Promoters, meanwhile, were pumping over-the-counter "blind-pool" stock offerings.

FORBES: Fraud per capita

In 2012, over 60 million TD-SCDMA devices were sold, with December alone pumping out over seven million units.

ENGADGET

In places like Syria and southern Iraq that are now being dried out by the Turkish dams, irrigation is primitive - often involving nothing more than water trucks pumping water out of the Euphrates and driving it over to fields that are often less than a kilometer away.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: America's exceptional ally

So while the rest of the world of tech is dealing with the fallout, and possible implications of patent law, over here in the wild party that is Alt, we're fist pumping at all the awesome weekly sci-tech fodder.

ENGADGET: Alt-week 8.25.12: robotic noses, Nodosaurs and Space X launches again

Encouraging cloud formation over the oceans by spraying seawater into the air would be roughly as helpful as pumping the stratosphere full of particles.

ECONOMIST: Geo-engineering