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Most studies (such as http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7910075.stm) have shown that texting actually increases skillz.

FTFY, HTH, HAND, LOL

Most studies (such as http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7910075.stm) have shown that texting actually increases skills.

Sorry, this has nothing to do with "english" , it's English.

Most studies (such as http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7910075.stm) have shown that texting actually increases skills.

I don't know what attacks the other poster was referring to, but the UK courts established that the liquid bomb plot would probably have worked, based on evidence from explosives experts, including testimony and video of experimental explosions.

Here's a pretty convincing video. Note the bomb is liquid held in one 500ml soft drinks container, which could be carried through most airport security checks. To make the point that 100ml was just as unsafe, the liquid for this particular bomb was actually combined from several individual 100ml containers as would be allowed through airport security at the time (more details here). Also note that no special measures or precautions were needed to mix the precursor liquids into the final solution, you can see him just pouring the liquids together into the larger bottle in the video, thus establishing that this could easily be done in a departure lounge toilet after security checks. Dr. Sidney Alford (the man who built that particular bomb) is a recognised improvised explosives expert who has carried out work for various Defense departments and governments around the world, including anti-IED work in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Yes, well, that's probably one of those unfortunate side effects of reading something that wasn't a troll, as a troll - it wont seem like a very good troll.

Look, you're clearly struggling here, let me help you figure out why it's a license, not a tax.

Step 1: Look up the definition of tax, note the term government.

Step 2: Go here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust/about/how_we_govern/charter_and_agreement/ and specifically note the last sentence of the first paragraph in the section labelled "The Agreement"

Let me know how it goes for you, if you're still struggling I'll spell it out for you.

There was a cost-benefit analysis done by Philip Morris for the Czech government that showed economical "benefit" of smoking.

It is not unbiased, but it is interesting to read about it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Finance_Balance_of_Smoking_in_the_Czech_Republic

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/1442555.stm

Off course, I guess that a value of human life is more than just how much they can produce (or perhaps we should all agree just to kill our grandparents and parents as soon they retire to stop them from being a burden on our economy, Philip Morris style).

Check this out. It's a license fee. Not levied by government. http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust/about/how_we_govern/charter_and_agreement/ I'd reply further, but I'm watching a movie I don't have to pay a license for and I'm posting when commercials are on!

That turns out not to be correct even in general.
Specifically for humans, retrotransposition turns out to be commonplace.
About 3,000 times over a lifetime commonplace.

This is a sobering article. A quarter of people think antibiotics cure colds?

Actually given a lot of people I come across day to day I find that very reassuring. Three quarters of people know that antibiotics don't cure colds! I would have expected at least a third to say "What's an antibiotic?" and one in ten to say "what's a cold?".

This is a sobering article. A quarter of people think antibiotics cure colds? Most of them know about antibiotic resistance in hospitals, but apparently don't make the connection?

You know, humans have a big advantage over bacteria: we're smart. But if people don't use their brain, the bacteria are going to win eventually anyway. They've been around a lot longer than humans.

Did you just post that as flamebait or have you had your head in the sand for 20 years ?

Just to refresh your memory

http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/2/newsid_2526000/2526937.stm

Iraq invades kuwait.

https://www.google.com/search?q=north+korea+missile+test&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

North Korea's missile tests.

and just in case

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2003/05/what_kind_of_terrorism_does_north_korea_sponsor.html

Just some examples of No Ko's terrorist activities.

Now in case you missed it there was also this large country called China, that is forcibly occupying Tibet ? Continuously making moves to threaten Taiwan and backs the nucking futs regime in North Korea.

Also in case you missed it, there is this other large county called Russia. That views the former Soviet Socialist Republics as pieces that belong back in the puzzle that is mother Russia. They aren't above poisoning leaders of these countries, reporters that point out that they are up to no good, and anyone else that happens to be nearby.

