Got to watch the headrest units do an infinite reboot loop from DC to Dublin on a United flight last year. Every single one on the plane was doing it, for 7 hours straight.

This sudden shift in technology is going to hit merchants hard. Not the large retailers that are having the massive data breaches, but the mom and pop store down the street. Why? Ever seen what card processing companies charge for machines? it's outrageous. Many of these merchants are still using machines from around the turn of the century, or older, because new ones cost far more than they can afford to spend on a device that really has no ROI. Chip and pin wasn't even being seriously discussed in the US until recently, but suddenly everybody is going to have to come up to this new standard by next year? Who's going to pay for this? Are the little guys going to receive subsidies? I do agree we're far behind the rest of the world regarding our processing methods, but the changes being discussed seem a little too sudden as to not be a huge burden on the people who can't afford another hit in this economy.

Yeah, not in California. Concealed carry is only for the rich and connected here. They're quickly stripping away what means we have left to defend ourselves. Check out the microstamping bullshit they've pushed through as law. Smith & Wesson and Ruger both recently took their balls and went home because of it...

Every time someone sues 'the government', who pays the bill? We do. That's not the governments money, that's America's money. If you want to make a statement against the government, don't do it by putting all of us into even greater debt. Also, fuck beta in it's fucking beta face.

We have no official state religion. We have many flavors of christianity, yes, but also jews, muslims, hindus, buddhists, etc. Atheism is a growing segment, as well. Christian faiths make up the majority of those who are religious here, but to peg us as a 'christian country' would be incorrect.

How about education in place of arrest? How is using someone's power outlet on a short term, temporary basis any worse than texting while driving or carrying weed (only ticketable offenses in my state)? Do police not have discretion in that state? "Stop being a dick, move along" would have sufficed. I figure the driver acted more out of ignorance than malice when he plugged in, so why not address it as such and let him off with a warning?

Guy selling a product says competing technology is inferior and may, in fact, set the world on fire. Maybe if an independent third party came forth and empirically proved that x was better than y, I'd listen.

huh, and all this time I thought the main feature of a submarine was to sink and not be dead.

That's why missile silos are round. Duh.

His point is that it only takes one asshat to pollute the system, and it's guaranteed that there's more than one. I also remember reading something recently related to this, showing that false info can be fed to google to create non-existant traffic jams in Maps.

Because it's the only common identifier assigned to all US citizens. Not everybody has a drivers license, passport, address or phone number.. but almost everybody born within the confines of society has a SSN. There really isn't any better or more consistent means of identifying an individual on a national scale. We're well beyond the days of opening a line of credit at the general store based on personal relationships and a handshake.

When I was in school, from about 8th grade on, we were always told the schools didn't have enough money to supply even pens and paper. The teachers had to shell out for it, or we had to bring our own. Class sizes grew as teachers were cut. After school activities lacked funding. But now this is the second time in a month I've heard of entire school districts issuing tablets to their students? Where'd this money come from? Why is it being spent on toys? Toys that have their own costs to upkeep and repair, and are of dubious value in the first place?

Doubtful. I'd go vegetarian before I ever considered eating insects, and I'm sure many others would as well. Some things are just so culturally repellant that they won't be accepted as an alternative except in extreme cases.

carSdirect.com. You went to the wrong website. Carsdirect shows me a price right up front, and then updates as you add/remove options. No personal information given.

Carsdirect.com is as close as you're going to get to this for now. You still have to technically go through a dealer, but without all of the bullshit associated with buying directly from them. When I bought a car through CD, I just showed up, signed the papers, signed a check, and drove off. With my current car, Carsdirect couldn't get me the color I wanted, so I used their price as leverage to get the one I did want from a local dealer. They tried to play hardball, so I walked. The next day I got a call saying they caved, and they matched the price. Car dealers are still around because people are ignorant and hasty. Arm yourself with knowledge, concrete numbers, and be prepared to walk if you don't feel all warm and fuzzy. You usually don't need a car TODAY, but they sure want the sale yesterday.