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Sorry to be a buzzkill, but it looks like it'll be just a movie by Terry Jones with the other Pythons being voice actors and nothing more. Heck, Terry Jones himself said that "It's not a Monty Python picture".http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-16744299 None of the other Pythons are involved in the writing process.

The interviewers had a really hard time pretending to give a fuck.

From the link:

A talking dog that will ham the shit out of every scene named Dennis will be voiced by Mrs Doubtfire actor Robin Williams.

FTFY. Will not watch.

Perhaps you don't realise that clicks count when it comes to advertising dollars on the internet and as I enjoy using stumbleupon I want to ensure that News Corp is not financially enabled by my choice.

As for news choices, give it a rest News Corp troll, http://www.allyoucanread.com/, 22,800 online magazines and newspapers from all over the world. I think I can safely skip News Corp shit without missing anything ;D.

As for regulars I am quite content with http://www.bbc.co.uk/ and http://www.abc.net.au/. How much time do you think I have to take up news, especially when I don't buy into that "you will die if you don't read and watch" bullshit.

Oh, and if the French stopped exporting cheese, I'd miss reblochon a lot more than roquefort. There are some nice bries and camemberts made in Somerset, so that's not a problem. There's even a decent mozzarella (approved by some of my Italian friends) made in Devon...

"Don't Worry About Global Warming, Say 16 Scientists in the WSJ"
should be
"What Murdoch wants you to think."

It seems reasonable to guess that, if Murdoch finds a way to make money from curbing CO2 emissions, there will be a new article proposing that.

The Wall Street Journal, never a useful publication, is now just a massive advertisement for Murdoch.

"Never a useful publication"? Did the Wall Street Journal tell us of the plans by the financial community to steal hundreds of billions of dollars? No. The book Fiasco: The Inside Story of a Wall Street Trader did, in 1999, with huge amounts of exact detail. Warren Buffett did, in 2003, when he said, Derivatives are financial weapons of mass destruction.

Sorry to be a buzzkill, but it looks like it'll be just a movie by Terry Jones with the other Pythons being voice actors and nothing more. Heck, Terry Jones himself said that "It's not a Monty Python picture".http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-16744299 None of the other Pythons are involved in the writing process.

You'd be like one of the teachers that did nothing about the suspicious behaviour of this guy then.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-16742608

And in a billion years, it will all be gone . . .

It's a pretty piss-poor one then if it only has 135,838 Police officers for 70 million inhabitants.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16747208 - at least the beeb has a better use - ... Miracle material graphene can distil booze, says study

Well it's the top story on the BBC News site's technology section and linked off their front page: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16757142

Does that count?

Well, we are still here. I mean, during those 4 billions of years of Earth's history, nobody strip-mined it into a wasteland.

Are you sure?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/extinction_events

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8225491.stm

These were taken with an AFM, (atomic force microscope. Essentially a single atom stuck to the end of a nanoscopic cantelever) but this xray laser light source would theoretically permit direct image capture, at very high speeds.

Xray wavelengths are very tiny. The only light with a smaller wavelength is gamma ray emissions.

Xrays are frequently used to study crystal structues, but the very precise nature and rapid activation speed of this source makes it useful for a whole lot more.

No way.
I like the fact that as a Freeman of the city of London, I have ancient legal permission to drive my herd of sheep across Tower bridge during rush hour.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/425364.stm

I do not know where this will end and while our government seems to be afraid to say no, we will not go down without a fight.

The Poles are fighting it, too.

Generally fan art is derivative and not to mention a trademark violation. That hasn't changed recently nor would I expect it to any time soon. Anybody creating such works really ought to have an attorney on retainer as it's generally a matter of time before one is going to get a cease and desist letter.

The first two sentences I agree with, but not the third. There are a lot of rightsholders who have realised that fan art doesn't hurt them and increases the popularity of their products, so they tolerate it, as long as it's non-commercial.

For example, J.K. Rowling has publicly given her blessing to Harry Potter fan fiction, as long as it's not commercial or obscene.

