That is a very long and shakey bow to draw.

It's like saying this rock prevents tigers and there were no tigers there before the rock was moved. Chances are the tigers were coming anyway. It's entirely possible the ban in Nazi memorabilia was a response to growing anti-Semitism. The conditions that created the large up tick in anti-Semitism were likely present before the ban went into effect (things like extreme nationalism).

Basically this is a lesson in correlation does not equal causation. In all likelihood, these two events share a common cause.

She smiled suggestively at him as she gently stirred her drink with the tip of her nail.

Nowhere near effective. When someone buys you a drink, you dont usually follow them to the bar whilst they do it.

This pretty much means nothing has changed.

Singapore Airlines changed their safety video about 3 years ago to say that "all transmitting devices must be in flight mode and stowed for take off and landing". Ever since flight mode became commonplace (think old Nokia's, long before the time of Android and Iphones) it's been this way. It's only recently that the Hoi Polloi got a phone that has the capability to dick around off-line. For the business traveller, it's long since been a case of put it in flight mode and do some work.

Because there's no coverage up that high.

Plus it makes it easier to sell internet services. You simply put a cell on the plane and charge for the connection to the cell (easy enough with a captive portal). Same with voice calls and SMS's.

But for the moment, QANTAS and Virgin AU dont even offer in-flight internet.

It's an Americanism that no Australian would use.

We call them prawns, we also dont barbecue them.

LoL,

Apple products have pretty much become the Camry of their market. Anyone can get a whitegoods Camry.

Android is everything from an i10 to a WRX STI to a Lamborgini. The point is, you have a choice.

US telco's are amongst the most expensive in the western world and the shittiest in terms of service.

I'm with Australia's most expensive telco, I pay $30 a month for prepaid on a BYO device plan (month by month) with 400 MB data included. The cheapest AT US it would cost me AU$45 for half the amount of data and with Telstra, I can use the same $30 to get an additional 1GB of data. Even though every time I have to call Telstra (about twice a year) I'm connected through to Bangalore they at least have been able to sort my problem out (to be fair, their in store service was quite good. It was 2 minutes to get a SIM re-issued after losing my phone).

You lot can keep your free market faeries, I'm happy with our well regulated system here in Oz.

An Italian wife with only three kids is considered frigid.

Stereotype much?

The average age of a gamer is 32 and getting older. This was also published a few years ago before Farmville even existed so it's probably around 35.

BTW, just because there is a market in serving facebook games does not mean the previous market of gamers has disappeared or even diminished. I'd bet its as strong as ever. Sure purely profit oriented entities may leave that market, companies like EA but as a gamer (also a 30-something) that is not a bad thing at all.

As a PC gamer I dont see the difference in quality.

I think a lot of people, even some actual scientists, do not understand the role of skepticism in Science.

A lot of people dont understand the difference between healthy scepticism and outright denial.

Sceptics analyse the evidence behind conclusions and express their concerns. When concerns are valid, the conclusions are re-examined and if need be, changes are made, experiments are re-run with these new factors in mind.

A person in denial looks for evidence to support their point of view. They dont examine the evidence, they only look for skerricks and soundbites that support their ideas, they dont add to the scientific process at all. The problem is that denial loves to hide in and pretend that it's proper scepticism because this gives denial legitimacy. The worse part is, they will attempt to take evidence out of context to support their ideas.

Scepticism is an important part of verification in science, in science you're not meant to believe anything. However denial means believing in your idea regardless of any and all the evidence arrayed against it. Pretty much the antithesis of scientific scepticism.

Put simply (TL;DR)

Scepticism says: the climate change model is incorrect, we need to change the model.
Denial says: the climate change model is incorrect, therefore climate change is wrong LA LA LA LA LA I cant hear you.

FWD econoboxes can be great fun, it's the automatic transmission that's ruined it for everyone. There's nothing quite like bashing around a small high revving light car like the Fiat 500. Small engines and light weight make for a very fun car and you cant replace the feeling of a manual or the nimbleness of light weight with more power.

And the SUV has ruined it for everyone else on the road.

I'd hate to break it to you, but it's the same for public transport. The fare you pay doesn't cover half of the ride you're taking, let alone the empty buses they have to keep running. Not to mention that public transport and taxis use the same infrastructure you're complaining about. So name me one city where public transport is economical without subsidies like sales and income taxes. At least roads in Oz are primarily paid for by petrol taxes and car registration (user pays is a fairer system).

And then there's the time cost. Some people are willing to pay $20 a year for parking near work because taking public transport is longer and more painful than sitting in traffic. Yes, its more comfortable sitting in my 12 yr old Nissan sports car with its suspension on Viagra than trying to pack myself onto an overloaded train, strange that.

I've never been spat on in my own car and there's always plenty of room. Oh and no public transport strikes/outages/failures.

But whilst we're on the subject of freeloaders, the worst transport freeloaders are cyclists who pay zero usage taxes yet use the roads and have their own special lanes/paths built for them.

What's contradictory about it? It's German Intelligence, not German Humour.