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Worst I've heard about him that has any evidence whatsoever is "His jewfro was fake, he did it just for TV". Well, lots of people make their TV personas different from their daily life, so I'm perfectly willing to give him a pass on this one. Do actors and actresses deserve scorn for taking an hour or two in the makeup chair before every shoot?

Imma let you finish, but the Hindenburg had the largest volume of all time?

What about the US' ability to attack everyone? How about those pricks disarm and reduce their military to 1/10th the size, stop toppling governments because they don't like them etc?

You're mixing up capability with likelihood. Total risk is the product of the two. The U.S. has had nuclear-capable ICBMs for over 50 years now, but has never used them. So while it has had the capability for a long time, the proven likelihood that it'll use them is very low, even when it's been provoked. The reason people (not just the U.S.) is concerned about North Korea's capability is because its leadership is extremely erratic and unpredictable, so the likelihood it would actually use ICBMs is a lot higher than existing nuclear powers'.

Also, U.S. military spending is huge only if you look at it in raw dollars. That's like looking at the raw dollars a large wealthy household spends on food, and comparing it to what a homeless individual spends. If you insist on looking at it in raw dollars, we could divide U.S. military spending across all 50 states (many of them are larger than most countries) and *poof* - the individual states no longer have the world's largest military spending.

The proper normalized metric is spending (any type, not just military) as a percent of GDP. That eliminates the effect of wealth and population. Basically, what percentage of your citizens' productivity do you direct to your military? By that measure, U.S. military spending is about 3.5% of its GDP. That's only about 1.5x the world average of ~2.3% of GDP. By that measure, the U.S. doesn't even make the top 25 in military spending. And that's not even factoring in Japan, which the U.S. is contractually obligated to defend by the terms of peace treaties signed ending WWII. Include Japan's GDP and U.S. military spending drops to about 2.7% of aggregate GDP. If you cut U.S. military spending to 1/10th what it is now, it would have just about the lowest military spending of any nation on earth.

Incidentally, guess which country spends the most on its military as a percentage of GDP.

Occasionally, your car would die on the freeway for no reason, and you would accept this, restart, and drive on.

I had a 1992 Ford Escort that did this, but we finally did track down the reason: There are two ignition relays, and both of them were flaky, but neither was flaky enough to cause the problem consistently. Replacing one or the other would allow the other flaky relay to kill the engine. Only by replacing both was the problem solved. But for a while there, I had to get good at putting it in neutral at highway speed (in traffic, to boot), and restarting the engine before re-engaging the transmission and putting power back to the wheels. Sometimes I had to re-start more than once before getting back underway, all while rolling and steering.

Occasionally, executing a maneuver such as a left turn would cause your car to shut down and refuse to restart; in which case you would have to reinstall the engine.

I've seen the result of a Chevy that did an impromptu deinstallation of its transmission due to its failure to properly shift. It's not pretty.

Macintosh would make a car that was powered by the sun, was more reliable, five times as fast, and twice as easy to drive, but would only run on five percent of the roads.

So, Tesla.

The oil, water, temperature and alternator warning lights would be replaced by a single 'general car fault' warning light.

The auto industry took this to heart two decades ago, and now all you get is the Check Engine light. It's funny how jokes can be prophetic.

New seats would force everyone to have the same back-end size.

I wish.

GM would require all car buyers to also purchase a deluxe set of Rand McNally road maps (now a GM subsidiary), even though they neither need them nor want them. Attempting to delete this option would immediately cause the car's performance to diminish by 50 per cent or more.

Another case of life imitating sad, ironic, hilarious art. For details, see OnStar.

You'd press the 'Start' button to shut off the engine.

Now, this UI decision actually makes way more sense than anyone wanted to admit back in 1995. That's why this exists. And in case you didn't notice, Windows 8 and its lack of a start button was poorly received.

Welcome to 2016, where the cars are all computers, and the UI studies done by the computer industry have proven the auto industry's old, tired, sad jokes to be more defensive than humorous.

