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"Australia was actually created by people running away from Britain because of persecution"

"What about the natives of Australia that got wipped out!

Frankly I'd rather see industry moves toward reliable solid state mass storage. Mechanical means just don't cut it any more as far as I'm concerned, just take a look at my journal to see the reason for my stance on that matter.

But where would we be without a few conspiracy theories?...

• Hard drive manufacturers operate an underground "quality cartel" on desktop grade drives, making people buy more and more, averaging out losses from customers switching brands, pumping up profit.
  
• HD makers are secretly on the take from the R.I.A.A. and M.P.A.A. to make crap drives, meaning all those evil mp3 pirates cannot hoard and share their booty for too long.
  
• The Men In Dark Suits Who Do Not Exist secretly sift through dumpsites in the dead of night looking for hard drives from which to recover details and evidence of MP3/DVD pirates, terrorists and other criminal activity. And pr0n.

Ali

Yeah, it is pretty funny that Japan has less than half the population of the US. Actually, I don't get it. And the term GNP is over a decade out of date, so let's go ahead and use the GDP from now on, shall we? I don't know where you got your information that Japan's GDP is 70% that of the US's, because it's really closer to 30%. And the US's GDP per capita is 50% higher than Japan's.

Why don't you try a little reading? I promise, it won't hurt.

You, sir, are the idiot. Indeed, I don't know where you got the idea that I ever said "The US is the only country too fat for its own good." You seem to be mistaking me for your ingrained stereotype of "other people." Your precious enemy, the "green peace equal rights clueless folk." My take on the issue, which you would probably know if you'd actually read my previous posts, would actually be closer along the lines of "Just because the US is wealthy, doesn't mean all the other countries are too." If the US has the highest GDP, and the highest GDP per capita, wouldn't it then follow that there are a lot of countries that are poorer than the US? Namely, all of them?

Funny that you're calling me clueless, but your facts are all wrong. It seems to me that the accuser would be better suited to being accused. (If you didn't catch that one, it means that you're clueless.)

Isn't the fact that no single nation on Earth can afford to develop a Mars mission a strong indication that it is massively impractical?

Says who?? That's the part I don't understand. $20 billion is a lot of money to you and me, but not to a lot of countries. The US can afford to build $5 billion submarines (and $200 million fighter planes). The US can afford to build a $60 billion missile defense that has a snowball's chance in hell of working. The JSF program is going to cost anywhere between $200 billion and $1 trillion. Granted, the cost are going to be distributed over many years, but you could do that with a Mars mission as well.

Now, let's not point the finger at the US alone. Many European countries (or Japan) could actually afford a Mars mission, if they really wanted to. Maybe the Russians would have trouble financing it, but if they don't need hard currency (i.e. if they could pay for it in rubles), they might just pull it off.

What is lacking is the political will. Like many posters pointed out, in the 60s there was a prestige aspect to the moon race (cold war, JFK, etc.). We're in a different situation right now, it is hard to convince the public that this is a good idea, especially since the payoff is going to be mostly scientific in nature.

...but it would take 5% of the world's GDP for 10 years...

Err, no, not even close to that. Let's look at some CIA data for the GDP of a few countries :

USA: $9.963 trillion
Japan: $3.15 trillion
South Korea: $764.6 billion
Russia: $1.12 trillion
United Kingdom: $1.36 trillion
France: $1.448 trillion
Netherlands: $388.4 billion
Germany: $1.936 trillion
Australia: $445.8 billion

I could go on and on. Remember that these are annual numbers. My point is that even small countries could fund this, given the political will. The US or Europe could easily pay for it by themselves. $20 billion is just a drop in the bucket.

If you fear bin Laden or Al Queda I think you're taking the threat a little too seriously. Since the attack on Tora Bora there simply haven't been any new bin Laden videos with actual new footage of the man himself.

On the other hand, America's enemies are not simply limited to crazy Arabic peoples bitter about America's hegemony. They include a very wary China, a not quite mentally stable North Korea, and a beaten but not cowed Iraq. The thing is, though, that they likely already have our secrets. So basically, it's way too late to worry about the possibility that this game is going to give away military secrets.

We have so much land it's significantly more expensive to cover the USA than an island that is only 374,744 sq km compared to the USA which is 9,158,960 sq km

Hell Europe is barely bigger than the USA at and has significanlty more people at 731,716,000 compared to 287,412,865 in the USA.

BTW we're kicking the worlds ass when it comes to wealth. Which in my opinion is a hell of a lot better than sending a Instant Message(tm) over a cell phone.

Seven million Swiss people say you might be wrong when you say he meant euros instead of francs....

Seven million Swiss people say you might be wrong when you say he meant euros instead of francs....

