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I'm right there with you.. how will they feel when the discover global warming is caused by littering the oceans with millions of rubber ducks? Oh, and to grand-son: they call them rubber, but they are mostly artificial petrol-chemical duckies nowadays... not sure that is better though.

Back in the days of Bush the 1st (Jan 1992) the ducks left China. 10 months later, they invade Alaska. This was pre-Palin.

Three years later the fowl yellow molded ducks show up in Hawaii. We survive the first raid.

Eight years after gaining freedom, our fine feathered flightless molded friends start showing up in the Northeast US. Maine to Mass, ducks are ashore.

Eleven years after the spill the spiller offers a reward for the ducks. A $100 US Savings Bond. (Not the best deal in hindsight.) To be valid ducks must be sent to the company and must be found in New England, Canada or Iceland. Britain is warned.

2005-2008, the ducks invade again. They may have multiplied over the years. Or, we're just pussified. Either way, it's fowl.

As every good Daily Mail reader has been informed by that rag, illegal immigrants are the cause of all evil and ID cards will fix them good.

Erm, I'm not sure the Daily Mail are as in favour of ID cards as you seem to have assumed. Take a look at this article only today. It doesn't seem to glowing about the idea.

1. How much has the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere gone up since the industrial revolution? How much has the temperature gone up?

CO2: Around 40%
Temperature: Around 1 degree Celcius

2. When and why were Europe and North America deforested? Why does it matter?

Europe experienced a lot of deforestation at the hands of mankind between 1100 to 1500 AD. There wasn't much after that until recent years, when it has again become a serious problem.
America experienced little deforestation until the arrival of European settlers, and there has been extensive deforestation since then, mostly over the last two centuries.

As for why it matters: Forests are a good CO2 sink. Losing them at the same time as releasing unprecedented quantities of CO2 in to the atmosphere will lead to a situation we have not had before and therefore can only make educated guesses as to what will happen.

3. What bad effects of the temperature rise have been observed since the industrial revolution? How sure are you that the bad effects are attributable to global warming?

If I may, I won't just concentrate on what the temperature rise has done, but instead the overall effects of temperature, increased CO2 and so on. It's not fair to look at only one part of the story...

Possible (debatable) effects: More flooding, tornadoes and extreme weather than we had before.
More definite effects: More swans in Siberia, colural foliage fading, severe damage to coral reefs, ocean acidification and more...

4. How much are you predicting that the carbon dioxide levels will rise?

I'm not predicting anything... It's probably safe to say "between not much and quite a lot". Please go look at some research yourself for estimates.

5. How much are you predicting that the temperatures will rise?

I'm not predicting anything... It's probably safe to say "between not much and quite a lot". Please go look at some research yourself for estimates.

6. What bad effects are you predicting due to increased temperature?

Similar to the effects we're experiencing today (see above), only worse relative to the amount of climate change inducing factors involved (including, but not limited to, CO2, temperature rises (from any source) and so on).

7. Isn't it true that without the greenhouse effect, the earth would be a frozen ball of ice and life would be very difficult on the planet?

Yes, that is true, which is why no-one is suggesting we strip the atmosphere off the planet - things would be rather unpleasant.
This is a very silly question though, because you know full well that it's not a binary situation "we have a greenhouse effect"/"we don't have a greenhouse effect". What matters is how MUCH of a greenhouse effect we have. Too little or too much are both bad situations.

And here's the IHT covering the same issue with Barney Frank, chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives' Financial Services Committee, apparently strongly against the bonuses. He says he is "deeply disappointed" that a number of financial institutions are distorting the legislation, and says it would be a "violation of the terms of the Act", i.e. a criminal offence to use bailout money like that (hey, it's the same non-US media source!), e.g. to pay executives' bonuses etc.

some kind of filthy commie healthcare system where government employees carry out open heart surgery with rusty cutlery.

Unfortunately, in some countries with socialized medicine that may not be too far off the mark. In the degenerating health care system of Russia for example, there are waiting lists to get into decrepit state run hospitals that have neither heat nor hot water and even the better hospitals rely on rusty hot plates and ancient pots to sterilize instruments in the operating rooms.

The current system in the UK, for example, offers both private and state healthcare, with the NHS free for all and private healthcare available if you want to pay a bit of money for a TV in your hospital room and a shorter wait for your elective surgery.

