Yeah, I noticed that too. They've also lumped us in with Australia in the article as having very tall eucalyptus forests, whcih we don't really have. (Apart from the odd commercial forest). Maybe they mean Southern Beech: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nothofagus_fusca They seem to grow to 35 metres.

I suspect it's really because the majority of the public are well fed and sheltered. Sure they're being milked financially by the corporate elite, but the situation isn't quite bad enough to provoke actual violence yet. Maybe if people are going hungry they'll start shooting. I wonder if there are parallels with the revolutions of 1848 here?

Yes, and all the knowledgable, friendly staff must have moved to Jaycar as well. The staff at Dick Smith are friendly enough, but they seem to know nothing.

Most of the CEO's I've worked for either create or attempt to create exactly the same reality distortion field. Their success or failure in this determined their length of service.

It might be a quite common thing, to keep the location of unique botanical specimens secret. My mother is a botanist, and about twenty years ago she rediscovered a thought-to-be-extict native* orchid. She has been sworn to secrecy by our Department of Conservation as to exactly where. * To New Zealand

Stupid article makes stupid claims like "Wilderness is not renewable once roads and power-line corridors fragment it." Which is stupid. Don't trees grow back? All the bush I've seen with power lines through are regenerating nicely. Stupid article.

I'm not sure if Moore's Law applies here, as the Windows License would be about $200 wouldn't it?

You're probably right about revolutions not usually turning out too well, but I can see a day when there will be popular support for some sort of revolt, or anyway, a big enough minority willing to shoot people to advance their goals. From outside the US it does seem like the ordinary person has no one in power to represent them. I wonder how many predicted the US Civil war in 1825?

That sounds more like a Civil War than a Revolution. I would imagine that there would be armed opposition to any attempt at an overthrow of the government. Might even wind up worse that the last one, if it turned into state v state again.

I can't believe I'm seeing a reference to Tuff Darts. I bought a copy of Tuff Darts! for $1 in a second hand record store donkey's years ago and I thought I must be the only person in the world who had heard of them. Awesome.

As someone who lives outside the US and has no dog in this fight (as it were), I'm really hoping she stands for the Republican nomination, purely for the entertainment factor. Every time I see her on TV and hear the latest buffoonery that spills from her mouth, I laugh and laugh and laugh. Still its not my government she potentially could be heading, so I guess I can afford to laugh. Although now I think about it, she will be in charge of a big bunch of nukes, so maybe I ought to worry more. On the other hand she can't see New Zealand from her house so we should be safe.

You're right. The copyright industries do want the police to enforce ip laws. Other industries will take that approach, as they decide they need to. Its just a matter of campaign contributions in the right places, and you can get the right laws written. That is how fascism works.

Any Liberal Judges appointed by Obama, (or any other President) would probably rule along similar lines. The various branches of the US Government are just not there to represent you. They are there to represent the people who pay them. This is mostly large corporations.

Why would I want that? It's not racism when you hate everybody.