News just in, IrDA isn't an acronym it's an abbreviation, sometimes the two are the same but usually they are not as is the case here.

Agreed. I think the subtext of the racism is the fear on the part of our american cousins that they are about to be usurped on the world's stage by our other cousins from China, it's a form of nervous laughter and also displays the atrociously poor reporting of non american news in the home country.

For all 'intents and' purposes. Whom has it's place and in such places no other word is appropriate.

The argument that the USA being much larger than European countries and thus is a different model is misleading, fibre in Europe comes under European regulation with some relatively minor local, or country, adjustments possible. Therefore the comparison between Europe and the USA is entirely reasonable. We have a free market model but if that doesn't appear to be working in favour of the consumer the regulator, state or European, steps in to redress the position. The focus of broadband within Europe is primarily social benefit and not company profit so controls focus on areas that will promote this. I'm living in the UK and pay c. $25/month for 80mb broadband with calls and on-demand TV thrown in, this same package is available to over 93% of the population by law.

We have a system that does that in the UK, I think the police fund it, it may even be possible for overseas people to use. You enter as much info as you have on the bike including a full component list, photos, and distinguishing features etc. not all bikes over here have a serial number so you need other info to keep a record.

I sent my kids to a terrible private school, am I evil?

It's you.

Now what would happen if a stream of methane developed which was ignited by, say, a lightening strike, there would be a rapidly growing forward feedback loop which would release more methane and generate more heat, and more methane, etc. How much oxygen would this methane use up and how much heat would be dumped into the atmosphere? Would this be shrugged off by the earth or would it spell a species killing catastrophe?

The decision will be made on commercial grounds. Copper is already there in many parts of the world and it's cheap - for the time being. It won't be replaced with copper so when maintenance costs increase it will be replaced with fibre, also where copper can't meet increasing demand then fibre overlays will be put in and gradually take over. Bandwidth demand will continue to increase for some customers but not all so we'll have a mix of technologies for the forseeable future. Wireless technologies will play their part but as bandwidth demand increases so cell size will reduce, which means some new fibre and piggy-backing on existing copper - there's a fair chance that your home router will be managing some traffic for your SP - mine does, but then again when I'm travelling I'm using someone else's. ISDN will of course disappear, but it's hanging in there longer than anyone thought it would, mainly because of the end user refusing to change what they know and love.

The cause is a good one as it's ethically and environmentally the right direction but to succeed the end game has to be something that unquestioningly tastes, feels, looks, cooks, etc. like good quality meat as we have enough substitutes that don't hit every button. Once we get there we will have more land for vegetable matter and may have a chance of feeding the world's population with enough variety, including protein, to keep them healthy. However, we must learn from history, both recent and less so, that if we let money be the most significant factor in deciding the quality of our food and who gets to eat what, then it will not deliver what's needed. This has to be government funded without patents, licences, tie-ins etc. so that the best product will rise to the top and not the best margin.

The only reason that the engineering problems required to keep 500 people under water for 9 months were solved is that it was necessary for the purposes of warfare. Find a cast iron warfare benefit of a base on the moon then you have your source of funds. Cynical but true.

Sadly not, but thankfully it doesn't matter.

You raise an interesting point and of course you're correct. I suspect that the truth is that Neanderthal women were really ugly, mingers (that's with a soft "g" as in Ming vase) if you like, this is certainly the case in all of the films on the subject that I've seen. Now the fact that we have some Neanderthal genes suggests that human women have always liked a bad lad and so some interbred, nothing wrong with that but shocking at the time I dare say. So here we are, all with a bit of Neanderthal in us and those with a greater proportion presumably go on to play rugby; remind me, who won the Six Nations at the weekend?

Brands can be, and often are, mentioned on the BBC, as a result there were frequent references to Sellotape. Sticky-backed plastic is different from Sellotape, it's a wider plastic roll, typically about 50cm (20") wide.

How pleased I am to hear someone who understands how heavier than air machines fly, too many people, the vast majority in my experience, have completely the wrong idea.