based on Energy Return on Energy Invested. Our civilisation is doing a fantastically poor job of switching away from fossil fuel.

Fuck You.

Why is everyone so uncomfortable with the idea that something can be lost forever? How is that a problem? I'm perfectly sanguine with the idea that information can be lost or irretrievable. I'm perfectly sanguine with the idea that the universe will die of heat death. I'm also down with the idea that the Big Rip will swallow everything up in several billion years - talk about information loss... It just strikes me as fatuous and arrogant that humans think the universe has to work a certain rational, logical, way - like the universe gives a shit one way or the other.

Um, no. We're not going to the moon or anywhere like it. The economy will likely collapse again before the end of the decade. There won't be the money or the resources. Sending robotic missions makes more sense. Sending people is a dumb idea. We evolved to live here. We are expensive to travel and hard to settle. Machines are constructed to do certain things in certain environments. They are more capable than humans in that regard. Send them to get fried by coronal mass ejections.

No shit. I would have put it more like this:

"different approach to international diplomacy"

in other words: Ain't Gonna Happen.

We go there for vacation whenever the fuck we want. Americans need to get fucking clue and get over themselves. It's just fucking Cuba. No big deal. America has relations with China, and they've executed WAY more political prisoners than Cuba has, and you;re probably reading this on a Chinese built computer. So bag the anti-communist BS and grow up.

um, yes. corporatisation means academia feeds the interests of neoliberalism. Education is not a business. It is a social service and a fundamental right.

BAN for profit universities and require more tenured faculty teach classes.

They don't have to be that hot. They just have to be in a super tight orbit and be there for ELEVEN BILLION YEARS.

Frankenstein.

I use Windows 7. I am waiting for Windows 9. I'm not interested in a GREAT start menu - I just want one that works really well. IT doesn't have to be perfect - it has to be good enough.

It's a large planet orbiting a star. It has no massive hydrogen/helium atmosphere, and that's a mystery, WHY? Well, let's see, park a planet about 20 million miles from its host star for ELEVEN BILLION YEARS and see how long the atmosphere hangs around, in the face of ELEVEN BILLION YEARS of stellar evolution, coronal mass ejections, and all the rest of it, and they're PUZZLED as to why it's not hte size of Neptune?WTF? I'm surprised it still exists at all...

What did we want in Win8? Win 7 that WORKED. That's all, really. Simple stuff, like, maybe automatically calculating the size of folders. That would be nice. And maybe a scheduler that didn't have its head up its ass. Seriously. All this touch this and wooshy that WE DON'T CARE. WE NEVER DID.

we just want a computer that works. Perfectly and easily. Hard to do? Well, you CHARGE for your OS, so it's not like you don't have the green. But, no. You dreamed up Win8 and Metro and it sucks balls. No one wants it. It's bullshit. IF we want a tablet OS, WE'D BUY A FUCKING TABLET. Capeeeesh?

Now, kindly go back to the drawing board, fix Win7,and call it Win9, and we will all be happy and for a little while forget you're a bunch of assholes extracting wealth from a supine audience.

Snowden could have chosen to leak his documents anonymously through a Congressman.

Sure, and two weeks later the NSA / CIA would have given him concrete boots to go talk to the fishies off the coast of Hawaii.

Rather than Ridgecrest, California. I can practically hear the discussion now...

Scientist 1: So, we need to test this thing. I suppose we could talk to the folks at China Lake. It's nearby and cheap. We can stay at the Motel 6 in Ridgecrest.
Scientist 2: Yeah, we could do that, or have the Pacific dudes fire it over HAWAII and we get to hang out in Kawaii!!!!
Scientist 1: But that's expensive.
Scientist 2: Fuck that - it's HAWAII!!! It's in the USA! Good enough!
Scientist 1: Yeah, but...
Scientist 2: But nothin' dude - have you even been to Kawaii?
Scientist 1: No, but....
Scientist 2: but nothin' it's awesome. And it beats the living fuck out of Ridgecrest. You ever been to Ridgecrest?
Scientist 1: Yeah. It's hot. Out in the desert.
Scientist 2: Yeah, AND IT SUCKS! They have earthquakes like every other day out there. It's a miserable hell hole that's only rivaled by Barstow and Needles.
Scientist 1: Well, its not pretty, but it is nearby, and I don't think the test cares if we shoot it over Kawaii or Death Valley, really.
Scientist 2: The test won't but everyone on the team will. Kawaii is fucking AWESOME DUDE!
Scientist 1: We can meet budget.
Scientist 2: We can SURF!
Scientist 1: OK, let's ask another team mate. What do you think?
Scientist 3: What, do I look stupid? Fuck Ridgecrest - YOLO baby - let's go to Hawaii!!!
Scientist 1: Sigh....