Canada...had another record breaking hot summer, and expecting another winter with hardly any snow in the Vancouver region. 10-15 years ago, we used to actually get snow over here.

Bunk! I lived in Vancouver back then, and at most we would get 1 or 2 days of snow. Bid deal, we still get that. I live now in Vancouver Washington, about 6 hours south of Vancouver BC, and we had a week of cold last summer that allowed us to skate on the local pond.

Also compare the waiting lists in both countries. USA = no wating, Canada = long waiting lists.

I second this recommendation. With Visual Studio Express 2012 you'll find it's very straight forward to get up and running.

The article fails to note that cave drawings weren't done by just any women, but by actual cave women. Cave women are cool. Cave people are cool. It's an important distinction... cave stuff is done by cave people.

Then you have to ask for our progeny's progeny... how much boron is on the moon?

Is the situation at all like Chernobyl? My understanding is that wildlife there is strangely thriving. Possible this isn't true, but it may be interesting.

Maybe, maybe not.

I've got iPhone 4, Nokia 920, Nikon LS120, and Canon Rebel T3. For taking product photos (and I am not a professional), the T3 blows all others out of the water. The LS120 is somewhat disappointing given the specs, and the 920 easily takes better photos than the iPhone 4.

Surprisingly, the Nokia 920 takes the best video of the bunch, at least when it comes to my son's hockey games. I haven't taken any video with the T3, so I guess my statement is somewhat stupid.

seems like as time went by, George Lucas surrounded himself with yes men, which is what lead to the dreadful Star Wars prequels. Was this true of the executives at Lucas Arts as well?

The idea that any platform besides pen, paper, and a hiding place provides any privacy for your documents these days is a delusion.

I got sucked into the Apple ecosystem and I fled as fast as I could. I got an HTC Flyer as a first go and it sucks. I then fled to Windows Phone and haven't looked back. Next tablet will be a Surface, no question.

So it does all those things you claim users don't want. How does that prevent Surface from doing all the things users do want?

Let's see... streaming video from Hulu, Netflix, Amazon? Yep. Lots of games? Yep. Take photos and mess around with them? Yep. Take notes? Yep. A UI that is fun to use? Yep. Skydrive / cloud storage? Yep. Nice looking device? Yep.

What exactly are these missing features that everyone wants that they can get from Android and iPad tablets??

I really like the Surface Pro, but it's a little out of my price range. I picked up a Lenovo touchscreen laptop with 13" screen for $450 and it's fantastic. The touchscreen interface is extremely intuitive and fun to use. Though I find myself reaching to scroll windows and click buttons on my other laptops and desktop monitors now, argh. I think Surface will be a hit, especially if all the MS haters will just STFU and judge the product independent of the source. Me, I hate Apple, and I want iTunes to die a horrible death. That doesn't mean there's anything wrong with Apple or iTunes, it's just a matter of taste. That said, I won't be missing Balmer. And Gnome, don't even think about doing away with middle click paste, that's got to be the best Linux UI feature ever.

How do these compare to incandescent lights for color/temperature appearance and so forth. That's been the real deal breaker for me so far with other incandescent alternatives.

I am really glad that you have absolutely zero political power.

Where do you get your numbers? Without references that can be checked your supposed budget numbers mean nothing.