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I also emailed all my MEPs when the EU was debating extending copyright terms. The Greens and Lib Dems were in favour of reducing them, although we now know for certain that the Lib Dems are full of shit. The Tory MEP was in favour of an extension and as in your experience basically parroted the BMI press release.

I think I got a similar email response when I emailed about copyright terms. I said I would be very interested in reading the sources he talked about that said it was should be extended, as everything I had read previously said the opposite, so I could ensure I had as much information as possible, and double-check any of my previous sources. I didn't get another reply.

The current lot outside St. Paul's have just been evicted and will be history by the end of the week, and all the promises to ask the hard questions and have a debate by politicians are worthless. Most of the media hasn't even bothered to report what they are protesting about, other than some vague hippies-against-capitalism bullshit.

I don't think they've been evicted yet...

St Paul's suspends legal action against Occupy London protest
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-15541127

Or the naysayers who claim it is impossible to go faster than the speed of light. This http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-15471118 is what happens when scientists make an observation that appears to go against our current understanding of the laws of physics. This level of disclosure and scrutiny is not happening with the cold fusion claim.

when I see one of those radar equipped speed limit signs that tells you how fast you're going, I always end up seeing how fast I can get before I pass it

Where I live, they take automatic pictures and then mail you a ticket. Bad idea. :P

And on that note, seeing their latest venture reported on the website may make their day, but getting caught will absolutely ruin it. The UK are making great progress on identifying and tracking attacks. If the capture rate and the punishment are sufficient, they will eventually act as enough of a disincentive to bring the attacks back down to an acceptably low level.

Tricorders will be issued. Bullwhips and fedoras are a "bring your own..." items.

As for actual usability, it all depends on what kind of rock are you heading to and how developed the settlement on the said rock is.
Also, clearly there are precedents for Whips in Space!... space..pace..ace...

Phil,

In January of '09, The BBC ran a story on research done by scientists at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. Using the VLBA they found what they felt was very good evidence that our galaxy is about the same size as Andromeda (150k ly). However, very few of their fellow astronomers, including you, are touting this new size. Why? Was the study flawed?

Just to pitch in let, me pick the above part and let someone do the same to this text below
Same exact movie? No. Different atoms used. :) So both car and digital file are recreations. Of course you can argue about different scales of accuracy. When does a thing become a copy of a thing? no idea
The bit that got me was having to put a ton of effort in to copy a car. It took a ton of effort to make the the digital internet. Understanding the the electric need to run the thing goes back to 600 BC. http://www.magnet.fsu.edu/education/tutorials/timeline/600bc-1599.html So being able to copy a file took ages! A good watch of the history is on the bbc http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00kjq6d.

Also, there is ton of unseen effort to keep the power and net running. It's going on right this second.
If you give 3D printers 2000 years to mature. I'm sure we'll be able to print cars. Will it be a copy right issue when I print myself a Ferrari? I've not taken a Ferrari from anyone; but I'll have one. I'll have downloaded a file from the internet and printed it. Very easy. I'd have bough all the right car making "ink" and paper so nothing is stolen. I'd not paid to 300k rights to have the file and I'll be 2000+ years old which is very impressive. / No point to any of the above really.

Actually Apple products cost a kidney.

but they did already: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-15060310

Patents can force products off shelves. For a large company, it's usually just a speed bump. But it can easily crush a small company.

this research seems to be just a small part of a bigger picture: the genes have memory ... not a fully proven idea but looks quite promising http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/tvradio/programmes/horizon/ghostgenes.shtml

Marketing may have something to do with it.

I'm not sure what news stories you were reading but the fact that multiple power stations were shut down was widely reported. Here's a quick link that took me all of 10 seconds to find on Google: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12711707

Also, if you bothered to read the article linked in the summary, you'd see that only one out of three pumps failed at Tokai leaving the power station safe enough to do a controlled shutdown.

Android has had voice recognition nearly since the beginning

You do understand the difference between voice recognition and natural language recognition, don't you?

Its the difference between "Call. Steve." and "Remind me to buy coffee when I get to work." The former has, as you say, been around for years. Siri is claiming the latter - we'll see how well it does after the masses have been using it for a few months.

But like so many features, Apple copies it, comes out with it years later, and then gets the credit for it.

More like: Apple takes a bunch of ideas that have been kicking around going nowhere for years, integrates them nicely into a desirable product and markets the hell out of it.

