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World reserves of oil are often claimed to be extensive, but statistical analysis of many oil fields reveals them to be far more mature then is claimed. In addition, OPEC declared reserves appear to have serious flaws due to economic incentives to distort submitted data. After substantiating this, the paper then addresses UK fossil fuel policies, and discusses how these can be modified to take account of the previous observations.

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To discuss discrimination, it is first necessary to define it. We can define discrimination in this sense as “Treatment or consideration based on class or category rather than individual merit; partiality or prejudice: racial discrimination; discrimination against foreigners” (Heritage Dictionary, 2004). As this implies, discrimination requires some form of action to be so, and usually one with a defined outcome. An example of this is the stereotypical landlord who refuses to rent property to black tenants. This is an important discrimination from prejudice, which is defined as “Irrational suspicion or hatred of a particular group, race, or religion” (Heritage Dictionary, 2004). We can therefore see that the two are likely to be related in cause but are very different in practise as it is only discrimination that causes a difference in outcome for a member of the discriminated against group - indeed it is when prejudice manifests itself in an action that it changes to being discrimination.

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I (to my shame) only speak English, and have done so from birth. My language development was quite unusual in terms of most children, with initial language development from around the age of one, recognising a British Rail sign and saying the word “train, train” at around 15 months, reading child level texts (eg Meg and Mog) at 24 months, and frequently read to other children at playgroup. By the age of four, I had acquired the ability to read adult level technical texts about trains, the Arthur Ransome Swallows and Amazons series, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings by the time I started school. This had obvious benefits in terms of ability to reason and my vocabulary, but set me up for a certain level of conflict in normal education.

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The central plank of trials within a jury based system is this: “No free man shall be captured, and or imprisoned, or disseised of his freehold, and or of his liberties, or of his free customs, or be outlawed, or exiled, or in any way destroyed, nor will we proceed against him by force or proceed against him by arms, but by the lawful judgement of his peers, and or by the law of the land” (Spooner, 1852). The implications of this are very weighty indeed.

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The time is now! To love the Hoff!
Regardless of if you’re a townie or goth!
You’ve got to support this cool 80s guy
So you’ll sign up to iTunes and get ready to buy
Oh yeah! *guitar solo*

*singer puts on leather hotpants*

See the way these stretch over my cock?
I’ve looked at the Hoff, I’m hard as a rock!
You’ve looked, you’ve laughed, he’s given you fun
Now the time has come for his No1!

He’s a little bit cheesy, like Top Gun or Wham!
He could beat up Chuck Norris, the ultimate man!
You can buy him on iTunes, but wait for the mail
Or even the Hoff will eventually faaaaail!

So let’s stand together, lighters in air
Look into our hearts, and solemnly swear
We’ll do the right thing, not give in to sloth
We’ll follow this link, and give love to the Hoff!

(link goes to http://www.gethasselhofftonumber1.com/)

Following today’s missile test, I have had conversations with people comparing the current situation with the Cuban Missile Crisis, and even stating that the US will enter Iraq-style open war with the DPRK. There are issues I have with comparing DPRK/ROK to those conflicts, as there are fundamental differences that make an both an accidental or chosen war far less likely on the Korean peninsula. So…

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I had a conversation recently with an American guy who opined that democracy was sure to succeed in the Middle East due to the universal nature and appeal of some concepts. I think that we can demand universal standards of law, but this will necessarily be by international treaty - the world does not share, and may well not choose to share identical values. Where the more simplisitc view tends to fall apart is confusing Pax Romana with a true accord, when in fact even a common cultural volcabulary is not shared in many cases. For that gentleman, and other people who doubt this:

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Both of these screengrabs made me laugh mightily…I have no idea what the ebay bidder was doing with that bid, but I do note they are also dumb/chav like enough to shop at Argos.  The automated ad is just hilarious. Thumbnails below, click for full size.

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This is the statement given by former AT&T technician Mark Klein as the key witness in the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s class-action lawsuit against the telecommunications company, which alleges that AT&T cooperated in an illegal National Security Agency domestic surveillance program. Wired news has posted the PDF of this, but has messed up their links on the site, as well as being in danger of having it ordered down. For this reason, I have mirrored it here, with an HTML transcript as well as the orignal PDF.  More below the fold.

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