Because the bundle includes the home phone.

"Comcrap screwed me again. I couldn't get them to reverse this charge."

"Why do you do business with them anyway? You regularly call them things like 'comcrap' and are complaining about them constantly. Why not move to another carrier?"

"I'd love to, but they're the only game in my part of town."

(after a few minutes of research) "No they aren't, you have Qwest Fiber available in your area. Why not switch to that?"

"Well, Comcrap is faster. They offer (some speed) and Qwest only offers (some slightly slower speed)."

"Ok, do you really understand what those speeds mean? How much faster is your pr0n going to download at, for instance, 15 Mbps vs 30 Mbps? In real minutes."

"30 is twice as fast."

"That's only the top peak speed possible from the connection. The actual speed can and does vary wildly. Besides, the speed at the head end of the service you're accessing is much more significant."

"I've had comcrap for six years."

"And you've HATED every minute of it! You haven't called the company by its real name in all of that time! You're regularly telling me how they promise a discount and then don't give it to you, or charge you for stuff you haven't ordered, and how you can't get any charges reversed. What the hell?"

"I got a good price on the bundle."

"You never answer your home phone! And you only watch stuff you've illegally downloaded."

"I don't like commercials."

"Ok..." (deep breath) "So, let's summarize. Of the three services you're currently paying for, you only commonly use one of them (internet), so despite the great deal you got on the bundle, any cost you're paying over and above internet is A WASTE OF MONEY. And the company regularly busts your chops. Yet you stay with them. Are you an abused spouse?"

...the conversation doesn't go well from there.

This is only slightly paraphrased from a real conversation. The conclusion I've drawn from speaking to comcast subscribers is that some stick with it under the impression that they're "getting a deal", and some because they have been sold on the idea that "it's the only game in town", but I suspect that some people just like to have something to complain about.

So, let's all be troublemaking customers. Let's make it as unpleasant and difficult as possible for Comcast to do business. We will be doing the world a service.

Or perhaps, this was written by a MS employee on the free Surface Pro 3 issued to same, with the understanding that it be used to increase visibility of the platform. Or face the dungeons below Redmond.

That's a vivid metaphor, and describes the situation precisely. :-) I may use that.

> Should Microsoft pull the plug on the tablet?

No. Why should they? It looks like the Surface is making money, it's just not penetrating the market to the extent of its competitors. A product doesn't have to pillage and burn all competitors to be viable. It has to make money. It appears to be doing so.

I'm saying this from the standpoint of never wanting to own one, for several reasons I won't go into now. But obviously some people like them. That's why there are different kinds of products, because different people have different needs.

Wow, I didn't know. For O'Hare to be struggling with mental illness, and still be concerned about the rest of the cast, and for the show to continue, shows character like you seldom see anymore. And JMS trying to accomodate O'Hare where it was in his power to do so, even when it put the show at risk, shows integrity over and above what one would expect from the entertainment industry. Really puts today's spoiled, intolerant divas in a different light, doesn't it?

You're right. I was looking at it from a story arc perspective rather than a quality perspective.

I wonder if there is a way to reorder that fits the best episodes of season 5 in appropriate places in season 4. Then we could still get the "far in the future" ending, which was an excellent way to end the series.

I know it's difficult, but the series arc works better if you ignore season 5.

I was going to respond, but it's too easy a target.

> Fact is that micro pollutants are just now entering the threshold of human understanding

Or perhaps micro pollutants are just now entering the threshold of human measurement, and the News is reporting it because it's a new thing. (Hence the name.)

Perhaps, but with the understanding that part of your time will now be devoted to maintaining the automation you created.

Wow, that sounds like a similar problem I was having with a dlink router years ago. It worked like a champ until my connection was upgraded (from 15Mbps to 25 Mbps) and then it started regularly rebooting. I read online it was something to do with the router not being able to keep up with the speed of the modem, an overflow would occur, causing a router reboot. Replaced router, worked fine. Later used old dlink router when setting up DSL at mother-in-law's house, and it worked fine. Still in use now. If she ever switches to cable modem / fiber, it'll probably have to be replaced, though.

I'm not him, and this was years ago, but when I moved from Comcast to Speakeasy DSL, (lucked out and got 3Mbps over my phone lines -- the best Verizon could do was something like 750K) I also made the decision that I also didn't need the ubiquitous cable TV and unlimited long distance calling that was bundled in. The savings really was about $150/mo. But arguably, that's cheating, because fewer services. But not really cheating, because they were services I wasn't using.

Currently have fiber to the house and no cable TV at all, and pay a fraction (a sizable fraction, but a fraction nonetheless) of the bundles Comcast keeps trying to sell me.

> This video is nothing more than an ad.

I've watched it and I agree. That's even more insidious because it serves to reinforce the expectation that the car doesn't need someone reasonably alert in the driver's seat.