I normally never respond to ACs, but there is a kernel of truth in this. My wife (M.S. in Speech Pathology) dropped out of her career about 16 years ago when we started having a family. I had several other girls (before I got married) who were very interested in me, but had as a goal to start a family and not have to work anymore.

Now, this doesn't necessarily apply to all women - there's several in the department I work in who work and raise kids, and some who never had kids and as such never had the desire to drop out of a career. However, there are more women than not who would like to be supported by a man, if only to be there for their kids.

Well, I can't say that much about a 52' boat, but I can say that some of us do know something about sailing, especially if you are (or were) in Sea Scouts. I'm the skipper of a Ship in Texas, and while I haven't done any sailing around the world, I will say that you can get some good ideas from people on here who do know technology.

That being said, however, the GP is right - Slashdot is a lousy place to get advice on what electronics to have on any sort of sailing vessel - seek out places like Sailing Anarchy for more pertinent ideas and suggestions.

I actually live and work within 10 miles of the southern end of SH-130. I'm not concerned about the higher speeds on the highway, because I've traveled on the Autobahn in Germany many times, and as long as you watch the traffic and don't be a jerk about how you travel, I will be extremely glad when this road opens. It will make getting up to Austin considerably quicker (it can take 2 hours sometimes to get to a place in Austin from here), and if it reduces the parking lot known as I-35 in Austin, I for one will gladly travel on SH-130

Perhaps they are considered free to use. Somebody still has to pay the bills for the staff, the buildings, the supplies, the hardware, etc. That's why so many hospitals are going bankrupt, closing their emergency rooms because people come in yet can't pay for the services rendered. TANSTAAFL All of the "free to use" things still cost money, and they have to get paid for by someone - and guess who gets to foot the bill? Yes you, the overburdened taxpayer!!!

There is no such thing as "free health care". Someone has to pick up the tab, and that tab is accelerating upwards at a pace faster than the GDP. Do you want the State to pick up the costs? Fine, then prepare to have even more money siphoned from your paychecks. Health costs need to be brought under control, and unless you like a bureaucratic state solution like Britain, you have to push the decisions back to the individual who can decide for themselves as to whether a certain procedure is necessary or not. Yes, people will make bad choices, and that happens - but people also make choices to eat fatty foods and die at an earlier pace than healthier individuals.

Not necessarily, though for a growing-smaller percentage there will always be a need for a dumb phone option. My mother-in-law just got such a phone to replace her old phone through Verizon (may they rot in some abyss). My wife and I tried to gauge her ability to use anything with a higher degree of tech (such as a tablet) and she absolutely cannot do it (even with a couple weeks of work). We broke down and got her a very basic pre-paid phone plan, with a very basic telephone, and she's thrilled.

Now, for those of us able to use smartphones, we'll never go back - but there will always be a segment of society that needs a minimal phone.

Thogg not understand - Thogg knows that if he bashes club into skull of enemy Thogg is right.

Big thing is to first know where you are spending money, and then categorize your expenses into what is a can't-do without, must have, nice to have, and frivolous buckets. You need to put about 10% of your income into a long-term retirement fund, and have (ideally) six months of living expenses in a money-market or savings account (Must have). You need to put a certain amount of money aside each month for certain necessities (housing, required food, loan payments) (can't do without (unless you're living in your parent's basement)). Most of the rest of it tends to be the nice-to-have (like cell phones, phone lines, new clothes, eating out).

I would agree that cable internet is indispensable to me for work purposes, and would be one of the last things that I would cut back on in the event of a major problem (like losing a job).

I pay about $225 for phone service, cell phone service, and satellite service, with another $50 for cable internet (total of $275). I've looked at getting rid of the home line and going strictly cell phone, but my spousal overlord unit isn't ready to do that yet, and with three teenagers in the house, I expect my telephone costs to be going up here until they move out of the house.

Interestingly, covered in a short story and novel by Francis Keyes. A mentally handicapped man is operated on, and becomes a genius, but loses the intelligence gained and becomes worse than he was.

Flowers for Algernon"
Very interesting but sad story.

I used to work at Motorola. About twelve years ago, the president of the company (Chris Galvin) was upset at the number of employees who worked there who had cell phones from other vendors - Nokia being the chief sore spot at the time. Word came down from management that it was not a good idea for one's career to be using a non-Motorola phone for either personal or corporate use. To be fair, they did give us excellent discounts ongoing on Motorola phones, so it was pretty much a good thing.

Fantasy Island Episode 2.19 had this sort of thing on it, way back in the 1970's.

Now get off my lawn!

Yep, the people of China, Iran, Saudi Arabia all agree with you - if they get to see your post because of the controls those "enlightened" countries gateways allow. Yes, I know of the Anonymiser software, the proxies and whatnot that allow some technically-able individuals to get outside of their "Great Firewalls", but I for one would not trust an organization that suffers the "UN Human Rights Council" (composed of such freedom loving stalwarts such as China, Cuba, Iran, etc (as well as some rights-respecting countries)) to be as bigoted as it is, to be responsible for setting up standards and policies for the running of the Internet

tl;dr: doesn't trust UN to be agnostic to the Internet