You're mistaking the subject of the transaction. The politician isn't giving away his own money, he's giving away other people's money in the name of buying votes. The size of the loss in monetary terms is irrelevant because he can blame it on the company later if he has to.

Not that I think it's really that calculated all the time. I try not to blame corruption or conspiracy when simple incompetence will suffice.

That said, in your analogy you're using the subjects own money and they care about the monetary return on investment--which it isn't and they don't. And I say all this as a liberal.

You've been modded at least 4 times, as I right this, and not a single one of them was modded as funny--which I'm hoping you were going for.

If not, I'd say something about monocultures--it's not just for operating systems and agriculture anymore.

Also, it's funny no one has mentioned Esperanto yet.

Exactly! The future is here... and it's a big-ass table.

Is that because they are unwilling to listen to your rationale, or because you are unwilling to listen to theirs?

Chances are it's both so I don't see any solution myself, but giving up on talking to one another seems like a poor third option.

The CEO of Qwest Communications made the same claim and he ended up in jail. They were the only telco that refused to turn over caller records without a proper subpoena. He also claims that the wiretapping program began before 9-11. And he isn't the only one.

Pigs are bled to death to preserve the flavor of the meat. They are usually electrocuted first to render them unconscious, then the throat is slit.

Unless he's a Republican or a Libertarian, in which case he blames illegal immigrants... and votes accordingly.

Awesome. I wasn't trying to be critical, I was genuinely fascinated by your post and agreed whole-heartedly with your point about using taxes as an incentive to move the so called invisible hand. I was also trying to make a joke about the extremist philosophies that are running rampant these days (free-market infallibility vs. the government should solve all our problems) which kind of muddied the issue. Their seem to be fewer of us in the middle trying to find common ground.

Thanks for clearing up the bit about Teacher's Unions and The Chamber of Commerce I was genuinely confused by that. But it makes sense now that you explain it.

As for the swearing, that's great. I've never heard my father swear once and I've always been impressed by that. I'm trying to attain that level of discipline with my first child on the way.

Keep posting.

Thanks for the summary.

I only got two pages into TFA before I bailed since it wasn't even an analyzes of the Tasckbar vs. Dock but talking about the document model vs. the application model which Apple has been using long before they even had a dock (when running apps were shown under the Apple menu in the upper left) and Windows apps have used for as long as I can remember.

Seems like Ars is really reaching to make a story out of this.

Judging by your username I'd say you probably aren't the most objective person to ask about Apple products or services.

That said, he did sound like an ass.

That's why I write the more erudite "v1rixies!" FTW!

Feel free to disagree with the parent comment, but it is this opinion that dominates the population and is the reason we have agencies like Child Protection in the first place, so you can't just dismiss the argument as a troll.

We just need to find the rational middle ground between those that think no cost is too high to "save the children" and those that would turn a blind eye because it costs something.

Wow, you just advocated the power of the invisible hand (free-market infallibility) alongside the need to raise taxes to move said invisible hand.

It's actually a very well reasoned approach but I don't think your ideology is extremist enough to gain any traction... Thanks for playing though.

You then blame a conspiracy by the politicians to drive lobbying dollars into their pockets, which isn't too crazy when it comes to conspiracies. But for your grand finale it appears you conflate the Teacher's Union with The Chamber of Commerce and elect to censor your own use of the word "damn."

This might be one of the most fascinating posts I've read.

It most certainly is when you take into account all the different companies that are laying people off, combined with hiring freezes at most of the others, combined with outsourcing to try and cut costs in a bad economy, combined with competing with (cheaper) recent graduates for whatever jobs are left.

I feel sorry for any poor bastard in tech (or any industry) who loses his job in the next year.

Well Smoot was a cornerback with the Minnesota Vikings for a while, but he's best known for the "love-boat" scandal that made the team a laughing stock.

And Hawley Minnesota is a small town near my hometown that we played high school football against.

So I guess it has something to do with international recognition of Minnesota football?