Again, my statement was not in direct relation to the rental of vehicles. Rather it cherry-picked the aforementioned quote to offer a broader sense of what is or isn't just.

That said, I do indeed think you would be a fool to hand your keys over to anyone that you didn't not personally know and trust. Barring that, you would certainly be a fool for providing access to your property (via rental) to someone whom is in this country illegally. They almost assuredly have falsified documentation and would leave you with little legal recourse were something to happen to your vehicle.

No, my reply was in reference to the grandparent's statement, just as yours' seemed to be.

I wouldn't hand over the keys to my car to any stranger, let alone the majority of my friends and family. Race or legal status would have very little addition bearing on the situation, if any.

My first thought was: Why even go into a McDonald's? They're disgusting enough in the States, let alone when surrounded by the plethora of fine dining throughout Paris. It just stinks of consumer conditioning, frankly.

My second thought was: This guy is a coward. Why would he show off his medical papers to every asshole who looked at him funny? He can explain the presence of the glasses, their use, and move on. Unless it's airport security or something, no one really needs to see his doctor's excuse. Following up on that, this guy allowed himself to be manhandled, his device potentially damaged, and then just stands around talking and snapping picture for passive aggressive internet rants later? Please. Those minimum-wage fucks should have had their asses kicked. That right there is what's wrong with the world and exactly why people think they can do the things they do... because no one stops them.

Unfortunately, the statement is more true than not. I've volunteered within a few different social service and public assistant roles over the years. When looking for assistance on things like housing/heating/food, the government forms all state very boldly that a lack of citizenship or legal residency will not necessarily disqualify you. I'm not a bigot, but as a taxpayer it disturbs me to see welfare programs abused to the extent they are... let alone by illegal immigrants.

real first-person-shooters nowadays. I recall a time when Quake and Unreal ruled the scene, where skill and accuracy mattered, and you could create and download free content to your heart's content... Then consoles hit it big with frat boys across the world, who think that the genre began with Halo.

Do your Mom a favor and tell her you just want some nice pants for your birthday. Don't make her waste $70 buying you some shit military "sim" each year. She has to work for that stuff, 'yknow?

After they completely ruined TechTV? You're part of the problem.

You'd be missing out on all of Rupaul's shows by not having the Logo channel. :(

By 2050—earlier, probably—all real knowledge of Oldspeak will have disappeared. The whole literature of the past will have been destroyed. Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton, Byron—they'll exist only in Newspeak versions, not merely changed into something different, but actually contradictory of what they used to be. Even the literature of the Party will change. Even the slogans will change. How could you have a slogan like "freedom is slavery" when the concept of freedom has been abolished? The whole climate of thought will be different. In fact there will be no thought, as we understand it now. Orthodoxy means not thinking—not needing to think. Orthodoxy is unconsciousness.

The system doesn't want to be fixed. It is, of course, setup that way on purpose. Sometimes it is better to just start over than it is to try to fix something broken beyond repair. If voting actually had the power to change anything, it would most certainly be illegal.

They should have, but then the FBI would not have had unobstructed access to all information flowing through their new DNS servers...

My sentiments exactly.

I'm in southern Ohio and my area got hit pretty bad by the storms. While my internet and mobile phone were out for a couple of days, my electricity stayed on throughout. However, there are people just a few miles down the road that did lose power and still don't have it back. The response time is pathetic, but easily solved by increasing staff. The real problem is that a fucking wind storm knocked an entire region back to the stone age in under an hour. Our infrastructure is so poorly maintained that all it takes is something like this (or the more likely ice storm) to bring it all crashing down. That is completely inexcusable for a first world nation that can somehow spends trillions of dollars on unjust wars instead.

I use the Start Menu a lot. In fact, I never pin apps. I have that ugly taskbar disabled. I prefer to have three or four icons on my Quick Launch bar. Everything else is neatly filed away within the Start Menu.

My god, am I ever glad that Game of Thrones didn't end up being as boring as Lord of the Rings... tits or no tits.

Cut the cord! Subscription television is ridiculously overpriced and saddled with more advertising than content. There is rarely even anything on worth watching. Set yourself up a new media box (Boxee, Roku, GoogleTV, custom HTPC, etc) and enjoy everything you want without accidentally slipping into channel surfer mode. You'll enjoy life a lot more the less television you take in. :)

What should go with? I love my Boxee Box. It's quick and easy to set up. It gives you that "set top" feel. It has great options for local and network playback. It has a lot of options for streaming as well (but with some notable exceptions, like Hulu and, I believe, Amazon). The interface is absolutely beautiful and the remote control is even kind of cool. Couple it with a basic Netflix subscription and a health dose of torrents and you'll be all set.

Quickly proven right after seeing how terrible both DS9 and ENT were with their war story arcs.