I'm with this guy. You punish AFTER you inform, and if you don't have traffic lights you don't have controlled intersections -- and that means you have chaos.

Anything you do will have to have government buy-in, or it's just plain ol' thuggery. (yes, you might wind up with just government-approved thuggery. But you also might end up with law and order.) Unless you're going to fundamentally change the nature of automobiles, you should start with basic traffic signals and road patterns. They are FAR cheaper and FAR more effective than some unevenly applied Orwellian scheme.

Funny, the cigarette companies felt the exact same way. And, in fact, I think they made the exact same argument. Hell, I think RAPISTS and CHILD MOLESTORS feel the same way. (And, yes, so do folk who get sued by the RIAA)

It's a fundamental component of liberty that, if you cannot come to a reasonable settlement with someone between the two of you, you can go to a court of law to have an impartial jury decide on what "reasonable settlement" you'll get.

The bar for just dismissing a case is VERY high, and should require either a lack of applicable law ("I'm sorry, but Bob has the right to call you stupid to your face"), or an impossibility of the facts ("you're alleging that Bob had UFO's brainwash your wife into leaving you?").

Companies intentionally getting customers addictive IS established as a tort in the law already (cigarettes!), so if you think this lawsuit should be thrown out you're claiming, what... that it's impossible for a video game to be addictive? People had died from playing video games, and there are thousands of stories of video game addiction. Are you claiming that Lineage II isn't that addictive? That NCSoft shouldn't be liable for the consequences of how they made their game? The first is a point of fact, and the second is a point of law. Both are supposed to be resolved, by a jury and judge in particular, AT TRIAL.

Go shout fire in a crowded theater. That's "psychologically manipulating" the crowd to panic. And then you're liable for any injuries that result.

Heck, it even works if we go for that mother-of-all libertarian examples, the 2nd amendment. You have an absolute right to own a gun. You have the right to keep it unlocked, loaded, and sitting on your desk in your home office while you're doing whatever. You even have the right to shoot it--but if you hit anything, you're 100% liable for what happens.

MMOs make their games intentionally addictive. Nothing wrong with that, per se, and there's no reason to formally regulate it. The basic rule of "be responsible for your actions" should apply here, and to the extent that NCSoft making Lineage II addictive caused this guy harm, they should be held accountable. But, he's also an adult, and needs to have at least SOME self-control.

Thankfully, we have an amazing system to decide how liable NCSoft is. It's called a trial, and the judge is letting that happen.

Monster Cable is intentional overcharging. Aren't they a subsidiary of Best Buy or something?

one SQL database? As in, one ginamic SQL database? yeah, that's a headache.

OTOH, one SQL database per "type" of data (i.e., "last summer's research.sql")? Hell yes. If it's not in a database, you need to spend the ten minutes to learn how to make one. MS Access exists for a reason, and this is it. It won't be a very pretty db, but it doesn't need to be -- it'll be indexed, searchable, and more or less protected.

The only reason NOT to put it into a relational database is if you have some system that's essentially a database already, and in that case you can just leave it as-is. (Microsoft's SharePoint, if the data's small and simple enough, is an example.)

Too complex. here's a MUCH better idea:

Automatic licensing for patents. If you have a patent, you need to have a set licensing rate for anyone else who wants to use it. Let's start at 10% of gross revenue, divided by the number of external patents included in the design. Manufacturers pay it as a tax to the fed, who forward it on (less a 1% processing fee) to the tax account of the holder of the patent.

We reward innovation, allow businesses to use patents for competitive edges, fund the patent office, and prohibit the "I don't want anyone to use this" patent ideas. And we can also allow alternate arrangements, if someone wants to give a better deal (i.e., the standard "you use our patents, we use yours, we're all OK" patent-sharing agreements.)

There are no absolutes.

1 + 1 does not always equal exactly 2. Depending how how precise your measures are, you may wind up with a value somewhere between 1 (0.50 + 0.50) and 2.98 (1.49 + 1.49).

You will, of course, wind up with a value greater than either of the numbers you began with, so there IS relative value. But no absolutes.

No, the limitations of the iPad are largely things other than transistor size. The iPad's weight, resolution, and heat are all limitations of the DEVICE, not the people using it. (Not to mention fragility, cost, and the need to design an app before you start doing something with it. [Pen and paper needs no OS] )

Don't take this the wrong way, but... you and you wife are idiots.

I have no idea how to do my wife's job, but I understand it, and in a pinch I could probably do the basics. She doesn't know how to do MY job, but she also understands it--and even does some in a pinch for her own hobbies.

You trying to explain to your wife what you do and failing is not an indicator that it's generally a bad idea. Hell, Occam's @#Q$Ring Razor suggests that, when a teacher fails to teach a student, the probably most likely lies in either the student or the teacher, not the basic idea of teaching.

Hawking's a moron.

If your society travels between the stars, you can get all that want from ANY star. Solar power, fission, and raw materials are all at least as easy to find just floating in space (or on a random planet) as they are on an inhabited planet -- and anyone who's ever done ANYTHING with their hands knows that it's better to grab the raw materials that don't have random organic gunk all over them.

Unless, of course, Star Trek is right, and all aliens are essentially just like us. But I think that backs up my previous statement.

Better idea: just negotiate this in their next contract. Any union worth its membership dues will recognize the occasionally necessity of layoffs, and be willing to trade a "no layoffs" policy for a fair layoffs policy. (ideally, one that spells out what criteria are used, and places laid off workers in a "hire back" list.)

NY state workers are almost all unionized, and the only reason that we haven't had any layoffs is that Paterson is a short-sighted moron, who made a dumb deal with the unions last year and tried to do something not addressed in the contract this year. (We ARE making ready for layoffs at the end of the year, when Paterson's moronic deal runs out.)

Forget that! If we're imagining magic boxes, let's hook up all those lightning rods to a magic box that holds the power from the lightning strike, and then sends it out in bits and pieces...

Each piece of data has a 10% chance of being necessary. For any given sample, 1/10th of them will be necessary.

Now, a MUCH more useful set of data is probability over time. 1/10 within 10 years? 5 years? 1 week?

No, that's a corporation's fiduciary purpose. What their "job" is depends entirely on who you are.

If you work for a corporation, their job is to keep you dutifully employed.

If you supply a corporation, or sell its goods, their job is to buy the things you make or making the things you sell.

If you're a government, then a corporation's job is to improve the life of your citizenry, by engaging in a healthy marketplace.

And if you're a CUSTOMER of that corporation... well, then their job is to make you happy, and F- them if they forget it.

Which is why they don't care about you.