What would really sort out this is if someone on O2 would chip in with their USD0.02. O2 seem to be more responsive to consumer demand and a better-run company than AT&T.
Maybe there should be a program to upload random chunks of encrypted gibberish to wikileaks as a mask for geniune uploads? If wikileaks were prepared to pay for the bandwidth...
What would be an interesting exercise, which I hope some investigative journalist is doing right now, would be to look at some of the more innocuous businesses weirdly banned (e.g. the dental surgery) and see if anyone in charge of editing the list has some commercial stake.
You could not make silicon in your garage. At least, not in any reasonable garage. The reduction of quartz by carbon only takes place at over 1800K. Then you have a pool of molten silicon full of crap, which you now have to purify to 99.9999% purity for it to be ready to dope and use. This is also not easy.
I think what the guy has done is reasonably impressive given the inherent limitations.
The other consideration here is that it's not the oil executives job to weigh energy cost and the damage to the environment; that's a moral choice that has to be made by society as a whole, via government. Do you really want oil companies to start taking moral stands? What if an oil company executive decides that homosexuality is a sin, and stops selling petrol to gays? Is that really the kind of world you want to live in?
I'm not defending that philosophy at all. I don't know where you got that from.
You're defending the head-in-the-sand philosophy, where people blame 'big oil' because it's easier than taking personal responsibility for the impact one's actions have on the environment.
Oil companies don't destroy the environment and pump oil for shits and giggles, they do it because people are paying them hand-over-fist to do it. People are also willing to forgo legislation to protect the environment to save themselves a few bucks, and then bitch about how the environment is being wrecked.
Yeah, it sucks that Big Oil is ruining the planet man, I wish I could do something about it. What car? This car? No, I need that to drive to my air-conditioned gym.
See, troll. Ad hominem and emotive attacks with little or no factual content.
If the evil oil companies are the ones raping the American people, I'm sure glad no American ever bought any oil related products, or voted for some kind of anti-environment President, otherwise they might be considered partly responsible themselves...oh, wait.
The chemical/energy industries are full of scientists, chemists and engineers. There is more of a green attitude in Shell than there is in Parliament/Congress/any government I can think of.
"Alternative" energy sources are feasible, but they just don't make as much money as oil. In the long run "alternative" energy sources (like wind for example) are much more economically feasible (to ordinary citizens at least) because they don't cause global warming, smog, lung cancer, asthma, etc.
So you need to get your government to legislate for these externalities, because at the moment these have no effects on the economics at all. Shell is inherently a long-run enterprise, you can't just pull a chemical plant out of your backside and start making money. Shell are looking at the long-run and saying that governments will not have the courage to make difficult decisions and so they will scramble towards biofuels as an eco-sop and a way of subsidising farmers.
See here, these have been published for some time, and give insight to what Shell are doing today.
No, the executive-hating parent made no point and clearly has no understanding of the oil industry, if they sincerely believe that oil executives do no work. Nor have they seen people cycling to work at the Shell Centre on the south bank.
Exactly. Consider their Energy Scenarios study. Essentially, after this study, they asked governments to take the necessary decisions. If you look at what they're doing, they clearly believe that 'scramble' is the scenario we face, and are preparing the company for it.
Shell are a far-sighted company. As with all chemical engineering companies, they need to plan now to build in 5 years, and their plants need to operate at a profit for 20-odd years. The point I'm making is that over time they've become very good at predicting the future.
This is quite an interesting one. I was talking to an American friend after Obama's inauguration, and she was telling me how she felt more proud to be American than ever before. She actually said "I feel more nationalistic than ever", because patriotism has become such a dirty word with the left in America.
Of course, as a European, I told her to say patriotic, because I can't hear the word 'nationalist' without thinking of fields with graves as far as the eye can see...
I can't imagine writing a thesis in word. I had to write my Masters research project in Word because my supervisor doesn't believe in LaTeX. It was fine for the first 40 pages. After that...not so much.
In the UK you can't generally get punitive damages. Thus the damages awarded have to be proportional to the losses experienced, in this case negligible.
Besides, the BBC have breached at most the letter of the law. Their benevolent spirit is obvious from their actions. I suspect it would be difficult find evidence of actual crime.
I actually can't distinguish Nickelback songs. I remember when their last album was out they seemed to have a song in the charts forever. It was only when I remarked this to a friend they kindly pointed out that it was three damned singles.
Slashdot Mirror
The investigation into that disaster would be pretty quick.
What would really sort out this is if someone on O2 would chip in with their USD0.02. O2 seem to be more responsive to consumer demand and a better-run company than AT&T.
Maybe there should be a program to upload random chunks of encrypted gibberish to wikileaks as a mask for geniune uploads? If wikileaks were prepared to pay for the bandwidth...
What would be an interesting exercise, which I hope some investigative journalist is doing right now, would be to look at some of the more innocuous businesses weirdly banned (e.g. the dental surgery) and see if anyone in charge of editing the list has some commercial stake.
