"A quick on-line search show a spindle of fifty 50GB Blu-Ray discs (2.5 TB) retails for about $100."

You're overpaying. I can buy them for less than 50c each.

DVDs are down under 10c apiece if you look around.

Both are good quality items, not nasty unreliable crap.

It was possible back in the early days of valve sets to pick up the IF of a TV set.

Transistorisation (and tighter emission standards) pretty much nobbled that.

In any case the emitted levels and frequencies were so low that it was possible to show that tvs were in use in a neighbourhood, but impossible to pinpoint any particular dwelling unless it was set well away from anything else - which made ose fo them utterly impractical.

TV detector vans never existed - a good hint is that they were _never_ used as evidence in any prosecution - _ever_. (And this is despite detection systems and triangulation being used regularly in cases of illegal radio transmissions, cordless phones and interference cases.)

The BBC (and most other countries with tv licensing) work on the simple basis that everyone has a TV set, so those addresses without a license are liars. The method of detection consists of unlicensed civilians (employed by a debt collection agency) knocking on doors and trying to illegally force entry, as well as tresspassing to peer in windows. - several so called "inspectors" have been sucessfully prosecuted for such activities.

The website in question did not offer episodes - and banned links to downloads of such files.

This was _strictly_ a fan discussion site.

Repeating to emphasise the point: The fansite did _not_ carry episodes or links to downloads of them.

This shutdown is going to bounce horribly in the face of the BBC - and it's studiously avoiding any mention of the issue on its news site. Surprise surprise.

What you're missing with the BT/PlusNet setup is that PlusNet _IS_ BT (BT Yorkshire)

"Mostly interchangable" is an understatement. they use exactly the same underlaying systems - the only difference is the name at the tope of the bill and the number for the call centre.

FWIW: Plusnet was bought up by BT several years ago in order to gain the billing system. A couple of years later BT relaunched plusnet as an "Independent" ISP and go out of the way to avoid any mention that it's part of the BT conglomerate - unlike the effort they go to to to put BT branding on their lineside company (which is supposed to be entirely separated form the rest of the company, but demonstrably is not)

Ask any farmer what the bull does when he's "servicing" the cows.

"Next, script kiddies causing couple fender-benders "

Bumping up congestion would be more constructive in a lot of cases. Taking back the streets for pedestrians, etc, etc.

The historic response to gender imbalances has been polygamy.

It was considered normal in several cultures for a woman to have several husbands and it still occurs in several communities today.

We are so indoctrinated by western religion that monogamy is the One True Way that we lose sight of other ways of doing things.

"Yes, and what better time to propose it. Just out of WWII"

Uh..... it was formally proposed as far back as 1911 - for exactly those reasons - it was realised that if the army ever needed to be mobilised, it would be bogged down.

Eisenhower might have signed the act in the 1950s but he'd been wanting the system since he was on the army expedition of 1919 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T...

"What if you are in the left lane because you know you will be turning left up ahead?"

If you're approaching the turn point, ok.

If you're 3 miles from the turn (which I routinely encounter), then you need to go back to drivers' ed.

"People will for the most part drive what seems like a safe speed for them"

This applies everywhere in the world. Posted speed limits are supposed to be based on the 85th or 95th percentile or have sound safety reasons.

Roadside furniture like pedestrian barriers, armco barriers, no stopping restrictions, etc etc all bolster driver confidence and cause traffic speedups - this can result in misguided attempts to cope with peak traffic congestion in urban areas by putting in changes which "ease traffic flow" turning the area into a dangerous speedway outside of those hours.

"For example, on multilane suburban roads at night, pedestrians in marked and unmarked crosswalks are almost invisible (until it is too late) to many drivers at more than 20 mph, yet these roads are often marked 35 mph and higher (and people often drive at 50 mph or more) for traffic flow purposes."

Urban road design should dictate that such crosswalks be adequately lit.

In any case, where pedestrians and cars mix the absolute maximum speed should be 30mph - above that the chances of pedestrian death increase rapidly from under 5% to 95%+ at 40mph.

Most countries have a simple law of "keep right(left) unless passing."

It's common sense and codified in most USA state driving rulebooks I've read.

In some countries, lane hogging will get you a fine and in others you'll face a dangerous driving charge.

Holding up traffic (slowpoking) can also result in a dangerous driving charge in some countries.

"Actually, studies have shown that raising speed limits can reduce speeds."

Experience does too. I lived in New Zealand when the 50mph speed limit was raised to 60mph. Within weeks the number of drivers travelling at 70-80mph went to nearly zero (partly because drivers who were previously driving at 30-40mph got off the road permanently).

The end result was a substantial drop in crash rates - "speed spread" is far more important than speed limit in a lot of cases and too many slow drivers results in other drives being on the wrong side of the road whilst passing - on 2lane blacktop most multiple vehicle crashes are closely associated with poor passing manouveres,

A speed limit set too low results in drivers ignoring it.

'You don't understand what a speed limit sign means, then. It isn't "this is the safest speed" or "this is the required speed", it is "this is the maximum speed". '

Absolutely correct.

In _most_ jurisdictions worldwide your legal speed limit is defined as the lower of the speed at which you can stop in the distance of visible road ahead (or half that distance if there's no centreline) OR the posted speed limit.

Yes, you can be done for travelling at excessive speed at 30mph on a 60mph road. I've been the passenger of a driver who got pinged for doing it in fog. He consulted a lawyer who told him that the cop was being nice and should have booked him on a dangerous driving charge.

"Three mph for equipment"

Do the math on the change of rolling circumference between new and worn out tyres. It usually works out between 3.25 and 3.65% for cars.

"Speedometers" give a reading based on wheel rotation speed. There's that much variation even if the speedometer is 100% accurate on new tyres.

EU speedometers are allowed to read up to 10% high, but there is _zero_ tolerance for giving a lower indicated than actual speed, so most makers err on the side of caution, allowing for slight variations in tyres fitted over the lifetime of the vehicle.