6 months ago I was very much on the fence between an X-BoneS or PS4, willing to break my personal Sony boycott of 12 years. Found out that the X-boneS had more of the features I was looking for built in and went that way. Now I catch wind of this bull and am very glad I stayed with the boycott.

sony 0, me 6

I just want to take this moment to recognize the irony taking place between your signature and your statement.

Clippy: It sounds like you took offence to that statement. Since I don't have the power to ban Humbubba, would you like me to mod him into oblivion instead?

If you use Google Suite on Chrome, Android phones have all of that available on any PC too, except for text messages. One of the biggest blunders Google did with their phone apps was drop support for Hangouts to handle sms text messages where they could be sent to the phone and logged in PC. Another one was when they dropped the ability to link my cell number to google voice, so I could get transcribed voicemail messages in my gmail.

But for everything else (google suite in chrome = related app on phone): calendar.google.com = Calendar (also handles alarms), mail.google.com = Gmail, photos.google.com = Photos, docs.google.com = Google Docs

And since google went over to providing Android updates via Google Play Services instead of relying on the manufacturers and carriers to push out the OS updates and patches, I've been getting regular updates and patches at least every 3 months, but usually more often than that. And they too, "just work".

Besides the integrated SMS, What's the advantage of iPhone again?

Ambulances cost money no matter where you are. The only difference is what entity soaks up the cost of the ambulance. In the US, the cost of the service is placed directly on the person using the service, unless that person pays protection money to the mafia; er, excuse me. That should read premiums to an insurance company.

Pure inference here, though it may be a conclusion jump, but I think he meant that the dumb luck part of it is that he chose to go AMD for his latest build instead of Intel ahead of finding out about Meltdown.

And you are perfectly entitled to your wrong opinion.

As noted in another thread parallel to this: All of that is up to Insel Games to provide alternative methods for. Valve is not liable for any of it because IG is the one who decided to break Steam's ToS. If IG just drops support for anyone who purchased through Steam, that's another indicator of what kind of shit company IG is. Reputable companies (if there is such a thing anymore...different topic) don't falsify reviews.

This is the fundamental difference between a distributor (Steam) and the provider (IG). If the provider breaks a term of the contract they have with the distributor, the distributor has every right to stop distribution. With physical items a distributor does not have the ability to take back items that have already been purchased; but they do not have to supply first line support for upgrades to those products anymore either. In this case, Valve is treating previous purchases as if they were physical items and letting those users keep those copies, but now if those users expect to get the upgrades, they have to go straight to the provider (Insel Games) because Steam is no longer a valid distribution channel for that.

Come on. That's bullshit and you know it.

If a developer can't give purchasers of their product -- regardless of original source -- a path to get patches and bug-fixes, then that's another reason for the developer to tank anyway. Steam is not the end-all be-all of getting patches for games initially purchased through Steam. Case in point: I bought Elder Scrolls: Online through Steam. Steam is not update path for the launcher or the game. Zenimax pushes updates to the launcher directly as needed and the launcher manages the patches for the game itself.

Dude... FTFS; no article click-through required:

Because I use devices that compete with Apple with interfaces and features that I prefer to use over anything Apple offers, that MUST mean that I want the platform I use to mimic Apple!

God dammit!

Heck no, man. You can't trust 'em. I'll just smelt my own, thanks!

Ok, this is a town that services the gas/coal mining industry so it's going to be a town with a high focus on physical labor. Since mining corporations tend to tell their injured workers to take a pill and suck it up, it's probably closer to a 1/2 ratio or 2/3 ratio of adults getting opiate prescriptions.

Now, going by the 2000 and 2010 census records, there's less than 20% of the population that's children (18.6%). Right there we're looking at an adult population of about 2,360. It's a 45.2% / 54.8% split on gender.. so a bit over 1000 men and 1200 women. Since both genders are prescribed opiates for a variety of reasons (some legit, others less so), 50% of the total adult working population in a mining support town getting prescribed opiates isn't an unreasonable assumption, so that's 1,180 people.

1180 * 60 = 70,800 pills / month (2 per day)
70,800 * 12 = 849,600 per year
849,600 * 10 = 8,496,000 over the 10 year period.

Considering that I have known people with back injuries that get prescribed 4 pills per day chronically for years, but lower doses per pill, the numbers above could easily be doubled, which leaves roughly 4 to 5 million pills unaccounted for, which could potentially be explained away by expiration protocols.

Now, do I think the numbers above are excessive? Yes. Is there a need to get prescription opiates under stricter control? Yes. Is there anything criminal about any of the above that needs a full on investigation into the pharmacies in question? Hell No. As noted by sjames on this thread, there's a likelyhood that these pharmacies are serving a greater area than just the 2900 residents of the town, which would change all the calculations thus far to increase the potential numbers all around. Turning the pharmacies into a congressional scapegoat against opiates is a waste of time and money.

Instead, go after the mining companies that refuse to allow better working conditions with proper injury recuperation policies. Go after the docs that are over prescribing the opiates to begin with. The pharmacies are only filling orders and raising supply to keep up with demand.

Source of Census and Demographic information.

20.8M / 2900 ~ 7,172
7,172 / 10 (years) ~ 717
717 / 12 (months) ~ 60 pills.

Basically, everyone in town was given a standing prescription of take 2 pills per day as needed for pain. Up the script to 3 pills per day as needed and you've got a standing prescription for about 1,925 people. Consider that pharmacies often keep a stock of these pills for rapid fulfillment (Wal-greens will usually have whatever prescription my doc gives me ready within an hour; narc or not), and it's likely that not even that many people have standing scripts.

Also, how long do pharmacies keep med batches on hand? They often have expiration dates slated for 90 days. They're supposed to dispose of unused portions of batches, right? Well, how are they going to keep the stock up to handle the medicated population when they get their next round of scripts? This is going to inflate the order that the drug companies are going to get.

In short, this sounds like someone with an axe to grind trying to inflate emotional response by using a 10 year metric that only indicates how much opiates are getting shipped into community pharmacies, not how much is actually being doled out and prescribed to the community.

When it comes to Japanese media and pop-culture, they usually and consistently jump the shark right out of the gate as compared to the US where it usually takes about 5-7 years and a glut in creativity.