I'm not sure I'd agree with your assessment. What this really shows is that most people didn't read the linked article, just the posting. Nothing in the posting mentions the ITU and you only realize this is in fact who control will be given to when you actually read the associated link.

I realize that you may be in a good position to comment but I question both if it's arrogance and, if it is, is that a problem? Is it possible it's just the fact that they know more?

Your right that this alone isn't the solution. However, dealing with waste in this way is something we have to start doing. For too long we have thrown waste away. However, this waste does go somewhere and something does have to be done with it. If it's put in a landfill, it's only taking up space. Worse, it's contaminating an area of land (or sea) that causes further problems. In a reply before yours, someone suggested a complete cycle for the by products - you make wine, the waste is used to make fuel. From the waste of this process, you can make fertilizer. Cycles such as that mean that you have no waste at all. Obviously we can't apply this to every circumstance where waste is produced. However, where you can, it seems to me to be worth the effort. More than ever, with resources becoming more scarce, we have to accept the idea that something isn't waste as such but simply a by-product that has potential for further use.

You're right, they do have Solaris. However, Oracle developed their own Linux before the Sun acquisition. They clearly don't feel it makes sense at this time to focus just on Solaris. In all honesty, I don't think they mind having their kernel patches shared. In fact, I expect what they really want is for those patches to be part of the official Redhat kernel. Maybe once that's been achieved they would drop their own linux distro.

I'm sure there are some marketing and political factors. However, one of the reasons why Oracle have spun up their own Linux distro is to they can have a custom kernel. There are several patches in it that are not in the Redhat supplied kernel including some to better support databases running within virtual machines.

yes, you're right, a collision involving a car could well involve a serious injury to pretty much any part of the body. However, although I could (very reluctantly) live with a missing arm or leg, I'm pretty sure medical science hasn't got to the stage yet where I can exist without a head. I cycle to work every day. I don't want to die from a head injury or exist in a mental state less than I do today, hence I wear a helmet.

Your point is sort of valid but I think there is an important aspect missing. Hypothetically, the purpose of road tax is to maintain the road infrastructure. Even if everyone cycled, the roads would need an awful lot less maintenance than they do currently. In fact, cycling is so low an impact of tarmac roads that it is effectively negligible.

A couple of years back I would have disagreed with you. However, since Unity and Gnome 3, have come along, there is no doubt that the Ubuntu desktop isn't as good as it was. It's got to the point where I'm seriously looking a KDE desktop. Given that I've been using a Linux desktop for over a decade now, this will be as big a change as it was when I moved off windows. The shame is that Gnome 2 was really good. The extra bells and whistles that came through with the likes of Compiz where welcome even though they weren't necessary. Both Gnome 3 and Unity have seemingly thrown that all away. Were there no redeeming qualities of Gnome 2 that someone thought to keep?

You may well joke about this sort of thing but Data General (that I know of) produced a RAID DAT drive. The version I used had 5 drives but it would go to a total of 7. http://alumnus.caltech.edu/~rdv/comp-arch-storage/FAQ-1.10.html For the organisation I worked for, it was a great piece of kit as it allowed us to stream backups for three different servers to what was effectively a single tape drive. We would never have been able to afford even a modest library so this really was reliable, fast and cost effective. Alas, the follow up to this drive used DLT and that model was entirely outside of our price bracket.

It doesn't make much sense to me that Samsung would want to produce their own phone OS. As far as I am aware, Samsung are in the phone game for broadly the same reason that Apple are - to sell hardware. Sure, Apple have managed to make software sell but this has largely been by using lock-in to force everyone to sell their s/w through Apple. Of course, Apple gets a nice cut for providing this service. Although I do appreciate that this is not a black and white issue, it still seems to me that Apple continue to be the hardware company they have always been. The difference now is that they produce various piece of s/w to make that hardware work, not only for the users but also for Apple by helping it to generate more revenue. Samsung aren't really any different. They are most definitely a hardware company but it's pretty clear they are also producing software. Smart TVs are smart because of built in software. A smartphone is no different. What I think Samsung should be doing is more in software to differentiate themselves from their competitors. S-Voice is clearly a rip off of Siri but it is a start. It would be nice for them to innovate or differentiate themselves more but this is the best area for them to work on.

Although I don't disagree with the point, I do think that a better example of our regression is that we have stopped living in the supersonic era. Deliberately ignoring the Russian input into this, Concorde really was the first and last supersonic airliner. Although I accept that there were several factors in it's downfall, it cannot be ignored that there are no major aircraft companies with an interest in producing a replacement. Surely it must be easier to produce an efficient supersonic aircraft than it was 40 odd years ago. So much of today's businesses are focused only on the bottom line. In fact, ironically, space is the exception. I can't honestly believe that the likes of SpaceX, Virgin etc feel sure of success. Are they not showing the kind of imagination that seems to have been lost by organizations such as NASA?

You've made a crucial mistake. Although there may well be atheists that do hold personal beliefs of one kind or another, in principle, atheism is not having beliefs, at least when it comes to religion. As a consequence, most atheists tend to have a stronger interest in science and the scientific method than many theists. To use your words, it's no surprise that there is an increase in atheists becoming 'louder', it's a simple consequence of the way that religion, particularly fundamentalists, have been dragging reason in a backward direction.

We have. Although Rory wasn't present for certain parts of the 5th season, he was for a substantial amount of it and was a companion throughout season 7. Micky Smith was also around for the first couple of seasons whilst Rose Tyler was a companion. In both cases they were probably not as prominent as the female companions but they were there. Unfortunately, the press tend to focus more on the female companions than the male ones. Captain Jack for example wasn't mentioned in the press yet was in four episodes of the first season. Similarly, when Amy Pond was announced, there was no mention of a boyfriend/husband that would also be in the show.

One of the big problems I see (living in the UK) is that so many people expect the government to be doing something. Although I've seen less of this recently, I can remember so often seeing a report of some kind on the news where someone will say 'the government needs to do something about this'. I think this is one of the reasons why see government becoming increasingly bigger as it's forced to take on additional responsibilities. Many of these situations may well be legitimate but there will almost certainly be items like this one where some of us will believe the government is going too far. For now, there's no reason to assume this will be used for anything other than the purpose mentioned. However, you can be sure that sooner or later, the government will come under pressure from a group of one kind or another to capture and monitor other information.