It's Djibouti, a tiny African country on the Red Sea, bordered by Ethiopia and Somalia.

Liechtenstein is a tiny principality nestled between Switzerland aus Austria. The NIC is here. Registration is CHF 35 per year (~ USD 24), and if they make a profit, they reduce next year's fees accordingly (this has actually happened twice in the last 5 years). The registrar, Switch, is also bidding for the .org gTLD.

Liechtenstein is a tiny principality nestled between Switzerland aus Austria. The NIC is here. Registration is CHF 35 per year, and if they make a profit, they reduce next year's fees accordingly (this has actually happened twice in the last 5 years). The registrar, Switch, is also bidding for the .org gTLD.

Er, which capital city are you thinking of?

There isn't even a city where the G8 is officially being held (Kananaskis) and Calgary is neither a federal nor a provincial capital.

Toronto, is not Canada's capital either.

Ottawa holds that dubious honour. Toronto just thinks it's the captial of Canada and, of course, many people around the world get fooled.

For good time, you can always check what our southern neighbours think about us.

You realize that .tv is one of "those strange 3rd world country names" right? It's Tuvalu. The country is trying to make money off their TLD.

But a shoe-phone would be funnier.
Almost enought to make me pay for tvland.

As for literacy, Zimbabwe has the highest literacy rate, certainly in sub-saharan africa, and possibly in the entire continent.

Give it time. With Mugabe and his cronies in power, soon Zimbabwe will be in the same category as Rwanda and Mozambique. It's already half-way there, going from a food exporter that kept many of its neighbours alive to a country riddled with famine.

Zimbabwe is an example of how a country can go from one of the highest standards of living on the continent to being an economic basket-case in just a decade or two. All it takes is a populist Demagogue.

Quote from the CIA Factbook:

Telephone system: general assessment: system was once one of the best in Africa, but now suffers from poor maintenance; more than 100,000 outstanding requests for connection despite an equally large number of installed but unused main lines

page 13
In the U.S., the software sector accounted for approximately 319 million jobs in 2001

But according to the CIA Factbook:

Labor force: 140.9 million (includes unemployed) (2000)

Pretty much, he meant GDP per capita- if all the wealth was divided equally. The DROC is pretty close to his estimate.

Answering the question: What the heck is a GDP anyway?

The CIA world factbook, which beats the reference materials I used to have as a kid.

To all those reading this, wondering where their Porsche is, there's a simple fact you should know now before it's too late. A six figure income will not make up for ever living above your means. You're better off putting off those luxuries until you can get them without a credit card or a loan. If today's pleasure is purchased at the cost of your future, you can forget all about pleasure tomorrow.

If you'd bothered to read the article completely, you might have noticed that the authors are Dutch, and you know, English isn't the language that Dutch people speak natively... Suprisingly enough, that language is called Dutch and is fairly different from English even though they are both members of the Indo-European language family... For being non-native speakers, the tweakers did pretty good. Bold added for the benefit of the awareness-impaired.

1. We grow bananas here. Besides, I did backspace over that stuff!
2. Someone seems to have confused Zaire with .za

You know... that big frozen thing north of the United States? Like a state, but not one? There are actual people there, and many of them have actual money (that they can also get in handy US form.)

For more information on this place called Canada, check out the CIA Factbook. Now, I just wonder if their igloos are wired for the internet.

Taiwan is as much a country as Kuwait is (Remember when Iraq called Kuwait the 17th Province? Same deal.). China simply refuses to acknowledge it, and is threatening to conquer the independent nation of Taiwan by force. Hmmm... if they really owned Taiwan, why would they have to invade it just to assert authority over it?

Taiwan has its own government, military, and seperate ties to the US (seperate from China, that is). In fact, the US has pledged to defend Taiwan if the gangsters of Beijing ever stage an invasion. So Taiwan is recognized by the USA and most of the rest of the civilized world.

What the CIA says about Taiwan. - We recognize Taiwan. Taiwan recognizes us.

BBC Article of interest - We sell weapons to Taiwan, much to China's consternation. Beijing does not dictate Taiwan's foreign policy any more than the UK dictates America's foreign policy.

In short, you are full of shit. So is Beijing, for that matter. Taiwan is, and of rights ought to be, a free and independent nation.

Taiwan is not particularly poor it. According to the CIA fact book it had a GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity of $17,400 (2000 est.).

This is more or less on par with EU countries, although admittedly a little poorer than the US.

/jeorgen

Taiwan's economy is half the size of Canada's. It is by no means small.

Canada
GDP: purchasing power parity - $774.7 billion (2000 est.)
GDP - real growth rate: 4.3% (2000 est.)
GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $24,800 (2000 est.)

