Like Calvins (and Hobbes') dad, you'll go into the future kicking and screaming :)

Careful with the generalizations. In Belgium and likely many other countries around Europe we build a lot with bricks and stone. Like the saying goes, a Belgian is born with a brick in his stomache.

Not all countries ruthlessly save costs when it comes to building. I bought my first house two years ago, since then I've laminated one floor (because it was a horrible salmon covered tile) and remove all the laminate on another level because there's a beautiful hardwood floor under it in dark brown. Just treat it with a good oil and then ship's varnish over it twice and you're good for 10 years ... Hardly like my dog is going to 'ruin' my floor.

I've had hardwood at my parents too, lived there 20 years, they for 30, all the time with at least 2 dogs, sometimes a cat. Just treat your damn floor, it doesn't take a lot of work (at all) and it pays off.

Personally I'd rather spent twice the amount for a house that will last until 2100, with a proper foundation, solid walls and proper floors. If I wanted to live in a glorified cartboard box with plastic coverings, I'd go camping.

It's far too early to already conclude that reqained functionality is minimal or not worth the risk.

The human nerve system could be compared to the central phone systems of a long time ago where you had an operator that would connect you (where your line inserted) to where you wanted to go by just replugging your cable.

The human or animal body does much the same. It will check what the connections are, and over time optimise them or redirect them if their function has changed.

This was proven a long time ago on some type of animal, I forgot which but it was some mammal (sadly, references are missing too), where they swapped the connections of the legs in the nerve system. It only took the dogs a couple of days to naturally adapt and they would no longer notice the difference. The same goes for the eyes btw, the connections in our brain are reversed, it's assumed that very early one babies see everything upside down (like you do in a camera, it's the same effect of lenses causing it (a lens swaps the image)) but the brain just compensates, redirects and you no longer notice it.

If for some medical reason, it swaps (and it has occured), the brain will take a couple of days to compensate and then adjust to the 'new normal'.

Hopefully for the person who underwent the surgery, he'll see an improvement soon ...

Correction: you can't play in the US realm. You can in the Asian and European.

Isn't it 10 characters per realm, there being three realms: EU, US and APJ?

That would bring it to 30 characters (though you have to switch your realm in Battle.NET account management).

Has anyone tried this? (I'm only assuming this because with the login servers down, you can just switch to US or APJ and play there (while EU is down during primetime)).

FJ.

No idea what the situation is in the Unites States, but if you want to be a psychiatrist, in most countries, you'll need your medical degree (the one where you put Dr. before your name) and then a specialization in psychiatry or neurology.

If of course you meant you wanted to work as a psychologist, therapist, etc. that shouldn't be a problem.

Degrees and likewise have little impact for most jobs, except to act as a foot-in-the-door mechanism or a minimum requirement to get you into the job interview. This you can avoid by being a bit more assertive, going to HR, or bypassing HR, and fixing it like that. For jobs that require a medical degree however, that generally (like I said, don't know the US situation) doesn't apply. (with reason, you don't want someone prescribing you any kind of drugs without them having done a complete and thorough study of them ...)

Again the assumption that you need a keyboard to 'create'. I've created tons of hours of music, never used a keyboard ...

Like you had to say goodbye to your old typewriter when there was this new kid on the block who said you had to use a computer now because it was hip. And all the people who were used to the 'old way' went into the future, kicking and screaming.

We'll see that all over again now ...

Would you rather we put them on the chopin block?

Exactly. That's what a car dealer is for.

Hi. I want this car, but I want those tires on it, not the standard ones. Most (if not all car dealers that have half a brain) will offer you a deal for the tires, either replacing them for free (if it's cheaper) or trying to sell you a package that includes those tires (more likely) or at the very least offer to put on the other tires for the difference in price (not very likely, I'd just go elsewhere and get them for free ...).

The analogy doesn't really work for tires. Now if you were to say you want a BMW, but a Chevrolet engine in it, and then sue BMW for not being able to provide you with a Chevy engine ...

Watch out! Didn't you see the dept?!

Really? Interesting. I've worked 80hrs+ in a week a couple of times in the past, but for me when I entered my hours I usually saw it was more 3-4 18 hr days and then overall slacking. Ah ... good times ...

Carriers are dumb pipes in many EU countries. Lockins are forbidden in several EU countries, as well as packaged deals where you buy a contract and get a phone for free.

Sure, there's a 1 euro smartphone, but nobody buys it. Everybody buys their smartphone, and then switch contract every 6 months to suit their needs :)

I had a very old Nokia for ages, that even when I replaced it with the phone I got when I started working, that had a battery that could go for 'at least' one week. I used it solely for calling and messages, which is all it could do too, no camera, no colour screen, nada! Loved it ...

Then I got my first iPhone, a 3G, battery life was down, I left Bluetooth, Wifi, 3G on all the time. I was constantly interacting with the phone which as anybody with an app-ridden iPhone knows, kills your battery in terms of minutes to one hour ...

Then I adapter to how to use a phone that can do a lot, just dumb it down a bit. Bluetooth I never use, so that's constantly off. At night I turn it off, as I don't need the radiation next to my head (and I do use it as my backup alarm clock so ...), 3G I turn off when I'm at the office, since I'm usually at my laptop, same for Wifi, which is almost never on. And on top of that, I dim the screen ever so slightly.

Combine that with a charger in my car, I have a daily recharge in the evenings, which suits me fine.

Battery life of my telephone isn't important that way, it's always working when I need it, I tend not to forget charging it, so I really don't bother.

Conclusion: I don't know what to answer here, what is the expectancy of my phone with one full charge? No idea, I'm not waiting till it runs out of juice, to charge it ... I bet it could be anywhere between one of three days for the 4G I have now. But who knows ... and more importantly, who cares.

Brilliant ending to that ridiculously hostile post.