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Since we have not means to read another persons mind a lot of modern psychology involves analysis of the self. After doing so it is hard to think highly of oneself or other humans ever again.
While chemically complex, we are pretty trivial beings.

That reminds me of this essay:

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/sorry-but-your-soul-just-died-1276509.html

However, I'd say there's a few counter-arguments.

1. We can become less trivial. Our culture encourages triviality through consumerism, or individualism, or egoism or something like that. Narcissism? It's an -ism, and it means we're basically "amusing ourselves to death" as Neil Postman says. We could fix that.

2. Compassion. I imagine most people think dogs are trivial. I love dogs. They are pure-hearted. Compassion encourages us to not worry so much about triviality.

3. Discover new worlds. There are other planets, new challenges, possibly other dimensions to explore. Maybe we're just bored and underchallenged, like students at public high schools?

Maybe not as impressive as I hoped it would be when I first thought of this message, but there it is.

the new sub-atomic particle announced last summer bears one of the classic signatures of the proposed Higgs boson – it does not spin or rotate like all other known sub-atomic particles.

The fact that this new particle is “spin zero”, combined with further evidence based on the way it decays into other known sub-atomic particles, is a convincing indication that it is indeed the Higgs boson,

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/have-they-found-the-higgs-boson-at-last-cern-physicists-say-theyre-confident-of-breakthrough-8534012.html

...no, no -- that's not how it's going to be "picked up".

Let's take a look:

NBC News: Particle confirmed as Higgs boson

Associated Press: Physicists say they have found a Higgs boson

Reuters: Strong signs Higgs boson has been found: CERN

Wall Street Journal: New Data Boosts Case for Higgs Boson Find

FOX News: Physicists say they have found long-sought Higgs boson

Washington Post: A closer look at the Higgs boson particle that helps explain what gives matter size and shape

Chicago Tribune: Strong signs Higgs boson has been found: CERN

Sky News: Higgs Boson: Experts Sure Of 'God Particle'

New York Daily News: Physicists say they have discovered crucial subatomic particle known as Higgs boson

Boston Globe: Physicists say they have found a Higgs boson

BBC (UK): LHC cements Higgs boson identification

BusinessWeek: Case for Higgs Boson Strengthened by New CERN Analysis

The Daily Mail (UK): Scientists say they HAVE found the 'God particle' - but admit they still aren't sure what type of Higgs boson it is

The Independent (UK): Have they found the Higgs boson at last? Cern physicists say they're confident of 'God particle' breakthrough

Telegraph (UK): Higgs boson: scientists confident they have discovered the 'God particle'

News Limited (AU): Higgs boson, the God particle, discovered by CERN

US News and World Report: Physicists Observe Higgs Boson, the Elusive 'God Particle'

None of these articles make any links to "God" other than a few -- mostly UK, not US -- sources referring to it as the so-called "God particle", but even those explain exactly what this particle is theorized to be, not anything supernatural, "proving God exists", or having anything whatever to do with God.

openSUSE is now out. The new pope says it's not allowed to marry.

That's OK. They've got other fish to fry.

A Doc who deliberately exposed himself to a bug for acute gastic illness earned himself a Nobel prize in physiology or medicine.

What war crimes?

Dick Cheney is by far the easiest to go after: Torture of prisoners, specifically waterboarding, which the US declared a crime against humanity when the Japanese did it to our soldiers. Evidence: He announced that he'd done so on national television.

George W Bush: Probably torture as well. Aggression (attacking a country without reason to believe that country is attempting to attack you), which we killed several Germans for doing at Nuremberg. Ordering the bombing of civilian targets in Iraq.

Barack Obama: Ordering "double-tap" drone strikes, where a strike occurs, and 15-20 minutes later a second strike occurs that kills anyone who tried to save the wounded from the first strike. Ordering drone strikes on funerals, which is specifically prohibited.

unless you are a very experienced with meditation you likely have very little control over your own brain chemistry. Even someone who knows how to alter their brainwaves would need the desire to do so, which depression removes.

You have no more control over depression than you do over Diabetes, they are both caused by chemical imbalances in your body. I don't know if you are aware of this, but your brain is a lot more complex than your pancreas. Maybe you should just will yourself to make more insulin!

