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My reasoning should be pretty clear:

An affluent population (such as the US) can afford a certain amount of luxury along with a certain amount of necessity. Cars are part luxury and part necessity (4 wheels is the necessity, but an SUV is a luxury).

Do you want another statistic to reinforce my logic?
3 TVs per 4 people.

So if we can afford 3 TVs per 4 people and 3 cars per 4 people, I think the MP3 player market can stabilize at 3 MP3 players per 4 people too.

My logic, if you aren't aware, is called correlation and induction; if two disparate markets such as TVs and automobiles have a proportion of 3 per 4 people, I am proposing that iPods/MP3 players will too.

The percentage of people victimized by assault is about twice as high in the UK as the US. the percentage victimized by rape is also about twice as high. Burglaries per capita are about twice as high too. Yeah, homicide is still higher in the US, but total crime victimization is significantly worse in the UK.

As a law-abiding citizen, I don't care whether criminals have guns, I care whether I'm likely to be a victim of a crime and whether I can feel safe walking the streets at night. Currently the US is safer than the UK by those measurements - prevalence or lack of guns notwithstanding.

The percentage of people victimized by assault is about twice as high in the UK as the US. the percentage victimized by rape is also about twice as high. Burglaries per capita are about twice as high too. Yeah, homicide is still higher in the US, but total crime victimization is significantly worse in the UK.

As a law-abiding citizen, I don't care whether criminals have guns, I care whether I'm likely to be a victim of a crime and whether I can feel safe walking the streets at night. Currently the US is safer than the UK by those measurements - prevalence or lack of guns notwithstanding.

The percentage of people victimized by assault is about twice as high in the UK as the US. the percentage victimized by rape is also about twice as high. Burglaries per capita are about twice as high too. Yeah, homicide is still higher in the US, but total crime victimization is significantly worse in the UK.

As a law-abiding citizen, I don't care whether criminals have guns, I care whether I'm likely to be a victim of a crime and whether I can feel safe walking the streets at night. Currently the US is safer than the UK by those measurements - prevalence or lack of guns notwithstanding.

The percentage of people victimized by assault is about twice as high in the UK as the US. the percentage victimized by rape is also about twice as high. Burglaries per capita are about twice as high too. Yeah, homicide is still higher in the US, but total crime victimization is significantly worse in the UK.

As a law-abiding citizen, I don't care whether criminals have guns, I care whether I'm likely to be a victim of a crime and whether I can feel safe walking the streets at night. Currently the US is safer than the UK by those measurements - prevalence or lack of guns notwithstanding.

I think if the US can support three cars per four people then saturation of the iPod market won't happen until we get 3 iPods per 4 people; with almost 300 million people, that means over 200 million iPods sold; since Apple is sold 6.5 million in the 4th quarter, and something like 6 million the quarter before, that means we have another 8 years at this rate, less if the sale rate increases.

Of course someone else might catch up; Sony has a good chance, and so does Creative. That still doesn't diminish Apple's sales of course, only reduces it's acceleration as any good MP3 player will grow the market, rather than steal it from another player.

How do people live in Bangladesh (GDP=275B$) compared to Luxembourg (GDP=27B$)? I would reckon that in a head to head match up, Bangladesh would be 10x more likely to win an all-out war with Luxembourg.

Interesting way to answer the question! "How do people live?" -> Bangladesh would win in a war". Do you always answer questions that way? If I were to ask you "What is the capital of Wisconsin?" would you answer "I hate redneck cheese farmers."? If I were to ask you "What is the largest mammal on Earth?" would you answer "Humans could beat up all of the other animals."? I mean, seriously, I find the "answer a different question" strategy cute, but it doesn't contribute to the conversation.

If what you care about is *military power* instead of quality of life (which is what the discussion was about at that point), then GDP isn't the figure you want either. Armed forces budgets would be much closer to what you want, although that, too, isn't everything, as a country with a long history of armed forces neglect will do poorly compared to one that has a long tradition of armed forces funding. You can get a pretty good overall forces assessment here.

