Fuck! There goes another hobby. Chemistry, Rocketry, RC Planes... I wonder which geeky hobby is next up to be regulated into oblivion.

+1

I wouldn't go back to the old gnome if you paid me.

You are soooooo wrong. Big government + cronyism is the default steady state of capitalism. The capitalist system can have no other outcome. Wealth concentrates. The rich use it to brainwash the masses and pay for political favors. The two dynamics amplify each other until you get what we have today. It's inevitable.

To each his own I guess. I've tried those and think they suck. I think Spotify is awesome.

I listened to the same old shit over and over again.

Spotify is the first streaming service that I've consistently used. I've tried the others but none of them "stuck" with me. The unique thing it provides is full access to albums played any way I choose.

I use it to listen to albums I already like and to discover new artists. When I'm looking for new artists, I don't want to hear one or two songs ala Pandora. I want to listen to entire albums. I usually need to listen to songs two or more times before I can decide if they're really great. Spotify lets me do that. I can queue up (via playlists) artists that I've discovered now but don't have time to listen to until later.

It's changed music's place in my life, seriously! Before Spotify I was stuck listening to the same old stuff from my collection. I thought I didn't have enough time to find new artists. With Spotify, I'm listening to new stuff all the time with little effort on my part.

When I want to listen to a mix of artists I listen to a professional DJ mix or a decent radio station. The Pandora model just doesn't do it for me.

That said, it REALLY sucks that Spotify is in bed with Facebook. I was contemplating the paid premium Spotify membership but no way in hell will I associate my billing information with a fucking Facebook profile. Fuck that!

Yes they can. There's an App for that! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognative_dissonance

This attitude is exactly why education in this country (university, secondary, and elementary) are such a goddamn mess. When my employers told me to do something I never asked "What's in it for me?" The sense of entitlement of American "educators" never ceases to amaze and disgust me.

The University of Pittsburgh is on the Public Ivy "runner's up list." Seeing that and knowing 50+ people who attended Pitt as undergrads, I take the notion of "Public Ivy" with a grain of salt. Pitt U. is far below even mid tier-private schools.

It's not "good enough" when college students can't understand their instructors. It's a serious problem and a slap in the face to students. It's bad enough when the student is an adult and paying for instruction. At least college students can (ostensibly) stand up for themselves and demand better. Allowing small children to be subjected to teachers they can't understand is a travesty. The public school teachers of this country seem to think that the education system exists primarily to provide them with jobs. The fact that maybe some kids will learn...or not...is a complete afterthought. Reason #1006 why this country is doomed.

BTW, way to play the race bias card. I'd love to see YOUR KID stuck with teachers he can't understand. I wonder if you'd still think it is all about race then.

Not if you can walk to your local library and access 500,000 books for free.

Linking to the Heritage Foundation for an article on the plight of the poor is like linking to the Westboro Baptist Church Home Page for an article on LGBT rights.

Because corporations rule the world and they don't a fuck about anything other than the next few quarters' profits.

The phrase "genetically modified" means genetically engineered. No one uses the term to mean selective breeding.

Plenty of companies offer 2 hour a day jobs. It's just that they happen to think that they are 8 hour a day jobs. One of my friends worked at a senior position at a major bank in NYC. The place was filled with clueless people and inexperienced H1B's. In contrast, he's a top guy who knows his shit. He was easily able to crank through everything the bank expected from him and more in 2 hours per day.