I am not very familiar with NHS procedures, being an American myself, but it was my understanding that it was an either or choice with regard to private or public health care in Britain. Meaning that if you chose the NHS care then it is illegal to supplement with private care in addition to your NHS care (this comes up, for example, in cancer cases where NHS won't pay for certain drugs and has threatened to send patients a bill for NHS provided chemo and other services if they are caught paying for unapproved cancer drugs under the table). The following article, Grandmother dies after NHS cancer treatment is withdrawn because she paid privately for life-extending drug, discusses a particular instance of this occurring with a British NHS cancer patient.

Why are Federal taxpayers forced to pay $6 billion to Goldman Sachs for a bailout to save it from failure and bankruptcy and at the same time Goldman Sachs is ready to pay its senior staff $7 billion in bonuses for Christmas??? We have failed to ask the one question that goes to the heart of what's going on. Stop this nonsense, NOW!

Curcumin,a spice found in turmeric, can help shut down a protein that plays a key role in the spread of cancers. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-365491/How-curry-help-cancer-bay.html

The strange thing is that Qantas has had at least one minor accident each week the last month or two. First it was exploding oxygen cylinders then a few emergency landings and now passengers stuck to the roof!!!!

What ever happened to wearing seat belts!!!

That reminds me this wonderful little map of Sheffield, Britain, with "allowed to roam" overlays: http://img.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2007/06_02/playgraphicDM1406_736x800.jpg

Each overlay shows where the eight year old child was allowed to cover unsupervised. Sad how much more constricted and hemmed in each generation of that family has become over the last century.

Increased news coverage of child molesters has made parents afraid to let their kids play outside.

The US has it's problems, but it's not insane. Yet...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1053863/Park-attendants-ordered-interrogate-adults-spotted-children.html

No, the purpose of a cinema is to sell popcorn. It's actually quite the opposite of karma whoring.

In the UK it isn't

Too late

China is spending millions on space suits and America is spending millions on bailing out big corporations. Strange how that works, huh?

Now, now. What makes you think the modern US government chose only one of those two options?

We're currently spending $183 million on design work for the next generation of space suits for the Constellation program, with an option for future contracts for $260-300 million. That covers 4 suits for moon walkers and 6 suits for people headed to the ISS. (ref)

(Oh, and the Chinese are considering bailing out Lehman brothers, so they're getting in on that action too, I guess.)

Don't you dare walk in a park without a child, otherwise you'll be interrogated by park police.

They can now decry the persecution of this individual (you know they will) and get good millage out of the argument because they would not have be totally wrong in this case.

That's an excellent point.

And not just IDers, but also anyone who wants to paint atheists as being unreasonable - for example, I see that the Daily Mail are already at it: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1056715/Top-scientist-supported-teaching-creationism-schools-hounded-Royal-Society.html .

For non-UK readers - the Daily Mail is a conservative right wing tabloid. Whilst it doesn't seem to support Intelligent Design, it is very pro-Christian, and anti-atheism, and this is just the story it loves: look at the references to being "hounded" after a "campaign" by "militant atheists" / "atheist scientists". And the sad thing is that, for once, I can't fault their story for being misleading - despite the biased phrasing, it's one of the few media outlets to be reporting what actually happened.

That is because children have much better nutrition than there used to be. As a result, they are able to reach puberty sooner because of better health.

You're kidding right? I guess all healthy girls should be hitting puberty at 3.

Or this study showing that more girls from age 6 to age 9 are hitting puberty instead of from 10 - 11.

I really pray you were joking!

i.dailymail.co.uk

Here she is early in her career as a sportscasterette:

web.me.com

And here she is as Governorette of Alaska, sitting on a Grizzly Bear couch, with a stuffed King Crab on the coffee table, wearing flip flops and red toenail polish to work:

graphics8.nytimes.com

Again, I ask you in all seriousness - what's not to like here?

I'm not even sure that Angelina Jolie is qualified to play this chick in the movie version, and AJ played Lara Croft, for Goodness's sake.

Maybe he'll marry her when his current wife is no use to him any more.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1024927/The-wife-John-McCain-callously-left-behind.html

I'll see your Big Rigs and raise you Toddler Art

Art is crap and art that makes a statement is double crap.

