I worked there one summer, and what surprised me, is that only diesel cars are allowed on site, because spark plugs cause interference.

They keep a fleet of old diesels, originally bought in the 1950s. It gives the whole place a serious retro vibe. That and the fact that every morning I could set my mickey mouse watch to one of several atomic clocks made it a pretty cool place to work.

The bad news: You need an AT&T account to use it.

And yet sales of these gadgets that millions of people can't afford, are way up. The rich are doing great in this economy, in fact better than ever. Tax cuts for the rich are working - for the rich.

The defining characteristic of a house of cards is that everything looks great, until it collapses.

I like to run my car for 20,000 miles without changing the oil and when it breaks I take it to the mechanic. He changes the oil, fixes what he can on the small budget I give him, and them I complain that he made the car worse.

Worse? By what measure are things worse?

So it's a lot lower than the rest of the world.

That's called living in a free market society. There was a time in China when you could only buy one kind of bicycle, and you didn't have to shop around at all. Workers' paradise, right?

Plus, there's this new thing called the Internet, which can be used to find the best deal/bulb/widget/pron to suit your needs.

And yet I've been using CFLs for years and haven't had to replace a single one yet. So what's really going on.

He finally got tired of typing out that password and clicked, "Remember me on this site"

If you don't believe in all that science stuff, then I can see how that comparison might seem ridiculous.

Now, try to look at this from the perspective of someone who believes we have changed our atmosphere by burning fossil fuels - so far from the historic (human habited) average 280ppm CO2, to the current levels of 390ppm CO2, and at our current rate by the year 2100 it will be 1000ppm. If you believe either a) changing the chemical makeup of our atmosphere is inherently dangerous, or b) CO2 actually does have the infrared radiative (heat-trapping) properties that science says it has, then I think you could see how someone might see this as an existential threat equal to or greater than invasion by a foreign army.

Do you want to bring back leaded gasoline, too? In the name of freedom?

Actually, no. The recommendation for a broken CFL is to open the windows for 15 minutes to let any mercury vapor escape, and then clean up. There is no hazmat requirement, that's a myth being bandied about on the Internet. ,

I grew up watching the old series and I think I have the answer you're looking for: 4 key episodes from the old series and the infinitely more watchable new series.

The modern series definitely stands on its own, but it does have a lot of in-jokes and references to the old series, so it might be worth finding a few key episodes from the Tom Baker (4th Doctor) years. I'd recommend just as a sample the ones where Douglas Adams was involved: Pirate Planet (you'll recognize the writing if you've read THHGTTG), Shada, and City of Death. You will also want to watch Genesis of the Daleks, as Davros and the Daleks play an important role in the Doctor Who multiverse.

So there's 4 old episodes to get your bearings, and then dive into the new series from the beginning (and listen carefully for a mention of that nice young man Arthur Dent in series 1).

Well I would have spent $250,000 on music, but downloading for free was just so easy!