There are a lot of lies spouted during the Overall Abortion Debate. For example, it is a lie to claim that "intrinsic value" exists. It is a lie to claim that an unborn human is not alive. It is a lie to claim that human life matters, in the Grand Scheme of Things. It is a lie to claim that an unborn human is equal to a "baby" or "child" (both of which normally don't have an attached placenta as a vital organ). It is a lie to claim that an unborn human is more than just a mere-animal organism. It is a lie to claim that "human" is always equal to "person" (see all the human life, cuticle cells, getting killed during manicures and pedicures; cuticle cells have the full set of human DNA and modern cloning/stem-cell research shows that any such cell has the potential to act like a zygote --also see "hydatidiform moles" and "brain-dead adults on full life-support" as other examples where "human" does not equal "person"). It is a lie to equate "potential" with "actual" (do you, a potential corpse, want to be buried 6 feet under today?). It is a lie to claim that the finite Earth has endless food-resources for an ever-growing population. It is a lie to claim that fossil fuels will last indefinitely. It is a lie to claim the Earth is not currently overpopulated, when we have such problems as Global Warming, Deforestation, Overfishing, Aquifer Depletion, Farmland Encroachment by Cities, Topsoil Losses, Algae Blooms, and vast amounts of Toxic Waste being dumped into the environment as a side-effect of Mass Production. It is a lie to claim that humanity is immune to a "Malthusian Catastrophe". It is a lie to claim that unborn human animal organisms are "innocent", when they actually act worse than parasites (without actually being parasites). It is even a lie to claim God opposes abortion (see Exodus 20:21, in which causing a miscarriage can be associated with the arbitrary penalty of ZERO). When all the lies are finally extirpated from the Overall Abortion Debate, there will be no valid rationale for illegalizing abortion in this day-and-age.

Start alphabetically, and with a long list of random names (take randomly from US+other census data, or other large pools), and each successive vulernbility gets the next name from the list, no exceptions.

Not only did this work for hurricanes, this is actually how the US Government has decided on operation names for a while: How the US Army choses operation names

You should read the articles you link to. They used to use random names, but they don't anymore, for PR reasons.

"Just Cause", "Desert Shield", "Provide Comfort", "Northern Watch", "Desert Fox", "Desert Freedom", "Desert Storm", "Iraqi Freedom", "Enduring Freedom", ...

Really not that random.

Start alphabetically, and with a long list of random names (take randomly from US+other census data, or other large pools), and each successive vulernbility gets the next name from the list, no exceptions.

Not only did this work for hurricanes, this is actually how the US Government has decided on operation names for a while:
How the US Army choses operation names

If early radio stations made audiences hate Otis Redding through bungling decision-making then black music would have been pushed back

Are you trying to say that Gamasutra made someone hate feminists through bungling decision-making?

If so, who? And didn't they already hate feminists?

If you really care about actual social progress, you should be able to discriminate between good paths toward improving the world, worthy of defending, and catastrophic setbacks like this one.

"Catastrophic setbacks"? What? Where is the catastrophic setback? Are we concerned that the cause of feminism has been set back among misogynists?

I assume you are just picking a the side in a fight that will make you feel like a good person.

Not so much. I pick the side in a fight that's opposite the side that needs to have its ass kicked. Here:

http://www.dailydot.com/societ...

So trust me.

No. You are what's known as a "concern troll". http://www.wisegeek.com/what-i...

As far as I could discern, in the 11 days listed here all they did was install the charging ports at a place which already had suitable electrical infrastructure (at a hotel parking lot). It wasn't a full service station in the middle of nowhere. Also, look at service capacity. It takes ~30 minutes to "refuel" a Tesla Model S with 150 miles of extra range. A gas station, meanwhile, will easily do 400+ miles in less than 5 minutes, so it has about 16x higher overall throughput - for a single gas pump you'd need to install about 16 charging stations. Now of course gas stations don't always have fully occupied pumps and that's the point, so that almost whenever you arrive, there's a free pump available. Replace all the cars on the long-distance highway with EVs and you'll need a service station about an order of magnitude larger in size (i.e. your typical 12-pump gas station becomes a parking lot with over 100 chargers). Hydrocarbon fuels have their advantages and high energy density is one of them. The problem isn't the fuel itself, it's the source. If we made hydrocarbon fuels (e.g. dimethyl ether) from electricity in a carbon-neutral way, you could view them as a very dense chemical battery with pretty much infinite cycles, no charge loss, insanely quick recharge times and all support infrastructure already in place.

I don't get any enjoyment out of seeing "the ones who don't" spreading misinformation because of it.

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-i...

