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Same thing in all of the "developing world" -- Malaysia, Russia, Paraguay, China.

At 13.7%, the Australian system covers about 1 million sq km, compared to the US land mass of 9.6 million sq km. (I used CIA figures for US and Australia )

So the US system has 1.5 times as many potential users per sq km of coverage. (Interpret the significance of this as you will)

[Sorry I can't compare the two against Canada, but I couldn't find a land-area mobile coverage percent for Canada. Also, I realise I've used total populations, not mobile user populations, but the CIA site had out-of-date figures ('98 and '00), and I didn't find any better elsewhere.]

At 13.7%, the Australian system covers about 1 million sq km, compared to the US land mass of 9.6 million sq km. (I used CIA figures for US and Australia )

So the US system has 1.5 times as many potential users per sq km of coverage. (Interpret the significance of this as you will)

[Sorry I can't compare the two against Canada, but I couldn't find a land-area mobile coverage percent for Canada. Also, I realise I've used total populations, not mobile user populations, but the CIA site had out-of-date figures ('98 and '00), and I didn't find any better elsewhere.]

Efforts to increase GDP include the promotion of tourism and a financial services industry, although Premier LAKATANI announced in February 2002 that Niue will shut down the offshore banking industry.

Worth noting is that Tom Hanks little Island in Castaway was supposed to be "600 miles south of the Cook Islands". Niue is one of the Cook Islands.

The article linked talks about $50m worth of damage. I'm assuming it's $NZ as it's a NZ site. That's around $US34m. According to the CIA Factbook there is a population of 2145, but I've heard numbers as low as 1200. Let's assume 2000. Also on the CIA site is a GDP of $US3600 per capita. I read somewhere (can't find a reference) that a few hundred houses were destroyed.

So, $50m sounds like an awful lot - I'd like to know where that number comes from.

So we're talking about the smallest "independent" country in the world

Sorry, not even close.

So we're talking about the smallest "independent" country in the world

Sorry, not even close.

So we're talking about the smallest "independent" country in the world

Sorry, not even close.

Actually I prefer Tokelau for my free/cheap domain addresses from a small island nation, mostly because .tk is close enough like "tech" to get a geek like me smiling. However it figures that /. is being used by some idiot who links to a non-existant page, shows off a nice custom 404 on the hosting site tho. Actually I wonder if Tokelau got hit by that hurricane too, nothing on their site about it (yet).

Jonah Hex

Well, Sealand doesn't exactly qualify as a recognized nation in the international scene. For smallest official independent state, I think Vatican City (Holy See) qualifies for that award.

It says right there in the CIA World Factbook "Natural hazards: typhoons "

"...as the smallest independent state in the world,..."

Isn't the smallest nation is The Principality of Sealand, which has received coverage on /. quite a few times for the hosting company that runs on it?

Aside from a few geeks, no one believes that Sealand is a nation. There are no embassies, no currency, no government. I believe that the Vatican is the smallest nation at 0.44 square km.

WTF is Niue??

CIA World Factbook to the rescue!

http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ ne.html

Niue - Cia world factbook info

This link is for people like me who had never heard of this place before and is full of intresting facts such as.

"The sale of postage stamps to foreign collectors is an important source of revenue."

Available from the CIA Factbook entry for Niue.

I think you just proved his point... (According to the CIA, India has 1,049,700,118 people.)

Look, I don't want to beat a dead horse. But I gave a response, which is that first of all, direct subsidies are not likely to be effective, and second of all, that the proper governments of failed states are the ones responsible for the problems within their countries. If the US chooses to spend money on space exploration or entertainment or cosmetics or whatever, that's our choice. Our money, our choice, our priorities. Those who choose not to participate aren't necessarily stupid or wrong, and I don't think we will say that (though it's *possible* that someone will say "You're either with us or against us").

Even if one feels a general sympathy for those suffering under the misrule of oppressive, incompetent, and rapacious rulers, that does not mean that one is obligated to do something about it. We didn't make the problem, and in some cases, I don't think we can solve the problem.

Many failed states are NOT failed because they lack resources: look at the DRC for example. CIA World Fact Book on Demo. Repub. of the Congo. They have ample resources such as minerals, but the rulers have squandered and stolen the wealth of their countries. Limited resources?

I agree with BlackParrot but I think it's deeper than just the Canopy Group. I think it's an all out war between the current Bush Administration and control of the Internet and OSS.

Time to try and dig up a link between the principals at Canopy Group and the thugs over at PNAC

For what it's worth, here's my standard rant. The conjecture is pure conjecture, the facts are _facts_.

Cheers!

Americans are no longer living in a Democratic Republic. They're now living in a oligarchy controlled by super-right wing neoconservatives and big oil, and fueled by scaring the living daylights out of the populace. The constitution has all but been thrown out.

