Never upgrade something that is working.

(Unless it is a worthwhile security update, obviously)

If I'm playing a car racing game, I won't think it out of place to see billboards on the side of the road. If they advertise Coke/Pepsi, and the developer makes some money, that's fine.

So long as the ads are no more intrusive than the real world, and actually add to the game world, I'd be ok with this.

I use Samsumg Knox to get work email, specifically so that work policies don't touch my phone

This is a great idea, and illustrates the benefits of science to help improve the world. Ecosystems around human habitations aren't natural to start with, and we have every right to mess them up for our benefit.

Also from the article:

That is the sort of practical attitude we need to solve the problems of poor countries. Less hand wringing, more action, with adaptive management of any issues that arise.

For what it's worth, I have a bachelor's degree in science with a double major in ecology, and a bachelor's degree in civil engineering. I work as a civil engineer providing water supplies rather than as an ecologist because there's no/hardly any money in science, so I might have a different point of view than more pure scientists. As far as I'm concerned, the reason to care about the environment is because we live in it. We should protect or change the environment as we see fit to benefit the most number of people. That's why we dam rivers, clear land, make farms, build cities, and protect endangered animals; it's all to improve quality of life for humans. Until mosquitoes become endangered, we should kill as many as we can.

we pay 33c/kW.hr in Australia, plus $20/month supply charge.

I tested my HTC phone chargers. When plugged in but not charging a phone, they drew less than the minimum 0.1 W that the test apparatus could record.

I also tested my plasma TV. 3 W when not being used.

My router, 12 W.

I use about 7 kW.hrs/day, mostly gaming laptops and TV at night. That router is 0.3 kW.hrs of that, 4% of my overall usage, costing me 8.6 c/day.

If you are happy to leave your router/modem turned on, then power draw from idle chargers fades into insignificance.

Christmas Island is 1600 km from the Australian mainland, and 351 km from Indonesia (Java).

It is because of its proximity to Indonesia that people smugglers take their boats there, plus Jakarta is on Java so there are a lot of people there.

Papua New Guinea: 170 km
Tasmania: 220 km
Indonesia (Java to Christmas Island): 351 km
Indonesia (Timor to mainland Australia): 440 km
East Timor: 513 km

I heard New Zealand had claimed Tasmania, and Australia didn't bother to object.

Yes, it is worth remembering East Timor, they get forgotten fairly often, like Papua New Guinea.

But they are a bit further away. From closest point on mainland Australia to nearest point of other places, distances are:

Papua New Guinea: 170 km
Tasmania: 220 km
Indonesia (Timor): 440 km
East Timor: 513 km

That far north the kangaroos don't work properly. They tend to climb trees and then fall out instead of the usual behaviour of offering bouncy rides.

Australia's nearest neighbour was and is Papua New Guinea. You can almost walk from Papua to Australia at low tide (if you have very long legs).

Second nearest is Tasmania, followed by Indonesia.

Logged in post the same thing and was beaten to it.

The Classic Mode option doesn't make it look like the classic Slashdot. It still looks like the beta anorexic Slashdot.

"Whatever is happening is probably a relatively common, though difficult to detect, phenomenon. Extrapolating from the research, astronomers estimate there are as many as about 10,000 similar high-energy millisecond radio bursts happening across the sky every day."

Seems like a lot.

No, that plant was proven to be very reliable. It survived a severe earthquake and began automatically shutting down before the tsunami hit.

It was designed to withstand tsunamis, just not one as big as actually occurred. When hit by the over design limit tsunami, it suffered damage but did not fail dangerously. No one was killed, and radiation tests show that the only people to be exposed to significant radiation levels were site workers, none of which received a fatal dose.

So, if a nuclear power plant can safely shut down after such natural disasters, it shows that nuclear power is very safe. The engineers who designed that plant should be commended.

Sources:
Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiation_effects_from_Fukushima_Daiichi_nuclear_disaster)

World Nuclear News (http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/rs_fear_and_stress_outweigh_fukushima_radiation_risk_3105131.html)