Because if they didn't, employers would try even harder to rectally penetrate their employees. Freedom doesn't include the freedom to shaft others EVEN IF you have the power. Unless you live in a third world warzone; go ahead and move there if you think it's so great.

Believe it or not, not all employers are out to screw their employees. Besides, if you, knowing the cost and benefits, choose to work for an employer - why should you be entitled to more.

Or, on a more macro level - either you are worth what you are paid, or you are not - this includes opportunity cost (what others will work for). If you are worth what you are being paid, why do you need protection. If you aren't worth what you are being paid, what right do you have to force your employer to subsidize you (I'm looking at you, unions).

We hire good people, and we pay them very well. They are worth it, and they earn it. If they weren't, we'd fire them. That's not "screwing the employee", that's running a business.

In other words, you'd spend a lot of money and effort re-producing all the things naturally provided by the rest of the cow.

True, but it would remove some of the ethical concerns. If you take a few cells from me, I am not dead (nor necessarily harmed). If you were to grow that into tissue, then eat it - I am not harmed, and it lacks sentience, so you aren't killing anything, nor causing pain to something that can feel pain.

As a nice side effect, it could be legal to eat many things that otherwise really shouldn't be - endangered species, human, etc. There might actually be some money in it. Depending on the personal beliefs, it would also make meat available to some vegetarians, and some vegans. If the reason for not eating meat is the exploitation of the animal, a small tissue sample followed by a life of free-ranging would be acceptable to some people.

As for me, I eat meat - we have chickens, cows, a goat, etc. We eat eggs, dairy products, but I have no problem with eating meat. That being said, given the choice between meat that resulted in the death of an animal, and meat that didn't - I would choose the meat that didn't, even if it came at a (reasonable) premium. No, I won't pay $100/oz, but I would be willing to pay 50% more to reduce the amount of suffering involved in the process.

Also, if such a system were built - the nutrients could be more tightly controlled - would make certain types of changes (for flavor and/or nutrition) easier.

Plus unless they changed something DirectX is kind of a pain to get on a Windows Server OS so I don't think you can even get Aero on there.

Add roles and features, "Desktop Experience". Install DirectX using the standard installer.

Apparently, Server 2008 makes a very stable client OS when all the server gumph has been disabled and Aero installed.

Typing this on a server 2008 box right now. You don't need to disable server "gumph" - by default, it doesn't install stuff. In fact, the main changes that are needed are installing things - DirectX, Desktop Experience, Aero.

It's easy, and runs very nicely. A search for "windows 2008 workstation" can get you on the right track.

The only real downside is that some programs (Antivirus programs, really) want you to run server versions. Onecare, norton, etc. It can be a little more expensive to get an antivirus.

The overhead is not so bad if the decoders are done in an efficient manner.

I used to run around with a IPAQ 1910 (46mb available ram total, 300 MHz. It could do full screen, full motion decoding w/ OGG (128-192kbps) and MPEG-4 at the same time.

There are very few modern MP3 devices which _don't_ have sufficient horsepower to decode ogg, yet can handle MP3s.

And, as for secrets, is there any one of us who doesn't carry a TON of those around with them?

Actually, I decided to stop doing that a while ago. And there were certainly a lot of secrets I was carrying.

It's been interesting talking with my family, and my boss. Dishonesty and secrecy have been crutches I used to avoid facing the issues, and many of them were making me unhappy.

So far, my family hasn't disowned me, and I still have my job. And yeah, I came out and told my boss that he's been an idiot, and explained the specifics, and how he should fix things. Heck, I even told him that he should have fired me years ago - I've been very overpaid, and do a wonderful job of shifting blame.

I still have my job, but I'm working to earn my pay. My boss still does some stupid things, but he does them less often, and we work through them. My family still has issues, but we can talk about it and work things out.

For the first time that I can remember, I'm happy.

I am in a small company, which helps, and I am a director in the company (though I typically don't function in that capacity).

Secrets suck - if you can't be honest with the people around you, something is wrong. If I needed to lie to my boss on a regular occasion, I would start my own company, or look for employment elsewhere.