Since the overall purpose of satire is generally to point out the faults in people, satirists often rely on exaggeration to make a point. For example, a politician who favors heavy taxation might be depicted as a pig stealing people’s food from their plates. This sort of exaggeration shows the fault in question and puts a critical spin on it. People often remember and enjoy the satire because it’s funny and entertaining, but if it’s handled correctly, the message should ideally stick with them much longer than the initial entertainment element.

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-i...

That is dumb. See also: http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/substantive_adjective
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-substantive-adjective.htm

Better yet Instead of corn, grow something actually nutritious to feed to people.

Despite the fact that it is a basic element of much of the world's diet, many people are unaware of the nutritional value of corn. Lovers of this grain will be happy to learn that it is a good source of some important nutrients, including several B vitamins, fiber, phosphorus, manganese, and vitamin C. It is also free of unhealthy saturated or trans fats. It is important to note that it is somewhat high in calories, and thus should be consumed in moderation.

One cup (approximately 130 grams) of corn kernels provides more than 18 percent of the recommended daily intake of fiber as determined by the United States Food and Drug Administration. When eaten regularly and in adequate quantities, fiber can provide a wide range of health benefits, including reducing the risk of heart disease, assisting digestion, and providing a feeling of fullness that may discourage overeating.

What Is the Nutritional Value of Corn?

It's about calorie density, and calories per dollar.

Crappy food is cheaper per calorie, is denser per calorie, is quick and easy, and you can eat more of it because it doesn't fill you up.

See this and this.

Wrong, that's the very reason some people are in court in the first place.
It's called a conspiracy charge.

True, they don't have a monopoly on streaming but they come pretty damn close.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6JshvblIcM take a look at starting at 7:25. They stream an hour of video for every person on the planet in their own words. 25% of all downstream traffic in Europe.

Look up restraint of trade..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_antitrust_law#Restrictive_practices

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-does-restraint-of-trade-mean.htm#didyouknowout

Microsoft has been picking on this one particular area of Google as well and has been critical of the FTC agreement earlier this year. Could they be picking a fight? Yes but Google playing hide and go seek with their APIs, as Microsoft is alleging, is an example of anti-competitive practice. A lot of this is obvious posturing but they wouldn't be doing it if they didn't feel that what Google was doing was in violation of the law. Microsoft is playing an interesting game with this, obviously but so is Google.

"There's just no federal laws they can really go after these fuckers for violating."

RICO

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-rico-law.htm#did-you-know

What's unsafe is drivers of fully-loaded semi-trailers who disobey the Basic Speed Law by driving the posted speed limit in inclement conditions.

Remember, the posted speed limit assumes ideal conditions, not the one you're describing. It's unsafe to drive the posted speed limit on ice or in heavy fog, and you can be cited for it.

Electronics manufacturers routinely use milli inch = 1/1000 of inch. I think kilo pound is also common to avoid inconsistent definitions of ton.

Not to be confused with the circular mil (cmil) which is actually a unit of area, and is typically used to indicate the cross-sectional area of conductors in a cable.

Essentially it's the area of a circle whose diameter equals one thousandth of an inch.

And now, back to your regularly scheduled broadcast... :o)

Japan ~ 'Early in the occupation MacArthur saw the need to drastically change the Meiji Constitution. In his autobiography, MacArthur argued:

"We could not simply encourage the growth of democracy. We had to make sure that it grew. Under the old constitution, government flowed downward from the emperor, who held the supreme authority, to those to whom he had delegated power. It was a dictatorship to begin with, a hereditary one, and the people existed to serve it." http://www.crf-usa.org/election-central/bringing-democracy-to-japan.html

As for Germany ~ 'but most people date the end of the Weimar Republic to 1933, when Adolf Hitler took control and the constitution became effectively meaningless under his Third Reich.' http://www.wisegeek.com/what-was-the-weimar-republic.htm

And I did forget to mention Canada, the fought England for the independence when exactly? Australia?

From "What Is the Difference between a Cigar and a Cigarette?"
[bold emphasis added]

While many may not understand the difference between a cigar and a cigarette, there are a number of them and they are substantial. While size is the first thing many people think of, that is only part of the explanation. No matter what your personal view is of cigars and cigarettes, it is important to remember the health consequences of smoking can be very severe with both products.

