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Here in Australia, a number of well-meaning public projects have been derailed because they had loopholes that allowed gaming of the scheme by beneficiaries, or were gamed or abused by insiders. I hope Bezos includes a lot of checks and balances in this scheme.

It's not easy when it's the politicians doing the gaming, on behalf of themselves - either through donations back to their party, or as jobs after they finally get booted out for their blatant corruption and/or incompetence.

To name a few:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/201...
https://www.news.com.au/financ...
https://www.brisbanetimes.com....
https://www.brisbanetimes.com....
https://www.computerworld.com....

Here in Australia, a number of well-meaning public projects have been derailed because they had loopholes that allowed gaming of the scheme by beneficiaries, or were gamed or abused by insiders. I hope Bezos includes a lot of checks and balances in this scheme.

It's not easy when it's the politicians doing the gaming, on behalf of themselves - either through donations back to their party, or as jobs after they finally get booted out for their blatant corruption and/or incompetence.

To name a few:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/201...
https://www.news.com.au/financ...
https://www.brisbanetimes.com....
https://www.brisbanetimes.com....
https://www.computerworld.com....

Pass them around the office and rate them on a scale of 1-10, duh!

for instance...

Fuck Australia.

Even their sissy short-pantsed football players are deadly.

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.a...

Very first quote from your blog link:

“Overall, the most robust global changes in climate extremes are seen in measures of daily temperature, including to some extent, heat waves. Precipitation extremes also appear to be increasing, but there is large spatial variability"

Thus, more extreme heat waves and floods, at least in some areas. But who wants their information filtered through a biased agenda (apart from denialists)? If you read the source itself, you can see they state very plainly that we're seeing "a decrease in cold temperature extremes, an increase in warm temperature extremes, an increase in extreme high sea levels and an increase in the number of heavy precipitation events in a number of regions" (emphasis theirs), and that, globally, heatwaves, extreme precipitation, and extreme sea level events are all increasing.

Second, don't know what you were reading, but the link I provided was not a description of a computer model, it was a "meta-analysis of the literature on projected future extreme weather events", as the introduction plainly describes itself. It analysed the conclusions of multiple studies, providing a good summary of the current scientific opinion. And guess what? It finds increases in strength and frequency of the most intense cyclones, more droughts and heatwaves, more severe thunderstorms and heavy precipitation events.

And the storm I linked to? Sure, a single datapoint of weather. But ask yourself - in a stable system, what would be the likelihood of a record-breaking, strongest-ever cyclone being recorded just as you were claiming that extreme weather increases were all "hysteria"? After all, events that exceed all previously-recorded events should become increasingly less likely as time goes by - and yet we're seeing new records set every year, breaking records set only a year or two earlier. How many more record-breaking datapoints do you need to make an increasing trend? (hint: ask the scientists, read the meta-analyses, and stay away from the denialist blogs).

Re: Suncorp, rate hikes are a reasonable and rational response to insuring areas with increased and increasing risk. Since you mention Emerald, the 2008 flood events there were described at the time as a "1 in 100 years event". Then in 2010 they were hit by an even worse flood, which got worse still over the next month of torrential rain - prompting experts to decry how the Emerald locals had continued building more houses in what was all-too-clearly now a flood-prone area. No surprise that insurance companies wanted nothing further to do with the place.

But this still has nothing to do with the assertion of yours that I was challenging, where you claimed they were "angling for government swag", and "sucking on the public teat".

Not quite as clear cut as you claim http://www.brisbanetimes.com.a.... What is interesting is that police officers are buying there own cameras to protect themselves because the courts seem to be unbiased toward police testimony and police must prove the validity of the actions against citizens.

There is a vast amount of padding for profitability and it's a "who watches the watchman" situation since the government setting the rules is one of the direct beneficiaries of increased profits.
Energex reaps record profits:
http://www.couriermail.com.au/...

