements of that scale.

And that is an "800lb gorilla" for what reason, exactly? The question is about the effect of human-generated carbon dioxide over time scales of decades-- questions about the temperature record over time scales of millions to billions of years ("geologic time frames") is of great scientific interest, but not really relevant to criticizing the record over time scales five to eight orders of magnitude shorter.

So we must proxy, and normalize, and adjust, and model. Really, I don't think anyone can definitively prove anything one way or the other yet.

Sorry, but this is what science does: take data, analyze it, and compare it to models. Science is remarkably good at this.

Another thing science is remarkably good at is comparing two different models and determining which one works. The problem is, there isn't a credible model that doesn't show global warming. The deniers don't have any models. (Haven't you ever wondered how come the results from climate modelling are often critiqued, but the critics never show their own models? That's because they don't have any.) There have been many attempts to find a model with negative feedback loops that cancel out the greenhouse effect, but none of these have ever worked even at the top level.

The "denier" claims aren't falsifiable, because there isn't actually any model to falsify. Their entire model consists of "you're wrong".

I'm sure the reports of suicide nets and riots are all lies.

Again, if you remember, when the story of suicides came to slashdot, people here quickly did the sensible thing and compared the suicide rate per 100,000 people: Foxconn vs China as a whole. Result, Foxconn employees commit suicide significantly less often than the average Chinese person.

Some people just can't cope with large numbers and don't get the logic that any group of hundreds of thousands of people will have multiple suicides in the group.

Riots? You mean the 7 new employees that were out for a meal and had a fight with the owner of a restaurant. And a bunch of their colleagues joined in. Nothing to do with the factory or working practices. Just a brawl in a company town.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-18363929

Now, even if these things you mention weren't lies and distortions, you'd then have to consider that Foxconn don't just manufacture for Apple, but many other brands. You undoubtably own products made by Foxconn in China.

Your liking for one smartphone over another causes you to ape and repeat the exposed liar Mike Daisey. How pathetic is that. Meditate on it for a while. Is this really the kind of as person you want to be?

Catholics never say anything is 'right' - they only say what is 'wrong'

Premarital sex is wrong - condemn all who practice it!
Homosexual sex is wrong - condemn all who practice it!
Any type of marriage that isn't a 1-man to 1-woman ratio is wrong - condemn all who practice it!
Preventing Christians from doing something that we also prevent everyone else from doing, is wrong - condemn all who practice it!
Abortion is wrong - condemn all who practice it!
Using contraceptives, even to prevent transmission of Aids, is wrong - condemn all who practice it!

As an institution they had over 1000 years to kill people for it - so the fact that they've not been doing this for the last ~50 years or so ,doesn't exclude them from the religious nutters party yet.

Go to Northern Ireland and you can still get your kneecaps and ankles shot out just for doing something that is against 'local religious rules'. And those are practicing Christians.
 

You jest, but that was my first thought too. I suspect that we'll see a sharp uptick in 419s written in Spanish over the next few months now that there are some nice official media reports from third parties to lend some credence to the scam.

Jean-Luc would never get so far in real life. The French are so snooty that they no longer shoot themselves in the foot - instead they get their dogs to shoot them.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12266973
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-18155293

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12266973
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-18155293