Hate to be the one to tell you, but free will is a myth, your decisions are made long before you rationalize them, and you can't just choose to change your mood. You may refocus your attention when you feel sad, but that is a trained response, like a dog chasing a toy. Someone without that training just won't have that reaction, and they cannot "choose" to make their brains do something, anymore than you can choose to be depressed for months and commit suicide.

So what? The french are the most productive people in the world while working less hours, and morons call them lazy.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/the-grizz-mauls-lazy-french-workers-over-threehour-day-8503804.html - stupid traditional business thinking more hours = more productivity

http://articles.businessinsider.com/2009-08-20/markets/30087051_1_capita-france-s-gdp-work - some facts and figures

Contrast this with any dirty bomb material. If you get enough of that together and blow it up, you've simply provided contractors with 3 months of decontamination work with pressure washers.

"The Federation of American Scientists...says a bomb made using just one piece of radioactive cobalt [of the sort used in food irradiation] could make [New York] city uninhabitable for decades, and seriously contaminate one thousand square kilometres of the states of New Jersey, Connecticut and New York."

First the Nazis. Now also selling weapons.

Interesting read:
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/exclusive-billionaires-secretly-fund-attacks-on-climate-science-8466312.html

Seriously, when has "outreach" or "awareness" ever solved anything? (Urban violence? Drug use? What?)

There are examples. I haven't looked for any myself, but I heard about this one as I do Parkour:

According to figures from the Metropolitan Police, when sports projects were run in the borough of Westminster during the 2005 Easter holidays, youth crime dropped by 39 per cent. The following year, the most recent for which figures are available, when parkour was added to the projects, youth crime fell by 69 per cent.

Source

@Freddie_UK: A woman has been taken to hospital after eating horsemeatburgers. Her condition is said to be stable.
@BobJWilliams: I expect this only relates to those mini-burgers you have as snacks. You know, the horse d'oeuvres.
@JohnMoynes: I get all my horsemeat from an independent dodgy butcher.
@DiamondsIRL: Are you in favour of Horsemeat in your burgers? Yay or Neigh?
@GBretman: So horsemeat has been found in TescoProducts but a spokesman says It's bollocks
@pinkyperfection: I had a tesco burger and now I'm feeling a little horse
@brucel: Those Aldi horse burgers were nice, but I prefer My Lidl Pony
@PaulLewis: Scientist: "Sir, we've discovered horse meat in your burgers." Tesco boss: "Why the long face?"
@PensionsMonkey: There was an old woman who swallowed a horse, she'd been to Tesco, of course.
@elhaydo: Good thing about these horse puns is it's stopped all the sick Jimmy Saddle jokes

The best #horsemeat Twitter gags following Tesco burger blunder

Yes. First came crony capitalism, now we have crony science. I'm still waiting for the other shoe to drop on HIV. The WHO did finally announce after 25 years that there will NOT be a heterosexual AIDS pandemic.(1) But they still have yet to explain how the virus knows what continent it's on, and why it only infects heteros in Africa. Peter Duesberg was right.(2) But in traditional crony science, they cut all his funding so they wouldn't have to listen to his science.(3) And people expect me to take government funded climate "science" seriously. ROFLMAO.

(1) http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/threat-of-world-aids-pandemic-among-heterosexuals-is-over-report-admits-842478.html

(2) http://www.amazon.com/Inventing-AIDS-Virus-Peter-Duesberg/dp/0895263998

(3) http://www.omsj.org/corruption/the-duesberg-inquisition

One practical application of this device would be keeping it in clubs/bars, where if someone ingests too much alcohol or liquid nitrogen then those critical minutes can save a persons life. train a bar attendant in how to use it.

other than that, yes you are spot on.

Not just people that age. Even British members of parliament:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/mp-was-worried-over-tarnished-television-image-coroner-records-misadventure-verdict-on-milligan-1430950.html

When that pretty blond western journalist was brutally raped in Cairo during the Egyptian uprising against Mubarak, Al Jazeera deleted all posts that mentioned it.

