Yes, the Bush White House was very definitely using fear of nukes to justify its decision to invade Iraq. Remember this?

The problem here is that there will always be some uncertainty about how quickly Saddam can acquire nuclear weapons. But we don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud.
—Condoleeza Rice, 8 Sep 2002

LOL. That's like me telling my wife, "but sweetie, I only looked at a tiny fraction of the Terabytes of porn that I downloaded last year."

Riiiight. Obama started this. Never happened until after Jan 21 2009.

Ooh! I've got another kneeslapper for ya: The POTUS has the power to stop the NSA if he/she wanted to. They're not a rogue organization with a nearly unlimited black budget and the momentum of a 20 ton road compactor or anything...

Or having the wrong tattoo. Or reading the wrong book. Or talking to (or being spoken to by) the wrong person...

It's entirely arbitrary and at the whim of the warden.

No.

Seek help.

Yes, I replied Firefox, too because that's what I'm using now.

- At work (ancient Dell D620): Firefox with NoScript, AdBlock Edge, Ghostery, and HTTPS Everywhere

- On iPhone: Factory installed Safari

- On Android tablets: Factory installed Chrome

- Home Media PC (iMac-based roll your own DVR): Vanilla Safari for mundane things (e.g., Wikipedia, news, etc) and Firefox like at work for "kid safe" browsing and venturing into the shadier parts of the web (e.g., Pirate Bay, First Row Sports, etc).

- Personal laptop (MBP): Safari with JavaScript Blocker for most things. Firefox with NoScript, AdBlock Edge for porn sites.

- Wife's laptop (Dell running Win7): Vanilla Firefox for most things (she hates NoScript). IE for specific sites that will only work when running IE on Windows (mostly complicated real estate java apps made by California Assn of Realtors)

- Kids' laptop (Dell running XP): Firefox with NoScript, AdBlock Edge, and OpenDNS configured for no porn and no social media (at least until one of them figures out how to work around it, then it's gonna get locked down with K9).

I agree! What is it with all these people wanting sexual "relationships" with something that has no feelings?

Intercourse with a robot =/= sex. If your partner isn't feeling pleasure, sharing intimacy, and giving consent, then it's just masturbation. (Or rape.) And personally, if none of those things are happening for the other person, then it's no fun for me, either.

There's nothing wrong with a good wank. Just don't pretend you're having a sexual relationship with your toys.

I agree with you on the definition of 'robot,' but unfortunately, most of the public has a less concrete idea.

This is because 'robot' is one of those terms that has been diluted over the years as the result of marketing claims. Years ago, a robot was an autonomous, self contained, somewhat intelligent agent that could perform general duty service and could replace a human crewman, worker or slave - thus the origin of the word, from the Slavic root 'robota' which means serf or indentured servant. These days "robot" pretty much means anything a marketing or PR department wants it to.

Another notable example of diluted terminology is 'artificial intelligence...' but I've posted rants about that one previously.

This is why, when the 15" MBP-Retina was announced in 2012, as I was preparing to replace my late 2006 15" MBP, I immediately went to Apple's online store and bought a refurb late 2011 17" MPB. Although the battery isn't "user replaceable" the older MBP is still at least serviceable by a tech skilled user. The new ones aren't. And for that reason it may very well be the last Apple laptop I purchase. Regrettably.

Jobs is no longer CEO (again) and Apple is losing its edge (again).

Yea, but those "keys" didn't produce a satisfying "BONG!" when you pressed them to turn the PC on.

You also missed the part in TFA where they compared the planes of rotation of these disks and the galactic plane and discovered no correlation.

If you liked the Commonwealth and Void books, then definitely find Hamilton's Night's Dawn Trilogy. You'll like them just as much.

I also liked Fallen Dragon, but it took a long, long time to get rolling. Many may not have the patience.

The rest of his novels... Meh. His space opera rocks though.

I also recommend Alastair Reynolds and Ian M. Banks if you like Hamilton.

I suggest referring to PornHub instead.

... if the territory is uninhabited, then it's a 'cultural artifact.' But if it's inhabited, then it's a 'frontier.'

Right. Gotcha.

Oh, gee, look at the time. I need to water my cat. Bye.

Negative.

You can't swing a cat in KC without finding BBQ that's better than that found in much the country Westward. (And I mean better executed... if you're fond of dry rub or Carolina BBQ then you may respectfully disagree on aesthetics.)

Teh Blues. Lots of good music in KC, mostly gravitating towards the intersection of Blues and Jazz.

If you're driving X-Country on Interstate 70, plan an overnight stop in downtown KC and then go find a KC Masterpiece restaurant and a blues club to visit afterwards.