This data you link to from NOAA does not refute anything. The rate of rise has accelerated over the past few decades.

You were rightfully moderated into oblivion the first time.

There are two kinds of people, those who use proprietary software but are ignorant of the freedoms they give up as a result and those who willfully forego those freedoms in exchange for the convenience. I count myself in the latter camp. In some ways I feel badly about it but in other ways it seems impractical. I don't want to spend large chunks of time battling configuration problems and bugs or miss out on all the wildly cool proprietary software that's available. I simply don't have your kind of monkish-like fortitude to use only free software.

What do you say to someone like me?

This question about unions for IT people comes up about once a year on Slashdot. Every single time you see the same damn bullshit from people who have no fucking clue what a union is or how it works.

1) The members (workers) have to vote on the contract. Don't like it? Don't vote for it. And you don't pay any dues until the first contract is negotiated.
2) Think performance bonuses are a good idea? Fine. Keep 'em. It's your contract. You can make the contract read whatever you'd like.
3) All the contract is is a legally binding document that spells out the work rules so management can't arbitrarily change them. If they do break the rules, you've got a legally binding contract to back you up. Imagine, you can keep all the same rules and procedures you have in place now except they could actually be enforced.

Take deep breaths people. If unions get the support and input from their members, they can be one of the best ways to empower workers and and make the company a better and more profitable place.

When it first came out I thought "gimmick." Then I read blogs and new stories for over year after it came out with people talking about how cool it was. I still didn't believe it. But when it came time to buy the XBox for my kid, I decided we needed to have it just to see what it was about. I was actually excited to try it out. We lived our first weekend with the living room in disarray so we could have room to use it.

Of course, the novelty wore off very quickly and all it does now is collect dust and take up space in front of the TV. It's voice control sucks and using it with the menu system with gestures is just annoying. It's far easier to use the controller.

At least I can say I tried it, I guess.

If you can't dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bullshit.

I know how this ends...with a giant sucking sound as the world's oceans drain into the earth's core. Then, as steam builds inside the planet, the earth turns into a giant exploding kernel of popcorn.

Who needs sarcasm tags when you've got exclamation points!!!!!!!?????

You HATE America!!!!! You are going to burn in eternal hell-fire, you godless, pot-smoking, pinko, hippie, latté-sipping, communist!!!!

The liberals are paying the scientists with government to make this stuff up so they have an excuse to destroy our way of life!! Liberals hate us and our way of life. They don't like us driving SUVs and eating meat. Don't believe their lies!!!

It's a hoax!!!!

I don't view their pricing as extortionist by any stretch. Sure there is probably a couple hundred dollar premium you pay on their lower end products and about a $1000 premium on their highest end products (fully loaded MacBook Pro retina).

But people expect to pay a premium for the best. Not everyone likes to shop at Wal-Mart looking for the lowest-priced piece of shit. Are Apple's prices higher? Certainly. But do they deliver a better product? In my opinion, absolutely.

OS X has it, Windows doesn't. And I think Win 8 will throw more mojo to OS X's direction.

The US also has the power to launch one thousand nukes and wreak devastation across the globe. Why aren't we writing articles about that?

Yup. My kid loves Legos so I got him Lego Universe last year when it came out. He played it for a total of maybe 5 to 10 hours before getting bored with it.

I bought him Minecraft a few months ago and he absolutely loves it. He gets to build structures and use his imagination in a way LU never allowed him to.

Uh, no. Go google "FDIC."

At least with the bank you are insured against the bank's failure.