Queensland electricity bills could be reduced without selling state's assets: report
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.a...
It links to this report:
http://images.brisbanetimes.co...
Points 9 and 10 are interesting - 88 million in the last year the government received out of the pockets of electricity consumers as a dividend. The previous government did the same which is one reason it has not been raised by the opposition. It's one of the many downsides of pretend privitisation and a pretend market (others include a loss of economies of scale from artificial barriers constructed between groups that all have the same owner).

There is a vast amount of padding for profitability and it's a "who watches the watchman" situation since the government setting the rules is one of the direct beneficiaries of increased profits.
Energex reaps record profits:
http://www.couriermail.com.au/...

Queensland electricity bills could be reduced without selling state's assets: report
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.a...
It links to this report:
http://images.brisbanetimes.co...
Points 9 and 10 are interesting - 88 million in the last year the government received out of the pockets of electricity consumers as a dividend. The previous government did the same which is one reason it has not been raised by the opposition. It's one of the many downsides of pretend privitisation and a pretend market (others include a loss of economies of scale from artificial barriers constructed between groups that all have the same owner).

Spoken like someone who has never dealt with one Government department, let alone two.

Its *much* worse when you let them get involved in the development, Billions of $ wasted on programs that don't do what they should.

Here is a nice list of Billions $ in failed software projects.

http://defense.about.com/od/prodinnovate/a/Government-Software-Project-Failures.htm

And a nice little one close to home for me, 8 years and 1.25 Billion $ on payroll software.. Thanks IBM

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/health-payroll-costs-to-hit-125-billion-20120606-1zvub.html

But I support your right to be an idiot as long as it doesn't interfere with me.

People who don't vaccinate ARE hurting people. In Australia we are constantly fighting measles, which only exists due to anti-vaxxers. A quick Google search brought up this: http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/chief-doctor-writes-to-queensland-parents-urging-measles-vaccination-20131014-2vh8b.html Anti-vaxxers have a lot to answer for.

One thing you have to remember is people are STUPID.

The US has been very unwilling to curtail CO2 emissions in any significant way. China has been attempting to do so. (Not consistently, but they've been trying.)

That's funny, considering the fact that in the past 10 years China's emissions have doubled whereas the US emissions have declined. http://edgar.jrc.ec.europa.eu/CO2REPORT2012.pdf
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/environment/climate-change/c02-emissions-hit-new-record-on-china-surge-20121114-29b7x.html
http://rightweather.net/2012/10/the-united-states-declining-role-in-co2-emissions/

I'd say the US efforts at curtailing CO2 emissions have been more effective.

More likely it is the Brisbane GoCard or Perth SmartRider - which use the horribly insecure MiFare Classic, which was compromised some years ago and there are 'off the shelf' exploits.

The operator of the Brisbane system even tried to play down the significance of the MiFare Classic exploit when it was known before launch.

From August in Qld http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/go-card-travel-records-point-finger-at-murder-accused-20120816-24b3v.html
"A Supreme Court jury heard that Ashley Michael McGoldrick's Go Card history showed ..."
and from 2010
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/police-watching-where-you-go-20100728-10vx2.html
"The revelation came after brisbanetimes.com.au exclusively revealed that police are using Go Card technology to not only pinpoint the movements of criminal suspects but also potential witnesses.
"

From August in Qld http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/go-card-travel-records-point-finger-at-murder-accused-20120816-24b3v.html
"A Supreme Court jury heard that Ashley Michael McGoldrick's Go Card history showed ..."
and from 2010
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/police-watching-where-you-go-20100728-10vx2.html
"The revelation came after brisbanetimes.com.au exclusively revealed that police are using Go Card technology to not only pinpoint the movements of criminal suspects but also potential witnesses.
"

That you can sue doesn't mean you should. This is the same fundementaly amoral behaviour used by the MAFIAA when suing people in the US for imaginary damages to imaginary property. Attempting to hurt them with the same tatic isn't going to help anyone, it just legitimises the legal crap shoot. Barring any disputed service level agreement Hugo signed up for, the only reason I can see for Hugo to sue would be for the publicity, and they already have as much of that as they will ever get over this issue.

Speaking of Dr Who, the ABC/BBC have a common sense solution to a 21st century problem. I was one of those who watched it on iView, I hope other Aussie fans will do likewise and put their eyballs where their mouth is. For those Aussies on a capped ISP line, most ISP don't meter iView but best to check first.