CBS Evening News last night actually mentioned — and played a portion of! — the BBC interview with Oakland mayor Jean Quan, where she ‘fesses up to being on a nineteen-city conference call to discuss things like OWS

Here's the quote from BBC website,,,

"I was recently on a conference call with 18 cities across the country who had the same situation," Ms Quan told the BBC.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-15761454 [bbc.co.uk]

CBS Evening News last night actually mentioned — and played a portion of! — the BBC interview with Oakland mayor Jean Quan, where she ‘fesses up to being on a nineteen-city conference call to discuss things like OWS

"I was recently on a conference call with 18 cities across the country who had the same situation," Ms Quan told the BBC.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-15761454

The UK for all it's faults at very least hasn't got anything as bad as France's HADOPI yet, hasn't had anywhere near as bad web blocking orders as in Ireland or the Netherlands, and doesn't at least have as close to the amount of censorship as Germany. Oh, and Sweden is basically a wholly owned subsidiary of the RIAA now.

I'm so glad that the Digital Economy Act and s97A CDPA 1988 were figments of my imagination. I'm glad that the London police aren't extra-judicially working with the IFPI to block payments to sites they don't like, and aren't pushing Nominet into letting them seize domain names based on a mere accusation. On top of that, I'm glad the UK doesn't criminalise people for making harmless jokes on Twitter or for insulting people. While headscarves aren't illegal, the Police can remove and seize anything they think might be being used as a disguise. On the topic of censorship, the UK recently made it potentially illegal to draw stick-figure porn of overage people.

I suppose you can complain about our big brother state but really the reason we have a reputation in that respect is precisely because our population actually stands up and shouts about how unhappy we are with it, which is surely better than most other European states where it's at least as bad but just blindly accepted without much dissent.

The UK has the occasional protest, where people wander through the streets, accompanied by the police, a few of whom get arrested (for the wonderfully-vague "breach of the peace") and everyone goes home happy that nothing will change. Unlike peaceful places like Greece or France.

It's thanks to the fact we do have organisations like Liberty that these things are exposed for what they are attempts at but most the worst stuff our last government proposed that generated all said stories is dead now, the ID card database is gone, many CCTV programmes have been cut/scaled back, libel laws are being reformed.

ID cards went because they were expensive and ineffective (and no one wanted them)... although the database seems to still be around, although mainly used for foreigners. The DNA database is still up and running, despite being declared illegal, most of the "anti-terrorism" legislation New Labour introduced is still on the books aside from the bits the courts struck down (although they're mostly still on the books, just not being applied), including the various 'unreasonable stop-and-search' powers, and while libel-reform is in the works, and has some vague government backing, only last week the responsible minister pointed out to a meeting of the libelreform campaign that there's no guarantee it will happen any time soon. CCTV was never that big an issue (it was vastly exaggerated in the media), so I'll give you that one. Oh, and the UK also imprisons people for not disclosing passwords.

The UK's blasphemy law

The UK for all it's faults at very least hasn't got anything as bad as France's HADOPI yet, hasn't had anywhere near as bad web blocking orders as in Ireland or the Netherlands, and doesn't at least have as close to the amount of censorship as Germany. Oh, and Sweden is basically a wholly owned subsidiary of the RIAA now.

I'm so glad that the Digital Economy Act and s97A CDPA 1988 were figments of my imagination. I'm glad that the London police aren't extra-judicially working with the IFPI to block payments to sites they don't like, and aren't pushing Nominet into letting them seize domain names based on a mere accusation. On top of that, I'm glad the UK doesn't criminalise people for making harmless jokes on Twitter or for insulting people. While headscarves aren't illegal, the Police can remove and seize anything they think might be being used as a disguise. On the topic of censorship, the UK recently made it potentially illegal to draw stick-figure porn of overage people.

I suppose you can complain about our big brother state but really the reason we have a reputation in that respect is precisely because our population actually stands up and shouts about how unhappy we are with it, which is surely better than most other European states where it's at least as bad but just blindly accepted without much dissent.