In yesterday's SCO discussion I speculated that, to my mind anyhow, it's more likely that Darl and friends are being funded and directed by Cheney and friends rather than Microsoft.

Have you noticed some of the phrasing of SCO's letters? "the GPL is unconstitutional" (they use the constitution when it fits their needs), "have you shipped to Syria, Iran, North Korea" (read: any axis-of-evil countries)?

Within the next couple of months expect them to start making noises about Linux and OSS being a security threat. I certainly have noticed an undercurrent, a sub-text if you will, of this administration to gain more effective control of the Internet and OSS. What was up with the clandestine use of RFID tags at the Internet Summit?

Ask yourself, who is pulling Darl McBride's strings? Is it Bill? Is it Scott? Or is it, just maybe, Cheney? Kellogg, Brown & Root have been up to far more nefarious activities than this. It's a cakewalk for them.

I'll tell you a little secret. Oil is, and always has been the _top_ national security concern of the United States of America.

This little spaceship Earth of ours is rapidly heading for a major crisis. The United States consumes 20 billion barrels of oil a year. The world consumes 76 billion barrels (2001 numbers).
In 2001 only 8 billion barrels of new oil was discovered, and that was spread out over 300 relatively small and economicaly challenging fields.

Did you catch that? We burned 80 billion barrels of oil this year but discovered less than 10 billion. This has been going on for many years now. A few years ago the rule of thumb was we burned 4 barrels for every barrel discovered. Now it's 8:1. And China and India or only just getting started.

It's January 7th, and you're putting 4 logs a day on the fire, you look out the window and you see only 120 pieces of wood left in your wood pile. Oh well! We'll figure something out before March!

At any rate, the point is, Bush and all is oil patch buddies are painfully aware of this little dilemma and they know just what to do about it. Secure the oil, and batten down the hatches on the populace.

Go to the CIA World Factbook and look up the country you live in, say Norway for example, scroll down to the "Economy" section and check out the "oil produced" and "oil consumed" figures. Interesting, eh? Norway is one of the few exceptions, a country that actually produces more oil than it consumes. In fact, Norway is the _only_ country that produces more than 10 times the amount of oil than it consumes. Anyway, that's not the point. Now click on the little graph icon next to "oil produced". Examine the top 20 oil producing countries. Ask yourself, which of these countries does the US control through one of these means: trade agreement, corruption, bullying, family ties :) ?

Which ones does the US not yet fully control? Now you know who's next on the hit list.

Do you think things are bad now? You ain't seen nothin' yet. How are you going to live when a barrel of oil costs $60? When a gallon of gas costs 4 bucks? 5 bucks? How about propane to heat your house at $3/gal? $4/gal? When the price of food doubles

That's fascinating information; maybe you should call the CIA and tell them to update their web pages -- their information must be out of date!

Americans are no longer living in a Democratic Republic. They're now living in a oligarchy controlled by super-right wing neoconservatives and big oil, and fueled by scaring the living daylights out of the populace. The constitution has all but been thrown out.

In yesterday's SCO discussion I speculated that, to my mind anyhow, it's more likely that Darl and friends are being funded and directed by Cheney and friends rather than Microsoft.

Have you noticed some of the phrasing of SCO's letters? "the GPL is unconstitutional" (they use the constitution when it fits their needs), "have you shipped to Syria, Iran, North Korea" (read: any axis-of-evil countries)?

Within the next couple of months expect them to start making noises about Linux and OSS being a security threat. I certainly have noticed an undercurrent, a sub-text if you will, of this administration to gain more effective control of the Internet and OSS. What was up with the clandestine use of RFID tags at the Internet Summit?

Ask yourself, who is pulling Darl McBride's strings? Is it Bill? Is it Scott? Or is it, just maybe, Cheney? Kellogg, Brown & Root have been up to far more nefarious activities than this. It's a cakewalk for them.

I'll tell you a little secret. Oil is, and always has been the _top_ national security concern of the United States of America.

This little spaceship Earth of ours is rapidly heading for a major crisis. The United States consumes 20 billion barrels of oil a year. The world consumes 76 billion barrels (2001 numbers).
In 2001 only 8 billion barrels of new oil was discovered, and that was spread out over 300 relatively small and economicaly challenging fields.

Did you catch that? We burned 80 billion barrels of oil this year but discovered less than 10 billion. This has been going on for many years now. A few years ago the rule of thumb was we burned 4 barrels for every barrel discovered. Now it's 8:1. And China and India or only just getting started.

It's January 7th, and you're putting 4 logs a day on the fire, you look out the window and you see only 120 pieces of wood left in your wood pile. Oh well! We'll figure something out before March!