Officially, a cigar is defined as a tobacco product that is wrapped in a leaf tobacco or other product containing tobacco. A cigarette is a product that that is wrapped in paper, or at least a material that does not contain any tobacco in the wrapping. While this may seem like a small difference, it does indicate that size is not nearly as important as substance when it comes to the difference between the two.

While the wrapping may not make a great difference in the amount of tobacco in a cigar, most do have a substantial amount of tobacco. That is a big difference between a cigar and a cigarette. Many cigars have as much tobacco, or nearly as much, as an entire pack of cigarettes. Thus, the addictive properties and negative health effects are amplified with cigars in most cases.

Another difference is the way the two products are made. The tobacco in cigars is aged for approximately a year and then fermented through a process that takes another several months. This helps give the cigar a unique smell and flavor, especially when compared to cigarettes.

Also, most cigars do not have filters, another difference between a cigar and a cigarette. This makes cigars especially dangerous, simply because there are fewer safeguards filtering some of the harmful chemicals from entering the body. While filters by no means make smoking safe, they do help somewhat.

Some smaller cigars, referred to as cigarillos, do have filters. These smaller cigars are not as common as the larger models. Therefore, the vast majority of cigars smoked come without any form of filter.

As with cigarettes, the dangers of secondhand smoke with a cigar are just as prevalent. While many may find the smoke a little more pleasing to the senses than cigarette smoke, it can be just as dangerous. Dangers of second-hand smoke include spurring an asthma attack and even lung cancer, with long-term exposure.

Personally I think they are "ridiculous laws" that stop someone from trying to off themselves on their own time. I think if you are single you should be allowed to not wear a seatbelt, for example. But laws against poisoning other people's air are good laws in my book.

Given that speed limit signs are fairly standardized and well-defined, having the system recognize them and act appropriately shouldn't be an insurmountable problem.

Except that the posted speed limit only applies in ideal conditions. You can be driving below the posted speed limit yet still be ticketed for driving at an unsafe speed.

So the self-driving vehicle would, at all times, need to choose a reasonable and prudent speed that is equal to or less than the posted speed limit.

And I wonder how often the human behind the wheel will get impatient with the computer for driving so slowly and take the wheel, or how often a following motorist will get impatient and honk or whip around, or how often rear end collisions will occur as a result of following motorists driving too fast for conditions.

That might actually be a fairly significant issue.

People tend to be better at waiting when they're actively doing something (hence all the walking in the airport), I'm guessing a lot of the tendency to speed is due to the fact that drivers generally aren't doing much, and if the computer is in charge they'll be doing even less. Will people just lay back and accept the computer driver, or will they get missed off at doing the limit and just sitting there, so they'll take over so they can go faster.

Given that speed limit signs are fairly standardized and well-defined, having the system recognize them and act appropriately shouldn't be an insurmountable problem.

Except that the posted speed limit only applies in ideal conditions. You can be driving below the posted speed limit yet still be ticketed for driving at an unsafe speed.

So the self-driving vehicle would, at all times, need to choose a reasonable and prudent speed that is equal to or less than the posted speed limit.

And I wonder how often the human behind the wheel will get impatient with the computer for driving so slowly and take the wheel, or how often a following motorist will get impatient and honk or whip around, or how often rear end collisions will occur as a result of following motorists driving too fast for conditions.

I use CDMA you insensitive clod!!!

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-theft-by-deception.htm

Fraud, theft by deception, con, whatever term one chooses to apply, the end result is the same. I'm promised something, which I don't ever get, in exchange for my payment or investment. And, it's theft, just as surely as a burglar commits theft when he removes property from my home.

This parsing of words, in an attempt to hide the fact that theft is indeed theft, only benefits those dishonest individuals who are committing the thefts. White collar thieves want to be distanced from common thieves, so they have created an entire vocabulary for thievery. Some words are applied to common criminals who are to stupid to steal millions. Other words apply to the smarter criminals who have the means to steal millions, or even billions.

To be fair?

Don't Panic!

This is a "design patent," not a "utility patent." "The difference between a design patent and a utility patent is that a design patent protects the ornamental design, configuration, improved decorative appearance, or shape of an invention, [while] a utility patent protects any new invention or functional improvements on existing inventions."

People get design patents so that they may have legal recourse when someone substantially copies the appearance of their product. Apple got a design patent on its particular ornamental design of wedge-shaped laptops, to keep people from making knockoffs off them, not "a broad patent on wedge-shaped laptops."

