I lost 7 out of 8 -- all normal/real-world names I've had since early access. I was puzzled when the game launched as to why they didn't have a better system for managing character names that would allow multiple characters/players to use the same names; and I remain puzzled as to why they didn't implement one when the server moves/merges were introduced. It's one of those things that would have been trivial to implement before launch, but only becomes harder to add in as things progress.

You have impressively low goals! NASA's currently planning to have a manned mars mission in the mid 2030s (~20 years time). The Russians are talking about launching a manned Mars mission within a decade, though that's *very* optimistic. The Chinese are planning a manned Mars mission for around 240-2050 (~40 years time). There have already been 7 so far just using Soyuz, though they're currently on hold (due to Soyuz capacity & increased number of crew on the ISS) - expected to resume next year. Virgin Galactic are expected to start commercial sub-orbital spaceflights later this year or early next year (pushed back by their problems in September and delays in testing the second SS2) -- at a cost per passenger of just 1% the cost of Soyuz tourism (though the offerings are very different), and likely trebling the total number of space tourists within their first couple of months of operation (probably around 450 passengers in about 3 years assuming they sustain 1 flight every 2 weeks (and they should capabale of sustaining significantly more once they have)). This is the real trick - you don't have to live for ever, you just have to avoid dying for long enough! The term usually used is "actuarial escape velocity" - human life expectancy increases slightly every year due to improvements in healthcare, lifestyle, etc, so even without any radical breakthroughs in gerontology specifically you'll still likely live longer than you expect to. Plus there's the basic statistical point that the longer you live for the higher your life expectancy will be on account of your not dying earlier than expected skewing the stats upwards: for example - in 2010 a 30yo UK male would probably live to be about 80 (based on http://www.gad.gov.uk/Demography%20Data/Life%20Tables/). A newborn would have a life expectancy at birth of about 78 years, whereas an 80yo would have a life expectancy of 88 years. So if you're 30 now, with an LE of 80, and your LE increases at the rate of (say) 1 year every 5 years, then you'll probably actually live to be about 92. Remember that actuarial tables are designed from the perspectives of insurers, hospitals and dead people - the good news is that a lot of people will live significantly longer than they might expect to; the bad news is that this will lead to the collapse of western civilisation as out pension systems will be completely unable to cope

IIRC it was called something unexpected -- I think it was maybe the Imperial dancer's outfit on Drommund Kaas. Not sure whether it was the social vendor or the security key vendor though.

It's presumably an international freephone number in which case it's 00800...

I'll only disagree about the "lots" - IMO, there were a relatively small number of annoying people & their sock puppets making lots and lots of useless threads. There were a small number of very vocal, trolling idiots. There were a large number of more reasonable people thinking "Bioware have made a couple of silly mistakes, but this is all going pretty smoothly for something as big and complex as a major MMO launch, and Stephen Reid probably isn't Hitler" and getting on with their lives.

Sep 11 - just got the email Now... finish work, 2 hour drive home, talk to gf, have dinner, 5 mins on swtor, go to bed...