The pingers have long been dead. They have a battery life on the order of days.

As an electrical engineer, I would point out something rather funny: even European electronics (in majority) are still specified in thousandths of an inch as the primary dimensioning measure, as almost all surfacemount (and PTH) footprints are still in thousandths of an inch. Is this what we get for inventing it?

Read the Constitution. Where do you see JUDICIAL REVIEW? Seriously, you guys.

The Constitution is an ancient and generally deprecated document in light of far more informed and recent documents as the constitutions of Europe. We would be in a similar situation if we looked upon the Framers as fallible men as ourselves and it as a fallible (and correctable) living document. If the Constitution was properly cared for over its lifetime, we could be moving forward, not backward.
I am saddened by your confusion of opinion with fact. Look at statistics and you will discover that your statements are antidemocratic -- and arguably anti-American. It would be easy to say that I'm 'just reading the statistics to support me', but that false counterargument has gotten really old.
Judicial review isn't constitutional. Are you questioning it? In fact, much of the Supreme Court itself is extraconstitutional, and the Senate so skews representation per populace in this country that little (red, uninfluential, &tc) states can influence the ways of the country disproportionately. States do not deserve representation -- they are geopolitical units. People do.
And yet, where are women in our government, for example? And besides, I can't see why so few can learn addition -- cutting taxes gets us nowhere, almost as nowhere as attrition measures. Raise taxes already! Reduce rampant income inequality in this country and we might get somewhere.

Also: don't argue for States Rights. I don't need to tell you why.

tl;dr: Read the Constitution.
Learn more about the constitution.
Come up with your own words.

Really long reading:
Bartels, Larry M. Unequal Democracy: The Political Economy of the New Gilded Age
Norris, Pippa. Driving Democracy: Do Power-Sharing Institutions Work?
Marion Young, Iris. Inclusion and Democracy
Dahl, Robert A. How Democratic is the American Constitution?

The equipment cost is on-par with most computers Slashdotters probably use, and the cost of the exam is trivial ($14). The exams aren't particularly difficult, either, and most people teach themselves. Not trying to be snide, but I would like to point out that it's not really all that difficult to get into.

As an amateur radio operator (biased, I know, and not just my plate voltage)....I know it's usually regarded as an 'old' hobby that is 'dying'. The humor in this, of course, is that it's a gadget-obsessed hobby with increasingly high-tech equipment and significant quantities of programming and research regarding digital transmission modes and DSP, not to mention software-defined radio and other sorts of things. It's a geeky hobby, yes, but this is Slashdot. "arguably unconventional hobby given the technology of 2011" seems both uninformed and, admittedly, a bit silly regarding where it's being said.

Underpowered also means runs on a quartet of AAA's for months...

because Iridium has -- for a bit over a decade.

Precisely!

It's exceedingly distracting and a general nuisance.

It's a feature!

Yes, although training a flight attendant* to land a plane then expecting to pay her like a flight attendant isn't exactly tenable.

Expecting any standing passengers to survive a crash is highly unrealistic, even with vertical seats -- which is why that idea is negligent at best.

In this case, regulations exist for preventing corporations from reducing prices--that, even while more people might fly--come at too high an external cost.

All three ideas are absurd. An autopilot seeks to automate the majority of cruising tasks, but it's yet another computer system with garbage in, garbage out. The existence of a redundant individual seeks to act as the equivalent of the triple or quadruple-redundant computers in place on the aircraft. In the general aviation world, the presence of a second pilot greatly increases safety. Not only would standing be tiring, it would prevent people from having a crumple zone underneath them (the seats look like they can collapse for a reason -- they do) and greatly increase crash mortality. Allowing flight attendants to land planes just seems a bit silly. Startlingly enough, propelling a can of people through the air is still pretty expensive. You can only do it so cheaply, especially with an acceptable level of safety.

It's better than many point-and-shoot cameras? That's simply an absurd claim. I suppose, however, that instead of actually judging it upon what the pictures look like, modern cameras are now ranked based on how well you can share your (bad) pictures on (bad) websites so you can show your (bad) friends your (bad) adventures.

This reminds me of an interesting problem LEED buildings often have with humidity and gas concentrations--and, in general, what is loosely described as sick building syndrome. Sealing a building to that point of efficiency might be green, but it isn't healthy for its occupants.

In other news, the used car market for Mercedes, Lexuses, and BMW's is suddenly booming!