Comment Re:The Brits will royally screw this one up methin (Score 1) 394
I think the Olympics will go ahead very well - they simply have to.
It's the ever increasing amount of public money required to make that happen that worries me.
Comment Re:Another (Score 3, Insightful) 394
want to see how Capitalism can destroy something? Look at the Olympics.
Couldn't agree more. If any more evidence was required, just consider the "official Olympic restaurant"...
You guessed it: McDonald's.
I can't actually think of a less suitable sponsor for the Olympics.
Comment Re:Uhh, goats? (Score 1) 274
Been there, done that they went feral : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feral_goats_in_Australia. Though some farmers to make a fair living off mustering the ferals and then selling them for pelts and meat.
If the Aussies' reaction to the feral goats is anything to go by, the sight of children racing on elephant chariots would be a suitable consolation.
Comment O2 (Score 4, Interesting) 243
O2 must be glad they made their massive screw up before this came into effect...
Comment Re:Thinking through the uses... (Score 5, Interesting) 50
What might be practical, however, is to think about how to site critical pieces of infrastructure (such as... say... nuclear power plants...
Honest question - does anyone know why the Fukushima plant was built on the east coast of Japan, facing the bomb-waiting-to-go-off that is the massive subduction zone a few miles off shore?
Why wasn't it built on the west coast, so it was sheltered by the island itself? I know hindsight is a wonderful thing, but looking at the map this seems like a schoolboy error to me.
Comment MOD PARENT UP (Score 1) 196
Excellent answer.
Comment Re:Streisand effect? (Score 1) 783
I wonder if the level of searches for Michelle Obama has increased since this story was released?
Comment Re:Why? (Score 1) 315
I just finished reading an excellent book on this subject by Dan Gardner. Highly recommended.
Magpies Are Self-Aware 591
FireStormZ writes "Magpies can recognize themselves in a mirror, confounding the notion that self-awareness is the exclusive preserve of humans and a few higher mammals. It had been thought only four species of apes, bottlenose dolphins, and Asian elephants shared the human ability to recognize their own bodies in a mirror. But German scientists reported on Tuesday that magpies, a species with a brain structure very different from mammals, could also identify themselves. It had been thought that the neocortex brain area found in mammals was crucial to self-recognition. Yet birds, which last shared a common ancestor with mammals 300 million years ago, don't have a neocortex, suggesting that higher cognitive skills can develop in other ways."
Comment Re:It's just a prelude... (Score 1) 491
It's a Simpsons quote.
