As for the levels in the water, they appear to have gone done quite quickly . Personally, I trust these guys because they give strict facts and no speculation. I have yet to see any reports of Hong Kong vegetables, but I admit I'm too lazy to google. That said, my (again, admittedly) knee-jerk reaction is to point out all the sketchy stuff in the past with China and other food products and ask if it might not be something else.

Things are slowly getting better. It wasn't the best two weeks, but life in Japan goes on as normal. That said, I'm down in Kyoto, which is pretty far from it all.

Personally, I like the zune interface. In my opinion it's better than the "cluttered desktop" UI that apple used and others have been copying. I like the UI in OS X, but thought apple could come up with something more clean for their touch-screen products.

Zune's UI is slick. Well, I have a Zune "HD". I really like navigating through the device. Anecdotal as this may be.

I find most interfaces are only "intuitive" because they're just like every one that's come before, so it's different and people don't like it. Microsoft's been using that to their advantage in the OS market, and get criticized. They do something different on their mobile devices, and get criticized. Developing a good UI is not as easy as it seems...

When the data, methods, and code for analysis being used to make multi-billion dollar legislation world-wide is released publicly, so people can verify and repeat their analysis, I can say at least I will be convinced. That's really all I want. If I can run their simulations and get the same result, if scientists can go out and retrieve similar data with the same methods, then I'm good. I've done enough research work in my life to know that numbers and simulations are often run until a "good" result comes up so they can get published. Bad science, yes, but it happens.

I completely agree, however, that reducing our environmental impact is a great idea, AGW, GW, or whatever else we're talking about. It just makes sense. I'm just skeptical of things politicians say will kill us all. Governments have used fear to control people in the past. I just want to know that 2 + 2 still = 4, and not 5.

Gaming is actually helping fuel a lot of research by driving down prices on things that are normally quite expensive. For example, the robotics lab I work at is filled with Kinects just because, compared to the price of the laser range-finders we use, it's quite cheap considering its precision. Wii-motes as well. Granted, I too am surprised by the new PSP in the hospital. Goes to show that make a highly functional general purpose tool available for cheap, and people will use it in creative ways!

Though I agree with you that it's difficult to put a number on "moderate" when the population differs so much, I would really like to point out that people who don't drink/drink lightly all "hate the idea of a good time".

Can we not get nice European bank transfers as well as keep cheques? I use cheques and online banking about the same amount, and find both useful.

Though Facebook does need to step up on privacy, not posting information, or even not signing up for the service does not make you immune. People are, as always, the real security leak. I haven't signed up for Facebook, but my friends still tag pictures of me with my full name. Whether I like it or not, I'm still "on" Facebook. Now, all of their "friends", who I may not even know, can now know my name and face, which is a good start to the beginning of identity theft.

The only real way to hide from the internet these days is to hole yourself up in your house and never sign up or purchase any service. Eventually, the data hits the 'net.