The UK has the occasional protest, where people wander through the streets, accompanied by the police, a few of whom get arrested (for the wonderfully-vague "breach of the peace") and everyone goes home happy that nothing will change. Unlike peaceful places like Greece or France.

It's thanks to the fact we do have organisations like Liberty that these things are exposed for what they are attempts at but most the worst stuff our last government proposed that generated all said stories is dead now, the ID card database is gone, many CCTV programmes have been cut/scaled back, libel laws are being reformed.

ID cards went because they were expensive and ineffective (and no one wanted them)... although the database seems to still be around, although mainly used for foreigners. The DNA database is still up and running, despite being declared illegal, most of the "anti-terrorism" legislation New Labour introduced is still on the books aside from the bits the courts struck down (although they're mostly still on the books, just not being applied), including the various 'unreasonable stop-and-search' powers, and while libel-reform is in the works, and has some vague government backing, only last week the responsible minister pointed out to a meeting of the libelreform campaign that there's no guarantee it will happen any time soon. CCTV was never that big an issue (it was vastly exaggerated in the media), so I'll give you that one. Oh, and the UK also imprisons people for not disclosing passwords.

The UK's blasphemy law

The UK for all it's faults at very least hasn't got anything as bad as France's HADOPI yet, hasn't had anywhere near as bad web blocking orders as in Ireland or the Netherlands, and doesn't at least have as close to the amount of censorship as Germany. Oh, and Sweden is basically a wholly owned subsidiary of the RIAA now.

I'm so glad that the Digital Economy Act and s97A CDPA 1988 were figments of my imagination. I'm glad that the London police aren't extra-judicially working with the IFPI to block payments to sites they don't like, and aren't pushing Nominet into letting them seize domain names based on a mere accusation. On top of that, I'm glad the UK doesn't criminalise people for making harmless jokes on Twitter or for insulting people. While headscarves aren't illegal, the Police can remove and seize anything they think might be being used as a disguise. On the topic of censorship, the UK recently made it potentially illegal to draw stick-figure porn of overage people.

I suppose you can complain about our big brother state but really the reason we have a reputation in that respect is precisely because our population actually stands up and shouts about how unhappy we are with it, which is surely better than most other European states where it's at least as bad but just blindly accepted without much dissent.

The UK has the occasional protest, where people wander through the streets, accompanied by the police, a few of whom get arrested (for the wonderfully-vague "breach of the peace") and everyone goes home happy that nothing will change. Unlike peaceful places like Greece or France.

It's thanks to the fact we do have organisations like Liberty that these things are exposed for what they are attempts at but most the worst stuff our last government proposed that generated all said stories is dead now, the ID card database is gone, many CCTV programmes have been cut/scaled back, libel laws are being reformed.

ID cards went because they were expensive and ineffective (and no one wanted them)... although the database seems to still be around, although mainly used for foreigners. The DNA database is still up and running, despite being declared illegal, most of the "anti-terrorism" legislation New Labour introduced is still on the books aside from the bits the courts struck down (although they're mostly still on the books, just not being applied), including the various 'unreasonable stop-and-search' powers, and while libel-reform is in the works, and has some vague government backing, only last week the responsible minister pointed out to a meeting of the libelreform campaign that there's no guarantee it will happen any time soon. CCTV was never that big an issue (it was vastly exaggerated in the media), so I'll give you that one. Oh, and the UK also imprisons people for not disclosing passwords.

The UK's blasphemy law

The best way to protest Govt policies is to print/circulate/use your own banknotes exclusively among your community.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-14774526

Nope. Not a FUD. Wanna bet?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15653282 - trade is flagging,
http://www.ukpublicspending.co.uk/uk_national_debt - debt is growing.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/oct/31/business-confidence-lowest-for-30-months - business confidence craters.
Deficits are not significantly affected.

However, economy has slowed down into almost a double-dip so lost revenue growth over 10 years would be more than "savings" from austerity.

So, remind me, what austerity program tries to achieve? I distinctly remember words like 'business confidence' and 'spur the investments' - both have demonstrably failed to happen.