Are the games fun? Then I will play them. Not fun? Then I won't.

Recently, literal art crap got loose and took down some power lines. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1047578/Giant-inflatable-dog-mess-breaks-free-moorings-brings-power-line.html

Then you must be this guy: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1047397/Worlds-oldest-man-dies-age-138.html

"There is even George Bush's favourite sport, beach volleyball" Thanks to a few amusing photographs, George W. be remembered throughout time as the president who loved women's beach volleyball. http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2008/08/10/article-1043122-0237D88300000578-522_468x327.jpg

You're on the wrong website, click here to leave.

-stop listen American propaganda and take a look on _real_ things.

Here's some British coverage for you. It looks like its a_real_thing to that woman in the photo.

L'Oreal is making nigger whores look lighter. WTF?

What the parent said - The Daily Mail are always lampooned for reporting exaggerations, mistruths and downright lies!
http://www.voiceoftheturtle.org/dictionary/dict_h1.php#hurrah for instance, and...

They report a lot of things out of context... for instance compare
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/7471724.stm
with
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1027990/Invasion-bobby-snatchers-Police-helicopter-close-encounter-UFO.html
and then tell me you can trust them?

I don't understand it myself, but there are plenty of instances of the legal system being more on the side of the underclass than home owners.

Family ordered to remove security gates from driveway

Photographing vandals is assault, cameraman is told

Pensioner ordered to remove flat-cap for security reasons

Families who overfill rubbish bins fined more than shoplifters

There are many others.

I don't understand it myself, but there are plenty of instances of the legal system being more on the side of the underclass than home owners.

Family ordered to remove security gates from driveway

Photographing vandals is assault, cameraman is told

Pensioner ordered to remove flat-cap for security reasons

Families who overfill rubbish bins fined more than shoplifters

There are many others.

I don't understand it myself, but there are plenty of instances of the legal system being more on the side of the underclass than home owners.

Family ordered to remove security gates from driveway

Photographing vandals is assault, cameraman is told

Pensioner ordered to remove flat-cap for security reasons

Families who overfill rubbish bins fined more than shoplifters

There are many others.

Like this scientist did?

I guess he also swallowed a bottle of painkillers, without any water, knowing it would lead to a prolonged agonising death, then slashed his wrists like an attention seeking teenage girl (across not down) - despite being a expert medical doctor. And for an encore... magically disposing of the knife, (and all of the pills in his stomach) just to confuse the police and pathologist.

Last December the Daily Mail had a story that Microsoft were creating an imaging camera that digitally forces an image onto the mind every 30 seconds.

It was said to be a possible cure for Alzheimer's, but this IBM Pensieve is even cleverer than Microsoft's camera, and if it can artificially force itself onto someone's mind then it and that drug that was on here on Wednesday might be able to stop Alzheimer's altogether.

fly tipping

I (and probably most non-Brits) was rather puzzled by that phrase. All I could think of was cow tipping. LOL. So I looked it up:

Fly-tipping or dumping is a British term for illegally dumping waste somewhere other than an authorised landfill.

And I came across this hysterical news item of a man threatened with prosecution under the Fly Tipping law:
threatened with prison or a £50,000 fine if he takes windblown sand back to the beach.
Oh christ, some government official being just a wee bit anal-retentive with the law there.

And I love this part: Offenders can also have their vehicle - in this case a wheelbarrow - confiscated.

I can just see some five-year-old having their tricycle confiscated for playing with a plastic pail of sand and pouring it on the beach. Damn Fly Tippers.

-

I had a quick google but couldn't turn up anything for either. Is the "DRM" to just stop people messing with the settings?

Just as an OT aside, I had my Fabia remapped and so it should have about 30-40bhp over standard (turbo-diesels tend to remap pretty nicely), and my dad used to have an Evo VI as a company car before he died. I now work for the same company, but I have to be 25 before I'm allowed to drive any of the more powerful cars, damnit (having said that, before the directors found out about the age restriction on the insurance policy, I'd had a go in the Golf R32 and the Jag XJR, hehe)! Only 3 months until I'm 25 though :D And one month of my driving ban left to serve *ahem*

I was pretty sure it was a Golf I saw, BMW and others probably do it too though. Impressive stuff!

