If you build a car then it's not the case that anyone else can perfectly replicate that car and distribute it globally at effectively zero cost. Therefore your analogy is invalid.

I'd say the astronomical (quantum mechanical?) amount of computing power required is more indicative of a lack of progress or any real theoretical ideas. The rapid progress in theoretical physics of the 20th century happened via theoretical breakthroughs and experimentation not computing.

Hehe you meant 'most' for minorities. Never mind. Should it be the government's job to extract £145/year from everyone with a TV so that it can be given to an extremely unrepresentative group to make programmes of interest to minorities? You obviously think it is, but most people would disagree.

See my answer to AC for more details but the BBC news has repeatedly been shown to be biased. They themselves have acknowledged that to some extent. The quality of other programmes is generally very poor. It would be more accurate to say I want to abolish the license fee rather than shut down the BBC. The alternative is for anyone who wants to try and run a commercial channel. With digital technology it's probably never been more achievable.

Luddite doesn't mean what you think it does. Anyway to cover your points I have ideological objections to a state owned broadcaster. I don't mind a government budget (from general taxation) for news or factual programming being distributed to various broadcasters but the current model is absurd. Would you agree with taxing every computer sold and paying Microsoft the money even if the user only ever used Linux? If you would then you'll support the BBC funding's method but for the rest of us ... If it's really great value (it isn't, it's terrible value - but that's what apologists always claim) then it will have no problem at all funding itself on a commercial basis. Strange how the BBC themselves are vehemently opposed to such a strategy despite what fantastic value they supposedly provide. You yourself are doing it now. Simultaneously claiming something is worth it (in an economic sense) and yet refusing to allow it to function in a normal economic way. Don't you find that suspicious? Can't you sense your own cognitive dissonance? Probably not.

I'm envious. I wish the UK government would shut down the BBC.

If a user requests a new feature or behaviour then capture it in tests, implement, and release. No-one can now overwrite the behaviour without breaking the tests which should force either some internal resolution or feedback to the user: "Bob said this number should be calculated this way, you asked for it this way, you need to agree between yourselves". If developers are overwriting each other's changes then you are really are doing it wrong.

I almost thought this was a troll it's so crazy. Of course there is a huge difference between designing a car and designing software. Manufacturing a car requires the assembly of thousands of physically pieces in a precise three-dimensional structure. The design process needs to analyse all the forces, internal and external, the car has to cope with, the flow of various fluids, electricity, changing conditions of temperature and humidity etc etc etc If a user suddenly wanted an extra window or a periscope or larger rims half-way through the process then it's not going to be possible. With software development changes like this to an application should be easy.

"... a well-trained interrogator could get anyone to confess to anything in short order." No they couldn't. Not at all. Certain vulnerable people with low intelligence can be browbeaten into making false confessions but most /. readers wouldn't falsely confess.

Yes you're correct, it was 24 rows of 32 characters. However when nothing was displayed on a particular line it could be represented by a single NEWLINE character saving 31 precious bytes. The system variables took up another 128 bytes too I think. Numbers in BASIC code were stored as 5 bytes but you could use the inbuilt PI value to express 0 as PI - PI or 1 as PI / PI which only took 3 bytes. 1K Space Invaders and Breakout weren't too bad though!

Nepal has never made a secret of the fact that it doesn't want hordes of Westerners climbing over its mountains. However rather than ban them they've decided to charge them through the nose and use the money to alleviate the environmental damage, provide some employment, and educate some kids. Nepal is relatively corruption-free (compared to India) and most of the $$$ does actually do some good. If you don't like it, don't go to Nepal.

Because they're attention whores - those in showbiz anyway. Like Hayley from Paramore "accidentally" tweeting a topless picture of herself. Yah right.

Yes somewhat surprising ... of course this is a very old joke. In the UK I've heard it as a Scouser (someone from Liverpool) in a suit.

If AVunit has any sense he should leave that alias behind for ever and probably change his ISP(s)/hardware/OS/location.

Strange that his medical problem has given him so little insight. Everyone should have the right to keep their medical history completely confidential between themselves and their doctors. That's what we need to work towards. If an individual wants to publicise their own medical records then that of course is their choice but the rest of us needn't waste any collective intellectual bandwidth on it.