Next time, before you change the subject, announce that you're going to do so, okay?

We are very rich indeed. Oh and that pesky debt figure you raise? Worthless, its mainly comprised of mortgage debt... so anyone with 84k in debt likely has a house, and also likely has far more equity than debt.

False. That is cumulative assets plus debt. Need a reference? The average American has a lot of negative money. The average american also has almost 9,000 dollars in credit card debt (median is 1,900 - note again how averages skew reality?).

The bottom 20% of Americans make an average of 16k$/yr. Wow, thats like what a good euroslut makes... What pray tell does the bottom 20% of europe make? Care to take a look? I bet its pretty awful..

Dear God, you know nothing on this subject - why are you even debating it? I don't know from what cave you've been living in, but even the average income between the US and Western Europe isn't *that* different; the US median is only marginally higher, and the European poor are better off. Didn't I already mention this? For example, the bottom 10% of Americans average 13,301$/yr (2002). In the same time the same percentiles of the dutch were averaging $14,849, the Swedes $14,457, the Germans $13,678 and the Finns $14,495. Only in Britain were the poor relevantly worse off than the US (sorry, I don't have numbers for Italy and France, but they're probably similar to the rest of mainland Europe; Britain has economic policies more similar to the US)

Nigeria : you can't be happy when you are dead.

The dead don't get surveyed. The living know their risks of death, and weigh it. People in Nigeria, contrary to what you may believe, do have brains and are aware of the concept of mortality.

I like clean drinking water. It makes me ***HAPPY***

The survey was *NOT* whether people in America, if they moved to various countries, would be happy. The survey was whether the people who live there are happy. Heck, there's an entire religion (Buddhism) whose central tenant is reaching inner bliss through *giving up* your posessions. Happiness varies incredibly from person to person, and society to society.

I, nor the authors of the study, are asking you to give up your posessions and move to Nigeria. If you did so, you'd probably be miserable. That doesn't change the fact that the people over there are happy, of their own accord.

1. More laws
2. More crimes
3. More criminals
4. More prisoners
5. £39k per prisoner
6. ???
7. More money for the State.

Again, no. In raw dollars, and also per GDP.

Again, no. In raw dollars, and also per GDP.

What dream world are you living in? Hint: the net cash flow goes into the US, not out. This inbalance is the primary goal of US foreign policy. If you are thinking charity donations, well you don't even make the top 20 However, presenting the image of "America the Saviour" is key to your rulers military campaigns, which is why this propaganda is installed in you from an early age. You went into Iraq to help the Iraqis, not yourselves, right? ;-)

China controls the top level domains and you want to register something like ChinaKillsPeople.com, and you just don't get denied acess

Is "photosofprisonerabuse.com" taken, or perhaps "deadsoldiersreturnhome.com"? People in glass houses should not throw stones. Also, could you drop the "we are better than China, so what's your problem?" attitude. There aren't many countries that aren't better than China WRT personal freedoms and rights, so using this argument actually makes you look bad overall. It's like saying "mom, my boyfriend isn't Charles Manson, he only kills babies at the weekend".

Whenever US mainstream media writes about piracy they use the word "illegal" over and over again. For example, the link in TFS, SFGate writes "illegal release".

I guess that we are subconsciously brainwashed into thinking that bad == illegal == go to prison or jail.

Keep in mind that that we are the highest incarceration rate per capita in the world. As a comparison, we currently have 0.7% of our population imprisoned and Sweden is an order of magnitude below this. Not to mention that about 2% of our population is "in the system" to include parole, probation, or whatever (to include yours truly).

That is why. Its simply the cost of "freedom". Or so I've been told by the same media people.

You will see if you look at Home Office statistics that there were upwards of 10,000 firearms related crimes in the last year. Most of these had to do with possession, not actual use. While the amount of guns in the UK has increased, it is infintesimal compared to the US, as is the amount of gun crime.

That is why when someone is murdered with a gun in the UK, it is huge national news, while in the US, it barely makes the local papers (I have lived in both countries).