Unsolicited, unprofessional advice: Roll over. Go back to sleep.

Completely and 100% wrong. The US is the #1 manufacturing economy in the world, and it is focused in exactly the right areas, high value technologically intensive products.

http://business.time.com/2011/03/10/can-china-compete-with-american-manufacturing/

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-the-top-manufacturing-countries.htm

Furthermore it is actually improving while China and Europe are in decline.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/joelkotkin/2012/05/24/seattle-is-leading-an-american-manufacturing-revival/

I think you underestimate the incredible complexity of the language

No, I know mostly that; a Vietnamese friend tried to explain tonality once -- and as a Westerner, I just can't pick up on the subtleties.

That there are 12 ways pronounce the same things, and those vastly change the meaning baffles me, and isn't something I'm capable of hearing.

You only need 4 tones to be unambiguous in Mandarin (5 would be better).

Since English doesn't use this, most of us can't even identify it when we hear it.

English does use it a bit, but it changes connotation, not the underlying meaning. There's an old story about an electoral candidate on his soapbox who says "I have just received this letter from my opponent. It reads, 'You were right. I was wrong. I should resign." A Jewish man in the crowd says "Your opponent is Jewish yes? Then let me read the letter. 'You were right? I was wrong?? I should resign!"

I think you underestimate the incredible complexity of the language

No, I know mostly that; a Vietnamese friend tried to explain tonality once -- and as a Westerner, I just can't pick up on the subtleties.

That there are 12 ways pronounce the same things, and those vastly change the meaning baffles me, and isn't something I'm capable of hearing. My wife took a class in college which talked about it ... and when the instructor was describing the difference between "ga, ga, ga and ga", most of the people in the class could only hear a single "ga" , not four distinct ones. Since English doesn't use this, most of us can't even identify it when we hear it.

And I know that's barely scratching the surface. There's more than just tonality.

But I'm not the one planning to parachute into China without speaking the language and hoping I can get a job. Unless they speak English already, that's going to be a huge liability.

The more I've listened to non-native speakers of English, the more forgiving I am about how you use it -- because trying to explain why some of these things are as they are can prove to be kind of pointless (unless you're actually a linguist). Because sometimes it's because the word is English, French, German, Latin ... and other times it's largely "because we say so".

Increasingly, a lot of grammatical mistakes people who didn't grow up speaking English ... well, those make perfect sense if English actually had consistent rules. But since it doesn't, it can be very hard to explain.

It would take years to learn Chinese ... but if you want to work there, you need to find English speakers, or learn Chinese.

Many MANY companies are a Delaware corporation, even if they do no business at all in Delaware: http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-delaware-corporation.htm

The original poster is right: http://www.sco.com/worldwide/us.html

HTH.

Jaws sometimes go through the frame.

Maaaaybe one of the reasons is that we don't spend half our GDP on military.

Half of GDP on the military? Are you replying to a North Korean?
 
This article is about the USA's budgetary woes, and the US doesn't even spend 5%, never mind 50%.

Adrenaline is released during races and key workouts in competitive athletes.

Adrenaline is a hormone produced by the adrenal gland in the body of many animals. When it is produced in the body it stimulates the heart-rate, contracts blood vessels, dilates air passages, and has a number of more minor effects. Adrenaline is naturally produced in high-stress or physically exhilarating situations.

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-adrenaline.htm

Can we stop the "third world and catholics are teh rabbitz" meme? And use instead "Poor people all over the world don't give a fuck/don't know about birth control" It's worst in the first world where you get paid to keep on the breeding thanks to welfare.

In third world countries theres no way the government would say "oh poor thing, now you have 5 babies, here get some food stamps" They most likely say "Tough luck, I really hope you take good care of that children or else we'll take them from you and give it to adoption to someone that cares" if you're really poor and already have other children they offer you the adoption route, in that case the government support the mother across all the 9 months and the baby is usually given to fortunate parents on an ever growing list of kind people that can't or don't want to have children and opt to adopt one.

Most young people here don't want children in their lives, the sexual education is good even on public schools, you can go to any state sponsored sex health clinic and get birth control methods for free, being in a mostly catholic country this is the faces I see when to pope or other retarded dumbass asks to not use condoms or birth control. It's all in the education, because theres poor people all over the world including developed nations, people that probably want to have birth control but either don't know how, don't give a fuck (pun intended) or can't afford it.