Colourful mining billionaire Clive Palmer may have a costly penchant for resurrecting remnants of the past, but he has no intentions of extending that to long-extinct reptiles, sources say.

The Sunshine Coast Daily reported on rumours that the mining magnate plans to clone a dinosaur from DNA, so it could roam free through a Jurassic Park-style area at his Coolum golf resort.

It was reported Mr Palmer had been in deep discussion with the people who successfully cloned Dolly the sheep.

But a source close to Mr Palmer rubbished the suggestion today.

"It's absolutely ridiculous," the source said.

However, Mr Palmer is expected to reveal highly-anticipated redevelopment plans for his luxury Coolum resort on Friday.

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/palmers-jurassic-park-plan-extinct-20120731-23bvr.html

That's not how it works.... You're confusing this with a different situation where there is no "smoking gun"

It's not that I'm confused, that is how it works here in Australia. At least, it does if you're a woman shooting her husband with an illegal handgun.

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/susan-falls-not-guilty-of-murder-20100603-x2xv.html
Justice Applegarth took several hours to sum up the case to the jury, beginning his address to them yesterday afternoon and continuing from 10am today.

He told jurors Mrs Falls' defence lawyers did not have to prove she was acting in self defence when she shot and killed Rodney Falls, but rather the prosecution must prove she wasn't acting in self defence at the time.

From the top links from Google's video search:

Blackfella's Guide to New York - The Age

Blackfella's Guide to New York - Brisbane Times

Blackfella's Guide to New York - The Sydney Morning Herald

Apparently they all come from the same source, but well, let's look if Miss Tanya Steele now have the courtesy of showing herself in australian courts if she wants it removed from their servers.

They NEVER leave a Fine on a car for being unlocked.

Never Say Never

Wishful thinking is incredibly powerful. Mix in a little love and you have an 80-proof irrational cocktail of self-delusion.

I agree that people's wishful thinking provides a powerful way to manipulate them, and what's more naivety plays as greater role here as outright "self-delusion." And if there's any doubt that love lowers critical thinking, consider the Australian physician who was fleeced for a cool A$3.5mill by local scamers. Ouch!

Successful scams abuse built-in human drives which of themselves (in the unabused state) tend to serve an individuals survival (which is perhaps why they have become built-in). The acquisition of material wealth is one such drive and clearly many scams capitalise on greed.

Similarly trust is a requirement for healthy social interaction and certainly for building a healthy reproductive relationship. Those of us who are not sociopathic need to trust and want to. Thankfully people are, more often than not, somewhat trustworthy. Otherwise our species probably would not have persisted till now.

This kind of scam especially (although by definition all scams do) abuse the drive to trust. I raise the issue of naivity, however, to stress that the rational response should not be not to trust at all, but rather to develop better smell tests before investing your trust (or money for that matter).

A good summary would have told us *how* massive it was.

Yeah, and linking to an article which is worth a shit would help as well.

Here's a link to a much more informative article.

Excerpts:
Currently, the world market for scandium is small - around two to five tonnes a year
then we'll produce - let's say - 40 tonnes of scandium.

But most relevant to your specific question is the last line: "A resource estimate is expected to be released mid-year.

2 seconds on google images: http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/technology/sci-tech/amelias-summer-job-finding-part-of-the-universe-20110526-1f6h5.html

Yes, yes I did.

"Quite" attractive? LOL, whatever buddy. I wouldn't call her ugly, more like "neutral chunky."

Cute for an astrophysicts

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/technology/sci-tech/amelias-summer-job-finding-part-of-the-universe-20110526-1f6h5.html

Chubby, but cute.

Amelia Fraser-McKelvie

"We've all seen it happen on TV a zillion times. But when a police officer recited to me those well-rehearsed words – 'you have the right to remain silent ' – I felt sick in the stomach."