At any rate, the point is, Bush and all is oil patch buddies are painfully aware of this little dilemma and they know just what to do about it. Secure the oil, and batten down the hatches on the populace.

Go to the CIA World Factbook and look up the country you live in, say Norway for example, scroll down to the "Economy" section and check out the "oil produced" and "oil consumed" figures. Interesting, eh? Norway is one of the few exceptions, a country that actually produces more oil than it consumes. In fact, Norway is the _only_ country that produces more than 10 times the amount of oil than it consumes. Anyway, that's not the point. Now click on the little graph icon next to "oil produced". Examine the top 20 oil producing countries. Ask yourself, which of these countries does the US control through one of these means: trade agreement, corruption, bullying, family ties :) ?

Which ones does the US not yet fully control? Now you know who's next on the hit list.

Do you think things are bad now? You ain't seen nothin' yet. How are you going to live when a barrel of oil costs $60? When a gallon of gas costs 4 bucks? 5 bucks? How about propane to heat your house at $3/gal? $4/gal? When the price of food doubles because of the fuel costs to run the farm equipment and our energy intensive food processing (i.e. how does Campbells purify the water in your soup?)
And, as an aside, what the hell is up with #2 auto diesel costing more than premium gasoline in Silicon Valley?

As you can see, IMNSHO, it's all about oil and "security". Except it's a very twisted and mad concept of security. SCO is just another lever in the sub-game of clamping down on the Internet, just as is the RIAA, DMCA, etc.

They speak English in India.

See the CIA factbook entry on India.

-Peter

They speak English in India.

See the CIA factbook entry on India.

-Peter

Marine report

State Dept report

CIA Report

(I couldn't resist at all)

Germany has a weak military compared to both the UK and France.

References? Germany and UK spent $38.8 billion and $31.7 billion on the military in 2002. France spent $46.5 billion. Perhaps you're referring to Germany's lack of nuclear weapons?

:w

Germany has a weak military compared to both the UK and France.

References? Germany and UK spent $38.8 billion and $31.7 billion on the military in 2002. France spent $46.5 billion. Perhaps you're referring to Germany's lack of nuclear weapons?

:w

Germany has a weak military compared to both the UK and France.

References? Germany and UK spent $38.8 billion and $31.7 billion on the military in 2002. France spent $46.5 billion. Perhaps you're referring to Germany's lack of nuclear weapons?

:w

While Israel may be pretty much all Jews who would welcome Hebrew language support

The CIA would seem to agree with you. They list the primary language of Iran as "Persian".

FYI:
USA purchasing power parity - $36,300
Greece purchasing power parity - $19,100
Canada purchasing power parity - $29,300
UK purchasing power parity - $25,500
Germany purchasing power parity - $26,200

Dunno if the numbers are accurate, but I would be very much interested to also know the standard deviation for each of these figures. IMHO, for Greece the dispersion must be HUGE, while in America or Canada I believe it must be close to Gaussian.

FYI:
USA purchasing power parity - $36,300
Greece purchasing power parity - $19,100
Canada purchasing power parity - $29,300
UK purchasing power parity - $25,500
Germany purchasing power parity - $26,200

Dunno if the numbers are accurate, but I would be very much interested to also know the standard deviation for each of these figures. IMHO, for Greece the dispersion must be HUGE, while in America or Canada I believe it must be close to Gaussian.

FYI:
USA purchasing power parity - $36,300
Greece purchasing power parity - $19,100
Canada purchasing power parity - $29,300
UK purchasing power parity - $25,500
Germany purchasing power parity - $26,200

Dunno if the numbers are accurate, but I would be very much interested to also know the standard deviation for each of these figures. IMHO, for Greece the dispersion must be HUGE, while in America or Canada I believe it must be close to Gaussian.

FYI:
USA purchasing power parity - $36,300
Greece purchasing power parity - $19,100
Canada purchasing power parity - $29,300
UK purchasing power parity - $25,500
Germany purchasing power parity - $26,200

Dunno if the numbers are accurate, but I would be very much interested to also know the standard deviation for each of these figures. IMHO, for Greece the dispersion must be HUGE, while in America or Canada I believe it must be close to Gaussian.

FYI:
USA purchasing power parity - $36,300
Greece purchasing power parity - $19,100
Canada purchasing power parity - $29,300
UK purchasing power parity - $25,500
Germany purchasing power parity - $26,200

Dunno if the numbers are accurate, but I would be very much interested to also know the standard deviation for each of these figures. IMHO, for Greece the dispersion must be HUGE, while in America or Canada I believe it must be close to Gaussian.

Also included: sniper's eye view of the cafeteria, and the evidence destroying facility in action.

