"Russian personnel ... were almost certainly on hand when the BUK was used since a BUK apparently requires override to enable it to fire at a commercial aircraft that was presumably broadcasting its IFF, something untrained personnel wouldn't have been likely to know how to do."

What I don't get about your theory is that if the Russian personnel had enough experience to know what they were doing (as you say) then they were deliberately trying to bring a commercial jet down. That seems unlikely given the panic that ensued and that it benefits nobody.

Can't comment about the new model but I'm typing this on an XPS 13 (with Ubuntu 12.04 LTS) purchased in May 2014 and I've never had a problem with it in all that time.

Not saying you're right, not saying you're wrong but can you please cite some references? I did a (quick) Google and didn't find anything untoward.

Yes, it's not a proper invention but he's just a normal boy, taking things apart. From reading some posts here, you'd think he'd lied about having cured cancer and then been humiliatingly debunked.

"And yet, here in the US, we can't even manage to get reliable/functional wifi on amtrak."

At least they have reasonably clean toilets. Having travelled on Indian trains, I was wondering why Google didn't just donate toilets where you can't see the train tracks running beneath your arse. Now that would have wow-ed me.

I've just finished nursing a loved one with glioblastoma. It's frikken awful but it was short (the medium survival rate is about 14 months. My loved one went in 9). I think Parkinson's, Alzheimer's etc are far worse because they go on for years. My loved one didn't realize she was dying at the end as it severely impairs cognition. I hope anybody who has a loved one with brain cancer takes some comfort from this.

Are you sure about this? I read somewhere that Jewish PoWs were treated like every other soldier by the Germans. The simple reason being that Hitler knew that for every Jewish PoW he executed, a German PoW would be executed by the Allies. Churchill makes it very clear he was prepared to do this PoW tit-for-tat in his book, "The Second World War".

"Anyone here on 4, July 1776 was a citizen, by default."

Really? The slaves became citizens?

(America was and always has been based on exploiting cheap labor. I'm not a commie, I just think there is a balance and America doesn't have it.)

"[Iran] did endure an 8-year-long war with what was then Saddam Hussein's Iraq"

That America backed by providing military intelligence and allowing Iraq to fly the Stars and Stripes on its oil tankers (thus making any attempt by Iran to blockade Iraq an act of war against America). At the same time, America blew an Iranian civilian aircraft out of the sky, lied about it not broadcasting on civilian frequencies and awarded medals to all sailors when the ship got back to port. Meanwhile, our erstwhile buddy, Saddam, was using chemical weapons that we failed to condemn as he was fighting a country whose democratic government we had toppled in 1953 and who were "inexplicably" pissed with us. So, yeah, can't trust those Iranians.

"Iran sponsors and funds numerous terror organizations and activities"

And America doesn't?

"Iran ... has stated numerous times ... that their policy is to annihilate a certain other country in the region, and do so by any means possible."

Aside from John McCain "joking" with his notorious "bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran" song, everybody knows the "wipe Israel off the map" quote was a mistranslation that has been covered many times (see here for a reputable source). But don't take my word for it. If you still don't believe it, ask a Farsi speaker. There is not even an idiom in Farsi for "wipe off the map".

And before you call them biased and say that "they would say that", consider the political leanings of my Farsi speaking friends (and countless other Iranians who came to the West). Clue: they all left Iran in 1979.

Agreed. Apart from that one glitch, it's a damn fine laptop. And it runs Ubuntu beautifully.

The companies that discriminate on age are not the ones you want to work for.

There are plenty of companies out there that appreciate the older worker has more experience and is willing to pay for that. Probably not startups but who cares?

Myself, I'm in my early 40s and run my own little consultancy and life is pretty good with no end of decent clients in sight just yet.

If it takes an American 3 months to train, why do the big corporations import hundreds of thousands of H-1Bs?

Is that the same Andrea Rossi who is not a physicist but a convicted fraudster?

Eh? Mahatma Gandhi never "got control of India".

You might be thinking of Indira Gandhi or Rajiv Gandhi, neither of whom were related to the Mahatma.

"This scheme is a great success that is transforming the Brazilian culture"

And American culture too, I predict. As we don't have time for our elderly, I wonder how many more will find new little friends on the internet to whom they can recount their stories and who will keep them company?

This is a good story for everyone.

Another example is in the curious case of Professor Meadows - a great paediatrician but a shite mathematician.

He endorsed the dictum that “one sudden infant death is a tragedy, two is suspicious and three is murder, until proved otherwise“. The trouble is, given enough numbers, multiple cot deaths are an inevitability.

Unfortunately, his expert testimony convicted an innocent woman. Fortunately, she was released on appeal when the math was reviewed.