What punishment would the guilty person get? I'll bet you London to brick it wouldn't even get to court.

One law for the power elite, and the rest of us can bugger off.

This is the price we pay for using all of these "services" at no direct cost to ourselves. Something has to pay for all of the infrastructure, developers, support, etc from Twiter / Facebook / Google / etc.

Don't forget to enter "about:robots" in the FireFox address line....

In most Westminster democratic systems - of which the UK parliament is the original, and convention in Australia follows closely, members of parliament are elected on the basis of a political party. The party system is much stronger in those countries that in the US, in many ways:

1) The party organization chooses who will stand for a particular seat as that party's representative in a process known as "preselection". This can be a combination of votes by paid up party members in local branches, with "head office" votes as well. By the way, in those countries, to be a member of a political party, you pay a membership fee and join a branch - and there may be an acceptance process. In the US, you simply say that you are a member of the democratic or republican party - and in some states, mark that preference when you enroll to vote.

2) Because there is no popular election for head of state / executive members, formation of government is done of the basis of which party can command a majority of votes on the floor of parliament. This is generally a no-brainer, but as we have seen in the last few weeks following the Australian federal election, can take a lot of negotiation. The party forming government determines who the Prime minister and other cabinet ministers are, and they can change their mind on who fills these positions at any time. The general population don't elect the Prime Minister directly.

3) Votes in both chambers are along party lines. If an individual member votes against the their party's policy, that is a big deal - known as "crossing the floor". The argument is that since you were elected as a member of the party, based on the party's platform, you support the party's vote.

4) There are some limited number of issues that are seen as having very personal implications - for example, abortion, matters affection religious beliefs, things like that. So the parties allow a "conscience vote" - where there is no binding party position, and each person may cast their vote according to their own beliefs.

That deaf dumb and blind boy... sure plays a mean pinball.

I'm not dead.

Well, he will be soon, he's very ill.

Did any of the drivers, when they found that the car was not responding to them taking their foot from the accelerator, shift the car out of gear? You know, that position on the lever between "D" and "R"? One of the first things I was taught was to slow the car down in an emergency you put your right foot on the break pedal, pressing hard, and with your left foot, push the clutch pedal in all the way - that disconnects the engine from the driving wheels.

Now, I realize that most drivers in the US these days would recognize a clutch pedal or a manual gearbox if it hit them over the head - but in an automatic transmission the same principal applies - shift into neutral (and the "N" doesn't mean "Now we are almost ready to go"....)

I guess no one wants to make the point that poor driver training and lack of ability contributed to the accidents - hey, the ambulance chasing lawyers can't sue anyone over that, and besides, we can't have any restrictions on people driving (like, are they smart enough and capable of controlling a two ton vehicle that can travel at upwards of 80 miles an hour).

I've been out of Australia for nine years. It is almost impossible to believe it is the same country that I grew up in and lived in for 40 years until 2001. During most of that time - well, since the cultural changes that swung through in the early and mid 1970's (strange - that corresponded to a time of left wing federal government), the puritanical fringe were just that - Fred Nile and his "Festival of Blight" fighting a losing battle against sensible approaches in "live and let live" - what people did in private was their own business.

Now, we have the these social conservatives / bible thumpers / puritans taking over. I don't think it's my country any more.

And people wonder why the standard of education provided in the USA is slipping compared to the rest of the world, and the country is rapidly losing its technology lead. How long before the USA is a country of Luddites and ignorant bumpkins?

Time flies likes an arrow - fruit flies like a banana.

"Erlang" is a measure of communications channel occupancy - names after the Danish mathematician and telephony researcher - but it also relates to how old telephones use to sound - when they had actual mechanical bells that would ring when a call was coming in - "erlang-a-lang-a-lang".

"Companies already operate at an advantage compared to individuals"

Welcome to the United States and its approach to labor relations. See also "right to work" (ie, anti-union) laws.