For 'some people' there's a phrase to describe what you're talking about, by the way: 'Conspicuous consumption', or more rudely put, 'F.U. money'. :-)

I find it rather disturbing that the distribution of the current votes increases at the >=100bpm end of the scale. If this is you, you need to see a doctor, and more to the point you need to get a gym membership, or go walk for an hour a day, or something, because you're probably not going to live much longer like that.

No, it's just an idle thought I had, as I sat here drinking my coffee and waking up.

I can think of two 'applications' that will appeal to the Internets, at least:
1. Longcat is LONG! (scanner data follows)
2. I am not a manlet, and I can prove it! (scanner data follows)

I've never seen a camera of any sort (2D or 3D) that didn't have it's style completely and utterly cramped by a small piece of humble black electrical tape, judiciously applied.

Is it possible that Apple does things like this not so much to be unique and high-end, but to drive would-be competitors into bankruptcy?

That's how I'd rate the difficulty level of breaking any DRM or 'copy protection' (if there can be such a thing anymore) on something as simple as an audio file. Is Bono thinking of running for public office? Based on his apparent complete lack of understanding of technology I'd say he sounds just like your average politician. Any 'copy protection' scheme or DRM that a company spends millions developing will be broken by some anonymous bored teenage kid in Asia somewhere in a week or less, no problem, and in general distribution around the world a day after that. Even closing the 'analog hole' isn't going to help: It takes a minimal amount of electronics knowledge and skill to work around that as well, even if it were necessary. People like Bono and companies like Apple and Sony and the record labels need to just accept that they're wasting their time and money on things like this (which consequently ends up with higher prices for their 'products', in my opinion just encourages more piracy anyway) and accept that there is going to be a certain amount of digital piracy, just like there used to be people sharing 'mix tapes' and later 'mix CDs'.

I just have to say: I hope that every last single one of these motherfucking bastards is KILLED as soon as possible.

Explain, then. Why would any typical company or corporation lower it's prices and therefore it's profit margin if it isn't forced to?

The sad fact is they'll do anything to protect their bottom line, so they'll just pass the extra cost on to their customers, who in many cases will not have any choice but to pay more for whatever they're getting. Then the corps will blame the government for it's 'corruption' as the reason their prices are so much higher now, and lobby for 'reform'. Or somesuch scenario.

Wasn't there a news story some time ago that said research was done that shows that children a certain age or younger should not play 3D games because it screws up the development of their brain? Also mod Oculus Rift CEO down for being as biased as they come.

That is not how this would fail. How it will fail is a very simple principle:

Granted, it'll be like having an alarm on your home or car: It'll cause the casual criminal to move on to an easier target, but the skilled and/or determined criminal will not be deterred by it at all.

If you combine the populations of India and China, isn't it something like seven times the population of the United States? Yet, we're having more of an effect on their culture than they are having on us. What does that tell you, friend?

I'm no astrophysicist or aeronautical engineer, but it seems to me that at least 99.9% of any space vehicle's journey to any other planet in our star system is going to be uneventful and easy to manage; it's the end of the journey that's going to pose possible difficulties. The paper ball you toss at the trash can flies through the air uneventfully -- but whether or not you get it in the can, have it bounce off the rim, or miss the can entirely at the end of it's flight is something else entirely.

Not that I'm trash-talking Indian engineering or scientific ability. I work with enough Indian engineers to know better than that. Now if they could just learn to solder worth a damn. XD

How the hell should I know? There's a reason it's called science fantasy after all. How do you generate a coherent graviton beam? What's the operating principles of a Heisenberg Compensator?

Because their xenophobic policies prohibit 'contamination' of their citizens wherever they can manage to avoid it, and besides which they're probably afraid that the crew they send to the ISS would have a perfect opportunity to defect to the West, seeing as how they'd be outside of any countrys' borders while in orbit.