Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.

--Voltaire

From days of long ago, from uncharted regions of the universe, comes a legend; Defender of the Universe, a mighty robot, loved by good, feared by evil.

--Voltron

I'm not so sure that physical vs mental makes long hours any better. There are many days I go home with a ringing head and blurry eyes because I've been staring at a screen for hours and in meetings with people who all want a different outcome (thus no solution is acceptable to all).

One of my first jobs was very physical, and although I went home with tired arms and back and sore hands, there was something numbing about that which I found pleasant.

I think the difference between long hours depends on how hard you're working -- whether physical or mental -- vs those who just get by, whose days come easily to them because they are not challenged or do not challenge themselves.

ALL anti-virus products are equivalent to car insurance, it does not stop an accident from happening. Etc.

MSE does work pretty good, resource and use wise. It does not however protect you from user stupidity, which is the greatest attack vector in these situations.

From what I gather the UK system was rather screwed up and in 1832 they had a huge reform, making it more like the US system with first past the post. Not sure how much the Brits cared about what the Americans did at the time, but it seems they already brought the US system back. Not the best choice, then again there weren't that many great choices in Europe at the time...

There are some VxWorks routers around too. Probably some others.

This is the only reason I'm interested in multi-core CPUs. "make" can be run in parallel quite well. Also, it's nice that when a program starts taking up 100% of a core, all of my other programs keep running like nothing happened.

Paranoid idiot.

If you work for Ubisoft I hope they're paying you

If you live in the Croyden electorate, Gamers for Croyden are apparently putting up a candidate to stand against Michael Atkinson for the state election next year - maybe give them some thought!

The empirical evidence from the current regime is that where a game is refused classification, the publisher will almost always make the necessary alterations (toning down certain amounts of gore etc) in order to achieve an MA15+ rating. The current system has thus been reasonably effective -- ensuring that games are made suitable for a 15+ audience, and given that anyone in the 15-18 category is unlikely to be prevented from accessing a title simply by its having a higher rating that is a defensible approach (by which I mean "there is an argument for it" not "it is the correct approach").

True, in most cases the publisher has altered their game to get the MA15+ rating - but not in all cases.

Additionally, games that have been rated higher in other countries have been rated MA15+ in Australia because we have no higher rating. This I don't personally mind, but it suggests our rating system is flawed.

But I find the biggest hypocricy is in its present state, our ratings system for games doesn't even pass the first guiding principle of the Australian Classification Code;

"adults should be able to read, hear and see what they want"

Gamers for Croyden are a new political party just set up and hopefully they'll get a few votes in Michael Atkinson's seat. They may not change his mind, but hopefully they can spread the word

While we're talking about real Australian beer, try some Coopers, the last remaining brewer of the traditional Australian Sparkling Ale style. Some of the new micros have started to get interested in this style too - Bridge Road brewers brew an Australian Ale I believe - but Coopers have consistently brewed this ale for over 100 years.
Another traditional Australian beer worth a shot is Tooheys Old.

And trust me, you won't look 'rediculous' in it