As for the moral issues behind killing someone: I would say the US is quite exceptional in thinking that it is morally OK to kill someone in defence of property. This is a concept that is unconscionable in pretty much every country in the world except for America. I will not, however, attempt to convince you that human life is worth more than any property, regardless of whether that human tries to steal property. It is up to you whether you want to make that judgement; suffice it to say that the majority of societies in the world have banned guns partly because they don't see the force in that part of the argument.

As for killing in defence of life--of course most people see this as morally justifiable. But most people also do not end up in situations where they ever must do such a thing, and the chances of someone ending up in this situation, and having bought a gun, are much lower than the chances of someone who buys a gun then using it to commit a crime.

But that is really beside the point. Because it is invalid to say that the purpose of guns is to defend your own life and property. You could say that the purpose of an IRA bomb was to fight for Irish Republicanism. But that is not what the bomb does, that is just your aim that lies behind your actions. The immediate action at hand is killing, and that is an action that most people find unacceptable.

You will see if you look at Home Office statistics that there were upwards of 10,000 firearms related crimes in the last year. Most of these had to do with possession, not actual use. While the amount of guns in the UK has increased, it is infintesimal compared to the US, as is the amount of gun crime.

That is why when someone is murdered with a gun in the UK, it is huge national news, while in the US, it barely makes the local papers (I have lived in both countries).

As for the moral issues behind killing someone: I would say the US is quite exceptional in thinking that it is morally OK to kill someone in defence of property. This is a concept that is unconscionable in pretty much every country in the world except for America. I will not, however, attempt to convince you that human life is worth more than any property, regardless of whether that human tries to steal property. It is up to you whether you want to make that judgement; suffice it to say that the majority of societies in the world have banned guns partly because they don't see the force in that part of the argument.

As for killing in defence of life--of course most people see this as morally justifiable. But most people also do not end up in situations where they ever must do such a thing, and the chances of someone ending up in this situation, and having bought a gun, are much lower than the chances of someone who buys a gun then using it to commit a crime.

But that is really beside the point. Because it is invalid to say that the purpose of guns is to defend your own life and property. You could say that the purpose of an IRA bomb was to fight for Irish Republicanism. But that is not what the bomb does, that is just your aim that lies behind your actions. The immediate action at hand is killing, and that is an action that most people find unacceptable.

making an object a paint brush seems to be just an unimaginative copy of the tool for the physical world

It just seems kinda silly to me that we repeat this same silly duplication of old interfaces each time. When cars were first invented people tried to put reigns on them along with many other examples I can't remember. I'm just surprised we haven't learned yet that new technologies generally demand new interfaces...

Children are exceptionally good at learning new interfaces and ways of controlling things

(Note this isn't a real criticism just a general observation and nit picking)

"Almighty" my ass!

It's instructive to note how few Dutch Jews survived the war with how many
Danish Jews did. In Denmark, there wasn't a population register with religion on
it, and the civil service behaved impeccably.

Impeccable? This is complete bullshit. You are comparing apples and oranges. Denmark never suffered an occupation regime:

"After the German invasion and military occupation on April 9, Denmark became an exception amongst the occupied countries. It formally remained a sovereign state and governed its own affairs, thus differentiating it with regard to international law and the practice of occupation. The situation in Denmark has even been characterized as an "anomaly" in German occupied Europe. This was foremost a consequence of a unique occupation regime. Unlike other countries, Denmark was not put under the control of a German civil or military administration. In theory, and more or less in practice, the basic social, political, and legal situation in Denmark remained intact."

In other words, Denmark was pretty much able to do whatever it wanted as long as it didn't provoke Germany into imposing a stricter occupation regime. Denmark did not defend itself, its government collaborated with the Nazis and never went into exile, and it was never part of the Allies.

In terms of occupation regimes, The Netherlands represents the complete opposite: a Nazi civil occupation regime. It was, like the states in Germany itself, and for instance Austria, and former Prussia in conquered Poland, ruled by a Nazi Gauleiter (Governor), the infamous Austrian Arthur Seyss-Inquart, from the outset. In all areas that were treated as original parts of the First Reich by the Nazis the jews nearly disappeared.

