I just left a job where we produced POS and back office software for specialty retailers and saw the same thing. The lock-in is just incredible when you're running a nationwide chain with X-number of registers. I think a customer was running Windows 98 on a box with 128 MB of RAM. In fact, if anything you worry about customers looking to upgrade, because if they're going to have to spend all the money to buy new hardware, they're going to reevaluate their software as well, and perhaps choose another vendor.

If I had to fail foreign languages, everyone else can fail a couple of semesters of computer programming.

This general attitude contributes significantly to what is wrong with this world.

Number one, the individuals who earn their money own their money; it's not "society's" money. So, reducing the taxes on any bracket is in no way at the expense of any other bracket. No bracket—no individual, actually—has a claim on any other. You know what would be a good idea? Stop spending so much money in the first place.

Number two, direct representation in the Senate undermines our federal system. You want to argue whether or not the Senate should be elected by the people or by the states, that's fine. But to just rule it out is to whitewash the centralization of governmental power that's been happening for something like the last 100 years. Some of us are not at all happy about that.

Now we all get to be Speed Racer!

You obviously don't understand what they are trying to do here. They are trying to make it harder for shit teachers to become un-fireable. Right now, once a professor gains tenure, it becomes ridiculously hard to fire him or her. In other words, once you gain tenure, you basically can't be fired for any reason short of breaking the law. The current regulations allow for crap teachers to continue teaching even when their students do not learn anything of value. This lawsuit is trying to change that by allowing newer professors to stay and by having the crap professors fired first.

I took the liberty of adding in capital letters, properly punctuating contractions, and mildly tweaking an awkwardly written and ungrammatical sentence.

I just realized that, if I follow the author's argument about decoding rather than reading, James Joyce's two major works don't qualify as literature.

In other words, "communism" is a mis-characterization. What he really means is authoritarian government.

I feel much better now.

So, in other words, a self-driving car isn't even safe to take home from the bar when you've had one too many? The "analog backup" could conceivably still be charged with driving under the influence?

It was time to sell the client on the proposed campaign, and I came to the meeting with trepidation. Mr. House could be cruel. That was his reputation. And I wondered, would he like my proposal? Would he like me? Or would I find myself on the receiving end of one of his legendary smack-downs? Would I leave, hurt? I knocked at the door of the meeting room and heard his stern answer. "Come in," he said, menacingly. I entered, knowing my life might never be the same. [...]

Trust me, you don't want to read about the marketing campaign.

Apparently, Osama bin Laden was wasting his time working for the wrong organization. He should have sent his résumé to the Federal Reserve.

This rogue agency will destroy billions upon billions of dollars worth of American commerce before its done.

Perhaps we should start some kind of outreach program: "For only $600.00 a day—the price of dinner at an exclusive Manhattan restaurant—you too can bring hope to an exotic supermodel. Please, pick up the phone and make the call."

Something like this needs to be seen and understood by the populace at large. But, you know what? A lot people would look at this and think, "Oh, good! I hate drunk drivers!"

Apparently the police were more interested in trying to detect movement of people []

That would be my concern too, but for the fact that I suspect something else entirely.

I'm going to guess that someone in industry, eager to sell a product, got together with someone at the police department, eager to carve out a brand new, bureaucratic niche for himself; and putting these two together is why the scanners got bought—not for any legitimate police work. The cops in their cars don't really care about the scanners, and neither do their superiors; because catching stolen cars doesn't do as much for revenue generation as does writing tickets for expired registrations, pulling over drunk drivers, or setting up good old-fashioned speed traps.

When hearing deteriorates, the frequencies affected are way beyond the fidelity of what is transmitted over a phone call. I explained where I thought the traditional calls were superior, and I stand by what I said.