Actually we're building a large scale data collection operation using iPads, Android tablets, smartphones, and the like. We just have to develop the apps. The hardware is taken care of for us!

Yeah, when I switched back to iOS that was definitely something that took getting used to. It didn't bother me before I switched to Android, but after coming back to iOS, it was like, "Hey, what's wrong with the shift button?" Neither platform is perfect, though. Android irritated me with some of its quirks, too.

Relax. I was in a jury for a civil trial a few years ago, and I think most of us agreed from the moment we started deliberations, but we took a few hours to make sure that we understood the facts, made sure the claims didn't meet the requirements set forth in the law, talked about our impressions of the expert testimony, talked about different viewpoints, etc. It was time well spent. Some people had picked up on things that others hadn't, and it was worth taking the time to ensure we made the correct decision. I'd expect to do at least as much diligence for a criminal trial. Of the 7 days total I was involved in that trial which should have taken 3 days, I didn't regret the few hours of deliberations.

As I recall, they had actually gone several months before applying for the food stamps - i.e., on savings. You know you probably could look up the article and get the info for yourself.

Actually, if it's the Kompressor article I'm thinking of: The situation was that the husband and wife both had had well-paying jobs, then they both lost their jobs via the downturn in the economy, and the CAR WAS PAID FOR and not worth much, so they kept it, rather than - what? Trading it in on a used beater or something? So, yes, she was driving the Mercedes to pick up welfare checks, but they were, for lack of a better term, newly poor. It was likely if something happened to the Mercedes that they wouldn't be buying another one while still on welfare. Holding it up as an example of poor people owning nice cars and the handouts being out of control is misleading.

Pilots have to go through the same security checks the passengers do. Or, at least, the pilots in the US do - I've seen them in the security checkpoints several times.

I live in Maryland in a home with a slab foundation and no crawl space or basement. We also have a very high water table, so high that I could probably go out right now with a shovel and hit water within a foot of the surface of the ground.

I've been using Pairnic for all of my domain names, no complaints, and the prices seem reasonable. I use them to host my website, too. At one point I switched to someone else (phpwebhosting.com, I don't know if they're still around) and complaints from my site's users about slow/unresponsive pages went from zero to daily, at least. I switched back to pair.com and those complaints dropped back to zero.

Me either. I have ~250 gigabytes of pictures to back up, and I wanted to do it offsite (they're our family memories). Before Glacier came along, I was looking at building NAS machines for my brother and I that we would host each other's backup data. It would've worked, but what a PITA, and a lot of up-front expense. Glacier is easy, and cheap - my AWS bill last month was $2.50. For that kind of money, it's hard to justify the time and expense of rolling my own remote NAS solution. (I know over the long run I might be able to build the remote NAS solution for less money, but figure in electricity costs and potential drive replacements, and I'm not sure that solution would be that much cheaper. It would all depend on how long the drives last.)

I saw a young woman in EPCOT back in December that was walking around with the selfie stick constantly extended. It looked like she was videoing her entire vacation... and she was at the center of the video the whole time. Everything else in EPCOT was background - all of its beautiful buildings, people in costumes, performances, fountains, etc. The amount of narcissism required to accomplish that astounds me. I get self conscious when my wife and I snap one or two pictures of ourselves (no selfie stick). I can't imagine having - and watching - and entire video of myself walking around all day.

He rides outside when the weather is good and uses an indoor solution when the weather is bad, and you say he's likely a danger when he rides outside again? Seems a bit extreme. People don't forget balance and handling when they get outside again; neck problems kept me off bikes for ~10 years and I was able to hop right back into it without a problem.

If you're so tightly wound that a wiggle out of the guy next to you would cause a problem, then you're the danger, not him.

Gah. I had the opportunity to visit Vienna, Austria for work last summer, and my chip-and-signature cards were useless for automated kiosks. Fortunately a friend had lent me a few euros before I left, so I was able to use cash to purchase U-Bahn fare. Thanks to reading Slashdot comments, I knew about this problem and asked before the trip, and the credit card company (the one contracted by my employer for our company cards) said, "Errr, what? We have European travelers all the time and you're the first to ask!" But the same damn company has issued a chip-and-signature (personal) card to me for years. Yearrgghhh.

Austria seemed to be more of a cash operation anyway. I got a few odd looks when I pulled out the card, and I quickly realized cash was the norm. I even ran into one place that refused the card. The people were awesomely friendly, though. Austria is definitely on the list for a second visit.

I'm with you. I bought a Macbook Pro in 2009 because I didn't like any of the Linux laptop offerings, and I didn't want another Windows machine. I figured if I didn't like OS X, I could run Linux on it. Well, here we are over 5 years later and I'm still running OS X it. It's pretty nice, and I still have the command line.

That said, I'm typing this on a Kubuntu 14.04 desktop, and it's pretty nice too. My one gripe is that it seems a bit flaky compared to my prior Slackware installs - weird things like the login box showing on different monitors when I boot up (today it was on the second monitor; yesterday it was on the primary). Things like that make me a bit nervous, but aside from those it does work well. I just wish I'd installed Kubuntu 64 bit instead of 32 bit...I'm not sure why I did that, probably because of issues I had with libraries under Slackware64. (I still use Slackware on my server, but it's due for a software upgrade...I haven't decided what route to go with it.)

My experience with the WRT54G v1.1 was ten years of trouble free use. I replaced it only because I wanted a faster network (I move large files around frequently). In fact, I still have my WRT54G, and I needed to come up with a way to get internet access for one device to multiple devices at a show we run, so I installed dd-wrt or openwrt on it and had it connecting to two wireless networks (one with net access and our private one). Even when I was running a live video stream through that connection, the WRT54G performed perfectly. I wish my newer Netgear router was as reliable as my WRT54G was; it requires a power cycle every few weeks.

I'd often say, "That was the best episode of Quantum Leap ever!", after seeing the week's episode. There were a few clunkers or whatever, but for the most part...wow. Such a great show. I wish the DVDs had the original music though. :(