The Netherlands was militarily defeated, its government went into exile, it was at war with the axis nations, it never surrendered its sovereignty to anyone but only most of its terrirory, and the civil administration in the Netherlands was considered clearly illegitimate by the majority of the population.

The intermediate type of regime is represented by for instance northern France and the Balkan countries that merely suffered a German military occupation regime.

Ok, jackass.

Ok, jackass.

http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Davy-Croc kett-(nuclear-device)

The Davy was a recoilless rifle that fired 1 kiloton nukes and was developed years ago. Yes, there are 155mm nuclear rounds (some are rocket propelled and laser guided) in addition to VX, blister, mine deploying, etc. Do not be surprised at the disgusting genius of weapons designers. There exist some truly horrific means of mass murder and nuclear munitions is just one. Personally nukes don't scare me as much any more. They are fairly easy to track, difficult to build and deliver and suffer from scalibility and engineering issues to make the big ones. There is also a certain stigma attached to them.

Biological weapons scare the living shit out of me. They are difficult to develop, but can be easily mass produced and delivered. They kill indescriminately and can be made self sustaining. What is worse is that to defeat them, you have to devlopment them in the first place (this is the conundrum of any weapons research).

Let's all just try to get along, okay?

I don't think China is a fair comparison. The energy usage per person varies considerably across the country - those in the air-conditioned cities almost certainly use a lot more than those working on unmodernised rice farms (the majority of the population). However, the USA uses more than twice as much the UK. At least getting down to the level of most European countries would be a good start - and hopefully by that time Europe will be using even less energy.

there is no moderation for
+ 5 truth

But the truth is, there's a reason Norway is #1 on the UN's list of countries to live in and the U.S. is #37.

Oh! Oh! I know! Because no one wants to live there! Right? Heck, if the US were composed of a few million of the almost exact same people with almost the same background , I'm sure we'd be have a lot less internal strife.

http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Demograph ics-of-Norway

Murder Rate Per Capita (link).

The United States has 4 times as many intentional murders per 1000 people as Australia.

The effect you are talking about has been dubbed the Uncanny Valley. It was first discovered in the 70s in robot research. Essentially its an emotional effect where people are creeped out by a human image that is too close to real, but not perfectly realistic. More at the link!

Might be totally off-base, but try this page and look at units sold. If you knock the games off the list that came out, say, after 2000, then it's a pretty decent standing.

Of course, that was just the first hit I found after looking on Google, so it could be totally off.

Lead the world in prison population per capita? Figures please?

Here
and here. OK?

Yep, it was. http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Heat-shie ld

Poverty comparison

I have also visited many countries in Asia. When most of the people in a city live in homes consisting of partial concrete walls and corrugated aluminum (conditions basically considered homeless in the US) you quickly get a sense of relative living conditions.

..it's interesting to speculate on whether or not the nomenclature will eventually be shifted to more accurately reflect the current level of technological development (the 'order of the silver booster', or some such).

I think a booster rocket pin would be a little too phallic, much like the Submarine Deterrent Patrol pin is. http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/SSBN-Dete rrent-Patrol-insignia

UT Austin is no longer the largest university in the country, between 2003 and 2004 Ohio State moved ahead of it into #1. See this for more info. University of Minnesota is also larger than UT now, so they've managed to fall from #1 to #3 in a single year. Also, University of Michigan has the largest alumni population of any university in the country and the Ford Presidential Library.

http://www.nationmaster.com/graph-T/peo_nob_pri_la u_cap thats the real way to look at it.

See
this site for numbers of Nobel Prizes, 1902-2002:

UK - 100
Germany - 77
France - 49
Sweden - 30
Switzerland - 22

all more than Stanford's 17.

Charitable Nations

The poster noted that Americans AND America are generous, however this is a widely held belief by Americans which does not fully hold up.

Not trying to offend people, but it can get a bit... trying to be told how generous America is (being Irish, we do quite well).