Most commercial franchises, such as comic book publishers and TV producers, tend to tolerate non-commercial fan fiction, without giving explicit permission to it, presumably so they have the option of taking it down if the need should arise.

Head over to fanfiction.net, and you'll see that the list of rightsholders who have asked for works to be taken down is very short, even though the site contains thousands of stories with characters from novels, comic books, TV series and computer games.

In short, it seems risk-free for a private person to put up fan fiction on the Internet. In practice the worst that can happen is that the rightsholder asks for the work to be taken down, and I'd hate for anyone to be discouraged because they think they risk getting sued.

They're brilliant aren't they? They crop up everywhere now. The BBC uses them with gay abandon and whilst I'm sure that they're just using them in their traditional sense (i.e. to delineate a quote) the results can often be hilarious.

Here's another amusing example from today on the BBC: 'Cloaking' a 3-D object from all angles demonstrated. You can just hear the derisive journalist as he writes the headline...

Note Temple Island claim they created it in 2005 so a random search isn't useful but clearly didn't come up with the composition (including sky) e.g. this 2004 shot, and the "post process to highlight in colour against monochrome" idea is a ludicrous claim - the red girl in Schindler's List etc etc.

The two together being novel? DIAF.

The BBC just found out "SAS on ground during Libya crisis" - 9 January 2012
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-16624401

O2 must be glad they made their massive screw up before this came into effect...

At least the US bailout returned the company to the top spot. Can the same be said of other bailout recipients?

How am I supposed to take a summary seriously when it refers to bacteria as a "bug"?

While this is seen as probably an oversimplification of describing bacteria, viruses, etc. there are probably a lot of dictionary entries backing this up like the fifth one in Wiktionary: "A contagious illness; a bacterium or virus causing it." You also had media in the late nineties using this virtually everywhere. See this BBC article for an example. The fact that researchers themselves have used phrases like Super Bug to describe resistant bacteria to lay people probably doesn't help. English is viscous. Deal with it.

No mod points. Have a +20 Yes all that. They do run a few programs on the BBC of "How to build ..." http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00lysc9
To stop home mind rot I got rid of my TV, stick to iplayer and take my son to the science museum as often as possible.You have to build geeks these days.

Ah yes, [Citation needed], AKA, "I'm far too lazy to check the facts, but I'm going to disagree with you regardless, because I prefer to wallow in my own ignorance."

What are you disputing exactly? Here, have a bunch of links, not that I expect you to read them if you can't even be arsed to use Google to confirm a point:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/3074669.stm

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=NsJGLW_hX3IC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Film+piracy,+organized+crime,+and+terrorism&hl=en&sa=X&ei=P3QdT6CWNsvOsgbIm9xI&ved=0CDYQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Film%20piracy%2C%20organized%20crime%2C%20and%20terrorism&f=false

http://cryptome.org/ltte-vigil.htm

There's plenty more sources out there, it's a pretty well researched area. I'm not sure what exactly you're disputing, because you just posted a meaningless one liner, but terrorist groups of all shapes and sizes have long used counterfeit goods as a source of funding, as has organised crime. If you're not disputing that I can only assume you're disputing that these groups act in the UK, and if it's that you're disputing I can only ask, where have you been for the last few decades? There's been many cases of individuals linked to terrorism being guilty of financing terrorism in the UK- and they're only the ones the police have detected and been able to build enough evidence for a criminal case against. You only have to look at my 3rd link to see the scale of the Tamil operations in the UK to see that they absolutely are operating here.

Honestly, I'm all for defending digital piracy, but let's please not try and blur it all in together and hide the ugly facts of physical piracy. Read my other post in response to the AC that replied to me - I made it quite clear that I actually see digital piracy as the cure to physical piracy which genuinely does fund terrorism and organised crime.

If people are going to start lumping physical piracy in with digital piracy and argue that piracy is fine, then the battle is already lost, because those defending piracy really are genuinely being irrational at that point, and the MPAA really can bill them as terrorist sympathisers. That's not right, because digital piracy is a separate issue, with separate knock on effects - the effects of digital diracy are IMO harmless, and potentially even beneficial (increased access to knowledge, no evidence of decreased profits as a result), whilst the effects of physical piracy are quite problematic (funding of organised crime etc.). As I say, the former can actually act as a market that counters the latter, which means digital piracy likely actually decreases funding for terrorism and organised crime because people are no longer buying counterfeit content when they can download it at home. They will though, if that option is taken away.

