Damn right. I'm reading some of these stories on here and I can't believe how bad it is in some companies. Every year I get 20 vacation days, 5 flex days (to be used for vacation/dentist/sick/child sick days) days and 15 sick days (that can only be used when you are sick). I also live in Canada so going to the doctor when I get someone really bad doesn't cost me anything extra.

I'll take some of the union-induced laziness exhibited by some of my coworkers in exchange for the power of collective bargaining any day of the week.

...you could, or you could use your $10 crowbar to threaten a cleaning lady or bellhop and get a room card that will open any guest room in the hotel.

We've had these signs for a decade in BC. The problem is that some people actually speed up when the warning lights start flashing. Basically all it has done is give people a heads up that they need to start accelerating now if they want to make the light up ahead. The end result is people speeding through the intersection far faster than they would be if they had just run the amber light.

I don't know if it is geeky, but here are some turkey cooking tips from a geek.

Where I live the law specifically exempts on-duty policy officers from the talking on the cell phone while driving restriction. There is no language in there saying that the phone call has to be business related either. This caused a bit of an uproar when the law was introduced...but of course it went through anyway.

I don't even think Microsoft looks at the events they sponsor. I can't tell you how many tech events I've been to where Microsoft was listed as a "Gold" sponsor. The last few were small ones in a 100 person conference room and nobody from Microsoft was even there. They just paid the x number of dollars to get their name listed as a sponsor for the event. What is $20,000 to a company that charges $30,000 for a single-processor edition of SQL Server 2008 Enterprise?

Obligatory Penny Arcade comic: http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2009/11

Ok, so what would happen if there were no default option. Before people could use the browser, a box would pop up on first run and ask the users if they wanted to be tracked or not. How many people do you think would choose to allow it? My guess would be a number near zero so I'm all for Microsoft streamlining this process and just turning it off by default. If you really want to be tracked just go ahead and turn it on.

Of course, I don't actually use IE myself, but I appreciate the effort on behalf of my parents, aunts, uncles, etc.

If you pre-order the game you get access to all beta events. You could just pre-order then cancel if you don't like it. Most places will provide a full refund on a pre-order as long as you cancel before the game is actually released.

...or just play the original Guild Wars. It's only 30 bucks for the 3 games (Original, Factions, Nightfall) and the Expansion (Eye of the North). Of course the second game plays nothing like the first, but it will give you a good background of the story and background of Tyria.