You discredited your entire posting with a bogus claim that can easily be refuted:

White House Will Not Replace Solar Water-Heating System

The panels of the system had been dismantled to fix the roof underneath. Dale A. Petroskey, a White House spokesman, said Friday, ''Putting them back up would be very unwise, based on cost.''

[CITATION NEEDED]

Mod the parent up. The error is in the original article, as well.

AT&T charges $25/month for the 2 gigabytes/month data plan for the iPhone. Adding tethering increases the charge to $45/month for 4 gigabytes/month. However, if you are currently on the $30/month "unlimited" plan, it's only $15/month more to change to the 4 gigabytes/month + tethering plan.

I switched from the unlimited dataplan when iOS 4.3 was released, as I could finally replace my Sprint MiFi hotspot with my iPhone. I didn't feel like I was giving up anything significant, because I never used more than 200 megabytes/month on my iPhone alone.

When I used the MiFi all day at a client, I never exceeded 100 megabytes/day, and was usually in the 50-60 megabyte/day range. I could use 100 megabytes/day all month, and still have 1 gigabyte/month left for my iPhone usage. In the unlikely event I exceed the 4 gigabyte/month cap, it's only $10/gigabyte, or 1 cent per megabyte -- and I can live with that.

The rental car companies have the exact same requirement: You must make the reservation with a credit card, although you can eventually pay the bill with a debit card. The reason was so they could put a hold on enough funds to cover the payment plus the damages if you totaled the car (note this is not the value of the entire car, but the limited "deductible" you agree to in the contract).

Very often, when they put a hold on this amount on a debit card, it pushed the underlying checking account into overdraft, or at least locked up enough funds that the card holder couldn't use the card for anything else. With a credit card, this doesn't cause problems unless the cardholder has nearly maxed out their credit limit.

Perhaps Blockbuster was putting a hold on the amount of money needed to replace the game if it wasn't returned? With a debit card, they would have encountered the problem I described above, albeit on a lesser magnitude.

And I'm guessing that you aren't an RF engineer.

It is extremely difficult (and nearly impossible, at a reasonable cost) to design and build a transmitter that only radiates RF on the fundamental frequency. It invariably radiates on harmonic frequencies (integer multiples of the fundamental). FCC regulations limit the acceptable power level for harmonics, but if the transmitter's primary power output is high enough, the harmonics can still interfere with a nearby receiver -- depending on the local strength of the intended signal.

In addition, there is the potential of "intermodulation", or mixing of two transmitted signals to produce a third signal that is a different frequency than either of the originals.

[Disclaimer: I'm not an RF engineer, either. But, this was basic knowledge required for an amateur radio license in the US, at least back when I got mine]

I'd like to drop my Sprint MiFi card and replace it with an iPhone 4 hotspot. But, I don't want to switch away from the unlimited data plan (to the 4 GB limit), only to find that it doesn't work.

One thing that helps: Find a dentist that has invested in a digital X-ray system. Rather than sticking a piece of film in your mouth, they put a small sensor that is about the same surface area and a bit thicker (but not flexible). Aside from the convenience and efficiency issues, the digital sensor is much more sensitive than film. So, the X-ray source can be set to about 10% of the power required for film.

However, It's an expensive investment. My dentist has a computer in each exam room, but only a single sensor that is moved to where it is needed and plugged into the USB port. The sensor alone costs about $8,000.

Not in the US. The cellphone companies have decided that SMS is a profit center. They don't mind giving out free calling minutes (that consume much more bandwidth and resources), but will charge you 25 cents to receive a message that is no bigger than the control messages that your phone exchanges with the system on a regular basis..

Some of them are starting to get a clue and bundling it with other features, or charging separately for unlimited messages. But, there's still no connection between actual cost and price.

To clarify, this is typically implemented with a wallet card the size of a credit card, with something like 100 5-digit codes. The 5-digit codes are generated pseudo-randomly for each customer, or at least there is a non-trivial number of unique cards.

At login, the user is challenged with a random index from 0 to 99, and they must enter the 5-digit code from the wallet card that corresponds to the index.

I've seen this method used by a Brazilian online banking system.

Nope, looks like this is the reason that FB implemented https: across their site:

The Inside Story of How Facebook Responded to Tunisian Hacks

They also mention the identification of photos in your account as another measure they used to prevent password hijacking by Tunisian censors.

Every voter did. Or at least a majority of them.

You want someone to blame? Look in the mirror.

You're blaming the irresponsibility of local and state governments on Boomers?

I've got news for you: only a small fraction of "Boomers" have a cushy state or city pension. A small percentage of the rest have a fixed pension which will be rapidly diminished by even modest inflation. Everyone else might have a 401(k), if they invested wisely.

The Boomer's parents paid a fraction of what they received (and are still receiving) from Social Security and Medicare.

The Boomers will be lucky to receive a fraction of what they paid into Social Security. What they get from Medicare will largely depend on their personal medical situation.

My mortgage is paid was full, after 10 years. I don't have a pension, generous or otherwise. My retirement assets are in IRAs and a 401(k) -- and are substantial despite the gyrations of the market, because I have been contributing the maximum allowed on top of contributing to Social Security and Medicare.

If I had the opportunity to invest my contributions to Social Security alone into the prevailing long-term US Treasury Bonds (the same as the "trust fund") each year, I've calculated that I would have $730,000 right now, and nearly $1.5 million by the time I turn 65. You want me to give all that up? What are you offering in return?

Before you were even born, people like me were pointing out the problems with Social Security. We saw the train wreck coming, but the reason the Boomer's haven't done anything about it is because the Boomer's parents made the issue politically radioactive.

We were told to STFU. So, 30 years later, I have the same advice for you: STFU, at least until you come up with an exit strategy that spreads the pain equally over every generation.