I guess by your logic theists have 300 times the affirmation that you have.

The last I heard, the Iranians claimed to have hijacked the GPS and told it to land within their borders, and the U.S. claimed it veered off-course and crashed

I heard that also.

Something close to that explanation seems feasible, based on what I've read. Perhaps they managed to jam the control signal, but had a hard time calculating GPS interference to correctly guide the aircraft. (Maybe they learned what channels to jam using intel based on a nuisance virus?) I don't have access to the protocols that govern autonomous drone control in the event of communication failure, so I don't know. There may be some poor Iranian geek explaining to the head chopper in charge why he shot off his mouth to the press, or maybe press reports are innacurate.

I think, based on the Iranian propaganda the BBC reported, which hid the landing gear behind bunting, the drone landed hard at best, and most likely crashed. Iran has falsified images previously.

Either way, we need to get better at this stuff or terrorists win.

This is what happens when any country is run by Muslims. We see it in Iran, Pakistan, Iraq, etc.

How's the situation in Indonesia, by the way? It also has a strong Muslim population base, Jakarta being the world's 2nd largest city (Tokyo is 1st).

Aside from mobs attacking churches, laws coming i that call for amputation, and laws that subjugate minorities it is doing well. As Muslim states go it is a political paradise, only a low level of sustained violence with occasional massacres .

Right on cue: Indonesian Man Faces Five Years For Atheist Facebook Post

This is what happens when any country is run by Muslims. We see it in Iran, Pakistan, Iraq, etc.

How's the situation in Indonesia, by the way? It also has a strong Muslim population base, Jakarta being the world's 2nd largest city (Tokyo is 1st).

Aside from mobs attacking churches, laws coming i that call for amputation, and laws that subjugate minorities it is doing well. As Muslim states go it is a political paradise, only a low level of sustained violence with occasional massacres .

Right on cue: Indonesian Man Faces Five Years For Atheist Facebook Post

This is what happens when any country is run by Muslims. We see it in Iran, Pakistan, Iraq, etc.

How's the situation in Indonesia, by the way? It also has a strong Muslim population base, Jakarta being the world's 2nd largest city (Tokyo is 1st).

Aside from mobs attacking churches, laws coming i that call for amputation, and laws that subjugate minorities it is doing well. As Muslim states go it is a political paradise, only a low level of sustained violence with occasional massacres .

This is what happens when any country is run by Muslims. We see it in Iran, Pakistan, Iraq, etc.

How's the situation in Indonesia, by the way? It also has a strong Muslim population base, Jakarta being the world's 2nd largest city (Tokyo is 1st).

Aside from mobs attacking churches, laws coming i that call for amputation, and laws that subjugate minorities it is doing well. As Muslim states go it is a political paradise, only a low level of sustained violence with occasional massacres .

I'd be careful about believing all the stories that have been floating around about the captain. It seems like the company is trying to distance themselves from a "fall guy", and as it has been established that the ship and others from that company had taken close routes to the island before:

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/27aff644-437c-11e1-8489-00144feab49a.html#axzz1k9N66b6k

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-16583187

It seems the company wants all the negative attention to be on the captain rather than them, so we should expect that they are throwing out lots of spin, instead of facts, as companies often do.

You link to an article that explains that in one particular region of the Sahara the localised effects of climate change may have caused more rain, and hence desert greening. This does not mean that the same thing will occur everywhere in the world. In fact, desertification is increasing. Consider some other recent evidence:

climate change is making desertification "the greatest environmental challenge of our times"
Australia suffers worst drought in 1,000 years
THE GREAT DROUGHT OF 2011 Is America's Worst Since The Dust Bowl
Africa drought pushes Kenya and Somalia into pre-famine conditions

Predicting the world's overall changes in food production in response to elevated CO2 is virtually impossible. Global production is expected to rise until the increase in local average temperatures exceeds 3C, but then start to fall. In tropical and dry regions increases of just 1 to 2C are expected to lead to falls in production. In marginal lands where water is the greatest constraint, which includes much of the developing world but also regions such as the western US, the losses may greatly exceed the gains. Climate myths: Higher CO2 levels will boost plant growth and food production

Is it a bad thing? Or did we just dodge an ice age?

