... And China's inflation rate is climbing, with food costs up about 6% since last year. Much as it's nice to tout blistering GDP growth, it carries significant inflationary risk. The more important question: "Can or should governments aim for perpetual economic growth?"

Having experienced a runway overshoot, the issue is that things tend to go flying around the cabin in a really nasty way, I don't want my teeth knocked out by the tablet that was previously sitting in the lap of the kid three rows in front of me. I don't want you to sit in the aisle seat in confusion because you missed the cabin crew's instructions while listening to your iPod at full volume. Stow your crap and clear your ears during the most dangerous part of the flight and make sure you know how many rows away the emergency exits are.

Windows didn't hit its stride until the 2000s. Windows XP was released in October 2001, with great commercial success. As of last month, it was estimated to be running on almost 39% of PCs. That's a critical problem that Microsoft faced - instead of dutifully upgrading every couple of years, many people and businesses stayed on XP. Each subsequent release has tried to up the whizz-bang factor of the UI.

You've missed the point completely. The purpose of Earth Hour is to make us realize how absolutely reliant on technology we are. No electric lights, no computers or phones and no television is a jarring shift for most urbanites. Turning your lights off isn't about raising awareness in others, it's about raising *your* awareness. Hopefully you do a little thinking and realize that (a) an emergency preparedness kit with food, flashlights, water and a few days worth of essential supplies is a very sharp idea in case of a disaster, (b) your house/apartment probably doesn't have an effective secondary heating system. Fix that. And, finally, (c) that we're bloody wasteful and should do something about it. Chances are that you won't get far with (c) because it's bloody hard to wean ourselves from our energy addiction, but you stand a reasonable chance of succeeding with (a) and (b).

Diesel is sold by volume, not weight. A 50L tank of gasoline will weigh about 6.4 kg less than gasoline, which is negligible.

Well, causing a massive seismic event is one way of reducing demand.

Which, in the case of your grandmother, would be a very long sentence indeed.

Military aid is a wonderful euphemism. This aircraft is being used to transport French combat troops and arms into a conflict zone. IWhile the US hasn't deployed troops in a combat role, American forces are involved in the conflict. And that's not necessarily a bad thing.

Right, then. Here's a recent photo for you that includes (a) the beautiful African nation of Mali, (b) a USAF C-17 Globemaster and (c) a pair of boots worn by an American serviceman. You'll note that both his feet are firmly planted on the ground: http://wapo.st/ZrQ8wK

The Sony Store? Or perhaps Bose? They opened in Maine back in 1993. That said, the Google Store won't be a success if they can't fix their supply chain issues.

I suspect that price is a mean, not a median. A relatively small number of expensive cars can quite easily skew that number. For instance, imagine a town where 10 new cars are purchased. Nine cost $20,000 each, and one Porsche sold for $100,000. The "average" price is $28,000. Also don't forget that far more used cars change hands for considably less money, and it's quite possible that many people are hanging onto their old cars for a few years longer.

I look forward to reading your calculation of line loss to get the power from the SW to upstate New York. I also suspect that a 2500 square km field of PV panels will cause significant climate shift in the local vicinity (those panels will get pretty warm in the sun). They might also have unanticipated effects on wildlife behaviour and migration. But feel free to try the same thing on the moon.

Balsillie left the company in 2011. He has no up-to-date insider knowledge or connections with the current management team and it makes some sense for him to have sold his stock (approximately $300 million) to diversify his portfolio. I wish we could bury this sensational but meaningless story from the front page.

It's almost enough to make you wonder if there is a connection between increasing environmental pollution and irrational religious obsession. Or perhaps some people respond to a world filled with more knowledge and answers than we've ever had by shutting down completely and resorting to chanting magical incantations on a daily basis. At any rate, I'd be happy to chip in for a billboard that reads, "Missouri Science Education, Now With 50% Magic."

No, a more elegant solution would be to encourage these brilliant lawmakers to travel on a fleet of airliners built by a team of intelligent designers instead of engineers with their ridiculous scientific quackery. Hell, let's replace medicine and dentistry with rosary beads while we're at it.