I find this rather disturbing in light of Russia's Growing Isolation. I'm left to wonder if Russia is 'just being Russia' or if these laws are being passed with the intent of gently nudging companies like Google and Adobe out of the country. Russia's recent actions in Ukraine have left me with a very Hitleresk taste.

Uh, China.

Well this comes to mind:

Does it really matter why, some thinks this is important. It the one before us at the moment. I'd give it less weight than say the kidnappings and atrocities that are occurring in various parts of the world right now but, that's not what the OP was in reference to. While I believe granting "person-hood" to a non-human is not the right answer (look at how well making businesses persons has served us), I do believe that animals in general should be treated much better than they often are and penalties for improper (inhumane) treatment should be much more severe. Then again, I watch a lot of Criminal Minds and know that torture and killing of small animals is a gateway to serial killing.

Gotta give him thumbs up for enthusiasm. One can always hope, he has a few BOFH advisers to scope the project and give it a reality check. I get the concerns about the scale of this type of project but, I do occasionally wish someone would force us to get rid of a couple legacy systems I have to deal with and am forced to find creative and often insecure ways to keep them up and running.

Granted "cloud-based" gives me the heebee jeebees. Whose cloud?

Maybe it's a slow news cycle . . .

In terms of reporting a danger, you may well have a point but, you can also look at it in terms of reporting that once it crosses the ocean the radiation is at a very low level and does not present a threat . . . In which case you may still have a point. Well at least now we have a benchmark for how long it takes radiation to get to the U.S. from Japan, might come in handy someday.

Thanks, now I'm having flashbacks of Chuck Norris jokes in the Barrens on Drak'thul.

Of course now that I want it, I can't find a reference for it . . .

On of the issues in doing a project like this for free, is that many customers equate the cost of an item or service with its value. In the case Anonymous Coward mentioned above the system/website has no cost so some will feel that is has no value. It can also extend to the persons time to develop/maintain the system. As the system grows, change requests are submitted that 'cost' the developer but, add no cost or value in the eyes of the customer.

Several companies that offered support for 'free' services discovered that customers from the free service were much more demanding and intolerant that those that paid even a nominal fee for the same or a similar service. A few companies even discontinued their 'free' offerings as the cost to maintain those services became too burdensome.

Scientific Community

Cheerios are by far the best in the cereal aisle at growing chemically productive fungi

Blue Press

Cheerios discovered to harbor a wide range of funguses

On one side you have Google as it was, everything it finds, indexed categorized and available to be found. The other end of the spectrum would be a world without search engines. A vast array of options exist between those two points. Yes, Google is judge, jury and executioner for now as it is their %$%$ search engine and they haven't been forced to do otherwise. Who would you have sit in judgement instead? Who should bear the cost? Honoring no requests is not an available option for Google any longer, it has been decided for them this can not be the case. In regard to honoring all requests, that's not a workable solution either. Would have have it so that I could request that all positive information about you be removed from search results? No, then someone has to arbitrate. Why foist rules upon a new system in the midst of its infancy? If you don't like the results of your request, you can appeal or avail yourself of the courts.

There is also a side-show like display where a persons hand is hidden behind a partition and a fake hand (placed where there hand 'should' be) is struck with a hammer causing the subject to flinch and act as their hand had been hurt. Brain Games mucked about with this one on of their shows. While this may just be triggering a fight of flight response, it interesting the note that the irrational portion of the brain seems to override the rational part (the one that 'knows' your hand is safe). After reading BringsApples post it struck me that these two cases may be opposite sides of the same coin.

Heard about this on NPR during the morning drive and how the "place cells" were found 30 years ago and how that researcher's students found "grid cells" recently to complete the picture. The most intriguing part of the story was the expectation of the impact that this discovery will have on the world of philosophy, as it now it know that our brains have a physical (mathematically based and similar to a computer) mechanism for knowing where we are in 3D space. They also discussed while no practical use or 'cures' are on the immediate horizon, this is apparently the first brain function to go with the onset of Alzheimer's and may lead to greater understanding.

Is it a question of worth watching or of worth watching in a stadium for $XXX? I'll never understand why someone pays that kind of money to sit in bad seats in the cold, wet etc. when they should be able to watch it from home. It's hard to fathom that ticket sales are worth more than TV rights any more. IMHO, all blackouts do is punish the fans who weren't going to buy a ticket anyway.

According to a story I heard recently on NPR, the only currently legal use of drones in the U.S. is in the film industry. The story added that the FAA is expected to take a few years to sort out the rules for commercial drone use. Pilot training programs, certifications and the like will need to be developed and put in place, don't recall any mention of autonomous drones. The air-ways should be truly interesting once Google brings it's ala Jetson car to the mix.

Okay, so apparently I'm the only one that was left confused after reading the headline, which gave me a Detective Thorn ala Soylent Green flashback, and the summary, after-which I had that look dogs get when they're confused...