Note that the deputy mayor of Giglio, the island they ran into, boarded the ship from a tender at 11pm, before it had even tilted, and found only a single junior officer left on board, and the evacuation in chaos. That's criminal irresponsibility, and the captain and probably some of his officers will go to jail for it. Though I agree with the other commenter who said that the truly criminal part will be the lying to the coast guard and telling passengers to go back to their cabins despite the fact that the ship was clearly hopeless. It's almost mystifying -- did he think that giant rock was going to somehow vanish?

So what? Cartels will naturally fall apart given no government interference. It is in their best interests to cheat on this agreement. Its just like the prisoner's dilemma, while it might be best for all of them to cooperate, they won't because they want an advantage over their competitors. Cartels never last so long as there is a lack of government involvement.

If you take a multi-decade (if not multi-generation) view, perhaps. Sucks to be screwed over by cartels for a couple of decades or more while this sorts itself out though.

Unilever and Procter & Gamble were just found guilty in EU for forming a price fixing cartel. Both benefited and profited from this until EU intervened. When the dominating players do this, they effectively suspend competition and screw the market/consumers.

Clearly the people involved in the evacuation, even without the management of a ships captain, were very capable.

<sarcasm>Yes, this sounds like a completely capable crew.</sarcasm> Read: BBC News

Indeed - the glow effect in the sky caused by light pollution is visible up to 80km from the light source according to the accompanying BBC article. That makes it pretty hard to find anywhere in the UK without some light pollution (take a look at the map further down the page, a few small pockets in Scotland is about it for the UK stargazer).

Not only that, but someone taking part in Stargazing Live reportedly discovered a planet! A nice little series.

I'm sure it cost more than the whole shire to make.

On the BBC, Horizon "Playing God". They show a lab that has altered the DNA of goats so they produce spider web protients in their milk which can be harvested.Makes production more feasible. [ As they have 8 legs you get more mutton too :)]
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006mgxf

8 legged goats that produce mutton and silk - that's magic.

I'm sure it cost more than the whole shire to make. On the BBC, Horizon "Playing God". They show a lab that has altered the DNA of goats so they produce spider web protients in their milk which can be harvested.Makes production more feasible. [ As they have 8 legs you get more mutton too :)] http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006mgxf

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16612628
Or from the article: ".........."Some technology business interests are resorting to stunts that punish their users or turn them into their corporate pawns, rather than coming to the table to find solutions to a problem that all now seem to agree is very real and damaging," said Senator Chris Dodd, the chairman of the Motion Picture Association of America......."
So, just to summarize it, after their total refusal to sit on the table and resolve the issues of the SOPA/PIPA bill, they actually what? This funny senator blames them that they don't sit on the table!!! WTF?

Artificial barriers to entry like these patents increase the cost of goods, reduce the competitive field and drive monopoly rents.

Without these rents, you would not have obscene profits and obscene salaries arrived at in this manner.

You'd still have obscene profits but it would be in exchange for extreme value.

But that would mean real work instead of lawyering, and the lawyers can't have that.

It would also democratize opportunity, and the CEOs and politicians that are funded by them can't have THAT!

We all know this is exactly true. We all know it's a game that is genuinely rigged to self reinforce the societal position of whoever has power and money currently.

This is a deeply poison pill the effects of which no nation or civilization ever escapes no matter how draconic a regime they try to enforce.

It's not substantially different than the corruption that drove the Arab Spring to topple its dictators.

Software patents turn each and every programmer on this board a criminal on a daily, no, an hourly basis. That's not even an exaggeration, or hyperbole, or overstating the case; that's a material fact . It drive developers out of business and stops them from starting businesses every day

How is this different from the events that set off the Arab Spring?

from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12120228

Mohammed Bouazizi, 26, sold fruit and vegetables illegally in Sidi Bouzid because he could not find a job. Last month he doused himself in petrol and set himself alight when police confiscated his produce because he did not have the necessary permit.

