At school in the '60s, with a camouflaged 30-foot aerial and decent earth, I used a crystal set (extra bridge diodes) to charge a condenser, which ran a single-transistor amplifier for another crystal set. Or so I thought... but, it DID 'get Lux.'

Ultimately-brave men are going right in to Somalia and other hell-holes to take out the nasties, while you-all are trying to make more difficult the work of the services which our taxes pay to protect us.

Micromanagement is why Herr Hitler failed, when he had world-class Generals.

Just when I thought it was safe (at 65+) to come out from behind the sofa...

Doesn't S. M. Brin's (still-current) wife run a DNA testing outfit that purports to identify genetic predisposition to disease? Interesting market sector!

We glance at a normal watch to see how much time is left, or how late we are. We don't much need to know 'timenow' in numbers. Anything 'digital' has the wrong metaphor.

Don't EVER try playing chess with Russians. You will lose in some very unexpected way, and they will buy you a drink, and challenge you to swallow the whole gherkin.

Strategists must recognise that the Western model of 'Democracy' has failed. Governments no longer enjoy the tacit 'consent' of their political opponents. Not suggesting web-polls could replace the failed representation/lobby/debate model, but someting will have to adapt soon to avoid massive popular disengagement. What will evolve?

In the Snowden mould, I would nominate Guy Fawkes. He betrayed his lawful government, maybe or maybe not with good reason, but it didn't work and he paid the (rather nasty) price. Plus ca change, as our last invaders would say..

It's a splendid accident that humanity has self-awareness, but I would ask how much of the information to be preserved could ever have any relevance except to humanity with curiosity very like our own. Faulty descriptions of the universe? No. Understanding of our very own genetics? No. Ancient books of ancient 'gods'? Probably not.

Astonishing that they killed a respected (if unserviced) Brand like 'Altavista', and went on using a stupid (if Swiftean) word like 'Yahoo'. So it's not just Microsoft and HP that can get global marketing completely wrong.

Light already travels instantly, provided you sit on the massless photon and check your massless watch (time dilation). It's only when you stand back and admire it passing that 'c' comes into play. And that's not a 'speed', it's a constant like 'pi'. Saying you can go faster than light is like saying you can be rounder than 'pi'.

In 'Economic History' we were taught that the widespread use of cheap barbed wire (to tame the prairies) was what gave the USA its biggest boost. And when that wire came to Europe, it changed WW1 from a fast war of cavalry charges to a slow war of trench attrition, and ruined several other empires as a result.

We all know that for some years to come there will be a lively XP 'refusenik' ecology. I for one will not be going out to replace the six computers that work perfectly well here now (and each have Mint as backup). Will that ecology become a grey market? Will Microsoft conspire to sabotage it? Will it be killed by some huge penetration? Will some clone finally work properly?

Nothing wrong with a millimetre per se, it's when sizes get too big for wetware to visualise that humans clock out. What's wrong with 60x45cm? Would 0.6x0.45m work almost as well? (I'd prefer 2footx1foot6, but then we did learn 12-times tables at school). Don't get me started on powers of eV !