Yes. In Boston there are subway stations with Dunkin' Donuts in them. Driving through Chelsea there are DDs at all of the major corners. It isn't until you get pretty far out into the suburbs that you can't find a Dunkin' Donuts every quarter-mile. When they're everywhere it's easy to see why people will get their coffee, donuts, and breakfast sandwiches there even if they'd rather have something better or different.

No, think that hey! summed it up fairly well. Fiorina has been extremely successful, even to the point of literally being phenomenal, for her own interests. The problem is, her interests are most every other person's interests are not necessarily compatible and may be outright hostile. One can argue that her success, while bad for just about everyone else that she has done business with, is still good for her.

Take another look at Mitt Romney for a moment, in the sense that his corporate interests have been successful, by and large, for shareholders in the firms that his loyalties have been to. He could at least claim that his policies were beneficial for shareholders and for the company, but even with such claims he still lost an election. I expect that many of the stories of companies purchased and stripped by Romney's companies, promptly laying-off thousands of workers in the process.

If Romney couldn't win despite having arguably a successful track-record, then I don't see how Fiorina could.

I thought I'd never see you write those words. You are completely correct, of course..

The reason for the crushing of liberty is the cash cow. Profit first, politics later.

Why would we complain about Slashdot on Twitter when we can complain about Slashdot on Slashdot?

Expressing opinions is just fine, but it's not in these businesses' interests to provide a forum for it when this forum is not in their control. It's opening the flood-gates to let a trickle of a stream into the town downstream and being surprised when the entire reservoir rushes down the valley.

Are they happy, or have businesses like this managed to simply become the path of least resistance to where they've become a habit to the patrons?

I used to stop at QuikTrip convenience stores twice a day while doing my rounds, to get soft-drink refills and sometimes to buy beef jerky or other snacks. It didn't make me happy or improve my quality of life, I was doing it because it was very easy and had become one of my habits.

I don't hate QuikTrip now, but I did realize that I'm better off not patronizing them so much.

These situations are all proof that one cannot control the feedback that one receives. That's the whole point of feedback, by the way, to attempt to gauge a realistic view of what's going on. Asking for a negative review or asking for a positive review has already prejudiced the review process, and will usually rile-up people that have had the opposite experience that have the opposite view of the asker.

If the distinguished lady from Oregon wanted realistic feedback then she should have simply asked for feedback. If she asked for positive feedback (as an attempt at reverse-psychology), knowing that she was against the ACA, she would have gotten positive feedback by a motivated crowd. Asking for negative feedback, know that she was against the ACA, she got positive feedback by a motivated crowd.

It doesn't matter if you're squeaky-clean, there are plenty of people that would demean anyway even if they've never done business with you. Just reading through the comments on items purchased on Amazon is proof enough of that.

They're called trolls. And we should all be well aware of them, we've all probably been them at some point or another.

+1, Troll.

Absolutely. I bought one about a year ago, and now spend 30-50% of my work day standing. My back and shoulders have been thanking me ever since.

Alas, IKEA had none in stock at the time, and due to issues with their supplier, weren't going to get in any more until August. So I had to go to one of those trendy office furniture shops that seem infest Stockholm like gnats around a bowl of fruit, and pay about 40% more for it. OTOH, it came with a 3-year warranty, it *works*, and I might even be able to deduct some of it from my taxes this year.

If you work at a desk, GET ONE.

I think that's a wonderful idea. Say, I've been looking for a potential Kickstarter for some time now...

That sounds a bit like claiming to be celibate while boasting that you've the neighbourhood's biggest and best porn archive.

The best way to deal with a mosquito is to give it just what it wants. At about 5x normal pressure/flow rate.

IOW you wait until the little bastard lands on your arm, give a little squeeze, and--boom! No more mozzie.

Sounds cool. Can you get one of those with a remote?