Microsoft Messenger got a bad reputation as a target for spim (IM spam). It was enabled up to WINXP SP2 which finally disabled it by default, but by then it was an abandoned protocol because almost all users turned it off in earlier Windows OS to block the spim. It became a ghost town haunted by spammers like most Yahoo groups.

Back in the 1980s, many channels on Cable TV had zero ads.

By the 1990s, every channel had ads. And the cost of Cable TV continued to rise. By 2000 I pulled the plug and swore off broadcast TV. I pay for viewing privileges, not for ads.

I'm not easily convinced anymore when a sales pitch promises ad free content.

We don't need a payment system. We need a whitelist. If I see a new alias I should have the option to peek at your posts prior to adding you to my whitelist. If you're a civil human poster, I add your alias to my whitelist and I look forward to reading your comments. If you're a troll or spammer, I never add you to my whitelist and I never have to waste eyeball on your diatribe or sales pitches again.

When cruise control was new in the 1970s, there was a news story about a guy who wrecked his brand new RV. He said he turned on the cruise control then went to the back of the RV to make a sandwich.

I'm sure there is a big demand for those folks with MCSE certifications - Minesweeper Consultant and Solitaire Expert.

In the last 15 years, AOL has been pulling the same thing on customers wanting to cancel their services. Hurts to wear the shoe on the other foot, eh?

Idiot drivers rushing traffic obstacles have been a problem ever since the automobile was invented. During the first fifty years of automobile ownership they were especially problematic with collisions with trains because those idiots tried to beat the train to the grade crossing and they lost. A 200 ton locomotive against a 1/2 ton automobile is no contest. A 1000 pound automobile against a human being at a fraction of the speed and mass is no contest. People are too quick to blame the machines and should starting blaming the idiots behind the wheel.

The article only mentions ONE PERSON that stood up and spoke out against the deal at the hearing. ONE.

And that's not by accident. Those hearings have limited seating. It has been well known that corporations pay "plants" to grab those seats well in advance, show up and claim their seat, and do nothing at all during the entire proceeding. Some of them are brazen enough to sleep. This effectively shuts out the dissenters and could be a 1st amendment violation.

I don't not trust the internet, but one has to be very prudent in verifying sources. There is a LOT of misinformation that get perpetuated around the net. Part of it is the armchair charlatans, the other are parties "planting" half-truths or outright lies to further their agenda with little fear of retaliation. There's a lot of wisdom to the saying "no one knows you're a dog on the internet".

Just wait for a few iterations of Mac OS until Apple says the latest one will not work on your still perfectly functional hardware.

Well aware of that. Apple profits from hardware so they force obsolescence using OS upgrades. Not a fan of the upgrade treadmill so I plan my purchases for the long haul, even when a future OSX will no longer work on my Pro. A buddy is currently having that problem and I learned from that. That's just one of the reasons I chose the Mac Pro instead of the iMac and cheaper Mac machines.

...and purchased a Mac Pro. My WIN2K machine started showing its age. HP stopped making ink cartridges for my printer. Upgrading required a completely new system as none my peripherals will work on Vista and higher. We started using WIN7 at work from XP and I just hated it. Since I had to buy a completely new system, a Mac Pro was only a little more money. And the migration to learning a new OS was easier than I anticipated. I have no regrets, especially seeing the stupid mistakes MS has made in WIN8.

That's nothing. Play something by John Cage, and you get Windows OS.

Clippy: It looks like you're trying to play John Cage's "4:33". Would you like help?

A quick google reveals that the owner of the team has donated 97% to the GOP. This is another retaliation using federal agencies to intimidate political enemies. Today the Redskins, tomorrow the "tea party" or any other name that the liberal democrats deem hostile (at their choosing) to their cause. "Racism" was just a shell covering their true motive.

I have CDs going back to the 1980s which still play. This article confirmed my suspicion that they will not last forever and I don't want to spend the $$$ to replace my 400+ CDs with another media that the record cartels control like BluRay with the movie cartels. When the mp3 format came along, I found an encoder (RazorLame) that did an excellent job of maintaining the fidelity of my CDs so I proceeded to rip my entire collection. I heard some horrid fidelity mp3s on filesharing sites due to bad encoders so I don't download music nor do I upload my rips. The original CDs are now backups which are ripped to lossless and lossy formats. I'm covered in case those CDs start dying, and I also have redundant backups on different media other than disc platter technology in case my mp3 collection gets hosed. The record cartels hated mp3s but copyright law permits personal backups and there has been no legal case or precedent against personal backups.

Please, PLEASE do the same to the EPA. If you read the recent news, one of the staff who just got a bonus was spending most of his taxpayer-funded work hours downloading p0rn. This is a wonderful solution to that problem.