Only- Electronics

Long podcast this week… A wealth of good stories. Could you survive on 20 liters of water a day? A UN Climate Conference in Kenya. What does the change in power in Washington mean for energy and the environment? No rain in Australia. A Woody Allen impersonator on the podcast? A virtual fence along the U.S. borders with Canada and Mexico. Electronic voting machines: Can they be trusted? Taking courses in terrorism. And last… An airplane that makes no noise. Can that be true?

Security software doesn’t exactly top most people’s wish lists. You know you need it — how else will you protect Windows against viruses, spyware, trojans and whatever other creepy stuff the Internet throws at you? But there’s no joy attached to using these defensive programs.

Superb podcast this week. Drive an SUV? Live in the London suburb of Richmond? Want to park your car? Better get out your wallet. Then, up in the great white north, a progressive new program in Canada to harness the winds. An interview about the potential economic impacts of climate change. And put down your weapons and drink coffee! Out of your weapons? And lastly a call for help from the listeners.

To all the stickers that encrust the average PC — the ones advertising their processors, graphics cards and potential to inflict repetitive-stress injury — you can add one more. It’s a version of the familiar Windows XP logo that proclaims the computer “Vista Capable.”