So Siri was, apparently, an existing product? Buggered if I'd heard about it. Now its front-page news - so if, in a year's time, everybody is walking around chatting in natural language to their phones then yes, absolutely, Apple will deserve a big slice of the credit.

Social engineering! Great idea! Or is that population control you're talking about? Here's one of the better BBC documentaries I've heard in a while, and it should quite put people like you in their place: Controlling People: Episode 1, 2, and 3

Social engineering! Great idea! Or is that population control you're talking about? Here's one of the better BBC documentaries I've heard in a while, and it should quite put people like you in their place: Controlling People: Episode 1, 2, and 3

Social engineering! Great idea! Or is that population control you're talking about? Here's one of the better BBC documentaries I've heard in a while, and it should quite put people like you in their place: Controlling People: Episode 1, 2, and 3

Yes and no. The Iraqi government (well, parts of it) would like for some troops to stay. They really enjoy having a free security force.

They were in negotiations with the US to continue it, but terms had to be dictated. The sticking point was a matter of immunity. The Iraqis wanted troops to be subjected to Iraqi laws; currently they are held to the UCMJ (US law). This was the key point in negotiation two weeks ago:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-15208373

They never came to an agreement, so we get the default: all troops out by the end of the year. This was the official announcement that those negotiations had ended.

That is actual news. Until now, there was reason to expect that the troops would be asked to stay for a few more years. Now we know that's not the case.

And again you are wrong. How sad.

Here is a link to a conference of top scientists of AGW alarmists on "crazy" ideas how to work around the worst effects of climate change: Blue-sky thinking about climate. It was in 2004. The key quote is:

Kyoto is in a very difficult position, and it may be necessary to find other exit strategies.

On your other stupid comment of the day: scientist are working every day to be able to get earlier warning of earthquakes and to be able to accurately predict the effect and behaviour of tornados and earthquakes. Since many of these scientists are working for government organisations (e.g. universities) or (the horror) the UN, you might even call these scientists a part of a "global bureaucracy". When it comes to stop (instead of preventing harm from) such phenomena, it is surely easier to stop a phenomena that is caused by our own actions (i.e. Global Warming), than something that is caused by the movements of the earth crust.

The Turing petition

It's been suggested ...

But it has happened...

> Now we cannot find out who he worked with, what bribes he paid, and what other crimes he and his government had committed.

It's a shame indeed. It would be really interesting to see if Gaddafi really sponsored Sarkozy's presidential campaign.

Hey, don't knock clean coal. Carbon capture is a totally practical idea that everyone will be doing soon.

loans are crucial to a functioning economy, despite what those "occupy" protesters tell you

Nice strawman argument. The "occupy" protesters are not against loans, loans have existed for millennia. What they are against, is speculative bets disguised as loans (ie, "securitzed" debt or MBS) which are then bet against by the very banks offering the loans (i.e., default swap or CDS). Both of these recent financial instruments have been called by even conservative folks like Warren Buffet as financial WMDs.

He's also lucky in that it is even more apparent now in 2011 than it was in 2008 that Yahoo is flailing and not doing well at all. On the other hand, maybe if Microsoft had purchased it the new overarching management would have done a better job. Also, part of the failure of Yahoo has been Bing taking some of their former market share. And since Yahoo Search is essentially going to be Bing soon http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8174763.stm that's essentially done with. Yahoo has very little left that it is used that is that popular. When I was younger a lot of people used Yahoo! Games for things like chess, and I understand that that still has a fair bit of use. But that was actually an acquisition from outside http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yahoo!_Games of another website. They've done very little to further develop or improve that since then. Overall, they simply haven't been very proactive with improving their existing services, and of those they have modified it has often been not for the better. In some sense part of the problem is that much of what they have is while not a full walled-garden, it is a garden that isn't easy to move in and out of. And that just doesn't work very well. (Although it does seem like some of the mobile devices are definitely moving back in that direction. Maybe if Yahoo made a more functioning version of their stuff in the form of apps?)

Yea, damn those capitalists for letting kids have extended childhoods!

