Once the "no pre-existing conditions exclusions" clause kicks in I no longer have to worry about whether or not I can get health coverage ever again if I should leave my current job. Of course, this makes me in favor of "Obamacare" as the "conservatives" call it. I'm not really in favor of a world where people who need health care the most are denied it because they're too risky to some corporation's profits.

I started with the 2005 revamp, but so far my favorite Doctor is Matt Smith. Christopher Eccleston was a bit too moody for my taste. David Tennant was of course fantastic as well, but I think Smith has admirably filled his shoes.

Because someone alleges something in a lawsuit doesn't make it so. Keyword: alleges.

No, it's not. You were aware of the walled-garden nature of the platform when you bought the iPhone. Don't like it? Buy an Android phone. Apple has a long reputation for rigorously controlling the end-user experience of it's products from hardware to software. Just because they control the only authorized source of applications for their own platform does not make them an illegal monopoly.

No, it isn't. Apple as a private company is free to choose what products it will and won't sell. If an app would piss off a substantial fraction of their customer base they have every right to choose to not sell that app. If the government told Apple they had to remove the app it would be censorship.

It amazes me the people who scream the most vocally about the intrusions of federal government and for eliminating business regulations have such a large amount of overlap with the people who scream "Censorship!" over a business decision by a private company.

As a business and not a government entity it is entirely within Amazon's (and Apple's) purview to decide what they will and will not stock and sell. This is the same as it would be for any mom-and-pop small bookstore. Just because Amazon sells nearly every book known to man doesn't mean they have to sell every book. The scope of reasons for not selling something that could legitimately get a retailer into legal trouble is quite small. If their decision to not sell a product is poor the market will punish Amazon by directing those sales to their competitors.

If the government told Amazon they couldn't sell something it would be censorship. Similarly, Apple choosing to not sell a product they deem to not be in their best business interest (i.e. it pisses off a substantial fraction of their customer base) is not censorship.

It's both. Nothing is quite as impressive as a nice, thick, stiff one in your hand. A thin limp... card... is just embarrassing.

Everyone knows girth is more important than length anyway.

You do realize fossil fuels in the US are heavily subsidized? That is part of the difficulty in other sources being competitive. Of course we also heavily subsidize other braindead ideas like corn ethanol.

The point that is being made that you are ignoring is fossil fuels are inexpensive because of faulty accounting. If fossil fuel companies had to bear the full burden of the externalities they impose on the rest of us fossil fuels would not be cheap. Add to that the existing subsidies and it's no wonder nothing else can compete in the "free" market.

Looking at the distribution of wealth and income inequality in the US I'd say we're already well on our way to being one. Wealth and power in the US is becoming increasingly concentrated at the top and the results are beginning to show.

Who is Chris O'Donnell?

Apparently his career resurfaced on one of those many generic network TV crime drama shows, but I recognized him from the dreadful Batman & Robin movie that came out about a decade ago that I wish I could forget.

Seriously, isn't "Hollywood" one of the most ridiculous phenomena on the planet?

It is exceedingly ridiculous. Fortunately Hollywood the neighborhood of Los Angeles isn't very much like "Hollywood" the film industry. I wish someone would explain that to all of the tourists though.

I live in Hollywood and have this happen to me a lot. I've seen a handful of celebrities over the years I recognized and probably dozens more have passed me on the sidewalk without even registering as "someone". It took me about 5 minutes to figure out Chris O'Donnell was in line in front of me once and I still had Google after the fact to be sure since I was too timid to just ask while he was standing there instead of just looking awkward.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snowball_Earth

Antarctic conditions at the equator, while not quite Martian, are pretty damn cold.