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/technology/technology-news/grubbs-story-privacy-news-and-the-strong-arm-of-the-law-20110518-1esn9.html

The Policeman who confiscated Grubb's iPad was Detective Superintendent Errol Coultis. "When I questioned under what legislation they had the right to seize my iPad, Coultis told me I was under arrest in relation to receiving unlawfully obtained property." Head of the Queensland police fraud squad, Brian Hay said accessing a photo without permission was the same as stealing a TV.

Amusingly the "Queensland Police Media Service" are into twitter damage control: "Police can legally seize material which may be evidence of a crime. It will be returned as soon as we can do so."

Grubb said "I was told that forensics officers were going to make a complete copy of the information on my iPad, whether it related to this matter or not."

An absolutely disgraceful peformance by the Queensland Police involved.

AFAIK gays cannot marry in Australia. Marrying your dog is absolutely no wuckers mate.

We haven't had a major terrorist incident in the US for a while. Why?

A: There hasn't been any credible ability to do so by the bad guys
B: Nobody wants to harm the US any more
C: The counterterrorism efforts have prevented such an attack
For ANY of the above choices, how do you know? I mean, REALLY know, not just guessing or trying to shout louder than the guy next to you whose opinion is different than yours?

Survey says....C!

Al Qaeda Video Asks Detroit-Area Muslims to Act
US warned of mail bomb terror tactic last month
Explosive found in Dubai, part of US terror probe
'US terrorist tried to bring slaughter to subway in Washington'
US man pleads guilty in 'South Park' terror threat
'US thrice shared non-specific inputs on Mumbai attack'
Terrorist in failed LAX attack violated prison release with gun purchase
14 Charged with Aiding Terror Group Al-Shabab
Former Staten Island Resident Nabbed in Attempt to Join Taliban
Feds: NYC Subway Plotters Targeted London, Too (From July)

And in other news....

Osama bin Laden threatens French troops, criticizes France burqa ban
Canadian sentenced for leading terrorism plot
Hotels need EU help to defend against attack
MI6 chief Sir John Sawers says secrecy is vital to keep UK safe
Eight Britons 'trained in Pakistan for European terror strikes'
New security threat at Commonwealth Games, police, army seize explosives
British bobbies get SAS training, new weapons in wake of Mumbai-style terror threats
Gunmen storm Parliament in Chechnya, 6 dead
Bomb on bus in Philippines kills 10, wounds 9
Saudis warn Europe of terr

We already sent one transmission apparently. link

look to your own corruptocracies, and not the US corruptocracy, as the guilty parties in this matter.

Well, sure it's a partnership but the US is involved. Countries influence each other, countries with large economies and military have more influence. This will always be the case and I'd much rather have more US influence than Chinese. Corruption is not the issue I'm trying to address here.

The US does not have the power to dictate legislation to foreign lands.

Did you realise that Australia copied concepts from the US constitution into our constitution at Federation, such as freedom of religion and a government of states with a limited federal government? American influence on Australian law is profound, goes back to the founding of our country and doesn't depend on a direct legislative power of the US government.

Corruption is pretty much a constant of human affairs. Apathy is the problem. Your media corporations aren't apathetic which is why we have the DMCA. I ask for Americans to contact your federal reps regarding a bill of rights for us and what do you do? Post to slashdot that it isn't your problem. Thanks for providing the example, buddy. That's what I'm talking about. America has a lot of influence in the world right now and a lot in Australia for over a century, before you became the predominant world power. I'm not out to argue about whether the US actually has that influence or whether you should. You do have it. I don't expect you to overturn the DMCA since you haven't been able to do that in your own country.

How can I explain to you? We have laws to severely restrict people's freedom of association even if they've never been convicted of a crime. http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/antibikie-laws-watchdog-powerless-20100629-zfoz.html We have laws that can compel you to incriminate yourself under penalty of prison time for silence. http://www.independentweekly.com.au/news/local/news/general/tribe-told-of-abcc-request/1862417.aspx We have laws to punish you for saying things that others find offensive. http://www.theage.com.au/news/opinion/religious-vilification-law-undermines-multiculturalism/2006/04/30/1146335604488.html All the abuses of power in your country? We have them too. The bill of rights which is so often used as the basis of your legal protection? We've got virtually nothing. We have courts that tend to make pretty good decisions but without a bill of rights they have to enforce whatever parliament legislates.

