The captain of the Korean ferry that sank faces several criminal charges.

I don't know enough about ferry operations to judge how serious his alleged wrongs were. But it would be unjust to punish him more for these actions than they would punish another captain who did the same things without causing any loss of life.

Disasters happen when several errors and failures combine. Each of the individual errors happens often but usually does not cause a disaster. The error is equally culpable whether it leads to a disaster or not.

If we want crews to change practices and thus reduce the errors that could contribute to future disasters, we should take measures that are effective.

On Russian methods for surveillance of communications.

Advice: people in the advanced countries could reduce global heating substantially and be happier by working less.

In terms of sheer production, we would still have plenty of the things we want if the decrease in production is taken out of the income of the rich.

However, most people can't simply decide to work less. They may be working two or three jobs just to get by, or they may be professionals who won't be hired at all unless they agree to work 60 hours a week. If we want to reduce working hours, we will have to organize politically and take from the rich.

After the Big Spill, it was clear that the US needs stricter regulation of undersea oil drilling. Oil company lobbying blocked the necessary changes in laws.

As a result, we must expect it to happen again.

Kerry's peace negotiations went "poof" all of a sudden when it was revealed that they were a balloon full of hot air all along.