Posts by Robbocop

Big Blue boffins hatch dirt-cheap solar cells

Progress

This could be a very significant innovation. Where I live in the UK several new housing estates have gone up recently. Not one house has been built with solar panels on the roof and it's so frustrating. They're way too expensive and disruptive to retro fit, particularly for someone who's just moved in. If panels become cheap and available enough I hope they'll be compulsory on new builds in the UK. Proportionally they'd add virtually nothing to the cost of a new home. We've really got to start thinking about this stuff now.

Is it art or is it pr0n? Australia decides it's ALL filth

Balance?

It's the old responsibility issue again. I think (I hope) it's true that most people don't find pictures of naked children sexually interesting. Therefore in themselves they aren't pornographic unless they specifically intend to be. But because a minority of people do get aroused by pictures of children, the knee jerk reaction is to ban all or it, porn, art, scientific, all of it. So that means we have to ban all alcohol because a minority can't control themselves when drunk. All guns because some people use them to kill people (duh!) all drugs, even prescription, because some people use them to get stoned. How about all cars because some people can't drive safely? Marriage because some people can't handle it? Doesn't work, does it? You can't ask the whole population to take responsibility for the actions of a tiny minority.

Pants bombs vs America: The infernal conflict

Who's winning?

What gets me down is that each extra security measure, each delayed flight, and each extra piece of security equipment just means that the plot actually worked. OK, so nobody died and we can be thankful for that. But thousands of frustrated travellers doesn't count as a win in my book. Each time a plot is uncovered, new methods to inflict terror have to be devised, so we have no choice but to react, but I wonder if the war on terror can ever really be won.

On a lighter note, my idea is that we have a list of all the terrorists and suspected terrorists and we make them all travel everywhere together :)