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Way to ignore the facts, here are the FACTS. FACT 1, the "company" was made up of four of the lead devs of VLC, FACT 2, the "owner" was one guy out of dozens who had written code, FACT 3 the "owner" made it clear HE WILL NEVER ALLOW VLC to be placed in ANY appstore that "doesn't support the four freedoms".

So you can waste mod point and pretend black is white and straw is gold, but the facts are that with a "community project" if they didn't make every contributor sign a waiver that gives the head of the project sole ownership (which VLC most assuredly DID NOT do) then any place the program is ported to HAS TO support all the conditions of whichever GPL version they have the program under (which I do believe is GPL V3 which has even worse conditions than GPL V2) or the program can NOT be placed there PERIOD.

So make up your mind Ms AC, either the GPL can be ignored or it can't, which is it? Considering that RMS says Android is too locked down to be called FOSS do you HONESTLY want to try to sell us that the GPL isn't gonna have a problem with the locked down winRT? As you can see here there is NO place that it says you have to give them the rights to your contributions, and since it says quite clearly its a COMMUNITY project unless every. single. one. that donated their code agrees then it CAN'T BE DONE. To say different but be like me saying if I can get one guy on the Debian team to say "sure!" I could make a completely proprietary Debian, it don't work like that.

How fucking sad is it that the Windows guy knows more about the GPL than the koolaid drinkers?

Has anyone looked at GMO consumption and obesity? Just compare citizens of USA and people in UE (where GMO is rather forbidden).

Yes. As a matter of fact some do:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/sep/28/study-gm-maize-cancer

As you may imagine, the food lobby was all over this on the spot, and critics abounded the minute the research became public.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/18/wikipedia-editing-zionist-groups

The CIA vaccination thing actually reads like some kind of fan service to conspiracy theorists...
The sad aspect is the cover was not used for a full set of meds.
The CIA got their DNA and left before the second dose was given.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jul/11/cia-fake-vaccinations-osama-bin-ladens-dna
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2011/07/12/137792912/reports-cia-tried-to-confirm-bin-laden-dna-using-fake-vaccination-drive
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-14117438

Except this WAS NOT and IS NOT a paranoid delusion. It actually happened. That link is taken from the summary it's one of TFAs. The conspiracy had a limited and focused goal. They were mostly after just one man, but it was real.

No theories. Actual conspiracies.

This is a system whereby every time someone connects a new computer to the Internet, it will ask a series of probing questions and if you don't answer them all correctly (or at any point imply you have a child in the house), a massive (and wildly-inaccurate) web-filter will be put in place, in theory blocking anything about:

• sexual messages;
• violence;
• gambling;
• bullying;
• alcohol/drugs;
• abuse on social networks;
• self-harm;
• anorexia;
• grooming;
• radicalisation (religious and political); and
• suicide.*

• Because these are all things that children need protecting from and shouldn't be able to find out about (on the Internet; offline everything is fine). Oh, and because user-generated content tends to contain a lot of this, many of the existing filters just block all blog sites. And anything that flags certain keywords.

  Oh, and this is to protect children from "sexualisation and commercialisation." But it won't block adverts. Or the Daily Mail (who are, of course, behind this block - presumably to drive desperate children to their website?).

  And this will require putting "government sponsored filtering and snoop-ware software on every machine in the country" as part of what will be one of the largest state-sponsored mass-censorship programmes in a democracy.

  So you think nothing of value will be lost here? You might want to have another think.

  *List taken from the Government's response to the consultation on this.

Does every year have to set a record breaking temperature? It goes up and down and it will continue doing so for at least another 4.5bn years, according to Mr. Putin, and we know we can trust KGB. This retarded panic over global warming, sorry I used the legacy term, climate change, started with Al Gore trying to impose taxes "on air". He was pretty fucking successful at that. So worried about ecology, fossil fuels, etc? Hire hippies, plat some fucking trees - problem solved.

Is that Stratfor link the Anonymous version?

