Brilliant - I normally check the links, but this time I *assumed* I'd copied and pasted it correctly,

The Bramble Bank in the central Solent does the same. It's also the location for an annual cricket match. I've hit it numerous time when racing, but never actually seen it.

The argument may be tired because it keeps being dragged out. it's certainly not tired of being incorrect though. I'd like to see a world where it can retire in peace, living out its days in a wicker chair with a rug over it's legs telling the youth "you've never had it so good".

Also known as Muphry's Law.

No, but customers who have bought previous versions will have an expectation that the new one will survive being used (and abused) in the same manner as their old phone.

If I'm used to putting my phone into the same pocket as my wallet (which is rounded with change)*, then it's *somewhat* reasonable to expect to be able to do as before.

* I've never that done because I've never wanted to risk damaging my phone. However I did damage an old resistive touchscreen WinMobile phone in my [non-skinny] jeans pocket because of too much pressure from my leg, so I learnt early on to be careful.

I am so full of envy right now, with a generous side order of awe. Watch that actually brought a tear to my eye.

I drive in the UK too, and that was my feeling not too long ago. Sure, driving a manual is a good skill to know, and one the can deteriorate rapidly (after driving my dad's Disco for a week or two, getting back into my car takes a few miles to get comfortable again), but my point is that the DSG and DCT gearboxes *can* really improve your driving experience. However saying "I'd never have an automatic" is [imo] saying that just because the original tech was inferior, any subsequent devices will remain being inferior. That said, there are still automatic boxes out there nicknamed "suicide boxes" because they were so laggy that the delay could kill you when pulling out in traffic - but [like most things in life] don't tar subsequent generations with the same brush.

The only analogy I can think of at the moment is this - I refuse to use modern calculators because the original electronic calculators were more cumbersome and slower to use than a slide rule - "I'd never have a electronic calculator".

Technology progresses [generally for the better] and I personally feel it's daft to ignore improvements because of previous failures.

I was talking to a friend about this - my current car is a manual, but all of the Dual Clutch automatic transmissions I've driven are amazing (Audi DSG, BMW DCT). There's no comparison to my Dad's automatic Discovery (which takes an age to change gear). Put a set of flappy paddles on the steering wheel and you've got the gear control you're used to with much faster shift times (DSG is apparently 8ms - you've changed gear before the your foot would have touched the clutch). I'm also actively trying to get my mum to get a manual - it's scary when she flails around with gears after pulling out on a roundabout - at some stage she'll get hit by a lorry.

For the people that claim to be driving purists, maybe they should go back to manual chokes and non-synchronous transmissions.

Yes, they were from the 70s. The reason I bought the book was exactly because of Asimov. It's possible that the stories he liked were nothing like his writing (which I love).

I wholeheartedly agree - I picked up a collection of Hugo Award winners, as edited by Isaac Asimov - I found the writing incredibly pretentious and the stories almost seemed to take a back seat. They were a massive disappointment to me.

Mod points, my kingdom for some mod points.

It's not a bad idea - in the UK the grey squirrels introduced from North America have caused havoc with the native red squirrel, it turns out they're quite tasty too - a local restaurant serves shredded squirrel meat. Same (apparently) goes for the signal crayfish that were introduced here.

Now I didn't know that - I suppose that I'm just used to using Republic of Ireland (rather than "Southern Ireland", which really grates at me)

That's rather a sweeping statement. Republic of Ireland anyone?