Having been in the high arctic (Baffin Island), in December, I have to say nothing beats a snowmobile pulling a komatik for moving across snow...

Me too :(

Ah, why is this being posted on /. now? They announced on Sunday that the next doctor will be an actor named Peter Capaldi. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0134922/?ref_=sr_1

This is about as stupid as can be. Its as if /. posted a story announcing Obama was elected president for a 2nd term, or that Bin Laden was dead.

Its starting to seem like the *only* reason politicians get involved in politics is so they can rake off the cash from political contributions and "favors" done by lobby groups, then when they retire, get a massively profitable position on a board of directors for some company that bought and for them while they were in politics.

Maybe the first thing that should happen when you get elected to any office is that your bank records and financial statements become a matter of public record, updated on a daily basis...

So essentially your politicians are a bunch of money-grubbing whores who try to get all the cash they can to ensure they keep their jobs. Moreover, because you have very frequent elections, they probably spend a lot of their time engaged in turning another lobby-group/corporate trick in order to keep the money flowing in so they can stay in power.

Does this leave them any time to actually try to do the things they were ostensibly elected to do?

Glad to hear it. Men may brush off threats and abuse on the Internet - and perhaps women need to grow a thicker skin in some cases - but the reality is that women who state anything remotely challenging are subject to harassment and abuse, and indeed death and rape threats on a regular basis. My wife gave up playing a few MMOs due to the *continuous* sexual harassment she received whenever she logged in - and this when its a given that every female character is actually a guy according to most male gamers (silly but it is the reason so few women want to actually admit they are female).

Were it not for the anonymity we enjoy on many websites, this would happen a lot less. That anonymity lets us post our thoughts and opinions freely and should be treasured (although seemingly its not really anonymity given the NSA etc) and its a shame that asshats feel compelled to spew forth idiotic and offensive vitriol just because they can - or because they were abused, or can't get laid, or are so obnoxious no one wants to be their friend or whatever other source of all that mindless rage and anger is. Trolls ruin the web for a lot of people.

I know there are a lot of websites my wife will simply not visit any more because bullshit like this goes on, on a regular basis. I sincerely hope they find cause to charge the guy who was arrested and he receives a harsh punishment that is well publicized if he is found guilty. Perhaps that might deter some idiots in the future.

Its a pretty rare film that I will actually go see in the Theatre for pretty much exactly the reasons you mention. I see maybe 1 film a year on average, 2 in a rare year.

I also got rid of cable for the same reason. Nothing worth watching for the ridiculous cost of the service.

I can wait to watch it on DvD or from some online source like Netflix (or Bittorrent for that matter).

In order to simplify the FISA applications, the NSA has simply divided the world into 4 populations, and by means of this 3 hop capability, the application can simply read "Group 1", "Group 2", "Group 3" or "Group 4", although there may be an "All of the Above" option, who knows.
In any case the applications are stamped as Approved prior to being completed.

But.. But.. Its Mentally Unstable and its got the intelligence of a 4 yr old. Surely its already *passed* the level of your typical CEO?

Sadly, they are stuck in the mindset that things were that way and thus will always be that way and that they deserve the profit margin they were used to in the market they understand, just because they are used to it. They don't want to adapt, and sadly the legal system is supporting them in the preservation of their outdated business model.
I too used to download tv shows, now I have Netflix and the BBC app for my wife's iPad and hardly ever consider downloading things because a CONVENIENT and AFFORDABLE method of obtaining those things legally is available to me. I am not surprised at the results in Norway at all.

The MPAA/RIAA just has to clue into the fact that they can make up their profits by selling to more people at a lower price, rather than fewer people at a higher price and still make some money.

Of course I am sure they are also worried that there will in fact be little need for them down the road as more artists and content producers cut out the middle men. That concern I understand.

Inside of the US most people view "Socialism" as being virtually identical with "Communism". Very few Americans seem to be able to make the distinction between a Socialist Democracy and a Socialist Totalitarian state. Hell, many can't even tell that Communism and Fascism are on the opposite end of the political spectrum.Thus they seem to equate Canada's Healthcare system with the Totalitarian government in Cuba.

Outside of the US many recognize that the Government can handle some aspects of the economy effectively in many ways, and that sometimes this is preferable to having Corporations run things. Of course the recent trend towards Rightwing governments here in Canada means that a lot of those government organizations (Crown Corporations we call them here) are being dismantled and replaced with non-government corporations, or at least the rules are being changed so it makes little difference. I hope this trend ends eventually when people realize that our Conservative Overlords are destroying the country in the name of sucking up to the US Republican party and to major Corporate interests and not acting in the interests of the Canadian citizenry, but I may hope in vain.

Two thoughts:
First of all, he made it to Russia when everyone thought he was still in Hong Kong. Obviously he is pretty canny and aware of the abilities of the US to track him. I think its entirely possible that he has already left the airport and is en route to somewhere else. In fact the whole episode with the Bolivian president's jet might simply have been a distraction engineered to cover Snowden leaving Moscow to go somewhere else.
Secondly, when I was in the USSR many many years ago we landed at Shermeyetyevo Dva (2). The map I saw of the airport indicated that the reporters were in a section that had Terminals D, E and F (or something like that). There are 2 airports there, is it possible that the reason the reporters haven't seen Snowden or any evidence of his presence at Shermeyetyevo airport is because they are Dva (2) and he is at (Odin) 1?
Third thought: if he makes it to a country that offers him refuge, this is going to make a great movie plot sometime. Of course thats assuming the US doesn't simply assassinate him.

No, its not a piece of shit country, its got piece of shit people running the place and they have created a system that ensures they stay in power. The country itself is very decent overall. In a sense you have put a lot of people in jail who shouldn't be there as part of the "War on Drugs" fiasco, and a lot of politicians, corporate CEOs and Intelligence types who should be put in jail but haven't.

Feudalism never really left our culture, it just changed its colours. There is the law for the rich and powerful, then there is the law for the peons :(

I think you have hit the nail on the head, only I am thinking of those who blindly accept the loss of privacy, rights of free speech, right to assemble in protest etc in order to permit the Authorities to fight "Terrorism". Yes, detecting terrorist plots before they become terrorist events is a good thing but there needs to be some transparency in *how* they are being detected and some dialog concerning how far rights of privacy can be violated and under what circumstances, rather than the NSA just sucking up everything they want whenever they deem it necessary.
As well of course, people need to be able to disagree with the government and its actions, and that same government having complete access to all our secrets means it can, should it choose to do so (and currently we would never know) use that ability to blacklist anyone who disagrees with it.
Just blindly accepting that the powers that be know what they are doing seems incredibly stupid to me, but perhaps thats this "inner policeman" taking over in some minds...