A4e, The AA, Accident Helpline, Acorn Computer Recycling (Mandatory Work Activity, personal testimony, Dec 2012), Age Concern, Alpha Stream, Argos, Asda, Asian Star Community Radio LTD, ATS, Barnardos, BHS – British Home Stores [1], Blue Arrow, Bookers Wholesale, Boots, Bournemouth City Council, B&Q, British Heart Foundation, BT, Burger King – claim to have pulled out, Burton, Carillion, Capability Scotland, Close Protection UK, DB Accident Repair, DC Cleaning Sussex, Debenhams, Diamond Glass Medway, Dorothy Perkins [1], Dunelm Mill (also personal testimony, Nov 2012), Envirostream, Evans [1], Finsbury Park Business Forum, FP Mailing [Source: Interview with Director, LBC Radio 27/6/12], F&S Interiors, Go Response, Helen & Douglas House Hospice – Maidenhead, HMRC, HMV [3], Holiday Inn – claim to have pulled out, Holland & Barrett – claim to have pulled out, Grosvenor Casinos, Haven House Children’s Hospice, Hilton Hotels, JA Glover, Jessup Electrical Wholesale Ltd, JJ Vickers & Sons Ltd, Kennedy Scott, Kent Flooring Supplies, Kent Space, Kingston Community Furniture (MWA, personal testimony, Dec 2012), Marriot Hotels, Maplin – have tweeted that they have withdrawn, awaiting statement, Matalan, Mayhem Paintball, McDonald’s, Medway Council, Medway Tyres, Miss Selfridge – claim were never involved, Mr Gleam – Sussex – claim were never involved, Newham Council, Newhaven Community Development, Olympic Glass, Omnico Plastics Ltd, Outfit [1], Payless, PDSA (several sources including personal testimony of MWA, Nov 2012), Pizza Hut, Plumbase, Poundland, Poundstretcher, PPDG, Primark, Process Plant Services Ltd, Quality Savers, RBLI, Refurb project (MWA, personal testimont, Dec 2012), Regency Guillotine, Richmond Fellowship, Romney Resource Kent, Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead (Note they have made 50-60 staff redundant in each of the last 3 years), Royal Mail, RNR Performance Cars, Saffron Acres Project, Sage UK, Salvation Army, Savers, SERCO, Scope, Scout Enterprises, Sense (Mandatory Work Activity, personal testimony, Dec 2012), SERCO, Servest, London, SHOC Slough Homeless, Shoe Zone, Signs & Imaging Ltd, Sixhills Aquatics (Work experience, personal testimony, Nov 2012), Slough Library, Slough Furniture Project, Southern Membranes Ltd, Southern Metal Services, Southern Roofing & Building Supplies, Storie Argyll Ltd, Stephens Fresh Food, St Oswald’s Hospice shops (MWA placements, personal testimony, Nov 2012), Sue Ryder, Superdrug, Swan Lifeline – Windsor, Tate Recruitment, Tesco, Timbermills, Toni & Guy, Topman [1], Topshop [1], The Range, The Conservation Volunteers, Town and Country Cleaners Kent, Wallis [1], WD Close & Sons, Westvic Enamellers, Wetherspoons, WHSmith, Whittingtons Silk Flower & Plant Centre, Wilkinsons, The Works, YMCA (Mandatory Work Activity, personal testimony, Dec 2012)

Tens of thousands of unemployed people made to work without pay
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/feb/15/thousands-unemployed-work-without-pay

Latest Workfare statistics: (15 Feb 2012)
http://www.consent.me.uk/statistics/

References:

[1] Arcadia Group
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/feb/03/waterstones-ends-unpaid-work-placements

[2] Asda, Tesco, Tussauds Group, WHSmith, Royal Mail, Greggs
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201012/cmselect/cmpubacc/uc1814-i/uc181401.htm