I can and do work towards it from here. You can help. I'm not asking you to risk your life. I didn't think it was too much to ask your friends for help.

..., lots of people stuck in other countrys unable to get home and are trying any means available to try and get home.

Exactly. Heard what John Cleese did?

I read somewhere that one government job costs two private sector jobs (fair enough as it's supported by tax money). Rudd also has 150 beureacrats working on the ETS scheme that wasn't even passed. I wonder how much domestic security is sucking us dry http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/technology/technology-news/australia-responds-to-threats-of-internet-war-20100115-mcgv.html

The FCC's definition of broadband and most of the rest of the world's definition of broadband are not connected. Further, that only measures sustained transfer rate... fine if you're uploading files over FTP, but can have extremely inconsistent performance for simple HTML. The linked article goes into how that 1/2 second gap can add up to a full minute to load a single web page. To me, that sounds comparable to ISDN performance, which is not generally considered broadband.

Even if you go by their own estimates, HughesNet basic home satellite network service loads an idealized 100K web page in 5 seconds, approximately 3 times faster than 56k dialup. That puts it in the realm of 168kbps, or nowhere near the federal government's paultry definition of Broadband.

You might be happy with it. That's great. I'm glad if your Satellite connection meets your needs, especially since it fits a niche nicely for rural areas without viable alternative options. And yay for that: dial up throughput is terrible. But you're not going to realize the advantages of Skype over that. You'll spend more time waiting for pages to load, interactive conferences are right out, video conferencing with your kids while they're at college is not possible. Online gaming is out, which excises a lot of online communities. And for the kind of remote interactive work of a lot of IT professionals, the latency kills any advantages of working from home. For my grandmother it would be fine. For people transitioning from intermittent-on dial-up service, it's fine. For the rest of us, used to interacting with work files from home as if they were local, or streaming music between devices on disparate networks, or just getting stuff done remotely, satellite provides just a subset of the advantages of a full broadband connection.

My bank called me 4 days ago and told me my card was 'compromised' and Mastercard had contacted Bankwest (Australia) to inform them of a list of cards with 'security issues'. It never occured to me this might be the same issue as the 2010 / 2016 one.
Traditionally when your bank calls you and offers a card swap over, it's a pretty quick process, however it's been 4 days and nothing so I'm thinking it's quite possible they got stung too.
Looks like it according to this too.
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/business/welcome-to-2016-eftpos-glitch-spreads-20100105-lqus.html?comments=19

It was created by a knave of a Federal Government who thought they could introduce competition into the Australian Telecommunications market (then controlled by Telstra aka Telecom) by regulating to introduce just *one* competitor: Optus. The idea was that Telstra and Optus would fight each other with lower prices and better service. Instead both just sat on their hands and a monopoly became a cozy duopoly. Even though the market was opened up, these two fat, lazy and arrogant companies still dominate the market.

Optus has been a terrible teleco ever since inception. Its broadband packages are amongst the worst in the country. It's offerings are overpriced and plagued with poor service. They're arrogant to boot: Whenever they do screw up their PR is terrible. They're unethical too (which is to say they're criminal, but being a big company with good lawyers mean you can break the law with a slap on the wrist at worst case).

Like this one: Incredible, but Optus conspired to have phone sex calls made by aussies to International Numbers *diverted to their own phone sex partner!* That's right, when you saw Hot Monica advertizing at 2AM on Channel 10 and called, your call was diverted from the advertizer and ended up fattening Optus's profits. Sounds as illegal as hell. Yes: This is Australia's #2 Teleco:

"In an earlier case, Justice Robert McDougall was much harsher with Bragg, saying he had no regard for the truth, except for when it suited him. In this case Optus was forced to pay millions to Gilsan after it was found to have skimmed money from Gilsan by under-reporting the number of minutes porn clients were on the phone so Optus could take home a larger share of the profits."

http://groups.google.com/group/comp.dcom.telecom/browse_thread/thread/37a2629cd46244a0
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/articles/2009/01/05/1231003882552.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1
http://www.the-scream.co.uk/forums/t28492.html

Google for "optus sucks" and equally "telsta sucks" and you will see many links.

