Yes it is. It's just as meaningful and valuable as teaching people how to reason, so they may put aside dangerous myths and superstitions.

This is a fallacy often used by the unenlightened religious, based on the axiom that the only morality in the world must have been given to humans by the divine. Unfortunately, before you can assert that morality only comes from God, you're going to need to provide direct and concrete evidence of his existence.

Atheist morality is just as artificial as this whole God thing that many people have been brainwashed into believing without any reasonable evidence.

At least when an atheist does something "nice", you know it's not because he's afraid he's going to hell. It's an actual genuine choice, unhindered by iron age myth.

Which, lacking any other qualification, directly asserts that the crime of worshipping any other god before the jewish god is as bad, or slightly worse (due to order of precedence) than committing murder.

Rape on the other hand isn't even on the list, but on the other hand, copyright infringement isn't on the list either.

Which is a shame because if the bible was copyrighted, the world would be a much better place.

No, actually it's copyright infringement in both cases. They are exactly the same. The only difference is in the number of infringements.

What you're saying is that murdering one person is very different from murdering 5 or 6 people. It's not, it's the same, just different numbers.

The difference here is that you don't need to be found guilty of murder, I can just accuse you of it. Three accusations and you're off to jail.

New Zealand simply needs a national day of action, where three people place copyright infringement claims against every member of parliament who voted for the three strikes laws. Just to see what happens.

In fact it's probably worth putting in three infringement claims against everyone just to see how long it takes to shut NZ's internet down.

Well, this is more like the government filing charges against the owner of the bank for allowing the crime to occur on their premises, simply by not actively preventing the robber from entering the bank and taking the currency, which is the "property" of the government, in a legal tender kind of sense. The government in this analogy, much like the MPAA, didn't directly lose anything, but something happened to something they have copyright over. It's clearly the banks fault...

I don't think we should confuse the notorious Victorian Police with the West Australian Police. Very different organisations.

I can just imagine the press release now.

This... is.... SPATHI!!!!

Welcome to the console era of gaming.

It wasn't that bad. It just wasn't... well it sure didn't compare with WoW... you can't release a fantasy MMO today with 2-3 features that WoW doesn't have to make up for the 50 or 60 that WoW does that you're missing.

The game design was a little clunky and limited feeling compared to WoW, too. A good solid MMO must retain that feeling of freedom that a player gets. In WoW, you can go wandering in any direction that you like. The only "railroading" you get is when you wander into an area where the rabbits can bite your head off. That's when you know you need to go back to your newbie area to level a bit.

I use a 32" display, which is large enough to comfortably display two full A4 pages side by side. My older monitors would never allow me to do that. I'm not sure what the OP is complaining about... for the same price as an old 17" CRT 10 years ago, you can buy a much, much larger 32" LCD and see two full pages quite clearly instead of one.

You don't know where you're going unless you know where you've been, as the old proverb goes. And this is a good case of it... looking at console games that are getting released today, it really seems like 90% of new games have much less depth than these ancient texts.

What does this mean for the future? Should we expect console controllers will go back to just having one button?

Very true! But a truly strong economy is diversified, and the building of the NBN will allow all businesses more opportunities, from small businesses leveraging online systems to entirely new corporations that could grow from business models leveraging the NBN.

This is good news for Australia. It will help free us from the chronic dependency we have on primary industry.

Not all of those taxpayers though - only some of them, There will be many people who won't use this new broadband network, Is it fair that they be forced to pay for it without choice? No. It is not.

Is it fair that people have to pay for the road network in the country if they don't own a car? To pay for hospitals if they currently aren't sick? The answer is clearly yes, because that infrastructure, even if it has little personal value, has tremendous value to the nation. This isn't the USA, we're actually not too worried if someone gets something without paying for it personally. Investment in infrastructure will bring about new business, new wealth, and an overall improvement in the quality of life for the average Australian. I know and understand that my success and health as an individual is related to the success and health of the nation and the people in it. For that reason, I am keenly interested in the success of this project and the opportunities it will provide to all Australians.

Also you presume everyone needs roads..... that's like presuming everyone needs homes made of gold walls. Nice luxury to have but not really necessary. It's really just a waste.

Fixed that for you.

Also you presume everyone needs electricity..... that's like presuming everyone needs homes made of gold walls. Nice luxury to have but not really necessary. It's really just a waste.

Fixed that for you again.

Also you presume everyone needs telephones..... that's like presuming everyone needs homes made of gold walls. Nice luxury to have but not really necessary. It's really just a waste.

Fixed that for you again.

Also you presume everyone needs piped water..... that's like presuming everyone needs homes made of gold walls. Nice luxury to have but not really necessary. It's really just a waste.

Or maybe, just maybe, Australia does have a need for social infrastructure to enable us to take full advantage of the future, to enable entirely new business models that currently are unimaginable thanks to the stranglehold Telstra has had over the digital landscape of this country.

10 years ago, youtube simply wouldn't be possible over 56k modems. The provisioning of high speed internet around the world has enabled this new technology to become a household name. I think Australia should be in a position to reap the benefits of the next generation of technology. In the meantime, please disconnect your power, break up your driveway, and turn off your water mains. After a week with no showers, no power and no access to roads, you might start to understand the value of infrastructure.