A4e, The AA, Accident Helpline, Acorn Computer Recycling (Mandatory Work Activity, personal testimony, Dec 2012), Age Concern, Alpha Stream, Argos, Asda, Asian Star Community Radio LTD, ATS, Barnardos, BHS – British Home Stores [1], Blue Arrow, Bookers Wholesale, Boots, Bournemouth City Council, B&Q, British Heart Foundation, BT, Burger King – claim to have pulled out, Burton, Carillion, Capability Scotland, Close Protection UK, DB Accident Repair, DC Cleaning Sussex, Debenhams, Diamond Glass Medway, Dorothy Perkins [1], Dunelm Mill (also personal testimony, Nov 2012), Envirostream, Evans [1], Finsbury Park Business Forum, FP Mailing [Source: Interview with Director, LBC Radio 27/6/12], F&S Interiors, Go Response, Helen & Douglas House Hospice – Maidenhead, HMRC, HMV [3], Holiday Inn – claim to have pulled out, Holland & Barrett – claim to have pulled out, Grosvenor Casinos, Haven House Children’s Hospice, Hilton Hotels, JA Glover, Jessup Electrical Wholesale Ltd, JJ Vickers & Sons Ltd, Kennedy Scott, Kent Flooring Supplies, Kent Space, Kingston Community Furniture (MWA, personal testimony, Dec 2012), Marriot Hotels, Maplin – have tweeted that they have withdrawn, awaiting statement, Matalan, Mayhem Paintball, McDonald’s, Medway Council, Medway Tyres, Miss Selfridge – claim were never involved, Mr Gleam – Sussex – claim were never involved, Newham Council, Newhaven Community Development, Olympic Glass, Omnico Plastics Ltd, Outfit [1], Payless, PDSA (several sources including personal testimony of MWA, Nov 2012), Pizza Hut, Plumbase, Poundland, Poundstretcher, PPDG, Primark, Process Plant Services Ltd, Quality Savers, RBLI, Refurb project (MWA, personal testimont, Dec 2012), Regency Guillotine, Richmond Fellowship, Romney Resource Kent, Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead (Note they have made 50-60 staff redundant in each of the last 3 years), Royal Mail, RNR Performance Cars, Saffron Acres Project, Sage UK, Salvation Army, Savers, SERCO, Scope, Scout Enterprises, Sense (Mandatory Work Activity, personal testimony, Dec 2012), SERCO, Servest, London, SHOC Slough Homeless, Shoe Zone, Signs & Imaging Ltd, Sixhills Aquatics (Work experience, personal testimony, Nov 2012), Slough Library, Slough Furniture Project, Southern Membranes Ltd, Southern Metal Services, Southern Roofing & Building Supplies, Storie Argyll Ltd, Stephens Fresh Food, St Oswald’s Hospice shops (MWA placements, personal testimony, Nov 2012), Sue Ryder, Superdrug, Swan Lifeline – Windsor, Tate Recruitment, Tesco, Timbermills, Toni & Guy, Topman [1], Topshop [1], The Range, The Conservation Volunteers, Town and Country Cleaners Kent, Wallis [1], WD Close & Sons, Westvic Enamellers, Wetherspoons, WHSmith, Whittingtons Silk Flower & Plant Centre, Wilkinsons, The Works, YMCA (Mandatory Work Activity, personal testimony, Dec 2012)

Tens of thousands of unemployed people made to work without pay
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/feb/15/thousands-unemployed-work-without-pay

Latest Workfare statistics: (15 Feb 2012)
http://www.consent.me.uk/statistics/

References:

[1] Arcadia Group
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/feb/03/waterstones-ends-unpaid-work-placements

[2] Asda, Tesco, Tussauds Group, WHSmith, Royal Mail, Greggs
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201012/cmselect/cmpubacc/uc1814-i/uc181401.htm

A pirate (self-declared or otherwise) can take my story, dump it on The Priate Bay, and suddenly there's a smaller market of people who will pay me for my work.

Paulo Coelho, who sells more books than almost anyone else, knows that's not true-

Your data doesn't pan out, boss. Check this out: http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2012/jul/22/gun-homicides-ownership-world-list Sort that chart by "Rank by rate of ownership" and you'll see a problem. The US has a relatively high murder rate (compared to 1st-world countries) by firearms, and the US is #1 in gun ownership. But the problem is that Switzerland, Finland, Serbia, and Cyprus are ranked 3, 4, 5 and 6 in gun ownership - and they have very low homicide rates by firearm. The problem that data presents to you argument is that it undeniably demonstrates that gun ownership does not directly affect the murder rate. If it did, you would expect a gradual and more-or-less parallel drop in the murder rate as the gun ownership rates drop as well. But that just isn't the case.

The other interesting point this data makes is the fact that the murder rate by firearms (rate per 100,000 population) is not very high in 1st-world countries. In the US, where the rate is relatively high, less that 3 people are killed each year per 100,000. Cancer, on the other hand, causes 178.7 deaths per 100,000 people in the US ( http://seer.cancer.gov/statfacts/html/all.html ) each year. Accidents or inintentional injuries: 38.4 per 100,000 per year.

I'm not purporting to know what the cause of incidents like Newtown and Aurora is; that's beyond my abilities. But what I can say, based on hard data, is that gun ownership is not a direct cause of gun deaths, and gun deaths in the US are not high enough to warrant this kind of fanatical attention. You want to really cut down on senseless violence? Go after cancer and the other big terminal killers. Guns just aren't that big of a problem.

On average ~23 people are *murdered* with *guns* every day in the US. This does not not include suicides and accidents.

