The really simplified answer is that they're very expensive to build, very expensive to knock down and ONR, the UK nuclear regulator, requires the plant operator to set aside some of the money they make to cover the knocking down costs.

In addition, most nuclear plants don't operate for their full life expectancy, so their turnover often doesn't cover the cost of building and decommissioning.

China does have a fair point here, and that's speaking as a UK citizen, and not trying to play the devil's advocate. The UK has had a history of terrible management in pseudo-private sector enterprises since the 1960s, from British Leyland to British Rail.

Nuclear power in the UK has, so far, been a loss-making enterprise, kept afloat only by government subsidies, and looks set to continue in this way. If I was any overseas investor looking to protect my money, China included, I'd want to make damn sure my investment wasn't just being used to reduce the UK's subsidy.

There is one form of information that is very significant for future generations - the locations and contents of Nuclear burial sites. The film 'Into Eternity' about the Finnish sites documents this issue - how do we make sure humans, perhaps 100,000 years hence, understand the nature and toxicity of the contents, without making them curious about discovering what lies within. The Egyptians tried this 4,000 years ago - writing messages warding off potential interlopers to their sacred burial sites. That outcome is perhaps an indication of how a future civilization would perceive our messages.

Well, let's say this Twinkie represents the normal sized dollar in the New York area. Based on this article's example, 400 mega dollars would be a Twinkie... thirty-five feet long, weighing approximately six hundred pounds.

In the UK it's become not uncommon for cyclists to mount go-pro HD cams on their helmets, so they can claim on their opponent's car insurance when they're hit by a vehicle. And to generally make hilarious youtube videos etc.

leading on from this

Using earplugs AND ear-defenders can work. Sounds a bit crazy but... I worked in an office where an insanely loud demolition was taking place next door (in a built up area, it took months). Using both was the only way of working.

One thing - be careful that you don't buy very expensive gun/industrial earplugs that block loud sounds but let quiet ones through. Because these will let through the quiet conversation in your dorm.

During the cold war, NASA made sense as an ICBM/anti-russki R&D department that had the beneficial side-effect of space exploration. Now, despite $1.5 Tn being available to invade a single country, there's no military fiscal connection.

You shoot the wrong thing. LIke a Wedding Party

There's a subtle but definite trend by governments to paint cash as the currency of criminals.

Like the 'war on terror', the 'war on cash' always cites some form of morality as its justification. In the UK we recently had a political storm about cash payments to tradespeople being 'morally wrong'.

It's clear to my mind that this position goes beyond tax-collection benefits, and moves into the realm of ensuring all financial transactions fall into the uniquely-identifiable big-data indexable kind for just-in-case future use by law-enforecement. (Along with telecoms data, and all the other interesting information governments like to collect.)

Should be pointed out that human eyes automatically white balance anyway. It's the reason white always looks white to the naked eye, whether under tungsten or halogen light, but look different in photographs.

The British have a way round this:

Alice, in the UK, makes sure all her passwords are too long to remember. So she stores them with Trent, in the USA.

Trent has been told only to reveal Alice's passwords if she has phoned him with her daily dead man's handle.

Plod, also in the UK, asks Alice for her passwords citing RIPA 2000. Alice is held at Plod's luxurious police station for a day, then tells Plod that she hasn't stored them in the UK because they're too long to remember and that Trent has them. Plod calls Trent, who not having received yesterday's dead man's handle, pleads the 5th.

Not if our spiffy rapier missiles have anything to do with it!

Which nowadays effectively means she can't bring her phone into school. Try telling that to a British kid nowadays!

Surely the XKCD reference should be google velociraptors

Not trying to defend the use of these weapons...

Just pointing out that the 150dB figure is at one meter rather than the recipient's position (and obviously the sound falls off according to inverse square law).

The 120dB quoted rock concert figure would be the amplitude at the listener's position.