I'm glad I'm not the only one who sees that.

Actually Scott Hanselman has a better option using Skype and a dedicated PC he uses to talk to his family at home.

http://www.hanselman.com/blog/SkypingTheWifeFoolproofVideoConferencingWithYourFamilyWhileOnTheRoad.aspx

Doesn't take much to set up and would probably get one most of the way there.

You must be pretty young or not from the US. The cigarette industry did get sued (quite a few times) and the biggest settlement was from 1998 where they effectively had to pay a bit over $200 billion over the next 25 years. The suit was 46 states versus the tobacco industry. You know all those "The Truth" ads? Those are funded by the tobacco companies.

The downside to this settlement is it also exempts the industry from further tort lawsuits (although, apparently not, there have been some since).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tobacco_politics
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tobacco_Master_Settlement_Agreement

Believe me, I'm not doubting all ADD/ADHD diagnoses. Just the giant increasing trend of childhood diagnoses (where's Jenny McCarthy telling us it's immunizations causing it?). In fact, I'm ADD and I've spent my whole life learning to deal with it. I've become incredibly rigid in some regards (I always put my things in the same place every time to avoid losing them, since I won't know where I put them otherwise), I've developed anxiety about getting somewhere late (this isn't a good thing, but it gets me places on time), and I've gotten into a career where the hyperfocus aspect is beneficial (I'm a programmer - I feel bad for people who talk about taking hours to "get into the zone" as I get there in seconds and then lose 4 hours straight, as well as my ability to socialize or do anything else while hyperfocusing).

In my case I was never diagnosed with ADD as a child. I didn't even realize it until I made my wife take a stupid online test and was floored when she said no to all the questions (I said yes to them all).

Note that this whole topic is about children: I would also not say that depression is over- or misdiagnosed in adults. However, I would argue it is in children, especially during adolescence. Everyone is f'ed up during their teenage years. For many it's the simple change of body chemistry, for some it's simply the shortness of life and the inability to see long term (think how huge anything seemed to you at 13 verus 30 - "OMG Billy didn't call me! I can't go on with life!"), for some it's the lack of coping mechnisms we develop as we mature (and some never develop), and for far fewer it's actually true depression.

The medical tendency is to see a symptom and label it. BAM! You're depressed! Even though you may not fit the true clinical definition (long bouts, numerous times), you'll still get the diagnosis and the pills.

I had some childhood friends from 20 years ago that would be on medication if they were growing up today. One had terrible parents so tended to act out dramatically (he'd be on antipsychotics because he'd get into fights - even with a teacher if he deemed it necessary) and another that just loved attention so he'd do lots of bad things in class (he'd be on Ritalin).

I've had the pleasure of being an outside observer to the therapy and psychiatry world, and you are exactly right from what I've seen and heard. Problem children are problems, parents don't know what to do with them, and they'll go doctor to doctor until they find a solution. Even if that means putting a rowdy child (who just has serious authority issues) on antipsychotics. This problem goes way beyond just ADHD diagnoses; this is just one item in a sea of psychiatry doing what it does best: labelling and providing medication.

I'm a log time sleeping log, accustomed to 12 hours of uninterrupted sleep without any special effort. I've slept through a fire alarm in the dorm in college (completely sober), and the alarm was immediately outside my door (12 feet from me). At least as a light sleeper had it actually been a fire, you'd be alive and I'd be sleeping through burning.

Luckily for me Geocities was about 1.5 years after that. I was able to fund many hours of MK and MKII arcade gaming for about 2 years before most people even really knew what the internet was.

When I was 13 (1992) I manually compiled moves learned while playing and discussing Mortal Kombat and sold them for $3-$5 a piece. Who needs the internet an enterprising little kid is destroying you in MK then offers to sell you the list of moves he knows?

A 3 hour flight is ten bucks for airplane WiFi. Now, I do acknowledge that is expensive (though on par with in-terminal WiFi access), but when you already paid $300+ on a plane ticket, another $10 is definitely not priced towards executives. Just factor that into your cost of airplane tickets next time you fly.

Enough! Switch on the LHC and end the fscking universe already!

The accents of southern Bavaria and Vienna are much more closely related than are those of southern and northern (Franken) Bavaria. You know nothing of history or you would know that Bavaria was an independent province much more closely tied to and with Austria-Hungary than to the Prussians (the name of whom is still used today as a slur). Your examples of "culture" show just how ignorant you are -- hot dogs and cake, indeed. Architecture is based on which area was wiped out &/or ruled by whom during which war YOU DUMB FUCK.

And you used it wrong, because Jefferson was not a (D).

Actually I believe the award is for the concept that as the planet warms, resources will become more scarce. Some areas will experience long severe droughts and others will experience unusual cooling streaks, wandering game will die off, nations will become more protective of their natural resources, etc.

Hence, spreading the word about the warming trend (to get people to help reverse the trend) will help prevent easily foreseeable problems in the future which could easily lead to war.

Get all mad all you want, just learn yourself on why they awarded it so you don't mischaracterize why it happened.