Thanks for correcting me. According to this I am just a lay person, I forget how badly my brain has aged.

The original poster's sentence isn't a dichotomy. There's no implicit statement that working in any of the jobs listed are the only options; the poster is simply expressing a personal opinion via a comparison.

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-dichotomy.htm

I do believe the US produces a least a couple of items since it is still the #1 manufacture in the world. http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-the-top-manufacturing-countries.htm A factories in Asia are little more than sweat shops that treat their employees like indentured servants. The US and others outsourced to these countires because of the lower labor costs but that one advantage is starting to disappear. China is fighting high and steadily growing inflation and manipulating their currency to try and perserve the low labor cost model is not working. China actually posted a trade defecit in the first Qtr of 2011 and they are now they have to compete with other countries in Asia who have finally gotten their act together and can also provide cheap labor. And I woudn't get to excited about the US collpasing because if it does it will take a large part of the world with it.

You do realize that the U.S. is the largest producer in the world, even ahead of China?

But yeah, are totally spot on with consumption being a red herring. The more production there is, the more sales there are, regardless if any consumers are actually purchasing anything. Anything that's not actually consumed can be written down and then rolled into a psudo-security and sold a profit. Turns out, you don't actually have to produce anything in order to profit; just have to know how to spin the deal.

A significant percentage of our oxygen supply comes from ocean photosynthesis, so let's not be too quick to just plaster that over with solar cells.

http://www.wisegeek.com/where-does-atmospheric-oxygen-come-from.htm

Well, the system is already crumbling and falling apart. Just wait for a little longer and both, China and "we", will see mass riots.

Why? Because even to buy the cheapest crap you need money. To have money, you have to have a job. And the jobs are in China. You might see the problem this leads to.

Producing in one area of the planet and selling in the other one does not work in the long run.

[The US economy] has been the world's largest national economy since the 1870s and remains the world's largest manufacturer, representing 19% of the world's manufacturing output.
from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_the_United_States
Additional support: additional http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-the-top-manufacturing-countries.htm
http://www.unido.org/index.php?id=7881&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=455&cHash=09cad462f0
http://www.articlealley.com/article_1483022_22.html

China may be getting close, but the US is still he world leader in manufacturing

You're missing the point of that adage. The mosquitoes don't stay in the stagnant pool of water once they've bred. They fly off and bite anyone they can find.

Ah, we don't have mosquitoes here so I don't really think of them as a big deal. I've only ever seen them in movies :P

Our midges tend to stay in the vicinity of the stagnant water rather than roaming.

Firstly, wire transfer != paypal... Wire transfer systems take identities very seriously.

"Companies such as Western Union offer an alternate, anonymous method of wire transfer. Western Union maintains outlets worldwide so that wire transfers can be electrically sent between these outlets. Therefore, you can walk into a Western Union in Arizona, for example, and send 100 US dollars (USD) to the Western Union in the Bahamas simply by paying the Arizona office the cash plus any fees. Your friend in the Bahamas can go to the Western Union to receive the 100 USD in cash within minutes. The money is transferred electronically."

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-wire-transfer.htm

very very seriously. ;)

"The lego set in the EMC scenario was stolen and fenced under a fake name (to avoid getting caught)."

Ok, but what exactly is the fraud? He promised them an emc hard drive, and he delivered one. Unless he made the material claim that he was an authorized reseller or something, its hard to see how its fraud.

First, cutting waste is good, but if I'm in debt, I'm not going to save much money by cutting the milk from my grocery budget, especially if I'm paying off a mortgage on a summer home. You have to look at the big-ticket items first. Prioritizing the small things is irresponsible.

Why yes, I know what you mean. I know a couple poor people who refuse to give up their cable TV and all the options on the phone and internet because it's not that much money. And when you really look at it, they crank up the heat in the winter because every 3 degrees is only 5% of their heating bills right. I mean 5% doesn't make a different so why should they turn the furnace down to 69 or 72 degree.

Here is the problem you are looking past. A lot of little things add up to one big thing. So if you save 5% a month on a $100 bill, it's only what $60 a year? But if you do that for 10 different things, it's now $600 a year. So dismissing something because it's insignificant or small is pretty much why poor people tend to remain poor- even with ever increasing incomes.