I assume you're on about Natasha Smith, who's recently published a piece on sexual harassment in Egypt, and the wider area. Other outlets cover the problem more generally BBC, Guardian

I'll have to take your word about Al Jazeera's censorship, but it's interesting that there's surprisingly little coverage of this case. The BBC doesn't have any mention of a british citizen being attacked in this way. it's cropped up in reputable sources (the independent and CNN), as well as the sensationalist tripe that is the daily mail. The coverage that Lara Logan got 15 months earlier was much more extensive coverage world wide, but it appears Al Jazeera didn't cover it. They later ran a story on sexual violence in Tahir Square in general, mentioning both women, linking to abc news for the Logan assault.

A lot of the blame can be put at the backwards society that prevails in the middle east and south asia, men are brought up to think of women as objects to be possessed and conquered, and they're asking for it if they're not hiding under a blanket, or dare to go out on their own. Sadly this society is infiltrating the more enlightened parts of the world, like Europe and the U.S.

We can only hope that main stream muslims will eventually grow out of these views, like christians eventually stopped genocide in south america and burning "witches"

So whites can't be the victims of racism? Males can't be the victims of sexism? You're seriously saying that?

You're the typical feminist. You whine about how there aren't enough woman lawyers, CEOs, and other white-collar, high paying jobs; but you're not out there picketing because they're aren't enough woman miners, crab boat fishers, and oil rig workers because those are physically hard and aren't glamorous.

What you want isn't equality, you want superiority.

Especially since some of the research seems to be focusing on how to reduce soldiers' critical thinking and ethical scruples.

Man, the religion people are going to be hella pissed if this cuts into their long-standing franchise of reducing critical thinking and ethical scruples using the time-honored "GAWD SEZ SO" technique...

Especially since some of the research seems to be focusing on how to reduce soldiers' critical thinking and ethical scruples. That's been going on for a while in other ways: after realizing that a lot of soldiers purposely fired above their enemies' heads due to an intrinsic distaste for shooting people, a lot of military training has been focused on overcoming the (otherwise generally desirable) "not a psycho who wants to put a bullet in another human" reflex. Could get a lot more problematic if it's actually drugs and/or genetic engineering...

Or are you Austrian?

Nobody can fake a tape - except the Met Police who can play back their recorded hum in a soundproof room. Of course the would never tamper with evidence. Would they?

Is that why he takes so many expensive vacations on the US taxpayer's dollars? (Michelle too)

Seriously, it takes the UK less than $60 million per year to support the entire Royal family, while it takes the USA over $1.4 billion per year to support a family of four in the White House.

That's because the Queen is a figurehead with no power. Even so, when her family (well William/Harry) go off around the world on UK business, they tend to fly scheduled airlines.

When it comes to the head of the UK government (the guy with the nuclear launch codes), things are different. He flys easyjet on holiday.

Honestly, Ghandi slept in the nude with young girls, and had an very intimidate relationship with a woman who was not his wife. http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/thrill-of-the-chaste-the-truth-about-gandhis-sex-life-1937411.html Mother Teresa supposedly squandered the money that people donated to her on various things not related to the orphans. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Aplank/Criticisms_of_Mother_Teresa

Rationing!
Rationing!
Rationing!
Rationing!
Rationing!

In my country, it already does. It's called "the national curriculum".

The UK also has a national curriculum. The issue here is that 'free schools' and 'academy schools' are not bound to it, even though they're publicly funded. This is part of (IMO) the conservative party agenda to wrest control from Local Authorities, and in my opinion is a Bad Thing. Others disagree. 'Free schools' are set up by concerned parents, 'concerned' companies or agenda-driven religious groups. They're free to teach what they want. This is a small step to curtail the whackiest of them, but I'd rather that government concentrated on improving all schools, not just allowing some to opt-out. As I mentioned, others disagree.

Academy schools are draining money from better local schools and forcing them to close.

The colonies are explicitly approved by the Israeli government. Most so-called "outposts" are promoted to full "settlement" status. There is nothing tacit about it. Their plan is to colonize and annex as much territory as possible with as few non-Jews as possible. So they can preserve their precious Jewish majority that was created by force. Jewish settlers receive assistance from the Israeli government, protection from the army, special roads that only they can drive on, and are under the Israeli legal system. The indiginous non-Jews can't drive from town to town, are under martial law, and suffer from malnutrition while their crops wither in their fields because they are unable to leave their homes to harvest them. In Gaza, Israel counts their calories and prevents the importation of food leading to stunted growth of children. Israel even prevents the export of food and goods, ensuring that the Palestinians remain under the thumb of Israel. All of this has been going on for decades prior to the establishment of Hamas.