Damn guys like Henry Ford, who made all those nice things that raised everybody's standard of living, including all those nice toys that spoil the kids

Damn guys like Henry Ford, who not only made production efficient and prices cheap, but also paid his workers so well that their kids didn't have to work, and could afford those cheap but valuable goods

What we should do is have the government, our kind and beloved Big Brother, intervene and RAISE the prices of all goods, and STIFLE invention, so that less people can afford free time or expendable income, thus leading to kids being forced back to work instead of lazing around playing video games. If the kids want something, they're gonna have to WORK for it, or offer something of value, such as what this kid did to get an iPad

citations for the chappie who called BS. These are quite isolated communities and so when the comms went down it caused chaos.

1. BBC, Jamming suspended
2: The Scotsman, mentions telecoms + internet problems

sorry, haven't found anything remotely tech from the comms companies.

I would actually argue that the FF series contributed to the current situation

As time went on, FF focused more and more on graphics and narrative. There might still be a lot of gameplay underneath, but that's not the eye-candy people see or copy. Afterall, FF is one of the more successful franchises coming out of Japan, so all the other Japanese devs want to be like FF (so in a way, FF's own success led to its downfall)

Then again, this points out that executive meddling often gets in the way. I lean towards FF being one of the prime examples. You brought up Valkyria Chronicles, which is also another example (it's the business who failed on the marketing/promotion/direction, not the dev's ability to innovate)

There is also a cultural difference, which I think is the bigger reason that western games in general are rising while Japanese games aren't. The linked article pointed out that western games, as great and evolutionary as they are, actually don't do that well in Japan.

I wager there's a bigger number of gamers with a "western" mindset these days than an "eastern" or Japanese mindset. I mean, Japan has an aging population: the # of Japanese gamers is hardly increasing, whereas in the West "casual" gaming has seen a rise in recent years.

Thus, "western" games which cater to a "western" mentality are more successful.

sounds like the EU would be ok with one broadcaster having the rights for the entirety of europe

Courts only get to rule on the case in front of them, not some hypothetical other thing. In any case, the EU broke up the monopoly several years ago.

It's probably not a solution, but Heathrow Airport have had a stab at it.

Secondly, 'several ambulances'? People 'writhing on the floor, fainting and vomiting'? Here's what actually happened:

Indeed, I read TFA, and what a load of wasted words. The only reference to the actual event in the article is:

According to reports, two British Red Cross workers overseeing the event at the Kismot Indian restaurant in Edinburgh but became overwhelmed by the number of casualties and ambulances were called. Half of the 20 people who took part in the challenge dropped out after witnessing the first diners vomiting, collapsing, sweating and panting.

So, where does those reports (mind you, plural!) lead to? To the undisputedly unreliable Dail Liar^H^H^H^HMail !!!

The story on the local BBC site (unbiased as long as it is not about foreign wars) confirms CrazyBusErrors story, it is about two whackos doing stupid things. The whole 'can it kill you' meme was added by LiveScience to gain page views.

There's a rather smart guy that thinks we will make it to 1000, I bet partially based on incremental improvement keeping us alive for the next improvement...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4003063.stm

But for the people questioning will those years be worth it... What could this drug do to keep us alive that long, it must counter the things that kill us, which are the same things that make being old suck... (wear and tear). So yeah, there will be more good years...

No, not really. The CDF said less than a year ago:

"The idea that anyone could deduce from the words of Benedict XVI that it is somehow legitimate, in certain situations, to use condoms to avoid an unwanted pregnancy is completely arbitrary and is in no way justified either by his words or in his thought,"

What he said is that HIV-positive prostitutes (and possibly non-prostitutes) should use it as a "first step".

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-12053610

No, it sits in vaults doing nothing while most of the human race starve. My favourite rich guy story is this one where he was so rich he didn't even notice for a couple of years that someone had stolen loads of money from him. Trickle-down is bullshit.

Gunwharf Quays in Portsmouth, UK has been doing this since about 2008 (not that this makes it in any way ok).

Some blog
BBC News video

Here on their website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-15287391

>4chan has a sticky for him. That's the extent of media coverage I could find.

No. 2 most shared item on the BBC News website

His C book has been uppermost on my desk for the last week, emanating waves of brilliance....

Here's a link on the BBC news website Unix creator Dennis Ritchie dies aged 70

It is at #7 on their list of most-read stories at the moment.

Just for the record, when they were contacted, they suspended jamming for the remainder of the exercise - more info at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-15242835

Well, it did make the BBC News front page: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-15287391

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-15287391

It takes time, but it is percolating up to broader/general media.

