For some stuff this is no different than what Microsoft did with IE, but that doesn't mean this should be the appoach taken. Microsoft could also be less of a drag when it comes to embracing the web specifications.

The web specifications need to flow a little better and ease the rate of implementation. At the same time we should be discouraging the use of prefixed extensions and encourage the use of their non-prefixed equivalents, if they are part of that year's spécification.

As for the idea of simply using WebKit, it is one approach, but at the same time it is nice to see the diversity of implentations to keep people competitive.

If you take out the religion part, then you have two 'countries' (Palestine is barely granted nationhood status) on the offensive. You need to remember that Israel wasn't even established until after the second world war and only so a certain people could have 'home land', despite the fact people were already calling that territory home for centuries. The British had already helped destabilize the whole area, through their prior colonization. Creating a new territory with people with even more different and radical views (orthodox Jewish in this case) wasn't going to change anything.

If Palestine wasn't such on a lock down by Israel, then there would be no need for these tunnels. In many ways Palestine exists in the same way the Indian territories do in the US. If Palestine was allowed to be treated as a country, and allowed to develop a healthy economy, there may be less frustration - granted that is a very big 'maybe', since there are so many conflicting factors and tensions are certainly high.

It isn't the Muslims per say, but the extremists. Extremism of any faith, colour or dogma is the problem. I know enough Muslims around me, and none of them would ask for what is happening in the name of their religion.

One of the differences with Islamic extremists, is that they live in an area that is generally politically unstable and throwing in a country like Israel into the mix is like throwing oil onto fire. BTW the power grab by certain imams is very similar to what the priests were doing back in Europe 500 years ago. The main difference is the realm of influence and the tools at their disposal.

Israel doesn't help the situation by building their colonies. I am not sure the USA would be happy if Mexico started establishing colonies on US soil. Knowing some of the right wing there, the outcome would likely be the same.

Before you ask I am agnostic of Christian background, but feel we should try to understand the problems better.

In addition, if you are wanting to go solar or off-grid, then power supply is only half of the equation. The other half being how to reduce consumption. For example getting a LED based TV instead of a plasma based one or putting stuff into standby (or off) when not bring used.

As for 10KW per hour, that is huge. What is consuming that much? An industrial level hair dryer?

For the non-tech that's akin to doing brain surgery, so that changes nothing. For the average tech, downloading a precompiled firmware is still preferable in many cases. Having the source available will allow more eyes on it and the chance to improve it, but still an easy option to 'make firmware' and be done is appealing.

thanks

One thing mentioned elsewhere is that there already taxes that make part of salaries and of services or products sold. How much income tax should be paid in top of that?

It would be nice to get all public companies, making above a certain yearly amount, having the amount of declared tax presented in a chart. The fiscal 100?

It's nice to scream shit about companies and they probably should be paying a bigger tax amount, but we should also be putting this in perspective.

IANAA (I am not an accountant), so more information needs to be provided.

Do you know a good place to get the necessary hardware? I don't feel like having to cobble it together myself.

Cool. If I could find the right guys, one project I have mind is something akin to a RaspberryPi coupled with SDR hardware. That way you get all the work done in the device and then stream the resultant signal to the main computer. This too could be networkable.

Oh, that is crazy. I was hoping for something in terms of the opposite. Buildings should be receive a disaster risk rating, such that people can make informed decisions and accept whatever penalty comes with it. Imagine the rating goes from A-F, with A being lowest risk rating. If something happens there then you get an increased rate of protection, if you get get F then you should be paying a tax surcharge as a way of compensating the government for when the finally have to bail you out.

This really reminds me of the three little pigs and who's house survived the huffs and puffs of the wolf. I am pretty sure his house was not built out of wood. He was probably also the rich pig in the family ;)

The problem with many homes is poor location, poor choice of construction material and poor choice of architecture. We need to respect the potential fury of Mother Nature when she decides its time to remind everyone of her presence, and build accordingly.

The first thing you do is not build your house on a spit, something which is very volatile in terms of land. Neither should you build on flood plains. If you know there is some chance of hurricanes, then concrete is going to be the better building material. We can see in Japan the buildings that survived the tsunami were all built out of concrete or on higher ground. We also learnt in Thailand that you are better off putting mangroves than house on a beach front. In terms of architecture stilted homes make more sense, in flood prone areas since they will be above the flood level and therefore the damage, if any, will be much reduced.

One construction approach I had thought about as a compromise would be in a typically wooden house, was a raised concrete core, where people cold hide and keep the most precious possessions. The idea being even with damage to the outer structure, they would be above the food level and within a structure that stands a better chance of survival.

All that said, I believe we should be regulating building and insurance to discourage people building the wrong type of housing in the wrong geography, since in the end the tax payer pays every time.

I went to a Maker Faire a few months back and started talking to some HAM radio operators. They told me that far from a dead activity, they have actually gone digital, incorporating the Internet to connect to transceivers for when they aren't able to have an antenna in thir back yard. One other technology mentioned was SDR, otherwise known as software defined radio. SDR means that the necessary hardware is simpler, with the majority of the signal processing now in software. There is an SDR app for the iPhone, but you need a piece of hardware that plugs ino the antenna and also plugs into the headphone jack of the phone. I haven't looked at Android, but I imagine you could use some form of GnuRadio.

Reading fail - it is right there linked in the summary. Now excuse me while I walk away and hide in shame ;)

It was removed, but did anyone manage to get a copy before that was done. It would be interesting to get an independent (in relative terms) review of the document.