Call them what you like. The 1%. The Royal Family. The Coke Snorting Class. The Lawyers. The Politicians. The Executives. The Parasites. Whatever you want to call them, the fact is they never see it coming because they're so out of touch with the rage hey engender in everyone else. They think they can keep all "those" people under control because "those people" don't matter, have no power and are so fucked they'll never get unfucked.

That's what they think.

What sort of cheese would one pair with a meteorite? I'm thinking a nice cheddar

Yeah, the Taliban really sucks. It's always sucked. Sucked really bad.

Which reminds me of a funny story about them.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/west_asia/37021.stm

Seems that in 1997, they were visiting oil company friends in Texas while Bush was governor. Discussing building a gas pipeline with USofA help/funding.

There is NOTHING good about the Taliban. They are bigoted narco-thugs who actively seek to erase any sign of civilization, law, and order in the attempt to eliminate opposition to their drug farming slavery campaigns.

Unless there is a profit to be made. Then they're friends of ours.

Or just steal more of the cable. I mean I freaking live in a state where two men stole a BRIDGE for scrap: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-15344442

It'll deter many, but solve the problem. The "professionals" going so far to steal manhole covers will likely just change tactics. Instead of selling it for scrap they'll be selling it as black market "less likely to be stolen cable" in Mexico. The amateurs will see copper and then complain about the salvage yard jipping them on money.

This is a threat to national infrastructure, to a degree. Rural area, 13% poverty rate, the power companies and rail yard get hit near constantly.

Former Admiral KEATING: They are astounding in their ability to detect underwater objects.
NPR's TOM BOWMAN: Dolphins were sent to the Persian Gulf as part of the American invasion force in Iraq.
KEATING: I'd rather not talk about whether we used them or not. They were present in theater.
BOWMAN: But you can't say whether you used them or not.
KEATING: I'd rather not.

Might I suggest we crowd source spoofing anti US articles to give DHS something to think about?

And you suggest this because.... what? You think that the next bunch of jackals, like these guys, that actually pulls off their attack won't kill anyone you care about?

3 Men in NC Terror Ring Get 15-45 Years in Prison (You do realize that this sort of thing goes on month after month, year after year, right?)

You don't think that the indwelling bureaucratic inertia against taking action even in the face of blatant provocation, like Major Nidal Hasan, doesn't slow things down enough?

Fort Hood Gunman Who Killed 12, Wounded 30 Survived Gun Battle

Of course, someday you might have some bragging rights - "You hear about the Oklahoma bombing? Killed 198, wounded 680. Yep. FBI would've figured it out and stopped it if it wasn't for me and my homies." Charming.

Of course, you could also have an international impact since the US also shares intelligence with other countries. Think of the pride you'll have as you wonder, were they spending time on your nonsense when they missed the message that could've helped stop something like this:

Stockholm blasts: Sweden probes 'terrorist attack'

In reality, I think you would have little impact. You also seem to be providing evidence of being a tool, and not in the good MIT way.

about the inconsequential things compared to media blackout on Al-Qeada London Bomb civilian victims of Al-Qeada Madrid civilian victims of Al-Qeada http://scrapetv.com/News/News%20Pages/Business/images-2/afghanistan-war-civilians.jpg ">Afghan civilian victims of Al-Qeada also include women and children http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/11/06/article-0-071BAEFB000005DC-851_964x544.jpg

A cruise ship ran aground off Italy: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-16558910 OK, I had to add something to the subject to spice it up, else no-one will click it.

You are correct about the mental disorders, but bipolar people are famous for unusually high IQs as are people with HFA and LFA, and all of these have mental disorders that cause considerable problems with social interactions of any kind (including keeping a roof over their heads).

Mental disorder rates by State

90% of homeless in UK excluded from education

IQ study in US shows "WAIS-R scores were comparable to population means".

An earlier interview with him on BBC
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-16546471