Humodour

Indonesia despises terrorism and is very proactive in rooting it out and works with our government often. That's a handy thing when your nearest neighbour is also the largest Muslim country in the world. Imagine if it were Iran instead or something. Uhg. But I think you'll find most Muslims in countries like Turkey, India, Indonesia, Malaysia - most of the Muslim world - speak out pretty strongly against terrorism. The Arab world not so much, but remember that the Arab world is only a minority when it comes to the Muslim world.

Yes.

Ever seen a 16-year-old get prevented from seeing an R-rated movies? Movie and game reatings are clear examples of censorship. Hence, Jack thompson is an idiot. That is all. Um, while Wrath of Dagon's post clearly displays a lack of understanding of how the freedom of press index works, as far as examples of what he asked for go, I don't think that counts. It's censorship, sure, but not of the press. America scored reasonably high on the freedom of press index, largely because censorship is rare. But it faltered on other issues (such as indirect pressure by outside organisations, e.g. lobbyists or businesses). Anyway, here's an example for WoD: in 2008, America censored the website Wikileaks. That was by court order, and ended after the court-case. Largely transparent but still disturbing.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story...5001561,00.html Sheesh, glad those ****s were caught. There's been quite a lot of these terrorist plots in Australia in the past 10 years, but they've all been caught. That they get caught makes me hopeful. That so many happen makes me worried - what if ASIO misses one eventually? Granted, that seems unlikely. It looks like ASIO catches wind of these plots really quickly and then bides their time building up lots of evidence to convict with. Anyway, if this is the type of **** going on in a relatively small country like Australia, one can only imagine what's happening in America. Oh, for reference: ASIO = Australian Security Intelligence Organisation. AFP = Australian Federal Police.

I disagree. It's largely true, but not universally true. I was reading some poll of about 50,000 people across the world and people all over the world largely want to see every power (regional or global) weaken including: China, America, Russia, Iran (Iran was included as one of the regional powers, and it had the least positive responses of any country). However, there was one power that almost everyone around the world thought positively of and wanted to see become stronger: the European Union. I think it's obvious that a power is only going to be rejected when it conspicuously acts in its own self-interest repeatedly, as Russia, China, Iran, and America all do. The EU on the other-hand tends to be far more multilateral, diplomatic and exert soft power. They're also the largest aid donor in the world. Of course, it helps that people don't see the EU as a threat because its status as a single coherent entity is veiled by the bureaucracy of its individual parts (which is IMHO a good thing, though it could do with some democratic reforms). I wouldn't like to see the EU become a full federalist state, but I don't think it needs to do its job (counterbalance other world powers) anyway. Hmm, this post was neither here nor there.

Um, science didn't create that? It evolved naturally.

The Lady of Pain was my favourite moderator.

I never preorder games. Sorry.

Yes. Even people driving wouldn't die so explosively. Many would just drift, others would slow to a stand-still. The speed-limit around built-up areas (i.e. cities and towns) here is 50 km/h. I just can't see that speed causing so much mayhem. And if you take planes and air traffic out of the equation, there's not much left to cause damage. Nuclear reactors wouldn't blow up if left unattended for 2 minutes.

You just couldn't resist, could you? I wasn't aware I was discussing one of your many trigger? You of all people should be able to recognise the validity of the science behind global warming, even if you don't give a damn about it. Certainly in my country there's very little contentious about global warming and I was pretty sure most of the rest of the world (including even America) had gotten past climate change denial as well. What I said is not original research. I'm pretty much regurgitating Bureau of Meteorology and CSIRO warnings from their own modelling. The lower half of Australia will get more droughts and heatwaves, while the upper half will flood more and suffer more tropical storms and cyclones. Being in the middle of those two zones, my area is probably reasonably blessed in a way since we'll be exposed to both changes but neither as strongly.

Apparently the AUD will be worth $1.10 USD early next year. Up from about $0.60 earlier this year. I'm thinking it might be time for a shopping spree in America, too.

