So if I enjoy my day job then boss shouldn't have to pay me?

Anything can have value if people deem it to. Just look at gold - much less useful than steel or copper for almost every application, but for some reason people pay lots of money for it. By the same token, people pay money for the right to control one of these ships in this video game. You might think that's a silly use of their money, but it's a use of their money so the ships have value. If they're destroyed, that value is lost.

Given the usual accuracy of automated translation systems, this is what you'll get when you ask for directions to nearest 4 star hotel.

Typical short-sightedness. We're going to use up all our gravity, and then we'll float off into space! We've got to shut down this plant fast!

Not so. Pinch media make money from apps which sell advertising space. Apps which are ad funded don't care about (or even benefit from) piracy.

As such, it's in Pinch Media's interests to make piracy seem more common, because app devs will make ad supported apps, which means Pinch get more business.

Just FYI: As an Aussie it might interest you to know that the Green Card lottery is very much optional for us. We have access to the special E-3 Visa. A special visa just for Aussies to work in the USA in jobs that require a degree. Moderate amounts of hoop jumping are still required, but it's nothing like Green Card lotteries.

Hate to tell you this, but that's because many parts of the world charge their users per megabyte they download. Changes the way people approach usage when they're going be charged an extra 25c/Mb (at a minimum) if they go over a certain (minuscule) amount.

Get real. This is slashdot. None of us have those things you mentioned - wives, girlfriends, living rooms.

All of those involve leaving our parents' basements.

No, just till he's dead and can't sue them anymore.

Does this remind anyone else of the armorgel in Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash?

Liquid that hardens on impact, mostly used in body armor, looks like gritty jello... Certainly sounds like the same kinda stuff.

I hope Stephenson's getting a cut. So many things from that book have come to pass that I'm getting worried about an insane Aelut showing up with a nuke...

Why do you hate America?

Once again, you seem to be missing that this is what game balance does. MTG's remarkable balance is why the there is never a single deck at the top. If you want to see what happens when the game isn't balanced, look at this article, when your only options are Necropotence deck, or deck that is tuned specifically to beat Necropotence decks, then it's a less healthy metagame.

The fact that, as you say, 'there are so many cards, effects, and ways of playing' and not one of those is flat out best is a testament to how good Wizards are. Although, I bet they wish they hadn't printed a couple of Faeries (Mistbind Clique, I'm looking at you.)

The vowel sound in 'Wii' is usually written as 'ee' and sometimes 'ea' or just 'e', examples would include 'we', 'wee', 'weed', 'read' and so on.

As jo_ham posted, 'ii' in English is usually associated with an 'eye' pronounciation, which would have made the Wii, sound like it was called the 'why'.

I found Nintendo's attempt to force the 'ee' sound out of 'ii' baffling when I first heard it, but after a couple of minutes it made sense - when Romanising Japanese, double vowels mean a long pronounciation. So for native Japanese speakers, 'Wii' is intuitively phonetic. I'm still hoping they'll go back to calling the console the Revolution, personally.

As for phonetic impairment, not so much, but thanks for your concern.