You could not make silicon in your garage. At least, not in any reasonable garage. The reduction of quartz by carbon only takes place at over 1800K. Then you have a pool of molten silicon full of crap, which you now have to purify to 99.9999% purity for it to be ready to dope and use. This is also not easy.
I think what the guy has done is reasonably impressive given the inherent limitations.
It's still news, it's just of an about-friggin-time nature.
The other consideration here is that it's not the oil executives job to weigh energy cost and the damage to the environment; that's a moral choice that has to be made by society as a whole, via government. Do you really want oil companies to start taking moral stands? What if an oil company executive decides that homosexuality is a sin, and stops selling petrol to gays? Is that really the kind of world you want to live in?
I'm not defending that philosophy at all. I don't know where you got that from.
You're defending the head-in-the-sand philosophy, where people blame 'big oil' because it's easier than taking personal responsibility for the impact one's actions have on the environment.
Oil companies don't destroy the environment and pump oil for shits and giggles, they do it because people are paying them hand-over-fist to do it. People are also willing to forgo legislation to protect the environment to save themselves a few bucks, and then bitch about how the environment is being wrecked.
Yeah, it sucks that Big Oil is ruining the planet man, I wish I could do something about it. What car? This car? No, I need that to drive to my air-conditioned gym.
See, troll. Ad hominem and emotive attacks with little or no factual content.
If the evil oil companies are the ones raping the American people, I'm sure glad no American ever bought any oil related products, or voted for some kind of anti-environment President, otherwise they might be considered partly responsible themselves...oh, wait.
The chemical/energy industries are full of scientists, chemists and engineers. There is more of a green attitude in Shell than there is in Parliament/Congress/any government I can think of.
"Alternative" energy sources are feasible, but they just don't make as much money as oil. In the long run "alternative" energy sources (like wind for example) are much more economically feasible (to ordinary citizens at least) because they don't cause global warming, smog, lung cancer, asthma, etc.
So you need to get your government to legislate for these externalities, because at the moment these have no effects on the economics at all. Shell is inherently a long-run enterprise, you can't just pull a chemical plant out of your backside and start making money. Shell are looking at the long-run and saying that governments will not have the courage to make difficult decisions and so they will scramble towards biofuels as an eco-sop and a way of subsidising farmers.
See here, these have been published for some time, and give insight to what Shell are doing today.
No, the executive-hating parent made no point and clearly has no understanding of the oil industry, if they sincerely believe that oil executives do no work. Nor have they seen people cycling to work at the Shell Centre on the south bank.
Exactly. Consider their Energy Scenarios study. Essentially, after this study, they asked governments to take the necessary decisions. If you look at what they're doing, they clearly believe that 'scramble' is the scenario we face, and are preparing the company for it.
Shell are a far-sighted company. As with all chemical engineering companies, they need to plan now to build in 5 years, and their plants need to operate at a profit for 20-odd years. The point I'm making is that over time they've become very good at predicting the future.
Oh for mod points.
Why do people think Macs are becoming so popular?
The improved bluetooth capabilities.
Yeah, washing your hands after taking a dump is for queers!
Well, with that kind of grasp of satire at least we know for sure that you're American.
You're missing the point.
We don't need another clueless USA bashing headline.
Europe Is Testing 12.5 Gbps Wireless
What exactly could be done to the headline to mollify you?
Godless Communists in Europe Testing Unwholesome, Anti-Family Services
This is not a criticism of America, though the comments make some still-valid criticisms of US telecoms services.
The Isle of Man, Jersey Islands etc. are not in the United Kingdom.
Also, when comparing the cleanliness of of different regions of the UK, I invite you to consider this link.
Guess where I live :P.
This is quite an interesting one. I was talking to an American friend after Obama's inauguration, and she was telling me how she felt more proud to be American than ever before. She actually said "I feel more nationalistic than ever", because patriotism has become such a dirty word with the left in America.
Of course, as a European, I told her to say patriotic, because I can't hear the word 'nationalist' without thinking of fields with graves as far as the eye can see...
As in:
Lah, sir, I fain thou wouldst tell me more of this 'lah tech subversion'. It is making me flustered.
?
I can't imagine writing a thesis in word. I had to write my Masters research project in Word because my supervisor doesn't believe in LaTeX. It was fine for the first 40 pages. After that...not so much.
An excellent suggestion sir, with just two small drawbacks...
Hmmm, +5 scary conspiracy theory. Have you stayed up all night playing Deus Ex and drinking coffee?
In the UK you can't generally get punitive damages. Thus the damages awarded have to be proportional to the losses experienced, in this case negligible.
Besides, the BBC have breached at most the letter of the law. Their benevolent spirit is obvious from their actions. I suspect it would be difficult find evidence of actual crime.
I actually can't distinguish Nickelback songs. I remember when their last album was out they seemed to have a song in the charts forever. It was only when I remarked this to a friend they kindly pointed out that it was three damned singles.