Also included: sniper's eye view of the cafeteria, and the evidence destroying facility in action.

Also included: sniper's eye view of the cafeteria, and the evidence destroying facility in action.

Also included: sniper's eye view of the cafeteria, and the evidence destroying facility in action.

Would you like to highlight publications or Internet sites that we should know about?

I'm not talking about % im talking about sheer numbers. In the 1991 Cencus there were 101 million muslim's in India. According to CIA world fact book, there are currently 126 million in 2003.

Just so you know...

Democratic Republic of the Congo is not primarily Islamic. In fact it is 70% christian according to the CIA, and only about 10% Islamic. It is a dictatorship but what is going on there has less to do with religion, than an incredibly brutal civil war motivated mostly by the lust of foreign capital for congo's natural resources.

As for Nigeria, it is not technically a dictatorship (as opposed to the USA, their current president actually recieved a majority of the popular vote, although there were some "irregularities" reported during the election). It is only 50% muslim, and the few provinces that have imposed Sharia law are opposed by the national government (every time someone convicted in a sharia court appeals to a national court). I am not sure, but I believe the executions of juveniles probably were confined to the period of military dictatorship which has since ended.

"As Wal-Mart, we do not discriminate against anyone, including women," said Mona Williams, Wal-Mart's vice president for communications.

She noted that when Wal-Mart posted notices companywide in January inviting workers to apply to become management trainees, only 43 percent of those who expressed interest were women.

(emphasis mine)

13-16 hour days molding, assembling, and painting toys, 7 days a week; 20 hour days in the peak season.

A whole 13 hours at Christmas? And here I am working at my shop doing 24 hour days. Fuck you and the horse you rode in on. They have it good. But hey, just pretend nobody is working long hours at Christmas in North America, the wool over your eyes will keep you warm.

Workers are paid 13 cents/hour wages in China: the minimum wage is 31 cents.

Incorrect. There is no minimum wage in China. However, individual Chinese cities have elected to enact minimum wage standards.

The minimum wage in Shenyang, for example, is 320 yuan monthly, or 8 cents per hour if your above numbers are true.

But that's ok. Don't let the truth cloud your rhetoric.

There is no health or safety enforcement: constant headaches and nausea from chemical fumes, indoor temperatures above 100 degrees F, rampant repetitive stress disorder, no protective clothing available.

That's not unusual for any Chinese factory. It's not unusual for any developing nation. It is unfortunate and my heart bleeds for them. But denying them employment and money will only serve to exacerbate such problems through death and pestilence.

Most employees are young women or teenage girls.

It is unfortunate that in most rural areas choices are diffcult and it is believed in such areas that men are more suited to farm work than women. This leads to women working in such factories to support the financial aspect of such families.

Suppliers have to open their accounting books to Wal-Mart executives so they can cut "unnecessary expenses" like unionized worke

What the heck is a USian? Is that someone from the United States of Mexico?

Compare the economies of India and Russia. India's GDP was about twice that of Russia's last year. While a higher proportion of Russia's GDP was in its industrialized sector, India's industrialized sector is still larger, in absolute terms.

There is an old aphorism that inside every fat man there is a thin man screaming to get out. So, remember, India's industrial sector is larger than Russia's.

Compare the economies of India and Russia. India's GDP was about twice that of Russia's last year. While a higher proportion of Russia's GDP was in its industrialized sector, India's industrialized sector is still larger, in absolute terms.

There is an old aphorism that inside every fat man there is a thin man screaming to get out. So, remember, India's industrial sector is larger than Russia's.

The provided map is a map of Saudi Arabia not Iraq. True, Iraq is in the map, but most of the map is Saudi Arabia. How do they expect the WMD to be found w/o a detailed map of Iraq?

Haven't you read the bible? I think you'll find that land was given to us by god personally, and we have a right to remove any filthy unwashed non-jews killing our people and building their filthy settlements on our land.

I hate to feed a troll, but FYI:

Canada.

What the fuck that country would be? Eritrea?

Hardly a North African country. Where did you "learn" geography (and spelling...)? In an American school?

From the article:

Taiwan produces about a third of the world's chips, more than 60 percent of its laptop computers and 70 percent of the mother boards, among other things. Personal-computer giants Dell and Hewlett-Packard buy most of their products in Taiwan and China.

Sounds similar to the substantial position of some western corporations to me, only that the producer

• is a country
  
• is a country the size of which is merely the sixth part of Kansas
  
• is a country which has roughly ten times as many inhabitants as Kansas, which in turn is flatter than a pancake and thus should take precedence in producing wafers
  

On a side note: I would be grateful if one of our American friends could explain the fact that Taiwan is available through the CIA-factbook mentioned above, but cannot easily be found on the pulldown located on the main page.