Americans and America are generally generous people.

I'm not so sure about that. Americans are generally misled about how generous America and Americans are.
Gross Aid suggests that America is 2nd in the ranks of charitable countries (though this is 1997, the spend on war in Iraq has put strains on spend in many areas).

Charitable Nations shows how generous america is "per person"

n fact, americans spent a lot more (absolute and as % of GDP) on charity than europeans

absolute, yes but as a % of GDP compared to EU or other nations, wrong[GDPpc], and wrong [GDP] or social security expenditure[GDP]

some Americans are very charitable and kind, but as a team they are not really, good branding, shame about the product

n fact, americans spent a lot more (absolute and as % of GDP) on charity than europeans

absolute, yes but as a % of GDP compared to EU or other nations, wrong[GDPpc], and wrong [GDP] or social security expenditure[GDP]

some Americans are very charitable and kind, but as a team they are not really, good branding, shame about the product

n fact, americans spent a lot more (absolute and as % of GDP) on charity than europeans

absolute, yes but as a % of GDP compared to EU or other nations, wrong[GDPpc], and wrong [GDP] or social security expenditure[GDP]

some Americans are very charitable and kind, but as a team they are not really, good branding, shame about the product

Its an interesting correlation. But I don't think that table says what you think it does. Its the percentage of total taxes that come from income tax. I think that having a higher percentage of taxes come from personal income tax is good thing. Corporate taxes chase away corporations and jobs, and other taxes like sales and vat taxes are too indirect and hidden and people don't appreciate how much they are sacrificing and how much of a drag it is on the economy. I think we should have taxes of course, but lets be up front about them. This chart shows that countries who have transparency in their tax system (via a high percentage of taxes coming out of personal income) are better off (US, New Zealand, Ireland).

This web site will tell more about what you were thinking of -- trying to correlate tax rate with gdp. (Though probably the data we really want is change in gdp and tax rate.)
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph-T/tax_tot_tax_as _of_gdp&int=-1

And check out the correlation links here! That would be really cool to see in order figure if you're hypothesis is right. Its ten bucks though and I'm sure we'd still argue about the data anyway.
http://www.nationmaster.com/cat/Taxation

Also, I think outside of 1st world countries, political stability will probably count as much or more than tax rates.

Its an interesting correlation. But I don't think that table says what you think it does. Its the percentage of total taxes that come from income tax. I think that having a higher percentage of taxes come from personal income tax is good thing. Corporate taxes chase away corporations and jobs, and other taxes like sales and vat taxes are too indirect and hidden and people don't appreciate how much they are sacrificing and how much of a drag it is on the economy. I think we should have taxes of course, but lets be up front about them. This chart shows that countries who have transparency in their tax system (via a high percentage of taxes coming out of personal income) are better off (US, New Zealand, Ireland).

This web site will tell more about what you were thinking of -- trying to correlate tax rate with gdp. (Though probably the data we really want is change in gdp and tax rate.)
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph-T/tax_tot_tax_as _of_gdp&int=-1

And check out the correlation links here! That would be really cool to see in order figure if you're hypothesis is right. Its ten bucks though and I'm sure we'd still argue about the data anyway.
http://www.nationmaster.com/cat/Taxation

Also, I think outside of 1st world countries, political stability will probably count as much or more than tax rates.

Wow, I didn't know you could copyright, trademark, or otherwise reserve numbers!

Yes, you can and have been able to for some time.
from Encyclopedia: Peugeot :

"This tradition began in 1929 with the launch of the 201. All numbers from 101 to 909 have been deposited as trademarks. Although in 1963 Porsche was forced to change the name of its new 901 coupe to 911, certain Ferraris and Bristols have been allowed to keep their Peugeot-style model numbers."

HA ha ha!

Thanks, guy. That's the best grin I've had in days. :)

Seriously: You're one of those I-hate-Christians-and-their-Bibles-having-never-re ad-it types, aren't you? It's a lot easier to deny/decry the truth if you avoid laying eyes on it.

