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In one of his stories - and I can't remember which - Heinlein discussed an engineer project whose budget was complete with an estimate of the number of people who would be killed in its achievement. His project manager comments that this item isn't included in the public budget, for political reasons! This realistic assessment of the tendency for death to occur was very thought provoking; we SHOULD be honest about risk - instead terrorism is treated as disproportionately terrible, whilst antibiotic resistance, which is vastly more seriously, is labelled as potentially dangerous as terrorism to get people's attention.

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

Sometimes the fact that 'if voting could change things, it wouldn't be allowed', should be taken as a comfort.

Well, what you're actually comparing is the modern interpretation of Judaism and Christianity with the worst interpretations of Islam.

Wrong. I'm comparing modern interpretation of Judaism and Christianity — you got that part right — with the modern interpretation of Islam. From Pakistan to Qatar to Gaza (however much the latter need the support of "progressives"), homosexuality is illegal and being gay is deadly.

Traditional Jewish law required homosexuals to be put to death

Only if the government is based on Judaism. But Jews remain Jews living under other governments — unlike Islam, neither Judaism nor Christianity make government structure part of the scripture.

A Jew wishing to live under Jewish law can move to Israel — his religion does not compel him to bring that law to the government of his residence. Same is true about Christians. As I said, Islam is unique.

>>How many abortion clinics/doctors have been bombed and yes, shot up, in the past decade?

Yeah, how about that? Here's a tidy summary from the Times.

As you can see, the writer had to throw in Canadian violence just to pad out his article.

But here's the thing: There is no Christian sect in America with the exception of the Westboro Baptist Church that sanctions violence. My knowledge is not exhaustive so please correct me if I am wrong. And every time that violence "in Christ's name" is committed, official spokesmen from every denomination you can name make a point of condemning it.

You have to see that it is different when violence is committed "in Allah's name," or you are simply not paying attention/only willing to see what you want to see. Sure, the Book of Ezekiel says some crazy violent things, but, again, every Christian denomination acknowledges those passages have been superseded by Christ's gospel of love in the New Testament. Try and get the Imans of any Muslim sect to likewise formally renounce the calls to egregious violence in the Q'ran; try to get the Sharia courts to renounce the penalties for the huddud offences, as stipulated in the Q'ran. Lemme know how that works out for you.

If you really want to do some good, if you really want to save some lives, work towards a Muslim Reformation. Christianity has progressed since the Middle Ages, Islam has not, and it is killing us.

Then it's not me you need to convince, it's your fellow countrymen who are homosexual that rank your country incredibly poorly:

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

https://euobserver.com/beyond-...

I can only go on the data that comes out of your country, and it still seems to show widespread opposition to things like gay marriage, and widespread claims of persecution by people who are actually homosexual and so on and so forth. Maybe you're right, but the data doesn't show it because for whatever reason gay people in your country disagree with you completely.

Your citation of isolated anti-gay incidents over the course of the past century (from... where? Wikipedia, Mother Jones, and The Nation? Good job, there, Mr. Murrow...) just proves my point.

Meanwhile, the number of (Muslim) districts and (Muslim) nations which are *EXPANDING* their adoption of the strictest code of Sharia is GROWING. Yeah, you know, the strict kind: where gays and women with children out of wedlock are executed... Kind of what Christian nations did... IN THE MIDDLE AGES. Pray that Islam has a Reformation in the 21st century at least half as comprehensive as Christianity did in the 16th century.

>>pinning all violence carried out by people who might be Muslim on Islam

I'm not pinning it on Islam, you fool, the shooter called 911 before his crime and did that himself!

Spoken like an naive idiot that doesn't understand Islam.

It is convert or die!

Islam can't even get along with Islam in the middle east. You are a naive. Look at what is already happened in UK, France, and Germany. It is no longer safe and the immigrants are already biting the hand that feeds them. In UK the muslims have established new systems of government. It is good times.

While your 99% assertion is true, muslims tolerate it because they are weak. However, the Quran endorses violence against non-believers and it is ingrained into them by their preachers. If they get to critical mass anywhere, death will follow. Yes, this is their (sic) scripture laid bare. Read it for yourself. They will kill you, your family, and anyone who doesn't agree with their specific interpretation of the quran if given a chance. They do not believe in democracy, the republic, and think that your freedom is stupid and female genitals should be mutilated.

