Where in the world did you find someone who'd never read it?

Ummm... anywhere in the southern United States. Although the percentage that may have read it anywhere in the US is probably pretty small.

If you'd said how many people haven't seen a parody or reference to the balcony scene on a cartoon or sitcom then the number would be much lower.

As for the crap that takes place in high school English classes across the country where they do something with Romeo and Juliet I really can't call that reading although I can think of no term for it.

I get your point but I just wanted to point out that the people "on the top" are doing better than ever in the global economy. It's the upper-middle class that's taking it on the chin. Outsourcing drives down the cost of labor which increases profit margins and/or lowers prices. While prices have gone down some, most of those gains have gone into obscene executive pay and shareholder dividends.

The upper-middle class was an anomaly sitting between the two kinds of people in this world. Those people that work for their money, and those people that expect their money to work for them.

To be fair, the upper-middle class slit their own throats by using debt to offset the stagnation of wages, and grow their quality of life, leaving ourselves without a safety net. But as an upper-middle classman that avoided debt and thought he might be within spitting distance of that second kind of people someday--I can say it was a fun dream while it lasted.

As for the fairness of the system I can't really claim to know what is fair in a system this large, but I am suspicious of any system that widens the gap between rich and poor. Because when you look at the shanty towns in Mexico where the factory packed up and left for China when they found out they could pay $0.40/hour instead of $1.20/hour and you see what they did to the water, the birth defects, and the people left behind with work related injuries you wonder how much it really helped them.

Granted coding isn't the scorched earth business that auto making is, but you get my point.

I know I'm late to the party but I wanted to thank you for starting this thread. I'm in pretty much the same boat; as my G5 tower needs to be upgraded (more for software compatibility reasons than performance), but I can't afford the cost of the current Mac Pros. Also, I've been thinking it's time to go portable anyway, but buying a MacBook Pro isn't any cheaper and I need the screen real estate for my work (Graphic Designer/Web Programmer).

Anyway, some of the replies were helpful and it's nice to know I'm not the only one that thinks Apple has a huge hole in their lineup. I miss the clones.

So which is it; A piece of crap, or better than all the other cellphones in the US? I don't think you can really have it both ways.

I understand being sick of all the hype surrounding the iPhone, it's gone past the point of absurd. But it's funny you would focus your anger on Apple for selling a better phone rather than at the cell phone companies for not letting us buy something better. Or more importantly, for not offering better calling and data plans.

The biggest problem I have with the iPhone is AT&T. I paid my $200 dollar fine to get away from them a few years ago so I don't care how "cool" their phones are I won't be going back.

I can't believe how far I had to scroll before someone pointed out the hypocrisy of the OP saying we have a right to pirate because Nintendo doesn't include enough DRM. Encouraging a company to implement DRM on /.? That's usually the kind of grist this mill feeds on like sharks to chum. But apparently the need to blindly support anything that justifies piracy wins out.

Yes, if only we could all be as tolerant of opposing viewpoints as yourself. Your eloquence shows a deep understanding of the issues. I'm sure you're accurate in labeling anyone that doesn't agree with you as a "fucktard" and "butt-buddy" and you are right to fear them. There is nothing more frightening than an attack from an enraged butt-buddy. I'm sure your libertarian militia-mates will "watch your back" while you wait for the Ron Paul revolution to come charging to your rescue.

Or might there be another reason for your anger? Perhaps that you are unable to come up with a better argument so you resort to righteous indignation and profanity to stand in place of information or simple reason?

Is it more likely Slashdot and the butt-buddies are out to get you, or that you might get modded negatively because you are in fact wrong? In which case you may get angry rather than doing something more difficult like reassessing your flawed outlook on life?

Do you put the asterisk in place of the "u" in "fuck" so that God can't hear you type it?

Seriously, if you don't want to swear or offend anybody then don't swear. Swapping a letter isn't really fooling anyone.

Although, Slashdot may have a filter for the F-Bomb so if that's the case you won't be seeing this f*cking post.

You're right, prefacing things with "I'm no expert" and "I could be wrong" shows that I was obviously spouting off and declaring myself the foremost authority on the topic. I get your point, I could have looked into the topic more before posting, and I bow to your /. policing abilities.

What's interesting is that two people (including the OP) commented before you and provided the information without getting modded informative. You swoop in with righteous indignation by your side and get insightful karma. I guess it shows we love our commentary more than news. I'll be sure not to ask for references and post with a more arrogant tone to attract more mod points in the future. You have taught me well.

Do you have a reference for this?

I'm no expert, but I don't see how the mothers antibodies could be protecting the child after delivery. And if her antibodies could be transferred I don't think they would disappear. That's one of the more amazing things to me about fetal development (my wife is pregnant now) that the mother and child never exchange blood through the umbilical cord. The placenta transfers nutrients and oxygen but prevents blood mixing.

But I could be wrong, maybe antibodies get through as well, it just doesn't seem likely.

Damn! Where can I invest?

Also, I would like to subscribe to your newsletter.

Yes, but at the theater I can tell my wife to be quiet and I can enjoy the movie. At home... no such luck.

And I do truly hope there is a special place in hell for child molesters and people that talk in the theater.

Hey FireStormZ,

We clashed a while back on some story here about Gitmo, I think.

Anyway, you keep bringing up the Federalist Papers, and I think you mean to be supporting the Anti-Federalist Papers since the Federalist Papers were about expanding the reach of the federal government after the failure of the Articles of Confederation.

The entire existence of the Constitution is because originally the founders/framers wanted, "states to do most of the heavy lifting in governing" so they wrote the Articles of Confederation which failed utterly. The Constitution was written to expand the powers of the federal government and the Federalist Papers were written to support that expansion of federal power. The Anti-Fedralist Papers were written in opposition to the expansion of that power. It is probably due to the influence of the anti-federalist that we got the Bill of Rights so they do deserve more credit than they usually receive.

If not, let me know which articles of the Federalist Papers you are referring to, I could always use a refresher.

Public education and some reforms to the election system have definitely made things better.

Voter fraud and intimidation was a lot worse when a large portion of the electorate was illiterate.

Here is an awesome, if lengthy (4400 words), article on the history of voting in the United States.

We actually owe more to the Australian government for our current system of voting than we do to the framers of our constitution, although their methods were originally adopted largely to disenfranchise blacks, it worked out in the long run. The electoral college is about the only thing we have left of our founders vision for elections.

No, you're not wrong--even though you may have misunderstood the issue when you posted.

Since this law wouldn't go into effect until all other states adopted the same law, the law will most likely NEVER go into effect!

So it's a much better idea to give candidates electoral votes proportional to their percentage of the vote within the state. Imagine if California or Texas were to do this? People belonging to the minority party would be more likely to vote because it would have some impact on the national election and third party candidates could actually siphon off a proportion of the electoral votes from both candidates instead of handing electoral votes to the party they most oppose.

Maine and Nebraska use a system kind of like this. I think they do winner take all, per electoral vote, on a district by district basis so it makes representation a little more granular, if not proportional.

Most importantly it could go into effect right away so you wouldn't have to wait until every other state got their act together before it could make a difference.

That's funny. I have requirements that demand MS Windows... we should hang out.