User generated content? All crap, all the time. No, that isn't going to be the future of entertainment.

It won't be the whole future but it's here to stay whether you like it or not. User generated content is being used as the entire basis for mainstream media content sometimes now, such as in this news story about the "wedding dance video". You are way off base if you think this type of content isn't going to have a place in mainstream entertainment.

What most people don't understand is we've grown an entire generation that believes it all should be free and will never, ever pay.

Like with free to air TV and radio? Free content is hardly a new thing, for many people a significant portion of their entertainment has been free (ad supported) content for decades.

The idea that people aren't willing to pay is a lie anyway and everyone who promotes the idea knows it. iTunes proved that. If you provide the product or service people want they will pay for it. Make paid for DRM free downloads available at the right price and most people won't bother with "pirate" sites with even minimal risk of getting caught. Just having predictable quality movie and music files will win people over on convenience over illegal downloads.

I also want to add that you Americans have the weirdest ideals about healthcare. ARE YOU FREAKING CRAZY!!!

Although I am a fellow Australian, I think I can explain this to you. In our country, we have the government taking very good care of us, for example with the new requirement for bakers to put iodised salt in bread. Now it is very unlikely for any Australian to have an iodine deficiency because the government will make sure we get our nutrition, just like a good parent makes their children eat their vegetables.

Strange as it may seem, some people do not want to be locked in a perpetual childhood, nurtured and comforted by the parent figure government. They are prepared to take on the risks and hardships of adulthood and desire to make their own decisions. A great many, though not all, of the people who think this way live in the US.

Knife makers enabled uncountable murders by stabbing, and other crimes such as robbery. Firearms makers enabled untold deaths, and other crimes such as robbery.

Firearms are not available for self-defence in Australia. It is illegal to carry a knife except for narrowly defined purposes. It is under consideration to ban glasses in pubs, requiring drinks to be served in plastic, to try and prevent "glassing" attacks. http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/glass-ban-wont-work-hotels-association-20091005-gjbz.html Of course, those of us who pointed out the stupidity of this line of thinking and where it would lead when the gun bans were introduced were mocked as extremists. Nobody would be banning knives we were told. Even we did not anticipate such an absurdity as banning glasses.

Do not count on the average Australian to have the logical capability to understand what's going on. Possibly they will oppose it if they want to download free stuff, if not, they will probably think it's a wonderful, necessary thing.

There's a difference between not wanting an education and not thinking that increasing the time children are subject to government compulsion will achieve that education.

Public education has existed in my country for about 130 years. Bureau of Statistics data shows that almost half of all working Australians have less than the minimum literacy and numeracy levels required to meet the demands of everyday work. If after 130 years they can't get better results than that, what evidence is there that I should be willing to let the government get involved in my children's education in any capacity?

... give the impression that Austalia's governors are stupid fucks.

Our country originated as a convict settlement, many of our cultural heroes were armed robbers. We don't like our governments too smart.

Just kidding, the real reason is we have nearly 50% illiteracy and compulsory voting.
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/small-business/managing/poor-worker-literacy-hurting-business-20090831-f4fz.html

Some combination of those reasons anyway.

What education should be about is understanding

If our education system was intended to benefit the children it would not need to be compulsory.
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/small-business/managing/poor-worker-literacy-hurting-business-20090831-f4fz.html
"Bureau of Statistics data shows that almost half of all working Australians have less than the minimum literacy and numeracy levels required to meet the demands of everyday work."

I think NSW introduced compulsory schooling around 1880. This experiment has gone on long enough.

No, it's not actually. This is the New South Wales government, whereas the "child abuse" case (I don't believe he was actually accused of distributing child porn) was the Queensland government.