But hey, they shoot rockets back at Israel so it's all OK, right?

Food for thought.

Tiger attacks in New York didn't stop in 1998 either.

"James Lovelock, the scientist that came up with the 'Gaia Theory' and a prominent herald of climate change, once predicted utter disaster for the planet from climate change, writing 'before this century is over billions of us will die and the few breeding pairs of people that survive will be in the Arctic where the climate remains tolerable.' Now Lovelock is walking back his rhetoric, admitting that he and other prominent global warming advocates were being alarmists. In a new interview with MSNBC he says: '"The problem is we don't know what the climate is doing. We thought we knew 20 years ago. That led to some alarmist books — mine included — because it looked clear-cut, but it hasn't happened," Lovelock said. "The climate is doing its usual tricks. There's nothing much really happening yet. We were supposed to be halfway toward a frying world now," he said. "The world has not warmed up very much since the millennium. Twelve years is a reasonable time it (the temperature) has stayed almost constant, whereas it should have been rising — carbon dioxide is rising, no question about that," he added.' Lovelock still believes the climate is changing, but at a much, much slower pace."

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/james-lovelock-the-earth-is-about-to-catch-a-morbid-fever-that-may-last-as-long-as-100000-years-523161.html
http://worldnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/04/23/11144098-gaia-scientist-james-lovelock-i-was-alarmist-about-climate-change?lite

The alarmists say they were being alarmist and recanted. That the rest of the world hasn't caught up is simply latency.

If we hit a warming of 4 degrees, you can forget about nations or countries as we know it. The civilization may well collapse. If we hit 6 degrees, say hello to the next mass extinction. "It would cause a mass extinction of almost all life and probably reduce humanity to a few struggling groups of embattled survivors clinging to life near the poles." Details on this article.

No idea if this is change one can believe in, but it looks like a very serious change... er, problem.

The incident to which the AC is referring is about a poppy burning which was in the news just a few days ago. A man was arrested for burning the poppy on Remembrance day.

This is probably similar to the flag burning controversy in the US. (See also the excellent Futurama episode on why it makes not sense to defend freedom of expression by abolishing it)

Yes, that's the difference between public sector where there is enforced transparency due to acts like the Freedom of Information act, and public sector where no such transparency is necessary.

It's a stupid proposition, the reason climate change is exposed by public sector is because public sector is not tainted by an inherent bias to profit. Despite the conspiracy theory about how scientists are bigging up the climate change thing to keep themselves in a job things are different in reality. You mention the met office for example, well, the jobs there aren't dependent on global warming being true or not true - they're full time employees there to study the climate regardless, yet they still have come to the same conclusion that climate change is a problem.

Contrast that to private sector where there's a lot of money to be lost if climate change is a real problem and you can see why private sector groups would fund so much FUD that people like you naively fall for.

But regardless, thankfully due to investigative journalism, your proposition isn't completely fruitless. Here, have some links, go educate yourself. That's if you want to of course, which I'm not sure you do, most deniers don't after all, they just prefer to deny what is right in front their face:

http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/thinktanks-take-oil-money-and-use-it-to-fund-climate-deniers-1891747.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/oct/24/tea-party-climate-change-deniers

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2012/feb/15/leaked-heartland-institute-documents-climate-scepticism

http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/en/campaigns/global-warming-and-energy/polluterwatch/koch-industries/

I ask because unlike other 'major' western democracies, the UK has no written constitution and its doing well.

So again I ask: Should China have the "rule of law", just because some western countries have it?

Let's remember that it's one thing to have rules and it's another to actually follow them. Some governments in the west have ignored their own rules too. Just saying.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/world-on-track-for-nearly-11-degree-temperature-rise-energy-expert-says/2011/11/28/gIQAi0lM6N_story.html

http://globalwarming.berrens.nl/globalwarming.htm

The UK has a history of letting information collected at great expense go stale---only to later spend yet even more money to receover the "archived" information later.
One of my favorite examples of this is the Domesday book and it's 900th anniversary commemoration. http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/commentators/philip-hensher/philip-hensher-domesday-lessons-for-the-egeneration-2283897.html

In most EU countries, higher education is either free or cheap. That makes it available to practically everyone, which makes the EU countries the true lands of equal opportunity.

