I agree with you that the parents have made an unforgivable mistake. However, the loss of their daughter is punishment enough. Their lives will already never be the same and I suspect that the grief they are dealing with is far worse than any punishment they may receive from a jail sentence. Why break up a family (they have another child) to sate YOUR rage?

No. Or your child (or other loved one) may die and you'll have to live with the repercussions for the rest of your life.

The Microsoft designs are all still prototypes. I would say that one of the two companies have "introduced" a multi-touch mouse. The other is currently researching a way to copy it (as always) and quite possibly playing with themselves. This design makes it look like you are holding a nutsack

On the bright side, I have a magic mouse now and will say that it really is a whole new (awesome) experience.

If I could, I would have modded you up. Instead, I'll add this anecdotal evidence:

Many moons ago (maybe in 2004), I was working on developing customizations to the SAP Enterprise Portal for my employer. We had a set of requirements to theme it to look a certain way (among alot of Java functionality to write). I went through ALL of the documentation and scoured the Internet for anything that I could find. All that I could come up with was how to change colors and the header background image. No information on how to set images (for gradients on menus, etc.). We finally caved and called SAP who very kindly sent us a consultant from Germany for the low low price or $280 per hour. Having spent weeks working with him, I got to know him and we got to talking. They often purposely leave stuff out of the manuals so that you have to call them as a way to drive consulting revenue.

Fucking infuriating.

Yes, watching Iron Man has given you many false impressions. To address this:

Do you mean like this guy: Linus Torvalds It started with something small:

Its douche-bags like you that help to keep the general population convinced that they are incapable of anything special. News flash: Everyday people, with dedication, determination, hard work, and the proper application of intelligence and education are capable of doing huge things. The people working for the DoD are the same CS and EE majors working at IBM, OnStar, and Verizon.

You are either delusional or full of crap. They are nothing alike.

This is the result from Bing:

News about Why is Windows so expensive
Why are Mac's So Expensive? - Yahoo! Answers
why so expensive?. - Games for Windows Live
Why are vinyl windows so expensive? who provides them cheapest ...
Why are vinyl windows so expensive? who provides them cheapest? Find answers to this and many other questions on Trulia Voices, a community for you to find and share local ...
Why are windows hosting providers so expensive? - Community Server
Community Server is the platform that powers rich blogging, discussions, and sharing web communities.
Why are Macbooks so expensive? - Yahoo! Answers
WikiAnswers - Why are Apple Macs so expensive
Apple and Mac question: Why are Apple Macs so expensive? Macs are no more expensive ... can save money by buying more advanced parts for a windows computer. Also, they are expensive ...
Windows Embedded Blog : Why is OSS Commercial Software So Expensive?
Why are Macs so expensive? - TechSpot Troubleshooting
Why are Macs so expensive?
Why are Macs so expensive? techradar.com â" There are some good reasons not to choose a Mac when you ... If I feel like Sony are charging too much for a Laptop with Windows I can get a ...
Why fish is so expensive! - Windows Live


This is the result from Google:

Why Windows Vista and Office 2007 are so Expensive  The Firefox ...
Is Windows getting more expensive? - CNET News
Windows 7 to be âoemore expensiveâ than Vista, XP
Writing on the Wall: Why Windows is so expensive
Why are vinyl windows so expensive? who provides them cheapest ...
Omfg Vista Is so Expensive - Windows Vista and Windows 7
Why are HDTV wall mounts so expensive?
Why is the IBM thinkpad x301 laptop so expensive with mediocre ...
Why are Macs so expensive? | News | TechRadar UK
Gizmodo - The World's Most Expensive Copy of Windows XP - XP


I am not sure how you got modded +5 insightful, but the only article in common is the "Why are Macs so expensive?" from TechRadar. Microsoft's results are obviously significantly skewed. I would encourage you to "get the facts"!

Its called "growing up". I was that kid in elementary school and junior high. By high school, you learn how stuff works and have ways of dealing with it. Regardless of that, schools have rules about harassing other students. Enforce those and stop trying to change a country's fundamental laws by invoking the "think of the children" clause.

