Oh, but they do.

They mean something to all of us, even those of us without credit cards.

I used to be a small business owner, and I stopped taking "points" credit cards altogether.

Do you know who pays for those points and gives you the cash back?

The merchant. That's right, points cards always cost the merchant a larger percentage in transaction fees, and the credit card companies offer this difference (usually only a fraction of the difference) as THEIR GIFT TO YOU ... which they take from me.

Swell guys, eh?

Sheeple spending points is like sheeple spending tax "refund" checks. They think it's free money from the heavens above, but it comes about only through their own assfucking.

Points/rewards credit cards are a pretty big factor behind the increasing costs of goods/services. The credit card companies take it from the merchant, take a slice for themselves, and give you whats left.

In turn, the merchants raise their prices to cover the "rewards", and prices go up for everyone, regardless of how they pay. Next time you take you credit card to the store, prices have gone up 20% to cover this atrocity, but you gladly buy it anyway because you get more points on your card. And the cycle continues.

Rewards/points cards are in the top 10 scams of the century.

But hey, enjoy your 49 cents cash back. You earned it.

Contrary to popular belief, democracy can never truly work. At least not for a large population.

In order for democracy to work, the populace must be of sufficient intellect to make the best decisions for itself. The masses cannot do this, and this reality is unchangeable.

That which we call "critical" or "abstract" thinking generally requires an IQ of 110 or greater. The average IQ of the U.S. citizen is 98. This means that the majority of Americans have an IQ of less than 100. Those with IQs of less than 100 tend to make decisions based on repetition and consensus rather than critical analysis, and even "smart" people have a difficult time resisting the lure of basing conclusions on "common knowledge".

As such, people can be fairly easily persuaded to vote against their own interests time, and time, and time again.

Democracy as a means of preventing tyranny and corruption is fairly useless, for democracy is 3 geniuses, 20 bright people, and 500 idiots voting on a course of action. The numbers are made up, but you get the gist, and they are probably not far off. When someone with an IQ of 65 has an equal influence on important matters as does a person with an IQ of 140, the Achilles heel of of democracy becomes evident.

A benevolent dictatorship, to whatever extent one can truly exist, would be a far better, more fair, more efficient, more humane form of government than is democracy.

GoDaddy will be fine, because even though Slashdotters know what SOPA is, 90% of people have no clue as to what is going on.

Despite nearly 18 months of seeming outrage over the TSA's backscatter and groping, airline travel was up this holiday season. Bloggers and talking heads were pissed, but Joe and Jane Soccermom remained oblivious. Were it put to a vote tomorrow, the TSA's groping policy would be overwhelmingly approved by American voters.

Similarly, when SOPA or a SOPA-like law is passed, and it will be, Slashdot will blow up with comments, but the legislators who pass it will be re-elected without issue.

3 geniuses, 20 bright people, 500 idiots.

The government will once again act against the interest of the citizens, while 3 people scream, 20 people complain on Slashdot, and 500 people watch Monday Night Football.

Democracy. It doesn't work.

It never did.

It never will.

I own several Android devices, and TouchWiz is by far my favorite interface.

I don't expect that love to be universal, though. Arguing interfaces is like arguing flavors of ice cream.

I have a Galaxy Tab, and while I love it most of the time, it memory leaks like hell. I use it a great deal, which means that at a minimum, I have to reboot once daily. I can somewhat see that the 512MB of RAM is too tight for any more candy.

It seems pathetic, though, considering that 20 short years ago my PC had 4MB of RAM and ran Windows 3.1 just fine (well, not "fine", but I'm sure you get the point). Now, I've got 128x that, and I can barely run a mobile operating system with a pretty shell.

It does seem wrong on so many levels.

For the first time ever, I didn't understand a Slashdot Poll. I have 4GB in my main computer, so do I choose 2GB+ to 4GB, or 4GB+ to 8GB? Screw it. I voted for Al Sharpton.

Leave your mother out of this.

just sayin

Are about to get run over en-masse.

The more successful and the more money you make in the US, the more you are advantaged by the "commons", which is what taxes pay for.

Not exactly.

Federal taxation exists to take currency out of circulation, thus propping up the value of the remaining notes in circulation.

As such, your taxes don't "pay for" anything except perceived value.

If you have a bunch of notes, those notes become less valuable the more you accumulate.

If you have to destroy, say, 50% of your notes every year, however, and everyone else must do the same ... your remaining notes maintain their value for far longer, although they still become less valuable over a sufficient period of time (inflation).

Most Americans are woefully unaware of the way the Federal Reserve, fiat currency, and our fractional reserve banking system works.

They have an almost infantile notion that they send in a tax check, and that check goes to pay for government services.

The Federal Government never sees your tax money. It goes to the Treasury, which in turn goes to the Fed.

They central bank just want as little money in your hands as possible, because it makes the notes the Fed prints and hands over more valuable.

Exactly. The iPhone has been around for a long time, is insanely popular, and it does not run Flash. There will always be more iPhone and iPod Touch users than iPad users.

This OS and these devices are not new. If these companies were that concerned about iPeople, they would have made the transition to an iPhone OS compatible technology long ago.

By the time the settlement or judgment is made -- assuming Microsoft doesn't go to trial and win -- the damages would probably amount to a few bucks per end-user anyway.

This is why large companies often preferclass action suits over individual suits.

Class action suits mean that, if the company loses, they never have to litigate over the matter again.

If they lose an individual suit, every consumer on the planet is free to chase the same reward the original litigant won, and they are not bound by any $5 off coupon settlements.

It also means that noone else is bound by the outcome, and is free to sue individually. If Microsoft loses the individual suit, you could potentially see 10,000,000 more individual suits using this case as a precedent for an easy win. That would cost MS significantly more money. Lack of class certification COULD be a disaster for Microsoft ... especially if they lose and the award is substantial.