Due to be offline in 2012 for budget reasons... so doubt we can blame the LHC.

Point b is only true upto a point; from memory most of the 'os native' encryption only provides for upto baseline encryption standard - which isn't sufficient to, for instance, downgrade restricted to not protectively marked (least in the security classification scheme HMG uses); enhanced grade products are needed which is likely to mean they've been through a certification scheme and only maintain the certification when deployed in accordance with the criteria used to certify the product in the first place or the relevant guidance notes.

means "theat to the Earth's suitablity as our home".

By that definition we ought to exterminate ourselves as we're probably the biggest and most probable threat to the suitablilty of Earth for us....

Or even delivered at all... http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manchester/8141241.stm

Google's credibility and 'do no evil' motto will be stretched to breaking point as people realise google aren't doing all this purely for their own good - in this day and age he who controls the data is king...

How, in this day and age of network engineering, can we even entertain one of the thirteen root servers being unavailable for so long?

Just a small, minor issue there... 1 of the root dns went down... only another 12 still up. Not really a problem even if it had been down for a week.

The whole reason for having 13 root servers is that you can lose a fair few of them before anyone needs to start worrying.

Nah, just the usual pile of shooty things and a hanger - purely a ratting/staging tower.

FarmVille? That ain't a game its a scam to part deluded idiots from their cash or waste more time worrying that their virtual cow hasn't been milked or their crops are rotting in the field when they should be doing something else (like worrying whether they remembered to fuel the bloody POS in eve).

Hm. SNAFU something grabbed rest of my post. :-(

Anyway

Core i[number of cores] [major design].[revision] would ease confusion.... then just have list of major design to code name mappings (or even append the name when listing cpu's on your product pages if you are a vendor) and job is done; least in terms of stopping the naming confusion.

Thought the '2' in Core2 referred to the second generation already...

With the Core i3/5/7 being the third these are more like the fourth generation.

Might be time for people who make C(G)PUs to have a rethink on naming schemes... maybe even take a leaf out of the software industry, e.g

Core i .

Might be safe against EM interference but interference from a sniper...

These days common sense is more correctly called uncommon sense; given the average level of stupidity witnessed every day...

Final proof someone in the Russian military has a good sense of humour, they saw their nice ionosphere sounder and thought... "hm we could broadcast a code on this which means nothing... and watch the rest of the world (including our own sigint) spend decades trying to work out what it means"

One day it will broadcast... "fooled you!" then go silent for the rest of time...

(Either that or someone started the programme off and left a note saying do not turn off. Only problem was they forgot to put that they only meant do not turn off for a few days as a soak test)

Think the problem with all these schemes is a lot of the countries where these schemes are aimed at are not the kind of countries that require beyond reasonable doubt before finding you guilty....

*Some L Series Lens, some are somewhat expensive for semi-pro photographers... like this beasty... 800mm f/5.6 a snip at £15k.... http://www.canon.co.uk/For_Home/Product_Finder/Cameras/EF_Lenses/Image_Stabilization_Lenses/EF_800mm_f-5.6_L_IS_USM/