AAC files downloaded from iTunes work fine on all Sony gear (including the PlayStation). And quite a lot of other audio gear.

And of course, you can run iTunes on a Linux box if you really want to - it's not like a few extra steps are a problem for a Linux user.

And iTunes is available on Windows also - just sayin'

I guess it must be, let the Wookie win.

Thank you for the response with the exact level of pedanticness I would have gone for personally. You saved me some time.

This is just he exception that proves the rule.

It's when you find TWO exceptions, that you should start to worry about the rule itself...

How does Apple "monetize" its userbase information right now?

It doesn't, because it doesn't need to (see: Stock Price, cash on hand).

Why does Apple feel the compulsion to plow money into an inferior map service?

Apple maps are superior to Google Maps at this point. They are more readable for one thing (true from the outset) but also I have noticed more errors lately in Google Maps than Apple Maps (and Google Maps always had errors to begin with).

The reason Apple continues forward is because that way they do not have to worry about how users are monetized by other map providers... which you are if you use Google Maps.

Originally said:
Stock valuations are based not only on actual assets, but future growth and earnings potential.

You replied:

They're comparing the stock valuation to what the company would sell for if purchased. When you sell a company, you're also selling the "good will" and other value inertia things like brand familiarity

Goodwill is ALSO something that can increase in the future, just like monetary assets - you buy stock with the idea that the entire company value (including goodwill) will grow. So the original point is still a sound one.

Clinton did not selectively keep emails she thought were state-department related - she came up with a small list of keywords she thought would match state-departmnent matters and deleted ANYTHING THAT DID NOT MATCH.

So basically her keeping state department related emails is only as true as her ability to come up with keywords that matched everything she did over years of service...

Not to worry though, the Chinese and many other foreign governments have a full backup, which they have pinky-sweared not to use as leverage should Clinton be elected president.

I totally agree that ad-blockers are immoral. Realistically how can you support denying a web site ad revenue which is the only reason it can continue to exist?

However, just as immoral are the way ads are tending to be presented now. Full screen ads as noted, or un-avoidable popovers are to my mind a betrayal from the other direction - a web site needs revenue to survive, but that should not come at the expense of the sanity of the reader.

My solution is to simply sop using a site if I find the ads grow too obnoxious. But I also really can't see anything morally wrong with blocking ads from a web site that has gone too far in embracing abusive ads, almost as a form of punishment...

At one point we needed the government just to reach space.

That time has passed. What we need now is not one gatekeeper to bring us into space, but the gates to be flung open. NASA still has uses but the majority of space travel and research going forward should be done by the people outside the government, the people who from time immemorial have been always able to do something hard and dangerous and expensive and make it better and faster a cheaper and more accessible to everyone.

Do you want to visit space? I do. I know that would never happen just having NASA around, just as I know it will be feasible giving some of NASA's money to SpaceX and its ilk to refine and commoditize space travel.

I caution attempts at social engineering result in greater injustices than those they seek to fight against.

I would say that the first thing those attempting social engineering should seek is to utilize the solutions they propose. For instance, it's amazing how many of the politicians in the US who seek to raise the minimum wage also make broad use of unpaid interns. If even the crusaders can't manage to pay everybody minimum wage (not the new level of $10, $15, or whatever is being proposed today, but just the current amount), what makes you so certain it's a great idea?

So Snowden is going to be pardoned by Obama now, right?

If by "pardoned", you mean "Drone Strike", then yes, Snowden will be "pardoned".

Out of four garden lamps I put in about five years ago, only one functions and that very poorly.

The LED lights themselves may still work, but the solar collectors on top get clouded or dirty (or both) and stop providing power.

The recommended break point is as it is with any language - whatever is most readable.

Sometimes that might be the return value being on the next line.

Sometimes it might be each parameter on it's own line.

I myself prefer to either have the whole thing on one line, or everything broken out per line if that will not fit. But I'll admit I let some longer methods sometimes wrap to two lines on the display (even though it's really one long line).

The second is for the return value, yes.

Although you can absolutely name the return values something different, I just had in mind some optional transformative thing where you could use it or not and treat the data tuple the same way.