In defense of common sense, I'm a bit more offended that Mom implies having tattoos automatically suggests a bad person in the same weird way that smoking or drinking does.

We're a bit beyond that stereotypical bullshit, aren't we? I suppose next you'll convince me not to worry, since only foul-mouthed sailors have tattoos.

Then again, with a mother this ignorant of their child's behavior, there's more than one mentality deadlocked in 1955...

At first when I read about championing failure as a path to success, I thought they were talking about Larry Ellison.

It explained so much about the quality of Oracle.

And you think a representative who helps define law somehow doesn't understand this basic violation? Or the other 10 that voted in support of this?

Cute history lesson, but the Constitution no longer protects us. Lobbyists have destroyed that. You know, the kind that manipulate representatives.

That old tattered document under glass is nothing more than a tourist attraction now. Ancient history as Hillary's defense team would argue. And blind ignorance would be the only acceptable excuse for not seeing it in society today.

Oh, I'm sorry. You must be mistaking this decade for previous ones when we actually upheld the law, and did not place lawmakers and enforcers above it at all times, with almost guaranteed impunity.

Good luck with your theory here. Let me know how that shit works out.

I "see" Thunderbolt being used for a lot of things too.

So did Apple.

Question is (as I stated)..what does reality show?

It think it's a bit early to be calling the smart watch a success from any vendor. Apple might appear flawless in their marketing execution, but that hardly means every product is a home run.

The iPod was successful because of a $49 starting price point for a device that was an accessory to another device (generic computer) that 99% of consumers owned already.

The iWatch is a $500 accessory that only works very well with an $500 iPhone.

Because of that considerable difference, let's just see how the market takes off with $500 watches. Or not.

Funny how that same government is busy trying to hire those nerds and their "laughable" skills.

You know, because we apparently suck so bad, and government of course must have the most skilled and elite at their disposal. After all, their security rating year after year is A-plus. Top notch work indeed, keeping all those surveillance tactics a secret too. Oh, and so impressive how they've managed to keep our Rights intact as well while doing all of this. I mean, nothing they do would be considered illegal, now would it? Because that would be wrong, and we nerds might get the idea that breaking the law is somehow the right thing to do.

It doesn't take skills to fight government/corporate surveillance. It merely takes someone in charge with a fucking backbone to call out the lawbreakers, and do something about it to enforce the laws we have today.

I know what you mean with this FAT watch fashion, but I really didn't think it had eclipsed entire catalogs.

I guess I should have gotten a clue when I walked through the Invicta store. They've always had some crazy lines, but there wasn't a damn model in there that didn't look deep-sea diver capable. Ridiculous.

And honestly, the future is bleak for simple timepieces. It will likely be inevitable that your smartphone will completely live on your wrist in the future. This will drive future generations back to wearing something on their wrists, but it probably won't be a simple well-made timepiece. It will be something you rent every two years. Sad, I know.

I don't see the Swiss watch buying crowd overlapping the iFan crowd really at all here, for rather simple reasons.

First off, those who spend the extra money on a Swiss-made timepiece are not the kind of people who are looking to throw that timepiece in the garbage in 3 years because it is essentially obsolete. At least with a simple well-made timepiece, we can count on it to do the one thing it does rather well through generations.

iFans will replace their watches when the next wave of colors is released in time for Christmas. Or when the next model of the $300 "accessory" you need to run your watch comes out.

It was also stated that less than 30 million Swiss-made timepieces were exported last year. There's a reason that number is not 30 billion. The market is still rather select on those who will spend the extra money on a Swiss-made timepiece. Yes, we all know what they are famous for, and it's not because they come equipped with GPS and solar power as other watches now do.

Well I'm glad your memory is recalling the feel-good learning curves that were blown away in The Matrix.

I was thinking more along the lines of Total Recall, with governments using this kind of technology as a weapon, not a learning tool.

We don't know the classified side of this research. At all.

Bullshit.

That's a sign of a successful marketing campaign, nothing more.

It's not like the Clintons are snagging paychecks based on their morals or ethics. Due to this, I still struggle to understand what value either of them have today in public speaking.

Bullshit. The masses could care less.

How many of your friends stopped carrying cell phones, or stopping using free webmail and file storage services, after NSA revelations came out?

The only way the masses are going to give a shit is if giving a shit is the default option. Every other configuration requires actual effort and thus is ignored.

Clearly this logic explains how Obama got elected. Twice.

Obviously we only measure our leaders on their ability to circumvent laws, not enforce them. She got an A rating.

Speaking of markets, what exactly do the statistics say about the usage of millions of Thunderbolt connectors deployed out there?

Just because a company introduces a superior (semi-proprietary) connector doesn't mean consumers are going to use the damn thing, especially when Thunderbolt-enabled anything comes at a considerable premium vs. the "fast enough" USB3 connection at a fraction of the (non-proprietary) price.

Well, Apple likes to market it more than any other vendor. Of course, it makes me wonder more why all the other vendors are not really marketing it. Perhaps it's because it's pretty much a flop when it comes to adoption, even in the community where it's most prevalent.

This entire class of entertainment can be considered unnecessarily violent and barbaric by those who wish to view it that way. You clearly do, and yet I promise you that I could point to most of not all "sports" in existence today and call them utterly pointless in every way other than to feed rampant capitalism, putting a fine point on all sports-related injuries and deaths. And gamblers would place bets on the color of dog shit. Gamblers be gamblers, they don't even need a good sport to find an excuse to gamble, so let's just drop that argument.

My point here is I tend to see varying levels of acceptance within the class of "violent" sports, based on verifiable facts that show what is the safer style. I see the sport of boxing as unnecessarily violent based on statistics. I see MMA as more an extension of wrestling with far more winning strategies lending to technique than sheer knock-outs. Those who train for nothing but power shots in that sport do not last long, for they are usually submitted nonviolently and beaten repeatedly by technique, which many find the technique aspect of the sport entertaining. Makes sense when you're watching the best in the world in professional sports to respect the skill that put them there.

In my opinion, you've smeared over a large class of "violent" sports with a rather blind stance without knowing and understanding the difference, as demonstrated by statistics.

Leaders used to force gladiators into the ring to fight to an arranged death, in front of tens of thousands of screaming fans demanding it. If you look at history, we've actually matured quite a bit as fans, for that is what we used to call a true blood sport.