>> Amazon...Amazon...Amazon...

Is someone just pissed they didn't get hired?

>> Orbital tracking indicated the re-entry took place at 2:20 UTC

"...or about 11 hours ago."

Where's my $5K?

Last time I set it up, Android Play didn't need a CC. (Or maybe I set one up and then deleted it to make sure I never accidentally bought anything.)

I am, however, starting to consider getting a "throwaway CC" like I use throwaway email addresses. Enough places want a CC, and I would be nice to have an account where I know that ANY charges on it are unwanted (and should be challenged/reversed).

>> why does it matter to the story that they were programmers?

As we move toward Idiocracy, programmers and other people who understand algebra and can use spreadsheets will be considered geniuses. We're halfway there now.

>> neither of those sources are doing anything good

Failure ahead for Obama in Baltimore, then? However, note that the "nerds" research only covers 2010-2013: that's BEFORE the consent decree went in. In other words, if they can show it's STILL going on...

>> more likely helping to cover things up rather than expose them

Admittedly, that's half the attraction of a consent decree to a local police department. The Feds come in but no one gets sued.

Isn't Seattle already under a "consent decree"? (That's basically when the Feds descend on a police force - ala Ferguson - because they want to clean it up.)
http://www.seattletimes.com/se...

And isn't there already a full body - with it's own web site - monitoring it?
http://www.seattlemonitor.com/

>> various deals with record labels to sell music through the iTunes store

You just reminded me that I haven't purchased music since about 1998, so for me, there's no monopoly to worry about. And with Songza, Spotify, Pandora and radio streaming + tools to convert streams to mp3, it doesn't seem likely that I will for the next ten years or so.

Mod parent up, except for the bit about "call them up."

After my (largely broke) father passed away in California I had about twelve health care providers after me (as power of attorney then as estate administrator) for about $300K of my father's medical bills. Instead, I spent about $2K (of his remaining "small estate" - look it up) on a good attorney and walked away paying NOTHING.

If you need to fight back, my advice is to never do anything over the phone, or in email. Always communicate by paper letter, certified if necessary, with signatures and official letterhead.

>> "The software industry has pretty much decided what information patients should receive, and to my knowledge, they have not had any stakeholder input..."

Um...yeah. I'm sure it was a bunch of developers who decided one night to pound a bunch of Mountain Dew and then set up a billing system for a bunch of multi-billion dollar hospital groups that contained hundreds of thousands of items that magically skirt around insurance limits and pre-negotiated fees, then tack on expensive and low-value items, and follow it all up by adding on mysterious charges from other providers months after the original procedures happened.

>> I forget the scifi movie I saw with these things.

It was called "Maximum Overdrive." :)

Somehow you failed to tell us whether you are planning to use this:
1) like a mobile device, with access only to cloud services
2) like a thin client, where you VPN into your "real desktop" sitting safe at home or work
(If "both", pick #2).

>> Home users will receive updates as they come out

Are you sure that option isn't already on? It seems that a couple of my older Windows boxes already spend most of their cycles on downloading, processing (scanning) and installing countless updates.

>> Do you keep a bunch of one-gallon jugs next to your desk?

At the homeless-packed library near my office you'd fit right in.

Every week I seem to see a slight variation on:
"Is learning %s worth it?"
"What is value of learning %s vs. %s?"
"Would you learn %s to switch jobs?"

I'm beginning to think this Dice account is just an autopost with a random list of possible values.