(Bringing this almost back to topic, I want a crank-powered laptop!)

Half of the laptops used for posting here are already ;-)

No, because the universe is so fucking huge that the probability of aliens visiting Earth or humans visiting Rsdflkjasd is zero.

There is extraterrestrial life - it's just that nobody will ever get to confirm it.

I think Vatican is just trying to get some attention. Ever since the good pope died, nobody truly cared about them. The panzer pope just feels... vile.

In other words, you believe that Madoff intended to spend the rest of his life in prison?

He didn't have a crystal ball. Spirits didn't visit him in the night and map out the future for him.

I think you need to consider two points in time - before he started, and when he'd got in so deep there was no turning back. Maybe a third - where he started fiddling a bit but thought he'd be able, Micawber like, to somehow cover it.

Sometimes events take on a life of their own.

Or my personal trainer.

...and this was where you lost all Slashdot credibility.

If building a *true* plant costs a trillion dollars or euros, fine, but it'd better produce enough power that 2-3 of them can power the entire United States or Europe.

There are big problems with this approach though, both from the additional costs of power grid systems to move all that electricity about, and the problems (terrorism, maintenance, malfunctions, etc) of relying on a single, or even a reduced number, of points of failure.

Imagine if http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_1989_geomagnetic_storm blacked out all of North America, and not just Quebec for instance.

We could use a little less power.

We all could, and should (I gave up my car a couple of years ago, and saved carbon AND money; I haven't flown for about 5 years). But that's in the developed world - the rest of the world wants (not unreasonably) to have some of the things we've been enjoying for decades. There's a lot of them, and it will more than offset the savings you and I make.

As I said, the real solution will be complex, and will involve lots if not all the changes and new technologies mentioned. There is no "do this one thing" solution (except for doing nothing, and letting our kids deal with it).

Wind, tide, photovoltaic and solar thermal power work right now.

Wind power only works when it's windy, and where it's windy, and not as efficiently as generally advertised. NIMBYs object to serious scale windfarms on land, and they kill migrating birds and cock up radar. There will also need to be a hugely expensive and unsightly ( or buried, and even more expensive) expansion of power grid systems.

Tidal systems are hideously expensive - estimates of UKL 23 billion for the Severn Barrage for example. And they have massive negative effects on wildlife too. NIMBYS are not fans of these either.

Photovolatic systems are unproven, but on a serious scale would probably involve enormous quantities of highly toxic chemicals. Like wind power, solar power is not available where the power is needed all the time, or even any of the time in many populated regions.

Barring a massive program of depopulation, there are no quick answers to power production vs climate change. Some or all of the three methods above will probably be part of the solution, as will be fusion power, fission power, carbon sequestration and other technologies, plus a lot of money. Anyone who says otherwise is probably selling snake oil.

But every person has the right to exercise their OWN mouth and offer-up their opinions, no matter how offensive.

No such right exists generally outside the USA, and many "opinions", such as holocaust denial, are specific crimes in much of Europe. On the other hand, many Europeans are surprised at how upset Americans get over the burning of flags, and so on. In this case, seems possible that an offence under UK law was committed, and the police would be required to take efforts to track down the perpetrator, and not simply take at face value the statement that there was no audit trail on the server.