According to the NY Times, the overall gas available may be more like 100 years' worth:

Jogmec estimates that the surrounding area in the Nankai submarine trough holds at least 1.1 trillion cubic meters, or 39 trillion cubic feet, of methane hydrate, enough to meet 11 years’ worth of gas imports to Japan.

A separate, rough estimate by the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology has put the total amount of methane hydrate in the waters surrounding Japan at more than 7 trillion cubic meters, or what researchers have long said is closer to 100 years’ worth of Japan’s natural gas needs.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/13/business/global/japan-says-it-is-first-to-tap-methane-hydrate-deposit.html?hp

Personally, I find I'm often more influenced by whether by a native speaker makes frequent basic grammatical errors or not. (e.g. "to" vs. "too").

(And by McKean's law I must have several errors in the sentence above of course.)

Which is why it was a good idea for the GP to restrict themselves to a single emoticon!

According to the reporter in a subsequent followup:
Mr. Musk has referred to a “long detour” on my trip. He is apparently referring to a brief stop in Manhattan on my way to Connecticut that, according to Google Maps, added precisely two miles to the overall distance traveled from the Delaware Supercharger to Milford (202 miles with the stop versus 200 miles had I taken the George Washington Bridge instead of the Lincoln Tunnel)
http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/12/the-charges-are-flying-over-a-test-of-teslas-charging-network/?hp

Coming to the US with a green card is very difficult. I know of nobody who did that where I work (federal government science lab).
I have a PhD in physics, I came to the US on an H1B visa (as did many of my colleagues).
Then, after several years, I got a green card, then a few years after that I became a US citizen.
That path (H1B -> green card -> citizen) has been followed by very many of my scientist and engineer colleagues.
I'd like to think that we make a strong contribution to the US scientifically, economically, and culturally.

Teenager faces prosecution for calling Scientology 'cult'
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/may/20/1
UK teenager arrested for anti-war Facebook post
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/232192.html
April Jones: Matthew Woods jailed over explicit Facebook comments
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/oct/08/april-jones-matthew-woods-jailed

You're totally off-base. At least in that a few thousand people is not sufficient to give a large likelihood of a match. If it did, it would mean
that DNA databases would be useless for solving crimes.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DNA_profiling

Even though my linux desktop machine runs for long periods without needing rebooting, there are exceptions:
My several year old Pioneer television runs linux. It crashes and reboots if I change HD channels more than 5 or 6 times.
My roku box needs to be rebooted from time to time.
So does my android phone.

burning old platform in the North Sea
should be
burning oil platform in the North Sea

My cell phone and google voice numbers certainly aren't in the phone book.

Also:
India 1947
South Africa 1994
U.S.A. 1964 (Civil Rights Act)

Negative absolute temperatures are fine. You just get a population inversion, such as in the case of lasers.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negative_temperature

is the psychological technical term for what often happens I believe...

The classic deindividuation experiment concerned American children at Halloween. Trick-or-treaters were invited to take sweets left in the hall of a house on a table on which there was also a sum of money. When children arrived singly, and not wearing masks, only 8% of them stole any of the money. When they were in larger groups, with their identities concealed by fancy dress, that number rose to 80%. The combination of a faceless crowd and personal anonymity provoked individuals into breaking rules that under "normal" circumstances they would not have considered.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/jul/24/internet-anonymity-trolling-tim-adams
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deindividuation

Here's one example:
Reasonable and non-discriminatory terms (RAND), also known as fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory terms (FRAND), are a licensing obligation that is often required by standard-setting organizations for members that participate in the standard-setting process.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reasonable_and_non-discriminatory_licensing

Yes it does, but it's not a 1:1 reduction. Here's a detailed analysis from, where else but, Poultry Housing Tips (University of Georgia).
http://www.poultryventilation.com/sites/default/files/tips/2009/vol21n14.jpg