Not everyone has a brand-new computer; The manuscript of the book I'm about to publish is in Open Office Word, about 400 pages and full of large images, and autosave is a real pain because it takes minutes to save the file.

Like another commenter said, I wouldn't make it the most important thing, overall efficiency is. But software speed is important to anyone with an older computer, especially a Windows computer, because the computer slows as the registry grows, and the registry never gets smaller, only bigger.

As another thought experiment, imagine that there was a horse with the following properties:
- Pink in color
- Of appealing physical proportions
- Has a single long, straight horn projecting from its forehead.
- Possesses the ability to fly.

It would undoubtedly have significant value to collectors, and I would certainly want one.

I hope English is your second language. Meet Bob.

The plural of company is companies.

Since when is "questionable" a synonym for "evil"?

The stories and illustrations are public domain in the US, but copyright laws vary by country.

If you're concerned about delays, then for an annual fee you could sign up to be PreWeighed by the TSA. Then you could breeze right by the passengers waiting in line at the scale.

No, maybe you should show me your plan to produce rice that is profitable at $1.29 per pound retail using only desalinated water.

Desalinization costs around $2000 per acre-foot. Beef production uses around 1800 gallons per pound. Feeding cows from California-grown crops would therefore tack more than $11 per pound onto the price of beef. Almonds use a similar amount of water per pound as beef, so would face a similar markup.

Rice needs 300 gal/pound, which would add $1.84 per pound to its price. Maybe Israelis pay these kinds of prices for their food. However, that's simply not realistic for this country. We'd shift to imports or food grown in other states before paying for staple crops grown with desalinized water.

You'll have to use "Ctl+[".

Why not?

Because in the real world, it's NOT simple to move water around at all. Moving water around has involved some of the most expensive undertakings this country has ever attempted, and has been responsible for massive environmental damage and the disruption of the livelihoods of countless people.

Moreover, the water has to come from somewhere. If you hadn't noticed, the entire western US has almost no extra water. Precipitation is simply not refilling the original sources of Western water supplies. Maybe you think it's cheap and easy to pipe it over the continental divide, after somehow wresting water rights from people in the East. If so, you're an ignoramus.

And desalinization is totally unrealistic to address anything but urban water use, which is a drop in the bucket.

I don't know why you're surprised by "weird nastiness" over water rights. Civilizations all over the world have been highly protective of their water rights for millennia, and many wars have been fought over water. Fresh water is probably the single most important resource on the planet, and nobody is going to give up their water without a fight, even if they're not using all of it at this exact moment. There is simply not going to be any Kumbaya solution to these issues.

I'm harmed because huge water boondoggles are usually bankrolled by the Federal government.

Why don't you look at my original post, where I said your white elephant projects are fine, as long as it's 100% paid for by the people who chose to live there.

And while you're at it, why don't cut out the passive-aggressive fake empathy that drips from every one of your posts? It's not fooling anyone.

Because I don't want to get stuck with the bill for their stupid decisions.

They should find that they can live better lives by moving to where conditions are more suitable to human habitation.

Sure. But only as long as you make those people who chose to live in water-deprived areas pay every god damned cent of the cost of your infrastructure boondoggles, including compensation for external costs such as environmental damage to areas other people live.

If we were to actually do that, I bet many of those people would choose to move out of CA real quick.

It's easy to criticize the police over this, but what if this had turned out to be an authentic Stormtrooper? That blaster would have packed serious firepower that would outclass our current military capabilities. Even if the Stormtrooper had no bad intentions, I'm sure that Federal authorities would want to dissect that weapon to find out how it works and keep it out of the hands of the terrorists and/or unfriendly countries.