Same answer as the people who want me to change electricity suppliers get : a tirade about how, because they are advertising something, then they are by definition lieing thieving bastards who should raise their moral standards by renting out their arseholes down at the docks. Then they get the whistle in the ear.

There's a reason I put my name on the Telephone Preference Service's "Do Not Call" register. Advertiser-liars are meant to Not-Call me. Doh!

These people are mentally ill and therefore are fit for office.

FTFY

A human analogue: [SNIP details] Shoot them up full of Novocaine first and they won't even feel it. I assume no one thinks that's acceptable?

Why would you assume that?

I think that your experimental protocol is no less unacceptable than the one described using cats, dogs, rats, cockroaches, etc as analogues for human beings.

Five FEET high?

What sort of mines have you been in, apart from those poof-ish modern ones. T'Owd Man would cut his coffin levels 8inches wide at the bottom (for your feet) widening to 18inches wide at a height of 30 inches from the floor, then tapering back to about 10 inches at the top, 36inches above the floor.

Real Men (T'Owd Men) cut their own tunnels with the sweat of their brow and feathers and wedges. So they'd make them big enough and no more. And then you wonder why the would so-often exploit, follow or expand natural cave passages. Much to the mild disgust and frank astonishment of cave divers who, surfacing after a thousand-metre dive in muddy water ... would find T'Owd Man had left hobnail boot prints and candle stubs in what should be *his* virgin cave passage.

Well, I was born and raised in Soviet Union, so, on the other side of the barricades.

Same as my wife.

As you may guess, this sequence of events was taught a little bit differently there.

I can't say that I'd noticed any particular lack of knowledge in that area on her behalf, though I won't claim that it's an endless topic of conversation.

Well, now you know ; it was certainly perceived on this side of the curtain as a flat-out race.

Although, the 9/11 stuff does get a mention under False Flag opperations in the List of Conspiracy Theories page.

That would probably be because regardless of the truth of all the tedious regurgitation of shit about the events of 2001-09-11, it is certainly true that people assert that "it" (for various values of "it" w.r.t. 2011-09-11) as having been a "False Flag" operation. So this is a datum that can appear in an encyclopedia.

As a parallel example, there are probably people who assert that JFK was actually shot by an aggrieved Abe Lincoln, who is in reality a Time Lord in a threesome with Captains Jack and John ; discussing the credibility of such beliefs is not a Wikipedia activity, but reporting the existence of such beliefs is.

I know most EULA also have some sort of required Jurisdiction for disputes to be heard in, that usually isn't legal either,

That's pretty normal here - a perfectly normal contract could easily have four plausible countries of jurisdiction, each with different legal systems and at least three different languages. There's the jurisdiction of the seller company ; the jurisdiction of the buyer company ; the jurisdiction in which the sale takes place, and the jurisdiction of any of the lawyers or banks involved. Our default contract states that we'll assert jurisdiction to be held in *our* country, unless otherwise agreed. Which is very rarely a problem. It's less of a problem than agreeing a currency to transact in, typically.

Of course, if you're normally only dealing with your near neighbours, this might feel head-exploding for you. Don't worry, you'll get over it. Or you'll continue dealing with just your nearest neighbours instead of being involved with most of the world.

What universe do you live in? Have you walked into a church lately?

Yes, I walked into a church a couple of years ago. Apart from the tourists looking at the architecture (I was only really interested in the stained glass - I have a friend who makes the stuff) and the others hiding from the rain, there didn't seem to be anything particularly scary. A few pictures and carvings of people being skewered and roasted for being of the wrong religion ; all the usual shit you expect from religion.

So, what do you do with your churches there? Brothels? Discotheques? Housing? Landfill?

There is also a trend towards non U.S.-built UAVs, due to the lag in receiving export approvals for the aircraft and spare parts."

Why is there an expectation that people would buy product from some particular country, particularly if that country has severe restrictions on export? Is this "U.S." place going to get used to being in a free market one day?

Most of the time if we're being perjorative about Americans, we refer to them as "Septics," (from rhyming slang of "septic tanks" for "Yanks".

"Merkins" is still pretty rare and nowhere near as perjorative. The only "place" where I know of "Merkin" being the preferred contemptuous dismissal is in fora discussing Terry Pratchett's works. And there, because it's generally fans talking about other fans, it's rarely hurled with any force, no more scathing than a "Jock", "Paddy", "Boyo", "Geordie", "Makem", ...