For some arbitrary definition of violent crime yes. We have a lower murder rate, lower levels of rape and so forth however which is arguably what matters more in terms of violent crime. I'd much rather put up with a slightly higher chance of being punched at the pub on a Friday night by a drunk if it means a drastically lower chance of just outright being shot dead next time I do my weekly shopping on a Saturday afternoon. Of course, avoiding both would be nice and I can't say either have affected me yet, but it illustrates the point.

I covered debt to GDP elsewhere, it's meaningless by itself, and the riots? are you kidding me? Britain has one set of riots over a few days for the first time in god knows how many decades and that's something that stands out? Countries like Spain, Greece, France and so forth have riots of that scale on a seemingly annual basis. France for example:

2005: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4413964.stm

2009: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_2009_French_riots

2010: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1322441/France-riots-Demonstrations-pension-reforms-continue-ninth-day.html

Yeah, I don't think Britain's riot situation is too much to worry about right now to be honest, if Britain can be criticised for having some kind of problem, it's sure as hell not riots.

Britain has a lot of faults, but fundamentally my point was simply that compared to other nations, there's certainly not any more, and in many cases an awful lot less to worry about here. Pulling random faults out the hat proves what exactly? That Britain is a somehow worse country in general than many others? No, it doesn't.

It took a while to find the figures you cite, but I found them here. You've mistakenly, or dishonestly misrepresented them, they are not net contribution figures:

http://www.europarl.europa.eu/en/headlines/content/20080605FCS31027/5/html/What-about-the-Net-Contributors%E2%80%9D

Whilst the article is about net contribution it actually avoids the question and those specific figures merely state the amount paid in, not the net amount once returns are received. Once this is taken into account France's contribution drops drastically. Whilst France has improved it's net contribution in recent years you can see the disparity here from back in 2007 under net contribution:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8036097.stm#start

Or the cold hard historical figures for every year between 1999 - 2007 here if you prefer:

http://www.eu-oplysningen.dk/euo_en/spsv/all/79/

"The problem with the UK in the EU is not economic, it's their political dissent every time that an EU treaty is to be made. Which stems from the fact that probably, most of the UK population is against the EU."

I'm not sure what you mean here, most countries in the EU have a degree of euroscepticism, but the UK ratified the Lisbon treaty with far less hassle than many other countries that outright voted against it in it's original form. Do you not remember Ireland having to run the referendum on it twice because they said no the first time?

Whilst recent polls have shown 49% support leaving the EU and only 40% definitely staying in I don't think come a referendum we would leave, because these polls were commissioned against a background of Euroscepticism - UKIP and far right wing Tories stoking things up against the background of the Euro appearing on the verge of collapse. I think the fact they could still only muster 49% to leave in self interest commissioned polls against that background is quite telling. That's ignoring the fact any referendum would be backed by a campaign pointing out all the Tory/UKIP FUD and how it's actually about bringing back things like employment law so the average Joe can be forced to work more than 48hours in a week benefiting corporations and not the average citizen. Really, less than half against the background of potential Euro collapse and a massive one sided FUD offensive that's been led up to by a year or two long FUD offensive? that's pretty weak.

"I'd rather take an EU that is 10% poorer but that works, instead of one that never acts because every decision is shot down by the crossed vetoes of the member states."

And you think the UK is a stalling point here? really? You only have to look at the painfully slow inaction over the Euro to see the UK is far from Europe's worst offender in acting with haste, and Eastern European and Mediterranean nations bickering over past rivalries be it Cyprus blocking Turkey's entry, or the ex-Yugoslav nations blocking each other.

If I've learnt anything over the years it's that alternating opinions blocking legislation is almost always a good thing. When legislation is rammed through without care for minority opinions it's rarely good legislation, and when it's passed because everyone agrees it's generally good.