See http://www.thereligionofpeace....

Excerpt:

Does the Quran really contain over a hundred verses promoting violence?

The Quran contains at least 109 verses that call Muslims to war with nonbelievers for the sake of Islamic rule. Some are quite graphic, with commands to chop off heads and fingers and kill infidels wherever they may be hiding. Muslims who do not join the fight are called 'hypocrites' and warned that Allah will send them to Hell if they do not join the slaughter.

Unlike nearly all of the Old Testament verses of violence, the verses of violence in the Quran are mostly open-ended, meaning that they are not restrained by historical context contained in the surrounding text (although many Muslims choose to think of them that way). They are part of the eternal, unchanging word of Allah, and just as relevant or subject to interpretation as anything else in the Quran.

The context of violent passages is more ambiguous than might be expected of a perfect book from a loving God. Most contemporary Muslims exercise a personal choice to interpret their holy book's call to arms according to their own moral preconceptions about justifiable violence. Their apologists cater to these preferences with tenuous arguments that gloss over historical fact and generally do not stand up to scrutiny. Still, it is important to note that the problem is not bad people, but bad ideology.

Unfortunately, there are very few verses of tolerance and peace to balance out the many that call for nonbelievers to be fought and subdued until they either accept humiliation, convert to Islam, or are killed. Muhammad's own martial legacy, along with the remarkable stress on violence found in the Quran, have produced a trail of blood and tears across world history.

Quran (2:191-193) - "And kill them wherever you find them, and turn them out from where they have turned you out. And Al-Fitnah [disbelief or unrest] is worse than killing...
but if they desist, then lo! Allah is forgiving and merciful. And fight them until there is no more Fitnah [disbelief and worshipping of others along with Allah] and worship is for Allah alone. But if they cease, let there be no transgression except against Az-Zalimun(the polytheists, and wrong-doers, etc.)" (Translation is from the Noble Quran) The verse prior to this (190) refers to "fighting for the cause of Allah those who fight you" leading some to believe that the entire passage refers to a defensive war in which Muslims are defending their homes and families. The historical context of this passage is not defensive warfare, however, since Muhammad and his Muslims had just relocated to Medina and were not under attack by their Meccan adversaries. In fact, the verses urge offensive warfare, in that Muslims are to drive Meccans out of their own city (which they later did). Verse 190 thus means to fight those who offer resistance to Allah's rule (ie. Muslim conquest). The use of

Firstly, way to get your prejudices into the comment *clap clap*

Secondly -

"There was an exchange of fire with a police officer working at the club, but it is unclear whether that was inside or outside the venue." http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/worl...

So someone did have a gun, but it didn't stop it.

And finally -

Its funny how every time there is a massacre you guys come out the woodwork saying how 'if only more people had guns this wouldn't happen', yet everyone has guns and it keeps happening. Meanwhile, in the rest of the civilised world, everyone doesn't have guns and it doesn't keep happening.

I'm sure you will have an answer to this that makes sense in your own head, but honestly don't bother - to the rest of us you will just continue to come across as a moronic gun nut desperately trying to justify your need to have guns.

Link for my earlier number: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/educ...
That is based on a gov.uk report. I will admit that I remembered the period wrong - should have been 7 years. Point remains the same though.

I won't be applying to rent anywhere anymore so I couldn't care less.

Well exactly. That's very much my point - you don't care. Doesn't affect you, so fuck anyone else.
And for information, I'm a bit older than millenial and have managed to get property and consider myself doing fine. Weirdly though, I can though still care about problems that aren't just about me.

There's plenty you can do with technology to make cars more interesting or useful. Look at all the modern driver aids, such as traction control or assisted braking. Look at modern navigation systems. Even the lights on modern cars are getting totally redesigned to be more effective.

However, connecting cars wirelessly to anything and everything is foolish with today's technology. There was a story just yesterday about how an OTA update broke the radio and navigation systems on Lexus cars. A couple of days before that, there was a story about how the alarm on a Mitsubishi model could be remotely disabled due to poor wireless security. Paranoia is irrational distrust. It's hardly irrational to be concerned when we've had two major failures so far this week and plenty more before that.