It's not like the Bible predicted numerous ancient events that can historically verified (via secular sources) that later came to pass, is it?

Oops. Actually, it is.

Well, the Bible certainly didn't predict that the Nation of Israel would be restored, just as she was in the 20th century... Uh oh. God got that one right, too.

Few Christians see the Verichip as the mark of the beast, but clearly, the world has reached a historic point: The Verichip's existence hallmarks the physically possibility for what has puzzled many for centuries. Until Applied Digital (and their sponsors/predecessors) came along, a lot of post modern Christians tended to view the mark as metaphorical. Now, thanks to credit cards, the Lucifer cypher, the Verichip, and other factors, it's increasingly concievable to many that the day has dawned when a global government (think world criminal court, world bank, et cetera -- the framework's in place, ready to be brought online) can dictate that no one will be able to buy, sell, or trade (even medicenes for survival) without taking something into their hand or forehead that retains their banking information, credit history, and so on.

If you can't handle the spiritual truth, the worldlier side of it all (including the war on personal privacy and freed-... er, I mean the war on "terror") is that the closer we get to imprisoning ourselves under a police/surveilance state, the more Orwell (author of 1984, a must-read for these times in which "terrorism" is used as an excuse to establish a totalitarian state, slowly but steadily) is proven to have been almost prophetic: We're a national disaster/emergency away from the declaration of martial law now and (I'm neither a Leftie nor a pacifist but) "peace through war" is, essentially, our national motto. Don't hold your breath for that to be relinquished, no matter how sweet the promises, once our streets are garrisoned (by our troops, UN/NATO "peacekeepers", Chinese ground forces... it won't matter a ton whom).

If you really want to know all that you may, however, the Bible's a play book that factually, verifiably predicts the mark, globalism, the return to Europe in the top seat of world power (it's coming, believe it or not), rising costs for human survival (a day's wage will be the cost of a jar of wheat, in time), the attack on Israel (coming to a Middle East near you, thanks to land-for-peace appeasement foolishness combined with aid from Russia and China) -- and even the fact that Israel is now walling herself up (just as the prophet Daniel predicted). At some point, possible before long, someone will come forward, seemingly from out of nowhere, with a peace plan that seems agreeable for Israelis and Arabs. Watch like never before then: He'll only honor that pact with Israel for seven years, after which he'll betray them and reveal his true colors.

The plain truth is that there are hundreds of prophecies that God gave in the Bible and which came to pass. The harder aspect of it, especially for those who'd rather avoid the whole picture of reality in favor of their own childishness, is that the remaining prophecies get pretty ugly. Only those who are reconciled to God through Jesus Christ (not Allah, not Budda, not "The Force", not Lucifer, not Oprah, not karma, not Gaia, not yourself, not "Reverend" Moon, et cetera; those surrendered to Jesus alone) have anything positive to look forward to beyond the Last Days.

Animals do not have intellects or wills; they have no feelings or emotions.

"Learn some facts before you start spouting crap like that."

    Dude, I'm gonna try and be nice and avoid the rabid insults. I'm even also going to provide you with facts that you are obviously unaware of.

(http://www.nationmaster.com/graph-T/eco_gdp_cap) Notice Israels GDP/capita is just above Guam in spot 34. THIRTY FOUR!!! I would say that makes my statement correct that Israel is a second rate economy no?

    As for MRI it was developed by Lauterbur and Mansfield (who won the Noble prize for it) and who to my knowledge are American and British. Check again.

The 8088 was created mostly in the good old USA by Intel (a nobrainer). But hey it's a global marketplace and who knows maybe some of it was designed in Israel too. (OK I'm right there too)

Israeli "democracy demographics at work

http://www.jafi.org.il/education/100/concepts/demo graphy/traubman.html

http://mondediplo.com/2003/11/04apartheid (this second article mentions how DESMOND TUTU (Noble winner) makes the direct connection between apartheid and Israel. My usage was not an extremist view unless you view Noble peace prize winners as extremists too! I would recommend a search of google "demographics israel" and see what pops up.