This is a bit of a false analogy. Of course little things can add up. But it is a bit ingenuous to complain that they're not saving $60 a year by keeping the hit up three degrees when they're dropping $900 a year on the poolboy. If you're looking to save money, you should look at your big ticket items.

According to this page Google gave me, "general science" gets about 7.2 billion a year. Which sounds like a lot, except it's the smallest category. America spends more on *everything* else besides science. If I was going to start penny-pinching, I'd look at the $97 billion dollars that's under "other". It's over 10 times as much money, and I bet you it's less than a tenth of the importance.

Of course, I'd be even more paranoid about that $170B marked "interest payments" - the US's fifth highest expenditure is the consumer equivalent of "not getting foreclosed". Even if the Republicans shut down the entire science funding system, that's less than 10% of your annual minimum payment, folks. If you want to get serious about getting your country out of hock, you need to look at the big items (social security, national defense, medicare, health). To go back to our household analogy, if your car payment is $170 a week, saving $7 by skipping lunch isn't going to make your ends meet.

Luckily, I'm Canadian and we already took our deficit pain. (Still paying off the debt, though.) Oh yeah, have they mentioned that to y'all yet? Even after you balance the budget, then you have to pay off all those decades of debt that you've racked up.

""Narrowband" did *not* apply to modems in any technical way."

The internet disagrees

This is similar to how... the credit industry is based in ND.

I think you mean Delaware. More specifically, Wilmington, DE.

HI --

If you guys are in the U.S., shouldn't you be able to file a Class Action Suit?

I mean, I too am one of those who embarked in that ship of fools, thinking I was surfing the wave of the future with my 8 Cell processors.

It'd be nice to see an international Class Action Suit (like those with breast implants, etc.)

Not to mention they ruined YellowDog's business.

I fucking hate Sony. You don't do that to customers.

And, BTW, look how they marketed the PS3...such a lame way. What they should have done was set up PS3s with Linux, demonstrating that not only you also get a Blu-Ray player but, in addition to that, get to install a cool OS so you can read your e-mail from your huge HD screen in your living room.

Sony is severely idiotic in so many ways it's pathetic.

Next time, I might just buy me an XBox.

Erm, no. Gameplay isn't copyrightable, so what in that description makes you think it is a copyright violation? http://www.wisegeek.com/how-do-i-copyright-a-game.htm

One place where "conservatives" and "libertarians" agree is that the "free market" is better suited to protecting the environment than the government,

Spare us the hyperbole deliberately simplified to the point of misrepresentation. A Libertarian would point out that air pollution is a standard "tragedy of the commons" failure and would propose a market-based solution like emissions trading as a means of stopping polluters from treating the damage they do to property they do not own as an economic externality.

fraud is basically theft through deceit.

That's fair enough.

I'm really sorry you think tobacco companies saying their drug is not addictive while knowing it was and being forced by the government to put only a minimal and incomplete description of medial problems smoking can cause on their product packaging is telling people exactly what they are getting. Did you mother smoke during her pregnancy with you or something?

Ad hominem is a great way to make an argument. No actually, it is not. But with regard to smoking tobacco, in this day and age, people still smoke regardless of their knowledge of how bad it is for them. People know it causes cancer and emphysema, yet they still do it anyway. They start in high school, knowing full well how bad it is. Now tell me, did anyone force these people to start smoking?

Lotteries all the time state a jackpot winnings total, then tell you you must leave the money in an annuity under their control to get that amount if you win. If you want the money upon winning, they take half or so before they even take the taxes out. They advertise how much they're going to help the schools or roads or whatever, but a huge amount of the money goes to run the lottery itself and you're lucky if your state doesn't appropriate part of the funds for some other expense. Yeah, the odds of winning are stated clearly in the fine print, but what the lottery actually supports probably isn't.

I don't see the fraud in this problem. The odds are clearly written there. To win the jackpot it's 1 in 10 million or so (or even less of a chance). If that is something that people who participate in lotteries doesn't understand, then that is their problem. I echo the same sentiments that most people here do: lotteries are a tax on people with poor math skills.

Also, would you pleas learn that a dictionary of everyday terms bears little semblance to the definitions you'd find in the criminal codes of your state or in a legal dictionary?

Except your original post made absolutely no mention of state or federal definitions.