It's like Lynyrd Skynyrd's Free Bird, there's a really good five and a half minute song in there somewhere.

I saw a TV program some time ago about how depopulated some parts of Eastern Russia are. There was a village that looked like it had 300 people in it; there was just an old couple.

If that's typical the Chinese could simply walk into half the country and it'd be months before anybody even noticed.

Off the top of my head, they'd buy them on the secondary market, and via proxies or other intermediaries.

I'm sure there are other ways.

When Russia sells petroleum to Germany, the transaction is completed in USD, ergo both parties need to have USD on-hand in order to trade.

Why does the seller need them on-hand? He's going to get some as payment.

It is what it is because a bunch of people got talking about problems they were having with their Linux set-ups and decided that the best way to solve their problems was to re-implement a few system components under the umbrella of one project.

It may be the best way to solve their problems. But if I'm suffering from these problems, I haven't noticed yet. So I'll take the status quo over a half-assed solution that's been in existence for a shorter period than some people's uptimes, thanks all the same.

Forcing is probably too strong.

But you'd be surprised how much shit a charismatic person in the wrong place at the wrong time can cause.

If you'd bothered to read the document you failed to link to you'd see it's not standard at all. At least three different units are in use.

And if you'd paid attention in maths class, you'd know that 0.075 and 0.075% are not the same thing.

And yet,50k Tesla owners will tell you that u have no clue of what you are saying.

Since when does having more money than sense make somebody an authority on anything?

You've still got a fairly expensive asset sitting idle.

Then there's the extra labour to move one box at a time - with ladders. You might be eight feet tall, but most people aren't.

Try reading in context. The assertion I replied to was that without shipping containers pallets would be useless. Clearly bollocks, since pallets existed before shipping containers and I've seen pallets being unloaded from vans that were small enough to fit several in a shipping container.

But then rich people would have to clean their own toilets.

Make a phone without rounded corners and it'll be seconds before the lawsuits for personal injury and damaged clothes start rolling in.

Not cutting things when you don't want to cut them is about as functional as it gets.

If your finger hadn't got tired, you might have read the bit that says "... where the actions taken to create the disaster wouldn't be a crime anyway".

Not an expert on Roman law, but I suspect arson was somewhat frowned on then as it is now.

And some corporations.

Oh, hang on, there's legal precedent the other way.

Based on my exposure to his ilk it's about 20 years more than they deserve.