Spoken like someone who doesn't live there and is speaking from the outside. Education is not free, it's paid for by taxes - which Europe has no lack of and are far from cheap. If you think Europe is a bastion of opportunity and equality you're sorely mistaken. Racism and Nationalism are alive and well, if you're an outsider you will forever be a foreigner there. Look at France, Germany, Norway.

All countries have their faults, this isn't some broad claim that Europe should be avoided, far from it. This is like someone misunderstanding the difference between the letter of the law and the spirit.

No more science stars please one is too much so one is.

Amazon have had UK sales totalling over £7bn during the past three years, but have paid £0 in tax.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/amazon-investigated-by-uk-authorities-over-tax-avoidance-7622019.html

Well, that and Canadian Geese... http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/canada-geese-caused-plane-to-ditch-in-hudson-1419202.html

Thank you for regurgitating Scott's blog. It is indeed vomit. With the subset data presented that is a valid conclusion, but only so when you look at that limited subset of data. It's not denialism to point out bad math.

But, even the alarmists have admitted to being alarmist:

"James Lovelock, the scientist that came up with the 'Gaia Theory' and a prominent herald of climate change, once predicted utter disaster for the planet from climate change, writing 'before this century is over billions of us will die and the few breeding pairs of people that survive will be in the Arctic where the climate remains tolerable.' Now Lovelock is walking back his rhetoric, admitting that he and other prominent global warming advocates were being alarmists. In a new interview with MSNBC he says: '"The problem is we don't know what the climate is doing. We thought we knew 20 years ago. That led to some alarmist books — mine included — because it looked clear-cut, but it hasn't happened," Lovelock said. "The climate is doing its usual tricks. There's nothing much really happening yet. We were supposed to be halfway toward a frying world now," he said. "The world has not warmed up very much since the millennium. Twelve years is a reasonable time it (the temperature) has stayed almost constant, whereas it should have been rising — carbon dioxide is rising, no question about that," he added.' Lovelock still believes the climate is changing, but at a much, much slower pace."
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/james-lovelock-the-earth-is-about-to-catch-a-morbid-fever-that-may-last-as-long-as-100000-years-523161.html
http://worldnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/04/23/11144098-gaia-scientist-james-lovelock-i-was-alarmist-about-climate-change?lite

I don't think the BBC is technically part of the UK government. It's autonomous in a lot of ways, although it's been a while since the exact nature was explained to me.

The BBC is funded by a license fee, which is paid for directly by everyone in the UK that watches TV. The BBC's budget is controlled by the government and agreed every 10 years.

It's free of direct government control, so for example released damning material into the Iraq War, and reported an accusation that the government "sexed up" the case for war, and that WMDs did not exist. The BBC was later proven 100% correct.

The event, partly due to a cock-up by a BBC reporter, led to a scientist's death. There was a government inquiry by a government stooge that found in favour of the government over the whole affair. This led to the enforced resignation of the head of the BBC (who had been on holiday at the time of the incident).

Since then, the BBC has kow-towed to the government and lost much of it's teeth where it really mattered.

The license-fee part of the BBC has also been forced to take on funding of the BBC World Service and BBC Monitoring (which were always government funded, although in the former case, editorially independent and trusted to tell the truth around the world by everyone from sheep herders to jihadists).

The BBC Boss since the Hutton affair, Mark Thompson, recently left to become a Murdoch stooge (his reward for damaging the BBC as much as he did). The new DG, George Entwistle, has dropped into position in the middle of the whole Saville controversy in a "don't you dare try to shake anything up" style thing. Amazing timing.

On top of the fear of government (especially when Labour and Peter Mandleson were still in power), the BBC's journalism has suffered recently due to a dumbing down of output. It's the same across the industry. They're trying to produce too much materia, with too little

Leading BBC journalists, speaking privately yesterday, called for radical reform of the BBC's News division, claiming it had become afraid of running difficult stories. "There is a general timidity about broadcasting anything that's controversial," said one senior figure. "We have got to have a sense of devilment and we don't have that at all."

The BBC has amazing correspondents, but the culture at the head is the biggest problem.

