(I'm actually 'back' in Australia!) Jájá, ég lærði að tala íslensku á meðan ég var tharna, og ég er meira að segja búin að taka íslending með mér heim :D And, no, I'm really not coping not being in Reykjavík - nothing beats living 2 minutes walk from everything. Okay, so the beach is a little further than 2 minutes from downtown, but my husband and I are definitely not okay with normal travel time to work being over an hour (as it is in Sydney). There's no time for 'life', only 'work'. Yes, I am madly jealous of you still being there! My current Devious Plan is to support any incentive at work that will allow me to work remotely, then, like a rat out of an aqueduct, we'll be back in the North Atlantic, dancing on the Pond when it freezes, and scouting out volcanoes again! So, you're in it for the long haul then? (PS, it is really strange that /. doesn't display thorn!)

Well said. My first really portable laptop had an 'external optical drive'. I had the laptop for about 5 years, and I plugged it in about 15 times. Old tech.

Although I must admit, when the wifi goes down, it has been great to just plug a cable in, to get access to the internet again to work out how to fix your wifi!

Yeah, in Iceland (see the kennitala thread above - not me, but I posted there too), you can pay for everything with a credit card. I used to bet my international visitors who panicked about not having kronur that I would pay them double if they could find something in Iceland that they could not pay for by card - hotdog stands, ice-cream stands, little kids coming to your door selling cookies, ... they ALL have the EFTPOS machines! It is very, very convenient.

Agreed. I lived in Iceland for 4 years (got back last year), and I loved the kennitala. Registering for the marathon is a piece of cake, just whack your kennitala in there, and your previous times are all stored there for you. Moving house? Tell the Thjóðskrá (National Register or whatever) your kennitala and your new address, and whammo! All everyone who deals with you (your bank, mobile phone company, etc) knows your new address. I think it's a great idea, although maybe it works best in small countries?

You know, this isn't as lunatic an idea as it appears at first glance. You just need to think of appropriate rewards to keep the game interesting for long enough ;)

7-Zark-7? Actually I think I preferred 1-Rover-1. Man, I LOVED Battle of the Planets so much!!

Interesting. I use my 'usual' username with the same effect - everyone I know knows my username, so it does feel like me.

Erm, how's about - as a society, we need doctors, just like we all benefit from everyone being educated generally. That implies (about as strongly as can be implied) that doctor's shouldn't have to pay anything to be trained. Then, they wouldn't 'have' to earn as much to pay off their student loans. Neither would teachers, accountants, engineers, journalists...

Thanks for this response - it's much more in line with what I would expect from someone who believed in an afterlife, as opposed to someone who didn't. And you're right too, that people who want to 'keep a loved one "alive" at any cost' I don't think can really be empathising with the loved one if their quality of life is unlivable. (From someone who doesn't believe in an afterlife.)

Actually, I think the earth's orbit is elliptical, so that summer (in the southern hemisphere, ie February) really is about three days shorter than winter. The earth is closer to the sun at this time - as a kid I figured that it made sense that it was hotter then!

Wasn't there a William Gibson book with this exact premise?

Okay, Black Friday means bushfires in Australia. What the hell is this talk about shopping???

nice!!! Wow, reading this page has totally made my day, and your post here is awesome - the world DOES have love in it :D

http://xkcd.com/828/

Mm, not 'obviously': Our gas hot water system uses the water (somehow) to light the pilot light when it's needed. It's not perfect, but it works pretty well, and doesn't need electricity...