The point about the Luddites was that they were opposed to technological changes that would potentially make them redundant by doing their jobs better and more efficiently. Nothing about having hopelessly vulnerable control systems attached to vast numbers of heavy, fast-moving vehicles falls into that category.

There's plenty you can do with technology to make cars more interesting or useful. Look at all the modern driver aids, such as traction control or assisted braking. Look at modern navigation systems. Even the lights on modern cars are getting totally redesigned to be more effective.

However, connecting cars wirelessly to anything and everything is foolish with today's technology. There was a story just yesterday about how an OTA update broke the radio and navigation systems on Lexus cars. A couple of days before that, there was a story about how the alarm on a Mitsubishi model could be remotely disabled due to poor wireless security. Paranoia is irrational distrust. It's hardly irrational to be concerned when we've had two major failures so far this week and plenty more before that.

The point about the Luddites was that they were opposed to technological changes that would potentially make them redundant by doing their jobs better and more efficiently. Nothing about having hopelessly vulnerable control systems attached to vast numbers of heavy, fast-moving vehicles falls into that category.

He would be if his girlfriend sent him a naked selfie.

Here in the UK, the police acknowledge that possession of such an image is a serious crime, and records it as such, but will always conclude that prosecution is not in the public interest.

Here's an example case: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-3...

... Seems like Indian H1B's are very smart, but white males are not; amazing. Who is the puppet master here?

Dear Sir,
I came from Africa

Both the Western dudes and the Indian dudes really love Africa for they got to make lots of killings here

In terms of 'smartness' I wouldn't say that one is smarter than the other but there _is_ a difference - a religio-cultural difference that separate them out like oil and water

First of all, most Western dudes are of the Judeo-Christianity background which carries a huge ethical baggage

Thou must not kill
Thou shalt not steal
Thou shalt not do this, do that... and all that jazz

On the other hand the Indian dudes are not incumbent with those ethical baggage. They are Hindus

In the Hindu religion killing, stealing, whatever, there is no such artificial barrier. All the Hindus are concern with is their karma points --- the aggregate plus (positive) / minus (negative) 'energy level' they get to collect in this life that they can use in the 'final trading session', for something better or worse, in the next life

While not all the White dudes believe in the "Thou shalt not ..." bullshits more or less in their (unconscious) behavior they still reflect their deeply ingrained Judeo-Christianity trait

Because the Hindus have no such hindrance they have become masterful in dirty tricks. Many of us Africans prefer to learn from the Indian dudes because they have so many dirty tricks inside their sleeves, while the Western dudes are dull, in comparison

That makes all the difference, and the result could be great

So far we have talked about the effects of the Indians on corporate world. Let's talk about the effects of the Indians on NATIONS, yes, nations, countries, states

Here's a link for ya ---
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programme...

As you see, the Indians are no longer satisfied in conquering the corporations - now they want to grab the whole country

The South Africans had to struggle for so many years, with death in the hundreds of thousands, to end the Apartheid system

After the Apartheid system ended the Indians came and tried their back-handed tricks on the President of South Africa, and they very nearly grab the entire South Africa away from the South Africans, without having to sweat an eyebrow, or shed even a drop of blood

They are the Gupta family

But the Guptas are not the first which exert humongous power over the Africans. During the Idi Amin era of Uganda he chased away all the Indians, and the reason is the Indian diaspora inside Uganda are so powerful that they actually threatened Idi Amin's regime

The Indians do not own an army. They have no guns. But yet, they are so powerful that even a super fierce dictator such as Idi Amin became so paranoid of them

You can say that the Indians are like the Jews - they know a lot of ways to control others

Companies have grown very obnoxious: Samsung's TV which listens to what is said in your home so it can deliver targeted ads http://money.cnn.com/2015/02/0... http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/tech... and Microsoft's Windows 10 which spies on everything you do http://bgr.com/2015/07/31/wind... http://www.independent.co.uk/l...

Unlikely people would buy a Samsung's TV if they knew about this, but Microsoft has a virtual monopoly we can't avoid. Time for the FTC to stop these repugnant companies for abusing their dominant positions.

...which is itself just a smaller version of a 19th century connector:

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

Has anyone made a 1/4 inch jack to Lightning adapter yet?

