um, no. Most of Greece's population don't pay tax not because they don't want to, but because they're out of fucking work. There is nothing to be had! The EU has broken the country, same as it has Spain and Italy, Eire, and almost happened to Iceland but they saw it coming and threw the thieving bastard bankers in jail!

apart from the fact that apart from UKIP's partisan share, Germany has most seats in the European Parliament (96 to Greece's 21 and the UK's 73) hence has the loudest voice when it comes to regional policy (incidentally, the UK might have 73 seats but every bit of primary legislation it has billed before the EP so far has been vetoed)?

Klingon rap?

Or is it the Bass Slammers Remix of Aktuh And Melota?

Pathfinder was a handling test article made of wood. IIRC it was built to similar weight and balance to a fuel-empty, unladen OV (75 tons?) but there's no way it'd fly. For starters, it doesn't have any control surfaces or even a fly-by-wire.

FWIW, there's also a mockup (Independence, FKA Explorer) built using plans and blueprints by another company (not Boeing/Rockwell, who built the operational orbiters) being installed at Space Center Houston. It also weighs about the same as one of the operational vehicles.

For gits and shiggles, Six Flags had an IMAX-type experience which involved a full size fibreglass mockup of the OV, theirs called "America", that ran until 2007(?). This wasn't an official or endorsed replica, though.

3.5 million votes and just one seat.

SNP took 1.5 million votes and gained every seat in Scotland. 56?

The system in the UK is utterly broken.

yes.

I was a full time earner the day after I left school at 16. I didn't start paying tax on income until I turned 18.

I like Opera for how gracefully it handles Unity, which Chrome seems to have a bitch of a time over. Chrome, for its memory leakage, handles HTML5 active content nicely and Flash... actually I don't know, since I've disabled Flash. Opera for me doesn't do HTML5 or Flash very well, but again Flash isn't an issue since I've disabled it in Opera as well.

you don't need a shuttle orbiter for that, you'd get away with a missile. Hell, for that matter, load the thing into a car and drive across the border with it, they wouldn't even hear it coming.

The Rise and Fall of the Space Shuttle, Book Review: Final Countdown: NASA and the End of the Space Shuttle Program by Pat Duggins, American Scientist, 2008, Vol. 96, No. 5, p. 32, estimates the average STS mission cost at $1.5Bn in adjusted USD.

and Kerbin: funny, I was thinking exactly the same thing! The ISS suffers from atmospheric drag even at 250 miles up. KSP cutoff is shy of 70km, re-entry drag doesn't kick in until you hit 30km. I'd install a real atmosphere mod but I don't have 32GB RAM or a 5GHz processor.

the US space program had one OV structural test vehicle and one airframe mockup. The test vehicle was refit for service (and became Challenger), the airframe mockup named Enterprise and sent to a museum. Enterprise never actually went into orbit. She was used for atmospheric glide and landing testing. Judging by the amount of money those two vehicles alone cost in construction (never mind development), which had to be a lot since Challenger's replacement, Endeavour, cost $1.7Bn and was built out of spare parts, it's great to see India's economy doing so well that it can afford to throw test articles into the sea and let them sink.

in a high school?

8, and who the hell is Debbie Downer?

Johnny comes home from school, and says to his mom, "Mommy, I learned the alphabet today! The rest of the class messed up around F, but I made it all the way through!" Johnny's mom says, "Very good, son. That's because you're a violist." Johnny comes home the next day and screams, "Mommy, Mommy, I counted to a hundred today! Everyone else couldn't get past 60, but I made it all the way to 100!" And his mom says, "Excellent. That's because you're a violist." The next day, Johnny comes home and says, "Mommy, the teacher measured everyone's height in class today, and I was taller than everyone. Is that 'cause I'm a violist?" His mom shakes her head and says, "No, honey; that's because you're twenty-six."

were the athletes (actors) paid in this case? I don't think so.

even a MINOR who doesn't even get to VOTE?

"No taxation without representation"? Isn't that one of the grounding principles of American Independence?