It's interesting that you say "three weeks" as there are studies showing a lower growth of neurons (Adult Neurogenesis) associated with sleep deprivation. It's also been shown that after neuron production picks up, the effects take about three weeks. It's the same process that starts when you take antidepressants.

So how did they even get the short URL in the first place? Doesn't that mean they're browsing the net on their phone? So why still use sms then? And why should twitter not just expand the url back to its old size/text? Are people reading twitter by sms, too? Though I guess on the grand scale of the universe, this really doesn't matter.

Papers is a Mac software that does exactly what you need, and does it very well. It's not webbased and Mac only unfortunately, but you can probably find out there what the right terms to google for are.

I actually thought it was supposed to mean "retain information on links you visit, like this one"

Buy the book, reward good writing.

1 ton = 1000kg, welcome to the metric system.

Maybe it really is too early to focus on standardization. It often freezes the standard quo and makes it harder to implement new stuff, c. f. the x86 and Windows requirements for backwards compatibility. I also don't really see where the problems are (others might have more experience there): EC2 uses standard Xen instances that should be somewhat portable. The only non-portable part is the meta-level configuration.

That wouldn't make much sense. To land on the asteroid, you need to be about as fast as it is, or your lander will just be hit by a very fast moving rock. When you have invested all the energy to get up to that speed, you could equally well just turn of the engines and be subject to gravity, just like the asteroid, which will give you that tour around the solar system without any further energy.

Not very smart. The success of a nation is a function of the intelligence and education of its people. Giving visas to people with above-average intelligence and education will therefore always be to a nation's benefit.

These H1B holders are well-educated. They'd be able to take of themselves. They'll return home and be a huge benefit to their home country. The US, meanwhile, will lose these talents after probably having spent lots of money in educating them.

Remember: the number of jobs is not fixed. A million unemployed but well-educated nerds will probably lead to the next google, Apple or whatever. If you throw these people out of the country, those companies and their jobs are just created elsewhere.

I can understand that the well-being of american workers is more important than that of visa-holders to an elected politician. However, the impact of losing the job is much higher for H1Bs, as they usually have to leave the country (within 1 week I think). Considering the fact that these are humans, too, maybe it would be acceptable to lessen these restrictions somewhat, i. e. allow these people to stay in the country for a year if they have the financial means.