Maximum wage? If you want to totally kill innovation and entrepreneurship, you certainly have hit on it!

How about this: "From each according to his abilities; to each according to his needs." That's fair, right?

Your utopian ideals are showing, and BTW, that quote is directly out of the Communist Manifesto. Who's going to enforce these idyllic standards? Why, the government, of course. We'll just create another massive Federal bureaucracy (or two) and follow everyone around, making sure they don't work more than 40 hours, don't earn too little, and most importantly, don't earn too much! What can another government agency cost, anyway?

You weren't born hating corporations, and it's likely Mom & Dad didn't teach you to hate them. But you hate them. Huh? Ever pause to think how thoroughly you've been inculcated? Sure, sign that petition; that'll fix 'em!

It's the latest manufactured crisis. Let it happen and see just how much a (partly) shut down government affects our lives. We might just make it permanent.

Yeah, that's fun and stuff but...

I catch up on news (from an outlet I *mostly* trust, not named here). Natch, I check out /. Also Techdirt, which now and then has fantastic stuff.

But I have a deal with myself (and unspoken and unwritten with my employer.) I have my home Email accounts open at work, and I read and respond to messages. When I'm at home I have my home *AND* work Email accounts open, and I read and respond to all.

I continue to be surprised by how well this has been received at work. I guess I work at a pretty cool place.

Not only did my aunts communicate with sound, there was hardly ever a letup.

Oh, ANTS...

My analog POTS line gets ported over to my new VOIP account on Tuesday. Now I'll have TWO small business accounts for less than HALF what I've been paying AT&T for a "discounted rate home service" line. The new SIP accounts use the U-verse connection, so I still consider them land lines. I hate using a cell phone when I'm near a desk phone.

Somehow it all brings Tom Lehrer back to mind: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYW50F42ss8

Ah, fracking by any other name.

Methinks there is more than a bit of hypocrisy floating around in the story. It's no good unless you do it for "eco" reasons?

Had an interesting conversation with a (Conservative) friend who's bought into several wells. He says when you drill a well using old technology you get about 30% of the oil in the field. It dries up, and we used to abandon those mines. Now you can drill down and from a 7" casing you can drill horizontally and fracture the strata using up to 100,000 PSI pressure. Of course, this is happening about a mile below any possible drinking water and there will be no contamination. With the well suitably "fracked" another 30% of the oil (and gas) is now recoverable. Whoa, you just doubled the usefulness of the well. But you're right, that's evil, it's not acceptable to certain opinionated individuals.

But geothermal, well, no evil oil involved here, nothing to see, move along.

Agreed. When my neighborhood cops get all excited about having "smart guns," I'll buy one or two for my collection. Until the cops are satisfied that when they put on the uniform and badge and go out to protect the concept of law and order, oh, and by the way, having some collection of algorithms running in their firearms they can depend on to stay alive in an emergency situation...

Why, then. And only then. I'll consider buying one of those wacky electronic contraptions. I manage a few networks, a number of servers. Except in a well-defined and non life-threatening economic sense, and while I do my best to keep them up 100% of the time, I depend on NONE of them for my continued existence. Computers are nice, but a fully mechanical firearm NEVER crashes. Exempt any silly "you're in a car crash and then attacked by zombie Nazis" scenarios.

Remember the story about the WWII training squadron that went down off Florida? More than 50 years later the wrecks were found and some of the .50 BMG ammo was brought up, cleaned and test-fired. More than 95% of the rounds worked perfectly after 50 years of salt water immersion. Give me a 100% mechanical firearm; I know it will work when called upon.

As to when it works, as a free citizen in the United States, when I have the reasonable expectation that my life is endangered by someone who is attacking me, I get to choose. I choose; the government doesn't; the firearm doesn't, some politician doesn't. If I fear imminent death or the possibility of crippling injury, the same "lethal response" criteria are also met. If you don't like those situations, I have a recommendation. Don't attack me. For my part, I would never commence a lethal attack against you.

I agree with the addition of a micro SD slot. My Nexus 7 has 8 GB, which hasn't been a problem for reading books, etc.

What I *really* want is the ability, on my Android tablet, to dump any app I don't want to use. Any app. Haven't signed up for Google Wallet or Google+, don't intend to. Drop it. I'm not going to buy content on the tablet, Google, get used to it!

I also agree with the earlier poster, maps are next to useless on the N7. I can't even get the app to start unless I have a WiFi connection. How lame is that?

Love it for Netflix, and of course would play my own ripped DVDs except for the space requirements. Wait, if I had a micro SD card

Finally. A service for the criminal element, so long neglected in our society. "Rob any of these, except those enumerated," says Father Crime. "For if ye rob a house marked with the Sign Of Death, ye shall surely die." So saith Father Crime.

For the uneducated, now that you know which addresses are safe, and that's MOST of them, have at 'em! It has been proven time and time again that government and its friends never err. If government or its friends publishes (or allows to be published) a list of homes that are potentially safe from encroachment, it amounts to an endorsement by Gov't/Friends that all other addresses must be considered safe to attack and/or burgle.

I have to wonder if the lib-tards that published the list can be held legally liable when the above scenario is repeated. And repeated. And repeated.

I work in one of these "killing zones." While I have a handgun carry permit in the US state in which I live, my Second Amendment rights under our Constitution somehow seemingly don't apply where I work. If just one person in the path of this destruction had been legally armed (which is fully Constitutional), the slaughter *might* have been avoided. It might not have. But there would at least be a chance, statistically.

I live in a "red" state; yet, the legislation barring any educational institution from barring handgun carry permit owners to legally carry firearms on campus was tabled and not even voted on. There are prominently posted signs around the campus saying that weapons possession on campus is a felony. Small consolation if a pile-o'-crap gunman chooses to pick our particular killing zone to express his/her frustrations.

You have no actual rights if you cannot defend them yourself. So many millions of people have died, trying to educate us on this elementary principle.

You'd dock a puppy's tail? I assume from this that you'd circumcise a male offspring, er, that you'd have your son clipped. No choice on his part; it's just a matter of scale, right? Then force-feed him the idea that he's now better off.

At least I don't have an opinion about it.

Just sayin'

Indeed, let's all bow in sync and vote single party rule. After all, only one party knows what is best for you, and especially for me. Let's be like California, which has a democrat super majority, as I understand. Only good can come from this; no opposition, only sacred and loving devotion to a single party and its goals, stated and otherwise.

Having opposition views is *so* inconvenient.

Three buttons on the dash: Ctrl, Alt and Del

Nothing's quite as good as a spotted owl. After cleaning, slow roast the bird with shallots and mushrooms. Save the drippings; they're the best gravy you've ever had.

Bacon? Perhaps an eighth of an ounce. Let's not spoil this treasure!