Does seem a bit unlikely, even taking into account higher than average rates of diabetes in the US.

The summary is way over-dramatic.

The customer they have lined up to buy the NAND flash is Samsung itself, as they're now making a shit-load of smartphones, tablets, TVs and whatnot. There just may not be enough flash memory to go around.

The article is also littered with phrases like "what effect, if any..", "one can imagine that...", "there is the possibility that..."

Since he saw the huge amount of cash in the one he repaired, and discussed what the size of a "kilo" would be, etc, he opened the door to getting in trouble.

Then he invited trouble right in the door by talking to the DEA without a lawyer.

Sure, he thought he wasn't breaking the law, but was hardly an expert. Huuuge gamble to make.

Also, getting tried in Kansas with the name Anaya might have been something a decent lawyer could have avoided.

I had no sympathy at all until I saw the sentence. 24 years without parole is madness.

I love visiting the US, but almost every time I've been put off by the unpleasant and agressive attitude of the people on the immigration desk. In my view they're much worse than the TSA on departure.

I'll put up with being photographed and fingerprinted (though I think it's downright daft), but my experience at immigration last time just took the piss.

I had made some trivial omission on my visa waiver form — I probably forgot to tick the box to say that I wasn't a spy, saboteur or Nazi war criminal (yes, this tick box really exists) — and I amended the form right there in two seconds, but the officious drone showed great pleasure in sending me to the back of the long queue like a naughty schoolboy.

Then when I got to the front of the queue again — this time to a different drone — I was accused of "abusing the visa waiver" because I had the temerity to visit the US twice in one year (once to San Francisco, that time to NYC, both fairly long visits). It was insinuated that I wasn't welcome back for some — unspecified — period of time. The visa waiver FAQ specifically states that there are no limits to the number of visits in any given period of time.

I guess the government is only interested in promoting tourism when it means handing out billions of dollars to the airlines.

I decided at the time that I would never go back to the US, but time heals all wounds and I'm starting to think I can put up with the necessary humiliation again.

As absolutely everybody else I've met in person in the US has been smart, funny and friendly I can only assume that all your assholes work in airports.

+ and - keys work for me.

From a sample of 89 packages.

Actually, 178 packages.

Either USPS loses the majority of the packages it handles...

How do you get that, from 11 missing out of 178? Even if had been 11 out of 89, it wouldn't be 'the majority'.

10 out of 89 'Atheist' branded packages were 'lost'. 1 out of 89 non-branded packages were lost.

But hey, nice rational atheists would never resort to half baked sensationalist nonsense to promote their world view, would they.

Heh.

Their evidence suggesting the USPS discriminates against atheism is a hell of a lot stronger than any religion has for the existence of their Gods.

because that would mean a minimum of 11/189 packages were lost

That is what the article says.

...and the USPS has never had anywhere near a 5% loss rate in my experience

/facepalm

Maybe because your experience doesn't include shipping packages with prominent 'Atheist' branding?

I did however find a LOT of anecdotal data from Amazon and eBay seller forums that indicates it seems to be less than 1%.

Yeesssss... And less than 1% of non-Atheist branded packages were lost.

Atheists in America love to act like they're repressed, even in cases when they're not. I never understood this.

Yes, you certainly seem to be hard of understanding.

When I moved to France, I went to a language school and many of the other students were Chinese.

We had to do oral presentations on a subject of our own choosing, and one of the Chinese students explained the system of democracy in China. The local people elect a representative, the representatives elect people further up the chain, congress, deputies, etc, etc, right up to the president.

The Chinese students thought this was perfect democracy in action, and were baffled that the Europeans, Africans and New Worlders couldn't understand how wonderful and flawless the system was. When we pointed out that there was only one party, they indignantly said there were several parties to choose from: more than in France.

On the subject of censorship, they thought it was necessary to protect the country, and made hand-waving explanations that things were different in China.

These kids were the offspring of the kind of Chinese families who could afford to send their children to study in France, so no doubt are not representative of the population as a whole, but it was still a real eye-opener for me, who had kind of assuming that the Chinese would want the same kind of (imperfect) democracy we have in the West.

Personally, I still think it's basically down to indoctrination, but if so, it's evidently pretty effective indoctrination.

- Poor Multi-Monitor Support: Since the menu for each application is in a detached panel that is only displayed on one monitor, this means you will be racking up a lot of mileage on your pointing device to hop between apps on the secondary monitor and their menu on the primary monitor.

Yes, it's stupid that there's no option to display the menubar on both monitors.

SecondBar might be useful.

Another WTF since Lion: make an application fullscreen, and your other monitor is useless: it just displays a brushed metal background.

It's not naziism, it's "Sharia compliance"

Yeah, like the recent laws forbidding women wearing the niqab (those islamic headscarves which cover the face) in Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, Holland...

They're really pandering to Sharia there.

As the weak Europeans edge toward Eurabia expect more and more liberties to be challenged, successfully at first, and then eventually legislated away.

"Weak"... "Eurabia"... Your prejudices are showing. Belief in all religions is in freefall in Europe.

... those who seek to take liberties away (not just the Islamists, but the political Left as well).

Good theory. Spoilt only a little by the fact that the right-wing holds the balance of power in the European Parliament, and all those headscarf bans were introduced by right-wing parties.

I know it's considered common knowledge in the US that Europe is run by socialists, but consider that France — for example — currently has only the second Socialist president since WWII (and he's as popular as a turd in a swimming pool).

The fact is that this is just what the European Parliament do: this isn't binding (it's 'advice'), it's a waste of time, and yogurt will continue to be advertised by topless women on TV in France and Italy.

Heterophobia. Sure.

The media criticise people for being straight. The media believes that heterosexuality is 'flat out wrong'. They believe that heterosexuality is 'damaging to the nation'.

This is a straw man. People don't say this.

I lived in France for years, and I dearly love France and the French, but his story rings true to me.

It's not that the French are lazy or incompetent, it's that they suffer from a collective "can't do" attitude.

You must have experienced this everywhere from restaurants to shops to plumbers, and particularly from anyone who sits behind a desk: nothing is possible, the answer is (almost) always "non".

And don't get me started on French corporate hierarchy, where seniority is determined by age, time served, or nepotism. It's just not possible to get a foot in the door, work bloody hard, show your competence and advance quickly like it is in Britain and the US.

I'm not talking about this not being possible for a foreigner, but for French people.

Read about the French 'Barrez-vous!' (Get out!) movement, which advises young French people just to leave France to escape the ossified hierarchical culture:

http://barrez-vo2.us/site/

I still love France though, and intend to go back despite these problems.

Indeed.

UK voters should note that all four MEPs mentioned in TFA are from the Conservative Party, and vote accordingly for the other lizards in the future.

Flashing amber is only used on pedestrian ('pelican') crossings.

On flashing amber, drivers can go if there are no pedestrians on the crossing. More time for pedestrians if there a lot of them, and shorter delays for driver if there aren't.

In the last ten years or so, the meaning of the traffic lights seems to have changed, at least in London: amber now means "accelerate to maximum speed, no matter how far you are from the junction", and red now means "Oh, go on then. Just a couple more"...

This is just a peering dispute. It's nothing to do with Google paying Orange to let their customers access Google services.

Which makes me wonder how many of your other reasons for disliking France are based on misconceptions. ;-)