That is all very interesting, and no doubt true, but as Top Gear runs on BBC which does not accept advertising, and the other channels in the UK are all commercial channels, he will not be free to slag off the various cars they drive, because the advertisers will get upset. That removes about half the fun of the show, and is one of the major weaknesses of the Top Gear US and Top Gear Australia shows I've seen.

Australia has a couple of big media companies that dominate the media landscape, just as most Western economies do. Those media companies and the two big political parties make use of each, once again just like most western countries. ChunderDownunder has the right idea, but Rupert and the rest won't let the Greens, (or any other disrupters) get any power.

That's a good post, well thought out, and well put too. I think you're missing an important point here though, and that is that we are talking about power and money here, and as soon as the two incumbents see either of those put at risk the rules will change pretty damn quick. The two party system is really a one party system.

"Pounded by the Biker Rainbow Come to Life...first time gay paranormal m/m taboo" by "Max Wood". Has to be the single greatest book title ever. Ever. Shakespeare ought to be ashamed he never thought of it.

I wish I had mod points. This name is both descriptive and true.

Will Microsoft Spartan go down well in the Athenian market though?

I can't believe Nintendo is still going. I thought they went bankrupt years ago. Clueless idiots.

Well, you Americans will insist on having a Government run by family dynasties.

I'm not convinced Jesus of Nazareth existed at all.

I wear a Citizen Quartz watch which cost me about $NZ100 in about 2006. It is a nice watch, it keeps pretty accurate time and shows the day and date. When I bought it there were lots of other watches for sale. I could have spend $20 or $8,000, but around $100 seemed the appropriate price based on my income and the quality on offer. When the time comes for me to replace my watch, I will need to consider whether a connection to my smartphone is something I need, so I will consider whatever smartwatches are available when that time comes. However $100 or so is really the most I would be prepared to spend, so the various Samsung watches I see around ($300 - $400) and now this Apple watch ($350 US which will wind up being NZ$800 or so) are just too expensive. I suspect I am reasonably typical among the watch wearing public too, based on how few of these items seem to sell.

I used to see the sad Mac icon about twice a day on average. Early 90's trying to use Photoshop. We would restart at least twice during the day.

I was wondering about that myself, (not that the Martians surfed) but how high the waves might get. First of all the gravity on Mars is about 38% that of Earth, Secondly, the sea in that totally convincing graphic looks like it goes around the whole planet, like the Southern Ocean on Earth, so would 100 metre waves be possible?

Public Domain's not the issue here, when the American Statistical Society opposes this bill, there must be some serious problem somewhere.

There's no way of doing that. Feynman said "I think I can safely say that nobody understands quantum mechanics". You've probably got no chance. :-)

I'm not sure Iran is quite what you think it is. Sure the current government there is dictated to by a Theocracy, but it is also (after Israel) the most democratic system in the entire middle east. Elections in Iran are a (somewhat limited, it is true), vibrant exchange of ideas, and candidates are elected to the People's House (Parliament) who have quite different views to the Mullahs. Also the people of Iran are not all sword waving Muslim extremists. I give the current political system in Iran a generation, and it'll be swept away by a new generation who won't be dictated to anymore. Source: Regular political arguments with a (Muslim) Persian, (Christian) Iraqi, a (Muslim) Egyptian, and me, an Atheist Westerner.