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It's ridiculously expensive to buy software in Australia. Most of it is purely digital and there's no justification. I hope the other vendors follow suite, soon. Overseas readers may not be aware that it's cheaper to fly TWO people to America and buy Visual Studio there, then fly back here, than it is to buy it here (link here if you think I'm exaggerating: http://theconversation.edu.au/cheaper-hardware-software-and-digital-downloads-heres-how-8382). That's just an example (I know Visual Studio is not exactly top pick on Slashdot but it's still got its place).

It's much cheaper to buy games on Steam through a proxy - as in about 50% cheaper. It's just completely unfair and I'm glad someone is finally doing something about it.

> (If you have journal access, or don't mind forking over $40, you can read the original paper.)

You might ask why the journal is charging $40. Usually the journals - run by companies - have nothing to do with writing the original paper, contributing only academic review (possibly by unpaid volunteers) and publishing. They won't print the article unless the author signs a copyright transfer agreement which means they no longer own the copyright, and can't even put the paper on their own website. It's a ripoff, but academic institutions made the mistake of crediting publications by their employees which count towards promotions. The academic publishers in turn charge institutions extortionate rates - many thousands of dollars - to see papers by other academics they didn't pay a cent for. These people are the academic version of the RIAA: Redundant Middle-men ripping off both sides. There are papers written as far back as the 1960s which academic publishing companies still hold copyright over, standing in the way of ongoing research.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_transfer_agreement
"Princeton goes open access to stop staff handing all copyright to journals - unless waiver granted " - http://theconversation.edu.au/princeton-goes-open-access-to-stop-staff-handing-all-copyright-to-journals-unless-waiver-granted-3596
"One of disadvantages of this publishing model, is that the published research is only available to those researchers who have a subscription to the journal or can afford to buy the book. Often subscription and book costs are prohibitively expensive. Many libraries, particularly smaller ones, cannot afford these subscriptions." - http://www.unimelb.edu.au/copyright/information/new/research/publishing.html

You're oversimplifying this.

If you try "baseload wind power" there's plenty of more info, here's one quote:

Addressing Intermittency from Wind and Solar Photovoltaics

Wind power already supplies over 21% of Denmark’s electricity and 15% of Spain and Portugal’s.

Although the output of a single wind farm fluctuates greatly, the fluctuations in the total output from a number of wind farms geographically distributed in different wind regimes are much smaller and partially predictable.

Modelling has also shown that it’s relatively inexpensive to increase the reliability of the total wind output to a level equivalent to a coal-fired power station by adding a few low-cost peak-load gas turbines that are run on renewable biofuels and are operated infrequently, to fill in the gaps when the wind farm production is low.

Current power grid systems are already built to handle fluctuations in supply and demand with peak-load plants such as hydroelectric and gas turbines which can be switched on and off quickly, and by reserve baseload plants that are kept hot.

[Recent studies] (http://www.nrel.gov/wind/systemsintegration/wwsis.html) by the US National Renewable Energy Laboratory found that wind could supply 20-30% of electricity, given improved transmission links and a little low-cost flexible back-up.

...New Matilda, Conversation AU, & Independent Australia...

Thank you. I was not aware of any of these.

I found New Matilda and Independent Australia but would like to confirm I have the correct site for Conversation AU.

Interesting comment on the article:

"Dear Professors,

"Please supply citations for the quantitative data and analysis that led to your claim that; "pseudoscientific" health courses are undermining the international credibility of Australia’s universities.

"Your article's references in the Medical Journal of Australia neither support nor contradict your claim, they indicate no causal link between the international credibility of Australian universities and the offering or otherwise of alternative health courses."

You're an amateur cosmologist? That's great! Read this:

http://theconversation.edu.au/diamond-planets-climate-change-and-the-scientific-method-3329

Australia's emission may be insignificant now but Australia is 14th (out of 200) in the total accumulated emissions since the start of the industrial revolution.

Have a look at the list of patents at http://theconversation.edu.au/samsung-galaxy-tab-vs-apple-ipad-the-tablet-patent-wars-hit-australia-2660

You mistakenly assume that Apple is only talking about trademarks and design patents here. This is plainly not the case - it started that way in Germany, but by now they're bringing out such innovative patents as "Unlocking a device by performing gestures on an unlock image" or "Portable electronic device for photo management" to block sales of Samsung products in Netherlands and Australia.

It depends on which case you're talking about, because they are different in different countries. The very first injunction they've had (in Germany) was about design patents, yes. The one in Australia is about multitouch gestures instead, and could be applied to pretty much any non-iOS device. Specific patents that Apple has used to block Samsung sales in Australia:

Innovation Patents
2008100283: List scrolling and document translation, scaling, and rotation on a touch-screen display
2008100372: Electronic device for photo management
2009100820: Unlocking a device by performing gestures on an unlock image
2008100419: Unlocking a device by performing gestures on an unlock image
2008101171: Portable electronic device for imaged-based browsing of contacts

Standard Patents
2008201540: List scrolling and document translation, scaling, and rotation on a touch-screen display
2005246219: Multipoint touchscreen
2007283771: Portable electronic device for photo management
2009200366: List scrolling and document translation, scaling, and rotation on a touch-screen display
2007286532: Touch screen device, method and graphical user interface for determining commands by applying heuristics

(from here)

There's a nice summary here: http://theconversation.edu.au/neutrinos-and-the-speed-of-light-not-so-fast-3513 As usual, the media is reporting this as far more certain than the scientists think it is. As the article says "[the scientists] seem to be the only ones not jumping to conclusions just yet."