Or, to provide the obligatory car analogy - just because I loaned my car to my best friend does not mean that I have surrendered my expectation that no one else will drive it.

P = Population of the United States over the age of 18
H = Number of households

Givens:
All members of P will require information from the site.
Open enrollment for most company health plans is from Oct 1 - Oct 15.

Therefore:
Most members of P who need to compare to company health plans will need to access the site between when it opens - Oct 1 - and the deadline for open enrollment in their company plan - Oct 15.
Assuming 80% of P is in the above category:
L = (P - H) * 0.8

Using data from census.gov:
P=~240,133,500
H=~114,761,359
L= (240133500-114761359) *.8
L=125372141 * .8=100,297,712 users
Multiple by number of clicks/page loads to accomplish the basic tasks and you have a number of approximate hits. From what I have seen of the site, that is approximately 20 page loads.
So 2,005,954,240 hits / 15 days / 24 hours per day / 60 minutes per hour / 60 seconds per minute = ~1548 hits per second minimum capacity required.
If we further assume that the initial surge will be more than 1/15 of the population, then that number can be scaled appropriately.

It's not black magic.

As a user of wide screens and larger fonts, I find the fixed width of the layout harder to read - I can only see a small list of one-two story summaries in the classic or new layout. Please do not follow the trend of making narrow center columns just to make space for pretty or advertisements on the sides.

<sarcasm>I blame this rock I live under. It's a heavy rock, and I can't be arsed to move it, but its all the rock's fault.</sarcasm>

Unfortunately, that is also far too common a mindset (the rock being metaphorical for trust in some authority).

Some suggestions for those situations:

* Before you head to the airport to fly to the area of potential harm, why not spend some time with your family in person. If that is not possible, then perhaps the priorities of where you are and what you are doing should be reexamined.
* If that client e-mail is so important that it cannot wait, what are you going to do about it when it arrives one minute later, after you are on the plane instead of before? This is where delegation comes in. Since that client is so important, someone must be able to take care of them while you are in flight, or out of contact. Have that person start before you go to the airport.
* If your life is really that stressful, is it because of the actual needs and expectations of the job, or the expectations and needs you place on yourself? If you are so important that you cannot be out of contact for a moment or your world will end, then let us all hope you are never in a fatal accident, or we are all dead. If you are not, then feel free to reexamine your sense of importance.

In my personal opinion, anything important enough to need immediate attention should be calling 911 (or the local emergency number) instead of me. Anything else will still be there when I get back.

It appears that the tachyon flow has inverted phases on the amplitudahedral surface and is now emitting anti-neutrinos from the particle decomposition. Permission to use an inverse tachyon beam from the main deflector to slow the rate on non-newtonian brwonian motion? I'll have to channel power from the warp plasma intercooler, but I think that if I can match the energy signature then we can forge a cheque to the Farengi.

From a professional driving standpoint, there is a reason that the radios, CBs, atc. with tactile buttons sell much better than any touch screen. In aircraft, at least in all of the ones I have been in so far, the LCD is bracketed by a set of hard buttons. I have yet to see any interface that is FAA approved that does not have all critical functions on tactile buttons. That is not to say that there are none, but most pilots I know prefer the buttons.

As for the missile, missile engagement requires operation of anywhere from 2 to 8 individual controls to arm and fire. I think it should stay that way.

Actually, some sporting events also require a photo id to validate that you didn't buy your ticket from a secondhand reseller (scalper). That leaves logging on to the Internet - and while I don't have to have an ID to log on, I do have to provide ID to get service of my own.

Seems that they are well on their way. It may only be a bit array, but that definitely was a bitmap image stored in the making of the movie.

Wait? Are you telling me that females are supposed to be the ones with the cleavage in IT?

Funny that you should ask that. I have several different magnetic toys, including some with rare earth magnets. I also have a dog, two cats, and two rabbits. If you think kids are prone to eat whatever falls on the floor, then try having a dog around.

I manage (somehow) to make sure that they are all safely put away every time I use them. I also manage to make sure that anytime I have someone visiting (of any age) that plays with them that they are shown how powerful they are and how to safely handle them. It doesn't even take a lot of time or effort to do this.

I also have any number of hazardous things around the house - knives, saws, chisels, etc. Every one gets safely stored.

So yes, I am willing to check that things are put away properly, and that my family and pets are not going to end up in pain or dead because I was too lazy to count toys.

Does that hold true even if it also costs one life? What about two? Ten? One Hundred? Gun control is an unmeasured trade-off - removing guns does not stop criminals completely, but does remove the ability of the honest to defend against those criminals. Attempts to measure the valuation of the trade-off are always influences by outside concerns, so are neither objective nor provably accurate.

Braised in a white wine sauce? Survival and reproduction are indeed not mandatory.

If we can influence them to rotate, can we influence them to not rotate as well? Because if that were the case, we would have the basic for a 2 bit communication system.

For example: measure the receiving end at 1 second intervals. Three rotations = start of message. From there, rotate = 1 and no rotate = 0. Rinse, repeat.

I would imagine that the reason we don't have this is because we can't influence them not to rotate.

Yes, my internet is up 90% of the time or better. Yes, my wired devices can take full advantage of this.

No, I am not tearing down walls to get wires to my game consoles. They live across the house from the internet, the wireless connection is less than stellar there. Until now, it hasn't needed to be anything special.

So I include the cost of adding access points (or wires), setting up MORE networking gear, etc. to the cost of the new always-on console. And it's just not worth it for a few games.