If economic deterioation meant nuclear powers were more likely to start using their bombs, then you could never have wanted to see the end of the Soviet Union.

The facts are that even if it hurts nations economically, trying to alleviate global warming is far easier than what the overwhelming consensus from science tells us in the alternative.

Scaremongering about Chinese and Indian nukes doesn't really add very much.

Actually the last glacial maximum was about 18,000 years ago, marking the begining of the interglacial period, which should draw to an end in just a few thousand years, as the oscillating earth tilts slightly back.

It all sounds so fantastic, that all children should have access to a laptop.

Well, recently I was in the tiny Pacific country of Niue, where every child actually has a laptop.

More than that, basically the entire nation (of 1,500 people) is a wireless hotspot, so every child can access the internet.

But don't be misled, the laptops given to the children perform about three functions. They do connect to the internet, but even doing something as simple as a google search is next to impossible, because the speed is so slow.

If you don't mind using a keyboard that looks like a child's toy (huge letters that require a few fingers to press, thus making typing impossible) and a screen that is tiny, I guess you could use a notepad to write a school essay.

Perhaps they achieved what every third world nation seems to want, one laptop per child, and have bragging rights as the first place on earth to do this, but surely the next step should be "one half decent laptop per child".

At the risk of joining the flame war about free speech, I wanted to say that I appreciate free speech, and the USA clamps down on it from time to time, just as all countries do.
Don't believe me? Think about this.

As a journalist I travelled into the USA recently. Apparently as part of the US "war on terror" foreign journalists are now required to explain why they are entering the United States. They have to explain details of any stories they want to work on, and say which states I was travelling in. This is designed apparently to stop the wrong type of reporters getting news out of America.

This is nothing new. When Mike Moore travelled to Cuba as part of a documentary he was making, he was threatened with legal action, because there are restrictions in place regarding travel to Cuba. The USA is content for negative messages about Cuba, but cannot bear for a documentary to be made about the country that may tell a different story.

I remember how the US TV networks stopped running footage of Osama Bin Laden too, apparently because his hand gestures were giving coded signals to operatives about when and where to attack. Mind you it had absolutely nothing to do with the US government trying to stamp out political speech.
The fact that Al Qaeda operatives could freely watch his speeches online apparently slipped by the US govt.

Cuba clamping down on anti-government activists is nothing new, but lets not pretend the US govt doesn't play the same games when it suits them.

When the Mars rovers were sent out, Mars was unusually close to Earth. Sending out similar vehicles now would be much tougher, take much longer, require much bigger fuel loads, cost much more money, and give many more opportunities for errors.

At some point the US may want to ask whether it desperately wants a functional healthcare system, or six more Mars rovers. I mean, the rovers did a great job at first, but apart from difficulties in continuing their journey, what have they added scientifically to our understanding of Mars in the past year?

Well, a pretty pessimistic attitude.

Not only can rehabilitation work, as the legions of successfully reformed criminals shows, but I think it shows a level of maturity in a society when rehabilitation is considered as an option over 'lock em up and forget em'.

As an example, look at the civilised way Norway reacted when two children murdered another, compared to the hysterical overreaction in Britain when James Bulger was killed by two children.

Years down the track, I know I would prefer to live next to the Norwegian children, who were treated via rehabilitation, compared to the Bulger killers, who were locked up for long periods before ultimately being released.

I think the death penalty is the signature of a society too stupid to realise that you don't teach people life is sacred by taking it away. If you need any further proof of this, take a look at the homicide rate in countries that have the death penalty, as compared to those that don't. You could also look at homicide rates in the US states with the death penalty, compared to the rate in those that don't.

In Canada the number of people murdered has declined since the death penalty was abolished. In 2007 (the most recent figures I could find), there were 594 homicides in Canada, 159 fewer than in 1975 (one year prior to the abolition of capital punishment), after a long trend downwards.

As for Germany's laws on suppression of criminals' names, I disagree with it because I believe in free speech. Nevertheless, this call to have them killed I think is just barbaric.

Penguins either have to live in Antarctica or Africa, depending on species, and neither climate much appeals to me.

Penguins are a fair bit more widespread than Africa and Antarctica.
We have them in Australia and I know they are in New Zealand too.
Aside from the ones that are in zoos elsewhere.
 

I wonder if all those people cheering when the Berlin Wall came down would have had any idea the end of the Cold War meant the end of a space race, and probably delayed exploration of the cosmos by decades.

In my opinion we would probably already have people on Mars (or at least en route) and probably a permanent base on the moon if there was just a bit of hardcore competition from someone like the Russians.

Fingers crossed China and Europe start getting their programs up to speed soon.

If you wanted to test out malicious code to see whether it was likely to be discovered, wouldn't this be a great tool to have?

Kindles always spout how great it is you can read in the sun, because their eInk allows better viewing in direct light, but without that technology, this new device will be far less useful.
I thought this would have been fairly obvious, but from TFA: We hope that LG has included a passively-lit e-paper display option in the device.

In case anyone is interested (I suspect not) I am on my third passport and have visited scores of countries. I have no idea how many, but I have been across most of Europe, Africa, North America, Australia and the Pacific.
I recently read why travel is much better value than other purchases.
When you spend money on something like a new car, or a new TV, you constantly lose money on your investment.
A new car for instance is of most value when it is bought, but over time loses value, is superceded and becomes damaged.
Travel on the other hand is constantly is worth more, as when you finish the travel you have the stories to tell your friends, the photos you can share and the experiences you can relive in your mind.