Every employer wants as much of your life as he can get - for as cheap as possible. My personal willingness to obey that wish relates proportionally to the perception of my compensation. I don't know about you but my perception is indeed influenced not only by my salary but also by the number of pool tables, arcade games, swimming pools and sexy female co-workers in the office. Furthermore I don't mind taking on responsible tasks like doing a massage interview every now and then, or so...

Also consider that pretty much all employers try to make you work long hours. Just normally instead of pool tables they use rigged "bonus programs", 360 peer reviews and other intimidation tactics. Maybe google has those, too? I don't know. But I guess having a pool table in the office (and being allowed to use it!) makes everything more bearable...

Every employer wants as much of your life as he can get - for as cheap as possible. My personal willingness to obey that wish relates proportionally to the perception of my compensation. I don't know about you but my perception is indeed influenced not only by my salary but also by the number of pool tables, arcade games, swimming pools and sexy female co-workers in the office. Furthermore I don't mind taking on responsible tasks like doing a massage interview every now and then, or so...

Also consider that pretty much all employers try to make you work long hours. Just normally instead of pool tables they use rigged "bonus programs", 360 peer reviews and other intimidation tactics. Maybe google has those, too? I don't know. But I guess having a pool table in the office (and being allowed to use it!) makes everything more bearable...

As stated by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Christianity is offensive to Muslims

It's like how Athens temporarily incarcerated the city's thousands of stray dogs and then turned them all loose when the Games ended.

A fate much better than that of the half million or so stray cats in Beijing:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-528694/Olympics-clean-Chinese-style-Inside-Beijings-shocking-death-camp-cats.html

(sorry to link to such a rag, but it's the only one that popped up on my Google search.)

I've got two of the "high quality" CFLs over my head as we speak. They have 95+ CRI and give everything in the room a very accurate color cast. But if it wasn't for a couple incandescent bulbs next to them I'd have vertigo and a throbbing headache.

It's funny, as I'm not normally the sensitive sort — strobe lights and flashing video games don't bother me in the least, I love bright sunlight, and I'm virtually immune to motion sickness. But stick a CFL in the room (without an equal amount of non-fluorescent light) and I'll be curled up in a corner clutching my head inside of two hours.

And I'm not the only one.

By US standards this case would likely be tossed out.

The first story I found from the Daily Mail included getting a response from the mother, quotes from other party goers, etc

In the words of Jodie on her Bebo page after the event: 'There's so much damage and clothes stolen. A lot of broken doors. people cauight (sic) having sex.'

But the teenager seemed unrepentant about the chaos she caused, adding: 'I got punched by my mum for it and grounded until the summer. wat a a BITCH!'

Mrs Hudson, who is separated from Jodie's father, yesterday denied she had hit her daughter. ...
One partygoer, who said he had heard about the event from friends, said: 'Somebody said we were allowed to wreck the house because the birthday girl's parents were getting divorced.

'There were kids behaving like gangsters from a rap video, throwing stuff around and smashing things. There were chairs, tables, even a TV in the pool.' ...

Mrs Hudson had been hoping to move and had put her home in the exclusive El Paraiso development on the market.

Friends said she told them: 'The place looked like a war zone.
'All the banisters have been broken. The walls are ruined, the carpets are destroyed, furniture is broken . . . It is going to take months to sort out.'

One friend said: 'Amanda is still furious with her daughter and hasn't spoken to her for days.'

Last night Mrs Hudson played down the furore. 'Jodie had up to 400 people, but she knows a lot of people,' she said.

'With a party that size you are always going to end up with some damage.'

Asked about Jodie's comments on Bebo, she said: 'I don't know what she has written on her site, and I'm not saying anything else.'

Just because the mother denies (possibly criminal, depending on how hitting her daughter occurred and what the laws are regarding serving minors alcohol over there) the report doesn't mean it was defamation or they didn't do their jobs. Maybe the quotes were made up, and maybe the pictures from the girl's blog didn't show what they seemed to (teenagers paired up in bed, passed out drunk girls, young men/teenagers carrying beer around) but we shouldn't assume that.

According to wiki in the UK

A private individual must only prove negligence (not using due care) to collect compensatory damages. In order to collect punitive damages, all individuals must prove actual malice.

The US uses a somewhat similar standard. If you've got claims by the daughter, quotes from friends of the mother, and from party goers (and these are not fabricated) then to me "due care" has probably been taken.

