Now we don't have to worry about Galaxy 15 returning to Earth to message the Creator, and getting pissed and destroying the planet when the Creator doesn't respond, a la V-ger...

My bad. You can add pioneer Al Alcorn to that list as well. Where the fuck is he?

No Ed Logg. No Ed Rotberg. No Tim Skelly. No Toru Iwatani. No Eugene Jarvis. No FUCKING EUGENE JARVIS?!?!

Instead they honor such douche nozzles as Billy "Kenny Loggins is my long lost dad" Mitchell. Great.

Hall of fames are a joke, just like the lame, political, glad-handing "Rock N Roll" Hall of Fame...

Where I work (a new bar & grill that opened a month ago) received an ASCAP letter during the remodeling of the building, reminding us that we have fees to pay if we are to broadcast music. The letter was VERY vague with regards to the SOURCE of the music. We had a local amusements operator install a fully-licensed (by them) jukebox, and we also had Sirius installed as well. We now await the followup letter from ASCAP so that we can conveniently tell them to go fuck themselves.

This is probably offtopic, but I've never noticed or heard of red-light cameras here in Grand Rapids MI. I have, however, noticed that speed limits in some areas have gone up dramatically. And being the cynical chap that I am, I'm convinced that they're trying to make up, in gas tax revenue, the lost cigarette tax revenue when the new nanny-state smoking ban goes into effect next month.

I concur with your point-of-view. We could go even deeper into the psychology of products-as-reflective-traits all day, but you summed it up nicely with your brand loyalty comment...

I guess that as humans, we all need to learn not to be bothered by such inane concepts as annoying personality traits based on product use. I mean, people don't give me money because of what I think of them and visa versa (oops... my libertarianism fell out... excuse me), so why bother? All part of being in the herd, I guess...

It's the same douchebag marketing that Apple has used for years now, and it works. My hat is off to them. What is sad is that those who identify themselves by the products that they purchase/use must have some deep-seated self-esteem issues. Buying "stuff" to impress people that you don't like is definitely a symptom of this.

This, coming from a Mac user who just happens to like the platform, and has to hear "Macs suck!" comments occasionally when I take my Macbook out to do some work...

"Most folks that use Apple products are fine, but holy jeebus do Apple zealots piss me off. We get it, your brand of choice is shiny and pretty. Shut up about it.

Again, I know this only applies to a small portion of the Apple userbase, but that small portion is unbelievably annoying."

I'm in agreement with you, with regards to zealotry. Use what you use and shut the hell up about it.

But it does go both ways. I bring out my Macbook anywhere, and it's "Ugh. Apple. Macs suck!" Granted, it doesn't happen all the time, but it's annoying nevertheless. I've always ignored such comments, but it does show that zealotry can go both ways...

It's simple low self-esteem, based on primal consumerism. There's therapy available for such issues...

Woz and Lee Felsenstein

Or Dr. David Grinspoon, the astrobiology equivalent of Jerry Garcia...

And by then, the Robotrons will have destroyed the human race anyway...

I don't rely on marketing or "a lot of people" to make my purchasing decisions for me. I can actually (shock! horror!) try things out for myself and make my own decisions. And Macs always come out on top...