Thats the disturbing part!

Thanks, now all I can picture is Wil Wheaton in a luchador mask

I can comprehend it, its just too damn much work to sift through run on sentences. What is sad is that the person who wrote this claims to be a journalist. I figured it was a developer writing on their blog which would be forgivable.

Every online reference to it on dictionary sites lists it as a UK idiom or a UK and Australian idiom. That you have encountered it before as an America does not mean that it is in remotely common usage.

Further, not knowing an idiom does not make one illiterate. Maybe try not being so much of an asshole next time.

it is followed by an actual error which probably added to the confusion. I can usually work out the meaning of an idiom from context but given there was a mistake 2 words later it was just as likely that there was a missing word or 2 elsewhere in the sentence.

I am an american and I watch a lot of british TV which allowed me to figure out that it wasn't a typo or a missing word but just an idiom. Not everyone else is familiar with the british tendency to drop words from phrases to make common idioms ("Would do" for instance). It certainly doesn't help that there is an actual mistake immediately after it.

if the phrase was "put down their tools" that would not be idiomatic and would be generally understood. "downed their tools" is an idiom... the closest use for "downed" that I can think of to an American would be if someone "downed their beer" which is to say finished a beer quickly.

To say "I put down my dog" means you killed your dog, you aren't killing your tools if you "down your tools". Downtown has nothing to do with this use either.

Practically unreadable. It is far too long and contains many run-on sentences. Further it is filled with jargon that is not explained.

Part of the problem here is "downing their tools" which is an idiom that is not used in American english. While I was able to take a guess at what it meant it is confusing and awkward to those who are not familiar with the idiom.

Not doubting you, but can I get a reference to that? I don't recall him specifically stating that during the campaign. I guess I kind of expected that he took a states rights approach to it but it has been a while. I would be very interested to see that.

First, its not blocked, you can continue.... but yes, people use to do stuff like this with IE back in the day of the anti trust trials and such, back when it seemed inevitable, at least to some, that Microsoft would manage to take over the internet. Ain't nothin new under the sun.

Not an april fools story, this one is real.

I think we are looking at a bad summary as usually the articles dateline is March 31st, but thank you for reminding me to get off of the internet for the next ~48 hours.

You could also write it off as a market for innovative goods developed elsewhere.

It is possible that something similar is happening with Autism, that somehow the recessive version is giving us some noteworthy advantage in the modern age, but the idea that Autism itself is the advantage is a little crazy, even if you accept the premise that they might be more successful in an electronically connected world that world has not existed long enough for that pressure to be exerted. It would have to be providing an advantage for a significantly longer period of time.

Your hypothesis is much more believable but at least at this point, not really provable.