Taiwan
GDP: purchasing power parity - $386 billion (2000 est.)
GDP - real growth rate: 6.3% (2000 est.)
GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $17,400 (2000 est.)

Taiwan's economy is half the size of Canada's. It is by no means small.

Canada
GDP: purchasing power parity - $774.7 billion (2000 est.)
GDP - real growth rate: 4.3% (2000 est.)
GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $24,800 (2000 est.)

Taiwan
GDP: purchasing power parity - $386 billion (2000 est.)
GDP - real growth rate: 6.3% (2000 est.)
GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $17,400 (2000 est.)

In case you didn't know where Japan is either, I did some investigative journalism:

Japan is an island in the Pacific Ocean.

Thank you know please give me karma it makes me feel alive.

You don't know much about the South West of England eh :) Probably 95% of the land is countryside, we have 2 huge national parks that are protected. We're not in any great danger of running out of natural habitats here yet.

In a related, though hardly usefull, point it's interesting to note the size of the United Kingdom 244,820 sq km and the size of Canada's national Parks 244,540.0 sq km.

I've not been to visit despite it only being 20 minutes away

That being said I live in Alberta which, among others has bits of Jasper, Banff & Wood Buffalo National Parks and of the three I've only visited 2. Well Banff, which is only a 3 hour drive, I've only driven through.

GDP composition Agriculture: 2%

Canada 23%, Mexico 14%, Japan 8%, UK 5%, Germany 4%

"Meeting the increase in demand for energy will pose neither a major supply challenge nor lead to substantial price increases in real terms. Estimates of the world's total endowment of oil have steadily increased as technological progress in extracting oil from remote sources has enabled new discoveries and more efficient production. Recent estimates indicate that 80 percent of the world's available oil still remains in the ground, as does 95 percent of the world's natural gas."

Everything you ever wanted to know about Iceland (but were too stupid to ask)

Bjork, super stable gov't, low unemployment, more cell phones than land lines.

Sounds about right

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

E.

Which line of the Factbook would you like me to read? Perhaps the one below:

"...has recently been undermined by high unemployment, rising maintenance costs, and a declining position in world markets."

Sweden

Perhaps your blind adherence to an ideology that has failed *everywhere* it has been tried is the one that needs checking, my Chekist friend.

The countries you cite are unfortunate examples for your arguement, as they would be little affected by the disappearance of petrolium:

Nigeria: Petrol money goes to western companies (such as Shell/BP/ExxonMobile/etc) and to a minor amount the (unspeakably corrupt) Nigerian government. The well-paid workers are imported. A few tens of thousands out of 130 million workers are directly employed by the petrol industry. Less than 10% of Nigerians have anything to do with industry, and over 70% of workers are directly involved with agriculture. (and not the type of agriculture that depends heavily on gas powered tractors!)

Russia: Money from petrol quickly exits the country via channels such as the Bank of New York and BCCI. (past examples. I could care less who they're using now. probably CitiBank!) Transportation of goods is largely by train, of which 40,000 km is electrified, powered by coal, hydro-electric, and nuclear power. People would lose jobs, factories would shut down, but none of the 145 million people in Russia would starve if petrol disappeared suddenly.

Saudi Arabia: With a workforce of 7 million out of 23 million inhabitants, and a very small percentage of those workers involved in Oil, the Saudis wouldn't lose too many jobs. The 5 million foreign workers employed by the Saudis just might. I would expect some serious trouble in Saudi Arabia, as their electricity is 100% oil fired. And I wouldn't expect them to be eating too well without petrol, as they import a substantial amount of food. But of all places in the world, Saudi Arabia is the most dependant on oil.

Germany: As in Russia, electrified trains for transportation, coal and nuclear power. Heavily mechanized agriculture would come to a standstill for about ten minutes until the Germans started dumping corn and soybean oil into their tractor's diesel engines. If you think anyone in Germany would starve, you haven't been to Germany!

So that about sums that up. Final points: Coal travels by train everywhere I've ever been. Even in the USA. All facts obtained from the CIA World Factbook. Kill your automobile. Thank you.

I don't doubt that you've lived places that grow their own food and transport it by "electrified train" -- but you say your electricity comes from coal! Do you have any idea how the coal gets to the power plant? I'll give you a hint: it doesn't walk...
Now as to your statement that most of the population of the world is not dependent on gasoline -- you're actually quite wrong. Nigeria, Russia, Saudi Arabia , and Germany (look towards the middle of the page under industry) all have petroleum or petroleum refining as one of their major industries. I'm sure there are many more -- these are just the ones I came up with links for in about five minutes of googling. I listed some smaller countries to show that just about everyone is dependant to some extent -- obviously the entire middle eastern region, as well as many south american countries and other African countries would be included as well.
In fact, According to Stuard Baird, M.Eng.,M.A., writing for the Energy Educators of Ontario in 1993:

"At the present time, oil provides the energy for over 95% of the world's transportation needs."

