What I don't get is why this data is so useful to advertisers. I've almost never bought anything based solely on an ad.

Everybody says that, and yet companies spend untold $billions on marketing and marketing-effectiveness research. Which means either (A) this pervasive marketing is a huge waste-o-cash, or (B) we ("consumers" as a whole) are mostly unaware of the heavy influence that marketing has on us.

Knowing how much those companies would love to keep the dollars headed toward executives instead of blowing it on expenses, my money's on (B).

Libertarians believe in necessary regulation.

Everyone believes in "necessary" regulation. The question is what do you, I, etc, consider necessary?

Since percentages aren't distorted by exponential growth, that means he's responsible for a 10% reduction in the world's current population.

Not necessarily.

Suppose for a minute 2 parallel timelines- one where Khan killed lots of people, a second where he didn't. You can't assume that timeline-1's (relatively uncrowded) population would would increase at exactly the same rate as timeline-2's (relatively crowded) population. Maybe timeline 2 would produce more children (people closer together plus a safer societal environment equals more couples having children). Or maybe the higher population density would subtly discourage having children (causing a leveling of population growth, as we're seeing in some places today).

If he doesn't like that then he can make his own phone and his own app store

App store I understand, but why would he have to create his own phone/tablet? Why can't the people who own an iPad be able to run what they darn well please?

Because the wrong people invariably end up with the job security and ridiculous pension. There is no real method in typical US union contracts for weeding out the bad, since they're seniority based rather than performance based when it comes to job security.

Because the wrong people invariably end up with the job security and ridiculous pension. There is no real method in typical US CEO and Senior Executive contracts for weeding out the bad, since they're seniority based rather than performance based when it comes to job security.

You're missing the point entirely. When US gov. officials use the term "secure" they mean precisely "control and oppress those in question" or often "retain power at all costs". You must learn to read these statements properly.

It's naive to only call out "US gov. officials". Every gov't wants this power, and quite a few (maybe more than you'd like to admit) are working hard to get it.

Check out his TED talk...

1) Avatar was ALWAYS meant to be an eye candy spectacle. A proof of the capabilities of his company that he founded for the purpose of making 3D art.

2) Titanic was just an excuse to dive the real wreck...

3) He sought to make more films, but there wasn't any money in it, so he returned to make another Hollywood film.

4) Avatar's subsequent release merely funds his true passion of science and exploration.

Were those his goals before Avatar (and Titanic) were made, or is this the director's version of tripping on your shoelaces then exclaiming "I meant to do it!"?

I spent over a decade and almost $70,000 of my own money on personal growth.

I'm trying really hard not to be cynical here, but how does somebody spend $70K on personal growth?

college?

scientology?

Teaching everybody to a minimum standard is a very noble cause but it isn't possible for everyone you teach to live up to that standard; so instead we end up with these bitter drop-outs who are essentially labled as unemployable just because they can't tell you what the capital of Nebraska is.

We had those bitter drop-outs who were labeled unemployable even when I was in school, which was well before NCLB. I think they even had the same "school sux and is useless anyway" reasoning.

Mars has an atmosphere, not much of one to be sure, but it does have one. Why else do you think so many landers used parachutes to help slow their descent?

Huh. I always thought it was for nasa to get a little extra funding on the side. That way as the native Martians watch the probe descend, they can see a big 'chute (with a big ad on it) pop out too. How else will they know how good Pawtucket Patriot Ale really is?

So the Slashdot groupthink's anti-law enforcement stance has extended to the Secret Service now? Which part are we in favor of: counterfeiting money or assassinating the president?

So is "stopping counterfeiting" the new "think of the children"?

*disclaimer*: I already know the answer is 'yes'. Want the gov't to protect your entertainment-industry business model? Then push for a law (or better, international treaty) that stops counterfeiting with a heavy hand, then bend/twist/reinterpret the law to bow to your will instead. And if someone complains, well we can't have counterfeiting, now can we?