Australia is an entire continent, about the same size as your 'lower 48', but it has a smaller population than California. 21 million vs. 36.5 million. We're spread out all over the shop, comically low population density, although there are a couple of quite big cities on the east coast. Just shy of 20% of the country is desert. The Western Desert is bigger than California. Not much work gets done there. Not much work gets done anywhere really. Could be a cultural thing, maybe it's the weather. Don't know and I don't much care.

It's interesting that Californian's have, as you say, some of the highest taxes in the nation. In Australia we have a single federal taxation system which covers income tax and consumption - the Goods and Services Tax (GST) which replaced the old sales tax about ten years ago.

States have a limited power to impose duties such as the stamp duty imposed on the purchaser in the sale of cars, houses, alcohol and tobacco but remain largely dependant on the federal government for funding. Of course each state has its own education system, police and fire departments, etc. More or less everything is duplicated. But the taxes are federal.

Probably of greater interest to the average punter on Slashdot - it's the height of summer here and topless sunbathing is gaining popularity on St Kilda beach. Hot European backpackers are leading the charge. Thank you Europe.

Smarter than a dead lizard. Can't play minesweeper on a lizard. Lizards don't even have batteries.

OSX 10.0 - released March 2001. Unsupported since the release of 10.2 in August 2002.
Windows XP - released October 2001. Can't buy it in the shops anymore but it's still supported.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_XP#Support_lifecycle

On April 8, 2014, all Windows XP support, including security updates and security-related hotfixes will be terminated.

You can't afford to arrive sweaty and take a shower? It costs money to shower? Or perhaps time. You don't have the time to shower. And it would be impossible to leave 5 minutes earlier, arrive 5 minutes earlier and take a shower?

I ride 8 kms (approx 5 miles) each way 5 days a week, rain, hail or shine. There are no showers at the office so I just take it easy on the way to work to avoid getting sweaty. I carry panniers mounted on a rack on the back of the bike instead of a backpack to avoid getting a sweaty back. I ride a lot faster heading home. I have a shower and a change of clothes there.

If only the Slashdot crowd were the ideal crowd for the Slashdot, like in the olden days before the LOLWTFBBQ element took all the fun out of the world.

In our ancestral evolutionary environment being attracted to one another, dinner and a show, consent, etc. may not have been high on the agenda.

Not the individual's genes, the individual gene. In all plants and animals it is reproduction combined with mutation and recombination that is driving evolution.

Social animals posses genetic traits which promote social or herd behaviour. In these animals the trait survives because for these animals in the environment in which the trait emerged it increases the chance of survival and reproduction. The gene promotes itself.

Worker ants are infertile. They share common genetic information with the queen. To protect the nest and the queen increases the chance of propagation of their genes even though they do not reproduce themselves. There's probably a gene for that.

I have no idea about infanticide but I do recall hearing of a study recently which observed that homosexual men frequently have one or more close female relatives who are unusually fecund. I can't find the link and the research may have since been debunked but the idea is interesting as it suggests the possibility of a gene which increases the reproductive fitness of one individual while reducing the reproductive fitness of another.

Of course that assumes that being homosexual reduces your chance of reproduction.

and what was the user interface innovation of 1984? The reinvention of the windowing GUI or reinvention of the mouse? Or perhaps it was the reinvention of using the two together?

Of course these remarkable innovations pale in comparison to the more recent reinvention of the touch screen interface on a mobile device. And next week they'll be reinventing the tablet. Awesome.

What he/she said only I'd have used a lot more swearing. "Could care less" meaning "couldn't care less" is one of the most irritating idioms in the American use of English.

Because like all manufacturers they would be excluded from the Californian market if they fail to offer a vehicle which complies with the Californian "zero emissions" (ie. move the emissions to the power station) requirements. You'll notice the only places the electric Mini is available in North America are New York (no idea why) and California.

Just lucky I guess.

Turns out you don't need to be exposed to see this. I watched it fully clothed.

You are a boy/girl?! Pictures or it's not true.

All my life, I have searched for a car that feels a certain way. Powerful like a gorilla, yet soft and yielding like a Nerf ball. Now, at last, I have found it.

Now we know what that lucky stiff has really been up to.