So yeah, other that this shooting it is all sunshine and rainbows when it comes to guns.

Is Android really free software?
The version of Linux included in Android is not entirely free software, since it contains non-free "binary blobs" (just like Torvalds' version of Linux), some of which are really used in some Android devices. Android platforms use other non-free firmware, too, and non-free libraries. Aside from those, the source code of Android versions 1 and 2, as released by Google, is free software – but this code is insufficient to run the device. Some of the applications that generally come with Android are non-free, too.
Android is very different from the GNU/Linux operating system because it contains very little of GNU.

Richard Stallman,Guardian

Also, Google deliberately delays in publishing source code, and with all of these, it is shameful for Google to call Android "free software".

That there is such a market for sleazy colleges at all should be a wake up call. I hope MOOCs will kill off all these "colleges" that are more reliable producers of debt than education.

Why does it seem there is one set of rules for the little people and another set for big business?

Here you go: With Liberty and Justice for Some. Aside from the book, Glenn Greenwald has a lot of interesting insights at Salon, and now writes for The Guardian.

That the US government is spying on social networks is fact shown multiple places. And only the EFF seems to be doing anything to slow it.

They cannot be allowed pick and choose who gets the payment and who doesn't.

Why?

Why is it that VISA and MasterCard are not simply normal businesses, free to pick and choose who they do business with in order to reduce risk and maximise profit. Is it that these companies were too successful and are now somehow too powerful or are these not normal companies?

Exactly.

Most nations, even the U.S. have laws against abusing monopoly status. If your company gets strong enough in one market it is no longer free to do as it wishes.
Occasionally too large companies will be split into several companies if they abuse their monopoly.

VISA and MasterCard have shown that they don't compete in the marketplace and thus there no no real reason to think of them as separate entities. Rather they are a single entity that abuses their position and that has to be dealt with.

> Kosovo is somewhat different in that genocidal warfare

None of that happened in Kosovo. It happened in other Yugoslavian republics, but not in Kosovo.

...

The justification doesnt matter as there is no independent third party to judge whether the justification is sufficient or not. Without an impartial judge, the Russian justification to attack Georgia as as good as the US/EUSSR one to attack Serbia. The Russians explicitly referenced the Kosovo precedent when they attacked Georgia. "If you can redraw other countries borders at gunpoint, so can we. Go figure!"

Where are my modpoints when I need them?

As a Serbian, I may be biased towards the happening at Kosovo, but the info that USA/EU public has been fed is nothing short of scandalous, and I really didn't expect from you guys to be so much misinformed. I guess it is easier to proclaim Serbia as a "bad guy", then talk about organ thefts, drugs and terrorism, or the fact that USA president can't hold his dick in his pants.

NOT posting as AC. Time to burn some karma, I don't fucking care - you need to get the version not edited by Fox news.

I'm not sure that I follow. A promo trick by who?

What I was saying is that the government wouldn't need to engage in some sort of anti press conspiracy because there are plenty of people who will do it for them. Example:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/oct/26/wikileaks-fox-iraq-war-logs

don't think that Dell is in any danger of going Chapter 7.

The same you could have said about Nokia. That was before the "we are standing on a burning platform" memo.

Actually it's the opposite.

Generally if a UK collage or university is prepared to take you the government will give you a visa to come and study. The government is quite happy to have people from across the world buy education from us.

However in recent years there has been a scandal surrounding abuse of these visas. People would sign up for an educational institution (often but not always a sham collage that existed for the purpose) get a student visa and come to the UK but rather than actually studying they go and find illegal work. For a visa abuser student visas had the advantage over tourist visas that a student can legitimately stay in the country for a long time so someone abusing a student visa could come and go from the country without arousing suspicion.

The result has been a government clampdown. Educational institutions are now required to keep track of non-EU students and report those who fail to attend to the border agency (who I presume will cancel the visa). Educational institutions which fail to do this can lose the ability to sponsor visas for non-EU students and hence practically speaking lose the ability to take them. For a typical UK university losing the ability to take non-EU students would be a MASSIVE financial blow and it would not surprise me if for some universities it led to bankruptcy. London Metropolitan University got caught up in this and has come very close to losing the ability to take foreign students, apparently they have won a reprieve for now but the threat is very real http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2012/sep/21/london-metropolitan-university-reprieve-student-visa .

This is the first i've heard of a university using biometrics to keep tabs on students though. The impression I got from the unveristy i'm at was that checking student ID cards was considered sufficient.

