Actually, there's some sense in your statement. If you look at our world today, the biggest threat to life on this planet is not gamma rays. The biggest threat to life on this planet . . . is other life on this planet. Most of that is motivated by these "ancient superstitions".

The cruel irony is, that Islam, Christianity and the Judaism are all based on the same Jewish Fairy Tales. And despite that it seems that Muslims are hell-bent on killing everyone who isn't a Muslim. This latest Islamic State crew even seem to want to kill fellow Muslims as well.

Forget gamma rays. If, in the future, we are able to travel to habitable planets . . . we'll probably discover that the life there has destroyed itself. No need for gamma rays to do what life can do to itself.

Someone asked an ancient Roman poet:

Which wine do you prefer to drink?

His answer:

Wine, that someone else has paid for.

You could say the same for conferences. The last one I attended was on the Greek island of Samos. Everyone there was there because someone else was paying for it. I honestly didn't have the gall to ask my manager to approve a business trip to a Greek vacation island, so my colleague did it. Since the costs were booked to an EU project that I was working on, he approved it.

Maybe Europe needs an old China-style one child policy . . . ?

Monty Python: "African European Swallow or European European Swallow . . . ? "

In the case of Germany, I would tend to agree with you. The German unions try to reach a reasonable consensus with management which is acceptable to all parties involved.

In the case of France, I would tend to disagree with you. They kidnap company executives, and generally make the place appear toxic for business.

The French rail workers' unions have a simple rule when to strike: Whenever I am in France. Normal Slashdot Dogma states that correlation does not equal causation, but in the case of French rail workers . . . I just need to get near the French border, and a strike will break out.

So you end up with replacing Machiavellian Managers . . . with Machiavellian Union Bosses . . .

I thought a ski slope took care of Sonny Bono a long time ago.

It's Cher that still needs to be removed.

Note that the summary says "gun" and not weapon or firearm.

Why are all my military cronies chuckling . . . ?

Maybe "unlocking your gun with your fingerprints" means something else to then . . . ?

"Sir, no Sir, Drill Instructor, Sir. I only shook it three times, as instructed, Sir!"

The government can earn money from regulation fees, someone can use regulation to stifle competition . . . so regulation is also about profit . . . for somebody.

If Cuba had oil . . . the embargo would be over really fast.

Cuban cigar smokers in the US don't have a PAC to push through changes. They're just not a big enough special interest group.

The phone is not the problem . . . the driver is the problem. That's why it would be better to suspend their license for a week or so.

So, while the funding for K-12 is being cut to fund the tax breaks for Microsoft . . . Gates is blathering about the importance of teaching history.

Maybe Gates will expand his plans for teaching history to include reading, writing, math and science . . . ? Then the state could get rid of K-12 altogether. It would be a Win-Win.

For someone.

Maybe.

Ah, like AIDS, then? Well the US is safe then, because AIDS never made any progress there.

At least, not among White Middle-aged Guys. Not even their own wives would have promiscuous sex with them. Which is confusing, being that only White Middle-aged Guys are given the cure for Ebola.