      I'm reporting the news not making it. You obviously need to learn the difference between supporting your ideology and examining all the facts--not just the ones that fit your politics. Slashdot is not a place to argue anything without facts. Poker bluffs and grandstanding won't cut it here. I would seriously review your opinions on the middle east situation as well. The facts I provided in the post are accurate and I'm not going to be drawn into a debate with you on the questionable ethics of Israel. Your hot headed personal insults likely indicates very strong biases.

Canada would totally win this cripple fight!

From the CIA factbook:
Denmark Military: http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ da.html)
Military branches:
Royal Danish Army, Royal Danish Navy, Royal Danish Air Force, Home Guard (Hjemmevaernet)
Military manpower - military age and obligation:
18 years of age for compulsory and volunteer military service; conscripts serve an initial training period that varies from 4 to 12 months according to specialization; reservists are assigned to mobilization units following completion of their conscript service (2004)
Military manpower - availability:
males age 18-49: 1,175,108 (2005 est.)
Military manpower - fit for military service:
males age 18-49: 955,168 (2005 est.)
Military manpower - reaching military age annually:
males: 31,317 (2005 est.)
Military expenditures - dollar figure:
$3,271.6 million (2003)
Military expenditures - percent of GDP:
1.5% (2004)

Canadian military: http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ ca.html
Military branches:
Canadian Armed Forces: Land Forces Command, Maritime Command, Air Command, Canada Command (homeland security) to be operational in early 2006 (2005)
Military manpower - military age and obligation:
16 years of age for voluntary military service; women comprise some 11% of Canada's armed forces (2001)
Military manpower - availability:
males age 16-49: 8,216,510 (2005 est.)
Military manpower - fit for military service:
males age 16-49: 6,740,490 (2005 est.)
Military manpower - reaching military age annually:
males: 223,821 (2005 est.)
Military expenditures - dollar figure:
$9,801.7 million (2003)
Military expenditures - percent of GDP:
1.1% (2003)

Or from NationMaster.com:
Denmark: http://www.nationmaster.com/country/da/Military
Armed forces personnel: 22,000

Canada: http://www.nationmaster.com/country/ca/Military
Air force personnel: 14,000
Armed forces personnel: 59,000
Army personnel: 20,900

On the other hand, I guess they are freakin Vikings :-)

Canada would totally win this cripple fight!

From the CIA factbook:
Denmark Military: http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ da.html)
Military branches:
Royal Danish Army, Royal Danish Navy, Royal Danish Air Force, Home Guard (Hjemmevaernet)
Military manpower - military age and obligation:
18 years of age for compulsory and volunteer military service; conscripts serve an initial training period that varies from 4 to 12 months according to specialization; reservists are assigned to mobilization units following completion of their conscript service (2004)
Military manpower - availability:
males age 18-49: 1,175,108 (2005 est.)
Military manpower - fit for military service:
males age 18-49: 955,168 (2005 est.)
Military manpower - reaching military age annually:
males: 31,317 (2005 est.)
Military expenditures - dollar figure:
$3,271.6 million (2003)
Military expenditures - percent of GDP:
1.5% (2004)

Canadian military: http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ ca.html
Military branches:
Canadian Armed Forces: Land Forces Command, Maritime Command, Air Command, Canada Command (homeland security) to be operational in early 2006 (2005)
Military manpower - military age and obligation:
16 years of age for voluntary military service; women comprise some 11% of Canada's armed forces (2001)
Military manpower - availability:
males age 16-49: 8,216,510 (2005 est.)
Military manpower - fit for military service:
males age 16-49: 6,740,490 (2005 est.)
Military manpower - reaching military age annually:
males: 223,821 (2005 est.)
Military expenditures - dollar figure:
$9,801.7 million (2003)
Military expenditures - percent of GDP:
1.1% (2003)

Or from NationMaster.com:
Denmark: http://www.nationmaster.com/country/da/Military
Armed forces personnel: 22,000

