A similar system was demonstrated in Switzerland 10 years ago, but was considered as not viable and never implemented since.

http://www.google.com/translate?hl=en&ie=UTF8&sl=auto&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.serpentine.ch%2Fp_realisations%2FPilote_Ouchy.html (sorry original site only in french)

If they offer me the flight, I'll run the full marathon to break the record

Apple software on Windows has always been terrible, thinking it can take control of the whole PC.

A few years ago, most games I bought for my children would refuse to install if the QuickTime version bundled with the game was not also installed. Games refused to run if they detected that the installed version of QuickTime that was not exactly the one that came bundled with them, even if the installed version was more recent. Actually, QuickTime was just needed to play the game's opening sequence....

QuickTime also grabbed all media file associations for itself without asking the user. You had to painstakingly reassociate each media file type with you prefered player after each QuickTime install (including updates).

To me, this was a good summary of Apple's attitude : if you install our product, you would not want to use any other similar product. After this experience, I did not ever bother to install itunes.

While Apple researches which shade of shiny white will improve user experience...

The biggest hazard for the lake Geneva (Leman lake actually) would be from the various large dams in the upper Rhône valley. Should one of them collapse, it would be ad 563 all over again.

Shouldn't these be called Google Googles ?

Switzerland turned Franc into Euro this year and nobody told me ?
Check your facts. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiss_franc

Because Apple keeps moving the goal post. They will market a single feature of their new product that is above average (while most others are average). When other manufacturers will tout a better value for that feature, Apple will change the marketed feature and so on.

Why is it that everytime an article mentions a "cellular phone", /. editor needs to put the i*** word in the headline ?

> If you don't believe any of the evidence on AGW, you're either ignorant or a denier. The evidence is overwhelming.

The evidence is that according to some measurement methodology, mean temperatures are higher now than they were decades before, by fractions of degrees.
The other evidence is that, according to some measurement methodology, the relative proportion of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is higher that it was decades before.

Whether the augmentation of greenhouse gases is due to human activity, whether the augmentation of temperature is corellated to that of greenhouse gases, whether this augmentation of temparature will continue and whether it will have negative consequences is NOT evidence, but the results of statistical analysis, physical and computational models.

So while refusing to accept facts can be called denialism, being skeptical about theorical models and extrapolations should not. Labelling AGW critics as shills paid by big oil companies will not help the cause either - this tactics usually comes from conspiration nuts.

Does it increase disbelief or decrease belief ?

Actually, the speaking Laurel & Hardy movies were dubbed in French with a heavy american accent, which, in my option ruined the whole experience.