The biggest problem is getting to Mars without the crew dying from cosmic radiation. Or, rather, finding a way to lift and transport a radiation shield. Oh, and landing the radiation shield on Mars too, assuming you want your adventurers to be able to function properly for more than a few months.

Umm... American's infrastructure is not in good shape.

This *does* happen on the London Underground - but only those lines that still have drivers. The Victoria and DLR have been fully automatic for decades, the Northern line has recently been upgraded to a fully automatic system. These lines, to my knowledge, always stop at the correct point on the platform.

I suffer from Ménière's syndrome (tinnitus, hearing loss and balance problems - sometimes *severe* balance problems!). Once again, I find myself hopeful that this might be a miracle cure but I'm really not sure. If this does work, can it be used to improve balance too? Of all the symptoms, not being able to stand up and/or randomly falling over are much worse than the hearing loss (and I speak as someone who loves music!) or even the tinnitus.

Far more people die in car accidents, for example, than terrorism. The level of fear is totally out of sync with the actual risks. I think of it this way - Just about seventy five years ago our grandfathers went to war against the Nazis. Many of them, I imagine were frightened. Sixty million people were killed, so they had good reason to be. But they were fighting for freedom, so they knew it was worth it. We want to give away that hard fought freedom because we are scarred of terrorism - but only 2,300 Americans have been killed from terrorism in fifty years!

And the icing the on the cake? The last ten years aren't even the worst years of terrorism - it was worse in the early 90s.

To give up the freedoms our grandparents fought for under such an enervated threat is cowardly. Our grand parents would be ashamed.

What you should be asking is "How do I get everyone to sign and encrypt their emails as a matter of course?"

You may jest, but in my opinion part of the reason the early Windows versions were popular among users was because the application UI was much more consistent than the alternatives. X apps at the time were a complete hochpotch of different toolkits. Ironically, as time passed the situation has reversed: X apps are now very consistent in their look & feel and Windows apps seem to have gone down the customised toolkit route, leaving the user wondering whether the OK button is bottom right or top left!

Here in the UK, bread already is made centrally using the ghastly Chorleywood Process. As a consequence our bread is almost universally tasteless and unpleasant - even many of the 'artisan' bakeries have no idea how to make decent bread. Its depressing to see how good bread can be when I take trips to see family/work in continental Europe.

My company is currently renewing it's Microsoft Partner status - it looks like we now have to certify on Windows Phone 8 to keep our status. If this is the case - and I've every reason to believe it is - there *will* be lots of apps out there pretty soon because Microsoft shops are used to getting their development tools 'free' with their partner status and will sooner port their app to WinPho 8 than pay 10+ Visual Studio + MSSQL licenses, especially when they live, breath and die Microsoft.

Hell would freeze over before Apple would agree to that.

I don't think Intel is being anti-Linux. They are very linux friendly for the most part. I think they know this chip is a bit of a dud and would rather focus on bringing Valley View up to speed. That chip no longer relies on the PowerVR for video so a full, properly supported, open source Linux stack is possible. I get the impression that this chip is being dumped on the market because they need something out there to compete with ARM and to piggy back the Windows 8 tablet releases while the one to watch is Valley View.

Yes, for the same reason the worst way to handle too much debt is take on even more debt.

I remember reading somewhere (National Geographic?) that they need to use some energy to keep the electronics warm enough to operate. Its probably still *very* cold in there, but the few milliwatts of heat provides just enough to stop the electronics packing up.

I think you've got a bit confused - John Lewis operates as a partnership. That is, all members of staff (except the cleaners!) are partners and have a say in how the company is run.

That is quite different from investors/early adopters funding a fledgling business.

I can't help but think that the current series of Reith Lectures presented by the Professor Neil Ferguson is pertinent here.

The lectures are quite long at about an hour each, and there are only three of the final four available so far, but it is worth the taking the time to listen to what he has to say. If you are short of time, skip to the third episode where he explains that the rule of law has become the rule of lawyers and why this is bad for the economy.