He can't definitely say "I'm not wasting federal resources and money on that shit"

But he can say "after scientific review by the FDA, I am moving marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III under the Controlled Substances Act" without any action from Congress. Existing law already allows Obama to stop persecuting marijuana users, growers and dealers.

and the President is constitutionally bound to follow the laws established by Congress.

Then where are the prosecutions for Bush's wars and torture (something REQUIRED by the U.N. Convention Against Torture, signed by that hippie Ronald Reagan) and fraud committed by the banks? Glennzilla:

HSBC, too big to jail, is the new poster child for US two-tiered justice system

Over the last year, federal investigators found that one of the world's largest banks, HSBC, spent years committing serious crimes, involving money laundering for terrorists; "facilitat[ing] money laundering by Mexican drug cartels"; and "mov[ing] tainted money for Saudi banks tied to terrorist groups". Those investigations uncovered substantial evidence "that senior bank officials were complicit in the illegal activity." As but one example, "an HSBC executive at one point argued that the bank should continue working with the Saudi Al Rajhi bank, which has supported Al Qaeda."

On Tuesday, not only did the US Justice Department announce that HSBC would not be criminally prosecuted, but outright claimed that the reason is that they are too important, too instrumental to subject them to such disruptions.

By coincidence, on the very same day that the DOJ announced that HSBC would not be indicted for its multiple money-laundering felonies, the New York Times published a story featuring the harrowing story of an African-American single mother of three who was sentenced to life imprisonment at the age of 27 for a minor drug offense

Obama constantly makes a mockery of the rule of law. If he's going to ignore it, he could at least do it for non-violent non-criminals as opposed to banks that have stolen millions of homes and government officials that tortured over 100 people to death.

It depends how you look at it.
In Australia you have an older population. When younger they where exposed to heavy industry, farming, transport over many years.
Mining, electrical, ship building, trams, busses, home building, cloth dying, pest control would be the classics.
Then you have exotic metals been moved down ducts - an example with a small jet with an AC issue. Staff would be feeling ill, not walking in a safe manner. The press LOL at reports - drunk. Heavy metal exposure will mean early and painful deaths.
Daddy worked in a mine, shipyard, electrical work, earning good cash, walked home covered in "dust", kids come running - nice welcome home hug.
Just as they are parents - 30-40 y later a slight cough sets in. Expert wants to know what they did to their lungs, explores family history, interviews father.
Another early and very painful death.
Solvent components used my the military are another interesting one. Drug, nuclear and gas testing during national service?
What will medical care look like :
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/dec/04/ann-clwyd-husband-died-hen
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2240075/Now-sick-babies-death-pathway-Doctors-haunting-testimony-reveals-children-end-life-plan.html
My thoughts are if you have US style insurance, work cover, war veterans cover (personal or from marriage) you will be kept alive for some cast flow to the hospital/care home.
You will be well treated with the best of personal care and tech. Drugs will be will tracked and corrected. Your billing codes pay the bills and a bit extra.
If your pension or cover is pulled - then your in for a ride.
Less drugs, less dr visits, longer waits -12, 24h before some form of care. That will add up. Late to hospital, a long wait, rushed staff...
A nice empty bed in months.

But close enough. It think we can safely assume most of the damage is in cleanup and paying compensation claims. According to another source I found in the meantime, Tepco "may have to pay more than 10 trillion yen to decontaminate areas around the plant and compensate those affected by the disaster":
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-11-07/fukushima-137-billion-cost-has-tepco-seeking-more-aid.html
And for that nuclear plant operators should be obliged to have adequate insurance coverage, like any car owner needs to have liability insurance.

The question is, how much is adequate? The 2.5 billion Euros in current German law are clearly not. Fukushima indicates $100 Billion may not be enough. Other estimates are even higher, see http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/9608262. But even if legislators settle for $100 Billion in mandatory coverage, nuclear power will become a lot less attractive.

Try this?

Granted, most of the ones that pop up on blogs are pretty lame but there are some good ones out there.

Some of the ones produced for the Guardian newspaper are pretty good.

For example:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2011/oct/26/government-spending-department-2010-11

I also like the one's that Randall Munroe produces at xkcd.

http://xkcd.com/980/

The thing that the good infographics have in common is that the graphic part of them is integral to how they present the information - they are not just showing bits text with associated clip art.

Not necessarily, your presumptions are akin to a slave saying "The master has to beat us to keep us working hard". It seems to represent a complete inability to think about the situation. http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2012/dec/07/shop-ensure-your-cash-isnt-tax-haven

Citation?

