Virgin Media are an appalingly bad company to do business with, they seem to see customers as victims for them to rip off at every opportunity. They lie without conscience or remorse whenever it suits them. Never do business with Virgin Media or at least read the small print VERY carefully and if you think to yourself - well that means they "could" do x but they never would, think again.

we had no issues - that I knew of

Fixed that for you.

Same here, ABP, noscript and flashblock are essential plugins. Ironically slashdot keep offering me ad free as some kind of perk but I don't see the ads anyway, almost makes me feel guilty - almost.

I said "probably" because I don't know, but purely speculatively, US assets might include some or all of the following:

US official reserve assets, Gold, Foreign Currency, Securities, Bond, Corporate Stocks, Physical Assets (Buildings, Land, Motor Vehicles, Storage Facilities), and probably a load of stuff I haven't thought of.

Not that I'd be surprised if US Gov assets in PRC don't total 2.8 billion but . . . probably.

And there's probably at least 2.3b worth of US government assets on PRC soil that could be seized without a judgement. Sounds like PRC quite correctly take the view that US courts have no jurisdiction over what happens in another country and can go screw themselves. Go China! I only wish my government had a similar attitude.

You're right, but I like "(old)" books - there's maybe one book every two or three years on the best seller list that's worth reading the rest is total crap I wouldn't pay a penny for. Especially when most of the really great books are "out-of-copyright". There's a lifetimes worth of top quality reading already on Project Gutenberg without touching anything under copyright.

Just in case you hadn't realised - the bible is full of shit and there's no evidence whatsoever that the jews were ever slaves in Egypt, spent 40 years wandering the Sinai, etc.

This was actually brought in in the UK a while ago. Laptops in checked luggage only. It was pulled again as a lot of business travellers, a big profit centre, simply didn't trust their laptop out of their sight and stopped flying. The downturn in business travel was so marked that the measure was pulled in less than a fortnight (if memory serves).

Not all stereotypes are without foundation: I can confirm from personal experience that Germans tend to be punctual and expect the same of others, Finns tend to be hard drinkers and tough as old boots and, for what it's worth, never go drinking with Icelanders.

You are aware that fuel efficiency for most road cars is actually higher at lower speeds, right?

Wrong, most modern cars have a peak fuel efficiency somewhere between 25 and 40 mph - at lower speeds they are less efficient, right?

The fact it reduced casualties was an unexpected bonus

Was it? So how do you explain the Montana Paradox (http://www.motorists.org/pressreleases/home/montana-no-speed-limit-safety-paradox/)?

I didn't rate him as a great artist but who am I to judge? Regrettably the only emotion I feel when I think of him is pity - he had an abusive childhood and was obviously an unstable adult with some serious mental health issues, very sad.

The man was a menace.

In the UK it's the British National Party (quazi Nazis), membership of this party precludes you from employment in the government, police, etc. Vile as they may be, they are a legitimate political party and legalising discrimination against them is even more vile, as well as the most dangerous precedent imaginable. Unfortunately this policy is actually quite popular in the UK - the sheeple will get what they deserve in the end I guess.

it desperately asks for an answer

So, begs the answer surely?

you can legally sell your body for sex, but it is illegal to advertise

It's the same in almost every country - the problem is, this is basically the way nearly all women relate to men (there's a reason they call marriage a "contract"). At one level or another just about any woman you sleep with will expect some kind of return. Yes you may occasionally find a woman that just wants a quick one night stand but it's rare. They can't help it - it's genetically pre-programmed into women to be gold-digging bitches and trying to legislate against that would be an exercise in futility.