I assume you mean to plug in a guitar/bass/keyboard?

Griffin has the "GuitarConnect Pro". Walmart supposedly sells them for $20 (list is $60). There are also others; but that comes closest to a "cable". BTW, it also supplies an Output, too, which is cool.

Unfortunately, it is mono; so if you have a stereo guitar (yes, they exist), bass (they also exist) or keyboard, you will have to sum the outputs with a Y-Cable before bringing them in to this device, or find another that has stereo input capabilities.

...which is itself just a smaller version of a 19th century connector:

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

Has anyone made a 1/4 inch jack to Lightning adapter yet?

The UK has strict gun control, which is just as effective as posting "Gun-Free Zone" signs.

The number of gun murders per capita in the US in 2012 was around thirty times that of the UK. Genuinely interested in what you think this difference is down to if not a strong legislative and cultural approach to gun control.

Because the British are a bunch of sheeple, obviously. Free Men murder each other with properly virile gusto.

Exactly! Their commie leaders strangle their economic systems too, which is why they don't realize "John Wick" was a documentary about utopia free market 'Murica!

The UK has strict gun control, which is just as effective as posting "Gun-Free Zone" signs.

The number of gun murders per capita in the US in 2012 was around thirty times that of the UK. Genuinely interested in what you think this difference is down to if not a strong legislative and cultural approach to gun control.

Because the British are a bunch of sheeple, obviously. Free Men murder each other with properly virile gusto.

The UK has strict gun control, which is just as effective as posting "Gun-Free Zone" signs.

The number of gun murders per capita in the US in 2012 was around thirty times that of the UK. Genuinely interested in what you think this difference is down to if not a strong legislative and cultural approach to gun control.

July 1991: 'SteveB went on the road to see the top weeklies, industry analysts. The meetings included demos of Windows 3.1 (pen and multimedia included), Windows NT, OS/2 2.0 including a performance comparison to Windows and a "bad app" that corrupted other applications and crashed the system".'

'The demos of OS/2 were excellent, crashing the system had the intended effect -- to FUD OS/2 2.0. People paid attention to this demo and were often suprised to our favor. Steve positioned it as -- OS/2 is not "bad" but from a performance and "robustness" standpoint, it is NOT better than Windows.' ref

OS/2 is still alive ref

The day Bill Gates screamed IBM's house down

Craig Wright http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/tech...

So if you wanted a copy of a book, so long as it wasn't YOU that photocopied it, but you just took a photocopy of the entire book from a pile (whether you pay or not complicates matters, let's assume not but with the permission of the person who photocopied), would you expect to not get into trouble?

What about if someone copied an artwork without permission and you just happened to buy a copy? Under the law, it's all the same. In art we call it a forgery. Even if you're not the forger, and even though it's not illegal to own in some circumstances, it's still illegal to get the copy KNOWING that you're not paying the artists or doing it with their permission.

In music and movies, it's called piracy. In literature, it's plagiarism at best, and unauthorised reproduction. It's all pretty much the same thing. Nobody is "taking" the book from someone who owns it, but they are making unauthorised copies of the works under copyright. That's the actual offence. Not redistribution. Unauthorised copies.

Photocopy a musical score and the songwriter will be on your back looking for a) royalties b) damages if you passed it on without permission or you did it en masse or deliberately.

As such, downloading a file - WHETHER OR NOT YOU WERE THE SOURCE OF THAT FILE - that you know is a copy of copyright material that's been made without the permission of the copyright holder, is an offence. Proving that a) you knew, or should have suspected, b) that it was unauthorised, c) that was your intention - that's the difficult part if you're only the downloader. The uploader is, by definition of the act they perform, breaking the law. The downloader is, unless they genuinely didn't realise or suspect infringement, also breaking the law but it's harder to prove.

Submit a forgery to the Chagall Institute. It will be destroyed: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/ente...

Fake Nike's are confiscated and destroyed.
Fake cigarettes are burned.

And fake books, movies, music, etc. (i.e. copies of existing works, even if perfect, but made without the permission of the original creator) will be confiscated, destroyed and legislated against.

IBM chief: Microsoft killed OS/2

The day Bill Gates screamed IBM's house down

Youre probably a peasant too. It would explain why you don't know the difference between a dictionary and a usage guide.

http://public.wsu.edu/~brians/...

http://www.quickanddirtytips.c...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldserv...

