That's a very different example. First off, "30 degrees" doesn't mean much to a toddler, so they're dealing with a subjective measurement and a resulting suggested action. So if my "girlfriend" (really, slashdot?) told me it was chilly out, I'd step outside to check if she's just being a pussy. I'd also check what the weather's like--if there's still sun out, if it's windy, if it looks like it'll be snowing later--and then dress accordingly. The point of the learning process is gaining the ability to figure out, in this case, what appropriate clothing would be, rather than simply take someone else's word for it. At the same time, you learn what someone else means when they say "it's chilly" or "it's 30 degrees." The anecdote doesn't so much imply underdeveloped cognitive abilities as it implies hard-wiring to learn from personal experience over social cues.

I really wanted to link to The Onion's "Study Reveals: Babies Are Stupid," but this is a far more critical and analytic approach to problems than most people tend to use. Blindly following rules is a horrible way to learn about anything. The best learners, in my experience, take advice into consideration, then try to see if it's good advice, and discover why or why not. Applied to the example from the summary, the kid who thinks "is it really that cold outside? Yes it is, I'll go get my coat" is going to turn out a lot better than the kid who goes straight for the coat, especially at times when the authority figures are wrong.

This is exactly why I only listen to child molesters.

I'll read your "history book" when you watch my "documentary."

It's more than that. While "lower air pollution equals longer life" is a safe assumption at this point, "A decrease in air pollution amounting to 10 micrograms per cubic meter of of (sic) particulates in the air led to an additional .61 years of life" is not so obvious, nor is it even obvious how direct or significant the correlation would be.

It's not often that I feel genuinely sorry for people who perform invasions of privacy. What's next? Having to read through YouTube comments? One of the glaring, non-ethical problems with Big Brother-esque surveillance is that total voyeurism just isn't as interesting as it sounds.

I'm pretty sure the writer for that just won a bar bet with his friends.

"Adamo was created to elicit desire and redefine the image of power."
-Are we talking about a penis here?

"Once you hold it, you won't want to put it down."
-Yup, definitely a penis.

"People will stare and that's OK."
-I do what I can for the world.

"Because with this ultra-thin, portable aphrodisiac at your side, lack of attention won't be a problem."
-Wait... ultra-thin? Staring is no longer OK. =(

"The whole product just feels very solid."
-Now we're talking. I'll just let that last remark slide.

"We wanted to make sure the product appealed equally to women and men."
-...

"Adamo resulted from the union of technology with pleasure...."

A laptop is not the first thing I thought of when seeing that phrase. Not that sort of laptop, at least.

Yah, but if the only tool you know how to use is a laser and every problem looks like a space alien, then fuck it, man, I'm on board.

Like, all life as you know it stopping instantaneously and every molecule in your body exploding at the speed of light, bad.

I read it without the comma, as in "Oklahoma Vatican..."

The Vatican: now with a convenient location near you!

My fellow citizens would electrocute a man to death just because a guy in a suit asked them to. My fellow citizens would gladly ignore any form of evidence they dislike. My fellow citizens would pay to watch Meet the Spartans.

Convincing my fellow citizens of things is not hard.*

*Unless it involves mutual nudity.

Many people would disagree with your assessment of Microsoft making a better product than the other guys at any point in history, even if you weren't wildly extrapolating from DesScorp's statement.

The real problem is that an operating system locks you into using it far more than anything Google's done so far--a problem which isn't Microsoft-specific. At this point, it'd be far easier for me to move cross-country than change my OS. Once a lot of people are in a similar position and have major incentives to use the same OS as everyone else, it's difficult NOT to be an abusive monopoly.

From Wikipedia:

Newspapers immediately pointed out how the term already had acquired its own article on Wikipedia.

Uh oh.

I recognize that goodwill has a real value to a company, but when you're claiming that half of the damage the defendant caused is due to them defending themselves, I don't see how you have a leg to stand on, regardless of how rude TPB was. At bare minimum, you might want to re-evaluate your strategy (you, of course, being Sony). It's not like TPB went well out of their way to organize a campaign against Sony or anything.