I've decided to do two things - one is cut most sugar and reduce salt from my diet. Second is increasing payments on my mortgage to pay it off quicker. I've actually started this middle of 2014 but I'm going to increase it yet again.

That will save me tens of thousands in interest. If I'm really careful I can be mortgage-free in eight years or so.

It's good for Microsoft, especially when they make you bend over...

why antilock braking systems controlled by computers are universally derided as dangerous,

I've driven a car that had its antilock brake system decide the car was stuck in a skid when it wasn't. Which of course greatly increases your stopping distance. I nearly hit someone else in front of me, the only reason I didn't hit them is I swerved to the shoulder and was half in the ditch. Had the antilock brakes not interfered I would've stopped safely with lots of time. I'm just glad it wasn't a pedestrian crosswalk when that happened. I've been against them since then.

Since then I've stuck with my 30 year old car. Nothing fancy, it just works. And dammit, when I step on the brakes it actually applies them!

I learned today that there was a disagreement among Christians as to when their god was born. If one group follows one calendar and the other group follows a different one, and they both say December 25th, who was right? I find that kind of amusing.

I played a game yesterday, but it wasn't on the new consoles. I played a game on my xbox 360 and it signed into live with no issues yesterday morning.

I was surprised to read the xbox live went down, as I was using it yesterday!

Sure they'll follow your "rules" when you are around.

If you put a camera up when you are not around, your cats will be going to places where you don't want them to. They're funny that way.

If you have an infinite number of systems to log into, how many dongles is optimal, and how do you keep track of which dongle to use with which system?

Taped to the monitor, right next to the sticky note with the username/password!

Meh, so the body is in good shape but now the mind is starting to go...

If your parents are still around, I guess...

My father died when I was 6 and my mom died of lung cancer when she was 50 - I was in my early thirties when this happened.

All of my grandparents are no longer around, most had heart disease (grandfather had three heart attacks in his 40s) or lung cancer. I figure if I even get to 50 without a health mishap it'll be a miracle.

Old for me is... undefined? Hell, I feel old and I'm not even 40 yet...

That would work if you don't want to use Netflix on the BD player. GP says when network/Sony's server's are down apps don't work on the BD player...

then when publishers do relent

It doesn't matter what the publishers say, Google will have to comply until the law is changed. I'd be rather surprised if that happens quickly.

Global TV streams them next day (or two days?)

You can't record it?

I've just done a few manual installs of Office 2013 and I did not have to set up a Microsoft account during the install procedure, but I actually install media and a volume license. When I installed it manually it doesn't even ask for a license, I had to add it afterwards.

You can disable First Run via GPO, and you can block signing into office online with a GPO. You can also disable prompting to sign in online while saving.

Install the Office 2013 GPO Templates and use:
User Configuration->Policies->Administrative Templates->Microsoft Office 2013->Miscellaneous
Set "Show OneDrive Sign In" to Disabled
Set "Block signing into Office" to Enabled, choose "None allowed" from the dropdown

I've tested this, it completely removes saving to the cloud as an option from the Save As dialog.

For the First Run Wizard, use:
User Configuration->Policies->Administrative Templates->Microsoft Office 2013->Privacy->Trust Center
Set "Disable Opt-in Wizard on first run" to Enabled.

This will not give the user the option to change update settings, presumably you'd have update policies set up using group policy anyway.

If this is for a standalone user, I would imagine there's no option to do this (unless you went in through the UI and disabled it manually.)

I wonder if you could argue that these agreements are signed under duress. That would be interesting. Considering you found out you just lost your job and many people would need the severance pay.

Better yet, make it proportionate to the CEO's wages. Oh, and plug the loopholes so that any financial compensation granted the CEO counts toward this (be it wages, stocks, etc.)