That story was posted on the 20th. I'm assuming the submitter saw the same thing I've got in my RSS reader, definitely from today (between "modern tech versus the past" and "Chrome OS benchmarked against Moblin, Ubuntu Netbook, more". The headline is "Hacked Climate Emails Stoke Debate", posted by ScuttleMonkey at 18:48 UTC. The link is http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/Ltx1dUIvKyA/Hacked-Climate-Emails-Stoke-Debate , which just gives me "The item you're trying to view either does not exist, or is not viewable to you.". At a guess, people started posting large chunks of hacked personal mail, forcing Slashdot to pull it - though ISTR from the old days (I'm rarely here now) that even pulling comments was a very rarely exercised ultimate sanction, and pulling whole stories virtually unknown. Either way I'd hope/expect an explanation post sooner or later...

Another history of the 2007-08 crisis from a credible source. (Not that Krugman's not credible, to a first-level approximation.)

> I really wish wall street would get off their 'risk models' fetish.The financial systems of the world are wildly
> complex beyond all comprehension. "Risk models" [...] as a rule, eventually always fail.
>
[emphasis mine.]

I'd be interested to hear your proposal for alternative ways for banks should manage risk without mathematical models. Wet finger in the air? Lottery numbers? Astrology?

Firstly, may I be the first to link to the Gaussian Copula. If you'd like to point to one equation that did more than any other bit of modelling to bring about the collapse in the credit derivatives market and the ensuring banking finance, David Li's horribly misused work is what you're looking for. Google is your friend for far more than you want to know.

Secondly, your assertion that "Human behavior is the basis for the Austrian school of economic thought" is, frankly, nonsense. I'm a great believer in markets, but human behaviour is a lot less invariant then you believe. Behavioural Economics is a fascinating field, and I warmly recomment reading around the subject if you'd like to learn something about it.

>> everyone that purchases a TV in Britain [has] to support the BBC, whether they actually watch it or not. >> > Yes, this is true. No, it is not. You only pay the license fee if you use (not possess) a TV set, radio, or watch live online streams.

El Reg got this one about right. ( Do check the comments though.)

OpenAustralia.org is your friend.

(a) Dude, whatever the fuck you're on, stop taking it.
(b) Is this story some kind of joke? I get 40mpg regularly in my 12-year-old Toyota Celica, yes the thing that won the World Rally Championship before Toyota pulled out to let Subaru have a turn on it. If 40mpg is the target for new cars, we're utterly, utterly fucked.

Oh, wait! We ARE utterly, utterly fucked!! Thanks, Republitards, you've helped wipe out civilisation as we know it. Have fun living off the land in what will soon be the desert wastes of Montana!

None of this makes the slightest difference to the expected global warming, except insofar as rainfall patterns may change slightly faster or slower in some places. How the heat is distributed around the planet is pretty much irrelevant to the global energy balance (as would be obvious to anyone with half a brain cell.) Now, please FOADIACF.

Such a superb O/T troll deserves a full -2. I can't wait for the sequel, starring members of a popular boy-band as Navy SEALs, kicking the door down and making with the smoke grenades and the raspberry-flavoured lube, and all.

China has a police force. My country has a police force. ZOMG!!!! fascist communistic dictatorship prepares to seize power and enslave us in their siberian lard mines!!!

And anyway, when climate change kicks in and the world descends into every-nation-for-itself anarchy, we're gonna need some form of authoritarian state power to enforce conscription into the armies needed to fight off the starving hordes massing on various national borders.

...demonstrably.

You have a collection of Star Trek movies. Minus 50 points.
You have everyStar Trek movie. Minus 500 points.
You make a reference to some sort of alien race (I guess, from the context) as if they were real, and expect people to find that funny. Minus 10,000 points!