um well... I wouldn't say 'just as easily'.
There are waaaay more cell towers than COs.
You could put batteries on all of them but you can't roll a generator out to all of them when the power goes down and you have 6 hours of battery life.

With the copper lines they have battery backup and can prep generator backup while the batteries run down.
during the 'great power outage' a few years ago that shut down the north-east Canada/US power grid for days we had working telephones the entire time.

Not needed?
It is an independently powered comms system. It stays up when the power grid goes down, a literally life-saving feature.

Also, the call quality, latency and reliability are still better than the alternatives.

awwww, that's adorable!

It is the same everywhere. Businesses pretty much all have fax machines.
Why? because they are useful. fast and effective.

No, no, that is overkill. The electrical grid is the real source of the problem. Shut that down and the problem is fixed.

Indeed.
What is this nonsense about "seeking truth" or winning arguments?

Reason is tool that allows a person to make decisions that lead to effective action.
Effective action leads to surviving and thriving.
Or to put it another way: Reason evolved to get shit done.
Reason does not need to be articulated and frankly rarely is articulated well.

"Rationality allowed a solitary thinker to blaze a path to philosophical, moral and scientific enlightenment"

dwahahaha
wow. just. wow.

We want to know what server we're connected to. Particularly if we are going to post any information like logins or other form data.

what a terrible idea.
Why would I want to be ignorant of what URL I am loading/viewing?

I would stop using firefox if the address bar were removed.

I listened to him present his results and you sir are a cynic.
No doubt he had significant help and guidance from his mentor. A project like that is a learning experience.

He demonstrated an understanding of the science involved as well as interest and enthusiasm for the research.
He also worked very hard on it and his efforts are worthy of commendation.

This *was* in fact part of a science fair of sorts.
I happened to see him presenting to the judges at the NRC here in Ottawa.

His presentation was one of several very impressive science projects.

It was the "Sanofi/Aventis Biotech Challenge", an annual event that calls up science projects from across the country and culminates in a trip to Ottawa and presentations to a panel of judges.

Go Canadian science-interested youth! woot!

people who can competently configure a server?

mrtg is commonly used by ISPs for this sort of thing.

Now if only we could get someone of her caliber to be our Public Service Integrity Commissioner!

Also, our Auditor General Sheila Fraser basically rocks. ...good government... not yet completely dismantled by the conservatives.

Begging for a job from a big corp is NOT the only option.
It is not even a good option. It may seem like big corps run the economy but they do not! small business is bigger than big business.
More than half of working americans work for small businesses and I would bet that they are the happier half.
Don't settle for a job you hate, working for a faceless corp that doesn't give a sh*t about your welfare. If nobody offers you a job then make one for yourself.