It isn't just about suckers. It is also about the old Star Trek ideal: The Replicator. Some people will want it for novelty. Others will actually want it, as they seed food only as nourishment and don't care how it is delivered. Look at all the shit we have put into our bodies over the decades - TV dinners, microwaveable everything, frozen whatnot, meal replacement [insert unit of food here] - and you'll see we're always looking for a shortcut. We aren't any healthier for it, and of course blame everyone (marketers, government or lack thereof, evil corporations, Bill Gates and his eugenics squad) and everything (saturated fat, trans fat, sodium, cholesterol, gluten, grain, etc) other than ourselves.

Sorry, that derailed a bit. Uh. Replicator. Seacrest out.

Politics isn't a meritocracy. Again, no absolutism in qualifications exists. If it did then we wouldn't need elections -- we could just do an absolute comparison of qualifications and know who is the most qualified for the job.

Pop music isn't a meritocracy. Otherwise - try to follow this - every high school valedictorian would also have been the most popular kid in high school. Also consider that there is no absolutism in music. Otherwise - this is more straightforward - we would all listen to the same music.

Chrysler was on the brink of bankruptcy in 1981 (ish), but was bailed out. Then a few years ago - along with GM - they were on the brink of bankruptcy and were bailed out. Meritocracy (in the form of people spending their money) really tried to exert its will on the car companies.

But "just being a governor" of a large, populace state is certainly more relevant to being president than "just being a junior senator."

Uh, I meant, put them in a line?

Oh my god! The space port is to let them in, not us out!

I would like to extend this olive branch and a hardy handshake to our new...Lizards?

Either way, I have seen so many low-power, corporate users switch to Chrome in the last couple years that I doubt Edge will get the market share typically enjoyed by IE. After all, it was the masses not willing to be early adopters of Firefox, Chrome, or Opera that kept IE in the forefront. Once legacy business apps that require IE (probably 8/9 with a smattering of 7 and 10) disappear or are converted, Edge will just be another browser. And "IE" usage stats won't prop it up because as a browser it will necessarily be a separate usage group from preceding versions.

Everyone -- scientists, janitors, senators, saviors riding triceratops -- engages in this exact behavior. Logic and reason work only so long as the individual's core belief is not called into question, and at that point they line up on their predetermined side of whatever topic is being discussed.

And please don't pretend that science is above reproach and never wrong. It involves people, and ultimately all people, no matter how credentialed are prone to the same failings.

It should be obvious that I meant fashionable for others to claim the same happened to them, given that it actually happened to him. Like the first kid in an elementary school class who gets glasses, then all of a sudden several other children want them. Except in King's case, glasses were a brutal beating by police, and the other children wanted the result of having been a victim of said brutality without the actual brutality.

I'm sure there was way more outright police corruption in the early 20th century.

Power corrupts. Money corrupts. It has been true as long as they have been around.

I'm not going to pretend I know which side is correct, if either. But to play Devil's advocate, I'd bet dollars to donuts the vast majority of the people making these completes are criminals or otherwise people on the police radar. As such, they are motivated to claim police brutality -- especially since Rodney King, which made it en vogue.

Oh look, an opinionated academic saying we need academics to run the country. Weird. I'm sure plenty of racists think we need a Klansman to properly run the country.

Also, it isn't that I prefer the "CEO" of my local landscaping company to be president over an Ivy League graduate. What I don't want is someone with only academics and politics. When people bury their heads in statistics they become just as blind to their ideology as the Jesus-on-a-triceratops, young earth creationists. Even the ones like Krugman blathering on about inequality. We have too many rich people; our economy must be ill?

There are probably a few janitors with legislative, executive, and judicial branch experience.