You said: If there were no speedlimit people would, for the most part, drive INCREDIBLY riskily.

Research indicates that this is not the case. In areas where speed limits are not enforced, civil engineers find that 85% of motorists drive at what most would call a prudent speed. In fact, in many municipalities, speed limits for a given road are determined by observing traffic and determining the limit based on the 85 percentile speed (assuming, of course, that generating revenue from speeding fines is not part of the equation). Google "85 percentile traffic speed" if you're interested.

You said: Overwhelmingly, if you wanted to look like you knew why-the-fuck you ought to be on stage, in front of 8,000 people, you went Mac.

I guess I'm missing the point. Isn't it better to actually know why the fuck you ought to be onstage instead of merely looking that way?

Huh? I recently furnished my home with hand-made solid cherry furniture. Did I pay a lot? Yes I did, but I expect it to last for the rest of my life and quite a bit beyond. And except for the finishing and the metal fasteners and other hardware, it's entirely of made of wood, a renewable, easily disposed of resource. Compare this to buying and disposing of particleboard furniture every 5-10 years. Aside from the landfill issues, I'd bet there's a lot more exotic chemicals used in the manufacture of laminated particleboard that we don't want entering the environment. And don't get me started on the petroleum used in the manufacture of all the plastic parts used in that grade of furniture. I think we, as a species, do not have the space, time, resources or money to allow everyone to dispose of their furniture every few years.

...who really wanted to see Titanic in 3D?

Actually, no airlines operate 747's out of La Guardia; the 7000-foot runways are too short for normal commercial operation of 747's. I believe there have been circumstances where 747's have landed there due to weather or other issues.

...to use a guinea pig for this?

From TFA: "So the idea may make the most sense for long-battery-life devices like...iPhones"

In what universe is an iPhone a "long-battery-life" device?

This look would go nicely with my tinfoil hat.

You said "it might not be relevant to him for his job duties." C'mon! Not criticizing you, but this guy says he manages a 3 billion dollar budget. And he can't do basic arithmetic, even with a calculator? I can't for the life of me imagine how addition and subtraction can't be relevant to someone that manages money on a daily basis.

Now I can have unprotected sex with mice and not worry about getting AIDS

One correction: While Breitling has a robust history in aviation, no Breitling watches have ever (officially) been used in space by NASA. The only watches certified by NASA for spaceflight are the Omega Speedmaster Professional and (I believe) the Omega Speedmaster X-33. Interestingly, the current Speedmaster Professional is virtually identical to the one selected by NASA in the mid-1960's mechanical, handwind movement and all. The only modification NASA made to the Speedmasters that went into space was to replace the stock metal bracelet with a Velcro strap that could be adjusted to fit over the cuff of a space suit.

It's probably not quite correct to say that Breitling doesn't "give a shit about science" or that they make "designer watches." Designer watches are what you pick up for $49.95 at Marshall's and toss in the trash when the battery dies. If you've ever held a Breitling, you'd certainly agree that the quality of design and workmanship is orders of magnitude better than a typical "designer watch." Admittedly, the price is also orders of magnitude greater, but you get what you pay for. And there's an enormous amount of both science and engineering that goes into the manufacture of a modern mechanical timepiece. Watch manufacturers are constantly working to develop longer-lasting and more effective lubricants. They develop new alloys to use in escapements to make their watches more resistant to the effects of gravity, magnetism and temperature. They use silicon and other materials in place of metal to reduce both wear and the need for lubrication in their movements. So, I'm thinking that the folks at Breitling probably do give a shit about science.

"I remember paying $160 for 16 megs"


That sounds like a bargain to me. In the early '90's, I worked for a local shop that built machines to order for customers. If we wanted to ballpark a price for a custom configuration, the numbers we used were $45/meg for RAM and $1/meg for hard drives. This was in the days when low-end machines came with 4 megs of RAM and a 25 mHz 486 and the high-end boxes had 16 megs of RAM and a 486-66.

This seems like a great way for a [criminal|terrorist|other bad guy] to scope out a location without exposing them self to the risk of actually going to the location.

Considering their closed business model (you can't read an eBook from any vendor other than Amazon on a Kindle), the device itself, even without ads, should be very close to free. Amazon should be looking at the Gilette business model; charge next to nothing for your razors and make your money on the blades. I might pay $25 for a device that locks me into Amazon as my exclusive eBook vendor, but not a penny more.