Jeremy Bowen, a middle-east expert, was recently criticised for spending too much time in the middle east during the Arab spring. Their knowledge rarely makes it out on mainstream BBC News, you sometimes get some good programs like "Reporters", and the occasional Newsnight and Radio 4 program, but even the 1/6/10 doesn't scratch the in-depth knowledge of the BBC's overseas correspondents.

I don't see anybody else dumping billions of tons of CO2 into the atmosphere year after year. ... and that "greenhouse" thing? It works.

How about ice? http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/env99/env99424.htm

Or cows? http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/cow-emissions-more-damaging-to-planet-than-co2-from-cars-427843.html

I'm sure there's more if you scroll through a google search.

Depends on the competitive edge they want.
The USA usually finds just the people they need for any role.
NSA, CIA, DIA know where to find people, get them into crypto, make life more easy as they move up the advanced math ranks.... or trade tracer fire during peace time in distant lands.
The TSA found its people in other parts of the US and even the tame US press seems to have to report on the lack of basic background reports on staff, missing items... but they had the 'hands' on skills needed...
So what does the DHS really want? The UK seems to offer a hint http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/xbox-geeks-to-become-cyber-spies-8217352.html
Security forces around the world want youth, the slang, the lifestyle and the look of 'average'.
Its no good dropping a 6ft, battleground tanned, fit, healthy 'agent' in an "irc" room full of overweight coders with skin problems, rich parents, top computer games and their own view on the world forged by 6 years of free French at a top US university.
The ability to guide the press by day and do a night raid (death squad) is of no use back on the home front.
The ability to "man flirt" about rich parents, life at a top US university, seeking out distilleries, unique local beer...for 6 months and some day guide cyber protests ....
This is just another Counterintelligence Program - welcome to the world of minority rights, animal rights, save the earth.... all your chatrooms, forums, blogs, web 2.0 are about to get some quality infiltration by people who can sit back and be one of "you" for 1 or 25 years.

um...yes, actually I have. Those were just a few out of my bookmarks. OK, some of them were subcontractors to Government departments, but there are more than an insignificant number of breaches there that were quietly swept under the carpet that were entirely down to Government agents being either totally stupid or deliberately making sure that that data got out. Who knows how many breaches of remarkable severity go unreported?

The pirates are stealing from them (from the whole industry), so what's wrong with stealing a little from pirates?

Well, apart from the fact that it's not stealing, it's unlicensed copying, nothing.

I guess these pirates can see how it feels now.

Probably: great; I would be laughing like hell if I had done this and Netflix took my subtitles.

However, you are completely missing the point here. There are some of us who think it's okay to "pirate" and do so. There are others, like myself, that feel that unlicensed copying should be allowed in many more circumstances but don't feel like breaking the law. Until now there's been a third group which is benefitting from the laws, but was following them. Finally there's been group, such as congressmen's children, which are breaking the law because they can get away with it.

What we are seeing now is that in fact, there's no third group. The RIAA "pirates" music for their ads. The big media distribution firms demand adverts on other people's YouTube videos because of some real or false positive fair rights use of their material. The media distribution companies, like Netflix, are completely happy to "steal" material from anywhere they feel like. These people do things that, if you did them, would end you up in jail or paying hundreds of thousands of dollars of fines. They pay nothing and rarely even apologise.

This is all about the Amercan corporate royalty and their "Droit de Seigneur" with your ideas, privacy and creations. This is not news because the copying is immoral; it is news because, it's yet another slip of the front and makes it 100% clear that you too are plebs and the only thing wrong is letting you know it.

For bonus points, I grew in Wells, ME, about 10km south of Kennebunk

I guess you grew up there some time ago.

just make prostitution legal (and regulated) like most of Europe.

A very long time ago.

Maybe it is better if the US doesn't legalize prostitution like the !most of Europe, and the part of Europe where it is legal but being moved against?

French minister for women seeks abolition of prostitution in Europe

France's minister for women is to organise a consultation on ways to abolish prostitution in France and Europe, she has told the Guardian.

Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, the high profile women's rights minister and government spokeswoman, said in an interview that she would be organising a conference of experts on how to contain the sex-trade and human-trafficking and was seeking to meet the home secretary Theresa May for input from the UK.

