Well, tax, death, drive failure and tax hasn't got that much tax in it.

That doesn't necessarily follow, however, the drivers may be entitled to mileage.

Exactly. He was missing what was important.

It wasn't really his guitar cables that were under discussion at the moment . . . he was going on about the expensive audiophile cables he'd put into his home system.

As for his guitar cable, as long as the 1/4" stays seated and the current flows, it's all good. The hum itself was in his amp, which was a bit vintage. Now, vintage guitar amps are fine as long as they are maintained, but this one needed some help. I know another guitarist that uses the same amp and it sounds great.

Ooh! I wish I had mod points for that. I like it!

You need a new bank.

You know, I had mod points just a couple of days ago. What I wouldn't give for one right now. Kudos, sir!

customers who advocate the superiority of your product on faith alone. Because they spent so goddamn much.

The guitarist in a band I've engineered for is stone deaf but thinks of himself as an audiophile. He can't hear the hum coming out of his guitar amp, but swears by these overpriced interconnect cables as well as the special acoustic pad that he puts said humming amp on. One night I pointed out one of the XLR cables to him and said, "You see that $10 cable there? Whatever you're listening to went through one of those." He didn't say another word to me all night.

This is true for Time-Warner also.

That said, Verizon Fios requires you to use their router.

That's very true, but it is an interesting question.

Now, the further question that comes to mind is whether or not some circumstances might invalidate the passport. Is it still valid if the software is patched (probably)? What if it is upgraded to the next major rev (a bit fuzzier)? How about if the software is erased and replaced (maybe the does the equivalent of installing Linux)? What if the hardware get accessorized or customized? What if parts are salvaged from two different robots to build a third, essentially different one? Etc.

None of these things are out of the realm of the likely. A robot is just a mobile computer with the ability to move something. All of these things that the tech-savvy do to their computers, so . . . why wouldn't these things be done to a robot?

How will a gun help you with NSA spying again? Are you planning on blowing your own brains out? Because that surely solves the problem. More than one problem, in fact.

You are making the mistake of assuming (a) that the AC was describing a rational actor and (b) that the AC is this actor. I would not be surprised to find that gun sales have gone up, and it has nothing to do with whether or not it will solve this problem or any other. I believe that if there was or is such an uptick, it would be at least partially have been triggered by the NSA's domestic spying.

I believe it may also be somewhat impacted by the type of building. What I have seen is in industrial buildings, office buildings and malls. I have seen the 208/120 wiring you described.

One particular building where I used to work had 208/120 in the data centre, but most of the building's lighting was 277. 277 was also available in the data centre, as was 100 and 240, because we were frequently hosting our customer's computers, which came from all over the world. I don't think I ever saw the 277 used, but the 240 and 100 were provided by small single-phase transformers in a side-room.

Yes, it is. I've known that for years. It's not the solar that's being claimed infeasible, it's the idea of wiring your house for low voltage DC.

Yeah, I don't think it's happening.

The heavier wire is to reduce the resistance, which reduces the voltage drop and the heat generated.