I find your lack of knowledge about the world you live in disturbing!

The right-wing think tank is talking about free as in free to make and sell beer. The post to which I was replying to claimed that PROC was becoming free-er in this respect. But to say that China is to be economically free is, at this time, premature.

As for singapore, they have a parliamentary republic and have elections every six years. The current PM has been in power since 1990. Chief of state: President Sellapan Rama (S. R.) NATHAN (since 1 September 1999). Check it out here.

. Sure, you can't spit on the sidewalk, and you get caned for wrecking somebody's property. I'm not interested in free as in free to spit.

Umm, Switzerland is definitely NOT a socialist country!

. . . and the F-Secure logo looks suspiciously like Dr. Evil's.

You can find this information in Peru's world factbook entry.

Possible reasons for falling RIAA sales:

• Piracy
  
• Economic downturn, in which discretionary entertainment spending is one of the first things to go
  
• RIAA increasing the per-unit price of a CD. Based on, for example, these statistics (PDF)
  
  $6.2B/488.7M = $12.69/Unit (2000)
  
  $5.9B/442.7M = $13.33/Unit (2001)
  
  (a 5.04% increase, with 2000 US inflation at 3.4%)
  
  i definitely wouldn't put it past some biz-school smartass to say in a boardroom meeting, "hey, let's bump up the price a little, decrease our sales, and create the data that will convince courts to shut down file traders."

• example, literacy rate of americans vs the rest of the world...

• 97% - USA
• 
  100% - Autralia
  98% - Bahamas
  98% - Belgium
  100% - Denmark
  100% - Finland
  99% - France
  99% - Germanny
  98% - Ireland
  98% - Italy
  99% - Japan
  98% - South Korea
  99% - UK
  

• since americans are constantly being compared to other americans, our self-image is probably well below what it actually should

USA: 2.0
Canada: 1.6
Germany: 1.4
Italy: 1.2

Current world population: 6,220,000,000
Arable land area in the US: 1,740,000 km^2

Are any of you still taking the CIA seriously after they released this

Use above link in moderation -- a slashdot effect on cia.gov could trigger a hail of nukes.

Only U.S. Citizens need apply. Relocation to the Washington D.C. area is required.

They prefer you apply online!

There is a *lot* of imbalance in Indian development (Pol.Sci and sociology freaks will have a field day here). The figure you quoted -- 22k ... Most urban households will make more than that in a month. In the larger metropolises (Bombay, Delhi) many will easily make 2x that. And even if they are a tiny fraction of India's total population, they are a large number simply because the size of the total population!

Would anybody have a source for that $450 a year figure btw? The CIA Factbook lists India's per capita GDP (PPP) at $2200 (for the year 2000).

There are some poor, ignorant, idealistic and naive souls who haven't figured it out yet.

Some years ago, some dude here in Iceland did hookup a movie camera to a car's odometer and took one frame every kilometer. Then he drove road no. 1, the road that more or less circles the country, and made a 1 hr. movie out of it. I have only seen parts of it, and it is really weird, AFAIR, you more or less follow the speed of sound.
Here is the result, btw.

Israel is the ONLY democratic state in the region, which is one reason we support them.

Egypt

Iran

Jordan

Kuwait

Lebanon

Oman

Syria

Turkey

United Arab Emirates

Yemen

The George Bush Center for Intelligence has a campus-like atmosphere with lovely grounds and well designed work areas. Artwork and displays from around the world add extra interest to the busy day. The Agency has a casual dress policy when appropriate. Employees have a choice of a variety of foods in the modern Food Court or can arrange to have an elegant lunch in the Agency Dining Room. To keep in shape, employees have access to fully-equipped fitness facilities, a jogging track, and walking paths. A company store, recreational and activity clubs, access to entertainment tickets, and on-site dry cleaners, film processing and barber shop add to our employees' quality of life.

Yes I know this is likely a research facility.

Is this something like the search for Intelligent life in the Universe?

Here in the link, for example, to the CIA College Intern Page.

so basically, sounds like non news item.

Maybe these are the guys who bugged a student press office at Quaker Campus a while back? Although i mention this with a something of a tongue in cheek spirit, to be serious, that incident does seem to be more of a local job using radio shack parts.

Here in the link, for example, to the CIA College Intern Page.

so basically, sounds like non news item.

Maybe these are the guys who bugged a student press office at Quaker Campus a while back? Although i mention this with a something of a tongue in cheek spirit, to be serious, that incident does seem to be more of a local job using radio shack parts.