Firefox is not a replacement either, because it does not implement any of the interfaces that the IE framework does (even though they could go to MSDN and implement them, but we're talking about a lot of work here.)

You mean something like this?

It's not complete, but it does most of the basic stuff. In fact, it even includes a patcher to switch third-party apps from IE to FF:

In the current state of the Mozilla control, it is possible to run the IEPatcher tool on existing binaries and have them run using the Mozilla control.

So, setting up elaborate structures to avoid being convicted of, say, murder, is also acceptable in your eyes?

Acceptable and legal are two separate things.

Besides, sometimes the taxes are _designed_ to change behavior - so-called "sin" taxes, for example. Tariffs on imports can drive up the price of foreign goods to make domestic goods better able to compete.

You can't have it both ways - pass taxes designed to change behavior, then complain when taxes change behavior.

Just read an article on CNBC about how graduating in a recession will hurt your earnings potential for as much as 20 years... I'd recommend staying in school til things recover.

I recognize that this is the internet, and everyone is a "rocket surgeon", so I will leave you only with my assertion that my research is extensive, my credentials sufficient to say this without hesitation, and without reservation.

The current economic situation is a natural consequence of unhealthy social and economic policies - CDSes, Derivatives, SIVs, "growth" without regards to fundamentals, etc. For anyone who has really been paying attention, this was obvious - I've known (and told people) that this was going to happen for the past 4 years. When the system is fundamentally unsustainable, it's not surprising that we are having difficulties sustaining it.

We are in the process of corrections - a fundamental revaluing of risk, of assets, of policies. People are discovering that things simply aren't worth what they thought they were, and coming to grips (or being dragged kicking and screaming) with the consequences of such.

The unfortunate thing is that there is still a significant amount of "crap" in the system, and working through it will take years and years. This isn't something that's over in 2 years, or even 4.

The most sensible policy at this point is to plan accordingly - figure out what's important to you, and honestly determine if your actions will help you achieve them. If more education is what you need to get the right job, by all means, go for it! OTOH, sometimes the answer is to get a part time job, cut back on spending, and save everything you can - you can't live on student loans forever.

Rather OT, but are you actively working on the "Custom-TF Improvement Project"?

Anywhere it's legal for a male to go topless it should also be legal for women to do the same.

Yep, double standards suck. Few people want to see the fat guy in the Speedo, with the DDs, and I would make the case that it's quite indecent. They should be required to wear a shirt, too.

IE 6 is obsolete. If you know anyone with IE6, upgrade them so the web 2.0 can really mean 2.0 and not 2.0 "beta".

All things considered, I consider IE7 a serious downgrade from IE6. At least they provided a update blocker to avoid automatic "upgrades".

- It works. Quickly. Almost everywhere. If I wanted a browser that followed standards, I'd use FF (I do).
- I hate tabs. With a passion. Yes, you can turn them off in IE7, but it's a pain.
- There is nothing wrong with a Menu bar at the top, and an address bar at the bottom. It's been the standard forever, and I find it aesthetically pleasing. Alt-tab/alt-` does a wonderful job of switching between windows, and I happen to like the way (on windows) the alt-tab order is kept. It makes it very easy to switch between a browser and some other application - juggling tasks, instead of juggling windows in the same application.

Yeah, I can force IE7 to look like IE6 with some poorly documented registry hacks, but why would I want to?

As for better "web 2.0" support, I run around (in FF) with NoScript, Adblock, etc. HTML/CSS is a wonderful way to mark up content - if I wanted applications, I'd download and run them.

Finally! Someone who mirrors my shorts-in-every-season dress style.

So I'm not alone!

My legs don't really get cold. I've been perfectly comfortable with snow boots, a heavy coat, and shorts - I'm quite comfortable.

I don't know why it bothers people so much.

I had heard horror stories before about CFLs, and had no clue what the problem was. I've always used the GE Daylight bulbs.

I picked up a bunch at IKEA - now I know. They take forever to warm up, the light is awful, and they died very quickly.

I've been using them for years, and the light level is quite comfortable. I had one of them die this whole time - the bulb got smashed (they aren't as strong as most incandescent. Oh well.

And no, I'm not a paid shill for GE :)