Japan has had recessions from
1991-1993
1997-1999
2001-2002
2004-2005
2009-2010
2012-2013
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse...
and
2015-2016
http://www.bbc.com/news/busine...

See also.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/bus...

Japan's essential problem is that their GDP caught up with everyone else. Japan's GDP is about $45k (USD) (roughly the same as Germany, France, the U.S., etc. depending on the exchange rate).

Google "Japan bbc recession" for a variety of news articles on japan's various recessions. If you add a year you can get details on a particular recession (like "japan recession 1998".

The same fate awaits china in about 20 years and india in about 40 years.

It may affect parts of india much sooner since the country is so bifurcated.

Nuclear just isn't that practical despite what the fanboys keep shouting:

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

Yeah I know don't bother responding, $NewReactor is going to cost pennies and only emit unicorn farts, it'll be too cheap to meter, etc, etc.

HSBC meanwhile, no-one held to account, no-one jailed etc, in fact the boss is now Minister of State for Trade and Investment. and the woman who was supposed to be over-seeing fraud is now Chairman [sic] of the BBC.

Fraud is the single biggest danger to the American economy. It is apparent that fraud is now a driving factor in banking. If you are a bank without a fraud profit department, then you will lose out to your competition who will buy your assets and institute a strong fraud program for you.

To save America, we must start lynching the fraudsters.

HSBC meanwhile, no-one held to account, no-one jailed etc, in fact the boss is now Minister of State for Trade and Investment. and the woman who was supposed to be over-seeing fraud is now Chairman [sic] of the BBC.

Fraud is the single biggest danger to the American economy. It is apparent that fraud is now a driving factor in banking. If you are a bank without a fraud profit department, then you will lose out to your competition who will buy your assets and institute a strong fraud program for you.

To save America, we must start lynching the fraudsters.

At least this story brought us the caption "We can't fly on together with suspicious maths".
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/worl...

HSBC meanwhile, no-one held to account, no-one jailed etc, in fact the boss is now Minister of State for Trade and Investment. and the woman who was supposed to be over-seeing fraud is now Chairman [sic] of the BBC.

And they call Putin a criminal. The criminals are running our governments and our biggest companies.

HSBC meanwhile, no-one held to account, no-one jailed etc, in fact the boss is now Minister of State for Trade and Investment. and the woman who was supposed to be over-seeing fraud is now Chairman [sic] of the BBC.

And they call Putin a criminal. The criminals are running our governments and our biggest companies.

All of a sudden, they will 'support capitalism', whatever that even means.

Don't worry, doesn't look like that's going to happen soon

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

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

Elastic straps over the shoulders and round the waist keep Major Peake in contact with the running belt of the treadmill, located in the station's Tranquility Node.

The straps are designed to generate the foot force necessary to give astronauts' bones and muscles a workout in weightlessness.

He said: "One of the biggest challenges is the harness system. Obviously, my bodyweight has to be firmly attached to the treadmill by this harness, and that can rub on the shoulders and around the waist."

The Chichester-born astronaut ran the London Marathon in 1999, finishing in three hours, 18 minutes and 50 seconds.
He did not try to beat that time as his medical team wanted to ensure he was perfectly healthy for his return to Earth in June.

He's clearly a very good runner and although they say he didn't try to break his previous record for safety reason, isn't it more likely that it's because it was 17 years ago?

I don't know about you, but I'm generally in favour of interested tapirs.

As for Boaty McBoatface, surely we all knew from the start that wouldn't be the name? They never promised (or even suggested) that the name with most votes would actually be used. At least it gave us Trainy McTrainface and Horsey McHorseface. So there's that.

Neat how the RWNJ's are ignoring the part where that's talking about prosecuting companies

Distinction without difference. The First Amendment protects us all. Of course, the totalitarian assholes seeking to prosecute opinions would start with the most prominent targets. But they'll get to the less known eventually. Right here is another such asshole, allowing his opponents to hear his sacred truth only once. If they aren't convinced the first time, they are "deliberately lying" and should be prosecuted: "why WOULDN'T we?" — he passionately asks.