I'd like to see decreases euro-scepticism in our country and I think it'll come with time, but I think the UK being in the EU is far better for both the UK and the EU. It's mutually beneficial for everyone.

funny, after all the libya, egypt etc stuff.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-15732661
even funnier is the mayor issuing statements.. ON FUCKING TWITTER. WTF MAN?

why not just wait for the winter? if they got a place to go, they're not going to stay in the park..

Could be an engineering schematic for their new rail system.

While earthquakes being caused by fracking cater to our common senses, there just isn't ANY evidence that the two are linked. And I mean in that statistical "causation" way. *NO* regulatory agency, body, or otherwise has indicated otherwise.

Except HERE...

Right here.

On this new Guardian piece? Not that I can see yet. But having read the piece, why would they? There's nothing new in it. The Guardian now get to add some quotation marks to exact wording for things which were all described before.

Worse, they quote plain-English paragraphs then paraphrase it and tell you what you should interpret from it. All supposition, opinion and subjectivity.

DRM on BBC broadcasts is an arse, but so is this article.

I sure hope you're not American... because Echelon is a pretty big stone in a glass house!

We all know by now that the American intelligence agencies use their assets for the benefit of American companies...

Black schoolboys can choose to perform poorly to avoid undermining their masculinity, the head of the Jamaican Teachers' Association has said.

Adolph Cameron said that in Jamaica, where homophobia was a big issue, school success was often seen as feminine or "gay".

He was concerned the same cultural attitude was affecting African-Caribbean male students in the UK.

They are one of England's worst-performing ethnic groups in schools.

And to follow that post ... ARM announces its next-gen GPU, the snappily named Mali-T658.

The is the followup to the GPU that's used in the Galaxy S2, and is up to 10x the performance. The old chip supported 2 cores, this one supports 4, each core being twice the perf of the previous model, and as usual, can turn cores on or off depending on the power requirements.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-15668347

The firm claims the new technology will offer battery-powered mobile handsets roughly the same graphics performance as Sony's Playstation 3 console,

but the bit I liked best: "At the moment many of the speech recognition applications that are out there are solely relying on the CPU," said Mr Davies. "Very few are taking advantage of the acceleration of the GPU - and that's clearly an area of growth for us."

Google did not leave China.

Your trade is for a government which grants a lot of freedoms, and a government which curtails some of your freedoms (but generally leaving you alone) in a world where all the services run perfectly.

Okay. I must take issue with "generally leaving you alone." This is utter and complete bullshit. When the recent news is that 39 of the largest companies in China are agreeing to begin their own censorship initiatives under guidance of the Chinese government I have to ask you one question: If you were to give any political party in America complete control of what comes in and out of our TVs, Radios, Computers, Cellphones, etc how many Americans do you think it is going to affect?

Let's say you got lucky and you agree with the Communist Party. Okay, so that's "generally leaving you alone"? Or is it completely prohibiting you from ever being exposed to any information -- no matter how true or false or unverified -- that could give you a second thought about your party line?

Let me be the first to say that the second such a scenario affects anyone of my countrymen, I am no longer being left alone. Censorship for the sole interests of a political regime is unacceptable.

Here's a "rumor" for you: The United States government will readily murder non-citizens for oil. Is it true? Who cares? I just said it! Try saying anything like that about the Chinese government while you're on their little telecom service and enjoy your slow decline as you are forced to view the world through their custom-made-ever-shifting looking glass.

...I thought we passed the "irreversible" point back in 1999? At least that's what Hadley Centre said back in 2000:

http://www.21stcenturyradio.com/climatechange-11.12.00.htm

Oh wait...maybe I'm confusing this with the 2009 "it's now irreversible" proclamation?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7852628.stm

That one came from NOAA.

Or maybe it was all the "this is *absolutely* our LAST CHANCE to do something!" declarations at the last couple of IPC meetings (each of each have experienced record cold/snow/rain)?

All of these "sky is falling" cries are getting a bit hard to believe....especially when there's no evidence for the claims.

Ferretman

Disturbing story on the BBC, a while back, regarding recovered grease from disposal, grease traps, drains, etc. being recycled into packaged cooking oil in China. Yum.