"Since the 19th century and the role of [the Victorian feminist] Josephine Butler, Britain and France have been the core countries in the international mobilisation against prostitution. I really hope that these common roots are still alive," she said. She wanted a meeting with May on how Britain and France approach prostitution and human-trafficking. In France prostitution is not illegal, but activities around it are. Brothels were outlawed in 1946 and pimping is illegal.

In 2003 a controversial law against soliciting was introduced by Nicolas Sarkozy, then interior minister, making it illegal to stand in a public place known for prostitution dressed in revealing clothes.

Last year, the French parliament adopted a resolution on the abolition of prostitution saying its objective was a "society without prostitution".

The consultation would consider recommendations made last year by a cross-party commission of French MPs that it should be illegal to pay for sex. The MPs had suggested all clients of sex workers, meaning anyone who buys sex from any kind of prostitute, would face prison and a fine. Clients of sex-workers face prison in a handful of European countries, including Sweden, Norway and Iceland.

Spain, the world capital of prostitution?
In Spain, Women Enslaved by a Boom in Brothel Tourism

LA JONQUERA, Spain — She had expected a job in a hotel. But when Valentina arrived here two months ago from Romania, the man who helped her get here — a man she had considered her boyfriend — made it clear that the job was on the side of the road.

He threatened to beat her and to kill her children if she did not comply. And so she stood near a roundabout recently, her hair in a greasy ponytail, charging $40 for intercourse, $27 for oral sex.

“For me, life is finished,” she said later that evening, tears running down her face. “I will never forget that I have done this.”

La Jonquera used to be a quiet border town where truckers rested and the French came looking for a deal on hand-painted pottery and leather goods. But these days, prostitution is big business here, as it is elsewhere in Spain, where it is essentially legal.

While the rest of Spain’s economy may be struggling, experts say that prostitution — almost all of it involving the ruthless trafficking of foreign women — is booming, exploding into public view in small towns and big cities. The police recently rescued a 19-year-old Romanian woman from traffickers who had tattooed on her wrist a bar code and the amount she still owed them: more than $2,500.

In the past, most c

... will screw up their pictures anyway in the end. Hipsters will make the purple flare a new trend and a future Instagram update for Android will enable this. Anyone want to bet on that?

And then Apple will sue on the grounds that they the purple flare is their copyright/patent/trademark/whatever.

Mind you, I expect Cadbury to have something to say about this - they apparently "own" a shade of purple.

I did, every single one of them was the Daily Mail

You obviously didn't look that far, here it is reported independently in several different UK tabloids.

"Frankly, these provocations won't help anyone."

I agree that the Mohammed film in question is terrible. But it does address some important issues with Islam. And that will help us non-believers in the long run. For example the issue of child marriage. Aisha, one of Mohammeds wifes were 9 or 10 when the marriage was consummated. And we should of course (also as non-muslims) be free to debate if that is behaviour befitting for a prophet. Another example is the glorification of violence against non-muslims. At least as long as the main schools of Islam argue that the behaviour of Mohammed is perfect and should form an ideal guideline on how muslims should live in the 21st century.

Another point is that this film is only one pearl in a series of incidents where muslims are threatening fellow muslims or non-muslims over perceived blasphemy. The last example was a documentary on Channel 4 (examining the historical roots of Islam) where a planning screening was cancelled due to threats to the historian behind the film:

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/channel-4-cancels-controversial-screening-of-islam-the-untold-story-documentary-after-presenter-tom-holland-is-threatened-8125641.html

In the United States most food commodities required you take possession. To be fair, a lot of that started under Clinton (who was a fiscal conservative, only liberal on social issues), but as the article points out things didn't really get going on the speculative markets until 2008, round the Obama was handed Bush's mess to clean up (and a Congress full of DINOs, Democrats in Name Only).

There are many, many things in this world that are complex. Physics, chemistry, mathematics. Economics isn't one of them. People are simple, scared and greedy. Google the phrases 'Southern Strategy' and 'Vulture Capitalism' and you pretty much have everything you need to know to understand it. Everything else is just tossing numbers around.

But don't take my word for it. Take this example. How do the Rich avoid taxes? Complex and amazing tax loopholes? Not so much. Turns out they just borrow money below interest (loaned to them by rich buddies in charge of the banking system) and live off that. That's the best irony in the world. The super wealthy are some of the poorest people in the world. No money (to tax) you see. Again, google it. I found that linked article for you, so you can do the rest :P.