AS an FYI: Mormons also believe women are 2nd class citizens.

Who, these Mormons?

Try being a sixth grade girl with D-cups then get back to me.

This isn't the first time I've heard reports of negative social feedback from early large breasts. I'm not disputing your experience, but I don't get it. I thought men were obsessed with the-larger-the-better breasts, hence the popularity of padded bras and implants. Is it the girls that tease the ones who develop large/early? You'd think the guys would all want to be your best friend (maybe that's exactly the unwanted attention you refer to).

I can tell you, though, that not all early/large girls find it a liability. I remember one in my high school that used them to get guys to do her schoolwork for her.

- The government put the cables in a long time ago, sometimes during periods where certain products were scarce (usually because of war) and thus sub-par elements were used (aluminum or steel)

Aluminum isn't sub-par for electrical distribution, it's standard. The special aluminum alloy that's used is durable yet lightweight. And it sure ain't cheap (just go look at feeder wire prices)!

Increases in demand, decreases in classic resistive demands

Except for tankless water heaters, per-user electric demand has actually gone down in recent decades. Energy star appliances, EER improvements in A/C, compact fluorescent and LED lighting... the only thing that's increased is the number of electric users.

- Most of the heaviest things (motors, airco) in homes still run on 110V even though 220V has been available in most homes

Er, no. Only window air conditioners are 120V -- whole-house A/C is 240V, as are electric dryers and electric ranges/stoves/ovens. Not many motors in a residence except for low-wattage fans that 240V would be overkill for anyway.

but most homes haven't been wired correctly for 220V

What? Strict residential wiring codes have been in place for decades, what specifically is incorrect about them?

a pump circulated water that dripped through the shavings while a 10 horsepower motor sucked air through the shavings and into the house

10 HP = 7.5 kilowatts, which is about double what a whole-house air conditioner would use. Google suggests swamp coolers are usually equipped with up to 1 HP motors.

Agreed, The Inner Light is one of my favorites as well.

I also nominate Darmok and the "There are four lights" episodes.

The one where Vader hacks off his son's hand with a laser sword.

Followed by the one where Han Solo watches a witch doctor pull the beating heart out of a kid's chest.

Amen. Actually, I consider lamps in general to be like buggy whips -- no house built after Rural Electrification (say, 1939ish) should ever require a lamp. Building a house that needs lamps to light it makes about as much sense as building a house with no plumbing, because buckets work just as well.

The poll question and the discussion seem to treat rotating magnetic media as not "solid state." Those disks sure seem solid to me.

If your magnetic media is in a solid state, it's not rotating and you're not getting any data into/out of it.

Solid State == no moving parts

(I also feel obliged to mention that, for myself personally, meeting someone with a US accent in the flesh is often a surreal experience. It feels a bit like some kind of a line---probably a glass screen of some kind---has been crossed.

I'm an American, and I get the same feeling when I meet someone with an Australian accent. I haven't met an Irish person yet but I bet it'd be the same thing.

I gotta tell you, I love listening to Irish accents on TV. It's elegant, almost musical. American English seems crass in comparison.

?! Why on earth would you want to skip The Phoenix Guards and start with 500 Years After? TPG sets up FHYA and is a great read.

Meh, I didn't find TPG as interesting as 500 and the Viscount.

I'll second Zelazny's Amber series as well as Brust's Dragaera (Jhereg) series. Brust also wrote some "historical fiction" in the same Dragaera world -- just skip the first book and start with 500 Years After and continue with the three Viscount books.

George RR Martin's Song of Fire and Ice is also masterful. But, you may want to wait until he finishes the series. He's a slow writer (but riveting).

since its Android, you can just install apps from the APK files and totally ignore the app store.

And how, pray tell, do I get the APKs? 99.9% of apps are only available in Market, and I see no way to download the APK from Market -- just "Install".

I live where we get weather, ... I happen to own hip-waders too.

Tell me where you live so I can avoid it!

You're right that $1 and $2, very possibly even $5 and $10, should be coins only

That's a terrible idea. Coins are heavy and bulky. I can keep several one dollar bills in a back pocket and never know they're there until I need them (for feeding vending machines).

Keeping 5 big heavy coins in a pocket is a (literal) pain in the butt.

One of the big problems with the TSA is that they scare people into taking more dangerous forms of transportation out of a misplaced sense of fear

I don't think my fear of the TSA or the government it serves is misplaced. I'd say it's pretty well-founded.