Teenager faces prosecution for calling Scientology 'cult'
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/may/20/1
UK teenager arrested for anti-war Facebook post
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/232192.html
April Jones: Matthew Woods jailed over explicit Facebook comments
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/oct/08/april-jones-matthew-woods-jailed

Citation?

Teenager faces prosecution for calling Scientology 'cult'
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/may/20/1
UK teenager arrested for anti-war Facebook post
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/232192.html
April Jones: Matthew Woods jailed over explicit Facebook comments
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/oct/08/april-jones-matthew-woods-jailed

It may seem less, but I have this thing against throwing money away when I don't have to....

Except that you don't. Time and time again, sales analysis has shown that iOS users are overwhelmingly more likely to pay for apps than Android users. If you're selling your app for $0.99 then you only need to sell 100 more copies for iOS than for Android before you've broken even...

Here's just one example:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/appsblog/2012/dec/04/ios-android-revenues-downloads-country

Apple Maps not fully at fault over Australian Mildura confusion

Australian government's official gazeteer includes area called 'Mildura Rural City' at location previously shown on iPhones

http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2012/jul/22/gun-homicides-ownership-world-list

http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/07/a-land-without-guns-how-japan-has-virtually-eliminated-shooting-deaths/260189/

I think you need to apologize to the GP. There are plenty of links to back up these statistics as well, so prepare for a feast.

You obviously haven't driven in Australia much.. Google maps See how you are driving through national parks and farmland before getting back to an urban area? Well Apple maps just takes you through a different national park and dumps you there. 45C is also 113F. And there is no phone reception or water. And people have already been stuck for 24 hours

is here. Maldives encouraged to request assistance with infrastructure projects worth $50M, in exchange for supporting the US climate agenda.

In Tuvalu, sea level rises of an average of 5mm/year over the last 60 years have now resulted in regular tidal flooding of low-lying areas like the main airport. Inland salt water seeps are destroying their coconut and taro crops. Tuvalu's vulnerability to strengthening tropical cyclones is significantly increased, as in the case of Tropical Cyclone Bebe, which in 1972 sent a storm surge right over the entire main island, destroying many buildings and uprooting 90% of the trees.

There is now a regular exodus of Tuvaluans to New Zealand, which has agreed to absorb the entire population in the event that Tuvalu becomes completely uninhabitable.

So you are losing freedoms when the power coming from your plug is generated by solar, wind, waves, biomass? But you have freedom when it is generated by nuclear or coal?

I have freedom when I'm not taxed to support an industry that cannot be profitable in a free market. My freedom to keep my money and spend it as I wish is reduced when the government takes it and gives it to a corporation that I would not willingly otherwise give to them in exchange for their services.

Electricity produced from coal and nuclear increases my freedom because I willingly give them my money for cheap and reliable energy. Wind and solar power only reduces my freedom so long as it is purchased with money taken from me by the force of government to purchase a product that I could have bought at a lower price in a free market.

This is just nonsens.

No, it's not.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2012/jan/09/wind-turbines-increasing-carbon-emissions

You might claim the report above is incomplete, not peer reviewed, yadda yadds, but it seems the "debate is over" as so many claim is also nonsense. It is also irrelevant. So long as my taxes go towards subsidizing expensive energy that I don't want then my freedom to seek a source of energy that is both carbon neutral and cheap is diminished. I would much rather see my money go towards nuclear power but the government has seen to it that I am not free to do so.

Can you give me any record when once in history every singel place in the USA had no wind?

Also irrelevant. So long as my tax dollars go towards an industry that does not provide a service I desire at a price I am willing to spend my freedom has been reduced. I want nuclear power. I want to see my energy domestically sourced, reliable, cheap, safe, and clean. Wind is domestically sourced, clean, and safe but it is not cheap or reliable. It might be true that the wind always blows somewhere but getting that electricity from a wind farm off the Atlantic coast to my office in the American Midwest is not going to be cheap.

I believe that wind power might someday become as cheap and reliable as coal and nuclear but that will not happen so long as the training wheels of government subsidies stay in place. If you want to see more wind power then you, like myself, should be asking for the subsidies to stop. Not only will I be free to spend my money as I wish but you will be able to be free to prove the viability of wind power.