What would such bigotry achieve? The serene unanimity as in Saddam Hussein's Iraq and today's North Korea, that's what. Scratch a "climate alarmist", and you'll find a Che Guevara T-shirt underneath...

Same as the cigarette and asbestos industries spent decades denying that their products were inherently harmful.

Cigarettes caused discernible harm. Perhaps, asbestos did too (if you snorted it). No real harm has been caused by "deniers" — whether they are right or wrong. And even Mr. Nye is not accusing them of such — only of hurting his feelings: "hurting my quality of life as a public citizen".

Look, Denialists, lets make a deal: you guys can all move out to the Maldives.

The islands of Tasmania and Kodiak stopped being peninsulas only a few thousands years ago. Are you going to blame the early humans' burning fires for that?

Is it, perhaps, the fault of ancient Egyptians and Greek, that some of their cities are under the waters of Mediterranean? No? Why not? Surely plenty of contemporary priests blamed the populace's sins for angering the contemporary gods...

I find your attempts to blame Maldives' difficulties on me about as justified. Curiously, some alarmists have taken the same religious attitude too.

Well: they seem to have not been effective, it is on the front page of the BBC so lots of people are learning about it now. If you want to look good, the best way is to behave well.

What do you think should happen to people who have knowingly endangered public safety because they were paid to repeat (and publish) lies?

Thank you for providing me with another exhibit. When your opponents are not merely wrong, but are enemies of the people, achieving 100% agreement becomes trivial. USSR, North Korea, Saddam Hussein's Iraq are all good examples of this serene unanimity.

A RICO investigation was conducted into the lies publicly told by cigarette companies

False. Tobacco companies got in trouble because their customers were disproportionally suffering of nasty diseases. Nothing of the kind can be demonstrated for "victims" of climate-skeptics.

Speech — including lies — is protected by the First Amendment. Keep your totalitarian hands off my Constitution, asshole.

That's not exactly true. Scottish GDP per capita is higher than England and, as an average only beaten by the London area. As part of the union politics; Scottish finances are supressed because Scotland has to pay 10% of all capex expenditure on London projects that are labelled as "UK Infrastructure" (HS2 railway, London tube, london sewer system) whereas English tax payers pay £0 for Scottish capex projects. This is because large scale infrastructure is seen as beneficial to Scots (but not the other way round) - note that the UK parliament has 533 English Members of Parliament and Scotland only has 59. Most acts of parliament seen as beneficial to Scotland are voted down by an English majority (even though it has no bearing on their own constituencies, e.g. The Scotland Bill)

If you look at the National infrastructure plan you'll see that there are no capex projects in Scotland at all, even though each of these projects is subsidised by Scottish taxpayers. The Scottish equivalent is fully funded by Scots taxpayers.

Most of the things on your end list were dismissed by plenty of people, but they tended to be the minority who didn't foresee various advances rather than even mainstream folks. I remember trying to use early VOIP programs on 14.4 and 28.8 dialup connections and they were largely useless. But while some people dismissed it as a "never work", others kept working on it and it became usable. Likewise there were plenty of people saying Youtube could never make it. This and this talk a bit about what some people thought about Youtube a year or so after it launched. It'll be interesting to see where things getting hyped now end up in a decade or two.

Maybe it does, but maybe also you don't know where the reference comes from.

Unfortunately YES, a "gun" themed t-shirt will get you into trouble.

"Everything is stored securely in the Microsoft Azure cloud and even our loan agreements are signed electronically, handled by Docusign."

The solution is obvious, the banks should put all their backend processes on the industry standard Microsoft Azure cloud :)

The assumption that people actually carry enough cash to pay for a tank load of petrol, especially in Europe where it's a lot more expensive because of higher taxation, is highly dubious. So when the bank refuses the cards of a lot of customers one day it's going to get ugly rather fast.

This story makes the point

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

add in those who are on the bread line who can't afford to have that sort of amount of cash hanging around, and there's a big issue. As ever, those of us who are comfortable, have several credit cards and a reasonable credit card limit don't have a problem. But there's a lot of people who don't.

Here's another one, shorter but higher quality.

In the BBC report on this, it is mentioned that Tay apparently tweeted that they do indeed support genocide. So it takes less than 24 hours exposure to humans to achieve that belief. We're in trouble/

The High Court (in Scotland, the Court of Session) shall have power to grant an injunction against a service provider, where that service provider has actual knowledge of another person using their service to infringe copyright.

