Bet you are great fun around kids.

So, in regards to the other stuff, Brain and Brawn series? Planet Pirates? Doona?

I thought we were talking sci-fi, I was referring to the sci-fi books in the Pern series, not the fantasy. If you want to discuss fantasy then I have Elizabeth Moon, Kate Forsyth and Katherine Kerr as my preferred authors.

For me? Because when the rest of my diet is reduced to basic carbs, a dietary supplement (hospital grade sustagen) and liquids, then sometimes a diet soft drink is preferred.

Can't speak for the rest of people out there, my opinions are my own.

And if you are wondering why the dietary lockdown, crohns + T2 Diabetes. Basically anything with fiber, acid or undigestible matter (seeds, etc) is off the menu.

Heh, I was raised on Anne McCaffrey. I had dreams of integrating brains with computers, meeting alien species in a non-hostile manner, flying around on bio-engineered dragons and, above all, things generally working out okay for the majority of people.

Well, the single thing limiting how big a skyscraper we can build right now has nothing to do with structural limits and materials.

Elevator traffic. At some point you reach an elevator event horizon where adding a new floor on top means losing one or more floors at the bottom due to needing more elevators to move people to those new floors.

Spock, the captain and the holy Bones.

Then Picard can be the second coming :)

Do you work for Fox News?

Seriously, post his whole sentence not just the excerpt that gives you the most support for your lambaste.

And yes, calling you a fox news employee was ad hominem. But at least I based it off something you actually said/did, rather than invent something.

[citation needed]

You a biter then?

What I mean to say is, play the field, get something from each one (even if it is just some of the cooler stories each have) and don't swallow ;)

Only reason my 15 year old m0n0wall setup was replaced recently was how hard it became to find modern DSL PPPoE modems in retail outlets and the hard drive just stopped spinning. Still, 15 years out of one router (was a VIA integrated CPU + MB with a few gig of ram) is fairly good.

One downside I noticed recently is the silly change that makes the WAN (in my case DSL) password blank out once entered. I really don't see a point in that.

Yeah... considering how many overweight people will be buying them, that haven't seen their junk in years, I don't think they are going to do all that great for this use.

Not to mention you will get motion sick trying to focus on a moving image...

http://www.auspcmarket.com.au/...

My PC is a gaming PC, OS and applications is about 1.1 TB of storage on it.

Also, here, $50 will not get you an SSD. For around $100 I can get a 80GB one, but anything over 100GB quickly rise to hundreds of dollars+.

I got one on Brutal Legend that still advertises a version that 'Includes the full game and a copy of the Original Soundtrack!' but, when you get it, it doesn't come with the 'MASSIVE metal soundtrack from every era of metal music: 1970’s classic metal to 1980’s hair metal to the scarier cousins of 1990’s metal. And of course, Jack Black pays the ultimate homage to metal as Eddie the Roadie, continuing the theme from the work of his band, Tenacious D and his previous films like School of Rock and High Fidelity.' instead, supplying you with the crappy orchestral pieces they used.

They seemed very reluctant to do the refund, and claimed (after I mentioned my consumer rights under Australian law) that the Australian consumer laws don't apply to them.

Following is transcript of the ticket:
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  1 Message by you on Wed, 27th Feb 2013 3:06 am
Extremely misleading advertising. Can you please refund my special 'soundtrack' version of this game and change it to a standard one. I wanted the soundtrack that the description specifically LISTS has over 100 metal tracks.

"Music

The music in Brütal Legend is truly massive. Made up of 108 of the most rocking tracks from 75 different bands representing every sub-genre of metal, it is something to experience in and of itself."

This is what your page's description gives, what I got was 20 tracks by someone I have never heard of.
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2 Message by Support Tech Brad on Tue, 5th Mar 2013 5:04 pm
Hello,

Thank you for contacting Steam Support. We apologize for the long delay in getting a response to you.

Steam Support has recently had a higher volume of tickets and we are working to respond to everyone.

We have found that many users have resolved their issues since submitting their ticket.

Many answers to common problems with this game can be found in the Discussion pages of the forum for this game: http://forums.steampowered.com...

If you are still experiencing issues, we would like to help you resolve them.

Steam support can assist you with issues related to the Steam client. Many issues with installation can be fixed by verifying the files for this game. You can find instructions for verifying the files here: http://support.steampowered.co...

If you are experiencing issues with this game after it has been installed, launched and is running you will need to contact the developer’s support department. They will be able to help you with in game issues, performance problems, and other similar bugs.

You can find the contact information for the third party Support on the store page for the game or through the following link: https://support.steampowered.c...

If we don’t receive a response from you, this ticket will automatically close. We really appreciate your understanding and patience while we continue to work with the increased ticket volume.
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3 Message by you on Tue, 5th Mar 2013 6:47 pm
Right, did you read my question? Can you please do as I requested?

If this cannot be resolved I will be required to contact my local consumer affairs, this is false advertising of the worst order.
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4 Message by Support Tech Brad on Wed, 6th Mar 2013 11:30 am
Hello Byron,

Thank you for contacting Steam Support.

As with most software products, we do not offer refunds or exchanges on games, DLC or in-game items purchased on our website or through the Steam Client.

As a one-time customer service gesture we can issue you store credit for the amount of your purchase into your Steam Wallet. The credit will also remove the title or item from your account.

Please confirm that you would like us to proceed with this credit.
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5 Message by you on Wed, 6th Mar 2013 1:07 pm
That would be appreciated.

A few things to note, however:

I will be re-buying the same game, minus the misleading soundtrack.

You may wish to reconsider doing business in my state, however.

http://www.accc.gov.au/consume...

In the state of Victoria, Australia, it is not lawful to make the statement 'we do not offer refunds', just a heads-up.
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6 Message by Support Tech Brad on Thu, 7th Mar 2013 12:48 pm
Hello Byron,

As requested, the title has been removed from your account and a credit has been applied to your Steam Wallet. The credit can be used for future Steam purchases.

To view your current available Steam Wallet balance:
- Log in to your Steam account.
- The current available balance will be listed in the upper right hand corner next to "[Your username]'s Account".
- In most cases, the new funds will automatically be displayed in your account.
- If this has not happened, please allow two hours for the transaction to fully complete.

Please note in the future that Steam purchases, per the Steam Subscriber Agreement, are not refundable - this store credit was issued as a one-time customer service gesture.

The regulations you are citing do not apply to digital distribution subscriptions, electronic games, or downloadable content.

If you have any further questions, please let us know - we will be happy to assist you.
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I guess they are finding out that those laws CAN apply to digital distribution subscriptions, electronic games and/or downloadable content :)

They do refunds, but only if you push.

What the ACCC is upset about is that they don't, as you say, offer refunds. The laws are quite clear in regards to what must be refunded/replaced. If the product is not of merchantable quality, it must be refunded. If the product breaks within the accepted lifespan, it can be refunded, repaired or replaced (this could cover things like a honorific patch for a game that is force-installed).

And while measuring if the game runs might be one metric, it most certainly shouldn't be the only. For example: new Dungeon Defenders game, when you hit play in steam, it loads its own launcher that then downloads the game. I have 'played' for 6 hours and still never actually gotten into the game.

They already can process refunds, I know that.

The case is in regards to them advertising that there are no refunds allowed, they are most certainly NOT allowed to do that. Note, if the product is not of merchantable quality, they can also be refunded (so no more buying a game that runs terribly or crashes a lot).