Didn't we already do this? A new nation that subverts the existing structures, even has a system built-in for making sure we don't have stagnant hierarchical power structures? I believe it was called "the United States of America."

Don't kid yourself into thinking you're "special" and "not like those guys." Please learn from previous generations and previous attempts. "Those who do not study history are doomed to repeat it" is not just a clever bon mot to be dismissed.

> Nobody in their right mind is proposing to keep using coal to get off nuclear.

Then Germany isn't in their right mind, because that's exactly what they're doing.

I didn't say coal plants produce more nuclear waste than nuclear plants; I said the radioactive waste isn't contained in a discrete area. You're also ignoring my main point, which it the cost of lives in fuelling the plants.

Sure. While I'm asking the people of Fukashima, you go ask the four thousand US coal miners each year with blacklung, or if its easier, the six thousand that die each year in China from coal mine accidents. While you're doing that, don't forget to check out the uranium and thorium that gets upchucked into the atmosphere where it can't be contained in a discrete area. http://web.ornl.gov/info/ornlreview/rev26-34/text/colmain.html

If whatever you're building is large enough that you think you're unable to host your own small NoSQL database, is it time to reconsider using a small NoSQL database?

Will there be a version for non-English speakers?
One of the nice bits about using latitude & longitude is that the numbers are still sensible no matter what language is used.

I left Facebook months ago, but I'm seriously considering returning. Not because I have something to say or to prove (as Matt Smith warns against), but because I have too many people in my life who use Facebook as the sole means of communication.

By leaving Facebook behind, I've left friends behind, and some are family. Should I ask them to double their efforts just for my sake? Would they double their efforts for the sake of one person that doesn't participate in a free service?

Facebook disgusts me, but if I want to stay in touch with friends or family, it seems to be a necessary evil.

> For my holiday pictures, iCloud is perfectly acceptable.

You are going to be surprised when those holiday pictures stored in the cloud bite you on the ass later.

Awish Aslam, a second-year political science student at the University of Western Ontario, told CBC News she and a friend were trying to attend a Sunday rally with Harper when they were asked to leave by an RCMP officer. ... Aslam said they were led to the lobby where the officer told them they were no longer welcome because they had ties to the Liberal party. Aslam said the only explanation was her Facebook profile photo showing her posing for a picture with Ignatieff at a recent Liberal rally in London.

CBC News

It's not who you know; it's who knows you.

I don't hate Apple. TFA doesn't mention anything other than iPhones.
I'd be just as nervous if it said "Symbian," "Blackberry" or "Android" instead. It's not about hate, it's about sending safety warnings only to one type of person in your state's population.

Sooo.... people with celphones will be warned about city- or state-wide disasters... but only if they bought a particular product from one particular vendor?

Are Apple customers the only ones worth warning? I know, I know, "even restricting warnings to people owning a celphone w/ service is elitist," but this strikes me as being too elitist when it is iPhones only.

This isn't a gender issue, this isn't a gender-politics website. This is a technical issue, this is a technical website.

The problem isn't "people are being mistreated!". The problem is: information architects incorrectly assumed something about an object in the database would never change. Full stop.

It could be gender. It could be height. It could be hair colour. It could be a fingerprint. It could be any number of things that doesn't change from day-to-day for the population of one culture. It could be whether a book in a library's collection is hardcover or paperback. It could be whether a vehicle in a taxicab fleet is diesel, petrol or natural gas. These are properties that don't change from day to day, but they can change, and it's incorrect to assume they never will.

This is a data architecture problem, not a call-out of prejudices.

> And you voted your captors in.

Of the choices offered, was there even one option that would not result in captors-of-wage-slaves taking the reins of power?

---
Question authority. Don't ask why, just do it.

Last time I saw an iris scanning device (installed at Toronto's international airport for any voyagers that would enter or fly over American airspace...), the devices required people to stand still, put their eye socket over a camera device and look straight ahead without moving their eye.

In what scenario does a troublemaker on a bus submit to standing in one place, putting their eye over a camera, and keeping their eye still for even the required fraction of a second? How does this procedure stop a troublemaker from causing trouble?

The responsible ones are working two jobs (each) to cover their school debts, house mortgages, failed investments into other people's bad debts, tiered health-care, ...

> If you answer the phone for work or are a slave to work...then it is YOUR fault.

Sorta. I've had managers with these habits, and they expect me to keep up with them. When I don't, I'm "not a team player" and "the reason why this project failed" and "up for another performance review."

Not answering the phone one weekend was the reason given as to why I was the only person on my team who did not get a cost-of-living pay raise. It was unreasonable, and petty, and it was the stated reason.

So, when you say "YOU do this to YOURSELF," I gotta respond "sure, but the alternative is for someone else to punish me for not doing it."