The service providers listed in that injunction were Sky, Everything Everywhere, TalkTalk, O2, Virgin Media and BT

This has also been an issue with other Pirate Bay proxy sites, for example the BFI attempted to get the Pirate Party's Pirate Bay proxy shut down, unsuccessfully.

Amongst all these laws and injunctions, I don't see mention of anything that would refer to Callum Haywood's site, except the unsuccessful BFI attempt, since that's the only one that concerns a proxy. His site isn't one that's listed in the injunction but, even if it was, the UK ISPs listed should already be blocking it at a network level in the same way they block the original Pirate Bay.

This isn't a theoretical, academic problem. In 2013, the Cyprus government made a shock announcement, stating that they would be taking a "one-off" 'bailout levy' of 10% from any accounts over a certain balance value. Article on BBC News here:- http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/worl... This was proposed because Cyprus, like Greece, had a failing economy and owed the European Central Bank some $13 Billion as part of a loan repayment. The economy was tanking, the government didn't have the tax revenue, so they decided to go after the savers. The really wealthy in Greece kept their money off-shore and were not hit, but ex-pats from other EU nations could have been hammered if this went through. The interesting thing was that before the proposal was announced the Cypriot government put rules in place to prohibit people withdrawing their cash [since that would have started a run on the banks]. We should not underestimate the danger of this proposal.

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

Fits the bill

The difference is lack of control.

Any government-funded process usually has government control. The BBC is not controlled by the government, not funded by the government (although I agree they're involved with the mechanics of the funding process) and was established by royal charter.

The BBC are frequently critical of government policies (as well as shadow-cabinet policies. Try watching politicians of all walks squirm on News Night, for example - although I believe Jeremy Paxman has retired from the program now, he was a shark amongst goldfish when interviewing politicians. It'd be interesting to see a real "defend yourself and your policies" 1:1 interview like this over here on US television. I don't think any of the networks would have the balls to run it though.

The BBC aren't above lampooning important members of the government either. On "Have I got news for you?" (A topical quiz/panel entertainment show), when Roy Hattersley failed to appear for the 4 June 1993 episode — it was the third time he had cancelled at the last minute — he was replaced with a tub of lard (credited as "The Rt. Hon. Tub of Lard MP"), as it was "liable to give much the same performance and imbued with many of the same qualities". Roy was ... a little overweight...

IMHO, the BBC are rightly regarded as being as impartial as you can get with a national broadcaster, and they actually fulfill the important (to any democracy) role of the 4th estate, being critical when necessary and not shying away from controversy when its demanded. They have suffered in recent years of trying to always appear unbiased by covering both "sides" of the story when any reasonable person might conclude there's only one side really, but hey, I'd rather have it that way round than the other.

The BBC is one of, if not the, pre-eminent news organization(s) on the planet. Their funding is (IMHO) a good part of why that's the case. They truly have nothing to fear from government oversight (they do after all get to report on any overly-intrusive government actions) and they have the guaranteed resources of a national broadcaster to execute on their charter. It's all pretty good.

Why not RPi?

This BBC report says why:

Mr Richards has previously taught classes using another British low-cost computer - the Raspberry Pi - but says he believes the Micro Bit is better suited for younger age groups.

"It's been designed at a lower level that allows children to understand more quickly the concepts that you are trying to get across," he explained.

"With the Raspberry Pi there are a lot of things that don't make immediate sense. So, I think the Micro Bit will make a great stepping stone that engages younger children before they want to do more serious projects that would require something like the Pi."

That's what a teacher who's been using both devices thinks. Sounds fair to me. Micro:Bit as a gateway drug to the harder stuff, leading the kids of today into doing hardcore Linux in the future.

This is a hugely dickish move by the BBC. The Pi is already solidly and explicitly established as the reincarnation of the ideas behind the BBC Micro, and the BBC should have just got on board and supported it. While there's a case to be made that a tiny embedded board like this doesn't compete with a Pi in hardware terms, it does compete with it for class time, attention and support.

Like most older Brits, I have a lot of affection for the BBC, but in the last 10 - 15 years, it has lost its way both for technology and TV output.