Some can be found here:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1022756/Trail-destruction-British-familys-4-4m-Marbella-villa-400-crash-Facebook-party.html

Because it is usually simply not worth spending more time than I already have answering to someone who claim ignorance, yet is quite ignorant himself/herself

Half of your post made sense. The other half was filled with that non-sense.

Oh yeah, and a few more:

A Chinese submarine popped up in the middle of U.S Naval exercises. (link)

Chinese police shoot protesters in Tibet. (link)

Somewhere between 200 and several thousand deaths in the Tiananmen square massacre. (link)

Not to mention, Chinese involvement in the Korean War. (link)

I mean, I'm not trying to claim that the U.S. is angelic, no one could, but China is more than an economic rival. Also, the U.S. populace has never particularly liked repressive governments our own included. Look at the U.S. Civil War, there is still a tremendous amount of sympathy for the southern states, even though most people agree they had the less worthy part of the argument.

It shouldn't be too difficult to recover metals from the landfill sites. If it is possible to turn bodies into dust using "promession" or deep freezing, surely it would be possible to do the same with landfill sites?

You would take out a container load of debris, freeze to -196C, shake the contents until they disintegrate into a powder. Then you can extract the metals using electromagnets?

"Fine on fat" has nothing to do with universal health coverage. It has everything to do with bad policy and even worse laws (not to mention stupid lawmakers).

There are tons of countries in the world today with universal health coverage who don't engage in that kind of stupid law making.

Then again, it is mostly accepted these days that being overweight is bad for you, in all kind of different ways, so maybe a tax on fat is not such a bad idea, especially if human fat is recycled into bio-fuel. Fight Club, anyone?

Besides, wait until they apply this law to the sumotori... and the howls of outrage from the sumo-loving japanese public... :-)

Is it a troll now to post facts on Slashdot? To those who modded me Troll:
1. Prove that Islam is a Religion of Peace. Show me an Islamic or a muslim country that is peaceful and respectful towards non-Muslim citizens and those who renounce Islam.

2. Prove that Islamoterrorists are not inspired by religious rhetorics and promises of pleasure in Paradise. 72 virgins are the standard prize for "shahids".

3. Prove that governments do not supply Islamic materials to prisoners. In the UK, one of the most active places to do dawah is the prisons. The UK government even spend money to renovate toilets so that they won't face Mecca. The UK even let sex offenders opt out of treatment and is afraid of the inmates.

4. Prove that governments do not appease Islamic groups trying to teach propagandas to students. Here is the latest news on the Islamic Saudi Academy debacles that taught children it's alright to kill and rob.

Other passages in the school's textbooks state that "the Jews conspired against Islam and its people" and that Muslims are permitted to take the lives and property of those deemed "polytheists." (Source: AP)

It's pretty sad that now facts are modded Troll here.

Article in todays Daily Mail:

Phone spies: Town halls using anti-terror powers to bug residents' calls and emails

Town hall snoopers used controversial anti-terror powers to delve into the phone and email records of thousands of people last year.

They wanted to check for evidence of dog smuggling and storing petrol without permission - and even to trace a suspected bogus faith healer.

In one case they were inquiring into unburied animal carcasses.

Some councils are allowing middle-ranking staff to authorise covert operations under the controversial Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act, which is intended for use 'in the interests of national security'.

Try these, they have an enlarge feature... http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1022822/Incredible-pictures-Earths-uncontacted-tribes-firing-bows-arrows.html

Well if you read the article here: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1022822/Incredible-pictures-Earths-uncontacted-tribes-firing-bows-arrows.html you would know that they painted themselves after the helicopter made its first pass and is likely a sign of aggression. As an Anthropologist I can tell you that elaborate body painting is not uncommon in this region. This is real, but the information is rather poor quality and biased (and the latter article is very ethnocentric - you will NEVER find a culture that hasn't changed in 10,000 year's contact or not!)

The worst part is the selection of ages chosen by Consumer Reports. It's up in the air whether this is a good way to exercise, but what I'm more curious to find out is how well the Wii Fit is dealing with the weight of children under 15. Apparently the device is using BMI to judge how fit a person is, and already we are seeing complaints by parents that the Wii Fit is calling their children fat. It would have been great if CR had addressed this issue.