Wrong case, he is referring to this one from NSW.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24771973-16947,00.html

The case you are probably thinking of was dropped. http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/technology/technology-news/babyswinging-video-charges-dropped-20090909-fh33.html

From a helpful Queenslander. :)

Link to Brisbane pics

Are you sure you would have been like that if you hadn't spent most of your formative years in school? IMO school is primarily designed to produce people who will take orders. In my country Bureau of Statistics data shows that almost half of all working Australians have less than the minimum literacy and numeracy levels required to meet the demands of everyday work. Logically, if school was really about education they would have corrected this before now. So what is the real purpose of school?

Politicians haven't decided the matter. Climate scientists, the people best qualified to do so, have decided the matter and provided reports to the politicians, who then decide that to do about it.

The only way for non-experts to make a meaningful judgement is to become experts.

Sorry, I've known too many experts to accept that. Perhaps the ones I haven't met personally could convince me. Wasn't it experts who were running the banks and financial system? How's that working out? I know that in my country, experts run the education system. How's that working out? I know, I know, science is different, blah, blah. Scientists come from the same educational institutions that have nearly half of their output functionally illiterate. Is it the degree that's supposed to inspire confidence? What about the MBA's, economists and teachers?

Then you have experts that disagree:
http://jennifermarohasy.com/blog/2008/02/first-woman-to-earn-phd-in-meteorology-speaks-out/
http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/another_ipcc_dissenter_speaks_out

So now I, as a non-expert, am in the position of being confronted with divided experts. I suppose I'll have to rely on my own judgement after all. If you, as a scientist, can make the logical blunder in the first line I quoted, there's no way I'm giving in to a dictatorship made of the likes of you.

There was a recent piece of "journalism" in australia that tried to make a tenuous link that "if you buy a DVD at a flea market you are funding terrorism", sigh.

(I firehosed this story too with some extra information about how the Copyright Lobby primed the Australian Media to run a ridiculous piracy=terrorism story, complete with a claim by Australian Reporter Mike Munroe that pirates could "burn a DVD in 3.5 seconds":)

Australia's Fairfax group published an article by Journalists Eamonn Duff and Rachel Browne claiming that people who download films from illegal file-sharing websites are financing terrorism. The article only quoted media industry sources and was basically a warmed-up press release. That evening Channel Seven "Sunday Night" current affairs program claimed how how movie piracy is being used to fund terrorist groups including Hezbollah and Jemaah Islamiah, responsible for the Bali bombings in 2002 which killed hundreds including 94 Australians. Reporter Mike Munro claimed pirates "could burn a DVD in 3.5 seconds."

While technically-savy voters can sort fact from fiction, technically-illiterate politicians are easily swayed. What's the best way to combat this sort of misinformation? Is it possible to educate our politicians that there are two sides to every story? Or are they hopelessly in the lobbyists pockets.

Why the hell is your government giving a company money with internal security like this?

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2009/04/06/1238869885378.html
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/technology/defence-contractor-linked-to-neonazi-group-20090406-9ubu.html

> The wikipedia link you posted says Wolf Spiders don't grow to more than 3cm... so either those aren't Wolf Spiders running around your house or you're rather prone to exaggeration yourself.

Give me your address and I'll mail you one! The 3cm Wikipedia quotes is *BODY SIZE*. I'm talking toe-to-toe. When someone asks your height, unless you're an amputee you *do* count your legs don't you? "I'm 4 foot. Oh LOL. You mean with my legs too? I always forget those." And BTW as other posters note wolf spiders can get much bigger than 10 cm anyway. Mine do, but you ever tried to measure one? The good news is being Australia I'll accept a years supply of beer as an apology.

Update: The very same papers which carried the stories is now pleading "Web of lies: UK press plays up Queensland spider 'invasion'"

> Mr Geiszler laughed off the coverage this morning, telling brisbanetimes.com.au it had been "blown out of all proportion and massively sensationalised." "There have been no more than 10 sightings of these spiders here," Mr Geiszler said. "There is definitely not an invasion or a plague or anything like that.
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/qld-news/web-of-lies-uk-press-plays-up-queensland-spider-invasion-20090508-ax58.html

Good thing we don't trust the main stream media for anything important, like when to go to war... Yes, I'm looking at you, Rupert.