Presumably Buffet is making the same assumptions as Murdoch did in putting The Times (UK) behind a paywall a couple of years ago, namely that a) a tiny number of paying subscribers brings in more money in fees than millions of freeloaders do in ad revenue, and b) hopefully many more major publications will follow suit sooner or later, thus making it harder for people to get quality content for free, and so increasing the chance that they'll decide to pay for their news. There is some evidence that paywalls work if done right, and are working for the New York Post, the evidence seems slightly more mixed for The Times, I guess we're a smaller market in the UK, so it will be harder to make it work here. Whether it will be true for the Washington Post remains to be seen, but it's not completely crazy.

It probably depends a lot on the slant of the news. If you want your news with a liberal slant then you will support one paper. Conservative slant another. There does not appear to be a news source available without a bias. We might as well be reading vacuum tubes because they're all biased... negatively.

The last sentence is for folks over 60.

Presumably Buffet is making the same assumptions as Murdoch did in putting The Times (UK) behind a paywall a couple of years ago, namely that a) a tiny number of paying subscribers brings in more money in fees than millions of freeloaders do in ad revenue, and b) hopefully many more major publications will follow suit sooner or later, thus making it harder for people to get quality content for free, and so increasing the chance that they'll decide to pay for their news. There is some evidence that paywalls work if done right, and are working for the New York Post, the evidence seems slightly more mixed for The Times, I guess we're a smaller market in the UK, so it will be harder to make it work here. Whether it will be true for the Washington Post remains to be seen, but it's not completely crazy.

It probably depends a lot on the slant of the news. If you want your news with a liberal slant then you will support one paper. Conservative slant another. There does not appear to be a news source available without a bias. We might as well be reading vacuum tubes because they're all biased... negatively.

The last sentence is for folks over 60.

Presumably Buffet is making the same assumptions as Murdoch did in putting The Times (UK) behind a paywall a couple of years ago, namely that a) a tiny number of paying subscribers brings in more money in fees than millions of freeloaders do in ad revenue, and b) hopefully many more major publications will follow suit sooner or later, thus making it harder for people to get quality content for free, and so increasing the chance that they'll decide to pay for their news. There is some evidence that paywalls work if done right, and are working for the New York Post, the evidence seems slightly more mixed for The Times, I guess we're a smaller market in the UK, so it will be harder to make it work here. Whether it will be true for the Washington Post remains to be seen, but it's not completely crazy.

Presumably Buffet is making the same assumptions as Murdoch did in putting The Times (UK) behind a paywall a couple of years ago, namely that a) a tiny number of paying subscribers brings in more money in fees than millions of freeloaders do in ad revenue, and b) hopefully many more major publications will follow suit sooner or later, thus making it harder for people to get quality content for free, and so increasing the chance that they'll decide to pay for their news. There is some evidence that paywalls work if done right, and are working for the New York Post, the evidence seems slightly more mixed for The Times, I guess we're a smaller market in the UK, so it will be harder to make it work here. Whether it will be true for the Washington Post remains to be seen, but it's not completely crazy.

that's Scotland. They'll be going away soon., leaving England with only pain, misery, and despair.

Why doesn't the UN create its own internet and control that, like Iran has or intends to do?

Don't always confuse the data consumed by the iPhone as any real indication of "doing more".

There are serious bugs in the IOS system, some of them long standing ones that cause huge cellular data usage that users can't explain and can't control. There are numerous HUGE threads on Apple support forums about high unexplained data useage. And SIRI is not the only data hog.

Also, none of these web data usage studies takes into account the number of old iphones used only on wifi as the users have moved on to to newer phones. I have two of these sitting around my house. They run news update apps 24/7. The kids use them for web surfing occasionally. But because they are behind a router, web sites can't tell if its one, two, or seven. So in that case, what the web site can gather from it's logs speaks more to the installed base and durability of ancient IOS devices than the amount of actual use.

From the tone of your post I see you think this is some sort of contest. I have no dog in this fight, I'm just talking about what I've heard.

The "high data use bugs" are a red herring - the browser use stats come from webserver logs and the supposed bugs can't account for the level of traffic seen (also, are the bugs browsing specific web pages with the browsing patterns of a person?!). The proportion of http requests from the bugs vs the actual web use of people actively using the device is going to be extremely small. If that's your argument about... what exactly? To make yourself feel better than Android has a lower percentage of web browser traffic? I'm not sure what you're trying to say here? Like I said, it's not a contest, it's stats.

Don't always confuse the data consumed by the iPhone as any real indication of "doing more".

There are serious bugs in the IOS system, some of them long standing ones that cause huge cellular data usage that users can't explain and can't control. There are numerous HUGE threads on Apple support forums about high unexplained data useage. And SIRI is not the only data hog.

