quote:

---

Originally posted by misty:
(you gotta remember that all 18+ aussies are required to vote by law.)

---

REALLY!

So you are free to choose just not free to be apathetic?

What is the penalty if you don't vote?

quote:

---

Originally posted by digitalprimate:
Iran re: the possibility that they've wised up and realized that the US won't attack them if they have nukes,

---

I don't know if we'd hit them, remember they won't have a missle that can reach the US but the real question is how quickly Israel would hit them. Isreal DOES have nuclear weapons and a first rate Air Force, something Iran doesn't have.

(robw i'll try my hardest)

i think that they find it hard to penalise you if you've never enrolled to vote, so those who are on the electoral rolls and don't vote, in local, state or federal elections pay... AUS$50? something like that.

my dad used to be a returning officer for elections, and at least for the local govt polls he had to send out "please explain" forms to non-voters. he then had to evaluate the excuses people gave, very often bible quotes or passage numbers. so he'd get out the bible and check them out. as long as the passage was valid, he let them through. he took great delight in finding the irrelevant ones.

quote:

---

...remember they won't have a missle that can reach the US

---

True, but they do have missiles that'll reach much of Western Europe.

quote:

---

True, but they do have missiles that'll reach much of Western Europe.

---

Good!



Just Kiddin, Relax everyone

I'm so glad I made it into this thread when I did.

same reaction i had with lasiks.

you first.

I guess I should have ripped into didge for that "oh, you criticise X but what about Y" thang, but for some reason it only annoyed me when DS and JB did it. I must be some kind of partisan hack.

quote:

---

I must be some kind of partisan hack.

---

i thought it was old crank?

and as for the plane, it's a ridiculously extravagant item for the filthy rich and has no practical or remotely benevolent application. the very notion of its existence insults me.

You're not French-Canadian, are you?

The plane isn't necessarily a toy for the ridiculously wealthy. It depends on how it is configured. Certainly the whole damn plane can't be configured for business / first class. The rest of the vehicle will be coach.

Besides that, think of it as raising the bar. Imagine the disparity between first class and coach now as being represented by a quantity X. Now, A380's first class is given more amenities than conventional green car passengers, so better facilities can be given to coach and still maintain that disparity X.

Like those amazing hot towels. Think of the towels.

Some of us have to fly for work so far from better planes being a luxury, they are a vital ingredient in remaining sane.
You will have to pry my Singapore airlines 60-channel entertainment system and wider seats from my dying grasp.

From a passenger standpoint:

Would you feel better:

a) Knowing you're in a plane that has the capacity to carry twice the amount of passengers than the Boeing 747, and therefore making savings for the airline?

or

b) Having more fucking leg room?

quote:

---

Originally posted by misty:
i thing they need much cheaper to run planes (so that i could actually afford to board one.)

---

The A380 is a cheaper to run plane. It has more fuel efficient engines, can carry more passengers (depending on the configuration), and can make longer long haul trips (removing the need for inefficient landings and take-offs for refueling). So fuel efficiency per passenger is greater.

On the business side - if you can load twice as many people onto a plane, you need half as many planes, you need less runway and taxi time and fewer staff to deal with passengers at the airport.

I'd still like my legroom.

I will be flying to London tomorrow for 1 €, plus taxes (40 something total). Then another flight for a bit more (60 total?), and a flight back (bypassing London this time), for 52, and a train from Barcelone, 48. So it competes favourably with a 300 Km train ride.

The reason for this, besides local council subsidies and minimized services, is the new generation of planes with reduced maintenance time, and a drastic personnel reduction, (using middle range aircraft to do several short flights without refueling, for instance) something the A380 will enable to do on transoceanic flights.

One of my cheap carriers, Maersk, does not offer business class. Instead it offers three legspaces (small, medium and large), and no other frills. And legspace is relatively expensive (some 15 € more for medium, and 45 for large).

But at least you can choose without paying business premiums.

José

yay, the show was fine, but what's for? too much money for a monster that will fail to be just like another titanic...it'll end on the bottom of the northern atlantic....I believe (and for first time agree with boeing...for ende us ppl) that we need cheaper and less seats planes, so we could fly everywhere without that awful feeling of being ruined for using a plane instead of car, bus or train...anyway, I would be more scared to use a big big plane than a usual Ryanair machine...but about the A380, if it is bigger lighter and so on, will they let us to take more luggage with????

ein? Maersk hace eso??? no tenia ni idea!!! bueno, y desde donde sales? si es desde zaragoza pues..a ver si puedo ir a despedirte

"Crash - you have one of the most poetically beautiful monikers on the whole board...Don't go chaaaainging..."

Thanks. I wouldn't dream of disappointing my fans or detract from my enemies. It's a shame all of you are so far away. I miss out on all that Australian and US WGB gathering goodness. That and I still haven't perfected my telepresence rig for that "intimate" touch.

"Like those amazing hot towels. Think of the towels."

Exactly. That was what I was thinking.

Don't underestimate the analgesic effect of the hot towel.

It's like hotels that give you REAL towels and bathrobes instead of 5'x 3' sheets of 30 grade sandpaper. It makes you love what is left of civilization.

Now, being vertically-enhanced, I find the fact that the contemplation of putting casinos on those things in favour of an extra half-foot of leg room in front of me, made me want to reach for Browning.

Although the casino SOUNDS first-class, you know for sure it would be crowded with those filthy second-class citizens drunk on expensive margaritas.

Not that there is anything wrong with margaritas.