Frankly, I am grateful to have had those experiences. Those same assholes from the playground exist in the workforce, bars, movie theaters, and just about anywhere you could go. Now I know how to recognize and deal with them.

Web, you keep using this word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

Of the technologies you listed above, the following: email, ftp, and instant messaging all fall squarely under the term "Internet", not web (although some of them have a web front end grafted on). Arguably, live video, games, and television fall into the same category. Word processing is something that should have been left on the desktop. Photo galleries, in terms of sharing data, are good candidates for the web. Flash should just die already and I wish forums were still mostly in Usenet.

Don't be fooled by the "it's mainly for web browsing spin"? It seemed pretty clear to me. Google's direction all along has been to move applications from the desktop to the web (which in many cases, in my opinion, is a stupid idea).

Google actually states: 'For application developers, the web is the platform. All web-based applications will automatically work and new applications can be written using your favorite web technologies. And of course, these apps will run not only on Google Chrome OS, but on any standards-based browser on Windows, Mac and Linux thereby giving developers the largest user base of any platform.'

Their comments about giving developers the largest user base of any platform are complete bullshit. Web developers already have that user base and not every application should be ported to run in a browser. At first, I cringed a little when I heard that they were getting pulled into an anti-trust investigation. Now I feel better about it. I have always had an uneasy feeling about an advertising company being able to gather and broker as much information about someone as they do. For Christ's sake, they archive, search, and use your EMAIL to develop more targeted ads. The idea that my entire OS could/would gather everything it could on me scares the crap out of me.

I realize I am sort of rambling, but I have two main points:
1) Not every app belongs on the web. In fact, most do not.
2) I am not comfortable with an advertising company being so in control of all of our private data. An earlier commenter pointed out what a big "win" this would be for corporations looking to deploy thin clients. How much of a "win" will it be to have Google searching, indexing, and archiving all of your company's sensitive documentation, all in the name of building better advertisements?

To an extent, I agree with you. However, the problem remains that we live in a society where this kind of thing could happen. The bottom line is that TSA should not have had to read through his papers to ascertain that he was not a threat (nor should they have a right to). They very fact that there was a stunt to pull off is indicative of a problem with our society's acceptance of what rights authority has in our personal lives.

I see your point, but it is not exactly a false dichotomy. Take what Facebook is doing and contrast that with what Microsoft is doing with Bing. In the case of Facebook, you have another company who is executing a business plan based on their vision of how the world should be. Microsoft on the other hand is busily trying to emulate what Google is doing in hopes of catching up, gaining market share, and increasing revenue.

Because of how quickly the Internet evolves, grows, and new ideas are hatched, Microsoft will continually being playing catch up. I can't wait to see what their answer to Facebook will be. Maybe something really snazzzy like "Social Interwebs Friendly Home Edition". Their continual state of trying to emulate what people are doing in a dynamic environment makes me sleep better at night.

All that said, I agree with you. I think ultimately, both Facebook and Google will be around and have to live with each other. However, they may not each like it ;-)

Define "regular" climates? Deserts make up between 20% (hot) to 35% (hot and cold) percent of the worlds land mass. I would consider either of those numbers to be pretty "regular". Having lived in both climates myself, we need to stop thinking as either of them being the "norm". "Think globally, act locally" has never meant more.

Great! For safety reasons, we'll just make them bigger, longer, sit multiple people, and ride on tracks. Will that work for you?

This "web browser for everything" cloud model keeps coming up. It will not work. Again.

Reason 1: As soon as the "cloud" is unavailable, you are screwed.

Reason 2: It does nothing for anyone who has real work to do. People still need to do complex design documents including diagrams, charts, tables, etc. Why would I want to spend time in one app (ArgoUML, Dia, Viso) creating a diagram to then upload it to a browser so it can be in the final doc product?

Reason 3: For anything more serious than a shopping list, I do not trust an advertising company to be the primary repository for my data.

Shouldn't you be off saving lives instead of posting to Slashdot? /hypocrite

I know, I know. I need to get back to work too ;-)