Sorry to spoil your nerdgasm but this plan will disappear in 2016.

Welcome to the world of American politics!

You see, in another four years, a new president will take over. This president will decide that they want to leave a legacy through NASA, as all the proceeding presidents since Kennedy have (all wanting to share in some of that immortality), and blow up Obama's plan for this new presidents plan. Just like Obama did to Bush (remember we were going back to the moon a mere 5 years ago!) and as I'm sure Bush did to Clinton and Clinton to Bush and Bush to Reagan and Reagan to Carter and well you get the idea.

It's like the pharaohs of ancient Egypt; when the last one dies you either deface his monuments and put your name up there or you outright destroy them.

No progress to be made here!

The point that the GP was attempting to make here is that your entire thesis is predicated on the assumption of God's existence without ever dealing with why this is a valid assumption to make.

The assumption, in and of itself, is not problematic to me, but it's an a priori assumption; that is to say that it can never be validated by our experience of this universe. So it could be correct, or it could be incorrect. You have faith to guide you, but I, and many others like me on /., do not possess your faith thus are incredulous of your assumptions.

And I think Occam's Razor applies to your final statement; is a "prime mover" really the simplest answer to the big bang? I'm inclined to believe that there is an explainable source of the Universe's start and to me, the prime mover is unnecessary. Maybe I'm wrong...

I don't disagree with your assessment but it's not nearly as easy as you make it out to be; otherwise no organization would have incentives that rewarded behavior that was not desired.

To your point though, you get what you reward...building the right system is not easy.

There's a minor flaw in your line of reasoning; becoming a Roman Citizen was not an insignificant thing. You had to own land, and you had to be a man. Moreover, I'm not sure that most conquered people had the opportunity to become Roman Citizens, even those who owned land; but my Roman History is a bit hazy so there could have been avenues...

Then why is the Dodd-Frank legislation, that was passed before it was even written, being written by people in their late 20's that just graduated from some masters program in public policy? The people writing this legislation have only a theoretical understanding of what will happen whey they start pulling levers.

That said, I am glad that more legislation was put into place on the banks but how the bill is being written has created a great deal more uncertainty, and uncertainty is the one thing that banks HATE. And in turn makes them less willing to issue short-term loans, the life-blood of small business.

Some A/C already mentioned that the A in M&A is acquisition, which is what we're talking about here.

That being said I have my own article for you: 50% of All M&A Deals Fail

Pay special attention to the part talking about different corporate cultures as Nokia and Apple are nothing a-like in that respect; moreover culture is a huge component of whether M&A's are successful.

And let's not forget the fact that Apple and Nokia are fundamentally in different businesses. Yes they both sell smart phones, but Nokia always tried to be the mass-market player whereas Apple has always been in the luxury goods market. Two completely different strategies, a lot like mixing water and oil...

I can also jump off the Golden Gate Bridge. Doesn't make it a good idea....

Generally, M&A's usually only work out for the people brokering the deal and end up destroying equity for shareholders.

Apple and Nokia are vastly different organizations from a cultural stand-point. Apple would be pissing 10B down the drain....

M&A has been responsible for the destruction of more capital over the past fifty years than probably any other activity. I'm not taking a position on this deal, but rarely does M&A workout as people think it well. Moreover, Nokia and Apple's cultures are vastly different and I suspect it'd be very difficult and costly to integrate the two.

On the surface, I think more problems are created than solved by this acquisition but hey it got the author lots of eyeballs!

lol ...
That's what Rock Hudson said!

But it is /. so I'm sure y'all will forgive my divergence from topic at hand.

Music holds a particularly unique place in my life, and this may be the same for others; I can pick a track that I listened to from any period of my life and it literally takes me back to the emotional state I was in during that period of life.

Throw on some Tool or Bush and all I've sudden the "how I felt" in my teen years come flooding back to me.

Throw on some tunes from college, same thing.

It's a fascinating phenomenon and obviously it's all anecdotal. I wouldn't be surprised if it's related to how I listen to music; I'll listen to the same CD for six to eight months at a time and then I'll pick a new one and listen to that one for long period of time.

Liberal arts is not useless.

Math is a beautiful thing, it helps us explain the world.

So does philosophy.

History teaches us about our past, inspires and frightens us.

The liberal arts are a vital part of holistic education. Math and science are wonderful tools in a holistic education, but so are the liberal arts.

It helps cultivate creativity and teaches people how to examine things from different perspectives, essential tools that augment the search for deeper scientific knowledge.

Need them both; otherwise what are you doing with your ride on the merry-go-round?

You obviously have not played Diablo 3...

People arguing about WoW and calling each other morons on the intertubes makes me lolz.

Look! Hipster Candy! [SFW, promise!]