This is fantastic. The United States doesn't have a water scarcity problem. We have a water distribution problem. Arizona had a ridiculously wet spring. Virtually all reservoirs were filled to 100% capacity. Yet, not a single price drop for water or homeowners. California had a similar wet spring. All the fresh water dumped back into the ocean.

There is no water problem. We need more of this water distribution efforts.

Don't worry. It's settled.

The only reason to use SMS/MMS is because you know everyone has it. All you need is their phone number. You don't need to know which platform they are using and you don't have to convince everyone you know to switch to something different. We need that same level of ubiquity that supports larger attachments, encryption, read receipts, etc. It's precisely what Google is trying to accomplish with RCS. But it's slow going because 1. The carriers are slow to implement, 2. 50% of the phones are iPhones and they are actively avoiding it for no apparent reason other than protecting iMessage. And 3. For similar reasons as Apple, many messaging systems would be completely unnecessary (What's App, FB Messenger, Signal, Telegram, etc). So I'm pretty sure those folks are actively lobbying against RCS also.

I hope Google succeeds.

No. You just want everyone to be as miserable as you are.

I don't buy that argument. Physical laws are not preventing us from creating 100K times the energy needed in the world. It's just political, ideological, and financial pressures in the way. What bugs me is instead of focusing on those issues, the activists parade around on their ideological pedestal yelling about how everyone else has to change the way they live. Demand problems are rarely (if ever) solved by telling people to live with less than what they already have. Especially when demand is increasing exponentially.

It always amazes me how whenever activists talk about climate, pollution, diet, etc, all they come up with is how to make your life more miserable. Do you drive a nice comfortable SUV that easily transports your family to wherever you need to go? Fuck You! You need a shitty, miserable, tiny electric car to do the same. Do you have a nice air-conditioned home with a pool to get through the hot days? Fuck you! Acclimate yourself and turn off your AC in the name of climate change. Do you enjoy cheeseburgers and pizza and are generally happy with your life? Fuck You!!! You must eat whole-grain vegan shit and suffer like the rest of us.

I'm not suggesting we never think about these types of things. Recycle when you can, it'll help. Ok cool. Turn your lights off when you're not using them. Perfectly fine. But people insisting you have to give up what you love for goals that are practically impossible are looking at the wrong problem. Devot as much time to improving AC or generating new power that's on par with what we have now or better, and you'll be the worlds hero.

Or you could just let people decide what they want to eat. Burger King is delicious.

It's only binding in Canada if he included the "eh" after the thumbs up.

It's not a hyperbolic question. Why are hiring practices any different from any other freedom? If I don't like someone, FOR WHATEVER REASON, why should I be forced to hire them? It's so counterintuitive. And if you do hire someone you don't like, isn't that simply forced charity, by the government?

Uggh. This again.

The taxpayers didn't "pay" for anything. The company lost money on the project. Why would you pay tax on money you didn't earn?

I recently created a 30GB zip file of all the digital drm-free music I had ever purchased/downloaded. Meticulously organized with proper file names, folders, album art, metadata, etc. I'm not much into piracy, but I offered up the zip file to my circle of friends and relatives. Not a single person wanted it. And not because it was my taste in music, but because they all said they pay for Spotify. And it's all on there anyway.

And honestly, I don't use the collection that much either. Even with it all available on my home Sonos system, we all still use Spotify to play songs rather than playing it from the library. I equate this to the rise of cameras in phones. The best camera is the one you have with you. It's pretty much the same for music and media in general. And nowadays, the streaming services are always with you.

It 100% works. You don't have to be ignorant to have a preference. Preferring to be around people who share your culture and values isn't some racist, bigoted thing. People cherish their culture and values. And celebrate them. When outsiders tell them they have to change their ways, it's problematic.

A wonderful utopian idea. Unfortunately, we've seen that doesn't work.

This is precisely how it should be. If you don't like the people around you, and the people around you don't like you, it's probably time to move. Why liberals insist on "converting" people who don't want to be converted is beyond maddening. Same for conservatives. It's a free country. Surround yourself with people you want to be around. Disruption of that is what causes all the problems.

I'm probably in the minority of people who was disappointed that MS backed off their original vision for XBox One. The Kinect, while not perfect, was pretty great at many things. Voice commands to turn on/off. Auto-recognizing players. An integrated media strategy to search availability of movies and which platforms offered them. Cable TV and over the air TV guide. Even some of the games were pretty good and kept me and my family entertained hands free in the living room. The idea of "input one" was awesome.

But the idea was destroyed by a handful of elite gaming reviews. Mocked for trying to bring non-gamers into the gaming world (a business second place Nintendo has been doing for years). It's a shame really. Had developers embraced Kinect and Kinect 2, the integration into the living room could have been really special. But instead, we remain with a hodge podge of connected gadgets to our TV's. Shitty streaming (fire, roku, apple tv, etc). Built in shit from the tv (google). And separate gaming devices (Playstation, Xbox, Nintendo) that are 100 times more powerful than any of the other crap connected.

When I look at all the arguments at the time, it's even more depressing. The "camera in your home...OMG" evolved to Alexa, Google Home, Apple Face Recognition recording and listening to you all the time. Walled gardens of shit where you have zero idea of how/where to watch anything these days.

The vision for the original XBox One was the right one. But like many MS errors, just a bit ahead of its time.