And then they'd stop after people learned to go to checkout to see if they'd "won", and if not stop or get a refund, clear their cookies, etc... and try again.

It's not that big of a deal for the consumer. According to, ah, GLBA I think it was, the consumer is completely off the hook for any fraudulent activity that takes place on their cards. So if some bad guy gets a hold of your card and begins a spending spree, that's on Chase or Citi or Navy Federal or whoever your card is with. You should always pay attention to activity on your card, but no need to go nuts.

But has it learned to let someone else design Breakout and then steal a couple thousand dollars from him for his efforts? When it does that, it will truly be an intelligence. (And it will be a superior intelligence if it leaves off the black turtlenecks.)

That's not the worst part, that's the only part. The entire purpose of using a Real Name is that it aids various governments in controlling their citizens. You will even recall US Federal government officials encouraging anonymity in the early days of the Internet for personal security. That anonymity provides security is obvious. Security through obscurity, although imperfect is also obvious; however it is still security. Or in the case of a government, a hurdle to overcome when policing a populace.

Otherwise, there is no advantage in using a Real Name in conversations on the Internet, but rather only disadvantages.

If electricity is outlawed, only outlaws and Nikola Tesla will have electricity.

What country are you talking about? The U.S. has been going steadily away from laissez faire capitalism for at least 100 years now... to the point where it might actually start turning back in the other direction as more and more centrally-planned fiascoes are revealed and the old socialist hippies start dying off.

Your other disconnect seems to be thinking that "corporation as top tier person" is laissez faire, as opposed to a government rent-seeking benefit largely found in countries with more government control of the economy. Pro-economic freedom doesn't necessarily mean pro-government organized corporation.

Here he comes to save the day!

Yeah, pretty much. But in this case, I will put my money on the hull of a schooner. Old piece of garbage got dumped there wholesale I'll wage.

150 years ago:
Person A: "Hey, we need landfill. Do you want this leaky decrepit hulk any more?"
Person B "Give me 20 bucks and it's yours."
Person A: "Here you go, thanks! That'll make great landfill and as long as anyone doesn't try to dig a giant tunnel through here, we're set!

Some badguy once said that the way to win a battle was "He who gets there fustest with the mostest". That typically works pretty well for most human endeavors. We should want a scramble to get to the moon. Human innovation, powered by greed, has typically been the best catalyst for moving forward. I fail to see why this would be any different.

The UN would undoubtedly screw it up, as would any other controlling agency. So for the time being, leave it uncontrolled. It causes no harm and may do good.

"I came here with a simple dream. A dream of killing all humans." B.B. Rodriguez

that left tens of millions without health insurance

At this rate, it's highly likely that there will be more uninsured in the U.S. over the next few years than over the last few years. That's what happens when you make a product significantly more expensive and more difficult to sell and to purchase.

If you think things are bad now, wait until next year when the business mandate that Obama unilaterally delayed kicks in. That's going to be even worse for the people who already had insurance....

The real question is why the Democrats needed to take over the entire health insurance industry if the goal was to just help pay for insurance for a few million folks that didn't have it and wanted it. You could have covered that with a check just out of what's been spent on the federal and state ACA exchanges.

The reality is that this has always been about the Dems making a federal power grab over health insurance and the health industry. That was never going to do anything but make the already massive government-induced problems in the insurance and health industries worse.

If it's a small office, you can use Ethernet over power lines. I have not used it before, but it seems to be what you are looking for.

That being said, it's difficult to give up the 1000 Mb connections from modern ethernet cables, along with POE for phones, etc. The designer by not putting ethernet cables in place did your business a disservice. A secure business requires secure ethernet.

You may want to also factor in that insurance in NY is much more expensive than in many other parts of the country. The OP didn't specify a location, so it's difficult to tell, but I've had plans on the individual market before that were $350/month for a family of 6 in one state (after paying $1300/month in a high cost state), so $165/month for an younger individual doesn't seem unreasonable to me.

Now, of course, the whole country is being forced into NY/NJ/MA-style expensive plans, so that all goes way up...

It's called John's Phone. They seem to be a bit on the out of business side however. Still, it was a good idea. It's just a cell phone. Nothing else. No address book, no texting, no surfing. Just a phone. With 2 week battery time.

I'll stick with gold. Thanks.