I'm not the kind of person who is persuaded by ads. If and when I want something I go looking for it. So I block all ads as they are stupid to me.

It's clear you haven't a clue. Interest rates are already at all time lows and have been for quite some time. That didn't really help. You seem to think the way out of debt is more debt and to print more money because after all it's an "artificial political construction" anyway. Just print money or declare it suddenly has more value.

But that's pure folly. This is all a result of going off the gold standard. Why does a dollar have value? Well because we say it does. And we can say whatever we want to adjust its value to whatever we want! Anybody with half a brain knows that's a recipe for disaster. This is not an artificial political construction - it's the real world and real world values will come into play soon.

Perhaps but being a slacker is a recipe for pain.

If you "lose your life savings when some doctor surprises you with his out-of-network facility or lab fees" - it's clear you didn't have much of a savings plan - you loser!

And it makes me wonder why Australian immigration is always boning for "high tech skills" - can't you guys think on your own?

One company's security question is "What's your favorite hobby?" and my answer is "Pissing off support people". It really sets the tone!

This is a bunch of bullshit. Real people know that performance - not appearance - counts. A lot depends on environment and the prevailing culture. For example, you say "if someone sees you constantly in a Hawaiian shirt..." ya know, *IF* you were in Hawaii, it would be expected that you'd be in a Hawaiian shirt. If you came into your Hawaiian office in a bulky and sweat suit you're be seen as the idiot!

In Silicon Valley, the dress is different than in stoggey old NYC.

Defense is a legitimate function for government. It's in the fucking Constitution! Healthcare is not in the Constitution ergo it's not the government's job to do it. That should end the argument but it never does with the havenots who want to steal shit from the haves. BTW: You say you can't trust private entities to resist the temptation to charge more and more for healthcare services? What the fuck do you think will stop the government from doing the same? Both entities are made up of people and thus both can and do succumb to the temptation equally well.

But the difference is you have many companies you can take your business to and you can do it today. You have only one government providing such a service (and probably pretty badly at that if you ever take the time to examine how well or bad government performs such services. Can you say DMV? USCIS? The "projects"? I knew you could). If you don't like the service they are providing (or not providing) you're just shit out of luck. You have no other entity that you can turn to, and if you do you likely face jail time if your truly resist Uncle Sam. And, you probably won't be able to vote the bastards out for years anyway. Think man! Think!!!

Plus the government doesn't produce anything - to do so it must first take from the people. When you ask the government to provide education or healthcare what you are really saying is that you want to take other people's money to fund your charity. Fuck you for advocating stealing from others! Penn said it well "Building a library is a good thing. I would even help you build a library. But I would not help you take a gun to your neighbor's head to take his money to help you build a library. And I don't want my government doing anything I wouldn't do".

You sir are a parasite and an enemy of liberty!

You gotta wonder about somebody who hates where he lives and yet remains there for some 12 years. I lived in Phoenix (actually Tempe too) for 2.5 years and I loved it. I worked at GD - loved that too. It's not where engineers go to die. I went there - I survived and I didn't die - in fact, I thrived! And I thrived in Seattle, Washington DC, San Jose and San Diego after that. Ever think maybe the problem is you?

There are tons of really good places to eat, the women in Scottsdale are hot as a pistol, Meth-heads and illegals? Maybe you should try running in better circles - there are a lot there. Obviously your hanging out with the wrong crowd. Bad drivers? Everybody complains about bad drivers no matter where you live. Phoenix does not have bad drivers - you need to get out and live a little!

So you're saying persuasion is bad and should always be avoided? Phooey!

Lots of people talk about IPv6 and how they are "ready" etc. But nobody I've seen gives exact instructions on how I would configure IPv6 for my SOHO setup. What equipment do I need? What configuration do I need to set exactly? And, after I do all of this, can I get to IPv4 places or am I in the 1% as they say?

I don't know - Grandma was pretty tasty! :-)

Let me correct the "preposition at the end" problem for you - "...clarity of communications and the perception of competency, are..." - add on ", you fucking asswipe!". There - all better! The point isn't that people make mistakes or spelling errors or whatever - it's that they don't recognize is grammatically wrong and when it's pointed out to them they either don't care or get angry that you pointed out their mistake. IOW they are not able to admit they made a mistake or unable or unwilling to correct it. And you're pretty sure future mistakes will also happen. They are "proud" of their ignorance and should properly be ridiculed.

Great. Now dude, fucking leave if you don't like it here!

Are you really this stupid? They actually pay you to make speeches about technology and this is what you give them. Here's a clue - *EVERY* action on a computer involves running some code. Even the "Show me the document" involves running code. The bad guys will use whatever they can to hide themselves and lie to the user. You're stupid suggestions do nothing to make this better. Making the user aware that they run a program to view a document will change nothing. They will simply drop context that they have to run a program and they will merely view is as they are viewing a document. You don't know how many times I have to inquire again and again as to what program they are actually running - even when they have to first run the program to view the document. They still don't know and they don't care. Viewing the document is all they think of. There will always be stupid users and they will always outnumber smart ones - just like there will always but stupid Europeans trolling the net looking for work selling their ill-formed opinions.

Already been done. Google DavMail. I use it everyday! It talks stupid Exchange protocols (BTW it's not Outlook protocols rather it's Exchange protocols) and converts them to industry standard protocols (like LDAP/CalDAV/SMTP/IMAP). This allows TB to connect to the Exchange server and everything just works.