I kind of assumed that once the Myspace guys got the millions from the mark that bought them out, their job was done and could kick back. Seemed like quite a clever business model really. Couldn't remember who the mark was, but google did: http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2011/06/doing-the-math-on-news-corps-disastrous-myspace-years/

No, I didn't, but I did notice the huuuuge gap between Alaska and The USSR.

I was pleased when my boys started at an all boy school. The Headmaster is a man, and about 3/4 of the teachers are men too. Boys are expected to be boys, and a bit of rough and tumble is considered normal. Beware if it looks like bullying though, my oldest boy was given a detention for what was seen as bullying, (I punished him also). But my boys come home occasionaly with a ripped shirt, or covered in dirt, and it's usually because of some game they've been playing. It all seems really healthy to me.

You're looking at this the wrong way around. How rich is the complainant? How rich is the defendant? The value of the property is of secondary interest.

You can ask a Judge to make allowances, and they will too. My sister has never paid a traffic fine, ever. She always chooses to plead not guilty, and has only once had the cop turn up at court. She explained to the judge that she was representing herself, and was ready to go right now. The judge gave her a quick over view of what to expect, and was really helpful. The cop made the mistake of asking for an adjournment, and the whole thing was thrown out.

Yes, just hang in there. My daughter figured out out her Mother was a weirdo when she was about 10, and moved in with me when she was about 14, against the court's decision. Fortunately where I live the court doesn't really involve itself if it people can sort things out themselves. My daughter told the case worker she wanted to live with me, and that seemed to be the end of it. I can't really remember the details now as it was a while ago, but I think threats were made but nothing came of them. I never did get any child support money though.

Yeah, I noticed that too. They've also lumped us in with Australia in the article as having very tall eucalyptus forests, whcih we don't really have. (Apart from the odd commercial forest). Maybe they mean Southern Beech: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nothofagus_fusca They seem to grow to 35 metres.

I suspect it's really because the majority of the public are well fed and sheltered. Sure they're being milked financially by the corporate elite, but the situation isn't quite bad enough to provoke actual violence yet. Maybe if people are going hungry they'll start shooting. I wonder if there are parallels with the revolutions of 1848 here?

Yes, and all the knowledgable, friendly staff must have moved to Jaycar as well. The staff at Dick Smith are friendly enough, but they seem to know nothing.

Most of the CEO's I've worked for either create or attempt to create exactly the same reality distortion field. Their success or failure in this determined their length of service.

It might be a quite common thing, to keep the location of unique botanical specimens secret. My mother is a botanist, and about twenty years ago she rediscovered a thought-to-be-extict native* orchid. She has been sworn to secrecy by our Department of Conservation as to exactly where. * To New Zealand

Stupid article makes stupid claims like "Wilderness is not renewable once roads and power-line corridors fragment it." Which is stupid. Don't trees grow back? All the bush I've seen with power lines through are regenerating nicely. Stupid article.

I'm not sure if Moore's Law applies here, as the Windows License would be about $200 wouldn't it?

You're probably right about revolutions not usually turning out too well, but I can see a day when there will be popular support for some sort of revolt, or anyway, a big enough minority willing to shoot people to advance their goals. From outside the US it does seem like the ordinary person has no one in power to represent them. I wonder how many predicted the US Civil war in 1825?

That sounds more like a Civil War than a Revolution. I would imagine that there would be armed opposition to any attempt at an overthrow of the government. Might even wind up worse that the last one, if it turned into state v state again.