http://www.aps.org/units/fps/newsletters/2001/october/a6oct01.html outlines the issues with pebble bed reactors.

You can always make a G+ account just for the purpose of youtube, yet never use it for anything else, right?

Even still, I would expect them to stop at the wrist or elbow.

I worked on commercial blimps (Bud One, Airship Shamu, MetLife) for several years and you're not the first person to think about re-compressing helium. The equipment needed to compress helium back into a tank would add more weight than practical.

Because we're not all judgmental pricks that think our way is the only way to live. When my 81 year old mother needs a ride to the store, I want her to call me. When my daughter misses the bus home and I'm at a client site, I want her to call me. Just because you're happy to be incommunicado, doesn't make that an option for people with responsibilities. Go pat yourself on the back for being a Ludite and crawl back in your hole.

Even with Creative Cloud, you can store your files locally, then stop paying. Knock it off with the FUD already.

Isn't that what liability insurance is for?

Saddled with? Not everyone hates kids like you must.

Hire people who are beyond reproach? Hell, you might as well demand they hire unicorns. If the government could only hire people that are beyond reproach, we'd have no government. Hell, even Jeebus knew this! "Let him who is without sin cast the first stone." If that's not to your taste, read this http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2013/06/no-one-is-innocent.html

Who says the gratification has to be instant? My 8 year old daughter wanted a phone and I wanted to be able to text her on the days she's with her mother (we have 50/50 visitation). I told her a phone was expensive and fragile and that we'd start with an iPod. She had to be able to produce the iPod, undamaged and upon request, over a 1 year period. THEN, and only then, did she get her phone. She has 300 minutes a month (but unlimited text), and if she goes over, she loses the phone until she pays the overage. She's never once gone over. She knows that if a teacher collects it, she won't see it again for the remainder of the school year, so she keeps it in her backpack until after school.

Did that teach her instant gratification? Hell no! It taught her the value of things and how to budget her resources.

If you want to raise children, treat them like children... but if you want to raise an adult, you need to teach them to be one by setting expectations and providing an example. OP, get your kid a phone and teach it how to use it responsibly.

Not sure that's a problem, the books would at least be avoiding the dumpster or recycler.

Did you mean autonomic reaction? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autonomic_nervous_system

Got both without spending $20K on a luxury watch I'd tear up inside a week. Spent the same money on a sport touring bike instead to spend long weekends with the (girlfriend->wife) and away from the job.

If you need to spend $20k on a watch to impress people, you're compensating for something.

Some already are. I have several friends that are perfectly happy to wait on finding a second hand DVD of a particular movie before seeing it for a couple of bucks on their own 'theatre' setups.

Not sure what you're saying, either. PP never said they were mutually exclusive, he said kill switches are effectively lower cell phone theft rates. Regardless of what side of the 'carriers make more money with replacements' argument you are on, remote kill is a good thing societally. The cost of 'returning to normal' after a phone theft can be much higher than just the cost of the replacement phone. Use a banking app? Think of the half hour you have to spend getting your account credentials changed at the bank, or begging to have any purchases reversed. Use the Amazon app on your phone? Better take the time to go check your Amazon account and changing your password wouldn't be a bad idea....and so on.

So no... I don't buy 'replacing stolen phones as a revenue model' for the manufacturers. My phone was replaced by assurion, who most certainly sent me a refurbished phone. Samsung didn't see a dime. I can also easily see the handset insurers requiring this feature if you want to carry theft coverage.