Where's there's opportunity, all that's needed is people with the required ethics.

If there was ever an article that should be tagged "What could possibly go wrong?" it's this one...

And here's what has already gone wrong: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/355394.stm

Did you read the next page of the article with the guy dressed up like Link from The Legend of Zelda?

Believe it or not, once upon a time in Hollywood, Robin Hood used to dress like that. You know, before the movie with Kevin Costner.

(OK, I am that old!)

Another interesting article on the subject that I bookmarked a few weeks ago:

BBC News - Could a transactions tax be good for capitalism?

Quote:

"An EU financial transactions tax would be both desirable and feasible, argues an influential economist, Avinash Persaud, [...] his argument is based on the long-term impact of the UK's Stamp Duty Reserve Tax, which levies 0.5% on transactions in UK shares.

[...] the levy has been around in its current form for 25 years - and for longer in other incarnations - and hasn't been associated with the mass departure of equity trading away from the UK.

In fact, the London Stock Exchange has been remarkably successful in persuading international companies to list their shares in London: it has probably been the most successful stock market in the world, in that respect.

[...] a transactions tax might reduce the volume of transactions - especially in derivatives - designed for purely speculative purposes by increasing their cost.

[...] there is some evidence those deals increase irrational exuberance and manic depression in markets, to the detriment of businesses trying to finance themselves, and are also devices for extracting excessive fees from more gullible businesses [...]" (emphasis is mine)

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, financial markets were created for businesses and investors to meet. Or so the old legends say - I was not there yet, I am old but not that old :-P

On the same subject: BBC News - How scary is a financial transactions tax?

Another interesting article on the subject that I bookmarked a few weeks ago:

BBC News - Could a transactions tax be good for capitalism?

Quote:

"An EU financial transactions tax would be both desirable and feasible, argues an influential economist, Avinash Persaud, [...] his argument is based on the long-term impact of the UK's Stamp Duty Reserve Tax, which levies 0.5% on transactions in UK shares.

[...] the levy has been around in its current form for 25 years - and for longer in other incarnations - and hasn't been associated with the mass departure of equity trading away from the UK.

In fact, the London Stock Exchange has been remarkably successful in persuading international companies to list their shares in London: it has probably been the most successful stock market in the world, in that respect.

[...] a transactions tax might reduce the volume of transactions - especially in derivatives - designed for purely speculative purposes by increasing their cost.

[...] there is some evidence those deals increase irrational exuberance and manic depression in markets, to the detriment of businesses trying to finance themselves, and are also devices for extracting excessive fees from more gullible businesses [...]" (emphasis is mine)

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, financial markets were created for businesses and investors to meet. Or so the old legends say - I was not there yet, I am old but not that old :-P

On the same subject: BBC News - How scary is a financial transactions tax?

it is a good thing, makes tax filing really simple and easy to understand.

However, many taxes are used as social nudges. eg. we tax unhealthy things to discourage you from indulging in them - like alcohol, tobacco, etc. The alternative without that would be outright bans or restrictions in some form.

We also use taxes to encourage socially-beneficial aspects, but these could be replaced with direct benefit handouts instead so I don't see a problem with these, but the "discourage taxes" are a tricky problem.

There are some countries that have implemented flat rate tax schemes, Lithuania and Estonia IIRC. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4444717.stm

There's a good point that countries like Greece should implement it, as tax evasion is rife there (mainly by the rich, apparently)

There is an argument that flat-rate tax places a bigger burden on the lower and middle paid, as 20% of 10k leaves you much less to spend on essentials like food and energy than someone earning 100k getting taxed at the same rate. I think this is easily fixed by putting a threshold before tax gets paid - so the first 10k is tax-free, then you start paying at the flat rate.

My feelings is that banks are heaviest lobby what are in this world - they own money we need to keep to run this charade called Capitalism. They will hold governments hostage til they will relent on this.

