"Fellow Australians... " [http://www.menziesvirtualmuseum.org.au/1930s/1939.html]

Have a look at yourselves in a mirror.

GROW UP.

This whole discussion is an unseemly airing of our collective political "dirty linen".

Oh, sorry, we do that every so often, and make the rest of the world wonder what being "down under" (standing on our heads) does for the collective blood-flow to the brains, and also wonder shy they would bother to visit and get the same malady.

As I said, GROW UP!

Please... ?!?!?!!!!!!

Do you compose music? A pad of five-line stave can be bought cheaply at music shops or some news/magazine vendors, and a pen/pencil. There are some simple notation rules, that are easily looked up. A few notes at a time.... You never know when you'll write the next big hit.

Electrical circuit design takes some understanding, but it can be taken up and put down. It takes a blank sheet of paper, and a pen/pencil. Again, there are some simple notation rules, that are easily looked up. Try a simple one-transistor audio amplifier... Soon, you could be doodling a whole multi-input guitar amplifier with effects, or a super-het receiver.

When ever you feel like it, and have a few spare minutes, call up their call centre using free-call number (that costs the company) and spend a few minutes (or as long as you can spare) complaining about this matter. It racks up a cost to the company. Even better, mention why you call (to cost them more than what they are charging you) in the conversation. Eventually, they will escalate it and someone at a higher level MAY decide to call it 'even' and disconnect you from the plan. This strategy worked for me with a similar company......some years ago...... eventually.

One could think that this announcement of 14nm development is Samsung one-upping their competition.

Another interpretation is that companies need to exercise "continuous disclosure" in order to be taken seriously in the share markets and not fall foul of the market regulators which insist that companies reveal important information as soon as is practicable so that investors and possible investors get a true picture of the company's market worth. In most cases, a good-news story is a great way to have the market clamouring to invest, and so assists the company to raise the capital needed to get its developments to market.

It also does not hurt to rub the nose of the opposition.

The Prime Minister is the Head of Government (not Head of State; that is the Governpr-General of Australia) [but, someone will point out that the Queen of Australia is actually the Head of State and the Governor-General is merely the 'representative'/proxy].

Good point. Culture goes deeply through our life experience.

An American friend of mine regularly travels to China for her work. She is heavily involved in teaching English to her chinese acquaintances. I will ask her about her experiences of humour there.

The article I originally quoted in my submitted story was by a Western-aware Chinese journalist based in China, who reflected on how the Chinese had missed the irony/humour in Gillard's speech.

Good pick-up. My original post of this article drew the attention of readers to Gillard's speech being on the same day as the death of the Indian nurse as a result of 2Day FM's hoax call. The /. editors changed it to the North Korean link. Fair call, but the hoax in London also works. :-)

In my professional life, I have seen the type of 'commercial' deals that NBNCo is doing. Definitely as case of "sign them up then forget them", from my personal observation. And... foreward thinking? 0%

Let the sarcasm begin:
* Ronald Reagan's microphone test ("We begin bombing in five minutes") is a case in point. That could have been read much more benignly, I think, if the Rusians had a more 'Western' sense of humour.
* North Korea's (Kim Jong-un's) recent launch of a satellite into orbit, passing over Japan, Philippines, Indonesia and Australia, could be read differently, too, if we folk from those countries had a better Korean sense of humour. Maybe the Chinese and Russians would have understood the North Koreans better, if the launch had been to the north.