Alex says:
"In 1965, James Lovelock predicted that environment will be the biggest challenge in the 21st century. And in general, he was right."

Wow. Isn't that just a TAD bit premature to judge? We are just a mere 8 years into the century and Alex has already decided that the environment will be the biggest challenge for the next 92 years! How can you possibly know that? It couldn't possibly be disease, famine, or war? Come on... I don't personally ascribe to global warming theory, but recognize there are some who do. Please act/speak rationally and tone down the hyperbole.

The implicit causality is dubious. Does the breakfast *cause* those kids to be more active, or are the ones naturally more active more likely to eat breakfast? Perhaps they also tend to wake up earlier... What causes what?

The study only shows a positive correlation between 2 traits. The suggestion of anything further is not borne out by what is reported in the article. Who funded the study, Kellogg's, Post, or Geberal Mills?

Well that looks like trash.

@Andrés-
It's not really a hoax, because it wasn't intended to fool anyone! It is what we in the U.S. call "humor" or our brethren in the U.K. call "humour". In France, the closest translation my be "Jerry Lewis".

@Christophe -
No, I think it's real -- you can steal electricity in such a manner by inductively tapping the lines. Even though there is no visible (hardwired) connection, you are still bleeding energy from the transmission lines. Hence, the power companies do not like it and will prosecute you.

Heck, she does a good job. Of course they are all stereotypes and the subtle lackings in each can be spotted by native speakers. Getting such a range of accents covered in a single take is pretty challenging, though, and she showed her capabilities well. I'm sure if she were cast as a single one in a theatre or film production, she could hone things further.

I've no problem with local government school districts (with taxpayer input) deciding what makes sense for their students and trying things out if there is sufficient demand. Private schools are always free to offer the product that works best and satisfies what the market demands. If there is sufficient demand for single sex schools, do it. If not, don't.

Far more important would be to segregate kids by intellectual ability and "troublemakingness". A large part of the reason U.S. government schools perform so poorly, is that all abilities are generally thrown into the same class so that very dim students are "mainstreamed" in with the brightest. The flawed idea is that the presence of smart kids will rub-off somehow on the dumb ones. In reality, the teacher is forced to slow the whole class down to the rate the lowest common denominator can handle. We are so screwed...

Mooncake is spot on. Studies like this are rife with cross-correlation problems that make assigning causality impossible.

People who smoke are going to be less healthy-living oriented in general. Ergo, it makes sense that they probably (in aggregate) brush & floss less, visit the dentist less, and consume more sugary food & drinks. Those things are all known to correlate with increased tooth loss, so it's probable THEY are the problems and not smoking itself. You could also probably extend the study and find that smokers tend to drink more alcohol as well and vice-versa. So what causes what? I'm not a fan of smoking, but its most zealous opponents only make themselves out to be kooks/biased/idiots when they publish such fundamentally flawed "research". Were there really PhDs involved in this??

Wow, what a pile of added expense, and for what?

Too bad the Chicoms can't make Christians, Fulan Gong, and dissidents disappear as easily.

@Miss-
Well, the article didn't say the offending nursery was in Grawin :-)

I'm going to agree with Mooncake here. I've no problem with locking up dangerous felons for eternity, but filling prisons with dopers only moves them from being semi-productive fryer vat operators to becoming hardened criminals, all whilst being supported on the public dime.

The libertarian in me says that the war on drugs has been largely uncsuccessful because it only restricts supply, which makes the potential profits that much more tantalizing. You're never going to win there.

1. Well if the age of consent is 16, they CAN'T call the cops on him. It's amazing that folks assume that the "law" is the same everywhere. Even in the USA, the age of consent is different in every state.

2. Technically speaking, he isn't a pedophile (UK: paedophile, heh heh) if she's gone through puberty. He's just way creepy.

3. The parents are daft / boffins / tetched in the head, to invite him into their home to mooch off them. That implicitly sanctions the relationship.

4. Let the little tart move out and have him support her. One or the other will soon be sick of the situation and she'll come back, with new found respect for truly caring parents. Yeah, she could get herself knocked up, but that's ALREADY a current risk.

OK, I got curious and looked it up from an Austalian gov't web site:

"Hudson pear was first detected in Australia in the Lightning Ridge area during the late 1960s. It is believed to have spread from a cactus nursery at Grawin. Some reports state that this process was aided by opal miners who deliberately used the plants to protect their diggings from nocturnal prowlers and thieves but these are unable to be verified."

There ya go. Some dopey nurseryman brought them in for people to put in their gardens.

MoonCake-

Unfortunately, the cacti are NOT there as a result of nature, but rather people deliberately putting them there. Australia has a lot of problems with exotic (to them) flora and fauna being brought to the island continent and then running wild on their rather fragile native populations of plants and critters. Rabbits & pigs transplanted from Europe years ago are a big problem for one.

I don't know the specifics of the cacti, but they may have been brought in for the horticultural trade -- that has proven to a big problem for certain invasive plants (like Kudzu & Burning Bush) in the U.S. for example.

Get out the Round Up. Spray 'em all.

Good comments (and arguments), Mr. JD.