Not necessarily in the United States, where the Federal Aviation Administration "... does not certify, certificate, or approve aircraft kits. Also, the FAA does not approve kit manufacturers." Though I'm sure there are regulations for the person piloting the aircraft.

Completely sidestepping the merits of UNIX over Windows the Windows Admins I have worked with can be described as incredible troubleshooters with an inferiority complex. They have always volunteered wonderfully creafted reasons why a server that ran fine for two weeks would take a dirt nap when no one was on it at 0200 and require three hours to get back up.

It goes without saying the UNIX admins I've had to work with have never had to display such grit under fire. But I have (with only a few minor exceptions) been a little impressed at how good Windows admins are at troubleshooting. Even if that can be attributed as an effect caused by a crappy OS it's something I've seen time and time again. Whereas many of the UNIX admins truly felt they could replace their mother with a shell script, could quote Stephenson backwards, and were the most unpersonable people I've ever met.

I guess I can understand the need to identify a cause for global warming - if we can arrest anthropogenic sources of change then it follows we can perhaps slow or stop climate changes induced by people.

If much of the change is related to us burning fossil fuels I think we're basically screwed. Fossil fuels accounts for about 85% of the United States's energy use (see EIA Renewable Energy). With a number that high can anyone imagine a social policy change or technological advance that would reduce the amount of CO2 we're dumping into the atmosphere? The US can't pass a bill to save it's postal service - what chance is there in something like the Manhatten Project or Apollo project were science and business collaborate to create something historic and game changing?

A 1930 Model A Ford owner reports getting 20 miles per gallon, for christ's sake. Today the Ford Explorer gets 20 - 28 miles per gallon. In almost 100 years we basically have the same thing in a more deadly model getting roughly the same mileage? Nah ... if that's the best we can do it's time to stock up on dry ice and sun screen.

How did we get to a place where states like Russia, Venezuela, and Ecuador are — explicitly or implicitly — thought to be more "free" by ANY measure than the US, UK, and Sweden?

That's a red herring, but one possible answer is immediately obvious: because Ecuardor is offering him freedom whereas Sweden and the US are less than forthcoming about his prospects.

Free also means a lot of different things. But as a measure of incarceration the U.S. has 730 people incerated per 100,000; wheras Ecuador has 86. That's a sizable difference - List of countries by incarceration rate.

Well, haven't all the iOS devices had that? It's a USB cable that plugs into a USB port. The only time that nails me is when I

1. Forget to charge overnight
2. Travel without a PC

But I have only the iPhone, so perhaps the issue of multiple devices and cables doesn't haunt me.

Requiring people to buy new sets of chargers, cables, accessories, docks for a new product just shouldn't be necessary with what is already available.

The don't require anyone to buy anything else. The box comes with a USB charging cable and why do you need a dock? It can sync wirelessly now.It would be nice if they included the travelling charger in the box, but anyone who reads the description will know that's not included.

If people rush out and spend half again as much on accessories that's their choice. A +10 Shirt of Protection from Marketing is the only thing that will save them.

While you are correct in citing the examples you did about Ecuador, many of those same organizations have slammed the UK and US for their abuses of power against journalists, protestors and dissidents. If you were an Ecuadoran citizen and read this about the United States or this about the UK you'd probably feel safer staying put.

You would think having redundant power would be a fundamental crucial thing to get right in owning and operating a data centre, yet Amazon seems unable to handle this relatively easy task.

How much power would they need available to counteract the total failure of the electric grid in their area? In the case of this type of storm you can't rely upon basic services being up: like water, electricity, and without power mobile or land line communication. So that means the only way to have a redudant power source would be to handle all electricity needs on-site for x number of hours. That seems a little extreme, at least in this case?

Move to America. Your 5 Celsius is about 41 Fahrenheit in America. Quite a bit warmer!

She was not even an average pilot by all accounts

LMAO. Average by what measure? Because the average pilot at that time flew all the way around world, meaning she is not average because she didn't make it?