I really hope that someone will proove me wrong, but this doesn't give any hope:
" The Chancellor George Osborne has delayed his return to London from Brussels this lunchtime after a row over proposals for a financial transaction tax at a meeting of European Finance Ministers.
        According to sources Mr Osborne asked what was the point in even having a conversation about the financial transaction tax given that it was going to be rejected and then asked if it was âoethe best way to spend our timeâ.
        I understand that the Chancellor said no bank would end up paying the tax and the final payer would be pensioners."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-15640299

As said Will Emerson in Margin Call (played briliantly by Paul Bettany): "One thing I can say for sure: they never loose their money".

Did you read the next page of the article with the guy dressed up like Link from The Legend of Zelda? Proposals include a tax on large trades in stocks, bonds, derivatives, or foreign currency.

The System in Germany has good ideas like that people learn a skill on the job.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/14185334

"Germany has a "dual system" - the apprentice spends some time learning on the job and the rest learning broader theoretical subjects, relevant to the job, at a college."

"But if you only learn theory, it's like learning swimming by reading a book."

Even more so in the tech fields where CS theory is very far from working site of IT.

Something to do with the Olympics, wasn't it?:

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/43006000/jpg/_43006883_sean_stayte_416.jpg

Stories of nature finding a way in places thought uninhabitable due to radiation. Of fish that have modified proteins to live in water thought too toxic to sustain lives.

Or not?

Perhaps humans are more complex and it won't work the same way. I'm certainly not saying its the chinese government are right - its a pretty ghoulish social experiment - but I wonder if the law of unintended consequences might apply.

Imagine a nation with not only economic superiority, but also a genetic advantage of living in hostile environments!

video games can cause irreversible harm to mortals. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4137782.stm
I personally know for a fact that those games double my pulse and blood pressure, i was playing starcraft in a research study and they made me sit for 10 minutes still because of sc having driven my pulse so high. i didn't heed the warning and went on to play warcraft 3 until my mind snapped (i was never quite normal as a kid, though) but it was quite harmful for me to game 60-70 hours a week, and as an adult they couldn't stop me from playing it. but yes technology can hurt, it can kill, and either i am not quite mortal or else i just have a strong set of genetics against heart health issues. the last time i failed to eat for a week (ruptured gall bladder) made me feel quite mortal.

There is a small UK based company http://www.welcometoalex.com/ who sells a laptop which is aimed specifically at new users, such as your Grandma, it was covered by the BBC http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8522952.stm and here on Slashdot http://linux.slashdot.org/story/10/02/19/1452240/new-linux-based-laptop-for-computer-newbies when it was launched

I have played with some of the competitors e.g. Eldy / Simplicity but I found that software very basic and frankly patronising. It was easy to find your way through the first time but there were far too many steps to complete every task once you know what you wanted to do, Alex was by contrast both easy to use and functional.

Does it actually happen often? I'll be honest, I don't know,

Yes it does: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-14616491

Of course the phrase "Apple a day" has been in the public domain and "dates from 19th century Wales" according to wikipedia....

How Ironic, the Welsh should take their own advice.

An extinct giant short-faced bear that went extinct 5 million years ago would have put up a decent fight against Secret Squirrel here. "Our analyses show that it had the most powerful bite of any known terrestrial mammal determined thus far," Dr Wroe told BBC Nature.

Actually, if you just add up Samsung now they're not in the lead any more, in shipments or market share.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15489523

And how many have died from US weapons ? How many will die due to the western worlds destruction of the environment ? How many have died from the drought CAUSED BY WESTERN INDUSTRIALIZATION ? The US consumes more energy than most of the world combined :- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_energy_consumption. BBC :- West's pollution 'led to African droughts' http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/2042856.stm
It is you who is ignorant. Coming no doubt from the west, watching fox and stuffing your fat face with meat.

500 Euro note withdrawn in the UK here is one example for you. actually the main trouble is that it makes a large amount of money quite a small physical size, and thus harder to catch people moving about

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8678979.stm