I am a big Scalzi fan and have loved every bit of his fiction that I have read - except for Redshirts. So I don't get it either, but a lot of people love it. A TV show will come of it and that escapes me as well. Apparently we are just not in touch with something a lot of other people see in it.

You mention the length of trailers and what not. Noticed this when I was home in the US this summer. Here in Hungary it's a lot nicer. I reserved our seats in the morning, on-line. We showed up about half an hour before show time to buy them. Then we hung out at a book store and toy store in the mall for a little bit and went into the theater about 10 minutes before the movie started. We took our seats, watched 3 trailers maybe and the film started. Really nice.

When I took my son to see the new Transformers I don't think it started until well beyond 30 minutes after the listed showtime. It was a long movie and much later than I anticipated when we left. Not the end of the world, but annoying.

The only downside, and this is just for us, is that we have limited options to see the film in English and there was no straight original version. Dubbed or subbed and the subtitles were unfortunately distracting a few times when the chosen shots put actors at the bottom of the screen. All 3d showings were dubbed so that was out as well, but we prefer 2d anyway.

I've moved to Mac on the PC side - but I really don't care for iOS so I'm using Android for my mobile devices.

And honestly having a Mac presents its own issues - but you are right, for what I've mentioned they are pretty good. Just wish the quality of their software was higher or open. I put up with Linux warts because it is open. Apple on the other hand, it's just choosing a lesser set of issues.

Nexus and Moto G phones are what I've bought since for my family. I'm still using the S3 running cyanogen but personally I prefer the stock Android experience to cyanogen as well. But that is a good point that there are options still there.

My tablet is an original Nexus 7 and my son has one of the new ones. My experience with those and motorola phones has me thinking that's the direction I'll look first as long as the current situation persists.

I bought a Galaxy S and then the Galaxy S3 - and after seeing how poor the support was on the Samsung side in terms of updating and Android I have decided not to purchase any more of their phones. I had no problems with the hardware. The software decisions that Samsung makes and the fact that they seem no longer interested once the product is out the door was why I left.

In the middle of all that I bought one of their ultrabooks and ran into the same issue.

I don't have any plans to buy anything they've made unless I learn they've somehow turned this behavior around.

My buddy was telling me about it before I arrived and I couldn't get my head around it. Then I would be in Walmar, Cabelas, wherever and they'd have signs saying customers were limited to a box each but there weren't any boxes to take.

I'd imagine once it got scarce there are probably people also buying it up and reselling it at higher prices. My brother was my primary source for what I used and he had done what you mention a while back.

I hadn't even thought about using one inside, but that could be a great idea. Especially in the winter.

Yeah - I agree with that.

From my perspective the whole discussion, in terms of my American friends, has completely devolved into the typical political argument. If it had been a Republican president had done it they points wouldn't change it all, it would just be the opposite groups using them.

Though I don't know that anyone I've talked to has suggested we shouldn't have gotten him back. The discussion I've seen was over whether or not what we gave up made sense.
 
I keep seeing it framed as "either you were for him being returned or you wanted to let him rot" and I don't think that's accurate.
 
I'm totally with you though - we didn't want to just leave him there regardless. It's just like when guys from my boat took off. They would get them back and then punish them and then separate them.

Sure - I can appreciate form and function. I have no idea why one would completely abandon aesthetics.

What's better than something that performs very well? Something that performs very well and is enjoyable to look at/hold. If it doesn't work well, then I'll forgo that but if it is possible to have both, then why not?

Outside Samsung I've used two phones. A Nexus 4 and a Moto G. I was pleased with both in terms of price and performance. The new Moto G should be out soon and it will have an SD card slot. That is what I'll be buying my daughter when we are in the US this summer. The price is great and I've been very pleased with the device.

I don't think either is as styligh as my Galaxy devices, but they are much more affordable and the stock (or very close to it) Android experience is worth it in my mind. On my Galaxy S3 I ended up running Cyanogenmod as I got tired of the Samsung/Carrier stupidity.

I haven't tried the Moto E but if one were very, very concerned with economy I'd be quick to give it a go based on how happy I've been with the Moto G.