You're right. Always some post catches my eye, I read most of the comments. And the comments are always better than the post itself (which, by the way, is usually submitted by someone from the community). The discussion at slashdot is (most of the time) high quality. Actually, I don't know any other site with such high quality discussion (yes, it could be better, but if you feel down about the quality here, go check the discussion on youtube).

Slashdot is all about it's contributors. Without you, people, this site would be a empty shithole.

that's a i thing I never quite understood.
Here in Brazil, the fastest possible road is fixed at 110km/h (which is ridiculous, given that this kind of roads are the near perfect-ones). Usually a road have the speed limit of 80km/h (or 60km/h in urban areas). Why in the hell even 'economic' cars can go up to 160km/h? I would buy easily a car 10% cheaper for 40km/h less. And even if nobody else does, why the government don't enforce, let's say, 120km/h for cars?

That's quite right. The airforce voted for grippen MANY times. It was always the 'best' for their technical views.

Grippen WAS the frontrunner in the beggining. The technicians from the brazilian airforce always said the grippen was better (for some reasons I don't really know).
In the last government, the french Rafale was the frontrunner. The reasons were not technical, but political: to get close to france and, maybe, get a chair at the UN backed by France.
Then the president of Brazil changed (Lula -> Dilma) and the odds changed too. The f-18 was, then, the frontrunner with the new president. But after the NSA shit, things changed back again.

Brazilian here.
Guns are common place where I live. The thing in Brazil is that the law do not allow you to use your gun outside your property, but it's very easy to have access to guns to 'keep at home'. Anyway, it's a stupid law: if you shoot someone on the streets, the last law you are concerned it's the law about the limits of your gun.

Don't know, but I Think USA is more comparable (GDP per capita, etc) to Germany than to Mexico.
And, of course, if your neighbor (that you have 3k miles of borders) have easy access to guns, probably your country will have easy access to guns no matter what laws you implement.

I really can't see how GPS (or galileo) (or odometer checking) could be more usefull than taxing the gas/diesel, since both systems could be cheated, but you cannot drive without gas.

And there is another point of taxing gas (versus km driven): it estimulates people to buy more economic mileage cars.

So, why change a system that (a) works and (b) it's fair to a system that can be cheated and it's not so fair?

So the source used wikileaks to remain anonymous? heh

60k hours my led says in the box. and it's not the half-life, but the life itself. plasma last longer.

bonds and money are different things. specially when bonds are fixed in foreign currency - like this case. (still, there is a 'moral problem') ow, yes, I'm an economist. Don't be arrogant.

Still, there wasn't a "constant state of default for years", despite the inflation.

The last time Brazil had inflation bigger than 6%/year was 20 years ago. So no, it's not 'sometimes'. It happened, not anymore. About the auction: most of the countries pre-rate the interrest rates - mainly because this impacts the inflation. And I don't really know the portuguese case in point. I think you're confusing 2 posters here.

The interest rates in the national markets have low or no relation with the chance of default.
USA pays 1-1.5% of interest rates, and yet is one of the countries with more debt/gdp (plus, there is the political situation that almost lead to a short default)
Brazil pays 10-15% of interest rates, and have well less debt/gdp and never defaulted.

Why? Conflict of interest. Who works at the central bank will eventually get off the government. And this guy will need a job - at some bank or financial organization. Why should he(she) piss off the same institutions that will provide him(her) a job in the future?

You know, wikileaks is doing the job that a transparent government should do in the first place.
And sorry, but is completely bullshit to compare mass-spying with disclosure of secret acts of the government.