Those treehuggers would gladly put every corporation on the face of the planet, including Tesla, out of business tomorrow if they could. Left-wing extremism is no joke.

It speaks volumes that you're either not aware of this, or are aware and agree with it. We need only look to Venezuela to see what happens next.

I love how you say that the wrong color plastic makes a product suck. Really? Seriously? This is how we got to the "thinner is better, for no reason" thought which led directly to the iPhone 6 bendgate.

I love how this narrative completely ignores the fact that there are shit-tons of right-wing terrorists who would gladly bomb all of us into oblivion. All you have to do is shout "profit" and completely ignore the very real threats that challenge us today. These people are armed to the teeth and mean us harm.

Congratulations - you have just reinvented the hovel.

Do you people ever think beyond the immediate consequences of your actions? It's clear that the answer is "no". As soon as the requirement of electricity is removed, shitty-ass slums will immediately appear. Sure, they'll have solar panels on the roof - old broken ones from 5 years ago. But fuck it, because these codes are old-fashioned - Dad's stuff! Ridiculous for this day and age!

Huh? I see we haven't met many environmentalists. They're mean sons of bitches who spend their entire day being angry.

Ah, yes, the familiar left-wing argument. The day that we have a "real democracy" is the day the left-wingers remove our ability to make decisions. Because, you know, none of us voters are qualified to make decisions. It's much better to trust the Socialist Party to make those decisions for us. They're better people, more intelligent, have Ph.D.s. Can you imagine what a nation would look like if the great unwashed made decisions that benefited themselves? Anarchy! Better to live in the "real democracy" - the one that better-qualified people decide we should have.

LOL. State ownership of huge companies is indeed a hallmark of communism. I love how so many people are desperately trying to say China was never communist in the first place, because it didn't work out well. It's funny how many capital-C Communist regimes there were in the world - and yet not a single one was communist. It's the No True Scotsman fallacy in action.

They are, in fact, communist. However, they are taking the capitalist road to achieve socialism. This is a heresy of communism, one Mao warned against repeatedly. Critical thinking led the Chinese Communist Party to take the capitalist road, and this lifted the Chinese people out of grinding poverty. Today, things are better than they've ever been before, and tomorrow will be better.

Men can be imprisoned for not being able to pay divorce settlements, so yes we do in fact have debtors' prisons.

It's too long and unpronounceable. They should have consulted a branding consultant before settling on that name. Well, at least they're doing better than the names of most open source products.

It is utterly chilling to see educated people publically admire a tyrannical government, and openly wish we had the same in America. There are trees and ropes waiting for you kind of people.

For the first time since I started w/the iPhone (the 3G was my first one), I see absolutely nothing of value with this major release version which makes me want to upgrade to it.

I'll be paying $99 for the 5S and be happy w/it. Sorry but unnecessarily bigger sizes and a better camera is not worth $200+contract renewal.

I totally understand what they're doing and that's fine if they want to operate in that way. Its people just need to realize this and use the name and prestige its name on their resume brings when they hop to a smaller but potentially more enjoyable organization.

The IT world is certainly competitive; however, ALL companies should see the internal benefits to training employees and working to ensure they do not leave. Companies with the mindset you laid out above are doing themselves a double disservice by not training their employees and leveraging the benefits and immediate returns provided by investments in their human capital. In some fields and with some resources, professional development is seen as a bigger happiness motivator and retention tool than more salary.

What you have outlined above is a company which is not interested in its people and only its immediate bottom line and one where it's clear its people should move on regardless of payscale and internal short-term opportunity provided.

As someone who has repeatedly attended and presented at conferences in my field, I make it a point during negotiations for any new job to ensure these are funded fully but only if I am presenting; otherwise, I opt to share in the costs associated in attending with my employer.

Each and every company I have worked at in the past (and current) has a budget for training and professional development of its employees, some more than others; however, by making a case that I am giving back to a community of like-minded professionals and putting our name and brand out there during presentations, I have found this is an easy sell for companies for which I want to work.

I work extensively w/SAS and utilize a lot of the conference (SAS Global Forum/SUGI prior) materials in my day to day both for myself and our entire organization. By making it clear to my employers that I want to give back by presenting, I have opened organization's view on how the sharing of information benefits the business while benefiting the entire industry.

Make your determination and desires known when you sign on and, if that is not an option, make it clear to your management that you want to do the same thing. While I have received a variety of different types of pushback over the years for this view, they have all relented and ended up changing their world view when the benefits are presented as they are.

Conferences are not inexpensive (SAS Global Forum is usually around $3000 - $3500 for a single person encompassing travel, conference registration, lodging, meals, etc) but the ROI can be HUGE beyond that depending on the knowledge transfers that occur, the networking opportunities, and the new business development which I have seen from these conferences.

While I did not attend SASGF 2014 this year, it was solely due to my available time to develop a presentation topic, not because my company would not send me (this was my first missed attendance since I became involved in the SAS world) and I look forward to contributing to and learning from others in the future.

Best of luck.

I love how the default attitude is spite. Blame America for doing something wrong, instead of the obvious choice - make your own version of kickstarter. With blackjack, and hookers. Then you don't have to listen to what the Americans say at all. Better yet, you can exclude Americans from participating. You can even go so far as to redirect any American IP address to a landing page where you let them know all the problems you have with the US federal government.

Kickstarter doesn't do deals outside the USA for well-known legal reasons. Maybe you can discover what these are when you start your own - but you won't, so the question is moot. Still, I wish someone would. I just don't see it happening, though.