Canada: http://www.nationmaster.com/country/ca/Military
Air force personnel: 14,000
Armed forces personnel: 59,000
Army personnel: 20,900

On the other hand, I guess they are freakin Vikings :-)

In TOTAL gross domestic product? Somehow I doubt it. Probably more likely that the GDP/person, as those countries have smaller population. (Some stats)

"Do they seriously think this will decrease piracy in the 3rd world? All they've really done is cripple their product. They now have several issues to deal with."

http://www.nationmaster.com/graph-T/cri_sof_pir_ra t

I don't think China is a third world country. But you're right, it won't reduce piracy because free is still better than $230. :)

"Written examinations? Nobody has to type the Morse anymore? Anyone here who got his license recently care to shed some light on this one?"

If you consider five years ago 'recent,' that's when I upgraded to Extra class after 22 years of being a Tech class licensee. I would be happy to comment.

The Morse code requirements have been fading for some time. At one point, you needed to be able to send/receive at 13WPM to get a General or Advanced class license (the Advanced no longer exists), and 20WPM to get an Extra class.

The FCC eventually dropped the speed requirement to 5WPM (that originally required to get a Novice or Tech class license), so all those who had originally taken the 5WPM Morse Code element (I had, back in 1977, when I was first licensed) were eligible to upgrade simply by passing the higher-level written exam.

I had, as you might imagine, gained quite a bit of experience with electronics and radio after 22 years of being a hamateur, and fixing commercial 2-way radios, so taking the Extra-class exam was the next logical step for me. It's just that I never liked communicating via Morse, so I never practiced it beyond one on-air contact.

The written exams I keep referring to are multiple-choice 50 or 100-question exams which cover basic electronics and radio theory, operating practices, and FCC regs as they pertain to the amateur radio service. They get progressively more difficult as you go up the ladder of the various license levels, making greater knowledge and experience in the radio field a requirement as you try to advance through General to Extra.

Amateur radio is, I think, a fun hobby, despite the naysayers. It is especially useful during natural disasters, as I found out directly during the Bay Area's 'Quake of 89,' the East Bay Hills firestorm of 1991, and the Nisqually earthquake in Washington in 2001.

If you're interested, now that the Morse requirement is close to being eliminated, you should check in with whatever ham radio club(s) are local to you for license classes. You can find such clubs in your area by searching at this link.

You can find further information on amateur radio, and how to get your license, from this link (RealPlayer or similar required).

Keep the peace(es).

The written

Imagine you get your wind turbine.

Now imagine you live in a quite sunny place (Texas ? lol)
And that you have the know-how or the money to buld a plexiglass veranda + a chimney.

Et Voila !! you have a solar chimney for generating power...

http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Solar-chi mney

"A solar chimney is an apparatus for harnessing solar energy by convection of heated air. Solar power describes a number of methods of harnessing energy from the light of the sun. ... Convection is the transfer of heat by the motion of or within a fluid.
In its simplest form, it simply consists of a black-painted chimney. During the daytime, solar energy heats the chimney and thereby heats the air within it, resulting in an updraft of air within the chimney. The suction this creates at the chimney base can be used to ventilate, and thereby cool, the building below. In most parts of the world, it is easier to harness wind power for such ventilation, but on hot windless days such a chimney can provide ventilation where there would otherwise be none. Wind power is the kinetic energy of wind, or the extraction of this energy by wind turbines. ...
General concept of proposed solar chimney power station
Enlarge
General concept of proposed solar chimney power station

This principle has been proposed for electric power generation, using a large greenhouse at the base rather than relying on heating of the chimney itself. The main problem with this approach is the relatively small difference in temperature between the highest and lowest temperatures in the system. Carnot's theorem greatly restricts the efficiency of conversion in these circumstances."

So cheap convection veranda + cheap home made wind turbine + Batteries = Electrical power in the middle of any hot/sunny desertic place.

Of course this particular turbine is not the best suited for this particular use, but generating wind is not that hard when you have a readily available power source...

Then, this is slashdot, whe should know about generating wind 8)