Here's the guy Clarke named the craft after: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsien_Hsue-shen (it's only in the book, not the movie, so you may be excused for not being aware).

They better be careful... We all remember what happened to the Tsien. Fortunately, this one is not manned...

True – but seriously, if we could get a continuous stream of images and other data back, the four year delay wouldn't matter that much. Of course, the probe would have to be fully autonomous, not need any patching and be prepared to expect the unexpected.

FTFY.

Ah, yes. But then again, life here in Europe simply wouldn't be the same with out the death panels. It spices up an otherwise dull and boring life.

No, Norway was under Danish rule until 1814, when Denmark lost it to Sweden after the Napoleonic wars. The Swedes didn't get the Norwegian territories, though (Greenland, Iceland and the Faroe Islands, which is why they're now (former) Danish dependencies).

And technically, it wasn't an "annexation", it was a personal union; Norway retained its own parliament, liberal constitution, government and other institutions, but shared king and foreign policies.

I don't believe Norway has been annexed by Sweden at any other point either; but the King of Norway was elected King of Sweden in the lead up to the Kalmar Union, which united Norway, Denmark and Sweden. But since Norway was seriously weakened after the Black Death, the center power moved to Denmark, and Norway was left more or less as a Danish dependency after Sweden pulled out of the union.

It's not CO2, it's methane, and the carbon comes from the grass / feed. The problem isn't that the cows "magically" create carbon out of nothing, it's that the methane they emit is a much more potent (25x, at least) greenhouse gas than CO2 (which is mainly what humans and other non-ruminants emit).

It's because execs don't want to pay for porn, so they end up on the bad side of the webs, where free porn is used to lure people to malware sites.

Which makes one wonder what the rate would be if one just did nothing – wouldn't be terribly surprised if no punishment at all would give as good or better recidivism rates than the US prison system.

I just visited the US last week, and was surprised at the level of civility I experienced there.

Seriously, whenever I meet USians (even in the wild), they're generally friendly, sensible people. Which makes it perhaps even more depressing that the country as a whole is run by sociopathic assholes. Unfortunately, European leaders (both political and corporate) are learning quickly.

Except gut bacteria, maybe?

Juno's coming home, and if all the usual stories about her are true, she's not going to be particularly amused that Jupiter has been hanging around with his mistresses all this time.

Quite possible the whole mess is due to the US govt's overreaching surveillance, from which not even ancient gods have been spared. I blame Snowden's leaks for Juno's desperate run to the outer reaches of the solar system.

Yes. I seem to remember someone comparing the light levels to moonlight – but can't remember if that was Saturn or Jupiter, or perhaps even closer.

Which means, basically, using solar power – and if there's enough for the plants, there is likely enough for other purposes as well. And you'll need carbon dioxide (which is, apparently, available in trace amounts, which is perhaps enough).

I don't believe it's fair to blame iraqis for resisting an invasion – or are you advocating hunting down and prosecuting WW2 allied resistance fighters/soldiers for the deaths of German soldiers?

In Afghanistan, you *may* argue that the whole thing should be blamed on Al Qaida; but given that the whole Iraq thing should have been enough for a war crimes case, we might as well skip arguing about that.