Although this problem needs a solution, a union is not that solution. Unions are a relic of a bygone era. The core premise of a union is that employes are all the same and can be swapped in and out of work like parts in a machine (once they are trained). This leads to collective bargaining which takes back some of the power that big employers have. However it also removes individuality from the worker. If I am smarter, stronger, or more skilled than my coworkers, I want to be able to elevate myself based on my merits. A union interferes with that. You pay a union, and the union acts only in its own best interest, not in your individual best interest.

Modern skilled workers, especially in the IT and Engineering fields, are usually very specialized. This is not a good fit for a union. It would be ill advised to take a good thing and remove all motivation for creativity and the free flow of invigorating talent.

A better solution is to simply prevent large corporations from getting away with their bullshit. No "gentleman's agreements" to prevent poaching. Stop accepting lies regarding layoffs and market performance. Reward employers for using home-grown talent rather than rewarding them with tax loopholes for moving overseas.

Those budget laptops do exist on the market, but they are slow, heavy, and prone to breaking. Don't even get me started on the screens. The screens are almost unusable.

Instead, compare it to an ultrabook. Those have SSDs, decent processor and memory configurations, good screens, and are lightweight. The prices are on par.

For $800 you must have been looking at the Surface Pro 3. I don't think an Android tablet is an apples-to-apples comparison. The Surface Pro 3 runs a full Windows 8 OS. It is basically a laptop without a permanent keyboard. The Surface 2 is more like $450. This is much closer to the price range you're talking about.

The real problem with Microsoft's tablet experience isn't the price of the Pro 3. I think it's a great piece of kit and compares favorably to a laptop for many usage scenarios. The problem is the Windows RT used on ARM phones and tables. Specifically, the Windows RT app ecosystem. There just isn't enough going on to make it a compelling platform.

Microsoft is great at making terrible decisions. They could have tried to capitalize on their their existing platforms with good market penetration to bootstrap a great app ecosystem. Instead, they wanted to have what Apple has. They wanted to control everything so they could milk it all for money. Unfortunately, they didn't offer any other reason to get developers and users to switch.

I can't see myself ever getting a Surface or Windows Phone. However, I probably will get my wife a Surface Pro 3 when her current laptop dies.

Dude, what does that even mean? Backups have to be done intelligently based on your situation. In the summary, the user had an external hard disk on USB which would have protected against primary HD failure, but not against common mode failures such as a fire at home or a compromised PC. He didn't protect himself against malicious code, and got burned. The raw number of backups don't matter if you're not paying attention to what you are and are not protecting against.

That isn't new this time around. It was added a few versions back.

Please name a major browser vendor that has less money than Firefox. Mozilla is the only one of the "big four" browser vendors that isn't a huge multi-national corporation.

People used to die from smallpox. Now they don't. That's good enough evidence for me.
How many deformed kids did you grow up with due to polio? Zero? Oh, me too. I wonder why that is.

Yeah, there is. Your sources are highly suspect. Source: I've had the MMR. Also every MD ever.

Citation needed.

We're not talking about forced vaccination. You just have to be vaccinated to attend school.

This is actually a really good idea.

So be it. But you can't come to school if you aren't willing to protect public health. That's the deal.

Free country, sure. You're free to be foolish and suffer the consequences. You aren't free to drive on the sidewalk, discharge your firearm at a Walmart for target practice, or take a shit on the president's desk.

Similarly, we should not be free to endanger public health with disease. If you want to remain unvaccinated, do so in your own backwoods shack, away from us. Thanks.

Yeah, I'm totally going to trust a naturalist with no formal training to give me advice on advanced medicine. Especially when they are selling herbal remedies at the same time.

Don't think vaccines are safe? Try polio, rubella, whooping cough, and measles. See how safe you feel when your kid might catch one of those at school.

We don't have that ability.