Indeed Australia is the smallest continent, but the largest island.

Right - "projections" are never wrong are they. I would like to have had a dollar for every time life had not met my "projections".

Is it just possible that growth has slowed either natuarally or as a reusult of a major econimc downturn - the likes of which many contries have recently experienced?

Hmmm - chance would be a fine thing. There are no Australian WoW servers. From the official WoW FAQ:

Can players select what realm they play on?

Yes. However, you must choose a realm that is located within your geographical region. For example, North American players must select a North American realm, and European players must select European realms. Some exceptions will exist. Australian and New Zealand players, for example, connect to realms on the U.S. West Coast.

Agreed absolutely.

Most states in Australia moved from .08 to .05 about 20 years ago for exactly that reason. No one should be driving a car on public roads with a BAC of .08

For the average male, it takes three standard alcohol units to reach .05 and one further unit each hour to remain at that level.

I genuinely love my car but I have never been able to get better than 9mpg driving in Shanghai. At casual track days I get around 3-4mpg.

Unless you play trombone where there is a difference between C sharp and D flat.

My own definition of "fluent" is at the same level as your native language.

I have lived and worked in China for 18 years. I speak Mandarin, Shanghainese and Henan hua. I am strongest in Mandarin.

I can go days without speaking English. I have presented in Mandarin and even done stand-up in that language. I have written two books on banking law in Chinese.

I would not say that I was fluent in Mandarin though. One day maybe but not yet.

Many Chinese websites also seem to want to jam everything onto the front page. I used to find it disorienting and confusing but I guess my eyes are accustomed to it now.

http://www.taobao.com/

I think your sig says it all. Your sig makes Mossberg's point for him.

High speed internet access will be essential in the future to ensure that we can compete globally.

You make a good point but miss the point. If this was a discussion about electricity, gas (LPG) or water, we would not be arguing that some people had to miss out because of their remoteness or because they lived in a low population density area. We view those services as essential to life.

The point of the Mosberg piece is that in the near future, if not today, high-speed internet access is equivalent to electricity, gas and water. High speed internet access is essential to quality of life and access ought be guaranteed.

Actually OPEC is one the main reasons that gasoline at the retail pump sells for quite different prices from region to region and country to country.

"Under an OPEC agreement, all oil has been traded in US dollars since 1971 (after the dropping of the gold standard) which makes the US dollar the de facto major international trading currency. If other nations have to hoard dollars to buy oil, then they want to use that hoard for other trading too. This fact gives America a huge trading advantage and helps make it the dominant economy in the world."

It also helps explain why gasoline / petrol (not oil) tends to be cheaper in the US.

The /. headline says " New Chinese Rule Requires Real Names Online". The summary and article however says that one individual, a Director of the State Council Information Office, has called for the introduction of a real-name system.

I agree that reading the article is all important, but getting the headline right is also important.

I do. Grammar is incredibly important as it is the conduit by which we exchange our ideas, thoughts and emotions.

If grammatical errors go uncorrected our ability to communicate decreases.

What is always lost and / or forgotten in these discussions is that communism is not a state that is achieved instantly. A nation cannot become "communist" overnight. Marx described a long road of transformation towards a communist state. Marx also said that states had to experience lesser models such as capitalism before they could arrive at the communist model.

The Chinese president has said on a number of occasions that China remains on the road to communism but that it may take a further 35-50 years before the PRC arrives at communism. The name of the party reflects that ambition.