It was NOT. You are misinformed. The average life expectancy may have been in 30-40 range, but it was caused by childhood mortality. For anyone who survived birth and early childhood, life expectancy was much, much higher.

As per Wikipedia (here), even in Upper Paleolithic era, life expectancy at birth was 32, but for anyone who reached the age of 15 life expectancy was already at 54 instead.

There were some very odd decisions, but all in all the LOTR movies were surprisingly good.

Where? I am hard pressed to think of something for the 1st movie and I haven't seen a single good scene anywhere in the 2nd Hobbit movie. Maybe I missed something?

Perhaps 8.1 is the one that comes with downgrade to Windows7 option. I wonder if they counted how many licenses are downgraded after purchase.

Actually, I think this is what you get when you live in US.
Don't think we have any centrists left, our "leftists" would be considered moderate-right anywhere else.

Also, the channels have to have dynamic scheduling. Maybe we could just subscribe to the actual shows? (To be able to save the next Firefly?)

I used to arrange my life around favorite TV shows when I was a kid. But as an adult, I'd rather shows rearranged for me.

Both of your references link to Qwest CEO Joseph Nacchio which is hardly "many cases". Rather, this is one case, where the only person to stand up against government surveillance spent 6 years in prison (plus lost his job and a lot of money paying for lawyers before that). I assume the clear lesson here is that he may be the last one to do something like this.

Yes, I am sure that UPS and FedEx will defend my privacy with their lives. Are you aware of a competitor who is unlikely to provide my data to the government?

What would be the point of doing this? To get better mail rates as long as you live in one of the top-10 major cities?

I assume it came out of the salaries of the officials responsible for the mail tracking?

I am quite sure there isn't such channel
I think the ones suing have some accidental way of proving that they are, in fact, on the no-fly list. I don't believe there is a channel to confirm if you are on the no-fly list. Very Kafkaesque indeed.

Oh, yes, because optional things never become mandatory. Only 10 years ago, the EZ-pass highway electronic payment system was optional. It even offered a discount (initially).

Now, there are several bridges where cash payment has been eliminated altogether. And many, many locations where the only available cash lane requires extra 15 minutes of my time.

I am talking about US, but I am sure such "optional" feature creep is an international thing.

Also, how much compensation did the affected customers receive?
Even if the punishment were painful, why does FCC get all of it?

Oh, well, never mind. I guess customers got something out of this settlement after all. And in the fourth year, Verizon doesn't even have to notify them about their opt-out rights?

Considering that half the apps out there (and I mean benign/legitimate apps!) seem to upload user data without user's knowledge, that is not so shocking. Once you start using your phone, several apps will start siphoning your data.

Recent "simplification" of Android Google-store permissions means that I don't even know how much of a permission I am giving to a new app.

Actually, naive me was thinking that they have an obligation NOT TO LOOK.
I also have a storage room rental -- does that mean the owner is allowed to do random checks for stolen goods? Just in case?

None of this precludes bad eating habits though. It just makes it more expensive or cumbersome (nor does it help people who drink several medium drinks throughout the day). So sounds like pointless grandstanding

Education is the way to help. I think the rules requiring posting calories on the menu had done a lot more to improve health than any such stupid ban. And no one contested that in court.

You can't really force people to make healthy choices by legislation. Information/labeling helps though.