The BBC news report on Dennis Ritchie's death: here.

Would be good to see this hit the Most Read section of the site.

You think this is about jobs?

Please ponder the following:

* Realistically,m how many jobs can NASA create?
* How much does it cost to create each of those jobs? (NASA doesn't do cheap stuff)
* What's the intersection between "people who are qualified to work for NASA" and "people who are having trouble finding work"?

OK, I'll give this one ago:

* Best answered by the NASA website:
Who Works for NASA?
NASA's Headquarters is in Washington, D.C. The agency has ten field centers and seven test and research facilities located in several states around the country. More than 18,000 people work for NASA. Many more people work with the agency as government contractors. Those people are hired by companies that NASA pays to do work for it. The combined workforce represents a wide variety of jobs. Astronauts may be the best-known NASA employees, but they only represent a small number of the total workforce. Many NASA workers are scientists and engineers. But people there hold many other jobs, too, from secretaries to writers to lawyers to teachers.

* Economic theory would say "trickle down effect" to that- if the government spend $100 million on shiny widgets, that $100 million has to go somewhere- into the pockets of other people; either the workers salaries, or the company balances of suppliers, dividends to shareholders, whatever. That money keeps on moving from place to place as its new owners spend it, and that's an economic stimulus.

* Can only speak from a UK perspective on this one, so disregard if you know better for a US perspective, but:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-14758464

They have issued several statements. I'm not going to do your work for you, here's a BBC News search. They're quoted on several occasions.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/search/news/?q=blackberry

as far as I know there's nothing one can do with my IBAN

Clarkson now knows that isn't true

in fact they can't lay one hand on you without being guilty of assault, and you would be within your rights to use force against any mall employee that attempts to restrain you.

Sadly, no.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-15251848

"Customers will be able to take photographs at several UK shopping centres after an internet campaign." ...

"Capital Shopping Centres, which also owns malls in Cardiff, Manchester, Newcastle, Norwich and Nottingham, said: "CSC can confirm that we will be changing the photography policy at our 11 directly owned centres and that at the other three centres, which we own in partnership with other companies, we will be discussing with our partners the policy change and recommending that it be adopted.""

Sounds like they took the hint.

The same U.N. that chose Gaddafi's Libya to chair the U.N. Human Rights Commission.

Blah blah blah. You're just repeating the Fox News faux-anger headlines.

Actually I "repeated" the first thing a google search came up with, which was the BBC.
"Libya has been elected chairman of the United Nations Human Rights Commission, despite opposition from the United States. In a secret ballot, Libyan Ambassador Najat Al-Hajjaji was backed by 33 members, with three countries voting against and 17 members abstaining. Human rights groups have been protesting at Libya assuming the chairmanship."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/2672029.stm

THINK about the subtle politics of such appointments. Take someone from an oppressive nation and make them chairman of the commission on Human Rights, so that they end-up saying things directly contradictory to their leader's policies. It's a very clever method of instigating change.

I strongly suggest you follow your own advice and think. The oppressive leader ultimately supplied the person who will be the chair. Why would you believe such a person who may also have blood on their hands, may fear reprisal against themselves personally, may have family vulnerable to reprisals back in the home country, ... would say anything the oppressive leader would find objectionable? Why do you think the oppressive leader himself does not say things in public regarding human rights that contradict his actions? Such leaders and their spokespeople often *say* one thing in public and *do* something completely different in private. The strategy you propose is not clever at all, it is naive.

Top 5 2009 Estimates, Citation, of the percentage of adults (aged 15-49) living with HIV/AIDS followed by a news bit lending no credence to any claim of traditional values as we define them.

25.90 - Swaziland - 23 August 2005, Swazi girls celebrate as king lifts ban on sex for under-18s - Citation
24.80 - Botswana - 1 December 2010, Botswana mulls legalizing prostitution to fight HIV - Citation
23.60 - Lesotho - July 20, 2004, in Lesotho as in much of sub-Saharan Africa, early sex is the norm. - Citation
17.80 - South Africa - 9 October 2011, 30% of people would use condoms for their first coital sex versus 4% for oral sex - Citation
14.30 - Zimbabwe - 12 June 2009, girls as young as 12 to sell their bodies for as little as a packet of biscuits - Citation

Not too sure about those traditional values. It just looks like the dazzled approach isn't being worked.