Nice attempt at putting a positive spin on WoD's posts, but you're off the mark. We all started taking issue with him when he went around stating America is superior to Finland. He wasn't merely 'defending' America's dubious practices (though it's true he did plenty of that too). Anyhoo, America is a developed Western liberal democracy. It's not a bad country and if you think that's we are implying it is a bad country, no way.... we're implying it's not the best country.

Heh. You're being an American, alanschu. If an Aussie or a Kiwi says something like that, taking it literally just makes you look like a fool. Classic rookie error with the American exchange students over here. Lots. Why...?

The apparent temperature yesterday at lunch time was -1.5 Celsius, actual temp 5.5 Celsius. Right now it's 6 Celsius. As far as Spring goes, this is ****. Meanwhile, the last winter was the 2nd warmest on record and this summer will be one of the hottest on record with similar insane bushfires to last year. And unfortunately this weather pattern is going to amplify as global warming gets worse. I've never ever been in a snow storm. It'd be fun. Got 3rd party insurance? I think you legally have to have that in Australia to drive.

Finland recently passed a bill enshrining the right to internet access of 1 mbps or faster. In a comment in reply on a news article about it, I read this. It reminds me of Wrath of Dagon, except unfortunately WoD is actually serious.

I also went to a travel agent and he rolled his eyes when I asked questions and went out of his way to do as little work as possible. The girl next to him kept cihming in with helpful ideas and advice for me that kept him having to do things for me. It was gold. I dropped that place quick though and went to another one. They were 10 times more helpful. I'm not sure why that original travel agent hasn't fired that guy yet because he drives customers away.

If the Crow thing is a one-off, I can forgive them, but if they do something stupid like that every episode then I'm going to drop it like a hot potato. C.f. Heroes and Battlestar: Galactica.

I went into the music store today to buy a CD I'd previously downloaded. I went up to the counter to ask one of the staff if they had The Cardigans and their response was: "Did I just hear you right? Did you just say The Cardigans?" Me: *stares blankly and deliberately before answering* "Yes." The guy: "Oh what is this, 1993?" the girls nods and laughs sarcastically. Me: *continuing to stare, beginning to form a large frown* Them: "Uh, anyway, no we don't have that. Would you like us to order it?" Me: "No thanks, I'll go somewhere else." ****. It's not even like The Cardigans is a preppy pop band or anything. They're a reasonably alternative Swedish rock band. And 1993? Their latest album came out 2005 you elitist ****.

What kind of advice is that dude? I'm a gamer. In fact my degree at university is game design. Gaming is my thing. I will be playing games for decades to come. If a game is available and I have the money, it makes sense to buy it, regardless of when I plan to play it. Thanks anyway. Besides, the Australian dollar is extremely high against the USD right now. And while it will probably even hit parity soon, it's high enough right now that I'd rather buy now than risk forgetting to buy them and only remembering again when the USD is worth 2 AUD. As for everyone else, cheers guys, I'll take a look at them all. I'll definitely add Giants to my list. Didn't know it was on there. It will also be good to have digital copies of Fallout.

Gallup has it at 40% or so. Rasmussen always has a Republican lean. Either way, it's no big deal. Reagan and Bush and pretty much every president has dropped before 50% support during there terms and been re-elected. I'd be extremely surprised if Obama didn't serve 2 terms. The problem is that America doesn't have a fiscally conservative party, just a socially conservative party and a socially liberal party.

You're sort of right except you're mainly wrong. No, the chart is correct - it is national debt. Adding up the deficits will get you a roughly similar graph, but there are certain things that would be missing (such as Social Security surplus tax receipts - and to be clear this is debt, not surplus, because you seem to think that it's a good thing heh). For example, the deficit 2008 under Bush was $455 billion, but he actually increased the national debt by $1 trillion after all debt was considered.

No.

Wrath of Dagon, your utterly queer arguments about how it's OK for Republicans to run up deficits but not Democrats (and your further queer attempts to play down Democrat financial prudence) aside, do you actually understand the difference between public deficits and public debt?

Eh, Stargate SG-1 was about as mainstream as you could get.

**** prices for Australians that are not in line with international exchange rates?