I always think first and foremost as a technology consumer and lover. Like all of us who appreciate the quality of Apple products, I have mixed feelings. I grew up with core values of openness and sharing of technology. When I ran dial-a-joke it was illegal to own, use or purchase your own telephone or answering machine. You couldn't connect anything to the phone jack except that which you leased from AT&T. You had little choice and there was no room for outside innovators. We techies all said this was a bad thing. You probably see the parallel.

Let's look at Apple. Apple's real rise from the small market-share Macintosh company to the iProducts of today began with iTunes and the iPod. This turned out to be a 2nd huge business which roughly doubled Apple's 'size'. If you remember, we ported iTunes to Windows. We now addressed 100% of the world's market with this integrated system (iPod/iTunes) and it began the era of Apple that we are now in. So why don't we port iTunes to Android? Did something get closed up? I love Apple products and iTunes and wish it were on my Android products too.

I don't have time to get into this far because I'm in the middle of 5 conference calls today and have a ton of engineering submissions to judge for an award and some iPhones to exchange so I'm sorry if things are going slowly here on Slashdot.

Too many jokes to have a favorite. Your quote reminds me of a Blue Collar comedy response to the answer "make lemonade." Ron White said he wanted to find the person whose life gave them vodka."

I had favorite jokes in the days before PC but they were mostly Polish jokes. The Polish American Congress, inc. threatened me with lawsuits for defaming Polish people. I asked if it was ok to tell them as Italian jokes instead and they said, "fine."

I told a joke at the Engineering graduation at U. Colorado, Boulder once to point out how people don't think logically. Q: What do you call four Mexicans in Quicksand? A: Quatro cinco (sinko). It doesn't stereotype or demean Mexicans. It's a funny use of words. But I got told that I had offended 400 people.

When I took foreign languages I tried to get to the point where I could make a joke all in that language. Japanese words were so different than ours that I thought I'd never be able to construct a joke that any American would get. Then we learned that the word for umbrella was kasa. The next class day I was walking to class with my son and it started sprinkling. I pulled out my umbrella and said "mi casa su casa." (kasa).

A lot of things about me don't get filtered. My wife at the time, in early Apple days, was in Eastern Star. If I became a Freemason I could go to more events with her. I did become a Freemason and know what it's about but it doesn't really fit my tech/geek personality. Still, I can be polite to others from other walks of life. After our divorce was filed I never attended again but I did contribute enough for a lifetime membership. There is nothing wrong with the Freemasons. It's like any group or religion or cult with various rituals. They may make no sense to many but they are fun for those who participate. There's no real political or institutional standing that can impress values on others, but I couldn't say that Freemasonry has explicit values beyond what any member perceives.

Same as always my whole life. It's the fun 'toy' aspect of technology. I would take my kids to carnivals and spend $40 throwing darts or $40 tossing ping pong balls. Now we just download an app at home or on the sidewalk and it's free or nearly free and benefits our lives and leads us to love our technology, so the toys we adults have are very inexpensive!

Back in the days when we bought parts and built our own devices there was great variation. Not many in a single school had that 'build' life. And most of it was constructing kits according to instruction, not creating new things yourself. So if you built your own things from nothing but a goal, you were unusual when young. The same thing is the case today, with the Make crowd, formal and informal. It may not be reduced. It's just that the simplicity of the early days is gone so to us who have lived through it, things are not similar and available to all.

Humans all have similar brains, and the inner tinkerer refers to a slice of our brains. On the average, I believe that it's fairly constant, this slice. If there is less room to build something impressive enough to motivate you, then the creativity looks for other outlets, like outstanding Facebook pages, blogs, YouTube videos, etc.

This "well known fact" is news to me.

I have not applied for Australian citizenship but have taken some first steps towards it. I would very gladly be a devoted and loyal Australian. This has nothing to do with the NBN, which I do praise in concept, regardless of whether it even exists. I would love to be an Australian even with lower bandwidth like I have today in the States. I do applaud any attempts toward inclusion of all. For things as important as broadband, we should deal with our fellows as family and take care of those who just live in the wrong place. That's my personal opinion but it has nothing to do with why I would love to reside in Australia.

Cheers, mates