Why not microfinancing, such as http://kiva.org/ ?

The population growth is a really worrying issue I think we failed to nail in the last decades.
With a world average of 2.58 children per woman it doesn't sound too bad, but add to it the increase of life expectancy and it's then no surprise that we are still growing so fast.

We need to bring family planning to the poorest countries which hold the greatest birth rates as soon as possible. That will solve two problems with one shot: reduce population growth and poverty. Since giving them the opportunity to achieve economic stability before having children, and having less children to feed would give those families a lot more possibilities.

Second step would be education, to give them the chance of economic growth.

Don't call it birth control; it's better called 'family planning'.

A family is less poor not only if wisely chooses its number of children, but also the moment in time when they have it.

In countries with high birth rates (children per woman) couples get their first child so early that usually they don't finish school, before getting any working experience that would grant them a safe monthly income, nor any time at those job positions to save some money while they could have.

That's why I prefer the term Family Planning, it makes more sense.

Wouldn't this contribute to the already important problem of desertification?
If plans in the same area will be able to produce more bio-mass per squared meter, then the soil will be deprived of nitrogen and other nutrients faster, accelerating the process of desertification.

You can of course tell me that fertilising those lands will solve the problem, but fertilisers have their own problems on the long run, specially inorganic ones.

It does sound interesting for hydroponic cultivation and, why not, space farming.

You wait until April 31st: 31/4.

Oh, wait...

Great math video by Vi Hart, on why Pi is basically wrong.

Enjoy:
http://vihart.com/blog/pi-is-still-wrong/

> My results (running on quad-core Windows Vista 32-bit):
Quad-core running 32-bits?
And Vista?

I guess Santa doesn't read ./

It shouldn't.

We've got one in Buenos Aires since a long time ago:
http://www.tierrasanta-bsas.com.ar/

So I will be able to get from some torrent site the design to print my own iPhone?

Anything you can print with a 3D printer you could do with your own hands and plaster; what's the big deal?
If cd burners are not illigal, I don't see how 3D printers could get to be.

Comments not working on slashdot?

News? Come on, we knew this already from Jurassic Park!

Sorry, the correct link is this

WorldWind is definitelly the best Open Source option to Google Earth. And even though only NASA's imagery is available, a lot of other sources are available. For isntance, Virtual Earth's imagery can be used for non commercial purposes in World Wind. There's also the posibility for governments to put their imagery for free usage, like in a Slovene project Gaea: (http://www.gaeaplus.si/), which can be tested here (http://geo.xlab.si/pds-0.0.2/gaea?version=sos)