Also, none of these web data usage studies takes into account the number of old iphones used only on wifi as the users have moved on to to newer phones. I have two of these sitting around my house. They run news update apps 24/7. The kids use them for web surfing occasionally. But because they are behind a router, web sites can't tell if its one, two, or seven. So in that case, what the web site can gather from it's logs speaks more to the installed base and durability of ancient IOS devices than the amount of actual use.

Ok...
Doctors leaving Germany over low wages:
http://www.spiegel.de/international/german-brain-drain-sick-of-bad-pay-doctors-flee-germany-a-399537.html

Waiting lists for hospital treatment:
http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/nireland/healthcare_ni/healthcare_nhs_healthcare_e/nhs_patients_rights.htm#Hospitalwaitinglists

Hospitals unable to meet maximum wait times and resorting to fraud to meet guidelines:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-90691/Patients-cheated-NHS-waiting-list-scandal.html

Wait times continue to increase despite government pressure:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/apr/19/david-cameron-pressure-nhs-waiting-times
"Recent hospital figures show the average waiting time across all 19 departments to be about eight months. While breast surgery patients are seen in less than a month, patients waiting for a pain management appointment can expect to wait years"
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-isle-of-man-20238418

Remember those "death panels" that were such a joke? Meet a victim of one:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/2910780/NHSs-refusal-to-fund-cancer-treatment-costs-mother-21000.html

Rationing!
Rationing!
Rationing!
Rationing!
Rationing!

Raspberries http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2009/apr/21/space-raspberries-amino-acids-astrobiology

AND the above is WHY we don't dream big anymore.

One of the greatest achievements of technology to talk about and all we can do is compare it to a tv show and outdated movie from almost decade ago. And this will happen every time we bring it up.

We deserve the future we get.

You're kidding, right?

Here from Wikipedia:

Cultural influence of Star Trek

"Many scientists and engineers claim that their professional and life choices were influenced by Star Trek. The inventor of the first non-vehicular cell phone, Martin Cooper, states he was motivated to develop it from watching Star Trek."

or from The Guardian:

Star Trek technology: how 21st century scientists are making it so

"Many have been inspired by Star Trek to become scientists, and some are starting to make its gadgetry a reality"

I'm certain Star Trek was one of the top reasons many of the engineers at NASA became interested in engineering in the first place.

So when does life start?

That depends on how you define life. I define it as "a self-sustaining biological unit suitably equipped to survive in its nominal environment". Humans are not adapted to survive when immersed in amniotic fluid, and when they are immersed in it they aren't a self-sustaining biological unit. Your definition may be "any functioning cells", but that includes a leaf just fallen from a tree, a heart in an organ transport cooler, or the leg of a cat that's just been run over and otherwise reduced to pulp, and that's clearly way too broad.

Life OBVIOUSLY starts at conception.

Not obvious at all. At conception all you have is a single cell, and while there are single celled organisms, this cell isn't capable of surviving on it's own. It's just a free-drifting cell which will cease to function if it doesn't implant itself in the uterus wall within a matter of days, so at this stage it's biological but about as much "life" as a blood cell or a transplant organ.

Once it implants itself it relies 100% on the host (or mother if you prefer) for nutrition, oxygen, etc. This is also true of a kidney. Again, both are biological, but neither are independently self-sustaining biological units. Still not life by my definition, but life by the cat's leg standard.

After some months the internal organs develop to a point where it can survive outside the womb with varying degrees of artificial assistance. This could be considered life, but lacking the intervention it's not viable life, it will quickly die or suffer serious permanent damage in the event of a power outage, a faulty humidicrib, or even spontaneous organ failure due to stress.

Full term baby: definitely life. It breathes without assistance, it maintains it's own body temperature (not perfectly, true), its skin is suited to exposure to air...IOW, it is fully adapted to function as a biological unit in its nominal environment.

So unless you introduce unprovable religious concepts like a soul or use an effectively meaningless definition of life, it is by no means certain that life begins at conception.

Can you get life without conception?

Of course you can. Bacteria do just fine without it, and there are lots of higher species that can reproduce by parthenogenesis or other asexual means. And if you're prepared to accept artificially supported life as life, I don't see why artificial cloning doesn't count.

Oh that's right, life starts AFTER the baby leaves the womb and not before.

Well, yes. Until that point it's only potential life, and sometimes confusing potential life with actual life can have dire consequences. HAND.