While I normally prefer MacOS X to Linux, MacOS X 10.4 was the last MacOS X version that was officially supported on my dual-USB G3 iBook. I didn't mind it because 10.4 is still a nice OS, but some time later, like 10 years ago, I realized that getting the latest software, such as Octave, we getting increasingly hard for this OS. Finally, Mozilla announced that Firefox 3.6.28 was the last web browser supported on OS X 10.4 a few years back. At that point, I was left no choice but to install Debian.

I disagree about BB. People who are not nerds continue to shop at Best Buy. Best Buy will not price match Amazon and Newegg, so the argument about their prices not competitive is kind of moot. It's also quite reassuring for many people to see and inspect such big household items like washing machine, TV, or refrigerator before buying one.

They could have "gone back to their roots" by dumping all the common electronics that you can get anywhere and addressing the do-it-yourselfers by hopping on the robotics/Arduino bandwagons.

They could, but that would seriously downsize the scale of their operations. For example, in San Antonio, a city of +1 million, they have near a couple of dozen stores. There is not enough enough demand for DIY or hands on projects to keep all those stores open. They could afford to run at most one or two at best.

By the way, it's not correct that every mobile i7 has 4 cores. The low power i7 CPUs have only two cores. Considering that Broadwell is focusing on low power parts (less than 30W TDP), there will not be a quad core Broadwell Core i7. If you need a quad core i7, then you have to get the Haswell part.

If Americans were required to carry a dash camera for insurance claims, I am sure you would have seen on youtube plenty of the American road stupidity too.

The dash cams simply prove that Russians are the kind of people who tend to cheat the system, be it the government or an insurance company, if you take their word without a recording. Probably a result of 70 years of living in a massively corrupt country where everything is a state property and therefore can be stolen. Sometimes I think that the millions killed in repressions during the Stalin era WERE NECESSARY to run a tight ship in USSR. As soon as Stalinist repressions ended, corruption and mafia spread like a hydra in USSR.

Russia is simply showing its true colors. "Homesexual" is pretty much a swear word in Russia culture.

Many people in the West think that Putin is oppressing the democracy-loving Russians, but in reality, 90% of Russian MPs, most mayors, all governors, the military, and the executive branch of Russian government think like him and support him. Most people who live outside of the liberal Moscow and St Petersburg cities also support him. This law wouldn't pass without and overwhelming popular support.

Actually, Russian drunk driving laws have been getting tough too. 0.0356% BAC is considered DIU (0.08 in USA)

I just got myself a new Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5 a month ago. It came with Kitkat, and there is no option to upgrade. I don't know if this is due to vendors' lazyness or because it takes so long to port the OS to all the different devices that can run it.

To be fair, after a few weeks of using Kitkat, I am perfectly happy and don't lose my sleep over the upgrade.

There are only two good travel shows, anything with Anthony Bourdain and with Andrew Zimmern.

Just don't go to the movie during the first few weeks of its release. Wait a month and then watch it in a half empty movie theater on a Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday. That's what I do, and noise hasn't been an issue.

Indeed. Going to movies could be a highlight of a week (or day) for some in the 80s and 90s. But nowadays there are so many more ways to kill your time..

I understand why the prices at the theater bars is such a problem. The movie theater is not a restaurant, coffee, or an ice cream shop. I don't understand how the society has gotten to the point where people can't enjoy watching a movie without gulping a supersize bucket of a carbonated sugary drink with a bag of popcorn. Instead of spending your money on this junk, just have a nicer dinner before or after movie.

And I don't know why you think that everyone should go watch a movie with someone. I for one a fan of independent and international cinema, something my friends or family do not always enjoy or have time for. So the cost of paying 10 bucks per movie to see it on a big screen does not seem so high.

Why do you want alcohol in a movie theater? So that your bladder interrupts your movie experience every 50 minutes or so? I have been to one of those. I don't know how we have arrived to a point where people can't enjoy a movie, car race, or other social event without chugging alcohol.

Why fetish? Would you rather hold Mexican peso, Turkish lira or something else? People obsess about US dollar as a reserve currency because they know that they, or someone else, could go into US and spend the money to buy real stuff. They also expect low and manageable rate of inflation, as it was observed for more than one hundred years in the US.

The US economy may be prone to inflation, but the inflation has been mild since the 80s. I am also curious about the "deficit" you're mentioning. Being a market economy, there can't be a deficit in the US. If there is an excess demand for any good at a given price, the price will rise until the quality demanded equals the quantity supplied. The deficit happens when the price of a good is set artificially below its market price, like it happens in communist economy or in places where a totalitarian government attempts to fix a price.

So why else people prefer the dollar? The exchange rate does not fluctuate as wildly as that of other, lesser economies. A run out of the mill hedge fund can probably collapse the exchange rage of Ukraine hrivna or Turkish lira, if they feel like it, but attacking a US dollar on exchange markets is something no one can afford.

What else is there? It's a huge economy, one of the biggest in the world, and just like most of the first world economies, the US government has no problems collecting the income and sales tax. This means that the debt of the US government is always guaranteed by the affluence of the economy and the taxes collected.

Yes, this should not be implemented because poor people never drive drunk, never break laws, never drive with suspended license, or without a license or without a valid insurance. So we suspend all tickets and fines because they only hurt the innocent poor drivers without leaving a dent in rich people's pockets.